Little Joe And Margarita!

The last few days have been great and today has been no exception. This afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville to run a few errands.

Our first stop was at So Fast Printing, so I could pick up my order. You see yesterday morning, while I was on my computer I found a few pictures that wanted printed on her heaviest card stock. So I had e-mailed them to Rose, at So Fast Printing, so they could print them out for me.

I love working with Rose, because she is true professional when it comes to printing things right. Over many years our rescue ranch, Tony and myself have used her printing shop for quality printing. And Rose had made it so easy to work with her, because all I would have to do is e-mail her what we wanted printed, with instructions and then go pick up the order.

Yesterday when I had sent her the photos at the end of my instructions I had told her that Tony and I would be coming to Kerrville later in the day and it would be perfect if I could pick them up. But I finished my note by saying, "But if you do not have the time today—no worries."

Anyway, yesterday afternoon got away from us and we did not make it to Kerrville as we had planned. So I felt bad about coming in today to pick up my order, because she had told me yesterday that they would be ready when we came to town.

So when I walked inside So Fast Printing today, my guilt immediately flew right out the window, when Rose, who was wearing a big smile, greeted me and then handed me my order. The photos looked fabulous printed on the heavy card stock, as I had requested and Rose charged me next to nothing for printing them for me.

Our next errand to run was, at the big H-E-B, to get groceries and we were out of there within twenty minutes. And our last planned stop was at Wolfmueller's Books, so we could see our good friends Sandy & Jon.

When we arrived Sandy greeted us from the back of the bookstore and waved for us to come back there. "Hi y'all. Please sit down," Sandy said. "Jon went to run an errand and he will be right back..."

We had a fun, short visit with Sandy before Jon returned and then we had a fun, hilarious visit with the two of them.

During our entertaining talk-a-thon/laugh-a-thon Sandy handed me this folded pamphlet to look at.

Then she and Jon enthusiastically took turns telling us about how delicious their food was, at this new Mexican Restaurant, where Conchita's used to be located. "...Y'all are going to love Little Joe's." Jon said. "Their food is excellent and it is Tex-Mex at its very best. They've only been open a week or so and oh my gosh their homemade lemonade is to die for....it's now our favorite Mexican food restaurant."

They had convinced us to give it a try right then, even though we had groceries, melting inside Roy, and had planned to eat sandwiches when we got back home. "Go over there with them Jon, and introduce them to Joe and his sweet daughter Margarita. It is just the two of them. Joe does all of the cooking and Margarita is the waitress/cashier. And they are the nicest people. I love their #1 and #4 and y'all should order that. And Jon, please bring me back some more lemonade," Sandy said.

So Jon, Tony and I adios-ed Sandy, went out their backdoor and shuffled across Main Street and then went inside Little Joe Restaurant. And Margarita, was wearing as big a smile as Rose had, at So Fast Printing, greeted us before we even sat down at our table. 

Within a minute we were all sipping the delicious lemonades that Sandy had raved about. Well, their menu was huge and it was filled with so many delicious choices. But in the end Tony and I did not order the exact same thing as we usually do. (You can enlarge this menu and on the backside of this flyer is their breakfast menu, but I did not have enough space available to put it in this blog post.)

Well, I ordered their #1 Enchiladas, as Sandy had suggested. And Tony order their #5 Guisada Plate and Jon ordered a lemonade to go, which made Margarita chuckle, because she knew how much Sandy loves their lemonade.

A few minutes later Jon adios-ed us and he took off with his and Sandy's lemonades and that's when Tony and I got to visiting with Margarita while we waited on our food. She told us that she and her dad have owned several Mexican food restaurants over the past years and that she and Joe were excited about opening this one. "We are open all week from 6:00 AM to 3:00 PM and we serve breakfast all day." Then Margarita took off to go get our orders.

Well, let me tell you what Tony said to me once he took a bite of his guisada, "This is the best guisada in town. Seriously, it is the best that I've ever eaten."

I smiled, and whispered, "Tony, don't talk with your mouth full." Then I took my first bite of the cheese enchiladas.

"Omg!" I said. "These enchiladas are to die for."

Tony chuckled, and with more guisada, in his mouth, said, "Don't talk with your mouth full." And his words nearly made me choke, because I started laughing.

When Margarita returned to our table and served us Joe's homemade flour tortillas, definitely not coming out of a machine like other Mexican food restaurants use—Tony's and my eyes grew really big, because they looked so delicious and because we could not wait to try them. 

After we had enjoyed eating our delicious lunch and the mouth-watering, homemade flour tortillas, I told Margarita that I was going to blog about their new, family-owned restaurant and I asked if I could please take a picture of her with her dad, Little Joe. And two minutes later—I shot them using my iPhone. It was painless.

Bottom    Line: Little Joe Restaurant is now the best Mexican food restaurant, in Kerrville, Kerr County and the Hill Country. And we told that to Sandy & Jon, as soon as we returned to their awesome bookstore.

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

Christmas Trees!

Yesterday I got back to Big Foot Ranch, at 2:00. And yes, I would have gotten back here sooner, but when adios-ing Alpine, after topping-off Roy's tank, I got behind a huge hay-hauling truck and I had to follow it all of the way to the first rest stop, on the other side of Fort Stockton.

It was great to be back home and after hugging all of our dogs and Tony. I made me a quick sandwich and then I went over to Carol's ranch to tell her all about my "research trip" and fact gathering mission, for my third novella—The Cowgirl Sisterhood: Ghost Riders In The Sand, Part III.

We were sitting out on her beautiful deck, watching the big fish swimming around her lake, when I told her, "I loved my cabin, at the Terlingua Ranch Lodge and I was lucky to get it, because they only had three vacancies left. Because there was this Christmas Tree convention staying there and the place was packed with friendly Christmas tree people..."

"What?" Carol asked me, followed by a chuckle. "Why would there be a Christmas tree convention, in the desert?"

"I don't know. I thought it was sort of weird too. Anyway, Jim Keaveny asked me to please tell you hi and he and...."

An hour later, Scout barked and he stood up on the deck. Scout is Carol's old, sweet, lovable black Lab that has the gigantic paws. And he and my Roy are famous, because our two, old Labs are in my Cowgirl Sisterhood novellas.

Anyway, Scout barked because he saw Tony driving up the driveway. So when Tony arrived, Bill came out on the deck to join us. And we had a fun visit. We talked about our awesome keyhole gardens, how much we love the hilarious Duck Dynasty show and then we changed the topic to fire ants and then to bees.

Tony and I took turns telling Bill (Carol already knew the hilarious story) about Tony's and Chet O'Keefe's over night trip to Port Aransas, many years ago, when they went down there to spend the night with Rick, at the lighthouse, on the island.

They went down there so they could bring back Rick's bees and bee equipment, because Rick was moving to Nicaragua. Rick was giving away all of this to Tony, so Tone could take over Rick's hobby and become a beekeeper too. And to say the least, "We were all laughing so hard my back began to ache, so we came home.

And speaking of Rick, our mutual friend Ronnie Namour, the music scene writer for the Island Moon, who came up with Rick, last Friday, to visit us, sent me the article that he wrote for the  Island Moon newspaper's May 24th Edition.

I loved reading his humorous story about his and Rick's Hill Country adventure and Ronnie even mentioned Tony and me and Kinky's CD release party, in his fun to read article. Here's the article, but I think that you will have to enlarge it to be able to easily read it:

Well today has been great. I slept like a log last night and I didn't crawl out of bed until 9:00 this morning, because the dream I was dreaming involved Christmas trees. And once again, the first thing that I did when I got out of bed was to hug our dogs and Tony, because I was so glad to be back home. Then I drank two cups of delicious Donut Shop Coffee.

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

P.S. I just got off the phone with Carol. Tomorrow night our dear friend Stephen K. Morris will be playing, at the Medina Highpoint Resort. Carol & Bill and Tony and I are going. So y'all come on out, too.

Road Trip!

Today has been great, but don't be shocked that I am in Terlingua tonight as I write this post. It was sort of spur-of-the-moment decision, but I needed to come out here to do a little more research for my third novella. And I think the title is going to be: The Cowgirl Sisterhood: Ghost Riders, Part III. But it is not written in stone, so that may change.

Anyway, I left Medina around 8:00 this morning and got to the Terlingua Lodge around 3:30. I would have gotten here around 3:00, but I got behind a slow moving truck between Alpine and the Terlingua Ranch Road and that is why it took me thirty minutes longer than it should have.

You may be asking yourself, "Well, why didn't she pass the truck?" And if you knew me well enough the answer is—I never pass anything when I'm driving.

I love the Cabin 32 that I'm staying in tonight and I have a beautiful view of the mountains from my front porch and both big windows.

Late this afternoon our dear musician friend, Jim Keaveny, came out to the Lodge to check on me and he wanted to treat me to dinner, but I told him no, because I wasn't hungry. But I did go down to the Bad Rabbit Cafe, for him to eat dinner there and we had a really fun visit. 

The only bad thing about this trip is I do not have any cell phone reception, so before I wrote this post I wrote Tony an e-mail and then sent Carol a note asking her to please call Tony to tell him to check his e-mail. "So thank you Carol!"

This evening I plan to hunker down, in Cabin 32, and write more of my third novella. Then I plan to go to bed early, because I plan to leave early, in the morning and drive back home. And I'm hoping to be back home around 2:00, unless of course, I get behind another slow moving vehicle. And other than me missing Tony and our dogs—life is good.

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

Rick's Gone Again! or Island Moon!

Yesterday Rick and his good friend Ronnie Narmour arrived, right after Hazel went back, into the closet, to rest.

Tony and I already knew Ronnie, but not very well. Because Rick and Ronnie came out to the rescue ranch, several years ago, for a short visit, before taking off for Leakey, to spend the weekend with friends.

By the way, if you're not from Texas, for some reason the small, beautiful, Hill Country town of Leakey is pronounced—Lake-y. Not leaky like in a leaking faucet.

And yes, I agree it is a little weird, but that's how we say things in Texas. In fact, I could write an entire post about how we Texans talk. But not tonight.

Anyway, we also met Ronnie a few times when we went, to Port Aransas, to visit Rick aka "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper." We liked Ronnie, but basically all we knew about him was he wrote a weekly column, about the music scene, for the local Island Moon newspaper. And here is a copy of Ronnie's article that he wrote in last week's Island Moon.

After Rick and Ronnie unloaded their stuff, in the Airstream, we got to visiting, on the front porch. And in no time flat, we discovered that music was our common thread amongst us and that we knew many of the same musician friends.

So last night, when my entertaining skills were dipping, I told them about Mike Judge Presents Tales From the Tour Bus. "It is this super cool, music series where famous musicians and their friends are interviewed and it is animated....I love it and have never seen anything like it."

"My dear friend Carol told me about it several weeks ago and she had strongly suggested that we watch it. So last week, I finally watched the thirty-minute, Billy Joe Shaver episode. And it blew me out of the saddle. In fact, I asked Tony to watch just a few minutes of it and he ended up watching the entire episode, too."

"In the Billy Joe Shaver episode which is totally awesome, Kinky, Bobby Bare, Connie Nelson, Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), to name just a few of the famous people interviewed. And that famous lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, is in it too. Where he talks about Billy's famous trial, in Waco...."

"Kinky is great in it, too. He did his interview, in his office, and talks about Billy Joe adopting Mama from us and Billy's trial...."

Well I had said enough to peak their interest, so we sat down and watched the entire Billy Joe Shaver episode. And Rick and Ronnie totally loved it like I knew they would.

My entertaining skills were now on a roll, so to speak, because they were hooked. So we then watched the two episodes about Waylon Jennings and then the two episodes about Tammy Wynette and George Jones.

By now all of us were speechless after watching these episodes. So it was a good time for me to say, "Good night, y'all. See you in the morning."

After Ronnie and Rick marched off to the Airstream, Tony went to bed and I stayed up and watched a couple of episodes of Heartland, on Netflix.

This morning I cooked Blueberry Belgian Waffles for everyone and Rick ate two of them.

Tony adios-ed us, around 9:15, and he took off to go with friends to another Medina baseball game, in San Antone, so I told them about,

"The Wrecking Crew is an amazing documentary, on Netflix, about these hand-picked, incredibly talented, unknown musicians, who played on just about every hit record during the 50's and 60's. And some of them were Leon Russell and Glen Campbell. So Ronnie, Rick and I ended up watching that, before they took off for Austin, around 11:00.

And the rest of my day has been great, except for when Tony got back home, a little while go, and told me that Medina had lost the baseball game.

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

Rick's Here Again!

This past week has been fun and we've also been busy working outside, but it has been nothing to write home about. So I didn't blog, but I wrote and worked on my new, 3rd novella. So life is good.

Yesterday, late afternoon our good friend Rick called to ask if we wanted company for the weekend and we said, "Sure," but we said it right after one another.

So as I finish writing this for tonight, Rick should be arriving within the next ten minutes and Hazel still needs to suck up some dog hair.

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

Henry Standing Bear!

Today has been great and I want to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day.

This morning Tony went outside to work on his keyhole gardens, so knowing that I need to get more exercise, I went outside and pushed the lawn mower around for about an hour. Then I came inside and I was soaking wet, because of the humidity and heat.

After cooling off and drinking a ton of water, I cooked us lunch— spinach frittatas with mushrooms, onion and garlic. And not to brag, but to brag—it was totally delicious and very healthy for us.

Late this afternoon, I decided to make myself finish sewing the pillow covers and all three of them turned out nice.

After I added the pillows to the growing pillow collection, in the Airstream's bedroom, I came back to The Cabin, and happily put away my sewing machine, fabrics and sewing stuff, because—I've lost that sewing feeling. And it's gone, gone, gone. Whoaaaa. Ohooo..Oh."

Since my post last night was sooooooo—long, tonight's is going to be a short post. So I am almost finished writing it.

But before I go out, on the porch, to enjoy a Happy Hour with Tony, I must show you what Henry Standing Bear did today and I promise that I did not coax him to do this. And I do know why he did this. 

Sweet Henry and the rest of our dogs were inside this afternoon and it was getting hot inside, because we still do not have The Cabin, set up with window air conditioners. So to put it bluntly, none of us were thrilled when the inside temperature got up to 89 degrees.

Anyway, because it was so hot inside and outside, Tony and I had the ceiling fans going and we turned on our floor fans, too and then we positioned them throughout The Cabin, to help move the hot air out of the house. Or at least create a breeze.

Long story short—I caught Henry Standing Bear, standing on top of my carved, wooden bear ottoman, to catch the breeze and cool himself, from the floor fan  that was parked near our opened front door. And this is just one more reason why Henry is so cool.

And that is about it for tonight, because I am fixin' to run over to Carol's ranch.

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

X Marks The Spot! Or BRS!

The last couple of days I've been productive. Dividing my time between mowing, napping, writing and more mowing.

I mow in the mornings until it gets too hot for me and then I mow in the evening once the sun is hiding behind our tall tree line. So I guess you could say it's a shady deal.

After cooking us lunch and cleaning up the kitchen, I go lay down, on the bed, with all of our six dogs to take a nap. Which they seem to enjoy as much as I do.

I am not complaining about this, but there is one problem with this napping scenario and it never seems to fail. Because right when I am just about to fall asleep, wedged between Henry's huge backside and Little Debbie's & Big Al(ice)'s tiny backsides—the next scene, in my third novella plays out in my head.

I mean I can clearly see the setting, the characters, see what they are doing and also hear what they're saying. And it has always been this way for me, ever since the University of Texas published my first book The Road To Utopia: How Kinky, Tony & I Saved More Animals Than Noah, in 2006.

I've always thought that this was weird, but I've never thought much about it much until the other day when I read this on the Internet:

In a 1957 Paris Review interview with Pati Hill, Capote explained  “I am a completely horizontal author. I can’t think unless I’m lying down, either in bed or stretched on a couch and with a cigarette and coffee handy. I’ve got to be puffing and sipping. As the afternoon wears on, I shift from coffee to mint tea to sherry to martinis. No, I don’t use a typewriter....”

First off, it it such a relief to me to finally be able to define my writing technique when I'm asked. Because I never exactly knew how to describe my "style" of writing, in as few words, to fit it on a bumper-sticker.

Anyway, I am so glad to finally be able to simply say, "I am a completely horizontal author," but that is where the comparison between me and Truman Capote stops. And my reasoning for this is Capote was a remarkably great writer. My uncle John Howard Griffin was a great writer too, when he wrote the famous Classic Black Like Me. Which has sold many millions of books worldwide and it is still selling and is still required reading at many prominent universities.

So, "I am a completely horizontal author" fits me even though I am trying to take an enjoyable nap with my dogs when these scenes appear inside my head and I have to jump up, go to my computer and write them down—instead of lounging around drinking and smoking. Enough said.

Late last night the scariest thing happened to me while I was watching an episode of Heartland, on Netflix. In Season 10, Amy was just about to have her baby, when I glanced down, at Henry Standing Bear sleeping.

Henry was cutting zzz's, squeezed between the coffee table and end table, with "scenes" probably going on inside his noggin, too.  X marks the spot where Henry's head was (facing the chair). My chair is to the left where his butt was almost touching the leg of my chair. Here's the layout:

Anyway, when I looked down there was this gigantic spider spread out—ready to pounce on Henry's paw. X marks the spot where this creature was located.

Tony was already asleep, so I knew that I shouldn't scream, so I got up, paused Heartland, grabbed my camera and then tried to calmly say, "Henry! Let's go outside."

It worked, because Henry immediately jumped up and went to the front door, along with all of the rest of our dogs. So I let them go outside.

Then with camera in hand and feeling guilty that I had paused Amy having a horrible labor pain, I bent down and took this picture of the spider from he@#!

This spider didn't move and it looked dead, so I stood back and took a few, far away, zoomed-in pictures, but sadly none of those turned out, because I must have been shaking.

Anyway, since the spider had still not moved, I decided not to stomp it, because I wanted to show it to Tony in the morning. 

And that was a really bad plan, because after I had downloaded this picture of the spider I went Online to try to find out what kind of spider it was that had almost killed Henry and the rest of us, except for Tony, who was snoring, in the bedroom.  

As frightened as I was, I quickly found a picture of a Brown Recluse Spider. "Omg," I whispered to myself, because this was definitely a Brown Recluse. Then I turned around, when I got up from my desk chair and the BRS was gone!

Seriously, it had not moved for at least fifteen minutes and it had looked dead. Now I was in a full-blown panic mode, so I got Hazel, out of the closet, emptied her bag less tank and then let her do her thing.  

I emptied her tank, so in the morning Tony and I could go through all of the dog hair and properly dispose of the BRS wannabe murderer.

By now it was almost 2 AM, and I hated myself for leaving Amy in labor-limbo, for so long, but I turned off the TV and brought the dogs back inside, so we could go to bed. But before we went to bed I wrote Tony a short note telling him about the BRS nearly killing us and I signed it, "Love, Nancy."

Needless to say, I did not sleep well last night, because I was fearing that the BRS's significant other would come and take revenge on me or take a picture of me sleeping.

So this morning, after only a few hours of sleep, I drank a cup of coffee while Tony and I went through Hazel's findings—no BRS was to be found.

So then I showed Tony the picture of this Brown Recluse Spider, on my computer, and he said, "Nance, I'm sorry, but that is not a Brown Recluse Spider...." Here is the picture I took of it and sadly, I am still not convinced that Tony is right. And I can't help but wonder where it is hiding, for its next attack.

As I finish writing this, please note that I wrote this following another one of my late afternoon, sleepless naps with our dogs, because I am a horizontal author. And just so you'll know—Amy & Ty had a little boy. Not really it's a girl!

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

Ghosts!

Today has been great. Early this afternoon Tony and I went to, Kerrville, to run a few errands.

Our first stop was at Gibson's, so we could buy Tony some new Wranglers. We bought two pair and right now they are, in our washing machine and being washed, in Carol's big barn.

But the most important stop we made, as far as I am concerned, was at Home Town Crafts, because I needed to buy more material and a few more pillow forms, to add to the Airstream's beds.

I already knew what colors I was looking for and I knew it would not take me long to shop, because I brought my color samples with me, but Tony did not believe me about the amount of time it would involve. So he dropped me off, at the craft store's front door, and then he drove across the parking lot, to Wild Birds Unlimited.

Well, I am proud to say that it only took me twenty minutes to pick the fabrics and for Tony to say hi to our good friends Kevin & Linda Pillow, the owners and Tricia the manager, before he purchased some super birdseed.

And when I left the craft store, carrying the two, sacks containing fabric and three pillow forms, I started walking, across the parking lot, to meet Tony, at Wild Birds Unlimited, and to say hi to our friends.

But that didn't happen, because as I was walking towards, Wild Birds Unlimited, I saw Tricia outside, helping Tony load piles of cardboard, into the back of Roy. Because Tony needed more cardboard for his new copy cat keyhole garden—like the ones Carol made.

And after a few more necessary stops, Roy brought us back home to Big Foot Ranch.

I was feeling nappy, but before I took another sleepless nap with all six of our dogs, I took this picture of the new fabric I had purchased, with my color swatch, placed in front of the fabrics.

But the most exciting news I have to tell is, thanks to my sleepless nap, is—I came up with the plot for my next Cowgirl Sisterhood novella and I am so excited about it! Because I have had writer's block on the novella I have been working on part-time, for the past few years.

Anyway, I am totally scrapping that novella and starting fresh with this one. And the only thing I can tell you is that it involves ghosts. 

So that is about it for tonight, because I plan to start writing the novella, outlining it, making up the quirky characters, which many of y'all already know or have read about them in my blog.

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

Pillow Talk!

Today has been great. This morning I pulled out my sewing machine and set it up on top of the kitchen island. Then I gathered the fabric for my pillows.

Then I spent a few hours sewing covers for the five throw pillows. Then I stopped sewing, because I was out of fabric, pillow forms and I was tired.

Late this afternoon, Tony hauled the bed bumpers and I carried the five pillows, out to the Airstream. And before Tone screwed the newly covered bumpers, to the bare walls, in the bedroom, I took this picture.

Then T. helped me make up the twin beds again, and this time we tucked-in the Mexican blankets, so the bed skirt could be seen. And while we were doing that—Carol called and left me a message on Carlton. "Hey Nancy, I just got back home. I read your blog last night and I love the fabrics for the pillows. I cannot wait for the big reveal. Call me."

Having just finished making up the beds, we came back to The Cabin, so I called Carol back. "....Okay! I am leaving right now," Carol said.

Two minutes later, I was sitting, in the Airstream, with the air conditioner on, admiring the bedroom and hoping that Carol would like it too. Then the doorbell chimed. And yes, our super-cool, 1977 vintage Airstream Excella, has a doorbell and it still works.

"Hi Nancy!" Carol said. "You've got company..." Then she and Tony came inside the Airstream. "Can I see it?" I nodded yes, she turned around and this is what Carol saw. Please note that the other side looks exactly like this side.

"Nancy, I love it! It looks fantastic. And I love the pleated bed skirt with the other salmon-colored fabric and the..."

After the pillow talk, I said, "Thanks Carol," I'm worn out from doing all of that sewing. I still need to make a few more throw pillows, new curtains and reupholster the two chairs, in the dining room, but I think I am going to take a few days off, before I tackle that..."

Twenty minutes later, after visiting with Carol, we started talking about the curtains. "The curtains are in these small tracks and they are going to be a lot of work, because Tony will have to remove the curtain tracks and slide the old curtains out of the tracks for me." 

"I am not looking forward to sewing the curtains and then having to sew them, about every two inches to these little, tiny, slide-in clips. I really do want to replace these old curtains, but doing so is going to be so much work. And I know that it will drive me crazy...."

Five minutes later, Carol and I were, over at her ranch, getting out of our trucks, because Carol had suggested I do the curtains like she had done, in her ranch house, because it would be so much easier for me to make and they would look great. 

Two minutes later, after Carol showed me her curtain hangers—I was completely sold on her idea. Her curtains were so beautiful and doing the Airstream curtains like she had done would save me so many hours of work. Talk about relieved.

Before I adios-ed Carol, we went to look at her keyhole garden area and I was blown away when I saw her three, newly added, mini-keyhole gardens filled with vegetables.

Carol now has four keyhole gardens and Tony only has two. "Carol, this is brilliant what you've done and your vegetables are already thriving. Tony has got to see this....But beware. I know Tony will copy your mini-garden idea and take credit for it—just like I steal your delicious recipes and call them mine...." 

So once again, Life is Good, at Big Foot Ranch. And that's about it for tonight.

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

Come Together!

Today has been great. And I've just finished making the bed bumpers or whatever you're supposed to call those things.

Late this morning I recruited Tony to help me work, inside the Airstream, because I needed his help putting the bed skirts on, putting new mattress covers, mattress pads, sheets, pillowcases, etc. on the beds. This is what it looked like before we got started. And please note the old, faded bed bumpers.

After we put the the bed skirts on and had put the mattress covers and mattress pads on the beds I took this picture.

Originally, I had planned to make the bed skirts using just the gray fabric, but due to me challenged in measuring I had to go to Plan B and use some of the throw pillows fabric.

After putting all of the sheets on Tony helped me put the beautiful, Mexican blankets on the bed. To serve as bedspreads and blankets.

After I took that picture, I realized that I needed to cover the old bed bumpers with some new fabric, so we went, to Kerrville. The Home Town Crafts store to be exact. And thank goodness it only took me twenty minutes to find the fabrics I needed, because Tony was getting antsy.

When we got back home I got busy splicing the two fabrics and sewing them together, while Tone was, out in the Airstream, removing the cloth side panels or better said, "Bed bumpers," so I could put the new covers on them.

When I had finished sewing, Tony brought the panels/bumpers inside, and he helped me install the new covers. We had to use a glue gun and stapler to make it all come together. And yes, we ran out of staples and my pink, glue gun burned my pinkie finger. 

But I am not complaining, because I am thrilled how they turned out. Even though we need to stretch a little bit more of the fabric, before Tony installs them tomorrow morning. And please note that I had to cut the burnt orange fabric in halves and then sew the southwest design panel, in the middle, to make it longer, because I am measuring challenged or I need to get new glasses.

I cannot wait until tomorrow morning after Tony installs the bumpers, because I am hoping that the burnt orange will bring out the woven burnt orange threads, in the Mexican blankets. 

And that is about it for tonight, because I need to go clean up my mess, in the kitchen, before I roast some okra. Because tonight I plan to snack on the okra while I watch another movie.

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

P.S. "Carol, when you called earlier this evening, I had just burned my pinkie finger and I was in no mood to visit, because it hurt. So I'll call you tomorrow after we install the bumpers and I sew new pillow covers for the throw pillows. I cannot wait for you to see what we've done. Even though I still need to sew bedroom curtains." 

Four O'Clock!

This past week we've been pretty busy working on several projects, etc. and we've a lot of fun. So now I am going to catch y'all up with what's been going on at: Big Foot Ranch, Carol's ranch and Kinky's ranch.

Wednesday, after Tony and I discussed turning our Airstream into an Airbnb, we went to Kerrville, and I purchased some Mexican blankets and fabric, at Home Town Crafts, so I could redecorate the Land Yacht's bedroom.

Here are pictures of the bedroom, with the two twin beds, before we stripped the linens off of the beds.

Here is a picture of the fabric and Mexican blankets that I purchased, at the craft store, after spending more than an hour shopping for the perfect fabrics. And please note: Tony went to the park and took pictures, for over an hour, while I was eyeing fabrics.

I love the colors in the beautiful Mexican blankets, on top of the stool, and I plan to use these other fabrics to sew throw pillows, curtains and bed skirts. And in the picture below I am using these two fabrics to make the bed skirts. 

During the Fall and Winter months I will replace the lighter-weight, Mexican blankets and use my beautiful, Pendleton blankets. And yes, I will make new bed skirts to match those wool blankets and I will also sew new throw pillows and curtains to compliment the blankets.

Late Wednesday afternoon Tony and I went over to Carol's, because she could not wait to show us her new keyhole garden. To say the least, we were very impressed with her beautiful keyhole garden. And she and her garden inspired us, actually Tony, because he' the gardener in our family, to build another keyhole garden and plant okra and more squash.

Thursday was a busy day even though we actually didn't do much. Anyway, early that evening Carol called me, "Nancy, I just checked the radar. They're predicting heavy thunderstorms later tonight with possible hail. I just put my truck inside the barn and I think y'all should bring Roy over here and put him inside the barn."

"Carol, I think we should put Roy, in your barn too, but Tony just left, in Roy, with his brother Sam to go to the Medina baseball game, in Kerrville. They are playing Menard....Okay, as soon as they get back here, Tony and I will come over and put Roy, in your barn...." 

And I am so glad that we did, because about fifteen minutes before midnight—Big Al(ice) jumped into my lap and she started trembling. and right after I put her thunder jacket on her and gave her a happy pill and had unplugged everything, the first of several loud, heavy thunderstorms began pouring much needed rain. 

Friday morning it was still storming and because we'd gotten over four and a half inches of rain—we were land—locked, which was good, because I didn't have any clean clothes to wear.

So I spent most of the day lounging around in a sweat suit, until it cleared off and the water went down, so we could get out. And for lunch, I used my Instant Pot and cooked a pot of beans and cornbread.

Saturday night, I rented the new movie, Peter Rabbit, that Sandy & Jon had highly recommend I watch. And the dogs and I loved watching it.

So late Sunday afternoon, Tony and I went over to Carol's ranch and after I had told her all about loving the movie, Peter Rabbit, she rented it and she invited us to stay and watch it with her. And we did.

Carol loved the movie as much as I did and let's just say Tony dosed off a few times, until Carol roasted some fresh okra, in olive oil with a little salt. And then all of us snacked, on the delicious okra, as we continued to watch the movie.

Today has been great and the only exciting thing we did was go to Kerrville, so I could buy some fresh okra, at the big H-E-B, and Tony could buy some okra plants, at The Plant Haus, because we are now hooked on eating this delicious, healthy snack.

Early this evening I went over to Kinky's for a fun visit with him, Sarah, Phil, Floyd and The Friedmans, out on the porch. And before I left Kinky gave me some Four O'Clocks clippings, so I (Tony) could plant them over here for us to enjoy. 

Tone planted them for me, along the outside of our front yard fence and I cannot wait for them to start growing and flowering. 

After Tony transplanted my Four O'Clocks he then went to his keyhole garden and planted the okra and squash plants. So life is good.

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

Airbnb!

Saturday afternoon, Tony and I had a wonderful time, at Steve Pietzsch's reception, at the Kerr Arts & Cultural Center.

At 1:30, Steve Pietzsch's Illustrations From The Last Century art show was already a packed house when we arrived, at Wolfmueller's Books. And before we went inside, the bookstore, to visit with Sandy & Jon, I stopped and took a picture of this poster, advertising Steve's event, taped inside their store front window.

We had a fun, but short visit with Jon & Sandy, before going, across the street, to Steve's art reception. 

While we were visiting with our good friends we told them that we had decided to do an Airbnb using our vintage, 1977 Airstream Excella and they really liked our idea. In fact, they liked our idea so much, before we left their store, Sandy gave us these two, fabulous Airstream coffee table books to help give me ideas on how I want to decorate it. "Thank you, Sandy! These books are awesome!"

At 2:00 Sandy, Tony and I adios-ed Jon and went to Steve's artist reception. When we walked inside my dear friend, Irene Van Winkle, was taking pictures of Steve posing with family members for an article she was going to write about Steve, for the very popular West Kerr Current.

After Irene shot Steve and his family, we had fun visits with her, Steve, Steve's family, Bethany, Donna S., etc. while we admired Steve's beautiful art.

Right before Tony and I left the reception our good friends Diane and her husband Jim came up to visit with us. 

Ever since 2003, Jim was one of our very first dog-walking volunteers and we were thrilled to see him and Diane. Even though we ate lunch with them and the rest of our devoted, dog-walking volunteers, the day before, at Fuddruckers. It was sort of like a reunion luncheon for all of us.

Anyway, during our fun visit with this couple, Diane told me that she thought that she had overheard me talking, at lunch, about doing a radio show, in the near future and she was excited about it and wanted to know more about it.

Well let's just say I had one of those senior moments, because I didn't remember saying anything about doing a radio show. "Diane, I don't recall talking about doing a radio show," I apologized. And it was an awkward moment for both of us. 

Then I tapped Tony on his shoulder, "Tony, do you remember me talking about doing a radio show, yesterday at lunch? Diane says she thought I did, but I can't remember." Tony shook his head sideways, because he had food in his mouth.

Tony and I left Steve's reception soon after we adios-ed Diane & Jim, because we needed to get back to Big Foot Ranch, because Bethany was going to come see us and Steve, his brother Mike and Mike's son Daniel had told us they might also drop by, after the reception. And the real reason why we left so quickly, was so we could straighten up The Cabin, so it wouldn't look like we lived there.

Right after I had cleaned the toilet Bethany arrived. When I came outside to join her and Tony, on the front porch, let's just say that I looked more than a little flushed.

Sadly, Bethany only stayed for about an hour and the three of us talked non-stop, except for when we were laughing, as we caught up with each others news.

Ten minutes after sweet Bethany left Big Foot Ranch—Steve, Mike and Daniel arrived. And this time Steve looked a little bit flushed. But not because he had just scrubbed rust stains out of a toilet bowl. 

It was because the last few weeks he had worked so hard getting everything ready for the reception. And, at his art reception, he had spent over three hours being interviewed by several reporters, meeting and greeting people and posing with people who loved his art as much as we do.  

During our fun visit with Steve and his family, we enjoyed a Happy Hour while we sat, out on the front porch—laughing mostly. And like Bethany. I was sad to see them leave too, because not one of them had asked us to use our restroom.

That night I didn't sleep well, because I kept trying to remember if I had said anything about doing a radio show and it drove me crazy the next day too. 

Then late Sunday afternoon, when I was taking a sleepless nap with Belle, Henry Standing Bear, Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) I finally did remember joking about doing a live radio show or pod cast, at our reunion party. 

I had joked about doing a live radio show or podcast, out of the Airstream, sort of like that famous, Art Bell, the original AM broadcaster, who broad casted his popular, paranormal-themed program, Coast to Coast, from inside his old trailer, somewhere from a remote desert location. (FYI: I listened to it and loved it.)

So I immediately squirmed off of the bed, between Henry's big butt, Belle's fat head and the two Chi's and wrote Jim an e-mail. Apologizing to Diane for me forgetting. And the funny thing about that is Jim shot back this response:

"OK, I will tell her. But we both bet you could be a great radio host. Jim"

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