Peggy Sue! Peggy Sue!

Yesterday, while having a fun lunch with the volunteers, at the Medina Highpoint Resort, I had some exciting news to tell them. "While y'all were outside walking dogs, this real nice man named Bob called me. He is thinking about adopting Peggy Sue! He asked me all kinds of questions about her to make sure that she was spayed, clear of heart worms, had all of her shots, etc. When he told me that he wanted to adopt her I was thrilled about it. Then I got worried when he asked, "Now, how old is this four and a half month old Beagle?"

"I answered, "She's four and a half months old. But, I need to tell you that there is also someone else interested in adopting Peggy Sue.""I also kinda started getting nervous with Bob, at the end of our conversation, too, when after I had told him about Starsky being Peggy Sue's roommate and him maybe getting adopted, Bob asked me, "Can I change her name to Hutch?""Of course," I told him."

"Y'all, I hope Bob's not a loony-tune or something. Anyway, he told me that he will call me back, at the exact same time, in the morning, about coming out and adopting her. Isn't that great news!" The volunteers loved my news. And to say the least, "As always, having lunch with our friends was a total blast."

Oh my goodness! We had a blast at Carols last night. When we got there, Carol, Lorri and Jeff were working in the kitchen, preparing a snack tray. After hugs and handshakes, Jeff asked me about my day. I told them, "It has been great." I told them about Bob calling me this morning about Peggy Sue. "I am so excited, because I think Bob is really going to come out tomorrow and adopt sweet Peggy Sue." Even though their backs were turned away from me, I could tell that they were as thrilled to hear my good news about Peggy Sue, as I was. Then Tony and I excused ourselves, so we could go outside to get my guitar and banjo, because I couldn't wait to show off my banjo to Jeff Severson, who is one very talented, singer, songwriter musician—just like Chet O'Keefe is.

When we returned with my banjo and guitar, I told Jeff about how cool my banjo was, because the volume matches the volume of a guitar. Then I gave Jeff a quick lesson on some chords. Then Jeff and I grabbed a couple of bar stools and started pickin' and a grinnin'. And believe it or not—we sounded good, as Jeff sang one of his songs after another. At one point while we were playing, Jeff told me, "This is a great banjo and a lot of fun to play. When we get home, I'm going to get one just like yours."

Fifteen minutes later, when Chet arrived, with his Martin guitar, we moved Carol's birthday party outside, on the deck, that had a fire already burning inside her chiminea. "Chet," Lorri said. "Last night after Carol had played us your Game Bird CD we loved your music so much, she showed us the great Austin Chronicle article about you and your music. We would love to hear you play us some of your new songs that Carol has been telling us about."

As Chet was removing his guitar from its case, I stood up and handed my guitar to Jeff, so they could play together, because Jeff had left his Martin guitar, at home. "No, Cousin Nancy. You play with Chet," Jeff said.

"No, Jeff. You play. You are a much more talented musician than me, but at some point I do want to play at least one song with Chet, so I can later brag about it, when Chet becomes a super famous musician." Then they started pickin' and grinnin,'and taking turns singing their songs, as their magical music mesmerized us.

During a break, Jeff handed me my guitar and said, "It's your turn to play with Chet. I had a blast having Chet play lead guitar, to a simple finger pickin' tune, but unfortunately, me jamming with Chet wasn't nearly as good as listening to those two pros play and sing, so after playing one song and Tony taking one ugly picture of me, playing with Chet—I gladly handed my guitar back to Jeff.

After their fabulous concert ended, Carol announced, "Dinner is ready, everybody." And while we were eating a delicious dinner, Lorri and Carol made Jeff confess to me about him playing a prank on me, this morning, and telling me that he was Bob, which I thought was so funny I nearly choked on my food. 

After everyone had quit laughing, Jeff says, "Nancy, I was reading the Bandera County Courier article about Peggy Sue being the Pet of the Week, the whole time when I was talking to you. I thought you would figure it out when I said, "Now how old is this four and a half month old Beagle?" "You were so sweet, and said, "She's four and a half months old.""And when I asked you if I could change her name to Hutch. You said, "Of course.""

"I thought you would surely have figured it out," Carol teased, in between chuckles, "when you started telling us about Bob, in the kitchen, and saw us turn our backs away from you, at the same time, because we were trying not to laugh..."

By the time dinner was over, Chet had invited Jeff and Lorri to come over, in the morning, to let Jeff cut a few of Jeff's latest songs, on Chet's fabulous recording equipment.

About five minutes, before Tony and I adios-ed our good friends, Jeff called the rescue ranch and left a message, that we couldn't hear.

When we got back home, after letting our dogs go outside, I pressed Carlton's button, so I could hear Jeff's hilarious Bob message and Tony and I are still laughing about it. 

Today has been great, but I will keep it short, because this is one, very long post. At 10:00 this morning, a nice couple, came out to check out our dogs, because they wanted their older dog to have a companion. We walked George and their adorable dog, down to the creek, but George wasn't nice to their dog. Then we walked Merlin and their dog, down to the creek, but their chemistry together wasn't good. 

On our third walk, Peggy Sue joined us and their dog seemed to really like her. As we were walking down the road, Lorri and Jeff drove up. "....Jeff just cut three, great new songs, on Chet's recording equipment," Lorri said.

"And, one of the songs I wrote and just recorded, is about you," Jeff said. I was flabbergasted. Then I remembered to introduce the nice, retired couple, standing next to me, to Lorri and Jeff. "And Jeff, this is Peggy Sue! They might adopt her!" Then Lorri, Jeff and I all started laughing, about Jeff's hilarious prank. "We've got to go," Jeff said. "We're going to meet up with Carol and we're running late..."

To make this long story short, "The couple took Peggy Sue home to try her out and they are pretty sure that they are going to adopt her. And Jack called me this afternoon to tell me, "Nancy, we love Starsky and we definitely want to adopt him..."

Y'all have a great evening!

Tailgate Party!

Today has been great. Around 3:30, the phone rang, I recognized Carol's number and answered, "Hi, Carol!"

"Let's ride! It is a beautiful day, so come on over so we can ride our horses."

"I would love to and it is exactly what I need. I've got to go find Tony. He's somewhere on the ranch taking pictures. We'll be over there in about thirty minutes..."

Tony was not hard to find. When Trigger and I pulled up, at Kinky's Lodge, Kermit was parked near the gate. When I walked inside Kinky's kitchen, Kinky half-hollered, we're in here."

When I walked into the big room I greeted Kinky and Chet and then said, "Tony, the Cowgirl Sisterhood needs you. Carol and I are going to ride our horses and we need you, our personal paparazzi, to take pictures."

"Well, I hope I don't receive an emergency phone call from Tony telling me that you're dead," Kinky half-joked. "Have fun and please be careful, Nancy." I started laughing.

"Don't worry, Kinky. Those days are over. I only walk Maya and if she starts to walks too fast, I dismount. Come on, Tony. I've got to go grab my cowboy hat before we go over to Carol's."

As we were leaving, Chet O'Keefe said, "Have fun and tell Carol that I said, "Hi.""

When we arrived at Carol's beautiful ranch, she had already saddled Maya and Rosebud and she was loping Maya, in the corral. When it was time for us to get on our horses, I tried standing on a turned-over bucket, to get on Maya, but because she is so tall and I am just the opposite, I couldn't.

So, I suggested,"Let me stand on Trigger's tailgate to get on Maya." Then we took off.

Tony held Maya for me and I got into the saddle just fine. Then Carol and I took off, with Tony snapping pictures of us.

Before Tony took this picture of us, parked by the big Oak tree, he said, "I'm so lucky, getting to take pictures of the four prettiest girls, in Medina." And that made us smile.

Carol and I laughed. "Yes, you are, Tony," Carol teased. "And that's why we don't pay you anything to take our pictures." 

Then I jokingly said, "Tony, because you are so sweet to take pictures of us, Carol and I are thinking about making you an honorary member of the Cowgirl Sisterhood." Then the only two members, in our club, rode off.

Carol and I rode Rosebud and Maya for about an hour and it was a total blast for me. We laughed and got to catch up with each others news and then we laughed some more. The weather today could not have been more perfect, for us to ride. "Thank you, Carol, for making my day great." And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Shark Attack!

Today has been great. All day long I have had people calling or e-mailing me, wanting to know about the fire that we had yesterday, while Tony and I were cooking our dog's Christmas dinner. I am going to write a condensed version of what happened and including some pictures that I took.

Before the sun came up yesterday morning, Tony and I were up, drinking coffee, while we baked seventy-two dinner rolls, inside the oven. When the rolls were golden brown, we put them inside one of our red, H-E-B thermal grocery bags, so they would keep warm. Here's a picture of the groceries left on the kitchen table, while we cooked the dinner rolls.

Then I made a big mistake, when I said, "Tony, this year I want to add the Olive oil to the vegetables, so the oven will warm it up, to make the dog's dinner even warmer when served." Needless to say, "Tony did not like my new idea."

Then we emptied the four, giant sacks of mixed vegetables into the three, large, aluminum roasting pans and before we put them into the oven, I added one, large jar of minced garlic into one of the pans. When Tony tried to place the heavy pan of veggies and oil into the oven, it sort of crumpled, from the weight and the olive oil and the different colored vegetables poured out from the sides all over the oven door, inside the oven and onto our wooden floor. Let's just say, "Tony had proven his point."

After a brief clean up and removing many cup fulls of mixed vegetables from the roasting pans and putting them into pots on the stove top, to help lighten the weight of the roasting pans, Tony successfully shoved the veggies into the oven to cook.

After five minutes, in the oven, cooking successfully, I made my second mistake by returning the oven temperature back to 350 degrees, which Tony had warned me not to do, before he went outside to go check on our chickens.

Six minutes later, I saw smoke coming out of the oven, filling The Cabin with smoke. When I opened the oven door I saw little flames and as I closed the oven door and Tony walked back inside, I half-hollered, "Tony! There's a fire inside the oven!"

Tony immediately turned off the oven and then he left the kitchen. Seconds later, he returned with one of our red, fire extinguishers. He put the fire out immediately, with just one shot, underneath the bottom roasting pan. The vegetables had been saved by Tony! Here's the fire extinguisher that he used.

By now, it is 45 degrees outside and ten minutes past eight o'clock and The Cabin was engulfed in smoke, so we opened up several windows and turned on the ceiling fans to help get rid of the smoke. 

After taking another baby Aspirin, so not to have a heart attack, I took this picture of the sun shining into our smoke filled cabin.

At 8:30, when Jim and Diane arrived, bringing with them two thermos full of coffee and a pan of Diane's  delicious, homemade cinnamon rolls, for everyone to enjoy, The Cabin was pretty cold and nearly smoke free.

Within ten minutes, all of our friends/volunteers had arrived to help us finish preparing our rescued dog's Christmas dinner! Here's a picture of Chet O'Keefe helping Tony mix all of the ingredients together, before all of us went outside to serve our dog's their delicious trailer-cooked meal.

And while all of this was going on, I snuck back to my office and snapped a picture of Ginger Rogers' almost four-week-old pups sleeping peaceably. (I might adopt the pup on the far right, sleeping on his back, but don't tell Roy.)

I took this picture of Eileen feeding Suzanne's favorite dogs, Donnie and Marie Osmond, their Christmas dinner, because Suzanne was unable to make it out here yesterday.

Tony and I and I think all of our great friends had a good time fixing and serving our dog's holiday breakfast and I know that our dogs loved it, because their pans were licked totally clean.

By 10:45, Tony and I had thanked and adios-ed everyone before they drove away and Tony and I were all smiles until we returned to The Cabin to find the greasy mess, on the floor, that was made from spilling the olive oil and vegetables. When I took this picture, trust me, I was not smiling, but Roy was when I let him and the rest of our dogs inside, to help lick up the grease.

Ten minutes later, after Belle and Beau had quit licking the oven and the oven door and Mama and Roy had done the best that they could licking the floor, I put them back outside, because I was ready for the Shark attack. 

Using my Shark professional, electric, steam mop, that I purchased this past summer, after Carol had raved about how much she loved her new Shark steam mop, I went to work steam cleaning our wooden kitchen floor.

The Shark attack only lasted about twenty minutes and I won. After only refilling my Shark steam mop's tank a few times—nearly all of the grease stains are gone and Roy's dark blueberry stain has completely disappeared! So now I am raving about how much I love my Shark Professional Steam Mop and as I finish writing this tonight, I am once again smiling. Sharks Rule!

Y'all have a great evening!

They Loved It!

Today has been great. This morning after we did our morning chores outside, I went over to The Lodge to deliver some of my delicious, homemade split pea with ham soup, to Kinky and Chet, because I was dying to get their opinions. And it only took ten minutes for them to heat it up, to get their opinions—they LOVED it! Then things got even better.

When Trigger returned me to the rescue ranch, Brittany, our dear friend, from New Hampshire and her sweet mother Lonnie and two of Brittany & Brian's five super cool kids, had already arrived for a fun visit and they were in Outer Space visiting with Tony and Mama!

After howdies and hugs, we invited Brittany and her beautiful family to come inside The Cabin, so we could visit and give Lonnie, Carl and Wyatt (Or Wyeth, I am not sure, because I am hard of hearing.) a tour of The Cabin. Not to brag and needless to say, "They LOVED it!" Then things got even better.

We decided to go over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and Chet O'Keefe. Tony invited Carl and Wyatt/Wyeth to ride with him, on Kermit and I rode with Lonnie and Brittany, in Brittany's rented car. When we arrived Willie, Chet's fabulous dog, was the first to greet us, followed by The Friedmans, then Chet and Kinky.

In no time flat, all of us were laughing and having a good time outside. Then after bragging to our guests about what a fabulous, talented singer/songwriter/musician Chet was and that he had opened for Nanci Griffith, in Ireland, a few years ago—the friendship gates opened.

"My mom, husband Brian and I love Nanci Griffith! and ..." Brittany said. Then when Lonnie asked Chet where he was born and raised he told them Maine, then they discovered that  they had much in common, because Lonnie lives in Maine. I thought all of this was really cool and so did they.

During our fun visit, inside Kinky's kitchen, I said, "Chet, can I buy another copy of your CD, Game Bird and get you to sign it to Brittany? Because I want to give it to her as a gift for coming to see us. Brittany you are going to fall in love with his music..." Then Chet took off to get his CD.

A little later on, after a great visit with Kinky and Chet, the kids jumped inside Kermit with Tony and  then they took off to go feed our donkeys. A minute later, after Lonnie, Brittany and I had adios-ed Kinky and Chet, we jumped inside the rental car and went over the river and through the woods, to find Tony taking pictures of the kids petting Roy, Gabby and Little Jewford, outside the rescue ranch.

As soon as we parked, Brittany and Lonnie grabbed their cameras and began taking pictures, too. Then Brittany asked, "Do the donkeys like apples?" After Tony and I answered, "Yes," she went to their car and returned with three apples for them to feed to The Boys.

After Tony and I gave Brittany and her family a fun tour of the rescue ranch, we came back inside The Cabin, so Brittany could buy a signed copy of my second novella, The Cowgirl Sisterhood: Part II, Death In New Mexico, because she loved reading the first one. That made feel so good, I said, "I want to give y'all one of my new cards that I designed." Then I pulled two of my cards out of my purse and then I proudly gave them one, already knowing the reaction that I would get.

As soon as they read my name "Cousin Nancy" they turned my card over and saw that it was blank—then we all burst out laughing about the joke I had played on them. Then I confessed that I had copied our friend Budrock, who have given us a card with only his name on it, too.

Brittany and her lovely family only stayed for about two fun hours and Tony and I hated to see them go, because their fun visit with us had made our day super great. "Thank you, Brittany, Lonnie, Carl and Wyatt/Wyeth for coming to see us. We look forward to seeing you sooner than later, too!"

As I finish writing this, I want to thank everyone who has given me tips all day, on how to remove Roy's latest blueberry stain, on our kitchen floor. I ended up frequently rubbing the stain, throughout the day, with those handy bleach wipes and it is much lighter now, but it is still there.

Y'all have a great evening!

Strangers!

Yesterday and today have been great days. Early yesterday afternoon, Chris, the nicest young man came out to check out our dogs and he chose Grace Kelly, Tom Landry's pen mate! Chris is going to college and is an athlete. He runs every evening and he wanted a running partner that could keep up with him and Grace was the perfect choice for him.

When it was time for Chris to take Grace home, I took this picture of Grace showering Chris with kisses.

When Chris put his new best running buddy inside his pickup, he was wearing the biggest grin on his face, as Grace looked straight ahead, like she was saying, "Come on, let's go home. Get me the heck out of here!" Tony and I laughed about it, as Kermit took us back to The Cabin.

Around 2:00, Carol came over to visit and to see Ginger Rogers and her adorable two-week-old puppies and she brought us a big sack full of her delicious oatmeal cookies, because Kinky and his friends had just about eaten all of our cookies. And she brought us another big jar of her dad's secret recipe salsa!

After we had played with Ginger and her pups, Carol, Tony and I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and Chet O'keefe, and for Carol to also give sacks of her oatmeal cookies and jars of delicious salsa that she had cooked up for them.

While we were over there having a fun visit, I looked out the kitchen window and said, "Kinky, there is a man and young man walking up and they have a dog with them." Then all h#@@ broke loose, inside the Lodge. The Friedmans, Winston and Sophia, started barking and then they ran outside. Then Kinky went outside to meet the strangers, followed by Chet, with his cool dog Willie and Tony, leaving Carol and me inside the Lodge with Chumley.

To make a long story short, Kinky, Tony and I ended up rescuing the young, sweet, male dog, that is probably only a year old. Then Tony put a leash on the happy pup then he put him inside Kermit with him and they took off for the our rescue ranch. 

Five minutes later, when Tony returned back at the Lodge, Chet invited us to come listen to his latest song that he had just written last night and already recorded. After we heard his incredibly, beautiful song, everyone could not quit talking about how much they loved his song. Then Carol said, "Chet, I really love your music and every song on your CD, Game Bird..."

"Chet is really talented," Kinky said. "I have ADD and when I listened to his song this morning, I made him replay it for me, two more times. And that is really saying something for me to do that."

"It sure is," I added.

This afternoon, I went outside to take a picture of our newly rescued resident with Tony's help. It only took me about ten minutes to finally get a good shot of the dog, who was now starting to steal my heart. Then I returned to The Cabin, so I could think of a name for him, so I could send it to Pat, our fabulous web master, to post on utopiarescue.com.

Thirty minutes elapsed before I finally came up with his name. Everybody please meet Starsky!

Starsky is a really neat dog. He is medium-sized, about thirty-five pounds and he loves to give away kisses, so if any of y'all know of someone named Hutch or who wants a partner, please call me at the rescue ranch. 

Late this afternoon Carol called me. While we were laughing and talking about our great day, I told her about making a healthy fruit dessert for Tony and me, made with thawed frozen blueberries and frozen strawberries, one banana and a delicious Cutie orange. "This afternoon while I was outside I forgot to put the lid back on top of our garbage can and when I came back inside I saw a large black stain on the floor with the empty blueberry sack right next to it. Roy did it, again." Carol started laughing. "I wiped up the blueberry juice using bleach wipes, but it didn't help much. Now, it is a light navy blue color, right next to our breakfast bar. I don't know what to do."

"I'll get online and check out Heloise to see if she has any tips," Carol replied, before laughing, again.

"Tips for Roy?" I asked. "Or tips to remove the stain?" Then we started laughing.

"Nancy, take a picture of it and post it on your blog tonight," Carol suggested. Then we visited for a few more minutes. After we adios-ed each other, I pulled the blueberry sack out of the trash can and placed it where Roy had left it earlier, then I took this picture of our new blue stain, that now decorates our kitchen's wooden floor, to document Roy's criminal activity.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Runt!

Today has been great. Around 9:00 this morning, Jim, our good friend/volunteer, knocked on our front door and of course our four dogs started barking at him. "Come on in Jim," I said. "The dogs will settle down in just a second. Would you like some coffee?"

Minutes later, Jim and I were drinking cups of delicious Green Mountain Donut Shop Coffee, when Tony arrived. "Tony, Jim's wife Diane gave me this pretty stand and cobalt blue holder, with a battery-operated, flicker candle!"As Tony admired my gift, that I love, I made Tony a cup of coffee. I took this picture of Diane's gift and please note that Roy is asleep in the chair and Belle is curled up on the dog bed.

The three of us had a really fun visit inside The Cabin. After we had talked about some of our favorite musicians and singers, we put Mama, Roy, Belle and Beau, in the backyard, so Jim could meet Walter Matthau, his sweet sister Ginger Rogers and her five, adorable, one-week-old pups. To say the least, Jim liked them and they made Jim smile. Then we put our temporary house guests back in my office, so we could go outside to work while Jim walked our super dogs, that were overly excited to see Jim.

Even though it was pretty cold outside, our dogs had a blast going for a walk and an hour and a half later, Tony and I had finished our chores and Jim was ready to go back home, because we could not go eat lunch with him, because we had Carla and her husband J.D. coming out to see our puppies. (Carla is the sweet woman that I met last week, at the Mini-Mart, when we adopted out the two yellow Lab pups to Jennifer and her son.)

Around 1:15, after Tony and I had eaten lunch, Carla and her husband arrived. When we invited them inside The Cabin, so they could meet our house guests, they fell in love with our trailer. Then they fell in love with Walter and Ginger. Then we showed them the puppies and they instantly picked the runt!
"He is so cute," Carla said. "And he will live inside with us, be my lap dog and we will take him with us when we travel...." Then we talked about him being ready to go to their home, in five to six weeks, before we adios-ed the nice couple.

Around 3:00, before we went over to visit Carol, at her ranch, I asked Tony to please go over to The Lodge to buy Chet O-Keefe's CD, Game Bird, because all three of us are wild about his music and that CD. "Please ask Chet to sign it to Carol," I said, as Tony walked out the front door.

Twenty minutes later, we gave Carol, Chet's Game Bird CD and she was thrilled to get it and that Chet had signed it to her. We had a great visit with Carol and the whole time that we were over there we listened to Chet's beautiful CD.

When Tony and I got home I started cooking cheese and garlic quesadillas for our dogs outside. I used fifty-six flour tortillas, which made twenty-eight quesadillas and after cutting them into fourths, we had one-hundred-twelve to serve to our dogs. I only used about three fourths of a bag of cheddar cheese and about one inch of garlic salt to make the dog treats.

It only took me about thirty-five minutes to cook up the quesadillas and as soon as I turned off the stove top and the oven, that was keeping the cheese and garlic quesadillas warm, Tony quickly divided them up and then put them into two of our red, insulated H-E-B shopping bags. Then we went outside and fed them to our dogs, who love my Mexican food. I know this because they all begged for more. It only took us ten minutes to serve up the tasty treats and five minutes for me to clean up the kitchen. And that is about it for tonight.

P.S. Yesterday, Tony and I saw Chris, the man who adopted Sandy Wolfmueller from us. He told us his family loves Sandy and her first night with her new family, she slept on the bed with his son Kyle! 

Y'all have a great evening!