Back in Action

Two things are back in action tonight: My crochet hook and The Voice!

I love that the new season is coinciding with my need to park my backside in the recliner and whip together a fall-themed blanket for one final raffle basket. And it's a 3-night season premiere so I should make good progress. Well, not tomorrow night since I'll be freezing at golf league. But tonight and Wednesday I'll be steadily hooking.

As for The Voice... a couple new judges this year in Queen Latifah and some country guy named Riley Green. (j/k I sort of know who he is.) It's always interesting to see how the new dynamic works out. But I've never been disappointed yet. Always so entertaining. (In my opinion.)

So yeah, for Robyn being back in action it means an old lady life of crocheting and watching a talent show. You're welcome to come along for the ride!

Your Long-Awaited Yee-Haw Review

Finally home long enough to go through photos, etc, for my version of a Yee-Haw recap! Why does it matter? Well take a look at this graphic and see what our summer of work – and a 2 1/2-hour show – accomplished.

Our fundraiser benefitted St. Philip's Church in Rudolph, the Portage County Power of 5 organization, and the Parkinson's Foundation. Thanks for your support! SALUTE!!

A couple months ago, I think we probably started with twice as many jokes and way more verses to the songs. But it seemed it was going to be a 4-hour show... and we didn't want anyone to suffer through that. Gradually we cut jokes (even though they were all hilarious in a corny way) and reduced the number of verses in a lot of songs. It was quite a process!!

And we did not coordinate what we were all wearing to look like cast members of the old Hee-Haw show...

But Amazon has everything! Search for Hee-Haw outfits and they've got 'em! Probably made in Hong Kong, but it fit!

And look at our uncoordinated coordination! It's like we could all be cut from the same cloth – picnic table cloth, that is!

The night of the show we were amazed at the growing crowd! My biggest surprise was my twin Raylene and hubby driving 4+ hours to attend. We were kind of into Hee-Haw when we were young!

Her son, my nephew Tony, came over from Green Bay and knew but kept a very good secret!

There were a few co-workers who attended, too. I mean I've been hounding them for months about this!

My "co-writer" Tom and his wife – who Jim and I have known for 20+ years in various publishing roles.

Dalen, my current graphic designer, was there with his mom. Not to see me necessarily since his dad (who happened to be Carter's grade school band teacher – small world) was playing with the warm-up band! His mom insisted on a photo because all the moms think I am their child's "work mom." True in many cases, but not all. Ha.

Our "picnic table cloth" selfies were plentiful. Here I am with my friend Sara, who married into the OG Yee-Haw family.

And her beautiful daughter Lydia, who've I've adopted as my own forever!

Our pre-game warmup – a.k.a. pep talk and the Lord's Prayer. Let's do this! Yee-Haw!

We had so many friends there, too. My friend (and golf partner) Molly was there and close enough to the front I could motion to her to try and get a picture of Jim and me together since I wasn't always next to him on stage. This was the best we could do because that darn microphone stand was in the way!

In the end, it was like, WOW. What a crowd! And a standing ovation! Every one of us on the stage had a minimum of half a dozen people tell us we need to do it again. One lady from my church was there and the next morning she gushed on and on about how wonderful it was. Her daughter's like, "She won't stop talking about it!"

Too bad we didn't set up Yelp reviews!

Tomorrow night we're gathering again to celebrate the successful show. I wonder if we should have our swinging barn board on hand to kick us in the butt for a bad joke or very bad idea of what we're doing next. LOL.

Love our HA-HAs family. We're so grateful they "adopted" us Austins into the fold!

Pork Barrel of Laughs

Tonight was our last rehearsal before tomorrow's big Yee-Haw show. If you were a fan of the original Hee-Haw show in the '70s, rest assured we tried to include at least some part of every element of the show.

Remember when some jokes were really funny – or perhaps super corny – and the animated pigs would dance across the bottom of your television screen? Well it's 2026, folks. And ours are 3-D! Actually 4-D since little humans are carrying them, ha.

So many things I'd love to share but we want the mass of humanity attending (fingers crossed) to be surprised. 

We had our final rehearsal under the big tent tonight. Even if the show is not perfect tomorrow, our large crew will know how far we've come. Tonight was a great feeling to realize we were arranged just right on stage and had enough microphones so everyone could be heard when telling their incredibly hilarious jokes. So incredibly hilarious. 😁

As a group, of course we're great singers. (And so humble.) But we have some pretty cool duets (father/daughter and uncle/niece) along with a classic solo NO ONE else in the cast could do. Plus we have this random 16-year-old phenom on the steel guitar! We've adopted him now and he can't escape.

Seriously, if you like good classic country and gospel music plus jokes that make you both groan and laugh simultaneously, stop on out. 

It's 7 p.m. Saturday at Feltz Dairy Farm outside Plover. You can't miss the big white tent!

And full disclosure: I don't make a commission on ticket sales. This is a fundraiser to benefit St. Philips Catholic Church in Rudolph (where this show originated with members 40+ years ago), the Power of 5 in Portage County (a non-profit community group that pools small $5 donations from local residents to fund families in crisis, local charities, and community projects like school supplies drives and free pantries), and the Parkinson's Foundation (in honor of the mother of half the cast).

I just can't help myself from promoting it because of how much fun we've had putting this together and really just want to share the joy. 

And give you a pork barrel of laughs. No offense to our dancing pigs! 🐷🐷🐷

The Return

On the one hand, the "return" happening today was my golf league foursome finally starting our league at SentryWorld!

Obviously with a large company combined with this stellar course, there are a ton of employees signing up for league! So our group gets the 4:40 p.m. time slot for 8 weeks. And everything is at the peak of bloom!

My game wasn't, but who really cares?

Especially because it was a pretty good distraction for us – tomorrow is the first time back in the office in 6 weeks. I might add "the office" is a temporarily a different one than I've spent the last nearly 9 years. So it's like the first day of high school or something... and this girl will probably sleep 4 hours!

I couldn't even finish our 9-hole round because I had simultaneous obligations. Let's just say announcing your score when you know you only did 8 holes is so much more satisfying! 

We are just days away from our grand production of Yee-Haw so practice was happening in Rudolph, which was thankfully a pretty straight shot from Stevens Point. Missed a good chunk of it, but the songs I needed practice on were after the "intermission" segment anyway. The timing worked out.

Also, for you non-local readers... this rock outside of Rudolph is probably painted a minimum of 50 times a year. Every IMPORTANT event from weddings to pancake breakfasts make it (if someone is willing to paint it, ha). Now our event is "Rudolph Painted Rock" official!

We're so cool in the corniest of ways!

I can't believe I have to conclude the blog early. But my body really has forgotten how to wake up to a 6:20 a.m. alarm clock! I'll take prayers! 

P.S. Let us know if you need advance tickets to Saturday's show. Yes, rain is predicted. But yes, there's a big ol' tent to keep y'all dry!

Salute! Let's Get into Hee-Haw Mode!

It probably goes without saying that our sheltered "screen time" growing up included The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, Lawrence Welk, and Hee-Haw. Not that there's anything wrong with that, right?

Even though my twin Raylene and I were NOT identical, we put on mop heads and trucker hats and pretended to be the Hager Twins on Hee-Haw many Saturdays.

Fast forward 40 some years and suddenly I'm about to perform in a Hee-Haw revival show!

I think I've mentioned a few times that hubby has long-time connections with some friends in Rudolph – just north of Rapids by about 15 minutes. This amazing family that he performs with the church "guitar choir" are descendants, I guess, of parents that presented the first Hee-Haw type variety show some 40-plus years ago.

Now we both are somehow a part of it.

Here are the details of our upcoming "variety show" for lack of a better description! Lots of songs. Lots of corny jokes. And plenty of throw backs to the Hee-Haw show. 

Since Jim and I are both "cast members," let us know if you want tickets!

We're proud to be a part of the new Yee-Haw production!

T-Shirt Tour Resumes

When my work from home 6-week stint began, I thought I'd be sharing a different T-shirt every day. But it got hot and life was mostly about tank tops.

This morning I was wearing a coveted tank top from Twins Spring Training a few years ago in Florida. But by the time I was rounding home from the neighborhood loop I was getting rained on!

So I had to put that shirt on a "drying rack" and grab a "new" t-shirt.

Today's shirt is courtesy of a really fun concert featuring Here Come The Mummies. Look them up! 

Back in the days when hubby and I commuted to work in Iola, nearly an hour drive, we listened to the Bob and Tom Show on the radio in the mornings. Their often close to R-rated programming format is showcasing lots of comedians and bands that also could pass as comic relief. 

That's when we first heard Here Come The Mummies. We immediately liked and were entertained by this eight-piece funk-rock band of 5000-year-old Egyptian mummies with a one-track mind. 

So when I got tickets a year ago, it was great to see and hear them in person. I completely forgot about the T-shirt until I made a concerted effort to seek a new shirt each day. First time wearing it! I'm starting to wonder why we even buy shirts for events it we don't wear them. But then, I'd probably need to purge a lot!

What's your favorite concert (or Broadway musical) T-shirt??

Not Gonna Lose Our Shot

This is, I swear, the most random thing in the world. I was all set to wear a pink shirt today for National Wear Pink Day or whatever, but spotted a t-shirt I hadn't worn in some 4 or 5 years. So I donned one of my Hamilton (the musical) t-shirts.

Then when I was turning into my neighborhood after a post-work gas run, I saw a familiar color!

I parked my HRV and after confirming my friend Cindy I randomly picked this shirt today, made sure to take a picture. I mean, what are the odds?!

We saw Hamilton together years ago but the odds of us choosing today to wear our shirts is crazy. I guess that means we're due to see it again. Or see some "Broadway" show in our area in the coming months. 

It's kind of freaky, but I'll take it as a sign. I'm checking out shows right now!

#NotThrowingAwayMyShot

You're So Vain... I Bet You Think This Blog is About You...

I'm at the point in life where it turns out the best-laid plans never work out compared to the last-minute plans.

So when friend Becky (who I plan to spend all next weekend with at scrap camp) told me yesterday she had an extra ticket to some live music at the Wausau Grand Theater for tonight, I said, "Heck, yeah. I'll join you."

I actually didn't care what was on the agenda since I'm that weird "I love musicals, stage and live concerts" chick. But in this case the band was called Three American Troubadours – a tribute to the music of James Taylor, Carly Simon, and Carol King.

As a fan of the Tapestry album, I was "count me in" in no time.

So I headed up to Wausau straight from work and met Becky for dinner at Texas Roadhouse (where one of her kiddos usually works when he's not injured from a wayward knife – ooof). It was great to catch up since we USED to do that at 2 a.m. at Camp Crop-A-Lot, but now value sleep much more. So next weekend we can scrap to our hearts' delight and feel good about where our friendship updates are at!

It was also a weird coincidence that we sat in front of one of Jim's cousins and his wife – who works where I work and we just happened to connect today. I swear I'm not stalking anyone!

While we felt like Flower Children from the '70s, I think Becky and I were among the youngest flowers there. As for the talent tonight, they were amazing. They each sounded like their Taylor, Simon, and King counterparts. And, obviously, there weren't any song we didn't know. And they included insights to the songwriting for some of the numbers – so that was cool, too.

Still surprised (in the back of my mind) how "tribute" bands do so well. But they do somehow fill the house!

Managed to get home by midnight with my only deer sightings within 5 minutes from home. Obviously listening to the '70s channel on SiriusXM radio kept me calm. Ha.

Solstice Shopping and Singing

 

Happy Winter Solstice! Although officially today, I'd almost argue that yesterday and today seemed equally short when it comes to the "to do" and "tis done" lists.

Yesterday was a shopping whirlwhind. I went to the farmer's market/winter's market in Stevens Point in the morning because a new coworker was exhibiting his woodworking there – including something on my final list. 

Then I heard from the woman who successfully won a trifle of mine in a silent auction earlier this year. She'd like that plus an extra one she'll pay for. This coming weekend. Since my 2nd trifle bowl is MIA, I went to Goodwill in Point/Plover, Walmart, Kohl's and Target to see if I could find one. No luck.

Got home in early afternoon and showered (finally, ha) and got myself ready for an afternoon and evening of music.

First stop was the 4 p.m. mass at St. Philip's in Rudolph where a few of us (well hubby mainly and me by default) sang along during the service. Then it was off to Wausau to hear our friend Kat sing with STEEM and fun accompaniment by the Neenah high school symphony group.

A group of us went last year and it was so enjoyable to listen to – especially when you know one of the rockstars.

Jim's high school classmate Kat (Kathy) is pictured 3rd from the left.

Great to see/hear her solo performance. And since we've seen/heard her perform in several bands over the years, we could pick out and appreciate her beautiful voice throughout! A great concert for sure.

As a bonus, I ran into one my former co-workers at my current company. He has since moved onto TV only and is loving his gig in Salt Lake City, Utah. My work "sons" are all growing up!

Today was another day of shopping and singing.

Sang in choir and church and then went shopping to prepare (the best I could) for hosting Austin family Christmas later this week. I think I got most things. Shopping among thousands, I swear. Will have to reevaluate on Monday.

In the mean time, we got a Vikings win but I'm just hanging on for my fabulous fantasy football team to advance to our finals. We'll see if Santa grants one or both of those pending wishes or not.

Life of a Show Girl (the Twins' Era)

Someone asked me how long my twin sister and I have been "performing" (using term loosely) songs and dances. I think this is the earliest documentation I could find. No date on the photo but I'm guessing we were 2 1/2 or 3 1/2. (I'm the chub-ster on the right.) And yes, based on the very short dresses my sisters were wearing in the dead of winter, it was the '70s folks!

Here we are with a group of cousins singing to Grandpa and Grandma Johnson as part of a family Christmas. This has been quite the long-standing tradition! 

Then throughout childhood, we sang at church things, 4-H things, bridal showers and baby showers (our mom would make up the lyrics), and for nursing residents. That pretty much went by the wayside after high school graduation, but we resurrected it in 2000 in the form of an "opening act" at each of our sister weekends.

So yeah, we're not shy and it's always fun to make people smile! Too bad we're not making billions like that other show girl...

But if you are a fan of hers, there's something in Wisconsin Rapids worth checking out!

Every year the South Wood County Historical Museum hosts a Christmas Tree walk with beautifully and uniquely decorated trees throughout the large home.

This year, some creative Swifties paid homage to her latest album. Cute.

Look closer and you can see the "garland" mimics her trademark friendship bracelets. And, you can grab one off the tree for yourself!

Look even more closely and you'll see song lyrics from multiple albums that tie into winter or Christmas. Great job, ladies!

There are at least two dozen other trees to see – plus decorated mantels, wreaths, rooms. All for a free-will offering for the museum. Check it out this season! 

You might just start singing and dancing yourself!

Choose Your Luck

Being from Luck, Wisconsin, I have had the occasion to be "in Luck." It doesn't always equate to a lucky streak, though.

Case in point, last evening. I stopped at the library on the way to choir practice to see if maybe they'd have our December book for Book Club. Then, there it was – on the Lucky Day shelf! Whoot!

But then when I got back to my car, I thought, did I just use up my luck on that book and those lottery tickets I just bought won't win me anything? The answer is yes, that's exactly what happened. Dang.

I did have a fortunate – I won't call it lucky – turn of events after that, though. 

When I got to practice, I got a text from hubby that he was going to the Springsteen movie he wanted to see. I did, too, so I replied, "Darn choir practice!" But then only 2 other people showed up besides me and the director so he said, "You might as well go join Jimmy at the movie!"

And since the theater is like 5 blocks from my church, I only missed the first 5-10 minutes.

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere is a biographical drama which focuses on the making of the 1982 album Nebraska. I mean I knew older songs like Born to Run, etc., but I honestly didn't fall into fandom with him until I was in high school and his 1984 Born in the U.S.A. album became the first vinyl record I bought!

So while I liked the movie, I didn't honestly love it. Unfortunately, it was pretty darn depressing. So in essence, it successfully reflected a dark period of his life with an alcoholic and abusive father, but there wasn't a balance of lighter moments like we've experienced in Bohemian Rhapsody or the Rocketman Elton John story. 

Wow. I just realized I'm coming off as a cynical movie critic! See it if you love The Boss because you'll love and respect him even more.

And I'll let you know in 14 days or less if I give my book thumbs up!

That Odd Mix of Summer, Turkey Day and Christmas

What a strange seasonal weekend! Saturday dawned with summer-like temperatures and I was excited for some time with Mr. Deck Chair! 

Beware of roadside turkeys first!

Then in the mean time, there was shopping for Christmas cookie exchange ingredients – and supporting our community's Best Christmas Ever endeavor for families in need.That turned out to be fun. 

I convinced the Grinch that no one could silence me from spreading Christmas cheer for all to hear!

And he reminded me, "Does your husband know you're sitting on another man's lap?" LOL.  Also, he didn't care if I was good this year or not. So kids got a free pass in that department!

They had a good 100+ raffle baskets and your friend Lady Luck won two of them! Including some Tupperware EZ Speedy mixer thing that more than covers the cost of raffle tickets I purchased.

Then last night we re-joined AHS classmates (plus) to hear our friend Lance Black sing. This was at 17sixteen, the way former Baker Street Grill. He was amazing as always and it was great to see friends!

Today was literally both of us singing in our respective church choirs and watching football. Because, guess what, the weather turned quite November-ish again – despite the sun. So we stayed inside.

P.S. I did sneak one Hallmark Christmas movie in yesterday... and I'm pretty sure I can get another one in tonight!

Finally My Turn

When the Northern Lights were already showing themselves at Lake Wazeecha at just 6:30 last night, I knew it was finally my turn to see them and, cross my fingers, capture an image or two.

Around 8 p.m. I headed over the Buena Vista Prairie Chicken Meadow – along with dozen other vehicles – for an open field / unobstructed view. I was amazed I could see the colors with the naked eye. But putting my phone camera on Night mode, I was able to capture more of the depth and vividness.

Red and Green colors like a Hallmark Christmas movie! Ha. Just glorious! But very cold out so I didn't linger for long!

No Northern Lights here tonight but...

But those Western Lights were exceptionally gorgeous on my commute home. Wow!!

Got home in time for hubby and I to go to "dinner and a show" tonight at Assumption High School. 

Opening night for Sister Act included a delicious dinner with 3 couples from the Smits family – how fun – then the musical!

Everything was amazing from the set design (wow) to the talented singers. So entertaining! They have shows Friday and Saturday, too. Highly recommend going. Although dinner was only available tonight.

I might actually get 8 hours of sleep tonight since I don't have to keep checking for those lights. Sure appreciate their beauty and uniqueness though!