Unleashed!

This morning, at ten o’clock Linda T. arrived at the rescue ranch, ready to walk our dogs! She and I started with Maggie and Happy, then it was Ruth Buzzi and Chuck’s turn, next we took Henry and his girlfriend, Sparky—for a waltz across Texas! The dogs loved it and so did we!

The weather today, was absolutely perfect for dog walking—sixty-five degrees, no wind, with an uncloudy, beautiful blue sky!

I decided that we needed to walk Bob Dylan and our new dog, Sam next, to see if they liked each other, so that we could put them in a pen together, to be roommates. So, Linda walked Sam, and I walked Bob Dylan—and the boys loved their walk, and got along beautifully! Yeah!

During our walk, we ran into Aaron down at the bridge, letting Ms. Pepper go for a long swim and she was loving it, too! “Hello ladies, as soon as Ms. Pepper is done swimming, she and I are going to go climb that mountain, behind y’all, so I can take some pictures of the ranch!” We visited for a few minutes, and then Aaron and his ‘Ton of Fun’ sidekick—went off to do some serious mountain climbing.

When my foursome returned to the rescue ranch, we put Bob and Sam in a front pen, near our feed barn, and then Linda and I crossed our fingers, and unleashed the two dogs—and it worked! Sam and Bob are now officially roomies!

Our friend Paul, had arrived with his sister, Sarah, who was visiting from Indiana. While I visited with them, Linda went over to Alfie and Nash’s pen—leashed up Nash, ‘The Smiler’ and took off with him! I had a fun visit with Paul and Sarah, and then I went to the trailer, to return an urgent phone call, that Tony had told me about.

After returning three, not one, urgent phone calls, I went back outside to visit with Paul, Sarah and Tone. A few minutes later, our dogs cranked up, and I saw Aaron and Linda walking into the rescue ranch with Nash and Alfie—tails high and wagging! “Has Aaron already climbed that mountain with Ms. Pepper?” I asked.

“Yes,” Tony replied. “Aaron told me that Ms. Pepper pulled him up the mountain really fast. And, when they started climbing down, he unleashed her and she had a blast smelling this and that!” We all laughed! I loved that Ms. P. had had so much fun!

“She’s one mighty big dog!” Paul remarked.

“Yeah,” T. said, “that’s why we call her, ‘Our Ton of Fun!”

As Paul and Sarah, were fixin’ to leave, and saying their goodbyes, I watched Linda and Aaron walk out of the rescue ranch with Harley and Christy Brinkley, to go for their fun hike!

Following lunch, Linda and Aaron took off with another pair of dogs, ready to go over the river and through the woods! And, that’s when Kinky’s, and our dear friends, Terrie and her husband, Ray, arrived to check out Mr. Ziffel—and it was love at first site for those three!

After hugs and handshakes, Tony and I went into Outer Space with them! They loved Ronnie’s and Tom’s screened in porch, and we had a great visit out there! After our visit, the four of us went to Mr. Ziffel’s pen. Z. fell in love with them—kissing them wildly! We’re talkin’ ‘A Real Love Fest!’

Terrie and Ray wanted to adopt Mr. Ziffel, but were concerned about their two rescued dogs, getting along with him. So, we decided to let them take Mr. Z. and try him out first, before officially adopting him to them. They liked the trial basis, so, Tone attached Mr. Ziffel’s dog tags to his new dog collar, and then his leash and handed the leash to Ray.

Ray decided that he wanted to ride in the backseat with Ziffelman, so they could bond, and would let Terrie chauffeur them, back to Spicewood! When Ray jumped into the backseat, Mr. Ziff jumped in right behind him! We’ve all got our fingers crossed, that it will work out!

After they left, I phoned Kinky to tell him the good news about Mr. Ziffel, possible adoption to Terrie and Ray—and he was delighted! Then Tone came inside the trailer to tell me that Churchill was missing—AWOL! “Nance, he was here before lunch, but now he is gone! I’m worried about him.” Tony and I went immediately outside to look for our new resident rooster.

Twenty minutes later, after our search—we had no rooster! Aaron and Linda pulled up in Kermit, after Aaron had taken her to see the new calves. “What’s wrong?” One of them asked, and we told them. Then I went back over to the pig pen, went inside and looked everywhere, including the tall tree, that shades our pigs. “Tony,” I half hollered. “Do you think one of the pigs might have sat down on him and accidentally squashed him?”

“No Nance,” Tony yelled back to me, and then I heard them laughing.

When I returned to Trigger, where they were all standing, we talked for over thirty minutes about Churchill, and what might have happened to him—it totally depressed me. Then out of nowhere, well actually behind the pump barn, we heard, “Crock-Ar-Droodle-Droo!” Churchill has a speech impediment—he can’t help it. Tone and I have never heard a rooster that crows like him—never!

As soon as we heard Churchill’s ‘Droo,’ we clapped our hands, happy to know that our new rooster was okay! Then Church began crowing incessantly, to our delight, and then he finally appeared from behind the barn, and flew into the pig pen, to flirt with his girlfriends! I loved that, too! Y’all have a great evening!

Hey Fay! Thank You For The Harley Comment!

Good Morning—Toronto!

Well, I am happy to report, that today has been another great day for me! I rolled out of bed a little before six o’clock. I put the dogs outside, and then I went directly to my laptop computer and went online, so I could watch and listen to my good friend, Harley Belew, do The Harley Show! Harley is Kerrville’s favorite DJ, and everyone listens to his show. And now, because his show is a live web cast—I’ve become addicted to watching it!

While listening to Harley’s entertaining show, I fed our dogs and Lucky, I made some coffee, and then I realized that I was constantly turning around to look at Harley—to see what he was doing, who was in his studio, etc.

While Harley was talking about Randy and Lisa’s Save Inn Restaurant, I went to our web site: utopiarescue.com, to see who was going to be Harley’s Pet of the Week—it was Sam, the sweet black Lab mix, who was just returned to us! Then I went back to The Harley Show, and he was talking about our good friends, Trisha and Rodney’s—CopiesPlus!

At seven-forty-two, I did what I always do every Thursday morning. I stopped the washing machine from washing, I turned off the stove top, that was cooking up some sizzling chopped organic onions and potatoes, in my cast-iron skillet, and then I cut off our noisy central heating system. Why? Because I am hard of hearing, and didn’t want any extra background noises making it difficult to hear Harley. I then muted Harley’s Show, and punched in the station’s phone number.

The show was fun, and Harley made me laugh a lot, but when he suggested that they put up a picture of me, on their web cast, while I do his show, I burst out laughing! “Harley, you’ve got to be kidding me?” Then he flipped open our Utopia 2009 calendar, and put my picture up to the camera! Thank goodness, the picture was small!

“No, I’m not kidding, Cousin Nancy. In fact, I bet we could get Trisha, over at CopiesPlus, to do a life-sized cardboard cutout of you.” Then we both cracked up laughing!

“I’m sure Trish could do that, but we’re talkin’ using a wide-angled camera! Good grief, it would be gigantic! That’s all I need.”

“Not a problem,” Harley laughed. “They’re made out of cardboard, and we or you, could whittle it down, you know shave off a few extra pounds, here and there...”

After saying goodbye to Harley, I turned the volume back up on Harley’s live web cast show, started the washing machine—washing again, turned on the burner, on the stovetop, and cranked up the heat—I had noise.

Ten minutes, before Tony showed up, I had three different phone calls, from friends, who had listened to the show—encouraging me to do a life-sized cutout picture of me! “No way,” was my answer to all three, “And besides, I know for a fact, that cameras add ten pounds on you.”

When Tone walked inside the trailer, he was laughing. “Nance, the show was really great! I think that you ought to do a life-sized picture of you.”

“Tony.”

“That was hilarious, when Harley said, that maybe they could find someone who knows how to do a ‘Clutch Cargo,’ on your mouth!” Then Tony started laughing, again!

During breakfast, T. and I sat at the kitchen table—watching and listening to Harley. Tone is addicted to Harley’s web cast, too.

After breakfast, I cleaned up the dishes—then I started doing my three mile brisk walk, with Leslie Sansone. With my two pound, lavender weights in hand, and marching faster than fast—Aaron came inside the trailer. He and Tony started watching Leslie, and started making funny remarks about my walking guru’s workout—which were pretty funny! They left the trailer, when I was at my two and a half mile mark—thank goodness.

At 9:28, my good friend, Fay called, while I was putting on my new Justin Gypsy cowgirl boots, because I was going horseback riding at noon, but needed to leave at ten-thirty. Fortunately, I was able to get them on, and I picked up the phone, just before she hung up! Fay told me that she had missed Harley and me, because she thought Toronto was two hours ahead of Texas time. She told me that while watching Harley’s live web cast show, she sent him an e-mail, telling him that she was watching from Toronto, and asked if she had missed the Cousin Nancy segment. “Nance, I then watch Harley write something on a piece of paper, and then he holds it up to the web camera! It had a big smiley face drawn on it, that read: 'Watching in Toronto!' Nancy, I love The Harley Show!”

As always, I enjoyed talking to Fay. (Fay, if you could, would you please make another comment on my blog, telling everyone about your Harley Show expereience—I’m running out of time and space here! And, thank you for calling me this morning!)

At ten-thirty, Buttermilk and I left for Bandera, to meet Cindy P., so we could go horseback riding! At noon, Jeanne, Cindy and I rode off into the ‘no-set!’ The weather was absolutely perfect—63 degrees, no wind, and sunshine! Jeanne rode her big sorrel horse, Diego, Cindy rode the brown and white pinto, Davy Crockett, and I rode Black Jack Cadillac! We had a blast riding for two hours! And Tone, surprised me, and showed up at one-thirty, to shoot us as we rode in! Here are his photos, that he took of us! And, the last picture is of the new rooster, that Tony rescued today, while I was out pretending to be a cowgirl or should I say—cow-woman. The handsome rooster’s name is Churchill! I can't wait for Kinky to meet Churchill! Y’all have a great evening!

Slow Day—But Great Day!

Today has been a great day for me! I actually have caught up with all of the paperwork! I hope that you can watch Harley and listen to me at 7:45 tomorrow morning, as we talk about our dogs! I am going for a two hour horseback ridie, tomorrow, with my dear friend, Cindy P.—and I can't wait, to climb on Black Jack Cadillac's back! I will have pictures to share! Y'all have a great Wednesday night!

Oh, give me a home. Where the buffalo's roam...

Y'all Have Got To See This!

My good friend, Pat G. just sent me a video to watch and it is one of the funniest videos that I have ever seen! It is a bride and her groom's first wedding dance! I promise it will make you laugh out loud, over and over again!

www.parkwayreststop.com/archives/2937

P.S. I just posted comment # 945 on their site and hope that y'all will do the same! Have a great day!

Yankee Angels!

Good grief, I cannot believe that it has been a year, since Herb C.'s birthday! He and his beautiful wife, Karen came down, all of the way from Massachusetts, to celebrate Herb's birthday with Kinky and us! Kinky, Tony and I love those two people—they are yankee angels—and family!

Last year, Herb and Karen came out to visit us at the ranch, before Kinky, John Kemmerly, Tone and I joined them for dinner, at Kerrville's finest restaurant—The Cowboy Steak House—to celebrate 'Erb's birthday with his lovely wife, Karen! It was so much fun, and we all had a wonderful time getting to know them! In fact, Mr. Magoo can't wait to see them, so he can get some more 'chewgars!'

Here's to you Herb Cares—Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear 'Erb! Happy Birthday to you! We Love you Herb, and we wish you the best—Love Kinky, Tone, and me! Y'all please come see us soon!

P.S. Please tell Karen, that everyone is trying to buy her (my) necklaces ( enlarged bracelets) off of my neck—I love them and am refusing to sell them, because I love them so much!

Good Friends! Are We Lucky Or What!

I hope that Ben's birthday was as fun as our day was! This morning my dear friend, Ann, who've I've known since I was eight years old, came out for a visit and to work with our dogs! After a too short of a visit in our trailer, Kermit, Ann and I went over the river and through the woods—to visit with Kinky.

After our fun visit, we returned to the rescue ranch, so Ann could work with Mr. Ziffel, and then hand out treats to our dogs. Mr. Ziffel fell in love with Ann, as did the rest of our dogs!

This afternoon, Sandy Wolfmueller called around 4:30, I let our machine take the call—"Nance, Jon and I want to come out for a visit. Is that okay?"

I quickly picked up the phone, "Hi Sandy! Tony and I would love for y'all to come out! We'll have the gate open! We can't wait to see y'all!"

Around five o'clock, Sandy and Jon arrived at the rescue ranch and the party began, after they admired our three bird feeders and the many birds! Then the four of us went into Outer Space and kicked back!

Talk about fun—Tone and I love those two people! As our Bose iDeck played, Kinky's and our good friend, Will Hoover's great album, which is one of our very favorites, we talked about Wolfmueller's Book store, how much we love Harley Belew, dogs, cats and how much we missed our dear friend John K.! Then when Van Morrison began singing his country, 'Pay The Devil' album—we discussed politics, and told stories about some of the hilarious funerals that we have all attended, how great the NoMads are and their 'Riders In The Sky' upcoming event, and Robert Earl Keen's book signing in early March!

Sandy and Jon left a little before nine o'clock, and T. and I hated to see them leave! Y'all have a great evening—because we just did!

I Did It His Way!

Today is Ben's birthday! We have known Ben Welch for over seven years, but it feels like we've known him forever! He is one of Tony's and my best friends, and we love him—he is family!

As far as I know, Ben has only one major flaw, that he can't really help. He is an Aquarius, which is a Cardinal sign, making him a leader. Well, I am a Libra, another Cardinal sign, and a leader, too! Often, when he and I are fixin' to build something, like a dog house, deck, etc.—he and I usually clash on how it should be done.

It is hilarious to me, because Ben has his way on how the project should be done, and my approach is always just the opposite of his! Fortunately, we always compromise on these projects, even when we worked on my Space Ship renovations!

"Now Ben, this is my Space Ship, and I really want it to be done this way," I would say. Bless Ben, he would try to explain how his plans were much better than mine, and then some how, he would wind up talking me into doing it his way—every time! (And, I must admit, that I am glad that I did it his way.)

Ben's birthday, today, January 26th, is going to be an even more exciting day for him, because it is the beginning of the Chinese New Year (the Ox) and there is supposed to be a full eclipse of the full moon, and it is also Australia Day, too—with Mercury still in retrograde! Have a great day, Ben! We wish that we could celebrate it with you!

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday Dear Ben—Happy Birthday to You! —Love, Nance, Tone, Aaron, and Kink

Sorry, It Was A Quiet Day!

OMG! Gypsies!

Today, was a wonderful day! This morning, Ben and Aaron joined us for breakfast and some coffee, and then they went and did their chores outside. At ten o'clock, Linda T., from Harker Heights, arrived to walk our dogs, and so did Amber—from Medina!

While Linda and Amber were busy walking our dogs, and my pot of beans simmered on the stovetop, two really great people, Robert and his wife, Teresa, showed up for a tour! Before giving them a tour, while shaking hands with them, I looked down, "Teresa, are those Justin Gypsy cowgirl boots that you are wearing?"

"Yes!" Teresa said. "I love them! I got them for Christmas!" Then she lifted up her jeans, to show me their Peptol Bismol pink tops.

"OMG!" I said. "I have a pink pair, too— just like yours! Don't you just love them!"

Her answer was short and sweet—"Yes!"

"Well, I'm thinking of buying one or two more backup pairs," I said. "Just in case Justin decides to quit making them." Teresa smiled and shook her head in agreement with me.

I then happily gave them 'The Premiere Rescue Ranch Package Tour,' which included meeting all of our dogs and pigs, going into my Space Ship, and then into Outer Space for a short visit, followed by a tour of our trailer, showing her my pink boots, and my writing cabin! They seemed to enjoy the tour—and I loved meeting these two really nice people. So before leaving our rescue ranch, I gave them a signed copy of my book, 'The Road To Utopia: How Kinky, Tony and I Saved More Animals Than Noah,' and our 2009 rescue ranch calendar! In turn, they gave us a generous monetary donation, and several dog beds, dog sweaters, and toys! And the best part was—Teresa and Robert told us that they would return real soon—to help walk our dogs for us! That made my day or so I thought!

During lunch, I checked my blog, and posted the comment from our two Poodles, Max and Muffy, which I absolutely loved! I then read it aloud, to Linda, Aaron, Ben and Tony, as we ate beans, and my homemade cornbread. Muffy and Max's letter really made my day truly great! I was on cloud nine!

Today, we had visitors out here, taking tours, until six o'clock! I enjoyed meeting all of the many nice people, but I was pretty pooped, when Tony finally closed our gate. Then Kinky calls me, "Nance, can you come over here for a minute?" Buttermilk and I went over to the Lodge.

Kinky and I had a fun visit, caught up with our days goings on, and then I went and said good bye to Ben, and his his two sweet, rescue ranch, Pit Bulls, that he adopted from us— Valerie and Penney. "Ben, I sure hope that you have a great birthday on Monday, and I wish that we could be there to celebrate it with you—Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks Nance." Then Buttermilk and I came back to the rescue ranch, closed our gate, and then I started returning todays many stacked up phone calls. Y'all have a great Saturday night! I'm fixin' to!

P.S. Thank you Linda T., Amber, Tone, Ben, Aaron, and Robert and Teresa—for making this another great day for me! And, my back is much better!

We've Got Mail!

Muffy and Max said...
Dear Cousin Nancy, Tony, Kinky, Arron and Ben

We are now at our new home with our new mom. I think she likes us! A lot! We had treats when we got here and she has a really neat sofa that we get to sleep on. We don't know where she goes at night. She disappears somewhere in the back and we haven't been brave enough to follow her back there yet. But one of these days, we will!

We were afraid she might not keep us though. She took our leashes off when we were in the truck and when we stopped and she got us out, we both went crazy checking everything out. We ran all over the place and wouldn't let her catch us. A neighbor came over and said we were really cute. The neighbor has a dog just like us, but we haven't met him yet.

We got a BATH too! I look really pretty all clean and white. Max looks the same but he sure smells better!

She also has a CAT! I barked at her and she ran. Max whined. He's such a baby! We haven't made friends yet, but I think we will.

Our new mom sits on the sofa with us and we have a "love fest". We are being really good because we like the "love fests" and being hugged so much.

Thank you for taking care of us while we were at the ranch and finding us a new home.

Muffy and Max

PS: We're not crazy about these stair things though! Our legs are so short we have a hard time going up and down, but we're learning!

January 24, 2009 10:28 AM

Hank, Please Get Off Of Me!

This morning, I woke up with Hank, sleeping on top of my lower back! Hank only weighs about twenty pounds, he is twelve years old, and exactly what my back didn't need! Ouch! When I crawled out of bed—my back was in worse shape than yesterday! I could barely feed our dogs this morning, because bending over to set down dog food bowls—nearly brought tears to my eyes—and we have six dogs and a cat! Fortunately, Lucky, our cat eats on the drain board! Then I called my dear friend, Cindy P., to cancel my two hour horseback ride with her today. I really wanted to go, but my lower back said no way, and I listened.

When Tony came home, breakfast as usual, was not ready, "Tone, I am out of supplies—let's go to Kerrville and eat at Randy and Lisa's Save Inn Restaurant, then swing by Wolfmueller's to pick up some more copies of my book, and then get groceries at the HEB?"

T. was hungry and said, "Sounds good to me. Let's go, Nance. I'm starving." Buttermilk, Tone and I went to Kerrville, while Aaron and Ben fed our dogs and cleaned their pens.

Breakfast was delicious at The Save Inn, as always, Tone and I enjoyed our quick visit with Sandy and Jon at Wolfmuellers Books, and shopping at the HEB didn't take nearly as long as it usually does! We were on a roll and came home!

After we put up our groceries, I filled out the adoption paperwork, for our two adorable Poodles, Muffy and Max! Lana was coming to adopt them around three-thirty! Then I went outside and took pictures of Tom Landry and Sam for our utopiarescue.com web site. Tone and Ben helped me take pictures of them.

Then we went into Outer Space, to catch up with each other's news. Around one o'clock, our dear friend, and great volunteer dog walker, Carol V., drove up! She had just gotten back from a three week vacation in Costa Rica! We invited her into Outer Space! Carol went into Outer Space!

The four of us had a really fun visit! Carol left around three o'clock, but before leaving, Tony, Ben, Carol and I agreed to go down to Port A. together, real soon, to visit our good friends John, Rick and Leisa, and Kelly and Pete! We are hoping to get down there in early February! Wish us luck! I can't wait—it will be so much fun!

At three-thirty, Tony and Ben took off to go check on the cows. Lana, showed up at the rescue ranch at three-thirty-two, to adopt our two precious Poodles—Muffy and Max—Maxwell Smart! The Poodles love Lana—it was a great adoption!

Ben and I went over to the Lodge, and told Kinky about Muffy and Max and he was thrilled with our news! Y'all have a great evening! Here are pictures of Sam and Lana with her two new best friends!

Harley And Me!

This morning, I woke up at six o’clock, with a sore back. I was so glad that it was just sore, and not out! After feeding our dogs and three-legged cat, I sat down at the kitchen table, opened up my laptop, and then went—online. I went to utopiarescue. com first, to see which dog was going to be ‘Harley’s Pet of the Week!’ It was Christy Brinkley’s turn!

Next, I went to roseradio999.com/the_harley_Show_live.html and my jaw dropped! There was Harley sitting in the studio, talking away and being funny—and moving! I loved it!

Earlier this week, Tony and I had dropped by The Rose new location to see Harley, but he wasn’t there, but his better half, Becky, was! Harley’s wife, Becky, is a sweetheart! She gave Tone and me a full tour of the radio station, and before leaving, she told us that they are now web casting during Harley’s morning radio show—The Harley Show! And, that is why, I went to The Rose site this morning.

As I started fixing Tony’s and my breakfast, I enjoyed listening and watching Harley live! I’ve seen plenty of web casts before, but seeing my friend, doing his show live from the radio station, was too much fun! I listened and watched Harley, up until 7:44, then I muted the sound, picked up the phone, and punched in Harley’s phone number.

“Good morning Cousin Nancy! How are you doing today?”

“Hi Harley. I’m good and I’m doing bad, today,” I said, as I watched Harley with his headset on his head.

“What’s bad?” Harley asked.

“First, let me tell you the good news. Harley, I’m standing here, in the kitchen, watching you on my computer! That is so cool! Please wave at me.” Harley waved and waved and waved! And, it made me laugh! “I like that yellow shirt that you’re wearing, too.”

“Thank you Nancy,” Harley said. “Wow! My meter here, just jumped up, and it shows that a number of people have just come online, to watch The Harley Show web cast! That’s amazing! “Now, Cousin Nancy, tell me about your bad news.”

“The bad news is—my back is trying to go out on me...”

Harley and I talked about my back trouble, Christy Brinkley, our calendar giveaways, that he is doing, how Ben was doing, and Miles of Chocolate, and a few other things, then our conversation returned to his live show being web cast, again! “Harley, I love your live cast. Real soon, I’m going to get Kinky, Ben and Tony, to come down to the station with me, so the four of us can do your show live. How does that sound?”

I watched Harley give me a thumbs up, and say, “That sounds like it would be a lot of fun...” Then T. arrived, and he and I watched Harley as we ate and drank our breakfast! Tony loved it as much as I did!

This afternoon, Kinky and I had an appointment to meet with Geir Loe—to be interviewed, for some Scandinavian newspapers and magazines! At 1:30, Geir arrived, and went to the Lodge first, to interview Kinky. A little while later, Mr. Green Jeans, took Kinky and Geir over to the rescue ranch. After greetings and handshakes, Kinky said, “Nance, who is that man, back there with Tony?”

“The man is bringing Sam back to us, because his wife has just had some serious back surgery, and they are afraid, Sam might jump up on her. I’m not real sure which Sam it is, but the man told me that they had adopted him, over a year ago from us, and he is a black Labrador mix.” After that, the three of us went into Outer Space!

Before interviewing me, Geir and I visited a little while with Kinky. I liked Geir. He was a nice pleasant man, constantly smiling, and I loved listening to his Scandinavian accent. Tony then showed up in Outer Space, and the four of us visited a little longer. “I love Texas, and I vish I vere a cowboy,” Geir said, making his w’s sound like v’s. I loved it! For a second there, I thought about having a roping contest with Geir, but I decided not to, because of my aching back.

Kinky had to get back to the Lodge. “Nance, will you bring Geir back over to the Lodge, when y’all are done?” I told him that I would, then Kinky left Outer Space.

After a fun interview with Geir, we three left Outer Space, so Tone and I could give him a tour of the rescue ranch. We started over by the pig pen, then a man pulls up in his truck. He wanted to look at our dogs, and to possibly adopt one. I didn’t catch his name, but I invited him to join us for a tour.

Geir took many pictures of our dogs, petted them and talked to them, and our dogs loved it! We finished the tour with our great big dog, Mr. Ziffel, and Geir fell in love with him, as does everyone that comes out here. Then Kermit took Geir and me over to the Lodge to see Kinky.

Right off the bat, Kinky challenged Geir to an international game of pool! The game was fun to watch, because they both were evenly matched, and shooting at their best—until the Hummingbird Man, unfortunately, sank his eight ball into the wrong side pocket! (Just like he did with me, the other day!)

At 3:30, it was time for Geir to leave, so we went out front and took pictures, before his departure. Geir told me that he would send us copies of his articles, as soon as they were published—and I can’t wait to read them!

After Geir left, I returned to the rescue ranch and returned some phone calls. Around four o’clock, I went to my laptop, and decided to add a new link to my blog. As y’all well know, I am not a computer geek, unfortunately, but I did figure it out. On the right hand side, at the top of this page, I have added the link to The Harley Show, for anyone interested in listening and watching Harley and me on Thursday mornings at 7:45. I hope that y’all will check it out, and leave a comment, telling me where you watched it from! Here are some pictures that Tone took of Geir and me, and me—shooting Kinky and Geir! Y’all have a great evening, and thank you for reading my blog!

Riders In The Sky!

This morning before breakfast, I went out on the porch and shot birds—with my camera! This morning, I shot five Red Winged Blackbirds, two Grosbeaks, forty or more Yellow Finches, twelve Cardinals with their wives, and sixty some odd sparrows—then Tony came home and we ate and drank our breakfast!

After cleaning up the breakfast dishes, I grabbed my beautiful hand weights and stretchy band, and started my indoor brisk, three mile walk with Leslie Sansone! Before I had reached the half mile mark, Little Girl, our thirteen year old little rescued dog, came up to where I was marching. She sat down and stared up at me and wouldn’t quit staring. Something was wrong, and I knew exactly what was wrong.

Toto, who normally sleeps on the kitchen chair, next to my chair, had decided to sleep in the big chair, which Little Girl normally sleeps in. Not wanting to wake Totums, I put my two lavender weights on the counter, and then bent down, while still marching, and pulled out my old memory pillow hiding in a turquoise pillowcase, under a bench, so she could sleep on it.

That’s when I heard that unwanted, old familiar sound of my back pop! Little Girl, went to the pillow and immediately went to sleep, as I slowly raised up, and realized that my back had not gone out! Yeah! I then picked up my hand weights and continued to pump purple, as I began doing kicks, with Leslie and her friends.

When my workout was over—I went to work—doing more paperwork. Around eleven o’clock, the phone rang. I slid out of my chair, to go answer the phone, and that is when I realized my back was really aching. “Hello Nance,” Kinky said cheerfully. “How are you today?”

“Fine, I think?”

“What’s wrong?” Kinky asked. “Tell me.”

“I think my back is going out. It’s not totally out, but it sure does hurt.”

“Oh no!” Kinky stated. “Please take it easy! You know that everytime yours, Tony’s or my back goes out, all of our backs go out—it’s contagious! It happens everytime! It runs in threes!”

“I know. Trust me, I am babying it.”

“Good. Nance, I’ve got to go to Kerrville today. Are y’all?”

“Yes, we’ve got to run some errands.”

“Great! Why don’t we meet at Del Norte’s and have lunch together?”

“Sounds good to me, Kinky. What time?”

“How about one o’clock?”

At two minutes past one, Buttermilk, Tony and I pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot. We spotted Mr. Green Jeans—with Kinky sitting inside, he saw us and we waved to each other. After sitting down at our table, Kinky said, “Max will be joining us.”

“Oh that’s great!” I said. “We haven’t seen Max since the event, back in October!” Max then walked up to our table and joined us. The food was good, but the conversation was better!

After lunch, Max went back to work, Kinky went home, and Tony and I ran our errands, and then we went by to see Sandy and Jon, at Wolfmueller’s Books!

I love their bookstore! Everytime that we go into their store, everybody is wearing a smile, including the shoppers, and great music is always playing—it’s my kind of place! After ten minutes of talking about bird feeders, and the upcoming two great concerts, by Robert Earl Keen, and the NoMad’s Valentine concert, featuring the Riders In The Sky, Sandy said, “Nancy, I love your necklace!” Then she and Jon leaned in to get a closer look at it! “Nancy, you’re wearing it backwards!” Then we all started laughing! “Here, let me help you,” Sandy said, as she unhooked my necklace, turned it around, and then re-latched it. “Nancy it is absolutely beautiful! Where did you get it?”

“My dear friend, Karen, up in Massachusetts made it for me last year! You know—’Erb and Karen. I love it!”

“It looks much better now, since Sandy turned it for you.” Jon said. “When I first saw it, I couldn’t tell what was on it.”

“Well now, that explains why some people were staring at my chest, today” I said. “I thought they were just staring at my sunken chest!” We all laughed, and then I went off to find a new cookbook and bird book.

I found the ‘Joy of Cooking’ book, 1983 edition, and was delighted! Then Sandy and Jon asked us to go back into their office with them, to show us their newly acquired—bird singing book, that actually sings each bird’s song! It was really cool! Sandy played us several different birds singing, but the Whippoorwill was my favorite!

Just as Tone and I were fixin’ to leave, Sandy handed me a bird book. “We just got this one in, and I think you and Tony will really like it.” I looked through it quickly, and wanted it. After paying for the books—Buttermilk took us home.

By the time we reached the rescue ranch, I didn’t like the bird book at all—I loved it! Tony is going to read it tonight, while I finish reading Tom Wells, great book—’Strange Seasons: Summer!’

Tony just walked inside. “Nance, you’ve got a birdbath out there, now. I just moved it and filled it up with water. Come look.” Y’all have a great evening and wish me luck on my back!

This is Baffling!

This morning, after Tone and I read Mari's comment, warning me about squirrels, raccoons, and opossums soon arrival, to eat all of our expensive birdseed—I panicked! "Tony, as soon as you and Aaron are done outside, I need y'all's help, attaching the new pole, and the suet holder. And, I'm thinking about getting y'all to move my pole kit, too, because we don't need critters in the yard." Tony nodded, and then he went outside to go to work.

About an hour later, I took a break from my paperwork, and went to the window to look at the birds. There were no birds outside—just a cute little squirrel, eating our birdseed! I quickly grabbed my camera, and took this picture of him, so I could prove it to the squirrel police! We needed baffles!

Tony and Aaron added my new pole, and attached our suet bar and hanger. Here is a picture of it now—in its new location!

I've Got The Bird Blues!

This morning when I woke up—it was sorta scary! After feeding Lucky, our cat, and our six hungry dogs, I looked out the front window, and I felt like I was in that scary, old, black and white movie, ‘The Birds’ by Alfred Hitchcock! OMG—the air space in our front yard, was full of all kinds of birds! I loved it, when I saw all of the pretty birds, flying from one feeder to the other—then depression immediately took over me, because knowing that Tony is fixin’ to build about three more pole systems— I realized that we are not going to be able to afford the cost of the bird seed, without taking on second jobs!

My heart sank faster than the Titanic—until I quickly switched on my salt lamp, which came all of the way from the Himalayan’s salt mines, (Available at Gibsons in Kerrville, for forty dollars, unless you charge it, and then it is free!). I then lit some of my sweet smelling Tibetan inceanse, (From Cross Cultures, at the only Kerrville mall for seven dollars.) and lastly, I cranked up my irreplacable iPod, to louder than loud—pumping out my favorite music!

Thank goodness, I did those things, because it worked! When Tony arrived, I was happy, I had breakfast nearly ready. I was kinda moon-walking, in the kitchen, in between our four ancient dogs, planted on the floor—to Michael Jackson singing ‘Billie Jean!’ I love that song, so much!

“Morning Nance,” Tony said. “Babe, can you believe how many birds are out there?! They’re thicker than thick! I think, instead of building just three more pole systems—I‘m going to build at least five more pole systems today! Then we can go to Kerrville and buy twenty more feeders! Okay?” I suddenly lost my appetite. I visualized us having to live in the Space Ship, using solar power, so we could afford the bird feed.

“Tone, that sounds good,” I lied, as I visualized us eating beans everyday—for the rest of our lives.

After breakfast, T. went outside to do his chores with Aaron. My sister, Cindy, called to tell me that she had read my blog, about our pole systems. She told me that she and Ray, had a ‘Wild Birds Unlimited—Advanced pole system,’ just like mine, and then their was much laughing!

Tony, Buttermilk, and I went to Kerrville, a little after noon. We ate lunch at ‘Randy & Lisa’s Save Inn Restaurant, and our meals were extremely delicious! Following lunch, we headed over to Wolfmueller’s Books, to see our good friends, Sandy and Jon! As always, it was a fun visit—filled with a lot of laughing!

After our visit, T. and I left their bookstore, and Buttermilk took us straight to Kevin and Linda Pillow’s,‘Wild Birds Unlimited’ store! We had a fun visit with them, and we even got to meet their sweet, rescued dog—Captain Jack, a handsome black and white, bird dog mix! Talk about one great, lucky dog—Tony and I fell in love with him! Then we went to shopping!

Thirty-six dollars and twenty-six cents later—we walked out of their great store! We had purchased more seed, suet and poles! Then Buttermilk took us home.

When we arrived back at the rescue ranch, we had one message on the machine—from Kinky. “Nance, please call Kinky, as soon as you get this message.” I called Kinky and then drove over to the Lodge, to see him.

After greetings, Kinky asked me to please read something that he had written for his new book—I read it and it was great, and I told him so. Then we went for a thirty-minute walk with The Friedmans. When we returned to the Lodge, Kinky invited me to play a game of pool with him, since I had, by pure luck, beaten him yesterday—by default! The Hummingbird Man had sunk the eight ball in the wrong middle pocket! I loved it, because it rarely happens that I win!

As usual, I missed just about every shot today, but with the help of Kink, several of my solid balls fell into the pockets, accidentally! The Hummingbird Man - 1, Cousin Nancy -Zip!

I’m fixin’ to look for some online part-time jobs, now—so T. and I can afford to feed our new found flock of a billion songbirds, that we’re fixin’ to feed! And, we haven’t even put out our Hummingbird feeders, yet! Y’all have a great evening and please wish us luck! Here are some pictures that I took of our pole systems!
My pole feeder:

My feeder with solar hummingbird and dragonfly:

Tony's first feeder:

T.'s first feeder:

My first finches!

Tony's homemade second feeder:

My pretty pink—wasp catcher:

Trust Me—Heavy Metal Rules!

For Tony and me, today was for the birds—literally—thanks to our great friends Rick and Leisa. Last week, when they were up here, they brought us a finch bird feeder, a bag of thistle, and the book, 'Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America.'

Late yesterday afternoon, Tony and I went to Wal Mart, so he could buy some more birdseed, and a couple of bird feeders. He also ended up buying a pole kit—to hang his new bird feeders from. When we left the store, T. was very excited about his fourteen dollar pole kit purchase, and his two new bird feeders!

As we headed home, I remembered a store. "Tone, can we check out 'Wild Birds Unlimited,' before going home? Drew and Renee told me that it was a really cool store!' In less than than three minutes, we were at the store.

OMG! When we walked inside, I loved everything that I saw, and the owners were nice and friendly, too! "Hi, I'm Cousin Nancy and this is my husband Tony. We run the Utopia Rescue Animal Rescue Ranch, with Kinky Friedman," I said. "Our friend, a lighthouse keeper, just gave us a great bird book, and we don't know much about birds—except that we like them a lot. We need your help and advice."

While Tony talked to them about birdseed, I fell in love with two things instantly—a large. pretty pink wasp catcher, and the 'Wild Birds Unlimited Advanced Pole System!' At the checkout counter, Tone purchased more birdseed and another bird feeder. Then it was my turn, I purchased the beautiful, eighteen dollar, pink wasp catcher, and their 'Advanced Pole System' which cost sixty four dollars plus tax! I didn't care about the price, because I charged it! It weighed about forty pounds, and T. had to carry it out to Buttermilk for me.

On our way home, Tony told me, that he thought that I had spent way too much money on my pole system, because his had only cost him fourteen dollars. I didn't care, because it hadn't cost me a dime—I had charged it—free right! (Suze Orman would probably freak out at this, I am sure.) Anyway, I was hooked on birding, I had caught the fever—and we're not talkin' the bird flu! The only thing that I could think about, was getting my new pole system assembled, to bring in the many beautiful birds and songbirds! Unfortunately, it was dark when we arrived back at the ranch.

This morning after chores were done, I was delighted that Tony and Aaron came up to the trailer, to put up our new pole systems! I grabbed our portable Bose iDock and my iPod, and then went outside to help, as it played one great song after another!

As they worked on assembling my pole system, Tony joked, "Aaron, this thing cost Nance sixty-four dollars! Mine only cost fourteen dollars at Wal Mart!" We all laughed, as they continued to put it together. Within five minutes, mine was planted deep into the ground, standing tall and straight—we're talking seven or eight feet high! I loved it, and get this—it was made of heavy metal, and it had a cute, cutout metal bird on the top of it! It was way too cool! I loved it—it was high quality!

Tony and Aaron then opened up Tony's smaller pole system box! It took them less than a minute to put it together. It was only four and a half feet tall, made out of black painted aluminum, with much smaller poles. Aaron and I were trying not to laugh, but when they stood Tony's miniature pole system, next to mine—we all started laughing and couldn't quit! "You get what you pay for, T.!" I teased. "On a scale of one to ten, ten being the best—mine is an eleven, and yours is a wannabe one! How sad." Then we burst out laughing, again!

"Tony, if we sink this into the ground, like it says, man," Aaron chuckled. "It will only be about three and a half feet tall, and your little dogs will knock the feeders off." I couldn't control myself, and I burst out laughing, again, along with T. and Aaron! Then Mick Jagger started singing—'You Can't Always Get What You Want!' I came unglued, and had to go inside the trailer, to compose myself!

When I came back outside, Tone and Aaron were over by our fence, trying to tie his little pole system to our front yard fence, about three feet high, up off of the ground! I held my breath, ran back inside, and laughed as hilarious tears fell from my face!

I wanted to go outside and try to make T. feel better about his little wannabe pole system, but I couldn't, because my back was starting to ache, from so much laughing, and I didn't want to throw it out, so I watched from the window—with my dogs!

When the guys were done securing the Wal Mart Special to our fence, Tony and Aaron came up to the porch, and began filling our new bird feeders, with various birdseed— and that's when I went outside, and joined them—I was totally laughed out. Y'all have a great evening!

P.S. Please note: Trying to keep up with Lighthouse Keepers—can be extremely costly, but it is worth it—just charge it! We love you Rick and Leisa!

We're Talkin' Head Games!

Today, all of our dogs were walked! Linda T. showed up at ten o'clock, and she began walking our dogs early. Then a new volunteer, Amber, arrived and joined Linda and Aaron in walking our dogs! Then after a visit with Kinky, I took Bob Dylan, our shy Blue Heeler, for a walk!

Because Bob is shy, and lacks confidence in himself, I decided to play some little head games with him. When we reached Echo Hill Road, instead of crossing it, like we always do, to go down to the creek, Bob and I took a left, because I wanted to expand his small world, and to build trust and his self confidence.

As he and I walked, away from the rescue ranch, toward the cattle guard, I praised him and petted him, but he kept looking back towards his familiar ground. When we reached the cattle guard, I slowly stepped over it, and then I asked Bob to come through a narrow opening, right next to the cattle guard. Bob froze up—he was scared, with his tail tucked between his legs.

"It's okay, Bob. Come on, I know you can do it. Come on, I'll protect you." Bob looked at me, and then he slowly walked through the tight opening! "Good dog, Bob!" I said, praising him over and over again! Then he and I started walking. About every twenty or thirty feet, or so, Bob would stop and look back, like he wanted to go home, but I would coach him on.

Bob soon relaxed and was soon walking beside or ahead of me, instead of behind me, and his tail was high in the air!

We had a good walk, and on our return, when we reached the scary cattle guard, I crossed it carefully and then asked Bob to come through the opening again, and he immediately walked right through it, like it was no big deal at all! Yeah!

As I walked Bob back to his new pen, his tail waved in the breeze, as we passed all of the dogs. "Nance," Tony said. "Did y'all get lost? I was fixin' to go look for you."

"No. Bob and I just did a three mile walk!" I half hollered. When I returned Bob to his pen, I petted, praised and thanked him, before removing his leash, then he did something weird—he stayed with me, instead of running off, like he usually does! I started petting him and rubbing him all over, while I continued to talk to him.

Tony came into the pen, and Bob ran to greet him! Bob loves Tony! T. and I sat down on a couple of big rocks, and Bob came up to us for more petting, while I told Tone about Bob's progress, and him facing some of his fears and overcoming them.

Today has been great! I want to thank Linda T., Amber, Aaron, June, Ellen, and our new dog walking volunteers, Nancy and Dick, from Arlington, Texas, for getting everyone of our dogs walked today—they loved it! Y'all have a great evening!

Peptol Bismol!

Tuesday, after the dog walking, Leisa and Rick took off for Kerrville, to get some groceries, I thought. Tony and I stayed behind, to talk to Lana about adopting, our two cute Poodles, Muffy and Max. After Lana left, so did T. and I. We went to Kerrville to run a couple of errands, and to buy some groceries, too.

When we were coming into Kerrville, Tone suggested that I call Rick and Leisa, to tell them that we were in Kerrville, too. “Where are y’all?” Rick asked.

“We’re in Buttermilk, and we just passed Albertsons,” I said. “Where are y’all?”

“We must have just passed each other,” Rick laughed. “Leisa and I are headed over to Bandera. I want to show her, Arkey Blues, and drink a beer there and shoot a game of pool with her. We will meet y’all back at the ranch in a couple of hours!”

“Did y’all go by Wolfmuelllers, and meet Sandy and Jon?”

“Yes, Cousin Nancy! We loved their book store, and we really liked them! Bye!”

Tony and I ran our errands, and then we ended up at HEB to pick up supplies. After a quick drive by cruise through the HEB isles—Buttermilk took us home.

When we pulled up to our closed gate, Rick and Leisa pulled up, too—and they followed us into the rescue ranch. After T. and I had put up our groceries, Rick and Leisa came inside the trailer—with more gifts for us! Talk about surprised!

“We went to Wolfmueller’s and had a blast, and we bought y’all this book. It is the best field guide to North American birds—here.” Rick said, as he handed me the book. “And, we brought you a new bird feeder, too, to add to your frontporch—and here is some thistle birdseed, guaranteed to attract all kinds of colorful finches!”

While Rick assembled the special made Finch feeder, at our breakfast bar, we discussed birds and bird watching. When Rick had our new bird feeder assembled, we went outside and filled it with thistle seeds, and then Rick hung it up! “I promise that the finches will be here soon. Y’all are going to love it!” Within an hour, we had over thirty or forty finches eating from that feeder! We loved it!

After a delicious healthy dinner, that we had all cooked up, we spent a portion of our evening, watching one of Tony’s favorite shows— ‘American Idol’ and we did a lot of laughing! The rest of the night was filled with sharing hilarious stories!

Wednesday morning, following another healthy breakfast, which included ‘Cousin Nancy’s Super Smoothie,’ Rick and Leisa began packing up their gear, so they could get back to Port A. When they were just about done packing, my dear friend, Ann, from Santa Fe, who is a world famous professional pet-sitter— drove up! We had been expecting her. Ann had come to see Tone and me, and to meet up with my sister Cindy, for a two day trip exploring the Texas Hill Country. Cindy and Ann have been best friends, since I was seven or eight years old, and once a year they make a point to see each other!

After introducing Rick, Leisa and Ann, Rick invited her and my sister to come down to Port A. for an island tour of the lighthouse. Then after hugs and handshakes, Leisa and Rick said their goodbyes, begged us to come see them, and then they drove away.

Thirty minutes later, my wonderful sister Cindy, arrived! Before Tony and I gave them a tour of the Space Ship and Outer Space, which her son, Tom had helped my brother, Ronnie, build for us—she hand delivered my Pepto Bismol Pink, Justin Gypsy boots, which I had purchased from Tom, a while back! Aren’t they adorable!

The minute that I opened up the box—I fell in love with my new cowgirl boots! After modeling them for everyone— Ann told me that she was going to purchase a pair of turquoise colored Justin Gypsy boots from Tom, at Cavender’s Boot City, at their South Austin location—before heading back to Santa Fe! Please note: If any of y’all want to buy some cowboy boots, please ask for Tom Roche—he will take care of you, I promise—he’s working on commission, and I love him!

The four of us, spent a couple of hours laughing, and catching up with each others news, in Outer Space, and it was so much fun for me! Before Ann and Cindy left for their expedition, I treated them to some of Ben’s and Miles’— ‘Miles of Chocolate,’ and they were blown away, with how delicious it was! And, they both vowed to buy some ‘Miles of Chocolate,’ as soon as possible, then they—took off for another one of their fun, yearly adventures!

Today, my dear friend Cindy P. and I had to cancel our two hour horseback riding, due to the weather—the weatherman got it right today. I was sick about it, because I wanted to wear my new pink boots, oh well. But, I am pleased to announce that I have caught up with all of my paperwork, and I plan to have a great evening with Tony—starting right now! Y’all have a great evening, too!

Karen C.—I Love It! Thank You, So Much!

Today has been a great day for me! I am nearly caught up with all of my paperwork, and I should be able to finish it up before ten o’clock, tomorrow morning, which would be fantastic, because if weather permitting, my friend, Cindy P. and I are planning to go horseback riding—tomorrow afternoon! I have my fingers crossed, that the weatherman’s forecast will be way off—as it usually is!

You know, I think that weather forecasters should be held responsible for their weather predictions, and should have to apologize for every time, that they are wrong with our weather. Like, “To all of our station’s loyal viewers, I have to admit, that I really blew yesterday’s forecast I was way off—and I truly apologize. Now let’s take a look at today’s weather map...” A simple apology, would make me feel a lot better, and it might encourage them to work a little bit harder at forecasting. It’s just a thought—not really a big deal.

This morning, I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky, and to discuss some ranch business. I enjoyed our business meeting, in his kitchen, and I really enjoyed a more fun visit, outside by the Friedman Family Bone Orchard, as he threw tennis balls for Goo! Now it is time for me to catch y’all up on the past few days.

Monday, when our good friends, Rick and Leisa, arrived—they came bearing gifts—fine cheese and expensive breads! After they had settled into my writing cabin, we went into Outer Space and caught up with each other’s news. We talked about Tony’s garden, my roping post, old friends, and laughed way too much!

Tuesday morning, after breakfast, Rick and Leisa offered to walk our dogs for us, while I did my three mile brisk walk, inside the trailer! Tony asked them to please walk our new dog, Tom Landry and Bob Dylan, so they could get to know each other, before we put them into a new pen—to be roommates.

As I walked, marched, did knee-lifts, and kicked, while using my beautiful lavender colored, two pound weights, and matching stretch band, Dylan and Landry made friends! Here is a picture of Rick and Leisa returning to the rescue ranch, after walking them—ready to introduce them into their new pen—up close, near the feed barn!

Later in the afternoon, I received a surprise package—from my friend, Karen C., up in Massachusetts! I love her and her husband, Herb, which I unfortunately, always mispronounce as Erb, because of my public schooling in Fort Worth. “The ‘H’ is silent, and is pronounced as Erb,” Miss Millican, my second grade teacher, said to me and my classmates. I was a good student at South Hills Elementary—unfortunately. Anyway, Karen made me this beautiful necklace, and I absolutely love it! In fact—I love it so much, I wore it today! Thank you Karen—I received so many compliments on it today! And, when I showed it off to Kinky this morning—he loved it, too, and told me that it was beautiful!

In Karen’s sweet note to me, she told me that the round and square beads are green opal, and the white and brown beads are carnelian Tibetan prayer beads! She said the beads reminder her of a turtle shell, and she knows how much I love turtles, so she added the ceramic turtle pendant! OMG! How perfect is that?! Here is a picture of it:

Cindy P. just called to discuss the weather and horseback riding tomorrow, and we got to talking. I have run out of time, now. Here are a couple of pictures of Leisa and me competing in my roping contest! Enjoy!


To Be Continued...(Mari, this one is for you, again, of course!)....Y’all have a great evening!

Sweet Dreams!

Well, Tony and I sure enjoyed Leisa’s and Rick’s visit, and a lot of our dogs got walked, too! We had a roping contest with Leisa and Rick, late Monday afternoon! I'm proud to announce that In the men’s division—The Medina Bulldog won! In the women’s division—Cousin Nancy won! Yeah! I love it!

I didn’t throw my rope real good, because I am still working out the kinks in it, but Leisa, who has never roped anything—roped my roping post once! Which is really good for a first-timer! It was a lot of fun, and like I told Leisa— "It just takes a lot of practice, that’s all!"

And, oh yes—Tony and I did tease Leisa about Lexie having to have 'an emergency adoption,' too! Leisa took our kidding really well, and she was happy to hear that Lexie found herself a great home!

While Leisa and Rick were out here, our two, cute little poodles, Muffy and Max, found their forever home, yesterday—at last! Lana, is going to officially adopt them, a week from this Friday, and we are so thrilled for those two little rascals! They are going to a great home, and Lana wants them to go to work with her everyday, and to sleep with her in her bed! And, before Lana left, she also told us, that she is going to start volunteering out here, to walk our dogs on Tuesdays!

I have so much to tell, and I also have some pictures, to show y'all, but unfortunately not tonight. I am pretty worn out, and I will blog more about the last couple of days—tomorrow, once I catch up with all of my stacked up e-mails, return phone calls, that need to be made, and after taking care of the never-ending pile of paperwork, etc.! Please wish me luck that I get caught up tomorrow!

Tone and I are hitting the mattress early tonight, because I have to get up early, so I can do Harley's fun talk show, at 7:45, on The Rose, 99.9 FM—to talk about our super dogs!

Y’all have a great evening! I'm fixin' to go to bed. Sweet Dreams!

Happy Birthday Catherine Berry!

We Had A Blast Tonight With Leisa And Rick!

I Love Rock And Roll!

Tony and I just returned from Kinky's and you are never going to guess who we met! We met Jim Suhler, 'The pride of the Lone Star state'—lead and rhythm guitarist, for George Thorogood! Remember the song, "Bad To The Bone" some thirty years ago! I love that song and I am going to iTunes and buy it!

Jim was real nice, but we didn't get to visit long, because he was playing a gig tonight, up in Austin, and had to take off. Wow! If you want to check him out, here is a youtube video of George singing "Bad To The Bone," with Jim playing guitar. Jim has been with the band since 1999, and he is the one playing the blond guitar, next to the bass player, with the blue colored, bass guitar! I promise that you will enjoy the video. Here's the address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7VsoxT_FUY

After he left, Kinky challenged Tone to a game of pool. It was a very close game, they were both shooting very well, but sad to say—Hummingbird Man - 1, The Medina Bulldog - 0. After Tony lost to Kinky, we returned to the rescue ranch.

P.S. George Thorogood, Truly Rocks! And Jim Suhler, is one heck of a great guitar player!

This Is Fun!

Hi everyone! I just received an e-mail from my friend, Fay! She sent me a Tibetan prayer. It is a quick test that you take, answering only four questions—which in turn tells you who you really are! I took it, and was surprised about what answers revealed about myself! The test didn't take long and I think it is awesome! I hope that all of you will check it out at: memoriter.net/flash/test.html

Tony and I are headed over to Kinky's!

That It Was Fate!

This morning, at ten o'clock, Jessica, from Kerrville showed up for her adoption appointment! We were all thrilled, when we met her! She was sweet, and told me about being a professor at Schreiner University, in Kerrville and how much she loved dogs. Jessica said that she had googled us, to look at our dogs, and she fell in love with Lexie! Then when she read about Lexie wanting to be adopted to a runner—it was the perfect match, because she runs daily and also runs in marathons, too!

As we walked to Lexie's pen, we caught up with Aaron. He asked Jessica what color collar and leash she wanted for Lexie, and Jessica requested blue. Aaron grabbed a pretty blue collar, and a matching leash, that the NoMads had donated. Then I handed him Lexie's tags and he began putting Lexie's tags on it. When Jessica and I saw Lexie, from a distance, her tail was wagging and she was jumping up and down with joy! "Lexie knows!" I said. " She knows that this is her day, and she's the one getting a forever home. Isn't she beautiful?!"

By the time that we reached Lexie's pen—It was definitely love at first sight, for those two! Aaron then showed up, went into the pen and put Lexie's pretty blue collar on her, and then he attached the leash, "Come on in, Jessica, and meet Lexie."

We went into the pen and Lexie could hardly contain her excitement! While Jessica and Lexie were getting to know one another, Marsha, Jessica's mother, and Alex, Jessica's younger sister, arrived for the adoption! Jessica definitely wanted to adopt Lexie, so she filled out Lexie's adoption form. Then Marsha, Jessica, Alex and I took Lexie for a walk. Then Jessica and Lexie started running together, and off they went! It made me so happy—they were a perfect match for each other!

When we all returned to the rescue ranch, Samantha, Jessica's other younger sister, who was a former volunteer dog walker for us, before going away to Baylor, arrived for the adoption! We're talking family reunion, and it was fun! When it was time for them to leave, they all decided to follow Jessica home, to play with Lexie, in her house and big backyard! I was so happy for Lexie!

When I returned to the trailer, I finished the paperwork of the adoption. Then Tony came inside, and said, "We've got another calf! She is black and white, and I've named her Betsy."

"I'm going to call Kinky!"

"Kinky already knows about Lexie getting adopted, but he doesn't know about Betsy. I saw him on the road, before I went and checked on the cows. He's gone to Kerrville."

"Tony, I am so happy that Lexie got adopted! It was actually perfect timing, since Rick and Leisa are coming up tomorrow to walk our dogs and spend the night. Remember, on their last visit, when Lexie accidentally escaped from her pen, and ran around Echo Hill for a few hours!" Then we started laughing. "And how bad Leisa felt for letting her out of her pen, and all of the teasing, that we gave her! I can't wait to tease her again. I'm going to tell them, that we had to have an emergency adoption, so Lexie wouldn't be here, when they came!" Tony and I then burst out laughing! "I'm going to tell them—that it was fate!"

Here's a picture of our lucky lady. Y'all have a great Sunday!

Happy Birthday To My Super Nephew—Tom Roche!

Post Traumatic Stress!

Yesterday morning, I went over to visit with Kinky. While Kinky cooked breakfast for his dogs, The Friedmans, I was sitting at the kitchen table, when Mr. Magoo walked over to me, to get petted. I talked to Gooie and Kinky, as I continued to pet Goo. When I stopped petting Goo-man, he suddenly did the strangest thing that I have ever seen or heard a dog do—he opened up his mouth wide, and let out the longest, loudest five second burp! Seriously, he burped just like Kinky does—it was totally hilarious! “Kinky, did you hear that? Gooie burped just like you do! He’s turning into you!” Kinky thought it was pretty funny, and praised Mr. Magoo!

Around two o’clock, while Aaron, Josh, Tony and Ben worked in the garden—putting up fence around it. I went outside and asked Tony when he was going to put up my roping post. Tony told me that they were real busy, and for me to be patient.

During a water break, I decided to pull a prank on Josh. “Josh, has Tony shown you the deer head, that he shot two months ago?”

Josh shook his head—no. “Tony shot a deer?”

Tony, Aaron and Ben were trying not to laugh. “Yes, Josh, but don’t tell anyone,” I said, with a straight face. “Tone, why don’t you go show Josh your deer head.”

Tony took my cue. “Come on, Josh. You’re not going to believe this deer...” Tony said, as they took off for the trailer. As soon as T. and Josh went inside the trailer, Ben, Aaron and I burst out laughing, because they both knew about the fake singing deer.

About a minute passed, and the front door flew open! “I got Josh good!” Tony hollered from the porch! It scared the living daylights out of him!” Then he and Josh returned to the garden, both laughing.

“We got you, Josh!” I teased. “Josh is scared of deer!”

“You got me,” Josh said. “I should’ve known something was up, when you told me Tony shot a deer.”

“When I showed Josh the deer head, he went up to it, touched it, and was looking at its eyes, and telling me that the eyeballs looked really real, and then he touched the eyeball—that’s when I pushed the remote! The deer’s ears twitched, and then I made it move it’s head, as it began singing, ‘On the Road, Again!” Then Tony broke out laughing, and so did all of us! Then the guys went back to their work, and I returned to the trailer wondering when they were going to put up my roping post. I couldn’t wait!

An hour passed. I went outside and saw Tone and Ben down by the barn, and Aaron and Josh still working in the garden. I walked down to the barn, “Tony, can y’all do my roping post pretty soon?” Five minutes later, I showed Tony exactly where I wanted my ropin’ post to be planted. He then grabbed the post hole digger, and began digging. Josh showed up real quick, and took over the digging. Ten minutes later, they had dug a two foot hole! Yeah! Hello ropin’ post!

T. then went and found a round post. I was standing in the Space Ship watching, when he walked up, and put the post into the hole. Josh then quickly shoveled the dirt back into the hole, while I was hanging up more pictures inside. When I came out, they were back at the barn, unloading bags of dog food. I loved seeing my new roping post, but it was over four feet tall—way too tall!

So, I went to the barn. “Thank you, Josh and T., I love it, but it is way too tall.”

“Nance, my shoulder is killing me,” Tony said. “I’ll cut it off later. Okay?”

“Okie dokie,” I said, a little bit sarcastic, and then walked (stomped) back towards the trailer. I could not wait to paint it, but I couldn’t paint it, until Tone cut it down to size for me. When I reached the Space Ship, I heard someone driving up fast behind me! I turned around, it was Josh and Aaron!

“Nancy, we're not trying to ignore you,” Aaron said, as he climbed out of his truck, picking up a chain saw in his truck’s bed. “Where do you want me to cut it?” I showed him. He pulled the rope to start the chain saw—and cut it off perfectly straight!

I was so thrilled! After thanking him, he and Josh drove back to the barn, and I went inside to get my brushes, painter’s tape, and paints. It only took me about fifteen minutes to paint it! Then Ben walks up, “Nance, you ought to put your initials on it.”

“Ben, that’s a great idea, but I’m not good at lettering,” I said. “Are you?”

“Ben then sat down, and painted my initials on it, for me! I loved it! After the paint had dried, I sprayed several coats of clear finish on it—to protect it from future rope burns.

When the guys were finished working for the day, I challenged them to my first official rope off! Ben and Tony declined because their backs were aching. Aaron declined, too, because his arms were still sore from pushing the tiller. So, I handed Josh a rope and we started the contest! First to rope the post five times.

Josh roped the post on his first throw. I missed the post, because my rope was all kinked up, from not being used for so long. Josh missed his next three throws, while Tony tried to help me straighten out my rope, while Ben and Aaron laughed, at the whole situation. I ended up roping the post only two times, before Josh roped it five times—it was traumatic for me! My ropes, my roping post, my rules—and I lost! Not fair! I have now vowed to spend at least twenty minutes a day, practicing my roping skills—it will also be good exercise for me.

This morning, Tony asked me to show him, once again, how to post pictures to his blog, because he hasn’t blogged in several months. In less than a minute, he was uploading one picture after another! He has now posted twelve new pictures, and they are awesome! His blog address is: tonyspicts.blogspot.com I hope that you will check them out!

This afternoon, after returning a phone call, Peter W. arrived at the rescue ranch, to give us his dog. Peter is a doctor in residence, and because he is working over eighty hours or more a week, and studying the rest of the time, he asked us to please take his dog, that he had rescued several months ago. “I rescued this dog, that was fixin’ to get hit by a car. I didn’t plan on keeping him, but no one wanted him—I couldn’t find him a home. I’ve had him neutered, and he has all of his shots. I love dogs. I just don’t think it is fair to him, because I am so busy. He is a great dog, too! He is very sweet, and lovable. He loves to jog, snuggle and is very good with other dogs. He is almost one year old, and definitely not an alpha dog. No signs of aggression.”

When we took his dog to our puppy pen, Tony and I met this very friendly dog, and gave out dog treats to him. “What’s his name?” I asked.

“Tom Landry,” Peter stated. “I call him, Landry.”

“I loved Tom Landry!” I said. “Dallas’ best coach ever! I was born and raised in Fort Worth.” We played with Landry, and talked to him. Peter was sad about giving up Landry, and told us that he and his mother wanted to come out in February to see the rescue ranch, and to visit with Landry, if he was still here, then, bless his heart, he teared up. Tony and I tried to reassure him that his dog would be fine, and get a great forever home soon, but it didn’t seem to help. We understood his sadness.

My dear friend, Cindy, then arrived at the rescue ranch, as Peter gave us Landry’s dog food, and his veterinarian records, and a donation. After handshakes and a hug, Peter sadly drove away. Here is a picture of Tom Landry that Peter took:

Y’all have a great evening, and say a prayer that Tom Landry finds a forever home real soon. He is one great dog!

New Post! I Roped Them Into It!

Today was a great day! But unfortunately, after spending several hours this evening trying to figure out why my hit counter on my blog quit counting—I am exhausted, so I will blog tomorrow, about today's fun events—my visit with Kinky this morning, our talking deer head prank, the planting and painting of my ropin' post, and my first official Cousin Nancy Ropin' Contest! Y'all have a wonderful evening!

Just Tilling Time!

This morning was way too fun! I got up early, did my paperwork, fed our fur friends, and then I did Harley’s radio show, at The Rose, 99.9—sponsored by Randy and Lisa’s Save Inn Restaurant. Maggie was Harley’s ‘Pet of the Week!’ It was a good show, and there was much laughing as always!

After the show, I started cooking breakfast for Tony, Aaron, Ben and me—before they got here. I chopped up some organic potatoes, onion and garlic, and cooked them in olive oil, in my cast iron skillet. As that cooked, I poured organic orange juice into my Vita-Mix machine, followed by organic ginger, an apple, blue berries, raw honey, carrots, radishes, flaxseed, almonds, banana, and several cinnamon sticks! Then I pulverized it! Talk about a power-trip!

Tony was the first to arrive, and he was hungry! Aaron was second to arrive, and he arrived on time. Since the guys were hungry, I emptied the skillet into a corningware dish, and put it into the oven to keep the potatoes warm.

Then I added a little more olive oil to the skillet, cracked open six organic eggs—whipped them up and poured them into the skillet. As the eggs began cooking, I made up some hot pico de gallo (tomatoes, jalapenos, and onion), then I grated some organic cheddar cheese. When the eggs were nearly cooked, I piled on the cheese and pico de gallo—and then watched the cheese melt. Then I flipped one side over, to make one giant omelet!

Before serving the giant omelet for four, I cut up an avocado, added some sour cream and more pico—mixed it up, and then spread it over the top of the Texas sized omelet. “Breakfast is ready.”

The breakfast turned out great and we left plenty for Ben to eat! Tone and Aaron loved my Southwest omelet! During breakfast, I told Aaron about the fake deer head that Tony has in his office. “We bought it several years ago, at Walmart, and this deer head looks really real, and it sings, talks, and it has a microphone that you can use, too. It is pretty funny.”

So, after breakfast, Tony took Aaron into his office to show him his faux deer head. As the deer moved his ears, and head, while singing, ‘On the Road Again,’ I took this picture of Tony and Aaron laughing, as they watched the deer in action!


Then Ben arrived!I heated up Ben’s breakfast, as we talked, and laughed about Tone’s talking deer head. Ben liked my omelet, and he cleaned his plate, then Ben and Aaron went outside to feed our dogs and clean their pens, while Tony took off for Bandera to rent a tiller for his garden and to pick up Josh to help them.

With the trailer empty, I did my three mile brisk walk, using my two pound weights, and my lavender colored stretchy band. After that, I cleaned up my kitchen, and then I returned some phone calls and e-mails.

Around eleven o’clock, Tony returned to the rescue ranch with the rented tiller, and Josh. Tony and Josh unloaded the tiller, and pushed it to our new giant garden—just outside our bedroom! Five minutes later, I could hear the tiller—tilling away! So, I grabbed my camera, went outside, and took these pictures of T.—tilling up a storm of dust and dirt!


As Tony tilled, Aaron, Ben and Josh added more compost, hay, cow patties and ashes from Kinky’s fireplace to the soil. Then Josh took over Tony’s job. While Josh tilled the soil, I raked up leaves to add to the soil mix. Aaron tilled our garden next, and his job was really hard, because Ben and Josh kept adding more compost to the garden to be.

When the guys were done moving the dirt around, while taking a break, I said, “Do y’all want to have a roping contest with me?”

“No,” they echoed, one after the other. Hmmmmmmm! I waited about twenty minutes, and then asked them the same question, again. “Nance,” Tone said. “Not today. We’re tired.” So I went inside, and called my good friend Cindy P., to see if she wanted to go horseback riding tomorrow. I got her machine. Hmmmmmmm!

Later Cindy called me back, she got my machine, and told me that Jeanie was out of town, and we could do it next week. Darn! So, I decided to do some more paperwork, and that was when I realized that Mercury will be in Retrograde on the eleventh! Now everything made sense to me!

The guys have promised me, that tomorrow they will erect a new roping post, and they will have a roping contest with me! I hope so! Y’all have a great evening!

Just Ropin' And Hopin'!

Today has been a busy, but great day for me! In fact, I was so busy today, I still haven’t had time to answer all of my e-mails. I plan to answer them tomorrow morning, after I do the Harley Show, on The Rose— 99.9 FM.

This morning, around ten o’clock, I went over to visit with Kinky. We had a few things that needed to be discussed and then after that, we went outside, so Kinky could throw balls—for Mr. Magoo! Gooie loved it!

When I returned to the rescue ranch, I caught T. and Aaron, inside our trailer, at the kitchen table, reading my blog! Aaron could not believe that he is mentioned so often! After Aaron had caught up with my latest blog he said, “Nancy, Tony told me that people all over the world read your blog. Is that true?”

“Yes, Aaron. And, you had better be careful what you say around me,” I teased, and then we all broke out laughing. “Hey Aaron, since you are on a break right now, let’s go outside and let me show you how to rope a post.” There was silence. I went to our bedroom, picked out three of my favorite ropes, and then returned to the kitchen. “Here’s your rope, Aaron,” I said, as I handed him one of my guest ropes. “Let’s go outside.”

As we left the trailer, I handed another one of my best ropes to Tone. When we went to the front yard, over by Tony’s wannabe roping posts—that are definitely not going to be my official roping post, Tony said, as he swung his rope above his head, “Aaron, watch me.” Then he let go of his rope—and roped the post!

“Yeah Tony!” I said. “You haven’t lost your touch!” Aaron then swung his rope into the air and then he threw his first rope—he missed the post by at least three feet. “Not bad, Aaron,” I said, hoping that he wouldn’t give up. “It’s not as easy as it looks!” Then I threw my rope up into the air, made about five twirls and threw my rope—I lassoed the post! I loved it! “I did it!” I said with excitement! “The first one to rope five posts wins!” That’s when it became dangerous for me!

The three of us began throwing our ropes, faster than fast! At one point, when I had roped the stump, I was walking over to remove it from the post, when Tony’s and Aaron’s ropes nearly hit me in the head! Two minutes later, Tony won ‘The First Rope Off of 2009!’

When we were fixin’ to have another rope off, a friend showed up, so we put our ropes down, and that was the end of the roping contests for today. Tomorrow, after all of our work is done, I plan to have another rope off contest. It will be a lot of fun, because Ben will be here, and he is a good roper—like Tony. I can’t wait!

Here is a picture of three of my favorite ropes, that I have collected over the years. The blue rope, my favorite rope, which I used today, is called a heeler rope, with the pink bandana tied to it, and I love it! The rope with the red bandana tied to it, is my second best rope—the one T. used, to win our first roping contest in 2009. And the rope laying on the porch, with our radish pots beside it, is one of my many guests ropes—that Aaron used today.

My guest ropes are good ropes, too, but not nearly as good, as my pink and red bandana tied ropes, which always hang from the headboard, on my side of our bed, along with a couple of my favorite cowboy hats, and my fringed, custom embroidered leather chaps. Tony built our beautiful cedar ranch bed for us, after we got married, back in 1999, and I love it and him so much! Y’all have a great evening!

P.S. To add to my daily three mile, inside the trailer walk, I plan to start roping, my soon to be new roping post—everyday for at least thirty minutes!

My First Try!

I am trying to figure out a way to shorten the length of my blogs, so tonight’s my first try.

Yesterday, my good friend Catherine and her husband David, who live up in Buchanan Dam, who help us adopt out our dogs, sent me some beautiful pictures of Katherine Ross, in her new home! We loved the pictures, and here is one of Katherine Ross, in her new Lazy Dog chair—enjoying her forever life! Thank you Catherine and David!

My farm and ranch report today is: This morning, when I put our radishes outside, to soak in the sunshine—some of them were already six inches tall! Tony and I were both delighted! We’re talking—Super Radishes!

This morning, when I checked my blog—Tara made a comment on, “Not Tonight I’m Watching The Queen!” I loved what she wrote, so I made a comment about the Royal Family. By the way, I loved that movie! No wonder why Diana and Fergie didn’t fit in—who could? Please watch it!

Late this morning, I went outside, to our garden, to talk to Tony and Aaron, about where I wanted my roping post to be. Tony suggested that we use the two, already cutoff posts, that we cut down, before Ronnie and Tom built Outer Space for us. Those posts and the other two, had previously been the posts, used to support our outdoor dog house, in our front yard. I’m not real fond of the location, and plan to discuss it further with Tone tomorrow.

During our discussion, I asked Aaron if he knew how to rope. “No way, Nancy,” Aaron said. “I’m sorry, I was born and raised in California—we don’t rope things.” Then he and Tony began laughing.

“Aaron, roping is a real skill—a true art! It looks easy, but it isn’t,” I said. “I’ll teach you tomorrow, after y’all are done with the morning chores. It’s fun. I have over fifteen ropes, and I will pick one out for you to use. I promise that you’ll like roping.” Aaron laughed, and said he would give it a try. “Aaron, would you like to go horseback riding with Cindy and me, and a few other friends? I’m going to ask Ben to join us, too. He’s coming down tomorrow to work.”

“Thanks Nancy, but I don’t think so. I like riding horses, and I have friends who have horses, and they don’t charge a thing.”

Here is a picture of the two temporary posts, already cemented into the ground, that Tony wants to use. How sad, because I have already picked out a better location—over by the Space Ship!

This afternoon, T. and I went to Kerrville to run some errands, our last being—Wolfmueller’s Books, to see Sandy and Jon! As always, it was fun, and filled with laughter! Before leaving, I purchased Tom Wells newest book. “Strange Seasons: Summer,” and Tone purchased, “The Chuck Wagon Cookbook: Recipes From The Ranch And Range For Today’s Kitchen” by B. Byron Price!

Okay y’all, I’ve done it! This blog is less than one page of written words! I hope that you like it! Y’all have a great evening! Wait! I forgot something, darn’it!

This evening, my good friend Drew, called to visit! I love Drew and his wife, Renee! After he and I caught up on each other’s news—we spent the rest of the time laughing, and talking about Havarti cheese and Laughing Cow cheese—which are totally delicious!

Before hanging up, Drew told me that he had just e-mailed me an internet address, to please check out. He said that I would love it, and I did! If you are wanting to become healthier, please check this site out, and watch the trailer, which is less than two minutes long—called, ‘Processed People!’ I loved it and just ordered a copy of the documentary, for T. and me! Here is the address:

www.brasschecktv.com/page/502.html

P.S. Y’all have a great evening, again! I’m sorry, I tried to condense it!

Not A Happy Camper!

Last night, Tony and I really enjoyed watching Helen Mirren, in ‘The Queen.’ That movie was really good. Many friends of ours, had told us to watch it, and I am glad that we finally did! My advice to all is: If you haven’t seen it—rent it and watch it. If you have seen it—watch it again! It’s worth a double-take.

This morning, after talking to Kinky, I reached out—and touched someone, Tara to be exact. Tara had called last night, and had left a message on the machine, about some questions she needed answered, for donating to our rescue ranch, while ‘The Queen’ was on the phone, talking to Tony Blair, about Princess Diana’s funeral—and Elizabeth wasn’t a real happy camper about it.

“Hello Tara, this is Nancy, from the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, returning your call.” Tara and I talked for about five minutes, and I answered all of her questions concerning pen sponsorship. She was a delight to talk to. When she told me that she and her friends, follow my blog, and giving me a couple of other compliments—I gave her my e-mail address.

For lunch today, I made my famous (just kidding) Tortilla soup—and Tony loved it! While he and I were sipping our soup away, I asked T. if he would go horseback riding with Cindy P. and me, later this week. “Nance, I can’t,” Tony said. “I would love to, but my back just couldn’t take it. I would love to ride with you, but I can’t. No way.”

Slurp, slurp, “Okay Tone, I understand. Maybe I can talk my sister Cindy, Ben and Aaron to go riding with Cindy and me? You could go too, and take pictures of us riding? That would be a blast! How about that?”

“Nance, that’s a great idea, but what am I going to be doing for two hours while y’all ride?”

“You could take your laptop and get some work done, or play games on your iPod Touch.”

“We’ll see,” Tony said.

Then somehow, our conversation went from that to this. “Tony I need a roping post. Remember when we used to have roping contests, over at my little ranch in Utopia—they were so much fun!”

“Yes, Nance, they were a lot of fun, but you never won—ever.” Tony teased, and then he started laughing!

“That’s not true Tony,” I said. “I’m a good post roper, and you know it! I’m going to ask Ben or Aaron to build me a roping post, out by the Space Ship. Okay?” Tony laughed, and then he went outside to check on the dogs.

Today, I received a surprise in the mail—from Mari of the infamous Kerrville NoMads! Mari sent me a really cute card, and a peace sign decal for my future VW bus—totally sixties! I love it, and may put it on the little refrigerator in the Space Ship! Thank you Mari—it made me smile and laugh today!

Well, I’m fixin’ to watch ‘The Queen’ one more time, but T. isn’t. Y’all have a great evening!

P.S. Tara, thank you and your friends, for helping our dogs at the rescue ranch!

Not Tonight—I'm Watching The Queen!

Something To Talk About!

Wow! Today was fantastic in so many ways! To begin with, our organic, heirloom radishes, grew about another half inch! As soon as the sun came up over the mountain, I put them outside on the porch railing.

At ten o’clock, after I had started a batch of beans, slow cooking , in my crockpot—Kinky called. He needed my help with a project, so I took off for the Lodge. When I returned to the rescue ranch, I found Aaron and Linda T., from Harker Heights, walking Dr. John and Buffalo Girl, back to the rescue ranch! Yeah! I love seeing our dogs go for walks!

After returning them to their pens, I joined Linda and Aaron. We took Lulu, Maggie, Goliath, then Aaron had some work to do, so Linda and I walked Maggie and Happy. When we returned them to their pen, there was a couple visiting with Tony, down by our trailer.

Linda and I waved to them, and then she and I took Nash and Alfie for a nice long walk—the dogs loved it! When we returned to the rescue ranch, the couple caught up with Linda and me, and the dogs. The man got out of his big SUV, “Hi, my name is Tom P., I know that one of you came from Harker Heights—just to walk dogs, today, and one of y’all are Cousin Nancy. I love y’all’s rescue ranch! I hope that y’all know—there is going to be a very special place in heaven for all of y’all.”

Linda and I introduced ourselves, then Tom’s wife, using a crutch, came around the side of their vehicle, “Hi, I’m Linda, too.” We all shook hands, and then we had a really fun visit, under the big oak tree, near our puppy pen! “We’re from Arlington, and we decided to come see the rescue ranch, and we are also big fans of Kinky Friedman, and we voted for him!”

“Arlington,” I said. “I was born and raised in Fort Worth. I love Fort Worth.”

“Me, too!” Tom said. “I grew up in Fort Worth, on the west side...” Well, that’s all it took—I love talking to people from Cowtown! Tom and I talked about Fort Worth, where we had gone to school, Carlson’s Drive Inn on Forest Park Boulevard, Camp Bowie Boulevard, T.C.U., General Dynamics, etc. It was sorta like going down memory lane, with someone you didn’t know back then, but was there when you were—it was a blast from the past for me!

As we talked, a black car drove into the ranch—it was our friend, Julia, with her friend, Karen! They drove past us, and met up with Tony, who was working, down by the pig pen. And, this is when Tom’s sweet wife, Linda, was finally able to get a word in edgewise— “I’m from Arkansas!” She was great!

Karen had told Julia a while back, about wanting to adopt a dog, and Julia told her about our rescue ranch, and asked her to please consider coming here to adopt a dog! In fact, she offered to drive her down here, and she did!

As Tom, Linda, Linda and I visited under the tall oak, I saw Tony take Julia and Karen for a tour, to see if we had a forever dog—for Karen. I had my fingers crossed.

After explaining who Tony was giving a tour to, I said, “Y’all ought to stay around to meet Kinky. He should be back at the ranch within an hour.”

“We’d love to, but we are headed to Medina for lunch, and then we’re going to Lost Maples. Maybe the next time, we can meet him,” Tom said. After shaking hands, Tom and Linda drove away, Linda and I took Maggie and Happy back to their pen. Then Linda and I went and found Karen, Julia and Tony over by Pearl and Laz’s pen.

After greetings and introductions, we finished up the tour with them. “I want to adopt Goliath!” Karen told us. “He’s the one.” All of us were thrilled with her decision!

“Oh my gosh! Y’all, this is way too cool!” I said. “Goliath is our first rescue for 2009, and our first adoption for 2009! I love it, but not as much as he is going to!”

Karen and Julia told us that they were going to go over for a short visit with Kinky, and would be back soon to sign the adoption form and take Goliath to his new home. After they drove away, Tony said, “Nance, I’m starving. Are those beans ready, yet?”

“Yes, but I still have to make some cornbread.”

“Let’s go to the trailer. I’ll just eat a bowl of beans for now—I’m starving.”

When we reached our front yard gate, Linda grabbed her lunch sack out of her car, and we came inside. While Tony lapped up his beans, and Linda ate her lunch, I made some organic cornbread, and put it into the oven, as we three visited.

After they had eaten their lunch, Linda told me that she was ready to walk some more dogs. I was tired, and my back was aching a little, because I had almost tipped over (fallen from a big loose rock, that I was standing on in one of the dog pens), so I declined to join her. She understood, and took off to go walk Blackie and Kahoula.

When the cornbread was ready, Tony and I ate lunch together. Just after I had put our dishes into the sink, to wash, the dogs cranked up outside! “Nance, someone is driving in, I think it is Tom and Linda!”

“Great! I really like those people.” I then picked up the phone and quickly punched in Kinky’s phone number, and then went out onto the front porch, and waved to them, as they pulled up. “Kinky, this is Nance, would it be okay for me to bring some really nice people, over there to meet you? They voted for you, and are big fans of yours and I love them!”

Two minutes later, Linda, Tom, Kermit and me were headed over to Kinky’s. Linda T., who had just returned Blackie to his pen, jumped into the back of Kermit, and we went over the river and through the woods.

Talk about a fun time! There was so much laughing—my back really started aching from laughing so much! Everyone seemed to really have a great time, and before we left, there was plenty of picture taking. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to take my camera, and was disappointed about not having it, so I could show you.

When we left Kinky’s, Linda stood up in the back of Kermit, the whole way back to the rescue ranch, as the four of us laughed more, with Karen and Julia following us!

Before signing Goliath’s adoption papers, I ran inside, I mean, skipped inside the trailer, and grabbed my camera. I asked everyone to pose and I shot them! Then Linda asked me to take a picture with her camera, and then Tom and Linda asked me to take a picture of them with their camera! From left to right here are our friends: Tom, Karen, Tony, Linda T., Linda, and Julia!

While Karen filled out the adoption form, my new friends, Linda and Tom from Arlington, Texas thanked us for the fun time, said their goodbyes, and drove away, followed by Linda T.

When we reached Goliath’s pen—he already knew that he was getting adopted! His tail was wagging faster than fast, as Tony slipped a leash on Goliath! Here’s a picture of Karen with her new found best friend! I hope that y’all had as great a day, as I have! Y’all have a great evening!

Cousin Nancy's Farm & Ranch Report!

This morning, as soon as the sun came up, I put the two buckets of radishes, outside and took this picture! They had grown overnight! When Tony returned from Medina, he could not believe the size of our radishes!

Today was spent doing end of the month, and end of the year reports. It was a beautiful day outside, eighty-degrees and clear sky, so I took my laptop into Outer Space, and worked out there, while my iPod played one favorite song after another.

Around three-thirty, Tony asked me to go with him to check on the cows—he wanted me to see Petey, a calf born on New Years Day! As we were going out the front door, Kinky called and invited us to come over. I told him that we were headed out to go check on the cows, and take pictures of Petey, and then we would drop by.

Tony and I took off in Buttermilk. When we reached the cows, Petey was nowhere to be found! His mama, Ms. Curly, was with the herd, eating hay. "Tony, do you think someone stole Petey?" I asked.

"No, Nance," Tony said, with a laugh! "Curly has him hid. I'll bet you that he's over there." Tony, Buttermilk and I then headed across the pasture, to a thick grove of trees. Tony stopped the car and got out. He walked about ten feet, and then T. told me that he had found him and to come see him!

Before getting out, I checked to make sure that Curly wasn't running towards us, to protect her newborn calf. Fortunately, she continued to eat, and just watched us. Petey is one handsome calf! Here are a couple of pictures that I took of him!


After taking pictures, we went over to see Kinky. We visited for a few minutes in the kitchen, and then Kink challenged Tony to a game of pool. They both made some impressive shots and the outcome was, The Hummingbird Man - 1, The Medina Bulldog - 0! After 'our' loss, Tony and I came back home.

Just before the sun went behind the mountain, I took this picture of the radishes! More had sprouted and they had grown bigger! Y'all have a great evening!

"Hello, This Is Nancy...!

Yesterday afternoon, I received a phone call from a desperate, crying, Iraqi veteran, who served our country in Iraq! "Ma'am, I need your help! My wife and I have just had our house foreclosed on us, and we've had to move in with my inlaws, and we can't keep our dog! Please help us."

I teared up, "Unfortunately sir, we are at capacity out here. Please tell me about your dog." I wanted to help him, so bad!

"I have the greatest, yellow Labrador. His name is Goliath. He is three years old, great with little kids, and other dogs, but he isn't trained. He is neutered and current with his shots." Then he started crying, again. "I can't take him to the pound, he doesn't deserve to be euthanized—he is a great dog and I love him, so much!"

"Sir, let me talk to my husband, and I will call you back within five minutes."

"Tony," I said. "I know that we are full, but this nice, young man just called crying..."

"Hello, this is Nancy, from the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch."

"Yes, ma'am."

"We can take Goliath, but..."

"Honey, they can take Goliath! Oh, thank you so much! I promise that you will fall in love with him! Thank you so much!"

"Sir, we are full out here, but last Saturday, we adopted out two puppies, and I want you to know that Goliath will have to be kept in our large puppy pen, until we adopt out another dog. It is the only space available."

The man was fine with it, we decided for him to bring Goliath, out this morning, and I gave the young soldier, directions to our rescue ranch.

Goliath arrived here, about an hour ago! We visited with the young couple for several minutes, and then they drove away. Tony and I went to the barn and loaded up on toys and chewbones for this gentle giant, and then we went back to his pen and played with him.

Goliath is one great, highly intelligent dog! Tony taught him how to sit and stay, using hot dogs—within three minutes! Here he is:



My sister, Cindy, just called to tell me that she thinks the mystery bird is a Blackheaded, female Grosbeak. She told me that the males have the black head and the females don't—and they live west of us. Before hanging up, I told Cindy about Goliath arriving, and what a great dog he was.

"He just got out," Tony said, as he entered the trailer. "He broke the latch on the puppy pen. I just put him in one of our alleys, next to Opie."

Cindy and I both started laughing! "Well, at least he didn't knock over the puppy pen," I said, trying to stay positive.

P.S. I can't wait for Kinky to meet him!

I'm A Winner!

I won all three bets with Tony! Those little green dots that I saw yesterday—were sprouts, and this morning proved it! Yeah! This is a great way to start out the new year! Here's a picture that I took this morning of a sprout!

After winning my bets, Tony asked me to come look at this beautiful bird on one of our feeders. Neither he or I know what kind of bird it is. So, will someone let me know? Here it is sharing the feeder with a sparrow and another with a cardinal.