Feel Good!

As I begin to write this, Phoebe Snow is singing "Poetry Man," on Bozo, my iPod's Bose docking system. Salty Dog, my Himalayan salt lamp, is glowing and a fake fire is pretending to burn in Old Smokey, our electric, faux wood burning stove and here is a picture that I just took of them. It's cozy and I like that.

Years ago, Tony and I bought Old Smokey, because we love wood burning fireplaces and also because  fire is a four-letter word to people who live in old trailers—they don't mix well. 

Johnny Rivers is now singing "Maybelline" and my foot won't quit tapping, next to Thunder's head, who is sound asleep. Now that the mood is set and perfect for me, I am ready to tell you about my incredibly, wonderful day.

This morning I got up real early and did my chores, because I had to walk eight miles with Leslie, because I have fallen way behind on my walking schedule, because of taking so much time off for my dental work, holidays etc. 

So far, as of today I have officially walked 1,634 miles since January 1, 2010, which is great, but not good, because I am 36 miles behind and have to make it up this month so I can reach my goal of 1,825 miles walked this year with Leslie.  

I figure if I walk eight miles for the next ten days straight—I will be able to accomplish my New Year's resolution easily. 

After walking the walk I sat down at the kitchen table with a hot cup of Yerba Mate tea and checked my e-mails. And the one that I got from our friend Kim Galusha literally made my day! Kim wrote that she and Joe King Carrasco, the "King of Tex-Mex Rock & Roll," who did a benefit for our rescue ranch in 2008, at the Ruta Maya in Austin, have put together a fantastic CD of that night's concert, and they want to give 50% of the sells of the CD to Utopia! Talk about two nice people—we love them! And, when I told Kinky about Kim's news, he was as thrilled as we were. Thank you, Kim and Joe King Carrasco!

Well, I didn't think my day could get any better, but it did—real quick—when the snail mail arrived! "There here, Nance. Joni Daniel has sent you some extra copies of Texas Animal Imprints." T. said, as he handed me her stuffed envelope, which I ripped open, because I could not wait to see my very first magazine column that I had written—in PRINT!

"Look, Tony!" I half-hollered, with excitement. "Here it is! OMG! I love the way it looks and look at the beautiful, photo collage that Mary Chavoustie did and they gave you credit for your photos, too!" Tone looked. "I love it. Thanks to Joni, I'm now a "magazine columnist" and you're a "professional photographer" with your photos in a magazine, calendar and books!..."

After I had settled down, I read the magazine from front to cover and I totally enjoyed reading all of the stories—especially the one that my friend Connie Strong wrote about our rescue ranch, titled "Life On This Side Of The Rainbow Bridge." Thank you so much, Connie—Kinky, Tony and I loved it! You are an incredibly talented writer and I teared up when I read your column about us.

When I was done reading, I picked up the phone and called Joni to thank her for sending me the copies, so I could  send them to friends. "Joni, the magazine looks beautiful and I love what Mary did and..." Before ending our conversation I told her that I was going to blog about it tonight and then I thanked her again and said,  "The cover of the magazine is absolutely beautiful and I'm going to plug your magazine, too. It is the least that I can do to thank you." 

This is the picture that I took of the cover, but unfortunately Flash Gordon, my flash on my Sony camera, decided it wanted to become a part of the beautiful cover (near the bottom) and I also accidentally chopped off the top part and sides of Texas Animal Imprints—sorry Joni. Please tell Mary Chavoustie that I didn't give it the justice that it was due, but it is still beautiful.

Anyone who would like to buy a subscription to this "feel good" bi-monthly magazine that celebrates animals and nature, please send a check or money order for $12.50 payable to :

Texas Animal Imprints

2305 S. Day Street #234

Brenham, TX 77833 

I hope that all of y'all will buy a subscription to Texas Animal Imprints to show your support for my new column, and this magnificent magazine. And, I promise that you that you will be glad that you did, because everyone at Texas Animal Imprints Truly Rocks! And, so do Joe King Carrasco and Kim Galusha! I love y'all so much!

Y'all have a great evening!

My Finger Wouldn't Quit Bleeding!

Well, I guess that I am just lucky, because today has been a another wonderful day for me. This morning after I walked eight more miles with Leslie, I spent my morning doing paperwork, answering e-mails and returning many phone calls.

After lunch Tony and I went outside and started mowing the rescue ranch, so it will look beautiful for our 1st Annual Dog Adoption and Training Seminar this coming Saturday. Since T.'s back was out, he rode the riding lawn mower and I push-mowed for three hours and then I grabbed the Weedeater and did some trimming around the dog pens.

When we finished working outside we came inside the trailer and sweet Tony plucked fifty-four stickers that were stuck and embedded in my clothes. Thank you, Tone, even though you called me a stickler for yard work. I am thrilled with how much we accomplished outside today and hopefully by tomorrow we can finish it up in three hours or less.

Twenty-two minutes into our nightly Happy Hour, after I drank a glass of  fine, red boxed wine and Tony had finished off his beer the phone rang at six forty-seven and I let Carlton take the call. "Nancy, Tony! Tony, Nancy! Please pick up the phone. This is Mary Chavoustie with Texas Animal Imprints magazine. Connie Strong and I are at your gate and it is closed. We have a present that we want to give to y'all..."

"Hello, Mary. How are you? You and Connie are at the gate?" I asked, puzzled that a cell phone was getting service out here.

"No, actually, we are calling you from Kinky's Lodge. Frank let us use Kinky's phone..." As soon as we hung up, Tony went outside and jumped into Kermit and took off to go open the gate for them.

Two minutes later Connie and Mary pulled up to the trailer, got out of Connie's car, wearing big grins on their faces as they always do, and then the hug-fest began. "We just finished interviewing Copper Love and we love her," Connie said. "What an interesting woman..."

"We couldn't resist coming out to see y'all since we were so close," Mary said.

"We have a present to give to you," Connie said, as she went over to her car and opened the back seat door. "Since we can't be here for your annual Dog's Thanksgiving Dinner we brought you this to help cook their dinner." Connie held up a large, shiny stock pot with a cute kitchen towel, two big wooden spoons and three pot holders attached to it by a ribbon. Tone and I grinned.

"OMG!" I said. "Thank y'all so much! I love it and we sure can use it. I swear, y'all are two of the sweetest women I know. I can't believe that you drove all of the way out here to bring us a present. I'm gonna go get my camera. I'll be right back."

When I came back outside—Tony shot us. Mary is on the left and Connie is on the right. Then Mary shot Tony and me with the pot.

We had a short, but really fun visit with these two super cool women and trust me, there was a lot of laughing. After I showed them my new teeth and told them about my whistling problem they complimented me and then we talked about their hilarious "bloody" trip to Walmart to buy our gift, after interviewing Copper. "Before checking out at Walmart we went to the Eye Care department to borrow a pair of scissors, so we could cut the ribbon and I cut my finger on a sharp edge under the lid handle and my finger started bleeding profusely." We all started laughing. "There was blood all over my clothes and jeans and my finger wouldn't quit bleeding," Connie continued. "So, we then went to the Customer Service department and I told them that I wasn't going to sue them, but they needed to remove the stock pot from their inventory, because of the sharp edge and that they needed to give me a Band Aid." Then she showed us her bandaged finger and we laughed. "Tomorrow I am going to call your friend Rick Reichenbach, "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper" in Port Aransas and make a date to go interview him."

"Y'all are going to love Rick," I said. "I'll call him tonight. Hopefully, he will invite you to spend the night on the island. It is a totally awesome experience and..."

As the sun sank behind the mountain, knowing that they had a five hour drive ahead of them to get home, they told us that they had to leave, so we had another hug-fest and then we bid them farewell and wished them a safe trip home. "Please tell Joni that we send her our best," I half-hollered, as they drove away.

P.S. 'Erb Cares, I am sorry that I missed your phone call last night. I love you and Karen and please give her and y'all's five dogs a hug from me.

Y'all have a great evening!