Utte!

Last night, around 5:30, just minutes before a forty-three minute thunderstorm shared some of its water with us, we rescued a precious, little one-year-old Poodle from Kerrville. As soon as she was delivered to us I snapped this picture of her before, not a bad pict. Tony and I took her over to Kinky's Lodge, so Kinky, Marcie and Mario could meet her.

Kinky, his sister and Mario fell in love with her and five minutes later it started to rain, so on our way back over to the rescue ranch Tony named her Stormy.

Today has been great. This morning Ellen, Eileen and Lisa, our fabulous volunteers, came out with pearls, hats, necklaces, etc., because we were going to dress up our dogs and take pictures of them to try to make them more adoptable and I took them preparing Maggie for her glamour shot.

I took these pictures after they had dressed Stormy up wearing a pearl necklace around her neck and then a tierra and she looked precious.

Tony, Ellen, Eileen and I took pictures of Princess and Marlin, Pilgrim and Maggie, O. Henry, the German Short Haired Pointer that we rescued last week and Martha Stewart and here are pictures that I took of O. Henry and Martha Stewart.

Around 11:30, Aaron, Tony and I jumped into Buttermilk and followed Eileen, Lisa, Ellen to meet up with June for a fun lunch at the Koyote Cafe—only five miles away. June told us about her and her husband's exciting hiking trip in the Grand Canyon last week and when she and Eileen started talking about riding the mules up and down the steep canyon cliffs I sort of lost my appetite, because it sounded so scary and dangerous, because I am really scared of heights. 

But I was back to laughing quickly when Eileen told us her funny story about once riding a mule train in the Grand Canyon. "We were told to ride, "head-to-tail" and this woman, from New York City, riding behind me took it literally and she kept pushing her mules head into my mule's butt and then she complained to me, about me not riding head-to-tail and I've been riding horses since I was a young kid."

"And that you're from Texas!" I quipped. 

"No, I should have anyway..."

After all of us had quit laughing Lisa said, "My idea of a vacation is a spa-vacation, not risking my life," and I quickly agreed with her.

Late this afternoon Carol came over to deliver Cactus' cowboy hat, because he had left it in Carol's Ford F-250 pickup and we had a fun visit with her. "I have finally named my truck," Carol said, proudly. "It's name is Utte!" Tony and I burst out laughing, because the other day Cactus had told us that Australians call their trucks uttes.

During our laughter-filled visit Carol told us that Cactus loves to drink Dr. Pepper and that he drinks it out of one of those gigantic, 64 ounce mugs. So, when we went over to the Lodge to deliver the cowboy  hat, we burst out laughing when we walked into the kitchen, because Cactus' giant mug was sitting in the middle of  Kinky's kitchen table, so Carol put in on top of the mug and it fit the mug perfectly. "Late tonight, when Kinky and Cactus get back from Kink's gig in Blanco—it will be the first thing they will see!" I joked.

Before leaving Carol and I had a fun visit with Brownie, Marcie and Mario and we told them about placing Cactus' cowboy hat on top of his mug and it made them laugh, too.

I want to thank our volunteers/good friends for coming out today and Ellen for coming with the idea to dress our dogs up to make them more adoptable and Lisa for bringing us some of her delicious, homemade banana bread, June and Eileen for making me laugh and that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying that we get some more rain!

Happy Birthday Nita!

I want to be the first to wish my big brother Ronnie's wife, Nita, a happy 60th Birthday, because I am right behind her and I cannot believe that we are now officially senior citizens and no longer 28 years old, when back then we celebrated our "How Sad" old age.

I love you, Nita and thank you for loving Ronnie and now it is time for me to sing, off key, "Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Nita. Happy Birthday to You! And many more." Have a great one, because Kinky has told me that it is all down hill from now on and I am unfortunately starting to believe it!

Wounded Knee!

Today has been a blast! This afternoon we met Kinky and his new Aussie friend Cactus for lunch in Kerrville. Kinky had met Cactus last June, in an airport, in Australia and Kinky had invited him to come see us the next time Cactus came to the U.S. for business, so Cactus took him up on it.

Tony and I immediately liked Cactus and we had a great time visiting with him. His stories were so funny, colorful and very interesting, that I had a hard time eating, because I was laughing so much.

After lunch we met Kinky and Cactus at Wolfmueller's Books and we had a fun time visiting with Sandy, Jon and Kinky about our fun trip to Terlingua, while Cactus shopped for books to buy. Then we all came back to the ranch.

When T. and I pulled up to our gate entrance we had a disappointing surprise waiting for us, because a dog was tied to the gate and he looked scared, but familiar. "Tony, that's Pilgrim! OMG!....Well, at least they returned him to us and didn't drop him off at the pound."

Pilgrim happily wagged his tail as Tony removed his dog collar and untied him from the gate and then we put him inside Trigger and drove him down to an opened up puppy pen where Tony gave him water and some dog food to eat. Then we drove on up to the trailer.

Around 3:00, while Tony drove Kermit over to the Lodge to pick up Cactus, so he could come over and play guitars with me, I called Carol and invited her to come over, because I wanted her to meet our new Australian friend, born in Arkansas, Cactus and I am so glad that I did because I had a blast visiting with them and playing music with him.

After one hour of non-stop laughing and discovering that Cactus also owned horses and loved them as much as Carol does, Carol invited us to come over to her ranch, so Cactus could ride her horse Maya, to help hold the cows, while she showed him what Dude, her super cutting horse, could do. So, Cactus, Tony and I grabbed our cameras and jumped into our trucks and headed over to Carol's for a fun time.

While Cactus and Carol saddled up her horses we traded more funny life stories and then Carol climbed up on Dude and rode off, so she could go move the cows up to the arena and that's when I took off to move Trigger down to the arena, so I could stand in the bed of the truck to take pictures of her cutting cows out of her herd of four—but that never happened, because Carol's knee suddenly went out on her, in the arena. So, I took these pictures instead of Cactus carrying Carol to Trigger's tailgate, because she was in so much pain.

While Cactus, a trained paramedic, worked on Carol's knee we started laughing and making jokes about Carol's wounded knee. "I'm going to title tonight's blog Wounded Knee!" I teased, as Carol laid stretched out on her back—on the tailgate—laughing.

Thirty minutes later Carol's knee was somewhat better and while Tony and Cactus were up at the barn unsaddling her horses for her and brushing them down, she hobbled and I walked with her, so she could let the cows out of the catch pen and then we went up to the barn to join the men and when we reached the barn—Carol invited us to stay over for dinner, because we were having so much fun, so we did.

Dinner was a delight. We had Carol's delicious homemade Tortilla Soup, but the conversation was even better. We laughed about life and the crazy things we did in our youths, marriages, divorces, kids, first dates, etc. and Carol and I teased Cactus about Aussies calling a pickup a "utte" and calling a restroom a "loo."(Spell check on both of his words, please.)

Just before dark-thirty we thanked Carol for dinner, a fun time and then we adios-ed her and came home.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for us to get some rain! Good night.

German Short Hair Pointer!

Today has been great, but not a lot to tell about. This morning after we had finished our outdoor chores and had cleaned up, we had a fun lunch with Kinky, in town and then we went to Hoegemeyer's and picked up O. Henry, a sweet, two-year-old beautiful German Short Hair Pointer, then we came straight home, because Dr. Craig Janssen, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, was coming out at 4:00 to give some dogs their annual rabies shots.

At straight up 4:00, Tony and I went outside to greet Craig and Stacie, one of his great vet-techs. And thirty minutes later, his job was done, so we thanked them and then waved them goodbye.

Tonight around 6:30, after we had fed Shalom and the donkeys, T. and me went over to the Lodge to welcome Brownie home and to have a fun visit with Kinky, before the Cowboys game started.

It is now 7:25 and I have a lot of new paperwork I need to take care of, so y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for us to get some rain.

The Simple Dollar!

Today has been great. This morning after we did our outside chores I got on the Internet and typed in healthy bread recipes and found the coolest site, "the simple dollar" and it had an easy bread recipe with photos, and after writing down the recipe I started reading this man's bio and I stayed on his site for over an hour, because it was so interesting.

When I read the unhealthy ingredients that he had posted that are in many Industrial Breads I about had a heart attack, because of all of the preservatives, etc., so I copied this from his site so you will know that making homemade bread is the best thing for all of us to do for our good health, because his recipe only uses milk, sugar, salt, butter, flour and yeast compared to this:

"Enriched wheat flour (flour, barley malt, ferrous sulfate (iron), “B” vitamins (niacin, thaimine mononitrate (B1), riboflavin (B2), folic acid)), water, sweetener (high fructose corn syrup or sugar), yeast, wheat bran, whole wheat flour, wheat gluten, molasses. Contains 2% or less of: soybean oil, salt, sweet dairy whey, butter (cream, salt, enzymes), maltodextrin, honey, corn syrup, calcium sulfate, soy flur, dough conditioners (may contain:dicalcium phosphate, calcium dioxide, sodium stearoyl lactylate, ethoxylated mono and diglycerides, mono and diglycerides, and/or datem), yeast nutrients (may contain:ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, calcium carbonate, monocalcium phosphate, and/or ammonium phosphate), cornstarch, wheat starch, vinegar, natural flavor, beta carotene (color), enzymes, calcium propionate (to retain freshness), soy lecithin."

Then I cooked Tony and me a healthy vegan lunch and while I was cleaning up our dishes Will, who is babysitting The Friedmans called, because he was worried about Brownie not feeling good.

Fifteen minutes later, T. and I were on our way to Kerrville with Brownie, so we could get him there by 1:00 before Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic closed for the day.

Around 1:30, after Dr. Rydberg had examined Brownie he told us that he wanted to run some tests and keep Brownie over night for observation, so we left and went to H-E-B so I could pick up a few groceries and some yeast, so I could make homemade bread this afternoon and I must say that it was an easy recipe to follow and we loved the tasty bread and now I am excited about making our own healthy bread.

This evening when Kinky returned from Albuquerque, Tony and I went over to visit with him. We talked about Brownie, Kinky's trip and Will snitching on Sophie about her acting like a witch towards Brown and Chumley and then we had a discussion about my homemade bread and eating healthier and avoiding meat, all processed foods, etc. Then we came home.

Later this evening, Dr. Rydberg called to tell me that Brownie is doing fine, he is happy and is wagging his tail and that he should be ready to come home tomorrow, so I called Kink with the good news, so he could call Rydberg.

It is 9:33 now and Tony has just told me that Pat, our good friend and extremely talented web master for utopiarescue.com, sent him an e-mail to tell him that Angel and Blue, the two darling Chihuahuas that she adopted on a trial basis yesterday—are officially hers, because they are getting along great with their other dogs and cats and animals! We love you, Pat!

And that is about it for today, so y'all have a great evening and please keep praying that we get some more rain! Good night and have sweet dreams.

What I Like About Texas!

Today has been great. This morning our great volunteers, Lisa, Eileen, Ellen and Jim came out and walked our dogs for us and like always, I really enjoyed getting to visit with them, because they keep me laughing. Thank Y'all!

This afternoon we went over and visited Carol and we did a lot of laughing. When we came home we had an emergency cat rescue situation and the good news is that Tiger Lily is safe and fine and resting at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and she will be up for adoption at the clinic.

This evening our friend Curt, from Terlingua, sent me a really great video to watch, starring our friend, Gary P. Nunn, who supports our rescue ranch, singing his beautiful song What I Like About Texas and I hope everyone watches it, especially our friend Karin Pohlman, in Germany, because she is coming to Texas for the very first time, to come visit us in October and we are so looking forward to her visit.

Tonight's post is short, because tonight I am going to be sitting outside, from 7:30 on, to watch for the falling satellite that will be passing over us and San Antone around 8:15, which is supposed to crash somewhere in the U.S. between 1:00 am and 2:00 am.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for us to get some more rain!

Jose 303!

Today has been great. When I got up this morning I looked outside at the rain gauge and we got a total of two inches of rain last night! And after I had finished cleaning the dog pens this morning, I had two pounds of mud stuck to my boots, but I am not complaining about it, because any rain that we get is welcomed.

This afternoon we took O. Henry, the dog that we rescued just before the storm hit yesterday, to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic to get him neutered and given all of his shots and then we went to Wolfmueller's Books to see Sandy and Jon and to give them a gift for taking us on one of the best road trips we've ever been on.

"Y'all, I called Ben yesterday to order a brick of Miles of Chocolate to send to you as a thank you gift," I said, "but Ben talked me out of it, because unknown to us, he had put three new bricks of Miles of Chocolate in our freezer, in the barn, when he was here. And he told me to give y'all one of those bricks instead and...." And to say the least, "They were thrilled about it, because they love Miles of Chocolate, too.

After a fun visit about the funny things that happened to us on our road trip to Big Bend I told them, "I have really missed y'all and am trying to wean myself off of y'all, because this morning when I got up I thought, "Where's Sandy and Jon?..." Before we adios-ed each other I purchased another copy of The Art Of Racing In The Rain, because I have given all of my copies away.

While we were picking up some groceries at H-E-B we ran into our good friend Scott S. and we told him all about our fun trip with Sandy and Jon, because he and Julia are good friends with them, too. After a fun visit with Scott we adios-ed each other.

When Tony started loading our groceries into the back of Buttermilk the weirdest thing happened and I think it was a sign meant for me, but it doesn't make any sense to me. As I was about to open the door to climb inside Buttermilk I saw a 3"x3" yellow Post-It stuck on the sideboard step, written in pencil that read, "Jose 303." So, I picked it up and put it inside my purse. Then I got in Buttermilk.

As we drove home I remembered the weird note and chuckled. "What's so funny?" Tony asked, as I unzipped my purse to show him my mysterious note.

After telling him about Jose 303 I showed him the Post-It and he burst out laughing. "Tony, I think it is a sign for me, but I don't know what it means."

"It means Jose is stuck on you, because it is a Post-It and he stuck in on the door step and 303 is his area code and he used a pencil which means he is probably a carpenter," Tony joked. "And, it's yellow which means that he is scared of me if he tries to mess with you."

"Oh, Tony. It does not..."

When we got home, after we had put up our groceries I secretly got on my laptop and Googled the area code for 303 and it is for Colorado—including Denver, Boulder, Longmont, Aurora, etc. and I don't know any Jose's that live in the Rockies, in fact I don't know any Jose. So, I went down the hall and told Tony that he was totally wrong about solving the Jose 303 mystery.

So now I guess that I will just have to wait and see what the Jose 303 note really means and it is already driving me crazy. And if any of y'all can figure out what the yellow note meant for me means, please let me know.

Here are a couple of pictures from our trip. Tony took this one of us looking at our reflections in a large window at the park's headquarters and I bought this pretty, little, pink orb at Many Stones rock shop in Study Butte, to always remind me of the fun time that we had with Sandy and Jon in Big Bend and it sits above the kitchen sink and it always makes me smile when I look at it.

Lastly, I have some great news about Laz. Alecia has called me a few times to tell me that Laz is working out beautifully with her other dog Sky and he is sticking by her side and he has totally mellowed out and not acting skittish and he seems to be very happy in his fabulous, forever home. Her last words were, "I love Laz and I know that we were meant to be together." And I totally agree with her.

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

Jim Keaveny's CD Rocks! or Who Needs A Dog To Herd Cows!

Today has been great. Around noon today, Alecia, the nice woman that we met back in July from Hallotsville, came out with her sister-in-law Robin to adopt Laz and we are so thrilled about it, because Laz has been with us for three long years and now he is living in high cotton! Here is picture that I took of Alecia and Laz getting to know one another and I wish that I had taken it with my flash on, because you can barely see Laz laying down beside Tony.

Later, when Kinky called me from an airport I told him the good news about Laz and he was as thrilled as we were for him, because we love it when an old time resident gets adopted.

This afternoon I took a break from my paperwork and plugged in my guitar and put on Jim Keaveny's CD "Music Man" to see if I could figure out the chords to his songs and play along with him and I had a blast picking my guitar with him and not to brag (really to brag) Tony came out of his office and told me that I sounded awesome and to not stop playing, which made me want to play even more. So, after spending over two hours playing the songs with Jim Keaveny's CD—my fingers are killing me, so tonight's post will be short.

Late this afternoon, my dear friend Mari, of The NoMads, sent me an hilarious, Who Needs A Dog To Herd Cows, video to watch and Tony and I are still laughing about it, so if you want to laugh—click here. I promise that it will make you laugh.

Early this evening, because Laz was adopted today, we rescued a dog that was dumped off in Medina at 5:22, because that is precisely when it started raining, hailing, thundering and lightning outside.

It is now 7:00 and it has not quit raining, thundering and lightning, thank goodness and we have now received over 2 inches of much needed rain since Sunday. Sunday we received a half inch of precious rain and as I finish typing this we have gotten over an inch and a half! Yeah!

Because of the electrical storms I am ending tonight's post, because we need to unplug our computers and wifi, etc.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us, because it is working! And once again, Happy Birthday Rick, "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper in Port Aransas!"

Happy Birthday Rick "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper!

Today is our good friend, Rick "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper's" birthday and Tony and I want to be the first to wish him a happy birthday.

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Rick. Happy Birthday to You! And many more.

Have  a great one Rick and please come see us soon.

Viva! Sandy & Jon, Jim Keaveny & Terlingua, Texas!

Tony and I had so much fun on our road trip to Terlingua—all thanks to Sandy and Jon! And I am proud to say that I only used Ellen's "Rescue Remedy" once, right before we arrived at Sandy's & Jon's home at 5:30 Saturday morning, because I was a little bit nervous about traveling at breakneck-speed—85 mph.

I also am proud to report that because of Jon's safe driving skills and Sandy's incredibly great directions—we never got lost, so I never had to use my Swiss Army Champ SOS knife to signal for help or saw off a leg or cut some paper or use the magnifying glass to start a campfire.

And my homemade "survival kit," ended up having to be put inside a quart sized Baggie, because I could not make everything fit into my pretty, plastic, pink soap dish and we did not get to wear Marguerite's BugBands, because the mosquitos must have migrated northeast to where there is still some water, but thank you, Marguerite.

We spent our Saturday and Sunday days touring all of the Big Bend National Park's mapped roads and taking pictures and then going to the popular Starlight Theatre at night for dinner and that's where we discovered Jim Keaveny, one very talented musician, songwriter and singer, who is now my favorite singer. In fact, I am listening to his fabulous music as I type this.

We stayed at the famous La Posada Milagro as Sandy's & Jon's guests and it is the coolest place I've ever stayed at, next to where Rick "the friendly lighthouse keeper" lives on the private island and it sits up high on a hill above the Starlight Theatre and it has the most spectacular views of Big Bend and Terlingua.

So every morning and every evening we made it a point to watch the magnificent sunrises and beautiful evening sunsets on the La Posada Milagro patio—that included a friendly dog for us to pet.

Monday morning after watching a beautiful sunrise, we loaded up their SUV and and headed west, so we could do the famous "River Road," to La Jitas, Presidio and Marfa and Tony and I were totally amazed at how beautiful it was, but we shouldn't have been, because it is listed as one of the "Top 10 Most Beautiful Roads to Travel" in our nation and now Tony and I can see why and we took plenty of pictures to prove it.

The only time I did get a little scared on "River Road" was when we drove up and down "The Hill"  because it is very steep and curvy, because I am also scared of heights, but because Jon drove it carefully, while I sat in the backseat with Sandy, with my head looking down at my knees, so not to see out the window how high up we were or how close we were to the edge, eating their delicious, ranch flavored rice cakes and trying to convince her and Jon into starting up a travel business and giving personal tours, because Tony and I had had so much fun with them.

Our drive home was fun, too. We ate a delicious lunch at the Reata Restaurant in Alpine and then we listened to Robert Earl Keen's CD's and Arlo Guthrie sing Alice's Restaurant as we talked about how much fun we had had and by the time we took the Kerrville exit, I had promised to loan them one of my favorite movies—Bringing Down The House, starring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah and Jim Keaveny's "Music Man" CD and this afternoon I kept my promise when we dropped them off for them to enjoy.

All-in-all, our road trip to Terlingua, with Sandy and Jon, was a total blast, filled with non-stop laughter and it was so much fun that T. and me will never forget the good times that we had and he and I will never be able to thank the Wolfmueller's enough for inviting us to tag along with them. We love you, Sandy and Jon!

Here are some of my photos that I took on our "Viva! Sandy & Jon, Jim Keaveny & Terlingua Road Trip." Enjoy!

"My Favorite Mountain"

"Sunrise In Terlingua"

"My New Friend in Terlingua"

"I'm A Long Tall Texan"

"Pink Rules!"

"Only in Terlingua!"

"Pegasus Neon At Night"

"Pink Cactus in Big Bend National Park"

"Saturday Sunrise"

"Sunday Morning Comin' Up"

This evening turned out sad for us, because with the help of our great neighbors, we had to bury Arnold, the very first pig that we ever rescued. He was a wonderful pig and he lived 13 years with us and he was fifteen years old, which is considered to be old for a pig. Rest In Peace Arnold and thank you for spending your lifetime with us. You were a perfect pig and you will be greatly missed. We love you.

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

Viva! Terlingua! We Had A Blast With Sandy & Jon!

Tony and I had a blast in Big Bend and Terlingua Ghost Town with our dear friends Sandy and Jon! I need to unpack, wash laundry, return phone calls etc. and then go to bed—will write about it tomorrow.

Have a great evening and even though we got a half of a inch of rain while we were gone—please keep praying that we get some more rain! Sweet dreams.

Viva! Terlingua Time!

Today has been really great, but I have run out of time getting ready for our road trip to Terlingua tomorrow with Sandy and Jon.

I want to thank June, Ellen and Eileen for coming out today and walking our dogs for us and the fun, laughter-filled lunch that we had with them and Ben, in Medina—because I never stopped laughing.

I also want to thank Linda, from Brownsville, for taking the time out, to come see us this afternoon, before heading out to Taos, because Tony and I instantly fell in love with her, because she is definitely a kindred spirit.

Now, I must go to bed, because we are leaving very early tomorrow morning and as we all know—I need all of the beauty sleep I can get before we go on our fun road trip with Sandy and Jon to Terlingua.

Y'all have a great evening, please keep praying for rain for us and now I guess it is, "Viva! Terlingua Time!" Thank you, Ben and Charlie and Ellen Cooper for holding down our fort for us.

P.S. I'll be back Monday and if I am not too tired I will post a blog about our fun time out there.

A Fantastic Book Signing At Wolfmueller's Books Tonight!

Today has been great. This morning Jim, our great dog-walking volunteer, came out and walked a lot of dogs while Tony and I did our chores.

This afternoon around 2:30, Steven, the nice young man that could not keep his dog Plexi, because he had to move to Austin for work, came out today and adopted his dog Plexi, because he loved her and was missing her! And when Plexi saw him she jumped for joy and could not wait to be reunited with him and it was pretty awesome, to say the least.

Early this evening Trigger took us to Wolfmueller's Books for William Groneman III's book signing, September 11; A Memoir and it was so fantastic! 

When we arrived twenty minutes before the book signing Kinky had just pulled up in Mr. Green Jeans so we got to have a fun visit with Kinky, Sandy and Jon, Steve and Mary Jo and her daughter, before the place filled up to buy Bill's book. And while we were visiting I gave Sandy and Jon their yellow and pink BugBands, that Marguerite had gotten for us, for our road trip to Terlingua and they loved them as much as Tone and I do and then Kinky told us about running into Marguerite at H-E-B and having a fun visit with her about Enzo #2.

At 5:00, after Sandy had introduced William Groneman III to the crowded bookstore and I got to be the first person in line to have him sign his book to Tony and me and I felt so honored, because I was in the company of one of the 911 F.D.N.Y. heroes! 

Around 5:30, after Bill had signed many books he talked to us about being at Ground Zero on 911 and it moved me to tears and it touched my heart, as I am sure it did everyone else who was there. 

And that is about it for today, because tonight I plan to start reading, September 11: A Memoir by William Groneman III.

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

Thank You, Marguerite!

Today has been great. This afternoon after a fun lunch with Marcie and Kinky, we went straight to— Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic to pick up our gift from Marguerite and we absolutely love it and it was something that I had not thought about getting, because it was not on the list for my survival kit.

As we sat out front of Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, inside Trigger, I untied the ribbon and then we looked inside the Wild Birds Unlimited recycled, brown paper sack and we loved what we saw and we were glad that it wasn't some more Trojan products, because Tony had already picked some up, the other day at Walgreens, for my survival kit, while I sat outside, in their parking lot, inside Buttermilk, with my head looking down—pretending that I was reading something very important.

"Tony, I love this! Marguerite got Sandy and Jon and us BugBands that repels mosquitoes, fleas, gnats, no-see-ums and flies and it is Deet free. Your and Jon's are the yellow bands and Sandy's and mine are the pink ones! Sandy's going to love hers! And it says here that we can wear them on our wrists, ankles, belt loops or back packs. Tomorrow, when we go to William Groneman's booksigning at Wolfmueller's Books, please remind me to take these to them and we need to..."

When we got home I cleaned the inside of The Morgue, our refrigerator, and feng shui-ed some dated-food and leftovers that I could not recognize and The Morgue looks so beautiful now and then I returned several phone calls, did a little paperwork, to stay caught up with it and then I worked on my survival kit that I'm really having trouble with, because I can't seem to make everything fit inside my pretty, pink soapbox.

Y'all have a great evening, please keep praying for us to get some rain and thank you, Marguerite. Please give Enzo #2 a hug from me and tell him that I said, "Count your blessings, because you are one very lucky dog."

We Love Ruth Buzzi!

At 4:00 PM I wrote:  Today has been an okay day, because we did not make it to Kerrville today to pick up Marguerite's present, that she had left for me, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and I am going nuts trying to guess what it might be and I am blaming it on FMT—Full Moon Time.

At 4:30 PM I wrote:  Things have now changed and today has been great after all. I have just found out that our dear friends Ruth Buzzi and her husband Kent Perkins are doing an online fundraising for our rescue ranch on Facebook and I just went to Ruth Buzzi's Facebook Fundraising page to check it out and she has already raised $197.00 for us and they just kicked it off a few hours ago. Thank you, Ruthie and Kent! We love y'all and our dogs are happily howling for you and Kent as I write this and the video you posted is a Must-See.

At 8:15 PM  I have spent the last two hours pickin' and grinnin' with Phillip, one of The Friedman's dog-sitters and I had a blast, because he is one great guitarist and a pretty good mandolin player too. And since my fingers are killing me, that's about all of the exciting news I have for today.

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

I'm Packing!

Today has been a great day. This morning after we did our morning chores outside I tackled some paperwork, because when we go on our trip I want to be totally caught up with the rescue ranch business, so when we return I want be bombarded by so many things needed to be taken care of.

Then Tony surprised me with an early-bird birthday present—that I absolutely LOVE and will truly treasure—a Victrinox Swiss Army Swiss Champ SOS pocket knife kit for my survival kit! And it has 14 features; large and small blades, can and bottle openers, small and large screwdrivers, Phillips screwdriver, fine and mini screwdrivers, scissors, wire stripper, wire cutter, pliers, wood saw, fish scaler with hook disgorger and ruler, metal saw with metal file and nail file, magnifying glass, reamer with sewing eye, corkscrew, hook, wood chisel, ball point pen, and straight pin. Tweezers and a toothpick pull out of the ends of the knife and it is even equipped with a handy key ring.

And the case also includes a variety of outdoor/survival things such as a sharpening stone, pressure pencil for when I have a pressing writing deadline, writing paper, three Band-Aids, black and white sewing thread, two sewing needles, in case Tony and I both want to sew at the same time, five matches, nylon string, signal mirror, ruler, compass, and a spirit level, even though I am not sure exactly what a spirit level is used for, but I figure it must have something to do with ghosts, so it might come in real handy, because Terlingua is a ghost town. 


And the reason I love this pocket knife so much, is because last night I spent a large portion of my evening looking at this super pocket knife and showing it to Tone on eBay and Amazon and I was drooling over it and wanting it badly, even though I have never owned or wanted a pocket knife in my life. But quite simply, I just could not afford to spend $147.99 on my very first pocket knife, no matter how many times it could save Tony's and my life and Sandy & Jon's.


So, while I was doing some paperwork today, Tony walks in and says, "I've got an early birthday day present for you, but it is used, my ex-brother-in-law gave it to me, one year, for my birthday present and it's been sitting in a drawer, for years, until I found it this morning for you. But Belle found it, while we were eating breakfast, and she has chewed on the carrying case some, but it is a Victrinox Swiss Army Swiss Champ SOS pocket knife kit and I do want you to have it." 


"OMG, Tony! I love it. Are you sure you want to give it to me?"


Tony chuckled, "Yes, Nance. I have plenty of pocket knives and it is bad luck for anyone to buy a knife for themselves. Let me show it to you." Then he started opening up my pocket knife and then he showed me all of the outdoor/survival things tucked neatly inside the knife case and to say the least, "I felt like a kid in a candy store," ready to cut some paper, saw off a tree limb or signal someone.

After we ate some Cousin Nancy's Chicken Soup for lunch, which was delicious, we jumped into Trigger and headed for Kerrville to run a few errands and on our way there I said, "I want to go to Wolfmueller's Books first, if you don't mind, because I can't wait to show them my very first pocket knife."


When we walked inside Sandy and Jon's bookstore they greeted us and we greeted them back and then I showed off my new pocket knife and they were very impressed with it, too. "Now Nancy, you don't really think that we are going to get lost out there, do you?" Sandy teased, before the three of them started laughing.


"It could happen and I'm packing it," I teased back. "And, if we do get lost—Tony's birthday present to me—will save all of our lives!" Then I remembered, "Y'all, this morning Marguerite, that super nice woman, who adopted Enzo, the German Shepherd, from us called and she left a funny message on Carlton. She said that she had a present for me, for our road trip to Terlingua and that she was going to leave it at Hoegemeyer's, after she got off from work today and for us to pick it up the next time we come to town and she was laughing the whole time she was talking. I can't wait to get it and I wonder what it is?...."


Home Depot was our last stop, so I could buy a few 1"x4"s, so I can finish the Space Ship's wall's renovation, before coming back home.


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

For Our Survival Kit!

Today has been great. This morning after we did our chores outside I started reading some more about Terlingua, because one week from today Tony and I will be out there, with our dear friends Sandy and Jon Wolfmueller, for an exciting and fun, three days and two nights vacation.

It seems like it has been forever since T. and I have gotten away from the rescue ranch for that long and we are more than excited about it, even though I know that we will be missing our dogs, both inside and out.

After I had read some interesting information about what to see and do out in Big Bend, I came across a chapter about how to survive in the desert—if you get LOST! OMG, I hadn't even thought of that possibly happening to us, because I have only been concentrating on my fear of traveling out there and back at 85 mph, so I panicked, which was not good, because the first thing, it says in the desert survival chapter is, "The biggest killer in any emergency situation is panic."

So, I got up, went to my purse and then I filled a little shot glass with water and mixed it with a few drops of Rescue Remedy, that Ellen gave to me for my trip to San Antonio with Patty and Sandy.

Then I sat down and read the entire chapter which covered survival priorities: water, fire, shelter, signals, food and making a "must have" pocket survival kit, that was small enough to fit inside a little soap dish container. And then I went into my office and scanned it, so I could start checking off what we already had.

And the only survival kit things that we have are:
1. Fish Hooks for Jon and Tony to catch Rainbow Trout for Sandy and me                      
2. Tweezers so Tony can remove the fish hooks out of my fingers, if I decide to fish                          
3. 1 Large needle in case I want to do some embroidery                  
4. Fishing Line for fishing and to hang up our just washed clothes on to dry                      
5. 1 Pencil stub in case my pen runs out of ink or I decide to build something                  
6. 2 Bouillon cubes (organic chicken) spice for our fish frys
7. Signal whistle in case there is a traffic jam or if I need Tony to come help me with something
8. Micro-flashlight with spare battery so I can blog in the dark
9. 4 Tea Bags of Yerba Mate to give the four of us vitality, clarity and well-being when we play poker
10. 4 Band-Aids for my torn clothing
11. 4 Plastic bags in case we want to take some of the fish home with us
12. Instructions with blank side for notes for my blog
13. Pictures of our dogs to inspire us to live and keep on going
14. Baby Aspirin so I don't have a heart attack on I-10 or I see a rattle snake

So, as you can see, I still have plenty of survival supplies to purchase. I plan to buy Made In USA if I can, because I don't want to be lost and have to trust a button compass Made In China, even though I have no idea how to read one, but I am sure that Tony and Jon know how to use one.

When I asked Tony if he had some fish hooks that he could give me and some fishing line he asked me, "Yes, but why do you need them?"

"For our survival kit, in case we get lost, when we go out to Terlingua. This book I'm reading says...." Tony started laughing. "I'll go get you some in a minute, but Nance, if we do get lost in the desert, do you really think there will be plenty of lakes nearby for us to catch all of the fish we can eat until we're found?" He started laughing which made me start to laugh, as I thought about the odds of us getting lost in the desert near a beautiful, convenient lake filled with trout.

When I finally had quit laughing I said, "Oh! Tony, the next time that we go to town, I'm going to need for you to buy some condoms."

"What?"

"For our survival kit. There's no way I'm going to buy them..."

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

How Lucky We Are!

Today has been great. Last night before we went to bed I asked Tony to please wake me up real early, because I wanted to get up and clean the trailer before Eileen's sister Dean came out to walk our dogs with our great volunteers—Lisa and Eileen.

"Nance, you need to get up. It's 5:37," Tony whispered, as Mama reared her big, white furry head from my pillow and then jumped up, stepped on my butt and then using it as a springboard she—leaped off of our bed and I thought, "If she can do it, so can I," but I didn't actually leap like Mama did—I sort of slowly rolled off our bed, without crashing to the floor.

Around 9:30 when they arrived out here, Nellybelle, our 1983 trailer, was as spic 'n span as she could be and I could not wait to show her off to Dean, because I love my trailer that I bought in 1995, when I moved to Utopia.

As I walked, as fast as I could, up to the barn they were talking to Tony. "Hi, y'all! It is so good to see you!" I hollered, because I was too far away. "Dean, welcome to Texas and welcome to our rescue ranch. Eileen has told us so much about you and we have been so excited to meet you I got up early and actually cleaned Nellybelle and I don't do that for everybody."

While everyone laughed, Dean gave me a big bear hug and said, "You shouldn't have, Nancy. I love this place. It is so beautiful and exactly how I pictured it, because I have read your books and follow your blog..."

A few minutes later, they had Merlin and Princess and George Clooney leashed and we took off for the creek, so they could go swimming and I am pretty sure that we scared off all of the wildlife, including Wilbur, the giant black wild hog that we feed every morning, because we were laughing so much.

During one of our many, laughter filled, strolls down to the creek and back, Lisa and I could not believe Dean and Eileen were just sisters, because they were just alike and they could have passed as twins, because they had the same upbeat, funny personalities and they looked just alike.

When it started getting hot outside, I invited them to come up to the trailer for a fun visit, because I was having so much fun with them, but before we climbed up the steps to go into Outer Space, we climbed the steps into my Space Ship, so I could show it off to Dean and show Lisa and Eileen my latest improvements.

After Dean had told me that she loved the Space Ship and Eileen and Lisa had told me they liked my latest improvements we went into Outer Space and had a blast listening to Dean and Eileen taking turns, telling hilarious stories about each other, while Tony shot us with his camera and videoed Dean telling a hilarious story about her first husband being a professional rodeo clown and her professional barrel racing escapades, when she was a young woman. And when her hilarious story had ended Tony teased Dean that he was going to youTube it.

While we were chatting up a storm (I wish) the dogs outside started barking, because someone was driving in. "I'll go see who it is," Tony said, as he left Outer Space and ten minutes later Tony drove up in Kermit. "Nance, they want to adopt Zeke. She is the woman who heard you on the Harley Show yesterday that you've already talked to. I really like them and they are in love with Zeke."

Fifteen minutes later, Zeke had been officially adopted and had found himself a fantastic forever home and I took this picture of him with his new best forever friends, before they drove him off to his new home.

When Tony and I drove back up to the trailer we saw Lisa, Eileen and Dean walking out of our front yard gate. "We're going to Medina to eat and we want y'all to join us," Eileen said, and she didn't have to twist our arms.

"We'd love too, but first let Tony take a picture of us, okay" I said. From left to right is Dean, Lisa, me and Eileen and I must admit I cropped the picture, because it made me look fat.

Lunch was so much fun for Tony and me, because they kept us laughing with their funny tales and we didn't want it to end. When we were at the cash register I asked Lisa for my check and she said, "No, it is my treat..." 

When Eileen and Dean over heard Lisa they objected, too, but Lisa won out or lost out, because she paid for our lunches. Thank you, Lisa. Lunch was delicious!

After a short, but fun visit outside, by Trigger and Eileen's truck we hugged and then adios-ed them and headed home and all T. and I could talk about was how much fun we had had with them and how lucky we are to have such great friends as them and that is about it for tonight.

P.S. While Tony and I were doing Zeke's adoption, Lisa and Eileen gave Dean a tour of our trailer and I am so glad they did, because Dean told me that she loved our trailer, which of course made me smile.

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

Little Girl

When I met Tony in 1996 he came with precious cargo, his little dog that he had rescued a year before we had met and her name was Little Girl and she was the sweetest and happiest little dog that I have ever known. She was always happy and could not wait to snuggle up in your lap and she loved to kiss us and anybody else when ever she had a chance to.

Yesterday, Tony decided that it was time to put Little Girl to rest, because she has been very frail for the past several months and two days before she had quit eating and drinking water.

This morning after doing our chores outside Tony took Little Girl to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and when he came home we buried Little Girl, next to her son Hank Williams, Sr. and then we cried some more.

We will always love you Little Girl. Rest In Peace.

Little Girl 

1995 - 2011

Beetles!

Today has been great. This morning I got to wear my favorite pink sweatshirt (hoodie) when Tony and I went outside to feed the dogs and clean their pens, because it was fifty degrees for the second day in a row. By the time we had finished our chores I wished that I hadn't worn it, because the outside temperature had already climbed up to eighty-two degrees.

This afternoon Tone and I met our good friend Mari, of the NoMads, dog agility fame, for lunch in Kerrville and we had so much fun with her, because she is highly intelligent, has a great sense of humor, loves dogs and she has really great vibes.

After we had caught up with her latest news, because she knows all of ours news, because she reads my blog, we talked about the NoMads, veterinarians, her latest trip to Whole Foods in San Antone, the drought, our soon-to-be exciting road trip to Terlingua with Sandy and Jon, she told me something that I really did not want to hear, "Not to scare you, Nancy, but as of September 1st, they have raised the speed limit on I-10 five miles, so now it is 85 mph even though they haven't changed all of the signs, yet. So, you'd better be sure to take that Rescue Remedy with you, because you're really going to need it and..."

After Mari had scared me to death I purposefully changed the subject. "You're going to love this, Mari. The other day I bought some new 501 Levi's at Penneys and after I had laundered them, when I was putting them on this big label near the pocket is screaming at me, "Made In Egypt!" Can you believe that! Made in Egypt?" Mari frowned.

"This pink shirt I'm wearing was Made In The USA, these pants are Made In The USA and yes, unfortunately I can believe it..." a little while later, when our waiter came to give us our check, Mari grabbed it before I could and she says, "I'm buying lunch today—end of subject."

"Well, thank you, Mari," I said, "but the next time we do lunch we're treating you to lunch, okay?" Mari smiled and pretended not to hear me. Then we started talking about Tony's VW Beetle and her husband David's vintage collection of several classic VW Beetles and then she told us where David goes in San Antone to get VW parts, so Tony would know where to go to buy parts to restore his Bug.

Then we realized that the lunch crowd had left the building, so we thanked Mari again for lunch and then we adios-ed each other until next time and she went home and so did we.

Early this evening Kinky and Marcie came over for a "Toto Picnic" and when their picnic ended we went into Outer Space for a fun visit, even though we talked a lot about the drought.

When we decided to come inside the trailer, so Tony could show Marcie his Photography Hallway Gallery, Kinky asked me if he could water my dying outdoor plants. "Sure, I guess you can," I said, "but Kinky, with the water being so scarce right now, I had to quit watering them, because we just can't afford to use up what precious we've got left."

While Tony was busy giving Marcie a tour of his hallway  photo gallery I filled up Jaws, my Vita-mix blender's pitcher, with precious water twice, so Kinky could go outside into Outer Space to water my drought suffering plants. "Nance, just give them a little water every other day," Kinky suggested, as he handed back my Jaws pitcher to me. "If y'all run out of water over here I will be glad to take them and..."

When they left to go back over to the Lodge, Tony and I left to go feed Shalom and the donkeys over at Echo Hill's horse barn and that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us and for the Fire fighters around our state who are busy putting out wildfires!

OMG! Kink!

Today has been great. This morning after Tony and I did our morning chores outside he was sweet and took Angel and Blue, two, sweet, two-year-old Chihuahuas to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic so they could be neutered and spayed and get their shots and he dropped off Toto, so he could be groomed, because I did not have the time to play "Beauty Shop" with him, because I had too many things to do and take care of.

While T. was gone I did the Chihuahua's intake papers and Zeke's, the little Yorkie that we adopted out in July and then was returned to us and then I sent their pictures with their descriptions to Pat, our wonderful web master, so she could put them up on our utopiarescue. com site.

All three of these tiny dogs are two years old and as sweet as they can be. I took their pictures this morning before Tony took Blue and Angel to Hoegemeyer's. In alphabetical order is Angel, Blue and Zeke.

By the time Tone got home I had our taco salad lunch ready and the papers were in order for him to go to Medina to get Trigger's and Buttermilk's vehicles registered with the state and a check to pay to the county tax assessor.

While T. was gone to Medina to make our vehicles legal to drive Hazle cleaned the wooden floors of our trailer while I started a load of clothes washing in Queen Bee. Then I sat down at my laptop and began writing my bi-monthly column for Texas Animal Imprints magazine for their digital December issue.

Around 5:00, when I was nearly finished writing my column, Tony took off for Kerrville to pickup a "cleaner version of Toto. By the time they returned I had sent Joni, the editor for Texas Animal Imprints my column with a few of Tony's and my pictures.

When T. and T. returned home, a little after 6:00, Mama, Abbie and Belle sniffed him to make sure that Toto was the same dog that left here this morning. When everyone was finally convinced that it was Toto, Tony and I left the trailer and jumped into Kermit, so Tony could add several more feet to the pipe down at the creek, that provides our water, because the water level had dropped so much. Here are a couple of pictures I took, standing in the middle of a once beautiful, wide flowing Wallace Creek, while Tony lengthened the pipe, so we can have water.

This evening Kinky called me with some great news about the Saturday nights November 26th Bonefit and December 17th Bonefit, at The Springs Music Hall in Salado, Texas. "Nance, Billy Joe Shaver is going to do the December 17th show with me. Isn't that great news!"

"OMG! Kink, I love it. I love Billy Joe and...!"

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for us to get some rain and for the Fire Fighters fighting our states many wildfires.