What Would Rick Do"

The last few days have been a little bit hectic. You know the old saying, "When it rains it pours" well let's just say it's been pouring here.

We had some major problems with the Airstream's plumbing/electricity and now that has been fixed, or better said—we put a band-aid on it—it is usable. Which is good, because late this afternoon our dear friend, Rick, the former "Friendly Lighthouse Keeper," in Port Aransas, is coming to see us and that is where he will be camping out.

Other than that we are still working on getting our water supply up and running. Our rain harvesting system is ready to go and all that we need now is rain to fill up our 4,000 gallon water tanks.

We've also been working on our shallow well, that went dry last week, for a few hours. So last Friday we purchased another 2,500 gallon water tank, from Home Depot, and it got delivered Saturday afternoon and hopefully, in the near very future, we will get that plumbed, so it can help out our well from going dry again.

This past Thursday while Tony was, at the Willow City Loop, taking beautiful photos of the beautiful Blue Bonnets with his sweet sister Annie and Sam's sweet wife, Stacie, I went to the Office Max, in Kerrville and purchased turbotax software, so I could figure out how to do our taxes, because our dear friend/CPA that has been doing our taxes, for over 30 years, has recently retired.

Anyway, I was going to work on our taxes this past weekend, but one thing after another kept popping up after another. And it was exhausting.

So this morning the first thing I did, after drinking two cups of coffee, I did our taxes and the good news about that is I loved working with the easy to use turbotax software and I got our taxes done for 2017, except now I am waiting for them to send me the filled out tax forms, so we can sign them and get them mailed.

As Tony and I are waiting for Rick to arrive, I am getting a little bit nervous, because we only have one tub left of that super-delicious Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream.

Yesterday afternoon I removed the tub, from the Airstream and put it inside our freezer, so Rick wouldn't find it and decide to eat it all up, because I know how much he loves ice cream.

But my problem now is "What Would Rick Do?" when I open our freezer door and he sees the Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream and this is driving me crazy.

It is embarrassing for me to have to admit that I don't want to share our last tub of limited edition, ice cream with Rick, but sadly it is true. So a few minutes ago, I pulled the priceless tub out of our freezer and slipped it inside a plastic bag to disguise it.

But now my problem is "What Would Rick Do?" when he sees a Home Depot plastic bag, in our freezer. Knowing Rick, I am sure that when he spots it he will ask, "Why is there a Home Depot bag, in your freezer?..."

So, just a few minutes ago, I removed the ice cream tub, again and I took this picture of it.

Then I took it out of the plastic Home Depot sack and I threw the plastic bag away.

So now with little time left, before Rick arrives, I am going to try to hide the ice cream tub once again, but this time I am going to hide it, behind several frozen vegetables bags. So please wish me luck that Rick never finds it while he visits us.

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

The Best of Times! or Jack's Jacket!

Yesterday and today have been so much fun and also exciting. Tuesday afternoon our great friends Denise & Mark came to see us and they brought their dear friends, Irene & Dave, who had come all of the way, from Florida, to visit them.

These two, fabulous couples have been best friends for over 40 years and they came down to see us, on their way-too-cool Harleys.

It was so great to see Denise & Mark and both Tony and I instantly became best friends with Irene & Dave, because we all had so much in common.

We had a blast visiting with them yesterday. And this morning before they headed back, to Austin, they came back for another fun-filled visit. But I believe Little Debbie had the best of times, because if Denise wasn't holding her or Irene wasn't gushing over her—Mark was carrying her around like a little baby.

Little Debbie was eating up all of the attention she was getting and she was starting to get a big head about it, until she learned that Mark & Denise were missing their little, precious Ouzie, another adorable Chihuahua that they had rescued a few years ago. And when Irene showed me cute pictures of Ouzie, Denise laughed and said, "I think Ouzie is adorable, but Mark tells people she looks like a loaf of bread with a head and a tail."

And after we had quit laughing about how Mark described their Chihuahua, Irene said, "She is cute, but she has an armadillo tail." Then Irene quickly showed me a picture of Ouzie's rear-end and I did have to agree with her that Ouzie's tail looks exactly like an armadillo.

This afternoon after we adios-ed our great friends Tony and I took off for Kerrville, so we could run a few errands. And our first stop was at, Wolfmueller's Books, which is one of our favorite places in Kerr County and the best bookstore in Texas.

When we walked inside Wolfmueller's Books, Sandy & Jon and Jean (Jon's sister) greeted us. Then they invited us to sit down for a fun visit. Omg, Tony and I had so much fun visiting with them and I laughed for so long, my back was aching, before I even got to tell them about Jack's jacket. And here is a condensed version on that topic.

"Y'all know how much I love Heartland," I said. "The show is so awesome. It takes place in Alberta, Canada and has been on television for over eleven years, in Canada and is popular all over the world.

"Netflix has 9 seasons of Heartland and each season has 18 episodes that are each 42 minutes long. Seriously, I am addicted to that wholesome show."

"I love Heartland too," Jean replied.

"Nancy loves it so much she has watched the 9 Seasons three times," Tony added.

"It's true. And after watching the nine Season's twice, I broke down and bought Heartland's Season 10. And I loaned my Season 10 to Ronnie & Nita, when I went up for Katelyn's wedding. And Ronnie & Nita were so thrilled about it you would have thought I had loaned them a million dollars...and then Ronnie & Nita bought a subscription on UP TV and ...."

"....Well, Ronnie & Nita are addicted to Heartland too. And last week Ronnie called to tell me that he had done some research, on Heartland, and he found our that Jack's (Shaun Johnston, the awesome actor who plays Jack Bartlett, the cowboy, rancher and the grandfather that everyone adores) barn jacket that he wears often, in the show. And it is not a canvas Carhartt coat like I thought it was. The jacket Jack wears is made by LL Bean and it is called a barn chore jacket..." And here is a picture of Jack wearing this great-looking, famous jacket.

"So Ronnie starts laughing and tells me that he had just bought a used Jack's jacket, on Ebay." Sandy, Jean, Jon and Tony started laughing. "I was so green with envy I ended up buying one, too—on Ebay and I got it cheaper than Ronnie paid for his. And my Jack's jacket came today, even though it was scheduled to arrive this Friday! Omg, I love it so much and then Ronnie...."

Late this afternoon before coming home, Tony and I dropped by Jim & Joan's beautiful ranch for a fun visit, because we could not wait to see it. Now remember, Jon's twin sisters are Joan & Jean and this is Joan's & Jim's ranch. 

Anyway, their beautiful ranch is totally awesome. Jim & Joan's ranch house is also totally awesome and Tony and I loved how she had decorated it, with Jim's help of course. So Tony and I had a really fun visit with our super-nice neighbors, up on the pass and then we came home. And guess what I did?

Yes, as soon as I had hugged all of our dogs, I grabbed my Jack's jacket, my cowboy hat, bandana and then locked myself, inside the restroom—while hoping and praying that Tony would not knock on the door, because he needed to rest.

Luckily for me Tony was well rested and he never knocked. So three minutes later, after putting on my "outfit" I came out, grabbed my camera and then asked Tony to come outside and take this picture of me—wearing Jack's jacket, so I could e-mail it to Ronnie and get a laugh out of him & Nita.

Tony chuckled about me wearing Jack's jacket, because it was about 80 degrees outside and he knew that soon I would be sweating bullets inside, so to  speak. So my poser-photo-shoot only took us about 1 minute outside. And this is the best picture, out of the fifteen, that Tony took of me wearing my Jack's jacket.

And that is about it for tonight, because I am going to watch Heartland's Season 7: Episodes 10, 11 and maybe 12.

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

The Wonderful Wolfmuellers!

Saturday we had a cold front blow in and I totally loved it, because Tony and I built a fire in the wooden stove—making The Cabin so cozy. And here is a picture of Henry Standing Bear and Belle Starr-Simons relaxing or better said—sleeping and snoring.

I'm so glad that the cold front blew in, because it is probably going to be the last time for us to get to use the wood burning stove until Fall arrives.

Today has been great. This morning Tony and I went to visit Carol and we did a lot of laughing as always.  

After adios-ing Carol we took off to go visit Tony's brother Sam and his sweet wife Stacie. But first we made an intentional, fun pit stop, at the famous Old Timer, which is and always will be The official Heartbeat (Or The Pulse) of Medina, Texas—where everybody knows your name and the latest on what's going on, in Medina. 

I love The Old Timer so much, because it has the best vibes and you can always count on being greeted by Debbie Martin or her friendly, upbeat employees. 

Anyway, I could not wait to see all of the new changes/renovations that sweet Debbie has made to The Old Timer. And get this—when we pulled up, at The Old Timer and got out of Roy (our 2012 Dodge Ram truck) Debbie actually came outside and waved for us to come inside.

When we walked inside the store, Debbie and Melinda greeted us and after hugs and howdies I looked around and I loved what I saw. So I said, "Debbie, I love what you've done to your store. I mean, I have always loved the way it looked inside, but now you've outdone yourself....In fact, I am going to blog about this...."

Then I walked around and started taking pictures of the awesome-looking store, as Tony sat down at a table and visited with Melinda and Debbie. I loved the way Debbie had rearranged the store, with the longer, wider isles and her knack for decorating. And here are a just a few of the pictures that I took.

This is the Old Timer's Wall or as I like to call it— The Wall of Fame and Tony is such a morning regular there, he gets to keep his very own coffee mug, on the shelf, beside the big window.

And when I was at the back of The Old Timer, I took this picture of Debbie talking to Tony, but it is hard to see her, because The Old Timer is so big inside. Anyway, that is Debbie standing in front of the counter and Tony with his back to me, sitting on a bench.

Tone and I had a nice visit with Sam & Stacie and after we adios-ed them my day just kept getting better and better.

When we got back home, Carlton was flashing, on top of my desk. So I pushed his button to hear the message and then I punched in the number to return the call. "Hi Sandy! We just got back home and we would absolutely love for you & Jon to come see us...."

About forty-five minutes later, the wonderful Wolfmuellers arrived and we could not wait to show Sandy & Jon all that we've done to, the inside, of The Cabin, our water catchment system and Tony's keyhole garden area that he is still working on. 

Omg, Sandy & Jon made me feel so great. They loved our finished front porch, the painted red door and "the mud room" that we built last weekend, which is immediately on your left, as you enter The Cabin. They thought our kitchen was too cute and they assured me that they thought that there was no reason whatsoever for me not to have my electric stove, because of the microwave, counter top oven and my Instant Pot. 

When Tony and I started to brag about how much we love our Instant Pot, they laughed, and Sandy said, "Jon's sister Joan just got an Instant Pot and her twin, Jean, wants to get one, too. But I told Jean to just wait awhile, because Joan will probably use hers once and then give it to her...." 

After we gave Jon & Sandy a tour outside, showing them our water harvesting system and Tony's keyhole gardens we returned to the front porch and had a fun visit. And during our conversation I asked them if they had ever eaten, at the Wild Ass Hey Barn. "Yes, we've been there and we love it, too," Sandy said.

"There food there is so delicious," Jon added. And then they told us about the restaurant's super-cool deck, that overlooks the Guadalupe River. "Their Friday Night Catfish Dinner is fabulous, and it is also open Mic night, so you get to listen to some really good music while enjoying the best fried catfish...." 

And that is about it for tonight, because I am going to watch a movie. I don't know which movie I will watch on Netflix of Amazon, but you can be sure it will either be a comedy or a romance movie.

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

Odd-Looking Pie!

Today has been great. The first thing I did this morning, while drinking two cups of delicious Donut Shop coffee, while listening to John Prine and Iris Dement singing In Spite Of Ourselves, one of my favorite songs, was to take down my newly painted, copycat "Restrooms 1mi." sign.

I did this, because I want it, on our front porch Wall of Shame. And after saying, "pretty please" to Tony, I got him to screw it to the siding. So now when our friends come over it will be one of the first things that they see and it will make them laugh.

Since Tony was screwing around, on the front porch, I then asked him to please hang up a license plate for me.

Then Tony started mowing, so I watered my flowers, in the front yard and then took pictures of them.

Well, this afternoon before cooking us lunch I decided that I was no longer on my diet sabbatical and I am totally back on the Weight Watchers wagon, again. It was a very difficult decision for me to make, because we still have four quarts left of that delicious Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream, safely locked inside the Airstream's freezer. 

Please Note: I wrote the above portion of this post after we ate lunch and before I decided to try to make Carol's totally delicious Magnolia Pie recipe. Because the other day I had purchased the Lemon Extract, buttermilk and Pillsbury Pie Crusts, so I could bake her mouth-watering pie.

But my Magnolia pie is different-looking than Carol's pie, because I had to use a square Pyrex dish to bake it in, because it is the only small, deep dish that will fit, inside my countertop Black & Decker Convection oven. 

And I am naming my odd-looking pie—Cousin Nancy's Pie-R-Squared. (π r squared) And here is a picture of it, before we each ate a slice of it. Or should I say, "A square of it?" 

So I guess I will start Weight Watchers tomorrow. Life is good and sweet.

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

Restrooms!

Today has been great. This afternoon Tony and I met our dear friends: Denise & Les and Kris & Jim "The Mineral Man" for lunch, in Kerrville, at a restaurant that Les & Denise had highly recommended, because last month Les told us, "On Friday nights they serve the best catfish that I've ever eaten.

And Denise backed up her husband's statement, and said, "Y'all know that I am not a lover of any kind of fish and rarely eat it, but I ate their catfish too and it was sooooooo delicious...."

So today we met for lunch, at the Wild Ass Hey Barn, located at 101 Rowland Lane, right off of 27, almost to Ingram, near the Guadalupe River.

Omg, I fell in love with this super-cool restaurant even before we went inside it, because I loved this too cute, painted sign. And when we went inside it just kept getting better.

We had the nicest waitress and after she took our orders, I walked around and took a few pictures, because I loved how it was decorated. This place is really as big as a hay barn and it had the best vibes.

To say the least, we had such a great time eating at the Wild Ass Hey Barn and all of us were highly impressed with their delicious food. In fact, we all cleaned our plates.

Before we left the restaurant I needed to go powder my nose and I looked around to find where the restrooms were located and when I saw their hilarious restroom sign I burst out laughing, took this picture and then went to powdering, so to speak. (And please note their super-clean restroom was not actually a mile away, it was just around a corner.)

Before we adios-ed our dear friends, we all agreed that we would definitely be coming back to this Wild Ass Hey Barn restaurant, for another fun and delicious lunch. So, if you have not been to eat, at this restaurant, I highly suggest that you do it.

On our way back to our Big Foot Ranch I could not quit thinking about the restaurant's hilarious, cute, restroom sign. So before we got back, to the ranch, I had already decided that I wanted to make a restroom sign like theirs, because it makes people like me laugh out loud. And I am all about laughing as you well know by now.

Within ten minutes of our arrival, at Big Foot, I had hugged all of our dogs and then I went and found a stained 1"x4" piece of pine and "set up shop," on the kitchen island.

It only took me one hour to make my copycat restroom sign, while I talked to Carol, for twenty minutes, on the Speaker Phone. And after the paint had finally dried, I drilled two holes into the sign, so the wood wouldn't split when Tony screwed it for me, about the kitchen/bedroom door.

Once my sign was screwed permanently above the door, I climbed up on my stepladder and painted the tops of the screws so they wouldn't show. Then I climbed down and stood back and took this picture of it and it made me laugh. Which I am so glad, because our friends will see it as soon as they walk, into The Cabin, and they will laugh, too.

And if anyone asks us, "Is it really a mile away?"

I'll answer, "Yes." And leave it at that.

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

The Squirrel Won Again!

Today has been great and tonight's post is going to be pictures again, with just a few comments. First off, last night and early this morning I made a couple of changes to The Monster and this is what it now looks like.

Then I finally made a tough decision and decided I did not need my electric range, so with Aaron's help we closed in the area where my stove would have gone.

And forty-five minutes later, we finished that project. And then I put our microwave and small convection oven, on the new counter we built and then I put my Instant Pot, on top of the old counter, in the corner and added the toaster.

After Aaron adios-ed us,  I decided to paint a rug for my big bear ottoman to rest on.

And after I finished painting it and had Tony's Lasko hair dryer blowing on it, to make it dry faster, Belle Starr-Simons checked it out, while Little Debbie had another stare-down contest with my squirrel statuary. And needless to say the squirrel won, again.

I took this picture right before our dear friend Fourth arrived and when we showed him our finished kitchen and entry way and he loved it, too.

Then the three of us went outside to greet Carol, because after Fourth had called about dropping by for a visit we decided to invite Carol over too, because she is friends with Fourth and also because I could not wait to show her all we've done since her last visit.

The four of us had a really fun visit, out on the front porch, while the paint fumes were forced out of The Cabin—thanks to our his and her Lasko hair dryers.

After we adios-ed our good friends The Cabin no longer smelled of paint fumes thank goodness, so I closed the front door and took this last picture of our cozy cabin.

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

How All Of It Looks!

We did it and it only took us 1 day and six hours! In my wildest dreams I would have never thought moving our "tool area" and all of its contents would be so time consuming and exhausting. But it was very rewarding.

I am pooped tonight, because Tony and I worked almost all day yesterday and about six hours today, so tonight's blog is all about before, during and after pictures with just a few added comments here and there.

We had all of the tool area scattered all over the kitchen and the big room.

Because I cannot stand a messy house, we worked hard and fast, in hopes that by night fall we would be done. This is "The Monster" on the floor.

I knew the basic design I wanted, but I kept adding boards to split things up a bit.

Tony ate toast for lunch, because our kitchen was a disaster area. And yes, I found a bowl and ate two scoops of Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream.

We've begun covering the walls, with the boards that I had stained around 8:00 AM.

With our finished walls, we were ready to erect the monster we had built.

After we had secured the monster to the wall and I had filled the spaces and shelves, we went over to Carol's barn and grabbed the blue chair and the cedar end table, that Tony and I built over 19 years ago. And I put my carved wooden bear ottoman, that I bought in Ruidoso, New Mexico, twelve years ago—in front of the blue chair.

And please note the three drawers (below the jackets and boots) that Tony and I built, spray painted and attached handles to, late this morning.

Late this afternoon, after I sat down and rested for a few minutes I decided to switch out the flower pots on the cedar end table. Instead of using the turquoise pot, I put my new ivy in one of my favorite navy/off white pots and now I love how all of it looks.

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