Category: Life

Thunder…

Tonight was an interesting night. I made dinner a little late, but oh my, it was good. I made sauteed scallops, with fresh asparagus and potato salad. Just about the time that we finished eating I noticed the sky getting very dark. After a 92 degree day, it was no surprise that a thunderstorm was on its way.

I turned on the weather channel and saw we were under a severe thunder storm warning, so I went around and shut down all the high tech stuff. Computers, satellite dish, and printer.

Then as the storm grew closer, we shut off the TV and went out onto our screened in/glassed in porch where we could sit and watch the storm go by in safety and of course, completely dry.

All four dogs joined us and the puppies played while the thunder rumbled. Fritz, big, lovable sweetie that he is lay across Hubby’s foot and Greta paced around until she realized that now was her chance to get all the bones, so she returned to the family room and collected them all in my chair.

The rain fell in a heavy sheet, that lasted for some time. Our parched lawn finally being fed some delicious water from the sky! No matter how hard you try to keep it watered, in 92 degree heat, it just cooks the grass.

The storms passed and now we are in and winding down from the day. But it was a good day and it has ended in such a nice way, with a shower and cooler weather forecast for the holiday weekend.

Puppy Dogs & Loaves Of Bread

First I have to tell you that I got up today, did my hair and then forced Hubby to take a couple of pictures of me with the babies. They are growing so fast and I wanted to get my longer hair on film so I can remember that I should never go shorter than this for a very long time.

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Arnie, me and Anneliese, the kissy girl!
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It’s another 90+ degree day. Once again my boy, Arnie wasn’t feeling too great, so I have kept him inside in the air conditioning.

Hubby has been sanding the picnic table getting ready for our party on the 4th of July, and so he came in, soaking wet from the heat and is now asleep in his chair. I’m hoping tomorrow will be cooler and drier and we can stain the table.

We special order delicious German bread from a baker in Toronto. Oh my goodness, this stuff is wonderful and addicting. We order several loaves at a time and freeze it. Well, today’s loaves arrived and the box was all smashed. Inside one of the 4 pound loaves of Klosterbrot was decimated! I was so upset. I called U*S and the company that we order from and I guess in the long run we will be getting a replacement loaf, but what a pain. When I spoke to U*S I told them this wasn’t the first time a box arrived in this condition and I hoped they could speak to the driver. I have 3 dachshunds I can sick on him, should he screw up again! LOL

Kids, Dogs and Love

One of our little neighborhood girls came by. Our house is now the place where the kids come. They play with the dogs, help me with cooking or the gardening, but most of all, I think they come to talk.

Today Jacqui came by. She was feeling angry at her Mom for restricting her on playing on the trampoline before it was properly set up. I listened intently to all she said before I offered my words of wisdom. (Or what seems like wisdom to a 10 year old.)

I explained how much her mother loves her and would not want her to fall and break a leg or arm or worse yet to be killed. I told her how mothers always try to do their best to protect their kids.

She looked up at Katie’s picture and I explained that sometimes you can’t even do that, but at least Katie and I had spoken only words of love before the accident.

She was calmer when she left and I hope tonight when she kisses her mother goodnight there will be some real affection and understanding between them.

Meanwhile, the pups just get to be more and more fun. Arnie is nearly as big as Greta, while Anneliese remains petite. It is so hard to believe that they weighed the same at birth!

Hubby took this great picture of the three dachsies this morning while they watched the early morning activities on the lake.

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Arnie, Anneliese and Greta

Yes, between the love from our dogs and for them as well, and the children of our neighborhood who seem to find their way to our home, and the love that exists between us, life is good.

Are We There Yet??

Have you all seen the Garmin Navigation commercial on TV? The one where the husband and wife are arguing about her reading of the map and then suddenly she balls it up and throws it out of the car? Then the basketball player (whose name I cannot recall), hands them a Garmin GPS and they punch in a few numbers and all is well.

This has happened to Hubby and me more times than I care to admit, (The map arguments) so, for Father’s Day I bought him the “World’s Easiest Navigational Tool!”

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I sort of looked it over, figured out how to type in an address and thought I probably had it figured out.

Well, let’s just say, the 78 page users guide should have tipped me off. No sooner had we gotten in the car then the argument began. Basically he thought I should know how to use it, and I thought that since he was used to operating glass cockpit airplanes then an automobile GPS should be nothing.

Well, we were both wrong. This thing is truly mind boggling for a first time user. You can be sure that we will be reading and testing it out before our trip to Canada and to DC later this year.

Do you know why I got this “wonder”? Because I simply am “map reading challenged” when I am in a moving vehicle. My brain doesn’t work that fast. I usually say stuff like, “Oh yeah, that last exit 7 miles ago? That’s the one we wanted.”

I will be studying…..I wonder if there will be a quiz before the Canada trip?

Paint, Dirt and A Little Nap

Today I finished the painting, ironed and put the curtains up in that room.

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I also, weeded the garden (or more precisely we cultivated the garden, but that’s about the same thing) and I worked out with both puppies so that they start to learn to walk in a circle for their presentation to the German judge in the fall. I came in, feeling exhausted and dehydrated and sat down to an iced coffee. Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Then I glanced over and saw this:

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Now, doesn’t she look comfy?

What We Did On Sunday

It was a busy day here in Dackel Princess Land. As our cupboards were nearly bare, we needed to go grocery shopping. I also wanted to get paint for the puppy room and in the end I got Hubby a new lawn mower for Father’s Day which is next week.

It was a pretty day and nice for our trip south to the shopping area. As I have mentioned before, we live in the country and aside from one very high priced grocery store, there isn’t much around.

The shopping took a few hours and then we returned and drove the car up and around the side of the house so we could avoid the 14 steps up to the inside of our house. Fourteen steps! What a pain. But I have no one to blame for that one but myself, as I drew the plans for the house. In fact, I remember saying, “Oh that will be good. The stairs will keep my legs in shape”.

What an insane thing to think! How about the reality of grocery shopping and having to make a dozen trips up and down the stairs? Sheesh!

Anyway, we drove the station wagon around to the back of the house where it would be an easy job to unload the car.

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We worked putting the groceries away, and Jackie arrived to play with the puppies. I love when the kids come over, so I let the dogs out for a run with her and her friend, Cameron.

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Jackie

After a bit, the girls left and we let the pups run around the yard a little more. Hubby was putting his new lawn mower together and I was trying to get a few pictures.

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Hubby with his new mower
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Anneliese

It’s wonderful to see the puppies grow and play. They’re 6 months old now! So grown up. Arnie weighs a whopping 17 pounds and Anneliese is a lightweight at 14 pounds. One thing is for sure, they are both beautiful and sweet babies!

Sunday night is the “Soprano”s” finale. Will they kill Tony or not? Will Carm save Tony’s life, or AJ? Will they go into witness protection? One thing is for sure, it’s got the world talking!

Sunday, Rain & Sun

Sunday was an odd day. It started with gray skies and hinted at some rain. Within an hour or two of our getting up the skies opened and we had torrential rain. In fact our rain gauge showed we got an inch of the wet stuff over the course of the day.

With the refrigerator nearly empty we decided to spend time stocking up. Now those of you that work during the week and shop on weekends know what it is like in the grocery stores on Saturday or Sunday. What a zoo! Frenzied parents, screaming exhausted children and shelves that don’t stay stocked very long.

I had my list, and we got in and got out of the stores as quickly as we could, but still it took us over two hours to get our errands done. As we drove back home, the rain stopped and when we pulled in I ran up the stairs and took the two puppies right out.

You see, in the last few days we have started to use the crate at night and during the day when we leave the house. We are finding that their house training is progressing much faster and the puppies actually let me sleep later in the morning.

Once we had some lunch and put the food away, we took all four dogs outside and let them run. Despite the gray skies it was a bit brighter and so I grabbed my camera for these pictures.

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The back of our house.

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Anneliese near our little stream.

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Anneliese and Arnie playing near the Gala Apple tree.

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Fritz in his favorite place.

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Hubby pruning the grape arbor.

We watched the Boston Red Sox beat the Atlanta Braves 6-3, had scallops for dinner and noticed that the long absent sun started to shine. Could this be the beginning of some nice weather for us? I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Arizona

In the second year of our marriage, we lost our White German Shepherd, Rex, when he passed away at age 10 1/2. We did some researching and located a new puppy out in Arizona. As I had never been to Arizona, we planned a trip around the state to see all the highlights, the Grand Canyon, the meteor crater at Winslow, Oak Creek Canyon, Flagstaff, Sedona, and Montezuma’s Castle, cliff dwellings from a long extinct tribe.

Two days before we left I heard the cats fighting at the foot of our bed and I jumped up and when I came down I landed incorrectly on my foot and broke it! Hubby was not at all happy because this certainly would make the trip difficult. But here is what happened.

Upon arriving in Manchester to take our flight out, a Porter met us at the curb and wheeled me to the gate. I was pre-boarded and given a nice crate to rest my foot on. Everyone was so nice.

When we arrived in Phoenix, I was met with a wheel chair, and wheeled to the car rental company. The car rental agency gave us a handicapped placard for our car, giving us the best spots in all of Arizona to park. At each state park we were met with a wheel chair and smiles. What a great way to go.

We traveled down to Tucson to pick up our puppy and the woman who raised the pup asked if we had seen Tombstone? Since we hadn’t, she offered to keep our new puppy, Max, for us so we could visit this famous town.

Tombstone is a real western town. With a saloon and of course the OK Corral, we found the town, really interesting. At a saloon there was a photographer who took pictures in period dress. I wanted to have our picture taken in costume. Hubby said that was fine, as long as he got to be a gun slinger!

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It was so much fun to do and I love the picture of Hubby and I. It still hangs in our office.

We also went to Boot Hill Cemetery where Hubby saw a headstone, “Here lies Lester Moore, four slugs from a .44, no Les, no more!” Yes, that still cracks up Hubby!

Once we got done posing, we headed back and picked up our boy Max and flew home. Max was a dear big boy (128 pounds fully grown!) for nearly 13 years. In many ways that picture of Hubby and I reminds me of Max when he was a puppy.

Max at sunset
Max at sunset in his later years.