Ann And Barry and Their Good Friend Bob!

The reason that I didn't blog last night was because I spent the evening cooking some new recipes. First, I cooked the Cream of Jalapeno Soup recipe from the cookbook, A Cowboy In The Kitchen: Recipes from Reata and Texas West of the Pecos by Grady Spears and Robb Walsh, that Sandy & Jon had given to me for my 60th birthday, because when we were in Alpine, Texas, heading back home from our fun trip in Big Bend, we stopped and ate lunch at the famous Reata restaurant and we ate their popular Cream of Jalapeno Soup, which was as delicious as the one I had cooked last night.

After T. had drained his soup bowl dry and had told me that my/their soup was delicious, I cheerfully cleaned up our dinner dishes and then, because I knew that our friends were coming out today and bringing their friend with them, I decided to make our super volunteer's secret banana bread recipe, so I pre-heated the oven and then closely followed her directions. And, one and a half hours later—we're talkin' two loaves of Lisa's Secret Banana Bread recipe and Tone loved it!

Today has turned out to be another great day. This morning Tony woke me up real early, so I could wake up, drink some coffee and then be ready to do the five to ten minutes Utopia segment on the Harley Show at 7:45.

As always I had a fun time talking on-air with my dear friend Harley, the next Kerr County Commissioner in Kerrville—fingers crossed. We laughed about this and that and then we talked about whom his Pet Of The Week was. "Harley, your Pet Of The Week is Peanut. He's one of the cutest, smartest and playful little dogs we've got our here, right now. We rescued him from the Kerr pound and he is precious. He has black eyes, a black nose and is absolutely adorable, Harley..."

After Harley and I had adios-ed each other, I cooked breakfast for Tony and he showed up just in time to eat his hot meal. Then he went outside alone to do our morning chores, because I had ten million phone calls, e-mails and paperwork to take care of, before cleaning the trailer, because Kinky's and our good friends Ann and Barry and their good friend Bob, who they wanted us to meet, were coming out to see us late this afternoon.

By 11:30, I had taken care of one million "things-to-do" on my list, so I took a break and cooked us one of Mari's, Sandy & Jon's, Tone's and my favorite meals, the "Blue Norther Winner" from the Easy Soup Recipes cookbook and it was delicious! 

After I had cleaned up the kitchen, I dragged Hazel out of the closet and while I cleaned dog-nosed-smudged windows, she busily vacuumed up some lost black, white and brown dog hair and the dirt on our wooden floors. Then she went back into the closet, where she remains.

Around 3:30 today, Kinky and Ann drove up in Kinky's truck Mr. Green Jeans, followed by her husband Barry and their friend Bob. After introductions, howdies and hugs, Kinky and Ann telling me, "I like your pink cabin," we invited everyone to come up to the trailer for some coffee and Lisa's Secret Banana Bread and everyone loved the banana bread! (Thank you, for giving me your recipe, Lisa! They actually think that I am a good cook! Ha!)

Kinky's, Tony's and my visit with Ann, Barry and Bob was a total blast, filled with non-stop laughter and after Kinky had to leave to get back over to the Lodge, we went into Outer Space and continued the fun visit, but it didn't last long enough in my opinion, because when it was time for them to leave, neither T. or I wanted them to leave, because we were enjoying their company so much.

And, that is about it for tonight, but I want everyone to know that our good friend Karin Pohlmann, visiting us from Germany, has arrived safely back home and I want to thank our great volunteer Ellen Jackson for driving her to the San Antonio Airport, because Karin was so scared of the crazy traffic there. Thank you, Ellen—we know that you are an angel, but trust me, your secret is safe with us.

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