You Reap What You Sow!

This morning, after drinking our smoothies, Tony went outside to go check on his garden, so I decided to walk the walk, in front of my television. On cue, when I shoved the workout DVD into the DVD player, my dogs knew what was fixin' to happen, so they ran for cover! They quickly scrambled around 'the big room,' and jumped up, into their favorite old chairs, so I wouldn't accidentally do a hit-and-walk—because they know me, too well. To them, I am the female version of Mr. Magoo—the cartoon character, from way back when.

While the DVD's silent, long running, warning message appeared on the blue colored screen, warning me about going to the nearest, privately owned penitentiary, if I copied their DVD, I put a load of wet, clean clothes, into Steve McQueen, to tumble dry!

FYI: Last month, I forgot to tell y'all, that I changed Airy Queen's name to Steve McQueen, after watching 'Junior Bonner.' Anyway, the message on the screen, goes on to state, that they strongly suggest that I consult my physician, which I don't have, before doing their workout. And, lastly, to protect themselves—it says that if I should possibly drop dead, in my tracks—Tony and Kinky would not be able to sue them. We're talkin'—walk at your own risk here.

Well, I sorta like taking risks, it's a Libra deal, I can't help it, so I pushed the play button on the remote and took my chances—wondering if I would survive another workout. I had my fingers crossed.

I was forty minutes into my personal walk-about, with only five minutes left to go, when Steve loudly beeped, to let me know his work was done drying, and then Tone comes inside the trailer—carrying a large, yellow, five gallon bucket—with his organic, heirloom vegetables inside it!

While I did my final stretches, T. quietly washed the vegetables in the kitchen sink, and then he neatly piled them on the drain board. When my workout was done—I gasped for air, and nearly had a heart attack, when I saw Tony's morning crop! Here's a picture of it!

Tone's healthy vegetables were beautiful! We're talkin' beans, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, and zucchini! And, he was so proud of them!

I didn't know what to do with his vegetable crop, that could easily feed a family of four, for several days, because I don't know how to can, or even know the procedure for freezing fresh vegetables properly. I also knew that there was no way, that we could eat all of his veggies in a day. So, not wanting to hurt Tony's feelings, I said, "They're beautiful, Tone! Congratulations on today's bumper crop!" While I secretly hoped that I would come up with a solution, as to what to do with his vegetables, sometime during the day.

While showering—I nearly had a full blown panic attack, and got soap in my eyes, when I wondered, and then worried if Tony would be harvesting that many vegetables everyday! I knew he had over-planted some, and that you reap what you sow—and the thought of that—truly had me scared!

While I was drying myself off, I started quickly counting, in my mind, the number of local friends that we have—that we could dump his vegetables on, excuse me, I mean share his vegetables with. By the time I was fully dressed—I sadly realized, that my jeans were a little too tight, because I had eaten too much of Ray's birthday cake, but more importantly—I realized that T. and I needed to get a lot more new friends—P.D.Q.!

Fortunately, I had a lot of paperwork to do today, so I put my worries on hold. Around four o'clock, my dear friend, Cindy P. called—she was coming over for a visit! That cheered me up, because I couldn't wait to see her! She's moving to New Mexico, in August, and she had just returned from there.

Before Cindy arrived—I came up with a solution for today's over abundance of vegetables—I'd cook them, and then freeze them! When Cindy arrived, I had cooked nearly half of the squash, onions, zucchini with some tomatoes, and had already put them into the freezer!

When Cindy saw what was left of today's crop, sitting on our drain board, I offered to 'share' them with her, and she was delighted, but not as much as me! I quickly filled a sack up, with Tony's vegetables! I now, only had to cook one more round of vegetables, to clear off the drain board—for tomorrow's crop!

As Cindy and I sipped wine, and talked about the 'Enchanted Land,' which we both love—I put the last containers of cooked veggies into our freezer!

Y'all have a great evening!

P.S. I want to do a shout out to Marcus, the great waiter at Bella Vita! You Rock!

The Friedman Family Bone Orchard!

This morning, following breakfast, I put on one of my favorite, old Geezinslaw Brothers sweatshirts, that my husband, Jim, and I designed for their 1991 World Tour. The dog, riding sidesaddle with Sammy—was our dog, Chaser. Here is a picture of it.

I was feeling pretty puny this morning, so I only walked four fast miles. For a second, after finishing my four miles, I thought about doing one more mile, but my body told me that that wasn't going to happen.

(Before I continue, I need to apologize to y'all for my shortened blogs. My excuse is—I'm working on my second book, and trying to finish it! I am hoping to self-publish it by July. Please wish me luck with it!)

Thankfully, last night, we had a little cold front come in, so this morning, it was cool outside and we didn't need our broken air conditioner! I spent the entire morning doing paperwork. For lunch, I fixed Tilapia with some sauteed vegetables, and Tony cleaned his plate and complimented me on my cooking.

Around one o'clock, our friend, Rick, our great A/C man, who owns Hometown Services, showed up with his wife, Carla, to fix our unit! Fortunately, he had it up and running in less than ten minutes! He only had to replace a capacitor. Yeah! After he was done, we all went into Outer Space and we had a really fun visit! Rick is the best air conditioning man in the Texas Hill County! We love you, Rick!

After Rick and Carla left the rescue ranch, I finished up my paperwork. Twenty minutes later, Buttermilk took us to Medina, so I could mail out several thank you letters, and buy some stamps. Then she brought us back home.

I had one new message on Carlton, the answering machine. "Nance, this is Kinky. Are you there? Nancy, Nancy, Nancy. Please give me a call." Click.

I called Kinky. He was fine, and all he wanted was for me to come over for a visit, and he also wanted to show me his new Friedman Family Bone Orchard gardening improvements! Buttermilk and I took off for the Lodge.

I was really impressed with Kink's new improvements, and I wished that I had taken my camera with me. Tomorrow, if I remember, I will go over there, and take some pictures, so y'all can see how beautiful it is. Kinky and I had a fun visit out by the Bone Orchard, and then Kinky suggested that we take The Friedmans for a short walk, so Mr. Magoo could get some more, much needed exercise.

Kinky's idea of a short walk today, turned out to be a full blown cross-country hike! We hiked up and down trails and narrow paths, in the woods, and The Friedmans really seemed to enjoy their outing! I enjoyed it, too, because Kinky and I talked about his book, and my upcoming book, etc.!

When we returned to the Lodge, Kinky challenged me to a friendly game of pool. Needless to say, The Hummingbird Man - 1, Cousin Nancy - 0.

After being defeated, Buttermilk returned me to the rescue ranch. When I told Tony about losing the pool game, Tony told me that he is going to challenge Kinky tomorrow.

Y'all have a great evening!

You Get What You Pay For!

Yesterday, Kinky asked me to go online to get him a telephone number, so he could check on his order, of organic health food supplements, because it had been over a week, since he had placed his order. Then last night, Kinky called to tell me that he had just received his order! It was eight o’clock—delivered by FedEx.

This morning, Kinky invited me over for a cup of coffee and a visit. We had a good visit outside by The Friedman Family Bone Orchard, as Kinky threw—tennis balls, for Mr. Magoo to retrieve. After about fifteen minutes of tennis, we all went inside, because Kinky wanted to show me his free, new turbo blender—that came with his order.

When I saw it—I laughed out loud! “I don’t know how to use it, yet. This morning, I mixed the powder and water with a spoon. Nance, take a look at these product pamphlets” Then Kinky’s phone rang, and he went off to his office, to take the call.

I picked up the little box, from his kitchen table, and—pulled the tiny plastic blender out of the box. The box was proud of its blender, and used words like—Turbo, Tornadic Action, etc., and they even provided two free AA batteries! I started laughing, as I examined the itty-bitty plastic blade. It was half the size of a bobbie pin, and may have once been a bobbie pin! I then removed the bottom of the blender, and inserted the two batteries, and then twisted it back on. I pushed the button, and it went into turbonic action! Then I turned it off.

I was impressed with the Organic Certified, Fair Trade Omega-3 Fish Oil, imported all of the way from Norway, and when I read about the Organic Certified, Fair Trade powder, packed with twelve essential fruits and twelve vegetables—I was truly impressed with these products! Then Kinky returned to the kitchen. “What do you think, Nance?”

“Kinky—you done good,” I said. “I’ve read the labels, and you bought the best of the best! In fact, I plan to order some of this stuff, but I will tell them, to please not send me their free, amazing, eight inch tall blender.” Then I started laughing, and switched on Kinky’s high velocity, blending maniac, and then I quickly turned it off—so not to run down the batteries. Kinky started laughing, too!

“Kinky, I have ‘Jaws,’ my four-hundred and fifty dollar, Vita-Mix blender-that can cook or make ice cream, and you have this free, cute, little turbo action, powder mixin’ machine—I just love it! I think you should name it Nemo.”

Kinky picked up his little toy blender, and then switched it on—and we both burst out laughing, again! “Kink, I think we should have a Blend-Off—Jaws VS. Nemo! We could start out mixing water with food coloring, then move it up a notch, to water and powder, and then push it to water and an ice cube, etc.! I have got to bring Jaws over here, and get a picture of them side by side.”

We laughed about it, as Kinky walked me to Trigger, and then I drove home.