How fast time flies

That darling little puppy that is trying so hard to climb onto the couch is Buddy, my male Doberman. He was two months old at the time. It was quite a challenge but he finally made it onto the couch as you can see in the lower picture. That was only three years ago and the "little" guy and his sister Connie, turned three years old on May 3rd. Buddy now weighs a whopping 80 pounds.

His little sister, Connie is smaller in size and weighs about 60 pounds.

It was a first for me, raising two puppies at the same time but when I bought Buddy his little sister was left all alone and it broke my heart to leave her behind so I went back and bought her too.

If you ever need a challenge in your life, try raising two puppies at the same time. My two pups chewed up several bedspreads , every magazine or newspaper they could get hold of and they were absolutely bottomless pits when it came to food. They never thought they had enough dinner.

Then there was the hassle of ear clipping and the weeks long healing process with both pups wearing huge protective collars . All this excitement took place in the high desert in the middle of triple digit summer heat. But, as things do, the bad times passed and the puppies grew into , well, maybe not really obedient pups, but fairly well mannered dogs and they are great companions.

I used to think that big dogs needed lots of room . I thought that a big dog living in an apartment for
instance would be terrible for the dog...I have had to rethink that idea for I have 10 fenced acres and my dogs prefer to be with me, under foot , in my easy chair, ( it used to be my easy chair), or just generally right where I am doing whatever. But, that said, they will leave me for the next pretty face to come along. When my son Dave, comes home they leave me like the devil is after them and go to spend time with him. Then let Linda start up the golf cart and they leave Dave to ride in the golf cart. Buddy will sit for an hour in the cart waiting for someone to give him a ride.

They howl sometimes and I enjoy hearing them. I don't know what sets them to howling and it usually doesn't last long except for the time last month when I went away for three days to Britta's gyro fly-in in Arizona. I'm told that my two pups howled almost constantly until I came home. And what a welcome I got from them when I returned home! After jumping on me and nearly knocking me down, Buddy just sat and stared and stared at me . The look he gave me was pure unconditional love. Connie was right there with the same, I love you, look in her eyes.

In spite of the ups and downs and sometimes extreme frustration with the two pups, the past three years flew by. My two dogs give me unconditional love and all they ask for is to be with me, well OK, they do like to take little side trips to see Dave and Linda.

I will always have a dog or two in my life.

Till next time.
Marion Springer

What is it about Doctors that I hate to visit one?

I have been down with bronchitis for the whole solid month of May. Yesterday was the first time in a month that I felt that I could get back to doing the things I normally do.

My daughter Linda, from the first day of my illness said, " Let me make a doctors appoint for you". As usual and as she expected, I said no. Further , I told her that if I didn't feel any better tomorrow
then I would see the doctor. Next day . of course, I told her that I felt a little better so no, don't make a doctors appointment for me. That went on for the whole month.

All that was not new to my daughter for we go through that scenario every time I come down with an illness, which fornatualy isn't often. After what seems like ages, I recover from whatever the illness was and then I begin to question myself...now why didn't I go to the doctor?...I could have been over the bug and back to living again in no time at all if I hadn't been so stubborn...I like my doctor, have no problem with him... don't like waiting in the waiting room for ages though, still...So, every time it's the same old thing. I do recover but not nearly as quickly as I would have if I had gone to see my doctor.

I think a lot of my reluctance to seeing the doctor is that sometimes, he will do the examination, take X-Rays if needed then send me to another doctor or to the ER for them to read his findings and then to make their own recommendation as to the best way to make me well again. My doctor will send the X-Rays with me for the new people to refer to and they throw them in the corner without even looking at them and take their own X-Rays even tho the ones I brought from my doctor are less than one hour old.

After a complete examination and questions etc. that my own doctor had already done, the new people will send me home with a prescription for whatever...all the things my own doctor could have done with less time and bother to me . I think the HMO business was conjured up to make business for more doctors and hospitals. I miss the good old days when a visit to the doctor was just that, a visit to the doctor's office, and exam, meds or not as required and outta there in less than a half a day. Guess that's why I tell Linda, " no don't make an appointment for me for I'm better today".

My best doctor's visits were to the doctor I used to go to for my annual flight physical . I just loved him...his office attire was Levi's, a western style shirt and cowboy boots. I told him he reminded him of the song by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, " Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys. Make them be doctors and lawyers such". He was a hang loose type of doctor that got the job done and his word was final, no sending me to here and there and all over the place for someone else to double check his findings.

Till next time.
Marion Springer

The new Great Grandbaby

I wish I had a picture to show you of my new great granddaughter. She is a darling little baby with long black hair. I think her hair is long enough to braid and she is less than a month old ! But she is a little Indian baby and Indian babies have nice round heads, a beautiful complexion and long black hair. That is the way it was with my babies.

I had said in a post before the new grand baby's birth that I would probably be polishing my gyro when the baby decided to be born but no, I came down with bronchitis and I was sick as an old dawg at the time. I have wasted nearly a whole month trying to get over the truck that ran over me , well , figuratively speaking, it felt like a truck had run over me anyway. I am back to 100% good health now and hoping to see my new great grand baby soon. She and her mama and daddy live about 500 miles away and they promise to bring the little one to me for me to hold and cuddle for awhile.

Meanwhile, my other granddaughter, Lynette and her husband Amer, are foster parents to two little boys, brothers, whom they hope to adopt. So, for years no grand babies and suddenly three of them...well, technically, one and maybe two others. In September I will get to see my two future grandsons when they come down to visit. It's been a long time since I held a baby or a little child and I'm looking forward to it. There is just something priceless about cuddling a baby or a small child. It's one of the joys of life.
Till next time.
Marion Springer

Happy 81st. birthday to me!

Today I turn 81 years of age. I never dreamed I would live so long . I have enjoyed almost every minute of the journey. There were a few rough patches along the way but I'd do it all over again and the same way, I'm sure. I'd marry the same man, have the same kids, you know, live it again if I could.

Last year I flew an 80th. birthday celebration flight in my gyro and in a few days, when the weather cooperates, I will fly an 81st. plus a few days, BD celebration flight. The photo is of me suited up and just back from a flight in my Bensen gyro on the dry lake of El Mirage, Ca. The photo was taken a few months ago at the annual gyro fly-in in September , 2009.

Gyro flying must be good for people! Commander Ken Wallis of the UK is well into his 90's and he is still flying gyros. Johny Miller, an old time gyro pilot of the 1930's who flew Pitcairn and Kellet autogiros continued to fly his Bonanza airplane until he passed away at the age of 102. It must be something in the air up there.

On the day he died, Johnny told his grandson, " It looks like my flying days are over". Like most gyro pilots, flying was ever on his mind. It is with mine for sure. Just ask my children. Sometime back when I asked my daughter Linda if I could bring my new Rotordyne blades into her living room to take them out of the crates, she answered,

" why not? I've lived with gyros my whole life". She is an understanding daughter! She gave me a fuel transfer pump for my gyro for Christmas awhile back . Other gifts from her have included motorcycle hand grips and a set of screw drivers. A recent gift from Linda and Donna was a gift certificate from my favorite store, Home Depot . As I said, a most understanding daughter who knows her mom pretty well.

I find it very peaceful and relaxing to do housekeeping chores on my gyro. I plan to polish that machine till it outshines the sun and I will enjoy every minute of working on it. And just think, my granddaughter Crystal will be making a Great Grand Mother out of me any day now! I will probably be off polishing my gyro instead of doing grandmotherly things like making baby clothes for the soon to be greatgrandbaby. Is that any way for a woman of my age to act? YOU BET IT IS !!

Till next time.

Marion Springer

CFI-Gyro, Ret.

Styles- fashions- trends- fads- whatever!

My friend tells me that I have lived too long when I complain about the lack of courtesy and good manners and some of trends of young people of today. I think he really means that times are different today than when I was young and that is very true.

Back in my day if a kid misbehaved in school the teacher or school Principal could and did paddle the kid and when the kids dad found out about it he added his discipline to the kid. Nowadays, parents stand a good chance of doing jail time for child abuse if they discipline the child. And kids know it... " yeah dad, you spank me and I'll call the cops, so there "!

Some of the fads of the young people just mystify me...how in the world can anyone eat with a ball bearing fastened to the tongue? How can anyone blow his nose if he has a ring through it?

And the hair! for some young people of today fashion dictates that their hair stand straight up in peaks that look sharp as nails. Others go in for wild colors, with rainbow streaks of color throughout .

But the pants the guys wear with the crotch at about knee level just is unbelievable . I was walking through a parking lot recently and there was a young man with his family just ahead of me. At first I thought he was limping but no, he was having trouble walking because his pants were barely hanging on and the crotch was at knee level or maybe just a tad lower. Thank goodness he was wearing a long T-shirt so I was saved from getting mooned !

His manner of walking was wierd ...to take a step, he would first throw a knee out to the side , then step forward with that foot, then throw the opposite knee out to the side and follow up with a step from that foot. I realized that throwing the knee to the side was to allow a little more room in the pants so he could take a step. If he had had to move suddenly he would have been like a deer in the headlights or more likely, would have fallen flat on his face.

And the girls with the push-up bras ! I'm an old gal and not much surprises me anymore but one day I turned a corner at a fall festival and just stopped in my tracks when I saw two young girls with push-up bras and what was being pushed up was nearly out ! I see practically the same thing on women on television and even on the female news anchors . Besides the low cleaveage , the news anchors are all very cutesy when giving the news. Walter Cronkite, I miss you!

Tatoos seem to be in fashion . I saw a woman with tatoos on every inch of skin that wasn't covered with clothing and that was a lot of skin. I thought to myself, when she is old and her skin is all shriveled and wrinkled, her skin color will be all blue. Then I thought of things we used to say to someone when we were annoyed with them , back in the good old days. Drop dead was one, Cool it, was another, then there was , don't have a cow, and also, ' turn blue'. The tatooed lady will do just that when she gets old, she will literally ' turn blue'.

Till next time.
Marion Springer

We said good bye to Lucky

She came to us as a stray pup about seven years ago. My son Dave,had recently lost his 13 year old Princess to cancer. He wasn't ready for another dog. I had two dogs so I didn't need another dog.

It was decided that Dave would take the pup to the animal shelter but on the way there he decided he couldn't do it. The little dog was obviously part pit bull. Dave was certain that she would be put down if she was handed over to the animal shelter so he brought her back home. He named the little dog Lucky and she became a part of our family.

She hated snakes with a passion. There are rattle snakes where we live and when she saw a snake she sounded the alarm. That was about the only time Lucky barked for she was a very quiet little dog. The only time she attacked a snake was when the snake happened to be very close to me. she picked it up and swung it around, dropped it and picked it up again. I made her leave it alone for it was a harmless snake, not a rattler.

Lucky was a gentle loving little dog. She was a little bit picky about eating and she played me like a fiddle. She would sometimes balk at eating her regular dinner and of course I would dress it up with little tid-bits that she loved and before long her bowl was empty and she had gotten the treats she wanted. I didn't mind pampering her that way for she gave so much love in return.

Lucky's immune system went awry and last week she got very sick. The Doctor couldn't do anything to help her and with heavy hearts, we said good bye to our little friend. She was placed to rest beside Princess. My two Doberman pups are just lost and there is an emptiness in our home without her. She brought us much love and joy in her short time with us and she is missed greatly.
The words from an old song, Old Shep, come to mind..."if dogs have a Heaven there's one thing I know, Old Shep ( Lucky ) has a wonderful home".

Till next time.
Marion Springer

My Other Passion

I wanted to fly from the time I was about 5 years old but I also have another passion that dates from a very young age. From early on I wanted to create dolls.

And so, I made dolls. My husband , Docko would tease me, I think he was teasing, he would say , " You have come full circle. You are playing with dolls". My answer was always, " I am not playing. I am creating".

Through the years I made cloth dolls for my daughters. But what I really wanted to do was to create realistic dolls, not dolls to play with but to be displayed as one would collect and display art and items to be cherished.

I leaned toward making Indian dolls, because of my heritage and because I liked the Indian way of life.

I tried making dolls from various mediums and finally discovered polymer clay. Polymer clay is a plastic based clay. It is used to sculpt all or parts of dolls which are then cured in a regular kitchen oven or toaster oven. Curing sets the clay in a hard permenant position.

Occassionally I will make a doll all of clay from head to foot but generally I only sculpt the head, hands, feet and legs of polymer clay then attach the various parts to a wire armature . Next a fabric body covering is put on over the wire armature and filled with polyester fiber fill.

Synthetic fiber is used for hair. The part I enjoy most is making the clothing and accessories. The material used for clothing is deer skin ( buckskin) and is all hand stitched . Moccasin's and other accessories are decorated with hand beading.

The picture above is an 18 inch cradleboard with baby. Used leather coats are generally used as covering for the cradleboard. Used fur from old fur coats is often used to line the cradleboards.

The baby in the picture is about 15 inches long . The baby's head is polymer clay on a fabric body. Other cradleboards I make are from 8 inches in length to full size 36 inches. My next cradleboard baby is going to be a life size infant in a 36 inch cradleboard. I plan to fully bead the sides of the cradleboard. Beading is slow tediuos work and it could take me many moons to finish the beading but it will be a treasure when finally finished. I plan to keep the life size baby and cradleboard for myself, or try to keep it anyway. My family has a way of talking me out of most of the dolls I make.

Most of the Indian dolls ( I say ' dolls' for lack of a better word ) I make represent adults engaged in the daily tasks of life as it was back then. The dolls range from 18 inches to about 22 inches in height.

If you care to see some of the work which has resulted from my other passion, click on my website www.authameriindiandolls.com .

Till next time.
Marion Springer