Her Mission on Earth

At council of Heavenly Board,

Governed by great Jesus our Lord.

Came Spirits in the form of man,

Here for their second estate plan.

Each given a mission of their own,

And a talent to use when grown.

Each received their assignment that day,

With council to keep faith and pray.

One spirit rose above the rest,

Great in talent she was the best.

Fair skin, blue eyes, and loving grace,

Christ like heart and angelic face.

Her mission was not like the rest,

Theirs to be tested, hers to test.

She’ll test their hearts not for pity,

But she’ll test for true charity.

What is done unto the least of thee,

Is measure of what’s done unto me.

Challenge faith of loved ones each day,

And strangers she meets on life’s way.

She’ll have trials and times that are gray,

Her sweet spirit will feel dismay.

When her time on earth is complete

And the trial she’s gone through is beat.

Humble and pure as you left me,

My presence will return with thee.

Slowly the girl began to be weak,

Conflict changed, spirit rose to peak.

I am ready for I have won,

Thy will and not mine shall be done.

All spirits were ready to go,

One paused at throne, spoke sweet and low.

Please hold my hand to go to earth,

So with Christ’s help she entered birth.

Yet for this new angel don’t fear,

Even though some problems appear.

Although loved ones don’t understand,

She’s safe with Christ holding her hand.

Now a sweet angel up above,

Giving all those on earth her love.

                      Copyright 9/30/2011  Gandy Dancer

Big Baby's Adventure

Life has been really good for me. My sister Gracie and I have a lot of fun in the back yard chasing Robins and Sparrows. Butch comes out twice a week to mow the lawn and water the flower pots. Gracie loves water and chases Butch around as he teases her with the hose. I don’t understand Gracie because she gets all wet and I don’t like getting wet. Most of the time, Gracie avoids getting hit by the stream of water because she is so fast. Gracie is a little silly and when Butch opens the pool cover she runs along the edge of the pool and tries to bite the cover as it recoils and opens. I just sit and watch as Butch tries to get her away from the pool. I have not felt well during the last few days. I am still very young and I feel strange. Little things that Gracie does are starting to make me cross and on edge. The days are getting very warm and Gracie and I were sitting down on our blanket underneath the large shade tree in the back yard. When I moved from the blanket I looked back and saw some red spots on the blanket. In the afternoon Butch opened our two-way door into the house and Gracie and I came in where it is cool and we slept on our new camouflage colored pillows. Butch says it is hard to see me when I am laying on the pillows as my color blends in so well. Sometimes Butch laughs at me but I think he is just getting a little old. The next day was really a bad day for me. At first I got very excited because Butch took me for a ride in the car and he left Gracie home. We arrived at a nice big house and Butch carried me to the gate in the back yard. He opened the gate and there it was, a long dog just like me. He was black on brown, like Gracie, except that he was much bigger. In fact, he was the same size as me. He had a long nose and really long ears. His name was Clawson. He looked athletic and he had a big chest. Well Butch put me down on the ground and Clawson starting sniffing me and then he tried to jump on my back. I started running and he chased me all over the yard. When I looked back I saw ole Butch leaving through the gate. I was shocked and I could not believe he would leave me alone with a strange dog. I didn’t have much time to think about it because Clawson was relentless in chasing me back and forth. I was quicker than him and I avoided him for a long time. However he seemed to be obsessed with me and he would not stop. Finally, I got tired and just stood for him. This same process continued for awhile until Clawson got tired and we both laid down under a shady tree. After a few hours Butch showed up and took me back home. I was really angry and showed him I was not pleased. I spent the rest of the day sleeping on my pillow trying to recover. I couldn’t believe what Butch let me go through. As I got some rest I couldn’t help thinking about Clawson. He was very handsome and really strong. Well I made it though the night and Butch came in and fed Gracie and I breakfast. I was surprised that I had recovered and felt a little better. Then Butch came back out of the house, put me in his car, and took me back over to Clawson’s. I could hear Clawson barking and he was jumping up and down on the other side of the gate. Butch opened it up and put me down. Clawson was even more active and he chased me all over the grass. Then Butch left again and I screamed at him and told him he needed to be “reported.” This time Clawson wore me down quickly and Butch came back sooner. I was livid and asked Butch why he kept taking me over to Clawson’s house. He said something about baby puppies but I was too tired and didn’t understand what he was talking about. Butch didn’t take me back to Clawson’s but I noticed that I was not the same. My back hurt, I was always nauseated, and forever tired. I began to notice that I was gaining some weight and my teats started to get bigger. Nearly every morning I did not feel well and I continued to wake up with a headache. My appetite was out of control and I wanted to eat everything in sight. As a result I think I have gained over ten pounds. My energy level has dramatically decreased. Gracie keeps pulling my ears and wants me to play but, I just can’t do it. Sometimes she bites be too hard and it hurts. I try to bite her back but she is too little and too fast for me to catch. My body keeps getting fatter and my back side has really widened. The extra weight hurts my back and I like to reduce the pain by laying down on my side. Butch then makes fun of me and says I look like a small pig when I lay on the floor. When I walk I kind of waddle and my stomach hits the ground. Butch teases me and says I am “dragging low and walking slow.” He is not very funny. My feelings are really hurt because Clawson has not been by to see me. He just doesn’t care and he is the one that has caused me all these problems. Butch brought home a large box and put newspapers on the bottom and placed my pillow in it along with some blankets. He puts it in the family room and helps get into the box. He calls it my nest. I don’t know what he is talking about and so I just jump out and go to my crate. Butch takes Gracie and me out for a walk but I have to stop and rest a lot. He is good to pause and wait for me until I feel better. I have been craving different foods lately. Sometimes Butch feeds me bacon and I love it. I think I could eat a whole package of bacon by myself. Now, as time passes, I really feel tired. I have five days until the puppies are supposed to be born. My weight is out of control as I weight 27 lbs. which is twice Gracie’s weight. Sometimes I wonder if Clawson will ever look at me again. My energy level is low and I spend most of the day in the crate. The only time I leave my crate is to eat and go to the potty. Something deep inside me is driving me to dig a hole in the ground so I can have these puppies. I tried to dig a hole under the bed but the carpet was too strong. My size has gotten to be such a problem that I can’t jump up on the couch and Butch has to use both hands to pick me up. When he carries me my lungs become compressed and I can’t breathe. Most of the time, I don’t want to be left alone because I feel so sick. My stomach is getting so big that I think I will be having a lot of puppies. Maybe it is because Butch took me over to Clawson’s so many times. There are times when Gracie calms down and comes over and lays down by me and it is very comforting. Butch seems to be getting very nervous about my condition. He has taken my crate into the spare bedroom which is next to his and put it down where I can see into his bedroom. He brought the small crate from the garage and put it in the laundry room for Gracie. That night I began to cry a little and Butch thought it was because I missed Gracie. I guess I kept him awake because after a while he came in and closed the door. What he didn’t know was I was really having contractions and was going into labor. I was very comfortable inside the crate without Gracie. The contractions steadily increased and I didn’t bark or cry out when my first puppy was born. The process continued through the night and by morning I had four gorgeous puppies that were all full sized. Butch says that I did not have a “runt” in the whole litter. The puppies were all beautiful Dapples like me. I had two chocolate brown and two brown and white. Clawson and I make wonderful puppies. They are all laying by me now and they are nursing. I am finally very happy.

Copyright 9/13/2010 Gandy Dancer

"Native Cutthroat"

Ginny and Butch had pulled their RV and boat up Daniel’s Canyon to the Strawberry Marina so they could go boating and camping. They rented a slip for their boat and had been fishing each day and caught a few fish each time they went out into the lake. On a couple of these boating trips they took their two Dachshunds “Gracie” and “Roxie.” The dogs hated to get wet and didn’t like to take baths nor get close to the family swimming pool. On Saturday morning Butch went outside to take the dogs for a walk and the entire lake area was covered in the legendary morning mist that is often found at the eight thousand foot level. It had been raining for several days and Butch thought it might be another stormy day. However, as he made his way with the dogs along the low rolling hills he looked up and could see patches of blue sky which was a good indication that the mist would soon be burning off. The excessive rain that had blessed the Wasatch Mountains had made the Strawberry Valley come alive with Wild Flower blossoms more than ever before. There were Blue Bells, Indian Paint Brush, and entire mountain sides filled with yellow Daisies. The plant life was lush and resembled the type of conditions found at lakes and valleys at the ten thousand foot level. “Gracie” and “Roxie” were in “Dog Heaven” as they were surrounded by burrows of “Pot-guts” and “Marmots.” They would run into the brush to hunt and would not come back for hours. Every time they heard chirping sounds it made them go wild and their digging into varmint tunnels never ceased. The thin air was invigorating and Ginny road her mountain bike about eight miles to the “Renegade” marina. Butch had the dogs and was following her in his truck. They went back to their RV and Ginny fixed them a lunch to eat on the boat and they took the dogs and went fishing. Butch’s boat was a twenty two foot “Open Bow” craft and the dogs liked to sit up front and let the wind blow by their ears. Since it was their last day they decided to fish over to “Bryant’s Fork” where Ginny’s dad, Kenner, loved to fish. Butch had cleaned up and refurbished an old fishing pole of Kenner’s as well as his “Mitchell” 300 reel. So it was fitting to go back to his favorite spot even though the aged “Beaver Lodge” had been covered by the increased level of water created by the new “Soldier Creek” dam. Kenner had taught Butch and Ginny how to catch the beautiful “Brook Trout” which made their home near the lodge. By this time the sun was high in the brilliant blue sky which was highlighted by white puffy clouds. Fishing was slow and the dogs got bored and were sunning themselves on the back part of the boat deck which was near to the water. Suddenly there was a loud slap as Butch’s pole hit the back of the boat. Instinctively Butch grabbed the pole and gave it a hard yank. Sure enough he had a big fish on his line. After a few seconds the fish jumped clear out of the water and dove for the bottom pulling the slack on Butch’s reel. It looked like a sure trophy. The fish put up a good fight for a while and when Butch got it near the boat it started violently thrashing in the water. The dogs got excited. Ginny grabbed the net and brought the fish into the boat but, just as she did both dogs had jumped into the water after the fish. Neither of the short legged dogs were good swimmers. “Roxie” was in shock and Butch was able to lean over the back side of the boat and pull her to safety. Then they looked around and “Gracie” could not be found. They called her name and in a moment of panic thought she may have drowned. They ran up to the front of the boat and there was “Gracie” frantically trying to keep her head above water. The front of the boat was too high off the water for Butch to make an attempt to save her. Ginny quickly reacted and ran to the back of the boat and flipped the fish out of the net. She threw the net to Butch and he made an attempt to catch “Gracie” but he missed at first. On the next try Butch went deep with the net and captured her. He pulled her in and they could see she would not have lasted much longer. Both dogs crashed in the warm leather seats and slowly recovered in the bright July sun. Butch and Ginny went back to check out the fish and as it turned out the monster “Native Cutthroat” was only twenty inches long and did not meet the twenty two inch legal criteria for keeping. The two reluctantly put the fish back in the lake. They fished for a while and then slowly made their way back to their boat slip.
Copyright 2011 Gandy Dancer