Mama Likes Grits!

Tony's 60th birthday is August 6th. For several weeks I've been trying to decide what to get him for his birthday. Monday morning, while Tony and I were, in Outer Space, drinking coffee I casually asked him, "Do you know anything about those GoPro cameras?" Because I was thinking about getting him one for his birthday.

When he said, "Yes. They are fantastic cameras and I want to get one." Which was exactly what I wanted to hear. So after we did our morning chores outside and came inside The Cabin, I secretly sat down at my laptop and bought him a GoPro Hero+3 Silver Edition, on Amazon and because I am a Prime Time member with free two-day shipping, I knew it would arrive by Wednesday. I was so thrilled about getting him a GoPro and then surprising him on the 6th.

Well, yesterday it was killing me all day long, not to tell him about his birthday present. I was so proud of myself for keeping the secret—until 5:00 when I told him. To say the least, "Tony was beyond thrilled!" So I suggested that we go to the Walmart, in Kerrville, to buy a few accessories before his camera arrived on Wednesday.

I bought him a memory card and a mount that can attach his GoPro to Kermit. And I bought myself some pretty gloves to wear outside when I am doing the morning chores, because the dogs are always scratching my hands.

Today has been great. This morning Mama refused to take her pain pill for her arthritis. In the past, I've ground the big pill up and hidden it in canned dog food, scrambled eggs, pancakes, shaved ham and for the last two days, buttered popcorn with Parmesan cheese.

For lunch today, I cooked the Cheese and Bacon Grits recipe that I found in Grady Spears and Robb Walsh's fabulous cookbook, A Cowboy in the Kitchen. It was delicious and easy to make-and-bake and I served it with some fresh, cooked spinach, from Tony's organic garden.

When I started to clean up the kitchen, I decided to mash up another one of Mama's pills and hide it in the still warm, tasty cheese and bacon grits, in hopes that I'd get a pill in her today. And the good news is that Mama likes grits and she licked her bowl clean. "Mission accomplished! Thank you, Mama. I love you so much."

Later this afternoon, when Tony brought the mail in, I had received a package. "It looks like a book," Tony remarked as he opened up my package for me. It was a book and a very kind letter written to me from a local author, Shirley Gumert, who I have never met, but want to. 

Shirley wrote that she loves my book The Road to Utopia, How Kinky, Tony & I Saved More Animals Than Noah, published by the University of Texas Press and that she has reread it several times. She wrote, "Maybe you'll have the time to read the latest publication from Chicken Soup for the Soul. This time, they are publishing The Cat Did What? And The Dog Did What?, on August 19th, with royalties going to humane association....Since I have a short piece in The Cat Did What?" 

After reading Shirley Gumert's super sweet letter I opened up the book to find the story that Shirley had written for the book. When I went to page 301 to read her story titled, The Blankie, there was a yellow stickie note that read "To Nancy and Friends" and she had also signed the bottom of the page. 

I read Shirley's story about her family's cat named, George, and it was absolutely fabulous! At times it was laugh out loud funny and filled with all kinds of emotions. "Thank you, Shirley. You're a fabulous writer and I loved your The Blankie story. Let's do lunch with local authors George Fischer, Donna Hatch and Phil Houseal soon. Please call me."

Now there is just a little more of exciting news to tell you about, that I've saved for the last. Right after Mama had eaten her medicated grits, a very nice woman, named Mary, called me about possibly coming out to adopt one of our dogs. She laughed and said, "My husband and I want to get a companion dog for Jack, our fourteen-year-old son, because he has three sisters...." 

Around 3:45, Mary and Jack came out, along with Jack's three, sweet, older sisters, to meet some of our dogs. Jack and Mary were thinking about adopting a Lab or a Lab mix, because Jack wanted a dog that he could play fetch with. First, we introduced Jack to George Carlin and Bella. We told Jack and his family all about their history. 

Jack liked George and asked if he could come inside their pen, to see if they would fetch his tennis ball that he had brought with him. Oh my goodness, when Jack threw the tennis ball—George raced to fetch it, but he would not give the ball back to Jack and George turned it into a hilarious game, as he played with Jack. They had all of us laughing, "We told you that George liked to fetch," I joked. "He just doesn't return things." Then I walked off to go greet the UPS truck driver that was here to deliver Tony's GoPro.

Twenty minutes later, we introduced Jack to Chad, Willie Nelson, Gretchen Wilson, Molly Ivins, Miranda and Blake, Marianne Faithful and a few others and the whole time I kept plugging what a great dog George was, because I knew he would be a great dog for Jack.

After we gave Jack's sweet family a tour, we went back to George and Bella's pen, because Mary and Jack were really interested in George. So, I suggested that we take George down to the creek, so Jack could see this water loving dog in action.

When Tony put George on Kermit's bench seat, Jack climbed onboard, beside George and George leaned over and licked Jack's cheek. Then all of us went down to the creek. George had all of us laughing as he kept plunging back into the water to fetch Jack's tennis ball and not wanting to give it back to him. Bottom line—our great, sweet, lovable, Lab mix, dock-diving-dog, George Carlin, got adopted today, at 4:30! And Tony loves his birthday present!

Y'all have a great evening!

BYOS!

Today has been great. For our lunch, I went Online, to the Food Network, to check out some easy Portobello Mushroom recipes. There were many delicious-looking recipes to choose from and when I saw the picture of their Portobello Parmesan recipe, I decided to give that one a try.

It was absolutely delicious and basically easy for me to make! I took this picture of my Portobello Parmesan and I served it with wedges of avocado and leftover, homemade lentil soup. Tony loved the Portobello Parmesan so much, that he would not quit telling me how much he loved it. So it looks like I shall be cooking that recipe sooner than later.

After lunch we had two different sets of friendly people come out and we gave them tours of our rescue ranch, but unfortunately none of them were looking to adopt. 

Now I have three very exciting things to tell you about and I hope that y'all will check out all of the links to them that I've provided. Of course, only after you have checked out the Food Network's delicious Portobello Parmesan recipe that I made earlier today.

1. The Chet O'Keefe House Concert, that Tony and I are having for Chet, is going to happen out here, on the Summer Solstice, Saturday, June 21st, with Chet's House Concert starting at 6:30! It is by invitation only and tickets are $20.00 per person, to be collected at the gate. If you do not receive an invitation and you would like to come to Chet O'Keefe's fabulous concert please call me, at 830-589-7544 to get you and your friend's name added to our guests list. It is also going to be BYOS! Bring Your Own Stuff, such as chairs, refreshments and blankets, because it will be held outside, so our dogs can also enjoy listening to Chet's fabulous music. Tony and I will provide bottled water and Chet will provide an enjoyable evening outdoors listening to his awesome music. Please note that this is not a rescue ranch benefit. It is a House Concert with all proceeds going to Chet O'Keefe. And lastly, even though the Chet O'Keefe House Concert will be held on the longest day of the year, we promise you that it will not be as long as our recent over four hours long, Concert for Utopia. : )

2. Yesterday, Chet and I were back and forth on the phones discussing his upcoming House Concert and he told me that he decided to give blogging a try and he has just launched his blog on Google. So Tony and I immediately checked out his blog and we love it and we are looking forward to following him. You can check out Chet's new blog by clicking on this link: http://chetokeefe.blogspot.com And please leave him a comment, because us bloggers love to receive comments.

3. I love Phil Houseal and I think the world of him, as if y'all already didn't know. Like some of my other author friends: Kinky Friedman, Cary Robinson, Donna Gable Hatch and George Fischer, Phil Houseal is also one of my favorite Texas Hill Country authors. Anyway, the other day when I blogged about Phil's fifth book An Interrupted Conversationthe I forgot to tell you how you too can purchase a copy for only $9.95. Phil has an awesome web site titled: Full House. It is a very fun, informative and interesting site to visit, so please click on this link to check out my good friend Phil Houseal: http://www.fullhouseproductions.net/ And please note that mine and my author friends books can also be purchased at Amazon.com too.

Y'all have a great evening!

Yes, I Do!

Today has been great. This morning our super volunteers aka good friends came out to walk our dogs for us. While they were walking our great dogs, down to the creek, Kinky called and asked me if I could come over, so we could discuss a few things about our exciting, upcoming Concert for Utopia, on April 13th (Palm Sunday) at 3:30, at the Cailloux Theater, in Kerrville, featuring Country legends Ray Benson & Asleep at the Wheel and Billy Joe Shaver, with guest performances by Chet O'Keefe and Jesse Dayton.

Before we adios-ed each other, I asked Kink, "Do you need some eggs? The Golden Girls laid eight eggs this morning." That made Kinky laugh.

"Sure, bring them on. We'll eat them for breakfast. Hey, Chet! Nancy is bringing over some eggs." After I heard Chet welcome our eggs and tell Kinky that he would cook them up. Kinky and I adios-ed each other.

After I bagged up the eggs, I grabbed George Fischer's great book, True Stories & Rhymes of the Range, part one of a trilogy for the Last of the DK Cowboy, because when I gave Kinky his copy, I gave him my copy by accident, because yesterday I realized that George had signed the book I was reading to Kinky. Then I grabbed the great article written about George Fischer, by my new friend Donna Hatch, for the Kerrville Daily Times, because Kinky had not yet read it. Then I took this picture and left The Cabin.

When I got over to Kinky's we discussed the concert and then we talked about what great writers George Fischer and Donna Gable Hatch are. Then Kinky's phone rang and he disappeared into his office, so Chet and I started talking about books, music, Terlingua, solar energy and Pork Chop (Kinky's dog Winston) and Tortellini (Chet's dog Willie) having put on a few extra pounds.

Around 11:30, Trigger brought me back over to the rescue ranch. Everyone was congregating, at the barn and talking about the concert, Donna Hatch's upcoming article about the rescue ranch and going up to the Medina Highpoint Resort to eat lunch together. And minutes later, all of us took off to go eat lunch.

Lunch was a total blast. I sat between June and Jim and across from Ellen and Suzanne, at one end of the table and Tony sat with Kris & Jim at the other end. As always laughter was non-stop and when June made her big announcement about her and Ellen going to Spain, we all had input from what they should wear to what to see and do. All-in-all it was a super fun time for Tony and me getting to spend time with this great bunch of characters.

When we got back home, I took a short, sleepless nap with our dogs. Then I went outside and did a little push-mowing and when I came back inside the phone rang—it was Chet's friend, Gretchen, from Austin, calling to let me know that she could not come out today, as planned, to possibly adopt Buster Brown or another one of our fabulous dogs. Before we adios-ed each other, her last words to me were, "I'll be there at 10:00, in the morning."

A couple of hours later, my good friend Carol, the sweet wife of Calvin, who own the famous Cal-Bob's Smoke Shack, on 16, the other side of I-10, called me to tell me that she is coming out tomorrow to possibly adopt a dog from us. So, the great news is that we might have two adoptions tomorrow!

This evening, around 6:15, I asked Tony if he wanted to go up to the Medina Highpoint Resort, to eat their delicious, Friday night Catfish buffet. After he said, "Yes, I do," we talked about calling, Kinky and Chet O'Keefe, to see if they wanted to go with us, so Tony called Kinky. 

After getting another "Yes, I do" from Kinky, he said, "Chet wants to go too..." Five minutes later, Tony and I were inside Trigger heading out of the rescue ranch. When we reached 16, all of these Harley Motorcycle people, about fifteen, were parked on both sides of the road. So Tony lowered his window and asked this young, pretty woman, if they were okay.

Then this twenty-something Harley babe, that Tony was trying not to drool over, told us that their friend had just run off of the road and flown off of his bike. "Is there anything that we can do to help?" Tony asked.

"No sir," she sweetly said, which instantly caused Tone's ego to drop several notches. "He is fine. He flew off of his bike when it hit the ditch. We are just waiting for a wrecker to come pick up his bike, because it is all banged up."

As Tony pulled out onto Highway 16, I jokingly teased Tony, "She said no sir? I guess she must have thought that you were an old man." Needless to say, "Tony didn't find my remark very funny."

Tony and I had just sat down outside, to eat and listen to the live band, when Kinky and Chet arrived, so I got up from the table to let them know where we were seated. When I returned to our long table some real nice women bikers, from Louisiana, came up and asked us if they could sit, at our table. After we told them that two seats were reserved for Kinky and Chet and the rest of the table was free for them to sit at, they got all excited about getting to meet Kinky.

When Chet and Kinky came to our table, the women were blushing as they greeted Kinky. Because the band was playing loudly, I had to half-holler, "Kinky, they are all from Louisiana!" 

"What?" he asked, as he sat down next to me.

"They're from Louisiana," I said. 

"Oh," then Kinky smiled at them and waved. Then a nice man, wearing a doo-rag, carrying about eight, cold beers, in his arms, to our table, for the out-of-staters, from the right side of Texas, bent down and told Kinky that he saw him perform once, in Louisiana and that he was a big fan of Kinky's. Kinky talked to him for a few minutes, until the band started playing another Country song.

Basically, the four of us ate our delicious dinner in silence, as the great sounding band played one Country hit after another and the bikers danced to their awesome music. 

When we finished eating, we had talked Chet into coming over for a visit, so Kinky adios-ed us and took off in Mr. Green Jeans. Twenty minutes later, the three of us jumped into Trigger and came back to the rescue ranch.

As soon as we got back home, I played my new favorite song for Chet. "I love this song. It's called Needed Time, sung by Eric Bibb live and it is an old Taj Mahal song. I've never heard of Eric Bibb and I love him. He reminds me of Keb' 'Mo..." As Chet listened to the song, I grabbed my guitar and started finger pickin' to it. 

When Chet told me that he really liked it too, I replayed it and handed my guitar to Chet, so he could really play the tune and Chete blew Tony and me out of our saddles. Oh my goodness, Chet was playing even better than Eric Bibb was and he was going all over the neck of my guitar. To say the least, "Chet's guitar magic was totally awesome and amazing to listen to." And that is about it for tonight, because I need to go to bed.

Y'all have a great evening!

Call Me!

Today has been great. Mama and I woke up real early, just before Tony left to go drink coffee with his friends, at the Old Timer. As soon as Tony adios-ed us, I sat down, at the kitchen table and drank a delicious cup of Donut Shop Coffee, as I checked my e-mail.

Then I decided to try to meditate for a few minutes, before calling my friend, Harley Belew, at the radio station, to do the weekly Utopia Animal Rescue Segment. Nine times out of ten, it is hard for me to meditate for more than three minutes, because of the phone ringing or Mama holding the front door open for our other three dogs, to go outside, to bark at a deer, an armadillo or a squirrel. Anyway, I decided to give it a try.

I went into our bedroom, sat down on the dog-hair-covered wooden floor, next to our cedar bed, so I could use our bed, as a crutch, to help me stand back up. I had only been om-ing for about a minute or so, when this hilarious thought, about the perfect prank that I should play on Jeff, "The Singing Safety," popped into my head. I laughed so loud, it startled Mama who is hard of hearing like me and was sound asleep, on our bed. She barked once and then Mama leapt off the bed, not knowing that I was sitting right there beneath her, on the floor. She was in such a hurry, she barely cleared the top of my head, so I figured it was a sign for me to stop om-ing.

I have no clue, why things are always popping into my brain when I am trying to meditate, but I like it and I love the prank that was presented to me. It was perfect and I could not wait to go call Carol and tell her all about the perfect-prank-premonition that had come to me.

When I called Carol, I got her answering machine, that doesn't have a name. "Carol, I've got the perfect prank to play on Jeff. Call me. Bye."

A little later, when I did the Harley Show, his Pet of the Week was Roscoe. Last week, Roscoe was his Pet of the Week, too, because he is such a great Lab puppy that needs to get into a great home like his sister, Daisy, has found, in Arizona.

Right after I did Harley's radio show the phone rang. A nice man named Henry had just heard me, on the radio, talking about Roscoe and he was interested in possibly adopting him, but he had a few questions to ask me about this great, big puppy.

Around 11:00, as planned, Henry and his sweet wife and their two adorable girls arrived. Tony and I liked Henry and his wife immediately and we thought their little girls were precious, in their tiny, pink sweat suits.

The couple liked Roscoe immediately and we talked for a while about Labs, as Henry and Tony tried to calm Roscoe down some, so their children could pet him, without him accidentally knocking them down with his tail. "Why don't we take Roscoe on a walk down to the creek?" I suggested. And minutes later, we were walking Roscoe down to the creek.

By the time we returned to the rescue ranch, the super nice couple told me, "We want to adopt Roscoe. He reminds us of our last lovable Lab. We think he will work out fine, as soon as he adjusts to our home and daughters." So, I took off for The Cabin, so I could fill out Roscoe's adoption papers.

Ten minutes later, after they had signed off on Roscoe's adoption papers—he was officially adopted! Before we adios-ed the family, so they could take Roscoe to his new home, I snapped this picture of Henry and Roscoe. And, we all have our fingers crossed for Roscoe, that Roscoe isn't too much for their girls and that he has found his forever, great home.

When Tony and I came back inside, Carlton was flashing, on top of the breakfast bar, so I pressed his button and heard the sweetest message from George Fischer, that 82 year-old, author of The Last DK Cowboy and his other books about his life as a real cowboy. His last words were, "Nancy, my wife and I are looking forward to meeting you, Tony, Kinky and Big G for lunch, in Kerrville. Bye." And all of us are looking forward to doing lunch with George and his sweet wife sooner than later.

When I started to get out the pots and pans to cook us lunch, Tony suggested, "Why don't I treat you to lunch, at the Medina Highpoint Resort?" Fifteen minutes later, we were up at our favorite resort, laughing and cutting up with their fun employees. And, needless to say, "Our lunch was delicious and fun."

When we got back home Carlton was flashing, again. It wasn't Kinky or George who had left messages earlier—it was Carol, "Nancy, I can't wait to hear what you are going to do to Jeff. Call me." 

I picked up the phone and punched in Carol's number and got her machine again, "Carol, we're home. Call me!" When I turned off the phone, Tony handed me a copy of the Bandera County Courier, Thursday, March 6, 2014 newspaper. "You're in the paper again. Read this."

I looked at page 10B and read the headline: "This is for you, Cousin Nancy!" above Jeremy Clyde's picture.

I was smiling ear to ear when I finished reading the ad that Will and Sue had placed in the newspaper and I want to thank them and the Bandera County Courier for making my day so great. Kinky, Tony, our volunteers and I loved Chad & Jeremy and all of us were thrilled when Chad got adopted and then Jeremy finally found his fantastic, forever home, too. Here is a picture that I took of Jeremy, when he came to our rescue ranch.

And that is about it for tonight. (Carol, call me!)

Y'all have a great evening!

The Singing Safety!

Sunday evening, at 7:14—the phone rang and I let Carlton take the call. "Rescue Ranch," I heard myself say, "We can't come to the phone right now. Please leave a message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible." Beep.

"Ah yeah, this is... ah, Bob Zidecky," the man said, as I walked towards the phone. "I would like to talk to you about an animal to rescue."

I figured it was this old man calling me, from East Texas, that Kinky had called me about, earlier in the day, so I answered the phone. "Hello, this is Nancy."

"Nancy? I want to speak to Cousin Nancy," Bob said.

"I am Cousin Nancy. Can I help you?"

"I want to know about that dog."

"Which dog?"

"Uh, the one in the paper. I think I want to adopt him."

I had no clue what this man was talking about. "What paper?" I asked.

"Uh."

"Are you talking about the Black Lab, that's on our Concert for Utopia poster?

"Yeah, that one! What's his name and do you still have him?"

"Yes, we still have him and he is a wonderful dog. His name is Willie Nelson," I said.

"His name is Willie Nelson," echoed Bob. "Is Peggy Sue still there?"

"Yes, she is with Buddy Holly right now," I said. The man started laughing.

"Peggy Sue and Buddy Holly are in the same pen!" Then Bob laughed again. Then I realized who it was calling me and I started laughing.

"Dog gone it, Jeff Severson! You got me again. I promise that I am going to get you BIG Time! Are you, Lorri and Carol still up in Fort Worth having a good time, at the American Rodeo?"

Jeff, the former American Football safety in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins, Houston Oilers, Denver Broncos and St. Louis Cardinals and starred in the movie, North Dallas Forty and several popular TV shows, just kept on laughing.  

"Hello, Cousin Nancy. We are having a wonderful time with our friends and this weekend we've been telling our friends some funny stories about you. Carol told us that when you were a kid, growing up in Fort Worth, your mom used to tell y'all to be sure and flush...."

"Yeah, she did." Then we started laughing, again. "Jeff, Dallas and Ft. Worth have always been rival cities and it is ingrained in us at an early age to dislike each other. Dallas doesn't like Fort Worth and Fort Worth doesn't like Dallas..." Jeff and I talked for a few more minutes and then we adios-ed each other. 

Over the past several years, Jeff aka "The Singing Safety" and Lorri have sent me some cool pictures that Jeff has signed to me and I want to share them with y'all. My favorite picture is the one with Roy & Dale and Jeff.

Today has been great and before I finish writing tonight I want to tell you that I did Big G's radio show this morning and it was a lot of fun. His Pet of the Week is Roscoe and Roscoe still needs a great home like his sister, Daisy has found, in Arizona.

After Big G and I talked about six-month-old Roscoe, we talked about Jim and me meeting George Fischer, at the Boerne Library and his book The Last  DK Cowboy. Big G had read the Kerrville Daily Times article about him, so we are planning to do lunch with George, Kinky and Tony real soon. 

FYI: Please note that this is just the beginning of me getting even with Jeff Severson playing another prank on me. In the next few days, I plan to get with Carol, to help me come up with something hilarious to pull on Jeff, to get the score even. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!