Semi-Original!

Today has been great. This morning after Tony did the chores outside we we jumped into Trigger and took off for the big H-E-B, in Kerrville.

As we were leaving the ranch Kinky drove up in Mr. Green Jeans, and he invited us to join him, Dylan and Max, for a delicious lunch, at the Thai O'Cha restaurant. It was tempting, but we declined his invite, because we wanted to get back to the ranch, as soon as possible, so I could cook us lunch. And before we adios-ed each other, we talked about which cowboy hat Kinky should wear on his upcoming tour, in Europe. Then we took off and followed Kink all of the way to Water Street, where he turned left.

When we got back from our shopping spree at the big H-E-B, I cooked us lunch, which Tony thought was delicious.

After I cleaned up the kitchen, I grabbed my camera to document me making my first loaf of "Sam's Original Homemade Bread," that I found on page 201, in the new cookbook Texas Back Road Restaurant Recipes that Rick & Clara Jo gave to Tony.

Here are just some of the ingredients:

While my Cousin Nancy's Semi-Original Homemade Bread was rising, I lined up the four boxes of Girl Scout Cookies, that we had purchased as we walked outside the H-E-B grocery store.

When I was putting the cookies into the freezer, Tony walked inside carrying our new Bamboo pillows, that were on sale, for half price, at H-E-B. "You're not going to believe how heavy these pillows are," Tony said, as he put them on top of the kitchen table. And when I tried lifting the the two pillows, tightly packed inside the plastic bag, my jaw dropped, because Tony was right about me not believing how heavy they were. 

When I took our new pillows out of the packaging, I saw this label and it perturbed me somewhat, because we sleep on regular sized pillows and we don't own any Queen-sized pillowcases, so our dogs can chew the ends off of them, like they've done to all of ours.

Because I don't like to sweat the little things in life I took our pillows to the bedroom. Then I removed our regular-sized pillowcases from our old pillows and slipped our new, two for $69.99 bargain, into the pillowcases. They fit fine, but this is what they look like.

Then I took a short, fun break and went outside to play with Henry Standing Bear, while I was waiting to knead the bread again and then place it into a greased bread pan, for it to rise again for another hour, before baking it.

As I finish writing this, Cousin Nancy's first loaf of Semi-Original Homemade Bread is just a few minutes away, from coming out of the oven. And it really smells great. So, I am going to pass this time to once more tell you that our great friend, Steve Pietzsch, will be featured next weekend, on Texas Country Reporter and a week later on RFD-TV. And this morning, as we watched the end of Texas Country Reported—they showed a clip of Steve and mentioned that he will be on next week's show.

And here is a picture of the delicious, homemade bread that I made today using this great, new cookbook Texas Back Road Restaurant Recipes. And I am so proud of it, I just might call Sam's Original Restaurant, in Fairfield, Texas or go there to thank them for sharing Sam's Original Homemade Bread recipe. Yeah! I finally, for the very first time, actually baked a delicious, homemade loaf of bread and Tony and I love it. So as you can guess—it is almost half gone.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Beatles And Fifty Cents!

Today has been great. I overslept this morning and I totally enjoyed it and wish that I could do it more often.

This past week there has been a lot of news and talk about The Beatles: The Night That Changed America 50 Year Anniversary show tonight. I have talked to many friends, about my age, that remember watching and falling in love with The Beatles, 50 years ago today, on the Ed Sullivan Show and everyone that I have talked to has been looking forward to watching the show tonight.

Kinky was nineteen-years-old and he remembers and I was twelve-years-old when I saw The Beatles on our family's black & white television, in the living room. I loved The Beatles the instant they started singing!  And 5o years ago, today, I also fell in love with Paul McCartney and wanted to marry him, if I couldn't get Roy Rogers to marry me. It seems like that famous, February 9th, Ed Sullivan Show happened yesterday, but then again, that was a really long time ago—50 years. So, I have spent a lot of time this past week remembering those "Good Old Days."

This afternoon, when Tony and I walked out of the little H-E-B, on 16, with our groceries, a sweet, young Girl Scout, behind a card table, asked us, "Would y'all like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?"

"No, thank you," Tony said, because he is trying to lose a little weight.

"Yes, I would," I said. "How much is a box?"

"Three dollars and fifty cents!"

"Oh my goodness," I replied, before chuckling. "Fifty years ago, when I was about your age, I sold Girl Scout cookies for fifty-cents a box. That was long ago." The girl and her mother laughed and so did Tony. "I want a box of Thin Mints and Tony you pick out a box." Tony picked up a box of Samoas, his favorite Girl Scout cookie. Then I paid the Girl Scout $7.00, instead of $1.00.

When we got back home, Tony took off to take pictures outside and I went into the Space Ship and deep-cleaned the refrigerator and worked on cleaning up the stove. And that is about it for tonight, because it's Beatle Time!

Y'all have a great evening!

A Hairy Situation!

Yesterday was a great day. Saturday morning, while Brandon and Tony did the chores outside, I was busily cleaning our trailer. Because Mama, our Great Pyrenees, is shedding her thick winter coat it looked like we didn't own a vacuum cleaner or knew how to use one.

Dog hair was everywhere to be found and it was mixed with Mama's, Toto's, Abbie's, Roy's, Belle's and Beau's hair. As Hazel was sucking it up from the floor and the furniture, I laughed out loud. I thought it would be funny to dump the hair-filled canister into a Priority Mailer and ship it to Fay, as a joke, because in my first novella she supposedly collects, washes, spins and weaves dog hair place mats.

The reason that I was frantically spiffing up The Cabin was because the famous, Kerrville Red Hat Ladies were coming out at 1:00, so we could give them a grand tour of our rescue ranch. I was more than excited to meet these gals and I wanted our trailer to look like we didn't live here.

When the men finished doing the outside work, I had finished doing the inside work, thanks to Hazel. When they came inside The Cabin, Tony told me, "Nance, I need to run to the hardware store in Medina and I will be right back."

When Tony took off, I got the ingredients out that Brandon needed to cook us his recipe that he calls, Brandon's Chinese Spaghetti. After he had put the meat in the skillet and seasoned it, with the spaghetti boiling in a pan right next to it he asked, "Can we play some music and use your amp?"

In no time flat, he had my mandolin plugged in for him to play and my pink cable plugged into my guitar and amp. Then we pulled two of the bar stools out into the middle of the big room, so we could face each other and then we started pickin' and grinnin'. We played all kinds of songs from Blues, Bluegrass, Country and Rock & Roll and Brandon made us sound great, because he is a very talented musician.

When Tone returned home the music stopped, because my fingers were killing me and because lunch was ready. As we ate Cousin Nancy's Chinese  Spaghetti, which was absolutely delicious, Brandon and I could not quit talking about how excited we were about my banjo coming on Tuesday. After he had told me how much he loved playing banjos I looked at Tony and he winked back at me. Then I said, "Tony and I talked earlier and we want to buy you a banjo like mine, for your graduation gift since your banjo is in Arizona. Would you like that or prefer money?"

"Oh my goodness, I would love to have a banjo like yours..." His words and excitement made Tony's and my day great.

After lunch while I quickly cleaned up the kitchen, Brandon played my guitar and mandolin some more. Then it was show time! We put up the instruments, put all of the dogs outside, in the backyard, except for Mama and then we went outside to greet the Kerrville Red Hat Ladies, which turned out to be some of the coolest women in Kerrville.

After I had welcomed and introduced myself, Brandon and Tony to the eleven smiling women wearing red hats we started the grand tour. First we showed them The Okay Corral, Tony's No Whiner Diner and my pink writing cabin. To say the least, "They loved it all, especially The Bunkhouse.

Then another car showed up and it wasn't part of their group, so Tony and Brandon took off to greet the visitors and give them a tour. "Let's go up to The Cabin, which is our thirty-year-old trailer, because I want to show it to y'all and give each of you a copy of my new novella."

Mama greeted each and everyone of them at the gate. They loved our view from the front porch, our cabin and Outer Space. As I signed copies of my book, Mama stole their hearts even though she was shedding. By the time we left The Cabin, to show these charming women our dogs outside, Mama's long white hair had found new homes on all of their outfits.

We spent about thirty minutes outside as I introduced them to everyone of our magnificent rescued dogs, which of course stole their hearts, too. And before they drove away I thanked the Kerrville Red Hat Ladies for coming out and their donation of our rescue ranch. When they took turns hugging me and thanking me for giving them a fun tour I did not want them to leave, so I said, "We would love for y'all to come out and walk our dogs on Fridays..."

Fifteen minutes later, Tony and Brandon walked inside The Cabin and Tony said, "Those two nice women work for a vet in Kerrville and next month when they move into a house, they want to adopt Holly, if we still have her..."

"That's fantastic news, but Tony remember that her new name, that Ellen came up with at lunch on Friday, is Tallulah Bankhead."

Ten minutes later, as planned, the Girl Scouts from Dripping Springs! So Brandon, Tony and I went back outside to greet the lovely girls and some of their parents. After howdies and hugs, one of the cute girls said, "We brought our rakes and we're ready to work!" And work they did.

First, Brandon helped them unloaded several bags of dog food and dog treats, then the girls handed our treats and raked leaves and removed rocks from Martha Stewart's pen, Tuesday Weld's pen and Landry and Buffy's pen.

When that was all said and done, we went around to the pens and they handed out toys to our happy dogs. Before they left to head back to Dripping Springs, I bought three boxes of Girl Scout Cookies for Tony, Brandon and me.

After hugs and thanking them for all that they do for our rescue ranch they drove away and Brandon said, "Those girls really worked hard for over an hour. And I can't believe how many great people that I've met since I started working for y'all. Everyone is so nice and..." That's about it for now, because today has been quiet and restful.

Y'all have a great evening!