Years Ago! or Life Imitates Art!

Yesterday was great and so was today. As you already know Henry Standing Bear and Scout went to their private Kerr Klickers class that was taught by Marguerite's friend Linore, who is considered an expert in Clicker Training.

I had Tony go with me, because I wanted him to also learn how to Clicker Train our sweet Henry. Marguerite took her cute Scout, that she adopted from us almost a year ago, for a refresher course.

Linore's class was very informative and a lot of fun, even though I kept fumbling with the clicker and the tiny treats. In fact, I was pretty funny to watch, because I am so uncoordinated compared to Marguerite and Scout. And the great thing about Linore's class was that we enjoyed it and Henry and Scout had a blast.

When the one hour class ended Linore suggested that we unleash our dogs and let them play together for a few minutes. But sadly that didn't happen for very long, because when Henry saw himself, for the first time in the mirror, he forgot all about playing with Scout and he kept us laughing for several minutes.

Now here's a blast from the past. Twenty-two years ago I used my very first Mac computer and made a cartoon of Yoda, my sweet Boston Terrier and I titled it Mirror Mirror. It's not a great piece of art, but I love it, because it is a constant reminder of my funny, little clown that always kept me laughing. And it still hangs on the wall, in our master bathroom, opposite the wall from our lovely, posh, plastic garden tub.

By now I am sure that you are scratching your forehead and wondering why I'm telling you about this picture, but don't worry, because soon you will find out why.

After Tony, Henry and I adios-ed Linore, Margurite and Scout we took off fast, in Buttermilk, because we were going to meet up with Dennis, our dear friend that adopted Boomer from us, thirteen or fourteen years ago.

As we drove over I-10, with Henry sitting proudly, in the back seat, I punched in Dennis' phone number to find out where we were going to meet him & Laura and his visiting cousins. "Hi Nancy," Dennis said. "We're in Mary Louise Hays Park and we're parked under the Highway 16 bridge. We're in a red car and..."

Ten minutes later, we were also parked under the bridge and doing howdies, handshakes and hugs. We camped out under the bridge for about thirty minutes having a super fun visit with Dennis & Laura and his friendly family. And Tony took this picture of us before we adios-ed each other. Dennis is the one on the left.

  

Today has been a lot of fun, too. At 12:30, we met our dear friends: Denise & Les and Kris & Jim, at Thai O'cha, which is one of our favorite restaurants in town.

Tony and I had a blast visiting with our friends and the Thai food, of course, was absolutely delicious as it always is. We laughed and joked a lot and we talked about our Longmire—Texas Style spoof, wanna-be hippies, some of our favorite music from the 60's and 70's, etc. Then Jim's phone rang and he checked it and then told us the very sad news that Merle Haggard had just died. And that put a little damper on our fun, because we all loved Merle and his music.

After we had talked about the great Merle Haggard, Waylon and Willie being the best we talked about how important they were and are to real Country music. Then I changed the subject and told them about Henry's Clicker Training class and how fun it was and how happy we were to both be training The Hen.

Then Tony and I told them about Henry seeing himself, for the very first time in a mirror and how funny it was. 

And that is why I earlier wrote about my Mirror Mirror cartoon of Yoda, because in 1889 Oscar Wilde wrote in his essay The Decay of Lying, "Life imitates Art for more than Art imitates Life." And here's the proof!

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

Today They Started Loving Him Again!

Today has been great, but I need to catch y'all up. Monday evening, after a couple of phone calls, we ended up rescuing two, small, female dogs that had been dumped and luckily found by Molly and her husband.

Early Tuesday morning, after I called in and did Big G's popular radio show, with Kinky, as his guest, in his studio, I called Susan, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic. "Susan, we have two, small, female dogs coming in....We will be coming in later today, to check on them..."

Tuesday afternoon, while we were running errands, in Kerrville, we stopped by Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, so we could meet our latest rescued dogs. The dogs were precious and I found out that they are about one-year-old. I named the Chihuahua mix after my dear friend Carol and I named the furry, terrier mix Lorri, in honor of our friend, who is also Jeff's (Bob aka The Singing Safety) girlfriend.

Late Tuesday afternoon, I received another e-mail from Gretchen, who sounded totally heartbroken. Since Sunday, Gretchen had been e-mailing me, because she was very concerned about Merle Haggard's unhappiness and acting scared. So, I suggested that we meet her and Merle, in Fredericksburg, so we could take him back to our rescue ranch. Then Tony and I went outside to mow and Weed-Eat the grass, until dark.

This morning, right after breakfast, while I was doing the dishes, I let Carlton take this phone call, "Hi Nance, it's Kathy, at Hoegemeyers. I don't know if you have already found homes for Carol and Lorri, but I wanted to let you know that our vet technician, Ashley, wants to adopt Lorri..."

A few minutes later, I called Kathy back to discuss the possible adoption. Then I called Molly, to talk about the possible adoption, because Monday night Molly had fallen in love with the sweet girls, in that short of time, and she was hoping that we could adopt them out together. Then I went outside to help Tony do the chores.

This morning after we did our chores, Tony and I jumped into Buttermilk and took off for Fredericksburg, so we could meet Gretchen and Merle, in the Walmart parking lot. When we arrived at 12:30, they were waiting for us. After a short visit with Gretchen, we left Walmart's parking lot with precious cargo—Merle was in the back seat and he did seem scared and kept his tail tucked under him.

When we arrived back at the rescue ranch, the first thing we did was take Merle to his pen, so he could be reunited with his best friends, Faith and Twiggy. As soon as Twig and Faith saw Merle coming, they barked at him and his hidden tail immediately went up and he started wagging it wildly. To say the least, "Merle was so glad to be back home and today they started loving him again."

Late this afternoon, Tony and I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and Chet. We talked about the upcoming Concert for Utopia and the line up, the volunteers, our guests and who to find as an impersonator for Tony, because he is too shy to get up on the stage with us.

Before we adios-ed Kinky and Chet and came back home, Tony invited Chet to come over at 6:30 and Chet did come over and we had a fun visit with him. He has just left The Cabin and it's now 8:52. As I finish writing this, I plan to do some more writing and then go to bed.

Y'all have a great evening!

Just A Swingin'!

Today has been great. This morning, around 10:15, Gretchen, from Austin came over with Chet. She had gotten lost and wound up over at Kinkys, so Chet brought her over here, so she could meet us and Buster Brown.

After greetings, the three of us went over to Buster's pen and he was excited to see Gretchen, as was Gretchen to see Buster Brown. Once Buster had settled down a bit, Chet, Gretchen and I took the little guy for a walk down to  the creek, where we bid Chet goodbye, because Chet needed to get back to what he had been working on.

On our way back to the rescue ranch, Gretchen and I started having several doubts about Buster Brown becoming her constant companion, because he was a little too much for her to handle, after she recently had hip surgery.

Gretchen had really wanted it to be Buster, but she and I both agreed that it was not a perfect match for either of them. So, after we returned Buster to his pen, I took Gretchen to meet two more small dogs: Twiggy and Merle Haggard.

Gretchen and Merle had an instant connection, so we took him for a walk down to the creek, but we didn't make it there, because halfway to the creek, Gretchen said, "I want to adopt Merle. He is perfect for me...." So, the good news is: Merle Haggard has moved to Austin! I took this picture of The Hagg, before he and Gretchen left our rescue ranch.

Forty-five minutes later, right after Tony and I had eaten lunch—we had another great adoption! Our friend Carol, of Cal-Bob's Smoke Shack fame, showed up with her and Calvin's friend, because he wanted to adopt a male dog, to be a companion to his sweet, eight-year-old, female Rottweiler.

As I drove them around the rescue ranch, in Kermit and showed the nice man all of our male dogs and told him their individual stories—Rio stole his heart and Carol really liked Rio, too! Ten minutes later, Rio was officially adopted! I took this blurry, action picture, of Carol getting ready to take Rio's leash, so she could put him, into the man's Mercedes back seat.

Late this afternoon, around 4:15, Becky called me, to give me a Maggie May update! Becky told me that Maggie is adjusting nicely to her new forever home. Yesterday, Maggie May jumped up, into the outdoor swing and swung with Becky. "Maggie loves to roll in the grass and she is doing a lot of smiling. She likes Eddie, but she does get a little jealous when he comes over and sits in my lap, because I think Maggie wants to sit in my lap. She is a great dog and I am thrilled that I can give her four to five years living as a dog should..."

After Becky and I adios-ed each other, I went over to see Kinky and he was thrilled when I told him about today's two great adoptions and about Maggie May, just a swingin', at her great, new home. And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

Red And Merle!

Today has been great. This morning after Tony and I did our morning chores, I took a shower and then went over to visit with Kinky and his famous friend Ted Mann. Ted also recently wrote the mini-series, The Hatfields & McCoys, starring Kevin Costner.

Kinky introduced me to Ted about 14 years ago and I really enjoyed seeing him this morning and I am really looking forward to tomorrow, because he is going to come over in the morning, to take a tour and visit some more. I can't wait to give him The Grand Tour, which will include: meeting our rescued dogs and showing him my pink writing cabin, The Okay Corral, Tony's No Whiner Diner, The Cabin and Outer Space.

While I was over at the Lodge visiting, the two strays, that were rescued by a nice woman, in San Antonio, arrived. When I returned home and found out that the two dogs had arrived, I looked over their paperwork and shot records and then I grabbed my camera and went back outside, so I could go meet our two latest rescues, so I could name them and take their pictures.

When I went inside Lulu's pen to meet her newest roommate, this friendly, adorable, 4 year old, 33 pound, red-colored dog greeted me and licked my hand and then stole my heart. So, I named this great medium-sized dog Red Skelton, because he had me grinning.

After I took this picture of Red, I jumped into Kermit to go meet the other 4 year old, black and white Basenji mix and like Red—he also stole my heart, so I named him Merle Haggard, because everyone loves The Hagg. Merle is a very sweet, calm, good-looking dog and he only weighs 30 pounds. Here's Merle!

And that's about it for tonight, because late this afternoon I watched a PBS special about the late Bob Ross, who did PBS's popular show, The Joy of Painting and it so inspired me, I am fixin' to do a one-hour-or-less oil faster-piece painting of Roy Rogers, my four-legged soul mate and constant companion. So, please wish me luck with my painting and if you know anyone who might be interested in adopting Red and Merle—ask them to check out their pictures, because they are two super-cool dogs.

Y'all have a great evening!

Stop & Go!

Today has been great. This morning while Tony and I were outside working a car drove up and this really nice couple got out. "Hi, welcome to the rescue ranch. Are you Della?" I asked.

"Yes, I am and this is my husband Roy," she said, as we shook hands. We're here to walk your dogs or do whatever you need for us to do."

"We always need dog walkers, so let's go get some dog leashes. Roy and his sweet wife first walked Rufus & Roxanne, then they took Maggie and Emmylou Harris for a walk, which turned out to be pretty funny, because Emmylou is a "squatter" and I had forgotten to tell them that.

As I finished cleaning Mr. Rogers & Miss Dee's pen, which was the last pen to clean, I looked up and saw Roy standing with Emmylou laying down next to him, happily wagging her tail, over by Annie Oakley's pen and I started laughing as I walked over to them. "I'm sorry, Roy. I forgot to tell you that Miss O. is a squatter. Come on Emmylou, get up girl..."

After several requests Emmylou finally stood up and she took about six steps with Roy and then she laid down again, happily wagging her tail and it took Roy and me about ten "stop & go's" to return her back to her pen with Maggie.

Bob Dylan and Rockette were the next two lucky dogs to go for a walk with Della and her husband and while they were out walking, Lisa arrived with her ukulele. "Sorry, Nance. The other Fab 4 couldn't make it today..." While I showed her the inside of my upgraded writing cabin, Phillip arrived with his guitar, so he and Lisa could practice playing the song that they had chosen, to perform at a upcoming Master Naturalist event on Wednesday. "Hi, Phillip. Come on inside my cabin that I've recently decorated. I'm really proud of it."

"Wow," he said, as he walked around inside the cabin. "This is really cool..." Ten minutes later, after Lisa handed us the sheet music to one of my favorite Merle Haggard's songs—we were jamming, even though I was just sitting in on their session and we sounded good and during a break I took this picture of them visiting with Tony.

After Lisa and Phillip had nailed Haggard's song we played for about thirty more minutes and then we decided to rest our fingers and that's when Roy and Della knocked on the door and came inside the cabin and sat down with us. 

We talked and laughed about Emmylou being a squatter and the many dogs that they had walked and then Lisa told them that it would take a few more dog-walking visits before all of our dogs warmed up to them, because she didn't want them to feel bad about our dogs being shy with them. And after a fun visit with them they adios-ed us and then they drove away and that's when we decided to go eat lunch at Koyote and invite Carol to join us.

Five minutes later, Trigger, Tone and I followed Lisa over to Koyote Ranch, because Carol was going to meet the three of us for lunch and I had a total blast. First, we talked about Karin, our new found friend from Germany, fun visit and how much we had enjoyed meeting her and getting to know her and getting to show her around the Texas Hill Country, then we laughed about the gigantic size of Scout, Carol's lovable Black Lab's feet and many other things and all-in-all—lunch was a lot of fun. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying that we get some more rain and that Emmylou Harris quits squatting—sooner than later!