Copper & Clovis! or Like A Rolling Stone!

Today has been one of those busy days where Tony and I didn't know if we were coming or going, but the bottom line is that today has been more than great, because Copper has officially adopted Clovis and she is more than thrilled about it. In fact, she is totally in love with him.

Earlier this evening Copper called to tell me that she thinks Clovis is the coolest, smartest dog and she raved and raved about how perfect a match he is for her. And I had to totally agree with her, because Clovis is definitely a super dog. And we are so happy that Copper & Clovis have found each other.

If you didn't already know this about our good friend, Copper Love, she is a famous artist and her beautiful paintings have been sold all over the world. So I was thrilled when she told me that she'll be taking Clovis everywhere that she goes to work on her paintings—like Terlingua, Texas and the Big Bend area, Texas Hill Country, etc. 

Now Copper Love didn't tell me this, but I know that Clovis will soon become a big time Rolling Stones fan, like she is, because Copper actually knows them, because she used to travel and hang out with them, when they were on their world tours. So I'm sure that Clovis is going to have so much fun traveling with Copper and becoming like a rolling stone with her, because Clovis is officially now Copper's new best friend!

And that's about it for tonight, because I am pooped and need to unwind tonight and watch some TV, because I already know that tomorrow is going to be another busy day for Tony and me.

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

Buttercup aka Butterball aka Butterbutt! or Little, Lucky Lucy!

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving Day and of course, it all started early in the morning. Our friend Aaron volunteered to come out around 7:15 to help us prepare our rescued dogs their annual Thanksgiving (people) dinner. And here's a picture showing most of the food that we served our dogs that was sponsored by our good friends: sweet Eileen and sweet Karon.

By 8:45, our great friends/volunteers, Kay, Jim & Kris, Eileen and Dawn, arrived to help us serve the dogs their delicious, annual, turkey dinner along with cooked mixed vegetables, stuffing, eggs, cheese, garlic, olive oil  and warmed dinner rolls. And here's a picture of Louis Lane running to go eat her delicious Thanksgiving dinner. And her reaction was just like all of the rest of our super dogs. So it is needless to say, "They loved it!" But I did, anyway.

Earlier this week, Kinky's sweet sister Marcie had invited Tony and me to come over to Kinky's Lodge to eat her Thanksgiving dinner with our mutual great friends: Mario, Sage & Dylan, Copper and Max. So we went over to the Lodge and we had a great time visiting with everyone. And Marcie's Thanksgiving Dinner was more than delicious, along with Copper's mouth-watering, homemade pies. And because we ate our Thanksgiving dinner over there—Copper is now going to adopt cool Clovis, on Monday and Max is seriously thinking about adopting Gus, because he has recently retired. 

Then last night Tony and I watched the Cowboys win another great football game. And that's why we had a more than great Thanksgiving Day and night.

This morning, Kay, Jim, June and Sarah, our great friends/volunteers, came out and walked our dogs for us. Which was great, because the dogs definitely needed walking and some exercising, after they had stuffed themselves with yesterday's Thanksgiving dinner.

And the nice couple, in Borne, that were very interested in adopting Buttercup aka Butterball aka Butternut, did not come out at 11:00, as promised, because they arrived at 10:00, because they could not wait to meet Ms. Butter-whatever. And as soon as they saw her, from a distance, they got excited and they each told me, "She is exactly what we wanted!" So, after a short, but fun visit with Butter-insert name here and us they adopted her. And from the looks of this picture, that I took of them before they took her to her new forever home, I can't tell who was the happiest about this wonderful adoption.

When we ate lunch with our friends, this afternoon, I told everyone about this  3 year old Chihuahua/Dachshund mix that we've rescued, sight unseen, because she is at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and I asked them to please help me find her a great home. 

And Sarah took it literally, because as soon as got back home from eating lunch with our friends, Sarah called me, and said, "Nancy, I think my friend wants to adopt the Chi-weenie, but she has to make sure she will get along with her other dog...."

So, after being home for less than five minutes, we jumped into Trigger and immediately took off for Hoegemeyer's, so we could pick up this sweet, little, dog and take her to her "maybe" new forever home. 

Before we left the animal clinic, Susan gave me all of her paperwork and told us that her name was Lucille, but the woman called her Lucy. And here is a picture I took of sweet Lucy, in the lobby. It isn't a great picture of her, because she was nervous and not sure what was going on.

But by the time we delivered her to Sarah's good friend, Lucy was relaxed and kissing me non-stop. So now it is just a matter of time to wait and find out if this adoption will work. So, y'all please keep your fingers crossed that this will be little, lucky Lucy's new forever home. And that is about it for today.

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

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

An Old, Cute, Goofy Couple!

Today has been great, except for one thing and it upset Tony more than it did me. Actually, I thought it was totally hilarious and was bound to happen to us sooner than later. To keep it simple we'll call it a "Wardrobe Malfunction" sort of. Anyway, I am still laughing about it and that is why I am writing about it tonight.

You see, about a month ago or so, Tony and I were at Walmart for some reason that I can't remember now. Anyway, while we were there we saw these pretty, men's button-down collar, flannel shirts that were on sale for only $8.00.

We love to wear flannel shirts and because I really love button-down collar shirts we decided to buy 3 for each one of us. And after we wore them a few times and I had washed them we decided to go back to Walmart and buy a few more if they were still on sale. Bottom line—we each bought 3 more flannel shirts, again.

Well, it turns out that Tony's favorite flannel shirt is this dark blue plaid and it is also my favorite, too. So by now you must have figured out where this story is headed. Seriously, without either one of us knowing or paying attention to the fact that we were wearing the same dark, blue, plaid shirts when we took off for Kerrville, to eat lunch, at the Cracker Barrel, because I wanted to eat there, so I could eat a turkey, Thanksgiving dinner.

When we were about ten miles from the Kerrville City Limits, Tony said, "Omg! I knew this was going to happen. We are dressed alike." I laughed about it, but he didn't.

"Good grief, Tony," I remarked. "Who cares? It is no big deal if you ask me. Besides that, people will just laugh and think that we are a cute, old couple that likes to dress alike." Tony said nothing.

So, when we got our table, at the Cracker Barrel, in the middle room, this sweet, perky waitress walks up to our table, and she says, "That is so cute that y'all are both wearing matching outfits." And I nodded yes, as she handed us our menus, while Tone turned as red as his next favorite, new, buttoned-down flannel, red plaid shirt that he bought, which thank goodness I hadn't bought, because red is not my color—pink is.

And to make a long story short, we enjoyed eating our lunch, even though we both ordered the exact same thing—their Chicken Pot Pie Special. Because I sadly found out from our waitress that they weren't serving turkey dinners until tomorrow. And I am betting that our attentive waitress is still laughing about us being an old, cute, goofy couple that dresses alike and also orders the same thing, at restaurants.

Before going back home, we went to the big H-E-B to pick up a few more groceries, even though we had sworn not to do that, because we knew it would be packed with people, again, because tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. And we survived that, even though several people stared at us for wearing matching clothes.

And in hopes of ending tonight's post on a good note, when we got back home, from Kerrville, we rescued a 3-4 year old, sweet, female Chihuahua mix, from Hoegemeyer's Animal Clinic, because Kathy had called us and left a message about them trying to help find a home for this sweet, lovable Chi-mix, that their elderly client could no longer keep, because of some health related issues.

We are planning to pick her up on Friday or Saturday. So, if any of y'all know someone wanting to adopt a small, sweet companion dog, please ask them to call us, so we can get her into a forever-loving home. And that's about it for tonight.

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

The Wild Hogs & Flying Pig!

I've been busy doing rescue ranch paperwork, etc. and having a lot of fun. Yesterday, Tony and I met our good friends Karon and Karen for lunch, before going to the big H-E-B to buy our dogs their annual Thanksgiving Dinner that sweet Eileen was going to sponsor, but those plans sort of changed during lunch, but change is good. You'll see.

Karon's baby sister Ronda sadly lost her battle with cancer, earlier this month and while we were eating lunch and talking about Karon's lost, she opened up her purse, and said, "Ronda loved all animals and she loved hearing about y'all's rescue ranch. Before Ronda passed she asked that in lieu of flowers being sent, she requested that donations be made to our favorite animal shelters. So, I want to donate this to you, in loving memory of Ronda to sponsor your Thanksgiving Dinner for the dogs, because I know Ronda would love it..." Then she handed me a folded $100.00 bill. And I almost teared up, but thank goodness I remembered to look up to keep the tears away.

So when we finished eating our lunch and were ready to pay our separate bills, when the waitress walked up to our table, and said, "All of y'all's lunch has already been paid for by a gentleman that was sitting over there. Karon and Karen looked at each other and then chuckled, because they knew it was their dear friend Troy, who had treated us to lunch. So she called him and thanked him for all of us.

Omg, the H-E-B parking lot was full and it was packed inside with "early birds" shopping for their Thanksgiving dinners. First, we went in with separate carts, so Tony could buy dog food for our rescue dogs and I could buy our groceries. And our plan was to meet back up, at Trigger, to unload the dog food and our groceries and then go back inside with one cart to buy the dog's Thanksgiving Dinner. And when we paid for their dinner, I handed the cashier Karon's hundred dollar bill and then wrote a check for $38.14 to cover the difference. And I want to thank Karon and Eileen for sponsoring our dog's turkey dinner.

When we left the store we ran into our good friend Jim aka The Mineral Man, in the parking lot. "It's a mad house in there," I warned Jim. And then we had a fun visit before coming home.

When we got back home, I decided to mow our front yard and back yard, to get some more exercise. When I finished I came back inside The Cabin and listened to Carlton's messages. And ten minutes later, we were over at Bill & Carol's ranch, visiting with them and Lori & Jeff, who were spending Thanksgiving with them. We had a lot of fun catching up with our friends and we made it home just in time for Tony to lock up Rooster Cogburn for the night, inside The Egg Palace.

Early this morning, our good friends Carol & Bill and Lori & Jeff came over, because they wanted to see the wild hogs that always show up, every morning, when Tony feeds the deer, Maya and our donkeys. So we got to have another fun visit with them, before all of us went over, to the Lodge, to visit with Kinky. And that's about it for today, but I do want to show you some pictures I took, last night, of our dog's strange sleeping habits. And yes, Little Debbie is venting in one of them.

And this one of Henry makes me laugh out loud, because he looks like he is giving my flying pig the evil eye.

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

Happy Birthday Day Cindy!

Please note that I wrote this Thursday afternoon and I scheduled it to post tonight @ 7:00. I should be back at the ranch Saturday morning, knock-on-wood.

Today has been great. This morning, around 10:00, Trigger and I left the rescue ranch and went to my brother Ron's & Nita's Ronderosa Ranch, in Dripping Springs. So we could go to my sweet sister's surprise 70th birthday party tonight, in Austin.

So now I can finally show y'all the picture that I painted, last Friday, for Cindy's 70th birthday.
Originally, I thought I knew exactly what I was going to paint for my wonderful sister, because I had decided to do a version of a picture I made, in 1994, when Jim and I lived in Austin.

Anyway when we got our first computer, a Mac, I played around with the Photoshop software and I made this pretty simple computer generated picture of Yoda, my darling, little Boston Terrier, and it still hangs on the wall, in our master bathroom, where our plastic, garden tub is located. And here's that old, somewhat wrinkled picture, that I had titled Mirror Mirror.

I figured that this painting would be a piece of cake, especially since I was planning on painting a small 5"X7" version of it and the title would be Mirror Mirror. 

After I had finished painting the Boston Terrier sitting, on a doggie bed and staring into the mirror, and the three rows of black and white squares, my painting took on it's own life, so I went with the flow and just let it happen. 

It felt like I was in the same zone, where I go to, when I'm writing a book. Seriously, I was totally unaware of the time that was flying by and like Tony often jokes and tells our friends when I do that, "When Nance is writing our trailer could be on fire and she wouldn't even notice. When she's writing, I will tell her that I am going somewhere and when I get back home, she'll ask me where I've been. It's hilarious."

Anyway, my painting ended up turning itself into a multi-media picture. I was using colored pencils, acrylic paints, watercolors, glue, pen and ink and lastly a cropped Polaroid picture of Cindy, Mom and me, in my parents front yard, that Dad took in 1980—36 years ago. 

So as I finish writing this our trailer is on fire and where is Tony? Not Really. I am having a wonderful time at Cindy's surprise 70th birthday party. "Happy Birthday Cindy, I LOVE you so much and I thank you for being my best friend and I do know how lucky I am to have you as my OLDER sister!" 

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

Getting Off-Track!

Today has been great. Late this morning, Tony's sweet sister Annie came to visit us and after a fun, short visit with her the two of them took off to go take pictures and to eat lunch, at La Fours restaurant, in Kerrville. I didn't go, because I had to take care of some ranch paperwork, etc.

When I was done with my work I started brain-storming about potholders. And while I was cooking a delicious grilled cheese sandwich for my lunch, with the mayo-covered side of bread on the outside—it hit me like a lightning bolt on how Jean and I could produce more potholders without lifting a finger.

When Jean and I have our business meeting I am going to suggest that we throw potholder parties. Yes, potholder parties where we will invite young kids ages 5+ and their friends to a free Tony's Pizza, potholder party and we will tempt their parents into bringing their kids, so that they can go have a 3 hour mother's day out.

When the children arrive, at either Jean's house or The Cabin, we will hand each child a plastic loom, with big bags of loopers, but no metal hooks will be allowed, because the kids might poke their eyes out and then we'll get sued. And that's also why we must have the parents sign waivers acknowledging that Jean and I will not be held responsible if their child chokes on a loopers.

When the kids are settled down, Jean and I will take turns at these weekly potholder parties, teaching these hungry kids the Pilgrim's ancient art of making potholders. Then we will tell them that there is going to be a contest to see who finishes making a pretty potholder first, because they will get the first small slice of Tony's pizza.

And we will have to reward the LOSERS with slices of pizza, too, because nowadays a lot of parent's believe and insist that every child entered into any kind of competition is a winner—there are no losers. Which, of course, I believe is total B.S. And if you disagree with me please take the time to watch the hilarious movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, when Ricky Bobby says, "If you ain't first, you're last." (And I do apologize for getting off-track here.)

Anyway, we will also give all of the winners a candy bar, loaded with lots of sugar, so it will help energize them and encourage them to make their next potholders faster.

This afternoon I've been crunching the numbers and this is what I have come up with:

1. Allowing for 4 pizza/candy bar breaks, at 15 minutes each, they will eat up 1 hour of time which only leaves us with 2 full hours of production time.

2. Any kid should be able to produce a finished potholder within 30 minutes, so 4 X 5 kids = 20 potholders. And if we can get 10 kids to show up—we're talking 40 potholders made in one day!

So if my calculations are correct: 4 parties a month x 5 kids = 80 potholders a month. So this is actually doable. And if this works, in the future, Jean and I will then expand our potholder empire by asking all of our friends to throw potholder parties for us, in their homes, that will be sort of like those Tupperware parties that our moms went to, when we were kids. And that's about it for today.

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

Fifteen Potholders!

Today has been great. This afternoon when we went to Kerrville, to get Balser's Northside Automotive to change Trigger's oil for us, I brought along my framed painting and the famous, hermetically-sealed, pink potholder, because I wanted to show it to our good friends, Jon & Sandy, the owners of Wolfmueller's Books and to Marguerite and Linda, at Wild Birds Unlimited.

While the nice people, at Balser's Northside Automotive, changed the oil Tony and I ate lunch, at the Acapulco restaurant, which is right next door to Balser's.

After we got Trigger back we went to see the Wolfmuellers, on Earl Garrett Street and we had so much fun visiting with them and Kinky and Dylan. We didn't know that Kinky and Dylan would be at the bookstore—it was just a coincidence.

Anyway, when we walked inside the best book store, in Texas, everyone was hanging out, at the checkout counter and they were laughing and Kinky and Dylan were just as shocked to see us as we were to see them there, even though it actually happens quite often.

Halfway through the fun we were having with our friends, I adios-ed our friends and declared, "Y'all, I need to go next door, to Bad Girlz of Texas, to buy a few hilarious cards and to shop around. Is Andie over there?"

"Yes," Sandy said. "I'll be over there in just a minute, because I want to show you her super-cute cat coin purses."

I had a fun, but short visit with my friend Andie, in between her helping her customers find things. Her store was packed with customers and because she was so busy I went to check out her hilarious, large assortment of off-the-wall cards for all occasions.

The cards kept me laughing and I chuckled several other times when I would hear a customer burst out loud laughing at something they had found. It was sort of like doing "the wave" at a football game, because there was non-stop people laughing.

After I had picked out four or five hilarious birthday cards to buy, Sandy walked into the store and then she found me. "Nancy, come over here. You've got to see these cat purses." So I followed Sandy.

"Omg! I love these cat coin purses. They are too cute," I said.

"I know," Sandy said. "Andie told me the other day that she just got in a new shipment of these, because they keep flying off the shelf." So, I decided to buy one of each to give to my cat-loving friends, before they were all gone. And when Andie was checking me out, I lined them up, on the counter and took this picture of them, before she sacked them up for me.

When Sandy and I returned to Wolfmueller's Books, I showed her and Jon my painting and the potholder, in the box. "I love Jean," I said. "She truly saved the day for me, because for the life of me I could not figure out how to tie off those stupid loopers. And she is so much fun...."

"Oh, before I forget," Jon said. "Here's your premium metal hook that Jean found after y'all left the other day." After I thanked them for giving me my hook back I started laughing, as I told them about the hilarious comments that Jean and Fay have made on my blog, about the pink potholder.

Then Sandy picks up her phone and says, "Nancy, you really should think about making doggie mats, because they are really cool. Then she held up her phone and showed me this picture of a beautiful potholder doggie mat, that Jean had sent to her to show to me.

And as I was admiring the doggie mat photo I tried to figure out how many years it would take for Jean and me to make just one. "Good grief," I joked. "Fifteen potholders! That could take us years to make and we would have to charge at least $1,000.00 to make that thing, as long as Jean will work for free. Maybe we could just make them for real small Chihuahuas. Omg, Little Debbie has gained a few extra ounces and she might need six potholders or more. Now I'm not so sure that this potholder moneymaker will be a financial pleasure after all. Jean and I need to have a business meeting to discuss this some more...."

Our last stop before going home was at Wild Birds Unlimited. When we walked inside Linda and Marguerite greeted us. "We just dropped in, so I can show y'all my painting and the hermetically-sealed pink potholder.

First, I showed them the one-of-a-kind potholder and it made them laugh. Perfect, that was what I wanted them to do. Then I showed them my painting and they complimented me on it, which was what I also wanted them to do, to help give me confidence in my art. Then we had a short, fun visit talking about their upcoming doggie adoption day that we will be participating in, at their store.

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

A Time Capsule!

Today has been so great. This morning our good friend, Linda called me. She and her husband Kevin are good friends of ours and they own the Wild Birds Unlimited store, in Kerrville, where Marguerite and Tricia work.

Anyway, I was outside when she called, at 10:23, and she left a message for me. About five minutes later, when I came back inside, The Cabin and listened to her exciting message, so I immediately called her back, at the store, to thank her for inviting us to participate in their Doggie Adoption Day, on Saturday, December 3rd, at their Wild Birds Unlimited store.

Marguerite answered the phone and within seconds I was talking ,on the phone, to Linda. "Linda, we would love to participate and...." After we had discussed this upcoming event, I thanked her for inviting us and before we adios-ed each other, she told me that she was also going to contact, another great animal shelter, in Kerrville and as soon as she got an answer back from them—the wheels would be set in motion. And I am not sure who was more excited about their upcoming Wild Birds Unlimited dog adoption day event, but it doesn't really matter, because I can't wait to do it and I know that our dogs will have so much fun. Anyway, as soon as I know more about this super-cool event I will post it hear and also spread the word,  by talking about it on Big G's and Harley Belew's radio shows.

This afternoon after lunch, Tony and I took off, for Kerrville, to run a few errands. First, we went to get our eyes examined, but that didn't happen, because we needed to make an appointment first. After we made our appointments, we left the eye doctor and then we went to Gibson's to buy Tony some new Wrangler jeans.

While Tony was hunting blue jeans, I wandered around the store and I about fainted, because on the front of an isle, Gibson's had a leaning stack of about ten, multi-colored woven potholders for sale, just like the pretty pink one that Jean and I made yesterday. And the price tags on them were $4.99 each. And to say the least, that got me all excited about making potholders, again.

Since I was inspired by seeing that people actually bought those kind of potholders, at Gibson's and after I told Tony about Gibson's selling the potholders for $4.99, we went down the Junction Highway, for a few blocks, so Tony could drop me off, at the Home Town Craft store, while he drove over to the Wild Birds Unlimited store, in the same shopping center.

As you can guess, my hopes were high about buying a bag of pink loopers and a bag of white loopers, but unfortunately all of the loopers they had in stock were those gigantic filled bags of multi-colored loopers, just like the one I bought the other day. And that's when my smile turned upside down.

But fortunately it went back up real quick, when I heard a familiar woman's voice, say, "Nancy!" Omg, it was our good friend Daneshu, so I took off to go visit with her. While we were catching up with each others news, she told me that she was having one of her paintings framed, at River Oaks Framing Co., to give as a gift and that was why she was hanging around the craft, because they told her it would only take a few minutes for them to frame it for her.

"Daneshu, I didn't know you were an artist, too!...." And a few minutes later, she opened up her large art folder and showed me one of her most recent landscape paintings and I about fainted when I saw it, because it was absolutely beautiful.

When our dear artist friend changed the subject she asked me what I was shopping for and I was too embarrassed to tell her pink and white potholder loopers, because I was hooked on weaving potholders. So, I told her the other thing that I was shopping for. "I'm looking for a small, inexpensive shadow box frame to put something I made inside it."

"Oh, what did you make, Nancy?" she inquired. And right then and there I knew that I was busted, so I took a deep breath, and nonchalantly said, "A potholder." Daneshu, tried to hide the puzzled look on her face, because she is a sweet woman. So, I added, "I wove it and it's pink and white, but I had to have our friend Jean tie it off for me. So, actually Jean and I made it and it's real pretty."

"Daneshu, your picture is ready to be picked up, at River Oaks Framing. Please come back to the counter."

"Well, I need to go pick up my painting. It was great seeing you, Nancy, and please tell Tony that I said hello." Then she rushed off, like she was fleeing from an insane person.

And a few minutes later, I found the perfect shadow box and a pink-glittered backing and bought them. Then I walked across the parking lot to go to, Wild Birds Unlimited, to get Tony.

When I walked inside Wild Birds Unlimited, Linda, Tricia and Marguerite greeted me, from the counter. Then I had a fun visit with them and I even showed them my shadow box and pink backing for it, because they follow my blog and know all about the pretty pink potholder that Jean and I made.

"Well, I want to see your painting," Marguerite said. "When can I see it?"

"Soon," I said. "It's a gift and I can't put it up on my blog, yet...." Then we started talking about the upcoming doggie adoption day. Bottom line: We're all excited about the fun event and Marguerite even told me that she would be glad to volunteer to help transport our dogs or do anything else to help make it easier on us. And before we adios-ed each other and left this super-cool store, I purchased one of their greeting cards that has a real Fender guitar pick, on the front of it and the message inside the card is: "YOU ROCK!" And I know exactly who I am going to give it to.

Early this evening, I "hermetically" sealed the pink and white potholder, inside the shadow box and now I have to decide where to put it on display. I want it to be in the kitchen, but I am also thinking about possibly burying it outside, in a secret location, sort of like a time capsule that they put on the moon. But, the only thing bad about that idea, I would have to unseal it and leave a note about it saying something like, "Two old women made this potholder, in two days—not a 5 year old kid." Anyway, I'm hoping to make my final decision by tomorrow, after I talk to Jean about it and get her professional opinion on it.

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

The One And Only!

Today has been great. This morning after doing some ranch paperwork, returning phone calls and e-mails I walked four miles with Leslie Samson. Then I cooked lunch for us.

After we ate lunch and I had cleaned up the kitchen Tony and I talked about going to Kerrville to run a few errands and to go Wolfmueller's Books. And before we left The Cabin, I grabbed my unfinished potholder and metal hook and the framed painting that I had done, because I wanted to show it to Sandy & Jon before I gave my painting away and to also see if Sandy or Jon could possibly help me finish my pink potholder, because after I read and then reread the potholder's tie-off instructions—I could not figure it out.

A little while later after running a couple of errands, Tony and I walked inside, Wolfmueller's Books, and I was carrying my potholder loom and metal hook and Tony was carrying my painting. Jean greeted us from behind the counter and she told us that she was holding down the fort for Jon & Sandy. today "Hmm," I replied. "We came by to visit with them and I wanted to show them my painting and to see if they could help me figure out how to finish my potholder. The instructions are for ages 5+ and they should have included a warning, And under 60 years old. I'm sixty-five. I used to make these things, all of the time as a kid, but making this pink potholder has been" a real challenge for me. I guess the politically correct thing to say is, I'm potholder challenged instead of labeling me stupid." Then a friendly, woman customer, about my age, who was in earshot, chuckled.

Then Tony and Jean chuckled too. Then Jean said, "Let me take a look at it. I bet I can help you with that, because I am a knitter and I knitted this sweater that I'm wearing." Tony and I were very impressed with her knitting skills, because her sweater was absolutely beautiful and it had all kinds of fancy knitting patterns. But before I shoved the potholder loom and metal hook towards Jean, she took out her phone and took a picture of my painting.

Jean figured it out real quick and she started tying off the loose loops real fast and when she stopped and showed me how to do it and suggested that I finish it— I backed-off. "No, thank you. I'll pay you five dollars to finish it off."

They laughed, and then Tony said, "You ought to pay Jean $20.00 for tying it off for you." Jean laughed and so did that nice woman who had chuckled earlier.

While we stood back and watched Jean do her magic potholder moves, I said, "Be careful Jean, the warning label, on the box, has the hazard warning label—CHOKE. So please don't put the loops in your mouth. You've been warned."

As Jean was coming down the finish line/loop, with only a few more loops to do, I said, "You know, this loom kit and loops would be a hilarious Christmas gift to give to all of our over-sixty friends. They would all laugh about making these potholders as a kid and remember how easy it was. And then it would drive them totally crazy trying to correctly weave the loops and then try to tie it off...."

"There, I'm finished," Jean remarked, proudly. "Now you know how to do it and you can make more of these."

I laughed, and said, "No way, I'm done making these things. This potholder is going to be the one and only potholder I'll ever make. Jean, do you want my loom and metal hook?" 

"No, thanks,"she immediately replied, followed by a chuckle, before I could even offer her my jumbo bag of loops.

So tonight as I finish writing this, with my pretty, pink potholder, only inches away from my laptop, I took this picture of it, because now I am seriously thinking about framing this one-of-a-kind, beautiful potholder, instead of using it. Because I have no doubt that it's only a matter of time, before Henry finds our pretty potholder and destroys it, too. "Thank you, Jean for helping me today. We did it and it's a work of art!"

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

Leave It To Beaver!

After posting my last blog, with pictures of Henry's strange sleeping positions, our dear friend, Fay, in Toronto, sent me the cutest picture of Miss Moneypenny, Henry's twin sister sleeping and I want to share it, because they are so much alike.

The past couple of days have been quiet here, so Friday afternoon, after walking four miles with Leslie Samson, in the big room and kitchen, I got creative and decided to paint. When I say "paint" I don't mean touching up my painted rugs, on the floor, that are in badly need of repainting or my pretty, pink cabin or the Mother Ship, my treasured old RV, etc. I mean paint a picture for someone very dear to me.

With the entire kitchen counters, kitchen table and breakfast bar completely covered with my huge collection of small acrylic paint bottles, I pulled out one my sketch pads and paintbrushes and went to work and unbeknownst to me, so did Henry Standing Bear, who I thought was outside, in the front yard, playing with sweet Lori Darlin'.

Originally, I had planned to paint a small 5"x"7" picture, but that didn't happen, because three hours later, my little painting had grown into a page-covering 9"x12" multi-media painting that I was proud of it and Henry's outside work of art had grown to an 8'x2'x4' that he was very proud of, too.

Because my painting is going to be a gift I can't show you my painting yet, but I can show you Henry's creative, wood-chewed masterpiece or should I say "front porch railing, demolition, master piece." And I can't believe that Henry was so proud of his hard work, that he proudly posed by it, in these two pictures.

And since we're still talking about "art" here's the latest update on Henry's unfinished, "still-in-the-works" bedroom bench carving and once again, please note that this is why we can't have anything nice.

So, late Saturday afternoon, Tony and I took off for, Kerrville, to run two errands. One errand was that I wanted to get the River Oaks Framing Co. store to professionally frame my artwork, because they are the best. And the second errand that we needed to run was to go to the Home Depot store, so Tony could replace the 8'x2"x4" railing that our "Leave it to Beaver" aka Henry, had so proudly destroyed, in record time. 

Anyway, we went to the River Oaks Framing Co. store first, located inside the Home Town Crafts store, on the Junction Highway. And I am so glad that I got it framed, at River Oaks Framing Co. store, because their super nice, friendly woman employee was so patient with me and eager to help me. And when all was said and done we only had to wait twenty minutes to pick up my beautifully framed painting.

But before we walked outside, the Home Town Crafts store, to go to the Home Depot, I browsed around and bought a few more small, acrylic paint bottles and a plastic, potholder loom kit with a premium metal hook, that was recommended for ages 5+. And it also came with a warning sign, too—"Choking Hazard" which didn't really matter much to me, because I am not planning on putting the loops into my mouth. But if I did do that I'm wondering would that make me a little loopy?

I also purchased a large sack of jumbo loopers, because I love those kind of potholders that I once made when I was kid. So as not to disappoint you, if you're in line to receive a small gift from me anytime in the near future—expect it to be a pretty, hand-woven Cousin Nancy potholder.

Today was great for just a little while, until this morning when I found out the sad news that Leon Russell had passed away. Omg, Leon was one of my favorite music legends, as I am sure he was yours, too. His music was such a big part of my adult life, because anytime that I would hear one of his songs, it would instantly take me back to where I was and what I was doing—all happy times for me. 

So this afternoon, while working on my first, pretty potholder I listened to Pandora's Leon Russell Channel with the volume cranked up high. His music was so important to so many of us and it will always be a part of me. He will be sadly missed, but thank goodness his music will live forever. Rest In Peace Leon.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Donny & Marie Show!

Today has been great and it has been so much fun. But I have run out of time tonight to explain it all to you. It is not a secret, but it involved our dear friends, Gerry Olert, Kent Perkins & his sweet, adorable,  world-famous wife, Ruth Buzzi, and Dr. Craig Jannsen and the historic YO Hotel, in Kerrville, Texas. And hear are just a few pictures that Tony and Gerry took and have shared with me.

And to end tonight's post on a happy note, that is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud, please click here to enjoy Ruth Buzzi's, hilarious flight attendant skit, on the Donny & Marie Show.

Y'all take care and keep on laughing!

Snoozing!

Today has been great, even though nothing exciting happened, unless you consider me taking pictures of Henry Standing Bear's odd sleeping positions this afternoon and then comparing them with some of his cute puppy pictures, snoozing with his adorable twin sister, Miss Moneypenny.

 Y'all take care and keep on laughing!

It Dawned On Me!

As promised I am going to tell you about yesterday. Of course, Friday was a great day, too. First off, I overslept, which sort of threw a temporary wrench into my plans, because I had wanted to get up much earlier, so Hazel and  I could clean up our trailer, before Tony, Lori Darlin' and I took off for Kerrville.

You see the night before, because of the rain, we had decided to cancel dog-walking due to mud and instead just meet our good friends/volunteers, at the Thai O'cha, for a fun, delicious lunch, at 11:30.

Thursday night I had sent all of our great friends/volunteers e-mails, suggesting the new game plan and everyone was fine with it. But unfortunately, I was not able to contact Dawn, because I did not have her e-mail address or her phone number.

Anyway, yesterday morning, after Hazel went back into the closet to rest, while Tony was still outside doing his morning chores—the phone rang. As y'all well know I normally always screen phone calls and just let Carlton take the messages, so it was no big deal— I thought. But boy was I wrong.

There I was in the bathroom, just getting ready to put my dentures in, when I heard Dawn saying, "Good morning, Nancy. This is Dawn. Even though it has rained, I want you to know that I'm leaving right now and coming out there to help walk the dogs..."

I panicked, because I needed to tell Dawn not to come out here, because we would be gone and to tell her about our change of plans, but my dentures were still wading around, in Polident Overnight Whitening cleanser, inside my pretty pink, plastic container, next to the bathroom sink.

Knowing that I needed to catch Dawn before she left to come out here, I swallowed my pride, so to speak and raced to get the phone, before Dawn hung up, on Carlton. Our conversation went something like this.

"Ha Dau. Ith Nuncy."

"Hi Nancy? I am so glad that I caught you?"

"Dau, I am o glod ew culled me!...." Talk about being embarrassed, omg, I was, because after we hung up, it dawned on me that Dawn was probably thinking that I was drunk or something.

Anyway, after my disastrous phone call with Dawn, I quickly put my fake teeth in my mouth and cemented that deal. Then I took a quick shower, because I knew that we were planning to leave in less than twenty minutes.

Before we left, the rescue ranch, I had just enough time to call the restaurant, to tell our friend Song, "This is Nancy, at the rescue ranch. I wanted to give you a heads-up, because all of our volunteers and us are eating lunch there, at 11:30. We are going to need a table for fourteen..."

Flash forward, after we dropped sweet Lori Darlin' off, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, to get her full round of shots, including her Rabies shot, we headed straight, for the Thai O'Cha restaurant, to meet up with our dear friends.

And to say the least, we had a fun, delicious lunch with our great friends and I sat next to Dawn. And during lunch, I quietly confessed to her about me talking to her without wearing my dentures and she thought it was totally hilarious. So I said, "Well, all I can say is, "Thank goodness we weren't Skyping each other."

Today has been great, which I am sure comes as no big surprise to you. (Laugh out loud.) Anyway for our lunch I cooked Jim aka The Mineral Man's newest recipe that he kindly shared with me, the other day. Knowing full well that I would steal his recipe from him and then call it Cousin Nancy's something or other.

All that I am going to tell you is that it was absolutely delicious, because I haven't named it yet, but I will tell you that the ingredients include: steak, tomatoes, potatoes, jalapeño, garlic, green chiles and onion. So I am going to let you figure out how I cooked Jim's mouth-watering casserole/stew.

Life is good.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing! (As long as you're wearing your dentures!)

Not To Be Morbid, I Wrote My Own Eulogy Today And It Was Fun!

Funerals can be so depressing and I do not want mine to be that way. Not that I am worried about God honking my horn anytime soon, knock-on-wood.

So this morning I decided to write my own eulogy using only the titles of some of my favorite songs, that are on my favorite play list. (And please note that the title of my eulogy Ode To Cousin Nancy is actually a song written about me by my dear friend, Chet O'Keefe.) So here goes:

Ode To Cousin Nancy

I Heard It Through The Grapevine—No Show Tonight—I'm Sitting Here In Limbo—The Thrill Is Gone—For What It's Worth—The Best Is Yet To Come—Come Rain or Come Shine—All You Need Is Love—Make Some One Happy—Keep It Simple—Do You Know What I Mean

Something To Talk About—They Call Me The Breeze—Who Let The Dogs Out—I Can See Clearly Now—My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys—Have I Told You Lately—Somewhere Over The Rainbow—Fields Of Gold—Pink Cadillac—My Blue Heaven

What I Like About Texas—Home of The Armadillo—After Midnight—Feelin' All Right—Good Vibrations—Starry, Starry Night—Harvest Moon—I Saw The Light—What A Wonderful World—Life Is Beautiful—Can't You See

Oh Happy Day—Comes A Time—People Get Ready—Don't Worry Be Happy—Roll With It—We Are Family—Some Day We'll Be Together—Don't Think Twice It's All Right—Love Will Find A Way—Knock On Wood

You Can't Always Get What You Want—When You Say Nothing At All—Don't Bring Me Down—Come Together—We Can Work It Out—Ring The Bell—Light My Fire—Get Back—Everybody Have Fun Tonight—Happy Trails!

Y'all should try doing this too, because it really was fun—sort of like fittin' a puzzle together. I promise tomorrow I will write about today being a great day with dentures or no dentures.

Y'all take care and keep on laughing!

Big Ears, Too!

Last night, I watched the 7th game of the World Series. I like both teams, but because I have so many friends, in Chicago, I was hoping that the Cubs would win the game and the World Series.

I started to go to bed when they called the rain delay, but I couldn't, because it had been such an exciting game. And I am so glad that I stayed up and saw the Cubs win the 2016 Baseball World Series.

Today has been great. This morning I got up at 6:30, so I could drink a cup of coffee and wake up, before doing the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch segment, on The Harley Show, with my dear friend Harley Belew. And once again, Clovis was his Pet of the Week.

The reason that this super, smart, 3 yr. old dog was his Pet of the Week too, is because I always use the same dog each week for Big G's Texas Road Show and for Harley's Show, to make sure that their loyal listeners will check out our super cool dogs.

This afternoon, we met some good friends for lunch, in Kerrville and we had a total blast. During one point of our conversation Kris pulled out her iPhone to show us a few pictures of their adorable, new grandson. Denise and I were oohing and ahing at his pictures and then Kris held up her iPhone to show Denise another picture, and Denise laughed, and said, "Oh he's so cute and it's funny that one of his ears is smaller than the other and they're so big! One stands up and the other one doesn't." 

And that got my attention, because I couldn't believe that Denise had just said that about Kris' new grandson and that they were laughing about it. "Who cares that his ears are uneven," I remarked nonchalantly, hoping to make Kris feel a little better about Denise's unkind remark about her grandson. Then they burst out laughing.

Then Kris turns, in her chair to show me the picture that she and Denise were laughing about and it was—Charlie, their adorable dog not their grand baby. "Omg!" I remarked."I thought y'all were talking about her grandson. Good grief, I was fixin' to defend Kris' grandson and make up something nice to say like, "Well, my brother Ronnie had real big ears when he was a baby, too and it didn't matter at all, because he was real popular all through junior high and high school."

By now, Jim, Les and Tony, on the other end of our table, are quiet and they're trying to eavesdrop on our confusing conversation. Then Kris pulls up another darling picture of her and Jim's new, adorable grandson and shows it to our husbands, then to Denise and me. "Omg," I said. "He looks a lot like Jim. In fact, he's got Jim's eyes," I stated. "Look."

"You're right," Denise agreed. "They really do have the same eyes." Then Kris puts her phone away and explains to our husbands what we had been talking and laughing about and me getting confused when she showed Denise a picture of Charlie, while I was thinking it was another picture of their grandson. 

And before I finish writing this tonight I want to set the record straight. Kris & Jim's grandson is a beautiful baby and he has normal ears. And Ronnie really didn't have big ears, but he sure the heck was popular in school. And that's about it for tonight.

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

Little Darlin'!

Today has been great. I've spent most of my day deep cleaning The Cabin, because our air conditioning man is coming out tomorrow or Friday to fix it for us, before the weather turns cold. In fact, I even had Tony replace our two air filters, because they are hairier than all of yesterday's dog hair, that Hazel collected, in her bag-less canister.

FYI: Hazel is the name I've given to my lavender-colored, Dyson "Animal" vacuum cleaner, that I love and appreciate, because if not for Hazel—Tony and I would have been dead long ago, and our probable cause of death would be listed as—Hairballs.

Today's lunch was semi-delicious and uneventful, because I cooked us meatloaf, Brussels Sprouts and spinach. And the only odd thing about this particular meatloaf I made is I had to substitute the tomato sauce and regular spices I use, with a can of Ro-Tel, because I was out of tomato sauce.

And on top of that, no pun intended, all of those small diced up tomato pieces and green chiles were not very photogenic. So when I served Tony his lunch he raised an eyebrow, and asked, "What is it?"

I replied, "It's meatloaf, Tone. Just don't look at it."

"Okay, but you're not going to take a picture of this, are you?"

"No, of course not." And that is why I am leaving it up to your imagination to figure out what it looked like. And I am providing the plate, to help make it easier for you to imagine the meatloaf.

This afternoon, after going on a fun hike with Kinky, I came back home and took a picture of Lori Darlin' right after she woke up and was in the process of climbing off of, Henry Standing Bear, who kindly provided her a soft, warm bed, on top of his back. And Little Debbie, the famous star of our Longmire—Texas Style video, posing without her makeup. 

And now I have just realized after posting these two pictures that Little Debbie and Lori Darlin' both have the same initials! And I can switch them around to: Debbie Darlin' and Little Lori or Little Darlin' or...

In hopes of making you laugh out loud before I end tonight's post, a good friend of mine sent me a note earlier today about seeing this bumper sticker on a truck, in Kerrville. And to be politically correct about the presidential candidate's name, I am letting you choose the name of your choice to fill in the blank. The bumper sticker she saw was:

IF                  WINS THE ELECTION, FLYING MONKEYS WILL COME

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

Strange! or Nothing! or Thrilled!

Today has been great. Early this morning I did my Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch segment on Big G's Texas Road Show on 1230 KERV AM and it was a lot of fun as it always is. His Pet of the week was Clovis. The super cool, three-year-old dog that is very smart, well-mannered and is great with other dogs, cats and kids. Seriously, Tony and I are so impressed with Clovis, we wish that someone would come out here and adopt him, so he can steal your heart, too.

This afternoon I cooked us lunch, which is always our big meal of the day. And since I enjoy cooking I decided to be creative with our lunch. 

I decided to cook some meatballs and use Julia Child's delicious sauce that she uses to make her famous, delicious Chicken Breasts with Mushroom Cream Sauce and serve it over those delicious Ronzoni's Super Green Thin Spaghetti, along with some of Tony's tiny tomatoes, from his garden. 

Tony totally loved it and asked me what I call it, because he wants me to make it again, and I said, "I guess Cousin Nancy's Strange Stroganoff." Anyway, it really was delicious, thank goodness. And I took this picture of my plate before I ate it, so I could show it to you.

After eating lunch, while I was cleaning up the kitchen, Kinky called me. "Happy Birthday, Kinky!" I said, before he could say anything.

"Thanks, Nance," he replied. "What did you get me?" 

I laughed, and said "Nothing."

He chuckled, and then said, "Our friendship is good enough for me. That's all I really need." Then I made a funny wise-crack, that isn't suitable to print here, and that made Kinky laugh. Then we talked for a few more minutes about one of his and our friend that is thinking about coming out and adopting one of our super dogs.

Late this afternoon, Rebecca, a friend of ours called me. And the great news is she and Mark want to adopt Lori Darlin'! And this Saturday, they are going to come out to pick her & Lamb Chop up! And to say the least, we are totally thrilled for Lori Darlin' & Lamb Chop!

And I guess that's about it for tonight.

Y'all take care and keep on laughing!