Is That Gumby!

Today has been great and I am running behind tonight, because I have been outside refilling the dog's wading pools with fresh, clean water. And I bet by morning the pools will be back to looking muddy again. Oh well.

This morning when I cooked Tony's breakfast, I heated up some of the leftover bacon and cheese grits to go with his two over easy eggs, that he covers in hot sauce. Then I made myself a healthy smoothie. And while I was drinking my delicious drink I decided to cook Mama breakfast too, because the grits were still warm, in the oven and you know how much Mama loves my grits.

I cooked the exact same breakfast that I had cooked for Tony, except for adding the hot sauce. After I had ground up her pill I mixed into the grits and then put the two over easy eggs on top of the grits and mixed them together. And the whole time I was preparing Mama's breakfast—Mama was watching me. And the good news is—Mama licked her bowl clean, again!

This afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville. First, we ate a delicious lunch at La Fours and as we were driving down Junction Highway we got stopped at the Five Points signal light. As we waited for the light to turn green, I looked over to the left and said, "Tony, look at that! Is that Gumby?" He looked to the left and then we both started laughing.

"No, it's not Gumby. It's supposed to be a slice of pizza and he is probably trying to draw attention to that new pizza place, Papa Murphy's Take N Bake Pizza, behind him." This person had to be young to be dressed up like a giant slice of pizza, on this hot day and we were having a blast watching him jump up into the air and then run up and down the sidewalk and then start dancing nonstop. He was fabulous and we laughed about it until we arrived at Wolfmueller's Books!

Jon greeted us, from behind the counter, as we walked inside his and Sandy's super cool bookstore. "Where's Sandy?" Tony asked. After Jon told us that she was shopping, Tony started telling Jon about his new GoPro Hero+ Silver Edition camera. And the more Tony raved about his early birthday present the more he got excited.

"It sounds really cool," Jon said. "You ought to buy a drone for it. Then you could fly the camera all over the ranch." All of us started laughing.

"I wonder how much a drone costs?" I asked.

"Four-hundred and ninety-nine dollars," Tony quipped. Then Jon and I burst out laughing.

"Looks like Tony really wants a drone," Jon teased. "He already knows what a drone costs...."

After a really fun visit with Jon, Tony walked and I skipped across the street, because we were going to the Kerrville Arts and Cultural Center, to check out our dear friend Gerri Dickerson's four paintings, that were included in the art exhibit.

We thought Gerri's paintings were incredibly beautiful and I told Tony that I wish that I could paint like her. "I wish you could, too," Tony teased. After viewing the art exhibit, I browsed around their gift shop while Tony signed up to become a member of the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center.

While I was admiring some jewelry under glass, this heart necklace, on the counter, caught my eye and I could not quit staring at it, because I loved it. When I showed it to Tony—he bought it for me. So this is what I'll be wearing, around my neck, tomorrow when our friends/volunteers come out to walk our dogs. "Thank you, Tony!"

And that's about it for tonight, because it is 10:26 and I need to go to bed.

Y'all have a great evening or what's left of it!

Mama Likes Grits!

Tony's 60th birthday is August 6th. For several weeks I've been trying to decide what to get him for his birthday. Monday morning, while Tony and I were, in Outer Space, drinking coffee I casually asked him, "Do you know anything about those GoPro cameras?" Because I was thinking about getting him one for his birthday.

When he said, "Yes. They are fantastic cameras and I want to get one." Which was exactly what I wanted to hear. So after we did our morning chores outside and came inside The Cabin, I secretly sat down at my laptop and bought him a GoPro Hero+3 Silver Edition, on Amazon and because I am a Prime Time member with free two-day shipping, I knew it would arrive by Wednesday. I was so thrilled about getting him a GoPro and then surprising him on the 6th.

Well, yesterday it was killing me all day long, not to tell him about his birthday present. I was so proud of myself for keeping the secret—until 5:00 when I told him. To say the least, "Tony was beyond thrilled!" So I suggested that we go to the Walmart, in Kerrville, to buy a few accessories before his camera arrived on Wednesday.

I bought him a memory card and a mount that can attach his GoPro to Kermit. And I bought myself some pretty gloves to wear outside when I am doing the morning chores, because the dogs are always scratching my hands.

Today has been great. This morning Mama refused to take her pain pill for her arthritis. In the past, I've ground the big pill up and hidden it in canned dog food, scrambled eggs, pancakes, shaved ham and for the last two days, buttered popcorn with Parmesan cheese.

For lunch today, I cooked the Cheese and Bacon Grits recipe that I found in Grady Spears and Robb Walsh's fabulous cookbook, A Cowboy in the Kitchen. It was delicious and easy to make-and-bake and I served it with some fresh, cooked spinach, from Tony's organic garden.

When I started to clean up the kitchen, I decided to mash up another one of Mama's pills and hide it in the still warm, tasty cheese and bacon grits, in hopes that I'd get a pill in her today. And the good news is that Mama likes grits and she licked her bowl clean. "Mission accomplished! Thank you, Mama. I love you so much."

Later this afternoon, when Tony brought the mail in, I had received a package. "It looks like a book," Tony remarked as he opened up my package for me. It was a book and a very kind letter written to me from a local author, Shirley Gumert, who I have never met, but want to. 

Shirley wrote that she loves my book The Road to Utopia, How Kinky, Tony & I Saved More Animals Than Noah, published by the University of Texas Press and that she has reread it several times. She wrote, "Maybe you'll have the time to read the latest publication from Chicken Soup for the Soul. This time, they are publishing The Cat Did What? And The Dog Did What?, on August 19th, with royalties going to humane association....Since I have a short piece in The Cat Did What?" 

After reading Shirley Gumert's super sweet letter I opened up the book to find the story that Shirley had written for the book. When I went to page 301 to read her story titled, The Blankie, there was a yellow stickie note that read "To Nancy and Friends" and she had also signed the bottom of the page. 

I read Shirley's story about her family's cat named, George, and it was absolutely fabulous! At times it was laugh out loud funny and filled with all kinds of emotions. "Thank you, Shirley. You're a fabulous writer and I loved your The Blankie story. Let's do lunch with local authors George Fischer, Donna Hatch and Phil Houseal soon. Please call me."

Now there is just a little more of exciting news to tell you about, that I've saved for the last. Right after Mama had eaten her medicated grits, a very nice woman, named Mary, called me about possibly coming out to adopt one of our dogs. She laughed and said, "My husband and I want to get a companion dog for Jack, our fourteen-year-old son, because he has three sisters...." 

Around 3:45, Mary and Jack came out, along with Jack's three, sweet, older sisters, to meet some of our dogs. Jack and Mary were thinking about adopting a Lab or a Lab mix, because Jack wanted a dog that he could play fetch with. First, we introduced Jack to George Carlin and Bella. We told Jack and his family all about their history. 

Jack liked George and asked if he could come inside their pen, to see if they would fetch his tennis ball that he had brought with him. Oh my goodness, when Jack threw the tennis ball—George raced to fetch it, but he would not give the ball back to Jack and George turned it into a hilarious game, as he played with Jack. They had all of us laughing, "We told you that George liked to fetch," I joked. "He just doesn't return things." Then I walked off to go greet the UPS truck driver that was here to deliver Tony's GoPro.

Twenty minutes later, we introduced Jack to Chad, Willie Nelson, Gretchen Wilson, Molly Ivins, Miranda and Blake, Marianne Faithful and a few others and the whole time I kept plugging what a great dog George was, because I knew he would be a great dog for Jack.

After we gave Jack's sweet family a tour, we went back to George and Bella's pen, because Mary and Jack were really interested in George. So, I suggested that we take George down to the creek, so Jack could see this water loving dog in action.

When Tony put George on Kermit's bench seat, Jack climbed onboard, beside George and George leaned over and licked Jack's cheek. Then all of us went down to the creek. George had all of us laughing as he kept plunging back into the water to fetch Jack's tennis ball and not wanting to give it back to him. Bottom line—our great, sweet, lovable, Lab mix, dock-diving-dog, George Carlin, got adopted today, at 4:30! And Tony loves his birthday present!

Y'all have a great evening!

Today has been great and so was last night, because I decided to put the Outlaw Blues movie into my laptop and I got to see the last fifteen minutes of the movie! I am so glad, because the ending had a cool twist that I never expected.

I Have The Outlaw Blues!

Today has been great. As I write this, it is about 4:00, in the afternoon. Tony and Karon are outside supervising the kids that are walking our dogs for us and I just put a pot of pinto beans, on the stove, to cook for a few hours.

This morning, after we did our chores, Tony and I replaced a few wading pools that the dogs had put holes in and then we cleaned and refilled them with fresh water. But it is very frustrating to me when we do this, because usually within a couple of hours, the dogs wading pools look dirty, again, because our dogs get dirt in them, due to our ongoing drought situation. In the past, most of our dog pens, that were once full of thick, green grass, are grass less now and those wading pools always looked clean.

Anyway, I've discussed this with our volunteers and they have told me not to worry about how they look, because the dogs enjoy being able to get wet and cooled-off anytime, by either standing, sitting or laying down in them and besides that the dogs could care less, because they love to play in mud.

Now, I want to tell you about yesterday afternoon when our dear friend Jennifer came out to see Kinky, Tony and me and she brought us lunch, too. When she arrived, at the rescue ranch, Tony helped her unload ten, new plastic wading pools and treats for our dogs. Then she came inside The Cabin with Tony.

After hugs, our dogs would not leave Jennifer alone and kept licking her legs. Tony and I kept trying to make our dogs stop licking her legs, but it was to no avail. They would stop when we told them to, but seconds later they would return to Jennifer and start licking her again. "Jennifer," I said. "I'm sorry that our dogs won't leave you alone."

Jennifer laughed and said, "It's okay. I really don't mind. This morning when I put Ginger lotion on my legs my dogs started licking my legs immediately. My dogs love it, too." A few minutes later, Tony put our dogs outside, so we could have a nice, peaceful visit with our friend.

"Oh, I have a gift for y'all. My mom and I found these, in Austin and we loved them so much—we bought everyone they had. I think we bought six or seven. I brought one for you and Tony and one for Kinky to have." Then Jennifer reached down into her carry-all bag and pulled this out. "Isn't it cool!"

"Yes," Tony said and then he chuckled. "Nancy is scared to death of snakes."

Jennifer laughed. "Touch it, Tony," Jennifer said. "It feels just like a real snake, but it is made with rosin or whatever they call that stuff."

"Thank you, Jennifer," I said. "It is a lovely gift and I think we'll probably keep it in Tony's office, because it looks so real." Then she and Tony talked about snakes while I called Kinky, to let him know that Jennifer was here. "Jennifer has brought us lunch. Do you want to eat it here or over at the Lodge.

"Here," Kinky said. "Come on over..."

A few minutes later, the three of us climbed out of Buttermilk as Kinky and The Friedmans came out to greet us. While we ate Jennifer's delicious lunch,  that she picked up, in Johnson City, she gave Kinky his rattlesnake and a DVD. "Kinky, I think you will love this movie, Outlaw Blues, starring Peter Fonda and Susan Saint James, because it was mainly filmed in Austin, in 1977. And even though it was a sleeper—it's a great movie."

After a fun visit at Kinky's we came back over to The Cabin, so we could visit some more. When she told us that she was very sorry about missing Chet O'Keefe's In Dining Hall Concert, I showed her Gerry Olert's video, on YouTube, of Chet singing Ode to Cousin Nancy and to say the least—she loved it, too and I teared up, again. We talked about her art, her latest studio renovations, and book publishing, etc. until it was time for her to get back on the road and drive home. All in all it was a fun time filled with laughter.

Around 6:00, Tony and I decided to go to the little H-E-B, in Kerrville, to get groceries, so we wouldn't have to go to anywhere today. And I am glad that we did, because we got to have a fun visit, in the H-E-B parking lot, with our dear friends Becky & Harley Belew.

When we got back home, I called Kinky, "Kink, did you go to town to get your Claritin?"

"Not yet," Kinky said. "But I really need some."

"Good, because we went to town and I bought generic Claritin for you and for us. I'll bring it over right now."

Minutes later, I went over to the Lodge to deliver the generic Claritin to him and while I was there, I asked Kink, "Can I borrow that movie that Jennifer gave to you? I would love to watch it tonight."

When I came back home, I watched the comedy adventure Outlaw Blues and I was really into it and enjoying it, when it suddenly froze up, with only about ten minutes left to go. I was sick about it and tried a few times to unfreeze it, but nothing worked. So if any of you have watched Outlaw Blues, please let me know how it ends, because I have the Outlaw Blues. I have also left a message with Jennifer to please call me back to tell me how it ends. So wish me luck. And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

Crazy, Old Lady! or Tony Got Gas!

This evening when my dear friends, Sandy & Jon Wolfmueller, called me and asked me how my day had been, I laughed and said, "Today has been a weird one...."

Today was great until Tony and I took off for Kerrville, in Trigger and Buttermilk. The reason we left in both vehicles was because we needed to drop Buttermilk off, at The Alignment Shop, to get her realigned.

After we dropped her off, halfway between here and Kerrville, we jumped inside Trigger and took off, again, for Kerrville, so I could pick up some glass that I had ordered, earlier this morning, at Thad Zeigler Glass, so I could replace a broken window pane, in The Spaceship. And on our way there, I laughed out loud and said, "You know The Alignment Shop would be a great name for a chiropractor clinic...."

When we arrived at Thad Ziegler Glass, Tony parked Trigger and said, "I'll wait for you in the truck." Which wasn't a good decision. When I walked inside the glass store, I was immediately greeted by the friendly employees, who were all wearing smiles on their faces.

When I told the sweet, young woman that I was there to pick up my order, she handed me my invoice and took off to go get my glass. As I was finishing up writing my check, that was under $8.00, she returned and said, "Here's your glass," as she laid it down on the counter.

When I handed her my check, I guess my purse hit something, because suddenly we heard the loud sound of glass breaking right next to me. I was so startled by it, I said, "I'm so sorry. What did I break?"  The nice people at the counter just smiled at me and told me it was alright. So, I turned around and asked a friendly-looking old man, about my age, sitting in a chair, "Do you know what I broke?"

"Glass," he mumbled, because I guess he had forgotten to put his dentures in. Then it dawned on me that I had broken my glass—not theirs. That made me feel relieved, but I was still embarrassed. The kind woman said, "Don't worry about it, it will only take us a few minutes to cut you another piece of glass, since y'all live in Medina.

"Oh my goodness, I feel like such a fool. I will gladly pay again for the new piece of glass. It is no problem." She smiled and then left the lobby, as two smiling young men came into the lobby with a shovel and broom to sweep up my shattered glass.

Three minutes later, the woman returned and said, "Here's your glass, ma'am and there is no extra cost." I thanked her and the men for being so nice to me and then I left the building, with glass in hand.

As I was carefully putting my glass in the backseat, Tony asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Yes. I love Thad Ziegler Glass. They are the best." And I told him the story of me breaking my glass, as we drove to H-E-B to get gas and pick up a few groceries. Before he dropped me off, at the front door, I told him, "If we ever have to get glass again, would you please go in with me, because I'll bet you that those nice folks, at Thad Ziegler Glass, probably think I am one crazy, old lady."

After Tony got gas and I got our groceries, we picked up Buttermilk and came back home. When I walked inside The Cabin I was shocked, for the second time today, because Tony's dog Beau Bridges had torn off the cover to my new Cowboys & Indians magazine and shredded pieces of the magazine covered the floor. And then I discovered that wasn't all. Beau had put teeth marks and chewed on our coffee table's corners, too! But actually, I wasn't mad at Beau, because it was our fault for not crating him and fixing the coffee table would be easy to do.

I took these pictures in sequence of Beau's destruction and lousy carpentry work.

This is what it says on Beau's sign:

I WAS A COWBOY CARPENTER

UNTIL TODAY, BECAUSE I RIPPED OFF THE

COVER OF A COWBOY & INDIANS

MAGAZINE & SHREDDED IT. AND I ROUNDED

OFF THE COFFEE TABLE'S CORNERS.

THIS IS NOT THE COWBOY WAY.

I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER.

I AM VERY SORRY NANCY.

LOVE,

"BEAU-BEAU" BRIDGES

(TONY'S DOG)

My sander.

Please note that Beau or Belle, both Tony dogs, chewed off the screwdriver handle.

The refinished coffee table

Repairing Beau's damage only took me about twenty minutes to accomplish and our coffee table looks great, once again. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Nineteen Years!

The last two days have been great, even though there wasn't anything exciting going on out here to write about, unless you find us mowing all day yesterday and most of today interesting news. I guess you could say that we are going through the dog days of summer out here.  

Today around 11:30, I cooked Tony, Kinky and me another one of my delicious zucchini and portobello mushroom frittata, with scallops, garlic, eggs and Parmesan cheese, because Kinky, Tony and I love it so much.

As soon as the frittata came out of the oven, I covered it with homemade salsa and then topped it off with some large avocado slices and then I served it to Tony and Kinky. While we were eating Kinky said, "I am really not a frittata type of a guy, but for some reason I love this zucchini and mushroom frittata. It's my favorite one that you make." Then he chuckled and took another bite. And before he left to go, back over to the Lodge, I sent him home with the leftover frittata.

Around 12:30, I jumped into Trigger and went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky, because he wanted to tell me a story that McGovern had just told him.

McGovern is a dear friend of Kinky's that, over the years, has become a dear friend to Tony and me, too. He lives in New York City and has appeared often in many of Kinky's popular, fictional, mystery novels.

Anyway, when I got over to the Lodge, Kinky and I sat down, at the kitchen table and he immediately starts to tell me McGovern's story, "It's about a rescue dog, in Texas, that gets adopted and a few years later goes blind. The dog's family,"

"Hi y'all, our dear friend Nelda says, as she walks inside the kitchen.

After we howdy-ed her back, Kinky looks at me and asks, "Do you mind if I start over, because I want Nelda to hear this great story, too?"

"That's fine with me," I said.

Then Kinky starts over telling McGovern's story. "....This dog's family kept him, because they loved him so much. So, they took him everywhere they went. One day the woman had this dog on a leash and was walking him on a Texas beach. When suddenly they heard a girl, out in the ocean, screaming for help. She was drowning. This blind dog immediately jerks his leash away from the woman and runs into the ocean, to go rescue the girl. As the girl is screaming for help, this blind dog is swimming towards her—until the girl stops screaming, from exhaustion. The dog then starts swimming in circles, because the drowning girl is silent. The woman hollers to the girl the dog's name and tells her to keep calling him. When the girl starts calling the dog's name and the dog swims to her and rescues her. Now that is one great dog."

"I love animals," Nelda said. "They are so much smarter than us stupid humans."

"I know," I said. "And they are so much kinder, too. That's a great story, Kinky...." We sat around the kitchen table visiting for about fifteen more minutes, when suddenly I noticed that none of us were talking anymore and it made me remember all of the good old times, that the three of us had spent, in those chairs, drinking Kinky's delicious kona coffee together and laughing while trying to solve the world's problems.

"Why is nobody talking?" Nelda asked, followed by a laugh.

"I know," I said, as the three of us started chuckling about it. "I was just wondering about that, too."

Then Nelda says, "It's because we've just gotten old. That's all. Heck, I've known Kinky and his family for over thirty years and I've known you for at least twenty years."

"Nineteen years to be exact," I added. Then the three of us started reminiscing, making jokes and laughing about the good ole days that we've shared, around Kinky's kitchen table.

And that's about it for tonight, because Tony and I are fixin' to go back outside to do some more boring mowing. "Come on Fall!"

Y'all have a great evening!

A Little Rescue!

Today has been great. We did a little rescue this morning, while we were outside doing our chores. When I was feeding Lois Lane, I noticed the water was moving, in her yellow, plastic, swimming pool. Which didn't make sense to me, because there was no breeze. When I went over to her pool, I saw the cutest, little, frog swimming around and then desperately trying to get a grip on the side of the pool, so it could jump out. So, of course, I hollered, "Tony!"

"What?" he hollered back, because he was way down, at the other end of the rescue ranch, feeding Springsteen.

"We need to save a frog! Hurry!" Seconds later, I heard Kermit The Frog start up and then I watched them head my way. When Tony walked inside Lois' pen, I distracted Lois, who still didn't know that she had a guest frog, in her private pool, while Tony safely picked up the exhausted the little fella and remove him from Lois' pen.

And that was the most excitement we've had out here today, because I spent most of my afternoon just doing reports and then having to drive to Medina, to mail them out.

Wait!  There's more. My dear friend Judy, in Hutto, sent me a short video to watch and I have to agree with her that everyone needs to watch this video. Judy wrote:

Now this is a message that needs to be on all movie screens.

A movie theater in Hong Kong encourages its patrons to leave their mobile phones switched on so it can teach a lesson. And well done Volkswagen. What a clever way to communicate how risky it is to use mobile phones while driving. Here's the link.

Y'all have a great evening!

Recipes!

Saturday and today have been great. Yesterday afternoon, Carol and Bill came over for a very fun visit. While we were visiting we started talking about our love for kitchen gadgets and some of our favorite cookbooks and we all agreed that we loved the recipes found in Ree Drummond's The Pioneer Woman Cooks and Grady Spears and Robb Walsh's A Cowboy in the Kitchen: Recipes from Reata and Texas West of the Pecos cookbooks.

When I told them that, last week, I had cooked five, different, delicious recipes found in Grady's and Robb's cookbook, Tony spoke up and said, "The recipes were really tasty, but Nancy cooked two different soup recipes, two days in a row. I like soup, but I like something in it, that you can chew." And Bill quickly agreed with him.

Then Carol laughed and said, "Tony, you mean that you want something to eat that makes you have to put your dentures in." And that made me laugh so hard—my dentures almost fell out of my mouth.

After we had quit laughing I went back to the bathroom, to add some Poligrip. And when I returned to the big room, I picked up my copy of Cowboys & Indians August/September 2014  magazine and told them about wanting to try Lisa Fain's recipe that I had found in the magazine which I bet is included in her new cookbook The Homesick Texan Family Table. Click here if you want to see the the recipe.

Before we adios-ed each other, Carol invited me to go with her to The Apple Store, at La Cantera, in San Antonio today. When I heard her say San Antonio, I said, "Let me think about it. Tony and I have been to that Apple Store several times and I know that I will instantly fall in love and want to buy their latest products—that I can't afford. Let me call you in the morning."

This morning when I called Carol, I felt a lot better after telling her, "I can't go with you, Carol. Tony and I have to go to Kerrville today to get groceries and the ingredients needed for that recipe, in Cowboys & Indians, because I am want to cook it for our lunch...."

This afternoon after going to the big H-E-B, on Main Street, I cooked Lisa Fain's Tuna With Avocado and Red Pepper Baked in Parchment recipe. It was very easy to make and Tony and I loved her delicious recipe. And now I'm so glad that I didn't go to San Antone, because Tony and I now have a new, favorite recipe.

Y'all have a great evening!

Hog Wild!

Today has been great, because our fabulous friends/volunteers came out and walked our dogs for us. We loved it and our dogs loved it more.

Our  great volunteer/friend Dawn, who adopted Sissy from us, last Saturday, brought Sissy with her today, so she could play with our giant dogs, officially sign-off on Sissy's adoption papers and walk our dogs for us. Dawn told us that Sissy has fit right in with her and Shane's old cat. That Sissy has stolen her husband Shane's heart and they have spoiled her rotten! So thank y'all for keeping your fingers crossed for Carol aka Sissy.

When all of us went to eat lunch together, in Kerrville, we got to kidding one of the volunteers, (Name withheld on purpose.). We'll call this kind-hearted person—Hog Wild.

Hog Wild has a wonderful sense of humor, except when it comes to her bacon. Hog Wild loves bacon more than any person I know and in the past, all of us have had a lot of fun teasing her about it.

While we were eating lunch, she noticed that her chef salad didn't have any bacon in it, "It says on the menu that it comes with bacon and..." When she frowned, that was all we needed to start teasing her.

"Oh dear," I whispered. "This is not good. Look, she's turning into the The Bacon B*&^% right before our eyes."

After we had quit laughing and a volunteer had suggested that Hog Wild ask the friendly waiter about it. Hog Wild asked the waiter. "Yes, it does come with bacon and I'm sorry," the friendly waiter replied. I guess our cook must have forgotten the bacon. I'll bring you some in just a few minutes." Then the waiter took off for the kitchen, to get Hog Wild some bacon.

While Hog Wild waited for her bacon, we took turns teasing her and saying things like. "Your headstone should have The Bacon The Bacon B*&^% on it. And now we can call you BB for short!"and "It's not smart to withhold bacon from Wild Hog." and "I think you should change it to The Bacon Babe.".... Seconds later Wild Hog was served her bacon. Then the cook came out and apologized for forgetting. After that life was good once again and lunch was a total blast with our friends.

Everyone please mark your calendars for Monday, August 4th, 10:00/9:00C, because Kinky's, Tony's and my friend Steven Rambam, an international private investigator, has informed us that his new television series about his investigations, Nowhere To Hide, on the Investigation Discovery channel, will premier on August 4th. Click Nowhere To Hide to watch a preview of it. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Blue Moon Of Kentucky—The Best! Monroe Would Be Proud!

Well, we did not get any rain, hail or high wind tonight—thank goodness. My dear friend, sweet Mari, of the famous NoMads dog agility group, sent me this video to watch of a ten-year-old boy, at the Grand Ole Opry, singing Blue Moon of Kentucky and playing his fiddle. I have watched it twice and both times it made me smile and tear up at the exact same time, because it is beautiful and he is so talented and awesome. Please check it out, because I promise that it will bring a smile to your face.
Blue Moon of Kentucky.

I hope that y'all are still having a great evening!

Unplug Now!

The past two days and today have been great, but no exciting news to write about. Tuesday we dropped Buttermilk off at Balser's Northside Automotive, in Kerrville, to get some work done. Wednesday we went back to Balser's to pick up Buttermilk and drop off Trigger, to get some work done, too, because we love and trust the folks there.

Today we went back to Balser's to pick up Trigger and bring him back home and to get two, new front tires put on Buttermilk, at Wagoner Tires. And other than that, I've spent the rest of my time catching up the rescue ranch's paperwork. And to save time, I multi-tasked last night and did some writing and reading while I was outside earthing.

The sky is dark outside, as I am typing this and it has been thundering off in the distance. We've been under a severe thunderstorm warning, with heavy rain, possibly high winds that could produce 1/4 size inch hail. I hope we get the rain, but not the winds and hail.

Tony and I are fixin' to go outside to batten down the hatches (Put the Golden Girls in The Egg Palace.) Then we're coming back inside to catch KENS5's weather man segment. It just thundered real loud, so I am going to unplug now!

Y'all have a great evening!

We Love Wagoner Tires!

Today has been great, even though I overslept this morning, because last night I spent over six hours writing my third novella. When I jumped into bed last night I couldn't sleep, because my mind was still racing with more funny scenes, for the novella.

At one point, I even woke Tony and Mama up, because I laughed out loud. Anyway my creative juices are over flowing for the book and I am so thrilled about it. On this fictional, cliffhanger novella, I've decided not to even reveal the title, because I want everyone to be in for a surprised.

This afternoon when Tony and I were driving, to Kerrville, to run a few errands, I was telling him about the plot of my book and some funny scenes and it made him laugh. When I told him that I wasn't going to reveal the title to anyone and had asked him to please not tell anyone, he laughed and said, "Nance, you always say that and then you go tell everyone."

"I know it, but not this time. Seriously, I'm not telling anyone."

Tony chuckled and then said, "I bet you tell Carol."

"Nope, not even Carol. I want it to be a total surprise for everyone...."

Our first stop was at Wagoner Tires, on Sidney Baker, because we love Wagoner Tires and only buy our tires from them, because we love Wagoner Tires, because they are great, friendly folks and it is locally owned and not a chain store.

The reason that we needed to stop at Wagoner's was Trigger's front drivers side and back drivers side had slow leaks and Wagoner Tires will fix them for free, if you purchased your tires from them and they will also rotate your tires free, if you bought their tires.

When we arrived the friendly people greeted us and then asked if they could help us. Tony told the gentleman about our two, slow leaking tires and then he asked if they could also rotate them. "Sure, it should only take us about twenty minutes." Then the nice man went outside and began removing Trigger's two, slow leaking tires.

About ten minutes later, the man came inside the lobby and handed this to Tony. "We found this inside your front tire." Then the three of us laughed, because we were shocked. "Y'all would not believe what we find inside tires. One time, we found a kitchen fork inside one and it was just a little bent." And ten minutes later, we thanked them and drove away. Here's the steel object that they found, causing one of the slow leaks and please note that it was not the Bic pen. So, if anyone knows what this thing is—please let me know.

And that is about it for tonight, because I need to go outside and do some Earthing, for at least an hour. Then I plan to spend the rest of the night writing, writing, writing.

Y'all have a great evening!

Kinky Is Going To Be On Imus Tomorrow Morning And Gaby, From Germany, Thank You For Calling Me & Your Kind Words! I'm Working On My Third Novella!

Carol's A Sissy!

As you already know (If you follow my blog) little Carol came back to us this past Wednesday and we decided to let her live with us until she gets adopted. We ended up only having to crate her, in the kitchen, for one day, because all of dogs didn't seem to mind Carol being added to our family. So Thursday afternoon we decided to let her out of her crate, to see how she got along with our dogs. In other words, "A sniff-a-thon."

Carol first introduced herself to big Mama and it went well.

Then they started playing! They would get down on their front legs and then jump at each other and then run around the big room and then do it again. We hadn't seen old Mama play around like that in several years. 

After Carol wore Mama out, she decided to meet Beau aka Tony's dog aka The Quilt Killer and after thorough sniffings—best friends—running buddies. 

After that they had chased each other from one end of the trailer to the other several times Carol decided it was time to introduce herself to Belle, who I'm sure was dreaming about sleeping on shag carpeting. And their meeting was short, but sweet, because Belle went into our bedroom, to sleep on our bed.

So, Carol decided to meet Roy, who, of course, was sleeping soundly, under our kitchen table, next to my chair.

When Carol went under the table, Roy opened his eyes, just in time, to watch her lick his nose. Then he sat up, bumping his head on the table, because he is so gigantic. Then they talked about the drawbacks of being really tall and really short. And yes, I know that it is not public correctness to use the words: short or tall anymore to describe a person, but our dogs and I don't care. : )

After they had vented, Carol ran off to go play with Mama, so Roy could go back to sleeping. And that is when I started thinking about changing Carol's name, so not to confuse all of us. Wondering if I  am talking about my dear friend Carol or our temporary, adorable, really short house guest. And Friday morning, when I was talking to Dawn, one of our super great friends/volunteers, about Carol (The really short one, with four legs and a tail.), I said, "I'm thinking about renaming Carol and calling her Sissy..."

Today has been great, because this afternoon, after a phone call from Dawn, she came out to pick up Sissy, because she wants to adopt Sissy, but only if Sissy can get along with their old cat. So, please keep your fingers crossed that Sissy and Dawn's cat will become fast friends. But not to worry, because I told Dawn that there was no pressure about possibly having to return Sissy to us, because the sweet, really short Chihuahua can live with Tony and me and our dog family, because Sissy has stolen our hearts, too.

And that is it for tonight, because I'm finally on a roll writing my third Cowgirl Sisterhood novella!

Y'all have a great evening!

Dead Wood!

Today has been great, but I want to tell you about my Making People Smile and Laugh outdoor project, that began Wednesday evening and ended last night, because it makes me smile and laugh every time that I see it or think about it.

We had a dead, sad-looking Crepe Myrtle tree, that lost its life to the drought, in front of Mandy and Moe Bandy's pen and it depressed me every time that I sat outside, in our Earthing Zone.

So I decided to do something about it, to change the dead tree's negative vibes to happy vibes, even though it did ruin one of my favorite t-shirts, that I designed, that only Carol and I have. Here's a big clue.

It took me over three hours to do, but it was well worth it, because now I laugh every time that I see it. And today when our fabulous friends aka volunteers came out to walk our dogs—it made them smile and laugh instantly, even though it will always be a work in progress. 

And I hope that you are still smiling and laughing as you continue to read this. I've always loved painted dead trees and every time that Tony and I go over to visit our dear artist friend, Steve Pietzsch, I always smile and laugh immediately when I see his beautifully painted dead trees. And I find it amazing how you can turn dead wood into a smile and a laugh. I've named it The Happy Tree. And that is about it for tonight.

P.S. Our dear friend, Gerry Olert, just sent me a picture that he took at Chet's In Dining Hall Concert and I love it and think it says it all about his awesome, magical, fabulous concert.

Y'all have a great evening!

Carol's Back!

Today has been great. This morning, after we did our chores outside, our dear friend, Kent, came over to visit Tony and me. Kent is Ruth Buzzi's husband and he had come down to see Kinky and us. And as you know Kinky, Tony and I love Ruthie and Kent. They are our dear friends and they have done so much to help our rescue ranch.

While the three of us drank Green Mountain Donut Shop Coffee, in the kitchen, Kent watched Gerry Olert's video of Chet O'Keefe singing Ode To Cousin Nancy, at our Chet O'Keefe In Dining Hall Concert. And Kent, Tony and me teared up, because Chet's song is so beautiful and it was so kind of him to write it. Needless to say, "Kent loved the song, too."

After we watched the video, I told Kent all about Earthing and he thought it made a lot of sense, so I printed out two pages about it, so he could take it home and read more about it. Then I told him about  the hilarious lunch that Big G, Carol, Kinky and me had, last Saturday, when I told Big G and Kink about Earthing. Then we did a lot of laughing as we caught up with each others latest news.

When it was time for Kent to get back over to the the Lodge, he invited Tony and me to join him, Kinky, Big G and Lucas, Big G's son, for lunch today, at Del Norte, because on Wednesday they have a great Mexican food buffet. When we told Kent that we would love to go, he then insisted that he wanted to treat us to lunch, too.

Before we adios-ed each other, I said, "Kent, let's play a joke on Kinky and Big G! At that lunch they were teasing me about Earthing. So, sometime during lunch, make up something and tell them that you've discovered Earthing and you want to share it. It will crack them up!"

Lunch with our dear friends was a total blast and it was long too, because we did so much laughing, especially when Kent wanted to share his exciting news about discovering Earthing. And that is all that I can or will share with y'all.

After our super fun lunch Tony and I swung by Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, so we could pick up little Carol, the dog that I named in honor of my dear friend Carol. We adopted Carol out, in April, but unfortunately it didn't work out. Which is fine with us, because it just wasn't meant to be her forever home. So, if any of y'all know someone who wants an adorable, sweet, little dog, please tell them that Carol's back, at the rescue ranch. This is her adoption picture.

By the time Carol, Tony and I arrived back at the ranch we three had decided that Carol should live inside with us and our giant dogs, until she gets adopted again, because we just don't have any space available for her outside and she's very small. We are going to crate her for a few days, next to the kitchen table and let her sleep in the big puppy pen, that Tony has set up for her, in my office, so she will get to know and be comfortable around our four-legged giants. Then we will remove the crate and puppy pen, so she can be part of our family until she finds her forever home.

Here's Mama checking Carol out, once again, so I'm calling this photo "I Know, I Know You..."

Before I finish writing this I just checked out Kris' & Jim aka The Mineral Man's—Footloose And Kid-Free In The Hill Country blog and I love the pictures they have posted, from their latest trip to Colorado. And my favorite pictures are the hilarious Alien pictures that they took, in Roswell, New Mexico, at that famous Alien Museum. So, I hope that you will check out Kris' & Jim's latest post on their blog, because it is one of my favorite blogs to read, that I follow. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Cousin Nancy's Top Picks!

Today has been great. But first, I want to catch y'all up a bit. Saturday afternoon Kinky called to invite Tony and me to eat lunch with him and Big G. After I told Kink that it sounded like fun and I'd meet him at the restaurant, in Kerrville. I told him that Tone couldn't go, because he had just left to go to his family reunion at his brother's ranch. Before we adios-ed each other we had decided to meet around 1:00.

Then I immediately called my dear friend, Carol, to invite her to join us for lunch. A few minutes later, as I was opening Carol's gate, because she was going to ride with me, Kinky honked Mr. Green Jeans' horn and waved at me, as he drove past me.

Lunch with Kinky, Carol and Big G was a lot of fun and filled with laughter. If Kinky wasn't cutting up and being funny, then Carol, Big G or I was. During our meal I decided to tell Big G all about my Earthing discovery and how cool it was and Tony and I building an Earthing Zone that we had filled with sand, while Kinky jokingly rolled his eyes, and smilingly said, "Nance, you need to quit telling people about this kind of stuff, because they are going to think that you are crazy." So when he had finished saying that I laughed and then continued to talk about the benefits of Earthing.

A little later on after Kinky had told us about a doctor and his wife that were coming out to the ranch, to to meet and visit with Kinky, later in the day, he said, "And Nance, I hope that you're going to be around, because they definitely want to see the rescue ranch and meet you and Tony."

His words opened the door, giving me the opportunity to tease him one more time, "Why sure, Kinky. I would love to meet them. And when you bring them over we can all play in the sandbox!" My kidding remark had caught everyone off guard. With Kinky laughing out loud and then saying, "That was a good one, Nance. You got me." Big G was roaring with laughter and then he almost choked on his food, while Carol just shook, in her chair, trying to keep water from coming out of her nose while laughing. It was totally hilarious.

Later on that day, I went over to the Lodge to meet Kinky's new friends and I instantly liked them, so while we were in Kink's kitchen, I started telling them about Earthing and guess what—they already knew all about it and they thought it was a great way to connect to the Earth. And this super nice doctor said, "It's one of the best ways to get grounded." And that got Kinky's attention.

Sunday was an especially great day for me, because our friend, Karon, called me Sunday morning to tell me that she had gone by Hoegemeyer's to check out the dog that we rescued last Wednesday. "Nancy, I spent thirty minutes playing with him and I want to adopt him. I love him and he has stolen my heart..." Which was great news, because we are over capacity out here and we need people to come out to adopt our super dogs.

Today has been great. This afternoon Tony and I met up with our great once-a-month-lunch friends, at Bella Vita. It was a lot of fun, like it always is and the food was delicious. And after we had adios-ed our friends, except for Kris & Jim, they asked us to come over to Kris' truck, where they gave us two, beautiful, copper, engraved, guitar picks, made in New Mexico. I love them because they both have the Native American bear symbol on them, along with several other symbols.

Here are before and after pictures of my top picks, before adding Kris' & Jim's two copper picks. Thank you, Kris & The Mineral Man.

This past week we have rescued two dogs, Walter aka Louie that Kinky adopted and the new dog that I have still not named, that will be going directly to Karon's home tomorrow. I am thrilled that we had two rescues and two adoptions! And that's about it for tonight, because Tony and I fixin' to go outside to ground ourselves, again.

Y'all have a great evening!

Oops!

Oops! I just walked back inside The Cabin and could not believe that it was a few minutes past eight o'clock. I had been outside, for over an hour and a half, listening to my iPod music and playing my guitar, while I was Earthing. I was enjoying it so much and so were our dogs—the time just flew by. Anyway, I had planned to blog tonight, but now I just have time to do some writing on my third novella.

Y'all have a great evening!

Thank You, Jay Pennington For Helping All Of Us! And Donna Gable Hatch & The Kerrville Daily Times!!

Today has been great, but I will write about it tomorrow, because I want everyone to read Donna Gable Hatch's fabulous article about our friend Jay Pennington, in today's Kerrville Daily Times. And now I can tell you that my secret project, that I mentioned a while back, was uploading all of our dog's photos and the information about each and everyone of them, so when Jay was ready to launch the site and go public with it—Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch's dogs would be on KerrvillePets.com. Here's the story that Donna sent to me, in today's paper:

Jay Pennington’s database allows for easy access to animals who are lost, found and adoptable

By Donna Gable Hatch
Features Editor
donna.hatch@dailytimes.com 

Animal rescue groups and shelters everywhere share a common goal: to find permanent homes for abandoned and abused dogs and cats and to reunite pet owners with their lost pets — and that job is a little easier, thanks to the efforts of Jay Pennington.

A veteran software/database developer, Pennington put his skill — and his heart — into developing a database that allows animal shelters, rescue groups and the general public to upload photos and descriptions of animals that have been lost — or found — and be cross referenced to increase the odds for a happily ever after. The free site enables people to reconnect with their lost pets and helps people who want to adopt a cat or dog find the perfect addition to the family, said Pennington, a lifelong animal lover.

“Growing up, I always had a variety of dogs and cats,” said Pennington, who shares his life with his wife of 15 years, Sarah, and their German shepherd, Emma. “As an older teen, I fell in love with German shepherds, and I’ve had German shepherds all my adult life.”

For Pennington, the nonprofit project — Pet Search and Rescue — started 11 years ago, when a distracted air conditioning repairman left the front door ajar, and Pennington’s kitten, Jazz Cat, dashed off.

Pennington and his wife began a frantic search to find the missing feline.

“We were looking everywhere and putting up fliers, going door-to-door in the neighborhood. After a couple days, we thought maybe she could have been picked up by the city,” said Pennington, who had worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Houston, where he worked on database development related to future Space Station experiments, among other things. “Back then, the city of San Antonio didn’t have a website of the pets at the pound, so you had to drive there, and they were putting down pets two and three days after pickup, so you had to go often.”

They made the trek to the shelter, but Jazz Cat wasn’t there, so they expanded the search and began the painstaking and time-consuming exercise of contacting every rescue animal group in the surrounding area.

“Some of them had websites, but the sites were often out of date or difficult to navigate, and others had no website.”

Pennington’s frustration gave rise to the realization that his expertise could speed up the process and help pet owners — as well as people looking for the perfect pet — a more effective way to beat the cumbersome system.

“It took about nine months in my spare time to design the database tables and write the behind-the- scenes processing that goes on,” said Pennington, who said Jazz Cat, thankfully, reappeared seven days after her disappearance and became the project mascot.

“The city’s animal control services would upload photos and information about animals in its care, and the general public and rescue groups would do the same,” he said. “If someone found a pet in their front yard, they could upload a picture and description, and the rescue/foster organizations could upload photos of the pets they had.”

A decade later, Pennington’s Web-based pet rescue efforts — SApets.com and its associated other websites,www.BoernePets.com www.BulverdePets.com andwww.LostPetFound.com — have saved hundreds of animals from being euthanized and have filled many homes with another happy heartbeat. And now, Kerr County has joined the pack with kerrvillepets.com.

“Utopia Pet Rescue Ranch adoptable pets have been on my BoernePets.com site for a couple years now, but I was ready to gear up with the lost/found/pound/adoptable of Kerrville,” said Pennington, who reached out to Kerr County Animal Services, the Kathleen C. Cailloux Humane Society, Freeman-Fritts Veterinary Clinic & Shelter, The Big Fix and other rescue and foster groups in the area.

“It has all come together very well, very quickly, so that we are ready to do great things to help the pets and pet orgs in Kerrville,” Pennington said.

All for one, and one for all

Ray Garcia, Kerr County health and animal services director, said Pennington has worked closely with Virginia Bronts, the county’s animal services adoption coordinator, to implement the program with the city’s shelter.

“This website is one of many tools that can be used to reduce the number of animals in the shelter by finding ‘forever homes’ locally and to help owners find their missing pet,” Garcia said. “We are very excited to be involved with Jay Pennington and his website.”

Penny Bowman, board president of the Kathleen C. Cailloux Humane Society, said when Pennington reached out to the shelter, they were happy to take his helping hand.

“The more publicity animals get, the more their chances are of getting adopting or returned home,” Bowman said. “The numbers of animals that are euthanized monthly are horrible, and as a community, we should be ashamed. The shelters in Kerrville are desperately trying to help by taking as many as we can, but until one is adopted, another cannot be taken in. Having another avenue to show the animals available in Kerr County will be great. Even if only a few get adopted or find their way back home, it is worth it.”

Bowman said another benefit to the site is that it enables those people who are looking for a particular breed to find it in a shelter instead of turning to a backyard breeder.

“They can check by breed, and the website will pull up where it is available,” Bowman said.

At the Freeman-Fritts Animal Shelter, Sonia Mumma, shelter manager, has been busy uploading photos and descriptions. Mumma said when she first heard from Pennington, she was overjoyed.

“This website is such a wonderful opportunity for the pets of Kerr County and surrounding areas,” Mumma said. “Spreading the word is paramount to saving more lives and reuniting lost and found pets with their owners as well, and working with Jay Pennington has been a wonderful experience. He truly has a passion to save the lives of cats and dogs, and we are so glad to join and be a part of kerrvillepets.com.”

Debbie Yarbrough, president of The Big Fix Homeless Cat Project, said the organization has worked judiciously for the past decade “to help Kerr County with the trap-neuter-release programs and finding great homes for some special rescue cats.

“Jay Pennington’s website project will significantly help the efforts of many caring nonprofit organizations like Big Fix to find homes for homeless cats,” Yarbrough said. “We are excited to have this up-to-date resource available.”

Longtime animal advocate Kinky Friedman, co-founder of the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, called Pennington “a protector of strays. What Jay is doing with his websites is noble and benefits so many people,” said Friedman, who shares his home with five dogs — Winston Randolph Spencer Churchill Friedman, Sophie, Peanut, Willie Nelson and Walter Matthau — and two cats, Blacky and Yellowy. “The fact that he’s doing this out of the goodness of his heart, and not for any monetary gain, speaks highly of the character of the man. He’s one of the good ones.”

What makes Penningon’s system so unique and helpful compared to national pet systems, Friedman said, “is that Jay designed it specifically for a community level and ties the rescue organizations and shelters of one community together to help the pet owners and pet orgs of that community.”

High tech talents at work

Pennington, who owns Pennington Technical Arts in Boerne, graduated from the University of Texas San Antonio in 1979, with a bachelor of science degree in math, computer science and systems design. He worked at Southwest Research Institute developing database systems for Division 17, the nuclear power research development department, and also participated in a National Science Foundation grant research project, developing early robotic software.

After graduation, he accepted a position with Western Electric/Bell Labs doing database development and later worked at Southwest Research.

In the mid-1980s, he segued into aerospace development at Martin Marietta and, by the latter part of the decade, he’d achieved his dream of working at NASA.

It was at NASA in 1986 that his path aligned with that of the crew of seven astronauts of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

“I had met teacher Christa McAuliffe and shown her what we were working on,” Pennington said. “I worked on various software projects — writing software to analyze satellite imagery, designing databases for future space station experiments, writing software for the scientists to help them in their research, and software/database work.”

After the horrific explosion — which was a result of a leak in one of two solid rocket boosters that ignited the main liquid fuel tank and claimed the lives of all on board — Pennington was chosen to be part of the Challenger Accident Investigation Team.

“I was writing software with other associates to analyze the different media of the launch. I wrote database systems to manage all the media sent in by news agencies, government and tourist imagery,” Pennington said. “After the accident, President Reagan came to NASA to speak. I remember that day very well, and now it’s in the school history books.”

After NASA, Pennington returned to San Antonio and eventually formed his own company.

He designed and created a complex Web-based database system — www.scoutsystem.com — for the sports scouting industry in tracking high school players that is used by universities throughout the U.S., and he developed a content management system website for Kendall County about the history of the county primarily driven through its historic photography on dynamic pages and which the website also serves to encourage tourism to the county —www.KendallCountyHistory.com.

Pennington said he’d like to take his passion for helping animals to other areas and use his skills in other ways.

“Being creative is the key. I’d like to continue doing programming that is creative that is clearly beneficial to companies, individuals, or animals and pets,” said Pennington, who makes no money from the pet-related sites. “Being able to make a living helping pets in need across Texas then across the U.S. would be an attainable dream come true.”

INFORMATION BOX

There is no charge to upload a lost or found pet and no fee to use the site to kerrvillepets.com or any of its related sites.

➤ Lost pet: If you have lost your pet and have a picture of it on your computer (JPG format only), click on the “Post your lost pet” link and follow the simple prompts. The information and the photo remain on the site for four weeks. Once the pet is returned home, return to the site and remove the listing by clicking “remove uploaded pet,” and follow the prompts.

➤ Found pet: If you found an animal to upload, type the word “found” in the pet name box and the word “found,” along with a detailed description of the dog or cat in the “description of pet” box, and then fill out the rest of the form completely. Also check for your pet on this page in the “found” and “picked up” area.

➤ To search: First scroll down the homepage ofKerrvillePets.com to see if your pet or a pet you want to adopt is listed on this main page. To search throughout Central Texas, select the breed of the cat or dog and it will list all found, pound and adoptable pets of that breed from participating rescue orgs and shelters.

➤ Info: Visit kerrvillepets.com orPenningtonTechnicalArts.com

STORY 2

Jay Pennington: On the road to Tinseltown

By Donna Gable Hatch
Features Editordonna.hatch@dailytimes.com

Area resident Jay Pennington is a journeyman actor who has appeared in dozens of TV shows, music videos and films, including “Fields Afire,” a recently released film that is getting buzz in the theater festival circuit and already is winning awards. Portions of the film — about a team of misfit kids playing at a baseball park who are caught in a meteorite strike that burns the fields, leaving them unharmed but believing they are endowed with special powers — was shot in the retired historic Boerne jailhouse. Pennington plays the town’s sheriff who works to keep the kids from turning to the dark side.

“Jay is a consummate professional, as well as an extremely talented and versatile actor. His work in our last feature film was amazing,” producer Shannon Jimenez said. “He’s the full package — a team player with excellent craft.”

Pennington said he’s been enamored with films since he was 6 and watched black and white classics on PBS and became more interested in the field while sitting in the Olmos Theater in San Antonio during his teen years.

“For about six years now, I’ve been very seriously pursing acting in films. It’s like any job — you take classes, you build your resume, you gain experience,” said Pennington, a former member of the Texas Wild Bunch Gunslingers. “I haven’t worked with them for a couple years, but they were the first step in the domino effect to the door opening to my acting career.”

Pennington, an experienced equestrian and motorcyclist, is tailor-made for a variety of roles, Jimenez said, and his rugged good looks and impressive stature — he’s 6-foot, 3-inches tall and weighs 205 pounds — have landed him roles as cowboys, Biblical characters, a Gothic Druid monk, gunslingers, bikers, blackmailers and murderers. He’s also played a Saxon king for The History Channel’s “Vikings” promo — and he’s a front-runner to be the model for a life-size bronze sculpture of Buffalo Bill Cody.

He’s also a gourmand and for several years has been cross breeding hot peppers he calls Pennington Peppers.

“They really are unique and hot,” Pennington said. “You can only make so much salsa, so for a couple years now I’ve been making all kinds of flavor variations of hot pepper jellies. I have this killer one that is fresh cherries, pecans, secret spices and my unique peppers.”

But he’s had to ease up on the plan to market the peppers, because his acting career is getting hotter.

“This summer, you’ll see me walk in front and about to get hit by Mark Wahlberg and his pickup early on in ‘Transformers 4,’ and see me causing trouble in the bar in ‘Sin City 2’ and in a couple ‘Revolution’ episodes,” Pennington said of NBC’s science fiction TV series that is set in a post-apocalyptic United States of America, 15 years after the start of a worldwide, permanent electrical-power blackout. 

“I just finished being in a pilot episode that I’m hoping so strongly that it will become a television series and they keep me in the story,” he said.

The pilot stars three actors from “The Virginian” — James Drury, Gary Clarke and Roberta Shore and also Buck Taylor from “Gunsmoke.”

“I was certainly awestruck on the inside and enjoyed being around everyone, especially making friends with Buck and his horse Little Man.”

In the course of his acting career, Pennington has appeared in scenes with Jon Favreau, Mark Wahlberg, John Leguizamo, Buck Taylor, James Drury, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Glenn Morshower and Donny Boaz.

“During ‘Transformers,’ (director) Michael Bay picked me to do an intro to a scene, was very nice, calling me ‘sir,’ and cued me on each take,” Pennington said. “During ‘Sin City 2,’ I got my own trailer for the scenes I was in. For me, it’s an honor to be around successful actors.”

Pennington said acting is like anything else: The more you do it, the better it gets.

“I’m determined and keep moving forward in the acting journey,” Pennington said. “My goals are roles in ‘Longmire,’ ‘Dallas,’ ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Hell on Wheels.’ It happens, if you keep at it.”

To find out more, visit www.imdb.me/JayPennington.