You're Kidding Me!

Today has been great and I have an exciting announcement to make, "As of three days ago I am writing my first Kindle Vella and the title is You're Kidding Me. If you would like to check it out please just click on the title or you can click on it over on the sidebar. Or just Click Here.

I have only written two, 600 word episodes so far and I am having a blast writing it. It starts out with me being in New York City to sign some book contracts and I get mugged by a person shorter than me. And that is the only clue that I am giving you.

This is the artwork I chose for my Kindle Vella—You're Kidding Me and it is perfect, because there will be some ghosts and aliens in the ongoing, cliffhanger episodes.

And this is what I wrote "About The Author" and I have already lied about my age:

Cousin Nancy is a sixty-nine-year-old, cowgirl that loves animals more than she loves people, except for her husband Tony Simons. He spends most of his time photographing nature and gardening. Cousin Nancy spends her time writing, helping animals, hunting ghosts and waiting for aliens to arrive, while listening to her favorite music from the 60's and 70's. Her favorite musician is Neil Young and his album Harvest Moon debuted when she was a part-time hippie living in Crested Butte, Colorado.

And as a teaser—here is a little peek inside (Just the first three paragraphs) of Episode 1...

"Well, today has totally sucked," I confessed to my best friend Judy, over the phone, as I poured myself a second glass of cheap, boxed red wine.

"Now Nance settle down," Judy said, cheerfully. "It's your first day in New York City and you've only been there since this morning. It can't be all that bad."

"Well, it is," I said, as I locked my hotel door and then fastened the flimsy, silver, linked chain that was "Added For Your Extra Security." Then I swallowed a sip of wine, took a deep breath and held it for over ten-seconds, and then as I exhaled I said, "Trust me. Today has been worse than bad and I cannot wait to check out of this hotel tomorrow and get back to Texas where I belong. I'm missing Tony and our animals..." 

I hope that y'all will wish me luck with my new writing endeavor and if you do like my Kindle Vella please check the box if you want to follow me and giving me a thumbs up would be nice also. 

And please note: I will still be doing monthly podcasts.

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

And My Jaw Dropped Again!

Katelyn's & Clay's wedding was so great and so was my super-fun adventure up to Dripping Springs, Austin and Buda.

Saturday, I safely arrived at Ronnie & Nita's Ronderosa Ranch, ten minutes before the crack of noon and no one was home as expected. Earlier in the morning Ronnie had already told me that he and Nita were going over to the Ruby Ranch, in Buda, so they could help get things ready for Katelyn's & Clay's wedding and they were going in their RV.

Their two dogs, Brick & Maggie, played a game with me. They would act tough and bark at me and then they would stop and let me pet them, over the fence, and then they would start barking at me when Cindy arrived, at the famous Ronderosa Ranch.

Cindy came there to pick me up and take me to her lovely home, in South Austin, so we could eat lunch, at her home and visit and catch up with each others news and then get ready for the wedding.
And that was so much fun for me.

Cindy and I arrived, at Ruby Ranch, fifteen minutes before the wedding. She was dressed up real nice and I looked okay. I wore my only "dress-up" green blouse, new Levis, pink boots and cowboy hat. And I topped off my look—wearing one of my pink bandanas tied around my neck, to help hide my turkey neck.

Fortunately for me, the wedding was casual and most of the friends and family that attended wore Wranglers or Levis, cowboy boots and cowboy hats too, so I didn't feel like I stuck out, in the crowd, even though I was the only woman there wearing a cowboy hat.

After the beautiful bride and handsome groom said their vows and kissed Clay danced with his bride and when Ronnie danced with Katelyn, Cindy and I teared up and so did just about everyone there. It was all so beautiful.

During the reception, before we sat down and ate a delicious BBQ dinner, I got to visit with old friends and while I was drinking a beer I had this fun conversation with Joel, a fabulous friend and an extremely talented musician. He plays, guitar, mandolin and banjo, too.

Joel and I talked about our good friend Chet O'Keefe, Terlingua, Northern New Mexico, our mandolins, our guitars and about Neil Young playing a 6-string guitar/banjo, etc. And because a few days earlier I had also talked to Brook about 6-string guitar/banjos, at Wolfmueller's Books, I thought it was definitely a sign. So, before I adios-ed Joel and went to go eat a delicious BBQ dinner, at Cindy's big family table, I vowed to him that I was going to buy myself a 6-string guitar/banjo. And I  meant it, too.

To sum it all up, I had a wonderful time, at the wedding and getting to visit with friends and family. And in case you are asking, "Where was Tony?" He, at the last minute, decided not to go to the wedding, because of our dogs being left alone for too long. And everyone, at the wedding, was sick that he didn't get to come to the wedding.

Sunday afternoon on my way back to our Big Foot Ranch, Tony called me with some exciting news, when I was only about five minutes away from arriving, in Kerrville. "Nance, Steve Pietzsch and Andy are over here and they are putting our rain gutters up for us....Would you please stop, at Home Depot, to buy a few extra seamers, glue and....so they can finish the job, because they are almost finished and they need those parts?"

Of course my jaw dropped when Tony told me this wonderful news about our good friends installing the rain gutters for us, for free, because both Tony and I were more than nervous about us attempting to do it ourselves. And I am still in shock that these two men came over and did this hair-raising job for us.

Anyway, when I arrived at our new ranch, Andy was standing high up, on a ladder, Steve was holding up a gutter's end, so Andy could properly attach it to our roof and Tony was busy running around fetching parts and tools that they needed. And my jaw dropped again.

A few hours later, after their hard labor our beautiful, rain gutters were installed on the roof, so we celebrated by drinking a round of beers and toasting our dear friends and thanking them for volunteering to do this—just to help us out. And I do know that neither Tony or I will ever be able to thank them enough for doing this act of kindness. "Thank you so much Andy and Steve. We love y'all so much!"

This morning when I was on the phone talking to Ronnie about Heartland, the number one favorite, eleven-years-running series, in Canada, on Netflix and about how much we loved that show.

Then Ronnie laughed and then changed the subject. He told me that he and Nita were having a ranch party, this coming Saturday, to celebrate Katelyn's birthday. "You and Tony have got to come to this. It is going to be a pot-luck with about 40 people there. And all of our friends are bringing their instruments too, so we're going to be playing a lot of music...."

So after Ronnie and I adios-ed each other I did what I had to do. I immediately went Online, to Amazon and bought a beautiful, inexpensive, 6-string guitar/banjo and it should be arriving tomorrow!

I cannot wait for it to get here, because I have a lot of practicing to do on it, before we go to the fun, ranch birthday party. And that is about it for tonight, except I do want to thank sweet Carol, for letting us come over to her ranch, this evening, to wash and dry two loads of our dirty clothes.

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

Red-Medicine!

Yesterday afternoon I worked tirelessly on my quilt and then I went over to Carol's ranch for a fun visit. We talked about last weeks fun trip to Terlingua and how much fun we had out there. While we were talking about music and some of our favorite musicians such as: Willie Nelson, Neil Young, David Crosby, the Knotting Hillbillies, Gary P. Nunn, Chet O'Keefe, Jim Keaveny and Jimmy LaFave , etc. I asked Carol if she had heard the sad news about Jimmy LaFave's battle with cancer. "Yes," Carol replied. "I heard about it a few days ago and I was going to tell you about it if you hadn't already heard. I love Jimmy LaFave and his music."

"The other day my friend, Cindy, told me about it and she sent me the Austin Chronicle's article interview with Jimmy talking about his cancer and a link to a YouTube video of a Jimmy LaFave performing, on April 21st, at Threadgill's, in Austin. Where at the end of his song, Jimmy talks to the audience about his long battle with cancer. It was very emotional and it made me tear up. His music is so great and can you imagine how many hearts, all around this world, that his music has touched?...."

Before Carol and I adios-ed each other we started talking about how much we have enjoyed reading Marie Bostwick's Texas novels, so that gave me the opportunity to brag to her about the quilt that I am making.

Which ended up being a being a huge mistake for me, because I should've known better to have bragged without knocking-on-wood afterwards. Anyway when I got back home I spent about two more hours working on my quilt. And after I had ironed it—it didn't look right, because a lot of the seams were not lining up. So I sadly folded it up and put it back inside "my pink, quilt bag."

Then I poured myself a glass of my fine, red-boxed-wine with added water and four ice cubes and then I went, into Outer Space, with our dogs, to think about my crummy-looking wanna-be quilt. And by the time I finished drinking my red-medicine I was no longer sad, because I had decided that I would use my unevenly, pieced-together, stupid-looking quilt to make throw pillow covers. Sort of like when life gives you lemons—make lemonade.

So friends beware, because for Christmas you just might be getting an original Cousin Nancy Quilted Throw Pillow. Of course, except for Carol, because I'm giving her a small, hair-piece bun to wear on the top of her head—hand-made by me, from our dog's hair. But first, I will need to get a spinning wheel and learn how to spin dog hair into thread. So wish me luck there, even though Christmas is only eight months away.

Today has been great. This afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville to get groceries, at the big H-E-B and after our expensive, boring shopping spree, we decided to eat lunch, at Hippie Chicks Bakery & Bistro. And as you can guess—we ordered the exact same thing—Meatball Subs and iced tea. But Tony did have a side order of sweet potato fries while I ate their delicious coleslaw.

Before leaving this super, cool place we decided to split a dessert and eat it on our way home. So we chose one of their delicious-looking, fresh, out-of-the-oven Brownies. And while Sarita was wrapping up our Brownie-to-go, I visited with her sweet mom, Karly Ann. And she told me a great big secret about a certain kind of specialty sandwich that they will be offering soon, that sadly I cannot divulge what kind it is, until a week after this Friday, when it will first be appearing on their daily menu.

Anyway, I told Karly Ann that I wanted to blog about their upcoming secret sandwich, tonight and she suggested that we follow them on their Facebook page Hippie Chicks Bakery & Bistro, because they will be announcing when this awesome, secret sandwich will be added to their menu.

And that is about it for tonight, because I need to go vacuum up some more dog hair and wash it and dry it, so I can add it to my growing pile of cleaned-dog-hair, for Carol's upcoming Christmas present.

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

P.S. This morning I called Kinky to let him know that our great Canadian friends, Fay & Ian, plus their daughter and her boyfriend will be at his show tonight, in Buffalo, New York. And he was thrilled that they will be there. And late this afternoon, when I told Carol about Fay & Ian going to Kinky's show tonight, in Buffalo, I said, "I bet Ian will be wearing his cowboy hat."

And Carol said, "I bet he will, too. Because when he wear his cowboy hat he looks just like an authentic cowboy, from Texas."

Hen Party! or Brownie Bribery!

Today has been great. This morning Eileen, one of our super Fab 4 volunteers, came out this morning and the first thing that she did was try to bribe Tony to keep her off of probation, with a 3/4 full pan of her delicious brownies and it is a good thing that she did.

After T. accepted her bribe the three of us went down to the pigpen to show Eileen the Egg Palace and its new occupants—The Golden Girls. After we had introduced her to Dorothy, Rose, Sophia and Blanche Tone bragged, "We got one green egg yesterday and three eggs this morning!"

"I want a chickens and a chicken house just like this one," Eileen stated. "I mean Egg Palace. This is so cool..."

"Then you should throw a Hen Party! Pick a morning or afternoon and invite the volunteers, Aaron and us to come over and we could build you one in a just a few hours!" I said. "They aren't hard to build and Aaron, Tony and I have learned from the mistakes that we made, so yours will be much faster and easier to build..."

"We've got all of the tools that you will need, too." Tony added. "And if we don't—Aaron will." And in less than two minutes, after T. and I had finally quit talking her into it—Eileen was all excited about throwing a Hen Party and collecting her own eggs. 


Then Eileen and I talked about taking Ben Stiller and LaToya Jackson on a walk, so they could meet each other and possibly become roommates, if they got along with each other and that's when her bribe came in handy, because she accidentally let Ben escape from his pen and it took all three of us to catch him and put a leash on him.

Before Eileen, Ben and I started to walk down to get LaToya, Tony teased Eileen, "That's grounds for probation Eileen." We started laughing, even though Ben didn't find it funny.

So, in Eileen's defense I said, "No, Tone. Her brownie bribery, that you accepted, counts as a pre-payment, so she's off the hook."

"Thanks Nancy. She's right, Tony!" Eileen teased back. And then we took off to get LaToya.

During my fun walk with Eileen and "the two, new best friends" Eileen tried to talk me into going to a Crosby, Stills & Nash concert with her and her sister Dean, in August, at The Majestic Theater in San Antone and she almost had me talked into it, because I love them—especially Neil Young.

After we had put LaToya and Ben into Ben's big dog pen, we took Betty Rubble and George Clooney, who was adopted last Saturday and is getting picked up tomorrow to go to his new home. And the dogs  enjoyed it as much as we did.

Later in the day, after eating a fun lunch at the Koyote Ranch Grill, with Eileen begging me to go with them to the concert, we came back home and that's when I almost made an expensive mistake, because I had decided to go online to buy a ticket to the Crosby, Stills & Nash concert.

Not knowing where they would be seated and knowing that I would be sitting alone, I decided to splurge on myself and buy a pricier ticket for a good seat, so I could be closer to the stage to see my hero—Neil Young.

After I had filled out the billing information I was shocked at what the total price had jumped up to, because of the added on handling fees, shipping, insurance, etc., so I hesitated for a minute to think about it before clicking the "Buy Ticket" button—thank goodness.

As I thought about buying the ridiculously high $199.00 ticket price I glanced up at the top of the screen and read the words: "Crosby, Stills & Nash Concert." And that is when I realized that Neil Young's name was missing, so I clicked the "Cancel" button immediately.

Don't get me wrong. I really love Crosby, Stills & Nash's music, but I love Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's music so much more, so I have no regrets about not spending that much money and not going to the C,S&N concert, which I'm sure will be sold out and totally awesome. And I am really relieved that I don't have to go into that big city, because as you well know—I don't do big cites. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

We're Done! or Cabin Fever!

Early this evening, after two days of hard work, Tony and I finally finished turning the big room into "The Cabin!" When Carol came by to see our cheaper-copy-cat version of her ranch house, she said, "OMG! I love it, y'all!..." And we love it, too.

During our fun visit with Carol this evening, I decided to change the name of our trailer. "I'm officially changing Nellybelle, the name of our old trailer, to The Cabin, because I feel like I am in a cabin when I am in here. And it will be funny, when I invite people to come up to our cabin and they see our old trailer and think, "That old woman is really crazy. It ain't a cabin, it's an ancient trailer..." And, here is what it now looks like inside our cozy cabin:

By the way, those three brown dots that you see on the ceiling, near the top right corner, on the picture above, must be orbs that I captured, because our ceiling is totally white and has no orbs, who knows, it might be our fun-loving poltergeist that has been playing with our clocks the past few days.

And that is about it for tonight, because I want to light a candle and sit and listen to Neil Young and enjoy our cozy, new cabin. I'm so lucky. He's starting to sing Harvest Moon, my favorite song, as I type this.

Y'all have a great evening and thank you for praying that we get some more rain!

P.S. At 9:26, after discovering the three brown orbs I reshot the wall and it is gone. Hmmmmm....

What Kevin Suggested!

Today has been fun. This morning I cleaned the dog pens instead of walking the distance with Leslie. Then I came inside the trailer to get ready for our eleven o'clock appointment with a nice man and his wife, who drove all of the way down from Arkansas, who wanted to see our rescue ranch and talk to Tony and me about animal rescue, because they are thinking about moving to Texas and starting a horse rescue ranch.

But unfortunately that didn't happen. He called me twenty minutes before they were supposed to arrive to cancel our meeting, because his wife had become suddenly ill, so he was going to take her the hospital instead. Hopefully, tomorrow he will call me with good news about his wife before they head back up to Arkansas.

Around 11:45 (Please note that I have decided to use numerals instead of spelling out the time, because it is faster.) I checked my e-mail and the note I received from Mari, of The NoMads, tickled me and made me laugh out loud and that was when Tone walked inside the trailer and said those famous words, "Nance, I'm starving. Can we go eat at The Water Street Cafe, in Kerrville, since you haven't started cooking, yet? It will be my treat for helping me this morning." 


"Sure, that sounds good, but give me two minutes, so I can reply to Mari's funny e-mail. I'm going to invite her to join us for lunch because she loves that place, too."

Thirty-two minutes later, we walked into the crowed, popular restaurant and sat down, in hopes that Mari would join us before we placed our order. Well, Mari was a no-show, but Kevin, the owner of Water Street Cafe, did and we got to visiting. "Kevin, I just want you to know that we love your cafe and now our two most favorite places to eat in Kerrville is here and at Randy & Lisa's Save Inn Restaurant."

As I enjoyed his delicious, homemade Lentil Soup, I complimented him on how good it was and I almost got him to tell me all of his secret ingredients, but I didn't get all of them, because he reads my blog and probably realized that I was attempting to steal his secret recipe and make it mine, because he is one sharp cookie, so to speak and then he changed the subject. "Did you walk four miles this morning?"

"Nope, I cleaned dog pens instead. Kevin, by the way, thanks for the funny comment you made on yesterdays blog, suggesting that we wash Trigger and roll the windows down, like you—to help make it rain today. Do you want to go wash Trigger for us? He's right outside and could really use a bath." Kevin thought it was funny, but took no action, so Trigger is sitting outside and still dirty.

After we left Kevin's cafe we marched up the street to Wolfmueller's books to say "Hi" to Sandy and Jon. When we walked inside their, bustling with customers, bookstore they greeted us and then they introduced us to a nice couple, who were their friends from Fredericksburg and we had a real fun time visiting with them.

When Sandy and Jon got busy helping their customers find books we adios-ed them and then we headed for Office Max to pick up a few office supplies before heading home. As we were checking out we had the nicest surprise. Mari walked inside, "Hey, Mari!" T. and I half-hollered from the checkout counter.

Mari, who had not seen us looked over and then the three of us started laughing. And then we had a fun visit, standing outside the front door of Office Max and of course, it was filled with non-stop laughter. Then she headed home and so did we and that's when my back started aching.

Early this evening, I spent over an hour playing my guitar, that Ronnie made for me, eight or nine years ago and not to brag (Yes, I truly am bragging.) I sounded pretty good or at least that's what T. said. I figured out how to play a couple more of Neil Young songs and then I practiced on my finger-picking skills until my fingertips were killing me.

As I finish writing this tonight, I want Mari to know that I am sitting on her pretty, pink sheepskin, that she gave to me, because my back is aching from laughing way too much today thanks to her, Sandy & Jon and Kevin. And now, as soon as I finish typing this, I 'm fixin' to find out if Mari's magic sheepskin can heal the pain in my fingertips.

Y'all have a great evening! And please pray for rain for us tonight by doing what Kevin suggested Tony and I do to help make it rain—wash your vehicle and then roll down the windows and wait.

Twitter Jitters!

Today has been great and I hope that yours has been too. Tony and I went over to his brother Sam & Stacie's ranch, in Medina, to have lunch with their family and it was a lot of fun.

When we got back home I tried to take a short nap with Toto, Hank and Belle Starr-Simons, but it didn't last long because Ms. Belle kept biting me on my nose or hands or toes, etc., because she did not want to take a nap, so I got up, took her outside to potty and then play, in hopes she would tire and be ready for a nap with me.

The second I put her up on the bed—she wanted to play, so I gave up on taking a nap today.

Early this evening, after I joined Twitter, Kinky called and invited me over to the Lodge for a visit and I am glad that I went over there, because Steve Rambam was over there and he gave me some very helpful tips about using Twitter and recording my audio book.

When I came home I got back on Twitter and started setting up my home page. The first thing required was for me to pick at least ten people to follow and I didn't know who to pick, because all I really wanted to follow were Ruth Buzzi and Kinky, so I thought up a few celebrity / musician names like Neil Young and Steve Martin, for example.

After coming up with ten names I set up my profile, etc. and now I am officially on Twitter. I have Twitter Jitters, because I hope that I did everything right and will have the time to tweet. If you would like to follow me on Twitter my username is:  cousinnancy    and if you would like to follow Kinky on Twitter, his page is: TheRealKinkster and I hope that you will check us out.

Tonight, in a few minutes, at eight o'clock, I am going to watch Hallmark's movie "You Lucky Dog" but before I do I am going to leave a tweet, so I can make sure I am doing it right.

Y'all have a great evening!

Day O!

At six-thirty this evening before sitting down at the kitchen table to write tonight's blog, I turned off 'Wheel of Fortune' and turned on my Himalayan salt lamp and lit some pinion pine incense to set the mood. Then I turned on my Bose iDock and cranked it up a few notches. Neil Young started singing, Sugar Mountain, one of my favorite songs and I was ready to write! Unfortunately, Neil is not one of Tony's favorite singers, because he only likes country music, so he went back to his office to harvest a strawberry crop.

Today has been absolutely wonderful! I woke up at six o'clock and fed our dogs and Lucky. By nine-thirty the sun was shining outside and I had made breakfast for T. and me, washed and dried a load of clothes and had walked eight miles with Leslie Sansone! As I write this Harry Belafonte is now singing, Day O! I love him and that song.

After getting cleaned up, I checked my e-mail. My good friend Mari, of the famous NoMads, sent me a video to watch and she warned me to grab some kleenex because it would make me cry. I heeded her advice sort of. Since I didn't have any kleenex tissues in the trailer, I grabbed a roll of Scott toilet paper and then sat down at the kitchen table and watched the video Just One Dog and I cried as I watched it. It is a beautiful video about shelter dogs and I hope that y'all will check it out, because it is not depressing but heartwarming.


As I was wiping away my tears, Tony came inside the trailer and said, "Lobo has just been adopted to a nice young couple! You need to get his adoption papers ready. Why are you crying, Nance?" I told him about the touching video that I had just watched and he gave me a big bear hug, then he went back outside.


As soon as I had filled out Lobo's adoption papers, I went outside to meet the people adopting Lobo. (Paul McCartney is now singing Hey Jude from his live Back in the USA CD! It is so fantastic! He now has the men in the audience singing a verse, and now it is the women's turn! It is definitely one of his best albums ever! ) 


As I walked down to Lobo's pen, I saw Jim, our great dog walking volunteer, coming in with Lucy and Ashley Judd! I could see that the dogs were really happy, because their tails were wagging high! When I reached Lobo's and Layla's pen Lisa was inside their pen getting goodbye kisses from Lobo! He was all over her and so happy! "Nancy, I am so happy for Lobo getting adopted, but I am also sad, because I wanted to adopt him. I love this dog." Here is a picture of  Lobo kissing Lisa goodbye!

Matt, Lisa, Tony and I visited with Jill and her husband as Jill filled out Lobo's adoption papers. We all felt good about the adoption even though Lisa and I teared up as they drove away with Lobo. Good luck Lobo! We love you! Have a great life!

After Lobo left, I went over to the Lodge to tell Kinky about our first great adoption for 2010! Kink was thrilled with the news, and then he teased me relentlessly about our "Will Bark For Food" bet. Saying things like: "Make sure I see the fabrics before you reupholster the sofa and chairs," and "Nance, when are you going to going to start cleaning up the Lodge? I hope that you will do it while I am on the road..."


My response to his kidding remarks were, "Kinky, I promise you that I am going to win this bet! If you want to borrow one of my vacuum cleaners, Hazel or Witch Hazel just let me know..." Here is the artwork I made for our "Will Bark For Food" campaign. I used Toto and Blue's picture!

Tony treated Lisa, Matt and me to lunch today! We went to the Apple Store in Medina and laughed throughout our entire lunch! Lisa and Matt are two very funny and witty people, and Tony and I really enjoyed our lunch with them!


When we got back to the rescue ranch, Lisa and Matt visited with our precious pigs, and then they started walking our dogs again! 


This evening before setting the mood to write this blog, I checked out the latest comments made on my blog and burst out laughing when I read them! Enjoy!

 Mari of the NoMads said...

Now Nancy, I'm not saying that I'm betting on Kinky to win, but let's just say that I recommend that you ask for donations not only to Utopia Animal Rescue, but also to the expense of reupholstering certain chairs and a sofa.....

January 4, 2010 9:30 PM

 cousin nancy said...

Good morning, Mari! I bet you that I win!

January 5, 2010 5:52 AM

Anonymous said...

bet you both win:)

January 5, 2010 7:31 AM

Anonymous said...

ok you all. let's help the winners win :) my 5 bucks in the mail today...

January 5, 2010 8:18 AM

 DY_Goddess said...

Sounds like a win/win situation to me ; ))

January 5, 2010 9:17 AM

Mari of the NoMads said...

OMG - does that mean I'd have to go to the Old Timer with Tony and scoop even MORE poop than I do around here with OUR dogs if you win? And surely not the walk with Leslie Sansone - YOU already do that for me!YIKES!

January 5, 2010 11:23 AM

cousin nancy said...

Hi everyone! Thank y'all for the comments they have made me smile and laugh out loud!

Anon, I hope that I really do win, because I really don't want to clean the Lodge or reupholster Kinky's couch and chairs, again! I'm too old for that kind of stuff and I might get thread poisioning! If I do lose the bet, I have already decided that I will go to the Salvation Army store in Kerrville and just buy Kinky some new used furniture! And, instead of cleaning the Lodge, I have decided that I will just give Kinky my beloved Space Ship and suggest that he move into it. He could use the newly built breakfast nook that I built as his office/kitchen table, and he could call it his "Portable Lodge On Wheels!" Thank you for sending the $5.00 for our "Will Bark For Food Campaign!"

Fay, I hope that it is a win/win situation too, but honestly I would love to win so I could shoot video clips of Kinky hanging out with the old timers in Medina, talking about the weather, etc., then showing Kinky actually working with Tone in the dog pens, and him doing some serious farm work chores with T. on Tony's computer, but the best video would be the one with Kinky 'walking the walk' with Leslie and me! That video would be priceless! Trust me, Kinky would be huffing and puffing the entire time and I would be chasing him around the 'big room' with an ashtray!

And Yes, Mari, you would have to do it all! The Old Timer would be fun, the poop scooping with Tony would be a breeze for you, too since you already have your hands full with all of your dogs, and the virtual farming would be easy since it is make believe and there's no heavy lifting involved! And I would love for you to meet Leslie! She's a kick!

January 5, 2010 7:23 PM

Y'all have a great evening and wish me luck on my bet with Kinky! If I win the bet, I promise that you will love the video clips! It is now nine fifteen and Sting is singing, If You Love Somebody! Good Night.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Last night, Tony and I made healthy, homemade tamales, for our Thanksgiving dinner, today! It was a lot of fun, and I am proud to say that we made thirty-one tamales! Count them!

This morning, at six o’clock, after we ate breakfast, we started cooking, the Thanksgiving dinner— for our dogs! Aaron called us at seven-fifteen, ‘I need coffee. I forgot that the Old Timer was closed. Can I come over, now?”

Tony picked up the phone. “We’ve got coffee. Come on over, the gate is—open.” Ten minutes later, Aaron was drinking a cup of coffee, in our kitchen. After drinking two cups, he and Tony went outside to get the four feed buckets.

This was Aaron’s first time, to ever cook a Thanksgiving dinner for forty-three homeless dogs, and he was anxious to get started! Since Tony and I have cooked Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, for our dogs, for over ten years—it was still exciting! It always makes me tear up.

“Aaron, these are your two buckets and these are mine,” Tony said. “This is your drill with the paddle mixer and this one is mine.” Tony then picked up a large sack of premium dry dog food, and then poured it equally into the four buckets. “We’ll do the eggs next.” Tony handed Aaron a carton of thirty-six eggs. “Now, put eighteen eggs into your two buckets.”

As they cracked eggs, I stirred the vegetables in the giant pots on my stovetop. “When do we get to use the drills?” Aaron asked.

“Not yet,” Tony said, acting like a drill sergeant. I started laughing, because Neil Young was singing, ‘Comes A Time!’ He was singing, ‘Oh, Oh, This old world keeps spinning round...’ They didn’t get it.

Tony then handed Aaron a giant package of shredded cheddar cheese. Then they added the cheese, two big jars of garlic, and the two large bottles of olive oil. I grabbed the six large bags of Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing and gave them—three bags each, to add to their buckets. “We’re ready to mix,” Tony declared.

As they mixed the food, I took a few pictures of them. Then there was a knock on the door! It was Josh! He had come to help us! When the men quit mixing, Aaron and Tony added the fifteen pounds of ground turkey, while Josh added twenty-four cans, of high dollar dog food, into the four buckets. “We’re ready to mix,” Tony said Aaron grabbed Tony’s big drill, and gave Josh the smaller drill—then they went to mixing!

As those two mixed, Tony removed the heavy vegetable pan from inside the oven and began pouring in the twenty pounds of hot, cooked mixed vegetables—corn, peas, green beans, carrots and lima beans!

While they were mixing in the last of the vegetables, I phoned Kinky. “Kinky, we’re fixin’ to serve our dogs their Thanksgiving dinner!”

“I’m on my way!”

Josh and Aaron turned off their drills, and the three of them carried out the four, very heavy, hot buckets of food, and they put them in Kermit.

“Happy Thanksgiving!” I said to the dogs, as Tony, Aaron and Josh began serving our dogs their warm—Thanksgiving dinner! I then started skipping around the pens to take pictures and to wish each dog a Happy Thanksgiving!

When Kinky arrived, he and I watched the awesome tail-wagging event unfold. When all of the dogs had gobbled up their meals, Tony, Aaron and Josh went back and fed everyone seconds!

After Aaron, Josh and Tony had finished washing out their buckets and utensils, Kinky visted with everyone.

I hope that y’all have as good of a Thanksgiving as I have had!

Long May You Run!

I am still avoiding the news and am happy and basically sane. I am also proud to report, that I did my ‘inside the trailer—three mile walk’ using my weights and the—stretchie this morning! Yeah, me!

After my workout, I checked my e-mail. Our good friend, and super rescue ranch dog walker volunteer, Carol V. sent me an e-mail, congratulating me on starting up my walking program, and then she told me some upsetting news!

A week or so ago, Carol and her gigantic lovable, black Lab, Scout, had been out walking on a neighbor’s ranch, with a friend of hers, and Scout was bitten on his leg by a rattle snake, inside an old barn! They had to rush Scout to a veterinarian clinic, and fortunately, Scout survived, and is now doing fine and back to normal! As for the rattler—he didn’t make it. So, until we get our first frost out here—these boots are made for walking—inside my trailer.

I spent much of my day taking care of business, while listening to my iPod play one favorite song after another. It is amazing to me, how strongly music affects me. I love it and am hardly ever without my music—it grounds me and calms me.

Late this afternoon, Kinky returned to the ranch! Around five-ish, I went over for a visit. We had much to talk about, and he is very excited about our calendar raising money for our rescue ranch! After we had discussed some business, and caught up with each other’s news—Kinky challenged me to a game of pool. Short and sweet—The Hummingbird Man won.

When I returned to the rescue ranch and told Tony about Kinky beating me in a game of pool, Tone called Kink and asked if he could come over to the Lodge. Tony was only gone for about twenty minutes or so.

When Tony walked into the trailer he said, “Medina Bulldog—1 and The Hummingbird Man—0. He had four balls left on the table.” Then Tony grabbed a beer out of the fridge, and went outside to go check on the dogs.

I hope that y’all have a great evening! Neil Young is singing, ‘Long May You Run.’ I love that song so much! Long may you run and I mean it! Have a wonderful evening!

P.S. NoMads, Lori G. and Mari B., are coming out to the rescue ranch tomorrow! They can’t wait to get into my Space Ship, and go into Outer Space with Tony and me! It will be their very first time! I can’t wait to see them! We will have a blast! The NoMads Rock!

Don't Super Size Me!

Yesterday afternoon, Tony and I had to go to Kerrville to run several errands. One of the errands on our list was to go by Copies Plus to pick up six more sets of Tony’s postcards! As usual, Trish had outdone herself—they were beautiful!

Then we went to Wolfmueller’s Books, to show them off. Sandy and Jon loved them and they purchased nearly all of them! Tony was delighted, which made me happy!

Last night, after blogging, Tony and I watched Morgan Spurlock’s ‘Super Size Me,’ an incredibly great documentary, about McDonalds and the fast food industry. John Kemmerly had highly recommended that we watch it. He had told us that it was awesome! And, he was right!

In the scary documentary, Morgan vows to eat only McDonald’s fast food for one month and nothing else. Before starting his fast food diet, he goes to doctors and has many tests done. The outcome of the tests give Morgan a clean bill of health—he is in excellent shape. Then he starts the diet, vowing that if he is ever asked, ‘do you want to super size it?’ he will always say yes.

Morgan’s documentary left Tony and I speechless. Then we watched the bonus features. When Morgan interviewed Eric Schlosser, the author of ‘Fast Food Nation.” After watching that—Tony and I vowed to never eat at McDonalds or any other fast food chain, ever again!

I highly recommend that everyone see this documentary—it is life changing, as John had said. I can’t wait for Kinky to see it! John just told me that you can watch it for free at:

http://www.watch-movies.net


It is almost 10:00, Woody and Rose are coming out this afternoon, and I need to clean the trailer. But, before I tackle that job—I’m going to bake another loaf of ‘Cousin Nancy’s Miracle Bread’—to share with them. Right now, Neil Young is singing ‘Long May You Run!’ I just love him, and that song.

P.S. I hope the Medina Bulldog wins today! We love California Dreamin,’ but the title must stay in Texas!

P.S.S. Our good friend, Billy Joe Shaver, is now singing, ‘Live Forever!’ Another favorite song of mine. ‘I’m gonna live forever...’