Happy Birthday to Patty Kearns and Max Swafford!

The last two nights I have been watching PBS's  fabulous Ken Burns new documentary, The Dust Bowl. I want to wish my two friends Patty Kearns and Max Swafford the best birthday ever! I love y'all and hope you have the best birthdays ever!

Sally Field!

Yesterday and today have been great. Yesterday, after our wonderful volunteers had walked our dogs,  they went to their cars, trucks and SUVs to get the food that they had brought for our picnic at Tony's No Whiner Diner, in The Okay Corral.

While Tony and The Mineral Man cooked up the hamburgers, veggie burgers and sausage, June and Ellen showed us the darling pictures that Ellen and her had taken of some three-day-old, part-Chihuahua puppies with their mother, that Ellen had rescued from the pound in Kerrville. So, in seven to eight weeks, if you are wanting a sweet, small puppy or their mama, please call me at the rescue ranch, because they are precious.

Our picnic was really fun and it was filled with laughter, of course, because our volunteers like to have fun and yes, my back ached most of the day, because they made me laugh so much.

After Jim, June, Ellen, Eileen, Lisa and Kris & Jim "The Mineral Man" left to go home, Tony and I jumped into Buttermilk, so we could go to H-E-B to get groceries and a 32" television set for the big room, because MIR broke it.

I bought the cheapest television they had that was on sale and all of the way home Tony and I talked about dreading to set it up, because we're not good at setting up electronics. And when we got home it only took us forty minutes to get it right! So, the reason that I didn't post on my blog last night was I watched Coach and Frazier reruns. Here's a picture of my television, that I took late this afternoon with Roy Rogers sleeping on the floor and Belle Starr-Simons dosing on the pillow.

This morning after we did our morning chores outside, our friend Karon, the nice woman who adopted Pecos Bill from us, called us about a stray dog that had wandered up and an hour later, she delivered the sweet, old female dog to us. We're not sure how old she really is, but we're guessing about eight-years-old. I named her Sally Field and she probably weighs about forty pounds and she is very sweet and great with children. Please meet Sally Field, who is another one of our fabulous dogs!

Around 11:30 Christina called me. "Hi, Nancy. I'm Christina &*^%^&#@ and you probably don't remember me. I adopted a dog from y'all a few years ago."

I interrupted her and said, "How is Betty White doing?" After she told me that Betty was doing fabulous she told me that she wanted to come out to adopt a great, large, male mutt from us which are the hardest to get adopted!  

"I like mutts," she said, "I want a junk yard dog to live the good life with Betty." After she made an appointment to come out next week we adios-ed each other. And Tony and I can't wait to see Christina and to say hello to Ms. White.

Around 12:30, our fabulous volunteer, Eileen, showed up with her friend Audrey, who was from out of town, spending the weekend with her. "I just wanted to show her the rescue ranch and meet y'all," Eileen said, as Tony and I smiled and stared at Audrey's precious, small black Llasa-Cocker.

After a short, but fun visit with them they drove off so Eileen could drive Audrey around the Hill Country. 

We ate a late lunch today, because neither one of us was very hungry and after lunch I began making the changes to my novella, that Eileen and Lisa had volunteered to proof read and edited for me. And, because I am so blind I had to use my big magnifying glass, that someone gave to me as a joke gift for my 60th birthday and it really helped. I took this picture of the first thirty-five now edited pages of my novella, because Eileen has the other fifty pages that she wanted to go over one more time.

Y'all have a great evening!

Pecos Bill!

Today has been great. I spent most of the morning doing paperwork, while Tony and his brother Sam did the chores outside.

Late this afternoon, around 4:15 our friend Karon showed up with her son Dalton, to adopt Pecos Bill, because Karon fell in love with him when she first met him on October 24th and because she was in the process of moving to new home, that has a giant fenced backyard, she had asked us if we could hold on to him for a few weeks.

When Tony and I went outside to meet Karon and Dalton, I told the seven-month-old pup that today was his day to get adopted and when Dalton and Karon drove up to his pen he was extremely happy about leaving our rescue ranch and going to his new forever home.

After Dalton had put Karon's new pink dog collar and attached the new pink leash to the collar, Tony started teasing Karon about making Pecos Bill wear pink. "My other two dogs wear pink collars too," Karon stated. "I love pink."

Before Dalton loaded their dog into a crate, I tried to take a picture of Dalton and Pecos Bill, but because he, who they have already named Blue, was so excited about getting adopted, this was the best picture that I took, because Blue kept jumping up and down.

And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Congratulations Tony!

Today has been a great day, especially for Tony, because this morning he went to his Texas Master Naturalist Hill Country Chapter commencement to received his badge!

Tony was lucky that Eileen Gotke, our dear friend, volunteered her time to be his fabulous mentor for the TMN course, because she has helped him throughout the two and a half month long course that he really enjoyed. "We love you, Eileen and we think that you are one of the nicest, most giving people in the Texas Hill Country."

When Tony arrived back at the rescue ranch he was grinning from ear-to-ear and he was proudly wearing his TMN badge. "Nance, you are not going to believe the incredible gift that Eileen gave me before the ceremony started!"

"What?" I asked.

"You're not going to believe the incredible gift that Eileen gave to me before the ceremony started!" He repeated loudly, as I began to chuckle.

"I heard what you said the first time, Tone," I said. "I said, "What," because she shouldn't have given you a present, for helping you so much. What did she give you?"

"A Beekeeper's hat and veil and this cute beehive ornament! How cool is that!" Then we came inside  The Cabin, so he could he could put on his bee helmet, so I could shoot him with my camera. 

When I let our dogs inside and they saw T. wearing the gift that Eileen gave to him they started barking at him. While Tony removed his beekeeper's hat, that he is thrilled to have, I told him what his wonder dog, Beau Bridges, did this morning. "After you left this morning, I let Beau and Belle come inside, while Abbie, Mama and Roy went outside. He was so excited to see me he raced through the big room,  jumped up on the big dog food container and then jumped up on the drainboard and accidentally knocked our toaster off. You should have seen it, because it would have been a hilarious YouTube video." 

After we had stopped laughing about it, Tony said, "You should have taken a picture of him, on the drainboard."

"I couldn't because my camera was acting up, because of Mercury in retrograde."

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy Birthday Vickie Harris!

Today is our friend, Vicki Harris' birthday and Tony and I want to wish her the best happy birthday ever, so in two-part harmony, sort of, because I am tone deaf and have been accused of being Tone deaf and not hearing Tony when I want to, he and I sing to you:

"Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday Dear Vickie. Happy Birthday to YOU! And many more."

We love you!

What A Day—Thanks To MIR!

Today has been a little bit crazy and I blame it all on Mercury in retrograde. When I woke up this morning I made myself a cup of coffee and then I sat down at my lap top to check my mail. As I was reading Lisa's alarming warning note about there being a solar eclipse today on top of being MIR, I shuddered at the thought.

Then Tony walks into the kitchen and says, "I have some bad news."

"What?" I asked, as I clicked on an e-mail from Apple.

"The wild hogs came in last night and they knocked over The Eternal Squirrel on Yoda's grave and they tore up it's little solar panel." Then he handed me the solar squirrel, made by Malibu. So I put it on the drainboard and took this picture of it and then I bid Tony farewell, because he was headed to Medina to drink coffee with his friends at The Old Timer.

After pouring myself another cup of Donut Shop coffee I sat down at the kitchen table to read what Apple had sent to me and it made me smile, because my new Classic 160G iPod, engraved with "Nancy-Parker-Simons Loves Roy Rogers," has been shipped and it will arrive on Friday. And as I am listening to my old, now scary looking iPod, I am praying that it won't die before then, because my music keeps me upbeat.

Later, when Tony went outside to do our chores I got a phone call from a very sad, crying woman, "Nancy, I am so upset, because I have to return *&^%$ to you, because he is digging out and chasing our horses and chickens and..."

"I completely understand..." Then I went outside and told Tony that *&^%$ was coming back and would be here in fifteen minutes and then we discussed where we could put him, because we are at capacity with no space available.

When the sobbing woman showed up with little *&^%$, I walked over to her truck to greet her. As she lowered the window she said, "I'm sorry, but I can't do this. I have cried all the way over here. I love this dog, but I don't know what to do."

"Run a hot wire at the bottom of the fence and he will quit digging out," I said. Then Tony told her how to do it and then she happily drove away with her forever friend.

Then I returned to The Cabin, so I could call the pound in Kerrville, about a dog, that a friend had called me about. Because of the Veterans Day holiday they were closed, so I left them a message about us wanting to come tomorrow to pick the dog up. Then I punched in Kinky's phone number. "Kinky, I need to talk to Marcie about possibly fostering a dog for us until a space opens up over here."

"Marce, Nance wants to talk to you about fostering a dog," Kinky said to his younger sister. "Do you want to talk to her on the phone or come over?"

Five minutes later, I was over at the Lodge, in the kitchen, telling them about this dog and the emergency situation. "Yes, I would love to foster him for y'all," Marcie said. Then we discussed when we would bring the dog to her, because tomorrow we have to take him to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic to get him neutered and shots, etc.

When Tony was done with his outside chores we went to Kerrville to get Buttermilk's oil changed and to get her inspected at Balser's Northside Automotive, stop by Hoegemeyer's to pick up some Rabies certificates and to buy our rescued dogs their annual Thanksgiving dinner at H-E-B, that Lisa & Chuck prepaid for.

After Buttermilk was taken care of we went to Hoegemeyers and when we walked inside Susan was behind the counter, sitting on the floor. "Hi, Susan. Are you hiding from us?" I teased.

Susan laughed and said, "No. Our power strip blew up and I am trying to reconnect everything." Then we talked about todays solar eclipse and MIR.

When the sweet vet tech picked up a Baggie filled with 16 folded Rabies certificates for our dogs, she asked Susan if that was the bag to give us and Susan said, "Yes." Then we visited for a few more minutes and then we left the clinic.

It only took us about twenty minutes to fill our grocery cart with: 5 dozen whole wheat rolls, 20 lbs. of ground turkey, 3 huge bags of mixed vegetables, 2 giant jars of minced garlic, 3 large bags of grated cheddar cheese, 5 dozen eggs, 6 boxes of stuffing, 3 large bottles of olive oil and 3 big, disposable foil pans, to cook the vegetables in and the grand total was $176.90. "Thank you, Lisa & Chuck!"

As Tony was loading our dogs Thanksgiving dinner into the back of Buttermilk I opened the Baggie and looked at it and when I read a certificate and then two others I realized that we had accidentally been given the wrong bag, so we went back to Hoegemeyer's to return it and get ours.

When we teased Susan about us getting the wrong Baggie she joked, "It's because I was sitting on the floor."

"I'm blaming it on MIR and the solar eclipse," I said. 

Lastly, this evening when I tried to get on my blog, so I could write about my day—it would not let me get to the "New Post" and it took me over forty-five minutes, before the icon finally showed up. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Jay Thomas!

Today has been a lot of fun. Late this morning our good friends Kris and Jim, "The Mineral Man," came out to loan me a television to watch until I purchase a new one on black Friday or sooner. "Thank you, Kris and Jim! It is on right now."

After Jim kindly set up their television for us we had a really fun visit filled with laughter. While we were laughing and taking turns telling funny stories, our dear friend Lisa and her family showed up, because they had come to Kerrville for a Girls Only—Moms and daughters weekend and Lisa wanted them to see the rescue ranch.

When they came inside The Cabin, after introductions I asked, "Okay, who is Lisa's mom, because y'all all look so young?" And I was shocked when Lisa's mom spoke up and said, "I am," because she has definitely found the Fountain of Youth and only her family knows where it is located.

After I had showed them my broken television and the spooky-looking thing on the screen on my iPod, that still plays my music, we had a short discussion about MIR being the worst it has ever been. Then Lisa took her beautiful family outside to hand out treats to our dogs, before going to Medina to eat lunch.

This afternoon, around 2:15, right when Tony and I were fixin' to eat the lunch that I had cooked, the dogs outside started barking, so Tone and I went outside, with Mama and Roy, because Roy has been known for helping himself to whatever food is left on the drainboard.

At 2:45 we officially adopted out Lucy to a lovely family, with darling twin girls and Lucy was thrilled about it, but her roommate Rocky seemed sad to see her go, so now we are going to focus on getting Rocky adopted. Here's a picture I took of the twins with their new best, forever friend. And I must admit that Lucy could not wait to jump into their minivan and go to her forever loving home, in Center Point and hopefully never see our rescue ranch again.

When we came back inside The Cabin, I went Online to Apple and purchased a new 160G Classic iPod and decided to get it engraved for free with these words, "Nancy Parker-Simons Loves Roy Rogers." Then Roy, Mama and I went to the bedroom and took a short sleepless nap, with me in between them.

Early this evening I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and Brian, his tequila business partner and to show Kinky and him this hilarious Jay Thomas YouTube video about Jay actually meeting the Lone Ranger and giving him a ride and Kinky and Brian thought it was totally hilarious too.

Then I watched the last half of the exciting Texas A&M vs. Alabama game with them and we were thrilled that A&M won, because we love Texas A&M and their quarterback, Johnny Manziel graduated from Tivy High School, in Kerrville. Then I came home and that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!