Planting & Ice Out

Yesterday, I was truly amazed at the lake in front of our house. It appeared to have small rivers running between the ice, but when I walked down to the beach to look and take some pictures, this is what I found.

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Can you see the ice? There were these really odd icicles in between each chunk of ice. Here is a close up.

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It was cold and windy and I didn’t stay out too long. I walked back up the hill to our house, and thought, perhaps I would snap a picture.

Friday the sun was out and it was a much nicer day! I decided to put on my crummy jeans and sweat-shirt and do some spring stuff.

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Since there was no snow left in the yard, that meant one thing for me…time to plant my seeds for the garden! So, out to the green house I went, to clean it out, working planting seeds, and then clean it all up again!

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Our weather was beautiful and it was actually the perfect day for working in the green house. Our temperatures reached 60 degrees. I so enjoyed the sunshine and watching the effect that it had on our lake. By nightfall we had finally had ice out on our own little lake here in Dackel Princess Land!

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Monday, Monday

We woke up on Monday to round three of snow! It seems we just get paths dug for the dackels, when it snows and we have to do it all over again. This has been a bad weekend for snow and then  we started the week with another storm. At least this one didn’t drop as much snow. They were forecasting 4-6 inches, but I think we only got 2 this time.

A short movie that I filmed on Monday morning.

Feb 28 Snow from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

Hubby arrived home after going skiing in the morning and he casually mentioned that the car slid off the road into a snow bank. He was not phased by this, in fact he was rather pleased that several people stopped to help push him out of the snow bank.

While he was off skiing I worked washing cabinets. Definitely not glamor work, but a real necessity. In fact, I found a place on the stove top hood, that was a bit neglected, so I took the time to scrub that out.

Anneliese has just about 5 or 6 days left of her heat and then she will be all over it. I can hardly wait. Last night it was a real challenge to keep Arnie and his sister apart!

I was also thrilled to death with most of the Oscar Awards. I love Colin Firth, The Kings Speech was phenomenal, and Christian Slater Bale, well he may be one of the finest actors of our time. I do like Melissa Leo, but felt, like almost everyone else in the world, that she should not have used the F-bomb during her acceptance speech. I mean, after all, in the top four categories of Best Actors, there wasn’t any surprises now, were there.

Now we, the movie audiences of the world, can go back to our regular viewing, wondering, who might give us a stellar performance next year!

For The Love Of Bogart

(And Arnie too!)

Currently we have five dogs. Later today, Bogart’s Mommy and Daddy will be coming to pick him up and whisk him off to his home. I am going to miss him. What a nice little guy he is. After the first 24 hours, where Arnie really had his nose out of joint, everything settled down and the gang started to really get along. There has not been one incident with any of the dogs, but there have been some really funny things happen.

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Bogart

Bogart is a lick-er. And he loves to lick those he loves. He especially LOVES Fritz. Oh my goodness to watch the two of them is hilarious! Fritz will be sitting there and Bogey jumps up kissing his face with such love, and Fritz just accepts it.

If Fritz is outside and Bogart sees him through the door, he will stand at the door and lick the glass! He will also fuss and whine until we let Fritz back in.

Anneliese will sit cuddled up with Bogart, or if they are outside she will run after him, or he will run after her, but they are both moving fast, chasing each other!

Grandma Greta, also started playing around with Bogart. It seems he accepts that she is the Alpha Dog in the pack and so she has decided it is okay to play with him. Honest to goodness it is so cute to watch!

And then there is Arnie.

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He still gives Bogart a wide berth, and I have seen that look in his eye that tells me that in some ways Arnie feels unloved. You know he enjoys being the only “boy” dog in the house,  (read un-neutered) and since he has had to share the space with another “boy” he has felt very much like his place is being taken in the pack. I’ve spent a lot of time stroking Arnie and telling him it will be okay.

Bogey has adjusted quite well. I think he remembers the house, and well, there is no convincing me that he doesn’t  remember Hubby and me. In fact when I get him up in the morning he just covers my face with kisses, and then he races to Hubby and greets him the same way when he gets up.

Yes, we’re going to miss Bogart when he leaves us. Perhaps he’ll come and visit again in the future.

Friday Fill-Ins

Friday Fill-Ins

So…here we go!

1. Why does Christmas come so close to Thanksgiving? I mean, these great eating holidays are murder on my diet.

2.Before I die I want to see the world.

3. Thank you for all the blessings in my life, dear Lord.

4. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because I love cooking all of my favorite dishes.

5. I am SO thankful that there is a God in Heaven.

6. I think we can be what ever or do what ever and become whom ever we make up our minds to be.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to putting up my feet and relaxing, tomorrow my plans include a trip to the grocery shop and Sunday, I want to read the newspaper and make my grocery list for Thanksgiving. It will only be Hubby and me, but I still plan to cook a full meal for the two of us, with all the trimmings!!

Friday Fill-Ins are sponsored by my cousin Janet. Come on and join the fun!

Bogart

I’m having a really good time! My grand-puppy, Bogart arrived on Thursday for a visit. He is a year and a half old and still full of puppy impishness! The first moments after he arrived were a bit tense. Arnie was not at all sure he wanted another male dog in the house (He does not regard Fritz as a boy, as Fritz has been altered.), and the barking and posturing were really something else. Greta and Anneliese seemed to accept him a lot more easily

After about an hour the barking stopped, but not the suspicious glances that Arnie cast  toward Bogart. But as the evening progressed, the boys settled down and eventually they curled up and slept.

On Friday, Arnie was still giving Bogart a wide birth, but Anneliese seemed to remember her son, and she began to play with him. At one point she say down on the sofa and I caught her kissing his ears.

Bogey knows where he is. Funny, that. He went out to the puppy room and sniffed around, as if looking for his brother and sisters. He is affectionate with both Hubby and me.

Currently he is on his little bed asleep, next to Fritz. Oh yes, he adores Fritz! He follows him around, showers him with kisses and sleeps cuddled next to him.

As you can see by his smile, he is settling in.

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And, like the other three dackels, he enjoys looking out the windows at the lake, the birds and our neighbors cat!

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I just love the way he stands up to look out the window. Just too cute!

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It’s hard to believe that this is the same baby that I delivered a year and a half ago. Remember when he looked like this?

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And this.

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Now he is all grown up and even cuter, don’t you think?

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Mama Anneliese

I was on cloud nine all day on Monday! Anneliese is pregnant, still not sure how many, but she is pregnant! I am so happy! Now we start getting ready for the birth in August. Her due date will be approximately on August 5th or 6th.

I can now look at Anneliese and enjoy her beautiful belly! I can look at her and smile, dreaming of how many babies she just might have in there.

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In a few weeks I will have the x-rays done to see how many are in there, but in another 10 days they’ll repeat the ultrasound.

Meanwhile, we will increase her food, just a bit. Each day I want to take her on a walk, just her and me, around the neighborhood, so that she can stay in shape. I’ve been in touch with Makenna and she is all ready to help keeping Anneliese is shape and of course helping with the puppies afterward.

One thing I want to do this time, is to take more birth pictures. Last time I only got pictures of the first puppy’s birth, so now I would like to play around a little and photograph more.

So much to look forward to!


It’s Official!

I took Anneliese in this noontime and they did the ultrasound and she is, indeed pregnant! I saw extremely tiny fetuses with even tinier beating hearts! It was too sweet! Here is a picture of what a fetus looks like at this stage of the game. This is just for demonstration purposes.

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If you’d like to see a short video of a canine fetus at this stage follow this link and you will see a great, short video!

We’ll be going back in 10 days to take another look and find out if we can determine how many pups she actually has in there.

All I can say is Yay, Yay, Yay!!!!!!!

Happy First Birthday!

I cannot believe it is the first birthday for Anneliese’s litter of pups. Baron, Bogey, Baerbel and Ali (aka Birgit)! It seems like just yesterday that they were born!

I put together a montage showing them from birth onward. I hope you enjoy it, as much as I enjoyed making it!

Happy Birthday, Babies! Grandma loves you!!!

Happy First Birthday Puppies from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

Sunday

Sunday was the Taste Of The Lakes in a neighboring town. I’d purchased tickets for Hubby and me, and we met up with our friends, Laurie and Peter as well as a few other couples and secured a nice table…near the food!

This is the local chapter of Altrusa Internationale’s biggest fund raiser. Altrusa is an organization of Women (men too, in some areas) who work to better there community. I became drawn to Altrusa about 6 months ago, when I realized that it was time for me to give back to my town and the people in it.

So, today was the big event. Recently, Hubby and I have been saving our money, so we have not gone out much. To have two “dates” with him in one week was more than special!

I got all dressed up, did my hair and make-up and even wore the dreaded panty-hose! I put on a pair that have been in my dresser, like forever, and put them on. Then I stood there laughing. You see these were hose from before Weight Watchers and they were so big that they immediately started to fall south! No video of this exists, you will just have to trust me on this. It was funny!

Dress on, hair done, I went in and did my make-up. In my younger days, a tiny bit of blush, lip gloss and mascara and I was good to go. Now I all but use a putty knife to apple the make-up, for that young and “natural” look!

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We drove over the the event, and then walked to the door. It was quite a long walk and my feet, jammed into high heels that I never wear, groaned with each step. How do working women do it, wearing heels like this every day? All I wanted was my slippers! Heck, I would have taken a pair of sneakers!

Okay, back to the event. We entered with Peter and Laurie and selected a table. Then began 2 hours of grazing.

Here is Kevin’s Cafe. Naturally I spoke with them and enjoyed the best crab cake ever. It was just loaded with crab!

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You can see people moving around the different stations checking out the food!

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These people had Bruchetta and it was fabulous!

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This was Canoe and they served plain macaroni and cheese and meatballs, as well a cheesecake and toffee bars for dessert.

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One restaurant had Oysters. Hubby had several of those!

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Stuffed mushrooms!

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Wonderful Jamaican coffee was served there.

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And before I forget, these four gentlemen sang to us during the event. They sang Barber Shop Quartet songs! It made me think of my Grandfather Stevens who took me to hear the Barber Shop Quartet sing at the Prudential Center in Boston. I was a very little girl, as I remember sitting on his knees.

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After grazing for 2 hours we all headed out to get our cars and come home. The dackels were thrilled to see us, and I fed them quickly and we walked them. Then I sat down to write, but got interrupted again.

Baron’s owner called to tell me what a great guy Baron is.

Baron

He is Anneliese’s son, and looks the most like her, I think. I had a wonderful visit with him, before hanging it up and talking to my sister.

Busy, fabulous wonderful day! How was your Sunday?

Friday Happenings in New Hampshire!

I was up really early today. After a restless night sleep, the dogs woke me and I found myself outside in 15 degree temperatures at 6 AM. Somehow it didn’t seem so bad. I was awake, so why not.

Hubby went skiing for the fourth day in the row. This left me here alone with the dogs, and with many errands to do. So about 10:30 Bogey and I got in the Jeep and off we went to pick up the dry cleaning, and go to the bank. Lucky Bogey got a bone at the bank, and unfortunately my dry cleaning wasn’t ready, so that was a big waste of time.

We hit the Post office and my new bathing suit arrived from Lands End. It’s sky blue, and was dirt cheap as it was last years model. I got three pieces for $20.00! It looks pretty good on me, and will look even better when I get back to my goal weight.

Hubby arrived home in time for lunch and I served him homemade chili and fresh from the oven corn bread, also homemade! Yeah, I spoil him, just a little!

At three, I slipped out to the dry cleaners and picked it all up. Well, everything but my blouse which still isn’t repaired. It needs a new zipper and apparently has a weird size one. So next week it will be back.

We had the pups out again today playing. Boy, do they have fun together! They run and run and play and it is a wonderful thing.

Mother and Son Playing from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

Today I can tell you that Greta, Arnie and Anneliese all played with the young boy, Bogey! Even Fritz payed attention to him and even chased him around a bit.

We have today to enjoy Bogey, as his parents come home on Sunday and will whisk him away. I think we will all miss the little guy!