Declutterization Rules!

Today has been a great day. This morning after we did our morning chores outside, we went over to Koyote Ranch to eat breakfast and it was delicious and the best part about it was I didn't have to fix it or clean up the dishes and when we got home, we fed our leftovers to our dogs and they ate it up and wanted more.

This afternoon, after making and eating Tuna fish sandwiches for lunch, I decided to finish decluttering my office and I am totally thrilled about how much nicer it looks and feels, even though my back is aching, causing me to write this sitting on Mari's pretty, pink dyed lambskin.

When I started cleaning out my desk drawers, I was shocked to find so much clutter and useless, dated papers, that years ago I must have thought were important to keep. It took me nearly two hours to turn my super cluttered office, that I have been avoiding to go into, for quite a long time, into a feels-so-good place, that now I want to be in all of the time to do my work. In fact, I am writing this from my office chair and the lambskin is starting to work wonders on my sore lower back.

When I was finished with my declutterization, I carried out two heavy bags of trash and put them in the back of Kermit, and that's not counting topping off the paper shredder's holding tank.

Then I asked Tony to please come take a look at my beautiful, new office and he was amazed and thought it looked so fantastic, that he declared, "I'm going to declutter my office this week." Then he and I carried out a table, that I had made several years ago, to put stuff on, that I now no longer need. Anyway, everything inside The Cabin has now been decluttered, except for Tone's Man Cave, I mean his office. And that's about it for tonight. Declutterization Rules!

Y'all have a great evening!

Wildflowers & Words!

Today has been a great day. This morning Jim and Eileen, two of our super volunteers aka friends, came out to walk our dogs, which our dogs loved and while they were here, they also helped Tony and me move several dogs around. "Thank you, Eileen and Jim!"

Honey and Baxter are now in the big front pen, up by the gate entrance and next door to Annie. We moved Lois Lane from her pen to the one next door, where Baxter & Honey had been. Then we moved Hank Williams, Sr. & Jackie Kennedy Onassis down to Lois Lane's old pen. Then we moved Guinevere to our shady Puppy Pen, between Rio & Martha Stewart and Betty Rubble & George Clooney and then Tony moved Dr. John to Guinevere's old pen, because this morning Annie Oakley and him decided not to be friends any longer.

After T. and me ate some of my delicious, homemade veggie burgers for lunch, we jumped into Trigger and went to the Home Depot, in Kerrville, to purchase a new cold water dispenser, because the old one that we have been using, inside The Cabin, had a major melt down, while we were outside moving the dogs to new pens. 


And that's about it for tonight, because I'm tired and just feel like watching TV tonight, but before I finish writing this I want to share some beautiful wildflowers & words, that have touched my heart today.

Early this morning when Tony returned from the Old Timer, he surprised me with these gorgeous wildflowers, that he had handpicked for me, before coming inside The Cabin. And this afternoon, Mari sent me this picture—which I think says it all about dogs. "Mari and Tony, thank y'all for making my day!"

Y'all have a great evening!

Figs For Jalapenos!

Today has been great. After we did our morning chores outside I came inside to check my e-mail and I am so glad that I did, because my dear friend Mari, who we were later meeting for lunch, in Kerrville, had sent me one, asking if we liked figs, because if we did, she wanted to trade us some of her figs for Tony's jalapenos. So, I shot her back an e-mail telling her that we would love to trade figs for jalapenos, then I jumped into the shower to get cleaned up.

Tony and I love Mari and getting to have lunch with her is one of our most favorite things to do and after we have lunch with Mari, I always wish that we could do it more often, because on a scale, from one to ten, with ten being the highest, of "Favorite Things To Do"—she's a twelve.

Before leaving the rescue ranch, Tony quickly handpicked a fresh crop of his jalapenos for Mari and then he loaded up two dog crates, in the back of Buttermilk, then we took off for Kerrville.

Our lunch today with Mari was a total blast. When she arrived two minutes after we got there, she was carrying a large white box and a gigantic, plastic bag filled with the biggest figs that we've ever seen and before she sat down, Mari handed me the heavy box and said, "I have one and I bought this for you, because you love Roy Rogers as much as I do."

When I opened up the white box, I was instantly thrilled at what I saw. It was this beautiful 399 page book, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans: It Was Always The Music, a celebration of Roy and Dale's singing cowboy B-Western era of country-western music, by Eric van Hamersveld, authorized by Dale Evans Rogers, Roy "Dusty" Rogers, Jr., and the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum! "Mari, I love this. It is so beautiful. Thank you, so much!" Then our waiter appeared and interrupted me, so he could take our order. (Mari and I ordered the exact same thing from the menu, except she requested Charro beans, instead of the refried beans that I ordered.)

"I knew you would love it, since you have started playing your guitar again, " Mari said. "It has every song, from all of their movies, with the music and lyrics and it is filled with movie pictures that you're going to love and..."

Because Mari is one of the most well informed, intelligent, humorous women that I have ever met, she and I were either talking or laughing non-stop, about dogs, the importance of buying Made In America products, politics, music, The NoMads, figs, jalapenos, West Texas, Terlingua, drivers license, tuna fish from Thailand, etc. and poor Tony hardly ever got to get a word in edgewise. And after two fun-filled hours had passed, Tone finally got to say, "Nance, it's nearly three o'clock and we need to get back to the ranch." Which totally shocked Mari and me, that so much time had passed, because we were having so much fun.

"Tony, will you please carry my book for me, because it is so heavy?" I asked. "And the figs."

While T. was gone to put our giant sack of figs and my newest, favorite book inside Buttermilk and getting Mari's jalapenos for her, Mari wanted me to listen to this great song, No One Kisses Their Horses Anymore. So when Tony joined us, we chuckled as we listened to it, standing in the parking lot. Then we adios-ed each other and left.

Our next stop was just down the street at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, to pick up Hank Williams, Sr. and Jackie Kennedy Onassis, so we could bring them home. And Hank, the handsome Yellow Labrador barked, I mean, serenaded us all of the way home.

When we got back to the rescue ranch, I took these pictures of Hank, wearing his temporary lampshade and not knowing what to think about it and cute, little Jackie O. 

Early this evening, I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and Marcie and I had a fun, one hour,  really enjoyable visit with them, before coming back home. And that is about it for tonight, because I plan to learn how to play a few Roy & Dale songs on my guitar, until my fingers are killing me and then read my newest, favorite book. "Thank you, Mari! I love my book!  Let's do lunch sooner than later!"

Y'all have a great evening!

My Right Eye!

Today has been a happy 4th of July. This morning after we did our morning chores outside, we decided to basically take the day off and enjoy the holiday. So, for lunch I made us Shrimp Scampi and Tony told me that it was the best that he has ever eaten, but because he's never eaten Shrimp Scampi in his life—I took his compliment rather lightly.

After lunch I cleaned up the kitchen, then I decided to make some homemade salsa for us, because we had over fifteen, large ripened tomatoes, taking up too much space on the kitchen counter and we still had at least fifty jalapenos left over, even after giving Kinky a giant, gallon bag of them yesterday, waiting for me to do something with them, before they went bad and would have to be thrown out.

Because it has been a really long time since I've made Cousin Nancy's Secret Salsa, a delicious salsa recipe that I stole from Carol several years ago, it took me a few minutes to find it on my lap top, then I got busy making my salsa.

After making batch after batch of salsa, using my several secret ingredients and all of Tony's organic tomatoes, that had disappeared from the drainboard and the jalapeno count, inside the baggie, had dropped down to less than forty, I filled up a gallon-sized baggie and one medium-sized jar with my salsa!

Before I put the gallon of salsa bag inside the freezer, I asked T. to taste it. "It tastes great, Nance, but I think it could use a little more heat," he suggested, which instantly turned my smile upside down. "I mean it's good. I just like it really hot. That's all."

Feeling a little emotionally deflated from his remark about Carol's salsa recipe, I said, kind of pouting, "I'm sorry it is not perfect, Tony. It's Carol's recipe—not mine. I'll let you make it the next time. Okay?" Then I rubbed my right eye, because it itched, which was a really bad mistake, because tears instantly started flowing from my right eye, because of his jalapenos or the onion.

Tone is so smart. He knew exactly what to do. First he hugged me and then he said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings and make you cry..."

Even though I have to admit that I sort of enjoyed making him feel a little bit sorry for suggesting that Carol's salsa recipe needed more heat, I did do the right thing. "Tony, I'm fine, but my right eye isn't. I just forgot to wash my hands, before rubbing it..." And then everything was fine between us. He went back into his office and I played my guitar until my fingers were killing me. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great 4th of July evening!

Toto Picnic!

Today has been a great day. Early this evening, Marcie and Kinky came over to have a picnic with Toto. After Toto ate his special dinner, that they brought over for him, I showed them Gerry Olert's latest video:

Kinky Friedman's Man In Black and Kerrville Folk Festival

and they absolutely loved it and they thought it was really great, too. Then I showed them this hilarious, short video that my dear friend Mari had sent to me this morning:

Meteorologist goes viral with phony apocalyptic forecast 

And, like Tony and me they roared with laughter. And that is about it for tonight, because I am fixin' to watch one of my favorite movies, Electric Cowboy.

Y'all have a great evening and a happy 4th of July!

Roscoe P. Coltrane!

Today has been great, even though we are in FMT (Full Moon Time) and MIR (Mercury In Retrograde) is just right around the corner, beginning on July 14th.

This morning after we did our chores outside, we jumped into Buttermilk and went to the pound, in Kerrville, to pick up an adorable, medium-sized, Muttagree, that Tony, Ben and I had fallen in love with, last Friday, when we were at the pound rescuing Hank.

We didn't take her last Friday, because we didn't have enough room, inside Trigger, so we had asked them to please hold on to this sweet dog until Monday, because then we would be without Ben and Hank, taking up space, inside the truck and today we would have more than plenty of room inside Trigger.

As Tony drove Buttermilk and the three of us over to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, so we could drop her off, to get her spayed, shots and a checkup, I came up with a name for her. "Hi, y'all," Susan said, as we walked inside the clinic, with the best vibes. "And who is this beautiful dog?"

"She's Jackie Kennedy Onassis," I said, which caused a few older people to chuckle, inside the waiting room. "We have just rescued her from the pound..."

After we left Hoegemeyer's we went straight to H-E-B, so T. could fill Buttermilk up and I could fill up a grocery cart. Then we came home.

By 4:00, I had Roscoe P. Coltrane's adoption papers prepared, because our friend Medana was coming out to adopt him, because she had seen his picture in the Bandera County Courier, as our Pet Of The Week and it was love at first sight for her. And today when Roscoe saw Medana, it was his turn to fall in love at first sight with Medana. Here's a picture that I took, right after he was adopted, of R. P. Coltrane with Medana.

After Medana and her new found love interest left the rescue ranch, we did too, because Kinky was back from his East Coast Bi-Polar Tour and we could not wait to go see him. We had planned to only  stay and visit with him for about ten or fifteen minutes, so he could rest, relax and visit with his sister Marcie, but we had badly miscalculated our planning, because we ended up visiting with Kinky and Marcie, at the Lodge, for over an hour!

Our visit was so much fun and it was filled with laughter, listening to Kinky, telling us about all of the funny things that happened during his tour. And all that I can say is, "That's about it for tonight and I am so happy that Kinky is back at the ranch.

Y'all have a great evening!

Sorry, Not Tonight—Big Time Thunder Storms—Thank Goodness!