Ol' Smokey!

Today has been totally fantastic! This morning at 11:32, when I pushed the print button for 48 Hours to print my novella, Carol was standing behind me and she was as excited as I was. "I'm so excited about this," I said to Carol. "Now all I have to do is wait for my books."

"I'm so happy for you, Nancy," Carol said. "I am so glad that I was here to witness you pushing the button, because I can't wait to see your book. I have a present for you to celebrate getting it published. Come on out to the car with me, so I can give it to you."

When Carol lifted her Tahoe's hatchback I instantly teared up while wearing a big grin on my face. "Oh my god, Carol. I absolutely love it. I've wanted one of these ever since I saw yours years ago. You are so sweet." Then Tony drove up in Kermit to take it out of her SUV, because Carol had already showed it to him, when she drove in.

"Where do you want it, Nance?" Tone asked.

"Inside The Okay Corral, next to the bird feeder." Then Carol and I followed Tony into the corral. After Carol put its base down, Tony set it on top of it. "Carol, thanks to you," I said. "I now have everything that I have ever wanted..."

"I'm so glad that you like it," Carol said, as she and Tony lit its first fire. "Now when your friends are here or the volunteers, we can all sit by it and enjoy it. I love mine too and I use it all of the time on my deck."

After sitting around it and watching the fire for a while, we came inside to drink a cup of coffee and to toast our friendship and the novella. Thirty minutes later Carol had to go home and after she left, I went outside and took this picture of Ol' Smokey, my new chiminea. "Thank you, Carol. I love it so much."

Y'all have a great evening!

The Stain!

Today has been great. This morning at 9:00, as planned, our dear friend Vern came out to donate 400 pounds of Pedigree dog food, a collapsible dog pen for puppies and a couple of dog crates and then we had a blast visiting with him.

While we drank coffee inside The Cabin, we talked about Tony's photography, music, Steve Martin, etc. and when I told him about what character I had made up for him to be in my novella he laughed out loud and said, "I love it." Which made me smile, because I am glad that he likes his character, even though in my novella he is one quirky, interesting old Hippie with a long gray ponytail.

Around 10:00, we went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and Marcie and I laughed so much in Kinky's kitchen, it actually made my back start to ache. After a fun hour and a half of visiting with Kink and his sister Vern told us that he hated to leave, but had to, because he had to get to Houston to fly to New York tonight.

After Vern had adios-ed us Tony and I took off for Kerrville to run a few errands and our first stop was at a Mexican restaurant to eat lunch. When the nice waitress took our order we told her what we wanted to eat and then I asked her, "Can we have a small bowl of cheese dip, too?" Which turned out to be a big mistake.

While Tone and I waited to eat lunch we munched on the delicious tortilla chips and hot cheese dip and when the waitress brought us our plates, mine had two, steaming hot cheese enchiladas, covered in red enchilada sauce, with refried beans and rice on the side.

I decided to let my hot plate cool down a little bit, so I reached over my plate and dipped another tortilla chip into the cheese dip and after eating it I noticed this red stuff on the table next to my plate. "What's this, Tony? Where did this come from?" I asked, as I stared at the mess on the table. Then I reached over my plate again, to eat one more tortilla chip dipped in cheese dip and Tony started laughing. "What?"

After T. had quit laughing he pointed his finger at my over sized sweatshirt sleeve and said, "Look at your sleeve." Then he started laughing again, as I held up my arm and saw that my sleeve was covered in red enchilada sauce.

"Oh my god!" I said, as I stared at my drenched sleeve. "What am I going to do, Tony?" He said nothing, because he was shaking with laughter and shaking his head sideways. Then I thought, what would Ronnie do? (Sorry, Eileen.)

"Nance, you need to take your sweatshirt off, because it looks so dirty."

"I can't, because my navy blue turtleneck will show my giant muffin top." Then I grabbed the end of my turtleneck cuff with my right hand and then started pushing the cuff of my favorite sweatshirt up my arm, in hopes it would hide the ugly stain. When I held up my arm for Tone to inspect, he burst out laughing, because no matter how high I pushed up the sweatshirt cuff—the stain still showed. Then I pushed up the left cuff of my sweatshirt to match my right arm as Tony continued to laugh at me.

"Nance, you can't hide it." Then after paying for our messy lunch we went to the craft store and then to H-E-B to pick up some groceries and came home.

After putting up our groceries I sat down and wrote the words for the back cover of my novella, because tomorrow morning I am pushing the button to finally print my novella, which will be available to buy on December 5th.

As I finish writing this tonight, my stained, favorite over sized sweatshirt has been soaking in the washing machine for over an hour in cold water and here is a picture I took of it before tossing it in the wash tub.

Y'all have a great evening!

Bar Code!

Today has been great and so was our Thanksgiving holiday weekend. And the best news that I have is Mercury in retrograde officially ends today—thank goodness. The other good news is I am just a few hours away from pushing the button to get my novella published!

This morning I got up real early, so I could tweak my novella some more. And thanks to Tony for doing our morning chores outside, by himself, so I could keep working on it, I was able to wrap it up. The only thing left for me to do is get the ISBN numbers and bar code tomorrow and then finish designing the cover, which Tony is thrilled about, because I am using two of his photos for the front and the back.

Late this afternoon while I was over at the Lodge visiting with Kinky, he told me that he was told that Willie and his new book has now jumped to number fourteen on the New York Times Best Selling List and when he handed me a copy of it, I couldn't quit staring at the beautifully designed book jacket.

And that is about it, because my eyes are tired from staring at my computer screen for most of the day.

Y'all have a great evening!

What Would Eileen Do!

Today has been totally great, but first I must tell you about what happened last night.

Rick arrived around 5:30 last night and while we were eating dinner someone knocked on the trailer, so Tony went outside to see who was here. A few minutes later Tony walked back inside to tell us, "Sally Field's owners are here to get her, because last Saturday when some nearby hunters were shooting their rifles, she ran off." Then Tony and Rick outside to take them to her pen and when she saw them, she could not wait to get out of her pen and jump inside their pickup and go home. And we are so thrilled about her owners finding her.

This morning we got up early and drank coffee and ate breakfast and then Rick and Tony started bringing in the feed buckets, the groceries for the dog's Thanksgiving dinner and the drill we use to mix up the food. Here are a couple of pictures of some of the food, before the volunteers arrived.

When Lisa, Carol, Jim & Kris, Ellen, Karon, A.J. and Brandon arrived we started fixing the dog's dinner and it was fun watching everyone putting the food into the buckets and take turns mixing up the food.

When Eileen showed up she gave Tony a present, from her and Lisa and Tony and all of us loved it, because it was a big Texas Master Naturalist sign for him to hang outside. Then Tony and I gave Eileen a present for being Tony's fabulous TMN mentor. When she saw the magnets that we had made for her she burst out laughing. Here's a picture of the refrigerator magnets we gave to her.

When the dog's dinner was ready to serve we went outside and fed our rescued dogs, who could not wait to gobble up the food. Here's a picture of Lisa filling up a dog bowl.

After all of the dogs had been fed, Tony took this group picture of us, before everyone took off to go home to enjoy Thanksgiving day.

Then Tony hung up his Texas Master Naturalist sign and I took this picture of him, proudly standing next to it.

Today has been wonderful and I want to thank all of our super volunteers for coming out and making ours and our dogs Thanksgiving day the best ever.

Y'all have a great evening!

We Love Jack Sunday & Sandy at KFGO!

Today has been great and it started early. By 6:00 this morning, after I drank a cup of coffee I had washed my second load of clothes and dried one load, vacuumed and mopped The Cabin, cleaned the bathrooms before Tony adios-ed me and went to The Old Timer, in Medina.

Around 9:30, our dear friend Lisa came out with her friend Betty to show her our rescue ranch and I liked Betty instantly, so I unwrapped and signed her a copy of my first book, The Road To Utopia: How Kinky, Tony & I Saved More Dogs Than Noah.

Precisely at 12:10 the phone rang as was planned to do an eight-ten minute interview about our Thanksgiving dinners that we cook for our dogs, with Jack Sunday and his co-host Sandy, at KFGO AM The Mighty 790 in Fargo, North Dakota and it was a lot of fun. At the end of our conversation Jack told me that he would podcast it, so if you want to listen to the interview click here. "Thank you, Jack and Sandy for helping our rescue ranch!"

After I had cooked Tony and me grilled cheese sandwiches with homemade bean soup for lunch, he went outside to the barn to take the twenty pounds of ground turkey out of the freezer, so we could defrost it in The Cabin, so it would be thawed and ready for tomorrow morning, when our great volunteers show up at 8:30 to help us finish preparing and serve our super, rescued dogs, that are waiting for their future forever homes, a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, complete with warmed, whole wheat dinner rolls. Here's a picture of twenty pounds of ground turkey thawing on our drainboard and stove top.

Around 4:00, a UPS delivery truck arrived to give us Karen and Terry Cauthen's Thanksgiving ham that they sent to us for our Thanksgiving dinner. "Thank you, Karen and Terry!"

Our dear friend Rick Reichenbach aka The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper, in Port Aransas, should be arriving here around 6:30 tonight, because we invited him to come up for a few days to have Thanksgiving dinner with us tomorrow, so I probably won't be doing much blogging during the holiday weekend. And that is about it for today, because I am fixin' to vacuum The Cabin one more time, before Rick gets here, because in the morning we will be too busy for me to do it then.

Y'all have a great evening! And Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Jack Sunday!

I was totally blown away after watching the Ken Burns' The Dust Bowl, a two hour, two part documentary on PBS the last two nights. Yesterday and today have been great.

Yesterday morning, right after Tony and I had finished our morning chores Christina arrived with precious cargo—Betty White, the fabulous dog that she adopted from us a few years ago and she also brought Rosco, an adorable, older dog that she is fostering, but might adopt.

Tony and I really enjoyed visiting with Christina and Betty White, who looked fantastic and happy and after we showed Christina all of our dogs, she is going to come back in December to adopt and pick Jethro Tull up and we are thrilled for him, because she loves dogs and knows how to spoil them!

Yesterday afternoon, we took Sally Field to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic to get her checked out and given shots and by the time we got back home Susan had called and left a message on Carlton, "Sally Field is ready to be picked up. She didn't need to get spayed and Dr. Janssen told us that she is about ten-years-old and she is a really sweet old girl."

This morning while Tony and I were outside doing our chores, Jack Sunday called and left a message for me on Carlton. He is a very popular radio personality on KFGO, in Fargo, North Dakota—The Mighty 790 AM and he is a good friend of Kinky's.

After I had listened to Jack's message, wanting to know if I would do a radio interview with him tomorrow, to talk about our traditional Thanksgiving dinner for our dogs, which we have been doing for over fourteen years, I called him back to tell him that I would love to do it. So, if you would like to listen to the interview at 12:10 PM, Central time, go to this address KFGO and the second tab at the top of the page, click listen live, because he loves dogs and he wants to spread the word about our rescue ranch to his listeners in Fargo.

When I got off of the phone with Jack I called Kinky, in Las Vegas, to tell him about doing an interview with Jack Sunday and Kinky was thrilled about it. Then he and I talked about The Friedmans. Before we adios-ed each other he asked me if I had seen Willie on The Today Show this morning, talking about his and Willie''s new book, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die: Musings From The Road. "No, Kinky, I didn't, but I will check it out and tell you about it."

Later today we went to the little H-E-B store for last minute grocery shopping and to pick up Sally Field, because our dear friend Rick Reichenbach is coming up from Port Aransas to spend the Thanksgiving holidays with us and we are really looking forward to seeing him. And that is about it for tonight, because I want to work on my novella.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday to Patty Kearns and Max Swafford!

The last two nights I have been watching PBS's  fabulous Ken Burns new documentary, The Dust Bowl. I want to wish my two friends Patty Kearns and Max Swafford the best birthday ever! I love y'all and hope you have the best birthdays ever!

Sally Field!

Yesterday and today have been great. Yesterday, after our wonderful volunteers had walked our dogs,  they went to their cars, trucks and SUVs to get the food that they had brought for our picnic at Tony's No Whiner Diner, in The Okay Corral.

While Tony and The Mineral Man cooked up the hamburgers, veggie burgers and sausage, June and Ellen showed us the darling pictures that Ellen and her had taken of some three-day-old, part-Chihuahua puppies with their mother, that Ellen had rescued from the pound in Kerrville. So, in seven to eight weeks, if you are wanting a sweet, small puppy or their mama, please call me at the rescue ranch, because they are precious.

Our picnic was really fun and it was filled with laughter, of course, because our volunteers like to have fun and yes, my back ached most of the day, because they made me laugh so much.

After Jim, June, Ellen, Eileen, Lisa and Kris & Jim "The Mineral Man" left to go home, Tony and I jumped into Buttermilk, so we could go to H-E-B to get groceries and a 32" television set for the big room, because MIR broke it.

I bought the cheapest television they had that was on sale and all of the way home Tony and I talked about dreading to set it up, because we're not good at setting up electronics. And when we got home it only took us forty minutes to get it right! So, the reason that I didn't post on my blog last night was I watched Coach and Frazier reruns. Here's a picture of my television, that I took late this afternoon with Roy Rogers sleeping on the floor and Belle Starr-Simons dosing on the pillow.

This morning after we did our morning chores outside, our friend Karon, the nice woman who adopted Pecos Bill from us, called us about a stray dog that had wandered up and an hour later, she delivered the sweet, old female dog to us. We're not sure how old she really is, but we're guessing about eight-years-old. I named her Sally Field and she probably weighs about forty pounds and she is very sweet and great with children. Please meet Sally Field, who is another one of our fabulous dogs!

Around 11:30 Christina called me. "Hi, Nancy. I'm Christina &*^%^&#@ and you probably don't remember me. I adopted a dog from y'all a few years ago."

I interrupted her and said, "How is Betty White doing?" After she told me that Betty was doing fabulous she told me that she wanted to come out to adopt a great, large, male mutt from us which are the hardest to get adopted!  

"I like mutts," she said, "I want a junk yard dog to live the good life with Betty." After she made an appointment to come out next week we adios-ed each other. And Tony and I can't wait to see Christina and to say hello to Ms. White.

Around 12:30, our fabulous volunteer, Eileen, showed up with her friend Audrey, who was from out of town, spending the weekend with her. "I just wanted to show her the rescue ranch and meet y'all," Eileen said, as Tony and I smiled and stared at Audrey's precious, small black Llasa-Cocker.

After a short, but fun visit with them they drove off so Eileen could drive Audrey around the Hill Country. 

We ate a late lunch today, because neither one of us was very hungry and after lunch I began making the changes to my novella, that Eileen and Lisa had volunteered to proof read and edited for me. And, because I am so blind I had to use my big magnifying glass, that someone gave to me as a joke gift for my 60th birthday and it really helped. I took this picture of the first thirty-five now edited pages of my novella, because Eileen has the other fifty pages that she wanted to go over one more time.

Y'all have a great evening!

Pecos Bill!

Today has been great. I spent most of the morning doing paperwork, while Tony and his brother Sam did the chores outside.

Late this afternoon, around 4:15 our friend Karon showed up with her son Dalton, to adopt Pecos Bill, because Karon fell in love with him when she first met him on October 24th and because she was in the process of moving to new home, that has a giant fenced backyard, she had asked us if we could hold on to him for a few weeks.

When Tony and I went outside to meet Karon and Dalton, I told the seven-month-old pup that today was his day to get adopted and when Dalton and Karon drove up to his pen he was extremely happy about leaving our rescue ranch and going to his new forever home.

After Dalton had put Karon's new pink dog collar and attached the new pink leash to the collar, Tony started teasing Karon about making Pecos Bill wear pink. "My other two dogs wear pink collars too," Karon stated. "I love pink."

Before Dalton loaded their dog into a crate, I tried to take a picture of Dalton and Pecos Bill, but because he, who they have already named Blue, was so excited about getting adopted, this was the best picture that I took, because Blue kept jumping up and down.

And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Congratulations Tony!

Today has been a great day, especially for Tony, because this morning he went to his Texas Master Naturalist Hill Country Chapter commencement to received his badge!

Tony was lucky that Eileen Gotke, our dear friend, volunteered her time to be his fabulous mentor for the TMN course, because she has helped him throughout the two and a half month long course that he really enjoyed. "We love you, Eileen and we think that you are one of the nicest, most giving people in the Texas Hill Country."

When Tony arrived back at the rescue ranch he was grinning from ear-to-ear and he was proudly wearing his TMN badge. "Nance, you are not going to believe the incredible gift that Eileen gave me before the ceremony started!"

"What?" I asked.

"You're not going to believe the incredible gift that Eileen gave to me before the ceremony started!" He repeated loudly, as I began to chuckle.

"I heard what you said the first time, Tone," I said. "I said, "What," because she shouldn't have given you a present, for helping you so much. What did she give you?"

"A Beekeeper's hat and veil and this cute beehive ornament! How cool is that!" Then we came inside  The Cabin, so he could he could put on his bee helmet, so I could shoot him with my camera. 

When I let our dogs inside and they saw T. wearing the gift that Eileen gave to him they started barking at him. While Tony removed his beekeeper's hat, that he is thrilled to have, I told him what his wonder dog, Beau Bridges, did this morning. "After you left this morning, I let Beau and Belle come inside, while Abbie, Mama and Roy went outside. He was so excited to see me he raced through the big room,  jumped up on the big dog food container and then jumped up on the drainboard and accidentally knocked our toaster off. You should have seen it, because it would have been a hilarious YouTube video." 

After we had stopped laughing about it, Tony said, "You should have taken a picture of him, on the drainboard."

"I couldn't because my camera was acting up, because of Mercury in retrograde."

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Vickie Harris!

Today is our friend, Vicki Harris' birthday and Tony and I want to wish her the best happy birthday ever, so in two-part harmony, sort of, because I am tone deaf and have been accused of being Tone deaf and not hearing Tony when I want to, he and I sing to you:

"Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Vickie. Happy Birthday to YOU! And many more."

We love you!

What A Day—Thanks To MIR!

Today has been a little bit crazy and I blame it all on Mercury in retrograde. When I woke up this morning I made myself a cup of coffee and then I sat down at my lap top to check my mail. As I was reading Lisa's alarming warning note about there being a solar eclipse today on top of being MIR, I shuddered at the thought.

Then Tony walks into the kitchen and says, "I have some bad news."

"What?" I asked, as I clicked on an e-mail from Apple.

"The wild hogs came in last night and they knocked over The Eternal Squirrel on Yoda's grave and they tore up it's little solar panel." Then he handed me the solar squirrel, made by Malibu. So I put it on the drainboard and took this picture of it and then I bid Tony farewell, because he was headed to Medina to drink coffee with his friends at The Old Timer.

After pouring myself another cup of Donut Shop coffee I sat down at the kitchen table to read what Apple had sent to me and it made me smile, because my new Classic 160G iPod, engraved with "Nancy-Parker-Simons Loves Roy Rogers," has been shipped and it will arrive on Friday. And as I am listening to my old, now scary looking iPod, I am praying that it won't die before then, because my music keeps me upbeat.

Later, when Tony went outside to do our chores I got a phone call from a very sad, crying woman, "Nancy, I am so upset, because I have to return *&^%$ to you, because he is digging out and chasing our horses and chickens and..."

"I completely understand..." Then I went outside and told Tony that *&^%$ was coming back and would be here in fifteen minutes and then we discussed where we could put him, because we are at capacity with no space available.

When the sobbing woman showed up with little *&^%$, I walked over to her truck to greet her. As she lowered the window she said, "I'm sorry, but I can't do this. I have cried all the way over here. I love this dog, but I don't know what to do."

"Run a hot wire at the bottom of the fence and he will quit digging out," I said. Then Tony told her how to do it and then she happily drove away with her forever friend.

Then I returned to The Cabin, so I could call the pound in Kerrville, about a dog, that a friend had called me about. Because of the Veterans Day holiday they were closed, so I left them a message about us wanting to come tomorrow to pick the dog up. Then I punched in Kinky's phone number. "Kinky, I need to talk to Marcie about possibly fostering a dog for us until a space opens up over here."

"Marce, Nance wants to talk to you about fostering a dog," Kinky said to his younger sister. "Do you want to talk to her on the phone or come over?"

Five minutes later, I was over at the Lodge, in the kitchen, telling them about this dog and the emergency situation. "Yes, I would love to foster him for y'all," Marcie said. Then we discussed when we would bring the dog to her, because tomorrow we have to take him to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic to get him neutered and shots, etc.

When Tony was done with his outside chores we went to Kerrville to get Buttermilk's oil changed and to get her inspected at Balser's Northside Automotive, stop by Hoegemeyer's to pick up some Rabies certificates and to buy our rescued dogs their annual Thanksgiving dinner at H-E-B, that Lisa & Chuck prepaid for.

After Buttermilk was taken care of we went to Hoegemeyers and when we walked inside Susan was behind the counter, sitting on the floor. "Hi, Susan. Are you hiding from us?" I teased.

Susan laughed and said, "No. Our power strip blew up and I am trying to reconnect everything." Then we talked about todays solar eclipse and MIR.

When the sweet vet tech picked up a Baggie filled with 16 folded Rabies certificates for our dogs, she asked Susan if that was the bag to give us and Susan said, "Yes." Then we visited for a few more minutes and then we left the clinic.

It only took us about twenty minutes to fill our grocery cart with: 5 dozen whole wheat rolls, 20 lbs. of ground turkey, 3 huge bags of mixed vegetables, 2 giant jars of minced garlic, 3 large bags of grated cheddar cheese, 5 dozen eggs, 6 boxes of stuffing, 3 large bottles of olive oil and 3 big, disposable foil pans, to cook the vegetables in and the grand total was $176.90. "Thank you, Lisa & Chuck!"

As Tony was loading our dogs Thanksgiving dinner into the back of Buttermilk I opened the Baggie and looked at it and when I read a certificate and then two others I realized that we had accidentally been given the wrong bag, so we went back to Hoegemeyer's to return it and get ours.

When we teased Susan about us getting the wrong Baggie she joked, "It's because I was sitting on the floor."

"I'm blaming it on MIR and the solar eclipse," I said. 

Lastly, this evening when I tried to get on my blog, so I could write about my day—it would not let me get to the "New Post" and it took me over forty-five minutes, before the icon finally showed up. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Jay Thomas!

Today has been a lot of fun. Late this morning our good friends Kris and Jim, "The Mineral Man," came out to loan me a television to watch until I purchase a new one on black Friday or sooner. "Thank you, Kris and Jim! It is on right now."

After Jim kindly set up their television for us we had a really fun visit filled with laughter. While we were laughing and taking turns telling funny stories, our dear friend Lisa and her family showed up, because they had come to Kerrville for a Girls Only—Moms and daughters weekend and Lisa wanted them to see the rescue ranch.

When they came inside The Cabin, after introductions I asked, "Okay, who is Lisa's mom, because y'all all look so young?" And I was shocked when Lisa's mom spoke up and said, "I am," because she has definitely found the Fountain of Youth and only her family knows where it is located.

After I had showed them my broken television and the spooky-looking thing on the screen on my iPod, that still plays my music, we had a short discussion about MIR being the worst it has ever been. Then Lisa took her beautiful family outside to hand out treats to our dogs, before going to Medina to eat lunch.

This afternoon, around 2:15, right when Tony and I were fixin' to eat the lunch that I had cooked, the dogs outside started barking, so Tone and I went outside, with Mama and Roy, because Roy has been known for helping himself to whatever food is left on the drainboard.

At 2:45 we officially adopted out Lucy to a lovely family, with darling twin girls and Lucy was thrilled about it, but her roommate Rocky seemed sad to see her go, so now we are going to focus on getting Rocky adopted. Here's a picture I took of the twins with their new best, forever friend. And I must admit that Lucy could not wait to jump into their minivan and go to her forever loving home, in Center Point and hopefully never see our rescue ranch again.

When we came back inside The Cabin, I went Online to Apple and purchased a new 160G Classic iPod and decided to get it engraved for free with these words, "Nancy Parker-Simons Loves Roy Rogers." Then Roy, Mama and I went to the bedroom and took a short sleepless nap, with me in between them.

Early this evening I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and Brian, his tequila business partner and to show Kinky and him this hilarious Jay Thomas YouTube video about Jay actually meeting the Lone Ranger and giving him a ride and Kinky and Brian thought it was totally hilarious too.

Then I watched the last half of the exciting Texas A&M vs. Alabama game with them and we were thrilled that A&M won, because we love Texas A&M and their quarterback, Johnny Manziel graduated from Tivy High School, in Kerrville. Then I came home and that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Whiskers!

Today has been great, but tonight, thanks to MIR (Mercury in Retrograde) it ain't been so hot, in fact I am fuming about it.

This morning our great friends aka volunteers came out to walk our dogs, but because it was pretty windy and my eyes are a light pink color, I went outside for a minute to discuss my novella with Lisa and we agreed that I should wait until after November 27th to publish it because of MIR and after I talked to my friends, I went back to The Cabin and stayed inside until we went to lunch with them at Koyote Ranch's Koyote Kafe.

Tony and I had a total blast and we laughed so much, I was concerned that Koyote's super friendly staff might ask us to eat lunch somewhere else next time. When we heard the hilarious story about a squirrel named Whiskers—it nearly threw my aching back out, because I could not quit laughing about it and I am still laughing about it, as I sit on my pretty pink sheepskin, that my dear friend Mari gave to me. "Thank you, Mari. It's working and my back is already feeling much better."

When we came back home I called Ben to get his advice about publishing my novella during MIR and he strongly advised that I wait too, which I am glad about, because MIR is having a strong effect on me and my electronics.

On November 5th, my small 32" television, which I love, quit showing a picture and all I could do was listen to the news and Frazier and Coach reruns. Then this evening at exactly 5:43, while I was listening to my iPod, I got up to check on who the singer was and when I gently touched the control wheel I was shocked at what I saw on the screen, so I half-hollered, "Tony! Please come here and look at this! Dang-it MIR is now messing with my iPod."

Tony didn't exactly come running down the hallway, but when he finally walked into the big room and looked at my iPod he gasped and said, "I don't know what the @#*^ that is?"

"It's MIR," I declared, as I turned it off and then turned it on again, hoping it was just a glitch, but when the iPod lit up—there it was again. "Great, now I have to buy a new 32" television and a new 80 Gig iPod," I moaned. "There's not many things that I hate, but I sure hate MIR. Can you believe this? I am definitely not going to publish my novella now, because of all of this. It will have to come out the first week of December, because this is too dangerous. Look at that evil looking thing."

"I'm sorry, Nance."

"Not as sorry as I am." Here is a picture that I just took of my iPod a few minutes ago and it won't go away.

Thank goodness, I can still listen to my music and enjoy it and thanks to Kris and Jim who are loaning me a television to watch, until I purchase a new one and that is about it for tonight. When it rains—it pours thanks to MIR.

Y'all have a great evening!

Getting Arrested!

Today has been great, but nothing significant to write about happened out here, but I will tell you about me looking like a fool, in Kerrville, because Tony is still teasing me about it.

Early this afternoon we went to Kerrville to eat lunch, get new tires put on Buttermilk and to pick up some groceries at H-E-B. While we traveled to town, I came up with an idea to save us some time, "Tony, isn't there a BBQ restaurant across the street from Wagoner Tires?"

"Yes. Paw Paws."

"Instead of waiting to get the tires on and then go eat, let's just cross Sidney Baker and eat there, to save us some time."

"Okay."

After we had picked out the tires for Buttermilk, I told the nice woman, "We're going across the street to eat lunch and we'll be back soon."

"Enjoy your lunch," she said.

When T. and me walked outside, I suggested that we walk down the street and cross at the intersection, instead of crossing in the middle of the street.

"No, Nance. Let's just cross here, because there is no light at that intersection to help us."

"Okay, but we will be breaking the law. It's called Jaywalking and I hope we don't get a ticket for doing it."

As we stood on the curb, we kept waiting for a chance for us to get to the other side, for at least three minutes and then Tony says, "Let's go!" We started walking and two seconds later, Tony says, "We'd better run."

Well everyone knows that I don't run at my age, but I can jog, at a slow pace or skip, so I decided to skip across, even though I was wearing my pink cowboy boots. As I was skipping across Highway 16, which in town is known as Sidney Baker Street, the cars from both sides were getting closer to us. "Hurry, Nancy!" Tony half-hollered.

So I started skipping the fastest that I have ever skipped in my lifetime and when I finally made it to the curb, I burst out laughing, as a  pickup whizzed by us. "What's so funny?" Tone asked. "You nearly got hit by that truck."

"I bet I made a lot of rubber-neckers laugh, as they drove by, because they've probably never seen a senior citizen skipping that fast."

While we ate our lunch, next to a front window, we watched Wagoners removing and putting new tires on Buttermilk. When the last new tire was put on her, we were done eating our lunch and I said, "Tony, if you don't mind, I am going to stay on this side of the street and go next door to check out the store, because I don't want to be run over by a truck, like Mom was, when she was a child."

"I think that is a good idea."

As Tony ran back across the street, I casually walked inside the little store and when I came outside, Tony was just pulling out onto the side street, so I waved at him. And as I watched all of the heavy traffic going by, not giving him and Buttermilk a chance to cross the street safely, I thought, "Hurry Tony. I don't want to be mistaken as a street-walker and get arrested."

When I jumped into Buttermilk and told Tone about worrying about getting arrested, he burst out laughing.

Y'all have a great evening!

He Was Robbed!

Today has been really great and I am feeling much better, thank goodness. This afternoon, when my friends Denise & Les, Kris & Jim and Deb & Craig, met in Kal-Bob's parking lot, to eat lunch together, it was closed, because they had a catering job, so we decided to go eat at Acapulco's.

Kris & Jim took off first, then us, then Deb & Craig and then Denise & Les. When we pulled into the restaurants parking lot, we saw Kinky, Dylan, Marcie and Big G left the restaurant and were visiting in the parking lot, then Kinky saw us and waved to us and then started walking towards us.

When Jim and Kris and us met up with them, I quickly introduced Dylan, Marcie and Big G to our friends Kris and Jim, while Kinky shook hands with Jim and Kris and talked to them about his plants that he had given to them, and Kink was thrilled when Jim showed him a picture, on his cell phone, of Kinky's cactus plants, on their deck.

When Denise & Les drove into the parking lot and we waved at them, Kinky teasingly said, "Good grief, Nancy! How many people are you meeting here for lunch?"

"Only ninety-six," I joked. "Two of the couples couldn't make it, because of allergies."

"Y'all," Kinky said. "I was robbed while I was inside Acapulco eating lunch."

"What happened?" Jim asked.

"Someone stole my cigar, that I always leave outside, on top of that newspaper stand." All of us looked at the blue news stand and started laughing, except for Kinky.

As he carefully clipped off the end of a new cigar, he said, "I can't believe that someone would steal my cigar?"

"I love it, because I can blog about this tonight," I teased.

"Make it dramatic," Dylan suggested, followed by a laugh.

"Yeah," Marcie said.

"As the man fled with Kinky's half-smoked cigar, a pickup was backing out of its parking space, hit the robber and it killed him instantly, because of Karma," I joked. "How does that sound?"

Lunch with my friends was a lot of fun, for Tony and me and after we had adios-ed everyone we headed to Walmart, so I could buy a new pooper-scooper for me to use, because I wasn't happy with the plastic ones that we had recently purchased, but unfortunately they didn't carry the brand that I prefer, so we left and headed home in Buttermilk.

Before we turned off of 16, we stopped to pick up our mail and I had the greatest surprise when Tony asked, "Did you order something? There's a small box for you."

When he handed me the box, I looked at the return address and smiled and said, "It's my pot pie pans! Now I can do the picture for the back cover of my book!"

After Tony had used his knife to open up my box, I looked inside and was thrilled at what I saw!

Y'all have a great evening!

Pot Pie Pans Foiled!

Today has been great, if you don't count two things. One, I am still not over this allergy deal that is now lasted for a month and I am still waking up with a stuffed up nose, my eyes being light pink and using up a quarter of a box of Kleenex today and the second reason being, when we went to Kerrville today to get groceries at H-E-B and then stopped at a store, that yesterday, a young woman at the store had told me, "Yes, we definitely do have the small foil pot pie pans and when we got there they didn't.

When we came back home, Kinky called me and asked me to come over to the Lodge, so he and his sister Marcie could visit with me. I only stayed for about thirty minutes, because I needed to come back home and blow my nose and then work on my novella some more.

While I was writing the dedication part, which made me cry the whole time that I was writing it, I realized that the effects of Mercury Retrograde begins on November 6th and lasts through the 26th of this month and that made me cry even more, because my novella is literally just a few days away from being published and I don't want Mercury Retrograde fouling it up in any way.

So now I must do some serious thinking about publishing it during this time, because I don't want possible printing problems, etc. happening, because I am so excited about the novella. Anyway, I'm not saying that I am going to wait to December 1st to publish it, because first, I must seriously think it over and talk to Ben and Lisa and get their opions. And that is about it for tonight, because I am going to watch the Dallas Cowboys game.

Y'all have a great evening!

Permission Slips!

Today has been great, but before I tell you about it I must tell you a funny thing that happened to me yesterday, after we ate lunch, at Koyote Ranch, with our friends/volunteers.

When Tony and I walked out of Koyote Kafe, with Eileen, Jim & Kris, everyone had taken off, except for Lisa, who was sitting in her car, waiting on Eileen. While we were visiting in front of the cafe, we heard Lisa jokingly half-holler, "Okay Eileen, I'm leaving!" Then Lisa slowly backed her car out and Eileen took off running, while laughing and jumped into the car and as they laughed, they waved goodbye to us.

When Tony was telling our friends about some friends we have, that keep getting things stolen from their ranch at night, he said, "I've told him that he needs to borrow or get a "catch dog" and that would put a stop to the burglaries."

The Mineral Man agreed with Tony and then he said, "Polish dogs are the very best at that." And while Tony and Kris agreed with him. I was confused, because I've never heard of that breed of dogs, so I asked, "Polish dogs?" They burst out laughing at me.

"Police dogs, Nancy," Jim teased. "I said, "Police dogs, not Polish dogs." Then I started laughing at myself, too. "Jim, I thought you said Polish dogs, because my hearing just ain't what it used to be."

Today, in between visitors, I wrote up a little permission contract, asking my friends to sign off on, giving me the rights to use their names, for my hilarious fictional characters that I've dreamed up in my head, for my novella and I have had a blast today, reading their replies and I want to thank them for doing it so fast.

Even though I still need to get our friends/volunteers to sign off and give me their permission slips, I am going to send those out tomorrow, because it is now time for me to spend the rest of my evening "turning back time" on all of my clocks. And the other reason that I am ending this tonight is because it just thundered outside and now I must unplug everything.

Y'all have a great evening!

Foil Pot Pie Pans!

Today has been great. This morning as soon as I did the Harley Show—Kinky called me to tell me that he was fixin' to leave for Kerrville, to meet Big G for breakfast, etc. and before we adios-ed each other I said, "Happy Birthday, Kinky."

This morning while Tony did the chores outside, I stayed inside and spent over four hours doing "first of the month" paperwork and I feel so good about getting it all done and being totally caught up, because now I can wrap up my novella.

After Tony and I ate lunch today we went to Kerrville to run errands. We had to go to FedEx, the Post Office, Wolfmueller's Books, the craft store and lastly H-E-B to get a few groceries. While we were putting some dog food in our cart I said, "Tony, don't let me forget to look at some pot pies in the freezer section."

"Are you going to buy us some pot pies?"

"No. They aren't healthy," I answered. "I just need to look at them."

"What for?"

"I need a foiled pot pie pan, to use as a prop, in the picture that I am going to take for the back cover of my novella..."

After we had added adult under pads for Toto, a gallon of 2% milk, a box of wine and a six pack of beer into our cart, we went down the freezer isle where the frozen pot pie section was and my heart sank, as I read the back of the boxes, of several different brands of pot pies, because they are no longer using foil tins, I guess to make it easier to microwave. "Sorry Nance, it looks like they only use cardboard now. What are you going to do?"

Even though I was very concerned, I couldn't resist saying, "What would Ronnie do?" And it made Tone chuckle. "While I'm in the fruit and vegetable section, would you mind checking the spice isle to see if they have foil pot pie pans.

As I was putting two bunches of asparagus in a plastic bag, so I can cook us some asparagus soup, Tony walks up behind me and startles me as he says, "No pot pie pans."

"Thanks for looking," I said, as I wept, (Not really, I just wanted to add some drama to this story.)

I couldn't wait to get back home, after we left H-E-B, because as soon as we had put up our groceries, I went to Amazon and typed in, "foil pot pie pans" and with just a click, a package of three foil pot pie pans are on their way to me and they only cost $4.99 plus shipping!"

Y'all have a great evening!