Good Bye August Dog Days

Lots of pictures coming your wayMy little dog collection. See what blogging does to you. Most of these doggies are spaniels. We have had 3 Cocker Spaniels, 2 Springer Spaniels, 1 Poodle, and one Yorkie.

This is a tiny Springer the first one I got. I bought it to remind me of Matty (Matilda) when she started going downhill. She would go get her leash when anyone would come to visit. She got alot of walks doing that. She was such a sweet girl. We got her from the pound. She was being carried in when we went to look for a puppy for my uncle for Christmas. He didn't want her because he had just gotten a new dog and it was being shipped to him. Our kids said we had too many dogs (3) and we shouldn't keep her. We did and loved her for 13 years until she left us.

This fuzzy one has initials on the bottom. He sits on a little wooden thingy. Not sure what he was made for other than decoration.

I got Max at Urban Society Barn Sale. When I saw the spaniel and then the name Max.......I had to have him. My Dad and my grandson share that name.

Oops, I entered the book photos backwards. This the back of a book I made showing my dogs.

My granddaughter on the left.....my daughter on the right. She got so mad when the three spaniels would sit there and wait for a bite of food. They were starring her down for sure.

Love this picture. This was Chelsea when she was teeny tiny. We won a couch potato award for that shot. That was one loved couch. We had it for years and then my son took it for a few years. Darn thing would never wear out. Another son with Maddy when she was about five months old.

Another son with Maddy as a puppy. So cute.

Matty again. I will have to add Piper to this book.

I bought these wind chimes at the Wine and at Festival. I think they are clay... I wanted them for outdoors but with the winds we have they would be broken easily. They go around in a spiral and are all different kinds of dogs.

See the Yorkie..........

Looks like a spaniel to me......

And look, here are the real sweeties. They are taking a nap in their bunk bed.

Izzy was a Christmas gift from my BFF. She had her mom and dad.

Piper was another pound find after we lost Maddy. We had been to the pound left, and returned one hour later and there he was. No one every claimed him. HE was about 4 or 5 months old. He was been such a sweet dog. He loves to mother all of us.

Good bye dog days of summer. You can take the 90's with you, thank you very much.

HUG your pet today......or your honey.

Thanks for your prayers

Here is the little guy that I asked you to pray for. He is doing better. He had the defibrillator inserting into his chest last week. His parents keep updating by facebook. They are so thankful for all the prayers and ask that we continue to pray. His mom said that his recovery was like having a newborn. At first he couldn't even hold his head up. His heart stopping must have done some serious damage. He still doesn't have his vision. I think his parents are most concerned about that. I know he is talking, giving kisses and taking a wheel chair to therapy. He is very scared and sad. So please continue those prayers. I don't know this little guy personally but know his daddy and he lives very close to us. Our community has once again showered this family with love.
All your bloggy love is a shower of blessinsg for me. Thank you so much for all your comments about the wedding. I was so ready for it to happen and then when it did it stirred up so many memories. Just when I think I am doing well.......you remember. I've lost alot of people in my life and this has definitely been the hardest.
So thanks my friends. Thanks for helping me and for praying for Landon.

A sweet wedding but with mixed emotions

My cousin Jo has been gone now a year and a half. Her husband got married this week-end. I am thrilled for him. He is such a wonderful man and he suffered so much when she died. When we pulled up to the lane to the house this is what we saw. His nick name is Duck although Jo called him Ted as in Teddy Bear. The bride name is Catherine and she goes by Cat. Jo's yellow bug was right there. She bought her bug because I had one. We had fun both having them. Big sigh when I saw this.

Steve (Duck) has several homes. This is the main one......on a farm. Although he grew up on a farm, this isn't a working farm. He leases the land and the home is in the middle of corn fields. The vows were exchanged on the back porch as you see here. So many of my pictures were blurry. Her two daughters stood up with them.

This one is really blurry but such a cute picture. The vows were finished and I don't think they had planned on what to do next. The bride said I guess we will just go on in and eat.

This very pregnant cat would not leave the back porch. During the ceremony she drank from the fountain just behind the couple. Cat wanted a cat. She said this one was Jo's wild cat that she feed for several years. But Cat said.....this one is full of kittens.

This is my cousin Dan and his wife. (Jo's brother) This is Harley his first grandchild. We sat on these bales of hay. The rocking chairs were for the brides parents and another couple. The fountain was in front of the chairs. I must say the hay was not too comfortable and it stuck on all our clothes. I would suggest using white sheets over them.

They have a huge barn that they used for the reception. These were table decorations. There were vases of fancy sparklers with a verse written by her daughters.

The sun started to set and they opened up that end of the barn......it was beautiful. Lots of pictures of the family were taken outside. My pictures don't do it justice. You can't see Steve's shoes. They were khaki saddle shoes. He looked so cute and the bride was beautiful. She carried that gown all night like that.

The porch after dark.......those curtains on the door were a little wacky when the picture was taken.

They hung all the strands of little lights and some chandies. They had dinner catered. The grooms sister makes cakes and she had a red velvet wedding cake. Also lots of other sweet treats. There was a DJ but while we were there no one was dancing. It was a pretty quiet reception. Lots of visiting. I hadn't seen Steve's family since Jo's service and since we were all together in Florida saying good bye. We all got pretty close during that sad time.

Our table consisted of Dan, his wife, one of his sons and his wife and Harley, Jo's best friend and husband and Mr. Cozy and I. ( Some of our family members felt it was too soon for them to marry and they were not present.) During the wedding we all sat together. There were some sniffles and we were afraid to look at each other. Just little things made me a little sad. Her flowers that she had planted, walking into her home, the car, Steve's family......but it was good seeing him so happy. He had a bit of saddness as well. Those of us that knew him could tell. His wife just patted him on the back. She is so understanding. I am hoping they have many happy years ahead.

Put on a Happy Face

You didn't think I was kidding when I said I was clowning around. Last Sunday 30 clowns checked into Camp O'Bannon for American Clown Academy. Now, I helped out with ClownTown for 20 years. Some years there we had over 300 clowns come. So thirty was a nice number. The originator of ClownTown started this clown academy for the first time this year.He is a dear friend of mine so I helped him out a little this past week. (topped off with baby watching all week) I didn't get to clown but that was fine. Most of the clowns that attended were beginners. The average age was around 60.......that surprised me. I think maybe because the camp was during the week and maybe they were retired. It was a leap for them to start a brand new camp. Even though it was new the person putting it on wasn't new. The campground was rustic but not that rustic. Sorry I forgot to take photos. No A/C and you had to walk to the showers and bathroom.......very very close though. The cabins were painted in bright colors and kinda looked like a frames. I could have slept there......much better than the scrapbooking place.

The food was wonderful. The camp director and his staff did breakfast and lunch. We are talking eggs, pancakes, bacon and etc. Lunches were nice as well. Dinner was catered in. Most of the clowns complained that they gained weight.

The instructors were master clowns......top world know clowns. They not only taught but each evening one of them would do a show.

(This was a younger clown) They had campfires, popcorn parties, ice cream socials and etc. also at night.

They loaded the clowns up all in costume and went to a church on evening to get experience doing skits and working the crowd.

This one whole family drove to the church from about 2 hours away. The sweet little child in the wagon was disabled and so loved by her family.

I had so much fun just helping. My job was to be friendly and make them feel welcome. Next year I hope that I can attend full time. Not sue if I will drive back and forth or stay over night at the camp. The bathroom trips in the night may not be in my favor.

This clown was probably in her 70's and had MS. None of these pictures are of me. Actually all new clowns to me. At the show on the last night it was so much fun seeing how all the clowns had blended into one HAPPY family. They all had such a good time. That says alot for a first time experience for this academy.

I know some of you are scared of clowns. Real clowns have clown rules and they aren't scary.

Sometimes less makeup is better.

Strange wig but cute. Alot of clowns don't wear their wigs in the summer time. I get so I like my own funky white hair better than my pink wig. But, the wig does make the clown.

This clown was from Texas. I think she is the one I took to the airport yesterday. Had to look twice.

I had my blurry camera with me, sorry. This was Rainbow and he is from North Carolina. He is a famous clown that travels the world. Very down to earth fun guy.

Don't know why she posed like this. Maybe she wants a Pepsi endorsement.

A happy hyper clown, she was like this 24/7.

A very old hobo clown. He was really good.

This is Little Miss Smarty. She is a little shortie clown with a great personality. They were standing in line to eat one day and she told someone something. The person responding that she wasn't going to do anything a little smarty told her to do, hah. She was from Canada.

Two blurry clowns that did a great skit. There were 20 women and 10 men plus instructors. All the instructors were men this year.

Now this clown is a bit scary. She should not have the blue paint on.....that is a no no because of the scary factor. And the rainbow wig.......most times it is not a good idea. Before I went to clown school I had a rainbow wig.

SO you see my friends I was clowning around this week.

Where I have been all week

I have been driving back and forth watching these sweeties all week. Wow, they keep me busy.....the boys anyway. Their Mama had to start back to school a week before Doodle goes to school. Their local babysitter will start back on Monday. Their mom and grandmas wish I lived closer. I used to do the drive for 6 years but just can't do it anymore. Plus the gas.......wow. A 2 year old and a one year old keep a Nanny very busy.
There is still the clown thing that I haven't posted about........
Wanted to let you know that Landon had his surgery and is doing well. What a miracle he is. His parents are so grateful and thankful for all the prayers. Also Laurie's husband is doing well.
Until next time............((((((HUGS)))))

Note......I wanted a picture of these three in their Salty Dog shirts to go with my grands. I took these without help. I think their were a total of 30 pictures......and we didn't drop the baby.

Clowning Around

Hello friends. I have so much to tell you but it will have to wait. Part of it has to do with clowns. I am posting this picture in hopes you could tell me if the long spiky flower with the little pink blossom is a weed. And unfortunately you can hardly see them. I pulled these out of my iron kettle before I planted the impatience. They grew back. I think they are crowding my impatience but they are pretty. I have not seen these grown any place else in my yard. They kind of remind me of bridals veil.

But more important is this update:
Landon has been doing amazing. They are calling him a miracle child. Since my last post, Landon had been released from Children's with a bad concussion. His heart looked fine to one doctor but another one saw something. They wanted to wait til he had healed from the fall. Well two days after being home they found him again lifeless. CPR was started again but it didn't work. The squad came and took him to the nearest hospital. He had to be shocked twice then life flighted back to Children's. It has been determined it is a heart problem and it was the reason he fell. His parents want every one to know how thankful they are for the prayers. They are also asking for everyone to spread the word and pray for Landon. Tomorrow Landon will have a defibrillator inserted in his heart. This hopefully will save his life. I can't imagine this with a five year old, can you. So pray really hard tomorrow for him.
I don't know how Claudia and Laurie's husbands are. I need to find out. I do know that Claudia lost her beloved dog, Riley. He had been so sick and they were so dreading this.
So friends I must run but will be back soon with updates and to tell you what I have been up to.
XO

Week-end cut short

The scenery was beautiful at the scrapbooking retreat. Nothing like the sound of the horses feet going down the road.

It was cloudy and raining off and on the whole time I was there. And to top that off......cooler temps. Love that part.

The horses were quite far away when I went to take the picture. There were cows as well.

Now about the week-end........do you notice there are no other pictures. Wellllllll where do I start.

About one hour after we arrived and everyone (12 of us) were unpacked in the scrapping room, the owner came in and said, "I have found the light on in the bathroom twice now." Say, what? Are you kidding me. Then she said we would wait until everyone got there and she would show us the sleeping quarters. I think we were expecting them to be in the same building so you could come and go when you wanted to. No, we all paraded down the hill to the basement of her home. One window as the rest were blocked with wood. 20 beds......bunk beds. There were sheets but they had sat there for awhile and needed brushed off. We all put our sheets over these and set up our beds. One bathroom.....and that was a mess......a faucet that sprayed water all over you and hardly had enough water coming out to wet a rag. The whole place had carpet cemented down, ages old, very damp. Then the parade back up to where we were to scrap. She had a huge store attached to this room. Almost like a hoarders store. She then told us we were on our own for dinner. Also that she locked the place up and everyone had to be out at midnight. Usually you come and go at these things.

Usually here are places that you can go sit comfortably or walk to so that you aren't sitting in a hard chair for hours. There were nothing but hard chairs and the scary sleeping cave. I was so sore from sitting so long.

The girl sponsoring this event was loud and annoying. No freebies no demos no nothing. I had to buy a bottle of water from the owner. She did provide breakfast and lunch. All store bought right out of the package stuff. My friend, her friend and I left at 4 p.m. on Saturday. No way was I sleeping in that cave another night. I was so glad to get back home. So sad that something I had looked forward to was a bust. I did manage to do some scrapbooking. I couldn't hear to talk to anyone. Everyone being so loud and shouting and going out for smokes. I think the three of us early leavers all felt the same. The owner had set the tone early on about the lights being on and not trusting us alone in her store.

I called Mr Cozy early on and said I was coming home. He went and got steaks to cook for us for dinner. He also made arrangements to take Goose and Hope to the movies on Sunday. The movie was something I was avoiding but wanted to go with them. We saw the Wimpy Kid movie. The girls liked it. It was a perfect movie to take them to. Later Mr. Cozy and I had Mexican food and watched the closing events of the Olympics. So the week-end wasn't a bust. Glad I came home early though.

I hope the week-end went well for all of you.

Please pray for Laurie's husband (What I see in my dreams) LuLu (Nana takes a break) Claudia's husband (Mockingbird Hill Cottage) and for a little boy that lives close to me. He fell down his interior steps of his house on Thursday. His mom had to do CPR and he was rushed to the hospital. Just learned this morning he was life flighted to Children's and fighting for his life. I don't know what happened. His name is Landon and he is only five. Thanks friends.

Jewelry Punk Jewelry

Awhile ago I took a Steam Punk jewelry class. I had actually signed up for a soldering class in the early spring and couldn't attend. When I saw this class offered I decided to use my credit to attend. I'm still not sure what Steam Punk means. It's a trend in style of clothing, jewelry and etc. Think gears, pocket watches, keys, wire and beyond. This is the ring I made. Super easy.

These are earrings made from pocket watch keys. Super easy as well.

The little bottle has a little strip of paper in it with the word cozy on it. Actually it is cosy.....but it is spelled both ways. There is a dog tag, rusty key, teeny key, three beads, pocket watch key and a pocket watch charm. Alot of junk on a chain. I actually just finished this today.

Here are all three things I made.

I bought the cameo and the heart from the instructor. The industrial chic things came from Michaels.....Viv had shown them on her blog. Some pieces are missing because I gave them away. I hope to change things up with my necklaces for fun. The class came with all kinds of things.....lots of little parts, jump rings, shredded paper, glitter, pictures. The class was fun but I doubt I will be making this kind of jewelry. I don't have the patience for jewelry making. I think I will stick to paper and wood and embroidery. Speaking of paper, I am packing for a scrap booking getaway starting tomorrow. I am excited. I only know a couple of the ladies. It's in a store out in the boonies. They have sleeping quarters.......all in one room and one bathroom. Oh my goodness that is scary. I can always come back home.......I will let you know how it goes. Last getaway for scrap booking was with my cousin Jo . Today she would have been 60. Happy Birthday Jo......sure miss her.