Out-Of-Town Friends!

This past week has flown by so fast, because we've been so busy working/remodeling the cabin, doing our rescue ranch chores, spending quality time with many of our dear friends, etc.

But I guess the real reason for time flying by so fast is because I am now 66 years old. Or better said, "This upcoming Halloween, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas day will be my 66th." And if you think about it that is pretty exhausting to say the least.

This past Saturday the East Kerr 4-H Club came out to volunteer for us and it was so much fun for Tony and me and our dogs. We love the East Kerr 4-H Club, because these super-cool, dedicated kids are doing great volunteer work.

While they were out here we walked dogs, down to the creek, with them and after that they helped Tony with a fencing project. And if we hadn't had their help with the fencing it would have taken Tony and me at least four hours to do what they accomplished in just one hour. So before I go any further I want to thank the members of the East Kerr 4-H Club. And here are a couple of pictures that I took when we went walking with them.

In an earlier post I mentioned that I was going to sew curtains for the cabin, after the East Kerr 4-H Club came out, but it turns out that I lied, because instead of playing "Susie Homemaker" (Where in the heck did that phrase come from?) and sewing the curtains—Tony and I went back over the the cabin and worked until dark-thirty. And we spent most of Sunday working, over at the cabin, too. 

The reason why we worked so hard was because we knew that our good friend Chet O'Keefe and his faithful dog, Willie, were coming to see us, on Tuesday and they were staying with us until Saturday, because Chet has a gig to play Saturday night, at the famous Starlight Theater, in Terlingua. 

And also coming to see us on Tuesday, were our great Fredericksburg friends, Stephen K. Morris & Eva Robinett and they were bringing our mutual Norwegian friends, Hans & Marita and Hans & Marita were bringing their daughter Servenen (spell check there) and her boyfriend Casper, who had flown over, from England, to meet their Texas friends. Anyway, Tony and I were determined to get a lot of work done, so we could show off our soon-to-be cozy cabin. So here is what Tony and I accomplished, before yesterday afternoon.

As planned Stephen & Eva, Marita & Hans and Servenen & Casper arrived, at 1:30 and they brought along Jimmy, their musician friend, who is a singer/songwriter, plays an awesome guitar and harmonica and who also used to perform with Travis Tritt. (I can't remember Jimmy's last name, even though he gave me one of his latest CDs for a birthday present. So tomorrow when we are over, at the property, I will pick it up and bring it home and let you know who this famous musician is.)  

And when they arrived they surprised me, because they were throwing me a surprise birthday party and even Tony did not know about it.

Well, as soon as they arrived Tony and I started giving them a tour of the cabin and by the time we made it out to the beautiful back porch, Tony says, "Chet's here!"

"He is?" I asked, because I figured Chet would be arriving around 3:00 or so.

"Yeah," Tony remarked. "There's Willie..." And that is when our super-fun party began and to my surprise, our friends brought all kinds of delicious food, refreshments and my birthday cake.

After the howdies, hugs and handshakes we gave everyone a full tour of the cabin and the property and everyone fell in love with our place and they were very happy for us, but not nearly as happy as Tony and I are about getting the property. 

After the tour we broke out our musical instruments and we had a great time jamming, for several hours, in our front yard. And I ended up taking a break and took these pictures of our jam session.

I could write so much more about fun party with our dear out-of-town (and country) friends, but I think that I've written about enough for now, because I am pooped and I still need to start gathering up a bunch of stuff, for me to sell, at Ellen's and June's gigantic garage sale, which will be happening this coming Saturday.

In fact, Tony and I are so tired tonight, we stayed home to rest, while Chet and Stephen are performing, at the Western Edge Cellars, in Fredericksburg.

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

Foreign Friends! or Faded Glory!

Yesterday and today have been great, because we've worked hard here and there, had fun with dear friends and Tony and I bought our entire 2017 Fall & Winter wardrobes.

Tuesday around noon, Tone and I met up with Hans & Marita, our super-nice, visiting Norwegian friends, for lunch, at Cracker Barrel. Except none of us ate lunch there, because we all ordered from their breakfast menu. And believe it or not Tony and I did not order the same breakfast like we usually do, but Marita & Hans and I did order the exact same thing.

Being with Hans & Marita is always a real treat for us, because they love the same kind of music that we do and they keep us laughing with hilarious tales about their life and interesting, music-related adventures. So as you can imagine we had a total blast seeing them.

After we ate lunch and adios-ed our fun, foreign friends Tony and I went to see our dear friend Stan, the owner of the Melody Corner, because I needed to buy a new Snark tuner for my guitars, banjos and mandolins. And a banjo strap for my latest banjo that I also purchased from Stan.

Anyway like always, Stan's music store was jammed-packed and buzzing with all kinds of musicians and wanna-be musicians. So we had to wait to visit with our friend and buy my stuff while he helped out his friends and customers.

And we didn't mind waiting at all, because it was fun eavesdropping and talking to some of the friendly musicians. Here's my banjo strap and new Snark Super-Tight tuner.

Our last stop was, at the Home Town Craft store, so I could purchase some fabric, because I am going to make the curtains for our new cabin. And this is what I bought, even though I don't plan to sew the curtains until Saturday afternoon, after the East Kerr 4-H Club, one of our all-time, favorite organizations, that is coming out to walk our dogs for us. It will be fun, because our dogs love it and so do we. Anyway, here is the white fabric and the hunter green plaid fabrics that soon will be our new cabin's curtains.

After I bought the fabrics we came home and then we went, over to the property, to do a little more work, on the big room, until dark-thirty.

Today was so much fun. First we went, over to the property, to stain some wood for the big room's walls and we worked for about an hour and got every stick of wood stained. And even though our fingers were stained with a reddish, cedar color and our clothes reeked from the fumes of the stain, we met up with our dear friends: Denise & Les and Jim aka The Mineral Man. But unfortunately, Jim's sweet wife, Kris, couldn't make our lunch date.

Jim was the first to arrive outside Po Po's and we we came in second place. And while we were visiting and standing outside the restaurant, Denise drove by and honked at us and waved before driving off to go park her car.

A few minutes later, Denise joined us, standing on the corner, with us and two minutes later her sweet husband, Les, appeared. And just before the five of us walked, into the restaurant, another person pulled up, to the signal light and honked the horn at us. And it turned out to be our good friend, Harley Belew, waving at us. So we all waved back at him before he took off as we entered Po Po's for a delicious and very fun lunch. 

And to our surprise our great and friendly waitress was also our good friend, Jennifer. The sweet woman and her husband that, several months ago, adopted Hollywood from us. Of course, our lunch was delicious and a lot of fun. 

We all resisted getting desserts, so Jennifer it topped-off by showing us some recent pictures of Hollywood playing with her new best Weimaraner puppy friend. "The two are best friends," Jennifer said. "They play constantly and wear each other out..." 

Yes, I know this is turning into a very long post, but please hold on, because I am almost finished writing this.

And to put it on a bumper-sticker for times sake: After our enjoyable lunch with our friends Tony and I went to Walmart, so I could buy a couple of stools and we got them and also bought our entire 2017 Fall & Winter wardrobe collection. 

As you must know by now, neither Tony or I are big on fashion and we like to keep it simple and cheap and that's exactly what we did. Walmart had their Faded Glory long-sleeve, buttoned-down, plaid, flannel shirts on sale for $8.00 and we love those shirts. So we each bought five shirts.

I bought three flannel shirts that were just alike and two in different colors and after Tony saw my selections, he made sure to buy five different flannel shirts that did not match any of mine, because he hates it when we accidentally dress alike. 

We are thrilled about finding our favorite shirts on sale and to give you a glimpse of our upcoming Fall & Winter wardrobes, I stacked up his and my new shirts, on top of the stove and I took this picture of them. And please note that my five, pretty, flannel shirts are stacked, on the front and back left burners. And finally that is about it for tonight.

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

Thank You, East Kerr 4-H Club! Y'all Rule!

The last few days have been great and so much fun. Friday, with the exception of two, all of our wonderful friends/volunteers showed up to walk our dogs for us.

Kris & Jim brought along, Kate, their beautiful daughter, who was down here visiting them, from Portland. And Kay, our newest friend/volunteer came out, too.

While our dogs were being walked Kris & Jim and Kate came up, to The Cabin, so we could meet her and visit. Roy, Belle, Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) were delighted to see them, too. Our dogs acted goofy for a few minutes and then they settled down. And while we had a fun visit Kris and Kate took turns holding Little Debbie and Big Al(ice).

When the dog-walking was done outside, all of us went up to the Koyote Grill to eat lunch together. Normally, Tony and I are the last to leave the rescue ranch, but because it was Kay's first time to come out, she followed us up to the Medina Highpoint Resort.

As always, Tony and I had a blast eating lunch with our dear friends and there was tons of laughter, to say the least. When Eileen retold her hilarious, story about going kayaking, with June, Ellen and Nyta  and accidentally snagging a fish, on her life jacket and thinking it was a snake attached to her life vest—everyone had to quit eating, because we were all laughing so hard. And I'm pretty sure that's when my back started aching.

This time Tony and I didn't order the exact same food. He ordered a hamburger, with no onions and fries and I ordered their Special, which was cheesy-potato soup and a BBQ slider and it only cost $5.00. Omg, the soup was absolutely delicious. I have never had cheesy-potato soup before, so I vowed to find a recipe for it, on the Internet and make it as soon as possible.

Before Tony and I adios-ed all of our good friends, Jim & Kris invited Tony and me to join them and Kate for a Saturday lunch, at the Thai O'Cha.

Saturday morning, while Tony was outside working I called Kris & Jim to ask them if it would be okay to invite Kinky to join us. Their response was a unanimous, "Yes. By all means! Invite him."

After we adios-ed each other, I called Kinky. "...By the way, Tony and I are going to eat lunch with Jim & Kris and Kate, at our favorite Thai restaurant. We would love for you to join us."

"It sounds good, but Nance I just woke up. Let's discuss it in a little while. Mr. P. stop it. Leave Sophie alone...." Right after we had adios-ed each other, our phone rang—it was Kinky. "Nance, my new coffee-maker, that I just purchased, two months ago, isn't working. I desperately need some coffee, now."

"I'll make you a cup and bring it right over," I said. "Wait, I can lend you my inexpensive, wannabe Keurig coffee machine, that I take with me on trips. I'll be over there in just a few minutes." Then I called Kris & Jim back. "Kinky thinks he wants to do lunch with us, but he is not sure, yet, because I just woke him up and right now I've got to take Kinky some coffee, because his new coffee maker is broken. I'll call you as soon as I know."

I made Kinky some Kona coffee and then I put it into a plastic container, so it wouldn't spill. Then I found my imitation Keurig, that was in the Mother Ship. Then I took off for the Lodge.

Let's just say that Kinky was more than thrilled to see me. He met me outside and took the hot coffee, in the container. While I was showing him how to use my little, traveling coffee-maker, he started teasing me about me going into my teaching mode. "Seriously Nance, I think I can figure it out...."

A few minutes later, before I left, I asked him he was going to eat lunch with us. "Nance, I think so, but I am so exhausted from being, on the road and having to go to all of these receptions. I mean the receptions were nice and fun, but I am sort of peopled-out..."

When I came back home, I immediately called Kris & Jim. "....Kinky is still not sure if he is going to eat lunch with us, but he told me that 1:30, would be the best time for him. He started joking with me about being tired of going to all of these receptions...."

After I adios-ed Kris, I went to my computer. And a few minutes later, I had made a sign, to tease Kink, if he showed up for lunch. These are the three words I put on my homemade sign that I was going to place on our table: 

Kinky Friedman

Reception

Tony and I arrived at the Thai O'cha, at 1:29 and we saw Buddy, Kris' truck and Mr. Green Jeans, Kinky's truck parked in the parking lot. "Dang it, now I can't surprise Kinky," I said, before entering our favorite Thai restaurant.

Right after howdies, we sat down, at the table. I sat next to Kinky and while he was telling our friends a funny story, I pulled the sign, out of my sack to show to everyone. Kinky immediately started laughing and so did everyone else.

Our lunch was totally delicious and as always, we were the loudest table, because Kinky kept us laughing, with jokes and hilarious tales from his recent tour. We spent over an hour and a half with our friends. When Jim asked Kinky to pose with Kate, for a picture, I grabbed my iPhone and snapped these pictures, too.

And you can see the Kinky Friedman Reception sign that I placed behind him.

When we laughed about the sign, Kinky grabbed it and posed, again.

Today has been great, even though it has been drizzling most of the day. This morning I found a cheesy-potato soup recipe and I made it for lunch. But, it was pretty bland taking, so I started adding all kinds of leftovers and it turned out great. Tony loved it and he ate two servings of it. "Nance, that is the best soup that you've ever made! You need to share your recipe. What's in it?"

"I started out with potatoes, celery, onion, garlic, organic chicken broth, bacon, milk, three kinds of cheese, pepper and salt. Then I added our leftover Cajun beans & rice, a jalapeño sausage, spinach and some pico de gallo. And the secret ingredient is cinnamon, because I was talking on the phone to Rick and when I thought I was adding pepper, I picked up the cinnamon instead...."

Tony laughed, and then said,"You need to call it Cousin Nancy's Kitchen Sink Soup."

It is now 4:30. Tony is still outside with Karon and the kids, walking our dogs for us. And Kinky has just called me, "Nance, are you still threatening to bring over your soup that Tony says is the best soup that you've ever made?"

So, I just put some of my delicious, leftover Kitchen Sink soup, in the same plastic container that I used to take Kinky some coffee yesterday morning.

I just got back from taking the soup over to Kinky's, He told me that he wasn't hungry right then, but he would heat it up later and give it a try. When he asked me what was in it, I named off all of the ingredients, but I intentionally left out that  cinnamon was the secret ingredient. Then he asked me to go on a short hike with him and The Friedmans, but I told him that I couldn't, because I was wearing my pink Crocs. Anyway, I hope he likes my soup as much as Tony does.

And lastly, I want to thank the great, East Kerr 4-H Club, our favorite 4-H Club, for the totally awesome dog house that they built for our dogs. It is green, huge and it has a shingled roof. For the past three weeks, Gayla and I have been trying to coordinate a Saturday that would work out for us and the club to come out to deliver their incredibly great dog house, but things kept coming up for each or us or the weather wasn't cooperating.

Anyway, Gayla & Scott, delivered it to us, Saturday morning. Scott and Tony unloaded the giant dog house, by Baxter and Honey's pen and this week, with some help, it will go into Honey's and Baxter's pen, so they can enjoy it. 

I wanted to take a picture of it, but they unloaded the front of the dog house facing the fence, so I am going to have to wait, until it is moved into the pen, so I can take a good picture of it. "We love the East Kerr 4-H Club and we thank them! The East Kerr 4-H Club Rules!"

Y'all have a great evening!

Springsteen!

Today has been great and so was last night when I received an e-mail from Carol. Her subject title was "Roy Is Famous." She wrote to tell me that my friend, Judith Pannebaker, the great editor for the Bandera County Courier, one of my favorite newspapers to read, had written a very funny story titled "Dog Shaming at Utopia Rescue Ranch" about me shaming my dog, Roy Rogers, in a blog titled "Grease Guilt" that I had written on September 26th.

So I immediately picked up the newspaper and read Judith's entertaining story. Then I took the newspaper into Tony's office for him to read and he and Roy loved it, too, but it made Mama jealous and she left the room, when I read it out loud to Belle, Abbie and Beau, in the kitchen. I think Abbie and Belle enjoyed my reading of the article about Roy, but I am not sure about Beau, because I think he has attention deficit disorder. Anyway, I want to thank Judith and the newspaper for all they do to help our rescue ranch and do a shout out to them. "I Love The Bandera County Courier!

This morning around 10:00, the parents and their super cool kids, members of the East Kerr 4-H club, came out and walked some dogs for us. Tony and I love it when this group of 4-H'ers come out to volunteer, because they are so caring, nice, polite and fun to work with. Tony took this picture of us after they had walked our dogs.

Before the East Kerr 4-H club left to go home, Alexa, was delivered to us. Last week a very nice woman had called me to ask for our help, because in August they had rescued a sweet stray, in Kerrville. She told me that they had done everything they could to find the owners, by putting up posters, asking nearby neighbors where she had been found and running ads in the newspaper. Molly then told me that they had fallen in love with this great, perfect dog, but when Alexa had frightened their oldest, rescued pot-bellied pig and caused him to have a stroke, she and her husband decided that they must find Alexa a home, as soon as possible, to protect their seven rescued pigs. 

I told Molly that I would have to talk to Tony about it and get back to her. When I showed Tony the picture of Alexa that Molly had e-mailed to me, he asked me to call Molly back and tell her, "Yes, we can take her." And I did.

When Alexa arrived, Molly's nice husband put Alexa in Red Fox's former pen and Alexa seemed nervous. When it was time for Kirk to drive away Alexa seemed to get even more stressed out, so I asked Brandon to please take Alexa for a long walk down to the creek, to try to help divert her stress.

When Brandon and Alexa returned she seemed to be calmer. When the East Kerr 4-H girls started talking to her and petting her that seemed to help, too. While this was going on I said, "Y'all help me rename Alexa, since she is starting a new life here." In less than thirty-seconds, they had renamed her Grace Kelly, because she is such a beautiful, sweet dog. Then it was time for them to leave, so we thanked them and invited them to please come back.

After they had left, I asked Brandon to help me. "Grace needs a roommate now, to help her adjust. Let's take Grace and Tom Landry for a long walk to see if they like each other." Thirty minutes later, Brandon and I returned the dogs to the rescue ranch and we put Tom and his pretty girlfriend, in Tom's pen and they were both very happy about it.

Then Brandon and I went up to The Cabin, so I could cook the three of us lunch, but Tony had already started. "We're having cornbread and beans," he announced, as he stood by the oven stirring the beans.

"And beef fajitas," I said. Two minutes later, the fajitas were also cooking on the stove top. Then I left Tony in charge and went over to the Lodge, so I could show Kinky the cute article that Judith had written about my Roy. And like me, they loved reading the article. Then I came back home and ate a delicious lunch.

(I promise, I'm almost done. It's been a really busy day.) Late this afternoon around 4:00, a nice woman named June, from Dallas and her friend, arrived with Banjo, a super sweet dog, that she had rescued, in Dallas. She told us that he is an escape artist, as we watched him trying to climb out of the pen, that we had just put him in, which is probably how he originally got lost. He is one-year-old, neutered, been given all of his shots and tomorrow or Monday, we will take Banjo, who we are renaming Springsteen, because he is born to run, into Hoegemeyers, to start his heart worm treatments.

After June and her friend left the rescue ranch, Tony and I spent about forty minutes, reinforcing his pen with four inch cattle panel and Tony did most of the work. Here is a quick picture that I took of him behind bars and I think he is very handsome and because of his eyes he looks a lot like Grace Kelly.

When Tony and I finally came back inside The Cabin, we caught Roy licking up the grease that he had just spilled on our kitchen floor, next to the empty plastic fajitas bag, that he had pulled out of the trash can. But, because of Judith's article in the newspaper and because I love Roy so much and he loves H-E-B's fajitas, as much as we do, the only thing that I could do was laugh, then take a picture of the licked-out fajita bag and his newest grease stain for evidence. And that is about it for tonight, because I'm so tired from our very busy day.

Y'all have a great evening!

We LOVE The East Kerr 4-H Club And The Medina Children's Home!

Today has been more than fantastic, because this morning, at 11:00, our favorite 4-H club, the East Kerr 4-H Club, came out to walk our dogs for us and we loved it and our dogs loved it even more! And our rescue ranch cannot thank them enough for their community service and their generous monetary donation and the two green colored, East Kerr 4-H t-shirts.

After Tony and I had met everyone and Haley had told me all about Mary Ann, the precious dog that we let her name for us, on October 9, 2011, when the East Kerr 4-H Club was out here walking our dogs, that her parents gave Haley permission to adopt from us, Tony and I gave them a tour of our rescue ranch, which included telling them each dog's story. Then we were ready to walk our dogs.

I volunteered to lead the long distance dog walk, while Tony stayed behind, busily leashing up dogs and pairing them with the club's members. Basically, in single file, we walked all of the way over to the neighboring ranch gate, then back down the steep hill to the bridge, took a right and walked along Wallace Creek, then walked up a gravel road that led us back to the rescue ranch. And by the time we had put our dogs back inside their pens, they were tired and thirsty and I was feeling puny, because I am so old and my allergy to Ragweed, was wreaking havoc on my sinuses and it was clearly winning the "Battle of My Nose."

Even though a few 4-H members needed to take off, after we got back from walking some very happy dogs, the remaining club members volunteered to walk some more, but I had to decline their kind offer, because I was beginning to run a low grade fever and my head was completely stopped up and all I wanted to do was lay down on our bed, with all of our dogs and just rest, which is exactly what I did.

And I believe the love of Roy, Mama, Abbie, Belle, Beau and Toto helped cure me, because when I climbed out of bed, one hour later, I was no longer running a fever, but my nose was.

Around 3:00, Karen, from the Medina Children's Home came out, with her son Dalton and Mitch, to introduce them to us and to show them the rescue ranch and tell us, "We're ready to start the program that we have discussed and the girls will start coming out, on Mondays and Wednesdays to walk y'all's dogs, as we have agreed to and we can start it this coming Monday. And Mitch, Dalton and some other young men are excited about coming out here on Sundays, to walk dogs or do anything else that you need for them to do...." Which of course, made our day even greater than it already was.

Early this evening, I went over to the Lodge to tell Kinky about our great day and he was more than thrilled about these two great organizations helping us.

So tonight, before I go blow my red colored, chapped and flaking nose, for the umpteenth time, into a Bounty paper towel, because I've used up all of the Kleenex, I just want to thank the fabulous East Kerr 4-H Club members and the youth, at the Medina Children's Home, for being true winners and for caring and taking their valuable time to volunteer, at our rescue ranch, to help us make our dogs happy. "Tony, could you bring me another roll of Bounty paper towels, because I'm nearly out, on this roll?"

Y'all have a great evening!

Our Rescue Ranch LOVES East Kerr 4-H Club!

Today has been a great day. This morning after T. & me did our morning chores outside the East Kerr 4-H Club, our favorite group of kids, came out and walked all of our dogs for us and we loved it, but our dogs loved it even more.

When everyone had arrived by 10:30, to walk our dogs, it started raining, but we were all so excited to see the precious rain falling from the sky, no one complained about it, as I gave them a tour around our rescue ranch and introduced them to our beautiful dogs and told them their individual stories. And when the tour was over we all put on raincoats and then it immediately quit raining and it did not rain again until all of the dogs had been walked and we posed for a group picture, down by our entrance gate, with O. Henry and Martha Stewart being our mascots.

While a couple of super-cool kids returned Martha and O. back to their pen, Tony and I thanked the East Kerr 4-H Club members and then we visited with the parents and I am sure that I must of said, at least ten times to them, "Our rescue ranch loves East Kerr 4-H Club! This group is our favorite bunch of kids and we hope that they will come back again. They are the most well mannered bunch of kids and they take their dog-walking job seriously and we cannot thank them enough..." Here are a few pictures that Tony took of us this morning.

After this super bunch of kids left our rescue ranch, around noon, Kermit took us up to the trailer, so I could call Karin and invite her to come out and eat lunch with us, but when I called her at the motel—she never answered her phone, which worried me for only ten minutes, because when I called Wolfmuellers Books to see how much rain Kerrville had gotten—Jon told me, "Not much, but your friend Karin, from Germany, is here right now. She just bought some books and she is paying for them, as we speak. She seems to be a really nice lady." 

"She is! Could I please speak to her? Because I want to invite her to come out for lunch."

Thirty minutes later Karin arrived in her cute, red rental car and when I went out to greet her—she brought rain with her, because it started raining as soon as I shot her.

During lunch we laughed about many things, especially my North Texan mispronunciations of her and her husband Jurgen's names. I was calling her "Care-Inn," but she pronounces it like, "Car-Inn" and I was saying Jurgen like Jergen's hand lotion, but it is supposed to sound like, "Air-Gun." 

Before "Car-Inn" and I went over to Kinky's Lodge, I cleaned up our lunch dishes, then I plugged my guitar into my Genz Benz amp and finger-picked along with Jim Keaveny's beautiful song, "North Padre Island Lullaby" and not to brag, "I sounded pretty good today."

We had a good time visiting with Kinky and Phil Rush, who is a very cool, young man, that I jammed with a few weeks ago, on the guitar and he is also one of The Friedman's official dog-sitters. Phil took this picture of us standing outside the Lodge with Chumley, Sophie and Winston Churchill.

When we returned to the rescue ranch, Karin was amazed to see a white-tail deer eating near the pump house, so I shot her shooting, with her expensive camera, this young buck.

As of 5:30 this evening, Karin became an official "Texas Cowgirl," because she is now the proud owner of a new pair of pretty, Justin Gypsy cowgirl boots, because next week Carol and I are going to take her horseback riding with our friend Jeannie, in Bandera and her cowgirl boots look great on her. Congrats, Karin! And that is about it for tonight, except Tony and I hope that Nelda Dunn had a fantastic birthday today with Jimmie.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying that we get some more rain!

I Love The East Kerr 4-H Club! They're The Best!

Today has been really great. This morning at ten o'clock the members of the East Kerr County 4-H club came out, so they could do some volunteer work and to give us $343.50, the money that they had collected last Saturday, at their Bake Sale, at the Plant Haus! And, I couldn't quit thanking them for helping out our rescue ranch, again and telling them what mighty, fine people they were.

Then we went to Fred's and Betty's pen, so the kids could play with them and I am not sure who enjoyed it more, the kids or the pups or me. Here they are with Betty Rubble.

After the pups had tired from all of the attention and affection they were getting, we went to see the two new dogs that we rescued yesterday. As a sweet, little girl played with them, she told me that yesterday she had watched the first season of Gilligan's Island and loved that show, so we discussed the show and then she told me that she loved Golden Girls also.

"I love the Golden Girls, too" I said. Then I changed the subject. "We have not named these dogs yet, so why don't y'all help me name them?" 

In seconds the cute, ten-year-old girl says, "How about Gilligan and Mary-Ann?"

"I love it. It's perfect. We'll call them Gilligan and Mary-Ann. Thank you for helping me..." Here she is with Mary-Ann.

Next they picked up rocks, so our riding lawn mowers won't fling rocks into the dog pens when we have to start mowing again. By the time they finished—they had filled up our yellow wheelbarrow. 

After that the kids visited with our pigs and after hearing Belle Starr-Simon's story, I invited them to come into our yard and play with her and Belle stole their hearts. Before these great super kids left to go home, I thanked them for their good work and then said, "Y'all are the best people and I am so impressed with y'all. I hope that you'll come back, because our gate will always be open for you." And I meant it.

At two o'clock today, we adopted out Dottie West to some very nice people, who live in Bandera. They had called earlier in the morning to ask me about Dottie West, because they wanted to get a companion for their sweet, little ten-year-old dog, who looked a lot like Dottie and was about the same size as she. After we introduced their dog to Dottie—it was love at first sight for them, so here is picture I took of Dottie West with her new forever family, minus their dog, because he was already in the car waiting for them. 

Before the nice couple drove away, with D.W. in the backseat kissing on their dog, they told me that they want to volunteer and come out soon to walk our dogs. And now you know why my day was great.

Y'all have a great evening!

The East Kerr 4-H Club Really Rocks!

Today has been so much fun, but before I tell you about it I am proud to announce that my very first watercolor painting, "Canyon of Forgetting" was auctioned off last night to the highest bidder with 50% of the proceeds going directly to help our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch and the other half going to help Tony's and my retirement fund, which has so much money in it—we should be able to retire when we are eighty years young.  : ) Actually, I am just kidding—we're looking at seventy-two if we don't die first. (Laugh out loud)

Kinky loves "Canyon of Forgetting" and he told me two days ago, that it had reached out and touched him, so last night I kept him posted every time that I checked on the bidding and it was pretty exciting. A little past ten o'clock I punched in his number, "Kink, the auction just ended and you're not going to believe this!"

"How much?"

"Fifty-seven dollars and seventy-seven cents. I can't believe it! I don't understand the seventy-seven cents part, but..."

"Nance, that is absolutely amazing for your very first painting to sell for that much! I'm serious. You must keep painting..." After Kinky's pep talk we said goodnight to each other and then I went to bed.

This morning the members of the East Kerr 4-H Club arrived at nine o'clock sharp to volunteer to walk our dogs for us and I hope the club had as much fun as we did. First off, I gave a tour of the rescue ranch and introduced them to every dog and then told them each dog's story and then Lisa showed up just in time, to volunteer for the dog walking. Thank you, Lisa! We could not have done it without you.

Two hours later all of our dogs had been walked and were back in their pens with their tails wagging. Before the greatest 4-H club in Texas left, we thanked them for doing such a great job and asked them to please come back, then I gave everyone a signed copy of my new book, a copy of our 2010 newsletter and our "In Dogs We Trust" bumper sticker and then Tony took these pictures of us. Thank you, Tony.

Tony and I really hope that the East Kerr 4-H'ers come back, because we were so impressed with them. Thank you, East Kerr 4-H Club! Please come back, because y'all rock big time! Here is a short video clip of the East Kerr 4-H Club that Tone took.

For lunch today because T. was starving I made "Bear Creek Tortilla" soup for the very first time. Tone loves my trailer-made tortilla soup, but the other day when we were in H-E-B I decided to buy a packet and give it a try and am I glad that I did because, it was delicious and Tony, Ben, Kinky and I loved it. I highly recommend it, because all you have to do is add 8 cups of water and cook for fifteen minutes and it makes a half gallon of delicious soup!

Late this afternoon before Ben took off to go back to Austin he came inside the trailer and announced, "I want you to know that I just left y'all another brick of Miles of Chocolate in the freezer outside..." What a perfect way to end a day. We love you, Ben!

Y'all have a great evening!