Kenny Chesney & Going Bald

(Today's KUPL Listener Blog word is in the post below this one.)

By now anyone who listens to country has heard Kenny Chesney's latest single, "Come Over".  For those who haven't though, I'll add the video in this post:

I know I'm not the only one who, upon hearing this song for the first time, heard the lyrics differently.  There are very few people who *don't* hear "COMB over", instead of  "COME over".  The fact that Chesney himself is bald just adds to the humor of the mix up.  When things get stuck in my head, I have to do something about it; in this case, it was to rewrite "Come Over", to "Comb Over". 

As I always do, I worked over each line of the song, trying to come up with a new story, while still keeping the rhythm and rhyme of the original tune.  When I had it done, I did what I usually do, sent it to Scott, Jolynn and Jake, from KUPL's "Simon in the Morning" show.  By now they've gotten used to my craziness, and take it in stride.

With this rewrite though, Jake emailed me and said once the real song was higher up the charts, he wanted to have the parody done professionally!   WOW!!!   And that's exactly what happened; when "Come Over" hit the top five of the country charts Jake sent it off to be produced.  Before that however, he explained that most parodies don't use every line of the actual song.  He edited out some parts, and tweaked a few of the lines, to tighten them up; my first parody co-write!  I thought that was really cool!

This morning, I got an email from Jake, with the audio of  "Comb Over" attached; the parody had come to life!  I loved it, and was thrilled to hear something I'd had a hand in actually being performed.  I emailed Jake, thanking him for all his help with "Comb Over", and asked if I could write a post about it.  He said of course, then asked if my blog supports audio; bummer, it doesn't, so back to the drawing board I went.

In the meantime, unbeknownst to me, Jake was working up something of his own.  This afternoon, I got another email from Jake, with a link to a video he'd made for our parody!  Because of that, I'm now able to share with readers Jake's and my song rewrite, "Comb Over".  Please let us know what you think!

The Dog Days of Summer

(Today's word will be in red and bold.)


Much of the country has been feeling the heat of summer over the past week or more, the Pacific Northwest included.

Though this area isn't nearly as bad as anywhere else in the U.S., it's definitely warm; especially for our furry, four legged friends.  That's the case with our dog, Phluffernuffer.

Phluffer is an Australian Shepard/Chow mix.  She has the face and tail of an Aussie, and the coloring and tons of fur like a Chow. 

Because of so much fur, and the heat, we decided it was time to take her to be shaved, and groomed.  She's an outdoor dog, so she really needs to be able to stay cool during the summer.  We'd done this once before, and she seemed to like it; so we did it again.  Honestly, other than her face, and when she "smiles", she doesn't even look like the same dog!  Still super adorable though!

We had a bit of a scare after her fur came off though.  It seems that all that fur was hiding a rather large growth.  We went to the 24 hour vet care, since it was Sunday, and had Phluffer checked.  The conclusion was, it's a tumor.  

My son and dad took Phluffer to her regular vet on Monday, where the doctor did a biopsy and other stuff and found a second growth.  We should have the results of all the tests by Wednesday or Thursday.  I'm really hoping the tests come back negative for cancer.  Either way though, our "puppy" is going to have to have surgery, to remove the growth and tumor.  

Phluffer has had absolutely no health issues in her twelve years of life; and now this.  To say the least, I'm a bit out of sorts at the moment.  I'm just going to keep praying she'll come through all of this with flying colors.

Oh, Canada!

Oh, Canada!  What fun we were to have next month!  The perfect month for a birthday celebration in Ottawa, Canada!

Alas, though, it's not to be!  I shan't be going the furthest east I've ever been after all; SIGH!!!

Yes, it's true, a friend and I were supposed to go to the Capital Hoedown in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on August 11th to see, and meet, Taylor Swift; the day before my birthday. It was the contest that I'd won from KUPL last April.

Unfortunately, I received a call earlier today, letting me know that Taylor's concert has been cancelled; and things are in the works to get us to another show.  

At this time I'm not sure why the August concert was cancelled; or when and where the new concert will be. I'm still excited though; just going to have to wait a bit longer for the big trip. 

I'll put another post out whenever I know more about this situation. 

Baby Bunnies!

Monday wasn't a great day for my son, Josh; he was out mowing the hill next to our house, when he heard a squeak.  He looked down to see that the mower had hit a baby bunny.

He stopped the mower immediately, however it was too late.  While checking, another baby bunny was trying to escape from where it was.  It wasn't hurt, just frightened.  Josh picked it up, checking to be sure it was okay.

The bunny was so small, it's little eyes weren't even open yet.  Josh took a picture of this little bunny, then gently tucked it back in with the remaining three bunnies that were in the ground.

Once the bunnies were settled again, Josh took a stick to mark the location; then put a string round the burrow.  The string was there to see if the mama bunny would come back to the babies.  Josh looked on the internet, and found that mama bunnies only check their babies once or twice a day, usually at night.  By putting the string around the burrow, if the mama comes back, the string will be moved.

Great news, the mama bunny has been back every night since Monday; so we won't have to bottle feed the babies.

I agree with Josh, it's sad that one of the babies had to die; though it was cool to get such an up close view of them.

Five of My Ten Favorite Current Country Songs--Continued

(Today's word will be in red and bold.)


In Tuesday's post, I listed five of my ten favorite, current country songs.  As with that listing, the second half of my list will be in alphabetical order.

First up in today's post is Due West.  I've liked these guys since the first time I heard "Between the Bible and the Belt", and "When the Smoke Clears."  Unfortunately, neither song really made it on the radio.  The band then went through a label change, and are finally back with a new single, "Things You Can't Do In A Car".  I'm really hoping this song is the one that breaks these guys through to the masses.  They've got so much talent, and really deserve to be heard more.

The Eli Young Band's "Even if it Breaks Your Heart", is the only song on my list that is actually getting a lot of airplay on the radio.  I know it's partly due to the fact this song is following their latest single, "Crazy Girl", which went to #1 on the charts.  Even if that weren't the case though, the band's current single is definitely a winner!

It surprises me that the next song on my list hasn't been getting as much radio time as the artist's songs usually do.  George Strait is known as "King George" for a reason; he's had over fifty #1 hits during his career; and seems to be a chameleon when it comes to music styles.  Yet, his latest offering, "Drinkin' Man", doesn't seem to have really taken off like other Strait tunes.  I can't honestly remember hearing this song during peak times for songs in heavy rotation.  Let' hope it's just a slow mover, and that Strait continues his string of hits.

The first time I heard Gwen Sebastian's "Met Him in a Motel Room" was live in the Bing Lounge in Portland, Oregon.  I liked it then, however really didn't think about it too much.  Once I heard it on the radio, (overnights of course), a few times though, it really grew on me.  While the delivery of the message is rather convoluted, it's also what makes this song so interesting.  It's a tune that needs to be heard more than once, to really understand what it's about.  Sebastian does an excellent job singing the song.

The last song on my list is, "Don't Miss Your Life", by Phil Vassar.  To me, Vassar has always been one of the most underrated singer/songwriters in country music.  Yes, he's had his fair share of  hit singles; it just seems to be an extra effort to get Phil's heard on the radio, compared to other artists.  "Don't Miss Your Life" is the song that got me putting together this list.  So far it's still only played during late nights and early mornings; though, as with other songs I've mentioned, hopefully that will change soon.

And there you have it; my list of my favorite current country songs.  I'm sure those of you reading this have your own favorites; I'd love to hear what other listeners are enjoying musically at the moment.  Maybe together we can get these songs, and others, the boost they need to be radio hits.

Five of My Ten Favorite Current Country Songs

(Today's word will be in red and bold.)


I've come to the conclusion that I'm one of those music lovers who falls between the cracks.  I like listening to the radio, so I'm not unaware of what current songs are hits.  On the other hand, a lot of my favorite songs tend to be ones that haven't really made it on the charts yet, and sometimes never make it far.

When I really thought about it, my ten current favorite country songs fall into this same pattern.  It has me interested to see how they're going to play out over the next few weeks and months.  Rather than rank them from one to ten however, I've decided to list my current favorites in alphabetical order, starting with Aaron Lewis.

With his second single, "Endless Summer", Lewis seems to have this year's perfect summer anthem for listeners.  So far though, I've really only heard the song in the wee hours of the morning.  I'm hoping it takes off though, because it really is a cool song.

To be honest, I'm not always a fan of Carrie Underwood.  It's not that I don't like her songs; I just get tired of the repetition of them on the radio.  So far I've only heard Underwood's latest single, (the title track to her latest CD), "Blown Away", a couple times, again in the late night/early morning hours.  So far it's a favorite with me; only time will tell if I grow tired of it or not.

Chris Young's current single, "Neon", has been getting more airplay than the previous two listings; however, it still hasn't been played so much that I'm tired of it yet.  Not sure if Chris will score a #1 with the song though. Doesn't matter to me though, it's still one of my favorite new singles.

Continuing the list alphabetically, the next artist up is Craig Morgan.  Morgan's follow up to "This Ole Boy", is the quirky "Corn Star".  It's the type of song that catches one's attention, because of the tongue in cheek lyrics and play on words.  "Corn Star" is the type of song that makes me smile, because I love puns and the like.  However, as with Carrie Underwood's song, time will tell if I grow weary of this tune or not.

Rounding out the first five of my current favorite country songs is, "The Sound of a Million Dreams", by David Nail.

I'm not really a fan of Nail's; his songs are okay, I've just overheard them for the most part.  "The Sound of a Million Dreams", strikes a chord with me though.  As I wrote in an earlier post, though the song sounds nothing like Billy Joel's "Piano Man", that's the tune I think of when I hear this single.  It's one I really hope to hear more of on the radio.  It would be a shame for it to not be a hit, in my opinion.

I'll end this post for now, and write about my other five favorite songs in my post for Thursday.

Toddlers & Tadpoles

About a week or so ago, my younger niece, her boyfriend, and almost 3 year-old daughter came for a visit from Idaho.

Bella, my niece's daughter goes full tilt most of the time, like any normal toddler.  The last time she visited my parents' place, she was fascinated with the piano, and spent most of her time playing on it.  This time when she got to their house, it was no different.  She remembered the piano and made a beeline for it as soon as she was in the door.

After a little bit, she decided to check other things out, and looked out to see birds on the porch. The birds would swoop down, hop under the bushes and disappear.  Bella wanted to know where they were, so I told her they were probably playing hide and seek.  After that, every time she'd see a bird, and it would disappear, she'd yell, "seek, seek, birdy, seek!"  When they'd come out, she'd yell, "hide birdies!"

During all this a chipmunk decided to show up.  Bella didn't know what it was, but figured it was playing hide and seek with the birds.  I told her it was a chipmunk, and asked if she could say that.  Well, she did her best, for her age, and me, well, I'll never see a "chipmunk" ever again; instead, they will forever more be known as "chigga-munks".

If that weren't enough, a deer decided to show up also.  Bella decided she needed to be on the porch for a better look; so out we went.  For about 5 minutes or so, Bella and the deer just watched each other, then, they evidently both got bored with staring, because the deer wandered off, and Bella was ready to go in the house.

After that, it was back in the house and the piano.  Sometime during the day, my mom had given Bella two Disney books about cats and dogs.  Bella went to the piano with her books and started singing about them.  My son, Josh, happened to have his camera ready, and shot the cutest video of Bella playing and singing; until she noticed he was there!   What a fun day we had!

A few days later, Josh noticed that my parents' waterfall pool had tadpoles in it.  Not surprising, since he'd already discovered at least one frog there about a month ago.  Evidently there were at least two, since there's plenty of tadpoles now!

Ever the wildlife photographer, Josh decided he needed at least a picture of the tadpoles, and proceeded to try and get some good shots.  He then decided to put the lens of his camera into the pond and try videotaping the tadpoles.  He got a pretty good video of it, and fortunately didn't hurt his camera!

It's going to be fun when all these little tadpoles grow up to be froggies!  It's just too bad we didn't notice them when Bella was here; I'm sure she'd have loved them!