The Dackel Princess

This & That ~ December 15th

I feel quite remiss at not writing before now. I’ve been rather worried and upset the last few days since the Tornados tore through Kentucky and the heartland of America.

You see, little Heidi, with her birth family and the breeder, who has become a friend are in Kentucky and they were very close to the epicenter of the storms, Mayfield, KY.

Luckily, the breeder, Gail, and all her pups and all of her family came through okay. But so many homes in her town were severely damaged, and there is no power or water. I fear that will be some time to come back.

So, since my middle name is “Worry-Wart” I have just felt really unsettled. I realized it was getting to me last night at about 12:30 AM when I woke and could not get back to sleep. I sat up for a while, watched a little TV, and eventually fell back asleep at around 3:30. But today I feel a bit tired and I know I have to give this to God. Me not sleeping is not going to help anything.

My grandchildren are visiting Disney. How wonderful! I’m getting pictures several times a day and they are having a great time. But I was suddenly amazed because my granddaughter looks very much like a pre-teen. Gone is my little girl! Wow!

But here is the other thing about Savannah. She has always been beautiful, but as she grows into a young woman she is strikingly beautiful.

Okay, I know. I am her grandmother and I look at her face and see the beauty of her face and soul!

I am thrilled to see that Quinn at least still looks like a little boy. I’m not ready for him to grow up and become a teen!

So that wraps up the last few days. I hope you are all well.

Fingernails!

In recent weeks I have been planning everything for my trip to pick up Heidi. Right down to getting my hair trimmed, colored and my nails done.

My nails were longer than I have ever had them, and I was looking forward to a crazy wild manicure.

That was before Wednesday when I caught my left index finger and tore the nail down past the quick! (Insert scream and bandaids for the bleeding)

I resolved to ignore this and still have long nails on the nine other fingers. Then today, in the space of one hour two of my nails split! Ugh!

At that point, I trimmed them all lightly and have filed them. I will still have Becca give me a good manicure with pretty polish. And truth be told, they were almost too long for easy typing. So, I am looking on the bright side!

I am done Christmas shopping. Yay! A few items are off to be delivered, but as far as thinking presents for people, I am done.

Jack and I are not exchanging gifts. We are getting Heidi and that is a present that we both will enjoy.

I have set up everything for Heidi and before I leave I want to put my pull-on boots by the door as well as my slip-on jacket and hat. Oh yes, Jack hates the new snow hat, but you know, it’s warm and for running outside to house train a puppy, it is good enough!

My breeder sent us the cutest picture of sleeping Heidi being sniffed by her Daddy, Ralph!

Isn’t that the sweetest thing?

The Friday Five ~ December 10th

The week is nearly over and I know that Christmas will soon be here. Then it is just a matter of days until I leave to go and bring Heidi home. Yes, the excitement is building! So, without further adieu here are this week’s Friday Five.

Getting the house ready for a new puppy requires a little thought. One must get down on all fours and then glance around. See anything that little piranha teeth might want to chew? Well, let’s get it all cleaned up!
Next, I got out the doggy crate, cleaned it, and put a fresh bed inside. I also sat down and ordered some “Made in the USA” puppy toys, and her food from Chewy.
I think what I have been doing could be called “nesting”. Much like a new mother. I think the best puppy adoptions are when you think of everything before and follow through. So, nesting it is!
I finally sat down and made up a calendar of my family and friends’ pictures. I do it each year and usually, I have a great deal of enthusiasm. This year I didn’t feel like doing it, until just recently. Now it is all set and ordered, and best of all I had a great coupon!
My new hat arrived. It’s warm. I’m not sure I really like it. However, It covers my ears and will keep snow out of my eyes. There is just no glamour. Do I need glamour? I don’t know. Meanwhile, I will keep and use the ugly hat.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

TBT: Greta’s First Litter

It’s hard to believe that fifteen years ago tomorrow the A-litter, otherwise known as Greta’s first litter of pups were born. Greta had labored for some time, and not had a puppy, so I rushed her to the Vets, where he delivered all 5 puppies safely, and healthfully. One big fat puppy was stuck in the birth canal, so the cesarean had to be done.

Arnie is in the blue-collar and Anneliese was the green. Everyone made it through just fine, including Greta, who went on to have one more litter before we retired her.

Greta was a fabulous mother and she tended to her babies so sweetly. It was truly a joy to watch her with her pups.

Fun times!

Cleaning

Yesterday I was a complete dynamo! I decided to clean out the mudroom bench. It’s the place where all my extra doggy stuff is ~~shoved in~~ kept. I emptied it all out and then began the sorting.

There were frisbees and toy balls, leashes and poop bags and dog dishes and our gloves, hats, and old bird feeders. Ugh!

At least everything was clean, just unorganized. So, I sorted everything, gave the puppy toys and extra cleaning, and made up a basket of puppy toys.

Jack passed by and asked where my other hats were?

Quite honestly, I have had one hat for the last 23 years! I love this hat, but Jack said that really, he hated it. Hmmm. Imagine 23 years he hated it and never told me.

I looked at myself in a mirror and decided I needed something a little newer. As much as I hated to admit it, this hat is showing signs of falling apart.

Later in the day, I found a hat online and I hope I like it. I washed my old hat and I think it will be one I keep until I am very old and very gray!

My day ended at 8:30 when I fell into bed. I was really tired, but happily so!

Happy Tuesday

Yesterday I spent time sorting through brick-a-brack around the house. Over the years it seems that I have acquired a lot of really cute, but junky crap! I also have more vases from all the lovely flowers I have been sent. How many clear bouquet vases does one need?

So, I got some old boxes (yes, I save those too!) and started filling them with all this stuff. So far, I have four large boxes of stuff.

I want to continue this cleaning and on Thursday or Friday, bring a large load of “stuff” to our recycling center’s rehoming room. You know, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure!

Little Heidi is continuing to grow and change and I am counting the days until I fly out to get her. Her wonderful breeder is raising those little babies with love, a sense of adventure, and such care. I feel so lucky to be getting one of Gail’s babies.

Little Heidi taking a nap after playing in the yard.

With each picture, with each puppy report, my heart swells with love. I feel like the luckiest of new puppy-mommys!

My plan today is more junk thinning, and also to dig out my doggy-poop bags and get those in my suitcase. Yes, believe it or not, I have started to pack for my New Year’s Eve trip!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Introducing Heidi!

Before I sat down to write this post, I reworked my Header for the Blog. It was time to let Arnie rest in peace, and go forward in life.

So, here we are introducing you to the newest member of our family. This is Heidi!

Heidi is six weeks old now, and in 4 short weeks, she will be on her way home from beautiful Kentucky.

I am flying down on New Years Day to pick her up and bring her home. I can hardly wait!

I’ve been so lucky because the breeder of Heidi’s litter has kept me involved right from the start. Pictures have come often of Heidi making me feel happy once again.

When you lose your much-loved fur-babies so closely together, it just does you in. But watching her grow throughout these last weeks put a real spring in my step and a smile on my face.

So, my little dackel baby, you will be coming into a home where you will be cherished and loved beyond measure!

The Friday Five ~ Dec. 3rd

Wow, this sure was a wild week and when I woke up this morning I thought, this is Friday! How can this be? So here is whats kept me so busy.

Life has a way of laughing at me when it comes to computers. My fairly new computer has been acting sloggy, and after a recent Windows Update, I was suddenly unable to reach my network printer. I tried everything. I even had a remote visit with my Computer Guru and he couldn’t figure it out either. This was wild and new and aside from tossing the machine against the wall, further exploration needed to be done.
So, Brad came and picked up my machine to see what he could do. I’d decided to upgrade to Windows 11 and so Brad wiped the hard drive completely clean and did a fresh download with the Windows Eleven for my machine.
After getting the machine loaded and talking to his Network and Network Printer. He brought her home. We opened it up, got it onto the Network and…..the Master Computer wouldn’t talk to my laptop enough to allow it to print! Ugh!
We worked all afternoon, tinkering, and trying everything we could think before Brad figured a way around this glitch! So now, my computer is clean and running better than it ever has, and I can print! I can never that Brad enough for all his hard work!
Lastly, I received a phone call from a dear woman who was the Owner of Angelika, from Greta’s first litter.

Angelika at 3 weeks!

She was a full sibling to both Anneliese and Arnie. She was greatly loved in her forever home, and just two weeks before what would have been their 15th Birthday, Angel went to Rainbow Bridge. When I think about how wonderful that very first litter was, and how long most of them lived, and how happy they made their families, I am so proud of my Greta and her “husband” Bernie. Now all those wonderful pups are gone. The tears flowed and then I remembered that one day, we will be reunited with our beloved fur-babies.

So this is the week that was. Last night my brain just hurt from all the computer thinking, and my heart hurts from the last goodbyes.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone!

The Weekend Wrap ~ November 29th

My weekend was actually four days long. It started last Tuesday with me starting the prep work for Thanksgiving and ended with me cooking the last of the leftovers on Sunday.

I did all my prep work early so that on Thursday I just needed to cook things. But still, I must tell you, in the end, I was exhausted!

For whatever reason, our 11-pound turkey had very little meat on it. This surprised me as I had hoped to have turkey leftovers to keep me satisfied for a while. Instead, it was gone quickly, leaving me wanting more. Jack is thrilled as he is not a turkey lover.

I did make turkey soup, but even that has gone quickly giving us one more meal if we’re lucky.

So what does this mean? It means I must start cooking dinner again after getting off easily the last few nights.

I hear from the breeder how Heidi is doing. Apparently, she is a little spitfire! I’ve seen her in videos and pictures and she is just adorable. I’m counting the days!

My little Christmas Tree is up, and a few decorations. I have started to write Christmas Cards and will be mailing my Australia cards tomorrow. So my dear Aussie friends, let me know when you get yours.

Well, it’s back to normal life again. This is a quiet week. Starting in the middle of December my life will get busy.

Have a great week!

Thursday Thirteen ~ Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving Day here in the USA. A day where we stop to give thanks for all that we have. Like the Pilgrims before us, our country continues to face many challenges, but I think many of my fellow Americans would agree, we are thankful for the love of our God, our family, and our friends. So, here is a random list of 13 things I am thinking about this Thanksgiving.

1. Before I sit down to breakfast I need to bake an apple pie. Why so early? Well, I like freshly baked apple pie and the turkey we got will take about three and a half hours to cook! With one oven I am stuck baking the pie early.

2. I made the dressing yesterday, and have it chilling down. I will stuff Mr. Tom Turkey this morning and roast him slowly until he is perfectly cooked!

3. I peeled and diced the Yukon Gold Potatoes yesterday and they are soaking in a pot. Yukon Gold Potatoes make the best-mashed potatoes!

4. I also peeled and chopped up the butternut squash. And I also snapped the green beans. All is prepped.

5. I roasted the chestnuts and then shelled them. I am so happy that Julia Child wrote about the easy way to shell a chestnut. In the past, I did it all wrong and ended up with sliced-up fingers. This is easily the way, soaking them in boiling water for 20 minutes, putting a large X in the rounded part, and then placing them on a roasting pan in a 400 (F) degree oven for 25 minutes. Cool, place all the chestnuts in a dishcloth and then crunch on the kitchen shelf. They almost peel themselves! Makes a great addition to the dressing.

6. I peeled 2 dozen pearl onions. Ugh! Those will be first sauteed and then I will finish cooling them in Stock.

7. Then after I did all that preparation work for today’s dinner, I started to make dinner for last night.

8. Lili began to demand to be fed, so I broke down and fed her 10 minutes early.

9. Just about the time dinner was ready, I kind of lost my appetite. All the preparation of food, just made the food look unappealing.

10. Finally I finished all the cooking and cleaned up and got to sit down in my recliner at 7:15 last night.

11. After three such busy days, I felt exhausted! Humble as our Thanksgiving will be, we will have turkey and all the fixings.

12. It will be an early bedtime tonight!

13. To all my family and friends, here and abroad. May you enjoy the blessings of Thanksgiving. I know it is not a holiday for everyone, but I believe that the feeling of thankfulness that I feel in my heart and mind, for the ones that I love, is something shared universally.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!