Anneliese – Page 7 – The Dackel Princess

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Have you ever been ‘asked’ to report for jury duty? Were you chosen to serve? If not, were you happy or disappointed?

I’ve been called, but it was right after having eye surgery, and I had an actual medical excuse. I have not been called in many years now. I would go and if I was selected, I would try to do my duty. I fear I would be the one jurror who held out for either freedom or a very harsh sentence. I don’t tend to see much grey in life.

2. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being very), how mechanically inclined are you? Give an example to back up your answer.

I am probably a solid 7. I can get into a house and connect all things, like phones, TV’s, surround sounds, and computers. I do not understand cars at all, and I want to learn more about computers.

3. Beets-cabbage-cauliflower-butternut squash….of the four, which is your favorite fall vegetable?

That’s easy…butternut squash! Which is a really good thing as we grew 40 of them this year! 40 big beautiful squash!!!

4. What do you recommend to overcome self-pity?

Seeing the face of a sick child or perhaps a visit to an inner city church. You see at an inner city church, you meet many people who have nothing, but their love of God, their faith. It is worth more than a rich man’s gold! Seeing that always humbles me, and makes me feel guilty for feeling sorry for myself.

5. Do you enjoy classical music?

Some. If it is live music, then absolutely, but I am not sure I could listen to a full symphony on disc. I think I would probably go to sleep.

6. October is National Book Month…what’s on your reading list this month?

Actually I am doing some Bible readings this month. I would like to get to know the psalms a bit better and have a list of the ones I want to study.

7. What is your idea of ‘cute’?

Way back, long ago I had a girlfriend in school, who I thought was so cute. She had curly brunette hair and would blush so easily. She was also very tall and felt uncomfortable about this. But I really liked her as a person, and nicknamed her “Cutes”, which she really hated, but she somehow allowed me to call her. She was just the nicest, sweetest person ever. Sadly, I never really had a chance to tell her that my calling her “Cutes” was my way of letting her know just how much she meant to me. She passed away the year we turned 50. Still, I think of all her smiles and her curls and her pretty face and I can feel cuteness all around me.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I need to clean my kitchen. Now when we built our kitchen we put in32 solid cherry cabinets. Beautiful, yes, but a pain in the rear-end to clean as well. I need to use a product like “Murphy’s Oil Soap” to wash them, but you need to wash and dry each cabinet or they get sticky. With that many cabinets, and the tops of the upper cabinets.

I know it will take me over a week of doing this project. And…I Am…NOT…Looking…forward…to…it! Alas, I must do it. To encourage myself along, I thought perhaps for every hour I work, I put 10 dollars in my piggy bank. What do you think?

It was a long day on Friday. When you have a female dog in heat, and a male dog who isn’t, trust me, it’s a long day.

It started as soon as we got up. I walked the dogs, one at a time, and even got my jacket and shoes on to walk Anneliese. I don’t want any accidental births!

I came in and Arnie would…not…leave…her…alone!

He followed her into the bedroom. He followed her down to the laundry-room. He followed her into the kitchen. He followed her into the bathroom. He wanted her in the worst way!

Finally after nearly an entire day of yelling at the poor boy, I gave him a tranquilizer.

Now he is following me. That’s fine for me as long as he leaves Anneliese alone.

I learned today that I cannot continue to breed Anneliese in Germany. I’m so disappointed. Since she does have one last litter in her I will try to find a male here in the USA that fits her needs for when she goes into heat next spring.

Or, I may say, it’s been fun and not breed her again. I think sometimes you need to know when it is time to hang up the old breeder shoes and just enjoy your animals.

Love Is A Many Spendid Thing…

Arnie is driving us crazy. Last night it got so bad that we used a little Benedryl to help him relax. I mean, honest to goodness, with his sister in heat, he is just going crazy!

He’s been interested before, but this year he is REALLY interested. He follows her around, he kisses her ears, and he just generally makes a fool out of himself, and he drives both Hubby and me insane.

He is so adorable otherwise, but when a boy is a boy is a boy….there is only one thing he wants and that is…a girlfriend. Even if she is his sister.

We only started this a few days ago, so it will be about two and a half weeks until Anneliese is over this heat. Then we have 8 months until her next one. That gives me time to either find Anneliese an honest husband, or have her spayed.

I’m just not sure what I will do yet. We will see.

A Long Day Cookin’

Friday was a big cooking day. In the morning I finished off the two batches of Heavenly Peach Jam, and then put them all up in jars, where they will keep over the winter. Each batch takes about two hours to cook down and process, and so call me exhausted, when I finally was done at one in the afternoon!

I wanted to sweep and wash my kitchen floor, and I did actually ,manage to get this done, before it was time to start cutting vegetables for dinner. I made my favorite grilled summer squash, zucchini and sweet onion! Oh good, how delicious that is.

I made a rotisserie chicken, baked potatoes, and tomatoes with basil and mozzarella. My neighbor came down and we enjoyed a really pleasant meal.

The garden is nearly done for the season. We do have plenty of tomatoes, but the squash growing season is nearly over. I had my last eggplant tonight and probably my last zucchini too. Sad, but what can you do?

I ended my day by taking a long hot shower. I did not want it to end, but right now I know that each long shower will effect our oil bill.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Cucumbers, Sheets & Showers

I went out to my garden today, and checked to see what was happening. What I found was a long European Cucumber that was ready to be picked. It was interesting to note that this cucumber has spiny needles on it, so one must not pick it without gloves! Also when you bring it in, you need to wash it down with a scrubber that removes the spindly spines, but then when you slice it…total yumminess!!!

Tomorrow I also will pick another summer squash and tomorrow night I expect to be cooking my summer squash saute for Hubby. It is so thrilling when the garden starts to come in. Fresh vegetables every night!

I also have an Ichiban Eggplant ready for picking, and that will be eaten tomorrow as well.

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I gave the dackels a shower today and once they dried, I began to strip out their winter coats. None of them actually LOVE showering, but they tolerate it.

Arnie escaped Hubby’s drying attempts and jumped up on our bed, and rubbed himself in our sheets and blanket. So after I washed three wiggling doggies, I had to strip the bed and wash our sheets and blankets!

The only problem with that is, on a day like this, when the air is a bit heavy, and the mosquitoes are out I tend to spray down with bug spray during the day, and I wouldn’t want to get into a clean bed with that stuff on, so…yes, second shower of the day. At least I didn’t have the dackels with me this time!

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So now it is off to bed for me. What a nice long weekend it has been! How was your weekend?

Dackel Doctor Days

The Dackels went to the Dackel Doctor today for their yearly shots and physicals. I have been waiting for this as I have been working to reduce the weight of both Anneliese and Greta. They were weighed and examined and the three dackels weighed drastically different weights.

Greta was 23 pounds,

Arnie was 21 pounds

and Anneliese was 18 pounds.

The odd thing is that Arnie really is the biggest of the three, the longest for sure, but he has retained his youthful figure! Greta has already told me that she has had two large litters and her “youthful” days are long behind her! Anneliese is just plain perfect! She really is in great shape!

The Doctor and Office Staff were all amazed at Greta and her children. One woman had never seen a wire-haired dachshund, especially ones with such beautiful wild boar, color coats. So it was fun to show them off.

After the Dackel Doctor visit we came back home to a very lonely Fritz. It was not his day to go to the doctors, and so Fritz was “Home Alone” He seemed none the worse for wear, but boy, was he happy to see us!

Poor Arnie

Monday was shopping day here at the Dackel Princess household. But the big question was what to do with either Arnie or Anneliese? Anneliese is getting close to being in the prime part of her heat. In a day or so I will have to break out the big crate for my poor Arnie, as he won’t be able to contain himself, but right now he’s still pretty good. I just can’t completely trust him. I wouldn’t breed Anneliese until about day 11 or 13, but it is possible to make puppies earlier so…

Arnie, lusting after his sister.

What fun it was to take Arnie for a ride today in the car while we did our grocery shopping. Since it was cold, we put Arnie in his adorable little sweater. He was an absolute angel! He watched the world go by, enjoyed the warmth of the sunshine, and gave me a ton of kisses.

At one point when we finished the shopping and came out to the car, he was sound asleep on the front seat! I mean, how cute is that, right?

Happy Birthday

Four years ago, Hubby got up in the morning and I told him that I thought that Greta would be having her puppies soon. He examined her and said, he thought he could get a few runs in skiing, but to call if things got going, and off he went!

Greta looked at me, with eyes that related to me just how miserable her contractions were, and I knew that things were getting close.

Then, all of a sudden, things just sort of stopped. Then started again, and this went on for about an hour. I called the Vet. and took her in.

It was, of course, a Sunday, and so my Vet. had to get his staff to come in and assist in the delivery. You see, we had one very large baby and then 4 “normal” sized ones. That was the day that Arnie and Anneliese were born.

I called Hubby, who had just gotten up to the slopes, and he turned around and came home, and made their birth!

Arnie was the only boy, and Anneliese was born squealing loudly! I didn’t know then, which puppy I would want to keep, and I certainly never expected to keep 2, especially a male dog, as I had never been a boy dog fan, but I digress…

That was December 10th and by Christmas I knew Anneliese was doing to be my forever puppy girl and two months later Arnie was rejected by the people who’d wanted to buy him, and he remained, forever with us.

Now I can’t imagine life without my two little A-Litter Puppies. I call them “The Twins” even though they aren’t, and if they are outside I will call “Puppies” and they will both turn their heads and run towards me!

Anneliese has gone on to have her own babies, and “Uncle Arnie” babysat and helped his sister out with the babies. It was just so cute!

And in life, they are the very best of friends. When I look back having sibling puppies has been one of the best things I have ever done, even if it was absolutely by accident!

Arnie and Anneliese Birthday from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

What I Did This Weekend

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend!

The weekend seemed to fly by. I still had Bogart for part of Saturday until his Mommy came to collect him. We all kissed his little face good-bye, and off he went.

Arnie and Greta settled down for a nap, and Hubby was busy doing some computer work. Fritz lay by his side. Soon Anneliese demanded to go outside, so I opened the door and off she flew! I grabbed my jacket, but she had disappeared! I called and called, I even got out the cookie bone can, but nothing.

My heart was in my throat, beating wildly and I started running around the house. As I got to the front yard, there she was, down our neighbors driveway near the ROAD!

I called to her and she looked at me, as if asking, “Where is my son, Bogart?”

I got her inside and gave her a rawhide bone to take her mind off of things. This did help, although she was checking out the crate where Bogey slept at night. It just broke my heart. To think, it has been a year and a half since he left, but she still knows that this is her baby!

On Sunday, I worked some more on Christmas Cards, and composing the annual Christmas Letter. The cards are going well, but Hubby and I are disagreeing on the composition of the letter and which pictures to include!

Fritz came in from his morning walk quite lame. I think he re-injured his ankle, the one that the horse stepped on. I have wrapped it with an ace bandage and we have kept him quiet all day.

Sunday night I have no plans at all with the exception of perhaps soaking in a tub. I’m tired and in need of a little quiet time.

Snuggles

Wednesday found my sweet boy Arnie cuddling up with me, while I attempted to get rid of my cold. He was such a sweetie, that I grabbed my camera and started snapping away. After all, how often does the opportunity present to cuddle, take pictures and recover from a cold?

Anneliese is doing well, although she is still carrying around her little lamb toy. No matter where she is, she has that little lamb in her mouth or by her side.

But I’m encouraged because she is healing well and feeling so much better! She has even begun eating regular dog food again, after going through a spell where she refused all food.

The week is slowly coming to an end and I am really looking forward to the weekend. It’s not that I have a lot planned, it’s just that Hubby and I tend to spend more time together during the weekends.

Happy Thursday everyone!