Podcast Episode: 26: Make Me Laugh Time!

In this 7 minute podcast please click here on The Cousin Nancy Show to listen or click on the side bar 👉.

This past Tuesday, Tony and I met up with our dear friends, Liz & Jim Cravotta, so we could do lunch together and catch up with each others news. And to say the least, “As always, Tony and I had a total blast seeing them.”

It was decided that we would meet Jim & Liz, at the East End Market, in Kerrville, which is Tony’s and my favorite vintage, antique store.

And just so you will know the East End Market was voted Best Antique Shop in ’22 and ’23 by the Kerrville Daily Times People’s Choice Awards. And in my opinion-you just can’t do any better than that.

We were meeting our super-talented, artist friends, at the East End Market, because Jim & Liz have two vendor spaces there and they had wanted to stop by there first, so they could add several new items to their constantly changing, unique collection of rare, vintage, one of a kind finds.

Tony and I were about ten minutes early when we arrived at the super-cool East End Market, so Tony and I greeted the friendly manager and then we went back to Liz & Jim’s area to look around. And Tony and I immediately fell in love with several of their latest finds.

Tony loved their antique, vintage Wagner Cast Iron muffin pan, that was made before the Griswold Cast Iron Company bought out Wagner’s.

I fell in love with their antique coffee grinder that still grinds if you crank it, their rare Erector Set and the super-cool plate engraved with all of the 12 astrological signs.

But what really grabbed my attention was this rare paperback book Pleasure Man written by Mae West and it was signed by her, too! 

When our friends arrived Tony and I were still looking around at all of their really cool stuff, when I told them I could not believe that they had a signed Mae West book for sale. And Jim said, “Do you know that most people now days don’t even know who Mae West was? Can you believe that?” 

And all that I could say was, “No, I can’t believe that. I guess we’re showing our age.”

After all was said and done there, the four of us drove down Water Street to eat lunch, at El Sol de Mexico, one of the finest Mexican food restaurants, in Kerr County.

When we walked inside the packed establishment, our friend Beto, their friendliest waiter, greeted us. And because almost all of the tables were already taken inside, we decided it would be fun to eat our lunch, out on their patio, because it was another one of those beautiful, sun-shiny days, in Kerrville, Texas.

Needless to say, our food was absolutely delicious and our conversations flowed with laughter. In fact, I laughed so much that my back literally began to ache. 

And to quote Albert Einstein, “Time flies when you’re having fun,” well I was having so much fun I didn’t realize that we had been out on that patio for over two hours.

Now before I try to make y’all laugh at least once, I want you to know that you can find out more about this famous couple if you listen to my Episode 14 podcast, “The Cravotta’s Close Encounters of the Famous Kind!” And I will promise you that it will be a super fun, hour long, conversation filled with interesting topics and non-stop laughter. 

Okay now it is Make Me Laugh Time, so here we go:

Number 1: If you ever get an e-mail about ham, pork, salt or preservatives—don’t open it, because it’s SPAM.

Number 2: This morning I woke up and I decided to make sure that Tony woke up with a big smile on his face. So now I can’t have Sharpies in the house anymore.

Now I am going to try to sing Number 3 for you: Like a good neighbor—stay over there.

Number 4: Well, I finally did it. I broke down and bought myself a new pair of pink cowboy boots with memory foam insoles. So now I won’t be forgetting why I walked into the kitchen, the other room, etc.

Number 5: We’ll be friends until we are old and senile. Then we will be new friends.

And Lastly, Number 6: I don’t know how people get eaten by sharks—I mean how do you not hear the music?

I want to remind everyone about my upcoming podcast that I will be doing with Tony’s and my dear friends, Eileen and her sister Dean with a live audience, in the Last Resort Studio, on February 11th. It had been originally scheduled for the 9th, but we bumped it up to the 11th, so I can make sure our house is clean and it doesn’t look like we live there. 

Anyway it is going to be so much fun that I am sure that your back will ache from laughing too much! So you might want to go ahead and buy some BioFreeze patches, just in case your back does go out.

And this just in: I have been invited to speak at the Faith & Freedom Club, with my friend Bob Bolin, Monday, February 12th. There will be a reception held from 3:00 to 4:00, at the Medina Community Library. And then from 4:00 to 5:30 Bob and I will take turns at the podium sharing our personal stories about cancer. And then I get to give a short Medina, Texas history lesson. 

And that is about it for this podcast. I did transcribe this one, too. So if you would rather read it than have to listen to me please go to: cousinnancy.com and click on the link to my Cousin Nancy blog. And to further entice you—my blog will have a few pictures, too!

I am dedicating this podcast to our dear friend Dave Crowe. He passed away a few weeks ago. Dave was a good man with many talents. Our good friend Gerry Olert and I did a really fun podcast with Dave, in 2022. And if you would like to listen to it please click on Episode: 22: “Full of Gas! or One Amazing Man!”—Rest In Peace, Dave. You were loved and you will be missed.

Lastly, I do want to thank all of y’all for listening to my podcast and I do hope that I did make you laugh at least once. And if I did make you laugh then I have done my job. But if you didn’t laugh—who cares! 

Y’all take care and keep on laughing. And please always remember my favorite quote that I came up with all by myself: Life is short and so am I. I love y’all!

#26, #27, L-Guac, 2-ts! or Musical Chairs!

Today has been great. This afternoon Tony and I went back to El Sol de Mexico Restaurant, to eat lunch with our good friends: Steve Pietzsch, the incredibly talented artist, Chet O'Keefe, the super talented singer, songwriter, musician and Donna Gable Hatch, a fabulous author and the best Features Editor that The Kerrville Daily Times has ever had.

Tony and I got their twenty minutes early and Beto greeted us at the door. "We're going to need a table for five today. And we don't need a menu, because we want the #26, #27, L-guac and two teas," Tony said. Then we followed Beto to our table for six, near the cash register and then we sat down.

To fill our time waiting, Tony and I made bets as to who we thought would show up first, second and last. And I won the bet! Steve was first, Chet was second and Donna was last and they were only minutes apart.

After Beto had taken our friend's orders, we got to talking and laughing and it never stopped. We talked about Steve's upcoming art show, in late August, at the Kerrville Arts & Cultural Center and Donna writing an article about Steve and his art, how much we all love Stan Morris, the super nice, friendly musician that owns The Melody Corner, music store, on Junction Highway, Tony's upcoming photography coffee table book, the movie Foxcatcher, Nova Scotia, Chet's music and about him buying a mandolin, and the Kerrville Folk Festival and David Crosby's awesome performance, at the festival.

Then Donna started laughing. She told us that she had read my funny blog, back in June, about that night, at Crosby's concert, and me giving away Tony's favorite fishing, musical, blue chair, that was equipped with small speakers and a jack, so Tony could plug his iPod into it, while he was fishing. "After reading your blog I contacted my girlfriend that you gave Tony's blue chair to and she has no problem returning it to you. I'm coming out to the ranch, this Saturday, to visit with Kinky and I'll bring it with me." To say the least, Tony was more than thrilled with her good news.

After a super fun time, at El Sol de Mexico, eating a delicious lunch with our dear friends, we hugged everyone and then everyone adios-ed each other and went our separate ways.

Our first way was going to The Kerrville Daily Times office, so I could renew our yearly subscription to the newspaper and our next way was at Hastings, so I could hopefully buy the 2012 Academy Award winning documentary, Searching For Sugar Man and our last way was a quick stop, at the little H-E-B, to buy a gallon of 2% milk for Tony, deodorant and toilet paper. Then Trigger took us home. And that's about it for today, because I am fixin' to go watch Searching For Sugar Man, the awesome documentary that many of my friends have been raving about.

P.S. My dear friend Mari sent me this awesome story about a man in Brazil that has unusual pets, a Golden Retriever named Bob, several birds and a hamster. I loved reading the short story and the photos that he has taken of his pets are more than awesome. If you want to instantly put a smile on your face please click here. I love his pet pictures so much that I keep going back to look at them, because they warm my heart. "Mari, thank you for sending this to me!"

Y'all have a great evening!

Road Trips!

Yesterday, while it was RAINING outside, thank goodness, I got a phone call from a nice woman that works, at the Kerr County Animal Services. She told me a sad story about an older woman recently passing away. This woman left behind a very sweet, female dog, that her children surrendered to the pound. She told me that this woman's dog was probably a Lab mix and that the dog had shyness issues and would we consider meeting her and possibly rescuing her, because the dog's time was running out.

I hate hearing stories like this because it always breaks my heart, so I said, "Yes, we might be able to help this poor dog. How much time does she have left? Because I know that we can't make it there today or tomorrow, because of all of the rain and possible flooding conditions. But maybe we could Friday afternoon, after our volunteers finish walking our dogs for us."

There was the sound of silence for a few seconds and then this kind-hearted woman trying to help this dog said, "Oh thank you so much! She's a really great dog, once she gets to know you. I'll make sure that we keep her until Monday, if that helps you out? And please, don't get on the roads just to come here in case it floods. The dog is safe and we'll definitely hold on to her until Monday..."

Early this afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville. Our first stop was at El Sol de Mexico restaurant to eat a delicious lunch there and to take home a dozen of their tasty tamales, because everyone knows that they make the best tamales, in the Texas Hill Country. Or better yet said, "El Sol de Mexico Makes the Best Tamales on the Planet."

 After we left El Sol de Mexico we went to the pound, but it was closed until 1:00. It was 12:48, so we decided to wait, at the closed gate, for twelve minutes, but we didn't have to wait, because one of their friendly staff women came outside, waved to us and then opened up the gate to let us drive in. "Thanks for opening the gate," Tony said.

The smiling woman said, "It's not a problem! We'll always open it for y'all. Come on in, so I can show you this dog..."

Fifteen minutes later, I signed off on their paperwork, at their desk, then I went outside and pulled my new iPhone 5S (One of Tony's birthday presents to me this year.) out of my purse to take these pictures.

This is a picture of that woman's shy dog, already loaded inside our crate and I named her Hazel, because this dog wasn't shy acting with Tony and me or the friendly woman who helped us. And I think Hazel is an upbeat name for her, because I loved watching that television show. Here's Hazel!

I named this cute girl Katee Sackhoff, because she is the super cool actress that plays the character Victoria, a Deputy on Longmire—my favorite television show! It is not a very good picture of her, because she was so excited to be rescued, she kept jumping up and down, etc.

Here are Hazel and Katee already loaded up and ready to go to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic. Hazel is in our crate and we put Katee in the smaller crate that we had to borrow from the pound. 

And we also rescued Longmire! This sweet little guy was so happy to get out of there, he wanted to drive us to Hoegemeyers, but Tony wouldn't let him drive, so I ended up holding him in my arms, on the short road trip over to the clinic. And please note that this little, handsome dog loves riding in cars and I hope that after he is neutered tomorrow morning, he will still want to go on road trips.

Before we adios-ed the friendly, helpful staff, at the pound, we had a fun visit with the staff, who were thrilled about us taking Hazel, Katee and Longmire. And one of the men Officers told us that he loved that we had named the little guy Longmire and that he had also spent some time working with Katee and he thought she was a very cool dog.

When Tony and I walked inside Hoegemeyers, Robin looked up from the desk and greeted us. Then I said, "We have three-incoming! We just rescued three dogs from the pound. And this little guy is named Longmire!

"I love Longmire!" Robin said. 

"The dog or the show?" I joked.

"Both. That's a really great name for this little fella..." 

And that is about it for tonight. And I'll keep y'all posted on Longmire's reaction about going on another road trip with us, when we pick him up, at Hoegemeyers, to bring him to the rescue ranch. 

And now I have some late breaking news! Tony has just walked into the kitchen and said, "Big G just told me that Chet is going to be playing again, at The Hunt Store, this Sunday from 1l:00 to 3:00, when they will be serving their famous brunch!"

Y'all have a great evening! 

Christmas In July!

Today has been great. This morning after Tony and I did our morning chores outside—Kinky called me and five minutes later, I was sitting in Kinky's kitchen, petting Walter Matthau. "Nance," Kinky said, "I want to adopt Walter. He's a great little dog and he gets along great with The Friedmans..."

When Kinky quit telling me how much he loved Walt, I said, "I wanted to adopted him, too, but you can adopt him, because The Friedmans are the same size and that would be much better for him instead of living with our house of giants. Kinky, Roy weighs 108 pounds."

That made Kinky chuckle. "Roy's one gigantic dog. I suggest that you and I have joint custody of Walter, like we did with Toto. Walter can live over here and you can come see him anytime you want." I was thrilled about us having joint custody of the adorable, little, black dog.

Before Kinky and I adios-ed each other, Kinky invited me and Tony to eat lunch with him and our friends, Donna Gable Hatch and Steve Peitzsch.

At 1:45, when we walked inside Wolfmueller's Books, Kinky and Steve were already there, visiting with Sandy and Jon. While we were visiting, Tony purchased a signed copy of A Beginner's Handbook for Rural Texas Landowners: How to Live in the Country Without Spoiling It by Jim Stanley, a local Master Naturalist, that Tony knew and greatly admired.

Then Sandy or Jon handed me a small book and said, "Nancy, we want to give this to you."

"Oh my goodness! Thank y'all so much. I love this." Then I started thumbing through it. "This was printed in 1955 and I'm going to get it framed. Kinky, it's a Sears Roebuck and CO.'s Roy Rogers Merry Christmas book and the title is Roy Rogers and The Other Christmas Tree. This is like Christmas in July for me."

Kinky, who was sitting on their desk top, next to the counter, nodded his head and smiled. "Let's eat at El Sol de Mexico." Then he told Steve where it was on Water Street and how delicious their Mexican food was, while Tony took off for his 2:00 chiropractic appointment. 

Steve tried to call Donna, on his cell phone, so she would know where to meet us, but his phone was acting up, so Jon ended up punching in Donna's phone number on their LAN line, so Steve could leave her a message. Then Kinky said, "Hey, it's only about four blocks away, so let's walk there." Then Kinky, Steve and I adios-ed our dear friends and left the building.

It was a lot of fun walking down to El Sol de Mexico with Kinky and Steve. We laughed and joked all of the way there. Lunch was a total blast and our food was delicious, too. And that is about it for tonight, because after listening to everyone talking about being so excited for tonight's Soccer Ball game, I plan on watching our USA Soccer Ball Team win, even though I know nothing about the sport.

Y'all have a great evening! 

7:00 PM Update: Laugh out loud. I just turned on the television to watch the soccer game. I asked Tony what channel it was on and he said, "They lost. It was on around 3:00." 

Unplug Again!

Today has been great. Today is day two for Mama devouring another three egg and cheese Mama Muffin and I am thrilled and happy that her belly is full. We have gratefully received almost three inches of rain in the past 24 hours. This morning when I was doing Big G's radio show we got knocked Off-Air, because of a close encounter with lightning. We also had a really fun lunch, at El Sol de Mexico, with our famous NoMad friends, Mari and Lori, and we also ran into Jim "The Mineral Man" in the big H-E-B's parking lot. There is more to tell, but I need to unplug again, because it is raining and thundering outside. Life is good.

Y'all have a great evening!

Once A Month Lunch Club!

Today has been great. Early this afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville. Our first stop was at the big  H-E-B to buy more swimming pools for our dogs. We purchased all ten of their blue and yellow, small plastic pools and we hope to come back tomorrow to buy more.

Our next stop was at Wolfmueller's Books, so we could visit with Sandy & Jon, because we haven't seen them since Sandy's surprise non-birthday party, at El Sol de Mexico. We had a fun visit with our dear friends and before leaving their popular bookstore, Tony purchased a really cool photography book from them.

At 12:33, we arrived three minutes late, at Valentino's Italian restaurant, to meet our "Once A Month Lunch Club" friends. Les & Denise and Jim & Kris were already seated at a table when we walked inside the restaurant and unfortunately Deb & Craig could not make it.

While we ate our delicious meals, Denise announced that this Thursday, July 4th, at 10:00, she is going to be a guest and talk about the United States Constitution, on KOOK 1230, because she teaches classes about it. We were all thrilled for Denise and suggested that she do a regular talk radio show about the U. S. Constitution. Then Kris and I teased her about us all calling in to the show to ask her questions. "Hello, this is Kris, from Kerrville. Hello, this is Nancy, from Medina, etc." Denise thought it was funny, but she asked us not to.

Then it was my turn to make my big announcement, "I have some exciting news to share. I am going to push the button tomorrow morning, and get my second novella published. I worked all day Sunday tweaking it and it is finally ready to be published. I should have my books for sale next week and I can't wait."

"Nancy, I am going to buy ten of them," Jim said. "To give to our friends and family. When will it be available on Amazon?"

"Next week, as a book and an e-book and you can also buy them from me and Wolfmueller's Books." Then we talked about all kinds of subjects and we laughed a lot, so all in all Tony and I had a wonderful time eating lunch with our friends.

After lunch we came back home. Around 4:30, Kinky called and invited me to come over for a visit and as I was driving out, in Trigger, the sweet, Medina Children's Home girls were helping Tony fill up our dog's new swimming pools.

After a fun visit with Kinky, I came back home and saw that Brandon was here. I have been anxious all day long about Brandon taking his driving test and passing it to get his Texas driver's license. So, I parked Trigger and climbed out of the truck. "Brandon, did you pass your test?"

"No ma'am," Brandon said, looking sad.

"I'm sorry, but don't you worry about it," I said, feeling sorry for Brandon. "Don't forget that I flunked my driving test three times before I finally got my driving license." Then the girls, Karon, Brandon and Tony started laughing.

"He passed it," Tony said.

"I did the exact same thing to Karon when she asked me if I passed it," Brandon said. "I drove over here, too. Let me show you my license and picture." And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!