Jerry Apps's Blog, page 44

Country School Valentine's Day

With the Christmas break a distant memory and the brief celebration of Lincoln’s birthday but a couple days previous, at our country school we all looked forward to Valentine’s Day.  For several days at school we had worked on making valentines for our mothers out of paper doilies and red construction paper.  Back in late January, the Sears sales catalog arrived in our mailbox.  Several pages in that slim publication were devoted to Valentines.  Slim little cards with colorful puppies, kittens, hearts, flowers and statements of love and affection. They came in packages—assortments of maybe twenty or more of these little cards proclaiming in large print and small, “Be My Valentine!”
My task, once the cards arrived, was to decide which one to give to Jim, to Dave, to Mildred, Joyce, and Nita.  To Bob and Marvin.  To Lyle and Dick.  To Darrel and Donald, my twin brothers. And all the other students attending our school. One card for every student.  Choices to make.  Big decisions. Few of the cards were the same, so I had to decide who should receive which one.
On the teacher’s desk stood a big box decorated with red hearts.  All of the cards were deposited in the Valentine box, waiting for February 14 and the Valentine’s Party planned for that afternoon.
Students’ mothers were invited to the party, bringing treats—home-made cookies of many kinds—chocolate chip, peanut butter, sugar. As we ate cookies, our teacher opened the Valentine box and distributed the valentines.  Each of us got a valentine from every other student.  Most of them were “store bought” but several homemade as some families couldn't afford the fancy ones from the Sears catalog.
We enjoyed them all. Enjoyed the little celebration with our mothers.  And probably most of all, enjoyed the break in winter.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  Valentine’s Day was more than Valentines.
COMING EVENTS:
February 23, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.
March 5-March 25, Writing retreat, Indian Shores, Florida.
April 5, 7:30 p.m. Stoughton Opera House, Stoughton.  WPT Farm Story, discussion and book signing.
April 7, 7:00 p.m., Kiel Library.  Garden Wisdom presentation and book signing.
April 8, Heritage Hill Historic Center, Green Bay.  Details to be announced.
April 10, 6:30 p.m. Sun Prairie Library, Limping Through Life.
Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):
The library now has available both of Jerry’s DVDs, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps and Jerry Apps a Farm Story.
Also available are several of Jerry’s book including The Quiet Season (on which the DVD A Farm Winter is based), as well as Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm, which are related to the DVD Jerry Apps a Farm Story.
Contact them for prices and special package deals.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St.
Wild Rose, WI  54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

2014 Garden Expo

It was a cold and blustery Saturday with the temperature stuck a few degrees above zero and snowflakes falling as they had every third day or so in recent memory, making for slippery driving.  And they came, thousands of them, winter-weary folks searching for a hint of spring.  It was Wisconsin Public TV’s  Garden Expo held at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison (I still call it the fairgrounds) that brought out cabin-fevered thousands.
These master gardeners, novice gardeners, wanna be gardeners, and one-time but no longer gardeners all gathered out of the cold and snow to talk gardening, to gather a new idea or two, perhaps buy some trinket to hang on their garden fence or prop up in their dining room.  People were buying windmills made out of soup spoons, one-time shovels cut in a rather decorative way—but now only hinting at their original purpose.  People carried pussy willows and arms full of assorted tangled stems (looked like brush to this old farm boy) and smiling at their purchase.  I was smiling, too, as I have acres of this kind of “decorative wood stem" growing at my farm.
People flocked to the seminars and workshops, listening, taking notes, asking questions.  Their minds away from the snow and cold.  Their minds wrapped around thoughts of spring and the smell of freshly turned soil, of putting a few seeds into the ground and thinking about newly pulled radishes, fresh-cut lettuce, shucked peas and then tomatoes, oh the delight of that first red, homegrown tomato.
So for a few hours on a blustery Saturday, people’s minds were thrust ahead to that season of the year called spring—when once again a garden can be planted.  And they were smiling and laughing and telling stories, and sharing what worked and what didn't work for last year’s garden or one they may have grown twenty years ago.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  Just the thought of gardening brings spring a little closer.
COMING EVENTS:
February 23, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.
March 6-March 25, Writing retreat, Indian Shores, Florida.
April 5, 7:30 p.m. Stoughton Opera House, Stoughton.  WPT Farm Story, discussion and book signing.
April 7, 7:00 p.m., Kiel Library.  Garden Wisdom presentation and book signing.
April 8, Heritage Hill Historic Center, Green Bay.  Details to be announced.
April 10, 6:30 p.m. Sun Prairie Library, Limping Through Life.
For those interested in purchasing DVDS and Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps, DVD $20.00 shipping included (An hour-long documentary that has aired on public television.)
The Quiet Season by Jerry Apps $25.00 shipping included (Hardcover book about winter memories—A Farm Winter is based on this book.)
The Bundle: A Farm Winter DVD and The Quiet Season hardcover book - Save $5.00 only $40!Order from:Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St.
Wild Rose, WI  54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Tracks

The tracks came from the south, from the east, from the west through the break in the black willows that keeps the winter winds at bay.  And from the north, too, from the red pine plantation that is a couple hundred yards from the cabin.
            The tracks made by hungry deer converge at the bird feeder that hangs in a big spruce tree standing sentinel in front of the cabin.  Like spokes in a wheel, the tracks converge at the hub, deer hoping for a few seeds spilled by the birds and the red squirrels who visit the feeder many times a day.
            January has been a mean month for the critters at my farm with many days below zero, some days minus 15 and even minus 20 below.  These are real temperatures, not wind chill numbers.  February and March still loom ahead with more cold and snow.
            Winter challenges all nature’s creatures wintering in the north, searching for something to eat and a place out of the wicked wind.  And so the deer come, bucks and does and late fawns, following well-worn tracks in the snow, in search of leftovers at my bird feeder.  Taking winter a day at a time.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Winter with all its beauty can be, and often is, a dangerous time for wildlife.  

SPECIAL EVENT:            I’ll be speaking and signing books at Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center:
 Saturday, February 8, 2:15, Mendota 1-2; (Garden Wisdom), and book signing 4-5 p.m., Wisconsin Historical Society Press Booth, #920-921. 
Sunday, February 9, 10:15, Mendota 1-2; (Three-Sisters Garden).  Book signing 1-2 p.m., Wisconsin Historical Society Press Booth, #920-921.
ADDITIONAL COMING EVENTS:

February 23, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.
March 6-March 25, Writing retreat, Indian Shores, Florida.
April 5, 7:30 p.m. Stoughton Opera House, Stoughton.  WPT Farm Story, discussion and book signing.
April 7, 7:00 p.m., Kiel Library.  Garden Wisdom presentation and book signing.
April 8, Heritage Hill Historic Center, Green Bay.  Details to be announced.
April 10, 6:30 p.m. Sun Prairie Library, Limping Through Life.
For those interested in purchasing DVDS and Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps, DVD $20.00 shipping included (An hour-long documentary that has aired on public television.)
The Quiet Season by Jerry Apps $25.00 shipping included (Hardcover book about winter memories—A Farm Winter is based on this book.)
The Bundle: A Farm Winter DVD and The Quiet Season hardcover book - Save $5.00 only $40!Order from:Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St.
Wild Rose, WI  54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Winter 1946

For most of us living in the north, below zero weather is merely an inconvenience or an annoyance.  But we complain anyway.
Let me take you back to the home farm in central Wisconsin in 1946 and what it was like for my father on a morning when it was twenty-below zero.  He would crawl out of bed to a bedroom that was frigid as the wood stoves heating the house had gone out around midnight.  He lit the kerosene lamp that stood by his bedstead, pulled on his clothes, and walked to the dining room where he started the fire in the dining room stove.  Then to the kitchen where he started the kitchen cook stove.  Our drinking water, in a water pail as we had no indoor plumbing, had more than an inch of ice on it.  He would place the water pail directly on cook stove, so the ice would thaw and my mother would have water to make coffee for breakfast.
In between fire-starting, Pa woke me up by rapping on the stove pipe leading to the frigid bedroom above the dining room.
With both stoves going, Pa pulled on his wool barn coat, heavy woolen cap, and six buckle boots.  He lit the barn lantern and headed for the pump house, where he started the fire there—the one that kept our pump from freezing.  Then he walked the narrow path to the outside cattle tank, covered with ice.  He started the wood burning tank heater that would melt the ice so the cattle would have water when they were let out to drink later in the morning.
Next he walked the narrow, shoveled path through the snow to the potato cellar, a building built in the side of the hill just beyond the chicken house.  Here is where we stored our fall crop of potatoes as we waited for the price to come up a little before selling.  A stove in the potato cellar kept the potatoes from freezing and Pa started this next.
It was only now that he was ready to begin the morning milking.   Cows that we milked by hand.  By this time he expected that I would show up in the barn to help.
Not once did I hear him complain about the cold or about all the fire starting.  It was winter after all, and that is what you did when you lived on a farm in Waushara County in 1946.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Sometimes cold winter weather has to be endured; complaining doesn't help.
COMING EVENTS:
January 28, 5:00 p.m.  TV show, “Live at Five,” Channel 3 Madison.  The Quiet Season.
February 8, Sat. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 2:15 p.m. Garden Wisdom presentation.

February 9, Sun. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 10:15 Three Sisters Garden presentation.
February 23, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.
For those interested in purchasing DVDS and Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps, DVD $20.00 shipping included (An hour-long documentary that has aired on public television.)
The Quiet Season by Jerry Apps $25.00 shipping included (Hardcover book about winter memories—A Farm Winter is based on this book.)
The Bundle: A Farm Winter DVD and The Quiet Season hardcover book - Save $5.00 only $40!Order from:Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St.
Wild Rose, WI  54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

King of the Hill

They feed peacefully at the bird feeder that hangs in a big spruce tree a few yards from the cabin window.  Juncos, chickadees, blue jays, a bright red cardinal, several nuthatches.  And then, unannounced, the menace arrived from the west, from the big black willow trees that have provided a windbreak for the cabin since 1912.
 A dreaded red squirrel, much smaller than the gray squirrels and fox squirrels.  So small that it doesn't weigh enough to trip the “squirrel proof” mechanism that closes the feeder door to unwanted critters.
The birds leave the feeder, some fly into the spruce tree, some sit on the ground.  And the arrogant red squirrel sits in the feeder and eats and gloats, while the hungry winter birds patiently wait for this bully of the natural world to leave so they can once more return to lunch.
 I notice that even birds have limited patience.  With more than a dozen of them waiting on the snow-packed surface beneath the feeder, occasionally one will do a fly-by at the red squirrel enemy, taunting it.   But the action disturbs the fat and saucy little squirrel not at all.  It sits munching on bird feed, seeming to enjoy its position of  “King of the hill.”
When the plump and satisfied squirrel finally scampers away, the birds return to feeding, I’m sure hoping that something will be left for them.
Is there a lesson here?
THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  Often nature provides an insight into human activity, helps us see who we are from a different perspective.
COMING EVENTS:
January 22, 6:30 p.m. UW-Eau Claire Woodland Theater (in Davis Student Center). TV show with live presentation. (Winter on the Farm) Book signing of THE QUIET SEASON.
February 8, Sat. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 2:15 p.m. Garden Wisdom presentation.

February 9, Sun. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 10:15 Three Sisters Garden presentation.
February 23, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.
For those interested in purchasing DVDS and Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps, DVD $20.00 shipping included (An hour-long documentary that has aired on public television.)
The Quiet Season by Jerry Apps $25.00 shipping included (Hardcover book about winter memories—A Farm Winter is based on this book.)
The Bundle: A Farm Winter DVD and The Quiet Season hardcover book - Save $5.00 only $40!Order from:Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St.
Wild Rose, WI  54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Country School in Winter

The below-zero temperatures this past week reminded me my of one-room country school when the weather was so cold.  Our little school was heated with a wood stove, one that the teacher was required to start an hour or so before the students arrived.  No matter how cold it was, and I remember days when it was thirty-five below, the school never closed.  We all walked to school, as did the teacher, so there was no reason to shut things down for a little cold or snowy weather.
                I especially remember that on the coldest days, especially if there was a wind, the front of the schoolhouse never got close to comfortable.  The school had no storm windows, and the building was not insulated so the cold could seep into the building with little difficulty.  When we arrived at school, we brought our lunch buckets (Karol syrup or former lard pails) into the school room so our sandwiches wouldn't freeze.  On warmer days, the lunch buckets along with our boots, caps, coats and scarves stayed in the entry way, where the day’s supply of wood for the ever hungry stove was stored.
                Once we all had arrived at school, still wearing our outdoor clothing, we huddled around the big wood stove, wondering what the teacher had planned for us.  The school had a wind-up Victrola—a machine that played 78 rpm records.  The school had maybe a dozen such records, and on these cold mornings, she would crank-up the Victrola, put on a John Phillip Sousa record and we’d all march around the school room in time with the music.  I thought it was about the dumbest thing I’d ever experienced.  Marching around a frigid school room to the sound from a record machine.  But the teacher knew what she was doing.  Wearing our coats and hats and marching warmed us up enough so when the record was over and we once more gathered around the wood stove, we were comfortable enough to participate in the day’s learning activities.  At the time, I was also too dumb to realize that she was also introducing us to a wonderful composer of march music, perhaps the very best.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Let’s never forget how special the one-room country school teachers were.
UPCOMING EVENTS:      January 14. Paperbacks and Pieces bookstore, Winona, MN.  429 Mankato Ave. 12:00-2:00 p.m. Featuring THE QUIET SEASON.
January 15-16.  La Crosse Farm Show, Convention Center. Winter on the Farm featuring stories from THE QUIET SEASON.  Speaking each day at 11:00 and 1:00.
January 22, 6:30 p.m. UW-Eau Claire Woodland Theater (in Davis Student Center). TV show with live presentation. (Winter on the Farm) Book signing of THE QUIET SEASON.
February 8, Sat. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 2:15 p.m. Garden Wisdom presentation.
February 9, Sun. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 10:15 Three Sisters Garden presentation.
February 23, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.
For those interested in purchasing DVDS and Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fund raiser for them):
A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps, DVD $20.00 shipping included (An hour-long documentary that has aired on public television.)
The Quiet Season by Jerry Apps $25.00 shipping included (Hardcover book about winter memories—A Farm Winter is based on this book.)
The Bundle: A Farm Winter DVD and The Quiet Season hardcover book - Save $5.00 only $40!Order from:Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St.
Wild Rose, WI  54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835

Cold Walk

It was sixteen below zero at the farm on Friday morning, and by mid-afternoon the temperature had crawled to a balmy twelve above, but with a stiff southwestern wind.  A southwestern wind is supposed to be warm, not this one.  I walked only a half-mile or so and saw nothing but gray and white.  Not even a crow, one of our toughest northern creatures.  No deer, they know better than to wander around on a day like this.  Only the creaking of the cold snow as I hiked  and listened to the sound of the wind through the tops of bare oaks, and the pine trees.
I thought about the many days I walked to our country school on a day like this, with a cold wind blowing, and no creatures about.  Then I wore wool long underwear, wool socks, two pairs of bib overalls, a heavy wool shirt, a wool Mackinaw coat, a heavy wool cap with ear laps, leather mittens with wool liners, four buckle rubber boots—and to top it off, a woolen scarf that my grandmother Witt had knitted and which my mother wrapped around and around my head until only my eyes were uncovered.  If you fell down wearing all these clothes it was a challenge to get back up.
By the time I was half way back to the cabin, walking in the wind, I remembered all of this, and I especially remembered my wool scarf.  I wished I had it today. 
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Sometimes a warm memory will make things better on a cold day.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 8, Downtown Madison Rotary, Noon.  Limping Through Life.
January 14. Paperbacks and Pieces bookstore, Winona, MN.  429 Mankato Ave. 12:00-2:00 p.m. Featuring THE QUIET SEASON.
January 15-16.  La Crosse Farm Show, Convention Center. Winter on the Farm featuring stories from THE QUIET SEASON.  Speaking each day at 11:00 and 1:00.
January 22, 6:30 p.m. UW-Eau Claire Woodland Theater (in Davis Student Center). TV show with live presentation. (Winter on the Farm) Book signing of THE QUIET SEASON.
February 8, Sat. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 2:15 p.m. Garden Wisdom presentation.
February 9, Sun. Garden Expo, Madison Alliant Center, 10:15 Three Sisters Garden presentation.

February 23, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.

The Many Faces Of Snow

Snow, for all of its inconveniences—driving challenges, shoveling, and slippery walking—also has a lot going for it.  The obvious of course is the beauty of a snowfall and the wonders of the countryside transformed from the drabness of late fall’s browns and grays to a world of white. Snow also provides an opportunity to ski and snowshoe and go sledding.  And a chance to build a snowman or a snow fort or maybe even experience a friendly snowball fight.
I did a little digging, no pun intended, into the characteristics of snow, and came up with some interesting information, at least interesting to me.
Snow is not always white.  It may also appear blue especially on a cold winter night when the moon is out.
Most of us have experienced how sound changes after a fresh snowfall.  Sound is absorbed by snow, muffling it.  But when the snow becomes hard and crusty, the opposite happens. Sound bounces off the snow’s surface and travels farther.  Of course we all know the sound packed snow makes when we walk on it, especially on cold days when it creaks and crunches, and sounds like it is protesting our presence.
Snow is also a great insulator.  Fresh snow is made up of from ninety to ninety-five percent air.  Many animals know about snow’s insulating qualities as they burrow into snow to keep warm.  Farmers know this as a good snow cover protects crops such as alfalfa from “winter kill.”  A good snow cover also keeps my septic system from freezing—not a good thing as it happened a few years ago when we had a stretch of below zero weather and no snow.
Snow also stores water.  Ten-inches of snow may equal one-inch of water.  Or ten inches of snow could contain as little as one-tenth inch of water.  It depends on whether a snowfall is enhanced by moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, or comes from the dry plains of Canada.
This is probably more than you wanted to know about snow, but I find it all interesting as we plow on into the new year with many more snowfalls to come.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Let it snow, let it snow. Nothing much we can about it anyway.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 8, Downtown Madison Rotary, Noon.  Limping Through Life
January 15-16.  La Crosse Farm Show, Convention Center. Winter on the Farm featuring stories from THE QUIET SEASON.  Speaking each day at 11:00 and 1:00.
January 19, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.
January 22, 6:30 p.m. UW-Eau Claire Woodland Theater (in Davis Student Center). TV show with live presentation. (Winter on the Farm) Book signing of THE QUIET SEASON.

Winter Solstice

The official start of winter 2013-2014 was December 21, 12:11 p.m., the date of the winter solstice.  It’s the shortest, darkest day of the year.  From now until June the days grow longer, and as my dad often said, “As the days grow longer the cold grows stronger.”  I always wanted to ask him why June, with its long days, wasn't the coldest month of the year, but I never got around to it.
Winter really arrived back in November, the week before Thanksgiving, when temperatures dropped well below freezing and stayed there into December.  Madison’s Lake Mendota froze up earlier (December 16) than it has for the past three years.  Last season it didn't completely freeze over until January so in 2013 the lake froze over twice in one year—one of those important pieces of trivia that’s worthy of sharing when Holiday conversation lags.
On this first full day of official winter, mother nature decided to wallop us with a snowstorm to remind us that yes indeed winter is here and we’d better get used to it, and enjoy it for it will likely be around until March.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: For all its inconveniences, winter is a beautiful season.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
January 8, Downtown Madison Rotary, Noon.  Limping Through Life.
January 15-16.  La Crosse Farm Show, Convention Center. Winter on the Farm featuring stories from THE QUIET SEASON.  Speaking each day at 11:00 and 1:00.
January 19, 2:00 p.m. Gard Theater, Spring Green.  Showing of Winter on the Farm with questions and discussion.  Followed by book signing of THE QUIET SEASON. Sponsored by Wisconsin Public TV and Arcadia Bookstore.
January 22, 6:30 p.m. UW-Eau Claire Woodland Theater (in Davis Student Center). TV show with live presentation. (Winter on the Farm) Book signing of THE QUIET SEASON.

Thank You

With Christmas but a few days away, and the New Year approaching, it’s seems appropriate to take time out and thank people who have been so gracious and helpful as I have traveled around the Midwest from Minneapolis to Chicago, from Green Bay to Hudson, from Milwaukee to Park Falls and many places in between.
  First of all, a huge thank you to my wife Ruth, who has traveled with me and who has heard my talks so many times that she could deliver them better than me.  To the fifteen libraries we've visited this past year, the ten bookstores and ten historical societies—thank you.  A special thank you to Kent Barnard and his staff at Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, my home town, for his gracious support of my work and the wonderful way they have organized launches for my books and TV shows. 
 Thanks to all who attended special events where I spoke from a homeless group in Madison, to a DTS Alumni meeting, the Winchester Academy in Waupaca, the Riveredge Nature Center, a German Heritage group in Wausau, the Monroe Art Center, and many more.
 Thanks to the organizers of four book festivals where I spoke: Egg Harbor, Grafton, Mineral Point, and the Heartland Festival in Chicago.
 A special thank you Mike Schneider and his wonderful staff at The Clearing in Door County, where I have taught creative writing for 22 years and continue to teach there.
 To Jim Massey and his staff at The Country Today that runs my bi-monthly column—thank you.
A special thank you to the folks at Wisconsin Public TV, especially Mik Dirks, who takes my often rambling stories and makes something of them, and to Jon Miskowski who, at this late stage in my life, is teaching me once more the power of live TV.
To Larry Meiller, of Wisconsin Public Radio, where I have done radio shows for more than twenty-five years, and to the folks at KBRW, Barrow, Alaska where I do several programs a year.
And finally, to the many, many people who have read my books, listened to my talks, heard me on radio and watched me on TV, thank you so much.  It really means a lot to me.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: You can never say thank you enough.
UPCOMING EVENTS:     
January 8, Downtown Madison Rotary, Noon.  Limping Through Life.
January 15-16.  La Crosse Farm Show, Convention Center. Winter on the Farm.  Speaking each day at 11:00 and 1:00.
January 22, 6:30 p.m. UW-Eau Claire Woodland Theater (in Davis Student Center). TV show with live presentation. (Winter on the Farm)