Sunday, September 29, 2013

Book Review!

Today has been great. Last night we got about one inch of rain and the creeks are starting to flow. This morning I received an e-mail from my dear friend, Mari. The Subject: Book Review.

Last Tuesday, when Carol, Tony and I met Mari, at Bella Sera, for a super fun lunch, she purchased two copies of my Cowgirl Sisterhood: Death In New Mexico from me. After I had signed one to Mari and one to her friend, Polly, I said, "Mari, I cannot wait for you to read this and give me a book review, because I value your opinion."

Even though five days have passed since we did lunch together, I would check my daily e-mail often, in hopes that Mari would e-mail me and tell me what she thought of Part II. I knew that she had a really busy week ahead of her, so I knew that she wasn't a slow reader, but I did worry some, that maybe she just didn't think much of my second novella. Authors do that.

Thursday morning, I received this brief e-mail from Mari. The Subject: Book Review So Far. My friend wrote:

"I’m laughing about so much in the book and I’m only on pg. 27! Talk about surprise ‘pops’ that make me just burst out laughing! And some just make me roll my eyes!  Too much fun. Mari"

When I read what she had written I was more than thrilled, because Mari is honest and she shoots straight. Then Friday and Saturday passed by with no book review, so I started worrying again, until I received this book review from Mari.

"Ok I finally have time to do my book review. I finished the book the second time I picked it up. It was just so much fun with crazy and wild (ok, some are subtle) twists, turns and comments and all the requisite ‘danger’ in the characters and plot too. It was like a version of Mystery Science Theater 3000 with the comments from the observers watching the cheesy movies thrown in! I LOVED that show so you know I LOVED this book!

I can’t wait for David to read it – we have so much ‘class’ in this edition! He will then ‘brag’ again about being included to all his friends – I guarantee it!

Surely there are no other books by anyone else in your particular genre of writing. These are one of a kind!

Polly’s is ‘in the mail’ to her in Utah. I can’t wait to hear what she thinks. She’s a regular reader of your blog, so she’ll know the names in your book, even if she’s never had a chance to meet Carol.

And honestly – remember the Alamo? At a time like that??? LOL

Mari"

When I read her e-mail I immediately printed it out and showed it to Tony. "That's great, Nance." Then he went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

I then returned to the kitchen and e-mailed Mari back, to thank her for her book review and to let her know that her review had just made my day great, while Tony was doing some paperwork. And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Queen For A Day!

Today has been great, but I am writing my post early and scheduling it for tonight, because of some possible upcoming thunderstorms later on tonight.

Last night around 7:00, Deanna called to tell me that she and her sister wanted to come out, if it wasn't too late for a visit. "I would love for y'all to come out. I've already written a post for my blog tonight, cleaned and dusted our thirty-year- old trailer and I've just put our new bedspread on the bed, for the very first time!"

I didn't tell Deanna that when I put our new quilt on our bed there was a big problem. The quilt was not the size that I had ordered. I had ordered a Queen size for our bed and the bag said it was a Queen size too, but when I pulled it out of its zippered bag, it was a King size quilt.

When I first put King on our bed, both sides of the quilt touched the floor. So, I pulled the visible side of the quilt to the correct height and I had about a foot of extra quilt lying on the floor, on the opposite side, next to the window, that hopefully they would not see. Then I rolled up some of the extra length and hid it under the pillows and it looked great and that's when I took that picture of it. And it really didn't matter, because within a year, I am sure that Tony's dog Beau will have reduced the size of King down to a Queen size, with rough scallops and holes in it.

After adios-ing Deanna, I gave Abbie her evening pills. Then I went outside and jumped into Kermit and took off, to go open our front gate for them. Once I was back inside The Cabin, I realized that I had forgotten to put up the chickens. So I went outside again and skipped all of the way over to the pigpen and put The Golden Girls back into The Egg Palace.

A few minutes later, I went outside to greet Deanna, her sister Danielle and Hank, Danielle's adorable mutt, which she had adopted from a shelter. "I love Hank," I said. "He is too cute." We then went into The Okay Corral and closed the gate behind us. While Hank was busy checking out the yard, I gave Deanna and Danielle a tour of my writing cabin. And not to brag, "They loved it, too."

When we came back outside to check on Hank, Deanna said, "We are dying to see your trailer."

"Okay, let's go into Outer Space first, so y'all can check out the view." One minute later, we were sitting in Outer Space getting to know each other and laughing, as we traded stories. And I will admit that I talked too much. And they can vouch for it.

Before we came inside The Cabin, Danielle took off to her car, to fetch a bottle of white wine, for Happy Hour, which actually should have been called, Hilarious Hour. When we walked inside The Cabin, Roy, Mama and Belle greeted my newest friends. Then I gave them a tour of The Cabin and yes, they loved it, too and Deanna told me that she wants to bring her husband over, so he can see it, too.

After the tour was given, I was so thankful that they had not seen the rest of King, lying on the floor, near the window. We settled in the kitchen for a fun visit. As they sipped their white wine, which came out of a bottle, and I drank my fine, boxed, red wine we got to know each other. When I told them about Carol being my best friend and wanting them to meet her, we decided that in the near future, we're going to do lunch, in Kerrville, so they can meet her and Tony, too.

During our Hilarious Hour, Deanna bought copies of my Cowgirl Sisterhood: Part I and Part II  novellas and I gladly signed them to her and Danielle. "Y'all please note that these are fiction and Carol, in real life, is not the zany, fictional character, that I have made her out to be, in my novellas and..."

The party ended around 8:45. I had a total blast visiting with Deanna and Danielle and I was sad to adios them and watch them leave, because their visit was so enjoyable. And I was deeply sadened, when I had to go remove King, the beautiful, Queen for a day quilt, from our bed and replace it with Queen, that was once beautiful and had aged from Beau's wear and tear.

To prove how a stupid thing, like a quilt, can make me so sad, I took these pictures of King, last night, pretending to be a Queen and then the old, ragged Queen, that now sadly graces our bed once again, thanks to Beau. I hope these pictures don't depress you, too. Also, please note that I cropped the first picture, at the bottom, so you can't see the rest of the quilt lying on the floor.



Carol called me this morning and she could not wait to hear about Deanna and Danielle's visit and we laughed and laughed. She is so looking forward to meeting them, as much as they are about meeting her and Tony. And that is about it for today. I hope that we get a lot of rain, without thunderstorms, tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Friday, September 27, 2013

Dale Evans!

Today has been great. Early this morning Suzanne, one of our super volunteers, came out and started walking our dogs for us. Not long after that, our friend, Eileen, a famous member of the Fab 4 volunteers, brought along her sweet sister Dean, who is visiting her for a few days. Our friend, Lisa, another famous member of the Fab 4 volunteers, played chauffeur for them and delivered Eileen and Dean to the rescue ranch, so they could walk our dogs.

The volunteers and everyone at the rescue ranch loves Eileen and Dean, because they are so much fun to be around, because they are so funny and they keep all of us laughing. When I went outside to greet them and to thank them for coming out, we hugged each other and immediately started laughing at one of their remarks. "Y'all are so much alike, y'all could pass as twins," I said.

When they took Rocky and Rockett for a walk, I tagged along, because they are so much fun to be around and when I am with them all we seem to do is laugh. So, this morning with those two was a lot of fun for me, because I love to laugh as much as I can.

For the past two weeks our friends/volunteers and us have been secretly talking and e-mailing back and forth about doing June's belated surprise birthday party. And today we pulled it off. Yesterday, while Tony and I were in Kerrville, we went to H-E-B and picked up a birthday cake for June's surprise, but not forgotten birthday, which was back in August. She's a Leo, like Tony is.

On our way home we stopped at the Medina Highpoint Resort. When I walked inside I saw my friend Pete. "Hi, Pete. I need a favor. Tomorrow we're having a surprise birthday party here and I was wondering if y'all would let me drop off the cake?"

"Sure Nancy, not a problem," Pete said. "Listen, I have just finished reading your two hilarious novellas and I loved them. I never quit laughing. I want to talk to you about a couple of ideas I have...."

After talking to Pete and getting excited about his proposals, Sarah, at the other counter said, "Nancy, I love your books. I read them straight through and since I spent over twenty years in publishing, I want to talk to you about a few ideas that I have...." As soon as we got home I called Carol and told her my good news.

Around 11:30 this morning, after the volunteers had walked our dogs, we drove up to Medina Highpoint Resort, to surprise June and to eat lunch and it was a total blast. First off, we really surprised June, when she and Ellen walked inside. June's birthday cake was sitting on the table, surrounded with gifts and cards and we all hollered, "Happy Birthday, June!."


When June sat down at the table she first opened up Tony's and my two presents, wrapped in foil. She laughed out loud when she opened up one and discovered that it was an alien-attracting-helmet, that I had personally made for her. Then she immediately put the pot pie helmet on top of her head and tied it on. Then she opened up our second gift and seemed to be thrilled to get a signed copy of The Cowgirl Sisterhood: Death In New Mexico. Then she asked Carol, Brandon and Tony to also sign it. "This book is now worth a lot of money," she teased. We all laughed.

"Then I am going to be watching eBay more often," I joked.


Everyone burst out laughing at June, wearing her custom made alien-attracting-helmet. Then Carol joked, "I bet you could get out of jury duty, wearing that helmet." During our super fun lunch, I took a cute picture of Dean and Eileen, posing for me. Dean is the one on the left.


After everyone had finished eating lunch, June got up and borrowed a spatula and a giant knife, that looked like a sword. When she returned she made a wish and then blew out the candle and started to cut slices of cake. Look at the size of that blade!


Late this afternoon, we rescued a dog that was dumped along with her sister, on Deanna's ranch, in Uvalde. Deanna and I have been playing phone tag and have been talking back and fourth on the phone this past week about her bringing Frieda to us on Saturday. Frieda's sister was luckily adopted by one of their friends.

It turned out that it would be better if Deanna brought her later today and after a really fun conversation with her, about Frieda, dogs, ranch life, etc. she offered to drive Frieda straight to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, because she was going to have dinner tonight, in Kerrville, with her sister. 

Before we adios-ed each other, we discovered that we have a lot in common, she and her sister are maybe going to drive out here this evening to meet me. (Tony and Brandon will be gone, because they are going to a Medina High School football game.) I promised to give them a tour of the rescue ranch, including The Bunkhouse, my writing cabin, Outer Space, our screened-in porch and show them the inside of The Cabin. I am dying to meet her and her sister and I hope that they do come out. Oh yes, she also can't wait to meet Carol, because they are both big time cowgirls, so we are going to do lunch soon with her and her sister, in Kerrville. 

I hope Deanna and her sister really do come out tonight, because I just took that old bedspread that Tony's dog, Beau, has enjoyed chewing up and have just replaced it with my brand new bedspread. I love how our bedroom looks, but as soon as Deanna and her sister leave, the new bedspread is going back into it's plastic bag and the old raggedy one will replace it. And that is about it for tonight, because now I need to drag Hazel out of our bedroom closet, so it won't look like we live here.


P.S. As soon as Deanna and I adios-ed each other I called Susan, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic. "Hi, Susan. It's Nancy. We've got a rescue dog coming in tonight. The woman's name is Deanna and I am naming this dog, Dale Evans." Susan chuckled.

Y'all have a great evening!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Grease Guilt!

Today has been great, even though last night, thanks to Roy, I could not remove the grease from the kitchen floor no matter how much I steamed cleaned it. This morning when Tony and Brandon returned from The Old Timer, in Medina, I complained to Tony about how disappointed I was not being able to remove the grease stains last night. "The stains will eventually go away in time, just like the flour that was stuck on the floor."

"You had flour stuck on your floor?" Brandon asked.

"Yes," I said. "In 2007, Abbie went nuts one night, after we had gone to bed. She flung an entire sack of flour all over the big room and the kitchen, and Tony tried to remove the flour with a wet mop, while I was still sleeping. We had flour stuck all over our kitchen floor. Actually, it was pretty funny and I even wrote about it. In fact, my Flour Power, story was my very first story that I wrote for my blog." Then I looked Flour Power up, in my archives, on the side bar and I was shocked to see that it had happened, on September 28, 2007—just three days shy of being six years ago, when Abbie made our trailer look like it had snowed inside, with snow drifts here and there.

"The grease stains don't look that bad," Brandon said, trying to cheer me up. "They'll go away some day."

Today has been a very busy day for me, with some very exciting, good news about my novellas, but I can't divulge that information, yet. Around 4:30, I decided that my work for today was officially over. So, I decided to make up a funny sign about Roy's grease stains and then take a picture of Roy wearing the sign.

When I tried to tie the sign around Roy's gigantic neck, he balked and pulled the string out. So I asked him to please get up on our bed, which he was happy to do, because I guess he thought it was "nap time" for us. He circled on the bed and then he laid down. I then pushed the sign close to him, to make it look like he was wearing it. Then I took his guilty-looking picture.

Because it is hard for me to read the sign in the photo, his grease guilt sign reads:


BECAUSE I RAIDED THE TRASH CAN
AND
GOT GREASE ON
 THE WOODEN
KITCHEN FLOOR,
THAT NANCY CAN'T REMOVE.
I AM GROUNDED AND HAVE TO WEAR THIS
STUPID SIGN ALL DAY LONG.
BUT IT WAS WORTH IT, BECAUSE
 I LOVE HER FAJITAS, TOO! - ROY


Y'all have a great evening! "Come here, Roy. I love you so much..."

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Twins!

Today has been great, even though our air conditioner froze up for several hours. This morning after we ate breakfast, just to make sure that I had burned off the Lasagna calories I ate, at Bella Sera, I went outside and started mowing with a push mower. I mowed down the grass in Lois Lane's pen, Rufus and Roxanne's pen, Tuesday Weld and Rio's pen, Rocky's pen, an alley and Chad and Jeremy's pen.

Then I jumped on (I slowly and awkwardly climbed on with Tony's help.) Zorro, our riding lawn mower and mowed down the tall grass in Baxter and Honey's pen. Then I quit and came inside to make lunch for Brandon, Tony and me. We had Fajitas.

Then our air conditioner froze up and we turned it off and only turned on the fan to help melt the ice.

At 3:30, I went outside with my camera to take pictures of Peggy Sue, Kate Middleton, Miranda Lambert & Blake Shelton, Gretchen Wilson & Willie Nelson, to send to Pat, our fabulous webmaster, to post.

When I returned to The Cabin and downloaded the pictures, they all turned out good, except for Miranda and Blake's, because they wouldn't pose for me, because they were so happy and wanted to play with me. So tomorrow, when I find the time, I will ask Tony to help me take their pictures.

When I uploaded the pictures to Pat, she shot me back an e-mail to let me know that she can post them by this weekend and I am thrilled about it. Here is a preview of some of our newly rescued dogs, minus Blake & Miranda and Bella, because Bella is still at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic.

Gretchen Wilson, one-year-old

Kate Middleton, two-years-old 

Peggy Sue, four-years-old

Willie Nelson, six-months-old

Carol called me early this evening and we had the best laugh about the undercover pictures that Tony took of us wearing those goofy undercover glasses, at Bella Sera. She joked, "They make us look like men."

After we had quit laughing, I joked, "Yeah, men twins."

When Carol and I adio-ed each other, Tony came inside and turned on our central air conditioning system and it is working! Now Tony's happy, our dogs are happy and I am happy. So life is good sort of, because earlier today, when I went outside for a few minutes, Roy raided the trash can, so now I am fixin' to steam clean the kitchen floor.

Y'all have a great evening!

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Bella Sera!

Today has been great. Kinky called me this morning. He was leaving Oklahoma City and on his way to Texarkana. After we had talked about The Friedmans (His three dogs.) and The Samets (His four cats.) I told him, "Kinky, our friends Jimmie and Nelda Dunn sent me an e-mail. They will be at your show in Texarkana. Please tell them that Tony and I said howdy."

"That's great and I will tell them y'all said howdy. By the way..."

Early this afternoon, we picked up Carol, so she could ride with us to Bella Sera,  in Kerrville, to enjoy lunch with my dear friend, Mari. When Carol came out of her house she was wearing her undercover glasses and Tony and I burst out laughing. (Yesterday, Carol had suggested that it would be funny if we were wearing our undercover glasses, in the restaurant, when Mari walked in.)

When we walked inside Bella Sera, our favorite Italian restaurant, the friendly staff greeted us. "There is going to be four of us," I explained, "and we are playing a joke on our friend." After the three of us sat down at our table, Carol and I posed for Tony and the waiters and waitresses thought it was hilarious.



A few minutes later, Mari arrived and we scrambled to put our undercover glasses back on. When Mari saw us, she burst out laughing and we didn't quit laughing until we adios-ed each other, in the parking lot. Tony and I ordered Lasagnas and Mari and Carol ordered Nick's Salad with Salmon and all of us agreed that their food was absolutely delicious. 

We told jokes, Mari told us about the great time that she had at the National Cowboy Symposium, in Lubbock, what she thinks about Austin, the food in Kansas and we could not quit laughing. We talked about Carol's and my temporary tattoos, hearing aids, The NoMads winnings at the dog agility trials, Tony's and my dogs, Carol's dog, Scout, that has abnormally large paws and Tony actually got a word in edgewise and told us a very funny fish joke. To say the least, lunch was a blast even though Mari didn't notice my hair loss.

After we adios-ed Mari, we jumped into Buttermilk and headed to the pound, so we could rescue a sweet six-month-old, black, female Labrador that was very happy to see us. After Tony had loaded the pup into a crate we took off for Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic. On our short drive to the clinic we tried to come up with a name for the pup and Carol suggested Bella.

"I love the name," I said. "We'll call her Bella (Sera) since we just ate there. I wonder what sera means?"

"I know Bella means beautiful," Carol said, "but I am not sure what Sera means." Then we got out of Buttermilk and went inside Hoegemeyers to drop off Bella to get her shots, a checkup, spay, etc. 

Our next stop was at Home Depot. And our last stop was at So Fast Printing, so Tony could pick up more of his beautiful postcards to sell, because every time he prints more, they sell out quickly. Then we came back home.

Early this evening I went outside and mowed down the grass in a couple of dog pens, using the push mower, because I ate so much at lunch, I needed to burn off the extra calories. And that is about it for today.

FYI: Yesterday morning I told Brandon and Tony about them not noticing my hair loss. Brandon immediately apologized and I laughed and told him not to worry. Then Tony says, "The reason that I didn't notice your shortened ponytail is because I am always looking at your beautiful smiling face."

After I finished laughing at Tony's remark, I said, "You know that's a bunch of B.S., Tony. You can't worm your way out of this one, but I do love you anyway."

Have a Bella evening!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Joking Around!

Today has been great. Early this evening I went over to Carol's and when she came out to greet me, I burst out laughing, because she was wearing those novelty glasses, that we had searched for, so we could wear them to surprise Kinky, in Port A. She found those joking around novelty glasses, at a Dollar store, in Kerrville.


She had bought two pair for us, so we could be undercover in my fictional, Cowgirl Sisterhood, cliffhangers series. Here is a picture that she took of us being undercover. Carol is the one on the right. So, if you see us wearing them around Northern New Mexico or the beautiful Texas Hill Country, please don't blow our cover, because we are amateur detectives just trying to learn the trade while having a lot of fun.


Y'all have a great evening!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

The Rug Doctor!

Today has been great. This morning when Tony got up, it was forty-six degrees outside. When I got up, it was forty-eight degrees outside. Fall is finally here at last and today's weather has proved it.

Early this morning, while Tony and Brandon were outside doing chores, I caught up with some e-mails and paperwork. Then I declared that I was taking the day off, which only the dogs heard me say, because Tone and Bama were still outside.

After the three of us ate lunch, I cleaned up the kitchen. Then I went and put on my "painting clothes," because my two painted rugs on the floor needed doctoring, because I think the last time that I "The Rug Doctor," painted the rugs was two or three years ago.

Painting the two wooden rugs generally takes me at least four to five hours, so I decided to paint just one color a day, instead of making it an all day project.

I decided that today's color would be off-white. Tomorrow's will be the turquoise color and the darkest color that I will paint will be on Wednesday, because Carol and I are meeting my dear friend, Mari, for lunch, at Bella Sera, on Tuesday.

When I started putting down the painter's tape, Belle and Roy kept trying to lay down beside me. So I decided until today's project was completed, I had to put all of my "best friends" outside, except for Mama, because she was sound asleep, on our bed.

As Belle, Roy, Abbie and Beau stared at me through the front porch window I taped off all of the off-white areas. Then I painted as fast as I could, because Roy kept banging real hard, on the window, using his paw, wanting me to let him come back inside and it was killing me not to let them come back inside.

From outside, the four dogs impatiently watched the paint dry with me. When the paint had dried I quickly removed the painter's tape, so I could be reunited with my dogs. I loved how much better the rugs already looked, but I was even happier about Roy not busting out the window, with his heavy pounding.

When I opened the front door to let them back inside, Roy and Belle did the strangest thing. They each claimed a rug, while Abbie chose to lay down on a dog bed and Beau rocked, in his rocking chair. And that is about it for tonight, except I want to let you know that neither Tony or Brandon has noticed my hair loss.



Y'all have a great evening!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

I Love Roy!

Continued...

We didn't stay long at the lighthouse island, because Rick needed to go back and take Kinky to The Gaff, for a sound check, before the scheduled 5:15 Pirate Parade. While Rick did that we shopped around Port A, looking for the funny glasses that came with thick eyebrows and a giant nose.

At one tourist trap, Carol found some temporary tattoos. "Nancy, let's play a joke on Tony. I'll buy us temporary tattoos and when we get back home, I'll tell Tony, that we got snookered and got tattooed." We started laughing.

"Yes, and I will tell him that I wanted to get a "I love Roy" tattoo, but Rick wouldn't let me." Two minutes later Carol bought a pack of five happy dolphins temporary tattoos.

At 5:00, we met up with Rick, at Giggitys Bar & Grill Restaurant, then he drove us over to a street corner, close to where the parade was to begin.

Just before the parade was to start, Carol and I had to keep ducking behind people and cars, so Kinky wouldn't see us when he was driven past us, to the front of the Pirate Parade.

When the Pirate Parade began coming our way, Kinky was busy waving to the crowd, that lined the street. Rick, who was our "Friendly Lookout Man" kept telling us to duck or hide and when Kinky neared, Rick said, "Now, get out there!"

Carol ran and I skipped to the curb's edge. We hollered, "Hi, Kinky!"

He waved to us and to the crowd and then he took a double take at us. Then a giant smile came over his face, "Nancy and Carol are here!" Then he started laughing. "I can't believe it."

As soon as Kinky and his entourage passed, we jumped into Rick's car and took off for Giggity's Bar & Grill Restaurant, because Rick knew the parade route. A minute later, when Kinky came around the corner,  Carol and I yelled, "We got you, Kinky!" Then all of us started laughing. Then we went back to the dock and jumped into the boat and Rick took us back to the island, so we could rest a little.


Around 7:00, we returned to Port A, to eat dinner at Giggity's Bar & Grill Restaurant, before going to Kinky's concert. Our fresh fish dinner was mouth-watering delicious and John, The Friendly Bartender" was a fantastic bartender. He was friendly and he had a fabulous sense of humor. He kept us laughing, throughout our dinner.

Kinky's concert, at The Gaff, was so much fun. He was great, as always and the crowd loved him. During Kinky's performance I met several nice people, who came up to meet me, because like us, they too love animals. In fact, two very nice women told me that they were coming up in November and they would make a point to come visit us and take a tour of our rescue ranch. And I am looking very forward to their visit.

Following the great concert, Rick took us back to the island. We spent the rest of the night laughing and trading tales.

Friday morning, Rick cooked us a delicious breakfast and then he took us back to Port Aransas, so we could head back home.

When we got to Bandera, Carol pulled over in Church's parking lot, so we could put on our temporary tattoos. I had to use my survival utility tool, to cut out the temporary glittery tattoos we wanted. (I knew I would need to use that tool some time.) Then we applied them to our arms, just above our wrists and then we took off, laughing.

When we arrived back safely, Tony came out to greet us and when Carol started telling him the fib, about us getting tattoos, he stopped her in mid-sentence. "Carol, I know you are lying, because Nancy would never get a tattoo, because she hates needles.

And that is about it for tonight, because I have jetlag or laugh-lag and Carol has just called me and she does, too. Just so you'll know, I rubbed my tattoo off within three hours and Carol removed hers as soon as she got back home with Jake and Scout.


Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Rick, The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper!

Friday, September 20, 2013

We're Back!

We're back! Carol's and my Cowgirl Sisterhood "Spur of the Moment" road trip was a total blast. And it will probably have to take me two or three nightly posts to tell all. So Mari, please do not be disappointed, because you've been warned.

It all started this past Tuesday morning, when our dear friend Rick, "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper," in Port Aransas, called me to tell me that Kinky would be performing at The Gaff, Thursday night. When we had adios-ed each other, I punched in Carol's phone number. "Carol, I must be going totally out of my mind, because Rick has just called me about Kinky coming down there on Thursday to play at The Gaff. Would you like to go down there with me?"

"Let's go!" Carol said.

"Okay. We could go down there Thursday morning and come back Friday morning."

"Have you told Kinky?" Carol asked.

"Not yet. In fact, I need to call Rick back to see if we can stay on the island."

"I think we should keep it a secret and that way we can surprise Kinky at The Gaff..." Then we made a plan and decided to leave Thursday morning at 10:00, if it was okay with Rick for us to spend the night.

Thursday morning, at 9:40, I was packed and ready to go when Rick calls me. "Nancy, just wanted to let you know that they have just decided that Kinky is going to be the Grand Marshall, in today's annual Pirate Parade, at 5:15. Y'all can surprise him at the parade instead and if you have any Miles of Chocolate left, please bring me some."

"I'm packing it into my duffle bag right now..."

As soon as Rick and I had adios-ed each other the phone rang again—it was Kinky. "Nance, Brian and I are leaving the ranch around 10:00. And to let you know that I've just been upgraded to Grand Marshall status for today's Pirate Parade."

"That's great news, Kink," I said, trying to sound surprised, as I began nervously pacing the floor. "Congrats..."

Carol arrived promptly at 10:00. While Tony helped her put Jake and Scout in The Okay Corral, so her dogs could spend the night here, I carried my duffle bag and a new box of wine to Carol's car and began telling her about us possibly running into Kinky and Brian Kanof, on the road, because we were leaving at the same time. On my second trip, I carried out the warm peach cobbler, that I had baked earlier in the morning, for Rick, because he loves my peach cobbler as much as he loves Miles of Chocolate.

After we had adios-ed Tony we took off. "Carol, now if we see Brian's car leaving the ranch at the same time, I'll duck, so they won't see me. They might have already left, so we'll either be ahead of them or chasing them down to Port Aransas."

Carol and I laughed non-stop all of the way to Port A and my back was starting to ache from all of the laughter. We stopped in Sinton, just long enough to eat lunch at the Dairy Queen and to go to the Dollar General.

The reason we went to the store was to buy a couple of pairs of those goofy-looking, kid glasses, that have thick eyebrows and a big nose, because Carol had suggested that it would be funny if we wore them as we stood on the curb, looking incognito, as Kinky's Grand Marshall golf cart passed by us.

That Dollar place didn't have any, so we laughed all of the way to the Wal-mart, in Ingleside, about us surprising Kinky and the reaction that we would get from him, when he recognized that it was us. We didn't find any at Wal-mart.

We arrived in Port Aransas at 3:20. Rick immediately noticed that I had cut five inches off of my ponytail and then he quickly whisked us away to the private island, to hide us from Kinky and to let us drop off our stuff, because he had just talked to Kinky. Brian and Kinky had just boarded the ferry and would be arriving in Port A at 3:30. Without knowing they had chased us.

To Be Continued...

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Sales!

Today has been a little bit strange, but great. This morning after breakfast, Kinky called me. He invited me to come over for a cup of Green Mountain's Donut Shop coffee. It was an offer I could not refuse, because Tony and I are addicted to Keurig's Donut Shop coffee and that is why I bought that coffee sign yesterday.

Kinky and I sat in rocking chairs, on the front porch drinking coffee while watching The Friedmans run around the yard. We had a short, fun visit and guess what? Neither Tony, Brandon or Kinky have noticed my hair loss. I think it is totally hilarious.

Carol did send me an e-mail last night, after having read my blog, stating that she didn't notice my sawed-off ponytail, because I had never turned my back to her, on her short visit. So she is officially off of the hook, but the guys aren't.

This afternoon, before Tony went to pick up his new postcards, he dropped me off at the mall, so I  could shop at a popular department store. I needed to buy a new pair of Levis, for my upcoming trip with Carol and the oddest thing happened. When I slid my credit card through the machine it rejected it. The nice salesman tried it and it rejected it, too. The polite salesman told me that it says that I needed to call this phone number, so I grabbed my cell phone out of my purse and discovered that its battery was dead.

So, he picked up the phone and called the number for me and then handed me the phone. As I listened to the prompts I was told what my new balance was, my available credit, etc., but I could not speak to anyone, so I hung up. I asked the salesman to call the number and listen to the recording and he was given the same message.

I could tell that he was getting nervous that an old woman, like me, might go ballistic, so he called his manager for help. She was very nice, too. "Last week this store sent me a new credit card and had raised my credit limit. The letter told me to immediately destroy my old card and I did," I explained. "Now, I wish I hadn't.

"Did you validate your new card?" She asked.

"No. I forgot," I confessed, before I started laughing and then they started laughing. The manager dialed a secret number and explained to the credit department that I had forgotten to validate my card and I could tell that she was trying real hard not to laugh. Then she handed me the phone to answer a security question.

Fortunately, because I know my birth date, I passed the test and my card was validated and now activated. As I signed off on my credit card, I thanked the man and manager for being so pleasant and for helping me solve the problem. As I walked away, I joked, "Thank goodness there wasn't a line of customers waiting behind me!"

When I left the store, Tony was waiting for me and when I told him about my charge card experience, he thought it was pretty funny. Then we drove across the street to pick up a few groceries at H-E-B. As we shopped the isles, Tony told me about how great his new postcards had turned out. "I had them print one hundred and I want to stop at Koyote, I mean Medina Highpoint Resort, to see if Pete wants to buy some. (Please note that Medina Highpoint Resort used to be Koyote Ranch.)

When we had finished shopping, there were five items in our cart, so we got in the 10 Items or Less Express Lane. When I wrote the check for the amount, the friendly cashier suddenly realized that the scanner had not scanned Tony's beer, she apologized. "Don't worry," I said. I will pay cash for the beer." Then I handed her a twenty dollar bill.

After she rang up the sale, she told me the amount and then I tried to hand her another twenty dollar bill. She smiled and waved my first twenty at me. I started laughing, as I shoved the twenty back into my wallet. This nice, old man, probably about my age, was standing behind me and he started laughing when I joked, "Being a senior citizen ain't easy. The only thing that I can remember is my birth date and the Alamo."

When we arrived at the Medina Highpoint Resort, Sarah and Pete greeted us. When we left Pete had purchased one hundred postcards! Tony was thrilled and down to only twenty new postcards. "Nance, I am going to have to reprint some more!" I was happy for Tony.

After we came home, put up the groceries, returned a few phone calls we jumped into Buttermilk and took off for The Old Timer, in Medina. We had a nice visit with Debbie, the store owner and when we left to come back home Tony was totally out of postcards and I had sold several more copies of my novellas. To say the least, "We were both thrilled. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Coffee & The Big Apple!

Today has been great. This afternoon, Tony and I jumped into Buttermilk and took off for Bandera, to run a few errands and to get a few things I'll need for Carol's and my upcoming Cowgirl Sisterhood Spur of the Moment road trip. As we were slowly driving through Medina I was startled when I looked to the right and saw the town's big apple knocked off of it's base, laying upside down on the ground. "When did this happen?" I asked.

"Last week. Some stupid kids did it, just for fun. The whole town is mad about it..."

"On our way back, I want you to stop and take a picture of me standing next to Medina's big apple, for my blog tonight."

After running our errands in Bandera, Tony did stop and take a picture of me standing next to the big apple. And if you look closely behind the apple, you will see the rock base and the broken pipe, that was used to support Medina's big apple.


When we climbed back into Buttermilk, we saw all of these cars and motorcycles parked in front of Log Beds, a fairly new store in Medina, that makes cedar furniture, just like the kind that Tony and I used to make fifteen years ago. "Let's go check out the Log Beds store," I said.

When we walked inside the beautifully decorated store, a very nice woman approached us, "Welcome, come on in. I know, I know you but," she said.

"We run the rescue ranch," I said.

"Yes, that's it. I watched the video. I'm Linda and my husband, Tucker, love dogs and we love what y'all are doing."

"I love your store and love what y'all are doing, too." Then we visited some more, as she walked us around their beautiful furniture store. "I love how you have decorated this place and your furniture is top notch. I am going to get my friend Carol to come check it out, because we love to decorate. She is going to love this place, too..."

Our next stop was across the street, at The Old Timer, because we saw Sam, Tony's brother's, truck parked around the side. When we walked inside the store, we were greeted by everyone. I visited with Sam for a few minutes and then a very funny sign for sale, over on a corner display, caught my eye, so I went to check it out. One minute later, I bought it and it was mine—instant gratification. It felt good and it says it all, because Tony and I can't function, in the morning, until we have drank coffee.

Before leaving the town's famous and favorite place to congregate, Debbie, the super nice store owner, came over to talk to Tony and me about buying Tony's new postcards that are coming out soon and also buying some more of my novellas from me. Tony and my egos were pumped up, when we left to go home.

When we got home, I removed the carved, wooden duck from the wall, so I could hang my new sign there. I laughed when I saw the duck's nearly four o'clock shadow that it had permanently left on the wall.


Then I reluctantly hung up my new sign, because I knew that I would always miss that duck, but then again, it will always be there, hidden behind the sign. And I have already named it, Undercover Duck. So, anytime that I am missing it, I can just remove the sign and stare at it, until I get bored and cover it up again.


Ten minutes later I called Kinky. "Kinky, Tony told me the funniest joke. I didn't get it at first and he had to explain it to me, but I think you will like it. I'm not good at telling jokes and I was wondering if I can bring Tony over there to tell you the joke?"

"Sure, come on over." I was thrilled about us going over to Kinky's, because maybe he would be the first to notice that I had cut off five inches of my ponytail.

Kinky loved the joke, too and we had a good laugh about it, but I can't tell the joke on my blog, because it is adult humor. During a fun, but short visit with Kinky, I kept purposefully swinging, my much shortened ponytail around, in hopes that one of them would notice, but that didn't happen.

Today, even though Tony, Brandon, Kinky and Sam have not noticed my drastic hair loss, I will be the first to let y'all know who does. I'm betting it will be Carol, because she reads my blog. I love my new sign and that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

It's10:51 No One Has Noticed Yet!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Spur Of The Moment!

Today has been great. This morning while I was cooking breakfast I lost something, then I totally forgot all about it when Brandon and Tony showed up.

While T. and Bama were doing the outside chores this morning, I started getting everything ready for lunch. Last night I had decided to cook outside, so I could try to make Carol's delicious recipe for grilled chicken thighs with roasted vegetables.

The vegetables that I chopped up were fresh zucchini, yellow squash, okra, green beans, onion and a red bell pepper. Then I prepared the chicken thighs with Carol's secret ingredient. Then I went outside and threw a bag of charcoal into our smoker and started a fire.

When Tony and Brandon got a whiff of the smoke, it alarmed them. So they jumped into Kermit and flew down to The Okay Corral, to discover it was just the smoker heating up. Then they went back to feeding the dogs and cleaning their pens.

A little later on, while the three of us were enjoying the delicious meal that I had prepared, Carol showed up to pick up something that she had left over here. We had a short, fun visit with her, and she loved all of my decorating improvements.

After lunch, the three of us went to Kerrville to run a couple of errands and to pick up Miranda and Blake, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic.

The Border Collie pups were glad to see us and they rode quietly in their crates all of the way home. Here are few pictures that I took after their arrival. The first one is Miranda Lambert.


This is Blake Shelton. 


When I asked Blake to pose for me, this is what I got.


After we put the puppies in their pen, we dropped Brandon off and came back home. It had not been two minutes, before the wind picked up and rain began pounding us. The rain only lasted for about thirty minutes, but we were lucky enough to have gotten over one inch of rain!

Late this afternoon, we had another important arrival—our new quilt, that we can't use except for special occasions, because Beau would rather eat quilts than regular dog food. I took this picture the minute that Tony had pulled the quilt out of its package, with Beau already anxiously checking it out.



Early this evening Carol and I talked on the phone and we have planned an upcoming, spur of the moment Cowgirl Sisterhood out-of-town adventure. We know it will be a blast and we are very excited about it and Tony is fine about it, too. I will tell you more about it, later on. 

As I finish typing this tonight, I am laughing, because today neither, Tony, Brandon or Carol have noticed my drastic hair loss. This morning, I cut off over five inches of my long ponytail and I think it looks much better. It will be interesting to see who discovers it first.

Y'all have a great evening!

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Brandon's Back!

Today has been great. Early this morning Kinky came over with his friends Karen and Dan, because he wanted them to see our rescue ranch and to meet us. Tony and I really liked them and we enjoyed visiting with them, before they took off, for Kerrville, with Kinky, to eat breakfast together, before they drove back home.

Tony and I got a late start this morning. We did go to Kerrville, but we were too late to pick up Miranda and Blake, at Hoegemeyers, which is fine, because we plan to pick them up tomorrow.

Last week, a dear friend sent me two pictures of a beautiful cabin. I loved the pictures so much I forwarded them to Carol, because we have similar decorating tastes and that is what started our decorating projects last Thursday. These are the two pictures that inspired both of us.



Friday morning after breakfast, to start my project, I asked Brandon to help me move a few things for me, because Brandon's back is much stronger than Tony's or mine. I asked him to put my guitar amp, in my pink cabin and bring in my faux, electric woodburning stove, that was outside in my writing cabin. 

While he and Tony did the morning chores outside, I did some more feng-shui-ing and I was thrilled with the results. Then I took this picture.


Before the three of us ate lunch, I asked Brandon to please remove my old storage cabinet in the kitchen and then bring in the storage cabinet, that I had built, that was outside, in Outer Space, our screened in porch. Here are pictures of the old tile cabinet taken to the dump and the one he carried inside.



Then we ate lunch. After cleaning up the kitchen, I asked Tony to please remove the old kitchen cabinet doors, while I went outside and built new cabinet doors. Here is how they turned out.


Saturday morning, I did the outside chores with Brandon, because Tony had to go to Kerrville, to pick up another bottle of Abbie's pills, because we did not have enough to last her through Sunday night and to also run several errands. 

After we had fed the dogs and cleaned their pens, I started building another storage cabinet, to replace the one that I had stolen from Outer Space. Brandon was dying to help me, so I nicknamed him, "The Human Clamp," because he would hold the boards tight, so they wouldn't shift, as I built the cabinet. 

The cabinet was built before Tony returned home, from running all of the errands and after all of us ate lunch, Tony attached the doors for me. And I love how it turned out.


This morning, I painted our front door, because I have never been pleased with the old, red color, because it had too much orange in it. And I used the same color that Carol had painted her front door and I love how it turned out.


I am getting exhausted just writing this, because for me, I have accomplished much and I am so thrilled with the final results. I still have to put a clear stain on the kitchen cabinets, drawers and drain board trim, which I plan to do tomorrow. That will be easy. Then in the next few days, I will put down new black & white vinyl tiles, at our front door and down the hallway that leads to our bedroom. Then I will repaint our two rugs, in the kitchen and the big room and my work will be totally done for a while.

Hopefully by then, our new bedspread will have arrived, which I can only use for special occasions, because Beau will eat it. Then I will be ready for fall to arrive. 

Argo, the movie I purchased has arrived, so tonight I plan to watch all of it, hopefully, without any interruptions. And that is about it (I know you're thinking, Thank Goodness!) for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

The Truth Is Out There!

Today has been great, but first I am going to catch up with everything that has been going on since Thursday.

Thursday was "arrival day" for us. afternoon around 2:3O, Rivon arrived safely with the two sweet Border Collie pups, that she rescued from death row. Even though it was a six hour drive for the 3-month-old puppies they were very happy to get out of the car.


Unfortunately, fifteen minutes later, Tony loaded them into crates, inside Buttermilk and we took off for Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, after picking up Carol, because she wanted to meet the puppies and after dropping them off, go to Home Depot with us for our decorating projects.

The other thing that arrived on Thursday were Tony's new business cards, that I had designed for him. He loves them and I am proud of them. He asked me to use Mike Scovel's great caricature of him and then he told me to do what ever I wanted. This is what I did and because the card is so small it reads:
Uncle Tony's Snapshots. If it moves me, I shoot it with my Canon. Capturing the folks & the wildlife of  the Texas Hill Country, one shot at a time....


Friday was a great day, too. The volunteers came out and walked our dogs for us. And needless to say, "Our dogs loved it more than we did." Lisa surprised me with the cutest, little, pink flashlight, which I love and so did Kris and Jim. They gave us a big bag, filled with okra and peppers that we cannot wait to roast. And they loaned us SI-Cology 101: Tales & Wisdom From Duck Dynasty's Favorite Uncle.


Today has been great. But because we went over to Carol's and had a fun time and ate a delicious, healthy dinner, with her dear friend, Brenda, who we also love, I am only going to tell you one more thing tonight that has made our day great, because it is nearly 8:30.

Our dear friends, the ones who recently went through Roswell and are fictional characters in my novellas, sent us an hilarious, Alien care package. The box was stuffed with the funniest stuff, that I especially love, but it did cause a minor quarrel between Tony and me. Check out the box, that they had wrapped in aluminum foil and it's contents.



This is my thank you for the alien care package e-mail that I sent to them:

"I love y'all! Tony and I received your Roswell care package and we absolutely love every thing inside the box. I have already put the "The Truth Is Out There" bumper sticker on our refrigerator. The round alien bumper sticker is now stuck on my guitar case. I told Tony that the glasses are mine and that I am not sharing them, because he just got those wearable binoculars. I put the little green alien and the little buttons, above my kitchen sink, next to Jiminy Cricket.  Brandon got jealous over the cool space ship guitar pick. And we fought over who got the alien license and I won. It is now tucked away, in my billfold, next to my Home Depot card. Thank y'all so much for the too cool alien package-it's out of this world. Much love and Rememer the Alamo. Nancy"

Tomorrow we are picking up the sweet Border Collies. We asked Susan, at Hoegemeyers, to please help us name them. She called me later and came up with Miranda and Blake and I loved it. Tomorrow my decorating project should be finished and I will post something, with pictures, tomorrow evening. And that is about it for tonight. 

Y'all have a great evening!

Friday, September 13, 2013

Project!

Today has been great, but I am exhausted, because I am in the middle of another, exciting decorating project. In the past two days many good things have also happened, but tonight I am just too tired to drive another screw into wood or write about it. I promise to write all about it, tomorrow, after I complete my project.

Have a great evening!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Half Price!

Today has been great. This morning I overslept, but I had breakfast ready for Tony and Brandon when they walked inside The Cabin.

I spent most of the morning lowering my paperwork pile and returning phone calls and e-mails. I also talked back and fourth to Rivon, about two Border Collie mix pups, whose time at the pound had run out. She is bringing them to us tomorrow. Then I fixed lunch.

After lunch, I took a break. I went Online to J.C. Penney and purchased a new quilt, just like the one Beau ate and I got it for half price. Then I went to www.half.ebay.com/ and purchased a couple of my favorite movies that I have misplaced: On Golden Pond and Electric Horseman and one of them only cost me seventy-five cents. I also got a great deal on the movie, Argo, too.

Then I went down the hallway to tell Tony, "I just bought a new quilt just like the one Beau ate. It was on sale for half price. I probably should have bought two, just in case." Tony smiled, but he didn't look up from his computer, because he was busy deleting some of his older nature photos. Then I went back to doing paperwork, at the kitchen table, with Roy sleeping under it, with his head resting on my boots.

Late this afternoon, Carol came over. We sat in Outer Space and had a very fun visit. We laughed a lot and talked about new decorating ideas, rain, horses, dogs, etc. When I told her about the two, three-month-old Border Collie mixes, that had been on death row, coming in tomorrow, she told me that she could not wait to meet them.

After Carol and I had laughed about Beau eating a giant hole in the quilt, I said, "I don't know if I should use the new quilt. Maybe I will keep the old one on the bed and just put the new one on our bed, when company comes over." That made Carol laugh. The she suggested, "I would store the new quilt, for safety sake, and only use it when you have guests." So, I am going to take her advice. Problem solved. And that is about it for tonight.

Have a great evening!