cousin nancy

Happy Birthday Sandy Wolfmueller!

2012-02-18T00:01:00.001-06:00

Today is our dear friend, Sandy Wolfmueller's, birthday and Tony and I want to be among the first to wish her a happy birthday.

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Sandy. Happy Birthday to YOU! And many more...

We hope you have the best birthday ever, because we love you!

Club Ed! or Half of The Cowgirl Sisterhood!

2012-02-17T18:18:00.003-06:00

Today has been great, but I've spent much of the day getting nervous about my first, "Learn To Sing Better in 6 Hours Or Less, lesson, that Carol signed us up for, at Club Ed.

In December, when Carol had asked me to do it with her, I said, "Okay," because I had two thoughts. One, it would be fun doing it with Carol and two—I know I can't sing worth a darn, but maybe I'd learn something.

Since Carol signed us up for the singing course we've talked about our singing lessons often and we have had many laughs about trying to sing and then getting embarrassed and laughing so much at ourselves—we'd be asked to leave the class and to never come back.

Well, as of February 6th, when we were over at her ranch, Carol says to me, "I don't know what to do. Something's come up and I really want to go to it, but I won't go unless you promise me that you'll take the first singing class without me. I promise you, I will take the next two classes with you."

Even though I promised Carol that I would do it without her, I'm now having second thoughts about doing it, because it will just be me there, bringing innocent strangers to tears with my awful singing or else them laughing at me. So, tonight my big question for me, the other half of the Cowgirl Sisterhood, is; "To be there or not to be there?"

Y'all, it is raining cats and dogs right now and our Direct TV just lost its signal, so I need to end this, so I can quickly call Ronnie and ask him what he thinks I should do, before I unplug everything.

Y'all have a great evening!

Mari's Pretty, Pink Sheepskin!

2012-02-16T18:40:00.001-06:00

Today has been great. This afternoon Tony and I went to Hoegemeyer's Animal Clinic to drop off Underdog, so he could be groomed and then we went to the Home Depot to purchase a lawn mower and some more Round Up, to get rid of the Thistle invasion, that we are fighting. We also bought some more 1" X 4" cheap Swedish Pine, that Ronnie calls "sticks," since he is a home builder, because we are fixin' to put the sticks up in our hallway, so it will make Tony's Hallway Photography Gallery look much nicer. Which we will probably do tomorrow afternoon.

When we got home we unloaded the inexpensive Swedish lumber in Outer Space, to protect it from the predicted 3" of rain that we are supposed to get tonight and tomorrow and then we grabbed our new Round Up jugs and began attacking the unwanted Thistle.

The Thistle War lasted for several hours and when we had finally won the battle my back was threatening to go out on me, but I ignored it, because I wanted to do a little mowing, with our new push mower, because it has been over a year and a half since we've had to use a mower, because of the drought.

So tonight, as I type this, I am sitting on Mari's pretty, pink sheepskin in hopes that my back will not go out on me. And that is about it for tonight, because I am fixin' to go online to create some business cards for a friend's birthday.

Y'all have a great evening!

A Life Changing Event!

2012-02-15T19:03:00.002-06:00

Today has been great. Today, around noon, I had a life changing event and I am expecting to have several more in the next fourteen days and I cannot wait. And it has nothing to do with me painting our front door red.

A few weeks ago, while I was outside visiting with June, Eileen, Lisa and Ellen, our Fab 4 volunteers, Ellen handed me a really cute business card that she had designed, for her and June's newly purchased Shoestring Ranch, just down the road from us. As we admired her business card I asked her where she had gotten them made and she told me the web address. "You get 250 free business cards and all you have to do is pay for the shipping." And her words have changed my life for the good and have made me a happier, creative woman.

On that fateful day, when we had returned from running errands in Kerrville, I sat down at my laptop, on the kitchen table and typed in the address that Ellen had told me and I could not believe how cool it was! Within minutes I had designed two funny business cards for me, for free, except for paying for the shipping and I was thrilled knowing that in fourteen days or less I would receive them.

A few days later, Tony asked me if I could design him a business card about his photography and he was more excited than me, when I showed him what I had designed for him. "Just think," I said. "In fourteen days or less they will be here!"

When Tony left the kitchen to go back to his office, I went back online and did a little more creating, so to speak, because I was hooked on designing free magnets, sticky note pads, mugs, t-shirts, etc. and it was free except for the shipping, even though the mugs and t-shirts costs were half-off the regular price.

Then a few days later, I couldn't resist designing cute business cards for Sophie, Kinky's dog, the love of his life, because I knew it would make him laugh about her having her own business cards.

And that is why I am on Cloud Nine tonight, because my first, two sets of business cards arrived today, a day earlier than expected and they look awesome. In fact, when Tony saw them he laughed out loud, then he asked me if he could have a few to give away to his friends tomorrow, at the Old Timer.

Tonight, I am going to try to resist creating another funny, free business cards by watching a movie. And I owe all of this new found joy to Ellen. Thank you, Ellen, because as you well know, if it is free—it's for me! And I love it.

P.S. Today we picked up Cosmo Topper and Dale Evans from Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and they seem pretty happy to be here. Cosmo is now LuLu's new roommate and Dale Evans is happily sharing a pen with Dr. John.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Carol Vail!

2012-02-14T00:01:00.001-06:00

Today is my dear friend, Carol Vail's birthday and Tony and I want to be among the first to wish her the best birthday ever!

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

We love you, Carol! See you soon.

P.S. Please tell Jim, Lawler, Lorri and Jeff we send them our best.

Fighting The War Against Aging!

2012-02-13T18:48:00.002-06:00

Last night I really enjoyed watching The Grammys. I was so thrilled for Adele and I loved the touching tributes made to Whitney Houston, so this morning before Tony came home from the Old Timer, I went on iTunes and purchased several of her songs. My favorite song of hers is from the movie, The Body Guard, I Will Always Love You.

Today has been great. This morning after we did our chores outside, the clouds cleared out and the temperature rapidly climbed up to seventy-three degrees, in other words—it's been a beautiful day.

While we were in the middle of eating lunch the phone rang—it was Kinky, so I let Carlton take his call. "Hello Nancy and Tony. Hello, hello, hello. Nance, I'm calling from Dallas. Give me a call when you can.

While Tony went to get our mail and as soon as I had cleaned up our lunch dishes, I called Kinky back. He told me that he has really been enjoying his Southern Discomfort Tour and that he was on the road, heading to Denton to do a show tonight, but I knew why he had actually called me, so as a joke, I purposefully talked to him about some ranch business and other things, just to postpone his inevitable question and why he had called, "How are The Friedmans doing at Camp Okay Corral?"

"They like it okay, Kink. They are a little muddy right now, because of the rain we got this morning. Sophie is staying in her own bunkhouse (dog house) and Chumley and Winston are sharing a bunkhouse..."

When T. returned with the mail he said, "We only got this and it is for you." Then he handed me the envelope and started laughing, because on the front of the envelope were these words, "Nancy, Are You Tired of Fighting the War Against Aging?"

"Sorry, Babe. You've got to admit it is pretty funny." And I joined him in laughter.

"Heck, Tone. I'm not tired of fighting the war against aging—I surrendered years ago. That's why we're down to just two small mirrors, above the bathroom sinks, in The Cabin."

Late this afternoon after catching up on some paperwork and returning a few phone calls I decided to do a little feng-shui-ing in The Cabin. "Tony, do you know where a paint brush is, because I am fixin' to paint our front door red?"

"There's one under the kitchen sink, I think, but why red?"

My Feng-Shui Book for Dummies, says that it opens up the door for money to come in and that's why all Chinese restaurants always have red doors." One hour later, I put the lid back on the red, half emptied, quart of paint. And as I type this tonight—I'm sitting here at the kitchen table, with Toto asleep under the table blasting away his stink-bombs, while Roy dreams of having his own king-sized bed to sleep on—while I am patiently waiting for some money to come inside the front door. I wonder how long it takes?

Tonight I plan to watch the AKC Westminster Dog Show.

Y'all have a great evening.

I'm Watching The Grammy's Tonight And Loving It!

2012-02-12T19:18:00.002-06:00

Terry & Randy!

2012-02-11T18:00:00.001-06:00

Today has been a great day. This morning while we were outside doing our chores, Paul arrived with Underdog and he is one cute Shih Tzu.

Late yesterday afternoon Mr. W. called me from the wound therapy center, in San Antonio, where he is at, "Nancy, can you or Paul come and pick up Underdog for me and board him for a few more weeks, when I finally get released?"

"Yes, we can, but I have to get a hold of Paul to see if he can pick him up and bring Underdog out here. Did Underdog do something wrong?"

"No, a couple of patients here have been complaining about him being here and...." Right after I hung up the phone with Mr. W., Paul arrived to deliver some dog food, so I went outside to tell Tony and Paul about the conversation I just had with Mr. W. While the three of us unloaded Paul's truck he and I made a plan for him to pick up Underdog in the morning and bring him out here.

Early this afternoon, Leisa and Rick, "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper" called to let me know that they were back from Nicaragua and I am so glad they did. They had a wonderful time down there and they thoroughly enjoyed their trip, but they were glad to be back home, in Port Aransas, but not as glad as I was.

This afternoon Tony and I met the nicest couple from Midland, that have bought a ranch near us, which they plan to move to when they retire. We had a blast visiting with Terry and Randy and when we found out that we had so many things in common with them like; they rescue animals, love all animals, have five dogs like we do, love Wolfmuellers Books and Sandy and Jon, they have horses and donkeys, are photographers, etc., so we invited them to come up to The Cabin, so we could show it off and they loved it, but they loved my newly rescued dog, Roy Rogers more and who could blame them—he always steals everyone's heart.

Before Terry and Randy left, Tony showed them his Photography Hallway Gallery, which really impressed them, while I signed a copy of my second book, Meanwhile Back At The Rescue Ranch: The Dog Days of Cousin Nancy to give to them. And they promised us that the next time they are out here, they will call us, so we can get together and they are very anxious to meet Carol, because of their love of horses.

Early this evening I played my guitar for about forty-five minutes and not to brag, I played pretty good. Tonight, I plan to do some more writing on the fiction book that I am writing.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Eileen Gotke!

2012-02-10T00:01:00.001-06:00

Tony and I want to be among the first people to wish our dear friend Eileen Gotke the happiest birthday ever. Besides being one of our favorite volunteers, Eileen has one of the greatest sense of humor, who keeps all of us laughing, so we want to honor her by singing happy birthday to her, even though I've not yet learned to sing.

"Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Eileen. Happy Birthday to You! And many more..." We love you!

P.S. Ronnie asked us to also wish you a happy birthday from him! Can it get any better than this!

Randy's & Lisa's Save Inn Restaurant Rules!

2012-02-09T18:53:00.003-06:00

Today has been a great day. This morning while Tony did the chores outside, I did the chores inside with the help of Hazel and by 11:30 The Cabin was as clean as Hazel and I could get it and Tone was finished with his chores outside.

Before we took off for Kerrville to run some errands, I called Kinky, who was with Dylan on their way to Austin, to tell him how The Friedmans were doing at Camp Okay Corral and he was pleased as punch, as I bragged about how well The Friedmans were doing at camp.

After that, I grabbed my camera and purse and then we took off for Kerrville. Our first stop was at Randy & Lisa's Save Inn Restaurant to eat lunch and while we were eating our delicious lunch our dear friend Max Swafford walked inside, so we invited him to join us. "I know Tony is eating a Chicken Fried steak, but what are you eating, Nancy? It looks good."

"It is, Max. It's their English Fish & Chips, one of their specialty plates." Then the friendly waitress, wearing a pretty, pink Save Inn Restaurant came up and asked Max what he wanted to eat.

"Hmm. I think I'll have the Chicken Fried Steak, but make it the half order, please."

We had a really fun visit with Max as he ate his half Chicken Fried Steak dinner and Tone happily devoured his peach cobbler a la mode.

After a short, but fun visit with Lisa as I paid our bill, we left The Save Inn and went to the Kerr pound, so we could rescue two dogs, because Reata and Walter Cronkite fortunately found their forever fantastic homes. After going through the pound to check out the dogs Tony and I decided to adopt a sweet male terrier and a lovable, female Lab mix, right next door to him and after we signed the dog's paperwork we took the dogs to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic to get them spayed/neutered, shots, etc.

When I walked inside Hoegemeyer's with the terrier and T. walked inside with the Lab, Susan greeted us, "Hello, Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch! Who are these beautiful dogs?"

"The terrier mix is Cosmo Topper and the Lab mix is Dale Evans," I said, which caused Susan and the people in the lobby to chuckle and to say nice things about the dogs. "We just rescued them from the pound and they need to be spayed/neutered, shots, wormed, etc."

When Susan came out of her reception office to take the dogs from us, Cosmo Topper and Dale Evans happily wagged their tails, as she petted them and told them how lucky, beautiful and handsome they were—and she was absolutely right.

Our last stop was at Herring Printing, Kerrville's favorite print shop. When we walked inside Joe Herring greeted us and we had a fun visit with him, as he found our printing order. Then Buttermilk took us home.

Tonight I am going to play my guitar with Tony on mandolin and I can't wait!

Y'all have a great evening!

Underdog!

2012-02-08T18:55:00.001-06:00

Today has been a great day, even though it is F.M.T. (Full moon time) again. The first thing I did this morning when I got up at 7:00, was to give Kinky a wake up call, as he asked me to yesterday, in case he overslept, because he had an early interview to do.

"Good morning, Nance," he said, when he picked up the phone. "Thanks for calling. I've been up for over an hour.

"Good. I just got up."

"What time are y'all coming over to pick up The Friedmans?

"We'll try to be over there before nine."

"Good. Last night I told them that they are going to camp, while I'm doing my Southern Discomfort Tour and they seemed to be fine about it..."

At 8:55, Tony and I pulled up to the Lodge and were greeted as we jumped out of Buttermilk by Sophie, Winston Churchill and Kinky. "They seem excited about going to Camp Okay Corral," I said, as Sophie jumped into the backseat, followed by Winston.

"I know," Kink said, as we walked inside the Lodge to go wake up Chumley Friedman, who was snoring loudly, in the middle of Kinky's bed." After Chum had done his morning stretches, he followed us outside to go on his two-week camp out adventure.

After Kinky had picked up old Chum and put him in the front seat with me he said, "Thank y'all for baby sitting The Friedmans for me. I really do appreciate it." Then he climbed inside and kissed all three of The Friedmans.

When we had gone over the river and through the woods we drove Kinky's precious cargo to the front yard gate, of my pink colored writing cabin. "Welcome, to Camp Okay Corral," I said, as Tony unloaded The Friedmans, one by one and put them inside the cabin, so they wouldn't get out of the yard.

Once all of The Friedmans were inside the cabin and the gate was closed, Tony opened the door and all of Kinky's dogs ran outside to check out their "new digs" for the next two weeks. "They seem happy," Tony said. So, we left them to go into The Cabin, so they could go play and sniff around.

"Kinky, I just wanted to let you know that The Friedmans seem to like Camp Okay Corral," I said.

"That's great, Nance."

"But, Sophie told me to tell you that she does not appreciate having to live next door to pigs for two weeks. Chumley has already picked out the doghouse that he wants and Winston is running around the yard, peeing on every rock that he can find."

"Tell them I love them. In just a minute, I've got another short interview to do, Nance and then Dylan and I are taking off for Houston to kick-off The Southern Discomfort Tour..."

Early this afternoon, around 12:30, I received a long awaited phone call from Mr. W., the homeless man in San Antonio, that needed to be admitted into a hospital on Christmas Eve morning, but couldn't be admitted and treated, because of Underdog, his loyal Shih-Tzu companion, that we have been boarding for him at Dr. Thompson's clinic—La Cantar Animal Hospital, in San Antonio.

"Hello, Nancy. This is Mr. W.," he said, "I am still a patient at the wound care rehabilitation center, but I have good news. I am ready to take Underdog back!"

"That is great news Mr. W.," I said. "Are they releasing you today?"

"No, I'm still not ready to be released, but the center is allowing me to have Underdog stay here with me. When can you or Paul deliver Underdog to me? I can't wait to see him."

"Let me call Paul, our super volunteer, to see when he can pick up Underdog. I will call you right back."

Then I punched in Paul's phone number and told him all about what was going on with Underdog and Mr. W., while he tried to eat his lunch in a San Antone restaurant.

"As soon as I finish lunch I'll go straight to La Cantar Animal Hospital to pick up Underdog and then take him to the rehab center. That little dog is going to be so happy to be finally reunited with his best friend."

"I know. Thank you so much, Paul," I said. "I'll call Gabby at the vet clinic to tell her what is going on and then I will call Mr. W. back to tell him. I wish I could be there when you deliver Underdog to him..."

Late this afternoon I called Paul to see how it went. "When I took Underdog into Mr. W.'s room Underdog went wild with excitement when he saw his best friend in bed. Because Underdog is so short, I had to lift him up to Mr. W.'s bed and they could not quit kissing and hugging each other. Then Mr. W. handed Underdog one of his old toys and Underdog flew off of the bed to fetch it and play with it. Thank you so much for letting me be the one to deliver Underdog to Mr. W. because for me, it's all about dogs and this has really made my day."

As I finish writing this tonight, I'm betting that Underdog and Mr. W. are the happiest that they have ever been in a long time and I want to thank the kind people who have helped us pull this off; Rita, at the Christus Santa Rosa hospital, Randy at the wound rehab center, Gabby and Dr. Thompson at La Cantar Animal Hospital and Paul Emerson for all of their help. We did it!

Y'all have a great evening!

Restless Legs Syndrome!

2012-02-06T18:42:00.001-06:00

Today has been great, even though it was a cool, gray, stormy day until 5:00, when the clouds finally moved out and the sun brightened up the sky.

This morning after doing my chores with Tony outside, I spent most of my day sitting at the kitchen table, doing paper work and returning phone calls, in between the frequent, but short-lived thunder and lightning storms we had, because I had to keep unplugging everything in The Cabin, every time it thundered outside.

Late this afternoon, after talking to Carol about our exciting, upcoming three Saturday classes of singing lessons at Club Ed, which was filled with many jokes and laughter about us, I took some time off to treat myself to one of my most favorite things to do—I took a short, sleepless nap with Mama, Roy and Toto. And I am not sure who enjoyed it the most, but I'm pretty sure that I did.

Even though little Toto, because of his ripe old age of fifteen years has become a farting machine, Roy snores so loudly that he suppresses the warning sounds of Toto's air raids and Mama with her restless legs syndrome—there is nothing better to me than to snuggle up with my fur friends, because I love them more than life.

I know that they love me back too, even though I have been gaseous at least once or twice, snored a little to loudly a few times and have had two restless legs, in bed, that could qualify me as a champion kick-box fighter.

This evening I plan to do some more writing on my book, even though Toto is sleeping underneath the kitchen table, in his bed—blasting away.

Y'all have a great evening! Life is a blast!

Round Up!

2012-02-04T20:29:00.001-06:00

Today has been great. Late this afternoon, while I was outside putting Round Up, weed killer, on some Thistle, an SUV drove into the ranch, so Tony jumped into Kermit to go greet them. Twenty minutes later, T. walks up to me and says, "Reata just got adopted to a very nice couple. David, the man who adopted Nellybelle from us, brought them out here. You're gonna like them." So, I took off for The Cabin to prepare Reata's adoption papers.

Twenty minutes later, after a fun visit with David, Ben and Tyra, who I really liked—Tyra signed off on Reata's adoption form, then I took this picture of Reata with her new family.

I immediately called Kinky when I returned to The Cabin, with the great news about Reata and he was delighted that she had found her fantastic, forever family so fast. Then Tony and I quickly cleaned up and fifteen minutes later we left here, around 4:30, to go eat an early dinner with Sandy and Jon Wolfmueller, at their house and we had a blast with our dear friends and the dinner was delicious too.

When we arrived back at the rescue ranch we had a surprise waiting for us—Princess greeted us at the gate, because she had dug out again and she was real proud of it. When I opened my door, Princess jumped inside and then kissed us all of the way back to her pen.

Tomorrow I plan to spend my day out in The Bunkhouse, my pink writing cabin, to work some more on my book.

I just checked out the comment that my dear friend Eileen posted on my Brisket Tacos story and I am still laughing about it, so I copied and pasted what she wrote and my response to her.

Eileen said...

Nancy, why don't you ask Ronnie what he'd do about going to Shady Grove and Whole Food in Austin? I bet you a Sinker Omelette at Save Inn that Ronnie would go and tell you to go with us ... ask him!

February 4, 2012 8:13 PM

cousin nancy said...

Eileen, I can't quit laughing after reading what you just wrote.

First off, I swore off "food betting" a long time ago, which is another long story, even though eating a delicious Sinker Omelette with you at The Save Inn is extremely tempting.

For the sake of our great friendship, I am not going to "Ask Ronnie," because he knows how really scared I am of big cities, because he had to drive me, several times, all over Austin to my book signings.

And even though I am not going to ask my big brother what to do, I am sure he would say, "Don't do it, Nance. It's way too risky for you. Wait until they build a Whole Foods and a Shady Grove in Dripping Springs or Johnson City. And as you know and have often told me, I make the best brisket right here at The Ronderosa..." And, Eileen that is so true.

Maybe y'all could just make a video or a slideshow of y'all's next trip to Austin for me or y'all could meet me and Tone at The Save Inn and tell us all about it. : )

Y'all have a great evening!

Brisket Tacos!

2012-02-03T19:13:00.001-06:00

Today has been a fun day. This morning June, Ellen, Jim, Eileen and Lisa, our super volunteers, came out to walk our dogs for us and when the Fab 4 were done I had a fun visit with them.

"Eileen, I'm putting you on probation," I teased.

"What for?"

"For being skinnier than all of us. You look fantastic. That's why?"

"That's not true," she argued, as she stood up and down on her toes. "Heck, if I stand up on my toes like this, two times in a row—my calves instantly become twice as big."

"Omg!" I joked. "Look, they are twice as big..."

"Ellen and I have some exciting news for y'all," June said. "This month we are going up to Dallas to watch Luna Tick Tick Boom of Assination City Roller Derby and we're making our own "Luna Tick Tick Boom" signs and t-shirts to wear."

"That sounds like a blast," I said.

"It will be and you should come with us," June said, as I immediately started shaking my head sideways, as they started laughing.

"Y'all, Nance doesn't do Dallas," Tony laughed, "or Austin, Fort Worth, San Antone or..."

"Well, she may not do Dallas, but she's definitely going with us, this Spring, to Shady Grove and Whole Foods in Austin," Eileen declared. "Even if we have to put horse blinders on her, put her down on the floor and fill her up with Ellen's— Rescue Remedy drops, that she gave to her. You're going with us, Nance. Period."

"You'll love Shady Grove's Brisket Tacos," Lisa added. "They're so delicious. And you can wear your Shady Grove t-shirt and..."

The thought of going to Austin for a day trip and being outnumbered by my dear friends made my stomach feel a little bit queasy, so I did what I had to do—change the subject immediately. "Hey, if y'all are going up to Koyote Ranch for lunch today, y'all need to try their grilled chicken salad. Carol ordered it the other day and she gave me a bite and it was fantastic. The next time that we go up there—I'm definitely going to order it." And so they took off for Koyote and enjoyed the grilled chicken salad and that is about it for tonight.

Happy Birthday, Fourth. I hope you had the best birthday ever and I hope that you and Lynda come see us soon.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Fourth Coates!

2012-02-03T00:01:00.002-06:00

Today is our dear friend Fourth Coates birthday and T. and me love him and his beautiful wife Lynda, so we want to sing the Happy Birthday song to him, so here goes Fourth, please forgive me for my singing Fourth, because I have not yet taking those singing lessons with Carol this month.

"Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Fourth. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. And many more...."

Tone and I hope that is your best birthday ever. We love you and Lynda so much!

Happy Birthday!

The Cowgirl Sisterhood—Rides Again! Yee Haw!

2012-02-01T18:26:00.002-06:00

First off, Carol and I did not ride again today, but this morning after she sent me some of her pictures that she took of us yesterday—I have spent most of my day thinking about how much I had enjoyed yesterday. So, tonight I am going to post her two pictures that she took of T. and me.

This is a priceless picture that I love, that Tony took of Carol brushing Pistol—wearing her new, huge, shiny buckle, that her dear friend Jim Simpson gave to her—that he had won on Dude before Carol had bought Dude from him last year. I think it says it all.

Kinky is finally back at the ranch and this evening he and I had a fun visit over at the Lodge. Then during our hike with The Friedmans I made Kinky burst out laughing when I told him, "Yesterday, I went over to Carol's and rode horses with her and I had a blast. But, before Tone and I went over there, I swung by the Lodge to drop off your mail and when I jumped out of Trigger wearing my cowgirl clothes—it freaked The Friedmans out and they barked at me non-stop for several minutes before they finally realized it was me. It was totally hilarious."

Y'all have a great evening!

A Dream Come True!

2012-01-31T19:41:00.000-06:00

Today has been one super great day for me, even though I spent over four hours this morning doing non-stop computer work.

Around 1:30 this afternoon—Carol called. "Hi, Carol. I can't believe you just called, because I was just thinking about you." Carol started laughing.

"I just gave Pistol and Maya a bath, before the paparazzi shows up to shoot us riding my horses. Can you and Tony come over around 3:30?"

"Omg, we would love to, Carol. I was hoping that you would call, because I spent so many hours this morning behind the computer—I thought my eyes were fixin' to fall out..."

It was nearly 4:00, when I climbed into Pistol's saddle, for the very first time and Carol mounted Maya. Then our Cowgirl Sisterhood fun began.

As we rode Carol's super cutting horses around her ranch, Tony stood back and shot us and at one point during our fun ride I said, "Carol, I love Pistol so much. He is a fabulous horse and being your first Texas friend to ride him is an honor and a dream come true..."

After a wonderful afternoon of riding Carol's horses we went out to her deck for happy hour and all I need to say is, "We had a blast!"

Y'all have a great evening!

Soup & Salad!

2012-01-30T17:24:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, Tony and I worked outside almost all day. While Tony and Aaron did a lot of cement work, I used our weed-eater to knock down a lot of thistle. Even though I wanted to spend yesterday writing on my book, the work we accomplished outside was worth it.

Today, after doing our chores outside, we made a quick trip to Kerrville to get groceries (for homemade soups and salads) and office supplies.

Because my mind is racing ahead of my book and I must catch up, I plan to spend this evening and hopefully tomorrow afternoon out in my writing cabin—knocking out many pages. So, I told T. that we are eating soups and salads this week so I can get some writing done. Wish me luck!

Y'all have a great evening!

P.S. Tonight I received this from my dear friend Mari. I hope someone can help get Ryan back home.

MISSING!
"Ryan", spayed female pit bull mix, current on vaccinations, has been missing since Monday night, January 23rd. Last seen about 12 miles S of Kerrville on Hwy 16/Medina Hwy. Please call if you have seen her or have any information. Phone # (281) 748-4536.

Reata!

2012-01-28T17:57:00.000-06:00

Today has been very busy, but still great. This afternoon we rescued a dog from Sherri, a fellow rescuer, from Bryan, Texas.

Even though it took Sherri and her friend four hours to get Chloe to us, when we met Chloe, a beautiful, sweet, 3-4 month old Catahoula possible Pit mix—she melted our hearts immediately when she kissed Tony on his cheek. "Sherri, this is one perfect pup," I said, as Chloe licked my hand. "She has great manners and you can tell that she is a very smart dog. This dog is highly adoptable."

"I know. Thank y'all so much for taking her in," Sherri said. "I have fallen in love with her, but we have so many rescued dogs we just couldn't keep her..."

After we had played with Chloe in the Okay Corral we took her down to Lulu's pen, so she could meet her new roommate and those two hit it off immediately. Even though Lulu is a senior citizen she recognized that Chloe was a pup and she was great with her, while Chloe played gently with her new best friend.

Early this evening Tony and I went outside to check on Chloe and Lulu to make sure they were still girlfriends. When we drove up they were curled up and sleeping side by side in the warm sunlight. As we petted Chloe I said, "Tony, I like the name Chloe, but I am changing her name to Reata." T. liked her new name.

If anyone knows a super person who deserves a super dog—please tell them about Reata. We already have Jim and his wife in Austin interested and if that doesn't work I plan to call Fay, up in Canada to see if her friend is still looking for a great dog. She just needs basic training like sit, stay and come, because she is calm, friendly and happy to be alive.

Y'all have a great evening.

Olive Oil!

2012-01-27T18:29:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a really great day. Before doing our chores I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and we had a fun visit. We talked about his exciting, upcoming Southern Discomfort tour and The Friedmans.

After Tony and I had done our chores we went to Kerrville to run a few errands. While we were at Home Depot, buying a Pelonis convection oil filled radiator heater for my writing cabin, that Sandy and Jon Wolfmueller had highly recommended that we get, we ran into our super volunteer Jim and his wife Diane and then in the paint department, then we ran into our dear friend Les and we had a nice visit with him, while my quart of red paint was being mixed.

Our last stop was at Herring Printing to pick up some printing. When we walked into Kerrville's favorite printing shop we were greeted by the friendly employees and then our friend Joe Herring saw us and he came up to the counter to greet us and we had a fun visit with him before heading home.

As soon as we got back home I punched Carlton's button to listen to any new incoming calls. "Hi, Tony and Nancy. This is Kat. My son Bryan has been wanting to adopt a dog and today is his only day off. Could we come out to look at your dogs? Call me."

Forty minutes later, Kat, Dave, Bryan and Molie, the dog that Kat had adopted from us over eight years ago, arrived. After howdies and handshakes we took off to go show them our dogs and before we had finished showing Bryan all of our super dogs—he fell in love with Walter Cronkite. So, we walked Walter down to The Okay Corral, where Molie was waiting, so we could see how they would got along. After a quick "sniff-a-thon" the two dogs were in love with each other, which thrilled all of us. Here is a picture of Molie in Tone's lap and Bryan with his new best friend.

Today has been a great day. This morning when I got up at 6:00, Tony tells me that we had run out of propane during the night and that was why The Cabin was so cold. After I had put on a couple of layers of clothes I suggested that T. bring the new little heater into the house, to see if it could help warm us up. And I am glad that he did, because in no time flat—The Cabin was warm and cozy, thanks to Olive Oil.

Before Tony returned home from the Old Timer, I called Wolfmueller Books. "Morning, Jon. I just wanted to let you know that we bought one of those oil filled radiator heaters at Home Depot and we love it. During the night we ran out of propane and early this morning we plugged her in and she really helped warm up our trailer...Tell Sandy I named her Olive Oil. Bye."

Around 9:30, when we had just started our morning chores Jim, Roy & Della and Ellen, our super volunteers came out to walk our dogs and our dogs were more than thrilled about it.

When I was almost done cleaning the pens our dear friend Maribeth, from Utopia, arrived, because I had called her yesterday morning to invite her to come over and spend the day with us, because Tone and I had been missing her.

After the pens were cleaned, Jim came up to tell me that his sister-in-law Ruth had come out with him, because she wanted me to autograph my first book that I wrote. "She bought it at Wolfmuellers and cannot wait to get you to sign it.

So, on my way up to The Cabin, I stopped at Jim's truck, next to the barn and greeted Ruth and then I invited her to join me and Maribeth for a visit and a cup of tea in The Cabin.

The minute I introduced Maribeth to Ruth our fun hen party started and it was filled with hilarious confessions and some funny true-life stories, as Belle slept in her chair and Roy snoozed below her on his quilt.

Later this afternoon, Maribeth, Tony and I met Ellen for a late lunch in Kerrville and it was a lot of fun. Before heading home we swung by Home Depot, so I could pick up another one of those heaters like Olive Oil and then Buttermilk took us back to the ranch.

Around 4:00, as we were outside saying goodbye to Maribeth—the propane man arrived in his gigantic truck, to fill us up, which filled me with relief, knowing that we would have central heat tonight and not have to use the twins—Olive and Safflower Oil.

Once again, I want to wish my dear friend 'Erb Cares a happy birthday and I hope that it has been the best ever for him and that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday 'Erb Cares!

2012-01-27T00:01:00.006-06:00

Today is one of my favorite people's birthday. I've known 'Erb Cares and his sweet wife Karen for many years and the only problem that I have with them is—we don't get to see them as often as we would like to.

Because 'Erb has kept me laughing with his hilarious e-mais ever since I met him, I want to sing him the Happy Birthday Song, so here goes.

"Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear 'Erb. Happy Birthday to You. And Many More..."

"Erb, Tony and I hope that you have the best Birthday Day ever and we wish that we could be there with Karen and you to celebrate it. We love you and Karen. Kinky sends you his best. Happy Birthday! And please come see us sooner than later.

Happy Birthday Ben Welch!

2012-01-26T00:01:00.010-06:00

Today is Ben Welch's Birthday and Tony and I want to be some of the first people to wish him the happiest birthday day ever.

We have known Ben for nearly a decade and Kinky, Tony and I consider him to be family. Over the many years laughter has played a major part of our friendship with Ben, even though during difficult or sad times we have often leaned on each other for support and advice. And that is why we love Ben so much.

Ben, it has been an honor to know you and count you as a true friend, so therefore we wish to sing you the Birthday Song, even though I have not taken my singing lessons with Carol yet.

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

Pistol Packin' Mama!

2012-01-25T20:43:00.001-06:00

Today Mama and I have been feeling much better. It's a good thing that I wrote early yesterday, because last night we had STORMS. It started raining heavy around eight-thirty last night, so I unplugged everything that needed to be protected, then I went to bed and it seems that every time that I was falling into a deep sleep the sky would light up followed by a big bang, causing Mama to jump off of the bed— barking loudly. So, this morning when I got up—I was pretty tired, because I never slept for more than 45 minutes at a time.

Early this afternoon, before Trigger took us to Kerrville, we stopped by to welcome Carol back home, because for the past two weeks she has been out in Arizona practicing her "cutting" on Pistol, her new cutting horse.

After howdies and hugs Carol took us up to the barn to meet Pistol. "He is a wonderful horse and Maya is in love with him already..." And when I laid my eyes on Pistol for the first time—I was in love too. As we petted Pistol and Maya, Carol told us, "When I called Lorri and Jeff to tell them about getting Pistol, Jeff tells Lorri to tell me that, "I am a Pistol packing mama." And I am..." Then we talked about the cool pictures that Lorri and Jeff had sent to me.

This afternoon before heading back to the ranch we stopped at Wild Birds Unlimited for two reasons; to see our friend Marguerite, who adopted Enzo 2 from us and to pick up some specialty Woodpecker bird seed that Jon and Sandy had raved so much about last week and had told us to get, as soon as possible.

We had a fun time catching up with Marguerite and hearing about Enzo's hilarious, latest escapades and Tony was beside himself inside the cool store, because he wanted to buy one of everything that he saw. "Tone, when we win the lottery, I want this wind chime for over $200.00 and you can buy everthing else," I teased.

On our way home Tony stopped at the last Mini-Mart on 16, before leaving Kerrville—to buy a lottery ticket for us. Wish us luck.

Y'all have a great evening! And don't forget that tomorrow is Ben Welch's birthday!

One Trick Pony!

2012-01-24T20:00:00.012-06:00

We are scheduled to have some heavy thunderstorms later today and tonight, so I am going to try to beat the storms, because I will definitely be unplugging soon.

Yesterday morning, I woke up feeling pretty miserable and so did Mama, so when Tony got home from the Old Timer I suggested that we take Mama to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, as soon as we finished breakfast, because she had no appetite and was lathargic—just like me, except my stomach ached fiercely and I felt like I was going to throw up at any time.

After we dropped Mama off at the clinic, we came home, so I could go back to bed and Tony could do our chores outside.

Around noon, we took my temperature and it was 101 degrees, which depressed me even more, because I was already depressed about not feeling good, because I'm never sick and I really hate being sick.

At 4:00, Tony and Buttermilk took off for Kerrville to pick up Mama and sixty-nine minutes later, they walked inside The Cabin. "Janssen told me that Mama was running 101 degrees, a low grade fever and he took some ex-rays and also did some blood work on her and he wants us to give Mama one of these pills every day."

"What are they?" I asked.

"Rimadyl, for pain. He said he would get back to us with the results..." Then Mama and I went into the bedroom and went to bed. She slept, but I didn't.

Last night I went to bed at 7:00 and I didn't wake up until this morning, when Tony woke me up so I could do Big G's radio show at 7:20. After an enjoyable show with Gordon Ames, I checked my e-mail to discover that I had a received an interesting e-mai from Jay Pennington, Gordon's friend, who was now ours too.

When he and his sweet wife Sarah had come out to visit with us on Saturday to talk about his web sites that he has, to help adopt dogs from shelters, which I am very excited about, so as a gesture to thank him for wanting to help our rescue ranch, I gave him and Sarah signed copies of my two books.

Anyway, this morning Jay had sent me a picture of him sitting on a pony, that was taken in his front yard, in San Antonio and I about fainted, because Jay was sitting on the same pony that I had sat on, years earlier, in my parents front yard in Fort Worth. Even the tack was identical and Chiggar's ears were pinned back in both of our pictures. And here are the pictures of this one trick pony.

As I finish writing this at 1:30 to post tonight at 8:00, before going back to bed with Mama, I wonder just how many kids, like me and Jay, that little pony made happy.

Y'all have a great evening! And Happy Belated Birthday to Dylan Ferrero!

In Good Company!

2012-01-22T17:14:00.004-06:00

This morning I woke up with a tummy ache and feeling sick to my stomach, so after helping Tony clean the dog pens I have spent most of my day feeling a little puny and laying in bed with Mama and Roy to comfort me, but fortunately, tonight as I write this I am feeling much better. So, now I am going to attempt to do a little catching up.

Friday morning was beautiful the temperature was in the mid sixties outside, a perfect day for our super volunteers to walk all of our dogs for us. As Tony and I were finishing up our outside chores June, Ellen, Eileen, Lisa, Dottie and Jim showed up and they began walking our dogs and our dogs were thrilled about it and so were we.

When our chores were done, T. jumped into Buttermilk and took off for Kerrville, so he could take photos of our nephew Zachary showing his pig, at the Kerr County Stock Show and I took off to go visit with the volunteers and I really enjoyed it.

After the dogs had all been walked, "The Girls" invited me to join them for lunch, but I couldn't because I was on a mission. One hour later I was at a J.C. Penneys cash register buying socks for Tone and me, because ours were threadbare. After accomplishing my mission I swung by H-E-B to pick up some groceries and then Trigger took me home.

Early Saturday morning, Rick called and left a message on Carlton, "Hey, Tony and Nancy. John is driving us to the airport for our trip to Nicaragua! Don't worry we will be fine. Bye."

When I had finished my first cup of coffee, I picked up the phone and punched in Rick's number, in hopes that I could catch them before they took off and I am glad that I did, because I had a really fun visit with the three of them. And before hanging up I invited John to please come up soon to visit us and he said he would, so I have my fingers crossed that he will, because Sandy & Jon, Carol, Tony and I have really missed him.

Saturday, I got the coolest care package, in the mail, from our dear friends Lorri & Jeff Severson, Redskins Super Bowl VII, who I recently had fun pickin' with over at Carol's ranch. They had sent me some pictures of Jeff—in good company, hanging out with some of his old friends and Jeff signed each picture to me, which I absolutely loved. Thank you, Lorri and Jeff!

In the next few days I plan to frame Jeff's photos and hang them in our big room. Here are the pictures they sent.

Hopefully, tomorrow I will be feeling much better. Tonight I plan to do some more writing and that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

I'm On A Roll!

2012-01-21T18:41:00.000-06:00

Today has been a fantastic day. Last night I did not write for my blog, because I was working on one of my books until after midnight and tonight, because I am still on a roll with it, I must write more tonight too. Tomorrow, I promise to catch y'all up.

UFO Beer!

2012-01-19T17:04:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was great and so was today. Yesterday morning before Tony and I went outside to do our chores, I started cooking a bag of black beans, so I could try to make black bean soup, like Kevin's at the Water Street Cafe.

When our chores were done outside, I checked out a couple of black bean soup recipes on the Internet and then I started adding peeled carrots, onion, garlic, chicken broth, salt, pepper, green chiles and roasted tomatoes and an hour later—we ate Cousin Nancy's Delicious Black Bean Soup. And Tony ate seconds. Then two hours later, while doing some paperwork—I got gas big-time.

Normally, I do not have a gas problem and am proud of it, but yesterday afternoon I had gas so bad I went outside and took Roy for a long walk, to blow it off, because Tony would not quit teasing me about it.

Even though I scared Roy a few times with a couple of loud emissions during our hike, we happily returned home after a one hour long hike, because I had finally run out of gas, which was good news, because our dear friends Sandy and Jon were coming out around five o'clock for a visit.

Five minutes before five, Sandy and Jon arrived with some sausages that they had picked up at Daddy Jim's Quality Meats and a six pack of UFO beer—which was out of this world.

So, while Tony cooked up their sausages, in the Okay Corral, I gave them a tour of my pink writing cabin and then T. showed off Chuck to them and they loved it.

When the sausages were cooked we came inside The Cabin to eat them, because it was getting close to dark-thirty outside. While Tone cut up the sausages, I gave them a tour of The Cabin and they loved it and they could not believe how cool our fake wood burning fire was inside our television set.

After the delicious sausages had disappeared and I had cleaned up the kitchen, Tony and I had a blast visiting with the Wolfmueller's, in fact, it was non-stop laughter until they went home. And I am proud to report that I never once farted.

Today has been great. This afternoon Tony and I met Kinky in town for lunch and it was fun. Before leaving the restaurant Kinky told us that MSNBC was sending out a camera crew, from Austin, around six o'clock, so they could interview him about his views of Rick Perry dropping out of the race today, to air on their 7:00 show tonight.

When Trigger, T. and I got home this afternoon I checked our mail to find the latest copy of the Bandera County Courier newspaper and I about fell over when I saw my picture in it, taken last Friday by our friend Clair, when I was pickin' and grinnin' at the Medina Jam Session.

And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Press & Go!

2012-01-17T18:46:00.002-06:00

Today has been a great day and the reason that I did not post on my blog last night was because Tony and I watched the movie, The Help, and we loved it. In fact, it blew us away and we could not quit talking about it after it ended.

This morning when Tone and I went outside to do our chores, the dogs started barking while T. was feeding the deer and our precious three pigs. "Nance, someone must be up at the gate. You'd better go up there and check." So, Kermit and I took off.

As we approached the gate, I saw a friendly face waving at me, near La Toya Jackson's pen, so we slowed down. "Hi, I'm Nancy. Can I help you?"

"I'm Donna. My husband and I wanted to check out your dogs, because we want to adopt a companion dog for Hope, our dog that we rescued during Hurricane Ike. Ellen & Charlie Cooper are our neighbors and Ellen spoke so highly of y'all—she thinks that y'all are angels."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "We love Ellen and Charlie. Hop in Kermit and we will go up to the gate to open it, so your husband can drive on in."

After Jim and Donna had introduced themselves to Tony, he took off in Kermit to start feeding our dogs and the three of us took off, so I could show them our fabulous dogs and after they had met all of our super dogs they decided to adopt Pilgrim, but first they wanted to see how Hope and he got along, so T. leashed up Pilgrim and we met Donna, Hope and Jim outside the rescue ranch, so Hope and Pilgrim could meet and we could take them for a short walk together.

Twenty minutes later, after Pilgrim's adoption papers were signed, I took this picture of Pilgrim with his new forever family—thanks to Ellen.

When our outdoor chores ended, mine began inside. At 11:29, while I was doing some paperwork, before taking off for Kerrville, to run several errands—our good friend Rick "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper" called and left a message on Carlton, which made me laugh out loud, as I continued doing my paperwork, because we couldn't take off until I had finished it.

"Hi, Guys. Leisa and I are shopping. In case Nancy doesn't have anything to worry about for the next few weeks, we wanted to let y'all know that we are going backpacking through the jungles of Nicaragua for seventeen days, with pythons, leopards, etc." Then Rick started laughing. "Bye."

Even though Rick's news about their exciting, upcoming jungle expedition didn't really surprise me, because those two are always doing something wild and crazy, I know that I will worry about them until they get back to Port Aransas—where they belong.

On our way to Kerrtown, we decided to eat lunch at Kevin and Julie's restaurant, The Water Street Cafe, before running our many errands.

When we arrived at The Water Street Cafe, Julie greeted us with a friendly smile and then she told us about Gigi, formerly Ginger Rogers, the darling, little Chihuahua that she and Kevin adopted from us back in October. Then we placed our orders.

"I think I'll have the combination again," I said. "Black Bean soup and Chef Salad." Then Tony ordered their Roast Beef Panini with potato salad on the side and we had no regrets, because our lunch was delicious.

Right before we left the Water Street Cafe, Kevin walked in and he greeted us. "How was your lunch?"

"Kevin, it was delicious and your Black Bean soup is the best that I have ever eaten. You make the best soups in town. My favorites are y'all's Lentil soup and now this..."

Before leaving Kerrville to head to Bandera to make a deposit we stopped at H-E-B to grab a few groceries and because Kevin's black bean soup was so delicious, I guessed at what the ingredients might be, so I picked up a bag of black beans, carrots, tomatoes, corn, cilantro and onion, so I could try to duplicate his tasty recipe for us or hopefully come close to it.

The last thing I put into our grocery cart, before checking out, was an inexpensive hair dryer, because Windy had more or less blown it last week. My new Conair Press & Go, with retractable cord has 1875 Watts, is compact, powerful and fast drying, so I named her—Mariah, before we had even reached the checkout counter.

Early this evening Kinky called to tell me to mark our calendar, because our friends Captain Frank and his sweet wife were coming out to see us on Friday and they were bringing us doghouses.

"That sounds great, Kink. I've just added it to my calendar. By the way, as you well know, this past week has been pretty rough on me—thanks to the full moon. A lot of crazy people have been calling me and coming out of the woodwork, but thankfully not all of them were nuts. Anyway, I've written a song about it. You know that famous Barbra Streisand song, "People. People who need people are the luckiest people in the world?"

"Yes."

"Well my new song is, "People. People who need people—need to get a life," Kinky burst out laughing which made me start laughing too, "or a job or a hobby or seek professional help, because it ain't me, babe. No. No. No..."

And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

T. Was Pretty Upset!

2012-01-14T19:33:00.001-06:00

Today has been great even though Tony's dog Belle Starr-Simons came close to ruining it.

Early this afternoon, when Kinky returned to the ranch, while I was over at the Lodge visiting with Marcie and Will. After Kink and I had discussed a little business we had a fun time in the kitchen, catching up with everyone's latest news. And when I told them about jamming last night in Medina, they all thought it was pretty cool.

An hour later, when I returned to The Cabin, Roy and Belle happily greeted me, in the front yard, because they knew that Tone was inside and he was in a snit. "Nance, we just lost our connection to Directv a few minutes ago. I'm fixin' to call them." Then he called them about it and after doing everything the technician told him to do with no results, he set up an appointment for them to send out a repair man.

T. was pretty upset, because he was looking forward to watching some very important football games tonight, so frustrated as he was about missing the games, he went outside for about fifteen seconds and then he came back inside, "Belle, chewed on the cable wire outside..." Then he went back outside and wiggled the barely chewed cable wire and our cable came back on!" Ten minutes later, after he had taped the damaged wire up with black tape and then covering the two wires with duct tape and taping them to the trailer, until we could fix it properly— he was thrilled. And then he called Directv back to cancel the scheduled repair appointment.

This evening, because I am tired, I plan to watch The Help and then go to bed real early, because I did not sleep very well last night and I had the strangest dreams that made no sense to me—thanks to the full moon.

Y'all have a great evening!

Go! Go! Go, Gerri Go!

2012-01-13T21:36:00.006-06:00

Today has been a great day. This morning Jim, one of our great volunteers came out with Ruth, his visiting sister-in-law and while Jim took our dogs for walks Ruth and I had a fun time getting to know each other inside the warmth of The Cabin.

Late this afternoon Tony asked me to come outside to help him work on Chuck, his chuck wagon chuck box, in the Okay Corral and I had fun working with him, as Mama, Roy, Abbie, Belle and Toto watched us from the front porch.

When we ran out of boards we headed for The Cabin and that is when I popped the question on him, "Tony, I read in the Bandera County Courier that on the second Friday of each month in Medina—they have a live jam session at 6:00, at the community center and everyone is invited. Will you go with me tonight? I want to see what it is like."

"Sure, it sounds like fun, but I'm not playing the mandolin. Okay?"

"That's fine. You don't have to, but would you call Fourth and Lynda to see if they want to go, too? I need to go clean up."

At 5:55, Tony grabbed my guitar from the backseat of Buttermilk and we went inside the Medina Community Center and the place was packed with fifty to sixty friendly faces and musicians ready to jam and a nice woman came up to greet us.

As I signed us in, the woman told Tony, to put his guitar on the table behind us."

"It's not my guitar. My wife is the picker." When I started tuning up my guitar a friendly man walked up to us and inquired about it, so T. told him that Ronnie had custom made it for me and the signatures on it were Billy Joe Shavers, Kinky's and Willie Nelson. Then we visited with our friend Claire, from England, who rescues dogs and finds them good homes and who is also the official photographer for the Bandera County Courier newspaper. Before the woman told me where I should go sit with the musicians, she asked, "Do you want to sign up to sing?" Which made Tone and me chuckle.

"No, ma'am. Not until Carol and me take some singing lessons in February." Then I took off to go sit with the musicians and a few minutes later I was jamming with some very talented banjo players, dulcimer players, fiddlers, mandolin players, guitarist and a bass player. And on the second song, as I was trying to keep up with the boys, because they were all using capos and my pink one was across the room inside my guitar case, Claire walks right up in front of me and shoots me, a couple of times, with her camera, which made me laugh and then turn about ten shades of red.

For over two hours I picked and grinned with some great musicians, as we accompanied about twenty different people who had signed up to sing a song and I had a total blast and Tone enjoyed it too. And just to let you know—Fourth and Lynda were "no-shows."

Before I finish tonight's post and go to bed, I want to give Gerri, my dear friend a plug. She is a very talented writer and she has published her first short story, The Telephone Call by G. M. Dickerson, as a Kindle edition on Amazon and I have read it and it was a beautiful story. In fact, this is the review I wrote for it on Amazon.

"I really enjoyed reading G.M. Dickerson's beautiful, heartfelt short story. It was filled with emotion. Reading it made me laugh out loud, smile and get a little teary-eyed and I loved Dickerson's style of fine writing. I can't wait to read her next story." And I hope that y'all will check it out. Go! Go! Go, Gerri Go!

Y'all have a great evening!

Blowing In The Wind!

2012-01-11T16:59:00.001-06:00

Today the weather has been so beautiful here and I have just come inside The Cabin, after solar-drying my long, gray hair out on the front porch, because several days ago, Windy, my fifteen-year-old blue hairdryer blew up in my hand, while I was trying to dry my hair and it scared me to death when the sparks started flying. Thinking fast, when Windy died in my hand, I pulled her plug—then I immediately plunged her into the toilet, because I was scared that she might catch The Cabin on fire.

That morning when Tony came home from Medina I told him all about my hair-raising experience with Windy and he laughed about me burying her at sea, so when I threatened him that I was not going to go outside to help him with the chores—he quit laughing immediately and then we put on our jackets and went outside to do the chores.

The reason that I am telling you Windy's long-winded, blowing in the wind story is because, today, while Trigger, Tone and I went to Dixon Automotive, in Hondo, to pick up Buttermilk we were talking about the cold front that was coming early tomorrow morning. "Well, as soon as we get home I am going to wash my hair, because it is going to be too cold to do it tomorrow. In fact, I am going to take a shower right before I go to bed tonight too, so I won't have to do any of that tomorrow."

And that is about it for tonight, because I need to do some more writing on my book.

Y'all have a great evening!

Buck!

2012-01-09T20:20:00.003-06:00

Today has been a great day. Late this afternoon we invited Carol to come over, so we could watch Buck, on Netflix, the beautiful movie about Buck Brannaman, the awesome, world famous Horse Whisperer and we loved watching it so much—we talked about it for over thirty minutes after we had watched it, while we watched Apple TV's slide show of my photos on my computer, on the television.

When pictures of Dude would show up with Carol riding Dude, Karin riding Dude, me on Dude and the pictures of Carol on Maya with me on Dude, that Tony took of us, for the jacket cover of my next book, we started talking about Dude and what a wonderful, magnificent horse he had been. Then Tony says, "Carol, I've got hundreds of pictures of you and Dude."

"Omg! I would love to see them." Then Tony stood up and went down the hallway to his office to get his computer.

When he returned to the big room, Tony started showing us his slide shows and the movies that he had taken of Dude and they were so beautiful. "Tony, can you please put these on a CD for me?" Carol asked. "I loved Dude so much and you have better and more pictures of him than I do. Your photography is awesome..."

When we began viewing Tone's great pictures that he had taken of us on her horses, we picked out the perfect picture to use for my book jacket and because it made Carol so happy and thrilled about it, I said, "You know what, Carol? I have just decided that I am going to dedicate my book to Dude." And that made her smile.

As I finish writing this tonight, T. is in his office burning a couple of CD's of all of his Dude pictures for Carol, Mama is stretched out and sleeping soundly on our bed, Toto is next to my feet, under the kitchen table, in his doggie bed multi-tasking—sleeping while passing obnoxious gas, while Roy Rogers sleeps on his quilt next to my chair and Belle Starr-Simons and Abbie Van Buren are keeping Tony company in his office. Life is good at the rescue ranch.

Y'all have a great evening and thank you for praying for rain for us, because we got over one inch of it this morning!

Hide All Of The Food!

2012-01-07T19:34:00.007-06:00

Today has been a great day and the weather could not have been better for us to be outside working on Tony's long awaited chuck wagon box, that Ben and Aaron helped him design and build. But first let me backup. I want to finally showoff our finished kitchen remodel, complete with three new light fixtures—that maxed out the rest of the available credit on my Home Depot credit card. And please note that the two large boxed-in wooden drawers sitting on top of the refrigerator were built by Aaron and me, which hide all of the food (Crackers, chips, tall oatmeal box, etc.) that we used to stack up on top of the fridge.

Moving forward, today Aaron, Tony and I painted Tony's new chuck box, that will store all of his Dutch ovens and cooking utensils, etc. in and the problematic picnic table which now, thanks to Ronnie, has a pink racing stripe painted down the middle of the table, to tie it in with The Bunkhouse, my pretty, pink writing cabin and here are some pictures of our latest efforts in making the Okay Corral—more than an okay place be.

This week after Home Depot receives another one of my monthly payments, we plan to cover the top of the chuck box table with stainless steel or some other kind of metal covering and then we are going to buy some Mason jars to store flour, sugar, coffee, etc. in and then we are going to dig some holes (washer pits), so we can start pitching Washers with our friends—while Tone enjoys cooking for us.

And even though our Okay Corral project is not nearly finished yet, it's okay, because we're having so much fun outside creating it, we are looking forward to the day when we will be outside sitting around a real wood burning fire, inside the rock fire ring, (When the Burn Ban is lifted.) having fun with our friends.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying that we get some more rain, so our drought will end sooner than later!

You've Got A Friend!

2012-01-06T20:50:00.003-06:00

Since my last post Tuesday night I've taken some much needed time off and I have been really busy. This evening as I write this, inside The Cabin, sitting at the kitchen table, that Ronnie custom built for me in 1995, within thirty minutes, right before I officially left Austin forever and moved to my beautiful Rolling Thunder Ranch (10 acres with a stock tank, just outside of Utopia). A fire is safely blazing and crackling inside my 32 inch television with my music playing and I am filled with so much joy, because my "Carol copy-cat kitchen remodel is finally finished—thanks to all of the help of Tony and Aaron.

Today has been a beautiful, warm, sun shiny day out here and thanks to our, "Texas' Greatest Volunteers;" June, Ellen, Eileen, Jim, Dottie, Roy & Della and Carol —they showed up and they walked all of our dogs for us and our dogs absolutely loved it. "Thank y'all, so very much! We truly love y'all, but not as much as all of our dogs do!" (Unfortunately, Lisa was a no-show today, because she had accidentally stubbed or broken her toe, which Ellen is going to offer to loan her her foot cast.)

There is so much more to tell about my really fun day today with the volunteers, Ben Welch and Aaron, ( Our dear friends.) but tonight I am going to spend the rest of the evening writing, inside our beautiful, warm and cozy cabin, because my 2012 New Year's resolution is for me to write two books this year.

Y'all have a great evening! (James Taylor and Carole King are singing, "You've Got A Friend" and it is so beautiful and blowing me away.

Dreams Really Do Come True!

2012-01-03T20:20:00.005-06:00

Because the holiday season is always the busiest and most hectic time of the year for me, I decided yesterday to take a much needed week-long-vacation from the rescue ranch, starting immediately and since then I've been so busy remodeling my kitchen for the last two days, I'm feeling extremely happy about the way it all looks, but tonight I am feeling pretty worn out, because of all the hard work that I've put into it, with Tony's and Aaron's much needed help, even though I have still not totally finished the kitchen remodel or painted that dang picnic table in The Okay Corral, which I definitely plan to paint tomorrow.

As you know, all of my life I've dreamed of living in a cabin in the woods, being surrounded by animals and I am just about there. Here are the before and after pictures of my almost finished, "Copy-cat Carol's Kitchen" project.

Even though it is only 8:20, I am fixin' to go to bed in The Cabin, in the woods, surrounded by animals, so I can get an early start on things tomorrow. Dreams really do come true and I am so blessed. I can't wait for Kinky to see it, because I know that he is going to love it as much as I do. I wish that all of y'all should be so lucky as me to have a $7,00.00, 1983 Fleetwood trailer to fix up, because they make for a great cabin.

Y'all have a great evening!

I Lied!

2012-01-01T18:56:00.003-06:00

First off, I must confess that I lied last night, but not on purpose. After I had written last night's post, I cooked up some Orville Reddenbacher pop corn, to eat while T. and I watched Lonesome Dove, but that didn't happen because, I had forgotten that we had given our copy to Karin Pohlman, as in Care Inn Poleman, to take back to Germany with her, so she and Jurgen (Air Gun) could watch it, because they've never seen it and I had forgotten to buy us another copy.

So, Tony and I split up the pop corn and then he went back into his office with Abbie and Belle to watch some action movie, while I stayed in the big room with Mama, Roy and Toto so we could watch a few Frazier reruns. Then I played my guitar for a little while and then we went to bed around 9:00.

Today has been a great New Year's day, even though I did not get around to painting our picnic table, as I had promised I would, because it was a little too chilly outside for me and because we also went over to the Annex for Kinky's sister Marcie & Mario's New Years brunch at 11:30 in the Annex and we had a blast with all of our friends.

As Kinky, Donna "The Retired Drummer" Schloss, Izzie & Austin, Copper Love, Dylan Ferrero, Marcie, Tony, Mario, The Friedmans and I ate Mario's delicious International cuisine, that he had carefully prepared—there was non-stop laughter with interesting conversations about Copper's painting trips out to Terlingua, the Taz Manian Devils pictures that Mario showed us when he went to New Zealand and Australia and the champagne wasn't bad either, even though I added orange juice to mine to make it a healthy Mimosa.

When the really fun brunch party ended Tony and I jumped into Trigger and took off for H-E-B in Kerrville, to get some supplies and while Tony was outside filling up Trigger's tank with gas, I was inside speed shopping, so we could get back to the ranch and I had a nice surprise while I was putting a package of Claritin into my cart, because of Cedar Fever. "Hi, Nancy. Happy New Year!"

"Well hi, Kevin, happy New Year to you, too! How is the Chihuahua doing?..." (Kevin owns the popular Water Street Cafe and he and his family are the ones who adopted a too cute Chihuahua from us, for their daughter, a few months ago." After a short, but fun visit with him we headed off in different directions. Then Trigger took us home.

Y'all have a great evening and Happy New Year to everyone!

Maybe! It's Possible!

2011-12-31T17:31:00.001-06:00

Well, I called Ronnie and asked him what he would do about the problematic picnic table and we could not quit laughing and making jokes about it. When we finally did quit laughing, my back was aching, of course, but I knew what to do, thanks to Ronnie.

But, just to tease y'all, I'm not going to tell you what color I will be painting it tomorrow. Will it be pink? Maybe. Will it be blue or red or a lovely lavender shade? It's possible. I will post the answer and show before and after pictures of it next year. So, in approximately twenty-four hours, you will find out what Ronnie would do, what I did and see the results of my poor painting skills.

Today has been a quiet day, so I took advantage of it and did more paperwork and as of right now—I am completely caught up with the end-of-the-year reports, thank you letters, etc.!

Late this afternoon, I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and we ended up going on a fun, but short hike with The Friedmans. Then Kermit took me home, so I could write this and post it early, because tonight is New Year's Eve and Tony and I are going to do what we always do on every New Year's Eve—watch Lonesome Dove and then go to bed.

Y'all have a great New Year's Eve and Happy New Year!

The O. K. Corral is Okay!

2011-12-29T19:21:00.005-06:00

Today has been pretty quiet—thank goodness, because today I spent most of my day doing the end-of-the-year paperwork, because I like to keep up with it, so I am not bombarded with it next year, which is only three days away.

Late this afternoon, around 3:30, after I had returned several phone calls, Tony and I went outside to do some work on our old picnic table that was literally falling apart, in my writing cabin's front yard, because during our lunch that we had with Carol a few days ago—we've decided to turn The Bunkhouse's front yard into a cowboy/cowgirl paradise. Tony suggested that we call it The O.K. Corral, which I loved, but immediately changed it to The Okay Corral, because it makes me laugh.

The Okay Corral is going to have a big natural rock fire ring in the middle of the yard, so we can start having campfires in it with Carol and all of our friends to enjoy, when we are not in Burn Ban mode and Tone is fixin' to start building an authentic chuck wagon box, which will be put under a roof, that we need to build, so he can start doing his delicious dutch oven cooking for us outside, which means coffee, beans, biscuits, cobblers, etc. and we are going to put in a horseshoe throwing pit for cowboys and a washer throwing pit for cowgirls and the best part about all of this—we will have the use of The (pink) Bunkhouse and my pretty, pink Princess Phone, that I love, that sweet Eileen gave to me and we will get to listen to his old country music and my music or who knows after Carol and I take our singing lessons at Club Ed in February—we might just sing, with me pickin' in the background!

Early this evening, after we had repaired the old picnic table, I suggested that I paint it pink to match my writing cabin and T. was totally against it, so we had one of my Libran discussions about it. "Tony, we can paint it pink and when we have our friends over for dinner—I can put a tablecloth over it, so no one will know..."

"Yeah right. It will be pink, too..." So tonight as I end my post, the question for everyone is, "What would Ronnie do?"

Y'all have a great evening! I'm fixin' to call Ronnie now!

Julie Andrews, Kinky Friedman And Roy Rogers!

2011-12-27T19:54:00.008-06:00

Today has been great for three reasons. First, this morning Julie Andrews, a sweet, young dog found her fantastic, forever home which comes with two sweet, young boys to play with.

The second reason, is after we adopted out Julie Andrews, Kermit took Tony, Roy Rogers and me over to the Lodge to meet Kinky and The Friedmans and all of them liked him. And then late this afternoon, sweet Carol came over to meet Roy Rogers in person and Roy fell in love with her as she did with him and then we had a good visit with her. Okay, now let me do some catching up.

Early Christmas morning, Rick & Leisa came over to The Cabin to drink some coffee with us and help us get things ready, before June, Lisa, Eileen & Wayne, our super volunteers showed up to help us prepare our rescued dogs' Christmas dinner, paid for by June, Ellen and Eileen. Here is a picture I took of Rick, The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper, warming up his hands, by our pricey $10.00 ambient fireplace, while Roy-Boy Rogers took a short-lived power nap on his quilt.

After our fabulous volunteers arrived to help us—the party started and it was filled with non-stop laughter. Eileen kept all of us laughing with her hilarious, battery-powered, motion holiday cap and she also brought the dog's their dessert—holiday doggie cookies and Lisa brought us some delicious, peppermint cookies, from Trader Joe's, for us to munch on while we followed Tony's orders, preparing the meal and those cookies were delicious! Here is a picture I took of us inside The Cabin. Clockwise: June, Wayne, Lisa, Leisa, who you can't see, Rick, Eileen and Tone.

Then we went outside to serve a warm Christmas dinner to some of the greatest dogs in Texas and it was filled with laughter and a little unexpected excitement, which made it even more fun.

While June was handing me two warmed dinner rolls to top off Rufus and Roxanne's filled up bowls, Lisa accidentally let Princess out of her pen and Princess took off and then Kermit and Tony took off after her and when Kermit and T. returned with her, he told us that she had run outside the entrance gate and when she saw Wilbur eating some corn, the gigantic wild hog, with a bad back leg, that we feed every morning when we feed the deer and turkeys outside our fence, she ran straight to him and jumped on his back and then jumped off and then he ran off into the woods to hide from her.

Several minutes later, while I was trying to keep Betty Rubble from eating George Clooney's Christmas Dinner—Rufus and Roxanne got out of their pen, because I had latched their gate, but had forgotten to tie their gate. Five minutes later they were back inside their pen—thanks to T. Then we had some uninvited four-legged visitors show up—Roy, Gabby, Little Jewford and Shalom. Here is a picture I took of them visiting with Eileen, Leisa and Wayne watching, before Kermit and Tone escorted them out of the rescue ranch—barely missing Shalom, the horse's back kick.

Because it was pretty chilly that morning, our great volunteers went home after feeding all of the dogs their Christmas Dinner, so they could go home to enjoy Christmas with their families and friends. Thank y'all so much for making Tone's and my Christmas and our dog's Christmas the best ever!

After Tony and Rick cleaned the dog pens I fixed breakfast for Leisa, Rick, Tony and me and then Rick and I pulled out our guitars and picked and grinned for a while.

Around 2:45, the four of us jumped into Buttermilk and she took us over to Jim & Liz's beautiful Owl Hollow Ranch for their annual Christmas party, held in their beautiful, authentic 1880's bar, The Grey Goose Saloon and we had a wonderful time and then we came back home, visited for a while and then we adios-ed each other and went to bed, because we are old, except for Leisa. And that is about it for tonight, because I am fixin' to watch The 34th Annual Kennedy Center Honors with Roy, Toto and Mama.

Y'all have a great evening like we're fixin' to!

Tomorrow Night!

2011-12-26T18:47:00.000-06:00

Y'all, I have so much to write about these past few days, but not tonight, because I am tired and must go to bed sooner than later, but I do promise that tomorrow night's post is going to be a big one filled with pictures of our beloved, rescued dog's Christmas Dinner.

This morning at sunrise, before Rick and Leisa came up to The Cabin to drink some coffee and eat breakfast with us, I went outside on the porch and saw the tail-end of the cold front leaving our rescue ranch, so I shot it. I hope that you like it as much as I do. Sweet dreams.

Y'all have a great evening and may the dog of your choice bless you!

P.S. Roy Rogers (-Simons), Mama and Toto are sleeping at my feet (pink boots) as I write this and it is a little bit crowded down there, while Belle Starr-Simons and Abbie are keeping T. company in his office. And today at lunch, with Carol in Kerrville, our Cowgirl Sisterhood has decided to take singing lessons together at Club ED. Life is good.

The Legend of Uncle Otho!

2011-12-24T19:18:00.008-06:00

This morning I got up real early, because I was thinking about going with Tony to the Old Timer, in Medina, to drink coffee with him and his friends, but that all changed around 6:45, when I saw Carlton flashing, on top of the breakfast bar, to let me know that I had a new message.

When I pressed his button, I hear a woman say, "Hello, this is Rita, the head nurse on duty at the %#$@ Hospital, in San Antonio. I apologize for calling at 1:15, in the morning, but we have an emergency and we are hoping that you can help us. Please call me back as soon as you get this message."

So, I picked up the phone and punched in the phone number and then talked to Rita about a homeless man and his dog. The man needed to be admitted into the hospital, but they couldn't admit him, because of his little Shih-tzu, because dogs were not allowed there. "Does the man need serious medical attention?" I asked, as Tony waved goodbye to me and walked out the front door.

"No, but we need to treat him and he would only need to be here for a couple of days."

"Can any of your staff bring him to us" I asked.

"No, ma'am. With it being Christmas Eve and all..."

Then I ended our conversation with, "Rita, let me see what we can do. I will call you back in just a few minutes. Bye." Ten seconds later or 6:55, I knew what to do, so I picked up the phone and called Paul, our dear friend and volunteer, because he lives in Helotes, just outside of San Antone.

After I woke Paul up, I told him what was going on and asked him if he could go get the dog and bring it out to us, but he couldn't, because he was stuck at home babysitting their elderly dogs."Paul, I just got an idea. Could you give me the phone number of your veterinarian that you and Marty love? After Paul gave me the phone number of Dr. Thompson, at the La Cantera Vet, on Babcock and 1604, in San Antonio, I thanked him and told him that I'd call him back after I had spoken to Dr. Thompson. Then I punched in Dr. Thompson's number at her clinic, but the recorded message I got told me that the clinic was closed and would be open at 8:00. So, I called Rita back at the %#$@ Hospital.

"Hi, Rita. It's Nancy. Could one of y'all take the dog to a vet clinic in San Antone for us?

"Yes, I can drive the dog over there when my shift ends at 8:00 this morning.

That's great, because Paul told me about their great veterinarian at La Cantera Vet, on Babcock and 1604 might be able to help, but I have to wait to talk to Dr. Thompson about it, because they don't open up until 8:00. I'll call you as soon as I talk to Dr. Thompson. Wish me luck!" Then I paced The Cabin's floor until 7:55, before I decided to go ahead and call a little early, in hopes to see if someone would pick up the phone and I got lucky.

After telling the friendly receptionist the long story about the homeless man and his dog at the %#$@ Hospital and that Paul & Marty loved Dr. Thompson, the receptionist said, "Marty and Paul are great clients of ours and Dr. Thompson has just walked in. Please hold so I can tell her about this. Two minutes later she came back on the phone and said, "Yes, we can."

"Thank y'all so much. If the dog needs shots or any other medical attention please take care of it and we will pay for it or we will get Paul to come pay for it immediately and then we will reimburse them. After we had traded phone numbers etc. and I had given them Rita's phone number I thanked her and we adios-ed each other. Then I immediately phoned Rita and told her the great news and she was as thrilled as I was. "I will take the dog over there in fifteen minutes..." Then T. walked inside The Cabin as I hung up the phone. Then I told him all about my morning and thirty minutes later, the nice receptionist called me back to tell me that they had Under Dog and they had already given him his shots and wormed him.

This morning after a breakfast filled with laughter, Leisa took off for Kerrville to get some groceries at H-E-B, so we went outside to do the morning chores. Rick and I cleaned the dog pens while Tone fed all of the dogs and then we came back inside The Cabin to drink some more coffee. During our fun conversation Rick told us an interesting story. "Uncle Otho, lived up in North Texas with his brother Ward and sister Grace."

"Wait. You had an uncle named Otho?" I asked, while chuckling. "I've never heard that name before."

"Yes, I did and he and his brother and sister were hard working cotton farmers. They were poor, had no electricity and they used an outhouse. They plowed with mules. It was a hard life, but they loved their simple style of living and they never complained about it. But, one day after plowing a field, Uncle Otho removed the mule's harnesses and then he jumped up on the back of the mule and rode away without saying a word. He just left."

"Uncle Otho has left the building," I joked. "I mean the barn. You're kidding me?" I asked.

"No, I'm not. He rode into the barn one year later, on the date that he had left, unsaddled the same mule that he had left with, wearing the same overalls and flannel shirt and the boots that he had left in and then he went inside their farmhouse to eat and he never told them or anyone else why he had left, what he had done or why he had come back. Our family calls it the "Uncle Otho Mystery."

"I love this story, The legend of Uncle Otho," I said, before we burst out laughing.

Y'all have a great evening and Merry Christmas Uncle Otho where ever you are!

Dude

2011-12-23T15:57:00.000-06:00

This morning, while having fun with Leisa and Rick we received some very sad news about our dear friend Carol, from her friend John who was on his way to El Paso.

Early this morning, Carol was leaving El Paso with Dude and another horse, heading to Arizona, when ten miles out of El Paso she hit some black ice, causing her to be in a horrific one car accident. Dude, the love of her life, died on impact and she was rushed to the hospital and her truck and trailer were totaled.

Except for some bruises, Carol was uninjured physically, so the hospital released her and the sheriff took her to a hotel, so she could wait for John to get there.

We spoke to Carol immediately after we heard the tragic news from John and she is heartbroken about Dude, as are we for her. We love you, Carol and we send you our heartfelt sympathies. Rest In Peace, Dude. You were a magnificent horse and Carol loved you more than anything on this planet.

I Love Roy Rogers!

2011-12-22T17:45:00.004-06:00

Today has been a really great day for me. This morning while we were outside doing our morning chores, I was thinking about Walter, the 6-7 year-old yellow Lab that Tony rescued on Tuesday from the Kerrville pound and how excited I was about us picking him up today and that was when I decided to change Walter's name.

When we came inside The Cabin I called Susan at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic. After greetings I said, "Susan, I need to change Walter's name, again." She laughed.

"Okay. Let's see, first it was Jake, that Tony named him, then you changed it to Walter. What is his new name?"

"Roy! Roy Rogers!"

The moment that I met Roy, in the lobby, he instantly stole my heart. When we brought him home—all of our dogs loved him, too. And here are a couple of pictures that Tony took of Roy & me.

Rick and Leisa have just arrived, so that is it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening, like we're fixin' to!"

Thank You, Karen and 'Erb Cares And Alfredo! We Love Y'all!

2011-12-21T20:47:00.001-06:00

Today has been wonderful, but due to some predicted thunderstorms I've got to keep it short tonight. This morning right after we finished our chores outside, the dogs outside cranked up to let us know that someone was at our gate, so we jumped into Kermit to go see who was almost here. And it turned out to be a friendly FedEx man delivering a package from out dear friends, up in Boston—Karen and 'Erb Cares.

When we returned to The Cabin I immediately opened up their "Cares package" and I nearly fainted. Sweet Karen had sent me a beautiful turquoise bracelet that she had made especially for me for my 60th birthday, along with a very generous donation that they had made to our beloved rescue ranch. "Thank you, Karen for making me the prettiest bracelet in Texas and New Mexico and thank you and 'Erb for helping support our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. We love y'all and hope that your holiday season is filled with joy and the best ever! And please note that I am wearing my treasured bracelet that you made for me, as I type this and please know that I might not ever take it off, even though the picture does not do it justice."

Okay, it is now starting to rain pretty hard outside, but not thundering outside yet, thank goodness, so I hope that I can finish writing this post tonight.

Before T. and I took off for Kerrville to run several errands, we picked up our mail on 16 and once again I nearly fainted when I opened up Alfredo's Priority Mail package. He's the super nice man who recently purchased a signed copy of David Woo's print of Kinky with one of our beautiful pigs that recently passed away.

Alfredo had sent T. & me and Kinky handmade holiday cards that he had made especially for us and they were so awesome, it touched my heart, so I teared up, because of the love that I felt from his lovely holiday cards.

When we met up with Kinky and our mutual dear friends Sage & Dylan Ferrero and Big G (One of the Hill Country's favorite DJ's) for a laughter-filled lunch, in Kerrtown—Alfredo's card touched Kinky's heart too. When he saw all of the detail work that Alfredo had put into making his card to him. Seriously, I don't think Kink or us have ever received such heartfelt cards.

Alfredo's card to Kinky was unbelievably beautiful, because Alfredo had even put real wire strings on the small guitar, etc. Here is a picture of the inside of Tone's and my card and the front of the card that he had made for Kinky. "Thank you, Alfredo! We love your customized cards and Kink has asked me to please tell you, "That he wants to meet you," and so do we! You are one extremely talented artist with a heart filled of love."

Okay, it is now starting to rumble outside, so I must go now to unplug everything in The Cabin and I am so glad that I got to finish this post.

Y'all have a great evening and thank y'all for sending us some much needed rain!

Happy Birthday To Susan Price! And Happy Birthday to Woody!

2011-12-21T00:01:00.014-06:00

Tone and I want to wish our dear friends Susan Price and Woody Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday to Y'all. Happy Birthday to Y'all. Happy Birthday Dear Susan and Woody. Happy Birthday to Y'all! And many more...

We love you, Susan and Woody! May this be y'all's best birthday ever.

Toilet Paper!

2011-12-20T22:12:00.002-06:00

Today has been fabulous. This morning after we did our chores outside, we adopted Little Sister aka Peggy, the darling little Chihuahua, to a lovely family!

Then, after an urgent phone call from Charity, at the Kerr County Animal Control, telling us about a beautiful, older yellow Lab that his time had run out and that today would be his last day in Texas, I told her to please hold him, because we would take him and she thanked us and said she would, so after telling Tony all about it—he grabbed my camera and then jumped into Buttermilk and off they went to the pound, so I could stay home to clean The Cabin, because our dear friends Leisa and Rick are coming up, from Port A., to visit us on Thursday, for a few days.

While I was cleaning up our master bathroom, with a plastic garden tub, I realized that we were nearly out of toilet paper, so I called Susan, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, "Hi, Susan. This is Nancy over at the rescue ranch. Is Tony there?"

"No, not yet. What's up?"

"Good. He's rescuing a Lab from the pound, that was going to be put down today and they should be there in just a few minutes. This dog needs to be neutered, shots, wormed and do anything else that he needs and I need to ask you a favor."

"Okay."

"When Tony gets there please ask him to pick up some toilet paper, because we are nearly out." Then I started laughing and so did Susan.

"Sure, I'll tell him..."

Forty-five minutes later, T. walked inside the trailer, I mean The Cabin, carrying a jumbo pack of Scott Super Soft toilet paper and I was thrilled beyond belief. "Did you take some pictures of the Lab for me?" I asked, because I had asked him to shoot him, because I've really been missing our old Thunder and was seriously thinking about adopting him—sight unseen.

"Yes, but I only got to take one picture of him, because your battery died and you're going to have to charge up the battery, before you can see him. It's not a great picture, because I only got his head..."

While my camera's battery was charging, Carol called me to invite us over for dinner tonight with Lorri and Jeff. "Jeff and Lorri are in Kerrville right now buying groceries for our dinner and they want to come see the rescue ranch, before y'all come over. And, Jeff told me to tell you to bring your guitar, so y'all can jam again..."

One hour later, Lorri and Jeff arrived at our rescue ranch. "Y'all come on inside, so we can show you how we have cheaply copy-catted Carol's ranch house. Before they had walked inside The Cabin—Mama had fallen deeply in love with Jeff and she wouldn't leave him alone—constantly begging for him to pet her.

Lorri and Jeff loved The Cabin and they really enjoyed getting a private viewing of T.'s Photography Hallway and they thought the bed that Tone made for us, after we got married, was absolutely awesome, as I do too.

Then I quickly plugged my guitar into my amp and Jeff sang us a song that he has written about me and it was so hilarious. Then he sang us a beautiful song, that he has recently written, that almost made me tear up.

Because they needed to get home, because their groceries were in the car, I gave them a quick tour of my writing cabin and they loved it too, but not as much as I do.

As soon as they had left, I came inside The Cabin and put the recharged battery back into my camera, so I could look at Walter, my soon-to-be, new forever friend and I teared up, because I know that Thunder has sent him to me. "Thank you, Thunder Bunder. I love you and I sure do miss you, girl."

Early this evening, Buttermilk took us over to Carol's ranch and we had so much fun with them tonight and our dinner that Carol, Lorri and Jeff prepared was absolutely delicious. During dinner Lorri started telling us about them going to Wolfmueller's Books today and what an awesome bookstore it was and meeting the friendly owners. "Those are our good friends Sandy & Jon, that we told you about, that we went out to Big Bend with in September," I said. "We love them and their bookstore is the best kept secret in Texas..."

After dinner, Jeff and I started pickin' and grinnin' again and I enjoyed playing with him so much, because he is a much better guitarist than me and playing with him has made me a better picker. "Thank you, Jeff Severson!"

Tomorrow Lorri and Jeff are leaving Carol's to go spend Christmas with her family in North Texas and hopefully tomorrow we can go to Kerrville to pick up Walter, so we can give him a forever home. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Jeff Severson Jam Session At Carol's Ranch Tonight!

2011-12-18T21:42:00.004-06:00

Today has been so wonderful. This morning after we did our chores outside Tony went over to Sam's, his brother's and Stacie's house, in Medina, to help celebrate their son Zach's 13th birthday, while I stayed home to get some writing done.

Twenty minutes after T. was gone, Kinky came over to see The Cabin, because he has been on the road and he loved what we had done to improve our 1983 trailer, that I bought for only $7,000.00, back in '95! "Kink, I have officially changed the name of our old trailer from Nellybelle to "The Cabin." You have the Lodge and now we have the Cabin. And look at our new fireplace that only cost me ten bucks." And that literally blew him out of the saddle, so to speak, while Neil Young was singing Harvest Moon on my iPod.

"Nance, I love this. It feels just like being inside a real cabin. I can't believe y'all did this..."

Early this evening, Buttermilk took T. and me over to Carol's ranch, so we could visit with Lorri and Jeff , her dear friends, which are now our friends too, who came to visit her all of the way from California.

I don't know if y'all remember my March 23, 2010 post about Jeff Severson, the famous, now retired NFL Safety who played for the Red Skins, the Oilers, the Broncos and the St. Louis Cardinals, who also played in two Super Bowls and who once opened for Willie Nelson at a private party for the Minnicks, at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth—we jammed tonight!

After we had a super fun visit with Carol, Lorri & Jeff out on Carol's deck, with her two beautiful dogs Scout and Jake, we went inside her beautiful ranch house, so Jeff and I could play some music together and I had a total blast, even though he is a much better guitarist than me. Tone took this picture of us pickin' and a grinnin' with Lorri and Carol, as Jeff sang some of his new songs that he has recently written, which were dynamite.

And that is about it for tonight, because my fingers are killing me, except for the great news we had this morning from Ian—"Queen Latifah is fitting in real well with Scooby Doo. She's definitely a keeper and we love her!..."

Y'all have a great evening! Happy Birthday, Zach. We love you!

Deaf Ears!

2011-12-17T19:14:00.003-06:00

This evening as I write this, my music is softly playing, a fire is roaring in our new fireplace, the tiny white lights are sparkling, on our cheap Swedish Pine walls, Mama is in our bedroom sleeping on our bed, Belle Starr-Simons and Abbie are sound asleep in the two chairs in the big room, little Peggy is in Tony's arms or lap, watching TV in his office and my dear old friend Toto is under the kitchen table in his bed, next to my feet, occasionally passing gas-bombs in his sleep, inside The Cabin. Home sweet home.

Before I tell about my great day, I want to highly recommend to anyone who wishes they had a fireplace to purchase the DVD "Ambient Fire: The Ultimate Video Fireplace," because I am now addicted to it. When I told Kink about getting the DVD and loving it so much, he chuckled and then he said, "It has got to be better than watching TV." And I had to agree with him, as I heard his real wood burning fireplace crackle in the background.

This morning while Tony and I were outside doing our morning chores, Carlton was inside taking a very important phone call for me from Courtney. After our chores were done, when T. and I walked inside The Cabin the phone rang—it was Ian, "Hi, Nancy. This is Ian. Courtney and I wanted to know when it would be a good time for us to come out to get Queen Latifah?"

"Right now," I told Ian.

"Great! We're on our way now. Bye."

"Bye." Then I told Tony the great news about Ian and Courtney coming out, so Courtney could officially adopt The Queen and take her to her forever home with Ian and Scooby Doo and he was as thrilled about it as I was. Then I started preparing Latifah's adoption papers, so they wouldn't have to wait for me to fill them out when they got here.

Minutes later, because Ian likes to drive faster than a speeding bullet, just like his father Roger does—they arrived safely and they were wearing big smiles on their faces as they greeted us. After a short, but fun visit with them, outside The Cabin—they jumped in Ian's Jeep Cherokee and followed Kermit, Tony and me down to Queen Latifah's pen.

As we drove up to Dr. John's and Queen Latifah's pen, she already knew it was going to be her day, because she was jumping up and down with excitement. When Courtney handed Queen Latifah's new dog collar and leash, that she had bought, to Tony, so he could leash her up and bring her out of her pen, I said to Queen Latifah, "I told you we would find you a great forever home," But, if fell on deaf ears, because she was so anxious to get to Courtney's loving arms, so she could give her a kiss and it was so heartfelt I almost teared up.

Early this evening Kinky called me from the road and I told him all about Queen Latifah's super adoption and how happy we were for her and he loved hearing the news and that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Twice In One Day! or N.D.E.!

2011-12-16T20:39:00.004-06:00

Today has been too much fun. This morning while Tony, Ben and I were eating our breakfast the dogs started barking outside, so T. went outside and a few minutes later he walked back inside with a small package. "FedEx just delivered this for you. What is it?" I started laughing.

"Open it and find out," I laughed, as Ben and I watched Tone open up my package from Amazon.

"What in the world?" Tony said, somewhat amazed.

"It's a ten dollar DVD that I ordered a few days ago. It's the ultimate video fireplace," I said, before all of us burst out loud laughing. "Since we can't afford to have a fireplace and because The Cabin is an old trailer and it would be too dangerous. I bought it so I can pretend that we have a wood burning fireplace..." Then we started laughing again.

"Let's watch it," Ben suggested. So Tony loaded it into our DVD player and then Ben helped me pick the one we wanted to watch and when he pressed the play button—our television turned into a wood burning fireplace with the sounds of the wood burning and it was actually pretty cool, until Ben ran over to the television and acted like he was warming his hands, causing us to break into laughter, so Tony grabbed his camera and shot him and then he shot me warming up our hands.

After Ben and Tony had done their outdoor chores, T. and I jumped into Buttermilk and took off for Kerrville, because I needed to FedEx Alfredo the Kinky signed poster, pick up some guitar picks, grab some groceries from H-E-B and pick up Rio at Hoegemeyers and if I had known that T. and I were going to have two near death experiences—we would have never gone.

Our first N.D.E. happened halfway to Kerrville. We were on 16, doing the speed limit, when we saw a big pickup heading towards us, at a high speed, on his side of the road and then we watched in horror, as the truck swerved into our land heading straight into us and he was TEXTING, because we saw him holding his phone above the steering wheel. So, thinking fast, while I braced for impact and whispered a cuss word, Tone pulled Buttermilk off of the road—right before the man swerved back into his lane, barely missing us, as we hit a roadside reflector—knocking it to the ground. As T. and I sat inside Buttermilk, just a few yards away from a deep bar ditch, catching our breaths and relieved that the man hadn't killed us—the textor continued on down the road towards Medina.

By the time we had parked Buttermilk in front of our good friend, Stan Morris' "The Melody Corner" at 608-D Junction Highway, we were basically back to normal, so we went inside his beautiful music store, had a fun visit with him, before I purchased some pretty lavender guitar picks, because he was temporarily out of the pink ones that I like. Then we went to FedEx, Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and H-E-B, while Tony sat in side Buttermilk with Rio. Then we started back home, when the next N.D.E. happened.

Right after we had gone over the pass, we see another big truck heading towards us, in the middle of the road, so Tone honked Buttermilk's horn and the driver quickly pulled back into his lane, thank goodness, because Tony could not swerve off of the road, because we would have fallen off into a creek, ten feet below us.

When we arrived home safely, after T. had put Rio back into Martha Stewart's pen, Ben cooked us lunch and it was absolutely delicious. And the whole time we ate our lunch, we made jokes about the fireplace video, such as: "Be careful. Don't get to close to the flames, I smell smoke and we need to get a screen for our fireplace," etc.—we rescued a pretty, Pit Bull, that Kinky's and our friends delivered to us, after they had rescued her off of the road. Even thought she was skinny and hungry, she seemed to be okay, so Ben took her down to a small pen, so he could feed her and let her rest, while Tony took off in Buttermilk to get our mail.

After we had read all of the beautiful holiday cards that our friends had sent to us I opened up a package from my dear friend Mari and was literally blown out of the saddle, because it was the "American Cowboy" magazine's January 2012 issue and Roy Rogers' picture was on the cover! And I loved reading the fabulous article about the King of the Cowboys, my hero. Thank you, Mari! I love it!

A little while later, another delivery truck drove into the rescue ranch to deliver a Christmas present to Tony and me from our dear friends Terry & Karen C. and we loved it, because it was a box of Harry & David—Royal Riviera Pears: America's Rarest and Finest! Thank you, Karen & Terry—they are absolutely delicious! Happy holidays!

And that is about it for tonight, as I sit at our kitchen table, listening to my music and the sound of the wood burning in our beautiful new fireplace, inside The Cabin. It just doesn't get any better than this.

Y'all have a great evening!

An Early Christmas!

2011-12-15T20:34:00.004-06:00

Today has been great. This morning at 7:45 I called Harley to do his popular radio show and it was a lot of fun. Harley's Pet of the Week was Little Sister, the adorable little Chihuahua four-month-old pup that we have since renamed Peggy, because she is the size of my pretty, pink Princess Phone, that Eileen gave to me a few weeks ago.

This morning when Ben walked inside The Cabin, his jaw dropped when he saw the wood on the walls of our old trailer. "Wow, this looks beautiful..." After he had admired our pretty Swedish pine walls he complimented us on our woodworking skills, then he started unpacking several bricks of Miles of Chocolate and three homemade pies that he had baked for us, "Merry Christmas, y'all."

"Thank you, so much Ben," Tony and I replied. "We love the pies you make and of course your and Miles chocolate," Tony said."How much do we owe you for Sandy and Jon's brick of Miles of Chocolate?" I asked.

Ben shook his head sideways. "Nothing. Don't worry about it." Then we had a brief argument or what Libras like to call "discussion" about wanting to pay Ben for the brick of chocolate for the Wolfmuellers. Within two minutes we were all laughing and that's when we gave Ben our Christmas present to him—iTunes cards to buy more music.

Before the men went outside to do the chores I told Ben all about discovering Daddy Jim's Quality Meats, from Sandy and Jon and that we were grilling their rib eyes and that I was cooking the Reata Restaurant's famous Jalapeno Soup and then I warned him about me possibly needing him to help me with the soup. Then they went outside to work and I started gathering the ingredients for the soup recipe.

Then I did some paperwork for about an hour. When they walked inside the trailer I had already started preparing the fairly simple soup recipe and I'm proud to say that I only needed Ben to help me with the Cilantro.

While the soup simmered on the stove top, Tony went outside and started up our grill that we haven't used for at least six of seven months or longer and that's why I don't blame him for what happened ten minutes later.

Six minutes after T. had put our rib eyes on the grill to cook, we were inside catching up with each others news, with too much laughter involved, when Tony suddenly runs outside to the front porch. "What's that about?" I asked. "He isn't supposed to turn them for two more minutes." Ben started to laugh.

"The steaks are on fire," Ben casually says. "He's taking them off of the grill right now. I bet he forgot to turn the flame down." Then he and I go outside to check on the flaming-fire-damaged-steaks.

"The steaks are ready to eat," Tony says. "They're cooked on both sides, but this one is a little burnt, but not bad. I guess that I forgot to turn down the heat when I lit the grill." Then Ben and I teased T. about us not wanting to eat the burnt one, etc. and Tone was a good sport about it all, because he ate most of his blackened steak, while Ben and I washed down our crispy, crunchy steaks with our delicious Jalapeno soup. And, by the time we had finished our laughter-filled lunch, we had all agreed that Daddy Jim's rib eyes were juicy and delicious—even if they were burnt. So, T. and I decided, right then and there, that we will now only buy our meat from Daddy Jim's Quality Meats.

This afternoon, the three of us went to Kerrville to run several errands. First, we went to the Post Office and then we stopped by Wolfmueller's Books, so T. could buy me an expensive book, The Tao Of Willie:A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart, by Willie Nelson with Turk Pipkin, for my Christmas present, which Carol had turned me on to, which I love and spoke to my heart and the front jacket cover was signed by Willie and Turk signed the inside of the book!

When the three of us walked inside Wolfmueller's Books, Sandy and Jon greeted us from behind the counter. "Merry Christmas!" Tony said, as he handed the Miles of Chocolate brick to Jon.

"Y'all, Ben wouldn't let us pay for it, again," I said. "So, Merry Christmas from Ben, Tony and me." After they thanked us for the delicious chocolate, Jon excused himself, so he could go put it in their refrigerator and after we had a short, but fun visit with them, we headed to Herring Printing, the best printing shop in Kerrville.

When we walked inside Herring Printing, Joe Herring, our good friend who is an extremely talented and fabulous writer, columnist and published author, greeted us and we had a fun visit with him as he helped Tony and Ben load up Buttermilk. Then we headed back to the rescue ranch.

On our way back home, I called Carol to ask if we could swing by her ranch, so Ben could see her beautiful home and check out her kitchen, because I am thinking about doing a cheaper remodel version of her kitchen and she said, "Yes! I'm heading back to the ranch right now and I am at Upper Turtle Creek getting to get on 16."

"We're about five miles ahead of you," I told Carol. "We will wait at your gate. See you in a minute. Bye." A few minutes later we arrived at Carol's ranch and a few minutes later she showed up and we drove up to her house.

Even though we couldn't stay long to visit, we still had fun and when Ben saw Carol's beautiful kitchen, he said, "Do it, Nancy. You should definitely try to make y'all's trailer look like this."

Around 4:30, I went over to Kinky's Lodge, to get him to sign a David Woo, limited edition print, that Alfredo had bought on e-Bay, to help out our rescue ranch. It is the beautiful black and white picture of Kinky with Arnold, one of our beautiful pigs, that David Woo photographed for David's book about famous Texans and their pets. After Kinky signed it to Alfredo, in his office, he and I had a wonderful visit and caught up with each other's news. Here are a couple of pictures I took of Kinky signing the print to Alfredo, which I will FedEx tomorrow. "Thank you, Alfredo!"

Y'all have a great evening and thank you for praying for us to get some rain! Tomorrow, Ben is grilling for us.

Daddy Jim's Quality Meats! or A Savvy Shopper!

2011-12-14T18:35:00.001-06:00

Today has been a great day. The reason that I didn't post last night was because I was worn out, because I spent most of my day taking care of paperwork, which is totally caught up and late in the afternoon Trigger and I followed Tony and Buttermilk to Hondo, because we needed to get a repair estimate on Trigger's mirror and back door, because a buck ran into him the day after Thanksgiving day.

This afternoon Buttermilk took us to Kerrville so we could buy our rescue dogs their Christmas dinner, compliments of June, Ellen and Eileen, but before we went to H-E-B we stopped at Wolfmueller's Books to see our dear friends Sandy and Jon.

During our fun visit with them I said, "I am so happy, because earlier today I realized that we can start grilling outside again, because the burn ban has been lifted, because of the rain. So, Tony and I have decided not to have our traditional big, Christmas dinner instead we're going to cook steaks. We're fixin' to go to H-E-B when we leave here and while Tony is running around the store filling up our dog's cart, I'm going to get us some groceries and steaks."

"We only buy our meat at Daddy Jim's Quality Meats," Sandy said. "Shirley and Danny Applewhite own it and they are good friends of ours and we think they have the best meat and prices in Kerrville...y'all should really give them a try." Then Jon gave us directions to Daddy Jim's Quality Meats, "They are on Loop 534, on the right side, right after the VA Hospital and before the shutter store and tell them we sent y'all."

"We will." I said.

"Nancy," Sandy said. "Also, they sometimes sell fresh farm eggs and their homemade sausages are the best that we have ever eaten. You're going to love it. I promise."

After I had paid Sandy for another copy of my favorite book, The Art Of Racing In The Rain, I said, "You know that fabulous cookbook that y'all gave me for my birthday, A Cowboy in the Kitchen: Recipes from Reata and Texas West of the Pecos, I've written down all of the ingredients needed to make their delicious Cream of Jalapeno Soup, that we ate at the Reata, in Alpine." Then I pulled out my list to show her. "Tomorrow, when Ben is here, I am going to make it and serve it with our steaks for lunch and we're also having it on Christmas day, too. And I'm going to ask Ben to help me make it tomorrow, so I don't screw it up..."

Ten minutes later, after we had adios-ed our friends, Tony parked Buttermilk. Then we walked inside Daddy Jim's Quality Meats. "Hi!" I said, to a friendly woman standing behind the counter. "Are you Shirley?"

"Yes," the woman said, wondering how I knew her name.

"We're dear friends with Sandy and Jon Wolfmueller and they highly recommended you..." Then Danny came out of a back door and greeted us and then I told him about Sandy and Jon loving their meat. Ten minutes later Tony and I happily walked out of their store carrying two sacks of meat and we could not believe their lower prices and how much money we had saved. Then we went to H-E-B. with our shopping lists.

And I want to thank June, Ellen and Eileen for donating their $150.00 for our dog's 2011 Christmas dinner, because the bill for it was $147.74! Tony is a savvy shopper.

Well, that's about it for tonight, because my back is still aching from all of the laughing I did at Lisa's Luncheon for Ladies and at Wolfmueller's Books today and I'm dreading tomorrow, because Ben keeps me constantly laughing, but it is well worth it. So, tonight I'm going to plug in our little white holiday lights, that we will never take down, then sit on Mari's pink sheepskin and play my guitar until my fingers are killing me and then read a little and then go to bed.

P.S. Kinky's Hanukkah Tour is now over and he really enjoyed it and he arrived back at the ranch early this evening! And I am looking forward to visiting with him tomorrow.

Y'all have a great evening and thank you for praying for us to get some more rain!

Irish Coffee! or To Go To The Circus?

2011-12-12T19:20:00.007-06:00

Today has been a great day. This morning after doing our outside chores I quickly got myself cleaned up, so I wouldn't be late to pick Carol up, so we could go to Lisa's "Luncheon for Ladies" at her home in Kerrville.

When we arrived at Lisa's and Chuck's home June, Ellen, Eileen and Kim were already there and the first thing we did, after we had admired and had petted Cassandra, their adorable 15 year old muttigree, was to follow Lisa to the kitchen, where everyone was laughing.

After howdies, Lisa poured us all a glass of champagne and then we formed a circle, so Lisa could make a toast, "Because, we deserve it!"

"Because, we deserve it!" We happily echoed back. Then we all started clinking our glasses together and got to laughing, because our crystal glasses were dodging each other. "And, you're supposed to look a person directly in the eyes when you clink glasses with them," Lisa joked, even though it is true. So we all started laughing and decided to do it again by cutting-up and making funny faces at each other, as we stared into the eyes of the friend we were going to clink glasses with. It was so hilarious, that it made my back ache from laughing so much!

Then Lisa made an announcement, "As you know, Eileen is Irish and when she was in Ireland a few months ago, they taught her the proper way the Irish make Irish coffee and she is now going to make us Irish coffee!"

As Eileen began warming up our mugs, the way the Irish do, she told us about the room temperature buttermilk on the counter, that must not be refrigerated, for at least sixteen hours before making real Irish coffee, so I shot her, Kim, Carol and June's hand with my camera.

Eileen's Irish coffee was a big hit, because everyone loved it, because it was absolutely delicious and here is Ellen's mugshot.

Then we went into the formal dining room and sat down, so Lisa could serve us our delicious lunch. The first course was one of the best salads that I've ever eaten. The main course was Lisa's gourmet chicken soup with warmed bread as a side, which we all begged her for the recipe.

While we ate our tasty meal, Eileen, who could/should be a standup comedian, started telling us this funny story about this young woman who ran away and joined a circus and it I couldn't quit laughing, because she is such a great storyteller.

A little later, after much teasing among friends and laughing, Eileen told us about the time a hurricane was headed for her small town in Mississippi and she and the authorities were the only ones who didn't evacuate the town. "Seriously, everybody left town, but us."

"Did they go to the circus?" I joked and it cracked Carol up, so much that she was literally shaking in her chair.

When sisters Ellen and June, with the driest sense of humor, started talking about their new, beautiful, "Shoe String Ranch" and the outhouse, which they've creatively converted into a shrine to honor their nutty, dead aunt—everyone was rolling on the floor with laughter and that's when I knew that my back had had enough laughing, because it truly began to hurt.

Chuck came home right before Lisa served us our dessert, so she invited him to join us at the table, to eat her more-than-delicious homemade bread pudding which was to die for, too.

After our laughter filled lunch, Chuck showed us their wine room, which was impressive, while Lisa cleaned up the kitchen. Then Lisa gave us a tour of their home.

When our super fun lunch ended we went into their living room and Chuck shot us. My fabulous, fun friends from left to right: Eileen, Lisa, Kim, June, Ellen, Carol and yours truly.

As I finish writing this I am sitting on my pink sheepskin that Mari gave to me and my back is feeling much better thank goodness. I want to thank Lisa for throwing the best "Luncheon for Ladies."

Y'all have a great evening, because like Lisa says, "We deserve it!" Goodbye Kim, have a safe trip to England!

My Light Project!

2011-12-10T19:32:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was a great day and so was today. Yesterday morning, Eileen, Lisa, Della & Roy and Carol, our wonderful volunteers, came out and they walked all of our dogs for us and Tony and I loved it, but not as much as our dogs did! "Thank y'all!"

And while they were out here taking our dogs on fun walks, Paul delivered Rio, a handsome, 1 1/2 year old Yellow Lab mix, to us that we had rescued, because Paul & Marty's friend was dying of cancer, with not much time left and he had asked them to please help him find a home for his beloved, sweet dog before he passed away.

When Rio arrived here, he didn't know what to think and he seemed sad, so Tony put him in Martha Stewart's pen, because O. Henry, her roommate, had moved to Grand Prairie to live on a horse farm and she needed a roommate. Because Tony is so good at matching and pairing up dogs to live together, they became best friends fast and Rio seemed much happier.

This morning Eileen and Kim, another sweet South African woman we know, came out and walked our dogs, because Kim is leaving for England, this coming Tuesday and she wanted to get one more walk in with our super dogs before leaving. So while Tony fed our dogs and I cleaned their pens—they made several dogs real happy. "Thank y'all!"

Early this afternoon Patrick and Margaret came out to meet our dogs, because Patrick wanted to adopt a dog, so his dog would have a companion, because his old dog had recently died. Tony and I really enjoyed visiting with them, as we introduced them to our dogs and told them their stories.

When Patrick met Rio, we told him Rio's sad story and then Patrick started petting him and talking to him and Rio started wagging his tall and then Rio climbed up on the fence and kissed Patrick on the face, so Tony leashed up Rio, because Patrick wanted to take him for a walk to check him out. And by the time Tony had put Rio back in with Martha Stewart, he told us that he really liked Rio a lot, but he still wanted to check out the rest of our dogs.

Patrick also liked Walter Cronkite and after he had taken him on a walk, he told us that he had narrowed it down to Rio and Walter and that he wanted to go home and think about it, because he could not decide who would be the best companion for his dog, but he definitely wanted to adopt one of them and would get back to us within a few days and we totally understood, because they are both great dogs and they would be lucky to live with Patrick and Margaret.

Late this afternoon, Buttermilk took us over to Carol's ranch, because she had put up some Christmas lights inside her beautiful home and I wanted to copy-cat her decorating again, to see how she had strung them, so I could come home and string some up, too.

Needless to say, "I loved what she had done with her tiny, white lights and Tony liked them. So, after a fun visit with Carol, we came home and I started My Light Project, but not for long, because Tony wanted to help me and he ended up stringing them up for me and I love how it looks and Tone likes how they look.

Unfortunately, I've tried taking several pictures of them, but the flash doesn't show how magical it makes "Our Cabin" look and feel, but I will try tomorrow when there is more natural sunlight outside.

Y'all have a great evening and thank you for praying for rain for us, because it has been raining since 3:00!

Because of Scooby Doo!

2011-12-08T19:58:00.001-06:00

Today has been great. Early this afternoon, Ian, the young man who adopted Scooby Doo from us, the son of our great friends, Patty and Roger, came out with Courtney, his new girlfriend, because she was interested in adopting one of our dogs and we had so much fun with them, while we showed them all of our dogs.

We first invited them inside The Cabin to show them Little Sister and Courtney liked Little Sister, our new, adorable 3 1/2 month-old Chihuahua, but she wanted a bigger dog. While we introduced them to our dogs outside, Ian told us that he was graduating from college, this month and we are so proud of him, as I am sure his parents are. Then Ian bragged about how cool Scooby Doo was and about how much he loved him.

When we were halfway done introducing them to our dogs, Courtney found her forever friend. It was love at first site for the two of them and it was Queen Latifah! "She's about two-years-old, sweet as she can be and one super, fine dog," Tony bragged. "Kim, our volunteer, visiting from South Africa, is absolutely wild about her, as are all of our super volunteers..."

After Tony took Queen Latifah out of her big pen that she shares with Dr. John, so they could meet each other—they instantly fell in love with each other, in front of Annie Oakley's pen as Courtney petted, shook hands with her, rubbed her belly and then took her for a short walk.

When they returned from their walk—they were one with each other. "I am so in love with Queen Latifah that I want to adopt her right now, but I can't take her right now, because of my new job and the long hours of training, but in ten days or less I will come out and get her," Courtney promised. "Can y'all please hold her for me, because I am so in love with this dog?"

And since it was so obvious that Queen Latifah loved Courtney just as much or more as Courtney loved her, we said, "Yes! Of course we can do that!"

When it was time for them to leave, Tony took Queen Latifah's leash, so he could return her to her pen and this beautiful, magnificent dog resisted somewhat, because she wanted to go home with Courtney now and after we had told her that she was going to be adopted by Courtney, sooner than later, the queen understood and she easily went back into her pen with no problem. And that literally made our day and it was all because of Scooby Doo.

Y'all have a great evening!

We're Done! or Cabin Fever!

2011-12-07T20:50:00.007-06:00

Early this evening, after two days of hard work, Tony and I finally finished turning the big room into "The Cabin!" When Carol came by to see our cheaper-copy-cat version of her ranch house, she said, "OMG! I love it, y'all!..." And we love it, too.

During our fun visit with Carol this evening, I decided to change the name of our trailer. "I'm officially changing Nellybelle, the name of our old trailer, to The Cabin, because I feel like I am in a cabin when I am in here. And it will be funny, when I invite people to come up to our cabin and they see our old trailer and think, "That old woman is really crazy. It ain't a cabin, it's an ancient trailer..." And, here is what it now looks like inside our cozy cabin:

By the way, those three brown dots that you see on the ceiling, near the top right corner, on the picture above, must be orbs that I captured, because our ceiling is totally white and has no orbs, who knows, it might be our fun-loving poltergeist that has been playing with our clocks the past few days.

And that is about it for tonight, because I want to light a candle and sit and listen to Neil Young and enjoy our cozy, new cabin. I'm so lucky. He's starting to sing Harvest Moon, my favorite song, as I type this.

Y'all have a great evening and thank you for praying that we get some more rain!

P.S. At 9:26, after discovering the three brown orbs I reshot the wall and it is gone. Hmmmmm....

We Saw The Wall!

2011-12-05T21:01:00.000-06:00

Today has been great. This afternoon we decided to eat a late lunch at Cal-Bob's Smoke Shack, before coming home. When we walked inside the crowded restaurant, Carol, Calvin's sweet wife, greeted us and then she said, "Y'all just missed seeing Eileen, June and Ellen..."

"Darn it," I said. "They told me that you have taken a portion of your wall to help our rescue ranch dogs get adopted and they told us that it was awesome."

"It's right over here," Carol said, as she pointed to it. So, Tony and I got up from our table to go see it and I about fainted, because Carol had put up a picture of everyone of our dogs, including their individual stories.

"I love it, Carol," I said. "It's so beautiful! I bet that it must have taken you days to print all of this up.

"I need some business cards, because a lot of people have been asking for one and nearly every one of our customers come over to look at the dogs..." A few minutes later, Calvin had our orders ready.

As we ate our delicious lunch, close to their closing time, Calvin came out of the kitchen and he and Carol started visiting with us and by the time we had finished eating lunch, Calvin gave us about thirty pounds of meat scraps to give to our dogs. "We love y'all," Calvin said. "If you want, I will save and freeze all of our leftover scraps of meat, from here on out and all you'll have to do is come by and pick them up."

I almost teared up, because that was so nice of him to offer to do that for our beautiful, rescued dogs and thinking of how much our dogs would enjoy eating the scraps for their treats, I said, "Yes! The dogs would love it and we love y'all..."

When we left Cal-Bob's Smoke Shack, we went to Home Depot to buy some more boards, or as Ronnie likes to call them, "sticks," because Tony and I love the way our new kitchen looks so much, we've decided to go ahead and do the big room, too and then our remodeling project will be finished and then we can start paying off our Home Depot charge card, as fast as we can.

Well, tomorrow Sandy and I have jury duty and I wish that I didn't, because now that I am all caught up with my paperwork I wanted to take tomorrow off, so we could get to working on the big room, putting up one board at a time, but thanks to M.I.R. it is not in the stars for me. But, the good news is—if they kick me out of the Court House, I can start on the big room tomorrow!

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

The Electric Horseman! or Rising Star!

2011-12-04T20:23:00.029-06:00

Today has been a great day. Last night I went to bed around 8:00 and I didn't wake up until 8:00 this morning, so now I am caught up on my lost sleep and once again I feel great.

This morning after Tony and I did our outside chores, I spent most of the day working inside and I am proud to say that I am finally caught up with the rescue ranch's "first of the month" paperwork.

Even though it hasn't been an exciting day, I do feel good about being caught up with all of my work, because this coming Tuesday morning, thanks to M.I.R. (Mercury in retrograde.) I will be sitting inside the Kerr County Courthouse, no later than 8:45 for jury duty, along with my dear friend Sandy Wolfmueller.

Kinky called me, from Oklahoma City, this evening, because he is on the road, doing his Hanukkah Tour and he sounded great. He told me that he is really enjoying himself and having fun meeting all of his fans. Then we visited for a few minutes and mainly talked about his dogs, Sophie, Chumley and Winston and his last words to me before we adios-ed each other were, "I'll be in Tulsa tomorrow."

Kinky is so amazing to me, because he has no problem traveling from one city to another on his fourteen day, back-to-back, Hanukkah Tour. You couldn't pay me enough money to jump on and off planes for fourteen days in a row. Heck, Tone and I have vowed to never fly again and we mean it, because neither one of us likes to fly. So, I am glad that the very last time for us to ever fly again was with Kinky, in 2005, when we went with him to Las Vegas for an exciting, super fun-filled, three day vacation.

Last night, I received an e-mail from my friend Jim C., with a YouTube link to watch Greatest Card Trick Ever, so I clicked on it and I was shocked and could not believe my eyes, when the amazing Dave Cremin performed his impossible card trick in Times Square. It is only one and a half minutes long and I hope that you will check it out. Tonight I am watching Electric Horseman on Netflix, one of my most favorite movies.

Y'all have a great evening and thank you for praying for rain for us, because we are getting some right now!

Peggy! or Happy Trails!

2011-12-03T05:14:00.004-06:00

It is 3:32 in the morning and for some reason I cannot go to sleep, so after tossing and turning in bed for over four and a half hours I decided to get up and make use of my time, because I know I will be exhausted for the rest of the day, because of lack of sleep, but the good news is it has been raining here since 6:00 last night.

Yesterday was a life changing day for me—for the good. In the morning, while our super volunteers: June, Ellen, Jim and Roy & Della were walking our dogs, Lisa took a break and came up to the trailer, so Tony and I could show off our new kitchen and she absolutely loved it and while we waited for Eileen to arrive, with my pretty, pink Princess Phone—we had a fun visit with her.

A few minutes later, when Mama started barking outside, we went outside to greet Eileen. "Nancy, I want to show you your Princess Phone. So, the three of us followed Eileen out to my cabin."I hope you don't mind, but I went inside and put it in here."

"Don't they call that trespassing, Tony?" I joked, before I opened the door to my cabin and nearly fainted when I saw my beautiful, pink Princess Phone.

"OMG! I love it, Eileen! It is so cute. Eileen, thank you so much." Then I picked it up and carried it to the lowered, second edition of my cabin and placed it on the antique school desk, that my dear friend aka extremely talented author friend, John Kemmerly, gave to me. "Eileen, this completes my writing cabin..."

"Thank you, Nancy. I am glad that you like it," Eileen said. "I love mine, too and mine is right next to my bed on an antique nightstand." Then she started laughing. "And there is no way Ronnie could build you one of these things..."

When the four us had finally quit laughing Lisa says,"I'm going to get one for me. I love it. Who makes it?"

"Crosley: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow," Eileen told her.

Then I invited her to come into the trailer to see Tony's and my handy work and Eileen said, "I loved the tin in the kitchen, but this makes it feel like a cabin. It feels so cozy..."

An hour later after all of our dogs had enjoyed their fun walks down to the creek, June and Eileen came up to the trailer to check out our kitchen and they loved it and were beside themselves and then I was beside myself when they handed me the checks from them and Eileen to pay for our dogs Christmas dinner. "Thank y'all, so much for doing this for our dogs..." I said. "Now, y'all have got to come out to my cabin to see my Princess Phone that Eileen got for me. You're going to love it. I swear."

"Nancy, it is precious," June said, before Ellen entered the cabin, "I want one."

"Me, too! I love it," Ellen said, before all of us burst our laughing about all of us wanting one.

"I know!" I said. "Hey, we could start our own "Precious, Pink Princess Phone Club" and once a month we could do a five-way conference call, using our pink phones. Eileen, you giving me this phone has been a life changing minute for me and has made my day. I am going to call the telephone company and have them put a jack out here, so I can use it."

Eileen started chuckling at my remark. "Nancy, I wouldn't call it a life changing moment? That's too much."

"No, not a life changing moment," I said, "but a life changing minute, because it lasted for one whole minute."

A little while later, while Tony and I ate a fun lunch with June, Ellen, Eileen and Kim, at Koyote, I said, "I've got to figure out what to name my Princess Phone." Then "The Girls" took turns coming up with some funny names to name my phone, such as Barbie, Pinkie, etc., but none of them were it. Then Eileen had us all laughing as she told us about her hilarious gag gift that she was going to make for someone special, but I can't tell y'all about it.

After lunch, Buttermilk took us to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic so we could pick up Little Sister and bring her home and on our way back home I came up with the perfect name for my Princess Telephone. "Tone, guess what I am going to name the Princess Phone?"

"What?"

"Peggy!" I said, before starting to laugh. "Hello, my name is Peggy," like that funny commercial on the TV." Tony burst out laughing.

Early this evening, we invited Carol to come over, so we could show her our new kitchen, do some more work on hers and my "Secret Project" and then finish it up with Happy Hour. When Carol arrived she blew-me-out-of-my-saddle, so to speak, because she had bought a book to give to me, Happy Trails: Our Life Story by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with Jane and Michael Stern! "Carol, thank you so much for this book, I can't wait to read it. Today has been incredibly great. Earlier today Eileen gave me a pink Princess Phone, which I love and it made my day and now this—this is incredible...I told Eileen that her Princess telephone had made my cabin complete and that there was nothing more to add to it and now you give me this fantastic book and now it completes my cabin. I'm going to put it on desk, right next to my pink phone, which I've named Peggy." Carol started laughing.

When I had finally quit thanking Carol for her wonderful gift she said, "I love your kitchen. Wow. It feels like a cabin in here..." A few minutes later, we all went out to the cabin, so I could show her Peggy, which by-the-way—she loved, too. And we had a blast inside my cabin.

Well, it is now 5:14 AM, I am feeling very sleepy at last, it is still raining outside and Tony just woke up and his dog Belle just ran into the kitchen and pounced on me—nearly knocking me out of my chair. I just told T. about staying up all night and that I am fixin' to go to bed. But before I go to La-La Land, I want to thank all of our fabulous volunteers for coming out yesterday to walk all of our dogs and making me laugh and Eileen and Carol for completing my writing cabin. So instead of saying, "Good night" to all I'm saying, "Good morning and sweet dreams! Stop it, Belle. Tony!"

Y'all have a great morning, afternoon and evening and thank you for praying for our rain!

Another Aspirin!

2011-12-01T18:34:00.003-06:00

Today has been great, but I am physically exhausted this evening, because this morning, after I did The Harley Show, I grabbed our cordless drill and started taking down the tin on my Roy Rogers Wall. And by the time Tony got home, all of the tin wall was removed and I had just finished cooking his breakfast.

After we had done our outside chores, Tony set up our portable work shop on the front porch and then we discussed how we were going to tackle the Roy Wall. Right before Tone screwed the first board to the wall, I was on the phone talking to my good friend Jon Wolfmueller about Sandy's and my December 6th jury duty and then I interrupted Jon, "No, Tony. I think it needs to go all of the way up to the top. Sorry, Jon..." And after a few more of my "amateur armchair carpenter" remarks I made to Tony, Jon started laughing.

"Listen, I'll talk to you later, because I can tell you're really busy."

"That sounds good, Jon, because if I keep helping Tony he's going to throw his drill at me," I joked. Then we adios-ed each other and then I went into action: measuring, chopping boards and then screwing them to the wall, like Tony was already doing.

Tonight, as I finish writing this in the kitchen, admiring our beautiful, finished Roy Rogers Wall, I am sitting on Mari's pretty, pink sheepskin, because my back is killing me, my shoulders ache like never before, my knees are begging me to stand still, my arms are asking me to please take another Aspirin, with my fingers sore from holding screws and getting poked by them—I am still smiling, because I love our new Roy Rogers Wall. So before I sign off tonight I want to thank T. for helping me turn a beautiful, old trailer into my wannabe cabin.

I am fixin' to watch a movie and then go to bed early, because I am so tired, because tomorrow is going to be an exciting day for me, because our volunteers are coming out to walk our dogs and sweet Eileen is bringing me the precious, pink Princess Phone, that she bought for me, for my writing cabin. Life is good.

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

Roy Rogers!

2011-11-30T19:26:00.004-06:00

Today has been a great day, again. This morning, before going outside to clean the dog pens, I checked my e-mail and my dear friend Eileen, one of the famous Fab 4 Volunteers and one of the funniest people that I know on the planet, cracked me up with her hilarious comment that she made on last nights blog and I have been laughing about it all day. Eileen wrote:

"Ronnie, Ronnie, Ronnie! Ronnie may have built you a kitchen table and Outer Space but he can't build what I'm about to give you on Friday morning when I get there to walk the dogs!!! Hint: Think pink, pretty and slim! That's all I'm gonna say! One more: Merlin's penmate! November 30, 2011 12:04 AM

So, I answered her comment:

"Hi, Eileen! I cannot wait to see you on Friday—since we will have much to TALK about on our Princess Phones that you bought for us! I'm going to call Ronnie now and tell him about it!" Then I went outside and did my chores and then I totally forgot to call Ronnie and I am blaming it on being sixty or M.I.R.

I didn't work on the Roy Rogers Wall today, because I was tired from all of the remodeling that Tony and I had done yesterday, but tomorrow I plan to "git-ur-done," as Larry The Cable Guy would say, that is right behind Ronnie's custom kitchen table that he made for me—that I love.

Early this evening—O. Henry, our great German Short Haired Pointer, found his forever home in Grand Prairie, in North Texas and we are so thrilled for him and we have our fingers crossed that it will work out for him, because we really liked Cindy and Ray!

And that is about it for tonight, because I need to call Kinky to tell him about O. getting adopted and to tell Ronnie about Eileen getting me a precious, pink Princess Phone, so he doesn't buy me one for my writing cabin.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying that we get some more rain and that O. Henry works out with his new family!

Hello, Walls! or If Walls Could Talk!

2011-11-29T19:33:00.002-06:00

Today has been a really great day for me, but I am pretty tired right now, because of all of the remodeling that Tony and I did inside Nellybelle, our beloved 1983 trailer, that I bought on "the payment plan" for only $7,000.00 from my dear friends Bob and Helen W., in 1995, when I left Austin and moved to Utopia to start a new life for myself, after Jim had died.

This morning, when our chores were done outside and after I had taken care of some rescue ranch business inside, we carefully removed the tin from the kitchen walls, that we had put up in 2001, two days after the 911 attack on New York City, because I could not deal with the devastation and the lives lost and when I saw the old wall paper I took this picture of it, so I could remember it, before we started covering it with 1"x 4" pine from Sweden. And yes, the cheapest pine, at Home Depot in Kerrville, was imported from Sweden and it only cost $2.58 for an eight foot board. We bought 20 sticks of it and put it on our credit card, so it was free, until we get our bill for it and have to start paying it off on their payment plan!

Late this afternoon, I asked Tone to call Carol for me, to invite her to come over, so she would be the first to see my "Wannabe-Carol-Kitchen, because I needed to go outside to quickly spray paint, a second coat of pink, on my old spice rack, that I made over thirteen years ago.

Ten minutes later, after T. and me had rushed around putting up drills, scrap lumber, spices and returning pictures to the walls, etc., Carol arrived. When she walked inside the trailer she said, "OMG! I love it, y'all! It is so beautiful and I love the pink spice rack..."

"We aren't finished with it yet," I said. "We still have to do the wall behind the kitchen table, that I love, that Ronnie built for me, when I was fixing to move to Utopia." And then we had a super fun visit with our dear friend, from down the road. And here are a few picts that I took earlier this evening of my "Wannabe Carol Kitchen." And I hope that you like them, as much as I love the cozy room that I am sitting in right now, typing this on Ronnie's kitchen table, that he custom made for me in thirty minutes at his and Nita's Ronderosa Ranch.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for us to get some more rain! I'm fixin' to go to bed right now, because there is more Swedish pine to put up tomorrow, in my pretend log cabin that I always dreamed about having!

P.S. It looks like O. Henry, our great, German Short Haired Pointer is going to finally find his forever home tomorrow and he will spend his life in Grand Prairie, Texas. So, please keep your fingers crossed for him. Good night.

Before & After! or The Wall!

2011-11-28T19:45:00.007-06:00

Yesterday was a great day and so was today. Yesterday I decided to remodel our kitchen, because I love Carol's awesome kitchen and I want ours to look like hers or at least get close to it. So, after taking down the tin on one wall, which we had put up over ten years ago, I went outside and started chopping 1"x4" boards and with Tony's help we finished one wall and I love the way the pine boards look, even though they aren't like the beautiful 2"x12"'s in Carol's house . Here are the before and after pictures.

Like I said earlier, today has been great, too, because our dear friend Patty, from Florida, came out to visit us before flying back to the sunshine state tomorrow. "OMG, Nancy!" Patty said, as she got out of her rental car, "I love your pink writing cabin! It is so adorable." And I had to agree with her, because it really is. Then we went inside the cabin, sat down on the couches and started catching up with each others news.

During my fun visit with her, we laughed about her latest trip, over the ocean, to Venice, to attend a week-long culinary cooking school, her fun loving Florida friends that she adores—that I wish I could meet and how life has been treating us. And when my back started aching from laughing so much, I invited her to go up to the trailer, so I could show her "The Wall" that Tony and I had put the boards on yesterday and yes, she loved it as much as I do. Then we went into Outer Space and laughed until It (my back.) hurt, but I am not whining, because visiting with Patty was worth it.

Tonight, I am going to continue reading the fabulous book, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, that Carol has loaned to me, because Patty is also reading it and she loves it as much as Carol does.

Before I go, I received some sad news tonight from my dear friend Garnet Sheffield, in Utopia. She wrote to tell my that our dear friend Bob W. had to put his dog Blue down today and he is heartbroken. Blue was one of the very first dogs that our rescue ranch rescued from the pound on Labor Day Weekend 1998 and he was only about three months old and Bob and Helen adopted him one week later.

Blue was a handsome Aussie mix and he had a blue eye and he was Bob's best friend—they did everything together. And I will never forget the joy that those two gave me, whenever I saw them riding around Utopia in Bob's vintage truck, with Blue riding shotgun, in the front seat or seeing them taking long walks together. "Bob, Tony and I loved Blue and we are so sorry about his passing, but we are so thankful that y'all found each other. He was one fine dog and a lucky one to have shared his life with you and Helen. He will never be forgotten. Rest in peace, Blue—you were loved by the Best."

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

Our Rodney Crowell and Billy Joe Shaver Bonefit Is Being Rescheduled For A Later Date!

2011-11-28T09:21:00.002-06:00

Thank You, BJ Thomas! We Love You! And Thank You, Ruth Buzzi & Kent Perkins! Y'all Already Know We Love You Two!

2011-11-27T08:01:00.001-06:00

Our rescue ranch wants to thank BJ Thomas for doing a Bonefit, last night, for us at the Old Springs Dance Hall in Salado, Texas! Kinky called to tell me that it was a great Bonefit and that everyone enjoyed meeting BJ and Ruth Buzzi and Tony and I wish that we could have been there to enjoy the show and to thank them.

And to thank BJ Thomas for doing a benefit last night for our beloved Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, Kinky, Tony and I are dedicating a dog pen and getting a sign made to honor him and to thank our dear friends Ruth Buzzi & her husband Kent Perkins for all that they have done for our rescue ranch we are also dedicating a pen in their names, too.

Thank you, BJ, Ruthie & Kent! We love y'all! Please come visit us when you can.

Thanksgiving Day Part 2! or Our Little Alien Visitor!

2011-11-26T19:24:00.003-06:00

Thanksgiving Day, around 1:30, after Tony, our personal dogs and I had eaten our delicious Thanksgiving dinner, that our friends Karen Cauthen and her husband Terry, had sent to us—we jumped into Trigger and went down the road to Carol's ranch, to see her and meet her sweet family.

When we arrived Carol took us inside to meet her family. "Mom's taking a nap right now," Carol told us. "Y'all, I want you to meet Tony and Nancy. This is my sister Carla, her husband Mike and their children Christina and Michael... After howdies we had a good visit with them and a little later when Carol's mom walked into the big room Carol introduced us to Rita.

"So, we finally get to meet Carol's legendary mother," I said. "We have heard so many great things about you and..." Ten minutes later, Tony reminded me that we needed to leave, so we wouldn't miss the Dallas Cowboys game, so we adios-ed them and came home and watched one exciting game.

Friday was a great day, too, even though it started out bad, when Tony returned from the Old Timer and walked inside the trailer with some bad news, "I've got some bad news. On my way home a buck ran into Trigger. He was chasing a doe and I had already braked and was only going about two miles per hour when he ran into the driver's side door. It's dented and he broke off the mirror and the bad news is the buck died..."

Tony was sick about it and so was I, so there wasn't much said when we ate our breakfast. Fortunately, around 9:30, Jim showed up and a few minutes later Eileen and Kim arrived to walk our dogs for us and within minutes they had me smiling and laughing again—thank goodness.

After I had cleaned the dog pens and the volunteers had walked several happy dogs, I had a good time visiting with Eileen and Kim and when Jim started heading over to Mr. Rogers and Miss Dee's pen to take them for a walk—the dogs from Kansas started barking in delight and began jumping up and down, because they could not wait for Jim to leash them up and take them walking. Needless to say it gave us girls goose bumps when Mr. Rogers and Miss Dee happily trotted out of their pen with Jim, with their tails held high and wagging. "I love it," Eileen said. "Jim has worked wonders with those two dogs..."

A few hours later, Buttermilk took T. and me to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic to pick up Little Sister, the adorable little Chihuahua that we had rescued on Tuesday. And by the time we made it back to the rescue ranch with precious cargo, we had decided to get a crate and let Little Sister stay inside the trailer with us, because she was only three months old. Then we made a plan on how we were going to introduce her to our fur family.

While Tone put the crate inside the trailer, next to my chair at the kitchen table, where I do a lot of computer work, Little Sister sniffed and smelled our front yard and took care of business. Then we brought her inside and put her inside her crate and then one-by-one we brought our dogs inside to meet Little Sister and everyone liked her, but they were more than curious about the clear-see-through Victorian crown that she wore around her neck, to keep her from taking her stitches out. "Tony, I think they think she is a little alien from another planet," I said, as our dogs continued to stare and turn their heads sideways, trying to figure out what she was.

After the little alien meet and greet was over Mama came over and stared at her for awhile and then she laid down beside her crate to keep her company, so I grabbed my camera and shot them.

One hour later, after they had napped, we took off Little Sister's Victorian crown, to give her a break from wearing it and then she, Mama,Toto and us went outside to the front yard so they could play and potty and Mama, with her natural guardian instincts, followed Little Sister all around the yard as if she were her personal body guard and I thought it was so sweet, I took this picture of them on our porch.

And that wraps up Friday. Tomorrow I will write about my fun day today and about Paul and Brad, from Athens, Georgia coming out and our fun visit and about Tony and I going over to Carol's ranch early this evening for a Cowgirl Sisterhood meeting.

Y'all have a great evening and do any of y'all know someone who would like to adopt Little Sister?

Thanksgiving Was The Best Ever—Thanks To Our Wonderful Volunteers!

2011-11-26T11:30:00.001-06:00

We had the best Thanksgiving. Thursday morning, Tony and I were up bright and early to get ready for our friends aka the best volunteers in Texas, arrival, so they could help us prepare and serve our super dogs their Thanksgiving dinner.

By dawn's early break we had all of the buckets, pans and food inside the trailer.

Then Tony went outside to clean the dog pens, while I started cooking the mixed vegetables, which filled the oven and stove top. By 8:30, Tony was back inside and everything was going as planned, which surprised me since M.I.R. (Mercury in retrograde.) was in full force and had already started messing with me.

At 9:00 our friends / volunteers arrived and after handshakes, howdies and hugs we all came inside the trailer to do The Drill.

Before the volunteers got busy, under Tone's supervision, I joked, "Tony is in charge and he wants y'all to say, "Yes, sir." Then T. started giving out orders.

"Divide the eggs up into the three buckets," and the volunteers got to cracking. "Olive oil is next. Okay, now add the cheese..." Then Tony showed them how to mix up the food with the drill, with it's long paddle while we shot him with our cameras!

And here are a few pictures that Eileen and I took of the Utopia Drill Team:

Ellen

Jonathan giving it a spin.

Toto helping us.

Kim, the squad leader, showing us how the South Africans do it.

Jo applying her Waco technique.

Toto, right in the middle of it.

And, Lisa winding it up.

Then they divided up the gourmet dinner into five buckets while Ellen and I shoved 48 warmed rolls into an H-E-B thermal tote bag and then we went outside and served our dogs their annual Thanksgiving Dinner.

Lisa serving Princess and Merlin.

Eileen and Lisa visiting with Lois Lane.

Lois Lane taking Lisa for a walk.

Chuck & Lisa and Lynn & Carol

Carol and me.

The way-too-cool sisters, Jo, Ellen and June.

Jo, her son Jonathan and me.

Kim out of Africa.

Eileen, Tony, me and Lisa.

On behalf of Kinky, Tony, our dogs and me, we want to thank these wonderful, dedicated volunteers for making this the best Thanksgiving ever!

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying that we get some more rain, because it is working! We got over one inch of rain last night!

Grinning Ear-T0-Ear! or The Cowgirl Sisterhood Rides Again!

2011-11-23T20:14:00.000-06:00

Today has been another great day for me. This morning after Tony and I did our morning chores outside, I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and his sweet sister Marcie and I really enjoyed it. Then Trigger brought Marcie and me over to the rescue ranch, so I could show off my pink cabin to her and needless to say, "Marcie fell in love with it, just like everyone else has, which makes me feel so good, because I LOVE it so much.

After returning Marce back over to the Lodge I came inside the trailer to check my e-mail and blog for comments and when I read what Eileen, my dear friend commented on my blog I was literally dancing in delight, on Cloud Nine, in my pretty, pink cowboy boots. This is what Eileen wrote:

"Ronnie's guitar, Ronnie's chicken recipe, Ronnie's this, Ronnie's that ... when will it ever stop? Never, you say! OK! You and I will be the proud, new owners of two Pink Princess Phones within a matter of days, Nancy! Just thought that would make you smile!"

After I had quit dancing, because I was so thrilled about getting a Pink Princess Phone from Eileen for my cute cabin, I posted this comment:

"OMG! Eileen, you are way too sweet! And I am grinning ear-to-ear! I can't wait to put your Pink Princess phone in my cabin, because then it will be complete! Thank you, so very much!" Then I went outside to tell Tone my exciting news.

When I returned to the trailer, Carlton was flashing nervously on the breakfast bar, so I pushed his button and he said, "You have one new message."

"Hello Nancy and Tony, this is Carol. I think it is time for The Cowgirl Sisterhood to ride again, so I want to treat y'all to lunch today, if it is not too late. Call me."

Forty minutes later, The Cowgirl Sisterhood "plus one" were sitting at a table, laughing at our latest tales to tell, at the famous, super cool Camp Verde Store for lunch and I had a total blast and so did Tony. And before we adios-ed each other and left to come back home, Tony shot The Cowgirl Sisterhood standing across the street with this camel.

And that is about it for tonight, because Hazel is fixin' to come out of the closet to help me clean up the dog hair and mud inside the trailer, because tomorrow morning our great volunteers are coming out to help us prepare and serve our beautiful, rescue ranch dogs their annual Thanksgiving Dinner—compliments of Lisa and Chuck Williams and I can't wait to see them.

Y'all have a great evening and I hope that your Thanksgiving Day is more than happy, because I know ours will be—thanks to our wonderful volunteers!

M.I.R.!

2011-11-22T20:11:00.009-06:00

First off, the reason that I didn't write last night was because I could not quit reading the book that Kent's sweet wife Joan, the amazing woman that used to run around naked in Africa's forests, asked Ellen to give to me, last Friday.

Yesterday, around 4:00, after I had taken care of all of my rescue ranch business and was badly needing a break from it all, Mama and I went outside to the cabin, so I could relax and play my guitar.

For over two hours, while Mama snored peaceably, on the newly reupholstered couch, I happily played my guitar until my fingers were killing me. After packing up my guitar, but still wanting to stay in the cabin, I decided to start reading Joan's book that she gave to me, Why Is God Laughing? by Deepak Chopra and because I found it to be very interesting, Mama and I didn't come home until eight o'clock and I didn't put the book down until I had finished reading it and then I went straight to bed. Thank you, Joan—I loved the book and we can't wait for another fun visit with you and Kent!

Today has turned out to be one hilarious day. This morning while Tony did his and my chores outside—I stayed inside and with the help of Hazel, we deep cleaned Nellybelle, again, because our super volunteers will be here, early Thanksgiving morning, to help us cook and serve our dogs their annual Thanksgiving Dinner and I wanted our trailer to look like T. and I don't live here. But before Hazel and I went to work, I prepared Ronnie's delicious chicken recipe and then I put it in the oven to bake for one hour and forty-five minutes, so it would be ready in time for our lunch.

Before Tone and I ate our lunch, we rescued Little Sister, a darling, three-month-old Chihuahua pup that had been dumped at our friend's ranch front gate and then we had an unexpected fun time with some visitors, from Fredericksburg, who wanted to see our rescue ranch before going to Lost Maples State Park, to take some pictures.

The minute that we met Eve and Stephen K. Morris—we liked them, so I gave them a tour of our rescue ranch. And by the time the tour was over, I invited them to go into Outer Space with us, so Stephen could play my awesome guitar, that Ronnie made for me, so we could hear some of his music and it was totally fantastic.

After the first song he sang, Eve accompanied him on vocals on his second song and Tony and I were mesmerized by his/their beautiful music, so Tone then gave them a tour of his hallway photography gallery, that Hazel and I had just cleaned, thank goodness, because they were also into photography.

While they admired T.'s pictures, in the hall, with Mama sniffing their butts, I secretly signed a quick note to them on my second book, Meanwhile Back At The Rescue Ranch: The Dog Days Of Cousin Nancy, because I wanted to give them a copy and I was sick that I was out of my first book, because I wanted to give it to them, too.

Before Eve and Stephen left, I invited them into my cabin, so they could see how cool it was and that is when Tony and I found out that Stephen K. Morris has a new CD coming out real soon and we can't wait to buy it, because he is so talented! So, please check out Stephen K. Morris, from Fredericksburg, because he is on Facebook and fixin' to become really famous—like Jim Keaveny is going to be.

After eating Ronnie's delicious lunch, we picked up our mail and I instantly became semi-depressed, because I have been summoned for jury duty, in Kerrville, on December 6th, because December is the busiest time of the year for me and I don't like judging people, which is a little odd, because Libras are supposed to be great at being Judges.

After we dropped Little Sister off at Hoegemeyer's, to get her shots, etc. we went straight over to Wolfmueller's Books, to see our great friends Sandy and Jon, because we have missed them and I needed to be cheered up. And during our fun visit with them, they teased me about having to do jury time. "Well, I'm blaming it on M.I.R. (Mercury in retrograde.), I declared, "Mercury goes in retrograde in two days through December 14th and..."

This evening at 5:50 the phone rang—it was Sandy, "Nancy, you're not going to believe this. We just got home and guess what?"

"What?"

"I've got jury duty on December 6th, too," then Sandy and I burst out laughing.

"....Well, I am going to dress real sloppy and wear a sweatshirt, but the good news is we can do lunch together and...."

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying that we get some more rain and Happy Birthday, Woody!

Happy Birthday Woody!

2011-11-22T00:01:00.001-06:00

Today is Woody's, our great friend's birthday and Tony and I, Denise & Mark and Tater Catfish want to be the first to wish you a Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Woody. Happy Birthday to You. And many more.

Woody, we hope that your birthday is the best ever and we send you our love and best wishes to you and Rose and Gabriella. We love you! Y'all come see us when you can.

What Would Ronnie Do? Part 2! or What Tony Did!

2011-11-20T19:47:00.002-06:00

After the sun had hid itself behind the mountain and it was totally dark outside, we were still inside my cabin, laughing and listening to my music until we were scared-to-death by a loud knock on the door!

To Be Continued...

Then the door opened slowly. "Hi, guys," Ben said, as he and his sweet dog Valerie walked inside the cabin.

"Hi, Ben," I said, come on in and sit down on the couch. I thought you left for Austin earlier this afternoon." Then he told us that he had to take Penny to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, because she wasn't feeling well and since the doctor wanted to keep her overnight for observation—he came back to the ranch to spend the night, so he could pick her up Saturday morning.

Then we spent the rest of the evening laughing and coming up with hilarious ideas about a secret project that Carol and I are really excited about doing, that only Tony and Ben know about. And my lips are sealed about it, so please don't ask, because I have sworn to secrecy and I don't want to hurt any one's feelings.

Saturday morning, while Tony fed the dogs and Ben did my morning chores for me, I framed my faster-piece "What Would Ronnie Do?" painting and then I went to my cabin and hung it up on a wall.

A little while later Ben and T. came inside the trailer, so Ben could call Hoegemeyer's to check on Penny and after he talked to Dr. Rydberg, Ben told us that she had an infection and should be just fine, in a few more days, once the antibiotics kicks in, thank goodness.

Today has been a quiet day around here and other than the Cowboys winning in an exciting over time playoff and Tony secretly carving me a new sign, out in the barn, while I thought he was out taking pictures, because that is what he had told me he was going to do and that's about it for now. Except, I do want to wish our dear friends Patty and Max another happy birthday wish and hope that their birthdays were the best ever and to also thank Tone for my new sign—I love it! Now I am going to sit down to watch the movie, Limitless, that Ben highly recommended we watch.

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

Happy Birthday Patty Kearns!

2011-11-20T00:02:00.001-06:00

Today is also our dear friend Patty Kearns Birthday! We love Patty because she is so sweet and has the greatest sense of humor and keeps us laughing. So, Tony, Sandy & Jon Wolfmueller and I want to wish her the best birthday ever!

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Patty. Happy Birthday to You! And many more! We love you, Patty! And we look forward to seeing you during the holiday season!

Happy Birthday Max Swafford!

2011-11-20T00:01:00.001-06:00

Today is our good friend Max Swafford's birthday and Tony, Marilyn and I want to be the first to wish him the best birthday ever!

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Max. Happy Birthday to You! And many more! We love you, Max!

What Would Ronnie Do?

2011-11-19T19:18:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was a total blast for me and it started early, when our fabulous volunteers: June, Ellen, Eileen, (Lisa, couldn't make it because she was out of town.), Jim, Roy and Della came out and walked our dogs for us and our dogs loved it. We are so lucky to have these great, dedicated volunteers helping us out here, because when they come out they make our dogs so happy and they also keep Tony and me laughing with their fun-loving, humorous stories and teasing.

For example, during a break yesterday, while I was showing-off my pretty, pink, newly redecorated writing cabin to June, Ellen and Eileen, which they adored, of course, I was telling them about my road trip to Ron and Nita's, last Saturday and how much fun that I had with them and then I started bragging about my brother Ronnie being a fabulous cook and his two delicious recipes that he gave to me and having cooked Ronnie's bread and chicken recipes for Ben and Tony's lunch, the day before and how much they had loved it. Then I laughed out loud and said, "While we ate lunch yesterday Ben and Tony started teasing me about how much I idolized my older brother, saying things like: "Ronnie made it! He's the best! The guitars he makes sound better than Martins. Ronnie told me, etc." So, after they had stopped kidding me about Ronnie, I told T. and Ben, "Y'all are just jealous of Ronnie."

Eileen, Ellen and June started laughing and teasing me repeating the same Ronnie things that Tony and Ben had said. When we were finally done laughing about my super brother being my hero, which he really is, of course, Eileen and I started talking about having had and not having Princess telephones when we were young and by the time that hilarious discussion ended, we decided that she needed a pink Princess telephone and I needed a pink Princess telephone for my cozy cabin. Then we left the cabin, so they could go walk some dogs, before they met Ben, Tony and me at Koyote for a late lunch.

While we ate lunch there I started bragging about Ronnie being a great songwriter and musician and that he wrote a beautiful song about me when I left Austin and moved to Utopia, in 1995 and they ganged up on me and started teasing me, all over again, saying hilarious things like, Ronnie Rules! Just ask Ronnie! Don't know? Call 1-800-ASKRON, etc. Then June brought the house down when she says, in between laughs, "We're going on a vacation and it is 987.3 miles from Ronnie!"

Then they started up again, "Oh, it's only forty miles west of Ronnie, Don't leave home without knowing where Ronnie is, Love me—Love Ronnie!"

Having to make myself quit laughing, because my back was killing me, I joked, "Well, I have a great surprise for y'all. All of you are going to get to meet Ronnie, because he's going to be at the Bonefit, in December! And the last thing that I am going to say about my sweet brother is, "Whenever I am trying to solve a problem, I always ask myself, "What would Ronnie do?" And, then it was their turn to roar with laughter.

Before we all adios-ed each other to go home, Eileen says, "I have a new mission statement to make and it is; I am going to find Nancy and me pink Princess phones!" And everyone thought it was really cool, except for me, because I loved it.

After Buttermilk had safely returned Ben, Tone and me to the rescue ranch I returned a few phone calls, while they worked outside. When my daily business had been taken care of, I decided to paint a picture for my cabin, in honor of Ronnie, because it would always make me and my friends laugh every time that we saw it, because it would remind us of our little private joke and would make others wonder, "Who the heck is Ronnie?"

Twenty minutes later, I put up my acrylic paints and brushes, because my faster-piece was completed and signed by me and that is when Ben and Tony walked inside the trailer. "Y'all, come take a look at my new painting for the cabin. I've named it, What Would Ronnie Do?!" And then they burst out laughing to hide their jealousy of Ronnie.

Around 4:30, when Ben was fixin' to leave to go back home to Austin, Carol called about having a Cowgirl Sisterhood bored meeting and thirty minutes later, we were no longer bored, because we were laughing about the Ronnie jokes, inside my cute, little cabin with Tony, being our guest cowboy.

To Be Continued... (Sorry, Mari.)

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying that we get some more rain! And please buy some tickets and go to our Bonefits, so one day you can proudly brag, "I've met Ronnie! It was on December 17, 2011 at The Springs Music Hall, in Salado, Texas and..."

Happy Birthday Cindy!

2011-11-18T07:55:00.000-06:00

Today is my sister Cindy's birthday and Tony and I want to wish her a happy birthday, so here goes.

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Cindy. Happy Birthday to You! And many more. We love You!

The Silver K!

2011-11-17T20:21:00.000-06:00

Today has been great and the reason that I did not write last night was because I was pooped, because yesterday I drove up to Johnson City to meet my sister Cindy & Ray and Ronnie for lunch, so we could visit and Ronnie and I could exchange guitars.

We had planned to meet in the bank parking lot on 290 at 12:15, but because they had arrived way too early, plans changed without me knowing it. As I slowly drove 30 mph through downtown Johnson City I unexpectedly see Cindy, Ray and Ronnie standing on a corner waving their arms wildly at me, so I quickly turn right and because I hadn't made a sharp enough turn Trigger and I nearly ran into a Texas Parks & Wildlife pickup, stopped at the stop sign.

After I sheepishly mouthed, "I'm sorry," to him, I pulled into a parking space in front of a Karate store and by the time I had turned off my music Ronnie, Cindy and Ray were standing next to Trigger's door—laughing at me and after howdies and hugs and laughing at my expert driving skills the four of us crossed the street to go eat lunch at The Silver K restaurant.

As we walked inside the Silver K, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Ranger, that I almost had a run-in with minutes before, was standing in front of us with his friend and he starts laughing and jokingly says, "There's the woman who just tried to kill me." Then all of us started laughing.

"I'm really sorry," I apologized. "I'm old. I just turned sixty-years-old and I am blaming it on that and Mercury is fixin' to go retrograde on the 23rd. And, because I am so old my friends have given me two 60th birthday parties, just in case I forgot." Then I walked past him and his friend, wondering if we should go seat ourselves and that was a mistake.

"And now she is trying to cut in line, in front of us," the the young, friendly, good-looking Ranger, with a great sense of humor, teased and everyone burst out laughing, as I walked back behind him to get back in line.

Of course, I had a blast eating lunch with my family, with the friendly Texas Parks & Wildlife Ranger and his friend, sitting at a table right next to us. And during our fun visit, after the ranger and friend had left their table, we laughed about the Texas Parks & Wildlife Ranger teasing me. "How do you know him, Nance?" one of them asked.

"I don't know him," I replied, and they all started laughing, because they thought I knew him.

I had good news when Trigger and I got home—"Missy is working out great and my husband and I want to adopt her..." the sweet vet-tech, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, told me. Yeah!

Today, while Tony and Ben worked outside, I spent my day doing paperwork and around 4:00 when I was caught up and done with my work, Ben came inside so he could play his mandolin with me and not to brag (Yes, I am.) we sounded great and I totally enjoyed pickin' and grinnin' with him and I am so glad to finally have Trigger, my guitar that Ronnie custom made for me, back. And that is about it for tonight.

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

Sunsweet California Prunes!

2011-11-15T19:01:00.003-06:00

Today has been a blast! My morning started out great, because we got almost one inch of rain before I did the fun Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch radio segment with Big G (Gordon Ames) at 7:30 on The Real Deal 93.5 KOOK / 1230 KERV. So, when Tony came home from the Old Timer—I was already on Cloud 9.

This morning after we did our morning chores outside we quickly cleaned up, because we were meeting Mari and Lori, our dear friends and members of the famous dog agility club— The NoMads, for lunch at Cal-Bob's Smoke Shack at 11:15 or so we thought.

When we arrived at Cal-Bob's the parking lot was full and when we walked inside Cal-Bob's Smoke Shack, Carol and Calvin, the super friendly owners, greeted us and then came the surprise—The NoMads were there and they greeted us with, "Happy Birthday, Nancy! Come on over and sit down with us. Mari, Lori and Lynda will be here any minute..."

The NoMads had totally surprised me or should I say, "Mari had really surprised me," because yesterday she had told me that she had invited The NoMads to join us, but only Lori and she would be meeting us for lunch today.

Non-stop laughter filled the air during our super fun, delicious lunch and everyone told me that they were impressed with Carol and Calvin's cooking and that they loved their smoked red pepper soup, cilantro cole slaw, potato salad and the meats that they had ordered.

Near the end of my second, 60th Birthday party, Carol served me my dessert and said, "Nancy, last month you celebrated your birthday here and now today. I want to know when your birthday is?"

"Every day!" I joked, before starting to eat my tasty dessert.

"Actually," Tony said, "we celebrate Nancy's birthday every month on the 17th. I have to, because Nancy included it in our wedding vows and..."

While Tony devoured the rest of my dessert I started opening up The NoMads' many birthday presents to me and my back is aching tonight, because I laughed too much reading their funny cards and at the hilarious gifts they gave to me.

The NoMads gave me Olay Regenerist Advanced Anti-Aging cream, Avon Banishing Cream for age spots, Poligrip Super Strong Denture Adhesive, Absorbine Veterinary Liniment Gel for sore muscles and joint pain relief for horses, Dove's Citrus Sage Energizing Body Wash, Super Colon Cleanse, Gas Relief, four Magnifying Glasses, Efferdent, 3 packages of doggie treats, an Air Horn to use when I need Tone and yes—Sunsweet California Prunes! And when I thanked them for their gifts-for-the-ancient they teased me about now having everything I would need to grow older.

So now I want to thank my dear friends Mari and Lori and the rest of The NoMads for the best, belated 60th surprise birthday party that I have ever had and I promise y'all that I will use your gifts in time. The NoMads Rule!

When Tony and I came home, as I was laying out my gifts from The NoMads for the pictures above, he asked me if he could sometimes use my magnifying glasses to look at his pictures and after I had swallowed a Sunsweet California prune I said, "Yes, and you might want to use the Absorbine, for your back and the Gas Relief for your you-know-what and if I need to use them I'll just honk my Air Horn. These prunes are delicious. Do you want to try one?"

Y'all have a great evening and thanks for praying for the much needed rain!

I've Got Yours!

2011-11-14T18:37:00.007-06:00

Today has been great and I am writing this early, because we have a good chance for rain tonight and I've got my fingers crossed.

This afternoon Tony and I took Missy, the new, black Lab we rescued, to Hoegemeyer's Animal Clinic to get her shots, so she could go spend a few days with one of their sweet vet-techs to see if she works out with their dog.

Then we went to go see our dear friends Sandy and Jon, at Wolfmueller's Books, because we haven't seen them in a while and also because I wanted to give Sandy a recipe that Ronnie showed me how to cook, while I was up visiting him and Nita in Dripping Springs.

And, before I could tell them Ronnie's recipe, Sandy and Jon gave us the book, Chronicles of the Big Bend: A Photographic Memoir Of Life On The Border by W. D. Smithers. "We got this for y'all and you're going to love it," Sandy said. And we were thrilled to get the book, because Big Bend is now one of our favorite places to visit, thanks to Sandy and Jon, along with Port Aransas, thanks to Rick & Leisa, John and Pete & Kelly.

While I told Sandy and Jon Ronnie's simple, but delicious recipe, Tony thumbed through this interesting looking book. Then I told them about my fun road trip and we laughed and joked about me not getting lost, actually driving 70 MPH and not knowing how to put gas in Trigger. After a fun visit with them we came back home.

At 2:49, while I was outside spray painting some stuff on the front porch my brother Ronnie called, but I didn't know it, because I was listening to my music. So, while I was waiting for the paint to dry I came inside to find Carlton flashing. "Tony!" I half-hollered down his hallway photography gallery. "Do you know who called?"

"I think it was Ronnie, but I am not sure." So, I went over to Carlton and pushed his button and when I heard Ronnie's hilarious, 30 second message, (Warning, it does contain the cuss word that starts with an "H" when he was trying to sound mad, but couldn't.), I burst out laughing and ran down the hallway to go look into my office and then Tony came out of his office to check on me, because I was laughing so hard. And this is what Ronnie said and I promise that it will make you laugh out loud.

When I played his message for Tone to hear, he too burst out laughing with me and then I called my brother back and we had a good laugh about him, a few minutes earlier, deciding to play his guitar and when he opened up the case his guitar was gone and mine was there, and me accidentally, grabbing his guitar case instead of mine, because it was before the sun came up and the room was still dark and we both have the same kind of guitar cases, except mine has a Willie Nelson backstage pass sticker on it. "Ronnie, When I got home, Tony unloaded and carried my guitar straight to my office and I haven't been in my office since I got back..." And my final words to my big brother were, "Well, Ron, it looks like I'll be coming up there sometime this week to trade guitars with you and then I'll turn around and come right back home. It will be good practice for me and I'll make sure that Tony has the tank full. See you sooner than later. Love you. Bye."

Y'all have a great evening and please pray that we get some more rain!

Got Gas! or I'm Driving!

2011-11-13T21:10:00.063-06:00

Today has been a great day, but not as great as yesterday was, because I had a few problems driving to Ron and Nita's ranch and I am blaming that on F.M.T. (Full Moon Time).

Yesterday morning, at 11:15, while Tony loaded my guitar into Trigger he told me that he was worried about me getting lost and for me to please call him the minute that I arrived at The Ronderosa, so he wouldn't worry about me. "And Nance, don't forget to get gas in Kerrville, because there is less than a quarter of a tank."

"What kind of gas do I get? Regular, Super Regular or what?"

"Regular." Then we hugged and kissed and adios-ed each other and my two hour road trip began, with my iPod already serenading me with my music.

Getting gas at H-E-B was a joke sort of. First, I pulled into the parking lot and accidentally, ended up going down a parking lane the wrong way and some nice young man, riding in his fancy Mustang, probably paid for by his disappointed parents, angrily waved his finger at me and I am sure that you can guess which one it was, while I tried to mouthed the words, "I'm sorry," to him.

Then when I saw an empty stall to pull into to get gas I made a fool out of myself, which really was no big deal to me, because I seem to do that pretty regularly since becoming a senior citizen. First off, I almost parked too far away from the pump, but thankfully, the hose was just long enough to reach Trigger's tank. Then, when I pressed the "Regular" button—nothing happened, so I pressed the button again, but still no gas, so I walked over to the fuel cashier and told her, "Ma'am, I'm sorry to bother you, but something is wrong with that pump over there. I can't get it to give me gas."

The pleasant woman smiled at me and then she left her little glass building to go see what was the matter with my pump. "After I put the pump handle into Trigger, I pushed the regular button and nothing happened," I explained. She smiled, again.

"You have to press this button, too. Either-pay-with credit-card or pay-inside, ma'am," as she pointed to the other buttons high above the Regular button that I had pushed earlier. Feeling stupid, because I was, I started to laugh at myself.

"Thank you, for helping me. I feel so dumb. My husband Tony always puts in our gas and it has been years since I last filled up Buttermilk and when I did that—I forgot to put the gas cap back on, causing T. to have to go buy a new gas cap for her. Thanks again for helping me." And then I hit the pay-inside button and began filling up Trigger, knowing full well that the other "get gas" customers and the kind woman who had helped me, were probably laughing at me for not knowing how to put gas into a truck. But the one good thing about getting gas yesterday, is that Trigger's cap was attached to the tank, so I wasn't even capable of losing it.

An hour and a half later, I safely arrived at The Ronderosa and because I was so excited to see Nita and Ronnie and their beautiful daughters and dogs—I totally forgot to call Tony as I had promised him.

Around 4:30, after having so much fun with my family, I finally remembered to call Tone. Before calling T. I told them about forgetting to call him and they laughed and then Ronnie and Nita teased me about being old like them and because I knew that T. would also tease me about being forgetful, I picked up the phone and lied, the best that I could, and left this message on Carlton, while my family laughed quietly in the background.

"Tony, I am exhausted and am fine. I just arrived at The Ronderosa, because I got lost and ended up in San Antone, but everything is okay. I miss you, I love you and I wish you were here. Everyone says, "Hi!" See you in the morning. Bye."

One hour later, I was in their kitchen with Ron and Nita, so they could start preparing the dinner that we would eat two hours later and while we laughed and visited their phone rang and it was Tony, so Ronnie answered it and he played along with my joke and he laughed with Tone about me always getting lost and then he handed off the phone to me. "Hi, Tony!"

"Nance, I'm glad that you got there safely, but I can't believe you got lost in San Antone."

"I know." Then he started laughing.

"Tell Ron and Nita that for Christmas I'm going to buy you a GPS that you can wear 24/7, because pretty soon you will need a GPS just to find the bathroom," he teased.

Before we adios-ed each other I promised T. that I would hook up Garmina before taking off, which was another white lie, because I've memorized the directions to The Ronderosa.

After a delicious dinner filled with non-stop laughter, Ronnie took me outside to his work shop to show me the new guitar that he is making and it was beautiful, but not nearly as beautiful as the one he made for me, eight years ago. Then we returned to the house and picked up our guitars and we picked and grinned for nearly two hours and my fingers are still a little bit sore tonight as I type this.

On my early drive home this morning all that I could think about was how much fun I had had with my family and I wished that Tony had come along with me, because he too, would have had a blast.

When Trigger and I arrived back at the ranch, T. and our dogs came out to the front yard to greet us. As Tony unloaded my guitar for me from the backseat, he teased me about getting lost in San Antone, again and it made me laugh.

"I never got lost, Tony," and then he laughed as I told him about me playing a joke on him, because I knew that he would believe me about getting lost and forgetting and he would tease me. "And Tony, I never pulled Garmina out of the glove compartment this morning, because I know the way to Ronnie and Nita's! I did it and you're definitely going with me the next time and I'm driving!"

As we went outside to go do our morning chores I told him about my gas problem, yesterday and he teased me all morning about it. And that is about it for today, but before I post this I want to wish Vickie Harris a Happy Birthday and I hope today has been the best birthday that she has ever had.

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

Happy Birthday Vickie Harris!

2011-11-13T00:01:00.003-06:00

Today is Vickie Harris' birthday and I want to be one of the first to wish her a happy birthday!

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Vickie. Happy Birthday to You! And many more! Carol, Debbie, Tony and I love you!

Road Trip!

2011-11-12T20:33:00.008-06:00

Early this morning, while drinking some coffee, while Tony was at the Old Timer, in Medina, drinking some coffee with his friends, I was thinking about my brother Ronnie and sister Cindy, because it has been a long time since I've seen them and I've missed them, so at 8:00 this morning—I called Ronnie and invited myself to come up there to spend the night.

If you are reading this tonight, I'm at Ron and Nita's house pickin' and grinnin' and having a blast with my dear family. And I will be back at the ranch, early tomorrow morning, to help Tony do the daily chores and get back into the groove.

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

Stop & Go!

2011-11-11T20:46:00.019-06:00

Today has been great. This morning while Tony and I were outside working a car drove up and this really nice couple got out. "Hi, welcome to the rescue ranch. Are you Della?" I asked.

"Yes, I am and this is my husband Roy," she said, as we shook hands. We're here to walk your dogs or do whatever you need for us to do."

"We always need dog walkers, so let's go get some dog leashes. Roy and his sweet wife first walked Rufus & Roxanne, then they took Maggie and Emmylou Harris for a walk, which turned out to be pretty funny, because Emmylou is a "squatter" and I had forgotten to tell them that.

As I finished cleaning Mr. Rogers & Miss Dee's pen, which was the last pen to clean, I looked up and saw Roy standing with Emmylou laying down next to him, happily wagging her tail, over by Annie Oakley's pen and I started laughing as I walked over to them. "I'm sorry, Roy. I forgot to tell you that Miss O. is a squatter. Come on Emmylou, get up girl..."

After several requests Emmylou finally stood up and she took about six steps with Roy and then she laid down again, happily wagging her tail and it took Roy and me about ten "stop & go's" to return her back to her pen with Maggie.

Bob Dylan and Rockette were the next two lucky dogs to go for a walk with Della and her husband and while they were out walking, Lisa arrived with her ukulele. "Sorry, Nance. The other Fab 4 couldn't make it today..." While I showed her the inside of my upgraded writing cabin, Phillip arrived with his guitar, so he and Lisa could practice playing the song that they had chosen, to perform at a upcoming Master Naturalist event on Wednesday. "Hi, Phillip. Come on inside my cabin that I've recently decorated. I'm really proud of it."

"Wow," he said, as he walked around inside the cabin. "This is really cool..." Ten minutes later, after Lisa handed us the sheet music to one of my favorite Merle Haggard's songs—we were jamming, even though I was just sitting in on their session and we sounded good and during a break I took this picture of them visiting with Tony.

After Lisa and Phillip had nailed Haggard's song we played for about thirty more minutes and then we decided to rest our fingers and that's when Roy and Della knocked on the door and came inside the cabin and sat down with us.

We talked and laughed about Emmylou being a squatter and the many dogs that they had walked and then Lisa told them that it would take a few more dog-walking visits before all of our dogs warmed up to them, because she didn't want them to feel bad about our dogs being shy with them. And after a fun visit with them they adios-ed us and then they drove away and that's when we decided to go eat lunch at Koyote and invite Carol to join us.

Five minutes later, Trigger, Tone and I followed Lisa over to Koyote Ranch, because Carol was going to meet the three of us for lunch and I had a total blast. First, we talked about Karin, our new found friend from Germany, fun visit and how much we had enjoyed meeting her and getting to know her and getting to show her around the Texas Hill Country, then we laughed about the gigantic size of Scout, Carol's lovable Black Lab's feet and many other things and all-in-all—lunch was a lot of fun. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying that we get some more rain and that Emmylou Harris quits squatting—sooner than later!

You're Famous!

2011-11-10T20:39:00.001-06:00

Today has been great. This morning Jim, our good friend and super dog-walking volunteer, came out to walk our dogs for us and Tony and I were thrilled, but not as much as Mr. Rogers and Miss Dee were.

While we did our outdoor chores, Jim walked Layla & Little Girl, Rufus & Roxanne and then Rocky & Lucy. When it was Miss Dee & Mr. Rogers' turn to go for Mr. Roger's 2nd walk, I was cleaning up Sparky's & Buddy's pen, which is right behind the famous, "Wichita Kansas Street Dogs" and I am so glad that I was there to watch, because when Jim approached Mr. Rogers & Miss Dee's pen they were so excited to see him they began happily jumping up in the air and barking, because they could not wait for Jim to get to their pen and take them for another joyous walk around the ranch.

When Jim walked into their pen they could not wait for him to leash them up, so they could go on a walk with him. Jim first leashed up Mr. Rogers and then he hooked his leash on the gate and then he leashed up Miss Dee and when he turned around, Mr. Rogers had already chewed his leash in half, so Jim laughingly re-leashed Mr. Rogers and before they took off I happily, half-hollered, "Jim, this is so great. Last Friday when I blogged about you being the first to walk Mr. Rogers I received so many e-mails, phone calls and comments, from all around the world, about how happy everyone was that you helped Mr. Rogers overcome his fear of leashes and everyone has asked me to please thank you for them and so did Kinky. You're famous, Jim!" Jim laughed and then he led the two dogs out of the pen.

When I had finished cleaning pens I jumped into Kermit and took off for the trailer to get my camera, because I wanted to show the many fans of Mr. Rogers, Miss Dee and Jim's, pictures of them enjoying their early morning walk together.

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

Real Cowgirls Always Saddle Their Own Horse!

2011-11-09T20:50:00.017-06:00

Yesterday was a really great day for two reasons. Reason one, was Kinky, Tony, Rambam and I met Nancy D. from Chicago, our dear, longtime friend, for a really fun lunch, in Kerrville, with her Austin friend Patty.

We laughed so much about life and I nearly choked to death, when Kinky and Rambam took turns telling us their hilarious story about Rambam actually giving Kinky the Heimlich maneuver and saving his life, in a swanky restaurant in Kerrville, many, many years ago, when Kinky had choked on some roast beef. And, the people in the crowded restaurant there kept staring at us, as we sat at a table in the back of the restaurant, because we were laughing so hard at the way Rambam and Kinky jokingly told their choking story.

After our really fun lunch, I jumped into Patty's car and Nancy jumped into Trigger with Tony and we followed them back to the rescue ranch so we could visit more. After we had caught up with each other's lives and had laughed way too much, inside the trailer, we went into Outer Space to enjoy the beautiful weather and to continue the good time that we were having.

Before we headed over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky, Tony and I showed Nancy and Patty my newly decorated writing cabin and they loved it as much as we do. "Y'all, Tony is so sweet!" I said. "Yesterday, while I was doing some paperwork inside the trailer, he snuck outside to my cabin and put new batteries in all of my non-running clocks and then he set them to the correct time for me, because I had told him that I was planning on doing it, as soon as I had the time..."

After a great visit with Kinky, The Friedmans and us, Nancy and Patty hugged all of us and then we adios-ed each other and then they took off for Austin and we took off for the rescue ranch, so we could call Carol to invite her to come over for happy hour, inside the cabin, because she had not seen how I had decorated it.

Twenty minutes later, the other half of our exclusive, two members only, Cowgirl Sisterhood said, "Nancy, I love it! It is so beautiful and it feels so cozy..." While Carol uncorked my expensive bottle ($9.95 at H-E-B) of Cowgirl Sisterhood fine red wine, she made a toast to our friendship, "As a really famous Kerrville cowgirl once said, "Real cowgirls always saddle their own horse! To us!" Then our happy hour officially began, as my music serenaded the three of us inside the wannabe pink pub.

Today has been great, even though Pilgrim was returned to us early this morning. Pilgrim was returned because he just wasn't working out with their dogs and it was fine with us, because Pilgrim was glad to see us.

This afternoon after Tony and I went over to Rambam's beautiful ranch for a fun visit with him, we went to H-E-B to pick up some groceries and then we came home and that is about it for now.

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