We've Got Twins!

Yesterday was more than great. Sam Kindrick's Action Magazine's 40th Anniversary blowout celebration, at the Texas Pride BBQ, in Adkins, Texas was so much fun and the $8,300.00 raised, at the gate, that Kinky, Tony and I worked, at $10.00 per person tickets, was certainly a financial pleasure for our rescue ranch, too!

Texas Pride BBQ was one of the coolest places to be in Texas yesterday, to listen to the very best of Texas musicians. Tony, the nice Texas Pride BBQ owner and his super friendly, fun staff were so easy to work with, because they were so organized. It was obviously not their first rodeo dealing with a huge, friendly crowd. If you weren't up front dancing or inside eating tasty BBQ food, every bench and chair, in the super cool place, was occupied and it didn't seem to bother any of the many standing room only folks.

The huge crowd came out to celebrate this blowout event, to show their love, respect and appreciation for Sam Kindrick and his super popular Action magazine. He and his awesome magazine are considered legendary. And after I got to meet him, in person, I got to have a very fun visit with him and then I understood why everyone knows and loves Sam and Action magazine.

Our dear friend and popular radio host, Roy Holley and the great folks, that he works with, over at KKYX, were also at the event, because they love Sam and Action magazine, so much. In fact, for months in advance, they have been plugging this event non-stop to make sure that everyone knew about it so they wouldn't miss out on the fabulous music and fun. Here are a few pictures that Tony and I took during the celebration.

That's Tony, sitting down, on the bench, up front and to the right.

Our dear friends, Little Jewford, Sage & Dylan Ferrero and Jay & Sara Pennington also showed up to celebrate with everyone and they kept Kinky, Tony and me laughing non-stop. In fact, at one point, Jay asked his sweet wife to please shoot him and me. 

And this morning, after sleeping in, because we didn't get back home until after 10:30 last night, I discovered that Jay had doctored and then posted our picture, on his Facebook page, so I tagged it and put it on my Facebook page. I've titled Sara's pictures that she took of us We've Got Twins!

And he wrote under this picture: "The very sweet "Cousin" Nancy Parker-Simons who runs Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch - proceeds from Sam Kindrick's Action Mag 40th anniversary music event last Sunday will go to help Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch."

Well, I plan to spend the rest of this evening working on my third novella, because I am having a blast with it and that's about it for tonight. 

Y'all have a great evening!

Congratulations To Action Magazine's 40th Anniversary! We Love Y'all!

Today has been great, but it was uneventful due to drizzling or misting rain, so I spent most of my day inside The Bunkhouse, my pretty, pink writing cabin, having a blast writing on my 3rd hilarious novella.

Tomorrow, Kinky, Tony and I will be at the famous Texas Pride BBQ, in Adkins, Texas celebrating Action Magazine's 40th Anniversary with all of the gate's proceeds benefiting our rescue ranch, thanks to the kindness of Sam Kindrick, Roy Holley at KKYX, Texas Pride BBQ and all of the fabulous musicians that will be performing tomorrow.

It is going to be a total blast and I can't wait to see and hear all of our musician friends: Augie Meyers, Johnny Bush, Johnny Rodriguez, Joe King Carrasco, Darryl McCall, etc. If you're in the vicinity, please drop by, because it is going to be so much fun with totally delicious food and the tickets are only $10.00 per person to see the show. Congratulations to Action Magazine's 40th Anniversary! We love y'all and that's about it for tonight. Action Magazine Rules And So Do Dogs!

Y'all have a great evening!

Greater Tuna!

Today has been great, but nothing really exciting happened. Tony and I spent most of our day mowing down grass and weeds and then I baked us a tuna pot pie for our lunch.

We've never eaten a tuna pot pie or even heard of one and the reason why I made the pot pie using tuna is because I forgot to buy chicken yesterday. Anyway, it was delicious and Tony loved the fish pot pie and even got seconds. I've named my new recipe Cousin Nancy's Greater Tuna. And he wants me to make it again and that's about it for tonight.

A Weirdo!

Today has been great even though I overslept this morning. While I was drinking my first cup of coffee the phone rang—it was Kinky. "Good morning, Nance. When you have a chance please come over, because...."

Twenty minutes later, I walked inside the Lodge and was greeted by Kinky, Chet O'Keefe and The Friedmans. Chet was cooking on the stove top, and said, "I'm fixing Kinky and me some spaghetti for breakfast. Would you like some?"Then Chet and I started laughing when Kinky started defending why eating spaghetti for breakfast is no big deal.

"Thanks, but no thanks," I said. "We just ate some homemade lasagna for breakfast." Kinky and Chet looked shocked. "Not really. I'm just kidding..."

While Chet and Kink ate their spaghetti breakfast, Kinky told us that a good friend of ours hates puns. "No seriously he can't stand them," Kinky said, followed by a chuckle. "So, I told Sean, "These two antennae decide to get married and they sent out invitations to their friends asking them to RSVP if they would be attending their reception."

We all laughed and then I told them the pun that I had heard on The Ellen Show, the other day. "Do you know what you call a bear without teeth? A gummy bear."

So now it was Chet's turn. "Do you know what you call a line of rabbits walking backwards? A receding hare line."

This afternoon Chet, Tony and I carpooled or truckpooled to Kerrville, because we all needed to go to Home Depot, H-E-B and the Post Office. Our first stop was at the Post Office, because I needed to mail Chet's music Cd's to my dear friend Cindy, in Northern New Mexico and Chet needed to mail a few letters.

Then we went to Home Depot and then we all went our separate ways, because we all needed stuff. Chet ended up purchasing some paint and 4" plastic pipe, for his Chet Pack. Tony purchased more dirt and seeds and I bought a gallon of pink paint, a small can of black Rustoleum, a paint brush and these beautiful flowers.

Then we went to H-E-B and I am so glad that we did, because we saw our good friend, Ellen, who had a gift, sent to her from her cousin Pam, to give to me and it was out in Ellen's car. So while Tony went outside with Ellen, to her car, to get my package, Chet and I took off in different directions, in the store. And that's when I  ran into our dear friend Marguerite.

Ed Helms' sweet mother, Pam, sent me an REI, beautiful, blue, tie-dye bandana, just like the one that she had worn the last time that we saw her, because I had admired it. So when we got back home, I tied the bandana around my neck and then I asked Tony to please come outside and take a picture of me wearing Pam's beautiful gift. 

When we went outside, I picked up Little Debbie and then I sat down on the porch, so Tony could shoot me and this is what happened and it is the first picture Tony took of me. It's a funny picture, because I look like a weirdo, because our dogs were drowning me in kisses and you can't even see the beautiful bandana at all.

After Tony showed me my goofy-looking picture I asked him to please take another one with just Little Debbie, Roy and me.

I want to thank Pam for my beautiful, blue bandana gift that I love and will wear often. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

To Bee or Not To Bee!

Today has been great and merry Easter to all. Yesterday was a great day, too, but because my computer was unusable all day, into the late evening, because Chet O'Keefe needed to use my computer's power cord charger to be able to power up Tony's computer, so he could fix Tony's computer's photo software problem. And the good news is Tony's computer photo problem is now fixed. Tony's happy, he has a new power cord on the way and I can now use my computer. "Thank you Chet!"

Yesterday I could not wait to use my computer so I could blog about Bee Spears getting adopted to a wonderful home, in Kerrville. Nate and Jessica, a great, super nice couple that has two delightful boys wanted to adopt an older dog from us, so it could be a companion to their seven-year-old Great Pyrenees!

When Jessica had called me on Friday after telling me that they wanted to adopt an older, big dog and they did not care if the dog was short haired or long haired, a male or female, a breed or a mutt—they just wanted a sweet dog. I was totally impressed with them already, because so many people will not even consider adopting an older dog.

Anyway, we are all thrilled for Bee Spears, that old, sweet, lovable dog, Dale Evans' roommate, that used to roam around Willie Nelson's golf course has hopefully found his wonderful, loving home. But please, for the next few days we all need to keep our fingers crossed for him that he and the Pyr will become fast friends, because usually within the first forty-eight hours it will determine if the adoption will stick. So the To Bee or Not To Bee countdown begins.

Nate, Jessica and their cute boys came out around 2:00 yesterday afternoon to look at our dogs and Nate had to ride with Tony, in Kermit, because he was temporarily on crutches, because of an ankle injury. When I introduced Jessica and the kids to Bee, he immediately stole Jessica's and the boy's hearts and Jessica said, "It's something about his eyes..." So, Nate hobbled over, on his crutches, to meet Bee and watch him interact lovingly with their children.

After about spending ten minutes with Bee, Tony and I showed them the rest of our dogs. And after the meet & greet, Jessica asked,"Can we go see Bee, again? I really like him, a lot."And the rest is history I hope.

Here's a quick picture that I took of Bee with Jessica and Nate (without using his crutches, just before Bee eagerly jumped up into the front side, passenger seat of their pickup and sat down. (Jessica chose to ride back to their home, in the back seat, with the boys.) So I guess you could say that Bee rode shotgun.

And that is about it for today.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Son of Foghorn!

Today has been great. Tony and I got up really early, so we could do our outdoor chores early, because Tony had an appointment to "get his ears lowered" or "his wings removed," in Medina, at 9:30.

A little after 10:15, when Tone arrived back at the rescue ranch, without wings, Jim was down at the creek with Mr. Rogers & Miss Dee, June and our new friend/volunteer, Kelly, were walking out of the ranch with Ben Stiller & La Toya Jackson just as Kris & Jim were pulling in.

After I greeted Kris & The Mineral Man I told them that I wanted to introduce them to Kelly when he returned with the dogs. "Kelly and his sweet wife are the nice couple who adopted Hank from us, last Sunday. He told me that Hank is a fabulous dog. They've taken him everyday to the dog park to let him swim and to be off-leash and he did great. He sleeps in their bedroom too and...." By 11:00, Kelly had met and been welcomed by Kris & The Mineral Man, Jim and June.

Around 11:30, everyone jumped into their modes of transportation and took off to go eat lunch together, at the Koyote Grill. Talk about a fun lunch! Kelly immediately fit right in with everyone and it didn't take him long to believe me when I had told him, on Sunday, "You're going to love our great volunteers. They are so hilarious and always making jokes and they love to laugh. We always have so much fun with them..."

First, June told us about getting ready to go with friends, next weekend, to The Rose Theatre, in San Antone, to watch the audience participation play You've Ruined A Perfectly Good Mystery. A few minutes later the subject changed to wrestling events coming soon, to Kerrville, at the Ag Barn, then all of us started taking turns naming our favorite wrestlers, roller derby queens, etc.

Before our fun lunch had ended, June told us a hilarious story about a family member's rooster named Foghorn, that would routinely attacked family or friends if they weren't carrying a rake, to protect themselves, when they entered the yard. And she had all of us laughing until her Foghorn rooster story hit a little too close to home for me.

While everyone was still laughing about Foghorn, the attack rooster, I stood up, placed my hand next to my lower hip and said, "Our rooster, Rooster Cogburn, is really big and tall. In fact, he is so tall his head is even with my hips."

"That's really not all that tall," Tony wisecracked, "Because you're so short!" His remark was followed by a round of laughter. 

"No Tony," The Mineral Man joked. "That's not politically correct. I think you're supposed to say that she's height challenged or something like that." Followed by another round of laughter.

"Or height deprived," I quipped back. After some jokes had been made about how ridiculous political correctness has become, etc., I continued on, "Well June, I think we've got the Son of Foghorn, at the rescue ranch, because last Friday morning, after Tony took off on his trip, I think Rooster Cogburn actually tried to kill me." Everyone started laughing. "No seriously," when I went to let the chickens, out of The Egg Palace, so I could feed them and the pigs he chased me all around the pigpen. It was really scary and...."

After lunch, on our way back to the rescue ranch, Tony said, "Nancy, I don't think Rooster Cogburn would actually try to attack you with his spurs or try to flog you. But just to be safe, the next time that you go into the pigpen just carry a rake with you."

"Well, that's never going to happen, Tony. Because I'm never going back into that pigpen again, because Rooster "Son of Foghorn" Cogburn rules." And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Thumping Away!

Yesterday was great, because it was a 4-H day for us. We had to go to H-E-B for groceries, Hastings, so I could buy the movie Wild, Home Depot, to buy Tony dirt and seeds, and Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, so we could pick up Ximbal aka Jack Black, so we could bring him to the rescue ranch.

Jack Black is one super cool, six-month-old Lab mix. When we first met him, in Hoegemeyer's lobby, a tiny Chihuahua snarled, snapped and growled at him and he instantly backed away wagging his tail non-stop, because he was not wanting to cause any trouble. He did great riding inside Trigger and he did not get truck-sick.

When we arrived back at the ranch, we decided to put him in Bonnie Raitt's pen aka The Okay Corral also known as the front yard of my pink, writing cabin. He and Bonnie became fast friends and since they've met all they want to do is play with each other. And as soon as I take a great picture of him I will post it.

Last night I did some more writing and then I relaxed and watched Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon, with Little Debbie and Alice sleeping on my lap. I loved the movie and I am glad that I read Cheryl Strayed's book Wild before watching the movie.

Today has been great. This afternoon we met our good friends Kris & Jim for lunch, in Kerrville or maybe it was Ingram, because it's location was too close to call.

While we had a fun lunch with Kris and The Mineral Man, I told them about pinching a nerve in my upper back a few days ago and Kris suggested that I go to H-E-B to buy IcyHot's Smart Relief Tens Therapy for back pain therapy. "She told me, "It is a battery control unit with a reusable electrode pad, about the size of a small remote and it really works..."

So after our super fun lunch, we went straight, down the Junction Highway, to the big H-E-B, so I could buy this highly recommended product.

Then we came back home. After Tony carefully read the IcyHot package instructions he stood behind me and stuck it, to my upper back, and then he says, "Tell me when it hurts."

"What?!" I snap back. "It's not supposed to hurt. It's supposed to help. What are you doing back there?"

He started laughing and then he finally says, "It has 63 intensity levels. Tell me when you can feel it." A few seconds later, after he had kept pressing the "+" button, I felt it thumping away. It was like someone was gently tapping their fingers, on my back.

"Okay, I can feel it, Tony. That's enough." Tony chuckled and continued to press the "+" button a few more times, before he finally stopped. Then I went and laid down on our bed—face first, with our dogs snuggling up against me.

Thirty minutes later after the first session, it automatically shut-off the thumping therapy and believe it or not my back pain was totally gone! And as I finish writing this tonight, I am still feeling no pain. "Thank you, Kris! I love it!"

Y'all have a great evening!