This morning I did not walk because I had a lot of work to do before going to Kerrville later today. While I was backing up some files Lisa, Matt and Tony came inside the trailer so Tone could show them a slideshow of the Bluebonnet pictures he took yesterday.
Before they watched the slideshow I could tell that Lisa was really down in the dumps so we tried to cheer her up. When I told Matt that he needed to wear a cowboy hat to get girls Lisa backed me up, "Matt, women love men in cowboy hats." Then the joking started and after all was said and done I doubt if Matt is going to buy a cowboy hat. Then Matt told me that his parents were coming to see him on Tuesday because it was his birthday and they wanted to come out and see the rescue ranch which thrilled me because I cannot wait to meet them. Then I showed Matt his name in the acknowledgments of my book and he was thrilled and told me that his name has never been in a book. When Tony's slideshow ended they went outside to go to work and Lisa was smiling even though I could tell that she was still depressed.
Around twelve-thirty I grabbed the Undepressable Press checkbook and letters to be mailed and then Buttermilk took us to Kerrville to run many errands before meeting Kinky for lunch at one-thirty. On our way to Wolfmueller's Books Kinky passed us going in the opposite direction and waved so I called him on his cell. "Hello, Nance. I just passed y'all."
"I know. I waved at you, too. Do you want to do lunch early?"
"Yes."
"We're at Wolfmuellers to pick up some books and they need for me to sign some books so we will be there in about ten minutes. Bye."
When we walked into the bookstore we were greeted by Mary Jo then Sandy and Jon came out of their office in the back and headed our direction. After greetings I paid for my books and then I started signing several copies of my book, The Road To Utopia while Mary Jo Brandon looked for her name in the acknowledgments part of my new book. She seemed thrilled when she found it. "I'm between Robert Bradley and Linda Buckelew! How many pages are in your acknowledgements?"
"Three full pages of names. I have a lot of friends and it is a marketing idea because everyone wants to see their names in a book so I put all of my friends name into the book." I said. "Mary Jo, my new book would make a nice Christmas present for your friends and family and I could sign them with something like: "I love Mary Jo, too!" When I was done signing books T. and I took off for the restaurant.
In general, having lunch with Kinky is always fun, but todays was weird and fun. When we arrived at the restaurant Kinky was already sitting at a table waiting for us. The weird part happened right after Tony and I placed our orders. Right when Kinky's cell phone rang I had a wardrobe malfunction and I could not believe what had just happened so I blamed it on being two days away from Mercury going into retrograde. Fortunately I was the only person aware of my problem.
When Kinky answered his phone he stood up, excused himself and then went outside to take the call. I took his cue. I stood up and quickly dashed off to the powder room and went into a stall and latched the door behind me. Then I looked down to make sure that my turtleneck was covering my wardrobe malfunction and was glad to see that it was. Then I lifted up my shirt and re-buttoned my Levi 501 jeans.
For some reason the middle button had unbuttoned itself and I cannot figure out why because my jeans are baggy with plenty of room except around the top button because I have a muffin top as Ben likes to call it. Since it only took me ten seconds to button up my jeans I decided to stay in the stall for at least a minute because I didn't want people wondering why I had gone into the ladies restroom for ten seconds.
Sixty-five seconds later I was sitting at the table laughing with Tony and Kinky wondering why so I told them. They thought it was pretty funny. During our meal we started talking about my new book and that's when Kinky turned into a preacher man. "Nance, I don't care who it is that wants your book—do not give them a free one and that includes me. It's for your and Tony's retirement and you need to tell them that. You've worked hard on this book and put your hard earned money into it. So if they really want to read your book then they should understand and pay you for it or go to the library." I didn't know what to say, but Tony did.
"Kinky, Nancy gives everything away. I bet that she has bought and given away at least three or four hundred books..." I sitting there at the table wondering if I had turned into the invisible woman as they continued to talk about me. Finally when they had run out of words about me I spoke.
"Okay, guys. I get it. I promise not to give one book away for free—except to libraries. And, I hope that you will buy one, Kinky. Okay?" They laughed. After we finished our meal we took off and went in different directions. Kinky went home and we went to the bank so I could get a certified check made out to 48hrBooks. Then we went to FedEx and over nighted the check to the printers. Our next stop was at H.E.B. for a few groceries and gas. Then we went to the post office so I could mail out a ton of letters and buy stamps. Our final stop was at Walmart so I could buy some shipping supplies for Undepressable Press. Then we came home.
At five twenty-seven the phone rang and for some reason I picked it up and answered it even though I did not recognize the phone number. This really nice woman introduced herself. "Hi my name is Karuna and I am an independent television producer for a new television station. We started in January and..." Or at least I think that is what she said her name was because I am so hard of hearing especially when talking on the phone. Karen, Karuna or Kahuna told me that they want to do a reality show about our rescue ranch and I nearly fainted with excitement. We talked and laughed for about ten minutes. She told me that they are not like other reality shows. "We want to showcase people who are doing good work and I think your rescue ranch would be great..."
"How do you know about us?" I asked.
She told me that she reads my blog and loves watching my videos. "My favorite video is your first and last cooking show." Now my ego starts kicking in and I tell her that, and we started laughing. Then my new-found friend tells me that the TV station is in negotiations with Direct TV and Dish as we speak. Before hanging up the phone she told me that she would e-mail some more information about the reality show idea and I told her that I had to discuss all of this with Kinky and that I would get back to her by noon tomorrow. Then I called Kinky and went over to the Lodge.
After telling Kinky about this nice woman, who I really liked, and all that she had to say about the possible reality TV show he said it sounded good to him and for me to pursue it, but to be careful and to contact our entertainment lawyer friend because if it is too invasive on our privacy which we have little of we won't do it. Then I returned to the rescue ranch.
Ten minutes after getting home Carol called me and we had a really fun visit. When I told her about the possible rescue ranch reality show we had a fun discussion about it. "Nancy, I know that Kinky is a natural in front of the camera, but you run and hide when cameras come out and Tony shuts down. I don't know..." Then she told me about her and James horsemanship workshops that they plan to attend in the near future. I am so happy for Carol and James. They are like two peas-in-a-pod and I am so glad they found each other and having the times of their lives.
P.S. Cheer up, Lisa.
Y'all have a great evening!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Perfect Timing!
This morning Lisa, came inside the trailer to look at my galley proof and she made me feel so good. She said, "Nance, I love your book! It is totally awesome! It is so beautiful..." And that is just one of the many reasons that we love Lisa. She is totally awesome.
Later this morning Tony and his sister Annie from New Braunfels went to Fredericksburg to take pictures of the beautiful Texas Bluebonnets. I stayed home because I needed to catch up with my paperwork and so I could "press the button" to sign off on my book's new corrections.
Twenty minutes before 48hrBooks cutoff time for today I received their pdf files, but I could not open up the files so thinking fast I e-mailed them to Copies Plus so they could open the files for me and tell me if the corrections looked good. Since time was of the essence I called Copies Plus to ask them to look at the new files as soon as possible.
Trisha was out out of the shop so her nice employee Marcie did it for me. "Yes, Nancy, the files look great and all of the corrections were made," Marcie said. After thanking her I went to my computer and pressed the "sign off" button and then called 48hrBooks to make sure they knew that I had just signed off for them to print my books. I made today's deadline with less than ten minutes left before their cutoff time for today. I was thrilled because that means that I will get my books early next week before Mercury goes into retrograde on April 18th! And I call that perfect timing.
This evening when Tony and Annie returned to the ranch they showed me some of their beautiful pictures that had taken today before Annie had to leave and drive back to New Braunfels. After Annie left I asked T. if he had eaten lunch today because I had some leftovers for him if he was hungry. "Yes, we did. We ate lunch in Kerrville," Tone said.
"Did you get any funny stares since you were with a blonde and not with me?" I teased. Tony laughed.
"Yes, I did. When we walked into the restaurant that waitress that always waits on us looked at me, turned her head sideways and then she raised her eyebrow. I told Annie that tongues would be waggin' all over Kerrville about me being seen with her today. She thought it was funny."
It is starting to thunder and lightning here so I need to get off of the Internet and unplug everything.
Y'all have a great evening!
Later this morning Tony and his sister Annie from New Braunfels went to Fredericksburg to take pictures of the beautiful Texas Bluebonnets. I stayed home because I needed to catch up with my paperwork and so I could "press the button" to sign off on my book's new corrections.
Twenty minutes before 48hrBooks cutoff time for today I received their pdf files, but I could not open up the files so thinking fast I e-mailed them to Copies Plus so they could open the files for me and tell me if the corrections looked good. Since time was of the essence I called Copies Plus to ask them to look at the new files as soon as possible.
Trisha was out out of the shop so her nice employee Marcie did it for me. "Yes, Nancy, the files look great and all of the corrections were made," Marcie said. After thanking her I went to my computer and pressed the "sign off" button and then called 48hrBooks to make sure they knew that I had just signed off for them to print my books. I made today's deadline with less than ten minutes left before their cutoff time for today. I was thrilled because that means that I will get my books early next week before Mercury goes into retrograde on April 18th! And I call that perfect timing.
This evening when Tony and Annie returned to the ranch they showed me some of their beautiful pictures that had taken today before Annie had to leave and drive back to New Braunfels. After Annie left I asked T. if he had eaten lunch today because I had some leftovers for him if he was hungry. "Yes, we did. We ate lunch in Kerrville," Tone said.
"Did you get any funny stares since you were with a blonde and not with me?" I teased. Tony laughed.
"Yes, I did. When we walked into the restaurant that waitress that always waits on us looked at me, turned her head sideways and then she raised her eyebrow. I told Annie that tongues would be waggin' all over Kerrville about me being seen with her today. She thought it was funny."
It is starting to thunder and lightning here so I need to get off of the Internet and unplug everything.
Y'all have a great evening!
Monday, April 12, 2010
UP!
Today has been great and I am on Cloud Nine as I type this. This morning when I was walking the last mile of my six, Tony and Lisa came inside the trailer so Lisa could give me Mark's package for me. I quickly put Leslie and crew on hold and then I opened up the package.
I first looked at the photographs which were all signed to me by the famous drummer Tommy Noland! Mark's friend, Tommy Noland, plays with Brian Austin and he usually tours and plays guitar in Clint Black's band. Then I realized why Mark had sent the pictures because there was a pair of autographed drumsticks signed by Tommy! "Wow, Lisa!" I said. "These are the best sticks that you can buy and mine are autographed by Tommy! Mark is so nice to have sent this to me. Maybe it will improve my drumming skills?" Then I admired the three really cool t-shirts from Mississippi. Thank you, Mark in Mississippi! I love the t-shirts, autographed pictures and drumsticks! You are too nice and please thank Tommy for me!
Then I quickly combed through the pages checking to see if the Table of Contents matched the pages in the book and to see how the pictures turned out. The pages matched and were numbered correctly and the pictures looked great. I was so thrilled with my book I took two baby Aspirins just in case I stroked out from the excitement. "Tony, Let's go to Kerrville! I can't wait to show this to Sandy and Jon and Trisha! Then I called Sandy at Wolfmueller's Books and then Kinky to tell them about my book.
I first looked at the photographs which were all signed to me by the famous drummer Tommy Noland! Mark's friend, Tommy Noland, plays with Brian Austin and he usually tours and plays guitar in Clint Black's band. Then I realized why Mark had sent the pictures because there was a pair of autographed drumsticks signed by Tommy! "Wow, Lisa!" I said. "These are the best sticks that you can buy and mine are autographed by Tommy! Mark is so nice to have sent this to me. Maybe it will improve my drumming skills?" Then I admired the three really cool t-shirts from Mississippi. Thank you, Mark in Mississippi! I love the t-shirts, autographed pictures and drumsticks! You are too nice and please thank Tommy for me!
Tony, Lisa and I were having a fun visit until Matt came inside the trailer to tell Lisa it was time for them to leave because they needed to get back to Kerrville. After I gave Matt and Lisa a hug and thanked them for coming out, they said goodbye to us and left the trailer.
After lunch I took care of some paperwork and then I unofficially walked one hundred miles inside the trailer or should I say nervously paced back and forth as I awaited for the arrival of my book proof. Around two-thirty I told Tony that I was going to lay down and take a short nap because I was tired from walking and waiting.
At two forty-one Hank and Toto jumped off the bed and Mama and Abbie started barking outside and then I heard the front door open and close, so I got up in hopes that the UPS truck would be outside with my book. When I reached the door I saw the UPS man climbing back into his truck and Tony walking towards me with a package in hand. And he was smiling ear to ear!
When he came inside he handed me the package and said, "Here's your book. Open it." I took the package and set it down on the breakfast bar and just stared at it for a few seconds. "I'm scared to, Tone. What if it looks terrible and not what I expected." Then I took a deep breath and opened the package. Tears came to my eyes when I saw my book because it was beautiful! "Tony, it looks fantastic!" I said, as I picked it up and examined the back of the cover. "Look how good the back looks, too! I love it!"
Then I quickly combed through the pages checking to see if the Table of Contents matched the pages in the book and to see how the pictures turned out. The pages matched and were numbered correctly and the pictures looked great. I was so thrilled with my book I took two baby Aspirins just in case I stroked out from the excitement. "Tony, Let's go to Kerrville! I can't wait to show this to Sandy and Jon and Trisha! Then I called Sandy at Wolfmueller's Books and then Kinky to tell them about my book.
Five minutes later T. and I were over at the Lodge showing Kinky and Frank my book. To say the least Kinky and Frank loved my book and thought it looked great. "Kinky, it looks as good as my University of Texas Press book." Kinky agreed with me, and then I showed him the "UP" on the spine of the book. "That's my publishing company logo for Undepressable Press." Kinky smiled and nodded his head yes.
"Nance, your book looks fantastic," Kinky said. "I know that you're going to sell a lot..."
Five minutes later Tony and I were on our way to Kerrville to see Sandy and Jon, and then Trisha Sanders at Copies Plus so we could show them my book. Jon and Sandy told us that my book looked professionally done and they loved the cover as well as the printing inside. "I love 48hrBooks. They have been great to work with. There are a couple of things that I need to correct and when I called them about it they told me that was not a problem, and they would let me correct up to three things before charging me! Talk about nice people!"
"I found the first mistake on the title page," Tony said as he opened the book up to show them that I had left the "s" off of the word Texas at the bottom of the page. We started laughing. "I told her it was no big deal..."
"Yes, it is Tony. I also left out a word on the back cover and the title of my first book needs to be in italics," I said. "I can't believe that on the two most important parts of my book: the cover and title page I made those stupid mistakes. I guess I overlooked it because I have been too close to my book. Anyway we are fixin' to go see Trisha over at Copies Plus to ask her to correct my book cover and..."
"Nance, we need to leave and go see Trisha," Tone said as he got up from his chair. We said our goodbyes to Sandy and Jon and then we left the store.
When we showed Trisha the book she was as excited as me at how good it had turned out, and when she saw what I had written about her helping design the cover she was even more thrilled. When I told her about the needed corrections to the cover she quickly made them for me, including the apostrophe that needed to be added that her friendly employee suggested, and then Trisha e-mailed the new and improved version to me since my Mac can't read her CD's. After a fun visit with her we returned to the rescue ranch.
Tomorrow morning I plan to upload the corrections and then I will "push the button" for them to print my books. Here is a picture of the corrected book cover. Thank you so much, Trisha!
Y'all have a great evening!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
"Nance, I Have Mark's Gift For You!"
Today has been really fun. This morning I didn't want to walk, but I did anyway because I wanted to catch up with the miles for my monthly quota. As of today for this month I have walked fifty-four miles and I am only one mile behind the needed fifty-five miles for the eleventh of April. So I am glad that I walked with Leslie. Tomorrow when I walk six more miles I will be caught up and then I will start getting ahead by at least one mile per day unless I take a day off.
Early this afternoon Lisa came out with some of her family that were visiting her from Mt. Pleasant. When Lisa told us the other day that they were coming down to Kerrville to see her, we asked Lisa to please bring them out so we could meet them.
As soon as they climbed out of Lisa's car I fell in love with them instantly. Talk about nice people! After we met Leighann, Lisa's younger sister, Leighann's husband Ken, and their beautiful daughter Hannah we went over to the Lodge for a short, but fun visit with Kinky. Then we returned to the rescue ranch.
While Lisa gave her family a tour of the rescue ranch, Kinky called to tell me that our friend Steve Rambam was over at the Lodge, so I had to go back over to Kinky's because I needed to talk to Rambam, the famous real life private investigator in Kinky's mystery books. And I am glad that I did.
After I told Rambam about someone hacking into my computer last Thursday, and my e-mail and address book being hijacked, and the stupid letter that was sent out to everyone in my address book asking for money, and the fine detective work that Sage Ferrero had done, he told me to contact the Secret Service immediately because they investigate computer fraud. So I will contact them tomorrow since I am sure that they are closed on weekends.
When I returned to the rescue ranch Tone and I had a really fun visit with Lisa and her lovely family. We went into the Space Ship and they loved it, and then we went into Outer Space for a visit, and it was filled with non-stop laughter. When it was time for them to leave Lisa said, "Nance, I have Mark's gift for you, but I forgot to bring it with me. I'm sorry. You're going to love it. I swear."
I started laughing and said, "Lisa, please don't worry about it. Wait until you get my age. I forget so much nowadays—I even forgot about Mark's gift until you just reminded me. Just be glad that is the only thing you forgot today, but please try to remember to bring it with you tomorrow because I can't wait to see it."
Tomorrow is going to be one big day for me. In the morning after I walk six miles with Leslie I plan to contact the Secret Service, and then work on the web site that I am trying to build for my new book, which is arriving tomorrow! I cannot wait to see my book, and if it looks good then I will push the button to print the books that I have ordered. Please keep your fingers crossed for me that the book will look good.
Y'all have a great evening!
Early this afternoon Lisa came out with some of her family that were visiting her from Mt. Pleasant. When Lisa told us the other day that they were coming down to Kerrville to see her, we asked Lisa to please bring them out so we could meet them.
As soon as they climbed out of Lisa's car I fell in love with them instantly. Talk about nice people! After we met Leighann, Lisa's younger sister, Leighann's husband Ken, and their beautiful daughter Hannah we went over to the Lodge for a short, but fun visit with Kinky. Then we returned to the rescue ranch.
While Lisa gave her family a tour of the rescue ranch, Kinky called to tell me that our friend Steve Rambam was over at the Lodge, so I had to go back over to Kinky's because I needed to talk to Rambam, the famous real life private investigator in Kinky's mystery books. And I am glad that I did.
After I told Rambam about someone hacking into my computer last Thursday, and my e-mail and address book being hijacked, and the stupid letter that was sent out to everyone in my address book asking for money, and the fine detective work that Sage Ferrero had done, he told me to contact the Secret Service immediately because they investigate computer fraud. So I will contact them tomorrow since I am sure that they are closed on weekends.
When I returned to the rescue ranch Tone and I had a really fun visit with Lisa and her lovely family. We went into the Space Ship and they loved it, and then we went into Outer Space for a visit, and it was filled with non-stop laughter. When it was time for them to leave Lisa said, "Nance, I have Mark's gift for you, but I forgot to bring it with me. I'm sorry. You're going to love it. I swear."
I started laughing and said, "Lisa, please don't worry about it. Wait until you get my age. I forget so much nowadays—I even forgot about Mark's gift until you just reminded me. Just be glad that is the only thing you forgot today, but please try to remember to bring it with you tomorrow because I can't wait to see it."
Tomorrow is going to be one big day for me. In the morning after I walk six miles with Leslie I plan to contact the Secret Service, and then work on the web site that I am trying to build for my new book, which is arriving tomorrow! I cannot wait to see my book, and if it looks good then I will push the button to print the books that I have ordered. Please keep your fingers crossed for me that the book will look good.
Y'all have a great evening!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Coming Right Up!
This morning after walking six miles inside, I went outside to find a weed eater. When I reached the barn Tony was inside Hank's and Blue Bell's pen picking up poop, "Tone, I'm going to weed eat our front yard. Will you help me start the weed eater?"
Five minutes later my blue coveralls and glasses were covered in grass, and I was wildly whacking away in the front yard. When I had nearly a third of the yard flattened I looked up and saw Ellen Jackson and Eileen Gootke returning Kirby and Lulu to my writing cabin's front yard, so I turned off the weed-be-gone- machine and went to visit with them.
They teased me about "being in England" while I cleaned off my bifocals. "How is Sandy doing?" I asked.
"Sandy has a new name," Ellen said. "It's in keeping with you naming dogs after famous people. His new name is Jermaine Jackson. June thought of it, and we both agreed that Jermaine is the one famous Jackson that didn't do drugs, have plastic surgery, or have wardrobe malfunctions. In short, he's probably a pretty good person. Jermaine still doesn't know his name, so if a better name is offered, it will be no big deal to change it. Twinky has tried to get him to play a couple of times, but he is not ready for that. He follows her lead when they go out to do their business, so maybe play will happen soon."
"That is fantastic news!" I said. "Kinky, Tony and I cannot thank you enough for giving him a try..."
"Jermaine is a great dog and he does not want to come back to the rescue ranch. Everyday he just keeps getting better and better. He's mine." Then we talked about my new book while she and Eileen gave treats to Kirby and Lulu.
"I want to buy one," Eileen said. And then Ellen told me that she wanted to buy three copies! Yeah, I thought—four copies already pre-sold before I even have them! Then we started walking towards Dusty's pen so Ellen could walk her and Eileen could walk Jill and Scooby Doo together.
"Eileen, thanks so much for telling Tony about that photo contest," I said. "Tony entered that woman's contest. What is the name of her blog?"
"Pioneer Woman," Eileen said. "She's in Oklahoma and the name of her blog is: pioneerwoman.com."
"Well, I've never been to England, but I've been to Oklahoma..." I joked. While Ellen leashed up Dusty for her walk our conversation turned to the healing attributes of magnets. Then Ellen told us a funny story about her two magnets. "I bought a little magnet and a big one to see if they would help my backache. The little one which was about the size of the tip of my little finger cost me $9.00."
"Did they help?" I asked.
"I don't know?" Ellen said. "Before going to bed I taped the little one on my lower part of my back and when I got up the next morning it was gone." Eileen and I started laughing. "I think it fell off into my pajamas and I must have accidentally flushed it away." We all started laughing. "So I taped the larger magnet to my back and the next morning it was gone too. When I went to the brush my teeth I found it lodged in the toilet. I guess it was too big to be flushed so I fished it out and sterilized it and stuckt it on my refrigerator door. All I know is that my septic tank is in full alignment." Then somehow we started talking about Margaritas.
Eileen told us that she preferred Margaritas to wine because of a bad experience she had when she was young. "I've never had a margarita," I said, "because when I was about nineteen or twenty years old and living in Crested Butte, Colorado I swore off tequilla. It was winter, in the middle of ski season and every bar in town was celebrating John Wayne's birthday and giving away free shots of tequilla so I asked for a shot even though I knew nothing about tequilla. I put salt on my hand, licked it, threw down the tequilla and then bit into a slice of lime. Well, like a fool I ordered another free shot followed by several more then I went into the restroom. Things started spinning and I threw up. I was sicker than a dog and went home and that's when I swore off tequilla."
"Unfortunately, the next morning I had to go to work. I was a waitress at the Wooden Nickel and I was still sick from all of that tequilla. I waited on this family that was all dressed up in their expensive sweaters and ski outfits. After the man ordered his omelet with bacon he asked me for a warm bowl of chili and I immediately threw up on him! I felt so bad. I apologized and then ran to the bathroom. Fortunately my bosses: Uncle Gene, Rick and Eileen didn't fire me. They just told me to come back when I felt better. After the laughter was over I said, "I guess I should have told the man, "Coming right up!" The three of us visited a little while longer and then they took off with the dogs and I returned to the trailer so I could do some more weed whacking, but unfortunately I could not get it started after several attempts and since T. was nowhere to be found I came inside and started cooking our lunch.
Y'all have a great evening!
Five minutes later my blue coveralls and glasses were covered in grass, and I was wildly whacking away in the front yard. When I had nearly a third of the yard flattened I looked up and saw Ellen Jackson and Eileen Gootke returning Kirby and Lulu to my writing cabin's front yard, so I turned off the weed-be-gone- machine and went to visit with them.
They teased me about "being in England" while I cleaned off my bifocals. "How is Sandy doing?" I asked.
"Sandy has a new name," Ellen said. "It's in keeping with you naming dogs after famous people. His new name is Jermaine Jackson. June thought of it, and we both agreed that Jermaine is the one famous Jackson that didn't do drugs, have plastic surgery, or have wardrobe malfunctions. In short, he's probably a pretty good person. Jermaine still doesn't know his name, so if a better name is offered, it will be no big deal to change it. Twinky has tried to get him to play a couple of times, but he is not ready for that. He follows her lead when they go out to do their business, so maybe play will happen soon."
"That is fantastic news!" I said. "Kinky, Tony and I cannot thank you enough for giving him a try..."
"Jermaine is a great dog and he does not want to come back to the rescue ranch. Everyday he just keeps getting better and better. He's mine." Then we talked about my new book while she and Eileen gave treats to Kirby and Lulu.
"I want to buy one," Eileen said. And then Ellen told me that she wanted to buy three copies! Yeah, I thought—four copies already pre-sold before I even have them! Then we started walking towards Dusty's pen so Ellen could walk her and Eileen could walk Jill and Scooby Doo together.
"Eileen, thanks so much for telling Tony about that photo contest," I said. "Tony entered that woman's contest. What is the name of her blog?"
"Pioneer Woman," Eileen said. "She's in Oklahoma and the name of her blog is: pioneerwoman.com."
"Well, I've never been to England, but I've been to Oklahoma..." I joked. While Ellen leashed up Dusty for her walk our conversation turned to the healing attributes of magnets. Then Ellen told us a funny story about her two magnets. "I bought a little magnet and a big one to see if they would help my backache. The little one which was about the size of the tip of my little finger cost me $9.00."
"Did they help?" I asked.
"I don't know?" Ellen said. "Before going to bed I taped the little one on my lower part of my back and when I got up the next morning it was gone." Eileen and I started laughing. "I think it fell off into my pajamas and I must have accidentally flushed it away." We all started laughing. "So I taped the larger magnet to my back and the next morning it was gone too. When I went to the brush my teeth I found it lodged in the toilet. I guess it was too big to be flushed so I fished it out and sterilized it and stuckt it on my refrigerator door. All I know is that my septic tank is in full alignment." Then somehow we started talking about Margaritas.
Eileen told us that she preferred Margaritas to wine because of a bad experience she had when she was young. "I've never had a margarita," I said, "because when I was about nineteen or twenty years old and living in Crested Butte, Colorado I swore off tequilla. It was winter, in the middle of ski season and every bar in town was celebrating John Wayne's birthday and giving away free shots of tequilla so I asked for a shot even though I knew nothing about tequilla. I put salt on my hand, licked it, threw down the tequilla and then bit into a slice of lime. Well, like a fool I ordered another free shot followed by several more then I went into the restroom. Things started spinning and I threw up. I was sicker than a dog and went home and that's when I swore off tequilla."
"Unfortunately, the next morning I had to go to work. I was a waitress at the Wooden Nickel and I was still sick from all of that tequilla. I waited on this family that was all dressed up in their expensive sweaters and ski outfits. After the man ordered his omelet with bacon he asked me for a warm bowl of chili and I immediately threw up on him! I felt so bad. I apologized and then ran to the bathroom. Fortunately my bosses: Uncle Gene, Rick and Eileen didn't fire me. They just told me to come back when I felt better. After the laughter was over I said, "I guess I should have told the man, "Coming right up!" The three of us visited a little while longer and then they took off with the dogs and I returned to the trailer so I could do some more weed whacking, but unfortunately I could not get it started after several attempts and since T. was nowhere to be found I came inside and started cooking our lunch.
Y'all have a great evening!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Billy Joe Shaver Just Found Not Guilty! Yeah!
Kinky just called. He told me the great news that the jury has just found our good friend Billy Joe Shaver—Not Guilty! We are thrilled with the verdict! We love you, Billy Joe and we are so happy for you!
Tonight's blog is going to be very short because I am pooped because I spent much of my morning returning phone calls from concerned friends who received that ridiculous and fraudulent bogus e-mail about me being in England and desperately needing money. All I have to say is thank y'all for caring and for those mean spirited people, in that organization over in Africa behind this spam-scan—y'all can go straight to you-know-where.
Today I walked eight miles and am quickly catching up to my monthly quota of five miles per day. I want to thank Lisa, Meghann and Jim for coming out this morning to help Tony and to walk our dogs. Y'all Rock!
This afternoon Tony and I went over to visit our new-found friends Tom and Barbara Carpenter at their ranch and we had a blast. They are so cool! I wish that y'all could meet them because they are two of the nicest, interesting and down-to-earth people left on our planet.
Late this afternoon I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kink and I stayed nearly two hours because Kinky was receiving updates every fifteen minutes or so about Billy Joe's trial from a friend who was at the Court House. We talked about my new book which should be out within the next ten days, Billy Joe's trial, last night's Kinky Friedman Cigar Store Grand Opening at Republic Harley-Davidson in Stafford, Texas and Marcie's visit in May.
Ellen Cooper just called me and we had a fun visit even though she and Charlie teased me relentlessly about me supposedly being in England. Fortunately, I am finally starting to laugh about the fraudulent spam-scan but I still have a lot of work to do to repair the damages done to my address book. I think that I am going to change my e-mail address and passwords real soon so I can hopefully prevent this from ever happening again.
Tone and I are fixin' to go into Outer Space for Happy Hour. Cheers!
Y'all have a great evening!
Tonight's blog is going to be very short because I am pooped because I spent much of my morning returning phone calls from concerned friends who received that ridiculous and fraudulent bogus e-mail about me being in England and desperately needing money. All I have to say is thank y'all for caring and for those mean spirited people, in that organization over in Africa behind this spam-scan—y'all can go straight to you-know-where.
Today I walked eight miles and am quickly catching up to my monthly quota of five miles per day. I want to thank Lisa, Meghann and Jim for coming out this morning to help Tony and to walk our dogs. Y'all Rock!
This afternoon Tony and I went over to visit our new-found friends Tom and Barbara Carpenter at their ranch and we had a blast. They are so cool! I wish that y'all could meet them because they are two of the nicest, interesting and down-to-earth people left on our planet.
Late this afternoon I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kink and I stayed nearly two hours because Kinky was receiving updates every fifteen minutes or so about Billy Joe's trial from a friend who was at the Court House. We talked about my new book which should be out within the next ten days, Billy Joe's trial, last night's Kinky Friedman Cigar Store Grand Opening at Republic Harley-Davidson in Stafford, Texas and Marcie's visit in May.
Ellen Cooper just called me and we had a fun visit even though she and Charlie teased me relentlessly about me supposedly being in England. Fortunately, I am finally starting to laugh about the fraudulent spam-scan but I still have a lot of work to do to repair the damages done to my address book. I think that I am going to change my e-mail address and passwords real soon so I can hopefully prevent this from ever happening again.
Tone and I are fixin' to go into Outer Space for Happy Hour. Cheers!
Y'all have a great evening!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Well, I've Never Been To England, But I've Been to Oklahoma...!
This has been an incredible day for me and I don't know if I should laugh or cry. The first part of my day was really fun, but the second part went as far south as Africa. Before writing tonight's blog I poured me a glass of fine wine from my box, turned on my salt lamp that supposedly came from the Himalayans to help calm my nerves and then I made a new, but very short playlist for my iPod and I am listening to it as I type these words. When it gets too repetitive for me I will post tonight's blog and then go to bed and drift off to a much nicer place.
I only put three songs on the playlist: "Never Been To England" by Three Dog Night, and also Waylon Jennings' version of that song, and "Why Me Lord?" sung by Kris Kristofferson. Waylon is singing right now and I sure do miss him. Waylon was one of the best Country singers in the business and I am so glad that I got to see him tape a show for "Austin City Limits" many years ago before I left Austin fifteen years ago.
This morning I walked six miles while Lisa helped Tony with his chores outside. Then I returned several phone calls and e-mails before taking a shower and getting dressed in my "Easter Egg" outfit because we had a luncheon date in Kerrville with Carol and James at eleven-thirty.
Before Tone and I took off Lisa told us that she would hold down the fort while we were gone and to have fun. I love Lisa—she is so great!
When we arrived at the restaurant on time Carol and James were inside waiting for us and then the fun and laughter began! Before we placed our order I showed them a copy of the book cover that Trisha had printed out for me and they told me that they loved it—which meant a lot to me coming from them. Thank you Carol and James!
During our delicious meal I talked a lot as usual, but I am so glad that I did. When I told them about Harry and Ousie Jones wanting to do a book signing for me at Ousie's Table, their famous restaurant in Houston Carol said, "I can drive you to it." And that is when my jaw dropped. "Nancy, I will be glad to drive you to any city for a book signing..."
Two minutes later I was really excited about Carol taking me to Houston, and then we invited James and Tony to go with us, but their reaction was quite the opposite of mine. Tony shook his head no and James didn't say anything, but his body language said it all—no way—no thank you. Carol and I started laughing and we teased them about not wanting to go with us to Houston. I had so much fun eating lunch with them.
When we were done eating we said our goodbyes and then we went our separate ways. Tony and I went to Walmart, H.E.B to fill up Buttermilk and then to Hoegemeyers so we could pick up Marlin and bring him back to the rescue ranch after being dipped for mange for the last time.
When we arrived at the rescue ranch Lisa greeted us and told us about her day. "Paul came out and I helped him unload the dog food..." Thank you, Paul! After Lisa left to go home we went to the trailer and that's when things went totally south for me. Waylon is singing right now. What a voice!
When we walked inside the trailer I immediately knew that something was wrong because Carlton was flashing like a maniac. After greeting our dogs we let them go outside to potty and I checked my messages. I had twenty-two new calls from worried friends that all wanted me to call them immediately because they were concerned about me!
Basically the messages went something like this: "Nancy, are you okay? Call me as soon as you get this message! I just received an e-mail from you saying that you were in England at a friend's funeral and you asked me to send you $1,500.00 because you needed it immediately and you promised to pay me back in a week..."
"What?" I said to Tony. "What the hey is going on?" Actually I used a cuss word instead of hey. Then Sandy Wolfmueller called and I picked up the receiver. Sandy sounded stressed and seemed to be almost as upset as me. She told me about getting that e-mail and said that friends of mine were calling their store because they were concerned about me. Then Sandy read the fake e-mail that was supposedly sent from me. "Nancy, this is really serious! Someone out there is trying to take on your identity!" Before I said goodbye to Sandy I told her that I was going to call the F.BI.! And I did after taking three Aspirins and posting a short blog notice about not being in England and for no one to send money.
The man that I spoke to from the F.B.I. in San Antonio was so nice to me. After I told him about what all had happened and how upset I was he calmed me down quickly and suggested that I send everyone in my address book a short note to let them know that the e-mail was a fraudulent spam. Then he asked me about my computer and then he asked his partner the best way for me to handle sending my 250 friends a note. Before hanging up the phone the kind agent told me that this is happening more and more and that I could not file charges unless the person or persons had actually stolen money or something from me. Kris Kristofferson is now singing and I just got another glass of fine boxed wine.
As soon as we disconnected I went online to send a note to all of my friends. The minute my e-mail account opened up—all of of my seventy-one saved e-mails and my e-mail addresses were deleted. Leaving me with no one to contact because I no longer had any addresses and that is when I started crying. Then I called Kinky who was on the road with Little Jewford headed to Republic Harley-Davidson in Stafford, Texas for the Grand Opening of their Kinky Friedman Cigar Store.
After I told Kinky about everything that had happened he said, "Nance, when Brian Kanof called me to tell me about the letter he received from you I thought Nance has either finally gone-around-the-bend big time or you needed money to print your book." Then we started laughing. Then he told me to contact Rambam, our friend that is a famous private investigator.
Then Bill Hageman, a dear friend from the Chicago Tribune called me about the e-mail. After we talked about it, Bill told me that he had followed the fake e-mail link and he gave me the address in England where the money was to be sent. I wrote it down carefully so I could give the info to the F.B.I.! Then he told me about an electical fire in his house that was going to take at least six months of repairs before he and his wife, Dona could move back into it.
Thank goodness I made a hard copy of my e-mail addresses several years ago, because I spent the next five hours this evening individually sending e's out to my friends from around the world about the fraudulent e-mail scam. During the process I received an e from my friend Sage Ferrero about the spam scan and she found out a lot about the people who stole my addresses and we know who they are! I was so excited with her news I forwarded it to Mari because she had sent me a sweet e-mail about being hacked and violated.
Sage told me that the scammers IP address was sent from the third floor in a building in Africa and from what organization. And the part about being sent from Cousin Nancy she discovered that they had intentionally misspelled cousin using an extra "i" in Cousin—Cousiin Nancy. Wow! I was so impressed with her detective work and am so relieved that it wasn't from someone stalking me. Waylon is now singing and I am feeling exhausted, even though I will never get tired of hearing his voice.
I want to thank everyone for calling me today and being concerned about me—it has touched my heart deeply. If you did not receive an e-mail from me explaining what happened today please send me an e so I can add your address to my new address book. Fortunately, I just discovered that I still have all of my contacts info in my iTouch so it will take me several days to get all of the info back into my computer.
Like I said earlier today has been really incredible. I want to thank Carol and James for the really fun lunch we had today and I want to thank everyone who has called or sent me an e. I truly love y'all.
Tomorrow morning I plan to call the F.B.I. again and give them all of the information that I now have thanks to Sage and Bill. Who knows, maybe they can do something about it. And please know that I would never send out an e-mail like that so do not ever respond or think it is from me. And besides y'all know that it is next to impossible to get me to ever leave Kerr County. Thank you, Sage and Bill. Good night.
Y'all have a great evening!
I only put three songs on the playlist: "Never Been To England" by Three Dog Night, and also Waylon Jennings' version of that song, and "Why Me Lord?" sung by Kris Kristofferson. Waylon is singing right now and I sure do miss him. Waylon was one of the best Country singers in the business and I am so glad that I got to see him tape a show for "Austin City Limits" many years ago before I left Austin fifteen years ago.
This morning I walked six miles while Lisa helped Tony with his chores outside. Then I returned several phone calls and e-mails before taking a shower and getting dressed in my "Easter Egg" outfit because we had a luncheon date in Kerrville with Carol and James at eleven-thirty.
Before Tone and I took off Lisa told us that she would hold down the fort while we were gone and to have fun. I love Lisa—she is so great!
When we arrived at the restaurant on time Carol and James were inside waiting for us and then the fun and laughter began! Before we placed our order I showed them a copy of the book cover that Trisha had printed out for me and they told me that they loved it—which meant a lot to me coming from them. Thank you Carol and James!
During our delicious meal I talked a lot as usual, but I am so glad that I did. When I told them about Harry and Ousie Jones wanting to do a book signing for me at Ousie's Table, their famous restaurant in Houston Carol said, "I can drive you to it." And that is when my jaw dropped. "Nancy, I will be glad to drive you to any city for a book signing..."
Two minutes later I was really excited about Carol taking me to Houston, and then we invited James and Tony to go with us, but their reaction was quite the opposite of mine. Tony shook his head no and James didn't say anything, but his body language said it all—no way—no thank you. Carol and I started laughing and we teased them about not wanting to go with us to Houston. I had so much fun eating lunch with them.
When we were done eating we said our goodbyes and then we went our separate ways. Tony and I went to Walmart, H.E.B to fill up Buttermilk and then to Hoegemeyers so we could pick up Marlin and bring him back to the rescue ranch after being dipped for mange for the last time.
When we arrived at the rescue ranch Lisa greeted us and told us about her day. "Paul came out and I helped him unload the dog food..." Thank you, Paul! After Lisa left to go home we went to the trailer and that's when things went totally south for me. Waylon is singing right now. What a voice!
When we walked inside the trailer I immediately knew that something was wrong because Carlton was flashing like a maniac. After greeting our dogs we let them go outside to potty and I checked my messages. I had twenty-two new calls from worried friends that all wanted me to call them immediately because they were concerned about me!
Basically the messages went something like this: "Nancy, are you okay? Call me as soon as you get this message! I just received an e-mail from you saying that you were in England at a friend's funeral and you asked me to send you $1,500.00 because you needed it immediately and you promised to pay me back in a week..."
"What?" I said to Tony. "What the hey is going on?" Actually I used a cuss word instead of hey. Then Sandy Wolfmueller called and I picked up the receiver. Sandy sounded stressed and seemed to be almost as upset as me. She told me about getting that e-mail and said that friends of mine were calling their store because they were concerned about me. Then Sandy read the fake e-mail that was supposedly sent from me. "Nancy, this is really serious! Someone out there is trying to take on your identity!" Before I said goodbye to Sandy I told her that I was going to call the F.BI.! And I did after taking three Aspirins and posting a short blog notice about not being in England and for no one to send money.
The man that I spoke to from the F.B.I. in San Antonio was so nice to me. After I told him about what all had happened and how upset I was he calmed me down quickly and suggested that I send everyone in my address book a short note to let them know that the e-mail was a fraudulent spam. Then he asked me about my computer and then he asked his partner the best way for me to handle sending my 250 friends a note. Before hanging up the phone the kind agent told me that this is happening more and more and that I could not file charges unless the person or persons had actually stolen money or something from me. Kris Kristofferson is now singing and I just got another glass of fine boxed wine.
As soon as we disconnected I went online to send a note to all of my friends. The minute my e-mail account opened up—all of of my seventy-one saved e-mails and my e-mail addresses were deleted. Leaving me with no one to contact because I no longer had any addresses and that is when I started crying. Then I called Kinky who was on the road with Little Jewford headed to Republic Harley-Davidson in Stafford, Texas for the Grand Opening of their Kinky Friedman Cigar Store.
After I told Kinky about everything that had happened he said, "Nance, when Brian Kanof called me to tell me about the letter he received from you I thought Nance has either finally gone-around-the-bend big time or you needed money to print your book." Then we started laughing. Then he told me to contact Rambam, our friend that is a famous private investigator.
Then Bill Hageman, a dear friend from the Chicago Tribune called me about the e-mail. After we talked about it, Bill told me that he had followed the fake e-mail link and he gave me the address in England where the money was to be sent. I wrote it down carefully so I could give the info to the F.B.I.! Then he told me about an electical fire in his house that was going to take at least six months of repairs before he and his wife, Dona could move back into it.
Thank goodness I made a hard copy of my e-mail addresses several years ago, because I spent the next five hours this evening individually sending e's out to my friends from around the world about the fraudulent e-mail scam. During the process I received an e from my friend Sage Ferrero about the spam scan and she found out a lot about the people who stole my addresses and we know who they are! I was so excited with her news I forwarded it to Mari because she had sent me a sweet e-mail about being hacked and violated.
Sage told me that the scammers IP address was sent from the third floor in a building in Africa and from what organization. And the part about being sent from Cousin Nancy she discovered that they had intentionally misspelled cousin using an extra "i" in Cousin—Cousiin Nancy. Wow! I was so impressed with her detective work and am so relieved that it wasn't from someone stalking me. Waylon is now singing and I am feeling exhausted, even though I will never get tired of hearing his voice.
I want to thank everyone for calling me today and being concerned about me—it has touched my heart deeply. If you did not receive an e-mail from me explaining what happened today please send me an e so I can add your address to my new address book. Fortunately, I just discovered that I still have all of my contacts info in my iTouch so it will take me several days to get all of the info back into my computer.
Like I said earlier today has been really incredible. I want to thank Carol and James for the really fun lunch we had today and I want to thank everyone who has called or sent me an e. I truly love y'all.
Tomorrow morning I plan to call the F.B.I. again and give them all of the information that I now have thanks to Sage and Bill. Who knows, maybe they can do something about it. And please know that I would never send out an e-mail like that so do not ever respond or think it is from me. And besides y'all know that it is next to impossible to get me to ever leave Kerr County. Thank you, Sage and Bill. Good night.
Y'all have a great evening!
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