Get Into The Woods! or Yes, It's In A Jar!

Yesterday around three-thirty Tony walked inside the trailer and said, "Sherry's pet deer is over here and she won't leave." Then he picked up the phone and punched in Robert and Sherry's, our great neighbors,  phone number and he left a message to let them know one of their Axis deer was over here. Then we went outside to find it, but we didn't have to go far because it was standing at our front yard gate.

"Oh Tony, she's absolutely beautiful," I said, as I petted her.

"I think her name is Rose," T. said, as he began petting her too. "She's not scared of dogs because she plays with Robert and Sherry's dogs. You should have seen her trying to play with Rocky and Lucy a minute ago."

"Tony, if you will get me a bucket of corn I will be glad to try to walk her back over to Sherry and Robert's." Five minutes later Rosie and I walked out of the rescue ranch with Kermit and Tony slowly following.

When we reached the creek Rose drank some water and then we climbed the hill and then she went into the forest near the corral. "Come on Rosie were halfway there. Come on girl," I said, trying to coax her to come out of the woods. Finally after ten minutes of trying to get Rose to follow me, we decided to give up and that's when we heard the loud sound of rolling thunder, but it wasn't thunder in the skies—it was five horses stampeding towards us!

"Get into the woods!" Tony said, as the ground trembled beneath us and the six horses, about twenty feet away from us, ran at breakneck speed past us.

"I wonder what that was all about?" I said, as the horses began slowing to a walk.

"Something must have spooked them," Tone said, as he poured out some corn for Rosie on the road, that leads to the corral, so she wouldn't follow us back to the rescue ranch.

"Maybe so, but they're headed our way now. They must have smelled the corn. Why don't you give them some corn, so they don't follow us home too." After T. poured out the corn for the horses we jumped into Kermit and came home.

When we came inside the trailer I checked Carlton to see if we had any new messages. "Tony and Nancy, this is Sherry. Robert just left to go find her. Bye."

About an hour or so later Tony went outside and Rosie was back, standing at our front yard gate again, so he came back inside and called Sherry to tell her that Rosie was back and she told T. that they would be over in just a minute to get her.

A few minutes later, while we petted Rosie near our gate, Rosie's ears pricked when she heard the sound of their pickup coming. When they pulled up I joked, "I think Rose loves our rescue ranch or else she came back to get rescued. I love this deer."

"Her name is Bentley," Sherry said. "We just recently rescued her and...Come on Bentley. Let's go home." Bentley didn't budge. "Bentley, come on girl." Bentley didn't move and just stared at Sherry. Robert and Tony started laughing. "Now Bentley, come on girl."

"I guess we could use her as a statue in front of our trailer," I joked. "A living statue that is."

Five minutes later Sherry had gotten Bentley to take a few steps and then T. jokingly suggested that they put her inside their pickup to take her home. Then after a funny remark from Robert we started laughing, as the deer stood there staring at us.

Then Sherry and Robert decided that he would pick Bentley up and put her into the back of their truck to ride home with Sherry, so she wouldn't be scared.

But that didn't work out because the two times Robert put Bentley in the truck bed with Sherry—Bentley would leap out and that's when I said, "Hey, why don't y'all borrow one of our big dog cages?"

"We've got a big one that I know she will fit it." Tony said. "I'll go get it." Then he jumped into Trigger and took off. Five minutes later Robert lifted Bentley and put her into our giant dog cage and then we adios-ed each other and they drove away.

Around 7:30 last night some friends that Tony had grown up with in Medina, Judy Eoff and her sister Dusty Scovel, who was visiting her from New Mexico, came out to visit us in Outer Space and Tony and I really enjoyed seeing them. We laughed a lot and around dark-thirty we made them promise, before leaving, to come back and visit us soon.

Today has been pretty quiet. Late this afternoon Kinky called, "Nance, do y'all have any peanut butter?"

"Yes, we do."

"I'm nearly out. Can I borrow some?" Then he started laughing. "I mean, can you give me some."

"Sure, I can put some in a baggie and bring it over to you right now." Kinky started laughing again.

"Put some in a baggie? Why? Don't you have it in a jar?" Then I started laughing.

"Yes, it's in a jar, but Tony and I like our peanut butter and the jar's nearly full and we don't want to be without peanut butter and that's why I suggested putting it into a baggie."

"I still have a little left in my jar, so just bring your jar and we'll put some into my jar."

Kinky greeted us at his gate, when we pulled up in Trigger and the first thing I did when we went inside the Lodge was transfer some of our crunchy peanut butter into Kinky's almost empty crunchy peanut butter jar. Then he quickly made himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, grabbed his coffee and sat down at the kitchen table and Tony and I had a fun visit with him as he ate his PB&J sandwich.

"Ronnie called me yesterday about a clip on tuner. He just got one and he loves it and he said it makes it so easy to tune his guitars."

"I used one once. They are odd looking, but they are great."

"Well, that is good to know because I bought two of them yesterday. One for me and one to give to Ben. I can get you one if you want me to."

"Yes, please do. It would be great for me to have when I'm out on the road." After we had helped Kink fill his many Hummingbird feeders and had talked about his upcoming scheduled dates and "Don" not giving us any rain as promised by the weathermen, we adios-ed each other and Trigger brought us home and first thing I did was get online and buy Kinky a Snark 2. 

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us!

Snark! or The Being!

Continued from yesterday...

Yesterday after Tony and I ate lunch we started tearing out the old floor boards in the hallway, so we could replace them with new ones and an hour later we were disappointed because we had run out of new pine boards, but the good news was we had replaced over half of the hallway and the new part really looked pretty.

Around two o'clock Ronnie called me and he was all excited. "Nance, I just bought this new guitar tuner and it  so easy to use. You just clip it on and..."

"Ronnie, I already have three electronic tuners and I still have a hard time tuning my guitar."

"I know me too. I found out about this tuner the other night when I went over to play some music with Jerry and Tom. Jerry had just bought one and he told me to try it and oh my god, Nance—it was so simple to tune. It's called a Snark 2 and they're cheap. We're talkin' $12.95 and the shipping is free!"

"They're called a what?" I asked. Then he spelled it out for me. "Okay, Ron. I'll get one."

"I promise that you are going to love it. And Tony can use it too on your mandolin. Whoops, Nance. I've got to take this call. You take care. Bye." Then he hung up before I could adios him.

Because Ronnie had gotten me so excited about this Snark 2 tuner I immediately got on my laptop computer and went to eBay and even though the Snark 2 was pretty weird looking I bought two of them, because they were so cheap. Then I made a phone call.

"Hello. This is Ben."

"OMG, Ben! Ronnie just called and you're not going to believe this..." Then I told him what all Ronnie had said about the Snark 2 tuner.

"Sounds cool, Nance," Ben said.

"I know."

"But what did you say it was called?"

After I spelled it out for him I said, "I just bought two off of eBay and one has your name on it."

"Well, thank you, Nance, but you shouldn't have." Then we caught up with each other's news and then I told him about our musician friend Monk Burris coming out to play some music with us in about an hour and that he was bringing his Martin guitar to prove once and for all to me that my guitar, that Ronnie built for me back in 2002, really does out play his expensive Martin and that mine has better sound, too. "That's really cool, Nance. Your guitar is so awesome. I know it will out play his Martin..."

Forty-five minutes later Monk arrived with guitar in hand. After howdies and hugs he and I grabbed some bar stools from our breakfast bar and then he tuned his guitar to mine and then handed me his guitar and grabbed mine and we started pickin' and grining'.

His Martin was beautiful and had great sound, but I had to finally admit to Monk that mine did sound so much better and was easier to play. "See, I told you so," Mark teased. I'm serious, Nancy. If I did a blindfold test and played my Martin and then Ronnie's—I'd pick yours..."

"I'm afraid I would to," I said. "I always get such a kick out of it when I tell people that my brother built my guitar for me, because I get this funny look from them like it must be a piece of junk. But, when they start playing it—they get totally blown away and cannot believe that Ronnie built it! In fact, Kinky has asked me several times to please will him my guitar, in case I die before him."

"I want it," Monk said. "Will it to me. Please." Then we started laughing.

Around 5:30 Monk and I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and it was fun. After Kinky, Monk and I had talked about guitars, politics and his recent tour in Australia Monk told us about he and his wife Lynn last week watching one of their old videos they had recently found packed away in a box, starring Ruth Buzzi, her husband Kent Perkins and Kinky—"The Being!" And Monk had us laughing non-stop as he described the movie and the scenes that Ruthie, Kent and Kinky were in, so on our way to the rescue ranch, in Kermit, Monk told me that he is going to send me a copy of the movie "The Being" and I can't wait to watch it since I never knew about that movie.

Today has been interesting because it involved a funny encounter with an Axis deer, a horse stampede and this evening in Outer Space we had so much fun visiting with T.'s dear old high school friends Dusty and her sister Judy, but since it is late I will write about it tomorrow, because I need some extra beauty sleep.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for "Don" to come visit us in the Hill Country and help break our drought.

To Be Continued...

Best Book Signing That I've Ever Been To! or The Art Of Racing To Hayden's Book Signing!

Well, I didn't lie. This morning Tony and I got up really early and we did our morning chores outside when the sun peaked over the high bluff behind our trailer, to shed some light on us and our dogs, pigs and even the deer, that we feed year round, seemed a little confused by our early morning start. Then we came inside and ate breakfast and then cleaned up and dressed for Hayden Hickner's very first book signing in Medina.

Our dear friend Sandy Wolfmueller arrived around 8:15, so we could visit a little, before we went to Hayden's book signing and during that time we gave Kinky a wake up call, I loaned Sandy a couple of my Leslie Sansone workout videos to sample while we listened to Clint Morgan's fabulous CD.

When it was time for us to leave we decided to ride with Sandy, so we could visit some more and leave Trigger parked down by Highway 16, so when coming back she could just drop us off at the road instead of driving the 2.5 miles back in to the ranch. I sat in the passenger front seat, which was a big mistake and T. sat in the backseat.

Halfway to Medina, Sandy, who was driving like a Nascar wannabe race car driver, suddenly slowed down her fast moving mini-van Pace Car, because of a big, slow driving, tow truck that was hauling a big black, wrecked Ram pickup on a trailer and then she scared the heck out of me when she suddenly pushed the pedal-to-the-metal, swerved into the left lane and passed the tow truck on the narrow two lane highway—just twelve inches away from me.

"Good grief, Sandy!" I said, nervously clenching my hands and looking around for Jon's crash helmet to put on my head. "I didn't know that you drive like a bat out of h*%$ too!" Then she and Tony burst out laughing. "I think that I am going to have to rethink Patty's and our upcoming day trip to Whole Foods and Target, in San Antone. Maybe we should just stay home and shop online together."

Then Sandy jokingly tried to defend her unsafe driving. "Nancy, it was a passing lane for goodness sakes and I was only going fifty-five  miles per hour and that tow truck was going thirty-miles per hour."

"Nancy drives like an old lady, Sandy. And she never passes anyone," Tony said, in Sandy's defense. "She gets nervous if I drive over forty miles per hour. I think it is another Fort Worth thing."

"That's sort of true, Tony," I said, "but if that tow truck had swerved, just a little to the left, I wouldn't be here anymore and y'all would miss me. I hope." Then we laughed about it the rest of the way to Medina.

Hayden Hickner's book signing was so wonderful! When we arrived at the library it was packed with people, so before the book signing started we visited with Andy Hickner, Hayden's father and Garnet Sheffield, our dear friend from Utopia and some of the friendly staff at the Medina Community Library. Here is a picture I took of Garnet with her adorable dog Chiquita.

When the book signing started, outside on the library's beautiful back patio, Andy proudly introduced Hayden and then he thanked everyone for coming to it.

Then he introduced Hayden's Special Education teacher and she told us about why Hayden had written his book. Then Hayden read his lovely, beautiful illustrated book, The Bear & the Bee's, while his pretty sister turned the pages on an enlarged book, so the crowd could see, and it nearly made me tear up, because I was so happy and proud of this talented young man. And during Hayden's reading Kinky arrived through a back door and stood with us as we listened to Hayden.

When the incredibly great book signing ended, Kinky and I purchased T-shirts with Hayden's book cover on the front of it and then we bought his book, which Hayden later signed for us. Then I took this picture of Kinky, Hayden and Andy.

Following the best book signing that I've ever been to, Kinky, Sandy, Tone and I went to the Highway 16 Cafe, next door, so Kinky and Sandy could eat breakfast and I was surprised when T. ordered a breakfast taco since we had already eaten breakfast.

After Candace had served Kinky his huevos rancheros with beans and flour tortillas, that looked delicious and Tony's and Sandy's breakfast tacos—they dug in and started eating, as I sat back in my chair and sipped on my unsweetened iced tea, we talked about Hayden's book and what a great book signing it had been. 

During their breakfast several people walked up to our table and introduced themselves to Kinky and told him about having voted for him and how much they loved him and when it was all said and done Kink told Candace, "Please tell the cook your huevos rancheros were the best that I've eaten in a long time." Then we left the cafe.

As we stood by our vehicles visiting, Sandy told Kinky about me saying that she drove like a bat out of h*%$ and it made Kink laugh. "Nance is like me. We don't like for people to drive us, because it makes us nervous." 

"But, Kinky!" Sandy said.

"Sandy, Cousin Nancy is crazy and you know that," Kinky joked. "She's a nervous Nelly, so please drive her home slowly, so she doesn't have a heart attack and die on us. Bye Sandy. Tell Jon that I said, "Hi." See y'all back at the ranch." Then Kinky climbed into Mr. Green Jeans and waved goodbye to us and then Sandy slowly drove us back to Trigger parked on our road next to Highway 16.

There is so much more to tell about our fun day, but it is late now and I must go to bed now.

Y'all have a great evening and please pray that "Don" the tropical storm, pays a visit to us and the Hill Country for some much needed rain this weekend!

To Be Continued... (Sorry, Mari.)

"A Bear & The Bees" by Hayden Hickner Rocks Big Time!

Yesterday, after Tony and I did our chores outside Kermit took us to the pump house, next door to "Rambam's International House of Pigs" pen, so T. could turn off our water pump, that pumps our water from the creek below the pump house. When he came out and shut the door he was shaking his head sideways—not good news. "Nance, were getting close to being without water, because the creek is so low the pump hardly filled the water tank. I need to go call Robert (our nice neighbor beyond us.) and get him to come over here to see what he thinks." Then he jumped into Kermit and we drove up to the trailer in silence.

After Tone left a message on Robert and Sherry's answering machine I called Kinky to tell him about our water situation and he tried to make me feel better by telling me, "Nance, don't worry about it. Every thing is going to be fine. In the fifties when it was as bad as this—the springs never dried up and..." So, I spent the morning returning several phone calls and e-mails.

Around 1:00 the phone rang and it was Robert. He and Tony talked, for three or four minutes, about the creek and every one's severe water shortage out here—then Tony adios-ed him and turned off the phone. "Robert is coming over now and I need to go meet him down at the creek."

"I want to go too, so I can see how bad it is," I said, grabbing my camera off of the kitchen table. When we jumped into Kermit we could hear Robert, on the backhoe, coming down the road, so we took off to meet him.

When we got down to the bridge T. stopped Kermit and put him into four-wheel drive, then he turned the steering wheel hard to the right and we got off-road and drove down into the nearly dry creek bed and it was weird to see the creek bed nearly dried up with just a few spring-fed puddles left. Here's a picture I took inside of Kermit, parked in the middle of the rocky creek bed looking towards the bridge.

When we reached Robert he had already begun digging a bigger and deeper hole for us and all that we could do was sit and watch.

Twenty minutes later, Robert turned off the backhoe and said, "This should help some. I made it twice as deep and wide, so it can fill more. And if and when it ever does rain again, y'all can use it as a swimming hole."

"Thank you so much, Robert!" I gratefully half-hollered from Kermit. Then Tony thanked him and then we talked about the serious drought that we were in and then we all went back home to get out of the one hundred and one degree weather. 

And now for some good news. Tropical Storm Don is brewing in the Gulf waters and our weather man is now predicting rain for us on Friday, Saturday and Sunday! I am thrilled, but, I sure hope it doesn't hurt our coast and the people and the animals living down there.

Today has been great even though we are now water rationing. Tony and I did our outdoor chores early, so we could go to Kerrville and pick up the little Yorkie, that we rescued, so we could bring it back to the ranch and adopt it out to Rosie.

When we arrived at the clinic we visited with a vet about the little dog. We found out that his name was Zeke, he was born on October 4, 2009, which I like, because that makes him a lucky Libra like me and he was in excellent health. After we paid the vet for neutering and a rabies shot, we went outside the clinic and I took this picture of Zeke with Tony. Then we came back to the ranch to find Rosie, who could not wait to meet her new forever friend.

When we arrived back we went straight over to the Lodge and showed Zeke to Kinky, which he said was precious, and then we went and found Rosie. And needless to say, "It was love at first sight for the both of them." Then we came home.

Late this afternoon Tony and I had a painting project. We painted the hallway, so we can turn it into a trailer photography gallery for Tony's beautiful pictures. It took us two hours to accomplish and I must admit that the hallway looks a lot better since repainting it. But, we are still not done. Hopefully, within the next few days, we will have either painted or sanded down the hall floor and have built a bookcase to put our tools on, then Tone's Gallery will be open for our friends to view and enjoy. When we finish our project and hang T.'s pictures on the walls— I will take pictures and show it off to y'all.

Tomorrow is going to be a fun day. Tomorrow morning Tony and I are getting up really early and going outside, at sunup, to do our morning chores, because our good friend Sandy Wolfmueller is coming out at 8:30 to ride with us to the Medina Community Library, for Hayden Hickner's very first book signing, at 9:30, for his beautifully written and illustrated children's book A Bear & The Bees and we are all so excited for him and I am betting that the whole town shows up, so we're going to try to get there a little bit early and grab a seat, before it becomes standing room only.

Well, that is about it for tonight, except for telling you about a mystery, musician man (friend of ours from Texas) that is coming out tomorrow afternoon to jam with us.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us!

You're Really Bugging Me Now! or OMG, Tony!

Today has been great. Late this afternoon at 4:00, over the phone, we rescued a two year old male Yorkie, from a veterinary clinic in Kerrville, because they have been boarding the little fella for several months, because his owner had brain surgery months ago and there were complications and the woman is no longer capable of taking care of him.

After I told the nice veterinarian that we could take him and we would pick him up at her clinic on Wednesday, after she has neutered him, we went over to Kinky's Lodge to meet his friend Clint Morgan, so we could thank him for generously donating a new/used 2007 Ford F-150, last January to replace our old, dying Trigger.

When we arrived at the Lodge, in Trigger, Rosie, the great cook for Echo Hill Camp, was standing in the yard. "Hi, Rosie!" I said. "We just rescued a little Yorkshire Terrier. Would you like to adopt him?"

"Yes, I love Yorkies and I need a dog. Can I go see him?"

"Not yet, because he is getting neutered tomorrow, but you can adopt him on Wednesday when..." After Rosie had told us how excited she was to adopt the little dog the three of us went into the Lodge and we found Kinky and Clint sitting in the rockers outside. "Kinky, we just rescued a little Yorkie and Rosie is going to adopt her! Is'nt that great news." Kinky was thrilled about it and then he introduced us to his friend Clint, from Washington.

"Clint, we cannot thank you enough for buying us that truck. We love it so much and his name is Trigger," I said. "We were breaking down on the road so much and having to call our friends to come rescue us so many times—it was almost like a really bad joke. In fact, it got so bad that we would have to call our friends in Kerrville before we even took off for Kerrville, just to make sure that they would be available to rescue us if we needed it..."

Our visit was so much fun. When we went back inside the Lodge, because it was so hot outside, we talked about politics, photography, religion, Churchill and when we started talking about our rescue ranch and dogs Kinky suggested that Clint read our favorite book, The Art Of Racing In The Rain and Clint promised that he would get a copy and read it.

Then we started talking about music and I found out that Clint plays the piano and he has a band that has recently released a new CD titled, "You're Really Bugging Me Now," by Clint Morgan & The Lost Cause that plays American Music: blues, boogie, country, gospel and rock 'n roll and when I told him that I would check it out Kinky loaned me Clint's new CD and then I told Clint all about our L—BeNT & Husky Bound band. A little while later after Kinky had cracked us up with his funny new joke, T. and I came home so they could go on a walk with The Friedmans.

As soon as Tone and I got home I added Clint's CD to my iTunes library and then I synced it to my iPod and then I started listening to it while T. was outside working in his organic garden. And I loved listening to the CD so much, because the music is so upbeat and it made me smile and want to dance.

When Tony came back inside the trailer he asked me who I was listening to and what I thought of Clint's CD. "OMG, Tony! It is so totally awesome. You're going to love it. You're listening to "Morgan's Boogie" right now. That's Morgan playing on the piano. I can't believe how good this CD is! Clint wrote all of the music, too and the guitarist is fantastic and the..."

With that said, T. picked up Kinky's loaned copy of Clint Morgan's CD, from the kitchen table and then he went straight back to his office and added it to his iTunes library. As I finish writing this for tonight I am still listening to Clint Morgan & The Lost Cause: You're Really Bugging Me Now and I plan to play it until bedtime, because I can't get enough of it. I really love this CD and I hope that y'all will check it out, because I promise that you will love the music as much as me and Tony do.

Earlier this evening while I was writing this at our kitchen table I looked up and then I grabbed my camera and shot this picture of the bluff behind our back yard.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us!

Warning! It's A Long One!

Early yesterday morning when I got out of bed I would have never dreamed what a great day was in store for me or for Tony, Kinky and our rescued dogs. Tony and I went outside and did our morning chores earlier than usual, because Ike, his friend from Medina and Ike's wife Amy and their cute grand daughter Kayla were going to come out around 9:00 to see if we had a dog that they wanted to adopt and we did.

After T. gave them a tour of the rescue ranch, while I finished cleaning the pens, Ike told us that he liked Festus, but he and Amy asked Kayla to make the final decision for them and she chose Festus. We were delighted that she picked Festus, even though Lois Lane, his new roommate as of Friday didn't want him to leave, because they had fallen in love with each other. Here are a couple of goodbye pictures I took of Festus fixing to leave us and go to his new forever home.

As soon as T. and I came inside the trailer I called Kinky to tell him the great news about Festus getting a great home on a big ranch and Kinky was thrilled for Festus. "Nance, Dylan and I are fixing to head to Bandera for the induction. Y'all are coming?"

"Yes, as soon as we get cleaned up and dressed. Maribeth called earlier and she is on her way over to babysit the ranch for us and she should be here any minute..." After I showered, I braided my white hair ponytail and then I put on a little mascara, which I only put on for very special occasions and then I began dressing up in my cowgirl clothes when there was a knock on the front door, "It's me, Maribeth."

"Hi, Maribeth!" I half-hollered, from our bedroom. "Come on in. I'm getting dressed and Tony is down the hall in the shower. I just need a minute." After I had tied a pink bandana around my neck I put on my favorite cowboy hat and then I walked into the kitchen to greet Maribeth.

 But before I could say anything she said, "Nancy, you look so cute! I love that blouse and that pink bandana. Oh no, there is spot on your sleeve. Wet down a paper towel and let me see if I can get it off." Fifteen seconds, Maribeth had made the spot disappear. When T. walked into the big room Maribeth told him there was a black pup running around outside, so he left to find the pup, which was perfect timing, because I could not wait to visit with my dear friend and catch up with her news.

A few minutes later Tone returned to the trailer and said, "It was Candace Bergen who got out. She dug out, but I fixed the hole. Nance, we need to get on the road if we are going to find a good parking place that's not a half mile away from the Court House." I grabbed my purse and camera and then we adios-ed Maribeth and took off in Trigger.

When we arrived in Bandera, Highway 16 (Its main street.) was filled with tourists, cowboys and cowgirls sitting on their on horses or in horse drawn carriages or wagons and I loved it. Fortunately, we found a fairly close place to park Trigger and we arrived at the tent on the Court House lawn ten minutes before the 2011 Frontier Times Museum Texas Heroes Hall of Fame induction ceremony started and it was standing room only for us, because there was not one vacant chair left, inside the tent, so we walked around the tent and found us a place outside the tent where we could watch the ceremony and then we visited with our friends Dylan, Drake and Karlen, Suellen and her husband, Dusty and Martha and Big G until the ceremony commenced.

The induction ceremony was really great. Kinky was the last to be inducted and as always he was so funny—he had the crowd begging for more. This picture is of him before he read, The Navigator, his beautiful piece about his father.

After the ceremony Kinky was mobbed by the crowd wanting to shake his hand, get a picture taken with him, etc. so I held his beautiful, wooden plaque that he had received, so he could sign autographs, etc.

 Kinky visiting with fellow inductee Scooter Fries

Twenty minutes later after Kinky's fans had gotten what they wanted, Tony went to lock Kinky's plaque in Trigger, while Dylan, Big G, Drake and Karlen, Kinky and I started walking to the Frontier Times Museum for a private reception held in honor of the inductees.

The reception was really fun and the food was delicious, too. I visited with many friends like: author Kathleen Hudson, Jeannie B., Bandera's favorite famous cowgirl, the one who I used to ride with when Cindy and I would go on one of her fun two hour horseback rides, Big G, the popular Hill Country radio host on the REV radio, Dylan, Drake and Karlen, but I must say the most important conversation I had at the museum was with Cliff, Drakes brother.

"Cousin Nancy, I need to ask you something," Cliff said. "Do y'all have any small dogs?" My face lit up and it wasn't because of a hot flash.

"Yes! Yesterday evening at 5:00, we rescued Peter Sellers and he is absolutely adorable and he is real tiny," I said, as Cliff started to chuckle. "How much does Peter Sellers weigh, Tony?"

"Four or five pounds," Tony said, as he handed Cliff one of our Utopia business cards.

Nudie made for him, were on display behind Kinky.

An hour later Kinky and Dylan took off and Tone and I left to get back to the ranch. Before we came home we drove over to Kinky's Lodge to drop off his pretty plaque and that's when T. shot me looking goofy, in Kinky's kitchen.

When we got home Maribeth told us about two nice women from Spring Branch showing up and her giving them a tour and then the dogs started barking outside, so Tony left the trailer to see what was going on, so Maribeth and I started visiting and we totally forgot about Tony and twenty minutes later he surprised us when he walked inside the trailer and said, "Fred Flintstone has just been adopted. Will you get his adoption papers ready?"

Three minutes later we adios-ed Maribeth, so she could get back home in Utopia and then we jumped into Kermit and adopted out Fred to some very nice people and here is a picture of Fred.

After Fred and his new family drove away we jumped into Kermit and took off for the trailer. "Tony, this is so exciting! I can't believe that we have had two adoptions today. Kinky is going to love this." 

Right after we walked inside the trailer the phone rang and I am so glad that I did, because it was Drake's brother Cliff. "Cousin Nancy, would it be okay if Arden and I come out to the rescue ranch to meet Peter Sellers?"

"Sure, Cliff! When?"

"How about now? We're in Bandera and can be there in thirty or so minutes."

After we adios-ed each other I looked at Tony and said, "That was Cliff. He and his family are in Bandera and they are coming out right now to meet Peter Sellers! I can't believe this!" And then in hopes that they would like Peter I went ahead and wrote up Peter Sellers adoption form to save time.

Well, they didn't like Peter Sellers—they loved him and he loved them back and P.S. could not quit wagging his tail as their son Tommy held him in his arms, next to his cute sister Sarah! 

After Cliff signed off on Peter Sellers' adoption form I invited everyone to come up to the trailer, because I wanted to show Cliff my guitar, because he has a Les Paul and loves guitars, too. And that is when Cliff and Arden told me the cool story about Arden having a dream the night before, about them adopting a small dog and when she told Cliff about her dream and him saying that it was fine with him to get a small dog and then when we met and I told him about Peter Sellers—it was all meant to be. "It was in the stars" that they were meant to adopt Peter Sellers and I totally agree with them.

Cliff loved my guitar and Tony and I were really impressed with his guitar playing skills, but we were not impressed with Tony's dog Belle acting silly and jumping up on everyone. After a fun, short visit we went outside to get Peter Sellers and he was thrilled when T. picked him up and handed him to Tommy, sitting in the backseat with Sarah and then we wished them good luck with P. S. and then they drove away to take Pete to his new fantastic, forever home. 

When I walked inside the trailer I picked up the phone and punched in Kinky's phone number and he was thrilled about us having found great homes for Festus, Fred and Peter Sellers and now you know why I did not write a blog last night, because I have spent this whole afternoon writing about what a great day yesterday was.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us!

Today Has Been More Than Fantastic, But!

Today has been more than fantastic, but tonight I am kicking back because of all the excitement and the many great surprises today and tomorrow I will—spill the beans and write all about it.

P.S. And if you are thinking that I won the horse contest—I didn't and that is truly fine with me, because today has been such a remarkable day for Kinky, Tony, our dogs and me.

Y'all have a great evening!

L—BeNT & Husky Bound's New Drummer!

Today has been good. This morning after returning several phone calls I went outside to clean pens and greet Eileen, Lisa and Jim, our great dog walking volunteers. Jim and I talked briefly about a leash strategy for Mr. Rogers and Miss Dee, after he had returned Layla and Little Girl to their pen.

A little while later when Lisa and Eileen were returning Laz and LaToya to their pen I went over to them and said, "Hi Eileen and Lisa.... Lisa, did you bring your ukulele with you, so we can practice?"

Thirty minutes later, after Tony and I had finished cleaning the dog pens, Tony drove Kermit and Lisa, Eileen and I walked up to the trailer and before we got there we were talking about Eileen being our band's Roadie and Sound Woman and after Eileen told us that she wished that she could play an instrument she says, "But, I bet I could play the drums though." Her words struck a chord.

"Eileen, I've got a drum kit for you to play! When we get to the trailer please remind me to get it for you, so you can give it a try. And I warn you—it's addictive." Then Eileen, our Roadie helped Lisa get her amp out of her car and carried it up the trailer, because she wanted to be a "good Roadie." Then Eileen plugged in our amps for us and then she sat down in the kitchen to watch us practice.

Right off of the bat, no one wanted to sing, so we all decided if we all sang as badly as we all said we did, no one would get embarrassed. Then we started playing and singing and every time that I would look up, Eileen would be smiling at me and tapping her toe and then I finally remembered that I had forgotten to get the drum kit out for Eileen, so I put my guitar back into its case and then went to my office to get my drum kit and pretty pink drumsticks.

And as soon as I had given Eileen my glittering, feathered sticks, plugged the kit into the kitchen wall socket and turned it on—Eileen blew us out of our saddles with her drumming skills! "OMG!" I said. "Eileen you play the drums so much better than I do and I took lessons. Y'all we've got a drummer!"

"Eileen you are playing great!" Lisa half-hollered, so Eileen could hear her over her drumming. In fact, the three of us were so impressed with Eileen's drumming I grabbed my camera and pretended to be taking still shots of her while I secretly took this short video of her unrehearsed drum recital. And here are a few pictures that Tony and I took of our band members with the exception of Ben, because he is in Austin.

When our practice session ended I persuaded Eileen to borrow my drum kit and take it home with her, so she could practice on it, outside in her new/used RV trailer, so not to drive Wayne crazy. And before the two band members packed up their equipment I said, "Eileen, we are so excited about you being our drummer, because we really needed one and we girls can just get Ben and Tony to be our Roadies and Sound Men. I'm sure they won't mind." Then Tony adios-ed them and then walked out of the room laughing at something.

Right after I had cleaned up our lunch dishes our friend Andy Hickner called to thank me for mentioning his son's new children's book, "A Bear & The Bees," on my blog last night and I told him that there was no need to thank me, because I love Hayden's book and I want everyone to read it and then we talked about Hayden's exciting, upcoming book signing on Thursday, the 28th at the Medina Community Library at 9:30 am. and about us getting together the week following Hayden's book signing for a fun visit. Then we talked about our mutual friends Sandy and Jon Wolfmueller and Charlie and Ellen Cooper and what good people they are. And after that he and I adios-ed each other.

Around 2:00, I picked up the phone and called Tammy back, about a cute, little male dog that she had rescued off of Highway 16 and I told her that we could take it, because we now had a space open up, because Enzo had been adopted this past Wednesday and she was thrilled that we could take him in. Before hanging up she told me that she would bring him out here around 5:00.

And Tammy didn't lie, because she and the small, sweet dog showed up at 5:00 and Tony and I instantly fell in love with him and I have named him Peter Sellers, because I loved Peter Sellers and this adorable dog reminds me of him, but I told Tony that we will call him Pete for short. 

Early this evening Tony called our dear friend Maribeth to see if she could come over to babysit the rescue ranch for us tomorrow, because we are going to go see Kinky get inducted into the 2011 Frontier Times Museum Texas Heroes Hall of Fame, on the Courthouse grounds, in Bandera, at high noon and she said, "Yes, I would love to. I'll see y'all tomorrow." Thank you, Maribeth.

And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us!

Congratulations To Hayden Hickner! or Road Trip!

Today has been so much fun. This afternoon we went to Wolfmueller's Books so we could meet our dear friend "Patty From Florida" there, so we could go to lunch. Before going into the bookstore we checked out their display window by the door and started to laugh, because they had filled the entire display bookshelf with one of Kinky's, Tony's and my favorite Elmer Kelton's best selling book, The Time It Never Rained and it made me appreciate Sandy's and Jon's great sense of humor concerning our terrible drought.

We were greeted by Sandy and Jon when we walked into their bookstore and they invited us to sit down for a visit, while we waited on Patty, because we were ten minutes early. "I love your display window showcasing Elmer's book," I said. "It says it all and it made me laugh and we sure need something to laugh about since we can't do anything about the drought and..."

Then I saw it! "OMG! Y'all have Hayden Hickner's new book, A Bear & the Bees," I said, excitedly. "I love his book and his illustrations and I can't believe he is only sixteen years old and has Aspergers Syndrome and he wrote it when he was only fourteen years old and..."

"It's a beautiful book," Sandy replied. "Did you know that he's having a book signing at the Medina Community Library next Thursday at 9:30?"

"Yes, and I plan to go."

"Good. Then let's ride together," Sandy said. Then we started talking about the drought and that's when I saw Joan, a friend of Kinky's and mine, who had given him her dog Sophie, so I excused myself and went to talk to her about Sophie. After a short, but fun visit with her, Patty walked up and hugged me and then I introduced her to Joan.

Before leaving the bookstore Patty, T. and I invited Sandy and Jon to join us for lunch. "I'll come down there in a few minutes to drink some tea with y'all, but Jon can't because he has to stay here to hold down the fort."

When the three of us walked into the crowded Water Street Cafe, Kevin, the owner greeted us and then I introduced him to Patty and then we went and found a table and the laughter commenced and when Sandy joined us—we're talkin' one non-stop laughing, hilarious party and believe it or not—we even found humor in discussing politics, religion and our awful drought.

While we were eating our delicious lunch and Sandy sipped her tea Patty and Sandy started talking about how much they loved shopping at Target. "I haven't been to a Target store in over sixteen years, since I left Austin, because I don't do big cities," I casually remarked, and you should have seen the look of shock and disbelief on Sandy and Patty's faces—like I was some kind of an alien from another planet, so I burst out laughing and they followed suit. Then for about five minutes they told Tony and me on how cool Target stores are to shop at and I was pretty impressed.

Then we started talking about Whole Foods and what a great store it is and once again I told them that I hadn't been to a Whole Foods store in over sixteen years, too and I got the same reaction from them—shock and total disbelief—followed by another outburst of laughter.

And when it was all said and done Patty suggested, "The next time that I'm back in town let's do a road trip and take Nancy to Austin so we can take her shopping at Target and Whole Foods!" And that set the wheels in motion, so to speak. "Let's do it. We can go in my car and ...," Sandy said.

After the four of us ate our tasty chocolate cupcakes we went back to the bookstore and while I told Sandy and Patty about our new band L—BeNT & Husky Bound and how good T. had gotten on the mandolin—Jon sat at his desk and "wolf-ed down" (Because he is a Wolfmueller.) the chocolate cupcake that Sandy had brought to him.

After I had told them about Ben picking the song, "My Rifle, My Pony and Me" for our band to learn Sandy pulled it up on YouTube and we watched Dino and Ricky Nelson sing it in the classic movie Rio Bravo. Then it became question and answer time.

We had Sandy sitting at her laptop Googling Ricky Nelson to help us remember his brother's name. "It's David Nelson," Sandy reported. "It says here that "Garden Party" was Ricky's second most popular song. I love that song."

"I do, too," I said. "Maybe our band can learn that song, too." When Patty started talking about Kelly McGinnis living in Florida, I asked, "Was Kelly McGinnis in Top Gun?" So, Sandy checked that out and verified that yes, she was in Top Gun. After fact checking several more questions we had for Sandy I looked over at Jon and said, "Jon, if you had Sandy charging us just a dollar to look up and answer all of our trivial pursuit questions—you'd be twenty or thirty dollars richer." Jon laughed and then he and T. took off to look at some book on photography.

Ten minutes later, after Patty had purchased several books from Sandy to take back with her to Florida—it was time for Patty and us to leave. So after we all hugged and adios-ed each other Trigger took Tone and me home.

Around 5:00 this evening Tony and I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and we sat outside beneath a big, old oak tree and caught up with each others news and talked about Enzo's great adoption, seeing Joan at the bookstore and the drought.

And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us.

Supreme Pizza!

Today has been a wonderful day. This morning while I was outside cleaning the pens I wondered which one of our fabulous dogs was going to be adopted today, because earlier in the week Mr. Brad E. had called to tell me that when he came to pick up his three children from Echo Hill Camp—they wanted to come over and adopt another dog from us, because their old dog had passed away in April and Ringo, the dog that they had adopted from us, three years ago, needed a companion.

Around 11:00, while I was dressing after my shower, Brad and his three nice kids arrived and by the time I got outside to greet them—Tony had showed them most of our dogs. "We really like Enzo," Brad E. said, "But I think the kids want to look at those pups."

"The bigger pup is Candace Bergen and the smaller one is George Clooney and that's their mama, Martha Stewart," I said, as the kids petted the happy puppies, while Brad showed us a picture of Ringo on his cell phone.

After I had told them about naming Enzo Swift after the dog in Garth Stein's The Art Of Racing In The Rain which is now officially Kinky's, Tony's and my all time favorite book, Brad's daughter told me that she had read the book and had loved it, too. Then Brad told us that he looked forward to reading it, too and then we walked over to Enzo's pen, so they could take him for a short walk. After Tone had a leash on Enzo he handed the leash to Brad's youngest son to see how Enzo walked on a leash with him and Enzo Swift did beautifully and that cinched his adoption and we were thrilled.

Before I went up to the trailer to fill out Enzo's adoption papers Tony took a picture of Enzo with his new fantastic, forever family. Then Brad stood back and took a picture of Enzo with his kids so he could e-mail it to his wife in Houston, before they got home.

After Brad E. had signed off on Enzo's adoption form the kids helped their father rearrange the back of their packed SUV so Enzo would be comfortable on his trip home and before leaving they told us that they liked his name and that they were not going to rename Enzo Swift and that made me tear up, because our/their Enzo is a great dog just like the one in Stein's book. After we thanked them for adopting another big, black dog from us Brad thanked us for doing a what we do. Then they drove away with one of the coolest and happiest dogs in Texas.

On our way back to the trailer I looked at the adoption form and noticed that I had forgotten to give them the envelope with Enzo's paperwork and that's when we decided to go to Medina to mail them Enzo's paperwork and to eat lunch at Papa Don's Pizza & Wings, after I called Kinky in Las Vegas, to tell him the great news about Enzo. And to say the least Kink was thrilled that his friend Brad E. and his family had adopted Enzo and he told me that he was sick that he wasn't here for Enzo's adoption, because he had really wanted to see Brad and his children and say good bye to Enzo.

After we mailed Enzo's papers we walked into Papa Don's Pizza & Wings and it was packed with pizza and wings lovers and after we ordered a supreme pizza with jalapenos on regular crust we sat down at a table and talked about the weather with some of the locals we knew. And because Papa Don's Pizza & Wings pizza's are so delicious—I ate two slices and because of that—I walked four miles with Leslie Sansone as soon as we got home and then I did some paperwork.

Early this evening Tony and I jammed in the big room for about forty minutes and I am so amazed at how much his mandolin playing skills have improved. Then I checked my e-mail and my friend Curt from Terlingua sent me a video to watch of four tenor men singing Amazing Grace in Rome and it was so beautiful and I hope that you will check it out, because I promise it will lift your spirit and the middle part of the video totally surprised me and caught me off guard.

And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us.

Happy Birthday Sage Ferrero!

Today is Sage's, one of the coolest people I know, birthday and I want to be one of the first to wish her a Happy Birthday so here goes:

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Sage. Happy Birthday to You. And many more! Have a great birthday with Dylan!

Nothing Really Happened Today!

Nothing really happened today, so there is nothing to report tonight except that I walked four miles with Leslie this morning before cleaning the dog pens and it rained for fifteen minutes, late this afternoon and cooled things off, but it ruined my "Egg in Buttermilk" experiment, but I am not complaining. So, please keep praying for rain for us.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Will Wallace!

Today is Will Wallace's birthday and Tony and I want to be the first to wish him a happy birthday, so here goes. "Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Will. Happy Birthday to You! And many more....."

I Was Robbed!

Today has been good even though I was robbed last night. I discovered that I'd been robbed when I went outside last night around 9:15 to bring my egg experiment inside and who ever had robbed me took my experimental egg, but left my pan cleaned and Tony thinks it was a hungry raccoon.

This morning I walked four miles with Leslie and then I went outside and cleaned the dog pens while Tony fed the dogs. Around 10:30, when I was done cleaning pens, I came inside the trailer, pulled two eggs out of the fridge and cracked them into the same small skillet that I had used yesterday in my egg experiment.

Then I went outside and sat the skillet on top of some stacked 2'X4' boards resting on the sawhorses, in front of my Space Ship, in hopes that the coon wouldn't steal them too. At 2:30 I went outside to check on my egg experiment and took this picture.

This afternoon I had a nice long-distance surprise and it made my day. My friend Karin Pohlmann, from Germany, had sent T. and me a cute postcard and the sweetest letter that we really enjoyed reading. Thank you, Karin and please tell Jurgen that we said, "Howdy!"

Around 5:00 Tony and I decided to practice on our musical instruments and I cannot believe how good he has gotten on the mandolin in so little time. We played for nearly an hour and stopped when our fingers once again started killing us.

I just went outside to bring my experimental eggs inside, because it is cloudy outside and also because I didn't want that coon stealing them and here are the results—they sort of cooked and were hard, so tomorrow I am going to do one final all day science experiment by putting an egg inside Buttermilk, with the windows rolled up, to see if it cooks.

And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Egg Movie!

Today has been a nice quiet day. I fixed leftovers for lunch which was okay but nothing to brag about.

After lunch T. and I jumped into Trigger and we went to Kerrville to pick up an entry form, so I could try to win that  free horse contest sponsored by a local radio station. After we left Billy's Western Wear with the official entry form we went to H-E-B to stock up on some groceries and then we came back home.

When our groceries were put away I sat down at the kitchen table and started filling out the entry form and then I opened up my laptop, so I could type "Why I Want To Be Cowgirl" in 150 words or less, which was hard for me to do, because I write like the way I talk which is always too much and it is difficult for me to "Put It or Anything On A Bumper Sticker."

After writing 149 words why I want to be a cowgirl I printed it out and showed it to T. for him to read and he liked it. Then I went back into the kitchen and tweaked it a little more and I thought it was much better with still only 149 words. When Tone said, "It's good. I like it," I grabbed the scissors and cut out my little 149 word piece, so I could tape it to the entry form and fax it directly to the radio station. And that is when I realized that we were out of Scotch Tape.

"T., I'm going over to the Lodge to see if Kinky has any Scotch Tape. I'll be right back," I half-hollered, as I went out the front door. When I arrived at the Lodge no one was there, because Kinky was in Las Vegas attending a cigar convention and Will, who is babysitting The Friedmans for him, was somewhere on the ranch. So, I went into Kinky's office, picked up his phone and punched in his cell number. "Hi, Kinky."

"Hi, Nance. Why are you calling me from my phone? Is everything okay?"

"Yes, everything is fine. The reason that I'm calling is I'm out of Scotch Tape and I wanted to know if you have any..." Three minutes later I walked inside our trailer with a roll of Kinky's Scotch Tape and one minute later I faxed my entry form to the radio station and then I put my Lucy magnate on it and stuck in on our refrigerator to remind me to keep wishing for it to happen. Then I e-mailed a copy of it to Carol.

Late this afternoon around 4:45 I decided to do an experiment. After breaking an egg into a small skillet as I started to walk outside with it, Tony walked into the big room and asked me what I was doing. "I'm fixing your breakfast early," I joked. "Not really. I'm going to see if I can fry an egg outside, because it is so hot."

Here are a few time lapsed photos of the egg. This first picture was taken at 4:46.

At 5:30 I had to move the skillet over, because it was in the shade.

At 7:00 I took this picture of it, as hard as a rock, even though not fully cooked.

Then I made The Egg Movie, a short 4 second video of me shaking the pan to show that it had cooked and had hardened. Later on tonight around 9:15 I am going to go outside and bring the egg inside and shoot it one more time to document my egg experiment.

Tony has just surprised me with a picture that he took early this morning of Mama and me on the front porch and I love it, even though he was supposedly only taking pictures of Belle and Abbie playing on the porch. You got me, Tone.

And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us!

That's Because She Is So Smart!

Today has been a lot of fun. This morning after Tone had fed the dogs and I had cleaned their pens we went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky. When we arrived Ben and Will were there to our surprise and we had a fun visit with them.

Around 12:30 the dogs started barking outside to let us know that Ben was here. When he walked inside our trailer he was carrying his new mandolin and he said, "Y'all feel like jamming?"

Two minutes later, the three of us were sitting across from each other, in a triangle position, in the big room making music and the only thing bad about it was Lisa, our talented ukulele player and Eileen our sound woman weren't there, because this jam session happened on the spur of the moment.

I had so much fun playing the guitar with Ben and Tony on mandolins and we played for over an hour until our fingers were killing us. We practiced the song My Rifle, My Pony and Me, that Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson sang in the 1959 movie Rio Bravo and then we played Circle Be Unbroken, On Top of Old Smokey, I Got A Dog and His Name Is Blue and several other old favorites. And not to brag—we sounded pretty good and I know that we will sound even better when Lisa plays with us and Eileen is mixing the sound for us.

Late this afternoon I checked my e-mail and two of my good friends, Mari of The NoMads and Jim C. who seems to be constantly flying around the world on business, sent me two great videos to check out and they both made me smile and make my eyes wet and I hope that you will check them out, too.

Jim sent me a video clip from England's Got Talent of Kate and her Border Collie dog Gin doing a freestyle performance and Tony and I loved it so much that we re-watched it several more times. And the video that Mari sent to me is a true story about Sgt. Reckless, how this small Mongolian mare, Korean War hero horse became a Marine Corps legend and it was a touching story with a beautiful ending and I am so glad that she sent it to me because I had never heard of this hero horse.

After Tony and I watched these videos I was so inspired by Kate and Gin's performance, I decided to see if I could teach Belle how to walk back and forth in between my legs, so I called for Belle and she came running down the hallway, from T.'s office at full speed ahead and she nearly knocked Toto down trying to get to me.

I got some treats for her and then tried to get her to sit and watch Kate and Gin's performance on my laptop, but she didn't want to, because she seemed more interested in what I was hiding in my hands, so I began her training session, which only lasted for fifteen minutes, because she learned how to do the crazy-eights between my legs.

The only sad thing about all of this is Belle will only do it for treats. And when I complained to Tone about her only doing it for treats, he quickly defended his dog by saying, "That's because she is so smart, Nance. She thinks why do it if she ain't getting paid for it and that's a smart dog."

Well, that's about it for today and I am so glad, because my fingertips are still killing me and hurt when I type.

Y'all have a great evening!