5-22-26: Remembering 10 Years Ago.... "Longmire—Texas Style!"

 Howdy folks. This morning I realized it has been over 10 years since making the video spoof Longmire—Texas Style. The Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch volunteers, Chet O'Keefe, Lady Liz and Big Jim at the Grey Goose Saloon and friend Gerry Olert helped me make this hilarious video in hopes of making Little Debbie, my adorable, adopted, one-eyed-Chihuahua even more famous. And it definitely made her more famous! So thank you dear friends for helping me.

Thank you in advance for watching this and if it makes you laugh please click the Like button.

Longmire—Texas Style

God Bless Ruth Buzzi!

Kinky Friedman, Tony and I loved Ruth Buzzi so much and when Tony and I heard the sad news about Ruthie's passing our hearts were broken once again this year, because we lost Kinky back in June, and now we've lost Ruthie. 

Tony and I are so blessed that Ruthie was our dear friend and that we got to spend so much time enjoying her and her husband Kent Perkins many visits at the rescue ranch and Big Foot ranch . And I will never forget the hilarious time that Ruthie taught me how to make her famous, Italian beignets, inside our trailer and I can't believe that was over 20 years ago.

While Kinky, Tony and Kent sat outside, in Outer Space (aka our screened-in-porch), talking about ranch life, etc., Ruthie and I were inside cooking up her delicious beignets. Or should I say trying to cook up her "secret beignet recipe," because we were laughing so much. And please note that my kitchen counters and stove were all covered in powdered sugar and flour and so were we! And it still makes me laugh just thinking about it and the big mess that we made.

In fact, we were cutting-up with each other and laughing so much, the men actually came inside our trailer just to see what was so funny. (And to also refill their coffee cups and to eat all of the beignets that we had just cooked.)

Anyway, the bottom line is that We Loved Ruthie so much. And Tony and I will always treasure all of those precious, good times and the fond memories that we spent with sweet Ruthie and Kent. 

And not to brag, but to really brag big time—I am so honored to say that Ruth Buzzi once chased and hit me with her purse, onstage at one of our Bonefits. And I am so proud to be an exclusive member of the "Ruth Buzzi Hit Me With Her Purse" club, which includes famous members such as Elton John and Muhammad Ali— just to name a few.

Here are just a few of my favorite pictures of Ruthie that I want to share with you:

Kent & Ruthie and Little Debbie at Big Foot Ranch

Ruthie, Kent and Tony listening to Chet O'Keefe playing guitar, in our trailer, at the rescue ranch. Just before I grabbed my keyboard to let Kent play along with Chet.

                                           Best friends: Ruthie and Little Debbie

                                   Ruthie signing the door inside my writing cabin!

                                                        Ruthie and me in Kerrville, Texas

This is my favorite of all. Ruthie signed and sent us this picture of the famous character Gladys Ormphby that she played on Laugh In!

On the evening of November 20th, 2014 Tony took this short video of Kinky and me, standing outsidehis lodge, for an upcoming Tribute to Ruth Buzzi event, in Dallas. It is one of my favorite videos because Kinky, Tony and I loved Ruth Buzzi so much. Rest In Peace Ruthie. You were the BEST!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsLuePP-ulw/

Episode: 34 Longmire—Texas Style!

If you would like to listen to this podcast rather than have to read it please click here on: The Cousin Nancy Show or click on The Cousin Nancy Show on the right side bar. 👉 )

This story took place in the spring of 2016.

Tony and I and all of our great Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch volunteers loved the Longmire series on Netflix. In fact, we were all hooked on the show and we could not wait to watch the upcoming Season 5, on Netflix.

Seriously, all of us loved the Longmire show and the fabulous cast so much that we all owned Longmire caps, T-shirts, buttons, mugs, bumper stickers, etc. And also had Craig Johnson’s Longmire books. 

And not to brag I actually had been given two autographed Longmire books—thanks to our dear friends Kris & Jim and Sandy & Jon.

Anyway before I go any further with this story, I must tell you that at that time I had recently received an unexpected inheritance and since the money was sort of burning a hole in my pocket, so to speak, I thought it would be fun to make a Longmire video spoof, so I could make Little Debbie, my precious, one-eyed, rescued, Chihuahua more famous than she already was. 

Big Jim, Little Debbie, Me & Lady Liz

So the first thing I did was hire our dear friend, Gerry Olert, The Greatest Video-grapher in Texas, to help video and edit the Longmire spoof for me. Even though there wasn’t even a script written, yet.

And luckily for me, Gerry cut me a really great deal—$300.00. One-fifty upfront and one-fifty when it was done. And I was more than thrilled about it, because it would be the very first time for me to produce and to be a director of a short film!

So the next thing that I did, after hiring Gerry, was to ask our dear friends aka “The Best Dog Walking Volunteers in Texas,” if they would like to be actors in my short movie. 

Gerry Olert—The Best Video-grapher in Texas

Bottom Line: They all wanted to be in the video spoof and they immediately started picking which Longmire character that they wanted to play. And luckily for me—my dear friends Eileen and Lisa then volunteered to help me write the script. Which to say the least was pretty important in the making of Longmire—Texas Style!

Anyway, a few weeks later the first scenes were shot in one day, at the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, by Lisa and Tony. And please note that the cast members and I made our own costumes to wear, including wigs, alien-attracting-helmets, a deputy uniform and Little Debbie’s adorable wardrobe including her tiny eye-patch.

Eileen & Me

Little Debbie with Lisa & Me

Chet O'Keefe

Lady Liz with Bob the alien

Chet O'Keefe, me and Gerry Olert after filming

The Longmire cast & Longmire Posse's Facebook Comments about our spoof

Everyone knew there lines, but when it came time for us to actually start shooting the scenes—I basically forgot the script and ended up ad-libbing almost all of my lines which then caused the cast to have to ad-lib their lines, too. And those scenes turned out to be hilarious and none of us could believe how well it had turned out so far.

So the cast members were so excited about the video that they could not wait to finish it and they wanted to do it as soon as possible. But being the producer and the director I had to make a decision and tell them that we had to wait for a few weeks to shoot the final scenes of the spoof with our dear musician friend Chet O’Keefe, at our dear friends Jim & Liz Cravotta’s authentic1880s saloon.

So needless to say, the volunteers were disappointed with my decision to delay the final shooting of Longmire—Texas Style for a few weeks. But after all was said and done it was worth it.

Finally, a few weeks later Chet did return to the rescue ranch. And a few mornings later we all met up, at Big Jim’s & Lady Liz’s Grey Goose Saloon, for Gerry Olert to finish shooting the final scenes of Longmire—Texas Style video spoof.

And after we wrapped it up— Gerry did his awesome editing and I uploaded the short movie to my Cousin Nancy Channel on YouTube. And the rest is now history.

If you would like to watch Longmire—Texas Style please click on it and to watch the short video Longmire—Texas Style Behind The Scenes, that I made using Tony’s fabulous behind the scenes pictures that he took during the filming of the spoof please click on it, too. 

*****

Okay. Now here’s a Cousin Boomer Update for y’all:

Boomer came over yesterday and his left leg and arm were in casts and he was all bruised-up and he was mad. Tony asked him what had happened to him and Boomer told us that he had bought a can of fly spray that was on sale at the grocery store. Then he went home and sprayed it all over himself and then he climbed up on the roof and jumped off—and he did not fly. And after the doctor had patched him up he went back to the grocery store to get a refund, but they wouldn’t let him return it, because it had been on sale.

******

Now it is My Thought For Today Time And I Have Two to Tell you:

Imagine if you will…An atheist is stuck at a green light, behind a car with a “Honk If You Love Jesus” bumper sticker.  

And, Imagine if you will…A world where dogs take bad owners to the Pound.

*******

Okay now it is Make Me Laugh Time!

 

A man walks into an elevator and there is a beautiful blonde inside the elevator and after the door closes, she looks over at the man and says, “T.G.I.F.” 

So he looks at her and says, “S.H.I.T.’’

They go up a few more floors and she looks at the man and says, “T.G.I.F.” 

So he looks at her and says, “S.H.I.T.”  

When she reaches her floor, she looks at the man again and says,“T.G.I.F means thank goodness it is Friday, duh?” 

So he looks at her, and says, "S.H.I.T means sorry honey it's Thursday, dud?”

If you’re happy and you know it—it’s your meds.

A clown held the door for me today—that was such a nice jester.

People are shocked when they find out that I am not a very good electrician.

Now here are a couple of Tony’s jokes:     

A blonde is trying to sell her car, but the only problem with it was it had over 400,000 miles on it. 

So she was upset, because she couldn’t sell her car, so she went to a bar and she met a woman that was an auto mechanic. And the blonde told her the story about her mileage problem and the lady mechanic said, “I can help you, but it is illegal.”

 

So the next day the mechanic rolled back the miles on the odometer.

A few days passed and the blonde runs into the mechanic, at the bar, and the mechanic asks the blonde, “So, did you sell your car?”

And the blonde said, “No! I’ve decided to keep it, because it only has 40,000 miles on it!”

A brunette went to the doctor and she told him, “Doctor, I hurt all over. Every where I touch myself I feel pain.”

 

So the doctor says, “Show me.” So she touches her elbow and screams with pain and then she touches her knee and she screams with pain, again.

    

So the doctor says, “You’re not really a brunette are you?”

And she replies, “No, I dye my hair. I’m a natural blonde.”

And the doctor says, “Well that explains it then—you’re finger is broken.”

And here is my last joke. A teacher asks a Billy, “If I give you two cats today and then give you four cats tomorrow how many cats do you have?”

Billy says, “Seven cats.”

And the teacher says, “No. Two plus four equals six. You’re wrong.”

And Billy says, “No. You're wrong, because I already have a cat.”

And this concludes this segment of Make Me Laugh Time. 

********

Well, folks I do hope that my podcast has made you laugh at least once, but if it didn’t—who cares! I want to thank y’all for listening. And please remember my favorite quote: Life is short.And so am I!Y’all take care and keep on laughing!  Adios y’all!

Episode 19: Remembering The Alamo With Fourth Coates! or Duck And Cover!

Today has been a blast, because I was lucky enough to interview my and Tony's dear friend Fourth Coates. And you can see why we love Fourth so much by listening to this entertaining interview with Fourth telling one funny story after another. And with me often cutting in to tell a few jokes.

Fourth kept Tony and I laughing with his hilarious stories about growing up on a ranch, in South Texas.

To listen to my Episode 19th podcast: Remembering The Alamo With Fourth Coates please Click Here or up on the sidebar—The Cousin Nancy Show.

Thank y'all for listening and take care and keep on laughing!

9/4/2022 Update:

Here is a photo of Fourth's 4th grade class that "Saw the bomb and lived to tell about it!" And please note that Fourth is standing top row left of George.

The Cousin Nancy Show! or The Peep Show!

 Since my last post, my podcast The Cousin Nancy Show, is now available to listen to on Apple, Spotify & Google, etc. and I am more than thrilled about this.

But I am even more thrilled about doing my first podcast, Season:1, Episode:1, with my dear friend Gerry Olert—last Saturday.

In my opinion, Gerry Olert is the Best Videographer & Editor in Texas. And if you recall Gerry, is the man who was the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranches official videographer and he was the editor of the Longmire—Texas Style spoof.

Anyway, a month before I had even made The Cousin Nancy Show trailer, he had volunteered to be my  very first guest (guinea pig) for my podcast. So, right now I would like to say, "Thank You, Gerry! You made doing the podcast so much fun."

Last Saturday, when Gerry arrived at Big Foot Ranch at 1:00—I had already set up the recording equipment, in the kitchen and I had been pacing the floor for an hour, because I was so nervous about doing the podcast and then editing it. Basically hoping that nothing would go wrong with the equipment, etc.

After howdies, Gerry and I spent about ten minutes discussing what we planned to talk about while Tony stood back and took this picture of us doing a sound check.

And a few minutes after T.'s photo shoot we adjusted our headphones and then I pushed the red record button on my computer and the audio interface lit up and we started talking. 

Gerry and I chatted, told jokes, talked about our friends: Billy Joe Shaver, Kinky, Jay Pennington, Nancy Harvey, the owner of Spirits of Texas in Bandera, our dear friends at Escondida Resort & Spa, Big G, Asleep @ the Wheel, Chet O'Keefe, Jim Keaveny, the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, etc. ,jobs, etc. and I did so much laughing my back actually started aching. 

One of my favorite subjects that we discussed and had fun with was when Gerry gave me a Peeps taste test. Even though I did not know anything about Peeps, he had brought with him 4 packages of different colored Peeps for me to taste.

And that is when we really did a lot of laughing. In fact, I think the subtitle for my first episode should have been The Peep Show, but you will have to listen to Episode:1 to decide for yourselves.

Gerry and I talked and laughed our way through my first podcast and we had recorded 59 minutes (998 megabytes). So, Sunday morning I spent a few hours editing the podcast down to 54 minutes before uploading it to Buzzsprout for them to rss feed to Apple, Google, Spotify and many other podcast platforms. 

And as a teaser the first joke I told many of my friends are still laughing about it and telling it to their friends and families. 

To listen to my first podcast you can go to cousinnancy.com and click the Podcast button at the top or at the bottom of the page and it will take you to The Cousin Nancy Show on Buzzsprout. Or you can just click this link: The Cousin Nancy Show or listen to it on Apple, Spotify or Google, etc.

As I finish writing this post/announcement, Sunday evening, Gerry sent me this cute photo that he took of his cat, sitting on top of his desk, watching the video he took of us talking about Peeps. (Gerry brought some of his video recording equipment and he had set it up to record the show, before he and I started talking.) Gerry titled his photo:

The Peep Show.

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

Gerry Olert—Is The Best!

Today has been great. Tonight's post is going to be rather short, because I have something very important to do in few minutes— spend Happy Hour with Tony and our five four-leggers!

I am looking forward to doing this, because I need a break from hearing any more depressing, negative news, etc.

But I do want to share what my dear friend Gerry Olert sent to me this morning. He has just uploaded his latest video Gerry Olert's Reel 2020, on YouTube, and several of our dear friends (including me) are in Gerry's video. Such as: a clip of Jay Pennington starring in his and Gerry's Short Western—Smile, Ruth Buzzi, Chet O'Keefe and Billy Joe Shaver. So please click here to watch it and please give Gerry a thumbs up.

Thank y'all for watching it.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing! And stay safe, healthy and happy! Cheers!

#73-B! or ZZ Top Documentary Rules And Rocks!

Life here is good—knock-on-wood. Since my last post it has mainly been the same routine: editing, working and sleeping, but I do have a few things that I do want to mention here.

Last week our AACC (Ancient Alien Coffee Club) met at Randy's & Lisa's Save Inn Restaurant for coffee, tea, water or breakfast, again. And it was a blast.

During our meeting we presented one of our anonymous members #73-B (we are all anonymous and only use numbers) with his official alien-attracting helmet that Tony and I had custom made especially for him. It took us an hour—laugh out loud.

Once again we used another colander that we purchased @ Wal-Mart for the base of the helmet and after we  had quit decorating #73-B's helmet with pipe cleaners and stickers we stuck a small LED push button light, on the top of it for special effects.

#73-B seemed to really like his alien-attracting helmet and here is a picture of him wearing it and a picture of me wearing my helmet and my LED magnification glasses with my helmet.

And needless to say, the Save Inn's customers thought it was all very funny, too. Which is exactly the response that I had hoped for, because I believe that we all need to laugh more. 

Last week our good friend Gerry Olert came to visit us. (Gerry is the fabulous, talented video-grapher that made all of our rescue ranch videos for us and he also did the Longmire—Texas Style video spoof that I wrote, directed and produced, in 2016, to make Little Debbie more famous. 

The video spoof starred Little Debbie, our rescue ranch friends/volunteer dog walkers, Chet O'Keefe, Bob (the alien) and me. Tony took these pictures of Gerry filming us at Big Jim's & Lady Liz's Grey Goose Saloon.

During our fun visit with Gerry, we discussed my part and what I should wear in Jay Pennington's & Gerry Olert's upcoming Short Western movie Honey To Vinegar. And the best news is Tony is going to be involved with the movie, too!

Anyway last week I did a lot of research for my crazy old lady's costume to wear for my part in the movie and I purchased some material, etc., so I can make my outfit. Which I plan to hopefully sew later on this week. 

Lastly, last week I watched the new ZZ Top documentary, on Netflix and I just want to highly recommend it, because it was so much fun to watch. And the friends that I recommended it to also loved it. And that is about it for now.

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

Jelly Roll!

Yesterday morning Tony and I met Lisa and Kris at a secret location (Randy & Lisa's Save Inn restaurant) in Kerrville for our first AACC (Ancient Aliens Coffee Club).

Sweet Eileen was supposed to come, but could not make it, because she had "pastel painted herself into a corner" at her art class, in Boerne. The Mineral Man (Kris' husband) was a no-show too and Kris was a little vague about why he could not make it. But no worries they will both be at the next meeting.

Tony and I were the first to arrive at our secret destination and we got to have a fun visit with Lisa and catch up with her and Randy's news.

Lisa was second to show up and before she even sat down at our table, she and I were already talking about things we needed to discuss at our first AACC meeting.

By the time Kris arrived we gave Lisa, the owner, our orders and Tony and I ordered the exact same thing. Then our meeting commenced.

Right off the bat, we all agreed what our secret hand signal would be and what our secret code word would be. Then we talked non-stop about how much we love watching the History Channel's Ancient Alien show.

While we ate our delicious breakfast, Lisa and Kris talked about the British author and scientists, Arthur C. Clarke, the famous science fiction writer that wrote the book 2001: A Space Odyssey, and who worked closely with Stanley Kubrick on the 1968 movie with the same title. And besides Clarke writing many other award-winning science fiction books Clarke also wrote 2010: A Space Odyssey and  2061: A Space Odyssey.

I felt like a dummy, because I had never heard of Arthur C. Clarke and I could only remember that I had liked the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and that Hal, the computer, had really scared me.

I was thrilled that I had remembered at least that much about the movie, since it was made over 51 years ago. And before I rejoined the conversation I wondered to myself if Alexa is maybe the new Hal?

When Kris and Lisa were telling me about the face on Mars, Lisa grabbed her cellphone and showed me this picture.

After I got over the shock of seeing this Mars man or martian, I told them about me writing a blog about watching Nasa's Unexplained Files where they sent a land rover out on Mars surface and it came back with a half-eaten jellyroll. "And Nasa has never been able to explain it, because it is actually a half-eaten jellyroll left there by someone or some thing...."

Anyway, after everyone had quit laughing I realized that we had finished eating breakfast, so I announced, "I am so excited about our Ancient Aliens Coffee Club and all of this. When I get home I am going to Buy Clarke's books: 2010: A Space Odyssey and 2061: A Space Odyssey and....And as soon as I finish writing my 3rd Cowgirl Sisterhood novella I am going to retire the Cowgirl Sisterhood for a while and write another fiction book about our AACC going on a fact-finding mission/adventure in Terlingua! And we could meet/get abducted or something by some aliens."

"Then I think all of us should go out to Terlingua," Lisa suggested.

"Me too," Kris said. "A field trip."

"And while we are out there we could make a short movie, too!" I said. "Starring Little Debbie of course, and we could wear our alien-attracting helmets (upside down pot pie tines tied down on our heads) that I made for our Longmire—Texas Style video spoof....And Chet O'Keefe could star in it too and we could ask him to write the soundtrack for it...." The wheels were set in motion and already turning—so to speak.

Before Tony and I adios-ed our friends, Kris and Lisa promised me that they would watch the movie Paul and I promised them to read Clarke's books before our next meeting and that I would send them the link to my blog post about the jellyroll on Mars.

So, as I finish writing this I want to give you the link to my June 5, 2015: A Roll or Flat Tire! blog post about the jellyroll found on Mars.

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

I Am Still Alive!

I am fixin' to go back to work tonight and I know that I have not been blogging much. And the reason is the awesome Escondida Resort has been booked solid for the past week and next week and Tony and I have been working a lot more hours.

This past week I've been working split shifts, so I can help sweet Darlene in the kitchen, because we've been preparing and serving breakfast, lunch and dinners. In other words I've go in to work real early and work 2-4 hours, then back again for lunch (2 hrs.) and then back again for dinner  which usually is is about 2-3 more hours.

Tony has been working his normal everyday schedule and then working a few split shifts when needed. And I am not complaining and welcome the extra hours, even though my feet are complaining, because I am standing non-stop. If you doubt my words that I've been walking, standing, etc. my pedometer has been averaging 22,000 steps per day. So all is good.

This past Wednesday our dear friend Chet O'Keefe and Willie, his faithful canine companion,  came to visit and stay with us,  because he had a gig to play with Stephen K. Morris, last Wednesday, at the Western Edge Cellars, in Fred-town.

And tonight, during and after dinner Chet will be playing his awesome music at the Escondida Resort. Tony and I are really looking forward to it, as are the guests staying at Escondida.

Anyway, Chet and Willie have been staying in my little writing cabin The LAST RESORT and he has promised me that he will sign the door, before heading back home to Terlingua.

And that is about it for tonight, because I am fixin' to go back to work. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I am still alive and ask you to please not give up on me—I'm just working a lot

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

The Kinky FREEDOM Band Rocks Big Time!

Today has been great and then it became totally awesome this afternoon when Tony told me about Chet O'Keefe playing in a new band—the Kinky Freedom Band! Yes, freedom—not Friedman.

So I immediately went on YouTube to watch the Kinky Freedom Band and I was so thrilled to see our dear friend Chet O'Keefe playing some fabulous music with our other dear musician friends Jeff Haislip and Marc Utter and their band members Scott Walker and Scott McClanahan.

Please click here to watch the Kinky Freedom Band playing the song that Jeff and Marc wrote "Living The Dream," at the SOTOL FEST, in Terlingua. And then please help Chet and the band get the word out about there incredibly great sound by sharing this link on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

And be sure to watch the entire video, because Willie, Chet's beautiful dog also makes a stage appearance! Which didn't surprise me because Willie is a ham and a great entertainer, too.

And as I am finishing writing this, Tony comes back into the big room and says, "Liz (Chet's beautiful sweetheart) also posted a video of the Kinky Freedom band. It's awesome!"

So, I immediately went to Liz's page and watched her video of the Kinky Freedom Band performing at the famous Starlight Theatre, in Terlingua!

And as you can tell I am all excited about this great band and I am so happy for all of our friends. So Life is Good here and in Terlingua, too. Viva Terlingua!

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

My Brilliant Idea!

Today has been great and so has this past week. I would have blogged, but honestly I was just too tired and there just wasn't that much happening that merited writing about.

The best thing or most exciting thing that did happen this past week was The Traveling Jacket is back home.

This past Sunday afternoon Chet O'Keefe came to see us on his journey back to Terlingua and we had a wonderful time visiting with him.

The first thing Chet did when he parked Ivan/iVan (a 2008 Toyota Sienna van) in our circular driveway, was return my Jack jacket to me. And he told me that he loved my coat, so much that he was going to buy one just like it, on Ebay, too.

Of course hearing that made my day, because I love that LL Bean barn jacket so much, because it is the coolest canvas jacket that I have ever owned. In fact, I love it even more than my four Carhartts put together.

Anyway, the good news is my famous Jack jacket is now back home in Texas. It is the one hanging on a nail underneath one of Tony's cowboy hats. Oh and please note that my pretty, pink/gray vest hanging to the left of it is a Carhartt and it is now my second most favorite jacket to wear.

After Chet and I had a long discussion about the Jack jacket, he unloaded some things out of my writing cabin that he had left stored here, because he did not want his stuff stolen out of iVan while he was touring in Norway.

While he and Tony were busy putting Chet's stuff back inside iVan, I noticed this clump of Chet's stuff that he had put on the ground that still needed to be loaded up, so I took this picture of it.

Then I told Chet, "Chet I just took a picture of that pile, because it would make a great album/CD cover for you. I think it says a lot. A hat, tools and a pillow...." But I don't think Chet or Tony were that impressed with my brilliant idea.

After all of the packing was done the three of us sat out on the front porch talking about his tour of Norway. And Chet told us that he loved Norway and the Norwegians and his tour went great, because Marita & Hans (B Good Promotion) did such a fabulous job booking him and getting him to his gigs, etc. And Chet is now looking forward to going back to Norway to tour again.

Well, other than that good news there is not much more to tell about my week, because we mainly worked here or next door or were sleeping. So I hope you can understand why I did not post anything on my blog.

But before I finish writing this, I want you to know that Tony and I went to Kerrville today to wash a couple of loads of laundry at the Country Clean laundromat, on Water Street. 

When we arrived at our favorite laundromat, in Kerrville, there were these two big trucks parked there with men unloading and installing brand new washers and dryers inside, even though we loved the machines they already had. And that is how exciting today has been for me.

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

It Has Been A Good Trip!

Today has been great and so have the past few days. I am sorry for not writing lately, but Tony and I have been very busy this week. And every evening when I normally would write something for my blog I've just been too tired, so instead of writing I've been binge-watching Boston Legal, on Netflix.

Oh my goodness—I love Boston Legal! Every evening for the past couple of week Tony and I have been been addicted to watching this show and it is hilarious and full of surprises.

My favorite surprises have been when Betty White appears in the shows, because I love her and the quirky character that she plays. So, if you are looking for something fun to watch I highly recommend Boston Legal.

Chet O'Keefe sent me an e-mail this morning and in his e-mail he told me that "it has been a good trip." He also wrote:

"Last night was a place called Nestiboden which is the oldest wooden building in Norway. It used to be a storehouse for fishing boats. It was an older crowd and very warm friendly people."

After reading this about Nestiboden I was happy for Chet and then I got even more happy about (My Jack jacket) The Traveling Jacket having gone to Nestiboden. Because with the exception of Norwegians—not many people can brag that their jacket has been to Nestiboden—the oldest wooden building in Norway!

Then I read a little further: "I have been eating small sandwiches made with fish and caviar." And this is a picture of his sandwiches.

And Chet finished off his note with this: "The sky is still light here at 2 AM in the morning...." And this is the picture that he took of Bergen, Norway.

So  when I responded to Chet's e-mail, I wrote:

"....So you're eating tiny fish and caviar sandwiches. When I was in the 6th grade my teacher, Miss Reece, was from Russian and one day she made our class eat borscht and caviar to celebrate some Russian holiday. The borscht was okay, but the caviar was horrible and it came right back up. Not a pretty picture. And I got a D in citizenship on that awful day.

And now that I look back I am betting that my teacher was a Commie. That was in 1963 and the only two things that I remember about 1963 (I was 12) is Kennedy getting assassinated in Big D and me throwing up the caviar.

So long story short—I hope to never eat caviar again. I would have said "I will never" but I know what happens when you say "I will never.""

And to end my e-mail on a positive note I wrote:

"1964 was a much better year for me, because of the Beatles and I went on to junior high. Tony and I look forward to seeing you soon. Take care and keep on laughing!" And that is about it for now.

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

Be Good Promotion Rocks! & So Does Chet O'Keefe!

Today has been great. Tony and I worked this morning and we get to work tonight. We love Escondida Resort and we love working with our dear friends: Sarah, Darlene, Rob, Lisa, Rick and Lisa E. We are like one big happy family, where everyone wears a smile.

Since time is of the essence here, I checked B Good Promotion on Facebook, to check on Chet O'Keefe's whereabouts, The Traveling Jacket and our dear friends, Marita and Hans, who own B Good Promotion, in Norway.

B Good Promotion has posted another great video of Chet singing Game Bird, 12 hours ago. So here is the link to Chet performing Game Bird, in Norway. And I hope that all of y'all will share this link, to show your support of Chet's fabulous music and to B Good Promotion.

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

Take Me Down To The Liquor Store—in Norway!

Today has been great. Tony and I got to work this morning and when we got back home we ate lunch. Then I went on Facebook to see if I could find Chet O'Keefe, in Norway@ B Good Promotion.

Then I watched Chet performing his great song, Take Me Down To The Liquor Store, at the Frille go Dvekes Vinkjeller, in Bergen Norway! And I had a blast watching this video. I hope that y'all will watch this video and Share it or Like it on Facebook, too. Here's the link to B Good Promotion video of Chet performing Take Me Down To The Liquor Store, in Norway!

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

The Traveling Coat Update!

Today has turned out great. Early this morning a little before 6:00, a super loud lightning strike woke me up and it was so loud I forgot to do my morning habit. But don't worry. I did it an hour later while I was drinking some coffee.

We had heavy rain and thunderstorms almost all morning long and when they finally stopped Tony and I high-tailed it to Kerrville to wash and dry a load of clothes and to run a couple of errands.

When we got back home my Willie book had already arrived in the mail and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a hardback edition and not a paperback like the one I gave to Chet. Here's a picture of it, next to my Terlingua Ranch cap.

After putting up the groceries I checked my e-mail. Marita (Hans & Marita, in Norway) sent me this note:

"Hi!

We picked Chet up at the airport this afternoon. He is now sleeping.

Good you lent him a jacket. It’s been snowing here today. Cold wind.

Last week we had summer temperatures. Wearing shorts and flip flops, and now back to boots and jackets. The weather is just crazy. 

Hope y’all are doing well. See you in September – love you!"

So, I am really glad that Chet has my "Jack jacket" to wear over there. And I am more than thrilled that I can now brag about "The Traveling Coat" having spent time in Norway, because not too many people that I know can brag about their jackets crossing the pond and traveling to England and then to Norway.

Anyway, hearing that Chet made it to Norway okay has made my day great after all.

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

The Traveling Coat! or What If!

Tony and I had so much fun with Chet last night. When he arrived here I asked him if he was hungry, so I warmed him up a bowl of tortilla soup and then we got to visiting.

During our visit he told us that he had bought a new, used van and then we went outside to see it and to help him unpack.

As I was admiring his van, I asked him, "Have you named it yet?"

"Nope. Not yet."

And because I like naming things, I suggested, "Why don't you name it Ivan? I-van or iVan?" He and Tony laughed, but he did not commit. So we shall see.

After we unpacked Ivan he told us that he was flying to Norway tomorrow (today) for a ten day tour of Norway. Our dear friends Marita & Hans, in Bergen, Norway, had booked his tour, several months ago and Chet was looking forward to playing his music in Norway.

When I asked him about the weather over there, Chet told me that Marita had warned him that it was cold and she had advised him to bring a heavy jacket. "And I forgot to pack one," Chet told us.

Being the problem-solver that I am, I immediately suggested that he wear my "Jack Jacket." My beloved, comfortable, warm, canvas L.L. Bean ranch coat that Jack always wears in the awesome Canadian/Netflix series—Heartland. So Chet tried it on and it fit him perfectly. Here is a picture of Roy and me wearing my "Jack jacket" this past winter.

After I had wrapped up that problem, I started telling Chet about our mutual friend, Gerry Olert, giving me the awesome book It's A Long Story: My Life by Willie Nelson with David Ritz and that it has now become one of my all-time, top 5 favorite books. 

Then I handed Chet the book and I could tell that he was interested in reading it. So I gave it to him, because I knew he would love reading it and he could read it during his long, nine hour flight.

Today has been great. This morning after I cooked breakfast for Chet and Tony, Chet O'Keefe loaded up Ivan  and he took off for Austin, so he could fly out of there @ 4:00 today. And after we had adios-ed Chet and he and Ivan were gone, Tony asked me, "Nance, you love that coat. I never thought that you would loan it to anyone."

"I'm not worried about loaning it to Chet. Besides when he gets back I can tell/brag to everyone that my "Jack jacket" has been on many stages, in Norway. And it'll become known as The Traveling Coat. Like my traveling pants."

Then Tony said, "I can't believe that you gave Chet your Willie book. You told me that you loved that book so much—that you would never loan it out."

"Never say never. And yes, I did say that," I confessed. "But it is really no big deal, because last night before going to bed, I bought another copy of it on Amazon. It will be here tomorrow."

Early this afternoon Tony and I met our dear friends for our monthly luncheon, at El Bracero de Jalisco restaurant, in Kerrville.

We got there twenty minutes early, so while Tony sat outside, sitting on a bench in front of Bracero's, I went shopping next door, at the Hometown Craft store. 

There were many items on sale that I wanted to purchase, but I controlled my temptations and I only bought a cute sign for the front porch. 

Tony and I had a blast eating lunch with Kris & Jim and Les & Denise and the food was delicious, too. And during our fun lunch I showed everyone the sign I had bought and it made them all chuckle. Which is exactly why I bought this sign in the first place. Because I love to laugh and to also make people laugh. Here's the sign.

And I hope the sign made you smile or laugh, too. Anyway, as soon as we got back home I took this picture of the "What If" sign and then I went outside and hung it up.

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

Miniskirts! or 501 Levi's!

Today has been great and a lot of fun. This morning our dear friend Gerry Olert, came to visit us.

Gerry Olert, from San Antonio, is the famous videographer who did all of awesome rescue ranch videos for us, but when I think of Gerry the first thing that always comes to mind is how much fun I had working with Gerry when he edited the Longmire-Texas Style video-spoof starring Little Debbie. Laugh out loud, I had written, starred in and produced this video—just to help make Little Debbie more famous.

Of course the making of Longmire—Texas Style would not have been so much fun without all of the help from our dear friends/dog-walking volunteers, Chet O'Keefe and Jim & Liz Cravotta. Below is one of my favorite pictures that Tony took of Gerry (far left) posing with the entire cast, at Big Jim's & Lady Liz's Grey Goose Saloon, on April 2, 2016, after the wrap party.

And this is one of my other favorite pictures that Tony took that day, of Liz & Jim, Little Debbie and me during the wrap party. And I still cannot believe that it has been almost three years ago, when we made the video.

Anyway, this morning during our fun visit with Gerry he was telling us that his & Karen's sweet, old (18+ years) cat had passed away since he had last visited us. Then he told us that he and Karen recently went to a rescue shelter and adopted the coolest kitten that already knows how to fetch and retrieve a ball. Then he pulled out his iPhone and showed us adorable pictures of Luna, the kitten that has stolen their hearts. Here is one of his beautiful pictures of Luna cat-napping on Gerry's lap.

Early this afternoon, Gerry treated us to a fun lunch, at the Cracker Barrel, in Kerrville. It is funny, but Tony and I did not order the same thing as usual, but Gerry and I did. He and I ordered a breakfast that came with a side of two pancakes, that also came with these small bottles of maple syrup. One for each of us.

I don't know why, but I fell in love with these cute, little glass bottles of syrup and I told Tony and Gerry that I loved these bottles. So when the sweet waitress returned to check on us, Gerry asked her to bring us two more bottles of maple syrup.

As we finished eating our meal, Tony and Gerry encouraged me take the four, empty, little bottles home since I loved them so much. And after we had quit laughing about it, I said, "I can't. It might be illegal and I don't want to be in prison, because of maple syrup...." 

Bottom   Line: I finally asked the friendly waitress to bring me a doggie bag. (So, I could sneak the empty bottles out of the restaurant.) While we waited for the doggie bag Gerry and Tony teased me about going to prison, etc. and I was getting more nervous about taking the emptied bottles.

So, when we decided to leave Gerry and Tony took off first and as I was walking past the table, next to our table, this friendly-looking, old man wearing a Vietnam Veteran cap, probably about my age, had this long white beard that looked like he was a member of ZZ-Top~~waved for me to stop. So I did, and he looked up and said, "If the Feds were in here they would arrest you—"

Omg, I thought "I'm busted!" And I thought that I was going to faint, but I didn't, because Tony was gone and wouldn't be able to catch me from falling. Then this friendly man smiled, and said, "For laughing too much." Then he and I started laughing.

As soon as all of us were outside and I felt safe, I told Gerry and Tony about the man stopping me and telling me that I should be arrested and they burst out laughing. Then Gerry joked, "We left you behind, because we didn't want to be accessories to the crime."

And after we had quit laughing, I said, "At first what he said to me really did scare me. And I was immediately thinking, they are going to call the police and tell them, "We've got a sticky situation over here. This old woman..." 

After our fun lunch, Gerry followed us over to the East End Market, because he wanted to see Jim & Liz's fabulous booth (#42). And as the three of us were walking into this super-cool store—Jim Cravotta came walking out and after howdies, handshakes and hugs, Jim said, "Liz is inside and I'll be right back. I''ve got to get a wrench. Go say howdy to Liz." So we did. And then we had a great time visiting with Liz & Jim and checking out all of their fabulous stuff they have for sale.

Here are just a few pictures that I took of their treasures and antiques that I wanted to buy.

This is a working spinning wheel that I wanted, but because Mama (my perfect Great Pyrenees) is dead I passed, because Henry's, Roy's, Beau's, Little Debbie's and Big Al(ice)'s hair is too short. 

This is a Mary Quant romper, in beautiful condition, that Liz bought and wore—back in the 60's. For those younger than me who may not know who Mary Quant was, here is a link to Mary Quant to find out more about her. (Taken from Wikipedia: "The miniskirt, described as one of the defining fashions of the 1960s,^[19] is one of the garments most widely associated with Quant. While she is often cited as the inventor of the style...")

Unfortunately, I never owned an original Mary Quant miniskirt or romper, but back then I wore miniskirts all of the time. In fact, I even got sent home from high school one day, because the Principal told me that my miniskirt was too short. And before Mom came to pick me up, I tried to explain to him, "It's not too short. I'm short. It's just an illusion..." But neither him or mom bought it, so I had to go home and change miniskirts, before returning to my French class that I was flunking, because of my Texas accent.

And here is an assorted collection of 1920 magazines that totally fascinated me.

Before adios-ing Liz & Jim, I told them that I was going to donate my mannequin legs, for Jim's project. "I want you to have it, but I want you to know that Tony and I put a pair of my 501 Levi's on it, so it will be dressed. But we never could put a pair of my old, pink, Justin Gypsy cowgirl boots on it. And before we left our friends we decided that Tony and I would meet Liz & Jim, at Wolfmueller's Books, to give them the mannequin legs. And Jim joked, "That's the perfect drop-off place. And I'm sure that Sandy & Jon will love that!" And we were still laughing when we walked out of the store and adios-ed Gerry.

Before coming home, we swung by So Fast Printing, my favorite and Kerrville's favorite print shop, so I could pick up a few pictures, that I had e-mailed to Rose and had asked her to print for me on card stock. Because I am planning on framing and hanging them in my writing cabin. Then we came home. Here are the four pictures that I plan to frame and hang tonight.

Then I took this picture of the doggie bag and the four empty bottles. Then I put them into the sink to soak, so I can hopefully remove the labels. And now I am wondering why I even took those stupid, tiny bottles, because I am not even sure what I will use them for.

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