Pickups & Puppies! or And Tony Likes That!

Today has been great. This morning before I called Harley Belew to do the weekly Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch segment, Tony told me, "Nance, you've got to check out Pickups & Puppies, because Adina has just written to tell me that they are pre-selling it, on their site! When you get to the site scroll down to the bottom of the page to see my book and the details and then go up to the top of the page and then click on Utopia..."

Tony was so excited about his photography book I got instant goose bumps, because I know just how exciting it is to get published. And now I am going to tell you how all of this came about.

On April 4th, the same day that Bee Spears got adopted to a fabulous family, Adina, from Fort Worth, had called me and she had left a pretty exciting message that involved she and her husband, Butch's Win A New Pickup sweepstakes business and their NASCAR race car drivers friend's charities. So after Bee left our rescue ranch I returned her call and then things started rolling from there.

And before the wheels started turning too fast, I got our dear friends, Kris & Jim, involved, because they are die-hard NASCAR fans and Tony and I needed for them to give us a crash course on NASCAR. And also because they had already volunteered to drive me me up to the Texas Speedway, in Fort Worth, to represent our rescue ranch at a fundraising event during NASCAR's race weekend, on November 5th. "Thank you, Kris & The Mineral Man. Y'all did a great job of teaching us."

On June 9th, Adina drove down from, my home town, to see our rescue ranch, to introduce herself to us and to meet Kinky, Tony and me. And it was a very fun visit that included several business meetings and some really cool NASCAR t-shirts, posters and other Nascar merchandise.

Then on July 4th, she and Butch drove down to see us and spend the night. We had a blast with them. And so did Kris & Jim, Sunday morning, because we had invited them to eat breakfast with us, at Koyote. And during our breakfast Adina, Butch, Kris & Jim, talked non-stop about NASCAR and the drivers. And Tony and I actually understood what they were talking about.

And while Adina and Butch were down here, she told Tony that she had already put together a book of his awesome photographs with his name on it, that he owned the rights to and that they were going to sell his coffee table books, Online and during Fort Worth's NASCAR weekend, in November. And all of the proceeds from the sale of his book will go directly to our rescue ranch.

Then she gave Tony a prototype of his photography book, because she had just one printed proof made, so she could check out the color and quality. And here is a picture of Tony's Utopia: A perfect place for refuge that she gave to him two weeks ago.

I love Adina's title for Tony's book and that she chose to use that awesome picture he took of Belle & Beau hanging out, on our front porch. And the best news is, Adina has already told Tony that after the November event she will be glad to help him publish another book of his photography, with this time all of the proceeds going directly into Tony's pocket. And Tony likes that.

I confess that I have not been blogging as often as I used to do and my reason for that is lack of time and I've been too busy, because I have been trying to finish writing two books, writing grants, taking a fun trip with Chet to, New Mexico and then to Dripping Springs, playing my guitar, while also taking care of business at the rescue ranch. So please hang in there for me, because things are starting to slow down some and that I will soon have much more time to blog. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!