About Last Night! or Norwegian Wood!

This morning has been great, but it is still early. I overslept this morning, even though Tony kept trying to wake me up every fifteen minutes or so, like I asked him to.

Fortunately, I finally crawled out of bed, around 7:00 and was awake enough to call in and do Harley's Show.

I had a lot of fun talking to Harley Belew this morning. Right off the bat Harley asked me when was the last time that I had spoken to our mutual, good friend Sammy Allred and I told him that it had been way too long and that it was probably about two years ago. "Now Sammy is the one who nicknamed you Cousin Nancy. Is that right?"

"Yes, Sammy gave me that nickname, back in 1986."

So then Harley started talking about Sammy and Bob Cole, two of Austin's number one DJs. When he told me about being, at Bob Cole's Hill's Cafe, many years ago and that being the last time that he saw our dear old friends I reminded him about us being there too, because we were having a benefit that night for our rescue ranch. and then Harley remembered.

Well that jogged my mind, so I said, "That was such a fun night. And do you remember that Dwight Yoakam showed up, near the end of the show, as our mystery guest?" And Harley remembered that, too.

Then Harley changed the subject and started telling me that you shouldn't judge a dog or a person by their looks, because I had just told him that Rocky was his Pet of the Week. "Rocky is so sweet and he probably is about eleven-years-old. He sort of looks like a Chow, but...."

"He sounds like a great dog, Cousin Nancy," Harley remarked. "Do you know that I once had a friend who didn't like me, because my teeth were straight? Can you believe that?" 

After I had quit laughing, I said, "That's hilarious. Well, at least you had teeth..."

Before the end of our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch segment I asked Harley if I could please put in a plug for a Hurricane Harvey relief benefit that we're going to with Carol and he told me yes. 

"Well, this coming Sunday, at 3:00, at the Western Edge Cellars, on Main Street, in Fredericksburg there is going to be a fabulous, fun benefit with a super, great line up of musicians. We're talking Walt Wilkins, John Arthur Martinez, Mike Blakely, Stephen K. Morris, Hollin McKay....and there is going to be auctions, too."

"Hollin McKay is great," Harley said. "I really like his music and did you know that...." 

"Yes and I love Hollin McKay's music, too. I love Stephen K. Morris and I also love Mike Blakely's music. Did you know that Mike is also a famous author and that his books are ranked right up there with Larry McMurtry and Elmer Kelton's?" And Harley didn't know that. And then he gave a plug for Randy's & Lisa's Save Inn Restaurant, because they have sponsored our Utopia segment for many, many years. Then Harley and I adios-ed each other.

I have some news about last night. When Tony and I got back home from working, over at our property, Tony hooked-up my Bowl Light for me and I totally love it. And our dogs are sort of freaked-out about it with the seven, changing colors and motion-activation features. 

In fact, yesterday evening when I was watching Heartland, my newest favorite binge-watching show, on Netflix, I realized that Henry wasn't sleeping in his chair like he usually does. So I paused Season 3: Episode 4 and went looking for him. And I found him, sitting in the bathroom, mesmerized and staring at our magical toilet. So, I left him there, staring at the toilet and went back to watching Heartland.

Before I finish writing this post, I've scheduled it to post it, at 5:00 this evening, because I am fixin' to go over, to the property, to hopefully finish up my latest, painting/building project, before our dear friends, Hans & Marita, from Norway, come over to visit with us.

And if you'll remember, over a year ago about this same time of the year, Tony and I met this lovely, music-loving couple. And they are the ones who we quickly discovered are also good friends with our good friends: Chet O'Keefe, Stephen K. Morris & Eva Robinett, Brian Molnar and Kinky. 

Anyway, I'm hoping to finish my latest, painting/building project, before they arrive today, because I want to name this almost-finished-colorful cabinet door, made with imported wood from Sweden—Norwegian Wood, so it will always remind me of them. And I guess that is about it for today.

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

Mustang Willie!

Oh my goodness! Yesterday was great and today has been too. But before I start telling you how great everything is I have something to tell you about my Little Debbie.

As you may already know Little Debbie is a sweet, one-eyed precious, little Chihuahua that we rescued along with five other adorable Chihuahuas, almost three years ago. And Big Al(ice) was one of those lucky, five, other Chi's that we found fabulous homes for.

Anyway, since Little Debbie joined our family she has been nothing but great and she stole our hearts the minute that we saw her. Little Debbie has become a famous movie star ever since last year, when she starred in our hilarious Longmire—Texas Style video spoof.

Little Debbie is highly intelligent and house-broken even though she hardly ever sets foot outside. So when I say she is house-broken—I actually mean Little Debbie uses the potty-pads, inside The Cabin.  And not to brag—she'll only potties, on a pad, to help make cleaning up easier for us. Which I think is quite thoughtful of her.

Now to get to the point of all of this about Little Debbie, yesterday morning, we discovered that she is so smart and such a fine actress that she almost faked us out. Tony and I were, in the kitchen, getting ready to give our dogs treats and when Little Debbie walked into the kitchen she was limping and holding her paw up like it was hurt. "Omg, Tony! Look at Little Debbie. She's hurt!"

Tony picked up Little Debbie to look at her leg and to see if she had cut her paw or leg and she seemed to enjoy all of the attention she was getting from us and our dogs. "I can't find a thing wrong with her," he said, as he put her back down on the floor. Then Little Debbie raced out of the kitchen using all four of her legs like nothing was wrong.

So, he called her and she came limping back, into the kitchen again, but she was limping and holding up her other paw. Like this:

After running out of the kitchen again, she came running back, but this time she was holding up her other paw and giving us "the sad eye" look and wanting us to pick her up and that's when we realized she had been faking us out. Bottom Line    Little Debbie has a new acting skill and she is really good at it.

Yesterday afternoon Carol, Tony and I went to the Western Edge Cellars, in Fredericksburg and we had an absolute blast. When we arrived a few minutes after Stephen K. Morris' live, one hour broadcast show Spotlight, had already started, on the new, solar radio station TABC (Texas Americana Blues Cajun Music) And he was introducing his guests singers/songwriters/musicians—Lynette and Lefty. 

Stephen waved at us, from the stage, as we sat down at a table, near the front of the stage. Then this friendly, sweet waitress walked up to our table to take our order and then she disappeared and then quickly reappeared to serve us our drinks.

When Lynette and Lefty started singing their first song all three of our jaws, dropped all of the way down to the floor, because their music was so unique, refreshing or better said, "Totally fantastic!"

Everyone in the crowd applauded loudly, hooted and whistled after they finished their first song and the good vibes were uphill all the way till they finished their first set. Their music was amazing and Stephen and their interactions with the crowd kept everyone laughing. 

During their first break, Stephen and Lynette and Lefty came up to our table and Stephen introduced them to us and we introduced them to Carol. Then we started having a fun visit with them and that's when we found out that Lynette and Lefty had two, rescued Chihuahuas that they travel with. And I got to meet them, but I can only remember Gilbert's name. 

Before the second set, Stephen's better half, Eva Robinett, arrived and she joined us at our table, while Tony and I were finishing eating two delicious bowls of pinto beans with rice, sausage and melted cheese. And to top all of that off—the waitress came by our table and she gave all of us some really nice Pedernales Brewing Company beer glasses, because this popular brewing company is one of the sponsors for Stephen's Sunday afternoon Spotlight series. 

So to put our fun adventure, to Fred-Town, in a nutshell "We are now huge fans of Western Edge Cellars, Lynette and Lefty, Pedernales Brewing Company and Stephen K. Morris' Spotlight series and here are just a few pictures that we took. 

Their newest CD—Meant To Be

Today has been great, too. This afternoon, Dylan, the nicest young man came out for his appointment to meet Willie Nelson, because he was seriously thinking about adopting him. And it only took Dylan about ten minutes to make up his mind that he wanted to adopt Willie.

While I was filling out Willie's adoption form, Tony and I visited with Dylan, inside The Cabin, because it was starting to get hot outside. And the more we visited with him the more Dylan impressed us and he reminded us so much of dear friend Ben. In fact, Dylan is a cook and he loves cooking. So Dylan and I spent several minutes having fun talking about how we both enjoy cooking and our love for dogs. 

When we went outside to put a collar on Willie, Tony had found a nice dog collar and attached Willie's dog tags to it, while I was inside Willie's pen telling him about how happy we were for him finally getting adopting. And something must have clicked inside Willie's head, because he looked at me like he understood me and then he jumped up, on the top of his dog house.

And here's a picture I took of Willie and Dylan, just before Willie got in the passenger front seat and took off in Dylan's fancy Mustang.

Late this afternoon Tony went to pick up our mail and when he came back, he said, "You've got to read this. It is a letter from a woman named Julie Smith, in Australia. So, I read the letter and chuckled when Julie wrote she that she bought one of our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch T-shirts, at a 2nd hand market, when she was visiting Phnom Penh, Cambodia. With a photo of her wearing "my very favorite shirt—I've had it for years and I wear it most weekends and all through summer camping...." So I would like to say "Howdy" to Julie and thank her for sending us this letter along with a picture of her wearing it—with a small kangaroo close by.

And that's about it for now, except I forgot to tell you that Dylan's girlfriend loves Blue Heelers and that she might want to adopt Blue! And I got this invitation in the mail today.

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

In Dreams I Go Back Home!

The past few days have been great. On last Tuesday's blog post I wrote that the sweet waitress, at the Thai O'Cha Restaurant made Tony and me look fat so I didn't post a picture. Well, sweet Eva has sent me a picture of Stephen K. Morris and Eva Robinett posing with us and Tony and I still looked fat, so I cropped it and this is what I got.

And the good news today is Tony and I are going to do the Atkins Diet for a few weeks or until we lose our muffin tops. But please don't tell Tony about dieting, because he doesn't know that we are dieting it.

Last night Tony and I met our dear friend Carol, at the Medina Highpoint Resort, for their Friday Nights delicious Catfish buffet. And also because Hogan & Moss, who we love their music, were doing a concert, out on their huge patio.

The buffet was delicious as it always it and omg, Hogan & Moss put on an incredibly great show and had the big crowd begging for more. In fact, we never stopped tapping our toes to their beautiful music, which is good because I'm sure our toe tapping helped Tony and me burn off a few extra calories.

This morning, I wasted about thirty-minutes of my time Googling on approximately how many calories are burned toe-tapping non-stop. And I found nothing, so if y'all know or can find out please let me know ASAP, because tomorrow afternoon between 4:00 - 7:00 Carol, Tony and I will be toe-tapping, again, at the Western Edge Cellars, in Fredericksburg. Because Stephen will be hosting another one of his awesome Outsider Insider Singer/Songwriter shows. And I want to invite all of y'all to join us there for a super-fun time.

Back to last night, at the Medina Highpoint Resort. During Hogan & Moss' 1st break, Bethany a dear, old friend of ours walked up to our table to say hi to us. And even though we haven't seen Bethany in several years and because we are such good friends our conversation picked up like we had just seen her yesterday.

Carol, Tony and I had a blast visiting with Bethany and we talked and laughed non-stop until Hogan & Moss took the stage again, to sing another great set for the crowd.

Later on, when it was time for all of us to go home, before it got dark on us, we got to have a fun, friendly visit with Maria Moss & Jon Hogan. And it was a lot of fun, because we quickly found out that they are real good friends with many of our great musician friends—such as: Chet O'Keefe, Jim Keaveny, Stephen K. Morris, etc.

And before we all adios-ed each other, Jon & Maria gave Tony and me two copies of In Dreams I Go Back Home, which is their latest, fabulous CD. And they asked us to please give one copy to Kinky, because they especially wanted Kinky to listen to Can't Always Cry, the 2nd cut on the CD. Because this beautiful, unfinished song had been written by the late Blaze Foley and after Blaze's untimely death his daughter had asked Jon to please put music to it for Blaze. 

And that is about it for tonight, because Tony and I are fixin' to go over to visit with Carol & Bill.

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

Mike Blakely! or A Friend Named Tim!

Yesterday we had so much fun, because Tony and I met our good friends Eva Robinett & Stephen K. Morris for lunch, at the Thai O'Cha Restaurant. We have been good friends with them for many, many years and it had been a while since we last saw them. In fact, we last saw them, at The Auslander, but the last time we got to visit with them was when Hans & Marita were visiting, from Norway. And they also have property, in Terlingua, but they live in Fredericksburg, so we decided that Kerrville would be a good halfway point for us to meet. Unless we all wanted to drive out to Terlingua and meet for lunch at the Bad Rabbit Cafe.

Anyway we had so much catching up to do with them while we ate our delicious lunch. They all ordered the famous #4 that Tony and always get, but this time I just ordered their Soup & Salad Bar buffet, because my 501 Levis were about to burst at the seams.

During lunch they told us that Stephen is still hosting his awesome "Outsider Songwriter Spotlight" series every Sunday from 4 -7, but he is now hosting his show, at the Western Edge Cellars, at 228 Main Street, in Fredtown. And he is noe taping the live music events and it now airs on the new, solar radio station TABC (Texas American Blues Cajun music). So Tony and I are definitely planning to go see Stephen's show this coming Sunday. And of course y'all are invited, too.

Also while we were catching up we started talking about great movies (PAUL to be exact) and books. I told them about that great book that I recently loved reading A Man Named Ove and then they told us about their dear friend Mike Blakely.

"We love Mike," Stephen said, as Eva nodded her head in agreement. "He's written 18 award-winning novels and he's up there with Larry McMurtry, James Michener and Marilyn Durham. Y'all would love reading his books."

"Mike is also is a very talented singer and songwriter!" Eva stated. "He's got 11 or 12 CDs out there and his songs have been recorded by Alan Jackson, Gary P. Nunn, Red Steagall, Johnny Bush and....."

"We'll definitely check him out," I said. "I'm sure Sandy & Jon have his books."

After our great lunch and fun visit with our friends we were about to leave when Stephen suggested that we go to Wolfmueller's Books. "We'll follow y'all."

When we got outside, Stephen & Eva pulled their cell phones out and told us that they had asked one of the restaurants great waitresses to come outside and take a picture of the four of us. And about that time she walked outside wearing a pretty, big smile on her face. "Hi, I'm Nancy," I said, as I pulled my cell phone out of my purse.

"Hi. I'm Tory."

"Tory, I want a picture too, if you don't mind," I said. "But please shoot from the waist up and don't make me look fat." Tory laughed, while I handed her my phone.

"Okay, smile," Tory directed. Then she took a couple of pictures on my cell phone and then she took pictures of us using Stephen's & Eva's cell phones. Here is Tory's picture.

And here is Tory's picture of us posing—not really, because she made me look fat and it wasn't her fault.

We had a fun time at Wolfmueller's Books. Jon & Sandy helped Stephen find A Man Named Ove and he bought it. Then Sandy took us over to the bookcase where Mike Blakely's novels were and they had a lot of his books and I didn't know which one to buy. "I'm reading that one right now," Eva said as she pointed at it."It is so good!"

So I took Eva's recommendation and picked Mike Blakely's book Shortgrass Song. And as we were walking up to the checkout counter I opened Mike's book, and said, "Omg, it's a first edition and it is signed! How cool is that?!" Then I thumbed a few pages to find his autograph and chuckled, because Mike had inscribed it to a friend named Tim. 

"What?" Sandy asked.

"He signed it to a friend named Tim. Occasionally, I will go on Amazon and buy a few copies of my used/signed book, by UT Press The Road to Utopia: How Kinky, Tony & I Saved More Animals Than Noah and give them away, because they are a lot cheaper for me to buy than new ones. And I always find it funny when I recognize a friend's name that I gave a book to. 

"Let me see," Stephen said. "I want to take a picture of it and send it to Mike. I bet he'll get a kick out of it." So I stood back so Stephen could take a picture. And when we got back home I took off my too-tight Levis and replaced them with black sweat pants and then I took this picture of  Mike Blakely's book and then I took a picture of what Mike had written to his friend Tim.

And before I finish writing this post I want to wish our dear friend, sweet Eva Robinett a very Happy Birthday today! And that is about it for tonight, because I am fixin' to start reading Shortgrass Song by Mike Blakely.

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