July 2019 – Page 3 – The Dackel Princess

The Friday Five

Well, here we are at the end of the first week in July. I’ve been busy, busy, busy, but blessedly, the 4th of July arrived and everything calmed down. As we enter the weekend, here are the five things on my mind.

In 1989 when Jack and I lived in West Berlin, we made several trips into East Berlin. There was a wonderful department store in East Berlin that sold some things we needed for the apartment. Our apartment on Lietzenburger Strasse was nice, but we needed some blankets. I found the most perfect summer weight Decke (comforter type blanket, Twin size) and I bought two. I have used them almost every day since then.

(Jack sitting on the bed with the dogs. The two Decke’s can be seen under him and the dogs. But now they are in tatters, having been well used and well loved over 30 years! I am now on the hunt for just the right duvet and duvet cover for my bed. My daughter directed me the right way for the duvet, but now I need to select the duvet cover.
Thursday was very hot. nearly 100 in the shade and over 100 degrees in the sun. It’s a tad humid too. I turned the air conditioning on early, and then watched Wimbledon Tennis!
I have managed to stay up to date with my housework, bills, etc. Despite my PT being painful at first, I have turned it around and feel so much better now.
I was able to get New England Sea Scallops, and last night I made Seared Scallops for dinner. Wow! Was that fabulous!
Lili is going to the Groomers today for a wash and blow dry! She is a handful and it is so much easier to get our pleasant young Groomer to take care of it for us.

Have a great weekend everyone!

New Feeders On The 4th!

After a couple of weeks of watching the larger, somewhat meaner birds eat all the suet feed in my feeders, I bought two, small bird feeders, for small birds.

These have a little roof on them which overhangs the feeder and feed, with no place for the larger birds to sit on top of the feeder and empty it!

The smaller songbirds can feed and the larger ones will go elsewhere. At least eventually they will.

This morning they are out there trying to figure out a way of getting to the feeder and they are having no luck!

Meanwhile, the Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Baltimore Orioles, Cardinals, and some other birds, that I have yet to identify, are out there having a good old time.

It’s not that I am a mean bird feeder, it’s just that when you have grackles and crows coming and emptying a feeder in 20 minutes, something has to change!

So I am very happy on this 4th of July to watch my little friends enjoying the feed.

Oh yes, the window reflectors are on the way! Safety above all else!

Physical Therapy & Agony!

I wish I was one of those strong people who could go to Physical Therapy and be very brave. However, my therapy is rather different from most, as I am having Dry Needle Therapy to get my muscles to contract and release.

This therapy is painful and I found that Tuesday’s therapy knocked me on my…bottom! Wow! It really hurt.

I called Jack on my way home and told him I would arrive at 2:20 and he should have a stiff drink ready for me. Which he did.

Every time I stopped to relate my experience and pain, he stopped me and told me to drink more.

After that, I took an hour-long nap. And when I woke I was feeling okay. Just okay.

Dinner is frozen lasagna for Jack and Cauliflower Pizza for me. All easy peasy.

I’m working hard with the Physical Therapist because I want to be well. I want my pain level down below 4. I want my life back.

I hope that by tomorrow morning (Wednesday) I will be feeling worlds better.

Fingers crossed!

In Memorium of Starling

After several weeks of feeding the birds, and enjoying them more than I can tell you, there was a death on our yard.

Some of the larger birds at the feeder.

Yes, a cute little Starling flew into the sliding glass doors, more than likely to get away from a larger bird. But the end result was a thud on our sliding glass door.

I jumped to my feet and raced to the door and I could see the little birdie still alive. I grabbed my gloves and went out to see if I could save him the way I had to save Woody Woodpecker a few weeks before.

Unfortunately, Starling had broken her neck. As I carefully picked her up, she was struggling for breath. I carefully stroked her and spoke to her until she breathed her last.

Then I came inside and cried. I asked Jack to bury her little body. Which he did. While I went on the computer and ordered Bird Stickers for the windows.

Meanwhile, I have put stuff in the windows to prevent further deaths in my yard. But I am so sad to have lost little Starling.

Clogs

I tend to over keep things. That being said, Sunday, while doing some cleaning, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my toe like I had stepped on a shard of glass!

I immediately stopped what I was doing, took off my 10-year-old clog, that I use as a slipper, and checked the sock and then the clog. Yep, inside the clog, coming up through the sole of the shoe, was a thin nail! Now, this wasn’t anything I had stepped on, it was actually from the construction of the clog! I attempted to get it out, but while trying to do this, I noted the holes and tears of the inside and I finally admitted to myself…”This clog must go!”

That is actually two pairs of clogs I have ditched today. A record for me, because I keep shoes forever! Really. I hate to break in shoes and my Merrell shoes and clogs last me for years.

The new clogs.

Fortunately, last winter, there had been a sale on Merrell Clogs on Amazon and I selected a pair that I would use as slippers. So it is not like I am shoeless.

Still, I’m sad to say goodbye to those shoes. I say this as I am putting a band-aid on my toe to stop the bleeding! Darn clog!