Wednesday, March 31, 2010

To Bed Or Not To Bed!

Yesterday after walking six miles I did paperwork all morning while Lisa and Matt helped Tony outside. After lunch Tone and I went to Kerrville because I needed to open up my business checking account for my publishing business and we had to also go by Hoegemeyer's Animal Clinic to pick up Laz and to get some more arthritis pills for old Thunder.

At two-thirty I happily walked out of the bank wearing a big smile on my face and got into Buttermilk. "It's official, Tone! I am the sole-proprietor of Undepressable Press and I should get my checks within a week!"

"That's great, Nance," Tony said. "I am so proud of you..."

"The people in there are really nice and they had country western music playing," I said as Buttermilk took us to Hoegemeyers.

Around five-thirty Kinky called. He wanted to know if I wanted to go for a walk with him. I told him that I would since Tone was fixin' go to Medina to watch our eleven-year-old nephew Zachary play baseball. Ten minutes later Kinky, Frank and I were climbing a steep hill as the dogs barked with delight and raced around us. Forty minutes later after a fun hike we were back at the Lodge helping Kinky carry out  his many plants which is a major task because he has so many.

Last night I was tired and went to bed early and I really regret it, because this morning when I woke up at six o'clock my neck behind my jaw was all swelled up and pink but it wasn't sore or itchy. When I looked into the mirror I looked like a white-haried Frankenstein without the bolt.

When I showed it to Tony he said it was probably a spider bite so I took a Benadryl and a baby Aspirin. Then T. took off for Medina to drink coffee with the old timers while I did my morning chores, while cussing at the full moon because I have never had anything like this happen before.

After breakfast I walked six miles with Leslie and then I hit the shower and it is a good thing that I did because that is when I discovered that "the spider from you-know-where" had attacked my left foot, too. The top of my foot and ankle were a pretty shade of pink and swollen up and looked like I had sprained my ankle! But like my swollen neck it did not itch or hurt so I swallowed another Benadryl.

By eleven o'clock this morning the swelling in my neck had nearly gone away, but my foot is still swollen as I type this tonight at eight twenty-four. It appears that something bit my foot in several places and I just told T. that I am going to spray Off on me before going to bed or not to bed.

P.S. This morning Mari sent me this cool animated cat card by Jacquie Lawson and I loved it.

Y'all have a great evening!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Got-R-Half Done!

This morning I walked six miles and am now one mile ahead of where I need to be this month. So far this month I've walked 146 miles (5 miles per day x 29 days = 145) so I am pleased with myself.

Around eleven-thirty I went outside and had a short visit with Lisa and Matt and as usual they made me laugh and fortunately I was not gaseous. Hopefully my "little problem" has passed once and for all and I hope that it never returns.

After Lisa and Matt left, a pickup drove into the ranch and it was our good friend Garnet from Utopia. She told us that she couldn't stay long, but she wanted us to see Reba McIntyre, a beautiful yellow Lab that she and her husband Sandy had adopted from us over eleven years ago. When Garnet opened the back seat door so we could see Reba, their cute, little Chihuahua popped its head out the front seat window to get petted. "That's Chiquita," Garnet said as we visited with Reba and the tiny little dog. "Reba is old. She has arthritis now and she has been one great dog for us!" Garnet said. Tone and I had a fun visit with Garnet but it was too short.

I fixed spaghetti and meatballs for lunch today and it was pretty good, because T. cleaned his plate and then took a second serving. After I cleaned up the kitchen Buttermilk took us and Scooby Doo to Kerrville so I could "Git-R-Done" and Scooby could get a rabies shot. Before we passed Koyote Ranch we decided that Tone would drop me off at the Court House so I could get my DBA's while he dropped off Scoober at Hoegemeyer's. "I'll meet you at Wolfmueller's," Tone said.

It took me about twenty minutes and cost me over $60.00 to get my DBA's and a brand that I wanted to register for my book. When I left the "Cost-House" I headed towards Wolfmueller's books. After I crossed the first intersection safely while standing on the corner of Earl Garrett Street and Main I heard a familiar voice holler, "Hey, Nance! What are you doing?" I turned around and saw Lisa stopped at the signal light.

"I'm working my street corner!" I jokingly yelled back. Then the light changed and I quickly shuffled across the street. When I walked into the bookstore Tone was there sitting in a chair and I was greeted by Mary Jo, her daughter Laura and Jon while T. went to get my pink notebook out of Buttermilk for me so I could show them the cover I had designed for my book.

While I was showing everyone the artwork my friend Sheryl Eddins, who helped me edit my book and throw away over a thousand commas, walked into the bookstore. "I saw you standing on the street corner and I just wanted to come by and say, hi." After a hug from Sheryl I told everyone that we were on our way to Copies Plus to see Trisha Sanders so she could help me tweak the design and get  everything right for me.

"This is not the true color for my book," I said. "I am using a much darker red than this." Then I pulled a sock out of the large envelope to show them the true red color. They all started laughing. "It's a clean sock. I just washed it..." Here is a picture of the sock with the red top.


Tone and I visited a little while longer then we took off for Copies Plus so I could drop my envelope off for Trisha and talk to her about the book cover. Because Trish is so talented it did not take long for me to show her what I needed and she was glad that I had brought Tony's sock with me and she asked me where I had bought it.

When we were done at Copies Plus we went to the bank where I was supposed to open up a business checking account but unfortunately we were too late so we went to Hoegemeyer's and picked up Scooby Doo and then we came home.

I went over to the Lodge to see Kinky around five-thirty. During our fun visit he told me that he really liked the movie "Blind Side" and he was glad that Sandra Bullock had won an Academy Award for it. Before leaving the Lodge, Kinky told me an hilarious joke that Willie Nelson had told him yesterday, but  unfortunately I cannot repeat it on this blog, but I did call Ronnie and told it to him and then I called Rick down in Port Aransas and told it to him. They both thought it was hilarious and they promised not to tell anyone that I had told it to them.

Here is a joke that Ronnie told me that I can tell you. "Two cannibals were eating a comedian and one said, "Does this taste funny to you?"

I am glad about getting so much accomplished on my book today. I guess you could say that "I Got-R-Half Done." Tomorrow I plan to go back to Kerrville to open up a business checking account and then all I have left to do is get the page numbering straightened out.

P.S. I was asked to do another shout-out to Mark in Mississippi. Howdy Mark in Mississippi!

Y'all have a great evening!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Git-R-Done Day!

This morning after Tony had done his chores and I had walked eight miles with Les, we took off for Kerrville to get  some groceries, because our cupboards and freezer were nearly bare. As soon as we pulled out on Highway 16 I made an announcement. "Tone, I am taking tomorrow off and to borrow a popular phrase from Larry the Cable Guy, I'm declaring it "Git-R-Done Day!"

"Okay, Nance. What are you going to get done?" T. asked as we passed by Carol's ranch and rubbernecked to see if Carol and James were out riding their horses, but we didn't see them. "Have you talked to Carol?"

"Yes. We are taking them out to lunch this week to thank them for our Frontgate weather station..."

"Good," Tone said. So what are you planning on doing tomorrow?"

"We are going to Kerrville in the morning after Lisa and Matt get here so I can open up a new business checking account, get a dba for my new publishing company and apply for a sales tax number. Then we are going to Copies Plus to see Trisha. I've designed my cover for the book, but I need for her to help me put it all together into a large file. Then I am going to ask her to help me fix the page numbering problem and then my book is done and ready to be printed! I'm going to "Git-R-Done" tomorrow." Tone was thrilled with my news.

This afternoon Kinky called to ask me if I wanted to go for a short walk with him. Five minutes later, I looked at the clock on Kinky's wall and said, "I want to time our walk. It's four minutes past four, Kink." Then we took off with Brownie and Chumley.

I was thrilled when Kinky told me that Matt, Candice and Albert Einstein had come out to visit him today before heading back to Austin. He said he really enjoyed seeing them and he thought Albert was a  magnificent dog. As our walk started turning into a long walk as we climbed a steep hill, I told Kinky about "blowing it" yesterday and he laughed and thought it was really hilarious. Near the end of our walk I told Kinky about having the movie "Blind Side" and how much we had enjoyed watching it. When I started coughing, Kinky asked me if I would lend it to him so he could watch it tonight.

When we walked inside the Lodge I looked at the clock and said, "This is great! We went for a thirty-minute walk." We visited for a little bit longer then I left so I could go home to get "Blind Side" so Kinky and Frank could watch it tonight.

Five minutes ago the phone rang and I let Carlton take the call. It was Kinky. "Tony, Nance, Tone are you there?..." I picked up the phone.

"Hi, Kink. It's me. Do you want to talk to Tony?"

"Yes."

"Are y'all watching the movie?" I asked as I walked down the hall to give the phone to T.

"No, not yet. We're making popcorn right now," he sarcastically joked. Then I burst out laughing.

"Tone, Kinky wants to talk to you, but he can't talk long because they are making popcorn!" I heard Kinky laugh as I handed off the phone to Tony. I don't know what Kinky said to Tony but it made him laugh.

Y'all have a great evening!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

I Blew It!

Today has been a great day. This morning while I was coughing-and-walking six miles inside the trailer with Leslie Sansone, Lisa and Matt were outside helping Tony with his chores while Josh, their new friend and vet-tech walked our dogs. Thank you, Lisa, Matt and Josh!

Around eleven-thirty a nice woman named Brenda called me. She told me that she wanted to come out to look at our dogs and that she might possibly adopt one of them. I told her to come on out and then I gave her the directions to the rescue ranch.

Thirty minutes later I was outside in my pink overalls visiting with our dogs when Brenda arrived. After I welcomed Brenda to the ranch she started talking up a storm about how much she and her family love dogs and  then she started telling me about all of her dogs in her life starting with  her very first dog to the one she has now and she is about my age so, that took a little while. As we walked from pen to pen I was glad that she wanted to do all of the talking because I was scared that if I talked too much I would go into another one of my not so pretty non-stop coughing jags.

After walking twice around the rescue ranch Brenda decided that she wanted to adopt Blue Bell. As we walked towards the barn to tell Tony the good news I suddenly out of nowhere coughed real hard and accidentally farted pretty loud. I was so embarrassed, but I didn't say anything and just kept walking like nothing happened.

When I told everyone that today was Blue Bell's day—they were as thrilled as me. After Brenda signed the adoption papers we said goodbye to Blue Bell and Brenda, as Blue Bell climbed into the front seat and then they drove away.

As Kermit took us to the trailer I told Tony about my thunder-in-the-pants mishap and he thought it was hilarious and he teased me non-stop. "Nance, I'm telling Kinky about this!" Tone said." I can't believe you..." When we came inside the trailer I started coughing non-stop and yes, it happened again but not as loud as the first one thank goodness and that is when Tone called me "Thunder Britches."

As I drank a glass of water to help stop the coughing there was a knock on our door. When I saw our friend Matt Biersmith standing outside I half-hollered, "Come on in, Matt!" While he shook hands with T. I quickly swallowed a couple of teaspoons of Robitussin then I hugged Matt. He told us that he was down in our neck of the woods because he and Candice were going to a friends ranch over in Bandera to cook up some crawfish. "Albert's out in the car and I just wanted to drop off a donation to y'all and..."

"OMG! Albert Einstein is here! You brought Albert!" I said. "I have got to go see him! I love Albert so much. He is one of our rescued dogs that really stole my heart..." Within seconds the three of us left the trailer, jumped into Kermit and took off to go see Albert and Candice who were parked outside the rescue ranch's gate.

As we hugged Candice, Matt let Albert and their other two big well-behaved dogs out of their SUV. The second that I saw Albert I almost teared up because I was so happy for him. He looked so handsome and was as happy as any dog could be. While we petted Albert and their two other sweet dogs we talked about Albert being famous because I wrote about him in my last book and his picture is it. "I am so glad that y'all came out!" I said. "Seeing Albert makes everything that we do worth it. Heck, I was telling Kinky just the other day that the dogs we've rescued and have adopted out live better lives than us and I love it! Right, Albert? I sure do love you..." Here is a picture that I took of the magnificent Albert with Matt.


When another vehicle showed up at the rescue ranch for a tour Matt and Candice loaded up their three lucky dogs into their fancy SUV and then they took off for Bandera to party with their friends.

Fortunately, while visiting with Matt and Candice I never coughed so there was the "sound of silence" if you get my drift, but unfortunately, while giving a tour of the rescue ranch to the new arrivals—I blew it!

Y'all have a great evening!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Because I Am Stupid!

Today I am feeling much better but am taking it slow so I didn't walk this morning. I plan to make up the lost miles in the next few days so I won't get behind or a big behind. I've spent most of my day working on my book. I completely redid the artwork for the front and back cover and I really like how it turned out. I also wrote the last page (A Note From Cousin Nancy) and then I worked on the Table of Contents making sure I had the page numbers right.

The only problem I have with my book now is the page numbering because I am not used to working with Microsoft Word because I have a Mac and use a different writing program. For some reason or because I am stupid I cannot figure out how to change the pages numbers. The first few pages of the book need to be numbered in Roman Numerals and I can't figure out how to do it after spending over two frusterating hours trying today. When I told Tone about it he suggested that I go see Trisha at Copies Plus because she is real smart and she is a Word Wizard, so I think I will as soon as I am totally well.

Yesterday afternoon we had to go to Hondo so we could pick up Trigger from Dixon Automotive. Jimmy Dixon is the best and most honest auto mechanic in Central Texas and we have been using him for car repairs for the past twelve years, told us that Trigger, our beloved 1998 Ford F-150 pickup wasn't going to be around much longer because he needed so much work. "He's safe to drive around the ranch but not on the roads," were his exact words and that made me sicker than I already was.

An hour after we got back home R-1 arrived at our rescue ranch as scheduled. R-1 has been on our waiting list for a long time and he is a Aussie mix, about five years old and a really cool dog. He knows his commands and he loves to ride in cars and he gets along well with other dogs. Because we are over-full out here right now we had to put him in a puppy pen and he does not seem to mind because he is a happy dog. R-1's coat looks short because his past owner kept him shaved, but he does have long hair. Here are a couple of pictures that I took of him when he arrived.





Here are a couple of pictures that I took this past Monday after Lisa delivered Ben Stiller and Gracie to us. They are also really cool dogs and they are about five years old, too. Gracie is in the first picture and Ben is in the following. Hopefully, they will get adopted out soon.









This afternoon we had a pleasant surprise. Ian Robinson, the son of our friends Roger and Patti Robinson came out with his girlfriend Heather and they want to adopt Scooby Doo. They fell in love with him at first sight and they will pick him up on April 15th after they pay a three-hundred dollar dog  deposit on their house. Tony and I are thrilled about Ian and Heather adopting one of our dogs because they love animals as much as we do.

Well, that's about it for tonight because I need to go to bed.

Y'all have a great evening!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

I've Still Got Rhythm!

Y'all I am so puny right now with the non-stop coughing and sneezing I am too tired to post tonight. Hopefully tomorrow I will be getting on the well-side. Good night.

Y'all have a great evening!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

I've Got Rhythm!

Today I have not been able to get a lot of work done because I am sick with "the crud." When I was on one of my coughing and sneezing jags while trying to walk six miles with Leslie, Tony walked inside  the trailer and told me that I was coughing and sneezing in perfect rhythm to four beats to the bar. "Nance, you're my walkin'-coughin'-sneezin' metronome. You ought to play your drums. Not really. You know I'm kidding. I hate drumming..." Then he went back outside and took off in Kermit to go do his chores.

I used up a small box of Kleenex while walking the walk with Leslie this morning. I did not want to walk this morning because I was feeling so puny, but I had to so I wouldn't fall too far behind on my walking New Year's resolution.

After mopping up my nose and coughing up a storm I spent the morning catching up on my e-mail and I am glad that I did because my good friend Mari of the NoMads sent me an e-mail identifying the bird that I thought was a Bald-headed Eagle which Tony told me after I had posted that blog that there is no such thing as a Bald-"headed" Eagle. In self defense I told Tone that Mrs. Reese,  my sixth grade Russian spy teacher, had taught me and my classmates that there was. Anyway, Mari checked with her friend Bill the bird-watcher and they both agreed that the bird I shot with my camera was a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk! Thank you, Mari and Bill—mystery solved.

I'm startin' to cough and sneeze again and it is startin' to thunder and lightning outside so this is it for tonight.  I  need to go unplug everything. Hopefully I will feel much better in the morning.

Y'all have a great evening!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Mari Rocks!

To Be Continued...(Warning! This is a long one!)

Last night Tony and I had so much fun with our friends. As soon as we pulled up to Carol's house in Trigger we were greeted by Carol's friendly dogs, Scout and Jake and then James came out the front door and welcomed us and told us that everyone was outside on the deck and then he took off to go buy some ice because they had run out.

When T. and I went around the side of the house we heard laughing and then we saw Lorri and she gave us big hugs and then she introduced us to "Jeff from California" who we liked instantly. After handshakes Brenda walked up and gave us big hugs even though she was wearing a big cast on her foot.

With box in hand I then went inside the house to pour myself some of my fine-boxed wine and found Carol working on our dinner in the kitchen. After hugs she handed me a glass for my wine. "Are y'all totally out of ice?" I asked. Carol opened her freezer and there were three ice cubes left so I took them and plopped them into my wine. Then Jeff came into the kitchen to refresh his drink and I felt guilty for taking the last three ice cubes but I didn't say anything. Then we all went outside to the deck to visit with each other.

Within seconds Jeff had all of us laughing with his funny story about him deciding to open for Willie Nelson at a private party held at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth for his friends, the Minnicks and then I asked him about his NFL football career and I was blown away when he told us about playing for the Red Skins,  the Oilers and the St. Louis Cardinals and playing in two Super Bowls. Then we had a fun discussion about him playing against the the Dallas Cowboys back when Tom Landry was Head Coach.

Then I saw James down by the road closing the gate. "The ice man cometh," I said which really cracked Brenda up. "Carol told me that you are a great guitar player, Jeff. Please play something for us." Oh my god, Jeff was fantastic on the guitar and the songs that he had wrote were hilarious and had all of us rolling on the deck with laughter. Tony and I were having a great time as was everyone else.

After his last song Jeff asked me to play something on his guitar and he tried to hand me his beautiful, old Yamaha guitar, but I refused because he played much better than me and everyone was enjoying his music. Thank God, I didn't take his guitar and try to play something because when he sat back down and strummed his guitar we heard a loud "ping!" I figured he had popped a string and so did he, but when we looked at his guitar all six strings were still intact. "What?" Jeff said as he stared at his great-sounding guitar in his hand. "The bridge just broke," Jeff said in amazement as he showed it to all of us. "Does anybody know what time it is because I have to do a call in interview at seven?"

Tony looked down at his watch and said, "Five minutes before seven," while I'm thinking it is really five minutes till six, because I still haven't adjusted to the stupid time change. Then Lorri and Jeff went inside so Jeff could call in and do the show.

When they returned outside Jeff said to me, "I just talked about you on the air and I told them the title of your new book coming out..." Needless to say I was speechless and as you know that rarely happens to me. Then we sat down around the table and began eating our delicious Fajita dinner.

I was having so much fun because the conversation flowed and went back and forth across the table from one person to another until it always led us to laughter, then the subject would change and in no time flat we would all be laughing again.

After dinner T. and I had to get back over to the rescue ranch even though we didn't want to leave, because we were having so much fun with our friends. Before leaving Jeff told us a joke that he wanted us to tell Kinky and it was hilarious!

Today has been really fun and then it went weird. This morning around eight o'clock, Kinky called me about our breakfast date this morning with our good friends Tinkerbell and her father in Kerrville because he wanted to know if I was going to ride with him. After all was said and done we decided to take separate vehicles because I needed to get back to the rescue ranch to take care of some business.

When I stepped inside the restaurant I was ten minutes late and found Tinkerbell, Bob, T-Bone Herring  from the Rose 99.9, Frank and Kinky sitting at a table by the front door. Our breakfast was fun and full of laughter.

After taking pictures with Tinkerbell and Kinky we said our goodbyes to everyone and headed for our trucks and that is when I told Jeff Severson's joke to him and he about fell over laughing. "That's a good one, Nance. I like it. Tell Jeff I liked it." Then he told Jeff's joke to Frank and Frank thought it was really funny too. Then we climbed into our pickups and took off  in different directions.

When Trigger and I arrived back at the rescue ranch Tony, Lisa, Matt and Meghann were leaving to go feed the cows so I visited with our great volunteers for a few minutes and then they took off. As Trigger and I were coming in Jim McMahon another one of our great dog-walking volunteers was on his way to return two happy dogs back to there pen so he and I had a short visit too.

When I came inside I had nineteen new phone messages and forty-seven e-mails to return. After returning all of the phone calls I started returning e-mails and was over halfway done when Kinky called.
"Nance, are you having phone trouble?"

"Yes, Kinky, I am. I have just returned nineteen calls and my ear is starting to ache. Why?"

"That's not what I am talking about," Kinky said. "I can't make long distance phone calls since about twenty minutes ago. Will you call me to see if I get your call." We hung up and I punched in Kink's number and Kinky picked up on the second ring when he saw my number show up on his new giant Caller ID. "Thanks, Nance."

"Kinky, Tone and I have got to go to Kerrville and we've decided to eat lunch in town. Do you want to join us?" There was a pause and then he told me he would love to so we decided on a time and then I hung up on him before he hung up on me.

Tony and I first to arrive at the restaurant and Kinky sat down at our table two minutes later. "Nance, my cell phone isn't working either," Kinky said. "See if you cell phone is working." Then we gave our waitress our order and that is when things started getting weird.

I pulled out my cell phone and punched in the rescue ranch's phone number and after no rings there was a beep and a  message appeared that read: "All signals are busy," so I tried again as Tone nibbled on some chips and Kinky stared at me. After trying to call Ronnie in Dripping Springs and Wolfmueller's Books and getting the same dead phone response I said, "Kinky, this is really weird. Maybe we are being attacked by..." T. and Kinky started laughing.

"Or space aliens have landed and..." Then we all started laughing.

When our sweet waitress set our plates down I asked her if the restaurant's phone was working and she shook her head no. "All of our lines are down and so is our credit card machine. They've been down for over an hour now..."

After she left our table I told Kinky that Tony and I were going to go over to Wolfmueller's Books before going to Walmart to see if their phones were working. Kinky thought it was a good idea, then we ate our lunch.

When we showed up at Jon and Sandy's bookstore Sandy told us that her cell phone and their store phones were working so we had a short visit with them and then we took off for H.E.B. to fill up Trigger.

After writing a check for Tone's and my supplies at Walmart for over one-hundred and fifty dollars as we were walking out of the store an announcement came over their intercom: "Attention all Walmart shoppers! Due to the phone lines being down we cannot accept any checks over the amount of one-hundred dollars. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you and..."

As we exited the store I said, "Whew, we just made it under the gun. If we had been checking out five minutes later we would not have been able to buy all of our supplies..." As we drove home I kept trying to use my cell phone but got nothing.

When we got home we found out what was going on with our phones from a local newscast that said that an optical fiber line had been cut between Fredericksburg and Comfort causing most of the area phone, cell and internet connections to be down and it could possibly take up to eight hours for it to be completely restored.

It is now seven-twenty and Kinky just called to tell me that his phone is still down and then he invited me to come over for a visit but I told him no, because I am fixin' to watch the movie "The Blind Side."

P.S. I want to do a big shout-out to thank Mari of the NoMads for offering to help us pick up Ben Stiller and Gracie. Mari Rocks!

Y'all have a great evening!

Monday, March 22, 2010

I Think It Is Weird!

Today has turned out to be one fantastic day filled with more excitement than my old ticker can handle, but thanks to baby Aspirin I am still here!

Last night I didn't sleep well because I was so worried about Ben Stiller and Gracie, because I had not found anyone that could help us pick them up from the Town Lake Animal Shelter in Austin and get them to our rescue ranch so this morning I skipped walking with Leslie and let my fingers do the walking instead.

First, I called Lisa before she and Matt came out to the rescue ranch to volunteer and I told her about my problem trying to find someone that could pick up Ben and Gracie. "Nance, I can do it. Quit worrying, I would love to pick them up for you," Lisa said. "Matt and I are on our way to the rescue ranch now." I was thrilled.

When she and Matt arrived thirty minutes later they came inside the trailer to discuss Ben Stiller and Gracie. Fifteen minutes later Matt had loaded a crate into Lisa's SUV and then they took off for Kerrville to drop Marlin off at Hoegemeyers to get dipped for his mange and to drop Matt off because he had an appointment that he could not cancel.

After they took off I went inside the trailer and checked my messages. The second message really got my attention. "Hello, this is Melissa Murray. I read your blog last night and I want to offer to pick up Ben Stiller and Gracie for you. I know that you don't know me, but last week I lost my old dog to old age," and then she started crying, "Please let me help you..." I picked up the phone and punched in Melissa's phone number and then we both started crying when I told her about Ben Stiller's story.

"I love Ben Stiller," I said. "Five years ago an elderly man called me and started crying. He told me that someone had dumped Ben off in the country and Ben had wandered up to his house. Then the kind man started crying and told me that he was poor and could not afford to feed Ben because he had taken in several dumped strays. Then he begged me to please help him with his new stray. Well, I was crying like a baby about this dog and told the man that we could take him if he could get the dog to us. And then the man tells me that he will have to borrow the money from his mother for the gas and he would see us the following day. The next morning the old man showed up with the dog and I fell in love with the dog and immediately named him Ben Stiller. After the man helped us put Ben into a pen with Gracie he started crying and so did I as we watched the two playing. Then he thanked us and drove away..."

When I was done talking my head off about Ben Stiller I thanked Melissa and then I told her that I would love for her to help us. After she told me that she would be at Town Lake at eleven-thirty when they opened I called Lisa to tell her about our new plan and gave her Melissa's phone number so they could meet somewhere on the road to transfer the dogs.

As soon as I hung up the phone it rang again. "Rescue Ranch," I said.

""Hello, Cousin Nancy this is Christy Cotter. If you haven't found anyone to pick up Ben Stiller and Gracie from Town Lake I can do it..." I had a good visit with my friend Christy and I thanked her for offering to help. Then we talked about our good friend Georgia and Tasha, the dog that she had adopted from us back in October.

At twelve o'clock I called Melissa and she told me that the people at Town Lake had been great and they had even given Ben and Gracie free rabies shots along with their other shots and she was on her way to meet Lisa somewhere down the road. Then I walked six miles with Leslie.

At two-thirty I went outside to greet Lisa and her precious cargo—Ben Stiller and Gracie because Tone had gone to Bandera to run some errands for me. Lisa and I put the dogs into the front yard of my writing cabin because that was the only space that we had available. As I played with the happy dogs Lisa went to the barn to get them food, water and dog collars. When Tone arrived ten minutes later Ben and Gracie remembered him and were thrilled to see him and wouldn't quit kissing him.

After we handed out treats and played with the dogs for over an hour Lisa and Tone took off to go feed the cows. I stayed behind so I could visit with the happy dogs. Then Kinky arrived and he came into the yard to welcome the dogs back to our rescue ranch and to play with them and they loved seeing him.

After Lisa and Kinky left the rescue ranch I came inside the trailer to check my messages. I had fourteen new ones but the one from Melissa Murray at three thirty-seven made me smile. "Hello, Nancy. I hope that the dogs have arrived safely at the rescue ranch and I want to thank you for letting me be a part of their rescue. I just turned PBS on the radio and they are interviewing Ben Stiller right now and I think it is weird and I don't think that it is a coincidence..."

After checking all of the messages and returning the many phone calls I washed my white hair and cleaned up because Tone and I were going over to Carol and James for dinner with our friends Brenda and Lorri and to meet Lorri's famous new boyfriend—"Jeff from California" that we had heard so many nice things about!

It is nearly ten-thirty now and I must go to bed because Kinky and I are meeting our good friend Beth for breakfast in the morning with her dad and friends.

We had a wonderful evening this evening with Carol & James, Brenda, Lorrie & "Jeff from California" and I cannot wait to tell y'all all about it tomorrow. For those of you who are curious about "Jeff from California" here is an autographed picture that he gave me tonight and you can check him out at:
"Jeff from California" and be sure to read "About Jeff."
Y'all have a great evening! To Be Continued...

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Ben Stiller!

I apologize for not writing much this weekend but I have been really busy because I am trying to finish my book and we have had a lot of the Spring Break visitors out here. Since I didn't write a blog on Friday I want to tell you about it because Friday was a good day gone bad and that is why I didn't write about it.

Friday morning was great. At eleven o'clock Tom and Barbara Carpenter arrived at the rescue ranch on time for their scheduled appointment to meet Tony and me and to take a tour. Kinky had met the couple a few months back and he had invited them to come out to see our  rescue ranch.

I was washing dishes when Matt came inside to tell me that Tom and Barbara were here, so I phoned Kinky to let him know they had arrived before going outside to greet them. As soon as I saw Tom and Barbara I liked them before we even shook hands and gave each other hugs. I felt like I had known them all of my life—they were my kind of people so I invited them into the trailer for some coffee and Barbara's homemade cookies that she had made just for us.

After I had eaten one of Barbara's delicious cookies Tony and Kinky came inside the trailer for a really fun visit with them. It turned out that Tony knew Tom's family and Tom had many nice things to say about T.'s parents and family. As Tom told Kinky and Tone stories about his family that grew up in Medina, Barbara and I found out that we had a lot in common and we couldn't quit talking. When the coffee pot was empty we gave Barbara and Tom a tour of our rescue ranch then we all went over to the Lodge to visit some more.

When it was time for the Carpenters to leave we were out in the parking lot talking about their  re-modeling that was going on at their ranch so I told them about the Space Ship and how much fun I had  remodeling it. Before our conversation ended Tom said, "Cousin Nancy, we have an old trailer like the one you described, that needs remodeling and I will give it to you..." I was thrilled so I invited them back over to the rescue ranch so I could show them what we had done with the Space Ship! So all of us took off for rescue ranch because Kinky wanted to have a picnic with Toto and our dogs while I showed off my guest trailer to them.

Barbara and Tom loved my Space Ship, my dogs loved Kinky's picnic and I loved the Carpenters. After our new friends left and Kinky drove home I went outside and had a fun visit with our super dedicated volunteers: Ellen, June, Eileen, Jim, Lisa, Matt and Meghann. Thank y'all so much!

 After lunch Lisa and Matt came back out to help Tony and Ben mow and weed-eat the grass while I returned phone calls and then I worked on my book. When the mowing was done I went outside to visit with everyone and to thank them. While we were visiting outside by my writing cabin Will drove up with some old friends of ours—Katie and Eddie and their two adorable children so I gave them a tour while Will visited with Tony, Lisa, Ben and Matt. After a nice visit with Eddie and Katie they left because they were headed to San Antonio before heading home to Houston.

While visiting with everyone outside, it was decided that Tony would haul his old projector television that was occupying unwanted space inside my cabin to Lisa's house so Ben and Matt helped Tone load it into the back of Trigger and they took off for Kerrville.

When I came back inside things went south real fast when I checked my messages on the answering machine. A woman had called from Town Lake Animal Shelter in Austin to tell me that two of our great dogs that had been adopted out in 2005 had just been surrendered to them—Ben Stiller and Gracie May! I was sick. I love Ben and Gracie and could not believe that they had been dumped off at the pound so I called Town Lake and left a lenghtly message on their machine saying that we definitely wanted the dogs back and to please not euthanize them and to please call me as soon as possible.

When T. returned from Kerrville I told him about Ben and Gracie May and he got really mad. "What in the world is wrong with those people? Nance, we thought they were great people. I swear people make me sick that do that...." After a long discussion we started calling friends to see if any of them could pick up the dogs for us but no one answered their phones.

Early Saturday morning I called Town Lake and was able to speak to a nice woman about our dogs. I told her that I was trying to find someone to pick them up for us but had not had any luck so far. She promised me that Ben and Gracie were safe and they would hold them until we could get them.

I haven't found anyone that can do it yet, but I think by tomorrow morning it will all be worked out. I couldn't find a picture of Gracie May but here is a picture of Ben Stiller one of the sweetest dogs that I have ever known.


Today has been quiet thank goodness. After walking six miles with Leslie this morning I have spent most of the day winding up my book. I only have about an hours work to be done with it and then I will send it off  and get it published at last.

This evening I took a break from my book and I looked out the window and could not believe what I saw outside our front yard. I grabbed my camera and took a shot of it and then I half-hollered down the hall, "Tony! Grab your camera! There is a Bald-headed Eagle outside!" Within seconds Tony had his camera in hand and was looking out the window at the Eagle. 

Before he could shoot it—it flew away. "Nance, that was not a Bald-headed Eagle. I think it was an Osprey or a..." After a very short argument we agreed to disagree. Here is the picture that I took of the "Bald-headed Eagle." Can any of y'all help us identify what kind of bird it is?

It is nine-fifteen and time for me to go to bed. After we get Ben and Gracie back tomorrow or Tuesday, I can't wait to go over to the Carpenter's ranch to check out the new/used trailer that I get to remodel!

Y'all have a great evening!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

We Love Republic Harley-Davidson In Stafford, Texas!

It is nine-twenty and Tony and I just walked inside the trailer. This evening Kinky invited us to go to the Medina Library Spring Fling to celebrate the newly completed landscape beautification project because he was asked to do a talk and visit with the visitors attending the celebration and we really enjoyed ourselves.

When we arrived at six-thirty it was forty-three degrees outside and the wind was howling down Main Street. As T. and I walked to the library a big fancy black truck pulling a big fancy trailer passed by us and our jaws dropped. "Tony!" I said. "That was Craig Slovak of Republic Harley-Davidson down in Stafford, Texas that just went by!" (Craig's Republic Harley-Davidson is the dealership in Stafford that is doing a "Ride for Harley-Ray" rally on April 24th to help our rescue ranch."

"I know, Nance," Tony said as we waved at the truck that was turning around down by the Old Timer and was now heading our way. As we stood in the middle of the road of downtown Medina on Highway 16 Craig pulled up to us and stopped and he quickly introduced us to his beautiful wife Mary and then we talked briefly before Craig parked his fancy rig that now has our logo on the trailer.

Craig and Mary had come up to the library event so they could get some pictures of Kinky sitting on the "Kinky" custom Harley that they are going to raffle off in October with all of the proceeds going to our rescue ranch to help our dogs. We love these people! Then Kinky arrived. Here are some pictures that T. and I took of the pickup and trailer and the beautiful custom "Kinky" Harley. The last picture is of Gina who works for Craig posing on the soon to be "Hog for Dogs."

The back fender



The side tank. Please note how the artist painted smoke around the artwork.




And here is our friend Gina who is maybe going to adopt a dog from us ready to go for a ride with Kinky.

I am pooped and fixin' to go to bed because it is nearly ten o'clock. 

Y'all have a great evening!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

But Not To Brag!

Today has been so much fun! This morning Tony woke me up at six-thirty so I could do the Harley Show at 7:45. At seven-thirty-two the phone rang and it was Rick Reichenbacher down in Port Aransas. "Good morning, Cousin Nancy. I've got everybody down in Port A. ready to watch the Harley Show and it is not up on the internet."

"I know, Rick. I just logged on and it is not on."

"Maybe you should call Harley and let him know..." After hanging up the phone I called the Rose 99.9.

"Good morning, this is Rick."

"Hi, Rick. This is Cousin Nancy. I know that I am calling in early but..."

"Hi, Cousin Nancy. I'm doing the show for Harley this morning because he had to go to San Antonio to be at..."

"Rick, I just got a call from Rick, a good friend of mine down in Port A. and he told me that y'all's live web cam is down..." Two minutes later the live web cam was online and I was talking to Rick live. After telling Rick that Marlin was Harley's Pet of the Week I said, "Rick, would you mind if I did a shout out to all of my friends in Port Aransas?"

"Go right ahead, Cousin Nancy," Rick said.

"I want to do a shout out to Rick and Leisa and Pete and Kelly. And I want to say congratulations to Leisa's little dog Squirt, that she adopted from their pound down there. Squirt is now officially the fastest dog in Port Aransas." Rick laughed and we had a fun on-air visit.

After walking six miles with my friend Leslie Sansone my sister Cindy called me. She wanted to know if today was a good day for her and her husband Ray to come down from Austin for a visit. And of course my answer was yes.

While our great volunteers: Meghan, Matt and Lisa helped Tony outside with his chores, Ben Welch was busy mowing the tall grass, while I cleaned up the trailer.

When Cindy and Ray arrived at noon our trailer looked like we didn't live here thank goodness for  Hazel. We had so much fun.

I played the drums for them on my new/used electronic digital drum kit and then they took turns banging on the drums and they loved it. Then T. showed them his portable Photo Booth and we all laughed as Tony popped it open and then broke it down in the front yard.

When we came inside the trailer Ray wanted to check out the score on his old alma mater, Villanova which was playing in the March Madness college basketball tournament. With only ten minutes left to play Villanova was behind and Ray was sick that it wasn't being televised so I went to my laptop sitting on the kitchen table and typed in cbssports.com and found the game for him.

As Ray and Tony watched the game inside Cindy and I went into Outer Space and we had a great visit and caught up with each other's news. Minutes later Ray came outside and came into Outer Space to tell us that the game was tied and had gone into overtime, then he went back inside the trailer to watch the game with Tone.

A few minutes later Ray and Tony came outside. "Villanova won!" Ray said and all of us were glad because he and their son Adam, had bought tickets to watch the playoffs in Houston next week. Then we went into the Space Ship and they loved the breakfast nook that I had built awhile back. Then we came back inside the trailer and took turns drumming. "I love this! I'm going to watch Craig's List and get us one," Cindy declared as she happily pounded away on the drum kit. She was pretty good, but not to brag she wasn't as good as me.

My sister and Ray left around four o'clock this afternoon and I hated to see them leave because we were having so much fun. Around six o'clock I went over to the Lodge and had a nice visit with Will and Kinky.

P.S. I loved the movie "Precious!"

Y'all have a great evening!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Precious!

This morning I overslept and I woke up at the new eight o'clock. My knee was aching this morning and I had a lot of paperwork to do so I skipped walking with Leslie. As of right now I am only one mile behind my schedule of walking five miles everyday.

I spent most of the day doing paperwork and around five o'clock Tony and I went over to the Lodge and had a nice visit with him and then we came home. It was a quiet day and that's about all of the news that I have.

I am fixin' to watch the movie "Precious" while T. watches a Spurs game. Happy Birthday, Katelyn!

Y'all have a great evening!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

Last night right after I posted my blog the phones went dead and so did everything else that was unplugged into the walls because of all of the thundering and lightning outside. After twiddling my thumbs for ten minutes I asked Tone if he would mind if I played my drums, but he didn't answer so I went down the hall and asked him again, but he said nothing until he saw me standing there. After he removed the earplugs out of his ears I asked him again and he said it was fine because he was listening to his iPod with his earplugs. So I banged away on the electronic drum pad kit for over an hour in the big room and then I went to bed.

Today has been great and filled with many nice surprises. My first surprise this morning was that I woke up early at six o'clock without using my alarm clock and Tone was more surprised than me. I guess that I have finally adjusted to the new time change and I'm not going to look back.

My second surprise came five minutes after I had walked six miles with Leslie when Kinky called and said, "Nance, you and Tony need to come over to the Lodge because there is a four-legged dog over here that just arrived and she really wants to see y'all." When I asked Kinky who it was he wouldn't tell me or give me a clue.

When Tone and I pulled up to the Lodge we knew immediately who it was when Angel ran up to greet us! We rescued Angel, eleven years ago when she was just an eight or nine week old pup. As you know, Kinky, Tony and I started the rescue ranch twelve years ago on my mini-ranch in Utopia. A few months after we had started our rescue ranch a friend of mine from Utopia came over to see us and she was real upset because she had just rescued a puppy from being intentionally drowned in the Sabinal River.

She told us that she had been in the park in Utopia and saw some young boys throwing something out into the river and laughing so she went to check it out. As she walked towards the kids to see what they were doing she saw a puppy fighting for its life and swimming back to them. Then she watched them pick up the puppy and throw it back into the river again. She told us that she screamed at the boys and then she jumped into the river and rescue the poor pup. To say the least—Tony and I were shocked. Then our friend went to her truck and returned with the pup and asked us if we could take it. "Yes," I said. "And her name is Angel."

A month later she was adopted to one of Kinky's friends. After a fun visit with Kinky and Angel this morning, Tony and I returned to the rescue ranch.

This afternoon after lunch Tony and I decided to go to Walmart to get some supplies. While I waited on him to finish plowing I decided to return another phone call and I am glad that I did because that was my third surprise! When I got off of the phone T. asked me who I had been talking to. "That was Susie. She told me that they want Clark Kent back because their grandson, Marcus is missing him so badly. I told Susie that we were heading to Kerrville and we are going to meet them in the Walmart parking lot so they can pick up Clark and surprise Marcus. I am so happy for Clark Kent! He's going home!"

When T. put Clark Kent in the back seat of Buttermilk he seemed to know exactly what was going on before I even told him. I love that little low-rider so much and I told him how lucky he was. "You are lucky because you were rescued by Karen, then you came here and got adopted quickly and now you are going home to Marcus! And..." Twenty-four miles later Clark Kent was in Ron and Susie's pickup wagging his tail excitedly.

When we went into Walmart Tony and I turned on our cell phones and went different directions. As I was looking at tablecloths my phone rang—it was Tone. "Nance, you need to come to electronics right now because someone wants to see you." I asked T. who it was as I pushed my cart towards the electronics, but he wouldn't tell me.

"Oh my god, Maribeth! It is so good to see you!" I said as I hugged my dear friend from Utopia. Tony and I had a really fun visit with her and we caught up with each others news. Twenty minutes later we said our goodbyes to Maribeth and we finished up our shopping and came home.

My last surprise for today was beating Kinky in a game of pool tonight. Yes, I won because he sunk the eight ball in the wrong pocket and I only had one ball left on the table. Tony told me that he was proud of me as we drove home. "As of right now, Nance, you are the Champion Pool Player of Echo Hill."

P.S. I want to do a shout out to Christian in Hanoi! Please tell Marcie I said hi!

Y'all have a great evening!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Austin!

6:22 PM: Tonight's post might be cut short because of the possibility of thunderstorms so I am will type faster than fast in case I have to unplug.

This morning I overslept. I got up at seven-thirty (which used to be six-thirty) so instead of walking the eight miles I had planned to walk this morning I only walked six. It just thundered outside! More later...

7:10 PM:  It is raining outside and the thunder is far away for now. After walking the six miles, Tony's sister, Annie from New Braunfels, arrived so they could spend some time together and take pictures in Kerrville and out on the ranch.

After they took off for Kerrville, Lisa and Meghan arrived to do Tony's chores for him so he could be with Annie. Matt wasn't able to come out because he had something that he needed to take care of. Around eleven o'clock I went outside and I had a fun visit with L&M and they asked me to do another shout out to their friend Mark in Mississippi. Mark in Mississippi still Rocks!

Around one o'clock I went to Medina to meet up with Tony and his family at the Apple Cider Mill to eat lunch and I had a lot of fun. After we ate we went outside and visited by Buttermilk—then the funniest thing happend.

As we talked Stacie who is Tony's brother Sam's wife suddenly waved and said to a young kid on a bike that was passing by us, "Hi, Austin!" and then then we heard a loud thud. Austin tried to wave at Stacie but he lost his balance and ran into the back bumper of the fancy white SUV parked next to Buttermilk. Then Austin walked up to us laughing about his stupid accident and we laughed with him. Then he pedaled off down Main Street.

As we laughed and teased Stacie about causing Austin to wreck his bike the alarm system on the SUV went off and blasted out a good drum beat and then it stopped. "I wonder what set that off?" I asked.

"I think she did," Stacie whispered, "there are two women inside the SUV." I looked but the windows had a dark tint and I could not see them. After hugs and handshakes as we were leaving a man walked out of the Apple store and a woman got out of the SUV. As I crossed the street to get to Trigger I heard the man calmly say to his wife, "It's no big deal. We can put some touch up paint on it." But she didn't sound too happy about that.

When Trigger and I arrived back at the rescue ranch Tony and Annie were just getting out of Buttermilk, and Sam, Stacie and Zachary were right behind me in their pickup. We all went into Outer Space. When I told them about the man coming out of the store and what he said to his angry wife Stacie said, "I saw a three or four inch gash where the paint was removed from the bumper on our way to our truck. Austin's bike didn't have rubber grips on the handlebars..." We were all surprised to hear her news.

"As Tony and I pulled out of the parking lot I saw the woman writing down the rescue ranch's phone number," Annie said. "Why? It's not our fault that Austin crashed..."

"They probably just want their insurance man to call us so we can verify that Austin accidentally lost control of his bike," I said.

Around four o'clock T. and I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky. Ten minutes into our conversation I suggested that Kinky and Tony shoot a game of pool and they liked my idea. The game was very close. Kinky would sink two balls then Tone would sink two balls, etc. Near the end it got more tense and Kinky jokingly said, "I'm fixin' to kick some major butt."

"Major Butt could be Tony's new nickname!" I said as Kinky missed his shot, because we were all laughing. Two minutes later:  The Medina Bulldog aka Major Butt —1! The Hummingbird Man —0. Yeah!

When we arrived back at the rescue ranch I had nine new phone calls to return and the last one I returned made me smile—it was our friend Ousie in Houston. Ousie and her husband Harry own a very popular restaurant in Houston called Ousie's Table and she had called to invite me to do a book signing at their fancy restaurant. "....I'm flattered that you have asked me to do a book signing at your restaurant. Ousie is y'all's restaurant in the middle of Houston?" I asked.

"Yes, it is," Ousie half bragged. Then I had to tell her about my fear of driving in big cities and getting lost all of the time and not sure that I could do it. "Get someone to drive you," Ousie suggested. "Harry and I really want to do a book signing for you. Your famous and your friend Kinky is infamous..."

After returning the last phone call for the day, Tone asked me if I could wash some red and white damp rags from his boat that were starting to mildew. An hour ago I put them into Queen Bee along with a little bleach and soap. Before putting them into the Airy Queen I took this picture of his pink and red rags. Sorry, Tony. I love you! I will buy you some new ones.
It is starting to rain and thunder again and I am fixin' to unplug everything.

Y'all have a great evening!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Item # 39683!

This morning I woke up early and was thrilled with myself until Tony told me that it was seven forty-five. "It would have been six forty-five yesterday...." I grumbled on about my dislike of Daylight Savings Time and how it was temporarily wrecking my life.

"I want to take you to breakfast at the Save Inn this morning," Tone said trying to cheer me up. "Go get dressed while I feed Lucky and the dogs."

When we arrived at Randy and Lisa's Save Inn Restaurant the parking lot was nearly full but we found a place to park near the street. After we sat down at the table that we always sit at, near the checkout counter our always friendly waitress came over and asked, "Coffee for Tony and tea for Cousin Nancy?" Tone and I shook our heads yes. When she took off to get our drinks T. and I talked about her always remembering what we like to drink and order. After she set our drinks down on the table she remembered what we always order for breakfast and we shook our heads yes again.

As I sipped on my tea I looked around the room full of people and saw Grace Atwood waving at me from a table across the room. I waved back and then Tone asked me who I was waving to. "Grace and Dick Atwood." Tony turned around and waved back to our friends and neighbors from Medina.

Near the end of our delicious breakfast Grace and Dick came over to our table to say hello before leaving the restaurant and we had a short but fun visit with them. When Tony went to pay the check we saw Lisa and had a short but fun visit with her too.

Before heading back to the ranch we went to H.E.B. to get a few groceries, but mainly to get the "C" batteries needed for our new Frontgate Atomic Digital Wall Clock with Caller ID and Weather Station that Carol and James gave to us.

When we got back home Tony helped me put the batteries into the sensors and the atomic clock weather station and then he went outside to work, and he left me in the kitchen so I could figure out how to program it so we could put it on the wall.

Fortunately the instructions were easy to follow, and I am proud to say that at ten forty-four I took this picture of our incredible Frontgate Atomic Wall clock with all its bells and whistles hanging on our wall in the big room!
After taking this picture I went back into the office and dialed our phone number from the fax machine and then I skipped to the big room to watch it show the phone number at the bottom where the date is. And it appeared on the second ring! I was thrilled! Once again, thank you, Carol and James for giving us the coolest Digital Wall Clock...ever made on this planet! I love it!

A few minutes later as I was admiring it the phone rang. On the second ring the bottom lit up with Kinky's telephone number so I picked up the handset.  

One minute later as I was driving Buttermilk out of the rescue ranch to go see Kinky I saw Tony in Dusty and Sandy's pen and told him that our new super-toy was working and hanging on the wall and that I could not wait for him to see it. 

While I was having a fun visit with Kinky in the kitchen I told him about the great gift that Carol and James had given to us. By the time I finished telling him how cool it was he told me that he wanted one too! And he asked me to go online and order one for him since he doesn't have a computer.

Around two o'clock which used to be one o'clock, I called Kinky and invited him to come over to see our the Atomic Digital Clock with... Five minutes later Tone went into the office and dialed our number as Kinky and I stared at it in the big room. When it showed our fax number Kinky was amazed and told me that he could not wait to get one. So I ordered him one as soon as he was out our front door. Then I went back to editing my book.

As of seven o'clock (which used to be six o'clock) I am proud to say that I have completed all of Sheryl's edits for the second time! I probably only have about five to six more hours of work before I can send it off to get it published! Yeah!

If anyone wants to order a Frontgate... like ours go to Frontgate.com.  The item number is: 39683 and it is on sale.

P.S. Yesterday I walked six miles and forgot to post it until today. And today I walked 0 miles. Tomorrow I plan to walk eight miles to make up for today. 

Y'all have a great evening!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Another Comma Coma!

Today was Open House and we had a few people come out to look at our dogs but unfortunately, no one went home with one of our super dogs.

In-between the visitors I worked on my book until I realized that I was sliding into another one of my self-induced "Comma Comas" brought on by the removal of the countless commas that I had sprinkled on every page in my book. Please note: I did not use one comma in the last sentence and I am seriously thinking about never using a comma in anything that I write from here on out. I am convinced that it would be much faster and easier on me if I just let my next editor tell me where to insert a comma.

After I deleted the last comma for today I closed the lid on my laptop and set my book aside and I tried to think of something fun to do outdoors because it was so pretty outside—then it hit me. "Tone!" I half-hollered down the hallway. "Will you help me give Mama and Abbie a bath outside?" Then I heard the sound of silence so I repeated my request a little bit louder. There was no response so I went down the hall to Tone's office. He was sitting at his desk busily planting and plowing (nothing) on his Facebook farm. "T. could I get you to help me wash Mama and Abbie, please?"

"Give me two minutes. I've got to harvest some strawberries and then I will help you. Okay?"

Ten minutes later we were in our backyard giving Mama a bath which she made real clear to us that she did not want, by constantly shaking off the suds and water. As soon as we were done with her bath she ran around the yard rolling in the dirt and fresh cut grass to show her disapproval. By the time we were done with Abbie's bath, Tone and I were soaking wet and Mama's coat was green because her coat had collected all of the dead grass and weed cuttings from my last mowing. "Looks like Mama has turned into a Green Great Pyrenees, Tone!" I said. "And green is good for the planet."

When we came back inside the trailer Carlton was flashing! Carol had called at three fifty-four and she wanted to know if she and James could come over because they had something that they wanted to give to us. While I changed into some dry clothes T. returned Carol's call.

Ten minutes later Tony and I were outside greeting them as I wondered what was in the box that James was carrying. "I really like your pink overalls, Nancy," James said as the four of us went into Outer Space. James handed the box to me and they said, "This is a gift from James and me," Carol said as she and James were smiling ear to ear. "Open it."

Tony helped me open the big white box and I about fainted when I saw the Frontgate Atomic Digital Wall Clock with Caller ID and Weather Station! I couldn't believe it and neither could Tone! "Oh my God!" I said in total shock. "I love it, y'all! Tone it is just like theirs. Can you believe this, Tony?" Now all of us were grinning ear to ear. "Y'all this is too much! You shouldn't have..."

"We wanted you to have one too," Carol said. "We love ours and we love y'all."

Talk about flabbergasted—I was so excited about their super-gift I didn't know if my heart could take it and I was glad that I had taken a third aspirin an hour earlier after being in a "Comma Coma." "We love y'all too. Thank you, so much!" I said as T. carefully read the instruction manual.

After we talked about how cool the Atomic digital wall clock with Caller ID and weather station I went inside and brought out my new, used Yamaha electronic drum pad kit and sticks to show to Carol and James so Carol could drum on it. "I really like your pink drumsticks, Nancy," James said as I handed Carol my pretty, pink feathered sticks so she could drum on it.

"James, Nancy's favorite color is pink," Tony said. "As if you couldn't tell."

"Y'all, I haven't played the drums since I was in the fifth grade," Carol said. Then she did a few rumpa-pump-pums on the drum pads and she was really good. After that we talked about how excited we were that Lorri Park was coming out next weekend to visit Carol and James, with her new Californian boyfriend and then we talked about Maya, Carol's magical horse, and how well her training was going. Then the topic changed to their chickens and eBay. Then they had to leave so they could get home and put up their chickens.

Today turned out to be really fun and I want to thank and do a big shout-out to our good friends Carol and James. Thank you, Carol Vail and James Nash—Y'all Really Rock in my and Tony's book and we love you!

I'm fixin' to "hit the hay" early tonight and I have decided to not deal with the time change tonight and will reset all of my clocks tomorrow so I won't feel guilty about oversleeping tomorrow morning. And tomorrow after we get some "C" batteries for our new Atomic clock I will take a picture of it and post it tomorrow night.

Y'all have a great evening!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Today Was Great But I'm Taking Tonight Off!

Today was great, but I'm taking tonight off. I want to thank our wonderful volunteers for coming out today to walk our dogs: June, Ellen Eileen, Jim, Lisa and Matt! We love you and cannot thank y'all enough for all you do for our super dogs! You're the Best!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Where's The Chair!

This morning at seven forty-five I called The Rose at 99.9 to do The Harley Show and it was so much fun. Randy Sanders of The Save Inn Restaurant was in the studio with Harley and we had a fun time. When Harley asked me to tell Randy the Eternal Squirrel story we couldn't quit laughing. And today Ms. Sparky was Harley's Pet of the Week.

After breakfast I walked six more miles and then I went outside to say hello to all of the dogs and to Lisa, Meghan and Matt. After I had petted every dog and told them that I loved them and their tails wagged, Lisa drove up as they were leaving and she told me that she loved my baby pink overalls that I was wearing with my matching pink Crocs and ecru colored turtleneck, and she wanted to know where I bought my overalls. "Thank you, Lisa. I also have a lavender pair too and you can't buy them—you have to make them pink. Go to Gibson's and buy the white painters overalls and some baby pink dye. It is really easy to dye them and..."

After Team L&M drove away, a pickup entered the rescue ranch as I was walking up to the trailer. I knew who was coming in so I threw a rock at the trailer so Tony would come outside and help me put Clark Kent into a pen.

Yesterday Susie called to tell me that they loved Clark Kent but they had to return him because he was taller than Marcus when he stood up on his hind legs and Marcus was scared of him when he jumped up on him. They were sick about having to return Clark to us. They felt that Marcus needed a much smaller dog. And she told me that Clark Kent was one of the best dogs that they had ever had. "He's a perfect dog."

When Clark Kent got out of the pickup his tail was wagging wildly when he saw us and then Tony took Clark to a pen while Ron gave me Clark's paperwork, toys, bowls and heart worm medicine. After Ron drove off I went to Clark's pen where he was playing with Tone. "He's happy and is going to be fine, Nance," Tony said as Clark kissed him repeatedly on his cheek. We love that dog.

After lunch while I was outside visiting with Clark Kent‚ Jon Wolfmueller called and left a message for me. When I came back inside I listened to Jon's message, "Nancy, Donna "The Drummer" Schloss was just in here. She bought a ukulele next door at Hill Country Music and she asked me to call you and tell you that she hopes that you will take the beginner's ukulele class with her at three oclock today." Then he started laughing and said, "Call me."

I thought about it for a minute and then I half-hollered down the hall, "Tone! I want to take that ukulele course with Donna. What do you think? "

"Do it!" Tone softly yelled back as he was doing farm work. So I picked up the phone and punched in Wolfmueller's Books phone number and Jon answered the phone. He laughed when I told him that I was going to take the one hour class and then he suggested that I call Hill Country Music next door to them to see if they had anymore ukuleles.

After Jon gave me the music store's phone number I called Randy at Hill Country Music. "Hi, Randy. This is Cousin Nancy. Jon Wolfmueller just called me and told me that Donna "The Drummer" Schloss, who I guess is now going to be called Donna "The Uke" Schloss was just in there and she bought a ukulele from you. I have decided to take the class with her and I need to buy a uke from you too. Can you please tell me the prices of your ukuleles?"

We arrived at Wolfmueller's Books at two-fifteen and thirty seconds later Sandy, Tony and I were next door in the music store. "Randy," Sandy said. "Cousin Nancy needs to buy a ukulele from you."

As Randy shook hands with me a man standing at the counter said, "Well hello, Cousin Nancy! I'm T-Bone. I work with Harley over at the Rose and..." So I shook his hand too. Then Randy showed me his cheapest ukulele and I told him that I liked it and would take it. After writing him a check for $98.72 Sandy, Tony and I left the store and returned to Wolfmueller's Books. Then Sandy gave us directions to where the ukulele class was being held and Tone and I took off for Copies Plus to pick up his new postcards because we had a little time to kill.

While Tony was inside Copies Plus I stayed inside Buttermilk and quickly studied the ukulele chord chart because I had forgotten the chords because I haven't played a uke since I was seven or eight years old. When Tony walked out of Copies Plus he was wearing a big grin on his face. When he got into Buttermilk he said, "They turned out great! Look!" I "looked" as he drove me to my class on Guadalupe Street. His postcards were absolutely beautiful and I told him so. He is such a great photographer.

My one hour ukulele class was so much fun and Betty, the instructor was a great teacher. And Donna sat next to me with her new pineapple shaped ukulele! Before the class began Betty asked all of us to introduce and tell everyone about ourselves and it was hilarious. Several of the senior citizens were retired lawyers from Houston with great sense of humors and one woman was a retired Private Investigator etc. When it was my turn I said, "My name is Nancy and I am the Executive Director for the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch and I..."

"You're Cousin Nancy!" several people said and I shook my head yes and then I turned about five shades of red and then I continued on. Then it was Donna's turn, and then we started strumming. By the end of the fun class I thanked Betty and told her how much I had enjoyed it, and told her that I would be coming back.

We had a surprise waiting for us when we returned to the rescue ranch. As we pulled up to the trailer I said, "Oh My God, Tony! Look where your  Photo Booth is!" Then we started laughing. The gusting winds had blown it about seventy feet and it was laying on its side— rocking back and forth outside our front yard fence near the Eternal Squirrel.

Here is a short one minute and forty-two second video clip of Tony's Mobile Photo Booth Blowing In The Wind.  And this one is a funny thirty-four second video where Tony asks me, "Where's the chair?"

Y'all have a great evening!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Garmina Lied!

Today has been really great even though I am already starting to stress out about the upcoming time change this weekend, because I am going to have to use an alarm clock for the next few weeks and I dislike waking up to alarms of any kind.

This morning after walking six miles with Leslie Sansone and her upbeat crew, I wanted to get a little more exercise, so I decided to cut the tall grass in our backyard. I decided to use the weed-eater because the grass and weeds were way too high for the lawnmower to tackle.

Forty minutes later I was once again covered in grass and looked like an old Chia Pet that should be thrown away and I was almost blind and could barely see because my bifocals were covered with grass and weeds and they looked like Tony's camouflaged Photo Booth. After I had beat the yard back down to where I could barely see the ground, I turned off Mary Jane and went to visit with Lisa because she, Meghan and Matt were fixin' to leave and head back to Kerrville.

After eating Tony's favorite meal for lunch, cornbread and beans, I checked my e-mail and nearly screamed with delight when I read Donna "The Drummer" Schloss' note! She wanted to know if today would be a good day for her friend J. D. and me to meet at her home so he could give me his electronic drum pad kit. After shooting a few e-mails back and forth we decided to meet at one forty-five for the passing of the drum kit and I couldn't wait to receive.

When Tony and I took off for Kerrville I pulled Garmina out of the glove box and typed in Donna's address. Garmina told me that our arrival time at Donna's house would be at one thirty-seven so I sat back and enjoyed the ride knowing that Garmina would get us there without us getting lost or so I thought.

When we entered Donna "The Drummer" Schloss' neighborhood Garmina told us to take a right and then after passing a few homes she told us to stop because we had arrived at our destination. "Tony this is not Donna's address. Garmina is wrong!"

"Nance, Garmina is never wrong and you know that. I bet you typed in the address wrong."

"No, I didn't. Look. Garmina lied! I swear you just can't trust anyone..." I then handed Tony the GPS and he checked the address and he acknowledged that Garmina was a liar or dumber than a rock or was just having a bad day, so we drove down the street until we found the mailbox that matched the address that I had written down on a pink index card. Then to make sure before getting out of Buttermilk I called Donna from my cell phone to make sure that we were at her house. Then she walked outside to greet us with Misha, her sweet black Labrador mix.

We had a really fun visit with Donna as we waited for J.D. to arrive, while Misha took turns letting us pet her as she gave out kisses. When J.D. arrived he was carrying my soon-to-be Yamaha electronic drum pad kit along with the instruction manual!

After a nice visit with J.D. and Donna, J.D. turned on the drum kit to show me how it worked. It was AC/DC and had a built in metronome and came with a recorder and it was loaded with all kinds of cool effects and I couldn't wait to get it home so I could bang on it to my hearts desire. After I thanked J.D. for giving me his electronic drum pad kit I said, "And Tony really wants to thank you. He is not a lover of drums and he has already told me that I have to pound it inside my writing cabin with the windows closed." Donna,  and J.D. laughed and understood exactly where T. was coming from.

When we got home Tony inserted the batteries for me and then he turned on the drum pad kit and I went to banging on it with my pretty, pink feathered drumsticks as Tony, Lucky and the dogs watched. After my first ten minute thump I handed my sticks to Tone and he went to drumming on it and he really sounded good for a first timer. "Tony, you're a natural!" I declared as he pounded away. When I turned on my camera to take a short video clip of him drumming, he stopped and handed my sticks back to me because he is camera shy. Then he grabbed his camera and went outside to his Photo Booth.

I played the drums for over an hour and had a total blast! Tomorrow Thumper, the name I gave to my new used electronic drum pad kit will be moving outside permanently to my writing cabin and I hope to spend some quality time out there from here on out. Thank you Donna "The Drummer" Schloss for hooking J.D and us up! And thank you J.D. for giving me the coolest electronic drum pad kit! I'm going to send Jon and Sandy at Wolfmueller's Books an e-mail to ask them to please give you a signed copy of my book, that I will pay them for later. And I hope that you will enjoy reading my book as much as I will enjoy Thumper!
P.S. Kinky won the bet on who would have the first hummingbird to arrive. Tonight when I went over to the Lodge as I was visiting with Frank I looked out the window and saw a beautiful little hummer filling up on red colored sugar water. I plan to call him tomorrow to let him know. Thank goodness we didn't bet money on it.

Y'all have a great evening!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Chia Pet!

We had so much fun last night with Sandy and Jon. When they arrived we invited them inside the trailer before going into Outer Space so we could show them my new laughing pig in motion. When Tony switched the on switch on my little pink pig he set it on the floor and it did exactly what it had done in my video clip and Sandy and Jon thought it was pretty funny.

After Tony turned it off, we told Jon that we wanted to show him how hard it is to turn the little pink thing off so Tone showed him where the on/off switch was located and then he turned the pig back on and handed it to Jon. We all laughed as we watched Jon try to turn it off as it wildly gyrated and laughed at him. It took over a minute for Jon to turn it off. "Now you know what I was going through," I said, "when I turned it on inside Buttermilk yesterday as we were heading home. You really have to wrestle with it..." Then we grabbed our drinks and went into Outer Space for a really fun visit.

One of the reasons I love Sandy and Jon is because they are so funny and they always make me laugh a lot, and last night my back started hurting from laughing so much. Before leaving I loaned them three of my favorite movies "Starsky & Hutch" starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, "Dan In Real Life" and "Up." The main reason that I am telling you this is to document the movies that I loaned out to them, just in case I forget who I loaned them to or they forget to return them—a common problem that many senior citizens share.

This morning after walking six miles with Leslie Sansone inside, I went outside to thank Lisa for coming out. Matt didn't come out today because he had something that he needed to take care of. I visited with our dogs as I walked to find Lisa. I finally found her in Dr. John's and Maggie's pen and then we had a really fun visit. As always Lisa was upbeat and she had me laughing in under a minute. During our "hen-party" Tone hollered from afar, "Slackers!" And then he drove up in Kermit and joined us.

Before I took off for the trailer I invited Lisa to come up to the house so I could show her my new pink pig toy and to get her to try to turn it off like we did with Jon. Five minutes later Lisa was laughing at my pig as it laughed and rolled around on the floor. "I have got to get one of these!" Lisa exclaimed. Then we put her to the test. We laughed as she tried to outsmart the stuffed toy and it only took her three minutes. So far for the fastest time to disengage the pig— Tony is in first place, Jon Wolfmueller is in 2nd place and Lisa is in 3rd place and since I have never been able to turn it off I am in last place. And tomorrow if Matt comes out we plan to put him to the test. I will keep y'all posted.

After Lisa left I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and we discussed the pros and cons of selling his pool table. Before leaving his Lodge we decided to put it on hold for a few days so that is where we are with that.

I spent the rest of my day doing paperwork. And I am proud to say that I am totally caught up with it until tomorrow! After I was done with the paperwork I checked my e-mail. I had over fifty new e's since this morning, but the one I was most interested in was from my friend Donna "The Drummer" Schloss! And if everything works out I might be getting my electronic drum pad tomorrow! AndI can't wait!

Around five o'clock this evening Tony and I went outside and we weed-eated our entire front-yard. Even though I mowed it just the other day—it has grown back so fast because of the rain, warm temperatures and sunshine.

When we finally turned our weed-eaters off T. teased me because I was covered in chopped-up pieces of green grass and weeds from head-to-boot and Tony wasn't, so I asked him why. "Nance, you need to hold it horizontal and not tilt it..." He said as he helped me wipe off the green stuff. "I wish I had my camera with me because you are totally green—including your glasses! You look like a Cousin Nancy Chia Pet." Then he started laughing. "You want me to get the hose?"

Before I end this post tonight, I want to do a shout-out tonight to "Mark in Mississippi" who I found out reads my blog! Thank you, Mark for reading it! Mississippi—Wow! A little birdie told me today that—You Rock!"

Y'all have a great evening!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Sure I'll Do It!

This morning after I walked six miles I went over to Kinky's for a short visit. When I told him about trying to sell one of his books on eBay he had a light bulb moment. "Nance, why don't you sell my pool table on eBay and sell it?" Kinky said with enthusiasm. "We could split it half and half..."

"Sure, I'll do it but are you sure that you really want to sell your pool table?"

"Yes. I have been thinking about selling it for the past two years..."

The thought of trying to sell Kinky's pool table for him excited me so I came home, grabbed my camera and then returned to the Lodge and shot his pool table and him so I could post the pictures to show people Kinky's pool table. This is the picture I took of him.

When I got home I did paperwork and returned phone calls and then made lunch. After lunch Tony went to Kerrville to pick up his postcards at Copies Plus and then swing by Koyote Ranch to see if they wanted to buy any to sell, while I spent over two hours on the Internet checking prices on used pool table and talking back and forth on the phone to Sandy and Jon at Wolfmueller's Books about selling Kinky's pool table on eBay.

When Tone came home he had great news to tell me. "Nance, the man at Koyote Ranch loved my postcards and he bought ten of each! And he told me that he would be reordering more real soon!" I was thrilled for Tony and told him so. I love his photography.

About an hour ago the phone rang—it was Jon. "Hi, Nancy. It's Jon."

"I know, Jon. I have Calller ID. What's up?"

"Sandy and I wanted to know if it would be okay if we came out to the rescue ranch after we close."

"That sounds great, Jon! I'm glad that you called because I need to go take a shower." Jon laughed. "I can't wait to show you my new toy pig that laughs and moves. I promise that it will make y'all laugh out loud and..."

"We've seen it. We watched your video..." As soon as we hung up, I lit a stick of my Naga Champa incense and then jumped into the shower.

Well it's nearly five-twenty and Sandy and Jon should be arriving out here in about twenty minutes and I am sure that we will have fun tonight! As soon as I put Kinky's pool table up on eBay I will let y'all know so you can go check it out.

Y'all have a great evening!