Saturday Ramblings

It's kind of a lazy Saturday here.  It has been raining occasionally since about 10:00 AM. This is unusual.  We haven't seen more than a few showers since we got to the San Luis valley in mid-May.  Fortunately, my Trusty Companion and I got in a walk before the rain started.

So, it's been a good day to hit the books.  In my case that means reading a novel on my Kindle.  I'm currently reading a political thriller, Extreme Measures by Vince Flynn.  My summer reading list has been a mix of westerns (by Ben Bridges and Louis L'Amour) and political thrillers (by David Baldacci and Vince Flynn).  I must say, I dig my Kindle.  I have over 60 books in my library, which would add a lot of weight to my trailer if they weren't digital.

While I read, I keep Bluegrass Junction on SiriusXM playing in the background.  Every once in awhile the background moves into the foreground when a song catches my attention. That happened today.  I heard the line "If the 4-H club and the FFA were the only local gangs, where you grew up..." and I was hooked.  As I listened, I could identify with every line.  So, I immediately went to Amazon and found the album from which the song came and added it to the 11,491 tracts I have in my Amazon cloud drive music library (there's no such thing as too much bluegrass).  Then, so I could share the song, I went out to YouTube to find it.  No luck.  That got me started on one of those computer weenie projects I still haven't gotten out of my system since retiring.  I've spent the past few hours researching different methods of adding music files to my blog. After several unsatisfactory attempts, I think I have it figured out.  Here's the result.  Let me know if it doesn't work




Clearly, I need a hobby!!! Fishing is good, but it's hard to do with my Trusty Companion and I still wind up with time on my hands.  So, starting next Thursday I'm taking a painting class at the Alamosa Parks & Recreation Family Recreation Center.  It's a five week class, with the first week in a classroom and the rest outdoors.  If it goes well, I'll follow up with the next five weeks.

As the ramblings of this post illustrate, I NEED A HOBBY.

Ok....now I'll close and go pick my guitar. Oh...wait....That's a hobby!!!!

Ridin' the Rails to Suzy

Yesterday was Saturday and a good day for a country music fix. The San Luis and Rio Grande Scenic Railroad had Suzy Bogguss booked for their weekend Concert Train. That was just too good to pass up. So I drove to Alamosa to catch the train to the concert venue, located on the side of a mountain at a site known as Fir, Colorado.

I ran into a slight delay on the way. Between Mogote Meadow and Antonito a herd of sheep had traffic stopped. In Colorado, livestock always have the right-of-way when moving along the public roads. Cars have no choice but to stop and wait for them to clear. In this case they were not crossing the road, but moving along it to new pasture. Fortunately, I was headed in the other direction or I would have had to follow them till they reached their exit!

Bahhh!!!

Keep 'em movin', boy.

The herd was kept on the move by working dogs, and herdsmen on horseback and gator. The Great Pyrenees guard dogs seemed to be enjoying a morning stroll.

But....back to the topic at hand.

Fir is located about three quarters of the way between Alamosa and La Veta, Colorado. The concert site is 9,400 feet above sea level. And, the trip reminded me of how much I enjoyed riding the Illinois Central between Champagne, Illinois and Du Quoin, Illinois every-other weekend in 1966/1967 while attending school.

All Aboard in Alamosa, CO

What a great way to travel

Looked like rain as we approached the concert site

 
A two hour train ride brought us to the concert site.

Welcome to Fir, Colorado

Let's put on a show!!!

Since access to the concert site is by train, we had a little wait while the stage was set-up. This was due to the fact that the performers, sound crew and sound equipment all rode to Fir on the train with us.

Once the stage was set, Anne Hills provided an opening act. Anne is a folk music singer/songwriter and featured several songs she has performed over the years with her close friend Tom Paxton.  

Throughout her performance, Anne had to compete with one of the full-time residents of Fir, Colorado who kept distracting the crowd by panhandling for food.

Particularly to pull the kids back in, Anne pulled out her banjo for a kids drop-thumb number. 

After Anne finished her set, Suzy Bogguss took over. When Suzy kicked off her opening number, it was all I could do to keep from jumping on stage to join in. But I held myself back and she managed to get through it well, even without my help.

  

As part of her show, Suzy did several numbers from a project she did with Cracker Barrel in 2011. The American Folk Songbook includes 17 familiar American songs, such as Red River Valley, Froggy Went A-Courtin’, Sweet Betsy From Pike, Rock Island Line, Erie Canal, and the like. Suzy said she was highly influenced by her grade school music teacher who taught her classmates and her many of her still favorite songs. She has found that today, with the reduced emphasis on music in the schools, few kids know any songs from start to finish. So this project included a CD, accompanying 96-page, hard cover songbook with easy-to-read sheet music, and lyrics for guitar and piano, plus original illustrations and stories about each of the songs. Suzy also includes her own comments and remembrances about these songs, and says that she designed the book in the hope that it will help make the songs part of family traditions. (I'm thinkin' Christmas idea!!)

Here is a sample:

And no Suzy Bogguss show is complete without a yodle.




I've put all of the video I took at this concert into a playlist on YouTube, which can be be found by clicking this link. Unfortunately the battery went dead on my video camera, so I didn't catch I Want to be a Cowboy's Sweetheart, which wrapped up the show.

Then, it was back on the train for the ride back to Alamosa. Seemed like a good time for dinner, so I had a grilled chicken club sandwich with chips and an Alamosa Amber on the train. Like I said, a great way to travel.