Episode 29: People Who Need People!

Please note that I am dedicating this podcast to my dear friend Felix M., in Nevada. And I hope that it makes him and you laugh out loud. And if you want to listen to this podcast please click here on: The Cousin Nancy Show or click on the The Cousin Nancy Show on the right side bar 👉

Speaking about laughter we all know that it is a very powerful medicine. And the great news is: it is free, user friendly, it is a whole lot of fun and it makes us feel good. 

In fact, do you know that just laughing out loud immediately helps to improve our resistance to disease by boosting our immune system, while removing the dangerous stress hormones and inflammation.

Laughing also protects our heart from a heart attack by improving increased blood flow.

And I especially love this benefit of laughing. Researchers have discovered that laughing for just ten to fifteen minutes a day can burn approximately 40 calories—which calculates to losing three to four pounds a year. 

And I love this good news, because if I start laughing approximately four to five hours a day non-stop—I could maybe reach my weight goal within a year. 

Or else I might wind up in a straight-jacket and looking forward to having weekly visits from Tony, family and friends—at the local crazy farm. 

And in Norway scientist have recently proven that people with a strong sense of humor outlived those who don’t laugh as much. 

So the bottom line here is simple: Laughter helps us to live longer.

And this is why from now on I plan to start doing only 10-15 minute podcasts which will include at least one humorous story and a few jokes—just to help make all of us laugh just a little bit more.

Now it is—My Thought For Today Time!

Everyone knows and loves that beautiful song People, made popular and sung by the fabulous Barbra Streisand.

Well, I was thinking about that song the other day while Tony & I were outside, on the porch, making our very first wind chime made out of flattened spoons, forks and knives.

And while Tony was pounding another spoon flat, on our new, little, blue colored anvil, I was thinking, You know “People who need people” are really not the luckiest people in the world, because they obviously have serious co-dependent problems and I think that they should seek out professional help from a head-shrinker—ASAP. 

Now it is—Make Me Laugh Time!

What do you call a sad cup of coffee—depresso.

If a parsley farmer gets sued can they garnish his wages?

Our friend Fourth sent me this one: If a mob of clowns attacks you—go for the juggler.

Did you hear about the man who fell into an upholstery machine? He's fully recovered now—thank goodness.

Look who is all grown up and needs a colonoscopy.

Do you think Noah included termites on the ark?

And this concludes the Make Me Laugh Time! segment of my show.

Now I have a true story to tell you about clowns. 

Back in the early nineties, my late husband Jim and I had a successful embroidery business in Austin, well actually it was in Westlake, Texas which is a small, wealthy community surrounded by Austin.

Anyway, several small businesses, in our little strip center, shared a dumpster. And this sad, manic-depressive clown lived in our dumpster, because he was homeless, but the other reason that he lived there was because he had a part-time job during the day being a clown, in the new ice cream shop, that was located next door to our shop.

You see this professor of physics had retired from the University of Texas and he had opened up this ice cream shop, because he loved ice cream and he had always dreamed of having an ice cream store.

Sadly, this shy retired professor had no clue how to run a business and Jim and I felt sorry for him, so we tried to help him out by drumming up business for him, by telling all of our customers about his great ice cream parlor.

And every afternoon Jim and I would take a break and go next door to buy some ice cream from him and that was a disaster from the git-go. 

Because when we or any customer would walk into his shop he would offer them a free sample of his “Ice Cream Of The Day!” to taste. And it was always the same flavors— vanilla or chocolate. Seriously, he only had those two flavors all of the time.

The saddest part was he would grab a tiny, wooden, 2-inch long spoon and give you a tiny sample taste as he held the “spoon” for you. And that was always awkward to say the least.

But what was really bad was soon after his grand-opening, which wasn’t all that grand, this man soon hired that manic-depressive, clown, that lived in our dumpster, to entertain his customer’s children, “Because we all know that all children love clowns.” 

Anyway, that was a really poor business decision, because this hired clown scared the kids and the children would always flee his ice cream shop screaming and then run inside our shop to hide from the clown and to also be consoled by our three dogs—a Great Pyrenees named Bear, a Boston Terrier named Yoda and a Sheltie named Chili.

Anyway, this sad, retired professor would complain to us daily that he might have to close his shop down soon, because he had so little business. 

And he also told us his hired clown was eating up all of his profits and the clown had gained so much weight from eating all of his inventory— vanilla and chocolate ice cream—his clown outfit no longer fit him and this clown had also lost one of his big red shoes, inside the dumpster and he had demanded that the owner replace it for him, because clown shoes are very, very expensive.

And the ice cream shop owner told us that he would replace the clown’s shoe, but he had no idea where to buy gigantic, red, rubber shoes.

Bottom Line: Unfortunately within just a few days, the professor had fired that manic-depressive clown, who had been removed from the dumpster, by police and escorted out of Westlake, just one block away from our shop, to the smaller town of Rollingwood, Texas, another wealthy community surrounded by Austin. 

And you maybe asking about what ever happened to that retired UT professor/ice cream czar—and the answer is that no one really ever knew for sure, because sometime during the night he locked his shop up and never returned. Leaving only his keys and a large box of wrapped, 2-inch, wooden spoons, on his countertop. End of story.

Now folks that is about it for this podcast. But before I leave I want you to listen to the first wind chime that Tony and I have ever made.

I do hope that my podcast has made you laugh at least once, but if it didn’t—who cares!

Thank y’all for listening. And please remember my favorite quote;

Life is short and so am I! Take care Felix and y'all keep on laughing!

Press & Go!

Today has been a great day and the reason that I did not post on my blog last night was because Tony and I watched the movie, The Help, and we loved it. In fact, it blew us away and we could not quit talking about it after it ended.

This morning when Tone and I went outside to do our chores, the dogs started barking while T. was feeding the deer and our precious three pigs. "Nance, someone must be up at the gate. You'd better go up there and check." So, Kermit and I took off.

As we approached the gate, I saw a friendly face waving at me, near La Toya Jackson's pen, so we slowed down. "Hi, I'm Nancy. Can I help you?"

"I'm Donna. My husband and I wanted to check out your dogs, because we want to adopt a companion dog for Hope, our dog that we rescued during Hurricane Ike. Ellen & Charlie Cooper are our neighbors and Ellen spoke so highly of y'all—she thinks that y'all are angels."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "We love Ellen and Charlie. Hop in Kermit and we will go up to the gate to open it, so your husband can drive on in."

After Jim and Donna had introduced themselves to Tony, he took off in Kermit to start feeding our dogs and the three of us took off, so I could show them our fabulous dogs and after they had met all of our super dogs they decided to adopt Pilgrim, but first they wanted to see how Hope and he got along, so T. leashed up Pilgrim and we met Donna, Hope and Jim outside the rescue ranch, so Hope and Pilgrim could meet and we could take them for a short walk together.

Twenty minutes later, after Pilgrim's adoption papers were signed, I took this picture of Pilgrim with his new forever family—thanks to Ellen.

When our outdoor chores ended, mine began inside. At 11:29, while I was doing some paperwork, before taking off for Kerrville, to run several errands—our good friend Rick "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper" called and left a message on Carlton, which made me laugh out loud, as I continued doing my paperwork, because we couldn't take off until I had finished it.

"Hi, Guys. Leisa and I are shopping. In case Nancy doesn't have anything to worry about for the next few weeks, we wanted to let y'all know that we are going backpacking through the jungles of Nicaragua for seventeen days, with pythons, leopards, etc." Then Rick started laughing. "Bye."

Even though Rick's news about their exciting, upcoming jungle expedition didn't really surprise me, because those two are always doing something wild and crazy, I know that I will worry about them until they get back to Port Aransas—where they belong.

On our way to Kerrtown, we decided to eat lunch at Kevin and Julie's restaurant, The Water Street Cafe, before running our many errands.

When we arrived at The Water Street Cafe, Julie greeted us with a friendly smile and then she told us about Gigi, formerly Ginger Rogers, the darling, little Chihuahua that she and Kevin adopted from us back in October. Then we placed our orders.

"I think I'll have the combination again," I said. "Black Bean soup and Chef Salad." Then Tony ordered their Roast Beef Panini with potato salad on the side and we had no regrets, because our lunch was delicious.

Right before we left the Water Street Cafe, Kevin walked in and he greeted us. "How was your lunch?"

"Kevin, it was delicious and your Black Bean soup is the best that I have ever eaten. You make the best soups in town. My favorites are y'all's Lentil soup and now this..."

Before leaving Kerrville to head to Bandera to make a deposit we stopped at H-E-B to grab a few groceries and because Kevin's black bean soup was so delicious, I guessed at what the ingredients might be, so I picked up a bag of black beans, carrots, tomatoes, corn, cilantro and onion, so I could try to duplicate his tasty recipe for us or hopefully come close to it.

The last thing I put into our grocery cart, before checking out, was an inexpensive hair dryer, because Windy had more or less blown it last week. My new Conair Press & Go, with retractable cord has 1875 Watts, is compact, powerful and fast drying, so I named her—Mariah, before we had even reached the checkout counter.

Early this evening Kinky called to tell me to mark our calendar, because our friends Captain Frank and his sweet wife were coming out to see us on Friday and they were bringing us doghouses.

"That sounds great, Kink. I've just added it to my calendar. By the way, as you well know, this past week has been pretty rough on me—thanks to the full moon. A lot of crazy people have been calling me and coming out of the woodwork, but thankfully not all of them were nuts. Anyway, I've written a song about it. You know that famous Barbra Streisand song, "People. People who need people are the luckiest people in the world?"

"Yes."

"Well my new song is, "People. People who need people—need to get a life," Kinky burst out laughing which made me start laughing too, "or a job or a hobby or seek professional help, because it ain't me, babe. No. No. No..."

And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Willie Nelson and Nugent—Team Up!

Friday, I didn't post a blog, because nothing really exciting happened out here. It was a great day—just no news to report.

This morning, Linda T. arrived at ten-thirty, to walk our dogs for us! As soon as she arrived, she and Aaron started walking them and the dogs loved it! Thank you Linda and Aaron!

Around eleven-thirty, my dogs started barking, so I went outside to see who it was. "Hi! I'm David. I am a friend of Tony's, and I came out to adopt a dog from y'all!"

Tony stepped out onto the porch, "Hi David. I'm glad that you came out. Let me show you our dogs." Tony then took him and his family for a tour. I didn't go because it was drizzling outside, and I needed to start fixing our lunch.

Twenty minutes later, Tony walked inside the trailer. "They want to adopt Willie Nelson!" Tone said, with excitement in his voice! I was thrilled, and quickly began preparing Willie's adoption papers. I was so happy for him!

A year ago, on April 17th, Willie Nelson and his sister, Bobbie came to the rescue ranch. Willie Nelson, had called Kinky, a few days earlier, telling him about two dogs, that were street dogs, that he had seen running up and down I-35, near Abbott, Texas. Willie asked Kinky if we could take them, if he could get someone to catch them and bring them to us, because he was certain—that they would get run over soon. Kinky then asks Tony and me to come over to the Lodge. As soon as we arrived, Kinky tells us about the two dogs. In less than one minute, Kinky, Tony and I said yes—we would take them. Before we left the Lodge, I had already decided to name these two dogs after Willie and his sister, Bobbie.

When the man delivered Willie and Bobbie, late in the evening, Willie and Bobbie were stressed out, and they didn't want to have anything to do with us—people were not to be trusted. They growled at Tony, as he walked them to their dog pen, and they had nothing at all to say to me. I was okay about it, because I knew that in time, they would come around. I just didn't realize how much time it would take.

Slowly, but surely, their tails started wagging when Tony, John, Ben or I came around, but they still were shy. It took two weeks, before we took Bobbie and Willie to the vet, to get their shots, and to be spayed and neutered, because we wanted them to gain our trust, and because they wouldn't let us put a leash on them.

Month by month, they improved their people skills. On November 3, 2008—a nice man came out and adopted Bobbie! She now lives on a fancy ranch, between here and Kerrville, and she is doing great and their caregivers love her! Willie was okay with her leaving, but still didn't trust most people—especially men.

Okay, now here is a 'fifties moment,' back in November, December or January, Ellen and June came out with their friend Jim—to walk our dogs! When Jim came out, for his very first time—he was determined to leash Willie, and take him for a walk. Well, that took a while. Thank goodness that Jim is a patient man!

After that, Jim started coming out every week to walk our dogs, and he would always spend extra time with Willie—trying to win over his trust—and it finally worked! One day, with Aaron's help—they got a leash on Willie! Jim took him for a long walk and the rest is history! Thank you so much, Jim!

Since that breakthrough day—Willie could not wait to go for a walk, whether it was with Jim, Aaron, Linda T. or somebody else! Willie loved to go for walks, including a swim, and he would start barking with excitement, if he thought he was going for a walk!

After David and Deborah had picked out Willie, Tony told David and Deborah Nugent—Willie's story, and they were excited about adopting him!

When I went outside to meet the Nugents, and to get them to fill out Willie's adoption papers—I was really impressed with them—they loved dogs, and I loved them! After the paperwork was filled out, Aaron helped load Willie into a crate, as Tony, Linda and I watched, along with David's family.

Willie seemed a little nervous about leaving the rescue ranch, but that is normal. I am pretty sure that his adoption is going to stick, and he is going to have one great life ahead of him. I love you— Willie Nelson—today was your day!

Y'all have a great evening! I'm fixin' to watch the Barbra Streisand special that I recorded earlier!