A Very Sad Day

Hello.Like you,I am a friend to Betty.A few days ago,she has asked me if I would write a post "when the day came".

Sadly,that day is today and I am writing this post to let you know that Betty's beloved Dasko has gone to sleep.

As animal lovers,we know that however hard it is to let them go,we have to do the right thing for them.Poor Dasko hadn't eaten in several days and Betty felt that the time had come to let him go. I know she is heartbroken as he was her trusted friend,companion and a loyal guardian.He loved his Mom and she loved him back. He was a one of a kind and of course can never be replaced.Betty never left his side from when he came home and I am sure that Dasko appreciated that so much.

Letting go of our pets is a very brave thing to do and one of the hardest decisions to make but Dasko is at peace now and out of pain.

Betty will come in time to write about him in her own words but for now,please just join me in sending thoughts and prayers to Betty at this very sad time.

I found this poem online the other day and would like to share it with you. I truly hope there is a Rainbow Bridge for Dasko and all of our pets.

We're all thinking of you Betty.

In memory of

Dasko

May 28th 2003 - October 30th 2013

Click on the image to enlarge

It's Fall You All

Good morning and welcome Through My Back Door. The mood is more subdued here than usual, but my boy is still hanging in. I am so appreciative of your e-mails and pm's about thinking of me and prayers being said. This is such a hard time, but I am trying very hard to "Smile because it happened and not cry because it is over." I think that is Dr. Seuss. Anyway he is hanging in and still won't eat. This morning he has kept his first round of meds down. That is good, because most times he doesn't. Anyway I decided we need a happy post, so I am sharing some of my fall and some fall reading. The seasons make me want to read certain books. I am a Gladys Taber fan and in the fall re-read her books. They are so homey and you feel you are sitting in her living room drinking coffee, tea, hot chocolate, etc. which reminds me, my manners are slipping. Help yourself to a cup of DD. Yes, please use the redware cups, they scream fall. Anyway this is the one I am reading now.

I had started Stillmeadow Road and Carol reminded me it was the one in which Jill died and I couldn't take it right now. I need Happy!!!!!! Speaking of my friend Carol. If I could have one wish I would wish for, and maybe you do, that everyone of you have a friend like her. She has spent 2 days with me this week. She lost her own 2 dogs this year, and knows my pain. We have been through a lot as friends over the last 25 years and I thank God for her.

Susan Branch books make you smile before you turn a page! Talk about happy. I love this one and it holds a special memory. I found this on Bar Harbor, Me. So it brings me lots of joy. I love her Christmas books too. I enjoy having books out for holidays and seasons. Do you?

I display Tasha Tudor books all seasons. I need to say no more, as we all love her books and her illustrations. I have a print above my sink, and Carol has the same one in her kitchen.

Last but not least is the Gooseberry Autumn cook book. I love the recipes in these cookbooks because they are relatively simple. The cover is so pretty too. Like most of you I have several of these cookbooks and enjoy them.
Here are just a few fall groupings around the house.

The weather is so fall today the heat is on as we speak. Warm and cozy it is and in spite of the sadness it is a happy home and we are always happy to have you come Through My Back Door where life is good.
betty
PS: I will give an update about Dasko later. As I said he is deteriorating, but I haven't left him since I brought him home. He was so scared and would search for me when I went into another room. Some day, for my new followers, I will repost how I came to get him. You see God sent him to me.
PSS: I want to share some more vacation pix and will later, as I want you all to see my happy Amanda winning the hula hoop contest.
PSSS: Judy, in Nebraska, thank you so much for the e-mail yesterday. It touched me.
one more thing. click on the Decorating Prim on a budget link on my side bar and follow my blog fairy. You won't be sorry.

Dasko Up Date

Dasko is very ill and is essentially returning home to die. I will make him as comfortable as I possibly can and let him eat what ever he will. The fluids and drug therapy did not help him. He is not in pain at this time, nor will I allow him to be. The vet has said she thinks he has a few days. I will be back later.
Thank you for the prayers and e-mails. He made lots of friends Through My Back Door.
betty

A Week In The Sun

Good evening to all of you and welcome Through My Back Door. I have been gone to the Florida Panhandle for a week with Deb, Michael, Amanda, Clay, Mollie and Andrew. Can you say good time? The weather was perfect and we all had a wonderful week. BTW help yourself to a cup of coffee. Sorry there is nothing sweet but I just got home last night. We did so many things and took a cruise on the Pirate Ship, the Buccaneer. More about that next post. I wanted to share some beach pictures with you. The weather was perfect and the beach was secluded. Just a few people.

Of course we ate at Dewey Destins. The kids loved it. So did Amanda and Clay.

Mollie was patiently waiting for "shrimp. seaweed, casserole and key lime pie". That is what she said we were having every time we went to eat.lol I had drilled the shrimp and key lime pie, but she came up with the seaweed and casserole on her own. lol
Here is the gang at Stinkys. Andrew couldn't wait to eat here, instead of just wearing the shirts.

The Back Porch.

This was after the Pirate Ship Cruise and everyone was pretty wiped out.

Clay, Amanda and the kids on the condo steps.
We had so much fun and taught Andrew to play 5 Crowns. He beat us the first night we played!
Today has been so chilly here, this has been on all day.

Have no idea what that is on the floor cloth!
Before I close I need to ask if you will remember Dasko and me in your prayers.

This fellow is in the doggy hospital in renal failure. He has a 50-50 chance of getting better. As you can imagine my heart is broken.
I am so glad you came Through My Back Door where life is good.
betty
PS: I will be doing a post on the Pirate Ship Cruise soon. If you are in the Destin area and have children you need to look into it.
PSS:The house is off the market and I am fine with that.
PSSS:Thank you so much for the prayers for those of us who need them

More Going On's Through My Back Door.

Good morning and come on in for a cup of coffee. It is still DD and we have nothing sweet to go with it. It was all taken down to Debs for the weekend and it is NOW gone.lol I made these.

 Pumpkin squares.My family loves this. Well all except Amanda and Michael. Deb starts calling for them in late September, but I don't make them until Oct.lol This is a recipe from my Mother and Ila. The caramel icing is all Moms. They are easy to make and oh so delicious. I will try to post the recipe next time.
Friday I spent the day at the Hen. It was a wonderful day full of nice people.  I enjoyed it so much.
Friday night my Sunday School department had a cook out. What fun and oh my goodness the delicious food.
Saturday was spent at Debs as Beth, Ryan and Amelia were here.  Curt and Lindsey also came for the weekend, so you can imagine the fun going on there. We also took Christmas pictures(even though we almost collapsed from heat exhaustion) Saturday night we had a soup supper. I made Curt his favorite Broccoli soup. Dottie had sent home made fudge home with me Friday night and they were all excited about that.
Sunday was a repeat of Saturday, minus Christmas pictures and Beth, Ryan and Amelia. They have all gone home now and it is  strangely quiet  again. Amanda is always sad when Beth leaves. They are closer than twins and enjoy one another so much. It is wonderful to see them together.
A while back Dodd bought me a leaf blower. Light weight and electric. I have certainly appreciated it this year. The leaves are falling faster than they are turning here. I just came in from using it.
This morning I met the high school friends for lunch. We went down West to the Olive Garden. It is always so much fun and we laugh almost  as much as we did in high school. We call Patsy our fashionista. Here is she and Alice when they got there. See her shoes match her top.

The four of us. I am always on the outside(left handed) and the one closest to the camera always looks the biggest. I am sitting inside next time! So there!!!!!!lol  I am truly blessed to have these women back in my life.

 

They always humor me and let me get our picture taken. I tell them I need blog fodder.lol 
It will soon be three years since I started this humble little blog. I cannot believe the friends I have made since then. As you know I have been so blessed to meet many other bloggers and forum members. I never in my wildest dreams thought anyone would read what I have to say. It seems to me I am so not interesting. I am grateful though for each and everyone of you. I have been blessed to meet some of my followers and readers. My blog fairy has made my blog look good, I just need to power it up and make it more interesting. Yet, again I say thank you to each and everyone of you for hanging with me. Only time will tell how much longer I will continue, but for now I love having each of you come Through My Back Door.
I am getting ready to change the furniture around. Hopefully I will have pictures soon. I have been on the go so much I have not had time to do much in the house. The weather today is gorgeous. For a few days it was too hot again. 

This is my rosemary bush. someone told me they had never seen rosemary bloom. To the reader who asked me about the name for the humming bird plant(you were a non response) she said she just had always heard it called humming bird plant. If any of you missed it, here it is.

I am going to leave you with a few fall. If I have shown you before, chalk it up to old age. I will deny it, but you can go ahead and chalk it up.

I am so glad you took time to come Through My Back door today where life is good.
betty
PS: This is Gabe. Isn't her the cutest?

PSS:Remember October is breast cancer awareness month. This is Andrew walking for his mama last year.

PSSS: Please join me in praying for all those affected by our Government shut down. Even if they get paid later, it is hurting now. The National Parks closures are affecting lots of vacations as well as weddings in our area. Also for those families affected by the Front Street Baptist Church bus wreck in our area last week. It was a terrible tragedy. Always remember our fellow bloggers who need our prayers.

Welcome October

Good morning and welcome Through My Back Door. It is a wonderful day and has been a wonderful week. I absolutely love October. I think other than the love of prims, home, and decorating, we bloggers have the love of October in common too. I know so many of us do. Fall has always been my favorite season. It is perfect weather, windows open, skies blue, color, and the pre holiday season. Thanksgiving and Christmas! Not excluding halloween, but with no children here I don't do it anymore. I do have my OLM jack out and I will just turn him around after halloween and he will be out through Thanksgiving. BTW grab a cup of coffee and sit a spell. We can sit outside if you like. I will bring you up to date on what has been going on here.
Saturday I met a friend in Townsend to go to the  craft fair they have every year. We have been doing this for 6 years. Usually two other friends meet us and go to but they couldn't this year. They met us over in Pigeon Forge at the Inn at Christmas, where we spent the night, went to the outlet mall, and out to dinner. I only bought two baskets at the fair. One for me and one for Deb.

The gentleman was making these there and I really liked them. They are called, "Baskets by Robert" and he is from Bristol, Tn. I hung mine on my blanket crane, because I liked Carla's there.
After leaving the fair and heading over to PF Linda and I stopped at one of our favorite places on Wears Valley Rd. This place is so unique, I had to take a couple of pictures. I am sorry I don't remember the name, but going over to Townsend from PF it sets on the left on a little hill. Some pictures of what I like inside.

I love this! I laugh every time we stop.

Close up of the moon shiner.

They have everything bear.

This is Linda and her "twin". Lol  Linda is so much fun and such a good sport. Yes, this is the same Linda who is helping Deb and the girls keep me from having too much blush and my lipstick above my lipline.!lol BTW she is the youngest in our group and I am the oldest. We laugh that she is enough like me to be my daughter. For instance. We were to meet in Townsend at 9:00. I said I didn't think I could get there that early and she said, okay 9:30. I agreed. Saturday morning I didn't leave home until 8:55, and had to stop at the ATM.I was pulling onto the main road(Clinton Hwy) when my phone rang. It was Linda. "I am running late "she said. I said ,"good I am too." I had no intentions of telling her where I was. In a minute she says,"I am just on Middlebrook". That is the road that runs by her subdivision. I just laughed out loud and said, "Well I am on Clinton hwy.". So we got there about the same time!
I may as well tell you about the rest of the adventure. We went to use the bathroom.PORT A POTTY!!!! Need I say more? Well my button popped off my shorts on to the floor. I would NOT pick it up, if we had found it.lol So I had to go into a booth that had sewing stuff and beg for a safety pin!!!It was a teeny tiny gold one, but worked.lol
We went on to PF and met the rest of our crew. We went to supper at the Applewood Farm House.

left to right, Linda Y, Regina M, Linda A, and me. You can tell we have such a good time together. Just as the girl started to take this, they called us to be seated. If you ever eat here, you will love it. They serve Apple Juleps, and apple fritters rolled in powdered sugar. Delicious. I sat in a chair that had powdered sugar on it, so you can imagine. Yes I had on black jeans!lol They were beating my behind trying to get it off in the parking lot and people were staring! I think they thought it was elder abuse!lol
Came home Sunday afternoon to a luncheon at church. It was wonderful. We have a couple who does BBQ and it is called Q we do.It is so good.

This is the cooks.

Helpers.
Monday morning got up early and went back to PF with Deb and Michael to Dollywood. We started with breakfast at our favorite breakfast place, Cracker Barrel. If you have never been to Dollywood, fall is the time to go. It is decorated so pretty.

This was the only picture I got! Well I got another but deleted it.lol
So that is my weekend and why I love to see October come in. I know this has not been the most interesting post, but wanted to let you know what was going on Through My Back Door where life is good.
betty
PS: I will show you some new goodies next post. I am excited to get them placed.
PSS: I am hosting dominoes here tomorrow so I have got to get busy
PSSS:Remember October is breast cancer awareness month. Lets remember those who have been affected by it. Lets pray for a cure. My girls, Amanda and Tamra are doing great. Lets pray for those who aren't, Also lets encourage every woman to get a mammogram.