The End Of The Week

Hubby and I are unhappy to announce that the cherries on our trees all rotted! Yes, because we have had such terrible wet weather, the poor cherries didn’t stand a chance. They started to redden, and then turned soft and brown and so rotten that even the the birds didn’t want them!

Meanwhile, we picked our first cucumbers today. 2 slicers and 3 picklers. I think that Hubby should make his German Cucumber Salad.

With the vast amount of rain that we have had, the bees have not been doing their work, and the garden is not overflowing as it usually is! Hopefully the rain will subside a bit and once again I will be complaining about too much zucchini and summer squash!

After nearly ten years of life, guess who has discovered ice cream? Fritz! He absolutely loves vanilla ice cream! Since I only give him a little (people ice cream isn’t good for him), I plan to get the doggy ice cream for his birthday on July 26th! After all, a ten year old doggy deserves what ever he wants!

Our Boy Fritz

There are the days in the life of your dog, where you celebrate all the little things in their life. For us, with Fritz, it was when we got his first baby picture.

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We just fell in love with his little face and his fluffy white fur. I remember we could hardly wait to go and get him when he was eight weeks old.

Hubby flew out to Oregon then, and brought back our little bundle. He seemed to do well on the trip to his new home, riding in first class.

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I remember when they reached us and I got my first chance to hold him. It was a milestone in his little life and mine.

Mom and baby Fritz

I taught him to do his business outside. We went to class so Fritz could learn all about being a well mannered dog. He did so well graduating at the top of his class.

He became Hubby’s shadow, and followed him all around, even into the woods and down to our favorite lake, where he learned to swim and fetch sticks!

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Or help him with our garden.

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He has been a marvelous dog, with so much warmth and sensitivity. I think, perhaps the best White Shepherd that we have ever had. Not only is he handsome, and perfect in every way, but we both fell hopelessly in love with him.

Fritz

I think this is why we are both having such a hard time watching Fritz slowly descend away from us with canine dementia.

He wanders off, and we now have to watch him very carefully. Where once, he would not leave Hubby’s side, he will disappear. In the evening, when we settle in to watch TV, he used to lie on his doggy bed and sleep, waiting for me to go to bed. Now, he finds the smallest place possible and hides away in there.

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But for now, we will hold him, love him and care for him, until his time comes to leave us. It is so difficult, this long good bye, but then I think back to all the wonderful memories that we have shared, and being here for Fritz in his golden years is the least we can do, for a doggy that has given us so much.

Friday, Fritz and Savannah Rose

Fritz was off to the Vet on Thursday for his shots. I decided to try a new Vet. A real country doc. who works out of her house. We really liked her and so did Fritz. Best of all, she realizes that people love their animals but shouldn’t have to chose between caring for their pets or buying food. He had his exam done and his shots, and the total was $77.00!

Right now New Hampshire is in full bloom. Going over to the new Vets office afforded us the opportunity to enjoy the forsythia, the dogwood, and all the fruit trees as well.What a splendid ride!

Usually Autumn is my favorite time of year, but for some reason, this spring has been wonderful!

Perhaps it is because in just a couple of weeks Miss Savannah Rose will be a year old!

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What a joy she is in my life. A real blessing!

This & That Friday

On Thursday my Internet Connection was mostly down. We’ve been having problems with the connection for a few weeks. We’ve had two house calls now and hopefully this time they have it. If not, they will have to dig up the line and replace it. A really big deal!

Today I decided it was time for me to go out alone. Just a quick trip to the town hall to register cars, and the grocery. Two things became abundantly clear to me during my trip.

  1. I need to work harder each day to present myself. I have really not spent the time I should doing my hair or dressing or anything. No, I have not become a Walmart dresser wearing pajama bottoms and hoodies that say “Whose Ya Baby” on the back, but I can do better.
  2. I need to find a good, pretty, sunhat that will protect my face from the sun. Today when the sun hit my face when I went from my car to the store, I was amazed at how much the sun bothered my face. But then, that is how I got into this mess isn’t it?

Fritz is doing better and we will bring him in for his doctor’s appointment in a few days. I didn’t feel the need to rush after he literally woke up and was back to normal. I’m still watching him like a hawk, but he does seem to have recovered.

Worry

We’re worried. Fritz is not himself. It started a few weeks back, but it was not too bad. Then over the weekend Fritz began hiding and pacing and nervously trying to get into the smallest place possible in the house.

At lunchtime we let him out for his wee=wee, and usually he goes and comes right back in. But he didn’t. I jumped in my jeep and drove out calling his name. I found him, but away from his safety zone.

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On Monday night when I went to get him in, he back away from me. I stopped and gently called to him and eventually got him in. But he seemed afraid of me.

I’m so afraid for our boy. Fritz will be 10 years old in July. He is definitely a senior citizen. He sleeps more than he did, and isn’t hungry like he used to be, but he has always been in good shape.

Now, not so much. We’ll get him into the Vet’s in the next few days. We’ll see what they say, but we are both afraid for our boy.

What I Did This Past Weekend

Miss Marple 2

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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Well, I think I can safely chalk this weekend up to being one where I cleaned like crazy, expecting guests, only to find that the only ones that are impressed with my hard work are Hubby and me. The guests never called! Ah, that’s okay. At least I am all set, should someone stop in unannounced!

I did not go crazy with cooking, nor did I do a lot of free reading on the Kindle, as I am working to retrain my eyes to track while I read and not get tired.

Let me explain. Do you know that if you do not read for a very long time, your eyes, your mind sort of forgets how to track from one line to the next. It is a little exhausting. I am currently trying to retrain my eyes to do what they are supposed to. In the mean time, I get a little tired and have eye strain after short periods of time reading. It wasn’t anything that the doctors warned me about, as being a side effect of all the surgeries

Meanwhile, the foliage train has started running Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It goes by the house at 11:05 AM and returns at about 3:15 PM. This was Fritz watching the train this morning, holding his blanket in his mouth!

Fritz

Fritz loves that smelly thing. He is the only German Shepherd that I have ever known that had a security blanket!

Fritz actually loves the train, and when it passes our property below, he will run like a Greyhound back and forth on the upper lawn! Boy, is he fast!

Autumn weather has moved in, bringing with it, cool, crisp, air, while the trees turn a marvelous array of colors! Yes, my favorite month of the year has to be October!

Welcome Autumn!

The Memory Of A Shepherd (Fritz is Fine)

Many years ago, nine to be exact, Fritz came to our home as a little white ball of German Shepherd fur. We watched TV and for the most part baby Fritz, ignored what he heard or saw. That was until this commercial for Honda.

Every time it would come on, he would stop, walk over to the TV and listen, tilting his head this way and that.

Eventually, they stopped running that commercial every 30 minutes, and for a couple of years it was gone. Then one day I was on You Tube, and I found it there! I played it in a silent room and he came running over.

Since that day, I play it occasionally and he always comes to listen.

Today, I played it again, after seeing that they were running it in a new campaign, with newer cars. Fritz was asleep on his bed, and he jumped up, ran over and even sang a little.

People say that dogs are stupid. They also say they have no memory. I am here to tell you that those people are full of it!

My dogs, and most dogs, are very smart, and have very long memories.

Whenever I hear that Honda Commercial I will always remember my baby boy, Fritzi!

fritz face

Happy Birthday Fritz!!!

Today is Mr. Fritz’s 9th Birthday! Can you believe that? It seems just the other day that Hubby flew out to Portland, Oregon and brought home our 8 week old bundle of fluffy white puppy fur!

Fritz from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

We’ve always felt blessed to have Fritz. He is simply, the very best White German Shepherd that we have ever had! It’s hard to believe that he is 9 years old.

Dackel Doctor Days

The Dackels went to the Dackel Doctor today for their yearly shots and physicals. I have been waiting for this as I have been working to reduce the weight of both Anneliese and Greta. They were weighed and examined and the three dackels weighed drastically different weights.

Greta was 23 pounds,

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Arnie was 21 pounds

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and Anneliese was 18 pounds.

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The odd thing is that Arnie really is the biggest of the three, the longest for sure, but he has retained his youthful figure! Greta has already told me that she has had two large litters and her “youthful” days are long behind her! Anneliese is just plain perfect! She really is in great shape!

The Doctor and Office Staff were all amazed at Greta and her children. One woman had never seen a wire-haired dachshund, especially ones with such beautiful wild boar, color coats. So it was fun to show them off.

After the Dackel Doctor visit we came back home to a very lonely Fritz. It was not his day to go to the doctors, and so Fritz was “Home Alone” He seemed none the worse for wear, but boy, was he happy to see us!