Summa Come-Doggie!

Today has been a lot of fun and so was yesterday. I had a blast at my book signing at the Medina Community Library! My friend, Eileen Gotke surprised me and was of the first to arrive with her friend, so we got to visit with them and librarian volunteer, Susan Weeks, who set up the book signing. "At Callie Dean's dog obedience graduation on Sunday, she was awarded the Summa Come-Doggie award for being the best in her class, taught by Sharon Griswold—Kerrville's favorite Dog Whisperer. I am so proud of Callie Dean!" Eileen declared, like a proud mama.

When everyone arrived, I sat down behind a table and began talking to the audience about our rescue ranch, my book and telling them stories about the animals that we have rescued, which was easy for me to do, since I seem to have a knack—for running off at the mouth.

An hour later, after I had signed several copies of my books, the book signing was done, so I visited with several people and I want to thank everyone for coming and buying my book. And, I especially want to thank Susan Weeks and the staff and volunteers at the Medina Community Library for promoting my book signing and doing such a great job. Y'all Rock!

This morning after I walked six miles I went outside to greet and thank Ellen Jackson and Eileen Gotke for coming out to walk our dogs. Then we started talking about our first upcoming dog adoption and dog training seminar from 10a.m. to noon on Saturday, November 6th, that they have single-handily volunteered for and taken on with June's and Jim's help, leaving me with not much to do since I am so busy and OLD. Bless their hearts. They have already contacted the media and put out flyers! Thank you, Eileen, Ellen, June and Jim—I love y'all!

The free event is open to the public and is especially for those who are thinking of adopting a dog, first timers or those who would like tips on training and caring for their dogs. I am going to give a presentation and Sharon Griswold, a 35 year professional dog trainer and trainer for seeing-eye dogs will put on demonstrations and answer questions and help people choose the right kind of dog that suits their lifestyle. Besides being informative it will be a lot of fun and hopefully we will adopt out some dogs. I am really excited about it and looking forward to it.

"When Sharon gets here, come on up to the trailer so we can brainstorm about the event," I said, as they led Princess and Marlin our of their pen to take them for a walk and I walked almost all of the way to the gate entrance with them when Sharon Griswold showed up in her truck with a big, cute sign on the back window that read: "Rover Misbehavin? Private Instruction in Your Home - Basic Obedience - Behavioral Problems - Puppy Training -"

The minute I met Sharon I was very impressed with her too, just like Ellen and Eileen, who Sharon had helped train their dogs: Jermaine Jackson and Callie Dean Gotke—"The Smartest Dog On The Planet!"
While Eileen and Ellen were walking Princess and Marlin, Sharon and I visited while she and Tony worked with Mr. Rogers' fear-of-leashes problem. And before she left Mr. Rogers' and Miss Dee's pen she had given Tony some really great tips on how to work with Mr. Rogers.

By one o'clock we quit brainstorming and we all felt excited about our upcoming event. Then everyone left the rescue ranch including Tony and me, because we had to get supplies, dog food and go to the Post Office so I could mail out two of my fasterpiece watercolor paintings that I have sold on eBay. Thank you, Kirsten and Christy!

When all of our errands were run and we were ready to come home—Tony surprised me. As I climbed out of Buttermilk, in Billy's Western Wear parking lot I asked, "T., what's going on?" A few minutes later I found out and walked out of the store wearing a new pair of pink Justin Gypsy cowboy boots, just like my old ones, that Tony had secretly ordered a few days ago for my birthday present! I was thrilled, because my old ones are nearly two years old now and pretty well worn.

As we drove home Tony asked me what I was going to do with my old, pink boots. "I think I am going to make lamps out of them and put one in the Space Ship and the other in my writing cabin," I said, "or maybe I should sell the lamps on eBay?" Tony laughed.

When we got home I took off my new pink boots and took this picture of them beside my old boots, which I have named, "Pink Boots Rule—You Can Never Have Enough!"

P.S. I told Tone about going to the "Drumming" at The Yoga Place on Sunday, my birthday, that June told me about and he told me that he will go with us! (He's coming around!) This is going to be the best birthday ever! Thank you, T., I love you and my new pink boots!

Y'all have a great evening!

33 Miners Rescued!

Since yesterday was one crazy day for me, today has been a great day—thanks to Marcie and a nice man named Ronnie Eckert.

Yesterday, I had planned to catch up with all kinds of things, but early in the morning right after I had walked six miles I got a phone call from a sweet seventy-year-old woman who wanted to adopt one of our older dogs, because her fifteen year old dog had passed away and she had just received her dogs ashes.

She wanted to adopt our ten year old dog, because she had seen her on the website and she told me that our dog looked just like her dog that she loved and had cremated. An hour later before our telephone conversation ended we made a plan.

After lunch Tony and I took our dog to Hoegemeyer's Animal Clinic to get her groomed. Two hours later we met this sweet lady at the clinic and forty-five minutes later (She likes to talk.) the woman adopted our dog and took her home. Tone and I were thrilled for our old dog, but not for long.

This morning at six-thirty while I was feeding the dogs, this woman called to tell me that she was sad, but wanted to return our dog to us, because she felt our dog was not happy and it took her forty-two minutes to explain why, without me hardly ever saying a word—bless her heart. I really liked this sweet, little old lady and I wish that it had worked out for both of them, but I understood. When she returned our old dog, she, not the old woman, raced to her pen to join her buddy, Chuck and she was wild with happiness to be reunited with him. I guess you could say it was a happy ending after all.

I spent the early afternoon returning as many phone calls and e-mails as I could, before I went over to the Lodge at three-thirty for my one hour massage appointment—compliments of Marcie, for an early birthday present from her and that is when I met Ronnie, the terrific massage therapist.

"Hi Ronnie, I'm Nancy," I said, as he was finishing up with Marcie, outside on the front porch of her trailer. "You're a brave man to come out here, Ronnie, because I'm fixin' to be fifty-nine and probably the oldest woman that you have ever massaged and I want to apologize in advance, because my body ain't what it used to be." Ronnie, Marcie and her friends Paz and Deborah laughed.

"The oldest woman that I have ever massaged was in her nineties," Ronnie said, as Marcie got off of his massage table. "You're next," he said to me, as he handed me a robe to go put on.

"But I am probably the oldest woman that you have ever massaged outdoors," I said, as I walked inside the trailer to take off my clothes. Before undressing I leaned out the door and asked Marce if the plumbing was working, because nature was calling. When she told me no, I went outside behind the trailer and watered some weeds. Then I went back inside the trailer, because I am modest and removed my clothes and put on the robe. Even though I was naked, I felt really naked when I pulled off my cap.

(It is now 8:06 and I just saw the 33rd Miner in Chile rescued and I love it and obviously so does the rest of world!)

As Ronnie massaged my tired, worn out, old body I started laughing and told him about a show that I had seen on Oprah a while back about famous hairstylists telling their horror stories. "This one uppity woman from New York told Oprah about finding a tick on a woman's head after she washed her hair and she was horrified and so was Oprah and the other hairstylists. People who don't live in the country don't get it. Heck, if you walk under a tree in the country they fall on you and this morning I found a tick crawling up my arm." Everyone started laughing. "Before I came over, Ronnie, I had T. check me for ticks." Ronnie started laughing.

"Ronnie, in my blog tonight I am going to say, that you said, "Well, I only found two ticks on you and the oil must have killed all of those fleas,"" I joked, as I relaxed and enjoyed his incredibly great massage for twenty minutes and then the "show" started or should I say, "All H*$# broke out!

OMG! A UPS truck drove past us, with me laying naked under a black sheet on Marcie's front porch! Then a few minutes later Kinky walks down from the Lodge with Sophie to visit and I was more than mortified. A few minutes later after he and his shadow (Sophie) left, a black car pulls up about twenty-five feet from where I was laying-in-state for the world to pay its respect to or to laugh at. "Who is that?" Marcie asked.

I looked up and waved at the vehicle, "Oh, that's Lisa, one of our great volunteers," I explained, as I waved again.

"Is Lisa a man?" Marcie asked, as Ronnie's fingers worked their magic on me. I looked up and realized that it wasn't Lisa—instead it was a young man and a young lady, so Marcie got up and went to find out who they were. A few minutes later Marcie returned. "They are a young couple from New York City that just got married and they wanted to meet Kinky..."

As the young couple climbed up the hill to the Lodge—Floyd Potter, a friend of the Friedman family that was visiting for a few days, walks up! "I've been in the woods right over there..." Floyd says, as he sits down to visit, as every muscle in my body stiffens—thinking "I bet he saw me pee behind the trailer!" So, I start laughing. Then Tony shows up with his camera!

"Just shoot me, Tony," I said, followed by a laugh, "with a gun. I've been on display for over an hour and..."

I want to thank Marcie Friedman for my free birthday massage and I want to thank Ronnie for the best massage that I have ever had. If you want a fantastic massage in Kerrville please call of go to the "Head To Toe Day Spa" and ask for Ronnie Eckert. They are located four doors down from Trisha's & Rodney's—Copies Plus!

I have got to go to bed now, because I am doing The Harley Show in the morning at 7:45 and then a book signing at 2:00 at the Medina Community Library. Wish me luck.

Y'all have a great evening!

A Cowboy Came Out Of The Woods!

Today has been so much fun, because I took the day off. This morning I got up bright and early so Hazel and I could feed the dogs, wash a load of laundry in Queen Bee, clean the trailer and then pre-cook breakfast for Tony and Dennis Lanning.

At eight-thirty sharp the dogs started barking outside, because Dennis and Boomer had arrived, so Tony and I went outside to greet them. After howdys, hugs and handshakes we went into the trailer and they ate scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and biscuits and we drank smoothies for breakfast, while we took turns catching up with each other's news.

Since it has been two Octobers ago since we last saw them—we had a lot to talk about. When Dennis started talking about the Grateful Dead I started playing "Sitting Here In Limbo" by the Grateful Dawg, on my iPod and he loved it so much I loaned him my Grateful Dawg DVD to watch and then I gave him a copy of my new book and signed it to him, Boomer and Marilyn and he was delighted, since both he and Marilyn are prolific writers and incredibly talented people. Here are a couple of pictures that I took of Dennis giving Boomer a biscuit for being such a nice house (trailer) guest.

 

I love Boomer so much. His story "Every Dog Has A Story" is in my first book, The Road To Utopia: How Kinky, Tony & I Saved More Animals Than Noah. We rescued Boomer the day after my birthday on October 18, 2003 from an angry, old country woman that I didn't care too much for, who told us that if we didn't take him she was going to take him home and shoot him in the head and the rest is history—great history—the kind of history that I love.

At ten-thirty, when it was time for Tone and me to go to Kerrville, so we could meet and have lunch with Starla, her mother Betty and Starla's daughter Jennifer, I invited Dennis to join us, because I was having so much fun visiting with him and Boomer. Unfortunately, Dennis declined, because they needed to get back to Austin—so two minutes after they drove away—we drove away.

I figured that we would follow them to Kerrville, but I was wrong, because we got behind a small, white car traveling at the speed of molasses that had a TCU bumper sticker stuck on their plastic bumper. Let's just say that T. was not real happy about having to stare for twenty minutes at a proud, purple horned frog or the proud parents behind the wheel, who wanted the world to know that their kid was earning their college degree in Fort Worth. "They drive like you do, Nance," Tony snapped. "Why can't they at least go the speed limit?" I ignored him, as I remembered the fun-filled days I spent being a football secretary for Coach F.A. Dry and his staff at the TCU Football office. Talk about fun. "Go Frogies!" Tony growled. And I started laughing, because they were doing forty miles an hour in a fifty-five mile an hour stretch. "We're going to be late, because of them. I don't understand why this is happening."

"Tony it's Karma," I said. "You must have done this to some people who were in a hurry and now it is payback time for you." I said, as T. shot me one of his weird looks, because I wasn't being sympathetic with him. "They say that Instant Karma is happening a whole lot faster nowadays and..." Tony started laughing when Highway 16 turned into two lanes and we whizzed past the parents with purple pride.

"I say it's Medina Bulldog—one. Horned Frog—zero!" Tony declared, happily as Buttermilk raced past them at fifty-five miles per hour. Before we reached the restaurant I had told T. my story about meeting the famous Houston Oiler— Earl Campbell in the TCU weight and workout room downstairs, when he came out of a sauna wrapped only in a towel and getting him to autograph two retired, used TCU footballs for me.

When we walked inside the restaurant we spotted Starla, Betty and Jennifer sitting at a table and we joined them. After apologizing to them for being ten minutes late, Tony explained why, but he left out the Karma stuff that I had explained to him.

Our lunch was so much fun and filled with non-stop laughter, and once again I felt like these lovely women were family and that I had known them forever, too—just like with Jimmie and Nelda Dunn and Cheryl and Walter Ratliff to name just a few.

I ate Tortilla soup and after removing a string of runny cheese from my face I asked everyone what signs they were and found out that Starla was an Aries, Jennifer was a Taurus and Betty was a Pisces. "You're a leader, Starla. Jennifer, I love Taurus people, but you're stubborn. And Betty, you like to talk as much as me. Tony is a Leo and I'm a Libra. This is good, because we're all compatible..."

Everyone laughed at my weak Linda Goodman imitation and then out of nowhere Betty looks at me and says in a serious tone, "Nancy, after my husband passed away a cowboy came out of the woods and I fell in love with him and neutered him." I stared at her and was speechless for the very first time this month and then Betty's daughter and granddaughter burst out laughing.

"Maw-Maw!" Starla half-hollered, followed by a hearty laugh. "I can't believe that you said "a cowboy came out of the woods!" T. shot me a wink and then we chuckled even though we didn't know why. "Cowboy is a cat that Mama rescued years ago," Starla explained, before wiping a piece of stringy cheese from her chin—she was eating a bowl of delicious Tortilla soup, too.

To say the least, Tony and I loved meeting and having lunch with Starla, Jennifer and Betty, our new found friends and we hope to see them again—real soon. We love you, Starla, Jennifer and Betty! Thank y'all for a fun lunch—never to be forgotten.

Y'all have a great evening and keep laughing!

Posted 10-10-10 @10:10PM!

Today has been a nice quiet day and nothing exciting happened. This morning at the crack of dawn Tony hugged me and kissed me goodbye and walked out of the trailer. This morning he wasn't going to the Old Timer, as usual, to drink coffee with his friends, instead he and his brother Sam and his cute wife, Stacie and their son Zachary were driving down to Port A. for the day to see Rick "The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper" and do some fishing on the private island.

As soon as he was gone I fed the dogs, started a load of laundry in Queen Bee and then I sat down at the kitchen table to check my e-mail. I had forty-seven new ones and only two were spam. As I was answering e-mail the dogs started barking outside to let me know that Aaron had arrived to do Tone's chores for him today, so T. could take a day off and go fishing.

I spent the rest of my day catching up on paperwork and cleaning the trailer while listening to my favorite music and I accomplished a lot.

This evening our dear friend Dennis Lanning, the nice man who adopted Boomer from us years ago, called from Kerrville where he was spending the night in a motel, before returning home to Austin. He and Boomer have been on a two month cross country bicycling and camping adventure, so I invited him to come out in the morning and eat breakfast with us, so we could visit and catch up with each other's news before he heads back to Austin.

T. got in a little before eight o'clock tonight and he told me that he had a wonderful trip, but he was tired and glad to be back home. Thank you, Rick for showing them a good time!

I am really looking forward to seeing Dennis and Boomer in the morning. And, I am also looking forward to meeting Starla and her mother, Maw Maw (Betty) and having lunch with them tomorrow in Kerrville, because Tony has told me so many nice things about these ladies and I hope that I don't gain a pound.

P.S. Thank you, Cheryl and Walt—I just found out! I love y'all.  : )

Y'all have a great evening!

The East Kerr 4-H Club Really Rocks!

Today has been so much fun, but before I tell you about it I am proud to announce that my very first watercolor painting, "Canyon of Forgetting" was auctioned off last night to the highest bidder with 50% of the proceeds going directly to help our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch and the other half going to help Tony's and my retirement fund, which has so much money in it—we should be able to retire when we are eighty years young.  : ) Actually, I am just kidding—we're looking at seventy-two if we don't die first. (Laugh out loud)

Kinky loves "Canyon of Forgetting" and he told me two days ago, that it had reached out and touched him, so last night I kept him posted every time that I checked on the bidding and it was pretty exciting. A little past ten o'clock I punched in his number, "Kink, the auction just ended and you're not going to believe this!"

"How much?"

"Fifty-seven dollars and seventy-seven cents. I can't believe it! I don't understand the seventy-seven cents part, but..."

"Nance, that is absolutely amazing for your very first painting to sell for that much! I'm serious. You must keep painting..." After Kinky's pep talk we said goodnight to each other and then I went to bed.

This morning the members of the East Kerr 4-H Club arrived at nine o'clock sharp to volunteer to walk our dogs for us and I hope the club had as much fun as we did. First off, I gave a tour of the rescue ranch and introduced them to every dog and then told them each dog's story and then Lisa showed up just in time, to volunteer for the dog walking. Thank you, Lisa! We could not have done it without you.

Two hours later all of our dogs had been walked and were back in their pens with their tails wagging. Before the greatest 4-H club in Texas left, we thanked them for doing such a great job and asked them to please come back, then I gave everyone a signed copy of my new book, a copy of our 2010 newsletter and our "In Dogs We Trust" bumper sticker and then Tony took these pictures of us. Thank you, Tony.

Tony and I really hope that the East Kerr 4-H'ers come back, because we were so impressed with them. Thank you, East Kerr 4-H Club! Please come back, because y'all rock big time! Here is a short video clip of the East Kerr 4-H Club that Tone took.

For lunch today because T. was starving I made "Bear Creek Tortilla" soup for the very first time. Tone loves my trailer-made tortilla soup, but the other day when we were in H-E-B I decided to buy a packet and give it a try and am I glad that I did because, it was delicious and Tony, Ben, Kinky and I loved it. I highly recommend it, because all you have to do is add 8 cups of water and cook for fifteen minutes and it makes a half gallon of delicious soup!

Late this afternoon before Ben took off to go back to Austin he came inside the trailer and announced, "I want you to know that I just left y'all another brick of Miles of Chocolate in the freezer outside..." What a perfect way to end a day. We love you, Ben!

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy 59th Birthday To Nelda Dunn!

Today is our dear friend, Nelda Dunn's 59th Birthday and Tony and I want to wish her the happiest birthday ever! And I am so thrilled to know that Nelda is nine days older than me, so she can tell me what new ailment to expect. : )

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday dear Nelda. Happy Birthday to You. We love you!

Number 3!

Today has been fun, because Ben is here! This morning Tony woke me up at five o'clock as I had asked him to, because I had to take care of my morning chores early, because I had to be in Johnson City at nine-thirty for an appointment.

Because Ben was coming in to work at the rescue ranch, Tony phoned him in Austin at six-thirty to invite him to join us for breakfast at Randy & Lisa's Save Inn Restaurant, but Ben declined because he had not left Austin yet.

At 7:44 I called The Rose 99.9 radio station. "Good morning, Harley!" I said. "You're not going to believe where I am calling you from."

"You're not at the ranch?"

"Nope. I'm at the Save Inn and am standing outside the front door to do the show with you and it's chilly..." Harley then told me that three members of the East Kerr County 4-H Club were in his studio and they were coming out this Saturday morning to volunteer their services, like walk our dogs, etc.

I had fun talking to the 4-H'ers and told them how much Tony and I were looking forward to Saturday and then I told Harley about Moe Bandy being his Pet of the Week. "He's about eight years old, sweet, good with other dogs, loves to swim—excuse me sir, but you left your headlights on." Harley burst out laughing and started teasing me about being asking Randy and Lisa if I could be their official greeter for the Save Inn.

A few minutes later I looked inside the restaurant and T. was waving for me to come eat my breakfast that the waitress had just served, so I talked a few minutes more and then went and ate a delicious breakfast with Tone.

As we left Kerrville on Highway 16 heading for Johnson City I said, "Tony, I will bet you that we see Ben before we reach Fredericksburg. Tony took the bet. He bet me that we would pass Ben between Johnson City and Fredericksburg. Ten minutes later I won the bet—as Ben flew past us while we waved to each other.

This afternoon when we got back to the ranch I caught up on some business and then Tony and I went outside and found Ben, so we could visit and catch up with each others news. In no time flat we were inside the trailer and laughing about our crazy lifes. Then out of nowhere Ben tells me that when he saw Kinky this morning he told Ben about my paintings and he said that Kinky loved my artwork and couldn't quit talking about how good they were. Then the phone rang and it was Kinky.

Five minutes later I was over at the Lodge talking to Kinky about my watercolor fasterpieces. Thirty minutes later I was back at the trailer visiting with Ben and Tone. After I showed Ben my artwork I decided to paint another one in the kitchen and it took a little over an hour, because Ben kept making me laugh. I named this one "Barn Free" and then I went over to the Lodge to show it to Kinky.

Kinky didn't like the name Barn Free, so I told him that I could change it, but I wanted him to name it for me and it only took him a second. "Live A Little," Kinky said.

So, when I came home I had to turn the light brown colored dirt road into a blacktop to cover up the words Barn Free and I like the new name better. I have put it on eBay and it will post tonight at 9:00 PM Pacific Standard Time and I hope that you like it. This is the auction item number: 130441456742  

This afternoon Lisa showed up with some friends that she wanted to show the rescue ranch to and for us  to meet. Even though Lisa could not stay long it was great seeing her and meeting her friends. Before they drove away Lisa told me that she is still madly in love with Mark in Mississsippi and that he is coming to Kerrville to see her real soon and I hope that we get to see him too. I am so happy for them.

Y'all have a great evening!