Something To Crow About!

Today has been great. This afternoon Tony and I met our once-a-month-lunch dear friends, at the Camp Verde General Store & Post Office. Tony and I arrived about twenty minutes early, so we could check out the store's latest items for sale.

We hadn't been there more than five minutes when I spotted the cutest, turquoise, rooster wall clock. "Look, Tony!" I said, as I took off to check out the clock. "That would look great in our kitchen."

"But, you just bought a clock, at Walmart, for our kitchen."

"I know, but it is so plain and I love this rooster and...." Five minutes later, I paid for it and it was mine! And trust me—I was more than happy about it.

A few minutes later, our friends arrived for a fun lunch, because this time Denise had made advance reservations for us, so we did not have to wait for a table. As usual, Tony and I ordered the exact same thing, except Tony drank sweet tea and I drank unsweetened iced tea.

Once all of us had placed our orders, I showed them my new kitchen wall clock and everyone loved it. Our lunch was absolutely delicious and it was filled with laughter, as we caught up with each others latest news. To say the least, "Tony and I had a blast seeing our friends."

As soon as we got back home, I took this picture of the new clock, in the sack and then I took a picture of the Walmart clock, before I removed it from the wall, so we could hang up the rooster clock.

Then I grabbed the step stool, so I could hang up the new rooster clock, but I had some trouble, so Tony came to my rescue and hung it, up on the wall, for me. "Thank you, Tony."

I was thrilled, because the rooster clock made our kitchen—pop! Suddenly the turquoise, on the painted floor rug, in the curtains, signs and cabinets came alive. I was absolutely thrilled, so I stood back and took this picture of our newly improved kitchen, because it is something to crow about.

And that is about it for tonight, because I need to do a few things, before we sit down and watch our friend, Steven Rambam's premiere episode of "Nowhere To Hide" television series, on the Discovery Investigation channel at 9:00.

Y'all have a great evening!

Packed And Ready To Go!

The last two days have been great and extremely busy. Because it is already 6:30 and I am pooped, I am only going to tell y'all about today's happenings. But I must say that we had a total blast yesterday, when we met our friends: Denise & Les, Kris & Jim and Debbie for lunch, at the famous Camp Verde Store, which is one of the coolest places in the Texas Hill Country to eat. Shelly was our fabulous waitress and she kept all of us laughing, so if you go there, please ask for Shelly.

Last night when I went to bed, I already knew that today was going to be great, but a little hectic, so this morning when I woke up early to do Big G's radio show, I took two baby Aspirins, instead of one like I usually do. Then I drank a delicious cup of Green Mountain Donut Shop Coffee, so I could think and make a plan for our day.

This morning after breakfast, Tony and I went outside to do our chores and while we were feeding the dogs and cleaning their pens, Paul, our rescue ranch's very first volunteer since 1999, arrived with a truck load of free dog food for our dogs. While Tony helped Paul unload his pickup, I finished up our chores.

For lunch, while I washed and dried clothes, I cooked up Tony's and my favorite new shrimp recipe, that I saw on TV and it was healthy, delicious and so easy to make. I'll post that recipe in another post, but not tonight.

After lunch, while my second load of laundry was drying and my third load was washing, I returned several phone calls and e-mails and then I went over to the Lodge to buy Chet O'Keefe's CD, Game Bird. After a fun visit with Chet I came back home, burned his CD and synced it to my iPod, so I could listen to it. Needless to say, "I love his CD."

At 3:14, my friend Kim called to tell me that she was on her way with the two yellow Lab pups, that we had already found a home for, so Tony and I jumped into Buttermilk and took off, because we were going to meet her on the road, between Utopia and Medina, so we could pick up the male and female Lab puppies from her. I took this picture of the precious pups right after Kim and Tony had unloaded them, before they put them in our crate.

After a short visit with Kim, we adios-ed each other and took off to go meet Jennifer, in Kerrville, because she was adopting the cute litter mates. When we arrived at the Mini-Mart, we waited five minutes before Jennifer and her sweet son showed up, so during the wait time we leashed up the puppies and took them out of their crate, so we could clean them up, because one of them had gotten carsick. And I want to thank the sweet people at the Mini-Mart, near Upper Turtle Creek, for loaning us some paper towels.

When Jennifer and her son arrived they immediately fell in love with the puppies and they could not wait to pick them up, so they could kiss and hug them.

We visited with them for about ten minutes, before they drove off to take the lucky Labs to their new forever home. On my way back to Buttermilk, a nice woman pulled up in a giant pickup and asked me if we had any puppies, because her little dog had recently died from old age. I stood out in the parking lot for ten minutes telling her all about Walter Matthau and Ginger Rogers and her five adorable puppies and by the time our conversation ended, she told me that she wants one of the pups, when they are ready to leave Ginger. On our way home we stopped by to see Carol and we had a short visit with her, Scout and Jake. 

On our way home, I said, "I'm glat that it only took us two hours to rescue and get those pups into a great home. I love it, but I am tired."

As soon as Tony walked inside The Cabin, to call it a day—the phone rang. It was Karon, across the highway, at the Medina Children's Home calling, so I picked up the phone. She was calling to see if it would be okay for Chris and Kyle to come over, so they could pick up and take Sandy Wolfmueller to her fabulous forever home. My answer was, "Yes!" 

Then Tony and I went outside, so Tony could go open our gate and I could stay and talk to Sandy about how lucky she was and to also thank her for being a great dog during her short stay, at our rescue ranch. I know she understood by the look in her eyes, so I took this picture of her before Kermit and Tony returned.

Before Chris and Kyle arrived, Tony and I spent ten minutes playing ball with Sandy Wolfmueller and she totally loved it. When I took this picture of her, I laughed and said, "She's packed and ready to go."

We had a short visit with Chris and his son, while Kyle leashed Sandy up, so they could take her home and she was more than thrilled to adios us, once and for all.

When Tony and I came inside, to call it a day—the phone rang, again. It was Kinky calling me from Hawaii. "Nance, I am back in Hawaii, so we can talk daily again. The Australia tour was fantastic and everyone over there loves you and Tony and our rescue ranch. How are The Friedmans?...." After a fun visit with Kink and getting caught up with each others news, we adios-ed each other. Then I threw the third load of laundry into the dryer and started writing this.

Today has been fun and exciting for me, but now I must end this post, because it is nearly 7:54 and I am so tired right now, I think I will just go to bed, as soon as I put our cleaned sheets, blanket and chewed up quilt, filled with Beau's holes, back on our bed. 

Y'all have a great evening!

Grinning Ear-T0-Ear! or The Cowgirl Sisterhood Rides Again!

Today has been another great day for me. This morning after Tony and I did our morning chores outside, I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and his sweet sister Marcie and I really enjoyed it. Then Trigger brought Marcie and me over to the rescue ranch, so I could show off my pink cabin to her and needless to say, "Marcie fell in love with it, just like everyone else has, which makes me feel so good, because I LOVE it so much.

After returning Marce back over to the Lodge I came inside the trailer to check my e-mail and blog for comments and when I read what Eileen, my dear friend commented on my blog I was literally dancing in delight, on Cloud Nine, in my pretty, pink cowboy boots. This is what Eileen wrote:

"Ronnie's guitar, Ronnie's chicken recipe, Ronnie's this, Ronnie's that ... when will it ever stop? Never, you say! OK! You and I will be the proud, new owners of two Pink Princess Phones within a matter of days, Nancy! Just thought that would make you smile!"

After I had quit dancing, because I was so thrilled about getting a Pink Princess Phone from Eileen for my cute cabin, I posted this comment:

"OMG! Eileen, you are way too sweet! And I am grinning ear-to-ear! I can't wait to put your Pink Princess phone in my cabin, because then it will be complete! Thank you, so very much!" Then I went outside to tell Tone my exciting news.


When I returned to the trailer, Carlton was flashing nervously on the breakfast bar, so I pushed his button and he said, "You have one new message."


"Hello Nancy and Tony, this is Carol. I think it is time for The Cowgirl Sisterhood to ride again, so I want to treat y'all to lunch today, if it is not too late. Call me."


Forty minutes later, The Cowgirl Sisterhood "plus one" were sitting at a table, laughing at our latest tales to tell, at the famous, super cool Camp Verde Store for lunch and I had a total blast and so did Tony. And before we adios-ed each other and left to come back home, Tony shot The Cowgirl Sisterhood standing across the street with this camel.

And that is about it for tonight, because Hazel is fixin' to come out of the closet to help me clean up the dog hair and mud inside the trailer, because tomorrow morning our great volunteers are coming out to help us prepare and serve our beautiful, rescue ranch dogs their annual Thanksgiving Dinner—compliments of Lisa and Chuck Williams and I can't wait to see them.


Y'all have a great evening and I hope that your Thanksgiving Day is more than happy, because I know ours will be—thanks to our wonderful volunteers!

The Mexican Food Miracle!

Whew! Today has been interesting to say the least, so to set the mood before telling you about it, I have turned on my Himalayan Salt Lamp and cranked up my iPod and Neil Young is singing "Harvest Moon" one of my all time favorite songs.

This morning I didn't walk because I had too much paperwork to do. I spent four hours writing thank you letters to many of our supporters who made a $50.00 or more donation to the rescue ranch and then I packed mailers with a signed copy of Max Swafford's The Kinky File to send to them as a free thank you gift for helping us.

By twelve thirty I was exhausted and ready for Tony to drive me to Medina to mail out the books with  enclosed thank you letters. After writing the Post Master a check for eighty-eight dollars and twenty cents I climbed back into Buttermilk and she took us to Bandera so I could make a deposit at the bank.

Then we got on Highway 173 headed for Kerrville, because we needed to go to H-E-B to buy dog food for our rescue dogs and that's when things started getting interesting.

"Tony, can we stop by the Camp Verde Store before going into Kerrville," I asked. "I need to buy a new pair of Crocs, because I've worn out my old, pink pair. The bottoms are smooth." T. nodded his head yes.

Four miles later and twelve miles from Kerrtown, Tony pulled off of the highway and parked Buttermilk across the street from the coolest store on 173. After Tone had done "The Procedure" which consists of rolling down his window, unlocking the doors and opening his door from the outside and then rolling the window back up—we got out of Buttermilk and then went into the store that has a little bit of everything.

As always it was full of tourists and the friendliest staff helping people check out or find something. When a smiling sales clerk asked me if she could help us, I told her no thank you, because I knew where their Crocs were.

When we went into the Croc room and saw the many colorful Crocs displayed on an entire wall it made me smile, because Crocs have good vibes and that's why people buy them—the knock offs don't have good vibes. Tony was getting antsy even though it only took me fifteen minutes to decide on which pair to buy.

When we went to the check out counter, as I was pulling our my checkbook the young woman said, "Oh dear. You don't want to buy these Crocs, because they are mismatched— one shoe is bigger than the other one. Let me help you find a matched pair." Right then I should have taken it as an omen, but I didn't and we followed her back to the Croc room.

Ten minutes later as T. paced back and forth and grumbled about "starving to death" the helpful clerk told me that she couldn't find a matched size for the pair I had wanted and then she started pulling Crocs in my size off of the wall, so I could make a decision on which ones to purchase. "I don't like the orange or the yellow ones," I said. "Do you have my size in the pink or turquoise?" She looked and looked, but they had none in those colors that were a size small.

Seven minutes later, as Tony grimaced and rubbed his stomach to show me that he was going into "starvation mode," I thanked the super nice, young woman and told her that I really wanted pink Crocs and would come back when their new stock came in.

As we crossed the street to Buttermilk Tony said, "Let's go to The Save Inn right now. I am feeling weak, Nance."

I ignored him and said, "I love this giant, camel metal sculpture. Isn't it cool!" Tone ignored me and climbed into Buttermilk, turned the ignition switch and nothing happened. Then he did it again and again and again and nothing happened. "Looks like Buttermilk's died, again." I said, as I pulled my cell phone from my purse. "Who can we call to help us?"

Tony who was now knockin' on death's door managed to do "The Procedure" and then he got out of Buttermilk and opened her hood and stared at the engine. Then he picked up a big rock and started banging on the battery as tourists getting in and out of their cars watched us. "Nance, it's her battery cables. One is loose and I don't have any tools in the car. I need a wrench." Then he said a couple of cuss words to Buttermilk. "Call Jon. Maybe he can help us out." I called Jon and told him about the predicament we were in and he told me that he was on his way to help. Then I went into the store and asked a clerk if we could borrow a small wrench from them.

One minute later, she returned with a small, pretty, blue wrench and handed it to me. "It's pretty hot outside. Would y'all like some tea or lemonade? It's on the house." I thanked her for the kind offer, but told her no thank you and then went outside to give my starving husband the cute, little wrench. Unfortunately, the wrench didn't help, because the threads on the screw were stripped, so I went back across the street and returned the wrench.

As we sat on a retaining wall in the shade waiting for Jon to arrive, Tony grumbled as his stomach grumbled louder. "Tony, I know why this has happened! Mercury is in retrograde, again." T. said nothing. And then Jon Wolfmueller pulled up and parked next to Buttermilk.

"I brought my tools and jumper cables," Jon said, wearing a big smile on his face. After Tony and him talked about the cables Jon suggested that we try to jump start Buttermilk. After the men hooked up the battery cables, Jon started his engine and gave life to Buttermilk!

"Buttermilk lives once, again!" I said. "Jon, thank you so much for rescuing us. You're our Croc-idile Dundee." Then I told him about stopping at the store to purchase Crocs. "Seriously, Jon, we want to take you out to lunch or dinner for helping us. Sandy can't go because she didn't help." We all started laughing as T. and Jon removed the jumper cables. "Jon, this happened because Mercury is in retrograde, again..."

Jon rolled his eyes and then he and Tony started laughing as we climbed into our vehicles. Jon followed us all of the way to Balser's Northside Automotive and then he took off for Wolfmueller Books.

While the nice mechanic repaired Buttermilk, Tony and I sat next door at Acapulco Mexican Food Restaurant eating a very late lunch that literally saved Tone's life. Thank goodness for the Mexican food miracle!

An hour later we were back at the ranch and I was reading the sweetest, five page, fan mail letter that came today from a woman in Germany. Karin P. wrote to tell me that she loved reading my blog and my first book and that she is a Libra like me and nearly the same age as me. She also told me that she loves Kinky and found me when she went to his home page. She said that her husband Jusgen is going to buy my second book for her birthday present on October 4th.

After reading her sweet and humorous letter I felt honored and I have decided to mail her a free signed copy of my book tomorrow—for her birthday. Her letter has made my day. Thank you, Karin! With Mercury in retrograde I hope it gets there before your fifty-fourth birthday.

At ten minutes past six this evening the phone rang—it was Jon. "Hi, Jon!"

"Hi, Nancy. I was calling to make sure y'all made it home."

"No, Jon," I joked. "We're still in Kerrville and haven't gotten home, yet, but thanks for checking." He burst out laughing. "Here's your sign. I'm sorry, Jon. I couldn't resist it."

"I told Sandy what you said about wanting to take me out to lunch or dinner to thank me, but she wasn't invited because you said that she didn't help. Anyway, she wants to go and says she helped by holding down the fort at the bookstore." He and I started laughing.

"Okay. Well, tell Sandy that she can go, but we're not paying for her dessert, because she helped some, but not as much as you did." Jon repeated my words back to Sandy and I could hear her laughing in the background. "Bye."

Y'all have a great eveing!