Made In America!

Yesterday, I walked eight miles and then I spent the majority of my day—taking care of business and I got a lot of work done. Even though, I still had more to do, I called it a day around four o'clock, because I was tired of typing and talking on the phone and I needed a break from it all—and that's exactly what I got. 

Around five o'clock, Carol and James, our good friends and neighbors, came over for a visit. You know how it feels when some people walk into a room and make you feel great and then there are the others that make you feel great when they leave a room, well, Carol and James are the kind of people who make you feel great the second that you see them and you never want them to leave.

The minute they walked inside our trailer we had so much to tell each other—we never stopped talking, except when we were laughing and there was much of that. After Carol had thanked me for loaning her   the book, Canyons To Remember she told me how much she had loved reading it too, so we talked about that great book for several minutes, while James and Tony talked about the weather.

After we had caught up with each other's news, Carol and James started telling us about their new corral that they are building to work their horses, Maya and Chance aka Big Daddy. "We ordered over 1,200 feet of steel pipe for it and guess what?" Carol said, excitedly. "Yesterday, James taught me how to weld! I'm a welder!" And that is when I turned totally green with envy.

"OMG! That is way too cool, Carol!" I said. "I've always wanted to know how to weld. In fact, I have been thinking about signing up for that Club Ed welding class."

"You don't have to, because James can teach you," Carol said. "It's really not that hard to do and James is a great teacher." Carol said, as James smiled at me. "We bought a plasma cutter, too and it is so neat and James can show you how to use it too..." By the time we had finished talking about welding and their new plasma cutter—it looks like I will be a welder before this week is out and I am so excited about it.

Then I told them about a conversation that I had with a dear friend the other day. "She told me that she is trying to only buy "Made In America" products to help our country get back on its feet, but she said it was really difficult, because just about everything we consume is being made in China and third world countries. So, the other day when Tony and I went shopping we decided to make it a game to see who could find the most "Made In America" products—and it was really shocking and depressing and a real eye-opener for us. We found nothing "Made In America!" Every time we looked at a garment or a well known U.S name brand—it was made in China or some other country. The Levi Strauss jeans that I am wearing were made in Haiti and this sweatshirt that I bought from J. C. Penney was made in Thailand..."

After I finally got off of my soap box, Carol said, "I bet your new Justin Gypsy Boots are Made In America." When we looked inside my beautiful, pink Justin Gypsy boots, that I love so much, the label read: "Leather Upper Balance Man Made Materials Made In China!"

After I finally got off of my soap box for the second time, we changed the subject and had a really fun visit. Before dark—we hated to see Carol and James leave. 

Today has been quiet, which is good, because I caught up with all of my paperwork. This afternoon I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky. "Maude is so sweet. She is doing great and she has really fit in well with our older dogs. But, she has bonded with Tony. She loves him and sleeps in his chair when he is outside working and she follows him everywhere he goes." Kinky smiled and then laughed.

"Maude is a real sweetheart," Kinky said. "Just like my Sophie is..." Then he bent down and petted her gently on the head. Then I told Kink about fixin' to learn how to weld from James and he thought it was cool, too. An hour later I came home.

Y'all have a great evening!

And Then Came Maude!

Sunday afternoon a little before two o'clock, Tony dropped me off at The Yoga Space, so I could drum to my hearts content in their Drumming Circle, while he went and ran some errands and took pictures. When I walked into The Yoga Space, the vibes were great, just like the time before, and I was greeted by the friendly staff and people who could not wait to start pounding on the drums.

After removing my pink boots in the entry way, I quickly found my favorite drum and as I was sitting down in a chair I heard a familiar voice say, "This is my first time to here and I can tell by the pink boots on the floor, that Cousin Nancy is already here."

"Hi, Eileen!" I half-hollored. Eileen waved to me and then she came over to where I was sitting and asked me which drum she should use. "Get the one like mine. They are the prettiest." Eileen set her purse down next to mine and then she went and grabbed my drum's twin and then she came back and sat down next to me and the drumming commenced!

Jeffrey Rector, our talented drumming circle facilitator, who is a lifetime musician, with really good vibes and who has in the past facilitated hundreds of drum circles over the past four years, had us smiling and grinning as we beat our drums to a different beat. And within a matter of minutes he had our drumming circle of strangers, become one and in sync with all of the thirteen drummers present. It was absolutely incredible how he did it and it was a total blast for me! To say the least, "We sounded good!"

An hour and a half later, when the drumming circle ended, Eileen told me that she really enjoyed it and then Jeffrey asked me, "Why didn't Tony come today?"

Being caught off guard, I smiled at him and said, "Well, Tone is a Country Boy, if you know what I mean? He grew up in Medina and he only listens to country music. He beats to a different drummer, so to speak. He enjoyed your last class, but he only came to it because it was my birthday." Jeffrey understood and we laughed. "By the way, since you teach music at the elementary school, over in Comfort—do you know Dylan? He's a good friend of mine and Kinky's and he teaches in Comfort. I love him and Sage."

The young, red-headed instructor grinned. "Yes, I know Dylan Ferrero. I was going to ask you if you knew him. He is a great guy..." After a fun visit I went outside to find Tony, but he was nowhere to be found, so I called him on my cell phone.

"Tony, where are you? The class just ended and was so much fun. I'm cold."

"I'm sorry, Babe. I just lost track of time. I'm in the park taking pictures and I will be there in four minutes. Bye." Five minutes later Tony picked me up on the corner of Earl Garrett and Main, and then we went to H-E-B to get groceries and then we came home.

This morning, the only thing that I could think about while I walked eight more miles with Leslie Sansone and her crew, was whether or not to get rid of my Direct TV receiver and never watch TV again. An hour and thirty-six minutes later I had finally made up my mind—I'm keeping it, because of "Men Of A Certain Age." I love that show so much, that airs on TNT tonight with their new season premier, at nine o'clock and I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Late this afternoon T. and I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky, because he has been out of town for several days and we needed to catch up with each others news. While Tone was outside talking to Frank, while he fixed his car, Kinky and I talked in the kitchen about Zeus and Mabel.

After we discussed Zeus, we talked about Mabel, the sweet, little, black, ten to twelve year old dog, that came with Buddy, the goat. "I love Maude—I mean, Mabel," I said. "I'm sorry I can't quit calling her Maude for some reason..." After Kinky and I talked about her and a few business matters Tony and I climbed into Buttermilk and headed home.

"Tone, I want to bring Maude, I mean Mabel into our house. She is old and alone and I'm sure that she will get along fine with our other old dogs, Hank, Toto, Little Girl and Thunder. What's one more? Mama and Abbie will never know she's here, since we keep them separate from the old ones. And, I am going to change her name to Maude. For some reason I keep calling her Maude not Mabel and..."

When we drove up to Mabel, in the puppy pen, Buttermilk stopped and T. got out and went into her pen and picked her up. Then I opened the car door and he put her into my arms. "Mabel, we want you to live with us, okay?" I said, as I petted her and as Tone closed the gate to the puppy pen. "But, I am going to rename you and call you Maude, if that is okay with you, because you look like a Maude to me and..."

After we put Maude in our front yard, T. let out our four Golden Oldies outside to meet her and it was a very friendly meeting. Ten minutes later, our old dogs walked up the ramp to our trailer to come inside and then came Maude Parker-Simons right behind them, with her stub-of-a-tail wagging. "We've got a new dog, Tone! Welcome home, Maude. We love you and..."

When we came inside, Carlton was flashing, so I pushed the play button. "Tony and Nancy, this is Carol. I just wanted to let you know that I just finished reading Canyons To Remember and I loved it! Thank you, for loaning the book to me...Can James and I come over tomorrow for a visit?" I picked up the phone and punched in Carol and James' phone number and it looks like our good friends are coming over tomorrow afternoon for a fun visit and I can't wait to see them.

I've got to go watch Men Of A Certain Age!

Y'all have a great evening!

In The Spirit!

Reader Beware! This is a long one, but I promise to write a short one tomorrow night, because I am going to another Drumming Circle at The Yoga Space tomorrow afternoon and I also have to start writing my second column for Texas Animal Imprints magazine!

Today has been one fun and exciting day. The Boy Scouts of America, Pack #135 came out and we rescued Zeus!

This morning I got up real early and did my morning chores, so I could walk another twelve miles, but my body said, "No. It ain't happening. Not today." So, instead of walking, I did some paperwork before going outside to meet nine of the coolest Boy Scouts in Texas. When they arrived I first introduced myself to their smiling faces and then I asked each Boy Scout to tell me their names.

After I met Josh, George, Kameron, Ben, Darren, Ian, William, Garyn and Kash (And their names are not misspelled.) I gave them a tour of our rescue ranch and our dogs enjoyed meeting the cute kids as much as the scouts did. We ended the tour at the pigpen and the boys could not wait to go inside and pet our precious pigs, so we went inside. It was a lot of fun watching some of the boys pet a pig for their very first time.

When the pig petting was done we took our dogs for a long walk to Wallace Creek and everyone seemed to enjoy it as much as I did. Before the Boy Scouts loaded up in the vehicles, to go home I said, "I want to thank all of y'all for coming out today to walk our dogs. And, I want you to know that you did a great job and we would love for you to come back. We thank you and our dogs thank you. Troop 135 Rocks!"

Around two-thirty Tony took off for Medina to buy some feed and while he was gone, the dogs started barking outside to let me know that Zeus was here! So, I went outside and waved at the fancy, black SUV, and then I took off to go meet Zeus, who had arrived on time as planned!

When I reached the vehicle I looked inside and melted the second I looked into Zeus's beautiful eyes. Then a nice, teary-eyed, older woman got out of her car to talk to me before leaving Zeus, a very sweet, nine-year-old Pit Bull, in our care.

Zeus looked pretty stressed-out inside the car as the woman gave me Zeus' medical papers, his bed and blanket and some dog food. Then I jumped into Kermit and they followed me in her car, down to the large puppy pen next to Ruth Buzzi and Chuck Norris. "Until Tony gets back from town we need to put Zeus in here." I explained. "We want Zeus to be pen mates with Lois Lane, down there in the big pen by our trailer, but first Tony and I have to take them on a long walk to make sure they like each other."

After the woman said goodbye to Zeus, she thanked me and then promised me that she was going to try really hard to find him a home, because he was such a great dog. "Please call me first, if anyone wants to adopt him, because I will see if we can take him back. As soon as my friend gets back to the U.S. I think that she might adopt Zeus, because he has stayed with her a few times and she loves him. He is a great dog."

As she drove away, I watched Zeus' heartbreak as he stared quizically after her car—it broke my heart, too and made me tear up. "Don't worry old boy," I said, as he stared down the road, towards the ranch's gate entrance. "Everything is going to be okay. I promise you that and Zeus..." As I walked back to the trailer I wondered if Zeus had heard or understood anything that I had said to him.

When T. got back home we went to see Zeus. Of couse, Zeus looked sad, but he wagged his tail at us, like he was glad to see us. Tony then went inside the puppy pen and talked to this handsome, magnificent homeless dog as he petted him and again, I teared up.

When we left Zeus, we decided that it was best for Zeus to stay in the puppy pen until tomorrow, so we could take him and Super Man's girlfriend for a longer walk and also because we would have all day tomorrow to be outside to watch them interact together to make sure they were meant to be best friends.

A little before dark, I went outside and Kermit took me down to Zeus' pen. "Hey, buddy. I brought you a special treat, since you missed out on our Thanksgiving dinner for the dogs. Do you like turkey, Zeus?" Zeus said, nothing, but I could tell by how fast his tail was wagging that he loved white turkey meat, so I opened up a baggie full of white meat and then began feeding him some of Tony's and my leftover turkey. Needless to say—Zeus gobbled it all up and that made me feel a lot better.

This evening Tony and I went into Outer Space for Happy Hour and we had a blast, because of our custom made, talking Christmas tree with the flashing lights! Which leads me to ask this question: Guess who has the coolest Christmas Tree in the Universe? And the answer is: We do! And yes, I am bragging—thanks to our great friends Cheryl and Walt!

Yesterday, just as T. and I were fixin' to go to Medina and Kerrville to run errands, we had a surprise visit from Cheryl and Walt. After howdy's and hugs they told us that they had some Christmas gifts for us and then Walt opened their car's rear hatch and pulled out something big, that was covered up by a black plastic bag—"We hope that you like it," Cheryl said. "Walt and I made you a custom Christmas tree for Outer Space!" Then Walt quickly removed the plastic cover and Tone's and my jaw dropped at what we saw. I was speechless for a few seconds, for one of the very first times in over fifty-nine years.

"OMG!" were my first words. "It is absolutely beautiful! I love it. Y'all made this for us?"

"Yes, because we love y'all," Cheryl said, as she pulled out a gigantic gift bag. "And this is for y'all, too. It is not much—just a few more presents and the tree ornament boxes that we bought from a Hallmark store. We hope you like it."

For the second time, within a minute, I was speechless again, because I was thinking, "Not much? That pretty, gigantic gift sack is so full—T. and I could take it to the mountains and live in it."

 After Tony took the "Coolest Christmas Tree In The Galaxy" into Outer Space, we had a short, but fun visit with Walt and Cheryl. Unfortunately, because time was of the essence, I apologized to them for us having to take off and then I thanked them for the gift filled sack and told them that we would open up their presents when we got back home.

Right before they left I noticed Cheryl's pretty boots that she was wearing. "Cheryl, I love your boots. Are those Justin Gypsy boots?"

"Yes, I love them!" Cheryl said, as she lifted up her jeans to show me the blue tops. "They are the most comfortable boots that I have ever worn and I got them because of you and your pink boots." The four of us started laughing.

"They are so beautiful. I love the color!" I said. "Tone, I want a pair just like these for Christmas. Okay?" Walt looked over at T. and they started laughing and then Cheryl and I burst out laughing. Before Cheryl climbed into their car to leave, I said, "Cheryl, thank you and Walt so much. I want you to know that y'all have just made my day and put me in the spirit of Christmas. After goodbyes and hugs they drove away and so did we.

After running several errands in Medina and then in Kerrville, we went to H-E-B for gas and groceries. Tony let me out at the front door, so he could go fill up Buttermilk. As I started to enter the grocery store with my empty shopping cart I was startled when a grocery cart suddenly, but softly cut me off and when I looked up I saw it was our good friend Steve from Bandera. "I'm sorry, Cousin Nancy. When I saw you, I just had to do it." Steve said, and then we started laughing and caught up with each others news. Within the next fifteen minutes, I ran into our good friend and neighbor, Don Dickerson and we had a nice visit, and then minutes later I ran into our friend Cindy Flores and I had short, but fun visit with her.

As I was cruising down isle nine I heard a friendly voice say, "Hey, Cousin Nancy!" It was D&D aka David and Desiree Farrar, our good friends that adopted our wild soccer playing wild hog—David Beckham and who own and operate Kerrville's popular B&B cabins—The Trails End Guest House!

I love Desiree and David, so I quickly pulled my cart over to the side and parked it next to their shopping cart and we started visiting. Within seconds the three of us were laughing so loudly, people began staring at us, as we caught up with each others latest news. At one point during our more than fun conversation, David gave me his latest Beckham update. He told me a heartwarming story about the adorable, little, orange and black colored, wild hog that we rescued years ago—who now weighs over seven-hundred pounds. The story nearly made me tear up and I am going to ask David to write down the story, so I can share it with y'all.

Before goodbyes and hugs David told me about his upcoming hands-on cooking classes to be held on the last three Saturdays in January. I was so excited to hear about it, I pulled out my checkbook and immediately signed up right then and there, because this guy can sure cook. "I know that Tony is going to be upset with me for taking off and being gone on three Saturdays in a row, when we have our Open House at the rescue ranch, but I know that he will be glad that I did, because he'll eat it up. I can't wait!"

After we left H-E-B, we went to Hoegemeyers to pick up P&P (Pilgrim and Pumpkin) and as we were leaving the clinic—Peggy, the other half of P&P walked into the clinic wearing a big smile on her face. After hugs and a short visit she told us that she was there to pick up Smelly Cat and we started laughing. "We sure enjoyed y'all's visit the other day and please tell Patty that we already miss her and we can't wait for her to move here," I said, before we walked out of the clinic with two happy spayed and neutered dogs in our crate.

When we got home I checked my e-mail and smiled and then I laughed out loud when I read Ellen Jackson's sweet, but funny note. I love her sense of humor.

"Hey, Nancy and Tony,
The Kerrville crew wants to underwrite Christmas dinner for all the little pen pals at the rescue ranch. We don't want Canada to get ahead of us. We would like to come help serve, too.
Ellen, June and Eileen"

I love Ellen, June and Eileen and I think that it is so awesome for them to offer to help us out again. I seriously don't know what our rescue ranch would do without these three dedicated women. I wrote Ellen back and told her how much we would love for them to underwrite our dog's Christmas dinner and help us serve the dogs on Christmas day and how much fun it will be having them here with us on Christmas day and that it would make our Christmas. Thus begins "The Texas vs. Canada Friendly-Food-Fight!" And the cool part is everybody wins! I love it. Thank y'all so much!


After I got off of the computer Tony and I opened our many presents from Cheryl and Walt and we were thrilled with their thoughtful gifts. Besides getting their beautifully, custom decorated Christmas tree they gave us a halogen colored wheel light projector for our tree, some pretty holiday dish towels, a gorgous chili wreath, a big box of gourmet, holiday doggie treats, boxes of healthy Celestial teas, pinion pine incense, which is my favorite incense, along with the empty Hallmark ornament boxes to store the ornaments in.

The ornaments that adorn our tree are so precious and perfect for Outer Space. The ones that they picked out for our tree are Hallmark's "Marvin the Martian," Buzz, "Light Year," "Starship Christmas," "E.T. the Extra Terrestial," "Robot Parade," "Magic," "Delta Flyer" and "The Jetsons!" Thank you, Cheryl and Walt! We love them and y'all, and I can't wait to show our spaced-out-tree to Kinky!

Early this evening I took this picture of their gifts by the beautiful Christmas tree.

When it got nearly dark outside I took this picture of our lovely Christmas tree with it's talking and flashing lights Christmas ornaments, before we came inside from Happy Hour. Isn't it out of this world! 

P.S. I forgot to tell you that Cheryl and Walt loved my new teeth and so did Desiree and David! And it made me smile.

Y'all have a great evening!

The Great Texas vs. Canada Friendly-Food-Fight!

Today has been incredibly great and full of nice surprises and friends! I can't wait to tell it all, but because  I am pretty wore out tonight, because of all of the things that we got done today and there is so much to tell, and because I still have to walk four more miles to complete my 12 miles walked today, I want to write about it tomorrow when I am rested and have much more time, so I won't leave anything out.

Tomorrow night you will find out who came out and surprised us and totally put me in the Christmas spirit, who all I ran into at H-E-B, the Kerrville's mystery man's cooking classes in January that I have already signed up for, which P of the famous P&P team that we ran into at Hoegemeyers Animal Clinic today when we picked up our newly rescued P&P's, "The Great Texas vs. Canada Friendly-Food-Fight," this weekend's two day apple-shoot-out, who just bought some really cool-looking Justin Gypsy Ropers and much, much more.

I don't know why all of this great stuff is suddenly happening to us and all of our great friends, but I must say, "I like it!" It has totally been one amazing day to say the least. I need to go walk now and then go to bed early, because we have some Boy Scouts coming out in the morning to walk our dogs and help us.

Y'all have a great evening!

Mari Called!

Today has been a lot of fun thanks to our good friends Jon Wolfmueller and Mari, the famous member of the best dog agility training team in Texas—The NoMads.

This morning I walked eight miles with Sansone and then I went outside and helped Marvin, our newest super volunteer—pick up dog poop, while Tony fed all of the dogs. Before Marvin left he thanked me for loaning him my copy of the book, Farewell, My Subaru by Doug Fine. Like me, he thought it was a fun read and filled with good information about "going-green."

After Marvin left I came inside the trailer to check my e-mail. Mari had sent me an "e" about wanting to meet up with us in Kerrville today, so she could loan me her copy of the movie "lovely, still" starring Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn—two of my favorite actors. So, we decided to meet at Wolfmueller's Books at two o'clock for the exchange.

We left the rescue ranch at one o'clock with two copies of the November / December issue of Texas Animal Imprints magazine, so I could give one to the Wolfmuellers and one to Mari. As we crossed the Echo Hill cattle guard— Pumpkin and Pilgrim began howling loudly in the back seat, because they did not want to get spayed and neutered and their shots.

The friendly staff at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic instantly fell in love with P&P, but "the terriers" were not exactly happy to see us leave the clinic at ten minutes till two.

When T. and I walked into Wolfmueller's crowded bookstore, Jon greeted us and then said, "Mari called. She will be here in just a few minutes." Then I gave him a copy of Texas Animal Imprints and we talked about it. "Nancy, this is one good looking magazine," he said, as he thumbed through it. "Why don't y'all sit down, so we can visit."

In no time flat, we were laughing in our chairs, as we shared our latest news. Then Jon left us and took off. Seconds later he returned with a book, "Nancy, Sandy just got this cookbook in yesterday and we think that you are going to love it..."

The second that I saw the book I said, "I want to buy it." After paying Jon for it, I sat down and started checking out the cool recipes and then Mari walked in. "Hi, Mari! It is so good to see you." After greetings, she handed me one of her favorite feel-good movies—"lovely, still."

"I promise that you are going to love this movie. It was a sleeper," Mari said, and then we discussed the movie. Minutes later our conversation turned to our favorite recipes in the Easy Soup Recipes. "My favorite recipe so far is "The Blue Norther Winner," Mari said. 

"It's our favorite, too," I said. "And it is so easy to make."

"I know," Mari said. "Today, my brother-in-law Danny and four of his work crew were over at the ranch, so I fixed them the "The Blue Norther Winner" on page 131 and they went crazy over it and they each ate three servings of it! There was nothing left! It was amazing to me. In fact, Danny was so impressed with the delicious meal, that I had to promise him that I would get his wife a copy of the cookbook. Jon, I need to buy two more copies of it. I love that cookbook."

"You can't," John said, with a laugh, which caused a chain reaction of laughter. "We're out, again, thanks to Cousin Nancy's blog, but Sandy has some more ordered and they should be here by tomorrow." Then I noticed Mari staring at the book in my hand.

"Mari, I just bought this cookbook and you are going to love this one, too!" I said, as I showed it to her. Then we started thumbing through the pages to look at the pictures and the recipes.

"Jon, I want to buy this one, too," Mari said. John started laughing.

"You can't." Jon said, again. "Nancy just bought the only copy that we have, but we can order you one." And then our laughter filled the crowded bookstore, as my back began to ache from laughing too much.

"I knew it!" Mari declared, as we chuckled non-stop. "Nancy, I am going to go broke keeping up with your daily blog recommendations!" She joked. "Seriously, I just mailed out a check for a subscription to Texas Animal Imprints magazine, because of you." Jon, Tony and I couldn't quit laughing as Mari, who I think is "The Funniest Woman In Texas," jokingly told us about how much she has spent buying the things I like.

"Maybe you can write them all off?" I teased, as Jon went to the counter to check out another happy customer who found another rare book. "Maybe like a living expense or something like..."

"Nance, we need to leave and get back to the ranch," Tone said, as he stood up. Even though he was right, I hated to leave our good friends, Jon and Mari, but he was right—we needed to get back to the ranch, so we took off.

On our way home I couldn't quit reading my new, fabulous cookbook, which Mari doesn't have, yet. Sorry, Mari. I promise that you will love it when you get it!  : ) 

When we got home I decided to walk another four miles with Leslie Sansone, but Tone didn't think it was a good idea, so I had to explain it to him. "T., if I walk twelve miles today and twelve miles tomorrow and the next day—I will be caught up. It is no big deal," I said, as Leslie's four mile tape began. As I started walking in place, Tony went outside to check on our dogs.

Today, I have walked twelve miles. The miles that I have officially walked this year so far is 1,646 miles and I only have to walk 179 more miles before the New Year and I know I can do it.

Before I go watch Mari's favorite movie "lovely, still" I have one last thing to share. Today on Yahoo they have posted the 100 Top Most Popular Baby Names for this year and unfortunately, Kinky's, Tony's and Cousin Nancy did not make the list. How sad. I wonder why?

P.S. Tomorrow morning James Dean, our precious little Chihuahua is getting adopted!

Y'all have a great evening!

Feel Good!

As I begin to write this, Phoebe Snow is singing "Poetry Man," on Bozo, my iPod's Bose docking system. Salty Dog, my Himalayan salt lamp, is glowing and a fake fire is pretending to burn in Old Smokey, our electric, faux wood burning stove and here is a picture that I just took of them. It's cozy and I like that.

Years ago, Tony and I bought Old Smokey, because we love wood burning fireplaces and also because  fire is a four-letter word to people who live in old trailers—they don't mix well. 

Johnny Rivers is now singing "Maybelline" and my foot won't quit tapping, next to Thunder's head, who is sound asleep. Now that the mood is set and perfect for me, I am ready to tell you about my incredibly, wonderful day.

This morning I got up real early and did my chores, because I had to walk eight miles with Leslie, because I have fallen way behind on my walking schedule, because of taking so much time off for my dental work, holidays etc. 

So far, as of today I have officially walked 1,634 miles since January 1, 2010, which is great, but not good, because I am 36 miles behind and have to make it up this month so I can reach my goal of 1,825 miles walked this year with Leslie.  

I figure if I walk eight miles for the next ten days straight—I will be able to accomplish my New Year's resolution easily. 

After walking the walk I sat down at the kitchen table with a hot cup of Yerba Mate tea and checked my e-mails. And the one that I got from our friend Kim Galusha literally made my day! Kim wrote that she and Joe King Carrasco, the "King of Tex-Mex Rock & Roll," who did a benefit for our rescue ranch in 2008, at the Ruta Maya in Austin, have put together a fantastic CD of that night's concert, and they want to give 50% of the sells of the CD to Utopia! Talk about two nice people—we love them! And, when I told Kinky about Kim's news, he was as thrilled as we were. Thank you, Kim and Joe King Carrasco!

Well, I didn't think my day could get any better, but it did—real quick—when the snail mail arrived! "There here, Nance. Joni Daniel has sent you some extra copies of Texas Animal Imprints." T. said, as he handed me her stuffed envelope, which I ripped open, because I could not wait to see my very first magazine column that I had written—in PRINT!

"Look, Tony!" I half-hollered, with excitement. "Here it is! OMG! I love the way it looks and look at the beautiful, photo collage that Mary Chavoustie did and they gave you credit for your photos, too!" Tone looked. "I love it. Thanks to Joni, I'm now a "magazine columnist" and you're a "professional photographer" with your photos in a magazine, calendar and books!..."

After I had settled down, I read the magazine from front to cover and I totally enjoyed reading all of the stories—especially the one that my friend Connie Strong wrote about our rescue ranch, titled "Life On This Side Of The Rainbow Bridge." Thank you so much, Connie—Kinky, Tony and I loved it! You are an incredibly talented writer and I teared up when I read your column about us.

When I was done reading, I picked up the phone and called Joni to thank her for sending me the copies, so I could  send them to friends. "Joni, the magazine looks beautiful and I love what Mary did and..." Before ending our conversation I told her that I was going to blog about it tonight and then I thanked her again and said,  "The cover of the magazine is absolutely beautiful and I'm going to plug your magazine, too. It is the least that I can do to thank you." 

This is the picture that I took of the cover, but unfortunately Flash Gordon, my flash on my Sony camera, decided it wanted to become a part of the beautiful cover (near the bottom) and I also accidentally chopped off the top part and sides of Texas Animal Imprints—sorry Joni. Please tell Mary Chavoustie that I didn't give it the justice that it was due, but it is still beautiful.

Anyone who would like to buy a subscription to this "feel good" bi-monthly magazine that celebrates animals and nature, please send a check or money order for $12.50 payable to :

Texas Animal Imprints

2305 S. Day Street #234

Brenham, TX 77833 

I hope that all of y'all will buy a subscription to Texas Animal Imprints to show your support for my new column, and this magnificent magazine. And, I promise that you that you will be glad that you did, because everyone at Texas Animal Imprints Truly Rocks! And, so do Joe King Carrasco and Kim Galusha! I love y'all so much!

Y'all have a great evening!

Peggy Has A Poop Problem!

Last night after I posted my blog I sat down and watched Hallmark's new holiday movie, "Christmas In November" and I loved it. Sam Elliott starred in it, who I think is one of the sexiest men on the planet, and his performance was outstanding. Even though I teared up several times while watching it—the surprise ending blew me out of my saddle. And, I plan to go to the Hallmark store in Kerrville tomorrow and buy a copy of it.

After the movie ended I channel surfed and found myself getting a little depressed, because there are so few television shows on anymore that are happy or are about love, so I am now seriously considering turning in my Direct TV receiver and just watch my collection of upbeat, romantic movies or comedies. Why should I pay for two hundred channels that I would never watch, because they are either depressing or filled with violence. This morning I talked to Tony about it during our breakfast.

"Tony, it is fine with me to keep your receiver, so you can watch your sports shows, but I am going to return my receiver, because..."

"Before you do that, why don't you try turning the television off for a few days, to make sure you can do without it?" Tone suggested. "Your favorite show "Men Of A Certain Age" new season starts next Monday night and you love watching the Weather Channel and The Wonder Years,  The Golden Girls and..." When he was done talking, I decided to rethink my decision some more.

This morning when I went outside to help T. clean the dog pens I was nicely surprised to see Marvin here. "Howdy, Marvin!" I half-hollered, because he was busy cleaning Hank's and Lois Lane's pen. "Thank you, for coming out!..." Then I grabbed a yellow colored bucket and the pooper-scooper from the back end of Kermit and then I started cleaning up dog pens as Tony fed the dogs.

Around two o'clock as planned, June, one of our great volunteers, showed up with her nice friends Ron and Mary, from Mason, who were thinking about adopting a dog from us. So, after introductions June, Tony and I gave them a tour of the rescue ranch and introduced them to all of our dogs.

When the tour was over Ron and Mary, who I really liked, had narrowed down their choices to Hank, Lucy and Gracie—all three super, great dogs. And, guess who got adopted—Hank! June, Tony and I were thrilled for him and we couldn't quit telling Mary and Ron what a great dog Hank was and how much we loved him! After Ron signed Hank's adoption papers, we shook hands with June's super friends and then I kissed Hank goodbye and wished him luck with his new forever home and then our good friends P&P showed up!

Because I was starting to tear up, because I loved Hank so much and knew that I would miss him terribly, but at the same time feeling happy for him to have found such a great home, I starting walking off towards the trailer to greet Peggy and Patty and half-hollered back, "Thank you, June! It was nice meeting you, Mary and Ron, and thank y'all so much for adopting Hank!"

By the time I reached the trailer I was okay. "Howdy, Patty and Peggy! Thank y'all so much for coming out. I am so glad to see y'all. How in the world have y'all been?" Then we went into Outer Space, so we could have a hen party before Tony joined us.

At one point during our fun conversation Peggy tells me about her old, gray cat dying and then a few days later, a little, young stray, gray colored cat appearing on her and her husband's doorstep. "I named him Smokey, but I should have named him Smelly Cat, because after my husband, Patty's Dad, went back into the hospital, he started pooping all over our house. In the hallway, the bedrooms—everywhere. I don't know what to do with him. It's horrible and it stinks really bad. We've never had a cat do this and he is neutered. We can't figure out what is wrong with him." We all started laughing about Peggy and her husband's stinky predicament.

"Peggy, I bet it is because he is upset and stressed out, because y'all's routine changed. I bet when your husband comes home and things return to normal he will stop pooping everywhere," I said, as Tone walked in Outer Space. After he greeted them, I said, "Tony, Peggy's got a poop problem." We all laughed and then Peggy told T. about her cat with the poop problem.

Then Patty, who I think is the funniest woman to live in Florida, told us about her fun trip to Cleveland to see the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Museum. "It was totally awesome and I love Cleveland. It is a great city...." Then she reaches into a gift sack and hands me a baby blue embroidered cap that she bought for me at the cool museum which I plan to wear only on very special occasions. Then Patty pulls out another present for me—a Bota Box of vintage fine wine 2009—Pinot Grigio, so I suggested we drink some to celebrate being together and then I went inside the trailer to grab some glasses.

"Girls, these are my new Pier One, four dollar a piece glasses. I bought four," I jokingly bragged, as Tone popped open a cold beer. After half-filling our drinking glasses with sparkling wine we toasted: "To life! To Us!"

Then we talked about chickens and the chicken coop that I am fixin' to build, Patty's new iPad, Doug Fine's book Farewell, My Subaru and the books that Patty had found and bought at Sandy and Jon's Wolfmueller's Books store, her dear friend Brenda, who I can't wait to meet, George Strait and the 90's movie, "Pure Country," and lastly—we talked about my new teeth.

Around five fifteen, after Peggy had tried on my new Justin Gypsy boots and declared that she loved them and was going to go buy herself a pair, they told me that they needed to leave, so they could get back home before it got dark. I totally understood, but hated to see them leave, because they are two great women. In fact, today I told Peggy, "Peggy, you are such an inspiration to me. Seriously, I hope that when I or if I get to be your age that I am at least as half as cool as you are."

After hugging and saying goodbye to P&P, I came inside the trailer and called Kinky. "Kinky! Hank got adopted to a great home this afternoon. June brought her friends out and ..." Kinky was thrilled to hear my great news about Hank finally finding his fantastic forever home with June's friends. I hope that it works out for Hank and Ron and Mary's dog. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Y'all have a great evening! (And, Patty, I hope that you have a safe flight tomorrow. See y'all after Christmas and please tell Brenda that I said, "Howdy!"