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!

Watch What You're Saying!

Today has been great. Last night Ruth Buzzi and her husband Kent were over at Kinky's and they invited Tony and me to meet them for breakfast this morning, at the YO Hotel, in Kerrville. And I said, "Yes, we would love to."

But I lied, because I had forgotten that we had scheduled an appointment for a couple to come out to the rescue ranch, this morning, to check out our dogs. Anyway, when I saw the date circled-in on my
hilarious Cow Abductions & UFO Sightings 2016 calendar, that sweet Eileen gave to me, I immediately sent Kent & Ruthie an e-mail to cancel our breakfast date.

This afternoon our lunch-a-month club met for a fun lunch, at El Bracero De Jalisco restaurant, in the same parking lot as Wild Birds Unlimited, one of our favorite hangouts.

It is a fairly new Mexican restaurant, next door to the Home Town Crafts store and it was Tony's and my first time to eat there. Oh my goodness, their food was absolutely delicious and the waitresses were very friendly. And believe it or not, Tony and I didn't order the same thing on the menu, but The Mineral Man and I did. 

Jim and I ordered the "Special Dinner" which included: one beef enchilada, one tamale, one poblano pepper, one beef taco, re-fried beans with rice and a guacamole salad. Seriously, it was more food than I could ever possibly eat, but I did my best and so did Jim. And all of us agreed that our meals was more than delicious.

While we were enjoying our friends and the mouth-watering food, I commented about Jim's new birthday watch, "Now Jim, that's a watch worth watching. I love it, because it is so big." So the next thing you know, after Jim had told us about his huge wrist watch, we were all talking about our favorite past and present watches that we've had.

Denise told us that her two favorite watches were the purple watch, that she was wearing and the turquoise one that is exactly like her purple one. "Well, for Christmas," I said. "Tony got me the cutest hot pink, solar watch. And I love it, but our good friend Lisa had to set it for me, because I couldn't figure out how to do it. I'm not good at that anymore. And the only thing that I don't like about it, is that it's alarm always goes off, at noon, everyday. And I don't know how to turn it off. And now, I need to reset it again, because of the time change."

"Nancy, what kind of watch is it?" Jim asked.

I shrugged, because I couldn't remember and then it came to me, "Oh, it's a Casio."

"Listen Nancy, send me the watch's model number and I'll go Online and look it up in the manual," The Mineral Man said. "It'll be a piece of cake to fix. I promise you." Then Tony told us about him, many years ago, getting a real good bargain, on a Gruen watch, in Fort Worth, that only cost him $70.00, because the store was going out of business and slashed their prices. 

After our super fun lunch with friends, I walked across the parking lot and mailed a letter, then walked over to Wild Birds Unlimited, to meet up with Tony, who had driven over there. As always, our good friend, Marguerite and I started talking and laughing about Scout''s and Henry Standing Bear's latest, hilarious adventures, while Tony was busy picking out some suet, birdseed, etc.

Then Marguerite told me that she had talked to her friend Lenore, who teaches classes on how to train your dog by using a Clicker. Because Marguerite and I want to train Scout and Henry, together, because we know it would be a laugh a minute with those two rascals. "Sounds great. Let's sign up for her classes!" I said. "Tony, I'll take the course and then I'll come home and teach you what I've learned in the class. That way we can both train Henry. Okay?"

Tony chuckled, and then said, "It's fine with me as long as you don't forget everything that you've learned in class, by the time you get back home."

After we had quit laughing, Marguerite said, "Don't worry about that, Tony. Lenore gives out handouts to take home, so we can do our homework with our dogs."

So, as I finish writing this, it looks like Miss Scout and Mr. Henry Standing Bear will soon be going to school together, attending a once a week class, for five weeks straight, with Marguerite and me. And I am looking so forward to it, because Tony's and my sweet, rescued, four-month-old, Great Pyrenees/Lab mix pup is literally growing in leaps and bounds, by the minute. Seriously, he now weighs over forty pounds!

Y'all have a great evening!

Tug Of War! or I Love Whiskey!

Yesterday was too much fun. Ruth Buzzi and her husband Kent called us around noon and invited us to meet them for lunch, at the Apple Store, in Medina aka the Apple  Cider Mill and they also invited Chet, too, but he couldn't go, because he was busy.

When the four of us walked inside, the Apple Store, Tony and I introduced our good friends to Barbara and then to Dawn. And we had a super fun time eating lunch with them. And if Ruthie wasn't cracking us up with hilarious stories and jokes—Kent was.

All kinds of people were excited about Ruth Buzzi being there and several fans of all ages, asked her to please let them get their picture taken with her. And after Ruthie had posed with all of them, we asked Dawn to please take a picture of us with Kent and Ruthie, because Ruthie and Kent had already posed with her earlier.

Before we left Medina to come back to the ranch, I asked Ruthie and Kent if they would mind stopping, at The Old Timer, because I wanted to introduce them to our good friend Debbie, the store owner and her super friendly employees. Here's a picture I took of Ruthie posing with Debbie and her adorable Great Pyrenees pup.

Then Ruthie met everyone of the employees and she posed for pictures and then she visited with all them. And to say the least, "Everyone, inside the Old Timer, was totally thrilled about getting a chance to meet the sweet, famous stage, television and silver screen Ruth Buzzi."

Before all of us left the Old Timer, Tony and I invited our friends to come over to the rescue ranch so we could visit some more with them and Chet O'Keefe.

Chet greeted us at the front door and after howdies and hugs, Kent said, "Chet Ruthie and I love your music and we wish that you would play a song or two for us." And seconds later, Chet was sitting on a stool, playing my guitar and singing one of his great songs for all of us.

After Chet sang three songs there was a knock on the front door and there stood sweet Marcie, Kinky's younger sister, with our good friend Nelda. "Hi y'all!" I said. "Come on in. Y'all know everyone. Chet's playing music for us..." 

And a few minutes later, after Chet had sung another song, Kent said, "I wish I had a piano to play, so  we could play some music together."

"We do. My keyboard is being stored inside the Mother Ship. That's my RV that I am fixing' up. Let me go get it for you." Then I took off to go fetch it.

A few minutes later, Chet and Kent were jamming and they sounded fantastic. They took turns playing Chet's songs and favorite, old classic songs that Ruthie loves. It was totally awesome.

When Kent and Chet started singing some old Willie Nelson tunes and Blue Grass songs, I went back to my office and grabbed my old guitar that Ronnie made for me. Then I sat in with them and played along with them. 

When it was time for Ruthie & Kent and Marcie and Nelda to get back over to Kinky's, Chet and Tony left too, so they could try to fix Marcie's car.

And twenty minutes later, I phoned Kinky to ask him to please go tell Tony that he needed to get over here fast. Then I went back outside.

Two minutes later, they drove up in Kermit. "Thanks for getting over here fast. This woman has this dog and...."

After we told her that we would take her dog Whiskey and the nice woman had quit crying. We talked about what pen to put Whiskey in, because Whiskey, who looks exactly like our Belle, but she is a little darker tan, has issues about being left alone without another dog being with her. "You can put her in with Willie," Chet suggested. "Whiskey and Willie already seem to like each other."

Last night Chet, Tony and I went over to the Lodge, so we could have another fun visit with Ruthie & Kent, Marcie and Kinky.

This morning when Chet came inside The Cabin, he laughed and said, "Whiskey is a really great dog and she loves to play with Willie. They woke me up this morning, because they had found one of my socks and they were playing tug of war with it. Seriously, they had my sock stretched twice its size. It was a lot of fun to watch. I love Whiskey and so does Willie..."

Today has been great even though it is sadly, once again, M.I.R. Time (Mercury In Retrograde). I've had a very busy day and tomorrow I will post a picture of our, new, two-year-old, rescued Whiskey.

P.S. Mari, I love the funny comment that you made on my last post about Chet and I doing dumb things on our trip to Terlingua. In fact, I am still laughing about it. And tomorrow, I will also write about Chet and me breaking the law as we were driving out to Terlingua.

Y'all have a great evening!

Kent & Lisa & Lucille & Kinky!

Today has been great. This morning our good friend Kent came over to see us, before getting on the road and heading back home to his sweet wife Ruthie.

When we started to drink a cup of coffee together I told Kent about my new guitar and he asked to see it, because among his many talents—he is also a very talented musician. After Kent had admired my guitar I handed it to him and said, "I'd love for you to play it." Well I was wrong about that, because Tony loved it, too.

Kent strummed it, and said, "Nancy, this is one awesome guitar. I love it." Then he started playing my guitar and singing one great song after another. I took this picture of Kent.

Tony took this picture of Kent

Kent played some famous Simon & Garfunkel, Rolling Stones, John Denver, Bob Dylan, songs, etc., which mesmerized all of us including Little Debbie, who I was cradling in my arms. Tony took this adorable picture of Little Debbie.

After we adios-ed our dear friend Kent, Tony and I jumped into Trigger and took off for the Koyote Grill, at the Medina Highpoint Resort, so we could celebrate Lisa's birthday with her and our great  friends/volunteers.

Lisa's belated birthday party was so much fun and sweet Eileen provided Lisa's beautiful, delicious birthday cake. "Thank you, Eileen!"

During Lisa's super fun birthday celebration we did so much laughing and joking, my back actually began to ache from laughing so hard, but fortunately it is fine now—thank goodness. 

After Lisa's birthday party Tony and I were in the best of moods, but that changed rapidly when we pulled up to the rescue ranch gate, because we saw a happy dog, inside the rescue ranch, come running towards us, as the gate slowly swung open. "*^%#," Tony said, in disgust. "Some #@#@&^% has dumped a dog on us and I bet it was that woman who called you yesterday, that we probably just passed on the bridge, heading for 16...."

It was obvious to us that this sweet, happy, friendly, young female dog had recently had a litter of pups, ran up to Tony wagging her tail rapidly and she let Tone slip a leash around her neck. And she sat, on command when Tony told her to sit. 

Tony ended up temporarily putting her in the alley, between Merlin's and Miranda's pen and then he fed her and filled up a bucket full of water, then we drove up to The Cabin, so we could grab our cameras. Because one of my heroes, B.B. King passed away today, I've named her Lucille, because B.B. always named his black guitars Lucille and we think that Lucy is a Boxer mix. Here are some beautiful pictures of Lucille that Tony took of her.

Because of the weather and it being the weekend, we will take Lucille to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, this Monday, so we can get her spayed, shots, etc. And that is about it for tonight, because we are going to go meet Kinky for dinner.

Y'all have a great weekend, including the wonderful person who dumped Lucille, at our rescue ranch.

Carol's Back!

Today has been great. This morning, after we did our chores outside, our dear friend, Kent, came over to visit Tony and me. Kent is Ruth Buzzi's husband and he had come down to see Kinky and us. And as you know Kinky, Tony and I love Ruthie and Kent. They are our dear friends and they have done so much to help our rescue ranch.

While the three of us drank Green Mountain Donut Shop Coffee, in the kitchen, Kent watched Gerry Olert's video of Chet O'Keefe singing Ode To Cousin Nancy, at our Chet O'Keefe In Dining Hall Concert. And Kent, Tony and me teared up, because Chet's song is so beautiful and it was so kind of him to write it. Needless to say, "Kent loved the song, too."

After we watched the video, I told Kent all about Earthing and he thought it made a lot of sense, so I printed out two pages about it, so he could take it home and read more about it. Then I told him about  the hilarious lunch that Big G, Carol, Kinky and me had, last Saturday, when I told Big G and Kink about Earthing. Then we did a lot of laughing as we caught up with each others latest news.

When it was time for Kent to get back over to the the Lodge, he invited Tony and me to join him, Kinky, Big G and Lucas, Big G's son, for lunch today, at Del Norte, because on Wednesday they have a great Mexican food buffet. When we told Kent that we would love to go, he then insisted that he wanted to treat us to lunch, too.

Before we adios-ed each other, I said, "Kent, let's play a joke on Kinky and Big G! At that lunch they were teasing me about Earthing. So, sometime during lunch, make up something and tell them that you've discovered Earthing and you want to share it. It will crack them up!"

Lunch with our dear friends was a total blast and it was long too, because we did so much laughing, especially when Kent wanted to share his exciting news about discovering Earthing. And that is all that I can or will share with y'all.

After our super fun lunch Tony and I swung by Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, so we could pick up little Carol, the dog that I named in honor of my dear friend Carol. We adopted Carol out, in April, but unfortunately it didn't work out. Which is fine with us, because it just wasn't meant to be her forever home. So, if any of y'all know someone who wants an adorable, sweet, little dog, please tell them that Carol's back, at the rescue ranch. This is her adoption picture.

By the time Carol, Tony and I arrived back at the ranch we three had decided that Carol should live inside with us and our giant dogs, until she gets adopted again, because we just don't have any space available for her outside and she's very small. We are going to crate her for a few days, next to the kitchen table and let her sleep in the big puppy pen, that Tony has set up for her, in my office, so she will get to know and be comfortable around our four-legged giants. Then we will remove the crate and puppy pen, so she can be part of our family until she finds her forever home.

Here's Mama checking Carol out, once again, so I'm calling this photo "I Know, I Know You..."

Before I finish writing this I just checked out Kris' & Jim aka The Mineral Man's—Footloose And Kid-Free In The Hill Country blog and I love the pictures they have posted, from their latest trip to Colorado. And my favorite pictures are the hilarious Alien pictures that they took, in Roswell, New Mexico, at that famous Alien Museum. So, I hope that you will check out Kris' & Jim's latest post on their blog, because it is one of my favorite blogs to read, that I follow. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Tony's Birthday Really Rocked! or Rock Of Ages!

Today has been a fun day. This morning our dear friend Rick, "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper," Reichenbach called right after I had walked four miles with Leslie, because he wanted to wish T. a Happy Birthday, but Tone had not yet returned from the Old Timer, so he and I had a fun visit instead.

We talked about how excited Tony and I were about our upcoming road trip, in September, to Terlingua with Sandy and Jon and then we talked about loving Big Bend and our friends out there and the serious drought, that he too was experiencing down in Port Aransas. And before adios-ing each other he said, "Well, tell Mr. T. I hope that he has a great birthday today," then he paused for a moment and then he started laughing, which made me start to laugh, and then he continued, "No. Tell Tony that I hope he has another one! Bye."

When T. showed up he laughed at what Rick had said for me to tell him. "Fourth bought me a cup of coffee this morning for my birthday and...."

After breakfast Tony and I went outside to do our morning chores and right after we had finished them our friend Joe and his beautiful daughter Katherine came out and we had a fun visit with them before they walked Harley and Annie Oakley for us.

After lunch the dogs started barking outside so Tony went outside to see who was here and a few minutes later Ben, Will and Tone walked inside the trailer. After howdies Tony left the room to go check something out on his computer and that's when Will showed me a big rock. "I'm giving this to Tony for his birthday," Will laughingly whispered, as we all started laughing. "Do you have a Sharpie pen that I could borrow?"

After I handed him a Sharpie I took this picture of him inscribing the rock (his present) to Tony, as Ben and I continued to laugh about it.

When T. entered the big room Will said, trying to sound serious and trying hard not to laugh, "Tony, I have a birthday present to give to you. I have spent days looking for the perfect gift and I finally found it a little while ago." Then he handed his "written on stone" gift to T. so he could admire it. After he thanked Will everyone started laughing as I took this picture of Tony showing off his rock present.

Then Will asked me if I had any sealer spray that he could use to protect what he had written and thirty seconds later Will sprayed his gift outside on the front porch, "To preserve it for centuries to come."

When I read Will's words I burst out laughing. 

"Happy Birthday Tony 

This is one of

the only things

around younger

than

You

Love Will"

When we came back inside we joked about where T. should display or put "His Rock" gift and I suggested Outer Space, since it was the only doable suggestion amongst us. As we ate some of T.'s delicious "Heavenly Chocolate" birthday pie, a "Tootie Pie" sent to us from our friend Peggy Godfrey, the dogs started barking outside again, so T. went out the door, with Belle by his side, to see who was here.

Ten minutes later Tony came back inside the trailer, "That was a nice woman, Deborah's friend from Boston, who wanted to meet Blackie and Alfie, the dogs that Deborah adopted from us last week. After I told her that we had taken them to Hoegemeyers to get them groomed, before Eileen, Ellen and Lisa drive them up to Austin Monday morning and deliver them to a man, who Deborah hired, who is going to drive them non-stop up to Boston, in his SUV, where he will meet Deborah and deliver them to her and Susan...I showed her their empty pen and she took pictures of it. She seemed like a real nice lady." 

Then thirty minutes later, after I had teased Ben about a story he had told us about his trip out to Big Ben, when he was in his twenties, he and Will jumped into Ben's truck and they drove away laughing.

Around 3:30 the phone rang and it was Kinky, Ruth Buzzi and her husband Kent Perkins, calling from Kent's and Ruthie's farm in Ft. Worth and they wanted to talk to Tone. When I handed the phone to Tony, he started grinning from ear-to-ear, because after they had wished him a wonderful birthday—then the three of them sang the Happy Birthday song to him and T. was beside himself! After he had thanked them and said goodbye to them and had turned off the phone he said, "I can't believe they just called me and sang the Happy Birthday song to me. How cool is that, Nance?! Oh, they also said to tell you hello. They are such nice people."

I thought it was so cool that I immediately posted it on my Facebook page and then I posted it on Tony's Facebook page too, because I love Ruthie & Kent and Kinky as family.

Early this evening I put Tony's "Rock of Ages" on display, out in Outer Space, on top of the coffee table that I made a few years ago and it looks good resting there and it will be fun to watch people's reactions to it. I want to thank all of his friends and family for making T.'s birthday such a special one for him today. And just a little while ago Tony told me, "This has been my best birthday ever! Nance, I love the leather camera holster that you got me. I cannot wait for it to arrive and..."

And that is about it for tonight except that I want to say, "Happy Birthday T.! I love you so much and you're not older than that rock—no matter what anyone says!"

Y'all have a great evening, keep laughing and please keep praying for rain for us!"