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25 August 2009 It's a Tuesday mornin' and I'm back in Texas after spending the weekend in Minot, North Dakota. The high up there was 85 degrees. I walked out the front door at the Austin airport and it sure didn't take me long to feel like I was back in Texas again. Damn, it's hot around here. I went up there to announce another show for Clinton Anderson and it was another good weekend. We were at the N.D. State Fairgrounds and the arena we were in was a pretty nice place. They play hockey in this thing too...lol...talk about a world of difference in what we were there to do this weekend. The shows went really well. I got to play around with folks and I got a kick outa that. You know how I am about that...anything I can do to make it entertaining, I'm all about. It's kinda funny...all those years I spent announcing rodeos I was always the "straight man" for all the comedy routines. The barrel man was the funny one. Now, it's kinda swapped around...Clinton plays the straight part and I do the funny bits. Don't get me wrong, he's a pretty funny guy to begin with and he's always got people laughin' at the shows. What I'm more talkin' about is the stuff that we do together during the show. I'm really gettin' a kick outa being able to do stuff like this. It's been fun. We got a T-Shirt cannon from the folks at 3M and so I got to play with that each day...shootin' t-shirts out at folks in the crowd. I had fun. The shows themselves...always educational and entertaining. Next stop is West Monroe, Louisiana in 3 weeks. Let's see...what else. I guess it's been two weeks ago, yesterday, that I was outside tryin' to get some stuff done and my fire radio went off. Said there was a grass fire up the road from us. As I was enroute, my chief called me on the radio and said it was on our place the other side of Valley Spring. When I heard that, I felt like the wind got knocked outa me because that place is extremely dense..thick cover...it's real sandy and, without any rain it's terrible to try and drive through. The winds were blowin' somewhere around 15 to 20 miles an hour that day and the humidity was extremely low...this wasn't gonna be good. We got there and the fire had already jumped the highway onto the north side of the pasture. We tried gettin' through the fence but we were only able to go so far as we almost got stuck. Before we knew it, there was another place that caught fire on the side of the road. They were just poppin' up all around us. It didn't take me long to figure that this was going to be a tough fight...and it was. It was a frustrating fire to fight too because you couldn't get to it. You had to wait on it. Once it got to you it was moving fast. Before I knew it I heard, on the radio, that it had moved into the coastal field behind our pasture. We hurried over there and tried gettin' it out...the smoke was so intense. I couldn't see to drive and the guys on the back of my truck couldn't see or breathe...they were beatin' on the cab of the truck to get out of there. I started comin' out and missed a power line pole by, probably, less than a foot because I simply could not see it at all. I can't describe the feeling that you get when you want to put a fire out and you just can't get it done. The winds were constantly changing directions on us. We had four planes and a helicopter dumping retardant and water on it. There were 5 departments there...we were runnin' out of water...it was so freakin' frustrating that I can't even begin to describe it. We finally got it out, good enough to go home, a little before dark. The cause of the fire was a tree limb that fell on a power line between the meter loop and the pump on the well. Of course the neighbors think that's all dad's fault so his insurance should pay...lol...yeah, like he stood there with a chain saw or something and cut the tree limb to where it was barely hangin' on so the wind would blow it the rest of the way off and fall precisely on the line so that it would put enough pressure on it to puncture the insulation on the post and arc, therefore causing the sparks that started the fire. Yeah, it was all his fault...he meant for that to happen...lol...idiots. Anyway, that's another story that won't be discussed anywhere on here...lol. Well, I guess that's about it for now. It's time to get ready to head to the day gig. Building some trusses in the shop today, I think. It's time to set down the microphone and pick up the weldin' helmet...lol...talk about a culture shock. You have a good day. I'll be talkin' to ya soon~ 12 August 2009 Okay, so I'm back...to continue on about the Castell gig. There really wasn't much more to say except that everyone really seemed to enjoy it. I had several compliments from the folks that came out and that was nice to hear. Like I was sayin' earlier, the first set was pretty rough for me because I kept goin' back and forth tryin' to get things soundin' halfway right. Once that was done, and we took a break, things were much better on the second set. We all felt a bit more comfortable...as comfortable as you could feel in the 100+ degree heat... To everyone who came out and supported the event, we thank you. We helped raised somewhere near 18 thousand for the Castell Volunteer Fire Department. That just makes a fella feel good...period. 11 August 2009 I swear...it just doesn't seem like it's been that long since I've been on here and updated this page. Time is flyin' by these days and I feel terrible that I haven't been here lately. There has been so much goin' on...I mean I actually had things to tell you about and stuff like that. I played out at the Castell VFD Bar-B-Que with the guys and we had a great time. It was hotter than all get out but we got through it and had a wonderful time. This was the first time I had ever played out at Castell and I was nervous as could be about it. It was one of those "we're so different from what they've had" kinda things. I didn't know how it was all gonna go. There wasn't enough electricity at the stage to handle a full band, but they got that taken care of before that weekend so that wasn't on my mind anymore. I don't know why I was so nervous about this gig...I mean, it wasn't like we were gettin' paid or anything...it was just a fun gig and we had absolutely nothing to lose on it...except maybe a few pounds that I'm sure we sweated off...lol. Man, that heat was intense. I got there a little after lunch and we started settin' everything up. I didn't think that I was gonna set up the whole PA but I ended up doin' that because it just didn't sound good without everything. I was easier to put up everything, and keep it turned way down, than it was to set up half of it and make it loud enough. Anyway, the stage was sittin' in the direct sun all afternoon so I waited as long as I could before we started movin' stuff that way. I messed up and left my monitor console case lid uncovered and the laminate on it blistered up. I keep tellin' myself that I gotta get me a couple of those EZ Up tent for stuff like this. Maybe one day I'll actually get a couple. Anyway, by the time the stage got in the shade of a big oak tree...and we got everything set up...we didn't really have any time to do a sound check. Back when we were playin' all the time...every weekend...that wasn't such a big issue. Monitors were pretty close and FOH wasn't that far off either. This was kinda different because we had different people in the band than last time and we were playin' a much different type of event. We didn't have a choice though, we just had to run with it. All in all, it wasn't that bad. The ONLY real problem that we had was some feedback comin' from Jay's mic. I tried and tried to find that and choke it out, but I never had enough time to spend doin' it. I would walk off the stage between verses and songs trying to adjust monitors and that, in itself, wore me out before we ever really got started. Crap...gotta go to work...I'll be back this evenin' and finish this up... 04 June 2009 June already huh? Goodness, this year is flyin' by all of the sudden. Hope this finds you doin' well and ready for summer. Things have been great around the Hartman place. I'm still in "recovery" from my surgeries on my heel, but I am healin' up and gettin' better...able to do a little more every day. I'll be really glad when all that stuff is completely over with and I can get on with "normal" life...lol...if there is such a thing. I'm home this week for only three days. I fly out tomorrow to Puyallup, Washington. I was in Klamath Falls, Oregon last week. The show was nice, the gettin' home sucked...lol We got to the Klamath Falls airport on Monday mornin' in plenty of time to catch our plane...that's because the plane didn't leave until about three and a half hours later than it was supposed to. That set in motion, a turn of events that I hope to never have to go through again...lol. I got to San Francisco AFTER my flight to Austin had already left. The new itinerary had me goin' to Denver and then to Austin. That plane was delayed in S.F. and put me gettin' to Denver at the same time my Austin flight was supposed to be leaving. There were several of us on this flight from S.F. that needed to go to Austin so the chances of them holding the plane were pretty good. I hauled butt off the plane and got to the board to find where my gate was and there it said...FLIGHT DELAYED! Well, I guess the good news is that I didn't miss my flight right? Anyway, I sat in the Denver Airport for a couple of hours and finally got on a plane to get back home. I touched down in Austin at 11:59pm...I was supposed to be there at 5:30. I was glad to get home. The show went great in Oregon...Lookin' forward to another great one in Washington. I fly non-stop to Seattle..WOOO HOOO!!! Speaking of shows...crap... can't believe I haven't been on here to tell you about our latest gig! Jay, David, Fletcher, Bill and I played on the 17th of May at the Valley Spring Volunteer Fire Department Fish Fry. I'm the Assistant Chief of our fire department and, form the looks of this, also the entertainment director....lol. Man, you talk about fun. I had a blast. We were beginning to wonder how we were gonna play at first. That day, of all days, had the best chance of rain we had in several months...I mean substantial rainfall amounts. Problem with this was the fish fry was supposed to be outside!! We were supposed to be OUTSIDE!! Well, we waited and waited...discussed backup plans and all that stuff. Got down to the last minute of time and I decided, after studying the radar for a while, that we should grab a bunch of tarps and go for it. That's what we did and man, I'm glad we did it. I had so much fun playin' music again!! I enjoyed it so much. It wasn't a big old production like I used to put up every time I played...it was just two speakers on sticks and a couple of wedges...no big deal...but it was perfect! We didn't make a single dime, but it was perfect! I just loved the fact that I was up there on a stage playing music with my friends again. I can't tell you how much I miss that. Music is still such a huge part of me and what makes me happy...what "moves" me. I can't live without it I swear! Anyway, we had such a great time and we're gonna all get together and play again on the 18th of July for the Castell VFD BBQ. This is gonna be a lot of fun so if you're in the area at all, it's well worth the trip out to Castell. The BBQ is ALWAYS great and the fellowship is incredible. Best things about it is that all the proceeds are goin' to a great cause...the Volunteer Fire Department. The band will be the same in Castell as it was in Valley Spring. We are all pretty pumped about the whole thing so we're gonna be lookin' forward to havin' a great time. Please plan on coming out and sharing that time with us. On Friday, before we played in Valley Spring, I was asked to sing at an Armed Forces Day rally on the courthouse square in Llano. I whole-heartedly accepted the offer because I am so appreciative of our soldiers...anything that I can do to honor those who serve...now or in the past...I will absolutely do. Anyway, they asked me what I was gonna sing and I said for sure the national anthem to start with. I didn't know what I was gonna do after that though. They had a slot for me to sing one more towards the end of the program. I went through all the "normal" patriotic type songs that are out there and none of them said what I was wanting to say...I didn't even know what I was wanting to say, honestly. I had no idea what to sing...what would "fit" there. That morning I was in my office after I woke up and this song idea came to me. I wrote stuff down and started figuring out chords on the guitar. I went to work with a chorus and part of a verse written. The event was at 11 that morning. As luck would have it, I had some drivin' to do that morning, moving equipment and materials to another job, so I had some "seat time" in which to keep writing. I pulled out my little voice recorder and started writing lyrics and singing melodies...It wasn't long and the thing was pretty well finished. Now, if you know me, then you know that I would NOT perform something that wasn't all the way "finished"...I'm the complete opposite from that. I would want it to be perfect before I did that. I didn't have time for that though. So, I did it...I got up there and told the crowd that I had just written this song and that I usually wouldn't perform something until it was really finished and polished but there was time to do that...and, I said, if those soldiers can put on a uniform and provide me the freedom to do this, then I can certainly sing it and risk messin' it up. The folks like the song and I had 5 or six people stop me on the way to the pickup to see if I was going to record it because they wanted a copy...yikes..more studio time needed!!! I felt very gratified in knowing that what I had written touched people. That's the best part of writing a song...when you know it meant something to someone. Anwya, it's gettin' to the point where I need to start headin' to town. I'll be back in a couple of weeks to tell you more about whatever it is that will have happened between now and then. Till, then...take care of you. Les ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 10 May 2009 Hello there. I'm back to update the journal again...tell ya a bit more about my travels...and letcha know I'm still around...lol By the way...HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!! Yesterday, Glenda and I spent most of the day outside. We went and bought some plants for the yard and stuff. I came across a used riding lawnmower that was priced right so I bought it. This house has a lot more to mow than the other one did! It was good to get outside and do some stuff. I'm still kinda limited on what I can and can't do because I'm not heeled up all the way yet, but I was able to get a little stuff done. I just wished I was already heeled. I have SO much to do that I can't right now...one day. One thing I can do is talk...lol...and I've been out on the road doin' that. Last weekend I was in Sherburn, MN to do a tour stop for Clinton Anderson. My flight left at 7:30 on Friday morning from Austin. Not a big deal...got there in plenty of time and the flight to MN was non-stop so I got some extra sleep. I flew into Minneapolis and was to meet up with another tour staff member and drive on in to Sherburn. Her flight was an hour after mine so I just went and waited at her baggage claim so I wouldn't miss her. Got the rental car and started off the airport premises and that's where things went crazy...lol. You see, usually whoever drives the rental cars travel with a GPS. That way, when they get to where we're goin', we have the ability to find our way around. It's not that I don't like GPS...but I'm puttin' an atlas in my suitcase next time! Now, don't get me wrong...we got there...it gave us directions to the place...we never got lost, but it took us over an hour longer to get to the venue that it should have. Saw a lot of the Minnesota countryside...that's for sure. When we got to the venue we thought we were in the wrong place. It was terribly small, compared to most of the other places we've been. Come to find out, it was kinda misleading in description...the "arena size" that was listed was actually the inside dimensions for the barn itself...wall to wall. That didn't count seating...in fact, there was no seating. OOPS!!!! Never fear though...the folks at the place worked their butts off to get us everything we needed and I thought that was just the coolest thing. We had no problems with anything...other than the ground...and the weekend was successful. The ground up there is all that black clay kinda stuff...you know...farm land stuff. It doesn't do well in an arena...it packs to tight and it's hard to get around on sometimes. If they had a bunch of sand to mix in with all that it would be better I think...I dunno. By the way, the trip back to Minneapolis was MUCH shorter...We looked at a map! The weekend before, we did a show in Conroe and, since it was here in Texas, I drove and took the family. I wanted Glenda to see what everything was about and wanted her to meet everyone so it worked out nice. Lizzie had a good time but we could tell she wasn't feelin' the best. She was pretty grumpy and all...we couldn't figure out what the deal was. We kept thinkin' that maybe she was tryin' to cut some teeth, but we never saw any comin' in so we didn't know what the deal was. It wasn't until we got back that we figured it out. She WAS cuttin' teeth...MOLARS! We didn't think to look in the BACK of her mouth. She only has her two bottom front teeth so we were kinda figurin' that she might be cuttin' more front teeth before the back teeth, but I guess we were wrong. At any rate, she's got four molars comin' in now. They've all broken through. I'll have to post some more recent pics. I put some on my Facebook page but I haven't done that here. I'll see what I can get done. I've got a coupla music gigs comin' up here pretty quick..well...one's in July but the other is next weekend. Our little band is playin' the Valley Spring VFD fundraiser on the 16th so, if you can make it out...please do. I've done it before but this will be the first time that I'll be playin' it with a full band. It should be interesting...lol. You should come check it out too! You know, I'm havin' a ball playin' these little local benefits and stuff. I mean, it's all about havin' fun and playin' music. It's now, obviously, about the money or business or anything like that. It's just about playin' music and I am really diggin' it. Yeah, it'd be nice to make a little, but it's even nicer just gettin' a chance to get up there and play some tunes! I reckon that's about all for now. I am gonna get some more coffee in me and get ready for church. It looks like it's gonna be another beautiful day! Take care and God Bless! Les ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
22 April 2009 Here I am back again...it's only been a month, but I'm back. I tried to update this thing a while back, but I was locked out while my site got moved to another server. When I got home yesterday I got the e-mail confirming that all was well and I should be able to access everything, so...here I am. Now, I just gotta figure out how to use all this new stuff I have. See, I ended up getting a new computer for my office/studio a while back. The old one was starting to crash. It got hit by lightning several months back and it's been goin' downhill ever since. Anyway, I got a new machine so I can have something better to work on in the studio. Problem is...like with everything new...sometimes the old stuff doesn't work with the new. I hated to have to do it, but I bought a machine with a 64 bit operating system, so that changed a bunch of stuff up. I ended up having to update my program that I uses to edit and build my site. That was my first problem...thinkin' I was gonna just "update" it. They don't make it anymore...lol. They have a new program that took it's place and it's WAY over my head in terms of site building and such. I'll have to take some serious time and learn how to use it. Right now, I'm just wantin' to use the basics so I can type on here and keep ya updated on what's been goin' on. What's been goin' on since the last time we talked? Well...I've had two more surgeries to fix my left heel. The second of those two happened yesterday and things seem to be going in the right direction. I'll be on VAC therapy for another two weeks and then we'll be through with that. I'll have another 4 to 6 weeks of special walking casts/boots/whatever to keep all the pressure off my heel while it heals. (that just sounds weird...heel while it heals) They did a skin graft yesterday so we're wantin' to make sure that we give it all plenty of time to get better before pushin' it too hard. I don't wanna have to go through all of this again, so I am trying my best to be good. I've been "off the road" since the Jacksonville, FL tour that I told you about in the previous post but I've got two in a row, starting this weekend. We're gonna be in Conroe at the Lone Star Expo center this weekend for a Clinton Anderson tour. Next weekend we take the tour to Sherburn, Minnesota. After that weekend we'll be off three weeks and then we're in Oregon, the last weekend in May, and Washington State the first weekend in June. I'll be glad to get out there and work a little more. The last two weeks of things I had coming up were rained out or postponed for other reasons. Last weekend was the big Crawfish Open here in Llano and I was supposed to be announcing the ropin' but the rains came and they moved it to THIS weekend when I won't be here. I'm really hatin' that because I do enjoy workin' that ropin'. It's long "marathon" days, but it's fun. I've also got a few music gigs comin' up in the next month or so. Me, Jay, Fletcher and David H. are gonna put our little band together and play for my VFD Fish Fry Fundraiser on the 16th of May and then we're gonna go do the Castell Fire Department BBQ in July. They are gonna be fun gigs so come if you can. I also know of another gig that might be on the horizon, but I don't know a date for it yet. I can tell you that it's gonna be VERY special and one that you won't wanna miss. As soon as I find out details I'll let you know. We know it's happening, we're just waiting for a date and a location. When I get those, I'll pass 'em on. Well, I guess that's about it for now. I gotta get goin' so I can go to work. We're tryin' to clear a job, we've been on forever, this week, so I gotta get to it. I've got a list a mile long of things to do before we leave town this weekend too... Thanks for stoppin' by and I'll be talkin' with ya soon! Love~ Les ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
27 March 2009 Hi there. Hope this finds you doin' good today. I'm gettin' better, as far as the recovery from surgery goes. I'm still not off crutches, but I am gettin' better. I actually have been goin' to work the last few days. I've been goin' in when we needed to take materials to another job or something...I could still drive...but I stayed home most of the time. This week I've been at work two days in a row!!! LOL I know, that's not all that big of an accomplishment...two days...but to me it's great. I really can't do anything but weld. It does me no good to go in unless I have something that I could be doin'. I have been, as I said, able to catch up on my work around the office. I've done a bunch of voice work for "The Roping Show" and I've been working on my tour notes and such from the Clinton Anderson tour. We were in Jacksonville, Florida last weekend and had a great time. I was lookin' forward to seein' Florida but I found out that there was really not much to see around Jacksonville...except pine trees. That's all I saw...pine trees! The venue was sure a nice place...the Jacksonville Equestrian Center...nice place...surrounded by pine trees. While we were there, we took a little excursion to find Ronnie Van Zandt's grave. Turned out it wasn't far from the motel we were stayin' at so we went lookin' for it. I was told it was quite a nice tribute to him so I was really lookin' forward to it. Years ago, when I was announcing a PBR in Montgomery, Alabama, we went to Hank and Audrey Williams' grave. I was thinking this would be along those lines...something really nice. Turns out it wasn't much of anything. See, back in 2000...I think it was that year...vandals busted into his crypt and had him pulled just about halfway out when the cops came by and scared 'em off. I don't think anyone really knows why they were doin' it...maybe to see if he was really buried in a Neil Young t-shirt...I dunno. Anyway, because of all that, they moved him to another cemetery where his mom and dad are buried. He's now underground in a huge concrete vault that they say weighs several tons. His headstone is extremely "low profile" now and I guess that's the way it should be since all that crap happened. I can't believe someone would do something like that...I mean, really, breakin' in to someone's grave?...for what?...for what good reason? There really isn't one I don't think. Anyway, that was the big excursion while we were out. I know that doesn't really sound like a big deal, but it kinda is since we never go anywhere but to the venue, to eat/drink and to the room. The shows last all day so there's really not any time to be sight seein' or anything like that. We were in Lexington, VA back in February...a place so rich in history and I never got to really see any of it. The rest of the trip was alright. I was having some problems with my heel during the day because I couldn't ever get it up high enough, while I was working, to keep the swelling down. It really didn't give me a WHOLE lot of problems with the pain, just more discomfort than anything else. The airport scenario was a bit different for me, that's for sure...lol...gettin' wheeled around in a chair and stuff. I don't know why that embarrassed me, but it did...lol. Everyone was very helpful to me so I had no problems gettin' around and from one flight to the next. I was SO concerned that I would miss a flight for some reason. Turns out I didn't need to worry about that. Next stop on the tour is Conroe, Texas...Glenda and Lizzie are goin' with me that weekend so that should be fun. We'll be driving down to that one. I hope that I'll be off these crutches by then. It'll be a lot easier to get the show done without 'em. You know, I've made a few interesting observations over the last few weeks. Not that they're earth-shaking or anything...it's just amazing the things you think about while your following your wife around on one of those little scooters in Wal-Mart because you can't walk...the observation took place the week of my birthday...a coupla weeks ago. I laughed at myself and had one of those "if I'da known then what I know now" moments. Observation 1 I am not bullet-proof anymore. I used to be, but I'm not anymore. Observation 2 The reason I'm not bullet-proof is because I'm gettin' old. Observation 3 I'm really not likin' the "old" thing. Observation 4 They say that 40 is the "new 30"...that's kinda hard to buy into while you're on a scooter in Wal-Mart. Observation 5 I got WAY too much stuff to get done and, if I don't get after it, I'll never get it done. Observation 6 I've still got it pretty good. I feel Blessed.
So, is there a "moral" to the story there?...no, not really. Those are just some things that I have been thinkin' about lately. What have you been thinkin' about lately? Thanks for hangin' out with me for a few minutes to read this page...I do appreciate it and I will see you back here again soon! Love ya! Les ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
09 March 09 Man,
is this the second week in a row that I’ve been on here to update the
journal? Man oh man, I’m on a roll
now. See, good things happen when I’m
laid up and can’t get outa the house! Actually,
I’m pretty tired of being laid up. I’ll
be glad when I get off the crutches and on with business as usual. Thing
about that is the fact that I really don’t know when that’s gonna
happen. Things are goin’ as well as
they should in the healin’ department. I
went to the doc last week for my first post-op and things looked good. It wasn’t a couple of days later that
things didn’t look so good anymore.
There’s too much drainage for it to heal up right...it’s not doin’ good
at all. So, I’m supposed to get some
sort of device put on there...I think it’s called a wound vac...to keep the
drainage under control and keep the tissue pulled together so it can begin to
mend together. I’m
pretty disappointed, to say the least, that things aren’t goin’ any smoother,
but that’s just the way it goes. I’m
doin’ everything I can and the doc’s doin’ everything he can so we’ll come up
with a solution to everything here pretty quick. You know me though, I tend to get a bit
impatient...lol...I just wanna get better and get back to normal.
This
morning I’m sittin’ in the recliner again on the laptop. I’ll end up in the office pretty quick
today I’m sure. I worked in there a
bunch yesterday. Glenda helped me and
we put curtains up on the windows (I’ve wanted to do that for a while) and
just kinda cleaned up the office. It’s
turned into a "catch-all" for the last few months and I was ready to get that
cleared out. I
also, finally, was able to switch my computers out in there. See, my computer took a lightning hit
several months ago and I’ve been limping along on it ever since. I got the parts I needed to continue my
voice work and stuff, but you could still tell something was really wrong
with the rest of it. The longer I used
it, the slower it got…till it finally got to the point it would freeze up on
me if I tried to do too much at once.
I shopped around for several months and realized that every month there’s
somethin’ different…lol…so I just need to make a decision and go on. I did, so now I’m havin’ to get used to all
the new stuff on Vista. I really like
XP and, if I woulda had one built for me, I woulda had that as the OS, but I
was able to get one cheaper at Fry’s.
Not only was the cost better, it already had a video card in it that
would allow me to use two monitors so that was a plus. I need two monitors for production
purposes. One is on the desk in the office;
the other is in the vocal booth on the other side of the wall. I have a wireless keyboard/mouse that I
take into the studio with me when I do voice work. There’s no sense in having two computers,
so I just added a monitor and move the keyboard back and forth. It’s not the most technologically advanced
thing in the world…lol…but it gets the job done. Other
than that, not much else goin’ on.
Just sittin’ around the house waitin’ for myself to heal up. Wish me luck on that…and say a prayer or
two for me. That would be much
appreciated. I’ll
be back next week to letcha know how it’s goin’. Till then, you take care! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 01 March 09 Howdy…I’m comin’ to ya live today from the
recliner in my living room. Yup, I’m
on my way to the modern age of laptops and wireless internet. WOOHOOO. I know, that’s kinda crazy, but
it’s true. The laptop isn’t mine…it’s
a company computer (shhh, don’t tell ‘em I’m using it for this) but the
wireless internet is ALL MINE! Well,
Glenda uses it too…:o) See, I kept waiting and waiting for more
technology to come my way…as in out to the boondocks…but it never did so I
called HughesNet and got me one o dem fancy satellite antennas put up yonder
in the side yard. Well, doggies…as
Uncle Jed would say…we’re mixin’ it up with the refined folks now! Okay, back to the recliner thing. I’m not really here just exemplifying
“lazy”, I’m here on doctors orders. See,
I had surgery on Thursday to repair an old motorcycle injury from 20 years
ago. For those of you that don’t know,
to make a long story short, I got my left heel caught in the rear wheel of a
GSX-R 750 way back when. I was doin’
better than a hundred so you can imagine how that musta hurt huh? Okay, enough of the recalling stupid times…I’ve
grown past that now. At any rate, the skin graft that they did on it
way back when finally came undone so I had to have some tissue “rearranged”
to make it heal up better. The surgery went well and now it’s up to me to
take it easy so I will get better. In
all honesty, it’s driving me nuts.
I’ve been working 7 days a week for the last 6 months tryin’ to keep
things afloat around here so I’m used to bein’ out and about doin’
something. Not used to sittin’ around
not doin’ anything. I have; however, managed to keep myself fairly
busy doing paperwork and what-not. I
think Glenda and I are gonna take a trip to town later this afternoon so I
can at least get outa the house for a little while. Since we last talked, I’ve done two more shows for
Clinton Anderson’s Wahl Walkabout Tour.
I was in Lexington, VA and Ft. Collins, CO in February. I’m hopin’ to heal up before I go to
Jacksonville, Florida in a coupla weeks.
I know that I mentioned, in the last post, that I didn’t know for sure
if I would get the whole 15 date tour with him or not. Well, in Colorado, he told me he wanted me
to continue on with them so I was happy to hear that. I know that this gig is a bit different for me in
that it doesn’t involve me singin’ or playin’ music but it’s something that
I’ve done for the last 20 years or so.
Remember, I was announcing rodeos for a living when I started in the
music business. I’m kinda lucky that
way in that I have some things to “fall back” on when others aren’t going the
way I think they should. If I can be
completely honest with you, I hate the fact that I STILL have not finished
the album I started a few years ago and I hate the fact that I don’t have the
same band together and we’re not playing all the time. I really do hate it because I miss it
sooooo much. Now, before I go any further, does that mean that
I’m unhappy with my life right now?
Not even close. I’m tickled to
death with bein’ a husband and a daddy and bein’ able to live out here on the
ranch and raise my kid in the same place that I was raised. If I had to give all this up for music,
would I? Hell no! Now that doesn’t mean that I’ve completely given
up on music, nor will I ever. In fact,
there are a few dates on the schedule that are “band gigs” that I am really
lookin’ forward to. I have a group of friends here in town that I get
together with from time to time and jam.
We’ve played some benefits and things like that around town for fun
and it has been exactly that…fun! No
stress, laid back, fun gigs that I have really enjoyed playing. We’ve all talked about maybe trying to play
more so we’ll see what happens with that. I guess what I’m tryin’ to say is that I’m
“branchin’ out” a bit more and trying to cover more areas of my talents. In simple terms…I’m doin’ whatever I can to
make money…LMAO! I wanna expand my voice-work stuff more…try to get
more folks interested in me doing radio and TV commercials with my voice on
them. I dunno where the arena
announcing/emcee thing will take me, but it’s definitely something that has
become a viable income. I might wanna
try and do more stuff like that. I
have been asked about announcing rodeos again, but I’m a bit hesitant about
that because so much has changed through the years…I mean
competitor-wise. I don’t know whose
competing so much anymore…I don’t know the stock anymore. I’ve just been out of it for a while. I really don’t see that happening anytime
soon…unless I’m on TV…then I might think about it…lol. I’m hoping, in the next few months, that you’ll
see a change in the web site. I’m
gonna expand that as well…to cover other things that I’m doing. I will still keep this page and I hope that
you will continue to stop in and read it.
There are so many of you that I haven’t talked to in forever. I miss you!!! I really do…just like I miss playing, I
miss seeing you, the person that would come out to watch us play! So, bear with me as I go through all this
stuff. I hope to have more music news
for you my end of year, so that might be a bright spot to look forward
to. For now, come see me at any of the
locations on my schedule. I would love
to have a chance to visit with you again! Take Care~ Les Oh yeah, I have a FaceBook page now and there are
pics of the family on there. Drop by
and see it and be my friend!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 22 January 09 So,
I'm gone pretty much all day yesterday for meetings. I was in
Stephenville for the biggest part of the day and in Hamilton later that
evening. That's when the phone call came from my wife. I didn't
get it at first, I found out I had a voice mail actually. Upon calling
it I found that my daughter had something she wanted to "tell"
me. So, I call the house and find out that Lizzie is walking!
Yup...walked all the way across the kitchen floor and I wasn't there to see
it. I asked Glenda "what the hell is she doin' that stuff for when
I'm not there. Doesn't she know she was supposed to wait????" Anyway,
I got home later and watched it all on the video tape. I
laughed. Damn,
I got it good these days. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` 20 January 09 Howdy! I'm
back again. Aren't ya shocked that it's still the same month...not six
months later that I cam back? I'm kinda shocked a little bit myself. I
guess it's just been kinda tough, when things really haven't been goin' on
with my "career" at all, to get on here and write anything about
it. I've said everything on here over and over again...lol...I'm even
gettin' tired of hearin' it from myself! But,
there are some things to talk about as of late. Maybe not so much on
the music front (there are things to talk about there too...just not
sure when yet) but I have been workin' a lot lately. In fact I just
got back from Ogden, Utah yesterday. See,
I have been picked to announce a tour for a horse trainer named Clinton
Anderson. He has a show on RFD-TV called Downunder Horsemanship.
In addition to the show, he does clinics and such...and he does a 15 stop
tour every year. Well,
somehow or another...thanks to the Grace of God and a good friend thinkin' of
me...I ended up gettin' a shot announcing this tour. I did one in
Abilene in December and I'm just back from Ogden, Utah yesterday. I'll
do Lexington, Virginia and Ft. Collins, Colorado in February and then we'll
see about the rest of the tour. That's kinda the way we set things
up...to see how things went before we committed to the whole tour. I'm
hopin' that they'll go well and I'll add those other twelve dates to the
schedule page!! Stay tuned. The
venue that we were at was the Golden Spike Event Center and I gotta tell
ya...that place was nice. Not just the particular building we were in,
but the whole dad-gummed facility was incredible. We were indoors
(thank goodness...lol) and they had another arena outside. They had a
Rec. Hall and an Exhibition Hall...they also had an Auction barn and a Horse
Track all at this facility. The really cool thing...the backdrop...
That
picture was taken from my phone, so it's probably not the best quality, but
it's good enough to give you the idea of the view we had from the
facility. Those grandstands you see there are part of the outdoor
arena. Anyway,
as far as the tour goes, it's still relatively new to me. The show in
Abilene was the last stop of 2008 and Ogden was a brand new show for 2009 so
I was startin' from scratch. I did okay but it sure coulda been better
on my part. Not only do I announce, but I also play canned music and sound
effects/drops at various places throughout the show. It's an extremely
educational event, but the drops and music all go together to make it very
entertaining as well. The timing of all that stuff is crucial
too. That's what I was lacking in out in Utah...the timing. It'll
get better though. Now that I've seen the new show, I'll know better
what to expect. So,
anyway, I'm back home now and enjoying being here with my family.
Lizzie is growing faster than I even imagined and will soon be walkin' on her
own. We had to have surgery the other day to have tubes put in her ears
because of all the congestion and ear infections that she was having. I
wasn't there for it but Glenda said she did great and was back to her old
self before the day was over. Something
else happened while I was on the way to Ogden. Glenda and I became Aunt
& Uncle again. My brother and his wife had their third child...a
little girl. They have two boys and a girl now. Mother and baby
are doing well...there were a few tense moments after, but everything is
going good now. I
guess that's about it for now. I'll be back again to tell ya more what
all's been goin' on and all that good stuff later. Keep checkin'
back...I feel myself gettin' in the habit of bein' back here more often...lol. Take
care and God Bless! Les ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 05 January 09 Hi
there and Happy New Year!! Wow,
am I glad to get 2008 over with. It's crazy how things started
snowballing into a good run of bad luck for me towards the latter part of the
year. I mean, I have never had so much crap happen like it did.
It was actually, though I didn't think it was at the time, kinda funny how
things went together...or fell apart as it were. Biggest
thing that happened was the first week of November when I was on my way to
town one mornin' and, as I was comin' into the city limits my engine started
knockin'. I got off the gas and less than three blocks later, as I'm
tryin' to get off the road, there goes the motor. I was dumbfounded in
a way that I can't even explain. If you know me you know that I have
always been loyal to the Dodge and the Cummins Diesel. I was driving
the 5th one I've had through the years and I have put some SERIOUS miles on
those things. I had 103,718 miles on this one...read that again...3,718
miles PAST the factory warranty of 100,000 miles. Not a good thing huh? Not
to worry...my "good 'ole boy" naivety led me to believe that they
would make it right. I mean, geez, I had been such a loyal customer and
I knew that everything was right with the motor...I had done my part...kept
up the maintenance, made sure there was oil in it...all that stuff.
There's no way that they were gonna NOT help me out with it in some way
because this was something catastrophic that had happened here...I mean, you
could see all the way through my block...from one side to the other.
Something went wrong...I had never had a Cummins motor, with that few miles
on it, that ANYTHING had gone wrong with. Worse thing that had ever
happened was an injector pump and lift pump that went bad in one of
'em...that was covered in the warranty and was fixed and I never had another
problem with it...put nearly another 75,000 miles on it before I traded. I
took it to the dealer in the next town over from me. I had copies of my
receipt from the last oil change I did. I did it myself, so I had a
receipt for the filter and all that stuff. I left it there with them
and they were gonna see what would happen. A coupla days later I get
the call... Nope,
not gonna do anything. (I'll
save everything I was saying and thinking for a later time) So,
a coupla days later I go back over there with the trailer to pick up the
truck and bring it back home. I went in the service office to get my
keys and write them a 297 dollar check (oh yeah, I had to pay for them to
look at it...297 dollars worth of "looking" because they NEVER
moved the vehicle from where it was when we unloaded it...I'm sure they
needed that much much money to see the hole in the block) and I happened
to run into the General Manager there, whom I had met at a community function
earlier in the year. So I told him that I was really in a bad bind and
he said that he knew somebody at Chrysler and that he would get on the phone
the next morning and see what he could get done because he, personally, knew
of warranty work that they had done some 10,000 miles past on another
vehicle. I
felt better as I was walkin' out the door...knowing that he was on my
side...and he followed me out saying that "there was no way he could be
as upset about this as I was but he was very upset and was going to do
whatever he could do to make it right...to get me taken care of no matter
what we had to do." (I'm
still keeping my comments to myself) So,
the next day I called over there at the time he suggested I call and I ended
up having to leave a message. A few minutes later I got a call back
from the service manager saying that Chrysler wasn't gonna do anything about
it. The biggest thing that I had workin' against me was that I was the
second owner of the vehicle and the fact that the state of the auto
manufacturers hasn't been all that good lately...they're following everything
to the letter on the warranty work they do. So...there I was...nothing
that I could do about gettin' any help gettin' that one fixed. Okay...so
I needed a vehicle and it was plain to see that mine wasn't gonna be runnin'
anytime soon. While all this stuff has been goin' on (the days/weeks at
the dealership) I've been in and out of my banker's office tryin' to figure
something out. I knew I needed to get another vehicle so I called the
General Manager of that dealership back just a few minutes after I got off
the phone with the service manager. I left him another message
explaining that I needed another pickup and could he please call me back and
let me know what kinda incentives were out there for the pickups and all that
stuff. I
waited... and I
waited... and he
NEVER called me back and I'm
drivin' a Ford now. Oh
yeah...that boy was concerned about me and was gonna do everything he could
do because it bothered him that I was havin' that much trouble with
everything. Whatever...man,
I haven't been fed a line of bull like that in a long time. I mean, he
didn't even have a sales person call me back...nothin'...here I am tellin'
him that I want to buy another vehicle and he doesn't even return my
call. I was just floored by the way I was feelin' at that point.
He didn't no more give two sh@*s about me or my business and I don't know why
he bothered wastin' my time or his. Anyway,
it's true...I went down the road and bought a Ford. First one I've had
since '92 and I gotta tell ya, even though it's taken some time to get used
to, I'm really likin' it so far. I hope is lasts as long as my Dodge's
did. I need it to...that's for sure. I
know this is gettin' to be long, but there's been a lot goin' on over the
past few months. I have had some exciting developments happen in my
business world and in my personal world. Glenda
and I celebrated our 5th anniversary in September and our daughter will be a
year old the end of this month. It's been an incredible year. In
fact, there's been so much going on that I vow to be back here to add more to
the story in a matter of days. I've been playin' some music here and
there and have some pictures to put up of that. Lizzie, as I mentioned,
is about to be a year old...I have some pictures of her to put up here.
I'll
be touring across the United States this year ... hopefully, I'll be making
15 stops in 15 different states throughout 2009. What? Yup...I
will be and I'll tell you all about it. I'll
be back soon...you hang tight! Take
care and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh yeah...I need to update this site too...but come see
me!!
Drop in and be my friend :o) |
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