A Woodpecker Picnic!

Today has been so much fun—thank goodness, since yesterday was NOT. This morning I got up real early after sleeping like a log and I wasn't depressed at all. After feeding Mama, Abbie, Thunder, Little Girl, Hank, Toto and Lucky the cat I walked ten miles, again! Then Tony came home from the Old Timer and we did breakfast. He ate oatmeal with blueberries and I drank a super healthy smoothie.

After Tone went outside to do his morning chores I went over to the Lodge with my favorite ceramic turtle designed mug for some of Kinky's delicious Kona coffee and a visit. As I left the ranch in Buttermilk I saw T. in a pen feeding Mr. Rogers and Miss Dee and told him I would be back in about fifteen minutes or less. Little did I know I was lying.

When I arrived at the Lodge, Kinky was on the phone talking to his little sister Marcie so I waved and then poured myself some coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. When Kinky was done talking to Marce he handed me the phone and she and I had a fun conversation.

When I was done talking to Marcie I handed the phone back to Kinky and they started talking about seeing Dr. Kervorkian on the Larry King show. When they were done talking Kinky hung up the phone and he and I talked about Kervorkian. "I saw him on the Bill Maher show, Kink and he was great. He is a hero of mine. I don't get it? How come it is considered humane and the right thing to do to put our old, suffering pets to sleep, so they will be out of their misery, but it's not okay to do it for people? It makes no sense to me..."

After we talked about Kervorkian we refilled our mugs with coffee and went outside to visit by the Friedman Family Bone Orchard. After Kinky watered all of his plants he sat down in a chair and I leaned on a post near the Hummingbird feeders and we discussed our dreams that we have had lately with our parents being in them. "Nance, the first thing that Tom said to us in the hospital after he had his heart attack was, "What time is my appointment with Dr. Kervorkian?" And we started laughing uncontrollably as The Friedmans, his dogs Brownie and Chumley stared nervously at us.

When I had finally quit laughing about what his father had said I told Kinky about the pot on the drain board that had mysteriously moved across the kitchen counter yesterday. "I'm sure it was either my parents or that poltergeist that hangs around in our trailer. It was really cool." Kinky smiled and then took a sip of his coffee.

"Oh and get this, Kink!" I continued. "This morning before Tony went outside to do his chores he came into the big room and said, "Nance, thank you so much for fixing my clock."

"What? What clock? I didn't fix any clock. What are you talking about?"

"You didn't fix my clock?" Tony said. "That's really weird, Nance. Three or four days ago the battery went dead on the wall clock in my office. I've been meaning to fix it, but I kept forgetting to. Anyway, this morning while I was doing some farming on my computer I looked up at the clock and it was working and it had the correct time.  I mean it was right on time. You swear you didn't fix it?"

"I swear, Tone," I said. "I'll bet it was our poltergeist or Mom or Dad." Kinky nearly choked on his coffee and he tried not to laugh and then he changed the subject to about us dying and having our ashes scattered over the Friedman Family Bone Orchard.

"I hope that I just have a big heartattack and it's over right then and there," I said. "But with my luck a snake will probably kill me." Kinky burst out laughing!

When he finally quit laughing he stood up from his chair, threw what was left of his cold coffee on a beautiful, large plumeria plant that 'Rick the Friendly Lighthouse Keeper' and Leisa had given to him a few years back and then he says, "That's great, Nance. Your obituary will probably read something like this: "Here lies Cousin Nancy. The only woman in Texas to ever die from a Garter snake bite even though they aren't poisonous." We both started laughing.

Two hours later I was back inside the trailer cooking up some shrimp quesadillas for lunch for Tony, Kinky and me and I am proud to say that they were absolutely delicious—just ask T. or Kinky.

Late this afternoon Buttermilk took us to Kerrville to run two errands. Our first stop was at Wolfmueller's Books so we could visit with Sandy and Jon and so I could buy another copy of Tom D. Wells' fantastic book, Drop-Ins so I could mail it out on Monday to my sister Cindy to read. I really love that book and all of y'all need read it!

After I paid for Tom's book we had a fun visit with Sandy and Jon in their bookstore as several customers took turns buying books. Before we left their famous bookstore they invited us to come over for a visit after we did our grocery shopping at H.E.B.

After speed-shopping at H.E.B. Buttermilk took us over to the Wolfmueller's home and we had a blast to say the least! We sat outside on their beautiful, covered patio which they call "The Twilight Zone" listening to Robert Earl Keen sing followed by Alison Kraus on their Bose iDock.

As we admired their beautiful plants and the pretty Woodpeckers busily eating suet nearby from a tree, they told us about the plants history and the birdseed they use. Then Jon suddenly got up from the table and left us. When he returned he handed Tony a small birdseed package. "This is the best stuff, Tony. We get it from Birds Unlimited. It's called "Woodpecker Picnic." Tony looked at the package of suet.

"Jon, we have plenty of Woodpeckers at the rescue ranch," Tony said. " Nance, let's get some of this Woodpicker food at..." Sandy, Jon and I burst out laughing at his mispronounciation! And we teased T. until his face turned a bright red. Then we came home.

Y'all have a great evening! It's late and I've got to go to bed.