My Stuff!

Whoa, last night right around midnight, I had already unplugged everything and I was reading and just about ready to go to bed when there was this super-loud thunder clap and the rain began pouring down.

Big Al(ice) who had been sleeping on my lap jumped up and her eyes told me that she was scared. So I carried her over to the kitchen island, put on her thunder jacket and then she took one of her itsy, bitsy "panic pills."  Then we all went to bed and we didn't sleep for at least an hour.

Today has been great. This morning a very nice man delivered our 2500 gallon water cistern using his forklift, because he had to park his eighteen-wheeler down the road, because he couldn't drive it onto Big Foot Ranch. And that is Big Al(ice) still wearing her thunder jacket, directing traffic.

While Aaron helped Tony set up the cistern and hook it up to our other 1500 gallon cistern, I searched in vain for the books that I've written.

It was very frustrating to me, because even though Tony and I had raided our closet, The Mother Ship, all of the packed boxes, inside the barn, etc. days before—I still came up empty-handed.

After Aaron adios-ed us, Tony helped me continue with my search, but still no books to be found. So I gave up and cooked us lunch. And yes, I admit I ate the delicious Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream for dessert, because I am still on my sabbatical and Tony ate some, too.

Late this afternoon, we found my saddle and Maya's bridle, lead rope, pink blanket, etc. and Tony helped me haul them inside, The Cabin. I was so glad to find them even though I still have no idea where I am going to put my saddle and tack, because I used to keep it, in my pink cabin.

A little while later, Tony and I went over to Carol's beautiful ranch, so we could pick up Roy, our 2012 Dodge Ram truck, because Carol had offered to let us put it, inside her barn, in case of severe weather.

On our way over to Carol's, I got a bright idea, and said, "Tony, maybe my books are being stored, in Carol's barn. That's the only place that we haven't looked..." And sure enough they were! My last three books that I've written and self-published, after the University of Texas Press published my very first book The Road To Utopia: How Kinky, Tony & I Saved More Animals Than Noah, in 2006.

I was on Cloud 9 about finding my books and more of my stuff. So when Carol invited us to come inside, because "I have something I want to give to you, Nancy..." I went from Cloud 9 to Cloud 9 1/2, because Carol had given me the most beautiful, potted Easter Lily. She told me, "I love Easter Lilies and when I decided to buy one for myself I decided to get you one, too...."

As always we had a fun visit with Carol, while we petted sweet Scout (aka Carol's Shadow) and little Pepper, who occasionally low-growled at us in between pats on top of his head.

After we adios-ed Carol we came back home and Tony cheerfully carried in my big box of treasured stuff that included my books, because he was so tired of hearing me b*^%$# about "Where Are My Books?..." 

And while that was happening I took this picture of my beautiful Easter Lilies.

Then I started unpacking my box of goodies and I was thrilled about also finding my purple, alien, Roswell, New Mexico koozie, my pink, feathered, glittery drum sticks, my Chihuahua bottle topper that looks like Little Debbie, except it has two eyes, the famous Taos Pueblo. artist Jonathan Warm Day's beautiful note card and of course copies of my books that I've written.

So this evening, before I sit down and relax by watching a couple of episodes of Heartland, my all time favorite Netflix series, I plan to sign three of my books to our dear friends Andy & Lisa and to our new found friends Cathy & Chip. And I hope to mail them tomorrow, provided Carol can give me Chip & Cathy's Wisconsin address. And that is about it for tonight.

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

P.S. Cathy & Chip if you read this post, please note that my two novellas are pure fiction and none of the stuff that I wrote about Carol is true, except that she is my best and dearest friend.

Red Man! or Longmire! or Warm Day!

Today has been great. All that I've done today is playing paperwork catch up, etc. and I still need a few more hours to be totally caught up, again. So tonight's post is going to be mainly pictures, because I want to get caught up.

I had a fabulous time, at Cindy's beautiful, off-grid ranch, in Northern New Mexico. It took Chet and me thirteen hours to drive there. I only drove The Red Pony for about one hour and Chet drove the rest of the way, because I think my driving skills worried him.

And when we arrived, at the ranch, Saturday night, Jody, who is a super, multi-talented, skilled artist, gave each of us two of his beautiful pillows that he had painted.

Cindy's fabulous Rites of Passage premier, film event was held, in Taos, Sunday evening and we met some incredibly great people there, with some of them being the Who's Who, of Taos, including Jonathan Warm Day, the famous Native American Pueblo artist and author, who is also good friends with Cindy & Jody.

I wore my official dress-up uniform: the long-sleeved emerald green blouse, pink bandana around my neck, pink boots and cowboy hat and the art gallery owner's partner, a very nice woman, said to Jo, who was standing next to me, "Now this woman knows how to wear a hat." Then she smiled and looked me in the eye, and said, "I bet you're Cindy's friend, from Texas..." Basically, I looked like this photo taken at my latest Medina Community Library book signing.

And that night I also purchased one of Jody's beautiful, hand carved and painted plaques: the Third of the Seven Sacred Teachings: COURAGE-BEAR: "It takes a lot of courage to listen to your heart and your spirit when your mind is telling you something else."

During the days, Cindy and I spent most of our time visiting, either sitting out on the porch, hiking down to the pretty pond or in her studio, while Chet and Jody took hikes, worked or went horseback riding, on their awesome horses, Red Man, the Quarter Horse. in the picture below and Boss Man, the handsome Paint.

In the evenings, Chet treated us and their friends to several, awesome, mini-concerts, that would always give us goose bumps and leave us speechless, because of his incredible musical talents. 

And while we were out there we also celebrated Cindy's birthday. Jo, who had moved out there, three years ago, from Blanco, is both Cindy's and my girlfriend. She surprised Cindy with the cutest, delicious, homemade "Aliens Welcome" birthday cake. And she also made fresh, raw milk ice cream, using the milk from Cindy's & Jody's sweet milk cow, Tilly. The cake and the vanilla ice cream were so tasty, I ate way too much of it, but what the heck—I was on vacation and I also love Aliens and Yetis.

This afternoon I took a ten-minute break from doing the paperwork, so I could hang up Jody's beautiful plaque. I had to rearrange a few pictures, on the walls, to finally find the perfect place for it.

And I moved our small "All you need is Love" hand-sewn plaque, that a very sweet, young woman made especially for us, because several years ago we had rescued, Roscoe, her families beloved dog, and I hung it on the wall, next to the front door, so the last thing that anyone will see, when going outside, will remind us that all you need is love, because it is so true.

P.S. Earlier today our dear friends Kris & The Mineral Man sent me a picture of their two favorite bumper stickers, on their bumper, that they also tweeted to Craig Johnson, the famous author of Longmire, in hopes that he will respond. And I love it!

Y'all have a great evening!

Ham-At-Heart!

I have four good reasons why today has been a great day—thanks to my good friends e-mails from Cindy Pickard, Joni Daniel, Patty Kearns and Phil Houseal. I am so lucky to have so many great friends.

I will start with Cindy's exciting news first. Last September 23rd & 24th Cindy and her son Andy's must see "Manitou API—Where The Sun Rises" documentary premiered at the Taos Center for the Arts and it was a huge happening to say the very least.

Well, today, Cindy sent me an e-mail asking me to check out the comments made after their premiere showings in Taos, so I did and it blew me away, even though I knew they would be great, because I love their latest documentary and you can check the comments out at: the8thfire.org. I am so proud and happy for her and Andy!

Joni Daniel, my good friend and publisher of the great Texas Animal Imprints magazine sent me some great news, too. The November / December issue is now out on the stands for sale and she is sending me some free copies of the awesome magazine, so I can send out some copies to my friends—with my very first magazine column in it! I can't wait to see my words in print in her magazine. I am so excited! Thank you so much, Joni! Tony and I are thrilled that you are coming to see us between Christmas and New Year's Day!

My dear friend Patty Kearns sent me an e-mail telling me that she will be in Kerrville over the Thanksgiving holidays to visit her dad and Peggy and family and I am so looking forward to seeing my funny, Floridian friend. Patty is one of my favorite people on the planet, because she is so interesting and has a fantastic sense of humor. She makes me laugh so much that my back always aches after every time she and Peggy visits. I know that she could be a standup comic if she wanted to do it—she's that good.

Now, to top off my happy day, my good friend Phil Housel over at K.I.S.D.'s Club Ed sent me an e-mail that literally blew me out of my saddle and made Tony and me laugh out loud! Phil wrote to tell me that the column he wrote about me for Club Ed will appear in tomorrow's Kerrville Texas Community Journal and Boerne Texas Hill Country Weekly newspapers and he sent me a link to it, so I could read it and when I read it that's when I fell off of the horse so to speak. Phil is so sweet and his upbeat and kind words about me nearly made me tear up. What a nice guy.

After T. had read Phil's article, we clicked the link to watch the short, but funny video that Phil took at my watercolor class last week, taught by my new-found incredibly, talented artist friend Joan Sullivan. I love Joan and after talking to her for over an hour on the phone last week, after her fun watercolor class, we discovered that our lives have somewhat paralleled each other and we have so much in common that it is weird-in-a-nice-kind-of-way. And, now I can say, "Joan is my newest soul sister to add to my list!"

I know that I hammed it up in Phil's fun video, because I am a ham-at-heart, but I was having such a good time with the ladies and also because I was no longer embarrassed to smile—new teeth will do that for you—trust me.  : )  My favorite part  in the video was when Phil asked Joan, the cute, perky redhead, what she thought about my portrait. And all that I can say is, "Joan is one fabuous artist, but she's a really bad fibber."  : )   And, if you watch the video you will have to agree with me. I think her nickname should be "A3P"—Always Paints Pretty Picture. Here is Phil's video on Club Ed's Facebook. Be prepared to laugh.

As I end tonight's blog I am thinking about throwing a party and inviting all of my friends, because I would love for everyone to meet each other. But, because my friends live all over the globe, maybe I can figure out how we could do it by using the internet. I'll ask some friends how we can do it and get back to y'all. I think it would be really cool and Tone and I could do it live from Outer Space or the Space Ship and maybe I could get Kinky to join us! Talk about a blast!

P.S. Cindy, as I write this, I am wearing The 8th Fire hoodie sweatshirt, the "Turtle" which represents truth in the Seven Teachings and designed by the talented Taos Pueblo artist Jonathan Warm Day, but of course, you know that! Next time you see him please tell him that I loved reading his book, Taos Pueblo: Painted Stories and that his designs for the Seven Teachings are so beautiful that I wear one of them almost everyday.

P.S.S. Joni, I have already started writing my column for your next publication of Texas Animal Imprints January/February magazine and I cannot wait to see my very first column appear in the November / December issue! See you after Christmas and please drive careful!

P.S.S.S. Patty, I mailed the signed books out today and I cannot wait to see you and Peggy next week, over the Thanksgiving holidays. I can't wait to talk to you and laugh until it hurts.

P.S.S.S.S. Phil, thank you so much for your kind words about me and literally making my day. Like Harley and I often say, "You're one of the good guys." And I know that Club Ed wouldn't be the success it is without you. So, please don't ever quit—you're Club Ed and me and Kerrville and the surrounding Hill Country folks love you! And, please tell"A3P" that I am going to sign up for her watercolor class in February. I wouldn't miss it for the world!

Y'all have a great evening!

The Universe Knows!

Today has been a great day and to top it off we got over two inches of much needed rain! This morning after breakfast when I was fixin' to walk with Leslie, Tony came inside the trailer. "Nance, I think that we need to go to Kerrville to get a big supply of dog food right now, because they are forecasting four to six inches of rain and if we get flooded in, we won't have enough dog food for the next few days. Will you go to Walmart with me?"

When we got back from Kerrville the creeks were rising and it was raining hard. I wasn't in the mood to walk anymore, so I did some paperwork instead. After lunch Tony went to get the mail and he came back with my first surprise for the day.

My dear friend Cindy who moved to northern New Mexico a year ago, had sent me a "Care Package"to cheer me up, because I have been a little depressed lately. When I opened the box that came all of the way from Ocate, New Mexico I smiled. "Tony, look at this mug Cindy sent me. This side says 'the universe knows and the other side says 'shift your awareness. I love it!"

"I've got to call Cindy and thank her," I said, as I washed the mug, so I could use it when the tea that I was making was ready."

"Are you sure that there is nothing else?" Tone said, as he looked in the box. "Nance, there is a book in here in the bottom of the box." Then he fished it out and handed it to me.

The minute I saw the beautiful book by Jonathan Warm Day—Taos Pueblo: Painted Stories I opened it up to find that Cindy had gotten her friend to sign it to me. The inscription read: To Cousin Nancy, Happy Reading! Jonathan Warm Day—Taos Pueblo. To say the least—I was more than thrilled!

I knew of the popular Taos Pueblo artist Jonathan Warm Day, because Cindy had shown me his beautiful, colorful, acrylic artwork that he had painted for her of the Seven Teachings—to be used on t-shirts to sell at the MANITOU API~Where The Sun Rises screenings on September 23rd and 24th at the Taos Center for the Arts. It is going to be really big, back-to-back events and I wish that I could be there to cheer and share the joy of this major event and I cannot wait to buy the t-shirts. Thank you, Cindy! I'm going to read his book tonight after I post this blog.

After I drank my Yerba Mate tea I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and tell him about the mug and book that Cindy had sent to me. He liked what the mug said and he wants to borrow the book when I finish reading it. Before leaving he and I discussed Sophie. "I took her to the vet today and she had some hook worms, but other than that she is in good health," Kinky said, as he patted Sophia's head. "I think Sophie likes it here, but it's Sophie's choice if she wants to live here..."

I got on my laptop to check e-mail as soon as I came home and that is when I got another great surprise. As soon as I had read the PayPal notice, I half-hollered down the hall, "Tony! Joachim Steinacher in Austria just bought a copy of my new book!" Then I walked down the hall to T.'s office. "Can you believe that! Austria! A man in Austria wants to read my book!"

Tony quit plowing and looked up from his computer. "That's great, Nance." Then he went back to plowing and I returned to the big room.

Tomorrow morning I am going to show Kinky that awesome video of Stacy Westfall—The Horse Whisperer because I have watched it seven times today and I get wet-eyed every time that I watch it and I am also going to brag to Kinky about Joachim in Austria purchasing one of my books. Thank you, Joachim. I will sign the book and mail it out tomorrow and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing and living it!

Y'all have a great evening!