You know you live in the middle of nowhere when...

...the highlight of your long weekend is watching in awe as the grass grows and waves back at you.
But I showed you that yesterday and can't imagine you wanting to watch another video of grass growing,

so I'm going to bare my soul and tell you about the second biggest highlight of my weekend.

 George Strait was on TV Friday night. Be still my heart and push the furniture out of the way.

 When I went to George's "Cowboy Rides Away" concert with Justina and Don,
we shared more than a few laughs at the expense of the buckle bunnies in the front row
who stood up and danced through the whole show.
In the privacy of my own living room Friday night, I became one of them.
I couldn't help myself. George has that kind of effect on me.

 Smooch: Mom, sometimes you just plain scare me.

 I'm sorry, but what's not to love about a man who gives interviews
from his barn?

Alan Jackson came out to join him for a song.
If only my George and Alan could look sing like that.  *sigh*

George is jealous

Since George is feeling neglected and a little put out by all this attention Alan is receiving, I'll feature him today in this artsy-fartsy portrait.

By the way, XM radio is featuring George's namesake...that would be Strait...starting today with an all-George-all-the-time channel for two solid months! Yeehaw! It's channel 809 on Directv. So if I seem a little distracted for the next 60 days, y'all will know why.

How 'bout them cowgirls?

A mere 24 hours ago, I was breathing the same air as George Strait. Our seats were pretty close...to the back of the stage. So I got to look at George’s butt for two hours, butt I’m not complaining. The acoustics from this location were better than in most places in the UNM Pit, and he was sure soundin’ good last night. He just stood there and sang and sang and sang, hit after hit after hit. With a few surprises thrown in, too. For his encore, he sang two Johnny Cash songs - go figure! Walk the Line and Folsom Prison Blues. And he rocked ‘em. You da man, George. His Ace in the Hole band (though there’s enough of them I think they deserve to be called the Ace in the Hole Orchestra) is simply the best.


The set list was heavy on his cowboy songs, and it just doesn’t get any better than that. And since it was cowgirls’ night out, neighbor Sue and her daughter, Katya, and I were just plum tickled. This being a milestone birthday celebration for Sue and the reason we were out past our bedtimes in the first place, I catered a pre-concert tailgate party in the cab of my truck.


A bit of pre-concert reconnaissance allowed us to park in the right spot and avoid the traffic jams after the show was over, but it was still 1 a.m. before I got home. The herd was surprisingly understanding and didn’t complain too loudly when I slept in til 7:30. But I needed my coffee desperately. Chores first, though. So I tossed hay and scooped poop and thought about coffee. Then I finished my chores, made coffee, and thought about George Strait. Then the “your coffee’s done” alarm sounded, I ran to the kitchen and UGHHH. I had to start all over again - I forgot to put the coffee in the filter.


And the rest of the day went pretty much the same as the first pot of coffee.

This is where the cowgirl rides away

A mere 24 hours from now, I will be breathing the same air as George Strait...sigh...along with a bazillion other concert-goers of course, but still. You’d think at my age I would have gotten over this crush.  Nope. The reason I’ve never remarried is because anybody less than George Strait would just be settling, and I’m not gonna do it.