While Meloney and her kids were here, we took the time to go visit the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch.  This is a no-kill rescue facility for dogs, though they’ve also rescued a duck, pigs, cats and even a few donkeys.  The land for the rescue is owned by our very own, Kinky Friedman.  He’s a hoot, and if he were to run for governor again, I’d vote for him hands-down.  In years gone by, he was known in country music as the “Singing Jew”.  Since then, he’s become a wanna-be politician, an author, a dog-saver and he also runs a family-owned ranch for kids.

Cousin Nancy and Cousin Tony (dog rescuers) were at the local library last week and gave all of the kids in attendance a talk about what they did and some fun stories about their dogs and some folks who have helped them throughout the years.  It was a fun presentation, and Cousin Nancy has also written two books (that both of my older girls devoured) about stories at the ranch.  On Saturday, Cousin Nancy took us on a tour of their facilities.  Both Meloney and I are Girl Scout leaders and we have girls interested in working with the Rescue Ranch to earn their Bronze and Silver awards.  Not to mention that our troops, as well as my husband’s Cub Scout pack, are interested in organizing tours for our scouts.

After reading Cousin Nancy’s second book, DD#2 remembered that Cousin Nancy encouraged folks to bring snacks for the residents of the ranch, so she grabbed some carrots when we left the house, so the kids could feed the donkeys.  They weren’t down with the dogs, so Cousin Nancy took us on a little tour of the rest of the ranch and up by Kinky’s house, we found three donkeys and a beautiful horse.  Unfortunately, Kinky wasn’t home, but we did get to see his ass!

Kinky’s Ass, Cousin Nancy & our Kids at Echo Hill Ranch