In Dreams I Go Back Home!

The past few days have been great. On last Tuesday's blog post I wrote that the sweet waitress, at the Thai O'Cha Restaurant made Tony and me look fat so I didn't post a picture. Well, sweet Eva has sent me a picture of Stephen K. Morris and Eva Robinett posing with us and Tony and I still looked fat, so I cropped it and this is what I got.

And the good news today is Tony and I are going to do the Atkins Diet for a few weeks or until we lose our muffin tops. But please don't tell Tony about dieting, because he doesn't know that we are dieting it.

Last night Tony and I met our dear friend Carol, at the Medina Highpoint Resort, for their Friday Nights delicious Catfish buffet. And also because Hogan & Moss, who we love their music, were doing a concert, out on their huge patio.

The buffet was delicious as it always it and omg, Hogan & Moss put on an incredibly great show and had the big crowd begging for more. In fact, we never stopped tapping our toes to their beautiful music, which is good because I'm sure our toe tapping helped Tony and me burn off a few extra calories.

This morning, I wasted about thirty-minutes of my time Googling on approximately how many calories are burned toe-tapping non-stop. And I found nothing, so if y'all know or can find out please let me know ASAP, because tomorrow afternoon between 4:00 - 7:00 Carol, Tony and I will be toe-tapping, again, at the Western Edge Cellars, in Fredericksburg. Because Stephen will be hosting another one of his awesome Outsider Insider Singer/Songwriter shows. And I want to invite all of y'all to join us there for a super-fun time.

Back to last night, at the Medina Highpoint Resort. During Hogan & Moss' 1st break, Bethany a dear, old friend of ours walked up to our table to say hi to us. And even though we haven't seen Bethany in several years and because we are such good friends our conversation picked up like we had just seen her yesterday.

Carol, Tony and I had a blast visiting with Bethany and we talked and laughed non-stop until Hogan & Moss took the stage again, to sing another great set for the crowd.

Later on, when it was time for all of us to go home, before it got dark on us, we got to have a fun, friendly visit with Maria Moss & Jon Hogan. And it was a lot of fun, because we quickly found out that they are real good friends with many of our great musician friends—such as: Chet O'Keefe, Jim Keaveny, Stephen K. Morris, etc.

And before we all adios-ed each other, Jon & Maria gave Tony and me two copies of In Dreams I Go Back Home, which is their latest, fabulous CD. And they asked us to please give one copy to Kinky, because they especially wanted Kinky to listen to Can't Always Cry, the 2nd cut on the CD. Because this beautiful, unfinished song had been written by the late Blaze Foley and after Blaze's untimely death his daughter had asked Jon to please put music to it for Blaze. 

And that is about it for tonight, because Tony and I are fixin' to go over to visit with Carol & Bill.

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

We Rescued St. Patrick!

Today has been great. Our fabulous friends/dog-walking-volunteers came out this morning and walked our dogs for us and we loved it, but our dogs LOVED it more.

After walking our dogs for us all of us decided to eat lunch together, at the Thai O'Cha restaurant, in Kerrville. So, on our way to Kerrville, on Highway 16, before Quiet Valley Ranch ( Home of the Kerrville Folk Festival) we spotted a small dog running south.

So Tony immediately stopped and pulled off to the side of the road and so did Andy & Judy, who were following us to the restaurant. We jumped out of our trucks and hollered, "Hey, little buddy! Come here. Here boy..."

The dog heard us and he stopped in his tracks and then he turned around to look at us—then he came running towards us, while we waved frantically at an oncoming pickup to slow down, because the dog was close to the highway.

This cute dog ran to Andy and let him pick him up. Then Andy handed him over to Tony, so Tone could put him inside, Trigger's backseat. And before we adios-ed our good friends, I said, "We're taking him to Hoegemeyers, so please tell everyone that we will be a few minutes late."

On our way to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, I turned in my seat and took this picture of a very lucky dog, who seemed happy and perfectly comfortable riding in the truck. And that's when I named him St. Patrick.

As soon as we walked inside Hoegemeyer's lobby, I took this picture of St. Patrick, before we handed him over to Susan, as I told her, "We've just rescued St. Patrick.... Please scan him and give him a check up. We'll check back with you later."

Lunch was a lot of fun and of course our food was totally delicious. But let's get back to St. Patrick.

When we got back home Susan, at Hoegemeyers called to tell me, "I've got good news and sort of bad news. The dog has a micro-chip, but one of the phone numbers has been disconnected and the other phone number isn't accepting calls right now...."

Forty minutes later, Susan called me again, while I was writing this. "Nancy, I have a little more news. I've located his records. He's been neutered, his shots are current and his name is Copper. I've been on the phone non-stop trying to track down his owners..."

After Susan and I adios-ed each other, Tony suggested that I call the pound, so I did. I told the nice gentleman about us rescuing Copper, on 16 and everything that I knew about the friendly dog. Then I asked him if anyone had called them about missing him. "No, ma'am, but if anyone calls I will tell them to call you or Hoegemeyers. Good luck..."

So now it is a little before 4:00 and I am fixin' to call the radio stations where Harley and Big G work, to see if they can help get the word out about Copper. And then I am going to call Quiet Valley Ranch. So please keep your fingers crossed for Copper. I will update when I get some more news.

Hung Up!

Today has been great. This morning Gretchen Wilson was Big G's Pet of the Week. She is approximately 4 years old and she is a total sweetheart.

I spent most of this morning doing rescue ranch paperwork. I returned e-mails, phone calls, wrote up a deposit, wrote thank you letters and paid bills and by then I was ready to get out, of The Cabin, because I needed some fresh air, because I am not fond of doing paperwork.

Tony and I took off and went to Medina to mail my letters and while we were there, we checked out this super cool, newly built Tiny House On Wheels, parked next to the Log Beds store and we found out that they are going to start making Tiny Houses to sell.

Then we made a deposit, in Bandera and then we headed to Kerrville, so we could run the rest of our errands. And after we ate a delicious, late lunch, at the Thai O'Cha restaurant, we ran the rest of our errands and then came back home.

Carlton was flashing, on top of the breakfast bar, when we walked inside, The Cabin, so I pushed his button to see who had called.

Two messages were from our friends and the last message made me sad. Because in 2013, we had rescued the sweetest, small dog that I had named Red Skelton, but later on I changed it to Red Foxx. He was only about 4 years old and it did not take us long to find him a wonderful home, with a very nice man.

Anyway, the phone call was from a very nice woman who had called about needing to return Red to us, because her father-in-law, who had adopted Red, had passed away and I could tell that she felt very sad about it. So if any of y'all know someone who wants to adopt a sweet, 8-9 year old dog, please ask them to call me.

I returned the woman's phone call, but got her machine too, so I left a message asking the woman to please call me back, because I wanted to let her know that we would definitely take Red back and that we were sorry about her father-in-law's passing.

Then Tony helped me re-frame the note card picture that I had painted for my sister's 70th birthday, because I wanted to replace the wrinkled matte and then Tony helped me frame Roscoe's CD, because I totally love it, because every time that I look at the cover picture—it makes me smile and chuckle. After Tony framed it for me I hung it up, between the kitchen and the big room.

Then I found a small space, on the wall, next to our water cooler dispenser, to hang up my new sign that I had purchased earlier today. And it makes me smile, too, even though those flying monkeys scared me to death when I was a kid. 

Tonight I plan to read more of John Steinbeck's fabulous book, Travels With Charley: In Search of America, because I totally love it, because it is inspiring me, after I finally retire, to drive around the country with Tony and our dogs and write about the interesting people/animals/ that we meet. And that is about it for tonight.

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

Click!

I am finally out of hibernation, because the Super Bowl was great  and so exciting, including Lady Ga Ga's performance and because today has been great, too.

I wasn't all that excited about watching Super Bowl, because the Cowboys weren't in it, but I watched it anyway. And I am glad that I did, because the last twenty minutes of the game had Tony and I glued to the TV.

I must confess that early this afternoon, noon to be exact, was embarrassing for me, even though I should be used to being embarrassed by my "Senior Moments."

Early this morning, after giving Roy his morning pill and after drinking my first cup of coffee, I pulled on my sweats so I could do my workout video Walk Slim: Fast & Firm! 4 Really Big Miles with Leslie Sansone.

Right after I started the workout the phone rang—it was Kinky—so I paused my workout. First, we talked about the great Super Bowl game. Then he suggested that we eat lunch together, in Kerrville. "Kink, we would love to, but I have to do a call-in, at noon, for a Board Meeting conference call with Jay & Sarah Pennington and the rest of the Pet Search & Rescue Board Members. It should last about an hour or so and then we can go."

"That's perfect," Kinky said. "Where do you want to eat?"

"You decide. I'm tired of making decisions. Let's talk after I do the board meeting? I'll call you as soon as I am done."

"Sounds good." Click. Kinky didn't say goodbye, because when he and I talk we rarely, ever say goodbye to each other. Bottom Line   We just hang up on each other after we're done talking. Because it's been a "family tradition" with us for over twenty-five years. An old habit that we're okay with.

Anyway, after my sweaty workout with Leslie I took a quick shower and dressed and had only three minutes left before calling Sarah's cell phone, for our board meeting."Hi Nancy," Sarah said.

"Hi Sarah."

"It is good to hear from you. What's are y'all up to?"

"Nothing much. We're meeting Kinky and Dylan for lunch today, in Kerrville."

"Oh, that sounds fun."

"It always is," I replied. Then there was an awkward silence.

"Nancy, are you calling for the board meeting?"

"Yes. I am ready to do it." Then there was another awkward silence.

"It's next Monday, Nancy. Not today." Then she and I started laughing about me having a senior moment and getting the date wrong. Then we properly adios-ed each other.

As soon as I got off the phone with Sarah I called Kinky. And when I told him about me getting the date wrong for the board meeting he chuckled out loud.

At 1:35, we walked inside the Thai O'Cha restaurant and we were over five minutes late when we joined our friends for a delicious lunch.

Tony and I had a super fun time eating lunch with Dylan Ferrero and Kink. The two of them took turns telling us interesting and/or funny stories from their past. When I asked Dylan to give me an update on the seamstress repairs of his old, famous, cobra  snake jacket. Kinky chuckled and teased him, and said, "Oh not again. Keep it short, Dylan. Every time you and Nancy get together y'all end up talking about that jacket, that only you and Keith Richards own." We laughed.

"I got mine first," Dylan reminded Kinky. "When Keith saw mine, at a Band gig, he had one custom made for him, too. And only he and I have those coats. Sure there are other cobra jackets everywhere, but none like ours." Then Kinky jokingly yawned as Dylan gave us his latest, famous, jacket update."

Then it was Kinky's turn to talk to us about his upcoming East Coast tour, in March, that he is really looking forward to doing. And while we ate our delicious lunch together, Dylan and I talked about the time when he was with the Rolling Stones, backstage at a Band concert and him getting his good friend, Ronnie Wood, to call his friends, in Marble Falls, Texas, because they were big time fans of the Rolling Stones. 

And his friends not believing it was the famous rock star, Ronnie Wood, guitar player, because they thought it was Dylan playing a joke on them. "After Ronnie had talked to them, he handed me the phone and they were still in disbelief that they were talking to Ronnie. They even teased me and told me that I needed to work on my Cockney accent before pretending to be Ron Wood...."

And when Dylan and I changed the subject and were talking about our love for dogs—Tony and Kinky had cleaned their plates and were talking about Sophie and the rest of The Friedmans and Kinky's upcoming tour dates. And that is about it for tonight.

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

It Dawned On Me!

As promised I am going to tell you about yesterday. Of course, Friday was a great day, too. First off, I overslept, which sort of threw a temporary wrench into my plans, because I had wanted to get up much earlier, so Hazel and  I could clean up our trailer, before Tony, Lori Darlin' and I took off for Kerrville.

You see the night before, because of the rain, we had decided to cancel dog-walking due to mud and instead just meet our good friends/volunteers, at the Thai O'cha, for a fun, delicious lunch, at 11:30.

Thursday night I had sent all of our great friends/volunteers e-mails, suggesting the new game plan and everyone was fine with it. But unfortunately, I was not able to contact Dawn, because I did not have her e-mail address or her phone number.

Anyway, yesterday morning, after Hazel went back into the closet to rest, while Tony was still outside doing his morning chores—the phone rang. As y'all well know I normally always screen phone calls and just let Carlton take the messages, so it was no big deal— I thought. But boy was I wrong.

There I was in the bathroom, just getting ready to put my dentures in, when I heard Dawn saying, "Good morning, Nancy. This is Dawn. Even though it has rained, I want you to know that I'm leaving right now and coming out there to help walk the dogs..."

I panicked, because I needed to tell Dawn not to come out here, because we would be gone and to tell her about our change of plans, but my dentures were still wading around, in Polident Overnight Whitening cleanser, inside my pretty pink, plastic container, next to the bathroom sink.

Knowing that I needed to catch Dawn before she left to come out here, I swallowed my pride, so to speak and raced to get the phone, before Dawn hung up, on Carlton. Our conversation went something like this.

"Ha Dau. Ith Nuncy."

"Hi Nancy? I am so glad that I caught you?"

"Dau, I am o glod ew culled me!...." Talk about being embarrassed, omg, I was, because after we hung up, it dawned on me that Dawn was probably thinking that I was drunk or something.

Anyway, after my disastrous phone call with Dawn, I quickly put my fake teeth in my mouth and cemented that deal. Then I took a quick shower, because I knew that we were planning to leave in less than twenty minutes.

Before we left, the rescue ranch, I had just enough time to call the restaurant, to tell our friend Song, "This is Nancy, at the rescue ranch. I wanted to give you a heads-up, because all of our volunteers and us are eating lunch there, at 11:30. We are going to need a table for fourteen..."

Flash forward, after we dropped sweet Lori Darlin' off, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, to get her full round of shots, including her Rabies shot, we headed straight, for the Thai O'Cha restaurant, to meet up with our dear friends.

And to say the least, we had a fun, delicious lunch with our great friends and I sat next to Dawn. And during lunch, I quietly confessed to her about me talking to her without wearing my dentures and she thought it was totally hilarious. So I said, "Well, all I can say is, "Thank goodness we weren't Skyping each other."

Today has been great, which I am sure comes as no big surprise to you. (Laugh out loud.) Anyway for our lunch I cooked Jim aka The Mineral Man's newest recipe that he kindly shared with me, the other day. Knowing full well that I would steal his recipe from him and then call it Cousin Nancy's something or other.

All that I am going to tell you is that it was absolutely delicious, because I haven't named it yet, but I will tell you that the ingredients include: steak, tomatoes, potatoes, jalapeño, garlic, green chiles and onion. So I am going to let you figure out how I cooked Jim's mouth-watering casserole/stew.

Life is good.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing! (As long as you're wearing your dentures!)

Tom Kha Gai!

Today has been great, because we are actually getting some much needed rain. We haven't gotten a lot yet, but it is starting to rain right now.

This past Tuesday Tony and I ate lunch at Thai Ocha Restaurant, in Kerrville and we ordered the same thing again, but this time instead of  ordering their #4 we ordered the all you can eat Soup & Salad.

We loved eating their salad and we both had seconds on their delicious Tom Kha Gai soup of the day. Neither of us have ever tasted Tom Kha Gai soup before and because it was so delicious, when I came home I researched and found Tom Kha Gai recipe for it.

Then for the next three days the ingredients started arriving. Then I went on Amazon and ordered almost all of the ingredients. And most of them I cannot pronounce or ever try to. Anyway, I spent $60.00, with free-shipping and still need to buy the rest, the next time that we go to Kerrville. Here is a picture of just some of the ingredients, from Amazon Prime, that are needed to make this mouth-watering soup.

I bought two different brands of Coconut Milk, Premium Fish Sauce, Kaffir Lime Leaf dried whole, Thai Galangal Slices, Lemon Grass, Nuac Mam Nhi and Chili Oil. 

And then later on I found out that there is actually a great Thai Food store, in Kerrville and that H-E-B also carries several of these products. I am planning on cooking this soup this week and I will let you know how it turned out.

Since last Friday afternoon we've had friends spend the weekend with us and we had a wonderful time seeing our friends. They left early this afternoon to go back home and we are so looking forward to their next super-fun visit.

And that's about it for today, because I'm pooped and I am going to take a short nap with our dogs and then do some more writing tonight.

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

My Fellow Americans!

Today has been so much fun, because we met our fabulous friends aka best dog-walking volunteers in Texas, at the Thai O'cha Restaurant, to celebrate Tony's birthday.

Tony and I were the first to arrive at, The Best Thai Food Restaurant, in Kerrville. And because we had just picked up a few groceries, at the big H-E-B, I suggested that we wait a few minutes, inside Trigger, before going inside. And while we waited I thumbed through the new H-E-B TexasLife recipes and fresh ideas, August 2016 and I found several healthy, delicious-looking recipes that I want to try in the near future.

A few minutes later, we climbed out of Trigger and as we were walking towards the entrance, our dear friends Kris & Jim pulled into the parking lot, so we waited for them to join us. After howdies, I asked, "Kris, weren't those Hans Freitag Wafers with cocoa cream filling delicious?" 

Kris & Jim laughed, and Kris said, "Yes. In fact I am blaming you for an added pound...." Then Kris handed me this DVD, and said, "We finally remembered to bring this with us. It is so funny. You'll love it."

"Oh great!" I said. "I love Jack Lemmon, Dan Ackroyd and especially James Garner. I am going to watch it today...."

When the four of us walked inside this friendly restaurant with great vibes and delicious Thai food, our friends Ju and Song greeted us and then showed us to our table for eight. 

Eileen arrived next and after howdies she put Tony's birthday cake on our table. And then she teased Tony about him getting older.

The she handed me this magazine. "This is for you, Nancy. I thought that you would enjoy reading about the Apple Store's SPJ Burger making the 50 Best Burgers, in Texas. It's on page 89."

Then I thanked Eileen for giving me the magazine and that's when Lisa joined us. And within a minute she had all of us laughing out loud with her latest news. And then a few minutes later, Kay and Sarah joined our party of eight. 

After Ju had served us our drinks and had taken our orders the real fun began as we caught up with each other's news. Kris showed us adorable pictures of their new grandson. Eileen and Kris & Jim talked to Tony about turning 62 and being eligible to get Social Security. I talked about Sunday's surprise Black Helicopters fly-by and us twice, in the past few months, seeing mysterious, white, unmarked eighteen-wheelers caravanning fast down Hwy. 16 towards Medina. 

Then we started discussing Tiny Houses and that's when we learned that Sarah actually lives in one. "Oh my goodness!" I said. "I love the Tiny House movement and I watch tv shows, read books about them and I check them out, on the Internet almost everyday...."

Following our delicious as always, fun lunch, Eileen lit the candles, on Tony's birthday cake and we sang the Happy Birthday song to him. And to our surprise "my old man" blew out both candles on his very first try. "Way to go, Tony!" 

It is 6:20, and Kinky has just called me to ask me to come over to meet some friends of his that are visiting him, so I guess that I had better wind this up, because I told him that I would be over there in five minutes.

So, to say the least about Tony's birthday party, "It was a total blast and Tony loved it and especially the hilarious birthday cards and delicious cake." And before I must go and forget, sweet Lisa baked Tony her famous, delicious Banana Bread and he's saving it for tomorrow, but I have no idea how long it will last, because we love Lisa's delicious Banana Bread.

As soon as I get back from Kinky's I am going to spend my evening, with Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) sleeping on my lap, while I watch My Fellow Americans."

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

Years Ago! or Life Imitates Art!

Yesterday was great and so was today. As you already know Henry Standing Bear and Scout went to their private Kerr Klickers class that was taught by Marguerite's friend Linore, who is considered an expert in Clicker Training.

I had Tony go with me, because I wanted him to also learn how to Clicker Train our sweet Henry. Marguerite took her cute Scout, that she adopted from us almost a year ago, for a refresher course.

Linore's class was very informative and a lot of fun, even though I kept fumbling with the clicker and the tiny treats. In fact, I was pretty funny to watch, because I am so uncoordinated compared to Marguerite and Scout. And the great thing about Linore's class was that we enjoyed it and Henry and Scout had a blast.

When the one hour class ended Linore suggested that we unleash our dogs and let them play together for a few minutes. But sadly that didn't happen for very long, because when Henry saw himself, for the first time in the mirror, he forgot all about playing with Scout and he kept us laughing for several minutes.

Now here's a blast from the past. Twenty-two years ago I used my very first Mac computer and made a cartoon of Yoda, my sweet Boston Terrier and I titled it Mirror Mirror. It's not a great piece of art, but I love it, because it is a constant reminder of my funny, little clown that always kept me laughing. And it still hangs on the wall, in our master bathroom, opposite the wall from our lovely, posh, plastic garden tub.

By now I am sure that you are scratching your forehead and wondering why I'm telling you about this picture, but don't worry, because soon you will find out why.

After Tony, Henry and I adios-ed Linore, Margurite and Scout we took off fast, in Buttermilk, because we were going to meet up with Dennis, our dear friend that adopted Boomer from us, thirteen or fourteen years ago.

As we drove over I-10, with Henry sitting proudly, in the back seat, I punched in Dennis' phone number to find out where we were going to meet him & Laura and his visiting cousins. "Hi Nancy," Dennis said. "We're in Mary Louise Hays Park and we're parked under the Highway 16 bridge. We're in a red car and..."

Ten minutes later, we were also parked under the bridge and doing howdies, handshakes and hugs. We camped out under the bridge for about thirty minutes having a super fun visit with Dennis & Laura and his friendly family. And Tony took this picture of us before we adios-ed each other. Dennis is the one on the left.

  

Today has been a lot of fun, too. At 12:30, we met our dear friends: Denise & Les and Kris & Jim, at Thai O'cha, which is one of our favorite restaurants in town.

Tony and I had a blast visiting with our friends and the Thai food, of course, was absolutely delicious as it always is. We laughed and joked a lot and we talked about our Longmire—Texas Style spoof, wanna-be hippies, some of our favorite music from the 60's and 70's, etc. Then Jim's phone rang and he checked it and then told us the very sad news that Merle Haggard had just died. And that put a little damper on our fun, because we all loved Merle and his music.

After we had talked about the great Merle Haggard, Waylon and Willie being the best we talked about how important they were and are to real Country music. Then I changed the subject and told them about Henry's Clicker Training class and how fun it was and how happy we were to both be training The Hen.

Then Tony and I told them about Henry seeing himself, for the very first time in a mirror and how funny it was. 

And that is why I earlier wrote about my Mirror Mirror cartoon of Yoda, because in 1889 Oscar Wilde wrote in his essay The Decay of Lying, "Life imitates Art for more than Art imitates Life." And here's the proof!

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

We Had Visitors From Afar! or A Really Big Crush!

Yesterday and today have been so much fun for Tony and me, because yesterday we had visitors from afar and they weren't Aliens, even though I would love to have Aliens, like Bob, come visit me.

Our first visitors yesterday arrived around 3:30. They were Philip & Cheryl, these super nice professors of literature, who drove all of the way from Kansas. And the main reason they came to see us was to drop off Harry's, (Philip's father) huge collection of first edition, signed Kinky books, posters and Kinky memorabilia etc., that Harry has generously donated to our rescue ranch, so we can sell them or auction them off to benefit Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. 

When Philip & Cheryl arrived it was misting outside, so Tony and Philip quickly transported Harry's boxes and framed posters to a safe place for us to store Harry's collection. Then we invited our new friends to come inside The Cabin for a really fun visit, because Harry had told me about how much his son and daughter-in-law love Terlingua and enjoy going to the Big Bend National Park.

So, as we sipped our teas or coffees, we became fast friends, because we had so much in common. Seriously, if one of us wasn't talking about Harry & Wanda, music, books or Big Bend then we were all laughing. 

Unfortunately, they could only stay and visit for about an hour, because they needed to get back to their friend's house, in Austin, before dark-thirty, because they are spending their Spring Break attending Austin's famous, annual SXSW Music Festival. 

Tony and I were having so much fun with them we hated to see them leave, but we hugged and adios-ed each other and bid them farewell.

An hour and a half later, Sarah Burton arrived and we hit it off instantly with her, too. Sarah Burton is an awesome singer/songwriter and musician who plays both the guitar and the piano, but not at the same time. She is from Canada and she has duel Canada/USA citizenship. And she has recently purchased some property, in Terlingua, while she was out there playing some gigs, in Terlingua. 

Anyway, earlier this week, our dear friend, Chet O'Keefe, had sent me an e-mail about how she had become good friends with him and Jim Keaveny & his wife Anna Oakley, Haislip, Jamie, Mark, Shannon and the rest of our mutual friends. Then Chet told me that Sarah was going to San Antone and then up to Austin to play at SXSW, so he asked me how I felt about her making a stopover here and spending the night, before driving into the Alamo City to pick up her sister. 

Chet also raved about what a great person and how nice she was and about how awesome her music was, so I immediately wrote him back and said, "...We would love to meet Sarah Burton and she is more than welcomed to spend the night here, in my pretty, pink, writing cabin..."

Last night, Tony and I had so much fun getting to know Sarah Burton. We quickly found out that we had much in common besides loving Terlingua and our mutual friends that live out there. And at one point, after showing her my guitar, I asked Sarah, while she was holding it, if she felt like playing a few of her songs for us. And she did! 

Omg, Sarah Burton is one extremely talented singer/songwriter/musician and her beautiful voice, lyrics and skilled guitar playing totally mesmerized us including: Henry Standing Bear, Little Debbie and Big Al(ice). In fact, Henry made us laugh after she sang her first song, because Henry would not quit staring at Sarah, so I joked, "I think Henry has a really big crush on you."

Sarah left this morning after drinking coffee and eating breakfast with us and once again, we were sad to see her leave. But before she left she gave us two of her CD's, so we are now hooked on her great music, too. Sarah Burton is on Facebook and Twitter, so please check her out and her music. Here are two of her CD's that she signed to Tony, me & Henry, inside the jacket.

We met our dear friends/volunteers today, at the Thai O'Cha Restaurant, to celebrate Jim aka The Mineral Man's birthday and once again, Tony and I had a total blast. When we arrived Kris, Jim's super sweet wife, was Face Time-ing Jim, because she had to go out of town unexpectedly to go help her mother who was recovering from a bout of pneumonia. Anyway, Jim moved his iPhone slowly around our big table so we could all say howdy to Kris and her mom.

Of course, it goes without saying, that our lunch was totally delicious, as always and it was too much fun, because we laughed, joked and teased each other non-stop. And before we were served our delicious lunch, Eileen said, "Nancy and Tony, y'all's Henry Standing Bear is becoming very famous on the Internet." Then she passed her iPhone around for all of us to see what she had posted on Longmire's Official Posse's fan club site.

Eileen did this, because yesterday, after Tony had posted a cute picture of Henry Standing Bear on Tony's Facebook page, Eileen tagged it and then she posted the photo of Henry and Tony's selfie, on Longmire's Posse site and a whole lot of Longmire's loyal fans had—Liked it or had made cute comments about our Henry, that we named in honor of Lou Diamond Phillips' character.

After we finished eating lunch, our good friend Ju and staff came out singing the Happy Birthday song to Jim and carrying a candle-lit, beautiful German Chocolate cake, that Kris had pre-ordered from Creative Cakes By Sharon, that she had asked Eileen to pick up and bring to Jim's birthday party for her. And the least that I can say about this cake, because tonight's post is getting way too long is, "It was the best German Chocolate cake that any of us have ever eaten." And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Semi-Original!

Today has been great. This morning after Tony did the chores outside we we jumped into Trigger and took off for the big H-E-B, in Kerrville.

As we were leaving the ranch Kinky drove up in Mr. Green Jeans, and he invited us to join him, Dylan and Max, for a delicious lunch, at the Thai O'Cha restaurant. It was tempting, but we declined his invite, because we wanted to get back to the ranch, as soon as possible, so I could cook us lunch. And before we adios-ed each other, we talked about which cowboy hat Kinky should wear on his upcoming tour, in Europe. Then we took off and followed Kink all of the way to Water Street, where he turned left.

When we got back from our shopping spree at the big H-E-B, I cooked us lunch, which Tony thought was delicious.

After I cleaned up the kitchen, I grabbed my camera to document me making my first loaf of "Sam's Original Homemade Bread," that I found on page 201, in the new cookbook Texas Back Road Restaurant Recipes that Rick & Clara Jo gave to Tony.

Here are just some of the ingredients:

While my Cousin Nancy's Semi-Original Homemade Bread was rising, I lined up the four boxes of Girl Scout Cookies, that we had purchased as we walked outside the H-E-B grocery store.

When I was putting the cookies into the freezer, Tony walked inside carrying our new Bamboo pillows, that were on sale, for half price, at H-E-B. "You're not going to believe how heavy these pillows are," Tony said, as he put them on top of the kitchen table. And when I tried lifting the the two pillows, tightly packed inside the plastic bag, my jaw dropped, because Tony was right about me not believing how heavy they were. 

When I took our new pillows out of the packaging, I saw this label and it perturbed me somewhat, because we sleep on regular sized pillows and we don't own any Queen-sized pillowcases, so our dogs can chew the ends off of them, like they've done to all of ours.

Because I don't like to sweat the little things in life I took our pillows to the bedroom. Then I removed our regular-sized pillowcases from our old pillows and slipped our new, two for $69.99 bargain, into the pillowcases. They fit fine, but this is what they look like.

Then I took a short, fun break and went outside to play with Henry Standing Bear, while I was waiting to knead the bread again and then place it into a greased bread pan, for it to rise again for another hour, before baking it.

As I finish writing this, Cousin Nancy's first loaf of Semi-Original Homemade Bread is just a few minutes away, from coming out of the oven. And it really smells great. So, I am going to pass this time to once more tell you that our great friend, Steve Pietzsch, will be featured next weekend, on Texas Country Reporter and a week later on RFD-TV. And this morning, as we watched the end of Texas Country Reported—they showed a clip of Steve and mentioned that he will be on next week's show.

And here is a picture of the delicious, homemade bread that I made today using this great, new cookbook Texas Back Road Restaurant Recipes. And I am so proud of it, I just might call Sam's Original Restaurant, in Fairfield, Texas or go there to thank them for sharing Sam's Original Homemade Bread recipe. Yeah! I finally, for the very first time, actually baked a delicious, homemade loaf of bread and Tony and I love it. So as you can guess—it is almost half gone.

Y'all have a great evening!

Six Fours! or The Blue Couch!

Today has been great. Around 11:30, after we had dropped off Big Foot and Grandma, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, to get their first puppy shots, Tony and I met six of our good friends/volunteers for lunch, at the Thai Ocha restaurant. Eileen was the first to arrive, we were second, Lisa was third, Kris & Jim were fourth and June and Ellen were the very last to arrive, but no one was late.

Before we gave Ju our orders I showed off Little Debbie's cute, tiny, pink, wannabe UGGS that she will be wearing, I hope, when she stars in our upcoming "Longmire—Texas Style" skit/video that Eileen, Lisa and I co-wrote, in hopes that the Longmire cast and crew will invite all of us to be on location with them, when they film a new Longmire: Season 5 episode.

When our friend, Ju, came to take our orders she first teased Tony and me about always ordering their #4. Then Tony and I ordered the exact same thing—two #4's. Then to my amazement four others, at our table, ordered the #4, too. "Good grief," I said. "That's six fours! I wish Kinky was here to see this, because it mildly irritates him that we always order the #4 and won't ever try something else."

Of course, while eating our delicious lunch, we did a lot of laughing. In fact, we were the loudest table, in the restaurant. And before we adios-ed everyone, in the parking lot, Eileen and Tony transferred several large sacks of free dog food, from her truck to Trigger. "Thank you so much, Eileen!"

Then we took off to go pick up the puppies, before the clinic closed early for New Year's Eve. Our next stop was at Home Depot, to purchase a chainsaw. I stayed in the truck with the puppies while Tony went into the store.

After twenty-five minutes passed by I started to worry about Tony, because it doesn't take that long to buy a chainsaw. And five minutes later, I saw Tony approaching Trigger with empty hands. When he got back inside the truck he told me, "Sorry, it took me so long. Their computer showed that they had five chainsaws, in the store and three very nice employees did their best to locate them, but they couldn't find them..."

Late this afternoon Ellen, June & Kevin and James came out to pick up the blue couch that folds out to be a bed, that used to be inside my cabin, before Aaron, Tony and I built the twin bed frame. And while the men loaded the heavy couch into the back of their truck, I took June and Ellen to my cabin to show off the new bed, etc. and they loved it, too.

Tony and I followed our friends over to their Shoestring Ranch, so Tony could help the men unload the super heavy couch. After the men carried in the blue couch and sat it down, June gave me a private tour of their adorable, soon to be, bed & breakfast cabin that she and Ellen have been renovating. And I loved it, too.

When we were fixin' to leave, we wished everyone a happy new year, then I joked, "How sad. Helping move the couch over here is the highlight of our New Year's Eve partying. We can tell everyone that we went out on New Year's Eve, because it is after 5:00. And we can just leave out the part that we helped move a blue couch."

When we got back home, Carlton was flashing, on the breakfast bar to let me know that Kinky had called. So, I picked up the receiver and punched in his number. "Hi Kink. What's going on?" Then I heard Kinky laugh.

"Y'all had six fours! That's absolutely hilarious."

"How do you know about that?"

"Dylan and I ate there today about an hour after y'all left and they told us about it. You and Tony really need to try something else on their menu, because it is all delicious food..."

The puppies are sleeping right now and here is another picture I just took of them.

And that is about it for our exciting New Year's Eve celebration.

Y'all have a great evening! And have the best New Year ever!

Big G!

Today has been great. This afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville to meet Big G for lunch. We ate at the Thai O'Cha, our favorite Thai restaurant.

Of course, Tony and I ordered the exact same thing—their delicious #4 and Big G ate something that had peanuts in it. It looked tasty and he told us that it was totally delicious. We had a blast eating lunch with Big G (Gordon Ames). And we are looking forward to doing it again real soon.

A nice woman called me yesterday about five, mixed Jack Russell pups that need homes. She told me that they are 5 months old, spayed or neutered, all shots, micro-chipped and they weigh between eight to twelve pounds. She has three males and two females.

Lola sent me pictures of these pups, so I could post them and try to help her find homes for them. If you or anyone you know is wanting a sweet pup, please call me at the rescue ranch, so I put you in contact with her. Here are Lola's five pictures of the puppies.

Y'all have a great evening!

Thank You, East Kerr 4-H Club! Y'all Rule!

The last few days have been great and so much fun. Friday, with the exception of two, all of our wonderful friends/volunteers showed up to walk our dogs for us.

Kris & Jim brought along, Kate, their beautiful daughter, who was down here visiting them, from Portland. And Kay, our newest friend/volunteer came out, too.

While our dogs were being walked Kris & Jim and Kate came up, to The Cabin, so we could meet her and visit. Roy, Belle, Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) were delighted to see them, too. Our dogs acted goofy for a few minutes and then they settled down. And while we had a fun visit Kris and Kate took turns holding Little Debbie and Big Al(ice).

When the dog-walking was done outside, all of us went up to the Koyote Grill to eat lunch together. Normally, Tony and I are the last to leave the rescue ranch, but because it was Kay's first time to come out, she followed us up to the Medina Highpoint Resort.

As always, Tony and I had a blast eating lunch with our dear friends and there was tons of laughter, to say the least. When Eileen retold her hilarious, story about going kayaking, with June, Ellen and Nyta  and accidentally snagging a fish, on her life jacket and thinking it was a snake attached to her life vest—everyone had to quit eating, because we were all laughing so hard. And I'm pretty sure that's when my back started aching.

This time Tony and I didn't order the exact same food. He ordered a hamburger, with no onions and fries and I ordered their Special, which was cheesy-potato soup and a BBQ slider and it only cost $5.00. Omg, the soup was absolutely delicious. I have never had cheesy-potato soup before, so I vowed to find a recipe for it, on the Internet and make it as soon as possible.

Before Tony and I adios-ed all of our good friends, Jim & Kris invited Tony and me to join them and Kate for a Saturday lunch, at the Thai O'Cha.

Saturday morning, while Tony was outside working I called Kris & Jim to ask them if it would be okay to invite Kinky to join us. Their response was a unanimous, "Yes. By all means! Invite him."

After we adios-ed each other, I called Kinky. "...By the way, Tony and I are going to eat lunch with Jim & Kris and Kate, at our favorite Thai restaurant. We would love for you to join us."

"It sounds good, but Nance I just woke up. Let's discuss it in a little while. Mr. P. stop it. Leave Sophie alone...." Right after we had adios-ed each other, our phone rang—it was Kinky. "Nance, my new coffee-maker, that I just purchased, two months ago, isn't working. I desperately need some coffee, now."

"I'll make you a cup and bring it right over," I said. "Wait, I can lend you my inexpensive, wannabe Keurig coffee machine, that I take with me on trips. I'll be over there in just a few minutes." Then I called Kris & Jim back. "Kinky thinks he wants to do lunch with us, but he is not sure, yet, because I just woke him up and right now I've got to take Kinky some coffee, because his new coffee maker is broken. I'll call you as soon as I know."

I made Kinky some Kona coffee and then I put it into a plastic container, so it wouldn't spill. Then I found my imitation Keurig, that was in the Mother Ship. Then I took off for the Lodge.

Let's just say that Kinky was more than thrilled to see me. He met me outside and took the hot coffee, in the container. While I was showing him how to use my little, traveling coffee-maker, he started teasing me about me going into my teaching mode. "Seriously Nance, I think I can figure it out...."

A few minutes later, before I left, I asked him he was going to eat lunch with us. "Nance, I think so, but I am so exhausted from being, on the road and having to go to all of these receptions. I mean the receptions were nice and fun, but I am sort of peopled-out..."

When I came back home, I immediately called Kris & Jim. "....Kinky is still not sure if he is going to eat lunch with us, but he told me that 1:30, would be the best time for him. He started joking with me about being tired of going to all of these receptions...."

After I adios-ed Kris, I went to my computer. And a few minutes later, I had made a sign, to tease Kink, if he showed up for lunch. These are the three words I put on my homemade sign that I was going to place on our table: 

Kinky Friedman

Reception

Tony and I arrived at the Thai O'cha, at 1:29 and we saw Buddy, Kris' truck and Mr. Green Jeans, Kinky's truck parked in the parking lot. "Dang it, now I can't surprise Kinky," I said, before entering our favorite Thai restaurant.

Right after howdies, we sat down, at the table. I sat next to Kinky and while he was telling our friends a funny story, I pulled the sign, out of my sack to show to everyone. Kinky immediately started laughing and so did everyone else.

Our lunch was totally delicious and as always, we were the loudest table, because Kinky kept us laughing, with jokes and hilarious tales from his recent tour. We spent over an hour and a half with our friends. When Jim asked Kinky to pose with Kate, for a picture, I grabbed my iPhone and snapped these pictures, too.

And you can see the Kinky Friedman Reception sign that I placed behind him.

When we laughed about the sign, Kinky grabbed it and posed, again.

Today has been great, even though it has been drizzling most of the day. This morning I found a cheesy-potato soup recipe and I made it for lunch. But, it was pretty bland taking, so I started adding all kinds of leftovers and it turned out great. Tony loved it and he ate two servings of it. "Nance, that is the best soup that you've ever made! You need to share your recipe. What's in it?"

"I started out with potatoes, celery, onion, garlic, organic chicken broth, bacon, milk, three kinds of cheese, pepper and salt. Then I added our leftover Cajun beans & rice, a jalapeño sausage, spinach and some pico de gallo. And the secret ingredient is cinnamon, because I was talking on the phone to Rick and when I thought I was adding pepper, I picked up the cinnamon instead...."

Tony laughed, and then said,"You need to call it Cousin Nancy's Kitchen Sink Soup."

It is now 4:30. Tony is still outside with Karon and the kids, walking our dogs for us. And Kinky has just called me, "Nance, are you still threatening to bring over your soup that Tony says is the best soup that you've ever made?"

So, I just put some of my delicious, leftover Kitchen Sink soup, in the same plastic container that I used to take Kinky some coffee yesterday morning.

I just got back from taking the soup over to Kinky's, He told me that he wasn't hungry right then, but he would heat it up later and give it a try. When he asked me what was in it, I named off all of the ingredients, but I intentionally left out that  cinnamon was the secret ingredient. Then he asked me to go on a short hike with him and The Friedmans, but I told him that I couldn't, because I was wearing my pink Crocs. Anyway, I hope he likes my soup as much as Tony does.

And lastly, I want to thank the great, East Kerr 4-H Club, our favorite 4-H Club, for the totally awesome dog house that they built for our dogs. It is green, huge and it has a shingled roof. For the past three weeks, Gayla and I have been trying to coordinate a Saturday that would work out for us and the club to come out to deliver their incredibly great dog house, but things kept coming up for each or us or the weather wasn't cooperating.

Anyway, Gayla & Scott, delivered it to us, Saturday morning. Scott and Tony unloaded the giant dog house, by Baxter and Honey's pen and this week, with some help, it will go into Honey's and Baxter's pen, so they can enjoy it. 

I wanted to take a picture of it, but they unloaded the front of the dog house facing the fence, so I am going to have to wait, until it is moved into the pen, so I can take a good picture of it. "We love the East Kerr 4-H Club and we thank them! The East Kerr 4-H Club Rules!"

Y'all have a great evening!