Well, I have the perfect recipe for a super stressful fortnight. Add in a heap of bills due all the sudden and hardly any income to take care of them, a murdering varmint rampage that was killing our little friends left and right, a car that needed some serious attention all the way around with brakes and calipers and door issues and a leaky radiator, through in 2 gigs and a 5 year concert series we’ve produced ending… oh yes, and a garage sale… Oh, yes, and a pregnant rabbit and ah, problems with clients not wanting to pay up and just a general feeling of despair over the lack of rain, some health issues and worries of future projects!

Yeah, mix that all up and then see how it fits ya! Well, I am happy to report that we have survived it all! Yes, by bare knuckles, help from friends and family and just a stick to it spirit that for some reason we have developed along this rough road. Blue is all fixed and safe thanks to Jr. and Wayne, our mechanical friends that got her brakes all fixed and working properly…. thanks AGAIN guys! And we have caught the possum and coon dynamic duo that were wrecking havoc through our little peaceful farm yard…. And the garage sale was not exactly a good thing, as it only raised about $40 max, but it got a bunch of clutter out of the house and has cured us from wanting to do this again for at least 3 or 4 years I suspect. Bills slowly resolved, and with the help of the bank of Dad, we managed to get through it all. (Thanks Dad!!!)

Grizelda had her litter but two were stilborn and that was sad. However, she has three happy, healthy little wigglies that are now a week old. A black one, a white one and a creamy white with grey eye patches just like her! So far, they are doing wonderfully! We’ll try and get some pictures soon. They do grow fast!

The music playing was fun and actually a nice spot in the crazy time. It’s hard to explain it but it’s always nice to play music, but it’s a little stressful as well, because it usually takes up most of the day or evening to go do so. So you have to plan around it and in the end, bluegrass bands make very little money for playing so long… it’s kind of sad really. $25 bucks a guy is normal around here, for a whole day spend playing music and driving and all that. We really lucked out, both gigs paid nicely, $50 and $60 respectively, and that was a good thing! Sure helped the bottom line and all.

The end of the Glass City Opry. Well, knew it was coming, we’ve been having terrible attendance, and last night was just the kick in the pants. 66 paying guests. For one of bluegrass’ favorite sons… Little Roy Lewis and Lizzy Long… Amazing show, just very entertaining and enjoyable. Everyone that attended was just so pleased and had such a nice time. We did too! Little Roy is just a super nice guy, great performer and what a story teller. Hard worker too, he was right in there unloading and loading and setting up their sound equipment and he drives the bus!

This was our 48th concert. 48 shows… 5 years…. my gosh, we’ve had all the top bluegrass talent here at the Opry… IIIrd Tyme Out, Dixie Beeliners, Ralph Stanley II, Newfound Road, Bill Emerson, Joe Mullins, David Davis and the Warrior River Boys, Little Roy Lewis and Lizzy Long, Honi Deaton and Dream, the Wildwood Vally Boys, Bo Issac, Rick Prater, Blue Storm, Northwest Territory, Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, Cumberland Gap, Coal Town, Dale Ann Bradley, Bartley Brothers, Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road and tons of awesome local bands!!! It’s been a crazy ride, one that no one else in the area has accomplished…. so I’m proud of what we did, just wish that it could have gone on forever! The backstage memories alone are simply stunning… I can remember every show!!!

There’s always a chance we might have a concert or two here and there, something special, but Jeff and I are done for the most part. It’s just been too costly an endeavor. We haven’t made a dime and I’m afraid to say that we’ve lost over $20,000 for the effort. Granted, that is over 5 years and most of it was lost in the first year as we got it going, trying everything we could think of in advertising and such to get the word out. But still, each show was costing us at least a couple hundred dollars, and we just could not keep going. I know there will be a lot of disappointed folks, but well, we needed a core audience of about 100 and we just have not been getting it. We just can’t keep digging into our pockets to make it work. It was time. Very sad. Hey, it’s life, right?

We managed to get most of our garden planted… all the seedlings in the screen porch were getting pretty darn old, but they are doing great out back. I still have to get all my shipping boxes filled with good dirt… they are 3/4 full with composted barn yard manure and ready to just give up that awesome goodness to whatever we plant in there. I’m putting a layer of good potting soil and peat moss mix to sort of top them off nicely. Still working on that. I plan to hit some of the hardware big boxes when they start knocking all their perennials and herbs down to 75% off.. haha…. that is a GREAT way to get some nice plants for next year. I would love to have everything all pretty and finished but it’s just not going to happen… not this year! Yet, we just keep at it and things keep looking nicer and nicer as we do!

Hoping to get a little more fencing up and start painting. We’ve had a bit of a drought already, hardly any rain for almost three weeks. All the grass is pretty much burned out and we’ve had to start supplementing the hoof stock with hay. Not good for only JUNE! Feels like the dead of August! We’re getting a little rain today, finally, a nice slow soft soaking rain. I hope it continues ALL DAY LONG but they are saying it will stop in an hour or two. Still, it’s something and we might actually see a little more rain on Tuesday and then Thursday. That would be so wonderful!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Father’s Day and I’ll be giving my Dad a call in a bit… we’re all alive and doing fine, just recuperating a bit from our crazy fortnight of stress!!!! I would be happy if the next two weeks were nothing but calm and collective… no big projects, nothing much in the music world, just chores, work and some relaxing a bit… that would be lovely! Get our bearings… take care!!!!!