The Cousin Nancy Show! or The Peep Show!

 Since my last post, my podcast The Cousin Nancy Show, is now available to listen to on Apple, Spotify & Google, etc. and I am more than thrilled about this.

But I am even more thrilled about doing my first podcast, Season:1, Episode:1, with my dear friend Gerry Olert—last Saturday.

In my opinion, Gerry Olert is the Best Videographer & Editor in Texas. And if you recall Gerry, is the man who was the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranches official videographer and he was the editor of the Longmire—Texas Style spoof.

Anyway, a month before I had even made The Cousin Nancy Show trailer, he had volunteered to be my  very first guest (guinea pig) for my podcast. So, right now I would like to say, "Thank You, Gerry! You made doing the podcast so much fun."

Last Saturday, when Gerry arrived at Big Foot Ranch at 1:00—I had already set up the recording equipment, in the kitchen and I had been pacing the floor for an hour, because I was so nervous about doing the podcast and then editing it. Basically hoping that nothing would go wrong with the equipment, etc.

After howdies, Gerry and I spent about ten minutes discussing what we planned to talk about while Tony stood back and took this picture of us doing a sound check.

And a few minutes after T.'s photo shoot we adjusted our headphones and then I pushed the red record button on my computer and the audio interface lit up and we started talking. 

Gerry and I chatted, told jokes, talked about our friends: Billy Joe Shaver, Kinky, Jay Pennington, Nancy Harvey, the owner of Spirits of Texas in Bandera, our dear friends at Escondida Resort & Spa, Big G, Asleep @ the Wheel, Chet O'Keefe, Jim Keaveny, the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, etc. ,jobs, etc. and I did so much laughing my back actually started aching. 

One of my favorite subjects that we discussed and had fun with was when Gerry gave me a Peeps taste test. Even though I did not know anything about Peeps, he had brought with him 4 packages of different colored Peeps for me to taste.

And that is when we really did a lot of laughing. In fact, I think the subtitle for my first episode should have been The Peep Show, but you will have to listen to Episode:1 to decide for yourselves.

Gerry and I talked and laughed our way through my first podcast and we had recorded 59 minutes (998 megabytes). So, Sunday morning I spent a few hours editing the podcast down to 54 minutes before uploading it to Buzzsprout for them to rss feed to Apple, Google, Spotify and many other podcast platforms. 

And as a teaser the first joke I told many of my friends are still laughing about it and telling it to their friends and families. 

To listen to my first podcast you can go to cousinnancy.com and click the Podcast button at the top or at the bottom of the page and it will take you to The Cousin Nancy Show on Buzzsprout. Or you can just click this link: The Cousin Nancy Show or listen to it on Apple, Spotify or Google, etc.

As I finish writing this post/announcement, Sunday evening, Gerry sent me this cute photo that he took of his cat, sitting on top of his desk, watching the video he took of us talking about Peeps. (Gerry brought some of his video recording equipment and he had set it up to record the show, before he and I started talking.) Gerry titled his photo:

The Peep Show.

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

Not Cereal!

Yesterday was an unexpected blast. I slept in Sunday morning and got up around 8:00. Tony had already fed our dogs their homemade breakfast, so our dogs were already outside, leaving calling cards and watering the weeds for us.

But before I go any further, I want to explain about "our dogs homemade breakfast." Since early August, I decided to quit feeding our dogs—name-brand, manufactured dog food. So after spending several hours researching (Googling) high quality dog foods, it dawned on me that I could, and would love to, cook healthy meals for our dogs instead of feeding them bags of dog food that are full of fillers, etc.

The good news is it is not anymore expensive than buying name brand dog food, our dogs love it and I know exactly what they are being fed.

So every evening, while sipping my one glass of Franzia Chillable Red Wine, I precook breakfast for our dogs and I really enjoy doing it.

And thank goodness I have my faithful Instant Pot, because every evening I use it to cook 3 cups of long grain brown rice, in just a matter of minutes. And while the rice is being pressured cooked, I drink a few more sips of delicious, cheap, boxed wine, while listening to some of my favorite music.

After the rice is cooked, and my wine is doing its thing, our dogs become my personal audience, with their eyes glued on me as I add either raw meat or chicken or fish or scrambled eggs or diced up hot dogs with some raw, home grown, organic spinach leaves. Then they really start drooling as I dump in a can of Veg-All, Parmesan cheese, that comes in the green jar, and I top it off with Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning. So now you know and I hope that you will try doing this.

Now back to my story. As I was sipping my coffee, Tony comes into the big room and says, "I've got great news. Jim Keaveny and Rachel are coming to see us today. They just got back to Austin yesterday, from Jim's Netherlands tour and they will be here later this afternoon...."

Tony and I were thrilled about Jim & Rachel coming to see us and spending the night with us, before they headed back home, to Terlingua.

Around noon, Tony and I took off for Kerrville to run a few errands. He dropped me off at the Country Clean laundry, so I could wash and dry a load of dirty clothes, while he went to Walmart to get a slow-leaking tire fixed.

We normally only use Wagoner's Tires, on Sidney Baker, to buy tires or to fix a tire leak, but because it is family owned. And because we love the family, because they are good people and because years ago, on November 12, 2013, they adopted sweet Bee Spears from us.

But because it was Sunday our only option was Walmart. Here is the link to my April 5, 2015 post, about Bee Spears' fabulous adoption. And here is a picture of this magnificent dog that once lived, at our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. And lastly, here is the link my blog post on the day Bee Spears came to the rescue ranch.

Rachel & Jim arrived around 5:00, and we enjoyed a happy hour with them, while I cooked up our dog's breakfast. We talked about Jim's tour and how much fun they had, we caught up with each other's news and we did a lot of laughing, too. They also told us about them getting a Vita-Mix machine and loving it as much as we love Jaws (our Vita-Mix machine). So we started trading smoothie and soup recipes, etc.

Then Jim excused himself and he went out to his truck and came back inside with presents that he & Rachel had bought for us and Kinky. And he was wearing these beautiful, hand-carved, wooden shoes (clogs) that he had bought while touring, in Holland.

After admiring Jim's awesome, wooden shoes, he & Rachel gave us this cute pair of miniature clogs, made in Holland.

And before I put them on the window sill, I put them on Little Debbie's front paws and she loved them even though they were a size or two too big for her dainty feet.

Then there was more. Jim got out his pocket knife and cut open a bag of tulip bulbs, from Holland and he gave us four (pink, yellow, blue and red) bulbs and one yellow bulb for us to give to Kinky.

Because Jim & Rachel were tired last night and dealing with jet-lag, we didn't stay up late like we usually do when they visit. And I had a hard time falling to sleep, because I kept laughing about the fun time that we had had earlier.

This morning, I got up at 8:00 and Rachel & Jim were already up, drinking coffee and packing up their things. When I was making a cup of coffee for myself, I noticed two bowls of delicious cereal, sitting on the counter top, so I said, "Your cereal looks delicious. What's in it?"

They started laughing with Tony, and Tone said, "Nance, it's our dog's breakfast—not cereal. I haven't fed the dogs, yet." And that made me laugh, too.

Around 9:00 this morning, we sadly adios-ed our dear friends and bid them a safe trip back home. And that is about it for today, because I plan to spend the rest of my day writing up a storm, until it starts thundering, because I will have to unplug everything.

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

Christmas Trees!

Yesterday I got back to Big Foot Ranch, at 2:00. And yes, I would have gotten back here sooner, but when adios-ing Alpine, after topping-off Roy's tank, I got behind a huge hay-hauling truck and I had to follow it all of the way to the first rest stop, on the other side of Fort Stockton.

It was great to be back home and after hugging all of our dogs and Tony. I made me a quick sandwich and then I went over to Carol's ranch to tell her all about my "research trip" and fact gathering mission, for my third novella—The Cowgirl Sisterhood: Ghost Riders In The Sand, Part III.

We were sitting out on her beautiful deck, watching the big fish swimming around her lake, when I told her, "I loved my cabin, at the Terlingua Ranch Lodge and I was lucky to get it, because they only had three vacancies left. Because there was this Christmas Tree convention staying there and the place was packed with friendly Christmas tree people..."

"What?" Carol asked me, followed by a chuckle. "Why would there be a Christmas tree convention, in the desert?"

"I don't know. I thought it was sort of weird too. Anyway, Jim Keaveny asked me to please tell you hi and he and...."

An hour later, Scout barked and he stood up on the deck. Scout is Carol's old, sweet, lovable black Lab that has the gigantic paws. And he and my Roy are famous, because our two, old Labs are in my Cowgirl Sisterhood novellas.

Anyway, Scout barked because he saw Tony driving up the driveway. So when Tony arrived, Bill came out on the deck to join us. And we had a fun visit. We talked about our awesome keyhole gardens, how much we love the hilarious Duck Dynasty show and then we changed the topic to fire ants and then to bees.

Tony and I took turns telling Bill (Carol already knew the hilarious story) about Tony's and Chet O'Keefe's over night trip to Port Aransas, many years ago, when they went down there to spend the night with Rick, at the lighthouse, on the island.

They went down there so they could bring back Rick's bees and bee equipment, because Rick was moving to Nicaragua. Rick was giving away all of this to Tony, so Tone could take over Rick's hobby and become a beekeeper too. And to say the least, "We were all laughing so hard my back began to ache, so we came home.

And speaking of Rick, our mutual friend Ronnie Namour, the music scene writer for the Island Moon, who came up with Rick, last Friday, to visit us, sent me the article that he wrote for the  Island Moon newspaper's May 24th Edition.

I loved reading his humorous story about his and Rick's Hill Country adventure and Ronnie even mentioned Tony and me and Kinky's CD release party, in his fun to read article. Here's the article, but I think that you will have to enlarge it to be able to easily read it:

Well today has been great. I slept like a log last night and I didn't crawl out of bed until 9:00 this morning, because the dream I was dreaming involved Christmas trees. And once again, the first thing that I did when I got out of bed was to hug our dogs and Tony, because I was so glad to be back home. Then I drank two cups of delicious Donut Shop Coffee.

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

P.S. I just got off the phone with Carol. Tomorrow night our dear friend Stephen K. Morris will be playing, at the Medina Highpoint Resort. Carol & Bill and Tony and I are going. So y'all come on out, too.

Road Trip!

Today has been great, but don't be shocked that I am in Terlingua tonight as I write this post. It was sort of spur-of-the-moment decision, but I needed to come out here to do a little more research for my third novella. And I think the title is going to be: The Cowgirl Sisterhood: Ghost Riders, Part III. But it is not written in stone, so that may change.

Anyway, I left Medina around 8:00 this morning and got to the Terlingua Lodge around 3:30. I would have gotten here around 3:00, but I got behind a slow moving truck between Alpine and the Terlingua Ranch Road and that is why it took me thirty minutes longer than it should have.

You may be asking yourself, "Well, why didn't she pass the truck?" And if you knew me well enough the answer is—I never pass anything when I'm driving.

I love the Cabin 32 that I'm staying in tonight and I have a beautiful view of the mountains from my front porch and both big windows.

Late this afternoon our dear musician friend, Jim Keaveny, came out to the Lodge to check on me and he wanted to treat me to dinner, but I told him no, because I wasn't hungry. But I did go down to the Bad Rabbit Cafe, for him to eat dinner there and we had a really fun visit. 

The only bad thing about this trip is I do not have any cell phone reception, so before I wrote this post I wrote Tony an e-mail and then sent Carol a note asking her to please call Tony to tell him to check his e-mail. "So thank you Carol!"

This evening I plan to hunker down, in Cabin 32, and write more of my third novella. Then I plan to go to bed early, because I plan to leave early, in the morning and drive back home. And I'm hoping to be back home around 2:00, unless of course, I get behind another slow moving vehicle. And other than me missing Tony and our dogs—life is good.

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

Great! or The Cedar Choppers!

Today has been great and so was Saturday, Sunday and Monday. First off, I had a fabulous time at Katelyn's birthday party, that Ronnie & Nita threw, at their Ronderosa Ranch. To say the least, "It was totally great.

Being with my beautiful family was great. Seeing old friends and then playing music with them was great. The food was great.

Sunday morning I left the Ronderosa Ranch, around 8:30 and I got back to Big Foot Ranch, about 10:20. And after hugging Tony and all of our dogs I took a shower, put on fresh clothes and then Tony and I took off, for Kerrville, to run a few errands.

Of course our first stop was, at Home Depot, to buy paint and our last stop was at the big H-E-B, so we could pick up a few groceries, so I could cook a late dinner for our dear friends, Jim Keaveny & Rachel, because they were driving in, from Terlingua, to spend the night with us.

When we got back home, we unpacked our groceries and then we put on our work/paint clothes, because we wanted to get started painting the front porch ceiling "sky blue" as quickly as possible. Because a porch ceiling painted the color of the sky keeps wasps away. Here are some pictures that I took of our project.

Jim & Rachel arrived around 7:30 and it was so good to see them and while Jim told us about leaving for his Holland tour, on Tuesday (today) I cooked us a delicious roast with carrots and potatoes and onions, in my Instant Pot.

And earlier, when I started peeling the carrots, we excitedly told Jim & Rachel about us getting an Instant Pot and they both started laughing. "Jeff Haislip just got one of those things, too," They said. "And he's been telling everyone, in Terlingua, about how great it is...."

While our super-pressure cooker was cooking us a delicious meal, in under an hour, Jim told us that he was going to spend half of his tour opening for Joan Osborne. And these are the dates for those shows, in case you might be, in Holland.

Sunday night we had a blast visiting with our friends and we stayed up until midnight, so we could wish Jim a Happy Birthday.

Monday morning, around 10:30, I cooked breakfast and while we were drinking delicious Donut Shop Coffee, we made a toast to Jim's birthday and we had a good laugh about it working out that Jim spending Thanksgiving, Christmas's and his birthdays with us.

Around 12:45, after another fun visit Jim & Rachel took off to go visit Kinky. And we took off for Carol's ranch, so we could celebrate Mark's birthday and meet Bill's sweet niece, Cathy and her husband Chip, who were visiting them, from Wisconsin.

And that was a total blast, too. It was great to see Mark as always and meeting Bill's family was like being with our own family. Carol cooked up a fabulous fajita dinner and she made one of her signature pies—Magnolia Pie. (Last year, Carol gave me the recipe to this mouth-watering pie and after eating a small slice I definitely plan to make it for us soon. After I loose several pounds—thanks to Weight Watchers.) And yes, I might as well admit it now that Saturday and Sunday I fell off the wagon doing Weight Watchers.

Tony and I spent our Monday evening painting the rest of our front porch or at least as much as we could before running out of paint.

This morning our dear friend Gerry Olert came to visit us. Gerry is the incredibly talented, video-grapher that has done all of our rescue ranch videos for the past 20 years. And he is also the one who worked with me on our hilarious video spoof Longmire—Texas Style. Starring the one and only Little Debbie!

Before Tony and I went to go eat lunch with Gerry, in Kerrville, Gerry asked me to do a short video for him, on our front porch. So while Tony stilled my wind chimes for Gerry, I grabbed Little Debbie and he shot us and it was painless.

We had a fun lunch with Gerry and after we adios-ed him Tony and I went to Home Depot and bought a few more buckets of paint. And then we came home and started painting, again.

Tonight as I finish writing this I want to tell you about this fabulous book that I bought for Tony, because it arrived this afternoon. The book is The Cedar Choppers: Life On The Edge of Nothing by Ken Roberts. Published 2018 by Texas A&M Press.

It is a fabulous book. And Tony's dad, his brothers, his relatives and him are mentioned in this awesome book. It is a "can't put it down book" and as soon as I finish writing this I plan to spend this evening reading the history of all of these cedar choppers.

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

Number Two!

We've been busy. But before I start writing about it I want to wish my sweet sister, Cindy, a Happy 71st Birthday.

My sister is the best sister anyone could have. When I was around ten years old Cindy was my idol, because she was so smart, kind and very pretty and she still is for a 71 year old. But back then I was frustrated with her, because she was older and I wanted to be older than her. So I wasted a good amount of time trying to figure out how I could become older than her. Which at this early age just proves that I was already not the sharpest tool, in the tool shed. And I think my family already knew that, too.

Anyway, now I'm at the ripe old age of 66 and I am really glad that Cindy is older than me, because I can use her as a measuring stick to see what's going to be up ahead for me, before it is my turn to fall off the slow-moving conveyor belt of life or better said, "When God honks my horn."

So I wish Cindy the best birthday ever and I wish that I could be with her today to help her celebrate her birthday, because I love her so much. But I must confess that I forgot to send her a funny birthday card this past week, because we've been very busy working, on the property. But the good news is it won't matter a bit to Cindy that I forgot to send her a birthday card, because she is always happy and she is more forgetful than me. Something for me to look forward to in the future.

Two days ago our dear friend Jim Keaveny came to visit us and he spent the night in The Cabin, over at our property.

While Jim was visiting us he got off, of the Internet Thursday night and he told us that he just found out that his song Is It You has been climbing the Hit Tracks Top 100 chart, for several weeks, over in Europe. "It is now at the number two position on the chart," Jim told us.

Anyway, we had a wonderful visit with Jim and before he left us we gave him one of those super cool, motion detector toilet lights that we've already given away to many of our dear friends. He loved the toilet night light and he also loves our new place—especially the 1977 Airstream and The Cabin.

Yesterday morning around 7:15 Tony took Jack Black (Jack is one of those three dogs that was returned to us, on Halloween.) to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, to get him vaccinated for Rabies, because Jack was due and because he was getting adopted later on that morning.

So before Jim adios-ed us and took off, for Austin, with his motion detection toilet bowl lights, he ate breakfast with us. And while he was inside taking a shower over here, we went outside to greet Christine & Cliff and their cute son Max, the nice family that was adopting Jack Black from us. And here is a picture that I took of Jack Black's awesome adoption.

After we adios-ed the family that adopted Jack, our great dog-walking friends/volunteers and Jim, Tony and I ate lunch here and then we went to the Home Depot, in Kerrville, to buy some more 2'x4's, paint, stain, etc. so we could finish building "The Closet," in the bedroom, of The Cabin. 

When we left Home Depot "where everyone knows our name," because we are in there so much we drove straight, to the property and we started working on "The Closet" project. 

While Tony was working outside, on the back porch, busily staining the wood and his fingers and before we officially started building "The Closet" I was inside slinging paint on the bedroom wall that will be behind "The Closet." And that is when a UPS truck showed up outside and made a special delivery to us.

Tony went out to the front porch, to go meet our friendly UPS driver that knows us well, because I had more blue paint on me than was on the wall that I was painting. And when Tony came back inside The Cabin talk about surprised. "What is it, Tony?" I asked. "And why did the UPS man delivery it here, because hardly no one knows this address?"

"It's from Karen & Terry, from Port Arthur. They sent us another one of those delicious, spiral-cut hams for our Thanksgiving dinner. Last week I ran into the UPS driver and I took him over here, to show him where we will be moving to. He told me that he went to the rescue ranch first to deliver our package and when he saw our vehicles here that is why he stopped and delivered it here."

"That is so sweet of Karen & Terry to do this again and when we get back home I'll make a note to send them a thank you e-mail." Then Tony and I went back to work for another hour. And here is what we have accomplished so far.

Last night, after we got back home, I spent the evening binge-watching the first three episodes of Longmire's Season 6, before going to bed early. And just so you'll know Longmire's Season 6 is totally awesome. 

Early this morning while Tony was outside doing his daily chores I was inside drinking some coffee and I Googled Hit Tracks Top 100 (PicaNetherlands.com) and I was thrilled to see that Jim Keaveny's awesome song Is It You is now rated at the number one position, on this European chart. And when Tony came, back inside, I showed the chart to him and he was just as thrilled about it as I was. And that is about it for now.

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

Red-Medicine!

Yesterday afternoon I worked tirelessly on my quilt and then I went over to Carol's ranch for a fun visit. We talked about last weeks fun trip to Terlingua and how much fun we had out there. While we were talking about music and some of our favorite musicians such as: Willie Nelson, Neil Young, David Crosby, the Knotting Hillbillies, Gary P. Nunn, Chet O'Keefe, Jim Keaveny and Jimmy LaFave , etc. I asked Carol if she had heard the sad news about Jimmy LaFave's battle with cancer. "Yes," Carol replied. "I heard about it a few days ago and I was going to tell you about it if you hadn't already heard. I love Jimmy LaFave and his music."

"The other day my friend, Cindy, told me about it and she sent me the Austin Chronicle's article interview with Jimmy talking about his cancer and a link to a YouTube video of a Jimmy LaFave performing, on April 21st, at Threadgill's, in Austin. Where at the end of his song, Jimmy talks to the audience about his long battle with cancer. It was very emotional and it made me tear up. His music is so great and can you imagine how many hearts, all around this world, that his music has touched?...."

Before Carol and I adios-ed each other we started talking about how much we have enjoyed reading Marie Bostwick's Texas novels, so that gave me the opportunity to brag to her about the quilt that I am making.

Which ended up being a being a huge mistake for me, because I should've known better to have bragged without knocking-on-wood afterwards. Anyway when I got back home I spent about two more hours working on my quilt. And after I had ironed it—it didn't look right, because a lot of the seams were not lining up. So I sadly folded it up and put it back inside "my pink, quilt bag."

Then I poured myself a glass of my fine, red-boxed-wine with added water and four ice cubes and then I went, into Outer Space, with our dogs, to think about my crummy-looking wanna-be quilt. And by the time I finished drinking my red-medicine I was no longer sad, because I had decided that I would use my unevenly, pieced-together, stupid-looking quilt to make throw pillow covers. Sort of like when life gives you lemons—make lemonade.

So friends beware, because for Christmas you just might be getting an original Cousin Nancy Quilted Throw Pillow. Of course, except for Carol, because I'm giving her a small, hair-piece bun to wear on the top of her head—hand-made by me, from our dog's hair. But first, I will need to get a spinning wheel and learn how to spin dog hair into thread. So wish me luck there, even though Christmas is only eight months away.

Today has been great. This afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville to get groceries, at the big H-E-B and after our expensive, boring shopping spree, we decided to eat lunch, at Hippie Chicks Bakery & Bistro. And as you can guess—we ordered the exact same thing—Meatball Subs and iced tea. But Tony did have a side order of sweet potato fries while I ate their delicious coleslaw.

Before leaving this super, cool place we decided to split a dessert and eat it on our way home. So we chose one of their delicious-looking, fresh, out-of-the-oven Brownies. And while Sarita was wrapping up our Brownie-to-go, I visited with her sweet mom, Karly Ann. And she told me a great big secret about a certain kind of specialty sandwich that they will be offering soon, that sadly I cannot divulge what kind it is, until a week after this Friday, when it will first be appearing on their daily menu.

Anyway, I told Karly Ann that I wanted to blog about their upcoming secret sandwich, tonight and she suggested that we follow them on their Facebook page Hippie Chicks Bakery & Bistro, because they will be announcing when this awesome, secret sandwich will be added to their menu.

And that is about it for tonight, because I need to go vacuum up some more dog hair and wash it and dry it, so I can add it to my growing pile of cleaned-dog-hair, for Carol's upcoming Christmas present.

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

P.S. This morning I called Kinky to let him know that our great Canadian friends, Fay & Ian, plus their daughter and her boyfriend will be at his show tonight, in Buffalo, New York. And he was thrilled that they will be there. And late this afternoon, when I told Carol about Fay & Ian going to Kinky's show tonight, in Buffalo, I said, "I bet Ian will be wearing his cowboy hat."

And Carol said, "I bet he will, too. Because when he wear his cowboy hat he looks just like an authentic cowboy, from Texas."

Put It Together!

The last few days have almost been great. And the reason that I used the word "almost" is because we could not find Copper's family, even though he's micro-chipped, so we could let them know that we rescued him. And it drove me crazy knowing that we had this super dog that has a home, but we could not contact Copper's family, because his micro-chip information had not been updated.

Sunday evening our good friend Jim Keaveny came to visit us. Like Chet O'Keefe, he too is an incredibly great musician who also lives, in Terlingua.

When Jim arrived the first thing he did, after hugging us, was give Tony and me advanced copies of his new fabulous CD—Put It Together, which will be available for purchase before months end. So the next thing that we did was thank Jim for the CDs and then we listened to Put It Together over and over, because it is now one of our favorite CDs. And another cool thing about Jim Keaveny's new CD being so great is Jim had our good friend Chet O'Keefe come out to the recording studio, Frogville Studios, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to play lead guitar on it.

Monday morning I cooked pancakes for Tony, Jim, Kinky and our good friend, Simone DeVries, who is in Texas, filming and working on another one of her awesome documentaries. We had also invited our good friend Carol to eat breakfast with us, but she couldn't make it, because she had to go out of town for the day. But Carol did invite us to come over later on in the evening for happy hour.

Anyway, while we ate breakfast we visited while enjoying Jim's new CD. And before we adios-ed Kinky and Simone we all agreed to meet later for lunch, in Kerrville and to invite Dylan to join us.

Eating lunch with our friends was a total blast. Simone told us about the documentary that she is working on. Dylan kept us entertained and laughing with his incredibly interesting rock 'n roll tales. 

And the funniest story that Dylan told, with Kinky's help, was when he and Kinky and the famous band The Texas Jewboys, were in California. Kinky and his band got stuck, inside an elevator, with Dennis Hopper when Dylan arrived. With the elevator doors closed tightly, Dylan stood outside the door and carried on a conversation with them while they waited for the repairman to arrive. And when the elevator repairman finally arrived he first got the doors open first and it was stuck between two floors and all that Dylan could see was them from their knees down, so Dylan stood there and talked to their feet. Anyway, it was totally hilarious and my version of Kinky's and Dylan's story isn't near as funny as they told it.

Jim, Tony and I went over to Carol's ranch, around 5:30, for happy hour. And it turned out to be a really fun happy hour that lasted for one and a half hours. 

Tuesday afternoon before Jim Keaveny left for Austin, Kinky, Jim, Tony and I ate lunch, in Kerrville again and it was fun, too.

After another fun lunch with our friends, Tony and I went to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, so we could pick up Copper and to also meet up with Mike, the nice man that was helping his recently widowed neighbor/friend with his two dogs that he could no longer could keep. Mike was bringing "The Girls" to the clinic, so we could meet him and pick up Misty and Cindy from him and take these two, adorable, sweet, 6 year-old to our rescue ranch. And we instantly fell in love with "The Girls."

Last night, early in the evening, I was on my computer trying everything I knew to contact Copper's owners and I got no where. And right before I gave up Googling this woman I found her on Twitter. 

To Be Continued... 

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

Tangled Up, Too!

Well, I sure hope that all of y'all had a wonderful Christmas, because we sure did and so did our fabulous four-legged rescued dogs.

After we cooked and served our rescued dogs their annual, delicious Christmas dinner and I had cleaned up the kitchen I cooked our Christmas dinner. And promptly, at 1:00, Kinky arrived, so he could eat Christmas dinner with our good friend Jim Keaveny and us. Bottom Line___It was delicious and we had a lot of fun enjoying Kinky's and Jim's hilarious tales about some of their musician friends.

Later on in the evening, Jim let us listen to his new CD, which is due to come out, in March and we can't wait to buy a copy, because it is totally fabulous. And if you want to check out Jim Keaveny, please click here: jimkeaveny.com and make sure to check out his Music & Videos and you can sample more of his music at: cdbaby.

We really enjoyed having Jim spend his Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with us. And Monday morning after Tony and I had done both of our chores, Kinky invited the three of us to come over, to the Lodge, for a visit and to drink some coffee with him.

When we went over to the Lodge, Kinky greeted us and then he immediately poured us coffees and Tony and I had a great time, sitting around the kitchen table, listening to more of their tales about some of the famous people they have known. There was a long discussion about Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Minnie Pearl & her husband, Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, Muddy Waters, June Carter and Bob Dylan just to name a few and that is why we spent over two hours over at Kinky's. And before we left, the Lodge, to come back over here, I took this picture of Jim & Kinky.

Sadly, late yesterday afternoon, Jim and us adios-ed each other and then he took off to go visit a few more friends, before returning home, to Terlingua.

Today has been great even though I overslept and missed Big G's phone call, to do his morning radio show.

Around 10:00, Kinky called me and invited us to come over for a visit, I went, but Tony didn't, because he wanted to go take some pictures.

My visit with Kinky was a lot of fun and it lasted for over an hour. And before we adios-ed each other, he and I made a pact aka New Year's resolutions: for the three of us to start drinking coffee together every morning and for him and me to take two, twenty-minute, daily hikes together. And lastly, for Tony and me to meet him for lunch today, at 2:00, at Buzzi's BBQ, because we both had errands to run, in Kerrville.

Lunch was delicious and a lot of fun and we got to visit with Buzzi. And before we adios-ed each other, in the parking lot, I showed Kinky my pink, leash that connects two leashes to it, so I can walk Little Debbie & Big Al(ice) and the reason that I showed it to him was, because earlier, during our morning visit, I had suggested that we try using it on Sophie & Mr. P when we start doing our daily hikes, because Sophie is blind and Mr. P is deaf.

After we adios-ed Kink, Tony and I went to Wild Birds Unlimited, so I could buy a gift and we could check out Kevin & Linda's on sale items. Unfortunately, Marguerite wasn't there, but we did have a fun visit with Linda and Tricia. And I did buy a gift, but I also bought one for myself, because I loved the gift that I was going to be giving. And the only clue I will give you is—mine is pink.

Around 4:45, I went over to the Lodge, so Kinky and I could hike with The Friedmans and I took my stopwatch and my pink leash, so we could try it on Sophie and Mr. P.

Before we took off to go hiking for our first, twenty minute hike, Kinky suggested that we extend the length of the two pink leashes and that was a big mistake, because I was getting tangled up with it, inside The Lodge and when he took over, outside—he got tangled up, too. And we both had a good laugh about it and tonight before I adios-ed Kink, we agreed that the next time we hike (tomorrow) we will not extend the length of the two leashes for our own safety.

And that's about it for tonight, because I am planning to watch the Kennedy Honors, in just a few minutes.

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

We Wish Y'all A Merry Christmas!

This has been one super busy week for us and it has been a good one for us. Yesterday afternoon after having a fun lunch with our great volunteers, at the Apple Store, in Medina, we took off for Kerrville, to buy our dogs their Christmas Dinner.

Of course, the grocery store was packed with last minute shoppers, like us and the good news is we survived our grocery shopping for the dogs and for us. The bill for our dog's "people" Christmas Dinner came to a grand total of $146.68.

Today has been great. We got up early and while I finished doing the last minute cleaning of The Cabin, Tony was outside doing his morning chores.

It is now2:00, in the afternoon and we are all set for our good friend, Jim Keaveny, to arrive, so he can spend Christmas with us, before he heads back to Terlingua. Like Chet O'Keefe, Jim is an extremely talented singer/songwriter/musician and we wish that he could spend more time with us, but he can't because he has several gigs to play next week, in Terlingua. For example: Chet and Jim will be playing together, on New Year's Eve, at the Bad Rabbit Cafe, which is one of our favorite places to go to when we are out there.

Tomorrow morning, at 9:00 our faithful, fabulous volunteers are coming out to help us prepare and serve our rescued dogs their delicious, annual Christmas dinner and we are looking forward to that, too.

Anyway, I do apologize for not blogging much this week and my excuse is I was simply too tired to write, in the evening, after these past, busy days.

And before I post this, we wish y'all a Merry Christmas!

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

We Are Family!

The last few days and today have been so much fun. And if I wrote about it all in detail—I would definitely have carpal syndrome by the time I finished writing it and most likely your eyes would hurt.

So tonight, as I am starting to write this I am tapping my feet to the beat and dancing in my chair, as I'm listening to Sister Sledge sing one of their greatest songs We Are Family. And you can click here to hear it and watch it on Youtube.

Tony, Kinky, Dylan and I really enjoyed Jim Keaveny's visit, before he headed back to Terlingua. But Henry Standing Bear loved his visit more than all of us put together. Seriously, he would not leave Jim alone. It was like Jim had mesmerized him.

And you can check out our musician/singer/songwriter friend at: Jim Keaveny.com or his Facebook page.

While Jim was staying with us he gave us a private concert of all of the new songs that he has written and every song was awesome. "So thank you, Jim! We love your music!"

While Jim was here, I decided to try a new recipe that I had found, in the Kerrville Daily Times, called BBQ Chicken Cornbread Bake and it was absolutely delicious and very easy to make. And here's the recipe in case you want to try cooking Cousin Nancy's BBQ Chicken Cornbread Bake Recipe.

This recipe was so delicious, that we had to put Henry Standing Bear outside while we ate, because he would not quit trying to make Jim pet him. And after dinner all of us sat down and watched the hilarious movie Paul. And Jim laughed as much as we did while watching it. And please note that the language is for adults only.

I tried to check my e-mail regularly while Jim visited us and my dear friend Mari sent me the cutest picture of a VW dresser which I totally love. 

And my friends Phil and Virginia, in New Mexico mailed me this funny cartoon along with their Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch donation. "Thank y'all!" 

This afternoon I was on the phone talking to our dear friend Sue and during our hilarious conversation she told me that I had to get this super cool Star Guide App for my iPad. She told me that is the best out their for stargazing. 

Sue raved about how much she loves this 5 star rated App. She told me that it will give you alerts when the Space Station is passing over you, it has a ton of information including an infra-red option that you can switch on to see the stars and constellations better and during the day you can point it to the sky and it will tell you what stars are there even though we can't see them.

So after our fun conversation I immediately went to Apple's App Store and bought the $2.99 Star Guide App, because when it gets dark outside tonight, Tony and I are going outside and try it out. And that's about it for tonight, except I want you to see this cute picture I took of Henry and Little Debbie cuddling together with Big Al(ice), Belle and Roy sleeping, in front of the chair.

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

Duncan! or Guess Who's Coming To Dinner!

Today has been great. This morning around 8:59, Melissa a very nice woman, from a nearby ranch, called me to see if we had rescued her dog, in the last two days. "His name is Duncan and he is a black Lacey, very sweet and he has a little white hair on his chest. He slipped out of his collar...."

Sadly, my answer was no, but I told her if he shows up here we will call you...."

Early this afternoon, Tony and I went to Kerrville, for me to grab a few groceries, while Tony purchased five, heavy sacks of Pedigree dog food.

When I was pushing my cart up to Buttermilk, Tony got out and started helping me load our groceries into the back seat, when we heard some guy drive up behind us, and say, "What are y'all doing here?" And then he laughed.

We both turned around and to our surprise it was Kinky. So we started laughing, too. Then Kinky pulled Mr. Green Jeans into the parking space right next to Buttermilk and then we had short, but fun visit with him.

When Tony and I got back home, Carlton was flashing, on top of the breakfast bar, so I pushed the play button, and heard, "Hello, this is Mary. We're your neighbors just past the rescue ranch. I was calling to find out if you lost a dog a few days ago, because we have one here. Please call me."

So I immediately called Mary, but got Oscar instead. "Hello, this is Nancy, at the rescue ranch and we just got back from Kerrville. We haven't lost any dogs, but our neighbor just past your ranch, called me this morning about their sweet, black Lacey running off a few days ago...." And sure enough it was Duncan and it had a happy ending.

Then I quickly cleaned The Cabin, because our dear friend, Jim Keaveny, a fabulous singer/songwriter/ musician, from Terlingua, had contacted Tony to let us know that he would be arriving here around 7:00 tonight.

Around 3:00, Tony walked into the big room and he told me, "Nancy, I just chatted with Chet, on Facebook, and you need to turn your cell phone on right now, because he wants to do FaceTime with us."

Five seconds later my iPhone rang and sure enough it was Chet O'Keefe, so I put him on Speaker phone, so Tony and I could both talk to him.

Chet was FaceTimeing us from England, and he sounded great. We visited for over forty minutes and didn't worry about the cost, because Apple's FaceTime app is just like Skyping, but it only works on iPhone to iPhone and it's free.

Chet told us that his tour of Great Britain was fabulous and much more than he had ever expected it to be. He also told us that he will be back in the States, on Friday and that he cannot wait to  talk to Bett Fields, so he can thank her for donating her Martin guitar to him and to thank all of the generous people that have opened up their hearts to help him get back on his feet, etc.

And before we adios-ed each other, I said, "Guess who is coming to dinner tonight, around 7:00?"

"I'll bet it is Jim Keaveny."

"Yes!"

"I would love to talk to Jim and I will try to FaceTime y'all tonight, but I might be asleep, because it will be past 1:00, in the morning here." Then we made a plan for tonight and a backup plan for tomorrow, so he will definitely get to talk to his good friend Jim.

And that's about it for tonight, because I need to let Hazel, out of the closet, so she can suck up our dog's latest fur donations.

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

Another Longmire Connection!

Today has been great and also the last few days. This past Wednesday, our dear friends Jim Keaveny and his sweet wife, Anna Oakley, and Tobu, their super smart dog, came to visit us and spend the night, in my pretty, pink, writing cabin. And even though we had thunderstorms, for most of their visit, we had a wonderful time with them.

Today we met our great friends/volunteers, at Fuddruckers, in Kerrville, to celebrate Ellen's and Lisa's birthdays. As we ate our lunch, Ellen and Lisa passed around their hilarious birthday cards and because the cards kept us laughing, it took us a long time to finish eating our food.

June brought a beautiful, Creative Cakes By Sharon, birthday cake. And the delicious cake was divided by a thick row of chocolate frosting. One side, written in pink frosting, were the words, "Happy Birthday Ellen!" and the other half of the cake was written in lavender frosting, were the words, "Happy Birthday Lisa!" And needless to say, Tony and I had a blast with our friends and it will be a birthday party to be remembered, unless of course I forget, which seems to be happening fairly often these days.

After the fun birthday party, I asked Lisa, Eileen and Kris & Jim to follow me, in the parking lot, to Buttermilk, because I had something I wanted to give to them. And Jim says, "Nancy, we've got something we want to give to y'all, too."

"Oh my goodness, Jim!" I said. "Does it have something to do with Longmire?"

Jim tilted his head sideways, and said. "Well, yes. Why?"

"Oh dear," I said. "Because last Friday Eileen gave me the coolest tray with our cast and crew's picture on it and I absolutely love it, but I had to tell her that I had sort of  come up with the same idea, because I had already ordered 10 posters of that picture to give away to the cast and crew of Longmire—Texas Style, except the picture that I used didn't show the Grey Goose Saloon sign, in it like Eileen's did. Did you make prints, too?"

"No, not exactly," Jim replied. It's something else." When we got to Buttermilk I quickly handed Eileen, Lisa and Kris & Jim a poster and they seemed to love it and that made me feel good. Then after we adios-ed Lisa and Eileen and they walked away, Jim said, "Kris and I got this for y'all. And it's only been out for two days. Hot off of the press, so to speak." Here's a picture of Eileen's one of a kind tray and the poster that Tony I gave to our friends.

Oh, and that's my Rolling Thunder Ranch brand, that I designed and then burned into the wood, on the upper left hand corner of our coffee table. The beautiful coffee table that Tony made for me over twenty years ago. And here is the 1st edition book, that that Kris & Jim gave to us. That Tony said I could get to read first!

Late this afternoon we had another Longmire Connection. Randy & Burma came out to meet Katee Sackhoff, because they were pretty sure that they wanted to adopt her and add her to their family.

While they were petting Katee, Burma told me that when she saw Katee's picture and read her story, that Judith Pannebaker, had kindly published, in last weeks Bandera County Courier newspaper, she knew that they had to adopt her. And they loved Katee Sackhoff's name and are not going to change it, because they too, are big time fans of Longmire and the beautiful actress that plays Vic. 

Tony and I really liked Burma and Randy from the git-go, but not as much as Katee already loved them and they already loved Katee. And here is a picture I took of Katee with her new, awesome family.

This evening I received an e-mail from Kinky's friend, who is touring with him, in Europe. It read:

"Hey Nancy, we have a message from the great man for you: Thanks for checking on the lodge for me. Will see you guys on the 25th, late. Then I'm back for good. I'm never leaving again. Love, Kinky"

So, I immediately shot this back to Kinky, via his friend:

"I'm never leaving again." Famous last words ; )  or is this a threat?....

Please tell Kinky that it is no big deal. Bob left today and The Friedmans are doing just fine. It has been raining at least every other day for several weeks. The creeks are over-flowing and the grass, weeds and thistle make it look like a jungle out here. So don't be shocked if you can't see The Lodge when you drive in, because it's there. It is just being hidden by the tall thistle, weeds and grass. And the rescue ranch looks like a jungle, too. I send my best to y'all. Take care and keep on laughing..."

As I finish writing this tonight, I want you to know that as I am typing this, Henry Standing Bear (another Longmire connection) is snoring loudly, underneath our bed and that I am fixin' to start reading Craig Johnson's The Highwayman! Longmire Rules Big Time!

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

Medina To Terlingua! or Austin To Boston! or Medina To Kerrville!

Today has been great. It's been a quiet day and I spent much of the morning catching up with rescue ranch paperwork, returning phone calls and e-mails, etc.

As y'all already know, our good musician friends Jim Keaveny and his super sweet wife, Anna Oakley and their dog Tubo, recently visited us and they spent the night in my pink writing cabin, before driving from Medina To Terlingua, where they live.

Kinky, Tony and I had a wonderful time visiting with them and before we adios-ed each other they gave Tony and me some frozen boudin, that they had purchased in Louisiana. Anyway, today I cooked the boudin for our lunch and it was absolutely the most delicious boudin that we've ever eaten.

So after I sent Anna and Jim a thank you e-mail for giving us the best boudin in the world, I decided to take a break and watch the movie Austin To Boston, while our clothes were tumbling around, inside our dryer, Airy Queen.

I had so much fun watching this high-spirited musical road movie with Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) sleeping, on my lap, Roy and Belle sleeping side by side, beside Roy's and my chair and Henry Standing Bear and Beau sleeping on the front porch.

I highly recommend Austin To Boston to anyone who loves music! The movie is about five VW camper vans, 4 bands, 3,000 miles in two weeks. The musicians are all incredibly talented. The musicians are: Ben Howard, The Staves, Nathaniel Rateliff and Bear's Den and it was produced by Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons and Ty Johnson. And it was narrated by Gill Landry .

After watching this fabulous movie about what it's like to be traveling musicians I immediately added their channels to my Pandora music list. Then I folded our clothes.

You can watch Austin To Boston on Netflix and if you click on Austin To Boston you can watch the movie trailer and get a sample of their incredibly great music. And that's about it for today, because Tony and I are fixin' to drive from Medina to Kerrville.

Y'all have a great day/evening!

A Light Bulb Moment!

Today has been great. This morning, after drinking my second, delicious cup of Donut Shop coffee, I talked on the phone for nearly two hours.

Generally, I don't enjoy talking on the phone at all and anything longer than ten minutes is just too much. But this time it was fun, because our friend, Mary Lou Sullivan, was interviewing/recording me for her upcoming authorized, official autobiography of Kinky.

After the interview, Tony and I took off, for Kerrville, to eat lunch and then run a few errands. By the time we got to Kerrville, Tony and I had decided to eat lunch at Buzzi's Barbecue. And when we pulled into the parking lot, which was nearly full, we spotted Big G's giant pickup parked near the front of the restaurant. But when we walked inside we didn't see Big G anywhere.

When we were leaving the restaurant, Tony saw Big G, standing outside, talking to a couple, in the parking lot. So we went outside to say hello to our good friend. After howdies, hugs and handshakes Big G told me that yesterday Jim Keaveny had dropped by the radio station and had dropped off some of his music CDs to listen to, but unfortunately Big G had missed seeing Jim & Anna, because he was at an appointment. "Keaveny's music is really great...." Big G said.

After our fun visit with Big G (Gordon Ames) we went to the Home Depot to pick up one more 4-bulb pack of Ecosmart LED Soft White light bulbs, because a few days earlier we had purchased three 4-packs and had replaced twelve of our old light bulbs with these non-mercury, awesome, money saving bulbs that estimates the energy cost to be only $1.08 per year and it only uses 9 watts. And just one bulb will save us $140.00 in lifetime energy savings.

When I had read the package, I joked to Tony, "How can they promise $140.00 in lifetime energy savings when they don't know how long we will live?"

I know that we are probably the last people, on Earth, who have not switched over to using LED bulbs, but we didn't know about it until Tony had watched a YouTube video about them.

So, as I finish writing this tonight, I am very excited about saving so much money. Because I just calculated how much money it will cost us using our 16 LED bulbs for one year @ $1.08 cost per  year and it will only cost us $17.28 if we keep them all turned on and we never turn them off. Now that's a light bulb moment.

Y'all have a great evening!

Jim Keaveny & Anna Oakley Were Here!

Today has been great and so was yesterday. Our good friends Jim Keaveny and his sweet wife, Anna Oakley, from Terlingua, came to visit us yesterday and to spend the night.

In September 2011, when we went out to Terlingua, for a few days with our dear friends Sandy & Jon Wolfmueller, Jim was playing a gig, at the Starlight Theater, the evening that we were eating there and all of us instantly fell in love with Jim Keaveny's awesome music. And we've been big fans of his ever since then.

Anyway, when Chet O'Keefe started performing and playing his music, in Terlingua, he soon met and became fast friends with Jim & Anna. And now Chet often sits in and plays lead guitar in the Jim Keaveny Band.

Anna, besides being a fantastic fiddle player, in her husband's band, she is also a very talented graphic designer and she specializes in designing event posters, CD packaging, T-shirts, etc. and you can check her art out at: Mercury Graphics.

(This past January when Tony and I went out to Terlingua, Chet hooked up with us one morning and he took us over to Anna's and Jim's super cool, off-grid home and we had a really fun visit with them. And that's when we gave them an open invitation to please come see us whenever they could. So on their 30 day trip, back from Costa Rica, they took us up on it.)

We had a blast visiting with Anna and Jim and so did Kinky. Yesterday, as soon as they had arrived, all of us went over to Kinky's and went on a fun hike with him and The Friedmans and Tubo, their rescued, sweet mutt that was actually born in a cave, near Lajitas. Then after our hike we went and hung out, at the Lodge, for several hours visiting with Kinky.

This morning, before Anna, Jim and Tubo took off to go back home to Terlingua, we all went back over to the Lodge for one more visit with Kinky and here are a few pictures that Tony took of them.

In this picture Jim had just handed Kinky some of his CD's, because last night Kinky gave them his new CD.

If you want to know more about Jim Keaveny's music, there is already a Jim Keaveny Channel on Pandora and lots of Jim's music is also on YouTube and if you click: jimkeaveny.com you can learn more about this awesome singer, songwriter and his music.

And before I finish writing this, I once again want to wish our dear friend, Jim "The Mineral Man" the best birthday ever.

Y'all have a great evening!