Nelson visit

Andy and Kristin came to visit last weekend with 2 year old Hadly and 3 year old Brody. Hadley really liked riding Rusty, with Gene leading her. She'd say she was "riding the range", complete with black cowgirl boots with pink flowers. Of course. Rusty practically napped the whole time. Brody rode but wasn't nearly as enamored with it as Hadley. She's been telling the other kids at Gymboree that her "Pop Gene bought her a horse".
Andy and Gene attempted to fish, which is difficult at best when there are 2 little kids throwing rocks and 3 dogs swimming in your fishing area. Gene did manage to catch about a dozen crappie, and Brody enjoyed terrorizing his mom with the worms he found in the bait box. All boy. Both kids discovered Gene's keyboard and entertained us by "playing music". We were exhausted by the time they left, and can only hope they were as tired!

My band has a show tomorrow night, hopefully I'll get some photos and/or short video.

Hope everyone is well, and that the Nashville Perry's haven't floated away.

Love, Joan

Hi, I'm new in town!

My name is Rusty Lou, and I'm a 34 year old, former barrel racing mare (that's a girl, for you non horse types), and I just moved into the Nelson Equine Retirement Home. My human, Dr. Gene found me at Hope Ranch where he volunteers in the therapeutic riding program and brought me here when my job was done at the Ranch. I'm going to help teach the grandkids to ride and maybe my other human, the clumsy lady will get over some of her fear issues with me. My roomies are 2 geldings (boy horses), Lawrence doesn't pay much attention to me, I think that's because he knows he's the boss, but Boaz seems very interested in me. I'm sure it's my winning personality and stunning good looks...actually I think he's hoping that maybe, just maybe, he may finally stop being the bottom horse on the totem pole. We horses have a very definate hierarchy, it's the class system you know. Anyway, I just thought I would introduce myself to my new family, I'm sure you'll be hearing more about me in the future. By the way, my humans say "hi" to everyone and wish you a good weekend.

Rusty Lou

Azaleas in bloom spring '10

Here is mom's garden in full azalea bloom. I'm here visiting and giving her lessons on the blog and computer. Bet your backyard isn't this pretty...

Love, Mom

St. Patrick's Day in Chapman

Chapman, KS is a teeny, tiny rural community, 1 hour southwest of Olsburg. Steve Fansler, our mandolin player, lives there in his family's 150 year old farm house with his family. The town is predominately Irish, and the high school's mascot is The Fighting Irish, so it seems natural that they make a big deal of St.Patrick's Day. We were invited to ride on a float (flatbed trailer) while playing a few Irish tunes. Unfortunately, it was cold, windy and rainy and our tractor driver wimped out. If he hadn't, I would have! The parade went on, but without us. It was a very small parade. When it finished, we played a 2 hour Irish show in the local diner, appropriately named The Shamrock. Since it was such a small venue, we just went with one mic and took turns jockeying for position. It sort of turned into a funny dance between the 4 of us. We had a good time, ate from the Friday Lenten seafood buffet, and got invited back for this summer to do our regular music. Rumor has it, we may be doing the same Irish show, this coming Wednesday, St.Patrick's Day proper, in Manhattan...

It's still cold, rainy and windy here, feels like winter again! Gene is off to Hope Ranch for the day, hope his foot doesn't bother him too much. For those that didn't hear, he came off my horse, about 10 days ago and injured his foot, arm and noggin, and his foot was very swollen and bruised, so shoes or boots don't hold much appeal just yet. And yesterday was his birthday, so he's older.

Have a good weekend everyone, and Happy Birthday Neller Belle! You're older too!

Joan

My California Trip

I've been home for a week now, but got sidetracked by a nasty cold. So I'm just now getting around to this...I flew into Ontario and spent a night with mom and dad, then headed to Cheryl Thom's house in Torrance. Maureen was delayed by a day and a half, in DC due to the snowstorms, so we cancelled our Anaheim hotel and opted for Cheryl's casa (all her family were out of town for the weekend, so it worked out fine and saved us some money). Maureen finally arrived late Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning we headed to Disneyland and attempted to hit all the thrill rides. Ryan told us where to stand so that we'd get the best view of his parade performance, and it was great! What a pro! Maureen and Cheryl were mighty impressed, and surprised when Ryan had us come out into the street and dance with him. Disneyland really is the Happiest Place on Earth! Then Monday was the end of our Girl's Weekend and I dropped Maureen off at her daughter's campus in Claremont, then spent another night in Riverside.

Tuesday, I flew to Sacramento and was picked up by my friend Lynne, a recent Kansas transplant. She and her husband were spending some time in Calistoga, so I did too! We had a lovely time shopping and visiting some Rainbow friends of mine that I hadn't seen in 17 years! Then I spent a couple of days with my friend Casey from Davis, the first day visiting with her daughter Kyri, in San Rafael then a day in Davis. And before I knew it , it was Saturday and time to fly home. Next day, a cold! Gene and the critters were happy to see me, and I was very happy to be home. California is a nice place to visit, but I sure couldn't live there again...

Since these photos didn't appear in the order I had hoped, I'll give you a quick rundown...the first one is taken in Sonoma Valley and that's wild mustard. Next is Kyri and Casey, then Lynne and myself, Cheryl and Maureen and finally Ryan.

That's it for now, hope everyone is well and it's March already!

Love, Joan

Sonic Wood

The band had a show last night at CocoBolos, a groovy little place in Manhattan. We played there last summer on the patio, and now they've enclosed that patio and added heaters, so it was very comfy. The weather forecast was for 1-3" of snow, so we were a little worried about the crowd, or lack of one, but the storm didn't arrive until much later and a good crowd did materialize. Some new material was unveiled and we put on a pretty darn good show, even got our first encore! This is really, too much fun.

As I said, the snow did eventually arrive and it's beautiful. Wet snow, so it's really slick.

Hope everyone is well, I know the weather is goofy all over the country. Take care and have a good weekend.

Love, Joan

Just Stuff...

Thanks everyone for your emails, phone calls and prayers following the passing of Gene's sister, Lucia. We are all, still in shock.

Since I'm tired of crying, I thought I'd post some pictures that make me smile. These were taken at Andy's house, right after Christmas and at Carole's this past Sunday. The rocking horse was our gift to Brody and Hadley. The headdress that Hadley is wearing, was fashioned by "Pop Gene" from pheasant feathers. The fact that the hairband is pink, makes it perfect for Hadley.

Then the 2 big girls are Maddy and Kate, Carole's girls. And then there's Pop Gene wrestling with Sofe on the floor and Brody apparently performing some form of Asian back massage.

More snow forecast for tonight and tomorrow. I still don't know when I'm headed to Independence, or what I'm going to do with the dogs. Critters are wonderful, but they certainly require more planning.

Thanks again, I love you all.

Joan