The Dackel Princess

22 Years & Counting…

Today Hubby and I are celebrating our 22nd Wedding Anniversary! We have been so lucky. Although we’ve shared the ups and downs that life throws at you, we’ve always managed to get through it because we had each other.

We were friends for a long time before we fell in love. Perhaps that is the key to a long relationship. Being friends first.

Whatever it is, we are blessed and thankful to have shared this time.

Our 22nd Anniversary from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart!

A Strange Day

It was a strange day on Tuesday. It started out bright and sunny and then the clouds moved in and sprinkled us with rain. Nothing major, just annoying rain. I decided to run out and do my errands in the morning and then come back to do a little cooking, make lunch and play with the dogs.

The sun went in and out, before departing completely about 2 PM. Our yard is alive with fruit tree buds, lilac buds and snowball bush buds, all reminding me that spring is just around the corner.

Hubby took his skis out of the car, and has put them away for the year. His ski clothes are in my laundry room awaiting washing and packing up. Yes, here we are, April 7th and his skiing is over.

I talked to him about skiing next year. He wants me to go with him, but I really am not an excellent skier. I mentioned that I would be happier getting a pass at a smaller, local area where I can ski and not fear falling and breaking something. So now I can look forward to next winter when I can ski at an area that I am comfortable with.

On Tuesday night I was officially voted in at my Woman’s Club meeting. I was so happy to be joining this group of remarkable women. There is a ton of stuff coming up in May that I want to be a part of, but everyone understands that I am waiting for Anneliese to go into heat, so I cannot officially sign up for anything just yet.

One activity I hope I can work at is Wiener Weekend! It’s not what it sounds like for a Dackel Princess. Actually we sell grilled hot-dogs at our towns Arts and Crafts Street Fair! Doesn’t that sound wonderful? I hope I am around so I can help sell hot-dogs!

Anyway, that was my Tuesday. A slow start, which picked up mid-day and ended with a smile or two!

The Day After

The day after Easter found me exhausted! lol! I sat sipping my coffee on Monday morning, in a clean house, which was good, because I had very little ambition. I decided to take the day off. Do a little email writing, TV watching and Owl observing.

However, I was feeling guilty about the fact that dinner wasn’t up to my standards yesterday, so I decided to cook Hubby a nice rotisserie chicken for his dinner Monday night. The only thing was, he had a meeting at 6 o’clock, so I needed to have dinner on the table at 5 PM. That’s okay, just meant I had to start everything an hour and a half earlier than normal.

So, the dogs got fed at 4:15 (45 minutes early), and I worked on making a nice dinner after that. The chicken smelled great, and I made baked potatoes and eggplant roll-ups to go on the side.

The trees and shrubs are all budding and this is a problem for me. Seems I am allergic to this process and so I spend part of the last few days with severe allergy symptoms. Ahhhh-choooooo!

And my final piece of news is that Mandy’s cat, Maestro went to Rainbow Bridge over the weekend. He was a big, beautiful, Tuxedo cat with a heart of gold. I will miss him, and I know Mandy will too. I’m so sorry Sweetheart.

Rest in peace, dear Maestro.

Easter

Our day started with true excitement! Greta found a snake! I raced inside and grabbed my camera, as she chased the little garter snake across the yard! By the time I got back, she had gotten to the rocks and stream on our property. However, she was not done looking for it, so I took a quick film. It still makes me laugh!

The Easter Snake from Dackel Princess Maribeth

One thing you should know is that I really hate snakes, but Greta was being so cute, that I forgot my fear, and just laughed like crazy!

After that excitement, I set the table and started preparing. Here is the table as it lay before our guests arrived.

Each guest got a small box of chocolate. After all, it is Easter!

Then our guests arrived and we sat outside enjoying the warmth.

Here are the salads. This was, perhaps, my favorite part of the meal.

Hubby slicing our Ham.

The vegetable bundles.

And for dessert, the coconut bunny cake!

It was a great day and we had a lot of fun. In fact the time slipped quickly by and before we knew it, our guests left and we sat down to digest! The only thing was the dogs wanted to get their dinner, so I had to pop up and feed them! All is done now, so I am off duty!

Happy Easter

Easter Weekend

Friday was one of those perfect springs days. Bright blue, sunny skies and warmth, wonderful, delicious, warmth! At one point it was over 75 degrees! Now isn’t that fantastic?

I unwrapped the awning, and put it out over our back patio. I opened the windows in the family room, bedroom and pulled the screen across where the sliding glass doors are. in the kitchen. Everything was open and fresh and clean smelling.

The dogs loved it. They sat in doorways, played outside and sat on the back of the couch watching the happenings on the lake.

Here is Anneliese and Arnie.

And now Greta, Anneliese and Arnie.

And the truly handsome Arnie!

Fritz was busy following his Daddy around the yard. Hubby also took the shedding tool outside and gave Fritz a good going over.

Oh yes, and while it was lovely and warm here, Hubby drove up into the mountains and skied again today. I doubt there will be too many more days for him to do this.

Tomorrow will be my day to prepare for Easter dinner. I will do as much as I can and then get up early on Sunday to finish up the cooking.

I hope that wherever you are the sun is shining down on you and you will enjoy the holiday!

The Owl Box

My sister turned me on the Molly and MaGee. Who are Molly and MaGee? They are Barn Owls out in San Marcos, California. Currently they have nested in a back yard Owl Box that is on Streaming Video. Please go and check it out. If you are lucky you will see the Owlets in the box with Molly. MaGee, the Daddy, brings food in several times a day to feed his family.

The Owl Box

It’s addicting, I tell you, as you watch nature, up close and so beautifully perfect. My thanks to Carlos and his wife Donna for doing this so that we all can see this wonderful sight!

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Hubby and I hit the shops today to buy the food for Easter. We found a nice ham, asparagus and purchased the cheese to make my special Macaroni and Cheese. The store was not stocked very well, and we ended up having to go to two other shops to finish our shopping.

I was in the soda isle getting a few bottle of soda for Hubby and as I reached up with one hand to grab a 2 liter bottle, a second bottle leapt off the shelf and started to fall. I grabbed and I actually caught it! Just as I did Hubby turned the corner, but he missed my great athletic feat!

The day here was bright, with blue skies and warm temperatures. I even put the windows down in the car and breathed in the fresh spring air.

Ah-choo! Oh yeah, springtime. Allergy season. That’s okay, I’ll deal with it. Bring on the sun and flowers!!!

No Joke, It’s April 1st

It was an odd day today. I woke feeling like doing nothing more than pulling the covers up and hiding in my bed, but I got up and dressed and headed to the hospital for blood work. They took six tubes of blood, and then put a simple band-aid on me and out I went.

Since this was a fasting test, I couldn’t eat or drink before it, so immediately after the test, I stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts and got a tall coffee to warm the cockles of my heart! It was delicious!

By the time I reached my Weight Watchers meeting, and prepared to weigh in, I noticed that my arm was still bleeding and running down my arm! Thankfully, I still had another band-aid in my purse so I was able to clean up and re-band-aid my arm.

After that I weighed in and I had lost one half a pound! This is good because slow and steady wins the race. I stayed for most of the meeting and then left a few minutes early because of a bad migraine.

The rest of the day was spent sort of in a fog. Head aching, dogs barking (Always good for a headache! Ha!), and rain falling.

Oh yes, and by the way, I LOVE the new coffee maker. It makes great coffee, full bodied and nice and hot! Best of all, it stays hot for me as long as I want and the coffee remains just as delicious as it was when it was first brewed! I’ve got my fingers crossed that this will remain the case for a very long time.

Random Dozen

1. How do you feel about the marshmallow Easter Peeps? I am not a fan, but my sister adores them.
2. Chickens are notoriously nervous creatures. When you are nervous, what is the best way to calm down? I usually cook. This explains my lifetime membership at Weight Watchers.
3. People say, “April showers bring May flowers.” Do you enjoy Spring rains? No. We’ve just had so much rain!
4. When I was randomly flipping through TV channels this week, I saw a show in which tattoo parlor employees received tattoos of a co-worker’s face on their bodies. I can’t imagine having a portrait of a colleague tattooed on me. But if someone forced you to receive a portrait tattoo (face only) of anyone, who would it be? Why? My daughter Katie. She passed away at the age of 6.
5. Would you rather have a tattoo (any kind) or a nose ring? Neither one.
6. Do you have any special plans for Easter? Yes. I am cooking a big dinner for family and friends.

7. Cadbury Eggs or Reese Eggs? Cadbury!
8. What was the last thing/person you took a picture of? My dackel, Arnie.

9. What book are you reading now, or what was the last one? I’m still not able to read much because of my detached retina. But I check out People Magazine each week.
10. What do you think is the most difficult task when it comes to Spring cleaning? Taking the curtains down, washing them and putting them back up.
11. How many pairs of flip-flops do you own? One.
12. Which color makes you happiest? Sky Blue!

My Crazy World

For those of you who know me, or have been reading Dackel Princess for a while, you will know that I have terrible luck with coffee makers. I have had them stop working and go in for service repair, and then after they are out of warranty, they have literally died and gone to coffee maker heaven. In the last 5 years I have had three coffee makers.

This last one, a K**** was the worst. I hated the machine and it hated me. I would carefully measure and put the coffee on while I walked the dogs, only to come back and find coffee all over my counter tops and running down onto the floor. But the fact that I am a cheapskate kept me using that horrible machine.

Then on Saturday morning I woke with a migraine. I turned on the coffee maker and NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I am not at all unhappy, as I keep a cheapo spare machine for emergencies. I was actually glad that the K**** machine bit the dust because now, now I could go out and buy a new one, with no guilt!

So off Hubby and I went today to buy a new machine. We’d been doing all sorts of research online to see what the best coffee maker was, and what we found was that most of the models out there are pure crap. Made to last just past their warranty and then give it up!

So we looked for a machine that would keep our coffee hot for at least 4 hours. Well that just cuts down the models to a bare minimum! You see, we can’t be trusted in this world, and so most machines turn off after 2 hours, PERIOD!

We finally found one that will brew a strong cup of coffee, and then keep it warm for four hours! Plus it is this cool black/bronzed color. It is a C********.

I will report on the quality of the coffee tomorrow, but it is up and set and ready to go in the morning. Oh, I hope this will solve my coffee woes, at least for a little while.

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We also stopped at a local dress shop and I actually bought a dress. A cute little number. You see I looked in my closet and realized that I didn’t own a dress! So when I got this great coupon in the mail, I decided to go off and find something.

So the day ended with torrential rains, and wet dogs and me happily putting my new dress in the closet!