Food Confessions! or Double Sacked!

Today has been great, because June, Ellen, Eileen, Hillary, Kris & Jim and Jim our fabulous friends/volunteers, came out and they walked our dogs for us, then we went up the road to Koyote Ranch to eat lunch together.

Tony and I were the last to arrive there for two reasons. One, being that I needed to come up to The Cabin to fetch my purse and my Fess Parker wine bottle with its coon skinned topper, so I could show it to everyone, because I love it so much. And the second reason that we were late, was we had to wait for everyone to leave, so we could close the gate behind them.

When we walked inside Koyote, our friends seated at a nearby table, turned around to see what I was carrying and when I sat the dressed-up bottle down on the table, I said, "For my upcoming birthday, my dear friends, Cheryl and Walt, sent me this Fess Parker wine, the cute coon-skinned topper and four wine tasting glasses, that have a small, coon-skinned cap etched on them." Everyone loved Walt's and Cheryl's gift to me and when I left to go place my order, they were all checking out the topper.

During our fun lunch, two of the volunteers made food confessions to all of us, but they shall remain anonymous, because the female one told us that she was too embarrassed to tell anyone that she loved to eat chicken gizzards. So, in her defense, as all of us scrunched up our faces and shook our heads sideways, he said, "Personally, my favorite meal is brains with scrambled eggs."

After we had all made yukking sounds, we then started teasing them about it, as we ate our lunch. Then I changed the subject, "Do y'all know that Fess Parker was born in Fort Worth?"I love Fess Parker and after Roy, I wanted to marry him too, when I was a kid."

"Well, what about poor Tony," One of the girls teased.

"I love Tony, but since I got my Roy Rogers, my four-legged soul mate, Tony's dropped down another notch, on my totem pole," I joked.

After our super fun lunch, we came back home, so I could bake two loaves of my no-knead bread, baked inside a Dutch oven, in the stove and while it was baking for the second time, because Tony only has one Dutch oven that size, I had to do it one loaf at a time—Kinky came over with a camera crew that shot us outside, with Rufus, in the back ground, running around inside his pen, carrying his empty dog food bowl in his mouth.

Late this afternoon, I realized that I we were nearly out of Toto's under pads, which I keep scattered around, on the floor of The Cabin, because Toto is so old, he has become incontinent. We buy made-for-humans under pads, because they are so much cheaper than the expensive doggie pads, in fact they are four times cheaper.

So, because Toto knows to use them and he does, thank goodness, and that they are saving our wooden floor, I adios-ed Tony and took off in Trigger, to go buy some at the nearest convenience store, ten miles away. And before I got to the store, I had decided to go ahead and buy a six-pack of Tony's favorite beer and a box of wine for me, so we wouldn't have to go to Kerrville this weekend.

When Trigger and I pulled up at the store, there were several trucks parked outside it and the store was packed with customers buying alcohol, scratch-offs or Lottery tickets.

When it was my turn to check out my three essential items, there were only a few younger men and a young woman with a child standing behind me. And as I was writing out my check to pay for the beer, wine and the made-for-humans under pads, the young lady cashier looks around and then she asks me, "Do you want your under pads doubled sacked for privacy?" Then we both looked out the front door, at several men standing outside, leaning against their trucks.

"Okay," I sort of half-whispered, as my face began turning redder than the shirt that I was wearing. Even though I really wanted to explain to her that they were not for my use, but for my dog, I decided not to, because I knew that she was just trying to be nice to me and that she wouldn't believe me. So, as I left the building, carrying our cheap wine and beer, under one arm and my secret double sacked made-for-humans under pads, I could not help but laugh about it.

As Trigger took me home, I could not quit laughing about that embarrassing moment and when I told Tony about it, as he carried ours and Toto's three items, into The Cabin, he laughed and laughed and laughed until I finally told him, "From now on, Tony—you're buying the beer, the wine and Toto's under pads."

Y'all have a great evening!

Born On A Mountain Top In Tennessee!

Today has been great. Early this afternoon we ran a few errands, in Kerrville, before meeting Les & Denise, Jim & Kris and Deb for a fun lunch.

Our first stop was at the Salvation Army to drop off three bags of Kinky's old clothes. Then we swung by Stan's music store, Melody Corner Music Center, to drop off my guitar, so I could get Stan to restring my guitar again, because the strings that I had decided to try out, made my guitar sound muddy. "Stan, I should have listened to your warning that I wouldn't like these copper strings..." Then we left my guitar there and went down the street, to meet our friends for a really fun lunch, that was filled with hilarious stories and laughter.

After lunch we went to the craft store, so I could buy some etching cream, because I wanted to try etching our drinking glasses with paw prints. Then Buttermilk took us home.

When we arrived back at the ranch, UPS had left a big, plastic covered box for me, at our entrance gate. "It's for you, Nance, from Todd Miller, in California. Who's he?"

"I don't know, but don't open it, yet, because I want to take a picture of it.

After I shot the box, Tony removed the plastic and opened it for me. Inside the box, we found a shipping notice with this sweet note: "Happy Birthday Dear Cousin Nancy. We are all out of the same mold, so blessed to be of the same era. With love and admiration, Walt & Cheryl." Then Tony opened a box that looked like a giant egg carton and inside it was a bottle of, Fess Parker Winery Pinot Noir 2009 wine. 

"I love this, Tony! That is so sweet of Cheryl and Walt to send this to me for my birthday. I love Fess Parker. Besides Roy, I also wanted to marry Fess," I confessed. "Do you know that he was born in Fort Worth too?"

"No." Then Tony started laughing and slipped the coonskin topper on it, which made me laugh too, because it was so cute. "Nance, this is box one of two. Cheryl and Walt have also sent you four tasting glasses with the coonskin cap logo. I bet it gets here tomorrow."

Then I went on YouTube to listen to, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," in Walt Disney's 1955-1956 TV miniseries Davy Crockett, that my family never missed, where he played Davy Crockett in. And now I can't get the song out of my mind, because as a four-year-old kid, it was one of my all time favorite songs.

"Cheryl and Walt, I love y'all and I cannot thank you enough for my wonderful birthday presents. I am going to save the bottle of wine for a very special occasion, like the next time y'all come out here." And that is about it for tonight, because I've got some writing to do on my hilarious mystery novel, The Cowgirl Sisterhood: The Membership Drive.

Y'all have a great evening!