Kinky Friedman, Cousin Nancy (Nancy Parker-Simons) and Tony Simons founded Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch in '98. Friends Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, Spike Gillespie, Richard Pryor, Jerry Jeff Walker, Molly Ivins, Dwight Yoakam support the ranch. We primarily rescued dogs. Nancy, author of "The Road to Utopia: How Kinky, Tony & I Saved More Animals Than Noah" by UT Press '06 utopiarescue.com. © cousin nancy blog 2024 by Cousin Nancy All rights reserved.
Friday, October 14, 2022
Episode 22: Full Of Gas! or One Amazing Man!
Tuesday, September 13, 2022
Episode 21: Garrison Mulemanship & Training! or Mules Rule!
Today has been great and I absolutely loved interviewing Paul & Alejandra Garrison.
In this fun episode I had a wonderful time interviewing this famous couple, Paul Garrison and his beautiful wife, Alejandra, who work as individuals or as a team training mules and their people. In other words, or their words to be exact:
"Mule school for the mule and his/her human. Offering training for the mule and the human in order for them to have a more harmonious relationship!"
Tony has known his good friend, Paul Garrison, since they were kids going to school, in Medina. Paul & Alejandra are professional mule/people trainers and they are known worldwide for their outstanding skills and knowledge of training mules and teaching "mule-people" everything that there is to know concerning mules.
Paul and Alejandra have and will travel worldwide doing clinics for groups of mule lovers and by appointment only people can bring this couple their mules for some one-on-one instructions and Alejandra & Paul will also travel to help individuals learn mulemanship and the art of training these magnificent animals.
For more information please check them out on Garrison Mulemanship & Training on FaceBook.
Or watch them on the Texas Country Reporter here.
To listen to this podcast please CLICK HERE or on The Cousin Nancy Show located near the top of the sidebar.
After doing the super fun and interesting podcast we went outside before they left and posed for Tony.
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Episode: 20: Heart Cycles!
I had a blast doing this podcast yesterday. In this super fun and interesting podcast I interviewed Tony's and my dear friends Jay Pennington and Gerry Olert of Olert & Pennington Productions about their latest award-winning feature film Heart Cycles. And please note Gerry is on the left and Jay is on the right side of the photo.
Jay and Gerry are known for making fabulous films on shoestring budgets that are high quality films that win many awards. In fact, last year I actually played a small part acting like a crazy, old woman who spends most of her time stacking rocks when not worrying about her outlaw son— in Vinegar To Honey soon to be released.
In this episode, between my corny jokes, my friends discuss their backgrounds, how they met and how they work so well together. And they also talked about the multi-talented actors/actresses and the awesome music score that has made Heart Cycles a must-see feature film.
To listen to this podcast please CLICK HERE or near the top of the sidebar on the left. And please always remember my favorite quote, "Life is short and so am I!"
Y'all take care and keep on laughing!
P.S. Please check out Jay and Gerry on Facebook, too! And please give Heart Cycles a review on Instagram and Twitter, etc.
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Episode 19: Remembering The Alamo With Fourth Coates! or Duck And Cover!
Today has been a blast, because I was lucky enough to interview my and Tony's dear friend Fourth Coates. And you can see why we love Fourth so much by listening to this entertaining interview with Fourth telling one funny story after another. And with me often cutting in to tell a few jokes.
Fourth kept Tony and I laughing with his hilarious stories about growing up on a ranch, in South Texas.
Saturday, July 30, 2022
Episode 18: The Phill Brush Interview!
I had such a great time doing my 18th podcast with Tony's and my dear friend, singer/songwriter Phill Brush. Tony and I have known Phill for over 20 years and he is one super talented man.
In this fun to listen to podcast Phill and I talked about many subjects including his valuable work volunteering, at Kinky Friedman's and his sister Marcie Friedman's Echo Hill Gold Star Camp. And I gave a Cousin Boomer update and Phill and I traded a few good jokes.
Phill sang us three beautiful songs that he has written and he talked about the Western Express Band's new CD that is being released next week. And to find out more about Phill Brush and the Western Express band please click here.
To listen to The Cousin Nancy Show's 18th podcast please click here or on the upper left sidebar.
Saturday, July 9, 2022
Episode 17: Boone Holding! or Whosboone.com!
Omg, last Tuesday was more than a blast for me, because I did a super-fun podcast with our dear friend, Boone Holding. And we recorded the podcast live at, The Last Resort (aka my kitchen) studio, located on Big Foot Ranch. And Tony & Henry Standing Bear (our awesome Lab/Great Pyrenees mix) were our attentive audience.
Saturday, June 25, 2022
You're Kidding Me!
Today has been great and I have an exciting announcement to make, "As of three days ago I am writing my first Kindle Vella and the title is You're Kidding Me. If you would like to check it out please just click on the title or you can click on it over on the sidebar. Or just Click Here.
I have only written two, 600 word episodes so far and I am having a blast writing it. It starts out with me being in New York City to sign some book contracts and I get mugged by a person shorter than me. And that is the only clue that I am giving you.
This is the artwork I chose for my Kindle Vella—You're Kidding Me and it is perfect, because there will be some ghosts and aliens in the ongoing, cliffhanger episodes.
"Well, today has totally sucked," I confessed to my best friend Judy, over the phone, as I poured myself a second glass of cheap, boxed red wine.
"Now Nance settle down," Judy said, cheerfully. "It's your first day in New York City and you've only been there since this morning. It can't be all that bad."
"Well, it is," I said, as I locked my hotel door and then fastened the flimsy, silver, linked chain that was "Added For Your Extra Security." Then I swallowed a sip of wine, took a deep breath and held it for over ten-seconds, and then as I exhaled I said, "Trust me. Today has been worse than bad and I cannot wait to check out of this hotel tomorrow and get back to Texas where I belong. I'm missing Tony and our animals..."
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Episode 16: Never Tell A Lie (To Jean Weber)! or Knit-Wit!
Today has been great. This afternoon I did a super fun podcast with Tony's and my dear friend Jean Weber.
We first met Jean on November 14, 2016, when Tony and I walked into Wolfmueller's Books looking for Sandy to help me finish tying off my unfinished, pink potholder. Needless to say Sandy and Jon were gone and Jon's sister, Jean, an accomplished knitter, was "holding down the fort for them" and she tied it off for me instead.
Long story short, to refresh your memory, you can read all about that famous potholder that I wrote about in my November 14th, 2016 blog post, "The One And Only!" Here.
Sunday, April 10, 2022
Horsepower!
Well, I have just finished doing my 15th podcast for The Cousin Nancy Show and I've titled it Horsepower! Here is a transcript of it(after my introduction) in case you would rather read it than listen to me. I do hope that you enjoy listening to it and I do hope that it makes you laugh at least once.
Please Note: Please click here to listen to it or click on The Cousin Nancy Show on the right side bar. A few weeks ago Cousin Boomer called me and he was all upset about something as usual. So I invited him to come over to drink a beer with Tony and me—in hopes of helping to calm him down.
First off before I go any further with this Boomer update you need to know that Boomer is Polish. I'm not Polish—but Boomer is.
Anyway, he is very sensitive about Polish jokes, because as a young kid Cousin Boomer was constantly being teased and kidded about being Polish.
So, when Boomer arrived at Big Foot Ranch he was so mad—he was spittin' nails, so to speak and he didn't want to talk about what had happened—until he had popped the top on his second, cold beer.
This is basically what Boomer told us.
"Today for lunch I ordered a Polish sausage from this guy," and he says, "Oh, you must be Polish."
"His assumption really pushed my button," Boomer says. "So, I decided to try to enlighten this know-it-all jerk, to let him know that his Polish comment was not appreciated."
"So I asked him, "You think because I ordered a Polish sausage—I'm Polish?"
"Seriously, what if somebody came in here and ordered an English muffin? Would you think he was British?"
"This guy just stood there, staring at me and he said nothing."
Then I tell him, "What if somebody came in here and ordered Swedish meatballs? Would you automatically think he was a Swede?"
"What if someone came in here and ordered Italian meatballs? Would that make him Italian?"
"I was really on a roll and was really letting him have it, and I said, "Seriously man, what if someone came in here and ordered Canadian Bacon? Would that make him a Canadian?"
"And by now I think this guy was finally getting my point."
So, I said, "So what if I ordered a Polish sausage. Why would that make you think that I am Polish.
And this guy cracks a little smile, and says, "Well first off—Welcome to Home Depot. Can I help you find something?"
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Now this is a true story about a man and his Corvette and his name was George.
In March of 1962, I was 10 years old and living in Fort Worth, Texas. And our next door neighbors were George & Wilma.
They had two girls that were about the same age as Ronnie and me, so my brother and I used to play with them and our other neighborhood friend, Billy.
We always had fun. We would climb trees together, walk fence rails, play touch football, baseball, have croquet tournaments, ride our bicycles around the neighborhood, etc. And we did this after school, on weekends and during the summer months.
Anyway, one day while we were outside playing, in George & Wilma's back yard, Wilma came running outside and hollered, over the fence, to Mom & Dad, who were sitting out on the patio, drinking a beer, "George just won a Corvette convertible! Can you believe it! George won a Vette!…"
Wilma was so excited over their good news it made all of us just as excited as she was, even though I had absolutely no clue as to what in the world she was talking about.
Anyway, after Wilma had calmed herself down a little bit, she explained to my parents that George, whom my parents thought was a wimpy nerd, had won this Corvette in a drawing held at the grand opening of the Seminary South Shopping Center—Fort Worth's first mall.
Wilma told my parents that George was on his way home, so she could drive him to the Seminary South Shopping Center, to pick up his fancy, new sports car. And in all of her excitement she invited Billy, Ronnie and me to go with them, in their family station wagon.
A few minutes later, as soon as George had pulled into their driveway, we quickly piled into the station wagon and took off. Their girls rode in the backseat and Billy, Ronnie and I had to ride in the back cargo area.
And I would say that this was probably about the time this Corvette story peaked for poor, old George.
Because George quickly found out that, "Yes," he had won a Corvette, but it was not actually a car—it was a miniature version of a red Corvette, convertible made for kids to drive and the weight limit for it was 100 pounds.
Needless to say George was more than disappointed, not because he weighed over 200 lbs. and would never be able to drive his own Vette.
He was upset, because he knew that he would still be driving their old, station wagon back to work everyday, instead of America's favorite sports car.
But us kids were all excited and thrilled, because none of us weighted over 100 pounds! And we could not wait to take George's Corvette out for a spin.
Anyway, after two nice men from a local radio station had helped George load his Corvette, into the back of their station wagon—we drove home in silence. And to say the least, "Billy, Ronnie and I were a little bit cramped, but we never complained."
When we arrived back at George & Wilma's house all of the nearby neighbors had gathered, in their front yard, to celebrate George's good fortune and to see his new, shiny red, Corvette convertible.
And the neighbors' faces had all turned into frowns, by the time they had helped George drag his sports car, out of the back of the family's station wagon.
A few days later on a Saturday, George filled up his Corvette's gas tank and let all of us take turns getting to drive it around the elementary school's parking lot.
So to end this story on a positive note I guess it would be safe for me to say that I have driven a Corvette, even though it really wasn't a car.
And I bet that a few years later, after George and his family had moved away from our neighborhood, he would brag to his new neighbors that he had once owned a shiny, new, 1962 red, Corvette convertible.
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Now it is time for a couple of Corvette jokes. So here goes:
I saw my boss pull up in a brand new Corvette. I said, "Wow that's a really nice car, boss!" He told me "thanks, and just remember you keep working hard every day and I'll be able to buy a second one!"
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Now here's a Corvette question. What do you call a Corvette following a Camaro at high speeds?
Chevy Chase.
Folks, thank y'all for listening and I do hope that my podcast made you laugh at least once. And please always remember my favorite quote: "Life is short and so am I!"
Take care and keep on laughing!
Thursday, March 3, 2022
Episode 14: The Cravotta's Close Encounters of the Famous Kind!
I had one heck of a good time interviewing Tony's and my dear artists friends: Liz & Jim Cravotta for The Cousin Nancy Show's 14th episode.
Tony and I love Jim & Liz and we have know these two, extremely talented artist for nearly thirty years. Over the years the Cravotta's have helped out our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch many times and they have even adopted a dog from us, Arkey Blue Heeler and they also helped us get many of our dogs adopted to great homes.
In this super fun interview I had with Liz & Jim they told one hilarious story after another about how they met, their first date, their world famous wedding, "The Great Hippie Wedding of 1975, in Montague County" and many other fascinating stories about their famous friend Burt Finger, Liz's close encounters with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and Jim's close encounter with the Kennedys, etc. And we also discussed Liz's art and her fabulous cards and Jim's whimsical Bare Bones Sculptures.
At the end of the interview I suggested that everyone check out this blog, so they could see some of the Cravotta's world famous art and sculptures, their popular Space #42 inventory, at the EAST END MARKET, in Kerrville, owned by Cindy & Rick Burton and managed by their always smiling, friendly store manager Aislinn Byrne. Located @ 1712 Water Street (Between G Street and H Street). And please note that besides the Cravotta's Space #42 the East End Market also has all kinds of great collections in their huge building and some of the best vibes, in Kerrville. Please click here to visit the East End Market website.
So let's begin shall we:
First, here are a couple of photos of Liz's awesome cards and a couple of pictures of Jim's whimsical Bare Bones Sculptures: