Beckham, The Soccer Playing Wild Hog!

This morning I received some sad news from our good friends, Desiree and David, at the Trails End Guest House, in Kerrville, that Beckham aka Wilber Pigg, the soccer playing wild hog, that we rescued many years ago and adopted out to them, has passed away. I took these pictures, in 2009, of Beckham at three months old, before we adopted him out to Desiree and David. And you can check out his videos on the side bar, too.

Here is the sweet obituary that David wrote to honor the orange & black wild hog that we all so dearly loved:

Pigg, Wilber AKA Beckham

Sunday, August 24, 2014, Wilber Pigg passed on the land of no sorrows. It must be noted, though, that if Mr. Pigg ever had any sorrows, he never showed them to anyone. Wilber, who admittedly, was getting pretty long in the tusk, was spry till the last of his days. He could sprint across his pen as quickly as when he was but a wee wiener whenever he heard slop being dumped into his trough. Ever the fleet of foot, small cartoon like clouds of dust would be propelled through his cloven hooves to enable his timely arrival in front of his ten gallon custom designed and manufactured aluminum dining dish. He had the dish created to enable the full piquant of any morsel to rise and surround his finely tuned taste buds and olfactory receptors. This facilitated full concentration and enjoyment of any tasty slop that came his way.

Known in so many circles as an ever demanding gourmand, he could find delight in a simple mush, be it accompanied by a fifty-eight degree, gently poured full bodied cabernet or a tepid two liter jug of Big Red sloshed in with little grace. His culinary genius for pairings knew no bounds and many was the time when guests would stand in awe and amazement as he skillfully tossed out the errant mushroom or potato slice that did not measure up to the perfection that all finely prepared slop should aspire to achieve. While chocolate chip cookies accompanied by robust ales and stouts were his afternoon favorites, he was occasionally observed enjoying an India Pale Ale in their stead; although he was not especially a fan of the overly citrus bite from any hops not hauled to the brewery in oaken wagon beds.

Interviewed many times by bloggers from all over the world, they trekked with abandon to the nirvana that was his sty. He welcomed many queries on many topics but it always came back to food and his extensive knowledge of that subject. Ever humble, he quickly dismissed any similarities of greatness between himself and Mr. Creosote. His most famous quote concerning this subject was noted in a Swiss blog.

“Yes, yes,” Wilber chuckled, “I am quite familiar with Mr. Creosote’s body of work and the vast contributions he made to the world of fine dining. He was truly an artist, much the same as John Belushi. As it was said about Mr. Belushi after his untimely passing, “who can say what might be the limits of genius?” Seemingly Mr. Creosote did step over that line by accepting “just one thin wafer” but did he really? I prefer to feel his was a life of sacrifice that opened the doors for culinary disciples such as me.”

To limit the life of Wilber Pigg to simply the food-stuffs world would be a tragedy. He was so much more. He was a friend to all that needed a friend. He always had a gentle welcoming grunt to each visitor. He was especially close to a married business woman in his community and though some local scallywags hinted at more, he insisted it was strictly platonic. He was on excellent terms with her husband and any late evening pen meetings between he and her were quite honorable.

Though initially brought into a Jewish home he lived with Gentiles for the majority of his life. His own faith he discussed rarely, though it was rumored he had a fascination with Viking beliefs and rituals. It is said he was observed once, in the shadowy glow of an October full moon, standing on his rear trotters, Viking helmet on head, breastplate on chest and spear in hoof oinking out a modified chorus of a melody composed of Wagner’s Ring Circle and Strauss II’s Der Fledermaus. This is just rumor and while there were hidden cameras filming his rendition, in an odd twist, the developed negatives have never been located.

He was interred in a private ceremony at an undisclosed location in his much beloved Texas Hill Country where he resided. In lieu of flowers Wilber requested contributions be made to the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota. When asked about this unusual requested he stated simply, “I may be a porcine, I may have been raised in a Jewish home for a time and I know that it seems odd but I just love that wonderful pink chicken.” 

After reading the obituary, I sent this e-mail to David and Desiree:

"Hi Desiree and David. Tony and I loved reading our friend's obit, even though Beckham/Wilber has passed away and gone to the "All You Can Eat Buffet In The Sky." His obit made us laugh out loud several times and I think Beck/Wil would have wanted it that way, too. Thank y'all for taking him in and giving him a wonderful life filled with love and food or should I say, "filled with FOOD and love." We loved Beckham and Kinky, Tony and I cannot thank y'all enough for adopting him and feeding him so well.

In my heart, Beckham will always be the coolest pig (Wild Hog) that I've ever known. "Rest In Peace Beck and may the "god of pigs" feed you as good as Desiree and David did, at their Trails End Guest House, in Kerrville.

With Love,

Nancy

P.S. Tony and Kinky send y'all their best."

Y'all have a great evening!

Public!

Today has turned out great, even though this morning it went about as far south as it could go and I am counting all of my blessings tonight.

Early this morning, after breakfast, Tony and I went over to the Lodge to drink a cup of coffee with Kinky and Marcie. When we arrived at the Lodge Marcie was still asleep in the Annex, so we ended up drinking coffee and had a fun, but short visit with Frank and Kinky instead.

After we left the Lodge, as Buttermilk took us over the river and through the woods, Tony complained about his chest hurting, so when we got home he took two more baby Aspirin, then he went outside to do his morning chores.

Ten minutes later Tony walked inside the trailer and said, "Nance, my chest is really hurting. Would you mind coming outside with me while I do my chores, so you'll be there if something happens?" His words scared me, so I closed my laptop and turned and looked at T. and I could tell that he didn't feel good, so I asked Tony to call Wolfmueller's books to see if they could recommend a clinic for us to go to. After Tony told Sandy about his chest hurting, she told Tone she wanted to talk to me, so Tony handed me the phone.

"Nancy, go to the Emergency Room right now!" Sandy said. "I'm serious. Take Tony to the Emergency Room now..." After I promised her we would, I called Aaron to see if he was working today, because I was going to ask him to come out and feed our dogs for us. Aaron answered his cell phone on the third ring and he told me that he was working and then he asked me why, so I told him about Tone's chest pains and us fixin' to go the hospital in Kerrville. Then I called Kinky.

"Kink, I just wanted to let you know that I'm taking Tony to the Emergency Room right now. I'll call you when we get there. Bye." Thirty-three minutes later, I dropped Tony off at the front door of the Emergency Room and then I went and found a parking space for Buttermilk.

When I walked into the ER a sweet nurse was helping put T. into a wheelchair and then they quickly took off with me right behind them. Within twenty minutes Tony had been hooked up to a EKG heart monitoring machine, had given some of his blood away for free, which nearly caused me to pass out, and had chest ex-rays taken. Then we were told to sit and wait and be patient, because it could take several hours before the tests results came back, so I went outside and called Kinky to give him an update and then I called Sandy and Jon and updated them, too. They all told me to "hang-in-there," so I took their advice and hanged.

As we waited patiently in the private room, I told Tony that everything was going to be alright and then my cell phone rang—it was Aaron. "Nancy, they let me take off and I'm leaving Medina right now and heading for the rescue ranch, so I can feed the dogs for y'all. How is Tony?" After I thanked Aaron for helping us out and relieved that he was going to feed our dogs I teared up. Then the phone rang again—it was Kinky. After I updated him on T.'s condition Kinky asked me to meet him and Marcie at one o'clock for lunch at a nearby restaurant. When I told Tony about the invite, he told me to go have lunch with them, so I did.

When I walked inside the restaurant Kinky, Marcie and Max Swafford, our good friend who wrote the greatest book about Kinky, The Kinky File, waved at me from a table, for me to come join them. After I sat down at the table the waitress appeared and asked us if we were ready to order. "I'll have the Speedy Gonzales with tea, please" I said. Then Marce ordered their daily Special.

"I want exactly what Cousin Nancy just ordered," Kinky said, followed by a laugh. "With flour and corn tortillas, please."

Then Max says, "Me, too. I want the same thing that Nancy and Kinky are having, too. It sounds good." Then the friendly waitress smiled at us and then she took off to go turn in our orders and then we started talking about Tony. Max, who had just eight days ago had a heart attack and survived it, had been air lifted to San Antonio where they put a stint in and cleaned out two of his arteries, tried to cheer me up as did Marcie and Kinky. Before leaving the restaurant Max asked me if it would be okay for him to go see T. and I told him yes, and then I thanked Kinky for lunch and then said, "Y'all, I know that Tony is going to be okay. I really do." After hugs, Buttermilk and I took off.

As I was walking in the parking lot headed towards the Emergency Room I hear, "Nance, wait up!" I turned around and there was Max. When he caught up with me he says, "This feels so weird to me, because eight days ago I was walking, right where we're walking—into the ER..."

When we walked into Tony's room he was glad to see us and two minutes later—the doctor walks in and she says, "Everything looks great Mr. Simons. Your heart is in great condition and everything looks really good. We are waiting on one more test result to rule out a possible blood clot and if there is one we will check you into the hospital for a few days to dissolve it. If there isn't a blood clot we can send you home in about an hour." I don't know who was happier to have received her news, because we were all smiling.

After Max left, I visited with Tony for a few minutes and then he suggested that I go to H-E-B, to save time, to get our groceries, so I took off to H-E-B, because I knew that T. was going to be okay.

While I speed-shopped in H-E-B I ran into our dear friends David & Desiree Farrar, owners of Kerrville's favorite B&B—"Trails End Guest House." After howdys and hugs they teased me about us running into each other again at H-E-B and then they asked me where Tony was. "Well, he's in the Emergency Room at Peterson's right now and..." After I finished telling them the whole story their frowns quickly turned into smiles and they told me to call them if we needed anything. Then a few isles later, I ran into our dear friend and neighbor, Sally Merwin and I had the exact same conversation with her. Then I paid for our groceries and Buttermilk took me back to the Emergency Room where Tony was patiently sitting in the waiting room—waiting for me—to go home, but we didn't go home right then, because we needed to swing by Hoegemeyers Animal Clinic to pick up our little Maudie.

We arrived back at the rescue ranch just a few minutes before five o'clock and the three of us were so glad to be back home! Then I looked at Carlton, who was flashing on the breakfast bar, and saw that I had nineteen new phone calls to return. I listened to them as Tony and I put away our groceries and then I returned ten of the most urgent phone calls. Then T. and I went outside, right before dark, and cleaned the dog pens while handing out treats to our super rescued dogs.

To say the least—it has been one heck of a day for us, but like always— it turned our great and I am so thankful for that. And tonight, after reading Mari's comment about not being able to view my nine minute 2010 Blog Memories, which I accidentally forgot to make Public—is now Public! I hope that y'all enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it. Happy New Year, once again! I know it's going to be a great year! I love you, Tony!

Y'all have a great evening!

In The Spirit!

Reader Beware! This is a long one, but I promise to write a short one tomorrow night, because I am going to another Drumming Circle at The Yoga Space tomorrow afternoon and I also have to start writing my second column for Texas Animal Imprints magazine!

Today has been one fun and exciting day. The Boy Scouts of America, Pack #135 came out and we rescued Zeus!

This morning I got up real early and did my morning chores, so I could walk another twelve miles, but my body said, "No. It ain't happening. Not today." So, instead of walking, I did some paperwork before going outside to meet nine of the coolest Boy Scouts in Texas. When they arrived I first introduced myself to their smiling faces and then I asked each Boy Scout to tell me their names.

After I met Josh, George, Kameron, Ben, Darren, Ian, William, Garyn and Kash (And their names are not misspelled.) I gave them a tour of our rescue ranch and our dogs enjoyed meeting the cute kids as much as the scouts did. We ended the tour at the pigpen and the boys could not wait to go inside and pet our precious pigs, so we went inside. It was a lot of fun watching some of the boys pet a pig for their very first time.

When the pig petting was done we took our dogs for a long walk to Wallace Creek and everyone seemed to enjoy it as much as I did. Before the Boy Scouts loaded up in the vehicles, to go home I said, "I want to thank all of y'all for coming out today to walk our dogs. And, I want you to know that you did a great job and we would love for you to come back. We thank you and our dogs thank you. Troop 135 Rocks!"

Around two-thirty Tony took off for Medina to buy some feed and while he was gone, the dogs started barking outside to let me know that Zeus was here! So, I went outside and waved at the fancy, black SUV, and then I took off to go meet Zeus, who had arrived on time as planned!

When I reached the vehicle I looked inside and melted the second I looked into Zeus's beautiful eyes. Then a nice, teary-eyed, older woman got out of her car to talk to me before leaving Zeus, a very sweet, nine-year-old Pit Bull, in our care.

Zeus looked pretty stressed-out inside the car as the woman gave me Zeus' medical papers, his bed and blanket and some dog food. Then I jumped into Kermit and they followed me in her car, down to the large puppy pen next to Ruth Buzzi and Chuck Norris. "Until Tony gets back from town we need to put Zeus in here." I explained. "We want Zeus to be pen mates with Lois Lane, down there in the big pen by our trailer, but first Tony and I have to take them on a long walk to make sure they like each other."

After the woman said goodbye to Zeus, she thanked me and then promised me that she was going to try really hard to find him a home, because he was such a great dog. "Please call me first, if anyone wants to adopt him, because I will see if we can take him back. As soon as my friend gets back to the U.S. I think that she might adopt Zeus, because he has stayed with her a few times and she loves him. He is a great dog."

As she drove away, I watched Zeus' heartbreak as he stared quizically after her car—it broke my heart, too and made me tear up. "Don't worry old boy," I said, as he stared down the road, towards the ranch's gate entrance. "Everything is going to be okay. I promise you that and Zeus..." As I walked back to the trailer I wondered if Zeus had heard or understood anything that I had said to him.

When T. got back home we went to see Zeus. Of couse, Zeus looked sad, but he wagged his tail at us, like he was glad to see us. Tony then went inside the puppy pen and talked to this handsome, magnificent homeless dog as he petted him and again, I teared up.

When we left Zeus, we decided that it was best for Zeus to stay in the puppy pen until tomorrow, so we could take him and Super Man's girlfriend for a longer walk and also because we would have all day tomorrow to be outside to watch them interact together to make sure they were meant to be best friends.

A little before dark, I went outside and Kermit took me down to Zeus' pen. "Hey, buddy. I brought you a special treat, since you missed out on our Thanksgiving dinner for the dogs. Do you like turkey, Zeus?" Zeus said, nothing, but I could tell by how fast his tail was wagging that he loved white turkey meat, so I opened up a baggie full of white meat and then began feeding him some of Tony's and my leftover turkey. Needless to say—Zeus gobbled it all up and that made me feel a lot better.

This evening Tony and I went into Outer Space for Happy Hour and we had a blast, because of our custom made, talking Christmas tree with the flashing lights! Which leads me to ask this question: Guess who has the coolest Christmas Tree in the Universe? And the answer is: We do! And yes, I am bragging—thanks to our great friends Cheryl and Walt!

Yesterday, just as T. and I were fixin' to go to Medina and Kerrville to run errands, we had a surprise visit from Cheryl and Walt. After howdy's and hugs they told us that they had some Christmas gifts for us and then Walt opened their car's rear hatch and pulled out something big, that was covered up by a black plastic bag—"We hope that you like it," Cheryl said. "Walt and I made you a custom Christmas tree for Outer Space!" Then Walt quickly removed the plastic cover and Tone's and my jaw dropped at what we saw. I was speechless for a few seconds, for one of the very first times in over fifty-nine years.

"OMG!" were my first words. "It is absolutely beautiful! I love it. Y'all made this for us?"

"Yes, because we love y'all," Cheryl said, as she pulled out a gigantic gift bag. "And this is for y'all, too. It is not much—just a few more presents and the tree ornament boxes that we bought from a Hallmark store. We hope you like it."

For the second time, within a minute, I was speechless again, because I was thinking, "Not much? That pretty, gigantic gift sack is so full—T. and I could take it to the mountains and live in it."

 After Tony took the "Coolest Christmas Tree In The Galaxy" into Outer Space, we had a short, but fun visit with Walt and Cheryl. Unfortunately, because time was of the essence, I apologized to them for us having to take off and then I thanked them for the gift filled sack and told them that we would open up their presents when we got back home.

Right before they left I noticed Cheryl's pretty boots that she was wearing. "Cheryl, I love your boots. Are those Justin Gypsy boots?"

"Yes, I love them!" Cheryl said, as she lifted up her jeans to show me the blue tops. "They are the most comfortable boots that I have ever worn and I got them because of you and your pink boots." The four of us started laughing.

"They are so beautiful. I love the color!" I said. "Tone, I want a pair just like these for Christmas. Okay?" Walt looked over at T. and they started laughing and then Cheryl and I burst out laughing. Before Cheryl climbed into their car to leave, I said, "Cheryl, thank you and Walt so much. I want you to know that y'all have just made my day and put me in the spirit of Christmas. After goodbyes and hugs they drove away and so did we.

After running several errands in Medina and then in Kerrville, we went to H-E-B for gas and groceries. Tony let me out at the front door, so he could go fill up Buttermilk. As I started to enter the grocery store with my empty shopping cart I was startled when a grocery cart suddenly, but softly cut me off and when I looked up I saw it was our good friend Steve from Bandera. "I'm sorry, Cousin Nancy. When I saw you, I just had to do it." Steve said, and then we started laughing and caught up with each others news. Within the next fifteen minutes, I ran into our good friend and neighbor, Don Dickerson and we had a nice visit, and then minutes later I ran into our friend Cindy Flores and I had short, but fun visit with her.

As I was cruising down isle nine I heard a friendly voice say, "Hey, Cousin Nancy!" It was D&D aka David and Desiree Farrar, our good friends that adopted our wild soccer playing wild hog—David Beckham and who own and operate Kerrville's popular B&B cabins—The Trails End Guest House!

I love Desiree and David, so I quickly pulled my cart over to the side and parked it next to their shopping cart and we started visiting. Within seconds the three of us were laughing so loudly, people began staring at us, as we caught up with each others latest news. At one point during our more than fun conversation, David gave me his latest Beckham update. He told me a heartwarming story about the adorable, little, orange and black colored, wild hog that we rescued years ago—who now weighs over seven-hundred pounds. The story nearly made me tear up and I am going to ask David to write down the story, so I can share it with y'all.

Before goodbyes and hugs David told me about his upcoming hands-on cooking classes to be held on the last three Saturdays in January. I was so excited to hear about it, I pulled out my checkbook and immediately signed up right then and there, because this guy can sure cook. "I know that Tony is going to be upset with me for taking off and being gone on three Saturdays in a row, when we have our Open House at the rescue ranch, but I know that he will be glad that I did, because he'll eat it up. I can't wait!"

After we left H-E-B, we went to Hoegemeyers to pick up P&P (Pilgrim and Pumpkin) and as we were leaving the clinic—Peggy, the other half of P&P walked into the clinic wearing a big smile on her face. After hugs and a short visit she told us that she was there to pick up Smelly Cat and we started laughing. "We sure enjoyed y'all's visit the other day and please tell Patty that we already miss her and we can't wait for her to move here," I said, before we walked out of the clinic with two happy spayed and neutered dogs in our crate.

When we got home I checked my e-mail and smiled and then I laughed out loud when I read Ellen Jackson's sweet, but funny note. I love her sense of humor.

"Hey, Nancy and Tony,
The Kerrville crew wants to underwrite Christmas dinner for all the little pen pals at the rescue ranch. We don't want Canada to get ahead of us. We would like to come help serve, too.
Ellen, June and Eileen"

I love Ellen, June and Eileen and I think that it is so awesome for them to offer to help us out again. I seriously don't know what our rescue ranch would do without these three dedicated women. I wrote Ellen back and told her how much we would love for them to underwrite our dog's Christmas dinner and help us serve the dogs on Christmas day and how much fun it will be having them here with us on Christmas day and that it would make our Christmas. Thus begins "The Texas vs. Canada Friendly-Food-Fight!" And the cool part is everybody wins! I love it. Thank y'all so much!


After I got off of the computer Tony and I opened our many presents from Cheryl and Walt and we were thrilled with their thoughtful gifts. Besides getting their beautifully, custom decorated Christmas tree they gave us a halogen colored wheel light projector for our tree, some pretty holiday dish towels, a gorgous chili wreath, a big box of gourmet, holiday doggie treats, boxes of healthy Celestial teas, pinion pine incense, which is my favorite incense, along with the empty Hallmark ornament boxes to store the ornaments in.

The ornaments that adorn our tree are so precious and perfect for Outer Space. The ones that they picked out for our tree are Hallmark's "Marvin the Martian," Buzz, "Light Year," "Starship Christmas," "E.T. the Extra Terrestial," "Robot Parade," "Magic," "Delta Flyer" and "The Jetsons!" Thank you, Cheryl and Walt! We love them and y'all, and I can't wait to show our spaced-out-tree to Kinky!

Early this evening I took this picture of their gifts by the beautiful Christmas tree.

When it got nearly dark outside I took this picture of our lovely Christmas tree with it's talking and flashing lights Christmas ornaments, before we came inside from Happy Hour. Isn't it out of this world! 

P.S. I forgot to tell you that Cheryl and Walt loved my new teeth and so did Desiree and David! And it made me smile.

Y'all have a great evening!

Tony Said Not A Word!

Today has been a great day. This morning I got up really early and fed the dogs, walked four miles, and had breakfast ready when Tony came home from the Old Timer. After I cleaned up the breakfast dishes I decided that I wanted to go for a five mile bike ride before it got too hot.

"Tony!" I half-hollered down the hall. "Nellybelle and I are going for a ride. We will be back in a little while. Bye!"

"Wait, Nance," T. said, as he walked down the hallway toward the big room. "Where are y'all going?"

"We're going down the road to 16 then turn around and come back. It's only five miles."

"Will you take a walkie talkie with you, so I won't worry?" Tony asked. I nodded yes and then he went into my office where we keep our walkie talkies. When he came back into the big room I was plugging my earphones into my iPod. "They're dead," he declared. "I just plugged them in to recharge. Please be careful," he said, as we walked out of the trailer. When we reached the front yard gate he went to get Nellybelle for me out of the barn, as I selected my "walking playlist," which is loaded with real up tempo music.

When he and Nell-belle arrived, he had put a bottle of water in the cup holder for me. Then he helped me put my camera in my leather handlebar bag and kissed me on the forehead. When we took off I turned on my iPod and "Magic Bus" by the Who began playing loudly in my ears. As I pedaled past the dog pens I could barely hear the dogs barking at us.

I didn't pedal far, because I had to stop at the Echo Hill Ranch cattle guard to walk Nelly over it. A half mile down the road, as Sister Sledge began singing, "We Are Family" a little fox crossed the road about five hundred feet ahead of us. Then I saw some young deer chasing after each other in our neighbor's pasture. Then I had to stop and push Nellybelle up a steep hill, because I was out of breath.

Before taking off, again I drank some water. The rest of the journey was uneventful, but fun. When we returned to the rescue ranch T. whistled loudly at me as we zoomed past Hank's and Nellybelle's pen, so I stopped Nelly. "How far did you go?" Tony asked.

"All the way to 16. We're talkin' five miles. I really love Nellybelle, Tony." After I told him about seeing the fox and the deer I pedaled down to the trailer and put her kick stand down and then I came into the trailer.

After I had cooled off and drank some water I decided to walk two more miles with Leslie. Five minutes before I was done T. walked inside the trailer and shook his head. "Nance, don't overdo it, now."

"I'm not. I'm finishing up two miles to make my daily total of six miles. Then I will fix us lunch."

At one forty-five we took off for KVHC in Kerrville with Toby Keith sitting in the back seat. When we arrived at the television station Brian and Kim Williamson came outside and greeted us and then they invited us inside the station. As the camera crew was setting up the cameras Kim asked me to tell her Toby Keith's story.

"It's a sad one, Kim. A little over two years ago this really nice woman came out to our ranch for a tour and she brought her two dogs, Toby and Baby, a merle colored Sheltie, with her for us to meet. After a nice visit with the lady, she told us that she was putting our rescue ranch in her will and leaving her entire estate to us if we would take Baby and Toby and find them good homes in the event of her death."

"Well, a couple of weeks later this attorney calls to tell me that this sweet woman, who I had really liked, had taken her own life ten days earlier and they had just found her body, and the lawyer wanted to know if we would take her dogs. Two days later, Tony and I picked up Toby and Baby from a vet clinic in Junction, Texas and brought them home to the rescue ranch."

"Three or four months later a young couple came out with their young children and adopted Baby and Toby after hearing their sad story. But, before they adopted Toby and Baby they told us that they would adopt the two dogs on one condition—that we would board them for four days during the Christmas holidays, so they could go out of town to visit family. We told them that we would and they drove off with Baby and Toby."

"During the holidays when they called to tell us they were bringing the dogs out to be boarded, Tony and I moved the dogs that were in Baby's and Toby's old pen to another pen, so Toby and Baby would feel more at home."

"When the family arrived in their big pickup Baby and Toby jumped out of the windows before they could park the truck and the dogs ran into their old pen! It was hilarious! The minute they were inside the pen they started rolling in the dirt and sniffing the trees and seemed really happy to be back home."

"I'm almost finished with the story, Kim. I promise. Well, a year or so later the man called to tell me that because of the economy he and his family had lost their house and they were moving to East Texas where they had found jobs. Then he asks me if we can take Toby back, because they couldn't afford to keep him. After I tell him yes, I asked him if he could meet us somewhere between Medina and Kerrville to get Toby and he tells me that he can't, because they had left Kerrville and were nearly to their destination! Then he tells me that we can go by their house and pick Toby up."

"I asked him if he was in their backyard and the man tells me no. He told me they left Toby sitting on the front porch steps and then he gives me the direction to their house. Tony and I then jumped into Buttermilk and took off to get Toby."

"When we got to the vacant house—Toby was sitting on the porch all alone and he looked sad. Tony then gets out of Buttermilk and says, 'Come on, Toby. Load up.' And Toby came running and jumped into Buttermilk!"

"Kim, Toby Keith is one fine dog. He is about four or five years old, great with children, dogs and cats and is extremely well trained. We really love this dog and he deserves to have one of the best forever homes..." Kim looked exhausted when I had finished talking and she went to get us and Toby some water.

When the camera crew was ready to shoot us, Kim sat down in her chair and then I sat down on the couch with Mr. Toby Keith resting his head on my leg. "Tony," Kim said, "why don't you do the show with us?" Tony shook his head no.

"No," T. said. "Nancy is good in front of a camera and I'm not good at talking."

"Oh, come on Tone," I said. "It will be fun and you won't have to say a thing. Please?" Tony looked trapped and then he walked over to the couch and sat down beside Toby and me. "Tony, please smile—you look miserable," I said.

As Kim put a wire on me she asked Tony if he wanted to be wired too, with a mike—T. shook his head sideways. Then the sound man told me that my necklace (The beautiful one that Karen Cares made for me a few years ago. The turquoise one with the cowboy hat—that I love and had worn for luck.) was interfering with the sound on my mike, so I reluctantly took it off and took a deep breath and said a silent prayer, before the lights came on and the cameras started rolling.

Thirty minutes later the show was over and I had a blast. Even T. told me on our way home that he enjoyed doing it, too, even though Tony said not a word. Kim and I talked about Toby Keith, David Beckham the soccer playing wild hog who was adopted and now lives at Trails End Guest House, and then I read a short story from my new book.

Before leaving the station Brian and Kim told me that the show will air tomorrow morning at 7:30 and my interview will be in the last thirty minutes of the hour long show. And it will air a few more times tomorrow and can be seen on the internet at  www.kvhc.com.

"Just log onto KVHC and go to the little tv near the bottom of the page that says, 'Watch Me' " Kim said.
"We will send you the video clips of the show so you can upload them to YouTube."

If y'all know anyone that might be interested in adopting Toby Keith please ask them to call us, because he is one super, great dog! We love you, Toby Keith!

Y'all have a great evening!

None!

So far, today has been really fun and filled with surprises. This morning I got up early so I could do the Harley Show. When I got on my laptop to watch and listen to Harley before I called in, I was surprised to see Rick doing the show. At seven-forty-five when I called the station Rick answered the phone and told me off air that Harley was over at the stock show.

When the song that was playing stopped playing that's when we went live on the air. "We have Cousin Nancy on the phone from the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. How are you doing?"

"Good morning Rick! I'm doin' just fine."

"That's good," Rick said. "Who is Harley's Pet of the Week?"

"Well, since Harley isn't there, Rick's Pet of the Week is Miss Moose and she is a wonderful four year old black Lab."

"Tell us some more about Miss Moose."

"She is like a doublewide Labrador. She weighs over a hundred and twenty pounds. She's not tall just real wide..." We talked about the rescue ranch for a few minutes then my segment of the show was over. I had fun doing the show with Rick.

After I walked six miles I cleaned up, and then I cleaned up the trailer. At ten-thirty my friend, Sheryl arrived right on time. Sheryl is the kind heart who is helping me edit my book. When she came inside the trailer with my edited pages of the book she surprised me with a gift. She gave me a first edition copy of Two Guys Four Corners by Don Imus & Fred Imus! "Sheryl, you didn't need to bring me a present, heck, your help with the editing is the biggest gift I could ever want or ask for. You are too sweet. Thank you so much."

Sheryl and I spent the morning talking about her edits and the book in general. Even though there are a lot of red marks on every page for me to correct, most of the corrections are to delete  all of the unnecessary commas that I used after every two breaths. I plan to start the editing tonight! Sheryl left around one o'clock. Thank you, Sheryl!

After Tony and I ate lunch I found the Club Ed classes catalog to get the phone number for registration. "Club Ed. This is Bill. How can I help you?" (I think he said Bill, but because I am hard of hearing he might have said Phil.)

"Hi. I'm Nancy Parker-Simons and I want to sign up for a course."

"Great! Which one?"

"The drum course," I said. "Can I sign up for it now on the phone?" After I gave Bill / Phil my name, address, phone number and credit card information he asked me for my e-mail address. "It's Cousin Nancy..."

"Cousin Nancy! You're Cousin Nancy! I listen to you everyday on Harley."

"Well, thank you. I love Harley."

"I'm doing the Harley Show tomorrow morning about Club Ed," the friendly man said. Then we talked about Harley for a few minutes and how much he has done to help the Kerrville community. Then Bill / Phil surprised me and said, "Would you like to teach a course for Club Ed?"

What? I didn't know what to say, so there was a moment of silence, because his question had blown me out of the sadde, so to speak. "Sure. I guess I could teach a writing course as long as it doesn't have anything to do with punctuation, or I could teach a course on how to write a book or something."

"What if you did a course about animal rescue. People could sign up and take a bus down there one day and spend two to three hours."

"Yes, Tony and I could give them a tour, explain what we do and how they can help."

"I like that idea," Bill / Phil said. "We will send you a teacher application. Cousin Nancy, there are still a few openings left to fill for the drum class, so please invite all of your friends to take the course with you." I told him that I would and then we said goodbye to each other.

The first people I thought of who are fun and might want to take the course with me were Mari and The NoMads, Lisa, Matt, Jon & Sandy at Wolfmueller's Books, Donna S., Trisha at Copies Plus, Randy & Lisa at The Save Inn, Carol V., Rick & Leisa, Pete & Kelly and David & Desiree at the Trails End Guest House!

I think it would be a blast to take the drum course with all of them! It would be just like a party, but sadly it would be without Tony, because he hates drumming. Who knows, maybe I could talk the instructor into letting Tony come to the class for just a few minutes so he could take a few videos of us banging our drums slowly on Sunday, February twenty-eighth.

This afternoon Lisa and Kevin came out to the rescue ranch to help Tony replace a water pump and to walk a few dogs for us. T. wanted me to go with them so I went with them. I had a fun visit with everyone even though Tone teased me relentlessly about being scared of the cows and he kept honking the horn trying to get the cows to chase us.

"I am not scared of cows y'all," I said, in self defense. "What I am scared of is when Tony goes to feed them and they chase us to where he feeds them, and they run right beside the window that I am sitting next to! If one of them stumbled, they could fall over and crush me."

"So, how many cows have you seen stumble and fall and crush someone inside a car?" Lisa asked.

"None," I said. Then we all broke out laughing. It took us about thirty minutes to get the pump running and Tony was soaking wet by the time we were done, because he actually did most of the work.

Y'all have a great evening!