All You Need Is Love!

Today has been great. This afternoon around 1:30, we went outside to greet Bonnie, the nice, young woman who had brought us Roscoe, last Saturday, because she could no longer keep her beloved dog, because she was going through a divorce. And we had a pleasant surprise.

We already knew that Bonnie was coming out to pick Roscoe up, but we didn't know that her two beautiful children had drawn us "thank you" pictures, for taking in Roscoe. As her cute kids handed us their beautiful pictures, for us to keep, Bonnie thanked us over and over again for helping her with Roscoe. "Last Saturday when I left here, without Roscoe, I was brokenhearted and I cried all of the way home and all of the night. We love Roscoe so much and we will never forget your kindness..." Bonnie's daughter drew the first one and her son drew the second picture. And Tony and I love them.

Then Bonnie went to her car to get something. "I have a present for you, Nancy. I know that you love the Beatles, so I made this especially for you. I hope you like it."

When I took her gift out of the pretty pink sack I looked at it and said, "I don't like it—I love it! Thank you, so much, Bonnie! I'm going to hang this up in our big room..." Then Tony and I jumped into Kermit and they got in her truck to follow us down to Roscoe's and Daisy's pen.

Talk about one excited, happy dog, Roscoe was barking and jumping up and down, with his tail wagging wildly because he could hardly wait to be reunited with his loving family, so Tony quickly leashed him up and came out of the pen so the kids could hug their beloved seven-year-old dog and he could kiss them back. It was very touching to watch. Before they loaded up Roscoe in the backseat I took this picture that to me—says it all.

After Bonnie hugged us and thanked us again Bonnie and her sweet children got into her truck and drove away with their precious cargo and that's when I teared up for a second.

When we returned to The Cabin I immediately hung up Bonnie's present in the perfect spot, right beneath The Holstee Manifesto poster. Thank you so much, Bonnie!

Then Tony and I grabbed our cameras and jumped into Buttermilk and took off, so we could go meet Eileen, in the Kerrville park, next to the Guadalupe River, to enjoy the free ReMax sponsored—"The New Buddy Holly Band" concert. And to say the least, "It was a blast from the past and we loved The New Buddy Holly Band's music. They were so awesome and talented. 

And I can't believe that just a few weeks ago, I met Chris Huber out here, who plays Buddy Holly, in the band and that he was actually sitting in The Cabin here, playing my guitar, that Ronnie made for me." Chris is second from the right—playing the Fender.

Kinky called me earlier this evening, while he was leaving the San Antone airport, to tell me that he would be back at the ranch within the hour and I cannot wait until tomorrow morning comes, so I can go over to the Lodge to give him our 1st dozen of The Golden Girl's colorful eggs and to also tell him about Roscoe and his beautiful family reunion and to remember—all you need is love.

Y'all have a great evening!

Hen Party! or Brownie Bribery!

Today has been great. This morning Eileen, one of our super Fab 4 volunteers, came out this morning and the first thing that she did was try to bribe Tony to keep her off of probation, with a 3/4 full pan of her delicious brownies and it is a good thing that she did.

After T. accepted her bribe the three of us went down to the pigpen to show Eileen the Egg Palace and its new occupants—The Golden Girls. After we had introduced her to Dorothy, Rose, Sophia and Blanche Tone bragged, "We got one green egg yesterday and three eggs this morning!"

"I want a chickens and a chicken house just like this one," Eileen stated. "I mean Egg Palace. This is so cool..."

"Then you should throw a Hen Party! Pick a morning or afternoon and invite the volunteers, Aaron and us to come over and we could build you one in a just a few hours!" I said. "They aren't hard to build and Aaron, Tony and I have learned from the mistakes that we made, so yours will be much faster and easier to build..."

"We've got all of the tools that you will need, too." Tony added. "And if we don't—Aaron will." And in less than two minutes, after T. and I had finally quit talking her into it—Eileen was all excited about throwing a Hen Party and collecting her own eggs. 


Then Eileen and I talked about taking Ben Stiller and LaToya Jackson on a walk, so they could meet each other and possibly become roommates, if they got along with each other and that's when her bribe came in handy, because she accidentally let Ben escape from his pen and it took all three of us to catch him and put a leash on him.

Before Eileen, Ben and I started to walk down to get LaToya, Tony teased Eileen, "That's grounds for probation Eileen." We started laughing, even though Ben didn't find it funny.

So, in Eileen's defense I said, "No, Tone. Her brownie bribery, that you accepted, counts as a pre-payment, so she's off the hook."

"Thanks Nancy. She's right, Tony!" Eileen teased back. And then we took off to get LaToya.

During my fun walk with Eileen and "the two, new best friends" Eileen tried to talk me into going to a Crosby, Stills & Nash concert with her and her sister Dean, in August, at The Majestic Theater in San Antone and she almost had me talked into it, because I love them—especially Neil Young.

After we had put LaToya and Ben into Ben's big dog pen, we took Betty Rubble and George Clooney, who was adopted last Saturday and is getting picked up tomorrow to go to his new home. And the dogs  enjoyed it as much as we did.

Later in the day, after eating a fun lunch at the Koyote Ranch Grill, with Eileen begging me to go with them to the concert, we came back home and that's when I almost made an expensive mistake, because I had decided to go online to buy a ticket to the Crosby, Stills & Nash concert.

Not knowing where they would be seated and knowing that I would be sitting alone, I decided to splurge on myself and buy a pricier ticket for a good seat, so I could be closer to the stage to see my hero—Neil Young.

After I had filled out the billing information I was shocked at what the total price had jumped up to, because of the added on handling fees, shipping, insurance, etc., so I hesitated for a minute to think about it before clicking the "Buy Ticket" button—thank goodness.

As I thought about buying the ridiculously high $199.00 ticket price I glanced up at the top of the screen and read the words: "Crosby, Stills & Nash Concert." And that is when I realized that Neil Young's name was missing, so I clicked the "Cancel" button immediately.

Don't get me wrong. I really love Crosby, Stills & Nash's music, but I love Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's music so much more, so I have no regrets about not spending that much money and not going to the C,S&N concert, which I'm sure will be sold out and totally awesome. And I am really relieved that I don't have to go into that big city, because as you well know—I don't do big cites. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Tony Tortilla!

Today has been a great day. This morning after we ate breakfast, Tony went outside to check on the Golden Girls to see how their first night in The Egg Palace went and when he returned to The Cabin he was grinning ear-to-ear. "Got egg?" He joked, "Dorothy laid this one and it is green." So I grabbed my camera and shot it between Tone's finger and thumb.

Then I cleaned up the kitchen and then I did some paperwork the rest of the morning, while Tony and Aaron did the outside chores. 

Around noon, thirty minutes before the meatloaf and soon-to-be mashed potatoes would be ready I decided to make another batch of delicious flour tortillas to serve with our lunch, so Aaron could try them. But that didn't happen, because when I told T. that I was going to make some he asked if he could make them instead, "It will be good practice for me, Nance, because when I cook fajitas outside, I can also make the tortillas too." 

Watching Tony following the simple directions on how to make the tortillas was fun. His method of kneading the dough made me laugh, because he really ''punched it like a man." His hands on technique for rolling the dough into twelve individual balls was even funnier to watch, because he rolled them back and forth so fast, in his hands, like he was going for the "World's Fastest Dough Ball Maker" record. Then when he lightly dusted the pastry board, that 'Erb and Karen, gave to me a few years ago, using at least a half of a cup of tortilla flour, he had the flour flying all over the kitchen, as he tried to roll the balls of dough into round, flat tortillas. And that is when things got even funnier.

For some reason T., using all of the strength that he had in him, while silently suffering from a bad ankle sprain, from yesterday—he could not make his tortillas round. And the harder he tried to make them round the harder we laughed about it, as we watched each tortilla grow longer in length. 

After Tone had cooked up his twelve odd-looking shaped tortillas in the skillet, we split a small one and his tasted exactly like my tortillas had—totally delicious, but the true test was yet to come—"Would Arron like them?" and ten minutes later we found out.

Before Tony opened the oven door, to bring out the twelve warmed, wrapped in foil tortillas, we had already told Aaron about Tony making the flour tortillas for us to eat with our lunch, but we said nothing to him about their strange appearance. 

When Aaron opened up the foil and saw the distorted looking tortillas he said, "Omg, Tony. They aren't round, man. They look really weird. Nancy, aren't they supposed to be round?" Needless to say, "Tony and I burst out laughing."

"Yes, they are supposed to be round, Aaron, but T. decided to make his look different on purpose, so they would be recognizable, sort of like a new brand, so when you saw his flour tortillas—you'd know that Tony made them and that's why we are going to call them, "Tony Tortilla." Please, just try one. They're delicious. I promise." 

Aaron reluctantly sat his plate down on the kitchen table and then he took a bite. Then he took another bite and chewed on it. "It's delicious, but I don't know if people will buy these things..." So, I shot the rest of his remaining foreign matter.

Tonight, before I go, I received some sad news from our friend Lisa, one of our great Fab 4 volunteers. Her and Chuck's beautiful, very-old dog, Cass, stepped on a rainbow and her note about Cass' passing made me tear up, because I had met their lovely dog and I knew how much Lisa and Chuck had loved and cared for her. When I told Tony about Cass he was saddened too. "Cass, you were loved and will never be forgotten. Rest In Peace."

Y'all have a great evening!

The Egg Palace!

Today has been more than great. This morning after doing our outside chores we came inside and Carlton was flashing us on top of the breakfast bar, so I pushed his button and heard, "Hello, Nancy. This is Aaron. I'm leaving Baxter's place right now with four chickens for you, four chicks for Charlie and Ellen and I am taking the rooster and the other four chicks to my friend, in Bandera. I'll be there around 1:00. Bye."

To say the least, "Tony and I were thrilled! So, we went back outside to The Egg Palace, to tidy things up  before "The Golden Girls" arrived. After Tony had mounted the nesting boxes, above the ground for them to lay eggs in, he went to the barn to get some hay, but on his way back into the pigpen he stumbled and fell—holding an armful of hay in his arms. "Tony, are you okay?" I half-hollered, after hearing the loud thud.

There was silence for a few seconds, as he sat up and rubbed his ankle, "My ankle is either sprained or broken. Ouch." Then he slowly stood up, dusted himself off and then he picked up the scattered hay and limped into The Egg Palace to make the girl's beds, while I continued my landscaping (gathering and stacking rocks around the outside of the palace).

Five minutes later, the "Chicken Man cometh." "Hi, Aaron!" I said, as Tone approached him, doing his Frankenstein impersonation.

"Hey, man? What happened to your leg?" Aaron asked. After we had told him about Tony's swollen ankle, Aaron lifted a large crate out of the back of his truck and carried it into The Egg Palace. And when he carefully removed the sheet, covering the Golden Girls—we fell in love with "our girls."

As the pretty hens inspected the inside of their new digs, Tony and named them, while Aaron went back to his truck to get out Charlie and Ellen's crate of four, young chickens, so Ellen could pick them up later today. This is a picture I took of their first hen party here. Left to right are: Blanche, Rose, Sophia and Dorothy.

And this is a picture of The Egg Palace with Rose being the very first to roost on the branch inside and please note my lovely landscaping that I did around the bottom of the chicken castle.

After they had watered Charlie and Ellen's chickens, inside the crate, Aaron drove off to go deliver the remaining rooster and other four, young chickens to his friend, in Bandera. And not long after that, Ellen arrived to collect her and Charlie's "party of four." But before Ellen drove back home with her box of chickens, we had a fun visit with her, inside the pigpen. 

Late this afternoon when we came back inside The Cabin, Carlton was flashing us, so I pushed his button again, and the message we heard from the nice woman who had brought us Roscoe, this past Saturday, delighted us even more than our chickens arrival had. 

She had a friend, in Fredericksburg, who wanted to keep Roscoe for her indefinitely, until she could take him back to live with her and she said that they would be coming out on Saturday to pick him up and then she thanked us for helping her and Roscoe and then she asked us to please, "Not adopt him out, because I love Roscoe so much." 

We were so happy for Roscoe and her, Tony immediately picked up the phone and punched in the woman's phone number, so he could reassure her that we would not adopt her beautiful dog out, that we looked forward to Saturday and to tell her how happy we were for the both of them. 

And that is about it for tonight, except for one other thing that I left out—my homemade tortillas that I made, using H-E-B's Hill Country Tortilla flour, turned out perfect and were beyond delicious.

Y'all have a great evening!

Tortilla Flour!

Today has been a great day. Right before I fixed lunch for Tony, Aaron and me—we put away our tools, because we had finally finished building the new hen house. I love The Egg Palace and am so happy about it finally being ready to receive egg laying chickens. And, as soon as we get our chickens I will take a picture of it to show to y'all.

This afternoon while we were running errands, in Kerrville, we stopped by Wolfmueller's Books to visit with Sandy and Jon for a minute, and to also pick up a special book, that Sandy had just found and bought for me, the day before Levon Helm had died. The title of the book is, The Levon Helm Midnight Ramble, and it is filled with fabulous photographs taken by Paul Laraia and the foreword is by Levon Helm.

After paying them for the book and having a really fun visit with our dear friends we adios-ed them and went to H-E-B to buy our regular groceries and a special sack of Hill Country Tortilla Flour, that Elizabeth, a friend of mine had recommended to me, because she makes the best flour tortillas—in Texas.

On our way home I began reading The Levon Helm Midnight Ramble by Paul Laraia and I could not put it down long enough to backseat drive and by the time we had arrived home, I was over half-way through the book. "Omg, Tony. I love this book and you are going to love reading this book too. There are pictures of famous musician playing there, on every page with a comment they made. Like Steve Earle, Billy Bob Thornton, Phoebe Snow, Pinetop Perkins, Dr. John, Bruce Hornsby, Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes, Larry Campbell, John Sebastian, Sam Bush, Garth Hudson, Delbert McClinton, Alison Krauss, Robert Plant, John Hiatt, Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Rickie Lee Jones, etc. and it's totally amazing! And you are going to love the picture of Levon's dog—Muddy."

After we had put up our groceries I picked up the book and started reading it again and soon found that there are two pages of pictures of Kinky, Little Jewford and Washington Ratso performing at the Midnight Ramble and that Kinky wrote the blurb for the back jacket, so I called Kinky to ask him if I could come over to the Lodge.

Three minutes later, after telling Kinky about the fabulous Levon Helm book, I showed him the blurb that he had written on the back jacket, "There hasn't been this much musical talent on the same stage since Hank Williams opened for Mozart." And then I showed him the pictures of him, Little Jewford and Washington Ratso performing at the Midnight Ramble.

Then we thumbed through this awesome book. "I'll loan to you if you want to read it," I offered.

"Yes, I definitely want to read this book when I return to the ranch. I need an early wake up call in the morning, so I won't be late leaving in the morning..." Then we put the book down and went on a fun hike with The Friedmans and then I came back home.

When I finish writing this, I plan to open up my new sack of "miracle-tasting-tortilla" flour that I only have to add water to, which is sitting on the drainboard, and try to make up a batch of delicious homemade tortillas for breakfast tacos, in the morning, so please wish me luck tonight in the kitchen.

Y'all have a great evening!

I'm Burning Up!

Yesterday and today have been great days.

Saturday, while Tony, Aaron and I were eating lunch, inside The Cabin, the dogs started barking outside, so T. excused himself from the table and went outside to see what was going on and a few minutes later, while Aaron and I were eating H-E-B's delicious Pineapple Sherbet for dessert—Tone walks inside and says, "George Clooney just got adopted....but they can't pick him up until later this week." So, I quickly prepared George's adoption papers and they signed on the dotted line and made a donation.

Later that afternoon, while the three of us worked inside the pigpen, on our soon-to-be hen house, "The Egg Palace," a woman drove in with a dog sitting in her front seat, so Tony took off to greet her. And ten minutes later, Tony came over to us and told us that the woman was real upset. She was going through a divorce and she no longer could keep her/their dog. "What do you think we should do, Nance?" Tony asked. "He's a seven-year-old Chocolate Lab and he reminds me a lot of Roy Rogers."

"Let's take him," I said. "We just got George adopted and tomorrow a man and his wife are supposed to be coming out to possibly adopt Lois Lane..." When T. took off to go tell the distressed woman that we could take her dog, Roscoe, Aaron and I went back to hanging up the big roll of chicken wire and then hammering in the staples, so our chickens, which we haven't gotten yet, will be safe at night.

As I banged my thumb with a hammer, for the umpteenth time, (The thumb next to my cut index finger, which is  almost totally healed)—Aaron laughed at me as Tony took off in Kermit, with the woman and Roscoe following close behind him, in her car.

Ten minutes later, T. drove up and while the three of us finished putting up the chicken wire, he told us about what a nice dog Roscoe was and how brokenhearted Roscoe was. So, after putting up the tools, we went down to see him and I instantly fell in love with him and then I stood back and took this picture of him relaxing in his and Daisy's pen.

Yesterday evening, while Tony was watering our flowers and vegetables inside The Okay Corral I took these pictures of a Hummingbird feeding and some of our flowers in the garden, after Tony had watered them.

This afternoon, after lunch, when the dogs started barking outside, we went outside to greet the couple who had made an appointment to come out today, after they had gone to church. As we visited with Stacey and Brent about what kind of dog they were wanting to adopt, to be their seven-year-old dog's companion, they told us they wanted a dog about seven-years-old, so T. and I told them about several older dogs that we had and Roscoe's story. Then we gave the nice couple a tour of the rescue ranch, so they could meet our super dogs.

They really liked Roscoe and he liked them back, but when they met Gracie Allen—she smiled at them and stole their hearts. "Gracie is a wonderful dog and she's a smiler, when she gets excited..." 

When I had finally finished telling them about Gracie being a fine dog, they looked at each other and said, "We want her. She'd be perfect for B.J. and she's the same size as he is." 

Ten minutes later, after doing Gracie's adoption paperwork, I took this picture of Gracie with her new family and then we waved farewell to Stacey, Brent and one smiling, happy dog, sitting in the backseat of their car, anxious to leave this place forever, to go to her new loving home and to be B.J's running buddy.

Around 3:15, Tony adios-ed me and them jumped into Trigger and took off for the Home Depot, in Kerrville, but he didn't make it far. "Nance, pick up the phone. Trigger broke down and..."

"Hi, Tony. Where are y'all?"

"I'm pulled off to the side of the road, at the bottom of the pass on the Kerrville side. Come and get me now, because it is ninety degrees outside and I'm burning up." 

Seven miles later or fifteen minutes later, I pulled off of the road to rescue Tone and Trigger. Then Aaron, coming from Kerrville, pulls up to help us. "I called Aaron right after I called you," he explained, to me. Then he and Aaron checked out the engine to discover Trigger had blown some kind of a gasket, so they went to work.

One hour later, we were back home safely and talking about calling Jimmy Dixon of Dixon Automotive, because we know that Jimmy is the greatest mechanic in Texas, so we could get him to send out a tow truck in the morning, to haul Trigger to his garage and fix him, in Hondo. Then I pushed Carlton's button to listen to three new messages.

The first message was from Kinky, letting us know that he was back at the ranch and thanking us for baby sitting The Friedmans. The second message was from Aaron wanting to make sure that we were back home safely and the third message was the best one of all three. "Nancy and Tony, this is Stacey and I was calling to let you know that Gracie and B.J. have hit it off beautifully and they are now laying side-by-side in the fenced yard. We love her and so does B.J. and..."

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Lori Graham!

Today is Lori Graham's birthday and Tony and I want to wish one of our favorite NoMads—the best birthday ever.

Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Lori. Happy Birthday to You. And many more...