Thanks For The Memories, Kink!

 Here are several of my favorite pictures of Kinky. And after these photos I added two more short videos of Kinky. 

After hiking with his dear friends: Will Wallace, Dylan Ferrero, Kinky and Ben Welch

Kinky on set with Jimmy LaFave for movie Palo Pinto Gold

Kinky outside on his porch

Kinky holding Stella a rescued dog from hurricane Katrina

Kinky signing a guitar on his pool table

Kinky posing next to my writing cabin at our rescue ranch

Sandy Wolfmueller, Tony and me having a fun lunch with Kinky @ Cracker Barrel

Kinky posing with Mama, my rescued Great Pyrenees

Tony took this picture of Kinky and Sophie, his rescued dog

Kinky taking a walking break with David Beckham, our rescued wild hog that plays soccer.

Tony, Kinky, me and U.S. Representative Lamar Smith @ our rescue ranch

Kinky posing with Little Jewford

Bob, Kinky, me and Jay Pennington outside of the Lodge

Kinky signed his cigar poster to Tony & me

9 years ago Tony took this video of Kinky & me doing a video for an upcoming tribute to our dear friend Ruth Buzzi

Kinky's kind words 

Thanks for the memories, Kink!

Another Seven Miles of Chocolate!

Today has been great. This morning after Tony and I did our chores outside, I called our dear friend, Ben Welch, to invite him and Will to come over for another fun visit, before they returned to Austin. "That sounds great, Nancy," Ben said. "I was planning to come over anyway, because I also have another brick of Miles of Chocolate to give to you and Tony, in case y'all want to give some to the volunteers..."

Around noon, as I was just starting to cook lunch, Ben walked inside the trailer, carrying another big brick of Miles of Chocolate. "Thank you, Ben," I said, as he put it into the freezer. Then I told him about me craving a milkshake yesterday and then using a piece of Miles of Chocolate, strawberries, milk and vanilla ice cream to make two delicious milkshakes and he laughed.

"Nancy, I've been telling you and Tony about using Miles of Chocolate milkshakes with fruit for years."

"I guess I forgot. Anyway, we loved it."

"Next time try using bananas instead of strawberries," Ben suggested. "Y'all will love it too." Then the three of us had a fun visit inside The Cabin.

Before Ben left to go back over to Kinky's, Tony and I took him to see Tony's beautiful garden and he was very impressed with it. So, before he drove away, we gave Ben some of Tony's ripe tomatoes and yellow squash.

Late this afternoon, Tony and I fixed Miles of Chocolate with strawberries, milk and ice cream milkshakes for Brandon, Karen, Sophia and Haley, to try, after they had painted two doghouses for us.
And they thought they were absolutely delicious too.

So now, before I go cut up another seven Miles of Chocolate and vacuum seal them, I am thinking about having a Friday Social for our friends/volunteers, in The Okay Corral, when they come out to walk our dogs on Friday. Because they are always craving Miles of Chocolate. I know when we serve them the delicious Miles of Chocolate with banana and or strawberry milkshakes, we will then surprise them and give them each a mile of chocolate to take back home with them.

I took this picture of a brick of Miles of Chocolate, so you can see how big a small brick actually is. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Ben Welch!

Today is our dear friend, Ben Welch's, birthday and Kinky, Tony and I want to wish him the best birthday ever.

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Ben. Happy Birthday to You. And many more.

Valerie!

This morning we received some very sad news from our dear friend Ben. Valerie, Ben's beautiful, sweet Pit Bull that we rescued over ten years ago, that he adopted from us, lost her long battle fighting cancer.

Valerie was loved by many, including Kinky, Tony and me and she was a joy to be around because she was so sweet and well trained by Ben. Rest in Peace, Valerie. We loved you and you will be missed and you will always be remembered in our hearts.

Blue Monkey!

Today has been great. This morning while Tony was gone on a Texas Master Naturalist field trip, Ben and I did the chores outside, while we talked and listened to my music play outside.

Early this afternoon, Rose and Bonnie, two really cool Girl Scouts from Dripping Springs, showed up with their parents, to deliver their Silver Projects, that they made for our dogs and have been working on for months.

When they arrived, after howdies and hugs, I took this picture of Rose and Bonnie standing by the trailer, carrying The White House, that Bonnie had made for the portable Puppy Pentagon pen, that Rose had built, to complete their Girl Scouts Silver Projects.

Tony, Ben and I were blown away with their craftsmanship, skill and creativity and we could not wait to set up the portable puppy pen and put The White House inside it, so we asked them to follow us down to where we were going to put it. Here's Ben helping Rose set up her puppy pen, around The White House, which is the perfect size for puppies.

In no time at all, Rose's pen was set up, so I took this picture of the finished portable puppy pen, surrounding The White House, with Bonnie and Rose trapped inside the pen, so I could take their pictures.

As we stood back admiring the young ladies hard work and the clever names that they gave to the doghouse and pen, I joked, "All I can say is, "Because we are a non-profit organization, our puppies are going to have to be bi-partisan-pups. I can't wait for Kinky to see this..."

After Tony, Ben and I had thanked the girls for their work and helping out our rescue ranch, Rose and Bonnie told us that their was even more. "We made toys and have toys to give out to all of the dogs and we also brought you some dog food and dog treats."

As Ben and Tony helped unload the dog food and doggie treats, I thanked the girl's parents for helping the girls deliver their projects to us and for also doing such a fine job raising their children. Then Bonnie and Rose grabbed their big, blue bag from the car, so they could hand out the toys to our dogs. Of course our dogs loved their new toys and here are a couple of pictures that I took of Miss Dee playing with her new, blue monkey and Rocky ready to catch his tossed toy in mid air.

When is was time for Rose and Bonnie and their parents to head back to Dripping Springs, we thanked Bonnie and Rose once again, for being such great Girl Scouts and for taking their time to help our dogs at our rescue ranch. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Donny & Marie! or 10,000 Miles!

Today has been great, but no thanks to M.I.R., because around 10:00 this morning we sadly discovered that our central air conditioner system was no longer working, so we called Bobby, our air conditioner man, because he is the best there is, in the Texas Hill Country.

Around noon, while Tony was getting feed, in Medina, Baxter & Bella arrived and poor Baxter wasn't real happy, because he had been carsick and thrown up, from his and his sister's trip from Mason.

Jennie and her husband Chris, who delivered B& B to us late this morning, work with a small, devoted rescue group and Jennie is also Ben Welch's sweet, older sister. The group had rescued these two precious pups, back in January, and when the nice woman, who had been fostering these siblings, husband suddenly died, she was devastated and overwhelmed with grief. So, when we heard about the group scrambling to find B& B a safe place fast—we said, "Yes, we can take them."

Baxter and his sister are two of the coolest pups. When I first met B&B, they were calm and wagging their tails, as Jennie cleaned up Baxter, before we took them to an empty pen. We stayed in the pen with them for about twenty minutes and visited and when the dogs seemed fine about their new digs, I gave Jennie and Chris a grand tour of our rescue ranch, which included The Okay Corral, my writing cabin, Outer Space and our trailer, I mean The Cabin and I really enjoyed it, because it was the first time for me to meet Ben's sister and her husband, that Ben is always bragging about. Around 1:00, after we had hugged and adios-ed each other, they took off to go back home.

Ten minutes after they had left, Tony returned to the ranch and he was sorry that he had missed seeing them. A few minutes later, when we took off, in Kermit, so T. could meet and feed B&B, he asked me what their names were and I said, "Donny and Marie Osmond. You're going to love them..." Here's Donny & Marie's pictures, that I took, after Tone had fed them and had fallen in love with them too. Girl's first and Donny's the one wearing a dog collar:

By 2:00 this afternoon, Mama, Roy, Belle, Abbie, Toto and Beau were the happiest dogs on the planet, because Bobby had replaced a capacitor and we had air conditioning! Thank you, Bobby!

Late this afternoon, my brother Ronnie called me just to chat and when I started telling him about how much I love my new, pink iPod Nano's Nike+, I said the dumbest thing, because I was so excited and Ronnie caught it immediately and he started teasing me. It all started when I mixed my words and should have said, "steps,"but instead I bragged, "Ronnie, I'm walking 10,000 miles every day!" 

Ronnie burst out laughing and half-hollered, "Nita! Nancy just told me that she is walking 10,000 miles every day!" Then I heard Nita roaring with laughter. 

Thinking fast about my dumb word mistake, I quickly shot back, "And, I'm doing it in 10 hours a day! I'm walking 1,000 miles an hour!" Then Ronnie echoed my words back to Nita and we must have laughed about it for at least two minutes. And when it was time for us to disconnect, I got Ronnie one more time, "Listen, Ron. I need to go now, because I only have an hour left to go walk off my last 1,000 miles for the day."

Y'all have a great evening!

Green Sauce!

Today has been fun, with a little excitement added. This morning I did the Harley Show and Rufus was Harley's Pet of The Week and after we had talked about Rufus being a sweet dog, about nine-years-old, I told Harley about eating a delicious lunch, at Wheelers, yesterday, with my sister. "What did you eat?" Harley asked.

"I had a sausage," I replied.

"What kind of sausage was it?"

"I don't remember." Harley started laughing and then he jokingly mocked me.

"Hi, I'm from Fort Worth. I'll just have a sausage," he said, using a thick Texas accent. Then he and I started laughing about it and then we talked a little more.

Before 8:00, while I was fixin' breakfast, I got a call from a woman in Bandera, who had just found two dogs in her neighborhood and one of them was wearing one of our numbered Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch dog tags. When I looked up the tag number I told the woman that I would call the owner and then call her right back.

When I called the dog owner, I got her machine and left a message about her dogs being found. Then Tony, walked inside the trailer. "Tony, a woman in Bandera just found $#@! and another dog and I just called &#@, but I got her machine and I am fixin' to call the woman back and tell her that we are leaving right now to go pick up the dogs."

Then the phone rang and Tone took the call. It was &#@ returning my call. After Tony gave &#@ the woman's phone number and address, she told T. about their new dog being a digger and that's how they had gotten out. Then she thanked him and told him, she knew where they were and that she was going to go pick them up. So, we didn't have to go to Bandera after all.

Early this evening, after Ben had finished mowing outside, we came inside The Cabin, so I could show Ben how to make my latest, easy to make, healthy, low cost, stolen recipe, Cousin Nancy's Avocado & Tomatilla Sauce. "Ben, these are the ingredients and you add them into a blender in this order:

1/2 lb. of peeled Tomatillas
3 slices of Onion
1 tsp. minced Garlic
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 peeled Avocado

Then blend them at a low speed, until the texture is sort of lumpy—then serve." Then I served it with some chips, to Tony and Ben. "We put it on top of our scrambled eggs, the other morning, Ben and it was delicious," I said, as Ben and Tony politely, took turns dipping their chips into my delicious, stolen green sauce. Needless to say, "Ben loved it, as much as we do.

"I'm definitely going to make this, but I think I will add some Cilantro and roasted Red Pepper to your recipe and serve it with Ceviche," Ben said.

When it was time for Ben to take off, we invited him to come over for breakfast, tomorrow morning, so he can try my scrambled eggs with the sauce and he told us, "Sounds good. I'll see y'all at breakfast." And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

Roscoe P. Coltrane!

Today has been great, even though we are in FMT (Full Moon Time) and MIR (Mercury In Retrograde) is just right around the corner, beginning on July 14th.

This morning after we did our chores outside, we jumped into Buttermilk and went to the pound, in Kerrville, to pick up an adorable, medium-sized, Muttagree, that Tony, Ben and I had fallen in love with, last Friday, when we were at the pound rescuing Hank.

We didn't take her last Friday, because we didn't have enough room, inside Trigger, so we had asked them to please hold on to this sweet dog until Monday, because then we would be without Ben and Hank, taking up space, inside the truck and today we would have more than plenty of room inside Trigger.

As Tony drove Buttermilk and the three of us over to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, so we could drop her off, to get her spayed, shots and a checkup, I came up with a name for her. "Hi, y'all," Susan said, as we walked inside the clinic, with the best vibes. "And who is this beautiful dog?"

"She's Jackie Kennedy Onassis," I said, which caused a few older people to chuckle, inside the waiting room. "We have just rescued her from the pound..."

After we left Hoegemeyer's we went straight to H-E-B, so T. could fill Buttermilk up and I could fill up a grocery cart. Then we came home.

By 4:00, I had Roscoe P. Coltrane's adoption papers prepared, because our friend Medana was coming out to adopt him, because she had seen his picture in the Bandera County Courier, as our Pet Of The Week and it was love at first sight for her. And today when Roscoe saw Medana, it was his turn to fall in love at first sight with Medana. Here's a picture that I took, right after he was adopted, of R. P. Coltrane with Medana.

After Medana and her new found love interest left the rescue ranch, we did too, because Kinky was back from his East Coast Bi-Polar Tour and we could not wait to go see him. We had planned to only  stay and visit with him for about ten or fifteen minutes, so he could rest, relax and visit with his sister Marcie, but we had badly miscalculated our planning, because we ended up visiting with Kinky and Marcie, at the Lodge, for over an hour!

Our visit was so much fun and it was filled with laughter, listening to Kinky, telling us about all of the funny things that happened during his tour. And all that I can say is, "That's about it for tonight and I am so happy that Kinky is back at the ranch.

Y'all have a great evening!

I'm On Fire!

Today has been great, even though our dogs and me overslept this morning. We didn't wake up until 7:30, but by the time Tony had returned home, from the Old Timer, I had already cooked up a big stack of delicious Aretha Frankensteins' Insanely Great Pancakes for him, Ben and me, to eat for breakfast. And needless to say, "Ben is now hooked on Aretha's pancakes too," which is sort of sad, because this morning, I used up the rest of Aretha Frankensteins pancake mix, that Eileen gave to us.

This afternoon I fixed sandwiches for Tony, Ben and me and after we ate lunch Ben and I decided to jam, because Ben had learned how to play and sing, Bruce Springsteen's great song, I'm On Fire. And within a couple of minutes, after Ben had told me what the chord progression was for the song, we put a bluegrass spin on it, which made Tony come out of his office and say, "Y'all sounded fantastic together! I want to hear that again..."

So, Ben played his mandolin and sang the song again for Tone, as I finger picked my guitar as fast as I could and not to brag, we really did sound pretty good. After we had performed Springsteen's song for Tony, he went back into his office aka man cave and that's when Ben I decided to have some fun and turn some old Motown songs into bluegrass songs and we had a lot of fun jamming together, until my fingers were killing me and I had to put my guitar up, for the day.

Early this evening we unplugged everything inside the trailer, because we actually had a few serious thunderstorms, thank goodness. Because we were unplugged, Ben, T. and me and all of our dogs went into Outer Space for a really fun visit. While we laughed and teased each other a lightning bolt suddenly hit really close, so I bolted and ran inside The Cabin, because it had scared me and when I finally came back outside to rejoin them, they teased me relentlessly for being so scared of lightning.

After re-telling them the true story about my mother being hit by an eighteen-wheeler, in downtown Fort Worth, when she was real young and having to have a metal plate put into her head and missing school for a year, with her identical twin, who didn't have a metal plate in her head, which no longer made them identical and the surgeons warning my grandparents, "that my mom was a walking lightning rod and to be careful during electrical storms" and then my mother putting the fear of lightning into my brother Ronnie, sister Cindy and me at an early, impressionable age—they roared so loud with laughter, that we could not hear the thunder going on around us.

When the thunderstorms had ended, we checked our rain gauge and we were delighted to find that we had received over a half inch of much needed rain. Then Ben grabbed his mandolin and adios-ed us, so he could get back to Austin. And that is about it for today, because it just thundered outside and we need to unplug, again.

Y'all have a great evening!

I Hope Your Knees Are Okay!

Today has been a lot of fun. Early this morning Ben came out to help Tony, for a few days, so my morning started out with a lot of laughing, because Ben kept telling us funny jokes.

Around 9:30, our super great dog-walking volunteers/friends; Jim and Eileen showed up, just a few minutes apart and I want to thank both of them, because Jim walked 17 dogs and Eileen walked 16 dogs and our dogs loved it.

When the dog walking was over, I had a fun time visiting with Eileen and Jim, as they rested in the shade and drank water, as we watched Tony and Ben preparing the ramps to load up Kermit, on a borrowed trailer, because Kermit was fixin' to go to Kerrville to get fixed.

When the ramps were set and ready for Kermit, Eileen, Tony, Jim and I slowly pushed Kermit up the steep ramps, as Ben stood in front of the trailer, using a come-along with a heavy chain attached to Kermit's front bumper, hand-cranked to help pull Kermit onto the trailer.

While Tony and Ben tied Kermit to the trailer, Jim adios-ed us and then he drove away. Then Eileen and Ben got to telling hilarious jokes and I was laughing so hard my back began to ache, even though I didn't understand one of Ben's jokes, that he and Eileen had to explain to me, before Tony, Ben, Buttermilk and Kermit took off for Kerrville. "Tony, I think I am going to go to the pound to rescue a dog, while y'all are gone," I said. "Y'all drive careful."

A few minutes later, after Eileen and I had adios-ed each other, I grabbed my purse, then jumped into Trigger to go to the pound, in Kerrville. When I arrived at the pound, I called Ben. "Ben, I'm in Kerrville, at the pound. Where are y'all?"

"We just dropped off Kermit."

"Do y'all want to meet me for lunch somewhere?"

"Sure," Ben answered. "Tony, the big baby, says he's starving."

"Okay, give me fifteen minutes and I'll meet y'all at..." After quickly looking at the dogs, at the pound, I told the staff that I would come back, after lunch, with Tony and Ben, so they could help me pick out a dog.

Then when I tried to back Trigger out of their parking lot, I couldn't do it, because we were wedged tightly between two cars. So, when I saw a man, that works at the pound walk by, I jumped out of Trigger and asked him if he could please back Trigger out for me, because I have never been good at backing up. He smiled and gladly jumped into Trigger, instantly banging his knees on the steering wheel, because my seat was as close as it could be to the brake. "The first knob, near the front, on the side there, will move the seat backwards for you," I said, trying to be helpful.

After he had moved the seat, as far back as it would go, from the steering wheel, he backed Trigger out for me. "Thank you, so much," I said, as I climbed back into Trigger and moved the seat as close as it could be to the steering wheel.

When I arrived at the restaurant, Tony and Ben were already there, sitting at a table, waiting on me. "Did you get lost?" Tony teased. "We've been waiting for over twenty-five minutes and we were about ready to send out a rescue team to find you." Ben started laughing.

"I'm sorry, I'm late. I had to get one of the men employees to back Trigger out of the parking lot for me and when he did, he banged his knees on the steering wheel, because my seat was too close to the steering wheel." Which made them burst out laughing. Then Ben made a hilarious wisecrack, which I can't repeat, about me being so short.

After a fun lunch with the guys, we jumped into Trigger and went to the pound to get a dog and while we were in the lobby, as I was signing off on the paperwork for Hank, a beautiful, happy, young yellow Lab, the nice man who had backed Trigger out for me earlier, walked inside. "Tony, Ben, that's the nice man who helped me with Trigger. Thank you, so much for backing Trigger out for me," I said. "I hope your knees are okay?" Then Tony, Ben and the man looked at each other, smiled and started chuckling.

When it was time for us to go, Hank and I climbed into the backseat, so Tony and Ben would have enough leg room and a few minutes later, when we arrived at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, to drop off Hank, to get him his shots and neutered etc., my face was soaking wet from Hank's constant licking.

When the three of us left the clinic, Underdog sat happily beside me, in the backseat, until we arrived at the restaurant, to let Ben out, so he could drive Buttermilk, with an empty trailer attached, back to the ranch. And I am happy to say that Underdog slept between Tone and me all of the way home. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Aretha Frankensteins Insanely Great Pancake Mix—Rocks!

Thursday, Friday and today have been great. First off, I want to say that Wednesday night, Tony and I watched Dallas and we loved it—in fact, we are totally hooked on the show and we plan to watch it every Wednesday night.

Thursday morning, Ben came out to work and like always we had a lot of fun visiting with him, when he wasn't working outside.

Friday morning, when I went outside to greet and to thank our super volunteers/friends: Jim, Eileen and Lisa, for coming out to walk our dogs for us, Ellen was sitting, in front of the barn, at her grooming table giving Underdog a much needed haircut—that he did not seem to want.

When I got to the barn Eileen, Ellen and I started chatting, as Underdog's hair either fell on the table or was swept away by the wind. "Nancy, I have something to give to you," Eileen said, as she walked over to get something out of her car. When she returned with a box, she said, "This is the best pancake mix in the world and you and Tony are going to love the pancakes, but it says that you must use real eggs, canola oil and buttermilk. Then she handed me the interesting-looking box.

"Aretha Frankensteins Insanely Great Pancake Mix?" I said, reading the front of the box. "I've never heard of this. Aretha Frankensteins famous scratch pancakes. I love their packaging. It makes me smile just looking at it."

"The pancakes are to die for, Nancy," Eileen swore. When I looked at the back of the box I started laughing as I read some of the cute testimonials endorsing the pancakes:

"...so good it really should go by a different term, perhaps Powdered Awesome or Box of Magnificence..." —J. Scott Wilson, Food Editor

"Aretha's pancakes are Abbey Road era Beatles, the rest are Ringo solo stuff!"  —Jeff Styles, WGOW Talk Radio icon

"Aretha Frankensteins, that place rocks!" —Rachel Ray, Television Food Goddess

"I can't wait to make these pancakes," I said, "but first I've got to get some canola oil and buttermilk. Thank you so much for this."

Then Tony walked up and he started teasing Eileen about, "Being this close to being put back on probation," so I jokingly said, "Eileen, you will never be put on probation, by Tony again. In fact Tone, I might just put you on probation for giving Eileen a hard time. Look at this cute box of pancake mix that Eileen got for us, it's made in Chattanooga, Tennessee, called,"Aretha Frankensteins Insanely Great Pancake Mix."

Late in the afternoon, Ben, Tony and I went out to the barn, because Ben had bought some stuff, in Austin, so he could repair the small hole in my kayak and while he mixed up the mixture, in one of his  plastic Hat Creek Saloon cups, that he had cut the top off, we got to laughing about the ridiculously, hard to follow directions. "Why can't they just say, "mix one part to one part?" I asked.

When Ben started using his homemade wire whisk, that he had just made, using some old baling wire, to apply the clear goop, we really started laughing, as we watched the fiberglass mixture slowly fall through the hole, to remain in the inside of my kayak forever. As Ben kept applying more of the goop to try to fill the small hole, I joked, "Ben, you should start a kayak repair business," as the goop continued to slowly flow into my kayak. "If this doesn't start to set up soon, my kayak is going to weigh a ton and it will only go around in circles. I think we should go to my Plan B, which is to cut up a plastic milk carton and tape it down using my pink duct tape. I bet it would work."

After they had quit laughing at me, Ben placed a tiny piece of Bounty paper towel over the hole and jokes, "This should fix it from leaking inside."

"They say Bounty is the best, "I quipped, trying to sound enthusiastic, as I tried to remember where I had put my pretty, pink duct tape. Twenty minutes later, thanks to Ben and Bounty—the goop finally started setting up and had quit draining into my kayak—thank goodness.

"It says to give it a few days to completely set up before using it," I said, as we stared at the odd-looking, almost clear patch of fiberglass, that to me, looked sort of like a raw egg-gone-bad.

Today has been nice and quiet and that is why I am posting this so early in the day, because I am fixin' to go take a nap with Mama and Roy.

P.S. We're having pancakes for breakfast tomorrow and we can't wait! Thank you, Eileen!

Y'all have a great evening!

Super Full Moon!

Today has been great and a lot of fun for me, because before Tony, Ben and I went out to do our morning chores—Ben and I had a fantastic jam session, inside The Cabin! "Ben, you have really gotten good on your mandolin!" I declared, as we picked and played Keb' 'Mo's song, Life Is Beautiful."

While Ben and me played our music (Our versions of some Willie Nelson, Zak Brown, Gary Stewart, Tom Waits, Neil Young, Eagles, Alabama, Kinky, Mickey Gilley, Taj Mahal, Merle Haggard and Bruce Springsteen songs—Tony was outside, in The Egg Palace, gathering The Golden Girls' pretty, colorful eggs.

Late this afternoon, Ben helped Tony load up his-soon-to-be used kayak that he is going to buy from Rick, The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper and then the three of us went down to the creek, so Tony could try it out, so I shot them.

When T. finally came back to the shore he said, "Wow! I want to buy this from Rick..." Then Ben jumped on the kayak and took off paddling, so he could check it out for Tony.

Early this evening, after Ben had left to go back home to Austin with his dogs, Tony and I went outside and put The Golden Girls back inside The Egg Palace and then I came back inside to return a few phone calls, while Tone stayed outside to water our garden and flowers, in the Okay Corral and when he came back inside The Cabin he was grinning-ear-to-ear, "Look, Nance. Our first four peppers..." So I shot them on our kitchen table, before putting them into the refrigerator.

And that is about it for tonight, because we are fixin' to go outside, so T. can shoot the "Super Full Moon."

Y'all have a great evening!

It Was A Sign! or What-"A"-Vacation!

Our fun trip, with Fourth driving us down to Port Aransas, to see Leisa and Rick and spend the night on the privately owned island was more than great—it was a total blast.

We left Medina around 7:00, in Fourth's gigantic truck and it was so high up, off of the ground, I had to use his handy step stool just to climb up into the backseat, which Tony thought was pretty funny and so did I.

We made our first pit stop in Devine to eat breakfast at Big A's Tacos and my Huevos Rancheros were delicious or better yet, "They were devine."

On our way to Pleasanton we told Fourth about this really cool sign there that reads: Peace Love & Oil, which all of us thought was funny and extremely clever, because it has recently become an oil boom town, so when we saw the sign, Fourth pulled off of the highway, so he and Tony could shoot it—with their cameras.

I think it was in Sinton, while we were at stopped at a red light, Tony and Fourth pulled out their cameras and shot a crane erecting a giant, new What-A-Burger sign, which I instantly interpreted it to be a sign, but I didn't know why, yet.

When we arrived in Port Aransas we decided to first eat lunch at the new What-A-Burger, before we called Rick to please come and pick us up, to take us out to the beautiful island and while we waited on Rick and Leisa, I phoned this para sailing place, that Rick had recommended to me, so I could go para sailing and remove it from my bucket list.

When we arrived at the island I helped the men unload our gear and then I put on this stupid-looking old-ladies' bathing suit and the next thing you know I was up in the air—screaming and flying around like the Pelicans, which Rick has affectionately nicknamed—"The Port A Coast Guard." Tony took these pictures of me, high as a kite and a squadron of Port A's finest flying in formation.

While I was up there flying around, while saying big-time prayers about not crashing when I landed, scaring away the tourists, in my ugly bathing suit and getting a birds eye view of everything, Fourth was on the top of the lighthouse getting a birds eye view, too, so Tony shot him too, so Fourth could prove to his friends that he had done it and could remove it from his bucket list.

And I love this picture of Fourth, because it makes me laugh, because Tony caught him off guard as he was climbing to his feet and he looks like he is doing some kind of fancy Karate maneuver.

When the people brought me back to the island I was so proud of myself for para sailing and so were our friends and after I had put on some more decent clothes—the party began, because we were on "island time."

While we visited with Rick and the guys took hundreds of pictures, Leisa cooked us up a delicious dinner. Then we sat on Rick's porch telling hilarious tales and laughing.

Early this morning, while we sat out on Rick's porch drinking coffee, Tony took this awesome sunrise picture and I love it. Then we ate breakfast, hung around for a little while digging up some sand and picking up seashells and then Rick took us back to Port Aransas, with a kayak aboard the boat, so Tony could take it home to try it out to see if he wanted to buy it from Rick.

Here is a great picture that T. took of Fourth, standing outside his truck, as the ferry took us to the mainland.

On our way back home, we stopped at the What-A-Burger, in Pleasanton for lunch and we got to laughing and joking about how our fun Port A trip had gotten a food theme—all with A's in it. Port A, Big A's Tacos, two What-A-Burger meals, so I said, "The title of my blog tonight is going to be, "What-"A"-Vacation!" And we laughed about it all of the way home and that is what the sign was for.

I'm fixin' to go to bed now and that is about it for tonight, but I must confess that everything I've written tonight is true, except for me going para sailing—"You've got to be kidding! I'd never do that, especially in a bathing suit! Thank you, Ben, Rick & Leisa and Fourth for our wonderful 33 hour vacation."

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Nancy Doyle!

Today is our dear friend, Nancy Doyle's, birthday and Kinky, Tony, Ben and I want to be the very first of her many friends, to wish her the happiest birthday she's ever had, because we love her so much.

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Nancy. Happy Birthday to You. And many more!

We hope that you are having a blast in Florida today, celebrating your birthday with your friends. And we wish that we could be there, too.

Breakfast At The Cabin! or Squirt Wins Again!

Today has been a lot of fun. This morning Will and Ben came over with some of Will's groceries, so Will could fix all of us his favorite breakfast.

As we sipped our coffees, Will went to work preparing our meal and at one point Ben went to the sink to help him crack up the eggs. And when their backs were facing me I joked, "Do y'all always dress alike?" Then I snapped this picture of them wearing Miles of Chocolate sweatshirts, like the ones Ben gave to Tony and me, when he gave Will's his.

After they shot back some funny remarks, which I am not going to repeat, Will showed me how to cook his breakfast. "I toast the English muffins first, then I add cheese to the bottom muffin, then I add scrambled eggs and then I top it off with thinly sliced ham, cooked in butter. It's so easy."

There was complete silence as we ate Will's delicious breakfast, but after I had cleaned my plate I said, "We've got to go to town to get groceries today and I am going to buy all of your ingredients and make this for us in the morning. This was absolutely delicious! Why don't y'all join us for breakfast tomorrow morning?"

"Thanks, Nance," Ben said, "but I can't, because I'm going back to Austin later this afternoon."

"What time do you want me over here?" Will asked.

After I had cleaned up the kitchen all of us went outside to do the chores and it was a lot of fun, because we all took turns teasing each other about this or that.

This afternoon we went to Kerrville to buy groceries and then we came home, so I could cook lunch for us and that is about it for today, because tonight I am watching the Academy Awards.

P.S. Early this evening, my dear friend Rick, "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper" in Port Aransas called me with some exciting news. "Hi, Nancy! Check your e-mail. Squirt (Leisa's cute little dog) just won the race for the third year in a row! I just sent you a press release about it..."

News Release from Rick----------------

In spite of recent hip surgery, Squirt ( racing under the psudonym of "The mighty A** Squirt") took all honors at the Port Aransas Weenie dog and small dog races for the third year in a row.

After a handy win in the small dog races TMAS boldly challenged the winner of the weenie dog races for a winner takes all match. Tension was high and much was made of the possibility of the weenie resorting to underhanded and unsportsmanlike conduct. 

The first race was disqualified as a result of TMAS being attacked and run off the track by said weenie.

Second race was close and TMAS managed to cross the finish line in spite of the aforementioned weenie biting TMAS on his mighty a**. The crowd generally agreed that when running a dog race the dog getting bit on the a** is most likely ahead of the dog doing the biting."

This is a picture of Leisa and Squirt, taken last year, after Squirt won the small dog races.

Y'all have a great evening! Squirt Rules!

French Toast! or First Toast!

Today has been another great day. This morning before Tony and Ben went to do the chores outside, I fixed them and Will my famous easy to make French Toast, topped off with 100% Vermont Maple Syrup and they loved it, which made me feel good. In fact, Will loved my French Toast so much, he ended up having me cook him a total of six pieces and he cleaned his plate. Then Roy Rogers cleaned his plate, before I cleaned his plate.

During our fun breakfast we did a lot of teasing and laughing. We teased Will about eating all of our food. Then they teased me about my accent and what I did yesterday, before Ben made the five Redneck Wine Glasses. "Will, yesterday Nancy was trying to thinking up ways to fill the vases before I glued them to the Ball jars," Ben said. "She ended up finding this long, fake gold chain and dropped it into a vase, but she didn't like it, so when she tried to remove it from the vase, it got stuck and would not come out." Then Ben started laughing.

"It looked dumb inside the vase," I added.

"Anyway, she was shaking the vase and trying to get the chain out and when she finally got a hold of a piece of it, she jerked it out and says, "Aha! I'm a musician!" The men burst out laughing at me.

"Ben, I meant to say, "magician" as soon as I said, "musician," I said to three pairs of deaf ears. "The five vases will be ready for us to use at 5:30 this evening and I can't wait," I said, trying to change the subject. "Will, don't you just love Roy Rogers? He has stolen my heart."

"Yeah, he's a pretty cool dog." Will said, without enthusiasm, as he petted Roy on the top of his head. "Is he drooling on my leg?" Ben, T. and I started laughing. "Stop it, Roy. Go on boy. Get in your chair." Roy did nothing, but continued to drool on his pant leg, so we started laughing.

"He's real well-trained, Will. He came that way," I bragged, "but he only minds Tone and me. Roy, come on boy, let's go outside." Belle and Roy immediately went to the front door for me to let them go outside.

Before Ben and Tony went outside to do their morning chores and Will went back over to the Lodge to baby sit The Friedmans I said, "Lunch will be ready about noon, y'all. We're having pot roast, mashed potatoes and my new okra recipe that Carol gave to me and since Aaron is coming out to mow, I'm also fixin' meatloaf, so we will have plenty to eat."

After the men left The Cabin I grabbed the feng shui book, that Alfredo had sent to me and I began reading about personal Kau numbers, a compass formula which categorizes people into East and West groups for powerful feng shui applications on page 138 and after doing the calculation I discovered that I my Kau number is 2, which is a very good number to have.

For women, you take the last two digits of the year that you were born and add them together. I was born in 1951, so I added 5 + 1 = 6. Then I added 5 to the 6 = 11, then I added 1+1 together to get 2, my Kau number and then I used the men's calculation, which is different from women and found out that Tony's Kau number is 1.

For my good luck directions I am suppose to face Northeast for wealth, West for health, Northwest for love and Southwest for growth. So, during our fun lunch today, I told the guys about finding my Kau Number and then I told them how to find theirs. "Take the last two numbers of your birth year and add them together, then reduce it to a single number. Then subtract that number from 10 and that is your Kau number," I said. "My number is 2, Tony's number is 1 and Kinky's number is 2, like me. It also says that if you negotiate any kind of business deal, while putting yourself in your good feng shui position, you will have the edge over the business person who doesn't know them and..."

So, Ben and Will did their calculations to find out that Will's Kau number is 6 and Ben's Kau number is 6 too, then Will tells me that he doesn't believe in feng shui and then he explains why to my deaf ears, as Tony, Ben and Will devoured their lunch.

While I was cleaning up the lunch dishes, we started talking about the Redneck Wine Glasses that Ben made for us. "At 5:30, we need to try them out," Tony suggested.

"We should use champagne," Will said, "if y'all have any?"

"We don't have any champagne," I replied.

"Oh, yes we do, Nance," Tony chimed in. "We have a bottle in the wine cellar (our bedroom closet, because we don't have any space for it in the kitchen.) "I'll go get it." Seconds later, T. enters the kitchen with a dusty bottle of champagne that someone gave to us. After T. dusted it off the bottle, he placed it inside the refrigerator, so it would be chilled when we made our first toast, at 5:30.

When everyone went back outside to work, Roy, Mama, Belle, Toto and Abbie followed me to the bedroom and we took a short twenty minute nap with me in the middle, facing Southwest for feng shui growth. Then my dear friends Ann, visiting from New Mexico, and Carol, the other half of our Cowgirl Sisterhood, from down the road, came over to see us and we had a wonderful time visiting with them and Ben and Will.

At 5:30, we filled the Redneck Wine Glasses, that Ben had made for us, with some of Carol's fine wine or the cheap, chilled champagne or my fine boxed wine and then we made a toast, "Bottoms up!" Then the real party started.

Unfortunately, as we happily sipped our choice of spirits, as brave June, Ellen and Eileen were driving up to Big D, to cheer on their number one fan, Luna-Tick Tick Boom, at the Assassination City Roller Derby—Ben's Redneck Wine Glass broke apart, because he hadn't glued it together right. "How sad," I jokingly exclaimed, as we laughed about Ben's redneck predicament. "I guess you'll just have to drink the champagne from the jelly jar, Ben." And Ben made the best of it and he didn't seem to mind sipping the cheap champagne from the Ball jelly jar.

Tonight has been so much fun. It was great seeing Ann and I am so glad that she and Carol got to finally meet each other. After Ann left around 6:30 to go back to her brother's ranch. Tony and I had a great visit with Carol. We laughed so much my back started aching immediately. And when Carol left to go back to her beautiful ranch, around 7:30—I immediately grabbed Mari's pretty, pink-dyed sheepskin, from my office and as I finish typing this—my back is starting to feel much better. Thank you, Mari.

Y'all have a great evening! Luna-Tick Tick Boom Rules! I hope her team wins.

The Redneck Wine Glass!

Today has been a total blast, thanks to my dear friends aka "The Greatest Volunteers in Texas" and Ben Welch.

Since February 10th, Eileen's birthday and Carol's birthday on Valentine's Day, all of us have been trying to have an outdoor cookout, in The Okay Corral, to celebrate their birthdays, but due to bad weather, etc. we haven't been able to celebrate Eileen's and Carol's birthday until today.

I was inside The Cabin drinking coffee and catching up with Ben's latest news when Jim, Ellen, Lisa, Eileen and Dottie showed up, so Ben and I went outside to greet them and so I could give Eileen her belated birthday present from Tone and me—a Redneck Wine Glass. But as soon as we gave her our gift, which she loved, she gave me a pink sweatshirt, some beautiful pink tulips and a copy of the Valentine's Day The Kerrville Daily Times, which was printed on pink paper, because a dear friend of Kinky's and mine had written something sweet about us, for the special Valentine's Day section and I loved reading it. Here is a picture that Lisa took of me reading the paper, with the Tulips behind me on the steps.

After thanking Eileen for the lovely, pink flowers, the pretty pink sweatshirt and the baby pink colored newspaper it was my turn to give all of them a personal present—"What Would Ronnie Do?" refrigerator magnets, which made all of them laugh, while they promised me that they would put them on their fridges. Then I invited everyone up to The Cabin to see our latest remodeling and that is when the birthdays party commenced.

When we came inside the trailer Lisa gave me two bottles of fine wine, from Cosco, for the birthday party, even though she, Ellen and Dottie were twisting off the caps of their cold beers, while Eileen topped-off her Redneck Wine Glass with some Bud Light.

While Jim walked our dogs and Tony and Ben tended to the outdoor grill and began cooking the food that everyone had brought, we had a really fun visit inside The Cabin and when I showed Ellen my new feng shui book and the beautiful card, that Alfredo had made for me, she started reading it and started making comments on some of the more simple feng shui rules. "It says here that sleeping with your feet pointing towards the door is known as the death position."

"Omg!" I said. "Our bed is pointing towards the door! Y'all come look at the beautiful, cedar bed that Tony made for us when we got married. I think we're in the death position! " Everyone ran to our bedroom to check it out. "Ellen, this is scary."

"Let me read on, Nancy," Ellen said, calmly. "Y'all's bed is so beautiful..." When we returned to the kitchen/big room, Eileen and Dottie excused themselves and went outside to greet June and Carol, while Ellen speed-read about the placement of our deadly bed placement. 

Two minutes later, after Ellen had read out loud to me and figured out that our bed placement was just fine—thank goodness—we went outside to join the party. While Ben and Tone cooked up the hamburgers Eileen took me aside. "Nancy, you have got to do this for me. It will be so hilarious. Before you print the next 100 "What Would Ronnie Do?" magnets, I think you should rat your hair up into a big beehive or else wear a flip, wear some dark red lipstick and have Tony shoot you talking on your pink Princess Phone and..." I laughed so hard, my back instantly started hurting.

"I will do it, but I don't know about ratting my hair." Here is a great picture of Birthday Girl Eileen that Lisa took and shared with me.

Lunch, inside the writing cabin, with everyone, was filled with non-stop laughter and teasing and Lisa's homemade Cosco chocolate cake was to die for. And there is so much more to write about this super fun birthdays party today, but I need to wind this up, so I can go to bed soon, but I want to thank June, Ellen, Eileen, Lisa, Jim, Carol, Dottie, from New York, Ben and Tony for making my day great, even though my back is still aching.

When the super fun party ended, after I had cleaned up a few dishes, because we had used paper plates, etc., Ben, T. and me started talking about how to make The Redneck Wine Glass that we had given to Eileen. 

A few minutes later, Tony looks up from his computer and says, "I just found out how to make them on YouTube." And after we had watched the short, informative video, we told Ben that we had some errands to run in Kerrville and that we would bring back the special glue needed, some small Ball canning jars with lids and some cheap candle holders, from a dollar store.

At 5:00, when we returned to the rescue ranch we put Ben to work in the kitchen, making Redneck Wine Glasses for us, him and our friends, because he was better at gluing the jar to the candle holder.

After Ben had created five Redneck Wine Glasses for us, I was disappointed to discover that the recommended drying time for the special glue to bond with the candle holders was 24 hours, but we laughed it off, as I carefully placed them on a shelf to dry, after removing the new Vermont Jug of 100% Maple Syrup, because tomorrow morning we are having Ben and Will, who is now baby sitting The Friedmans, over for a French toast breakfast. Please note the fifth Redneck Wine Glass is not visible, because it is directly behind one of the glasses.

And as I finish writing this evening, I want to share the beautiful Tulips that Eileen gave to me today. "I love them, Eileen! Thank you, so much."

Y'all have a great evening!