Sweet Flossie ~ My blessing from Heaven ~ Chronicles of an English Springer Spaniel

Well Hey there Gals ... I thought I would give you all a bit of an update on my Sweet Flossie .. truly my blessing from Heaven. Did I ever share with you all that when I knew I was getting Flossie .. well I didn't know I was getting her. I was only given the choice to have a female out of her litter at 4 weeks old but didn't know what female would be assigned to our family. So I just prayed every night that whatever one was supposed to be mine that God would make her special for me and that I could be as much a blessing to her little life as she could mine.. Well I can't tell you the inumerable blessings she's been to mine .. and I'm glad I got her to be a blessing to hers with this disease she now has.

So many of you sent well wishes and prayers for her and honestly that just meant the world to me !

We are now headed into the 5th month since Flossie became so ill. She has been doing really well and has done better than expected. We just recently completely weaned her off the steroid which was very scary wondering if her body would go back to attacking itself without it. Now mind you she was still on another med. but even with that one it was worrisome. She did well coming off the steroid and so far so good her body is readjusting well and so far no attacking itself. And 1 week ago today we started weaning her off the last immunosupressant. This morning she had a blood test to see if her blood level held steady over the week as we dropped the dosage significantly. I think it has.  She's good and red and her energy is up and she's actually returning to her old self. For the first time she jumped on my bed last night in one straight up in the air bounce. I was stunned ! But so very happy. I think that means her muscle mass is re-building from the break down caused by the lengthy time on steroids .. woohoo !

(no she's not playing ball yet.. just a pict from before she got sick)

We still have a ways to go .. April 24th of next year (2017) before we cross the 1 year bridge with this disease. Basicly they consider her in remission like cancer patients and the 1 yr mark with no relapse will be a better chance she won't relapse in the future. This is a life long disease that we will have to watch for the return of. Some dogs relapse often right from the beginning and others can have 1 bout with this disease and go the rest of their life without relapse. There's no rhyme or reason and no cure. Just veterinarians who treat it in various ways to save the dogs life and then try to manage it if there is relapse. I am praying we are on the side of just this 1 time for her whole life. I never imagined the day I got her, that 3 years later I would be laying on the ER floor outside her kennel with blood transfusing into her leg hoping and praying she would make it. 6 days in the ER and now almost 5 months later we are in a much better place .. Thank the Lord ! It had been such a short time since I lost both our Goldens, 1 to old age and 1 to cancer ... I couldn't imagine 3 losses in such a short time. Well I'm feeling so blessed I didn't have to go through a 3rd Loss.

Thank you again to all of you who left comments and said prayers ! You know Prayer is an awesome thing ..  and uplifting someone with positive words is so helpful. I am ever so grateful for all of you !

Well it's a beautiful day here in the Ozarks .. a little rain this morning ..Some sunshine right now and some more rain tonight .. that's what makes this part of the Heartland so so beautiful !

Have a great day and I'll be back with another post about a sweet vintage market that just opened in our area with pictures shortly !

A 2nd day enjoying the beauty of God's handiwork ....

I guess 1 day just wasn't enough for us... 

So yesterday afternoon we headed back to the Lake ...

I wanted to check out the Audobon Nature trail and see how steep and what the trail was like where it began so I could gauge what kind of shoes and pants to wear and so on. This was the beginning of the trail ... it was little steep but not too bad and the glades of rock make it perfect for walking up. It's Nature's perfect steps .... I couldn't see all the way... as the trail meanders through the beautiful trees and bushes ...but it looked beautiful and I can't wait to throw on some tennies and jeans and see what's beauty is in store for us.

These Beautiful Cone Flowers Or should I say flower .. as the others had already bloomed and faded with time ... grow everywhere here. I think these just might be echinacea .. I'll have to find out for sure ...

Another vista of the Ozark Hills surrounding the Lake.... Can you just imagine the years that these trees have grown here and covered the landscape making the air clean and giving sheltered homes to the birds, deer, squirrels and so many more. 

The Geese were out again .. this time sitting in the marsh 

And today a few deer decided to poke out into the field and graze.... We kept at a far distance as to not disturb them.. I just threw on one of my zoom lenses so I could get up close without getting up close personally and disturbing them...

Isn't she lovely .... even though we were far away ... she kept an eye on us .. thank goodness for a good camera lens that can zoom in...

The last 2 days at the Lake have been a joy .. It's such a pleasure to be able to enjoy God's handiwork.  I'm feeling rather blessed  ..!

Wishing you all a beautiful and blessed week !

P.S. .... My sweet Flossie is still doing well. She's been weaned off all but one med now .. and so far so good .. I'll get a post up about her soon !

My New Home Sweet Home Missouri ...

Well Hey Y'all ... I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday afternoon and evening ...

I'm still here .. just been super busy the last month and hadn't had a chance to get a post up.

And truth is I honestly kept forgetting my camera every time I went somewhere special. 

Well this week I finally remembered the camera ..

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It's a beautiful day here in the Missouri Ozarks ...our new Home Sweet Home !

and

I thought I would share a little bit of the beauty on this Sunshiny and lovely day.

Yesterday evening we headed out to Lake Springfield boathouse and marina. Sounds like it was a long ways away doesn't it. 

It's a whopping 2 miles from where we are living and is pretty much smack dab next to the city here. 

 

It's funny we had driven by the entrance for Lake Springfield dozens of times and it's so unassuming that you don't think there's really much down that little 2 lane road .. well to our surprise it boasts far more than we imagined .. Beautiful Lakeside fishing with stunning views and vistas of the Ozarks.

 The 2 lane road is canopied in trees ...

 and last night the Sun was setting it set the trees on the opposite side of the lake on fire ... turning them to a beautiful golden autumn hue .. which they haven't even turned yet.

 The Views every which way you turn just grab your heart... you feel as though you've been enveloped into a setting of beauty that the eye is overwelmed by .. especially when you have come from the desert .. where shades of sand and dried brush are what you grow accustom to seeing.

 The Lake twists and turns .. the trees bow and bend .. and breeze carries the beautiful tune of nature on the leaves of the Pines, Oaks, Cedars and Maples...

 The water ripples gently while the beautiful marshes sway ...

 And these geese call this home .. well at least for a time until Old Man Winter comes knocking and blows a cool breeze to tell them it's time to move on to warmer parts of the land...

 The Deer graze here along the 2 lane country road .. eating away at the grass .. and cautiously watching onlookers .. last night we were blessed to see this momma and her doe .. last week.. the deer were grazing by the dozens on all the open meadows and hillsides .. it was simply stunning !

Twas' the end of our journey and the road leading out of the park ... the sun had fallen behind the trees and just gave the slightest glimpse of golden rays filtering down between the canopy of trees ..

It was beautiful and I look forward to going back and visiting the park.. Maybe one day a Canoe Ride .. or a walk on one of the Nature Trails.

For now though...

I hoope you enjoyed a little glimpse of the beautiful MO Ozarks  ... my new Home Sweet Missouri Home !

Finally ~ Getting Moved ...

Well it's been a while again since I last posted .. and A LOT has happened ..but I'll try and sum it up shortly.

Right before our Flossie got sick .. 3 days that is .. we were supposed to be leaving CA for MO to move. But with Flossie so ill we couldn't get on the road and leave. Finally after 2 months and Flossie doing well enough our Veterinarian gave us the go ahead to leave. And so here we are 2 weeks later in the beautiful Ozarks of Southern, MO. 

We spent the first week getting acclimated and trying to get on the new time schedule ..although that's proved to be a bit difficult .. but we are getting there. This last week we spent driving out to properties to see where they were located .. such as buried deep in the trees, down in a holler, out in the open with a view, down 25 dirt roads at the dead end ..well you get what I'm talking about. 

And finally we are headed out tomorrow to view a few houses to see if they are suited for us or we are suited for them ..LOL !

Here's one of them we are headed out to see .. All Amish built ... simply beautiful even on the inside. Just toward the top of our budget so we'll have to see if it has everything we need for home and work.

So hopefully this means... yes that we will be in a home sweet home pretty soon after a year in motels ..that will be sooooo Nice .. and of course can't wait to get back to work ... my oh my have I missed sewing and building and painting and well just plain doing what I love most. 

I'll keep y'all posted and as soon as we get a place I'll share that with you too. Keep us in your prayers that the Good Lord guides us to the right place that his hand is in it and his will be done.

In the meantime take care and come visit me on FB if you haven't already ..

https://www.facebook.com/sweetmagnoliasfarm/

Memories .. we all have a few .. "The Window in the Barn"

The Window in the Barn ... 

It's amazing how images..photos spark memories buried in our minds and bring them back to life and allow us to relive those times long ago as though they are today. 

These images of Barn Windows sparked a memory from long ago for me... when I was a wee bit of 7 yrs of age we lived in a small Horse town. We had a small plot of land with a home and a barn and room enough for a few farm animals ( 1 cow, several chickens, 2 ducks, 1 pig, 2 dogs and 3 horses). 

My Dad worked a lot of hours so it left my mom in charge of the house and the garden as well as the animals and us kids. We had our chores and helped out. We had a small red barn.. my dad had shot guns for country shooting and hunting ...and had a re-loading center in the front section of the barn. Another area was for all the saddles and tack .. and a small dark back room maybe 10 x 10 ft. if that was where we kept the feed... 

Back then we would drive the truck down and buy Alfalfa Cubes at the feed store . They would use a small tractor/loader to fill the bed of the truck with cubes .. and upon returning home my mom would shovel all those cubes from the truck bed into the feed room. She was quite the young woman. I remember helping try and throw a few in by hand .. but the door was narrow and she swung that shovel with a mighty strength and she always told me to stay well back so I wouldn't get hurt.

On several occasions as she swing the shovel or had to go inside to push the cubes further back in the room, making way for more cubes ....she mentioned she wished that feed room had a window for some light .. because the mice liked to hide in that room .. and you never knew when one might take a run for it across your foot ...no less in the dark. That happened on several occasions.

Well one day I got it in my head no less at 7 yrs old that I was going to make a window for mom. So I set out to the barn .. picked up the Bale cutters which had one sharp pick style end on them .. and began banging at the wall ..I have no idea how much time had passed but enough for me to get the tiniest hole started in the wall.. when mom came looking for me... She didn't get mad at me ...I think she was shocked I had picked a hole in the barn ...I explained I was making a window for her ... I can't remember much after that other than we boarded up the hole .. and we never did put a window in that room ... I tried though. I was certain then that I could make a window just as beautiful and perfect as these barn windows below ..

 I hope you enjoyed a little memory from my life ..

Photos courtesy of Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/sweetmagsfarm/barn-ology/