Happy Birthday Dylan Ferrero! In Dog Years He's Not That Old!

Early Saturday morning, after breakfast, Tony and I went over to the Lodge to drink a cup of coffee with Kinky. We talked about Thunder and her passing and Kinky's kind words about her made me smile. Then we talked about The Friedmans giving up dog bones for their New Year's resolution and Chumley being so happy to be back home since his observation stay at Hoegemeyers. "Is Maude coming home today?" Kinky asked.

"I think so, but I need to call the clinic, as soon as we get home, to see if she can," I said. "I really miss her even though I don't seem to count, with Maudie. She loves Tony and that's it." Kinky started laughing.

"In a few minutes I am going to Kerrville and I will be glad to pick her up for y'all," Kinky said.

Twenty minutes later, after talking to Susan at Hoegemeyers, I called Kinky and then Trigger and I took off for Kerrville. My first stop was to get groceries at H-E-B. Then I went to Hoegemeyers to meet Cassie, one of their new, sweet vet techs, so she could sign-off on Cowboy's adoption forms, because she had fallen in love with him, after we had rescued him from the pound, and then taken him there to get him neutered and his shots, etc.! 

"It is so nice to meet you, Cousin Nancy!" Cassie said, as she filled out Cowboy's adoption papers. "I love Cowboy so much! My husband and I have L.T., an Aussie mixed with Blue Heeler and Border Collie that we rescued last year. And Cowboy is the same size as L.T. and they are already best friends. Thank you for letting us adopt him."

"No, thank you, Cassie. We are all so happy about you adopting Cowboy, before he ever made it to our rescue ranch. He's a very lucky dog."

"Cowboy is really trained. He sits on command, heels and is house broken!" Cassie bragged, as she handed me my clipboard. Then Maude entered the lobby all excited and started looking around the room for Tony, her hero, but since he wasn't there, she acknowledged me and wagged her tail, so I picked her up and we came home. And the minute that she was reunited with T.—I once again became invisible to her.

This evening, three minutes before the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears, I called Kinky to see if it was okay for Tone and me to come over for a visit. "Sure Nance. Y'all come on over."

When we walked inside the Lodge, we were first greeted by The Friedmans, in the kitchen and then we walked into the big room and said our howdies to Kinky. "Y'all just missed Dylan," Kinky said, as he lit up a cigar. "Today is his birthday and he is sixty-eight years old. Can you believe that? Sixty-eight."

"Well, Kink, in dog years he's not that old," I said. "He's nine years older than me and I can't believe that. Tony, how old is Dylan in dog years?"

"About nine and a half or so." When the Jets and Steelers game started, Buttermilk took us home.

Tonight I have some exciting news to tell you about my good friends: Copper Love, the incredible world famous horse whisperer and Connie Strong, who wrote an incredibly great article about Copper for the popular magazine, "Horseback!"  And I promise that you will love reading it. Yeah, Copper and Connie—Y'all Really Rock!

P.S. Happy Birthday, Dylan! You Really Rock, Too!

Have a great evening and May The Force Be With Y'all!

Feel Good!

As I begin to write this, Phoebe Snow is singing "Poetry Man," on Bozo, my iPod's Bose docking system. Salty Dog, my Himalayan salt lamp, is glowing and a fake fire is pretending to burn in Old Smokey, our electric, faux wood burning stove and here is a picture that I just took of them. It's cozy and I like that.

Years ago, Tony and I bought Old Smokey, because we love wood burning fireplaces and also because  fire is a four-letter word to people who live in old trailers—they don't mix well. 

Johnny Rivers is now singing "Maybelline" and my foot won't quit tapping, next to Thunder's head, who is sound asleep. Now that the mood is set and perfect for me, I am ready to tell you about my incredibly, wonderful day.

This morning I got up real early and did my chores, because I had to walk eight miles with Leslie, because I have fallen way behind on my walking schedule, because of taking so much time off for my dental work, holidays etc. 

So far, as of today I have officially walked 1,634 miles since January 1, 2010, which is great, but not good, because I am 36 miles behind and have to make it up this month so I can reach my goal of 1,825 miles walked this year with Leslie.  

I figure if I walk eight miles for the next ten days straight—I will be able to accomplish my New Year's resolution easily. 

After walking the walk I sat down at the kitchen table with a hot cup of Yerba Mate tea and checked my e-mails. And the one that I got from our friend Kim Galusha literally made my day! Kim wrote that she and Joe King Carrasco, the "King of Tex-Mex Rock & Roll," who did a benefit for our rescue ranch in 2008, at the Ruta Maya in Austin, have put together a fantastic CD of that night's concert, and they want to give 50% of the sells of the CD to Utopia! Talk about two nice people—we love them! And, when I told Kinky about Kim's news, he was as thrilled as we were. Thank you, Kim and Joe King Carrasco!

Well, I didn't think my day could get any better, but it did—real quick—when the snail mail arrived! "There here, Nance. Joni Daniel has sent you some extra copies of Texas Animal Imprints." T. said, as he handed me her stuffed envelope, which I ripped open, because I could not wait to see my very first magazine column that I had written—in PRINT!

"Look, Tony!" I half-hollered, with excitement. "Here it is! OMG! I love the way it looks and look at the beautiful, photo collage that Mary Chavoustie did and they gave you credit for your photos, too!" Tone looked. "I love it. Thanks to Joni, I'm now a "magazine columnist" and you're a "professional photographer" with your photos in a magazine, calendar and books!..."

After I had settled down, I read the magazine from front to cover and I totally enjoyed reading all of the stories—especially the one that my friend Connie Strong wrote about our rescue ranch, titled "Life On This Side Of The Rainbow Bridge." Thank you so much, Connie—Kinky, Tony and I loved it! You are an incredibly talented writer and I teared up when I read your column about us.

When I was done reading, I picked up the phone and called Joni to thank her for sending me the copies, so I could  send them to friends. "Joni, the magazine looks beautiful and I love what Mary did and..." Before ending our conversation I told her that I was going to blog about it tonight and then I thanked her again and said,  "The cover of the magazine is absolutely beautiful and I'm going to plug your magazine, too. It is the least that I can do to thank you." 

This is the picture that I took of the cover, but unfortunately Flash Gordon, my flash on my Sony camera, decided it wanted to become a part of the beautiful cover (near the bottom) and I also accidentally chopped off the top part and sides of Texas Animal Imprints—sorry Joni. Please tell Mary Chavoustie that I didn't give it the justice that it was due, but it is still beautiful.

Anyone who would like to buy a subscription to this "feel good" bi-monthly magazine that celebrates animals and nature, please send a check or money order for $12.50 payable to :

Texas Animal Imprints

2305 S. Day Street #234

Brenham, TX 77833 

I hope that all of y'all will buy a subscription to Texas Animal Imprints to show your support for my new column, and this magnificent magazine. And, I promise that you that you will be glad that you did, because everyone at Texas Animal Imprints Truly Rocks! And, so do Joe King Carrasco and Kim Galusha! I love y'all so much!

Y'all have a great evening!

The Thanksgiving Pigs!

Happy Thanksgiving! Today has been great and I have so much to be thankful for. My morning started out great and then it went South real quick.

This morning at twelve minutes past four o'clock I was on the phone with Kinky wishing him a happy Thanksgiving. Yesterday at lunch, he had asked us to please give him a four o'clock wake up call and I overslept by twelve minutes, but he didn't seem to mind. I bet that I was the first person to wish him a happy turkey day today.

After making some coffee, I started a load of laundry, fed the dogs and then I did a little paperwork as the caffeine began to kick-in. "Tony, today is going to be fun and I can't wait to cook dinner for our dogs. I'm fixin' to cook breakfast in just a minute."

"Good, because I'm starving." This morning was fun, because Tony stayed home, instead of going to the Old Timer in Medina to drink coffee with his friends, because the Old Timer was closed today. By six-fifteen we had eaten breakfast and I was finishing up washing the dishes. "Nance, we need to leave here by seven-fifteen to go feed the pigs at Heath's."

"Okay." The reason we had to go feed pigs at Heath's ranch was because Tony's brother Sam and his family and Heath and his family were out-of-town and they had asked T. if he would mind going over to Heath's ranch and feed their pigs for them. "Where is Heath's ranch?"

"About fifteen miles away." At seven-fifteen Tony and I jumped into Buttermilk to go feed the pigs. T. cranked the engine and then Buttermilk died, again. "What's wrong?" I asked. Tony shook his head sideways and then he got out and popped her hood, looked inside and then slammed the hood down.

"Her fan belt flew off. Let's go in Trigger." I sighed and then got out of Buttermilk and climbed up into Trigger and we took off in silence. Five miles down the road I said, "Can she be fixed?"

"Yes."

"Good. I'm so glad that Marvin is coming out to help us feed the dogs their dinner. It will be fun. What time is he coming?"

"He told me that he will be at the rescue ranch at ten o'clock." As we drove through Medina there was not one car on the road. Every business was closed and the town looked deserted. Fifteen minutes later we pulled up to the pig barn on Heath's ranch. "Come on in, I need for you to help me call out each pig's special diet recipe."

After I greeted the pretty pigs T. showed me the individual recipes for the pigs posted on each pigpen. "We'll do one pig at a time. Just call out the recipe to me while I mix it up over on the table. Start here."

"One cup of "P"...one cup of "M"...one cup of "O"...and one cup of "G."" My job was not hard, but I was curious what the initials stood for, so I asked Tone, as he fed the first hungry pig.

"Protein, milk, oats and grain." Fifteen minutes later we were done and the pigs were enjoying their breakfasts. Then we left the pig barn and went into the goat and sheep barn, so Tony could feed them, too. They were so cute. And I laughed out loud when a couple of goats butted Tone as they excitedly followed him outside to fill their feed troughs.

"What time is it?" I asked, as we walked towards Trigger.

"Nearly eight-thirty," Tony said, as he turned Trigger's ignition key and I fastened my seat belt. Then nothing happened. I looked over at T. and then he turned the ignition key, again and nothing happened, again. Then Tony mumbled a few cuss words and then he got out of Trigger and the next thing you know he was underneathe the truck banging on something. "Try starting it," he half-hollered.

I scooted over, turned the key and nothing happened. Tony banged some more and then hollered, "Do it again!" Twenty minutes later after banging on the battery cables and the starter thing and doing it again we gave up—Trigger was dead, too!

Trying to stay cool and not get mad, because that was not going to help our situation, I suggested that we make some funeral arrangements and then call Robert and Sherry Selement, our good friends and next door neighbors. Tony pulled out his cell phone to discover there was no cell service on Heath's ranch, so we decided to start walking.

About a quarter-of-a-mile later Tony checked his cell phone and got service. He quickly punched in Robert and Sherry's phone number. "Hello, Sherry. We're over at Heath's ranch and our truck broke down." There was silence a moment of silence. "Okay, thanks. Bye. Sherry said she will come and get us." We turned around and started marching back up the road to Heath's ranch as a neighbor watched us suspiciously from his barn.

When we got back to Trigger, Tony banged on him some more and I did it again and again, but to no avail. "I think it is the starter and not the battery. We decided to lock Trigger up and leave him parked at Heath's ranch until tomorrow. Forty minutes later we heard a car headed in our direction, then we saw Robert's white truck! We waved!

When Robert drove up he had two smiling passengers with him: his son Gregory and Tito. After greetings and thanking them for coming to our rescue, we climbed up into the back seat of Robert's mega-sized, white truck and took off for home. "I like your truck, Robert. What kind is it?"

"A Chevy," Robert said. "I'm a Chevy Man. I only drive Chevys."

Well, I guess that you could say that this is our country version of "Trains, Planes & Automobiles," but ours should be called "Ford, Ford & Chevy!" We had a fun visit with Tito, Gregory and Robert and we cannot thank them enough for interrupting their Thanksgiving Day plans and rescuing us.

When we walked inside the trailer it was ten minutes to ten—we were running late, so T. jumped in Kermit to get the dog's holiday dinner groceries from the barn, while I pulled pans out and turned on the oven to help speed things up. By the time Marvin arrived the vegetables were cooking in the oven and in Connie Strong's stock pot on top of the oven.

In no time flat or by ten thirty-eight, the three of us went outside to treat our dogs to their warm Thanksgiving Dinner and our dogs loved it and they all got second servings. After we cleaned our buckets and wooden spoons we had a fun visit with Marvin. And before he left to go home I loaned him my book by Doug Fine—Farewell, My Subaru. Here is a picture that Tony took of me feeding second servings.

Two hours later as T. and I ate our Thanksgiving dinner I said, "I've just come up for a title for tonight's blog. You know Kinky wrote the book The Christmas Pig, well, I am going to title tonight's blog, "The Thanksgiving Pigs! I can't wait to tell him about today's escapades."

This evening a little after five o'clock I heated up the dinner rolls that we had bought for our dogs holiday dinner and after they were heated, we went outside and gave one warm roll to every dog and they loved them and ate them up.

As Tony fed Pumpkin and Pilgrim their dinner rolls I said, "I feel so sorry for Pumpkin and Pilgrim."

"Why? They're fine."

"Because, they are going to think that we are going to cook for them everyday. Tomorrow morning when they get served their dry dog food they are going to be very disappointed..."

I hope that all of y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, because we sure did. I am so grateful and thankful and want to thank Connie Strong for buying us the stock pot, wooden spoons, dish towel and pot holders, to use for our dog's holiday dinners, Marvin for volunteering and helping us out today and Robert & Sherry and Gregory and Tito for going beyond the call of duty as good neighbors and rescuing us and our holiday! And lastly, I want to thank Fay MacLachlan, up in Canada, for underwriting our dog's annual Thanksgiving Dinner. And, Rick and Leisa, I am sorry that y'all couldn't make it. We love y'all!

P.S. Tonight I am going to watch "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" which is one of my favorite movies of all times. I love the story and I love Steve Martin and John Candy. I am going to be thankful as I watch the icy pickup truck scene, that Robert didn't make us ride outside in the the back of his big, white Chevy pickup. Maybe, I should have titled tonight's blog, "The Chevy Man Cometh!

Y'all have a great evening!

My Finger Wouldn't Quit Bleeding!

Well, I guess that I am just lucky, because today has been a another wonderful day for me. This morning after I walked eight more miles with Leslie, I spent my morning doing paperwork, answering e-mails and returning many phone calls.

After lunch Tony and I went outside and started mowing the rescue ranch, so it will look beautiful for our 1st Annual Dog Adoption and Training Seminar this coming Saturday. Since T.'s back was out, he rode the riding lawn mower and I push-mowed for three hours and then I grabbed the Weedeater and did some trimming around the dog pens.

When we finished working outside we came inside the trailer and sweet Tony plucked fifty-four stickers that were stuck and embedded in my clothes. Thank you, Tone, even though you called me a stickler for yard work. I am thrilled with how much we accomplished outside today and hopefully by tomorrow we can finish it up in three hours or less.

Twenty-two minutes into our nightly Happy Hour, after I drank a glass of  fine, red boxed wine and Tony had finished off his beer the phone rang at six forty-seven and I let Carlton take the call. "Nancy, Tony! Tony, Nancy! Please pick up the phone. This is Mary Chavoustie with Texas Animal Imprints magazine. Connie Strong and I are at your gate and it is closed. We have a present that we want to give to y'all..."

"Hello, Mary. How are you? You and Connie are at the gate?" I asked, puzzled that a cell phone was getting service out here.

"No, actually, we are calling you from Kinky's Lodge. Frank let us use Kinky's phone..." As soon as we hung up, Tony went outside and jumped into Kermit and took off to go open the gate for them.

Two minutes later Connie and Mary pulled up to the trailer, got out of Connie's car, wearing big grins on their faces as they always do, and then the hug-fest began. "We just finished interviewing Copper Love and we love her," Connie said. "What an interesting woman..."

"We couldn't resist coming out to see y'all since we were so close," Mary said.

"We have a present to give to you," Connie said, as she went over to her car and opened the back seat door. "Since we can't be here for your annual Dog's Thanksgiving Dinner we brought you this to help cook their dinner." Connie held up a large, shiny stock pot with a cute kitchen towel, two big wooden spoons and three pot holders attached to it by a ribbon. Tone and I grinned.

"OMG!" I said. "Thank y'all so much! I love it and we sure can use it. I swear, y'all are two of the sweetest women I know. I can't believe that you drove all of the way out here to bring us a present. I'm gonna go get my camera. I'll be right back."

When I came back outside—Tony shot us. Mary is on the left and Connie is on the right. Then Mary shot Tony and me with the pot.

We had a short, but really fun visit with these two super cool women and trust me, there was a lot of laughing. After I showed them my new teeth and told them about my whistling problem they complimented me and then we talked about their hilarious "bloody" trip to Walmart to buy our gift, after interviewing Copper. "Before checking out at Walmart we went to the Eye Care department to borrow a pair of scissors, so we could cut the ribbon and I cut my finger on a sharp edge under the lid handle and my finger started bleeding profusely." We all started laughing. "There was blood all over my clothes and jeans and my finger wouldn't quit bleeding," Connie continued. "So, we then went to the Customer Service department and I told them that I wasn't going to sue them, but they needed to remove the stock pot from their inventory, because of the sharp edge and that they needed to give me a Band Aid." Then she showed us her bandaged finger and we laughed. "Tomorrow I am going to call your friend Rick Reichenbach, "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper" in Port Aransas and make a date to go interview him."

"Y'all are going to love Rick," I said. "I'll call him tonight. Hopefully, he will invite you to spend the night on the island. It is a totally awesome experience and..."

As the sun sank behind the mountain, knowing that they had a five hour drive ahead of them to get home, they told us that they had to leave, so we had another hug-fest and then we bid them farewell and wished them a safe trip home. "Please tell Joni that we send her our best," I half-hollered, as they drove away.

P.S. 'Erb Cares, I am sorry that I missed your phone call last night. I love you and Karen and please give her and y'all's five dogs a hug from me.

Y'all have a great evening!

Pain In The Back!

All day today I have thought about what I was going to write about yesterdays super fun interview with Connie Strong. Connie arrived on time at one o'clock sharp with her friends and co-workers: Joni Johnson Daniel, the publisher for Texas Animal Imprints, photographer Mary Chavoustie and Joni's sister Juli.

Tony and I liked these bubbly women the minute that they got out of their vehicles. It was hugs first and introductions second and then we went into Outer Space so Connie could interview me and that is when the real fun began.

After playing a quick round of musical chairs so Mary the photographer could shoot me Connie asked me if was okay for her to record our interview and I told her that I didn't mind one bit even though I know that I sound like Gabby Hays on helium. Connie started her little white tape recorder and then she began asking me questions about our rescue ranch and of course I talked way too much—as I always do—just ask anyone who knows me, or better yet ask Tony.

Ten minutes into the interview I realized Connie was a pro at interviewing people, because she already knew a lot about our rescue ranch and she had come prepared with a list of questions to ask me. I was so relaxed and having such a great time answering her questions, telling rescue ranch stories and laughing with her and her friends I forgot that Mary was busy shooting me while Connie continued to interview me. I felt like I was just sitting around visiting with dear friends. In other words it was the best interview I have ever had! Thank you, Connie, Joni, Mary and Juli for a fun day!

After the interview I invited everyone to come inside the trailer so I could show it off and they loved it, but not as much as they loved the Miles of Chocolate that Ben had given to us. We laughed and talked some more inside the trailer then we outside so I could show them my Space Ship and writing cabin and they loved them, too. Then Tony and I gave a tour of the rescue ranch so they could meet all of our great dogs.

Before "the girls" left we rode around the ranch looking for, Gabby Hays, Roy Rogers and Little Jewford, but unfortunately they were nowhere to be found. When it was time for them to leave they didn't want to leave and we didn't want them to leave so we hugged each other and then they departed.
After they left Tone said, "I really like those women. They were so fun and down to earth..."

"I know, Tone. Me too."

Then we ate lunch and let Buttermilk take us to Kerrville to get some groceries.
When we got to Kerrville we decided to go see Sandy and Jon before doing our grocery shopping at the H.E.B. "Sandy, I love reading Drop-Ins! It is a real hoot! I gave my copy of Tom Wells book Strange Seasons: Summer to Patty in Florida and I need to buy another copy of his book." When we walked out of Wolfmueller's Books Tony was carrying four new books in his arms: three by Elmer Kelton and one by Tom D. Wells.

I wish that I could write ten more pages about how much fun we had with Connie, Joni, Mary and Juli, but I can't because this afternoon at straight-up four o'clock my back went out and it is aching pretty bad.
When it happened I hollered at the top of my lungs for Tony to come help me. When he came running into our bathroom I was hunched over trying to buckle up my pink overalls. "Nance, what's wrong?"

"I threw my back out, T."

"How?"

"Well, I had to go to the bathroom to tinkle and when I stood up—it went out." Tony started laughing. "It's not funny, Tony! It hurts like you-know-what. Ouch! Could you get me one of my walking poles so I can use it like a walking cane?" Tony fetched the pretty wannabe cane and I limped into the kitchen with T. right behind me. "One last thing, Tone. Could you please unplug my laptop and put it up here on the breakfast bar for me. They say that standing and walking is good for a bad back. And could you find the Aleve in the kitchen cabinet for me?" Tony moved my laptop, but he could not find the Aleve. "It's gotta be over at Kinky's," I said. "In fact, I remember taking it over there several months ago when his back was out." Tony took off for the Lodge and returned ten minutes later with the Aleve—thank goodness! After I took two Aleve I said, "I'm sorry for being such a pain in the back, Tone."

Well, it is now nearly nine o'clock as I stand here typing this at the breakfast bar. My back is already feeling much better even though I haven't sat down in five hours. Tony is in his office planting or plowing on his virtual farm and I'm fixin' to go plant myself in bed. Good night.

P.S I want to thank Matt, Meghann and Casey for coming out this morning and volunteering on their day off. It was great seeing you. I love y'all!

Y'all have a great evening!