This Is Big!

Today has been great and so was Monday. Yesterday afternoon, while I was waiting to check out our groceries, at the big H-E-B, I glanced over at the magazine rack and the cover of the Newsweek magazine caught my attention big time and it was a special edition.

It sort of freaked me out, because I was wearing one of my favorite hoodies that has a Big Foot on the front of it, that my dear friend, Cindy Pickard, gave to both Chet and me when we visited her & Jody, in Northern New Mexico, this past June.

Cindy's good friend, Jonathan Warm Day Coming, a very famous Native American, Taos Pueblo artist designed the beautiful sweatshirt for her along with six others, that represent the Seven Sacred teachings of the Anishnabe People. And we got to meet him and he looks just like Henry, who Lou Diamond Phillips plays, in Longmire.

Big Foot represents Honesty. And hear are pictures of the front and the back of my sweatshirt that I was wearing. 

Cindy sells these beautiful hoodies, handmade crosses by Jody Armijo, pillows, posters and much more, at her super cool, website store: Pooh And The Brown Piglet. And please note that her hoodies are not covered in Roy's, Belle's, Beau's, Little Debbie's and Big Al(ice)'s dog hair, like mine is, in the pictures above and all of the rest of my clothes that I wear.

Anyway, last night Cindy and I were talking on the phone and I told her about Big Foot being on the cover of a special edition Newsweek magazine and she told me that Big Foot is very popular, all around the world and I found that interesting, because I love Big Foot and seeing him is near the top on my bucket list.

"Jody can't make the Big Foot plaques fast enough, because people are always ordering them from us and Jonathan's and my Big Foot hoodies are the number one best sellers."

"Do you have a Big Foot plaque for sale?" I asked, because I already have one of Jody's beautiful "Bear is Courage" plaques that always gets compliments." Here is my Bear plaque that hangs on the wall, above the big chair, in our big room.

Cindy told me, "Yes, we have only a dozen left and he is working on more. There is a picture of one at the website store, but I will send you a picture of his Big Foot plaques. And ten minutes later, after Cindy and I adios-ed each other I checked my e-mail and here is her picture of Jody's awesome artwork.

I loved it so much and knew that I wanted one, so I went Online and bought one at Pooh And The Brown Piglet store, as a Christmas present to myself. Then I went down the hallway and told Tony, "Thank you for buying me one of Jody's Big Foot plaques." Tony looked at me like he was seeing Big Foot, because he didn't know what I was talking about. So, I explained it to him and then I showed him Cindy's  Big Foot picture.

And tomorrow when we go to Kerrville, I am going to buy Newsweek's Special Edition on Big Foot.

Y'all have a great evening!

Jimi's Got It So Right!

Today has been great. This morning Kinky called me and asked me to come over, so he could sing his two new songs. He wrote the pajama song and he and our dear friend Bob, from Louisiana, who years ago adopted, Mama, our sweet, three-legged Pit Bull, co-wrote. (Bob has been at the ranch, for over a week, baby sitting The Friedmans while Kinky was on the road and he left earlier this morning.)

I told Kink that I would love to hear them and that I would be over there in just a few minutes and then I told him, "I made homemade, blueberry waffles this morning. You want me to bring one over, with some bacon?"

Twenty minutes later after Kinky ate the breakfast that I brought him we went into his office, so he could sing me his two new songs. He sang the pajama song first, which was totally awesome and it gave me goose bumps. Then our good friend Steve showed up.

After howdies and hugs we realized that Louie was missing. Louie Friedman is his adorable, black, long-haired Scottie mix, that I rescued a few years ago. To make a long story short, I was in Trigger, going over to Kinky's, when at our gate entrance I saw Louie, in the corner of my eye, that someone had just dumped. I got out of the truck and called him to me and he ran to me.

By the time we got over to the Lodge, I told Kinky about just rescuing Walter Matthau. "I think I am going to adopt him," I remarked, to deaf ears.

"No, I want to adopt him," Kinky stated, matter of factly. "And I am going to name him Louie Friedman..." So, I am officially Louie Walter Friedman's God mother.

Anyway, Kinky and Steve grabbed a bag of apples and carrots and took off to hopefully go find Louie and to also feed the apples and carrots to Maya, Roy, Gabby and Little Jewford. I opted to stay put, in case Louie showed up. "I'll honk if Louie shows up here," I said, as they and three of the Friedmans drove off, inside Mr. Green Jeans.

A few minutes later, Tony drove up in Kermit, followed closely by Mr. Green Jeans. "We've got Louie," Kinky said.

Two minutes later, Steve, Tony and I were in Kinky's office listening to Kinky sing his two new songs for us. And to say the least—we loved them. Then we had a short, fun visit with Kinky and Steve. Before we adios-ed them I told them my newest favorite quote by the late, great Jimi Hendrix, "When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." And they loved it as much as I do. In fact, Kinky even repeated it after me, and said, "That's one great quote."

When we got back home Tony went outside and then came back inside. "Nance, yesterday this came in the mail for you, but I forgot to give it to you. Sorry about that. I think it is from Cindy Pickard."

"I bet it is. Cindy told me the other day that she was sending me a small gift, in the mail. Will you please open it for me, so I can fill up the dog's water bowl?" This is what my dear friend, Cindy, sent to me. I absolutely love it and I don't consider it a small gift!

"Oh my goodness! I love it! Last week I wrote Cindy an e-mail about discovering this awesome quote by Jimi Hendrix. I can't believe that she sent me this poster. I can't wait to get it framed and hang it on the wall, because Jimi's got it so right. All we need is love."

Y'all have a great day and evening!

A Light In The Shadow!

Today has been great. I am sorry for not posting a lot the past few days, but I have been more than busy working on several (some temporarily secret) projects, at the same time, that will be benefiting our rescue ranch, while everyday also trying to mow down the tall grass with Tony. I am not complaining—I am just explaining.

This morning our great friends/dog walking volunteers came out and walked our dogs for us. Then all of us went up to the Medina Highpoint Resort's Koyote Grill to eat lunch together. And as always lunch was delicious and a whole lot of fun.

We got to watch June's cute granddaughter sing, in a school play, on Ellen's iPad. Then June told us an hilarious story about her and her husband's trip to Australia, that involved walking across a pasture filled with cows, calves and kangaroos and then she did an laugh-out-loud reenactment of how her husband had done it.

Then Ellen started telling us hilarious stories about different snakes, she'd met in her lifetime. Two of the funniest were when she found a snake coiled up, in her kitchen drawer, that she finally was able to release outside. And my favorite one was when her uncle or relative was working, in a barn, he found a big long snake mixed in with the hay. So he started wrapping it around his rake, so he could fling it outside. And right when he flung it outside the barn door—his son entered the barn and the middle of the snake's body hit the kid, in the neck and then it started wrapping itself around the poor boy's head. "Fortunately, neither the snake or the boy were harmed," Ellen said. "And to this day that relative still wonders about it really being an accident or not." Suzanne, Eileen, Kris and Jim also had funny stories to tell, but there's not enough time to write about them. Anyway, lunch was a total blast.

My dear friend Cindy Pickard, who has received several awards on her outstanding documentaries, is  working on a fascinating, informative documentary film, in progress, on Prisons: the inmates, their families, the guards and those who teach and bring light to the darkness. It is called A Light In The Shadow and Cindy has let me view some of the interviews, etc. and I absolutely love what I have already seen of it. So I asked Cindy to please let me know if there was anything that I could do to help her with this awesome documentary.

Two days ago, Cindy wrote and told me that she had launched the documentary, A Light In The Shadow, on Kick/Starter. So, I want to invite everyone to please check it out, because you're going to like what you see.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1178181924/the-light-in-the-shadow-a-documentary-film-on-pris/

And please note that Cindy is using some of Chet O'Keefe's fabulous music, in the documentary and that I have just made a pledge to help fund it, too. And I hope that y'all will too after you check it out.

Unfortunately, now I must go back outside and help Tony do some more mowing, etc., so I guess that's  about it for tonight. Hopefully, by tomorrow I will be feeling more rested and will be caught up with the mowing, before F.M.T. (Full Moon Time) on Sunday, May 3rd.

Y'all have a great evening!

On The Cover Of Texas Animal Imprints!

Today has been great. This afternoon while we were in Kerrville, we stopped by Wolfmueller's Books to say hi to Sandy and Jon and to get them to sign Lynda's soup cookbook that she won in my contest, and to show off Tony's pictures on the cover and his beautiful pictures inside the Texas Animal Imprints January / February magazine!

When we arrived at the bookstore Jon greeted us from behind the checkout counter. "Where's Sandy?" Tony asked. "I bet she's out buying more books."

No, she's not out buying books today," Jon said. "She had to go home to pick up a book." Then we started laughing. "She should be here any minute..."

"Jon, I brought Lynda's cookbook to get y'all to sign it. And if you don't mind, keeping it here until Mari can swing by and sign it, before I mail it to Lynda."

"Sure, that's fine. We don't mind..."

"Well, Tony is becoming a famous photographer, Jon. Take a look at his beautiful picture on the cover of  Texas Animal Imprints January / February magazine!" I said, as I handed the magazine to Jon, so he could look at it.

"And Joni, the publisher, also used one of Tone's pictures for Connie Strong's great story about my friend Cindy, when she interviewed her about her documentary "MANITOU-API: WHERE THE SUN RISES" and Tony also took these pictures of Pilgrim and Pumpkin for my column that I wrote! Isn't this great!" I bragged, as Jon quickly thumbed through the magazine to look at all of T.'s pictures.

"You're good, Tony. These are beautiful photos," Jon said, as Sandy walked in the back door and waved to us, before coming up to join us. "Sandy look at Tony's pictures..."

"I love these, Tony!" Sandy said. "Congratulations." Then Kathleen Keen walked in the front door. After greetings, Sandy handed the Texas Animal Imprints magazine to Kathleen and said, "Tony took these pictures..."

"Tony! I love your pictures, especially the one of the sunset."

"He took that one from our front porch," I said. "I love all of his pictures! And you can go online to read Texas Animal Imprints January / February magazine right now. Y'all will love Connie Strong's article about Cindy, too. And Kinky's column."

A few minutes later Kathleen had to take off and then some customers walked into the bookstore, so I looked at books while Sandy and Jon helped their customers. Before leaving their bookstore, I bought these two books about my hero, Mark Twain! And, I a can't wait to start reading them.

Around four o'clock today, I went over to the Lodge to show Kinky my new books, Grant and Twain: The Story Of A Friendship That Changed America by Mark Perry and Who Is Mark Twain by Mark Twain himself, that have never been published before! "I've got and already read Who Is Mark Twain, and it was good, but I would like to read this one."

"I'll loan it to you as soon as I finish reading it," I said, before we went to visit with The Friedmans in the big room.

Tonight, as soon as I finish writing this blog, I plan to start reading the Grant and Twain book. I am so happy for Tony about his photos being on the cover and in Joni's beautiful magazine, Texas Animal Imprints and I hope that you will subscribe to Joni Daniel's great magazine and check out the January / February issue online. And please read my column about...

To Be Continued...

Have a great evening and May The Force Be With All Of Us!

Wish Me Luck!

This morning, after walking six fast miles, I cleaned up, and then I made two phone calls. I called Kinky first. Then I called my dear friend, Cindy Pickard. "Hi, Cindy, I just wanted to let you know that Tone and I are fixin' to head your way."

"That's great!" Cindy said. "I'm exhausted and ..."

Twenty-five minutes later, Trigger, Tony and I were in Vanderpool, Texas, at Cindy's ranch. Cindy was outside, loading up her Toyota FJ with boxes. "Greetings!" Cindy said to us. "Thank you so much for coming over."

I got out of the truck. "Hi, Cindy," I said, as Tony slowly backed Trigger up to her, older than our trailer. Cindy's dogs started barking at Tony. We were there to pick up some stuff, that Cindy wanted to keep, but didn't have the room to take with her, to her new ranch in New Mexico.

"Tony, that bunch of boxes are the ones I need for you to store for me," Cindy said. Tone, Cindy and I then started putting the boxes into the back of the truck. Within twenty minutes, we had all of her boxes loaded. Then Cindy invited us to come inside her trailer, to show us what little was left inside to pack up.

When I walked inside her nearly vacated trailer, that she was leaving behind for the new land owners, I teared up for a second, but was able to shake it off, before she or Tony noticed. I guess that's when it finally hit me, that Cindy was really leaving, and it brought back so many memories: some sad, some happy. "Wow, Cindy," I said. "I feel like we've gone full cirle here. It's hard for me to explain. It's like a closing of a chapter in my life."

"I know," Cindy said.

"Seeing your trailer empty like this, is exactly how I first saw it, over sixteen years ago, when Jim and I helped you and Andy move you from Austin to here. Remember, that cold front that had just blown through, and it was colder than cold? That was one long cold night. In fact, Jim and I didn't get back to Austin until after two in the morning, because the roads had iced up."

Cindy remembered. We visited a little while longer, then Tony told us, that it was time for us to leave, because we needed to get back to the rescue ranch.

On our way back to the truck, Cindy picked up a large beautiful, hand painted, ceramic turtle. She told me that she wanted me to have it. I took it, and then fought back the tears that were trying to fill my eyes. "I'm sure going to miss you, Cindy," I said.

"Me, too," Cindy said. "Y'all need to come see me as soon as you can. And, I have to come back here in the next few weeks, to finish up the documentary with Andy, so I'll definitely come see y'all then." Then we said goodbye to each other. As Tony and I drove away, down her dusty caliche dirt road, I teared up, but I couldn't stop the tears.

"It's all going to be okay, Nance," Tony said. "We will go see Cindy soon, and she will be coming back and forth to work with Andy, too. And, I think that you and Cindy need to learn how to Skype."

Cindy called me this evening, for the very last time from Vanderpool, Texas. "I'm finally all packed! And I'm leaving the first thing in the morning. Thank y'all for helping me. Wish me luck. I'll see you in a few weeks! Bye."

It's starting to rain with thunder and lightning off in the distance! I hope we get some rain.

Y'all have a great evening!

Going Back In Time!

I apologize for not writing much, the last few days, and my excuse is my plate was a little bit too full! We’re talking platter, here! But, slowly and surely, I am catching up with the mounds of never ending paperwork!

Yesterday was a great day for all of us! Besides being Kinky’s birthday—we had four super dog adoptions! Tony and I spent the entire afternoon outside, showing dogs and adopting them out to forever homes! In fact, Tony and I didn’t get a chance to eat lunch until 4:45, after we closed the gate—after our fourth adoption! Baby and Toby were adopted out together, Emily, who had been Princess’s roommate, up until last weekend, when Princess was adopted—found her forever home in Kerrville! And Ms. Biscuit is now living happily in Austin, Texas!

I was on cloud nine, when I phoned Kinky to tell him our good news—and he was thrilled about the adoptions! He invited Tone and me to dinner in Kerrville, but I declined, because Tony and I were pooped, and also because we have night vision problems, but I mainly declined his invitation, because I wanted to take a nap, so I could get up at 2:00 in the morning—to reset all of my wonderful clocks for the time change!

I think that I have already told y’all, that I am a clock collector. I love clocks! I have no expensive clocks, but I have many in every room in my trailer, and a ton of wristwatches, which I never wear. It drives Tony crazy!

At 1:45, my adorable Dog clock’s alarm went off, and I jumped out of bed, and nearly stepped on Mama’s head, before turning off the alarm, so not to wake T.! But I was too late, I had startled Mama, our rescued, great, giant Great Pyrenees, and she went to barking, which immediately activated everyone in the bedroom, to start barking! Lucky, our cat, screamed and then he went under our bed, and Tony woke up, and only barked once at me, and then he fell back to sleep—thank goodness!

By two o’clock, not a creature was stirring—in the trailer, but me. Time was of the essence, so I grabbed my Atomic Time clock, from my office, and carried it with me—from room to room, clock to clock! Nine minutes later—Mission Time Machine was accomplished! As time marched on, I returned my trusted Atomic World clock to my office, and then went back to bed.

Today was pretty uneventful. This morning, Tony and I went over to visit Kinky and we had a nice visit. Then I spent several more hours doing more paperwork.

To celebrate my paper productivity, I decided to go online to—South West Indian Foundation at:www.southwestindian.com and I purchased a pair of fringed, leather, high-topped hippie moccasins, like everyone was wearing at Woodstock, except me, because Mom and Dad wouldn't let me go! I also bought the prettiest tote bag, too, that has three beautiful cats painted on it, by Native Americans! I plan on carrying my tote bag and wearing the mocs to Kinky’s and my calendar book signings in Austin and San Antonio at Barnes & Noble, on the fifteenth and sixteenth! They are coming FedEx Ground, and I hope to receive them by Thursday! And, I promise to take pictures of them and put them on my blog. I can’t wait for them to arrive! They are too cool!

Well, I hope that y’all have a wonderful evening—I am fixing to go call my dear friend, Cindy Pickard, to tell her about my latest purchases and to catch up with each other’s news! She will love it, because she makes fabulous documentaries on Native Americans, and she already has many pairs of moccasins!

Freedom!

Tony and I had the best Fourth of July ever, and it was all about freedom!

Thursday evening, my good friend, Cindy Pickard, called me, and during our conversation, Cindy told me about going to a pet store in Kerrville, and it had really depressed her. She told me that there were two beautiful turtles, in a small aquarium, and they looked like they were very sad, when she looked into their eyes.

“How much were they?” I asked.

“Forty dollars each,” Cindy said. “I felt so sorry for them.”

“Maybe, we should rescue them? Let’s talk about it in the morning.”

Friday morning, while Tony and I were over at the Lodge, drinking coffee with Kinky—Cindy called, and she left a message on our answering machine. “Nancy, I think you and I should rescue the turtles. I’ll buy one and maybe you could buy one. Call me.”

I called Cindy back. “Cindy, that is a great idea! I’ll be glad to buy one! Tony and I are fixin’ to go to Kerrville, and I will buy them on our way out.”

“Oh, that’s great!” Cindy said. “I can’t wait!”

“I’ll call you from the road, after we get them, and then you can come on over, and we will set them free!”

On the way to Kerrville, I told Tony all about Cindy’s and my ‘Free the Turtles’ project, and he thought it was a great idea. “Nance,” Tony said. “I know the perfect place to release them. It is remote, and they will be safe—no roads to cross, no people.”

Tony and I ran our errands, and then we went to the pet store. “Do y’all have turtles?” I asked.

“Yes, they are back here,” a woman clerk said, “please follow me. Here they are. We have four. The Red Sliders are $19.99 and the other two are $40.00 each.”

“That’s fine. We’ll take all four,” I said.

“You want all of our turtles?” She asked.

“Yes, all of them, please.”

The woman went and found a cardboard box, and then she carefully put the turtles into the box, and then she wrote something, on the top of the box, before handing the box to Tony.

I used my credit card to pay for the four lucky turtles, and then Tony and I left the store. As we headed home, I called Cindy from the road. “Cindy, we’ve got the turtles and we’re heading home!”

“You’ve got them!” Cindy said. “That’s great! Aren’t they beautiful!”

“Yes, they are absolutely beautiful! There were four of them, and I couldn’t leave the other two behind—so I bought all of them!”

“Four! That’s great!” Cindy said. “How much were they?”

“The two big ones were $40.00 each, and the two Red Sliders cost $19.99 each.”

“I am leaving now for the rescue ranch,” Cindy said. “As soon as I get there, I will write you a check for half, and then we can go set them free. This is so exciting!”

When we got home, Tony carried the box of turtles inside the trailer and set them down on the kitchen table—right next to my laptop. I knew that we needed to have a song to celebrate freeing the turtles from captivity, so I opened up my laptop, and went directly to iTunes, and purchased the perfect song for the occassion—’Happy Together’ by The Turtles! I then synced it with my iPod, and had it ready to play on my Bose iDock —so I could play it on Cindy’s arrival. Then I put the box of turtles on a bench, and took a picture of the receipt, box and my beautiful turtle necklace.


The next thing that I did, was to put on my beautiful, hand made by Native Americans, turtle necklace, that my good friend, Fay, up in Toronto, had given to me for my birthday, a couple of years ago. I was set.

When Cindy got here, Tony and I were so excited about freeing the turtles, we ended up going outside to greet her, with the box, of soon to be free, turtles! After showing her the turtles, we jumped into Buttermilk, and then we took off to Tony’s secret destination, on the ranch.

When we arrived at the secret location, we hiked down to Wallace Creek. Before releasing the turtles, Cindy and I took pictures of them.

Then Tony released them, one at a time, into the creek! As soon as the turtles were in the water—they took off fast~~~~swimming joyfully in the clear, cool creek water! We stayed and watched them and tried to take some more pictures, but they were too fast! “I am naming this part of the creek—Turtle Creek,” I declared.

Before we left to go visit Kinky, we said our goodbyes to the turtles, and then hiked back up the hill to Buttermilk.

We had a great visit with Kinky and then we returned to the rescue ranch. When we walked inside Outer Space, I picked up the iDock remote and The Turtles began singing, “Imagine me and you, I do...”

P.S. Before leaving yesterday, I asked Cindy to please write something for me about turtles. Enjoy!

On July 4th [as you probably have already read], Nancy and Tony and I freed 4 turtles from a pet shop and released them into a beautiful, tree-lined creek at Echo Hill. The turtles, released from their cardboard box, wasted no time in diving into the green water and what an amazing feeling to see them set free in their natural environment [as all creatures including humans should be]. A much better way to spend the day we thought, than watching a parade or fire works!

Since childhood, the turtle has been very meaningful to me: I kept several as pets and read and reread the book Minn of the Mississippi, imagining life through the eyes of a turtle. During these past 3 years, the turtle has taken on an even greater meaning, as I now work closely with Native American people, especially with an Anishnabe [Ojibwey] Elder whose healing lodge in Manitoba called the Turtle Lodge is built in the shape of a turtle http://www.theturtlelodge.com

It is said by the Aboriginal people that the true name for North America is Turtle Island and there are many legends about the turtle and its significance. In Manitoba, there are turtle petroforms dating back many thousands of years http://www.shrinesandsacredsites.com/bp.htm# and to the Anishnabe people, the turtle is one of 7 animals that represent the 7 Teachings: Love, Humility, Courage, Respect, Wisdom, Honesty and Truth. The turtle represents Truth.

It is the belief of many of the Native people that if we were to live by these 7 teachings and live close to the land again, peace and harmony would return to the Earth.

I know that we felt that yesterday as we watched the turtles swimming free, knowing that Nature would provide all that they needed to survive....in balance and free of charge.
For more information, please visit our website: http://the8thfire.org

-Cindy Pickard

Happy Birthday, Cindy Pickard! You Rock!

Today is my dear friend, Cindy Pickard's birthday! We have been close friends for over twenty years. This morning, I e-mailed her a note—wishing her a happy birthday. She shot back an e-mail to me—thanking me, and asking me to please check out the e-birthday card that was sent to her by her friends, Bob and Heather. I just checked it out and it was fantastic! The address is:

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=1526087596241&source=jl999

I promise that you will love it, and want to send it to your friends. I am going to show it to Kinky as soon as he arrives back at the ranch today. Happy Monday!