Rick & Leisa!

Today has been great. Ginger Rogers' puppies are so cute. Late this afternoon Tony, Karon and the girls from across the highway, came over and played with the adorable pups, in our big room. Now, Tony and I are seriously thinking about adopting the last two pups, because they have stolen our hearts today and we know that  it would be fun to have a couple of smaller dogs running around The Cabin.

Our dear friends Rick, "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper" and Leisa arrived late this afternoon to spend New Year's Eve with us, which has become a family tradition with the four of us. So, I am going to take the next two days off from writing, so we can relax and enjoy Rick & Leisa's visit.

Y'all have a great evening and a Happy New Year!

A Quiet Day!

Today has been a quiet day and there is not much to tell, except that we've already found super forever homes for four of Ginger Roger's five puppies! Ginger has started weaning off her adorable puppies and they are starting to eat puppy food and in less than two weeks, the pups can go to their new homes. After we get Ms. Ginger spayed, she will then get to go to her super home, across the road from us, at the children's home. Here's a picture that I just took of Ginger and her family. The light brown, male pup, on the far right, still needs a fabulous forever home and if someone doesn't adopt him soon, then I will, because he is way too sweet.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Shark Attack!

Today has been great. All day long I have had people calling or e-mailing me, wanting to know about the fire that we had yesterday, while Tony and I were cooking our dog's Christmas dinner. I am going to write a condensed version of what happened and including some pictures that I took.

Before the sun came up yesterday morning, Tony and I were up, drinking coffee, while we baked seventy-two dinner rolls, inside the oven. When the rolls were golden brown, we put them inside one of our red, H-E-B thermal grocery bags, so they would keep warm. Here's a picture of the groceries left on the kitchen table, while we cooked the dinner rolls.

Then I made a big mistake, when I said, "Tony, this year I want to add the Olive oil to the vegetables, so the oven will warm it up, to make the dog's dinner even warmer when served." Needless to say, "Tony did not like my new idea."

Then we emptied the four, giant sacks of mixed vegetables into the three, large, aluminum roasting pans and before we put them into the oven, I added one, large jar of minced garlic into one of the pans. When Tony tried to place the heavy pan of veggies and oil into the oven, it sort of crumpled, from the weight and the olive oil and the different colored vegetables poured out from the sides all over the oven door, inside the oven and onto our wooden floor. Let's just say, "Tony had proven his point."

After a brief clean up and removing many cup fulls of mixed vegetables from the roasting pans and putting them into pots on the stove top, to help lighten the weight of the roasting pans, Tony successfully shoved the veggies into the oven to cook.

After five minutes, in the oven, cooking successfully, I made my second mistake by returning the oven temperature back to 350 degrees, which Tony had warned me not to do, before he went outside to go check on our chickens.

Six minutes later, I saw smoke coming out of the oven, filling The Cabin with smoke. When I opened the oven door I saw little flames and as I closed the oven door and Tony walked back inside, I half-hollered, "Tony! There's a fire inside the oven!"

Tony immediately turned off the oven and then he left the kitchen. Seconds later, he returned with one of our red, fire extinguishers. He put the fire out immediately, with just one shot, underneath the bottom roasting pan. The vegetables had been saved by Tony! Here's the fire extinguisher that he used.

By now, it is 45 degrees outside and ten minutes past eight o'clock and The Cabin was engulfed in smoke, so we opened up several windows and turned on the ceiling fans to help get rid of the smoke. 

After taking another baby Aspirin, so not to have a heart attack, I took this picture of the sun shining into our smoke filled cabin.

At 8:30, when Jim and Diane arrived, bringing with them two thermos full of coffee and a pan of Diane's  delicious, homemade cinnamon rolls, for everyone to enjoy, The Cabin was pretty cold and nearly smoke free.

Within ten minutes, all of our friends/volunteers had arrived to help us finish preparing our rescued dog's Christmas dinner! Here's a picture of Chet O'Keefe helping Tony mix all of the ingredients together, before all of us went outside to serve our dog's their delicious trailer-cooked meal.

And while all of this was going on, I snuck back to my office and snapped a picture of Ginger Rogers' almost four-week-old pups sleeping peaceably. (I might adopt the pup on the far right, sleeping on his back, but don't tell Roy.)

I took this picture of Eileen feeding Suzanne's favorite dogs, Donnie and Marie Osmond, their Christmas dinner, because Suzanne was unable to make it out here yesterday.

Tony and I and I think all of our great friends had a good time fixing and serving our dog's holiday breakfast and I know that our dogs loved it, because their pans were licked totally clean.

By 10:45, Tony and I had thanked and adios-ed everyone before they drove away and Tony and I were all smiles until we returned to The Cabin to find the greasy mess, on the floor, that was made from spilling the olive oil and vegetables. When I took this picture, trust me, I was not smiling, but Roy was when I let him and the rest of our dogs inside, to help lick up the grease.

Ten minutes later, after Belle and Beau had quit licking the oven and the oven door and Mama and Roy had done the best that they could licking the floor, I put them back outside, because I was ready for the Shark attack. 

Using my Shark professional, electric, steam mop, that I purchased this past summer, after Carol had raved about how much she loved her new Shark steam mop, I went to work steam cleaning our wooden kitchen floor.

The Shark attack only lasted about twenty minutes and I won. After only refilling my Shark steam mop's tank a few times—nearly all of the grease stains are gone and Roy's dark blueberry stain has completely disappeared! So now I am raving about how much I love my Shark Professional Steam Mop and as I finish writing this tonight, I am once again smiling. Sharks Rule!

Y'all have a great evening!

Except For The Fire!

Today has been great. Our dog's annual Christmas dinner was so much fun, except for the fire. I'll write more later, because family is here and I'm loving it.

Y'all have a great evening!

Y'all Have A Merry Christmas!

Today has been great and Tony and I are looking forward to tomorrow morning when our friends/volunteers come out to help us fix our rescued dogs Christmas Dinner! I am going to take a few days off from posting on my blog, because Tony and I are spending the next two days with our families and friends.

Little Buddy!

Today has been great. This afternoon, we met Kinky and Copper for lunch and Kinky treated us all to lunch and it was a lot of fun, but I want to tell y'all about Tony's cool, out-of-this-world, scientific project, that began early Thursday evening, while Carol was over here visiting with us.

This past Wednesday, Tony, Carol and I received a large box, filled with very cool Christmas presents, from Cheryl and Walter, our dear friends, that we love and who always keep us laughing. Anyway, Carol came over Thursday evening, to pick up their Christmas gift and while we were admiring the gifts that Cheryl and Walter had given to us, Tony grabbed one of their presents to him, which was an Alien Egg—guaranteed to hatch out within 24-36 hours, if he closely followed the incubating instructions. With my best friend and me sitting at the kitchen table laughing, Tony declared, "It's time to hatch my alien egg!"

After Tony had carefully removed the fragile alien egg, from the box, he filled a glass with luke-warm tap water and then he gently put his alien egg into the glass of water and it immediately sank to the bottom of the glass.

"Now what happens?" Carol asked, before we all started laughing, again.

"We must wait," Tony said, as he watched his alien egg do absolutely nothing.

"And we must speak softly," I teased. "I've heard that alien eggs are real sensitive."

"Then we had better quit laughing," Carol whispered, because she didn't want to upset Tony's alien egg. Then she told us one hilarious story about what she did one time with her Sea Monkeys.

Friday morning, when I got out of bed, the first thing I did was skip into the kitchen, to check on Tony's ultra-sensitive alien egg. Then I took this picture, so I could document it and record it for history.

Around 1:30, when Tony and I returned to The Cabin, after eating a fun lunch with our friends: Kris & Jim and Carol, at the Medina Highpoint Resort—Tony's precious, alien egg had begun to crack. So, for more documentation, I snapped this picture of it beginning to hatch.

Friday night before Tony and I went to bed, I checked on Tony's egg and I was amazed at what I saw. So once again I took another picture, to document it for the science community, that supposedly lives somewhere in the Texas Hill Country.

I didn't sleep well Friday night, because I couldn't quit worrying about Tony possibly being responsible for creating an alien monster, inside our thirty-year-old trailer. I visualized cars backed up, bumper to bumper, outside our rescue ranch, waiting to view Tony's alien friend or monster, sort of like they did in the movie Field of Dreams. I also kept trying to come up with names for our alien baby, that was soon to be fully hatched and the only name that I came up with, that was halfway descent was, Little Buddy. And I also had a nightmare about Tony being arrested for illegally hatching out aliens and that I would have to hire someone to do his job, at the rescue ranch, because good help is so hard to find these days.

Saturday morning, the first thing I did was take a baby Aspirin, so I wouldn't have a heart attack when I checked on Little Buddy and it was a good thing, too, because Little Buddy had nearly hatched out of his egg. After making sure that he had the right amount of arms, legs, toes, fingers etc. I happily took Little Buddy's first, alien baby picture, to share with the world.

When Tony returned home from drinking coffee with his friends, at the Old Timer, in Medina, I congratulated him on his successful, scientific project. Then Tony looked at Little Buddy, inside the glass of water incubator and then he carefully removed him and dried him off, so I could take Little Buddy's second picture—sitting in Tony's hands. He's too cute!

As you can tell, I am finally in the holiday spirit and am no longer stressing out about the holiday season, so I wanted to write a funny tale, that I hope made y'all laugh. As I finish writing this corny post, we have sweet Ginger Rogers and her five, adorable three-week-old puppies, in my office, sleeping peaceably and Little Buddy resting above our kitchen sink, in the middle of the top shelf. Life is good.

Y'all have a great evening! (And thank you, Cheryl and Walter, for keeping us laughing! We love Little Buddy and please know that he is in good hands, but please don't tell anybody! I don't want Tony going to jail or us having a pile of cars lined up, outside the rescue ranch every day, to get their pictures taken standing next to Little Buddy, in our kitchen.)

Photoshop-ed!

Today has been great, but this is going to be a short post, because tonight I plan to do some writing on my third novella. And after my last, too long post, I am sure it makes you happy not to spend an hour reading about my day.

To say the least, our dear friends Kris & Jim came out this morning to walk our dogs for us and before we went up to the Medina Highpoint Resort to eat lunch with Carol, they supposedly came inside The Cabin just to see Ginger's adorable, three-week-old puppies.

When they walked inside our trailer, they had Christmas gifts for Tony and me and it totally surprised us. We loved their presents, too. "Thank you, Kris & Jim!"

Late this afternoon, I was thumbing through the cool book The Creative Photographer by Catherine Anderson, that they had given to Tony. After spending thirty minutes reading different parts of the book that easily teaches you how to use Photoshop to get the same effects, I put the book down and went to my computer to try some of her techniques and besides it being fun to do, I loved learning how to do it.

I am going to show you the original pictures I used, followed by my new Photoshop-ed efforts. (Please note that the picture of Carol and me riding our horses was taken by Tony.) I hope that you enjoy them, because that is about it for today. See I told you it would be a short post tonight. : )

Y'all have a great evening!

Tony's No Whiner Diner!

Today has been great. This afternoon after we ate lunch, Tony and I had to go to Kerrville to run these four errands:

1. Get Buttermilk and Trigger inspected at Balser's Northside Automotive.

2. Go to the  H-E-B, on Main Street to buy our dog's Christmas Dinner, sponsored by June, Ellen, Eileen and Lisa aka The Fab 4, our fabulous friends/volunteers.  

3. Pick up Starsky, at Hoegemer Animal Clinic, and bring him back to the rescue ranch.

    

4.Also pick up Mama's arthritis pills, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic.

We decided that I would drive Trigger (Ford pickup) and Tony would reluctantly follow me in Buttermilk (Ford Expedition), because he hates the way I drive. We would drop Trigger off first at Balser's, to get his annual state inspection, while we went over to H-E-B to get gas and to buy our rescued dogs holiday dinner. Then we jumped into the vehicles and took off for Kerrville.

On our way to Kerrtown, I drove Tony crazy, because as soon as Highway 16 turned into two lanes, I stayed in the left lane, because I don't like to change lanes, but mainly because I knew that I would have to make a left hand turn when we got to Balser's.

As I crossed over the Guadalupe River bridge, my iPod was playing Chet O'Keefe's song, Petting Zoo and I was singing it loudly, too, but fortunately, no one could hear me except for poor Trigger. Right before we reached the Water Street light, I passed by our friend, Jim, The Mineral Man, driving in the right lane, so I waved, but he didn't see me, because he looked like he was in deep thought about something.

After I had dropped off Trigger's keys and his proof of insurance papers, I jumped into Buttermilk, that Tony had parked, in the Acapulco Restaurant's parking lot. Then we went to H-E-B.

Tony dropped me off in front of the mailbox, outside of H-E-B, so I could mail a few letters, then he took off to get gas, while I went inside to shop. I first picked up three, big, aluminum roasting pans, then I put three eighteen-count cartons of eggs into the basket and then I heard a familiar, friendly voice say, "Hi, Nancy! I bet you are shopping for your dog's Christmas dinner." I looked up and it was my dear friend Mari, standing there. We laughed and visited for a few minutes and then we took off in different directions to get our shopping done. 

Before Tony finally found me, I had already put sixty dinner rolls, nine boxes of stuffing, three large bottles of Olive Oil, three large bags of grated Cheddar Cheese bags and four giant bags of frozen mixed vegetables into the grocery cart, that was starting to be difficult for me to push. "I'm almost finished, Tony. All we need to get is three large jars of minced garlic and twenty-two pounds of ground turkey. Will you please push the cart for me?"

Ten minutes later, Tony and I were in the parking lot, loading our dog's soon to be holiday feast, into Buttermilk's backseat. After I had returned the shopping cart, we took off for Balser's. On our way, I said, "Tony, I am going to stop at Penney's for a few minutes, before heading back home."

"That's fine with me," he replied. "As soon as they inspect Buttermilk, I'm going straight to Hoegemeyers to pick up Starsky and Mama's pills and then I'm going home..."

As soon as we arrived back at Balser's, we could tell that they had already inspected Trigger, so we went inside so I could get his keys and paperwork. Then I left Tony to get Buttermilk inspected and headed for Penney's, because I knew exactly what I needed and what I wanted to buy.

I was in and out of Penney's, within twenty minutes. I was very pleased with my purchase and their greatly reduced On Sale store price and when I used my three coupons on top of that, I got it for nearly half price, and I could not wait to take it home.

When I pulled out of the mall's parking lot, onto Highway 16, I was wearing a big grin on my face and when I looked into the rear view mirror, I laughed out loud, because Tony was only two cars down and in the right lane with me. 

As soon as I got home I carried my heavy box purchase, into The Cabin, because Tony was putting Starsky back into his pen and then was going down at the barn to unload all of the dog's groceries. 

I bought myself Simply Calphalon pots and pans and I love them! As soon as I had hand-washed them,  in the kitchen sink, I removed all of my old pots and pans from the wall and hung up my new pots and pans.

When Tony came inside I showed him my new pots and pans and he was glad that I was happy. Then he asked me if he could have my old ones, for him to use outside, at his Tony's No Whiner Diner. 

As I finish writing this tonight, Tony and I are both thrilled with our newly acquired pots and pans and that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

They Loved It!

Today has been great. This morning after we did our morning chores outside, I went over to The Lodge to deliver some of my delicious, homemade split pea with ham soup, to Kinky and Chet, because I was dying to get their opinions. And it only took ten minutes for them to heat it up, to get their opinions—they LOVED it! Then things got even better.

When Trigger returned me to the rescue ranch, Brittany, our dear friend, from New Hampshire and her sweet mother Lonnie and two of Brittany & Brian's five super cool kids, had already arrived for a fun visit and they were in Outer Space visiting with Tony and Mama!

After howdies and hugs, we invited Brittany and her beautiful family to come inside The Cabin, so we could visit and give Lonnie, Carl and Wyatt (Or Wyeth, I am not sure, because I am hard of hearing.) a tour of The Cabin. Not to brag and needless to say, "They LOVED it!" Then things got even better.

We decided to go over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and Chet O'Keefe. Tony invited Carl and Wyatt/Wyeth to ride with him, on Kermit and I rode with Lonnie and Brittany, in Brittany's rented car. When we arrived Willie, Chet's fabulous dog, was the first to greet us, followed by The Friedmans, then Chet and Kinky.

In no time flat, all of us were laughing and having a good time outside. Then after bragging to our guests about what a fabulous, talented singer/songwriter/musician Chet was and that he had opened for Nanci Griffith, in Ireland, a few years ago—the friendship gates opened.

"My mom, husband Brian and I love Nanci Griffith! and ..." Brittany said. Then when Lonnie asked Chet where he was born and raised he told them Maine, then they discovered that  they had much in common, because Lonnie lives in Maine. I thought all of this was really cool and so did they.

During our fun visit, inside Kinky's kitchen, I said, "Chet, can I buy another copy of your CD, Game Bird and get you to sign it to Brittany? Because I want to give it to her as a gift for coming to see us. Brittany you are going to fall in love with his music..." Then Chet took off to get his CD.

A little later on, after a great visit with Kinky and Chet, the kids jumped inside Kermit with Tony and  then they took off to go feed our donkeys. A minute later, after Lonnie, Brittany and I had adios-ed Kinky and Chet, we jumped inside the rental car and went over the river and through the woods, to find Tony taking pictures of the kids petting Roy, Gabby and Little Jewford, outside the rescue ranch.

As soon as we parked, Brittany and Lonnie grabbed their cameras and began taking pictures, too. Then Brittany asked, "Do the donkeys like apples?" After Tony and I answered, "Yes," she went to their car and returned with three apples for them to feed to The Boys.

After Tony and I gave Brittany and her family a fun tour of the rescue ranch, we came back inside The Cabin, so Brittany could buy a signed copy of my second novella, The Cowgirl Sisterhood: Part II, Death In New Mexico, because she loved reading the first one. That made feel so good, I said, "I want to give y'all one of my new cards that I designed." Then I pulled two of my cards out of my purse and then I proudly gave them one, already knowing the reaction that I would get.

As soon as they read my name "Cousin Nancy" they turned my card over and saw that it was blank—then we all burst out laughing about the joke I had played on them. Then I confessed that I had copied our friend Budrock, who have given us a card with only his name on it, too.

Brittany and her lovely family only stayed for about two fun hours and Tony and I hated to see them go, because their fun visit with us had made our day super great. "Thank you, Brittany, Lonnie, Carl and Wyatt/Wyeth for coming to see us. We look forward to seeing you sooner than later, too!"

As I finish writing this, I want to thank everyone who has given me tips all day, on how to remove Roy's latest blueberry stain, on our kitchen floor. I ended up frequently rubbing the stain, throughout the day, with those handy bleach wipes and it is much lighter now, but it is still there.

Y'all have a great evening!

Strangers!

Yesterday and today have been great days. Early yesterday afternoon, Chris, the nicest young man came out to check out our dogs and he chose Grace Kelly, Tom Landry's pen mate! Chris is going to college and is an athlete. He runs every evening and he wanted a running partner that could keep up with him and Grace was the perfect choice for him.

When it was time for Chris to take Grace home, I took this picture of Grace showering Chris with kisses.

When Chris put his new best running buddy inside his pickup, he was wearing the biggest grin on his face, as Grace looked straight ahead, like she was saying, "Come on, let's go home. Get me the heck out of here!" Tony and I laughed about it, as Kermit took us back to The Cabin.

Around 2:00, Carol came over to visit and to see Ginger Rogers and her adorable two-week-old puppies and she brought us a big sack full of her delicious oatmeal cookies, because Kinky and his friends had just about eaten all of our cookies. And she brought us another big jar of her dad's secret recipe salsa!

After we had played with Ginger and her pups, Carol, Tony and I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and Chet O'keefe, and for Carol to also give sacks of her oatmeal cookies and jars of delicious salsa that she had cooked up for them.

While we were over there having a fun visit, I looked out the kitchen window and said, "Kinky, there is a man and young man walking up and they have a dog with them." Then all h#@@ broke loose, inside the Lodge. The Friedmans, Winston and Sophia, started barking and then they ran outside. Then Kinky went outside to meet the strangers, followed by Chet, with his cool dog Willie and Tony, leaving Carol and me inside the Lodge with Chumley.

To make a long story short, Kinky, Tony and I ended up rescuing the young, sweet, male dog, that is probably only a year old. Then Tony put a leash on the happy pup then he put him inside Kermit with him and they took off for the our rescue ranch. 

Five minutes later, when Tony returned back at the Lodge, Chet invited us to come listen to his latest song that he had just written last night and already recorded. After we heard his incredibly, beautiful song, everyone could not quit talking about how much they loved his song. Then Carol said, "Chet, I really love your music and every song on your CD, Game Bird..."

"Chet is really talented," Kinky said. "I have ADD and when I listened to his song this morning, I made him replay it for me, two more times. And that is really saying something for me to do that."

"It sure is," I added.

This afternoon, I went outside to take a picture of our newly rescued resident with Tony's help. It only took me about ten minutes to finally get a good shot of the dog, who was now starting to steal my heart. Then I returned to The Cabin, so I could think of a name for him, so I could send it to Pat, our fabulous web master, to post on utopiarescue.com.

Thirty minutes elapsed before I finally came up with his name. Everybody please meet Starsky!

Starsky is a really neat dog. He is medium-sized, about thirty-five pounds and he loves to give away kisses, so if any of y'all know of someone named Hutch or who wants a partner, please call me at the rescue ranch. 

Late this afternoon Carol called me. While we were laughing and talking about our great day, I told her about making a healthy fruit dessert for Tony and me, made with thawed frozen blueberries and frozen strawberries, one banana and a delicious Cutie orange. "This afternoon while I was outside I forgot to put the lid back on top of our garbage can and when I came back inside I saw a large black stain on the floor with the empty blueberry sack right next to it. Roy did it, again." Carol started laughing. "I wiped up the blueberry juice using bleach wipes, but it didn't help much. Now, it is a light navy blue color, right next to our breakfast bar. I don't know what to do."

"I'll get online and check out Heloise to see if she has any tips," Carol replied, before laughing, again.

"Tips for Roy?" I asked. "Or tips to remove the stain?" Then we started laughing.

"Nancy, take a picture of it and post it on your blog tonight," Carol suggested. Then we visited for a few more minutes. After we adios-ed each other, I pulled the blueberry sack out of the trash can and placed it where Roy had left it earlier, then I took this picture of our new blue stain, that now decorates our kitchen's wooden floor, to document Roy's criminal activity.

Y'all have a great evening!

Carol's Oatmeal Cookies!

Today has been great. This morning Jim, Kris & Jim and Eileen, our dear friends/great volunteers came out to walk our dogs for us, while Tony and I fed the dogs and cleaned their pens. As soon as T. and me were done with our morning chores it started to rain, so we came up to The Cabin for a fun, short visit and to show them Ginger Roger's and her adorable two-week-old pups. Tony took these two pictures of them.

While we were visiting, Eileen gave me her Christmas gift, which I was thrilled to get. It was big box of Aretha Frankensteins Insanely Great Pancake mix! Tony and I love Aretha Frankenstein's famous scratch pancakes, because they are truly the best! 

Around 11:30, Carol joined us, at the Medina Highpoint Resort, so we could eat lunch together. Needless to say, "Lunch was a total blast with our friends and it was filled with non-stop laughter.

Around 4:15, I went outside, carrying Walter Matthau, in my arms, so he and I could be the first to greet Priscilla and Megan, her sweet daughter. The second that they saw Walter it was love at first sight for them and for Walter, too. 

Because it was lightly misting outside, I invited them to come up to The Cabin, so they and Walter could get to know each other while we visited. While the three of them got to know one another, Tony and I were thrilled about them adopting Walter, but not as much as Walter was. 

Oh my gosh, Walter hammed it up for them. If he wasn't sitting in one of their laps, he was doling out kisses to them or showing off by dancing around on his hind legs. Seriously, his little performance was way over the top and oh so cute.

At 4:21, while Priscilla was signing off on Walter's adoption form, the phone rang—it was Kinky. "Nance, Tone, it's Kinky. Call me as soon as you can!" Then he hung up before I had the time to pick up the phone. Then I excused myself and picked up the phone and called Kinky back. "Nance, can I come over and bring Todd, a photographer and Reid, a reporter for the Texas Tribune? They really want to see the rescue ranch."

As soon as Kink and I adios-ed each other, I told Priscilla and Megan, "Y'all, Kinky is coming over right now and he is bringing a camera man and a reporter with him....I would love for Kinky to meet y'all and Walter, because he has just gotten back to the ranch, after being gone for over a month and..." The sweet mom and daughter seemed excited about getting to meet Kinky, but Walter didn't seem to really care, because he was too busy kissing Megan.

Five minutes later, Kinky arrived and after introductions, Kinky met Walter, Ginger Rogers and her five puppies— all of them stole his heart, too. While we had a fun visit, Todd and Tony snapped pictures of Kinky and about twenty minutes later, Priscilla told me that they had to go home, so Tony asked Kinky if he could take a picture of him with Priscilla and Megan, before "Walter has left the building." Then we went out on the porch, so Tony could shoot them.

Five minutes hadn't passed, after we had waved goodbye to Walter and his new family, when Kinky asked me, "Nance, have y'all got anything to snack on...?"

"Yes. Yesterday, Carol gave us a big bag of her oatmeal cookies."

"Perfect," Kinky said. Then he started telling Todd and Reid about Carol's oatmeal cookies. "Carol's oatmeal cookies are the very best. They are healthy, too and..." Then I put the opened bag, full of fresh cookies, set them on the breakfast bar and then Kinky, Todd and Reid started eating away. 

I wish that Carol could have been over today, to hear their many compliments that they made about her mouth-watering cookies, because with my short-term memory—I can only remember them all agreeing that her oatmeal cookies were the best that they had ever eaten. And that is about it for tonight, because there is something that I was fixin' to do, but now I have forgotten what it was.

Y'all have a great evening!

Thank You, Harley!

Today has been great. This morning at 7:45, I called our friend, Harley Belew, to do our weekly Utopia Rescue Ranch radio segment and I had a lot of fun. Harley's Pet of the Week was Walter Matthau and thanks to Harley—a nice woman called me late this afternoon about wanting to come out tomorrow afternoon, after she gets off work, to adopt Walter!

I instantly liked Priscilla when I talked to her. She and I had a long conversation about her and her husband wanting to adopt Walter. I feel great about Walter going to live on their ranch, that has a big fenced-in yard for Walter to play in, with their two, sweet Chihuahuas. He is going to live in their home and he will also be the biggest dog there. I know that Walter, being a terrier mix, is going to love being the big dog on the block (ranch) and his new forever home sounds absolutely fantastic. I am so happy for him and I hope that he doesn't mind me giving him a bath, in our kitchen sink, tomorrow afternoon, because I want him to look his very best when he meets his new family. Thank you, Harley! Life is good.

Y'all have a great evening!

New Home!

Today has been great and thank goodness the sun was shining all day. For lunch I cooked Tony and me fajitas and served it with sliced avocados and Tony told me that it was delicious. After I had cleaned up the kitchen we went, to Kerrville, to get some groceries, at the big H-E-B.

After we had put our groceries inside Buttermilk I asked Tony if we could go to the Plant Haus, because I wanted to buy a Sweet Basil plant, because it is one of my favorite herbs to cook with. Then I told him that I also wanted to copy Carol, once again and buy the same kind of beautiful flowers that she has put out on her deck.

Tony and I love the Plant Haus, because everyone there is always smiling, extremely friendly and always very helpful. It only took us about ten minutes to get the flowers and the Basil plant, then Buttermilk took us straight home.

While Tony and I were putting up our groceries, Roy was sleeping in his chair and snoring loudly, so I grabbed my camera and took this picture of him, and Belle sleeping on her dog bed.

Then T. and I went outside, so he could help me re-plant my (Carol's) beautiful flowers into my flower pots. 

With Tony's help, it didn't take us long to introduce the flowers to there new home, in Outer Space.

Early this evening, when Walter Matthau and I were watching KENS5 news, I snapped this picture of him, because he is so cute and he has already stolen my heart, even though Roy is my four-legged soul mate. 

This little guy is only about one-year-old and he needs a new home. He's great with our dogs, not hyper, not grumpy, house-trained and if we don't adopt him out sooner than later, he might become Walter Matthau-Simons or possibly Walter Matthau-Friedman, when Kinky returns to the ranch late Wednesday night. 

Since Kinky already has three dogs and two cats and we're down to four, fabulous, four-legged friends in The Cabin, we are full up. So, we would prefer to adopt Walter to a super home where he won't have to compete for attention. So, if any of y'all want this great, small, companion dog—please call me at the rescue ranch.

Y'all have a great evening!

Come On Kinky And Sunshine!

Today has been great, except for Kinky not being able to return to the ranch until late Wednesday night and it has been a cloudy day with no sunshine. It has been a quiet day, so I spent most of my day doing paperwork and returning phone calls and e-mails. And all I have to say before ending this post tonight is, "Come on sunshine and Kinky!"

Y'all have a great evening!

Note From Utopia!

FYI: Kinky called me early this morning and he was not the happiest camper. He told me that he was "trapped in paradise," due to flight cancellations. He cannot wait to get back to the ranch and he is hoping to fly out of Hawaii tomorrow, so he might be back tomorrow night.

Sunshine!

Today has been great, because the sun was finally shining! Early this morning, just before Tony and I went outside to do the chores, the sun came out, so I immediately called Carol, because she and I are those kind of people who need a lot of sunshine. "Hi Carol! The sun is shining and I had to call you."

Carol started laughing."I know! I love it and I was just fixin' to call you..."

This morning it was a real pleasure to be outside, with the sun shining brightly and the warmer weather. Our dogs seemed to be happy about the sun coming out too, because when we went outside, they were out of their dog houses and enjoying the sunny day. Every one's mood had been lifted by the sunshine, because for the past several days it was been cloudy, cold and dreary.

When we came back inside The Cabin—Kinky called me from Hawaii. After he and I had talked about The Friedmans, the two cats and him returning to the ranch tomorrow night, he told me that yesterday he went to Willie Nelson's house, in Hawaii, to visit with him, and last night Willie came on stage and performed with him. To say the least, "Kinky was thrilled about seeing Willie and performing with him."

And that is about it for today, because we had a quiet, restful day and I needed that. Thank goodness for the sunshine today!

P.S. Carol just sent me an e-mail to let me know that the rain is now out of the forecast for tomorrow and it is going to be another sunny day. I LOVE it!

Y'all have a great evening!

The Runt!

Today has been great. Around 9:00 this morning, Jim, our good friend/volunteer, knocked on our front door and of course our four dogs started barking at him. "Come on in Jim," I said. "The dogs will settle down in just a second. Would you like some coffee?"

Minutes later, Jim and I were drinking cups of delicious Green Mountain Donut Shop Coffee, when Tony arrived. "Tony, Jim's wife Diane gave me this pretty stand and cobalt blue holder, with a battery-operated, flicker candle!"As Tony admired my gift, that I love, I made Tony a cup of coffee. I took this picture of Diane's gift and please note that Roy is asleep in the chair and Belle is curled up on the dog bed.

The three of us had a really fun visit inside The Cabin. After we had talked about some of our favorite musicians and singers, we put Mama, Roy, Belle and Beau, in the backyard, so Jim could meet Walter Matthau, his sweet sister Ginger Rogers and her five, adorable, one-week-old pups. To say the least, Jim liked them and they made Jim smile. Then we put our temporary house guests back in my office, so we could go outside to work while Jim walked our super dogs, that were overly excited to see Jim.

Even though it was pretty cold outside, our dogs had a blast going for a walk and an hour and a half later, Tony and I had finished our chores and Jim was ready to go back home, because we could not go eat lunch with him, because we had Carla and her husband J.D. coming out to see our puppies. (Carla is the sweet woman that I met last week, at the Mini-Mart, when we adopted out the two yellow Lab pups to Jennifer and her son.)

Around 1:15, after Tony and I had eaten lunch, Carla and her husband arrived. When we invited them inside The Cabin, so they could meet our house guests, they fell in love with our trailer. Then they fell in love with Walter and Ginger. Then we showed them the puppies and they instantly picked the runt!
"He is so cute," Carla said. "And he will live inside with us, be my lap dog and we will take him with us when we travel...." Then we talked about him being ready to go to their home, in five to six weeks, before we adios-ed the nice couple.

Around 3:00, before we went over to visit Carol, at her ranch, I asked Tony to please go over to The Lodge to buy Chet O-Keefe's CD, Game Bird, because all three of us are wild about his music and that CD. "Please ask Chet to sign it to Carol," I said, as Tony walked out the front door.

Twenty minutes later, we gave Carol, Chet's Game Bird CD and she was thrilled to get it and that Chet had signed it to her. We had a great visit with Carol and the whole time that we were over there we listened to Chet's beautiful CD.

When Tony and I got home I started cooking cheese and garlic quesadillas for our dogs outside. I used fifty-six flour tortillas, which made twenty-eight quesadillas and after cutting them into fourths, we had one-hundred-twelve to serve to our dogs. I only used about three fourths of a bag of cheddar cheese and about one inch of garlic salt to make the dog treats.

It only took me about thirty-five minutes to cook up the quesadillas and as soon as I turned off the stove top and the oven, that was keeping the cheese and garlic quesadillas warm, Tony quickly divided them up and then put them into two of our red, insulated H-E-B shopping bags. Then we went outside and fed them to our dogs, who love my Mexican food. I know this because they all begged for more. It only took us ten minutes to serve up the tasty treats and five minutes for me to clean up the kitchen. And that is about it for tonight.

P.S. Yesterday, Tony and I saw Chris, the man who adopted Sandy Wolfmueller from us. He told us his family loves Sandy and her first night with her new family, she slept on the bed with his son Kyle! 

Y'all have a great evening!

Packed And Ready To Go!

The last two days have been great and extremely busy. Because it is already 6:30 and I am pooped, I am only going to tell y'all about today's happenings. But I must say that we had a total blast yesterday, when we met our friends: Denise & Les, Kris & Jim and Debbie for lunch, at the famous Camp Verde Store, which is one of the coolest places in the Texas Hill Country to eat. Shelly was our fabulous waitress and she kept all of us laughing, so if you go there, please ask for Shelly.

Last night when I went to bed, I already knew that today was going to be great, but a little hectic, so this morning when I woke up early to do Big G's radio show, I took two baby Aspirins, instead of one like I usually do. Then I drank a delicious cup of Green Mountain Donut Shop Coffee, so I could think and make a plan for our day.

This morning after breakfast, Tony and I went outside to do our chores and while we were feeding the dogs and cleaning their pens, Paul, our rescue ranch's very first volunteer since 1999, arrived with a truck load of free dog food for our dogs. While Tony helped Paul unload his pickup, I finished up our chores.

For lunch, while I washed and dried clothes, I cooked up Tony's and my favorite new shrimp recipe, that I saw on TV and it was healthy, delicious and so easy to make. I'll post that recipe in another post, but not tonight.

After lunch, while my second load of laundry was drying and my third load was washing, I returned several phone calls and e-mails and then I went over to the Lodge to buy Chet O'Keefe's CD, Game Bird. After a fun visit with Chet I came back home, burned his CD and synced it to my iPod, so I could listen to it. Needless to say, "I love his CD."

At 3:14, my friend Kim called to tell me that she was on her way with the two yellow Lab pups, that we had already found a home for, so Tony and I jumped into Buttermilk and took off, because we were going to meet her on the road, between Utopia and Medina, so we could pick up the male and female Lab puppies from her. I took this picture of the precious pups right after Kim and Tony had unloaded them, before they put them in our crate.

After a short visit with Kim, we adios-ed each other and took off to go meet Jennifer, in Kerrville, because she was adopting the cute litter mates. When we arrived at the Mini-Mart, we waited five minutes before Jennifer and her sweet son showed up, so during the wait time we leashed up the puppies and took them out of their crate, so we could clean them up, because one of them had gotten carsick. And I want to thank the sweet people at the Mini-Mart, near Upper Turtle Creek, for loaning us some paper towels.

When Jennifer and her son arrived they immediately fell in love with the puppies and they could not wait to pick them up, so they could kiss and hug them.

We visited with them for about ten minutes, before they drove off to take the lucky Labs to their new forever home. On my way back to Buttermilk, a nice woman pulled up in a giant pickup and asked me if we had any puppies, because her little dog had recently died from old age. I stood out in the parking lot for ten minutes telling her all about Walter Matthau and Ginger Rogers and her five adorable puppies and by the time our conversation ended, she told me that she wants one of the pups, when they are ready to leave Ginger. On our way home we stopped by to see Carol and we had a short visit with her, Scout and Jake. 

On our way home, I said, "I'm glat that it only took us two hours to rescue and get those pups into a great home. I love it, but I am tired."

As soon as Tony walked inside The Cabin, to call it a day—the phone rang. It was Karon, across the highway, at the Medina Children's Home calling, so I picked up the phone. She was calling to see if it would be okay for Chris and Kyle to come over, so they could pick up and take Sandy Wolfmueller to her fabulous forever home. My answer was, "Yes!" 

Then Tony and I went outside, so Tony could go open our gate and I could stay and talk to Sandy about how lucky she was and to also thank her for being a great dog during her short stay, at our rescue ranch. I know she understood by the look in her eyes, so I took this picture of her before Kermit and Tony returned.

Before Chris and Kyle arrived, Tony and I spent ten minutes playing ball with Sandy Wolfmueller and she totally loved it. When I took this picture of her, I laughed and said, "She's packed and ready to go."

We had a short visit with Chris and his son, while Kyle leashed Sandy up, so they could take her home and she was more than thrilled to adios us, once and for all.

When Tony and I came inside, to call it a day—the phone rang, again. It was Kinky calling me from Hawaii. "Nance, I am back in Hawaii, so we can talk daily again. The Australia tour was fantastic and everyone over there loves you and Tony and our rescue ranch. How are The Friedmans?...." After a fun visit with Kink and getting caught up with each others news, we adios-ed each other. Then I threw the third load of laundry into the dryer and started writing this.

Today has been fun and exciting for me, but now I must end this post, because it is nearly 7:54 and I am so tired right now, I think I will just go to bed, as soon as I put our cleaned sheets, blanket and chewed up quilt, filled with Beau's holes, back on our bed. 

Y'all have a great evening!

Can You Help Me!

Today has been great. This morning after Tony and I did the morning chores outside, I came in and did first of the month paperwork. I was feeling great about getting all of the rescue ranch's bills paid and all of the work that I had accomplished.

When I had run out of Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch checks I went back into the office to get more checks, then things went south, because we were completely out of checks and the only paper left in the box were deposit slips. It was my fault, because I didn't realize that I needed to order more checks. So, early tomorrow morning, while Tony does the morning chores, I have to drive Roy to the bank, so I can order more checks, get them overnight and then get a few extra checks printed, so I can finish paying the bills.

Early this afternoon, my friend Kim called me. She's the woman who rescued the Lab pups and gave one to Brandon. "Nancy, two of the yellow Lab pups came back. Can you help me find homes for them?..."

After Kim and I adios-ed each other, I picked up the phone and left a couple of phone messages. Then I called Kim back and told her that I was waiting to hear back from two possible women who might want the male and female puppies. Then I took a short, sleepless nap, until Roy rolled over and fell off of the bed, causing Belle, Mama and Beau to start barking loudly at Roy, as he stood up, still shaking his head sideways, like he was trying to figure out how that had happened. Personally, I think Mama pushed him off, because she is jealous of Roy.

Around 2:30, the phone rang—it was Jennifer returning my phone call, "Nancy, I most definitely want the male!...." By the time we had ended our conversation, Jennifer is totally excited, because she is going to adopt both of the puppies. She loves Labs and she knows that they can be destructive for at least two years and she can't wait to get them.

After I called Kim back to tell her the great news, I called Jennifer back. She is going to come out here, late tomorrow afternoon, to adopt the precious pups. And that is about it for today, because I need to go take Ginger Rogers and Walter Matthau outside to enjoy the sunshine.

Y'all have a great evening!

Chet O'Keefe Is Playing Tonight!

Today and the past few days have been so much fun and if I wrote about all of it, it would turn into another one of my books. So, I am going to give y'all my condensed version.

Thursday morning, after cooking breakfast for Rick and Tony, they made several trips to the barn, so we could start preparing our dog's annual Thanksgiving dinner. When they returned for the last time, Tony said, "I'm sorry. The mixed vegetables are frozen. I forgot to take them out of the freezer last night."

"It's no big deal," I said. "They can thaw out in the bathtub." Then I went and filled up our bathtub with hot water and then I put the big sacks of frozen vegetables in the hot water. Then Rick, Tony and I  started dividing up the ground turkey, cornbread stuffing, olive oil, eggs, garlic and cheese and put them into three buckets, while sixty dinner rolls baked inside the oven.

By 8:00, when Kris & Jim and Chet arrived to help us feed the dogs, we poured the warmed up vegetables into the buckets and then watched as Tony and Rick took turns mixing up the dog's holiday feast. Then we went outside to go feed the dogs.

Tony fed the dogs on the west side, while I fed warm dinner rolls and supervised Rick and Chet, on the east side, to make sure that certain food aggressive dogs ate their tasty dinner in the alleys. Twenty-five minutes later, the three buckets were empty and the dog's stomachs were full.

Seeing all of the dog pans licked clean, made the six of us feel good that we had just made our rescued dogs happy by serving them a delicious, warm Thanksgiving dinner. Before Kris & Jim, who had paid for our dog's Thanksgiving dinner, and Chet left, I took this picture of our dear friends. From left to right: Rick, Chet, Kris & Jim. "Thank y'all!"

Later in the day, Chet O'Keefe, Kinky's and our famous musician friend, who wrote the song Ring The Bell, who is staying over at Kinky's Lodge, came over to eat Thanksgiving dinner with us, which was not served in three buckets, but was buffet style and was delicious—thanks to Karen & Terry's mouth-watering, spiral cut ham. "Thank you, Karen & Terry!"

Around 5:00, all of us jumped into Buttermilk and went over to Carol's ranch, so we could visit with her and her beautiful family. After a really fun time with Carol and her lovely family, we came back home to rest.

Friday morning, our company left and late in the afternoon, Ginger Rogers gave birth to five beautiful puppies. She is doing a great job taking care of them and she is still skinny, even though she is eating like a horse. Hopefully, within a few more days, she will begin putting her weight back on.

Friday evening, Chet, Tony and I went up to the Medina Highpoint Resort, to eat their delicious catfish buffet and listen to some music. While we were having a fun time there I introduced Chet to Sarah Robinson, one of my favorite people, who helps run the resort and in no time flat she and Chet were talking about him coming back and playing his fabulous music tonight. 

Chet told her that he would love to perform, so tonight Tony and I are planning on going back to the Medina Highpoint Resort, to meet some friend there, so we can listen to our friend sing his famous tunes. And that is about it for today, because I am fixin' to go into Outer Space, to play my guitar for our dogs, who pretend to love my music and then I am going to take a short sleepless nap with them, before getting ready to go listen to Chet O'Keefe perform. 

Y'all have a great evening!

Five!

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving Day as we did. Late this afternoon, while Tony was gone to Medina to buy some milk, Ginger Rogers started having her pups and I would have hollered for Tony to help me, but he was gone.

The good news is that Ginger didn't need any help, because she was a great mama and took care of everything all by herself. She had a total of five, healthy, beautiful puppies!

Tony and I have our hands full with all of this, so tomorrow I plan to sit down and write about our great Thanksgiving Day and all of the fun that we have had. Here is the first picture taken of Ginger Rogers with her five, adorable, little babies. (The picture is blurry, because the puppies were moving while nursing.

Y'all have a great evening!

Expecting Company!

Yesterday was great. Around 1:30, Tony and I took off in Buttermilk, to go pick up Carol, because she wanted to go to Kerrville with us, so we could visit. We had two errands to run and the first one was at the H-E-B, on Hwy. 16, so Carol could fill some water jugs and I could get ten last minute groceries for our Thanksgiving dinner.

Carol, Tony and I spent the drive time talking about this beautiful video, that Tony had posted on his Facebook, that Carol loved so much, she had sent me the address. It is a totally awesome video of four, famous, Norwegian musicians singing, Leonard Cohen's beautiful song, Hallelujah. We all agreed that is now our very favorite video of all time to watch, so I hope that you check it out, because I promise that it will move you so much, that you'll watch it over and again and then bookmark it.

When we arrived at the grocery store, we decided that we would meet Carol back at the Expedition, instead of trying to find each other in the store. When Tony and I were on Isle 9 searching for our last item, Carol appeared and she was wearing a big grin on her face. Then she half-hollered down the isle, so everyone could hear her, "Oh my goodness, Cousin Nancy is here!" Then every shopper turned to look at her and then at me, because she was pointing at me and laughing. Then Tony and I burst out laughing and we didn't quit laughing until we got back to Buttermilk.

Our last stop was at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, so we could pick up Walter Matthau and Ginger Rogers, two new dogs that we had rescued on Sunday. Walter is Gingers brother and they are about one-year-old. Walter had been neutered on Monday and we knew that Ginger was pregnant with five puppies, due in the next few days.

When Susan brought the adorable terrier mixes into the lobby, they immediately melted every one's heart, because they were so friendly and cute, even though Walter was wearing a cone around his neck, to keep him from tearing out his stitches.

When we got back home, Tony put our dogs in the back yard, so Ginger and Walter could spend a little time in our front yard, so I could keep a watchful eye on them while he set up our portable puppy pen, in my office, down the hallway.

Before we brought Walter and his sister inside, I took these two pictures of them, but it doesn't do them justice, because they were a little timid and didn't know why they were here.

After they had settled in the office we brought the other dogs inside. Then we called Carol and invited her to come over for another visit, while we waited for our dear friend Rick, The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper, to arrive, because we had invited him to come up and spend Thanksgiving with us.

Tony and I enjoyed visiting with Carol for about one hour and then Rick arrived. And the reason that I did not write last night was because we were having so much fun with our friends.

Today has been great. This morning after breakfast, Rick did my outside chores, while Tony fed the dogs and I played in the kitchen with Ginger and Walter. These two sweet dogs were more relaxed and they seemed comfortable to temporarily be living in a thirty-year-old trailer. 

When Rick and Tony finished their chores outside they came inside, so all of us could play with Walter and Ginger. I took this picture of Ginger and her brother begging Tony for just one more treat.

As I finish writing this, it is 1:30 and we are waiting for Paul and Brad, from Georgia, to arrive at 2:00, because they are back here, visiting their family and they wanted to come out for a visit, which I know will be fun. 

Tomorrow morning, at 8:30, we plan to go outside to serve our super dogs their annual cooked Thanksgiving dinner and I can't wait. Hopefully, if it is not too cold, our friends aka volunteers will come out too, so they can enjoy watching our dogs gobble up their warmed, tasty Thanksgiving dinner.

If I find the time tomorrow I will try to post some holiday pictures of our dog's enjoying their Thanksgiving dinner, that Kris & Jim kindly sponsored this year. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, like all of us are going to have. And who knows? Maybe we will be sharing our holiday with Ginger's five new puppies!

Y'all have a great evening!