Every Picture Tells A Story!

Y'all have a great evening!

Surprise! They Got Me Again!

Today has been really great. Tony and I got up real early and did our morning chores. Then I cooked up a bunch of homemade buttermilk pancakes and made delicious, more than healthy smoothies for Chet's, Tony's and my breakfast. Then thirty minutes later Chet and his cool dog, Willie, jumped into his car and adios-ed us, because they were taking off for the Blue Max, in Midland, for Chet's show tonight.

A few minutes later, our super great friends/volunteers started arriving, so they could walk our dogs for us. While Tony and the volunteers were outside, I stayed inside The Cabin and caught up on some paperwork and then returned phone calls and e-mails.

Around 11:30, which is usually about the time that we take off to go eat lunch with the volunteers, I went outside and saw Tony and our friends carrying sacks of food into The Okay Corral. So I went to go see what was going on. "Surprise, Nancy!" Lisa said. "We're cooking here and celebrating your upcoming birthday today..." And I was surprised, because they had gotten me again.

After greeting everyone, while Tony cooked hot dogs and veggie burgers, I went back to The Cabin to grab my portable Bose, so we would have music playing outside. When I returned Lisa and I did a quick sound check to make sure the music was loud enough, but not too loud. Then our friends suggested that I come over to and take a look at my birthday cake that was made by Creative Cakes By Sharon, in Kerrville.

When I heard those four words, "Creative Cakes By Sharon" I hurried over to the table, because I knew it would be an awesome cake design and totally delicious. Then with all of our eyes on the cake box, Lisa slowly lifted out the cake and sat it on the table. "Omg!" I said. "This is totally unbelievable! I love it! How in the world does she do this?"

As all of us stood around the table admiring my pink, strawberry cake, someone said, "This is the cutest thing that I have ever seen. Look at Little Debbie's picture peaking through a hole that she made in the blanket. It looks just like her and the holes and the chewed up sheets, pillowcases and blankets on the sides of the cake, that the frosting on the top appears to be holding down. Why don't you go get Little Debbie so she can be at your birthday party?" So I took off and fetched Little Debbie.

Then Tony said, "It's ready, y'all. Come and get it." As everyone started serving themselves, I took this picture of some of them.

As we sat around the tables, eating lunch, with Little Debbie going around begging for food, we laughed and talked about my too cute Little Debbie birthday cake, going to the upcoming Medina Garage Sale, our rescue dogs, Blake aka Ranger's super adoption and him already going to work each day with Fay, etc. And when I had finished eating, everyone suggested that I read my birthday cards and pass them around for all to see. So I did exactly that. I loved them so much, later today, I took this picture of them.

Then it was time for me to open up my birthday presents.

Omg! They gave me some of the coolest birthday presents! It was like they had somehow read my mind, because I love all kinds of kitchen gadgets and for months I've been wanting to buy some All-Clad pots and pans, because they are the best, with a lifetime warranty and they are Made In USA. And a certain item that I recently found and fell in love with, at the Cracker Barrel restaurant, in Kerrville. Well, today my dear friends made all of those wishes come true, plus Lisa's husband Chuck bought me a box of wine to enjoy. Here are the great kitchen gadgets and Callphalon spatulas.

I love these Kikkerland wooden guitar spoons that don't show up in the picture above!

Here are my first two All-Clad fry pans! I'm calling them my All-Clad Starter Kit. Now, once a month, I plan to buy one All-Clad pot or pan until I have all of the pots and pans I need.

Then I got this tiny little mattress!

For Little Debbie's soon to be assembled bed by Tony, that I fell in love with, at Cracker Barrel's.

After opening all of my super birthday presents it was time to cut the birthday cake, but before we did, everyone wanted to take a picture of Little Debbie and me, next to the birthday cake that June held for me. But the first round of pictures were too dark, because we were standing in the shade and a certain super volunteer, who shall remain nameless, that lives in San Antone, only shot me from the neck down, so we moved out of the shade and they shot another round of pictures. Tony took this one just as Little Debbie leaned over and tried to lick the cake as June was pulling away.

Then Lisa sliced the delicious cake for me and served it to everyone. And everyone said it was the best strawberry cake that they had ever eaten. I love all of my presents and I want to say, "Thank y'all so much, for making my day better than great!" And that is about it for today, because I am fixin' to register online, to activate the Lifetime Warranty on my brand new awesome All-Clad fry pans!

Y'all have a great evening!

Raptors, Blue Max & Miles of Chocolate!

Today has been great. Tony and I have been really busy this week and I apologize for not blogging as much. Before I tell you about today I want to put in a plug for some of our dear friends.

Our good friends, Linda & Kevin Pillow, the super nice owners of Wild Birds Unlimited, in Kerrville, where our dear friend Marguerite also works, is doing the coolest thing this Saturday and Tony is going to try to go to it, while I keep our rescue ranch open to visitors and possible adopters.

I copied this from their website: "Last Chance Forever Will Be Joining us in Celebrating our 10th Anniversary on Saturday 10/11 2014 from 11 am until 2 pm. Please stop by and spend some time with these beautiful creatures. We never know who LCF will bring us!" This is the handout they gave to us the other day.

 Our dear friend Chet O'Keefe, who has been out here for a few days helping us, is leaving tomorrow morning, to play a gig at the the Blue Max, in Midland, Texas, tomorrow night and we wish that we could be there!

A while back, Chet became a member of Bridget London's "Last Honky Tonk Music Series" that is so cool. It sustains the artists, sustains the venues and sustains the community. And that is how Chet got this gig, in Midland. I hope that all of my friends and followers of my blog, in the Permian Basin area will go see Chet tomorrow night, because y'all will definitely love his music. And don't forget to tell Chet that Tony and I say, "Howdy!"

Miles of Chocolate, voted the Best Chocolate in Austin, for 5 years, can now be purchased at our dear friend Debbie's famous Old Timer, in Medina! So now if Central Market and Whole Foods, etc. are just too far away to drive, you can go to the Old Timer to get your chocolate fix for the day. 

This past Tuesday, a very nice man called me to ask for help. He told me that he has been fighting cancer for quite a long time and that he had just finished his last radiation treatment. He told me that because he has been in so ill and in so much pain, his doctors put him on some heavy pain killers, that he unfortunately got addicted to. "Those pills caused me great depression and nearly killed me. All I did was cry all of the time, so I got professional help. I am fixing to go into rehab, for at least a month to cure me of this horrible addiction....My problem is that I have four dogs. Two loving, older Labrador Retrievers that I must keep and last year I rescued these two little dogs, two separate times, running down the highway. I need to find a safe place for the two little dogs that I rescued, so I can go into rehab. They are very sweet, loving little dogs..."

His sad story broke my heart and I told him that I needed to talk to Tony about it and would call him back within the hour. Well, I talked to Tony about it and we both agreed that we needed to help this man's situation. When I called the man back to tell him that we could take his two little dogs and would find great homes for them and to please drop them off at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic for us, he would not quit thanking me. Then I went over to the Lodge and told Kinky about this man and his two little dogs. To say the least, "Kinky was glad that we were going to help him with his two small dogs."

Wednesday evening, I went over to Kinky's for a visit and after our fun visit, on his front porch, with The Friedmans, we decided to go on a hike with his four spoiled dogs. During our hike Kinky told me that he had been at Hoegemeyers, picking up Sophie and Mr. P. after being groomed, when the man came in to drop off the two small dogs. "Nance, he only dropped off one precious little dog, that you are going to fall in love with. I guarantee you. It is the cutest little thing."

"He only dropped off one?" I asked.

"Yes, he told Susan and me that his neighbor had offered to give his little, female Pug mix a forever home..."

This afternoon, after Chet, Tony and I ate lunch together, Tone and I took off for Kerrville, to go pick up the man's dog, Mindy, that has now been rescued twice. 

Oh my goodness! Mindy stole our hearts immediately and she sat in my lap and kissed me on the face, all of the way back to the rescue ranch. When we arrived at the ranch, Tony put Mindy in the alley between Buddy's and Mandy's & Bandy's, because we were hoping that she and Buddy would meet, between the fence and become fast friends, so she and Buddy could be roommates. 

Mindy is about one to two-years-old and one of the sweetest dogs and here's a picture of her, in the alley.

Forty five minutes later, when Karon and the girls came over to walk our dogs for us, we asked them to please walk Mindy and Buddy together, in hopes that the dogs wanted to be pen mates. Here's a picture that I took of Buddy and Mindy down by the creek, before the girls put the new best friends back into Buddy's pen. And that's about it for tonight—Life Is Good.

Y'all have a great evening!

I'm Running Late And Writing Tonight's Post Now! Give Me A Couple Of Hours!

Eh! A Ranger Update!

I didn't post anything yesterday because I was tired, because all I did was paperwork and then help Tony mow down the grass and weeds, in some of the dog's pens. So, last night I played my guitar and then watched the hilarious movie We're The Millers.

This morning after we did our chores outside, I sat down, at the kitchen table, to check my e-mail. I read Fay's first:

Thanks, Nance. He's doing really, really great! He loves it here and he's very sweet and comical. We are at work at the moment and he's being really calm. Here's hoping he can be a good boy so he can come every day with Wee Lassie. I'm positive he will!

Talk to you soon,

Fay

Then I sent Fay an e-mail that told her that we have our fingers crossed for Ranger minding his manners, while she's working.

Then I read Mari's e-mail. She sent me the cutest video dog video and because I am still laughing about it, I want to share it with you. Please click on the title: WhoLetTheDogsOut

I'll write more later today.

Y'all have a great day!

Your It—Marianne Faithful!

Early yesterday evening, while I was writing, Tony was outside mowing, or so I thought. When I decided to take a break and go help Tony, I went into our bedroom to take off my pink Crocs and put on my pink boots. When I entered the bedroom I immediately turned around and came back into the kitchen to grab my camera. I call this picture "When Little Debbie Runs With The Big Dogs—She Sleeps On Her Back With The Big Dogs Too!" Please note, the big dogs are covering all of the big holes that she made in the blanket.

In the foreground Alice and Beau had just woken up and were getting ready to jump off of our bed.

After I took this picture, I removed my Crocs and put on my boots. As I walked back into the kitchen I saw Tony, on the front porch, talking to a man and woman. When I went outside, Tony introduced me to a very nice couple, from the Netherlands. I immediately liked Clarissa and Jorrit, so I invited them to come inside The Cabin.

They loved our trailer and asked if they could take pictures of it, as Little Debbie and Alice went into their high-pitched barking routine. As the little girls constantly snarled and growled at our visitors, we managed to have a really fun visit them.

When I found out that Jorrit was a big fan of Kinky's, I invited the friendly, newly engaged couple to stay a little longer, because Kinky was on his way back to the ranch after being gone for a few days. Then I punched in Kinky's cell phone number. "Kinky, there's a nice couple from the Netherlands here...."

"....Nance, I'm up for meeting them. I'm about thirty minutes away...." When I told the couple that Kinky wanted to meet them, we left The Cabin and went into Outer Space to visit some more. And while we were passing time, I asked Jorrit how he spelled his name, because I was having trouble pronouncing it correctly.

He laughed. "A lot of people do," he said. "especially my American friends. They call me Your It..." Twenty minutes later, Tony took this picture of our new friends, Roy and me, before we went over to the Lodge, to wait for Kinky's arrival.

We were only there five minutes when Kinky arrived. After he unloaded his truck, Mr. Green Jeans, he gave the interesting couple a tour of the Lodge and then he invited us to go on a short hike with him and The Friedmans. That was a lot of fun.

A little before 8:00, I took this picture of Kinky, Clarissa and Your It, in Kinky's office. Then we adios-ed each other, so I could go back home and they could return to their hotel, next to the Alamo, in San Antone, where they are staying for the next few days.

Today has been great. Just before noon, Tony and I adopted Marianne Faithful to a very nice couple, that fell in love with her the moment that she fell in love with them. To say the least, "Kinky, Tony and I are thrilled about Marianne's adoption. That's two great adoptions this week!" Here's Marianne with her new forever family, minus their sweet, six-year-old son.

This afternoon Fay sent me another great e-mail, with more pictures of Blake.  

"Hi Nancy,
We all had a great night last night. We put a crate in our bedroom and he didn't mind at all, he just went right in and went to sleep. He's being too rambunctious for Wee Lassie's liking, she's a bit of a diva and he's messing her, and her routine up LOL All in all he's being a very good boy and it's fun seeing his reaction to things like the walk in shower, television, etc.

My handsome Scottish husband's favourite soccer team is the Glasgow Rangers. We want to pay homage to Texas and thought of the Texas Rangers. Then, with his antics in the hotel room on Thursday night when he was standing up like a horse on his hind legs and waving his paws. OMG It is a hilarious memory and pretty much sealed the deal on his new name:  we've decided to call him Ranger, he really suits it!

Here are some cute photos I took of him this morning. The first one is hilarious! This is how Ian watches Premier League soccer now, with Ranger on his lap LOL I love Wee Lassie's horrified look, it captures her mood about her new roomate pretty well.

As you can see, he fits on the loveseat pretty perfectly and looks so handsome too. We love him like crazy! Have a great weekend, we'll keep you updated over the next week.

Much love,
Fay & Family xo"

Here are Fay's pictures with my comments:

Fay's right about Wee Lassie's expression saying it all, about how she feels about Ranger.

Canada! My Home Sweet Home at last.

Looks like handsome Ranger has claimed the love seat, too, when he's not sitting on Ian's lap watching the Glasgow Rangers soccer games with him. 

Earlier this evening I went over to the Lodge to show Kinky the posts. on my blog, of Blake's incredibly great adoption and he is as thrilled as everyone else is about Blake aka Ranger—The TEX-I-CAN. And all of us love his new name and think that it is perfect. And that is about it for tonight, because I am fixin' to go bake Tony's favorite dessert, Cousin Nancy's Peach Cobbler served with a scoop of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream.

P.S. Yesterday, Fay posted the sweetest comment on my blog about our wonderful, dedicated volunteers. So, just in case you didn't read it I am reposting it here.

 Fay said...

My family is SO touched by this, it's absolutely wonderful!
Texican... PERFECT! LOL!!

I have seen how much the amazing volunteers contribute to the Utopia Ranch and how everyone supports the amazing work that Tony and Nancy do for all the strays that end up there.

Blake wouldn't be so amazing if it weren't for alls ya'll investing your valuable time walking and caring for all the furkids at Utopia. He was well loved before he arrived with us and you all need to give yourselves a pat on the back for the selfless contribution you make. We have ourselves one fine dog and it wouldn't have happened without each and every one of the Volunteers!
Much love, Fay & Family xoxo

October 3, 2014 at 6:50 PM

And this was my response to her comment:

Hi Fay! Our rescue ranch is so lucky to have the best friends aka best volunteers, in the Lone Star State! Please tell Blake, The Tex-i-can, that we love him and all of us are so happy for him. And don't forget to use the word Y'ALL!

October 3, 2014 at 8:22 PM

Y'all have a great evening!

Eh, Y'all!

Eh, y'all! This morning and early this afternoon I wrote this to help pass the time while waiting to hear if Blake, Fay & Ian made it back home safely.

Blake is the third dog that Fay's & Ian's family have adopted from us over the years, so this morning while I was outside doing my chores and thinking about his super great adoption and how smoothly it went thanks to Fay and Julie, I came up with a name to describe what kind of a dog Blake is. So, when we were finished with our chores outside, I came back inside The Cabin and quickly designed this sign, so I could use it in today's post.

Everyone at the rescue ranch has been more than thrilled about Fay & Ian adopting Blake, because we love Blake so much. So last night, Eileen sent me an e-mail about how happy she was for Blake getting to live with Ian & Fay, in Toronto. Then she asked me if tomorrow it would be okay for her to bring out a poster board and use my paints & paint brushes, so she could paint a sign about Blake's adoption. And we get Tony to take a picture of all of us posing next to the sign, so she could post it on Facebook, for Fay & Ian and Eileen's friends to see. Of course my answer was, "Yes! That's a great idea!..." Here is a picture of Eileen painting her sign this morning and a picture that Tony took of us posing with it. "Thank you, Eileen and Tony!"

Back row left to right: Ellen, Suzanne, Jim "The Mineral Man," June and Jim

Front row left to right: Me, Eileen and Kris, holding Ringo Starr

At 4:26 this afternoon, Fay sent me this e-mail to let me know that Blake is now at their home, in Toronto, Canada! 

Fay wrote:

"Hi Nance & Tony,

We are all home safe in the Land of the True North, Strong and Free! Thank you so much for your hard work and coordination of Blake's trip home to Canada. Julie was stellar in her care of Blake on the long trip north to his new home. I highly recommend her dog transport service, she's the Best of the Best.

Last night was a bit *ahem*... well, let's just say that staying with Blake in that hotel room was like being in an 12 hour MMA Cage Match with a circus bear. LOL! Hi Ho Silver!!! There was too much going on for his liking - noise, lights and mirrors - and I'm pretty sure he knew it wasn't "home".

We crossed the Border with no problems whatsover today, there wasn't even a long wait like usual. He is being a very clean and well behaved gentleman, so it's a wonderful start. We absolutely adore him, he's the BIGGEST, sweetest dog! He even got the seal of approval from Wee Lassie. They are getting along great, here are a few pics to show you how much he loves it here in Canada with us. It was raining and he was loving the grass and pond areas. So fun to see him experience somethign new! He crosses his front paws when he's relaxed and happy, it's soooo cute! He is probably 4 times the size of Wee Lassie, they look adorable together ; ))"

Well, it looks like Blake's 2 day trip was well worth it for him. He's now living in the best home, in Canada and he is being loved big time. What more could he possibly ask for? More mirrors?

Y'all have a great evening!