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!

I Seem To Whistle Some!

This morning before walking eight miles I called Kinky and wished him a happy birthday. Then we discussed and made a plan to meet at eleven o'clock at The Hat, so Tony could go with him to a business meeting, while I ran some errands.

At two minutes before eleven o'clock we drove into The Hat's parking lot and I was mortified at what I saw! Kinky was sitting inside Mr. Green Jeans with the windows rolled down, puffing on a cigar and surrounded by two squad cars as another one was pulling up. "What in the heck is going on?" I asked Tony. 

As soon as T. parked Buttermilk we got out of the car slowly, because the police were watching us and we walked up to Kinky's truck. "Kinky?" I asked. "Why is your pickup surrounded by the squad cars?" Kinky slowly blew out a puff of smoke.

"Someone called the cops and told them I was smoking in Albertsons. That's what."

I looked down at the grocery sacks on his front seat. "You didn't smoke in there? Did you?"

"Of course not! I know better than that, Nance." Kinky said, as we watched one police car slowly drive away.

"I can't believe this," I said. "Were the Police nice to you?"

"Yes," Kinky said. "They were very nice to me. They came up to the truck and told me that someone had called 911 to report that they had seen me smoking my cigar inside Albertsons. They asked me if I had and I told them no, I hadn't. Then they were almost apologetic about it and told me they were only having to do their job. The Police were definitely nice to me. It wasn't their fault at all that some #@*^* jerk spends his or her time calling 911 about people smoking."

After the other two squad cars took off in opposite directions I said, "This is unbelievable to me. Think about it. What a waste of time and money for the police to have to waste their time checking out so called smoking reports when they could be out there protecting us instead. What a stupid law. It makes me sick..."

"Load up, Tony," Kinky said, as he started up Mr. Green Jeans. "We got mens-work to do. We'll see you soon." As they drove away I climbed inside Buttermilk and headed for 1121 Second Street, the home of Kerrville's ISD— Club Ed.

I walked inside the Club Ed building and as I was telling a friendly woman that I wanted to sign up for the One Day Portrait Class that requires no skill, a man said, "Well hello there, Cousin Nancy." I turned around and greeted the friendly man. "I'm Phil Houseal, the Director for Club Ed and I listen to you on The Harley Show and I feel like I already know you..." After I signed up and got my receipt, Phil asked me if I had the time for him to interview me for his weekly column that he writes for the Kerrville Daily Times.

A minute later I was sitting in Phil's office being interviewed for the column that he writes about Club Ed and it was a lot of fun. He asked me about what classes I had taken and I told him that my first class was how to play the piano real fast and he knew about me signing up for the drum class with Donna Schloss and we talked about how fun it had been and then I told him about Tony, June and me going to that Drumming Circle at The Yoga Space on my birthday. Then we talked about me doing a class about our rescue ranch and I told him that I would to do it. I really enjoyed visiting with Phil while he took notes and twenty minutes later my last words to him or so I thought were, "I love Club Ed!"

As I stood up Phil asked, "Would it be okay if I took some pictures of you for my column and our next catalog? We could go outside and it would only take a minute." 

I laughed and then explained to him why I had laughed. "You see, Phil, I just got dentures last Wednesday and I would love for you to take my picture. In fact, you will be the first person to take a picture of me with my new smile. I am still having a little trouble talking and I seem to whistle some when I say the words..."

Outside I posed next to the Utopia sign on Buttermilk's front door as Phil shot me over and over again while holding different props in my hands. Before leaving I gave Phil a copy of my new book, Meanwhile Back At The Rescue Ranch: The Dog Days of Cousin Nancy. 

Then we went back inside and the friendly receptionist gave me some paperwork to fill out for my teaching position. Then I shook hands with Phil, said goodbye to them and left the building.

Thirty minutes later my cell phone rang. "Where are you?" Tony asked, calling from Kinky's cell phone. 

"I'm checking out the groceries right now."

"Good. Meet us at The Hat for lunch. We're headed that way now. Bye."

When I walked inside the Mexican Restaurant Kinky waved to me from a blue colored booth that he and Tony were sitting at. "How did the meeting go?" I asked, as Tony stood up to let me slide across on his side of the booth.

"It went great," Kinky answered, and then he started laughing, as the waitress served them their hot meals. "Everyone there knew who Cousin Nancy was, too. They said they listen to Harley and read your blog. And Fourth Coates was there, too..." We had a fun lunch and left thirty minutes later to go home.

Late this afternoon Tony drove me to the Medina Post Office so I could mail out some letters and pick up my package from my friends Karin and Jurgen Pohlmann, who live in Germany. As T. drove me home I opened up the tube and pulled out a birthday card, a letter, an old 1955 Poodle book. As we drove home I read Karin's sweet letter to him and showed him the cute birthday card and the Poodle book which had some very funny Poodle pictures in it. 

Then I pulled out a poster wrapped in brown paper. When I unrolled it I smiled and teared up, because the Boston Terrier behind the pink balloon looked a lot like my Yoda. To say the least I loved it and thought it was beautiful. I showed it to Tony and he liked it too, while we set at the portable signal light waiting for it to turn green on Highway 16. The rest of the way home I couldn't quit admiring the poster. Thank you, Karin and Jurgen! Y'all are tooooooo sweet! I had Tony hold it so I could take this picture of it.

This evening I received two photos from my new friend Phil Houseal. Drum roll, y'all............Here is my first picture taken of me with my new smile. Compliments of Phil.

P.S I just called Cindy and Ronnie and told them to look at tonight's blog if they wanted to see my new smile. Ron just called and said he liked them and I am waiting for Cindy to call back.

Yall have a great evening and keep smiling!