The Dackel Princess

A New Look

On Saturday I was still fighting a small cold and a sore back. Have you ever wondered how easily things are damaged when really, you’ve done very little to injure your back? Yes, well, such is the case with my darned back!

I was thinking that it was time for me to put to rest my old header and some sidebar pictures of my Anneliese. It was time to move forward.

I sort of knew what I wanted to do, and the pictures I wanted to use, but it just wasn’t right until Header number 7. Then I knew that this is good and I loaded it up.

What do you think?

The middle pictures are of Greta’s first litter and amongst the puppies are both Arnie and Anneliese. But they’re babies and it does not pain me the way the pictures of my old girl did.

We’ve also developed the new normal around here. Arnie and Lili are good pals and live quite harmoniously.

It is also nice to live normally with dogs again. In the end, Anneliese was taking so many medications and then at the very end, nothing was helping her. But that is past and now I feed the pups twice a day and life is wildly normal.

The Friday Five ~ March 5th

This week really flew by. I had so many problems to solve and I spent more time than I wanted to on solving them. Ugh! Not all of them have been resolved, but that is a post for another day!

Here is this Week’s Friday Five!

I saw this funny bit by Bill Engvall on Facebook and it made me laugh as I thought about my Lili and the dachshunds.

In fact, on Thursday I was walking Arnie outside and the two neighbor dogs were outside with no supervision. They began to bark, and one of them came over the stone wall toward Arnie! I was in my slippers and down parka and I went running through the deep hard snow to “save” Arnie and twisted my leg. Ugh! Anyway, watch the clip and have a little laugh!
Jack has now had his second Moderna Shot for Covid. Today I was able to make my appointment for April. Baby-steps! But at least I am moving in the right direction!
We have more wind again. This is the type of wind that rattles your windows and doors and makes everything sound so loud! I wonder if we will have power outages?
Will any of you watch Oprah’s ~~hatchet job~~ interview with Meghan and Prince Harry? I do not think I will. You see, I look at MM and PH as being two spoilt brats who think the world owes them. And somehow MM has convinced PH that she is Princess Diana and needs his devoted protection! At least this is my opinion. Oh, gag! No, I won’t be watching.
Lastly, this weekend is my grandson’s birthday! He will be 5 years old. I remember the day he was born so well.
Savi, Quinn’s other Grandmother, and I all came to the hospital right after he was born. I always joke with Quinni that I changed his first day’s worth of poopy diapers! And you know, I loved every second of it! Now Quinn is a big boy and so very remarkable.

I adore my grandchildren and they are God’s greatest gift to me!

Well, that is this Week’s Friday Five. I hope you have a great weekend!

TBT: Melodie & Me

I think this was taken when I was in fifth grade. Melodie must have been in High School. Those were two of my favorite dresses ever! Sadly the white one never really fit me well. But that chocolate brown dress with the funky collar I wore over and over until it no longer fit me.

It’s about the only time Melodie was taller than me. Shortly after that I went through a growth spurt and left her far behind! In the end, I was 5 feet 8 inches tall and she was 5 feet 3 inches.

Whines~day Wednesday

Tuesday was my first dental exam in a year. I’d been putting it off due to my own Covid Fears. However, I finally gathered up my courage, and off I went.

I was a little worried I might have cavities, and I know my jaw clenching isn’t a good thing.

All that being said, I came through my exam with flying colors, with the exception of tooth #5. It has had a small crack for a few years, but I’m afraid my jaw clenching caused the crack to get worse. Ugh!

So, I must have the tooth prepped and have a crown placed on it. Double Ugh!!!

I go back in one week to start the process and I will be footing the bill for half of this crown! That is $800.00 I will watch fly out the window. But I have made the commitment to keep as many teeth as possible, so I will cough up the money. The insurance company pays the other half. That is one very expensive tooth!

On the weather side of things, we had zero degrees Fahrenheit with 45-50 MPH winds and all the light snow that fell overnight was blown around, causing whiteouts! It sure was fun! Not!

I am sure looking forward to Springtime!

Have a great day everyone!

Bacon, Onion & Brussel Sprouts

1 pound of Brussel sprouts
3-4 slices of bacon
1 tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
fresh ground pepper
1 small onion chopped

In a saucepan boil, Brussel Sprouts for about 5-8 minutes or until sprouts are tender but still crisp.
Drain and set aside to cool.
In nonstick skillet cook bacon until crisp.
Remove and set on a paper towel to cool.
In the frying pan add onion and cook until the onion is cooked.
Add garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil.
Stir well.
Add Brussel sprouts and cook until the Brussel sprouts brown.
Place in a serving bowl and crumble bacon over the top.
Serve hot! Enjoy!

This is one of our favorite recipes. One way to cook and really enjoy Brussel Sprouts!

The Weekend Wrap ~ March 1st

After writing my Friday Five, I was off to spend a little quality time with my two grandchildren. I left early on Friday morning and drove quite happily down the highway to Mandy and Matt’s home.

I was feeling rather lighthearted as I drove along. I have not driven this route since Christmas Day, and it was so nice seeing all the spots that I know so well.

I arrived early, and as this was school vacation, both Savi and Quinn were home and ready to greet me!

I’d brought a craft project for us to work on (which was not a big hit) and I also brought with me stories I’d written some time ago about my first dachshund called “The Shubi Tales”.

Those they liked and I ended up reading to them for a while. (Note to self: Go through these stories now and correct punctuation and grammar!)

We had lunch, played a new game I’d gotten called “Memory Chess”, which was quite fun. My little darlings ganged up on poor Oma and beat me! But this game is a good one and we enjoyed it.

Late in the afternoon, we all got ready, and off we went for our first restaurant meal since this Covid Nightmare began.

We went to “The Tuscan Village” where they had these marvelous Igloos outside, where you could have your meal. The Igloos are disinfected between customers and are also lit with Christmas lights that change color and are also heated.

I had this marvelous cocktail, an Espresso Martini. It is deceptively delicious and one does not quite realize it packs quite a punch. I had two! And I will say, standing up found me feeling a little light-headed. Thank goodness I was not driving!

Mandy and I shared an appetizer of Calamari, and we each had a wonderful haddock with risotto. Also, Matt had gotten Asparagus on his plate and I took that as he cannot eat Asparagus.

Now I should have stopped there, but I splurged and ate cannolis! They were delicious, but I am sure I will burn in WW hell for this meal! However, that being said, it was so spectacular to be out, in such a festive environment eating such delicious food!

Afterward, Savi’s friend arrived and we were watching the new “Tom & Jerry” cartoon when Mandy asked if this green plastic cup was mine? Yes, yes it was. I opened it, only to find my dental retainer gone!

We looked around and there was Mandy’s dog, Winter, with my retainer in her mouth! The funny thing was it almost looked like she was wearing false teeth!

Do not let this innocent face fool you!

We jumped up and Mandy went one way and I went the other in hopes of capturing the dog! That little American Eskimo puppy was so fast that she outran us both! Fortunately, Savi’s friend, Kinsley, grabbed the dog and we got the retainer back, completely unharmed.

I did not put it back into my mouth, however, until I had brought it home and completely sanitized it!

The next morning, I woke early and looked outside. It was snowing! In fifteen minutes the road was covered, so I jumped into my clothes and loaded my car (remembering all the stuff I had forgotten at Christmas), and began my trip home.

The roads were not good. I’d expected the back roads to be messy but hoped the main highway would be easily drivable. This was not the case. As I traveled further north the roads became worse and worse. I never drove over 45 miles an hour. There were crazy drivers who sped by going 65-75 MPH, and I am sure that one or two of them were the ones I saw off the road in a ditch. Why do people do this?

I stopped and shopped, for groceries and gasoline and then proceeded home. I’d departed Mandy’s at 7 AM and after shopping and the drive, I did not get home until 11:30. But I did it! And not a skid or slip along the way!

The rest of the weekend I watched mindless TV and cooked meals. Oh yes, and the inevitable laundry, that seems to multiply overnight!

The week will be filled with doctors and dental appointments. The usual when one is advancing into their later years!

My hope is that New Hampshire will get enough vaccines so that people over the age of 60 will be eligible sooner. (currently, my group will be in May or June) Right now our neighboring State of Maine considers 60+-year-olds being in a high-risk group, while New Hampshire sees us being just as hearty as a 55-year-old. Trust me, this is not the case for most people I know.

So that is it for my Weekend Wrap! Have a good week everyone!

The Friday Five ~ February 26th

I think the slightly longer hours of daylight are helping my wintertime depression and the skies remind me that soon Spring will be here. Instead of recounting my week, I thought I would give you five pictures of days gone by.

This first one is me. I am thinking I was about 5 years old. I was a real ham even back then. Point a camera at me and I pose.
Mandy says she can always tell my fake smiles from the real ones. That makes me laugh. Surprisingly, I think that Quinn looks a lot like me.
Here is a picture taken when I was ten. My sister is on the left, my cousin Rikki on the right holding her beautiful baby daughter, Dawn.

This is the first baby I remember being born and I simply fell in love with her! Dawn has grown into an amazing woman. And she is just as lovely on the outside as she is on the inside!
The next picture is of me holding my sister’s first son, Michael. He was such a beautiful baby and I was instantly smitten.
In fact, I have always loved babies! Fortunately, my family always allowed me unlimited rocking baby times! I think I was 13 years old.
When I was just 14, my parents went to Bermuda to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They took me with them. They went in November and it was chilly. But I loved Bermuda.
An interesting note here. It was also my first airplane ride. And the airline was Pan Am. Little did I know that years later, I would marry a Pan Am pilot.
The last old picture for today was of me at 16. My Mom made this gown for me as I was a Rainbow Girl. The picture is not the best as it is an old polaroid snap.I loved this gown and it made me feel like a million dollars when I wore it. I wish I knew what happened to that gown. It would be lovely to have it now.

So that’s it for this week. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend wherever you may be!

TBT: Shubi & Me

This is Shubi and me as we sat on a little bench overlooking our lake at sunset. This was taken the summer we built our house. Shubi was my little sunshine and one of the sweetest dogs ever!

Shubi and I traveled all over Europe. She had her own little Doggy Passport and she was simply a wonderful flier and so polite at restaurants and hotels!

We had a motorcoach for a while and drove all over the USA and Canada. Shubi was amazing and spent most of her time riding right in my lap!

She really was the light in my life. She gave me more than I could ever have given her. She was greatly loved.

Shubi was born on December 1, 1995, in Landshut, Germany. She was my first wirehaired dackel! She lived just ten years and died young due to illness. But I can look back and smile at our wonderful ten years, because of what a great time we had together!

This & That ~ February 24th

Yesterday was a pretty busy day for me. It was the first time I’d been out to shop at Walmart and Shaws in nearly a year. I have really stayed very close to home, instead of driving the 8 miles to the next town to shop there.

Since I had an 11:30 eye appointment, I decided to go early and do the shopping I needed to do.

Our driveway was still unplowed and we had about 4-5 inches of snow there. So, I hit the snow button on the highlander dash and that car moved right up the driveway, no problem at all! I love that car!

First I went to Walmart expecting to buy a few items on my list. I had not been there since March of 2020 and what I saw shocked me. A terrible selection of items and the prices were awful!

I did get a few things, and then I was off to Shaws Supermarket hoping to find some items that I have not seen locally. Once again, terrible selection, and high prices!

Next, I went to my Optometrist to have an exam and get a new prescription for glasses. I sat waiting for 45 minutes (past my appointment time!) and finally he came in. The exam was a good one but left me feeling distressed.

My eye pressures have gone up (which explains my headaches) and I have actually lost vision in my left eye. He wants me to call my Glaucoma doctor tomorrow and leave a message.

He worked to adjust my prescription, and then I toddled off to see if there were any glasses I liked. The young optician had the nicest glasses I’ve seen in a while! I asked if they had them in gold, and they do, so he has placed my order. Yay! New glasses with a stronger prescription.

Upon coming home, I fixed myself some lunch at 2 PM! Crazy. I really had expected to be home by noon or 1:00 at the latest! So, this was really not good.

Dinner was easy. I made Jack stuffed peppers, and I made haddock for me. Quick and easy.

This is probably the busiest day I have had since last year. The really nice part was driving around and seeing places I love (Lake Winnepesaukee) and have not seen since mid-March of 2020!

A Winter Wonderland

It has been another snowy day here in New Hampshire. It seems that we just get cleaned up from one storm when another comes rushing in. It’s pretty and when I lived in Florida I missed the four seasons. That being said, I love snow for Christmas in December and after that I want Springtime!

I went out with Lili and Arnie to take a short video, which is below. As I write on Monday night, it is still snowing! Thank goodness this year I finally replaced my winter boots (My last pair died several years ago), and have a good down parka with faux fur!

Lili loves the snow, but poor old boy Arnie is not a fan!

Tomorrow I go in for an eye exam and I think I will look for new frames for my glasses. The ones I have are three years old and as much as I love them, I feel like a change.

I hope your Monday was a nice one and that your weather is better than ours!