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!