Welcome!

Today has been more than great!

This morning I got up real early and did my morning chores and walked four miles with Leslie Sansone, so I would be ready when our friend Jimmy, from San Antonio, arrived with his dog Chloe, that we were taking in, because he longer could keep her, due to his serious health issues.

Jimmy and Chloe arrived a little before eleven o'clock and the minute we met Chloe—we instantly fell in love with his sweet, eighteen-month-old dog, that Jimmy had rescued, a little over a year ago.

We first put Chloe in the alleyway between Maggie & LaToya and Laz's pen, in hopes that Laz would like her and get to know her through the fence, but that didn't happen, because Laz went into his doghouse and wouldn't come out. So, Tony them put Chloe in Laz's pen, so they could meet, as Jimmy visited with us and told us all about Chloe. "She's real smart and the sweetest dog. She is trained and she gets along great with dogs and cats. My vet told me that she is probably part German Shepherd and part Husky..."

Since Laz wouldn't come out of his doghouse, we decided to go up to the trailer, so we could do her paperwork, while T. stayed behind so he could keep an eye on them while he finished cleaning the rest of the dog pens.

Twenty minutes later, Tony came up to the trailer and told us, "Laz and Chloe are getting along great and have been playing non-stop..." And we were thrilled with his news. Then I asked Jimmy if he read the book, The Art of Racing In The Rain, and he told me he hadn't, so I told him a little about the book and how much Kinky, Tony, Eileen and I had enjoyed it and he seemed really interested and then I came inside the trailer, found the book and then went back outside. "Here, Jimmy," I said, as I handed him my copy of the book by Garth Stein. "I want you to have this and I promise that you will love it." After Jimmy thanked me for giving him the book, he thanked us for taking his super dog, Chloe and then he left.

After Tony and I ate lunch, he and Trigger took off for Kerrville to pick up some supplies and I stayed home, because our dear friend Patty Kearns, who is in town for a few days, was coming out for a visit. 

Ten minutes after T. left, the phone rang—it was Sherry, our sweet neighbor. "Nancy, I know that y'all are full out there, but there is this really sweet dog in town running around Medina, and I'm scared that he is going to get hit by a car. After checking around town. I found out that the he had belonged to some people and when they moved away—they deserted him. He's a Border Collie mix, about a year old and is very smart and he knows his commands. Anyway, I was..."

"We can take him, Sherry," I interrupted someone, for the second time today. Then we talked about making the arrangements to get him here.  At one-thirty Mama and Abby started barking to let me know that Patty was here, so I went outside to greet her. After howdies and hugs, we came inside the trailer and started chatting up a storm. 

A little before two o'clock, Mama and Abby started barking again, so I excused myself and went outside to the front porch to see who was here. OMG! It was Kent Perkins and his beautiful wife Ruth Buzzi! "Howdy y'all!" I half-hollered to them, as I opened the front door and asked Patty to please come outside. Then I went out the gate and it was howdies and hugs all over again. Then I introduced Patty to them and she could hardly speak, because she was in awe of Ruthie, and could not believe that she was meeting Ruthie and Kent.

"We brought you a present Cousin Nancy," Ruthie said, as Kent pulled it out of their car and handed it to me. 

"I absolutely love it! Look, Patty. Isn't it precious and look, the tail wags! Thank y'all, so much!" 

As Patty admired it and agreed with me that it was way too cute, Kent said, "The minute that we saw it, we both said, "We've got to get this. It has Cousin Nancy written all over it. And we were thinking that maybe you might want to put it out by the entrance to greet people..."

"Oh, no," I said, followed by a laugh. "I love it and I'm keeping it up here with me." Then the four of us went into Outer Space. 

The minute we sat down in the chairs, we were either laughing about this or laughing about that, because Kent and Ruthie are two hilarious people, and they had some of the most interesting and funniest stories to tell us. An hour into our more than fun visit, T. pulled up in Trigger, and then he went into Outer Space to join our fun. 

Besides laughing nearly non-stop, we talked about everything under the sun, including: Frank Sinatra, iPads, Kindles, their horses, bats, bees, birds, Belle Starr-Simons, recipes, our dogs, Florida, The Batman of Houston, Abilene, cats, Pat Paulson, tractors, art, the rescue ranch and Tony's photography, etc. So, to put it in a nutshell—I was having a blast!

Around four o'clock Patty told us that she needed to head back to Kerrtown, because tonight her father, Carlos, was going to teach her how to make his famous, delicious Mexican rice, and she needed to go to H-E-B to pick up the ingredients. 

None of us wanted Patty to leave our party, because we were having too much fun. And, even after Kent and Ruthie and us had hugged Patty goodbye, Ruthie said, "I hope that we get to see you again." And Kent agreed with her.

Around four-thirty, Kent and Ruthie told us that wanted to go over and see Kinky and before leaving they invited us to join them for breakfast in the morning and we told them we would be there. Then Tone took this picture and we hugged and they drove away in a cloud of dust, because we badly need rain.

After Tony admired my metal dog with a wagging tail, that they had given to me, we came inside the trailer and I told him about talking to Sherry and the poor dog that had been dumped in Medina, over four days ago. 

"I'm fine with that, but Nance, where are we going to put him?" Tony asked. "We don't have any space."

"Don't worry. I know it'll all work out." Then the phone immediately rang—it was the man who had brought us the Blue Heeler and the Weimaraner.

"I have some good news. My good friend, who has ten acres, wants to adopt Ziggy and Gonzo!..." And we were thrilled for his dogs getting a home, and happy that we would now have space for the Border that should be arriving any minute now. (It is six twenty-eight as I type this and Mama and Abby just started barking to tell us that Sherry's friend, Sara is coming in with the Border mix.) I'll be right back!

6:58 P.M. Okay, I'm back.

When Tony and I jumped into Kermit to go meet Sara, I said, "Tony, Sherry told me that the dog's name is Sebastian, but I want to change it, because of all that he has been through. This morning I got an e-mail from Eileen and she suggested that we name the next male dog that we bring in—Enzo, in honor of him. (Enzo is the sweet dog, in the book The Art of Racing In The Rain.) Okay?" Tony smiled and nodded yes, as we pulled up to Sara's car, with her and Sherry's cute son Gregory, sitting in the front seat and with Enzo standing up in the backseat—happily wagging his long, black, furry tail.

After greetings Sara and Tony took Enzo out of her car and because he was nervous and so excited, and with all of our dogs barking I quickly took this picture of him, but it does not serve him justice, because he is absolutely beautiful.

Once T. put Enzo into our big puppy pen, between Bandy & Mandy and Fred & Betty, Tony fed him, showed him how to use our "Lix-It dog waterers" and then gave him a few dog treats. We visited with Greg and Sara for a few minutes and talked about Enzo and what all that he has been through. After they thanked us for helping them rescue Enzo, they too, drove away in a cloud of dust. We hope that Enzo settles quickly into his new digs tonight, before we take him to Hoegemeyers tomorrow to get him neutered and his shots.

Today has been wonderful, with some unexpected pleasant surprises and now I am going to Amazon to order another copy of Garth Stein's book, The Art of Racing In The Rain and them I'm going to kick-back and watch a movie.

P.S. Patty, thank you so much for the beautiful note cards. I love them. And, I'm sorry that I forgot and didn't take a picture of you with Kent and Ruthie.

P.S.S. 7:49 P.M. Update: Patty just e-mailed me this picture of "Daddy's Rice." It looks delicious!

Y'all have a great evening!