The Dackel Princess

Talking to Arnie

I’ve been watching Arnie all weekend. He isn’t acting like himself at all. I’ve examined him, and he seems to be fine. But he’s just not right.

I’ve thought about bringing him to the doctor, but our roads are one giant skating rink of ice, slush, and snow.

I also think that all the examinations in the world won’t heal Arnie’s, broken heart.

And that’s what I think is wrong. I think Arnie’s heart is broken. I think, he misses his sister, his life-long companion.

I’ve washed doggy beds and blankets. I’ve vacuumed the carpet and used Fabreeze. I’ve done everything to erase Anneliese’s scent, but I know it is there and he still knows it.

And he grieves. In a very real and active way. And it just breaks my heart too.

How I wish I could talk to him, even if it was just for a short time, and explain to him what is happening. And let him know that it is okay and he has nothing to fear.

“I love you, Arnie. You’re going to be okay and I am here for you.”

What A Year It Has Been

As I sat here on Monday afternoon, watching the snow fall gently in my yard, I began to think that quite soon it will be a year since we entered Covid Madness.

There had been cases, of this virulent type of flu, but quite honestly, no one understood just how much this virus was about to change the world.

I recall March 9, 2020 — The Grand Princess Cruise Ship anchored off the California Coast. Eventually, she would come to the dock, where people were screened and taken off the ship and sent to centers where they would stay for 2 weeks in order to be sure they were not bringing the virus in with them.

I watched the ship dock. I saw people outside on their balconies. Many probably thought their nightmare was over, when in fact, the nightmare was just beginning for us all.

I watched the people come off the ship. I watched as medical experts, dressed in hazmat suits examined them. I think everywhere people began to fear this virus. I know I did.

The numbers are finally dropping. Vaccines are available. This is all positive, but I wonder how long it will be until we live normal lives again?

It’s been a rough year. I’ve clenched my teeth so much that I actually need to order another mouth guard when I see my dentist in March.

At least Jack has had his first vaccination and will get his second one the first week in March. We’ve learned so much, and yet I think we have a long way to go until this has passed us.

The Weekend Wrap ~ February 15th

This past weekend was Valentine’s Day. I bought Jack a new snow shovel, and I bought myself a dozen long stem yellow roses. My personal favorite. I made Jack a steak and myself a nice piece of haddock and we washed this down with Cook’s Brut Champagne.

It is a cheap bottle, but for some reason, both Jack and I noted that the taste was actually pretty darn good for a California bottled champagne!

This weekend was also our Ice Fishing Derby here in Meredith. It was odd as there was only about a quarter of usual entries. We did have a “Bob House” just below us on the ice, and this must have been a family gathering because at one point I counted 14 people/children and two black labradors. They were having such a great time.

I also watched the movie “Dr. Zhivago” with Omar Sharif. I think this was his greatest role. He could convey so many emotions with just his eyes. And Julie Christie as Lara was simply amazing!

Watching this movie always makes me think of a friend, who has been gone a very long time now. It was his favorite movie. This was all about a time in history that he knew so much about.

I am still worried about Arnie. He is eating, but he cries a great deal of the time. Due to holidays and snowstorms, I may have to wait to take him until Wednesday, but I think that I will be taking him in for a health check.

I hope your week is happy, healthy, and that you all stay safe.

Lime Gelatin Salad

The Lime Gelatin Salad is easy.

Take a box of Lime Gelatin, and prepare.
Drain a can of pear halves, get out some maraschino cherries.
Put Pear half in the small ramekin dish.
Put a cherry in the center, and fill the dish with Lime Gelatin.
Put in fridge until it sets.
Serve with Cool Whip or Mayonnaise.
I like Cool Whip and Jack likes Mayonnaise. You choose.
We also use sugar-free gelatin, and pears packed in their own juice.

We love this and eat it very often!

The Friday Five ~ February 12th

This week slipped by rather quickly. I was occupied much of the time and as the week closes, this is what’s going on.

I was due for a dental cleaning but canceled the appointment due to the snow.
The day after. So pretty!

I probably could have made it over and back, but quite frankly, I am not a fan of driving in snowy weather. Especially when the first 600 feet of the trip from my home is uphill!
I’m not sure I have mentioned but my Wednesdays are spent with a meeting online with the wonderful ladies I’ve known for years at WW. We know they canceled our meeting here in the Lakes Region (and they do not plan to ever have one back here), so we twelve fierce women started to meet in Parks last summer and now we meet online until the weather warms up again. These women are all wonderfully supportive and we are so lucky to have each other!
A few days ago Arnie started to cry. Not loudly, but softly. But he had no other symptoms. Yesterday he started limping around. His appetite is also not good. Today he seemed okay for the first half of the day and then in the afternoon, the limping began again and so did the soft crying.He also started to have a fever. He ate okay at dinner, but if he is still symptomatic tomorrow I will call our Vets. (It is Thursday night as I write) I will tell you all right now, I cannot handle anything being wrong with Arnie. (Well I will, but I do not want to!)
I had a weird reminder that I am old. I wash my hands all the time. I use hand cream all the time. But I also clean the house and floors etc and today when I washed my hands, the skin on my left thumb split open, almost like a paper cut. It was the oddest thing I’ve seen and it made me feel pretty darn old! The skin just parted almost like “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.” Only in my case, it was my skin!
On Thursday night I felt like cooking one more meal would simply do me in!Fortunately, I had some Seafood Lasagna in my freezer, and that’s what’s for dinner!

So that was this week. Honestly, I am glad it is over. I am hoping Arnie will bounce back and be his sweet healthy self very soon!

Thursday Thirteen ~ February 11th

It has been so long since I have done a Thursday Thirteen that I thought I would sit down and write about my morning. Because, in the end, It made me laugh.

I was putting the dishes away while unloading the dishwasher, and I noted that one of my Pampered Chef Air Fryer racks was missing.
This was concerning because Jack has been helping me by unloading the dishwasher in the morning before I get up. This is something new, and I appreciate the help, but now I was worried about where he might have put the rack.
I didn’t want to hurt Jack’s feelings by asking him and if I do, usually an argument will happen afterward.
So I started my hunt. I checked out where I store my wire baking cooling racks. No, go.
Then I went through all the pots and pans and did not find it there either.
I checked the bottom of my range where I store cookie sheets. I went through each sheet checking for it.
I looked under the cabinet drawers and in the bottom of the drawers. I also checked the towel drawer.
I was starting to worry that Jack may have put it somewhere only to never see the light of day again!
I decided to check crazy places, like the liquor cabinet, the heavy mix-master cabinet, and even the cabinet with the wine glasses and beer glasses. I even used a super flashlight to check every nook and cranny!
As much as I hated to, I knew I needed to ask Jack and see if he remembered where he had placed them.
He said he had never seen the rack and when he comes across something he is unsure of where it belongs, he leaves it on our center island.
I decided not to argue. I would order a new shelf for $13.00 and just let it go.
I turned with the one rack I did have and went over to the Air Fryer and opened the door and placed the rack inside. That was when I glanced to my right and saw the blasted rack sitting in the bar sink, right where I’d placed it a few days ago! I’d removed that rack after preheating the air fryer, and it was hot and I tossed the rack in the sink, then set about cooking the meal!

I was full of true heartfelt apologies to Jack! I felt terrible about the entire thing! So, I am now 62 and losing my mind. Actually, I think I have just had so much on my mind, that putting the rack in the sink simply slipped my mind! A Senior Moment? Perhaps.

At least that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!

This & That On A Snowy Tuesday

Last night the Weather-Person forecast light snow starting just before dawn and falling until about 3 PM. It was cold, so we knew that any snow that fell would be light and fluffy.

When Arnie woke me at 5 AM, it was snowing and had already covered the driveway and patio. And as dawn broke the snow continued to fall. Very pretty indeed.

I was due to go in and have my teeth cleaned today, and I probably could have made it in the Highlander, but with a driveway that is 600 feet uphill to the main road, and then another high incline to get to my dentist’s office, I decided that this old girl should just stay home and reschedule my appointment.

Lili is the only one who is happy about this. She loves nothing more than to go out prancing through the snow, much like a deer would.

My boy Arnie looks quite dapper in his blue and white snowflake sweater. It is so funny to watch him in the morning.

He goes right over to the sweater and stands there waiting for me to put it on him. He loves the sweater, but not so much the snow now that he is an old boy.

Since the last two days have been quiet, I decided to see what shows were being offered on Discovery+. I got a special offer for this Streaming Service for a year. People should have warned me that you can get addicted to Binge-watching shows.

A show that caught my eye was a show about teenage pregnancies, and how it affects all the people involved. It’s called “Unexpected“. I find a very strange name for a show which centers on teen pregnancy when none of them are using birth control.

Having been a teenage mom myself, I can see a lot of my immaturity at that time in these kids. But at least I can say that my child was so wanted and that I did love her father for more than five minutes before getting pregnant. In fact, although we were teens, we actually were already married when I got pregnant.

The show follows them along through so much drama and childish tantrums. You know it’s a train wreck, but you just can’t avert your eyes. In the three seasons I have watched, only one girl understood what was going on, and worked to get her life in order.

There are more shows on Discovery+.

HGTV
Food Network
TLC
ID
Animal Planet
OWN
Discovery Channel
discovery+ Originals
Magnolia Network (formerly known as DIY Network)
A&E
Lifetime
History
Travel Channel
Science Channel
The Dodo etc.

I am sure I will enjoy many more hours of more educational television. I love the DIY shows and the cooking and the animal shows. I also appreciate no commercials!

Life is going on. Slowly, wintery, and quietly.

Missing My Friend, Candy

On Thanksgiving 2018, my friend Candy was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. I will never forget the night she called me. She had just gone to a walk-in clinic for her cough. They x-rayed her lungs and found the masses.

She called me as she sat in her car in the parking lot. She knew. I kept trying to explain away what the doctors had found, but Candy being a nurse knew.

How lucky I was to have been her friend all of those years. We could go for a while not talking on the phone and then one of us would call the other and it was like we just talked yesterday. It was always easy to talk to Candy. She understood me in so many ways, that no one else did.

When Candy and her husband visited us back in 2013, they both fell in love with our Greta. So much so that a few months later they got their very own wire-haired dachshund. Aurora went everywhere with Candy and she was the real joy in her life.

Candy was an identical twin. I speak to her sister Mary when I can. Needless to say, she is feeling an unimaginable loss. I knew this would be very hard for her.

I was not only blessed to have been Candy’s friend all these years but during her last days on this earth, I was able to give back to my friend all that she had given me, by caring for her.

My darling friend Candy passed away on February 7th, 2019. She was one of the finest women I have ever known. She gave of herself constantly and never asked for anything in return. She was one of my constants in life. One of those people that I depended on just to be there.

Candy and her darling Aurora.

I’m not sure I will ever “get over” losing this wonderful friend, who was more like a sister to me. I think perhaps I will not. I will learn to live with it.

Oh, how I miss this wonderful woman. But as I told her the last time I saw her, “Love never dies, Candy. I will see you next in God’s Garden”.

A New Chapter

I woke up on Saturday and felt like doing nothing! Usually, I have at least a desire to do one thing, but on Saturday, nope. I just had no desire to do much of anything.

I did know it was time to clean out my purse. And I knew this because I knew what was in there. and I knew it was time for me to put it away.

You see, Anneliese’s collar was in my purse. I haven’t even wanted to look at it. Today, after thinking about this, it was finally time for me to put it away with her ashes.

That collar was hers from the time she was very little. The first collar I got her, was guaranteed not to break. Anneliese chewed it in half! So we got a new one. This one made it through her fourteen-year life.

It is put away and now, I need to turn the page and start a new chapter with Arnie and Lili. This chapter will be called, My Life With Two Dogs.

I will tell you that in the last two weeks I have spent more time with Lili and Arnie. We play more and cuddle more and now that the stress of Anneliese’s illness is over, I find I am calmer and able to enjoy things again.

Oh, I still miss her, but as the song goes, “Oh yeah, life goes on…”. And so it does.

The Friday Five ~ February 5th

It’s amazing! Here we are, and it is the first Friday in February! It’s my biggest hope that 2021 goes by quickly, leading us to a Happy & Healthy 2022! But here is what’s on my mind this cold and slightly snowy Friday!

Jack got his Covid Vaccine on Thursday. He fits several categories for being at High Risk, so off he went and got the Moderna Shot. I wonder how he will be feeling in the morning? Most of my friends have had sore arms and been tired. Hopefully, that is all he will have.
Thursday found me stripping off the sofa cover, washing and drying it, and putting it back on. Now I cannot recall it being that tough! But my goodness, it was as tricky as trying to get Arnie to hold still so I can slip on his winter sweater! By the time I was done, I felt like I had run a marathon!
Tomorrow is vacuuming the house day. That’s another big chore. Not so much because of Arnie, but Lili, oh my goodness…the fur!!! Now we all know that shepherds shed. But Lili is different.
You can almost see the plumes of fur sticking out!

Her coat is so thick that she sheds clumps of white fur everywhere she goes. I will easily fill a vacuum bag going through the house. And I just vacuumed the day before yesterday! But it must be done!
I’ve been struggling with my diet since Anneliese died. But, I have decided that Friday morning I am going right back onto my eating plan. I just know that I need to get a hold of my emotions and get back to eating healthfully! No amount of cookies and crackers will bring Anneliese back. So, it’s onward and upward!
Arnie is doing pretty well now. He is all healed up from the bacterial infection that he had over Christmas, and he is finally going out and running around again.
Arnie resting on my chair.

I know he misses Anneliese, but I also think he understands that she is not coming back. I’ve been working trimming him and stripping him and once he looks sharper, I will post a new picture!

So that’s it for this week’s Friday Five. I hope you have a happy, and warm weekend!