We Love Gladys Ormphby!

This past week has been busy for us. We've spent most of our free time, over at our new property.

We had two big events happen this past week. The first event is that last night we went over to Kinky's Lodge, so we could have a fun visit with him and get to listen to the "rough cut versions" for Kinky's soon-to-be released CD.

Kinky has written all of the fabulous songs recorded for this CD and a few of his close friends helped him out with some of the lyrics. Anyway it is such a great CD and we cannot wait for it to be released.

The second big event this past week actually happened this afternoon and it arrived, in the mail, from one of our very special friends—Ruth Buzzi!  Ruthie is one of the sweetest people on this Planet. And both Tony and I feel so blessed that she (And her husband Kent) are two of our dearest friends.

Anyway, Ruthie took the time to send us this really cute, sweet card, along with an autographed picture of one of her most famous, loved characters, the dowdy spinster, Gladys Ormphby. And we love Ruthie's/Glady's signed photo so much—we are definitely going to get it framed. "Thank you, Ruthie!"

And that's about it for tonight.

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

Leather Gloves! or Farside! or Old Sunspot AR2665!

Yesterday was great. Around 10:00, Tony came into The Cabin, and said, "Nance, there are some people outside. They are real nice and Dan told me that before he and Jessie, go over to see Kinky, he really wants to meet you first."

"Okay."

"I think he's a musician. He's from Buffalo, New York. And he acts like he knows you and he loves our rescue ranch. I just finished giving them a tour."

"What's his name, again?"

"Dan Gailey." Hmm. His name did not ring a bell with me, but that was not unusual, because we do meet a lot of people. Anyway, I went outside to greet Dan and his friend Jessie, from Austin, who had volunteered for a friend to drive Dan, down to the ranch, so he could hook-up with Kinky and sit-in on the recordings.

I instantly liked Dan and Jessie, so we got to visiting. We talked about our mutual love for dogs and animals, how he knows Kinky and music, etc. And by the time we were done talking we learned that he is one of the co-producers on Kinky's upcoming, new CD, that he and Brian Molnar and several musicians are currently recording, over at the Annex.

After our fun visit with them, he and Jessie followed me and JJ, over to the Lodge, because they didn't know how to get over there. And a few minutes later, after Tony had finished doing his morning chores outside, Kermit brought him over to the Lodge. Bottom   Line: We had a lot of fun visiting with Kinky and everyone else that is involved with making this CD.

Late yesterday afternoon, I baked Kinky and his guests another one of my (Carol's) delicious, mouth-watering Chocolate Sheet Cakes and let's just say that Kinky was more than thrilled to receive it.

After I adios-ed everyone JJ (Cale) and I took off to go over to the property, where Tony was already working. Because I wanted to do some more painting on the boards, for our future kitchen counter top, that we are in the process of building. And the good news is—I didn't get one splinter. But the bad news is—those two, painful splinters are still wedged underneath my fingernail.

This is a what I accomplished yesterday, while wearing my new, pair of protective leather gloves, before we quit and came back home.

And yes, I have not begun to distress it like I was planning to, using the picture below, as my guide, because I am actually loving how it already looks. So we shall see. And if you're a betting person I suggest you bet on the boards above for being our counter top.

Today has been great. After I took care of some rescue ranch business this morning and after Tony had done his morning chores outside, we went, back over to the property, to do some more work.

Then we went to the Home Depot to buy a few more supplies. Then we went basically across the street and ate a delicious lunch at Randy's & Lisa's Save Inn Restaurant. And once again, we ordered the exact same thing—Sinker Omelets and iced teas and I highly recommend that you order it the next time you go to the Save Inn Restaurant.

After lunch we went, to Wolfmueller's Books, to visit with Sandy & Jon for a few minutes and to also pick up a couple of Mike Blakely's paperbacks: Comanche Dawn and Vendetta Gold that Sandy had found and was holding for us.

On our way back home Tony told me that he really wanted to read Comanche Dawn first, which was fine with me, because I've just started reading Marie Bostwick's great book Ties That Bind, Bostwick's fifth awesome book of her Cobbled Court Quilts novels. Seriously, Marie Bostwick has now become my favorite author and I highly recommend you read her novels, because you'll get hooked on her books, too. And that's a promise.

Before I finish writing this post I have one more thing I want you to know. This morning our good friend, Jim aka The Mineral Man sent me this informative Space Weather News link for July 23, 2017 and after reading their Space forecast it got me somewhat worried.

I was worrying, because it is also close to being M.I.R (Mercury In Retrograde) Time, again. Which officially begins on August 13th - September 5th. Anyway, I wanted to let you know about all of this, so you'll be prepared and understand why weird things might start going haywire with your travel plans, computer and other devices, etc.

Space Weather News for July 23, 2017 http://spaceweather.com https://www.facebook.com/spaceweatherdotcom MASSIVE EXPLOSION ON THE FARSIDE OF THE SUN: On July 23rd, NASA and European spacecraft observed a massive explosion on the far side of the sun. A spectacular CME tore through the sun's atmosphere and it now appears to be en route to Mars. Earth will not feel the effects of the blast because of its location on the opposite side of the sun. However, the source of the eruption, old sunspot AR2665, will turn back toward our planet in early August, possibly bringing a new round of geomagnetic storms and auroras. Read all about it on today's edition of Spaceweather.com.

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

Thunder Storms—The Finger Still Hurts!

The Concerned Citizen!

Today has been great and I have some good news and some bad news to tell y'all. This will definitely be a short read, because of "The Finger."

First with the bad news. This bad news is today a very nice couple, from Kerrville, came out with their two, nicely-behaved boys to check out our dogs. Tony went outside to greet them first. And then I went out to greet them one minute later. But if I'd know what was going to happen next—I would have stayed inside and watched from the window, in Tony's man-cave.

There I was all smiles, when I walked up to this friendly couple. "Hi. Welcome to our rescue ranch!" I said. And I meant it too, because I instantly liked this great family. "Hi. I'm Nancy."

"Hi," the smiling husband said to me. "This is my wife Dallas and these are our..." Then he stuck out his hand to shake my hand. So without thinking I grabbed his hand to shake it and that was a huge mistake on my part, because he gripped my hand so tightly that my painful, partially-wooden-finger ached with shooting pain. It was so bad that I almost fainted or at least I came very close to it, but I hid my discomfort from them. Bottom   Line: I'll never shake hands again, until "The Finger" is wood-free.

Okay, the good news is this sweet, dog-loving-family fell in love with Donny Osmond and after they get back from their vacation, around the first of August—they are coming back and going to adopt him! So I guess you could say, "That painful handshake was well worth it."

After this nice family left to go home, Tony and I returned to The Cabin and Carlton was flashing, on top of the breakfast bar. So I pushed Carlton's button, and heard this nice woman say, "Hi Nancy. You don't have to call me back. My doctor friend told me that you need to soak your finger as much as possible to get the splinters to come out—using tweezers....or you might have to go to a doctor and have them cut it out...." And on hearing the word doctor—my smile turned upside down.

Tony and I did not recognize the concerned citizen or her phone number. So if you are the nice person who called me with this helpful information, while we were outside—I sincerely thank you.

As I finish writing this afternoon, so Tony and I can go, to Kerrville, to buy dog food and to get a few groceries, etc. I've decided that when we get back home I am going to put some of our Elmer's Wood Glue, on "The Finger." Then after it has dried I am hoping it will help me pull out the splinters. So please wish me luck.

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

The Finger! or Painful Pricks!

Today has been great even though I am having incredible pain trying to type this post, so expect it to be a short read.

Yesterday when I was over at the property, putting stain on some more wood, because I have to do that first before I begin painting the wood and then finishing it off by distressing it. And I am now thinking of letting Henry Standing Bear help me distress it, because he's done such a fine job gnawing up our wooden furniture.

Anyway, I was all happy when I started staining the lumber, because I had cranked up my Bose and I was listening to some of my favorite JJ Cale & Eric Clapton music. In fact, I was actually listening to this incredibly great YouTube 2007 JJ Cale & Eric Clapton sound check video, before their live performance, in San Diego.

As, JJ & Clapton were playing and doing a sound check for Anyway the Wind Blows my pink boots were tapping the ground non-stop to their awesome beat. Literally, I was almost dancing outside, under the shade of a pretty tree, as I was applying the stain to boards. And that's when the finger, on my right hand, right next to my little finger, jammed two, gigantic wood splinters underneath my fingernail. And it hurt like you know what.

I wanted to half-holler, "Tony!" But it would have been to deaf ears, because Tony was, in Kerrville, picking up Buster Brown, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, because they had removed a fatty tumor, from Buster's chest area.

I was in pain, all upset and I wanted to cry, because Tony was not there to help me or to feel sorry for me. So trying to be brave I carefully removed my green, stained, latex glove, from my right hand and almost fainted when I saw these two, huge, scary-looking, painful splinters wedged underneath my fingernail.

Scared that I might pass out, from the horrific pain, because I don't do pain—I collapsed, in a nearby plastic, green chair and I put my head down, between my knees and then saw these cute, little red ants run around in circles. I guess because I must have scared them or because they were dancing to Cale and Clapton's music. Who knows?

And as my rock 'n roll heroes, JJ Cale and Eric Clapton, talked and laughed and then began playing Who Am I Telling You, for another sound check, I decided to go home and Google "How to remove two, embedded, painful splinters from underneath a fingernail."And that about killed me to type all of that.

After I had tried putting a baking soda paste, on my wounded finger, which did not work at all and then tried soaking my finger, in a bowl of Hydrogen Peroxide—Tony walked inside The Cabin, and announced, "Buster looks great and he.."

"Well, I'm glad Buster is fine, because I'm not...." So after I had told Tony, in great detail, about my unlucky, finger incident, I asked him to please take a picture of my partially wood-ingrained finger, because it hurt me too much to press the camera's button . And as I was telling him about me just blogging about wooden-hands and about Ronnie "having a wooden-baby," Tony snapped this picture of my temporary, hermetically sealed, wood-nail. And I drew these little arrows, on the photo, to show you exactly where these painful pricks are located.

And as I finish writing this, at 3:30, I am fixin' to go put a splint, on my finger, using two, short, colored pencils, because we don't have any popsicle-sticks. And then I'm going to wrap it up, using at least six big Band-Aids. 

Then I'm going to take a short nap with our dogs, before we go over to the property. Because when we get there I want to do an historic, re-enactment of exactly how I injured my finger, so Tony will understand how it happened. And I am also taking my Bose with me, so I can have it playing the JJ Cale and Eric Clapton sound check, (live in San Diego) 2007. 

    

Tomorrow I will tell you about our great friends/volunteers that came out this morning and walked our dogs for us. And our hilarious, super fun, delicious lunch, at the Medina Highpoint Resort's Koyote Grill.

Wood-Carved Hands! or Bit of Joy! or Ghost Rockets!

FYI: I wrote this earlier and scheduled it to post at 7:00 tonight.

This morning has been great. I had a good night's sleep. I feel rested and after two cups of Donut Shop Coffee—I've cleaned The Cabin. Not a bad way to start out my day.

It is only 11:05 and I have just finished taking care of my daily rescue ranch business and I am fixin' to go over to our new place to do some painting for our new, upcoming kitchen sink counter top. 

Weeks ago, I found this beautiful picture of a rustic kitchen island and I fell totally in love with it, because I've always wanted our kitchen to be an open area. And I want our kitchen counter tops to look like this with no cabinet doors—just wooden shelving for pots & pans, etc.

Anyway last week, because I wasn't blogging, Tony and I went over to our new place and we spent several hours staining some lumber, to build our kitchen counters. And we wore these, tight-fitting, green, ugly, throw-away gloves to apply the stain, but our hands and fingernails still got stained. And no matter how much we've been scrubbing our hands they still look like we have wood-carved hands. 

Side note: Several years ago, we went to one of Ron & Nita's Ponderosa Ranch parties, in Dripping Springs. After we had eaten a delicious BBQ dinner—we got out our instruments and started jamming. There was Jerry on fiddle, his sweet wife Kathy on guitar, Ray on dulcimer and Joe, Ronnie, Willis and me on guitars. It was a full house and was so much fun.

Anyway, Ronnie started singing the song "If I Were A Carpenter" that Bobby Darin made famous and we were really sounding great playing together. Well, when Ronnie sang the lyrics "If I were a carpenter and you were a lady. Would you marry me anyway. Would you have ..."

Before he could finish singing the line, I interrupted him and blurted out, "My wooden baby?"And to say the least everyone burst out laughing. And because Ronnie was laughing so hard I felt for sure that my big brother was going to throw his back out and blame me. Anyway, that thought just jumped into my head when I wrote "wood-carved hands."

Now where was I? Okay, I remember now. We cannot afford granite counter tops or wanna-be granite counter tops which is totally fine with me which is also great for our belt-tightening remodeling budget. And on top of that, literally speaking, about two weeks ago I found this cool picture of a painted, distressed bench, on Pintrest and I instantly knew that's exactly what I wanted to make for our rustic kitchen counter tops.

So I spent over an hour watching YouTube tutorials, instead of blogging, on how to distress furniture which was time well spent, because today I am going to start working on distressing our kitchen counter top boards. So please wish me luck with this project.

To finish my post on a good note I want to share this great, short, YouTube video that my dear friend Mari sent to me this morning and I am still laughing about it. So if you want to laugh please read this and then watch this great feel-good video.

"When you think of riding the subway, laughter and joy aren’t the first words that spring to mind.  It’s a cramped place full of grumpy people either coming home from a bad day at work or are just generally upset. Yet if you’re lucky enough, sometimes you can find happiness in a subway train.

One such magical moment was captured when a Belgian advertising agency working for Coca-Cola hired an actor to randomly start laughing on the train.

With the tag line, “Happiness starts with a smile.”  Their new ad aims to bring a bit of joy to everyone’s day.  Just watch and we dare you not to let out a small giggle, too!"

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

5:15 Update: My friend Cathie, North Texas, sent me this photo titled: Ghost Rockets with the caption below it. She told me that she watched a show on UFO's last night and these Ghost Rockets were one of the UFO subjects.

"Also known as the Scandinavian Ghost Rockets, the Ghost Rockets were UFOs sighted in 1946, mostly in Sweden. About 2,000 sightings were reported between May and December 1946, peaking around August. Over 200 sightings were verified and authorities recovered physical fragments which were attributed to the ghost rockets…"

So now I consider this picture and caption as proof positive that "thing" in my photo, behind the giant locust or Leprechaun, was actually a Ghost Rocket! This is so exciting! In fact, I am so thrilled I am going to go back over to the property to tell Tony!

MADE IN USA!

This past week has been great and I apologize for not posting anything since last Wednesday, because I've been so traumatized after having my two close encounters with an "Iguana" and a "Unicorn Grasshopper or Alien." And thankfully, I am now fully recovered from those two hair-raising events, because of your helpful comments and because we've been pretty busy out here and over at our new place—just down the road.

Last Thursday Tony and I went to Habitat for Humanity, in Ingram, with Sam & Stacie and we got a great bargain on three, double-paned windows, for our cabin in the woods.

Friday afternoon we ate lunch with our good friend, Eileen and later in the evening, Tony and I went up to the Medina Highpoint Resort's Koyote Grill to eat their delicious All-You-Can-Eat Catfish Buffet. And to meet up with our good friends: Bethany, Carol and Fourth, so we could all sit, out on Koyote's patio, to listen to David Wayne & Doc's great music.

Saturday was our rescue ranch open house and we had several people come out to take tours of our rescue ranch and to visit. And I spent the most part of our evening writing.

Sunday was really exciting for me, because after doing over a years worth of research on the best composting toilets, I finally purchased the 2017 top-rated— Nature's Head composting toilet MADE IN USA, with just One-Click, with my Amazon Prime. And I was so thrilled about it I hardly slept a wink that night.

Monday morning, because I was so tired or because Roy has loose lips—Big Al(ice) tried to commit suicide, in our kitchen. Right after I had given Roy his pain pill he accidentally dropped it and it fell on the floor. And in a split second, before I could pick it up—Big Al swallowed it.

I was completely horrified that Big Al ate the pill and I wanted to half-holler, "Tony!" but I couldn't because he was working, over at our new place.

Knowing that time was of the essence, I picked up "Alice in wonderland" or soon to be "Alice in la-la-land" in my arms and then I race-skipped outside and we took off to go find Tony, in JJ Cale (our new/used 2012 GMC pickup).

Even though I felt like I was the famous race car driver, Carroll Shelby, I was only driving 35 mph and in just a few minutes when I saw Tony working, "I lowered the window, and half-hollered, "Tony! Alice is a drug addict! And she just overdosed, trying to commit suicide, using Roy's pain pills!"

I was obviously still in shock, because I was still wearing my pajamas, my heart was pounding and I wasn't even wearing my white cap, which of course, proves that I was in shock. Anyway, Tony grabbed our suicidal, little, drug-addicted dog and they took off for Hoegemeyers and I took off to come back home.

As soon as I race-skipped, back inside The Cabin, I called Kathy, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, to alert her that Tony was on his way there with our wayward, drug-addict Chihuahua. Then I took a shower and dressed and tried to calm down. Bottom   Line: Big Al(ice) was fine after all. She is not a drug-addict thank goodness. And the only reason why she did it was to get more attention from us. But we've grounded her for six weeks.

Yesterday afternoon, our good friend Anna Oakley, from Terlingua, came to visit us and to spend the night, with her sweet dog Tubo. We showed her our new place and she loved it and then we came home. But before I cooked us dinner we went over to visit with Kinky, at the Lodge.

We didn't get to stay very long, because Kinky was taking a short break, from recording his new, upcoming CD, that our friend Brian Molnar is producing.

Anyway, we loved seeing Anna and we had a wonderful visit with her, before she and Tubo left this morning. And here's a cute picture that Anna took last night, of Little Debbie, sitting on top of our kitchen table. An example why Big Al(ice) wants and needs to get more attention from us.

And to finish tonight's post, on a good note, our Nature's Head composting toilet arrived this afternoon and Tony and I are on Cloud 9 about it, because we absolutely love it almost as much as we love our Big Al. (Sorry, for Alice's sake I felt like I had say that, so she'll feel more important.)

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

P.S. We really are busy working on our new place. I am also doing a lot of writing, so please be patient with me and my "daily" blog. I will try to write more often than once a week—I promise.

The Day of The Grasshopper!

Today has been great even though I slept until 10:30 this morning, because last night I was sleepless in Medina.

Early this afternoon we went to Kerrville, because we needed to stop by Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and then we went to Home Depot to buy some more paint and supplies for a kitchen drainboard that we are building together.

And when we were leaving the rescue ranch, in Trigger, I was telling Tony about staying up late and writing a post for my blog that included me accidentally saying, "Iguana" instead of "Gecko."

We were laughing about it when out of nowhere this giant grasshopper appeared in the sky (Actually on our windshield). So I quickly grabbed my iPhone and took a couple of quick pictures of it as Tony slowed down Trigger.

"This will make a funny post and I am going to title it: The Day of The Grasshopper!" Then I showed Tony my two grasshopper pictures and then put my phone away.

Anyway, when we got back home, I downloaded the two pictures to use in today's post and something strange caught my eye, in the two photos. Something that I hadn't noticed before when I took the pictures, because of the sun's glare.

Now if you'll scroll back and look at the 2nd photo it almost looks like a rainbow coming out of the grasshopper's head or it might possibly be a UFO in flight.

Then if you carefully look back at that 1st photo I took the rainbow/UFO is there, but it is much harder for the human eye to detect. So now I'm wonderin' "What the heck is that thing?" Then I enlarged the 2nd photo, so I could see it even better.

It is now 4:30 and Tony and I are fixin' to go back, over to the property, to do some more work on the kitchen drainboard. But before we leave we are going, over to Kinky's lodge, to drop off a frozen pan of Cousin Nancy's Chocolate Sheet Cake, so Kinky doesn't have to go through withdrawals.

And as I finish writing this I would appreciate any feedback that you might have as to what that thing is coming out of the grasshopper's head or going into the grasshopper's head, because I am really starting to think it is a UFO or a unicorn grasshopper. 

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

The Night of The Iguana!

Yesterday was great and the only reason that I am writing this right now, on Thursday morning, @ 1:10 AM, is because I'm not sleepy and because Tony dared me to write about it.

But before I tell you about why he dared me to write about it, I want you to know that since last Friday my days have been great. And to put it all of it on a bumper-sticker:

1. Friday evening Tony and I went up to the Medina Highpoint Resort for their Friday Night All You Can Eat Catfish Dinner, which is always absolutely delicious and is also one of Tony's favorite places to eat fried catfish, in the Texas Hill Country. And it was a super fun evening, because the super, great band Exit 505 played outside, on their big patio. Bottom Line   the place was rockin'.

2. Saturday we had several people come out to visit our rescue ranch during our Open House and we spent that evening, doing some work over on our newly acquired property.

And, yes, that has been my big secret and I am letting it out-of-the-bag, at last. We are so thrilled with our new place and we love that it is so nearby. In fact, you will not believe how close it is to our rescue ranch. Anyway, I will tell you more about it, in my upcoming, soon-to-be-released Cowgirl Sisterhood: Part III novella.

3. Sunday Tony and I spent most of our day off over at our property.

4. Monday I baked Carol's totally delicious Chocolate Sheet Cake and I took some of it over to Kinky's. Bottom Line   Kinky is wild about it and he has become totally addicted to it.

5. Tuesday was great, because we met our good friend Sue, for lunch at the Acapulco Mexican Restaurant and we had a wonderful time with her. And during our fun lunch with Sue, Kinky showed up and he was surprised to see us there.

When he came up to our table, after greeting us, his first words were, "Cousin Nancy's chocolate sheet cake is the best cake that I've ever eaten. You could make a fortune baking those cakes..."

"Well, thank you, Kinky," I said. "But it is actually Carol's secret cake recipe. Not mine. She deserves all of the credit. And I agree that it is the best cake that we've ever eaten."

Actually, I was shocked, because I could not believe that I had admitted that it was Carol's secret recipe. And it was truly a first for me to admit that, because as everyone knows I always steal recipes from my friends and then I turn around and call them Cousin Nancy's...

Anyway, I am going to keep Carol's secret, best-ever Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe under-wraps, until I reveal it in my in my upcoming third novella, but please don't tell Carol. Because as excited as she already is about me making her a Top Bun, for her Christmas present, I am afraid that if I tell Carol about me including her Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe, in Part III—she might just get a big-head about it and then her little, hand-spun-bun-by-me will be way too small for her enlarged head.

So back to the story. While Kinky was standing there visiting with us and raving to Sue about how delicious my cake was and hoping that I would bake him another one real soon, our dear friend Harley Belew walked up to our table and greeted all of us. And then Kinky starts telling Harley all about my cake. Bottom Line   lunch was so much fun.

Okay, it is now 1:30, in the morning and that Z-zz-Quil that I took earlier is finally starting to kick-in thank goodness. So I am going to finish this post with what Tony dared me to write about.

Late this evening before we went to bed I went to the door to let our dogs go outside one more time. When I opened the front door the dogs ran outside and before I could close the door this creature, on our door jumped on me and then it bounced off of me and landed on the floor. Then it took off down the hallway. I was so shocked and startled, I half-hollered, "Tony! Come quick! There's an iguana in our house!"

I heard a chuckle, coming from the man-cave area and I could not believe that Tony's knee-jerk rescue-reaction was so slow. "There it is!" And then I pointed to it before it ran/crawled-fast, behind a box of books that I plan to drop off, at Wolfmueller's Books.

Tony laughed when he saw the little, six-inch critter, and then he said, "It's just a harmless gecko, Nance. Not an iguana."

"I know that. I meant to say, "a gecko," but I was in a total state of shock." And after Tony had quit teasing me about calling it an iguana he dared me to write about it. And so I have. And that's why I titled this post The Night of The Iguana.

Goodnight and keep on laughing!

Pez Dispenser! Wished Upon A Car! or Present From Scout!

Yesterday was a great day, because Tony and I met our good friends, Kris & Jim aka "The Mineral Man" for a fun lunch. And before I go any further—Tony and I did not order the exact same thing, but we were close. We both ordered iced teas and chicken-fried steaks, but mine was a much smaller version.

While we were eating our lunch Jim suggested that besides me writing Cowgirl Sisterhood novellas, etc., "Nancy, you should write about some of the funny things that have happened to you in your life." So I took his cue and told them this story.

"When I was in the 5th grade and Ronnie was in the 6th grade he was good friends with our neighbor Billy Upton and Steve Crane, who lived a few blocks away from us.

Anyway, Steve's parents bought him this little red & silver Mo-ped and Steve drove it over to our house, as soon as he got it, so he could show it off to Ronnie and Billy, because they only had bikes to ride. (Steve didn't care if I saw it or not, because I hadn't started wearing a training bra yet—go figure.)

Well, Billy and Ronnie (and me) were very impressed with it, so Steve let Ronnie and then Billy take it for a short spin around the block. (I didn't get to ride it, because as Aunt Hermajean had told my mom, "I think Nancy is going to be a" dwarf!" Because I was very short.

So after Ron and Billy took it for a spin Ronnie decided, it would be funny for some crazy reason, to get an old, rolled-up, scrap piece of light tan carpet, from our garage and tie me up in it and put me in the middle of the street, to see if cars would drive around me. The guys thought his prank was funny, but I didn't.

In fact, I was wishing that Mom was home to stop it, but she was working, at her new part-time job (folding bath & kitchen towels and waiting on customers, etc.), at Monnig's, a small, locally-owned, upscale department store, located in the Westcliff addition, which was right next to the South Hills neighborhood where we lived.

Well, it only took Ronnie less that two minutes to roll me up in the carpet and tie it up. And I looked like one of those Pez candy dispensers with only my head poking out one end. Then Ronnie, Steve and Billy picked me up off of the front yard and they laughed all of the way while they carried me and set me down, in the middle of Stadium Drive, which was a pretty busy street. Then they went and hid, behind the bushes and wished upon a car to show up.

Thank goodness only a couple of cars stopped and carefully drove around me and I was really starting to get hot, inside the carpet, on the hot pavement, because it was the middle of summer.

Then my wish, unexpectedly came true—Mom showed up, at the stop sign, on the corner of Medina Ave. and Stadium Drive and she looked horrified, when she slowly drove around me and pulled into our driveway. And she was hollering, "Ronnie! You get over here right now!" before she even set the emergency brake and had gotten out of her two-toned, '64 or '65 Mustang.

In seconds, Ronnie, Billy and Steve ran out, from behind the bushes and went and picked me up and laid me down, on my parents lush, green Bermuda grass lawn, that they were so proud of. And while Ronnie was nervously trying to untie me, Mom said, "Steve and Billy, y'all need to go on home. Ronnie what in blue blazes...."

The bottom line    Ronnie got in trouble big-time trouble and he was grounded for a week and I am still here to tell my near death experience."

After Kris & Jim and Tony had quit laughing, Kris asked Jim to please tell his story about being the best man, at his friend's wedding, decades ago. "Well, it was a prank and we were best friends...." Bottom line    Jim and his buddies were drinking a little, so to speak and they ended up tying the nervous groom, to a street sign, using duct tape! (Jim, forgive me for putting your hilarious story, on a bumper-sticker, but this post is starting to look more like a book instead of a blog post.)

Today has been great, but it is still early. This morning I received an e-mail from Carol, with the subject line: "Present From Scout!" and she wrote: "For YOUR bun 😀" and when I looked at the picture she sent of her holding Scout's hair—I burst out laughing. And of course, that scared Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) and it caused them to start barking and running around the big room until Tony got back home, after drinking coffee with his friends, at the Old Timer, in Medina.

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

George West!

This past week has been busy and fun for Tony and me. The busy part for us was taking care of the rescue ranch, giving tours to visitors and getting Blue adopted to a fabulous home. So sweet, smart Blue is now happily living on a big ranch, between here and Bandera, with a big, beautiful and very friendly German Shepherd. And of course, we are more than thrilled about it.

The other busy stuff that I've been doing is writing and then rewriting up a storm, on my third Cowgirl Sisterhood novella, because I've been so inspired by a recent, big-time, exciting event that has occurred.

You may be asking yourself, "So what in the world has occurred?" or you may not, but all that I can tell you right now is—Tony and I have been on Cloud 9 ever since June the 22nd. And that is my biggest excuse for me not having the time to blog. 

I don't like leaving you in suspense, even though I have to admit that it is actually kind of fun, but I do promise to "let the cat out of the bag" much sooner than later. And that's a promise.

Because today is the 4th of July holiday, last night I told Tony that I was sleeping in this morning, so I could catch up on some much needed sleep. And I asked him to please not wake me, because I assumed that Big G was off today and that we would not be doing my Utopia Rescue Ranch segment, on his popular, morning radio show. But of course, I assumed wrong.

At 7:20 sharp, I was in bed snuggling with our dogs, while dreaming about me spinning all of that precious, dog-hair that I have received, from around the Planet, to help me make Carol's Top Bun Christmas present. And icy dream was just about to turn into a big-time nightmare, because I had started choking on some long, black, curly dog hair and was trying to yell, "Tony!" when I heard our rescue ranch phone ring. "Rescue Ranch. We can't come to the telephone right now. Please leave a message and we'll call you back as soon as possible."

Then I heard, "Hello, Nancy? This is Big G." And a few seconds later, his call was ended.

I truly felt guilty about not doing Big G's show this morning, for only a couple of seconds and then I fell back to sleep, so Tony could come running to rescue me, by giving me the Heimlich Maneuver.

Around 8:30, I finally climbed out of bed as our dogs jumped off of our bed and we all went into the kitchen, so I could make myself some Donut Shop Coffee. 

At 9:14, I was in the shower thinking about how to braid the dog hair into a cute, tiny bun, when a woman named Jennifer called and left a message for me on Carlton. "....We are on vacation, in Bandera and I was hoping that you would be open today, because my son has read your book and he really wants to meet you. We will only be in the area until about noon. My phone number is...."

Ten minutes later I returned Jennifer's call, "Hello, this is Nancy, at the rescue ranch. We are closed today, but we would love for y'all to come out....Would 11:00 be okay?"

It was okay, because at 11:00 sharp Tony walked inside The Cabin, and said, "They're here and I'm fixin' to give them a tour of your writing cabin." And two minutes later, I was outside greeting and shaking hands with Jennifer and her two, lovely kids Keithen and Cassidy.

And after Cassidy had told me that she loved dogs and that she was 8 years old and Keithen had told me that he was 11 years old and had loved reading my book. I invited them to come inside The Cabin, so we could sit down for a visit.

When we came inside, Cassidy told us that she knew about Outer Space and she wanted to go into Outer Space and then Keith told us that he wanted to see Kermit, our green Polaris 4X4. And we granted their wishes.

First, we took them into Outer Space and had a fun visit with them and that's when Tony and I learned that they were neighbors with our old friends, Lance & Stassa, in George West. And then Tony took Cassidy and Keithen for a fun, but short ride on Kermit, before Kermit ran out of gas, down by the creek and they had to walk back to the rescue ranch. 

And before we adios-ed our new friends Jennifer, Keithen and Cassidy, from George West, I signed a couple of my books and gave them to Cassidy and Keithen. And then we asked them to please tell Lance & Stassa that we said, "Howdy and to please come see us when they are in the area." And that's about it for today.

Y'all have a safe and happy 4th of July and keep on laughing!