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Cincinnati Reds Weekend...Bear...Zebra

BILL BLOG

Monday June 9, 2025

 

Monday morning in Nashville. All the CMA Fest tourists have gone home, and today we’ll have a high of 84 with sunshine.

 

THE WEEKEND

I wrote a new song on Friday morning with Caroline Owens at my publishing company. Caroline is a bluegrass artist on our record label Billy Blue, but Friday morning, she sat behind the piano for this new song. I don’t get to write a whole lot with piano, so it’s always a treat to add a song to my catalog that’s piano-based. Love what we came up with.

 

I’m excited for Caroline’s next single release, “Telluride,” which I wrote with Andrea Pearson.



Her current single “You’ve Still Got It” has been sitting on top of one major chart for seven weeks right now, so you can see why I’m excited to have her follow-up song. 


 

 

 SATURDAY

I made the trip up to Cincinnati to catch a couple of Reds baseball games with my Billy Blue Publisher Joe Dan Cornett, and fellow Billy Blue songwriter Mark Bondurant, who live just north of Cincy.


 


 And my buddy and co-writer Brian White showed up at the stadium with this Christian artist Karyn Williams, and that was a nice surprise.


Plus...we got a nice souvenir to take home in the image of Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson.


 

 

And the Reds treated us to a 13-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks! 


 


SUNDAY

I got to the ballpark early with my friends so that I could tour the Reds Hall of Fame with my friends.



 

It’s a terrific Hall of Fame, one I’d recommend for any baseball fan.



 We got a great bonus, as George Foster, a member of the “Great 8” from the Big Red Machine was in the Hall signing autographs. 



We got to spend a little time with him, and it turns out he has a great sense of humor. Really enjoyed the time we got to spend with him. 


 

 

Then it was into the stadium to see the game.



 

During the game, I got a text from a friend, Kevin Stone, who is married to Lisa Shaffer, who was part of my “Hits & Grins” trio at one point. 


 

 

They now have a little farm in Northern Kentucky, and Kevin was at the ballpark with their two young boys. Complete accident that we were both in the park on Sunday. So I snuck up to their seats and we caught up on life a bit. Nice surprise for sure.



 

Then it was game time!



 

And the Reds got a home run late in the game, giving them a sweep of Arizona in the series.



 

The perfect conclusion to a perfect baseball weekend.

 

 

SONG OF THE DAY

Since I mentioned Lisa Shaffer, here’s a song the two of us wrote that Darin and Brooke Aldridge recorded, “Corn”. The song has become one of their most popular over the years.

The two of us wrote the song over Lisa’s kitchen table one morning when she was living in Nashville, and we tried to capture the picture both of us remembered growing up. Farm houses with rocking chairs, many of them with a view of a field of “Corn”.

 

HEALTH NOTES

The August Egg Company recalled 1.7 million brown organic and brown cage-free egg varieties after a salmonella outbreak linked to those eggs made dozens of people sick in seven states in the West and Midwest. 21 were hospitalized.

 

Researchers are saying a new vaccine is on the horizon that could eradicate breast cancer. It shows a 75% immune response in a clinical trial.

 

A set of dumbbells once sold at Costco is now under recall.  This is due to reports that the weight plates can dislodge from the handle during use, posing an impact hazard.

 

HERE’S YOUR SIGN



 I had no idea I could run THAT fast.

 

MOST DEPRESSING JOBS

A survey reveals those are:

 Health care jobs and social assistance

Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Media

Food Prep and Serving

 

And the most depressing job is Community and Social Services.

 

The least depressing jobs might surprise you. They are in mining and construction.

 

GRIN AND BEAR IT

How about the hungry bear who broke into a Pennsylvania nursing home over the weekend? One of the caretakers whacked the bear with a walker. Officials finally came and lured it out by setting a trap with donuts.



 I'm pretty sure that spiced up the card game for the seniors that day.

 

SPEAKING OF ANIMALS

If you’ve been reading about our Zebra that escaped here in the Nashville area since May 31?  The chase is over.



 

The Zebra is back where he belongs. His name is “Ed”.

 

A lot of people saw old “Ed” in different places…and many of them posted some funny memes…like this one.



 

SELLING YOUR HOME?

Realtors say that if you take your shoes off in your home, it could increase the sale price of your home by 2.5%. It saves on the wear and tear on your flooring.


And that would be especially true if you’re a pole climber with a home.


CHUCK BERRY

I’m not sure why I did not know this until I read it in an article this weekend. Chuck Berry was buried with his guitar.



 That somehow escaped me. Chuck lived in Wentzville, Missouri, near where I grew up. Wentzville had a little all-night café called the Angus Room where my band would stop many times after finishing up a club gig. And more than once, Chuck Berry would roll up in his red Cadillac to grab some take-home.



 

FLYING

I may have to book a flight on United in their new business class section.



Not just because of the extra room, privacy door, and open snack bar. But because they bring an ice cream cart down the aisle and will make you an ice cream Sundae!



Flying just became sweeter.

 

TODAY’S HEADLINE

From the fake news source Babylon Bee.

 

Man Unable To Lose Weight Considers Adding Second Push-Up To Workout Routine. (The keyword here, of course, is “considering”.

 

TODAY

Back with Alex Miller today to write a new song. Alex made the rounds at CMA Fest this past weekend, and he’s probably celebrating the fact that his duet with Tracy Byrd made the Billboard Charts last week, “Give Em’ The Byrd”. We’ll celebrate that a bit before we write today.



 

Have a great Monday!

 

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