The Perfect Size!

Today has been more than great! Early this morning after Tone softly said, "Nance, it's 6:00. We've got a garage sale to go to!" I rolled out of bed immediately, instead of asking him to please give me another thirty minutes of sleep like I usually do, because I wouldn't miss going to the city wide Medina Garage Sale for anything.

When Tony and I arrived in Medina, the cute town was already bustling with vendors/ local town folk or better said, "Medina-ites" and tourists. Our first stop was at the famous Old Timer, because I needed to cash a check for some cash, so I could pay with cash if I found something that I just had to have.

Then we went down the road a little ways and parked Trigger, near the famous Apple Store aka Cider Mill. Then our fun began. As we strolled up and down the main street (Highway 16) we ran into many old friends of ours and we got to catch up with each other's latest news.

Our friend Dick told us that someone had stolen his tailgate, in Ft. Worth and that he was fixin' to drive to San Antone to buy a tailgate from someone, that he had found on Craig's List. "And I'll bet you that it is your same old tailgate," I teased, as he climbed back inside his pickup. And we saw and got to visit with Linda, from Utopia, Ray & Jan, Julie, Chris, Jeremy, Charlie & Ellen, Frank and Don plus many more.

After we had walked up and down both sides of the highway, Tony and I had our hands full and a little cash left over and we were happy. So, to celebrate our many purchases, we decided to go eat the buffet breakfast, at the Medina Highpoint Resort.

Around noon our dogs inside, The Cabin, started barking, to let us know that someone was here. When Tony and I went outside, we saw our friends, Jane & Richard, getting out of their car. After howdies, hugs and handshakes, Richard said, "We want to adopt a dog. "My dog, Pancho, recently passed away and so did Jane's little dog. Both from old age. Now we're down to one old dog that is very sweet and...."

After they had told us what they were hoping to adopt, Tony and I showed Alice, the sweet, little Chihuahua, to Jane and Richard, that was in our front yard, barking at us, along with Little Debbie. Then we came into the yard so they could play with Alice and get to know her. Unfortunately, there was no magic, between them, so we took off to go show them the rest of our super dogs. But we didn't have to go very far, because Richard instantly fell in love with Chad Stuart! "I want him," Richard said, as Chad wagged his tail and kissed Jane's face. And in between Chad's wet kisses, Jane agreed with Richard that she thought Chad would be the perfect dog for them to adopt. And Chad, Tony and I were thrilled.

"Okay, I'll take Kermit up to the house and do his adoption papers and be right back," I said. Then I drove away.

A few minutes later I returned with the adoption papers. While Richard played with Chad, Jane filled out Chad's adoption form and made it official. Then Tony suggested, "Why don't you drive Jane to her car, so she can drive their car down here to pick up Chad? It will make it a lot easier and it will help keep all of the dogs calm. Richard and I will stay here with Chad." Then Tony put a leash on Chad, so he wouldn't escape as Jane left the alley they were in.

After she jumped inside Kermit we took off, but once again, we didn't go very far, because as I was turning Kermit around, I slowed down and said, "Jane, that's little Mindy. She's a real sweetheart and she's only been here for a couple of weeks. Do you want to check her out?"

The expression on Jane's face, as she stared at Mindy, answered my question, before she said, "Yes. She's the perfect size for me." So, I turned off Kermit and we went into the alley, almost directly across from the alley that Richard, Chad and Tony were standing in, so she could meet Mindy. Mindy ran straight into Jane's arms when I let Mindy come into the alley with us.

Then with all of us wearing smiles on our faces we watched Mindy and Jane fall in love with each other. "I want her!" Jane half-hollered to Richard. "I love this dog!"

"Great!" Richard hollered back.

"Great! Then why don't y'all bring Chad over here to see if he and Mindy like each other? Even though I'm sure they will," I half-hollered. Mindy was so happy she was jumping up and down, as the males walked towards us. To say the least, the dogs instantly fell in love with each other, too!

After all of us had quit laughing about them adopting two dogs instead of one, I went back, to The Cabin, to fill out Mindy's adoption papers and a few minutes later, after Jane and Richard had officially adopted Mindy too, I took this picture of Jane and Richard with their new best friends.

After we adios-ed each other, Tony and I went back to The Cabin, so I could call Kinky and tell him the great news about Mindy and Chad's adoptions. And yes, he was as thrilled about them getting adopted as we were, because Jane and Richard are his friends, too. 

Also, when I was talking to Kinky, still in Oklahoma, he asked me if I had seen the latest pictures, posted on his website, of him with his dear friends Kris Kristofferson, Bobbie Nelson and Willie Nelson, taken after they and Paula Nelson had performed together on stage, last Thursday night, at the Shawnee Oklahoma Grand Casino and the backstage picture taken of him with Ringo Starr, taken last week at Austin City Limits, in Austin. So after we adios-ed each other I checked out the super cool pictures and I love them. And that is about it for now.

Y'all have a great evening!

Love Letters!

It is now ten minutes until five o’clock in the evening—time for me to write a blog. To set the mood, this is what I do everytime before sitting down at the kitchen table to blog.

First, I turn on my salt lamp, then I light two sticks of Nag Champa, my second favorite incense,—next to pinion pine, from New Mexico. Then I pour ‘love worded water’ into my drinking glass, which has the word ‘love’ written on it, and then I turn my iPod on.

It is now playing ‘Hey Nineteen’ by Steely Dan—a great song. Here we go!

Today has been a great day for me! After breakfast, I went over to the Lodge and had a nice visit with Kinky. Then I returned home. I had nearly lowered my paperwork pile—about two inches, when Tony and Aaron came inside the trailer. “Nance,” Tony said. “Can you help Aaron buy some concert tickets online? His computer is down.”

“Sure,” I said. “Where do I need to go?” Aaron told me where to go, and in no time at all, he and I had the tickets ordered. To print them out, Aaron followed me into my office, where the printer is located. As the printer began printing out the two pretty tickets, Aaron said, “Is that a picture of you, Nancy?”

“Yes it is, and so is that one—over there.”

“I can’t believe it!” Aaron said. “That really is you?”

I was laughing so hard, that I was shaking like jello. “Thanks Aaron—nice compliment for so early in the morning.”

“I’m sorry Nancy. I mean, I just can’t believe that you looked like that. You were hot! How old were you in this one?” Aaron asked, as he dug his grave a little deeper.

“Twenty-eight,” I answered, as I continued to shake with laughter. “I keep those pictures on the wall, to prove to people, that I, too, once was young and pretty. Everyone is beautiful when they are young—it’s a given. Wait until you are fifty-seven years old, and someone looks at your old pictures, and they cannot believe that you once looked like that. It is part of the joy of becoming a senior citizen.” I handed Aaron his tickets and we left my office.

“Tony your old lady was really hot way back then. Dang!” Aaron said. “I can’t believe it, man!” (Aaron is thirty-two years old and from California!)

I couldn’t believe Aaron! Tony shot me a wink and smiled, shook his head, and then started laughing, too. Then they went outside, I guess, so Aaron could decide where he wanted to dig his grave.

Around noon, Tony came inside with our mail. After sorting through it, I found a card addressed to me from my new found friends, that I met at our event—Jimmie and Nelda, from Arkansas! Their note was so sweet and full of compliments and love—it filled me with love! They wrote that they could not believe that I had blogged about them, and said, ‘I almost fell off the couch when I saw that!’

What sweet people, to take the time to write me a note! I know that Jimmie and Nelda read my blog, so this is for them— ‘I love you two! Y’all Rock! And, thank you so much for the kind words!’

After I shared Nelda and Jimmie’s note with Tony, the dogs started barking outside, so Tony went outside to see what was the matter. Twenty minutes later, he came back inside to tell me that a man wanted to adopt Bobbie Nelson!

As I filled out the adoption form, Tony told me that the man was really nice, lives about six miles from us, has three dogs, and his old dog had died three months ago, and he was ready to adopt another one! Then we went outside to talk to a man about a dog!

The three of us visited for about twenty minutes. Then Don L. filled out our adoption form. Tony found Bobbie a new collar, put her tags on it, and then put her new collar on her. I know Bobbie knew exactly what was going on, because she could not quit wagging her tail, as Tony put her leash on her, and left the pen with her attached to the other end!

Tony handed her leash over to Don, and she couldn’t wait to load up in his van and get out of here! Two minutes later, they drove away. And, Don told us that he might come back and adopt Willie Nelson, after he talked to his wife about it! We’re keeping our fingers crossed!

The countdown has begun. It is now time for me to go into Outer Space with Tony! I am going to talk to Tony about possibly sending Nelda and Jimmie a copy of our mailing list, and asking them if they would consider writing everyone—one of their loving notes! Everyone should be as lucky as me, to receive—a love letter from them! I can't wait to show it to Kinky!

The Shootout!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend to everyone! Today has been somewhat busy for me. I was up and running (more like skipping) by 6:00 this morning. After feeding the dogs and making some organic coffee, I sat down at my laptop, and finished reading / editing the final chapters, of a friend’s manuscript. His book was a fantastic non-fiction read, and I felt honored that he had asked me to help him edit it. In fact, his dedication is to me!

Around 10:30 this morning, Ronda Lashley and Jose arrived at the rescue ranch. They had come out so Ronda could interview me a little more, and for her to also take a few more pictures for her article in the 'Austin' magazine’s July issue. Ronda had come out a few weeks ago, and she interviewed both Kinky and I, and it had been a lot of fun! We did part of the interview in Outer Space while it was still under construction—I hadn’t decorated it, yet.

So, the first thing I did, when they arrived, was to show Ronda what Outer Space now looked like. Ronda was impressed with my decorating, and Jose really liked it, even though he hadn’t been to Outer Space before. Then we left Outer Space to go take some pictures of the dogs.

I was talking their heads off—telling them how important John Kemmerly was to us, and all of the great work that he has done out here—when we met up with John at the barn. After introductions, Ronda asked John if she could take some pictures of him walking a dog. John was polite, and tried to wiggle out of it with excuses like, “Well, I don’t think so, I didn’t shave this morning, my shirt is dirty. I think y’all need to let Nancy do it.”

“Come on John,” I begged. “You’re the one that does most of the dog walking around here.” I could tell that John didn’t really want to do it, but he agreed to do it anyway.

John and I decided to walk Katherine Ross and Ms. Pepper. As I walked Katherine Ross, and John walked ‘our ton of fun gal’—Ms. Pepper, down to the creek—Ronda began taking pictures of us. Ronda started out following us with her camera, and I joked about her needing to use a wide angle lens on me, and then she got ahead of us and started shooting us, again. It was a lot of fun and I think John really enjoyed it, too.

During our walk back to the rescue ranch, while visiting with Jose, I discovered that he was an oncologist, and he also owned a photography gallery in Fredericksburg, ‘Photography 414!’ It is located at 414 East Main Street in Fredericksburg.

When we returned to the rescue ranch, John took Ms. Pepper and Katherine Ross back to their pens. Ronda then asked us to pick out another dog for her to take pictures of. We decided on Randy Travis. So, John put a leash on Randy, and then we took off for the front yard of my writing cabin.

Ronda took several pictures of Randy with John, and then she left to go visit our pigs. John, Jose and I remained in the front yard— over by the pig pen. Then I heard Ronda, who was inside the pig barn, having what sounded like a two-way conversation with a pig.

I looked at Jose. “Is Ronda inside there, all by herself—talking to one of our pigs?” I asked.

“Yes,” Jose said. “But she is talking to Tony. He’s inside there, too.”

I laughed. “That’s good, because I thought she was carrying on a conversation with a pig,” I said. “I’m hard of hearing and didn’t hear Tony’s voice.”

Then our dogs started barking! Randy had jumped out of the yard and was running back to his pen! John left to go put him back with his roommates—(Moe) Bandy and Mandy.

When Ronda was done with our pigs, she told me that she and Jose were going to walk around and take a few more shots. “That’s great,” I said. “I am going to go get my camera, and take pictures of you taking pictures of our dogs, so I can blog about it. I’ll be right back!”

I went to the trailer, grabbed my camera, and when I was coming out of the gate, John walked up and suggested that we take Kermit, so we could quickly catch up with them before she was done. We jumped into Kermit and John drove us to Willie Nelson’s and Bobbie Nelson’s pen.

I jumped out of Kermit, and started shooting Ronda without her knowing it! When she turned around and saw what I was doing—she broke out laughing and so did we!



After she had taken several pictures of Willie and Bobbie, she thanked us for our help, and then she and Jose left the rescue ranch.

As soon as they were gone, I went to the trailer. I opened up my laptop and went to: www.photography414.com to check out Jose’s gallery online. Wow! I was blown away by his beautiful gallery, and the pictures were awesome! I showed it to Tony and he was mightily impressed, too. We are definitely going to check it out the next time, that we are in Fredericksburg.

After viewing the awesome web site, I checked my e-mail. John’s mom, Mary S., had sent me an address to check out: www.flixxy.com/canine-freestyle-dancing-dog.htm
I went to the address and the video was fabulous! Please check it out