New Years and Friendly Faces

Is anyone else, sort of having trouble, regulating your celebration clock? I mean Christmas Eve was on a Wednesday. Christmas Day on Thursday, Then we had  what felt like a long weekend.

New Years rolled around, and New Years Eve was also on a Wednesday, with New Years Day being Thursday. So both weekends I went around feeling like Monday should be right around the corner, but today was Saturday, all day long.

It’s not that I mind. But, it just feels strange.

The New Year began, and I’ve wanted to get started on all my resolutions, but it just doesn’t quite feel like we started a New Year. Does that make sense?

Meanwhile, today there was a knock on my door. There stood Jacqui! She is one of my kids. You see when we moved here 15 years ago, I sort of collected kids from the neighborhood. They came to learn to cook, to play with the dogs, to make stews, jams and jellies. Two of the little ones we even taught to read.

Well, Jacqui is all grown up and will be graduating from school in June. It was wonderful to see her! Here is a picture from when Jacqui was a little girl, with baby Anneliese!

Oct 13 012

I Have Never Heard!

The last few time I have dried clothes in the dryer, I have come up with these stains on my clothing. Not all of it, and not every piece, but enough that I was getting concerned.

So, how do you clean a dryer?

That was my big question. Fortunately, my friend, Gail called em and I asked her. She, it turned out, has had this problem before and she was able to guide me through the cleaning process.

  1. Get a bottle of Goo-Gone. Which I already had.
  2. Spray a paper towel and have it lie on the shelf parts of the drier and in my case I also sprayed this on the back, where I could see the brown grime.
  3. Walk away for 20 minutes.
  4. Come back and wipe it down with clean clothes.
  5. Take wet clothes and a bucket of warm water and keep wiping until all the soap is out of the dryer.
  6. Take some old kitchen rags and wet them, ring them out and toss in the dryer.
  7. Tada! Done!!!

I am so pleased with the results and will probably need to do this every six months. The machine is 13 years old and just not working as well as it should, and yes, it definitely needed a good cleaning.

Saturday Scavenger Photo

PSHunt
Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

LOST

Katie
Kathleen Alynne, November 8, 1978-June 19, 1985

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would it be the same
If I saw you in heaven?

Would you hold my hand
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you help me stand
If I saw you in heaven?

I must be strong
And carry on,
‘Cause I know I don’t belong
Here in heaven.

This is my daughter, Katie. She passed away and I lost her when she was 6 years old. Her loss was the greatest I have ever suffered. She was a bright and beautiful child with a sunny personality, and she was loved by all.



Saturday Scavenger Photo

PSHunt
Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.


Sleeping

Shubi was the funniest dog I ever had. From day one she wanted to sleep. While other puppies were running around, chewing and getting into trouble, there was Shubi, always ready for a nap. We all still miss our little sleeper. Here are some of our favorite pictures of her.


shubi and greta 002
Shubi and baby Greta when Greta first arrived from Germany. Shubi was such a good mother to Greta.

love
Me with baby Shubi. She was my little snuggle bunny, and the best nap taker a girl could have.

P2140003
Hubby and Shubi. One of my favorite pictures.


The Dog Days Of Summer

You all probably think I pose Greta in these pictures. Truly, I don’t. Greta is such a ham, that we now keep our digital cameras all over the place to catch her every move, (or non move).




Today it was her stuffed basketball. She dragged this thing all over the house and then settled it up on the chair where she could snuggle it. This thing is larger than she is!




She finally fell asleep with this ball and once again I caught her with the camera.


Later in the day, Lily, an eight month old White German Shepherd, female came to visit us. She is a little smaller than Fritz and just a tad on the apricot side, but she is the sweetest little girl and I would have kept her in a heartbeat!



Fritz, Greta and Lily


The dogs played and played and got along so well. The funniest episode occurred when Greta was chasing the two big shepherds! That girl has no fear!



Fritz and Lily


I was amazed at how well all the dogs got along. There are times dogs will be snappy with each other, or not want to share their toys. This was not the case. All the dogs shared, and seemed to enjoy each other.



Two beautiful dogs


Sadly it soon was time for Lily and her owner to leave us. The two beautiful shepherds stood, one last time for a picture. What regal beasts they are!


Lily and Fritz

The Dogs Paddle!!!

Yesterday we took the dogs swimming. Fritz is a natural. He will swim out to chase a stick, and he looks so relaxed, that his effortless strokes leaves you amazed at his talent! I was watching him as he swam back to shore and I swear I could see him smiling!


Greta is our biggest surprise. The first year we had her, she hated the water. I despaired that she would ever get used to it. Then last summer we were at the lake playing fetch with Fritz and Shubi, when Greta just jumped in and started to chase the stick as well.
Last night Greta was swimming with delight. Seeing as she is so small, she really has to work at swimming the dog paddle, but she is so happy and just loves to swim that it makes watching her a pleasure.

I would throw Fritz’s stick first and off he would go. Greta would start after Fritz’s stick making the cutest noises of excitement, and I would toss in her stick.
At one point I had tossed her stick and she ignored it. I thought maybe she hadn’t seen it, but she swam right over to Fritz and took the stick out of his mouth!
Even when this girl is in over her head she runs the show!
The funniest thing is, people notice Fritz and not Greta. He is large, white and beautiful and one boy asked if he was a wolf? Once I assured him that Fritz wasn’t a wolf, then he wanted to pat him.
Another person was surprised that Fritz was a German Shepherd and asked if he was a full blooded one. I smiled and said yes. It’s always amazing to me that people still don’t know that there are white shepherds!
Greta doesn’t mind that Fritz was getting all the attention. She is very secure in the fact that she is the most beautiful dog, the most talented dog on the beach.
They both came home after their swims and happily collapsed.