True Love!

In the wee hours of the morning, Doug Everett and his fabulous crew, began cooking their authentic chuck wagon dinner, to be served later in the day, for over two hundred and forty people!

Saturday, at five in the morning, Tony and I were up! We fed our dogs and cat, and then T. took off to Medina to drink coffee with his friends. While he was away, I made Kinky’s giant birthday card, so everyone at the event could sign it! It looked okay, but it was not the best that I could do—after a sleepless night in Medina. After that, I dusted and vacuumed the trailer—just in case someone had to come inside!

When Tony returned around 7:45, I fixed him and Ben and me breakfast. Ben had spent the night in my writing cabin with his two dogs, Valerie and Penny. After breakfast, Ben went over to Kinky’s to help set up things.

When Tony and Aaron had finished feeding the dogs and cleaning their pens, they clipped on our walkie talkies, and went over to help Ben out. Then I grabbed a drinking glass, from the kitchen cabinet, and wrote the word ‘LOVE’ on it, and then I filled it with water. Then I took another aspirin for my heart, and then drank another glass of ‘worded water.’ I then said a few silent prayers for the event, and then I headed over to Kinky’s. By the time I had parked Trigger—I was filled with love, thanks to M. Emoto’s books—on the power of water! It really does work—I promise!

While Aaron and Ben set up the benches for the concert, A.J. Agiewich, Ben’s business merchandising partner, showed up, and he began setting up their merchandise tables, while Debora busily set up the items for the silent auction in the Gazebo.

After Tony and I had swept the leaves off of the Pavilion floor, the men went to fill the ice chests up with ice, and the water jugs, so I skipped over to the Lodge to see Kinky. His Lodge was full—everyone was in the kitchen and the vibes were great! His sweet sister, Marcie, who had flown in from Vietnam, for the event, was there, and the incredibly talented photographer, Brian Kanof, from El Paso, was there, too, with his better half—Jackie, and Jerome was there from Pasadena, Texas to help us! After a short visit with everyone, I left. I was on my way back to the rescue ranch to get ready, just as Dylan and Sage Ferrero arrived! They are our friends and had volunteered to help out with the parking over at Kinky’s.

By eleven thirty, our great friends and volunteers, Copper Love and Max Swafford were set up, outside of the rescue ranch, ready to greet our guests, and invite them to take a tour of the rescue ranch first, before going over to Kinky’s. Then our friends and wonderful volunteers, Carol Vail and Charlie Cooper arrived to help Tony and me give rescue ranch tours. Then Tony and Aaron arrived to help! We were ready for the event to start—let the fun begin!

At 12:00, Tony opened our rescue ranch gate, and the cars started arriving, and the nicest people on the planet, began walking into our rescue ranch—full of love and smiles and compliments! I don’t know if it was because I had drank those two glasses of ‘love worded water,’ that I saw things through rose-colored glasses, but all I know for sure was—love was definitely in everyone’s hearts! I loved it! Here are some pictures, that Tony and I took of the event! I wish that all of y’all could have been there!

Kinky giving tours of the rescue ranch!

Our dear friends, Dianne and Len Nowicki, showed up, and surprised me with a beautiful turtle for my birthday! It was absolutely gorgeous, and poor Len had to carry, the thirty pound turtle, all the way in! I love it and I plan to put it into Outer Space tomorrow! I gave them a tour of my Space Ship, and then we went into Outer Space for a fun visit! I love those two people!

“Welcome to the rescue ranch!” I said. “I’m Cousin Nancy. Where are y’all from?”

“California. I am Keith O., and this is my friend Jimmy, from San Antonio.”

“Keith?” I said. “Oh my gosh—I finally get to meet you in person, after all of these years!” We hugged and Tony shook hands with them. Then I invited them to go into Outer Space with me, for a visit!

Then our friend, Matt, from Austin, arrived with his latest pictures of Albert Einstein, a dog that we had rescued years ago! And, he joined us in Outer Space! It was a lot of fun and filled with laughter!

Here is a picture of the Gazebo full of items for the silent auction!

A picture of the people in line for their chuck wagon dinner! And, it was absolutely delicious and Kinky could not get over how great it was! He wants to use them again, for our future events!



Here is a picture that Tony took of Carol and Ben talking, with me in the background!

The concert:


P.S. After the concert, when I met Jimmie Dunn and his lovely wife, Nelda, from Arkansas, he confessed that he reads my blog, which absolutely delighted me! Then when he told me that he now has every book that Kinky has written, and his collection was now complete, because he had just bought a copy of “The Missing Puppet Head,” which is only available at Wolfmueller’s Books, where he had also purchased the fantastic book, “The Kinky Files,” the day before! I smiled, and then introduced him to the talented author, Max Swafford, who had written, “The Kinky Files”— because he was standing right behind us!

P.S.S. Love is definitely all you need—and it truly works! Thanks to everyone who came out to help us out on Saturday, and to everyone who has supported us through the years ! I love y’all so much! Have a great evening—I’m headed to bed, now—it’s past my bedtime! Good Night!

Yee Haw! We're Talkin' A Kinky Ranch Roundup!

I have some very exciting news and I hope y’all can come to this event! It is going to be a blast! I can't wait!

Kinky Friedman's Ranch Roundup - Help Kinky Help Utopia

Be one of the lucky few to experience this one-time-only event!

Saturday, October 25, 2008 - Gate opens at 1:00 PM

Kinky Friedman and musical pals, Little Jewford and Washington Ratso will be in Texas for an unprecedented event! The Kinkster's trio will perform the show that blew through Europe and the United States East Coast with rave reviews and sellouts everywhere, for one performance only at Kinky Friedman's private home, Echo Hill Ranch (Medina Texas area) -- the much storied ranch featured in his mystery novels.

The event will feature:

*Dinner with Kinky - Echo Hill Ranch dinner served (included in ticket price)

*Guided tours of Utopia Rescue Ranch during the afternoon

*Self-guided nature walks on Echo Hill Ranch

*A surprise early birthday celebration for Kinky

This will be your last chance to see Kinky, Little Jewford & Washington Ratso together in 2008.

Proceeds from Kinky Friedman's Ranch Round-Up benefit Kinky's favorite cause, the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. Utopia is a nonprofit no kill animal shelter that rescues abandoned and/or abused animals, nurtures them and places them with loving families.

A limited number of tickets are available -- get yours soon, this event is guaranteed to sell out!

For more information and to purchase tickets please go to: kinkyfriedman.com

Diggin' Up Cones!

I have just turned on my salt lamp and my iPod. Steven Stills is singing “Everybody’s Talking At Me.” How Perfect!

This morning, my alarm clock woke me up at 6:30, so I could watch Kinky on Imus and then on Fox and Friends. Kinky was great on Imus, along with Little Jewford and Washington Ratso, but he was a no show on Fox and Friends—sorta.

At 8:15, I called Kinky to find out about him being a no show, and he told me that they had been on Fox and Friends before doing Imus, and it was real early, too. I am sick that I missed the show. I guess there was a miscommunication problem between us.

Today, I called my dear friend, Nancy D. After we had caught up with each other’s news, we started talking about getting old. “Nancy, a friend sent me a funny e-mail the other day,” I said. “It was about A.A.D.D.—aged attention deficit disorder—and I have it!”

“Really?” Nancy said.

“Yes,” I said. “It’s like in the morning, I will start to wash the dishes, but when I see a cobweb, I leave the room to go get the vacuum cleaner, but then when I get to the closet, I forget why I came into the room. Then I realize that I need to make the bed and then make it. I go back into the kitchen, see the dishes in the sink, and start to wash them, again—when the phone rings. (Pretty long sentence?) I grab a dish towel, dry my hands and then take the call. While listening to someone talking at me, I see the same cobweb, and make a mental note to vacuum it away. After finishing the conversation I successfully retrieve the vacuum and return to the cobweb and removed it. Then something grabs my attention! By the end of the day, having taken care of many things—I walk into the kitchen to find the dishes still soaking in the sink!”

Nancy is laughing her head off! “I must have it, too!” We both started laughing. Then she tells me about her older brother. “He was going down the steps of his apartment, and when he got halfway down the stairs—he forgot what he was going to do. Determined to remember, he sat down on a step, and tried to remember. He decided that he would sit there until he remembered. Two hours later, his wife came home. When she saw him sitting there, she asked him why he was sitting there? He said, ‘I don’t know. I can’t remember. And, he got up and followed his wife into the house!” We broke out laughing.

“Oh yeah,” I said. “And another great thing about aging is hearing loss. Nancy, as you know, Kinky and I are both getting hard of hearing—and we have fun with it! Like the time Tony and I went to Las Vegas with Kinky—three years ago. We were in a taxi, headed back to the Flamingo, after seeing Penn & Teller’s show, and then getting to visit with them following their show. Kinky was in the front seat, riding shotgun, I was sitting behind the cab driver and Tony was sitting behind Kinky. I always like to know where people are from, so I asked the driver. What I heard was, ‘Does the Pope *** in the woods?’ I said, ‘What, does the Pope *** in the woods?” Kinky started laughing. And then Tony says, ‘I’m getting you a hearing aid for your birthday.’ And, I still don’t know where the guy was from.” Nancy and I talked a little while longer and then hung up our phones.

An hour ago, a woman called wanting to return a dog to us. She was a very nice woman and told me the reason for returning the dog, was because she is old—65 years old. I told her that I, too was old. And then I told her about Nancy’s and my conversation. She laughed a lot.

Then the conversation returns to the dog. She told me that a month after adopting our dog, she broke her hip, and had to have hip surgery, and she was then unable to take our dog on daily walks, because she was scared she might fall. The lady said our dog was great, house broken, rode in cars great, but she’s a digger and I worry about it. (I could dig that.) She said, “I own a very unusual home in Kerrville. I have owned it for over fifteen years. What makes my home so unique is—it was built over a dump. I bet that I am the only person on the planet, that has a home built over a dump.”

I started laughing! “I’m sorry for laughing,” I apologized. “My trailer sits on the old Friedman dump. When we decided to move the rescue ranch to Echo Hill Ranch, Tom, Kinky’s father, had Tony and me drive over to show us where he wanted our trailer and the rescue ranch to be— he pointed to their families' dump. And, the dump was then filled in, and that is where our trailer sits.”

“Oh, my,” she said, “we’re two of a kind.” Then we both started laughing. “Since my surgery, the dog started digging, since I can’t walk her anymore. The other day, I was outside in the yard filling the many holes, and I discovered another hole with a piece of old barb wired fencing, about six inches below the ground! Six inches! Last week, the dog dug up a tip of an orange colored road cone, and brought it to me, and two days ago, the dog dug up an old Cub Scout belt, for goodness sakes!”

The whole time that she was telling me this, I was biting my lip, trying hard not to burst out laughing! “That’s not good,” I said. “When we get a heavy rain out here, I find all kinds of new things in the yard, the following day—that have washed up. In fact, a couple of years ago, after we had flooded out here, I found half of an old, dented, rusty flashlight, and an old key ring, with ten keys on it. I told Kinky, the other day, while we were sitting in Outer Space, admiring the best view on the whole ranch, ‘One person’s trash—is another person’s treasure.’”

“What? Did you say outer space?”

“Yes. That’s the name I gave to my new screened in porch, that my brother Ronnie and nephew, Tom, built for us, back in April. He’s a homebuilder up in Austin.”

“Oh, I see. I hate to give the dog back to the rescue ranch, but I am worried that the dog might dig up something that could hurt it. I love this dog. It is a perfect dog. I am sick about doing this.”

“Please don’t feel bad about returning the dog to us. We will pick it up tomorrow. And, I promise you, that it will get adopted out really fast, because it is one of the cutest dogs, that we’ve ever had. And, thank you for giving the dog a great home.”

“Thank you, so much. One last thing. I listen to you on the Harley Show, every Thursday morning. I love Harley, and you are too funny.”

“Thank you. I love doing Harley’s show, and I love Harley! Bye.”

Full Of Spirit!

This morning, while drinking coffee with Kinky, we discussed ranch business, and when that was done, Kinky showed me Mr. Magoo’s latest toy. It is a green and yellow, stuffed ball, and when you squeeze it—it starts playing zydeco music! Gooie was running around the Lodge, with the toy in his mouth—serenading us!

Then, while in the kitchen, we looked outside to find our donkeys, Roy and Gabby—trying to remove Kinky’s new rain gauge! We went outside, and quickly took it from Roy, and then Kinky remounted it in stump of wood.

Before leaving, Kinky told me that he was doing Fox and Friends, tomorrow morning at 7:15 am in Austin. Then he is doing Fox and Friends again on Tuesday, September 2nd at 7:15 am and then doing Imus live with Ratso and Little Jewford—right after he does Fox and Friends!

I just received a call that has made my day! My Spirit mattress and bedding is going to be delivered late this afternoon! Yee Haw! I can’t wait! It will definitely be a Kodak (Sony) moment and will post pictures on its arrival!

Kinky just called, and he is cooking boneless chicken thighs—for Toto! He is coming over in just a few minutes to have a picnic in Outer Space with Toto and my gang!

Here is an update on Kinky’s latest upcoming events:
Kinky & Co. Head East!

Alexandria, VA - The Birchmere
.Start: Aug. 28 2008 - 7:30 pm
Join Kinky and special guests Little Jewford and Washington Ratso on August 28 for a night of classic Kinky Friedman songs at one of the DC area’s finest listening rooms, the Birchmere.

Kinky’s new book, What Would Kinky Do? How to Unscrew a Screwed Up World, will also be available. With gas prices on the rise, an election on the horizon, and global warming making the summer hotter than ever, this country is in dire need of Kinky's notorious humor and wit this season.

The Birchmere is located at 3701 Mount Vernon Ave. in Alexandria, VA. For tickets and more information, call 703-549-7500 or visit www.birchmere.com.

Woodstock, NY - The Midnight Ramble
Start: Aug. 30 2008 - 8:00 pm
Kinky is joining Levon Helm (The Band) on August 30 for his legendary Midnight Ramble Sessions.

This show is one of the hottest tickets anywhere on the east coast. Held at Helm’s intimate home studio in the Catskill Mountains, the Sessions are known for their festival atmosphere and the great show Levon and his band put on.

Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live
Start: Aug. 31 2008 - 8:00 pm
Join Kinky and special guests Little Jewford and Washington Ratso on August 31 for a night of classic Kinky Friedman songs at one of Philly’s best venues, World Café Live. The small room upstairs is where it's at in this venue, and that's where Kinky and the boys will be presiding.    
                            
New York, NY - B.B. King Blues Club
Start: Sept. 1 2008 - 8:00 pm
Join Kinky and special guests Little Jewford and Washington Ratso on September 1 for a night of classic Kinky Friedman songs at the legendary B.B. King Blues Club. Kinky hasn't played a full show in New York in so long, you'll definitely want to book your tickets early. The Village Irregulars and Kinkophiles will be haunting this show—a do not miss event!

Happy Birthday, Again—Karen Cares!

This morning, right now, it is nine-thirty-two in Texas, and it is three-thirty-two, in the afternoon, over in Scotland. My dear friends, Herb and Karen, went over to Scotland to celebrate Karen’s 55th birthday, which was on the 23rd of this month! And, today they are fixin’ to meet up with Kinky, Little Jewford and Ratso for dinner, and then they are going to be Kinky’s guests tonight, at his show in Perth, Scotland!

Talk about fun—I know they are going to have a blast, and I cannot wait to here from them, and get a full report!

One thing that I know for sure, is that Karen and Herb— sure know how to celebrate their birthdays! Herb and Karen came down here in January to celebrate Herb’s birthday with Kinky, and now Karen is celebrating hers with the Kinkster—across the pond! Happy Birthday, Karen!

Smiling Faces!

Last Thursday, during a conversation with Harley on his radio show, he told me that our friends, Randy and Lisa, of The Save Inn Restaurant, wanted everyone to know that their son and his wife, Trisha, had recently opened up a copy shop in Kerrville. He went on to tell me that they can do just about any kind of printing including posters. “Harley, that’s great news!” I said. “I’m going to go see them, because I want to get a poster done for Tony. It’s going to be a surprise for him.”

Tuesday morning, I found a little bit of time, to work on my poster project. I ended up using two pictures of Blue, and the poem that Tony had written on the day that Blue died. It took me less than an hour to put it all together—using Adobe Photoshop, and then I burned it to a CD. And, then I told Tony about the poster, because I couldn’t keep the secret any longer.

That afternoon, we drove to Kerrville to get it printed! We drove to the print shop, walked inside and I said, “Hi. Are you Randy’s and Lisa’s son?”

This man looked at me like I was a crazy old lady. “What?” He asked. “Who is Randy and Lisa?”

I turned about five shades of red and Tony just stood there wearing a big grin. “Our friend’s son has just opened up a print shop and I thought this was it,” I explained.

“You’re talking about Copies Plus,” he said, “They’re down the road—next to Auto Zone.”

“Thank you,” I said, “I’m sorry.” And then we walked out of the business—feeling embarrassed. Tony teased me all of the way to Copies Plus.

When we found Copies Plus, Tony parked Buttermilk, and then we went inside. “Hi, welcome to Copies Plus. My name’s Trisha. What can I do for you?”

After introducing ourselves, and telling her about going to the wrong copy shop—I handed Trish the CD and explained what we needed to get printed. Trisha understood what we were wanting and she was very helpful. In less than five minutes, we left Copies Plus and headed home.

Yesterday morning, I received an e-mail from Trisha. She had sent me a proof and it looked great! She wrote to tell me that the poster would be ready today, and she wrote that she had a Heeler named Ziggy. She said that the pictures and Tony’s poem had touched her and she had played around a little, with my design and just wanted to show it to me.

When I looked at her design—I loved it and was so glad that she had included it in the e-mail! I immediately e-d her back, and told her that her design was fantastic and to please use it, instead of mine.

This morning I received another e-mail from Trish—the poster would be ready around noon! Tony couldn’t wait to see it, so at 11:30, Tony left the rescue ranch, to go pick up his poster at Copies Plus!

When Tony arrived back home—he was smiling from ear to ear—he loved his poster! When I saw it—my jaw dropped—it was absolutely beautiful! When Tony showed it to Ben and Maribeth—they thought it was great, too!

Because I was so thrilled about how well it had turned out—I called Trish. “Trish, this is Nancy. Tony just got home with your poster, and I am calling to thank you for doing such a great job. It’s perfect and we love it! And, I am so glad that we went with your design. Thank you so much for making Tony smile, again.”

P.S. Ben and Toto dropped in this afternoon—just to say hi!

P.S.S. Kinky is leaving tomorrow for his Amsterdam, England and Ireland tour with Little Jewford and Washington Ratso!