The Dackel Princess

Happy Tuesday!

As Springtime arrives we here in New Hampshire are dealing with “Mud Season”. Many driveways and back roads are becoming impassable. Cars sink up to their axels. And cars at the store are just plain muddy.

I take the two girls out for walks and almost every time we get back, one or the other or both are covered in mud.

My darling Heidi.

Monday found Heidi feeling a little bit off her game. She was tired and clingy and just wanted her Mama. I was worried. But after a three-hour nap, she was back to her crazy puppy antics!

Happy Tuesday!

The Friday Five ~ March 18th

This week found me thinking about the past. Oh, I didn’t dwell, but I spent time recalling happy times. sad times, and times when I found great growth in life. So, it was a good week all in all.

So, here is this week’s Friday Five.

It’s Spring and we are having a lot of melting. Our puddles have puddles and everything is muddy and gross. Of course, Heidi thinks this is so much fun and tried to eat the mud!
I was walking the dogs in the yard today and I slipped and fell. While getting up I noted I was wet, muddy, and slightly yucky. The dogs were so impressed. I swear they wanted me to “do it again!”
I have been slow cooking the corned beef all day. I just added the celery and cabbage to the corned beef pot and the carrots, potatoes, and onions are prepped and ready to go.
Lili had a great birthday.

She had her usual crunchie food, but today I gave her some poached chicken on top. Happy 8th Birthday to my love.
Heidi is growing by leaps and bounds. She is sixteen pounds now, and such a beautiful girl. She is also my love. I scoop her up in my arms and snuggle her and then I thank God for sending me this cherished girl.
Yes, I am a lucky doggy Mama. Lili and Heidi are such wonderful companions!

Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy the time no matter where you are!

And Just Like That…Spring

I am not quite ready to believe that we are finished with snow for this year. I recall a time in 1977 while living in Ayer, Massachusetts we actually had a huge storm that dropped nearly a foot of snow where we lived. The power was out and the Spring flowers were covered in heavy wet snow.

Amanda was a baby and with no electricity, it was a challenge.

My yard a few years back.

So yes, I am cautious about counting my Spring Days much before May 31st!

We’re having lovely puddles of melting. Heidi dislikes that, but she wanted to go and see our neighbors which required her to ford the puddles. I wish you all could have seen that!

Currently, she is asleep between my knees as she is spent from having to wade through the puddles!

And lastly, today is Lili’s 8th Birthday. This is amazing as she is still acting like a silly puppy!

Now she has a playmate, although one who is much craftier than she is!

Happy Birthday, Lili!

Heidi, Sweet Heidi!

Heidi is growing up by leaps and bounds. I have to say, she is a really wonderful dog and I am blessed to have her.

Now here is a little thing that she does that I find incredibly cute. When I am sitting in my recliner she comes up the steps and sits looking at me until I move my laptop, magazine, or writing table off my lap. Once that is done she hops between my knees and goes to sleep.

Isn’t she cute?

Over and over she lets me know that the space between my knees is just for her.

Heidi’s favorite spot!

It cracks me up and makes me smile every time. Once she gets into the spot, she goes right to sleep.

At almost 22 weeks she is, for the most part, house trained. She will go to the door and woof when the time is right!

You know, Heidi has got to be the sweetest little puppy ever. She is filling up my life and making me feel very loved. It is why I love this breed so very much. They are funny and warm and loving!

What more could a girl want?

The Friday Five ~ March 11th

Here we are. The end of the first full week of March. We seem to be stuck between a nice Spring and more Winter! So, here we go, this Week’s Friday Five.

Yesterday I got into the Hylander and turned the key. The battery was so flat that I didn’t even get a buzz from putting the key in the ignition. I looked up and remembered I had turned the interior light on to find something and forgotten to turn it off! Shoot! I told Jack, apologizing all over the place and admitting my fallibility. He was fine. We hooked up the battery charger and I took the other car. I just hate doing silly things like that!
Lili slipped on the icy snow the other day and turned her front paw ankle. She’s been stumbling around a bit, but today seems better.
Jack left the gate open to the other half of the house the other night. Lili woke me and I got up because I didn’t see Heidi.
Heidi, who is now 21 weeks old.

I got to the hallway and looked down, and there she was, standing in the middle of the hallway with a toy looking full of mischief! It took me two walks around the yard before I could settle her back to sleep. All of this taking place at 3 in the morning!
This morning I loaded up the Hylander with all our trash, and recyclables and hit the Recycling Center. I was lucky. There were not too many people and I went through quickly. I am still amazed at how much cardboard I had to bring! But then, I do not go to retail stores anymore. I pretty much shop online.
I was due to go and see my grandchildren on Saturday, but once again we are supposed to have a storm. I will be so glad when this winter is over.

+1. Gasoline in Meredith is $4.25 a gallon this morning. Heating oil is $5.35 a gallon. Many people do not realize that there are many of us that heat with oil. We will be spending over $3000.00 this winter to heat our home. And that is keeping the house at approximately 68 degrees.

+2. I say, “Drill, Baby, Drill!” Let’s use our own petroleum products and get back to producing what we need. Independence from foreign producers is a freedom we all deserve! We had it once…

This & That ~ March 10th

The last few days I have been pretty busy. I’m so anxious for Spring to arrive and I have actually enjoyed the pouring rain we had at the start of the week, which washed away a lot of the snow.

However, we had a dramatic drop in temperature, and everything turned to ice. Some you could see and some were invisible. It was the invisible ice that got me on Tuesday morning and found me falling down like a sack of potatoes.

Lili and Heidi were with me and both ran over to me, covering me with kisses lest I be seriously injured! I wasn’t, but my gosh, I sure felt all of my 63 years.

I’ve had the Spring Cleaning bug and I’ve been trying to get things washed down and cleaned. My next big step is to take down the curtains and give them a good wash.

Heidi is a real character, and this morning she was posing in the funniest ways. The first was looking up at me.

And the second was taken as she slept in her favorite spot. On my chair between my knees!

As you can see in this picture, the poor baby has no toys! LOL!

I have binge-watched “Sex and the City”. I somehow never watched it the first time around and now in my geriatric years decided to give it a shot.

I nearly stopped watching the first two seasons, but then I got caught up in the growing up of Carrie and her friends. I’ve now gone all through the TV, both movies and the revival. And I actually can say I liked it.

Now don’t judge, it was pretty graphic. But if you look past that to the character development it was a good show.

It’s snowing again. I am so over that. I am really ready for Spring to come!

Happy Birthday, Quinn!

Today my darling grandson turns six years old! Wow! The last six years raced by.

From the moment you were born, Quinn and I held you in my arms my heart was full of love for you.

I am the luckiest Oma in the entire world!

Just Some Thoughts

So much is happening in the world. It makes me wonder where we will be in a year or two or three.

I recall the early days of Covid. Before we knew much of anything about the disease. I remember going out to get groceries in what seemed like a hazmat suit. I remember stripping all my clothes off in the basement and running to the shower lest I bring in any germs.

And now here we are looking at Russia attacking a country that was a beautiful, friendly place.

Years ago, when the WALL was still up surrounding West Berlin, I made several trips into East Berlin, as well as Poland, Hungary, Romania, and St Petersburg, Russia.

You cannot imagine what it was like if you had not been there. Military on the streets as well as secret police who were constantly watching. And almost no one had a car. It sort of freaked me out to go into East Berlin back then and only see a dozen or so cars.

Growing up we were basically taught to fear Russia. They were not trustworthy and we knew if given a chance they would invade.

So here we are in 2022. Russia under the guidance of Putin is going through Ukraine killing innocent people and basically showing the world how bloodthirsty and cold-hearted he is.

My heart breaks for the Ukrainian people. But it also is breaking for the world. I don’t believe that Putin will stop there and I foresee our lives and the lives of our fellow man getting worse.

The Friday Five ~ March 4th

Here we are the first weekend in March. Sometimes March is gentle and slightly warmer. But not this year. It is cold and snowy. Here is this week’s Friday Five.

March began with plunging temperatures and more snow. 3-4 inches on Tuesday and another 3 inches overnight on Wednesday. I called for a plow on Thursday because at the rate we were going I would need snowshoes to walk in our driveway!
I had paperwork to do for my health insurance. It made me wonder, why have health insurance if the insurance company doesn’t do their job, forcing you to get all the paperwork together and resubmit? I spent five or so days getting copies of everything and trying to make heads or tails out of their instructions in order to file. Ugh!
We finally put Lili’s bed back in the family room. Immediately Heidi put her toys on it and declared it hers. Heidi is like that. Lili doesn’t own anything.
It’s all Heidi’s!
Because I find the TV News and news shows depressing to watch right now, I am binge-watching a few shows that I somehow missed way back when. I am also throwing in the show “Friends” and a whole lot of music!
My weekend will be filled with the usual. Cleaning, laundry, and cooking. Maybe I will look for a movie or two to watch.

I hope you all have a great weekend and can find some peace and happiness in this crazy world!

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Yesterday while I started to deep clean the kitchen and family room, Heidi and Lili began to really kick up some dust playing.

Me and my baby!

Heidi is so funny to watch. She runs around so fast, like a speeding roadrunner. But her favorite game with Lili is that she runs around the island in the kitchen over and over and over, while Lili tries to follow her. Then when she knows Lili is falling behind, she turns and jumps out in Lili’s face, surprising her.

I just stood there in the kitchen, silently watching until the laughter burst out from my lungs!

Lili is so patient with Heidi and allows her to play these silly games with her.

It does my heart good to see the two of them playing so nicely.

After the big play session, it was time to crash with Mama.

A sleepy puppy!

Baby Feet.