This past weekend has been filled with mowing and good times, so it was great to say the least. Saturday morning I went outside and started mowing down the tall grass and weeds, in Hazel's pen, under dark-looking clouds.
After I finished push-mowing Hazel's pen, that took me twice as long as it should have, because of the thick, knee-high grass I started mowing the alley next to her pen.
Halfway done, it started to lightly sprinkle, so I started pushing the mower as fast as I could, which in my case wasn't all that fast. And right when I had finished mowing it—it started pouring down rain.
By the time I reached the feed barn I was soaking wet. I was grateful for the rain, but was a little depressed, because I knew that the too tall grass and weeds would grow at least another inch taller before I would
get to do some more push-mowing. The mowing felt like it was a never-ending task.
Around 2:00 in the afternoon our dogs started barking, so Tony went outside to see what was going on and two minutes later, I went outside, because I saw that Tony was talking to a couple I didn't know. And that's when the fun started.
After Tony had introduced me to Hans & Marita Fredriksen, visiting from Bergen, Norway and I felt like I knew these strangers and I already liked them. Hans told us that they had recently met Kinky after a show he did in Norway and Kinky had given them one of our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch business cards. And he had invited them to come see us when they visited the Texas Hill Country.
Why, but don't ask me why something told me to ask them, "Have y'all ever heard of Chet O'Keefe? He's a fabulous singer/songwriter musician and he is a real good friend of ours?"
"Yes!" They answered. "We know Chet and we are good friends with him, too. We love his music and we love the music scene, so we started a business that helps promote traveling musicians and artists to help make their life, on the road much easier."
"Wow! That's way too cool," I exclaimed. "Where are y'all staying and for how long?" They told us that they were staying, in Fredricksberg and were staying for several weeks. So once again and don't ask me why, I asked, "Have y'all ever heard of
Stephen K. Morris?"
"Yes!" They answered, to our surprise. "We love Stephen's music and
Eva Robinett's photography. We've know them for a long time and we are trying to talk them into coming over, to Norway, to perform." So I immediately invited them to come, inside The Cabin, so we could cool off and visit some more.
During our super fun visit with Marita & Hans, they told us that they had planned on going out to Terlingua, during their stay, in Texas, because they had never seen it. So we told them that Chet, Stephen & Eva and us all owned places out there and we all love it. Then we found out that Hans & Marita were musicians too, so I pulled out my Martin D-28 and handed it to Hans.
When he started strumming my guitar we asked them to sing something for us, so they did. First they sang one of their favorite
Chet O'Keefe songs In San Joaquin Valley and then they sang Luckenbach Texas (Norway-Style) and they were absolutely fantastic.
Tony and I were so excited about meeting Hans & Marita and before they left to drive back to Fred-town, they told us about going to the Auslander, Sunday at 4:00, because Stephen was hosting another one of his super fun
"Outsider Songwriter Spotlight" featuring
Hollin McKay, who is one of Tony's and my favorite singer/songwriter musician and he lives nearby, in Bandera. Here is where Hollin will be playing his gigs at which includes Austin's famous Threadgill's.
So we put our heads together and decided to play a little joke on our dear friends Eva & Stephen. We decided that it would be fun for us to show up around 4:00 and when we saw each other we would hug each other and sit down, at a table together, hoping that it would surprise Stephen & Eva that we knew each other. Then during a break we would tell our mutual friends that we have been good friends for many years, etc.
After our fun visit with our new Norway friends, Kinky called me from the road, to tell me that
Ruth Buzzi and her husband Kent Perkins would be arriving, at the ranch, around 4:00 and that he would be back at the ranch no later than 8:00. "Nance, would you mind going over to the Lodge to welcome them for me?"
And of course I said, "I would love to see them!" A little while later, I jumped into Trigger and drove over to the Lodge and their beautiful, black Bentley was parked, in the driveway.
Kent greeted me and he told me Ruthie was taking a nap, so he and I went inside the Lodge for a fun visit. And an hour later, when I was fixin' to leave, Tony arrived at the Lodge, because he wanted to visit with Kent & Ruthie, too.
Then about an hour later, Kent drove over here to drink some coffee with us and to visit some more. And to say the least about that—Tony and I had a great time visiting with our dear friend.
Sunday morning, Kent & Ruthie came over to see us, before meeting Kinky for brunch, in Kerrville. Omg, Ruthie was so cute and she had all of us laughing the minute that she got out of their car. And it continued when they spent about an hour with us, inside The Cabin.
Later that afternoon around 4:15, we arrived at the Islander's back patio. Stephen and Hollin were already on stage. When Stephen saw us come in he nodded at us and we waved back at him. And a few minutes later, Marita & Hans walked up to our table and we put on a good show for Stephen to watch while Hollin sang a beautiful song.
Eva wasn't there yet, but when she arrived she looked just as shocked as Stephen, to us sitting with Hans & Marita. So I guess that you could say—we pulled it off.
Tony and I had so much fun listening to the great music and getting to visit with Stephen & Eva, Hollin and Marita & Hans. Here is a picture I took, at the Auslander, of Hans & Marita.
Of course Tony and I could not stay for the whole show, because we needed to get back to the rescue ranch, so before we adios-ed our friends, around 6:00, Stephen & Eva, Marita & Hans us talked about us possibly meeting up, in Terlingua, for a few days of Viva Terlingua fun. And who knows—maybe Chet and
Jim Keaveny and Anna will be out there, too. Talk about a real good time with great friends with great music.
Here is the top of their business card that Hans gave to us, because we are hoping to hook up with these four great friends of ours for lunch, later on this week.
And at the bottom of their business cards it reads "Make music - B-Good."
This afternoon we took Roy Rogers back to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic to get his leg checked out, again, because sometime last night, Roy managed to remove a part of his bandage on his leg, that was put there to stop him from licking at it. And Roy was licking it.
Anyway, Dr. Craig Jannsen has just called me to tell me that he looked at Roy's leg and he suggested that he should cut off the growth and then we will wait for a week to see how it looks and then go from there. He also told me that the growth seems to have grown bigger and he can do the surgery this evening, so we will be able to pick up my four-legged soul mate tomorrow. And that's about it for tonight.
Y'all have a great evening!
