Surprises

A box arrived at the Post Office today. It was filled with toys and bones for the pups. I know how Fritz loves fleece toys and so I ordered him a big person fleece toy to play with. I ordered bunnies and bones for the dachshunds. Well, after I took them out of the box, Arnie and Greta grabbed them and ran off. By lunchtime, Arnie had all four toys under the coffee table in the family room and he was guarding them! Poor Fritz never had a chance!

I also got them these wonderful rawhide bones with little pupperoni’s in them. The three dackels took theirs and ran off, but Fritz just looked at his with sad eyes. I bent down and tried to get him to take it and while I was speaking quietly to him he have me a big smooch on the tip of my nose! He never did take the bone.

Arnie is really such a beautiful boy. I was sitting here last night and he was sitting, as he so often does, on the arm of the chair. I got up slowly, grabbed the camera and took this picture.

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He loves to sit like this, with his little feet dangling! It’s absolutely the cutest thing! He is quite a character. I sure hope that some cute dackel girl comes along and wants Arnie to be the father of her puppies. He’s got some fabulous genes!

I’m still working getting Anneliese ready for her big debut at the show. I hope she will strut her stuff and not get stage fright. She tends to be shy with people she does not know. Here’s hoping she takes an instant liking to the German judge!

Just One Of Those Days

I got up today and started things off by burning my finger on the coffee maker. Don’t even ask me how I did this, as I am too embarrassed to tell. Let’s just say it isn’t a pretty sight and hurts like heck.

After that there was a series of unfortunate incidents that found me wanting to rush back to bed and hide there for the rest of the day!

Hubby joked with me about it all until he realized I was really feeling down. Then he asked me if I wanted to go out to lunch at the Chinese buffet before we did our weekly shopping.

He didn’t have to ask me twice.

I love eating at the buffet because I can always find a good selection of things to eat and stay within my points. Today they served Alaskan King Crab Legs, and so I was in heaven!

As we sat at the very end of the meal with our fortune cookies, I opened mine and this was what I read: “Very soon you will reach your goal”.

I smiled because I have just 7 pounds more to go on Weight Watchers and then I will reach my goal!

We shopped, fueled up the car, and then headed home.

The remainder of the day has been nice and a lot less stressful. I managed to cook dinner without burning myself again, and Hubby installed a great new light switch in our room that has a dimmer switch.

Five days until we leave for the Dog Show!

Fall

I was outside walking Anneliese on Friday night. It was cool at 45 degrees, and the skies were clear. I actually had my jacket on.

During the day, as I drove around the area, I remarked on the clarity of  the air around me. I could see the mountains sharply, and the first glimpses of colored leaves graced our trees.

It made me think of an old John Denver song. It’s actually part of a suite of songs that are all put together to make, what I think, is one of the nicest pieces of music to herald the changing seasons.

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Here are the lyrics that kept running through my mind. It made me smile, but it also made me realize that the older I get, the faster time seems to be flying.

Fall

Reflections on the water like shadows in my mind
Speak to me of passing days and nights and passing time
The falling leaves are whispering winter’s on it’s way
I close my eyes remembering the warmth of yesterday

It seems a shame to see September swallowed by the winter
And more than that it’s oh so sad to see the summer end
And though the changing colors are a lovely thing to see
If it were mine to make the change I’d let it be

But I don’t remember hearing anybody asking me

Primping & Preening For The Show

I decided today to work on Anneliese’s fur. She needs to be groomed and looking her finest for the show next week. All her little wispy hairs pulled and trimmed.

The thing is Anneliese is beautiful. He fur coat is nearly perfect and hardly needs any grooming at all. And I look at her precious beautiful face and I just melt. I mean does it really get any better than this?

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I don’t think so. Of course I am terribly partial. I believe that my dogs are the most beautiful pups on the face of the earth!

We brought Greta back from Germany after an extensive search, and naturally the puppies that we got when we bred Greta and Bernie, are the most fabulous dogs ever.

Partial? Me? Noooooo! LOL!!!

So the show is next Saturday and remember, if you are in the Reading, PA area and wish to attend, send me an e-mail and I will provide you with directions to the show.

We usually have 45-60 dachshunds and it is a lot of fun. Each year I learn more and more about the breed I love so much.

And Anneliese loves to meet her friends. She is one great doggy!!!

I’m Tired

I think somewhere along the Pennsylvania Turnpike I became old. It was around then that I realized that I was really tired. You know, the kind of tired that makes you want to get into your softest pajamas, curl up in your bed, with your own blankets and pillows and stay there for say, a week!

Despite the exhaustion I did get up this morning, showered and then hit the road to go to my Weight Watchers meeting.

Was I an Angel during my trip? Ah, no. I did try, however, to eat at least two meals on the plan and then choose carefully what I would eat for dinner.

Of course the Mexican Restaurant Madness wasn’t exactly my finest moment. Re-fried beans, cheeses of all kinds and tortilla chips just jumped down my throat and all I could do to save myself was to swallow!

The next night I had a salad, and the following night sliced meats and salads. On Saturday Hubby and I went to Dan Dierdorf’s Restaurant and while Hubby had Prime Rib, I had ELK! Yes, ELK! I like game, and I’d never tried ELK before and if Sarah can eat it, then so can I! Actually, in the end, the ELK was stuffed with boursin cheese and then served with a Madeira sauce. What a delight.

The banquet meal consisted of rubber chicken (they also had a beef tenderloin that I hear was excellent!), scalloped potatoes and cheese cake. I can proudly admit to sending my cheese cake back after a few bites.

But I just knew I was going to gain ten pounds, and burn in hell for my eating habits during the trip.

**A note here, I ate breakfast in our room and had Weight Watchers yogurt and a Weight Watchers breakfast bar, and lunch was almost always a salad or point friendly sandwich.**

This morning I was rewarded with a 1.2 pound weight loss! Could it be all the walking I did? Was I really more in control than I thought? I am not sure, but I do know that somehow I turned my first big trip away from my safe kitchen into a positive experience!

So now I need to catch my breath and rest up a bit. In a week and a half we take Anneliese to Pennsylvania for her time at the German Dog Show. Hopefully she will do as well as her mother and brother.

Pennsylvania Turnpike, here I come!

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(If anyone in the Reading/Hamburg, PA area is interested in attending the show and meeting Miss Anneliese, who will be signing autographs, please e-mail me and I will send you the directions. The show is on September 27th at 10 o’clock in the morning.)

Just A Quickie!

As I write we are in Pennsylvania, stopping for the night at a motel. We drove 835 miles today and by the time we stopped we were both very tired! We stopped at a diner for dinner and now we are just settling in to watch a little TV before falling asleep.

Tomorrow we will get home in the late afternoon. I will spend plenty of time hugging and kissing my pups. We sure have missed them!

I will tell you all about our trip back once I am settled comfortably in my chair with three dachshunds draped all around me, and one big white German Shepherd cuddled up at my feet!

Ah yes, it will sure be good to get home!

1500th Post!!!

This will mark my 1500th post on Dackel Princess. When I started writing, I wasn’t sure I had enough inside of me to write 10 pages, let alone 1500. But, here I am, still writing and still thinking constantly, “Will this make a good entry on the blog?”.

It gets that way, you know. You are out somewhere, innocently shopping or walking, or whatever, and you see something or think of something funny and you begin to write the blog entry in your head. One time I even got out of bed and turned on the lights and the computer and wrote down my idea.

You just never know where or when it will happen.

Like today. We woke to hurricane-like weather in St. Louis. The rain was coming down in sheets, and the wind was blowing so hard that the rain was blown sideways into buildings and windows while the trees whipped back and forth.

So what did Hubby and I do? Did we crawl back into our nice big bed and sleep another hour?

No! We got up, had a light breakfast, and off we went to the St. Louis History Museum to view their Grant and Lee Exhibition on its last day in St. Louis.

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This picture was taken yesterday when the sun was shining!

For my foreign readers I will tell you that General Ulysses S. Grant was the commander of the United States Army during the latter part of our Civil War, and his opponent was General Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederate Army. They squared off in many pivotal battles until Lee finally surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia, in 1865.

The American Civil War has always been one of the most interesting periods that I have studied, and Hubby shares my interest, so today we really wanted the chance to see what had been put together at the museum.

It was well done, with many photo’s, journals, and letters written by each man. The museum also provided a little color, by having a local militia come in full period dress for the closing of the exhibition. Well, you know me. Before I knew it I was talking to them all and having a great time.

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(Perhaps the worlds worst picture of me!)

Tonight is our last night in St. Louis and there will be a banquet for Hubby’s Army Aviator’s group. Tomorrow we will leave and head back to our little part of heaven, also known as New Hampshire.

Busy Day In St. Louis

We took a tour this morning that showed us the St. Louis Fox Theater. The theater was built in 1927 and has 4057 seats! This is an old fashioned theater that has been completely restored. In it’s heyday it served as a Vaudeville stage, and movie theater for the early silent films. Thus, there was the most marvelous theater organ I have ever seen.

The fabulous Stan Kann performed for us and we got to see what this beautiful organ could do!

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Then we were lucky enough to get a tour of this wonderful monument to the performing arts.

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Unfortunately our time there was short and we were whisked off to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

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The church has mosaics totaling 41.5 million glass tesserae pieces consisting of over 7,000 colors. The mosaics cover 83,000 square feet (8,000 m.).  It is the largest mosaic collection in the world, and was created by 20 different artists including Hildreth Meiere. It is truly magnificent!

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While there I stopped in a small chapel and prayed for my friend’s daughter, who is quite ill. Then I lit a candle to the Angels for their help.

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Then we were taken to the St. Louis History Museum. Unfortunately there was not nearly enough time to look at the exhibits and have lunch, so we have opted to return on Sunday morning to take some time to go through it at our leisure.