Monday, October 27, 2008

True Love!

In the wee hours of the morning, Doug Everett and his fabulous crew, began cooking their authentic chuck wagon dinner, to be served later in the day, for over two hundred and forty people!

Saturday, at five in the morning, Tony and I were up! We fed our dogs and cat, and then T. took off to Medina to drink coffee with his friends. While he was away, I made Kinky’s giant birthday card, so everyone at the event could sign it! It looked okay, but it was not the best that I could do—after a sleepless night in Medina. After that, I dusted and vacuumed the trailer—just in case someone had to come inside!

When Tony returned around 7:45, I fixed him and Ben and me breakfast. Ben had spent the night in my writing cabin with his two dogs, Valerie and Penny. After breakfast, Ben went over to Kinky’s to help set up things.

When Tony and Aaron had finished feeding the dogs and cleaning their pens, they clipped on our walkie talkies, and went over to help Ben out. Then I grabbed a drinking glass, from the kitchen cabinet, and wrote the word ‘LOVE’ on it, and then I filled it with water. Then I took another aspirin for my heart, and then drank another glass of ‘worded water.’ I then said a few silent prayers for the event, and then I headed over to Kinky’s. By the time I had parked Trigger—I was filled with love, thanks to M. Emoto’s books—on the power of water! It really does work—I promise!

While Aaron and Ben set up the benches for the concert, A.J. Agiewich, Ben’s business merchandising partner, showed up, and he began setting up their merchandise tables, while Debora busily set up the items for the silent auction in the Gazebo.

After Tony and I had swept the leaves off of the Pavilion floor, the men went to fill the ice chests up with ice, and the water jugs, so I skipped over to the Lodge to see Kinky. His Lodge was full—everyone was in the kitchen and the vibes were great! His sweet sister, Marcie, who had flown in from Vietnam, for the event, was there, and the incredibly talented photographer, Brian Kanof, from El Paso, was there, too, with his better half—Jackie, and Jerome was there from Pasadena, Texas to help us! After a short visit with everyone, I left. I was on my way back to the rescue ranch to get ready, just as Dylan and Sage Ferrero arrived! They are our friends and had volunteered to help out with the parking over at Kinky’s.

By eleven thirty, our great friends and volunteers, Copper Love and Max Swafford were set up, outside of the rescue ranch, ready to greet our guests, and invite them to take a tour of the rescue ranch first, before going over to Kinky’s. Then our friends and wonderful volunteers, Carol Vail and Charlie Cooper arrived to help Tony and me give rescue ranch tours. Then Tony and Aaron arrived to help! We were ready for the event to start—let the fun begin!

At 12:00, Tony opened our rescue ranch gate, and the cars started arriving, and the nicest people on the planet, began walking into our rescue ranch—full of love and smiles and compliments! I don’t know if it was because I had drank those two glasses of ‘love worded water,’ that I saw things through rose-colored glasses, but all I know for sure was—love was definitely in everyone’s hearts! I loved it! Here are some pictures, that Tony and I took of the event! I wish that all of y’all could have been there!

Kinky giving tours of the rescue ranch!

Our dear friends, Dianne and Len Nowicki, showed up, and surprised me with a beautiful turtle for my birthday! It was absolutely gorgeous, and poor Len had to carry, the thirty pound turtle, all the way in! I love it and I plan to put it into Outer Space tomorrow! I gave them a tour of my Space Ship, and then we went into Outer Space for a fun visit! I love those two people!

“Welcome to the rescue ranch!” I said. “I’m Cousin Nancy. Where are y’all from?”

“California. I am Keith O., and this is my friend Jimmy, from San Antonio.”

“Keith?” I said. “Oh my gosh—I finally get to meet you in person, after all of these years!” We hugged and Tony shook hands with them. Then I invited them to go into Outer Space with me, for a visit!

Then our friend, Matt, from Austin, arrived with his latest pictures of Albert Einstein, a dog that we had rescued years ago! And, he joined us in Outer Space! It was a lot of fun and filled with laughter!

Here is a picture of the Gazebo full of items for the silent auction!

A picture of the people in line for their chuck wagon dinner! And, it was absolutely delicious and Kinky could not get over how great it was! He wants to use them again, for our future events!



Here is a picture that Tony took of Carol and Ben talking, with me in the background!

The concert:


P.S. After the concert, when I met Jimmie Dunn and his lovely wife, Nelda, from Arkansas, he confessed that he reads my blog, which absolutely delighted me! Then when he told me that he now has every book that Kinky has written, and his collection was now complete, because he had just bought a copy of “The Missing Puppet Head,” which is only available at Wolfmueller’s Books, where he had also purchased the fantastic book, “The Kinky Files,” the day before! I smiled, and then introduced him to the talented author, Max Swafford, who had written, “The Kinky Files”— because he was standing right behind us!

P.S.S. Love is definitely all you need—and it truly works! Thanks to everyone who came out to help us out on Saturday, and to everyone who has supported us through the years ! I love y’all so much! Have a great evening—I’m headed to bed, now—it’s past my bedtime! Good Night!

6 comments:

Judy Green said...

Wow. Thanks so much, Nancy for sharing the great pictures and a rundown of the day's events. Looks like all who attended had a really wonderful time!

Anonymous said...

many were with y'all in spirit. perfect that it was perfect! beautiful.......to many more, with love

DY_Goddess said...

Good morning Nancy,
What a wonderful day you had, sounds like everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. I love your photos too! I had a little ache in my heart that I couldn't be there. So, I just hugged Kris Kristofferson and gave him a big kiss on his furry face and felt better right away ; ))

So glad it went well and hope to be there at a future event.

F. xo

P.S. I'm intrigued by your reference to M. Emoto's books, I'll have to look into that.

Dr. Mary Kennedy said...

Thanks for sharing these wonderful pictures, Nancy. I heard about your work at Bouchercon...it's good to know that so many writers are also big-time animals lovers. If you need autographed copies of books for next year's silent auction, I'll be glad to donate some. And I've got lots of writer pals who would be happy to donate them...I can collect them for you. Thanks for all the amazing work you do for the animals...mary kennedy www.marykennedy.net

KeithO said...

Cousin Nancy--The highlight of the weekend was getting to meet you! What an honor to be allowed to spend some time in Outer Space with you. Jimmy and I had a great time and made a new friend in Matt--we even met in Austin for lunch on Sunday and he brought Einstein along to meet us. The Ranch Roundup was a wonderful day surrounded by kind people and great dogs (is there another kind?). You can't really ask for much more. Thanks to you, Tony, Kinky, and all the volunteers. Thank you all for an inspiring day.

With Love From California,
Keith

theothernancy said...

Dear Cousin Nancy,

Just wanted to thank you and Tony and Kinky for hosting a most extraordinary event that we enjoyed SO much! The Rescue Ranch is a piece of Heaven and the three of you, along with all your helpers and volunteers, (thanks, Charlie Cooper!) are angels for helping so many furry friends.

I'm reading "The Road to Utopia" right now, which I purchased at the round up and I absolutely love every story of every rescue.

Anyway, thanks again for such a great time and I am in hopes that you all can do it again next year. We'll certainly be there!

Fondly,

"The other" Nanci, from Dallas

P.S. The minute I can get to a place that will allow me to have a dog, I'll be on your doorstep. :)