Duck!

This morning after walking six miles, I did paperwork all day. I'm exhausted, but glad to be so caught up. The only thing left for me to do is return phone calls tomorrow. Here's the rest of my Port Aransas saga.

Friday morning, Tony accidentally woke me up at seven, because he had to use the bathroom. "Sorry, I woke you, Nance. I've been fishing since six o'clock and the fish are biting! I caught four Speckled Trout, but I had to release them because they weren't big enough. They were one inch short."

"Please wake Ronnie up, so he can catch some fish. Good luck." Thirty minutes later, I was dressed and drinking coffee in the kitchen with Cindy. She told me that Ronnie had woken Ray up, and he was down there fishing with them. Thirty minutes later, Cindy and I went down to the dock, even though it was pretty cold outside. "Cindy, Tony caught four trout this morning, but he had to throw them back, because they were an inch too short."

"How long were they?" Ronnie asked.

"Fifteen inches. One inch short," Tony replied. After Ronnie had a short discussion with Ray about this certain kind of trout, they informed Tony that his four fish were keepers, because they only had to be fifteen inches! Everyone laughed and teased Tone about it.

"Tony, I bet that you caught the same fifteen inch trout four times," I teased.

Rick and Leisa came down to the dock, because Rick had to take her to Port A, because she had to go to work. Fifteen minutes later, Rick returned from Port A., and we went up to Rick's house and ate a delicious breakfast. Following breakfast Ronnie, Ray and T. went back to fishing.

"Cousin Nancy and Cindy watch this!" Rick said. Then he hollered, "Duane, come over here! Come here Duane!" Cindy and I watched as Duane headed towards Rick! It was awesome! Here's a picture of Duane.

A few minutes later, Cindy sat down on a step and shot the bird—with her camera!

Around ten-thirty, Rick went back to the island to pick up our good friends, Pete Hartje and Kelly Bloomfield, and to also bring Rick Pratt, the former light housekeeper, and his family out, so they could revisit the lighthouse. Fifteen minutes later, Rick showed up with a boat full of people!

After everyone met everyone, Rick and Rick took the family up to the main house where we were staying. It was so great to see Kelly and Pete, again! And we all fell in love with their newly rescued Bulldog, Fiona! She is absolutely adorable and way too cute!


We all enjoyed visiting with Kelly and Pete, as we took turns playing with Fiona! We got a lot of laughing in, before The Ricks returned with the family. We had a very nice visit with the Pratt family, and then it was time for them and for Kelly and Pete and Fiona to leave. I hated to see them leave, but hopefully Kelly, Fiona and Pete will be coming up real soon for a visit, and to clip our dog's nails for us!

Later that morning, Ronnie, Cindy and Ray climbed up to the top of the light house—seventy-two steps! Tony took this picture of Ray standing outside on the lighthouse's porch!

When they came down, all of us went into the kitchen for snacks and for another fun visit!

After lunch, Rick took Tony and me to Port Aransas and dropped us off at the Tarpon Ice House, so we could visit with our dear friend, John Kemmerly, who was bar tending!

We had a wonderful visit with John, and we mainly talked about our rescue ranch dogs. John kept asking us about certain ones that he had especially liked when he had worked for us. The Tarpon Ice House is a really cool bar! There were Utopia Rescue Ranch and Kinky bumper stickers plastered all over the place! I loved it! And we got to meet the owner, who seemed like a really nice man. After a great visit with John, Rick took us back to the island.

Early in the evening, after Leisa and Squirt had returned to the island, we had a delicious dinner full of fun conversation and laughter! Around ten, Ronnie, Cindy, Ray, Tone and me called it an evening and headed to the main house. Tony went to bed immediately, and then Ray went to bed. Cindy, Ronnie and I stayed up for about an hour talking about how much fun we had had in such a short amount of time. Like me, they thought Rick was a great guy, and they loved Leisa! Before going to bed, we all agreed that we didn't want to leave the island in the morning. In fact, we confessed that we wanted Rick's job!

Halloween morning was really scary! A few minutes before sunrise, I heard loud gunshots outside! Tone was gone fishing, so I jumped out of bed and dressed, and then went into the kitchen, just as Tony came inside the house. "Were those gunshots?" I asked.

"Yes, Rick just told me that it was some duck hunters, who couldn't wait until dawn, before killing ducks. Today is the first day of duck season. I just came up to make sure that you were okay." Then Tony left to go fish some more with Ray and Ronnie.

As I sat at the table, I came up with a great book idea, then Cindy came into the room to drink some coffee with me. I told her about my idea. "We come down to the island with a lighthouse, for a two day vacation. The night before we are to leave, we laughed and talked about wanting Rick's job. The next morning we hear gunshots and discover that Rick is missing and is nowhere to be found on the island! When the cops arrive, after individually interrogating us—they decide that the five of us are the prime suspects in a possible murder case! And, we can't leave the island, until they find Rick or the crime is solved!"

"Do they find Rick, or does one of us go to prison for his murder?"

"I don't know yet, but I think the title of the book should be Duck!

At eight-thirty we sadly left the island, and then we left the other island—Port Aransas, to go home. Garmina got us home safely. I want to thank Ben, Todd and Jan for baby sitting the rescue ranch, and I especially want to thank our good friends, Rick and Leisa for inviting us down for a vacation that none of us will ever forget!

Y'all have a great evening!