B-GOOD! or Viva Terlingua!

This past weekend has been filled with mowing and good times, so it was great to say the least. Saturday morning I went outside and started mowing down the tall grass and weeds, in Hazel's pen, under dark-looking clouds.

After I finished push-mowing Hazel's pen, that took me twice as long as it should have, because of the thick, knee-high grass I started mowing the alley next to her pen.

Halfway done, it started to lightly sprinkle, so I started pushing the mower as fast as I could, which in my case wasn't all that fast. And right when I had finished mowing it—it started pouring down rain.

By the time I reached the feed barn I was soaking wet. I was grateful for the rain, but was a little depressed, because I knew that the too tall grass and weeds would grow at least another inch taller before I would get to do some more push-mowing. The mowing felt like it was a never-ending task.

Around 2:00 in the afternoon our dogs started barking, so Tony went outside to see what was going on and two minutes later, I went outside, because I saw that Tony was talking to a couple I didn't know. And that's when the fun started.

After Tony had introduced me to Hans & Marita Fredriksen, visiting from Bergen, Norway and I felt like I knew these strangers and I already liked them. Hans told us that they had recently met Kinky after a show he did in Norway and Kinky had given them one of our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch business cards. And he had invited them to come see us when they visited the Texas Hill Country.

Why, but don't ask me why something told me to ask them, "Have y'all ever heard of Chet O'Keefe? He's a fabulous singer/songwriter musician and he is a real good friend of ours?"

"Yes!" They answered. "We know Chet and we are good friends with him, too. We love his music and we love the music scene, so we started a business that helps promote traveling musicians and artists to help make their life, on the road much easier."

"Wow! That's way too cool," I exclaimed. "Where are y'all staying and for how long?" They told us that they were staying, in Fredricksberg and were staying for several weeks. So once again and don't ask me why, I asked, "Have y'all ever heard of Stephen K. Morris?"

"Yes!" They answered, to our surprise. "We love Stephen's music and Eva Robinett's photography. We've know them for a long time and we are trying to talk them into coming over, to Norway, to perform." So I immediately invited them to come, inside The Cabin, so we could cool off and visit some more.

During our super fun visit with Marita & Hans, they told us that they had planned on going out to Terlingua, during their stay, in Texas, because they had never seen it. So we told them that Chet, Stephen & Eva and us all owned places out there and we all love it. Then we found out that Hans & Marita were musicians too, so I pulled out my Martin D-28 and handed it to Hans.

When he started strumming my guitar we asked them to sing something for us, so they did. First they sang one of their favorite Chet O'Keefe songs In San Joaquin Valley and then they sang Luckenbach Texas (Norway-Style) and they were absolutely fantastic.

Tony and I were so excited about meeting Hans & Marita and before they left to drive back to Fred-town, they told us about going to the Auslander, Sunday at 4:00, because Stephen was hosting another one of his super fun "Outsider Songwriter Spotlight" featuring Hollin McKay, who is one of Tony's and my favorite singer/songwriter musician and he lives nearby, in Bandera. Here is where Hollin will be playing his gigs at which includes Austin's famous Threadgill's.

So we put our heads together and decided to play a little joke on our dear friends Eva & Stephen. We decided that it would be fun for us to show up around 4:00 and when we saw each other we would hug each other and sit down, at a table together, hoping that it would surprise Stephen & Eva that we knew each other. Then during a break we would tell our mutual friends that we have been good friends for many years, etc.

After our fun visit with our new Norway friends, Kinky called me from the road, to tell me that Ruth Buzzi and her husband Kent Perkins would be arriving, at the ranch, around 4:00 and that he would be back at the ranch no later than 8:00. "Nance, would you mind going over to the Lodge to welcome them for me?"

And of course I said, "I would love to see them!" A little while later, I jumped into Trigger and drove over to the Lodge and their beautiful, black Bentley was parked, in the driveway.

Kent greeted me and he told me Ruthie was taking a nap, so he and I went inside the Lodge for a fun visit. And an hour later, when I was fixin' to leave, Tony arrived at the Lodge, because he wanted to visit with Kent & Ruthie, too.

Then about an hour later, Kent drove over here to drink some coffee with us and to visit some more. And to say the least about that—Tony and I had a great time visiting with our dear friend.

Sunday morning, Kent & Ruthie came over to see us, before meeting Kinky for brunch, in Kerrville. Omg, Ruthie was so cute and she had all of us laughing the minute that she got out of their car. And it continued when they spent about an hour with us, inside The Cabin.

Later that afternoon around 4:15, we arrived at the Islander's back patio. Stephen and Hollin were already on stage. When Stephen saw us come in he nodded at us and we waved back at him. And a few minutes later, Marita & Hans walked up to our table and we put on a good show for Stephen to watch while Hollin sang a beautiful song.

Eva wasn't there yet, but when she arrived she looked just as shocked as Stephen, to us sitting with Hans & Marita. So I guess that you could say—we pulled it off.

Tony and I had so much fun listening to the great music and getting to visit with Stephen & Eva, Hollin and Marita & Hans. Here is a picture I took, at the Auslander, of Hans & Marita.

Of course Tony and I could not stay for the whole show, because we needed to get back to the rescue ranch, so before we adios-ed our friends, around 6:00, Stephen & Eva, Marita & Hans us talked about us possibly meeting up, in Terlingua, for a few days of Viva Terlingua fun. And who knows—maybe Chet and Jim Keaveny and Anna will be out there, too. Talk about a real good time with great friends with great music.

Here is the top of their business card that Hans gave to us, because we are hoping to hook up with these four great friends of ours for lunch, later on this week.

And at the bottom of their business cards it reads "Make music - B-Good." 

This afternoon we took Roy Rogers back to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic to get his leg checked out, again, because sometime last night, Roy managed to remove a part of his bandage on his leg, that was put there to stop him from licking at it. And Roy was licking it.

Anyway, Dr. Craig Jannsen has just called me to tell me that he looked at Roy's leg and he suggested that he should cut off the growth and then we will wait for a week to see how it looks and then go from there. He also told me that the growth seems to have grown bigger and he can do the surgery this evening, so we will be able to pick up my four-legged soul mate tomorrow. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Gerry Olert, Chris, Eileen holding Little Debbie, Jim, Suzanne, me, Kris, Bob, Chet, Lisa, Kinky, Wendy, Sally, Stephen & Hollin!

Today has been great and so was our weekend. Last Friday all of our great friends/volunteers met at the Thai O'Cha restaurant so we could celebrate Suzanne's and Chris' birthdays and Eileen brought the cutest duel birthday cake. And to say the least, our food was delicious and we had a lot of fun.

Chris, who played Ferg, in our Longmire—Texas Style video, is standing 2nd from the left and Suzanne, who played a cowgirl, inside the Grey Goose Saloon, is standing behind me,  to the right of Jim who played Longmire. I know this is getting a little confusing, so I am just going to list our friends from left to right that starred in our funny Longmire—Texas Style spoof.

Gerry Olert, Chris, Eileen with Little Debbie, Jim, Suzanne, me, Kris, Bob, Chet and Lisa.

And if you would like to see more pictures of the cast and crew I suggest that you watch my slideshow Longmire—Texas Style Behind The Scenes.

Last Friday, after the fun birthdays party, we came straight home, because we knew that our dear friend, Chet O'Keefe, was coming to see us, after his long three-week tour of Canada with friend Sarah Burton. And we had a fun visit with Chet, before he and his dog, Willie, took off for Washington state, Saturday afternoon.

After we adios-ed Chet and Willie, Tony took off too, so he could go fetch our mail. And I got got the cutest and the sweetest card, from a woman named Wendy, thanking us for rescuing her old Pit Bull that had run off during a thunderstorm. 

But first let me fill you in. Last month, while I was out in Terlingua with Cindy, Ronnie & Nita, Kinky had rescued a Pit Bull that was in a field near Highway 16. So when I got home from my fun trip, Tony told me all about Kinky's rescue.

So when we got back home, I went and met this lovely, sweet, old girl and I named her Sally Field, before we took her, to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, to get a check up and her shots, etc.

Well, it turned out that Sally had heart worms, so they treated her. Several days later, when we were going to go pick up Sally, Tony walked into the kitchen, and said,  "Nance, Sally is such a great dog, I'm sure she belongs to someone, so would you call the Pound to see if anyone is missing a Pit since last week?"

When I called the Pound, the nice woman told me that a Pit Bull, fitting her description had been reported missing since last week and she gladly gave me Wendy's phone numbers.

Then I called Wendy and told her that we thought we had her dog and that Sally had just been treated for heart worms. Wendy was so happy I'm pretty sure that she started crying as she kept thanking us. 

Wendy told me that her two dogs had run away, during an intense thunderstorm and that her little dog had safely returned home, but not her Pit. After telling her that she could pick up her dog, at Hoegemeyers, she said, "Please call them and tell them I am on my way now..."

An hour later, after eating a fun lunch with Jim aka Longmire, at Billy Gene's Restaurant, we stood outside the restaurant and called Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, to find out if Sally Field was the woman's lost dog.

And to make a long story short, Susan told me, "Yes! Wendy and I guess her son came and picked her up and when Sally came into the lobby and saw her family, she went crazy trying to get to them and they started crying. And Nancy, the woman paid for the heart worm treatment..." This is a picture I took of Sally Field when we took her to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic.

Yesterday afternoon, Tony and I jumped inside Buttermilk and took off for The Auslander, in Fredricksburg, because our dear friend, Stephen K. Morris, was hosting another one of his great "The Outsider Songwriter Spotlight" with his awesome musician friend, Hollin McKay. 

Tony and I had a blast watching and listening to their great music and Stephen even took a minute to introduce us to the standing room only crowd and he plugged our rescue ranch. Here is a picture that I took while they were performing on stage. Stephen is on the left.

And this one is Stephen's trunk with our bumper sticker on it.

During a break, Stephen introduced us to Hollin and I told him that I had and loved his and his brother's first album, which they had cut, in 1994. Anyway, I hope y'all will check out Stephen's awesome Songwriter Spotlight shows held every Sunday, from 4:00 to 7:00.

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