It Was A No Show!

Tony woke me up this morning. "Nance, it's five-thirty. You need to get up." Before I could climb out of bed, our dogs pounced on me, using me as a human diving board—before leaping off of the bed to go outside!

"Ouch! Thank you, Tony. Ouch! I'm awake, now. Ouch! Dog-gone it!"

By seven o'clock, we were on our way to Kerrville with our precious cargo—Ellen Degeneres, to do the Harley Show! As soon as Buttermilk crossed over the cattle guard—Ellen became unhappy, and she started howling, actually it was more like high pitched screaming! Yikes! Tone and I figured by the time we reached Highway 16, she would quiet down—we were wrong. She yelled at us the entire trip, as we tried to listen to Harley on the radio.

As soon as we got out of the car with Ellen, at the Rose 99.9 radio station—she turned into a different puppy! Her tail was wagging wildly and she could not quit kissing us, and she was quiet! She was happy, Tone was happier, and I was the happiest girl in the whole U.S.A.! I'm serious.

Doing Harley's Show was a lot of fun this morning, and Ellen did great! She was calm and relaxed in the studio, as we talked about her, and she even showered Harley with wet kisses, near the end of the show! I was so proud of her!

When our rescue ranch segment was over, Tony, with Ellen sleeping peacefully in his arms, and I descended the stairs to the parking lot to load up. As soon as Buttermilk pulled out onto the Junction Highway—Ellen became a basket case, again—yelling her lungs out! I thought to myself—Ellen has turned into Hell-en!

She screamed the entire three-point-two miles to Hoegemeyers, where we dropped her off to chill out, so we could go eat breakfast at Randy and Lisa's Save Inn restaurant. Of course, the restaurant was packed, but Tony and I were lucky to find us a table! Then the weirdest thing happened!

In less than two minutes, after their friendly waitress had taken our order—Ben walks into the restaurant! We knew Ben was coming to the rescue ranch today to work, but we weren't expecting to see him at the restaurant—it was a happy surprise for us! "I heard y'all on the radio, tell Harley that y'all were coming here. When I saw Buttermilk parked outside, I decided to join you two for breakfast." T. and I were delighted, and so was our waitress!

When the sweet waitress handed Ben a menu, she asked, "Is he your son?" Tony and Ben burst out laughing, and I nearly choked to death on my ice tea!

"No. Ben is our good friend," Tony replied, as I waited for someone to come do the Heimlich manuever on me! Unfortunately, no one came—it was a no-show, but fortunately I survived another one of my—"Well, Nance almost wasn't with us anymore today" incidents, an expression my incredibly sweet, loving parents used to say often, when I was growing up. I must admit my 'almost dead' incidents do seem to occur quite frequently—just ask Kinky, Ben or Tone.

Our party-of-three breakfast was delicious and a blast! T. and Ben teased me about getting all choked up over nothing, and we did a lot of laughing, as we caught up with each other's latest news. I found out, during our meal, that Miles of Chocolate has now been voted 'Best Chocolate' by the Austin Chronicle—for two years in a row! Congrats Miles and Ben! Austin knows chocolate!

As Tony paid our bill, I didn't want our breakfast fun to end, because I was already dreading the twenty-two mile trek, back to the rescue ranch with Hell-en!

As Buttermilk took us home, Hell-en serenaded us non-stop, for thirty-two minutes, with gut-wrenching, soul piercing sounds, that I hope I never hear again in this lifetime! If I do, it will be another one of those "Well, Nance almost wasn't with us anymore today" incidents!

Y'all have a great evening!