Episode 21: Garrison Mulemanship & Training! or Mules Rule!

 Today has been great and I absolutely loved interviewing Paul & Alejandra Garrison. 

In this fun episode I had a wonderful time interviewing this famous couple, Paul Garrison and his beautiful wife, Alejandra, who work as individuals or as a team training mules and their people. In other words, or their words to be exact:

"Mule school for the mule and his/her human. Offering training for the mule and the human in order for them to have a more harmonious relationship!"

Tony has known his good friend, Paul Garrison, since they were kids going to school, in Medina. Paul & Alejandra are professional mule/people trainers and they are known worldwide for their outstanding skills and knowledge of training mules and teaching "mule-people" everything that there is to know concerning mules.

Paul and Alejandra have and will travel worldwide doing clinics for groups of mule lovers and by appointment only people can bring this couple their mules for some one-on-one instructions and Alejandra & Paul will also travel to help individuals learn mulemanship and the art of training these magnificent animals.

For more information please check them out on Garrison Mulemanship & Training on FaceBook.

Or watch them on the Texas Country Reporter here.

To listen to this podcast please CLICK HERE or on The Cousin Nancy Show located near the top of the sidebar.

After doing the super fun and interesting podcast we went outside before they left and posed for Tony.

Before I go I want to thank the Garrison's for doing the podcast with me today. And lastly, please never forget my favorite quote: Life is short and so am I!

Y'all take care and keep on laughing! Mules Rule!

Springsteen On Broadway!

Today has been great and so was last night, because I this incredibly great Netflix Special—Springsteen On Broadway.

Omg, it was so good I went to bed last night thinking about it and it still has me thinking about it, so I plan to re-watch it again tonight. Seriously, I cannot say enough about how much I love Springsteen On Broadway and if you decide to give it a try I promise that you'll be hooked within the first couple of minutes and you will not want to miss one second of his performance.

Early this morning after doing my new habit, "Today is going to be a great day!" I had a little surprise waiting for me in the kitchen, that would test if my new habit actually works.

Okay, let me set the stage for you. I was in the kitchen finishing off my first cup of coffee and I decided that I should wrap Tony's and my Secret Santa gifts that we were giving to Tessa and Sarah, because the Escondida Christmas party that we were going to started at 10:30 this morning.

(Note: Last week Tony and I shopped and we purchased our dear friend's gifts along with a roll of wrapping paper, because I had no wrapping paper to speak of. It was my idea to get their gifts early, so we would not have to do any last minute shopping. )

To set the Christmas mood this morning, for my gift wrapping task, I chose this fabulous Christmas channel on Pandora, that Carol had told me about, because it plays classic Christmas songs sung by Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Burl Ives, Nat King Cole etc.

As Dean Martin was singing Winter Wonderland and Henry was barking at something outside, I had the Christmas spirit and I was ready to wrap the presents, on the kitchen island.

When I opened the roll of wrapping paper (that was on sale, which should have been a clue) my heart sank, because the wrapping paper was clear and you could see right through it.

So I am thinking, well never mind I'm not going to tell you what I was really thinking, because there were cuss words involved. And let's just say that I was well aware that I was not having a great day as I had expected. But I was determined to turn it around. You know, like when you get lemons you make lemonade.

So I grabbed a roll of plain white Bounty paper towels and decided to first wrap the gifts (boxed wine) using paper towels and then wrapping the paper towels with the cheap gift wrapping paper. 

And ten minutes later—our friend's boxes of fine wine gifts were wrapped or better said—camouflaged and they were ready to be delivered.

The Secret Santa Christmas party was so much fun, because Tony and I truly love everyone that works at Bob & Kelli Phillips' famous Escondida resort. I took this picture of everyone before the party started in one of the beautiful sitting rooms, so you can see why we love these great people so much.

Our friends were all in the Christmas spirit and everyone seemed to love their gifts. And since it was a morning Christmas party Sarah served us some delicious Martinelli apple cider and grape juice and an assortment of tasty pastries. 

And Sarah and Tessa thought that my creative (emergency) wrapped paper towels covered by gift wrapping paper was hilarious, even though they instantly knew that they were getting boxed wines from us. And to say the least, it was one of the best Christmas parties that we've ever attended and that made my great, again. So, I want to say, "Thank you Bob & Kelli, Sarah, Darlene, Duane, Ray, Lisa, Rick and Tessa! Merry Christmas!"

When the super fun festivities ended Tony and I were walking to the truck when Tony stopped, and said, "Wait a minute. I need to get a picture of you since you took all of the pictures..." So Tony grabbed my camera and he took this picture of me dressed in my cowgirl outfit. 

And the only reason that I am showing my picture to you is because Tony kept his promise and he shot me from the chest up, so you couldn't see my muffin(s) top(s). 🙆

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing! And today has been great!

The Roadhouse Troubadour!

We've still been busy. So you might be asking, "Doing What?" Well, for starters we've been working on my new writing cabin.

Which has been a chore and a half, because we had to move some of "my stuff" in my shed and "Tony's stuff" in his shed back and forth. You see Tony's shed was full of a lot of insulation to be used for our sheds, my saddle and saddle stand, several unpacked boxes, etc. And my shed was full of tools, more unpacked boxes, tools, furniture, etc.

The weather played an important role in completing this task, because it could not be raining when we transferred our stuff. So we spent 8 hours, four days ago, on a beautiful sun shiny day completing this project. And the good news is my shed/writing cabin is now totally insulated except for the ceiling and we wired it for electricity.

So all we have to do now is connect the electricity, put up the drywall and decorate it. And Tony's shed is now organized with a lot of our stuff still needing to be unpacked and it should be a breeze for us to fix his man-cave.

Yesterday, another beautiful sun shiny day, we painted our other shed that is located across from our circular driveway. The painting went fast, but we had to stop and go to the Home Depot in Kerrville to buy the trim boards for it. And by 4:30, yesterday afternoon, we had painted the trim boards and put them up. Then we celebrated our accomplishment with a couple of Lone Star beers.

We still need to get a few more 1"X4"s to finish trimming the door and window, but that will just have to wait for a few days, until we get another beautiful day to paint the remaining trim boards and put them up. Anyway here is a picture of Henry being caught watching Tony work on the shed.

And here is a picture of our newly painted bistro table, in our front yard, with the almost finished shed, in the background.

Please note that our enlarged front yard took us a whole day also, because we had to move the fence, paint the table and chairs and then bring in gravel and spread it around. And that's why I've been too busy to blog or work on my novella lately, because we've spent our days outside improving our Big Foot Ranch.

And now with our weather turning to rain and much cooler days beginning tonight, I plan to stay inside, cozy up to our awesome, wood-burning stove and start writing again.

Last week, when Tony and I were working next door, at Escondida, the beautiful resort owned by the much loved Texas Country Reporter Bob Phillips and his lovely wife Kelli, our dear friend Sarah Robinson introduced us to Dan White "The Roadhouse Troubadour."

Dan White, a very talented singer/songwriter/musician was over at the resort setting up his equipment, because last Saturday night, he preformed his awesome country music for Kelli's & Bob's guests. 

And to say the least—Dan's fabulous music and his humorous stories made it a wonderful evening never to be forgotten. So I hope that you will check out Dan White "The Roadhouse Troubadour," because we love him and his music. And please click here to watch and listen to Dan White performing.

After we visited with Dan the other day he gave Tony and me this album, I Haven't Been Everywhere Yet...But It Is On My List, and we love his songs so much—we can't quit listening to Dan's CD.

Before I finished writing this I went into the bedroom to put on a sweatshirt and I found Henry Standing Bear sleeping on the bed. He looked so peaceful, in La-La-Land, I had to grab my camera and take this picture of him, before I go take a short, cozy nap with him and the rest of our dogs (My Best Friends).

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

P.S. Gaby, we received your sweet note from Germany and we miss you more!