Just Be Nice!

This morning has not been great. When I woke up this morning, I found a note from Tony on the breakfast bar, "Nancy, the Internet is down. Love, Tony." So, I opened up my laptop to check it out and sure enough—I could not get on the Internet.

The new router that we purchased last week, kept asking me for my WEP password. Not knowing for sure what the WEP meant I kept typing in the four different passwords that we had to write down, to set up our easy to use router. Unfortunately, because I am not a techo-savvy-nerd, I just kept trying over and over again and receiving this message, "Invalid Password."

When Tone got back from Old Timer, in Medina, he called our local phone company to see if the Internet was down and he was told, "No, it is not down." Then we ate our breakfast.

After I had cleaned up the kitchen I once again sat down at the kitchen table to try one more time. After typing in the four secret passwords over and over again and getting the same messages, "Invalid Password," I looked at the router's manual to find a phone number, but it did not have one and it said, "For technical support go to this web address."

By now my patience was beginning to wear thin, because I couldn't just call the company and ask them, "To please help an old woman that is hard of hearing get online" and I could not get on the Internet to go to their support page, because of invalid passwords that I never wanted to use in the first place.

Trying hard not to rip the router from the wall and force it down the toilet, I decided to smudge The Cabin. Then I lit some of my favorite incense, Pinion Pine, from New Mexico and went back to Tony's office where our new router rules.

All six of our dogs were standing around, watching me closely probably wondering what in the world I was doing and it made Tony and me start to laugh. Then I told our one-week-old, new improved, highly secure router, "Just be nice." Then with our six dogs following me I left T's man cave and came back into the kitchen to try getting on the Internet, for the one-hundredth time.

When I tried to get on again, it asked me for my WPA password, instead of the WEP password that it had continually requested before. Still not knowing what a WEP or WPA stood for, I typed in one of our passwords and got lucky! "Tony! I'm on!" I happily half-hollered down the hallway.

Tony came running down the hallway, "How'd you do it?"

"I guess smudging The Cabin and asking it to just be nice made a big difference in its attitude."

Then Tone went back into his man cave and a few seconds later I heard him happily say, "I'm on, too!"

As I end this morning's bad story- turned good, so I can go outside to clean the dog pens while Tony feeds the dogs, I am so happy to finally be back on the Internet. And I owe it all to these three powerful words, "Just be nice."

Y'all have a great day and evening!

What Would Ronnie Do?!

Today has been great. This morning after we did our chores outside, I came inside and called my big brother Ronnie to get some advice about tuning our ukulele's, because there is the Standard tuning, which is DGBE, just like the first four strings on a guitar and the Hawaiian tuning is GCEA.

After we had discussed how Ronnie and I had both learned how to play our uke's, as kids, using the Standard tuning he highly suggested that Tony and I use the Standard tuning, because Tone and I already know the guitar chords for it and I agreed with him, because we don't have to memorize new chords.

While Ron and I were talking about outdoor grilling, he told me that he got a Char Broil Gourmet Two Burner TRU-infared Propane Grill for Christmas and how much he was enjoying it, because every time that he cooks on it—his friends rave about how much juicier the meat was. "Nance, I'm not kidding you. It's the best grill out there for the money..." Ten minutes later it was adios-time for us.

Since it was too early to cook lunch for us I got on the Internet, went to Home Depot and looked at the grill Ronnie has and then I half-hollered down the hallway, "Tony, you need to come check this grill out. Ronnie got one for Christmas and they are only $269.00." Then Tony looked at the grill while I told him all of the good things that Ronnie had said about it. "Let's get one," I said. Tony said nothing and went back to his man-cave/office.

When I started to fix lunch I turned on the oven and set it to 350 degrees to preheat it. Then thirty-seconds later, I jumped out of my kitchen chair and turned the oven off, because I had forgotten that we had stored the rescue ranch dog's flour tortilla's,for their garlic-cheese quesidillas, in there.

When I opened the oven door to take out the sacks of tortillas I was thrilled that none of the plastic bags had begun to melt. Here's a picture I took of them—fresh out of the oven.

After we ate lunch I cleaned up the kitchen and when the oven had completely cooled down—I shoved the heavy sacks of tortillas back inside the oven for safe keeping, because I know that Roy, Abbie and Mama would steal them off of the counter and eat as many as they possibly could, before getting caught.

Late this afternoon a super nice couple came out with their son to "just take a look at our dogs," because they were looking to find a perfect companion dog for their sweet 10-11 year-old-son. Their son instantly fell in love with Molly and Chad, but he ended up liking Molly more, so after taking care of some paperwork—Molly has officially been adopted and we are going to keep her here with Rocky for about two weeks, so their son can stay focused on his steer, that he will be showing at an upcoming Junior Live Stock Show. And during the next couple of weeks, Molly's forever family plans to come by often, so they can visit her and take her for some long walks. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Hoja, The Miracle Dog!

This morning I received an e-mail from our dear friend Kris, who is married to The Mineral Man. She came across this story about a beautiful dog that is in Corpus Christi, Texas and Hoja really needs to get adopted. Here is the link to check her out, which was posted by Best Friends. I hope this post will help her find a forever loving home.

My Second Post For Today! The Eternal Squirrel Is Back!

Right after I wrote and posted today's post on my blog, my dear friend Sandy called me about coming out for a visit next week with her dear friends Wook and Sohnne. After we adios-ed each other I went to let my dog Roy back inside, because he was banging his paw on our front porch window, to get my attention.

When I opened the front door to let him and Belle inside I noticed that Yoda's Eternal Squirrel, cemented into her grave was glowing and I was more than thrilled, "Tony, The Eternal Squirrel has come back to life! Come look!"

Then I grabbed my camera and ran outside to the front porch. After I focused my camera on Yoda's heart-shaped grave I shot the Eternal Squirrel (the outdoor solar-powered squirrel), just before it got dark outside. Life is good once again!

A Cloudless Sky!

Today has been a great day and I loved seeing the sun with a cloudless sky, because we've had several overcast days in a row and I am one of those people who needs sunny days.

Even though it warmed up and was beautiful outside, I spent four hours this morning doing paperwork, etc. and I am now completely finished with all of the end of the year reports and also caught up on thank you letters, etc.

This afternoon, after we ate lunch, Tony and I jumped into Trigger and went to the Ag Barn, in Bandera, to watch the Bandera Junior Live Stock Show's judging of Brandon's building project (an awesome entertainment center) and Mitch's building project (a beautiful, space-saving cedar bunk bead, with a bed on the top and for a desk to fit inside it below it, that he designed and built) and we had so much fun. And that is about it for tonight, because I am on a roll writing the part II of the mystery cliffhanger.

Y'all have a great evening!

Valerie!

This morning we received some very sad news from our dear friend Ben. Valerie, Ben's beautiful, sweet Pit Bull that we rescued over ten years ago, that he adopted from us, lost her long battle fighting cancer.

Valerie was loved by many, including Kinky, Tony and me and she was a joy to be around because she was so sweet and well trained by Ben. Rest in Peace, Valerie. We loved you and you will be missed and you will always be remembered in our hearts.

Broken Rock!

Today has been great, but I have to keep it short, because thunderstorms are coming soon, which means we have to unplug everything. So, I guess we will be spending the evening playing music, with Tony playing Nellybelle, our new uke and me accompanying him on Trigger, the guitar that Ronnie made for me.

Early this afternoon Kinky called and suggested that we go to town to eat lunch, at El Sol de Mexico, because he was anxious to try it. To say the least, "Our lunch was delicious and fun and Kinky really liked the restaurant.

Late this afternoon our dear friend Charlie called me to ask if he could come over, because he wanted to discuss my novella, The Cowgirl Sisterhood: The Membership Drive, Part I, because he had just finished reading it. (Charlie and his wife Ellen are characters in Chapter II.)

Twenty minutes later Charlie showed up and when he walked inside The Cabin he handed me a large split rock that he had found on their other ranch, in Sanderson, Texas. "This is for you, Nancy, because I know that you are a rockhound, too. I picked it up, because I thought it might look like one of those medicinal Brownies, in your novella. Here's a picture of my new, broken rock that Charlie gave to me. I put a fork next to it, so you can see how big it is.

After we had stopped laughing, I made us some delicious Donut Shop coffee. Then he asked me if he could look at our Keurig single cup coffee maker. When I was finished telling him all about it and how much we loved it, we talked about his favorite parts of my novella. "Ellen and I loved reading it and I want to buy five more copies to give to our friends."

While I signed copies to his and Ellen's friends and family we laughed and talked about rocks, rain, motorcycles, Johnny Manziel, A&M and the Crimson Tide beating Notre Dame last night. And that is about it for tonight, because it just thundered outside.

Y'all have a great evening!