Bad Girlz of Texas Monthly Wined Up! or Black Helicopters!

I am so glad that Tony and I went to the first Bad Girlz of Texas new Monthly Wined Up, in Kerrville, because we had such a great time.

When we got there, Sandy greeted us and said, "Y'all just missed seeing Kris & Jim. They just left." Then Jill Kinsey and Brigitte London started singing and those two extremely talented women gave me goose bumps, because their voices were so beautiful.

And by the time they had finished singing that song, they had drawn a huge crowd of people that had gathered up and down the sidewalk, just to listen to more of their incredibly great music.

Yesterday was just another hot Texas Summer day, so Sandy and I took off and went inside Bad Girlz of Texas, to cool off for a few minutes. This super cool store was packed with smiling customers, but when Andie, the owner, saw us she came right over and greeted us. "....Where's Tony?" she asked.

"He's next door visiting with Jon and he is probably sitting over there drooling at their new Texas Master Naturalist book they got in. Published by Texas A&M, which seriously that book must weigh at least ten pounds," I replied.

Sandy laughed, and then said, "It actually only weighs five pounds."

After we had a fun, but short visit with Andie, because she and Sadie were so busy ringing up the cash register or trying to help the customers, up walks our good friend Irene Van Winkle who is an extremely talented author whom I admire.

While the fabulous music was happening outside, Sandy and I had a fun visit with Irene. She told us about her upcoming trip to the Ukraine and then she and I caught up with each others latest news. Then Sandy walks up to us, and says, "Nancy, this hat is YOU! Try it on." So I tried on the pretty cowgirl hat, and Sandy says, "It looks great on you. You've got to buy it." And she was right about me needing to buy it.

After Irene left the building Sandy and I started doing some serious shopping, if that is even possible, because many of Andie's items are so unique and off-the-wall hilarious.

Ten minutes later, after paying for my stuff, Sandy and I went back outside to join the crowd listening to Brigitte London singing a Merle Haggard song with "Dash." (Daryl Wayne Dasher) So of course I got goose bumps again.

After their great performance they took a short break. And that's when Andie walked up to Irene and me and said, "I want to introduce you to these awesome musicians. They know Chet too and...."

When Andie introduced us to Brigitte London, she says, "Oh, I know you. You're Cousin Nancy! I've heard you on the radio. Big G's show....."

After a fun visit with all three of the musicians that are also good friends with Chet O'Keefe, I bought Jill's latest CD and Dash's latest CD and I would have bought Brigitt's CD too, but she had just sold completely out of all of her CDs, but Andie told me not to worry, because she was going to start selling all of their CDs, at both of her Bad Girlz of Texas locations, with all of the sales going straight to the musicians. And I liked that. Then I went next door to fetch Tony and to visit with The Wolfmuellers.

And before Tony and I adios-ed our dear friends, I surprised Tony, and said, "I want to buy that giant Texas Master Naturalist book, over there, as a present for Tony's upcoming birthday." Then I opened up my purse to get out a credit card, and I teased Tony, by saying, "Tony, I can't pick that thing up, because it is so heavy, so if you want me to buy it for you, you'll need to haul it over here to the counter for me." And Tony jumped at my request, which made all of us laugh.

When Tony and I got back home we put up our groceries and then I took these pictures of my latest Bad Girlz of Texas merchandise: the cute cowgirl hat, the CDs and the pretty pink doggie treats jar that I later filled up with our dog's treats.

And as I finish writing this for tonight, I just snapped this cute picture of sweet Belle doing some serious sleeping, on the needs-to-be-repainted-soon rug. And just so you will know—she is Henry Standing Bear's best friend.

Right after I took Belle's picture we had two, big, fast moving, black helicopters fly over the ranch. I wasn't fast enough to get outside to take a picture of the first one, but here is a picture that I took of the second black helicopter flying over us, that rattled everything inside our trailer including all of our nerves. Here's a picture of it and then I cropped it down, so I could enlarge the picture of the solid black copter.

Then I went back and cropped off some more to get this close up picture of it.

And I wonder what's that long thing sticking out, in front of the body of the helicopter? Anyway, that's my latest Breaking News for today coming live from the rescue ranch. 

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing.

Bad Girlz of Texas Was Too Much Fun!

Here's some good news! Last night after I posted on my blog our phone rang and it was a very nice woman named Lisa who had found a big, sweet, yellow Lab-mix wearing one of our rescue ranch dog tags.

After speaking with her, I looked up the dog tag number and it was Springsteen, so I immediately called her back and told her that the dog was Springsteen and thanked her for rescuing this wonderful, "born to run" dog and then I gave her Mimi's phone number. "Lisa, I will call Mimi immediately and then get back to you."

Then I punched in Mimi's phone number. I got her machine and left her a detailed message telling her that Lisa had Springsteen and then I gave her Lisa's phone number.

Then I called Lisa back to tell her that I had left a message for Mimi. Then we talked about Springsteen looking tired, but he was definitely enjoying her air-conditioning. And before we adios-ed each other Lisa gave me her address.

When that phone conversation ended I pulled Springsteen's adoption papers and discovered that Springsteen lived on the same road as Lisa. So I called Lisa back and gave her Mimi's & Springsteen's home address.

Ten minutes later, Lisa called me and she told me that she had just put Springsteen back into his yard and once again I thanked her for helping him get back home.

And five minutes after that conversation the phone rang, again. "Nancy, this is Mimi. When I got your message I immediately took off for home and when we got here Springsteen was in the yard and he greeted us!...."

This afternoon I cooked lunch for us and it was pretty tasty. Tony and I always eat our big meal for lunch, then we eat lighter at in the evening. Today I heated up my leftover red beans and rice along with some chicken fajitas and I served it with some of Tony's home grown organic tomatoes.

Late this afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville, specifically to go to Bad Girlz of Texas, so we could visit with friends and attend their very first Monthly Wined Up! Featuring Brigitte London, Jill Kinsey and "Dash" aka Daryl Wayne Dasher. And to say the least, "It Was Totally Awesome!"

And I am going to write more about today's super fun Bad Girlz of Texas event tomorrow, because I cannot wait to go listen to these singer/songwriter musician's fabulous music CDs that we purchased. 

But before I go enjoy listening to their fabulous music I do want to mention that these great, super talented musicians will be performing tomorrow afternoon, at Luchenbach, Texas.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

To Be Continued....(Sorry, Mari!)

A New Tradition!

Thursday and today have been great, because I spent most of my day Wednesday catching up with paperwork, returning phone calls and e-mails.

Yesterday was great, because Tony and I met our dear friend Fourth for a really fun lunch, at Billy Gene's Restaurant, in Kerrville. Then yesterday evening I went over to Kinky's Lodge for a really fun visit after he and I and The Friedmans had taken a short hike around the ranch.

Today has been great, because this morning most of our wonderful, fun friends aka dog-walking volunteers, came out and walked our dogs for us. And we all ended up meeting, at The Apple Store, in Medina, for a tasty lunch.

Tony and I and a few others had their delicious Friday Lunch Special which was Fried Catfish, Coleslaw, hushpuppies and french fries. But when I saw Eileen's delicious-looking SPJ Hamburger, I told her, "I'm going to get that the next time we come here to eat."

Early this evening, I called Kris & Jim to tell them my latest off-color joke and like me they thought it was pretty funny.

Before I adios-ed our dear friends they asked me if I knew what was happening, at Bad Girlz of Texas tomorrow afternoon and I told them no, because I hadn't heard anything about it.

After they told me I told them that Tony and I would most definitely be there. So after we Bye-byed each other I went on Bad Girlz of Texas FaceBook page to learn more about their cool event. And then I copied this off of their event page and copied it and pasted it below, so y'all could read about it and go to it, too.

"Details

We are starting a new tradition at our Kerrville location that we have been doing for years at our Canyon Lake location... the monthly CUSTOMER APPRECIATION PARTIES! For those that do not know what to expect, we offer Free food, Free drinks (alcoholic and non), a Free gift of some sort, and, of course, Free live music. For our inaugural party, Brigitte and Jill will be joining us fresh from Luckenbach. They played at The Hunt Store last August. It is not often that you can catch these two dynamos playing at the same place, at the same time! Although they both travel nationwide for the Last Honky Tonk Music Series, one is based out of Louisiana, while the other is based out of Nashville. If you have not heard them before, please check them out at:
www.lasthonkytonk.org
https://www.facebook.com/JillKinseyMusic/?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/BrigitteLondon/?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/HighwaywomanRadioShow/
http://tunein.com/radio/The-Highwaywoman-Show-p381577/
They are truly wonderful singer songwriters!

We thank you for all the support and kindnesses you have shown us in such a short time here in Kerrville! We just want to give a little back to the community! In an effort to get the word out, please feel free to share the event to your page, click attending, tag and/or invite your friends; anything you can do to let people know that this is a FREE and VERY entertaining event! Check the event page occasionally to see the status of the menu, perhaps the recipes, as well as what the free item may be.

This is gonna be GREAT!!!"

I have a "Breaking News" update to share with y'all. In the past eight months, Henry Standing Bear has gotten so BIG that he is no longer able to fit "down under" our furniture. So now he has chosen to be "up above." And here is a picture that I just now took of him, as Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) slept on Henry's torn security blanket below.

So as I finish writing this tonight, I hope that Tony and I will get to see y'all tomorrow, at Bad Girlz of Texas, The Coolest Fun Shop, in Kerrville, which is also right next door to the famous Wolfmueller's Books store, which we all know is the Best Book Store, in Texas.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing! See y'all tomorrow at Bad Girlz of Texas and Wolfmueller's Books!

Breaking News!! or 698!

I am so tired of listening or watching the Media with all of their "Breaking News" horrific, depressing stories, because like many of our friends that I've talked with they, like me, are feeling hopeless, lost and finding that it is hard to just get out of bed.

So a few days ago I decided to change "my media" choices, because I am so sick of watching or listening to disturbing, live coverage of innocent victims being killed, angry people and politicians screaming with their fists held up high in the air, etc. And it has already made a huge difference in the quality of my daily life.

Three days ago, after much thought I swore off The Media and decided to create my own media. So Sunday morning instead of waking up to alarming news, blasting out of the television, almost everyday, the first media that I chose for myself was a much healthier choice.

Yes, I walked 4 fast miles with Leslie Sansone and it made me feel so energized and ready to face my day. And sweet Henry Standing Bear happily tried to walk with me too, if he wasn't accidentally causing me to nearing trip. 

Yesterday afternoon my next new choice for my media was to spend a few hours just relaxing. While I listened to my music I enjoyed reading this fabulous book that Kris had given to me, a few weeks ago. "Thank you, Kris!"

I highly recommend reading The Most of Nora Ephron, because it is so much fun to read. It is filled with her take on life and several of her stories made me laugh out loud and that felt so good and this is probably why:

One Minute of Anger Weakens the Immune System for 4 -5 Hours.

One Minute of Laughing Boots Your Immune System for 24 Hours. 

Last night, after dinner my next choice of my media to watch was this:

I love this fun movie that was made in 1979, because that was also a very special time in my life. It brought back so many fond memories after I watched it. 

I was 28 years old then and dating Jim, whom I married two years later. In fact, I remember that after we saw this movie, in a downtown theatre, Jim & I went with my parents, who were my very best friends, to the Fort Worth StockYards and all of us danced for hours, at The White Elephant. Life was good.

Please note: That because of my new media choices I was still feeling happy and upbeat. Hmm.

This morning I got up, drank a delicious cup of Donut Shop Coffee and then I turned on the television and walked 4 more fast miles with Leslie, while Henry Standing Bear, was outside on the front porch,  gnawing happily on the steps railing. 

Today I cooked us lunch and it was red beans & rice with jalapeño sausages and Tony's delicious homegrown, organic tomatoes. And to say the least—it was totally delicious.

Early this evening I decided to start writing this post, while I sipped on one of my delicious, healthy smoothies made with too many healthy ingredients to take the time mentioning. 

Anyway, when I went to my blog, I first checked to see if I had any new comments, I didn't, but I was astounded by the number of people who have checked out my blog since 7:00 last night. 

And as I finish writing this in hopes of lifting your spirits, I just found this picture posted, on my new friend, Melissa Weiner's FaceBook page and I absolutely love it, because I know it really works.

I am now going over to the Lodge, because Kinky has written some new songs that he wants me to listen to.

P.S. A 6:10, as I was setting the time for my blog to post tonight, at 7:05, I about fell out of my chair when I saw the new number of the people who have now checked out my blog since last night, at 7:00. 

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Had Left The Building!

Yesterday afternoon was great. A dear old friend of ours, who we shall call B., because she likes her privacy, showed up out here, because she wanted to give us Betty White's ashes, because she had adopted this great dog from us many years ago, on November 12, 2008. In fact, I blogged about her super adoption and if you want to read my post about Betty White's fabulous adoption please click here. This is a picture I took of her when she was about 4 months old.

B. also came out to adopt a big dog from us to be a companion dog for her rescued Pit Bull. And it did not take her long to fall in love with Tom Slick! It was another one of those love at first site kind-of-things that seems to happen often out here.

We told B. Tom Slick's story about probably being dumped here, and that we had not vetted him yet, because we were trying to put some weight back on him, after his 2 1/2 day wild adventure, in this beautiful part of the Texas Hill Country.

Before B. and Tom Slick adios-ed us, we got to have a very fun visit with our friend, inside The Cabin. And B. told us not to worry about us taking Tom Slick to our vet to get him neutered, shots, etc., because she had already planned on dropping him off, at her veterinarian, on her way home, to take care of everything that he needed.

After B. and Tom took off, Tony jumped inside Buttermilk and took off to go pick up our mail. And when he returned my jaw nearly dropped to the floor when I opened the Bandera County Courier newspaper and read what our good friend Judith Pannebaker had written about our dog/aka B.'s Tom Slick.

So once again, I want to thank Judith and the Bandera County Courier for helping out our rescue ranch again, even though Tom "had left the building" just a few minutes ago. So please click here to read Judith's great story that she wrote about Mr. T.

Today while we ate a delicious lunch with our great volunteers aka our dear friends, at The Apple Store, Eileen, told us some great news, too. So I want to congratulate the Apple Cider Mill aka the Apple Store, in Medina, for being the only Hill Country burger (SPJ Burger) that made the Top 50 in Texas, per Texas Monthly's August edition! This is an excerpt from the Texas Monthly's August edition:

"Medina

SPJ Burger
Patio Cafe, $8.99Love Creek Orchards is exactly the slice of Hill Country life that sends city dwellers on weekend journeys along winding back roads. Perhaps a cautionary note for those very travelers, a sign near the Orchards’ Patio Cafe order window advises: “If you want fast, go to Austin or Dallas. We are south of the tension line.” Grab a seat at the red picnic tables under a sloping live oak and wait for the grilled SPJ (spicy pepper jack) Burger, which comes loaded with thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon, tangy jalapeño mustard, the promised SPJ cheese, and sweet-hot pickles. Although the pepper theme may seem like overkill, its kick is countered by the surprising sweetness of the jalapeño bun. Finish the whole thing and you’ll be slowing down too. 14024 Texas Hwy 16N, 830-589-2202. Open 7 days 11–3." And that's the latest good news that I have to report from Medina, Texas.

Y'all have a great evening!

The One And Only! or Expedition Unknown!

Today has been fine, but something weird is going on with my blog and I can't figure it out. In the past 9 years that I've been blogging my average daily page views is usually somewhere between 150 to 200, which I take as a compliment.

But since Monday and this morning and today my blog has spiked big time. My blog's daily counter is set to start counting at 7:00 PM and then it automatically resets itself twenty-four hours. Last night a little before 7:00, it reported that I had 471 page views on from Monday to last night , so I took this snap shot, before it zeroed out, at 7:00, last night.

Early this morning when I checked to see how views I had received since Tuesday evening, at 7:00 and I already had 259 page views. It was incredible.

So late this afternoon, around 4:30, with two and a half hours to go before the counter resets itself I had already had 328 page views.

Anyway, I am not complaining about this at all. In fact, I am thrilled that so many people are reading my blog and I thank all of you. But I am still puzzled about these unusual spikes in my page views. 

This morning my dear friend, Fay McLachlan sent me an e-mail. She told me that she too has been depressed with so much bad news, too. And she sent me a Twitter link that Laurell K. Hamilton had posted. On Twitter Laurell wrote:

"Look I know this week has been tough, so here's a Chihuahua dressed as a Centurion being pulled by a sausage dog." And it was so cute and funny that Tony and I are still laughing about it." In fact, I can't quit watching it keeps making me smile.

So now I've been inspired to "copy" her great idea and try to come up with something different, but still funny starring the one and only Little Debbie with her faithful side-kick Bob, her tiny, green alien friend that is invisible to everyone except her. And the wheels are already spinning on my new project.

Around 5:00 this evening I called my sweet sister just to catch up with her. During our fun conversation I started telling her about reading Tom Slick: Mystery Hunter by Catherine Nixon Cooke and about how much I had enjoyed reading it.

After I had told her about some of his exciting adventures Cindy told me that she would check out the book. Then she told me that she was hooked on watching the Expedition Unknown, on the Travel Channel and she highly recommended that I watch it, because she had told Ron & Nita about it and now they are hooked on it, too. It airs on Wednesday nights, starting at 5:00.

So as soon as we adios-ed each other, I immediately grabbed the remote control and went to the Travel Channel and pressed the button to record all of the shows. In fact, it is on right now and I must admit that I am already hooked on it.

And that's about it for tonight, because I am going to spend my evening watching Expedition Unknown.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

More Good News! or Share Our Wealth!

Here's some more good news to tell you about. While I was taking a shower this morning, with Henry constantly trying to get into the shower with me, I was counting my many blessings. In fact, I was up to my 147th blessings counted when Tony said, from the kitchen, "Nance, I've got a surprise for you!"

At first I thought that Tony was going to jump into the shower with me, but I quickly blew that idea off, because we are both old and we ain't what we used to be in the looks-department.

While I was drying myself off, Henry Standing Bear tried to help me by licking my toes. "Thank you, Henry," I said, while I was sucking in my stomach, in hopes of buttoning up my too tight 501 Levis. "You've been very helpful. Now, go help Tony."

Standing proud, like he had really been so helpful to me, Henry slowly stretched and then he walked out of the bathroom to go find Tony.

A few minutes later, my top button on my jeans was at last buttoned, emphasizing my muffin-top(s). So, I put on my blue work shirt, tied a pink bandana around my neck to hide "the hide" that once I was so proud of.

Then I pulled on my pretty pink boots and was now ready to receive the world or at least get a delicious cup of Donut Shop Coffee. "Morning Tone," I said, trying to sound cheerful. "What's my surprise?"

Tony smiled, and said, "The rest of your Hans Freitag Wafers Cocoa With Cream filling arrived."

"Are you serious?" I asked, even though I knew he was telling me the truth. Some people call that a control-freak thing, but I do it, because I am hard of hearing and just want to make sure that I heard him right.

"Yes, but I wonder why they just didn't pack them all into one big box?"

"Too many calories," I explained, while I was placing the six new bags of the world's tastiest wafers, on top of the stove. Then I took this picture of our newest arrivals.

"Tony, we've got a ton of errands to run today. We've got to pick up Roy's meds, at Hoegemeyers, run by Pressler's for me to sign off on some paperwork, go to the Post Office Sub-Station, go to the craft store and go to Wolfmueller's Books, so I can drop off Jim & Liz's poster, Kris & Jim's Tom Slick book and something else, but I forgot?"

"Go by Wild Birds Unlimited? Because I'm low on my birdseed."

"Yes, but that's not it. I will remember it in a minute," I said, staring in disbelief at all of the bags of wafers we had. "Tony, I feel like we're sitting on a gold mine here, with all of these wafers. So let's share our wealth." Then I grabbed two bags of the incredibly delicious, Made In Germany, wafers and put them on the breakfast bar. "Let's give a bag of these to Kris & Jim and to Sandy & Jon." And that's exactly what we did.

When we were heading back home, on the down-side of the Medina Pass, I finally remembered what the other thing was that we needed to do today, but Tony was talking to me about me helping him put together an e-book of his beautiful pictures. And by the time he stopped talking and we had stopped Buttermilk to pick up our mail, I had forgotten once again about what we needed to do.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing! 

Some Good News—Some Bad News!

Today I have some good news and some bad news to share with you and it came in a package from Amazon Prime. The Hans Freitag Wafers with Cocoa with Cream filling arrived! And that's the good news.

The bad news is that I only received four packages of those delicious wafers, instead of the ten that I had ordered, because they had completely sold out of them, because of their popularity.

So not wanting to complain, I guess you could say that the good news is at least I got the last four bags available. You know, like the glass is half full or it is half empty.

 

So tonight I am going to celebrate and make this a special occasion as I munch on these wafers while counting my many blessings that are nearly up to 200 blessings. And that is something to be happy about, even though it takes me a pretty long time to do it, because I have become more forgetful.

Y'all have a great evening and I apologize for cornering the market and buying up the rest of these delicious wafers on Amazon!

Special Occasions!

I haven't blogged much the past few weeks, because it is hard for me to write "Today has been great" with all of the disturbing and sad world news that we are bombarded with.

But yesterday, for a couple of hours, we did have our spirits lifted, because our dear friends Kent Perkins and his adorable wife, Ruth Buzzi, came by for a very fun visit.

Kent & Ruthie brought their incredibly great and beautiful dogs with them: Buffy, a sweet, male Great Pyrenees and J.J., a handsome, very friendly, male Pit Bull. They also brought us a big bag of Hans Frietag delicious Wafers with Cocoa Cream filling. And while we sat around and visited we also kept passing the bag of wafers around. Seriously, you cannot eat just one.

During our fun visit, Kent played my Martin guitar while he accompanied sweet Ruthie singing several songs. And some of her songs were totally hilarious and they made us laugh. And it felt so good to finally have something to laugh about.

After their In-Cabin concert Tony asked Kent & Ruthie to watch Longmire—Texas Style and this time it was them laughing out loud. And they told us that they loved it, especially Little Debbie's wardrobe with her pink flower-eye-patch.

So when the Longmire—Texas Style video ended, Ruthie picked up Little Debbie and held her in her arms. And as she and Ruthie were becoming fast friends, I grabbed my camera and snapped this picture of them, as Big Al(ice) sat and stared into space—probably plotting revenge for my adorable one-eyed Chihuahua.

Tony and I have never heard of Han's Frietag wafers which are made in Germany, so after we adios-ed our dear friends, I Googled the delicious wafers and found a limited amount of them on Amazon Prime. 

And I must confess that Tony and I love those delicious wafers with cocoa cream filling so much—I ordered 10 bags, that I plan to freeze and only serve for special occasions. Even though we seldom have special occasions around here. So, I guess when they arrive on Wednesday—we will just have to make that our special occasion to eat them.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing or at least try to find something good to laugh about!

The Adventures of Tom Slick!

Late Saturday afternoon, when Tony and I got back from running a few errands, in Kerrville, we had a big surprise waiting for us at the gate. It was a very handsome, friendly, male Boxer/Pit Bull mix, not wearing a dog collar.

We tried to get this lost or abandoned dog to jump into Buttermilk with us, but he was too scared, then he took off into the woods. So after we had put up our groceries, we spent a few hours outside looking for the dog, but sadly it was to no avail.

When we finally gave up, we came back inside The Cabin and saw Carlton flashing, on top of the breakfast bar, so I pushed his button to see who had called us.

After listening to Angie's message I immediately called Angie. "Nancy, we came out after 3:00, because we are thinking about adopting a companion dog for our dog. Your gate was closed, but one of your dog's ran up to the gate to greet us."

"What did this dog look like?" I asked our friend.

"He was a beautiful Boxer/Pit Bull mix and he was real sweet and friendly...." Before Angie and I adios-ed each other, it was decided that Angie & Jim would come out Sunday morning, at 10:00, with their sweet dog, to look at our dogs.

The next morning Jim & Angie arrived promptly at 10:00, with their adorable, sweet, female Boxer/Heeler mix and before we took them on a tour, we started talking about the mystery dog they saw, at our gate. "He was inside the rescue ranch and he ran up to the gate to greet us," Jim said.

"He was outside our gate when Tony and I drove up," I said. "Someone must have thrown him over our gate and driven off. Poor dog. I hope that we can catch him..."

Angie and Jim picked Walter to go on a walk down to the creek with their adorable dog and those two dogs acted like they were best buds from the get-go, but when all was said and done, our friends told us that they needed to go home and talk about it some more, because Walter was so much bigger than the dog they had hoped to adopt.

Monday afternoon Tony and I met our great friends Kris & Jim for lunch, in Kerrville and it was so much fun.

During lunch we talked about many topics. I told Kris, before her husband arrived, that for the past few days I have felt really down and that I've not wanted to do anything, because my energy was drained and that several of our friends have also been feeling the exact same way.

So I asked Kris if they, too had experienced it and she told me that they both had and that she had wondered if possibly Mercury was in Retrograde again. Mercury wasn't Retrograde, but it helped me confirm that it wasn't just us and so many of our friends.

Then I purposefully changed the subject to a much brighter subject. "Y'all, yesterday I sat down and read the greatest book Tom Slick: Mystery Hunter written by his niece Catherine Nixon Cooke...."

And as I excitedly told them about this very famous man's life and his incredible adventures I instantly felt my energy change—I was re-charged and it felt so good to be back to normal or what I consider to be normal.

As I continued to rave non-stop about Tom Slick and all of his great accomplishments, research institutes and worldly adventures I told them the book was so entertaining for me to read, because my dear friend is a distant relative of his and that she grew up knowing one of Tom Slick's sons.

And that Tony and I also knew some of Tom's family and a few of his famous friends. Anyway, by the end of my story about Tom Slick, I told our friends, "Tony is reading it now and as soon as he finishes reading it I promise to loan it to y'all." (Please click Tom Slick, if you are curious about this incredibly great man.)

Today has been great, even though I overslept. When I was sipping my first delicious cup of Donut Shop Coffee, Tony walked inside The Cabin and he was wearing the biggest grin on his face. "Nance, I have some great news to tell you."

"What is it?"

"When I went outside this morning to do the chores, that Boxer/Pit Bull was sitting next to Bella's pen and he let me pet him. When I opened the gate to the alley between Bella's and Hank's pen he followed me into the alley."

"Omg! That is great news."

"So I immediately fed him and filled a water bucket and he ate like a pig, because he has lost a lot of weight since we saw him on Saturday. He's very sweet and friendly and he seems to be fine being in the alley, because he immediately got along great with Bella and Hank. And I think that we should wait a few days and get some weight back on him, before we take him in to get shots and neutered..."

Early this afternoon Tony and I went outside so I could meet the dog and take a few pictures of him. 

And after Tony gave him a few more treats and re-filled his food pan Tony asked me what I wanted to name this sweet dog. And my immediate answer was, "Tom Slick! Because he's been on his own thrilling adventure, too."

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

P.S. This morning Kris sent me this e-mail asking me to please check out the best dog parks, in San Antonio and you are not going to believe the name of the first one listed! Click here. And here's the link again to Yeti Hunter Tom Slick's 100th Birthday Celebration that occurred this past February, in San Antonio.

See You In Germany!

Thursday was a very busy day for us. We had to go to Kerrville to run several errands, then when we got back home, we did some more mowing and weed-eating, before our good friend Brian Molnar came over with his girlfriend for a fun visit.

Brian is a very talented singer/songwriter/musician and he is the one who produced Kinky latest CD The Loneliest Man I Ever Met. And this is our signed copy of it.

While we were having a fun visit with Brian and girlfriend, inside The Cabin, our dogs started barking outside. "Nance, I bet it's Dorothy and David," Tony said. "You stay inside where it is cool and I will go give them a tour of the rescue ranch." Then out the door he went.

About thirty minutes later, Tony walked inside The Cabin with Dorothy and after introductions, he said, "Nance, they want to adopt Jack Black, in hopes that he won't mess with their chickens and sheep."

While everyone visited I quickly filled out Jack's adoption papers for them to sign and after they had signed the papers, we started visiting with this super nice couple, from Medina. 

When Dorothy spotted the book next to my/Roy/Henry's chair, that Kris & Jim gave to me for my birthday, she said, "We love Tiny Houses and we're building our first Tiny House." And Tony and I lit up like a Christmas tree, because we love the Tiny House movement.

While they told us about their first Tiny House that they are planning to sell, Dorothy showed us pictures of it and it was so cool that I begged our new found-friends to please let us come over some day to see it. And they told us to come over anytime.

Then Tony discovered that David knew many members of Tony's family, so they started trading stories about them. Anyway, we are thrilled about Jack's super adoption and we are keeping our fingers crossed that his adoption will stick. And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

6:00 Update: My dear friend Mari has just sent me this YouTube video that will put a smile on your face. And I totally loved it, because it made me smile. Click here if you need a smile. You've  Gotta Love Millennials - Micah Tyler

If It Ain't Broke Don't Fix It!

Two days ago, I discovered that my front page of my blog was missing many past posts. So I tried to figure out what I had to do to regain the look of my blog. Anyway, I want y'all to know that this was not of my doing.

It appears that there has been a change and now only my new post will appear on the main page and if you would like to read the rest of my latest posts then you must click See Older Posts.

And that's about it for tonight, because we are fixin' to go outside and do some more boring mowing.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce!

Today has been great. This morning when I checked my blog I saw that Mari had made this comment on my Saturday post We Are Family! I am posting this just in case you didn't read her comment.

Mari of the NoMads said...

"Nancy, your blog is apparently well-heeded in Kerrville. I went to Wal-Mart to purchase my missing ingredients for your new recipe and found that the large red bell peppers were sold out and they had put the Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix in the aisle where the boxes were flying off the stack! I got the last green onions in the store, too!

‪I just finished transcribing your recipe to paper to take with me to the kitchen since I am technically impaired and do not own (or want) a Smart Phone that could take the recipe for me.

‪David and I look forward to munching on this meal soon!"

‪July 4, 2016 at 11:44 AM

And my dear Canadian friend, Fay, also had made a comment on yesterday's post Marguerite's Sweet Next Door Neighbor! 

Fay said...

"Happy 4th of July to you, Tony, Kinky and everyone at Utopia Rescue! Hope you have a super day! We have our Texas flag flying out our back garden so our Texi-Can pups don't forget where they came from! xx

‪Fay & the Clan in Canada"

‪July 4, 2016 at 8:55 AM  

Late this afternoon, I decided to make Tony and me smoothies and I used all of those same healthy ingredients that I had listed on last nights post : H-E-B's frozen Mixed Fruits, almond milk, goji berries, chia seeds, kale, cocoa chips, walnuts, banana, ginger, blueberries and yogurt.
Anyway here are my before and after pictures of our smoothies, that are always so delicious.

A few minutes ago I checked my email again and my dear friend Mari wrote this:

"Well I really liked that recipe you shared. I took the lazy way out and bought some of the barbecued chicken that was already shredded and available from the same folks that package the meatloaf and roast beef, etc. (Hormel) . It supposed has Jack Daniels in the barbecue sauce. Since it already HAD barbecue sauce on the chicken I only added about ½-3/4 of a cup of Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce and it came out great....

I WILL make Cousin Nancy’s BBQ Chicken Cornbread again and probably sooner than later!

Mari!"

I am thrilled that Fay & Ian are celebrating our country's Fourth of July and they are flying a Texas flag and I am glad that Mari and David like my newest Cousin Nancy recipe and that she used Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce just like I did, because it is the very best. 

And that's about it for this 4th of July evening, because I need to go back over to the Lodge to check on The Friedmans.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!