Chet O'Keefe Is Playing Tonight!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Y'all have a great evening!

Five!

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

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

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

Y'all have a great evening!

Expecting Company!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Y'all have a great evening!

Randy!

Today has been great and so was yesterday. Last night around 10:00, Kinky called me from Brisbane, Australia, to check on us and The Friedmans. After telling him that all of us were doing fine, I updated him with the latest news about Willie Nelson's band member's bus plowing into a pillar, about eighty miles east of Dallas, due to rain and high winds. He seemed relieved after I had told him that Paul broke his ankle, his brother bruising a hip and Hawkins' rib. Then we talked about the weather and Tony and me cooking quesidillas for the dogs, for the past two days, before we adios-ed each other.

This morning was cold, but not as cold as yesterday was, thank goodness. After I had cleaned up the breakfast dishes, Tony and I bundled up. He loaned me one of his coveralls to wear and I had the hardest time putting that thing on. The zippered legs and arms were almost seven inches too long, so he helped me roll them up, before I pulled up my pink hoodie and tied it tightly under my double chins. Then we went outside to do our morning chores.

The dogs were glad to see us, until they realized they were getting dog food, instead of warm, tasty quesadillas for breakfast. Before going outside, we decided that Tony would feed and that I would clean the pens. Before I went into Katie's pen, Tony warned me, "Nancy, be careful. Some of the pens are slippery." So, I heeded his advice and took smaller steps and used the rake to help steady me, so I wouldn't slip and fall.

When we were nearly done with our chores, Tony started laughing when he saw me, in the pen beside him. "I've got to take a video of you!"

"Why?"

"The way you're shuffling your feet around, you look like you're doing a great Tim Conway impersonation and my coveralls are so big on you, you remind me of Randy, Ralphie's kid brother, wearing the coveralls, in that classic movie, The Christmas Story." We both started laughing, even though I told him there would be no video for him to make or us to watch. And that is about it, because I am going to watch the Dallas Cowboy game, while cooking up some more quesadillas for our dogs outside.

Y'all have a great evening!

Ham!

Today has been great. This morning after Tony did the chores outside, we decided to go to the big H-E-B, in Kerrville, to buy everything that we needed for our Thanksgiving dinner. Then we called our friends Kris and Jim, to see if they wanted to meet us for lunch.

On our way to Kerrville, I asked Tony if he wanted to have turkey or ham for our Thanksgiving dinner and he said, "Ham. I forgot to tell you that Karen and Terry, in Port Arthur, sent us another delicious, spiral-cut ham and it arrived earlier this morning, while I was outside feeding the dogs. It's in the fridge, in the barn."

"Great!" I said. "When we get home I'll send Karen an e-mail to thank them."

At 12:30, we arrived at Bella Sera, our favorite Italian restaurant and a few minutes later, Kris arrived without Jim, because he couldn't make it. As we ate our delicious lunch we did a lot of laughing, until Kris told us, that she had just come from H-E-B and it was packed with customers and she wasn't kidding.

After Tony and I had shopped at the busy grocery store we came straight home. After we had put up all of our groceries, I grabbed the rescue ranch's H-E-B bags that were filled with large bags of shredded cheddar cheese, flour tortillas and garlic salt, so I could cook up some garlic and cheese quesadillas, for our dogs outside. When I was halfway done cooking them, I stopped and took this picture of the warm doggie treats.

Around 4:00, with our own dogs drooling at the red thermal bag, on top of the kitchen table, that was full of warm treats, Tony grabbed the bag and then he and I went outside and happily surprised our rescued dogs. When we gave Bee and Dale their rescue ranch quesadillas they got so excited, we decided to give them two more and as we walked away I think I heard Dale say, "I love it here," but I am not sure, because I am hard of hearing. It took us about fifteen minutes to hand out all of the dog treats and our dogs couldn't eat them fast enough, before begging for more. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Who?!

Today has been great. This morning after Tony and I did the morning chores outside, I came inside, so I could cook Tony and I lunch and while that was going on, I put some beans into my crock pot, so I could slow-cook them all day.

After we ate lunch, I spent an hour doing some paperwork, returning phone calls and e-mails. Then I took a short, sleepless nap with Mama, Roy, Belle and Beau.

Late this afternoon, Carol came over for a fun visit. While she and I were in Outer Space visiting, Tony came outside and said, "Karon has just called. She wanted to know if she could come over and bring Chris and his son Kyle over, because they are interested in Sandy Wolfmueller. They will be here in just a few minutes." Carol and I were thrilled about the possible adoption. Then she told us that she needed to get back over to her ranch, so Carol adios-ed us, as she climbed into her big truck and then she drove away.

Tony and I then went into The Okay Corral, so we could play ball with Sandy Wolfmueller, while we waited for Karon and them to arrive. Sandy was having a blast retrieving the ball for Tony, when Karon, Chris and Kyle arrived.

After howdies and introductions, we learned that Chris had had a Border Collie and he loved that breed and he wanted his son to have his own dog. Fifteen minutes later, after Chris had talked to Kyle, Chris said, "We definitely want to adopt Sandy Who?"

"Sandy Wolfmueller," I said, then I talked to much telling them all about our dear friends Sandy and Jon and their famous, fabulous bookstore. Then I went to The Cabin, so I could fill out Sandy Wolfmueller's paperwork. Ten minutes later, Sandy was officially Kyle's dog and she seemed so happy about it. Before everyone left to go back home, Tony snapped this picture of Kyle's new best friend.

We are going to keep Sandy here, for about a week, when Chris and his family will be ready to come pick up Sandy and take her to her new, loving, forever home. And we are totally thrilled about Sandy Wolfmueller's adoption and that is about it for tonight. Except I do want to thank our dear friend Karon, for helping us find Sandy a super home.

Y'all have a great evening!

Sandy!

Today has been great. This afternoon Brandon, Tony and I went to Kerrville to run a few errands. Before Brandon and Tony went to run a few errands, to save time, the guys dropped me off at the H-E-B, on Main Street, so I could get the groceries needed for our dogs upcoming, annual Thanksgiving dinner, sponsored by our dear friends Kris and Jim.

While the friendly checkout clerk scanned the eggs, garlic, mixed vegetables, cornbread stuffing, cheese, ground turkey and dinner rolls I told him, "All of this food is for our rescued dogs annual Thanksgiving dinner, that we cook for them." His jaw dropped and then he smiled and told me that he thought it was way too cool..." As Tony and Brandon walked up to help me with the filled up grocery cart.

After running a few more errands, our last stop was at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, so we could pick up Mama's pills and take the well-trained, sweet, six-year-old, female Border Collie mix, that we had rescued two days ago.

The sweet dog rode in the back seat with Brandon, when we left Hoegemeyers and she was calm and well mannered. When we stopped at the red light, at Sidney Baker and Water Street, we were the second car and in the right lane, talking about what to name the sweet Border Collie mix. Then the weirdest thing happened.

We saw a young male adult bicyclist pass between us and the car beside us, in the left lane, and stop at the light. When the light turned green, the Lincoln, in front of us, slowly took off, just as the man on his bicycle turned right in front of the Lincoln, which nearly hit him. The guy waved to the startled, old driver and then he happily pedaled off down the street.

"Did y'all just see that?" Tony said. "I can't believe that guy just did that. Where's the law when you need it?" Then across the street from us, a police car, also stopped at the light, on Sidney Baker, flipped on the lights of his police car and took off after the crazy cyclist, so he could write him a ticket, which the guy most definitely deserved. To say the least, "We loved it and thank you, Officer."

A few miles down the road, we started trying to come up with a name for the dog again, that was now leaning up against Brandon, so he could keep on petting her. When we were up on the Medina Pass, I said, "I've got it! We're going to name her Sandy Wolfmueller, in honor of our dear friend! It's perfect." Tony and Brandon agreed that it was a perfect name for the sweet girl, who was now sleeping soundly, next to Brandon. Please meet Sandy Wolfmueller, a super cool dog who will be joining the rest of our rescued dogs for their cooked, delicious Thanksgiving dinner. I know that she's going to love it, too!

Y'all have a great evening!

A Cliffhanger!

This past week and the past two days have been a little too hectic, for Tony and me, but they were great days. We had so much going on out here and having a very tight schedule to get it all done has nearly exhausted us and that is why I haven't been writing regularly on my blog this past week.

If I were to tell you all of the stuff that we've had going on and have accomplished it would turn out to be a non-fiction novella, that I am too exhausted to write, too broke to publish and it would not be very funny.

As things are finally winding down for us, M.I.R. (Mercury In Retrograde) is finally over, but it will linger on for a few more days and as we are experiencing the effects of F.M.T. (Full Moon Time) I promise to get back in the saddle again and start writing regularly—starting tomorrow.

So therefore, I am ending tonight's post as a non-fiction cliffhanger, so your minds can go crazy wondering what all has been going on and what we've been up to. All I can say is, "Don't ask, because we won't tell you, because our lips are sealed."

Y'all have a great evening!

The Happy Couple!

Today has been great and so was yesterday. Yesterday morning when our great friends/volunteers were out here walking our dogs for us, I introduced them to Bee Spears and Dale Evans. When I told Ellen and Kris that I was wanting to see if Dale and Bee would get along, so they could be roommates, they offered to take Bee and Dale for a long walk.

When they returned from their walk down to the creek, Ellen and Kris told us that the two dogs really liked each other and they seemed so much happier than they had been before going on the walk together. "When Bee and I left The Okay Corral to meet up with Ellen and Dale, Bee had his long tail tucked down between his legs," Kris said. "And now he has it up and wagging happily."

We were so thrilled with their report, we asked them to please put them together in Dale's pen, so we could watch them interact off-leash. As we stood by the barn visiting with our good friends we watched the new happy roommates get to know each other.

Since then, every time that we have gone outside to check on all of the dogs, Ms. Evans and Mr. Spears seem to be the happiest couple out here and we are thrilled. I took this picture of the happy couple still wagging their tails, earlier today, after Kinky had called me from Hawaii, to check on us and The Friedmans, because tomorrow he leaves for Australia to begin his two week tour over there. Bee is the handsome one on the left.

Y'all have a great evening!

George!

Today has been great, but it was uneventful until noon, when Brandon accidentally let George Carlin get out of his pen. As soon as George escaped, from his digs, all of the outside dogs started barking wildly, as George raced around the rescue ranch enjoying his freedom.

Unfortunately, Tony wasn't here, because he had taken off to go fetch our mail. As soon as Mama heard the dogs barking outside she ran to our front door, opened it with her nose and then she went outside and started barking, too. Then Belle, Beau, Roy and I went outside to see what was going on.

Tony's and my dogs were barking at George when he raced past  us, in our front yard and then disappeared, into the woods, because he had decided to run down the steep bluff, to get into the creek, below us.

Brandon was apologizing to me about accidentally letting George get out of his pen and I told him not to worry, because I knew that George would return to the rescue ranch, when he was ready. Then he and I walked down to the barn and grabbed leashes. "Brandon, let's split up. Please go stand and wait, near the entrance gate and I'll go down to Ben Stiller's and LaToya Jackson's pen. That way, we can trap him when he returns." Then I hollered, "George!"

When Tony drove up, in Trigger, I told him what was going on, so he jumped into Kermit and took off to go look for him on the ranch.

Twenty minutes later, we heard Tony and Kermit, our Polaris 4X4, approaching, Then we saw a giant buck, race past Tom Landry's and Grace Kelly's pen, then exiting the rescue ranch near Miranda Lambert's and Blake Shelton's pen.

Several seconds later, Brandon and I were hollering, at the top of our lungs, for George to stop and come to us, but George ignored our requests, because he has selective hearing, when it comes to chasing after a big buck. Then George exited the rescue ranch and disappeared into the woods, in hot pursuit of that buck, but the buck obviously lost him, because we never heard the sound of a bark or a deer in distress—thank goodness.

For three long hours we continued to search for George and after George Carlin had snuck past us and gone down to the creek, to go for a swim, he finally returned, to the rescue ranch, tired, soaked and wet. George has spent the rest of his day resting and probably thinking about his fun, exciting day. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Bee Is Here!

Today has been great. This morning around 11:00, Budrock arrived with Bee, a big, older dog that his daughter had rescued, in San Antonio, two hours before he was scheduled to be euthanized.

When Budrock arrived with Bee, Tony and Brandon already had Bee's temporary pen, The Okay Corral, ready for him. When we went into The Okay Corral to introduce Bee to us and his new digs, Bee was calm and he seemed very interested in checking it out. While Bee sniffed around and marked his new territory, Budrock told us that he has been the lighting designer for Willie Nelson Shows, for over thirty-seven years. And the reason that his daughter named him Bee was to honor Bee Spears, the late bassist, for Willie's family band.

When Bee seemed to ignore us, we invited Budrock to come inside, The Cabin, to drink a cup of coffee with us, before we went over to Kinky's Lodge, because Kinky wanted to visit with his friend, of many years.

Tony and I instantly liked Budrock and hit if off with him. While we drank delicious Green Mountain Donut Shop Coffee, Buddy and I quickly discovered that we shared the friendship of many musicians and people involved in the music business. But Buddy aka Budrock has worked for and traveled with a whole lot more musicians than me, such as: The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Steve Miller Band, Jerry Jeff Walker, George Benson, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Bee Gees, Bad Company, The Doobie Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, etc., just to name a few.

The three of us were having so much fun visiting and getting to know one another, time flew by, until Kinky called me and wanted to know why his friend wasn't over at the Lodge. Before all of us went over to the Lodge, Bee told us to check out the KOKEFM.COM, a fabulous radio station, that our mutual friend owns. He told us that it was kicking (you know what) worldwide and it is only broadcasting great Texas country music. When I told him that we don't get any signals out here he told us that we could listen to the music at: www.KOKEFM.COM, on the Internet and we were thrilled, because we know the owner, some of the DJs and bands that they are playing.

As we were leaving The Cabin, Tony gave Budrock one of his photography business cards and then Budrock said, "Let me give y'all one of my cards, too." When he handed one to Tony, Tony burst out laughing and then when I looked at Budrock's card, I too started laughing, because the only word printed on it was, BUDROCK.

"I love your card," I said. "I'm going to copy you and print cards that only read, Cousin Nancy." Then Tony chimed in and told us that he was, too. Then Tony shot Buddy with me, holding up Budrock's clever business card. Then Buddy gave Tony and me some cool Willie Nelson guitar picks, then we went over to Kinky's and had another great visit.

A few days ago, when Buddy and I first talked on the phone, about us taking in Bee, we exchanged e-mail addresses, so he could send me a few pictures of Bee and this one is my favorite, that his daughter took of this great, friendly, lovable, older dog.

Bee seems to be fitting in nicely and as soon as we get Bee's veterinary records sent to us, I will write more about this magnificent dog. And Tony and I have decided to try to put Bee and Dale Evans together, in the next few days, to see if they will get along, but I already know that they will, because they are both named in honor of famous musicians and loved by many. 

Y'all have a great evening!

R.J.!

Today has been great and so have the last few days, because my family was down here visiting us. To say the least, "I love my family and we had a wonderful time with them."

Tonight's post is going to be brief, because I need to catch up on some paperwork, but I do want to tell you about R.J., an adorable seven-week-old yellow Lab, that was delivered to us on Saturday.

Kim, a dear old friend of ours, had called me three weeks ago, to ask if we could help her find homes for a litter of six, unregistered, full blooded, yellow Lab pups that belonged to her neighbor. Knowing that pups are pretty easy to adopt out I told her that we could take all six. Before we adio-ed each other, Kim told me that she would try to find as many homes for them, before bringing the pups to us, in three weeks.

When I told Tony and Brandon about us maybe taking in six yellow Lab puppies, Brandon asked, "Can I have one? I would love to have a dog just like Roy." When we told him that he could, he asked us, "Can I get a male?" Then I immediately called Kim back to see if there were any males.

 After our short conversation with her, I told Brandon, "Yes. Kim said that she will save a male for you." Brandon was thrilled.

Before Tony and Brandon went outside to work, Brandon told me that he was going to name his dog R. J., so I asked him why he was naming his dog R.J. and he said, "Roy, Jr."

Yesterday morning at 11:37, Kim arrived at the rescue ranch to deliver one pup to us, because she had found great homes for the other five precious puppies. When Brandon and R. J. met it was love at first sight for them and Brandon could not wait to hold his new best friend, in his arms.

Then all of us went to The Okay Corral, so we could visit and play with Roy, Jr. This is just one of the many happy pictures that I took of Brandon and R. J.

This morning R. J. went with Tony and Brandon to The Old Timer, in Medina and then R. J. came to work with Brandon. Roy, Jr. stayed in his portable puppy pen and slept while Brandon did his morning chores. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Eye To Eye!

Today has been so much fun, because my sweet sister and her husband are down here and they are going to spend a few days with us. They arrived yesterday afternoon and the reason that I didn't write anything last night was because Tony and I spent the evening having a fun visit with them.

This morning while they were visiting with us, inside The Cabin, Mama did the funniest thing. They were sitting on the bench and Mama could not get around the coffee table, so they could both pet her at the same time, so she casually climbed on top on our coffee table to look at them eye to eye, to make it easier for them to pet her.

We all started laughing about it and then I joked, "Our trailer is dog friendly and that's why we can't have anything nice around here. Then I grabbed my camera and shot them, as Roy continued sleeping peaceably, in my chair and snoring loudly.

After the photo shoot, I took them into our bedroom to show them the old quilt, that was on our bed. The one that Beau has chewed up and that got a good laugh out of them. 

Today has been so great, because I love my family so much and getting to spend some quality time with them has been a total blast. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

No Pressure!

Today has been great. This morning after breakfast Tony helped me with our newly purchased pressure cooker, because I could not wait to fully cook a roast, within forty-five minutes.

Yesterday, we met friends for a fun lunch and after Kris and Jim had raved about how much they loved using their new, time-saving, electric, pressure cooker, we bought one before coming back home. The directions were a little bit confusing to us, so Tony called Jim, "The Mineral Man," for directions and advice, which was a big help. And ten minutes later, our roast was feeling a lot of pressure.

Forty-five minutes later, Tony released the pressure and then he removed the safety lid, so we could admire the fully cooked roast and we were disappointed, because the roast wasn't fully cooked. So Tony put the lid back on Poindexter, pressed the Stew button and set the time for thirty more minutes. Then he and Brandon went outside to do the morning chores.

During the thirty minute wait time I reread the directions over and over again, in between returning phone calls and that is when I decided to check the Pressure setting to discover it was set at twenty, instead of seventy. When it was time to check our roast again, I was disappointed again and started feeling a little pressure, because we had planned to eat lunch around 11:30.

This time after locking down Poindexter's lid, I set the pressure to seventy, then I pressed the Stew button and timed it for thirty minutes. Then I did some paperwork. When the thirty minutes had passed, I didn't bother to remove the lid, because I reset the pressure to seventy and pressed Stew for another thirty minutes.

Ten minutes before the roast should finally be fully cooked, Brandon and Tony came inside The Cabin and told me that they were starving. Eleven minutes later, the three of us were sitting down, eating the best roast that I have ever cooked, while I explained to them that the pressure setting must always be set to seventy to fully cook a roast, in forty-five minutes. Bottom line, "We love our electric pressure cooker and are thrilled that we bought it and tomorrow we plan to use it again."

This afternoon Tony and Brandon went to Kerrville, so Brandon could buy some groceries for himself and they could pick up Dale Evans, the sweet dog that we rescued last month, that had to stay at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic all of this time, because she was in such bad shape when she arrived. While they were gone I decided to try a new recipe I found on the Internet, so I baked a pan of Blue Corn Cornbread to heat up for tomorrows high-speed-cooking lunch.

After Tony had dropped Brandon off he and Dale Evans arrived, so I grabbed some Made In America dog treats, so I could go greet her and welcome her to our rescue ranch. Oh my goodness, I love this super sweet dog so much! When I started giving Dale treats, her tail would not quit wagging and I am not sure if she listened to everything that I said to her.

When I ran out of the dog treats I went back to our trailer aka The Cabin, so I could cook Dale Evans an early "Welcome to Our Rescue Ranch" dinner, because I wanted to make sure that she understands that we love her and this will only be her temporary home, until we can find her a fabulous, forever family.

 With Mama, Roy, Belle and Beau watching me, I cooked her one piece of sausage and two scrambled eggs laced with a little garlic salt.

Then Tony and I went back outside to go feed her and she was thrilled to see us. I asked Tony to please feed her, so I could snap a picture of her. Before Tony fed her he asked her to sit and she did it immediately. Then I snapped these two pictures of this beautiful, eighteen-months to two-year-old, well trained, sweetheart.

Tony and I remained in her pen for about thirty minutes, so we could try to capture a great picture of her and it ended up that Tony took the best picture of Ms. Evans.

Dale is still on medications and she will be available for adoption, once she receives a clean bill of health. And, because Dale has recently had puppies and has suffered from mange, starvation, etc. and has gone through so much, I am seriously thinking about adopting her myself, because I know that my Roy would love her, because she has already stolen my heart. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Carol's Secret Salsa Recipe!

Late yesterday afternoon, after I had reset all of our clocks, I jumped into Kermit and as I was going over to the Lodge to invite Brandon to come over, so we could play some music together. I found Brandon fishing. And ten minutes later he and I were sitting in Outer Space playing our guitars to some of my favorite songs on my iPod.

We played along with Eric Clapton, Keb' 'Mo, Neil Young, Willie, Waylon, the Allman Brothers, Lynrd Skynrd, Grateful Dead, the Knotting Hillbillies, J.J. Cale, Gary P. Nunn, Stephen Stills, etc. We were having so much fun time got away from us, because we ended up playing for over three hours and the only reason we had to quit was because our fingers were killing us.

On my way back home, after dropping Brandon off, I saw a silver car driving slowly past the corral, so I decided to go see who it was, because a lot of people get lost out here. As soon as I saw Kent Perkins smiling face I waved to him and then we stopped and visited for a few minutes. Before we adios-ed each other I invited him to come over, in the morning, for breakfast after Brandon and Tony returned from Medina. "Nancy, I would love to go to the Old Timer with Tony and Brandon and eat breakfast with y'all."

Last night I decided to go ahead and cook breakfast, so that all I would have to do this morning was heat it up. I decided to make an egg pie. So I sauteed onions, red and green bell peppers, spinach and garlic. Then I cooked a pound of H-E-B's "Hot" breakfast sausage. Then I mixed it all together and added eight eggs and cheese. Then I poured the mixture into a round casserole dish and baked it. Then before going to bed, while the egg pie baked in the oven, I watched one of my all time favorite movies, Electric Horseman, starring Robert Redford, Jane Fonda and Willie Nelson.

Today has been great. When I got up this morning the first thing I did was turn on the oven and put my crust less quiche inside it, so it would be warm enough by the time Tony and Brandon arrived. Then I drank a cup of Donut Shop Coffee, to help me wake up.

When Tony and Brandon arrived at 8:30, Tony said, "Kent went with us to the Old Timer and he and Kinky should be over here in about ten minutes." I then turned up the oven to make sure the quiche would be warmed enough. Then I grabbed the jar of hot sauce, from the fridge, that Carol had made for us, that was her father's secret salsa recipe and poured it into a bowl. Then Brandon and I grabbed my guitar and banjo and started playing some music.

Nine minutes later, Kinky and Kent arrived and as I was removing the delicious looking egg pie from the oven, I said, "Y'all are going to love this salsa that Carol made for us..." Tony cut the pie into fourths and then the men served themselves. (I didn't eat, because earlier I had a smoothie for my breakfast.)

Right after Kent and Kinky's first bite, they took turns raving about how delicious my egg pie was and how much they LOVED Carol's salsa. Tony and Brandon said nothing, because they were too busy eating.

After everyone had cleaned their plates I washed and dried them and then the four of us drank coffee and had a really fun visit inside The Cabin. Before it was time for them to go back over to the Lodge, Kent asked Kinky to sign Max Swafford's fabulous book The Kinky File to him and his adorable wife, Ruth Buzzi. After he had signed the book I snapped this picture of Mama and Roy giving away kisses. And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

Hem It!

Today has been great. This morning after breakfast I cleaned the trailer, because I knew that Christine and Marilyn, nice women from Corpus Christi, were coming out around noon, to see our rescue ranch and visit with us.

After Tony and Brandon had done their chores outside, while I was still inside cleaning up The Cabin, Tony cut me some beautiful fresh flowers to fill my pink vase and I love them, so I took this picture of them, before I went into our bedroom to put our new bedspread on our bed, to cover the old, chewed up one.

Because the new bedspread is a king-sized and our bed is only a queen-sized bed, it took me several minutes to wrestle with the new quilt, because it is so big. When I finally had it on the bed I decided to trim off about a foot of the quilt, so it would be more easily for me to manage, the next time we would be having company. (Tomorrow I plan to get out my sewing machine and hem it.)

Tony and I had a really fun visit with Christine and her mom. When I showed them our new quilt on our bed they told me that it was beautiful. Then Tony and I started laughing and I confessed about only putting it on our bed when we had company over and then I lifted the up new quilt and showed them the one that Beau has chewed up. They thought it was pretty funny, because they have several dogs too and they understood the damage pups can do.

As soon as Marilyn and Christine had adios-ed us, I came into The Cabin to remove the new quilt, because I didn't want Beau to know that we had a new one for him to chew up. When I walked into our bedroom, I immediately turned around and walked back out, so I could grab my camera. Then I returned and took this picture of Mama taking a nap.

It is now 3:18 and Mama has just woken up and gotten off of our bed, so I must go now, so I can remove our pretty new quilt and put it back into its plastic bag and return it to our closet. After that I plan to start resetting all of our clocks. And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening! 

Around! or Not Much!

Yesterday morning started as a sad day, because we had to put our dear, sweet, thirteen-year-old Abbie down. She was a nine-week-old wannabe-Lab pup, when we rescued her from the Kerrville pound and we both feel very blessed that she chose to spend her life with us. She was a great dog and we will always miss her. "We love you, Abbie."

Around 10:00, things began to get better for me, because our friends/volunteers Jim, Diane, Ruthie and Dan came out for a scheduled visit. I love these people, so in no time flat they had me laughing and grinning, even though they were unaware of our loss. I really enjoyed seeing these folks and was so glad they had lifted my spirit.

Around 11:30, all of us left the rescue ranch to go to Ellen and June's Shoestring Ranch for their "Thank You" party, because they wanted to thank all of their friends who helped them fix up their darling cabin. When we arrived June greeted us and asked all of us to wear name tags and below our name write down what we had done to help them. So, when it was my turn to fill out my name tag I wrote, "Nancy" and underneath my name I wrote these two words, "Not Much." Then I joined the fun party.

All of our friends/volunteers were there, along with June's and Ellen's friends and their cousin Pam and I had a wonderful time meeting them and visiting with our friends. Their buffet lunch was so delicious I witnessed several people going back for second servings. All in all it was a really great party and just being there lifted my spirits even higher.

Around 4:00, Kinky followed Tony and me, in his truck, Mr. Green Jeans, over to Carol's ranch, so she could ride with Tony and me over to Jim & Liz's ranch to eat dinner with them. We had a wonderful time at their beautiful ranch.

When we arrived at their beautiful home and after hugs and howdies, the first thing Liz did, was say, " Nancy, we have something we want to give to you." Then she left the big room to go get it. When she returned she was holding the cutest little Boston Terrier door stopper. "We bought this for you a while back and today we finally get to give it to you."

"Oh, I love it!" I said, knowing how very special it was. "I absolutely love this, y'all. Thank you, so very much."

Then we left their home and went over to their Grey Goose Saloon to have drinks, listen to some great music, trade stories, while eating their tasty appetizers. A little while later we went back down the hill to their house to eat a delicious dinner that Liz had prepared for us.

Around 7:30, we arrived back at the rescue ranch and after Tony had put up the chickens we came inside The Cabin, to be greeted by our four loving dogs. After letting them go outside, I put my adorable door stopper, on the table next to my banjo and said, "Tony, I know it might sound really weird to you, but I think the timing of Liz & Jim giving me this today is a direct sign from Abbie to let us know that she is okay. I know Abbie was a Lab and this is a Boston Terrier, but it's like we lost our dog this morning and tonight were given another dog. Every time that I look at it I am going to think about our sweet Abbie." And that's when my floodgates opened and I finally let myself cry about losing Abbie and that is why I didn't post anything last night, because I was too upset.

Today has been great. This morning the weather was perfect outside when our great friends/volunteers came out to walk our dogs for us. The sun was shining brightly, no clouds to be seen and the temperature was around seventy degrees. Our dogs were frisky and eager to go for a walk and I enjoyed seeing our dogs having so much fun.

Around 11:30, before we went to eat lunch at the Highpoint Resort, Ellen and her cousin Pam were visiting with Brandon and me, in front of the barn. When Pam was telling Brandon that she wished that she had the time before flying back home, to hear Brandon and me play some music for her, I said, "Well let's go up to The Cabin right now and Brandon and I will give you a mini-concert."

Five minutes later, Brandon and I were pickin' and grinnin' for Pam and Ellen. I played my guitar and Brandon played my banjo. And five minutes later, the four of us were back outside, standing near the barn visiting again.

Around 12:00, everyone took off to go eat lunch and that was a lot of fun too. The food was delicious and we all did a lot of laughing. Eileen had baked Brandon a Blackberry Dump Cake and for dessert he shared it with all of us and it too was delicious, so I asked Eileen how to make one.

So, when Tony and I got back home, I made Tony a surprise blackberry dump cake, while he was gone to Bandera to do some banking for us. It turned out just like Eileen's mouth-watering dump cake and Tony loved it. And that is about it for tonight.

No wait! Hold the phone! Kinky just called me and he told me about what happened to him when he took the mama cat and her six kittens to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, this morning, so they can adopt them out to good homes. "Nance, when I walked inside Hoegemeyers, I was carrying the crate with the mama and her six kittens inside the crate. Kathy was there and when she came around to look at the kittens and mama there were only five kittens and the mama. I said, "#%&*!" Kathy calmed me down and suggested we go outside and look inside my truck. When we opened the backdoor we found the little black kitten and it was so happy when we put it back with it's mother..."

Now I need to end this so I can go put up the chickens, because Tony and Brandon are at the Medina football game. Life is good.

Y'all have a great evening!