The Blurb!

Today has been great even though it is mighty hot outside and Mercury is retrograde. A few days ago, I was over at the Lodge talking to Kinky about my second novella. I asked him if he would consider writing a blurb, for the back of my book. He told me that he would love to do it.

Late this afternoon Kinky called to tell me that he had written the blurb and then he told me that he needed to borrow a small crate, because Brian Kanof was coming in late tonight and Brian was going to give a home to the young, female cat, that Kinky has befriended and been feeding. "I'll come over now to pick up the blurb and to drop off a crate." Then I walked out of The Cabin, jumped into Buttermilk and went over to the Lodge.

When I walked inside Kinky's kitchen, the first thing he said, "Hi, Nance. Did you bring the crate?"

I laughed and then said, "Nope. I totally forgot." That made Kinky laugh. "I guess I was so excited about you writing a blurb, I simply forgot."Then we went into his office so he could give me his blurb.

When I looked at the blurb, I had a hard time reading it, because Kinky's handwriting is as hard to read as my handwriting is.

"Kinky, would you mind reading this to me, so I will know what it says?" Then I handed his blurb back to him.

"Like the 5 books of Moses, we now have the 2 books of Cousin Nancy. Death In New Mexico, the second volume in the Cowgirl Sisterhood, is darker, funnier and deadlier than the first. Cousin Nancy is honing a very unique and highly entertaining voice in the wilderness. Look out, Moses!" Kinky said.

"I love it, Kinky! Thank you so much." Then he and I went outside to visit, on his front porch. After a fun visit with Kinky, I told him, "I'm going to go home and bring you back the crate, before I forget all about it."

When I got home, I quickly typed out Kinky's blurb and then printed it, so I could get Kinky to double check it, to make sure that I got his words right. Then I showed Kinky's blurb to Tony and Tony loved it, too. Then I asked Tony to go with me to Kinky's, to drop off a crate and get his okay on his blurb he had written.

Tony and I were halfway to Kinky's when I said, "Tony, we forgot the crate." So, Tony backed Trigger up and went back to the rescue ranch to get a crate.

When we walked inside the Lodge, Kinky's first words were, "Hi, Tony and Nancy. Did you bring the crate?"

"Yes, but we forgot to bring it and had to go back to get it..." After Kinky had read his typed out blurb and okayed it, we adios-ed each other and came back home. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

To Sir With Love!

Today has been great even though it is M.I.R. (Mercury in retrograde) time. This morning Brandon came over to do my morning chores outside, so I could finish writing what is going to be on the back cover of my second novella, because then it will finally be ready for me (Undepressable Press) to publish.

This past Tuesday we took Brandon to Kerrville with us, because he needed to get his driving permit. After we dropped him off at the Department of Public Safety, Tony drove me to Walmart, so I could purchase an iPad Mini.

When we went back to pick up Brandon, I told him, "I love my new iPad Mini and I want to give you my old, first generation iPad, that I would use when we took a trip. Since we don't travel much, as you well know, I've probably put no more than ten hours on it. So basically it is brand new. I'm getting a newer iPad, so I can do Face Time with my family, because it has an HD camera." To say the least, Brandon was thrilled about getting it.

When we got back home, I gave my old iPad to Brandon and then he and I started setting up our iPads and it was pretty funny. First, we called Apple to get tech support on how to remove my personal information from my old iPad. In less than a minute, Brandon had wiped out all of my data and accounts and it was ready to become Brandon's iPad.

When we started setting them up, we discovered that we were at the same point, when it asked us for the password to our wi-fi. "Brandon, our password was set at the factory and it is totally ridiculous. It is filled with capital letters, lowercase letters and numbers. So would you mind reading it out loud, so I can type it in, too?"

"Sure." Then I retrieved the password and gave it to Brandon to read out loud. "Capital C, lowercase b, 4..." Five minutes later, our iPads were up and running.

When Tony walked into the big room he said, "Y'all look like a couple of computer nerds, with smiles on your faces." Then I handed my white iPad Mini, with its pretty pink cover, to Tony, so he could check it out. And the first thing he did was check out the HD camera with video and he was very impressed with it.

"It comes with Siri, too," I said. "But I haven't figured out how to ask her a question." Tony and Brandon started laughing.

"Nancy, you miss pronounced it," Tony said. "It is Siri (Sear-E). Not Sir-E."

"I did not, because Sir is sir." Then they started teasing me about my accent.

"I know how to use Sear-E," Brandon said. Then Brandon pushed Sir-E's button and asked her this question. "How do you pronounce your name?"

"Nancy, my name is Sear-E," Sir-E said. All of us started laughing and then we took turns picking Sir-E's brain.

Several times Sir-E would ask me to repeat something, because she could not understand me, which made Tony and Brandon chuckle. "They need to make these things using different accents," I complained. "You know, like if you're from North Texas—it talks with a North Texas accent and understands what you're saying and you understand what she is saying."

The three of us spent nearly two hours playing around with the iPads, before we took Brandon home, because he could not wait to sync his iPad to his computer and get apps for it.

Wednesday afternoon, when Brandon came over, he could not wait to thank me again, for giving him my old iPad and tell us how much he loves his first generation iPad and about all of the apps that he has already installed.

After I told him about how much I love my new iPad Mini, we tried using Face Time with a friend of mine and it was a lot of fun. "Now I can Face Time my family and friends and feel more connected!"

Late this afternoon I went over to visit with Kinky. While he and I were sitting in rockers, on his front porch, I asked, "Kinky, how would you pronounce the word S,I, R,I?"

Kinky thought about it and said, "I guess, Sir-E? Why? What is it?" Then I explained to him about me miss pronouncing Sear-E, too. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

In Bed!

Today has been great. Early this morning, Tony and I did our morning chores outside, because we were picking Brandon up at 11:00, so the three of us could run errands and eat lunch together, in Kerrville.

Our first stop was at the Department of Public Safety, so Brandon could get a driving permit, to fill out, but the place was so packed with people, Brandon decided to take a permit that he will fill out later.

Brandon and Tony were hungry, so we decided to eat at China Town, which is almost next door to the DPS building. As Tony drove us over to the restaurant, Brandon told us that he likes Chinese food, but hasn't eaten very much of it. So I asked him, "Have you ever eaten Sweet & Sour Shrimp or Hot & Sour soup?"

"No ma'am."

"I tell you what," I said. "Tony and I will treat you to lunch if you order the exact same thing we do. Sweet & Sour Shrimp and Hot & Sour soup, with an egg roll, rice and vegetables."

"Sure I'll try it," Brandon replied.

When the waiter came to our table to take our drink order, we all answered (iced) tea and then Tony made the waiter laugh when he said, "We're ready to order also. We all want Sweet & Sour Shrimp, Hot & Sour soup."

While we sipped our soups we looked at the paper place mats,  to find out what Brandon's Chinese calendar symbol was. "It says I am a Dog," Brandon said. Then he read us what it had to say about The Dog. Then Tony told Brandon that he is a Horse and that I am a Rabbit.

When the waiter served us our Sweet & Sour Shrimp plates, Brandon told me that his favorite thing about eating Chinese food is getting to read his fortune, at the end of the meal.

"Brandon, one time we met my dear friend Mari, of The NoMads, here and she told us that as a joke she and her friends always add the words, "in bed," after reading their fortune cookies, because it makes it more funny."

Brandon loved the Sweet & Sour Shrimp dinner and when we had finished eating, the waiter appeared at our table to drop off the check and three fortune cookies.

We each took a fortune cookie and decided to read them out loud and adding "to bed," at the end of the fortune. I read mine first, but it wasn't much. Then Tony opened his fortune cookie and read his aloud and the "to bed" part made us chuckle.

Then Brandon opened his fortune cookie and said, "Go after what you want." Then the three of us burst out laughing.

"Oh dear," I said. "I can't believe it says that."

With Brandon laughing and starting to turn red he said, "There's no time like the present. In bed." Once again the three of us burst out laughing and we could not quit laughing, because every time that we looked at each other, we'd start laughing all over again.

Three minutes later, as we walked out of the restaurant, my eyes were wet, because I had been laughing so hard. Once outside, I said, "Brandon, I have got to blog about this tonight." I said. "Please save your fortune for me, so I will get it right."

Then we went to the little H-E-B and Office Max and as we walked back to Buttermilk, I asked Brandon if he would give me the little slip of paper that had his fortune. He reached into his pocket and handed me his wadded up fortune. Then we came back home.

As soon as the groceries had all been put up, I un-wadded Brandon's fortune and took a picture of it.

And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Another Seven Miles of Chocolate!

Today has been great. This morning after Tony and I did our chores outside, I called our dear friend, Ben Welch, to invite him and Will to come over for another fun visit, before they returned to Austin. "That sounds great, Nancy," Ben said. "I was planning to come over anyway, because I also have another brick of Miles of Chocolate to give to you and Tony, in case y'all want to give some to the volunteers..."

Around noon, as I was just starting to cook lunch, Ben walked inside the trailer, carrying another big brick of Miles of Chocolate. "Thank you, Ben," I said, as he put it into the freezer. Then I told him about me craving a milkshake yesterday and then using a piece of Miles of Chocolate, strawberries, milk and vanilla ice cream to make two delicious milkshakes and he laughed.

"Nancy, I've been telling you and Tony about using Miles of Chocolate milkshakes with fruit for years."

"I guess I forgot. Anyway, we loved it."

"Next time try using bananas instead of strawberries," Ben suggested. "Y'all will love it too." Then the three of us had a fun visit inside The Cabin.

Before Ben left to go back over to Kinky's, Tony and I took him to see Tony's beautiful garden and he was very impressed with it. So, before he drove away, we gave Ben some of Tony's ripe tomatoes and yellow squash.

Late this afternoon, Tony and I fixed Miles of Chocolate with strawberries, milk and ice cream milkshakes for Brandon, Karen, Sophia and Haley, to try, after they had painted two doghouses for us.
And they thought they were absolutely delicious too.

So now, before I go cut up another seven Miles of Chocolate and vacuum seal them, I am thinking about having a Friday Social for our friends/volunteers, in The Okay Corral, when they come out to walk our dogs on Friday. Because they are always craving Miles of Chocolate. I know when we serve them the delicious Miles of Chocolate with banana and or strawberry milkshakes, we will then surprise them and give them each a mile of chocolate to take back home with them.

I took this picture of a brick of Miles of Chocolate, so you can see how big a small brick actually is. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Oregoneers! or Seven Miles Of Chocolate!

Yesterday and today have been great. Yesterday morning our super friends/volunteers came out to walk our dogs for us. Our dear friends Kris & Jim Bobbitt brought Kris' sister Karen and her husband Mitch, who were visiting them from Oregon, because Tony and I could not wait to meet them.

Like Tony and me, our great volunteer friends instantly liked Karen and Mitch and the dogs that Karen and Mitch walked loved taking walks with the Oregoneers.

After all of the dogs had been walked and had enjoyed a swim, we jumped in our cars and trucks and took off for Koyote Ranch's Koyote Grill to eat lunch.

When we arrived at Koyote Grill, Carol had just arrived, because she wanted to visit with the friends/volunteers and to also meet Karen and Mitch.

Our table of ten was filled with non-stop laughter and hilarious tales and Karen, who has read my first novella was thrilled to meet Carol, the better half of our Cowgirl Sisterhood. "Carol's not really a retired astronaut," I joked to Karen. Then Carol and Kris and I had a good laugh amongst ourselves discussing my second novella, because Kris had just edited my second novella for me, that I let Carol read in advance. To say the least, "I had a blast at lunch and I love these volunteers who I count as dear friends."

After lunch Tony and I went to the big H-E-B, in Kerrville, to buy more groceries, because our dear friends Ben Welch and Will Wallace were coming to visit Kinky and us for the weekend.

When we got back home I pulled out a present that I had secretly bought for Tony, at H-E-B. "Thanks, Nance, but what is it?" Tony asked, after I gave it to him.

"It's an onion grill brush. Jim told me that he bought one to clean his grill. And he loves his and I bought you a big sweet yellow onion, too..."

Last night Will, Ben and Carol came over for a happy hour and it was a lot of fun.

Early this evening, after taking a thirty minute nap with Roy and Mama, I woke up wanting a milkshake and by the time I made it into the kitchen I had decided to make a milkshake for Tony and me using Vanilla ice cream, strawberries, milk and a chunk of Miles of Chocolate, because Ben had brought Tony and me a brick of his and Miles famous Miles of Chocolate. 

After adding the four ingredients into Jaws, I took this picture before blending it.

Then Tony poured our milkshakes. The Miles of Chocolate brick is right behind the shakes.

Our milkshakes were the best milkshakes that we have ever had. In other words, "Absolutely delicious!  After we finished drinking our tasty shakes, I decided to cut up the Miles of Chocolate brick and freeze individual packages, so we could eat or drink just a little at a time. I took this pictures of the first vacuum sealed Miles of Chocolate.

And in no time flat, I had seven Miles of Chocolate vacuum sealed packages to put into our freezer!

Then I sat down and wrote this. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

A Dog Called: Little Stay Awhile And Other Tales!

Today has been great. This morning while Brandon was eating breakfast with us, he was surrounded by our begging dogs and he laughed about it. Then Roy, who had been previously trained by his old owner, to not jump up on people, because he weighs nearly a hundred pounds, jumped up on Brandon's leg to get Brandon's full attention. As the three of us laughed about it I took this picture.

After lunch, the book that I had ordered last week, A Dog Called: Little Stay Awhile And Other Tales, that my dear friend, Judy White Ward, recently wrote, arrived and I was thrilled to get it and even more thrilled for my dear old friend, who is also my age.

It is Judy's first published book and it is about Tsin'tia, a mixed Labrador and Rhodesian Ridgeback, that she and her husband Lou purchased for only $40.00, in 1988. 

I am proud to say that I knew Tsin'tia, her son Quanah and all of Judy's and Lou's cats, when Jim and I lived in Austin. Being good friends and nearby neighbors to Judy and Lou we always got a kick when we went to their home, because their fun, fur family always were an enjoyable part of our visit.

I have already read half of Judy's book and I absolutely love it. And not because my late husband Jim, Tony, Kinky, our rescue ranch and I are mentioned in it. (Thank you, Judy!)

I've always known that my dear friend, Judy White Ward, is an extremely talented writer and while reading her stories about Tsin'tia and their other pets, I found her book very hard to put down. I hope that you will check out her book, A Dog Called: Little Stay Awhile And Other Tales, because tonight I plan to take a break from my second novella, because I cannot wait to finish reading Judy's entertaining, insightful book about her love of animals.  

Y'all have a great evening!

She Loved It, Too!

Today has been a quiet day around here, so after doing our morning chores outside, I spent most of my day doing ranch paperwork, returning phone calls and e-mails.

This past Friday while the volunteers were out here, I gave my friend Kris my finished second novella, because she had offered to help edit it for me.

Sunday evening, I received an exciting e-mail from Kris. She wrote:

Nancy:
Just finished reading your novella....I loved it!  Very funny, fast paced, surprising turns. I took out and put in a few commas.... 

Kris' sweet note almost made me tear up, because I was so thrilled that she, like Carol, also loved it. In Kris' e-mail she had offered to deliver it to me Monday morning, because she knew how anxious I was to make her edit corrections and get it published.

I wrote Kris back to thank her and to tell her that she didn't have to deliver it to me, because Tony and I were doing lunch with our friend Beth and we could pick it up after lunch, at Randy & Lisa's Save Inn restaurant.

Monday afternoon we picked up Beth and drove to the Save Inn, to meet her three friends and Sage & Dylan and Kinky. Angie, one of the Save Inn's friendly waitresses, happily put three tables together for all of us to sit at. And to say the least, lunch was really fun.

After lunch, as Beth, Tony and I were walking to Buttermilk, I called Kris and Jim to let them know that we were headed their way. 

Kris greeted me at the front door and invited me inside. After thanking her for helping me edit my book  I had a fun, but very short visit with my friends, because Tony and Beth were waiting for me outside, in the Expedition.

As soon as we had dropped Beth off, we headed home, because I could not wait to start the final edit for my novella, which I finished before eight o'clock last night. And that is why I didn't post anything last night. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

A Two Thumbs Up!

The last two days have been great days and a lot of fun. This morning after Tony and I finished doing our chores outside, Kinky called to invite us over for a visit.

Tony wanted to work in his garden, so I went over to see Kinky. After a fun hike with The Friedmans, we were sitting in his rocking chairs, on his front porch, talking and laughing about this and that. "Kinky, I did the dumbest thing the other day and I guess it is because I am getting old or dumber."

"What happened?"

"Friday evening, Tony and I were over at Carol's ranch, visiting with her. I had brought my banjo with me, because Carol wanted me to teach her how to play it. I let her strum it and mess around on it first, then she handed it back to me and asked me to show her how to finger-pick the banjo."

"Could she do it?" Kinky asked, as he puffed away on his cigar.

"Now wait and let me finish telling you my story. I was showing her how I pick my banjo and telling her, 'First, use your thumb and then use your index and then use your middle finger and then start all over again. Like your thumb is first, your index finger is two and your middle finger is three.' Then I started showing her and counting one, two, three, one, two... as I finger-picked my banjo."

"Was she able to do it?"

"I'm almost done, Kinky. Carol tried doing it, but of course, she was having trouble trying to do it, because it was her very first lesson. Now, comes my dumb senior moment when I tried to give her a helpful tip. I said, 'Carol, sometimes when I am finger-picking on my guitar, mandolin or banjo I stabilize my fingers' position by putting my little thumb down on the top of my instrument."

Kinky burst out laughing and said, "Little thumb?"

"Yes. The minute that I said my little thumb instead of little finger the three of us burst out laughing. After Carol had finally quit laughing about it, she joked, "Well, I may not have learned how to play the banjo today, but I did learn that I have two thumbs on each hand."

"That's a good one, Nance."

"After she said that, I held up my hand and said, "I give your banjo lesson today a two thumbs up. Like this." 

Y'all have a great evening!"

Can You Hear Me Now!

Today has been great thanks to Brandon saving the day for me. Last week on Friday, the 7th, I called a certain cell phone company to reactivate my cell phone, which I seldom use. My one year plan had run out and I needed to buy another one year subscription.

I figured that it would be simple to do, but was I wrong. After wasting forty-three minutes with a customer service representative, I was told that they would have to send me a new SIM card, because I live in Medina. "You should receive it in five days or less."

Four business days later, today, FedEx delivered my new SIM card to me. I decided to call the cell phone company to reactivate my cheap phone after Tony and Brandon were done with their morning chores outside, so Tony and Brandon could help me, in case I needed their help.

After spending twenty-five minutes talking to the woman, I was having a hard time understanding, I put her on speakerphone and then went back to Tony's office to get him to talk to her.

While Tony talked to her, I taught Brandon how to make my taco salad and while we three were eating lunch, Tony was so frustrated with the woman he asked Brandon to take over.

In between bites, Brandon would politely say things like, "Okay or Yes ma'am, Yes, I can hold, so I can eat my dinner now," etc., so I took this picture of him doing just that.

 Fifteen minutes later as Brandon took his last bite of taco salad he said, "Thank you. Okay, you're welcome. Have a nice day." Then he turned off the phone and he started laughing. "It's activated, Nancy."

"Thank you, Brandon," I said. "The woman talked so fast to me, I had a hard time understanding her instructions."

"She was nice to me and she also thanked me, for helping her help you and Tony and we were on the phone with her for fifty-nine minutes." Then we started laughing. And that is about it for today.

P.S. Carol called me this morning and she loved getting to be the first to read, The Cowgirl Sisterhood: Part II, A Death In New Mexico. She told me that she laughed all of the way through it and she cannot wait until it is published. Needless to say, "Carol and Brandon have made my day great."

Y'all have a great evening!

Chigger Proof!

Today has been great. This morning when we went outside to do our morning chores I decided to tuck my jeans inside my boots, to help keep the chiggers off of me, because for the past five days I've gotten several chigger bites on my legs, because of the tall, wet grass outside.

When Tony saw me walk up with my boots tucked in he smiled and chuckled. "I like your new look. Are you a goat-roper now or still a cowgirl?"

"A cowgirl. A poser cowgirl." Then I told him why I had tucked my jeans inside my pink, Justin Gypsy boots.

I spent most of my day doing paperwork and I am glad that I am completely caught up, until tomorrow or Friday when the mail comes in.

When I finished my rescue ranch paperwork I did some more paperwork editing my second novella, before I give it to my friend, Kris Bobbitt, to edit some more. And I want to thank her in advance for offering to help me.

This evening Tony came inside and teased me about my jeans still being tucked into my boots. "I've been so busy today I forgot to pull them out,"I said. Then I asked Tony to take a picture of my new chigger-proof look with Roy putting his foot down.

And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Lynda Coates!

Yesterday was great and today has been great too. Yesterday afternoon we met Kinky, at Randy & Lisa's Save Inn restaurant, for lunch. Kinky chose to go to the Save Inn, because he recently tried their Huevos Rancheros and he was very impressed with his tasty meal and the restaurant.

While we were eating lunch I started telling Kinky the story about last Saturday night, when we had dinner with his and our friends, Sandy and Jon Wolfmuelller. Before I could finish telling him about me thinking it was Sandy's birthday and us wanting to surprise her at El Sol de Mexico, he laughingly guessed, "It wasn't her birthday." And he thought it was pretty funny, too.

This morning after we did our morning chores outside, a very nice man named Steve, representing Hill Country Pest Control, arrived to exterminate my pink writing cabin and The Cabin. We met Steve one year ago, when for the very first time, he came out to rid our home of Scorpions and other pests. We were so impressed with him and what a good job he had done for Hill Country Pest Control, we asked him to please sign us up for yearly pest control inspections and treatments.

"Have you had any Scorpion problems?" Steve asked, as he pumped up his sprayer.

"No. Thanks to you," Tony said. "Until you came along last year and sprayed, we used to find Scorpions in our sinks, tubs, closets, shoes, etc. and we haven't seen any since you sprayed last year."

"Did Hill Country Pest Control call you and tell you that they are giving y'all a bigger discount this year, because of the good work you do?" Steve asked.

"I can't remember," I said. "That is so nice of them to do that for us. Please tell them thank you."

"I will. They are good people and they enjoy helping out the community as much as they can..."

Ten minutes later, I felt guilty about writing a check for so little, because I doubt if the small amount they charged us even covered the costs of their products used. I am not trying to be Angie here, I just want the people, in the Texas Hill Country, to know that Hill Country Pest Control, Inc. is the best and that I highly recommend them.

Late this afternoon Tony and I jumped into Buttermilk and we went over to see Carol. We had a fun visit with her. She is as excited as me about my second novella fixin' to be published and I think that I am going to let her have a peak at it, since she is one of the main characters.

It is fixin' to storm here, so I guess that is about it for today, because I need to go unplug. Happy Birthday Lynda Coates! We love you!

Y'all have a great evening!

The Birthday Party That Never Happened! or Calendar Of Events!

Today has been great, even though it has been uneventful, so I am going to tell you the rest of the story that happened yesterday.

Yesterday, after I had finished writing my early post for last night, I went over to Kinky's. "Kinky, I am so excited about these Made In USA dog treats, I brought a few over to test on The Friedmans."

"Great. Let's see if they like them." Then Kinky reached into the Pawtriotics Dog Treats box and gave one to Winston and Sophie, because Chum-Bum was in Kinky's bedroom sleeping. Sophie and Winston ate the dog treats and seemed to like them. Then they went outside to sit on the porch. After a fun visit with Kinky, I came back home.

Later on, at 4:30, Tony and I jumped into Buttermilk and took off for Kerrville, earlier than we had planned, because I saw on my calendar that Sandy's birthday is today. We left thirty minutes early, so we could stop off at the little H-E-B, on 16, to buy Sandy Wolfmueller a birthday card, a cheap cake and a bouquet of pretty, dead flowers.

When we arrived at the grocery store, I said, "Tony, to save time, please go pick out a funny card, while I get a cake made that says, 'Happy Birthday, Sandy' and find some flowers to get her. Then we'll meet up at the 10 Items of Less checkout stand."

While I was waiting for Sandy's cake to be customized I checked out the pretty flowers. All of them were pretty, but more than I cared to pay. Then I spotted some potted, small, red Roses on sale for only $3.99, so I grabbed the the Roses and returned to the cake-lady to pick up the spur-of-the-moment birthday cake.

When I turned around, Tony walked up and said, "I like this card." I read it quickly and liked it too, because it was funny.

"Okay, let's go check out," I said. "It's nearly 5:15 and we need to get to El Sol de Mexico, before they do!"

As I race-walked to the check out stand, Tony half-hollers, "Don't forget your Poligrip." My heart was pounding as I took off to find my denture adhesive. When I found it, an elderly man and his wife, about my age, were standing in front of the Poligrip boxes, so I took a deep breath, while they decided on which overnight denture cleaner was a bargain. As soon as they had moved, I grabbed a box of Poligrip and then skipped to the checkout counter.

When we climbed into Buttermilk, Tony and I quickly signed Sandy's card and then we took off for our favorite restaurant to meet our dear friends.

With El Sol de Mexico in sight, my heart sank, when I recognized Sandy's SUV parked in the parking lot. "Oh my god, they're already here," I said. "Oh well. We tried."

As we entered the patio, with Tony carrying the cake and me carrying the card and the Roses, we saw Sandy and Jon drinking refreshments. "Okay, we're busted," I confessed, followed by a laugh. "Happy Early Birthday, Sandy!"

Sandy turned around to see who I was talking to and then she looked at us, smiled and said, "It's not my birthday."

"I know," I said, as Tony handed Jon the one-layer-cake and I handed the Roses and the card to Sandy. "Tomorrow is, so we wanted to surprise you and be the first to celebrate it with y'all."

"Tomorrow's not my birthday either," Sandy chuckled. "But thank you, for the cake, the pretty Roses and the card. This was so nice of y'all to do this. Why did you think it was my birthday?"

"Because I have it written down on my calendar of events," I said, followed by a laugh. "I guess it is some other Sandy's birthday." Then Tony and I told them about us purposefully leaving early, so we could pick out a cake, a card and Roses and all of us had a good laugh about it, before we entered the restaurant. "You could freeze the cake and pull it out to thaw, in February," I teased, as the friendly waiter seated us.

Needless to say, "We had a super fun time with our friends, at the birthday party that never happened. The Mexican food was delicious as always and our dinner was filled with non-stop laughter. And before I finish writing this, I want to wish Sandy Whoever-You-Are a Happy Birthday today!"

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Early Birthday, Sandy!

Today has been great and fun. This morning when Tony came home to eat breakfast, Brandon was with him. As I served them breakfast, Brandon showed me the graduation gift that he had received yesterday and he was real proud of it and said, "You're going to love it, Nancy."

I looked at it and thought it was a heavy-duty paper stapler, "That's a great stapler you got, Brandon. I use ours all of the time." Tony and Brandon started laughing.

"Look a little closer," Brandon suggested. So, I did and it still looked like a black stapler to me. "It's a pick maker," Brandon explained. "Now I can make all of my own picks for my guitars and banjo.

"Wow," I said. "That is really cool."

After Tony and Brandon had finished doing the morning chores outside Tony came back inside, to cool off for a few minutes. About ten minutes later, while I was working on the second novella's dedication, Tony came into the kitchen and said, "Look at the picks that I just made using an old credit card."

I looked and then took a pick from him, grabbed Dale by the neck, so I could try it out on my banjo. Needless to say, I loved it.

This afternoon after Brandon, Tony and I ate lunch, I was washing the dishes, while Brandon played Dale. "I like your pick maker," I commented.

After Brandon had finished playing a tune he looked up and said, "I already have a stack of ticks"

"A stack of ticks?" I asked. "What?" Brandon started to chuckle.

"No, Miss Nancy. What I said was I have a stack of picks, that I've already made." Then we both started laughing, because I am hard of hearing and I don't always hear things correctly. It's a big joke between Tony, Kinky, Brandon and myself, because Tony, Kinky and me are all hard of hearing.

When the kitchen was cleaned up I grabbed a box of new "PAWTRIOTIC" Apple Pie Recipe dog treats, Made in the USA, that I purchased from H-E-B and I showed them to Tony and Brandon. "It says they are all natural ingredients made with: Rye Flour, Apple Puree, Pumpkin Puree, Non-GMO, Canola Oil, Whole Eggs, Molasses, Cinnamon and Ginger. And they contain no: Wheat, Corn, Preservatives, Soy, Sugar and Salt. Using Human Grade, American Grown Ingredients. No Chemicals or Animal By-Products."

Like me, they were impressed with the healthy dog treats, so we opened up the box to see if our dogs would like them. After a fun dog treat taste test our dogs were more than impressed with the treats and they begged for more. "No Nancy," Tony said. "That's enough for now. I am trying to get some weight off of our fat dogs."

"Okay," I said. Five minutes later, when Tony went outside to get something, Brandon and I secretly gave our dogs one more treat. Then Brandon started pickin' and grinnin' on Dale, so I took this picture of him. (That's Belle and Roy, on the floor, enjoying Brandon's music.) Then he went back to work outside.

I have scheduled this to post tonight at 6:00, because it is now 2:30. I am going to go take a short nap with our fat dogs. Because tonight we are meeting Sandy & Jon at El Sol de Mexico, in Kerrville, to celebrate Sandy's birthday, which is tomorrow. Then we are swinging by H-E-B before coming home, so I can purchase some Polygrip Denture Adhesive, because I am nearly out.

I am worried about maybe not be able to eat a big meal tonight, because for lunch I made Cousin Nancy's Taco Salad for us and I ate too much of it and so did Tony and Brandon. I hope that I will be hungry enough by 5:30 to eat their #26, because I love that restaurant's Mexican food and good vibes. "Happy Early Birthday, Sandy!"

Y'all have a great evening!

Strange Bedfellows!

Today has been a lot of fun. This morning, as the volunteers began rolling in, so did the rain. I was visiting with Eileen, next to the barn when Ellen arrived with her friends Sarah and Alan. Sarah and Alan live in North Texas and when they come to Kerrville to visit Ellen and her sister June, they always come out with them to walk our dogs.

As it rained, Ellen lowered her window and said, "I think we will stay in the car until the rain stops."

"Ellen, I need to ask you a favor for Kinky. His seventeen-year-old dog, Chumley, needs his nails trimmed and I recommended you, because you are a pro at it. Before you leave today could we go over to Kinky's Lodge, so you could clip Chum-Bum's nails?"

"Let's do it now while it is raining."

"Okay, let me run up to the house and get some nail clippers." When I walked inside The Cabin, Carlton was flashing on the breakfast bar. So I pushed his button to hear a message from Kinky," as I looked for the nail clippers.

"Nance, I guess since it is raining the volunteers won't be coming out today, so Chumley will just have to wait until next Friday and..." I then called Kink to let him know that we were coming over right then.

"One last thing, Kinky. Ellen has her friends, Sarah and Alan, visiting her and Sarah is a clown." And that made Kinky chuckle. "No Seriously, Sarah is a bonafide, card-carrying, clown."

When we arrived at the Lodge, Kinky, Winston and Sophie Friedman greeted us at the back door. After introductions, in his kitchen, Kinky said, "Ellen, Chumley is real old and he is sleeping on my bed. Come on in to my bedroom."

Sarah, Alan and I followed Ellen into Kinky's bedroom and we watched Kinky lay down on the left side of his bed, behind Chumley, so he could gently wake Chum-Bum up. After he woke up Chum, he said, "Ellen, why don't you sit down on the bed (right side), so you cut his nails." Ellen chuckled and so did Alan, Sarah and me, because Kinky's bed is very low to the ground, so his dogs can get on it. In fact, several years ago, we helped Kinky remove the bed slats from it, for his aging dogs aka The Friedmans. His bed is so low that it makes it difficult for a person to get off of it without help.

As Kinky helped support Chumley, Ellen sat on Kinky's bed clipping Chumley's nails. And in less than a few minutes, Chum-Bum's nails were clipped professionally. "Thank you, Ellen. Job well done."

"Thank you, Kinky," Ellen said. "I haven't heard those words in years. You're welcome and I enjoyed doing it." All of us started laughing and then we started making some hilarious jokes about them being in bed together, with us watching! Then we started teasing Ellen about it. And I will leave it up to your imaginations about the things that we said and laughed about, in Kinky's bedroom.

As we were exiting Kinky's bedroom, Kinky started laughing and said, "Do y'all know that Chum-Bum has his own song?" Then he started singing, "Bum did a Bum, did a Bum Bum—Bum did a Bum, did a Bum, did a Bum, Bum, Bum...," to the tune of Bonanza's theme song." Then all of us started singing with him, as Chumley closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

In the kitchen, after we had quit singing, Kinky told us that originally there were lyrics for that famous Bonanza theme song, but after the airing of the first Bonanza show, the words were dropped from the song completely, because the tune itself was so strong—it could stand alone.

After the dogs were walked all of us went up to Koyote Ranch's Koyote Grill to eat lunch together. During our fun lunch, I told Kris & Jim about Sarah being a real clown and Sarah says, " No Nancy. That's my sister Midge, that you've met who is the clown and knows Patch Adams."

I started laughing, because I was confusing Sarah for her sister, Midge. "Sarah, I have a confession to make to you, because before we went over to the Lodge, I had told Kinky that you were a professional clown..." And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

It's A Total Wash!

Today has been great. Late this afternoon Kinky called me about getting Brandon to do some baby sitting for The Friedmans, this Saturday. "Kinky, Brandon is going to be here in just a few minutes and if you want to talk to him about it, I can bring him over there."

"That's perfect, Nance," Kinky said. Then he and I talked about a few other things.

Ten minutes later, Brandon arrived, so I went outside to tell him that Kinky wanted to talk to him about possibly baby sitting The Friedmans on Saturday. Then Brandon and I jumped into Trigger and went over to the Lodge.

After Kinky greeted us, I said, "I need to get back over to the rescue ranch, so just call me when your meeting is done. Adios."

When I got back home I sat down at my computer and started editing my second novella, again. Twenty minutes later, the phone rang and it was Kinky, so I picked up the phone and said, "Hi, Kinky. Are you ready for me to pick up Brandon?"

There was a moment of silence and then Kinky sighed. In a very serious tone, Kinky said, "Nance, you can come pick up Brandon. There is no way that he can take care of The Friedmans. It's a total wash." Then he sighed again.

"What are you talking about? Brandon is perfectly capable of baby sitting your dogs for a few hours."

Then Kinky started laughing and then I heard Brandon laughing in the background. "I'm teasing you, Nance. Brandon's and my meeting is over and I am thrilled about using him to baby sit The Friedmans for me. Come on over so we can have a visit."

When I arrived at the Lodge, Brandon and Kinky were outside, still laughing about me believing Kinky.   "Hi, Kinky. Okay, you got me on that one..." Then we went out to the front porch and had a nice visit with Brandon. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Put It On Your Calendar!

Today has been great. At 7:20 this morning, Big G called me, so I could do the three to five minute Utopia Rescue Ranch segment, on his popular morning radio show. Rio was his Pet of the Week too, as he was Harley's Pet of the Week, last Thursday. As always I had fun talking to Big G.

After doing Big G's (Gordon Ames) show I decided to go outside and start doing my morning chores, because it was such a beautiful morning. By the time Tony returned from the Old Timer, in Medina, I had cleaned all of the dog pens and had started feeding the dogs.

"I'll finish feeding the dogs," Tony said, as he got out of Trigger. "So you can go make us breakfast."

After we ate breakfast I went outside to get something out of my writing cabin and when I returned Carlton was flashing, on top of the breakfast bar. So I pushed his button and heard, "Nancy, this is Susan at Hoegemeyers'. I don't know if y'all can help us, but we had a Shih-zuh dropped off a few days ago and it needs a home..."

I then punched in Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic's phone number. "Hello, Susan. We're full out here, but last week a friend of mine that runs a shelter called me to see if we had any Shih-zuhs for adoption, because a nice woman had come to her place wanting to adopt a Shih-zuh. Let me call her right now and get I'll get back to you..."

When I called Catherine, she told me all about the nice woman wanting a Shih-zuh and then I told her about the one at Hoegemeyer's needing a home. And the good news is at 2:29, this afternoon, while I was outside mowing, Susan called and left this message, "Catherine has just picked up the little Shih-zuh and it is on it's way to its new forever home. Thank you, so much for helping us find it a good home. Bye."

This afternoon at 4:30, Kinky called me to discuss Chumley Friedman getting his nails clipped. "Nance, he would not get in the truck and he definitely did not want to go to Kerrville to get his nails clipped. Do we know anybody that can clip his nails?"

"Yes, Kinky. Ellen, our great volunteer, can probably do it the next time she comes out on Friday. She's very good at it. I can't do it because his nails are black and with my poor eyesight, I'm afraid that I might cut the quick accidentally."

"Please put it on your calendar so you won't forget to ask her..." And that is about it for tonight, because I am going to do some more editing tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!