Happy Halloween!

Yesterday was great. We received over 1.5 inches of rain! And when I was helping Tony with the morning chores outside, I nearly slipped and fell twice, but luckily I didn't!

Around 5:00, yesterday evening a nice man called me from Medina. He has eight, eight-week-old mix breed pups that he needs to find homes for. Because we are full out here and could not take his puppies, we did the next best thing—we went to Medina and I took pictures of them.

They are all adorable puppies and very sweet. Because each puppy was excited when he brought one out to be photographed I had to work fast. So please excuse a few of the fuzzy pictures.

Anyway, if you know someone looking for a pup and you think they might be interested, please call me at the rescue ranch and I will put you in touch with the man. The pups are males and females, but because this was a quick photo-shoot, i am not sure who are male and who are female. And please note that these are going to be big dogs and part Lab.

I wrote this early this morning, because I couldn't sleep last night, because of the storms.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great Halloween! If I can get a little sleep today I'll try to write more this evening.

Y'all have a great day/evening!

10:14! or Just A Few More Reasons Why We Love Kerrville So Much!

Today has been great. This morning Tony told me that he was going to do the outside chores early, so we could run our errands early in Kerrville, because he had a few things he wanted to do this afternoon, before the sweet kids, from the Arms of Hope at the Medina Children's Home, came over to walk our dogs for us.

Around 10:14, we were fixing' to leave, to go to Kerrville, when Chet O'Keefe called. He and his super dog, Willy, had left earlier this morning, to go out to Terlingua, because he had some gigs to play out there.

Chet had called us, because his Toyota's starter had gone out and he and Willy were stuck, in the big Post Office's parking lot. He had already called O'Reilly's Auto Parts and they were nice enough to  order a new starter for him and they had promised him that it would be, at their store, by 1:30.

Chet told us (we had it on Speaker Phone by now) that he needed Aaron's phone number to see if Aaron could help him replace the starter and that he needed for us to please bring him some of his tools, so maybe he could get started trying to remove the starter.

Then he told us that two different Kerrville Police Department cars had come by to talk to him. "The Police Officers were friendly and really nice to me and Willy. They told me that two different people had called in, to report him. And the calls came from the Post Office, but not from the Postal Employees. The two calls had come from two different people just going to the Post Office. One person told the police that I looked suspicious or something and the other woman who reported me, told them that they were scared of me..."

Thirty minutes later, we arrived at the Post Office, with Chet's tools. He looked a little frustrated, because he couldn't get a hold of Aaron. After talking to Chet for a few minutes, I suggested that we call Balser's Northside Automotive to see if they could help fix his starter and send a wrecker, because a few snooty-looking people, going inside the Post Office, were staring at us and they were making a point to make sure that we saw their ugly-looks that they were giving us.

We  called Balser's and they said they could fix Chet's starter today and they recommended that Chet call this wrecker service. Chet called the wrecker service and unfortunately all of their wreckers were busy for the day, because of a big job they were doing.

Before I suggested that we call Balser's back, the coolest thing happened! A wrecker pulled into the parking lot and parked near us. This nice man smiled at us and I waved. Then I walked up to his wrecker as he was getting out. "Hi, I'm Nancy and our friend needs a wrecker. Could you help tow his Toyota over to Balsers?"

"Sure! A good friend of mine works, at Balser's. Those are good people." Then this friendly man quoted Chet a reasonably low cost for towing his vehicle." And a few minutes later, Tony, Chet & Willy and me jumped into Trigger and then we followed Jacob, the Hill Country Wrecker Service owner, over to Balser's Northside Automotive!"

The people at Balser's Northside Automotive were great when we got there. And Jacob gave Chet a discount for towing his Toyota.

We had about two hours to kill, before the new starter came in, so we decided to eat lunch. But before we did that, we went to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, to see if they could baby-sit Willy, for an hour or so. "Sure," Susan told Chet, wearing a big smile, on her face. "Not a problem. I love your music.  Hi Willy..."

After we dropped Willy off, we went to eat lunch, but we still had about forty-minutes to kill before the starter would arrive, at O'Reily's. So we went to O'Reilly's so Chet could pre-pay for the starter, that they would deliver to Balser's. Then we ran Tony's and my errands. Then we went back to Hoegermeyer Animal Clinic to pick up Willy. And then we went back to Balser's to wait for them to replace the starter. And it didn't take them long.

Chet was more than thrilled about how quickly one of Balser's fine mechanics had replaced Chet's starter and the amount that they had charged him to replace the starter. Then he and Willy took off.

This afternoon, around 4:08, the sweet kids came over and they walked our dogs for us and our dogs had a total blast.

So here are just a few more reasons why we love Kerrville so much! "Thank you, O'Reilly's Auto Parts, Kerrville Police Department, Balser's Northside Automotive, Hill Country Wrecker Service, Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and Arms of Hope at the Medina Children's Home! Y'all are the very BEST!

P.S. Aaron called me earlier this evening and he apologized for not being able to help Chet today. He had left his phone, in his car and wasn't able to check his messages until he finished working.

Y'all have a great evening!

Shelf Life!

Today has been great. Unfortunately, I overslept, because I didn't sleep well last night, so Tony did the morning chores with out me.

Yesterday morning, while I was going from room to room trying to locate my bifocals, I walked into the big room and the CBS Morning News team was just fixing' to interview Ted Koppel about his new book, Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving The Aftermath, that was being released yesterday.

I love Ted Koppel, he was one of my favorite broadcast journalist, so I turned up the TV and sat close to the screen so I could watch the interview. I was shocked, amazed and a little bit scared about what he said could possibly happen and probably would happen, if one or all of our three grids went down, because of a cyberattack. It concerned me and got me to thinking, so I immediately purchased a Kindle Edition version of Ted Koppel's new book.  Here's the link to his CBS interview.

Several months ago, after talking to several friends, about everyone needing to have a one month food supply, for natural disaster emergencies I took it seriously, but I did nothing about it. Until one day when I was surfing the television and came across some home shopping channel.

I have never watched home shopping channels, because I have heard horror stories about people getting hooked and maxing out their credit cards, etc. and that was not for me, because most of the time I keep mine nearly maxed out.

But because the show's headline subject matter was something like 30-Days Emergency Food Supply Buckets—I clicked on the channel to watch. These beautiful women were selling these survival buckets of food for only $99.00 each and they would normally be sold for $299.00 or something close to that amount!

They were cooking the "just add water food" and talking about how easy it was and delicious they were. Anyway, as I watched the number of units being sold sky-rocket, at the bottom of the screen, with just a little time and units left to buy—I skipped over to my purse.

Ah ha! There were my glasses! So I put them on and then as fast as I could I pulled out a credit card. Then I rushed over to the phone and dialed the toll-free number. "Yes, this is "me" and I want to buy two buckets for Tony and me...!" I gasped because I was out of air, praying that I was not too late to save Tony and my lives.

After placing my free-shipping order, I skipped outside and told Tony what I had done for our future existence. He unenthusiastically remarked, "Great."

Then I jumped into Trigger and went over to Kinky's Lodge to brag some more about what I had just done. And to say the least, Kinky rolled his eyes and puffed on his cigar. He didn't seem real impressed with my news either.

NOW BACK TO THE FUTURE

As soon as Kindle downloaded Ted Koppel's book, I sat down, with Little Debbie, on my lap and read the first three chapters. Then I took a break, because there was so much information and facts to absorb. And I was starting to feel a little bit depressed about the world we live in today. So I called a dear friend of mine to help lift my spirits.

After a short, fun visit, I told my friend about watching the Ted Koppel interview, earlier, my one-time-experience with a home shopping channel, to help save Tony's and my lives. Then I told my friend, "Hey, I know that I am a little bit out there, so to speak, but it can't hurt to be prepared. Right?"

"I think they are calling people like that Preppers, but I am not sure."

"Anyway, last week I purchased a sealable, orange bucket, from Home Depot, for a few bucks and I filled that bucket up with food. We now have three buckets!" My friend chuckled.

"What kind of food did you buy?"

"I went to the big H-E-B store and bought about 40 of these packets of Idaho Mashed Potatoes, Garlic Potatoes, etc. for less than a $1.00 each. You only have to add water and they each make four servings. So that way Kinky and Chet can eat with us, too."

"That's great, Nance. Y'all can have candlelight dinners since there won't be any electricity," My friend joked and then we both started laughing. "How is Chet doing?"

"He's fine and fixing' to head back out, to Terlingua."

"But I am not done yet. I knew those potato packets wouldn't fill the bucket completely up, so I started looking at all of these canned vegetables and fruits shelf-life dates and bought a bunch of them, too. And the good news is the potato packets and canned goods don't expire until 2018! So I figure if we don't have a disaster by 2018, Tone and I will become full-time vegetarians, for a while, until we eat it all up. Of course that is, if our own shelf-life hasn't already expired."

Y'all have a great evening!

P.S. I love Ted Koppel's book and plan to finish reading it tonight. I hope y'all will check it out, too.

Her Turn To Vent!

Today has been great. I got up this morning, at 6:15, so I could be wide awake to do Big G's radio show, around 7:20.  As I drank my first cup of delicious Donut Shop coffee I looked outside. It was still dark.

The indoor/outdoor thermometer, above the kitchen sink, showed that it was 43 degrees outside and the inside temperature was 63 degrees, because we hadn't turned on the central heat. So I put on my navy blue sweatshirt to help keep me warm and then I said goodbye to Tony, as he left to go drink coffee with his friends, at the famous Old Timer, in Medina.

I had fun doing the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch segment with Big G. After I had told him about Bonnie Raitt, a beautiful, sweet Lab mix, being his Pet of the Week and that she was approximately two-years-old and was a super dog we changed the subject.

We started talking about the weather and the recent rain that we got last Saturday. Which led us to the reason why me and my brother and sister have a huge fear of thunder and lightning storms.

"Big G, my mother was a twin and when she was only five or six-years-old, she was with her family, standing on a corner, in downtown Fort Worth. When this big 18-wheeler truck struck her and dragged her two blocks down Main Street. The doctors had to put this metal plate in her head and she and her identical twin sister had to miss an entire year of school, because of that. And when the doctors finally released my mom, from the hospital, they warned my grandparents that my mom was like a walking lighting rod, so they were to always keep her safe indoors during all electrical storms...."

A little while later, after Tony had returned home, I checked the indoor/outdoor thermometer again. It had risen to 48 degrees outside and 64 degrees inside, so I turned on the heater for the very first time this Fall.

Then I watched Little Debbie run across the big room, over to the kitchen vent, so she could vent, next to Roy.

And moments later, Belle joined them.

Then Big Al(ice) showed up.

About five minutes after that, Beau was outside and he started barking at squirrel, so Roy and Belle immediately got up and raced to the front door and let themselves go outside. Leaving just Little Debbie and Al(ice). 

Then when Tony walked back into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee, Little Debbie took off to go greet him. And Big Al(ice) didn't seem to mind at all, because I guess she thought it was finally her turn to vent. Before Tony and I went outside to do the morning chores. And the funny thing about it when we went outside—it was warmer outside than it was inside The Cabin.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Calmest Cat In Kerrville! or The Cat In The Cart!

Yesterday afternoon and today have been great. Yesterday while Tony and I were shopping, at Home Depot, to buy some more trim, etc. for the Mother Ship, my RV and we saw the coolest thing that we've never seen before in Home Depot.

We were heading towards the tile department when we saw this woman pushing a shopping cart with a beautiful cat, wearing a blue leash, sleeping peacefully, in her cart! We both took a double take as the woman and her precious companion went past us. "Tony, can you believe that?" I asked. And before he could answer, I said, "I am going to go ask her if I can take a picture of her cat!" Then I turned around and skipped over to the woman. "Excuse me, ma'am. You have the coolest cat! We've seen dogs inside this store, but we've never seen a cat. Would it be alright with you if I took a picture of your cat for my Blog?"

Seconds later, the sweet woman stood back, so I could snap a couple of pictures. And after I took a few quick pictures of the calmest cat in Kerrville, I thanked the woman for letting me take pictures.

Then Tony walked up and asked if he could pet her super friendly cat. With customers all stopping and taking double takes of the cat in the cart, we told this nice woman that we run the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch and how much we love cats and dogs, etc. and she thanked us for what we do.

We visited with this friendly woman for a few more minutes and learned that the cat's name is Grace and she is seven-years-old. The lady told us that she takes her cat everywhere with her and that her cat loves to ride in cars and go into stores. "When I open the car door, Grace jumps immediately inside and she quickly settles down on the front seat or the backseat. And sometimes she tries to ride, on my lap. Which is a big No-No...."

This morning it was drizzling outside when, Eileen, our good friend/volunteer, called and left a message. "Nancy, Tony, I have gotten some more free dog food to give to y'all and because it is raining, in Kerrville, I was wondering if y'all would want to meet Lisa, Kris & Jim and me for lunch, at the Thai O'cha, for lunch. And then after lunch we could unload the dog food from my truck to your truck, so it won't get wet?..."

We had a wonderful time with our friends, at the Thai O'cha and the food was totally delicious. And believe it or not—For the very first time, at this restaurant, Tony and I did not order the same thing, because I was not real hungry. 

Yes, Tony ordered the #4, like we always have done, in the past and this time I ordered the all-you-can-eat soup and salad bar. 

During our fun lunch, we laughed a lot and talked about monkeys, snakes, the latest weather forecast, etc. So Jim pulled out his cell phone and told us about this cool weather App, called Dark Sky, and he showed it to us. So Lisa immediately purchased it for $3.99, for her iPhone and so did Eileen. 

Tony and I would have purchased it, too, but we both forgot to bring our phones with us, which is a common thing for us to do, because we are forgetful. But, as soon as we got back home, we bought the coolest weather App that we've ever seen.

Before I finish writing this tonight I want to show y'all the perfect birthday presents that Lisa gave to me, before we ate lunch today. The cute "It's all Good in the Trailer Hood" made by Twisted Wares is a Hang Tight Towel, with a sewn in loop and it is made in Texas! And I am going to hang it the Mother Ship! I also love the H&H dish soap dispenser which is perfect for The Cabin's kitchen decor. "Thank you, Lisa! I love my presents and yesterday I bought a big bottle of Ivory dish soap!"

I just went outside and took these pictures of our beautiful, healthy, bountiful, Fall Keyhole garden, before it starts raining, thundering and lightning tonight.

And I took these pictures of of our beautiful Purple Sage, that has literally doubled its size since Spring. And please note the pretty purple flowers, because Tony says, "It always blooms when it is fix'in to rain.

I wrote this earlier this evening and have scheduled it to post at 7:00, because I might be "unplugged" by then, because there is a strong possibility that we might have some serious thunderstorms tonight. And the coolest thing is our new Dark Sky weather apps will tell us exactly when it is going to start and stop raining, etc.

Y'all have a great evening!

Big Time Pranksters!

Yesterday and today have been great. Wednesday afternoon I spent about three hours working on the Mother Ship's kitchen area. Around 6:00, I came inside to check my phone messages.

I had two messages. One message was from Kinky and the other one was from Carol & Bill's and our friend, Jeff Severson, aka The Singing Cowboy, who earned four Super Bowl Rings, during his pro football days.

Jeff is a big time prankster and every time that he and Lorri come to visit Carol & Bill, he plays a prank on me and this has been going on for several years. Jeff's hilarious message had to do with kangaroos and if I hadn't known, in advance, that he was coming to visit Bill & Carol yesterday—I would have fallen for another one of his pranks.

I was still laughing about Jeff's phone call when Carol called me. " Hi Nancy. Jeff, Donna & Jack Roddy are here. Jeff wants to see y'all and Jack & Donna want to meet the famous Cousin Nancy and Tony. We just got back from Luckenbach and....And if Chet's around please invite him, too."

After I told Carol that I was in the middle of painting some trim, inside the Mother Ship, I told her that we would love to see them and Jeff and meet Jack & Donna as soon as I finished my project.

FYI: Jack & Donna are best friends with Jeff & Lorri and Carol & Bill. In fact, the Roddy's introduced Carol to Bill and Carol & Bill got married on their ranch, in California. And like Jeff and Bill, Jack is a big time prankster, too. And you can check out Jack Roddy, who is a member of the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, for winning two world championships in steer wrestling, in 1966 and 1968.

Last night, Tony and I had a blast, over at Bill & Carol's ranch and unfortunately Chet wasn't able to make it. Jeff, Bill and Jack kept all of us laughing, as they told us about some of their big time pranks that they had played on each other. And Donna backed up everyone of their hilarious stories.

When Jeff told us about renting a $7,000.00 blow-up gorilla, the kind that you see at car dealerships and grand openings, for this famous trail ride they had went on, many years ago, I nearly wet my pants as they described what they did to that rented 30 foot tall gorilla.

When all of our backs were aching from laughing so much Jeff and I grabbed our guitars. Jeff sang several great songs that he has written and then Jack serenaded us with some old cowboy songs. And while I was picking' & grinning' with Jeff, I nearly teared up when Jack sang the classic, American cowboy song, Little Joe The Wrangler.

When it started to sprinkle, on the deck, Jeff and I put away our guitars. And as soon as we had put them back inside their cases—it stopped raining. So we talked about our horses, dogs, Jack & Donna's Chihuahuas and our Little Debbie & Big Al(ice), Jeff playing for the crowd, in Luckenbach, a few hours earlier, the serious drought, in California and in Texas. And that led us to talking about rattle snakes and other poisonous snakes that we've dealt with. And before we knew it—it was time for Tony and me to come back home.

Right before we went to bed, we had a scare. Tony went outside to bring our dogs back inside and when he got Roy, Belle, Beau, Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) inside, he said, "Don't go outside or let the dogs out again, because there is a big rattle snake, rattling under the porch." When I asked him where it was, he said, "Basically, right below where you're standing, by the sink." And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Fay From Toronto! or Big G From Kerrville!

Yesterday and today have been great. Last night our dear friend Fay called me, from Toronto. Fay, from Toronto, is our long time, dear friend. She and her beautiful family over the years have adopted three dogs from us: Kris Kristofferson, Kia and Blake Shelton.

Anyway, she called me last night, because she and her sweet husband Ian were, at Hugh's Room, visiting with Kinky, Brian Molnar and Joe Cirotti, before Kinky, Brian and Joe performed to a standing room only crowd. And Fay sent me these four pictures .

Fay & Kinky

Kinky & Joe

When Fay called me she told me that the crowd loves Kinky and that he was being kept busy autographing his new Cd, The Loneliest Man I Ever Met, that Brian produced. Before handing the phone over to Kinky, she also told me that she and Ian were having a blast.

I had a fun, but rather short visit with Kinky before someone, in the crowd, asked him to please sign his Cd for them. Kinky told me that he is really enjoying his tour with Brian and Joe. He is badly missing all of The Friedmans, especially Sophia and he hopes that we get a lot of rain, in the next few days.

This morning I did some more work on, the Mother Ship, my old, 1993 Shasta RV. Then around 1:00 Tony and I went to Kerrville to buy more dog food for our rescued dogs and then run a few errands. And the best part of our trip to Kerrville was getting to visit with Marguerite, at the Wild Birds Unlimited store.

And before I go back outside to work on my RV, I want to wish our dear friend Big G a Happy Birthday.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthdays to Kevin H., Heidi W. and Me!

International Day at The Rescue Ranch! or Sunscreen-Sun-Screamed!

Today has been great. Early this morning Dawn was the first volunteer to come out to walk our dogs for us and while she was here, the sweet couple, from Germany, that adopted Bella from us came to pick her up and Bella was more than excited about it.

This nice couple lives in Germany six months and then they spend six months, in Bandera. Last year they officially adopted Bella from us on one condition, that we keep her the six months that they must spend in Germany. Bella loves them as much as they love sweet Bella and seeing Bella so happy, once again, started my day out great.

And ten minutes after Bella had happily left our rescue ranch, this very nice couple came out with their friend Mark, because Mark wanted to adopt one of our super dogs.

After I had introduced him to all of our dogs Mark narrowed it down to Lucille and Walter. So, Tony leashed up Lucille for Mark and then Mark and his friends and I took off. We walked down to the creek and stayed there for about twenty minutes before returning to the rescue ranch.

Then it was Walter's turn to go for a walk with Mark, so Tony leashed him up. And because all of our volunteers had arrived, Mark and his friends suggested that they take Walter for a walk, so I could go visit with our dear friends and June's friend, Jane,  who was down here visiting her from Ontario, Canada. And that's when I declared today, International Day at the rescue ranch.

A little while later, they returned with Walter. Then Mark took Lucille for another walk down to the creek, while his friends stayed behind and visited with all of us. Bottom line: Mark adopted Lucille! And all of us were thrilled about it, so please keep your fingers crossed that Lucille's adoption sticks.

Around 11:30, all of us went to the Medina Highpoint Resort's Koyote Grill to eat lunch and to celebrate my upcoming 64th birthday, which sadly is tomorrow or just five hours from now. 

I had a wonderful time at my birthday party! The birthday cards were hilarious and I love my birthday gifts. And my birthday cake, that Lisa had purchased and sent with Eileen was absolutely delicious and way too cute. Eileen teased me and called it a "caca-cake" and we all had a good laugh about it.

During our fun lunch I was visiting with June and Jane, who were sitting right next to me. June and Jane have been dear friends for over 50 years and June told me this hilarious story about them going kayaking yesterday, in the Guadalupe.

Before they went kayaking, Jane put on a bunch of sunscreen lotion, because she is a fair-skinned Canadian and she thought that her skin would absorb all of it, but that wasn't the case. And the way June described it, "She looked like she had been slimed." 

Because June and Ellen both have such a great sense of humor—they said nothing to their foreigner friend. And after they had kayaked they went to a nearby meat market and because Jane had put her jeans on, over her wet bathing suit, it looked like she had wet her pants. Anyway, June, in between outbursts of laughter, told me that Jane visited with everyone in the store and she didn't seem to notice all of the weird looks people were giving her.

Anyway, when they returned to June's home, Jane visited with Kevin, June's sweet husband and like Ellen and June, he didn't say anything about Jane's unusual appearance. "When I went past the bathroom," Jane said. "I caught a glimpse of my face, dripping of sunscreen lotion and about fainted!..." 

Then June pulls out her phone and shows us the picture she took of Jane's gooie, sunscreen-sun-screamed face and all of us burst out laughing when we saw the photo. So I asked June to please e-mail me the picture, so I could blog about it tonight. And thanks to Jane's great sense of humor she told me to go ahead and do it, because her friends would get a kick out of it.

Late this afternoon, Tony and I went over to visit with Carol & Bill and Tony and I had a blast. And before we left to come back home, Carol gave me a bag of her fresh, homemade cookies and this beautiful Orchid for my birthday present. 

And to change the subject, earlier this afternoon I dumped all of the change out of my purse, because it was so heavy. After I washed the change I asked Tony to guess how much change I'd been carrying around. He guessed four dollars and he was wrong.

It was $18.88 and it weighed 2.3 pounds!

P.S. The "Big Daddy" deal that I told all of the volunteers about today fell through and it ain't happening, which is actually no Big Deal.

Y'all have a great evening!

Venus!

Today has been really great. This morning around 11:00 Springsteen got adopted to a very nice family! When the couple met Springsteen they fell in love with him instantly and who wouldn't with those beautiful eyes of his.

Springsteen was real cool too, when he met them. When they reached in to pet him for the first time, he gently wagged his tail and remained very calm, unlike some of the other dogs that get so excited when they meet new people.

Because I was so thrilled about him getting adopted, while I was filling out his adoption papers, I forgot to grab my camera so I could take a picture of his new family. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed, for a few days, for this awesome dog—so his adoption will stick.

This afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville to eat lunch, because I didn't feel like cooking. "Tony, let's pretend we are on vacation and eat at the Cracker Barrel!" I said. And it was totally fine with him, but he didn't pretend we were tourists like I did.

Our lunch was delicious, but once again, we did not eat the same thing as usual and I think Tony regretted not ordering what I ordered.

After we paid for our lunch I told Tony that I wanted to shop around for a few minutes. And I am so glad I did, because I found the cutest stuffed Chihuahua toy, in a box. "Tony, it looks just like Little Debbie, but it has two eyes and it barks, walks and wags its tail. I've got to get this for Little Debbie!" And I did.

When we got home Tony put the batteries inside, the toy's stomach, for me and then I nicely asked all of our dogs to please go outside for a minute, because I wanted Big Al(ice) and Little Debbie to meet the mechanical Chihuahua.

And neither one of them could figure out that it was a toy. Then I put Big Al(ice) outside with Roy, Belle and Beau, who had been watching all of this, through the front porch window.

Then I grabbed my camera, so I could take a short video of Little Debbie's close encounter of the weird kind and then I quickly posted it on YouTube. And her reaction to the cute, barking, walking, tail-wagging toy was hilarious, because Little Debbie kept trying to sniff its behind. So please click here if you want to watch it.

After I uploaded the video I asked Little Debbie to please pose with the stuffed toy, that we've named Venus. And as you can see Little Debbie wasn't real thrilled about doing it. 

And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Hot Tamales!

Yesterday and today have been great. I spent both of the afternoons and evenings having fun working on the Mother Ship, my latest, used Shasta RV and I've made a lot of progress.

I've done some more interior walls painting and I am almost finally finished with all of the painting, thank goodness, because I am not a good painter. If you saw the mess that I've made, you'd agree with me that I've got a lot of paint removal-cleanup work ahead of me to do. But that is fine, because I love working on the Mother Ship.

Last night while Tony was busy photographing the players, at the football game, in Medina, I commenced reupholstering the four cushions, in the breakfast nook, but I finally had to stop, after finish sewing the third cushion cover, because I ran out of the upholstering fabric. So, I folded up the the three, finished covers and put the cushions and machine over in the corner, of the big room, for the night.

Early this morning, Tony and I took off for Medina, to go to the Annual Medina Garage Sale. We saw many friends of ours shopping for bargains and great finds. And we had fun visits with Fourth, Ellen, June, Joe, Dick & Elaine and Penny. And our big purchase for the day was a dozen, delicious, homemade hot tamales.

This afternoon, in between giving rescue ranch tours to visitors, I finished upholstering the three cushions. So late this afternoon, Tony and I went back to Craft Town Crafts, so I could buy another yard and a half of upholstering fabric. And that's about it for tonight, because I want to finish reupholstering the last cushion.

Y'all have a great evening!

Thank Goodness!

Today has been great. This afternoon we met our dear friends: Denise & Les and The Mineral Man, for lunch at Brew Dawgs. Even though Kris couldn't make it we still had a lot of fun catching up with others latest news.

Tony and I were the first to arrive at Brew Dawgs, so we found a table for six, in there screened-in porch, that was full of people. A few minutes later Denise & Les arrived and after howdies and hugs we decided to move inside the restaurant, because it was just a little too warm outside. And I carried the six menus.

After Tony and I had told our friends about our new Keyhole Garden and my super cool, organic oyster mushroom farm kit—Jim arrived. And too my surprise Tony and I did not order the exact same thing like we almost always do. He ordered their chicken-fried steak sandwich with fries and I ordered the same thing that I always do—a delicious, stuffed fajita baked potato.

While we were waiting for our lunch to be served I asked Denise about Cosmo, the adorable dog that they adopted from us over three years ago. She told us that Cosmo was doing great and that he loves to ride in cars. And the only vehicle they allow Cosmo to ride in, is her Jeep that she named, Stormin' Norman. Then she tells me, "But I am going to change it's name to the Cosmo-Mobile."

While we continued to eat lunch, the men, at the end of the table talked about "guy stuff" while Denise and I talked about Little Debbie's new Blog and her tiny, invisible, alien friend, named Bob, that only Little Debbie can see. Which got us to start talking about some of those scary, old, black & white movies and television shows that we loved when we were kids.

"I loved the Invisible Man. Where they would unwrap him and you couldn't see him," I said. "But the Alfred Hitchcock Hour always scared me."

Then Denise started laughing and then says, "I remember that creepy episode where this little girl turns into her doll and the doll turns into the little girl. That one really scared me the most." Then the men joined in and they changed the subject to the Twilight Zone, etc.

When it was time for all of us to leave I reached down to pick up my purse and it wasn't there. I then looked down to the other side of my chair and it wasn't there. Then I quickly checked to see if I had hung it, on the back of my chair, but it wasn't there either. "Oh my goodness. Tony, I can't find my purse!"

Then I stood up and went back to the table that Tony and I had originally sat at. The porch was empty. And thank goodness my purse was still hanging, on the back of my chair. And that's just one more reason why I love Kerrville and why I am going to start wearing my purse around my neck.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Karin Pohlmann!

Today has been great. Y'all my mushroom farm is so totally incredible! Last Friday I posted this picture of of my organic oyster mushroom farm.

And yesterday Tony and I were stunned when I went into Outer Space to mist them for the second time, because all you have to do to grow these mushrooms is simply mist them twice a day. These are the pictures that I took of them yesterday.

And this morning, Tony and I were so shocked by how much they had grown in twenty-four hours, all we could do was laugh.

And the good news is—we get to harvest and eat them this coming Tuesday. If you think that you might want to  be an organic, oyster mushroom, farmer too, I highly recommend that you buy "Back To The Roots" mushroom farm. 

Well today has been a quiet day for us, but before I finish writing this, I want to wish Karin Pohlmann, our dear, German-Cowgirl friend, a Happy Birthday! "We love you Karin and we hope that this is your best birthday ever! And please tell Air Gun howdy!"

Y'all have a great evening!

The Great Writer, Donna Gable Hatch, Has Done It Again!

Today has been great. Our dear friend, Donna Gable Hatch has done it again, but this time for Kinky! She has written a fabulous article about Kinky's newest CD, "Kinky Friedman: The Loneliest Man I Ever Met," released on October 2nd, for the Kerrville Daily Times and AP. And it includes an awesome interview with our dear friend, Ruth Buzzi, about Kink's newest CD.

My Roy Wall!

Today has been a lot of fun and that makes it a great day. This morning all of our great friends aka dog walking volunteers came out and walked our dogs for us and we had a surprise waiting for them.

You see, last night, after I had written my own funny obit, inspired by the hilarious obits that my good friend Mari had sent me to read. I came up with an idea and I told Tony about it. "Tony, I'm going to ask Chet, in the morning, if he will surprise our friends, by showing up tomorrow, at lunch, with his Chet-Pack and play some music..." Tony liked my idea.

So this morning, when Tony came inside, after doing the chores outside, he told me that he had already asked Chet to do it and Chet was onboard with it and  he would love to play. So a little while later when I was outside visiting with our friends and proudly showing off my organic mushroom farm to them, they suggested that we eat lunch, at The Apple Store, in Medina, because they wanted to eat catfish.

Then I adios-ed them and skipped back to The Cabin, so I could make an important phone call. After I heard, "Welcome to the Apple Store...."

"Hello, Barbara. This is Nancy, at the rescue ranch. All of our volunteers want to eat y'all's Catfish Special today and we have a dear musician friend named Chet O'Keefe and we want to surprise our friends/volunteers today and have Chet show up...."

"We would love for Chet to show up with his Chet-Pack and entertain everybody....It will be fun." So the wheels were set in motion. And this is the video that I took of Chet playing, at the Apple Store and it is a little bit longer than Tony's great video, but it has more of his music. Anyway, Chet did it and he surprised everyone there and they all loved listening to Chet's music.

Before we came back home, a picture caught my eye, at the Apple Store and I immediately bought it as another Tony pre-birthday gift to me and I planned to hang it on my Roy Rogers' wall.

And when we got back home, I realized that there was no room left on my Roy Wall for the picture, so Tony ended up hanging it on another wall for me, in the big room. And I absolutely love it!

Before I finish writing this evening, I took two more pictures today of my organic mushroom farm, because the oyster mushrooms are growing faster than fast. Seriously, this mushroom farm kit is totally amazing.

And that's about it for tonight, except I want everyone to know that I'm hoping that "my funny going away party"obit, that I wrote, won't be read aloud for a very, very, very long time .

Y'all have a great evening!