Sunset Ranch

09/12/2024

My current FB cover photo is from the oil painting "JAGUAR!" by Ruth Buzzi. I'll bet you didn't know she had that talent, too!

09/03/2024

August was a tough one.

Then September rolled around and brought climate change.

The lakes are back where they need to be. The creek is rushing up the banks 12 feet high, and North Central Texas is as great a place as anyone could be in September 2024.

Texas.

Where climate change isn't necessarily a bad thing.

08/03/2024

Your vote is not a Valentine to profess your love for a candidate; it's a chess move to help push your country in the direction it needs to go.

07/01/2024

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/offbeat/kinky-friedman-dead-at-79-as-friends-pay-tribute-to-selfless-and-sincere-country-star/ar-BB1p1aXM?item=flights%3Aprg-tipsubsc-v1a&ocid=windirect

Singer-songwriter Kinky Friedman, who received the nickname 'Kinky' due to his curly hair, died aged 79 at his ranch near Austin, Texas

06/27/2024

My great friend for half a century, Kinky Friedman, slipped away peacefully at home in his sleep early this morning.

He leaves a legacy of laughter, music, loyalty, mercy, tolerance, servitude, and wisdom.

He was famous as a best-selling author, humorist, songwriter, and singer. But we, his close friends and family, knew him as a rescuer of unwanted dogs and cats, a compassionate, philanthropic, soft-spoken man who devoted much of his life to serving others less fortunate.

He and his sister Marcie founded the Echo Hill Gold Star Camp. It is in session now, for kids who've lost a parent to military, police, fire, or EMS service.

"The Ki****er" left his mark on this planet, in an excellent way.

He was friends with Presidents, homeless vagrants, and every type of human being in between; all people were of equal value to him. His heroes included Moses, Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Winston Churchill.

Kinky, at 79, performed on stage as long as he could stand up with a guitar strapped around his neck. And then he performed sitting down. Ruthie and I must have been to hundreds of performances over the years and we never saw him fail to win over a crowd with his humor, his music, and occasionally a heart-touching page or two read onstage from one of his books.

His books are printed in many languages and their appeal is worldwide. Several of his novels included a character described as "Kent Perkins, Private Investigator." He included many of us, his best friends, in a successful series of humorous murder mysteries centered around the amateur sleuthing of a down-and-out singer-songwriter living at 199B Vandam Street, Greenwich Village, New York named Kinky Friedman.

I learned a lot from Kinky. I never met a more honest, witty, selfless, generous, or sincere person than Richard Samet "Kinky" Friedman.

Somewhere in heaven, I'm sure there's a quiet corner with a big easy chair, a bright floor lamp, a big stack of biographical books, and a few old dogs wagging their tails to the faint smell of cigar smoke.

Rest in peace, my friend.

06/26/2024

We have ducks out here that come up every day for hand feeding. Have you ever raised ducks? And was it worth the energy? Or did you find it wasn't quite what it was quacked up to be... And how do you like this ranch logo I designed on the Internet with the help of AI? Just a little too ducky for you? I thought so.

04/25/2024

Spontaneous beats planning every time.

This is the coolest venue in America for a musician.

Especially when there is no event for the public and you're just there making music with a very talented family, doing it just for fun as an invited guest.

I once shared a piano bench in this place with a long-haired, blue-eyed, really beautiful older lady named Bobbie Lee who showed me how to play "Down Yonder" and "Blue Eyes in the right key for her world famous brother.

And it was there I had the thrill of hearing a piercing, clear, unmistakably pleasant voice singing over my shoulder as we played. Bobbie was to my left --- killing it on the bass notes, me playing the treble side of the keyboard with all the Floyd Cramer my formally untrained fingers could muster.

Ruthie watched smiling from a nearby rocking chair and then hit the chorus, adding her flawless soprano harmony to "When we meet again up yonder...."

It's a memory I wish I had on video, but it's just as vivid now when I think about it as it was that day in 2016.

Sincere thanks to our mutual friend Kinky Friedman for putting Ruthie and me in a very special little family circle down in Spicewood, Texas at Luck Ranch for one fine day we'll never forget.

04/02/2024

https://echo-hill-ranch.ticketleap.com/echo-hill-ranch-gold-star-camp-april-8th-eclipse-fundraiser/

Join us at Echo Hill Ranch, nestled in the heart of the breathtaking Texas Hill Country, for an unforgettable event under the cosmic spectacle of a total eclipse. From April 5th at 3:00 pm to April 8th at 5:00 pm, immerse yourself in a unique experience as we witness this rare astronomical phenomeno...

03/28/2024

Did you see the Western sky just before dark this evening?

Fresh rainfall was followed by an intense show of color and contrasts.

Sky, land and water in perfect accord attested to the humbling majesty of creation.

03/24/2024

Springtime is finally here and the grass is green, the trees have leafed out and the ponds are jumping with fish... life in the country is always wonderful but especially so this time of year in North Texas.