Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Since 1995!

Today has been a great day. This afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville to run some errands and our first stop was at Wolfmueller's Books to see Sandy and Jon.

During our short, but fun visit a song started playing and it was fantastic, "I love this music," I said, "Who is it?"


"Robert Earl Keen," Sandy said. "It's on his new album that has just come out, "Ready for Confetti" and all of the songs on it are really great. I've got his CD for sale." After I had paid Sandy for Robert Earl's latest CD I saw this flyer on their counter and picked it up.


"We're having a book signing for William Groneman III on September 15th. He's a fabulous writer and lives in Kerrville and he has written several books and this one, September 11: A Memoir, giving his perspective of a Captain of the New York City Fire Department, describing his experiences during the dark days on and after September 11, 2001. Are y'all going to come to it?"

"Yes," I said. "I can't wait to buy a copy and get it signed by him..."

Our next stop was at the Post Office to purchase stamps, in the Hometown Crafts and Wild Birds Unlimited strip center, which are two of our favorite stores in Kerrville, including Wolfmueller's Books, of course.

After I had grabbed a small jar of some wood putty and was trying to decide if I needed to buy some glitter for my homemade shrine, a friendly woman, wearing two, six foot long strands of plastic vines of fall leaves , around her neck, smiles and says to us, "Do you have Enzo?"

"Yes, but no. We are fixing to pick him up at Hoegemeyers," I said, wondering who this very nice woman was.

"I know. I'm Marguerite, the one who is adopting him." After we had shook hands with her and had told her how excited we were that she was adopting Enzo Swift, we had a fun visit with her, filled with laughter, in the glitter and glue isle.

"During our fun visit I jokingly asked her, "Why are you wearing Fall foliage?" She started laughing which made T. and I laugh.

"Because I love to decorate for Halloween. I go all out for Halloween..." Before we adios-ed Marguerite we talked about Enzo some more and it was decided that she would pick him up at Hoegemeyers on Friday and take him to his new, hopefully forever home and we told her how thrilled we were.

When we got home there was a package from FedEx waiting for us by the gate and when I opened it up I burst out laughing, because our good friend Monk had sent us a three movie set to watch and one of the  movies is the one that stars our dear friends, Ruth Buzzi, her husband Kent and Kinky titled, "The Being" which Monk had told us, "It's a must see!" Thank you, Lynn and Monk!


This evening I finished making my shrine like Esteban's, but I have not put a picture in it yet, because I can't decide which one to use. Here's a picture of it in the making and the finished one, that nearly caused me to get a check up from the head up and I stuck a piece of paper inside it that reads: "It's A Nancy! Making crummy furniture since 1995," when I met Tony.



This evening after we had fed the donkeys and Shalom, Tone and I went over to the Lodge and had a fun visit with Kinky and stayed so long I didn't get started writing until 8:45 and now I am going to watch a little of "The Being" before I go to bed.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for us to get some rain.

Monday, August 29, 2011

The Holstee Manifesto!

Today has been great. This morning after T. and me did our outdoor chores Trigger took me over to the Lodge for an enjoyable visit with Kinky, before he took off for Austin, to do the O'Reilly Factor tonight.

After lunch, I was in one of those "I'm tired and don't feel like doing anything" moods, which I am blaming entirely on the drought, so I decided to not do what I should do and just took a break.

Because of our upcoming road trip to Terlingua is just a few weeks away, I got on the Internet and went to John Wells Field Lab, in Terlingua, to see how his project was going and after looking at his many pages of pictures with updates, I stumbled on The Holstee Manifesto, which he had posted, which I have never heard of and it totally touched my heart and are words to live by, so I Googled it and found out that it was written by Dave, Mike and Fabian in 2009 and was designed by Rachel and I love their web site, mission and recycled products.


After I ordered a poster of The Holstee Manifesto, I printed out two copies and asked Tony to read it, while I framed the other copy, so I can read it everyday until my poster arrives and that's when I realized that I was in a much more upbeat mood. After I hung the copy on a wall in our big room, I went back to T.'s office and asked him what he thought about it and like me, he thought it was awesome, too.


The rest of my day has run smoothly and I did get a lot accomplished after all and I am blaming that on The Holstee Manifesto. Now, I am going to try not to go crazy waiting for my pre-birthday poster to arrive, because I already know where I am going to hang it on the wall.

Early this evening Tony asked me to take a spin with him in his VW when we went over to the big barn to feed Shalom and the donkeys and I did and I immediately fell in love with his 1973 Beetle.


I took this picture of him from inside the bug. When he had finished feeding Roy, Gabby, Little Jewford and Shalom, we drove over to the Lodge to show it to Will, who was babysitting The Friedmans today, while Kinky is at the Fox affliate, in Austin, taping the O'Reilly Factor.

Will thought T.'s VW was awesome, so he jumped into the backseat and Tone took us for a drive around the ranch and it was so much fun, because it brought back so many good memories of my younger days with my VW's. 


And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us!

Happy Belated Birthday, Maribeth Couch! We Love YOU!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

It's A Nancy!

Today has been a joke—a bad joke and I am the joke. This morning after Tony and I did our morning chores outside, he set up my little work table, near the Space Ship and then he placed the chop saw on top of it and then he went and plugged it in for me, because today I was determined to make a shrine like the artist Esteban had made for his saints.


By noon, I had measured and precisely cut up two twelve foot long boards, because I figured if I was going to make one, I might as well make three or four, because Analea and Carol have already asked me to make them one, too.

After I cooked a healthy, delicious lunch for us, on my giant George Foreman grill and had cleaned up the kitchen, Tony and I went outside and gathered up some of my little, cut boards and brought them inside, so I could work indoors, because it was so hot outside. Then I took down my adorable Esteban shrine, on the wall, above the Ozarka Water cooler and I set it on the kitchen table, for a quick reference.

When I started trying to copy Esteban's simply-made shrine—I couldn't do it, because nothing seemed to fit right and trying to figure out if he glued the boards or had nailed them together was impossible for me to figure out, so I got frustrated—to say the least.

"What is wrong with me? Why can't I figure this out?" I asked myself, out loud, as I tried re-stacking the boards differently, for the hundredth time. The dogs said nothing, but Tony did when he walked into the big room and saw my latest, possible creation-to-be.


As he looked at my latest, trying to copy version, and then looking at Esteban's beautiful shrine, right next to minehe started laughing, "You've made another, "It's a Nancy!" It's not bad." Then we started laughing about my wood crafting skills. Then he gave our dogs some dog treats and then he went outside.

One hour later, I gave up on my simple project, but only for today, because I am determined to do this right. After I took this picture of my latest possible creation I called the dogs and I took a thirty- minute sleepless nap with them, because I kept trying to figure out how Esteban had done it.



So tonight as I finish writing this, all that I have to say is, "Bless Esteban," because I am declaring him my saint, "The Saint of Woodworking," to have crafted his beautiful, simply-made boxed shrines. And I will bet that the reason that no one can find him on the Internet is because, he went broke and totally crazy, making his own personally, named saints with shrines and after he had made mine, 86 / 1500 and had signed it, he checked himself into a local looney-tune asylum somewhere and he is now locked up inside a small room, with four padded walls, with no doorknobs to be found and asking himself, over and over again—should I have used screws, instead?

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for us to get some rain and also please say a blessing for Esteban, wherever he may be!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Good Night!

Today has been another great day. This morning while T. and I were outside feeding dogs and cleaning their pens, Marguerite, the nice woman who wants and is willing to give Enzo Swift a home called and left a message on Carlton, asking me to call her, because she had a few questions to ask me about Enzo.

Because today is our official Open-House day, we spent much of the day outside, giving many visitors  tours of the rescue ranch, so my first opportunity to call Marguerite back was around 2:23 and I had a total blast visiting with her.

Like Susan, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, had told me yesterday, Marguerite is a very nice woman and she loves dogs as much as we do. During my fun conversation with Marguerite she told me that she had read both of my books, that she had bought at Wolfmueller's Books and that she also enjoys reading my blog and she reads it every evening after she gets home from work and that made me feel so good. Then she told me about her meeting with Enzo yesterday.

"I was at Hoegemeyer's to pick up some medicine for one of my dogs and Susan told me they had a German Shepherd that needed a home and I said, "Are you talking about Enzo Swift," and she says, "Yes, but not for you. I wanted to know if you knew anyone wanting a nice German Shepherd," so I start laughing and turn around to the two people sitting in the waiting room, with their pets and asked them, "Has Susan asked y'all about Enzo needing a home and they both said, "No," and we all started laughing. I love Susan."

"Me, too. Tony and I think the world of her."

After Marguerite told me about her meeting Enzo and wanting to give him a try with her dogs and two old cats, I asked her if she had read, Kinky's, Tony's and my all time favorite book, The Art of Racing In The Rain, "No, not yet, but I plan to buy it, because you are always mentioning it on your blog and I know that Enzo Swift was named in honor of the dog in that book."

"That's great, but don't buy it. I have an extra copy that I want to give to you. I will drop it off at Hoegemeyer's, so you can read it before you adopt Enzo, two weeks after his last heart worm treatment  on Wednesday and he has recovered..."

A little while later, Marguerite tells me that her sister Harriette, who lives down on the Texas Gulf Coast is like me, because she too is scared of driving in big cities and heavy highway traffic and we started laughing about it. "Please tell Harriette that I would love to meet her, since I know that we are definitely kindred spirits."

When our fun conversation had ended I was so thrilled about her adopting Enzo, I went and told Tone all about her being so nice, being a vet-tech for over twelve years and about the many dogs that she has rescued etc. and he was glad to hear it.

Early this evening when Tony and I got back from Kerrville, our dear friend Carol paid us a visit and we charged her nothing (This is my attempt to be funny and to make you laugh.) and Tony and I really enjoyed visiting with her.

When she arrived I whipped up my new recipe, "Cousin Nancy's Goat Cheese with Hatch Green Chiles" and Carol loved it as much as we did, as we sipped some of my delicious, inexpensive fine Franzia Chillable Red boxed wine with Ozarka Water and iced cubes added. "Carol, to make this recipe, I used H-E-B's Honey Goat Cheese, found in their cheese specialty department and a can of Hatch Green Chiles, that's it, but please don't tell anyone."

After Carol had promised not to tell, we talked about Tony's 1973 VW Beetle and how much we loved VW's and then I showed off my new, giant George Foreman Grill to her, an early birthday present from Tony and she told me she loved it and that's when I purposefully told her about my fun trip to Whole Foods and Target with Sandy and Patty this past Monday, because I was setting her up for my question, "Carol, do you have a George Foreman Grill?"

"No, but I know they are healthy and great for grilling."

So, I turned my back to her, picked up my cute, little, pink George Foreman Champ grill, that I had bought at Target for only $15.00 and said, "Carol, I want to give this to you. I've only used it three times and I don't need it and I promise that you are going to love it." Then I set it down on the kitchen table in front of her, along with the instruction booklet, drip tray and spatula.

"Oh, Nancy! I love it and I can't wait to use it. It's the perfect size for me and I love that it is pink, too. Thank you so much..."

And, that is about it for tonight, but I want to thank Carol for the delicious cookies that she made for T. and me. I'm going to bed. Good night.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Adios Mercury In Retrograde! or Frown!

Today has been much better than yesterday was. This morning while Tony was drinking coffee at the Old Timer in Medina, I was over at the Lodge drinking coffee with Kinky, in his kitchen. After we had discussed the weather and our two, ten minutes and eight seconds showers, that we got yesterday, I said, "Kink, Tony and I have decided that we are going to quit using our rain gauge to measure the amount of rain that we don't receive and start using my stop watch instead."

Kinky started laughing and said, "Yesterday's showers were a joke—a really bad joke..."

"I've got some good news," I said, changing the subject, "We can officially adios Mercury in retrograde today and it won't come again until November twenty-third, but the next few days be careful, because its effects will continue to linger on for a few more days."

"That's good to know," he said, jokingly, "Thanks for telling me this."

"The other good news is that Gus might get adopted today. A very nice woman named Sally made an appointment, earlier this week, to come out today to meet him, so keep your fingers crossed for him."

This morning when Eileen arrived, T. and I were fixin' to do our morning chores and Eileen asked if she could help me clean pens and before I could say, "I'd love it," Tony handed her our extra set of pooper-scoopers."

"It's a hard job," Tony teased, but I'm sure that you can figure it out." Then we started laughing. "But remember—if you mess up—you'll get fired."

Eileen, who has the best sense of humor joked back, "I understand and I will do my best." Then Tony drove off in Kermit, to start feeding the dogs and she and I walked over to Merlin's and Princess' pen to clean it first and the dogs were so excited to see Eileen—they ran out of their pen when she opened the gate to go inside.

I started laughing as Eileen apologized to me as we watched the two, happy freed dogs running away. "Eileen, please don't worry about it. This ain't the first time this has happened. Talk about two happy dogs, I'll bet you that they are headed down to the creek to go for a swim. Don't worry, Tony will catch them."

When we saw Tony take off in Kermit to catch them, we grabbed two leashes and started walking towards the entrance gate, so we could help T. leash them and get them back into their pen.

By the time we had reached the big gate, Princess was running towards us, with Kermit following and when Eileen called for Princess—she ran straight into Eileen's arms and I leashed her. When I looked up
Tony was smiling, with his arm around Merlin.

As soon as Eileen had put her leash around Merlin's neck and taken him out of Kermit the teasing commenced. "You're fired, Eileen," Tony joked, before bursting out with laughter.

"Tone, you can't fire a volunteer," I joked.

"Okay, you're on probation." For five minutes we stood out by the gate laughing at the dogs getting out and going for a swim. Then T. drove off in Kermit, to get back to feeding the dogs and we walked the two happy, wet dogs back to their pen.

When all of the pens had been cleaned Tony drove up and said, "I want to get a picture of the two of you with your pooper-scoopers, so I can post it on Facebook. She and I started laughing.

Let's do it like the "American Gothic" painting!" I suggested to Eileen.

"Okay, but we can't smile. We must look serious, Nancy, like the painting," Eileen said.

When we started to pose for T. to shoot us, Eileen looked down at me and started laughing, "Nancy, you're smiling. Frown, like this." Then she made an upside down smile and I could not quit laughing and the harder I tried to frown—I would start laughing and smile, so here is our rescue ranch version of "American Gothic" I've titled, "Utopia Gothic."


Around 11:45, after Eileen had gone home, Sally showed up to meet Gus. "I've always had Labs," she said, getting out of her car, so after introductions and a short visit, she and I walked down to Gus and Lois Lane's pen, with Tony following us in Kermit, because his back was really hurting. 

When Sally saw Gus, she immediately fell in love with him, so Tony took Gus out of his pen, so Sally could play with him in the alley and twenty minutes later Sally told us that she definitely wanted to adopt Gus. Tone and I were thrilled, but not as much as Gus was.  

"Sally, I have to go get Gus' adoption papers in the trailer, so why don't you ride down there with me, in Kermit, so you can drive your car back to Gus' pen, when it is time to load him up."

On our way to the trailer Sally surprised me when she told me, "Nancy, I came out here today to buy a few of your books, that all of my friends have been telling me I must read and to adopt Gus. Do you have any for sale?"

"Yes, I do. How many do you want?"

"Two of each, please. I want two for me and two to give as gifts to my dog-loving friends."

While I was signing my books for her and her friends, Sally told me that she wanted to volunteer to walk our dogs on her days off from work and I told her that we would love it. 

Before we put Gus into Sally's car I took this picture of one very happy and lucky dog with Sally and Tony.

Late this afternoon we rescued another two year old black Lab that was fixin' to go to the pound, because the young man was having to move into an apartment. A few minutes after I had called Susan, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, to tell her that we had just rescued another dog and the man was bringing his dog Lexi to them and we needed for them to spay her and give her all of her shots—she called me back. "Nancy, we have someone here who is very interested in adopting Enzo. She wants to know why Enzo was returned to y'all."

"He was returned to us because the young woman said, "Enzo had not bonded with them," but I think it was because they were moving into an apartment. He's a wonderful dog..."


"Great. She's outside visiting with Enzo right now. She is one of our favorite clients and a major dog lover and she really takes good care of her dogs. What should I do if she wants to adopt him?"

"Susan, I totally trust your judgement on this woman and I don't want to make the adoption complicated, so if she does want to adopt Enzo let her take him and ask her to call me and please tell her if it does not work out to please bring Enzo back to us."

"Okay. I'll call you to let you know. Bye." When I put the phone back into its cradle, I went over to the Lodge to tell Kinky the latest good news about Sally wanting to be a dog-walking volunteer, Gus getting adopted, Enzo's possible adoption and about rescuing Lexi and Kinky was thrilled to hear it. 

"Nance, please call me when you find out about Enzo...."

When I returned home Susan had already called Tony to tell him that the woman wanted to adopt Enzo, but the vet had recommended that she wait to adopt Enzo ten days after his last heart worm treatment, this upcoming Wednesday and she was fine with it and Kinky, Tony and I thought it was sound advice, too.

A few minutes after hearing the great news about Enzo Swift, Roseanna called me from Hoegemeyer's Animal Clinic, to tell me that Lexi had arrived, but she wasn't all Lab, as we had been told. "She's more Pit with some Lab and a very sweet dog. I just wanted to let you know, so y'all wouldn't be shocked when y'all come to pick her up..." And, I'm blaming this one on Mercury in retrograde, for the young man misleading us about his dog and I can't wait to meet her.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

It Rained Today!

It rained today! In fact, it rained twice. The first rain lasted four minutes and the second rain lasted six minutes and eight seconds. Yeah! And here's the little cloud that did it.


Because I am in a major snit about only getting ten minutes and eight seconds of rain late this afternoon and  am not in the mood to write I am going to finish reading Elmer Kelton's book, The Time It Never Rained.


Y'all have a great evening and please do keep praying for rain for us!

P.S. If you would like to laugh tonight, please read the comment that my good friend Mari, of the NoMads, made on yesterday's post.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

No Store Does More! Part II!

Continued from yesterday....
Early Monday morning Tony and I were outside feeding the dogs and cleaning their pens before the sun came up and the dogs seemed to enjoy their surprise sunrise breakfast. When we were done outside I had only thirty minutes to get cleaned up, so I could get on the road by 8:30.


At 8:24 I kissed T. inside the trailer and told him, "I love you. Wish me luck!" and as I opened the front door to leave I closed the door and headed to the kitchen table. "I almost forgot to take my "Rescue Remedy" drops that Ellen bought for me at Whole Foods, to help me stay calm when Sandy drives us to San Antone." Then I put five droplets of the "Rescue Remedy" into a glass of water and swallowed. "Now, I am ready to leave," I said, as I slipped the little bottle into my purse, in case Sandy's driving drove me to drinking—more drops.


When Trigger and I arrived at Wolfmueller's Book Store I was six minutes early and Patty and Sandy were ready to go and get our road trip started. "Nancy, you ride in the backseat, so you can't see the speedometer and Patty, you sit up here with me," Sandy said, as she handed me a plastic bag, "I put a few magazines and maps about Terlingua for you to read, when we get on the freeways."


"Thank you, Sandy." Then we climbed into Sandy's SUV, buckled up, waved goodbye to Jon and took off and we were already laughing before Sandy pulled out of the parking. After we had all caught up with each other's latest news Sandy and I started telling Patty about our exciting, upcoming adventure to Terlingua and Patty thought it sounded real cool. 


Everything was fun and fine until we got on the entrance ramp of I-10, at Comfort, because Sandy floored her "Car With No Name" and that's when I opened up the sack of articles to read about Terlingua, as we sped past one car and then many cars sped past us. As I clutched my hands, and tried to relax the "Rescue Remedy" kicked-in, thank goodness, because I instantly became fearless of Sandy's race car driving skills and the San Antone traffic, for the rest of the day. Thank you, Ellen! 


As we approached the Alamo City limits we decided to go to Whole Foods first and I must admit that I was extremely impressed how well Sandy knew her way around the streets of San Antonio. 


When the three of us walked into Whole Foods we grabbed grocery carts and then we followed each other up the isles as Sandy and Patty suggested some of their favorite foods I might want to try. I had a blast at Whole Foods, strolling the isles of healthy food with my friends as we laughed about this and that. And I ended up buying Sha Sha Ginger Snaps, Hatch Chile Goat Cheese, Amy's Lentil Soup, 365 Organic German Mustard, Near East mixes: Couscous Toasted Pine Nut, Wild Mushroom and Herb, and Quinoa Blend Roasted Red Pepper and Basil, organic bread, cheddar cheese and Patty's favorite Acai Green Superfruit Tea made by The Republic of Tea.


 When we arrived at P. F. Changs for an early lunch, around 11:00, the restaurant was nearly empty except for ten people, sitting at three tables, so one of their young, pretty waitresses walks up to us, who was obviously having a bad day, led us across the room to a table, in a dark corner, because it was right next to a giant, hanging, black, plastic, temporary wall covering and the three of us looked at each other and one of them said, "We don't want to sit here could we please sit somewhere else? Like a booth?"


She tried to make a smile, but she couldn't pull it off and then she led us over to a booth and then walked away. Even though I was feeling no pain because of Ellen's magic drops, I was worried about the waitress' bad vibes souring our lunch, but thank goodness I didn't have to worry long, because the nicest woman, wearing a big smile, came over to our table, introduced herself to us, handed us menus and then she asked us what we wanted to drink and then she went to get our drinks and that's when we let out a group sigh of relief that we had a fun waitress and lunch was going to be fun after all.


As we drank our iced teas we decided to order several dishes and share them and when the friendly waitress returned to take our order Patty surprised us when she said, "I am treating my friends to lunch and we want to share the dishes. We'd like to have Dynamite Chicken, Lettuce Wraps.."


As we dined at P. F. Chang's their lunch crowd filled up the restaurant and the food we ate was absolutely delicious and the many topics of conversation were interesting to say the least and were filled with laughter.


Our last stop was at Target, because Sandy and Patty love Target and also because I have not been inside a Target store since 1995, when I left Austin and moved to Utopia. When we walked inside Target I said, "Wow! Kerrville needs a Target store. I'de forgotten how cool Target is," and then we started shopping together.


An hour later we were ready to check out and the coolest thing that I purchased was a small, pretty, pink George Foreman Champ for fifteen dollars, because now I could start grilling vegetables, etc. again because I can't grill outside because of our drought and the Burn Ban effect.


As Sandy drove us home all we could talk about was how much fun we had had and what we might do the next time when Patty returns to Kerrville and when we reached Comfort and got off of I-10 it was no big deal to me, because those Rescue Remedy drops had worked and had temporarily cured me of my fear of traffic.


When we were halfway through Comfort Sandy gave Patty me and me a historical driving tour of the town and it was quite interesting and then when we got to Center Point she surprised us. "Y'all, have got to see this place!" she said, as she turned off into a parking lot, "Y'all are going to love it..."


And Sandy had not lied to us, because the second that Patty and I walked into Toucan Jim's outdoor beautiful garden restaurant and grill we fell in love with Toucan Jim's! "This is what Fort Lauderdale looks like," Patty exclaimed, as Jimmy Buffet music filled the air, as we admired the palm trees, plants and brightly painted beach furniture and bar, "Just like Fort Lauderdale."


"I feel like we just walked into a time warp," I noted, "From dry, hot Texas to Margaritaville."


"Sandy!" a man hollered from a table near the bar, "I want to buy you ladies a beer," he said as he stood up and they hugged each other. 


"Y'all this Mark, he and his wife are dear friends of ours. Mark I want you to meet my friends Patty and Nancy..."


A few minutes later Mark brought us our drinks and sat down at our table to visit with us and he had us laughing so hard my back started aching, so I excused myself and went into the restroom and swallowed a few more magic drops in hopes that it would relax my back the way it had relaxed me.


Even though Mark wanted to buy us another round of drinks Sandy declined, because she knew we needed to get home. And the rest of the way back to Wolfmuellers Books all we talked about was what a fun time we had all had.


When I got home Tony was glad to see me and me him and as he helped me carry in my shopping bags I told him all about my fun day and when he was helping me unpack my sacks he started laughing. "You bought a pink George Foreman grill! No way I'm going to cook on it," he teased, and that was not a lie, because yesterday morning after I had used it to cook breakfast and lunch and had told him how much I loved it—he took me to Walmart and bought me a giant George Foreman grill, as an early birthday present! And I love it and have named it George. 



After we left Walmart we stopped at H-E-B to quickly get a few groceries and as were checking out a nice friendly woman handed me a copy of  H-E-B's August "My Texas Life" magazine and as we walked to Trigger I flipped through the pages and nearly flipped out when I saw another full one page ad for our rescue ranch. "Tony, I can't believe this! I love H-E-B so much for helping us, again. I can't wait to show it to Kinky...."


As Trigger took us home I said, "You know Whole Foods and Target are great stores, but H-E-B is the very best in Texas, because "No Store Does More." Thank you, H-E-B! We love you!

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

No Store Does More!

Today has been a fantastic day, but before I tell you about it let me back up and briefly tell you about the last four days, even though yesterday could fill an entire encyclopedia, because I had so much fun with Sandy and Patty.

Last Friday night when I posted on my blog I forgot to tell you that Nancy D., the super nice woman who lives in Medina, who adopted Pumpkin from us called me. "Nancy, I adopted Pumpkin from y'all back in February, but I am not calling you because we want to return her. She is a wonderful dog and she is very happy, but I need to ask you a favor....Thank you so much. Bye."

Nancy had rescued a sweet six-years-old dog, that is housebroken with great manners, awhile back and had been fostering her while she tried to find her a home and she asked me if we could help her by posting Oofa up on our web site to help her find a super home and thirty minutes after receiving Nancy's e-mail, Pat Symchych, our incredibly talented web master had posted Oofa's picture and Nancy's words about her up on utopiarescue.com.


And this is what she wrote:
"Female mid-size dog with a beautiful cinnamon brown short-hair coat. This sweet dog has had one owner since she was a few months old. She is spayed and has all her shots, dental exams, even rattlesnake vaccine. Physically she was taken very good care of but emotionally, she was left out in a large pen away from people. We have taken her in as a foster dog to see what the ideal situation would be for her. Turns out she loves to be with people. She makes a great companion. She enjoys being ever present but doesn’t demand to be pet constantly. She does well with other dogs but would probably do best in single dog family. She is not aggressive at all with people. Her old owners had 10 year olds girls that the dog was good with. She barks when strangers come up so would make a good companion/watch dog."

 So, if you would like to adopt Oofa please contact me at the rescue ranch and I will put you in touch with Nancy. Oofa is a beautiful dog.

Saturday was one great, but very busy day for us. We had visitors out here all day long, but my favorite visitors to visit with were Andy Hickner and his beautiful daughter Hayley and son Hayden Hickner, author of the great children's book, A Bear & the Bees, which he so beautifully illustrated.

Two hours or so before we were to meet up with our dear friends, Gail, Pat, Lisa, Jill, Matt, Paul and Roger, for a celebration dinner I called Analea to ask her if she could tell me more about the artist Esteban, who had made and signed the "I Jus Do" plaque that Analea had given to me. "Nancy, I don't know any more about him, but I bet you that I can find out...."


When our conversation had ended I took my little plaque off of the wall and examined it closely and then I took some measurements of it and half-hollered down the hallway, "Tone, we are going to have to leave a little earlier, because I want to go to Home Depot before we meet up with everyone at 7:00."

Then I heard approaching footsteps coming from Tony's Photography Hallway. "Why do we have to go to Home Depot, Nance? My back is really killing me."

"To get some lumber, because Analea has talked me into making a plaque, similar to Esteban's, because she told me that I could make them and sell them and..." After we left Home Depot we met up with our dear friends and had a wonderful time, as we always do and it was filled with laughter.

T. and I had the best Sunday sort of. After we had done our morning chores outside Tone took off to document and photograph the many dried up creeks between here and Medina while I stayed home to take care of some paperwork, which I really didn't feel like doing.

Around 10:30 there was a knock on our front door and Mama came running out of our bedroom barking  followed by Abbie, Toto and Tony's dog Belle. It was our friends Jill and Roger! And the minute I said, "Hi, y'all! What a nice surprise. Come on inside," my personal-protection-posse quit barking at them and instantly greeted them with wagging tails as they entered the big room, as Belle, T.'s dog, tried to lick them to death. And, I am not sure how many times I apologized to them about B.-S.-S. and said, "No, Belle. Now quit it. I'm going to tell Tony."

After a fun visit with them, inside the trailer, Jill, Roger and I went outside to go visit with our rescued dogs and after Jill had kissed and Roger had petted everyone of our super dogs they had to leave because they had a long drive back to Waco, ahead of them.

And ten minutes after Jill and Roger left the phone rang—it was Lisa, so I picked up the phone. "Nancy, would it be okay for me to come out with my mother for a short visit and so I can show her the rescue ranch?"

"Lisa, I would love to see you and visit with your mom. Come on out."

"We're leaving Kerrville now. See you in a minute. Bye." Right after I turned off the phone it rang again. "Hello, Nancy. This is Leeza, who adopted Enzo, the German Shepherd, from y'all and it's not really working out and..."

When that conversation had ended—Tony walked inside the trailer, wearing a big smile on his face and after he told me about all of the great pictures he had taken I told him, "Lisa and Pat are coming out for a visit and Leeza is coming out to return Enzo and you missed seeing Jill and Roger and..." 

An hour later while Tony and I visited with Lisa and her lovely mother Pat, in Outer Space, the dogs started barking at a truck coming in—it was Leeza and Enzo. "Y'all keep visiting while I go put Enzo in  LaToya's pen," T. said, as he walked out of Outer Space. 


Twenty minutes later, Tony drove up in Kermit and joined us and while we laughed and talked about life the dogs started barking again, because Enzo had jumped out of LaToy's pen, so Tone took off again to catch the beautiful, well trained German Shepherd.

When Tone returned to Outer Space again, he asked us to help him switch Enzo & LaToya from their pen to Moe Bandy & Mandy's pen, so we got up and left Outer Space to go help him move the dogs around. 

After we had gotten the dogs moved to their new pens we gave Pat a tour of the rescue ranch while Lisa kissed each dog and handed out dog treats to them. When the fun tour was over they told us that they needed to go home, so after hugs and inviting them to come back sooner than later, we adios-ed each other and then we went back to the trailer, so I could take a nap with our dogs. 

Thirty minutes later, after laying in bed with the dogs snoring beside me, I decided that my sleepless nap just wasn't going to happen, so as I was carefully climbing over the dogs so not to wake them from their sound sleep the phone rang—it was Sandy, but I could not get to the phone fast enough as I heard her say, "Hi, Nancy. I was just calling about our San Antonio road trip tomorrow. Call me. Bye,"as my feet finally and quietly touched down on the wooden floor, without disturbing our dogs. 

Two minutes later I had Sandy back on the phone. "OMG! Sandy, I am so glad that you reminded me about our road trip tomorrow, because I had completely forgotten about it, even though I have been thinking about it off and on." We started laughing. "No, seriously, if you had not called to remind me, I would have gotten up early and done my chores outside with Tony, before ever looking at my calendar, because I always check my calendar after our morning chores are done and y'all would be so mad at me for not showing up and..."

Before watching a movie Tony and I practiced on the guitar and mandolin for over an hour. And that is about it for Sunday, except that Enzo coming back to us bummed me out.

Early Monday morning Tony and I were outside feeding the dogs and cleaning their pens before the sun came up and the dogs seemed to enjoy their surprise sunrise breakfast. When we were done outside I had only thirty minutes to get cleaned up, so I could get on the road by 8:30.

To Be Continued... (Sorry, Mari. I've been writing this for over three hours and it is slowly turning into a book and I need to go to bed.)

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us!

P.S. I can't wait to tell y'all about our Monday adventure and what a fantastic today was.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Today Was Girls Day Out!

I have had a blast today with my girlfriends Sandy and Patty K., because they took me to San Antonio with them to shop, eat lunch at a fancy restaurant and then shop some more before heading back home, but on our way back we sort of got de-railed, because Sandy had a surprise in store for us—and Patty and I loved it!

Tonight I am going to bed early, because I have had to play catch-up since returning home. I am tired from all of the laughing I did today and my back hurts a little and I still have to dry a load of laundry, so T. and I can wear cleaned clothes tomorrow, so I will write all about my fun road-trip with Patty and Sandy in Alamoville tomorrow.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for some rain for us! Good night and have sweet dreams.

Story of the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch

Sunday, August 21, 2011

We Love Gerry Olert & Alan Warren!

This morning after Tony and I had done our morning chores outside I checked my e-mail to discover that Gerry Olert, our good friend and extremely talented videographer, had finished the video about our rescue ranch, that Alan Warren had asked him to do for us and it is incredibly great! Kinky loves it, T. and I love it and I promise that you're going to love it, too.

And I am proud to announce that our good friends Eileen Gotke and Lisa Williams, two of our wonderful volunteers, are in Gerry's great video and they are now famous! Thank you, Gerry Olert and Warren Alan for helping our rescue ranch

Please help out our rescue ranch by sending The Story Of The Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch to all of your friends. Thank you and enjoy!


Friday, August 19, 2011

One Of The Ghosts!

Today has been great. This morning June, Ellen, Eileen, Lisa and Jim, the Best Volunteers In Texas, came out to walk our dogs for us, while Tony and I did our morning chores and we loved it, but our dogs loved it even more.

After "The Girls" had walked our dogs they came up to the trailer for a fun visit. They all loved my "San I Jus Do" plaque by the artist Esteban, that my dear friend Reverend Analea Rawson gave to me and we discussed where I should hang it.

Then I had them listen to Steve Martin's "Rare Bird" Grammy award winning album's bluegrass version of the "King Tut" song and they loved it and laughed and Lisa told me that she was going to buy it as soon as she got home.

When it was time for them to leave to go eat lunch in Medina before going back home to Kerrville, June invited us to join them and because we had so much fun visiting with them I said, "Yes! We will meet y'all there."

OMG! Lunch with them was a blast for T. and me. We were the only table in the Highway 16 Cafe that literally laughed non-stop. Seriously, these women are so hilarious and when we took turns telling about our weddings Eileen won when she told us about her sweet, sister Dean getting married in a hot air balloon. "It was a really cool wedding, but after they got married they came down and had a really rough landing. It took three hard hits before it settled to the ground and Dean had a really hard time getting out of the basket because she was wearing a tight skirt."

"I wonder if it is legal to get married up in the sky?" I teased. Everyone started laughing and Eileen told us that she would call Dean to make sure about it being legal.

Lisa's tale of her wedding had everyone laughing out loud and June's story about her and Kevin had me shaking with laughter and I did not hear all of Ellen's story because the waitress came up to talk to me, but I know it was funny because everyone was laughing.

I can't tell you every thing that we laughed and talked about, to protect their and our privacy, but all in all it was a one heck of a great time. And before our hen-party with Tone came to a close, Ellen said, after we had begged her to be in our L—BeNT band, "Well, I guess that I could, because I do know how to play the washtub bass and..." We were all thrilled that she is now a member in our jug band with T. and Ben—that as of date— has never once practiced all together. 

Before we adios-ed each other and climbed into our trucks I said, "Y'all, this has been so much fun and the next time we do this I'm bringing my digital recorded to record it, so I can remember everything that was said." 

Late this afternoon Kinky returned to the ranch after being gone since last Sunday, so Tony and I went over to visit with him around 5:30, after we had fed the donkeys and the horses. After we had caught up with each other's news in Kinky's kitchen, we went outside and sat in the rockers and talked about the serious drought were in, as The Friedmans played in the dirt, because the grass is completely gone. 

After we had exhausted that sore subject Kinky said, "Tone, you have really become one great photographer," as Tony focused and clicked away on his camera, capturing the many Hummingbirds swarming Kink's porch for a drink, "Those pictures in your hallway are beautiful and exceptionally good." Then we heard a man talking inside the Lodge. "What in the h#$@ was that?" Kinky whispered. "Did y'all hear that?"

"Yes, I did," I whispered, "It sounded like a man saying, "Here Kitty. Here Kitty."" Tony nodded his head that he had heard it too and then we heard the man speak again, but none of us could understand what he had said, so Kinky got out of his chair and went inside the Lodge to look around. 

Thirty seconds later Kinky came outside, "No one is inside the Lodge."

"Kinky, I heard him. clear as a bell, softly say, "Here kitty. Here kitty."And so did y'all. Who in the heck is out here?" I asked, as Tony and I stood up and followed Kinky around the Lodge to look around.

After Kinky had checked out the annex and had come back outside, he said, "It must be one of the ghosts," he said, quite seriously and I knew that he was right, because that was the very first thought to pop into my mind when we heard the ghost, that loves cats, so we went back around the Lodge and sat down in the rockers again, to visit for a little while longer, before Tony and I came back home.

It is now 8:42 and time for me to do a little reading before going to bed.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Oh Deer! or Walk-The-Walk!

Yesterday evening I had planned to write and post, but that didn't happen because we had a visitor show up around 7:15—unannounced—that needed our attention.

When Mama started barking inside and wanting to get outside Tony and I went out on the front porch to see what was going on and we found out immediately—Bentley, our neighbor's pet Axis deer, was standing at our gate and he wanted to visit with us and I loved it, because I love this deer.


"Hi, Bentley," I said, as I walked down the steps to go greet him. 

"I'll go call Sherry and Robert," Tone said, as I petted Bentley gently, outside our front yard gate. 


"Nance, Sherry said that Robert is in town at a meeting and he will pick up Bentley on his way home." Then he went back inside our trailer.

Because Bentley was upsetting our dogs outside and I always enjoy his company I decided to jump into Kermit to see if I could get my dear, deer friend to follow me out of the rescue ranch, to calm down our excited dogs and he did. Bentley walked all of the way our of the rescue ranch right beside us.

Once we were safely on the other side of the entrance gate I turned off Kermit and then I clicked the clicker, to close our electric gate behind us, so Bentley could not go back in. Then I took this picture of the wild turkeys, deer and Magic, the wild hog, standing several yards away, where we feed them every morning and then I shot Bentley with my camera.


When I started petting and visiting with our beautiful, sweet, four-legged neighbor he suddenly pricked his ears and sort of jumped to the side, so I looked up and that's when the hair on the back of my neck stood up! Magic, the wild hog was running towards us at full speed ahead and he has five inch tusks. 

Knowing that T. would not hear me scream because he was inside watching TV or farming on Facebook, I stood still and sternly hollered, "No, Magic!" and it worked, because he slammed on his brakes and then just stood there and stared at us for over a minute and then he turned back around and walked away, back into the woods—thank goodness.

Five minutes later, T. drove up in Trigger and I told him about Magic charging us and then I suggested that we try to start walking Bentley home and T. liked my idea, so I jumped into Kermit and off Bentley and I went down the road at a pace slower than a snail's, while Tony went back to the barn  to get some feed to help encourage Bentley to walk-the-walk.

Because it was a constant stop-and-go situation— it took us over thirty minutes to go down the hill, cross the nearly dried up creek and up the hill, because Bentley kept getting so distracted, so I asked T. to please park Kermit off road and that I would just walk Bentley home, because I needed the exercise and he and Trigger could follow us. Thirty minutes later we arrived at our neighbors closed gate, that hung above a deep cattle guard.

"He can't and won't walk over that cattle guard," Tony said, as he looked at the chains-locked gate beside it. 

As the night grew darker and the stars started appearing I said, "Tony, I think you should drive on up to their house to let Sherry know that we are here with Bentley, so they can come down here and unlock this gate." After we discussed it and I had reassured T. that I would be okay—he jumped into Trigger, punched in Robert's and Sherry's electric gate's security code and then he took off in Trigger, with the headlights on.

As soon as they were out of sight either a Hummingbird or a bat buzzed by my head, so I started getting a little scared, because of the fly-by and also because I have a night-vision problem and I can't see anything in the dark, so I decided to look up at the twinkling stars to help keep me distracted from wondering what was out there in the woods nearby, walking around and making all of that noise. 

Even though it was only minutes it seemed like hours to me before I finally heard Trigger coming and when I saw his headlights and then Sherry's truck's headlights, set on high beam, I felt so relieved. 

After howdys Sherry thanked us and suggested that we go home, as she tried every key, on the keyring to unlock the other gate—but none opened, so she and their son Greg opened up the big electric gate to try to coax Bentley, using feed, to walk in on the narrow cement path next to the wall of the gate, but Bentley would not do it. Then we heard the sound of  Robert's truck approaching Sherry said, "I know Robert has a key that will open this gate, y'all," and that was not a lie.

As soon as Robert arrived he greeted us and said, "Sorry for running late. After I saw that y'all's gate was closed and then saw y'all's four-wheeler  parked off the side of the road, in the woods, I started getting worried," then he unlocked the other gate and opened it up and Bentley immediately walked right on through. After a fun, but short visit with them, we adios-ed each other and took off. T. drove Kermit home and I followed him in Trigger and it was 9:32 when we walked back inside the trailer, so instead of writing—I played Scrabble on my laptop and then went to bed.

Today has been a little weird for me and I have had the blahs for most of the day, because of Mercury being in retrograde, so I didn't get much done or want to do anything, but fortunately that has passed now, as I write this.

This evening while Tony and I fed and hayed the horses and donkeys I took this picture of our three donkeys, Roy and Gabby and Little Jewford grabbing some hay to eat, next to Shalom and I have titled it, " Heads Or Tail."


Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for us to get some rain sooner than later!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Back Out! or Stolen! or The Real Decoy!

Yesterday, thanks to Mercury in retrograde, right after Tony and I had finished doing our morning chores outside his back went out on him again, so I spent the better part of my day inside doing paperwork etc. while T. rested in his chair, in his office aka man cave, with either a sack of frozen peas or squash or corn on his back, so basically there wasn't much to write home about.

This morning Tony's back was a little bit better and he felt good enough to do his morning chores with me.

For lunch today, I cooked Lisa's Chalupas recipe that she had sent to me yesterday and we loved it. It was delicious and basically healthy, fast and inexpensive, because I purposefully omitted the flour tortillas and substituted the lettuce with cabbage, so now I guess you could say that I have now officially stolen Lisa's recipe and am calling it Cousin Nancy's Healthy Tacos Supreme! So, thank you, Lisa—it's mine.  : )

I took this afternoon off, because of Mercury in retrograde and feng shui-ed the big room in our trailer, which I am not sure was such a good idea. When I was nearly done this pretty, hand painted decoy duck, that a friend had given to me over fifteen years ago, caught my eye, so I picked it up to admire it.


When I turned the real decoy duck over to look at its underside I saw that "T. L. Kennedy 1981" hand carved into it and that got me to thinking, so I spent over two hours on the Internet researching it and I came up with two auction houses that had listed T.L. Kennedy 1981 painted decoy ducks and then I found a T.L. Kennedy school up in Canada, that sounded like a really cool school and that was it. 


So tonight I plan to continue researching on the Internet to solve the mystery of who was T.L. Kennedy 1981. I know that the T.L. Kennedy, who founded the Canadian school, died in 1959, so it must be someone else. Please wish me luck tonight in solving the mystery that I've created, because it is driving me crazy—thanks to Mercury in retrograde.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us!

P.S. My dear friend Jim Callahan sent me the coolest video to check it out and T. and I loved it. If you want something to make you smile please check it out: The Coolest Dog! It has gotten over one million hits.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Biggest Cheerleader!

Saturday, after viewing Gerry Olert's great Kinky For Utopia Rescue Ranch one minute trailer, to give us an idea of what his longer version commercial would look like, I didn't think my day could have gotten any better, but once again I was wrong about that, because we had a great adoption.

Around 1:00 when I drove into the rescue ranch I spotted Tony with a couple and their three children, in the alleyway, between Laz's & Maggie's pen and LaToya's & Candace Bergen's pen, so I stopped Trigger and went to greet them. "They want to adopt Candace Bergen!" Tone half-hollered to me as I approached them.

After introductions Hugh and Ashley introduced me to their sweet kids and we visited for a few minutes before I went up to the trailer to get Candace's adoption form. Five minutes later Kermit took me back to the super nice family, so Hugh could sign-off on Candace's adoption form.

While Hugh signed the adoption form their sweet children were taking turns petting, hugging and kissing Candace and I could tell that she loved it, because her tail was wagging ninety-miles-an-hour. After a fun visit with the family we thanked them for adopting Candace and then I shot them with my camera, before they took Candace to her fantastic, forever home in Houston.


After Candace had left the ranch with her new family, I came inside and called Kinky on the phone to tell him about another great adoption and he was delighted.

The reason that I did not post on my blog last night was sort of selfish, because I needed some "Nancy Time" and I had a total blast. I spent the evening taking turns playing my guitar and mandolin, laying down four different sound tracks to a song that my brother Ronnie wrote years ago, using my Garage Band software. And after I had mixed the four tracks together I was fairly pleased with the way it turned out, but T. thought it sounded really great, but then again, he thinks that anything I do is great and that is why he is my biggest cheerleader.

Today has been a quiet day so that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying that we get some rain!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Kinky Friedman For Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch! I Love This!

Yesterday, our good friend Gerry Olert came out to the rescue ranch and interviewed us for a video he was making for Alan Warren's Outdoor's television show to showcase us and he put a small trailer together and sent it to me. We love it and cannot wait to see the full version. And I played my guitar for the music in the background in Kinky Friedman For Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch! Please check it out and e-mail  this to your friends. Thank you Gerry and Alan for helping our rescue ranch! We Love Y'all!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Left No Crumbs! or It's A Wrap!

Today has been a lot of fun and it started early. This morning, around 6:00, when I rise-d, but did not shine at all, because I didn't sleep well, so I went back to bed for thirty more minutes in hopes of getting some much needed beauty sleep, but thanks to Mercury in retrograde and it being FMT (Full Moon Time) that didn't happen.

At 8:00 I called Kinky, over at the Lodge to make sure he was up, because our friend Gerry Olert, of Crazy Rooster Productions: Professional Video Productions and Photography, was coming out to shoot us for Alan Warren's fishing show. "I'm up and ready, Nance. Y'all come over when he gets there..."

By 9:00 I was pouring myself a cup of coffee in Kinky's kitchen while Kinky visited with Gerry, as Gerry set up his camera equipment in Kinky's office. Kinky's twenty-four minute long interview, about our rescue ranch, was fantastic and afterward Gerry and I had a short, but fun visit with Kink.

On our way back to the rescue ranch we saw Eileen and Lisa, our super great volunteers, walking Gus and Lois Lane down by the creek, so Gerry stopped his truck and we got out. After I had introduced the girls to Gerry—he grabbed his camera and shot them, too. Then we took off for the rescue ranch.

While I was inside the trailer returning a few phone calls Gerry was outside shooting Tony doing his morning chores. When I went back outside I had a great visit with Lisa and Eileen and before they left they told me they had presents and something to give me and Tony. "Y'all shouldn't have and it is us who should be giving y'all presents for all that you do for our rescue ranch," I said, to their deaf ears.

"Here's a "Shady Grove" t-shirt for you, since you didn't go to Austin with us last Monday to deliver Blackie and Alfie and we picked you up some Rescue Remedy for you to take when you go on your road trips," Eileen said, as she handed me the t-shirt and the natural tranquilizer.

"Thank y'all so much. I love the t-shirt and I will definitely use the Rescue Remedy when I go to Target and Whole Foods with Sandy and Patty."

"And I baked this for Tony's birthday," Lisa said, as she handed me a tray of sliced lemon pound cake with the cutest Boston Terrier paper napkins and there's more! Here is some sheet music for our new play list for our band to learn." As she turned the pages of sheet music she said, "We can learn This Land Is Your Land, She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain, How Much Is That Doggie In The Window, Deep In The Heart Of Texas, Home On The Range, You Are My Sunshine and Oh! Susanna."

"This is fantastic," I said. "I'll make copies for all of us. Thank y'all so much!"



"Y'all are going to love Lisa's cake," Eileen said. "It's absolutely delicious. She made one for me..." After we visited for a few more minutes I thanked them and then we adios-ed each other and they drove away while Gerry was nearby interviewing and shooting Tone in Ben Stiller's and Gracie's pen, so I went over to join them.

When they came out of Ben's and Gracie's pen Tony needed to go take care of some things, so Gerry and I spent about one hour outside, going from one pen to another, so he could get pictures of all of our dogs. Then the three of us came inside the trailer so he could interview and shoot me and then later on record me playing my guitar for him to use as the background music in the video about our rescue ranch.

Once Gerry had all of his equipment set up in the big room he put a mic on me and then he started interviewing me, as Tony and his dog Belle watched over by the kitchen table, and it was a lot of fun, because Gerry is a professional and has had over 14 years of experience in national television production.

When the interview ended we decided to take a break, so I served up some of Lisa's delicious birthday cake for Tone. After we had eaten delicious cake for T. and had left no crumbs on our plates, Gerry recorded me finger-picking a few songs and then Gerry said, "It's a wrap! I've got what I need," and then he put up his equipment.


Then Tony gave Gerry a tour of his photo hallway gallery and Gerry was impressed and then T. put on his new camera holster and showed it off to him and then we sat down in the big room and had a fun visit with him.

Before Gerry left, around 3:00, we gave him a tour of my writing cabin and he shot it too and then he thanked us for our time and drove away. And to say the least, "We cannot wait to see his video when it airs on Alan Warren's television show and we want to thank our good friends Alan Warren and Gerry Olert, for helping out our rescue ranch!"

I am going to spend the rest of the evening trying to learn how to play Steve Martin's bluegrass version of his hit song King Tut performed by him and The Steep Canyon Rangers on the Rare Bird Alert, grammy award winning album.

Y'all have a great evening and please say a prayer for us to get some rain!