Me, My Dogs and My Diet Life

I was so glad I didn’t caught up in the Halloween decorating this year. I had planned to – I just never got around to it. And why am I glad? Because of what came the next day: freezing rain and lots of it. My windshield had a full ½” of frozen rain, as did my driveway and my decks. I have approximately 1,200 square feet of outside decking, fortunately about 2/3 of it is covered. I like to keep all of the decks snow free all winter long. This freezing rain quickly became an unrealistic goal. I could not chip off the ice from our west deck. The east deck managed to get some sun and was slowly melting several days later. With a little help from my shovel, we managed to clean off the majority of the ice. It wasn’t until these last few days of November that we managed to chip away all of that ice from the lower west deck. Yeah, I have a clean deck once again.

Guess what is coming this weekend. You bet, snow!

I felt very badly for anyone who had all of those lovely blow-up Halloween creatures and other lovely decorations. They would have been a mess to thaw out before putting them away. Good old mother nature, you just never know what she is going to throw your way.

As I am composing this blog today it is the wonderful / crazy Black Friday shopping day. I did manage to do a little on-line shopping for items that are hard to find locally. However, I just don’t have the patience to spend waiting in line in a store to save $20. (My $20 buck life – once again!) I had planned to go into Prince Albert today as I had some groceries to get for the weekend but hen I remembered, oh no, it is Black Friday – I’m not going anywhere. I had stocked up on my red wine earlier in the week, so I had no reason to go anywhere. The dogs need food, but there is enough there until Monday and besides they are now on a diet, which is my next topic.

I had to take Benny, our 17-month-old dog in for his vaccines last week. Much to his dismay and mine he is overweight, the poor little fellow.

He is so active – how could he be overweight? So, he needs to lose a couple of pounds, I guess. This doesn’t sound like much, but when you are 23.5 pounds, getting to 21.5 is probably a big deal.

Ever since he has been a puppy, he has been too busy to eat for more than a couple of mouthfuls and away he goes. He is such a curious little fellow. He has been on the free-range program since I’ve acquired him.

Now, we also have an older dog, Maci, and she is kind of fussy in her eating habits and has been on the free-range program too.

Life has changed for them as they both get their food measured now and she doesn’t have a full dish of food anymore either. Poor Benny leaves his dish to go exploring and sure enough Maci comes and eats out of his dish. The grass is always greener in the other dog dish for some reason. She still has food in her dish but has to come and eat at Benny’s. I look to see how much I think Maci has eaten and try to top it up for Benny before I leave for work as his next feeding isn’t until I get home from work. Good old 5 o’clock somewhere for Benny.

I have been told he will adapt and learn to eat all of his food in his dish in the morning as there is no more until I get home. When I came in the house today the first thing I did was measure out his ½ cup of food and he scarfed the whole thing down. He did not leave one piece of kibble behind for Maci, and then he flopped down for his nap. I don’t know if there is another animal that can sleep as much as dogs. Today Benny and Maci were outside all afternoon and would have had lots of running and having fun with the warm weather. So today they probably did earn their naps. I think he has a pretty darn good life that dog!

To make it even more interesting, our daughter has a 7-month-old golden retriever that is about the size of a small Shetland pony in our house. He is a hungry character too. I’ve been getting heck for over feeding him ever since he started coming to the house and we had him on the free-range program too.

Well, poor young Willie Nelson (the dog’s name) is now getting his food measured out too. It’s not weight watchers, but I never thought I’d be actually measuring out how much food my dogs could eat. And then I have to be careful when I feed the outdoor cats as both Benny and Willie Nelson will eat the cats’ food because it is too many calories. They can’t eat dog food and cat food plus treats. It is another area to cut down on.

How many treats can they have? Training puppies is a world full of treats. The good news is I’ll be saving money now that they are on diets. Bonus! Glass is half full!! Grateful!

On a side note, I have been on approximately 20 diets since my early 20’s. What is it with us women? Never satisfied with the way we look. Even when I was 120 pounds I was too heavy. We are a kooky bunch! That’s another whole topic – dieting!

The upcoming weeks will be full of decorating, baking, cooking, and partying. Christmas trees are waiting in attics and boxes full of decorations waiting to be placed on the tree. Others will be shopping for a fresh tree from the various lots that sell them. Or if you’re adventurous going out to chop one down in the forest. There are so many options and only one Christmas for most of us.

Covid is still around but people are ready to get out and socialize and enjoy the company of others. An interesting winter will be coming up. We are hoping that there is no big relapse, that masks don’t become a mandated action once more. Some of us choose to vaccinate and others will choose not to. Some people wear masks – some of us don’t. That is just the way things are. We are grateful to live in a province / country where we get to choose and make many decisions on our own.

Until next time – enjoy this very busy time of year.

Find a good movie to watch, a cuddly blanket and a nice warm or cool beverage.

Instead of closing with a song I am going to close with a movie and a song. Christmas movies are so fun. Of course, I have a couple of favorites.What is my all-time favorite? It is Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. It is WAY too funny!! However, I am going to recommend another movie – The Christmas Chronicles with Kurt Russell – streaming on NetFlix. I love it. It is such a very nice, fun, family movie.

For a song I am going to choose my favorite song from Christmas Vacation – Mele Kalikimaka (Hawaiian Christmas Song) by the Andrew Sisters and Bing Crosby. (I love the whole soundtrack!)

Finally, just an FYI – I have had so much fun singing the wrong lyrics to this song and dancing around my kitchen, clapping and having fun.

Have a great December.

Merle Lee Ann Pratt – merleleeannskitchen.com – Email: merleleeann@gmail.com

This column is sponsored by MacKenzie Funeral Chapel and Crematorium – We will be there when you need us – Bev and Brian Stobbs

130 9th St. E, Prince Albert, SK

Phone: (306) 763-8488

https://mackenziechapel.ca/

by Merle Lee Ann Pratt – Merle Lee Ann’s Kitchen, author of “A Baker’s Dozen”

Me, My Dogs and My Diet Life

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