Thanksgiving Blogathon

Greetings, and I hope you all had a nice safe Thanksgiving. For me, it has been an eventful week. As many of you know, Kev and I have a hobby popularly known as the Palo Pinto House Pants House Band. This is a "band" we have in our house while wearing our house pants (sometimes called "sleep bottoms" in the retail world, but the Palo Pinto Sleep Bottoms House Band doesn't sound very good, and we've always called them house pants anyway). It is great fun being in a house band. Kev writes songs, and we play them and sometimes even record them, since one of our wedding gifts was a 12-track recorder. Last year we made a whole CD and gave it to people for Christmas. It is very home-made sounding, but I really like it, and it was fun to do. I think Kev is a great song-writer. And for being recorded in our house, I think it sounds pretty darn good. Anyway, we decided to record another CD for this Christmas, and this week we finished it up. I hope people will like it. I think it's better than the first one. And the really exciting thing is, that this time we have some special guest stars. Here is what happened:

Kev made a country song. And it was good, but kinda slow moving, and we couldn't figure out who (meaning which instrument) should play the melody. So, I kept saying that it was the kind of song that needed vocals, but neither of us can sing. Actually, Kev can sing, he just doesn't like to. Meanwhile, Pancho, our backyard 'possum as regular readers will know, had stopped frequenting our yard, and I was getting worried about him. Then one night a couple weeks ago, we saw a 'possum on the side of the road who had, um, gone to be with Jesus. It broke my heart. We of course don't know if it was Pancho, but it definitely could have been, so I was really sad. The next morning, lyrics to Kev's country song were born. So now, "Song for Pancho" had music and lyrics, but no one to sing. So, I called my friends Julie and Rob and invited them to record a little country song about a 'possum, and they both enthusiastically accepted! They came over on Tuesday night, and got the song in very few takes, and it sounds awesome. I want to say right here and now that Rob and Julie are really really cool and fun, and I am so excited that they were part of the PPHPHB this year. It is a goal of the band to have lots of other people participate. So if any of you would like to join in, you are more than welcome.

So anyway, that night I went to bed stuck on the Pancho song, which I had heard over and over that night. At about 3 in the morning, I woke up. There was lots of wind outside, but I began to hear a familiar scratching at the aluminum around our foundation, so I jumped up and ran to the back door, but I didn't see anything. I decided it was just the wind, or the pepperoni pizza playing tricks on my mind. Or maybe it was Pancho's ghost?

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I want to kick a shout out to my mom who made a great dinner, and my dad who tried to get everyone to play cards even though all everyone seemed to want to do was nap.

When we got home, it was pretty much time for bed, so I went to sleep only to wake up at 2 AM. The scratching sound was back! So again, I jumped up and went to the back door. What a racket! Suddenly, a critter emerged from under our house! I held my breath and waited, and there he was! A giant....raccoon.

You thought it was Pancho, didn't you? (Sigh). So did I.

So I didn't know if I should be disappointed that it wasn't him, or excited about my first raccoon sighting, or what. Was it being disloyal to Pancho if I decided to be excited about the raccoon? I was awake for at least an hour.

Well, as Kev said, even if Pancho is gone, he has been immortalized in song. I welcome the raccoon, and any other woodland creatures that want to live in my back yard. We have had rabbits, 'possoms, raccoons, birds, lizards, and cats and dogs. My parents have an armadillo. Kev's parents have had deer, geese, moose, wild turkeys, and recently a bear. And his sister has bobcats. I think it's good to have wildlife around. It makes me happy.

Anyway, be watching for your copy of the PPHPHB Vol.2, featuring Rob and Julie.

And if anybody wants to read something funny, check out
larryfeathers.blogspot.com
and make sure you have the volume up on your computer.

Time to go buy a Christmas tree!