More Awe Moments!

The past few days have been awesome. Last Wednesday our dear friend Jim Keaveny came to see us and he was the very first person to spend the night in my finished writing cabin, even though I still have a few more pictures to hang up.

The good news is Jim loves my small 12'x10' she shed and we had a wonderful time visiting with Jim. And before he and us adios-ed each other the next day I asked Jim to please sign my cabin's door, because I am going to ask everyone who goes inside my cabin to sign the door. Also because, with a ton of friend's signatures on the door—it will help hide the slots and holes in the re-purposed blind's slats.

After Jim left for Terlingua, I called Carol and invited her to come over to see my writing cabin which I still haven't named yet.

Bottom   Line: Carol totally loved the cabin, too! And she could not believe that it was originally a Tuff Shed. And before Carol exited the cabin she autographed my door, too.

Tony and I had a wonderful time at Christina Fredriksen's art exhibition at the Texas Heritage Vineyard, in Fredericksburg. And Stephen K. Morris' music was fabulous and it was perfect for the event.

Tony and I had a lot of fun visiting with Stephen, Hans & Marita, Christina & Zach and Zach's sweet parents. During an intermission I invited our friends to come over on Monday, because I wanted them, especially Christina, to meet our dear artist friend Steve Pietzsch. And before we left the event Christina had already sold several prints, originals and merchandise.

Tony and I worked the mornings and evenings next door, this past weekend and of course, it was fun, too.

Early Monday afternoon Hans & Marita, Christina & Zach and Stephen K. Morris & Eva Robinett came to see us and the minute they walked inside The Cabin—a fun time was had by all.

We ate snacks and visited and because we had 30 minutes to kill, before going to see Steve Pietzsch, I told everyone that I wanted them to see my cabin and that I also wanted them to sign the door. And because my cabin is so small Tony suggested that we go in two groups—Ladies first—Men second.

But before us girls went out to the cabin, Stephen gave Tony and I a copy of his latest CD The Hustler's Fool. "Christina did the beautiful cover artwork for the album," Stephen said. 

"And you're going to love this CD," Hans said. So we thanked Stephen & Eva for the CD and then I asked Stephen and Christina to autograph the CD.

And y'all can check out this fabulous CD on Stephen K. Morris' site.

After I got Stephen and Christina's signatures us women marched out of The Cabin to go see my little cabin. And not to brag they fell in love with it, so we had a hilarious, mini "hen party" out there. And before we vacated the cabin—they all signed the door for me and after the men had checked out the she shed—they autographed the door, too.

And after the unofficial autograph party, we jumped in the vehicles and took off to go visit Steve Pietzsch's awesome paradise. But wait. I left out this important bit of information:

Tony took Henry Standing Bear out of the side yard and put him inside The Cabin!

When we arrived at Steve's beautiful, mountaintop Shangri-La-Loma our friends were immediately blown-away by his beautiful scenic view of the Hill Country and his awesome yard art and his rock walls that he had built. 

And after the "awes" were over Steve gave them a tour of his little piece of heaven and then he invited all of us to come inside his home.

After all of those "awes" inside his cabin had subsided we went down the hallway, so Steve could give us a tour of his art studio. And needless to say there were even more awe moments.  

We had intended to only stay about an hour at Steve's place, but because everyone was having so much fun visiting—we stayed over two hours.

Before it was time for the adios-es, there were handshakes and hugs, business cards exchanged and  then pictures were taken. Here is a picture that Tony took of Steve with Marita, Christina and Hans.

When we left Steve's awesome place, Hans & Marita and Christina & Zach took off for Fredericksburg and Stephen & Eva dropped us off at Big Foot Ranch, before going home to Fredericksburg.

Now remember what I said earlier about Tony putting Henry inside the house? When we walked inside—the place was not a wreck as I had expected. 

In fact, Henry Standing Bear had cleared off the kitchen island and he had cleaned all of the dishes for me—even though they were all on the floor. And I know that Hen would have put the emptied bags of tortilla chips and beer bottles and cans in the trash can—if the lid had had been off of the garbage can.

Last night, before going to bed I checked out Steve Pietzsch's Facebook page, because he told us that he was going to write about our visit. Steve wrote:

"Fun! Beautiful visitors to Shangri-La Loma all the way from Norway! Marita, Christina, and Hans Fredriksen. Christina is a fantastic artist embarking on a future in the arts!

...and the rest of the guests...the Texans...plus Zach (beach fossils tee) also from Norway!...."

I know this has been a long post, but as I finish writing this I do want to share some pictures that I took this morning, of my tiny, cozy writing cabin—that I love so much. And it starts with our thirsty rain gauge.

And that is about it for today, because I plan to spend the rest of my day writing.

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

P.S. I've just decided to name my cabin—THE DOG HOUSE!

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!

Come On Rain!

Today has been okay. Tony's foot is still hurting and thanks to Mari's pink sheepskin, my back is fine, knock-on-wood and unfortunately, we had no visitors today come out to take a tour or adopt a dog. So there really isn't much to talk about tonight, except for the weather.

Since 2:00 today, the sky has looked like we were fixin' to get a good rain any minute, but so far nothing, not even one drop. I took this picture around 4:00, when I had to go close our gate, to keep the horses and donkeys from coming in and upsetting our dogs.

So, early this evening, after Carol V., our dear friend, down the road, came over and did another fun happy hour with us, I decided to make a new iTunes play list using only the "rain" songs that I have, in hopes that it will some how help make it rain here tonight. 

Some of my favorite "rain songs" that I chose and am now listening to are: Willie Nelson's Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain, two different artists singing their versions of, Somewhere Over the Rainbow sung by Ray Charles and the other by Israel Kamakawiwo, Rainy Day Women by Bob Dylan, Raining Here In Austin by Jim Keaveny, Jerry Jeff's Hill Country Rain, James Taylor singing Fire & Rain and then James and Carole King singing her song, that she wrote, Fire and Rain, Come Rain or Come Shine by old blue eyes, Frank Sinatra, Have You Ever Seen the Rain by Creedence, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Face by Burt Bacharach, Mandolin Rain by Hornsby, Just A Little Bit Of Rain by Feliciano, etc. and as I finish writing this tonight—it still hasn't rained out here, but I've truly enjoyed listening to the music. So, come on RAIN! Good night and sleep tight.

Y'all have a great evening!