Whiskey River Take My Mind...

The bestest 4th of July ever was this year. I'm not sure it will ever be topped.

We woke to the smell of freshly brewing Starbuck style coffee. Jo made a beeline to the coffee and the solarium. I lingered in the shower and then ventured downstairs, after being assured that the evil monkey was nowhere to be thought of. First thing I did after finding a coffee cup was to break said cup. While picking up the pieces, I met our hostess for the first time.

Nadeen and Don are darn near the nicest people on EARTH. Mayhap in the niceness category with my beloved Tio NT!

The night before we had feasted on Nadeen's home cooked brisket. This morning after the most awesome breakfast of bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy, and the most scrumptious melon from the Czech Stop (more on that in another blog) Jo packed about 20 brisket and bbq sandwiches for the picnic. Then filled 2 - one gallon bags full of chips. We laughed at the ungodly amount of food we were taking - however - we didn't laugh long. The cost of food was outrageous. The fact that Nadeen forced Jo to make so many sandwiches actually saved the crew tons of money. We were the envy of our neighbors.

The day brought just about everything imaginable. It started off warm. Pat took the stage and like magic, first guitar strum and the Heavens opened up forcing the populous closer to him. He left the stage and the sky immediately cleared. Most memorable part of Pat's act - "Welcome to San Antonio! Birthplace of .... ME!!!" That's what makes him so special - he recognizes that we love him that much.

We endured a couple more showers, nothing like the gullywasher like the one during the Pat portion of the day. Robby called at some point. The funny thing is that Robby seems to worry about me - a lot. We have yet to figure out why, but I think it's wonderful to have someone care. Jo convinced him that I was passed out on the lawn and she had just left me. The truth was that I had hung behind talking to our new friends. I'm sure they were kinda scared of us and thought it best to befriend us. We weren't the strangest of the day. There was a cute cowboy, nice body, but for some reason found it necessary to show off his undies. He also danced with anyone that walked by and halfway looked at him.

I met the cutest / hottest cop on Earth also. Sorry, I only have the pic that I took of him from my admiring distance. His name is Chad. He is a Selma (HOT) cop. Jo, Marlene and a whole slew of our "new" friends have the pics of the two of us together. We convinced him to take the picture to show my cousin in Tucson that the cops in Selma are way hotter than the ones in Tucson. The thing that amazed everyone is that at any point if I was asked where he was - I could point him out - in a crowd of tens of thousands. When we posed for the picture, he couldn't believe how many cameras were pointed at us. =)

I was thrilled to learn that this wasn't just any Willie's 4th of July Picnic, it was also a Last of the Breed concert. We were given the pleasure of seeing Ray Price and the Hag - LIVE. This is our reaction to the 2nd chord of the Hag's Rainbow Stew.

Then Willie took the stage with his family. Jo and I sat back and just soaked up the music and the big Texas sky. We lingered a bit after the almost 90 minute performance by Willie and family. I've seen him 3 times now in the last year and that is by far the longest he has been on stage. It truly was a day in Heaven.

After leaving the picnic - we found an IHOP and had the most outrageously sinful pancakes and eggs. Then made our way home and fell into restful slumber that even Monkeyshine couldn't disturb.

Long days and pleasant nights...