Ghost Dog Returns!

Today was an uneventful day, until around six o’clock, when Carl and Debbie Naylor arrived! Carl is the incredibly, talented and often hilarious auctioneer, who does the auctioneering for us, at our Bonefits, to help raise money for the rescue ranch. As Kinky often says, “Carl Naylor is the best auctioneer in Texas!” And, everyone at the rescue ranch agrees with Kinky’s assessment of Carl. He’s simply the best! We are so lucky!

As soon as Debbie and Carl got out of their car, we shook hands and then hugged, then Carl says, “Nancy, we read your blog everyday. I wanted to show Debbie the rescue ranch, and we also want to see the Space Ship, and go into Outer Space with y’all. Will that be okay, with you guys?”

“Sounds great to me,” I said. “Why don’t y’all follow me over to the launch pad over there, and we’ll show y’all the Space Ship, first. I am really proud of it.” They followed.

When we reached the Space Ship, I invited them inside. Debbie and Carl were shocked at what they saw! “This is absolutely beautiful inside,” Carl remarked. “Debbie, don’t you love the wood?”

Debbie nodded with enthusiasm. “Carl and I have been wanting to find an older recreational vehicle to fix up. Carl we need to look harder, when we get home—I want one just like this.”

We visited for a few minutes inside the Space Ship, and then Tony and I took them into Outer Space with us. They have never been in Outer Space before, and they were blown away when they sat down, and saw the view! Not to brag, but everyone who has gone into Outer Space with us, has had the same reaction, when they see our beautiful view. I just love it!

We hung out in Outer Space, for a while, and it was a blast! If Carl wasn’t making us laugh with one of his stories—Debbie was! When they told us about their two aged Schnauzers, my back started hurting from laughing so hard. Here is my Reader’s Digest version:

Their Schnauzers were both rescues. One claims Debbie and the older blind one, claims Carl. Carl told us that whenever he tries to give a kiss to Debbie, her Schnauzer starts growling at him to quit. Then when Carl’s Schnauzer hears Debbie’s dog growling, he then runs into the room and starts barking wildly at Debbie’s growling dog. “It’s a shame,” Carl said. “We have to sneak around, so I can kiss my wife.”

“Maybe,” I suggested. “Y’all need to think about meeting somewhere in town, once a week.” Everyone laughed.

Tony and I had so much fun in Outer Space with Debbie and Carl, I was sad when we left it. Tony invited Carl to go with him to feed and water the cows, so they left. Debbie wanted a tour of the rescue ranch, so I gave her a tour—starting with my writing cabin. She loved my carved wooden bear, that I bought in Ruidosa, New Mexico!

Now this story gets weird. As soon as Debbie and I had completed the tour, a big white Ford pulls into the rescue ranch. “That must be the guys,” I said, as I looked towards the truck.” I was wrong, it wasn’t Carl and Tony.

It was Lorri from Dallas! She was returning her friend’s dog—Nash aka Ghost Dog! Earlier this week, Malea had sent me an e-mail—Nash was not working out, and she wanted to return him to us. Her friend, Lorri, who was coming down, for a visit to see Carol, our super volunteer, asked if it would be okay for Lorri to bring him down. Of course, I said yes. So, Lorri gets Nash out of her truck, and then she gives me Nash’s leash, and then she gave me a great report about how well Sierra, the dog that she adopted from us, was doing. Then she leaves the ranch to go see Carol.

Ghost Dog, seemed fine about returning to us, but I had to wait for Tony and Carl to get back, so Tony could put Ghost Dog in a pen. Now it gets weirder!

Back in March, before we had captured Ghost Dog, after he had escaped from his pen, Kinky had called to tell me that Carl and Steven Fromholz were coming down for a visit, and he thought it would be a great idea, if Carl, Steven, Angie, Steven’s sister, Tony, him and me try to catch Ghost Dog, because he was so worried about him running loose on the ranch.

I told Kinky absolutely no way, because Ghost Dog would be scared to death, watching six senior citizens, falling down and running around, chasing after him—that we would never be able to catch him. Kinky took my advice.

So now, Tony and Carl drive up to see Debbie and me, standing by the pig pen, with Ghost Dog. Carl remembered Ghost Dog! “That’s the dog that Kinky wanted all of us to catch!” Carl said.

Ghost Dog, seemed a little timid with Carl and Tony, so I led him into the alley pen, that Tony had chosen—the one right next to Alfie, whose roommate, Red Sky, had been adopted out. “We’ll keep Ghost Dog in here for a few days, and then I’ll move him into Alfie’s pen,” Tony said.

After that was done, we visited with Debbie and Carl some more, near my writing cabin, until they needed to leave.

As soon as they had left, Tony took Kermit, and went to close our gate. Then he went out to our organic heirloom garden, to water the plants. He just walked in with our first zucchini! It is (h)uge! (I thought you might like that (H)erb—’Erb.) Here is a picture of it with Willie Nelson! We’re talkin’ Texas sized Zucchini! And, I am bragging! We will be eating on it for several days!

P.S. Congratulations go out to Debbie Naylor for winning the “Teacher of the Year” award at her school this year! It is not a surprise to me—Debbie Naylor Rocks! Y’all have a great evening!

Thank You Very Much!

This morning has been great! After feeding my six dogs, Mama, Abbie, Thunder, Toto, Little Girl and Hank, and then Lucky, our three-legged cat, I made some coffee, and then went out on our new screened-in deck to enjoy my first cup of coffee for the day.

I just love our new deck, that my incredibly great big brother, Ron and my nephew, Tom— built for us! Decorating it has been a lot of fun for me, and I am nearly done with it, and I will have pictures to share soon.

After breakfast with Tony, I decided to check my e-mails. As always, there were numerous letters and spams, but the last two e-mails, made my day! The first one, was from our great friend Carl. He wrote to tell me that he had to cancel his visit with us because he had some business that needed his attention. At the end of his note, he attached a beautiful picture of a rose in his garden—that he had named—Nancy! Wow, that is too cool!

The second e-mail was from our friend Dr. Kim G., who donated the agility equipment to us, a few months back. Well, she is putting on a dynamite Benefit for us, on June 6th, at 8:30 pm, at the Ruta Maya Coffee House & Organic Coffee Importing, up in Austin, featuring—Joe King Carrasco, who we love! Anyway, Kim wrote to tell us that the web site, promoting the upcoming benefit, was now ready for us to post!

Here is the site for the event: http://www.myspace.com/utopiabenefitjoeking

The site is fantastic! Please check out the site and near the bottom of the page they did the coolest slideshow of our dogs!

Thank you, Carl Naylor, Kim and Joe King Carrasco! We love y’all!

I’m fixing to go to Kerrville to get some paint for our front porch!

P.S. Cindy Lou, I hope your move to Granite Shoals went well!

Carl's Poem For Blue

This evening, after bloggling—I checked my e-mail. Our great friend, Carl Naylor, who does our auctions at our Bonefits, and is the best auctioneer in Texas—wrote a poem about Blue, and I want to share it with everyone. It’s beautiful. Thank you Carl. We loved it.
Nancy,
I just now read about Blue's passing. Tell Tony that my thoughts are with you and him at this terribly sad time. I know that you gave an old friend many wonderful years of happiness, and I am sure he would want you to think only of the good times. Loyal friends are just that way. I enjoyed your poem and I am not much of a writer, but here's my attempt at poetry.

As the Moon rises and the Sun sets
All days come to an end.
Birds roost, owls awake, coyotes prowl
This happens time and time again.

Some days are cold, hard and unforgiving
And some are just plain tough.
and, As we travel the winding road of life
We find it smooth and yet terribly rough.

The smooth part makes us awake and happy
Ready for mountains to climb
When its rough and we're tired and cold
One wants to whimper, cry and whine.

As the sun rises and the moon fades,
another day begins anew.
Thank God for good food, a warm bed
And a trusted friend like Blue.

Please tell Tony that Blue was a very lucky dog.
Your Friend, Carl

V.I.P. Tours!

This afternoon, Carl Naylor, our great friend and supporter of the rescue ranch, came out to visit us, and he brought a ton of dog treats for our dogs to enjoy! Carl drank some coffee with us inside the Nellybelle and we had ourselves one great visit! Then Tony and I gave Carl, the world’s greatest auctioneer, our ‘V.I. P. Tour’ of our rescue ranch, which included my writing cabin!

As we were leaving the cabin—Kinky showed up with two very special passengers—Steven Fromholz and his lovely sister, Angie! After a lot of hugging and handshaking, we gave them a V.I.P. Tour, too!

Steven and Angie fell in love with all of our dogs, and so did Carl. Carl wanted to adopt everyone of our dogs, but couldn’t because of a promise he had made earlier, to his beautiful wife, Debbie, because they already have nine dogs and cats! Needless to say—we understood Debbie’s logic and we didn’t let Kinky pressure Carl into adopting a dog.

After tour number two was completed, Kinky invited all of us to come over to the Lodge—and so we did. We had a fun visit there, too. If Carl wasn’t making us laugh—Steven was—or Kinky was! I didn’t have a chance to be funny, because I was laughing so much!

Steven and Angie had to leave first, because their drive back home was over a five hour drive. Carl stayed a little bit longer, and then he left so he could keep an appointment with one of his clients.

Our visitors today were a lot of fun and sadly, the only thing wrong—was that Carl’s wife, Debbie was unable to come, but Carl has promised to bring her back on the next visit and we can’t wait! Today has been a great day!

Thank You Casbeers! We Love You!

Kinky, Steve Fromholz and Little Jewford put on a great show, and then they took a break! Then our friend, Carl Naylor, took to the stage, and he put on a fun, and often hilarious auction, with the help of Barbara and Carol! And, thanks to them—they raised a lot of money for the rescue ranch!

Following the auction, the three ‘Muttsketeers’ came back on stage to polish off the night! And, they were fabulous! If Jewford wasn’t making us laugh out loud, then Kinky was—or Steven was! I hated for the show to come to an end, but thank goodness it did, because I would still be there.

Carol, John, Tony and I visited with the three ‘Muttsketeers’ including A.J. and Ben for a little while after the show, and then we said our good byes to everyone, and left Casbeers.

As soon as I was outside, I realized that it was much colder, because a norther had blown in. With Tony as pilot, and me as his co-pilot, and our two, first class passengers, Carol and John, we quickly boarded Buttermilk, buckled up and headed for home sweet trailer.

Before getting on to I-10, I announced that the outside temperature was at fifty degrees and had dropped five degrees since leaving Casbeers. I knew this, because Buttermilk has an outside thermometer. So we started watching the degrees drop outside, and started placing bets on what the temperature would be by the time we reached Boerne. No one won that bet, because it had jumped up to fifty-six degrees.

When we reached Kerrville, the gauge was fluctuating between forty-seven, and forty-five degrees. John, then bet that the outside temperature would be forty-four by the time we reached his apartment. He lost that bet, because it was forty-three.

After safely depositing John at his place, Carol, Tony and I started placing bets on what the temperature would be at her ranch, and what the temperature would be when we got home. Carol had guessed forty-one for her place, and thirty-nine degrees for the rescue ranch. Well, she won the first part of the bet on her place, but when we arrived at the trailer—Carol’s prediction was way off!

When Tony and I pulled up to our trailer, Buttermilk’s gauge showed thirty-six degrees outside, and to confirm her accuracy, I checked the front porch thermometer before going inside. It was thirty-six degrees!

I must admit, that was one fun vacation for Tony and me! And, I just want to say thank you, again to Casbeers, their waitresses, Barbara and Steve, Steven Fromholz, Little Jewford, Kinky, Ben and A.J., and Carl Naylor for making Casbeers one of the best Bonefits ever!

Casbeers Rocks!

Last Friday afternoon, after adopting out Snowflake to a lovely woman named Marilyn, from Blanco, Tony and I returned to the trailer, so I could do The Chris Duel Show at 4:19!

At 4:11, Michael called to tell me that Chris was at this time, interviewing Kinky, and that he was going to put me on hold, and then in a few minutes, Chris would put me on the air with him and Kinky, to talk about the evening’s Bonefit at Casbeers, in San Antonio. I quickly downed a glass of water and waited. Then Chris put me on the air with Kinky. I loved it!

The three of us took turns talking about the event, and there was a lot of laughter! After a few minutes, Kinky told us good bye—and it was now just Chris and me. I love talking to him because he has a great sense of humor, and knows how to put you at ease. We talked for a few more minutes, and then he plugged our rescue ranch, Kinky, my book, our web site, and lastly my blog!

After the show, Tony told me that he thought the interview went real well, even though, he said I sounded like Gabby Hayes on helium, again. Because, Chris Duel had told me that the Casbeers Bonefit was sold out, I suggested to Tony that we might ought to leave thirty minutes earlier than we had planned with Carol and John. He agreed.

So, while Tony phoned Carol to ask if it would be okay to pick her up at 6:00 instead of 6:30—I was on my laptop writing a dear John letter—to let him know that we would be picking him up thirty minutes earlier, instead of 7:00—now 6:30.

With the plans now changed, Tony and I quickly cleaned up, and dressed for the event. After a couple of minutes of lying to each other about the other looking good, we bid farewell to our dogs and cat. Before leaving the trailer, we grabbed the camera and the map to Casbeers!

We arrived ten minutes early at Carol’s gate, but luckily, she was parked by it, and ready to go! When Carol, all dressed up, got into the backseat of the Explorer, Tony and I both told her that she looked great—which wasn’t a lie. “Thanks,” Carol said.

The three of us laughed, and talked about everything under the sun, as we drove the twenty-one miles to John’s apartment. When we pulled up in the driveway, forty minutes early—Tony honked Buttermilk’s horn, and we waited, and waited and waited. Then Tony honked again, and this time John ran out on the balcony—with a towel wrapped around his waist, but wearing a smile! “He must have not gotten my e-mail,” I commented. And, then we burst out laughing.

A few minutes passed, and then John appeared on the balcony—dressed! When he climbed into the Explorer, Tony said, “You clean up nice, John. I guess you didn’t get Nancy’s e-mail about leaving earlier?”

“Thanks,” John said. “And, no I didn’t get an e-mail.”

Tony backed out of the driveway, put Buttermilk into drive—and then we galloped off for Casbeers! I was fine, until we got onto I-10, because it was already dark outside, and the traffic was heavy! As Buttermilk raced to keep up with the flow of traffic, I tried to appear calm, and not backseat drive from the front seat. By the time I get to Phoenix, I mean Boerne—I was gripping the armrest, and saying little prayers—inside my head, for Buttermilk to get us there safely. I wish I wasn’t scared of city traffic, but I am. But, thanks to John and Carol’s funny tales—they kept me laughing all of the way!

Outside of Boerne, Tony asked John if he would drive us into San Antonio, because of the much heavier traffic and the blinding headlights. John agreed to do it, so Tony took the next exit. It was a rest area for weary drivers! I couldn’t believe our luck! I was weary!

After that fire drill, John navigated us safely to Casbeers, even though his and my maps disagreed with each other’s directions—so I put mine away in my purse.

I knew it was going to be a great night, when John found the only parking place on the block —right in front of Casbeers! It was an omen. When we walked inside the packed club, I told the man taking tickets, that we were on the guest list. “I know, Cousin Nancy,” he said, “I’m Steve, Barbara’s husband. Welcome to Casbeers!”

We shook hands, and then a tall, beautiful blonde, walked up to take us to our table. “Cousin Nancy, I’m Barbara. Welcome to Casbeers,” she said, as she gave me a hug! I then introduced everyone to Barbara and Steve, and then we followed her to a table reserved for us—front row center—four feet from the stage! We had the best table in the club, and everyone was staring at us!

After we had ordered some drinks and super nachos, Chris Duel came over to our table to greet us! After introductions and shaking hands, we visited with Chris for a few minutes, and then he left to go join his beautiful wife, at the table behind us. Then Kinky and Jewford came over to visit with us, and then Carl Naylor—the great auctioneer! When they left—our food and drinks arrived.

Five minutes before show time, Carl Naylor came back to our table, to ask Carol if she would mind helping him with the auction. He told her that he needed her to help spot for him, and that he would also be kidding around with her. Carol, blushed, but agreed to his request, even though, she is somewhat on the shy side—when it comes to crowds. Yeah, Carol—she was going to face one of her fears! Then after Carl left our table—the lights inside the club dimmed.

The stage lit up! “Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Chris Duel, and I want to start the show by asking Cousin Nancy, her husband, Tony Simons, Carol Vail and John Kemmerly to please stand up.”

The four of us stood up, and waved to the friendly crowd.

“Folks, Cousin Nancy and Tony, co-founded the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch with Kinky, and they run the rescue ranch! Carol is their incredibly dedicated volunteer—who walks all of their dogs, and John is, as Cousin Nancy says—the best thing to ever happen to the rescue ranch, and to their dogs! Please give these fine folks a hand!”

The applause was deafening, and then we quickly sat down in our chairs. “Ladies and Gentleman, give it up for Steven Fromholz, Kinky Friedman and Little Jewford!” The crowd went wild as the three walked out onto the stage! It gave me goosebumps.

To be continued...

What A Night! Tony, Carol, John & I Had A Blast!

Casbeers is the coolest place in San Antonio, Texas—next to the Alamo! The concert was fun and fantastic! And, I will write about our latest 'vacation adventure' to Casbeers—tomorrow afternoon! Thank you, Chris Duel at News-Talk 550 KTSA, owners Barbara and Steve at Casbeers, Carl Naylor, Steve Fromholz, Kinky, Ben Welch, A. J. Agiewich, Little Jewford, the wonderful waitresses at Casbeers, and everyone who came out to show their support for our rescue ranch ! I just love y'all!

P.S. And, special thanks to our two great friends—John Kemmerly, who drove us there safely in Buttermilk, even though I was a frontseat—backseat driver, and to Carol Vail for making us laugh the night away! Are we lucky or what?

P.S.S. When we got home it was 36 degrees, and Marilyn had called and left a message, to tell us that Snowflake was fitting right in with her new home! We have our fingers crossed! Good Night!