Upcoming 2010-2011 Nocona Nights Dinner/Music Series

On October 16th The Nocona Nights Dinner/Music Series will begin it's ninth year of production with musical entertainment provided by the iconic Texas singer/songwriter, Ray Wylie Hubbard.

This year's Nocona Nights music series will host seven shows and will also include performances by The Rifters, a great Southwestern Americana trio from Northern New Mexico;


the Western swing music of the Quebe Sisters;


the Texas Honkeytonk music of Deryl Dodd;


Gary P. Nunn, one of the original members of the Lost Gonzo Band who wrote, "London Homesick Blues";

another great Western Swing band, Hot Club of Cowtown with Elana James;


and the always high energy Two Tons of Steel out of San Antonio.

All shows will be held at Daddy Sam's Saloon in downtown Nocona with the exception of the October show featuring Ray Wylie Hubbard. Due to a scheduling conflict at Daddy Sam's, the October show is being held at the Carpenter's Shop(the Nocona Senior Citizens Center). One benefit of holding the show there, however, is that we can seat about twice as many people as we have season ticket holders, so anyone who would like to attend that show should be able to purchase a ticket by calling the Nocona Chamber of Commerce at (940)825-3526. The cost is $30 and includes a meal before the show. Due to the limited seating in Daddy Sam's, the other shows are all unofficially sold out since we have as many season ticket holders as we do seats, however, since we almost always have some season ticket holders that are not able to attend every show, we are usually able to accomodate a handful of people each show if they call the Chamber office in advance and get on a waiting list. Hope to see some of you at this year's shows.

Our trip to Red River and Taos

For the past few years now, we have been leaving the heat of North Texas in mid-August and pulling our 5th wheel trailer out to Red River and then to Taos New Mexico to spend about a month in the much cooler air and to attend a couple of music festivals that are held there in August and September.

This year was no exception. We left Decatur around 8 AM on August 16th after enduring sixteen straight days of 100+ temps, arriving at Roadrunner RV Resort in Red River late that afternoon to rain and 55 degree weather where we had reserved a campsite next to the Red River.

We spent the first couple of days acclimating to the altitude and riding up some of the mountain trails around Red River with our friends from Corpus, Doug and Debbie in their Jeep.

We even made it to the top of Greenie Peak from which one can look down and see Eagles Nest, the Red River Ski area as well as Pikes Peak which is over 150 miles to the north. It's an outstanding view.













We came to Red River, not only for the cool air, but also to attend the Larry Joe Taylor Hot Chili Days and Cool Mountain Night's Music Festival and Chili Cookoff which is sponsored by the Red River Chamber of Commerce. It's four great days of music with performances at the Motherlode Saloon, the Tip restaurant at the top of the ski lift, the river stage and culminating in the city park on Saturday with a chili and BBQ cookoff along with music on the big stage. In addition to Larry Joe's own band,

this year's lineup included Keith Sykes who wrote the Buffett hit, "Volcano",


Richard Leigh who has many top 10 country hits including nine #1's such as "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue",


Susan Gibson who wrote "Wide Open Spaces" which was the Dixie Chicks first big hit,

Bob Livingston, who was an original member of the Lost Gonzo Band that backed Jerry Jeff Walker and was actually the first to sing "Redneck Mother" at a show,


Michael Hearne and his band South by Southwest who play great Southwestern Americana music,


and for the younger crowd, there was the Josh Abbott Band, the Tejas Brothers,











Jason Boland and the Stragglers, and Roger Creager













plus several local bands from Red River and Taos area including Two Dollar Horse and the Damn Band.








Of course one of the other reasons it is fun to come out to Red River is to get to visit with old friends who we have met over the years as followers of music.

















After the festival, we remained in Red River for an additonal two days and then moved over to Taos where we are presently located. Have made a few day trips to take the High Road To Taos and over to Ojo Caliente, Los Alamos and Bandelier National Monument













plus going to listen to music at some of the venues here in Taos. Saw Jim Lauderdale on Thursday at KTAO Solar Center and Josh Grider, Drew Kennedy and Max Gomez at the Old Blinking Light on Saturday.







Going out to see Michael Hearne at the OBL tonight, then we're leaving the trailer here and making a quick trip back to Texas on Wednesday to check on my dad who's having back surgery today, water our yard if there's one left, drive down to attend the first A&M football game, then drive back to Taos on Monday to get ready for Michael Hearne's annual Big Barn Dance Weekend. About 1700 miles in five days. Guess Becky and I are gluttons for punishment, but at least we're having a good time.

Butterflies Are Free

After I retired five years ago, I found myself with lots of free time that I was not used to having during my working years. In trying to find something to do to fill in the dead time, I found myself, among other things, watching the birds that came into our backyard and eventually became interested in bird watching and photographing them. However, after four years, unless I am traveling to other parts of the country or state, I seldom see a bird at my feeders that I haven't already observed or photographed at some point. That seems to be particularly true during the summer months, so lately, as a result, I've turned to butterfly watching which I have found to be just about as interesting, and, at this time of year, easy to do with the many varieties that have been coming to the flowers in our backyard and garden each Summer. I have found that some are difficult to photograph due to their propensity to seldom land on anything for more that a few seconds, if at all. Also making it more interesting is that outside of the Monarchs

and most of the Swallowtails that I can ID easily including the:
Giant Swallowtail,the largest of the Swallowtails,

and female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail which is often black rather than yellow like the male at the top of the blog,

I don't know the names of most of the varieties I see for the first time, so I find myself spending time on the internet where there are a plethora of sites with photos of butterflies that allow me to ID them, and learn something about their life cycles and range. Hopefully, this will keep me busy until Fall migration of the birds when I have a better chance of seeing a new bird or two on their way south to warmer climes. Here are some of the ones I have seen in the past year and was able to photgraph:

Wood Nymph (Cercyonis pagala), a very common butterfly seen throughout the summer months.

Silvery Checkerspot Butterfly (Chlosyne nycteis)

Questionmark Butterfly (Polygonias interrogationis)

White Peacock Butterfly (Anartia jatrophae) which I photographed on Grand Cayman Island this January, but also found in southern parts of Texas

Red Admiral Butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) not particularly common to this part of state

Queen Butterfly (Danaus gilippus), which is one of four butterflies, including Monarchs that lay their eggs on milkweed

and Gulf Fritillary butterfly (Agraulis vanillae)which I spotted for the first time today and get part of its name from being commonly seen over Gulf of Mexico during migration.

With a month long trip planned for Northern New Mexico coming up next month, I'm hoping I'll find a few new ones to add along with some birds that frequent the mountains and high desert that I have yet to see or photograph.