Magnum, PI!

This morning after breakfast, I decided to start my Fall walking program, because yesterday, Ben had told me that it was safe to walk now—because the snakes were slowing down and going into hibernation. So, after cleaning up the breakfast dishes, I put on a hooded sweatshirt, grabbed my iPod and ear plugs, put the lanyard which is attached to my stopwatch around my neck, and then left the trailer.

When I reached the barn, I told Aaron, Ben and Tony that I was officially starting my walking program—three miles everyday! “Tony, I am going to be walking north on the road and I think it would be best if I took a walkie-talkie with me—just in case.”

“They aren’t charged,” Tony said.

“Just in case of what?” Ben asked.

“Just in case I see a snake, a mountain lion, a coyote or fall down.”

“Why aren’t you taking your new walking poles, Nance?” Ben asked.

“Oh my gosh, I forgot about them. Tony, I am going to take Kermit up to the trailer and get them. I will be right back!” I climbed into Kermit and went to get my walking poles that I had purchased last Spring at Wal Mart.

When I returned Kermit to the barn, Tony adjusted my poles, then the guys told me to have fun. I clicked my stopwatch, put my ear plugs into my ears, turned on my iPod, set it to play my ‘Walking’ playlist, then I took off walking, as I listened to “Magic Bus” by the Who. I love that song!

I had only walked about three songs when, yes, right there in the middle of the road was a young, one foot long, blackish-gray snake! I stopped dead in my tracks—it didn’t move, so I quickly sidestepped around it. When I looked back, it was still in the same place, and hadn’t moved. Then when I crossed the bridge, a small red lizard ran quickly between my feet, which startled me, too.

I was sick that I had seen the snake, and by the time I reached the one and a half mile mark, I was scared to walk back, but I did. I was thirty-seven minutes into my walk, when I heard the sound of Kermit! Within thirty seconds Tony pulled up. “I just wanted to check on you, to make sure you were okay,” Tony said.

I hopped into Kermit. “Tony, I am so glad that you came to check on me!” Then I told him about the snake and the lizard.

“I didn’t see any snake in the middle of the road. Are you sure you saw a snake?”Tony asked. Then he turned Kermit around and we headed back to the ranch. “Tony, please slow down, we are getting close to where I saw the snake.” Tony slowed down and we watched the road as we slowly moved forward.

“Stop! There it is!” I said. Tony stopped Kermit. “It has moved Tony! It was literally in the middle of the road when I saw it earlier.” Tony took one of my walking poles, got out of Kermit, and walked up to the twelve inch long snake. He touched it with the pole and it moved slowly, but did not try to strike. Tony then lifted up the snake, using the pole and carried it to the side of the road, and released it into the brush.

“It is just a young grass snake, Nance,” Tony said. “They can’t hurt you.” Then we drove back to the rescue ranch.

“The Germans are coming! The Germans are coming! Nance, Tone—call me! Call Kinky!” Is what I heard, when I checked my messages on the answering machine. I called Kinky to find out, that some Germans were coming out to interview Kinky for a major German magazine, and he wanted to make sure that Tony, Ben and I would be around, in case they wanted a tour of the rescue ranch. I told him we would be around.

It was getting close to lunch time. I decided to make soup and zucchini bread for us. I found a cream of mushroom soup recipe from my ‘Fannie Farmer’ cookbook, and decided to give it a try. I first made the zucchini bread recipe, in my Vita-Mix machine, and then put it into the oven, to cook for an hour. Then Tony and Ben walked inside the trailer to tell me they were starving.

I gave them two choices. “We are having zucchini bread with cream of mushroom soup. I just put the bread into the oven and it will take an hour to cook. We can either wait for the bread to bake or I can fix the soup right now, and we will be eating in five minutes or less.” They chose the five minutes or less menu.

Using my Vita -Mix machine, again, after cleaning it, I threw all of the ingredients for the soup into it, switched it to high and four minutes later, I stirred in the heavy cream and one minute later, we were enjoying the best organic cream of mushroom soup! It was delicious! Tony and Ben loved it, and Tony filled his bowl twice!

While I was cleaning up the kitchen, Tony and Ben started watching an old rerun of Magnum, PI on the television. During the commercial breaks, we talked about Tom Selleck and what a great actor he is and was, the characters, etc. When the show was nearly over, I realized that Ben was just like Magnum—his mannerisms, the way he talks to people, etc. “Ben you are Magnum PI! I can’t believe this.” We all started laughing. Then the oven bell rang—the zucchini bread was ready to come out of the oven!

While they watched the show, I pulled the bread out of the oven, set it down on the drain broard. I then flipped the bread pan upside down onto my cutting board, and nothing happened. The bread was stuck! I found a kitchen knife, and began to lift the pan slowly, and the bread fell out—or should I say—half of it did. When I lifted up the pan, half of the bread was stuck to the pan—I had half a loaf! It was two inches high! Something had gone wrong with my recipe! Tony and Ben came over to inspect the bread. Ben tried to cut a slice, but it fell apart. “I think it is under cooked, Nance,” Ben announced.

Tony then tried to cut a slice, “It tastes good, but the consistency is like pudding.” We laughed (even though, deep inside my heart I was crushed—just kidding).

Disappointed that it had turned out bad, I laughed and said, “Fine! I’m calling it Cousin Nancy’s Zucchini Bread Pudding! Grab a bowl and a get a spoon!”

After we ate the so-called bread, the three of us went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky.