Gus, the Springer

At the end of last week, I had it all set in my mind that I was going to get back into the routine of a weekly post....then, 

Gus, the Springer turned up sick and it upset both Jeff and me so much I couldn't write one. His sickness was rather quick coming on or kind of so. He has been having some loose stool for several weeks but not all the time. I had wondered if he had a stomach bug brought on by the bay water. Then a bump came up on the top of his head that we felt warranted attention. Along with this, he seemed lethargic and was panting nearly all the time. Yes, we know it is super hot, but the panting had gotten Jeff's attention. I called and took him into the vet mid week and all I heard from that visit was, "Has anyone ever said he has a heart murmur?" They did some bloodwork and told me too much information so that I came home quite upset. When they called on Friday with the test results it was good that Jeff had answered the phone. He was able to ask all the right questions  and we started him on a heart medicine. All weekend both of us were thinking and quite nervous about him. Lindsay finally convinced me I needed to call today and get him back to the vet because maybe he just has an infection. 

I will spare you all the details, but he is on an antibiotic to help with the fact that he could have an infection, a probiotic to get his stomach settled and an x-ray has been made. His heart doesn't seem to be as pressing as our initial thoughts were, but still concerning. We will go back to see how he is in a couple weeks and the x-ray is being looked at by someone else too. Besides Gus being my baby, he has wrapped Jeff up in his little world too being home with him all day everyday. Gus has welcomed all 4 grandchildren into the world and they all thing he is a KING. He is never far from one of us. He has started his medicine this evening so I am hoping in a few days he will be back to normal.

No dog has been more spoiled or had more premium food than Gus. Until a couple of weeks ago, he has been the healthiest looking and acting dog we have ever owned. 

He is beside me under the sewing machine table as I type.

Oh and the bump on his head was nothing of concern.

My post is starting off grim, but I will end on a good note.

After fretting over Gus, I have another thing that I haven't exactly fretted over but have deep sadness over it. My dad is buried in a country cemetery. Y'all are gonna have to imagine the woods kind of country. I will not be sharing pictures. I have this thing about taking pictures of graves. It is not for me! My parents were from the woods outside of Brewton, Alabama and I mean the woods. The community is called Range on a map, but growing up it was Deer Range to locals. They grew up a couple of miles from each other and the local one room school house was about center mark from each of their homes. My mom's side of the family is buried on donated land from that side of my family and the little church is pictured in my sidebar. The graveyard for that side of the family is right next to it and family lives all around it. I have several generations buried there. The site is pristine and well taken care of. 

My dad's cemetery is not attached to the church down the road but was deeded to the church by one of its congregants many years ago. She is no longer living. When I was young and really up through my teens my mom kept the area around my dad's side of the family manicured. At some point, the church took over keeping it up and I sent money each spring to help with it. I still visited it and saw that it was all good. With Mama's fall, Jeff's Parkinson's diagnosis and the keeping up with all of that I didn't go that far out of Brewton to check on it. It was brought to my attention from a cousin that things had deteriorated badly. I am so glad she informed me because if I had driven up that little dirt road and saw without warning the state it was in I would have passed out from shock. 

I came to a slow realization that there is no one younger me than me that even lives out there anymore. The church like so many other small congregations is very old and honestly dying. I am taking back the care of my family again and will do so until I can't. I have researched and discovered this is a nationwide problem and does not matter the denomination. or the region of the country.  Jeff and I drove up on Saturday morning and left before daybreak to clean. I will make a monthly visit for the foreseeable future because I can't imagine I can even hire anyone to go that far out there to do it. 

The person who was in charge of the cemetery decided since they couldn't get anyone to take care of it and were running out of money decided to spray poison all the whole area. I think the families of people there should have been contacted before that happened, but I am over all that now and like I said, I will take care of my portion which is on one end of the land.

So yes, that has had me a bit worked up too. Bet this post was not on your radar. Let's try to salvage it with some happy stuff.

I have been stitching when I can. I started an October wordplay. I had chosen some brighter colors other than called for in the pattern,  but I honestly didn't like where it was headed and stuffed back in my bag and went and pulled out something else. Here it is ---will I come back to it? I don't know right now. I am just not feeling it. It doesn't look all that bad from the picture, but I just didn't want to do it.

I pulled out 2 different things to start. The first is a small sampler called "Upon My Heart" by Plum Street Samplers.

I stitched for a few days and decided to pull out a bird. I am going to rotate them each week. This is where I  left off on Saturday below. I will also add I enjoyed every stitch I did on this one.

The bird I have started on Sunday has been on my mind for sometime, but I have had some inspiration for getting it out and moving forward with it. An osprey, perhaps my favorite sea bird (I have many favorites) has decided to rest in the top of the oaks next door. It has been hanging out for a couple of weeks on the bayou. They have a very distinct call so I know when it has arrives each day. It has been there almost every morning when I go out on the deck. It would fly off when I would open the door, but the past few has been a little slower leaving hence the following pictures.

Tip top center 

I didn't know if we would have many birds coming and sitting in the trees when the pines by the water were cut, but they are finding their way to the oaks. I have watched more than one species have a dinner of fish in the trees. 

NATURE is really cool! Now, will it stick around. No clue, but it has inspired me to pull out my osprey pattern and I will share that on a next post.

I am reading as much as stitching and trying to keep my flowers alive in the August heat. I am still in summer mode and haven't even thought about fall yet. It is just too hot here. I am sure once it finally does cool down I will love it. 

I do really and truly plan to try and do a weekly post on Sunday afternoon. We will see!

Signed,

Sandy, the dog lover.

August 14, 2026 A.D.

I did survive a full week of 4 grandchildren. I admit there were a few moments when I thought I would run down the road screaming. HA HA

There was much noise and too much running in the house, but I do think the little ones found summer to be a good one this year. Back to School happened on Tuesday this week and all seem to be doing well. Miles had such a horrible time last year starting daycare that I think that the entire family was holding its breath --not just Paul Allen and Katie. He is in preschool this year and while there have been some tears, he does seem to be adjusting well. Thankful!!!

I will attempt to catch up with our 2 weeks summary style.

First up, Miles celebrated his 4th birthday with a pool party at Katie's uncle's house. Fun was had, so much so that this was Miles on the way home.

He enjoyed the cupcakes I made for the party and somehow managed an extra one without his mama knowing. 

I didn't take a lot of photographs with the grands the week I kept them. Katie sent a batch of photos every day the weeks she kept them all. I was hanging on too much I think.

However, I did grab a few of Tucker taking care of Valerie. He is so good to her. She got on the scooter and wanted desperately to be able to make it go. No worries, Tucker just pushed her all around the cul-de-sac. This was the only picture I got of it, but she was loving this attention.

She has also learned to cry or pout when things don't go her way. Tucker is seen here comforting her after I told her she couldn't go downstairs with Palmer and Miles. 

Last weekend we went for a quick weekend trip to our Auburn house to check on some work we had done. It was a very nice thing for me to get a break after a week of keeping the grandchildren.

We had some work done to something called a drip ledge. I have no idea why we really have this piece of wood on our home. No one in the neighborhood has it and all it seems to do is attract rot under all the oak trees. We had that repaired as well as pulling up some hedges that I hadn't like from the beginning and they had just started looking poorly. We had them pulled up and replace with some of the new hybrid azaleas. Looks so much better. I also really enjoyed the time up there. The landscape is just so different from here along the coast. Always a treat to see the big lush oaks up there.

I think these will be a much better look along the drive. Our neighbor set us up a drip on a timer to keep them watered during all this heat. 

I know no one is going to believe I am saying this....

May we just have a week without 3 digits in the heat index???

It is hot! 

School starting is a must, but it is why I say summer seems over at this point. The freedom of summer days with no schedules is over and the calendar fills up with all things. It takes a bit to settle in to that idea and has all of my years. 

Summer is just a gift to me. I know it isn't for everyone, but it is for me.

Here is the parade of boys on their first day of school.

Tucker - 2nd grade.

Palmer doing VPK again as he is so small and that late summer birthday. He is doing it at a different place which was Lindsay's plan all along. She will now only have one pickup after work and he is in Destin at the same place Tucker goes after school. A lovely little church. Palmer has gone in with no tears at all and I am pretty sure by the end of the year he will running the place.

Miles is next. He is a year younger than Palmer but they are the same size and Miles has no idea he is a year younger than Palmer. He is attending VPK at the same school Tucker and Palmer did for VPK (well Palmer's 1st go around). Such a sweet church school. If all goes well this year, he will go to Kindergarten next year even though he is really young because he seems to be extremely smart. Either way, he will go to the same school his mommy teaches at. All of this in Niceville.

I have little in the way to share for these 2 weeks because most of it was feeling old. I also had my colonoscopy this week. I was wiped out after it and I think it was because I was so tired going in. I had no polyps and that has now been the case for the last 2. I was deemed high risk and started these at age 40. My dad died very young from colon cancer. In those days, they just didn't know what he had and did an exploratory surgery and burst a polyp. It spread quickly so there is always a tinge of nervousness with me around these.

All is well though. I have spent a few days trying to restore order to my house. I think this big old house is like a big playland to the grandchildren. I think their great grandparents would love to know that so much fun is had by their great grandchildren in the home they built.

I took 2 pictures from the top deck down the bottom deck this morning. I shifted all the plants around last week one evening to adjust to the sun. Some that say full sun needed some shade from the 110 heat index. It has helped. I decided not to adjust or not show. Jeff has been trying to do some pressure washing. So pressure washer we see.

Anything in the ground is pretty lush because in our area we have a sprinkler system built in for watering.

That is where I have been the last 2 weeks. I haven't had much time to stitch so I plan to get back to that this weekend and next week is supposed to be even hotter so stitching here I come.

Goodbye from Sunny Florida,

Sunny Sandy