Some Days—You Just Can't Win!

Today has been great for several reasons, even though I overslept this morning and had to play catchup. By nine o’clock I was caught up with my chores, and was outside painting the front porch floor with a roller brush. I started at the front door of the screened in porch, and painted up to the steps going into the trailer.

That’s when things began to get a little bit tricky for me. Tony had advised me earlier, as he was stirring up the paint—to paint only one side of the steps so we could get in and out of the trailer, and to also leave an unpainted path on the steps, leading up to our porch—so we wouldn’t get stranded. I heeded his advice and thank goodness I did, because the porch is still not totally dry! I guess that’s because it is an oil base paint, and the humidity today is not helping it dry.

After I had painted all that I could paint, I came inside the trailer and painted a sign for our new screened in porch, and Tony is going to hang it—once the paint dries completely, which hopefully will be in the next few hours. I’ve finally named our screened in porch. Here’s the sign!

Around noon, Tony and I went to Kerrville for some groceries and to run a couple of errands. We first went to Gibsons, so I could buy a new solar dryer—outdoor clothes line. Then Tony treated me to lunch for Mother’s Day—even though I never had any kids. Then we went and bought some groceries.

Our last stop, before returning to the rescue ranch, was at the coolest nursery in all of Texas—The Plant Haus 2! Kinky had told us, a while back, to go there and introduce ourselves to the owner, Karen King, Smith, because he loves her nursery, he likes Karen a lot and it’s the best nursery in all of Texas. Karen is the woman who helped Kinky with his Friedman Family Bone Orchard plants.

Well, Tony needed to buy some organic plant food, so we decided to go there and check it out. To say the least—we were extremely impressed! The place was packed with customers, and Karen was busy, so Tony and I took our own tour of her beautiful nursery. After Karen had checked out her long line of customers—Tony and I introduced ourselves. I felt kinda stupid, but this is what I said, “We work at the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch with Kinky, and he told us to come here and introduce ourselves to you.” That’s when I felt stupid, so I twirled my index finger in the air—like big deal, and then I laughed. “I’m Nancy and this is my husband, Tony.”

“You’re Cousin Nancy!” Karen said. “I’m Karen and I love what y’all are doing. I love dogs. I have five.”

“That’s great!” Tony and I said—in two part harmony. And, then we visited for several minutes talking about dogs. Tony and I liked her.

“Karen,” Tony said. “I’ve got a huge organic, heirloom garden and I need your advice on my tomato and jalapeno plants...”

Karen had lots to say, and she told Tony what products she recommended for our area’s dirt. She was like an encyclopedia on plants and we learned a lot. Then she goes off and grabs a giant sack of Tomato and Jalapeno plant food from a shelf and a large jar of ‘Garretts Juice’—and then she plops them on her counter and says, “I want to give this to y’all for free. It’s the best.”

Tony and I were stunned. “Karen, you don’t have to do that,” I said. “That’s not right—we’ll pay for it. Okay?”

“No, I want to give it to you and that’s that. I insist!” She said, wearing a big friendly smile.

“Karen, I’m gonna blog about this,” I said. “Tony would you go get our camera, please?” Tony went to the car and came back with the camera. “One, two, three!” I took this picture of her and Tony.

I still didn’t feel right about taking her merchandise for free, and then it hit me. I left the inside of the store and went outside and grabbed the cutest metal art turtle, that had caught my eye earlier, then I returned to the inside of the store. “I want to buy this, and you can’t stop me. It’s $29.95 plus tax! I love this turtle.”

“I’ll sell it to you at my cost,” Karen stated, wearing a bigger grin on her face.

“No, Karen,” I said. “Now, that’s—just not right. You’ve got to make a living, and I am sure that you make a good living, but...”

“That’ll be $21.95, please.”

I gave up. I couldn’t win with this woman, so I wrote her a check for $21.95. “Thank you, Karen,” I said. “Do you have a business card that I can have?” She handed me two cards, and then Tony and I left her incredibly great nursery and headed home—with a big metal turtle resting on my lap.

On our drive back, I looked at Karen’s card. “Oh my gosh!” I said. “Tony, Karen is a Texas Master Certified Nurseryman! That’s why she knows so much about plants. I’ll bet you, that she is a Libra or a Cancer. Trust me, I will find out the next time we go there! And, that’ll be real soon, too.”

Tony just smiled and kept on driving.

P.S. Kristine sent me an e-mail—Sheba, Orion and Dennis Hopper arrived in Chicago and they are doing great! Kristine and Paul Banks, we love y'all! Thanks for helping us!