R.I.P.!

Thursday morning, I only walked five miles, because I had much to do for the upcoming event. Around noon, I went over to the Lodge, to talk to Kinky about the event. When I returned to the rescue ranch, at one-thirty, Rick had just arrived! I quickly finished up some business, and then the fun began. Tony, Rick and I caught up with each other's news, while my iPod serenaded us in the background. Carol came over around six for a visit in Outer Space, but it was too hot outside, so we went inside the trailer and had a good time!

Thursday night, I went to bed, after posting my mini-blog, but I could not fall to sleep! I guess that I had too much on my mind. I got up around eleven o'clock, and came into the kitchen, turned on the light, and sat down at the kitchen table—and opened up my laptop.

At three minutes past three, I closed my laptop, got up from the table, turned off the kitchen light, and climbed into bed, because we have a high bed, or do you call it a tall bed—or pedestal?

Anyway, I must have slept like a log, because I didn't remember any of my dreams—and I always remember them. When I woke up, it was ten after seven! I had overslept and under slept—at the same time! I had only slept four hours! I do not recommend doing this to anyone, because it causes people to become 'Rather Irritable People,' I call it R.I.P., for short, and I had a bad case of it!

I felt like I was in a fog, as I fed my always happy dogs, and sometimes happy cat. I then started fixin' breakfast for Tony and Rick. I was nearly half-done preparing it, when—in walks Tony and Rick—and they were real happy. As we ate and drank breakfast—I found out that Rick had gone with Tony to the Old Timer, and he had really enjoyed meeting Tony's friends.

Since coming down with R.I.P. this morning, I discovered that being around happy people, places and things—can actually worsen your condition! I was glad that my dogs, cat, Tony and Rick were happy, but as Kinky likes to say, 'I was not a happy camper.' My R.I.P. syndrome had taken its toll on me. I was now borderline crazed and confused. There's a name for that, and it starts with a 'B.'

Following breakfast, Tony and Rick happily took off for Hondo, to bring Buttermilk home, so I semi-consciously—walked four fast miles, with Leslie and her really happy friends. Even though I was so tired, I realized that the four miles, had helped my R.I.P.—sorta go into remission! Thank goodness! I was now almost feeling lighthearted, even though I was still lightheaded, so I went to the closet, and brought Hazel out and put her to work.

After vacuuming the outside wall of my front porch, Hazel came inside, and sucked all of the dirt and hair out of the trailer. Then she went back into her closet to rest, and I was jealous, and I had every right to be!

Right before I was fixin' to take a bath, in my beautiful, plastic, made for trailers only—garden tub, there was a knock on the front door, and my dogs went to barking. Fortunately, I was still dressed, because I hate scaring people—especially in the morning. I quickly turned off the bath water, and then went to see who was here.

It was Ellen, one of our great dog walkers, with her friend, J.R., who had to come all of the way from Mississippi—to volunteer! Ellen wanted me to meet J.R. and she told me that J.R. couldn't wait—to meet us.

J.R. is the wonderful woman, who adopted Louie, from us nearly two years ago, for her daughter, Shannon—who has seizures. Louie, a lovable, gigantic black Lab/ Great Dane mix, is a certified seizure dog, and it was a perfect match! But, because Louie is an extra-large dog, John Kemmerly drove Louie out to Baton Rouge, to meet J.R.—at the half-way point, between us, and Louie's new home in Mississippi!

I had a nice visit with J.R. and Ellen, then I called Kinky, and asked if I could bring them over to the Lodge.

Kinky enjoyed seeing Ellen, and meeting J.R., and so did I. When we looked at the pictures, of Louie with Shannon, that J.R. gave to us—our hearts melted with joy. When the visit was over, Trigger brought me back to the rescue ranch, and they took off for Kerrville. I was still tired, running on empty, and realized that my mood had changed for the better.

When I arrived at the rescue ranch, Carol and Lyle, from Ingram, were here to possibly adopt one of our dogs! They had made an appointment earlier in the week, to be here at eleven. They were on time, but I was five minutes late for it. I gave them a tour of the ranch, and before leaving, they told me that liked Daisy and Paul McCartney, and would call me on Monday, to tell me who they wanted to adopt!

After they drove away, Tony and Rick showed up with Buttermilk! I was so glad to have her back home! I visited with Rick and Tony for a few minutes, then Rick told us that he was going to Kerrville, to run some errands. As soon as Rick had left the building— Jon Wolfmueller called me. He and I talked about the event, and my sleepless night, and all of the things that I still needed to do. Before hanging up, Jon told me to call them if there was anything that they could do to help.

After we hung up, I reran my bath water, cleaned up, and then I walked into the kitchen where Tony was, "Tony, I am making an executive decision. I am not going to make potato salad, as planned, for our volunteers. I'm going to call Sandy and Jon and ask them to pick some up for me, instead." Tony smiled.

"Hi, Jon it's Nancy."

"I know," Jon said. "What's up?"

"I need a big favor," I said. "I've decided to not make the potato salad as planned. Could y'all pick some up for me, and bring it out tomorrow?"

"I'm sure we can. Listen, a customer just walked in. Call me back in ten minutes, and let me know how much you need. Bye." I felt so relieved to cross off making potato salad, from my 'to do list.' Then I had a light bulb moment.

Tony was starving, and it was nearly one o'clock, and I didn't feel like making lunch, so I picked up the phone. "Rick, this is Nancy."

"I know," Rick said. "What can I do for you little darlin'?"

"Where are you?" I asked.

"I'm on 16, on the bridge, fixin' to head your way."

"Great! If I call Dominos Pizza, and order a couple of pizzas—could you pick them up for me?"

"Sure, not a problem. Where is Dominos?" I answered his question, thanked him for helping me, and then I hung up, and dialed Domino's phone number and placed my order. Once again—I felt relieved. My load was starting to shrink, by the minute, and I loved it. It made me smile and that felt good.

"Tony, I need to go tell Ben and Aaron, that Rick is bringing us pizza for lunch. Could you do me a favor, and call Jon back, and tell him we need about twenty to twenty-five pounds of potato salad." I walked out the door, as Tony grabbed the phone.

Ben and Aaron were busy mowing, and they looked tired and hot. It was over a hundred degrees outside. When I told them about Rick bringing us lunch—they smiled, and then went back to work. Thirty minutes later, the pizza delivery boy, arrived at the rescue ranch.

The pizzas were good, and the conversation was even better. Rick had us laughing the whole time, with his funny tales. After lunch—Rick decided to go out to my writing cabin to take a nap. Five minutes later, Tone suggested that I take a nap, too. I did as I was told.

My dogs raced to the bedroom, jumped up on the bed and we slept for over two hours! When I woke up—I was a different person—the old Nancy was back! I was refreshed, and was really happy about it! And, so were T. and Rick. Then Jon called.

"Nancy, Sandy thinks that is way too much potato salad to buy. Tony told me twenty to twenty-five pounds. Sandy wants to know how many people, you will be feeding."

"About twenty to twenty-five people."

Jon laughed, and then he repeated my words back to Sandy. "Nancy, that is one pound of potato salad per person!" We both started laughing!"

Around six o'clock, Kinky called, and invited us over to the Lodge, so we could visit with Kent Perkins, and his wife, Ruth Buzzi! We did as we were told. And we had a blast! It was non-stop laughing! We stayed for a couple of hours, and then returned home.

There were four new phone calls from Jon and Sandy, asking us to please call them! Since I was still suffering from R.I.P. syndrome, I delicately, delegated Tony for the task. Tone picked up the phone and punched in their home phone number. "Hello Jon. This is Tony."

"I know. How is Nancy doing?" Jon asked. "She sounded really exhausted today, and we were worried about her."

"Well, I took her to the mental ward," T. said, faking a serious sounding voice, "to drop her off, but they wouldn't take her. They said she was too crazy, so I brought her back home." Rick, Tony and I burst laughing, as did Sandy and Jon! "Bye."

Before calling it a night, Rick called Leisa, his better half, who was driving up to help volunteer for us. "Leisa is running late."Rick said. "She said that she should be getting here around midnight," Rick said.

Boy, was he ever wrong! Too Be Continued... (Sorry, Mari!)

Y'all have a great evening!