Friday Nite Check In

 

We got some much needed rain on The Ranch on Thursday..., but not near as much as we needed.  I guess we will get by with what we got and be happy about it.  The Potato Garden probably didn't need it..., I cut back the green stocks of the first row on Monday and plucked a few more new potaoes.  I have developed a liking for those thin skinned newbies and will pluck some more before the skins start getting tougher for some longer term storage properties.

I am blaming this out of focus shot on a weak battery :)

After I charged the battery I got this shot of the Heron and the Duck having words :)

I can't be sure..., but I would give you odds that the Blue Heron that has been frequenting The Ranch the last few days is the same one I wrote about a while back on the blog.  Back then I only saw him/her on one day..., but this year it has been hanging around most of this week.  Here's a link to that story and picture...,

http://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2025/12/maybe-i-should-wash-my-windows.html

The sad news of the week..., Dolly Parton passed away.  I wasn't a big fan of hers..., never bought any of her records..., and always thought she was just a little too perky and used way too much make up.  But I was just coming of age (and in my pants) when she was a regular on The Porter Wagner Show..., and I contend that any man or boy who says he didn't notice that spectacular rack..., was either blind or a blatant liar.  She didn't pose nude for Playboy..., but she made the cover in a Bunny suit and was the interviewee of the issue.  I gained a lot of respect for her over that (along with the disappointment, I admit) and after seeing her acquit herself quite well in her movie roles.  My respect continued to grow along with her fame and fortune..., it is quite rare for someone with a rags to riches story..., that almost everyone is familiar with..., as astounding as hers chooses to share those riches instead of hoarding them.  And equally rare for someone in her position and profession to remain married to the same person for over fifty years.  They say she was worth between 450 and 500 million dollars when she passed..., and that is after all the philanthropy she engaged in while she was alive.

Where the Fortune is Going

Because Parton and her husband, Carl Dean (who passed away in March 2025), chose to be child-free, she left behind no direct primary heir. However, Parton was meticulous about her estate planning to ensure her family would not have to endure a messy legal battle over her assets. [1, 2]

While the exact specifics of her will remain private, details from insider reports and her husband's trust structures outline the likely breakdown of her estate: [1]

Philanthropic Foundations: The bulk of her fortune is anticipated to go directly toward funding her charitable endeavors, most notably her literacy program, the Imagination Library, which has gifted hundreds of millions of books to children globally. [1, 2]
Surviving Family Members: Parton leaves behind six surviving siblings and 19 nieces and nephews between her and her husband's sides of the family. They are expected to receive gifts or trust distributions, having reportedly been "treated very fairly" in her lifetime planning. []
Asset Trusts: Her crown-jewel intellectual properties—including her music rights and Dollywood stakes—were heavily shifted into private trusts before her passing. These assets will continue to operate cohesively under professional trustees, generating ongoing revenue to support her designated charities and family beneficiaries for decades to come. [1, 3]

Wikipedia has a good accounting of her life here...,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_Parton

Most of the images you see of Dolly were in color and I already mentioned that I thought that she overdid the make up and always had that huge grin on her face..., I thought that Time magazine had a great black and white picture of her on the cover..., a thoughtful touch I thought..., it is the one featured in the Wiki piece.  But I thought that this image of her from one of the blogs I read was even better..., I seems to capture an innocence  and vulnerability in her that she spent a lifetime trying to hide from the public..., RIP Dolly..., you were a true and natural beauty..., inside and out.

So..., I guess your Friday Nite Music Video has to be a Dolly Parton song..., so many to choose from..., Wiki says she wrote more than 3,000 of them!  Though Whitney Houston is probably more famous for this song of Dolly's..., I still prefer Dolly's version...,

  

Friday Nite Check In

 

When I washed up the old Tundra last week I noticed a black sooty like residue coating the right front hub cap..., so I picked up a set of brake pads at the parts store in Forks on my weekly dump/grocery/mail/apple run.  I probably should have picked up new rotors as well..., but I didn't want to make another run to town when I got around to replacing the pads..., and discovered how bad the rotor was damaged.  I surmised that they probably only sell them in pairs..., and the drivers side was still as good as new..., so I figured that no more than I drive the old V-8 gas hog that I would be too damn old to do the job and would take it to a real auto repair shop when the time came to make the necessary repairs.  Charlie Horse..., as usual..., was providing over the shoulder supervisory duties..., just like he did last week while I washed the old gal up.  He was pretty disgusted with me regarding my thought process in that regard to installing new brake pads on a roughed up rotor..., and was even more disgusted when I couldn't figure out how to reinstall the spring clip thingy-maboby..., and he sent me back to the computer and YouTube..., and told me to pay close attention this time..., while he stood guard.  The drivers side went a lot smoother..., and I expected some "good job" comments from Charlie..., but he just moseyed off without a word.

I wish my dear old departed Dad was still around to share my horse stories with..., especially Charlie Horse stories.  Charlie is really my first horse.  Oh..., we had a borrowed Welsh pony from Tuff Smolinski (whose name will come to me after I publish this 🥲)..., and our neighbors had a little pinto colored pony they let me name Shadow..., in our shared pasture for a couple of years..., that all us kids rode the snot out of.  Then I got Scout..., a full size white horse for my birthday when I was 12 or 13 years old..., that looked a lot like the one Al-Boy is pictured on..., and I even won a few ribbons on him at the local gymkhana.  The first place Pole Bending and the second place Barrel Racing were Scout and mine alone..., while the other two were team efforts..., one in a four horse Baton Race and one with my partner...,  cousin Debbie Chapman (Smith now).  She "rescued" me in the Rescue Race.

But after I got a driver's license and a motorcycle my horse days were pretty much over..., until Julie and I got together over in Forks.  Her ex-husband gave her a couple of horses and our farrier gave her another horse..., but they really weren't mine..., like Charlie is.  He is the first horse that I picked out and chose for myself..., so he is very special.  

Just like my Dad..., That Good Lookin' Al Spence..., he has been gone now 17 years.  It sure doesn't seem like that long ago.  Here is a link to his obituary that I wrote back at the time...,

lhttps://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2010/05/that-good-lookin-al-spence.html

His birthday would be a couple days away on the 23rd..., so I will dedicate this Friday Nite Music Video by Jackson Browne to the old cowboy...,

Friday Nite Check In

 About a month ago I cleaned out my stash of potatoes from last years harvest.  They were starting to get a little soft..., so I picked out about a month's worth of the best ones to eat until I figured that this year's crop would yield some worthy of harvest.

I think I timed it about right judging from the look of the first couple of plants that I pulled on Monday.  That's my foot for comparison of size..., and there are a few that I would have kept for seed potatoes..., if I didn't need them to eat 🥔.  The skins on this batch hadn't developed the toughness that makes for long storage..., so I will be eating this batch..., and have for the last couple of nights.  And I have to admit that these new potatoes that I haven't cut the green growth back a couple weeks before harvest so the skins could toughen up for long storage properties are a bit tastier with a couple pats of real butter than those old softies that I cleaned out.  Not that those old softies tasted all that bad when smothered with Hidden Ranch Dressing or Sour Cream and Salsa.  I am not sure how much longer they would have been good..., but why find out when you have new potatoes at the ready?

In other news..., Scotty Green Appleseed is back on the road again.  I have already delivered three of these bags to my friends with the deer in their backyard.  They all appreciated this two bagger load.  The apple trees are loaded like never before this year..., and after Charley Horse's little founder episode with the carrots last year I want to be sure to eliminate any chance of excess apples causing a relapse..., so I have been raking as many of these green apples off the trees as I can reach from the ground.  Once those higher apples ripen up and the fall winds and storms commence I will have to be on my toes to gather more falling apples before Charley discovers them.

I even scraped the moss and mildew and algae off and shined up the old Tundra for the road trip.  Charley Horse was right there through the whole ordeal..., looking over my shoulder to make sure I didn't miss any spots..., and giving me dirty looks when I got a little reckless with the spray nozzle.  And he pleaded the Fifth Amendment when confronted about the big dent in the bed, just behind the passenger door.  And he offered a theory that someone had backed into it at the grocery store when I was shopping there.  I tried to explain that I didn't believe that ANYONE would do such a thing and not stick around to take responsibility for such an incident..., unless you were a 16 year old kid driving momma's new Oldsmobile Delta 88 with four friends who had just deposited some liquids for the first time at a place of historical significance..., 

"Maggie’s Bend and Betty’s Steambath refer to a notorious historic site located along the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River, about 1.5 miles upstream from Kooskia, Idaho, along U.S. Highway 12. Operating under local names like the Riverhouse, Maggie's Bend, or Betty's Steambath, the isolated cabins operated as a well-known house of prostitution for roughly 27 years until a judge ordered it shut down and locked up by the Idaho County Sheriff in June 1975."  Google citation.

and were still giddy and high on adrenaline and melatonin when we loaded up in that boat sized Olds as I backed her out of the parking lot..., until that sickening sound of breaking glass and metal crunching crashed the party.  Well..., back in those days (late 60's) they still taught us in school to respect democracy..., and the unanimous chorus from all four friends was..., "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE"!!!.  So..., Charley may have had a point.

But at least I took responsibility for the broken tail light..., there wasn't much else I could do anyway..., but I might not have disclosed the exact location of the incident..., and may have told a little lie..., saying that there was no damage to the other vehicle.  And hey..., that might not be a lie after all..., the tail light on the Olds was about bumper height to a big 4-wheel drive pickup.  But just in case the statute of limitations hasn't run out..., I am not taking any chances of going down alone..., so I am not changing names to protect the innocents..., Monte, Jerry, Rod, and Earl. 😳

Speaking of being back on the road again..., here is your Friday Nite Music Video with REO Speedwagon and a song about just that...,

Friday Nite Check In

 

Yeah..., The Blog only got 2,260 hits in June..., but July was a different story..., this screenshot was from late in July and there were 6,706 hits..., and by the end of July the total was 7,165.  I took this screenshot to note the fact that on that day alone there were 1,539 hits.  1,500  from Germany !!!  I can't explain what happened..., though I once tried to explain why the Russians were hitting my blog so hard a few years ago in this piece from 7/31/2016 - The Russians Are Coming...,

https://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-russians-are-coming.html

At that time the Russians had only hit the blog 852 times in a month..., and 392 times in the preceding week.

I get a lot of hits from all over the world..., I guess Saddle Stories have a universal appeal (they are by far my most read stories)..., here is a recent screenshot for the hits in a week...,

In another technology related issue..., I hope I haven't "call blocked" anyone that I know..., but the number of robo calls has become such a nuisance that I felt I had no choice.  I registered my number on the national do not call list..., but I am not sure it was very effective.  For about a year now I have just been letting the phone ring until the answering machine or voice mail or whatever it is clicks on..., and there is never a message left.  At first I would get up and check the readout on the phone and unless someone I know is identified..., I would just let it ring.  My thought was that they would quit calling if I didn't answer..., but that didn't seem to slow down the calls..., so I have begun to hit the "call block" button on the phone as soon as I see that the caller is just a city or other entity that I don't recognize..., the hell with listening to three or four more rings..., and the annoying voice from Bangladesh that can't pronounce half the cities identified..., and usually sets the dogs to howling.  The call block hasn't eliminated unwanted calls completely..., but it has sure cut down on them.  I can sometimes get my morning and afternoon naps in without interruption now days.  So..., once again I apologize if I have accidentally blocked your calls..., I still have the same and only email address that I have ever had..., and given my old age hearing difficulty..., and the fact that I don't have a cell (dumb) phone..., that is the best way to reach me...,

scottr@olypen.com

And since we are talking about phone calls..., raise your hands if you have ever made a call from a pay phone for a dime..., and you get bonus points if you can even find a pay phone for any price these days..., here's your Friday Nite Music Video...,

Friday Nite Check In

 I suppose you all will accuse me of taking a "selfie"..., that doesn't make me look old, fat and bald?  Well..., I might have gained a pound or two this week..., an inch and a half of rain on Sunday..., half and inch on Monday..., and another half an inch on Tuesday..., kept me from working off any excess weight.  The Garden wasn't the only thing that loved it..., The Driveway and The Pastures did too..., but The Driveway expressed it more than The Pastures.  I finally ran out of gas..., and the weed eater ran out of string enough times that I was damn tired of restringing it and gave up for the day on Wednesday.  I had other duties to keep me busy on Thursday..., but I almost finished it up on Friday..., but needed to save some strength to take on the neglected Garden that I mentioned and pictured last week.

After I got all the weed eating done I saddled up Charlie Horse and ran him through his paces out in The Round Pen.  He seems to be taking it well though most of the "ground work" is geared toward gentling down a young colt and teaching it to respect and obey you so you can handle his feet so there are no farrier problems and you can get a saddle on him for further training.  I had already done a couple years of hoof trimming on him..., and this year turned that duty over to a real farrier because my old back just won't take it any more.  I have already had him saddled him up several times and have no trouble catching him or leading him around the property.  I figure that the extra training won't hurt a thing and he is still pretty spooky so I will be moving on to "sacking" him to help in that respect..., and a few other lessons before I swing into the saddle myself.

I mentioned the rain earlier..., so a little Johnny Rivers ought to be appropriate for your Friday Nite Music Video...,

Friday Nite Check In

 The Potato Garden needs a little weed whacker attention that I have been neglecting..., due to most of my attention being focused on Charlie Horse and the new Round Pen.  Truth be known..., I haven't been pushing Charlie too hard..., I don't want him to get bored and fussy..., I have just been being a bit lazy.  A couple of 80 degree days earlier in the week and a rainy day after that gave me an acceptable excuse..., to my way of thinking..., to be lazy.  

The lack of attention to The Garden hasn't hurt the plants any..., there are already some of them that are flowering.  That could be a good deal..., I don't have many spuds left from last years crop..., so I may be digging up a few in the not too distant future.

And I will be able to boil them up..., as well as the eggs I planned to hard boil for Egg Salad sandwiches..., now that I have installed the new propane tank regulator.  Yeah..., I had the eggs in a pan of water ready to boil on the stove..., but my burner was just putting out a pitiful flame..., not enough to heat a cup of water, let along a pan of eggs..., and no flame at all if I tried to activate an additional burner.  That was on Tuesday..., so no Egg Salad..., and I usually boil up extra potatoes so I can just microwave the extras for additional meals..., but I had no excess as fate would have it.  I had to resort to microwaving baked potatoes..., something that I am not too fond of..., the microwave just doesn't ever seem to evenly cook a baked  potato in my experience..., and cooking a Rib Steak in the big electric frying pan isn't much of a problem..., but washing the big SOB is like being assigned KP duty in the Army.  That non-stick 10" skillet is just right for a Rib Steak..., and doesn't entail any extra duty on the cleaning end.

Amazon Prime to the rescue..., they did offer to send me one model by the following day !!!  But it was one that would automatically switch tanks when one ran out.  I didn't want that feature.  It can be a bit frustrating to have to go out and manually switch the regulator to a full tank when one runs out..., especially if it happens in the middle of cooking super at night..., in the dark..., and it's raining.  But it is not as bad as going out to find out that both tanks are empty 😩.  So I opted for the manual switch option and two day delivery..., and after installation I have burner flames that are as big and blue as any I have ever seen..., or as DJT would say..., "as the world has ever seen."

Well..., speaking of frustrations..., James McMurtry nails it in this one for your Friday Nite Music Video..., though he mispronounces Coeur d' Alene...,  

"Back to Coeur d' Alene"

Friday Nite Check In

 Well..., earlier in the week I had the FNCI all mapped out..., with this picture and an explanation something like..., " Out of Sight..., Out of Mind..., can get Out of Hand here near the Rain Forest".

I was hoping that I could bullshit you into believing that I was hard at work all week and deserved all the beer breaks that I  took..., but the heck with that..., I have more important news to entertain you.

I have been watching Craig's List for a Round Pen..., thinking that it would be a good thing to aid in the training of Charlie Horse..., that I have been neglecting of late.  Nothing on The Peninsula has come up until this week..., and I thought maybe I could get out of purchasing it by insisting that the seller deliver it to Forks.  Damn my luck !!!  The seller said it could be arranged.  My insanity knows no bounds..., I offered to drive over to the other side of The Peninsula and help dismantle and load the 60' Round Pen..., and the seller thought that was a great idea.  Why the seller would want some idiot getting in the way made me a little suspicious..., but the deed was done.

It actually turned out to be a rather pleasant and learning experience.  Many, many thanks to Vikki.

Yeah..., Vikki rented the trailer and after I helped her dismantle and load the Round Pen on the trailer..., she made sure the load was secured and towed it nearly three hours to The Ranch.  These are just the last five panel pile.  We spread two other five panel piles around the area where I planned to situate Pen.

Charlie Horse was nearly as thankful for Vikki's efforts as I was..., and we tried to entice her to stick around for a few beers..., she insisted that she had other chores and duties to attend to back at her place..., darn it.

I would have much rather sat on The Front Porch sipping beer with Vickki and Charlie..., but with plenty of daylight left..., I figured it might be a good idea to attempt to assemble the Pen..., before I forgot the technique that Vikki had taught me..., and luckily..., Jamie and Steve arrived and witnessed the struggle..., and lended some much need help before I hurt myself.

Charlie Horse offered his help in the construction..., in the supervisory role..., as usual.

Charlie says he will be proud to call the Round Pen his own.

..., and says he will guard the gate if necessary to make sure no one else tries use it.

I don't know how many times I have used this one on Facebook back in the day for your Friday Nite Music Video..., but I never get tired of it..., and hope you don't either..., this video is a new one for me...,

Friday Nite Check In

 I did a little tree trimming on my property this week..., instead of helping the neighbors like I did a month ago.  Some of the limbs were drooping a little too low for my liking..., so I fired up the power saw and got a good load of limbs to load up the old Tundra.  The sad part is that I got a little to close to the barb wire fence with the chain on the saw..., luckily that happened after the heavy work was done.  It was super sharp before that happened..., in fact it had impressed the neighbors when I put it to use for them.  The saw had belonged to my brother before he passed away..., and he was very good at sharpening saw chains.  He used a file guide for precision sharpening and had the process tuned right in.  My neighbor Dave had been a life long logging contractor before he retired and I saw him eyeballing the saw..., and he asked what model of Stihl saw it was.  I had to admit to him that I didn't know..., and had even had trouble figuring out how to open the gas and oil caps on a saw that was 25 years newer than the last model that I had worked with.  I am not sure just why I didn't tell him that I wasn't the one who had fine tuned the chain that was on it.  And I am not looking forward to touching up that chain myself after it tried to eat up that barb wire.  I am pretty sure that super fine cutting is a thing of the past now.

I still have plenty of room for limb deposits over the bank..., and I will probably be making more deposts of apple tree limbs in the future.  The trees are so loaded with apples this year that they are shedding tiny green apples already.  I delivered a 22 lb. cat food sack nearly full the the little nuggets to my friends who feed them to the deer behind their place.

Other than that there isn't much to report on The Ranch..., so I will get on with the Friday Nite Music Video.  The hits on the blog have been a little low lately..., just 40 some hits in the last 24 hours..., and 11 of those hits were on the piece about The Clearwater Log Drive..., and my dear old Dad's participation in it..., titled "The Drive"..., here's a link to the story...,

https://scottrthequillayutecowboy.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-drive.html

In the last 24 hours there were only three hits from the USA..., but 16 from Singapore, 7 from Vietnam, 6 from Brazil, and one and two hits from other assorted foreign countries..., so I hope those foreign folks like this song about another log drive up in Canada...,

Lyrics

In the melting snows of Ontario
Where the wind'll make you shiver
It was the month of May up in Georgian Bay
Near the mouth of the Musquash River

Where the bears prowl and the coyotes howl
And you can hear the osprey scream
Back in '99 we were cutting pine
And sending it down the stream

Young Sandy Gray came to Go Home Bay
All the way from P.E.I.
Where the weather's rough and it makes you tough
No man's afraid to die

Sandy came a smilin', Thirty Thousand Islands
Was the place to claim his glory
Now Sandy's gone but his name lives on
This is Sandy's story

Young Sandy Gray lives on today
In the echoes of a mighty yell
Listen close and you'll hear a ghost
In this story that I tell, boys
This story that I tell

Now Sandy Gray was boss of the men who'd toss
The trees onto the shore
They'd come and go till they'd built a floe
100, 000 logs or more

And he'd ride 'em down toward Severn Sound
To cut 'em up in the mills for timber
And the ships would haul spring summer and fall
Till the ice came in December

One Sabbath Day big Sandy Gray
Came into camp with a Peavey on his shoulder
With a thunder crack he dropped his axe
And the room got a little bit colder

Said, "Come on all you, we got work to do
We gotta give 'er all we can give 'er
There's a jam of logs at the little jog
Near the mouth of the Musquash River"

With no time to pray on the Lord's day
They were hoping for God's forgiveness
But the jam was high in a troubled sky
And they set out about their business

They poked with poles and ran with the rolls
And tried to stay on their feet
Every trick they tried, one man cried
This logjam's got us beat!"

But Sandy Gray was not afraid
And he let out a mighty yell
"I'll be damned, we'll break this jam
Or it's breakfast in hell, boys
Breakfast in hell!"

Now every one of the men did the work of ten
And Sandy scrambled up to the top
He is working like a dog heaving 30 foot logs
And it looked like he'd never stop

They struggled on, these men so strong
Till the jam began to sway
Then they dove for cover to the banks of the river
All except for Sandy Gray

Now with thoughts of death they held their breath
As they saw their friend go down
They all knew in a second or two
He'd be crushed or frozen or drowned

They saw him fall and they heard him call
Just once and then it was over
Young Sandy Gray gave his life that day
Near the mouth of the Musquash River

But Sandy Gray was not afraid
And he let out a mighty yell
"I'll be damned, we'll break this jam
Or it's breakfast in hell, boys
Breakfast in hell!"

East of Giant's Tomb there's plenty of room
There's no fences and no walls
And if you listen close you'll hear a ghost
Down by Sandy Gray Falls

Through the tops of the trees you'll hear in the breeze
The echoes of a mighty yell
"I'll be damned, we'll break this jam
Or it's breakfast in hell"

And Sandy Gray lives on today
And he let out a mighty yell
"I'll be damned, we'll break this jam
Or it's breakfast in hell, boys
Breakfast in hell!"

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Slaid Cleaves

Breakfast in Hell lyrics © Concord Music Publishing LLC

Friday Nite Check In

 We got a little rain yesterday..., not as much as the week before.  The Little Pond and The Pastures could use a little more..., but the Fire Weed flowers are already barely holding up their own weight.  The Little Pond once had blue water in it..., at least in the pictures that were developed by Seattle Film Works for my old 35mm camera.  I guess the film developers thought that pond water ought to be blue.  I do wish there would have been enough rain to overflow the pond and skim off the green alge that has settle on it..., but that won't make it blue..., nothing but Photo Shop could do that..., maybe.

The Potato Garden has been loving the weather with hot sunny days interspersed with some decent rainfall and a couple doses of well water from the sprinkler..., just for comparisons sake..., here is the shot from two weeks ago below...,

4th of July tomorrow..., I have several memories of The 4th's past..., but the best one was 1972 just before I got drafted and inducted into the Army on July 12th.  Joe Henson and I drove my new Ford Pinto to Spokane to pick up a couple of gals that Joe got to know when he was going to college in Astoria, OR.., and we were supposed to hook up with other friends and classmates at Yellowstone National Park.  We covered a lot of miles and made it to West Yellowstone, MT pretty late in the evening and hit a rock and roll bar before we continued on to The Park and ended up sleeping in the car.  The next day we spent exploring The Park and checking every campground looking for our buddies.  We finally settled in a campground ourselves for the night.  The next day we were headed out via West Yellowstone again..., and ran into our friends there..., and found out that they had been in the same bar we had hit on our way in..., and they had stay at a motel in West Yellowstone.  Jerry Moore, Jerry Johnstun, Don Judd, Mike Green and Robert Brown if I remember correctly..., were crammed into Jerry Moore's Chevy Nova..., and they shot bottle rockets they picked up in MT at us as we cruised down the freeway to Boise, ID..., where we camped out in Jerry's brother's back yard.  The next day we cruised around the city park before we headed north and home..., which brings us to the Friday Nite Music Video from that era...,

  

Friday Nite Check In

Yeah..., this section of The Barnyard Fence could use a little wire stretching to tighten her up..., but Charlie Horse seems to respect it as is.  Not so with the other three pasture sections that we wired off..., before the elk showed not just disrespect..., but outright distain for.  At that time I just fenced off the driveway and let the three horses roam the whole Homestead.  I can still corral Charlie Horse in The Barnyard and leave the driveway gate open when I expect company..., or UPS.

I guess I could bore you with more stories about How the Garden Grows..., or Weed Eating the Driveway..., or Cleaning the Water Troughs..., but it bores me to repeat myself too.

Got a phone call from an Aaron Newman over in Idaho the other day and we talked about music and Josh Ritter in particular.  I don't recall just how I got turned on to Ritter's music and discovered that he was born and grew up through high school in Moscow, ID.  It must have been my Pandora music channel..., he fits right in with my favorite artists that I follow and like there.  The singer/songwriter artists that aren't always great commercial figures..., Tom Russell, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Dylan, and Robert Earl Keen.  It was his lyric writing that really attracted me to him..., lines like this from "Wolves"...,a song off his fourth album, "The Animal Years" (2006)...,

At times in the frozen nights I go roaming 
In the bed she used to share with me 
I wake in the fields with the cold and the lonesome 
The moon's the only face that I see 
But I still remember that time when we were dancing 
We were dancing to a song that I'd heard 
Your face was simple and your hands were naked 
I was singing without knowing the words

..., or these from the song "To the Dogs or Whoever" off his fifth album "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter" (2007)...,

Deep in the belly of a whale I found her
Down with the deep blue jail around her
Running her hands through the ribs of the dark
Florence and Calamity and Joan of Arc

..., and these from "Empty Hearts" off the same album...,

I'm inside with my friends
We build fires and pretend
That the night could just bend on forever
While outside in the frost
Are the wolves and the lost
And we sing "To the Dogs or Whoever"

..., and these from "Right Moves" off the same album...,

I said how is it that you come back to me?
You don't need the stories of my scars or in the stars to tell you nothing's free
I traded all the innocence I ever had for hesitation
I said won't you tell me where you been?
You put a finger to my lips and then you kissed me once and once again
The crickets all leapt up and met the moon with a standing ovation

Am I making all the right moves
Am I singing you the right blues
Is there a chance that I could call you
Just to see how you are doing?

Yeah..., I have known girls who were part Florence Nightangale, part Calamity Jane an part Joan of Arc..., and yeah..., I have know girls who's kisses made the crickets leap up and meet the moon with a standing ovation.  And I have to admit that I have know the loss of love and felt the ambiguous feelings expressed in the lyrics of the song "New Lover" off his seventh album "The Beast in Its Tracks" (2013)..., that was written after the break up of his first marriage...,

I can't pretend that all is well, it's like I'm haunted by a ghost 
There are times I cannot speak your name for the catchin' in my throat, 
There are things I will not sing for the sting of sour notes.

I feel like a miser, I feel low and mean 
For accusing you of stealin' what I offered you for free. 
Still it baffles the belief sometimes what thieves we lovers be.

I don't know who you're with these days, might be with someone new 
And if you are, I hope he treats you like a lover ought to do. 
But whoever makes you happy, it don't really matter who 
I've got a new lover now, I hope you've got a lover too.

Praise the water under bridges, the time they say will heal 
Praise the fonder, that still grows on the absent heart and fields
Praise be to this pain, these days it's all I seem to feel.

Perhaps the fault was mine 
Perhaps I just ignored who you're always gonna be, 
Instead of who I took you for. 
I've been treated worse it's true, still I expected more.

But I will not chase your shadow as you go from room to room, 
Droppin' handkerchiefs and daggers, smokin' guns and other clues 
For what someone did with someone and who did what to who. 
I've got a new lover now, I hope you've got a lover too.

I've got a new lover now, I know that she's not mine,
I only want to hold her, I don't need to read her mind,
And she only looks like you when she's in a certain light.

I got a new lover now, she knows just what I need. 
When I wake up in the night, she can read me back my dreams, 
And she loves them, though she never needs to tell me what they mean.

I hope you've got a lover now, hope you've got somebody who 
Can give you what you need like I couldn't seem to do. 
But if you're sad and you are lonesome and you've got nobody true, 
I'd be lying if I said that didn't make me happy too.
I'd be lying if I said that didn't make me happy too.

Those were the first three CDs that I got.  The first two I chose to get songs I had heard on Pandora..., and the third one was his most recent release that I chose for that reason.  Ritter produced albums in 2015 and 2017 that I didn't pick up..., but I got 2019's "Fever Breaks" for a couple of reasons.  Jason Isbell produced it and he and his band The 400 Unit lended support as well.  I had purchased tickets to see both artists together at an outdoor venue in Missoula, MT..., where Julie's sister and brother in law lived.  Julie and I ended up not making it to the gig due to Julie's medical problems..., but that album is a keeper..., with lines like "Losing Battles"...,

It's always been in my nature to be the beast
Blame the maker but stay with me

Fell into a den of thieves
Got lost in the caves of virtue
Born again and lost belief
Without a friend till the day I met you

Now I'm trying to mend my ways
I had enough of pain and bad will
Good enough for you someday
Till then, it's a losing battle

After Julie passed away on New Years Eve 2024..., Josh Ritter helped me through that loss with this song off his twelfth album "Heaven, or Someplace as Nice".  Julie and I stretched a lot of wire here on The Ranch as you can see in the picture above..., and I am still "Stretching Wire"...,

You can see him in the blizzard
Where night is day and day is night
Where every footstep disappears
Just as soon as he goes by
He likes his life this way
Moving slow from post to post
You might think that he's a ghost
But no, he's stretching wire

He's always moving forward
Never turning back around
Always moving in a straight line
To wherever he is now
Nothing up above him
But the buzzards in the sky
And in the ground the girl who loved him
So, he's stretching wire

He hears the whippers in the willow
He feeds the rattlesnakes by hand
Tumbleweeds while he is sleeping
Roll by quiet as they can
He's not afraid of morning
Or the sorrow that it brings
He'll stretch the wire till it sings
He's stretching wire"

Josh Ritter has put out thirteen studio albums..., plus a few live albums among other musical endeavors.  You can read a pretty good summary of his career and life history on Wikipedia..., here's a link...,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Ritter

 He also has a personal website with tour dates and items for sale.  I noticed that he recently had sold out shows two months ago back "home"..., "Had an incredible time in Bozeman and Missoula - thank you for joining me! Excited for our three SOLD OUT shows this weekend in Spokane, Boise, and Hailey!" and he is scheduled for a July 4th free show in Boise, ID.

https://joshritter.com/

Here is a link to his YouTube page with all kinds of Josh Ritter clips and songs...,

https://www.youtube.com/joshritter

I will leave you with "Stretching Wire" for this Friday Nite Music Video..., I already posted the lyrics up above...,