One Scoop!

Well, Rick arrived about five minutes after I had finished doing our 2017 taxes, so after howdies and hugs we decided to celebrate him being up here with us and for me finally getting our taxes done.

So we sat out on the front porch and declared it—Happy Hour and it was so much fun catching up with Rick's latest news about him leaving Nicaragua and moving back to Port A. Omg, we talked non-stop and Happy Hour ended up lasting two hours or drinking two beers each.

Then like old folks we stopped drinking and ate a pizza, out on the front porch. And during dinner I started feeling guilty about hiding the ice cream from Rick, so after they finished-off the pizza, I came inside, grabbed three bowls, three spoons, an ice cream scoop and our last, precious tub of H-E-B's Limited Edition, Creamy Creations Mexican Hot Chocolate and took everything outside.

After Tony and I told Rick about this delicious ice cream, he served himself one scoop. And moments later, Rick took a second helping of the ice cream. "This is the best ice cream that I've ever eaten!" Rick stated, as he served himself scoop #3.

I was thrilled that Rick loved our ice cream as much as we did, but in the back of my head I was thinking, "Gosh, I hope he doesn't eat anymore." And he must have read my thoughts, because after he ate the third scoop he announced that he was full and could eat no more.

I was so thrilled about Rick not eating anymore of our treasured ice cream, I grabbed the tub, went into the kitchen and took this picture of it, before trying to hide it again, inside the freezer.

I took this picture to show you how much ice cream was left, but I also took this picture to document the amount leftover, so I can prove if Rick eats anymore of it.

Late last night Carol sent me this email:

"I just read your blog. Hide it in the freezer in my barn until Rick Leaves."

Today has been great. Rick helped Tony build a picnic table this morning and this afternoon the three of us went to Home Depot, to buy a lamp kit, so Rick could help me build a lamp. And that is about it for tonight, because Rick just made a lame excuse and went inside The Cabin, so I am fixin' to go over to Carol's ranch pronto and hide the tub of ice cream in her barn.

And if Rick happens to ask me where is the ice cream, I'm going to tell him, "I ate it."

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

What Would Rick Do"

The last few days have been a little bit hectic. You know the old saying, "When it rains it pours" well let's just say it's been pouring here.

We had some major problems with the Airstream's plumbing/electricity and now that has been fixed, or better said—we put a band-aid on it—it is usable. Which is good, because late this afternoon our dear friend, Rick, the former "Friendly Lighthouse Keeper," in Port Aransas, is coming to see us and that is where he will be camping out.

Other than that we are still working on getting our water supply up and running. Our rain harvesting system is ready to go and all that we need now is rain to fill up our 4,000 gallon water tanks.

We've also been working on our shallow well, that went dry last week, for a few hours. So last Friday we purchased another 2,500 gallon water tank, from Home Depot, and it got delivered Saturday afternoon and hopefully, in the near very future, we will get that plumbed, so it can help out our well from going dry again.

This past Thursday while Tony was, at the Willow City Loop, taking beautiful photos of the beautiful Blue Bonnets with his sweet sister Annie and Sam's sweet wife, Stacie, I went to the Office Max, in Kerrville and purchased turbotax software, so I could figure out how to do our taxes, because our dear friend/CPA that has been doing our taxes, for over 30 years, has recently retired.

Anyway, I was going to work on our taxes this past weekend, but one thing after another kept popping up after another. And it was exhausting.

So this morning the first thing I did, after drinking two cups of coffee, I did our taxes and the good news about that is I loved working with the easy to use turbotax software and I got our taxes done for 2017, except now I am waiting for them to send me the filled out tax forms, so we can sign them and get them mailed.

As Tony and I are waiting for Rick to arrive, I am getting a little bit nervous, because we only have one tub left of that super-delicious Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream.

Yesterday afternoon I removed the tub, from the Airstream and put it inside our freezer, so Rick wouldn't find it and decide to eat it all up, because I know how much he loves ice cream.

But my problem now is "What Would Rick Do?" when I open our freezer door and he sees the Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream and this is driving me crazy.

It is embarrassing for me to have to admit that I don't want to share our last tub of limited edition, ice cream with Rick, but sadly it is true. So a few minutes ago, I pulled the priceless tub out of our freezer and slipped it inside a plastic bag to disguise it.

But now my problem is "What Would Rick Do?" when he sees a Home Depot plastic bag, in our freezer. Knowing Rick, I am sure that when he spots it he will ask, "Why is there a Home Depot bag, in your freezer?..."

So, just a few minutes ago, I removed the ice cream tub, again and I took this picture of it.

Then I took it out of the plastic Home Depot sack and I threw the plastic bag away.

So now with little time left, before Rick arrives, I am going to try to hide the ice cream tub once again, but this time I am going to hide it, behind several frozen vegetables bags. So please wish me luck that Rick never finds it while he visits us.

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

Odd-Looking Pie!

Today has been great. The first thing I did this morning, while drinking two cups of delicious Donut Shop coffee, while listening to John Prine and Iris Dement singing In Spite Of Ourselves, one of my favorite songs, was to take down my newly painted, copycat "Restrooms 1mi." sign.

I did this, because I want it, on our front porch Wall of Shame. And after saying, "pretty please" to Tony, I got him to screw it to the siding. So now when our friends come over it will be one of the first things that they see and it will make them laugh.

Since Tony was screwing around, on the front porch, I then asked him to please hang up a license plate for me.

Then Tony started mowing, so I watered my flowers, in the front yard and then took pictures of them.

Well, this afternoon before cooking us lunch I decided that I was no longer on my diet sabbatical and I am totally back on the Weight Watchers wagon, again. It was a very difficult decision for me to make, because we still have four quarts left of that delicious Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream, safely locked inside the Airstream's freezer. 

Please Note: I wrote the above portion of this post after we ate lunch and before I decided to try to make Carol's totally delicious Magnolia Pie recipe. Because the other day I had purchased the Lemon Extract, buttermilk and Pillsbury Pie Crusts, so I could bake her mouth-watering pie.

But my Magnolia pie is different-looking than Carol's pie, because I had to use a square Pyrex dish to bake it in, because it is the only small, deep dish that will fit, inside my countertop Black & Decker Convection oven. 

And I am naming my odd-looking pie—Cousin Nancy's Pie-R-Squared. (π r squared) And here is a picture of it, before we each ate a slice of it. Or should I say, "A square of it?" 

So I guess I will start Weight Watchers tomorrow. Life is good and sweet.

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

An Eyesore!

Today has been great. This morning I slept in and I enjoyed it. But not as much as I enjoyed adding a spoonful of that delicious, Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream, to my cup of coffee.

Late this morning Tony and I took off for Kerrville for three reasons. Reason #1 to buy lumber, stain and three drawer handles.

Reason #2 to buy vegetables, at The Plant Haus, so Tony could plant the veggies, in his many key hole gardens.

Reason #3 to go to the big H-E-B, on Main Street, so I could stock up on some more Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream and get a bag of dog food.

After accomplishing all of this we came back home and unloaded the lumber, the plants and the groceries. Then I took this picture of the five, neatly stacked, quarts of Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream, before we took them out to the Airstream. 

Late this afternoon after taking a short sleepless nap with our dogs I was ready to tackle my newest project—"Getting Rid Of The Ugly Tool Area In The Big Room And Decorating That Area." 

As you can see from the above photo our "tool area" is an eyesore to say the least, but I must admit that the tool area has come in handy, the last few months, when we are needing to use our tools to get a job done. And it has served its purpose, but now it must go, because I am tired of looking at it.

So after we ate a bowl of delicious ice cream Tony and I "set up shop" on the front porch and we began cutting boards into 60" and 75" lengths, because of what I have designed and planned to replace the "tool area" with. And here is a sneak preview of my partially finished project that I am hoping to finish tomorrow. 

So please wish me luck, because from the looks of the picture below, it now looks worse than it did before we started. Except of course, for Little Debbie, standing in front of the chair, near the bottom of the picture.

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

Dang You, Tony & Steve!

Today has been great. This morning our good friend Rick, came over and we had a fun visit with him. And thirty minutes later, our dear friend Sarah came to visit us and she ate lunch with us, on the front porch. We had an H-E-B Supreme Pizza. (On sale right now 2 for $5.00.)

After cleaning up the kitchen I decided to take a short nap, because I was feeling a little bit tired. So Henry Standing Bear, Belle, Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) took my one hour nap with me until the alarm clock went off, at 2:55.

I had set it for 2:55, because I didn't want to miss Ellen's show, because I love her show and on today's show Oprah was her guest. I also love Oprah Winfrey, because I admire her for all of her life's accomplishments and her wisdom.

In the first ten minutes of Ellen's show she and Oprah were talking about the movie A Wrinkle In Time starring Oprah and Reese Witherspoon. And I was not disappointed, because while they were talking about the movie, Oprah said, "...Never give negativity power"...and..."Never feed negativity." And I totally loved hearing those wise words, because for me they are words for me to live by.

After watching the show I called Carol, "Oprah was just on Ellen's show and it was fabulous....Can Tony and I come over?"

Three minutes later we were, inside Carol's beautiful house, visiting with her and Bill. And then Carol showed me this really cool spiralizer that Amazon had just delivered to her door. "I love this," I told Carol before she even gave the three of us a demonstration.

And while she was getting the zucchini, beets and a sweet potato I checked out the Mueller SpiralUltra instruction sheet to see if I could figure out how to use one of these gadgets, because I love cooking with vegetable spirals instead of pasta.

But before I could say, "I'm gonna buy one of these things."

Carol said, "Don't buy one, Nancy! Because I just bought you one, too...." Now that was some exciting news, but I felt guilty about her buying it for me and I felt I had to do something in return to repay her for her kindness.

So, I said, "Carol, hold off on the demonstration for a few minutes, because I want to go home and grab my camera and bring y'all a tub of that delicious Mexican Hot Chocolate that we're so addicted to. I'll be right back."

As soon as I got home, I went straight to the Airstream and unlocked the padlock and went inside and removed a tub of our treasured, limited edition ice cream, from the freezer. 

After locking up the Airstream, with precious cargo in the freezer, I went into the house—grabbed my camera, adios-ed our dogs again and then took off for Carol's ranch again. 

After putting the precious, tub of ice cream into Carol's freezer and telling her and Bill how much they were going to love it I took these pictures of Carol doing her "spiralizer" demonstration.

After her interesting food demonstration was done Carol put the vegetable spirals and mandolin sliced vegetables, on a cookie sheet, sprinkled them with olive oil and sea salt and then she shoved them into the 400 degree oven to roast. And omg, they were totally delicious and the four of us ate all of it.

Ten minutes later, as we were adios-ing our dear friends, Carol said, "We'll try the ice cream after we eat dinner...."

Well, I was nearly halfway writing this post this evening when the phone rang and Carlton's Caller ID showed it was Carol. "Hi Carol." 

Then I heard her chuckle, and then heard her say, "Dang you, Tony and Steve Pietzsch! Omg, we love this ice cream! It has such a unique taste....I think we need to make Steve buy all of us stretch pants with elastic-waist bands, because it is his fault for introducing y'all to this one-of-a-kind ice cream." Then she and Bill started laughing.

"I'm so glad y'all love it, too," I said. "I want you to know that Tony and I are going to H-E-B early tomorrow morning, so we can buy more of this limited edition ice cream before they permanently run out...." And before Carol and I adios-ed each other, I said, "Please tell Bill that tomorrow morning I'm going to put some of this incredible ice cream in my coffee..."

And that is about it for tonight, except I want to show you this picture I took of our beautiful flowers by our front yard gate.

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.

Sabbatical!

The last few days have been great, besides working on our front porch and getting it semi-finished. I use the term "semi-finished" lightly, because I plan to keep adding things or more signs to the porch wall, when I find them in our many unpacked boxes.

Speaking of unpacked boxes I am literally driving myself crazy, because I can't find the box or crate that has my books that I wrote. Tony and I have searched "The Mother Ship" (my little RV) twice in hopes of finding them and we've gone through our closet twice, with still no luck.

The reason that I am so desperate to find my books is because I want to give signed copies to Andy & Lisa, because Andy was so kind and instrumental in helping us with our water collection. And I also want to give signed copies to our new found friends, Cathy & Chip, that Carol & Bill introduced us to last week. So I am asking y'all to please say a little prayer to Saint Anthony to help me find my books.

This past Saturday afternoon Tony & I went to Andy & Lisa's pot luck dinner, at their beautiful home, a few miles from here. Our good friends Bethany and our famous artist friend, Steve Pietzsch, who has also been very helpful helping Andy with our water-collection project came to the party, too.

Lisa assigned everyone what to bring to their pot-luck dinner—thank goodness. She & Andy cooked the delicious lasagna. Bethany made the salad, Steve brought 3 different kinds of ice cream for our dessert. And we furnished the chips and dips. And to say the least, "The conversations were delightful and were laugh out loud hilarious and the food was more than delicious."

Speaking of delicious I want to tell you about one of the ice creams that Steve brought, because it is now my most favorite ice cream, in the world and Tony and I had never heard of it or tasted it before.

It is an H-E-B Limited Edition Creamy Creations brand, called Mexican Hot Chocolate. And it is to die for.

Okay, hold your horses. I am sure by now you must be asking yourself, "But I thought Nancy was doing Weight Watchers?" And my answer is, "Yes, I am doing Weight Watchers and totally loving it, but because of this ice cream—I am temporarily on an extended dieting sabbatical."

Now back to my story. We had a wonderful time at Lisa & Andy's party, but we had to leave early, at 6:00, because Tony had a pool tournament to go to, at the Medina Highpoint Resort. Bottom   Line: He won one game and lost two.

Sunday morning our good friends Lisa & Andy came over, so we could show Lisa The Cabin and I was thrilled that she loved it, even though the second coat of paint was still drying, on our front door.

After our fun visit with our neighbors, our dear friend Eileen and her sweet sister Dean came to see us. Eileen and her sister loved everything that we've done to The Cabin and I was sweating bullets the whole time they were there, because I was worried that they might get red paint on them, because our front door was still not totally dry. 

We had a fun visit with Dean and Eileen and after they left Tony and I jumped into Roy (our 2012, white Dodge Ram truck) and we took off for the big H-E-B, in Kerrville, to buy that mouth-watering Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream, before they ran out of it. 

Bottom   Line: We bought six quarts. When we got home Tony put four of these coveted ice cream quarts, in the Airstream's freezer and two inside The Cabin's freezer. And before we did anything else—we split a quart of Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream.

Monday morning, Tony called Carol to invite her, Cathy & Chip to come over, because we could not wait to show them our new front porch, especially since the red paint had finally dried. But sadly, Carol told Tony that Chip & Cathy had already taken off, a few hours earlier, to go back to their home, in Wisconsin.

Carol had thought they were staying until Wednesday and it was just one of those mix-ups. But the good news is Carol came over and we had a great time visiting with her. 

Today has been great and I am still on sabbatical, because early this afternoon we went back to the big H-E-B, in Kerrville and we bought two more quarts of this heavenly, limited edition ice cream. And after I cooked us lunch, Julia Child's Chicken With Mushroom Sauce today, we sat down and ate more of this delicious ice cream. And I still do not feel guilty about it one bit, because once I've had enough and am no longer on sabbatical—I will resume doing Weight Watchers, again.

Before I finish writing this tonight, I want you to know that it is raining outside with thunderstorms, high winds and possibly hail predicted for tonight and the wee hours of the morning. I am fixin' to go put Big Al(ice)'s thunder jacket on her and give her a tiny pill when it starts thundering, so she won't freak out. And when the bad weather comes our way please know that we will be unplugged and eating more ice cream.

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