Little Joe And Margarita!

The last few days have been great and today has been no exception. This afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville to run a few errands.

Our first stop was at So Fast Printing, so I could pick up my order. You see yesterday morning, while I was on my computer I found a few pictures that wanted printed on her heaviest card stock. So I had e-mailed them to Rose, at So Fast Printing, so they could print them out for me.

I love working with Rose, because she is true professional when it comes to printing things right. Over many years our rescue ranch, Tony and myself have used her printing shop for quality printing. And Rose had made it so easy to work with her, because all I would have to do is e-mail her what we wanted printed, with instructions and then go pick up the order.

Yesterday when I had sent her the photos at the end of my instructions I had told her that Tony and I would be coming to Kerrville later in the day and it would be perfect if I could pick them up. But I finished my note by saying, "But if you do not have the time today—no worries."

Anyway, yesterday afternoon got away from us and we did not make it to Kerrville as we had planned. So I felt bad about coming in today to pick up my order, because she had told me yesterday that they would be ready when we came to town.

So when I walked inside So Fast Printing today, my guilt immediately flew right out the window, when Rose, who was wearing a big smile, greeted me and then handed me my order. The photos looked fabulous printed on the heavy card stock, as I had requested and Rose charged me next to nothing for printing them for me.

Our next errand to run was, at the big H-E-B, to get groceries and we were out of there within twenty minutes. And our last planned stop was at Wolfmueller's Books, so we could see our good friends Sandy & Jon.

When we arrived Sandy greeted us from the back of the bookstore and waved for us to come back there. "Hi y'all. Please sit down," Sandy said. "Jon went to run an errand and he will be right back..."

We had a fun, short visit with Sandy before Jon returned and then we had a fun, hilarious visit with the two of them.

During our entertaining talk-a-thon/laugh-a-thon Sandy handed me this folded pamphlet to look at.

Then she and Jon enthusiastically took turns telling us about how delicious their food was, at this new Mexican Restaurant, where Conchita's used to be located. "...Y'all are going to love Little Joe's." Jon said. "Their food is excellent and it is Tex-Mex at its very best. They've only been open a week or so and oh my gosh their homemade lemonade is to die for....it's now our favorite Mexican food restaurant."

They had convinced us to give it a try right then, even though we had groceries, melting inside Roy, and had planned to eat sandwiches when we got back home. "Go over there with them Jon, and introduce them to Joe and his sweet daughter Margarita. It is just the two of them. Joe does all of the cooking and Margarita is the waitress/cashier. And they are the nicest people. I love their #1 and #4 and y'all should order that. And Jon, please bring me back some more lemonade," Sandy said.

So Jon, Tony and I adios-ed Sandy, went out their backdoor and shuffled across Main Street and then went inside Little Joe Restaurant. And Margarita, was wearing as big a smile as Rose had, at So Fast Printing, greeted us before we even sat down at our table. 

Within a minute we were all sipping the delicious lemonades that Sandy had raved about. Well, their menu was huge and it was filled with so many delicious choices. But in the end Tony and I did not order the exact same thing as we usually do. (You can enlarge this menu and on the backside of this flyer is their breakfast menu, but I did not have enough space available to put it in this blog post.)

Well, I ordered their #1 Enchiladas, as Sandy had suggested. And Tony order their #5 Guisada Plate and Jon ordered a lemonade to go, which made Margarita chuckle, because she knew how much Sandy loves their lemonade.

A few minutes later Jon adios-ed us and he took off with his and Sandy's lemonades and that's when Tony and I got to visiting with Margarita while we waited on our food. She told us that she and her dad have owned several Mexican food restaurants over the past years and that she and Joe were excited about opening this one. "We are open all week from 6:00 AM to 3:00 PM and we serve breakfast all day." Then Margarita took off to go get our orders.

Well, let me tell you what Tony said to me once he took a bite of his guisada, "This is the best guisada in town. Seriously, it is the best that I've ever eaten."

I smiled, and whispered, "Tony, don't talk with your mouth full." Then I took my first bite of the cheese enchiladas.

"Omg!" I said. "These enchiladas are to die for."

Tony chuckled, and with more guisada, in his mouth, said, "Don't talk with your mouth full." And his words nearly made me choke, because I started laughing.

When Margarita returned to our table and served us Joe's homemade flour tortillas, definitely not coming out of a machine like other Mexican food restaurants use—Tony's and my eyes grew really big, because they looked so delicious and because we could not wait to try them. 

After we had enjoyed eating our delicious lunch and the mouth-watering, homemade flour tortillas, I told Margarita that I was going to blog about their new, family-owned restaurant and I asked if I could please take a picture of her with her dad, Little Joe. And two minutes later—I shot them using my iPhone. It was painless.

Bottom    Line: Little Joe Restaurant is now the best Mexican food restaurant, in Kerrville, Kerr County and the Hill Country. And we told that to Sandy & Jon, as soon as we returned to their awesome bookstore.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

A Hairy Situation! or What Would Ronnie Do?

Today has been really great even though I was faced with a hairy situation. This morning while Tony was, in Medina, paying sweet Sherlyn to cut his long curls off or better said—getting his ears lowered, I was at home trying to decide whether or not if I was going to wash my hair and it was literally driving me crazy.

Now you might be thinking, "Why in the world would anybody, be on the fence, trying to decide if they should wash their hair or not?" So I am fixin' to tell you right now.

You see, we have a shallow well and it has a high content of iron and that is one of the main reasons why we are going to/ and are in the process, of getting things set-up, so we can start harvesting rainwater.

We are planning to continue to use the well water to flush our toilet(s), but we will use our collected rainwater for everything else, inside The Cabin: the shower and the sinks, etc. And I am excited about  being able to wash my hair using rainwater, because up until now since, our move, when I wash my hair—it feels like wire when I try to comb it and I am scared that it will also, in time, tint my long, gray hair—a light shade of red.

Anyway, this morning while I was trying to decide what to do, I was in the kitchen and I asked myself out loud, "What would Ronnie do?" And all six of our wonderful, loving dogs did not answer my question, but they did turn their heads and stared at me like I was crazy old lady.

So I felt stupid, because of their unanimous response to my question. And then I remembered what my sweet, smart brother, Ronnie, had told me two weekends ago, the day after Katelyn's birthday party, at the Ronderosa Ranch.

He and I were drinking coffee, in their kitchen and I had told him about our decision to collect rainwater and my concerns about me, sooner than later, becoming an elderly, fake redhead, because of the well water's high content of iron.

Ronnie laughed at me, like he has for over sixty-six years, and then he said, "Nance, your well water is hard, because of the iron. We have a good friend that spent the night here many years ago and she took a shower and washed her hair here.

We have soft water, since the drought and she was totally amazed how shiny and soft her hair felt after washing it here. Anyway, since that day Jan swears by soft water and since then she buys gallons of distilled water and she only washes her hair with soft water...."

So later this morning I realized that Ronnie, unbeknownst to him, at the time, had already answered my question, "What would Ronnie do?" So I took a shower and I purposefully did not wash my hair, because I had it tucked up, inside my white, Terlingua cap.

This afternoon after we ate lunch we went, to Kerrville, to run several errands. Our last stop was at the big H-E-B. And while Tony was outside at the pumps, filling up Roy, I was inside the store buying groceries and the last thing that I put into my shopping cart was—one gallon of distilled water, so I could wash my hair with it.

As I patiently waited in line to pay for my groceries I was so happy about buying the distilled water. In fact, I was so thrilled about it I was wearing a big smile. "Hey Nancy," a familiar voice said, and I turned around and it was our dear friend Jim aka The Mineral Man standing in line, behind me. And I immediately felt it was a sign for me, because Jim is The Mineral Man. I couldn't believe it.

Anyway, I had a fun visit with Jim, as we waited our turn to get checked out. We talked about him and Tony going fishing soon, H-E-B's Limited Edition Creamy Creations Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream and Kris' upcoming knee surgery, etc.

When Tone and I got back home I put my gallon of distilled water, out in the sun to help warm it up and then we unloaded the groceries and put them up. Then a few minutes later Tony adios-ed me and took off for Medina, so he could see his friends at The Old Timer and then go take pictures of the Bobcats baseball game.

So with him gone, I decided it was time for me to wash my hair and I've never been so excited about washing my gray locks before. I took my camera outside with me, so I could document that I had actually bought a one dollar, gallon of distilled water to wash my hair.

Then I put a large, plastic bowl, in the kitchen sink and filled it with this precious, warmed water and I washed my hair. And I was grinning the whole time during the process.

After I towel dried my hair I was totally amazed how soft my hair felt and how easy it was for me to run a comb through it. And because I was so thrilled about my hair's new condition I chose to blow dry it using our Lasko floor fan, instead of letting it dry naturally, because I could not wait to see the final results.

So I opened the front door, moved the high-powered fan into position and then I stood back, in front of my saddle, and let the fan blow me away. And as I stood there for two minutes, super-fast, blow-drying my hair, Little Debbie went outside and pooped, on the front porch. And I didn't care about her doing it, because my wiry hair was now soft as silk and it was as white as it could be. So once again life is good, at the Big Foot Ranch.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing.

Bulls-Eye! or I Decided To Retire!

Today has been great and tonight's post will be a fairly fast read, because I can't wait to get back to reading Marie Bostwick's awesome book Second Sister.

Early this afternoon for lunch Tony and I ate (Instant Pot) leftovers—delicious roast beef, carrots and potatoes. Then he and I took off for Kerrville to run two errands.

Our first errand was, at Home Depot, to pick up a few cans of black spray paint, so tomorrow I can finish spray painting our gate and the fencing right next to it. And we purchased another bird feeder and a couple of big wire baskets for me to use, in the kitchen, under the counter top, to store more stuff.

Our second errand was to buy a few groceries, at the big H-E-B, on Main Street. But our primary reason for going to H-E-B today was to buy some pork ribs and the other two ingredients needed to make my Cousin Nancy's (Ronnie's) famous "Fall Off The Bone Pork Ribs" recipe, in our incredibly great Instant Pot pressure cooker.

Then we came back home as fast as we could, so I could make my new pork ribs recipe, that only takes 15 minutes to cook, in the Instant Pot and just five more minutes, in the broiler, to glaze the BBQ sauce.

Omg, it was fun and so fast and easy to cook these delicious pork ribs and Tony loved them so much he ate a few too many. But before he went wild devouring these mouth-watering, fall off the bone, pork ribs I took a picture of them, in front of the half-full bottle of Bulls-Eye BBQ sauce that Ronnie had highly recommended that I use.

After I finished eating these ribs and had just started to clean up the kitchen our dogs, outside, started barking—the FedEx Ground truck was parked at our gate.

Fortunately, Tony was outside hanging up his new bird feeder, so he met the friendly driver, at the gate and then Tony came inside to give me my package. "Omg," I said. "I can't believe my boots are already here. I ordered them yesterday afternoon, from Justin Boots, in Fort Worth." Tony smiled and then he went, back outside, to gather some more wood for our wood-burning stove.

As y'all well know I love my Justin Gypsy Cowboy Boots and I've been wearing them for over 10 years, because they are so comfortable and pink. 

Anyway, yesterday I decided to retire my old pair of pink boots and buy some new ones, because I've literally worn them out. Because I've been wearing this pair everyday for the past year and a half. And to prove it here is a picture of my old pink boots I've been wearing compared to my new pair of pink Justin Gypsy boots that I just pulled out of the box.

And that is about it for tonight, because I still need to exercise and walk four, fast miles with Leslie Sansone, in the privacy of The Cabin. And come to think about it I think I'll wear my new boots, so I break them in.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Rain Check!

Yesterday afternoon around 3:15 Tony and I took off for the big H-E-B, Kerrville, so I could buy the rest of the ingredients needed to make Jim's Best Labor Day Burger recipe and to buy 200 pounds of Pedigree dog food to feed to our rescued dogs.

We decided that it would be best for us to go Saturday, before the predicted rain started and I am so glad that we did. Even though it never rained one drop yesterday.

Early this afternoon I rounded up all of the ingredients needed to make Jim's recipe and then I took a picture of them, before I started. From left to right is: celery salt, truffle salt, Adams Just Right Burger spice, minced garlic, hamburger, Worcestershire sauce, Hatch green chili and black pepper.

As I was forming the four patties it suddenly started pouring down rain outside along with thunder and lightning, that seemed to be too close for comfort. So we decided it was best to take a rain check on trying to grill them outside. So I decided to dust off my little George Foreman grill and I used it to cook the burgers—one at a time.

While the first burger was cooking/grilling, I had time on my hands, so I decided to compliment the burgers.

 So I washed some of Tony's delicious home grown tomatoes and set them aside. Then I sauteed a few mushrooms, made some fresh guacamole and that I would top off the burgers, after they were cooked, with slices of Jalapeño Jack cheese.

By the time the first burger was cooked, I topped it with a slice of cheese and then put it into the oven to keep warmed. While number two was sizzling away, I warmed up some homemade beans that were leftovers from the other day.

When I put number three burger on the grill, Tony and I served ourselves. And this is what my plate looked like before I sunk my dentures into Jim's Best Labor Day Burgers. 

Omg! Jim's Best Labor Day Burgers were absolutely delicious. In fact, his mouth-watering recipe is now going to be our only burger recipe we ever use. So I want to salute and thank our dear friend, Jim, for coming up with this awesome easy-to-make recipe. And I can't wait to make them again and use our grill outside.

And if you are asking yourself, "But where is the bun?" My answer is awhile back, Tony and I have chosen to eat less bread to help us keep our muffin-tops from getting any bigger.

It is now two o'clock here. Our kitchen is cleaned up and it has finally quit storming here. And that is why I am posting this early today, because I might have to unplug again due to the weather.

Last Friday I posted Jim's delicious, I mean my delicious Cousin Nancy's Best Labor Day Burger recipe and I hope that everyone will try, because this great—bun or no bun recipe is the very best.   

P.S. Please note that the Truffle salt is the most expensive spice that I've ever bought ($12.95), so if you want to make Jim's fantastic recipe you are very welcome to borrow a teaspoon from me. : )

P.S.S. I have already watched six episodes of Longmire with only two more episodes to go. And all I can say is Longmire Season five is totally awesome. Longmire Rules!

Y'all have a great day/evening and keep on laughing!

My Fellow Americans!

Today has been so much fun, because we met our fabulous friends aka best dog-walking volunteers in Texas, at the Thai O'cha Restaurant, to celebrate Tony's birthday.

Tony and I were the first to arrive at, The Best Thai Food Restaurant, in Kerrville. And because we had just picked up a few groceries, at the big H-E-B, I suggested that we wait a few minutes, inside Trigger, before going inside. And while we waited I thumbed through the new H-E-B TexasLife recipes and fresh ideas, August 2016 and I found several healthy, delicious-looking recipes that I want to try in the near future.

A few minutes later, we climbed out of Trigger and as we were walking towards the entrance, our dear friends Kris & Jim pulled into the parking lot, so we waited for them to join us. After howdies, I asked, "Kris, weren't those Hans Freitag Wafers with cocoa cream filling delicious?" 

Kris & Jim laughed, and Kris said, "Yes. In fact I am blaming you for an added pound...." Then Kris handed me this DVD, and said, "We finally remembered to bring this with us. It is so funny. You'll love it."

"Oh great!" I said. "I love Jack Lemmon, Dan Ackroyd and especially James Garner. I am going to watch it today...."

When the four of us walked inside this friendly restaurant with great vibes and delicious Thai food, our friends Ju and Song greeted us and then showed us to our table for eight. 

Eileen arrived next and after howdies she put Tony's birthday cake on our table. And then she teased Tony about him getting older.

The she handed me this magazine. "This is for you, Nancy. I thought that you would enjoy reading about the Apple Store's SPJ Burger making the 50 Best Burgers, in Texas. It's on page 89."

Then I thanked Eileen for giving me the magazine and that's when Lisa joined us. And within a minute she had all of us laughing out loud with her latest news. And then a few minutes later, Kay and Sarah joined our party of eight. 

After Ju had served us our drinks and had taken our orders the real fun began as we caught up with each other's news. Kris showed us adorable pictures of their new grandson. Eileen and Kris & Jim talked to Tony about turning 62 and being eligible to get Social Security. I talked about Sunday's surprise Black Helicopters fly-by and us twice, in the past few months, seeing mysterious, white, unmarked eighteen-wheelers caravanning fast down Hwy. 16 towards Medina. 

Then we started discussing Tiny Houses and that's when we learned that Sarah actually lives in one. "Oh my goodness!" I said. "I love the Tiny House movement and I watch tv shows, read books about them and I check them out, on the Internet almost everyday...."

Following our delicious as always, fun lunch, Eileen lit the candles, on Tony's birthday cake and we sang the Happy Birthday song to him. And to our surprise "my old man" blew out both candles on his very first try. "Way to go, Tony!" 

It is 6:20, and Kinky has just called me to ask me to come over to meet some friends of his that are visiting him, so I guess that I had better wind this up, because I told him that I would be over there in five minutes.

So, to say the least about Tony's birthday party, "It was a total blast and Tony loved it and especially the hilarious birthday cards and delicious cake." And before I must go and forget, sweet Lisa baked Tony her famous, delicious Banana Bread and he's saving it for tomorrow, but I have no idea how long it will last, because we love Lisa's delicious Banana Bread.

As soon as I get back from Kinky's I am going to spend my evening, with Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) sleeping on my lap, while I watch My Fellow Americans."

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!

Shelf Life!

Today has been great. Unfortunately, I overslept, because I didn't sleep well last night, so Tony did the morning chores with out me.

Yesterday morning, while I was going from room to room trying to locate my bifocals, I walked into the big room and the CBS Morning News team was just fixing' to interview Ted Koppel about his new book, Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving The Aftermath, that was being released yesterday.

I love Ted Koppel, he was one of my favorite broadcast journalist, so I turned up the TV and sat close to the screen so I could watch the interview. I was shocked, amazed and a little bit scared about what he said could possibly happen and probably would happen, if one or all of our three grids went down, because of a cyberattack. It concerned me and got me to thinking, so I immediately purchased a Kindle Edition version of Ted Koppel's new book.  Here's the link to his CBS interview.

Several months ago, after talking to several friends, about everyone needing to have a one month food supply, for natural disaster emergencies I took it seriously, but I did nothing about it. Until one day when I was surfing the television and came across some home shopping channel.

I have never watched home shopping channels, because I have heard horror stories about people getting hooked and maxing out their credit cards, etc. and that was not for me, because most of the time I keep mine nearly maxed out.

But because the show's headline subject matter was something like 30-Days Emergency Food Supply Buckets—I clicked on the channel to watch. These beautiful women were selling these survival buckets of food for only $99.00 each and they would normally be sold for $299.00 or something close to that amount!

They were cooking the "just add water food" and talking about how easy it was and delicious they were. Anyway, as I watched the number of units being sold sky-rocket, at the bottom of the screen, with just a little time and units left to buy—I skipped over to my purse.

Ah ha! There were my glasses! So I put them on and then as fast as I could I pulled out a credit card. Then I rushed over to the phone and dialed the toll-free number. "Yes, this is "me" and I want to buy two buckets for Tony and me...!" I gasped because I was out of air, praying that I was not too late to save Tony and my lives.

After placing my free-shipping order, I skipped outside and told Tony what I had done for our future existence. He unenthusiastically remarked, "Great."

Then I jumped into Trigger and went over to Kinky's Lodge to brag some more about what I had just done. And to say the least, Kinky rolled his eyes and puffed on his cigar. He didn't seem real impressed with my news either.

NOW BACK TO THE FUTURE

As soon as Kindle downloaded Ted Koppel's book, I sat down, with Little Debbie, on my lap and read the first three chapters. Then I took a break, because there was so much information and facts to absorb. And I was starting to feel a little bit depressed about the world we live in today. So I called a dear friend of mine to help lift my spirits.

After a short, fun visit, I told my friend about watching the Ted Koppel interview, earlier, my one-time-experience with a home shopping channel, to help save Tony's and my lives. Then I told my friend, "Hey, I know that I am a little bit out there, so to speak, but it can't hurt to be prepared. Right?"

"I think they are calling people like that Preppers, but I am not sure."

"Anyway, last week I purchased a sealable, orange bucket, from Home Depot, for a few bucks and I filled that bucket up with food. We now have three buckets!" My friend chuckled.

"What kind of food did you buy?"

"I went to the big H-E-B store and bought about 40 of these packets of Idaho Mashed Potatoes, Garlic Potatoes, etc. for less than a $1.00 each. You only have to add water and they each make four servings. So that way Kinky and Chet can eat with us, too."

"That's great, Nance. Y'all can have candlelight dinners since there won't be any electricity," My friend joked and then we both started laughing. "How is Chet doing?"

"He's fine and fixing' to head back out, to Terlingua."

"But I am not done yet. I knew those potato packets wouldn't fill the bucket completely up, so I started looking at all of these canned vegetables and fruits shelf-life dates and bought a bunch of them, too. And the good news is the potato packets and canned goods don't expire until 2018! So I figure if we don't have a disaster by 2018, Tone and I will become full-time vegetarians, for a while, until we eat it all up. Of course that is, if our own shelf-life hasn't already expired."

Y'all have a great evening!

P.S. I love Ted Koppel's book and plan to finish reading it tonight. I hope y'all will check it out, too.

Thumping Away!

Yesterday was great, because it was a 4-H day for us. We had to go to H-E-B for groceries, Hastings, so I could buy the movie Wild, Home Depot, to buy Tony dirt and seeds, and Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, so we could pick up Ximbal aka Jack Black, so we could bring him to the rescue ranch.

Jack Black is one super cool, six-month-old Lab mix. When we first met him, in Hoegemeyer's lobby, a tiny Chihuahua snarled, snapped and growled at him and he instantly backed away wagging his tail non-stop, because he was not wanting to cause any trouble. He did great riding inside Trigger and he did not get truck-sick.

When we arrived back at the ranch, we decided to put him in Bonnie Raitt's pen aka The Okay Corral also known as the front yard of my pink, writing cabin. He and Bonnie became fast friends and since they've met all they want to do is play with each other. And as soon as I take a great picture of him I will post it.

Last night I did some more writing and then I relaxed and watched Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon, with Little Debbie and Alice sleeping on my lap. I loved the movie and I am glad that I read Cheryl Strayed's book Wild before watching the movie.

Today has been great. This afternoon we met our good friends Kris & Jim for lunch, in Kerrville or maybe it was Ingram, because it's location was too close to call.

While we had a fun lunch with Kris and The Mineral Man, I told them about pinching a nerve in my upper back a few days ago and Kris suggested that I go to H-E-B to buy IcyHot's Smart Relief Tens Therapy for back pain therapy. "She told me, "It is a battery control unit with a reusable electrode pad, about the size of a small remote and it really works..."

So after our super fun lunch, we went straight, down the Junction Highway, to the big H-E-B, so I could buy this highly recommended product.

Then we came back home. After Tony carefully read the IcyHot package instructions he stood behind me and stuck it, to my upper back, and then he says, "Tell me when it hurts."

"What?!" I snap back. "It's not supposed to hurt. It's supposed to help. What are you doing back there?"

He started laughing and then he finally says, "It has 63 intensity levels. Tell me when you can feel it." A few seconds later, after he had kept pressing the "+" button, I felt it thumping away. It was like someone was gently tapping their fingers, on my back.

"Okay, I can feel it, Tony. That's enough." Tony chuckled and continued to press the "+" button a few more times, before he finally stopped. Then I went and laid down on our bed—face first, with our dogs snuggling up against me.

Thirty minutes later after the first session, it automatically shut-off the thumping therapy and believe it or not my back pain was totally gone! And as I finish writing this tonight, I am still feeling no pain. "Thank you, Kris! I love it!"

Y'all have a great evening!

Tree House!

The last few days have been great, but nothing exciting has happened out here, probably because they have been gray, drizzling days and all I wanted to do was stay warm inside The Cabin.

This past Friday morning after Tony and I did our chores outside, we decided to work on B.B. King's pen, because an old cedar tree had fallen down, on the top of his dog house and instantly converted it to a tree house, inside B.B. King's pen. Because Tony will not let me go near a chainsaw, he cut up the timber and fallen branches while I tried to remove most of his cuttings, from the dog pen. This is what we still have left to do to finish the job.

By the time our dear friends Kris & Jim arrived, both of our backs were killing us, so we called it a day for tree removal work and instead we had a fun visit with Kris and The Mineral Man, before going to lunch with them, at La Fours, in Kerrville. (I only had a cup of their delicious seafood gumbo, because I was still full from juicing earlier.)

When we got back to the ranch, we laughed when we saw B.B. King walking up and down one of the nearly downed cedars, so I grabbed my camera and took this picture of him. Then I took this picture of Mr. King to use on our website.

This afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville. Our first stop, at the crack of noon, was at the Next Generation Produce, because we wanted to drink their Bear Pear juice and I needed to buy some more organic fruits and vegetables. 

We ordered our delicious juices and while I was shopping around the cool store, Tony also ordered a shot of their Tumeric, ginger and lime juice, without me knowing it and he drank it before I returned to get my Bear Pear juice. When he told me about drinking a shot of that powerful juice, I ordered one too, after I had read about its many healing benefits, while sipping my Bear Pear juice.

Then we went to the big H-E-B store, on Main Street, so we could get groceries—mainly fruits and vegetables and then we came back home.

This afternoon it was still gray and drizzling, not my favorite kind of day, because I am a sunshine person and I need a lot of it. Anyway, around 4:00, the sun came out! I was thrilled about the sunshine and asked Tony to go outside with me so I could try to take some better pictures of Hazel and Katee Sackoff for our website.

When we got outside, we decided that I would try to get pictures of Hazel, while he tried to take a good picture of Katee, in Springsteen's pen, because we weren't sure how long the sunshine would last. And I am glad that we did, because it got cloudy twenty minutes later and it has stayed that way. Here's my best picture of Hazel, who never changes her expression. She is about four-years-old and here's Tone's picture of sweet Katee who is only about one year old and is medium-sized. (And her face looks just like Tony's Belle.)

When we came back inside The Cabin I cooked dinner for Tony and me using two new delicious vegan recipes. I cooked Drew's delicious Indian (Meatless) Cutlets recipe that tastes just like meat and believe it or not the main ingredients are: walnuts, bread crumbs, eggs and cottage cheese. Yes, I know that doesn't sound delicious, but it was and Tony ate two cutlets and he is or was a meat and potatoes only kind of a man. Here's a picture of his cutlets before he devoured them.

I also fixed us yams, which he has always disliked. I found this easy to make vegan recipe, on the Internet, with these main ingredients: yams, chili powder, butter and a small amount of brown sugar. Omg! It was totally delicious and Tony took second helpings of it! And when he handed me his empty plate to clean, he said, "That's the first time that I have ever liked yams. You need to fix us yams, like these, more often. I can't believe I love yams now and..." And that is about it for tonight, because we're going to watch the Cowboys game.

Y'all have a great evening!

Jeremy Clyde!

Today has been great. We had many visitors come out to take tours of our rescue ranch and we enjoyed meeting everyone. Around 2:40, the nicest, retired couple came out to possibly adopt one of our super dogs and Jeremy Clyde stole their hearts, so they adopted him. To say the least, "Kinky, Tony and I are thrilled about it."

I took this picture of Jeremy, just before he happily, leaped up into the backseat of their SUV. It made Tony and I laugh, because this sweet dog could not wait to leave our rescue ranch and be chauffeured away to his new, fantastic, forever home. 

Right after Jeremy and his forever family drove away, I came inside The Cabin, so I could put the lid on our trash can, that Roy Rogers always raids, because we needed to take off and get groceries, at the big H-E-B, in Kerrville. And believe it or not, Roy actually frowned and wrinkled his forehead, when he watched me push the trash can lid down tightly, on his "treasured tub of treats" that he had been looking forward to eating.

Halfway to Kerrville, just before the Quiet Valley Ranch, that annually hosts the famous Kerrville Folk Festival, we saw a beautiful dog, that sort of looked like Jeremy, running down the middle of Highway 16, so Tony pulled Trigger off of the road and parked. I jumped out of Trigger and hollered, "Come here, buddy!" The dog looked at me and started running towards me.

Then I heard a woman holler, "He's my dog!" I looked around and saw the woman standing on her front porch. "Come here, Buddy! Bad dog. You know better than that." As I watched Buddy, turn right and run to the woman. "Thank you, for trying to rescue Buddy! Y'all have a wonderful day!"

"You're welcome!" I hollered, as I jumped back inside Trigger. As we drove off, I said, "Tony, that dog looked exactly like Jeremy, except his ears were erect. And his name was Buddy. Can you believe that?"

"I know. I thought for sure that we would be taking him back home with us to replace Jeremy. I'm just glad that he didn't get hit. He's home and off of 16. Nance, please add a can of Planter's Mixed Nuts to your grocery list. I'm also out of..."

During my brief shopping spree, at H-EB, I did put a can of Tony's favorite mixed nuts into my grocery cart and scratch it off of my shopping list. 

As I finish writing this, Tony's happy to have his favorite mixed nuts and he is, standing in the kitchen, munching on some of them, right now and I'm just happy that today has turned out to be so great. And that is about it for tonight. "Tony, please save some cashews for me."

Y'all have a great evening!

The Handy Outline!

Today has been great. This morning while Brandon, Tony and I ate breakfast, I was telling Brandon about ordering thirteen more swimming pools from H-E-B. "Dale, the nice man that I spoke to told me that they should be in their store on Friday, so tomorrow afternoon, after we eat lunch with the volunteers, we're going to town to pick them up."

Then the phone rang and I let Carlton take the message. "Hello, this is Lisa at H-E-B. I was calling to let..."

"Hello, Lisa. This is Nancy."

"Hi. I just wanted to let you know that your thirteen, yellow and blue swimming pools have just arrived."

"That is great news. We'll pick them up after lunch. Thank you, for calling me. Bye."

After the three of us ate lunch in, The Cabin, Brandon and I jammed for twenty minutes while Tony finished making a few phone calls. While we were playing, I looked up on the wall to check the time and my favorite clock had gone blank. In other words it was timeless. "Looks like I need to buy some new batteries for my clock," I said, as I removed the digital clock from the wall, so I could see what batteries I needed to buy. Then I laughed when I looked at the wall, because the walls have darkened some and it hadn't behind the clock.

Then Brandon went home and we went to Kerrville. Our first stop was at the Melody Corner, so I could talk to Stan about which pickup he thinks I should buy for my banjo, because Brandon and I want to start using my amp more often when we pick & grin.

"I have some ordered," Stan said. "They should be arriving tomorrow and I will call you, so you won't make a special trip." Before we left Stan's cool music store I bought a pink and a green shakers, that look like eggs, because if Eileen, our super volunteer, who plays the drums, might want to use them when she jams with us sometime. They sort of sound like a rattlesnake and they are very pretty.

When Tony and I returned home the first thing that I did after putting up the groceries, was put new batteries in the clock and set it. And it was easy to rehang, because I used the handy outline on the wall.

Around 6:00 tonight, Tony and I went outside to put the new swimming pools in the remaining pens that needed them and to fill them up. I was put in charge of turning the spigot on and off and dragging the hose from one pen to another. While Tony's job was to place the pools in the pens, fill them up and then screw or unscrew my heavy, long hose from the faucets. It only took us about an hour and it was well worth it.

And that is about it for tonight, because I need to go wash a load of clothes and dust the trailer, I mean The Cabin.

Y'all have a great evening!

Life Is Not Fair!

Today has been so much fun. Tony and I went to Kerrville late this morning to attend our friends/ volunteers second annual Ladies Christmas luncheon. If you are wondering why Tone went to it, it is because this year we decided to include the men.

When we arrived at Lisa's and Chuck's home, Tony and I were the first to arrive and I was thrilled not to be late. I was also very happy that I had remembered to bring a pebble, to place in Lisa's beautiful labyrinth, had remembered to bring the right kind of H-E-B brand guacamole, for Lisa's brisket tacos and had not forgotten to bring signed copies of my novella, as Tony's and my Christmas gifts to these great friends/volunteers.

Minutes after we had arrived, everyone showed up bringing gifts and the food and beverages, that they had signed up to bring. And the fun party began instantly, before Lisa and Chuck had served everyone their beer and wine refreshments.

Because up to now this has been an exclusive "girls only" party, the men stayed in the kitchen talking about men things at their kitchen table, while us hens left our drinks inside their house, so we could follow Lisa outside, so we could walk in Lisa's gigantic labyrinth and place our small rocks at the end of it.

June, Ellen, Eileen and Kris had brought beautiful, very interesting looking rocks and I brought a small heart-shaped rock, about the size of a silver dollar, that I had found in Tom Landry's and Buffy's pen earlier this morning, while I was cleaning it. (Don't worry. After we did our morning chores outside, I washed it in the kitchen sink and dried it, before I put it in my purse to take with me.)

After we had walked-the-walk and placed our rocks in Lisa's super cool labyrinth, we climbed the huge stone steps back up to the house, so we could grab our drinks and then have an official hen-party, outside on their patio.

First we opened up our gifts and laughed about some of them and I was having so much fun, until Ellen told Kris and me, who was sitting right next to me, "Y'all's gifts have not arrived yet, so I don't have anything to give to you. So, you must act like big girls and understand."

Kris laughed and smiled and acted like a big girl should, but I couldn't resist, so I stood up and jokingly, put my hands to my eyes and pretended to cry. "I can't believe that Ellen has ruined my Christmas. Everyone gets a present but Kris and me. Life is not fair..." After all of us had quit laughing about that, we kept on laughing about funny stories that we traded back and fourth. Then we went inside to eat a delicious lunch.

We first started with June's tasty homemade soup, that I want the recipe for, followed by mouth-watering brisket tacos and then Ellen's to-die-for-delicious cake, that she had bought at Central Market, in Austin, last week.

All in all, today's Annual Ladies Christmas Party, was a total blast and Tony can't wait until next year, to attend another one, if we choose to allow the men.

Kinky called me earlier this evening and he told me that his West Coast Bi-Polar Tour has been a lot of fun and that he is looking forward to returning to the ranch on Friday and I can't wait to see him and that is about it for tonight, except I want to say, "Merry Christmas, Ellen! I hope your gift gets here before Friday, because The World ends on Friday."
: )

Y'all have a great evening!

What A Day—Thanks To MIR!

Today has been a little bit crazy and I blame it all on Mercury in retrograde. When I woke up this morning I made myself a cup of coffee and then I sat down at my lap top to check my mail. As I was reading Lisa's alarming warning note about there being a solar eclipse today on top of being MIR, I shuddered at the thought.

Then Tony walks into the kitchen and says, "I have some bad news."

"What?" I asked, as I clicked on an e-mail from Apple.

"The wild hogs came in last night and they knocked over The Eternal Squirrel on Yoda's grave and they tore up it's little solar panel." Then he handed me the solar squirrel, made by Malibu. So I put it on the drainboard and took this picture of it and then I bid Tony farewell, because he was headed to Medina to drink coffee with his friends at The Old Timer.

After pouring myself another cup of Donut Shop coffee I sat down at the kitchen table to read what Apple had sent to me and it made me smile, because my new Classic 160G iPod, engraved with "Nancy-Parker-Simons Loves Roy Rogers," has been shipped and it will arrive on Friday. And as I am listening to my old, now scary looking iPod, I am praying that it won't die before then, because my music keeps me upbeat.

Later, when Tony went outside to do our chores I got a phone call from a very sad, crying woman, "Nancy, I am so upset, because I have to return *&^%$ to you, because he is digging out and chasing our horses and chickens and..."

"I completely understand..." Then I went outside and told Tony that *&^%$ was coming back and would be here in fifteen minutes and then we discussed where we could put him, because we are at capacity with no space available.

When the sobbing woman showed up with little *&^%$, I walked over to her truck to greet her. As she lowered the window she said, "I'm sorry, but I can't do this. I have cried all the way over here. I love this dog, but I don't know what to do."

"Run a hot wire at the bottom of the fence and he will quit digging out," I said. Then Tony told her how to do it and then she happily drove away with her forever friend.

Then I returned to The Cabin, so I could call the pound in Kerrville, about a dog, that a friend had called me about. Because of the Veterans Day holiday they were closed, so I left them a message about us wanting to come tomorrow to pick the dog up. Then I punched in Kinky's phone number. "Kinky, I need to talk to Marcie about possibly fostering a dog for us until a space opens up over here."

"Marce, Nance wants to talk to you about fostering a dog," Kinky said to his younger sister. "Do you want to talk to her on the phone or come over?"

Five minutes later, I was over at the Lodge, in the kitchen, telling them about this dog and the emergency situation. "Yes, I would love to foster him for y'all," Marcie said. Then we discussed when we would bring the dog to her, because tomorrow we have to take him to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic to get him neutered and shots, etc.

When Tony was done with his outside chores we went to Kerrville to get Buttermilk's oil changed and to get her inspected at Balser's Northside Automotive, stop by Hoegemeyer's to pick up some Rabies certificates and to buy our rescued dogs their annual Thanksgiving dinner at H-E-B, that Lisa & Chuck prepaid for.

After Buttermilk was taken care of we went to Hoegemeyers and when we walked inside Susan was behind the counter, sitting on the floor. "Hi, Susan. Are you hiding from us?" I teased.

Susan laughed and said, "No. Our power strip blew up and I am trying to reconnect everything." Then we talked about todays solar eclipse and MIR.

When the sweet vet tech picked up a Baggie filled with 16 folded Rabies certificates for our dogs, she asked Susan if that was the bag to give us and Susan said, "Yes." Then we visited for a few more minutes and then we left the clinic.

It only took us about twenty minutes to fill our grocery cart with: 5 dozen whole wheat rolls, 20 lbs. of ground turkey, 3 huge bags of mixed vegetables, 2 giant jars of minced garlic, 3 large bags of grated cheddar cheese, 5 dozen eggs, 6 boxes of stuffing, 3 large bottles of olive oil and 3 big, disposable foil pans, to cook the vegetables in and the grand total was $176.90. "Thank you, Lisa & Chuck!"

As Tony was loading our dogs Thanksgiving dinner into the back of Buttermilk I opened the Baggie and looked at it and when I read a certificate and then two others I realized that we had accidentally been given the wrong bag, so we went back to Hoegemeyer's to return it and get ours.

When we teased Susan about us getting the wrong Baggie she joked, "It's because I was sitting on the floor."

"I'm blaming it on MIR and the solar eclipse," I said. 

Lastly, this evening when I tried to get on my blog, so I could write about my day—it would not let me get to the "New Post" and it took me over forty-five minutes, before the icon finally showed up. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

That Old Fossil! or History Deal!

Today has been great, even though the F.M.T. (Full Moon Time) is just three days away and M.I.R. (Mercury In Retrograde) is upon us until August 8th.

I really am enjoying my tiny, pink Nano. The first thing I did, when I got out of bed this morning, was clip it on, turn it on and walk to the kitchen, to drink a cup of coffee.

By the time I had finished doing my morning chores outside, I had already walked over 4,000 steps, with only 6,000 more steps to go, to reach my daily goal of 10,000 steps-a-day.

While we were running errands, in Kerrville, this afternoon, we stopped by Wolfmueller's Books, so I could show Sandy and Jon my early birthday present, that Tone gave to me. "I love my iPod Nano," I said, as I showed it to them and they thought it was pretty cool, too.

"Maybe, I should get one," Jon said, "so I can find out how much walking I do, inside our bookstore..."

Our last stop was at H-E-B, to stock up on some groceries. When I climbed out of Buttermilk, I checked my Nike+ and wrote down how many steps I had walked, on my grocery list. "Tony, so far I've walked 5,339 steps and I can't wait to see how many I walk inside H-E-B."

When we finally returned to Buttermilk, with our bags full of groceries, I helped Tony load them up and then I checked how many steps I'd walked. "T., you're not going to believe this! The Nike+ counter is now up to 6,591 steps!" When we jumped into Buttermilk, I grabbed my pen and quickly did the math on my progress.

"How many steps did we walk inside H-E-B. today?" Tony asked, a little sarcastically, as he started up Buttermilk, because he hates to go shopping.

"1,252!" I declared, happily, as I accidentally turned off my Nano. "Dang it."

"What's wrong?" He asked, as I turned my Nano back on, as we dodged an elderly, gray-haired woman, who I thought looked about the same age as me, trying unsuccessfully to back her fancy car out from her parking space. "That old fossil shouldn't be driving..."

"She can't help it, Tony," I said, in hers and my defense, because I can't back up either. "Great, my walking stats for today have been deleted and the counter has reset itself to start at 000 steps walked. But, the good thing is, my steps today have been automatically recorded by this thing and are being stored in the 'History' deal. It's all M.I.R.'s fault and..."

Y'all have a great evening!

Good Night!

Today has been another great day. This morning while T. and I were outside feeding dogs and cleaning their pens, Marguerite, the nice woman who wants and is willing to give Enzo Swift a home called and left a message on Carlton, asking me to call her, because she had a few questions to ask me about Enzo.

Because today is our official Open-House day, we spent much of the day outside, giving many visitors  tours of the rescue ranch, so my first opportunity to call Marguerite back was around 2:23 and I had a total blast visiting with her.

Like Susan, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, had told me yesterday, Marguerite is a very nice woman and she loves dogs as much as we do. During my fun conversation with Marguerite she told me that she had read both of my books, that she had bought at Wolfmueller's Books and that she also enjoys reading my blog and she reads it every evening after she gets home from work and that made me feel so good. Then she told me about her meeting with Enzo yesterday.

"I was at Hoegemeyer's to pick up some medicine for one of my dogs and Susan told me they had a German Shepherd that needed a home and I said, "Are you talking about Enzo Swift," and she says, "Yes, but not for you. I wanted to know if you knew anyone wanting a nice German Shepherd," so I start laughing and turn around to the two people sitting in the waiting room, with their pets and asked them, "Has Susan asked y'all about Enzo needing a home and they both said, "No," and we all started laughing. I love Susan."

"Me, too. Tony and I think the world of her."

After Marguerite told me about her meeting Enzo and wanting to give him a try with her dogs and two old cats, I asked her if she had read, Kinky's, Tony's and my all time favorite book, The Art of Racing In The Rain, "No, not yet, but I plan to buy it, because you are always mentioning it on your blog and I know that Enzo Swift was named in honor of the dog in that book."

"That's great, but don't buy it. I have an extra copy that I want to give to you. I will drop it off at Hoegemeyer's, so you can read it before you adopt Enzo, two weeks after his last heart worm treatment  on Wednesday and he has recovered..."

A little while later, Marguerite tells me that her sister Harriette, who lives down on the Texas Gulf Coast is like me, because she too is scared of driving in big cities and heavy highway traffic and we started laughing about it. "Please tell Harriette that I would love to meet her, since I know that we are definitely kindred spirits."

When our fun conversation had ended I was so thrilled about her adopting Enzo, I went and told Tone all about her being so nice, being a vet-tech for over twelve years and about the many dogs that she has rescued etc. and he was glad to hear it.

Early this evening when Tony and I got back from Kerrville, our dear friend Carol paid us a visit and we charged her nothing (This is my attempt to be funny and to make you laugh.) and Tony and I really enjoyed visiting with her.

When she arrived I whipped up my new recipe, "Cousin Nancy's Goat Cheese with Hatch Green Chiles" and Carol loved it as much as we did, as we sipped some of my delicious, inexpensive fine Franzia Chillable Red boxed wine with Ozarka Water and iced cubes added. "Carol, to make this recipe, I used H-E-B's Honey Goat Cheese, found in their cheese specialty department and a can of Hatch Green Chiles, that's it, but please don't tell anyone."

After Carol had promised not to tell, we talked about Tony's 1973 VW Beetle and how much we loved VW's and then I showed off my new, giant George Foreman Grill to her, an early birthday present from Tony and she told me she loved it and that's when I purposefully told her about my fun trip to Whole Foods and Target with Sandy and Patty this past Monday, because I was setting her up for my question, "Carol, do you have a George Foreman Grill?"

"No, but I know they are healthy and great for grilling."

So, I turned my back to her, picked up my cute, little, pink George Foreman Champ grill, that I had bought at Target for only $15.00 and said, "Carol, I want to give this to you. I've only used it three times and I don't need it and I promise that you are going to love it." Then I set it down on the kitchen table in front of her, along with the instruction booklet, drip tray and spatula.

"Oh, Nancy! I love it and I can't wait to use it. It's the perfect size for me and I love that it is pink, too. Thank you so much..."

And, that is about it for tonight, but I want to thank Carol for the delicious cookies that she made for T. and me. I'm going to bed. Good night.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us!

On The Brink!

Today while Belle Starr-Simons was at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic getting her stitches removed—Tony and I ran a few errands around Kerrtown. Our first stop was at Wolfmueller's Books so we could say howdy to Sandy and Jon.

When we walked inside their famous Texas bookstore they were busy helping their customers find books so we decided to wait and started browsing their bookshelves. After they had checked out several customers we had a fun, but short visit with them before a bunch of tourists suddenly showed up.

While shopping at H-E-B I made a decision that I hope I won't regret. "Tony, when we leave here I want to go over to Home Depot and buy myself a small gas grill, that I can operate, so I can start cooking outside."

"But Nance," T. said, as we walked past some sacks of charcoal on sale, "we have our giant barbecue pit..."

"Yes, you do have a giant barbecue pit and the lid is so heavy I can barely lift it and with the burn ban in effect because of the drought—we can't use it. Tony, I am buying myself a small gas grill today, so lets get some shrimp, vegetables and beef, so I can cook on it tonight." Then we went around H-E-B filling our shopping cart with "grill food."

When we arrived at Home Depot it took me only five minutes to pick out my cute, little gas grill, even though Tone tried to talk me into buying one much more expensive and four times bigger—that would for sure impress his men friends. "Nope, Tony. This is the one I want and I am going to name it Brink or maybe after Yoda, because she was so gaseous..." And I bought it.

After picking up, one happy-to-see-us, Belle Starr-Simons from Hoegemeyers we headed home in Trigger—with Brink standing small in the back of the pickup. Right before Belle vomited on me, we made an emergency pit stop at the Mini-Mart, because Brink was on the brink of falling down or out of the truck, because T. hadn't tied him down good enough. And while Tony was retying-down little Brink to Trigger our good friend James walked up. "Hi, Nancy and Tony. Carol's working and I'm out running errands. When I saw y'all— I just had to stop and say hello. Hello, pretty Belle," James said, as he patted her on her head. "She is so sweet..." Before we took off in opposite directions James told us that their herd of cattle were settling in nicely and in a few weeks they would be ready for me to be their official Turnback Rider or as I like to say, "Herd Turner."

When we got home Tony put his dog inside our front yard so she could go potty. Then we carried our groceries up the stairs to the trailer and put them up. While I was busy preparing my first outdoor "grill dinner" Tony was outside hooking up Brink to his propane tank. When he was done I went outside and shot little Brink.

Then we came back inside so I could finish preparing the shish-kabobs while Tone made my "Cousin Nancy's Bacon Wrapped Bananas" appetizer recipe. Then he did the weirdest thing—he took his plate of bacon wrapped bananas and went outside, while I cut up some fresh strawberries for our dessert.

When I came outside Tony had a big smile on his face—as he cooked on my grill, Brink! And, "I like Brink!" Was all he had to say, as he happily turned over the appetizers. A few minutes later while I was on the phone inviting Frank, who was over at the Lodge babysitting The Friedmans, to join us for dinner, T. came inside and casually carried out my platter of shish-kabobs.

After I had returned several phone calls I went outside, just as Frank was walking up to the trailer. "You're just in time, Frank," Tone said. "We're ready to eat." And that is when I ran back inside the trailer and grabbed my camera so I could shoot Tony on the Brink.

Our dinner was delicious and there was a ton of leftovers, and I am actually glad that T. and Brink like each other and are coal-mates, because it is so much fun to have your husband cook dinner for you. I knew it would work!  : ) 

Y'all have a great evening!

Here's Your Sign!

This morning after I walked six miles with Leslie, I checked my e-mail. Sandy Wolfmueller sent me a note thanking us for the roses that we gave to her, on her birthday, last Friday, along with this beautiful picture of them. Thank you, Sandy—you made my day!

This afternoon Tone and I took off for Kerrville to run a few errands—get groceries, and to pick up the two new dog pen sponsor signs, that we had made in loving memory of Chula Bean McLean and the one for the incredibly, great NoMads.

Our first destination was to get groceries at the H-E-B store where I made a fool out of myself, again and I am blaming T. for it, because he didn't shop with me, because he could have prevented it, but it really wasn't his fault, because he had his own cart and was off shopping for supplies for the rescue ranch.

After I had unloaded all of my groceries to be checked out, I went to the counter, so I could start writing my check and this sweet, young lady smiles at me and says, "Ma'am, do you know that this is for ten items or less?" My face immediately turned ten shades of red and I looked up and saw the sign and started apologizing, as I looked to my left to see how many angry people were standing in the fast check-out lane. 

Fortunately, there was just one woman in line behind me and she smiled at me and said, "It's not a problem. Don't worry about it." Then she looked over at the cashier, who was rapidly scanning my twenty-three items, so I wouldn't get busted by the "Ten Or Less Items Police" and she said to her, "I have thirteen items in my basket. Is that okay?" 

The nice cashier smiled at her and told her it would be fine, too. Then she handed me my receipt and smiled and said, "Thank you for shopping at H-E-B. You saved six dollars and seventy-cents today."

"And you just saved my life. Thank you. I really am so sorry..." As soon as my groceries were loaded into my shopping cart I raced out of H-E-B, because I was so embarrassed for being old and stupid, again. When I arrived where Trigger was parked, I confessed my sins to Tony, as he laughed at me and teased me, as he unloaded our groceries. Then we went to pick up the pen sponsored signs and I hope that Karlen, and Mari and the NoMads like them. Here's Your Sign!

and

Y'all have a great evening!