Number 2!

Chalk another one up—today has been great! This morning when I was waking up I was having the darnedest dream about Marcie, Kinky's sweet, younger sister, so I decided to dream a little more of it so I could find out what happened, so I rolled over in bed and fell back to sleep with my dogs snuggling close to me, because they didn't want to get out of bed either.

In this crazy, weird dream that I was having Marcie, (who really does work for the State Department) had been assigned to Russia and for some reason I was going with her, but only for a month. I didn't want to go to Russia, because of Mrs. Reece, my sixth grade teacher who I was sure was a Communist spy for several reasons and also because I didn't want to leave Tony or be gone from the rescue ranch that long or fly the unfriendly skies.

Anyway, the next thing you know Marcie and I are at a ranch in Russia, standing on a mountain top and we are talking to a Russian rancher who was proudly showing us his Russian spread. It was a beautiful ranch, but the wannabe cowboy looked stupid because he was wearing one of those tall, furry helmets on his head, as he bragged about his large herd of imported Alpacas. Then out of nowhere he says to me in broken Texan, "Cousin Nancy, I want to marry ya. I read your blog. I love you and I will pay Tony some money, so I can marry ya." Marcie's eyes got real big and so did mine.

"Ya, right! Ya have got to be kidding me," I thought to myself. Then this Russian romancer rancher takes my hand and I woke up and got out of bed as the dogs flew off of the bed. I couldn't quit thinking about the silly dream and tried to figure out what it meant as I fed the dogs and started a load of laundry in Queen Bee. By the time Tone got home I had forgotten all about it—thank goodness.

After I cleaned up the breakfast dishes I sat down at the kitchen table and checked my e-mail. After answering eighteen I opened up the one from my friend Joni Daniel, the owner and publisher of Texas Animal Imprints magazine and it made me cry.

Joni had sent me a roughed out version of my column for the November/December issue with the artwork and I absolutely Loved It! It was so beautiful that I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming and it hurt. I quickly shot her back an e-mail thanking her for making my day great and told her how much I loved it. I can't wait for y'all to see and read it—it's my very first column!

After I made a couple of copies of it, I showed it to T. and he thought it looked fantastic, so I called Kinky and then went over to the Lodge to show it off to him and he was very impressed with it and he congratulated me on writing my very first column. We had a fun, but short visit and we mainly talked about how well Sophie Friedman was fitting in and I made Kinky laugh when I spoke for Sophie and said, "I love Uncle Chum and Uncle Brownie."

I was on Cloud Nine because of the column when I came home. I started to call Sandy and Jon to tell them the exciting news about it and then I changed my mind, because I wanted to check out my fasterpiece watercolor on eBay to see if there were anymore bids. I laughed out loud when I saw that there had been eleven bids and it was now up to $36.00 and the Wolfmuellers were the highest bidder! And, that's when I called Wolfmueller's Books to thank them and to tell them about my column in Texas Animal Imprints.

After Jon told me that he knew it was me, I told him about how excited I was with my first column and how beautiful the artwork looked and he was very happy for me. Then I changed the subject. "Jon, I can't believe that eleven people have already bid on my first watercolor fasterpiece and y'all are the top bidders and..."

"I know," Jon said. "Sandy and I like it. It reminds us of Grandma Moses. We want to buy it because the first paintings are the most valuable. You should paint another one and forget about..." After Jon and I discussed the possibility of me becoming an artist we said adios to each other and then the phone rang immediately—it was June, our super dog walking volunteer and I let Carlton take the call, because nature was calling me, so to speak.

When I returned to the big room I listened to June's message. "Nancy, this is June. There is going to be a drumming at the Yoga Place on October 17th and I really think that you will enjoy it. I am going to go to it and it is free and you can bring your own drum or borrow one of theirs...." By the time June finished her message I had decided to go to the drumming session with her. It will be perfect, because it will be my birthday and I love drumming! Thank you, June!

This afternoon after catching up and taking care of ranch business I decided to try and paint another watercolor fasterpiece. It ended up taking me an hour this time, because of a few pleasant interruptions. I made it a companion piece to the first one and have named it "Mountains to Remember" and I hope that you like it or at least it will make you laugh. Not to brag, but I am pretty proud of it even though it ain't great. Here are three pictures showing the progression of how I did it—starting with a blank page.

Once again, I have posted it up on eBay for auction, with fifty percent of the profit going to the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch and here is the number if you want to check it out 130440946734. And please note that the cat is fat—not pregnant.

Y'all have a great evening!

Loyce Lane!

This morning after I did my chores my morning started out exciting. On a scale of one to ten for excitement with ten being the highest, I would rate my morning surprise an eight and a half. The rest of my morning and early afternoon dropped down to a four and then around three-thirty it jumped back up to an eight and a half again.

With the dogs fed and the laundry washing in Queen Bee I poured myself a hot cup of Guayaki Yerba Mate organic tea and sat down at the kitchen table to check my e-mail. But before I checked it I decided to go to eBay to see if anyone had placed a bid on my first fasterpiece watercolor painting, "Canyon Of Forgetting" that only took me thirty minutes to paint, because I used my hair dryer to speed-dry the paint.

I laughed out loud and nearly fell out of my chair when I saw that my fasterpiece had already received five bids from three serious bidders and the selling price of five dollars that I had set the bidding price to start at, to help cover my shipping and handling costs had more than tripled! I couldn't believe it. We're talking $15.50.

As I continued to laugh, out of curiosity I thought about why anyone would want to buy a stupid Cousin Nancy watercolor fasterpiece, so I checked to see who had placed bids on it. The only bidder's name that I recognized were my good friends Sandy and Jon Wolfmueller of Wolfmuellers Books, which made me laugh even harder and that is when Tony walked inside the trailer and asked me what was so funny.

"It's official T.! I'm a starving artist! Three people have already..." I happily explained, as I showed him the status of my auction fasterpiece item on eBay. "This is so hilarious. I'm calling Wolfmuellers as soon as they open at nine.

"Wolmueller's Books," Jon said, at two minutes past nine, and I burst out laughing.

"Jon, this is Nancy."

"I know."

"I can't believe that y'all bid on my stupid-looking watercolor fasterpiece..." After we laughed about it I said, "If y'all win the auction I will hand deliver it to y'all to save the five dollars shipping and handling cost. Which means the rescue ranch will make a cool $7.75 and so will I. Not bad for thirty minutes of work. What are y'all going to do if you win it—hang it in the bathroom for laughs? I bet Cheryl and Walt Ratliff are going to be greatly relieved too that someone is buying it, because I told them that I was going to give it to them for a Christmas present if no one bought it which probably scared them..."

My day dropped down to a four on the scale of excitement when our phone conversation ended and I started taking care of business doing paperwork, returning phone calls and e-mails, etc.

Kinky called me around one o'clock to tell me that he had some visitors coming out and he wanted to know if we would be around and if it was okay for him to bring them over to meet us and see the rescue ranch.

At three-thirty Kinky and his guests arrived over here and he introduced us to Barry and Ann from Santa Barbara, California and then we got to gabbing. Within two minutes all of us were in the front yard of my writing cabin visiting with Lois Lane, because Ann and Barry were interested in adopting her. "Okay, y'all," I said. "I need for y'all to help me settle a bet that I made with Tony this morning. Isn't Lois Lane the name of Superman's girlfriend? Tony thinks her name is Loyce Lane not Lois." After everyone agreed with me that her name is Lois not Loyce we laughed and teased T. as Lois Lane hammed it up with Barry and Ann—she was working them, because she knew they were thinking about adopting her. She is such a cool dog.

My day shot back up to an eight and a half when Ann said, "We like Lois Lane and I think we want to adopt her. We are going to be in Texas for the next three weeks and I want to come back out to the rescue ranch and spend some time with her until we make a commitment."

"That's what I like to hear," Kinky said. "When you said, "make a commitment" that means that you're going to adopt her in my book." Fifteen minutes after playing with Lois Lane and telling the very nice couple about what a great dog she was I took Ann to meet Nellybelle, another one of our sweet Pit Bulls that she also liked.

Before they left to go with Kinky and Frank to Wolfmueller's Books and then out to eat I signed and gave Ann and Barry copies of my books. I really liked these people and feel almost certain that in a few weeks Lois Lane will be running up and down the beach in Santa Barbara with this super couple.

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday John Kemmerly!

Today is our dear friend John Kemmerly's birthday and I want to wish John the best birthday ever! Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday dear John. Happy Birthday to You!

Out of respect for John, I am not about to disclose his real age, but in dog years let's just say that John is approximately two years shy of being 7 years old in dog years. Happy Birthday, John! We love you and miss you! Please come see us when you can.

Happy 54th Birthday Karin Pohlmann—In Germany! You Rock!

Ruff Draft!

Today has been good and I hope that my 1st and probably last "fasterpiece" watercolor, Canyon of Forgetting, made all of you laugh as much as Tony and I have. This morning started out a little crazy. After I had walked six miles I got a phone call about one of our dogs that we adopted out a year ago was found in Austin and I want to thank my good friend, Ellen Cooper for helping me get the dog back to its owners.

Speaking of Ellen Cooper I want to also thank her and her husband Charlie for giving me that beautiful cactus, because this morning it bloomed and it is absolutely beautiful. I noticed it this morning while I was in Outer Space watering my plants. After telling Tony to come see it we took turns shooting it. Here are a few of my pictures.

Before coming inside I noticed a Daddy Long Legs, so I shot it, too. 

This afternoon we had a few visitors come out, but unfortunately no adoptions, because the people just wanted to take a tour of the rescue ranch, so I spent most of my day working on the story that I am writing for Texas Animal Imprints and my ruff (rough) draft looks pretty good I think. And that is about all that has happened today. I'm fixin' to make some popcorn and do a little reading.

Y'all have a great evening.

The Canyons Of Our Minds!

Today has been wonderful. This morning I received the sweetest e-mail from Jimmie and Nelda and it made my day. I honestly love these people as if y'all couldn't tell. Then I opened up an e-mail from my friend Joni Daniel, the publisher and editor of Texas Animal Imprints, the incredibly great magazine that I am so excited about writing a column for.

Joni had sent me some ad copy to approve that she had designed (I aka Undepressable Press is running an ad in the November / December issue for my new book Meanwhile Back At The Rescue Ranch: The Dog Days Of Cousin Nancy and I absolutely loved the way the ad looked. It was brilliant! So I immediately shot her an e-mail to tell her so. "Joni, I love it! It's absolutely perfect! You're the best graphic designer in Texas. I can't wait for everyone to see it and..."

Well, since the Dunns from DeQueen, Arkansas had already made my day—I decided that Joni's fantastic design of the ad will make my day tomorrow. All I have to do is look at it first thing in the morning and it will make my day, so I am looking forward to waking up tomorrow morning.

This afternoon after lunch Buttermilk took us to Kerrville to get dog food at H-E-B. After Tone loaded the dog food into the back of Buttermilk I said, "Tony, I want to go the craft store to buy some watercolor supplies. Is that okay?" He laughed as he started Buttermilk.

"Watercoloring?" T. asked. "Like in elementary school? I thought that you were going to write your column today for Joni's magazine."

"Well, I was, but I got writer's block and I need to do something different. Hopefully, I'll start writing it tomorrow. T. ever since Cheryl Ratliff gave me that book, Canyon of Remembering by Lesley Poling-Kempes—I can't put it down. It is a fantastic read and the jacket artwork by Bryce Burton is so beautiful I can't quit admiring it, so I want to give watercoloring a try."

"That's fine. I'll get a haircut at Snippers while you get your watercoloring supplies, okay?" Thirty minutes later after Tone's ears were lowered, he came into the craft store as I was about to check out. As the friendly cashier started ringing up the cash register I saw our friends Denise and Les walk into the store, so I half-hollered, "Hi Denise and Les! We meet again!" We laughed.

Denise and Les are our friends that we always run into when we are in Kerr town. Usually we run into them at the H-E-B, Walmart or Home Depot, so this was a first for us at the craft store. After hugs and a short, but fun visit we adios-ed them and headed home.

After we left Kerrville and passed the last Mini-Mart on the right, I pulled my sack full of art supplies from the back seat to check them out. "I got a deal on this boxed "Deluxe Art Set." It was originally $34.00, but it was on sale for $17.49." Then I started laughing as I stared at the wooden box in my lap. "It says it is for ages 6 and up!" Tony started laughing. "And it has a choking warning too, Small parts. Not for children under 3 years! I guess I'm safe."

Then I showed him the brushes and the paper that I had bought, which were pretty expensive, as we went up the mountain pass.

Before turning off of 16, we went to the mailbox to get our mail. Besides bills and junk mail, there was a tube package sent from our friends, Mary and Roger Peach in Wichita, Kansas. They are the ones who bought Kinky's broken electric typewriter, the one with the dysfunctional F key. 

When we got home Tony opened up the tube and pulled this out. Their note read: "Roger made this for Mr. Rogers and the patent is pending. Hopefully, Mr. Rogers won't eat it in half like he has the other leashes. Love, Mary and Roger."

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Tony and I laughed at Roger's genius invention and we hope it works, because Mr. Rogers can eat a leash in half faster than any dog that we have ever had. We plan to try it out tomorrow. And, I love the rainbow colored"Woofstock" leash. Thank you, Mary and Roger! Come see us.

This evening, when Tony went fishing, I decided to watercolor even though I don't know how and in less than thirty minutes I had painted my first watercolor and it was a total disaster. I used the jacket artwork by Bryce Burton as a model and I apologize to you, Bryce. You're an extremely talented artist and I'm not. The proof is in the painting.

When T. came home I lied, in a serious voice, trying not to laugh, "Tony! Come look at what I painted! I am so proud of this!" Tony came over and took a look. I could tell that he was trying not to laugh as much as I was.

"It's good. I like it, Nance," he lied. And, that's one of the reasons that I love him so much.

All I could think of was "God bless you, Tony—you big fat liar. Pants on fire..." Here's Bryce Burton's beautiful artwork for the book Canyon of Remembering that inspired me—followed by my sorry attempt, Canyon of Forgetting to be an artist. I hope my so-called art makes you laugh as much as it has made me laugh!

 

And here is my goofy thirty-minute watercoloring. That I've signed and titled it the, Canyon Of Forgetting. I think my black cat's tail could be mistaken for his leg, so I guess maybe he could be a Manx.

Tomorrow I plan to write my column for Joni and then create another "fasterpiece" by Cousin Nancy. As a joke I have just put Canyon Of Forgetting up on eBay for auction for $5.00 to cover the shipping costs—with half of the money going to the rescue ranch. The item number is 130438156784 and I hope that you will check it out. Happy bidding!

Y'all have a great evening! I'm going to bed. Good night and sweet dreams.

Meet Sophie Friedman!

Today has been good. This morning while I was walking with Leslie the phone rang and I let Carlton take the call—it was my sister Cindy. "Hey, Nance. I was just calling you back. Thanks for calling me yesterday to remind me it was Nita's birthday. Call me. Bye."

As soon as I heard Cindy's words I realized that I had forgotten to call Nita last night to wish her a happy birthday, because I was blogging. I felt terrible for forgetting, but I kept on walking.

When I was done walking the walk I picked up the phone and punched in Cindy's phone number in Austin. "Hi, Cindy."

"Hi, Nance," my sweet sister said. "I had called earlier to thank you for reminding me about Nita's birthday. For two days I have been reminding myself her birthday was coming up and I even asked Ray to be sure to remind me so I wouldn't forget. If you hadn't called to remind me I would have forgotten." I started laughing.

"I forgot to call her," I said, and then we started laughing. "All day yesterday I kept reminding my myself to call Nita when she got home from work and I had even posted happy birthday wishes to her on my blog yesterday afternoon. Then last night I started blogging and I totally forgot about it. I feel terrible about it and I can't believe that I forgot. And I don't have anything to blame it on except that I'm old. Surely Nita will understand since she's two weeks and a few days older than me. Who knows—maybe she's already forgotten about it..."

I spent the rest of my morning doing paperwork and returning phone calls and then I fixed lunch for Tony and me and then we went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky. Then we came home and I plowed into my paperwork.

Around two o'clock Buttermilk took Tone and me to Medina so I could mail out some letters and go the Medina Community Library to check out their Medina wall of 2010 Medina women, because I was one of the women on that wall.

I love the Medina Community Library. The staff and volunteers are friendly and helpful and the library has really good vibes. Every time that I go into the library—everyone is always smiling—my kind of place to say the least.

After saying hello to the staff and volunteers Tony followed me to the room where the exhibit was and we found it to be very interesting. As I was reading about the women Tony said, "Here's your picture over here, so I went over and took a picture of part of the wall. When I saw it I felt honored to be among some great Medina women. Mine is the last on the right.

Early this evening Tony and I were over at the Lodge visiting with Frank and Kinky. "Have you put up pictures of Sophie on your blog or Tone's Facebook?" Kinky asked. "Everyone is bugging me about wanting to see pictures of her." Tony and I pulled out our cameras and shot Sophie.

Tonight I have a lot of writing to do, so I am dedicating tonight's blog to Sophie Friedman. Even though Brownie is still number one and Chumley is number two and Sophie is number three. Here are some of my pictures that I took of Ms. Friedman this evening sitting with Kinky on the back porch. She's a real sweetie.

P.S. I am happy to say that Nelda and Jimmie Dunn had a safe trip and are back in DeQueen, Arkansas and we already miss them! And I hope that Ellen, Eileen and June have fun kayaking the Guadalupe tomorrow—my thoughts will be with y'all while I'm doing paperwork. 

Y'all have a great evening!