The Dackel Princess

The Dirt!

On Friday I went to my local garden center and told the owner I wanted good, potting soil to start my garden’s vegetable seeds. It’s the same man I have dealt with for several years, so I trusted him. He sold me what I thought was the correct stuff, and I got this gigantic, heavy bale home, and unloaded. I thought that on Sunday I would plant my seeds and get things going.

Well he sold me the wrong stuff! I hadn’t opened the bag yet, but Hubby was looking at the bale and he said that I got it all wrong! (Insert the expletive of your choice here!)

So, on Monday I must drag this heavy bale of (expletive) back to the garden center and somehow explain (again) what I want! Then I will need to come home and plant all the seeds for “Garden 2010”!

Do I sound annoyed? I guess I am a little! Although I will take a deep breath and try to blow it all off! Life is too short, isn’t it?

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Just to keep you up to date. You will recall that I have bad luck with coffee makers as I recently wrote about it here. Well I am happy to report the new coffee maker is absolutely fabulous, and makes a great cup of coffee and keeps it delightfully hot! Both Hubby and I are in coffee heaven!

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I am hoping that the Volcano in Iceland will just cut it the heck out! I have a trip to Germany coming up in the near future and I really do not want to have to put it off until next February. I have spoken to Anneliese and explained that she must not go into heat until the 2 million displaced passengers are returned to their homes. I hope she is listening to me!

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Well, everyone, have a great Monday!

Snow

Yes it happened. When I woke on Saturday morning we had snow. A frosty blanket of snow across our front lawn and covering our trees.

Snow in New Hampshire April 17 2010 from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

I was not at all happy about the snow. Usually I am captivated by the beauty, but not when I am anticipating the deliciousness of cherry jelly in July! So I am praying that the snow on Saturday, hasn’t affected my cherries!

We ran around doing errands today and I even took Anneliese out for a visit up to our neighbors house. It was nice to get out, both times.

Now we are all feeling sleepy, so I will leave you with this. I hope everyone is having a great Sunday!

The Snow Came, Softly

On Friday, it snowed here in Central New Hampshire. Now we didn’t get blanketed with the white stuff, but all day long we had a cold, white snowfall that just chilled me to the bone. But the worst part of the snow is that it threatens my lovely fruit trees. You see, the trees are just starting to blossom.

Here is a peach blossom. Isn’t it lovely? I took this on Thursday afternoon.

And here is a Cherry blossom. You know I adore our Cherries! I love to wash them and sit and just eat them one after another!

And in my little video you will see this same cluster of Cherry blossoms. It is my favorite, and today during the snow I wanted to cry!

In any case, when it started snowing this morning, Hubby yelled to me to come quickly and video it for the blog! It didn’t matter that I was just out of the shower and trying to blow my hair dry. Heck, the snow was just going to make my hair wet anyway, right?

So I quickly jumped in my boots and headed out the door, camera in hand!

Snow in New Hampshire April 2010 from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

I realize that snow in April is not all that unusual here in my part of the world. Goodness, I recall when Mandy was a baby that we had snow on the 10th of May 1977. We had about 15 inches of heavy wet snow that took down trees and power lines. We did not get power back for over a week. So today, although annoying, was nothing compared to that!

At this point, keep your fingers crossed that my fruit trees will be okay.

I also heard from Mike and Patsy, who own Anneliese’s other son, Baron! They sent me a bunch of new pictures, showing me what he is like. He is completely different from Bogart. Bogey tends to look like his Uncle Arnie and Baron looks like his Mom, Anneliese and Dad, Isegrim.

He looks like a real sweetheart and I hope at some point to see him once again! Maybe I should have a puppy reunion!

Thanks for sending these, Mike and Patsy!

Being Tired

Two weeks ago I went and had a blood test done. I have not been feeling well, or sleeping well, and most of the time, I feel totally lethargic.

I have not had the time to sit around and just wait for the “Magic Health Fairy” to give me back my energy, so I called my doctor, and got the slips I needed for blood work.

After leaving more than my share of blood, I got the results of my blood tests back. Low thyroid condition! What this means is that I will have to take thyroid medication to replace what my body is not making. It also means that I am one happy chick.

You see, one of the side effects is weight gain, when your thyroid decides to shut down. I have worked so hard on my Weight Watchers plan, with very little results. Hopefully, increasing the thyroid medication will help me to stabilize the weight issue.

Yay for me!

I am also set to see two other doctors to help us sort out this situation. Finally a reason why I have felt so tired and run down! I am hopeful that in the next few weeks I can start feeling better. At least I know what is making me feel so tired now.

Random Dozen

1. How do you feel about “Gladiator” sandals, also called “Roman” or “Jesus” sandals? A fashion yea or nay?

Nay. Think that there are more comfortable and fashionable sandals out there.

2. What is your favorite pizza?

I love a thin crust Pizza with just about everything on it. Alas I now tend to go for vegetable Pizzas.

3. There are plans in the works to sell roughly 1,000 items from Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas. This means you could buy Picard’s chair for your family room. If not a Star Trek item, what prop, background, set, etc. from what TV or movie would you buy if you could?
[Ex: Hurley’s “I Love my Shih tzu” shirt from LOST, the plantation home “Tara” from Gone With the Wind, or Tracy’s tambourine from the Partridge Family.]

Not sure there really is anything.

4. Name a local food or restaurant that your area is famous for.

Canoe. Known for having the best Sweet & Sour Calamari ever!

5. What is your current favorite snack?

Weight Watcher’s Toffee Ice Cream Bar!

6. Hypothetical: You are required to be a reality show contestant. Which show would you choose based on your probability of success? (You cannot choose “none.”)

A. Dancing with the Stars
B. Biggest Loser
C. Survivor

7. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being uninhabitable and 10 being cleanliness that meets the standards of OCD, how clean is your vehicle’s interior?

7. It’s clean but there are dackel nose prints on the windows.

8. It doesn’t feel like Spring until…the fruit trees bloom!

9. Something that made you laugh really hard recently is: Watching The Owl Box.

10. Tell me about a goal you’re working toward. Well, not necessarily working toward, but waiting for Anneliese to go into heat, so I can bring her to Germany to breed her.

11. Share a thought-provoking or inspiring quote this week.

“It’s tough to do, but you’ve got to work at living, you know? Most people work at dying, but anybody can die; the easiest thing on this earth is to die. But to live takes guts; it takes energy, vitality, it takes thought. . . . We have so many negative influences out there that are pulling us down. . . . You’ve got to be strong to overcome these adversities . . . that’s why I never stop.”
Jack LaLanne

12. Name one thing that you do as a parent that you absolutely know will make your kids happy. If you’re not a parent, feel free to substitute “friend” or nomenclature that works for you.

Listen. People get rushing around so much, and I think the best gift I give my daughter is that I listen to her. I hope she feels that this is important. I always wished my mother would just listen to me, so I have tried to be a sounding board for my daughter as she has grown up.

It’s Official

Our spring is far ahead of the usual ones that we have here in Central New Hampshire. Our fruit trees are starting to open their blossoms, which is a concern, as we do not want to lose, what could be a wonderful crop of fruit.

I went walking with Hubby, Fritz and the dackels today in the yard to look at the beautiful trees. The cherry tree is loaded with blossoms and a few more warm, sunny days and we will be overcome with their delicate blooms.

Aren’t these just the most beautiful thing?

We also noted that a peach tree is about to start with their lovely blossoms.

I do so love spring. I love everything, but the pollen! As we walked around the trees I started sneezing and couldn’t stop. I need to find a good allergy medication!

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This evening was my Library Trustee meeting. I substituted for the regular Secretary, who was out with a severe cold. Since this was our first regular meeting since the Town Elections they had the Election of Officers. I was asked to be the new Secretary for the Trustees.

I accepted, but I am very nervous about doing the job correctly. I hope I can do a good job for the coming year. So now it is official. I am an officer on the Trustee Board.

Isn’t it amazing how life can change so quickly for you? A year ago, I would never have thought I would be involved in all the things I am.

But, it does feel good!

Spam & Taxes

There are two things that are certain in life. Spam and Taxes! I know you all think the line is death and taxes, but not at the Dackel Princess home!

As you know, it is nearly Tax Day here in the States. Poor Hubby has been locked in the office with all our receipts and documents, working with Turbo Tax to complete the forms. Deep moans have been heard coming down the hallway. By lunchtime today I was ready to run away from home. Boy do I hate Tax Time!

While he was doing this, I kept getting mail in my Dackel Princess email box. I had 15 Spam emails trying to get posted on the website today. I wonder if the increase in action is due to my recent changeover of servers?

Whatever the case, it made things a bit crazy. You know me and Spam, I have to read it, before deleting it! Don’t know why, just makes me laugh.

By 5 PM Hubby staggered out of the office with the completed document.Thank goodness he made it out alive! He immediately ran for the red wine and a few crackers and cheese!

It is done and now we can sit back and wait until next year to see how much the government will pick our pockets.

I hate Tax Time!

Well, I think I need to go back and read some more Spam Mail. That will pick up my spirits now, won’t it? After all, in my Spam Mail, I am a wonderful, fabulous person, imparting great knowledge to the masses!!!

Not another broke taxpayer!

LOL!

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!

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!

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

These people had Bruchetta and it was fabulous!

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

One restaurant had Oysters. Hubby had several of those!

Stuffed mushrooms!

Wonderful Jamaican coffee was served there.

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.

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.

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?

Surprise!!

After many years using my old page skin, a lovely lady named Emily helped me design this new page. I wanted fonts that were deep and easy to read, as you all know my vision is poor, and I wanted bright spring colors that were also soothing! I am thrilled.

Thank you so much, Emily!!!

So what do you think of the new and improved Dackel Princess?

The Anniversary Clams

On our anniversary yesterday, you may be wondering what we did to celebrate. Well we started the day off with my taking a shower with all three dackels and giving them all a good wash down! Hubby helped to dry them off, and then I was dried off, dressed and went off to the Post Office.

The rain came in steadily by mid-afternoon, and I settled in to watch my guilty pleasure, “All My Children”. Many of you know that Fridays mean that the soap opera will end the show with a cliff hanger. Well, the joke was on me, because of a Presidential news conference, which interrupted the last two segments of the show! Rats! I did get the West Coast feed later in the day on the satellite. Yes, I know it’s silly, but I do enjoy “All My Children”.

Later in the day Hubby and I dressed a little more warmly and headed off to “Kevin’s Cafe” for the “All You Can Eat Fried Whole Belly Clams”. On of my favorite things in the world. Kevin does a great job.

My plate and then a close up of those nice clams!

I had no trouble finishing up all of my clams. I’m a Cape Cod girl! I was raised on Whole Belly Clams! Hubby ate as much as he could, but in the end we brought home a box of leftover food for him. The key for me was just eating the clams and no fries. I mean, why waste the space in the stomach with fried potatoes? Nope, give me a clam any day!

Thank you all for your good wishes!

Life is good and our anniversary was wonderful!

PS: This is my 2100th Posting on Dackel Princess!