Be Careful What You Wish For!

Up until two-thirty this afternoon it had been another quiet day for me and I could just kick myself for what I wrote last night on my blog when I said, "Hopefully tomorrow I will have some exciting news to write about," because we had some excitement and it wasn't the good kind.

Around two o'clock, after returning phone calls and e-mails, I decided to rest and take a short nap with our dogs. Forty-five minutes later I heard the front door open and close and then I heard, "Nance, I'm sorry I was gone so long to get the mail. I've been putting out a fire."

"What!" I said, as Tone walked into our bedroom sweating and smelling of smoke and his light-blue shirt that he was wearing was now a dark-gray smoked stained shirt. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I was at the mailbox when a man drove up and told me that there was a small grass fire that had just started about a half mile up the road towards Kerrville and then he tells me that he couldn't help and drove off towards Medina. I was the first one there and started trying to stomp it out. About four minutes later a man on a motorcycle arrived and he soaked his jacket with some bottled water and then he started helping me. Then a Highway Patrol Officer showed up and he started helping us stomp out the fire. A minute later the Medina Volunteer Fire Department showed up and helped us put it out. And I bet it was caused by a tourist tossing out a cigarette."

Two minutes later Tone, Belle and I took off in Trigger to go see where the grass fire had been and I took these pictures of it.

On our way back home T. and I held our breaths, in hopes that Belle Starr-Simons wouldn't get car sick and vomit on me. And I am proud to announce that B.S.-S. held her cookies and did not cover me in vomit! So we immediately rewarded her with some treats when we got home.

Well, this is about all of the news I have for today and I promise that I am never going to write, "Hopefully tomorrow I will have some exciting news to write about," again. Because once again I've learned my lesson—to be careful what you wish for.

Y'all have a great evening.

The Hangover!

Today has been quiet and was uneventful until this afternoon when I tried cooking, freezing and bagging Tony's beautiful crop of organic tomatoes while watching June's and Ellen's cousin, Ed Helms, in the movie The Hangover.

Because I was laughing so much at the comedy and not concentrating enough on what I was trying to achieve in the kitchen—I'm not sure if I did it right, so I quit after bagging half of his crop, which amounted to two full one-quart baggies, and then I sat down and watched the rest of the hilarious, zany movie while our dogs stared at me.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have some exciting news to write about. And if any of y'all know hot to freeze tomatoes properly I would dearly appreciate your input.

Y'all have a great evening!

Home Grown Tomatoes!

Today has been great, but yesterday was a blast because around one o'clock we met up with our new friend Monk, from Comanche, Texas, who bought Kinky's pool table a while back, at a restaurant in Kerrville to eat lunch before we all came back to the rescue ranch to spend the day visiting, before going to the Kerrville Folk Festival later on that evening. The only bad part about this whole deal was Monk's beautiful, sweet wife Lynn was unable to come with him because of her heavy work schedule.

Monk is one of those people who you feel like you've known all your life, so eating lunch with him was not only fun, but interesting as well, as he told us some hilarious stories about his days as a commercial jet pilot for a major airlines and as a private pilot for the wealthy.

When we had finished eating we decided that it was best for Monk and I to remain at the restaurant while T. went and filled up Trigger, so Monk could follow us back to the rescue ranch without getting lost. While Tone was gone getting gas our friend and author Kathleen Hudson, walked up to our table. "Hi, Cousin Nancy..." After introducing the famous Schreiner University music history professor to Monk—we talked nonstop about music, the Kerrville Folk Festival, which she is highly involved with, and then we talked about Kinky, Tom Wells, our books, e-books, etc. before Tony sat back down at our table.

When we arrived home Monk was more than impressed with our rescue ranch and how beautiful it is out here, even though we are suffering through a terrible drought, and he loved our trailer, too. "I can't believe this is an old trailer," were his exact words, "it is so cool how you have fixed it up and I love the wooden floors and..." After we gave him a tour of The Nellybelle we went outside and went into Outer Space and sat for a while and he fell in love with it, too. Then we came back inside to visit because it was way too hot outside.

Before he and I started playing our guitars he surprised us with a gift of two bottles of fine wine from the Brennan Vineyards, a nearby winery in Comanche, that has won many honors and awards and to say the least, "I was thrilled, so I gave him a copy of The Art Of Racing In The Rain in return for his and Lynn's thoughtful gifts. Then he whips out an envelope with a card inside for me, to thank me for giving him my signed Kinky poster of Cuddles Epilogue to put in their Kinky pool room.

I loved reading the beautiful card and before thanking him for his kind words a piece of paper fell to the floor. It was a song that he had written especially for me, to thank me for the poster and it was so sweet I almost started crying. Then we grabbed our guitars and started playing them and I had a blast, even though my fingers were killing me from not playing as I much as I should have these past weeks.

When we arrived at the Kerrville Folk Festival, carrying our fold-up chairs, our friend Donna Schloss was the first person we saw. Then we went and found our friends Sandy and Jon Wolfmueller sitting up on a hill above the stage, because we were meeting them there.

After introductions, we sat down in our chairs and then the men took off to get us some refreshments. When they returned with beer and wine for me, the sun had nearly set and the talented musician Bob Livingston took the stage and his music was incredibly great and he had the crowd begging for more and not wanting him to stop.

But, it was actually okay when Bob finished playing his dynamic set, because Shake Russell took the stage with his two band members and he immediately mesmerized the hundreds of people in the audience and me with his beautiful sounding music.

During intermission before the legendary Ray Wylie Hubbard took to the stage Sandy and I took off to go buy some of Bob Livingston's music. When we returned to our seats Ray Wylie already had the audience wrapped around his little finger, because—Texas Loves Ray Wylie Hubbard.

Unfortunately, nearly half-way through his set Tony and I had to leave, so we could get back to our dogs at the rescue ranch, even though we didn't want to leave and miss his music and Asleep At The Wheels, because we were having too much fun under the beautiful Texas stars.

When we got home Kinky had called earlier and had left a message on Carlton, so I called him back and he sounded great and really excited about his Australian tour. Then I took this picture and then Tony and I went to bed.

This morning after breakfast Tony brought in a bucketful of his beautiful, organic, home grown tomatoes and I took this picture of them because tomorrow, after Googling "How To Freeze Home Grown Tomatoes" I plan to cook, freeze and bag his summer crop for our upcoming winter. So, wish me luck.

Sandy called me this morning, before I walked four miles with Leslie Sansone, to tell me that Ray Wylie Hubbard's performance was fantastic and that they stayed, even though it was so late (midnight), to listen to Asleep At The Wheel and she said that they were incredibly great, too. 

All in all it was a magical, musical evening for all of us. Thank you, Kerrville Folk Festival for a job well done. No wonder this is your 40th Anniversary! You're the Best!

Y'all have a great evening!

Trash Talk!

Today has been great. This morning Brian Kanof, our good friend and the legendary photographer for the Kerrville Folk Festival, came out to see us, before he had to take off, to put on a photography workshop at the Kerrville Folk Festival, later today. And as always it was a fun visit filled with laughter.

A little before noon Tony and I went over to the Lodge to invite Ben and Will to come over and eat lunch with us, because we were grilling fajitas. After they said yes, we took off in Kermit to go home so we could start cooking.

But before we went to the trailer Tony made a detour to where we keep our crates and building supplies because he needed to put the pooper-scoopers where they belonged and that was when we discovered that someone or someones had tagged our trash bin! And the minute we saw the graffiti we started laughing because we knew exactly who had done it—Ben and Will, while we were gone yesterday for a few hours, because when we thanked Ben for all of the work he had done and he said something like, "You're welcome and I am sure you'll discover a few more things that I did after I'm gone." And here is a just one tiny sample of his or theirs artwork.

After lunch I decided to play a joke on our guests while I was washing the dishes. "Y'all don't get alarmed when the Sheriff shows up. He's coming out because someone tagged our trash bin and it is awful what they wrote," I said, without looking up as I rinsed off a plate.

"You're kidding?" Ben asked, trying to act innocent, as Will tried not to laugh. "What was so awful?"

"Besides the lousy penmanship and the ugly colors they put "Respect The Bull Dog and Tony Rules The Ranch."

"So. What's so bad about that?" Ben asked, as Will and Tony began laughing. "Tony does rule the ranch."

"No he doesn't—I rule the ranch," and then I burst our laughing. After we laughed and trash talked jokingly about being tagged Will and Tone began talking about photography, etc. Twenty minutes later they thanked us for lunch and then they went back over to the Lodge.

Late this afternoon Tony and I took his dog down to the swimming hole, so Belle could work on her backstroke—just kidding. Belle did swim though and had fun. When we came home B.S.-S. ran into the trailer and went straight to our bedroom and took a nap on our bed.

While Belle-Belle slept peaceably on our bed, dreaming of one day becoming the greatest dog swimmer in the universe, I decided to work on a short one minute video clip that I took of her yesterday, meeting Ben's dog Valerie and then swimming with her, while Penny stayed close to Ben in the water. I've named this clip "Belle And Her Friends—The Girls From Austin" and I hope that it makes you smile.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Girls From Austin!

Today has been so much fun, which in my book, makes it a great day. Early this morning things got off to a shaky start because when I went outside to play with Belle Starr-Simons—there was a damaged or dead Tarantula on the front porch.

Knowing, of course, that this might be a possible sign or an omen for something yet to come, or else it was just a damaged or dead furry Tarantula, Belle and I gave the scary-looking spider a lot of space as we raced down the ramp to the front yard.

Twenty minutes later after Ms. B.'s "Wear-Her-Out—So She-Will-Sleep" marathon, we walked back up the ramp and the Tarantula was gone and was no where to be found, which of course gave me the creeps because I didn't know where it was until ten minutes later, after I had cleaned up the kitchen.

"Tony!" I hollered outside, as I once again stared at this frightening creature on the front porch, in the exact spot where it had earlier been before. "It's back, Tony! Please come and remove it for me!" And two minutes later, T., using our new gigantic BBQ spatula—carried the not-dead-yet damaged Tarantula off and set it free outside our front yard to either live or to die, because it was his choice to make and not ours.

After I thanked Tone for helping me I said, "I have some really sad news to tell you. I just found out that Dr. Kevorkian died earlier this morning in a hospital and..." Even though Tone didn't seem to be real upset with my news, he took off real fast as soon as he saw Ben driving up.

Between nine-thirty and ten o'clock our great volunteers arrived. Jim was the first to show up and then minutes later Ellen and Eileen arrived to walk our dogs for us! And after I had returned several phone calls and had answered some e-mails, I went outside and went on a fun walk with them and Moe Bandy and Enzo. And now it is time for me to do a shout out to our super volunteers. "Thank You, Jim, Eileen and Ellen For Your Dedication To Our Dogs! We Love You But Our Dogs Love Y'all Even More!"

Early this evening Tone, his dog Belle and I jumped into Kermit and we went down to the swimming hole to meet up with Will Wallace and Ben and his two sweet dogs: Valerie and Penny, so Belle could meet them, off leash for her very first time, and would hopefully swim and play with them and it was a total blast!

Ben's beautiful, well-trained Pit Bulls, that he had adopted from us over the years, were as sweet and gentle as they could be to Belle Starr-Simons and I was totally amazed how well they tolerated Tony's silly acting, playful puppy. And we laughed and joked nonstop, to our delight, as we watched "The Girls From Austin" swim and play with Baby Belle.

Y'all have a great evening!

Ellen, Eileen, June and Lisa!

Today has been fun, but first I want to tell you about last night when we were over at the Lodge visiting with Kinky, Marcie, Rambam and Will and The Friedmans, because now I have added one more thing to my yearly bucket list to accomplish before 2012.

When we arrived at the Lodge everyone was inside visiting in the big room. Before we could say hello to everyone Rambam stands up and says, "Tony, I think you should do a book of your photographs, because when I saw those photos that you brought over the other day—I was really impressed with your photography. I'm serious, man. You're good. You need to pick out the best photos and let Cousin Nancy write a few words about each one and..."

"Steve, I totally agree with you," I said. "I've told Tone, for some time, that he should do a photography book and I am so glad that you think he should too, because maybe now he will do it. And there is no reason for me to write about his pictures because he is a good writer too."

"Really," Steve said.

"Yes. A few years ago T. wrote me a story about his first dog as a kid and it was great. In fact, it made me tear up."

"Everything makes you tear up, Nance," Kinky teased, as T. nodded in agreement. Then we started talking about the weather, Kinky's upcoming Australian tour, etc.

This morning when Tony got back from the Old Timer we discussed about him doing a photography book during breakfast, so as of now it looks like he will be doing a photography e-book, but he has asked me to help with some of the writing and to do the publishing for him and I have agreed to do it because I love him and I think that it will be fun for us to work together.

The reason that we will be doing an e-book of his photography instead of a colored coffee table book is because we can't afford it, because printing a book in color is way too expensive and not cost effective.

After breakfast Tony and I went over to the Lodge to see if Ben had come in, because last night he had called to tell me that he had had some truck trouble and he needed to replace his alternator that had gone out, and he wasn't sure if he was even going to be able to come out at all.

When we arrived Marcie, Ben and Will were sitting outside on the picnic table and Kinky was inside the Lodge talking on the phone. Ben told us that he had just arrived five minutes before we got there and that he had forgotten to bring some Miles of Chocolate.

"Tomorrow you're going to have to face Ellen, Eileen, June and Lisa, who are going to be very disappointed in you, because you promised our volunteers that you would bring them some chocolate," Tone teased.

"It's not really my fault, Tony," Ben said, before laughing. "It's Nancy's fault because when I talked to her earlier this week I asked he to please remind me to bring some with me. Didn't I?"

"Yes Ben, I did forget to remind you," I confessed, but in my defense I said, "because I am old and am going to be sixty years old this coming October, so I am blaming you back, because you're too young to forget, Ben and..."

Before Ben, T. and I left to come back to the rescue ranch we wished Kinky a safe and fun trip to Australia because he was leaving for Austin around noon, and we won't be seeing him until he returns on July 4th. And then we wished Marcie a fun time in Austin and told her that we all looked forward to seeing her on Saturday and getting a little more visiting time in, before she catches a plane back to Trinidad Sunday morning.

Late this afternoon after Ben and T. were done working Will took a break from babysitting The Friedmans, over at the Lodge, and came over to visit us and we had a fun visit as always and that's about it for today. Tonight I am going to watch On Golden Pond because I love that movie and it has been a long time since I've watched it.

Y'all have a great evening!

Good Night!

Today has been another great one, but I am going to have to keep it short tonight because Tony and I have just returned home after spending a fun filled evening, over at the Lodge, visiting with Kinky, Will, Rambam and Marcie.

I must go to bed now because I am tired and must also get up real early so I can do all of my chores before I call Harley at 7:45 to talk about our rescue ranch. Good night.

Y'all have a great evening!