A Lot Of Great Things Are Going On! I Will Try To Write Tomorrow Night!

His & Ours! or BYOB!

Today has been great. After lunch this afternoon, Tony and I went to Kerrville to run a few errands. Our first stop was at Next Generation Produce, on Sidney Baker Street, so we could each drink a healthy juice. Tony drank their Healthy Heart juice and I ordered my usual Bear Pear juice.

Since the last time we were at, Next Generation Produce, the super cool store owners have expanded and now they've added delicious smoothies to the menu and have a lot more healthy products. The store was packed with all kinds of happy customers that were either shopping or hanging around drinking their juice or smoothies. So, if you have not been there yet—go, because you'll love it! It's now one of our favorite stores, in Kerrville.

Our last stop or so I thought was at, Home Depot, because Tony needed to buy some more rubber tubing and parts for his drip watering system, that he uses in his organic garden. While he was busy finding the tubing, etc. I spotted some rain gauges that were on sale and it sparked my memory. A few days ago, Kinky and I had agreed that the first one of us to go buy a rain gauge would buy two, because his and ours had recently broken, I guess from all of the rain that we've been getting lately. So I purchased His & Our magnified rain gauges.

On our way back to Trigger, in the parking lot, Tony says, "Let's go to Wild Birds Unlimited." And we did. As always this store was packed with happy customers, too. Kevin Pillow was the first to greet us, followed by his wife Linda and then Marguerite. While they were busy ringing up sales and helping the many customers, Tony and I shopped around, because we had the $40.00 Wild Birds Unlimited gift card with us, that sweet Marguerite and her dogs: Enzo, Odie and Mini, had given to us last week.

After Tony showed and told me that he was buying a Lenny's Log feeder and a big tub of Birdacious Bark Butter, I decided to buy a cute, little bird butter feeder, too. When he saw what I was getting, he said, "I'm not sharing my butter with you. You need to buy your own butter." Marguerite and I looked at each other and then we burst out laughing.

Then I looked over at Kevin and Linda, and jokingly said, "Great, now we're going to have a full blown argument inside y'all's store, because Tony just told me that it's BYOB—Buy Your Own Butter. Because he's not going to share his butter with me. Tony, it'll be real interesting to find out what you're going to be fixin' yourself for dinner tonight, because I'm not cooking it for you. Oh, and you can use our butter, because I share." Then Kevin and his wife started laughing and teasing Tony, too." 

Then when I started to go pick up another Birdacious Bark Butter tub, for me, Tony says, "I'm just kidding with you, Nance. You don't have to buy another tub. You can use my butter."

Since I was on a roll I quickly quipped back, "Well I guess that makes you a butter man for sharing. And I'm not buttering you up." Then I purposefully changed the subject, and said, "Marguerite we want to take you out to lunch...." 

When Tony and I got back home, I took the above picture of our Wild Birds Unlimited gift card spree and then I called Kinky. "Hi, Nance. Two men have just left here and they are headed your way."

"They must have gotten lost. Keep your fingers crossed, because I think we've got another adoption fixin' to happen. Tony's friend John, has a brother that wants to adopt one of our dogs. But Kinky, the reason that I called you is to tell you that we bought you and us magnified rain gauges today."

"That's great!" 

"I'll bring it over later, because those men are here. Bye." Then Tony and I went outside to greet John and his brother and then show them our super dogs.

After we had shown John's nice brother all of our dogs, he picked—Cheryl Strayed! Cheryl was thrilled about it, he was thrilled about it and Tony and I were thrilled about it, too. 

If her adoption sticks and we think it will, one-year-old Cheryl is going to spend the rest of her life living and playing, on a beautiful, giant ranch, just outside of Medina and she's also got a gigantic fenced yard to play in, too. Unfortunately, I did not get to take a picture of her adoption, because in all of the excitement, I forgot to grab my camera when I went back outside to get her adoption papers signed. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Having A Blast!

Today has been great, but I don't have any exciting news to share. The other day a dear friend told me that I should watch this video Draw Your Future on Ted's TV and I watched it this afternoon and it inspired me and y'all might find it very interesting, too.

Anyway, for the past three hours I've been have having a blast drawing/painting my future. It's a watercolor mainly, but I did take a few pictures of my favorite signs and pictures, on our walls, scaled them down to size, so they would fit into my painting. Anyway, Tony loves my painting and I am thrilled with it, too. I would show it to you, but it is personal to me.

So if you want to spend ten minutes watching this great video, just click, up above, on Draw Your Future. Then get inspired and draw your own future. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Two Doggie Doors!

Today has been great. This morning around 11:45—Daisy got adopted! Yes, our sweet, nine-year-old Beagle mix finally found her loving forever home and she's going to love it.

Daisy is going to live on a big ranch, mainly inside Diana's & Barry's home and if she and their other older Beagle mix want to go outside—they have two doggie doors to chose from. Seriously, she's got it made, in the shade and Kinky, Tony and I are more than thrilled about it, because Diana and her husband are great people and big time dog lovers.

Here's Daisy posing, for me, with her new, super nice family, just before she got into their Suburban's back seat with Diana, and they took off to go to her fabulous forever home. "We love you, Daisy!"

Y'all have a great evening!

Can You Believe That She Did That!

Today has been great. This afternoon Tony and I went, to Kerrville, to run a few errands before meeting our dear friend, Drew, for lunch.

We went to the shopping center, on Junction Highway, where Wild Birds Unlimited is located to take care of all three of our errands. First, we stopped at the Sub Station Post Office, so I could mail a few letters.

Then to save us a little time, Tony dropped me off, at Home Town Crafts store, so I could pick up Nancy J. Bailey's beautiful "Fall Trail Ride" watercolor, that I had the River Oaks Framing Company double-matted and framed for me, while Tony went over to the Wild Birds Unlimited store, to pick up some dog leashes and collars that Marguerite wanted to donate to us.

The River Oaks Framing Company did a beautiful job framing Nancy's artwork and after I had paid for it, I left the store and started walking across the parking lot to meet up with Tony, who was already backing Trigger out, of the parking space, so he could come and fetch me.

When I climbed into the truck, Tony admired the great framing job and then he said, "Marguerite gave us this huge sack of dog leashes and collars. And look what else she gave us." He handed me a Wild Birds Unlimited envelope, with Tony's and my names on it and inside it was a $40.00 Wild Birds Unlimited gift card! "She told me that it was just a little gift from her. Can you believe that she did that?"

"Yes I can, because I love Marguerite, because she is such a sweet, kind-hearted woman. We need to take her out to lunch soon, so we can thank her for the gift card. I'm going to use my part of the gift card to buy another super-cool, solar lantern. And that's when we can invite her and make a date, to treat her to lunch, with us."

"I'm going to buy more bird seed with mine," Tony said.

Our delicious lunch, at China Town, with Drew, was a total blast, because Drew and I had so much to catch up and tell each other that we never stopped talking. And our conversation was filled with a lot of laughter, too. Tony did get a few words in edgewise, because we had to occasionally pause to breathe, but he didn't seem to mind us solving all of the world's problems, while he sat back and enjoyed his tasty Sweet & Sour Shrimp.

When we got back home, the first thing I did was hang up the "Fall Trail Drive" painting. I hung it, on the wall, below Karin & Air Gun Pohlman's  fabulous, German-made Coo-Coo clock, that I absolutely love and also under one of my Resistol cowboy hats, next to Little Debbie's adorable, little sombrero that sweet Eileen gave to her. And the framed watercolor looks perfect there, except for the lighter shadow, above it and below it, because it is the outline of the old, green clock that had hung there for many years, before I replaced it today with Nancy's fabulous artwork.

Before I finish writing this post, I want to let you know that later this afternoon we rescued another stray and tomorrow morning a certain old dog of ours is getting adopted to a fabulous forever home, so it can be a companion to another old dog. Life is great—knock-on-wood. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Jamming—Party Of Five!

Today has been great. This morning I grabbed my guitar and went to Kerrville, to play some music, because last Friday, our great friend/volunteer, Jim, invited me to bring my guitar and come to the weekly jam session, he attends, at Club Ed's Auld Center.

When I arrived, it was 9:56 and I was four minutes early, but I was also the last one to walk into the room, filled with friendly musicians. Everyone greeted me and welcomed me to join them, which was good, because I was a little nervous, because Jim was the only person that I knew.

At 10:00, we immediately started jamming and I was so glad that I had tuned my guitar before going there. There were about ten ukulele pickers, a flutist, an auto harp player and Jim, who is an awesome harmonica player.

The nice woman, in the chair next to mine, shared her music song book with me and we played about ten songs, before everyone took a ten minute coffee break and munched on the delicious, healthy cookies, that Jim's sweet wife, Diane, had baked for the jam session.

During the break, this really nice man came up to me and introduced himself to me. "Hi Nancy. I'm Craig. Do you know Les and Denise?"

"Yes. I love them," I said. Then he told me that Les is his very best friend and he and Les go way back, because they met when they both worked and lived, in Colorado. Then I told him, "Then you must know Cosmo, that they adopted from us, a couple of years ago..." After we had talked about Cosmo being one of the cutest and luckiest dogs, in Kerrville, Craig admired my guitar and told me that he also plays the guitar, so I handed him my guitar to play. He loved playing my guitar and he was a good guitar picker. Then the coffee break was over and we played many songs, for about another hour.

I was having so much fun jamming with these fun musicians I didn't want it to end, but it did. While I was packing away my guitar, another nice woman came up to me and asked me to please come and bring my guitar, to a dulcimer jam session this coming Monday afternoon and I am seriously thinking about doing it, too. So, to say the least, "This morning was a total blast for me."

This afternoon Kinky called me to ask if he could bring some friends over to see our rescue ranch, because they are dog lovers and big fans of our rescue ranch. And you can guess what I told him, too.

Thirty minutes later Kinky and his two friends, visiting him from out of town, arrived. Kinky first wanted them to see our trailer aka The Cabin, which was fine with me, because Hazel and I had just finished removing all of the new dog hair that had been swirling around, on the floor, because I haven't vacuumed for three days.

After we had a fun visit, inside The Cabin, Kinky suggested that we move our party of five outside and go into Outer Space, so he could smoke his cigar. Little Debbie and Alice wanted to go with us too and they did, but I didn't count them as part of our party of five, because together they only weigh about twelve pounds. But I should have, because they stole the party being way too cute.

Before I finish writing this I want y'all to know that Nancy J. Bailey's beautiful "Fall Trail Drive" watercolor, is already framed, so I can pick it up the next time that we go to Kerrville and I can't wait, because I already know where I am going to hang it, in the big room.

And last night, when it finally got dark outside, I instantly fell in love with my new solar lantern, on the front porch and that I am planning on buying a few more, at Wild Birds Unlimited. Here is a picture of the blue lantern hanging outside. And the other picture is one of my favorite pictures that I've ever taken of Roy winking with Little Debbie sitting behind him, just because I love those two so very much.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Flood!

Today has been great and I want to catch you up with what has been going on out here.  Last Friday, after we ate lunch with volunteers, at Koyote Grill, it started to rain. Then came the thunder and the lightning, heavier rain, small hail and strong winds. And yes, I unplugged everything.

Within two hours time, the creeks had risen out of their banks and we were smack dab, in the middle of a much needed flood. We couldn't believe it and we were grateful. From our windows, inside The Cabin, we watched branches, giant logs, trees, etc. floating swiftly down, Big Foot Wallace Creek.

When the heaviest rainfall had passed over us, we went outside and stood on the porch. The creek was roaring so loudly that Tony could not hear me talk or at least that is what he told me when I had asked him to please help me do something. Anyway, the bottom line is—Kinky, Tony and I were land-locked and so were our neighbors. But the good news was the creeks were full and overflowing!

I took this picture from our front porch showing just how high the creek was, because under normal conditions we can never see the creek, from the front porch. It's the winding brown patches behind the trees.

By Saturday morning the creeks had gone down enough that we were no longer land-locked. And the reason that I did not blog about it was because I was out of town, at a special event, wearing  The Dress. 

Early Sunday morning, I was back on the highway, driving my way back to the ranch and I was not wearing The Dress. Instead, I was wearing my uniform—navy blue turtleneck, 501 Levi's, pink boots and my Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch cap. I felt good and could not wait to get back home.

When Trigger and I arrived, back at the ranch, Tony was already outside doing our morning chores, but he had some bad news to tell. The first thing that he said to me, "Please don't take a bath."

"What? Why?"

"The water pump is not working and we're nearly out of water. The flood must have taken the pump down the creek with all of the rest of the debris and...."

His news was not what I wanted to hear, because I so wanted to take a shower, wash a load of laundry and I knew that the pump replacement could be very costly.

After I had unpacked and kissed all of our dogs, inside The Cabin, I decided to make lemonade out of our missing water pump situation. Because I could not take a shower and get cleaned up—I decided to do some push—mowing outside, while Tony finished up the chores.

Four hours later, Tony asked me to please stop push— mowing, because he didn't want me to over do it. I felt fine, but I took his advice, because I had push-mowed seven dog pens, two alleyways, and our backyard.

In the late afternoon, I climbed onto the riding lawnmower and mowed down the grass in Baxter's and Honey's big pen, up by the gate. Then I called it quits and came inside. I was dirty and too tired to write or post anything, on my blog, so I watched reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Early this morning our friend Bill, an excellent plumber, came out with his helper, to help Tony with our no-water situation and since they didn't need me to stand around giving them friendly advice or talk my head off, I cranked up the push—mower and cut the grass in our front yard. Then I mowed a big swatch of land starting from The Cabin all of the way to the feed barn. Then I cut off the mower, because Tony came to get me. "Nance, I've got good news. The flood didn't take our pump, down at the creek. It was still in tact and it was just stopped up with gravel, sand and debris and that's why it couldn't pump water up to the pump house."

I was thrilled with Tony's great news and Bill's bill. After writing our friend a check, I skipped up to The Cabin and took a nice, long, hot shower and dressed into a clean uniform. I washed a load of clothes while cooking us lunch and then we went to Kerrville to run several errands.

As I finish typing this tonight, the "Fall Trail Ride," Nancy J. Bailey's beautiful watercolor that she gave to me, is inline to be framed, by this coming Thursday. Our cupboards are once again restocked with food. And I am anxiously waiting for it to get dark outside, so I can watch my new, cool, Stella Solar Lantern, that I bought today, at Wild Birds Unlimited, light up, on our front porch.

And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Dress!

Today has been great. For the record, please note that our wood floors, inside The Cabin, were spic and span, before the heavy thunderstorms and hail arrived this afternoon. Now I have a dress story to tell you.

Years ago I finally feng shui-ed the only dress I owned, because I am not comfortable in dresses. And as you know I dress very simple. In fact, I basically wear the same kind of clothes/uniform everyday. My uniform for fall and winter months is 501 Levi's, navy blue, colored turtlenecks and boots. And it's 501 Levi's, denim work shirts and boots, for the spring and summer months.

For the past six or seven years I've know that I should go buy a dress to wear for funerals, weddings or special occasions, but I didn't, until last week, because Tony and I have several upcoming events to attend, that I should wear a dress at, in the next couple of months.

Before I purchased The Dress I talked to my dear friends, Kris & Jim, about wanting and needing to buy a dress and they suggested that I buy a simple black dress, because they are good for any occasion. That was good advice, but I didn't heed it, because I don't look good in black.

On Tuesday, April 7th, I did not dress up to go buy a dress and neither did Tony. We wore our uniforms and went to the mall, in Kerrville. We checked out dresses, in several department stores, but I didn't see anything that I really liked. Which makes sense, because I don't like dresses to begin with, because they make me look frumpier than I already am.

Anyway, after the third store, Tony started grumbling and was starting to make those kinds of noises that you do when you roll your eyes. So I decided to go to Cross Cultures, my favorite store, in the entire mall, because I knew they would have the perfect dress for me to wear. (Over my jeans. I wish.)

I love Cross Cultures for several reasons and the main ones are: The good vibes are incredibly great inside the store, it always smells fabulous, because of their huge selection of quality incense and the storeowners are incredibly nice, friendly, helpful people. Plus they have super cool stuff to sell.

Well, I was right about finding the perfect dress there and Tony was so happy watching the man fold up The Dress and slip it inside a plastic bag, because he knew that we were finally done shopping and could go back home.

In fact, Tony was so glad that I had finally purchased The Dress to wear, he tied the sack handles, into a tight knot, I guess, so it wouldn't fly out of the bag or something like that, which would then cause us to have to make another day spent, at the mall.

Anyway, a few days later, I realized that it might be smart for me to try on The Dress just to make sure that it would fit me. So, when Tony went outside to mow, I went into the bedroom to try on The Dress for most occasions.

The Dress was still folded up, inside the tied up bag, on our dresser, where I had left it. When I untied Tony's knot and pulled The Dress out of the bag, I instantly smelled that store's sweet fragrant incense, on The Dress. The aroma filled the air, in our bedroom, so I went into the kitchen and wrote down, "buy incense," on my "To Do" list. Then I took The Dress off and got back into my uniform.

An hour later, Tony, who, let's just say "Isn't real fond of incense," walked inside The Cabin, sniffed the air, and asked, "What's that smell?"

"It's The Dress!" I said, proudly. "And it fits, thank goodness."

"Where's The Dress?"

"In our closet," I said. "Why?"

"It's all of the way back there? And I can smell it all of the way from here?" Then he chuckled.

"I love the way it smells and I'm going to buy that same kind of incense, the next time we go to the mall," I said, defensively. "And for your information, it will make it easier for you to find me, at events, too."

"Don't worry about that," Tony joked. "They're going to smell us coming from a mile away." And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Steaming Mad!

Today has been great. I was very busy all day and I got a ton done. As of today I am temporarily all caught up, so I am celebrating tonight, by playing with my new Bissell POWERFRESH steam mop.

Sweet Tony bought it for me this afternoon, at Penneys, because my old steam mop was so undependable. It seemed that every other time that I wanted to use it, it wouldn't work or it would get clogged up, even though I always used distilled water in it and that always made me steaming mad.

And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Fall Trail Ride! or Nancy J. Bailey Rules!

Today has been great. This afternoon, my new friend, Nancy J. Bailey, an extremely talented author, who wrote the fabulous book The North Side Of Down: A True Story Of Two Sisters sent me a package.

After I asked Tony to please open up the box for me, because I was checking our other mail, he asked, "What do you think it is?"

"It's that great book that Eileen gave to me. I enjoyed reading the book so much, Eileen gave me Nancy's address, so I could send it back to Nancy, for her to sign to me."

When Tony opened up the box, there was my book or should I say Nancy's fabulous book "that you can't put down."

As I looked to the page to see what Nancy had written, Tony says, "There's more." Then he pulled out this beautiful 11"x15" watercolor that she had painted and I loved it, because when I had first checked out Nancy J. Bailey's beautiful art, months ago—this watercolor was titled, "Fall Trail Ride" and it was instantly my very favorite painting. In fact, this painting spoke to me so much that I had even blogged about how much I loved her "Fall Trail Ride" watercolor.

When Tony first showed it to me, still wrapped inside its protective cover, I assumed that it was a signed print and I was absolutely thrilled about receiving it and I could not wait to get it framed. But when I removed it from the protective cover to admire it some more— I almost fainted, because it was not a signed print. It was her signed, original watercolor! "Omg, Tony! I can't believe that Nancy gave her beautiful painting to me!" Then I started to tear up, because I was so touched by this awesome watercolor and her kindness to me. To check out more of Nancy J. Bailey's beautiful artwork please click here.

"It really is beautiful, Nance and there's a more thing she sent." Then he pulled out a sample package of Wysong Biscuits dog treats. So I took this picture of it and then Tony opened up the sample package and fed the dog treats to our four legged family and they absolutely loved them. So, we plan to order them some more, because our dogs loved them and they are MADE IN USA, family owned and operated organization. And Nancy J. Bailey recommends them.

Before I finish writing this tonight I want to do a big shout out to one very multi-talented woman. "Thank you so very much, Nancy! I love what you wrote to me in the book, too! Nancy J. Bailey Rules!"

Y'all have a great evening!

We've Got Twins!

Yesterday was more than great. Sam Kindrick's Action Magazine's 40th Anniversary blowout celebration, at the Texas Pride BBQ, in Adkins, Texas was so much fun and the $8,300.00 raised, at the gate, that Kinky, Tony and I worked, at $10.00 per person tickets, was certainly a financial pleasure for our rescue ranch, too!

Texas Pride BBQ was one of the coolest places to be in Texas yesterday, to listen to the very best of Texas musicians. Tony, the nice Texas Pride BBQ owner and his super friendly, fun staff were so easy to work with, because they were so organized. It was obviously not their first rodeo dealing with a huge, friendly crowd. If you weren't up front dancing or inside eating tasty BBQ food, every bench and chair, in the super cool place, was occupied and it didn't seem to bother any of the many standing room only folks.

The huge crowd came out to celebrate this blowout event, to show their love, respect and appreciation for Sam Kindrick and his super popular Action magazine. He and his awesome magazine are considered legendary. And after I got to meet him, in person, I got to have a very fun visit with him and then I understood why everyone knows and loves Sam and Action magazine.

Our dear friend and popular radio host, Roy Holley and the great folks, that he works with, over at KKYX, were also at the event, because they love Sam and Action magazine, so much. In fact, for months in advance, they have been plugging this event non-stop to make sure that everyone knew about it so they wouldn't miss out on the fabulous music and fun. Here are a few pictures that Tony and I took during the celebration.

That's Tony, sitting down, on the bench, up front and to the right.

Our dear friends, Little Jewford, Sage & Dylan Ferrero and Jay & Sara Pennington also showed up to celebrate with everyone and they kept Kinky, Tony and me laughing non-stop. In fact, at one point, Jay asked his sweet wife to please shoot him and me. 

And this morning, after sleeping in, because we didn't get back home until after 10:30 last night, I discovered that Jay had doctored and then posted our picture, on his Facebook page, so I tagged it and put it on my Facebook page. I've titled Sara's pictures that she took of us We've Got Twins!

And he wrote under this picture: "The very sweet "Cousin" Nancy Parker-Simons who runs Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch - proceeds from Sam Kindrick's Action Mag 40th anniversary music event last Sunday will go to help Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch."

Well, I plan to spend the rest of this evening working on my third novella, because I am having a blast with it and that's about it for tonight. 

Y'all have a great evening!

Congratulations To Action Magazine's 40th Anniversary! We Love Y'all!

Today has been great, but it was uneventful due to drizzling or misting rain, so I spent most of my day inside The Bunkhouse, my pretty, pink writing cabin, having a blast writing on my 3rd hilarious novella.

Tomorrow, Kinky, Tony and I will be at the famous Texas Pride BBQ, in Adkins, Texas celebrating Action Magazine's 40th Anniversary with all of the gate's proceeds benefiting our rescue ranch, thanks to the kindness of Sam Kindrick, Roy Holley at KKYX, Texas Pride BBQ and all of the fabulous musicians that will be performing tomorrow.

It is going to be a total blast and I can't wait to see and hear all of our musician friends: Augie Meyers, Johnny Bush, Johnny Rodriguez, Joe King Carrasco, Darryl McCall, etc. If you're in the vicinity, please drop by, because it is going to be so much fun with totally delicious food and the tickets are only $10.00 per person to see the show. Congratulations to Action Magazine's 40th Anniversary! We love y'all and that's about it for tonight. Action Magazine Rules And So Do Dogs!

Y'all have a great evening!

Greater Tuna!

Today has been great, but nothing really exciting happened. Tony and I spent most of our day mowing down grass and weeds and then I baked us a tuna pot pie for our lunch.

We've never eaten a tuna pot pie or even heard of one and the reason why I made the pot pie using tuna is because I forgot to buy chicken yesterday. Anyway, it was delicious and Tony loved the fish pot pie and even got seconds. I've named my new recipe Cousin Nancy's Greater Tuna. And he wants me to make it again and that's about it for tonight.

A Weirdo!

Today has been great even though I overslept this morning. While I was drinking my first cup of coffee the phone rang—it was Kinky. "Good morning, Nance. When you have a chance please come over, because...."

Twenty minutes later, I walked inside the Lodge and was greeted by Kinky, Chet O'Keefe and The Friedmans. Chet was cooking on the stove top, and said, "I'm fixing Kinky and me some spaghetti for breakfast. Would you like some?"Then Chet and I started laughing when Kinky started defending why eating spaghetti for breakfast is no big deal.

"Thanks, but no thanks," I said. "We just ate some homemade lasagna for breakfast." Kinky and Chet looked shocked. "Not really. I'm just kidding..."

While Chet and Kink ate their spaghetti breakfast, Kinky told us that a good friend of ours hates puns. "No seriously he can't stand them," Kinky said, followed by a chuckle. "So, I told Sean, "These two antennae decide to get married and they sent out invitations to their friends asking them to RSVP if they would be attending their reception."

We all laughed and then I told them the pun that I had heard on The Ellen Show, the other day. "Do you know what you call a bear without teeth? A gummy bear."

So now it was Chet's turn. "Do you know what you call a line of rabbits walking backwards? A receding hare line."

This afternoon Chet, Tony and I carpooled or truckpooled to Kerrville, because we all needed to go to Home Depot, H-E-B and the Post Office. Our first stop was at the Post Office, because I needed to mail Chet's music Cd's to my dear friend Cindy, in Northern New Mexico and Chet needed to mail a few letters.

Then we went to Home Depot and then we all went our separate ways, because we all needed stuff. Chet ended up purchasing some paint and 4" plastic pipe, for his Chet Pack. Tony purchased more dirt and seeds and I bought a gallon of pink paint, a small can of black Rustoleum, a paint brush and these beautiful flowers.

Then we went to H-E-B and I am so glad that we did, because we saw our good friend, Ellen, who had a gift, sent to her from her cousin Pam, to give to me and it was out in Ellen's car. So while Tony went outside with Ellen, to her car, to get my package, Chet and I took off in different directions, in the store. And that's when I  ran into our dear friend Marguerite.

Ed Helms' sweet mother, Pam, sent me an REI, beautiful, blue, tie-dye bandana, just like the one that she had worn the last time that we saw her, because I had admired it. So when we got back home, I tied the bandana around my neck and then I asked Tony to please come outside and take a picture of me wearing Pam's beautiful gift. 

When we went outside, I picked up Little Debbie and then I sat down on the porch, so Tony could shoot me and this is what happened and it is the first picture Tony took of me. It's a funny picture, because I look like a weirdo, because our dogs were drowning me in kisses and you can't even see the beautiful bandana at all.

After Tony showed me my goofy-looking picture I asked him to please take another one with just Little Debbie, Roy and me.

I want to thank Pam for my beautiful, blue bandana gift that I love and will wear often. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

To Bee or Not To Bee!

Today has been great and merry Easter to all. Yesterday was a great day, too, but because my computer was unusable all day, into the late evening, because Chet O'Keefe needed to use my computer's power cord charger to be able to power up Tony's computer, so he could fix Tony's computer's photo software problem. And the good news is Tony's computer photo problem is now fixed. Tony's happy, he has a new power cord on the way and I can now use my computer. "Thank you Chet!"

Yesterday I could not wait to use my computer so I could blog about Bee Spears getting adopted to a wonderful home, in Kerrville. Nate and Jessica, a great, super nice couple that has two delightful boys wanted to adopt an older dog from us, so it could be a companion to their seven-year-old Great Pyrenees!

When Jessica had called me on Friday after telling me that they wanted to adopt an older, big dog and they did not care if the dog was short haired or long haired, a male or female, a breed or a mutt—they just wanted a sweet dog. I was totally impressed with them already, because so many people will not even consider adopting an older dog.

Anyway, we are all thrilled for Bee Spears, that old, sweet, lovable dog, Dale Evans' roommate, that used to roam around Willie Nelson's golf course has hopefully found his wonderful, loving home. But please, for the next few days we all need to keep our fingers crossed for him that he and the Pyr will become fast friends, because usually within the first forty-eight hours it will determine if the adoption will stick. So the To Bee or Not To Bee countdown begins.

Nate, Jessica and their cute boys came out around 2:00 yesterday afternoon to look at our dogs and Nate had to ride with Tony, in Kermit, because he was temporarily on crutches, because of an ankle injury. When I introduced Jessica and the kids to Bee, he immediately stole Jessica's and the boy's hearts and Jessica said, "It's something about his eyes..." So, Nate hobbled over, on his crutches, to meet Bee and watch him interact lovingly with their children.

After about spending ten minutes with Bee, Tony and I showed them the rest of our dogs. And after the meet & greet, Jessica asked,"Can we go see Bee, again? I really like him, a lot."And the rest is history I hope.

Here's a quick picture that I took of Bee with Jessica and Nate (without using his crutches, just before Bee eagerly jumped up into the front side, passenger seat of their pickup and sat down. (Jessica chose to ride back to their home, in the back seat, with the boys.) So I guess you could say that Bee rode shotgun.

And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Son of Foghorn!

Today has been great. Tony and I got up really early, so we could do our outdoor chores early, because Tony had an appointment to "get his ears lowered" or "his wings removed," in Medina, at 9:30.

A little after 10:15, when Tone arrived back at the rescue ranch, without wings, Jim was down at the creek with Mr. Rogers & Miss Dee, June and our new friend/volunteer, Kelly, were walking out of the ranch with Ben Stiller & La Toya Jackson just as Kris & Jim were pulling in.

After I greeted Kris & The Mineral Man I told them that I wanted to introduce them to Kelly when he returned with the dogs. "Kelly and his sweet wife are the nice couple who adopted Hank from us, last Sunday. He told me that Hank is a fabulous dog. They've taken him everyday to the dog park to let him swim and to be off-leash and he did great. He sleeps in their bedroom too and...." By 11:00, Kelly had met and been welcomed by Kris & The Mineral Man, Jim and June.

Around 11:30, everyone jumped into their modes of transportation and took off to go eat lunch together, at the Koyote Grill. Talk about a fun lunch! Kelly immediately fit right in with everyone and it didn't take him long to believe me when I had told him, on Sunday, "You're going to love our great volunteers. They are so hilarious and always making jokes and they love to laugh. We always have so much fun with them..."

First, June told us about getting ready to go with friends, next weekend, to The Rose Theatre, in San Antone, to watch the audience participation play You've Ruined A Perfectly Good Mystery. A few minutes later the subject changed to wrestling events coming soon, to Kerrville, at the Ag Barn, then all of us started taking turns naming our favorite wrestlers, roller derby queens, etc.

Before our fun lunch had ended, June told us a hilarious story about a family member's rooster named Foghorn, that would routinely attacked family or friends if they weren't carrying a rake, to protect themselves, when they entered the yard. And she had all of us laughing until her Foghorn rooster story hit a little too close to home for me.

While everyone was still laughing about Foghorn, the attack rooster, I stood up, placed my hand next to my lower hip and said, "Our rooster, Rooster Cogburn, is really big and tall. In fact, he is so tall his head is even with my hips."

"That's really not all that tall," Tony wisecracked, "Because you're so short!" His remark was followed by a round of laughter. 

"No Tony," The Mineral Man joked. "That's not politically correct. I think you're supposed to say that she's height challenged or something like that." Followed by another round of laughter.

"Or height deprived," I quipped back. After some jokes had been made about how ridiculous political correctness has become, etc., I continued on, "Well June, I think we've got the Son of Foghorn, at the rescue ranch, because last Friday morning, after Tony took off on his trip, I think Rooster Cogburn actually tried to kill me." Everyone started laughing. "No seriously," when I went to let the chickens, out of The Egg Palace, so I could feed them and the pigs he chased me all around the pigpen. It was really scary and...."

After lunch, on our way back to the rescue ranch, Tony said, "Nancy, I don't think Rooster Cogburn would actually try to attack you with his spurs or try to flog you. But just to be safe, the next time that you go into the pigpen just carry a rake with you."

"Well, that's never going to happen, Tony. Because I'm never going back into that pigpen again, because Rooster "Son of Foghorn" Cogburn rules." And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Thumping Away!

Yesterday was great, because it was a 4-H day for us. We had to go to H-E-B for groceries, Hastings, so I could buy the movie Wild, Home Depot, to buy Tony dirt and seeds, and Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, so we could pick up Ximbal aka Jack Black, so we could bring him to the rescue ranch.

Jack Black is one super cool, six-month-old Lab mix. When we first met him, in Hoegemeyer's lobby, a tiny Chihuahua snarled, snapped and growled at him and he instantly backed away wagging his tail non-stop, because he was not wanting to cause any trouble. He did great riding inside Trigger and he did not get truck-sick.

When we arrived back at the ranch, we decided to put him in Bonnie Raitt's pen aka The Okay Corral also known as the front yard of my pink, writing cabin. He and Bonnie became fast friends and since they've met all they want to do is play with each other. And as soon as I take a great picture of him I will post it.

Last night I did some more writing and then I relaxed and watched Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon, with Little Debbie and Alice sleeping on my lap. I loved the movie and I am glad that I read Cheryl Strayed's book Wild before watching the movie.

Today has been great. This afternoon we met our good friends Kris & Jim for lunch, in Kerrville or maybe it was Ingram, because it's location was too close to call.

While we had a fun lunch with Kris and The Mineral Man, I told them about pinching a nerve in my upper back a few days ago and Kris suggested that I go to H-E-B to buy IcyHot's Smart Relief Tens Therapy for back pain therapy. "She told me, "It is a battery control unit with a reusable electrode pad, about the size of a small remote and it really works..."

So after our super fun lunch, we went straight, down the Junction Highway, to the big H-E-B, so I could buy this highly recommended product.

Then we came back home. After Tony carefully read the IcyHot package instructions he stood behind me and stuck it, to my upper back, and then he says, "Tell me when it hurts."

"What?!" I snap back. "It's not supposed to hurt. It's supposed to help. What are you doing back there?"

He started laughing and then he finally says, "It has 63 intensity levels. Tell me when you can feel it." A few seconds later, after he had kept pressing the "+" button, I felt it thumping away. It was like someone was gently tapping their fingers, on my back.

"Okay, I can feel it, Tony. That's enough." Tony chuckled and continued to press the "+" button a few more times, before he finally stopped. Then I went and laid down on our bed—face first, with our dogs snuggling up against me.

Thirty minutes later after the first session, it automatically shut-off the thumping therapy and believe it or not my back pain was totally gone! And as I finish writing this tonight, I am still feeling no pain. "Thank you, Kris! I love it!"

Y'all have a great evening!