The First Date!

Today has been great. This morning our dear friends/volunteers came out to walk our dogs for us and so did sweet Marguerite and Scout.

Marguerite and I first took our pups to meet and play, in the pink cabin's front yard. When we first unleashed our dogs they took off in opposite directions and it must have taken about ten minutes before Scout and Henry started sniffing each other. It was hilarious, because neither of them wanted to play together.

Then Marguerite started tossing Scout's super cool toys, in the yard, for them to chase, in hopes that would get them to playing with each other, but it didn't. So Marguerite and Scout sat down at the picnic table and then she picked up Henry, and Scout and Henry basically ignored each other, except for a couple of kisses they gave each other on their noses.
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So we decided to take Scout and Henry for a walk down to the creek and that was a lot of fun, because it was fun watching our pups stop and sniff everything on their path. When we got to the creek Henry walked into the cool water, about up to his ankles and then he just stood there like a furry statue, while Scout cautiously stuck her toe into the water. And the funny thing is both of our dogs liked each other, but neither one of them seemed interested in playing with each other.

A little while later, all of us took off for the Apple Store, in Medina, because everyone wanted to eat their delicious Friday Catfish Special. And while we were eating lunch, a very nice man showed up and he started setting up his musical equipment outside, near our tables and few minutes later, when the musician began to sing a tune it really got Henry's attention—big time. 

And once again, like a furry statue, Henry Standing Bear just stood there, next to our table, watching and listening to the man sing and it truly mesmerized him. And the next thing Henry did was lay down, in front of the friendly musician and just stare up at him. Seriously, a beautiful Poodle could have walked past him and flirted with him and Henry would not have noticed her, because he was so focused on watching the man play his guitar and listening to his music.

Henry caused the nice musician to smile and laugh, after he had finished singing his first tune and it made all of us laugh, too. Then the man took a break and visited with all of us and we mainly talked about our dogs and Henry's fondness for music.

"I have to warn you about Scout," Marguerite said, followed by a chuckle. "For some reason when Scout hears musicians sing—she always starts singing/howling with them. And I am glad that she didn't try to harmonize with you when you were singing."

That made the man laugh, and say, "That's fine with me. I'm used to it. In fact, over the years I've made several dogs howl when I play my music."

When it was time for us to leave, I got up to go pay our bill inside, and Marguerite said, "You don't have to do that. I've already taken care of our lunch...."

So before I finish writing this tonight, I want to say, "Thank you, Marguerite for treating us to a fun, delicious, catfish lunch and for bringing your sweet Scout out to play with Henry, even though they didn't really play together. I think that they must of had the first date jitters and as all of us know—blind dates can be a little bit scary."

Y'all have a great evening! 

Scout Is Coming Out!

Yesterday was uneventful even though we are in F.M.T. (Full Moon Time) again. And the reason that I didn't write anything last night was because we spent the entire day mowing and weed-eating. I push-mowed ten dog pens, two alleys and our backyard and Tony mowed our front yard, the pink cabin's front yard and then he spent the rest of his time weed-eating, because our weed-eater is too big and weighs too much for me to handle.

When we finished up yesterday evening both of our backs were aching and I was just too tired to write anything about my day, because in my opinion, mowing and weed-eating isn't all that interesting.

Today has been great, because this morning I only mowed one alley, because we had to take off, for Kerrville, to run a few errands. Our first stop was at Wild Birds Unlimited, so Tony could buy some more birdseed. While we were at this super, good-vibes store we had a fun visit with Marguerite and Kevin.

And before we adios-ed our good friends to go run some more errands, Marguerite and I made an official play-date,  scheduled for tomorrow morning, so she can bring her Scout out to play with our Henry Standing Bear, because both of our puppies are so full of energy.

I know that Henry will have a blast playing with Scout, because Roy, Belle, Beau, Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) don't like to play with Henry very long, because he can be a little too rambunctious with them and he still doesn't realize that it hurts when he bites them with his super-sharp puppy teeth.

Anyway, it will be good for Henry to socialize with someone outside his family and so close to his own age and it will be good for Tony and me to socialize with someone close to our own age, too. And the best part is that Marguerite is so sweet—we know that she doesn't bite anyone.

So tomorrow morning is going to be a lot of fun, because Marguerite and Scout will be here, along with our many dear friends/volunteers. And I am hoping that Marguerite and I will have enough time to get to take Henry and Scout for a stroll, down to the creek, so our pups can play in the cool, clear water. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Sign! Rest In Peace Bob! or Harry! or Tattered Volunteers!

Today has been great. This morning I had an important meeting, in Outer Space with Lee, a future Eagle Scout.

After the meeting, Tony and I took off in Trigger to go to Billie Gene's Restaurant, in Kerrville, because we had a lunch date with our dear friend Jim, The Mineral Man. We were the first to arrive and when we climbed out of Trigger, I looked up and started laughing. "What's so funny?" Tony asked.

I pointed up towards Billie Gene's latest, hilarious sign and then Tony started laughing, too. "Billie Genes and Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic have the best signs in town!" I said. "I love them because they always make me laugh out loud."

 

Tony and I had a really fun lunch with Jim. Jim and I ordered the exact same thing, The Special and Tony ordered catfish which were all totally delicious. 

While we were eating, we spotted a couple, dining outside on the deck, with their beautiful Cockatoo. So I grabbed my cell phone and snapped these pictures of the couple sharing their lunch with their feathered friend.

After our fun lunch with Jim, we went to the big H-E-B, to pick up a few groceries. Then we took off to go vote, because we are big fans of early voting. Then we came back home.

When we got back home Carlton was flashing on top of the breakfast bar, but I ignored him, because I wanted to take my new, bigger Bob outside and put him inside my pretty, pink writing cabin, until we use him in our upcoming Longmire—Texas Style video spoof. 

You see the other day after Bob had arrived safely, from the International UFO Museum, in Roswell, New Mexico, Tony blew him up partially for me and then he stopped, because Bob was already nearly standing six feet tall. So I decided to put Bob in my office for safe keeping, but because Bob was already so big and taking up way too much Space I made the decision, the other day, to keep Bob, inside my cabin. Here are a few pictures of my new Bob.

After I put Bob to bed to rest in peace, I came back inside and pushed Carlton's button, and heard an old, familiar voice say, "Hey Cousin Nancy, this is a voice from your past. This is Harry Barnard and I am calling you, because...." Then I immediately picked up the receiver and punched in Harry's phone number.

"Hi Harry! Oh my goodness, it is so great to hear from you! How in the world are you and Wanda doing? And where are y'all?...." I had the best time talking to my dear, eighty-something-year-old friend Harry. We laughed and talked about life and what all we've been up to. And talking to Harry today really did make my day more than great.

Harry is an awesome friend of ours and so is Wanda, his super, sweet wife that has one of the cutest laughs I've ever heard. Kinky, Tony and I have known Harry & Wanda for over twenty some odd years and we love and adore this couple. So you can imagine just how great it was to talk to Harry today.

Harry is an amazing man and one of the kindest and smartest people that I've ever known. He studied history at Florence State College, the University of Alabama and Harvard University. A member of four honorary scholastic societies, he held fellowships at the University of Alabama and Harvard. Before going to Rutgers University, where he served on the faculty of the Graduate School of Education and he also served as Clerk of the Sub-Committee on Special Education of the U.S. Congress and was also a professor at the University of Missouri. And he is also an incredibly talented author.

In 1964, Harry wrote Tattered Volunteers: The Twenty-Seventh Alabama Infantry Regiment, C.S.A. "It is more than an exciting story. It is a detailed and documented record of brave men. Such a mass of records has seldom before been made available in one book."

"The book tells the story of the Twenty-seventh in the words of the men who served in it, from the official records of the Confederate and the Union armies, and from the service records of the men who served in the regiment." And Tony and I have a signed copy of Harry's fabulous book, which is now considered to be a rare book and we cherish it as much as we do our friendship with Harry & Wanda. "We love you, Harry & Wanda! And tell Kathy & Jim that we said, Howdy!"

So once again—Life is Good.

Y'all have a great evening!

Cool Breeze!

Today has been great. Early this morning, James, the super nice owner of Cool Breeze AC and Heating, who our dear friends Kris & Jim highly recommended we try, came out to fix our furnace for us, because for the past two days we've been doing without heat. And thank goodness, this past week it has been so warm that we haven't really needed to heat The Cabin.

Tony and I instantly liked James when he arrived and we're so glad that Jim & Kris recommended him to us. After we had introduced ourselves and Tony had told told James about our furnace not turning on—James immediately went to work. 

Within four minutes James found the problem. The igniter thing had a crack in it and that's why our furnace would not come on to heat our trailer. After James told us about needing to replace the part, he took off to Kerrville to go pick up the igniter part. And one hour later, James had our furnace running like a charm.

When James presented his bill to me I about fell over, because his charges were more than fair and at least half of what I had expected to pay him for the replacement part and his professional/friendly services. So, if any of y'all ever need to get your air conditioner or heater repaired I highly recommend that you call James, at Cool Breeze AC and Heating, because Kris & Jim and us are totally convinced that he is the very best in the Texas Hill Country.

And that's about it for now, because I am fixin' to go over to Kinky's so we can take a hike with The Friedmans. And while we are hiking I plan to tell him all about James, so the next time that Kink has a problem with his air conditioning unit—he'll make sure to call James, at Cool Breeze AC and Heating.

Y'all have a great evening!

Why We Love the Bandera County Courier So Much!

This afternoon when we picked up our mail, I found a great surprise when I started reading the Bandera County Courier. On the front page of the Hill Country Living section, on the bottom left side of the page, under the heading TLC your Pets, was printed Sassy has left the building. And it is a wonderfully, written story by Judith Pannebaker, about Sassy & Big Foot aka Miss Moneypenny & Henry Standing Bear.

And you can read their story by clicking here. Tony and I love the story and I want to thank Judith Pannebaker for writing it and including the pictures, Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and Julie Griffith of Breeders Select Pet Transport who helped us get Miss Moneypenny to Fay & Ian! "Judith, this is just one more reason why we love the Bandera County Courier so much! And just so you and your faithful readers will know—Tony and I have adopted Big Foot and have officially changed his name to Henry Standing Bear, named in honor of Lou Diamond Phillips' character, in Netflix's Longmire series."

Y'all have a great day and evening!

Oscar!

This morning has been great. Tony's sweet sister Annie came out this morning to see us and we are going to take her to lunch, at the Koyote Grill. Then Tony and Annie are going to go take pictures of wildlife, while I do some paperwork.

My dear friend Mari sent me this quote by Oscar Hammerstein and I absolutely love it, because it is words to live by. In fact, I've already printed it out and put it on our fridge, to remind me everyday to practice this.

I'm not worried about my singing scaring Tony, because he has selective hearing, but sadly my singing out loud might frighten our four-legged fur family. Here's the quote:

A bell is no bell 'til you ring it,


A song is no song 'til you sing it,


And love in your heart
 Wasn’t put there to stay -


Love isn’t love
 'Til you give it away.


~ Oscar Hammerstein

Carrot-cature!

Today has been great. But last night I had a horrible dream that the carrots that we fed to Henry Standing Bear yesterday— turned him orange. And he looked something like this.

But fortunately, it was just a bad dream. Henry's fine. And that's about it for tonight, because Kinky and I are fixin' to go on a hike with The Friedmans. "Come Henry! I've got another carrot to give to you!"

Y'all have a great evening!