Good morning, good people!

Hope everyone is in fine fettle.

Another hope is no declaration of WWIII this weekend, as we all have errands to run, shopping to do, etc..

The crew is coming to build a back room onto the house. Lots of windows to be able to see birds and deer, away from the hwy with loud tough trucks showing off their special non-existant mufflers, and just to see the back 10 acres of my property. Old oaks, beautiful fields of grass.

When the contractor called to confirm the crew would arrive Monday, we had just listened to a Stevie Ray and Jimmy Vaughn album. The contractor is their first cousin. RIP, Stevie Ray.

In about 3 weeks, we will see The Gypsy Kings in concert in Sugarland, Texas. Now, so you know, the city outside of Houston is pronounced "sugar land", not the typical way we "lund" the pronunciation anywhere else. Like most famous groups of yore, only 2 men from the original group remain. We lucked out that they were founders. This will be a edging toward tribute band, but not there yet.

I have had personal connections with gypsies when the were allowed to come to town in their horse drawn wagons, allowed to camp out for a few days. Yes, they did dance and sing around the campfire, and yes, they were tinkers, and yes, there was a fortune teller.

While touring Romania, we went through a town, the guide told us not to buy any copper pots, since those Gypsies sold fake copper. Strange that they didn't roam. They had what you might call mansions here and there.

You might be familiar with these tunes:

In March, we head to the Texas Hill Country to see Ray Wylie Hubbard yet again. I leave it to you to pigeon hole his musical genre. The most popular song he ever wrote was performed by Jerry Jeff Walker, which became one of his most popular songs, recorded at the dance hall in Luchenback, Texas.

Now, what gave the composer the idea to think up this these lyrics?

One of the most popular songs at his concerts is the one below. Non-Texans, if you haven't figured out by now he is being humorous and means no insults, I can't convince you. He is a transplanted Oklahoman himself. He mentions Stevie Ray... (we all do).

We will skip the Willie Nelson concert in New Braunsfel. I have seen him perform many times for free at honky tonks in Cut'n'Shoot Texas, can't see spending $322 for a ticket now. What he played back then before he went Outlaw, was this:

This one, and my brother dragged me from the hands of Faron Young's band who wanted me to visit Faron in his RV! No hard feelings, Mr. Young, if you get my drift!

This is an open thread, open to whatever you folks would like to discuss. The great joy of posting an OT is the fantastic lines of info and comment directions they take.

With that in mind, let 'er rip!