The Seasons – Page 25 – The Dackel Princess

Lazy Saturday

Saturday was truly a beautiful day. At least the morning was. Sunny skies, warm temperatures and a light breeze. It was just perfect for Hubby to be picking cherries (we have a ton) and for me to drive to Super Wal-Mart and buy dog food. Currently I am buying 4 different dog foods. A normal chopped food for Greta and Arnie. They both need good quality food right now. Poor Arnie lost weight during Greta’s heat because he refused to eat! And now Greta, with the possibility of being pregnant needs great food too. Then there is Fritz, who is the pickiest eater there is. He will only eat “Choice Cuts” and must have 1 entire can per day as he is a large dog and very active. Then there is Anneliese who is struggling to lose the baby weight from her recent pregnancy before the dog show in October. She must have a good quality diet food. Last but not least are the puppies who get special puppy food. I felt very conspicuous with that many cans of different food in my cart, but what can be done? They all must eat, right?

The local rescue shelter was having a “help us” drive. It is a no-kill shelter and they work through donations alone. Today they wanted just donations of food, kitty litter, paper towels, etc. Since I was feeling odd walking past with so many cans of food for my animals, I bought some paper towels for them. This will help with their clean up. I sure can relate to that after the last two months of puppy pandemonium!

I came home in time to get lunch for Hubby and send him off to a Parks & Recreation activity. He asked me to go, but right now I needed a few quiet moments. The puppies were asleep, the dackels resting and Fritz was waiting outside for his daddy to return. 1 entire hour of quiet! How lovely!

The pups went from frolicking crazy pups to passed out sleeping pups. It was very cute and I love it best when I can zoom in and snap pictures of their angelic sleeping faces!

Here is my favorite. Bogart. Asleep on the cool tiles.

And little Baerbel. Stretched out so nicely. I love this one too!

Am I ready to say good-bye? Probably not. Expect tears.

Sunshine & Puppies

It was a beautiful day here in New Hampshire on Monday. Sunshine, warm temperatures and a gentle breeze! I mean, how good is that, after all the rain and wind we have had over the last month.

I took a walk with Arnie over to look at our garden. I wondered what a month with next to no sun and a ton of rain had done to it. I was amazed to see that the garden was actually doing well. Everything looked great, with the exception of the cucumbers. They just have not done well this year. My tomatoes are growing and the little cherry tomato plant is loaded!

I worked the pups on a line again today to see how they would do with deer blood. They all did well and they really enjoy this as a game. Their new owners will need to continue to run them on tracks in the woods so that they can continue to learn to track the scent of wounded game.

They are so adorable now and so cute and I can hardly wait for their new owners to meet them. Melli asked if it was going to be difficult for me when they leave? You know, I don’t think so. I’ve raised them from day one, telling myself that these special little creatures were going to new and wonderful forever homes. I was just the teacher. The keeper of the babes until they were old enough to be loved by their new owners.

Here are Baron and Baerbel watching their silly brother Bogart who was trying to sleep on his back.

Ali curled up with Baerbel for a little rest.

But then Ali got up and Baerbel had the bed to herself.

Bogart loves his ball.

And because we haven’t had a lot of Baron pictures lately, here is another one of his sweet face!

It has been so much fun having springtime puppies! Being able to go outside with them and play in the green grass has been truly good for them and for me. Of course if Greta is pregnant, then we will be doing Autumn Puppies!

Can we ask Mother Nature for a little Indian Summer this year?

Spring!

It was a lovely day here in New Hampshire on Saturday. The sun was bright, the skies were deep blue, and all around, life seemed to be settling back to normal.

Anneliese is more relaxed. She lounges with the pups, she hops out of the whelping box and cuddles with me or with Emily and no longer gets terrified if people come into the house. In fact she is the picture of a great doggy mommy!

Her pups are also doing well. Big Boy Blue now has a name! His new owners wrote to tell me he will be called Baron! I love it! It really fits him!

I felt bad that Blue was the only one with a name, so since Yellow is still not assigned I decided to name him. I wanted to name him after Anneliese’s father, Bernie. So Yellow’s proper name will be Bernd (a good German name) and we will call him Bernie, just like his grandpa!

Emily spent a lot of time with the pups today, as her vacation is now over and she had to go home and start getting ready to go back to school on Monday.

We tossed a few T-bone steaks on the grill when her Dad was here to get her, and we watched the Kentucky Derby Horse Race. A nice start to the summer cookout season.

The cherry blossoms are out in our yard. It’s starting to look truly beautiful here. Soon the apple trees will blossom and then the peach, pears and plum trees.

Ah. Spring! Renewal. New life!

Strange Sunday

I woke up Sunday morning, stumbled to the kitchen to turn on the coffee maker, and glanced at the thermometer. 40 Degrees!!!!! (F) Forty degrees? No, certainly I must still be asleep….I went back, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and looked again. Yes, 40 degrees. I almost fell over. I absolutely cannot remember the last day it was 40 degrees here.

I broke out my shorts, but thinking better of it, put them away and settled on a pair of unlined corduroys, and a light weight top, and when I went out later on to see my friend Tracey, I wore a light weight jacket!

Ah, how wonderful it is to have this warmth at the beginning of February!

Our town is full of fishing enthusiasts, as we were celebrating “The Ice Fishing Derby”. It’s an annual event, where crazy people, dress in several layers of clothes, cut a circular hole into the ice on the big lake, and fish. Some people bring their “Bob Houses” where every creature comfort can be found, be it a stove, a bed, TV or this year, a hot tub!

Click here to view a slide show of the Bob Houses.

As I drove with Arnie to my friend’s home, we saw all sorts of “manly” types walking down the street carrying buckets of bait, and coolers full of their favorite adult beverage.

I had a nice visit with Tracey and her three children, while Arnie played with her little pug dog. It had been far too long since I had spent time with her, and it was so nice to visit.

Arnie and I arrived home in time to make lunch and then work at vacuuming up Fritz hair. Here we are in the middle of the winter, and my shepherd is shedding like it is spring! The Ground Hog may have seen his shadow, indicating six more weeks of winter, but he forgot to tell Fritz!

As the day wore on, the wind picked up and a cold front moved through. We had both rain and snow, but nothing that really amounted to much. In the end, tonight we have the loveliest full moon and the clearest of skies.

Anneliese posed for me so I could show you all how much melting we had, as well as the beautiful moon!

Have a good week everyone!

Another Day

We were up early today and I decided to bite the bullet and try to ski again. I told Hubby I would do this on one condition: that if I needed to stop he would not say one word.

I actually skied well. Four good runs on difficult trails before I stopped. Why did I stop? Well, I got tired. Although the conditions were really much better than they were yesterday, they still required a lot of work on my part and I got tired!

So after the four runs I skied down and told Hubby to ski until he was ready to go. Which he did.

We went for lunch, stopped to get the car washed (the salt is terrible on the roads!) and then came home.

Bright spot of the day was doing something I thought was sort of funny. It went like this.

When I arrived at the ski lodge it was mobbed with middle school kids, who were there for races. I found a couple of seats and started to sit down. This busy body type of lady hurried over and told me that the seat I was in was already taken. I looked at her and then at the hordes of kids mulling around the lodge and I said: “Look, I know I can’t take out all of those kids to get a seat, but I know one thing, I can take out you!”

Poor thing. I think I scared her. I smiled and told her I was just joking. A moment later a woman walked up, a friend of hers and it turned out that I knew the woman! We all talked and there was plenty of room for not just me, but for the woman’s friends and Hubby as well to get our ski gear on.

It’s Still Snowing….

As of 8 PM on Wednesday night, it is still snowing. I’m guessing that we are closing in on a foot of snow, but it’s only a guess. All I do know is that when I let Anneliese out about a half an hour ago she went from the shoveled path and jumped into the snow and disappeared! So, yes, it’s deep!

None of the dogs would pose for me. Right now they all run out and run back as quickly as they can. It’s cold and wet and deep snow and they just don’t want any part of it!

As you can see by the doggy foot prints, they do run out to their little zone, and then back.

Hubby is feeling well enough to push along the snow blower so he is out clearing snow.

As you can see he is doing a great job, but I have to tell you, when I took the picture, I scared the heck out of him!

So the snow is continuing, and I think their predictions of 15 inches is probably pretty accurate. I’ll update in the morning when the storm totals are in.

Fffffreeezing!

Okay, it’s cold.

Friday morning 7 AM temperature, -18 degrees (F) !!!!

This is the part of the winter that I just don’t like. The frozen part. We’re having temperatures well before zero (F) and everything has that dry, crunchy feeling that comes with these temperatures.

Of course it’s great for the lakes. It means that our annual Ice Fishing Derby in February will probably go off without a hitch because the ice will surely be thick enough.

It also means that the dogs, even Fritz run in and out to do their business. No one is out for too long. Me either. I’ve had to go out for the mail and a doctor’s appointment, and trust me when I say that I was well gloved, coated and hatted, and went from house to post office to car as quickly as I could!

Tonight my hands feel cold even though I’m sitting here in my skiing, super warm, long johns and a fleece robe, two pairs of socks and have a blanket over my knees!

It’s not that the house is all that cold, it isn’t really, but my body seems to react to the cold in strange ways even if I am sitting in a warm place!

They are predicting this cold for the next few days. I guess that means I will be going out for short intervals and dressing for it.

Sheesh! Here I work at losing all this weight and in order to dress warmly enough now, I have to put on so many layers that it makes me look like I did a year ago!

Come on Springtime!!!

Dogs, Cameras & More

Last night was a cold, clear night and when I went out with Anneliese I saw the moon and how beautiful it looked. Many of you know how to take great night pictures with your cameras, but I have never had much luck. Until now. Remember I bought Hubby a new camera for Christmas? Well, I’m having a great time with it….and it takes great night shots easily!

Anneliese watched me quite intently.

During the day today I practiced a little more with it and both Anneliese and Arnie were great models.

Anneliese loves to dig in the snow and sometimes tunnel underneath.

You see how Arnie was able to get the snow just so on his beard so that he looks simply adorable!

I was able to get out to the grocery store today and get the last few things I need before the next snow storm, which is forecast for tomorrow.

Hubby is doing well. We’ve been watching movies, and reruns of NCIS and keeping busy. One movie we watched was “True Grit” with John Wayne. That was a great movie, with fabulous cinematography.

It looks like tomorrow I will have to conquer the recycling center. It’s not my favorite place to go, but I think I should get the trash dumped before the snow comes.

Wish me luck!

Frozen Toes

It’s been very cold here in New Hampshire the last few days. It’s been near 0 degrees (F), with high winds. I think Hubby said that our wind chill this morning was minus 52 degrees (F!). Yeah, that’s cold.

We’ve had fires in the hearth and dressed warmly, but the tough part are the dogs. Now I have little doggy sweaters for them, but the problem is that they go running around and their feet get frozen!

This morning Anneliese went running around and suddenly she stopped and looked at the house. Panic filled her little face. She lifted one front paw and held it in the air.

Frozen!

So I went outside and picked her up and carried her shaking body inside. I cuddled her close and waited for the shaking to stop. Five minutes later, she wanted to go outside again. The girl is crazy!

It warmed up as the day progressed. A heatwave, as it got up to 22 degrees! However, once the sun went down, so did the temperature!

Yes, it is winter. Now that I have put away all my Christmas decorations, it just looks like a cold and gray winter day.

**sigh**

Pfffft!

We have had 2 feet of snow in the last few days. Yep, that’s 24 inches of the wet white stuff. Normally this isn’t a big problem for us. Hubby goes out and plows at various intervals, keeping our driveway clear and safe and easily navigable.

However, our big, fabulous, snow blower died the other day, leaving Hubby with a much smaller, and less effective blower to do the drive. Needless to say, the driveway is not pristine, and is not easily navigable without 4 wheel drive.

I’ve told Hubby to go and buy a newer one so that once the good one comes back from the shop, but he can use that one and I can use the one he will buy now.

But…..he hates the thought of spending money. I told him that if this winter is like last winter we better get the machine.

For those that do not recall, my driveway is 500 feet long and to get to my house it is all down hill. Naturally this means that to get out of here you have to drive 500 feet up hill under somewhat treacherous conditions!

Tomorrow he will blow the driveway again with the older machine. You see besides the 24 inches of snow that we got, we’ve also had 36 mile an hour winds blowing this stuff around.

I do love winter, but I like it best when all the machines are working, making the clean up easier to deal with.

Are you ready for Christmas??