Fay & Ian Welcome To Texas!

This past week has been great and a whole lot of fun and today our dear friends, Fay & Ian, from Toronto, arrived. But before I go any further I must fill y'all in on this past week.

First off, I've still been cooking us delicious FORKS OVER KNiVES' recipes and here are just a couple of pictures of what we've been eating.

But I must admit that we have been spotted eating, at Billy Gene's and Acapulco restaurants and the Apple Store, in Medina too.

Speaking of the Apple Store, in Medina, a while back when I was waiting to pay their friendly cashier for our delicious lunch I spotted some more beautiful, Looper, pot-holders for sale and they were just like the awesome, pretty, pink pot-holder that Jean and I had made. 

At first I was crushed seeing them for sale, because it proved to me that the Looper pot-holder market has been totally saturated, but then I felt good about Jean and me not investing every last penny that we have into that big-time, money-maker. 

Last week, Tony and I also went to the Wild Birds Unlimited store, because Tony needed to buy more seed and also because we wanted to visit with our good friends: Kevin, Linda, Marguerite, Tricia and Jason, because they always are upbeat and quickly put smiles on our faces. And before we adios-ed these nice folks I bought the cutest, carved bunny, before Tony made me turn around and showed me these adorable, funny dog toys. Which of course I loved and I bought one of each for our dogs. 

Saturday was an incredibly great day, because sweet Gus got adopted to the nicest family. And Gus now happily lives with this wonderful family and their other sweet dog. Here are his adoption pictures that I took, before he went to his new, super-loving home, in the country. 

I spent yesterday cleaning our trailer from top to bottom, because I didn't want our good friends, Fay & Ian, being scared to come inside, The Cabin, to visit with us. 

There I was scrubbing this and that, putting up things and I was nearly finished with all of the cleaning when Hazel died, in my hands. Seriously, one minute she was sucking away, at the tall piles of dirt, hair, cobwebs, etc. and then the next minute she sucked in her last breathe. And to say the least—I was completely devastated, so I let go of her, and half-hollered, "Tony!" To deaf ears, because I had forgotten that Tony had gone off to take some more great pictures, so there I was all alone when she had literally bit-the-dust. 

I know that I was in shock, because I started thinking about her life always sucking and all that she had done for me and what I should write for Hazel's epitaph. And this is all that I could come up with for my beloved, lavender-colored, Dyson Animal vacuum:

Hazel Parker-Simons

2006 - 2017

Ashes to Ashes

Dust to Dust

Rest In Peace

I was so distraught about Hazel's passing I decided to go outside, to the front porch, to get some fresh air, but that didn't work. Because when I went outside I saw that Henry had just finished removing (destroying) another important porch-piece, so he could now easily rest his head, while he and Lori Darlin' enjoyed watching the birds and squirrels flit about.

When I came back inside, The Cabin, I decided to revive Hazel, because there was still too much dust, dirt, hair, etc. on the floor. So I started Googling and thank goodness I did, because I watched an educational YouTube video on how to bring her back to life.

I followed the instructions carefully and before you knew it I had disassembled Hazel. Sort of like an autopsy. She was here, there and everywhere—all over the kitchen. Then I removed her air filter (which the factory highly recommends that you clean at least every 6 months, even though I never have done that, because I never read any maintenance instructions.)

Anyway—it worked after several hours of soaking and cleaning her filthy filter. Hazel came back to life and she sucked just like she used to do—so many years ago. I was so happy about reviving the old girl when Tony came back home, I bragged, "Hazel died. But I brought her back to life! Isn't that great!" Tony smiled and said nothing. Then he showed me some awesome pictures that he had taken.  

Today has been more than great, because Fay & Ian arrived. Tony and I met them for lunch, in Kerrville and this evening, they came back over and we went over to the Lodge and had a fun time with Kinky. And during our visit with Kinky he got out his guitar and in his kitchen he sang us his two latest songs that he has written. And they were incredibly great.

That is about it for tonight, because I don't want this past week to turn into a book. But I do want to tell you that for my Valentine's gift Tony bought me the most beautiful, banjo, from The Melody Corner. And I love playing it so much—I took my first banjo lesson this past Thursday.

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

No Longer Strapless!

Today has been great. This morning when Tony got back home, from drinking coffee with his friends, at The Old Timer, in Medina, he and I started preparing our (Joe Cross') Mean Green juice and I decided to photograph it.

This healthy, tasty juice recipe ingredients include: celery stalks, kale, apples, cucumber, lemon and ginger and we added carrots to ours. After we had put all of the required ingredients, on the pastry board, we divided them in half, because the juice nearly over flowed yesterday morning. Probably because of the carrots.

After I made mine first, I took a picture of the delicious, super healthy juice.

And then I took these pictures of Tony preparing his juice.

Then we clinked our juice glasses together and drank to our health.

This afternoon, we had to go to Kerrville, to run several errands. And one of our stops was at Stan's. He's our good friend that owns The Melody Corner music store, so I could buy a strap for B.B. King, my new, awesome Telecaster electric guitar.

We had a fun visit with Stan while I checked out his guitar strap's display and had finally picked out the perfect one and had purchased it. Then we came back home.

As soon as we had put up our last minute needed Thanksgiving groceries and our fruits and veggies for our juices, I put my pretty, pink guitar strap on B.B. and took this picture of him fully dressed.

Then I practiced playing the scales, that Jesse had taught me, for about forty minutes, on my no longer strapless, electric guitar. 

Early this evening, I went over to the Lodge and had a fun visit with Kinky. And that's about it for tonight, except for some very exciting news—Netflix has picked up Longmire and there is going to be a fourth season! So life is good, once again and I am so thankful that we don't have to go grocery shopping tomorrow for our Thanksgiving dinner. 

Y'all have a great evening!

A Pickup!

Today has been great. This morning after Brandon and Tony finished working outside, we jumped into Buttermilk and took off for Kerrville. There were three reasons that we were going to Kerrville.

Our first stop was at our friend Stan's music store, The Melody Corner, because I wanted to buy a pickup for my banjo.

After a fun visit with Stan and buying a pickup, we headed over to Randy & Lisa's Save Inn restaurant, because we were meeting our good friend Eileen, #3 of the super Fab 4 friends/volunteers, and her husband for lunch.

Our lunch with them was a lot of fun and the food was delicious as always. When we left the Save Inn, Eileen followed us to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, because we were going to take a picture of Tadpole and she wanted to meet him.

When Susan brought Tadpole into the lobby for his photo shoot, Brandon and Eileen could not believe how cute he was and how healthy he looked. When Susan put Tadpole on the tile floor, he ran to greet each of us with his tail wagging non-stop.

Susan ended up having to hold him for his photo shoot, because he was running all around the lobby, making it hard to snap a good picture of him. Here's Tadpole, a very lucky pup that has already been adopted, thanks to the great people at Hoegemeyers.

When we returned to the rescue ranch, I did some paperwork and returned phone calls and e-mails, until Karon came over with a sweet girl, from the Medina Children's Home, who wanted to volunteer by taking Red Skelton and Gretchen Wilson for a walk, to see if they would get along, so she could replace Buttercup, who had been Red's short term pen mate.

Even though Red decided that he did not want to share his pen with Gretchen, Karon told us that Buttercup aka Butterball had fit right in with her furry family. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Strung Out!

Today has been great. At 7:45 this morning I did The Harley Show with Harley Belew and it was a lot of fun as always. Harley's Pet of the Week was Miss Dee and I told him how happy we were about her and her best friend Mr. Rogers going to be adopted soon and they would live happily in Alabama with a really nice woman.

After Harley and I had adios-ed each other I listened and watched the KENS 5 morning show, while I started cooking Tony's breakfast and preparing our healthy smoothies. While I was putting kale into Jaws, (Our Vita-Mix blender) already filled with blueberries, strawberries, orange juice, ginger and raspberries, they started talking about today being Compliment Day and how important it was for everyone to give out compliments today.

So, when Tony returned home from drinking coffee with his friends at the Old Timer, in Medina, I was ready to give him a compliment, but it didn't happen, because when he walked inside The Cabin he said, "Nance, I just rescued two dogs running down Highway 16. Fortunately, they were wearing collars with tags and they are very nice dogs. When I saw them I pulled off of the road and said, "Load up" and they jumped inside Buttermilk. I need to go put them in The Okay Corral. I'll be right back."

Five minutes later Tony returned to The Cabin with one of the dogs collar and then he punched in the phone number on Cheyenne's dog tag and spoke to a nice woman about rescuing her dogs. Then she was the first to compliment Tony about his good work and then she thanked him over and over again for rescuing her two dogs. "I'm out of town right now and my friend Bobby is babysitting them for me, so I will call him and ask him to come pick them up immediately..." Here is a picture I took of Cheyenne and his buddy in The Okay Corral, waiting to be picked up.

While Tone and I were doing our morning chores outside Bobby showed up and he could not thank Tony enough for rescuing her dogs.

When we were done with our chores outside, I came inside and started cooking us lunch and when Tony walked inside The Cabin I complimented him, "You are so great for rescuing those dogs today. And I love those photos you took yesterday...."

After lunch we went to Stan's music store, The Melody Corner, in Kerrville, to pick up a hard shell case that I had ordered for my ukulele. Then we went to Hometown Crafts. While we were looking around the store Tony found something that made us laugh out loud when we saw it, so we bought one for Tony, because he loves Toby Keith's song, Red Solo Cup.

It's a porcelain redneck, red solo cup and after taking this picture of it, I think I might just need to get one too.

Late this afternoon I went over to The Lodge to see Kinky's sister Marcie. When Trigger and I pulled up, she was outside standing by her hammock. The Friedmans came running to greet me and then I went to see Marce. After howdies and hugs she told me that her hammock was all messed up, because the last time that she took it down, she didn't take the time to store it properly. So, because it was a mess and all strung out I decided to try to help her unravel the thing.

Thirty minutes later we had made some progress unraveling it, but the hammock's ropes were still not right. Then I heard Kermit in the distance. "I hope Tony comes over here, because he is great at these kind of things. He's unraveled so many things for me, like my pink fishing pole when the fishing line knots up and..."

When Tony arrived we both hollered, "Help!" Then I half hollered, "Tony, we need your help..." Two minutes later Tony had fixed Marcie's hammock for her, so she and I both complimented Tone on his skill of unraveling things. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

El Sol de Mexico!

Today has been great for so many reasons. Around noon, Tony, my super hero dog, Roy Rogers and I climbed into Buttermilk, our Expedition, to go to Kerrville.

Our first stop was at the Post Office so I could mail out some more of my books that had been ordered. Then we went to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic to drop off Roy for an hour or so, because he needed to get all of his yearly shots while we met our friends/volunteers for lunch, at all of ours favorite Mexican food restaurant, El Sol de Mexico.

When Tony handed off Roy's leash to Kathy and we started to leave the clinic, Roy started barking and pulling on his leash towards us, because he didn't want us to leave him.

Tony and I were the first to arrive at El Sol de Mexico and when we walked inside Beto, the friendliest waiter came to greet us, "There's going to be seven of us," I told him, then we sat down on the bench to wait for our friends and to let Beto and the owner set up a larger table for us.

When our table was ready, Tony and I went to our table and minutes later Eileen and Lisa showed up, then Kris and then June and Ellen. We talked about Fruitful's adorable Chihuahua pups that Ellen rescued from the pound when they were only two days old. Ellen and June have found super forever homes for the mama and her pups and their are only three pups that need homes. Here is a precious picture of the puppies that June took this morning and next are two of the pups still looking for a super home. If anyone wants to adopt a pup, Ellen is asking $25.00 each to cover expenses and a week ago Friday they all received their first puppy shot. Please call me at the rescue ranch if you are interested and I will hook you up with Ellen.

Our lunch was fun and delicious and we were the loudest table in the restaurant, because of all of the teasing and laughter. And unfortunately that is all that I can say, because they made a pact, which I didn't want to, because their is so much to tell. Our pact is: What happens at El Sol de Mexico—Stays at El Sol de Mexico, Nancy. But who knows, I might just put some of their hilarious stories in one of my novellas.  : )

Late this afternoon my new electric ukulele and my Oster bread making machine, arrived and I was more than thrilled about it, because the ukulele that Vern sent to Tony and me, is at Stans's music store getting electrified and Tiny should be ready to be picked up next week. 

I bought the extra uke which I have already named The Nellybelle, because Tony wants to learn how to play one and tonight I taught him three basic chords and here is a picture of him strumming The Nellybelle with Roy snoring and he sounded really good. Please note that it was T. not Roy who sounded really good

Tomorrow after Brandon does his chores outside with Tony we are going to have a jam session with Tone and Brandon on ukuleles and me on guitar and I cannot wait. And that's about it for tonight, because my bread machine's very first loaf of bread, using The Mineral Man's secret whole wheat bread recipe, is almost cooked and ready to eat.

Y'all have a great evening! 

Tiny!

Today has been great. This morning Brandon came out to help Tony do the morning chores outside while I stayed inside doing some paperwork and answering e-mails. Around 9:45 Kris and Jim aka The Mineral Man came out to walk our dogs, even though it was pretty chilly outside.

During one of my fun walks with them, Jim and I talked about his delicious bread recipes, because his last loaf of bread that he baked for us was so delicious. Then we talked about his Oster bread machine, because I had just purchased one like his earlier this morning.

Around 12:15, Brandon went home to eat lunch, so we followed Kris and Jim over to Koyote Ranch to eat lunch together. And to say the least, "Our lunch was a lot of fun."

When we came back home I did a little more paperwork. Then I signed a few copies of my new book and went to Medina to mail them. When I got back home Brandon was back helping Tony.

Around 4:00, we had a very nice surprise—Vern's Christmas gift to us was delivered and it was a Lanikai concert series ukulele! When Tony opened its box I took one look at it and immediately named it, Tiny, because it was so cute.

Then I tuned it and began playing it, because I learned to play the ukulele when I was either in the fifth or fourth grade.

Tiny has a beautiful sound, so I played it for a long time, because I was having so much fun. When Tony and Brandon came inside I showed Brandon a few basic chords and then I handed it to him, so he could play it, since he has never played a uke before.

Within seconds Brandon had all of us smiling, because he had already memorized the chords I had showed him and he was going to town with it and playing the tunes of several songs and quickly figuring out other chords.

After Brandon had picked out and played like a pro he said, "This is a sweet little instrument to play. I just might have to get one of these for myself..."

"I'm going to The Melody Corner, on Monday, to buy a case for Tiny and to get Stan to put a pick-up on her, so we can plug her into my amp," I said. "Please play us some more music." Twenty minutes later Brandon ended his free music concert and went home.

"Thank you, Vern! We love our uke and right now, Tony is sitting here playing Tiny and having a blast." And that is about it for tonight, because it is my turn to play with Tiny.

Y'all have a great evening!

Twice In One Day! or N.D.E.!

Today has been too much fun. This morning while Tony, Ben and I were eating our breakfast the dogs started barking outside, so T. went outside and a few minutes later he walked back inside with a small package. "FedEx just delivered this for you. What is it?" I started laughing.

"Open it and find out," I laughed, as Ben and I watched Tone open up my package from Amazon.

"What in the world?" Tony said, somewhat amazed.

"It's a ten dollar DVD that I ordered a few days ago. It's the ultimate video fireplace," I said, before all of us burst out loud laughing. "Since we can't afford to have a fireplace and because The Cabin is an old trailer and it would be too dangerous. I bought it so I can pretend that we have a wood burning fireplace..." Then we started laughing again.

"Let's watch it," Ben suggested. So Tony loaded it into our DVD player and then Ben helped me pick the one we wanted to watch and when he pressed the play button—our television turned into a wood burning fireplace with the sounds of the wood burning and it was actually pretty cool, until Ben ran over to the television and acted like he was warming his hands, causing us to break into laughter, so Tony grabbed his camera and shot him and then he shot me warming up our hands.

After Ben and Tony had done their outdoor chores, T. and I jumped into Buttermilk and took off for Kerrville, because I needed to FedEx Alfredo the Kinky signed poster, pick up some guitar picks, grab some groceries from H-E-B and pick up Rio at Hoegemeyers and if I had known that T. and I were going to have two near death experiences—we would have never gone.

Our first N.D.E. happened halfway to Kerrville. We were on 16, doing the speed limit, when we saw a big pickup heading towards us, at a high speed, on his side of the road and then we watched in horror, as the truck swerved into our land heading straight into us and he was TEXTING, because we saw him holding his phone above the steering wheel. So, thinking fast, while I braced for impact and whispered a cuss word, Tone pulled Buttermilk off of the road—right before the man swerved back into his lane, barely missing us, as we hit a roadside reflector—knocking it to the ground. As T. and I sat inside Buttermilk, just a few yards away from a deep bar ditch, catching our breaths and relieved that the man hadn't killed us—the textor continued on down the road towards Medina.

By the time we had parked Buttermilk in front of our good friend, Stan Morris' "The Melody Corner" at 608-D Junction Highway, we were basically back to normal, so we went inside his beautiful music store, had a fun visit with him, before I purchased some pretty lavender guitar picks, because he was temporarily out of the pink ones that I like. Then we went to FedEx, Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and H-E-B, while Tony sat in side Buttermilk with Rio. Then we started back home, when the next N.D.E. happened.

Right after we had gone over the pass, we see another big truck heading towards us, in the middle of the road, so Tone honked Buttermilk's horn and the driver quickly pulled back into his lane, thank goodness, because Tony could not swerve off of the road, because we would have fallen off into a creek, ten feet below us. 

When we arrived home safely, after T. had put Rio back into Martha Stewart's pen, Ben cooked us lunch and it was absolutely delicious. And the whole time we ate our lunch, we made jokes about the fireplace video, such as: "Be careful. Don't get to close to the flames, I smell smoke and we need to get a screen for our fireplace," etc.—we rescued a pretty, Pit Bull, that Kinky's and our friends delivered to us, after they had rescued her off of the road. Even thought she was skinny and hungry, she seemed to be okay, so Ben took her down to a small pen, so he could feed her and let her rest, while Tony took off in Buttermilk to get our mail. 

After we had read all of the beautiful holiday cards that our friends had sent to us I opened up a package from my dear friend Mari and was literally blown out of the saddle, because it was the "American Cowboy" magazine's January 2012 issue and Roy Rogers' picture was on the cover! And I loved reading the fabulous article about the King of the Cowboys, my hero. Thank you, Mari! I love it!

A little while later, another delivery truck drove into the rescue ranch to deliver a Christmas present to Tony and me from our dear friends Terry & Karen C. and we loved it, because it was a box of Harry & David—Royal Riviera Pears: America's Rarest and Finest! Thank you, Karen & Terry—they are absolutely delicious! Happy holidays!

And that is about it for tonight, as I sit at our kitchen table, listening to my music and the sound of the wood burning in our beautiful new fireplace, inside The Cabin. It just doesn't get any better than this. 

Y'all have a great evening!