The Dackel Princess

This & That Sunday

Today was spent watching the Harry Potter series of movies. Gail and I decided to do this in preparation for going to see the new Harry Potter film tomorrow.

Now we are all up to date and ready to face “The Half Blood Prince”! It was so much fun watching them all, seeing the kids grow and change, and actually their acting improved. I still miss Richard Harris as Dumbledor, but I enjoy all the other characters so much. (The good ones anyway!)

It was also Fritz’s birthday, and I got him a piece of cake and a candle and sang Happy Birthday. Now here is the funny part. He is so picky that he wouldn’t eat Angel-food Cake! The dackels liked it and ate the piece quickly, but my buddy Fritz turned up his nose.

Then as we sat watching the films (do you still call a DVD a film?) Greta cuddled up to me and with her two paws, held my hand. Isn’t that adorable?

I talked to Baron’s new owner, Mike to check in with him, and Baron is doing well. I hope to hear how Baerbel is soon. Bogey and Ali are great! When I get pictures I will post them for you.

So, Sunday is nearly over and tomorrow brings a movie day and laundry too. Happy Monday everyone!

Happy 6th Birthday, Fritz

Six years ago our little boy Fritz was born out in Portland, Oregon.

Hubby flew out when Fritz was eight weeks old and brought him home in the super soft, dackel travel bag.

They arrived late and Shubi and I were waiting for them. Oh my goodness what an adorable little fluff-ball he was!

Slowly he settled into our family and I found myself totally captured by his sweet nature and adorable face! Especially his eyes!

Over the years he has grown. He is a big boy, 75 pounds, and still he thinks he is a dackel boy! You see Shubi raised him this way. Even though he is the oldest, he treats the dackels with a great deal of love and respect. He is their brother and protector.

He has the sweetest nature of any of the White German Shepherds that we have had. We are so lucky to have him.

So Happy Birthday, dearest Fritz. We love you!

Friday Happenings

Today, the first post puppy day, we did something wonderful. We made cherry jelly! About 10 days ago we picked the ripe cherries from our trees. We’d eaten a bunch, sold a bunch and had saved a gallon to do something with. Two days ago I cooked the cherries down and made the cherry juice, and today I took the juice, some sugar and pectin and made the jelly. Would it be good? I wasn’t sure.

I followed the recipe in the post below and crossed my fingers.

I needn’t have worried. It turned out really well. We had enough left over to pour into a little dish and set aside for breakfast tomorrow, but we all tasted today and WOW it was awesome.

I heard news that Baerbel had landed at LAX and was now a California girl! I got the cutest picture via my cell phone of Baerbel standing in front of the LAX Welcome sign! Too cute!

417901355_1449806961_0

My best friend from childhood, Gail is here visiting. She helped me with the jelly and the dogs also find it quite wonderful that their Auntie Gail is here visiting them. They don’t seem to understand that Auntie Gail is actually here to see me!

Saturday is the local Greekl Festival that I always work at. My neighbor is a member of the church and I like to volunteer and work with her. I’ll take some pictures and post them on Sunday!

Happy Saturday everyone!!!

Cherry Jelly

To Make Juice
Place 1 full gallon of cherries (minus stems) into large pot.
Add 1 cup of water and cook 10-15 minutes mashing the cherries as they cook.
Put cherry pulp through strainer and then place the pulp into a nylon bag and press remaining juice from pits and pulp.

To Make Jelly
3 ½ cups cherry juice
1 tsp butter
1 box dry pectin
4 & 1/2 cups sugar

Place juice in pot and add pectin.
Cook on high heat until it reaches a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down cook 1 minute.
Add the sugar, bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down and cook for 1 minute.
Remove from heat, and ladle into jars that have been sterilized for 5-10 minutes (along with their lids and rings).
Apply lids and rings, tighten.
Place in boiling water and process for 5 minutes.
Place on a towel to cool.
This made 5 pints of jelly.

I had remaining juice and reduced the amounts of sugar and pectin and made a second half batch.

Anneliese’s Litter…The End

Today Rob came to pick up Baerbel. He is Belle’s new forever Daddy. I’d been worried about how she would do, as she had been nervous about meeting new people since her brother, Baron left us last weekend, but Rob is so good with dogs and she is doing great with him and they are bonding already.

Still, it was hard for Hubby and I watch her go down the road. Baerbel is a truly sweet girl, and I think she is more grown up than I gave her credit for. She was ready for her new life, even if I wasn’t quite ready to let her go.

Baerbel, Me, Anneliese and Arnie.

I’d spent the early part of the day taking her picture, walking her outside and cuddling with her. Ah yes, once last smell of puppy breath!

We were so happy to meet Rob and for him to meet Baerbel.

Baerbel is going to his family where there is a Mommy, and two young children to play with. How great is that! Rob and his family have many adventures planned for Baerbel. I just know she is going to have a wonderful life.

Now all the puppies have gone. We opened up the puppy room gates, washed up the floor, put the puppy pen away, and sat down. I looked back over all the pictures, patted Anneliese and thought, “Wow, what a great time this was!”

Happy Birthday, Mel!

Today is my sister’s birthday!!! Happy birthday, dear Melodie!!!

Love you!!!

This Is Tough

Thursday is going to be a tough day for Hubby and me. The last puppy from Anneliese and Isegrim will be leaving today.

Yes, we did the unthinkable. We fell in love with her.

We didn’t set out to do this. In fact all along we have told ourselves that the puppies were owned by others, but somehow the longer they are with us, the harder it gets. And now. The last…

Hubby has had her out a lot. We’ve played with her, held her and cuddled her. Anneliese has even played with her.

But, it is time for her to go. To a new family, with children and a Dad who will be training her for tracking. he will be outside, running and jumping and doing what little dackels should do. Find the wounded deer for their owners, by day and cuddle and play with the kids by night.

She is a great gal, my Baerbel. As I watch her tonight, she is every bit like her Mom, Anneliese. She will make this family very happy!

So good-bye Baerbel. You will be in my heart forever. Go with your new family and have a wonderful life!

Ankle Socks & Sneakers

Today was one heck of a day. Hubby and I shopped for food, vacuumed the house, fed, walked and played with our dogs and the puppy, and cooked a gallon of cherries so we could make cherry juice for cherry jelly. Gosh the list doesn’t “look” that long, but trust me, it was.

The day was dark and rainy, so it actually was a perfect day to do all of these things. I didn’t feel like I was missing anything, however, because of the rain the dogs all were feeling stir crazy.

It’s only a week now until we learn for certain if Greta is pregnant. I’m pretty sure she is, but it will be nice to hear, then the planning can begin.

It’s funny. I was looking at the picture I posted the other day of me with my sister, Janet and Larry and Tracy. Now here is the funny part. You will notice that everyone is either in bare feet, or flip-flops and there I am with my white ankle socks and sneakers and in a dress. Why is this funny?

Well possibly because it is how I dress today. Especially the socks and sneakers. I guess some things never change. What a weird kid I was and an equally weird adult!

All I can say is “Help, Clinton and Stacy” from TLC’s “What Not To Wear”. They could be my last hope!

Baerbel

My little baby, Baerbel is all alone. She had seemed to be doing well with it, but yesterday I noticed that she became a bit frightened of strangers. I was a little confused and then it dawned on me. When strangers come to visit, a puppy leaves. She is a smart girl. She thinks of this as her home and she doesn’t want to go. I will have to speak with her new owner and explain his need to be gentle and patient with her. If he is, he will have the very best friend he could ever want. She will bond to him and his family and become devoted to them. How do I know this?

When we bought Fritz, Hubby flew out to Oregon to buy him from a private breeder. He got to their house and Fritz was not at all friendly. He worried that perhaps Fritz wasn’t the right dog for us. He visited the house again later in the evening and brought sausages for Fritz as a treat. There was a glimmer of trust and the next morning he picked Fritz up for the long ride back across the country. I remember when he arrived here, he was a little white ball of fluff, so scared of everything.

This is Fritz with me and Shubi the night he arrived. The beginning of a beautiful relationship.

But we took our time and loved him unconditionally and today, nearly six years later, Fritz is devoted to us and to the dackels.

This picture was taken by my friend, Alice of Fritz with Arnie.

As I watched Baerbel today, I realized how like Fritz she is. She is quiet, and friendly and happy. I grabbed the old camera and went out snapping pictures of her today. She weighs 9 pounds and is easy to watch. Mostly because she comes when you call, and she will follow you wherever you walk.

Watching Hubby walk across the yard.

Playing with Fritz.

Running across the yard.

I will miss her so much when she is gone. What a great dog she is, but it is time for her to go to her new home, and become part of a new family. That’s just the hard part of my job.

A Day With My Cousin

Today I spent the day with my cousin Janet. She is just a tad older than me, thus I cannot recall a single day in my life when Janet wasn’t in it. Be it in thought or physically present. You see our families lived in different towns, but we were a close family. Birthdays and holidays were spent together, and in the summer for two or three weeks they would all come down to our house on Cape Cod and my life was full, happy and fun!

This picture was taken when I was probably 8 and Janet 9 years old. From left to right: my sister Mel, Janet, Me, my friend, Tracy and my cousin and Janet’s brother, Larry.

Janet and I grew up like sisters. We played baby dolls together, progressed to Barbie dolls and then when Barbie and Ken became Paul McCartney and Linda and Mick Jagger and Bianca, well, you can follow the progression, we went from being little girls to teenagers.

Today we talked about some of the things that made those times special for us. Tying jump ropes on our bicycle hand bars and pretending we were riding horses, going to the beach and walking the shore line for hours and hours! Soft white sheets that felt like milk against our sun-kissed skin, that we fell into at night.

Today was a girls day for us. Hubby was busy with a meeting, and so we went out for lunch at a new place I’ve found, Kevin’s Cafe. Janet had the scallops and I had the whole belly clams! Then we did what we have done since we were kids. We shared. We talked, and we laughed. The food was so great and the company even better!!!

This picture was taken a few years ago. But I love it!

Dec 22 008

We came back to my house after stopping a few places and talked more. I’m still amazed after all these years how much we have to talk about. That’s the best part though of having a cousin who is also a friend. You never run out of things to talk about!

All too soon she had to leave to drive south to her home. When she was gone I sat for a long time and thought how lucky I am to have her and how we are going to set the world on fire when we are little old ladies sitting on the front porch of a cottage at the beach. Talking, just like we have always done., and of course, ogling all those cute young life guards! lol!!!

Love you, sweetie!