The Dukes of Hazard!

Good grief, today has been great. I have been busy since Mama and I climbed out of bed, at 6:00, this morning. We got up earlier than usual, because I was doing the Harley Show, with my pal, Harley Belew. I had fun doing his popular morning radio show. We talked on-air about Mr. Rogers, his Pet of the Week and then we talked about our upcoming, Concert for Utopia, on Palm Sunday at 3:30, at the Cailloux Theater featuring Ray Benson & Asleep at the Wheel, Billy Joe Shaver, Chet O'Keefe and Jesse Dayton. Here's Mr. Rogers, but please note that he comes with baggage, Miss Dee.

As soon as I finished the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch segment with Harley I sat down, at the kitchen table and started doing paperwork until Tony came home. After I cooked him breakfast and had cleaned up the dishes, I went back to doing more paperwork.

When it was time for us to go outside, I was still working and only needed to make up a deposit and write thank you letters, so Tony went outside, without me to start doing our chores. Forty minutes later, all of my paperwork was done. 

As I was about to go outside to help Tony, the phone rang, so I listened to the message. Then I called the nice woman right back, to tell her that I felt sorry for the problems that she was having to deal with, and then I told her that it was fine for her to return the two Yellow Lab pups to us, that she had adopted from us, in November. She had named the puppies Roscoe and Daisy and they are the litter mates, to Brandon's pup, R.J. 

Before adios-ing her, I said, "Tony has a chiropractic appointment, in Kerrville, at 1:30, so if you could drop them off, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, that would be great for us, because we are going there after his adjustment, to pick up Dodi, a three-year-old dog that we rescued yesterday." Then I called Susan, at Hoegemeyers, to let her know that the pups were coming in. Then I went outside to find Tony.

Tony was in Mr. Rogers and Miss Dee's pen, waiting for the dogs to finish eating. "Tony, I think it would be best if you let me finish the chores outside, so you can go to Bandera to make a deposit and mail letters for me." As I rode with Tony, in Kermit, up to The Cabin, I told him about the two Labs coming back and how much time we could save, letting me finish the chores and him going to Bandera.

Five minutes later, Tony and Trigger were gone and I was outside feeding Rocky and Rockette.

One hour later, after I had finished feeding the dogs and cleaning their pens, I decided to mow down some tall grass in Lois Lane's pen, using the push mower. Since Tony was still gone, I ended up mowing the grass in Rufus and Roxanne's pen and Kate Middleton's pen.

As I was pulling the mower out of Kate's pen, Tony arrived, so we went up to The Cabin, so I could take a quick shower and clean up, because we had fifteen minutes left before we needed to head to Kerrville, to eat lunch before Tony's1:30 appointment with Dr. Hubble.

Tony and I ate a delicious lunch, at Classic Burgers & Moore and then we walked down the sidewalk to Dr. Hubble's office. As Dr. Hubble worked his magic on Tony, I thumbed through four magazines, in the waiting room. 

While I was thumbing away, a nice, old cowboy, walked into the chiropractic clinic, for his  appointment with Dr. Hubble. After he had chatted with the receptionist about showing up early, he sat down, in the chair next to me. And ten minutes later, you could have heard a pin drop, in the waiting room and I got so embarrassed, because my stomach started growling loudly and it wouldn't stop. 

Even though, I kept crossing my legs and shifting in the chair, to hopefully make my stomach stop growling, I was sure that the old cowboy wanted to chuckle about it, but he was polite enough not to say a word. 

But, once again—I was wrong about that assumption. Five minutes later, when the cowboy got up to grab a magazine to read, he leaned down and I heard the faint sound of a fart, before my stomach growled again. He acted like nothing had happened and so did I, because he must have been hard of hearing, too.

Thirty minutes later, after leaving Walgreen's, with a Lumbar pillow and Lumbar back support, for Tony, because Dr. Hubble told Tony that he had a bulging disk, Tony and I laughed all of the way to Hoegemeyers, about my stomach growling and the old cowboy breaking wind, instead of steers.

When we arrived at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, we loaded up Dodi first. When the brother and sister Labs came into Hoegemeyer's lobby, everyone there laughed about them being so cute, because the Lab pups were bouncing up and down with joy and wanting to make friends with all of the pets waiting in the lobby. 

As soon as we got back home, we put Dodi, in the portable pen, next to Holly. Then we drove down to Katie's pen, so I could leash up Katie and walk her down to my writing cabin's front yard, while Tony unloaded and introduced these happy pups to Katie's pen. 

It was around 4:00, when I walked inside The Cabin and I heard, "Hello, Nancy and Tony! This is Lamar. I am in Medina and I wanted to know if I could swing by for a visit." Then I answered the phone.

"Hi, Lamar! We just got back to the ranch. We would love to see you. But, I've got to tell you that Kinky isn't here. I think he is in Austin." Lamar laughed.

"That's fine. I just wanted to come out and see y'all. I love coming to the rescue ranch, because it always makes me feel happy..." As soon as we adios-ed each other, I grabbed my camera and went back outside to tell Tony that Lamar was coming to see us and to take pictures of Daisy and Roscoe. 

Tony was thrilled about Lamar coming out to see us. Here are a few snapshots that I took of the Dukes of Hazard Labs. The first picture shows them playing in Katie's pen. The second one is Daisy with a ball. She is darker than Roscoe and the other two are Roscoe. 

Right after taking these pictures, Lamar showed up! After howdies and hugs, we showed Lamar Daisy and Roscoe and Lamar fell in love with the pups. While we were standing there catching up with each others news, Karon and the kids, from the Medina Children's Home arrived. "Hi, Karon, I said. "I want you to meet our dear friend, U.S. Representative Lamar Smith. He's a dog lover, too..."

After a fun visit with Lamar, Lamar gave our rescue ranch a very generous donation and I gave Lamar, signed copies of my two novellas. And for those that have already read my two fiction novellas, this should make you laugh and him after he reads it, because I signed this inside the Part II novella : 

"For Lamar,

Remember the Alamo!

Love, 

Cousin Nancy

2-20-14"

Before Lamar drove away, Tony took this picture of Lamar and me, standing outside Daisy's and Roscoe's pen.

Around 5:40, after Karon and kids had left, Tony and I went over to see Chet and Marcie, to deliver a dozen of the Golden Girls eggs, but unfortunately, Marcie wasn't there. We ended up visiting with Chet O'Keefe for about thirty minutes and then we came back home, so I could write this. And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Legend Of The Nellybelle!

Two days ago, while Jan and Todd were at Pet Supplies Plus, finding forever homes for Ellen, Oprah and Bandit, I received a phone call from Bob Wightman! Bob and his wife, Helen, are the super sweet couple, who sold me my beautiful 1983 Fleetwood trailer, back in 1995, when I moved to Utopia, Texas. And, they let me make low monthly payments to them, because I could not afford to buy it out right. I love these two people—they are the cream of the crop in Utopia, and were a Godsend to me!

I ran into Bob, three years ago at the Super S grocery store in Bandera, right after my book had come out. He and I had a long visit, and we caught up with each other's news, and then he told me about Blue's latest escapades.

Bob was one of the first people to adopt one of our dogs, back in 1998! I just looked it up in my book. On page sixteen, I listed "The Magnificent Seven," actually forty-one dogs, that we rescued during that Labor Day Weekend. Blue was the sixth dog that we rescued! In my book, it reads: "#6. Blue: Med. blue merle Aussie mix—male, approx. 3 months old."

Blue was rescued along with his two litter mates—Amigo and Candy—all beautiful puppies! I named Blue, because he had one blue eye. When we rescued forty-one dogs over that three day period—we didn't have much time to come up with names, when we were only two miles away from dropping them off at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic to be spayed, neutered, given shots, etc. And besides—I love dogs named Blue. It is a great name—just ask Tony!

When Bob called, I was so happy to hear from him! He told me that he had had a very rough year. He had a hip replaced and his lovely wife, Helen, at the age of 79, had just passed away on June 5th, from cancer. They had been married for fifty-five years. His sad news broke my heart and I teared up. Tony and I loved Helen.

After we had talked about Helen and his loss, Bob changed the subject, and caught me up with Blue's news. I learned that Blue is doing great, slowing down a bit, because he is eleven years old, but he still goes on daily walks, down to the river, with Bob, and he now wears a seat belt when he and Bob go somewhere in his old white pickup! I loved hearing Bob's Blue's news!

Before our conversation ended, Bob told me that his friends, D. J. and his wife, Barbara, were thinking about getting a small dog, and he wanted to know if we had any. I told Bob about our small dogs, but when I told him about Rowdy, our small, sweet, one year old Min Pin—he told me that his friends had always wanted a Min Pin! He told me that he was going to call Barbara and D.J. and would call me right back!

A few minutes later, the phone rang—it was Bob! He told me that they were interested in meeting Rowdy, and Bob made an appointment for them to come out this morning around 9:45—they were on time!

After meeting Barbara and D..J., I gave Bob a big long hug. Bob then handed me a picture taken of Blue, last year, with this caption on the back, 'Blue 2008—On morning deer watch.' Tony and I loved Blue's picture! Isn't he beautiful!

After I put Blue's picture inside Buttermilk, for safe keeping, Tony and I gave them the 'Grand Tour.' They loved the Space Ship, and going into Outer Space with T. and me! While we were visiting, I invited Bob inside the trailer, for a tour, even though it needed vacuuming! When he walked inside, he was amazed at what all Tony and I had done to it! He loved it! Then I found out that my trailer, the Nellybelle, was even more famous than it already was!

My trailer, over the past fourteen years, has been in several Kinky documentaries, a large picture of our bedroom, was on the front page of the Chicago's Tribune Lifestyle section, years ago, and just to name a few famous people like: Gary P. Nunn, Imus' MSNBC camera crew, U.S. Representative Lamar Smith, Bill Hageman, John Kelso, Little Jewford, Copper Love, Harley Belew, Billy Joe Shaver, Will Hoover, Animal Planet, Mike McGovern, Rambam, Captain Midnight, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Sage and Dylan Ferrero, Tom Price, Kinky Friedman, Christopher Hitchens, John Mankieiwicz, Reverend Goat Carson, Steven Fromholz, PBS film crew, Larry Dierker, Kent Perkins and Ruth Buzzi—have all been inside it, and they loved it, and could not believe that it was a 1983 trailer! I love it!

Enough bragging. Bob told me Nellybelle's untold story. Bob and Helen had bought some property in Utopia. They hired a broker to find them a nice used trailer, in Houston. Bob told me that once a month, there were these trailer auctions, and on one rainy Saturday, their broker went to the auction. Because of the rain, not many buyers showed up. The trailers were parked in a half circle, like a horseshoe, and the Nellybelle was the last trailer their broker looked at. He bought it for a good price!

When the trailer was going to be delivered to Utopia—there was a problem! When it reached San Antone, on 410, the road was suddenly shut down, and their/my trailer caused traffic to stop, and pile up for hours and miles! Bob told me that he and Helen watched it on TV, as the news helicopters circled above our trailer, while the newscasters talked about it! Wow! Bob told me that they had it for over six years, before selling it to me.

After Bob's and my visit, the five us left Outer Space, and we went to show them Rowdy. As soon as Rowdy saw them coming, she turned on her charm, and started climbing up the fence, one foot at a time! When she reached two feet, she climbed back down, to get petted. Barbara and D.J. really liked Rowdy, and told us that they wanted to take a day to think about it. And, before leaving the rescue ranch, she told us that she would call us tomorrow! We've got our fingers crossed!

Y'all have a great evening!