The Boys! or Happy Birthday Kris! or The North Side Of Down!

Today has been great. This morning when I woke up, Tony said, "It's snowing outside, but not sticking, because it is already thirty-five outside." I looked out the window and he was right—no ice, thank goodness!

This morning while drinking a cup of Donut Shop Coffee I checked my e-mail. Our good friend Marguerite, who works part-time at Wild Birds Unlimited, one of our favorite stores, sent me a picture of The Boys romping in the snow this morning.

Marguerite has a really big heart, especially when it comes to animals and that is why she was a vet-tech for over eighteen years. Besides adopting Minnie from us, one of the six adorable Chihuahuas that we rescued back in August, she has also adopted these two great guys from us. Enzo is the German Shepherd, who a few years ago came to us in really bad shape both mentally and physically. And Marguerite adopted sweet Odi from us, in Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic's lobby, a few days after he had his eye removed and was ready to come to our rescue ranch. Anyway, thank goodness for nice people like Marguerite, who only adopt from shelters and give loving dogs and cats second chances. Here's The Boys!

Tony and I got outside early this morning to do our chores, because we had an important surprise birthday party to go to, at the Medina Highpoint Resort's Koyote Grill. 

When we arrived at Koyote, our good friends Eileen and Lisa were already there getting things ready for Kris' surprise birthday party. After we said our howdies to each other, I said, "Omg! Eileen, I love Kris' archaeological-themed birthday cake that you had Creative Cakes by Sharon design! It is too cute."

"I know," Eileen said. "Sharon has done it again." Then I whipped out my phone and took a picture of it and some of the presents.

Then Ellen, June and their super sweet cousin Pam, who is visiting them arrived. And while they were taking pictures of Kris' birthday cake, Kris & Jim walked inside Koyote Grill. "Surprise," we half-hollered. "Happy Birthday, Kris!" 

Kris seemed totally surprised, so I walked up to her and teased, "Wow, you've really aged. Doesn't Kris look old?"

Kris laughed and then she smiled, looked at me and said, "And so do you, because we are the same age." 

Kris' surprise birthday party was so much fun and ,of course, it was filled with laughter and teasing. "Since all of us are senior citizens," Eileen said. "I decided that we should start reversing the digits of our birthdays to make us feel younger. And that's why Kris' cake has 36 on it."

"Now wait a minute, Eileen," Lisa said, wearing a big grin on her face. "I'm not a senior citizen." Followed by a chuckle. Followed by all of us laughing out loud. Then we started teasing Lisa.

Before the "make a wish and blow out the candles" part of the party, Pam started telling us about how much fun she recently had at a remote movie location, getting to watch her son, Ed Helms, play a funny character, in an upcoming motion picture. And since all of us are big time fans of Pam's son and June and Ellen's famous cousin—you could have a heard a pin drop, in between the laughter.

Right after Kris' cake had shrunk down to three-fourths of its original size I took these pictures of Ellen and sister June and then one of Pam. The only thing that I don't like about these pictures is that you can't see Ellen's new, pretty pink cast, that she is wearing on her wrist—that she was purposefully hiding.

Kris seemed to get a kick out of reading her birthday cards and then opening up her really cool gifts. And Tony and I were thrilled that she loved her Solar Firefly Lantern, like the two we have, hanging on our front porch. And I overheard Ellen and June, down at the other end of the table, talking about going to Wild Birds Unlimited to buy them some, too.

Before the party officially ended and we all went our separate ways, we made Pam an honorary volunteer. And Tony and I even promised her that we would hand-deliver a Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch cap to her before next week when she flies back home.

Following the fun birthday party Tony and I took off for Kerrville so we could go pick up our Little Debbie. The reason that I put "our" in italics is because Little Debbie has also stolen Tony's heart too, and he loves her as much as I do. I took this one faraway picture of Susan bringing Little Debbie to us, in the lobby, because Little Deb is vain and she doesn't want you to see her partially shaved head and multiple black stitches.

And before I finish writing this tonight, I want to tell y'all about Eileen, during the party today, giving me a copy of her friend Nancy J. Bailey's book The North Side Of Down: A True Story Of Two Sisters. Eileen told me that Nancy is a fabulous author of ten books, that she is also an artist and painted the beautiful picture on the cover of the book and that she also tours with Clifford, her trick-trained horse who goes to schools, libraries, etc. to promote literacy and making the world a better place. "Thank you, Eileen. I plan to put Little Debbie on my lap and start reading it tonight, because Ellen has already put dubs on reading it next."

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 

The Hangover!

Today has been quiet and was uneventful until this afternoon when I tried cooking, freezing and bagging Tony's beautiful crop of organic tomatoes while watching June's and Ellen's cousin, Ed Helms, in the movie The Hangover.

Because I was laughing so much at the comedy and not concentrating enough on what I was trying to achieve in the kitchen—I'm not sure if I did it right, so I quit after bagging half of his crop, which amounted to two full one-quart baggies, and then I sat down and watched the rest of the hilarious, zany movie while our dogs stared at me.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have some exciting news to write about. And if any of y'all know hot to freeze tomatoes properly I would dearly appreciate your input.

Y'all have a great evening!

It!

Yesterday I had so much fun with June, Eileen and Ellen. After they walked our dogs we visited outside by the barn and that is when I found out about June's and Ellen's famous cousin, Ed Helms, of The Office, and that he is going to be the host on Saturday Night Live tonight with special guest Paul Simon, which we will be watching or recording, if we go to bed earlier.

While we were talking about having famous relatives I noticed Ellen's t-shirt and started laughing. "Ellen, I love your t-shirt. Where in the world did you get it?"

"In an Alpine thrift store," Ellen said. "When June and I went out there Easter weekend. The road trip that we wanted you to come along with us..."

When Tony walked up I asked him to take a look at Ellen's t-shirt and he immediately started laughing, too. "Endangered Feces!" Then we started reading her illustrated t-shirt identifying endangered species feces such as: the Grizzly Bear, Florida Panther, Woodland Caribou, etc.

And that is when Eileen noted, "Nancy, I love reading your blog when Belle Starr-Simons vomits on you." Then we started laughing and began trading funny stories about vomit. After we exhausted ourselves, from laughing way too much, we came up to the trailer so I could return Ellen's audio book, The Art of Racing In The Rain to her and to also show them my very first "woven work of art."

I started laughing, as they tried hard not to laugh, as they stared at It and took turns complimenting me on my "woven work achievement." When one of them asked me what I was going to do with It—I burst out laughing and then they too—started laughing. "I'm either going to throw It into the trash can or warp-it-up and send It, as a joke, to my sister Cindy..." Ten minutes later T. and I adios-ed our friends and then they took off for Medina to eat lunch, before heading back home to Kerrville.

This morning when I woke up I was grinning from ear-to-ear, because this morning I had dreamed about It and I knew exactly what I was going to do with It! And I told T. about It during our breakfast. "I had a dream this morning about It and I am not going to throw It away or send It to Cindy. I'm going to give It to Kinky, as a joke, when he returns Tuesday night! I'm going to wrap It up and before I give It to Kink—I'm going to tell him that I spent a long time making his "welcome back to the ranch gift." after his long three-week tour, and that I am so proud of how It turned out..." And needless to say, "Tone burst out laughing about It.

This afternoon two very nice, upbeat women came out and made my day. They had the same name—Andrea, but they pronounced it differently as Ondrea and Andrea. They had just finished reading my first book and had come out in hopes of meeting Tony and me and to see our rescue ranch and to get me to sign their books.

The moment that I met "The Andreas" I liked them, so I invited them to go into Outer Space with T. and me and they were thrilled to be invited, which in turn thrilled me too. I had a fun visit with the two ladies and we talked about dogs and cats and our rescue ranch and while I was signing their books Tony mentioned that I had written a second book and they purchased two of them and I signed them, too. Before Tony and I gave them "The Grand Tour" I asked them if they had read, The Art of Racing In the Rain and they hadn't, so I went inside the trailer, grabbed two copies of the book and then I went back into Outer Space and gave them each a copy.

They loved Outer Space, our dogs, especially Belle Starr-Simons, our trailer, the Space Ship, my writing cabin and getting to meet all of our rescued dogs. After that The Andreas jumped into Kermit with me and he took us over to the Lodge, so I could give them a tour and then we started back, but when we saw Roy and Gabby, our donkeys, grazing, I drove over to them and stopped Kermit and then we went over and petted them and then we came home.

Before The Andreas left we went into Outer Space and T. took this picture of us. I really enjoyed their visit and I hope that they will come back to see us soon.

After they left I took a short nap with our dogs, then I went online and Googled Endangered Feces and bought a t-shirt just like Ellen's and I should have it by Thursday!

Y'all have a great evening!

Ed Helms Hosting SNL Tomorrow Night!

This morning Eileen Gotke, June Hartley and her sister Ellen Jackson, our friends /great volunteers, came out and walked our dogs! After I had exercised and cleaned up I went outside to thank them for coming out and to hopefully visit with them before they had to leave and I had a total blast, but I am going to write all about that tomorrow, because the evening has gotten away from me.

But I do have some exciting news to tell you. I found out during our visit that June's and Ellen's cousin is the famous Ed Helms, of The Office, and he is hosting Saturday Night Live tomorrow night with special guest Paul Simon and I cannot wait to watch it because I love Ed Helms, Paul Simon, June and Ellen!

Tonight before I started blogging I checked out NBC's SNL schedule and found this hilarious video about tomorrow night's show with host Ed Helms and I hope that y'all will check it out and watch SNL tomorrow night, too.

After I watched it I could not believe the resemblances between him and his cousins: Ellen and June. Wow! I know somebodies who are related and know Ed Helms. And I love it!

P.S. Carlos, I hope you had a great birthday!

Y'all have a great evening!