Supreme Pizza!

Today has been a wonderful day. This morning while I was outside cleaning the pens I wondered which one of our fabulous dogs was going to be adopted today, because earlier in the week Mr. Brad E. had called to tell me that when he came to pick up his three children from Echo Hill Camp—they wanted to come over and adopt another dog from us, because their old dog had passed away in April and Ringo, the dog that they had adopted from us, three years ago, needed a companion.

Around 11:00, while I was dressing after my shower, Brad and his three nice kids arrived and by the time I got outside to greet them—Tony had showed them most of our dogs. "We really like Enzo," Brad E. said, "But I think the kids want to look at those pups."

"The bigger pup is Candace Bergen and the smaller one is George Clooney and that's their mama, Martha Stewart," I said, as the kids petted the happy puppies, while Brad showed us a picture of Ringo on his cell phone.

After I had told them about naming Enzo Swift after the dog in Garth Stein's The Art Of Racing In The Rain which is now officially Kinky's, Tony's and my all time favorite book, Brad's daughter told me that she had read the book and had loved it, too. Then Brad told us that he looked forward to reading it, too and then we walked over to Enzo's pen, so they could take him for a short walk. After Tone had a leash on Enzo he handed the leash to Brad's youngest son to see how Enzo walked on a leash with him and Enzo Swift did beautifully and that cinched his adoption and we were thrilled.

Before I went up to the trailer to fill out Enzo's adoption papers Tony took a picture of Enzo with his new fantastic, forever family. Then Brad stood back and took a picture of Enzo with his kids so he could e-mail it to his wife in Houston, before they got home.

After Brad E. had signed off on Enzo's adoption form the kids helped their father rearrange the back of their packed SUV so Enzo would be comfortable on his trip home and before leaving they told us that they liked his name and that they were not going to rename Enzo Swift and that made me tear up, because our/their Enzo is a great dog just like the one in Stein's book. After we thanked them for adopting another big, black dog from us Brad thanked us for doing a what we do. Then they drove away with one of the coolest and happiest dogs in Texas.

On our way back to the trailer I looked at the adoption form and noticed that I had forgotten to give them the envelope with Enzo's paperwork and that's when we decided to go to Medina to mail them Enzo's paperwork and to eat lunch at Papa Don's Pizza & Wings, after I called Kinky in Las Vegas, to tell him the great news about Enzo. And to say the least Kink was thrilled that his friend Brad E. and his family had adopted Enzo and he told me that he was sick that he wasn't here for Enzo's adoption, because he had really wanted to see Brad and his children and say good bye to Enzo.

After we mailed Enzo's papers we walked into Papa Don's Pizza & Wings and it was packed with pizza and wings lovers and after we ordered a supreme pizza with jalapenos on regular crust we sat down at a table and talked about the weather with some of the locals we knew. And because Papa Don's Pizza & Wings pizza's are so delicious—I ate two slices and because of that—I walked four miles with Leslie Sansone as soon as we got home and then I did some paperwork.

Early this evening Tony and I jammed in the big room for about forty minutes and I am so amazed at how much his mandolin playing skills have improved. Then I checked my e-mail and my friend Curt from Terlingua sent me a video to watch of four tenor men singing Amazing Grace in Rome and it was so beautiful and I hope that you will check it out, because I promise it will lift your spirit and the middle part of the video totally surprised me and caught me off guard.

And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying for rain for us.

My Spring Break!

Yesterday, I officially took the day off for my Spring Break, after I prepared Gus' adoption papers, so Tony could adopt him out to our friend, Sam, while I was gone.

Around ten o'clock I climbed into Trigger to go meet my sister and her husband in Fredericksburg for lunch, a visit and to show them my new teeth, because I haven't seen them since October when I got my dental work done. "Nance, I plugged in Garmina, so you won't get lost. Have a great time. I love you," T. said. "And please call me when you leave Fredericksburg, so I won't worry about you."

An hour later I met up with them, in the Fredericksburg's Walmart parking lot, and our fun day began. After howdies and hugs, I grinned and showed them my "new grill" and they were full of compliments about them, then we took off for Enchanted Rock, but it was so crowed with Spring Breakers, we went back to Fredville and ate a delicious lunch instead. After that we walked the crowded streets and had a great visit.

When Trigger and I returned home around five o'clock, Tony told me all about Gus' adoption and then we went to Medina to go watch our nephew's baseball practice. But when we got to Medina we made a quick stop at the new pizza parlor in town, Papa Don's Pizza & Hot Wings, so I could give Kevin, the owner, the pizza box that Kinky had signed, along with some pictures of Kinky signing the box and Kevin and his wife were thrilled. Then we went to the baseball field and had a fun visit with Sam & Stacie, as we watched their son practice with his teammates.

When we got back home I started tinkering with my new Yeti microphone, trying to make it, make me not sound like Gabby Hayes on helium, when I start working on my audiobook tomorrow, but because it is a high quality mic—it made me sound exactly like Gabby. And, that is why I did not blog last night, because I was semi-depressed about sounding so much like Gabby. And now, I am scared-to-death that everyone will laugh out loud, the second they hear me reading my book to them.

This morning while Tony ate his breakfast and I drank a smoothie, I played him a short "testing" of me reading my book and I started laughing, as I watched him trying not to laugh. "Tony, I know I sound  just like Gabby. I can't help it," I said, still trying to be optimistic about my project. "Who knows, Tone? Maybe it will be a best seller, because it is so funny, because of me reading it out loud." And that is when T. quickly got up from the kitchen table and grabbed a red dish towel to keep the 2% milk from coming out of his nose.

"Who knows?" Tony said, as he wiped away the milk on his nose, while trying not to laugh. "You don't sound that bad, Nance." And then we burst out laughing again, when I pushed the "play" button on the recorder and heard me reading my book.

Today has been quiet, so I spent most of my day today out in my writing cabin aka Cousin Nancy's Recording Studio, trying to record the Table of Contents, which I did a good job of, but is pretty funny to listen to.

Because of the Full Moon tonight, while T. and I were out in Outer Space for Happy Hour, I made a decision and told T. about it. "Tony, I want to go with you to the Old Timer tomorrow morning, so I can meet all of your friends. Would that be okay with you?"

"I would love it, Nance! What time do you want me to wake you up?"

Y'all have a great evening!

My Yeti!

Today has been a quiet day and it was just what I needed. This morning our good friends, Ellen & Charlie came over with Catfish, their cute grandson that was visiting them, to do Tony's morning chores for him, because Tone finally took a day off and went to the San Antonio Zoo, with his sister Annie, to photograph the animals.

They had invited me to come along, but as you know— "I don't do San Antone" ever, because of the crazy, heavy-traffic, which stresses me out too much. So, I stayed home and babysat his dog Belle while I caught up with my mound of paperwork.

Around lunch time I called Kinky. I told him that I needed to go mail a letter in Medina and then I asked him if he wanted to split a pizza with me. "There's a new pizza place in Medina called Papa Don's Pizza & Hot Wings and their pizzas are exceptionally good." After I said goodbye to Kink I called Papa Don's Pizza & Hot Wings and ordered their supreme pizza with original crust, then I jumped into Buttermilk and we took off for town with my letter to be mailed.

After I mailed my letter I went to pick up our pizza, that I could not wait for Kinky to try. When I told the friendly owners that I was sharing their delicious pizza today with Kinky Friedman—their eyes lit up.
"Would y'all like for me to ask Kinky to sign this pizza box for y'all, so you can frame it?"

"We'd love it and could you take a picture of him signing the box?" They asked, all excited.

After Kinky took his first bite of pizza he smiled and said, "Nance, this is a really good pizza!"

"I know. Tony and I love their pizzas and the whole town is behind them..." Here is the picture I took of Kinky signing the pizza box.

Belle was pretty good today and she did a lot of sleeping while I cleaned our trailer. Here is a picture I took of her in La-La Land.

This afternoon UPS showed up before T. got home and I was thrilled to see that the package was for me, because it was my Yeti microphone, along with the headphones and a mike stand, that I had ordered from Amazon, for my very first audio book that I'm fixin' to record of, Meanwhile Back At The Rescue Ranch: The Dog Days Of Cousin Nancy. 

Right after I called Kinky to tell him about my microphone kit finally arriving—Tone walked inside the trailer. After he hugged me he said, "Nance, thanks for letting me take the day off today. I had so much fun and you're not going to believe the great pictures that I took..."

When he was finally done talking I said, "My Yeti is here, Tony. Look at this and the..." After I was done talking T. picked up Belle and hugged her and that's when I took this cute picture of them.  

Then I showed Tony the Pop Blocker that came with my Yeti. You put this shield in front of the microphone and it says, "The Pop Blocker is your best defense against distorting "P" and "B" consonants" and you know that I will need that since we both know that I sound like Gabby Hayes on helium." Tony started laughing, as he put Belle Starr-Simons outside to go potty.

"Tony, do you want to be my sound man?" I asked, as he fiddled with my Yeti. 

"I don't know, Nance," he said, "what does it pay?" And I started laughing.

"I don't know, Tone. I want to do the recording out in my writing cabin, with the occasional sounds of our dogs barking outside, in the background, so it will be authentic. I told Kinky about it and he thought it sounded like a good idea. What do you think?"

To Be Continued...(Sorry, Mari.)

Y'all have a great evening!