Apple Sauce

Hubby and I sliced, and cleaned apples today so we could make apple sauce. Once it was done, we put the sauce in plastic freezer bags and we put it in the deep freeze. We put together 2 big batches, with the help of the twins, and got it all put up.

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This year instead of using sugar we used Splenda. As Hubby is diabetic and I am a Weight Watcher, we decided that this was at least, worth trying. WOW! It came out great. The nice thing is, with the Splenda, I can have some all measured out and it is point friendly!

On another bright and nice note I received a Halloween Treat from Hootin’ Annie.

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I am honored by this and will now include it in my sidebar for the month of October!

Surprises

A box arrived at the Post Office today. It was filled with toys and bones for the pups. I know how Fritz loves fleece toys and so I ordered him a big person fleece toy to play with. I ordered bunnies and bones for the dachshunds. Well, after I took them out of the box, Arnie and Greta grabbed them and ran off. By lunchtime, Arnie had all four toys under the coffee table in the family room and he was guarding them! Poor Fritz never had a chance!

I also got them these wonderful rawhide bones with little pupperoni’s in them. The three dackels took theirs and ran off, but Fritz just looked at his with sad eyes. I bent down and tried to get him to take it and while I was speaking quietly to him he have me a big smooch on the tip of my nose! He never did take the bone.

Arnie is really such a beautiful boy. I was sitting here last night and he was sitting, as he so often does, on the arm of the chair. I got up slowly, grabbed the camera and took this picture.

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He loves to sit like this, with his little feet dangling! It’s absolutely the cutest thing! He is quite a character. I sure hope that some cute dackel girl comes along and wants Arnie to be the father of her puppies. He’s got some fabulous genes!

I’m still working getting Anneliese ready for her big debut at the show. I hope she will strut her stuff and not get stage fright. She tends to be shy with people she does not know. Here’s hoping she takes an instant liking to the German judge!

Mommy’s Boy

Last night, after he’d been “forgotten” in our bedroom when we went to the big city, I realized that Arnie was among the missing, once again. I did a walk-a-bout and located him in our bedroom, all curled up and sleeping.

That’s when it dawned on me that this often happens. Arnie, loves to be in bed. Our bed!

This morning, after a long night of rest in my bed, I looked for him again. What did I find?

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This totally beautiful and adorable face.

You know Arnie is our cuddler. He likes to curl up (especially in bed) and laze. Fritz has him trained now to actually go into the bedroom and go to bed. It’s the funniest thing in the whole world.

You see, the two girls always wait for me to go to bed, but my boys? Well, they just go on in and go to bed all on their own.

I wonder why that is? Are men just inclined to go to bed when they’re tired? Hubby certainly isn’t. He usually falls asleep in his chair and quite often I have to get up and wake him in order to get him to come to bed!

Ah the world is full of these mysteries!

A Few Thoughts

I sat down to write a new post earlier and I found myself unable to think straight. The rain and the thunder storms of the last few days seem to have zapped my creativity, and left me with a migraine. However, I am committed to writing and keeping a journal of my day to day life, so I bucked myself up and sat down to write.

I think the best part of my day is always the dogs. They never cease to amaze and amuse me. Today it was Fritz who was barking at the door during a torrential downpour. I opened the door and he took one look at all that rain and turned around and went back inside! Well, it made ME laugh!

Also Arnie has started doing the cutest thing. He now follows me all around the house like a little shadow. He is his Mommy’s boy and I just love it.

You see, I have never been a “boy dog” fan. I have always preferred female dogs, but this boy has stolen my heart. I woke in the night last night and got up and when I returned Arnie was waiting for me. I climbed in and Arnie climbed over to me and wrapped his body around my legs. In that moment I felt very loved.

Isn’t that what it’s all about?

Pups & Pounds!

I started to do a Thursday Thirteen and I realized that I was tired of that, so you have just me sitting here writing about a few little things.

Like Anneliese. Isn’t she just the cutest little thing?

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She is so sweet too. Hubby and I were talking about this the other day and we are quite amazed at how truly wonderful the two pups are. I imagine we are incredibly partial having had them since the very moment that they were born, but to us, Anneliese and her brother Arnie are just the best! We have watched them grow, and learn to play with each other, and to become part of our little dog pack.

Here is Arnie with me.

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He is my little snuggler and at night he sleeps down by my feet happily wound around them. Anneliese now sleeps by my tummy and Greta is now sleeping between our pillows. Yes, we have a full bed each night when we settle in. Only Fritz sleeps on the floor, and all I can say to that is, Thank God!!!

When my cousin, Janet was up visiting for her birthday she took this picture of me in a new outfit, showing off my weight loss. Yes, showing off, because after losing 40 pounds, I am enjoying showing off just a little!

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I have about 8 more pounds to go to get to my goal weight and then the real work starts ~ maintenance! I think that will be the real challenge.

Meanwhile I’ll keep working on Weight Watchers day by day, a little at a time.

There Is A Disturbance In The Force…..

Last night I noticed that Arnie wasn’t his usual self. He was picking at his food and seemed quite distracted. I’d been out all day with my daughter, and Hubby informed me that Arnie’s little harlot of a sister, Anneliese, had been dancing around. As she nears the “peak” of her heat she has become more wanton than ever. Oh yes, once I stopped to watch Anneliese I could see her doing her little flirty girl dance, in an effort to torment her brother.

So, it was no surprise when bedtime came and Arnie had to once again return to his crate for the night. Alone. Frustrated. Yes, tormented by a force of nature that not even he understands.

Meanwhile, we went to bed with the girls. Greta curled up by my stomach and Anneliese by my knees, and Hubby was soon snoring happily on his side of the bed. All was right in the Dackel Princess house.

About 2 AM. I woke in a sweat. I felt like the room was suddenly being overheated by an unseen furnace. I tore off the sheets and got up to get something to drink. Returning to bed, I found Greta and Anneliese had taken my side of the bed, and shoving them aside, I climbed back in.

Oh yeah, a hot-flash!

At 5 AM Anneliese and Fritz woke me to go outside. Little Miss Pants has found that being in heat makes her have to go out and visit the great out of doors just a little bit more often. So off we went. Once we returned I diapered her, and the three of us returned to bed.

My head was just hitting the pillow when Anneliese started to gag and I jumped up and got her into the bathroom just as she threw up.

Could the night get any better?

Once I’d washed her up we returned to bed and fell asleep, but another hot-flash came upon me and I lay there thinking perhaps this was some sort of cruel joke. I did eventually drop off again, but at 7:30 Hubby woke full of joy and happiness after a good night sleep. I begged him “Please take the dogs and let me sleep just another 30 minutes!” And he did.

Actually he let me sleep another hour which was even better!

But as I went through my day today I thought how terribly funny this is. Here Anneliese is in heat and full of hormones, Arnie too, but of a slightly different make up, and here I am on the other end of the scale suffering from a decided lack of hormones!

Yes, there is a disturbance in the force!

Beautiful Boys & Daily Life

Arnie is such a fun guy to be with. Today I bought him a special bone and he has done nothing but chew it ever since.

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I went to Weight watchers this morning, and after a few weeks of not doing anything special I was shocked to find that I lost 3.8 pounds!!!! I was so happy I almost couldn’t believe it! I think the biggest difference is that I actually was up and moving around a lot this week. Raking in the yard, walking the dogs and running up and down stairs.

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Me with the cherry petals

Mel and I did a bunch of shopping today too. I found many barbecue items for this summer, and Mel found things for a room she is redecorating.

We also had Mel’s grandson over and I took this cute picture of him. I love it because it shows how totally captivated by the TV kids are.

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Have a great day everyone!

Mr. Arnie

My father has not been too well, so I’m going to take Mr. Arnie-Man and go to see my dad and my mother. An added bonus is that I get to see my sister, Mel, too. My parents love animals and when I brought down Anneliese (the raccoon hound), they really enjoyed the visit with her. I think that I have this crazy love of animals, because I got it from them. Growing up we always had a bunch of animals around us. So it’s probably why this chaotic life I call “Life In A Kennel” doesn’t seem to phase me too much.

Now almost everyone says that Arnie is just the coolest dude around, so I wanted to bring him for a visit. I just know that they will take one look at this face

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and fall in love with him.

Now Arnie is really quite the character. He has his own way of telling us that he needs to go out. Does he bark? No! Does he scratch at the door? No!

Arnie tap dances! Yes, you read it correctly. Arnie will go to the door and then tap dance all the way back, stare at you and then tap dance back to the door again. He will repeat this over and over until you ask him if he needs to go out. At that time he will race to the door! Why Arnie is the dog equivalent to Fred Astaire!

Arnie is also the funniest, snuggliest, little boy dog I have ever known. I have always been a girl-dog person. I thought that was the best way to go, but Arnie has changed my mind on all of that.

Yes, Mr. Arnie-Man! He is my sweetheart!

Saturday Scavenger Photo Hunt

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~Thirteen~

These are thirteen of my favorite pictures. The bottom picture is of Greta with her first litter of pups back in 2006. We will know in two weeks if she is expecting her next litter! I’ve got my fingers crossed!

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Anneliese Bunny Thief!

Today a box arrived in the mail. Inside was a little gift for Arnie. You see a little while back, Arnie’s favorite toy was demolished. Yes, Mr. Bunny was torn to pieces and was buried in the trash. Poor Arnie missed him a lot.

So, imagine today’s surprise when I opened the box and Arnie found Mr. Bunny inside!!! He was so happy and immediately grabbed him and ran into the family room.

Now, Greta had her Wild Boar birthday gift, and Arnie had Mr. Bunny, so Anneliese felt a little left out, even though there were a million dog toys around the house.

Anneliese paced back and forth, she watched and waited, and when Arnie let his guard down, she pounced! And got Mr. Bunny!

As you can see by this little photo montage, the dogs were all having a good time, but at the end of the day Anneliese is curled up with Mr. Bunny and the other two dogs are asleep without their toys. Yes, Anneliese is a force of nature. The smallest of our dogs, but with a true stubborn steak inside of her.

You just have to love a dachshund!