Another Longmire Connection!

Today has been great and also the last few days. This past Wednesday, our dear friends Jim Keaveny and his sweet wife, Anna Oakley, and Tobu, their super smart dog, came to visit us and spend the night, in my pretty, pink, writing cabin. And even though we had thunderstorms, for most of their visit, we had a wonderful time with them.

Today we met our great friends/volunteers, at Fuddruckers, in Kerrville, to celebrate Ellen's and Lisa's birthdays. As we ate our lunch, Ellen and Lisa passed around their hilarious birthday cards and because the cards kept us laughing, it took us a long time to finish eating our food.

June brought a beautiful, Creative Cakes By Sharon, birthday cake. And the delicious cake was divided by a thick row of chocolate frosting. One side, written in pink frosting, were the words, "Happy Birthday Ellen!" and the other half of the cake was written in lavender frosting, were the words, "Happy Birthday Lisa!" And needless to say, Tony and I had a blast with our friends and it will be a birthday party to be remembered, unless of course I forget, which seems to be happening fairly often these days.

After the fun birthday party, I asked Lisa, Eileen and Kris & Jim to follow me, in the parking lot, to Buttermilk, because I had something I wanted to give to them. And Jim says, "Nancy, we've got something we want to give to y'all, too."

"Oh my goodness, Jim!" I said. "Does it have something to do with Longmire?"

Jim tilted his head sideways, and said. "Well, yes. Why?"

"Oh dear," I said. "Because last Friday Eileen gave me the coolest tray with our cast and crew's picture on it and I absolutely love it, but I had to tell her that I had sort of  come up with the same idea, because I had already ordered 10 posters of that picture to give away to the cast and crew of Longmire—Texas Style, except the picture that I used didn't show the Grey Goose Saloon sign, in it like Eileen's did. Did you make prints, too?"

"No, not exactly," Jim replied. It's something else." When we got to Buttermilk I quickly handed Eileen, Lisa and Kris & Jim a poster and they seemed to love it and that made me feel good. Then after we adios-ed Lisa and Eileen and they walked away, Jim said, "Kris and I got this for y'all. And it's only been out for two days. Hot off of the press, so to speak." Here's a picture of Eileen's one of a kind tray and the poster that Tony I gave to our friends.

Oh, and that's my Rolling Thunder Ranch brand, that I designed and then burned into the wood, on the upper left hand corner of our coffee table. The beautiful coffee table that Tony made for me over twenty years ago. And here is the 1st edition book, that that Kris & Jim gave to us. That Tony said I could get to read first!

Late this afternoon we had another Longmire Connection. Randy & Burma came out to meet Katee Sackhoff, because they were pretty sure that they wanted to adopt her and add her to their family.

While they were petting Katee, Burma told me that when she saw Katee's picture and read her story, that Judith Pannebaker, had kindly published, in last weeks Bandera County Courier newspaper, she knew that they had to adopt her. And they loved Katee Sackhoff's name and are not going to change it, because they too, are big time fans of Longmire and the beautiful actress that plays Vic. 

Tony and I really liked Burma and Randy from the git-go, but not as much as Katee already loved them and they already loved Katee. And here is a picture I took of Katee with her new, awesome family.

This evening I received an e-mail from Kinky's friend, who is touring with him, in Europe. It read:

"Hey Nancy, we have a message from the great man for you: Thanks for checking on the lodge for me. Will see you guys on the 25th, late. Then I'm back for good. I'm never leaving again. Love, Kinky"

So, I immediately shot this back to Kinky, via his friend:

"I'm never leaving again." Famous last words ; )  or is this a threat?....

Please tell Kinky that it is no big deal. Bob left today and The Friedmans are doing just fine. It has been raining at least every other day for several weeks. The creeks are over-flowing and the grass, weeds and thistle make it look like a jungle out here. So don't be shocked if you can't see The Lodge when you drive in, because it's there. It is just being hidden by the tall thistle, weeds and grass. And the rescue ranch looks like a jungle, too. I send my best to y'all. Take care and keep on laughing..."

As I finish writing this tonight, I want you to know that as I am typing this, Henry Standing Bear (another Longmire connection) is snoring loudly, underneath our bed and that I am fixin' to start reading Craig Johnson's The Highwayman! Longmire Rules Big Time!

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

We Had Visitors From Afar! or A Really Big Crush!

Yesterday and today have been so much fun for Tony and me, because yesterday we had visitors from afar and they weren't Aliens, even though I would love to have Aliens, like Bob, come visit me.

Our first visitors yesterday arrived around 3:30. They were Philip & Cheryl, these super nice professors of literature, who drove all of the way from Kansas. And the main reason they came to see us was to drop off Harry's, (Philip's father) huge collection of first edition, signed Kinky books, posters and Kinky memorabilia etc., that Harry has generously donated to our rescue ranch, so we can sell them or auction them off to benefit Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. 

When Philip & Cheryl arrived it was misting outside, so Tony and Philip quickly transported Harry's boxes and framed posters to a safe place for us to store Harry's collection. Then we invited our new friends to come inside The Cabin for a really fun visit, because Harry had told me about how much his son and daughter-in-law love Terlingua and enjoy going to the Big Bend National Park.

So, as we sipped our teas or coffees, we became fast friends, because we had so much in common. Seriously, if one of us wasn't talking about Harry & Wanda, music, books or Big Bend then we were all laughing. 

Unfortunately, they could only stay and visit for about an hour, because they needed to get back to their friend's house, in Austin, before dark-thirty, because they are spending their Spring Break attending Austin's famous, annual SXSW Music Festival. 

Tony and I were having so much fun with them we hated to see them leave, but we hugged and adios-ed each other and bid them farewell.

An hour and a half later, Sarah Burton arrived and we hit it off instantly with her, too. Sarah Burton is an awesome singer/songwriter and musician who plays both the guitar and the piano, but not at the same time. She is from Canada and she has duel Canada/USA citizenship. And she has recently purchased some property, in Terlingua, while she was out there playing some gigs, in Terlingua. 

Anyway, earlier this week, our dear friend, Chet O'Keefe, had sent me an e-mail about how she had become good friends with him and Jim Keaveny & his wife Anna Oakley, Haislip, Jamie, Mark, Shannon and the rest of our mutual friends. Then Chet told me that Sarah was going to San Antone and then up to Austin to play at SXSW, so he asked me how I felt about her making a stopover here and spending the night, before driving into the Alamo City to pick up her sister. 

Chet also raved about what a great person and how nice she was and about how awesome her music was, so I immediately wrote him back and said, "...We would love to meet Sarah Burton and she is more than welcomed to spend the night here, in my pretty, pink, writing cabin..."

Last night, Tony and I had so much fun getting to know Sarah Burton. We quickly found out that we had much in common besides loving Terlingua and our mutual friends that live out there. And at one point, after showing her my guitar, I asked Sarah, while she was holding it, if she felt like playing a few of her songs for us. And she did! 

Omg, Sarah Burton is one extremely talented singer/songwriter/musician and her beautiful voice, lyrics and skilled guitar playing totally mesmerized us including: Henry Standing Bear, Little Debbie and Big Al(ice). In fact, Henry made us laugh after she sang her first song, because Henry would not quit staring at Sarah, so I joked, "I think Henry has a really big crush on you."

Sarah left this morning after drinking coffee and eating breakfast with us and once again, we were sad to see her leave. But before she left she gave us two of her CD's, so we are now hooked on her great music, too. Sarah Burton is on Facebook and Twitter, so please check her out and her music. Here are two of her CD's that she signed to Tony, me & Henry, inside the jacket.

We met our dear friends/volunteers today, at the Thai O'Cha Restaurant, to celebrate Jim aka The Mineral Man's birthday and once again, Tony and I had a total blast. When we arrived Kris, Jim's super sweet wife, was Face Time-ing Jim, because she had to go out of town unexpectedly to go help her mother who was recovering from a bout of pneumonia. Anyway, Jim moved his iPhone slowly around our big table so we could all say howdy to Kris and her mom.

Of course, it goes without saying, that our lunch was totally delicious, as always and it was too much fun, because we laughed, joked and teased each other non-stop. And before we were served our delicious lunch, Eileen said, "Nancy and Tony, y'all's Henry Standing Bear is becoming very famous on the Internet." Then she passed her iPhone around for all of us to see what she had posted on Longmire's Official Posse's fan club site.

Eileen did this, because yesterday, after Tony had posted a cute picture of Henry Standing Bear on Tony's Facebook page, Eileen tagged it and then she posted the photo of Henry and Tony's selfie, on Longmire's Posse site and a whole lot of Longmire's loyal fans had—Liked it or had made cute comments about our Henry, that we named in honor of Lou Diamond Phillips' character.

After we finished eating lunch, our good friend Ju and staff came out singing the Happy Birthday song to Jim and carrying a candle-lit, beautiful German Chocolate cake, that Kris had pre-ordered from Creative Cakes By Sharon, that she had asked Eileen to pick up and bring to Jim's birthday party for her. And the least that I can say about this cake, because tonight's post is getting way too long is, "It was the best German Chocolate cake that any of us have ever eaten." And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Bangkok!

Today has been a total blast and super great. This morning, around 11:30, after all of our great friends/volunteers had walked our dogs, we went up to the Medina Highpoint's Koyote Grill to celebrate Eileen's birthday and to eat lunch together.

June and Ellen brought the cutest "Bat Cake" made by Creative Cakes By Sharon, in Kerrville and it was delicious. June and Ellen chose to use a Bat theme, because Eileen loves bats and she volunteers regularly, at the Old Tunnel State Park, a popular place to learn about Bats and view them. And Lisa also baked a chocolate, pecan-pie-cake for Eileen and it was totally delicious, too.

When we started eating lunch Eileen opened up her birthday cards and then we passed them around the table so we could all read them. Her birthday cards were so hilarious, it sounded like we were doing a laughing wave around the table over and over again. And her Bangkok/Charade card was my favorite card and I am still laughing about it and that's all that I can say about it.

After we all sang Happy Birthday to Eileen, she made a wish and blew out the flaming candles, spinning around on Lisa's pecan-pie cake. 

Before I ate my slice of Lisa's mouth-watering, chocolate, pecan-pie cake I took this picture to show  the pecan pie inside of the chocolate cake.

On our way back home Tony and I were still laughing about how much fun Eileen's birthday was and I didn't think my day could get any better. But it did—just a few minutes later!

When we stopped to pick up our mail, before going home, there was a box addressed to my from my sweet friend Jo, who also lives in Northern New Mexico, near Cindy. I had known that Jo was sending me something that she had made especially for me, since last weekend, because she had asked me for our address.

I totally love Jo's beautiful Cousin Nancy flags and here are a few pictures of the ribbon, connected flags, to show off her creative talent. And I think that I am going to have Tony help me hang it, in my pretty, pink, writing cabin, because it is over six feet long when strung out.

After I took the pictures of Jo's beautiful flags, I am thinking that today could not get any better and then the phone rang—it was Claudia, the sweet woman that came out last Tuesday morning and adopted Bonnie Raitt from us.

"Nancy, I just want to give you an update on Bonnie. She is working out beautifully and she and I are best friends. I take Bonnie on a long walk every morning around 7:30 and every afternoon she and I take a nap together. She's perfect and she loves to ride in my car with me...I cannot thank you and Tony enough for Bonnie and for what y'all do...." And to the least, her great news made me tear up, because I was so happy for Bonnie and for Claudia. 

So, Happy Birthday Eileen! Thank you Jo! And best wishes for Bonnie and Claudia! And that is about it for tonight, because Tony and I are fixin' to go take Henry on his first adventure—a hike in the woods and down to the creek.

Y'all have a great evening!

I Love Roy!

The last few days have been great, but I have been so busy lately that I have not had enough time to write. So, tonight as I give y'all my "Reader's Digest" condensed version of what's been going on, Roy is nearby, sleeping soundly, in his chair. And I want you to know that I now call Roy "My Home Land Security."

Late Thursday afternoon, Chet, Tony and I went to the Thomas Evans art reception, held at the Kerr Art and Culture Center. We had a wonderful time getting to meet Tom and viewing his beautiful  paintings. Tons of people showed up for the fabulous art event and it was a lot of fun getting to see so many of our friends there, too.

Friday was a great day, too. Around 11:30, Tony and I went up to Koyote Grill, so we could meet our dear friends/volunteers, so we could help celebrate The Mineral Man's birthday. Eileen had gotten Creative Cakes By Sharon to make Jim's designer, delicious, German chocolate cake and it was a big hit at the birthday party, because we were all in awe of Sharon's creative cake decorations. 

Because Jim was in law enforcement, Sharon had decorated it with guns, bullets, badges and handcuffs, that even included a key and they were all edible, too. In fact my slice of birthday cake included the capital H(appy) with the Capital B(irthday) beneath it and Tony ate a couple of the silver bullets.

Today has been another great day, too. Late this afternoon, I jumped into Trigger and took off for the Apple Store, in Medina, because at 3:15, I was having a business meeting with my new friend Roy Holley. Roy is a well known Texas radio host and on Saturday mornings from 9:15-10:00, he does his Talk About Texas show, on KKYX 680AM. 

He and I met in Medina, so we could meet each other and then discuss the upcoming Action Magazine's 40th Anniversary Celebration, that will benefit our rescue ranch, on April 12th. Roy is helping Sam Kindrick promote the blowout music extravaganza and he wanted to talk about him interviewing me on-air, to talk about our rescue ranch, etc.

Anyway to squash rumors, it was pretty funny when Roy and I walked inside The Apple Store together, to drink some coffee. Dawn, our good friend/volunteer, who adopted Sissy from us, was at the checkout counter, when she looked up and saw me with Roy. She did a double take and then she said, "Hi Cousin Nancy." And it made me chuckle.

"Hi, Dawn," I said. "This is my friend Roy. He is a radio host on KKYX and he..." After Roy and she greeted each other we went into the next room to get us some delicious apple coffee. Dodie, another good friend of Tony's and mine then walked into the room and like Dawn, she too did a double take and then greeted me and once again I introduced and tried to explain to her who Roy was.

Our business meeting lasted until their 5:00 closing time, because after Roy and I had talked about the rescue ranch and the event, etc., we discovered that we knew many of the same musicians, radio hosts, etc. and we had a lot of fun talking about our mutual friends in the music business.

When we went outside, we stood by Trigger, talking about our old friends that used to work at KVET and KASE, in Austin. And we talked and laughed, for about fifteen more minutes, standing outside in The Apple Store's parking lot, as a few pickups slowed down as they passed by us. 

So, to make things perfectly clear, I want everyone to know that I love Roy Rogers, my sweet, old, Yellow Lab and that I enjoyed meeting Roy Holley today. And that is about it for tonight. Now I must go reset all of our clocks.

Y'all have a great evening!

What A Nice Surprise! or We Love You, Eileen!

Today has been great even though last night I went to bed madder than a wet hen or at least that is the best way I know of describing it.

When I had finished reading another 100 pages of Wild, I was tired and ready to go to bed, so I called the dogs to let them go outside and they all came running out of our bedroom and then went outside to take care of business.

While they were outside I went into our bedroom to fold down the sheets and to my surprise—there was another big hole, at the top of the down comforter, chewed right next to the mending I had previously done and yes, feathers were everywhere to be found.

It made me so mad I wanted to scream, but I didn't. Instead I rolled up the comforter starting at the top, to prevent any further feather-leakage. Then I tossed our cheap, all chewed up fleece blanket over the top of our bed making sure to cover up the birds-of-a-feather comforter, at the end of the bed. Then I brought our dogs back inside. And not one of them looked guilty, as they raced past me to go back into our bedroom.

Then I went down the hall to tell Tony about one of our dogs chewing up the down comforter, again. And while he was defending his dogs Beau and Belle, the dogs started barking, in our bedroom. When I went to the bedroom to see what was the matter I started laughing, because they were barking at the covered up down blanket. I guess they thought there was a person hiding underneath the cheap blanket they had destroyed months ago. After showing them the rolled up comforter, I turned off the light and we all went to bed.

The first thing I did this morning after drinking a cup of H-E-B Texas Pecan Coffee was cook breakfast for Hank. Three eggs scrambled with one pound of sausage, because Tony was fixin' to go outside to start doing the chores and I wanted him to feed Hank first.

While Tony was outside, I took a shower, cleaned up the kitchen and then I got Eileen's "No More Radiation/ No More Cancer" celebration gift sack ready, because for lunch today, the volunteers and us were surprising Eileen, to celebrate her victory with cancer, at the Medina High Point's Koyote Grill. Our small gift was a sauce pot, a sauce mop and a six pack of Guiness Harp beer.

Then I went outside to greet Eileen, Suzanne, Kris & Jim and June, our dear friends/volunteers. I had a fun visit with everyone and I introduced them to Cheryl Strayed and then reintroduced them to Hank, who Tony had told me, "He ate all of his breakfast in just a few seconds and he loved it. I wished that you had saved some for me, because I'm..."

Eileen's "No More Cancer" celebration party was a total blast! Ellen and Jim, and Pam, June and Ellen's sweet cousin, who is Ed Helms, sweet mother, also joined our celebration. Kris had gotten Creative Cakes By Sharon to bake and design a very special No Cancer cake for Eileen and it was as awesome as it was delicious. And the pretty-in-pink, plastic forks, paper plates, tablecloth and napkins, that Kris had also picked up made everything perfect. 

I have taken these pictures to capture our fun time and the reason that Tony and I gave Eileen a sauce pot and sauce mop was because, we knew in advance that Jim was going to share his friend Claude's secret BBQ sauce and rub recipes with Eileen. Which now means that only us three have these secret BBQ recipes. And to say the least when Jim handed Eileen the folder with the recipes, "She was beside herself and more than thrilled to get these recipes."

Tony and I had to leave the party around 1:45, because we needed to get back to the rescue ranch, because we had another dog coming in, from Houston. A few years ago this nice couple had rescued this stray and since then their 93 year old father-in-law had come to live with them and because he was forgetful, etc. and accidentally letting the dog out in the neighborhood, "it was only a matter of time before something really bad happened."

After we got back home, I decided to put our big dogs out in the backyard, so I could once again mend our down comforter, that has recently brought little comfort to me. To reduce the feather-spread inside The Cabin, I had already decided to do this mending, out on the front porch.

The tear that I mended was nearly twenty inches long, and before I plucked it off of our bed, to take it outside, I took these two pictures to show why the comforter had scared our dogs last night.

Don't you love all of the holes aka air vents? And it does sort of look like a person buried under the blanket.

When I finished mending the down comforter, which I've now named Downer, I took it back into The Cabin and put it inside our bedroom closet aka wine cellar. And I plan to every night put it back on our bed and then remove it every morning, to spend its time with Hazel, in the wine cellar.

At 4:24, our dogs started barking. I figured the sweet couple and Gumbo were arriving, but I was wrong.

I was writing this post, so Tony went outside first. Then I went outside to greet David and his wife, but I didn't. Instead I hugged Tony and jumped for joy!

I was thrilled! My hiking boots had arrived three days early and they fit like a glove, if anyone were to put a glove on their foot. The boots also came with an embroidered PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) patch and I plan to sew it onto one of my blue jean jackets, but not today, because I am already tired of sewing.

At 4:58, our dogs started barking, again. This time I figured the sweet couple and Gumbo were arriving and I was right. So Tony and I both went outside to greet them and to welcome Gumbo.

Gumbo is a fabulous, handsome two-year-old male dog. We love him and the kind-hearted couple who brought him to us. Tomorrow I will take pictures of Gumbo, who I've renamed Forrest Gump, because he is starting a new life adventure. And that is about it for tonight, because I plan to wear my hiking boots and plop them up on the coffee table and continue reading Wild. And btw, just so you'll know, I am removing my Nike+ Fuel Band now, because I've already I met my goal of 2,000! Life is good.

Y'all have a great evening 

Space Cowboys!

Today has been great and I have two short stories to tell. The first one, Crossing Paths, is totally true and very condensed and the second short story, Space Cowboys, is sort of true, because today is Halloween Day.

Crossing Paths

Wednesday afternoon Tony and I stopped by Gibson's, so we could buy Eileen, our dear friend, a small gift to celebrate her last chemo treatment, because today, at the Koyote Grill all of our super volunteers/friends were going to give her a surprise "No Mo' Chemo!" party.

When we were walking up to Gibson's Tony spotted our dear friend Donna Hatch as she and I walked right past each other, because I am blind and because I was focusing on not tripping and falling on something and because Donna was focusing on the cool Christmas items for sale, outside the store. "Hey, Donna," Tony said, as she and I both turned around and recognized each other.

After a fun, but short visit with our good friend, I told Donna about Big Mama, the sweet Great Pyrenees that we rescued last week. "Ryan and I," she said, "have some dear friends that want to get a really big dog and..."

Yesterday afternoon as planned, Michelle came out to meet Big Mama and it was love at first sight for both of them, so she asked us if she could take Big Mama home for a few days so her sweet husband could meet Big Mama and they see how she got along with their two cats. And of course, we said, "Yes! Please do!"

This morning Michelle called me. She told me that they love Big Mama so much and that she got along beautifully with their two cats. "She slept on the bed with us last night and she loves to sit on our furniture! She is the perfect dog for us and we want to adopt her! She's so sweet and...." So thanks to Eileen for causing us to make a stop at Gibson's and for Tony recognizing Donna—Big Mama now has a fabulous, forever home!

Space Cowboys!

This morning when I got up I felt like something wasn't right and I couldn't put my finger on it. Then when I was drinking a cup of Texas Pecan coffee I had two signs or omens revealed to me—that today might not be so great. 

The first sign was when I noticed that Bob was no longer standing up, in the big chair, which Tony had made for me, eighteen years ago.

So when Tony came into the big room to get more coffee, I asked him if he had moved Bob and his answer was, "No." Then he looked at Bob and stood him back up, in the chair. 

As Tone was pouring himself another cup of coffee, I said, "Tony, yesterday afternoon when Hazel and I were vacuuming, I found one of Rick's friendship bracelets that he gave to you, on the floor, under the bench by the window. Would you mind picking it up for me, because my back is aching?"

Tony, bent down to pick it up and says, "Nance, it's not a bracelet. It's a dead centipede. You really need to get new glasses." Then he picked it up, so I could take a picture of the scary-looking thing, before he tossed it into the trashcan.

A few hours later, Tony and I took off for Koyote Grill, to celebrate Eileen's "No Mo' Chemo!" party with our dear friends. And that's when things got really scary.

We were fifteen minutes early and the very first ones to arrive, at the popular grill. I had thought it was a good idea to get there early, so we could surprise Eileen when she walked inside, but it turned out to be a very bad idea. Because when we walked inside we were immediately captured by a Star Wars Storm Trooper! And then he had the nerve to ask Tony to take pictures to document what he had done.

Even though I am smiling, in the picture above and looking friendly—I was faking it big time. Then one by one, as our dear friends arrived for Eileen's party, they were captured, too. To say the least, "We were in big time trouble. 

While we were pleading for the Star Wars trooper to please let us go party, two Space Cowboys rode up on their Space Quarter Horses and the cowboy and cowgirl were immediately captured, too. It was so terrifying!

Then the space cowboy had a brilliant idea and saved the day for all of us!

The Space Cowboy invited the Star Wars Storm Trooper to Eileen's celebration party and then he went and showed him the beautiful "Lucky" cake that Lisa had ordered for Eileen's party, made by Creative Cakes By Sharon! 

And because it was a "Lucky" cake it touched the Star Wars Storm Trooper's heart, because he collects horseshoes and is fascinated with cowboys, he decided to set us free and then a good time was had by all!  

Please note that the Star Wars Storm Trooper ate two, heaping servings of the delicious cake and then he vanished off into thin air.  Here are two of our dear friends thanking and adios-ing the Space Cowboy for thinking fast and saving the day for us, as he and his Space Cowgirl rode off into the sunset. Talk about one lucky day for all of us!

Y'all have a Happy Halloween evening with a happy ending like we did today!