General Grant!

Today has been great, even though we've been busy running errands today. This morning after Tony did the chores outside and I had caught up with the rescue ranch paperwork, we caravan-ed to Kerrville.

Trigger and I followed Tony and Buttermilk, to Balser's Northside Automotive, in Kerrville, because Buttermilk needed a tune-up, oil change, etc.

After we dropped off Buttermilk, we walked across the parking lot and ate a quick lunch special, at the Acapulco restaurant and it was delicious. Then we went to Walmart, J.C. Penney and lastly the Post Office. Then we came back home.

When we got home I went over to Kinky's to visit with him, author Mary Lou Sullivan and his old friend Russ, who are both visiting him. Mary Lou is here to do more research for her authorized Kinky biography that she is writing and Russ is here to visit with his dear friend Kinky and Tony and me. (And rumor has it that Russ is seriously thinking about adopting our sweet Katee Sackhoff, who is only two-years-old. So please keep your fingers crossed for her.)

While I was over at the Lodge, Kinky showed me this beautiful, framed, photo that was given to him when he was up in Fort Worth, last week. "Nance, Spanky McFarland's son gave me this framed picture of Spanky and it is signed by Spanky..."

I loved it, because it was the cutest picture of Spanky, when he was a child actor, sitting next to another actor, whom I did not recognize. And because the picture of Spanky was given as a personal gift to Kinky, I only took a picture of Spanky's signature to show it to you.

Then Russ, Kinky and I started trying to remember the names of the four main characters that starred in the 1930's-1940's Our Gang also known as The Little Rascals. And I got all four names first, including Petey's name, the famous dog that had a magic marker circle around one eye.

When I got back home, I quickly did a little research about Petey and I found out that Petey's grave is famous and it is located, in Silver Spring Maryland. And the dog's real name wasn't Petey. It was General Grant of R.K.O. or Jiggs and his sun sign was Cancer, born in 1928 and died in 1938.

I loved Petey so much, in fact, every time that he appeared in a Little Rascals episode, I'd always wish that he was my dog, even though I loved Tuffy, our family Blue Heeler mutt who actually taught me how to walk, by letting me hold on to his short, crooked tail. And I am sure that there are many others who also felt the same way that I did about Petey, because he was so sweet and so smart.

And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

What Is It?

Today has been great. Tony and I spent most of the last three days mowing and weed-eating and our rescue ranch looks beautiful once again. I'm not a real big fan of pushing a lawn mower around the pens and the yards, but it is really great exercise for me, so I am actually not complaining.

Last night, after we had finished mowing, I came inside and decided that I needed to trim Little Debbie's nails. So I went and found our Pedi-Paws battery-operated nail grinder for dogs and I placed it by Roy's and my chair. Then I started a load of laundry and then Hazel came out of the closet to help me remove another recent pile of dog hair scattered all around The Cabin.

After Hazel went back into the closet I walked into the kitchen and heard the strangest sound and it sounded like it was coming from outside, near the window by Roy's and my chair. "Tony," I half-hollered, down the hallway. "Please come in here."

Three minutes later, knowing that it wasn't one of my many emergencies, by the tone of my voice, Tony showed up. "What is it?"

"What is that weird sound? Listen. Do you hear that?"

Tony walked over to the window, by Roy's and my chair, and he picked up the buzzing Pedi-Paws and he chuckled, as he held it up and flipped the switch to turn the thing off.

Then he grabbed his camera and went outside to take some more awesome pictures of the beautiful birds that so often frequent his many bird feeders, in the pink cabin's front yard.

After he left I turned on my iPod and sat down in Roy's and my chair. Then while listening to some of my favorite music I picked up Little Debbie and gave her a pedi-cure, while she peacefully slept in my lap. Then I did Big Al(ice)'s nails.

Late this afternoon, our good friend Leisa is coming to visit us and she is going to spend the night, in my pretty, pink, writing cabin. And that is why I am writing this early, because Hazel and I need to do some last minute house cleaning, etc. so it doesn't look like we live here.

Y'all have a great day and evening!

All You Need Is Love!

Today has been great! Especially when I read that our dear friend, Stephen K. Morris, a great singer/songwriter, musician, made this exciting announcement on his Stephen K. Morris Facebook page today! Stephen wrote:

"I've been excited to post this. Starting April 3rd I will be hosting a "Songwriter Spotlight" each Sunday afternoon from 4:00 - 7:00pm at The Auslander in Fredericksburg Texas. 

As we build this show my goal is to host a local or traveling songwriter every Sunday. We will trade songs, stories, and a joke or ten. I'd like to see this series grow to be a much anticipated listening experience for locals and tourists alike! 

My first guest Songwriter will Be Mr. Chet O'Keefe. Chet is a great writer and performer. He has shared musical offerings across the globe. His songs are descriptive, musical, thought provoking, and finely tuned.

Please come out Sunday April 3rd and show Chet some hill country love! This will be a great sendoff for Chet as he prepares for a Canadian tour.

Let us lean in and listen when it's quiet and stand up an Rock when we're ready!"

As soon as I read Stephen's wonderful news about Chet I immediately went to my Facebook page and shared it with all of my friends. Tony and I can't wait to go see Stephen & Eva, our great friends and then get to listen to Chet perform his awesome, powerful music, at the Auslander, on Sunday, April 3rd.

So today, because I love Stephen & Eva and Chet so much and their beautiful music, I'm asking all of y'all that read my blog to please help me get the word out about Stephen hosting his first "Songwriter Spotlight" with Chet, at the Auslander, so we can show them just how much we appreciate them and their music.

Tony just told me that I need to finish writing this for now. Because Tony and I have to go, to Medina, in just a few minutes, to go pick up Stacie's (Our sweet sister-in-law.) slightly used recliner that she has given to Tony, because she and Sam have recently redecorated their beautiful home.

So as I finish writing today let's spread the word about Stephen K. Morris and Chet O'Keefe's Hill Country Songwriter Spotlight Happening and also spread some love too while we're at it, because we all know that all you need Is love, because our world needs to spread as much love around our planet as fast as we possibly can.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Dynamic Duo For The USA! or Oddinary Objects!

Today has been great and so was Sunday, when our dear friends Denise & Mark and Pamela, their super nice friend, drove all of the way from Austin, to come visit with us.

Their visit was a blast from the past and Tony and I had so much fun with them. When they first arrived here we went outside to greet them and after I had hugged Mark, we saw his T-shirt and all of us started chuckling. "Oh my goodness!" I said. "I've forgotten about that T-shirt. Kinky has got to see this. I am going to go call him right now, because I know he is planning to go to town pretty soon.

When I called Kinky, I told him that Mark & Denise and their friend Pamela had just arrived and then I asked if we could come over right quick, because I wanted him to see Mark's T-shirt. "That's fine, Nance, but I'm going to Kerrville and I need to leave pretty soon."

A few minutes later, we were over, at the Lodge and when Kinky came out to greet us, I said, "Kinky, take a look at Mark's T-shirt. It's a blast from the past." When Kinky saw the T-shirt that has a not very complimentary picture of Kinky and me on it, all of us burst out laughing. Then Mark slowly spun around, so we could read what it said on the back of his T-shirt.

"That's a great T-shirt," Kinky said. "I still have mine. I think. Where did you get that one?"

"Nancy gave it to me many years ago, when she and Tony and us spent the weekend with Rick, at the Lighthouse, in Port Aransas...."

We had a great visit with Kinky and we ended up staying over there for over thirty minutes, because all of us were having such a good time.

We spent the rest of our fun day, sitting outside, in my pink, writing cabin's front yard and if we weren't laughing we were talking non-stop. And before our great friends drove back to Austin, Mark took off his jacket and posed for me, so I could take a picture of the cute T-shirt, that a fan of Kinky and me had made for us and her to wear.

And Pamela, gave me one of her Oddinary Objects business cards, because Mark & Denise had raved to us about how cool and popular Pamela's shop is and how much fun they have shopping there.

After the handshakes and hugs we adios-ed our dear friends, even though we didn't want them to leave. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Long Time Longmire! or TOYODA!

Yesterday, we mowed some more and now my back is aching, but that's okay, because I needed the exercise and the rescue ranch looks beautiful, with the exception of a few pens that still need mowing.

Right now it is 9:30 in the morning and a couple of our great volunteers, Kay and Jim, are already out there walking our dogs for us.

Before writing this I checked my e-mail. My dear friend Mari sent me an incredibly great video to watch about a beautiful, nine-year-old girl's performance on Hollands Got Talent and she was so talented it made me tear up, because you could feel the love. So if you would like to have a feel-good moment you can check it out by clicking here.

I have some exciting news to tell you about our upcoming Longmire—Texas Style video spoof. Finally, the stars have lined up for us: the date and time, the actor's and crew's availability to be at, a secret location, the first week of April, to get our dear friend and videographer, Gerry Olert, to shoot the last two scenes.

If you recall, we are making this spoof, in hopes that the real Longmire cast and crew will invite us to come to one of their sets, in Northern New Mexico, to watch them shoot a scene.

 After we have our wrap party, and Gerry goes and does his editing magic and we get to post it on YouTube, we are asking everyone that we know, including y'all that read my blog, to please help us make it go viral by cross-posting it to all of your friends.

And as a teaser (in hopes that y'all will help us, get it out there) here are a few pictures of our Vic, played by lovely Lisa and our Ruby, played by too-sweet Eileen and Little Debbie and me.

After our friends/volunteers walked our dogs we went to eat lunch, at the famous Apple Store, in Medina. Tony and I were the last to arrive, because he had to lock our gate and we also had to stop at two temporary signal lights on 16, because of road construction.

We parked Trigger, across the street from the Apple Store, next to June's car and before we went inside to eat, I took this picture of this cute bumper sticker, that is on June's Toyota's back window. 

Our lunch was delicious and fun, of course, because we did a lot of laughing. And when we got back home, I went Online to Amazon and immediately purchased two of the TOYODA bumper stickers, one for Chet to put on his Toyota and one for me to put on one of my guitar cases.

Late this afternoon I went over to Kinky's Lodge and I had a fun visit with him. We sat outside, on his porch, with The Friedmans while watching a few Hummingbirds test-the-water, in five of his five feeders.

Before I came back home, Kinky asked me to listen to his latest song that he has written, because Kent and Ruthie had loved it. So we went back into his office and sat down. When Kinky started to play his guitar and sing his song, Sophie, who was sitting under his desk, started rapidly scratching at the rug and Kinky, paused and asked her to please stop doing that. And she immediately stopped.

His beloved overweight Sophie, who definitely needs to exercise more or go to, a fat camp for dogs, started rapidly scratching the rug again. And Kink paused again and she immediately quit scratching the rug.

Well, throughout the singing of his beautiful song, Sophie continued to scratch the rug every time that he started singing. When the song ended I told Kinky that I loved the song, too and then I said, "Kinky, Sophie was scratching the rug, only because she wanted to play percussions with you." And that made Kinky laugh.

Well, it is now 4:30 and I must finish writing this, because it is beginning to thunder outside and that means that I need to go unplug everything now.

Y'all have a great evening!  

Watch What You're Saying!

Today has been great. Last night Ruth Buzzi and her husband Kent were over at Kinky's and they invited Tony and me to meet them for breakfast this morning, at the YO Hotel, in Kerrville. And I said, "Yes, we would love to."

But I lied, because I had forgotten that we had scheduled an appointment for a couple to come out to the rescue ranch, this morning, to check out our dogs. Anyway, when I saw the date circled-in on my
hilarious Cow Abductions & UFO Sightings 2016 calendar, that sweet Eileen gave to me, I immediately sent Kent & Ruthie an e-mail to cancel our breakfast date.

This afternoon our lunch-a-month club met for a fun lunch, at El Bracero De Jalisco restaurant, in the same parking lot as Wild Birds Unlimited, one of our favorite hangouts.

It is a fairly new Mexican restaurant, next door to the Home Town Crafts store and it was Tony's and my first time to eat there. Oh my goodness, their food was absolutely delicious and the waitresses were very friendly. And believe it or not, Tony and I didn't order the same thing on the menu, but The Mineral Man and I did. 

Jim and I ordered the "Special Dinner" which included: one beef enchilada, one tamale, one poblano pepper, one beef taco, re-fried beans with rice and a guacamole salad. Seriously, it was more food than I could ever possibly eat, but I did my best and so did Jim. And all of us agreed that our meals was more than delicious.

While we were enjoying our friends and the mouth-watering food, I commented about Jim's new birthday watch, "Now Jim, that's a watch worth watching. I love it, because it is so big." So the next thing you know, after Jim had told us about his huge wrist watch, we were all talking about our favorite past and present watches that we've had.

Denise told us that her two favorite watches were the purple watch, that she was wearing and the turquoise one that is exactly like her purple one. "Well, for Christmas," I said. "Tony got me the cutest hot pink, solar watch. And I love it, but our good friend Lisa had to set it for me, because I couldn't figure out how to do it. I'm not good at that anymore. And the only thing that I don't like about it, is that it's alarm always goes off, at noon, everyday. And I don't know how to turn it off. And now, I need to reset it again, because of the time change."

"Nancy, what kind of watch is it?" Jim asked.

I shrugged, because I couldn't remember and then it came to me, "Oh, it's a Casio."

"Listen Nancy, send me the watch's model number and I'll go Online and look it up in the manual," The Mineral Man said. "It'll be a piece of cake to fix. I promise you." Then Tony told us about him, many years ago, getting a real good bargain, on a Gruen watch, in Fort Worth, that only cost him $70.00, because the store was going out of business and slashed their prices. 

After our super fun lunch with friends, I walked across the parking lot and mailed a letter, then walked over to Wild Birds Unlimited, to meet up with Tony, who had driven over there. As always, our good friend, Marguerite and I started talking and laughing about Scout''s and Henry Standing Bear's latest, hilarious adventures, while Tony was busy picking out some suet, birdseed, etc.

Then Marguerite told me that she had talked to her friend Lenore, who teaches classes on how to train your dog by using a Clicker. Because Marguerite and I want to train Scout and Henry, together, because we know it would be a laugh a minute with those two rascals. "Sounds great. Let's sign up for her classes!" I said. "Tony, I'll take the course and then I'll come home and teach you what I've learned in the class. That way we can both train Henry. Okay?"

Tony chuckled, and then said, "It's fine with me as long as you don't forget everything that you've learned in class, by the time you get back home."

After we had quit laughing, Marguerite said, "Don't worry about that, Tony. Lenore gives out handouts to take home, so we can do our homework with our dogs."

So, as I finish writing this, it looks like Miss Scout and Mr. Henry Standing Bear will soon be going to school together, attending a once a week class, for five weeks straight, with Marguerite and me. And I am looking so forward to it, because Tony's and my sweet, rescued, four-month-old, Great Pyrenees/Lab mix pup is literally growing in leaps and bounds, by the minute. Seriously, he now weighs over forty pounds!

Y'all have a great evening!

Sorry, Not Tonight, Because I Spent The Day Mowing!

Medina To Terlingua! or Austin To Boston! or Medina To Kerrville!

Today has been great. It's been a quiet day and I spent much of the morning catching up with rescue ranch paperwork, returning phone calls and e-mails, etc.

As y'all already know, our good musician friends Jim Keaveny and his super sweet wife, Anna Oakley and their dog Tubo, recently visited us and they spent the night in my pink writing cabin, before driving from Medina To Terlingua, where they live.

Kinky, Tony and I had a wonderful time visiting with them and before we adios-ed each other they gave Tony and me some frozen boudin, that they had purchased in Louisiana. Anyway, today I cooked the boudin for our lunch and it was absolutely the most delicious boudin that we've ever eaten.

So after I sent Anna and Jim a thank you e-mail for giving us the best boudin in the world, I decided to take a break and watch the movie Austin To Boston, while our clothes were tumbling around, inside our dryer, Airy Queen.

I had so much fun watching this high-spirited musical road movie with Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) sleeping, on my lap, Roy and Belle sleeping side by side, beside Roy's and my chair and Henry Standing Bear and Beau sleeping on the front porch.

I highly recommend Austin To Boston to anyone who loves music! The movie is about five VW camper vans, 4 bands, 3,000 miles in two weeks. The musicians are all incredibly talented. The musicians are: Ben Howard, The Staves, Nathaniel Rateliff and Bear's Den and it was produced by Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons and Ty Johnson. And it was narrated by Gill Landry .

After watching this fabulous movie about what it's like to be traveling musicians I immediately added their channels to my Pandora music list. Then I folded our clothes.

You can watch Austin To Boston on Netflix and if you click on Austin To Boston you can watch the movie trailer and get a sample of their incredibly great music. And that's about it for today, because Tony and I are fixin' to drive from Medina to Kerrville.

Y'all have a great day/evening!

A World Of His Own! or Fuzz ! or A Three-Hundred Pound Angel!

Today has been a great day and it started this morning, when Tony and I watched our dear friend, Steve Pietzsch, be interviewed by Bob Phillips, on Texas Country Reporter. And I thought the title they chose to use, A World of His Own, was perfect for Steve.

Steve's interview was so much fun to watch. He and Bob talked about being old friends and them going to junior high and high school together, in East Dallas. They talked about their suburban garage band, that Steve played the drums in and Bob sang lead when they were aspiring to be rock stars. They also reminisced about all of their friends having nicknames, too. Steve's nickname was Fuzz and Bob's was Cutter.

Then Steve talked about spending two-thirds of his life living in the big cities of Dallas and Austin and that he always made a living doing art and never hating one job. And always having fun and zero stress.

Then they showed just a few of Steve's awesome art on magazine covers. And if you look closely at the cover, of the third Texas Monthly, on the bottom—that's Steve's artwork of Kinky smoking a cigar, that Kinky also used as the cover for his Why the Hell Not...: The Songs of Kinky Friedman CD.

Then he told Bob about a life changing event that happened to him many years ago, when a drunken motorcyclist ran over him while he was walking down, Congress Avenue, in Austin. That could have killed him.

After a full recovery, Steve soon found his spot on Earth, in Medina, and he moved out here for the solitude and doing what he loves.

When they went hiking Steve showed Bob his three-hundred pound angel, made of concrete, that marks the edge of his property. That was one of my favorite parts of the show, because I have hiked that trail with Steve and I have seen his beautiful angel.

I recorded Texas Country Reporter's segment of Steve this morning, so I can watch it again and if you missed it please click here for the time and channel it will be aired in your area, but please note that they have not posted the March 13th show yet. Or you can wait and watch this show next week on RFD-TV. 

As I finish writing this I want to congratulate Bob Phillips and the staff of Texas Country Reporter for doing such a superb piece on our friend Pietzsch, because we love Steve! And that's about it for today.

Y'all have a great Sunday!

I Was Astounded!

Today has been great. Marguerite, our great friend, sent me an e-mail today and I love the picture that she sent of Odi watching Scout chew on her yellow bone. Scout's bone is just like the one she recently gave to Henry Standing Bear, but Henry's is much larger and it is blue. Marguerite wrote:

"I hope Henry finds a buddy to share his bone with. Odi usually picks it up first and runs past Scout growling, then the chase is on!"

This morning when I first went outside I was astounded by how fast the grass and weeds have grown since it has rained for the past few days. Even though I know that we will be mowing and weed-eating tomorrow and Monday, I am really glad that we went ahead and mowed down the grass and weeds last week, because at least we won't be having to mow down foot-tall grass and weeds. 

This afternoon, I did some serious Spring cleaning. When I started pulling the furniture away from the walls I was astounded by all of the dust and dog hair that has accumulated, in the nooks and crannies, since my last deep-cleaning, which was probably about four months ago.

I love having a clean house/trailer/cabin and I wish that I enjoyed doing housework more often, but I don't, because it so boring to me. And besides that our dogs seem to be constantly shedding, so to me it is like fighting a losing battle, where Hazel and I never get to win.

But I am not complaining about Hazel and me having to vacuum, at least every other day, because that just comes with the territory, when you love dogs.

After I adios-ed Hazel and she went back into the closet to rest, I sat down, on Roy's and my chair, with Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) on my lap and we watched Neil Young's Heart of Gold, while Roy, Belle and Beau slept on our bed, while Henry happily chewed on his big, blue bone, in front of the entertainment center. 

I love Neil Young and that video so much, because Neil Young is one of my heroes for so many reasons. 

Tonight I am planning to binge watch Longmire episodes before going to bed. And that's about it for today.

P.S. Don't forget to watch our good friend, Steve Pietzsch, on Texas Country Reporter this weekend!

Y'all have a great evening!

We Had Visitors From Afar! or A Really Big Crush!

Yesterday and today have been so much fun for Tony and me, because yesterday we had visitors from afar and they weren't Aliens, even though I would love to have Aliens, like Bob, come visit me.

Our first visitors yesterday arrived around 3:30. They were Philip & Cheryl, these super nice professors of literature, who drove all of the way from Kansas. And the main reason they came to see us was to drop off Harry's, (Philip's father) huge collection of first edition, signed Kinky books, posters and Kinky memorabilia etc., that Harry has generously donated to our rescue ranch, so we can sell them or auction them off to benefit Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. 

When Philip & Cheryl arrived it was misting outside, so Tony and Philip quickly transported Harry's boxes and framed posters to a safe place for us to store Harry's collection. Then we invited our new friends to come inside The Cabin for a really fun visit, because Harry had told me about how much his son and daughter-in-law love Terlingua and enjoy going to the Big Bend National Park.

So, as we sipped our teas or coffees, we became fast friends, because we had so much in common. Seriously, if one of us wasn't talking about Harry & Wanda, music, books or Big Bend then we were all laughing. 

Unfortunately, they could only stay and visit for about an hour, because they needed to get back to their friend's house, in Austin, before dark-thirty, because they are spending their Spring Break attending Austin's famous, annual SXSW Music Festival. 

Tony and I were having so much fun with them we hated to see them leave, but we hugged and adios-ed each other and bid them farewell.

An hour and a half later, Sarah Burton arrived and we hit it off instantly with her, too. Sarah Burton is an awesome singer/songwriter and musician who plays both the guitar and the piano, but not at the same time. She is from Canada and she has duel Canada/USA citizenship. And she has recently purchased some property, in Terlingua, while she was out there playing some gigs, in Terlingua. 

Anyway, earlier this week, our dear friend, Chet O'Keefe, had sent me an e-mail about how she had become good friends with him and Jim Keaveny & his wife Anna Oakley, Haislip, Jamie, Mark, Shannon and the rest of our mutual friends. Then Chet told me that Sarah was going to San Antone and then up to Austin to play at SXSW, so he asked me how I felt about her making a stopover here and spending the night, before driving into the Alamo City to pick up her sister. 

Chet also raved about what a great person and how nice she was and about how awesome her music was, so I immediately wrote him back and said, "...We would love to meet Sarah Burton and she is more than welcomed to spend the night here, in my pretty, pink, writing cabin..."

Last night, Tony and I had so much fun getting to know Sarah Burton. We quickly found out that we had much in common besides loving Terlingua and our mutual friends that live out there. And at one point, after showing her my guitar, I asked Sarah, while she was holding it, if she felt like playing a few of her songs for us. And she did! 

Omg, Sarah Burton is one extremely talented singer/songwriter/musician and her beautiful voice, lyrics and skilled guitar playing totally mesmerized us including: Henry Standing Bear, Little Debbie and Big Al(ice). In fact, Henry made us laugh after she sang her first song, because Henry would not quit staring at Sarah, so I joked, "I think Henry has a really big crush on you."

Sarah left this morning after drinking coffee and eating breakfast with us and once again, we were sad to see her leave. But before she left she gave us two of her CD's, so we are now hooked on her great music, too. Sarah Burton is on Facebook and Twitter, so please check her out and her music. Here are two of her CD's that she signed to Tony, me & Henry, inside the jacket.

We met our dear friends/volunteers today, at the Thai O'Cha Restaurant, to celebrate Jim aka The Mineral Man's birthday and once again, Tony and I had a total blast. When we arrived Kris, Jim's super sweet wife, was Face Time-ing Jim, because she had to go out of town unexpectedly to go help her mother who was recovering from a bout of pneumonia. Anyway, Jim moved his iPhone slowly around our big table so we could all say howdy to Kris and her mom.

Of course, it goes without saying, that our lunch was totally delicious, as always and it was too much fun, because we laughed, joked and teased each other non-stop. And before we were served our delicious lunch, Eileen said, "Nancy and Tony, y'all's Henry Standing Bear is becoming very famous on the Internet." Then she passed her iPhone around for all of us to see what she had posted on Longmire's Official Posse's fan club site.

Eileen did this, because yesterday, after Tony had posted a cute picture of Henry Standing Bear on Tony's Facebook page, Eileen tagged it and then she posted the photo of Henry and Tony's selfie, on Longmire's Posse site and a whole lot of Longmire's loyal fans had—Liked it or had made cute comments about our Henry, that we named in honor of Lou Diamond Phillips' character.

After we finished eating lunch, our good friend Ju and staff came out singing the Happy Birthday song to Jim and carrying a candle-lit, beautiful German Chocolate cake, that Kris had pre-ordered from Creative Cakes By Sharon, that she had asked Eileen to pick up and bring to Jim's birthday party for her. And the least that I can say about this cake, because tonight's post is getting way too long is, "It was the best German Chocolate cake that any of us have ever eaten." And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

And It's A Big One, Too!

Last night, I had a big scare. While I was watching a rerun of Friends, I got up to go let our dogs go outside, when for some reason I looked up and saw something small and black, attached to the ceiling beam. "Tony! I need for you to come look at something!"

"What is it?" He half-hollered, from his office.

"I'm not sure. Either someone has planted a bug to spy on us or it's a Bat."

When Tony walked into the big room, I pointed upward, Tony looked up, and said, "It's a Bat. And it's a big one. too." Then Tony walked past me.

While Tony was getting the step stool, tucked in-between the dryer and the utility room wall, I was trying to decide if I should faint. "Be careful, Tony. Here's a dish towel for you to use." (Please note that I gave him an old towel and not my new dish towel that I had bought earlier, at Texas Bad Girlz.)

Then I grabbed my camera and took these two pictures:

Then I put my camera down and put my hands to my mouth, because the Bat took off and started flying all around the big room, with Roy, Belle and Beau jumping up into the air trying to catch it, as it nose dived past them and me.

As the Bat did numerous fly-bys, I grabbed my camera again and I tried to take several pictures of it, as Tony opened our front door, in hopes that it would leave. Then when the Bat and I nearly had a head-on collision—I skipped into the bathroom and called our dogs to come with me.

A few seconds later, Tony half-hollered, "You can come out, now. He's gone. He just flew out the  front door."

Hearing his good news, all of us immediately returned to the big room and the rest of our evening was uneventful, thank goodness. Anyway those pictures that I took of the bat flying around came out either fuzzy or out of focus. 

Today has been great and that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Give The Dog A Bone!

Today has been great. After Tony and I ate lunch we grabbed Henry Standing Bear and took off for Kerrville to run a few errands.

Our first stop was at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, where we dropped off Henry to get his stitches removed and his nails clipped, while we ran a few more errands.

Our next stop was at Wild Birds Unlimited, so Tony could buy more birdseed, suet, etc. Marguerite and Tricia greeted us when we walked inside one of our favorite stores, in Kerrville. While Tony started shopping, Marguerite and I started talking about Scout and Henry and that's when I thanked her for buying Henry a blue, chew bone, Online, given to him from his pal Scout.

"We're going to Wolfmueller's Books next, so we can pick up Henry's bone," I said. "That you dropped off last week. Henry is going to love it..." Marguerite told us about Scout's latest adventures and then the four of us started talking about Bees, because I had asked about this really cool-looking  house made for Bees.

While we were talking about all kinds of bees and scorpions Tony and Marguerite started talking about these giant "Assasin Bees" that go around killing innocent Tarantulas. And these mean-spirited, assassins then drag their dead Tarantula trophies, back into their Bee-domed nest, so they can lay their eggs on top of the Tarantula carcass, so when their baby sniper-bees hatch, they will get to eat the poor, dead tarantulas. Until they are old enough and ready to go out and start hunting for innocent Tarantulas to kill.

Then Tony changed the subject and started telling them about five, sneaky raccoons that have been raiding his bird feeders. "The other day I set up my game-camera and it took over a 1,000 photographs, one night, between two and four o'clock, in the morning, of five raccoons taking turns climbing up the pole and scratching out the birdseed for the others to eat down below. It was pretty funny, too, because each coon took his turn climbing up the pole..."

After we adios-ed our friends and Marguerite had helped Tony load up the heavy sack of choice birdseed, we took off for Wolfmueller's Books.

After we had a fun visit with Sandy & Jon, Sandy and I adios-ed Tony and Jon and then went next door, to shop, at Bad Girlz of Texas, because I wanted to buy one of their funny birthday cards for The Mineral Man's upcoming birthday party, that we and the volunteers are celebrating this coming Friday.

Unfortunately, Andie wasn't there, but Sadie was, so she helped Sandy and me shop. Sandy and Sadie helped me pick out some of the cutest costume jewelry. At only $2.00 per item, which included the $2.00 bracelets, $2.00 rings and $2.00 a piece, themed tops, that you snap into the rings and bracelets to go with your outfit or theme of the day. And I had a total blast picking out the. tops for my rings and bracelets. And I also found the perfect birthday card for us to give to Jim.

When Tony came in to tell me that we needed to go pick up Henry and get back to the ranch, he found the funniest dish towel and started laughing as he held it up for me to look at. "Nance, this has your name written all over it. You've got to buy this." So I did. And this is what I purchased not counting the adorable silver paw print ring that I am wearing right now.

When we got back home, we immediately gave Henry his present from Scout and he totally loves it and the only bad thing is Henry won't share it with Roy. But luckily for Henry Standing Bear, Roy is so old and so sweet, and so laid back he just looks at Henry and wags his tail and walks away laughing. Because everyone know when dogs wag their tails they are laughing.

Y'all have a great evening!

Semi-Original!

Today has been great. This morning after Tony did the chores outside we we jumped into Trigger and took off for the big H-E-B, in Kerrville.

As we were leaving the ranch Kinky drove up in Mr. Green Jeans, and he invited us to join him, Dylan and Max, for a delicious lunch, at the Thai O'Cha restaurant. It was tempting, but we declined his invite, because we wanted to get back to the ranch, as soon as possible, so I could cook us lunch. And before we adios-ed each other, we talked about which cowboy hat Kinky should wear on his upcoming tour, in Europe. Then we took off and followed Kink all of the way to Water Street, where he turned left.

When we got back from our shopping spree at the big H-E-B, I cooked us lunch, which Tony thought was delicious.

After I cleaned up the kitchen, I grabbed my camera to document me making my first loaf of "Sam's Original Homemade Bread," that I found on page 201, in the new cookbook Texas Back Road Restaurant Recipes that Rick & Clara Jo gave to Tony.

Here are just some of the ingredients:

While my Cousin Nancy's Semi-Original Homemade Bread was rising, I lined up the four boxes of Girl Scout Cookies, that we had purchased as we walked outside the H-E-B grocery store.

When I was putting the cookies into the freezer, Tony walked inside carrying our new Bamboo pillows, that were on sale, for half price, at H-E-B. "You're not going to believe how heavy these pillows are," Tony said, as he put them on top of the kitchen table. And when I tried lifting the the two pillows, tightly packed inside the plastic bag, my jaw dropped, because Tony was right about me not believing how heavy they were. 

When I took our new pillows out of the packaging, I saw this label and it perturbed me somewhat, because we sleep on regular sized pillows and we don't own any Queen-sized pillowcases, so our dogs can chew the ends off of them, like they've done to all of ours.

Because I don't like to sweat the little things in life I took our pillows to the bedroom. Then I removed our regular-sized pillowcases from our old pillows and slipped our new, two for $69.99 bargain, into the pillowcases. They fit fine, but this is what they look like.

Then I took a short, fun break and went outside to play with Henry Standing Bear, while I was waiting to knead the bread again and then place it into a greased bread pan, for it to rise again for another hour, before baking it.

As I finish writing this, Cousin Nancy's first loaf of Semi-Original Homemade Bread is just a few minutes away, from coming out of the oven. And it really smells great. So, I am going to pass this time to once more tell you that our great friend, Steve Pietzsch, will be featured next weekend, on Texas Country Reporter and a week later on RFD-TV. And this morning, as we watched the end of Texas Country Reported—they showed a clip of Steve and mentioned that he will be on next week's show.

And here is a picture of the delicious, homemade bread that I made today using this great, new cookbook Texas Back Road Restaurant Recipes. And I am so proud of it, I just might call Sam's Original Restaurant, in Fairfield, Texas or go there to thank them for sharing Sam's Original Homemade Bread recipe. Yeah! I finally, for the very first time, actually baked a delicious, homemade loaf of bread and Tony and I love it. So as you can guess—it is almost half gone.

Y'all have a great evening!

I Got It Wrong! Steve Will Be On Texas Country Reporter—Next Weekend, The 12th & 13th!

Rick & Clara Jo—Alison & Blake—Steve!

Thursday and Friday were great and basically all we did was mow, mow, mow. And the rescue ranch looks beautiful, too. We decided to mow even though they've predicted that we will receive a lot of rain on Monday and Tuesday, because that way the grass and weeds won't be ten feet tall the next time we have to mow.

Late Friday afternoon Tony had to go to Medina and while he was in town, he ran into our good friends Rick & Clara Jo Anderson, the owners of Williams Creek Trading Company, that cook and sell the best tasting barbecue, in the Texas Hill Country.

Anyway, when Tony got back home, he returned with this super cool-looking cookbook Texas Back Road Restaurant Recipes by Anita Musgrove, that Rick & Jo had given to him as a present, because Rick and his sweet wife had asked Tony to take pictures of their adorable, log food/trailer and their food, because their delicious food was being featured in this great cookbook.

And on pages 140 and 141, is a terrific story about Williams Creek Trading Company, along with Rick's delicious Cider Slaw and Frijoles Tejanos recipes and Tony's pictures. And I can't wait to try to make the Cider Slaw recipe, because it is the best that we've ever tasted and we always order it.

In fact, today our dear old friends, Alison & Blake Waxler, came to visit us, because today is Alison's birthday. Blake told us, "When I asked Alison what she wanted for her birthday, she told me, "I want to go see Tony and Nancy for my birthday and I told her, "I can do that. That's easy enough..." 

Anyway, after a really fun visit with our friends, all of us went to Medina to eat lunch together, because Tony and I had been bragging about Rick's mouth-watering BBQ and delicious Cider Slaw. And our friends, like us, ordered the Cider Slaw and beans with brisket and they were extremely impressed with how good Rick's and Jo's food tasted. And because they come from Austin—that's saying a lot if you ask me.

And here's a heads up for y'all. Our dear friend and neighbor, Steve Pietzsch, the super talented artist, is being feature this weekend on Texas Country Reporter and the following week on RFD-TV! And you can click here to get the channels and times for Texas Country Reporter in your area.

So, as I finish writing this, I want to wish Alison the happiest birthday ever and thank her and Blake for coming to see us and I want to thank Clara Jo and Rick for the really great cookbook and for picking Medina, to be the home of the best BBQ, in the Texas Hill Country. And I want to thank Steve for being one of our favorite neighbors. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

A Light Bulb Moment!

Today has been great. This morning, after drinking my second, delicious cup of Donut Shop coffee, I talked on the phone for nearly two hours.

Generally, I don't enjoy talking on the phone at all and anything longer than ten minutes is just too much. But this time it was fun, because our friend, Mary Lou Sullivan, was interviewing/recording me for her upcoming authorized, official autobiography of Kinky.

After the interview, Tony and I took off, for Kerrville, to eat lunch and then run a few errands. By the time we got to Kerrville, Tony and I had decided to eat lunch at Buzzi's Barbecue. And when we pulled into the parking lot, which was nearly full, we spotted Big G's giant pickup parked near the front of the restaurant. But when we walked inside we didn't see Big G anywhere.

When we were leaving the restaurant, Tony saw Big G, standing outside, talking to a couple, in the parking lot. So we went outside to say hello to our good friend. After howdies, hugs and handshakes Big G told me that yesterday Jim Keaveny had dropped by the radio station and had dropped off some of his music CDs to listen to, but unfortunately Big G had missed seeing Jim & Anna, because he was at an appointment. "Keaveny's music is really great...." Big G said.

After our fun visit with Big G (Gordon Ames) we went to the Home Depot to pick up one more 4-bulb pack of Ecosmart LED Soft White light bulbs, because a few days earlier we had purchased three 4-packs and had replaced twelve of our old light bulbs with these non-mercury, awesome, money saving bulbs that estimates the energy cost to be only $1.08 per year and it only uses 9 watts. And just one bulb will save us $140.00 in lifetime energy savings.

When I had read the package, I joked to Tony, "How can they promise $140.00 in lifetime energy savings when they don't know how long we will live?"

I know that we are probably the last people, on Earth, who have not switched over to using LED bulbs, but we didn't know about it until Tony had watched a YouTube video about them.

So, as I finish writing this tonight, I am very excited about saving so much money. Because I just calculated how much money it will cost us using our 16 LED bulbs for one year @ $1.08 cost per  year and it will only cost us $17.28 if we keep them all turned on and we never turn them off. Now that's a light bulb moment.

Y'all have a great evening!

Jim Keaveny & Anna Oakley Were Here!

Today has been great and so was yesterday. Our good friends Jim Keaveny and his sweet wife, Anna Oakley, from Terlingua, came to visit us yesterday and to spend the night.

In September 2011, when we went out to Terlingua, for a few days with our dear friends Sandy & Jon Wolfmueller, Jim was playing a gig, at the Starlight Theater, the evening that we were eating there and all of us instantly fell in love with Jim Keaveny's awesome music. And we've been big fans of his ever since then.

Anyway, when Chet O'Keefe started performing and playing his music, in Terlingua, he soon met and became fast friends with Jim & Anna. And now Chet often sits in and plays lead guitar in the Jim Keaveny Band.

Anna, besides being a fantastic fiddle player, in her husband's band, she is also a very talented graphic designer and she specializes in designing event posters, CD packaging, T-shirts, etc. and you can check her art out at: Mercury Graphics.

(This past January when Tony and I went out to Terlingua, Chet hooked up with us one morning and he took us over to Anna's and Jim's super cool, off-grid home and we had a really fun visit with them. And that's when we gave them an open invitation to please come see us whenever they could. So on their 30 day trip, back from Costa Rica, they took us up on it.)

We had a blast visiting with Anna and Jim and so did Kinky. Yesterday, as soon as they had arrived, all of us went over to Kinky's and went on a fun hike with him and The Friedmans and Tubo, their rescued, sweet mutt that was actually born in a cave, near Lajitas. Then after our hike we went and hung out, at the Lodge, for several hours visiting with Kinky.

This morning, before Anna, Jim and Tubo took off to go back home to Terlingua, we all went back over to the Lodge for one more visit with Kinky and here are a few pictures that Tony took of them.

In this picture Jim had just handed Kinky some of his CD's, because last night Kinky gave them his new CD.

If you want to know more about Jim Keaveny's music, there is already a Jim Keaveny Channel on Pandora and lots of Jim's music is also on YouTube and if you click: jimkeaveny.com you can learn more about this awesome singer, songwriter and his music.

And before I finish writing this, I once again want to wish our dear friend, Jim "The Mineral Man" the best birthday ever.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Mineral Man!