Dust Devils & Tumbleweeds

Wow... things have sure changed around here... The grass is thigh-high and there are dust bunnies everywhere! Guess it's time I got back over here to the old Ranchette and did some tidying up... the snakes are happy though, sleepin' in the sun listening to the grasshoppers and cicadas. Maybe, I'll just leave 'em all to snooze through another hot dreamy day and wait til it cools off a bit before I clean up.

In the meantime, the action is goin' on over at MySpace... check out www.myspace.com/nancykdillon for some tunes, pictures and all the latest.

xoxo, Nancy K

Snake Bit...

She ain't no snake-handlin' woman...

In May I got to visit the Dancing Bean Ranch(ette) near Pawnee, Oklahoma.


Bobby and Bill put me up in the bunkhouse. Bobby told me a story about a big black snake plopping down on her back patio trying (& failing) to get at a bird's nest in the eaves. Needless to say, I kept my eyes peeled low and high for snakes after that.

She sent me an e-mail this week describing her recent ordeal:

"Just thought I'd let you know I had the ultimate okie experience and was bitten by a copperhead Sunday night. It hurts like hell, I feel like s**t, and am under a blood clot watch because the venom went so deeply (he bit me twice, but the second time I was moving so only one fang went in. Either that, or it was a three-fanged snake).

[I was] on the patio off my bedroom, watering plants. I turned on the light and looked for snakes, but not carefully enough, obviously. I just worked up the nerve to open the door and peek out there, and there is a coil of extension cord in brown, from the sprayer I use on the roses, and a curled up soaker hose. Clearly, the thing was hidden and I stepped on it.

I'm clearly not cut out to be pentecostal, and have been thinking how grateful I am that I'm not a Christian Scientist, as much as I admire the Monitor."

Then, there was this rest area sign in the Texas panhandle out past Lubbock:

Definition of "Ranchette"...

ranchette • \ran-CHET\ • noun

1 : small ranch
2 : place of dreams

Example sentence: I had always dreamed of having my own ranchette.

Dept. of Cool Websites:

Merriam-Webster Online (includes Word Games, Word of the Day, Word for the Wise): http://www.m-w.com/

"The Dreamer Saves Herself"

~ in which the dreamer saves herself from the belly of the fish.



Today's collage is about the integration of opposites. I was inspired to finish it this morning after Wednesday night's show at Mr. Spot's Chai House. http://www.nancykdillon.net/concertinfo.html

We were old/young, from far/from near, male/female, Northwest/Southwest, rural/urban, Eastern/Western, dry desert tunes/lush forest tunes, White America/Native America, children/grownups, old-time fiddle/graceful violin, canyon music/mountain music, the sacred & profane all mushed together in a swirl of synergy. We were all there....

Wheat Field of Dreams

If I build a Ranchette, will anyone come? What is a Ranchette? What the heck is the Tall Grass Ranchette?

A ranchette is a small ranch, something my girlfriends & I used to fantasize about having. Now, Chris and Bobbie both have their very own ranchettes on the tall grass prairie with actual bricks 'n mortar buildings including bunkhouses & art studios.

The Tall Grass Ranchette is quite literally an echo of dreams. I was inspired to build this virtual ranchette as a sort of "Back 40" to my website. A place of interactivity, I hope. I envision the structure as collage-like. I'll post dreams, artwork, lyrics, musings and whatever else I think of. You can post also by punching the comment button. Please play nice.