Sophie's Choice!

This morning I decided to take the day off from walking and catch up on some paperwork, which seems to be never ending. After two hours of boring work I decided to take a break and go over and visit with Marcie, before she flies back to Washington D.C. in the morning.

When I arrived I saw Mr. Green Jeans parked near the gate—Kinky was home. I heard the door of the Annex open. "Good morning, Cousin Nancy," Kinky's younger sister said to me. After a howdy and a hug she told me that Kinky had returned to the ranch last night, but it looked like he wasn't up yet, because the lights in the Lodge were not on. Then I saw Sophie standing at the door wagging her tail, so I let her out of the Lodge. After Sopapia greeted me with a wet kiss she took off to go take care of some business, while Marcie and I talked about the adorable Chihuahuas.

Marcie and I hadn't visited more than two minutes when the lights came on inside the Lodge. Kinky walked outside and said good morning to us and then he went back inside the Lodge and seconds later half-hollered, "Sophia had two accidents in the bathroom last night! Then we saw him go into the kitchen and grab some paper towels and then he disappeared. Marcie and I started laughing, but stopped quickly when Kinky came outside to dispose of the soiled towels. "She had diarrhea and it's a real mess and the Kinkster is not happy about it," he said, as he went back into the Lodge and grabbed the roll of paper towels and disappeared down the hall, again.

Once again, Marcie and I started laughing until Kinky came back outside with another load of paper towels. Then Sophie came around the side of the Lodge and walked up to Kinky wagging her tail. "Good morning, Sopapia. You have got to quit doing this. I don't like getting up in the morning and having to clean up..." She jumped up on Kinky's leg so he could pet her.

"Maybe we should call her Sopa-diarrhea?" I joked. Kinky and Marcie started laughing as he petted the cute, little Cocker. Then Kinky invited us to come inside the Lodge for some coffee. While grinding some kona coffee beans he told us that he was going to make some New Orleans styled beignets and asked us if we wanted any. Marcie said, yes and I said, "No, thank you." Then we talked about Sophie's bathroom problem. "Kinky, I think it is the change in her diet," I said. "And, we need to teach her how to use the doggie door. Then it will be Sophie's choice."

As Kinky cooked his famous beignets in the skillet, Marcie and I took turns gently pushing
Sophie in and out of the doggie door. Marcie stayed inside and I was outside the door and we took turns calling Sophie and then shoving her through the door. After Sopapia had made several short trips in and out of the Lodge we praised her and then went back to the kitchen, because Kinky told us that the beignets were ready to eat.

Before serving his hot beignets Kinky sliced them in half and then we started visiting while they ate. At one point during our conversation Kinky went and got his Winston Churchill book out of his office and came back and read us one of Winston's famous quotes. Of course I can't remember Churchill's exact words that Kink read aloud to us, but it went something like this:
In most cases, when you have a problem—destiny will take care of it. But, if you know that you have given your best and done everything possible that you can do to solve the problem, but can't. You should sit back and find the patience to wait.

After Kinky read it to us he looked at us. "I like it," I said, and Marcie agreed with me as she ate another one of Kinky's beignets. Then Frank came inside the Lodge. While he was pouring himself some coffee Kinky read the quote to Frank and Frank liked it too. "Kinky, your beignets are good, but the next time that you cook some up you need to press them with a paper towel to remove the grease, before you add the powdered sugar." Kinky laughed.

"Thanks, Frank," Kinky said. "I like your suggestion and I will do that—if I can remember."

"I think we should start doing this every morning, before we all get busy," I said. "We could all come over to the Lodge real early in the morning and Kinky could read us a new quote or his thoughts for the day—like a daily devotional and then Frank could finish it off by doing a little cooking show. We could call it Kinky's Daily Words To Live By and Cooking With Frank. It would be fun!" Powdered sugar flew out of their mouths like puffs of smoke.

Then Tony walked inside the kitchen as we were all laughing. He grabbed a coffee mug and went to pour himself some coffee, but the well was dry, so to speak. Then Kinky offered him some beignets, unaware that they had all been eaten and there was just a paper towel covered with grease and powdered sugar. T. frowned as he opened up a bottled water and took a sip. "Thanks for saving me some," he laughed. "No coffee. No beignets—just water for the horses." Then we started teasing him.

"The beignets were really good this morning," Kinky said, with all of us agreeing.

"And the kona coffee was the best that I've ever had," Frank joked. "You would have loved it, Tony." We agreed, again.

"Tony, Kinky gave Sopapia, Brownie and Chumley the last of the beignets," Marcie said, "and they really liked them, too." Tony started laughing. When Tony and Frank took off to go feed the cows I left the Lodge to go home.

Right after Buttermilk and I had crossed the creek and were fixin' to go through the woods I saw Dylan in his beautiful, highly polished black, super cool 65' Mustang Fastback, so I  pulled Buttermilk off of the road and stopped so he could use it. We had a short, but fun visit and my last words to him were, "Please tell Sage hello for me."

P.S. It is now seven thirty-five and Tony has just walked inside the trailer. "I just caught a big, four pound bass and released it..."

"Did you take a picture of it, so you can prove it to Frank?" Tony, grinned and set his camera on the bookshelf.

Y'all have a great evening!