Today has been a great day, but not as great as yesterday was, because I had a few problems driving to Ron and Nita's ranch and I am blaming that on F.M.T. (Full Moon Time).
Yesterday morning, at 11:15, while Tony loaded my guitar into Trigger he told me that he was worried about me getting lost and for me to please call him the minute that I arrived at The Ronderosa, so he wouldn't worry about me. "And Nance, don't forget to get gas in Kerrville, because there is less than a quarter of a tank."
"What kind of gas do I get? Regular, Super Regular or what?"
"Regular." Then we hugged and kissed and adios-ed each other and my two hour road trip began, with my iPod already serenading me with
my music.
Getting gas at H-E-B was a joke sort of. First, I pulled into the parking lot and accidentally, ended up going down a parking lane the wrong way and some
nice young man, riding in his fancy Mustang, probably paid for by his disappointed parents, angrily waved his finger at me and I am sure that you can guess which one it was, while I tried to mouthed the words, "I'm sorry," to him.
Then when I saw an empty stall to pull into to get gas I made a fool out of myself, which really was no big deal to me, because I seem to do that pretty regularly since becoming a
senior citizen. First off, I almost parked too far away from the pump, but thankfully, the hose was
just long enough to reach Trigger's tank. Then, when I pressed the "Regular" button—nothing happened, so I pressed the button again, but still no gas, so I walked over to the fuel cashier and told her, "Ma'am, I'm sorry to bother you, but something is wrong with that pump over there. I can't get it to give me gas."
The pleasant woman smiled at me and then she left her little glass building to go see what was the matter with my pump. "After I put the pump handle into Trigger, I pushed the regular button and nothing happened," I explained. She smiled, again.
"You have to press this button, too. Either-pay-with credit-card or pay-inside, ma'am," as she pointed to the other buttons high above the Regular button that I had pushed earlier. Feeling stupid, because I was, I started to laugh at myself.
"Thank you, for helping me. I feel so dumb. My husband Tony always puts in our gas and it has been years since I last filled up Buttermilk and when I did that—I forgot to put the gas cap back on, causing T. to have to go buy a new gas cap for her. Thanks again for helping me." And then I hit the pay-inside button and began filling up Trigger, knowing full well that the other "get gas" customers and the kind woman who had helped me, were probably laughing at me for not knowing how to put gas into a truck. But the one good thing about getting gas yesterday, is that Trigger's cap was attached to the tank, so I wasn't even capable of losing it.
An hour and a half later, I safely arrived at The Ronderosa and because I was so excited to see Nita and Ronnie and their beautiful daughters and dogs—I totally forgot to call Tony as I had promised him.
Around 4:30, after having so much fun with my family, I finally remembered to call Tone. Before calling T. I told them about forgetting to call him and they laughed and then Ronnie and Nita teased me about being old like them and because I knew that T. would also tease me about being forgetful, I picked up the phone and lied, the best that I could, and left this message on Carlton, while my family laughed quietly in the background.
"Tony, I am exhausted and am fine. I just arrived at The Ronderosa, because I got lost and ended up in San Antone, but everything is okay. I miss you, I love you and I wish you were here. Everyone says, "Hi!" See you in the morning. Bye."
One hour later, I was in their kitchen with Ron and Nita, so they could start preparing the dinner that we would eat two hours later and while we laughed and visited their phone rang and it was Tony, so Ronnie answered it and he played along with my joke and he laughed with Tone about me always getting lost and then he handed off the phone to me. "Hi, Tony!"
"Nance, I'm glad that you got there safely, but I can't believe you got lost in San Antone."
"I know." Then he started laughing.
"Tell Ron and Nita that for Christmas I'm going to buy you a GPS that you can wear 24/7, because pretty soon you will need a GPS just to find the bathroom," he teased.
Before we adios-ed each other I promised T. that I would hook up Garmina before taking off, which was another white lie, because I've memorized the directions to The Ronderosa.
After a delicious dinner filled with non-stop laughter, Ronnie took me outside to his work shop to show me the new guitar that he is making and it was beautiful, but not nearly as beautiful as the one he made for me, eight years ago. Then we returned to the house and picked up our guitars and we picked and grinned for nearly two hours and my fingers are still a little bit sore tonight as I type this.
On my early drive home this morning all that I could think about was how much fun I had had with my family and I wished that Tony had come along with me, because he too, would have had a blast.
When Trigger and I arrived back at the ranch, T. and our dogs came out to the front yard to greet us. As Tony unloaded my guitar for me from the backseat, he teased me about getting lost in San Antone, again and it made me laugh.
"I never got lost, Tony," and then he laughed as I told him about me playing a joke on him, because I knew that he would believe me about getting lost and forgetting and he would tease me. "And Tony, I never pulled Garmina out of the glove compartment this morning, because I know the way to Ronnie and Nita's! I did it and you're definitely going with me the next time and I'm driving!"
As we went outside to go do our morning chores I told him about my gas problem, yesterday and he teased me all morning about it. And that is about it for today, but before I post this I want to wish Vickie Harris a Happy Birthday and I hope today has been the best birthday that she has ever had.
Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying that we get some more rain!