Not Cereal!

Yesterday was an unexpected blast. I slept in Sunday morning and got up around 8:00. Tony had already fed our dogs their homemade breakfast, so our dogs were already outside, leaving calling cards and watering the weeds for us.

But before I go any further, I want to explain about "our dogs homemade breakfast." Since early August, I decided to quit feeding our dogs—name-brand, manufactured dog food. So after spending several hours researching (Googling) high quality dog foods, it dawned on me that I could, and would love to, cook healthy meals for our dogs instead of feeding them bags of dog food that are full of fillers, etc.

The good news is it is not anymore expensive than buying name brand dog food, our dogs love it and I know exactly what they are being fed.

So every evening, while sipping my one glass of Franzia Chillable Red Wine, I precook breakfast for our dogs and I really enjoy doing it.

And thank goodness I have my faithful Instant Pot, because every evening I use it to cook 3 cups of long grain brown rice, in just a matter of minutes. And while the rice is being pressured cooked, I drink a few more sips of delicious, cheap, boxed wine, while listening to some of my favorite music.

After the rice is cooked, and my wine is doing its thing, our dogs become my personal audience, with their eyes glued on me as I add either raw meat or chicken or fish or scrambled eggs or diced up hot dogs with some raw, home grown, organic spinach leaves. Then they really start drooling as I dump in a can of Veg-All, Parmesan cheese, that comes in the green jar, and I top it off with Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning. So now you know and I hope that you will try doing this.

Now back to my story. As I was sipping my coffee, Tony comes into the big room and says, "I've got great news. Jim Keaveny and Rachel are coming to see us today. They just got back to Austin yesterday, from Jim's Netherlands tour and they will be here later this afternoon...."

Tony and I were thrilled about Jim & Rachel coming to see us and spending the night with us, before they headed back home, to Terlingua.

Around noon, Tony and I took off for Kerrville to run a few errands. He dropped me off at the Country Clean laundry, so I could wash and dry a load of dirty clothes, while he went to Walmart to get a slow-leaking tire fixed.

We normally only use Wagoner's Tires, on Sidney Baker, to buy tires or to fix a tire leak, but because it is family owned. And because we love the family, because they are good people and because years ago, on November 12, 2013, they adopted sweet Bee Spears from us.

But because it was Sunday our only option was Walmart. Here is the link to my April 5, 2015 post, about Bee Spears' fabulous adoption. And here is a picture of this magnificent dog that once lived, at our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. And lastly, here is the link my blog post on the day Bee Spears came to the rescue ranch.

Rachel & Jim arrived around 5:00, and we enjoyed a happy hour with them, while I cooked up our dog's breakfast. We talked about Jim's tour and how much fun they had, we caught up with each other's news and we did a lot of laughing, too. They also told us about them getting a Vita-Mix machine and loving it as much as we love Jaws (our Vita-Mix machine). So we started trading smoothie and soup recipes, etc.

Then Jim excused himself and he went out to his truck and came back inside with presents that he & Rachel had bought for us and Kinky. And he was wearing these beautiful, hand-carved, wooden shoes (clogs) that he had bought while touring, in Holland.

After admiring Jim's awesome, wooden shoes, he & Rachel gave us this cute pair of miniature clogs, made in Holland.

And before I put them on the window sill, I put them on Little Debbie's front paws and she loved them even though they were a size or two too big for her dainty feet.

Then there was more. Jim got out his pocket knife and cut open a bag of tulip bulbs, from Holland and he gave us four (pink, yellow, blue and red) bulbs and one yellow bulb for us to give to Kinky.

Because Jim & Rachel were tired last night and dealing with jet-lag, we didn't stay up late like we usually do when they visit. And I had a hard time falling to sleep, because I kept laughing about the fun time that we had had earlier.

This morning, I got up at 8:00 and Rachel & Jim were already up, drinking coffee and packing up their things. When I was making a cup of coffee for myself, I noticed two bowls of delicious cereal, sitting on the counter top, so I said, "Your cereal looks delicious. What's in it?"

They started laughing with Tony, and Tone said, "Nance, it's our dog's breakfast—not cereal. I haven't fed the dogs, yet." And that made me laugh, too.

Around 9:00 this morning, we sadly adios-ed our dear friends and bid them a safe trip back home. And that is about it for today, because I plan to spend the rest of my day writing up a storm, until it starts thundering, because I will have to unplug everything.

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

The Perfect Dog!

Today has been great. This morning I got up real early, so Hazel and I could remove the latest dog-hair- drifts that had accumulated on our wooden floors, before I called Harley Belew to do his popular morning radio show.

When the floors were once again hair-free Hazel went back in the closet. Then I called Harley and I really enjoyed visiting with him On-Air and talking about our rescue ranch. Bee Spears, the sweet eight-year-old dog was Harley's Pet Of The Week.

At 9:00 sharp, as scheduled, the nice man, Steve, from Hill Country Pest Control, showed up to exterminate our trailer, yard and my writing and that is the reason why Hazel and me vacuumed the floors so early this morning. Tony and I really like Steve, because he is professional, friendly, gets the job done fast, he is proud to work for Hill Country Pest Control and he always does a great job for us. And that is one of the reasons why we only use Hill Country Pest Control. The other reason why we only use Hill Country Pest Control is because they are heavily involved with helping out the community.

After Steve drove away, I went outside to go help Tony finish up our morning chores and luckily for me, he was nearly done. I only had to clean two dog pens. When I had finished picking up, I decided to push the lawn mower around. I ended up mowing down the tall grass in Springsteen's dog pen and two more alleys. Then I came back inside to cook lunch for Tony and me.

Because we have zucchini coming out-of-our-ears I went Online, to The Food Network and found this fast and easy way to make Zucchini Fritter recipe, so I decided to give it a try. Thirty minutes later, while Tony and I ate our rib-eye steaks with delicious zucchini fritters, Tony asked me to please make it again, because he absolutely loved it and so did I. So, here's the link to The Food Network's delicious Zucchini Fritter Recipe. 

This afternoon we went to Kerrville to grab a few groceries, mail out some of my books and then go to, Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, to drop off Tuesday Weld, pick up another refill of Mama's pain pills and that super sweet, ten- year-old Molly Ivins.

When we got back home, while I was putting up our groceries, Tony put Molly, in my pink cabin's front yard and she seems to really like it there too. Thirty minutes later, when I went outside to go have a little talk with Molly Ivins, she was happily rolling around in the grass and sniffing things.

After I had welcomed Molly back to the rescue ranch, after having been gone from here for over nine years and explaining to her that some times life throws us a curve—I took these two pictures of her posing for me. So if any of y'all know of someone who is looking for the perfect dog, Molly Ivins is definitely it. She is sweet, a little bit on the chunky side, house broken, ten-years-old, gets along great with kids and other dogs— please call me at the rescue ranch.

I went over to Kinky's early this evening for a fun visit with him and The Friedmans. While I was there I took these two pictures of his young, handsome cat, Yellowy, that he rescued and Peanut, the thirteen-year-old Poodle that he is fostering for his friend who is very ill and in and out of the hospital. 

Y'all have a great evening!

Bee Is Here!

Today has been great. This morning around 11:00, Budrock arrived with Bee, a big, older dog that his daughter had rescued, in San Antonio, two hours before he was scheduled to be euthanized.

When Budrock arrived with Bee, Tony and Brandon already had Bee's temporary pen, The Okay Corral, ready for him. When we went into The Okay Corral to introduce Bee to us and his new digs, Bee was calm and he seemed very interested in checking it out. While Bee sniffed around and marked his new territory, Budrock told us that he has been the lighting designer for Willie Nelson Shows, for over thirty-seven years. And the reason that his daughter named him Bee was to honor Bee Spears, the late bassist, for Willie's family band.

When Bee seemed to ignore us, we invited Budrock to come inside, The Cabin, to drink a cup of coffee with us, before we went over to Kinky's Lodge, because Kinky wanted to visit with his friend, of many years.

Tony and I instantly liked Budrock and hit if off with him. While we drank delicious Green Mountain Donut Shop Coffee, Buddy and I quickly discovered that we shared the friendship of many musicians and people involved in the music business. But Buddy aka Budrock has worked for and traveled with a whole lot more musicians than me, such as: The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Steve Miller Band, Jerry Jeff Walker, George Benson, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Bee Gees, Bad Company, The Doobie Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, etc., just to name a few.

The three of us were having so much fun visiting and getting to know one another, time flew by, until Kinky called me and wanted to know why his friend wasn't over at the Lodge. Before all of us went over to the Lodge, Bee told us to check out the KOKEFM.COM, a fabulous radio station, that our mutual friend owns. He told us that it was kicking (you know what) worldwide and it is only broadcasting great Texas country music. When I told him that we don't get any signals out here he told us that we could listen to the music at: www.KOKEFM.COM, on the Internet and we were thrilled, because we know the owner, some of the DJs and bands that they are playing.

As we were leaving The Cabin, Tony gave Budrock one of his photography business cards and then Budrock said, "Let me give y'all one of my cards, too." When he handed one to Tony, Tony burst out laughing and then when I looked at Budrock's card, I too started laughing, because the only word printed on it was, BUDROCK.

"I love your card," I said. "I'm going to copy you and print cards that only read, Cousin Nancy." Then Tony chimed in and told us that he was, too. Then Tony shot Buddy with me, holding up Budrock's clever business card. Then Buddy gave Tony and me some cool Willie Nelson guitar picks, then we went over to Kinky's and had another great visit.

A few days ago, when Buddy and I first talked on the phone, about us taking in Bee, we exchanged e-mail addresses, so he could send me a few pictures of Bee and this one is my favorite, that his daughter took of this great, friendly, lovable, older dog.

Bee seems to be fitting in nicely and as soon as we get Bee's veterinary records sent to us, I will write more about this magnificent dog. And Tony and I have decided to try to put Bee and Dale Evans together, in the next few days, to see if they will get along, but I already know that they will, because they are both named in honor of famous musicians and loved by many. 

Y'all have a great evening!