Thursday, August 30, 2012

We Bought A Zoo!

Today has been great, but tonight I am walking behind schedule, because early this evening, we invited Kinky and Marcie to come over to visit Toto and us. After Kink and Marcie had fed Toto some special treats, Tony showed them his beautiful Dragonfly poster, that Marguerite had given to him and his book about Dragonflies, that Sandy and Jon had given to him, yesterday.

After Kinky and Marcie had admired Tony's poster, they took turns browsing through the Dragonfly book, so I fixed them some hot Celestial Seasonings Lemon Zinger tea to try, with a half of a teaspoon in each cup of Rick and Leisa's harvested Port Aransas honey from their bees and they loved it, as much as we do.

We had a fun visit with Kink and his sister and after they left to go back to the Lodge, I started a load of clothes washing, in Queen Bee, our washing machine and then I put Leslie Sansone's Four mile workout DVD into the player and started walking and walking and walking.

I finished her four mile workout a few minutes ago and I have just put our cleaned clothes into Airy Queen, our clothes dryer and as my Lemon Zinger tea is brewing, it is time for me to end tonight's post, because I am fixin' to watch a Netflix rented movie, We Bought A Zoo, which Sandy and Jon told us we would love and I can't wait to watch it, before I go to bed tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Thank You, Marguerite!

Today has been a great day and it started out real early. This morning, at 6:15, Tony and I were outside, before sunup, feeding the dogs, deer and pigs, because he had to be in Kerrville, at 8:00, for his second Texas Master Naturalist class.

At 7:23, T. waved goodbye to me, jumped into Buttermilk, with his notebooks, etc. and took off for Kerrville and I came back inside The Cabin to drink one more cup of coffee, before going back outside to clean the dog pens and that turned out to be a little exciting, because I accidentally let Tuesday Weld and Annie Oakley out of their pens.

Tuesday, was the first to get out, but fortunately, all I had to do was call her name and she came running back inside her pen. Annie though, was a different story. While I was in the alley trying to persuade George Clooney into going back inside his and Annie's pen, because we separate them when we feed them, Annie saw her chance and she took off, before I even realized what had happened.

As the dogs barked in unison, to let me know that "Annie had left the building," Annie raced from one end of the ranch to the other as I race-walked behind her, calling out her name. On the third go around, Annie decided to stop and go down the alley to chat with Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Chad & Jeremy and that is where I finally caught her, because the gate at the end of the alley was closed. And all I have to say about it is, "Jackie O didn't like being disturbed."

Late this afternoon, after Tony had returned from his TMN class, that he really enjoyed, we took off for Kerrville to run some important errands. After we had taken care of the important errands, we went to Wolfmueller's Books, so Tone could pick up the beautiful Dragonfly poster, that our friend Marguerite, the woman who had adopted Enzo, the German Shepherd from us, had left for him, to prove that there really are pink dragonflies and to help him identify the dragonflies, that he captures with his cameras.

As T. admired his beautiful dragonfly poster, that had awesome pictures and the names of each dragonfly, Sandy, Jon and I talked about how thoughtful Marguerite was to give him the poster, that she had saved, after the Wild Birds Unlimited Dragonfly seminar, held a few weeks ago. "The next time that y'all see Marguerite, at Wild Birds Unlimited, please tell her that I said, "Thank you very much," Tony said. "I am going to get this framed."

Before we left Sandy's and Jon's popular bookstore, to come back home, they told us that Mari had come by earlier and she asked them to please tell us, "Hi." So Mari, if you are reading this, "Hi! We are sorry that we missed seeing you and let's do lunch sooner than later, but not until I drop a some more pounds."

When we got back home, I took a nap with our dogs and I actually did sleep, for forty-five minutes and then after that I walked four more miles with Leslie Sansone, so now I am pooped. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

New Plates!

Today has been great. This afternoon we met Kinky for lunch, in Kerrville, so we could catch up with each others news. Lunch with Kink was a lot of fun and was filled with laughter. We talked about the rescue ranch, Toto's deteriorating health issues, a little politics, which is one of Tony's and my least favorite subjects and about him running into our dear friends, Walt and Cheryl, at the San Antonio airport.

"Someone stole one of my license plates in the airport parking lot," Kinky told us.

"Did you call the police?" I asked.

"No, because I am going to the Court House, after we eat lunch, to renew them. That's when I'll report it stolen..."

After lunch, T. and I ran a few errands and then we came home, and then after talking to Kinky on the phone, we went over to the Lodge to visit with him and Marcie. While Tony was helping Kinky put  his new plates on Mr. Green Jeans, Tone said, "Kinky, who ever stole your license plate, was at least nice enough to put the screws back on..."

When they had completed their "Put new plates on Mr. Green Jeans" mission, I showed off Tony's pink dragonfly picture to Marcie and Kinky and they totally loved it, so Tony gave his picture to Marcie, so she could get it framed. Then after a fun visit with them, Trigger took us back home, so I could return a few phone calls and Tony could go outside to try to capture more beautiful dragonflies, using his camera.

While Tony was outside, Sandy and Jon called me. "....Nancy, please tell Tony that we have a beautiful dragonfly poster for him, at the bookstore and the pink dragonfly is on it and it has a name...."

For the last four days, I have faithfully walked four miles everyday with Leslie Sansone, to help me lose weight and I need to walk four miles now, so I guess that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Maribeth!

Tony and I love Maribeth and we want to wish our dear friend, in Utopia, the happiest birthday ever.

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Maribeth. Happy Birthday to You. And many more!

Have a wonderful birthday, Maribeth. We miss you and we love you!


Sunday, August 26, 2012

Pink!

Today has been great. Tony's and my second loaf of No Knead Bread turned our perfect again. The reason that I am not calling it my bread is, I do all of the mixing, timing and baking, but I need Tony to help remove the lid and do all the lifting of his dutch oven, so we are now a team of bread makers.

Kinky called me today, from an airport in California, to check on us and to just say, "Hi," and to tell me that he will be back at the ranch tomorrow afternoon and I am so glad, because he has been gone for nearly a week and we have missed him.

Late this afternoon, after taking a sleepless nap with my fur family, Tony and I decided that we would watch a movie this evening, but not until he went outside to take some more pictures.

While I was outside watering our plants in Outer Space, Tony came driving up on Kermit, wearing a big grin on his face. "Are you ready to watch the movie with me?" I asked, as I poured out the last drop of water onto the Ivy.

 "Not yet, Nance, you are not going to believe what I've got for you! I need to download it first on my computer and then I'll show it to you. I promise that you are going to love it! Then we will watch the movie. Okay?"

"Okay," I said, wondering what in the world he wanted to show to me.

Minutes later, T. came down the hallway, into the big room and said, "Look, Nance. I can't believe this!" And when I looked at his computer screen, I couldn't believe it either.


"I took this photograph especially for you," Tony said, "I never knew that there were pink dragonflies."

"Me, neither. I absolutely love it. Tony, your photography has become awesome. Why don't you let me help you put together an e-book, of some of your best photos...."

And that is about it for tonight, because we are fixin' to watch a movie.

Y'all have a great evening!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Is It Yours Or Mine!"

Today has been great. This morning at 6:00, I groggily climbed out of bed, instead of rising and shining as I had planned on, because I didn't sleep well last night, because Roy, Mama and Toto kept bickering about who got to snuggle with me. The final snuggling results were Roy - 5 times, Mama - 4 times and Toto came in last place with only 2 times. Sorry, little man.

After I had drank one cup of delicious coffee, I said a little prayer and then removed the bread dough from the oven and to my surprise, the inside of the oven was warm, because the recipe directions had suggested that I turn it on, to keep the dough warmer and it had worked.

As the dough sat on the large, lightly floured pastry cutting board, that my good friends, 'Erb & Karen, had given to me a few years ago, I dusted it with flour and then I folded the dough over on itself, front to back and side to side and then I had to kind of be a little creative on the next step of the recipe, which was to cover another cutting board with a large, cotton dish towel and then lightly sprinkle it with cornmeal.

Because I didn't have a giant dish towel, big enough to cover the 2nd cutting board, I went to Plan B and then I went to our closet and pulled out one of my many cleaned, blue, cotton, denim work shirts, that I am always wearing.

Right before Tony left, to go to the Old Timer, to drink coffee with his friends, he walked into the kitchen and saw the big lump of bread dough dumped out, on top of my faded blue work shirt, with me carefully sprinkling cornmeal on it, he started laughing and asked, "What in the world are you doing? Your recipe calls for a work shirt? Is it yours or mine?"


"It's mine. Yours are all dirty and I don't have a giant cotton....," I explained, as I covered up the bread dough with my work shirt. "Now, I have to let it just sit here and rise for at least two hours, so it can rise some more. Then it will be ready for me to bake it." After Tony said goodbye and had left, I grabbed a large pot, filled it with water and started heating it, because I was going to cook us up a pot of Cousin Nancy's Beans, for us to eat for lunch, because T. loves my beans so much.

Three hours later, after we had done our chores outside, I put Tony's heavy, empty dutch oven, with the lid on it, into the oven and cooked it for the required 30 minutes, at 450 degrees. Then I asked Tony to please help me remove the hot thing from the oven, so the bread dough could be put into it and then be baked.

Not wanting me to get burned by his dutch oven, Tony lifted up my work shirt with the dough inside it and then he gently turned it upside down, so the pile of cornmeal covered dough would gently fall face down, into the middle of his hot dutch oven. Right before he place the lid back on and put it back into the oven, I took this picture of it.


Thirty minutes later, Tony carefully removed the dutch oven from the oven and then he removed the lid from it and then he put the dutch oven back inside the oven, to finish cooking it for 15 more minutes.

Fifteen minutes later, as I was holding my breath, Tony carefully removed his dutch oven from the oven and he set it down on top of the stove, next to the pot of nearly cooked beans. 


Then he removed the bread using a spatula and set it on a plate to let it cool. 


"Tone, if this tastes as good as it looks right now, it will be the very first time that I've made a loaf of bread, that was edible."

"I know. We've run out of doors that need a doorstop," T. teased.

Forty-five minutes later, the beans were cooked and my loaf of bread had cooled enough, so I half-hollered, down the hallway, "Tony! Lunch is ready. Will you come slice the bread for me? I'm so nervous about how the bread turned out, I'm afraid if I do it, I might just cut off a finger."


As I filled up two bowls, with my healthy, homemade hot pinto bean soup, Tony was the first to try my bread, at my request. "Omg," Tony said. "Nance, you've finally done it. Your bread is the best bread that I've ever eaten, seriously."

As Tony cut off a thin slice for me to eat, I seriously almost teared up, because I was so happy about finally cooking a decent loaf of bread, that wasn't as hard as a brick. When I took my first bite of the still warm bread, I could not believe how delicious it actually was, "I've done it, Tony! I really have. Can you believe this? I could not have done it without your help and your dutch oven..."

Because my No Knead Dutch Oven bread turned out to be so incredibly delicious and was so easy to make and because we've already nearly eaten half of the loaf, I walked 4 more miles with Leslie Sansone, late this afternoon. I truly do recommend this recipe to everyone, because it is so easy and so delicious and healthy. And right now, I'm thinking I just might make another loaf—using Tony's cleaned, blue work shirt, because the one I'm wearing is covered in bread crumbs.

Y'all have a great evening!

Friday, August 24, 2012

7th Generation Texans! or No Knead!

I took yesterday off after we did our morning chores outside, because I needed to take a break from the rescue ranch and also from my kitchen, so Tony took me to our favorite sea food restaurant, La Fours, in Kerrville, to eat lunch. When we walked inside La Fours, our friends Kris and Jim, "The Mineral Man," waved for us for us to come join them at their table, but we decided not to. Actually, I'm teasing you here, of course we joined our friends for lunch. And I am  so glad that we did, because Kris and Jim made our lunch so much more enjoyable.

During our fun lunch, they asked us if we had gone kayaking with June, Ellen, Eileen and Lisa, earlier and Tony and I looked at each other in disbelief, because we had totally forgotten about it, which made all of us burst out laughing, because T. and me are such forgetful senior citizens.

When they told us about buying a Lassie (Lasko's Blower Fan Model #4905, the more expensive model and the prettier one than ours, because theirs is silver and black, instead of black and yellow like our Model #4900.) I was so thrilled for them and listening to them brag about how much they loved their Lassie, pretty much made my day for me.

Last night, while I was still on strike from doing my everyday chores and almost-everyday blogging, I sat down with Roy and Mama to watch the rented movie, Cowboys & Aliens and I thought it was pretty good, even though Mama and Roy didn't and basically slept throughout most of the movie.

Today has been great, of course, because our fabulous friends aka "The Greatest Volunteers of Texas," came out and took our dogs on walks, down to Wallace Creek, so they could go swimming and yes, our dogs loved it even more than Tony and I did. Thank you, June, Ellen, Eileen, Lisa, Jim, Kris and Jim, "The Mineral Man!"

When the dog walking-swim-a-thon had ended, all of us jumped into our vehicles and went down the road, to eat lunch at the Koyote Ranch's Koyote Kafe and Tone and me had so much fun.

Some of our interesting and some times hilarious things that we discussed during lunch, included: Maine, Russia, Alaska, haunted buildings, seeing ghosts, Texas Master Naturalists classes, the art of bread making, June's easy to make soda bread recipe, 7th generation Texans, Hurricane Issac, the movie Cowboys & Aliens, the best of all you can eat buffets, Blayre's amazing 1,000 dog treats, famous Texas Rangers, being allergic to certain foods and almost dying from eating it, Tetanus, the possibility of us starting up our very own private, 9-members-only, exclusive club, how delicious our food that we were eating was, setting a date for all of us to go kayaking together in September and Savannah, Georgia, etc. In other words, "We did a lot of talking and laughing."

Early this evening, around 6:00, after I had surfed the WEB for "How to make artisan bread in a dutch oven," I came across www.gardenfork.tv and found a fun, tutorial to watch, on how to make a version of "Jim Lahey's Sullivan Bakery Bread, The No Knead Bread Recipe made famous by Mark Bittman of the New York Times. So after watching the video twice, I printed out the full instructions and began making it.

After I had mixed the 3 cups of King Arthur brand flour, 1/4 teaspoon with instant active yeast and 1 1/2 cups of warm water in a bowl, I covered it with plastic and then placed it inside our oven, with the oven light on, to keep it warm, so it can rise for the next 12 hours.

Then around 6:00 in the morning, I will hopefully rise and shine and remove it from the oven to complete the final process and then 2 hours later I will bake it in Tony's dutch oven, inside our stove. So please wish me luck with another one of my attempts at making bread. And that is about it for tonight.

P.S. Here's the latest update at 8:12: I just finished walking 4 Miles With Leslie Sansone!

Y'all have a great evening!

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

1,000!

Today has been incredibly great, thanks to Blayre, an incredibly awesome, Girl Scout. This morning around 9:00, I went outside to start to feed the dogs. While I was feeding Ruth Buzzi and Chuck, the dogs started barking because a vehicle was driving in. I figured it was Eileen, because she had volunteered to come out to help me with the morning chores, since Tony is her mente, was in Kerrville, attending his first Texas Master Naturalist class. Well, I figured wrong again, because it was Blayre and her family.

When I met up with them at the barn, Blayre and her father introduced me to her brother and sister, who had come along to see our rescue ranch. After greetings, Blayre blew-me-out-of-the-saddle when she told me, "I have 1,000 dog treats to deliver today," as Eileen pulled up and parked her car by the barn.

"Oh my goodness! You are an angel," I exclaimed. "You and your three friends baked 1,000 dog cookies for our dogs? Eileen, you are not going to believe this!" I said, as she walked up to join us. "This is Blayre and her family. She's the awesome Girl Scout, that I've told you about and she's only fourteen-years-old." Then Blayre pulled out her packaged healthy, homemade dog snacks for us to put into the refrigerator. Then her father shot us with his camera. But, because I looked so fat, in the picture, I cropped it. So, here's Blayre holding her 1,000 doggie treats and my right shoulder, which I think doesn't look fat any more.


After we unloaded her tasty K-9 treats, Blayre handed me some copies of her tweaked recipe, so I could hand it out to adopters and visitors. 

Even though I am known for stealing all of my friends delicious recipes and turning them into, "Cousin Nancy's" delicious recipes, I can't steal Blayre's Dog Treats recipe, because I too, was once a Girl Scout, some fifty odd years ago (And not as good of a one as Blayre is.), she deserves to take all of the credit. So if you want "Blayre's Utopian Treats" recipe, you must come out and adopt a dog from us or just ask for a copy.

Before it was time for Blayre and her family to leave, she had one last request of me, "Could I get my picture taken with you and your dog Roy Rogers, because you said, "Roy likes the treats so much."

"Sure, hop into Kermit and I'll take y'all up to The Cabin. He's in the front yard waiting for us." After Ol' Roy had slobbered on both of them, Blayre's father took this fine picture of Blayre, Roy and my almost slender-looking shoulder.


After Blayre and her family drove away, I grabbed an empty bucket and my pink-taped handles, pooper-scooper to go help Eileen finish spot-cleaning the dog pens and I had so much fun visiting with her. Before she left to go volunteer some where else, she showed me the video she took at the Crosby, Stills & Nash concert, in San Antone. "Nancy, the concert was fabulous. You should have gone with me."

After I had thanked Eileen for helping me out this morning, she drove away and a few minutes later, Trigger and I drove away, to go meet Jon & Sandy and her brother Randy for lunch, at the Koyote Ranch Grill.

I had a blast eating lunch with them and at some point during our fun conversation I said, "This has been so much fun eating lunch with y'all today. Thanks, for inviting me to join you. I am going to play a trick on Tone and not tell him about having lunch with y'all today and..." And that was a total lie, because when T. called me, from his cell phone, in Kerrville, it was the first thing I told him.

"That's great, Nance," my missing husband said, unenthusiastically, "but I am still sort of hungry, Could you fix lunch for me? I should be home in about forty minutes."

When he arrived home, I had a grilled cheese sandwich and a hot bowl of Cal-Bob's Smoke Shack's famous Red Pepper Soup, waiting for him. As he ate his lunch, he told me, "Thanks, for making me lunch. On my way home, I was hoping that you would make me a grilled cheese sandwich and heat up Calvin's soup. Don't you think that is weird?"

"Not really," I said, as I marched into our bedroom. 

A little later, when I got up from a short, sleepless, but enjoyable nap with my dogs, Tony showed me some of his latest photos that he has taken. They were all beautiful photos taken in The Okay Corral, but this one really caught my eye. It is so beautiful and don't worry, I didn't crop myself out of it.


Around 5:30 this evening, it rained for about five minutes and I am not complaining about it, because right now, we need every precious drop of water that we can get. And that's about it for tonight. Thank you, Blayre and Eileen!

Y'all have a great evening!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Her Mente!

The reason that I didn't write and post last night, was because we were in Kerrville, attending an enjoyable, Texas Hill Country Master Naturalist reception / orientation for their Fall program. Tony signed up for the course and his first class is tomorrow, from 8:00 - 1:00.

Eileen, our good friend and super volunteer, took the course last Fall and she is now a certified Texas Master Naturalists and she has also volunteered to be Tony's mentor for the course and T. is very lucky to have her mentor him and he knows it.

When we arrived at the reception, at the Cultural Arts Center, across the street from Wolfmueller's Books, Eileen was the first to greet us. As we signed in and put on our name tags, Eileen immediately began introducing Tony as her mente and me, to the very friendly Master Naturalists members.

While we walked around sampling the members delicious food and meeting many interesting people, I sort of got jealous, because I realized that I really wanted to take the course too, so I told Tone, "I'm definitely going to sign up for their Spring program."

Following the friendly reception, as we went to find our seats for the orientation and introductions, we told Eileen that we would have to leave by 8:00, so we could get back to the rescue ranch, so Tony could put up our chickens for the night and she completely understood, so we sat on the last row, nearest the front doors, so we could slip out, without being noticed. Here's a picture I took of Eileen and Tony going over a few things, before the orientation began.


The orientation was so interesting and inspiring. When it came time for the Texas Master Naturalists mentors to introduce themselves and their mentes, they would walk up to the front of the class, with their mente or many mente-s to introduce them, I got even more jealous of Tony taking the Fall class, because these people were all so interesting and I wanted to know them, too. 

When it was Eileen's and Tony's turn to walk up to the front, Eileen had this to say about Tony and it made me so proud of him, even though I was so jealous of him getting to take the Fall course, instead of me.

"Tony Simons was born and raised in Medina, Texas. Tony comes from a long line of pioneer Texans being a 7th generation Texan, and is in fact, a descendant of William “Bigfoot” Wallace, a famous Texas Ranger and early settler of the Medina River area. Incidentally, Tony and his wife, Nancy, live on the Wallace Creek near Medina which was named for his ancestor, Bigfoot Wallace.

Tony enjoys nature photography, building cedar furniture and fishing on the Texas coast while staying at the home of a good friend who lives on an island, with a lighthouse, near Port Aransas!

Tony looks forward to taking part in bird and butterfly counts and he has several hundred acres he can count on, living across from the Echo Hill Ranch Boys and Girls Camp near Medina. Tony also plans to assist the camp with other wildlife and land stewardship projects.

Tony and Nancy and Kinky Friedman co-founded the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch over 14 years ago where Tony and Nancy oversee a non-kill, extremely successful rescue. I know this because I’m a volunteer there and I see people come from all over Texas and other states to adopt from their rescue!  So, if you need a great dog, see Tony after class!

Welcome, Tony Simons!"

At 8:00, neither Tony or I wanted to leave, because we were enjoying the introduction part, but we had to, so Eileen walked with us outside to adios us and then Baxter slipped outside to give us a hug.

As Buttermilk took us home, we talked non-stop about how much we had had at the reception / orientation, even though Lisa, Baxter and Eileen were the only friends there, that we actually knew.

At 8:45, we arrived safely back at the ranch and that is my excuse for not writing last night.

Today has been great, because around 11:00, our new friends, Jennifer and Chris, came out again, so we could meet her parents, Maxine and Russ, visiting them from Colorado. And Tony and I instantly fell in love with them, as we had with Chris and Jennifer, the young-looking couple, who we had thought were in their twenties, but were actually in their mid-forties. 

Of course, I talked way too much, like I always do, but no one ever told me, "to put a lid on it," because they were all too nice. Like we had done with Jennifer and Chris, we gave Russ and Maxine the Grand Tour and like Chris and Jennifer, they loved meeting our rescued dogs, seeing The Okay Corral, Tony's No Whiner Diner, my pink writing cabin, The Cabin, Outer Space and meeting Mama, Roy Rogers, iPod and Belle Starr-Simons.

When it was time for them to go eat lunch at Toucan Jim's, neither Tone or I wanted them to leave, because we were having so much fun with them. And while we were hugging each other and adios-ing, I made them promise to come back, as soon as possible and they promised me they would. 

And that is about it for tonight, because I have to go to bed now, because I need to get up real early to drink coffee, fix breakfast and shower, because Eileen is coming out, in the morning, to help me do the morning chores outside, while T. is sitting in class, in Kerrville, with some of the coolest people on the planet. I'm still so jealous about it, but at least Eileen will be here and she is one of the coolest people that I know. Good night.

Y'all have a great evening!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Come On Rain!

Today has been okay. Tony's foot is still hurting and thanks to Mari's pink sheepskin, my back is fine, knock-on-wood and unfortunately, we had no visitors today come out to take a tour or adopt a dog. So there really isn't much to talk about tonight, except for the weather.

Since 2:00 today, the sky has looked like we were fixin' to get a good rain any minute, but so far nothing, not even one drop. I took this picture around 4:00, when I had to go close our gate, to keep the horses and donkeys from coming in and upsetting our dogs.


So, early this evening, after Carol V., our dear friend, down the road, came over and did another fun happy hour with us, I decided to make a new iTunes play list using only the "rain" songs that I have, in hopes that it will some how help make it rain here tonight. 

Some of my favorite "rain songs" that I chose and am now listening to are: Willie Nelson's Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain, two different artists singing their versions of, Somewhere Over the Rainbow sung by Ray Charles and the other by Israel Kamakawiwo, Rainy Day Women by Bob Dylan, Raining Here In Austin by Jim Keaveny, Jerry Jeff's Hill Country Rain, James Taylor singing Fire & Rain and then James and Carole King singing her song, that she wrote, Fire and Rain, Come Rain or Come Shine by old blue eyes, Frank Sinatra, Have You Ever Seen the Rain by Creedence, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Face by Burt Bacharach, Mandolin Rain by Hornsby, Just A Little Bit Of Rain by Feliciano, etc. and as I finish writing this tonight—it still hasn't rained out here, but I've truly enjoyed listening to the music. So, come on RAIN! Good night and sleep tight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Friday, August 17, 2012

Brokefoot Hill & Brokeback Hill!

Today has sort of been great. The great part is: Early this morning, while I cleaned pens and Tony fed the dogs, June, Ellen, Eileen, Kris, Jim and Jim the Mineral Man, our super volunteers, came out and they walked our dogs down to Wallace Creek, to let them go swimming and we loved it, but not as much as our dogs did.

After the dogs had been walked, while we were visiting with our friends aka volunteers, Tony tells us, "I think I might have broken my foot earlier or sprained it real bad, when I stumbled and fell, in Marianne Faithful's pen."

"Do you want to go to a doctor to get it x-rayed?" I asked.

"Nope, I'll be okay," he answered. "Are y'all ready to go celebrate June's birthday, at Koyote Ranch Grill?"

Ten minutes later, after Tony had grabbed June's birthday cake, out of the fridge, we took off for Koyote to eat lunch and to celebrate June's birthday, which was actually last Friday, on the tenth.

After everyone had placed their orders, June's party-of-eight began and so did the laughter. The conversation was interesting and often hilarious and it never quit flowing, as we tried to eat our delicious lunch, between many outbursts of laughter.

When it was "Cake Time," Jim helped light the pink candles, on the birthday cake and then we sang the Happy Birthday song to her, as she huffed-and-puffed and then huffed-and-puffed some more, before finally blowing out all of her candles.

When June's fun birthday party came to an end, Tony shot us, with his camera and then we adios-ed everybody and then we climbed into Buttermilk to come back home.


On our way home, Tony complained about his foot really hurting and then I complained about my back aching, because I had laughed so much, at June's birthday party. Then I started laughing, which hurt and said, "Tone. Someone should make a movie about us and call it, Brokefoot Hill & Brokeback Hill." T. chuckled and then he groaned, when he put his foot on the brake pedal, to miss a confused squirrel, that couldn't make up his mind about which way to go.

Around 3:30 as scheduled, Lola Falana arrived with Carol and we instantly fell in love with this adorable, sweet, little eight-year-old Chihuahua. Our friend Carol and her husband Calvin own the famous Cal-Bob's Smoke Shack, which is one of our and our volunteers favorite places to eat.

Carol had met Lola three weeks ago, when she was at the Kendall County pound, where the dedicated employees had kept Ms. Falana alive, for over seven months, so Carol made it a personal mission to help free Lola. 

As we sat in the writing cabin, getting to know Lola, Carol went out to her truck to get Lola's stuff. "Here's her new, little bed, her new pink leash, some small bite doggie treats, a bag of Iam's dog food for little dogs, her toys and Calvin and I have meat and some leftover smoked Salmon for y'all to give to the dogs.

When it was time for Carol to leave, Tony and Carol drove down to the feed barn, to unload the meat and fish, I took this picture of Lola posing for the camera. 


Even though Marcie, Kinky's sweet sister, had offered to foster Ms. Falana for us, until we have an opening, Tony and I decided that we would foster her, inside The Cabin, until we can find her the great family that she deserves, so if y'all know anyone that wants a really cool dog, please tell them about her.

As I finish typing this, I'm sitting on Mari's pretty, pink sheepskin and my back is feeling much better. Tony's foot is still hurting, but he is convinced that it was just a really bad sprain, so he is sitting in his office watching TV, with a frozen bag of peas or corn or okra packed around his propped up foot. And Ms. Falana is sleeping with her toys, in her bed, next to my feet. She sure is cute.

Y'all have a great evening!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

A Deer Magnet! or Girl Scouts Rule!

Today has been great. This morning after we did our chores outside, I called Hoegemeyer's to check on Tuesday Weld, who had just been spayed and in recovery. The veterinarian that I spoke to, told me that Tuesday was a lovely, Pit Bull and as sweet as she could be and she is probably one to one-and-a-half- years old. And, we get to pick her up tomorrow and bring her to the rescue ranch.

As soon as I hung up the phone, it rang and it was Kinky calling me from the road, because tonight he and Little Jewford will be performing in Lufkin, to kickoff The Tour-Ette, to help raise money for our rescue ranch. "Hi, Nance. I'm calling to find out how Tuesday Weld is doing." After I told him what I had just found out about Ms. Weld, I wished him luck with his show tonight and then we adios-ed each other.

A few minutes later, around 11:00, I went outside to greet Chris and Jennifer, from Houston, who earlier had made an appointment to come out for a tour. Tony and I gave them the Grand Tour, because we really liked this young, friendly, dog-loving couple. When their tour began, our neighbor's people friendly, pet deer decided to join us and tag along and it followed us from one dog pen to another and it was pretty funny. And when we ended the first part of their tour, in front of the pigpen, the people-loving-deer would not leave Chris alone, by walking back and forth, in between Chris' legs and then standing up on its hind legs and leaning on him, so Jennifer and I teased Chris about him being a deer whisper and a deer magnet.

The sweet couple loved our rescue ranch and The Okay Corral, Tony's No Whiner Diner, Outer Space, The Cabin and our six member fur-family, that loved them back.

They stayed for about an hour and a half and Tony and I really enjoyed their visit, but they sure pulled the wool-over-our-eyes. Right before they were ready to leave, Jennifer told us that she and Chris had been married for thirteen years, which shocked us. "Did y'all get married when y'all were ten-years- old?" I jokingly asked, which made them laugh. "Seriously, I thought y'all were in your mid-twenties."

"Me, too," Tony added.

"We got married when we were thirty," Jennifer said. "I'm forty-three and people are always telling us that we look a lot younger than we are." We chatted for a few more minutes and then we adios-ed them, as they climbed on their Kawasaki motorcycle, to go eat lunch at Toucan Jim's, in Center Point, because we had recommended it to them, along with Cal-Bob's Cook Shack, The Save Inn and being sure to check out Wolfmueller's Books.

Because my time was getting tight, because I had made an appointment at 1:30, with Blayre, (Correct spelling) a really cool, thirteen-year-old Girl Scout, I made grilled cheese sandwiches and bean soup for our lunch and Tony loved it.

As soon as I had cleaned up the kitchen, Blayre and her father arrived promptly, so we went out to my pink writing cabin, so we could discuss her Silver Project, that she wants to do to help our rescue ranch.

"We came out here last year and you gave us a tour and after I had read both of your books, all I've wanted to do is help Utopia," Blayre told me. Then we talked about her Silver Project.

Blayre, along with some of her friends help, that she has already recruited, are going to bake healthy dog treats for our rescued dogs, using peanut butter, whole wheat flour, oats and water! "I ate one of them," she confessed to me, "but, I didn't like it much, because I like white flour and white bread..."

As I listened to this wonderful, kind-hearted, young lady, I nearly teared up a few times, because I was so impressed with her. "I love dogs so much and I think it would help your visitors and possible adopters get a better impression of your dogs, if they gave them treats," she explained. "We will try to bake 500 dog treats weekly and deliver them to you and..." Then she handed me two, sample baggies filled with her homemade dog treats to give to our dogs.


When our Silver Project meeting had officially ended, I thanked Blayre for being such a sweet and caring girl for wanting to help us and then I told her how impressed I was with her and then I told her that she was a real winner, in my book and a great person and for her to never change, because our world needs more people like her. While I shook her father's hand, I said, "You and your wife have raised your daughter right and I thank you for that. I can't express how impressed I am with her..."

After this truly great, young Girl Scout and her father drove away, to go back home, I came inside The Cabin and told Tony all about my impressive meeting with Blayre and then we tried out six of her doggie cookies on our dogs and they absolutely loved them, especially Roy Rogers, who wouldn't quit begging for just one more. Tomorrow, we will give the rest of Blayre's delicious doggie cookies to our dogs outside. And that is about it for today. "Thank you so much, Blayre! You truly made my day."

Y'all have a great evening!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Tuesday!

Today has been really great. This afternoon we met our good friends Denise & Les and Kris & Jim, the Mineral Man, for lunch and Tony and I had a blast. In fact, we were having such a great time, our lunch date lasted nearly two hours.

Standing in the parking lot, as we did our handshakes and hugs, I overheard Les say, "We've got to go to the new H-E-B before we go home and it made me chuckle to myself, because we had to go to the big H-E-B. After we adios-ed each other we all headed off in different directions.

When we got back home I returned a few phone calls and e-mails and then I took a sleepless, but restful nap with our dogs and Lassie. While I napped Tony was in Medina, at the hardware store, buying a roll of wire, so he could use it to put up a temporary hot-wire on The Osmond's pen, because this morning, while we were outside doing our chores—Donny & Marie climbed out of their pen.

You know when things all seem to happen all at once, well things started happening here at 5:01, when Kinky called me to talk about our day. When I started to tell him about the fun lunch we had with Les & Denise and Jim & Kris he interrupted me and says, "I know all about it, Nance. I ran into Denise & Les at the H-E-B."

"Kinky, Tony has taken some new pictures and they are really beautiful. We showed them to our friends at lunch and they thought they were totally awesome."

"I'd love to see them. Why don't y'all come over right now and show them to me?"

"Okay, we'll be over there in a minute," I unintentionally lied, because the minute he and I disconnected the phone rang. "Rescue Ranch, can I help you?" I asked, as I put the call on speakerphone, so Tony could listen.

"Ma'am, I really need your help. My name is Cooper. A few minutes ago, as my wife was driving home, in Kerrville, she saw a man in a pickup, open his door and toss out a dog. She pulled over and rescued the dog and now we don't know what to do, because we can't take her home. We've called all of the shelters and they are full and because she is a Pit Bull mix, we're scared that she will be euthanized. She is about 6 months old and she is a beautiful dog and is very sweet. Please tell me you can help her."

"Sir," I said, as Tony smiled at me and nodded a—yes we can take her. "We are at capacity too, but we do have one small pen open for emergencies like this. We can take her."

"Thank you, so much. What do we need to do to get her to you?"

"Please take the dog to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, on Sidney Baker and drop her off. I will call them immediately and tell them about y'all bringing her in for us..."

As soon as we had adios-ed each other, I punched in Hoegemeyer's phone number. "Hi, Susan. This is Nancy and we've got a dog coming in...."

After telling Susan about the situation, Susan asked, "What are you going to name this dog?" Susan asked, which kind of caught me off-guard.

Thinking fast for a senior citizen, I said, "Her name is Tuesday Weld. You're too young to know who Tuesday Weld is."

Susan laughed. "She is a famous actress and once married to Dudley Moore," Susan stated. "I guess I'm showing you my age..."

At 5:23, Kinky and The Friedmans came out of the Lodge to greet us. "Hi, Kink. We're running late, but I am not sorry about it, because we just rescued a Pit Bull..." Which made him smile. "And I've named her Tuesday Weld." Which made him chuckle.

"I'm so glad we had room for her, at the rescue ranch," Kinky said. "I won't get to meet Tuesday Weld until Monday, when I return to the ranch, after doing the "Tour-Ette" for the rescue ranch...."

Then the three of us went inside the Lodge, to show Kinky some of Tony's latest photographs. "This one is my favorite of these," I said, as Kinky picked it up to admire it.


"Tony, this is really beautiful," Kinky said. After Kinky had looked at all of the photos, we went outside and had a fun visit, sitting in his rocking chairs, on the front porch. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Hi, I'm Ceily! or Candace!


Today has been great. For lunch I fixed us one of Tony's favorite recipes, that I stole a few years ago, from someone.

Cousin Nancy's Pesto Pasta With Shrimp

A.  Whole Wheat Pasta (start cooking it)
B.  Heat up a skillet with
            2 Tbs. Olive Oil (For about 3-4 minutes)

C.   Then Add:  
            ½ pound of Medium Shrimp peeled and uncooked
            ½ Tbs. of Minced Garlic and cook for 3-5 minutes

D. In a bowl mix:
            1 Tbs. Seasoned Salt or Regular Salt
             ½ cup of Chicken Broth
             ½ cup of Pesto
             ½ cup of halved Cherry Tomatoes

E. When the shrimp is cooked pour in the above mixture and let simmer for 5 minutes.

F.  Mix Pasta and Shrimp Pesto sauce together and top with:
           ½ cup of grated Parmesan Cheese
           ½ cup of fresh, chopped Basil

G. Enjoy!

Serves 2 really hungry people or 4 not starving people.
                                                      ________________________
                
Around noon, when we started to eat our lunch, our inside dogs started barking, so Tony went outside to the porch, to see what was going on. Then he stepped back inside and said, "Some one is driving in." Then we went outside to greet two very friendly women, who had arrived a little bit early for their 2:00 appointment. 

When they apologized for showing up early, because they weren't sure how long it would take them to get here, I explained that we had just started to eat our lunch, so they asked if they could take a walk around the rescue ranch, while Tone and I finished eating our lunch. I answer was, "Sure, check it out. We'll be done in about 10 minutes." Then we took off in different directions.

Twenty minutes later, after I had cleaned up the kitchen, T. and I went outside and jumped into Kermit, to go find Marsha and her friend. (Because I am hard of hearing, I didn't hear Marsha's friend's name real well when we first met, but I think she said, "Hi, I'm Ceily.")

Marsha and Ceily had come to visit us, because their no-kill, animal rescue group, PAWS Shelter & Humane Society, located in Kyle, Texas, has been given some land and they are expanding and they wanted to come see our place and meet us.

After we found these really, nice, caring women, we walked down to the barn and while we were standing there, talking about animal rescue, we saw two cars driving in. "Are these people a part of y'all's group?" I asked.

"No, we don't know who it is?" Marsha said.

When the cars drove up to us and stopped, a friendly woman says, "Hi! I doubt if you remember us. My family adopted a dog from y'all last year and we're here to bring y'all some dog food and some doggie shampoo."

"Well, that sounds great," I said. "Thank you, very much. What dog did y'all adopt from us?"

The woman says, "Candace Bergen and she is a great dog. We really love her." Even though I remembered the name I couldn't remember who Candace was or her story.

"Martha Stewart's pup," Tony said, trying to help me remember. "And George Clooney's sister."

"Yes. Now, I remember her." After I had thanked her, again, Tony jumped into Kermit, so they could go unload the dog food and shampoo. And because it was starting to get hot outside, I invited Marsha and Ceily to come with me to my writing cabin, so we could continue our fun visit.

Tony and I really enjoyed our visit with Martha and Ceily today and we are so glad to know them and we wish them continued success with their rescue efforts. "Thanks for coming to see us today. And Ceily, I do apologize for not getting your name right."

This evening, before I sat down to write this, I pulled Candace Bergen's records to find out when she was adopted and believe it or not—Ashley and Hugh adopted her one year from today, on August 13, 2011, right after they had picked their son up from camp and I think that is pretty cool. "Hugh and Ashley and family, we loved the photos of Candace. Thanks again, for adopting her!"

Because of some possible severe thunderstorms coming sooner than later tonight and because I want to learn a new song on my guitar and do a little more work on Roy's portrait, that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Red And Merle!

Today has been great. This morning after Tony and I did our morning chores, I took a shower and then went over to visit with Kinky and his famous friend Ted Mann. Ted also recently wrote the mini-series, The Hatfields & McCoys, starring Kevin Costner.

Kinky introduced me to Ted about 14 years ago and I really enjoyed seeing him this morning and I am really looking forward to tomorrow, because he is going to come over in the morning, to take a tour and visit some more. I can't wait to give him The Grand Tour, which will include: meeting our rescued dogs and showing him my pink writing cabin, The Okay Corral, Tony's No Whiner Diner, The Cabin and Outer Space.

While I was over at the Lodge visiting, the two strays, that were rescued by a nice woman, in San Antonio, arrived. When I returned home and found out that the two dogs had arrived, I looked over their paperwork and shot records and then I grabbed my camera and went back outside, so I could go meet our two latest rescues, so I could name them and take their pictures.

When I went inside Lulu's pen to meet her newest roommate, this friendly, adorable, 4 year old, 33 pound, red-colored dog greeted me and licked my hand and then stole my heart. So, I named this great medium-sized dog Red Skelton, because he had me grinning.


After I took this picture of Red, I jumped into Kermit to go meet the other 4 year old, black and white Basenji mix and like Red—he also stole my heart, so I named him Merle Haggard, because everyone loves The Hagg. Merle is a very sweet, calm, good-looking dog and he only weighs 30 pounds. Here's Merle!


And that's about it for tonight, because late this afternoon I watched a PBS special about the late Bob Ross, who did PBS's popular show, The Joy of Painting and it so inspired me, I am fixin' to do a one-hour-or-less oil faster-piece painting of Roy Rogers, my four-legged soul mate and constant companion. So, please wish me luck with my painting and if you know anyone who might be interested in adopting Red and Merle—ask them to check out their pictures, because they are two super-cool dogs.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday, Dean Brown!

Today is Dean Brown's birthday and Tony and I want to be the first to wish Eileen's sister a happy birthday. So, here goes!

"Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Dean. Happy Birthday to You. And many more. Have a great birthday and please come see us sooner than later."




Friday, August 10, 2012

The Tequila!

Today has been great. This morning Ben came over early to drink coffee and eat breakfast with us, before he and Tony went outside to do the morning chores.

A little later, when I was outside helping Ben clean the dog pens, Jim showed up to walk our dogs and thirty minutes later, our new friends Jim, "The Mineral Man" and his sweet wife Kris showed up to walk our dogs for us and about one hour after that, Ellen and June ( today's birthday girl), arrived to walk our dogs. And our dogs loved it. "Thank you, volunteers!"

Around noon, Tony and I jumped into Buttermilk and went to Koyote Ranch to eat lunch with Jim, June, Ellen, Jim & Kris and we really enjoyed it. "June, next Friday when Lisa and Eileen are here, all of us are going to officially celebrate your birthday," I said. "And Tony and I are going to pay for your lunch."

"Sounds great," June replied. Then she proudly told us about her birthday presents, "I got an electric chainsaw and a weed eater! I can't wait to use my chainsaw and..." Then we talked about people dying and leaving multiple wills to find. But when June made the remark, "Isn't that something about poor Randy Travis, being naked and drunk," we burst out laughing at what her sister Ellen had to say about it.

"I guess the tequila made his clothes fall off, too."

After we had quit laughing at Ellen's hilarious remark, Kris tells us about buying and trying some of Kinky's Man In Black Tequila and says, "It is now my favorite tequila..."

While we were eating our lunch, we started discussing and watching the Summer Olympics, on Koyote's  big screen TV. "The only competition that I don't like is the girls ribbon dancing," I stated, right before the ribbon dancing competition began. And as we stared up at the giant television, watching girls waving their super long ribbons around, Ellen informed us that she liked ribbon dancing and had even taught ribbon dancing to some of her students, to help them improve their handwriting skills. Then I joked, "I think all of us should learn ribbon dancing and get Ellen to teach us. Then we could work up some kind of a dance routine and do a mob-flash, at the mall, in Kerrville!" And needless to say, "No one wanted to do it."

When Jim, "The Mineral Man," changed the subject and told us about his friend that is a sky-diving enthusiast. Everyone at our table took turns saying, "I would never jump out of a airplane."

Our fun lunch, with our friends aka super volunteers, ended around 1:30 and when we came back to the rescue ranch, Ben was busy spraying down the dog pens with flea and tick repellent and when he saw us, he immediately took a break, so he could eat the cheeseburger and fries that we had brought for him.

It is now beginning to rain outside, so I am fixin' to go into Outer Space with Tone, to enjoy a happy hour and I sure hope it doesn't start thundering and lightning.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday, June Hartley!

Today is June's birthday and Tony and I want to be among the first to wish our dear friend the best birthday ever.

"Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear June. Happy Birthday to YOU! And many more."

We love you and our dogs love you even more. Have a great birthday!

P.S. Ben also wishes you a happy birthday!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Marianne Faithful!

Since my last post, about the upcoming Bonefits/benefits, we've rescued two more dogs and we had a memorable and fun lunch with Kinky and his friend, David Brinkley, a famous New York Times best selling author.

The two dogs that we rescued are Marianne Faithful and Twiggy. Marianne is a wannabe chocolate Lab and she is as sweet as she can be. She is approximately four-years-old and has already stolen our hearts. Marianne's friend, Twiggy, that came with Ms. Faithful, was Harley's Pet Of The Week this morning and she weighs maybe 15 pounds and right now she is a little bit on the shy side. Here is a picture that I took of them enjoying their new digs.


Yesterday, Kinky invited Tony and me to join him for lunch, so we could meet his famous, author friend, Douglas and T. and I had a blast. 

Today has been great, because Ben is here and also because, as of yesterday, M.I.R. is over—thank goodness. And that is about it for tonight, because it is now thundering outside and I need to go unplug every thing.

Y'all have a great evening!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

It's Bonefit Time!

I have some exciting news—It's Bonefit Time, again and our dogs are already howling about it! 


Doggone it! Kinky's on the road again, and this time he's bringing That Jewford (a man Kinky's known since they were pups) along for a five-day Tour-Ette across the Lone Star State. It's all for a good cause: the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, where the men are men and the rescued dogs enjoy first class accommodations. Come along for the fun, the frolic, the music, and the laughs, and help support one of the worthiest causes known to man or beast. Yip, yip, yip, yip, yippee-kay-yay!


Sponsored by Kinky Friedman's Man In Black Tequila.
Wednesday, August 15
Standpipe Coffee House
123 South 1st Street
Lufkin, TX
936-632-PIPE

Thursday, August 16
LMAO Comedy
12 First NE
Paris, TX
903-785-LAFF

Friday, August 17
Poor David's Pub
1313 South Lamar Street
Dallas, TX
214-565-1295

Saturday, August 18
Dosey Doe
25911 I-45 North
The Woodlands, TX
281-367-3774

Sunday, August 19
Sam's Burger Joint
330 E. Grayson Street
San Antonio, TX
210-223-2830 

Monday, August 6, 2012

Happy 58th Birthday, Tony!

Today is officially Tony's birthday and we've been celebrating it since last Friday. Tone is now 58 years old, which I guess makes me a Cougar, since I am almost 3 years older than him. Anyway, I want to be the first to wish my sweet husband a happy birthday.

And because I love Tony and I want him to have the best birthday ever—I am not going to ruin it by singing the Happy Birthday song to him, because as we all know—I'm "Tone deaf, in several different ways.

"Happy Birthday, Tony! I love YOU!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Lassie Rescued Me!

Today has been great, because late this morning, Lassie rescued me, so to speak. When we came inside The Cabin, after doing our morning chores outside, I had just washed my long, stringy gray hair, in the kitchen sink, when Tony half-hollers down the hallway, "A truck is driving in and I think it is Rick and his friend, but I'm not sure. I'm going outside."

"Tony, stall them!" I half-yelled back. "I need to dry my hair!" Then I heard the front door close. Panicked, because I don't like anyone to see me with my hair soaking wet or me not wearing my cap, I thought, "What would Ronnie do?" Then I laughed and half-hollered, "Hair, Lassie! Help!"

Lassie didn't have to come running to me, because she was sitting right in front of me, on the floor, so I aimed Lassie's wind tunnel towards my face, set her on the highest wind speed possible and then I turned her on and faced her. Omg! My wet hair immediately flew straight back, behind my head, parallel to the floor and it was completely dry, within 20 seconds! It was totally amazing. So now, I love Lassie for more than one reason—she's also an emergency hair dryer.

A few minutes later, when Rick and his friend Ronnie came inside The Cabin, with Tony, I greeted them with my dry hair pulled back into a ponytail—wearing my Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch cap.

Unfortunately, Rick and Ronnie were on their way back to Port Aransas and they only stayed for about an hour, but it was a real fun hour. The funnest part of their visit, was when I showed them Lassie and gave them my "Lasko 4900 blower fan demonstration," because it blew them away too, like it had yesterday, with Jim and Chris and before they left to go back home to Port A, they both told me that they were definitely going to buy one. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Mineral Man Gets Blown Away By Lassie!

Today has been great. This afternoon, newcomers to Kerrville, Jim and his wife Kris, came out to see our rescue ranch, because they have been supporting us for many years and Tony and I had a blast with them.

After we had met Kris and Jim, we invited them to come into my writing cabin, so we could visit. In no time flat, Tony and I knew that we wanted this fun, interesting couple to be our newest friends. While we were laughing and getting to know each other, Tony had to leave my pretty, pink cabin, for a minute, so he could get Maya, Shalom and the donkeys out of the rescue ranch, because they were making our dogs bark.

When T. returned to the cabin, we decided to go outside to The Okay Corral, so Tony could show them Tony's No Whiner Diner and they loved his chuck box and thought it was pretty cool. While we talked about birds, gardening, etc. Tony picked some of his hot peppers and gave them to our new friends. Then we invited them to come up to the trailer, so we could show it off.

But, before we took them inside The Cabin, we went into Outer Space and had a short, but fun visit with them and then we came inside The Cabin, where Mama immediately greeted them and then pestered them to continue to pet her.

After we had shown our new friends our thirty-year-old trailer and had discovered that we had many more things in common with them, I noticed Jim starring at my new blower fan, that had arrived yesterday. "Y'all this is the coolest thing," I said, enthusiastically. "I got it yesterday and Tony and I just love it!"

"I'm going to get one for my office," Tony added.

"My brother Ronnie told me about it the other day. He had just discovered them and after he had bought one for their home and saw the amazing results, he immediately purchased two more of them, that go to work with him every day, to help keep his crew cooled. It's not an air conditioner, it's a high powered blower fan made by Lasko and they only cost $59.00!

"How does it cool you off if it is just a fan?" Jim asked.

"It pulls the cooler air from floor level, which is always about 6 to 10 degrees cooler than up here. Heat rises." I explained. "Our dogs love it, too and when I first turned it on yesterday, it was about 15 feet away from the refrigerator and it blew my, "What Would Ronnie Do?" magnets off! Which I immediately knew was a sign. Here, let me show you. Y'all aren't going to believe it. I promise. Now take note, that it is pretty warm in here. Now get ready, Jim." Then I pointed the little Lasko at him and turned it on and blew him away.

"Oh, my god!" Jim said, in disbelief, as my "What Would Ronnie Do?" magnets flew off of the fridge, again and fell to the floor. "It is absolutely amazing how the temperature just dropped ten degrees," Jim said. "We're getting one of these, as soon as we leave here. Kris come over here and see. You're not going to believe this. We could use this out on our deck and inside..."

After amazing Kris, with my brand new, cooler-than-cool machine, I said, "It's a Lasko and the model number is 4900. When I told Sandy and Jon about it last night—they bought one, too..." After my long winded discussion and live-air-demonstration, we went outside and gave them a tour of the rescue ranch, so they could meet all of our super dogs.

When it was time for our new found friends to leave, Jim was telling us a very funny story about his cousin, "He likes to call me Mineral Man. Do y'all know what Mineral Man means?" Tony and I shook our heads sideways. "Silver hair, gold in your teeth and lead in your britches." Tony and I burst out laughing. A few minutes later, after handshakes and hugs, we adios-ed each other and then they took off for Kerrtown.

Before I finish writing tonight, I just took this picture of Roy Rogers relaxing and enjoying my Lasko 4900, which I still haven't named yet. No wait. I've just named it Lassie! Lassie, cool home!


Y'all have a great evening!

Friday, August 3, 2012

Surprise!

Today has been totally fantastic. This morning our fabulous volunteers: June, Ellen, Jim, Eileen and Lisa showed up to walk our dogs, but there was a whole lot of whispering going on, behind Tony's back, because for the last two days they have been secretly planning Tone's surprise birthday party at the Koyote Kafe, at Koyote Ranch.

For the past two days, Eileen and Lisa have been contacting me through secret e-mails about the surprise birthday party they were planning for T. and they asked me to please invite a few of his friends.

So, yesterday morning, before Tony returned home, from drinking coffee at the Old Timer, I was secretly sending out e-mail invites to Sandy & Jon and Fourth. And yesterday afternoon, when T. went to Hwy. 16 to pick up our mail, I called Sam, Tony's older brother, to invite him and Zach to come to the birthday party too.

Around 11:30 this morning, the volunteers took off for Koyote, to get things ready and five minutes later, after stalling Tony, he and I headed to Koyote Ranch, supposedly to just eat lunch with our friends, like we usually do.

It was fantastic, when we walked inside the Koyote headquarters and Tony saw his brother and nephew and Fourth, sitting at the long table, with our volunteers. "Happy Birthday, Tony!" They shouted and then the fun began.

While I was standing at the counter giving the cashier Tony's and my order, Ellen tells me that she and June were buying our lunch, I thanked her, because that was really nice.

When we began to eat lunch, Fourth received an urgent phone call, about a family member, so he excused himself for having to leave and took off for the hospital in Kerrville.

Through out lunch, Tony and I did a lot of laughing, as our good friends and family took turns telling one hilarious story after another. When lunch was over, Tony opened up every one's cards and gifts and he was thrilled with all of his birthday presents. Then it was cake time.

When Eileen brought the birthday cake to where Tony was sitting, she lit the candles and then we all sang the Happy Birthday song to him. After he blew out the #5 and #8 candles, Eileen handed him a knife to cut the cake, which was absolutely delicious! Here's T. cutting up at the party.


All-in-all, Tony's surprise birthday party was a total blast and he and I want to thank everyone for making his special day so special, because it was one that he will never forget, because he told me as we drove away to come home, "That's the best birthday party that I've ever had. I can't believe they did all of that for me..."

Y'all have a great evening!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Mystery Guest!

Today has been great, but no thanks to the strange, often annoying side effects of F.M.T., M.I R. and because I stupidly watched the always depressing local and nightly news tonight. But, thanks to Harley and our early morning mystery guest showing up unannounced—I am still laughing.

This morning, at 7:45, I called-in and did the Harley Show and it was a lot of fun. When I told Harley that Marie Osmond was his Pet of the Week, he thought it was pretty funny and he had me laughing non-stop with his hilarious wisecracks.

After breakfast, our dogs inside The Cabin, started barking, so I went out on the porch to see what was going on. "Tony! We've got a visitor!" I half-hollered, as I stared at an old, dear friend standing, in front of our gate, happily wagging her tail at me.

"Who is it?" Tony asked, as he opened the front door to come outside.

"I think Princess has come over to say good bye to us and Marlin, because I heard that she and Ben M. and the camp counselors are leaving today to go back home. Hi, Princess! You, sure look happy," I said, as Tony walked out of the gate to put a leash on her, so he could return her to Ben.

And that is about it for tonight, because I really need to distance myself from all of that negative, depressing news I watched earlier on TV. And, to do that, I'm fixin' to watch Woody Allen's award winning movie, Midnight In Paris, that all of my friends have been raving about. And I already know that I am going to enjoy watching the movie, because I love any movie that Owen Wilson stars in.

Y'all have a great evening!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Way To Go, Joe!

Today has been a very productive day for me. I spent almost the entire day doing paperwork, because it is the first of the month, which is always my busiest day of the month. Because I did so much paperwork and am now totally caught up with it—I didn't get to walk my daily 10,000 miles in 10 hours—I mean steps. Sorry, I couldn't resist, because I am still laughing about it.

This afternoon when Tony handed me the mail, it made me smile, because we had received an exciting thank you announcement from Herring Printing and we were so thrilled for our dear friend, Joe Herring, because Herring Printing has been voted Best Printer, for the 9th time, by the readers of The Kerrville Daily Times! So, Tony and I want to be amongst the first to say, "Way to go, Joe! Y'all are the Best Printers and that is why we only use y'all for all of our printing needs!


And that is about it for today, because I am going to walk four miles, inside The Cabin, with my old friend Leslie Sansone.

Y'all have a great evening!