Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Tangled Up, Too!

Well, I sure hope that all of y'all had a wonderful Christmas, because we sure did and so did our fabulous four-legged rescued dogs.

After we cooked and served our rescued dogs their annual, delicious Christmas dinner and I had cleaned up the kitchen I cooked our Christmas dinner. And promptly, at 1:00, Kinky arrived, so he could eat Christmas dinner with our good friend Jim Keaveny and us. Bottom Line___It was delicious and we had a lot of fun enjoying Kinky's and Jim's hilarious tales about some of their musician friends.

Later on in the evening, Jim let us listen to his new CD, which is due to come out, in March and we can't wait to buy a copy, because it is totally fabulous. And if you want to check out Jim Keaveny, please click here: jimkeaveny.com and make sure to check out his Music & Videos and you can sample more of his music at: cdbaby.

We really enjoyed having Jim spend his Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with us. And Monday morning after Tony and I had done both of our chores, Kinky invited the three of us to come over, to the Lodge, for a visit and to drink some coffee with him.

When we went over to the Lodge, Kinky greeted us and then he immediately poured us coffees and Tony and I had a great time, sitting around the kitchen table, listening to more of their tales about some of the famous people they have known. There was a long discussion about Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Minnie Pearl & her husband, Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, Muddy Waters, June Carter and Bob Dylan just to name a few and that is why we spent over two hours over at Kinky's. And before we left, the Lodge, to come back over here, I took this picture of Jim & Kinky.


Sadly, late yesterday afternoon, Jim and us adios-ed each other and then he took off to go visit a few more friends, before returning home, to Terlingua.

Today has been great even though I overslept and missed Big G's phone call, to do his morning radio show.

Around 10:00, Kinky called me and invited us to come over for a visit, I went, but Tony didn't, because he wanted to go take some pictures.

My visit with Kinky was a lot of fun and it lasted for over an hour. And before we adios-ed each other, he and I made a pact aka New Year's resolutions: for the three of us to start drinking coffee together every morning and for him and me to take two, twenty-minute, daily hikes together. And lastly, for Tony and me to meet him for lunch today, at 2:00, at Buzzi's BBQ, because we both had errands to run, in Kerrville.

Lunch was delicious and a lot of fun and we got to visit with Buzzi. And before we adios-ed each other, in the parking lot, I showed Kinky my pink, leash that connects two leashes to it, so I can walk Little Debbie & Big Al(ice) and the reason that I showed it to him was, because earlier, during our morning visit, I had suggested that we try using it on Sophie & Mr. P when we start doing our daily hikes, because Sophie is blind and Mr. P is deaf.

After we adios-ed Kink, Tony and I went to Wild Birds Unlimited, so I could buy a gift and we could check out Kevin & Linda's on sale items. Unfortunately, Marguerite wasn't there, but we did have a fun visit with Linda and Tricia. And I did buy a gift, but I also bought one for myself, because I loved the gift that I was going to be giving. And the only clue I will give you is—mine is pink.

Around 4:45, I went over to the Lodge, so Kinky and I could hike with The Friedmans and I took my stopwatch and my pink leash, so we could try it on Sophie and Mr. P.

Before we took off to go hiking for our first, twenty minute hike, Kinky suggested that we extend the length of the two pink leashes and that was a big mistake, because I was getting tangled up with it, inside The Lodge and when he took over, outside—he got tangled up, too. And we both had a good laugh about it and tonight before I adios-ed Kink, we agreed that the next time we hike (tomorrow) we will not extend the length of the two leashes for our own safety.

And that's about it for tonight, because I am planning to watch the Kennedy Honors, in just a few minutes.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Merry Christmas To All And Thank Y'all For Making This The Best Christmas Ever!

Merry Christmas to all and thank y'all for making this the best Christmas ever! Our rescued dogs were served their Christmas dinner earlier this morning and they cleaned their bowls!

Here are a few pictures that I took of Kay and me serving the dogs their warmed dinner rolls, while Tony and Aaron served our great dogs their delicious Christmas dinner.










Y'all have a Merry Christmas and thank all of you for helping make this a wonderful holiday season for our rescue ranch! 

Saturday, December 24, 2016

We Wish Y'all A Merry Christmas!

This has been one super busy week for us and it has been a good one for us. Yesterday afternoon after having a fun lunch with our great volunteers, at the Apple Store, in Medina, we took off for Kerrville, to buy our dogs their Christmas Dinner.

Of course, the grocery store was packed with last minute shoppers, like us and the good news is we survived our grocery shopping for the dogs and for us. The bill for our dog's "people" Christmas Dinner came to a grand total of $146.68.


Today has been great. We got up early and while I finished doing the last minute cleaning of The Cabin, Tony was outside doing his morning chores.

It is now2:00, in the afternoon and we are all set for our good friend, Jim Keaveny, to arrive, so he can spend Christmas with us, before he heads back to Terlingua. Like Chet O'Keefe, Jim is an extremely talented singer/songwriter/musician and we wish that he could spend more time with us, but he can't because he has several gigs to play next week, in Terlingua. For example: Chet and Jim will be playing together, on New Year's Eve, at the Bad Rabbit Cafe, which is one of our favorite places to go to when we are out there.

Tomorrow morning, at 9:00 our faithful, fabulous volunteers are coming out to help us prepare and serve our rescued dogs their delicious, annual Christmas dinner and we are looking forward to that, too.

Anyway, I do apologize for not blogging much this week and my excuse is I was simply too tired to write, in the evening, after these past, busy days.

And before I post this, we wish y'all a Merry Christmas!

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

All You Need Is Ove! or Lost In Translation!

The past few days have been great and so has today. Thursday evening, I finished reading this great book A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, that made me laugh a lot and cry at the ending, because it had such a perfect ending. My sweet sister Cindy had given it to me and she loved this book, too.

It takes place, in Sweden and the author of this fabulous novel, Fredrik Backman, lives in Stockholm. And there is a reason why I am telling you this information.


So Thursday evening I did something that I seldom do. I conferee that because I love Ove, I went on Amazon Prime and purchased the movie. Yes, I know it was instant gratification and it was worth it. 

I was so excited about getting to watch this movie immediately I made myself some Hippie popcorn and then I sat down and started the movie. I was picking up Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) to put in my lap when the movie started to play—we were all set for a great evening! 

Then it happened. None of the actors were speaking English, because everyone was talking Swedish. I was so disappointed I wanted to cry, but I didn't, because I asked Tony to help me find the English version. Bottom Line__Only English Subtitles.

And I must admit that the actors were fabulous and the movie was totally great, but a lot of it was lost in translation. So, I suggest that everyone read the book first, because then it will make a lot more sense when reading the subtitles.

This past Friday evening, I picked up the phone to return a phone call and it was dead and the message on Carlton was, "Line In Use" and the phone line was not in use.

Since we could not call out, I sent Kris & Jim an e-mail telling them about our phone problem and asking them to try calling me. A few minutes later, the phone rang once and that was it—it was dead again. And a few minutes later, they called me back and I was able to talk to them even though there was too much static on the line.

We could get one or two words in and then came the loud, noisy static. Anyway, I asked them to please call Kinky for me, to check if his phone was working and to also let him know that we were having phone trouble and not to worry about us.

Saturday morning, to my dismay, the phone was still not working and around 10:00, after I had checked my e-mail, our Wi-Fi went down, too. But I quickly cheered up when our dear friends Garnet & Sandy showed up around 10:30 to bring us a generous donation and a large sack of donated doggie blankets, chew toys, cutesweaters, pretty dog collars, stainless feeding bowls, doggie jackets, leashes, etc.


Then we drank some coffee and had a really fun visit, inside The Cabin, with our dear friends from Utopia.

Around noon, Tony took off to go to our nephew's 18th birthday party, in Medina, so I decided to put on my paint-clothes (Because they are covered in paint—mainly pink.) and work on the rugs.

Bottom Line__I had to totally repaint the big room rug and I finally finished them by 5:15, Saturday evening. And I had Henry Standing Bear and Roy pose with the finished painted rugs.



Sunday, because our phone and Internet were still down, I spent most of my day deep-cleaning our trailer aka The Cabin and it is really starting to look like we don't live here, because it is so clean.

Early Monday morning, a very nice man, from the phone company, showed up to fix our lines, because he said they were old and rusting, under our trailer. And 30 minutes later, we had our phone and Wi-Fi working.

Around 11:30, while I was cleaning out the refrigerator–Kinky called me and left a message, "Hey, you phone is working. Call me, Nance or Tony."

Ten minutes later, after I finished cleaning the freezer and refrigerator I returned Kinky's call. Later, around 2:15, Kinky, Tony and I were sitting together, at the Acapulco restaurant, giving Phyllis our orders. And yes, Tony and I ordered the exact same thing—two Acapulco Dinners and two teas and that made Kinky laugh and tease us.

While we were waiting on our orders and munching on the delicious chips & salsa, our great friend, Harley Belew and his son, Seth, walked up to our table to greet us. And we had a really fun conversation with them. And before they adios-ed us Harley invited all of us to come to his official swearing in, at the Courthouse, on January 1st, at 1:00. And we told him that we would certainly try to make it.

Today we had several visitors show up and we gladly gave them rescue ranch tours and I spent the rest of my day doing ranch paperwork and catching up with the phone calls and e-mails and more deep cleaning. And that is about it for tonight, except I want to show you Henry looking through the newly cleaned window, because by tomorrow afternoon I am sure that it will be clouded with our dog's nose art, again.


Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Friday, December 16, 2016

Do-Overs!

Yesterday came this-close to being great. Thursday morning after I exercised, cooked Tony and Aaron breakfast and then cleaned up the kitchen—I started working (painting) on the rugs, in hopes to finish them once and for  all.

Around 5:00, I had finished them except for putting the final coat of Min-Wax, to protect them from getting scuffed or eaten by Henry Standing Bear.

Getting up and down, all day, my knees were sore and so was my back, because I had to use a chair or counter top to help me get back up. And the only good to thing to come of that was I was rebuilding muscles, in my arms, from using them to either help lift me up or lower me down to the floor.

Anyway, at 5:00, I carefully lowered myself to the floor and then I hand-painted the kitchen rug Min-Wax and I was thrilled, so I took this picture as soon as I was standing.


Because my knees and back were aching, I decided to use an extended roller-brush to put the final coat on the big room's rug. Which was a bad mistake, because when it finally dried—there were air bubbles splotching my so-called "work of art."

So, I immediately read the Min-Wax application directions and discovered that using a roller brush was not recommended at all, because they would cause air bubbles which would then need to be re-sanded, etc. So yes, we're talking a total do-over, but unfortunately not today, because I decided early on this morning, that my knees, back and arm muscles needed to rest. Anyway, here's a picture of my splotched rug. But that's okay, because I've already decided to make some changes in the design.


This morning, many of our great volunteers showed up to walk our dogs for us. Kay, Sara, Gigi and her husband, Alex, all wanted to eat lunch together, at the Koyote Grill, so we did.

During our delicious, fun lunch we did a lot of laughing, to no ones surprise. When we were confessing and laughing about some of the things that we've done, in our pasts, I decided that I really needed to make a true confession, too. And it went something like this:

"A year or two ago, a lot of our friends were all getting these emergency food supplies to store, in case something bad happened. And after they had convinced me to do it, too. So one day, I was surfing the TV channels and when one of those home shopping channels showed that it was selling emergency 30-day food supplies for $100.00 that normally would cost twice as much—I immediately bought two for Tony and me.

A few days after our emergency food supplies, I felt guilty, after telling him about it, because I had not forgotten to get him one, too. 

Since, the home network channel had sold out, twenty minutes after I had purchased ours, I decided to buy a few orange buckets with lids, at the Home Depot, so I could stock up and have plenty of food for the three of us.

Well, it turned out, over a few weeks, I had purchased a total of nine buckets with lids and filled them all with food that only required to "just add water." I mean we're talking hundreds of boxes of potatoes—like scalloped, mashed, garlic & cheese potatoes, etc. and all kinds of rice, too. And it made me proud, because I knew that the three of us would be able to survive for at least a half of a year or until 2017, because I had made sure to buy these items that had the longest expiration dates on them. And I've stored all of our survival food, in buckets that are stacked all of the way to the ceiling, in our master bathroom's walk-in shower.

So now, all of that emergency food I bought is now expiring in just a few weeks!" After everyone of us had quit laughing. I made jokes like, "So for this years Christmas present, I plan to give all of y'all big sacks filled with boxed potatoes, rice, macaroni & cheese, etc. and canned goods, but they all must be eaten before January 1, 2017."

Then Kay, Sara and Gigi suggested that I save the emergency food and just store it to feed our dogs, in case of a emergency. 

So now I have two do-overs to do. First, I must sand and repaint the big room's rug tomorrow to protect my mental health and my second do-over is for Kinky's, Tony's and my future survival. So, as soon, as we can move all of the emergency food packed buckets, to store outside, for out dogs—I think I will just buy a few more of those original 30-day emergency food packed buckets, because their packaged food is guaranteed to last 100 years or longer.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

The Pink One!

Today has been great, but pretty uneventful, so I spent about six hours this afternoon repainting the rugs, in the kitchen and the big room. And by tomorrow afternoon I hope to have finished this long over-due project. And our dogs are hoping that I finish it by tomorrow too, because they are tired of having to stay outside while I'm working on it. And here are before and after pictures of my work in progress so far.

Please note the "ripped up" rug (behind Hen, on the right) that Henry recently chewed up when we went outside for just a few minutes. So he can add it to his list of nicknames Rug-Rat.

Here is another view with Little Debbie peaking over the top of the chair thinking that I didn't see her.

That's last year, when Henry Standing Bear was still a pup and Little Debbie was begging me to please find him another home, because she knew he was going to become a giant. 

This is one of Henry sleeping in the chair, after I had finished painting for the day.

I took this before I let the dogs come back inside The Cabin.

I'm expecting that it will take me at least four hours tomorrow to finish painting the rugs, because of what I plan to do next. And if all goes as planned, I will post some pictures tomorrow night to show you my finished project. Then I will start my next project which is to clean out our bedroom closet, because Hazel is claustrophobic.

As I finish writing this tonight, I plan to make myself a rum eggnog and then I am going to relax and make us four more homemade, easy, baking soda air fresheners that I found on this cool website: Smashed Peas & Carrots


The recipe is on Smashed Peas & Carrots and I've decided to use my lavender essential oil again, because it is a natural mood relaxer. And here are the first four that I made a few days ago and they really do work. And please note that I keep the pink one, on the kitchen table, next to my laptop.


Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Ruth (Buzzi) & Kent Perkins For Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch!

The last few days have been great even though it is FMT (Full Moon Time). The past few days we've
had a lot of visitors and they were all fun visits. In between that, I've been busy doing ranch work and trying to catch up with all of the paperwork, phone calls, e-mails, etc. and during my breaks from that I've been deep cleaning The Cabin and I am making progress with both. Thank goodness.

I have some great news, too. This past week, Gerry Olert, our good friend and our official videographer for the rescue ranch, because he is the Best Videographer In Texas, finished editing the new video that he made for our rescue ranch. And to say the least, "We Totally LOVE It!"

I don't know if y'all remember me blogging about Gerry, Tony and me meeting up with our good friends, Kent & Ruth Buzzi Perkins, at the YO Hotel, last month, so Gerry could film them talking about our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, because they love it. And they are huge supporters of it and have been for over 18 years.

I hope that y'all will check out Gerry Olert's latest, fabulous video that he did for free for our rescue ranch, because like Kent & Ruthie he loves our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. Please note that you can watch it at: www.utopiarescue.com or you can click here.

Our good friend Chet O'Keefe called me about an hour or so ago and we just got off the phone, because we had a lot of catching up to do, so that's it for tonight. And tomorrow, I promise to write more.

And Gerry's video also stars, our good friend, Dr. Craig Janssen, DVM, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic.

Y'all have a great evening!

Thursday, December 8, 2016

To My Surprise!

To my surprise, most of the day has actually been great. For our lunch today, I cooked us a roast with mashed-cauliflower (Instead of mashed potatoes, because it actually taste just like mashed potatoes and it is so much more healthier for us.) and peas. Bottom line___Tony licked his plate clean.

After lunch we took off, for Kerrville, to pick up a refill prescription for Roy's arthritis and then for me to buy us our groceries and for Tony buy gas for Trigger and to buy more dog food for our rescued dogs. So, I guess that you could say that we had us a plan.

I love to make plans even though I know that most of our plans get changed, because of our animal rescue lifestyle. Seriously, no matter how much planning ahead we try to do we know that they can change faster than a spinning dime and many of our good friends can vouch for that, because they have had to put up with us being late or no-shows, etc.

This afternoon, after picking up Roy's feel-good pills, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, we went to the big H-E-B, on Main Street. And before Tony dropped me off, at the main entrance, he said, "I hope you don't have to get a lot of groceries today, because I want to hurry and get back to the ranch, because of the weather."

"No," I replied. "I just need to get about ten things. I'll meet you back at the truck, after you buy the dog food." Then Tone and Trigger took off to the gas pumps.

The grocery store was playing some really great music and so I'm going to blame that on my much too-long shopping spree, inside their today. Playing great music is a well-known marketing practice that most of the big stores use to keep people shopping longer and spending more money. And they definitely had my number today, because their excellent play-list was so fabulous it sort of "mesmerized" me or at least that was my excuse that I used when Tony, much later, asked me what had taken me so long.

On our way back home, after we had discussed the weather, "Tony asked, "So what all did you buy?"

"Pee pads for Little Debbie, some ZzzQuil, Poligrip, dog food, air filters, organic gluten-fee spinach tamales, beer and wine, coffee, tea, some chicken thighs, steaks on sale....and a fruit cake."

"You bought a fruit cake? I hate fruit cakes and I'm not going to eat it. Why did you do that?"

"Well, the music had me mesmerized and when I was going to get an onion and some more cauliflower they were playing my favorite Fleetwood Mac song. Anyway, when I was going past the fresh breads, cakes, pies bakery section, I saw this huge crowd of people all grabbing fruit cakes that were in packaged in large, red and white boxes. In fact, I saw this one old lady actually put seven of those big fruit cake boxes into her empty cart. It was like a buying frenzy. It was like no one could get enough of these special fruit cakes, in a big box. And there were other kinds of smaller fruit cakes, on the display, but no one was buying them. And they were a whole lot cheaper than those big-boxed fruit cakes that everybody was grabbing off of the shelves. And so you'll know it's an imported, Italian, fruit cake, too and it might not taste like U.S. fruit cakes...."

So, by the time we went over, the Medina Pass, Tony and I were laughing about me buying us a fruit cake, because of Fleetwood Mac.

When we got back home we put our dogs outside and then we unpacked our groceries. And after we had put everything up, except for the fruit cake and H-E-B Parmesan Cheese. I grabbed my camera and took a picture of the fruit cake box. And then I lifted this huge fruit cake, out of the box and took a picture of it next to the parmesan cheese and a fork, to show just how tall it was, so I could document this historic day for me—when I actually bought us a foreign, fruit cake.



Then I begged Tony to please taste it, too. After he agreed to do it—I cut us two, thin, tall slices and served it. And to our amazement it was more like eating a streusel pastry, but even better. And after Tony gobbled his down, he cut himself another thin, tall slice to my delight.

I was so excited about this, I called Kinky. "Kinky, can I come over there and bring you a delicious piece of fruit cake to try?"

"Sure, Nance. But I don't really like fruit cakes. Come on over..."

Five minutes later I arrived, at the Lodge, with our foreign fruit cake, back inside it's big box. And to say the least, "After I told Kinky about this unique, foreign fruit cake and what had made me buy it. He cut himself a slice and like us—he loved it, too!"

And during our short, but fun visit, he kept eating more of it, so I suggested that he cut half of it off and keep it, so he could enjoy eating more of it. And he did and then I came back home.

When I walked back inside, The Cabin, carrying half of the leftover fruit cake, back inside it's box. And to my surprise I found Lori's Lamb Chop toy torn to shreds with its stuffing covering the kitchen's and the big room's floor. And I also caught Lori finishing her off. So I quickly grabbed my camera and quickly took these pictures, to be used as evidence, in her upcoming murder trial and to once again prove this why we can't have anything nice.




And please be warned that the this next picture may be too graphic for some, because it shows Lamb Chop dead-as-a door-nail. 


Then Tony helped me clean up the crime scene and then I sat down and wrote all of this.

Y'all take care and keep on laughing!

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Moccasin-Challenged!

The past few days have almost been great. As y'all already know this is my most busiest time of the year and the last thing that I need to happen during this holiday season is to add one more thing for me to do each day.

First, let me make it perfectly clear that I do love the holiday season even though I know that it is and always will be stressful. Anyway this last Sunday, when Tony and I went to, Kerrville, to run a few errands he discovered that we had accidentally dressed alike, again.

No, we were not wearing our favorite blue, plaid, flannel shirts—we were wearing our matching red, blue and green plaid, flannel shirts that we had bought at Walmart. I thought it was pretty funny and it made me laugh out loud, but Tony didn't see it my way.

In fact, he was so embarrassed about us dressing alike, he suggested that we keep a safe distance between us, in case we ran into any of our friends. "Let's turn our iPhones on and use them to find each other when we're done shopping," he suggested. "And from now on until Spring arrives I think it would be a good idea for us to check with each other, first thing in the mornings, to make sure that we're not dressed alike. And, I hope that we don't run into Jim (The Mineral Man"), at H-E-B."

I knew that Tony was serious about this, so I turned my head and pretended to be looking out the window, so he couldn't see me silently laughing. Anyway, because I could not resist it, I said (joked) in my most serious voice, "Okay, Tone. But it would be much easier if we just start dressing alike all of the time. Then we could become famous, in Kerrville." Then I heard the uncomfortable sound of silence for several seconds.

"Yeah," he sort of growled. "We could become the town's joke. Just like that crazy, old woman that runs around H-E-B wearing that big red hat, black leotards and a red sweater that shows her butt every time that she bends over."

"It would be fun," I egged him on."Or that woman that rides that bicycle, all over town, singing at the top of her lungs, Bring In The Clowns. Tony, people love her and they stop and take pictures of her. I think the Kerrverts would love it if we always dressed alike. They would think that we are that cute, old, odd couple that always wear matching outfits. And, I am sure that they would stop and take selfies with us."

Tony said nothing. So I added, "Tony, I am just teasing you. I'm fine," I lied. "About us, during the Fall and Winter months, color-coordinating our wardrobes to make fashion statements, in Kerrville."

And the bottom line to this story is: Thanks to Tony, I now have one more thing for me to do every morning. Anyway, since then, Tony is now leaving me a note, on the breakfast bar, before going to the Old Timer, in Medina, just to let me know which flannel shirt he is wearing, so I won't be dressing like him.

And to change the subject, last Friday afternoon, I had So Fast Printing, make me two posters of that painting that I did for my sister Cindy's 70th birthday. And they did a fabulous job and so did River Oaks Framing. And later that afternoon, Tony hung it up for me, above our entertainment center, in the big room. And please note that River Oaks Framing were temporarily out of that red metal frame and the matte color, I chose for Cindy and this is my Plan B.


And to change the subject one more time, before I finish writing this and post it tonight, our friend  Aaron came out to help Tony this morning and he only worked a few hours. Anyway after working, we invited him to stay and eat lunch with us. 

After lunch, I was joking with him about the downsides of being my age, because I am about twenty-four-years-older than him. And to make a point, I told him about me recently discovering that I am Moccasin-Challenged and the difficult time that I've had trying to understand the directions. 

Then I showed Aaron my moccasin kit and the chewed up, piece of leather, compliments of Little Debbie and Big Al(ice). And the next thing you know, Aaron had volunteered to make my moccasins for me. And it only took him about forty-five minutes to finish them.  


The whole time that Aaron was working on my moccasins we laughed and joked about Tony and me spending over an hour trying to remove the glued on comfort cushion, it had recommended for kids 3+ in age and the choking warning. And them being one-of-a-kind moccasins, because of Little Debbie and Big Al(ice)'s contributions


And please notice that the one flawed moccasin below, in the background, has about two inches of the upper leather strap missing, because it should have gone all of the way to the top of the tongue piece. 


Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Sticky Situation!

The last few days have been more than hectic for me, because we are now officially in "The Holiday Mode." I love these holidays, but things really rev up at the rescue ranch, around the week before Thanksgiving and they remain that way until about the middle of January, when everything finally returns to normal, if there is such a thing.

As for example, the past few days I've received over 200 e-mails each day and that can cause me more stress. Anyway, today when we were, in Kerrville, before we went to go pick up sweet Lori Darlin,' after getting her spayed, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, Tony told me that he wanted to go to, Wild Birds Unlimited, to purchase more bird food. And on our way over there, I told Tony that I wanted him to drop me off, at Hometown Crafts, before going to Wild Birds Unlimited, because I wanted to shop for something to make that might help me de-stress, after today.

"Sure," Tony said. "But why don't you just make another pot holder? You've still got all of those loopers."

"Tone, trying to make that stupid, pink, pot holder only added more stress to my life. Good grief, I couldn't even figure out how to finish it. And I am so embarrassed that I had to ask sweet Jean to help me do that. And that's why I framed it, in that shadow box, because I'm pretty sure that I won't be making pot holders anytime soon, because if I have to pay Jean—there's no big profit left for me. Nope, I'm going to look around for something easier to make that won't cause me to stress out."


After I had purchased my "new, exciting and fun to make project" along with fifteen, small bottles of acrylic paints, so I can repaint the rugs, in the kitchen and the big room, I skipped down, the parking lot, to hook up with Tony, at Wild Birds Unlimited. And I am thankful that I didn't trip or fall down.

Marguerite greeted me when I walked into one of our most favorite stores, in Kerrville. Then she asked, "So what's your new project going to be, now?" I was still a bit winded, because I had skipped, so it took me a few seconds to catch my breath and give Marguerite my answer.

"I'm going to make me some cool, leather moccasins! So I can wear them outside and get back to doing more Earthing. They are leather and leather is a very good conductor to help keep me grounded. Hardly anybody makes leather soled shoes nowadays and...."

After we returned, to the rescue ranch, with sweet, Lori Darlin' I could not wait to get started making my very first pair of homemade moccasins, because then I can add Cobbler to my resume. And speaking of resumes, I just realized that I can also add Weaver, because of the pink pot holder, to my list of achievements and Actress, Singer and Screen Writer too, because of the Longmire—Texas Style video skit.

Sorry I got off-track there, anyway, before I opened the moccasin kit box I took these two pictures of the box, because it made me laugh out loud.



I laughed, because it had "WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD" and also stated "Not for children under 3 years." While I was still laughing, I anxiously opened the box and my laughter came to a complete halt, because the moccasin leather soles had on some kind of glued on padding cushion, for comfort, which most people would totally appreciate, but to me it meant that I cannot wear them when I'm Earthing outside. 


So I took a deep breath and slowly began removing the padding. And Tony ended up helping me scrape off the padding too, because he didn't like seeing the upside down smile that I was wearing on my face.



Anyway, after us spending nearly one hour working on my moccasins, I was pleased enough with the sticky situation and put everything back into the box, for the night. And that's when I realized that I can also reverse the soles and put the gluey side down which should eventually wear off, in no time at all, because since ten days ago, I am now walking 4 fast miles everyday with Leslie Sansone, again. 

And as I finish writing this tonight, right now to add more insult to injury—Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) got into a short-lived quarrel over something and when I broke up their tiny, little fight, I sadly discovered that they were fighting over a moccasin, leather strip that they had chewed up. And all I can figure is that it must have not made it back inside the moc-box-kit and fallen, on the floor

So now, I just have to laugh or else cry, but I'll laugh, because now I'm thinking that tomorrow when I conclude my short-lived career as a professional cobbler, I might ought to include my moccasins, in the box, with my pretty, pink potholder, for my time capsule. Which will be buried by Tony, at an undisclosed location, on the rescue ranch. And I'll write this note that says, "2016, Made by an Elderly Earthling for Earthing. Enjoy ET!" Life is good.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Monday, November 28, 2016

Copper & Clovis! or Like A Rolling Stone!

Today has been one of those busy days where Tony and I didn't know if we were coming or going, but the bottom line is that today has been more than great, because Copper has officially adopted Clovis and she is more than thrilled about it. In fact, she is totally in love with him.

Earlier this evening Copper called to tell me that she thinks Clovis is the coolest, smartest dog and she raved and raved about how perfect a match he is for her. And I had to totally agree with her, because Clovis is definitely a super dog. And we are so happy that Copper & Clovis have found each other.


If you didn't already know this about our good friend, Copper Love, she is a famous artist and her beautiful paintings have been sold all over the world. So I was thrilled when she told me that she'll be taking Clovis everywhere that she goes to work on her paintings—like Terlingua, Texas and the Big Bend area, Texas Hill Country, etc. 

Now Copper Love didn't tell me this, but I know that Clovis will soon become a big time Rolling Stones fan, like she is, because Copper actually knows them, because she used to travel and hang out with them, when they were on their world tours. So I'm sure that Clovis is going to have so much fun traveling with Copper and becoming like a rolling stone with her, because Clovis is officially now Copper's new best friend!

And that's about it for tonight, because I am pooped and need to unwind tonight and watch some TV, because I already know that tomorrow is going to be another busy day for Tony and me.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Friday, November 25, 2016

Buttercup aka Butterball aka Butterbutt! or Little, Lucky Lucy!

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving Day and of course, it all started early in the morning. Our friend Aaron volunteered to come out around 7:15 to help us prepare our rescued dogs their annual Thanksgiving (people) dinner. And here's a picture showing most of the food that we served our dogs that was sponsored by our good friends: sweet Eileen and sweet Karon.


By 8:45, our great friends/volunteers, Kay, Jim & Kris, Eileen and Dawn, arrived to help us serve the dogs their delicious, annual, turkey dinner along with cooked mixed vegetables, stuffing, eggs, cheese, garlic, olive oil  and warmed dinner rolls. And here's a picture of Louis Lane running to go eat her delicious Thanksgiving dinner. And her reaction was just like all of the rest of our super dogs. So it is needless to say, "They loved it!" But I did, anyway.



Earlier this week, Kinky's sweet sister Marcie had invited Tony and me to come over to Kinky's Lodge to eat her Thanksgiving dinner with our mutual great friends: Mario, Sage & Dylan, Copper and Max. So we went over to the Lodge and we had a great time visiting with everyone. And Marcie's Thanksgiving Dinner was more than delicious, along with Copper's mouth-watering, homemade pies. And because we ate our Thanksgiving dinner over there—Copper is now going to adopt cool Clovis, on Monday and Max is seriously thinking about adopting Gus, because he has recently retired. 

Then last night Tony and I watched the Cowboys win another great football game. And that's why we had a more than great Thanksgiving Day and night.

This morning, Kay, Jim, June and Sarah, our great friends/volunteers, came out and walked our dogs for us. Which was great, because the dogs definitely needed walking and some exercising, after they had stuffed themselves with yesterday's Thanksgiving dinner.

And the nice couple, in Borne, that were very interested in adopting Buttercup aka Butterball aka Butternut, did not come out at 11:00, as promised, because they arrived at 10:00, because they could not wait to meet Ms. Butter-whatever. And as soon as they saw her, from a distance, they got excited and they each told me, "She is exactly what we wanted!" So, after a short, but fun visit with Butter-insert name here and us they adopted her. And from the looks of this picture, that I took of them before they took her to her new forever home, I can't tell who was the happiest about this wonderful adoption.


When we ate lunch with our friends, this afternoon, I told everyone about this  3 year old Chihuahua/Dachshund mix that we've rescued, sight unseen, because she is at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and I asked them to please help me find her a great home. 

And Sarah took it literally, because as soon as got back home from eating lunch with our friends, Sarah called me, and said, "Nancy, I think my friend wants to adopt the Chi-weenie, but she has to make sure she will get along with her other dog...."

So, after being home for less than five minutes, we jumped into Trigger and immediately took off for Hoegemeyer's, so we could pick up this sweet, little, dog and take her to her "maybe" new forever home. 

Before we left the animal clinic, Susan gave me all of her paperwork and told us that her name was Lucille, but the woman called her Lucy. And here is a picture I took of sweet Lucy, in the lobby. It isn't a great picture of her, because she was nervous and not sure what was going on.


But by the time we delivered her to Sarah's good friend, Lucy was relaxed and kissing me non-stop. So now it is just a matter of time to wait and find out if this adoption will work. So, y'all please keep your fingers crossed that this will be little, lucky Lucy's new forever home. And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

An Old, Cute, Goofy Couple!

Today has been great, except for one thing and it upset Tony more than it did me. Actually, I thought it was totally hilarious and was bound to happen to us sooner than later. To keep it simple we'll call it a "Wardrobe Malfunction" sort of. Anyway, I am still laughing about it and that is why I am writing about it tonight.

You see, about a month ago or so, Tony and I were at Walmart for some reason that I can't remember now. Anyway, while we were there we saw these pretty, men's button-down collar, flannel shirts that were on sale for only $8.00.

We love to wear flannel shirts and because I really love button-down collar shirts we decided to buy 3 for each one of us. And after we wore them a few times and I had washed them we decided to go back to Walmart and buy a few more if they were still on sale. Bottom line—we each bought 3 more flannel shirts, again.

Well, it turns out that Tony's favorite flannel shirt is this dark blue plaid and it is also my favorite, too. So by now you must have figured out where this story is headed. Seriously, without either one of us knowing or paying attention to the fact that we were wearing the same dark, blue, plaid shirts when we took off for Kerrville, to eat lunch, at the Cracker Barrel, because I wanted to eat there, so I could eat a turkey, Thanksgiving dinner.

When we were about ten miles from the Kerrville City Limits, Tony said, "Omg! I knew this was going to happen. We are dressed alike." I laughed about it, but he didn't.

"Good grief, Tony," I remarked. "Who cares? It is no big deal if you ask me. Besides that, people will just laugh and think that we are a cute, old couple that likes to dress alike." Tony said nothing.

So, when we got our table, at the Cracker Barrel, in the middle room, this sweet, perky waitress walks up to our table, and she says, "That is so cute that y'all are both wearing matching outfits." And I nodded yes, as she handed us our menus, while Tone turned as red as his next favorite, new, buttoned-down flannel, red plaid shirt that he bought, which thank goodness I hadn't bought, because red is not my color—pink is.

And to make a long story short, we enjoyed eating our lunch, even though we both ordered the exact same thing—their Chicken Pot Pie Special. Because I sadly found out from our waitress that they weren't serving turkey dinners until tomorrow. And I am betting that our attentive waitress is still laughing about us being an old, cute, goofy couple that dresses alike and also orders the same thing, at restaurants.

Before going back home, we went to the big H-E-B to pick up a few more groceries, even though we had sworn not to do that, because we knew it would be packed with people, again, because tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. And we survived that, even though several people stared at us for wearing matching clothes.

And in hopes of ending tonight's post on a good note, when we got back home, from Kerrville, we rescued a 3-4 year old, sweet, female Chihuahua mix, from Hoegemeyer's Animal Clinic, because Kathy had called us and left a message about them trying to help find a home for this sweet, lovable Chi-mix, that their elderly client could no longer keep, because of some health related issues.

We are planning to pick her up on Friday or Saturday. So, if any of y'all know someone wanting to adopt a small, sweet companion dog, please ask them to call us, so we can get her into a forever-loving home. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

The Wild Hogs & Flying Pig!

I've been busy doing rescue ranch paperwork, etc. and having a lot of fun. Yesterday, Tony and I met our good friends Karon and Karen for lunch, before going to the big H-E-B to buy our dogs their annual Thanksgiving Dinner that sweet Eileen was going to sponsor, but those plans sort of changed during lunch, but change is good. You'll see.

Karon's baby sister Ronda sadly lost her battle with cancer, earlier this month and while we were eating lunch and talking about Karon's lost, she opened up her purse, and said, "Ronda loved all animals and she loved hearing about y'all's rescue ranch. Before Ronda passed she asked that in lieu of flowers being sent, she requested that donations be made to our favorite animal shelters. So, I want to donate this to you, in loving memory of Ronda to sponsor your Thanksgiving Dinner for the dogs, because I know Ronda would love it..." Then she handed me a folded $100.00 bill. And I almost teared up, but thank goodness I remembered to look up to keep the tears away.

So when we finished eating our lunch and were ready to pay our separate bills, when the waitress walked up to our table, and said, "All of y'all's lunch has already been paid for by a gentleman that was sitting over there. Karon and Karen looked at each other and then chuckled, because they knew it was their dear friend Troy, who had treated us to lunch. So she called him and thanked him for all of us.

Omg, the H-E-B parking lot was full and it was packed inside with "early birds" shopping for their Thanksgiving dinners. First, we went in with separate carts, so Tony could buy dog food for our rescue dogs and I could buy our groceries. And our plan was to meet back up, at Trigger, to unload the dog food and our groceries and then go back inside with one cart to buy the dog's Thanksgiving Dinner. And when we paid for their dinner, I handed the cashier Karon's hundred dollar bill and then wrote a check for $38.14 to cover the difference. And I want to thank Karon and Eileen for sponsoring our dog's turkey dinner.


When we left the store we ran into our good friend Jim aka The Mineral Man, in the parking lot. "It's a mad house in there," I warned Jim. And then we had a fun visit before coming home.

When we got back home, I decided to mow our front yard and back yard, to get some more exercise. When I finished I came back inside The Cabin and listened to Carlton's messages. And ten minutes later, we were over at Bill & Carol's ranch, visiting with them and Lori & Jeff, who were spending Thanksgiving with them. We had a lot of fun catching up with our friends and we made it home just in time for Tony to lock up Rooster Cogburn for the night, inside The Egg Palace.

Early this morning, our good friends Carol & Bill and Lori & Jeff came over, because they wanted to see the wild hogs that always show up, every morning, when Tony feeds the deer, Maya and our donkeys. So we got to have another fun visit with them, before all of us went over, to the Lodge, to visit with Kinky. And that's about it for today, but I do want to show you some pictures I took, last night, of our dog's strange sleeping habits. And yes, Little Debbie is venting in one of them.





And this one of Henry makes me laugh out loud, because he looks like he is giving my flying pig the evil eye.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!