Happy Birthday, Kinky! We Love You!

Today is Kinky's birthday! So this morning, Tony and I went over to the Lodge, with breakfast tacos, for Kinky's first breakfast! Kinky was in great spirits, and he had Jerome, Will, Tony and me laughing our heads off, about his latest adventures. To say the least, it was a fun first breakfast!

Late this afternoon, Tony and I went over to the Lodge to see Kinky, because we had a gift for him. "What's this, Nance?" Kinky asked.

"It's a gift that I have to pass on to you. Marcie started it, when she was here. It's a new family tradition. It's a goofy gift, but we have decided to keep passing it on. You have to keep it, until it is Ben's birthday. Then he has to keep it and pass it off to Will, then Marcie, Tony and then back to me, again." Kinky took the package and started laughing!

"When is Ben's birthday?"

"January twenty-sixth. You have to keep it until then." Kinky agreed to keep it, and was laughing in the yard, as we drove away, to come back home.

Tony's and my trip to Port Aransas, last Thursday and Friday, was so much fun! It was filled with fishing, great music, bird watching, excitement and a lot of laughter! I want to thank Ben Welch for baby sitting the rescue ranch, and Jan and Todd, who helped hold down the fort, so Tone and I could take a much needed break! Now, let me tell you about our mini-vacation.

We left the rescue ranch at seven-thirty. Fifteen minutes down the road, I tried to call in to The Harley Show, but there was no signal! I tried several times, and then I gave up. For over an hour and a half, Tony and I listened to my iPod, as Garmina, Tone's Garmin GPS device, guided us to Port Aransas.

When we got on I-37, I got to talking on my cell phone. I called Cindy and Ray first, and then Ronnie, to find out where they were, and to see if they were on schedule to meet up at eleven-thirty. Cindy and Ray were on schedule, but Ron wasn't. "Nance, I haven't left Dripping Springs yet! Didn't you tell me to meet y'all at twelve-thirty?"

"I did, Ron. I forgot to tell you that I had changed it to eleven-thirty," I said. Then we started laughing.

Thirty seconds later, Ron said, "I'm in the truck now, and headed your way! I'll be about fifteen minutes late. Bye."

After I had told T. about my stupid mistake, I called Rick to tell him that we were headed his way. "That's fine, Cousin Nancy," Rick said. "This morning I got up to listen to you on The Harley Show, and you didn't call in. I came this close to calling Harley to tell him that you were on the road, and that was probably why you didn't call in."

After explaining to Rick about not getting a signal, he told us to drive careful, and that he would see us soon. As Garmina talked to Tony, and told him what to do—I called Harley.

After apologizing to Harley, he laughed and totally understood! "When you didn't call in, I decided to call you. After your answering machine finished with the message, I started saying, 'Cousin Nancy, where are you? I know that you're there...' When you didn't pick up, I went online to utopiarescue.com, and told everyone that Lobo was the Pet of the Week, and I told my audience what you had written about him. It was pretty funny..."

After I told Tone about Harley, he said, "Nance, you've been talkin' a lot. You might want to charge your phone. How much charge do you have left?"

After Tony told me where to look, I realized I only had about thirty minutes left, and I had forgotten to pack the charging plug! So I called Cindy to tell her, not to worry if she couldn't reach me, and that's when Ray, in the background, said that this was turning into a version of the television show, The Great Race, to see who would get there first! The race was on!

At eleven-twenty-two, I called Cindy. "Where are y'all? Garmina says that we are going to arrive at the boathouse at eleven-thirty-three."

"Ray, they're eleven minutes away from winning! Nance, were close, but we just got lost and we don't know where we are. We're going to pull over and ask for directions. We'll see y'all in a few minutes. Bye."

"Tony, it looks like we are going to win! Cindy and Ray just got lost!" Tony swelled with pride, thanks to Garmina's help, as we boarded the ferry! We parked near the front of the ferry, beside a big Boar's Head truck. Two minutes later, my phone rang—it was Cindy.

"Nance, we're on the ferry. Where are y'all?" My heart sunk.

"We're on the ferry, too! We're by the Boar's Head truck..." Then Cindy and Ray knocked on my window, wearing big smiles, as Tone deflated some! After telling them the directions to the boathouse, they went back to their car. Tony and I prayed that we would be the first off of the ferry, but our prayers weren't answered. We watched Cindy and Ray drive past us wearing big smiles and hollering, "We won! We won!"

A minute later, as we watched Cindy and Ray, a few cars in front of us, pass the turn in, I started laughing! "Tony we won! I'm gonna call Cindy!" After I called her to tell them to turn around, I went up to the street, so they would know where to turn in. A minute later, we were in the parking lot hugging each other and laughing. "We won!" I declared.

"Nance, we would have won, if you had told us the right directions. You told us to turn right! That's why we lost the race." Then we broke out laughing!

"I know," I said. "I had to, because Tony and I really wanted to win. Sorry." As we unpacked all of our luggage, our dear friend, Rick, the friendly lighthouse keeper, pulled into the parking lot, on his Vespa, to greet us! A few minutes later, Ronnie pulled into the parking lot. After we loaded up the Boston Whaler, Rick took us to the island!

Ronnie, Cindy and Ray were awestruck, when we arrived at the beautiful island, and then when they saw where we were going to stay, I was scared that they were going to faint, because the house is so magnificent, and beautifully decorated! After we had unpacked, Rick gave them a tour, then it was fishing time!

While Rick advised Tony, Ray and Ronnie on how to rig their fishing poles, and what bait to use, Cindy and I went up to the house, grabbed our cameras, and returned to the dock, so we could capture the guys fishing! Then Rick took off for Port Aransas, to pick Leisa up from work, and to bring her out to the island.

When Rick and Leisa returned with Squirt, Leisa's adorable little dog, we all went up to Rick's house for Happy Hour, because the fish weren't hungry yet, but we were. We had a fun visit with Leisa and Rick over dinner and Rick kept everyone laughing.

After our delicious dinner, Cindy, Leisa and I listened to Ronnie, Rick and Ray play some music! They sounded great together, and I was disappointed that I couldn't play my guitar, because of my screwed up finger. It still hurts, and when you look at it, there is a little "+" sign, because I was using a Philips head, when I accidentally screwed my index finger, instead of a board, because of my bifocals!

When the music ended, we went down to the dock, so Ronnie, Ray and Tony could fish, before a norther blew in, and we also wanted Rick and Leisa to have some alone time together. An hour or so later, the guys still hadn't caught a fish and were thinking about quitting for the night. We were all tired from the fun day."It's probably a good idea, because that norther ought to be getting here pretty soon," I said.

"It should be here soon," Ray said. "The tide is just starting to turn." Then two seconds later, the norther hit! We're talking a twenty degree drop in temperature, in less than two minutes! We were cold and the wind had to been blowing at least twenty miles an hour! The guys packed up their gear, and we ran to the house!

Twenty minutes later, we went to bed and slept like logs, as the winds howled outside.

This is starting to turn into a book here, so I will finish this story tomorrow, with pictures. Sorry Mari!

Y'all have a great evening!

To Be Continued...