The Dackel Princess

Pups & Pounds!

I started to do a Thursday Thirteen and I realized that I was tired of that, so you have just me sitting here writing about a few little things.

Like Anneliese. Isn’t she just the cutest little thing?

She is so sweet too. Hubby and I were talking about this the other day and we are quite amazed at how truly wonderful the two pups are. I imagine we are incredibly partial having had them since the very moment that they were born, but to us, Anneliese and her brother Arnie are just the best! We have watched them grow, and learn to play with each other, and to become part of our little dog pack.

Here is Arnie with me.

He is my little snuggler and at night he sleeps down by my feet happily wound around them. Anneliese now sleeps by my tummy and Greta is now sleeping between our pillows. Yes, we have a full bed each night when we settle in. Only Fritz sleeps on the floor, and all I can say to that is, Thank God!!!

When my cousin, Janet was up visiting for her birthday she took this picture of me in a new outfit, showing off my weight loss. Yes, showing off, because after losing 40 pounds, I am enjoying showing off just a little!

I have about 8 more pounds to go to get to my goal weight and then the real work starts ~ maintenance! I think that will be the real challenge.

Meanwhile I’ll keep working on Weight Watchers day by day, a little at a time.

By A Nose

I went to the doctor’s today to have him look at my nose. I’ve been worried about it because a red spot magically appeared on it back in March and despite my tender ministrations, it has not healed. Even my mother noticed this thing the last time I saw her.

It doesn’t hurt, but it did start to bleed the other day, so I decided that since I am not stupid, it was time to get it checked out.

I arrived a bit early at the office. You see I am habitually early for everything. I blame my father for this as he also suffered from this affliction. I call it “Early-itis”.

I sat in the waiting room, waiting, when a man in the next section of the waiting area started talking to me as though we were long lost friends. I was puzzled by this, but I try to be nice and friendly and I spoke about the weather with him. Right now everyone is talking about our weather because it has been so bad.

Anyway, I was starting to run out of things to say to this man when the nurse called my name, thus saving me from a fate worse than death, running out of chit chat.

She weighed me, which used to make me crazy, but since the weight loss, I actually look forward to. Then took me in and did my blood pressure and pulse. Folks you are looking at one very healthy girl! Both were perfect!

The doctor came in and peered at my nose. He tut-tutted and looked again. Well? He wants me to see a Plastic Surgeon to have it removed and biopsied. That will be done on July 1st. The chances are that it is some sort of skin cancer, but not melanoma. (Thank you dear Lord!)

Then he asked if I was well, and I mentioned that I’ve had some low blood sugar attacks that I have documented with Hubby’s meter. He didn’t like that at all, so a glucose tolerance test has been ordered for this Friday. Three hours of drinking sugar syrup and having blood taken.

Does the fun ever end?

I was thinking as I drove home that as I approach my 50th birthday it seems like my body is breaking out and falling apart. Now how the heck did that happen?

So, I’ll get the blood tests done and then get the nose fixed. I’m just hoping that my nose doesn’t resemble Michael Jackson’s nose when they are finished!

Papers, Papers & More Papers

First off, I hate to file. I am one of those people who truly believe that this world would be a better place if we never had to file one, single, document, form or letter. Whoever came up with the idea that saving pieces of paper for the “future” should have been summarily punished for the deed!

That said, after almost a year of taking these pieces of paper that need to be saved, and tossing them carelessly into a Coldwater Creek shopping bag, today I decided that I simply had to revamp my little office filing cabinet. It was jammed full of paper that I have been saving for several years. It was time to remove the old files and start fresh, collecting only 2008 documents to save.

So I got out a cardboard box and placed the old files in this. They will go to our larger file cabinets in the basement to live out the next seven years. Then they too shall be trashed.

Then I began setting up new files to accommodate the current years documents. I sorted things from the shopping bag around me until I realized I was sitting in the middle of the floor with papers scattered all about!

This is bad because…..I have 4 dogs, who chose that moment to come running into my office to “give Mama some love”!

I managed to get them out before true disaster struck, and I worked a total of four hours today (still not done) but I’m hopeful that tomorrow I will get it all finished up. At least the upstairs office part.

Then the hard part begins, as I go through the downstairs files and thin them, add the files I just removed from the upstairs file cabinet, and make things neat and organized.

Does this paperwork stuff ever end?

And the Rain……

Today began with somewhat mild temperatures, but a tremendous increase in humidity. I quickly recalled my years living in south western Florida, as I stepped outside to check my plants after breakfast. Our neighbor came down bringing with her a cooler with two live lobsters, straight from Block Island, Rhode Island! Needless to say, for lunch we cooked the two lobsters and enjoyed every mouthful!

About 1:15 the skies darkened and an eerie feeling descended upon our area. We closed windows, turned off all our computer and satellite equipment and tuned into The Weather Channel. We were under a severe thunderstorm warning and as the storm approached us, they included a tornado warning.

The storm hit and for nearly half an hour it raged on with winds of 38 miles per hour, thunder, lightening and rain totaling 1-1/2 inches. And if that weren’t enough of a treat, we got some dime size hail thrown into the mix just for entertainment, and to mar Hubby’s beautiful apple and peach crop.

This is not a great picture, but it does show the hail hitting the tiles in the back yard. It was quite a storm, and quite honestly we haven’t had one that bad in many years.

My cousin Janet arrived with our friend, Michelle, and Emily was here too. Since it was still raining it was not possible to go for a hike so we stayed home and played the game “Apples to Apples” which I really enjoyed.In fact, I cannot remember playing a game that I enjoyed as much in a very long time.

Hubby inspected his fruit trees and in the late afternoon we changed and went over to Canoe and had a wonderful dinner! One fun thing was that the Boston Red Sox were playing an afternoon game. When we left to go to dinner they were leading 3-2. When we arrived we were seated in the bar area of the restaurant and noted that the game was now tied 3-3! This game went on all through dinner and just as we were having dessert, Kevin Youkilis hit a home run and won the game for the Red Sox! A perfect way to end a birthday dinner!

We dropped Emily at home, and then came back here where Janet and Michelle gathered their things and headed home.

Now the dogs are walked, the sun, lost somewhere in all the clouds, is setting. Another day is over.

Once again, Happy Birthday Janet!

Happy Birthday, Janet!

Today is the birthday of my cousin, Janet. She is just a tad older than me, which means that I cannot remember a day in my life when she wasn’t there. For two weeks each summer (the very best two weeks!), and holidays, and family parties, Janet was always there with me. When I think of Thanksgiving dinners as a child, I see Janet sitting next to me. We whispered during the meals and after we’d either sneak off on our bicycles and ride to the beach or if the weather was bad, we’d escape to my room and play with my collection of Barbie dolls.

She is like a sister to me and I really enjoy the times we share now. I can see us growing old together, with our dogs and our cameras and perhaps a cruise or two together. Whatever the future holds for us, I know we’ll be together and the ocean will be nearby.

So, Happy Birthday, dearest cousin, and many, many more!!!

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~Water~

Fritz loves to swim and to play fetch in the waterand with his thick German Shepherd coat he sure gets a load of water in it. Shaking it all off is so much fun though!

50,000 Reads!!!!

Overnight Dackel Princess had it’s 50,000 read! It was my friend in Berlin, Germany, Uschi. I thank her, and all of you for reading and for stopping by!

A Day In The Yard

We noticed today that the birds had once again discovered the Cherry tree. Each year we watch for them and that is the time that we break out the net and go through the rather difficult task of “netting” the tree.

This year Hubby has a new ladder

and this had been quite a help, although both of us are a bit scratched from the branches of the tree rebelling against our work. But the tree is netted and those pesky birds will just have to do without our cherries, which will be ripe around the 10th of July!

Fritz was out “helping” us.

But it seems he got a little bored after a while.

We did get things done in the yard, although the dachshunds remained inside during this process. You see we lay the netting on the ground, and just imagine what three dachshunds and their little feet would have done to the netting! Fritz has a sort of yard savvy. He knows that he needs to stay clear of certain things, and he sits up there on the hill, under his peach tree.

Eventually Kimmie came over after she got home from school. She watched what we were doing and since she looked so cute in her dress I took her picture.

So now the sun is setting and another day has gone by. Today was a good one. Nice weather, chores accomplished and birds outwitted for another year!

Motorcycle Week 2008

Yes, it is Motorcycle Week here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Motorcycles of every shape and form are roaring the streets of our community. I think this year is not quite as crowded as last year, due to the cost of fuel, and perhaps also the cost of food. Have you noticed how the two have both increased?

Anyway, during Motorcycle Week, I try to stay in and not venture out too much. There is a lot of traffic and you just cannot get the hum of the motorcycles out of your head.

Today while getting the mail I saw the best bike couple yet. Mr. Biker had a dew rag on his head, a gray beard that grew half way down his belly which was sticking out of his pants. He had tattoos that covered his body so I wasn’t quite sure if he had a tan or not. His Biker Babe, was sitting behind him with a tube top on. She had breasts to rival Pamela Anderson, and a belly nearly as big. She had a couple of rather tasteful tattoos on the top of each breast and shoulder. Her hair was bleached white blond, with black roots and she had pale lipstick on and was smoking a cigarette! Oh yeah. They sure made me smile!

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Today was Weight Watcher day and so I HAD to go out, and I HAD to drive the busiest road between two towns. *gasp*

I made the trip there rather uneventfully and had the best news. I lost another 1.8 pounds bringing my total to 40 pounds lost! Needless to say after the meeting I was on cloud nine!

Then I decided to go to the grocery store to get some fresh vegetables. This required me to drive another 10 miles on a very busy road (also under construction) to our market.

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I was driving quite carefully and was caught up in traffic when I noted a box van truck on the other side of the road. Almost before I could think about the space in back of it, some genius on a motor bike raced out in front of my car. I slammed on my brakes and pulled over into the brake-down lane. I missed him!

Just as I let out a sigh of relief, he turned and flipped me the bird! I wanted to run after him. I wanted to remind him that when a motorcycle goes up against a car, the bike usually loses. I wanted to tell him that life is precious, but he was gone in a flash.

I was shaken, but continued on my journey and actually got all my shopping done. Despite the influx of tourists into our area, it seems none of them were shopping today.

I got home, put the food away and then, finally took a long, deep breath.

I’m not going anywhere now until Sunday. Hopefully by then the crazy ones will have departed.

Not Too Much & A Bath

So what’s new?

Today was one of those days that I can safely say, not much.

Oh, I did the usual three meals, and the cleaning up of them. I fed the dogs and walked them when they told me it was time, but for whatever reason, I just didn’t feel like doing much.

It could be the headache I have had most of the day, or perhaps the hot-flash that started at 1 AM and lasted until nearly 5 AM. Oh I just love menopause! (She says, words dripping with sarcasm.)

Last night before bed I was watching reruns on the tube when I noticed that the three ~~dachshunds~~ Amigos all smelled extremely foul. So there I was in the shower with three stinky fur children, at 7:30 last night, giving them all baths. Thank goodness I did, as they all decided to cuddle up to me last night in bed. (Yes, this did make the hot-flash much, well, flashier!)

I guess everyone needs one of those days once in a while. A day when you just lay low and chill out.

I must note here that the day was not a total loss. I found my first eggplants on the Japanese Eggplant plant (redundant, yes?), and here they are.

My tomatoes and peppers are doing well, too. We have been having afternoon rain showers that have really helped the garden. Some of our plants we have kept in large pots on the patio, and then of course we have the regular garden. That seems to be quite a bit behind the potted plants. However, I’m really pleased with the results, especially the eggplant!

Tomorrow is Weight Watchers day and perhaps a trip to the grocery store for some fresh vegetables. I think this will have been a good week weight wise, which makes me want those fresh vegetables all the more!