See Nancy Run!

Today has been great. Tony and I went over to Kinky's Lodge around 12:30 to eat lunch with him and our friend Mark. We brought ribs and beans that we had cooked earlier and a warmed loaf of H-E-B's Jalapeno & Cheese bread.

When we walked inside the Lodge with the great smelling food, I said, "We're having a cowboy lunch today." As the four of us sat at the kitchen table eating lunch we did a lot of laughing. When Kinky started telling Mark about how much he liked my new novella, he suggested that I put a Zombie, a vampire or a werewolf in one of the upcoming novellas, because they are so popular right now. "I don't know, Kink. I've already got people wearing homemade alien-attracting helmets, that have Alien-fever in this first one," I said. Then I signed a copy of The Cowgirl Sisterhood: The Membership Drive, Part I, to Mark.

Speaking of The Cowgirl Sisterhood, last month I was contacted by the people at Cowgirl Sisterhood Wine, made in the Napa Valley, about them wanting my permission to use a picture from my blog for an upcoming promotional event and of course I said, "Yes, I would love it!" And they did on their Facebook page on January 1, 2013.

The picture they wanted to use was this one that I took of their Cowgirl Sisterhood Wine sitting on a shelf above the sign that I hand painted on an old cutting board that I had replaced. "Cowgirl Sisterhood Wine Rules!"

After our fun lunch with Mark and Kinky we adios-ed them and then we went to get our mail. When I opened up our mailbox on Highway 16, there was big box addressed to me from our our dear German cowgirl friend, Karin Pohlmann.

When we got home Tony opened it for me and there was a sweet letter explaining why her and Air Gun's Christmas presents for us were late. "We bought the two coffee mugs at an internet store and they arrived late. They are made in USA, took a trip to Germany and now they went home..."

Then Tony and I unwrapped their Christmas presents to us and we love the mugs. In fact, mine is filled with Keurig's Donut Shop coffee that I am drinking right now. "Thank you Karin, Fancy (their Poodle) and Air Gun! We love y'all!"

This afternoon I decided to take my Roy Rogers for a long walk, while Karen and Tony supervised the girls walking our dogs down by the creek. Roy was so excited to go on a walk with me he basically drug me down to the creek. When we walked up to Kermit to visit with Tony and Karen, Tony made a joke about, "See Nancy Run" and then he suggested that he remove Roy's leash and put a harness on Roy to help slow him down for me and thirty-seconds later, I had Roy under control and began some serious leash training.

One hour later, when Roy and I got back home, Roy first drank all of the water in the filled up water bowl and then he decided to take a nap on the painted rug, in the big room, while I returned a few phone calls. 

And that is about it for tonight. "I love you, Roy."

Y'all have a great evening!

The Medina Community Library!

Today has been great. For lunch I cooked us Cousin Nancy's Almond Lemon Chicken, a recipe that I recently stole from my best friend Carol. And Cousin Nancy's Cheese Grits Casserole, that I stole several years ago from my dear friend Sandy. Our lunch was absolutely delicious. Tony loved my recipes and he took second servings and he cleaned his plate.

Around 2:00 after doing some paperwork, Tony and I jumped into Trigger and I drove us to Medina to run a few errands and my driving didn't scare Tone. Our first stop was at the Post Office. Then we went to the Medina Community Library, so we could talk to Mary Ellen, the new director of the library.

Tony talked first. He told our friend Mary Ellen about the new camera club that he and many of his friends are excited about starting and then they discussed the dates that were available for their first meeting. They decided on Saturday, February 9th.

Then it was my turn to talk to Mary Ellen about doing a February book signing at the Medina Community Library for my new mystery, cliffhanger novella, The Cowgirl Sisterhood: The Membership Drive, Part I and we decided that the best time to have my very first book signing for my new novella would be on Saturday morning, February 23rd from 10:30 - 12:00. Then we discussed press releases, etc.

Then we adios-ed her and walked across the street to talk to our friend and her husband, Dr. James Lindstrom, DVM, to talk about our pigs, which turned out to be pretty funny.

After we adios-ed James and his friendly staff I drove us down the street to the Old Timer, so Tony and I could buy a pint of ice cream, so we could take it home and split it. When we walked out of the Old Timer I handed Tony the truck keys and said, "Thanks for letting me practice my driving. You can drive us home, because I want to read the newspaper and he was relieved and more than thrilled about driving us home.

When we finished eating our ice cream, I finished my day taking care of paperwork and returning a few phone calls. Then I called Kinky to tell him about my upcoming book signing and he was thrilled, so I want to thank Mary Ellen for helping us today, because I am so looking forward to the book signing. And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

Oh! Excuse Me!

This weekend has been great. Yesterday, while Brandon helped Tony with the morning chores outside, I was baking another loaf of 100% Stone Ground Whole Wheat—gluten free bread and keeping an eye on the boneless ribs cooking in the oven, because we we're going to have Brandon's delicious ribs, my homemade beans with fresh bread for lunch.

When Brandon and Tony went to The Okay Corral to start the grill, to finish cooking Brandon's delicious recipe, our dear friends Big G and his lovely wife Denise, showed up, because Big G wanted his wife to see our rescue ranch. We invited them to join us for lunch, but they declined, because they had eaten an early lunch.

After we had showed Denise our rescue ranch and given them the grand tour we had a fun visit with them, before they took off to go visit Kinky. And our lunch was so delicious there were no ribs or beans leftover.

After lunch today we made a quick run to the big H-E-B on Main Street to get groceries and I am so embarrassed about what I did. When I grabbed a cart outside before going inside the store to shop with Tony, I saw a young man probably in his late fifties staring at me and just as our eyes met I accidentally burped out loud and it was really loud. "Oh! Excuse me," I said to the shocked stranger smiling at me as Tone chuckled. "I ate onions at lunch. I'm sixty-one and in the last two years whenever I eat onions—I burp uncontrollably without notice."

"Don't worry, it happens to me, too and I'm fifty-nine." Then he pushed his filled grocery cart out of the store and I pushed our empty cart into the store. And Tony teased me about it until I made him pick up and put the H-E-B brand 18 Count made-for-old-people under pads, in our grocery cart, for Toto's incontinence.

When we got back to the rescue ranch, as I unpacked our groceries and put them up, Tony started making bacon-wrapped bananas as fast as he could, a forty-five-year-old recipe that he truly stole from me years ago when we met, because he wanted to cook them for Brandon and his friends, at the Medina Children's Home, who were coming over to walk our dogs for us.

When we told these super nice young men about Tony grilling them bacon-wrapped bananas they were not thrilled and were not sure they wanted to eat them, but thankfully Brandon talked them into eating at least one. Then we went outside to The Okay Corral.

While Tony grilled his appetizers Brandon and I picked and grinned. After I had played some songs with Brandon on my guitar with him playing Tony's baritone ukulele I quit and asked Brandon to entertain us until the bacon-wrapped bananas were cooked and his music was awesome.

When Tone said, "Okay, they're ready. Come and get it," at Tony's No Whiner Diner, Brandon rushed to the grill, but the others hesitated for a few seconds. And after everyone had eaten just one—they could not get enough of them and to Tony's delight they raved about them as they gobbled them up.

A few minutes later, T. told these four nice, polite, high school boys, "There are only four left," they charged to the grill to get one more and it made Tony, Karen and me laugh out loud.

After T. had shut down his outdoor diner Brandon offered to carry my heavy guitar for me, so I could just carry the light-weight uke back to The Cabin. And as he and I climbed the stairs to the front porch he started laughing and whispered, "I love Tony's bacon-wrapped bananas so much. I grabbed four of them when Tony first said they were ready, but don't tell my friends." Which of course I did later on and it made everyone laugh. Happy Birthday, 'Erb!

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday 'Erb Cares!

Today is our dear friend, 'Erb Cares birthday and Kinky, Tony and I want to wish him the happiest birthday ever!

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear 'Erb, Herb, Herb. Happy Birthday to YOU. And many more.

We love you, 'Erb. We hope you and Karen come visit us soon.

Happy Birthday Ben Welch!

Today is our dear friend, Ben Welch's, birthday and Kinky, Tony and I want to wish him the best birthday ever.

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Ben. Happy Birthday to You. And many more.

Oh, Jackie O!

Today has been great and so much fun. Early this morning while Tony and I were finishing up our morning chores our super friends/volunteers: Jim, Kris & Jim, The Mineral Man and Eileen walked our dogs for us.

While our dogs were being walked down to the creek, a nice man and his family came out to look at our dogs, because the one that they had adopted from us ten years ago had passed away from old age. When I walked up to greet him, he was telling Tony that he liked George, but had been hoping that we had a smaller dog, because he and his wife had three young daughters. "How many dogs do you have now?" I asked.

"None. We only want one dog for our girls to play with."

"Then you've got to meet Jackie Kennedy Onassis!..." After I had told him about she needing to be placed in a one dog home, because she is an alpha dog and how sweet she was, we went over to her pen so he could meet her, but she wasn't there.

"Jim and Kris are walking her and Daisy right now," Tony explained. So, I jumped on Kermit and took off to go find Kris and Jim. When I saw them down by the creek I asked Jim, "Can I borrow Kris and Jackie, because we have someone interested in adopting Jackie?"

"Take off and good luck," Jim said, as Kris and Jackie got into Kermit with me. When we returned to the rescue ranch the man and his family smiled when they first saw her and then she stole their hearts. Then he told us that he wanted to adopt her and if she was too much for their little girls, they would bring her back and give George a try. A few minutes later, after he had signed Jackie's adoption form, it only took Jackie three attempts to jump up into the backseat of their big pickup.

As soon as they drove away with Jackie O, Kris and I took George out of his small pen and put him inside Jackie's old pen and he was so thrilled. First he ran around his much larger pen and then he began happily marking his new territory. When Doug, Paul's friend that came out with him to deliver free dog food, walked up we smiled and laughed at George as we watched him run, jump and play with the toys that Jackie had left behind.

Twenty minutes later Tony and I walked in Koyote Ranch's Koyote Grill to eat lunch with our  friends/volunteers and to celebrate Kris' birthday. Tony and I had a blast with our six friends and our food was delicious. And of course, I talked too much, which I can't seem to quit doing.

After we had eaten lunch Tony helped me put candles on Kris' gigantic birthday cake. While Tony lit the candles for me I said, "Yesterday, when we went to pick up Kris' birthday cake at H-E-B I nearly dropped it instantly when the baker handed it to me, because it was so heavy and it wasn't even a Pound cake. Kris, you might want to come over to this table to blow out your candles, because Tony has a bad back and we don't need it going out again." 

Before Kris blew out her twenty melting candles, that nearly caught Tone's sleeve on fire, everyone inside Koyote Grill sang The Happy Birthday song to her. Then I handed her the spatula to cut and serve her half chocolate/half white cake to us, because I am not good at cutting cakes or anything else. 

Everyone thought Kris' humongous birthday cake was delicious and after all of us had eaten a piece of it we joked about how much was still left over. "I think you should divide it up into thirds and then freeze them separately, because each piece is large enough to serve several people at your next three birthday party's," I joked.

When Tony and I got home I phoned Kinky to tell him the great news about Jackie and I asked him to please keep his fingers crossed for her. Then I told him all about Kris' fun, surprise birthday party, with her birthday cake being the size of a small state and it made him laugh. 

Just before dark-thirty Kinky invited me to come over for a short visit, because he knows that I will not drive in the dark, because I have poor night vision. While I was over at The Lodge Kink asked me to sit and listen to a song that was written and sung by, Ty Weatherford, for his upcoming CD, to be released in early spring and all I could say after listening to it was, "Oh my goodness! That is one beautiful song.

I absolutely love it. Can I listen to it again?" And that is about it for tonight. Happy Birthday Kris!

Y'all have a great evening! 

Happy Birthday Kris Bobbitt!

Today is Kris Bobbitt's birthday and Tony and I want to wish our dear friend the best birthday ever.

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday dear Kris. Happy Birthday to You. And many more.

Strung Out!

Today has been great. At 7:45 this morning I did The Harley Show with Harley Belew and it was a lot of fun as always. Harley's Pet of the Week was Miss Dee and I told him how happy we were about her and her best friend Mr. Rogers going to be adopted soon and they would live happily in Alabama with a really nice woman.

After Harley and I had adios-ed each other I listened and watched the KENS 5 morning show, while I started cooking Tony's breakfast and preparing our healthy smoothies. While I was putting kale into Jaws, (Our Vita-Mix blender) already filled with blueberries, strawberries, orange juice, ginger and raspberries, they started talking about today being Compliment Day and how important it was for everyone to give out compliments today.

So, when Tony returned home from drinking coffee with his friends at the Old Timer, in Medina, I was ready to give him a compliment, but it didn't happen, because when he walked inside The Cabin he said, "Nance, I just rescued two dogs running down Highway 16. Fortunately, they were wearing collars with tags and they are very nice dogs. When I saw them I pulled off of the road and said, "Load up" and they jumped inside Buttermilk. I need to go put them in The Okay Corral. I'll be right back."

Five minutes later Tony returned to The Cabin with one of the dogs collar and then he punched in the phone number on Cheyenne's dog tag and spoke to a nice woman about rescuing her dogs. Then she was the first to compliment Tony about his good work and then she thanked him over and over again for rescuing her two dogs. "I'm out of town right now and my friend Bobby is babysitting them for me, so I will call him and ask him to come pick them up immediately..." Here is a picture I took of Cheyenne and his buddy in The Okay Corral, waiting to be picked up.

While Tone and I were doing our morning chores outside Bobby showed up and he could not thank Tony enough for rescuing her dogs.

When we were done with our chores outside, I came inside and started cooking us lunch and when Tony walked inside The Cabin I complimented him, "You are so great for rescuing those dogs today. And I love those photos you took yesterday...."

After lunch we went to Stan's music store, The Melody Corner, in Kerrville, to pick up a hard shell case that I had ordered for my ukulele. Then we went to Hometown Crafts. While we were looking around the store Tony found something that made us laugh out loud when we saw it, so we bought one for Tony, because he loves Toby Keith's song, Red Solo Cup.

It's a porcelain redneck, red solo cup and after taking this picture of it, I think I might just need to get one too.

Late this afternoon I went over to The Lodge to see Kinky's sister Marcie. When Trigger and I pulled up, she was outside standing by her hammock. The Friedmans came running to greet me and then I went to see Marce. After howdies and hugs she told me that her hammock was all messed up, because the last time that she took it down, she didn't take the time to store it properly. So, because it was a mess and all strung out I decided to try to help her unravel the thing.

Thirty minutes later we had made some progress unraveling it, but the hammock's ropes were still not right. Then I heard Kermit in the distance. "I hope Tony comes over here, because he is great at these kind of things. He's unraveled so many things for me, like my pink fishing pole when the fishing line knots up and..."

When Tony arrived we both hollered, "Help!" Then I half hollered, "Tony, we need your help..." Two minutes later Tony had fixed Marcie's hammock for her, so she and I both complimented Tone on his skill of unraveling things. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Big G's Real Deal!

Today has been great. I had a fun time doing Big G's Real Deal radio show early this morning. After we had talked about our rescue ranch, the Chamber of Commerce weather, our musician friend Ty Weatherford's upcoming CD and Kinky getting back from New York City, I asked, "Big G, can I do an early birthday shout out to Kris B., because her birthday is on Friday?"

"Go right ahead," Big G said. After I had said happy birthday to Kris, he said, "I like Kris and Jim. They are good people, so on Friday I am going to sing the Happy Birthday song to her on air..."

After Big G and I adios-ed each other I decided to check my e-mail and Kris had just sent me an e-mail telling me how thrilled she was for the early birthday wishes and like me, she is excited about Big G singing her Happy Birthday this coming Friday.

This morning after we had done our morning chores outside our dear friend Charlie Cooper, (He and his wife Ellen are characters in my first mystery novella.) came over to buy a few more books and have me sign them. And he brought along his sweet dad who is ninety-three-years-old and Coy, so we could drink some coffee and have a fun visit. And Tony and I really enjoyed their visit.

Because I had several errands to run in Kerrville, we decided to eat lunch at Randy & Lisa's Save Inn Restaurant, on Sidney Baker, because we love their delicious food and their friendly waitresses. When the signal light turned green on Water Street and Sidney Baker we were in the right lane watching an impatient man, standing on the corner, continually pushing the walk button to help him cross the street safely. As we turned right onto Sidney Baker Street we were laughing about the man not needing to keep pushing the button and then we saw Sandy in her car, waving both of her arms outside her window, trying to get our attention. So, we quickly waved back to her.

After we ate a delicious lunch we went straight across the street to Home Depot, so I could buy four L- brackets. Then we went to the Big H-E-B to pick up some more boneless ribs, because tomorrow Tone and I are going to try to cook Brandon's secret family recipe. And we can't wait.

Tonight I plan to play my guitar and practice what Brandon taught me, then I plan to write. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Bring 'Em On!

Today has been really great, because of Brandon, who works part-time for us and he is only eighteen-years-old. Early this afternoon Brandon came out to help Tony with some chores and then it was time for the fun, music and good food.

Brandon showed us how he cooks boneless ribs and they were the best boneless ribs that we have ever eaten. After the ribs had cooked in the oven for an hour and a half we took them outside to The Okay Corral, so he show us how he seasons them and then he put them on our grill and closed the lid.

Then Brandon and I then grabbed our acoustic guitars and sat by the grill and began pickin' and grinnin' while Tony took some awesome pictures of birds. Thirty-five minutes later, we put our guitars inside my writing cabin, so Brandon could finish the cooking process.

Ten minutes later, we were inside The Cabin eating Brandon's delicious boneless ribs and we could not quit talking about how delicious they were. "Brandon, these are the best ribs that I've ever eaten," I said and then Tony said the same thing.

After we had all over eaten I picked up the phone and called Kinky. "Kinky, Brandon just cooked us some delicious ribs and they are even better than my brother Ronnie's. And you know that Ronnie is pretty famous for his ribs. We wanted to come over and bring you some ribs."

"Bring 'em on!"

"Brandon and I wrapped the remaining ribs in foil and then we took off in Kermit to deliver Brandon's mouth-watering ribs to Kinky and his friends.

"Brandon, these are the best," Kinky remarked. Then Kinky's talented musician friend, Ty Weatherford, repeated Kinky's words and then Shawn, a popular radio host, in San Antone, agreed with both of them. While they ate Brandon's delicious ribs we had a fun visit with them and then we adios-ed them and returned to the rescue ranch.

He and I grabbed our guitars out of my writing cabin and then we went up to The Cabin, so Brandon could give me a quick guitar lesson and twenty minutes later he and I were jamming and we sounded so good, Tony came out of his man cave where he had been watching a football game, so he could sit and listen to us.

We played our guitars for over an hour, but when my fingers really started killing me, I had to put my guitar up. "Brandon, please keep playing while I clean up our kitchen," I said.

Brandon played several beautiful songs that he has written and real soon I am going to help him record them using my Garage Band software. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Confessions Of A Texas Book Dealer!

Today has been great and a lot of fun. This morning our super volunteers: Jim, Kris & Jim, "The Mineral Man," came out to walk our dogs for us. Around 10:30, while our friends/volunteers walked our dogs our friend Sandy Wolfmueller arrived with her dear friend Sohnne, because Sandy wanted her to see our rescue ranch and to meet us.

When Sohnne climbed out of Sandy's SUV and smiled at me, I instantly liked her and knew that we were going to have a fun visit. And I was totally right. After Sandy introduced us, we came inside The Cabin to visit and to drink some coffee.

The three of us laughed and traded stories back and forth, while Mama and Roy demanded they full attention to keep them petting them. We talked about Sohnne's love for her American Quarter Horses, me being a part-time cowgirl, books, our dogs, rattle snakes, her favorite goose. But when Sohnne told Sandy and me about her once getting to interview Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, in Dallas and how much fun it was—I turned green with envy, because I never got to meet them.

After the dog walking ended, our friends came inside to join us and while everyone sampled a piece of my just baked, dented, 100% Whole Wheat Bread and drank Donut Shop coffee, Tony and I showed The Mineral Man our concert series ukulele that Vern gave to us and Tony's baritone uke, because Jim is going to buy one and learn how to play it.

Then all of us went to Koyote Ranch to eat lunch together. "I'm just going to drink tea, because when we get home I want to eat my bread for lunch," I confessed.

As always, our lunch at the Koyote Grill was filled with laughter and funny stories and I didn't want it to end, because I was having so much fun.

Earlier this evening I checked my e-mail. Our dear friend John Kemmerly, who we love and once worked here, sent me a note about getting his story, "Confessions Of A Texas Book Dealer" published on LitKicks.com. So I immediately went to the site and John's article was the first thing I saw at the top of their home page.

When I started reading, "Confessions Of A Texas Book Dealer," I was hooked before I even read the second paragraph and because John is such a fabulous, talented author—I ignored two incoming phone calls, because I loved what I was reading and was determined to finish his story, before returning any phone calls.

After I had read John Kemmerly's engaging, well written article I posted a comment about his entertaining read, on the site. Then I returned the two phone calls. I hope that all of y'all will check out and read his, "Confessions Of A Texas Book Dealer." Because I am fixing to go read it again. I promise that y'all will love it.

Y'all have a great evening!

N.A.R.F.E.!

Today has been a great day. This morning after Tony and I did our morning chores outside, we came inside and cleaned up, because we had to go to Santo Coyote, in Kerrville, so I could speak at the Hill Country Chapter National Active or Retired Federal Employees luncheon.

My dear friend Eileen had asked to be a speaker at their monthly luncheon in October, but I had to cancel that one, because I was sick with that horrible sinus infection I had, so she rescheduled it for today. And Tony and I had a wonderful time and really enjoyed meeting the members.

When we arrived at the Santo Coyote, Eileen greeted us and then she introduced us to their friendly members. As they ate their lunch, I talked about our rescue ranch, the wild hogs that we've adopted out to bed & breakfasts, did a reading and then I told them the story of how we rescued my four-legged soul mate, Roy Rogers on December 20, 2011.

Before Tony and I left to get back to the rescue ranch, Eileen took this picture of me dressed up. Then Tony took two pictures of Eileen and me, but unfortunately his camera settings were off, without him knowing about it, so he lost those pictures.

  

When we got back home Kinky called me from New York City to ask me how my speaking engagement went and I told him, "Kinky, it was so much fun. I talked for about thirty-five minutes and I was funny and I made the members laugh often..." Before we adios-ed each other Kinky told me that he will be back at the ranch on Saturday.

Last night I received an e-mail from my dear friend Ellen, who rescued that litter of pups and mama Chihuahua from the pound when the pups were only two-days-old and she has found super homes for all of them, including the mama, except for these two adorable boys. If you want one or know of someone wanting a small Chihuahua mix, please give me a call at the ranch: 830-589-7544 so I can hook you up with Ellen.

Tonight I plan to do some more writing on my part II novella and then play my guitar before going to bed. But before I go, I want to thank Eileen for inviting me to speak at the NARFE luncheon today and I want to thank Ellen for rescuing those adorable pups and their mama and finding them great forever homes.

Y'all have a great evening!

Imus!

Today has been great, but nothing really significant has happened, except for Kinky calling me from New York City. After we had talked about how The Friedmans (Kinky's dogs) were doing he told me that he is going to be on the Imus show tomorrow morning. So, I plan to record it, because I am not sure what time Kinky will be on or what time I will be getting up in the morning. I hope that y'all will watch it, because our rescue ranch loves Don Imus and his beautiful wife for all of their support they have given to our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, for the past fourteen years.

Other than me having spent the last two hours learning how to play new songs on my guitar, I plan on doing some more writing on The Cowgirl Sisterhood: The Membership Drive, Part II novella and that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Just Be Nice!

This morning has not been great. When I woke up this morning, I found a note from Tony on the breakfast bar, "Nancy, the Internet is down. Love, Tony." So, I opened up my laptop to check it out and sure enough—I could not get on the Internet.

The new router that we purchased last week, kept asking me for my WEP password. Not knowing for sure what the WEP meant I kept typing in the four different passwords that we had to write down, to set up our easy to use router. Unfortunately, because I am not a techo-savvy-nerd, I just kept trying over and over again and receiving this message, "Invalid Password."

When Tone got back from Old Timer, in Medina, he called our local phone company to see if the Internet was down and he was told, "No, it is not down." Then we ate our breakfast.

After I had cleaned up the kitchen I once again sat down at the kitchen table to try one more time. After typing in the four secret passwords over and over again and getting the same messages, "Invalid Password," I looked at the router's manual to find a phone number, but it did not have one and it said, "For technical support go to this web address."

By now my patience was beginning to wear thin, because I couldn't just call the company and ask them, "To please help an old woman that is hard of hearing get online" and I could not get on the Internet to go to their support page, because of invalid passwords that I never wanted to use in the first place.

Trying hard not to rip the router from the wall and force it down the toilet, I decided to smudge The Cabin. Then I lit some of my favorite incense, Pinion Pine, from New Mexico and went back to Tony's office where our new router rules.

All six of our dogs were standing around, watching me closely probably wondering what in the world I was doing and it made Tony and me start to laugh. Then I told our one-week-old, new improved, highly secure router, "Just be nice." Then with our six dogs following me I left T's man cave and came back into the kitchen to try getting on the Internet, for the one-hundredth time.

When I tried to get on again, it asked me for my WPA password, instead of the WEP password that it had continually requested before. Still not knowing what a WEP or WPA stood for, I typed in one of our passwords and got lucky! "Tony! I'm on!" I happily half-hollered down the hallway.

Tony came running down the hallway, "How'd you do it?"

"I guess smudging The Cabin and asking it to just be nice made a big difference in its attitude."

Then Tone went back into his man cave and a few seconds later I heard him happily say, "I'm on, too!"

As I end this morning's bad story- turned good, so I can go outside to clean the dog pens while Tony feeds the dogs, I am so happy to finally be back on the Internet. And I owe it all to these three powerful words, "Just be nice."

Y'all have a great day and evening!

What Would Ronnie Do?!

Today has been great. This morning after we did our chores outside, I came inside and called my big brother Ronnie to get some advice about tuning our ukulele's, because there is the Standard tuning, which is DGBE, just like the first four strings on a guitar and the Hawaiian tuning is GCEA.

After we had discussed how Ronnie and I had both learned how to play our uke's, as kids, using the Standard tuning he highly suggested that Tony and I use the Standard tuning, because Tone and I already know the guitar chords for it and I agreed with him, because we don't have to memorize new chords.

While Ron and I were talking about outdoor grilling, he told me that he got a Char Broil Gourmet Two Burner TRU-infared Propane Grill for Christmas and how much he was enjoying it, because every time that he cooks on it—his friends rave about how much juicier the meat was. "Nance, I'm not kidding you. It's the best grill out there for the money..." Ten minutes later it was adios-time for us.

Since it was too early to cook lunch for us I got on the Internet, went to Home Depot and looked at the grill Ronnie has and then I half-hollered down the hallway, "Tony, you need to come check this grill out. Ronnie got one for Christmas and they are only $269.00." Then Tony looked at the grill while I told him all of the good things that Ronnie had said about it. "Let's get one," I said. Tony said nothing and went back to his man-cave/office.

When I started to fix lunch I turned on the oven and set it to 350 degrees to preheat it. Then thirty-seconds later, I jumped out of my kitchen chair and turned the oven off, because I had forgotten that we had stored the rescue ranch dog's flour tortilla's,for their garlic-cheese quesidillas, in there.

When I opened the oven door to take out the sacks of tortillas I was thrilled that none of the plastic bags had begun to melt. Here's a picture I took of them—fresh out of the oven.

After we ate lunch I cleaned up the kitchen and when the oven had completely cooled down—I shoved the heavy sacks of tortillas back inside the oven for safe keeping, because I know that Roy, Abbie and Mama would steal them off of the counter and eat as many as they possibly could, before getting caught.

Late this afternoon a super nice couple came out with their son to "just take a look at our dogs," because they were looking to find a perfect companion dog for their sweet 10-11 year-old-son. Their son instantly fell in love with Molly and Chad, but he ended up liking Molly more, so after taking care of some paperwork—Molly has officially been adopted and we are going to keep her here with Rocky for about two weeks, so their son can stay focused on his steer, that he will be showing at an upcoming Junior Live Stock Show. And during the next couple of weeks, Molly's forever family plans to come by often, so they can visit her and take her for some long walks. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Hoja, The Miracle Dog!

This morning I received an e-mail from our dear friend Kris, who is married to The Mineral Man. She came across this story about a beautiful dog that is in Corpus Christi, Texas and Hoja really needs to get adopted. Here is the link to check her out, which was posted by Best Friends. I hope this post will help her find a forever loving home.

My Second Post For Today! The Eternal Squirrel Is Back!

Right after I wrote and posted today's post on my blog, my dear friend Sandy called me about coming out for a visit next week with her dear friends Wook and Sohnne. After we adios-ed each other I went to let my dog Roy back inside, because he was banging his paw on our front porch window, to get my attention.

When I opened the front door to let him and Belle inside I noticed that Yoda's Eternal Squirrel, cemented into her grave was glowing and I was more than thrilled, "Tony, The Eternal Squirrel has come back to life! Come look!"

Then I grabbed my camera and ran outside to the front porch. After I focused my camera on Yoda's heart-shaped grave I shot the Eternal Squirrel (the outdoor solar-powered squirrel), just before it got dark outside. Life is good once again!

A Cloudless Sky!

Today has been a great day and I loved seeing the sun with a cloudless sky, because we've had several overcast days in a row and I am one of those people who needs sunny days.

Even though it warmed up and was beautiful outside, I spent four hours this morning doing paperwork, etc. and I am now completely finished with all of the end of the year reports and also caught up on thank you letters, etc.

This afternoon, after we ate lunch, Tony and I jumped into Trigger and went to the Ag Barn, in Bandera, to watch the Bandera Junior Live Stock Show's judging of Brandon's building project (an awesome entertainment center) and Mitch's building project (a beautiful, space-saving cedar bunk bead, with a bed on the top and for a desk to fit inside it below it, that he designed and built) and we had so much fun. And that is about it for tonight, because I am on a roll writing the part II of the mystery cliffhanger.

Y'all have a great evening!

Valerie!

This morning we received some very sad news from our dear friend Ben. Valerie, Ben's beautiful, sweet Pit Bull that we rescued over ten years ago, that he adopted from us, lost her long battle fighting cancer.

Valerie was loved by many, including Kinky, Tony and me and she was a joy to be around because she was so sweet and well trained by Ben. Rest in Peace, Valerie. We loved you and you will be missed and you will always be remembered in our hearts.

Broken Rock!

Today has been great, but I have to keep it short, because thunderstorms are coming soon, which means we have to unplug everything. So, I guess we will be spending the evening playing music, with Tony playing Nellybelle, our new uke and me accompanying him on Trigger, the guitar that Ronnie made for me.

Early this afternoon Kinky called and suggested that we go to town to eat lunch, at El Sol de Mexico, because he was anxious to try it. To say the least, "Our lunch was delicious and fun and Kinky really liked the restaurant.

Late this afternoon our dear friend Charlie called me to ask if he could come over, because he wanted to discuss my novella, The Cowgirl Sisterhood: The Membership Drive, Part I, because he had just finished reading it. (Charlie and his wife Ellen are characters in Chapter II.)

Twenty minutes later Charlie showed up and when he walked inside The Cabin he handed me a large split rock that he had found on their other ranch, in Sanderson, Texas. "This is for you, Nancy, because I know that you are a rockhound, too. I picked it up, because I thought it might look like one of those medicinal Brownies, in your novella. Here's a picture of my new, broken rock that Charlie gave to me. I put a fork next to it, so you can see how big it is.

After we had stopped laughing, I made us some delicious Donut Shop coffee. Then he asked me if he could look at our Keurig single cup coffee maker. When I was finished telling him all about it and how much we loved it, we talked about his favorite parts of my novella. "Ellen and I loved reading it and I want to buy five more copies to give to our friends."

While I signed copies to his and Ellen's friends and family we laughed and talked about rocks, rain, motorcycles, Johnny Manziel, A&M and the Crimson Tide beating Notre Dame last night. And that is about it for tonight, because it just thundered outside.

Y'all have a great evening!

Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday!

Today has been great, even though I made a total fool out of myself early this morning. Let's just call it another senior moment or she's stupid, too or what goes around comes around.

I would like to blame my stupidity this morning on M.I.R., but Mercury is not in retrograde or blame it on F.M.T, but we are not in full moon time either, so I am narrowing it down to Karma, even though it wasn't instant Karma.

What happened to me this morning also happened to me and my dear old grandmother in 1970, when I was a senior in high school, in Fort Worth. And I find it amazing that it has taken all of this time for my Karma to finally come back around to kick me in the behind.

In the past I've laughed many times when I have told this funny story about my grandmother calling me one Saturday morning, "Good morning, Nancy."

"Good morning, Grandma."

"I need to talk to one of your parents," she said, sounding a bit anxious.

"Dad's playing golf and Mom has gone to the grocery store. Is everything okay?"

"No, it isn't."

"What's wrong?"

"My Sunday paper was not delivered this morning," she said. "Did y'all get your Sunday paper?"

"No, ma'am, because it is Saturday not Sunday." Then she started laughing and so did I.

Forty-three-years later, Tony woke me up at 6:00 this morning, as I had asked him to do, so I could wake up before calling my friend (Gordon Ames) one of Kerrville's favorite radio host Big G onThe Real Deal KOOK/KERV 1230 radio show, so we could do our weekly Utopia segment.

Around 7:00 I called Big G at the radio station. "Hi Big G. It's Cousin Nancy. Are we off air?"

"Yes."

"I was calling early to make sure that we were going to do the show this morning at 7:20, since we haven't done it because of the holidays falling on Tuesday." Big G started to laugh.

"We're doing it tomorrow, Nancy."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes. Nancy, today is Monday not Tuesday."

"Oh my goodness! I thought it was Tuesday. The holidays have gotten me all confused..." After we had laughed about it, we adios-ed each other.

As I sipped my second cup of Donut House coffee I started laughing at myself all over again, for thinking it was Tuesday. And I bet that Grandma was laughing and rolling over inside her casket in her and Granddad's mausoleum, in Ft. Worth, Texas. And that is about it for tonight, because I need to write and go to bed early, so I can get up early to do Big G's radio show, again.

Y'all have a great evening!

Test Kitchens!

Today has been a quiet, peaceful great day, because with the help from Jim, The Mineral Man, we finally solved the mystery to why his delicious, secret gluten free, 100% stoned ground whole wheat bread recipe, always cratered at the bottom of our loaves.

Yesterday, when I gave Kinky a halved loaf of of my dented bread, he teased me about it and this morning when we talked all he could do was rave about how delicious my bread was.

So, this morning after Tony and I did our outdoor chores I came inside and carefully read the Oster bread machine instructions to see if I could figure out what the problem with the bread was. Then I checked my e-mail and found out that Jim had also been trying to figure out why our breads were sunk in the middle. Then he sent me another e-mail to let me know that in his test kitchen, he had just started another loaf in his Oster and told me the changes he had made to his recipe, hoping that would solve the problem.

Wanting to help Jim  get to "the bottom" of this, I decided to bake another loaf, adjusting the recipe too with a few minor things in my test kitchen. And three and a half hours later when the bread was finished baking, I pulled the hot bread bucket out of Oscar (Yes, I've named the Oster Oscar, because I know how to pronounce it correctly.) and turned it upside down on the cooling rack, so it would fall out—it was missing a sink hole!

After I had half-hollered at Tony about the loaf being perfect, he came running down the hallway to see for himself. "It looks like a normal loaf of bread and it smells delicious." Then I grabbed my camera and shot it, so I could send it to Jim, who was busily baking bread in his test kitchen.

Please note that the small indention in the middle is where I had to remove the bread machine's paddle. Ten minutes later, after sending Jim the above photo I turned the bread right side up and halved it, to make sure the inside looked right. Then I grabbed my camera again and shot it, so I could send The Mineral Man how the inside looked.

After Tony and I ate a slice of the warm, healthy, gluten-free, delicious bread, Tony grabbed his camera to go outside to take pictures, so while he was gone I wrote three more pages of The Cowgirl Sisterhood: The Membership Drive, Part II novella and I am very pleased with it, because it's funny and made me laugh out loud.

Before I get back to my writing, I want to especially thank H-E-B for helping our rescue ranch once again, by including us in their H-E-B TexasLife January magazine. And I also want to thank Jim for helping me solve the real life mystery of, Our Dented Loaves. And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening! 

Thank You, H-E-B!

This morning when Tony returned from The Old Timer, in Medina, he handed me the San Antonio Express newspaper. After we ate breakfast and I had cleaned up the kitchen I pulled out my favorite things I like to read: Parade, Life, Taste, coupons. Then I saw the January H-E-B My TexasLife magazine, which I always enjoy and I decided to read it first.

The January issue, Healthy New Year was full of savings and fresh ideas about making healthier food choices with tasty-looking recipes. When I got to "A New Year's Pet-Solution!" section I about fell out of my chair when I turned the page and saw a full page advertisement, on page 55, for our rescue ranch.

I half-hollered down the hallway, "Tony! H-E-B has done it again. They've put a beautiful, full page ad about our rescue ranch in their My TexasLife magazine!" Then I picked up the phone and punched in Kinky's phone number and told Kink about it and he too, was thrilled about it. "That's great news, Nancy...."

You can check out H-E-B's Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch full page advertisement here. Thank you for helping us, H-E-B! We love you and your monthly magazines.

El Sol de Mexico!

Today has been great for so many reasons. Around noon, Tony, my super hero dog, Roy Rogers and I climbed into Buttermilk, our Expedition, to go to Kerrville.

Our first stop was at the Post Office so I could mail out some more of my books that had been ordered. Then we went to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic to drop off Roy for an hour or so, because he needed to get all of his yearly shots while we met our friends/volunteers for lunch, at all of ours favorite Mexican food restaurant, El Sol de Mexico.

When Tony handed off Roy's leash to Kathy and we started to leave the clinic, Roy started barking and pulling on his leash towards us, because he didn't want us to leave him.

Tony and I were the first to arrive at El Sol de Mexico and when we walked inside Beto, the friendliest waiter came to greet us, "There's going to be seven of us," I told him, then we sat down on the bench to wait for our friends and to let Beto and the owner set up a larger table for us.

When our table was ready, Tony and I went to our table and minutes later Eileen and Lisa showed up, then Kris and then June and Ellen. We talked about Fruitful's adorable Chihuahua pups that Ellen rescued from the pound when they were only two days old. Ellen and June have found super forever homes for the mama and her pups and their are only three pups that need homes. Here is a precious picture of the puppies that June took this morning and next are two of the pups still looking for a super home. If anyone wants to adopt a pup, Ellen is asking $25.00 each to cover expenses and a week ago Friday they all received their first puppy shot. Please call me at the rescue ranch if you are interested and I will hook you up with Ellen.

Our lunch was fun and delicious and we were the loudest table in the restaurant, because of all of the teasing and laughter. And unfortunately that is all that I can say, because they made a pact, which I didn't want to, because their is so much to tell. Our pact is: What happens at El Sol de Mexico—Stays at El Sol de Mexico, Nancy. But who knows, I might just put some of their hilarious stories in one of my novellas.  : )

Late this afternoon my new electric ukulele and my Oster bread making machine, arrived and I was more than thrilled about it, because the ukulele that Vern sent to Tony and me, is at Stans's music store getting electrified and Tiny should be ready to be picked up next week. 

I bought the extra uke which I have already named The Nellybelle, because Tony wants to learn how to play one and tonight I taught him three basic chords and here is a picture of him strumming The Nellybelle with Roy snoring and he sounded really good. Please note that it was T. not Roy who sounded really good

Tomorrow after Brandon does his chores outside with Tony we are going to have a jam session with Tone and Brandon on ukuleles and me on guitar and I cannot wait. And that's about it for tonight, because my bread machine's very first loaf of bread, using The Mineral Man's secret whole wheat bread recipe, is almost cooked and ready to eat.

Y'all have a great evening! 

My New Year's Resolutions!

Last night after spending a few hours writing the beginning of my Part II novella, I thought about and finally made my New Years' resolutions. This year I am going to work harder at everything I do and I am going to really push my new novella, because it really is a fun read and I am so proud of it. And I am going to do as many book signings as I possibly can. So, here's a book review that I just received from Fay, who is one of the main characters in, The Cowgirl Sisterhood: The Membership Drive, Part I. Fay wrote:

Happy New Year Nancy! 

The books arrived the Friday before Christmas and I just sat down this morning, finally, to read your novella.

I couldn't put it down and had so many laugh out loud moments, it's awesome!! My character is so cool and interesting, heck, I would love to be me! LOL

All of your characters are so fun and funny, interesting and I can't believe you left the story hanging... to be continued...

Can't wait until you publish Part 2 of the Cowgirl Sisterhood!

Fay

Bucket List!

Today has been fun, but first I want to back up to yesterday morning. Rita, the woman from Las Cruces, New Mexico, visiting friends in Kerrville, who had called me on Sunday, about getting a private tour with her friends Monday morning, around 10:30 didn't happen.

Around 11:30, Rita's friend Carolyn called me, "Nancy, I am so sorry, but we have to cancel today's visit, because we had to rush Rita to the Emergency Room in Kerrville and everything is up in the air."

"Oh my goodness," I said. "Is she going to be alright?"

"We don't know. They put her on Morphine. Can we reschedule our visit for tomorrow morning?"

"Sure....." After we adios-ed each other I was very concerned about Rita's condition. When Tony and Brandon returned to The Cabin to eat lunch, I told them about Rita being in the hospital and maybe coming out on New Year's Day. "Tony, you know Rita mentioned that visiting our rescue ranch was on her Bucket List. What if she has already died and never got to see our rescue ranch?"

"She might have, Nance," Tony replied.

Early in the evening Kinky called me, "Nance, I'll be back at the ranch late tonight. How are The Friedmans doing?"

After we had discussed them, I told him about Rita. "Kinky, she may already be dead, but if not she might show up out here tomorrow."

"I doubt if she is dead, Nance." Then a few seconds later Kink and I chuckled about the funny/morbid situation, because weird things seem to happen out here. "If Rita and her friends come out tomorrow—I definitely want to meet Rita and her friends.

This morning, as I re-cleaned The Cabin, in case Rita and her friends showed up, I couldn't quit thinking about poor Rita, while Tony and Brandon did the morning chores outside.

Around 11:10, our dogs inside The Cabin, started barking, so I looked out the window and saw a silver car, that I didn't recognize, driving up to our trailer. "Tony, I think Rita is here!" I half-hollered, before going outside to greet whoever had driven up.

"Welcome to the rescue ranch," I said, to three women climbing out of a car that had New Mexico license plates.

"Are you Cousin Nancy?"

"Yes. Are you Rita?"

"Yes, I am, but my name is Ria, not Rita and I am still wearing my hospital bracelet, because I am still on Morphine."

"I'm sorry, Ria. I am hard of hearing and I thought you said, "Rita." Then I recognized her friend Bonny and greeted her. Then Bonny introduced me to her sister Carolyn. After we had all hugged each other Tony and I gave them a grand tour of the rescue ranch, as we talked about our dogs and about Ria's visit to the Emergency Room.

Apparently, Ria has been seeing all kinds of doctors and taking MIR's etc. trying to find out what is causing her pain in her neck with no results. And the reason Ria went to Peterson Regional Memorial Hospital was because she started having really bad chest pains and thought she was having a heart attack. Then she told us, "Fortunately, it wasn't a heart attack."

"I bet it is your gallbladder," Tony diagnosed. "Nancy and I have known a lot of people who thought they were having heart attacks and it was their gallbladder."

"They've tested my gallbladder and it is fine..."

When we ended the tour we invited the women into the The Cabin, so we could visit some more and drink some coffee. Twenty minutes later, I asked them if they would like to meet Kinky and they all said, "Yes!"

Then I called Kinky. "Kinky, I have three women here and I wanted to know if I could bring them over?"

"Is it Rita?" He asked. Does she look like she's on her death bed?"

"Yes, but her name is Ria not Rita and she looks real healthy to me. We'll be there in just a minute."

Our visit at The Lodge was a lot of fun. They got their pictures taken with Kinky and before we left, Kinky invited us to toast the New Year, with his Man In Black Tequila.

Carolyn and Bonny accepted his invitation, but I declined, because I swore off tequila, when I lived in Crested Butte, Colorado. "I'll have some, too," Ria declared.

"You can't, Ria, because you are still on Morphine," one of the sisters said. Then Bonny ran out to their car and retrieved Ria's medical records folder. "Ria, it says no alcohol." And Ria seemed disappointed.

After Kinky poured the sisters and his shot glasses, I said, "Let's toast to Ria not being dead and scratching us off her bucket list." Then they clinked their glasses together and Ria and I touched their shot glasses.

As they sipped the tequila I said, "Ria, I'm glad that you're not dead and please don't drop dead here."

When it was time for us to leave, one of the sisters suggested that Kinky autograph Ria's medical records and he signed it, "To Ria, I'm glad you're not dead, yet."

Later this afternoon, Kinky treated Brandon, Tony and me to lunch, in Kerrville and we had a good time and that is about it for tonight, because I am going to start writing on Part II of The Cowgirl Sisterhood: The Membership Drive.

Y'all have a great New Year!

Happy New Year!