A Hairy Situation! or What Would Ronnie Do?

Today has been really great even though I was faced with a hairy situation. This morning while Tony was, in Medina, paying sweet Sherlyn to cut his long curls off or better said—getting his ears lowered, I was at home trying to decide whether or not if I was going to wash my hair and it was literally driving me crazy.

Now you might be thinking, "Why in the world would anybody, be on the fence, trying to decide if they should wash their hair or not?" So I am fixin' to tell you right now.

You see, we have a shallow well and it has a high content of iron and that is one of the main reasons why we are going to/ and are in the process, of getting things set-up, so we can start harvesting rainwater.

We are planning to continue to use the well water to flush our toilet(s), but we will use our collected rainwater for everything else, inside The Cabin: the shower and the sinks, etc. And I am excited about  being able to wash my hair using rainwater, because up until now since, our move, when I wash my hair—it feels like wire when I try to comb it and I am scared that it will also, in time, tint my long, gray hair—a light shade of red.

Anyway, this morning while I was trying to decide what to do, I was in the kitchen and I asked myself out loud, "What would Ronnie do?" And all six of our wonderful, loving dogs did not answer my question, but they did turn their heads and stared at me like I was crazy old lady.

So I felt stupid, because of their unanimous response to my question. And then I remembered what my sweet, smart brother, Ronnie, had told me two weekends ago, the day after Katelyn's birthday party, at the Ronderosa Ranch.

He and I were drinking coffee, in their kitchen and I had told him about our decision to collect rainwater and my concerns about me, sooner than later, becoming an elderly, fake redhead, because of the well water's high content of iron.

Ronnie laughed at me, like he has for over sixty-six years, and then he said, "Nance, your well water is hard, because of the iron. We have a good friend that spent the night here many years ago and she took a shower and washed her hair here.

We have soft water, since the drought and she was totally amazed how shiny and soft her hair felt after washing it here. Anyway, since that day Jan swears by soft water and since then she buys gallons of distilled water and she only washes her hair with soft water...."

So later this morning I realized that Ronnie, unbeknownst to him, at the time, had already answered my question, "What would Ronnie do?" So I took a shower and I purposefully did not wash my hair, because I had it tucked up, inside my white, Terlingua cap.

This afternoon after we ate lunch we went, to Kerrville, to run several errands. Our last stop was at the big H-E-B. And while Tony was outside at the pumps, filling up Roy, I was inside the store buying groceries and the last thing that I put into my shopping cart was—one gallon of distilled water, so I could wash my hair with it.

As I patiently waited in line to pay for my groceries I was so happy about buying the distilled water. In fact, I was so thrilled about it I was wearing a big smile. "Hey Nancy," a familiar voice said, and I turned around and it was our dear friend Jim aka The Mineral Man standing in line, behind me. And I immediately felt it was a sign for me, because Jim is The Mineral Man. I couldn't believe it.

Anyway, I had a fun visit with Jim, as we waited our turn to get checked out. We talked about him and Tony going fishing soon, H-E-B's Limited Edition Creamy Creations Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream and Kris' upcoming knee surgery, etc.

When Tone and I got back home I put my gallon of distilled water, out in the sun to help warm it up and then we unloaded the groceries and put them up. Then a few minutes later Tony adios-ed me and took off for Medina, so he could see his friends at The Old Timer and then go take pictures of the Bobcats baseball game.

So with him gone, I decided it was time for me to wash my hair and I've never been so excited about washing my gray locks before. I took my camera outside with me, so I could document that I had actually bought a one dollar, gallon of distilled water to wash my hair.

Then I put a large, plastic bowl, in the kitchen sink and filled it with this precious, warmed water and I washed my hair. And I was grinning the whole time during the process.

After I towel dried my hair I was totally amazed how soft my hair felt and how easy it was for me to run a comb through it. And because I was so thrilled about my hair's new condition I chose to blow dry it using our Lasko floor fan, instead of letting it dry naturally, because I could not wait to see the final results.

So I opened the front door, moved the high-powered fan into position and then I stood back, in front of my saddle, and let the fan blow me away. And as I stood there for two minutes, super-fast, blow-drying my hair, Little Debbie went outside and pooped, on the front porch. And I didn't care about her doing it, because my wiry hair was now soft as silk and it was as white as it could be. So once again life is good, at the Big Foot Ranch.

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