It is M.I.R. Time, Again! : (

Today has been good even though Belle is still in the hospital. And fingers crossed, she is going to pull out of this and come back home sooner than later.

Tony and I are fixin' to go have dinner with Kinky, Marcie, Max, Sandy & Jon, Donna and Sage & Dylan, at the Acapulco restaurant. It was sweet Marcie's idea to bring "the gang" back together and she invited all of us to be her guests. It will be fun.

Before we leave, I want to share what my dear friend Mari sent to me today, concerning M.I.R. (Mercury in retrograde.) And her suggestion was to go hide. And I am giving it serious thought.
"Thank you, Mari! I think?"

What's a Tiger's Eye stone and where do I get one?

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

Lucky Stars!

The last few days have been great, but early yesterday evening we had to take Belle, to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, because she just didn't feel good. She was vomiting and drinking water excessively and lethargic.

Belle, is under the best of care by our dear friend, Dr. Craig Janssen, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and today, after talking with Craig several times, we've decided that she needs to stay another day at Craig's animal hospital.

So, I would like to ask all of you to please take a moment and say a little prayer for Belle Starr-Simons speedy recovery. Here are a couple of pictures of Belle in case it helps you to see her while wishing her well.

I took this puppy picture of Belle, over seven years ago.

This was taken over a year ago, while we still lived, at the rescue ranch.

This Belle, taken recently, after we moved to our new place. 

I thank you in advance for your prayers and well wishes for Belle. And to end todays post on a positive note, I want to share this beautiful, heartwarming, less than one minute, video with you about the love of animals. I promise that you will love it and that you will want to share it with friends and family. 

My dear friend Les, sent this to me yesterday and I wish that I could give credit due to whomever put this lovely video together, but all I have is a file name and it is all numbers. So enjoy watching this awesome video and remember to thank God and your lucky stars, that the love of animals grace our lives everyday in so many ways.

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

Chad Prather!

The last couple of days have been great and a lot of fun. Last night Tony and I went over to Carol's ranch to visit with her, her sweet sister Carla and Carla's beautiful daughter Christina.

Omg, we had a blast. We talked about us growing up in Texas and all of the crazy things that happened to us.

Carol and Carla shared some of the cutest letters they had written to their parents, while spending their summers at Camp Arrowhead, in Hunt, Texas. The cards they had written were hilarious asking their mom to please send candy, etc. And the they showed us cute pictures from grade school and church and their report cards.

And before we adios-ed our dear friends, I told my story about my first day in high school. Anyway, the Bottom    Line was how much we love Texas and that we wouldn't trade growing up anywhere else.

This morning before going to work, at The Old Timer's Rusty Dawg, in Medina, I checked my e-mail. My dear friend Mari sent me this great I LOVE TEXAS short video by Chad Prather, so I want to share it with y'all, because this cowboy gets my vote for more great reasons to live in Texas and why we are so proud to be Texans.

This afternoon, after we get back home from work, I am planning on spending the rest of my day and evening writing or working on my Dremel project or painting the cover for my third novella. And it doesn't matter which one of these things I will choose to do, because they all have Texas themes, because I LOVE TEXAS, TOO.

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

Henry Sitting Bear?!

Today has been fun. Tony and I went to Kerrville this morning to run a few errands and our last stop was at Home Town Crafts, so I could pick up a couple of bottles of acrylic paint for my newest project.

When we got back home, I spent several hours re-acquainting myself with my Dremel, because I needed a refresher course, before I start carving away. And that is all I plan to say about my wood-working project—paint and a Dremel.

This evening, when I came back inside The Cabin, after taking our clothes off of the clothes line, sweet Henry Standing Bear was sitting next to my bear ottoman, in the living room. So I grabbed my camera and starting taking pictures Henry Standing Bear sitting beside the carved bear that I bought, in Ruidoso, over ten years ago.

Henry is the biggest ham and he seemed to enjoy posing for me, while sweet Belle and Little Debbie watched his photo shoot. And that is about it for tonight.

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

The Motto!

Last night, I spent the evening writing and I had so much fun. Speaking of fun, today has been great.

Tony and I worked at the Old Timer's Rusty Dawg food truck, yesterday and today and I think that we are starting to get the hang of grilling tasty hot dogs. We had many customers both days and Tone and I are feeling much more relaxed, because we've worked out a routine that seems to be working out fine for us.

In the morning, when we first arrive, Tony starts up the grill, outside and cleans it, while I'm prepping the kitchen and getting everything ready inside.

Once "his" grill is hot and ready to go, Tony puts the hot dog sign out, near the highway, in front of the Old Timer, while I am prepping my iPod and picking out the tunes I want it play outside, on my awesome Bose Dock. Then at 11:00, Tony turns on the neon OPEN sign, we open the curtain and start selling hot dogs as fast as Tony and I can make them, with my favorite music playing in the picnic area, that has covered picnic tables for people to eat at.

I really love working in the food truck and like so often with me—it is another dream come true. And, Tony enjoys it a lot too, because he is the official "grill master." (Or at least he thinks he is.)

We work Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, from 11:00 - 2:00 and it is the perfect amount of hours for our part-time jobs. I think if we had to work anymore hours, it would feel more like jobs to us, instead of "getting away for a few hours."

And the only bad thing about us working today, at the Rusty Dawg, was I dropped two buns and one hot link, on the floor. But the good news is Henry, Belle, Roy and Beau were glad that I was clumsy.

Early this evening, our dear friend Jim aka The Mineral Man, sent me an e-mail about a dear friend of his, passing recently. The friend had a stroke, in the barn and his two Great Pyrenees, Sunshine and Sassie, were with him.

Because Jim was unable to attend the out of state service, this man's daughter sent Jim a photo montage that was handed out at the ceremony. And on the back, was the Great Pyrenees Motto and Jim wanted to share it with me, because he knows how much I love Great Pyrenees.

 When I read the Great Pyrenees Motto my eyes instantly filled with tears, because it made me think of Mama and how much I miss her, because not a day goes by that I don't think of her.

The Great Pyrenees Motto

“I roam, I bark, and I don’t always listen, but I’ll guard you and love you forever and always."

After reading this, which I believe says it all, I went on my blog and found the post that I wrote when Mama passed away, at home, on August 7, 2014. And here is the link to My Very Best Friend. 

Then I searched for pictures of Mama and these are a few of my favorite pictures of this magnificent dog.

So anyway, I just wanted to pay tribute to her tonight and all of the Great Pyrenees out there.

And yes, I know that in my last post, I wrote about my purpose was to write and to make people laugh. So, I'll wrap this up tonight by telling you that Mama wasn't perfect, but almost. Because when she ran off one night and finally came back, at 2:00 in the morning, I opened the door to let her in, before I realized that she's been skunked.

In fact, her coat was still damp, with that stinking skunk oil. And before I could shove her back outside, she raced through the trailer, ran back into the bedroom and jumped on the bed.

Tony woke up immediately, with Mama kicking him and rolling on her back of the bedspread, trying to dry off. And let's just say that Tony was not a happy camper and he was not thrilled to be in bed with my Mama. And I will not repeat the words he said.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing! (Great Pyrenees Rule!)

Gas Leaks!

My dear friends Sandy & Jon have just called me and we had a fun visit. During our conversation I was telling them about how busy I've been, "If I am not working with Tony at the Rusty Dawg food truck four days a week, sleeping, eating, cleaning The Cabin or taking a break I am writing on my 3rd novella....And I need to blog, but too much is going on and there has really been not that much exciting stuff to tell...."

Jon chuckled and told me/reminded me "It's been a really long time since you blogged...." And he was write, so once again I am apologizing for not blogging regularly.

When I am writing the time flies by so quickly, because my creative juices are hard at work and I am typing as fast as I can. And when I call it "a night" or "a day" and stop writing I am exhausted and just too tired to write one more word.

It is a good/bad dilemma to be in and I know that I must address it sooner than later. The good part about this dilemma I'm in is I am having a blast writing and the novella is flowing. But the bad side of my dilemma is I am hardly blogging and I do feel guilty about that.

So, this is a problem. But, it is a good problem, because I am finally writing up a storm and doing exactly what I was really meant to do—write and hopefully make people laugh at life, as I see it.

But so far, now typing on my sixth paragraph here, I have not written anything funny that would make you or me laugh. And after re-reading this last sentence I actually laughed out loud, because I haven't written anything funny.

So I am going to vow to write more often, at least once a week, until I finish my novella and then hopefully get back to blogging regularly.

And as I finish writing this, I just realized that I could tell you a funny part, in my 3rd novella, that I've already written and it should make you at least chuckle.

First off, please remember that my novellas are pure fiction and that I make this stuff up or the characters do it in my head for me.

Here's a scene that takes place, but a lot has happened before this and after this and I can't give it all away. So just consider this just a peek inside:

Anyway, at one point Carol and I are in her truck driving to Terlingua to help a friend out. Our dogs Scout and Roy (who truly do exist and are the love of our lives) have unbeknownst to us eaten the four bean and egg breakfast tacos that Carol had cooked for us, so we could save time and not stop to eat.

Halfway down the highway, Roy and Scout start blasting us with their horrible breakfast taco farts and Carol is constantly having to lower and raise the windows, so their obnoxious gas leaks can escape and she and I are totally miserable. And Carol is also worried about her truck loosing its Blue Book value, because of the smelly emissions our two great dogs are sharing with us....

Okay, that's enough and I am that sure you get the picture and I really hope it made you laugh. And here is one of my most favorite pictures of Roy that I took back in 2012.

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