Bare Bread!

Today has been great. This morning our dear friends Kris & Jim "The Mineral Man" came out to walk dogs for us before going with us up to Koyote Grill, to eat lunch with Eileen and Lisa.

When Kris got back from taking Hank for a fun walk down to the creek, Tony and I visited with her and Jim. They complimented me on my good-looking hiking boots and then we laughed and made jokes about my blog's hiking adventures. Then Tony told them that he had ordered a couple of those inexpensive, super light-weight Opinel pocketknives, that Jim had told him about getting for him and Kris. Then Tony teased me. "Nancy, isn't good with sharp knives, so I'm not giving her one..."

During our super fun lunch we started talking about the Super Bowl game. I told them that I wasn't really interested in this years Super Bowl, because the Cowboys weren't playing in it. Then Eileen said, "I don't even know who the teams are. When is it?"

After all of us said in unison, "This Sunday." Then us girls agreed about watching Super Bowl mainly to watch the great commercials and halftime performance. Then I confessed that I was going to record the Super Bowl game while watching the movie Dean Spanley, that Mari had recommended I watch.

"Y'all," I said. "The other day I was watching Mr. Food and he made this Super Bowl Sunday dip that sounded so tasty, Tony and I drove to Kerrville so I could buy the ingredients and then make it when we got back home. And I did and it was so delicious. It was easy to make, too. The ingredients for it are corn beef, sour cream, cream cheese, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, onion, ketchup and mustard. You chop up the onion and corn beef then mix all of the ingredients together and then you bake it."

Before cooking it

When it came out of the oven

"It sounds like a Reuben Dip to me," Lisa said.

"Yes, that's what he called it. And Kris, we bought some of that H-E-B crustless whole wheat Bare Bread, that has no preservatives, flavors or artificial colors in it, that you had told us about and we made sandwiches. And they were delicious. I love that bread, too. There was so much of the dip leftover I froze most of it...."

And that is it about it for tonight. If you want to check out Mr. Food's Baked Reuben Dip recipe click here. You can watch him make it, too.

Y'all have a great evening!

Packin' It!

Today has been great. It has been a quiet day. A week ago today Little Debbie had her eye surgery and she is doing great. In fact, she took her last meds this evening.

Earlier this evening I received another funny comment on my blog and it was from Nancy J. Bailey, the fabulous author of The North Side Of Down: A True Story Of Two Sisters. And like the other comments it made me laugh out loud. So, since there isn't much to write about tonight I'm posting these comments in case you haven't read them. Then I will write another short version of my day.

 ‪Mari of the NoMads‬ said...

Nancy, my feet are blistering from walking the Appalachian Trail vicariously with you and your sister! (You can tell which version I have to believe, right?)

Obviously I didn't buy the $$$ hiking boots. :(

How much further are 'we' going to walk? My 'dogs' are 'barking'!

 ‪cousin nancy said...

LOL, Mari! Not to worry. Before we started hiking I had secretly arranged for your sweet husband David to fly his helicopter in and pick us up, on top of the mountain, first thing in the morning. So hang in there. Your "dogs" will be fine, because they are Heelers.

And don't forget that next Saturday we will most likely be hiking the PCT (Pacific Coast Trail)!

P.S. Buy stock in M&M's!

******

 ‪Eileen‬ said...

Wow, Nancy, we actually stopped at the only place on the Appalachian Trail that has a dog pen on it! I can tell by my fat cheeks that the pic was taken when I had my mouth full of M&Ms!

 ‪
cousin nancy said...

So you're the one who ate all of our M&M's!

******

 ‪Nancy Bailey said...

I'm jealous. *I* want to walk the Appalachian Trail. *I* want new hiking boots. *I* want a mouthful of M&Ms. *I* want to astonish all the other hikers by being the oldest person out there. .............Okay. Maybe not the last part.

 ‪cousin nancy said...

Hi Nancy! I am still laughing about you being jealous. I love your book so much and I am jealous of your fabulous writing skills, so I guess that makes us even? 
Until my new green, long sleeve Appalachian Trail Hiker t-shirt gets delivered to me! Keep writing and laughing.



P.S. My new Appalachian Trail Hiker t-shirt should arrive by next week and I can't wait! Then I guess you'll be "green" with envy...

******

Today has been great even though my back is aching. Early this afternoon Mari and David picked me up, in one of their helicopters and flew me back to the Appalachian Trail, so I could climb another mountain, but this time wearing my new "45lbs." backpack. In other words, "I was packin' it."

It took me less than an hour to climb up to the summit and then walk back down and I am so glad that I took my hiking stick with me, that Tony custom made for me, because it kept me from slipping, sliding and falling down. 

Before my good friends flew me back home to Tony tonight they had taken these two pictures of me taking off on the famous trail and when I had returned. 

And to say the least—its been a long day. And that is about it for tonight, because I am fixin' to lean back and rest my back on Mari's pretty, pink, sheepskin, that she gave to me several years ago and read more of Nancy's great book.

Y'all have a great evening!

Versions! or Happy Trails!

Today has been great. But tonight, to change things around, I am going to give you two versions of my day and then let you pick which one that you want to believe.

Version I

Today has been great, but nothing exciting really happened, so there is not much to tell. And because it is already past 7:00 and I want to continue reading The North Side Of Down: A True Story Of Two Sisters by Nancy J. Bailey, my blogging time has literally run out on me. And my excuse for running out of time is because I've been over at the Lodge, for the past two hours having a fun visit with Linda. 

Y'all have a great evening!

Version II

Today has been great, but this is going to be a short post, because I am exhausted from hiking the Appalachian Trail all day and my sister Cindy and me still have to build a campfire, so we can cook something for dinner. 

This morning started out great, because Cindy and I went to a national park store to buy us some trail mix, before we took off hiking. And low and behold we ran into Pam, Ellen and June's sweet cousin! And I probably would have walked right past Pam, coming out of the ladies restroom, if she hadn't been wearing one of our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch caps, because I don't have good facial recognition.

We had a fun, but short visit with Pam, because she was anxious to get back on the trail, because she was meeting Ed, her son and she didn't want to wait another thirty minutes, so Cindy and I could go powder our noses too.

Forty minutes later, when Cindy and I finally had quit powdering, we left the store with four giant sacks of M&M's instead of trail mix. We figured that if we got lost along the way we could retrace our path using the M& M's as pretty markers. 

About twenty feet from the trail, we saw this big crowd of young people standing around, talking to Kris and taking pictures of her, because they were inspired that an old woman like her was actually going to hike the famous trail! I was so shocked to see Kris. I couldn't believe that we'd just run into Pam, at the store and now Kris. "It's a small world, Nance," Cindy dryly replied.

When Kris saw us she waved at me and hollered, "If you can believe this, Cousin Nancy, over there, the short one, is the same age as me and her sister is even older!" The young hikers gasped and then turned around and stared at Cindy and me. Then they came rushing over and asked us to autograph their fancy backpacks. We agreed to do it and then I joked, "But mine will cost you $5.00 and Cindy's is free." 

After Cindy had signed her name to eleven backpacks and I had not signed one—we took off hiking on the famous Appalachian Trail.

After hiking for about forty-five minutes, my sister and I decided to take a short break, as soon as we reached the peak of the first of many mountains to come. And you're really not going to believe this, but we ran into Kris and Eileen! Yes, Eileen was there, too and she was wearing sunglasses so no one would recognize her, because she knows famous authors like Nancy J. Bailey! And after howdies and hugs we posed and Cindy took this picture of us. Then Cindy and I marched on....

And that's about it for tonight. "Cindy! We're out of M&M's!"

Happy Trails to y'all and have a great evening!

It's A Sign!

Today has been great. About an hour ago, I was enjoying reading Eileen's friend, Nancy J. Bailey's book The North Side Of Down: A True Story Of Two Sisters while Little Debbie slept on my lap. Then a really cool, out-of-nowhere thought popped into my head, so I immediately picked up the phone and called my sweet sister Cindy.

After we had said our howdies to each other, I said, "You know how much I love my new hiking boots anyway, this weird thought just popped into my head. I was just thinking that it would be fun if you and I fly out to the Appalachian Trail and hike it for about an hour or two?" Needless to say, there was total silence on both ends and then we burst out laughing.

"Well Nance, I guess we could do that," she said, followed by us laughing again. "But why?"

"I am putting it on my bucket list. We could go out there for a day or two and hike the famous trail for a few miles. Then we could tell people that we've hiked the Appalachian Trail. It would be really cool."

"But I've already hiked the Appalachian Trail. Ray and I did it right after we got married when we went up north to see his family. I guess I could do it again. Why don't we hike somewhere closer?"

"It's got to be the Appalachian Trail, Cindy. Because it is so famous and we could take pictures of us standing next to an Appalachian Trail sign. Sort of like what Ronnie did when all of us went out to Red River that time. Remember us catching about ten rainbow trout and putting them on a stringer and then Ronnie changing shirts three times and posing in different places, holding the stringer different ways? So he could show all of his friends all the trout he had caught when he got back to Texas."

After we had quit laughing, I continued on, "It's the same thing as me having all of those Martin guitars in my life and people saying things to me like, "Wow, you've got a Martin. You must be really good on the guitar." And I wasn't." Then we broke out laughing again.

"Well, I think that we should think about this for a while, Nance," Cindy suggested and then she started laughing again. "Wouldn't it just be easier and cheaper if you just photo-shopped it? You know how to do that kind of stuff."

"That's a great idea! And I could also put me standing next to a sign on the Pacific Coastal Trail, too! That Cheryl Strayed hiked and Reese Witherspoon hiked on in the movie Wild...." We were still laughing about all of this when we finally adios-ed each other. Then I got busy.

Here's what I came up with and please note that I actually do know how to cut and paste using Photoshop, but time was of the essence, because I wanted to do it fast, so I could get back to reading the great book The North Side Of Down: A True Story Of Two Sisters.

Y'all have a great evening!

Some Cutlets!

Today has been great. Around noon, when Tony and I were just finishing up our outdoor chores—Rooster Cogburn spread his wings and cock-a-doodled-do and The Golden Girls totally ignored him. It made us laugh. "He's telling us that it is time for us to eat lunch," Tone hinted. "What are you fixin' us for lunch?"

"I don't know."

"Nance, I love those healthy meatless cutlets that you've been making us, but could you please fix us something else. We've been eating them almost every other day and I'm...." Even though Tony was right about getting tired of eating the cutlets so often I still didn't know what to cook us for lunch.

Then it hit me—hamburger soup. Last week my dear friend Mari had sent me this link to The Pioneer Woman's Hamburger Soup recipe and she had told me that it was easy to make and was totally delicious and that I should give it a try. So after I checked it out I bookmarked Ree Drummond's Hamburger Soup recipe for future reference. Click Hamburger Soup to check out her recipe.

After I reread The Pioneer Woman's Hamburger Soup recipe I got busy cooking it in the kitchen, sort of, because I didn't have all of the ingredients and I had to make several substitutions. While I was sauteing the mushrooms, zucchini, onion and garlic, I filled a big pot with six cups of boiling water and then I dumped in leftover sacks of frozen mixed vegetables and Brussels sprouts.

Then I chopped up some celery and tossed it into the pot. Then I added the beef broth, a can of tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce and a can of Rotel tomatoes and green chiles.

Then I substituted the potatoes for pasta and started cooking up some linguini. Then I stirred up some Jiffy corn bread mix and slid that into the preheated oven. It was sort of like a three ring circus, on the stove top. Then I poured in the rest of the jar of my homemade Serrano pepper salsa and then added the salt, pepper and parsley.

I then cooked the hamburger meat with some leftover pinto beans and then I added it to the pot, along with the drained linguini—"Tony! Lunch is ready. Tony!"

Omg, it was absolutely delicious and Tony loved it, too. Even though I cooked it differently than the recipe and had to substitute several of the ingredients and then added some extras, I want to thank Mari for turning me on to this tasty recipe. And I think that in honor of Mari I am going to call it Cousin Nancy's The More The Mari Stew.

After lunch, as I was dividing up the 1/2 pot of leftover soup/stew into six quart-sized Baggies, he said, "Thank you. That was a really good lunch." Then he chuckled and jokingly said, "I guess we'll be eating these leftovers for lunch, for the next five or six days, too?"

"Yes," I replied. "And by then you'll be begging me to please cook you up some cutlets."

This afternoon I checked my e-mail and sweet Eileen had sent me this note:

I told Nancy Bailey you blogged about her book & got a mutual fan comment from Fay!  She had already subscribed to your blog feed & she read it & was thrilled!  She thinks you are a cool person and can feel the energy from your blog!

 

So, two writers complimenting each other - that's great!!!  Eileen

Omg, Eileen's note about her good friend, Nancy J. Bailey, a super talented author, artist, actor, horse and dog trainer, etc. put a really big smile on my face and it literally made my day great, because she is one fabulous author and I can't put her book The North Side Of Down: A True Story Of Two Sisters down. 

Feeling so complimented that Eileen's friend, Nancy J. Bailey, follows my blog, I Googled her and was instantly blown away with Nancy's beautiful art. And her incredibly great watercolor Fall Trail Ride is so awesome, it blew me out of the saddle, so to speak. So I suggest that y'all Google her too, or at least check out these two links to Nancy J. Bailey: Paintings and Books.

So as I wind this up for tonight, I hope that Nancy, up there, reads this post, because she now has another big fan, from Texas.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Boys! or Happy Birthday Kris! or The North Side Of Down!

Today has been great. This morning when I woke up, Tony said, "It's snowing outside, but not sticking, because it is already thirty-five outside." I looked out the window and he was right—no ice, thank goodness!

This morning while drinking a cup of Donut Shop Coffee I checked my e-mail. Our good friend Marguerite, who works part-time at Wild Birds Unlimited, one of our favorite stores, sent me a picture of The Boys romping in the snow this morning.

Marguerite has a really big heart, especially when it comes to animals and that is why she was a vet-tech for over eighteen years. Besides adopting Minnie from us, one of the six adorable Chihuahuas that we rescued back in August, she has also adopted these two great guys from us. Enzo is the German Shepherd, who a few years ago came to us in really bad shape both mentally and physically. And Marguerite adopted sweet Odi from us, in Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic's lobby, a few days after he had his eye removed and was ready to come to our rescue ranch. Anyway, thank goodness for nice people like Marguerite, who only adopt from shelters and give loving dogs and cats second chances. Here's The Boys!

Tony and I got outside early this morning to do our chores, because we had an important surprise birthday party to go to, at the Medina Highpoint Resort's Koyote Grill. 

When we arrived at Koyote, our good friends Eileen and Lisa were already there getting things ready for Kris' surprise birthday party. After we said our howdies to each other, I said, "Omg! Eileen, I love Kris' archaeological-themed birthday cake that you had Creative Cakes by Sharon design! It is too cute."

"I know," Eileen said. "Sharon has done it again." Then I whipped out my phone and took a picture of it and some of the presents.

Then Ellen, June and their super sweet cousin Pam, who is visiting them arrived. And while they were taking pictures of Kris' birthday cake, Kris & Jim walked inside Koyote Grill. "Surprise," we half-hollered. "Happy Birthday, Kris!" 

Kris seemed totally surprised, so I walked up to her and teased, "Wow, you've really aged. Doesn't Kris look old?"

Kris laughed and then she smiled, looked at me and said, "And so do you, because we are the same age." 

Kris' surprise birthday party was so much fun and ,of course, it was filled with laughter and teasing. "Since all of us are senior citizens," Eileen said. "I decided that we should start reversing the digits of our birthdays to make us feel younger. And that's why Kris' cake has 36 on it."

"Now wait a minute, Eileen," Lisa said, wearing a big grin on her face. "I'm not a senior citizen." Followed by a chuckle. Followed by all of us laughing out loud. Then we started teasing Lisa.

Before the "make a wish and blow out the candles" part of the party, Pam started telling us about how much fun she recently had at a remote movie location, getting to watch her son, Ed Helms, play a funny character, in an upcoming motion picture. And since all of us are big time fans of Pam's son and June and Ellen's famous cousin—you could have a heard a pin drop, in between the laughter.

Right after Kris' cake had shrunk down to three-fourths of its original size I took these pictures of Ellen and sister June and then one of Pam. The only thing that I don't like about these pictures is that you can't see Ellen's new, pretty pink cast, that she is wearing on her wrist—that she was purposefully hiding.

Kris seemed to get a kick out of reading her birthday cards and then opening up her really cool gifts. And Tony and I were thrilled that she loved her Solar Firefly Lantern, like the two we have, hanging on our front porch. And I overheard Ellen and June, down at the other end of the table, talking about going to Wild Birds Unlimited to buy them some, too.

Before the party officially ended and we all went our separate ways, we made Pam an honorary volunteer. And Tony and I even promised her that we would hand-deliver a Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch cap to her before next week when she flies back home.

Following the fun birthday party Tony and I took off for Kerrville so we could go pick up our Little Debbie. The reason that I put "our" in italics is because Little Debbie has also stolen Tony's heart too, and he loves her as much as I do. I took this one faraway picture of Susan bringing Little Debbie to us, in the lobby, because Little Deb is vain and she doesn't want you to see her partially shaved head and multiple black stitches.

And before I finish writing this tonight, I want to tell y'all about Eileen, during the party today, giving me a copy of her friend Nancy J. Bailey's book The North Side Of Down: A True Story Of Two Sisters. Eileen told me that Nancy is a fabulous author of ten books, that she is also an artist and painted the beautiful picture on the cover of the book and that she also tours with Clifford, her trick-trained horse who goes to schools, libraries, etc. to promote literacy and making the world a better place. "Thank you, Eileen. I plan to put Little Debbie on my lap and start reading it tonight, because Ellen has already put dubs on reading it next."

Y'all have a great evening!

Funerals! or Blue Healer! or Tree Hugger! or Nowhere To Hide!

Today has been great, even though it has been another dreary day outside. As you know this kind of weather always mildly depresses me. So this afternoon while I was thinking about what I could write about for tonight's post, that would be upbeat and not bring people down, I decided to write about funerals. And I'm betting that you just chuckled, because I just laughed out loud.

A couple of days ago when our good friend Linda was over here eating lunch with us, we talked about nearly everything under the sun. While she and I were talking about our favorite parts in the book Wild the subject of funerals came up. We agreed that funeral costs are ridiculously expensive and then I found out that she, like Tony and me, wants to be cremated—when the good Lord honks our horn.

When Tony and I were eating Linda's delicious, homemade, chocolate cake for dessert, Linda told us about her taking a tour of a crematorium and it was very interesting, because I learned some things I didn't know about cremation and Texas law.

Anyway, after Linda went back over to the Lodge, to babysit The Friedmans and finish reading Wild Tony and I jumped into Trigger and took off to get our mail and then go to Kerrville to run a few errands. When we were going over the pass, I opened up a green colored letter addressed to me and I burst out laughing. "What?" Tony asked.

"I can't believe that we were just talking about funeral costs and then I get this life insurance offer telling me that I might quality for their Funeral Advantage Program. It's just too weird." Tony laughed.

This afternoon while I was checking my e-mail I got a note from my good friend Mari. She's into juicing too and she also has The Big Book of Juices too. In her note she asked me if I had checked out juice #275 in the book. So, I checked it out. I love the name "blue healer" and it looks delicious, too.

When I was fixin' to write Mari and tell her I wanted to try it, I saw a beautiful doe laying down beyond our backyard fence—so I shot it through the blinds, using my camera. (2nd blind at the top.)

After I'd checked all of my e-mail, I checked our snail mail to find that Rick, in Nicaragua, had sent us a Nicaraguan Tree Hugger ecotourism map, that had used three of Rick's photos. The butterfly, the dancer and a hummingbird and his pictures are great.

Then Tony walks into the kitchen and says, "The birds have found your new feeder." So I grabbed my camera and shot them, too. 

Then I started washing some dishes, in the sink. And that's when I glanced over to the television and saw Rambam on it and I couldn't believe it. Then I realized that our DVD recorder was automatically recording one of his great crime solving shows. So I picked up my camera once again and this time I shot our good friend Rambam, on the ID Channel, Investigation Discovery channel, on Directv's Channel 285.

Early this evening Dr. Rydberg called to let me know that Little Debbie had her eye surgery and it went well and for us to call them around 10:00, in the morning to see if we can pick her up and finally bring her home. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can bring her home, because I am missing my little buddy so much. And that is all of the exciting news for today. I hope that the sun comes out tomorrow.

Y'all have a great evening!

Please Pass Me The Poop!

Today has been great and I started my morning laughing, because of Jim "The Mineral Man's" funny e-mail. He had read my blog last night about the "Colorado Creep" and Roy and The Friedmans' barking all night long and Linda and I thinking that it must have been coyotes in the area. Jim wrote:

You have more patience than I would have had with the dude from Colorado. Sure you don't have Bigfoot running around in your neighborhood? See you Friday.

I love the thought of having Bigfoot running around out here instead of coyotes. In fact, I know for a fact that Big Foot (Wallace) actually did run around out here, because he lived in a small, log cabin, just a few miles away from here and Wallace Creek, that runs through Echo Hill Ranch, is named after Big Foot. So whether it is Bigfoot or the ghost of Big Foot—it would be really cool.

Late this morning after doing the chores outside, Tony, Little Debbie and I took off for Kerrville. Our first stop was at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and Little Debbie was a little bit nervous at first, so Tony held her in his arms. And within minutes Little Debbie settled in and she seemed to enjoy watching all of the people and their dogs coming in and going out.

After we dropped Little Debbie off, to get her bad eye examined, because it seemed to be causing her pain, we went down the road to Randy's & Lisa's Save Inn Restaurant to eat lunch. 

After a delicious lunch, we darted across the road to Home Depot, because we needed to purchase more trash bags. 

Then we went, across town, to one of our favorite stores, in Kerrville. "Hi, Cousin Nancy and Tony! We haven't seen y'all in a long time," Kevin Pillow teased. "Marguerite, Nancy and Tony are here."

"Hi y'all. I'll be with you in just a minute," Marguerite said, as she rang up a sale of some bird seed, on the cash register.

"Can I help you find anything?" Kevin asked.

"Nope," I said. "Kevin, I know exactly what I want and where it is." Then I went over to their cool, Solar Firefly Lantern display and I was shocked to see about half of the lanterns gone since yesterday. "I want to buy another Solar Firefly Lantern. I love these things."

"So does everyone else. They are selling like hotcakes," Kevin explained. "We've got plenty of them in stock and we've already had to restock the display twice today...." 

While Tony was checking out their books I told Marguerite about having to take Little Debbie to Hoegemeyers, to get her eye checked. "I am pretty sure that they are going to have to remove her eye," I said. "The last few days it has seemed to bother her a lot and it is getting smaller." Then Marguerite told me about her experience when she adopted Odi from us, right after he had his bad eye removed.

A few minutes later, while Marguerite was ringing up our stuff, a nice woman, in the store, over heard me raving about how much I loved the Firefly Lanterns and she walked up to the counter to look at mine. "These are the coolest solar lanterns," I said to her. "At night it looks just like there are real fireflies inside..."

"Where are they?" she asked. "I didn't see them when I was browsing around." And before Kevin or Marguerite could answer, I said, "They are right over here. Follow me." The minute the woman saw the display she grabbed a lantern to buy and she seemed real excited about buying it. In fact, I was real excited about her buying it, too.

When I returned to the Wild Birds Unlimited counter to sign my credit card receipt, Tony started laughing about them selling poop and having a sample platter, on the counter. "Yes, we have all kinds of Poop!" Kevin jokingly bragged. "And we even have Armadillo Poop, too."

"Is it real poop?" I asked, because I hadn't noticed the cute display, yet. That made them laugh.

"No," Marguerite said. "It is chocolate nut toffee and it is so delicious."

"Marguerite, give them a free sack of poop to take home," Kevin said. "Consider it a small gift." We all started laughing.

"Wow!" I joked. "This is the first time that anyone has ever given us a sack of poop and called it a gift. And because it's free it is a perfect present! Thank you, Kevin. Tony, do we have great friends or what?"

On our way back home, after buying more dog food, at the big H-E-B, Tony chuckled and said, "Please pass me the poop." And to say the least, "The Armadillo Poop is totally delicious."

Early this evening I spoke on the phone with Dr. Rydberg about Little Debbie's bad eye and we decided that it was best for her to remove the eye. We are sick about it, but it is the best thing to do. Tomorrow she will have the eye surgery and Friday, we will be able to bring her back home with us. I am missing her not being here and I keep catching myself looking over at the floor vent, near the kitchen table, that she is always sleeping on. And I know that Tony, Alice, Beau, Belle and Roy are also missing her too. And that is about it for tonight. I'm pooped and tonight I plan to eat some Poop while researching Bigfoot and Big Foot before going to bed early.

Y'all have a great evening!

Why!

Today has been great and so was yesterday, but today I am really pooped and running on empty, because last night I got very little sleep, because Roy kept waking me up, because there was something outside driving him crazy. I must have let him outside and brought him back inside at least six different times. And the other reason that I am pooped is because early this morning a person called me and literally wore me out, because they were demanding to talk to Kinky, get his e-mail address, because this person was hoping to get Kinky involved with a situation they were involved with.

When I told the person that Kink was out of the country and that he wouldn't be back until February, they wanted to know why he is out of the country, where he was and why. When I told this nosey person that Kinky was touring in Australia and performing, the inquiring mind asked me, "Performing what? What does he do? What kind of music does he do?"

After I explained what he does in one of his performances they asked me for Kinky's e-mail address. Then they got sarcastic with me when I told them that Kinky doesn't have an e-mail address or own a computer. The energy-vampire was shocked and surprised with this news and they couldn't believe it. I guess they thought I was lying to them. Anyway, they asked me to explain why. After I had explained to them why he didn't have a computer. Then I told them that I would relay their message to Kinky and give him their phone number when he gets back to the ranch. That wasn't good enough. So, they asked me if I had an e-mail address and for me to give them my e-mail address, so they could correspond with Kinky through me.

Okay, by now my patience had wore thin and I wasn't enjoying this conversation aka rude inquisition at all. So after I told this person that I did have an e-mail address, I got even. (It's a Libra deal) I took a deep breath and slowly said, "But I'm sorry—I don't give it out to anyone." There was total silence on the other end, for at least five seconds. And, I am embarrassed to admit it, but it felt so good—until they asked me, "Why?" And it took me five more minutes before I finally adios-ed this guy, from Colorado. And when I went and told Tony about this irritating rocky mountain phone caller I about fainted when the first word he spoke to me was, "Why?...." And that is why I am so tired tonight.

This afternoon we invited Linda to come over for lunch and she arrived with a delicious chocolate cake that she had made. I cooked those meatless cutlets, mashed sweet potatoes and mixed vegetables and not to brag—Linda thought lunch was delicious, but she really loved those cutlets and she couldn't believe that the main ingredients are: cottage cheese, walnuts, onions, eggs, bread crumbs and sage, so I gave her a copy of the recipe.

While we were eating lunch with Linda she told us about The Friedmans going wild last night, barking non-stop all night, because there was something outside driving them crazy, too. And the only thing that we could come up with was it must be coyotes in the area. Tony and I really enjoyed eating lunch with Linda and the best thing about our fun lunch was Linda's homemade chocolate cake.

Late this afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville. Our first stop was at Wild Bird Unlimited, because Tony wanted to buy more of their superior birdseed—Choice Plus Blend, etc. And while Tone was checking out the nuts and berries suet, I found the cutest, solar firefly lantern. The instant that I saw it I knew I was going to buy one. "Kevin, I love this solar firefly lantern! It is way too cool."

"I know. The fireflies flicker, too. My wife and I have three and Marguerite already has bought two of them." Then he walked up to me, standing at the display and he picked up a lantern, and said, "Come with me to the back room. I know that sounds funny, but you need to see how it operates in the dark. "

That made me laugh, so I joked, "Tony, if I am not back here in two minutes. Come and get me." Thirty seconds later we came back into the store and I said, "Tony, I love this and the next time we come back I will probably buy another one...." Then Marguerite walked inside the store and we greeted each other. Then we talked, laughed and compared notes about our Chihuahuas: Minnie, Little Debbie and Alice.

Before leaving this super cool store, with the best of vibes, a beautiful bird feeder or birdbath caught my eye. "Tony, we're getting this too. It is beautiful and..." And after we ran the rest of our errands we came back home. And I unpacked my purchases and Tony hung them up for me, before going to fill his bird feeders.

And that is about it for tonight and I am not explaining, "Why?"  ; )

Y'all have a great evening!

Leaving Time!

Today has been great. Tonight I am writing a condensed version of my day for y'all, the readers, to digest.

1.  This morning I cooked Hank and Forrest Gump sausage and eggs with Parmesan cheese, again. Then Tony and I went outside to do our chores.

2.  I took pictures of Forrest Gump, who finished eating my breakfast while also flirting non-stop with Aggie, his new roommate to be—sooner than later.

3.  This afternoon I purchased a paperback copy of Wild, at Hastings, after we had bought more dog food and a few more pounds of sausage for Hank and Forrest, at the big H-E-B.

4.  Those sweet girls from the Medina Children's Home came over and they took Hank on a super long, fun walk that lasted for over an hour and a half and Hank enjoyed being with the girls and getting to go hiking again. 

5.  Late this afternoon I went over to the Lodge to visit with Linda, my newest, super cool girl friend. I couldn't wait to loan her my new, copy of the book Wild to read, because I knew that she would totally love it as I did. Linda also loved my new Danner boots so much, she told me that she was going to buy a pair, too. And before I left to come back home, Linda gave me a quart of some homemade spaghetti sauce that she had made, two facial masks for Tony and me to try and a healthy bottle of Boltinghouse juice to try! And she also loaned me her copy of the book leaving time by the New York Times #1 bestselling author Jodi Picoult.

6.  Then I came back home and finished reading the last twenty pages of Wild. Then I removed my Danner hiking boots and finally made a safe place for them, when I am not wearing them which will be never. With Downer and Hazel, already in the closet/wine cellar, I decided to keep them on the top shelf, of our homemade armoire that Tony helped me build over eighteen years ago.

Cheryl Strayed's book has truly touched my heart in so many ways, that earlier this evening, after I had finished reading Wild, I tried to do some writing, then I tried to watch TV, then I tried to start reading leaving time, but I couldn't do any of it, because I still wanted to keep thinking about the fabulous book Wild written by Cheryl Strayed, because it is such an awesome book. I hope that you'll read it or at least see the movie, which I cannot wait to do.

Tomorrow is going to be a really big day for me, in so many ways and I'll try to write more I promise.

Y'all have a great evening!