5-22-26: Remembering 10 Years Ago.... "Longmire—Texas Style!"

 Howdy folks. This morning I realized it has been over 10 years since making the video spoof Longmire—Texas Style. The Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch volunteers, Chet O'Keefe, Lady Liz and Big Jim at the Grey Goose Saloon and friend Gerry Olert helped me make this hilarious video in hopes of making Little Debbie, my adorable, adopted, one-eyed-Chihuahua even more famous. And it definitely made her more famous! So thank you dear friends for helping me.

Thank you in advance for watching this and if it makes you laugh please click the Like button.

Longmire—Texas Style

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!

Heartland!

Today has been great. This morning after our great friends/dog-walking volunteers walked our dogs for us they came over to check out the progress we've made with our cabin.

I was already working, over at the property, when Tony showed up with Andy & Judy, Sarah and Jim.  In fact, I had just chopped up some 2'x4's and was in the midst of building a small coffee cup shelf to put up on the kitchen wall, that will showcase my beautiful collection of Mara mugs—that I love so much.

Anyway, when they all arrived I already had started a beautiful, blazing fire, in our incredibly great wood-burning stove and I had just sprayed on my first coat of polyurethane to protect the rag rug that I painted last night, for my dog statue.

Tony and I gave everyone a tour of The Cabin and everyone seemed to think it was pretty cool and then we had a fun visit with our good friends.

After we adios-ed our friends Tony and I stained about 20 - 8 foot 2'x4's, so tomorrow afternoon we can hopefully finish turning our bathroom into a faux-looking-log-cabin bathroom.

Anyway last night, on my blog, I promised that I would take a picture of my dog statue resting on his new metal, rag rug. And here are the before the rug and on the rug pictures.

And that is about it for tonight, because I plan to work, on Carol's Top Bun Christmas present, because I just finished having Hazel suck up another ton of dog hair. Then I plan to relax and watch a few more episodes of Heartland, on Netflix and then go to bed.

P.S. Next to Longmire, Heartland is now my new favorite series to binge watch. Netflix has nine Heartland seasons and each season has 18 episodes, each episode being 40 minutes long. And it is Canada's favorite show. 

Also, I copied the curtains for our cabin, in the Heartland ranch house log cabin. Except mine are green—not blue.

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

Thrilled!

This week has been so busy for us and that is why I've not posted anything since last Sunday. Besides having to take care of ranch paperwork, etc. it still was fun for us.

Last Sunday Hans & Marita invited us to eat dinner with them and Stephen & Eva, on Tuesday, at Stephen's & Eva's home, in Fredericksburg. Because Hans had bragged several times about Marita's fabulous Norwegian cooking, Marita was going to do all of the cooking. And they also asked me to please bring my guitar too, so Stephen Morris, Hans and could do a little jamming.

After we had confirmed the date with them, Tony went over to Kinky's Lodge to visit with Kinky's and our good friend Brian Molnar. He's the great singer/song writer/ musician who often tours with Kinky and he also produced Kinky's latest CD, The Loneliest Man I Ever Met.

Anyway, when Tony came back home, he said, "Nance, you're not going to believe this! Brian is good friends with Hans & Marita, too...." And when we told Marita & Hans about Brian being here they asked us to invite him, too.

So late Tuesday afternoon the three of us carpooled, in Brian's rented Lexus, so we could go eat dinner with our friends and Brian brought along his guitar, too. And to say the least, "We all had a total blast. Marita is a really great cook and we had a lot of fun jamming together.

Wednesday and Thursday were quiet days, so that is why I didn't post.

Friday was a great day. Our great friends/dog-walking volunteers came out and after walking our dogs for us, we went up to, the Koyote Grill, to eat lunch together. As always we did a lot of laughing and we did a lot of talking about how great Netflix's Season-5 of Longmire was. And we were all excited about getting to watch the hilarious, Netflix sit-com, The Ranch-Season-2, which airs on Friday, October 7th.

Saturday morning and most of that afternoon we spent with our good friend Jim,"The Mineral Man," over at Kinky's Lodge, because Jim had volunteered to try to help fix the Wi-Fi problem that Kinky's guests were having trouble with.

And after Jim had to make another round trip back to his home to get his PC— he came back and solved the problem and fixed it. After all of us had used our own devices to make sure that we could all get on the Internet easily, I decided to call Kinky.

When I called Kink, I already knew that he was sitting, in the, San Antone airport, waiting to catch a plane to Australia, because I knew that he would be glad to know that Jim had fixed the Wi-Fi problem for his guests to use. And I was right.

After telling Kinky the thrilling news, Kinky asked me to please thank Jim for him and to tell him that he wanted to take Jim out to lunch to thank him, when he gets back to the ranch. "Okay," I said. "But you can thank him right now, because Jim is still here, packing us his computer stuff." Then I handed the phone over to Jim, so Kinky could talk to him. And before their conversation had ended, Kinky had told Jim that he was going to put Jim's Brisbane, Australian friends, on his Brisbane guest list  and that thrilled Jim.

And that is about it for tonight, because tomorrow is going to another busy day for us.

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

Lunch Today Was A Blast!

Lunch today, at the Koyote Grill, was a blast. And only June, Ellen, Kris & Jim and Tony know what I'm talking about. And I am going to leave it at that.

Remember a while back when I blogged about our good friend, Jim winning H.E.B.'s recipe contest for The Best Labor Day Burger. Posted in the Hill Country Community Journal.

Well, Jim e-mailed me the recipe today, which of course, I've now stolen and plan to cook as soon as I go back, to H.E.B. in Kerrville, to buy a few of the ingredients that I don't have.

Anyway, I want to share his award winning recipe and give Jim the credit for it, before I erase his name and turn it into Cousin Nancy's Award-Winning Best Labor Day Burger. 

Because his recipe above may be a little hard for some of us to read, because we're old, I've taken the time to re-type it, so you can steal it right from here and name it whatever you want. But I strongly suggest that you call it Cousin Nancy's Award-Winning Best Labor Day Burger Recipe.

Jim Bobbitt's 

Best Labor Day Burger Recipe

Makes: 4 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

1 lb. ground beef (85% lean)

2 heaping TBSP hatch chili, chopped (can or fresh)

1 tsp. Truffle salt

1 tsp. celery salt

2 TBSP minced garlic 

1 tsp.black pepper

2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

1-2 tsp Adam's Just Right Burger Spice

In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients, but burger spices. Form into four patties. Generously season each side with burger spice. Grill as desired.

This evening I plan to start binge watching Netflix's Longmire 5th Season and I can't wait. But before I go I want to end this post with a laugh, because I think that we all need to laugh as much as we can.

Anyway, early this morning Kay and Sara came out to walk our dogs, before the rest of our friends/dog-walking volunteers had arrived. 

While I was visiting with them I told them about Buttercup aka Butterball coming back to us and Hazel getting adopted. And a few minutes later, Kay innocently remarked, "I am so happy for Hazel. She is such a great dog. I'm going to go give Butterbutt a few extra treats." (Like she really needs more treats.)

I immediately burst out laughing and then she started laughing, too. So, I half-hollered to Tony, "Kay just called Butterball—Butterbutt!"

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

Scoot The Monkeys Over!

I've had so much fun today working on the beautiful, handmade altar that I purchased from Jody Armijo. Jody is Cindy's partner. They live in Northern New Mexico and I dearly love both of them.

Cindy has an altar and as do many of our friends. So a while back when I was watching one of my favorite movies, The Milagro Beanfield War, it made me want to get an altar, but I didn't know where to start.

So I asked Cindy, "Where do you buy altars?" She suggested that I buy Denise Linn's book Altars: Bringing Sacred Shrines Into Your Everyday Life. So I purchased this fascinating book.

On the back jacket cover, I read these words, so I  sat down in Roy's and my chair and read the entire book in one day.

So the next time that I was talking to Cindy, she told me that Jody had just made his first two, beautiful altars for some friends of theirs and she sent me a picture of them. Then Cindy also told me that Jody was going to start making altars and she was going to start selling them online, in her Pooh & The Brown Piglet Store. And before she and I adios-ed each other, I had purchased my very first altar.

My altar that Jody made that Cindy customized for me, arrived last week and it is totally beautiful. She told me that I had a heart of gold, so they named it, Heart of Gold. And this is a picture that Cindy took of it and e-mailed to me, before she mailed it.

When my altar arrived, Cindy had included: a rooster, a Great Pyrenees dog, two tiny bottles of beer and two miniature pumpkins and four tortillas, that Jody had molded out of clay and painted. And Jody signed the back of it and it is #6.

As you well know, since I didn't blog for four days, I had a busy week. So this morning after I did a little paperwork, I vowed to set up my altar, using Denise Linn's book as my guide.

I first thought that I was going to set up my altar, in the big room, on top of the electric, faux wood burning stove, next to my guitar.

But I changed my mind and decided I wanted to put it in our bedroom, on top of the dresser, next to my monkeys. And all I had to do was remove the clock and scoot the monkeys over.

Then I opened up the book, to page 150 and used the Meanings Of Altar Objects as my reference guide, because it is a partial list of different objects with their associated meanings.There were lists of religious items, symbols, shapes and patterns, offerings, polished stones, metals, plants and flowers, shells, herbs, fruit and grains, twigs, branch and leaves, essential oils and incense, animal symbols, aquatic symbols, winged creatures, amphibians and reptiles, mythical creatures, colors, etc.

I spent over an hour, having fun and deciding what I wanted to put on my beautiful altar. And this is what I came up with!

And this is a partial list of Cindy's items and the items I chose with their associated meanings:

The altar itself:

Turquoise-relaxation, meditation, peace

Pink-love, softness

Dove-peace and feminine

Gold Heart-solar, magnificent, expansion, healing, balance

Roses-love

On my silver charm bracelet that Tony gave to me, hung top center:

Silver-ruled by moon, deceptive, feminine force, intuition

Bear- Health, strength and stamina

Turtle- longevity, stability, home, Mother Earth

Lizard-guardian of dream time, divination

Buffalo-abundance, courage, determination

Snake-wisdom, initiation

Rabbit-intuition, quick thinking

Then I added the rest of these objects: Please note that this *** means it is my interpretation

My mother's cross- Christianity, intersection of Heaven and Earth

Duck-emotional balance, domestic harmony

Donkey-surefootedness, determination

Dog-loyalty, protection, faithfulness

Peace sign hanging around the donkey's neck-peace, love***

Rooster-alertness, fertility, enthusiasm

Quartz Crystals-spiritual attunement (That's the way it is spelled in the book)

Beer bottles-fun ***

Tortillas-abundance, harvest

Candles-powerful symbol of spirit

Pumpkin-Thanksgiving***

Appalachian Trail sign-Photoshop or Henry, Fay, Miss Moneypenny and me on the Trail***

Key-opening inner realms, because I do not know what key it goes to***

Alien guitar pick-music, love, peace, Longmire—Texas Style video***

Silver dog bone-too cheap to buy a gold one***

Little Debbie's alien-attracting helmet-Longmire, way too cute and makes me laugh***

And that is about it for tonight, because I can't wait to add a few more things to my beautiful altar and figure out where I am going to hang my clock. (And I love that light circle that the clock left behind. It is northwest of my fabulous altar.)

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

Who Knows?!

Today has been great and it rained again, this morning, so we still haven't done any mowing or weed-eating yet. Who knows? Maybe we can start cutting down the tall grass and weeds tomorrow.

Yesterday, a very dear friend of mine, in Utopia, called me and she sent me an urgent, heartbreaking e-mail about not wanting to, but having to give up one of her and husband's precious dogs due to circumstances beyond their control and that is all that I'm going to say about it. She sent pictures of Lola too, and this is just a portion of the sad e-mail she sent to me:

"Lola is a sweetheart.  She loves to just sit and cuddle with you. She walks on a leash well and she would be easily adoptable. She has all her shots and has been spayed."

Tony and I love these friends so much that we always include them in our daily prayers. We wanted to help them, so yesterday, after Katee Sackhoff's surprise super adoption, I called our friend and told her that we could take Lola.

So this morning our heartbroken friend brought Lola to our rescue ranch and Tony put Lola, in Katee's vacant pen. Then our sad friend came up to The Cabin, because she wanted to talk to me and give me all of Lola's records.

As we drank coffee together, in the kitchen, she teared up several times as we talked about sweet Lola. So I kept looking up towards the ceiling, so I wouldn't tear up, too or quite possibly find another visiting Bat, that had attached itself to the ceiling beam. 

In case you didn't know this—if you are trying not to cry you should always look upwards, because it stops you from tearing up and it always works for me. Luckily, I didn't discover a Bat and I didn't tear up. Anyway, before we adios-ed our dear friend, she told me that Lola is only two-years-old and that she had a gift for me.

After she drove away, I opened up the pretty sack and read her beautiful, handwritten card, with a donation included, so I looked down and let my tears finally fall. Then I reached back inside the sack and there was this beautiful, floating/moving angel attached by a spring, to an engraved rock. And to say the least, I love her gift.

Then a couple of hours later, there was another gift for me, that came in our mail. My dear friends that are hiking the Appalachian Trail sent me this T-shirt and I absolutely love it! And I'm going to wear it with pride. "Thank Y'all!"

So I laid it, on top of our bed, so I could take a picture of it for my blog tonight and when I came back seconds later, to take the picture—this is what I saw. 

So, I patted Henry Standing Bear, on the head and then removed my T-shirt from the bed. Then I took my super-cool T-shirt and put it, on top of our branded coffee table, so I could take a picture of the back of it, without Henry hamming it up.

I love that it says in big lettering "I've Hiked the Entire APPALACHIAN TRAIL" and if you can read between the lines, in much smaller letters is "WIDTH OF THE"! Talk about a perfect T-shirt for me to wear, because that is exactly what I plan to do when I finally do hit that trail and get a real picture taken of me that has not been Photo shopped. Like the funny ones that I Photo shopped, a while back, on January 29, 2015. 

As I finish writing this for tonight, I want you to know that I love reading Craig A. Johnson's fabulous book The Highwayman that Kris & Jim gave to us yesterday. And now that I've thought and written about it—I think that picture I took of Henry Standing Bear, laying on top of my brand new T-shirt is a sign to let me know that Henry Standing Bear wants to walk the Appalachian Trail with me. Who knows? Maybe they will allow Henry to walk the entire width of the Appalachian Trail with me?

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! 

Something To Talk About!

Today has been great. Once again, we got a bunch more rain this morning and we still haven't been able to start mowing or weed-eating the tall grass and weeds. So I spent the morning and early afternoon returning phone calls, e-mails, etc. And the good news is that I'm all caught up with rescue ranch business.

All of us at the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch had so much fun making our Longmire—Texas Style video, so this afternoon I decided to make a Longmire—Texas Style Behind The Scenes slideshow and I used Bonnie Raitt's great song Something To Talk About. Longmire Rules!

And that's about it for today, because I am going to go outside and start mowing.

Update: I forgot to put my guitar case in the slideshow to show off my Longmire and Red Pony bumper stickers!

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