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Baby On Board...Double Wide Beauties...Baseball Trip

BILL BLOG

Wednesday September 24, 2025

 

Wednesday morning, and I’m packed for a little baseball trip. 70 with some rain in Nashville today.

 

YESTERDAY

Kevin Williamson, the Dad in the Williamson Branch Family Band, and I wrote on a patriotic idea Kevin brought with him. Kevin had read a true story about a World War II veteran who got a knock at his door one day from an HOA person telling him he could not fly a flag in the neighborhood. You can imagine the backlash that made the news. So we pretty much got that written into a song titled “I’ll Raise My Flag” that we’ll polish up and finish the next time we write together.


 

 

One of Kevin’s talented daughters, Melody, has recently given birth to her first child. That has not slowed her fiddle playing down one bit.


 


Don’t think I’ve ever seen that before, Mom fiddling with baby on her back. Tell me that young one won’t grow up to be a musician like the rest of the family.


 

SONG OF THE DAY

The song “Sun Can’t Stop The Rain” from Laura Leigh Jones is getting some regular play on the radio right now. Such a good thing. Happy to be her co-writer on this uptempo barn-burning bluegrass song. I’m going to make that my “Song of the Day”.



 

HEALTH NOTES

Research says that delaying that first cup of coffee in the morning is healthier for you than having a cup of Joe right away.

 

Private health insurers are now using AI to approve or deny care, and Medicare will soon do the same.

 

More than 85,000 bags of shrimp are being recalled due to concerns that they may have been contaminated with cesium-17, a radioactive element.

 

HERE’S YOUR SIGN



Finally!

 

COMEDY CLUBS

If you have not seen this yet, watch this VIDEO of young comedian Drew Lynch, who was doing his comedy show when a patron passed out on the floor from a massive heart attack. He handled this with such grace and empathy, and the entire crowd worked together to save this man’s life. And the next day, Drew visited the man in the hospital.

 

 It’s a nice reminder that there are more good folks than bad. I found it very moving.



 

DOUBLE WIDE BEAUTY PAGEANT

I’m not sure why these folks did not ask me or Brent Burns to come sing one of our “trailer” songs like Trailer Park Sexy at their Double Wide Trailer Beauty Pageant! 



 

Pretty danged funny. Here’s the description.

Chaos and rhinestones collided Friday night at Lot #7 as the annual Trailer Park Beauty Pageant crowned its newest queen: Darla Jean “DJ” McCracken, 42, of Whispering Pines Mobile Estates. Her winning performance, titled “Freedom Ain’t Free (But My Rent Is)”, featured a daring leap from a rusted lawn chair into a kiddie pool filled with expired glitter glue.

“I just wanted to show the judges what patriotism looks like when you’ve got a coupon for hair dye and a dream,” said McCracken, still dripping with sequins and barbecue sauce.

The pageant, sponsored by Big Earl’s Discount Tires and the local bail bondsman, drew a record crowd of 37, including two confused tourists and a possum named Cheryl. Contestants were judged on gown creativity, sash placement, and ability to recite the Pledge of Allegiance while holding a lit Roman candle.

Runner-up Tammy Sue Jenkins was disqualified after her talent act—an interpretive dance reenacting the 1997 Waffle House brawl—accidentally set fire to the judges’ table. No injuries were reported, though one judge claimed to have “seen the face of God in a flaming hash brown.”

The evening concluded with a fireworks display, three citations from the fire marshal, and a heartfelt rendition of “God Bless This Mess” by the local karaoke champion, Randy “Two Mics” Dobson.

 

A MEMORABLE CREMATION

A man who died wanted to be cremated. He was. But he also had a dark sense of humor. He wanted the Johnny Cash classic “Ring of Fire” to be played at his cremation. And they did. Quite the memorable ceremony there.

 

TODAY’S QUOTE

This one from the late Erma Bombeck:

 

Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died”.

 

ROBO UMPIRES

It’s official. Major League Baseball will be using robo-umpires next season. I’ve seen it being used at our minor league ballpark several times now, and it works pretty well. There will still be a human umpire calling balls and strikes, but each team will be given two “challenges”. It’s much like what replay does in the NFL. On the scoreboard, you can see exactly where the ball lands in or out of the strike zone.

 

Even though I agree with it, I’ll kind of miss a manager storming out of the dugout to argue with the ump. That will pretty much be eliminated with a mechanical umpire making a final decision.



 

And I’ll miss scenes like this Lou Pinella classic.



 

Speaking of baseball…

 

TODAY

I’m off to Cincinnati to watch my Reds play the Pirates. The Reds are one game back of the New York Mets for a playoff spot, with only five games left to play. Should be some exciting baseball in the Queen City…if the rain and thunderstorms they are forecasting back off. Sigh.


 

 

 Have a great Tuesday!

 

 

 

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