March 19, 2010
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Gallo del Cielo

Here’s an unusual campfire version of that fabulous Tom Russell tune about Gallo del Cielo, the rooster born in heaven, performed by Billy and Walter Lloyd. I stumbled across this on YouTube. I first heard this song performed by Ian Tyson way back in the early 80s when his fantastic album, Old Corrals and Sagebrush came out. Tyson performs the song like a Mexican polka and does a very nice job of it. I’ve previously also posted versions by Mr. Russell himself as well as by Joe Ely, who also does a great job with it.

March 18, 2010
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The Garden

It was such a beautiful day today. I fired up the bbq and played with Memphis out in the yard while dinner cooked. The back yard is still a bit soggy. I started to imagine some of the things I’m going to do to enhance the garden this year. That will include some changes to the gardens I started last year and perhaps a new large garden in the back.

There is a wooded area behind what semblance of a lawn we have. I’ve gone back and forth between just leaving it be and doing some strategic work back there, cleaning up some things, planting a few others. I enjoy the disorder back there. It seems very cottage-like. Memphis and the cats enjoy running around back there too.

This spring we’re going to start working on a significant garden in the front yard, displacing some of the lawn. I’d like to bring in some large rocks to give the new garden some bones. I have a shape in mind but I haven’t drawn it out yet. The beauty of starting a new garden is that it changes through the years. Mistakes disappear or get moved. New ideas get tossed into the mix. Eventually the whole business starts to assert itself as a garden. One of the things I love about gardening is seeing each year how the garden reestablishes itself, how it evolves and matures.

March 17, 2010
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Cowgirl of the pride

Spuddy was the cowgirl among our cats. She wouldn’t just catch the mouse. She wouldn’t just eat the mouse. She was the cat who had to bring it live into the house to show off to the others. Back at the old Anchovy World Headquarters we had a neighbour, Joseph, who used to say, “That Spud, she don’t give a damn.”

Here’s the Night Rider’s Lament for all the cowgirls who just don’t give a damn.

March 16, 2010
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Spud

Sad news tonight. Spud, one of our lions, was hit by a car and killed on the street in front of the house. Spud was originally my dad’s cat. He adopted her after his old hound-dog Julie passed. Eventually, Spud joined the Anchovy’s. I’m not sure now just how old Spud was – perhaps 12 or 13.