Abby

Today my grand niece, Abby, graduated from Pre-School. My sister went and brought along Luke so they could cheer her on and take these pictures for me, since I couldn’t be there.

Abby is the daughter of my oldest nephew, Mike. In fact I was just 13 when Mike was born and he was like a live doll for me! So I am really enjoying his lovely daughter. She has the most beautiful blue eyes and every summer her dark blond hair turns nearly white blond in the sun.

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Abby loves all animals, birds, helping my sister cook and clean and is just about the sweetest kid you could imagine. She and her cousin Luke get along really well and are playmates. I think they look very much like brother and sister!

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I’ll be seeing her again in July and I can hardly wait! It’s times like these, (when she graduates from Pre-School) that I wish I lived closer than a 4 hour car ride!

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Thursday Thirteen #78

Thursday Thirteen brought to you by the letter

J

Thirteen things about Maribeth that begin with the letter J.

1. J is the first initial of Hubby’s name. I never use his given name, but always call him by his nickname. This also starts with the letter J.

2. Jellybean. This was our sailboat’s name. We had her when we first got married. We spent our honeymoon sailing her up the eastern seaboard. That was such a great trip!

3. Jetty. I grew up in Falmouth, on Cape Cod. One of the things I loved to do as a child was walk out on the jetties and then sit looking across the ocean.

4. Jet. Hubby was a pilot and so I have flown in many Jets, with Hubby piloting them!

5. Jam. I love to make jam! I think my favorite jam is the plum jam I make. Oh man, that is just so delicious!

6. Java. Yep, I’m a big coffee drinker, my favorite blend being mocha java.

7. Jessica. The name of my step-daughter. I’ve always loved that name.

8. Jokes. I love a good joke, not the mean kind, but the ones that just make you laugh with glee!

9. “Junior“! Have you seen that movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger? Oh, it just cracks me up!

10. Joy. What I thought I had lost but eventually found again.

11. “Juno“. I love that movie, too. What a sweet, poignant film.

12. Jarlsberg Cheese, one of my favorite things to eat and now no longer allowed due to my cholesterol. Rats!

13. Janet, my favorite cousin!

And here is a plus one. My middle name is Jewel. I’ve never liked it, but what are you going to do?

Rain?

Today we were supposed to have a nice rain storm. I say nice because it has been incredibly dry here this spring. As we prepared to go out to grocery shop we threw our rain coats in the car and even shut down all our computers, anticipating thunder, lightening and rain.

As we drove along in the car, we had perhaps three drops of rain before the sun came out! Although it was cloudy for a lot of the day, and spit a bit, it never really did rain.

We need the rain. We have a fire on a nearby mountain that’s been burning for almost a week. A nice hard rain would surely help the fire-fighters.

So, I’m hoping overnight that it may rain some. Can you imagine how wonderfully my garden will grow with a little gift of water from the Heavens?

This & That

I took Greta in for an exam today at the Vets. The final diagnosis is that she definitely has no puppies inside of her belly! So, she was able to have her rabies shot.

I really hadn’t expected her to be pregnant, although she does have a little bit of a false pregnancy thing going on. I sure am disappointed. We’ll try again in another 6 months, and I hope then Greta will be more cooperative.

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The day did seem to slip by fast. I worked part of the afternoon printing up invitations to my parent’s sixtieth wedding anniversary in July. I designed the cover page, and my sister came up with the wording inside. I think they came out pretty well.

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My sister found envelopes that will fit the invitations and Mom has made up her list. I just hope that my Dad is doing okay in July. You see he had a small stroke 2 weeks ago and it’s been a tough recovery for him.

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My grand nephew, Luke graduated from preschool and my sister took this great picture of him in his school cap! Don’t you just love it?

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Luke is a great child and I really enjoy the times I can spend with him. He has a incredible sense of humor and makes me laugh so hard!

*****I was just looking through my stats and noticed that this is my 1400 entry in Dackel Princess! Guess I really do have a lot to say!*****

There Is A Disturbance In The Force…..

Last night I noticed that Arnie wasn’t his usual self. He was picking at his food and seemed quite distracted. I’d been out all day with my daughter, and Hubby informed me that Arnie’s little harlot of a sister, Anneliese, had been dancing around. As she nears the “peak” of her heat she has become more wanton than ever. Oh yes, once I stopped to watch Anneliese I could see her doing her little flirty girl dance, in an effort to torment her brother.

So, it was no surprise when bedtime came and Arnie had to once again return to his crate for the night. Alone. Frustrated. Yes, tormented by a force of nature that not even he understands.

Meanwhile, we went to bed with the girls. Greta curled up by my stomach and Anneliese by my knees, and Hubby was soon snoring happily on his side of the bed. All was right in the Dackel Princess house.

About 2 AM. I woke in a sweat. I felt like the room was suddenly being overheated by an unseen furnace. I tore off the sheets and got up to get something to drink. Returning to bed, I found Greta and Anneliese had taken my side of the bed, and shoving them aside, I climbed back in.

Oh yeah, a hot-flash!

At 5 AM Anneliese and Fritz woke me to go outside. Little Miss Pants has found that being in heat makes her have to go out and visit the great out of doors just a little bit more often. So off we went. Once we returned I diapered her, and the three of us returned to bed.

My head was just hitting the pillow when Anneliese started to gag and I jumped up and got her into the bathroom just as she threw up.

Could the night get any better?

Once I’d washed her up we returned to bed and fell asleep, but another hot-flash came upon me and I lay there thinking perhaps this was some sort of cruel joke. I did eventually drop off again, but at 7:30 Hubby woke full of joy and happiness after a good night sleep. I begged him “Please take the dogs and let me sleep just another 30 minutes!” And he did.

Actually he let me sleep another hour which was even better!

But as I went through my day today I thought how terribly funny this is. Here Anneliese is in heat and full of hormones, Arnie too, but of a slightly different make up, and here I am on the other end of the scale suffering from a decided lack of hormones!

Yes, there is a disturbance in the force!

Shopping With Mandy

I was off to the big city today to meet up with Mandy and do a little shopping. Since we both have lost weight, (combined we have lost 75 pounds, but Mandy has lost more than me.) we both were in need of a few new pieces of clothing.

It is still a bit shocking to me to go to the rack and take off a shirt or slacks in the size I have worn for several years and not have them fit any more. I look in the mirror and I see that woman in the cruise pictures and not the women I am slowly becoming. Today I literally stood in front of a three way mirror in a new outfit with my mouth hanging open with surprise! Yes, I could see that I actually looked pretty good!

I also have to say how much I enjoyed spending the day with my daughter. You know it’s so nice when you can look at your child and be proud of how they have made their own way in life! I am also pleased to be able to report that I would want to be her friend even if she were not my daughter. She is that neat of a person!

The day went so fast and before long we had exhausted all the shops and it was time to say goodbye. I sure hope we can do that again soon!

The Family Bed

I’d decided that with Anneliese in heat it was easier to keep her close so that she wouldn’t chew up her little pants. So far, this has worked very well. She is a little doll in bed, curling up by my stomach, and cuddling me.

Of course the tough part is that Arnie was alone and he really hated that. So we’ve been trying to get him to sleep with us too. Now this isn’t so easy. Arnie likes to stretch out and is bold enough that he will try to push you out of bed.

So half way through the night he would be unceremoniously dumped back in his crate. That was, until last night. The boy finally settled down and slept well.

Thus giving us a “three dog night“.

Greta sleeps comfortably by Hubby’s feet, and in the morning comes up for a cuddle with us both. Fritz sleeps by the door, forever on guard. Yes, it really is amazing how our little family huddles together now in slumber.

Of course in another few days we will have to put Arnie back in his crate until Anneliese finishes off her heat. I’ll miss the little guy then. But for now, it’s nice having him with us.

I am just thankful that my bed dogs are dachshunds and not St. Bernards!

Thursday Thirteen #77

Thursday Thirteen brought to you by the letter

i

Thirteen things about Maribeth that begin with the letter I.

1. Ice Cream. Yes at the top of my list is ice cream. I sure do love it!

2. Indian Food. I also love Indian food. Tandoori chicken is the best!

3. Islands. I have really enjoyed my trips to various tropical islands. I love the sun, the surf and the sand!

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4. Ironing. I hate to iron. But it is part of life and once a shirt or skirt or whatever is ironed, it does look pretty wonderful.

5. Ice. I love ice on lakes or in ice rinks. I’m not such a big fan of ice in drinks. Things get too cold.

6. Icebergs. I thought the most beautiful and amazing thing I saw in Alaska on our cruise were the icebergs. They were incredible!

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7. Iceberg Lettuce. A staple in my diet.

8. Idaho Potatoes. Yummy. I love potatoes and Idaho’s make the best bakers!

9. Iguana. I saw this one just sitting there staring at me on the island of Curacao.

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10. Illegible. My handwriting is just terrible. Yes, illegible! I admit it!

11.Impala My first car. It was a 1966 Chevy Impala. Gray. The car only went about 40 miles an hour. But I felt hot in it because I had a car in high school!

12. Icing. Yes, I love icing. Especially butter creme icing! Yum!!!

13. Indian Pudding. My absolute favorite. Served hot with vanilla ice cream. You can go here and get the recipe for it. Also, here is a picture of Hubby feeding me some of it just before we left on our cruise last fall.

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A Joy

I had a real joyous happening today. I got to share things that I had created. I know you all remember back in April when I did my mass planting of seeds. I always plant every last one of them because you never know which seeds will grow and which ones will be duds.

This year, they were nearly all perfect!

I had so many extra cucumber plants and squash plants that I decided today to walk around the neighborhood and give them away. I left the puppies at home and took Fritz and Greta with me. They both respond well to my voice commands.

We walked up to the top of our driveway. This is where Frank lives. He is ninety years old and just the sweetest man around (besides Hubby that is!). I gave him cucumber plants. He shared with me some of his special purple bean seeds! Then I stopped at our friends home next to his. They have watched the pooches for us a few times and we have grown very fond of them as well. I had some slicing and pickling cucumbers for them. Antoinette makes the best mustard pickles! I hope these will give her what she needs.

Later in the day I headed up to our closest neighbor’s home with squash, and cucumbers. She had some Dill in her garden and she dug it up and shared it with me.

It made me feel really good, this sharing of crops. We all will exchange our specialties in the fall too, when canning time starts. I think it’s one of the things that I like the best about living in the country.

Yes, today was a joy!