cousin nancy

I Love You, Ronnie!

2009-07-11T14:21:00.007-05:00

Today is my big brother's fifty-ninth birthday! Ronnie is the best brother in the whole wide world! He and I have been best friends ever since we were in diapers. Thanks to Ron, I grew up a tomboy, and I had a blast! He taught me how to walk on a fence rail, spiral a football, climb a tree, walk on stilts, roller skate, etc.!

Ronnie was also very protective of me—I was his little sister, and nobody had better hurt me or my feelings or 'they'd get it.' I loved him for that, sorta. Let me explain.

In Fort Worth, at Wedgwood Junior High, not to brag, Ronnie and I were kinda popular. Because of him and his older eighth grade friends, I was elected the secretary of the seventh grade! That was exciting, but not great, because all my job required, was me having to read a Bible verse, over the school intercom every morning. I was okay at it, even though most of the time I didn't understand what I was reading.

Like Cindy, our sweet older sister, Ronnie graduated junior high and went to Paschal High School, where he was even more popular. Because of his likable character, I suddenly had all of these 'new girlfriends' calling me, wanting to know if they could spend the night (in hopes of seeing Ronnie). Well, that got old for me, and besides Ronnie was already in love with beautiful Nita and he still is! Heck, they had been going steady ever since the eighth grade.

So, in 1967, when I graduated from Wedgwood, I had a choice to make that summer. I could either go to Paschal, or to Southwest High School, a just built high school in Wedgwood. I chose Southwest for two reasons. First, because my friends had all decided to go to the new high school, and secondly, was because I wanted to break away from being known as 'Ronnie's little sister.' I made the right choice.

Now here is where Ron's protectiveness plays a part. In October of my senior year, Cindy, Ronnie, Nita and I all decided to go camping, in a nearby state park. My parents were fine with it, but they didn't know that Ronnie had also invited his friend Steve, and that Nita had invited some visiting cousins, from Connecticut—who were really cool hippies, that had been at the Woodstock happening, and on top of that— they had a VW Van!

Our over night camp out was a lot of fun, and it was drug and alcohol free. Before we cooked our dinner over the campfire, I fell in love with Steve, because he was really good looking, and he could play lead guitar like Jimi Hendrix! After I fell in love, we cooked our dinner over a campfire, then sang and played our guitars into the wee hours.

A few months later, I found out from my boyfriend, Steve, that when he and other guys at Paschal, had asked Ron if he had a little sister they could date. Ronnie would tell them, "Yes, but you don't want to date her. She's really ugly and looks like ten miles of bad road!"

I love you, Ronnie—thanks for watching out for me—even though you lied! Happy 59th Birthday!

Girl Scout Troop 619 Really Rocks Big Time!!

2009-07-10T22:30:00.004-05:00

This morning I was awakened, at six o'clock, when the phone rang—it was Kinky. "Nance? Nance are you there? I just remembered that we are having breakfast with Beth and two of her friends this morning. Call me." Click. Then the phone rang again—it was Kinky. "Nance, call me!"

After my dogs had used me, for their human diving board, to leap off of the bed, I rolled out of bed. I went to the front door, let my furry-friends outside, and then I picked up the phone, and punched in Kinky's number. "Morning, Kinky," I said, sleepily. I just woke up." He and I talked for about three minutes. By the end of our conversation, we had us a plan. I would ride with Kinky, and he and Mr. Green Jeans would pick me up a little before eight-thirty, so we could be at the restaurant by nine o'clock.

After feeding our dogs and Lucky, I made some coffee, and then cleaned up. At eight-sixteen, there was a knock at our door—it was Kinky.

We had a really fun breakfast with Beth and her good friends, Norma and Mack. They were really nice, interesting people. Kinky had huevos rancheros, and I just had coffee, because I had drank my healthy smoothie breakfast, earlier. Following breakfast, Kinky ran a couple of errands, and then we headed back to the ranch.

Kinky and Green Jeans dropped me off at the rescue ranch around eleven o'clock. Our super volunteers, June and her friend, Kay, were here, and so was Jim! June and Kay were in the pens handing out treats, while Jim was out walking our dogs! I loved it, but not as much as our dogs did! Thank you, June, Kay and Jim!

Around twelve-thirty, the dogs outside—started barking! Without looking out the door, I knew who it was! Not because I am psychic, but because they had made an appointment earlier in the week. I picked up the phone and called Kinky! "Kinky, it's Nance. The Girl Scouts from Dripping Springs have just arrived with their doghouses!"

"Great! I'm on my way!"

I grabbed my camera, and then left the trailer, so I could go greet them! When I arrived at the barn, I saw two of the prettiest, well built doghouses that I have ever seen, and then I met Sharon K., the sweet troop leader, in charge of their 'Bronze Award' project! Sharon's daughter, Rose, along with Girl Scouts Bonnie and Brady had built two super doghouses for us! The girls doghouses were beautiful, well engineered with air vents, and mighty heavy! I knew our dogs were going to love them!

I visited with Sharon, Brady, Rose, and Bonnie, and some other troop members, as Ben and Aaron unloaded the doghouses from the trailer. Then Kinky and Mr. Green Jeans arrived. Kinky was awestruck when he saw the super doghouses! While he shook hands and thanked the three girls for their hard work and fine craftsmanship, Sharon filled me in on Dunn, the little dog that she and her family had adopted from us, over three years ago! She told me that Dunn had turned out to be Rose's best friend, and they were inseparable, and he was spoiled rotten! I loved it! You might be wondering why I would name a dog Dunn. I named him and his little buddy, Brooks and Dunn, because I like their music.

After Kinky had admired the doghouses more closely, we had an awards ceremony! Kinky proudly awarded the 'Bronze Award' medals to Rose, Bonnie and Brady—thanking each girl, and then shaking their hands. I have to admit that it brought a tear to my eyes, but no one noticed because they were tearing up, too. Here's a picture that Tone took of the event!

After the award ceremony had ended, Rose went to the car, and she returned with a giant sack, and a big box, full of dog toys, that she had spent her birthday money on—for our dogs! And yes, I teared up, again, but no one knew it, except for Tone, who took this picture.

After sorting through the cool doggie toys, Sharon and the Girl Scouts went from pen to pen handing out Rose's collection of toys to our dogs! It was fun watching our dogs receive their toys and playing with them!
After all of the toys were given away, the girls wound up sitting in Oprah, Ellen Degeneres and Bandit's pen—playing with the happy pups!

When it was time for the Girl Scouts Troop 619, from Dripping Springs, Texas, to leave, we thanked them for being such great girls. And, before leaving the rescue ranch, they promised to return in a few months to volunteer! All that I can say is, "Troop 619 Really Rocks Big Time! We love y'all! Here are pictures of the new doghouses in the dog pens and Pearl playing with her new toy!

This evening, around seven o'clock—Kinky called. "Nance, Billy Joe is playing tonight in Pipe Creek. Do y'all want to go with me to see him?"

"I would love to see Billy Joe Shaver! Let me ask Tony." I asked T. and he shook his head no, because he was too tired. "Kink, we can't go. Tony is pooped and I need to blog tonight. Sorry. Please tell Billy Joe I love him. Wait, maybe Ben wants to go." I handed the phone to Ben. Kinky and Ben left the ranch at seven-thirty to go see our friend Billy Joe.

Before I go, I want to show y'all another picture that Tone took of our new Lab mix puppies. I love it! And, this morning Kinky and I passed that restaurant with the funny signs. This is their new sign!

1969
Hoping for a BMW!

2009
Hoping for a BM!

Y'all have a great evening!

It Was A No Show!

2009-07-09T20:21:00.003-05:00

Tony woke me up this morning. "Nance, it's five-thirty. You need to get up." Before I could climb out of bed, our dogs pounced on me, using me as a human diving board—before leaping off of the bed to go outside!

"Ouch! Thank you, Tony. Ouch! I'm awake, now. Ouch! Dog-gone it!"

By seven o'clock, we were on our way to Kerrville with our precious cargo—Ellen Degeneres, to do the Harley Show! As soon as Buttermilk crossed over the cattle guard—Ellen became unhappy, and she started howling, actually it was more like high pitched screaming! Yikes! Tone and I figured by the time we reached Highway 16, she would quiet down—we were wrong. She yelled at us the entire trip, as we tried to listen to Harley on the radio.

As soon as we got out of the car with Ellen, at the Rose 99.9 radio station—she turned into a different puppy! Her tail was wagging wildly and she could not quit kissing us, and she was quiet! She was happy, Tone was happier, and I was the happiest girl in the whole U.S.A.! I'm serious.

Doing Harley's Show was a lot of fun this morning, and Ellen did great! She was calm and relaxed in the studio, as we talked about her, and she even showered Harley with wet kisses, near the end of the show! I was so proud of her!

When our rescue ranch segment was over, Tony, with Ellen sleeping peacefully in his arms, and I descended the stairs to the parking lot to load up. As soon as Buttermilk pulled out onto the Junction Highway—Ellen became a basket case, again—yelling her lungs out! I thought to myself—Ellen has turned into Hell-en!

She screamed the entire three-point-two miles to Hoegemeyers, where we dropped her off to chill out, so we could go eat breakfast at Randy and Lisa's Save Inn restaurant. Of course, the restaurant was packed, but Tony and I were lucky to find us a table! Then the weirdest thing happened!

In less than two minutes, after their friendly waitress had taken our order—Ben walks into the restaurant! We knew Ben was coming to the rescue ranch today to work, but we weren't expecting to see him at the restaurant—it was a happy surprise for us! "I heard y'all on the radio, tell Harley that y'all were coming here. When I saw Buttermilk parked outside, I decided to join you two for breakfast." T. and I were delighted, and so was our waitress!

When the sweet waitress handed Ben a menu, she asked, "Is he your son?" Tony and Ben burst out laughing, and I nearly choked to death on my ice tea!

"No. Ben is our good friend," Tony replied, as I waited for someone to come do the Heimlich manuever on me! Unfortunately, no one came—it was a no-show, but fortunately I survived another one of my—"Well, Nance almost wasn't with us anymore today" incidents, an expression my incredibly sweet, loving parents used to say often, when I was growing up. I must admit my 'almost dead' incidents do seem to occur quite frequently—just ask Kinky, Ben or Tone.

Our party-of-three breakfast was delicious and a blast! T. and Ben teased me about getting all choked up over nothing, and we did a lot of laughing, as we caught up with each other's latest news. I found out, during our meal, that Miles of Chocolate has now been voted 'Best Chocolate' by the Austin Chronicle—for two years in a row! Congrats Miles and Ben! Austin knows chocolate!

As Tony paid our bill, I didn't want our breakfast fun to end, because I was already dreading the twenty-two mile trek, back to the rescue ranch with Hell-en!

As Buttermilk took us home, Hell-en serenaded us non-stop, for thirty-two minutes, with gut-wrenching, soul piercing sounds, that I hope I never hear again in this lifetime! If I do, it will be another one of those "Well, Nance almost wasn't with us anymore today" incidents!

Y'all have a great evening!

Laugh Out Loud!

2009-07-08T16:32:00.001-05:00

My vacation is temporarily on time-out! Today after walking six fast miles—I went to work. I returned eleven phone calls, twenty-seven e-mails, then Tony helped me take pictures of three of our adorable puppies. Since then, I have done paperwork all day long. I still need to take eight more pictures of our newly rescued dogs, and will take more pictures tomorrow to post.

This morning, during breakfast, Tony and I decided to go to Kerrville, tomorrow morning, to do the Harley Show live. We are going to take Ellen Degeneres with us, in hopes that she might get adopted! If she doesn't, Jan and Todd, two of our great volunteers, are going to take her, Bandit and Oprah to Pet Supplies Plus, on Saturday between 10 -2, to try to find them forever homes for us! We love you Jan and Todd! Here is a picture of Tony playing with the puppies, followed by Ellen Degeneres, Oprah, and Bandit!

Tomorrow, after doing Harley's show, we plan to drop Ellen off at Hoegemeyers, so we can go eat breakfast at Randy and Lisa's Save Inn restaurant—we love their 'Sinker Omelet!' Then we will pick Ellen up, and get back to the rescue ranch.

Kinky called me this afternoon. He is doing fine, and nearly ready to self-publish his book, "Heroes of a Texas Childhood!" I am still jealous that my book is not as far along as his, but someday soon mine will be. Laugh out loud—I need a vacation!

Y'all have a great evening!

Happy 21st Birthday—Hunter Bedard! You Rock!

2009-07-08T10:09:00.001-05:00

Texas Sized!

2009-07-07T20:09:00.000-05:00

This morning I walked six fast miles! I then returned some phone calls and e-mails. It was now finally—My Time! I had just begun working on my book, when the phone rang—it was Kinky. "Nance, I just found a German paperback version of 'Meanwhile Back At The Ranch,' and you have got to come over and see it! Our names are all over it and it is pretty funny."

Twenty minutes later, I was over at the Lodge. After unloading some more of Tony's organic—tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, and zucchinis onto Kinky's kitchen table, I thumbed through the German paperback, finding Tony's and my name—here and there. I love that book—it is one of my favorite Kinky books. Kinky dedicated that book to Tony and me, and when I saw the dedication written in German, it made me grin! Here is a picture of the German Paperbook and the English version.

After looking at the book, Kinky and I went outside. He wanted to show me the bloom on his Texas Five Star Hibiscus, that our friends Rick R. and Leisa, from Port A., had given to him last year. It was beautiful and Texas sized, to say the least!

Kinky and I visited while he filled his hummingbird feeders. Before leaving the Lodge, Kinky invited Tone and me to join him for lunch—with Dylan, at Luby's. I accepted the invite, because I knew it would be fun to see Dylan, and also because we needed to run some errands in Kerrville.

At one o'clock sharp, the four of us entered Luby's cafeteria. Our lunch was so much fun! Dylan told us some very interesting stories, while Kinky kept interjecting some really funny remarks. I was the last to finish my lunch, because they had me laughing so hard.

After our Luby's lunch, Tone and I went to Wolfmueller's Books. We wanted to hear all about their Fourth of July pignic at the Trails End Guest House. Sandy and Jon told us that they had a blast! They said the food was delicious, of course, and Beckham is now living the life of Riley over there—and he is putting on the pounds! That news made my day!

Our visit with Sandy and Jon was fun, and I hated for it to end, but we needed to get over to Copies Plus, to get some printing done. When we walked inside Copies Plus, Trisha greeted us with a smile! Tony and I just love her. We had a fun visit with her, while she ran off two hundred copies of a brochure for us.

Tony and I are fixin' to watch Michael's memorial service that I taped earlier today. Y'all have a great evening!

My Time!

2009-07-06T19:35:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I walked eight fast miles. This morning, I walked only six fast miles. I spent my morning doing some paperwork and returning several phone calls—then it was officially 'My Time!'

Last week, I told Kinky, after telling him that I was jealous of him for nearly having his book ready for self-publishing, and I wasn't even close to that point, "Next week, I've decided to shut down the rescue ranch for a week, so Tony and I can take a break, and I can get some work done on my book." Kinky was fine with my 'Declaration of Vacation,' and he seemed sorta happy about making me jealous, too. I was fine with that.

I know that we can't totally shut the rescue ranch down for a week, that would be impossible to do, but we can be closed to the public and visitors for seven days. And, of course our volunteers are welcome to come out and walk our dogs and we will be open on Saturday.

'My Time' started around ten o'clock this morning! I spent two hours on my book, and accomplished a lot! For lunch, I tried a new Hot & Sour soup recipe and it was delicious—Tone loved it! While I was cleaning up the kitchen, Tony told me that we needed to go to Kerrville to get dog food, because we were now totally out of it. Time Out for My Time.

Buttermilk, T. and I left the rescue ranch ten minutes later—headed for Kerrville. Once again, we passed that restaurant with the funny sign messages, and we laughed out loud as we read their latest one!

1969
KEG!

2009
EKG!

Kinky called me around four-thirty. He invited me over to the Lodge for a visit. We sat outside by the Friedman Family Bone Orchard, and we talked about missing Perky, and what a wonderful little dog that she had been. "I guess now, it is the Four Friedman Bachelors," I said, trying to stay happy.

"My Three Sons!" Kinky quickly quipped. We both laughed.

Y'all have a great evening!

We Love You, Perky Friedman!

2009-07-05T21:31:00.003-05:00

Today has been a very sad day for everyone at the ranch. This evening at approximately 7:14, Miss Perky passed away, at Hoegemeyer's Animal Clinic, with Kinky and me by her side. No one knew her exact age, but it is believed that she was nineteen or twenty years old.

Kinky and Tony, along with the help of some caring friends, buried her this evening, next to Fly Friedman's grave. You were a great little dog, Perky, and loved by many. We will always love you, Perko!

Happy Fourth of July!

2009-07-04T07:07:00.000-05:00

Phenomenon!

2009-07-03T22:29:00.003-05:00

I apologize for not blogging yesterday—it was a very busy day for me, to say the least! My morning started out fine. I got up early, fed my dogs and Lucky, made some organic coffee, and then I called Harley to do the Harley Show. It was a lot of fun! While I was preparing our breakfast smoothies, the phone rang. I let Carlton take it. "Nancy, Tony? This is Aaron! Please pick up..."

"Good morning, Aaron. What's up?"

"Before coming to work, I picked up the three little puppies, that I found on Monday, from Hoegemeyers. I'm now on top of the mountain, and I don't know what to do. There are some puppies running around up here on 16! I'm scared they are going to get run over! Somebody must have dumped them."

"We'll take them—if you can catch them, Aaron." As soon as I hung up on Aaron, Tony walked inside the trailer. After greetings, I told him about Aaron and the puppies.

Tony smiled, "It looks like Aaron has turned into a puppy magnet." We sipped our smoothies in silence. At eight-thirty-six, Aaron arrived at our trailer—in his 'Puppy Patrol' pickup truck. Tone and I went outside to greet him, and to see the pups that he had single-handedly rescued.

"The ones I picked up from Hoegemeyer's are in the crate in the back, and the new puppies are crawling all over the inside of my truck! If they weren't licking me to death—they were pooping!" T. and I looked inside the cab window. They were cute, little Lab mixes, and there were four of them—maybe two months old, if that! Then we walked to the back of Aaron's truck, and looked at three adorable little puppies—probably two and a half months old. After checking out the seven pups—Tone and Aaron left to go put the happy little ones into puppy-safe pens. I returned to the trailer to check my calendar.

After carefully checking my calendar for cosmic events, I was disappointed to learn that we weren't under a full moon, and Mercury was not in retrograde, so I had nothing to explain our sudden puppy population phenomenon on—other than Aaron, and he can't help it. He is one super sweet, dog loving, good guy.

Starting around one o'clock, we had a string of unexpected visitors show up for rescue ranch tours. Even though we are closed to the public during the week, and it was pretty hot outside—I was a good sport and gladly gave them tours—with Tony's help.

And, the last couple who showed up, around six o'clock, didn't want a tour—they had just read my book, and they just wanted to take pictures of me standing by Yoda's graveside shrine, with the tombstone, Eternal Squirrel and the flying pig! I was honored to do it, even though I still miss my little Yoda—and always will.

So by the end of the day—I was wore out. And, that's my excuse for not blogging. I watched Gran Torino, again and loved it even more. Clint Eastwood is amazing!

This morning after walking five miles, Tony walks inside the trailer to tell me that Chuck and Ruth Buzzi—got porcupined during the night, and they were covered in quills, and he needed to take them to Hoegemeyer's immediately! After he left for Kerrville, Kinky called me, and asked me to come over to the Lodge—he needed to talk to me!

On Buttermilk's and my way out of the rescue ranch, I waved to Jim, our friendly dog walking volunteer, who was walking Martha Stewart and L.T.! Thank you, Jim!

When I arrived at the Lodge, Kinky asked me to help him edit his new book, the one that he is self-publishing—I told him that I would love to do it. Before leaving, with his manuscript in my hand, I told Kinky that Tone and I were having lunch with Sandy and Jon, before picking up de-quilled Ruthie and Chuck, and I invited him to join us.

In less than an hour Sandy, Jon, T. and I were sitting outside, at our table at Franciso's—waiting on Kinky. When the pleasant waiter came to our table, I once again asked for separate checks. "Tony and I are together, Sandy and Jon are together, and Kinky should be here any minute. The waiter smiled and took our orders.

"Should we order for Kinky?" Sandy asked. I shook my head no, and then I pulled my cell phone out of my purse, and did something that I have never done! I used my cell phone at a restaurant!

"Hi Kinky," I whispered. "We saw you pull into the bank across the street. Do you want us to order for you? We're all having the Special. Sandy said it is delicous!"

"No. I'll be there in a few minutes." And he was! And, he ordered the Special, too!

Our lunch was fun and filled with laughter! When the waiter came with our three separate checks, he handed them out, and then he carried off our empty plates. Kinky started laughing about us going Dutch, and he knew I was the one responsible for it, even though I wasn't wearing wooden shoes. As always, I was wearing my pink Justin Gypsy cowboy boots!

After lunch, we all went to Wolfmueller's Books, so Kinky could sign some books for them. Then Kinky and us left Wolfmueller's Books.

As the three of us were walking to our vehicles, a nice woman, walks up to Kink and says, "Hi Kinky! I'm a swallow! I wish I had my books with me for you to sign!" Kinky stops and shakes her hand, and then he tips his cowboy hat at her. I'm thinking, Kinky is a monkey, Tony is a horse and I am a rabbit in Chinese astrology—and there are no swallows! Kinky looked a little confused, and I am thinking that she is a loon. Then the sweet woman, quickly explains to us, that her name is Ima Swallow and she was visiting from Louisiana. I was relieved, as Kinky visited with her for a few minutes. Then we walked on and went our separate ways.

This evening, around six-thirty, I went over to the Lodge, to show Kinky my edits. His book was a great read, and flawless, except for a couple of typos. I can't wait for y'all to read it!

Y'all have a great evening!

P.S. Tony walked inside, just a little while ago, with today's crop! We're talkin' radishes, onions, squash, zucchini, beans, tomatoes, and jalapenos! And, can y'all tell me what these yellow plants are, that just sprung up yesterday, in Outer Space! I have no clue as to what they are or where they came from! They're weird looking!

Sure—Let's Do It!

2009-07-01T19:32:00.002-05:00

This morning after walking five miles, then taking a shower—I started taking care of the first of the month paperwork. I was just getting started paying the monthly bills, when I realized we were out of stamps and I needed stamps. I called Jon at Wolfmuellers Books. "Hi Jon! It's me, Nancy..."

"I know. What's going on at the rescue ranch?"

"Too much. Tony and I have to come to Kerrville to get stamps, so I was wondering if you and Sandy would like to go to lunch with us—Dutch, of course. We can't afford to treat y'all." Jon started laughing, and so did I.

"Let me ask Sandy—hold on." I heard him ask Sandy. "Sure, let's do it. Sandy just said that she is starving. So hurry!"

"All I've got to do is put on my wooden shoes—and we're outta here," I said.

Thirty-one minutes later, Tone and I were at Wolfmueller's Books. Two minutes later, we were inside Francisco's restaurant, trying to decide if we wanted to eat inside or outside. Sandy, Jon and I couldn't decide, so Tony says, "Outside."

As the nice waiter led us outside, Sandy says, "Thank you, Tony for making the decision for us."

When the waiter showed up to take our order, I said, "Could we have separate checks, please? We're going Dutch. Tony is with me." The waiter smiled at Tony. He had no problem with it, then he took our orders. T. and I went first. We took Sandy's advice, and ordered the daily special, and so did Sandy and Jon! And, then we all ordered iced teas, too! After the waiter left, I said, "Well, it looks like we won't have to worry about him mixing up our checks."

Lunch with Jon and Sandy was a lot of fun, and our verde covered chicken enchiladas were the best that I have ever eaten! And, the black beans, rice and guacamole were so delicious—I literally cleaned my plate! When I was done, Jon looked at my clean plate and says, "Looks like you are going to have to walk five miles today, Nancy."

"I already have—thank goodness." Then Paco, Sandy and Jon's friend, and the owner of the restaurant, walks up to our table and asks them about a mutual friend. Telling them that he had just heard that their friend had died, and he wanted to know if they knew about it, and could confirm it. Sandy pulls her iPhone out of her purse, and she and Jon start taking turns, calling their friends to find out. Either no one was home, or no one had heard about it.

Jon then hands Sandy his wallet, excuses himself from the table, so he can go back to their store, to get the phone number of someone who would know for sure. Then the waiter appears at our table and says, "Your checks are for the exact same amount."

After paying our bills, Sandy, Tone and I start walking back to the bookstore. Jon meets us half-way. "He's not dead, Sandy! He had a heart attack last night, and he is in a hospital in San Antone. I'm going to go tell Paco the news."

"Thank you for the lunch, Jon. Tony and I really enjoyed it. We'll treat next time." Jon didn't realize that I was kidding. He sort of gave me a strange look, and nodded his head—then he walked away.

Y'all have a great evening!

P.S. Tony and I are fixin' to watch the movie, ' Gran Torino,' that Sandy highly recommended. Then we're going to bed early, because I'm doing the 'Harley Show,' in the morning!

It Was Dead!

2009-07-01T07:52:00.005-05:00

Sorry, I didn't get to blog last night. Around two-thirty, it started raining, then pouring! Twenty-five minutes later, the outside temperature had dropped from one hundred and one degrees, to seventy-degrees, and we had two inches in our rain gauge! Then high winds came with the two-hour thunderstorm!

By five o'clock, the storms had subsided, so I plugged everything back into the wall sockets. I was so excited that we had gotten the much needed rain, I decided to call Kinky! I picked up the receiver, and it was dead! I checked the fax line, and it was dead, too.

Five minutes later, Tony and I were over at the Lodge, talking to Kinky in his kitchen. When we told him about our phones being down, he checked his phone line—he had phone, so Tone and I came back home.

Unable to get online, I did a little more paperwork, and then I went back over to the Lodge, to use Kinky's phone, to report to the phone company, that our lines were down. When I arrived, Kinky came out the door, to tell me that his phone lines were down, too. So we decided to shoot a game of pool.

Hummingbird Man - 1, Cousin Nancy -0.

After being defeated, I came back home and watched a movie and then went to bed.

P.S. I walked five miles, yesterday.

Happy Birthday Cindy Pickard!

2009-06-30T00:01:00.002-05:00

Today is my best friends birthday! And unfortunately, it will be her last birthday in Texas. Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Cindy—Happy Birthday to you! We love you!

Do Unto Others!

2009-06-29T18:21:00.005-05:00

Today has been fun! Before breakfast, Tony returned from his garden—carrying his yellow, five gallon, vegetable bucket! "You're not going to believe this, Nance!" Tony proudly said. I looked his way, he was grinning, and holding up the biggest zucchini, that I have ever seen!

"Oh my gosh, Tony!" I exclaimed, as I reluctantly looked into the bucket, fearing that it might be full of more fresh veggies. "That's the biggest one, so far! Congratulations!" Tony went back outside to water his garden, while I washed every vegetable in the nearly full bucket. I am happy that we have an over abundance of organic vegetables to eat, but I didn't know where I was I going to put his latest load, so I returned them to the plastic bucket, and fixed our healthy smoothies for breakfast.

After breakfast I walked five fast miles, again! Then I took care of some paperwork, and following that, Tony and I went to Hondo, to pick up Buttermilk—she was ready to come home, again! It seems that she is spending more and more time at the auto repair shop, but you would too—if you were a 1996 Ford Explorer. In other words—she's been rode hard, but we still love her.

When we arrived back at the rescue ranch—we stopped to meet our three latest rescued dogs, that Aaron had picked up at Hoegemeyer's for us, while we were gone! They are adorable! One is a wannabe female Min Pin, and the other two are male and female Fox Terriers. I haven't named them yet, but will tomorrow, when I take pictures of them—to post on our web site:
utopiarescue.com.

Kinky is back at the ranch! He called me this afternoon, to invite me over for a visit. I accepted his invitation, and decided to do one of those—pay it forward acts of kindness, or a 'do unto others—as others have done to you,' deals! So, I grabbed my camera, and Tony's yellow bucket—full of fresh, clean produce. The bucket was so heavy—I could barily lift it into the back end of the truck.

When Trigger and I arrived at the Lodge, I pulled a muscle in my shoulder, when I lifted the bucket out of the bed. "Hi Kinky! It's me!" I half-hollered, as I entered the kitchen. I heard Kinky hang up his phone, and then I heard footsteps headed in my direction.

"Hey, Nance! How are you? What's in the bucket?"

"I'm fine, Kink. I brought you some of Tony's vegetable crop. I wanted to share them with you," I half-lied. Then I happily started unloading the pile of vegetables onto Kinky's kitchen table, as I was thinking—better here than there. When I pulled out the giant zucchini—Kinky started laughing, in amazement! When the bucket was half full, I took a break, and shot Kinky, and half of the load of veggies!

Y'all have a great evening!

Hooray For Wild Hogs!

2009-06-29T16:47:00.004-05:00

As promised, here is the first Beckham installment from the Trails End Guest House! Thank you, Desiree and David—I love it, and am looking forward to the next one!
Enjoy

The History and Heritage of a Feral Hog
Some stories are told from the writers view point and some from the participants view point. This is told from history’s view point as observed by a long line of Feral Hogs. How the Hogs came to be the keepers of this story is due to the price they paid with their lives. They were in fact something of secret agents living covertly among the Uprights. They lived from dense rich forests to arid gritty grass lands. They still live in all these places, they still are observing; they understand the requirement of faith that they will always be assisting in the survival of the Uprights.

If you read or were read to from the tales of Narnia then hopefully you took away the gift of those books, that being the gift of faith. Faith is like a pint of oil on a smooth level body of water, it will spread out forever and cover the surface of that water. It will leave a colorful sheen, always changing and amazing those who observe it. Faith, like any divine gift can be misplaced and put to poor use but it isn’t the faith that causes the problems, it is the misuse of it. Animals have faith, the pure faith. Uprights, being animals, have faith and sometimes they misuse that faith, but this story is about one certain family of animal that still lives in the pure faith. The stories of the Uprights have been told many times in many books and they are a major part of this story but this story is about the Feral Hog.

This tale was told to two Uprights who were fortunate enough to have had pen and notebook handy on a series of warm summer nights while visiting with a certain Feral Hog named Beckham. It can’t be said that they really conversed openly with the Hog, it was more that they listened to the Hog and through certain gestures and simple disassociated word groupings they might have asked a question or two. If you don’t believe that’s possible just think about this - who of you hasn’t been somewhere in public and you hear Spanish being spoken. Now you don’t speak Spanish but by listening closely and observing you clearly understand what is trying to be communicated. Yet you could no more form a reply sentence in Spanish than spin straw into gold. In that same way Uprights can, if they are willing to observe and listen, learn the stories and observe the lives of animals lived in the pure faith.

Hot, humid and dense rainforest was the life lived by the traveling ancestors of Beckham the Feral Hog. That was quite a change from the rolling oak covered area in Spain from whence they came. Rounded up gently by the enticement of crunchy acorns then pack lead into a wooden pen for many sun and star trips. Finally lead out into the overcast sticky air that was Dominica, the West Indies. The leaders of the Hog band had heard the famous Senior Columbus himself was the master of the ship that brought them to this new land, but they never spoke of it to other tribes of Hogs. Hogs, while proud are not prone to pretension. They prefer to quietly walk in this life under the guise of self confidence. Oh sure they squeal loudly when touched but that is because they are ticklish and they don’t know how to laugh. For years Uprights thought the squeals were due to pain, but pain lingers and if you’ve ever had to poke a Hog with a stick to make it move, give it a shot to keep it healthy or pick it up to move it then you know their squeals can be deafening yet they stop as soon as you walk away from them. If they were in pain they would still squeal, but they were just being tickled and as everyone knows you stop laughing as soon as you stop being tickled.

For many years the clan of Beckham lived and were a large part of the life in the Dominicans. They were allowed to run free in the forests but always the Uprights came with treats and most who followed the trail of treats never returned. The few that did return told tales of things not understood by most Hogs. Every generation an old boar or sow would live past their prime and the young Hogs would bring them choice nuts, grubs and roots. These Wise Ones, as they were called, kept track of the stories and passed them down to the next generation. They told their stores late at night when the deep forest noises kept the Uprights away. Nights were always the peaceful time for animals. Uprights feared the unseen creatures that made the soul piercing noises across the dark sky but not the Hogs. Each and every animal that had kept the purest of the faith would speak the melodic noises of the Uprights among themselves. While all the other Hogs slept peacefully in the soft cool moist leaves that carpeted the forest’s floor the Wise Ones would squeal with delight recalling the stories they knew and the stories that were passed on to them to share with the Hogs forever.

On nights after days or weeks when many Hogs had been lured away, never to return, certain young Hogs would mock the Wise Ones. They would cry out that the Uprights were evil and must be destroyed. The Wise Ones would hold their consul until the anger died away then quietly speak of the plan of the Deeper. The Deeper was the source of the purest faith. The Deeper was like an outcropping of clear water after days of thirst.The Deeper, the Wise Ones would say, has the plan for Uprights and Hogs to live and die together the way they do. They would explain that while the Uprights may do things unthinkable among Hogs, they never tortured the Hogs. The Uprights would torture themselves and their kind with unspeakable horrors but their final treatment of Hogs was swift and merciful. Uprights would cast out any of their own kind that treated Hogs with the treatments they often bestowed upon themselves. The Uprights were a puzzle even to the Wise Ones. The Uprights with the smooth brown skins treated the Hogs differently than the pale Uprights that had hairy faces but in the end it was all the same. The Wise Ones taught that this was the way of The Deep and if it was somehow forced to change it might bring worse upon the Hogs. The Wise Ones knew they were necessary for the Uprights to live and so the Uprights would always try to care for the Hogs even though again, the end would be the same.

One night the Wise Ones noticed bright streaks across the sky. Even in the sun time it would seem as if the lights of the night were creeping and trying to crowd out the bright light. As if a sign many of the Hogs, including some Wise Ones were lured away from the forest by treats far too good to resist. They were then put into the large wooden rooms with giant tan squares that hung off smooth trees and before they were prepared they were again sailing across the waters this time with an Upright called Frenchman - La Salle. They found a new land but they returned to the Dominicans. The next few years were strange ones. A few dozen of the Hogs were kept in pens away from the forest by the unusual Upright and then they were off again after several seasons of storms. This time they touched solid ground in a new place. It was swampy yet arid. Upright Frenchman - La Salle was angry as he was hoping to return to the first place he took the Hogs but could never find it. The Wise Ones kept they and the other Hogs silent during these years. They watched and listened for everything. Nothing was to be taken as trifle. There was danger, even more than before since they were always kept inside an area of crossed sticks surrounded by wooded walls where escape was not possible. No more roaming a cool moist forest. At times it was so cold. The sun would be warm on their back, then suddenly the sky would roar on its back legs, turn deep purple and sheets of rain like ice would plummet them for periods that seemed to never end. The Hogs would creep silently to the Wise Ones in the time of the moon and ask how and when they could find the warm moist forest again. Wait, the Wise Ones would always tell them. Since the Hogs were of the faith, they waited. One day Upright Frenchman - La Salle left; there was much anger with the other Uprights. There was anger if he said he would stay there was anger if he said he would leave. The Wise Ones drew the Hogs near. Then, after Upright Frenchman - La Salle left the wooden area, the sickness started. Hogs and Uprights alike died. They died because they grew hot like fire and lost all their strength to run away, if they had been able to find a way out of the crossed sticks and wooded walls. As the hairy faced Uprights died, moaning and crying some smooth dark Uprights would try to come into the wooden area and do unspeakable things to the hairy Uprights. The Hogs were in their greatest peril now they thought, but these smooth dark Uprights pushed down the wooded walls and opened the crossed sticks that kept the hogs from escaping. They then with much shouting and screaming chased the Hogs away. The Hogs were sad to leave their fellow Hogs who had died and lay dying in the same way as the hairy faced Uprights. As they ran out of the wooden place being poked and kicked by the smooth Uprights several of the Wise Ones looked back in sadness not understanding at all what had happened but they knew it was critical they always pass on this story, no matter what happened. To forget this story would be to breech the pure Faith.
They ran into they knew not where. They saw giant grasses and smooth round clumps of green pads like the stories told of in the country they came from so many star turnings ago. They ran and they ran. They ran till they could run no more yet they did run more. They ran for days only stopping to try and eat something. The green pads were quite a shock. The pads could not be eaten without much pain so the Hogs looked for other grubs and roots. When they had ran for ten turnings of the bright sky light the Wise Ones called everyone to a halt. Here they would stay. No one, not even the youngest of the Hogs asked where they were or if they were lost. Where they were was safe and to return to where they had been was to be lost. They began their new chapter, what the story would be or how this new story might end no one knew.

If It's Free—It's For Me!

2009-06-28T19:32:00.001-05:00

I am proud to say, that I walked five fast miles this morning, while Tony and Aaron did their chores outside! Then Trigger took T. and me to Kerrville—we had to go to Wal*Mart to get supplies.

Just before we reached our destination, I saw a sign, in front of a popular restaurant, that made me laugh out loud! I wished that I had brought my camera with me, but I didn't. In large black letters it said:

'1969—ACID ROCK!
2009—ACID REFLUX!'

I loved it, and it reminded me to pick up some Extra Strength Rolaids—for Tone. Before going into the super family center, we decided to stick together to speed shop, so we turned off our cell phones, and put them away.

While Tony visited the men's room, I found the Rolaids, and put a jar into our shopping cart. Then Tony found me, and we traveled at a fast pace around the store. As my shopping list grew smaller—our wobbly cart grew in contents, and my checkbook took the hit.

When we got home, after putting up our supplies, I decided to check out the Guinness World Record web site. In no time at all, I found myself filling out their application, in hopes that placing two wild hogs, in forever bed and breakfasts—could be a world record!

The application was pretty long to fill out. Near the end of it, I had two options—I could use their standard method, which could take up to three months to hear back from them, or do their fast track method, which guaranteed me that they would get back to me within three working days, to let me know if we were world record setters, but unfortunately, none of that is ever going to happen.

Just as I was about to submit the application, claiming that Kinky, Tony, Ben and I, at the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, had set a world record—it took me to their last page, to pay the application fee. I figured that it wouldn't be very much money, but I was wrong! We're talking over six-hundred and fifty dollars—I was prepared to spend twenty-five. I can understand it being expensive, because everyone and their mother would be applying—I just can't afford it. So, after all of that work, carefully filling out the application—I clicked on the 'Cancel' icon, and left their site. I was pretty disappointed, but not for long.

I decided to make my own award certificate, and it wouldn't cost me a thing, except for my time! And, as Harley Belew likes to say on the radio, "If it's free—it's for me!" I plan on framing the certificate, for the award ceremony video, that hopefully Kinky will participate in, when he gets back. You will need to click on the certificate, to enlarge it, so you can read it, and the trophy I picked is the little pig, sitting next to the Guinness! Cheers!

Y'all have a great evening!

The Pig Report!

2009-06-27T19:10:00.006-05:00

Today has been a great day, even though I only walked four fast miles 'Sansone Style!' I think the summer heat is sorta zapping my walk-abouts. I was talking to Ben about it, and he agreed with me. He told me that since it got so hot, he hasn't been working out as much either. Since, Mercury is not in retrograde, and it's not full moon time, I am blaming the sun, for not doing eight fast miles everyday.

This morning, Linda T. came out to walk our dogs, and so did Todd and Jan, while Aaron and Ben started dipping our dogs for fleas and ticks! It is a huge task, so Linda helped with the dipping, while Todd continuously fetched, and returned the dogs to their pens. Thank y'all so much!

Around eleven o'clock—Kinky called me from Philadelphia. "Hi Nance! Have we gotten anymore rain?"

"Nope, and yesterday was a hundred and two degrees. I've never seen a summer this hot, so early..." We also talked about Beckham's and Mr. Ziffle's two great adoptions, and Kinky laughed out loud, when I told him about 'The Pig Report' e-mail, that I had received from David and Desiree! Here's an excerpt from their note from the Trails End Guest House:

"The guests have just begun to notice Beckham. He makes himself known in a series of grunts and squeals then runs up to the fence to greet everyone or at least that is what the guests think. He is really hoping they have some chilled watermelon rind in their back pocket. His pen is going through an overhaul already. His house has been unassembled and rethought due to unforeseen design modifications ( i.e. he is going to get really big) and he is currently basking in the mists on his veranda under the trees. That translates into we strung a water mister between two cedar trees for him to keep cool and he drug a plastic tarp off the lumber pile, positioned it where it would pond water and has proceeded to make his pen look like a drunken frat boys dorm room. He's all about the comfort.

Any road, what I was e-mailing about was this - the story of Beckham is going to be a long one. There is quite the tale to tell. Amazing what stories animals can tell. Since you said you were interested in his tale would you prefer I e-mail it to you in installments every day or so, or do you want to wait till we hear it all and completely write all of it down? An amazing fellow he is.

Our best to you both,
D&D"

Tony and I laughed out loud, as we read their hilarious e-mail! It sounds like Beckham Rules, and he has found his forever Bed and Breakfast! I love it—it is too cool! I replied to their e-mail, and requested the 'installment plan.' I think it will be fun to receive every day or so updates! I can't wait to read their first installment! And, I will definitely post them, so y'all can enjoy them, too.

I just hope that precious, little wild hog, realizes just how lucky he is. There are not many wild hogs, that can brag about living at a fancy B&B!

I guess our rescue ranch can now brag, that we have rescued two wild hogs, Harley and David Beckham, that now live happily at bed and breakfasts! Harley lives in Vanderpool and Beck now resides in Kerrville. I wonder if we could set a Guinness World Record for that?

If not, I could make up a fake Guinness World Record certificate, frame it, and then make a video of Kinky and Tony, standing out by the pig pen, holding Guinness beers in their hands— accepting the 'Placing Two Wild Hogs At B&B's' award, and then giving their acceptance speeches! I'm sure Tony's will be short.

Y'all have a great evening!

P.S. I forgot to thank Jim, our loyal dog walking volunteer, for coming out yesterday to walk our dogs! Thank you, Jim!
P.S.S. I've just added Guinness beer to my grocery list, and will start working on the award certificate—tomorrow morning!

Living Off The Grid!

2009-06-26T18:41:00.001-05:00

Today I only walked four fast miles with Leslie. Kinky called me about eleven o'clock, from the Austin airport, to see if we had gotten anymore rain. My answer was—"Nope." Kinky was at the airport, waiting for a plane—to take him to Philadelphia, so he and Little Jewford could do some Cigar events. He should be back at the ranch on Monday.

I spent most of the day, doing paperwork and returning phone calls. This afternoon Ben came inside the trailer to visit with Tony and me. We first talked about rescue ranch business, and then we caught up with each other's news. Ben told me that his, and his business partner, Miles—'Miles of Chocolate' business, is steadily growing, and their business is booming! Then Ben tells us that he is now a farmer on Facebook! Tone and I didn't understand, so Ben got on T.'s laptop, and went to his Facebook page, to show us this new farming game, that he has added to his wall. It was really cool! Then we started talking about my friend, Cindy P.'s new place in New Mexico.

I started telling Ben about it being off of the grid, all solar, etc., and how I couldn't wait to go out there to see it! We started talking about cob houses, solar panels, and living green, and that's when I remembered reading the interesting article in this month's Texas Monthly—about John Wells!

"There's this really cool, fifty year old man, living outside of Terlingua, who runs the Southwest Texas Alernative Enegy and Sustainable Living Field Laboratory! Ben, you have got to read the article about this guy!" I said, as I left the kitchen to go get the magazine from my office. "He is blogging daily, about his personal experiment in living green! I'm going to check out his blog this evening. Here read this." Tony and Ben read it. They thought it was as cool as I did.

After Ben left, I sat down at the kitchen table, and typed in John's blog address: thefieldlab.blogspot.com. I love his site, he uses the same layout that Tony uses! As I scrolled down the page, I quickly read a few of his blogs, and I really enjoyed the pictures. When I have the time, I plan to read his entire blog, from beginning to end, and I can't wait! I hope that y'all will check it out, too.

Before leaving his blog, I decided to post a comment. Here is what I wrote:

"Hello John! I read the article about you in Texas Monthly, and loved it! I admire what you are doing in Terlingua.

I am the executive director of the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, in Medina, Texas, that Kinky Friedman, Tony, my husband, and I started nearly eleven years ago.

Last April, our friends Curt and Sue, the donkey people from Terlingua came out to visit us. They are great people and I bet that you know them. If you do—please tell them howdy for me.

Keep living the good life!
Cousin Nancy
cousinnancy.blogspot.com

P.S. I think that you are on the right track! I am going to blog about you tonight."

I've got to go call Cindy P. now, who is in her new home in New Mexico, as I type, to tell her about John Wells. I hope John knows our friends, Curt and Sue!

Y'all have a great evening!

I Love These People!

2009-06-25T20:53:00.007-05:00

This morning, while doing the Harley Show, I told Harley that Mr. Ziffle had gotten adopted! "That's great, Cousin Nancy!" Harley remarked. "Now, is Mr. Ziffle that cute little wild hog that y'all rescued?"

"No Harley," I said. "David Beckham is our wild hog. Mr. Ziffle is our gigantic black dog—that we all loved—and he's now living in Houston."

"That's right," Harley said. "So how is David Beckham doing? Isn't he going to live at a bed and breakfast?"

"He's doing great, and yes, he's fixin' to get adopted, and go live at the Trails End Guest House." Little did I know—how soon.

"That place is really great," Harley stated. "Becky and I went out there last week, to eat, and to see David and Desiree's place. Their food was delicious, and we loved the cabins." Harley and I visited a little longer, and then my rescue ranch segment was over.

Following breakfast, while I was washing the dishes, the phone rang—I let Carlton take the call. "Hi Nancy and Tony. This is David and Desiree calling. We wanted to know if we could come out this morning and pick up Beckham? Call me at..." I turned off the faucet, and did as I was told!

Desiree and I talked for about five minutes, and we did a lot of laughing. As soon as we hung up on each other, I went outside and told Tony the good news. "Desiree said that they would be here between ten-thirty and eleven o'clock." Tony was thrilled. He then took off to go tell Ben and Aaron the good news.

I then returned to the trailer and called Kinky. After telling him about Beck getting adopted, he told me to please call him, when they got here, so he could come over, to meet D&D, and to say goodbye to Beck. I told him I would. I lied, again, but not intentionally.

I then walked four fast miles with Leslie, cleaned up—and was ready to greet Desiree and David, as soon as they arrived. I passed the time returning phone calls. Around ten-forty-five, I went out to the porch, and saw D&D's big, white truck parked out by the barn! I then called Kinky to tell him that they were here, I grabbed my camera, and then I went outside to greet them—but that never happened.

As I closed the front yard gate, behind me, I saw them driving away! "Was that David and Desiree?" I asked, Aaron and Ben, by the barn.

"Yeah," Aaron said. "They just left with Beck. They were here for about thirty minutes walking around. They had their daughter with them, too, and she might come back and adopt Martha Stewart or L.T."

I was sick that I had missed them, and didn't get to say goodbye to Beck. I went back to the trailer, and punched in D&D's cell phone number. I wanted to apologize to them, for not being there for Beck's adoption. Desiree and David were great about it, and told me not to apologize, and then they invited Tony and me to come visit Beck anytime. I love these people!

When that phone call ended—my dogs started barking—Kinky was here for the adoption, and to have a picnic with Toto and the rest of my gang of furry best friends. He, too, was disappointed about not getting to say goodbye to Beck, and meeting D&D. "They've invited us to come over, anytime, to visit with Beck," I said.

"Good," Kinky said. "Let's do it soon. I already miss that little pig." Kinky had his picnic with my dogs, on the front porch, and then Mr. Green Jeans took him back over to the Lodge.

Around four o'clock, Tony, Ben and I were visiting inside the trailer—talking about the horrible heat wave, and the serious drought that we were going through. So, I went outside to the porch, and then came back inside the trailer. "We're talkin' one hundred and four degrees on the porch." Tony and Ben didn't seem surprised with my weather bulletin.

Ten seconds later, Ben says, "Hey, guys—It's raining outside."

"You're kidding me?" I said, as I looked out the window, and saw that it was pouring! "Come on, let's go outside! This is fantastic! Come on rain!" We all went outside, including the dogs—to watch it rain. We only got about a quarter of an inch of rain, but we were thankful.

Ten minutes later, Ben took off to go check on his girls—Valerie and Penny. I then went inside and called Kinky's cell phone. "Hi Kinky—it's Nancy. I have some great news for you! It just rained, and we got..."

"That's great, Nance," Kinky said. "Do you know that Michael Jackson has just died?" My heart sank.

"Oh, no! I loved Michael Jackson. He was a musical genius, and his life story was so tragic and surreal." Kinky and I talked for a few more minutes. Then I went outside to tell Tony about Michael Jackson dying.

"Michael Jackson is dead?" Tony asked. "And, so is Farrah Fawcett." I was shocked with T.'s news. I knew that Farrah had been fighting a losing battle with cancer, but I could not believe that one of Charlie's Angels was now an angel.

Godspeed—Michael and Farrah. Y'all will always be remembered, and loved for your beauty, and your talents.

It's nearly nine o'clock, and I am fixin' to watch the Michael Jackson special on CBS.

Y'all have a great evening!

P.S. Tone is now on the well side.

Y'all Have A Great Evening!

2009-06-24T18:21:00.003-05:00

Today has been fairly quiet—not much happened. After walking eight fast miles, this morning, I spent most of my day doing paperwork, and returning numerous phone calls.

Around noon, Tone came inside the traile. He told me that he wasn't feeling well. He had a headache, a stomach ache, and was feeling achy all over. I sure hope that he isn't coming down with something.

Late this afternoon, I went over to visit with Kinky. We sat outside, by the Friedman Family Bone Orchard, and talked about our up coming books, and Mr. Ziffle's great adoption! Forty-five minutes later, Trigger took me home.

I'm fixing to watch a movie, and then go to bed early.

Y'all have a great evening!

Fast And Furious!

2009-06-23T21:10:00.001-05:00

This morning, after walking eight fast miles, with Les, I needed to write two letters—one was sad, and the other one was in Pig Latin. I wrote the sad one first. After returning a few phone calls, I decided to do something about the never ending, growing pile, of Tony's organic vegetables—now covering one entire drain board, because Tone, had not heeded my advice, about taking his harvested crop to the Old Timer this morning, and giving his veggies away.

My plan was simple. I would cook for two hours. After cranking up my iPod, I put two big skillets, and a large pot, on the stovetop, turned on the oven, and began cooking like a short-order cook—with two newly parked Greyhound buses outside!

I started with the zucchini, squash, onions and yams! Within an hour, I had put ten big containers of cooked veggies—into the freezer! Next came the potatoes. Within another hour, I had cooked up several servings of hashbrowns, potato salad, and mashed potatoes—also now residing in the freezer.

My two hours of cooking time were well spent! I was thrilled that I had accomplished so much! I had now regained two-thirds of my countertop space back, but the sight of those dozens of ripe tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, and onions, just sitting there—taking up space—really irritated me, so I did what I had to do—I made salsa and picante sauce!

Before putting it into containers to freeze, I had Tone taste it, and he said it was perfect!

This evening, about six-fifteen, Trigger took me over to the Lodge. Kinky and I had a short business meeting, then we went outside to the Friedman Family Bone Orchard—for a fun visit. Before leaving, Kinky challenged me to a game of pool.

The game was fast and furious! The Hummingbird Man was fast, and I was furious, not really—I always lose! By the time that he had won, I had only sank two solids, and they were lucky shots—not meant to be.

As Kinky walked me to Trigger, I told him about Tony's overwhelming vegetable crop, and having to cook up a storm, earlier today. Kinky thought it was pretty funny. Before Trigger and I left the Lodge, Kinky asked me to please bring over as many unwanted vegetables as we wanted, because he would love to eat them!

Godspeed, Tom Price!

2009-06-22T18:22:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, I received this very sad e-mail, from Stephanie:
"Hello to All,
As many of you have already heard, Tom passed away just before noon today. He went to sleep peacefully in his bed with Susan, as always, by his side. It’s never easy to lose someone you love, but I think we all know how fortunate we are to have had someone like Tom in our lives.

I want to thank all of you, as do Susan and Ben, for all of your love, support, visits, emails, and meals that have helped ease the burden that these fine folks have had to carry. At the request of Susan and Ben, we are going to stop the meal service after tonight. Thank you to those who have signed up for this week, but let’s cancel those meals so that Susan may begin the therapeutic process of cooking again.

I won’t quote this correctly, but as Tom’s good friend Bob Raines said recently, if life is a game, and the point of the game is to make the most friends, and touch the most lives for the better... well, we all know Tom won.
Love to you all,
Stephanie"

Tony and I loved Tom Price, and we will miss our dear friend so much. Tom definitely won the game. Kinky, Tony and I send our love and sympathies to Susan, and their son, Ben, over their loss. I can't quit crying, and I am at a loss for words. Godspeed, Tom—we love you, and thank you for letting us be your friend.

Tom Price

An Act Of Kindness!

2009-06-21T20:25:00.002-05:00

Today has been nice and quiet—summer solstice, the first day of summer—the longest day of the year and Father's Day. Right now, my sister, Cindy, and her husband, Ray, are celebrating their 33rd wedding anniversary— onboard a Princess cruise ship, headed to Alaska. And, I want to give them a shout out—"Happy Anniversary Cindy and Ray! I love y'all, and enjoy your seven-day cruise!

This morning, right after I had walked eight miles with Leslie, my brother, Ronnie, called me—all excited, "Nance, Guess what I got for Father's Day?"

"What?"

"Nita bought me an iPod Touch! And, I love it! It is really cool, but I need to ask you a few questions about it. How do I..."

I was thrilled that Ron had gotten an iPod Touch, and I tried to answer all of his technical questions. In a few months, I will probably be calling him for technical support on my iPod Touch, because he is a lot more computer savvy than I am.

Around two o'clock, I took an hour nap with my furry friends, and I had a very strange dream—it didn't make any sense to me or to Tony, when I told him about it. I wish that I could tell y'all all about it, but I can't. But, I can tell you about one part of it.

In my dream, I was inside the trailer, and a friend walks inside the trailer, with my palomino horse, named Trigger. (Please remember that this is a dream, and the only horse, that I ever named Trigger, was my twenty-two year old, chestnut mare, and that was over thirteen years ago!) Anyway, Trigger comes up to me, and starts kissing and nuzzling me in the kitchen!

I was scared that the kitchen floor would give way, from the weight of Trigger, and I would end up with a big hole, in the middle of my kitchen floor, where the painted rug is located. So, I asked my friend to please take Trigger outside. He tried to take Trigger outside, but Trigger wanted to stay with me, so I grabbed an apple, and then walked outside, and Trigger follows me... Sorry, that is about all that I can tell you.

Tone has been outside working in his garden. He just walked inside, carrying that big yellow bucket, again. He is now laughing, as he is unloading more vegetables! My countertop is now completely covered up in vegetables! It now appears that I will be cooking more vegetables tomorrow, and freezing them, before he hauls in another load—in a couple of days.

Wait! I just had a light bulb moment! Our freezer is getting really full of cooked veggies, and I might just ask Tony to take his latest harvested crop, to the Old Timer, tomorrow morning—to give away to strangers! That would be an act of kindness, right?

Before I go, I want y'all to see a picture that T. took yesterday morning. He took it in our garden, and it is the inside of a sunflower, with a bee visitor. It is awesome, and I love it!

Y'all have a great evening!

Mr. Ziffle, Roy Rogers & U.F.O.'s!

2009-06-20T22:10:00.005-05:00

Today has been great, fantastic and really weird! I'll start with great. This morning, around eleven-thirty, our friend, Joe, from Houston, showed up with his beautiful family, and friends—to adopt Mr. Ziffle! Earlier this week, Joe had called me about coming up on Saturday, to adopt Mr. Ziffle—so we we're expecting him. Even Mr. Z. knew that Joe was coming, because I had told him yesterday evening.

After handshakes, hugs and howdy doodies, I came inside the trailer. I called Kinky, to let him know that Joe had arrived, and then I grabbed my clipboard, with Mr. Ziff's adoption papers—ready to be signed. As I was walking out the door, the phone rang, and I did something that I never do—I answered the phone!

Fortunately, it was Kent, one of the best mailmen in Texas, "Nancy, I've got a really large package for you and Tony. It's a big box." Kent said. "I'll leave it on top of the mailboxes. I just wanted to let you know—in case it rains."

"Thank you, Kent. I'll tell Tony," I lied, but not intentionally. I then went outside, and simply forgot to tell Tone about our mystery package, because I was in the middle of a great adoption.

Joe quickly filled out the adoption form, and then we took off to Ziffer's pen, to tell him that he now had a new last name. I guess that he will hyphenate his last names— like I do.

As soon as we reached Ziffle's pen, Joe—went inside to talk to his newest family member. Mr. Z. knew exactly what was going on, too. His tail wouldn't stop wagging! Joe sat down on the ground, and then Mr. Ziffle gave him a gentle kiss on his cheek, and then another one! I was so happy for Mr. Ziffle, a tear came to my eye, but I quickly wiped it away, because I didn't want Tony or Kinky teasing me about it later.

Joe put a leash on his new furry friend, and walked out of the pen with him. He wanted to take his new dog for a walk, while his three daughters, and friends toured the rescue ranch with Tone. Before they were halfway to the the rescue ranch's gate, Kinky and Mr. Green Jeans arrived, and so did Todd B.!

Todd, is one of our wonderful, volunteer dog walkers. He had arrived earlier this morning, to walk our dogs, and he was returning with Henry, our big, sweet, beautiful yellow Lab, that he had just taken for a long walk. After Todd had taken Henry back to his pen, he came over to tell Mr. Ziffle goodbye. Here's a picture of Todd with Kinky.

By now, Joe's girls and friends, had taken the tour, and they joined us, too. After intros, we visited for about fifteen minutes, and then we shot each other. Here is Kinky, with Mr. Ziffle and his new family!

We visited a little bit longer, then it was time for Joe and Mr. Ziffle, and their gang of girls to take off. As they drove away, Kinky, Tony and I talked about how happy we were for Mr. Ziffle. "Third time's the charm, Kinky," I said. "He has finally found his forever home—in Houston!"

After Mr. Green Jeans had left our ranch—to return Kinky back to the Lodge, T. and I visited with Paul E., another one of our great volunteers, and a couple of very nice women, who had come out to see the rescue ranch and to take a tour. After they left, T. and I came inside to eat lunch. We had beans with cornbread, and it was delicious! Tony loves my beans!

Following lunch, Tony took off to get our mail, while I cleaned up the kitchen. Tone and Trigger, had been gone two minutes, when I remembered, that I had forgotten to tell Tony about the big package. Oh well, I thought—he will be surprised, but unfortunately—that didn't happen.

The phone rang. Carlton told me it was Kinky, so I picked up the receiver. "Nance, I've got a big package over here for you and Tony," Kinky said. "I can bring it over there, if you want me to?"

"Thanks, Kinky," I said. "I'll come over there to pick it up, in a few minutes." When Tony returned with our mail, I told him I was going over to Kinky's to pick up a big package for us—then Trigger and I took off.

Kinky and I visited for about thirty minutes—we mainly talked about Mr. Ziffle's great adoption and The Friedmans. When it was time for me to leave, Kinky pulled the big box out of Mr. Green Jeans and dropped it gently into Trigger's bed. Trigger and I then went over the river and through the woods—to the rescue ranch.

I tried to lift the box out of the bed, but couldn't because I am too short, so I went inside, and asked Tony to help me. He did as he was told.

Tone set the big box on the kitchen table, and pulled out his pocketknife. "It's from The Ranch House, in Stephenville?" Tony said, as he cut open the box. Tony and I had no clue who The Ranch House was. When he opened up the box, we found a very pretty gift wrapped large box. Tony then removed the pretty paper.

"Oh my gosh, Tony!" I half-hollered, with excitement, when I saw the box! Tony quickly opened up the box, and pulled out a 'Limited Edition Roy Rogers Chuckwagon Cookie Jar!' I thought that I was going to faint! The cookie jar was absolutely beautiful!

"It's from Ruthie and Kent," Tony said, as he handed me the piece of paper. "They wrote us a note in Pig Latin! They are the two nicest people."

I read their note to us, out loud, and translated it to Tony. "Ancynay & Onytay...Entkay & Uthieray." By the time that I had finished reading it, T. and I were laughing so hard—Lucky left the kitchen, and our dogs started barking at us! When our laughter subsided, I put the beautiful cookie jar on the counter, and took these pictures of it!

Isn't it beautiful?! I love it so much! After taking the pictures of it, I called Kent and Ruthie. Unfortunatley, I got their machine, and I left them a long message—thanking them over and over, again for the cookie jar. Tomorrow I will write them a note, and write it in Pig Latin, too!

At three o'clock, Tony and I took off for Kerrville, to buy dog food for our rescued dogs, because we had run out of the free donated dog food—that Paul finds, and delivers to us. We were nearly in the city limits when Tony points his finger, and says, "Nance, look! What is that up there in the sky?" I looked up.

We both saw this big, white shiny thing, way up in the northeast sky, that looked like a giant hot dog—and it wasn't moving! "I bet it's a U.F.O!" I stated. I then looked at Trigger's clock. "It's three-twenty-six," I said. "If we report it, we will have to know the time that we saw it." About ten seconds passed, and then it completely disappeared! "Let's go tell Sandy and Jon about it, before we go to H.E.B.!"

"Nance, that's our first U.F.O. sighting!" Tony said.

"It's our first sighting together," I said, "but not the first one that I've seen. Remember me telling you about that one, that I saw, a few summers back, that hovered in one place, for about four minutes, that had all of these beautiful flashing red and blue lights, above Robert and Sherry's ranch?" Tony said nothing.

When we arrived at Wolfmueller's Books, their place was packed with people—as usual, so we went back to their office, for privacy—to report our space ship sighting. I think they thought we were crazy, because they both started chuckling. In our defense, I said, "What else could it have been? We're talkin' now you see it—now you don't! We both saw it and watched it. And, it wasn't moving." They changed the subject, and we did a lot of laughing.

Y'all have a great evening!

We're Having A Garden Party!

2009-06-19T09:25:00.010-05:00

This morning I received a sweet note from my friend, Carl N., up in Denton, Texas. He and his wife, Debbie, are two of the nicest people in North Texas! At the end of Carl's e-mail, he wrote: 'Idea for veggies.... make gift baskets and give to strangers ....' I burst out laughing, when I read it! It's a great idea, and, I plan on doing it—starting today!

As soon as I am done walking, I am going to make up a pretty, garden gift basket, with pastel pink ribbons, and then sneak over to the Lodge, and drop it off at Kinky's back door—and then high tail it back to the rescue ranch. He'll never figure out who it was!

I am also thinking about having a 'Garden Party' real soon. The invitations would be pink, and say something like, 'You're invited to Tony's and Cousin Nancy's Pickin' and Grinnin'—Garden Party! And it would, of course, be—B.Y.O.B.—which is short for: Bring Your Own Basket or Box.

For decorations, I could string the beans, around the Christmas lights, above the windows—in Outer Space, and use the giant pumpkins for extra seating or for ottomans. For games, we could have roping contests using the pumpkins, too. We could also play marbles, in the dirt—using either the onions or the radishes. And, the children could take our potatoes, and play 'Mr. Potato Head,' while my iPod blasts my favorite tunes.

If Carol's and my grape vineyard is producing, we could serve homemade wine. How cool would that be! And for party favors, I could give everyone, a copy of my new upcoming book! I am starting to really get excited about our upcoming garden party! I think that we should have it in August, and all of y'all are invited!

Y'all have a great evening!