Always Carry A Big Rock!

This morning I nearly walked seven miles with Leslie, but because of my own, self imposed time issues, I stopped in my tracks and went and took a shower. And it's a good thing that I did, too.

With it being the first of the month time, I did paperwork almost all morning, writing thank you letters and paying the bills. Right after I had all of that business caught up, the phone rang—it was Cheryl. Cheryl called to give me an update on how Opie was doing, so far. I really enjoyed our conversation, and I learned that Opie loves sleeping on the cold tile floor, as much as the couch! He is also behaving himself and minding his manners, so he won't ever have to come back to the rescue ranch! "Like I said yesterday, Cheryl— Opie ain't no dummy," I said. Cheryl and I discussed my upcoming book, too, and she has offered to edit it for me! That is such great news, because she is an experienced, professional editor and a writer! When our fun conversation came to an end, I looked at the clock on the wall, and happily realized that I was fourteen minutes ahead of my time schedule for today. Then the phone rang—it was Kinky.

"Nance, can you come over to the Lodge? I want to discuss something with you."

"I can come over now, but I can only stay for about thirteen minutes."

"Why thirteen minutes?"

I told him about my tight time schedule for today, so I could get a lot of work done on my book. "Now, we're talking twelve minutes, Kinky," I said. We both started laughing! "I'm leaving now."

Ninety minutes later, I returned to the rescue ranch, wishing that I knew someone that had a time machine, that could take me back seventy-eight minutes. Then I realized that I was wasting time, so I decided that I should live in the moment.

One moment later, Tone walks into the 'big room,' and he is all smiles, and he says, "I'm starving, Nance. I want to take you to lunch in Kerrville. And, you get to pick the place!" Those were not exactly the words, that I wanted to hear, at that moment.

I looked at the clock on the stove, and mumbled, "Eighty-one. I've now lost eighty-one minutes." Fortunately, Tony didn't hear me, because he will be celebrating his fifty-fifth birthday on the 6th, and like it or not—he's getting hard of hearing, too. Not to waste anymore precious time, I said, "I'm ready. Let's go!"

We jumped into Buttermilk and Tony turned the ignition key. Buttermilk started right up, but the air conditioner didn't come on. Tony popped the hood, and then he looked over at me, "Will you bang on that cylinder, while I unload the feed, in the back seat, into the back of Trigger?" Of course, I didn't want to.

I smiled at Tone, and then I got out of the Explorer, to go find a big rock. I picked up a fairly large, off-white colored rock and then began pounding on the cylinder—to vent my frustration. "Eighty-three," I softly stated. "I've now lost eighty-three minutes."

"You can stop now. It's working!" Tony said, happily, as he climbed back into Buttermilk. I slammed the hood down, put my new handy rock tool on the back seat, and then I got into our old 1996, sometimes air conditioned, Eddie Bauer package, SUV. Then we took off for Kerrville.

One hundred and seven minutes later, we were back at the rescue ranch. I was so glad to be back home. And the good news is— we didn't have to use the big rock in Kerrville.

I have just set my alarm clock one hundred and ninety-three minutes earlier, than I usually get up, so I can make up for the lost time. As you know, I am not good in math, so I hope that I have calculated this right.

Y'all have a great evening