More than once we picked up an order and got paged out before we could dig in, and I remember working some pretty heavy-duty calls with the smell of broasted chicken hanging in the air. I took it as a good sign that once the patient or body was dropped off and the rig cleaned up and put back together I was still hungry and able to eat on the drive back to headquarters.

Michael -

I read your books and now look what happened. Totally illegal by the way.

Anonymous

Attached was this photo:

We loaded them early, in the rain.

Mills ready to roll. He drove so I could write. Thanks, man.

You can never have too many coolers.

Back home, ready to cut and package. Mills with helper. You could call this photo Establishing the Source of Chicken Soup.

5 whole chickens

3 5-gallon buckets of windfall apples

Some water

Boil in cauldron

Stir until repulsive

Let cool overnight

In morning, feed to joyful pigs.

Upside? While plucking the chicken I worked out a paragraph transition, which I will apply myself to right now.

This is when I really got rolling on the writing, finally. Just under three hours of sleep then it was up to fix the chicken coop (the original one, the one on the cover of this book), move the barred rock chicks out of the stock tank and into the repaired coop, clean the stock tank and move in the 50 fluffy yellow meat chicks that arrived today, then move the new coop and chicken fence, then put up pig fence. Never would have finished without the help of my pal Mills, a friend going way back to the “Silver Star” days. We spent the last 30 minutes fencing in a deluge, but got’er done. Yessir. Got’er done.

Now some more writing. And a heart-shaped thought for my wife, who is running the whole show in spite of my ridiculous hours, obsessions, and avocations.

*a football scholarship to nursing school…now that would’ve been nifty.

I gotta get some work done, so this is the shorthand version, but it took me a while to get that skunk out of there. Somehow he managed to spray everything but me, and we are both out and about our business today. So far no one has told me I smell like a skunk. I cannot speak to whether or not the skunk’s friends and family are accusing him of smelling like a human.

(hardcover version here)

First, a thank you to Redbery Books and the Brick House Cafe in Cable for hosting the recent Spring Book Club dinner in Cable, Wisconsin, where the group discussed Coop and Coop. I get so many kind requests to attend book group meetings, but time, geography and calendar generally prevent it. I never forget, however, how much I rely on the word-of-mouth support I get from groups like this. So, thank you.

I am also frequently asked for a list of questions designed to help guide book group discussions. The Redbery Books group came up with one for Coop and have allowed me to share it. It follows after the break (and includes a ham joke).

Michael Perry regularly performs with his band, The Long Beds, in our area. If you’ve seen him in concert, was he similar to what you’d expect from his writing?

Which of Perry’s books did you enjoy the most? Why?

Perry is asked by his daughter to “Tell me about your child-hood.” Some children roll their eyes when parents start talking about their childhoods. Why was Amy one who asked for such stories? What stories from your childhood you like to share?

What “life lessons” are found in Coop? Do you agree or disagree with them?

How does Coop compare to other memoirs you have read?  Other books about farming and rural life?

Does reading Coop make you more or less inclined to raise animals and grow a garden?

How would you describe Perry’s writing style?

This book was on the bestseller list. How does this book “play” in other parts of the country? What is the appeal beyond the Midwest?

The hardcover title, Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting, was changed to Coop: A family, A Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg for the paperback edition. Which do you think fits the book better? Why do you think the publisher changed it?

Have you raised chickens or pigs? Does Perry describe the process accurately?

What is one element from the rural lifestyle of Coop that you would like to bring into your own life?

Would Coop make a good movie?  If Coop were made into a movie, who would play Michael Perry? Anneliese?

Most of us have not lived in one zip code all of our life. Share different communities where you have lived. How does this match Perry’s opinion about different locales?

Have you ever been an EMT or “first responder”? How do you think these experiences have influenced Perry’s writing?

What did Perry do when he had a sick pig? He called the hambulance.

In Coop, Perry describes how his parents took in sixty or so foster children, man of the disabled and some terminally ill. How do you suppose this influenced his own parenting style?

Bev has described Michael Perry’s books as a how-to one being a decent human being. How does Perry’s writing style contribute to this? How is it it doesn’t come off as being boastful?