Anneliese – Page 12 – The Dackel Princess

Gone To The Dogs

Tuesday morning I was trimming Arnie’s fur when Hubby noticed the grin on his little dackel face! He carefully got up and took this picture. Now I must admit to cropping the picture as I was in my pajamas, with my hair going in sixteen different directions and not looking too good! Instead, I cropped it so you could see his happy face!

After breakfast I was sitting in my recliner with my feet up checking email, reading blogs, when my coffee cup ran dry. So I went to put down my feet to go and get another cup, when “SCREECH!”. Yes, there was Greta underneath the footrest! I got her out, picked her up and listened to her growling at me, letting me know that she was not at all happy with me! Oh I felt so bad that I had done that. I am usually so careful with my footrest, but the one time I just put the footrest down without looking, Greta is there!

I cuddled her for a while and then I had to shower and dress and when I got back I found this.

Greta all curled up in my soft blankets! I tried to move her over to one side or the other of the chair, but I have to say, she was not easy to move!

Anneliese was limping for a while during the day and I am still not sure what was wrong with her foot, but tonight she appears to be better.

It rained all day and it made the dogs all quite crazy. All they wanted to do was run around outside, but they didn’t want to be out in the rain. Oh well, we have one more day, before the sun shines again.

Knitting, Laundry & Chili

For anyone who may be wondering, I have been working on my scarf quite a bit.

I’m now not sure that I am as crazy about the color as I was when I started, but I’ll finish it and then bestow it upon some one who loves me. I’ve actually been enjoying it and it has helped me to learn to relax. You simply cannot knit if you are bouncing off of walls. I mean, you can, but it isn’t pretty in the end.

The knitting has come to school board meetings with me, town meetings and has been keeping my hands occupied when I watch TV and just when I need to sit down and zen out. I use it as a total de-stress tool. Sometimes I pick it up and just do a row.

What do you do to de-stress when life is pulling you down?

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In other news, I managed to get 5 loads of laundry done, after ignoring it most of the week, and I made a triple batch of chili, which we will have for dinner tonight, and then I will freeze several meals worth for Hubby. You see I decided to breed Anneliese again and so when she goes into heat in May, I will be going to Germany!

I will spend time with my Uschi, and we will enjoy the sights, sounds and foods of Germany in the spring. Anneliese will spend two days with her “husband” Isegrim, and hopefully come home pregnant.

So, I have been cooking and freezing meals for my wonderful husband, so he doesn’t have to eat at McDonald’s every night.

After all, Anneliese could surprise us all and go into heat at any time.

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Monday is the big day. I am pulling down my curtains and washing them. I’m in spring mode and all of the household curtains need to be taken down, washed, dried and put back up! Then I can take a deep breath and enjoy the smell of clean!

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I watched the movie Babe today. What a precious story that is. I liked that so much more than yesterday’s movie, “Crazy Heart”. I like simple stories with characters I can relate to.

A Walk In The Springtime

It was a perfectly beautiful day. So perfect that I decided to take Anneliese and go for my first walk of the Spring. About 10 o’clock I put on her cute little harness, snapped on the leash and we headed out. I wanted to go to the Post Office and the docks down on the big lake. After that, I was open to almost anything.

Up the driveway we went until we ran into our neighbor, Frank. He is a 92 year old man who served during World War II. He is the most positive, happiest and fit man that I know, for his age. I tease him all the time and call him my boyfriend! Anneliese and I gave him hugs and kisses and off we went.

We stopped at the Post Office and got the mail. I had a plastic bag to put it in, but in the future I really need to use my back-pack. Those silly plastic bags really cut into you after a while.

So off we walked to the big lake. It was beautiful. The lake temperature is up to 39 degrees (F), so we should have ice-out almost anytime.

As you can see around the dock area it is clear of ice.

Anneliese is such a big girl and she handles herself so well. She does not know she is a small dog and when a Greyhound passed her by, she barked like she was going to eat him! The poor thing just shook! The Greyhound, not Anneliese!

I spoke to her a lot and then I remembered that I needed to get sworn in at the Town Hall as a Library Trustee for the next three years. I turned back and walked to the Town Hall and went in. I took my Oath of Office with Anneliese as my witness. (The Tax Collector was also my witness.) Then we started our walk home.

Anneliese was so good and when I spoke to her about our walk she stopped and turned back and looked at me with love in her eyes. Or is that annoyance that I am photographing her again?

Eventually after about three miles of walking, we got to our driveway and started down hill. It was so beautiful that I stopped and took a few pictures.

As you can see our little lake is nearly ice free. Truly amazing. Usually it is late in April when this occurs.

I think Spring is here!

I Won!

After 12 long hours standing in the bitter cold and wind, I am happy to announce that I won my election. The total count was 941 people voting in our town, and from that I got 905. I would like to know, who didn’t vote for me? I know, greedy, right?

I think, for the most part, the elections came out the way I’d hoped. With the exception of one candidate. But you cannot have it all, can you?

So I am home, warming up, but totally exhausted. I’m going to hit the hay early tonight and I will write more about this tomorrow.

Anneliese & Bogey

We had the dogs out for a play session in the back yard. Oh, does Bogey love to run and play with his Mommy, Anneliese! He is fast and so is she. They love to romp outside chasing each other, or catching their toy balls, but most of all Bogey loves to chase a blowing leaf! In fact he sits by our sliding glass doors and watches everything outside. If he gets bored there, he goes and sits up on the back of the sofa so he can watch outside the front of the house.

I think it is safe to say that while Bogey’s Mommy and Daddy were on vacation, so was he! I’ve loved having him here, and it is so much better than a kennel. He can come any time he wants for a few days with us!

Today I noticed him sleeping in the puppy bed that he had once shared with his brothers and sisters. Here he is with his brother Baron and sister, Baerbel when they were about 8 weeks old.

Here he is today, all by himself. He now fills the bed!

We had more playing before Bogey and Anneliese settled down together on the sofa. It’s really been a beautiful thing, watching mother and son bond again.

Just a few more days now until his Mom & Dad come home and pick him up. I think we are going to miss this little guy!

Who Is Who?

I’ve been enjoying my little grand-puppy. He is relaxed and easy going and such a little charmer. There have been no accidents in the house, and he rings his little bell when he wants to go outside. Now, he rang it about 200 times today, and we took him out each time……I think he should be dehydrated!

Anneliese took over this morning as his mother. I was amazed because it was rather sudden. They were all on the floor chewing on toys and then Anneliese and Bogey started to play. They ran around chasing each other and then she stopped and pinned him down and started to clean his ears! After that she kept an eye on him and one time when Arnie got a little too rough with Bogey, she turned and chased Arnie away! What a good Mommy she still is!

My only problem is that I am having trouble telling the boys apart! I know that this sounds silly, but really, they look that much alike! Look at this picture and you tell me, who is who?

All day I have been looking down and speaking to them and nine times out of ten, I was wrong. In fact, the bell rang, I went to the door, put on my coat and latched the leash onto Bogey and went outside. I was walking along when Bogey lifted his leg and I realized he’d lifted it much higher than before. That’s when I noticed the collar! I didn’t have Bogey I had Arnie!

Everyone has settled in now and they all are getting along as though Bogey had never left the house. I’m really glad it is working out so well.

Oh, and if you are wondering, Bogey is on the left and Arnie on the right!

Here we are watching TV. Bogey, Greta, Anneliese and Arnie.

A Doggone Good Day

Monday was one of those days where I spent most of the day waiting on, cleaning up after, and pampering the dogs. The medicine makes Greta feel so much better that she wants to run outside and chase every, leaf, cat or mouse that she sees. More than once, when she went outside, she took a run and of course this meant that I also went on a run. After her!!! So If Greta went out, so did I, just to watch her. At least she is feeling somewhat better.

The other two dackels were their normal adorable selves. Especially my buddy, Arnie. That boy is just the sweetest thing! This was the boy I had not wanted to keep all those years ago. I had planned to sell him and now, I cannot imagine my life without him! Look at that face! Isn’t he the handsomest guy?

Anneliese is a bit more independent, but she likes to hang out with me as well. She is funny though because she will be very affectionate when no one is looking. Her favorite time of day for sweet kisses? Dawn! Oh well, somehow the tenderness she shares with me makes the time of day acceptable, most of the time!

Fritz really hangs tight with me when Hubby is gone. It’s so funny because as soon as Hubby gets home, Fritz suddenly forgets who I am. It’s okay. Fritzi is a sweetheart and I love him just as he is!

Hubby skied for half the day and then went working on a project at the library. He arrived home just in time to eat dinner before I was out the door for a meeting.

I’ve joined a Women’s Organization called Altrusa. The women in this group are dedicated to community service. I’ve been looking for a way to serve my town and this feels like a good outlet for me. The other women are terrific and I enjoy the time I have spent there.

The day is coming to a close as we put each dog out for their last walk of the night. Always an exciting time. Next is bed.

So ends another Doggone good day!

You Will Not Believe This!

Do you all remember last spring when my old laptop computer died just as the warranty on it had expired? I was told that nothing could be done. The computer was dead. However I was told that the hard drive was fine, it was a memory chip problem. I thought that in time I would have the hard drive put into an external box to use for back up.

But when I got my new laptop, I just forgot the old one until the other day when Hubby’s laptop became infected with viruses. I was still pretty angry at how I had been treated at the old computer repair shop, so I had taken Hubby’s computer to a place in the next town owned by a husband and wife. I call them my computer wizards!

They not only repaired Hubby’s virus laden machine, but when I brought in my old laptop to have the hard drive turned into an external hard drive, they looked it over and found the problem!

Here is the long and short of it: the laptop had TWO memory chips, but the old shop apparently had never even discovered the second one!

So my computer wizards replaced the chip, cleaned the hard drive and reloaded all my information! My old laptop is new again!

Hubby was skiing while I was doing the computer stuff, but he picked me up at their shop, and we went to the big city and had lunch. It was so nice to sit quietly and share a meal with Hubby. Afterward, we went over to LL Bean (my second favorite shop), as I had a bunch of coupons. Hubby found a pair of jeans, and I found a lambs wool pea coat that fits me perfectly! It was also marked down from $200.00 to $39.87. Now I had great coupons and a special promotion, so our grand total for all items was $7.29!

Yes, I am the Queen of discount shopping!

Then I realized that I had lost my much loved blue scarf. I remembered taking it off in the restaurant we had lunch in, so we went back and there it was! Now I would like to make a scarf to go with my new coat.

Had I known what l was about to face at home, I would have jumped out of the car! But in my ignorance, I came home with a smile on my face, feeling happy to have gone out for the first time since my eye operation.

We opened the door to the house and were overcome with the horrific smell of poop. Now one thing you should know about me is that I do not do poop well. In fact I am still shocked that I raised two children and changed diapers without totally losing it!

We found a small amount in the office and cleaned that up, thinking that it was all there was. However, my nose told me otherwise. I tracked it down to our formal living room, and it was there that we found that Fritz, our White German Shepherd, had decorated my beautiful leather sofa in grand fashion! Oh my goodness, I have never seen such a mess! I know I will have nightmares about this for years to come!

I had Hubby get me my Big Green Clean Machine, and I started to clean up. It took me over 1 hour to clean it up. Of course, the scent lingers, so I have two candles burning to help dissipate the smell.

I decontaminated myself in the shower, and Hubby made dinner. Somehow I had lost my desire for food, something that almost never happens.

Fritz is looking quite guilty and yet sorry for what he has done. I’m considering allowing him to remain as a member as our family.

The dachshunds think we should pack his things and put him out on the road.

Anneliese & Her Mommy

Anneliese was determined to go out and play with her ball. So off she went. She looked so darn cute with Fritzi’s bigger ball, which was the one she wanted to play with, that I had to get my coat and hat and gloves on and got the camera so I could video it.

Anneliese is my snow lover. In fact I have to be careful with her because she will spend too much time outside until she is shaking like a leaf with the cold. Since it is only about 14 degrees (F) it feels really cold, heck it is cold! So I let her go out for short times and then got her back in.

I went out for a little bit, but not too long. We have an elderly neighbor who is 92 years old. He is my ‘boyfriend’! LOL! In any case I haven’t seen him since before we left on our trip. I wanted him to know I hadn’t forgotten him. He was so sweet and concerned. I’m really glad I stopped in.

The fire is burning in the hearth and the pot roast is bubbling away in the crock-pot for our dinner. How nice is all that?

Be Careful What You Wish For!

Since Anneliese and Greta began popping out puppies, I began to pray for sleep. Oh, I discovered myself seriously lacking for sleep and all I wanted was some rest.

I looked forward to our vacation as I thought that I would finally get some much needed sleep, but I found, as we cruised around and toured the Caribbean, that I did not get a lot of sleep. Call it my inability to forget the clock.

Since we have been back, and I have been forced to lie still due to the detached retina, I am supposed to be getting a lot of rest. The funny thing is…as I lie here I can only think of all the things I was and need to do, like laundry, dusting, and cooking meals.

Now Hubby is doing a great just cooking for me and he is, in fact, over feeding me! So, no problem there, it’s just that I am bored.

I have watched “Mama Mia” 3 times, “NCIS” more times then I can say, “What Not To Wear” and “Say Yes To The Dress” until I want to plan a shopping trip.

No, this lying down and resting is simply for the birds. I am hoping that I will get some good news tomorrow when I see my surgeon, Dr. C.

Keep your fingers crossed!