Kyle took me out this afternoon for, technically, my second lesson on driving a 5 speed. My first lesson took place several months ago, and was very short. So, as this was practically my first time, I’m proud to say that I killed it only once. I really don’t know how I did beyond that. Kyle makes a good teacher, I think. Hopefully I’m an okay student.

I do have hope that I will be able to successfully operate this vehicle, and in (again, hopefully) the not-so-distant future.

We shall see…

We’re getting ready to start work on our second album – the name of which I don’t yet know. I’m not sure anybody knows. But, I’ll “keep you posted”, which means, most likely, that I’ll update the folks I see a lot in person, and eventually get around to posting the details… later. Let’s just face it, I’m not much of a blogger (and, honestly, don’t really have plans of becoming one).

Today’s studio goal: start work on (if not finish) Poor Wayfaring Stranger, Lover’s Waltz, How Blue, and one that I will not name yet. It’s an original fiddle tune written by Mr. Brantley, himself! Some of you got to hear a bit of it at our Reformation Day dance a few days ago. That’s all I’ll say for now.

Well, I’m not sure how much “free time” I’ll have this go-round in the studio, but, if I have much, I may post more regularly.

Over and out.

Bedtime’s at 9:30, like it or not. But, I perked up backstage.

I guess it’s just a little thing, proving that I’m easily entertained, but I got a thrill out of being a true musician walking around Nashville at night. The streets were lit up and those nocturnal locals were enjoying the night life. I doubt I would have enjoyed what most of them were doing, but walking through the streets with an instrument that I actually know how to play felt pretty cool. My sequins added to the effect. It’s just something I never really thought I’d be doing, as much as I’ve always wanted to.

Tomorrow night (or, rather, REALLY early Thursday morning) we’ll be back, doing it all again. We’re scheduled to play at nearly 1:00 in the morning, I believe. Needless to say, I’m catching sleep when I can.

Just proves you never know what might happen in your life. I’m by no means famous, I certainly haven’t “hit it big” in music, but I’m doing what I always dreamed of.

AWESOME!!!

However, I thought I’d post a quick update.

Our dairy business is going pretty well. We don’t have many share holders, but, you can’t expect a booming business right of the start. Besides, if it was booming, we wouldn’t have enough milk to supply the need. But, that is one of the things that takes my time. I’ve also been crocheting lately, trying to create some patterns, as well as make lots of little things to sell. I like to have handwork anyway, so, I might as well make it productive.

Beyond the dairy and handwork, I’ve been doing a lot with music. In fact, compared to what we’ve done in the past, we’re booked pretty heavily from next weekend through November. It certainly keeps us on our toes! We’ve sold several CD’s at the last few events, and hope to sell MANY more. If you’d like to know where all we’ll be playing, check out the “concerts” page at www.tbandmr.com. We’d love to see you! Be sure to research the events ahead of time, though, because you may need to purchase tickets or make reservations. If you’re interested in booking us, go to the “contact” page to find out what to do.

Now I’ll post a picture, if I can. That’s what I always want to see on blogs, anyway.

7th out of 77!

This was taken either VERY late at night or VERY early in the morning after they announced that we’d won 7th place out of 77 bands at the Galax Fiddlers’ Convention. We were happy.

We’ve recently acquired two very small kittens – half bengal, half… mut? But, we’re stuck. The poor little fellers have no names.

We’ve gone through lots of word-pairs, famous hero-&-sidekicks, and so forth.

Rat and Brashley (Oh, yeah. The famous “Went With the Wind” heroes. Not sure I like Rat as a name, though.)

Ret and Brashely (May be. NOTE: that is an intentional misspelling on that first one. It still holds to the above heroes, and Ret also stands for Reticent, which seems to fit one of them. The other is a bit brash, too. Hmm.)

Mingo and Tonto (Don’t know if I spelled those right, but they’re some great sidekicks.)

Spit and Spot (Taken from Mary Poppins’ quote “spit-spot”, but I don’t like either as a name.)

Dailey&Vincent (For all my bluegrass-loving readers… Our previous cats were named Flatt and Scruggs. Might be a little weird, though, since Jamie Dailey is a friend of Mr. Brantley’s, and he hears from him every once in a while.)

Spam and Spam (A reference to… Well, if you’ve seen it, you probably get it. I’ll leave it at that. However, this pair could get somewhat confusing, I think.)

Humperdink and Pumpernickel (Again, not sure about the spelling. These are just fun to say. They have nothing to do with each other, as far as I know. May be rather than nick-naming them Hump and Pump we could do Dink and Nickel… or something…)

Stripes and Spots (A George of the Jungle quote. How is it that Spot can continue to be so popular?)

Bob and Mike (No reference, no quote, no comment.)

There’s lots more, including pairs like Stealth and Sly, Divide and Conquer, Mo and Curly, and so forth.

More ideas? Comments?

But, like I said, I’m almost recovered. The main thing that’s lacking is my ability to open my mouth very wide at all. Hopefully, though, it’s wide enough to sing, because I’ll be competing at the Smithville Fiddler’s Jamboree this weekend, along with the rest of Missionary Ridge, in all sorts of categories.

Aside from recovering and getting ready to compete (for which I think I’m going to have to muster up some competitiveness…), I’ve been busy playing secretary. No, not a game. It’s my new job… seriously. Unfortunately, this does not mean that I’m going around in those great secretary dresses of the forties, working for the man that would, without a doubt, accidently fall in love with me and we’d, of course, live happily ever after… Well, it worked in the movies. Anyway, I’m really, I guess, my brother’s secretary. I’m busy organizing for our new business, Belle Springs Dairy.

It’s a daunting task. I have no idea what I’m getting into, but we’re ready for a challenge. Lord willing, this will become a thriving business in the not-too-distant future. Amidst all the apprehension, stress, and feeling of being totally ignorant and overwhelmed, there’s growing excitement. What an incredible opportunity! We’ve been blessed with the opportunity to turn our hobby into an income. I pray that we will be good stewards of this, and grow it in the days, months, and years to come.

So, there was a round-about way of announcing that we are finally open for business!

May be we’ll have a website soon, and I can post a link to it.

I think that pretty well covers most goings on.

Ouch. I had all four impacted wisdom teeth removed Friday morning. For those of you who haven’t seen me, I look like I kept all the gauze in my mouth. My cheeks/jaw/neck/etc. are very swollen, but a little better than yesterday, I think.

So, I’ve been living on yogurt, tiny mozzarella balls, gelato (thanks to some very dear friends!), and am currently eating homemade tres leches. Not bad, but, I’m thinking it’s not worth it to do it again, if I could. No, I’m very glad to have it over with, and am really looking forward to looking and feeling like myself again.

Oh, and lest I forget to mention it altogether, I passed out (all the way) for my very first time Friday evening. I’ve heard many girls say how romantic it would be to faint, and so forth, but, as I expected, it’s not. As many times as I’ve been on the verge of doing it, I pretty well knew what to expect. So, heads up, girls. It ain’t all roses and pearls when you faint.

Just sayin’.

Let’s see… One of our Jersey cows just had her calf on the 3rd. Finally! We’ve been waiting anxiously for quite awhile. This one looks like he’s a little Jersey-Dexter cross. He’s a cute little thing, and seems to be doing well, even after a traumatic day. He evidently woke up on the wrong side of the fence one morning (no, really, I mean that literally) and spent most of the day separated from his mama. Thankfully, Laura found him around supper time, and reunited them. There for awhile, we were afraid he was gone for good.

Meanwhile, back at the stanchions, Macushla’s being a very good girl for us, and thoroughly enjoyed her brushing this morning. Avourneen, her pretty little heifer calf, now has her adorable green halter on, and is learning along-side her constant companion, Kenzy. We’ve done some training with the lead rope and sweet-feed. It’s going well, I’d say, and it’s been fun to watch their personalities come out. Kenzy is incredibly eager. That pretty well sums her up. She’s eager to see you, eager to eat, eager to be loved on, eager to know what’s going on, eager to communicate with you. I was surprised, however, to find her the least eager to be led by the rope. She’d follow you all day long, but she didn’t like the rope last time I tried.

Avourneen is more calm and relaxed. She’s still not comfortable with anyone petting anything but her head, but she is excited when folks go out to see her. The most difficult part of training her is keeping Kenzy out of the way, as she manages to end up between me and Avourneen, tripping along side-ways under the rope. Awkward. When she’s not there, she’s skipping circles around me. Ah, well. Macushla was similar in enthusiasm, so, hopefully everything will turn out just as well with these two girls as with her.

You’re probably wondering when I’ll move on from cow-news… Well, I can tell about hay… for the cows. Or cattle panels and gates…for the cows. Okay, we’re surrounded by cows.

We have been loving our creek lately, and are continually reminded of how thankful to God we are for being here, in the midst of our beloved church family. We’ve used the swimming/fishing hole and another spot as a gathering point for mid-week fellowship. We are so blessed!

As for recent/upcoming gigs for Missionary Ridge, nothing’s booked yet for June, July, or August, if I’m correct. That’s strange, but I think it’s in the process of being remedied. We played for a benefit a couple of weeks ago. Apart from an entirely unexpected clown-act from a local acquaintance, one of my earrings deciding to fall off during the first number, and our band going without our lyrics notebook (and not forgetting any lyrics!) for the first time, nothing particularly unusual happened. Kyle, Daddy, and I left right after we played, as it was well after 8:00 p.m., and we had a 3? hour drive ahead of us.

By the way, we have a new, honest-to-goodness website now. Visit it at http://www.tbandmr.com/, and sign our guestbook! All our bookings are shown on the concerts page, and you can listen to a clip of one of our songs on the products page.

WARNING: In the following few sentences, I will be taking advantage of this opportunity to offer a sales pitch… or something. As part of Missionary Ridge, I take it as one of my responsibilities to sell our products… product. Anyway, please read to the end.

Our CD will hopefully be available around the first of July. If you want to be one of the first to own a copy, leave a comment or email me (for those of you who have my email address…) with your name, email address (optional, but nice so we can let you know when they come in, and when we send one your way), and mailing address.

FYI, I don’t think there’s any extra charge for signed copies…

Now that you made it through the ads, I’m afraid to say, you’re at the end of the program. Thanks for reading to the end.

This past Saturday, we (Missionary Ridge) played for the Winchester Dogwood Festival. I had a great time! We saw some dear old friends of ours in the crowd, which is always nice to see. We debuted our newest song “Just in Case” as the second song in our set. I was a little nervous. Though I’ve been listening to the recording of it for weeks, we only put the song together on Thursday, and played it Saturday. I kept forgetting the words when we practiced prior to performing, and I could never seem to come in on the right beat. Oh, well. The LORD saw fit to allow me to remember the words during the stage performance, and gave us the ability to make it through the whole song without any very obvious mistakes. Hurray!

I did enjoy the event a lot. I don’t think we’ve ever had that much room on a stage, and, this time, we had an honest-to-goodness sound-guy that fixed our mics for us. Plus, we each had our own vocal mic and our own instrument mic. Awesome! And I don’t know when I’ve had my picture taken so much as when I was singing… “Blue Water”?.. I don’t remember, exactly. But, I think the local newspaper folks must have been there to capture the whole shebang.

So, after stopping by Hoggy’s to get some highly-recommended B-B-Q, we headed home. Oh, we also stopped by the Swiss Pantry where I got a homemade oatmeal cream pie. As I took my first bite, I suddenly heard Fred Astair in my head, singing, “Heaven, I’m in Heaven…”

Yeah, well. I have a weakness for those things. It was so good!

BTW, we’ll be playing this Saturday evening at the First Baptist Church of Beech Grove. Hope to see you there!

This morning, I woke and began thinking about what I was going to teach my fiddle student this afternoon. But, alas, those thoughts were fleeting. When I looked out the window, I saw that our front pasture had a new river running through it. It runs the whole length of the pasture, leaving some “dry” ground on the side of the road, and some “dry” ground between the river and the creek. Needless to say, our nine cows (four of which are young calves) still in this pasture, were on the ground between the river and creek. We hurried out there with a friend, and tried everything we could think of, but everything’s too dangerous. We can’t move those cows out. In order to get them on this side, where we could take them up to high ground, they would have to swim through what Kyle guessed to be 60-80 foot-wide, 2-4 foot-deep rushing waters that are quickly rising. Sadly, they’re stuck in the flood plane.

It might sound strange, but, we’re asking for prayers for our cows. It’s pretty bad only being able to watch as the waters surround them closer and closer.

As it is right now, Daddy’s still out doing a gasoline run for the community, Kyle’s stuck at the Lingos (the road between here and there is more river than road – but, hey, not a bad place to be stuck at!), fiddle lessons have been canceled, Mama’s preparing all our kerosene lamps, and we’re just wondering what’s going to happen next.

I think I may safely speak for all of Coble when I say we would all appreciate your prayers. We’re all thankful for the safety that we’ve experienced thus far, but the rain’s not over yet.

Thanks.