Potholders or Postcards!

Today has been great. Tony worked this morning, but I had the whole day off. So while Tony was working next door, at Escondida Resort, I surfed the Internet for information on podcasting.

I found a lot of helpful information, so before Tony returned home for lunch I had already gone to Amazon's Cyber Monday and purchased a Blue Yeti microphone for only $69.00 (regularly $189.00) and with free shipping.

Later on when Tony and I went to Kerrville to run a few errands I told him that I was all excited about doing podcasts.

After I told him everything that I had found out about podcasting, he asked, "So how do you make money doing it?"

I explained to him about the four different ways of monetizing that I had read about and after I said, "The last one is called crowdfunding and it says you encourage people to buy a monthly subscription for about $2.00 and if they subscribe you reward them with a gift. "But I don't know what kind of gift I could give them for under a dollar."

There was a moment of silence while Tony parked Trigger in front of Wolfmueller's Books. Then Tony said, "How about potholders?" And I burst out laughing. "Like that pink one that you and Jean made."

"You mean the one I hermetically sealed and framed and hung up on the wall? " (On November 16, 2016 I blogged about Jean and I making this famous potholder: https://cousinnancy.blogspot.com/2016/11/a-time-capsule.html )

When we walked inside Wolfmueller's Books Sandy, Jean and Jon greeted us and then we all started laughing for no reason.

After we all sat down near the checkout counter we took turns catching up with each other's latest news and when I told them about me doing weekly podcasts after the new year they were all ears, so to speak. 

When I told them about Tony suggesting I give away free potholders Jean, Sandy & Jon burst out laughing. So I said, "Jean, I really need for you to make the potholders for me, but I will only be able to pay you about fifty-cents per potholder and you'll have to buy the loops. And Tony will get nothing if that makes you feel any better. Because I've got to make a profit."

As Jean continued to laugh while shaking her head sideways, I said, "Jean, I can't make them, because I will be way too busy recording one podcast after another. And Tony will have to be the one to call in the potholder orders for me. I'm going to use The Last Resort as my podcasting studio."

After we had all quit laughing, Jean said, "I don't know, Nancy. If you still have some of Tony's postcards. Why don't you give two or three of them away instead of potholders?"

"Yeah," Jon added. "It would be easy and cost effective! You wouldn't have to buy inventory. Just stuff 2-3 of his beautiful postcards into an envelope and use a regular stamp? How simple is that?"

This power (podcast) meeting continued on for about thirty more minutes and my brain was racing with all kinds of ideas. 

But the one thing that I am sure about is my 2020 new year resolution is to do at least 2-3 weekly podcasts and the 5-10 minute long podcasts will be about me telling funny or heartwarming animal rescue stories and other funny stories about my life. And for me the Bottom    Line is: My purpose in life is to make people feel good—and to make them laugh a lot. And I am serious about this.

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

Twice As Much!

Today has been great. This morning Tony walked into the kitchen and announced, "I've lost 11 pounds!" And he was so thrilled about it, he did notice the waffle maker, inside the trash can.

"I've lost 6 pounds," I said, as I covered up the waffle maker with a couple of paper towels. "And I know it is not water weight, because I'm drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day." Then Tony left to go to work next door for a few hours. And I tied up the trash bag and took it outside.

Feeling a little jealous, because Tony had lost almost twice the amount of weight than me I decided to get some exercise, so I finished drinking my cup of coffee and then I washed it down with two glasses of ice cold water. Then I went outside and started pushing the lawn mower around for a few hours. And I got everything mowed before Tony came home for lunch.

This afternoon Tony and I had to go to Kerrville to wash and dry a load of laundry, at the Country Clean Laundromat, and to buy more vegetables and fruits.

When Tony and I were walking up to the laundromat, a friendly voice opened the front door and Kinky greeted us, "Hi Nance and Tone!" So we had a fun visit with him, outside and before we adios-ed each other Kinky had invited Tony and me to eat lunch with him and Dylan, at 2:30. But we declined his invitation, because of bad timing and also because we had already made plans to go visit Sandy & Jon, at Wolfmueller's Books, while waiting for our laundry to dry.

While our laundry washed, at the Country Clean Laundromat, Tony and I went to the big H-E-B to get gas and to buy more whole plant based groceries . And after we returned to the laundromat we tossed our clothes, etc. into a big dryer and then we went to go visit Sandy & Jon for thirty minutes, because the dry was set for 42 minutes.

We had a wonderful visit with Jon & Sandy. We caught up on each others latest news and we also did a lot of laughing. And that is about it for now.

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

Tortilla Soup!

The past few days have been great. Two days ago Tony and I decided to tackle the small shed we built over a year and a half ago.

We built this small shed and I named it the Wash House, because we had planned to put in a shower, toilet and a sink for when we have guests. But those plans literally went down the drain, because when we finally made the move over here, we ended up stuffing the shed with tons of packed boxes, etc. So it basically became an outdoor closet filled with a lot of our treasured stuff.

Anyway, it has been so long since we had stuffed this shed—we had no clue what was inside there.  But we soon found out.

So Monday afternoon, we put on our leather work gloves and we started hauling everything that was inside—outside. We piled box after box on top of the picnic table and chairs and it sort of looked like we were having an unannounced garage sale that no one was invited to attend.

As we dug into each box we soon discovered that we needed several garbage sacks, because so much of our treasured stuff we needed to throw away, because it was stuff that we didn't want or couldn't use.

But the good news is that we found one box that I had carefully packed that had come out of my pink writing cabin. And it was like Christmas in April for me.

I found some of my favorite books, important rocks, signs, framed pictures, decorative throw pillows, crystals, stuffed toys and a boatload of knickknacks that I had totally forgotten about.
And most of this cool stuff either needed to be cleaned, vacuumed or washed, so I sorted them into piles. Here are two items that I love that I had washed in the kitchen sink: my big, cobalt blue ball that now permanently resides above the kitchen sink and my adorable Boston Terrier Christmas ornament which  is now hanging outside near ET.

So yesterday afternoon Tony and I loaded up the truck with ten, industrial-sized garbage bags that were full of unwanted stuff that we've been storing in the shed and we (Actually it was just Tony) unloaded them, at the Kerrville dump and it felt so good, because now we know exactly what is inside that shed and I have been reunited with some of my missing, treasured stuff.

To celebrate finally feng-shuiing the Wash House and dumping a ton of its contents, at the county dump, we dropped by Wolfmueller's Books, for a fun visit with Sandy & Jon. And needless to say we did a lot of laughing with our dear friends.

As I finish writing this post, it is not yet 10:00 in the morning. Tony is working next door, at Escondida Resort, for a few hours and I am cooking us a pot of tortilla soup for our lunch. And the two reasons why I have written this post early is because thunderstorms with some possible hail are predicted for today, so I will most likely be unplugged, and also because I plan to spend today and tonight working on my third novella.

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

P.S. "Gaby, yesterday we received your cute Easter postcard that you sent to us from Germany and we love it. And I/we hope that you had a wonderful Easter, too!"

Feel Good!

Today has been great and so much fun, because we met our dear friends for our Once-A-Month-Lunch Club, at Monroe's East End Grill. They are a fairly new restaurant establishment and because we've heard so much great stuff about them and their food, from Sandy Wolfmueller (Wolfmueller's Books) and other friends we decided to see for ourselves. And I am so glad that we did.

Right off of the bat, before we even parked I loved their color scheme, because it reminded me so much of our beautiful Big Foot Ranch colors, that orbs are always seem to be drawn to. Like the two orbs below, outside of my writing cabin.

Anyway, Monroe's East End Grill's parking lot was packed with vehicles and after we parked, happy people were everywhere and lots of laughter was coming from inside this awesome restaurant and outside of their pretty patio, where the six of us chose to eat our lunch.

Seriously, I cannot say enough good things about this wonderful restaurant. I would definitely give it a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating or ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, because the food was so delicious, the vibes were over the top, which is why everyone eating there was so happy. In fact, I loved this place so much I suggested to our Once-A-Month-Lunch Club that we meet here for lunch next month too, before I ate my tasty Brownie dessert.

Knowing that I needed to walk-off my delicious dessert, after lunch we walked behind the building and went next door to 1700 Water Street, the new home of the already famous East End Market.

The East End Market is this awesome multi-vendor vintage market showcasing all things unique, old and uncommon and it's owner/manager is the super-friendly Kate Howard-Marlow. 

The men followed Kris, Denise and me into the East End Market and when us girls walked inside our jaws dropped, because there was so much to see and to look at, and believe it or not the vibes were as good as Monroe's. 

I was instantly mesmerized by all of the cool stuff on display, as we took our time strolling around and checking out the store. And even though I didn't see any orbs floating around I was sure that they were amongst us, because they were probably just hiding.

While we had fun shopping around Denise tried on several different, beautiful ladies hats. Kris fell in love with Liz & Jim Cravotta's spaces and as she admired Liz's beautiful/whimsical for all occasion cards, I fell in love with just about everything else inside—especially that old saddle and the large painting of a Texas Longhorn. 

I suggest that everyone come check out the East End Market before or after eating lunch or breakfast or dinner at Monroe's East End Grill next door, which is located on Kerrville's east end of town, across from the River Trail Cottages.

And speaking of River Trail Cottages, (Newest Hotel Alternative) after a fun visit with the sweet, friendly owner, Kate Howard-Marlow, we adios-ed her and then we took our lives in our own hands and illegally jay-walked across the street to check out the inviting River Trail Cottages. And oh my goodness it is now most definitely the coolest place to stay in Kerrville and the vibes there were just as great as Monroe's East End Grill's and the East End Market's.

River Trail Cottages have 22 adorable, cozy cottages available for rent and an event center on-property perfect for family reunions, meetings and any social gatherings. The property also has lovely riverside pavilions, several fire pits, grills, picnic areas and more. And I had the hardest time leaving this enchanted wonderland, because of the beauty and peace that surrounded me. And just like the other two fine, east end establishments I must admit that I didn't see any orbs there, but I am positive they are around. 

Bottom   Line:  All three of these fabulous East-End places are such feel good places that I could have hung out there all day. I even daydreamed that I could lived there with everything (food, clothes, cottages, Guadalupe River, etc.) I need all within walking distance from one another. And I certainly would have stayed there much longer if Tony hadn't reminded me that we needed to get back home to check on our dogs. 

And before I finish writing this post tonight I want y'all to know that my loaf of zucchini bread turned out perfect and we loved it so much—Tony and I both ate two slices of it. Here are before and after pictures of my mouth-watering zucchini bread.

And last night after stuffing ourselves with this delicious bread, I sat down in my chair, with Big Al(ice) snuggling beside me and Little Debbie sleeping on my lap and I started reading this fabulous book that sweet Eileen gave to me for Christmas. Christmas at Grey Sage by Texas Hill Country author Phyllis Clark Nichols.

And reading Phyllis' book is so great that I could not put it down or better said, "I didn't go to bed until after midnight." And tonight I plan to spend my evening reading Christmas at Grey Sage until I finish reading it. Even though I don't want it to end, because I love this fabulous book.

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

Becky Crouch Patterson! or Zooming! or The Mineral Man!

Today has been a lot of fun. I spent about four hours this morning writing on my upcoming third novella The Cowgirl Sisterhood: Riders In The Sand, but I had to stop writing for two reasons.

Reason one—my neck and shoulders were aching. Reason two—I was laughing so much writing the scene, my back was aching worse than my neck and shoulders put together, because I was laughing so much.

Knowing that I must take a writing break Tony and I decided to go to Kerrville to get some groceries, at the big H-E-B.

But before we went grocery shopping, a chore Tony never enjoys doing, we decided to drop by Wolfmueller Books, so we could visit with Sandy & Jon and catch up with each others latest news.

When we walked inside the world's greatest bookstore Jon & Sandy greeted us. Then I immediately was drawn to this book display near the front counter.

"I love this book," I said. Then I picked it up to admire the intriguing front cover.

"This is a great book and it just arrived," Sandy told us. "In fact, Becky Crouch Patterson just delivered them to us and she signed all of these first editions for us. Do you know Becky?"

"No, but I wish I did."

"She's a fabulous author and a good friend of ours. She is Hondo Couch's daughter and she has also written several other great books...."

And a few minutes later, I said, "I love Luckenbach, Texas and I want to buy this book."

As I was paying for Luckenbach Texas: The Center of the Universe Sandy said, "You are the very first one to buy this book from us..."

Then Jon says, "Looks like the parade is about to start."

So Tony and I followed Sandy outside, so we could join all of the other onlookers watching the Veterans' Day Parade, come down Earl Garrett Street. And it was a lot of fun. Here are just a few pictures of the parade that I took using my iPhone.

In this photo, a man inside the pickup saw me and as he passed by us, he hollered, "Are you zooming?"

Then the people around me turned to look at me, and I half-hollered, "Yes!" And after The Ranch truck and trailer passed by us, two nice women, standing beside Sandy turned around and asked me, "What does zooming mean?"

"Heck if I know," I replied. "I've never heard of it either." 

After several other floats and parade entries passed by us I heard a familiar voice holler from the street, "Hey, Nancy! Tony! Sandy!" And as we waved back to The Mineral Man, and while Sandy was thanking a very friendly WWII Veteran, I snapped this picture of our dear friend riding on the Hill Country Shrine Club of Kerrville, Texas float.

When the parade ended, the three of us went back inside Sandy & Jon's bookstore to find Jon covered up with customers. So we quietly adios-ed our friends and left them to help their customers find books.

Our shopping spree at the big H-E-B was uneventful, unless you think us forgetting that we had accidentally parked in the designated "Curb Service Only" parking spaces. We parked in the "H" space.

And we did not realize that we had done that until we returned to the pickup with a grocery cart full of groceries. "Oh my gosh," Tony said. "I bet people are hating us for doing this."

"Don't worry about it," I remarked, casually. "They'll just laugh and call us two, old, stupid, senior citizens. I can live with that...."

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

The China Syndrome!

The past several days have felt like being on a roller coaster—with plenty of ups and downs and it being M.I.R. Time (Mercury In Retrograde) again has certainly not helped matters. But since I don't like to complain I've tried really hard to stay, on the sunny side of the street. And to keep the faith.

Also, because one of my most favorite mantras is Never Feed Negativity—I am doing my best not to. So I promise that this will be a positive post.

First off, last Friday afternoon our dear friends (former dog-walking volunteers) came to the Old Timer's Rusty Dawg, to give Tony a surprise birthday party and eat lunch with us. It was a great surprise to both Tony and me and we had a total blast cooking for our friends and celebrating Tony's birthday (on August 6th).

Late Friday afternoon, we brought our sweet Belle home and I am not sure if she or us are the happiest that she is back with our family.

Today has been great. This morning our good friend, Scott Faglie, the owner of FTS Tree Service, came out, with his bucket truck and crew, to remove this threatening Chinaberry tree, that has been rubbing up against our house, near our front door, for at least 6 or 7 months.

We had ignored the China syndrome until last week, when in two consecutive days— two big, very tall, Chinaberry trees simply fell over dead, near The Cabin. So I took it as a sign, and Tony took care of it— he called Scott Faglie (FTS Tree Service) for his help and expertise. 

Scott and his crew did a fabulous job removing the tree and I definitely want to highly recommend FTS Tree Service, because they are the best tree service, in the Texas Hill Country.

Early this afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville. Our first stop was at Wolfmueller's Books, so we could visit with our dear friends Sandy & Jon, before going across the street, to meet our dear friends for our super fun, once-a-month lunch club.

When we arrived at Wolfmuellers Books, Jon greeted us, from behind the counter and Sandy came out of her office, so she could give us this totally awesome cookbook The Truck Food Cookbook by John T. Edge.

While we had a short, but fun visit with Jon & Sandy, I could not quit looking at the fabulous recipes in this informative and fun to read book. 

And when it was time for us to adios our friends, I told them, "Our lunch club is going to eat, at Little Joe's restaurant." And that was when we found out that Little Joe's restaurant had closed its doors last week. And to say the least, I was saddened to hear the bad news, because Joe and his sweet daughter, Margarita, were such nice, hard-working people and their food was so delicious.

A few minutes later, Tony and I walked out Wolfmueller's Books backdoor and we jaywalked across Main Street, to go meet our friends.

As Tony was telling Kris & Jim the sad news about Little Joe's restaurant not making it, Kris handed me this folded up article, in the San Antonio Express News, for me to read.

When I read the headline it instantly put a smile back, on my face. Then Kris teased me about my Appalachian Trail fake-hikes and it really helped to erase the unfortunate news about Little Joe's restaurant closing.  

When Denise and Les arrived a few minutes later, we all decided to eat, at the Hill Country Cafe, since we were standing, in front of their front door. Our lunch was so much fun. We talked non-stop or were laughing and the food was great, too. 

And while Tony drove Roy and me back home—all I did was read this great cookbook. I still have a lot more reading to do, but the good thing is this cookbook has given me so many new ideas and recipes for the Old Timer's Rusty Dawg. And that is about it for tonight. Life is good.

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

With My Warmest Regards!

Today has been great even though I have a bad case of allergies. This morning I woke up coughing and sneezing and it's been that way for the most part of my day. Now I am done complaining, except I do want to show you what the Stone IPA beer looked like, that our good friend, Jon Wolfmueller, Jean and Joan's sweet brother, stole from our 6-pack that The Girls brought to us.

Speaking of Jon, this afternoon Tony and I went to Kerrville to run a few errands and our first stop was at Wolfmueller's Books, so we could pick up our signed copy of Elizabeth Crook's novel The Which Way Tree.

Tone and I had a fun visit with Jon, at the bookstore, even though Sandy wasn't around. After paying Jon for our book that he & Sandy had asked Elizabeth Crook to sign to us, we took off for the big H-E-B, on Main Street.

Besides buying our regular grocery items: dog food, beer, Coffee Mate French Vanilla, eggs, Eureka bread, etc. we high-tailed it to the Kleenex section and picked up a few pretty cardboard boxes. And then we went to the allergy isle, which was packed with people sneezing, hacking and coughing, just like me and we grabbed a couple of cans of saline nasal spray. Then we checked out our items and came back home. And that's the highlights of our uneventful day.

Tonight I plan to read and then go to bed early. In hopes that when I wake up tomorrow morning my runny nose and coughing will have subsided.

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

Red Head! or Green Thing!

Today has been great or better said, "It ended up being a great day after all." This morning I slept in and had no regrets, because I stayed up, until 1:00, reading Marie Bostwick's fabulous (can't put it down) book The Promise Sisters. 

Talk about a fun book to read, oh my goodness—Marie's fictional characters were so real to me and they were so very quirky, so as you can guess I loved each one of them, especially Avery—the part-time, professional mermaid.

And even their mother Minerva was a true piece of work. Anyway the time flew by, because I was having so much fun reading this marvelous book. But, when I looked up, at our new, awesome, La Crosse Atomic Clock I made myself quit reading, with only one chapter left for me to read.

So this morning I climbed out of bed just a little bit before 9:00 and I had two adorable Chihuahuas under my arms—yawning. So my day started out fine, but only for a few hours, even though it was a full moon last night. Actually, it was a full Worm Moon and also a Blue Moon on top of that.

While I was trying to wake up and talking to Tony, I calmly said, "I think our cabin is haunted." Tone gave me a funny look that wasn't funny.

"No it's not. Why do you say that?" he asked.

"Because every night it only happens after you've gone to bed."

"Nance, our cabin is not haunted. I promise. What happens?"

"Every night, after 10:30, it starts and it only happens at night. It sounds like someone is outside chunking big rocks on our roof. Seriously, it is so loud it even startled Belle, Henry and Big Al(ice). It's scary." Tony stared at me and said nothing, then he went outside to work on clearing away some of the stuff, on our front porch. So I took a shower and got dressed.

Around 1:00, right before we took off for Kerrville, Tony walked into the kitchen wearing a red and black plaid, flannel shirt. "Oh," I said, because I realized that I was wearing my matching red and black plaid, flannel shirt.

"Oh what?" Tony asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," I replied, because he was obviously unaware that we were dressed alike, again. Then we took off, for Kerrville, to run a few errands, because tomorrow we are going to Austin, because Ronnie & Nita's daughter is getting married.

Our first stop was at the Post Office. Our next stop was, almost across the street, at a big box store, so I could make my monthly credit card payment and to also buy a brand new pair of Levis 501 jeans for the wedding. And that is when things started going haywire for me.

After I paid a friendly cashier, I went to the Levis jean department and grabbed a pair of jeans and when I walked up to the counter to pay for them a young, woman cashier said, "Did you find everything, sir?" Then she looked up at me/he and she told me the amount and I paid it.

Her remark embarrassed me, so as soon as she sacked up my "wedding pants" I walked as fast as I could to get out of that department store. But as luck would have it, as soon as I opened the door to exit the building, an alarm and buzzers went off, and a male voice, over the intercom loudly said, "Stop. Do not leave. You must return. Go to a checkout station..." or it was something like that.

Now truly embarrassed, for the second time, with a lot of shoppers staring at me, I marched to the nearest checkout counter, the Shoe Department and I turned myself in. Where minutes earlier I had made a payment on my credit card, before going to buy my jeans.

The cashier was very nice, because I guess he could see my red head. Seriously it was not just my face that was red. "May I please see your bag?" he asked politely, in a sympathetic kind of way.

I handed over my "stolen" goods. As he went through my shopping bag, I was standing there imagining a mall cop showing up next and putting handcuffs on me, so the real police could come and haul me off to jail.

Then as I was imaging how embarrassed and mad Ronnie & Nita would be about me stealing a pair of Levis to wear at their daughter's wedding, this kind man said, "I'm sorry. Whoever sold you these jeans forgot to remove the tag. Everything is fine. It will only take me a second for me to remove it...." I let out a big sigh of relief and those shoppers that had been staring at me went back to shopping or shoplifting.

When I returned to the truck and got in, Tony says, "Our satellite radio just quit for no reason. I was listening to Johnny Cash singing Folsom Prison Blues..."

"Yeah, and I was just living it," I shot back, because I was now in a pretty bad mood, because my head was still red.

On our way over to Wolfmueller's Books, I grabbed my iPhone and called the satellite radio's phone number to get them to refresh our signal. It should have only taken three or four minutes to accomplish this, but instead it took us over twenty minutes, as we sat outside Sandy & Jon's fabulous bookstore. And after much frustration we gave up on it and hung up on the tech.

I am so glad we went to Wolfmueller's Books, because when we walked inside, we were greeted by Sandy & Jon, Jon's sweet sister, Jean and Sandy & Jon's dear friend Brook.

When we walked up to the checkout counter, we greeted everyone and then Tony sat down in a chair and I sat down on a stool. Then the fun and laughter began, thank goodness, because it was exactly what I needed to get out of my bad mood.

But before I started laughing, I dumped on our friends and told them about my jeans and what happened to me at the department store. They were all sympathetic especially Jean.

She walked over to me, and said, "Hey, I've got something that will help cheer you up." Then Jean handed me this green thing. And I didn't know what to say, because I didn't know what it was.

"Thanks Jean," I said and then I lied to her wearing a straight face, "Gosh, I love this and I will hang it up, on the wall, right next to our pretty, pink potholder." Then I looked over at Tony and he was trying not to laugh. Which of course made me laugh out loud.

"Did you make this?" I asked trying to be nice, while praying to myself not to burst out laughing as I said it. Even though my shoulders were shaking trying to contain my laughter. 

"Oh no," she softly replied. "I found it this morning, on the street and it was free." And I am thinking thank goodness she didn't pay anything for this weird-looking green thing. I can't hang this goofy-looking thing up, in The Cabin. Our friends will think that were totally crazy.

Then Sandy or Jon said, "Hey, I like y'all's matching red shirts that you're wearing." 

We all laughed except for Tony, because he was too busy discovering that once again we had dressed alike. Something that he truly hates for us to do—especially out in Public. So now it was his turn to be the red head.

Tony and I had a total blast visiting with Jean, Brook and Sandy & Jon and with some of their friendly customers. We laughed and talked about New Mexico, Terlingua and West Texas in general.

Then Brook and I discovered that we had a lot in common. Such as: we are both Libras, love New Mexico and Terlingua, we both play guitars, banjos and mandolins, enjoy drawing and painting, etc. In fact, she joked, "We are soul sisters!"

Then Jean asked to take Tony's and my picture (dressed alike for laughs—I'm sure). And then she took a picture of Sandy, Brook and me. And later on Jean e-mailed me these two pictures. "Thank you, Jean."

Before we left Wolfmuellers and our friends, we remembered why we had actually come by the bookstore in the first place. "Sandy, I am sorry that we can't make y'all's book signing for Elizabeth Crook tomorrow afternoon from 3-5 PM, because we will be at the wedding. We want to buy a copy of Elizabeth Crook's book The Which Way Tree and could you please ask her to sign it to us?"

"Sure. Not a problem, Nancy," Sandy said. And a few minutes later Tony and I adios-ed our dear friends.

Tone and I ran a few more errands and by the time we got back to our Big Foot Ranch, we were happy once again and listening to our favorite satellite radio stations.

P.S. Later on Tony told me that it is Chinaberries hitting our roof top—not ghosts, but I am still not sure. And next week, after the wedding I am going to do some kind of a contest and the winner will be awarded "The Green Thing." So stay tuned.

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

Bett And Chet! or Andy And Andie!

The last few days have been so much fun, because our dear friend, Chet O'Keefe and his super dog, Willie, drove all of the way, from Terlingua, Texas, to come see us.

They arrived late Monday night and they went to visit Kinky, so we didn't get to see them until Tuesday morning.

Yesterday morning, while Chet ate breakfast with us he told us that he needed to run some errands, in Kerrville. And that he was hoping that we could eat lunch with Bett, so he could meet her and thank her personally for giving him her awesome cut-away, Martin guitar that he loves.

And this all happened after Bett had read Donna Hatch's fabulous article, in the Kerrville Daily Times, about Chet's van burning up, in June, and him losing his Martin and just about everything else that he owned. And fortunately, his wish came true, because we met up with Bett(y), at La Four's restaurant.

Our delicious lunch with Bett was a total blast for us, because we became fast friends with her, because we quickly discovered that we had so much in common with her. 

While we were eating our delicious lunch, Chet stood up and took a picture of La Fours' famous painting of Jesus, that hangs, on the wall, behind the checkout counter. 

Kinky had made this painting famous in an article that he wrote and then later on, in 1998, when he mentioned La Fours' painting while he was being interviewed by Jeff Guinn, a columnist for the Fort Worth Star Telegram, because he had honestly thought it was a painting of Andy Gibb, of the Bee Gees until Freda told him that it was Jesus.

And please note that the very first time that Kinky and I ever met for lunch, at La Fours,  about 20 years ago, he pointed to the painting and asked me who I thought it was and my answer was I don't know? Then he teased Freda about me not knowing who it was, too. 

Anyway, Chet took a picture of it, because he wanted to surprise Kinky with it when Kink returns to the ranch tomorrow. Anyway, when we told Freda, one of the owners of, La Fours, about Chet wanting to surprise Kinky with it—she thought it was funny and she giggled about Kinky making it so famous. And before we had finished eating our lunch—Chet had agreed to also make copies of it for Bett and for us, too.

  

And after we ate lunch we went outside the restaurant and I took this picture of Bett and Chet.

After we adios-ed Bett we went down the road, to Walmart, so Chet could make copies of La Fours' famous painting and for Chet to pick up a few other things that he needed before he and Willie headed back, to Terlingua.

After shopping, at Walmart, when we were on our way, to Bad Girlz of Texas, so Chet could go talk to the sweet owner, Andie Morgan, about a possible upcoming gig, at her store and that is when I came up with the title for the famous La Four's painting—Bee-Gees-Us.

So while Chet was visiting with Andie, we went next door to visit with our dear friends, Sandy & Jon, the owners of  the famous Wolfmueller's Books. And after our fun visit with all of our friends we returned to the ranch.

As soon as we got back home, Chet got busy framing La Fours' famous painting and as soon as he gave us ours, Tony hung it up on the wall, above our entertainment center. And we love it.

"I''m going to have so much fun with this picture, because when people come out to visit our rescue ranch we always invite them to come inside, The Cabin, so we can visit with them," I said. "And if Kinky's around we usually take them over to the Lodge, so they can meet him, too. Can you image how funny it will be for them to come inside, The Cabin and wonder why we have a picture of Andy Gibb, hanging on the wall. And then, when we take them over to the Lodge and they see the same picture of Andy Gibb, hanging on his wall—they will think we are all crazy." Then I called Carol to invite her to come over, so she could visit with Chet, before he packed up and leaves the ranch. 

When Carol came over we had a fun visit with her, while we waited for Chet to arrive, because he had gone over, to the Lodge, to drop off Kinky's framed picture of Andy Gibb.

Carol had a fun, but short visit with Chet, before she had to go, home, to feed her horses. And around 9:00 last night, we adios-ed Chet and Willie, because he had decided to drive halfway there and spend the tonight and then get up early this morning, so he could drive the rest of the way home, because he has a gig to play tonight, at La Kiva.

This afternoon we had to go back to Kerrville, so we stopped by Wolfmueller's Books first and dropped off Chet's Bee-Gee-Us picture for Bett, so she can pick it up the next time that she is in town.

And as I finish writing this, it is now time for me to show you our print of Bee-Gees-Us. And if you want to see this original painting, I suggest that you go eat lunch or dinner, at La Fours restaurant, because their food is delicious and because Kinky really has made that painting famous.

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

More Good News! or Share Our Wealth!

Here's some more good news to tell you about. While I was taking a shower this morning, with Henry constantly trying to get into the shower with me, I was counting my many blessings. In fact, I was up to my 147th blessings counted when Tony said, from the kitchen, "Nance, I've got a surprise for you!"

At first I thought that Tony was going to jump into the shower with me, but I quickly blew that idea off, because we are both old and we ain't what we used to be in the looks-department.

While I was drying myself off, Henry Standing Bear tried to help me by licking my toes. "Thank you, Henry," I said, while I was sucking in my stomach, in hopes of buttoning up my too tight 501 Levis. "You've been very helpful. Now, go help Tony."

Standing proud, like he had really been so helpful to me, Henry slowly stretched and then he walked out of the bathroom to go find Tony.

A few minutes later, my top button on my jeans was at last buttoned, emphasizing my muffin-top(s). So, I put on my blue work shirt, tied a pink bandana around my neck to hide "the hide" that once I was so proud of.

Then I pulled on my pretty pink boots and was now ready to receive the world or at least get a delicious cup of Donut Shop Coffee. "Morning Tone," I said, trying to sound cheerful. "What's my surprise?"

Tony smiled, and said, "The rest of your Hans Freitag Wafers Cocoa With Cream filling arrived."

"Are you serious?" I asked, even though I knew he was telling me the truth. Some people call that a control-freak thing, but I do it, because I am hard of hearing and just want to make sure that I heard him right.

"Yes, but I wonder why they just didn't pack them all into one big box?"

"Too many calories," I explained, while I was placing the six new bags of the world's tastiest wafers, on top of the stove. Then I took this picture of our newest arrivals.

"Tony, we've got a ton of errands to run today. We've got to pick up Roy's meds, at Hoegemeyers, run by Pressler's for me to sign off on some paperwork, go to the Post Office Sub-Station, go to the craft store and go to Wolfmueller's Books, so I can drop off Jim & Liz's poster, Kris & Jim's Tom Slick book and something else, but I forgot?"

"Go by Wild Birds Unlimited? Because I'm low on my birdseed."

"Yes, but that's not it. I will remember it in a minute," I said, staring in disbelief at all of the bags of wafers we had. "Tony, I feel like we're sitting on a gold mine here, with all of these wafers. So let's share our wealth." Then I grabbed two bags of the incredibly delicious, Made In Germany, wafers and put them on the breakfast bar. "Let's give a bag of these to Kris & Jim and to Sandy & Jon." And that's exactly what we did.

When we were heading back home, on the down-side of the Medina Pass, I finally remembered what the other thing was that we needed to do today, but Tony was talking to me about me helping him put together an e-book of his beautiful pictures. And by the time he stopped talking and we had stopped Buttermilk to pick up our mail, I had forgotten once again about what we needed to do.

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

We've Been Pretty Busy!

Today and the last few days have been a lot of fun, because we've been pretty busy working and also having so much fun and that is the main reason that I haven't posted anything new, on my blog.

This past Friday, after having a fun time eating lunch with our fabulous volunteers, at the China Town restaurant, Chris and Suzanne, who don't live in Kerrville, followed us over to Wolfmueller's Books and Bad Girlz of Texas, because all of us had told them what great places they were.

When we first arrived Tony and Chris went inside Sandy & Jon's fabulous bookstore, while Suzanne and I went next door to do some serious shopping, at Bad Girlz of Texas.

While Suzanne and I were shopping, we listened to the great music from the 60's and 70's and we could not quit laughing at the hilarious cards for all occasions, the very funny magnets, the really cool clothes and purses, etc.

While Suzanne was busy picking out some laugh-out-loud cards to buy, I went up to the checkout counter and paid Sadie for two refrigerator magnets and a little guitar mint container. Then I adios-ed Suzanne and Sadie, because Suzanne was still shopping, so I could go over and say hi to Sandy & Jon and show them the cute things that I had just purchased.

And when we got ready to leave, Suzanne was still shopping over, at Bad Girlz of Texas and Chris told us how much he loved Wolfmueller's Books awesome bookstore and that he was planning on coming back soon to it, so he could spend several hours checking out there huge collection of new & used books and their rare books.

Saturday we had quite a few people come out to take tours and we've got our fingers crossed for one of our dogs that they might come back to adopt.

Sunday evening was a fabulous blast from the past, because we went to the awesome Kerrville Folk Festival's 45th annual festival, to listen to Harpeth Rising, Ari Hest, Judy Collins and the festival's incredibly great Memorial Concert that included the awesome Symphony of the Hills Orchestra performing with Judy Collins, Harpeth Rising and Matt Nakoa. 

We arrived early, in hopes of getting good bench seats with backs. But just in case they were already taken, Tony brought his famous "Blue Chair," that last year, after I watched David Crosby's awesome performance, at the Kerrville Folk Festival, I had casually given away to one of Donna's & Ryan's friends. You know, his blue fishing chair, that two months later, sweet Donna Gable Hatch retrieved from her friend and returned it to Tony. 

And as it turned out—we did not have to use our folding chairs after all, because we found really great bench seats. This is a picture I took, before the place filled up.

And to say the least, "We had a wonderful time that night, at the Kerrville Folk Festival's concert and Judy Collins was incredibly great and she has not lost her beautiful voice. 

Today was fun, because this afternoon we met our great friends Kris & Jim for lunch, in Kerrville. It was their turn to pick a place, so we ate lunch, at Bella Sera. And once again, Tony and I did not order the exact same thing. He had Lasagna and I ate Linguine with Olive Oil, Garlic & Mushrooms and they were totally delicious. 

Of course, we had a blast getting together with our friends and we did a lot of laughing as we took turns confessing some of the hilarious things we had done in high school and college. And that's about it for tonight.

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

Give The Dog A Bone!

Today has been great. After Tony and I ate lunch we grabbed Henry Standing Bear and took off for Kerrville to run a few errands.

Our first stop was at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, where we dropped off Henry to get his stitches removed and his nails clipped, while we ran a few more errands.

Our next stop was at Wild Birds Unlimited, so Tony could buy more birdseed, suet, etc. Marguerite and Tricia greeted us when we walked inside one of our favorite stores, in Kerrville. While Tony started shopping, Marguerite and I started talking about Scout and Henry and that's when I thanked her for buying Henry a blue, chew bone, Online, given to him from his pal Scout.

"We're going to Wolfmueller's Books next, so we can pick up Henry's bone," I said. "That you dropped off last week. Henry is going to love it..." Marguerite told us about Scout's latest adventures and then the four of us started talking about Bees, because I had asked about this really cool-looking  house made for Bees.

While we were talking about all kinds of bees and scorpions Tony and Marguerite started talking about these giant "Assasin Bees" that go around killing innocent Tarantulas. And these mean-spirited, assassins then drag their dead Tarantula trophies, back into their Bee-domed nest, so they can lay their eggs on top of the Tarantula carcass, so when their baby sniper-bees hatch, they will get to eat the poor, dead tarantulas. Until they are old enough and ready to go out and start hunting for innocent Tarantulas to kill.

Then Tony changed the subject and started telling them about five, sneaky raccoons that have been raiding his bird feeders. "The other day I set up my game-camera and it took over a 1,000 photographs, one night, between two and four o'clock, in the morning, of five raccoons taking turns climbing up the pole and scratching out the birdseed for the others to eat down below. It was pretty funny, too, because each coon took his turn climbing up the pole..."

After we adios-ed our friends and Marguerite had helped Tony load up the heavy sack of choice birdseed, we took off for Wolfmueller's Books.

After we had a fun visit with Sandy & Jon, Sandy and I adios-ed Tony and Jon and then went next door, to shop, at Bad Girlz of Texas, because I wanted to buy one of their funny birthday cards for The Mineral Man's upcoming birthday party, that we and the volunteers are celebrating this coming Friday.

Unfortunately, Andie wasn't there, but Sadie was, so she helped Sandy and me shop. Sandy and Sadie helped me pick out some of the cutest costume jewelry. At only $2.00 per item, which included the $2.00 bracelets, $2.00 rings and $2.00 a piece, themed tops, that you snap into the rings and bracelets to go with your outfit or theme of the day. And I had a total blast picking out the. tops for my rings and bracelets. And I also found the perfect birthday card for us to give to Jim.

When Tony came in to tell me that we needed to go pick up Henry and get back to the ranch, he found the funniest dish towel and started laughing as he held it up for me to look at. "Nance, this has your name written all over it. You've got to buy this." So I did. And this is what I purchased not counting the adorable silver paw print ring that I am wearing right now.

When we got back home, we immediately gave Henry his present from Scout and he totally loves it and the only bad thing is Henry won't share it with Roy. But luckily for Henry Standing Bear, Roy is so old and so sweet, and so laid back he just looks at Henry and wags his tail and walks away laughing. Because everyone know when dogs wag their tails they are laughing.

Y'all have a great evening!

Jim Keaveny & Anna Oakley Were Here!

Today has been great and so was yesterday. Our good friends Jim Keaveny and his sweet wife, Anna Oakley, from Terlingua, came to visit us yesterday and to spend the night.

In September 2011, when we went out to Terlingua, for a few days with our dear friends Sandy & Jon Wolfmueller, Jim was playing a gig, at the Starlight Theater, the evening that we were eating there and all of us instantly fell in love with Jim Keaveny's awesome music. And we've been big fans of his ever since then.

Anyway, when Chet O'Keefe started performing and playing his music, in Terlingua, he soon met and became fast friends with Jim & Anna. And now Chet often sits in and plays lead guitar in the Jim Keaveny Band.

Anna, besides being a fantastic fiddle player, in her husband's band, she is also a very talented graphic designer and she specializes in designing event posters, CD packaging, T-shirts, etc. and you can check her art out at: Mercury Graphics.

(This past January when Tony and I went out to Terlingua, Chet hooked up with us one morning and he took us over to Anna's and Jim's super cool, off-grid home and we had a really fun visit with them. And that's when we gave them an open invitation to please come see us whenever they could. So on their 30 day trip, back from Costa Rica, they took us up on it.)

We had a blast visiting with Anna and Jim and so did Kinky. Yesterday, as soon as they had arrived, all of us went over to Kinky's and went on a fun hike with him and The Friedmans and Tubo, their rescued, sweet mutt that was actually born in a cave, near Lajitas. Then after our hike we went and hung out, at the Lodge, for several hours visiting with Kinky.

This morning, before Anna, Jim and Tubo took off to go back home to Terlingua, we all went back over to the Lodge for one more visit with Kinky and here are a few pictures that Tony took of them.

In this picture Jim had just handed Kinky some of his CD's, because last night Kinky gave them his new CD.

If you want to know more about Jim Keaveny's music, there is already a Jim Keaveny Channel on Pandora and lots of Jim's music is also on YouTube and if you click: jimkeaveny.com you can learn more about this awesome singer, songwriter and his music.

And before I finish writing this, I once again want to wish our dear friend, Jim "The Mineral Man" the best birthday ever.

Y'all have a great evening!