Robert Plant!

Last Monday afternoon our dear, Canadian friends, Fay & Ian came to see us and we had a total blast and a wonderful time showing them the beautiful, Texas Hill Country. And it all started with meeting them, at the Acapulco restaurant, for lunch, because they had already fallen in love with our delicious Tex-Mex food, in San Antonio.

Early Monday evening, after they had checked in, at the Medina Highpoint Resort, they came over to the rescue ranch to visit with us and Kinky. But the first thing that they wanted to do when they arrived here was to meet Henry Standing Bear (Because they adopted his twin sister.) and Little Debbie & Big Al(ice).

Needless to say, they fell in love with our dogs and they were amazed about how much bigger Henry is compared to their Miss Moneypenny. And the funny thing was Ian and Little Debbie instantly fell in love with each other, while Henry hammed it up and ate up all the attention they were giving him. And just so you'll know, so I don't have to repeat it again and again—everytime that Fay & Ian were over here, Little Debbie made sure that Ian was holding her in his arms.

That night when we went over to have a fun visit with Kinky, in his kitchen he played us his two new songs for us. Then we started talking about being hard of hearing, and Tony said, "I'm serious. I am getting Kinky and Nancy hearing-aids for their birthdays. They're so deaf that they don't hear things right."

"What?" I joked.

Then we started taking turns telling our best jokes to each other, but Ian won hands-down with his hilarious, true story that actually happened to him and Fay. And here is my Reader's Digest version of his great story, that made all of us burst out laughing at the end of it.

One evening, many, many years ago, Ian came home from work and when he walked into the kitchen Fay told him, "I have some bad news to tell you. Robert Plant has died." And Ian was just as upset about it as Fay was, so after dinner, they went to a nearby pub to drown out their sorrows.

As tears filled their beers, they sadly reminisced about how much they had both loved Robert Plant's music. They talked about his years with Led Zeppelin, their favorite songs and the awesome album Robert Plant had cut with Alison Krauss, etc. Then they left the bar and went back home and spent the rest of their evening playing their most favorite Robert Plant songs. 

The next morning, before Ian or Fay went to work, she had been watching the news. And when Ian came into the kitchen to kiss her goodbye, she said, "It was Robert Palmer who died—not Robert Plant." So during the rest of Fay & Ian's visit—all of us kept joking, "Did you hear about Robert Plant?" It became our common bond, even though we all loved Robert Palmer and his music.

I know that I've already written about Tuesday, but I did leave a couple of things out. Tuesday morning, I cooked waffles and bacon for Fay & Ian, Kinky and his friend Roscoe (who was a guitar player in Kinky's famous band, The Texas Jewboys.) Tony and me. And while we were eating, Sarah, our great, Scottish friend, who we had invited to join us, arrived to drink some coffee with us.

While we were eating and drinking coffee or tea Kinky pulls out this giant rock, from his pocket and tells us that he had just found this outside, while walking up to The Cabin. Then he says, "I have just found a genuine, petrified bagel."

So we started cracking jokes about "the bagel" and someone suggested that we try to sell it on a eBay.

After breakfast we went over to Kinky's for more fun and to take pictures of Kinky's mother's ancient, non-running, convertible car, that in its prime used to talk to Kinky, and tell him, "The door is ajar." 

In fact, Kinky had made this car very famous many years ago, in his mystery novel Armadillos And Old Lace. The exact same car that sweet Fay had purchased for $500.00, last year, at an eBay auction, with all of the proceeds to benefit our rescue ranch.

While we were having so much fun, Roscoe and I started visiting, because during our breakfast he and I had discovered that we were born and raised, in Ft. Worth, and that we had lived only three blocks away from each other while growing up. 

Anyway, during our brief visit, Roscoe left and then returned quickly, because he wanted to give me the last cd, men of extinction: we made it ourselves that he had recorded several years ago. And when I saw the cover I burst out laughing, because I loved the picture.

And to wind this post up, here are just some of Tony's and my favorite pictures of us having so much fun with our dear Canadian friends, Fay & Ian.

At the famous, Old Spanish Trail (O.S.T.) restaurant, in Bandera. Where we all ate chicken fried steaks.

Kinky, Copper, Dylan, Roscoe, Fay & Ian and Tony and I ate a delicious lunch, at Buzzi's BBQ, in Kerrville. Then in the parking lot, Roscoe, Ian, Tony and me are hanging out, as Fay tried to help Kinky view some pictures that were sent to his antique flip phone.

Some pictures of our Thursday night Cowgirl Sisterhood Reunion-Happy Hour, at Carol's beautiful ranch, along with Kinky and Roscoe.

Friday afternoon, after all of us had eaten a delicious lunch, at the Apple Store, in Medina, with our fabulous, dog-walking, volunteers/friends, Kris & Jim are saying goodbye to Ian & Fay.

Roscoe, Sarah and Kinky posing with Kinky's/Fay's famous talking car. And Ian and Fay posing with it, too.

Henry and Little Debbie hanging out with Fay & Ian.

Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of Ian and Fay playing golf, at the Flying L or us target practicing with my pretty, pink, Daisy Red Ryder BB gun or us visiting with our great friends Sandy & Jon and Jean, at Wolfmueller's Books store, before we had to adios each other, so they could return to San Antone, because Saturday they had tickets for the last performance of the 2017 San Antonio Rodeo.

As you can already imagine Tony and I are already really missing our dear friends Fay & Ian, but the good news is that they have promised us that they will be back sooner than later and will definitely be spending more time with us, because they love Texas—especially the Texas Hill country, because it is definitely the prettiest part of Texas.

Y'all take care and keep on laughing!

My Wildest Dreams!

Tony and I have been having a blast with Fay & Ian ever since they got here. Last night before we went over to Kinky's I took this picture of Fay & Ian having fun with Henry Standing Bear and Little Debbie.

The minute that Little Debbie laid her eye on Ian she was madly in love with him and she insisted that Ian keep holding her, in his arms. And that didn't bother Henry one bit, because he kept hamming-it-up with our Canadian friends, because he knows that they adopted his identical, twin sister, Miss Moneypenny and since they love her so much—he figured they must love him just as much, too.

This morning Fay & Ian came over to eat breakfast with us and drink some coffee, before Tony gave them a grand tour of the ranch, on Kermit. And while Tony was showing them the wild hogs, deer and turkeys eating along side Maya and our donkeys our good friend/volunteer, Tom, showed up, like he does most every morning, to feed carrots to Maya, Roy & Gabby and Little Jewford. And while they were out there visiting with Tom I took off, in Buttermilk, to run a few errands.

Early this afternoon we took Fay & Ian, to Fredericksburg, to eat lunch with us and to do a little shopping and they had dressed up, for the occasion, in their authentic-looking cowboy clothes. And they really looked like the "real-deal" too, wearing their cowboy hats, boots and western clothes, but the only thing that gave them away was Fay's cute Canadian accent and Ian's thick Scottish accent. 

We had a super fun, delicious lunch, at the Auslander and our friendly, cheerful waitress, Jaclyn, was absolutely the best waitress and she was most helpful with her food recommendations. 

After lunch, we hit the downtown sidewalks laughing and sharing stories. And while we were walking I noticed Fay's cowboy boots, because it was obvious to me that earlier, in the morning, Fay must have stepped in some fresh horse poop and hay when she had met Maya and the donkeys, because she had all this hay and "stuff" stuck, on the heels of her pretty boots. 

So I joked, "Good grief Fay, people are going to think that you're a real cowgirl, because your boots look like you just left the ranch." Fay looked down and was horrified and then we all started laughing, as she tried to rub "the range" off, on a curb. (I took a picture of her boots with my iPhone, but sadly it came out blurry, because I was still laughing.)

Our first stop was at Dogologie, one of my favorite stores, in Fredtown and we had a lot fun shopping there.

Fay & Ian bought fancy toys, Texas dog collars, etc. for Ranger (Blake Shelton) and Miss Moneypenny, who they adopted from us. And I purchased a beautiful, pink, dog sling big enough to carry both Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) at the same time and I also purchased a small, pretty, pink, collapsible water bowl for The Girls.

Our next shop to stop at was Heirlooms: Needless Necessities and Fay and I loved all of their cool stuff, because we did a lot of laughing, because of the hilarious quotes that we read that were on most of their merchandise. 

We found these two, cute, white t-shirts that were on a sale rack and the quote on them, in big, black, block lettering was "I Can't Even" but we didn't get to buy them, because they had already sold out of our sizes.

Then Fay found this great, hilarious, small sign, for a desk, that immediately cracked up both of us and so I bought it immediately. And to end tonight's post on a funny note here is my newest sign that I plan to display, on the breakfast bar, right next to Carlton.

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

Fay & Ian Welcome To Texas!

This past week has been great and a whole lot of fun and today our dear friends, Fay & Ian, from Toronto, arrived. But before I go any further I must fill y'all in on this past week.

First off, I've still been cooking us delicious FORKS OVER KNiVES' recipes and here are just a couple of pictures of what we've been eating.

But I must admit that we have been spotted eating, at Billy Gene's and Acapulco restaurants and the Apple Store, in Medina too.

Speaking of the Apple Store, in Medina, a while back when I was waiting to pay their friendly cashier for our delicious lunch I spotted some more beautiful, Looper, pot-holders for sale and they were just like the awesome, pretty, pink pot-holder that Jean and I had made. 

At first I was crushed seeing them for sale, because it proved to me that the Looper pot-holder market has been totally saturated, but then I felt good about Jean and me not investing every last penny that we have into that big-time, money-maker. 

Last week, Tony and I also went to the Wild Birds Unlimited store, because Tony needed to buy more seed and also because we wanted to visit with our good friends: Kevin, Linda, Marguerite, Tricia and Jason, because they always are upbeat and quickly put smiles on our faces. And before we adios-ed these nice folks I bought the cutest, carved bunny, before Tony made me turn around and showed me these adorable, funny dog toys. Which of course I loved and I bought one of each for our dogs. 

Saturday was an incredibly great day, because sweet Gus got adopted to the nicest family. And Gus now happily lives with this wonderful family and their other sweet dog. Here are his adoption pictures that I took, before he went to his new, super-loving home, in the country. 

I spent yesterday cleaning our trailer from top to bottom, because I didn't want our good friends, Fay & Ian, being scared to come inside, The Cabin, to visit with us. 

There I was scrubbing this and that, putting up things and I was nearly finished with all of the cleaning when Hazel died, in my hands. Seriously, one minute she was sucking away, at the tall piles of dirt, hair, cobwebs, etc. and then the next minute she sucked in her last breathe. And to say the least—I was completely devastated, so I let go of her, and half-hollered, "Tony!" To deaf ears, because I had forgotten that Tony had gone off to take some more great pictures, so there I was all alone when she had literally bit-the-dust. 

I know that I was in shock, because I started thinking about her life always sucking and all that she had done for me and what I should write for Hazel's epitaph. And this is all that I could come up with for my beloved, lavender-colored, Dyson Animal vacuum:

Hazel Parker-Simons

2006 - 2017

Ashes to Ashes

Dust to Dust

Rest In Peace

I was so distraught about Hazel's passing I decided to go outside, to the front porch, to get some fresh air, but that didn't work. Because when I went outside I saw that Henry had just finished removing (destroying) another important porch-piece, so he could now easily rest his head, while he and Lori Darlin' enjoyed watching the birds and squirrels flit about.

When I came back inside, The Cabin, I decided to revive Hazel, because there was still too much dust, dirt, hair, etc. on the floor. So I started Googling and thank goodness I did, because I watched an educational YouTube video on how to bring her back to life.

I followed the instructions carefully and before you knew it I had disassembled Hazel. Sort of like an autopsy. She was here, there and everywhere—all over the kitchen. Then I removed her air filter (which the factory highly recommends that you clean at least every 6 months, even though I never have done that, because I never read any maintenance instructions.)

Anyway—it worked after several hours of soaking and cleaning her filthy filter. Hazel came back to life and she sucked just like she used to do—so many years ago. I was so happy about reviving the old girl when Tony came back home, I bragged, "Hazel died. But I brought her back to life! Isn't that great!" Tony smiled and said nothing. Then he showed me some awesome pictures that he had taken.  

Today has been more than great, because Fay & Ian arrived. Tony and I met them for lunch, in Kerrville and this evening, they came back over and we went over to the Lodge and had a fun time with Kinky. And during our visit with Kinky he got out his guitar and in his kitchen he sang us his two latest songs that he has written. And they were incredibly great.

That is about it for tonight, because I don't want this past week to turn into a book. But I do want to tell you that for my Valentine's gift Tony bought me the most beautiful, banjo, from The Melody Corner. And I love playing it so much—I took my first banjo lesson this past Thursday.

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

Happy Birthday Carol and Denise! & Happy Valentine's Day To All!

Chill!

Last night I started reading Carl Hiaasen's Strip Tease and in the middle of reading Chapter 2, I realized this book was made into the movie Strip Tease, starring Burt Reynolds and Demi Moore, which I loved. It was made in 1996.

Anyway, I plan to continue reading it, because books are usually so much better than movie interpretations. So, if you saw the movie and like it, too—then you'll love reading Carl Hiaasen's entertaining books, because they are great mysteries and so much fun to read.

Today has been great. This afternoon, after the board meeting, on the correct Monday, I had a lot of rescue ranch business to take care of, so I made Tony and me Avocado Toast for lunch, because it so fast and easy to make and, of course, we loved it.

After cleaning up the kitchen, before returning to work on my ranch related e-mails, phone calls, etc. I decided to make FORKS OVER KNiVES' super delicious Chia Pudding With Strawberries again, for a late afternoon dessert for us to enjoy.

But this time I added a few more ingredients to the delicious recipe. After I put the recipe's almond milk, chia seeds, organic maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla, into Jaws—I then added a banana, several big scoops of my goji berries, chocolate covered goji berries, chocolate nips and walnuts mix, before I let Jaws blend it all together. Then I let it chill for a couple of hours and then served it with raspberries and blueberries.

And omg! Tony and I loved it so much and I plan to make it this way from here on out—using strawberries, too. Here is a picture of our dessert, in a clear glass, before we dug in and ate it.

It is now starting to rain pretty heavy outside, so I am going to go ahead and unplug everything and spend the rest of my evening reading more of you-know-who.

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

Strip Tease!

Because I have thoroughly enjoyed reading Carl Hiaasen's fabulous, mystery Basket Case so much, last night I stayed up, until 1:00 to finish reading it. I loved how he ended it and I highly recommend it, not that Carl needs any help selling his fabulous books.

As y'all already know, when I get excited about something I can't help but blog about it. I am definitely excited about discovering Hiaasen's books and later on tonight I plan to start reading another one of his fun to read mystery books.

I am also excited about finding out about FORKS OVER KNiVES and their whole-foods, plant-based lifestyle. Just think, if I had not purchased their incredibly great magazine and checked out their website, Tony and I would still be eating unhealthy food.

Please note that my blog is not turning into a foodie blog or Mr. Hiaasen's Texas cheerleader for his novels, but I can't help writing about them, because I love reading his books so much and Tony's and my new healthy lifestyle change is so exciting to me.  

Today has been great. I slept in this morning, because I stayed up so late last night, to finish reading Basket Case by you know who.

Anyway, I must tell you about our delicious lunch that we ate this afternoon, because I can't help it. We had  the FORKS OVER KNiVES' delicious Red Kidney Bean and Rice with Cilantro-Cashew dressing again, because I still had leftover brown, short grained rice, but this time I also added summer squash and zucchini to the mix. 

When I started chopping and cooking, etc. I had time to thumb through the FOK's dessert section, in the their magazine. When I saw the delicious-looking Chia Pudding with Strawberries, on page 90, I decided it make it for dessert.

I was so anxious to make this dessert. But, because it needs to chill for one hour before serving, I recruited Tony to help me chop the tomatoes and kale. And he was glad to do it, because, he could not wait to eat the tasty Red Kidney Bean with Rice with Cilantro-Cashew dressing, again.

This dessert was so easy to make even though I had to use raspberries, instead of strawberries, because I didn't have any frozen strawberries. And I also decided to add blueberries to make it even more healthier. 

The ingredients to make this fabulous dessert are: almond milk, chia seeds, maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla and you mix all of that together and then chill it for an hour. And when you serve it you top it with the fruit.

Here are pictures of our main meal along with a picture of Tony's plate.

Once again, their was plenty of leftovers, so I labeled it and put it in a big baggie and then  tossed it into the freezer.

Then I served our yummy dessert.

This dessert was like eating a healthy, soft-serve ice cream with fruit and it was so delicious I plan to make it regularly for us, because Tony loved it so much. 

Unfortunately, I did not have a white bowl to put it in, so I could photograph it, so please know that the not-too-pretty, orange bowl, does not do it justice.

And because this dessert was so delicious, but didn't look that appetizing, in the orange bowl, I am using a photo, on page 90, in my FOK's magazine, just so you'll know how delicious it actually looks. And please note that you can go to FORKS OVER KNiVES website, to learn more about this healthy lifestyle and you can download their free app that has all of these healthy, delicious recipes.

It is now time for me to start walking four more fast, firming miles with Leslie Sansone, before I go over to Kinky's, so he and I can go on a fun hike with The Friedmans. 

And before I go and not to disappoint y'all, I want to let y'all know that after I watch the Grammy's tonight, I'll start reading this book. LOL!

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

Yummy!

Yesterday was great. Early in the morning, I decided to try to reduce some of our healthy, whole-food, plant-based food, that had completely taken over the kitchen counter.

First, I emptied out the big container that was full of sugar, so I could use it to consolidate the organic, bags of short grained rice. And I didn't throw out the sugar. I put it in two big baggies, so Tony could take it outside, to use to fill his many hummingbird feeders.

Then I added the sack of Himalania Dark Chocolate Goji Berries to the big container that I already have a mix of goji berries, walnuts and organic chocolate nips.

Then before Tony went outside to do his chores, I made us this ugly-looking, but totally delicious, healthy smoothie for our breakfast. It consisted of: almond milk, frozen mixed fruit, blueberries, banana, 3 big handfuls of kale, goji berries, walnuts, organic chocolate nips, cinnamon, ginger and chia seeds. Then I stayed inside to walk 4 miles with Leslie, while our super-great friends/volunteers walked our dogs for us.

Then a little while later, Tony and I went to the Apple Store, in Medina, to eat lunch and to celebrate sweet Eileen's birthday. Eileen's party was really fun. The food was delicious and Suzanne's beautiful, chocolate, 3-layer, birthday cake was absolutely delicious, even though I only ate one bite and took mine home for Tony to enjoy later.

Then last night, I relaxed and had a wonderful time reading more of Carl Hiaasen's great book Basket Case. Seriously—it is one of those books that you don't want to put down.

Today has been great, too. We had some visitors come out to see our rescue ranch. We gave all of them a tour, but unfortunately none of them were in the market to adopt a super dog from us.  

Late this afternoon for our lunch, I tried a new recipe, that I found, in the Forks Over KNiVES magazine. I made us delicious Yam Quesadillas, on page 70 and I topped them off with their Pea Guacamole, on page 71.

Both recipes were very easy for me to make and to Tony's surprise he thought they were absolutely delicious. And I must admit that I would have never dreamt that blending yams with vegetable broth, green chiles, lime juice, chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, cumin, garlic, black beans and salsa could taste so yummy. 

Here are pictures that I took of the whole process. yam mixture, before I grilled the tasty, yam quesadillas, in 100% whole wheat tortillas, using my pretty, pink George Foreman grill.

Then I made their delicious Pea Guacamole recipe.

Then we sat down at the kitchen table to eat our healthy, meatless lunch and we thoroughly enjoyed it, especially Mr. Potato Head!

After we ate lunch there was a "ton" of leftovers, so I filled two, one,  gallon-sized baggies with one small baggie of yam/black bean mixture (2 servings) and then I slipped four, 100% Whole Wheat tortillas into each big baggie, labeled it and sealed it. Then I put the bags into the freezer, so in the future, we can eat this meal, two more times. And all that I will have to do is just make the Pea Guacamole or real guacamole.

And that is about it for tonight, because I can't wait to start reading more of Basket Case by Carl Hiaasen.

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