Super Full Moon!

Today has been great and a lot of fun for me, because before Tony, Ben and I went out to do our morning chores—Ben and I had a fantastic jam session, inside The Cabin! "Ben, you have really gotten good on your mandolin!" I declared, as we picked and played Keb' 'Mo's song, Life Is Beautiful."

While Ben and me played our music (Our versions of some Willie Nelson, Zak Brown, Gary Stewart, Tom Waits, Neil Young, Eagles, Alabama, Kinky, Mickey Gilley, Taj Mahal, Merle Haggard and Bruce Springsteen songs—Tony was outside, in The Egg Palace, gathering The Golden Girls' pretty, colorful eggs.

Late this afternoon, Ben helped Tony load up his-soon-to-be used kayak that he is going to buy from Rick, The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper and then the three of us went down to the creek, so Tony could try it out, so I shot them.

When T. finally came back to the shore he said, "Wow! I want to buy this from Rick..." Then Ben jumped on the kayak and took off paddling, so he could check it out for Tony.

Early this evening, after Ben had left to go back home to Austin with his dogs, Tony and I went outside and put The Golden Girls back inside The Egg Palace and then I came back inside to return a few phone calls, while Tone stayed outside to water our garden and flowers, in the Okay Corral and when he came back inside The Cabin he was grinning-ear-to-ear, "Look, Nance. Our first four peppers..." So I shot them on our kitchen table, before putting them into the refrigerator.

And that is about it for tonight, because we are fixin' to go outside, so T. can shoot the "Super Full Moon."

Y'all have a great evening!

It Was A Sign! or What-"A"-Vacation!

Our fun trip, with Fourth driving us down to Port Aransas, to see Leisa and Rick and spend the night on the privately owned island was more than great—it was a total blast.

We left Medina around 7:00, in Fourth's gigantic truck and it was so high up, off of the ground, I had to use his handy step stool just to climb up into the backseat, which Tony thought was pretty funny and so did I.

We made our first pit stop in Devine to eat breakfast at Big A's Tacos and my Huevos Rancheros were delicious or better yet, "They were devine."

On our way to Pleasanton we told Fourth about this really cool sign there that reads: Peace Love & Oil, which all of us thought was funny and extremely clever, because it has recently become an oil boom town, so when we saw the sign, Fourth pulled off of the highway, so he and Tony could shoot it—with their cameras.

I think it was in Sinton, while we were at stopped at a red light, Tony and Fourth pulled out their cameras and shot a crane erecting a giant, new What-A-Burger sign, which I instantly interpreted it to be a sign, but I didn't know why, yet.

When we arrived in Port Aransas we decided to first eat lunch at the new What-A-Burger, before we called Rick to please come and pick us up, to take us out to the beautiful island and while we waited on Rick and Leisa, I phoned this para sailing place, that Rick had recommended to me, so I could go para sailing and remove it from my bucket list.

When we arrived at the island I helped the men unload our gear and then I put on this stupid-looking old-ladies' bathing suit and the next thing you know I was up in the air—screaming and flying around like the Pelicans, which Rick has affectionately nicknamed—"The Port A Coast Guard." Tony took these pictures of me, high as a kite and a squadron of Port A's finest flying in formation.

While I was up there flying around, while saying big-time prayers about not crashing when I landed, scaring away the tourists, in my ugly bathing suit and getting a birds eye view of everything, Fourth was on the top of the lighthouse getting a birds eye view, too, so Tony shot him too, so Fourth could prove to his friends that he had done it and could remove it from his bucket list.

And I love this picture of Fourth, because it makes me laugh, because Tony caught him off guard as he was climbing to his feet and he looks like he is doing some kind of fancy Karate maneuver.

When the people brought me back to the island I was so proud of myself for para sailing and so were our friends and after I had put on some more decent clothes—the party began, because we were on "island time."

While we visited with Rick and the guys took hundreds of pictures, Leisa cooked us up a delicious dinner. Then we sat on Rick's porch telling hilarious tales and laughing.

Early this morning, while we sat out on Rick's porch drinking coffee, Tony took this awesome sunrise picture and I love it. Then we ate breakfast, hung around for a little while digging up some sand and picking up seashells and then Rick took us back to Port Aransas, with a kayak aboard the boat, so Tony could take it home to try it out to see if he wanted to buy it from Rick.

Here is a great picture that T. took of Fourth, standing outside his truck, as the ferry took us to the mainland.

On our way back home, we stopped at the What-A-Burger, in Pleasanton for lunch and we got to laughing and joking about how our fun Port A trip had gotten a food theme—all with A's in it. Port A, Big A's Tacos, two What-A-Burger meals, so I said, "The title of my blog tonight is going to be, "What-"A"-Vacation!" And we laughed about it all of the way home and that is what the sign was for.

I'm fixin' to go to bed now and that is about it for tonight, but I must confess that everything I've written tonight is true, except for me going para sailing—"You've got to be kidding! I'd never do that, especially in a bathing suit! Thank you, Ben, Rick & Leisa and Fourth for our wonderful 33 hour vacation."

Y'all have a great evening!

Cosmo Topper!

Today has been great. This after, around 3:20, while I was packing for tomorrow's road trip, Tony walked into the bedroom and said, "Somebody is out here." Then he went outside to go see who was here and thirty-seconds later I was outside with him meeting three really nice, young people.

They told us that they had come out to look at our dogs, because Jansen was ready to adopt a small dog, around twenty pounds, that would be able to go to work with him everyday and stay in his office while he worked, so Tony and I took them to go meet Cosmo Topper, because Cosmo is the smallest dog that we have.

After meeting Cosmo, we went into his and Lulu's pen, so they could play with Cosmo and get to know him better and it didn't take long, because they instantly fell in love with him and he with them and us with them.

Cosmo seemed to know what was going on, so he turned on his charm and took turns running to each one of them and kissing them on their faces. It was really fun to watch the meet and greet, because Cosmo was so excited, just thinking about the possibility of him leaving here forever and so were we, because he is such a terrific dog and we really liked Jansen and his friends.

Twenty minutes later Cosmo got adopted! Here is a cute picture of Cosmo posing with Jansen and his friends. We are so happy for him and Jansen!

I plan to spend this evening packing and cleaning The Cabin, for Ben's stay, and then I'm going to bed early, because early tomorrow morning Tony, our dear friend Fourth and I are going down to Port Aransas to see Rick and Leisa and so I can also dig up some private island sand for my shell collection jar. We'll be back Friday afternoon.

Y'all have a great evening!

His Butter!

Today has been great. Early this afternoon, Tony and I jumped into Buttermilk and took off for Dixon Automotive, in Hondo, to pick up Trigger.

When we arrived at our favorite mechanic's garage, they needed to do a couple of more adjustments on Trigger, so we asked them to recommend a good restaurant, because we were really hungry. Jimmy's son, Kevin, highly recommended Herman and Sons, not far away on Highway 90, and then he gave us directions to it, before we took off.

But, instead of going to Herman and Sons, like we should have, we decided to try this restaurant which had a lot of pickups parked outside of it, because we were starving.

When we entered the clean, friendly place a waitress greeted us, handed us some menus and then asked us what we wanted to drink, "Tea." We said, at the same time.

As we sipped on our iced teas, I ordered a sampler plate and Tony ordered Carne Guisada and we tried not to laugh when the sweet waitress served us our delicious meals. Tony and I looked at our un-appetizing plates and then at each other, with raised eyebrows, even though he couldn't see mine, because they are gray, which basically makes them invisible to the human eye.

Trying hard not to laugh at the bland-looking food, when the really nice waitress returned to our table with four complimentary flour tortillas, I nearly lost it when she proudly placed one, yes one—tiny, plastic cup of fake butter, about the serving size of a half of a teaspoon—for us to share?

As Tony disappointedly tried to eat his not-seasoned carne guisada, plain white rice and refried beans, probably from a can—I felt guilty for picking the place for us to eat at, so to make peace, I picked up the small, fake butter cup and said, "Here, you can have the butter," and then I burst out laughing and so did Tone.

"This food is awful. It has no taste" T. whispered. "We don't even have any hot sauce to flavor our food."

"I know," I whispered back to him. "My microwaved enchiladas have no taste at all. Do you want my chalupa, because I'm afraid of it? My taco only has a tablespoon of beef in it and there's no salsa inside of it—just lettuce, tomato, a sprinkle of cheese and hamburger if you can find it." When Tony lifted my chalupa off of my plate, so he could eat it, I joked, "So, that's where my fluffy, white rice has been hiding! Thanks, T.!"

As I nibbled on a dry, homemade flour tortilla, I watched Tony butter a very small area on his tortilla, before running out of his butter and then he took a bite of it, which instantly caused his smile to turn upside down, so I started laughing, again. "I make better flour tortillas than these," Tony grumbled, with floury food still in his mouth.

"I know, but at least these tortillas have some taste to them and you got the butter." As T. unhappily played around with my chalupa, on his plate, trying to decide if he really wanted to eat it, I said, "Let's not get a dessert." Then I went and paid over $20.00 for a lunch that neither of us will ever forget. Then after leaving a $5.00 tip on the table for the really nice waitress—we left the restaurant, with all of the trucks parked outside, in front of it, because they belonged to all of their family members and friends sitting inside.

When we arrived back at Dixon Automotive, Kevin came out to greet us, so Tony lowered his window so we could talk to him and I joked, "We should have taken your advice on where to eat, Kevin." And when we told him where we had eaten—he laughed and then shook his head sideways, because he knew about their food. Then Buttermilk and Tony followed Trigger and me home. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

8 Seconds! or A Concert To Be Remembered!

Today has been incredibly great. This afternoon when Tony and I arrived at 2:00, at the Cailloux Theater, to meet Kinky and be his and Ray's guests for the Ray Price concert, some people were outside with a beautiful longhorn bull and letting people get their pictures taken sitting on top of their pet bull, Casino.

Brian Black, Clint Black's brother and the owner of the popular Longhorn Saloon, in Bandera, came up and greeted us and before we knew it—Tony and I became professional bull riders and we both rode Casino for over 8 seconds! Here is a picture of me, sitting in the saddle on Casino, with Brian Black standing to the left watching us, while I hammed it up with our dear friend and popular DJ—Big G (Gordon Ames).

Here's Tony on Casino.

And here's Kinky posing next to Casino and Russell, the owner of Casino.

OMG! The Ray Price Concert was absolutely fantastic and was one of the greatest concerts that I have ever been to and that includes seeing the greats like: the Grateful Dead, Willie, Merle, Dwight, Hornsby, Ruthie Foster, Muddy Waters, Ray Wylie, Chuck Berry, Stevie Ray Vaughn and also going to more than 50 live Austin City Limits tapings, when I once lived in Austin, in another life time. 

Ray's voice was as strong, pure and beautiful as it has ever been and his band was tighter-than-a-drum, along with the Kerrville Symphony strings section, that also accompanied him. In all—it gave me non-stop goose bumps and an event that I will treasure for the rest of my life and will never ever forget.  

Kinky called me just a few minutes ago, on his way back to the ranch and like Tony and me, he thought it was one of the greatest concerts that he has ever attended too. We talked for over three minutes about how great Ray was and all of the standing ovations that he got and how much the crowd loved him. "Kink, Tony and I loved it and we will never be able to thank you and Ray enough for letting us be your guests. I can't believe that Ray is 86 years old and is still going strong, after just doing Chemo. It was a concert to never be forgotten and..." 

Y'all have a great evening! And God Bless Ray Price, because he is a living legend, a true Texas treasure and he is absolutely priceless!

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!