Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Happy Birthday Fay McLachlan!

Tony and I want to be the first to wish our dear friend Fay McLachlan a Happy Birthday today! Fay is the sweet woman who adopted our giant, but sweet dog Kris Kristofferson from us, the one that we flew up to Toronto several years ago and she is also the woman who Kinky dedicated a song to her and sang to her for her birthday, last month when he appeared in Toronto.

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Fay. Happy Birthday to You! And many more. We love you as much as Kris loves you. Have a wonderful birthday!

Monday, May 30, 2011

It's All About Timing!

Today has been great, because we took the day off after Tony took care of his morning chores. Around eleven o'clock Marcie called while we were outside, so Carlton took her message. "Good morning, Nancy. I wanted to know if you would like to come over for a visit ..." Ten minutes later I arrived at the Lodge, but nobody was there including Brownie, Chumley and Sophie.

Figuring that Kinky and Marcie must have gone on a hike with The Friedmans, I decided to sit outside and wait for them to return. Fifteen minutes later Tone drove up in Kermit. After I told him about them probably going on a hike we decided to sit outside on the porch and wait for them.

Fifteen minutes later Kinky and Marce and the dogs returned to the Lodge and we had a good laugh about her inviting me to come over and then her taking off. "It's all about timing," I joked. Then we had a fun visit for ten minutes, because we needed to come home to eat lunch, but before leaving Marcie and I made some loose plans for me to come over and pick her up around three o'clock, so I could take her over to the rescue ranch so we could get a good visit in, but that didn't happen.

When I arrived at the Lodge Kinky came out to greet me because his sister was taking a nap inside the Annex and that's when Rambam drove up. I told Kinky that I was going to take off, but he asked me stay and visit with him and Steve until Marcie woke up, so I did.

I enjoyed visiting with Steve because he is a very interesting man. While Kinky was in his office talking on the phone Steve and I talked about my e-book that is now finally available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon, because when I was trying to figure it all out Rambam gave me some great, helpful tips on how to do it.

When Kinky got off of the phone Marcie walked into the Lodge and she and I laughed about our timing be off again, because she doesn't have a personal phone line to use. Even though Kink has offered for her to use his line anytime—neither of us want to bother him, so for us it is either hit or miss when we get to see each other and it has now turned into a funny game of luck.

This evening Tony printed out some of his pictures to show me and I especially loved the ones he took of Belle Starr-Simons, so I suggested that we go over to the Lodge to show them to Kinky and Marcie.


When we arrived at the Lodge we were greeted by Marcie, Rambam, Sage & Dylan and Kinky and we had a very fun visit in Kinky's kitchen. Everyone loved Tony's photos especially the ones of B.S.-S. and the ones he took of the Painted Buntings in our front yard, Duane, the Reddish Egret in Port Aransas, the horse and the Woodpecker. 


After a really fun visit with everyone Tone and I left after Sage & Dylan left, so I could write this blog. Then it's back to business tomorrow for me at the rescue ranch.

P.S. I just got off of the phone with a good friend from Utopia who needs to find a good home for a ten-year-old mama donkey and her three-year-old donkey daughter. They are sweet donkeys and the three-year-old is a paint. If y'all know of anyone who is looking for a pair of donkeys—please call me at the rescue ranch 830-589-7544.

Y'all have a great evening!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

I'm Cuter Than Kinky!

Today has been a lot of fun, which of course, makes it great. This morning our dear friend Carol came over for a very fun visit in Outer Space and we laughed so much I'm in the kitchen, sitting on Mari's pretty, pink-dyed sheepskin because my back is about to go out.

During her visit I told her about Eileen, June, Ellen and Lisa's fun visit yesterday and what all happened. "I wish that I could write about some of the funny stuff that goes on out here on my blog, but I can't because it's adult humor..."

Then Carol remembered to tell me about seeing our Medina friend, Mikie Baker aka Mikie Baker's Gone Country, "Nance, she wanted me to tell you about her new web site and the cute t-shirt that she is selling that says, "I'm Cuter Than Kinky" and for every t-shirt that she sells she is donating $5.00 to Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch because she loves you and Kinky and the rescue ranch."

"Wow, I didn't know about this, Carol. That is so sweet of her to want to help us. Ouch! #@%^&^%" I said, as Belle drew a little unwanted blood out of my index finger. "Dog gone it, Belle Starr-Simons! Sorry Carol. Come on Belle—It's Time Out for you. Come on," I said, as I escorted her out of Outer Space so she could go think about her bloody actions.

"As Belle sat and stared at Carol and me through the screened door, thinking about her vampire manners, Carol said, "I like Mikie. I think she is a great writer and her columns in the Bandera County Courier are hilarious and..." And I totally agreed with her.

After Carol left to go home Tony and I ate lunch and I must admit that Ms. B.S.-S. behaved beautifully, so Tony rewarded or maybe punished her, by taking her with him to go get the mail.

When they returned home T. declared, "Nance, I have good news! Belle didn't throw up once and you have a package from Mark and Denise. As Starr-Simons chewed on Eileen's new chew toy I opened the package and began laughing, which did not help my aching back at all. "What is it?" Tony asked.

"They sent us a note that says, "Since the lighthouse has a guest book we wanted y'all to have a guest book, too. Love, Denise & Mark and Tater Catfish Stevens." Look at this funny, cute refrigerator note pad with the giant woman's underpants hanging from the clothes line." Tony started laughing and then I burst our laughing. "OMG! It's a Poo Log: A Record Keeper Guest Book. This is too hilarious or should I say, "Poo hilarious."" Then we looked inside and it really is a Poo Log. Thank you Denise and Mark!


Now on a serious side, I received an e-mail from Mari this afternoon about two dogs in San Antonio who are desperate for a home, because their owners, due to the economy, can no longer keep them and their time is short. The note said that these two dogs are sweet and lovable, great with children and other pets and I could tell by the pictures of them, which I tried to copy and paste here, but the photos wouldn't copy, that these are great dogs, so I asked Tony to read their sad story and then we talked about wanting to rescue them, but we can't because we are at capacity right now. 

So if anyone of y'all know of someone who is wanting to adopt a dog please ask them to adopt from us so we can step in and rescue these two homeless dogs.

I want to wish Leisa Lea a Happy Birthday, again because I am fixin' to call her.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Leisa Lea!

Today is our dear friend Leisa Lea's Birthday and Tony and I love her and want to wish her the best birthday ever! Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Leisa. Happy Birthday to you! And many more.

We wish that we could be down there to celebrate your birthday with you and Rick and Squirt. Have a great birthday!

Friday, May 27, 2011

A Forced Smile!

Today has been great and full of nice surprises. This morning our first nice surprise was seeing June, Ellen, Eileen, Lisa and Jim, our incredibly great volunteers, outside walking our dogs and grooming them for us.
Because I love our volunteers I stopped what I was doing (returning e-mails and phone calls) and went outside to visit with them and to thank them for coming out.

After howdies and hugs these women had me laughing non stop as we caught up with each others news, while Jim was out on the ranch walking Layla and Little Girl down by the creek. When our hilarious hen party ended Ellen took off to go groom Rufus and Roxanne, in my writing cabin's front yard and June, Eileen and Lisa started walking our dogs, who were excited to see them because they could not wait to go on a walk with them, so I tagged along so I could continue visiting with them, because they are so much fun to be around.

Before the women took off to go eat lunch in Medina, we came up to the trailer so Lisa could take a picture of Belle playing with her new toy that Eileen had given to her when they arrived this morning. And to say the least, "It is now Belle's favorite toy." And here is a picture that I took of her playing with it this afternoon.

Today around three-thirty I decided to play beauty shop with Mama and groom her in our bedroom because it was so hot outside. And she loved it because she slept non stop on our bed, while I gave her a pretty manicure with our battery operated Pedi-Pet.

Mama woke up when I turned off the Pedi-Pet. After she had admired her lovely nails, she went back to sleep as I began trimming her thick, long locks of white hair that had grown back since we had her shaved down because of her skunk meeting.

When I was nearly done with Mama's haircut, around five-forty, there was a knock on the door—it was Donna Schloss! OMG! I love Donna dearly and was glad that she had dropped by, but our bedroom was a total wreck, because Mama's fur was all over our quilt and on the floor and one of our old timer dogs had just soiled a pet pee pad. 

Trying to act nonchalant I said, "Hi, Donna! What a nice surprise! Please forgive the way our bedroom looks right now—I'm playing beauty shop with Mama right now and she's..." Donna started laughing.

"Don't worry about it. I just dropped Marcie off, after taking her shopping in Kerrville for the day and when I saw your gate open—I just had to come by and say hello and to invite y'all to come over for dinner, at my house, with Marcie and I'm also inviting Sandy & Jon to join us. I want to do it before she has to go back to..."

"We'd love to come, Donna," I said, as I tried to wipe Mama's long, white, Great Pyrenees hair, off of my black t-shirt. What can we bring?..." Then we started visiting in the kitchen and the big room as Tony put Mama and Abbie outside and brought B.S.-S. inside to meet the famous Donna "The Drummer" Schloss.

As our sweet, little, out-of-control Bellerina happily pounced on Donna and kept jumping up on her, while trying to nibble on her fingers, using her sharp puppy teeth, Donna smiled, which I think was a forced smile as she said, "Belle's cute." Which of course made all of us laugh.

"Yeah, when she's asleep," I quickly quipped. "Stop it Belle. Tony?" As T. handed Belle Starr-Simons Eileen's new toy to settle her down I said, "How are Cathie and Robert doing? You know that Cathie and I are e-mail buddies and..." After Donna told us they were doing fine I said, "The next time they come down I hope they will come out and see us and our mutual friend Steve, who lives just on the other side of that mountain.

After Donna and I had talked about our fun ukulele class, that we took together last year and her exciting upcoming trip I told her about needing to read, The Art of Racing In The Rain, which is now one of my all-time favorite books. And before Donna left to go home I told her that I would bring her a copy of the book because I had ordered a few more copies to give to friends and that I was expecting them to arrive real soon.

As our just washed quilt, that I earlier groomed Mama on, tumbles around inside Airy Queen, our Speed Queen dryer, it is now time for me to stop writing for tonight, because I need to vacuum up Mama's hair. 

Y'all have a great evening!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Highway 16 Cafe!

Today has been fun. This morning after taking care of our morning chores I went over to the Lodge to visit with Marcie and Will and it was fun hearing about Marcie's travels and catching up with her news.

Later on when Tony joined us we decided to go to Medina for lunch and we ate lunch at the Highway 16 Cafe and our meals were delicious, but it took us a long time to finish eating them because there was so much to talk about.

My favorite topic was the about the cover up of the alien that was captured in Roswell, New Mexico many, many years ago, because early this morning an extremely rude, low flying, black military fighter jet flew over us and it was flying so low to the ground it scared all of us, because it was so sudden and loud and it shook everything inside the trailer and scared our dogs outside. After we had exhausted that subject Will told us about the latest computer technology he had learned about and what all it could do.

Early this evening Tony and I went back over to the Lodge to visit some more with Marce and Will and I really enjoyed it too, because we went on my computer and went to Google Earth and found Echo Hill Ranch and our rescue ranch and it was totally amazing to us. And that is about all that I have to report today because it has been another quiet day.

Y'all have a great evening!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Memorial Day Weekend!

Even though today has been quiet it has been great. This morning a very nice woman and her mother came out to look at Ziggy because they think that he would be a great companion dog for the mother's husband and Zig-Zag really liked them and so did we and we are keeping our fingers crossed for Ziggy.


This afternoon while we were at Walmart buying flea and tick preventative for our rescue dogs we purchased a pretty pink soccer ball for Belle Starr-Simons and she absolutely loves it and has been constantly playing with it inside and outdoors. 


This evening while I was over at the Lodge waiting for Marcie and Will to arrive Kinky and I got into a funny argument when I told him that I had just realized early this afternoon that Memorial Day is this weekend. "No, it's not, Nance. Memorial Day is next weekend."

After several rounds of "Oh, yes it is," and "Oh, no it's not," Kinky got out of his rocking chair and went inside the Lodge to check his calendar to prove to me that he was right. I started laughing as I heard his returning footsteps. "See, I was right, Kink." Kinky smiled and nodded yes, but said nothing. : )

Around seven o'clock since Kinky's sister and Will had not yet arrived I came back home and played ball with B.S.-S. until she tired and finally took a nap. 

Tonight I am going to watch Oprah's last show which I recorded earlier today and now I must go and make some popcorn.

Y'all have a great evening!


Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Happy Birthday Ellen Jackson!

Today is Ellen Jackson's birthday! She is our good friend and super dog-walking volunteer and we want to wish her a great birthday. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday To You. Happy Birthday Dear Ellen. Happy Birthday To YOU! We love you and so do our dogs! We hope we get to see you this Friday.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Number Two Is Number One!

Today has been great because Enzo #2 got adopted to our friends daughter and husband. The minute that Leeza and Clayton saw him they fell in love with him as quickly as Enzo #2 did with them. Enzo #2 is going to live in Bandera at a house with a big fenced-in yard that includes two sweet kids and he'll go to work with Leeza & Clayton everyday, because they own their own business.

When Kim, Leeza & Clayton drove over to the Lodge with Tony to meet Enzo #2, Kinky and I were outside brushing out #2's blown coat, over by the picnic table and his hair was flying everywhere. And it was so much fun to have Kink involved with Enzo #2's adoption because he was as thrilled as much as we were to find Enzo #2 his fantastic forever home.

Before they drove off with Enzo #2, sitting proudly in the backseat of their fancy truck, Leeza told us, "I really like his name, but am going to change it to Enzo #1 because he is going to be our number one dog."

Tomorrow is Ellen Jackson's birthday and I want to be the very first to wish her the best birthday ever and I also want to once more, wish a Happy Birthday to Karen Cares today. And I want to thank everyone who crossed their fingers for Enzo #2 because it worked.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday To Karen Cares!

Kinky, Tony and I want to wish our dear friend Karen Cares the best birthday ever! Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday To You. Happy Birthday Dear Karen. Happy Birthday To YOU! We love you and hope that you and 'Erb have a wonderful time celebrating your birthday. We wish that we could be there to celebrate but we can't because Kink is busy writing and as you well know—Tone and I don't travel real well for several reasons. Happy Birthday!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Joe King Carrasco Really Rocks For Our Dogs!

Today has been great. This morning after Tony had finished his chores and I had caught up somewhat with  paperwork, we went over to the Lodge to see Kinky and to meet the German Shepherd that his friend had rescued, but could not keep.

When we arrived Kinky, Floyd and Dylan were standing outside the kitchen door watching The Friedmans interacting with the beautiful German Shepherd. "Floyd had rescued him off the streets in Houston and named him Hugo, as in you-go back home, but I think we should name him something else," Kinky said. After Dylan, Tony and I agreed that he should be renamed, Kinky says, "Let's name him Enzo Swift." After we had all agreed that we liked that name and loved the book The Art of Racing In The Rain and even though we already have an Enzo Swift at the rescue ranch we named him Enzo Swift #2.

Then we talked about Enzo #2 staying temporarily with Kinky because we are at capacity at the rescue ranch right now because of the sweet mama dog and her two pups that came in on Thursday while we were on vacation. After I told them about a friend of ours who loves German Shepherds and might consider adopting him we went home and called her. Then I grabbed my camera and went back over to the Lodge to take a few pictures of Enzo #2 and to tell Kinky that Kim was interested, but could not meet him until tomorrow after she gets off work and that her daughter might also be interested in adopting him, too. So, please keep your fingers crossed for him and in case he doesn't get a forever home tomorrow if you know someone who might be interested in adopting this great dog please ask them to call the rescue ranch.



Now for some exciting news. My friend Kim Galusha has just announced that she and our mutual friend Joe King Carrasco wants to help our rescue ranch again and they have just released the CD Joe King Carrasco - en la Ruta Maya "Concierto! Para Los Perros" which was recorded live at Ruta Maya - Austin, Texas - June 6, 2008. This benefit concert raised money to help our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch in our work of rescuing homeless and abused dogs and finding them loving safe homes. The purchase of this CD is to continue to put money back into our efforts to make the lives of these precious animals better. 50% of all U.S. sales in 2011 will go to Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch and 50% of Mexico sales will go to the Puerto Vallarta SPCA! We thank you and we love Kim and Joe King Carrasco for their continued support!

They sent us some CDs and Tony and I cannot quit playing it on our iPods. If y'all want to help our rescue ranch and enjoy some great music please check out his website: joekingcarrasco.com and please purchase this CD, because I know that it will help us help our dogs and that you will enjoy his music as much as we do. I love the CD's artwork too.


Tonight as I finish writing this I want to be the very first to wish our dear friend Karen Cares a Happy Birthday tomorrow and just say, "Joe King Carrasco Really Rocks For Our Dogs!"

Y'all have a great evening!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

On The Goode Ship!

Tony and I had a blast on our thirty-one-hour vacation to Port Aransas. We left here at seven o'clock in the morning with Frank babysitting the rescue ranch until Ben arrived from Austin.

Our drive down there was pretty weird though. We ate breakfast in Pleasanton and it took us over an hour because of the waitress. We waited five minutes to get our menus, then four minutes to get our iced teas, twenty-two minutes until she put our plates down on our table and three minutes before she brought us our aluminum ware so we could eat our cooled eggs, bacon and toast. And the whole time we were in the establishment—several men kept coming in the front door, in five minute intervals, and go into the Office and close the door behind them and then, in less than a minute, they would come back out and leave the restaurant real quickly. I think it had something to do with illegal drugs or gambling, but who knows.

Further on down the road, on Highway 37, when we were close to the Poth exit ramp the strangest thing happened to us—we got zapped! I don't know if it was from a UFO or a microwave, but it freaked us out, because the radio and my iPod that was connected to it, stopped playing for a couple of seconds, when it hit us with a nanosecond bright flash and then the radio and iPod lit back up and started playing my favorite music.

"What the heck was that?" I asked Tony. "What just happened?"

"I don't know. It didn't affect the engine."

"It happened right before the Poth exit." I said, as Tony began chuckling. "Why are you laughing? That was scary, Tone."

"I know. Nance. But it's pronounced Poth—like both. Not Poth—like Goth." So we argued about the correct pronunciation until I spotted a tall, gigantic, iron bridge sitting way off, in the middle of a pasture with cows, and the sign on it read: "Bridge For Sale" with a phone number and we laughed about it and our weird trip, all of the way to Port Aransas.

While we waited on the ferry to take us to Port A., I noticed that every ferry was named after a person. "I wonder what ferry we're on?" I said, as I leaned to find the name and then I started laughing. "Tony, we're on the Goode ferry! How cool is that?" Then I grabbed my camera and snapped this picture to prove that a good ferry took us to Port A.


 As Tony drove us to the What-A-Burger parking lot, so we could meet up with our friends Denise and Mark, I called Rick to let him know that we had arrived and would meet him at the What-A-Burger. A few minutes later Rick pulled up on his pretty Triumph motorcycle. "Nance, you're in the Dairy Queen parking lot," Rick teased, "not What-A-Burger's."

After introducing our friends to Rick, he called Leisa to tell her we had arrived, but she had a couple of things to do before she could meet up with us and go over to the island, so Rick suggested that we meet her at a bar and drink a beer while we waited for her. So, to T.'s surprise—I made several clumsy attempts and then finally climbed onto the back of Rick's Triumph and he and I took off, followed closely by Tony and Denise and Mark.

Before we had finished drinking a cold beer out on the patio deck, Leisa showed up with Squirt, her two-times-in-a-row winner of being "The Fastest Dog In Port Aransas." After howdies and hugs we took off and island hopped over to the lighthouse island where Rick lives and is known as the, "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper."

OMG! We had the best time on the island. After we had unpacked our bags and put up our groceries the party began. We went out on the front porch and started visiting and filled the air with laughter as we snacked on some delicious appetizers that Denise and Mark had brought along for this special occasion. And because of the fun time that I was having, I laughed so much—I had wished that I had brought along Mari's pink-dyed sheepskin to sit on because my back was starting to ache.  

As we sat in the comfortable Adirondack chairs on the front porch, looking out towards the sea and watching the many colorful birds flying overhead—another weird thing happened. A tugboat pushing two huge barges towards Port A. started drifting closer and closer to the island that we were on. "I bet that tugboat is going to get stuck in shallow waters if it gets much closer," I remarked, and as soon as Rick had agreed with me and explained to us that it had intentionally gotten stuck so it could make a shift change—it got stuck and quit moving just as I had predicted and then we watched as they lowered a small boat and some men got into it and took off for Port A.


 Around six-forty Rick took off in the boat to go pick up our dear friends Kelly and Pete and their three dogs, in Port Aransas, because they were going to eat dinner with us. When they arrived it was howdies and hugs and then Smilin' Jack raced up the steps and greeted all of us. He is the giant Newfoundland/Lab mix that we had rescued and they had adopted from us in 2010. Then "The Girls" Fiona and Daphne, their precious Bulldogs, climbed up the stairs and greeted everyone and stole the show away from Jack.

After we ate fajitas for dinner Leisa surprised us with a delicious Blackberry cobbler that she had made from scratch and then we went back out on the porch and laughed the night away, as two barges and a tugboat lit up the night sky for us.





The next morning, while we ate breakfast, we figured out that the barges left some time between four and five-thirty in the morning, because I had checked at four and they were still out there, but were gone when Tony got up to go fishing at five-thirty. After Rick and Tony had teased me about being from Fort Worth and mispronouncing Poth we laughed about the bridge for sale and talked about what a fun time we had had on the island. After Denise and I cleaned up the breakfast dishes we packed our bags and then Rick took us to Port Aransas, so we could go home.

Tone and I were thrilled when we boarded the Goode ferry once again, as it took us to shore and our trip home was uneventful, because we did not get zapped and the bridge for sale that we had seen must have been sold because it was gone and we didn't eat at that restaurant.

When we arrived back home safely we had a few unexpected surprises waiting for us—a sweet mama dog and her two, adorable puppies occupying our big puppy pen. Then we drove up to the barn and saw Ben working and after he had told us their story we invited him to come up to the trailer, so we could visit with him and our dear friend Maribeth Couch, who had come in Thursday evening to spend the night and baby-sit our dogs for us until we got back.

After a fun two-hour visit with them we thanked them for letting us go on a thirty-one hour vacation and then we adios-ed them and they went home.

There is so much more to tell about our fun adventure to the coast, but I am so tired that I must call it a night and go to bed. I want to thank our dear friends Rick & Leisa, Denise & Mark and Kelly & Pete for another wonderful time in Port Aransas and Maribeth and Ben for doing a great job and "holding down the fort" for us.

Tomorrow night, I will share some wonderful and exciting news about our dear musician and animal lover friend—Joe King Carrasco. Until then "Goode Night!"

Y'all have a great evening!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Kinky's Back!

Even though it is Full Moon Time, today has been great for two reasons—Gilligan got adopted to a super home and Kinky is back at the ranch.

During lunch a nice woman called and I actually picked up the phone without knowing who was calling and I am so glad that I did, because she was wanting a small, mutt dog to adopt because she and her husband's fifteen years-old dog had passed away last month and they were now ready to get another one. When I told her about Gilligan she could not wait to come out and meet him. Forty-five minutes later it was love at first sight for the two of them and as she signed off on his adoption papers Tony and I laughed because it was obvious to us that Gilligan could not wait to get out of here and go to his new fantastic forever home.

Early this evening around five-thirty Kinky called. "Hi, Nance. I'm about fifteen minutes away from the ranch and I want you and Tony to come over..." Twelve minutes later Kinky was reunited with The Friedmans and then we had a fun visit with him in his kitchen, as he petted Sophie and fed The Friedmans treats fit-for-a-human, as he told us about how much he had enjoyed the tour and meeting so many nice people. 

When I gave him the good news about Gilligan getting adopted today he was thrilled. "Now, Nance and Tone, I've got a lot of paperwork to take care of and many phone calls to return so let's get together in the morning."

"That sounds good, Kink," I said, as I petted Chumley Friedman. "Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for us because we have to go to Kerrville sometime tomorrow and then pack for our thirty-one hour vacation down in Port Aransas with Rick and Leisa and Denise and Mark. Ben is coming in real early Thursday morning to babysit the rescue ranch and to take care of things and we should be back here a little after noon on Friday. T. and I are really looking forward to our vacation with our friends and..." With that said—Buttermilk took us home.

Last night I loved watching "The King's Speech" so much that I am fixin' to make some Orville Redenbacher's Original Gourmet Popping Corn for us and watch it again. Colin Firth is fantastic in it.

Y'all have a great evening!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Another Fasterpiece Coming Soon!


Today has been great even though it didn't start out so great. This morning we woke up and were without water because a pipe broke outside. So that caused Tony to be a little late getting to Medina, to drink coffee with his friends at the Old Timer.

After cleaning up our breakfast dishes I volunteered to clean the dog pens outside for Tony because it allows me to spend more time with our super dogs and also because it always puts a smile on his face and mine.

When I was cleaning (pickin' up poop) Frank came over. "Happy Birthday, Frank!" I hollered from Walter Cronkite's and Lulu's pen. "T. and I want to take you out for lunch today to celebrate your sixty-seventh birthday. And you get to pick the restaurant..."

A few hours later we walked into the Chinese restaurant that's across the street from Albertsons. An hour later we were walking down the isles at H-E-B to grabbing some groceries. Thirty minutes later I was in the Quiet Valley office buying Kerrville Folk Festival advanced tickets for T. & me for their June 5th concert, featuring Shake Russell, Ray Wylie Hubbard and Asleep At The Wheel.

When we got home Carlton had six new messages for me. Two were from Kinky, but the most important one was from a woman who had rescued Paul McCartney in Austin, so I called her first. "Hello, this is Nancy at the rescue ranch. I'm sorry that I missed your call. The dog you have is Paul McCartney and he belongs to..." Five minutes later the woman called me back to tell me that Paul's parents had just come by and picked up Paul. Then I called Kinky on his cell phone, as I opened up a surprise package from my friend Cathie Bernhardt.

"Hi, Nance. I'm going to be home earlier than planned. I should be back at the ranch tomorrow around four o'clock..." His news thrilled me because it has been over three weeks since he left the ranch to go do his tour and I have missed him, but what Cathie sent to me thrilled me even more.

Cathie sent me some Prismacolor Art Stix and Prismacolor Scholar art pencils for my future watercolor paintings. And hopefully tomorrow I will have time to paint another fasterpiece. Thank you, Cathie. I love them. Please tell Donna and Robert howdy for me.


 I am now fixin' to watch "The King's Speech" and I can't wait to see it, because I have a secret crush on Colin Firth.

Y'all have a great evening! 

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Ben the Talking Dog !

This afternoon I was playing around on my laptop and found Ben the Talking Dog and I fell in love with him. Please check out the message I left him about tonight's blog.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

It!

Yesterday I had so much fun with June, Eileen and Ellen. After they walked our dogs we visited outside by the barn and that is when I found out about June's and Ellen's famous cousin, Ed Helms, of The Office, and that he is going to be the host on Saturday Night Live tonight with special guest Paul Simon, which we will be watching or recording, if we go to bed earlier.

While we were talking about having famous relatives I noticed Ellen's t-shirt and started laughing. "Ellen, I love your t-shirt. Where in the world did you get it?"

"In an Alpine thrift store," Ellen said. "When June and I went out there Easter weekend. The road trip that we wanted you to come along with us..."

When Tony walked up I asked him to take a look at Ellen's t-shirt and he immediately started laughing, too. "Endangered Feces!" Then we started reading her illustrated t-shirt identifying endangered species feces such as: the Grizzly Bear, Florida Panther, Woodland Caribou, etc.

And that is when Eileen noted, "Nancy, I love reading your blog when Belle Starr-Simons vomits on you." Then we started laughing and began trading funny stories about vomit. After we exhausted ourselves, from laughing way too much, we came up to the trailer so I could return Ellen's audio book, The Art of Racing In The Rain to her and to also show them my very first "woven work of art."

I started laughing, as they tried hard not to laugh, as they stared at It and took turns complimenting me on my "woven work achievement." When one of them asked me what I was going to do with It—I burst out laughing and then they too—started laughing. "I'm either going to throw It into the trash can or warp-it-up and send It, as a joke, to my sister Cindy..." Ten minutes later T. and I adios-ed our friends and then they took off for Medina to eat lunch, before heading back home to Kerrville.

This morning when I woke up I was grinning from ear-to-ear, because this morning I had dreamed about It and I knew exactly what I was going to do with It! And I told T. about It during our breakfast. "I had a dream this morning about It and I am not going to throw It away or send It to Cindy. I'm going to give It to Kinky, as a joke, when he returns Tuesday night! I'm going to wrap It up and before I give It to Kink—I'm going to tell him that I spent a long time making his "welcome back to the ranch gift." after his long three-week tour, and that I am so proud of how It turned out..." And needless to say, "Tone burst out laughing about It.

This afternoon two very nice, upbeat women came out and made my day. They had the same name—Andrea, but they pronounced it differently as Ondrea and Andrea. They had just finished reading my first book and had come out in hopes of meeting Tony and me and to see our rescue ranch and to get me to sign their books.

The moment that I met "The Andreas" I liked them, so I invited them to go into Outer Space with T. and me and they were thrilled to be invited, which in turn thrilled me too. I had a fun visit with the two ladies and we talked about dogs and cats and our rescue ranch and while I was signing their books Tony mentioned that I had written a second book and they purchased two of them and I signed them, too. Before Tony and I gave them "The Grand Tour" I asked them if they had read, The Art of Racing In the Rain and they hadn't, so I went inside the trailer, grabbed two copies of the book and then I went back into Outer Space and gave them each a copy.

They loved Outer Space, our dogs, especially Belle Starr-Simons, our trailer, the Space Ship, my writing cabin and getting to meet all of our rescued dogs. After that The Andreas jumped into Kermit with me and he took us over to the Lodge, so I could give them a tour and then we started back, but when we saw Roy and Gabby, our donkeys, grazing, I drove over to them and stopped Kermit and then we went over and petted them and then we came home.

Before The Andreas left we went into Outer Space and T. took this picture of us. I really enjoyed their visit and I hope that they will come back to see us soon.

After they left I took a short nap with our dogs, then I went online and Googled Endangered Feces and bought a t-shirt just like Ellen's and I should have it by Thursday!

Y'all have a great evening!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Ed Helms Hosting SNL Tomorrow Night!

This morning Eileen Gotke, June Hartley and her sister Ellen Jackson, our friends /great volunteers, came out and walked our dogs! After I had exercised and cleaned up I went outside to thank them for coming out and to hopefully visit with them before they had to leave and I had a total blast, but I am going to write all about that tomorrow, because the evening has gotten away from me.

But I do have some exciting news to tell you. I found out during our visit that June's and Ellen's cousin is the famous Ed Helms, of The Office, and he is hosting Saturday Night Live tomorrow night with special guest Paul Simon and I cannot wait to watch it because I love Ed Helms, Paul Simon, June and Ellen!

Tonight before I started blogging I checked out NBC's SNL schedule and found this hilarious video about tomorrow night's show with host Ed Helms and I hope that y'all will check it out and watch SNL tomorrow night, too.

After I watched it I could not believe the resemblances between him and his cousins: Ellen and June. Wow! I know somebodies who are related and know Ed Helms. And I love it!

P.S. Carlos, I hope you had a great birthday!

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday To Carlos Richter!

Today is Carlos' Birthday and his sister Patty, in Florida, Tony and I want to wish him a Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Carlos. Happy Birthday to YOU! And many more.

We hope that you have the best birthday ever and please give your sweet father and Peggy a hug from all of us!

A Little Loopy!

I wrote this yesterday, but when I tried to post it yesterday I couldn't because Google Blogger was down for maintenance repairs. So here is what I wrote. Tonight I will blog about my hilarious morning that I spent with Eileen, Ellen and June, our super volunteers.

Today has been really great, because it rained early this morning and we got one inch of rain! When I called Harley, at seven forty-five to do his show, I was a nervous wreck, because it was thundering and lightning furiously outside and I never talk on the phone during thunderstorms, because of the risks of getting hit by lightning. But this morning I took the risk, so I could do Harley's show to talk about Gonzo, his Pet Of The Week and our rescue ranch, but I had a surprise coming.


 Off air I said, "Hi, Harley! It's Cousin Nancy. How are you?"

"Hi, Cousin Nancy. It's T-Bone. Harley's off today..." My Utopia segment of the show was fun with T-Bone, even though I couldn't wait to hang up on him, because of my fear of getting struck by lightning, like my uncle did many years ago.  

The reason that I didn't post a blog last night was because I sort of got tangled up. Around six o'clock, after Frank and Tony had assembled my new loom for me, I thanked them for putting it together for me and then I named my small, beginner's loom, Little Loopy, then I started preparing (warping) it, so I could weave something.

I figured it would be pretty quick and easy to do, but as usual I was wrong. First, I had to pick out the colors of yarn to use, which were covering the drain board and the stovetop.


 Then it took me over one hour and five minutes to measure and cut the yarn pieces to the same width and then it took me another hour to warp Little Loopy, and by the time I was done with all of that I was feeling a little loopy.



The last thing I had to do before starting to weave back and forth was to wind the stick (shuttle) with yarn, which would pass through the warp. Because I did not want to have to reload the stick/shuttle with more yarn, in case I needed more to finish my project, I used the entire roll of yarn, which turned out to be stupid, because it was so fat—it would not pass between the threads.

Not knowing what to do with the excess yarn, I decided to roll it into a ball as I unwound my over loaded shuttle and that cost me forty-one minutes.


 Then I finally started weaving or should I say, "Trying to weave."

The first three inches of my new project was not easy, because of loose threads and it looked pretty bad, but after that my weaving improved inch-by-inch. At the seven-inch mark Tony walked into the kitchen and said, "Nance, will you make me a hatband?" Then he walked over and looked at my "weaving work" and then he quickly added, "After you have practiced a few more times." Three inches later I quit and went to bed.

As I laid in bed, counting threads, I couldn't quit laughing about Little Loopy and the "work of art" that I was creating and before I fell asleep I had decided to mail it to Cindy, as a joke, with a card that reads: "I hope that you love what I have woven for you, because I spent an entire evening making this for you. I hope you love as much as I do and you will hang it in your big room, so everyone can enjoy it. I'm so proud of it! Love, Nance."


 Because of all of the time that it took me last night before I could even start to weave, I've realized that smaller projects are for me, like using half the threads, instead of the forty I used, are about all that I care to weave on Little Loopy, because from here on out, we're talkin' hatbands, bookmarkers or potholders."

This evening Kinky called me from Washington D.C. to check in. He's having a blast on his tour and tomorrow night he will be performing at the Birchmere.

Y'all have a great evening!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Good Vibrations!" or "Weave Another Tale!"

Today was great! This morning I got up really early and did my morning chores and then at nine o'clock I left the rescue ranch to go meet my sister in Dripping Springs, so we could go to the Old Oaks Ranch in Wimberley, to check it out, because we have heard such great things about it.

The minute we pulled into the Old Oaks Ranch and saw the awesome Sculpture Garden, on the left, with cascading waterfalls with the beautiful Alpacas casually grazing in pastures that surrounded us—we knew we were in for a real treat, because the place had incredibly great, good vibrations.

When we entered the beautifully decorated, peaceful place, with all kinds of beautifully colored yarns and fabrics for sale—we couldn't wait to tour it. Even though the store was packed with women taking a knitting class and shoppers picking out yarns, we were greeted by a warm, friendly woman, who immediately gave us a tour.

When we saw the weaving looms, of all sizes, the good vibrations got even better, because my sister and I were interested in the looms. And when we started asking prices of the looms the lady gave us a hands-on demonstration on a smaller loom for beginners. And I am proud to say, "Cindy and I did a good job weaving about a quarter of an inch."

An hour later we said goodbye to the friendly ladies and walked out with an inexpensive, tabletop loom, which is about two-steps above the loom used for making pot-holders—like we all made, for our mothers, back in elementary school and were so proud of. Then we took off for Wimberley Square, the art and music district, to eat lunch and that turned out to be pretty funny.

The first restaurant we went to was packed inside and out, so we went outside and found several unoccupied tables, but we couldn't sit there, because they had signs on them that read: "Reserved For Sippers Only," so we laughed and made jokes about what a sipper was, and then we went and found the last table on the patio and sat down and that's when we became invisible for a while, as we laughed and watched a cute, extremely overweight Pug walking around the tables—begging for food.

When we became visible, our super busy, young, sweet waitress came to our table and apologized for not seeing us and then she asked us what we wanted to drink and in unison we answered, "Tea, please. So she dashed off and quickly returned with giant glasses of iced tea. Then she asked us what we wanted to eat and I said, "I'll have the Special, please."

"Oh, I'm sorry. We just ran out of it. Do you want me to come back in a minute, so you can reread the menu?" And Cindy and I smiled and said, "Yes." A minute later the nice waitress returned to our table to take our order once again.

"I'll have the chicken fried steak, please," I ordered.

"Oh, I am so sorry. I should have told you, but I forgot. We just ran out of that, too. And those are the only two things that we have run out of. I should have told you. I really am..."

"Don't worry about it," I said, trying to make her feel okay, because it was really no big deal to us at all and then she suggested that we go across the street to a "little pricier restaurant" and told us that the tea was on her. She was so sweet and sincere we thanked her for the tea and took her advice and we walked across the street and enjoyed a delicious meal together.

I arrived safely back at the rescue ranch and was happily greeted by T. and our dogs, a little past five o'clock, and it felt good to finally be back home. I really enjoyed seeing my sister and today has been a lot of fun and Cindy and I have decided to sign up for a couple of one-on-one weaving lessons from a weaving master and I can't wait to weave another tale or spin one with my sister.

Y'all have a great evening.

Monday, May 9, 2011

I'm Not Sure!

It's around two o'clock and I think I've decided to go up to Austin to visit my family and spend the night, but I'm not sure if I should just wait and go tomorrow as we had planned earlier or to start packing and get on the road.

A while ago I was tinkering around on Facebook and trying to figure out how to upload that cute picture of Tony and Belle, as one, in Kermit, after her swim, that I posted a few days ago, so I asked T. if he could show me how to do it. "I'm sorry, but I don't know how to do that, Nance. I just create photo albums."

Two minutes later I half-hollered down the hallway, "I did it Tone! It's up!" Tony and Belle Starr-Simons came running into the kitchen to see what was up. After they saw themselves on my Facebook Tony asked me to teach him how to do it and I did in less than thirty seconds.

Before T. took B. outside to "go potty" on command, I jokingly said, "That's pretty funny. Tony. You were the one who was supposed to teach me how to do Facebook and instead I just taught you." He sort of laughed and then he and his dog went outside so B.S.-S. could water the dirt, where grass once grew.

"I just did it!" Tone just hollered from his office. "I just posted a cute picture of Belle on Facebook. Check it out." I did and it was cute, but not as cute as the one I posted earlier on Facebook of Belle. I love this picture.


Now I must decide if I am going to take off for Austin now or leave early tomorrow morning. I am going to schedule this blog to post at eight o'clock tonight, in case I'm already up in Austin enjoying my family. I'll be back late tomorrow afternoon one way or the other.

Y'all have a great evening!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

New Connection To Tony!

Today has been really great, because my book, Meanwhile Back At The Rescue Ranch: The Dog Days of Cousin Nancy is now for sale as an e-book at Barnes & Noble and is also for sale on Amazon! Yeah! I am so thrilled because it was a little difficult for me to figure it all out and how to do it and that is why I truly wish that I was a computer nerd, because it has taken me months trying to figure it all out and if I was a nerd—I bet that I could have done it within an hour. Anyway, I am celebrating and please wish me luck.

This afternoon I went on FaceBook to update my page and to also make the announcement of my ebook finally coming out of the closet, so to speak. I wish that I understood FaceBook and how to navigate around, but thanks to T. he has offered to give me a lesson or two or three or...

Late this afternoon Tony and I took Belle on another short trip down to the creek and we had a blast with her and we are so proud of her for several reasons. First being, Tony leashed trained her in a matter of a few minutes and she did not mind her new connection to Tony. And we are also proud of her because she is now a swimming fool! She swims better than a fish! And lastly, she didn't vomit on me while riding in Kermit. Here is a short (less than a minute long) video of Belle swimming by the bridge to prove it and I named it The U.S.S. B.S.-S.! I hope that you enjoy watching it. And here are a few cute pictures of the girl who stole Tony's heart away from me.





I just took this picture of Belle resting tonight after her eventful day.



P.S. Kinky called today! He'll be on Imus on Monday.

Y'all have a great evening!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Happy Birthday Pete Hartje!

Today is one of mine and Tony's dear friend's birthday and we want to wish Pete Hartje a happy birthday and we want to sing him the Birthday song. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Pete. Happy Birthday to YOU! And many more...

We love you Pete & Kelly and your awesome fur family!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

One-With-Water!

Today has been fun. This morning after I posted Fay's rave review and her pictures of Kinky's performance, last night in Toronto I returned phone calls, e-mails and did paperwork—I tweeted, even though I am still not comfortable tweeting and not sure if I am doing it right.

What I tweeted about was the cool article in the National Post this morning about Kinky, that Fay sent to me, followed with a link to my blog, so Kinky fans could read Fay's note and see her pictures. Then I fixed the leftovers that Tony cooked for me last night, on Brink.

This afternoon Kinky called me from Milwaukee, again and he is really looking forward to performing tonight at The Shank and before we hung up I once again said, "Break-a-leg, Kink." He was chuckling when he turned off his cell phone.

Around two o'clock I half-hollered down the hallway, "Tony! Let's take Belle on a short trip, down to the creek, to see if she likes to swim! It will be a good experience for her to take a ride in Trigger and have some fun." There was no answer, so I went to T.'s office and repeated my words without hollering.

When Tony picked up Belle Starr-Simons his back nearly went out, because Ms. B.S.-S. has been growing in leaps and bounds and she has put on quite a bit of weight. When Tone put her on the front seat—she wasn't real happy, because I bet she thought she was going back to the doctor's office, but we quickly surprised her and she didn't vomit!

As  soon as Tony parked Trigger, under a tree, we got out of the truck and took her down to Wallace Creek and she immediately ran into the water and started playing in it. "Tony, you've got yourself an aqua pup," I said. "Look at her. She loves the water..." As we played with Belle in the water, she became one-with-water and actually swam for about ten seconds and T. and I were thrilled that she is a water dog. Here is a picture that I took of her wading in the creek.

Thirty minutes later we safely returned Belle to the trailer and we were so glad that she didn't vomit on me. Tomorrow we plan to take Belle on a short drive around the ranch and hopefully her fears of something bad is going to happen to her whenever she gets into a vehicle—will vanish quickly and that soon she'll look forward to going for a ride whenever she can. Wish us luck.

P.S. If you haven't read Fay's fun review—it's below this post.

Y'all have a great evening!

Kinky In Toronto Review!

This morning Tony woke me up early so I could do the Harley Show. The first thing I did after Tone took off to go drink coffee with his friends at the Old Timer, in Medina, was check my e-mail to see if my friend Fay, in Toronto, had sent me a note about seeing Kinky's show last night in Toronto. And she did!

Fay wrote:

"Hi Nance,
I just got home from seeing Kinky, it was AWESOME! It was a packed house, he has many, many fans in Toronto who just love him. He was so entertaining and he read from his book, told jokes and sang so well. The crowd adored him and there was a lot of excitement and a huge line up to get autographs and photos with Kinky. He was so great with everyone and signed anything that people brought. 

I brought an album and one of his books that he autographed, I'm THRILLED. 

The best part Nancy? During the show he wished me a Happy Birthday and talked about me adopting Kris Kristofferson from the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. I was so surprised, thrilled and I felt like a Goddess ; )) Then Kinky sang "They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore" for my birthday song. I will be on Cloud Nine and will be until June (my birthday is May 31st LOL). I gave him some photos of Kris and he laughed when he saw them.

It was a magical and fantastic night, I am so happy to have finally met Kinky. He's wonderful!

I've attached some photos from tonight, please share & enjoy!
Tail wags & kisses,
Fay xoxo"


And here are the pictures she sent.



I am so glad that Fay had so much fun and I am so glad that Kinky finally got to meet her and talk to her about Kris Kristofferson. Thank you, Fay for the note and the pictures! I wish that I could have been there, but I don't fly.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

On The Brink!

Today while Belle Starr-Simons was at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic getting her stitches removed—Tony and I ran a few errands around Kerrtown. Our first stop was at Wolfmueller's Books so we could say howdy to Sandy and Jon.

When we walked inside their famous Texas bookstore they were busy helping their customers find books so we decided to wait and started browsing their bookshelves. After they had checked out several customers we had a fun, but short visit with them before a bunch of tourists suddenly showed up.

While shopping at H-E-B I made a decision that I hope I won't regret. "Tony, when we leave here I want to go over to Home Depot and buy myself a small gas grill, that I can operate, so I can start cooking outside."

"But Nance," T. said, as we walked past some sacks of charcoal on sale, "we have our giant barbecue pit..."

"Yes, you do have a giant barbecue pit and the lid is so heavy I can barely lift it and with the burn ban in effect because of the drought—we can't use it. Tony, I am buying myself a small gas grill today, so lets get some shrimp, vegetables and beef, so I can cook on it tonight." Then we went around H-E-B filling our shopping cart with "grill food."

When we arrived at Home Depot it took me only five minutes to pick out my cute, little gas grill, even though Tone tried to talk me into buying one much more expensive and four times bigger—that would for sure impress his men friends. "Nope, Tony. This is the one I want and I am going to name it Brink or maybe after Yoda, because she was so gaseous..." And I bought it.

After picking up, one happy-to-see-us, Belle Starr-Simons from Hoegemeyers we headed home in Trigger—with Brink standing small in the back of the pickup. Right before Belle vomited on me, we made an emergency pit stop at the Mini-Mart, because Brink was on the brink of falling down or out of the truck, because T. hadn't tied him down good enough. And while Tony was retying-down little Brink to Trigger our good friend James walked up. "Hi, Nancy and Tony. Carol's working and I'm out running errands. When I saw y'all— I just had to stop and say hello. Hello, pretty Belle," James said, as he patted her on her head. "She is so sweet..." Before we took off in opposite directions James told us that their herd of cattle were settling in nicely and in a few weeks they would be ready for me to be their official Turnback Rider or as I like to say, "Herd Turner."

When we got home Tony put his dog inside our front yard so she could go potty. Then we carried our groceries up the stairs to the trailer and put them up. While I was busy preparing my first outdoor "grill dinner" Tony was outside hooking up Brink to his propane tank. When he was done I went outside and shot little Brink.

Then we came back inside so I could finish preparing the shish-kabobs while Tone made my "Cousin Nancy's Bacon Wrapped Bananas" appetizer recipe. Then he did the weirdest thing—he took his plate of bacon wrapped bananas and went outside, while I cut up some fresh strawberries for our dessert.

When I came outside Tony had a big smile on his face—as he cooked on my grill, Brink! And, "I like Brink!" Was all he had to say, as he happily turned over the appetizers. A few minutes later while I was on the phone inviting Frank, who was over at the Lodge babysitting The Friedmans, to join us for dinner, T. came inside and casually carried out my platter of shish-kabobs.

After I had returned several phone calls I went outside, just as Frank was walking up to the trailer. "You're just in time, Frank," Tone said. "We're ready to eat." And that is when I ran back inside the trailer and grabbed my camera so I could shoot Tony on the Brink.


Our dinner was delicious and there was a ton of leftovers, and I am actually glad that T. and Brink like each other and are coal-mates, because it is so much fun to have your husband cook dinner for you. I knew it would work!  : ) 

Y'all have a great evening!

Kinky In Toronto Tonight!

This morning I received an e-mail from Fay, my friend in Toronto, who adopted Kris Kristofferson from us many years ago. In her note she told me that she is very excited about going to Kinky's show tonight in Toronto and is bringing him a few pictures of Kris, which I know he will enjoy seeing.

Fay also sent me a link to the National Post, because this morning they ran an article on him. I really enjoyed reading his interview and I loved the funny cartoons. Check it out.

Fay also wrote that she is taking her camera with her and will send me pictures after tonight's show! I can't wait to see them. Break-a-leg, Kinky!