One of My Fondest Memories of Kink! or The California Texas Grudge Match!

God bless Kinky Friedman and may he rest in peace. One of my dearest and best friends, Kinky Friedman, passed away this past Wednesday evening, June 26th, and since then I've been sad and thinking about all of the fun times and good times that we shared over the past 38 years of our friendship.

I've written volumes over the years about Kinky, our beloved Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch and our long lasting friendship in books and on my blog, etc. And to say the least he was one of my all time favorite people.

Today I was looking at some of the funny videos that I took of Kinky and us and this video stood out and it made me laugh out loud. And trust me I needed to laugh.

Anyway, to set this video up, on May 31, 2009, Kinky, Tony & Kink's famous Hollywood friend John Mankieiwicz, who was at the ranch visiting Kinky, had decided to have an eight-ball pool tournament.

Kinky and Tony already had their pool-playing-nicknames. Kinky's was "The Hummingbird Man" and Tony's was "The Medina Bulldog." 

So before the pool tournament commenced, just to rattle John's nerves—Kinky and Tony jokingly nicknamed John—"Mr. California Wussie." And John thought his newly given nickname was pretty funny, too. 

But "sadly" for Kink and Tony their plan backfired, because John ended up winning the tournament—big time!

So later that day the five of us were outside, sitting on the porch visiting and Kinky decided, just for the "heck" of it, that I should make a video of Tony and Kinky presenting John with a pool championship trophy! 

So after we had all quit laughing Kinky sent me home to get my camera while he searched around The Lodge for an appropriate trophy for him and Tony to give to John. And the rest is history and it is also funny.

To watch this video please click below:

The California Texas Grudge Match

For Kinky's eyes only: "Hey Kink. Sadly, it looks like you won our long standing bet about who's horn God would honk first and unfortunately it was yours. And Hummingbird Man please know that I already miss you. Love Always, Nancy"

Reunited! or Knocking For Angels!

Today has been more than exciting for us at the rescue ranch. In fact, it was almost too much excitement than my old ticker could bear and I had to knock for Angels more than once. I will try to condense what happened, but it will be difficult, because so much has happened.

This morning the nicest woman called me and she left a message, on Carlton, about seeing Miss Dee's picture on utopia rescue.com and instantly falling in love with her and wanting to adopt her. In fact, last night she also left a comment on my last post, which I didn't post, because I wanted to talk to Tony about it, before returning her call this morning.

After Tony did his morning chores outside I talked to him about the nice woman and her family wanting to adopt Miss Dee, while cooking him breakfast—two eggs over-medium and a toasted English muffin.

"Tony, I know that we promised Roger and Mary that we would not adopt them out separately, but this is Miss Dee's chance for a great home and it would make Mr. Rogers more adoptable, too...." He understood my logic, but suggested we ask them about doing a trial separation to see how they reacted, before officially adopting out Miss Dee.

So, after our long discussion, I called Mrs. C. (all names to remain annonymous). I explained the situation and asked if they would consider adopting both of our dogs, but she declined, because they have a sweet, elderly, blind, deaf dog to care for.  And that made perfectly good sense to me, because Mr. Rogers is way too protective of Miss Dee in which case he might wind up hurting their family pet or worse.

We continued to talk some more and she understood the situation and agreed that if either Miss Dee or Mr. Rogers was unhappy about being separated—her family would happily return Miss Dee, so the dogs could be reunited. Then we decided on what time she and her family should come out to meet Miss Dee this afternoon.

Around 12:30, our dear friend, Maribeth, came over to eat lunch with us, because she was over at the Lodge baby-sitting The Friedmans for Kinky. I cooked us meatloaf, spinach, beans with cornbread and it was good enough and all of us did a lot of laughing while catching up on each others news.

Now for the excitement part. It was a little past 1:00 when Mrs. C, Mr. J and their beautiful daughter, arrived. I told Tony and Maribeth that I could handle it and that I would return shortly. But that was a lie.

The minute that I met this fabulous family I was more than impressed with them, because they were so nice, friendly and big time animal lovers and they were both probably in their mid-thirties.

After greetings, I suggested we take Miss Dee for a long walk, so she could get to know this impressive dog-loving family. And to say the least—they couldn't wait to take her walking.

When we reached Mr. Rogers' & Miss Dee's pen, I went inside and leashed up Miss Dee and took her out, even though Mr. Rogers wanted to go, too. I handed the leash to Mrs. C and then all of us took off.

When we walked past the gate entrance, a dog ran past us and then abruptly stopped, turned around and came running towards Miss Dee and tried to bite her. "No Whiskey!" I said. "Get back! Omg, she must have jumped over the fence! I am really sorry about this. I think I had better take the leash and y'all better stay back..."

As this super nice family stood back, Whiskey kept trying to get into it with Miss Dee, but Miss Dee was acting submissive while I demanded that Whiskey back-off.

Whiskey ignored my demands until our three donkeys and my horse Maya appeared—then she took off chasing Roy and Gabby, our two donkeys, while Maya and Little Jewford, our miniature donkey raced off. Roy and Gabby kicked several times at Whiskey and they even charged her, but Whiskey continued to chase them. "Y'all, let's get back inside the rescue ranch and close the gate, so Whiskey can't get back in here and hurt Miss Dee."

Mr. J immediately grabbed the gate and quickly swung it closed and held it tight. Then I climbed between the gate and the post, that had a narrow opening, so I could block Whiskey from getting back inside the rescue ranch. "We need for Tony to get out here," I said. "This is a real rodeo and somebody could get hurt. Then I asked Mrs. C if she would go up to the trailer to get Tone.

A few minutes later, she returned. "Mrs. C why don't you and your daughter and Miss Dee follow me to a dog pen, so all of y'all will be safe from Whiskey." A minute later, the three of them were inside the small, escape proof dog pen we have. As I heard Kermit crank up, I said, "Tony's coming! The lock for this pen is gone, so please keep pressure on the gate, so Whiskey can't open the gate and get to Miss Dee. Don't worry everything is going to be alright."

When Tony and Kermit pulled up, Mr. J swung the gate open for Tony. "You need to catch Whiskey! She tried to attack Miss Dee and now she's chasing the donkeys and they could kill her!" Tony floored Kermit and took off chasing Whiskey, who the donkeys were now chasing. "I hope Whiskey doesn't get hurt...." I said, to Mr. J, as we watched Tony chasing Whiskey who was now chasing the donkeys. "Whiskey came with that name and I hate it," I said. "A horse trainer brought her to us, because the woman thought the horses might kill Whiskey."

Then we saw Kermit and Tony chasing Whiskey back towards the rescue ranch. Mr. J opened the gate, so she would run inside, so we could finally catch her.

Seconds later, Whiskey flew past us, into the rescue ranch with Tony and Kermit hot on her trail. Then Mr. J quickly closed the gate behind us, so Whiskey would not be able to escape. Five minutes later, Whiskey walked up to Mr. J and he held her in place, while Tony slipped a leash around her neck and took her to a nearby pen, before returning back to The Cabin, to visit some more with Maribeth.

"Mr. J, you're a real dog whisperer. Thanks for helping catch her. I'm real sorry about the rodeo that just happened. And I'm so glad that no one got hurt. Now let's go on that walk with Miss Dee."

This great family walked and jogged with Miss Dee for over an hour. She sat down with them and rested and shook hands with them, too. So, I felt absolutely great about them trying Miss Dee out for a few days, to see how Mr. Rogers and Miss Dee handled their separation and if their family dog and her would get along.

Late this afternoon, Mr. J called to tell me some sad, very scary news and his family felt absolutely horrible about it. Miss Dee had been fine, before she slipped out of her leash, bolted out the gate and  ran off. I told him that both of us should call the Pound immediately to alert them and then I suggested that they post pictures all over their neighborhood.

It was two minutes past 5:00, when I called Mrs. C, "Tony and I are fixin' to come to Kerrville to help look for Miss Dee. If she hears our truck she might come running to us..." Then we took off in Trigger.

While Tony drove us, as fast as the law would allow, I was knocking for Angels and saying several silent prayers, in hopes that we might somehow find Miss Dee. We kept our eyes peeled on Highway 16, because Tony was convinced that Miss Dee would try to find her way back to the rescue ranch to be back with Mr. Rogers.

I suggested that we go back to the Methodist Encampment neighborhood, where she had escaped from, but Tony had his own idea—take 16 to Main Street and turn left, heading towards the neighborhood.

As we were driving down Junction Highway, in the right hand lane, past Walmart, then Wendys I saw Miss Dee run past us on the same side of the road. "There's Miss Dee! Tony stop, so I can try to go get her!" Then a black SUV, in front of us pulled off the side of the road, just as Tony pulled off the road with our emergency flasher lights blinking.

I then jumped out of Trigger with a leash and hollered for her, but Miss Dee kept on running like she didn't know me. When Tony saw me following after her, he made a U-turn and headed back towards Walmart. Then this woman, in the black SUV hollered, "Is that your dog!"

I hollered as loud as I could, "Yes, please help us!"

"I'm trying to!" Then she spun off to catch up with Trigger.

While I'm walking as fast as I can, back towards Walmart, I see Miss Dee keep trying to cross the busy highway and then stepping back and taking off again and my heart kept sinking and sinking, because I was scared that we would witness Miss Dee getting hit by a car in the oncoming traffic.

Then I see Tony, park Trigger, in the middle turn lane, with the black SUV right behind him, get out and then run towards Miss Dee, but she ran off, again. Then I watch Tony run back to Trigger and take off again, with the black SUV right behind him.

I felt like crying, because I thought something bad must have just happened, behind the buildings that were blocking my view. Then I see Tony take a left, either into the Walmart entrance or the tire store's parking lot, followed closely by that black SUV.

My heart was racing and breaking at the exact same time when I started crossing the Walmart entrance, when I saw Tony pull Trigger out into the traffic heading slowly towards me to pick me up. And then my heart sank, because Miss Dee was not sitting in the passenger seat.

When Tony pulled off the road, I shot him a sad look, as he lowered the window, "What happened?"

Tony smiled. "She's in the backseat. Get in." And that's when I really began to cry. I turned around and petted Miss Dee on the head, because she looked exhausted. Then I asked Tony how he had caught her, because I had the leash with me. "This super nice woman, in a black SUV helped me. We sort of boxed Miss Dee in with the vehicles and then she started to take off again, but I got down on my knees and half-hollered, "Miss Dee. It's me. Tony. Come here girl." Then she stopped, because she must have recognized me and then she walked right over to me. Then I picked her up in my arms and put her into the backseat. I wish I knew who that nice woman was, in that black SUV, so we could thank her for helping us rescue Miss Dee."

"Me, too." I said. "You nearly scared me to death when I saw you park Trigger, in the turn lane and take off after her and then run back across the highway."

"Yeah, some  jerk, in a big pickup honked at me and shot me the bird as he drove past me...."

We got back home around 6:35. With the high-beams on bright, I watched Tony take Miss Dee back to her pen to be reunited with Mr. Rogers. Both of their tails were wagging so fast when they were reunited, which by the way, will be the very last time that they will have to do that again. Then like always, I started to cry with joy again.

Photo take by Roger and Mary 2009, Miss Dee on the left.

Then Tony put the chickens up and then we returned to The Cabin. Fifteen minutes later, after composing myself, I called the sweet family back to give them the great news. Mrs. C started crying with joy and kept apologizing to me, as I told her about Miss Dee's rescue and before we adios-ed each other, we both agreed that it was best that Miss Dee and Mr. Rogers always stay together. So once again, life is good and thank goodness for Angels.

Y'all have a great evening, because Mr. Rogers and Miss Dee are!

Happy Birthday Ben Welch!

Today is our dear friend, Ben Welch's, birthday and Kinky, Tony and I want to wish him the best birthday ever.

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Ben. Happy Birthday to You. And many more.

New Plates!

Today has been great. This afternoon we met Kinky for lunch, in Kerrville, so we could catch up with each others news. Lunch with Kink was a lot of fun and was filled with laughter. We talked about the rescue ranch, Toto's deteriorating health issues, a little politics, which is one of Tony's and my least favorite subjects and about him running into our dear friends, Walt and Cheryl, at the San Antonio airport.

"Someone stole one of my license plates in the airport parking lot," Kinky told us.

"Did you call the police?" I asked.

"No, because I am going to the Court House, after we eat lunch, to renew them. That's when I'll report it stolen..."

After lunch, T. and I ran a few errands and then we came home, and then after talking to Kinky on the phone, we went over to the Lodge to visit with him and Marcie. While Tony was helping Kinky put  his new plates on Mr. Green Jeans, Tone said, "Kinky, who ever stole your license plate, was at least nice enough to put the screws back on..."

When they had completed their "Put new plates on Mr. Green Jeans" mission, I showed off Tony's pink dragonfly picture to Marcie and Kinky and they totally loved it, so Tony gave his picture to Marcie, so she could get it framed. Then after a fun visit with them, Trigger took us back home, so I could return a few phone calls and Tony could go outside to try to capture more beautiful dragonflies, using his camera.

While Tony was outside, Sandy and Jon called me. "....Nancy, please tell Tony that we have a beautiful dragonfly poster for him, at the bookstore and the pink dragonfly is on it and it has a name...."

For the last four days, I have faithfully walked four miles everyday with Leslie Sansone, to help me lose weight and I need to walk four miles now, so I guess that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

Her Mente!

The reason that I didn't write and post last night, was because we were in Kerrville, attending an enjoyable, Texas Hill Country Master Naturalist reception / orientation for their Fall program. Tony signed up for the course and his first class is tomorrow, from 8:00 - 1:00.

Eileen, our good friend and super volunteer, took the course last Fall and she is now a certified Texas Master Naturalists and she has also volunteered to be Tony's mentor for the course and T. is very lucky to have her mentor him and he knows it.

When we arrived at the reception, at the Cultural Arts Center, across the street from Wolfmueller's Books, Eileen was the first to greet us. As we signed in and put on our name tags, Eileen immediately began introducing Tony as her mente and me, to the very friendly Master Naturalists members.

While we walked around sampling the members delicious food and meeting many interesting people, I sort of got jealous, because I realized that I really wanted to take the course too, so I told Tone, "I'm definitely going to sign up for their Spring program."

Following the friendly reception, as we went to find our seats for the orientation and introductions, we told Eileen that we would have to leave by 8:00, so we could get back to the rescue ranch, so Tony could put up our chickens for the night and she completely understood, so we sat on the last row, nearest the front doors, so we could slip out, without being noticed. Here's a picture I took of Eileen and Tony going over a few things, before the orientation began.

The orientation was so interesting and inspiring. When it came time for the Texas Master Naturalists mentors to introduce themselves and their mentes, they would walk up to the front of the class, with their mente or many mente-s to introduce them, I got even more jealous of Tony taking the Fall class, because these people were all so interesting and I wanted to know them, too. 

When it was Eileen's and Tony's turn to walk up to the front, Eileen had this to say about Tony and it made me so proud of him, even though I was so jealous of him getting to take the Fall course, instead of me.

"Tony Simons was born and raised in Medina, Texas. Tony comes from a long line of pioneer Texans being a 7^th generation Texan, and is in fact, a descendant of William “Bigfoot” Wallace, a famous Texas Ranger and early settler of the Medina River area. Incidentally, Tony and his wife, Nancy, live on the Wallace Creek near Medina which was named for his ancestor, Bigfoot Wallace.

Tony enjoys nature photography, building cedar furniture and fishing on the Texas coast while staying at the home of a good friend who lives on an island, with a lighthouse, near Port Aransas!

Tony looks forward to taking part in bird and butterfly counts and he has several hundred acres he can count on, living across from the Echo Hill Ranch Boys and Girls Camp near Medina. Tony also plans to assist the camp with other wildlife and land stewardship projects.

Tony and Nancy and Kinky Friedman co-founded the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch over 14 years ago where Tony and Nancy oversee a non-kill, extremely successful rescue. I know this because I’m a volunteer there and I see people come from all over Texas and other states to adopt from their rescue!  So, if you need a great dog, see Tony after class!

Welcome, Tony Simons!"

At 8:00, neither Tony or I wanted to leave, because we were enjoying the introduction part, but we had to, so Eileen walked with us outside to adios us and then Baxter slipped outside to give us a hug.

As Buttermilk took us home, we talked non-stop about how much we had had at the reception / orientation, even though Lisa, Baxter and Eileen were the only friends there, that we actually knew.

At 8:45, we arrived safely back at the ranch and that is my excuse for not writing last night.

Today has been great, because around 11:00, our new friends, Jennifer and Chris, came out again, so we could meet her parents, Maxine and Russ, visiting them from Colorado. And Tony and I instantly fell in love with them, as we had with Chris and Jennifer, the young-looking couple, who we had thought were in their twenties, but were actually in their mid-forties. 

Of course, I talked way too much, like I always do, but no one ever told me, "to put a lid on it," because they were all too nice. Like we had done with Jennifer and Chris, we gave Russ and Maxine the Grand Tour and like Chris and Jennifer, they loved meeting our rescued dogs, seeing The Okay Corral, Tony's No Whiner Diner, my pink writing cabin, The Cabin, Outer Space and meeting Mama, Roy Rogers, iPod and Belle Starr-Simons.

When it was time for them to go eat lunch at Toucan Jim's, neither Tone or I wanted them to leave, because we were having so much fun with them. And while we were hugging each other and adios-ing, I made them promise to come back, as soon as possible and they promised me they would. 

And that is about it for tonight, because I have to go to bed now, because I need to get up real early to drink coffee, fix breakfast and shower, because Eileen is coming out, in the morning, to help me do the morning chores outside, while T. is sitting in class, in Kerrville, with some of the coolest people on the planet. I'm still so jealous about it, but at least Eileen will be here and she is one of the coolest people that I know. Good night.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday, June Hartley!

Today is June's birthday and Tony and I want to be among the first to wish our dear friend the best birthday ever.

"Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear June. Happy Birthday to YOU! And many more."

We love you and our dogs love you even more. Have a great birthday!

P.S. Ben also wishes you a happy birthday!

Happy 58th Birthday, Tony!

Today is officially Tony's birthday and we've been celebrating it since last Friday. Tone is now 58 years old, which I guess makes me a Cougar, since I am almost 3 years older than him. Anyway, I want to be the first to wish my sweet husband a happy birthday.

And because I love Tony and I want him to have the best birthday ever—I am not going to ruin it by singing the Happy Birthday song to him, because as we all know—I'm "Tone deaf, in several different ways.

"Happy Birthday, Tony! I love YOU!

Happy Birthday Nancy Doyle!

Today is our dear friend, Nancy Doyle's, birthday and Kinky, Tony, Ben and I want to be the very first of her many friends, to wish her the happiest birthday she's ever had, because we love her so much.

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Nancy. Happy Birthday to You. And many more!

We hope that you are having a blast in Florida today, celebrating your birthday with your friends. And we wish that we could be there, too.

Happy Birthday Ben Welch!

Today is Ben Welch's Birthday and Tony and I want to be some of the first people to wish him the happiest birthday day ever.

We have known Ben for nearly a decade and Kinky, Tony and I consider him to be family. Over the many years laughter has played a major part of our friendship with Ben, even though during difficult or sad times we have often leaned on each other for support and advice. And that is why we love Ben so much.

Ben, it has been an honor to know you and count you as a true friend, so therefore we wish to sing you the Birthday Song, even though I have not taken my singing lessons with Carol yet.

"Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Ben. Happy Birthday to YOU! And many more...."

Tony's Birthday Really Rocked! or Rock Of Ages!

Today has been a fun day. This morning our dear friend Rick, "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper," Reichenbach called right after I had walked four miles with Leslie, because he wanted to wish T. a Happy Birthday, but Tone had not yet returned from the Old Timer, so he and I had a fun visit instead.

We talked about how excited Tony and I were about our upcoming road trip, in September, to Terlingua with Sandy and Jon and then we talked about loving Big Bend and our friends out there and the serious drought, that he too was experiencing down in Port Aransas. And before adios-ing each other he said, "Well, tell Mr. T. I hope that he has a great birthday today," then he paused for a moment and then he started laughing, which made me start to laugh, and then he continued, "No. Tell Tony that I hope he has another one! Bye."

When T. showed up he laughed at what Rick had said for me to tell him. "Fourth bought me a cup of coffee this morning for my birthday and...."

After breakfast Tony and I went outside to do our morning chores and right after we had finished them our friend Joe and his beautiful daughter Katherine came out and we had a fun visit with them before they walked Harley and Annie Oakley for us.

After lunch the dogs started barking outside so Tony went outside to see who was here and a few minutes later Ben, Will and Tone walked inside the trailer. After howdies Tony left the room to go check something out on his computer and that's when Will showed me a big rock. "I'm giving this to Tony for his birthday," Will laughingly whispered, as we all started laughing. "Do you have a Sharpie pen that I could borrow?"

After I handed him a Sharpie I took this picture of him inscribing the rock (his present) to Tony, as Ben and I continued to laugh about it.

When T. entered the big room Will said, trying to sound serious and trying hard not to laugh, "Tony, I have a birthday present to give to you. I have spent days looking for the perfect gift and I finally found it a little while ago." Then he handed his "written on stone" gift to T. so he could admire it. After he thanked Will everyone started laughing as I took this picture of Tony showing off his rock present.

Then Will asked me if I had any sealer spray that he could use to protect what he had written and thirty seconds later Will sprayed his gift outside on the front porch, "To preserve it for centuries to come."

When I read Will's words I burst out laughing. 

"Happy Birthday Tony 

This is one of

the only things

around younger

than

You

Love Will"

When we came back inside we joked about where T. should display or put "His Rock" gift and I suggested Outer Space, since it was the only doable suggestion amongst us. As we ate some of T.'s delicious "Heavenly Chocolate" birthday pie, a "Tootie Pie" sent to us from our friend Peggy Godfrey, the dogs started barking outside again, so T. went out the door, with Belle by his side, to see who was here.

Ten minutes later Tony came back inside the trailer, "That was a nice woman, Deborah's friend from Boston, who wanted to meet Blackie and Alfie, the dogs that Deborah adopted from us last week. After I told her that we had taken them to Hoegemeyers to get them groomed, before Eileen, Ellen and Lisa drive them up to Austin Monday morning and deliver them to a man, who Deborah hired, who is going to drive them non-stop up to Boston, in his SUV, where he will meet Deborah and deliver them to her and Susan...I showed her their empty pen and she took pictures of it. She seemed like a real nice lady." 

Then thirty minutes later, after I had teased Ben about a story he had told us about his trip out to Big Ben, when he was in his twenties, he and Will jumped into Ben's truck and they drove away laughing.

Around 3:30 the phone rang and it was Kinky, Ruth Buzzi and her husband Kent Perkins, calling from Kent's and Ruthie's farm in Ft. Worth and they wanted to talk to Tone. When I handed the phone to Tony, he started grinning from ear-to-ear, because after they had wished him a wonderful birthday—then the three of them sang the Happy Birthday song to him and T. was beside himself! After he had thanked them and said goodbye to them and had turned off the phone he said, "I can't believe they just called me and sang the Happy Birthday song to me. How cool is that, Nance?! Oh, they also said to tell you hello. They are such nice people."

I thought it was so cool that I immediately posted it on my Facebook page and then I posted it on Tony's Facebook page too, because I love Ruthie & Kent and Kinky as family.

Early this evening I put Tony's "Rock of Ages" on display, out in Outer Space, on top of the coffee table that I made a few years ago and it looks good resting there and it will be fun to watch people's reactions to it. I want to thank all of his friends and family for making T.'s birthday such a special one for him today. And just a little while ago Tony told me, "This has been my best birthday ever! Nance, I love the leather camera holster that you got me. I cannot wait for it to arrive and..."

And that is about it for tonight except that I want to say, "Happy Birthday T.! I love you so much and you're not older than that rock—no matter what anyone says!"

Y'all have a great evening, keep laughing and please keep praying for rain for us!"

Happy Birthday Tony!

I want to be the very first to wish the love of my life a Happy 57th Birthday! Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Tony. Happy Birthday to You! And Many More!

You've Come A Long Way, Baby!

I Love You,

Nancy

P.S. I have a surprise for you. : )

The Girls From Austin!

Today has been so much fun, which in my book, makes it a great day. Early this morning things got off to a shaky start because when I went outside to play with Belle Starr-Simons—there was a damaged or dead Tarantula on the front porch.

Knowing, of course, that this might be a possible sign or an omen for something yet to come, or else it was just a damaged or dead furry Tarantula, Belle and I gave the scary-looking spider a lot of space as we raced down the ramp to the front yard.

Twenty minutes later after Ms. B.'s "Wear-Her-Out—So She-Will-Sleep" marathon, we walked back up the ramp and the Tarantula was gone and was no where to be found, which of course gave me the creeps because I didn't know where it was until ten minutes later, after I had cleaned up the kitchen.

"Tony!" I hollered outside, as I once again stared at this frightening creature on the front porch, in the exact spot where it had earlier been before. "It's back, Tony! Please come and remove it for me!" And two minutes later, T., using our new gigantic BBQ spatula—carried the not-dead-yet damaged Tarantula off and set it free outside our front yard to either live or to die, because it was his choice to make and not ours.

After I thanked Tone for helping me I said, "I have some really sad news to tell you. I just found out that Dr. Kevorkian died earlier this morning in a hospital and..." Even though Tone didn't seem to be real upset with my news, he took off real fast as soon as he saw Ben driving up.

Between nine-thirty and ten o'clock our great volunteers arrived. Jim was the first to show up and then minutes later Ellen and Eileen arrived to walk our dogs for us! And after I had returned several phone calls and had answered some e-mails, I went outside and went on a fun walk with them and Moe Bandy and Enzo. And now it is time for me to do a shout out to our super volunteers. "Thank You, Jim, Eileen and Ellen For Your Dedication To Our Dogs! We Love You But Our Dogs Love Y'all Even More!"

Early this evening Tone, his dog Belle and I jumped into Kermit and we went down to the swimming hole to meet up with Will Wallace and Ben and his two sweet dogs: Valerie and Penny, so Belle could meet them, off leash for her very first time, and would hopefully swim and play with them and it was a total blast!

Ben's beautiful, well-trained Pit Bulls, that he had adopted from us over the years, were as sweet and gentle as they could be to Belle Starr-Simons and I was totally amazed how well they tolerated Tony's silly acting, playful puppy. And we laughed and joked nonstop, to our delight, as we watched "The Girls From Austin" swim and play with Baby Belle.

Y'all have a great evening!

I Love The Rose 99.9 FM!

Today has been great. This morning Jim, one of our great dog walking volunteers, came out and walked our dogs for us and the Hill Country's famous and favorite dog whisperer, Sharon Griswold, of "Rover Misbehaving?" came out and worked more of her magic on Annie Oakley!

When Jim took off for home and Sharon left to go give a private dog training lesson—our dogs were so happy and Annie has improved so much, she is starting to become one super cool dog, so I want to thank them for all of their good work. We thank you and love y'all!

After lunch the dogs started barking outside to let us know that someone was coming in, even though we already knew it was Gus, our beautiful black Labrador, being returned to us, so T. went outside to take care of it.

Twenty minutes later Tone walked back inside the trailer and said, "Nance, you should have seen it. Gus could not wait to get back in the pen and be reunited with Lois Lane. The minute I took him inside the pen Lois and him kissed each other and then they started playing. They are so happy to be back together. I hate to say it, but I am glad that Gus is back."

Around three thirty the dogs once again began barking outside to let us know that someone else was coming in, even though we already knew it was our good friend Harley Belew and his son Micah, coming out to help me with my Yeti microphone and to give me some tips on recording my audio book.

As soon as they got out of Harley's green truck we went into Outer Space and had a really fun visit with them, because Harley is so funny and he had us laughing from the git-go with his hilarious stories.

When my back started hurting from laughing so much we left Outer Space and went into my writing cabin aka now newly named—No Budget Recording Studio. After Harley sat down at my desk and began examining my THX Yeti microphone, that was hooked up to my laptop, I told him about the funny, practice recording session of me reading, "Flour Power" with my work-for-no-pay sound engineers, Ben and Tony. Then he put the headphones on and listened to it and laughed out loud.

"Nancy, it sounded good and I liked it to," Harley said. "The sound quality is very good and I think having the sound effects make for a more interesting audio book. And talk the way you talk with your accent, because it makes it more interesting to listen to,  and..." After hearing Harley's compliments and helpful recording tips—I was excited, because my confidence had returned about my ability to record an audio book, because Harley knows the radio business inside and out and he is the best at his craft. He owns two very popular radio stations and is Kerrville's favorite on air talk host.

After we shut down my recording equipment we decided to take up Kinky's offer to come visit him, so I suggested that we ride over to the Lodge and let Micah drive Kermit.  Harley's thirteen-year-old son was more than thrilled when Harley gave him permission to drive us, so we took off.

We had a fun visit with Kinky, as we sat outside, around the picnic table, as Harley and Kinky talked about Hank Williams, Sr. and shared stories about their famous musician friends, and then Kinky told us about the squirrel that had gotten inside the Lodge this morning and created havoc and we couldn't quit laughing.

Then Kinky invited us to go on a short hike with him and The Friedmans around the ranch and we took him up on that, too. And I am proud to announce that I didn't see one single snake or trip and fall down. After we returned safely back to the Lodge we adios-ed him and Micah drove us safely back over the river and through the woods to the rescue ranch.

Y'all have a great evening!

Not Thrilled At All!

Today has been great. This morning when I did "The Harley Show" Dottie West was the Harley Pet Of The Week and I hope that she gets adopted real soon. After the Utopia segment ended he and I talked off-air and that is when I asked him if he could help me set up my recording equipment properly and he said, "Yes. Sure. I would love to help you with it. How about I come out tomorrow afternoon and take a look at it?" I can't wait to see Harley tomorrow so he can help set up the microphone and give me some much needed "how to record myself" tips.

This morning around nine o'clock, our good friend and neighbor, Sherry, drove over to the Lodge, to rescue three baby, one-week-old bunnies for us, that Kinky had found in his front yard yesterday. When it comes to rescuing wildlife Sherry is the best at nurturing "lost fawns," and all kinds of other wildlife, back to health before she releases them back into the wild.

After Sherry picked up the cute, little bunnies from the small nest and had wrapped them up in a blue bath towel, she told us that she had recently found and rescued Bubba, a baby squirrel, that she was going to put the bunnies with and then she pulled a small crate out of her car's backseat and put the baby bunnies inside it. Then Sherry takes out Bubba, the tiniest and the cutest, little squirrel out of the crate to show him to us. And needless to say, Bubba instantly stole all of our hearts. He was absolutely adorable.

Before Sherry left to take the critters home, so she could bottle feed the bunnies and the squirrel we thanked her for helping us out once again and then I said, "Sherry, please feel free to name the bunnies Kinky, Tony and Nancy."

"How about what Tony named those three puppies—Fred, Wilma and Betty?" Kinky suggested and we all laughed.

I am dedicating tonight's blog to my dear friend 'Erb (Herb) Cares, because he is about as scared of snakes, scorpions and unfriendly spiders that bite you in the night, as I am, because late this afternoon Tone walked inside the trailer and calmly announced, "Nance, I just saw a giant rattler go under the barn next to the trailer. You need to be careful outside now, because the snakes have started~~~ moving early this year. It's one of the biggest ones that I have ever seen. Do you want to go look at it?"

As you can guess, cold chills instantly ran up my spine, because I was not thrilled-at-all to hear Tony's news about the gigantic rattlesnake, now waiting outside, under the barn, to scare me to death, so my response to T. was short and simple, "Nope."

Before I finish writing tonight, I want to thank our great friend Sherry, over at the ranch next door, for helping us out by taking the baby bunnies home with her. You're the best, Sherry!

Y'all have a great evening and watch out for snakes, because they are ~~~~~~~!

No Budget Recording Studio!

Today has been fun, because Ben Welch was here.

This afternoon while I was outside, in my writing cabin or The No Budget Recording Studio, doing sound checks before recording some more of my book, I invited Ben and Tony to come inside and help me. After recording the first story, Tony played it back and we laughed. Then Ben suggested that I add some sound effects like a loud thud noise, when T. dropped the shop vac in my story, Flour Power, so I asked Ben if he would make the loud thud sound for me and he agreed to do it for free, since my No Budget Recording Studio, which Ben and T. came up with the name for—never, ever pays.

Since Ben and Tone were donating their time to my project I gave them titles, "My Sound Engineers," to make them feel better, since they weren't being compensated. Before we started recording Tony took this picture of me and then I took this one of them.

When I started reading, Ben forgot to make the loud noise, so I burst out laughing. Here's a funny, short, one minute video clip, of our first attempt of me recording my book in the No Budget Recording Studio. Since I could not upload the mp3 to YouTube I made a video of my computer playing it back.

Tonight's blog was short because of possible thunderstorms.

Y'all have a great evening!

Sorry, Not Tonight!

This morning when I woke up I was fine until I walked into the kitchen and read the note on the breakfast bar, that Tony had left for me to read. "I'm sorry, Nance, Maude passed away during the night. When I get home I will bury her. I love you, Tony."

Tonight, in honor of Maudie, a very special little old dog, who immediately chose to be Tone's dog when we rescued her this past Fall, along with Buddy, the Nubian goat, I am sad to say that I have no words to express our sadness over the loss of this sweet little black dog—who found us, then stole our hearts and has now broken them.

Rest in peace little one. You were a great dog and we wish that we had known you longer. I promise that you will never be forgotten and I thank you for being a part of our lives. Godspeed.

My Spring Break!

Yesterday, I officially took the day off for my Spring Break, after I prepared Gus' adoption papers, so Tony could adopt him out to our friend, Sam, while I was gone.

Around ten o'clock I climbed into Trigger to go meet my sister and her husband in Fredericksburg for lunch, a visit and to show them my new teeth, because I haven't seen them since October when I got my dental work done. "Nance, I plugged in Garmina, so you won't get lost. Have a great time. I love you," T. said. "And please call me when you leave Fredericksburg, so I won't worry about you."

An hour later I met up with them, in the Fredericksburg's Walmart parking lot, and our fun day began. After howdies and hugs, I grinned and showed them my "new grill" and they were full of compliments about them, then we took off for Enchanted Rock, but it was so crowed with Spring Breakers, we went back to Fredville and ate a delicious lunch instead. After that we walked the crowded streets and had a great visit.

When Trigger and I returned home around five o'clock, Tony told me all about Gus' adoption and then we went to Medina to go watch our nephew's baseball practice. But when we got to Medina we made a quick stop at the new pizza parlor in town, Papa Don's Pizza & Hot Wings, so I could give Kevin, the owner, the pizza box that Kinky had signed, along with some pictures of Kinky signing the box and Kevin and his wife were thrilled. Then we went to the baseball field and had a fun visit with Sam & Stacie, as we watched their son practice with his teammates.

When we got back home I started tinkering with my new Yeti microphone, trying to make it, make me not sound like Gabby Hayes on helium, when I start working on my audiobook tomorrow, but because it is a high quality mic—it made me sound exactly like Gabby. And, that is why I did not blog last night, because I was semi-depressed about sounding so much like Gabby. And now, I am scared-to-death that everyone will laugh out loud, the second they hear me reading my book to them.

This morning while Tony ate his breakfast and I drank a smoothie, I played him a short "testing" of me reading my book and I started laughing, as I watched him trying not to laugh. "Tony, I know I sound  just like Gabby. I can't help it," I said, still trying to be optimistic about my project. "Who knows, Tone? Maybe it will be a best seller, because it is so funny, because of me reading it out loud." And that is when T. quickly got up from the kitchen table and grabbed a red dish towel to keep the 2% milk from coming out of his nose.

"Who knows?" Tony said, as he wiped away the milk on his nose, while trying not to laugh. "You don't sound that bad, Nance." And then we burst out laughing again, when I pushed the "play" button on the recorder and heard me reading my book.

Today has been quiet, so I spent most of my day today out in my writing cabin aka Cousin Nancy's Recording Studio, trying to record the Table of Contents, which I did a good job of, but is pretty funny to listen to.

Because of the Full Moon tonight, while T. and I were out in Outer Space for Happy Hour, I made a decision and told T. about it. "Tony, I want to go with you to the Old Timer tomorrow morning, so I can meet all of your friends. Would that be okay with you?"

"I would love it, Nance! What time do you want me to wake you up?"

Y'all have a great evening!

My Yeti!

Today has been a quiet day and it was just what I needed. This morning our good friends, Ellen & Charlie came over with Catfish, their cute grandson that was visiting them, to do Tony's morning chores for him, because Tone finally took a day off and went to the San Antonio Zoo, with his sister Annie, to photograph the animals.

They had invited me to come along, but as you know— "I don't do San Antone" ever, because of the crazy, heavy-traffic, which stresses me out too much. So, I stayed home and babysat his dog Belle while I caught up with my mound of paperwork.

Around lunch time I called Kinky. I told him that I needed to go mail a letter in Medina and then I asked him if he wanted to split a pizza with me. "There's a new pizza place in Medina called Papa Don's Pizza & Hot Wings and their pizzas are exceptionally good." After I said goodbye to Kink I called Papa Don's Pizza & Hot Wings and ordered their supreme pizza with original crust, then I jumped into Buttermilk and we took off for town with my letter to be mailed.

After I mailed my letter I went to pick up our pizza, that I could not wait for Kinky to try. When I told the friendly owners that I was sharing their delicious pizza today with Kinky Friedman—their eyes lit up.
"Would y'all like for me to ask Kinky to sign this pizza box for y'all, so you can frame it?"

"We'd love it and could you take a picture of him signing the box?" They asked, all excited.

After Kinky took his first bite of pizza he smiled and said, "Nance, this is a really good pizza!"

"I know. Tony and I love their pizzas and the whole town is behind them..." Here is the picture I took of Kinky signing the pizza box.

Belle was pretty good today and she did a lot of sleeping while I cleaned our trailer. Here is a picture I took of her in La-La Land.

This afternoon UPS showed up before T. got home and I was thrilled to see that the package was for me, because it was my Yeti microphone, along with the headphones and a mike stand, that I had ordered from Amazon, for my very first audio book that I'm fixin' to record of, Meanwhile Back At The Rescue Ranch: The Dog Days Of Cousin Nancy. 

Right after I called Kinky to tell him about my microphone kit finally arriving—Tone walked inside the trailer. After he hugged me he said, "Nance, thanks for letting me take the day off today. I had so much fun and you're not going to believe the great pictures that I took..."

When he was finally done talking I said, "My Yeti is here, Tony. Look at this and the..." After I was done talking T. picked up Belle and hugged her and that's when I took this cute picture of them.  

Then I showed Tony the Pop Blocker that came with my Yeti. You put this shield in front of the microphone and it says, "The Pop Blocker is your best defense against distorting "P" and "B" consonants" and you know that I will need that since we both know that I sound like Gabby Hayes on helium." Tony started laughing, as he put Belle Starr-Simons outside to go potty.

"Tony, do you want to be my sound man?" I asked, as he fiddled with my Yeti. 

"I don't know, Nance," he said, "what does it pay?" And I started laughing.

"I don't know, Tone. I want to do the recording out in my writing cabin, with the occasional sounds of our dogs barking outside, in the background, so it will be authentic. I told Kinky about it and he thought it sounded like a good idea. What do you think?"

To Be Continued...(Sorry, Mari.)

Y'all have a great evening!

2nd Post For Today!

Late this afternoon Kinky came over to have a picnic with our dogs. While we were visiting, Tony showed him how his dog Belle Starr-Simons could sit on command and Kinky couldn't believe it. "Nance, you need to do a video of this. I've never seen an eight-week-old puppy sit on command."

So after Kinky went home I made a short, on minute video clip of Tony having Belle sit on command. It is pretty funny and the name of it is Good Girl! I hope you enjoy it and it makes you smile.

Have a great evening!

Girls Night Out!

Last night was really rough and it wasn't Belle Starr's fault at all. In fact, she was fantastic all last night. She never cried in her crate or had an accident and she slept like a baby.

The trouble started last night, around eight o'clock, when I made some popcorn for us to eat. Toto, who has a Napoleon complex, started growling at Mama and Abbie, so I put "the girls" outside, so we could eat our popcorn in peace and that made Toto happy.

Thirty minutes later, after cleaning up the kitchen, I went to the front door to let Mama and Abbie come back inside, but they weren't there and then I noticed that the front gate was wide open—Mama had opened the gate, again.

So, Tony and I drove all over the ranch, for over an hour, looking for them, but to no avail. Before going to bed we stood on our front porch hollering for them and right before we came inside I said, "T. I see eyes over there by the cabin. Look." And sure enough, it was Abbie and she came inside our trailer, like Tone had told her to do.

Of course, I didn't sleep very well last night, because I was so worried about Mama. At one-thirty, two -thirty and three-thirty, in the morning, I got out of bed and went to the front door to look and call for Mama, hoping that she had returned home.

At four-thirty my luck changed, when I saw her standing on the front porch. "Mama! Come on inside." Then I smelled a strong scent of a skunk—Mama had been skunked and she stunk to high heaven! Because I was so glad to see her, I told her to come on to bed and she slept like a baby on our bed until T. woke up at five-thirty.

"Good grief, Mama! You've been skunked," Tony grumbled, in the dark. "You need to go outside right now. Come on girl. Come on Abbie."

I climbed out of bed right after dawn, before Tone had taken off for the Old Timer. After I told him about Mama finally coming home at four-thirty we talked about our stinking bedroom and the big room smelling like skunk and then we talked about Belle sleeping throughout the night without a whimper. Then T. took off to go drink some coffee with his friends in Medina.

After feeding all of our dogs, I got on my laptop and searched the Internet to find ways to de-skunk Mama and our trailer. Twenty minutes later, I picked up the phone and punched in the Old Timer's phone number. "Hello, this is Nancy. Can I speak to Tony please?" Seconds later after greetings I said, "Tony, I found a recipe to de-skunk Mama! Please buy two bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide. Thanks. Bye."

Two minutes later after writing down the recipe I called the Old Timer, again. "Hello, this is Nancy again. Would you please ask Tony to also get two boxes of baking soda?"

"Yes, ma'am. Baking soda," the man said, slowly. "Tony, you need to also get two boxes of baking soda, too. He said, "okay." Bye."

After we ate breakfast Tony looked out the front window and said, "Nance, you've got to come see this." I looked out the window and across the creek from us were six, gigantic, mama, wild hogs, moving across the pasture, with about twenty-five to thirty, of their little, wild piglets. "Tony, do you realize that Mama could have been killed last night if she had run into that herd of wild hogs? Those protective mama's would have killed Mama for sure!"

"Yeah, I know."

"Thank goodness she only met a skunk last night and..." After Tony went outside to do his chores I started trying to de-skunk our trailer by washing all of our linens on our bed, while burning several sticks of incense in every room. After the sticks had burned completely out I went over to the Lodge with Belle, because Kinky wanted to meet her.

"Nance, she's beautiful and absolutely precious," Kinky said, as he stroked her. "Hi, Belle Starr..." By the time we reached the door of the Lodge, Belle had also met The Friedmans, who were all very nice to her. Thirty minutes later, after a fun visit, and after Belle had left a gift for Kinky on his expensive Persian rug, Trigger took us back over to the rescue ranch.

As we drove in, I saw three people walking around and none of them were Tony. Then I saw T. and stopped Trigger, to ask him who was out here, since we are closed on Sundays. "They want to adopt Pilgrim," Tony said. "They are Chelsea's cousins. She told them all about Pilgrim and she had them read your column in "Texas Animal Imprints" about Pilgrim and Pumpkin. They seem like really nice people, too. You're going to like them. And they told me that Harry is happy and he is doing great."

Before Trigger, Belle and I reached the trailer, I stopped and visited with the cousins and I was very impressed with them, to say the least, and I was also very excited that they were adopting Pilgrim. After Joshua signed-off on the adoption papers, I took this picture of Joshua with Pilgrim before they took him to his new forever home.

Before heading to Kerrville to meet Matt and his parents, Gail and Paul, and Lisa for lunch, I took this pictures of Belle Starr sleeping under my chair at the kitchen table.

Lunch with Matt, Lisa, Gail & Paul was a total blast for Tony and me and it was filled with non-stop laughter, as we caught up with each other's latest, good news. In fact, I noticed that people and the waitresses were staring at us, because we were laughing and having so much fun. I wish that y'all could have been there, because I love these people.

Then the funniest thing happened. Lisa, who I was sitting next to says, "Oh no. That had avocado in it and I am allergic to avocados. They make my lips swell up." And then she started nervously rubbing her lips to see if they were swelling. "Oh, I hate this. I can already feel them swelling. I am so embarrassed, you guys. Are they big?" I looked over at Lisa for a "lip check."

"OMG, Lisa!" I said, trying to sound serious. "They're the size of truck tires. They are so big that I know the Rolling Stones would want you to tour with them." Everyone started laughing.

Then Paul quickly adds, "They are so big, Lisa, that I bet in an hour they will temporarily blind you." Then there was another out burst of laughter at our table and then we all reassured Lisa that her lips looked just fine and not to worry. 

After our super fun lunch with our great friends, T. and I went to H-E-B and speed-shopped, so we could get back home and give Mama a bath, in the backyard, to help de-skunk her. And needless to say, Mama was not a "happy camper" about it.

After washing her twice with some de-skunking shampoo we left her to dry and came inside the trailer to  play with Belle and to give her the new toys that we had bought for her and she loved them.

After we had worn out Belle, she took a nap in the kitchen. Then I lit some more sticks of incense, while Tony sprayed "doggie perfume" on all of our dogs, while I remade our bed.

This evening when we brought Mama and Abbie inside for the night, she still smells some, but not nearly as bad as she did last night. Instead of "Genuine Skunk-Smell," it was more like "Eau de Toilet." Tomorrow I plan to give Mama another de-skunking bath and trim her hair a little, so I can remove the many new stickers and burrs, that she collected on her wild "girls not out" last night.

Y'all have a great evening! And May the Dog of Your Choice Bless You and Never Get Skunked!