Posts Tagged ‘pigs’

Later, A Double Capuccino

31May

A local coffee shop does fabulous breakfasts. Things really boom on the weekends, and our pigs got the Sunday leftovers. They seem to especially favor the lemon ricotta crepes.

Gratitude Night in St. Paul

26Sep

Back in the hotel room after spending the evening at the Midwest Booksellers Association Trade Show. I was on hand to say thanks for Coop being given a nice award.

I said thanks because the room was full of people who spend their every working day introducing readers to books, one by one, hand-to-hand. I would be nowhere without them. Above all I thanked them not so much for helping me tell my stories but for helping me share the stories of others…because it is in the unanticipated stories of others that readers seem to find resonance and – sometimes – a measure of peace. With these comments I had my brother and his little family in mind.

Before the event, I signed a mountain of books. This is only one stack. There were many more. Still, it seems easier than logging. Again, a tip of the hardhat to my brother.

After giving my heartfelt thanks, I used the remainder of my time to share critical insights related to bovine artificial insemination, because that’s what I think people expect at a literary gathering.

Most of all, though, I gawked. I love my mostly non-literary life. As in: I fed the pigs sour goat milk and old bread right before I left for this event (did shower first). And took the dang garbage out to the mailbox. But then a short drive later, I was listening to Neil Gaiman spin an effortless, wry, witty tale of how he came to discover he had accidentally become Midwestern – even as he spoke in his fabulous burbling English accent. I got to talk shop with David Wroblewski, a gentle man and engaging conversationalist. I was able to witness as Elizabeth Berg paid loving tribute to her parents. I got to hear Todd Boss read a poem that brought my father to mind and tears to my eyes. I got to look over three tables and think, “Holy shnikies, that’s Jonathan Safran Foer!“ I got to hear children’s book authors discuss the creation of books I’ve read to my own little girls. And I got to meet some of the people who put my books in boxes and ship them all across the United States.

In short, it was kid-in-a-candy-store time.

Finally, in the category of things a guy never anticipates when he’s in nursing school twenty-some years back, I got Twittered by Neil Gaiman. I would be a disingenuous fakey-fraud if I pretended that’s not the coolest thing since the new chickens started laying. Thank you, sir.

Was This In the Contract?

20Sep

Long Beds recording sessions continue. Billy was inside recording an acoustic guitar part so Chuck and I took the opportunity to gather acorns for my porkers. What you see here is an eminently talented bassist scooping up free pig food with a child’s snow shovel. This is a pretty relaxed crew.

Even A Blind Pig…

12Sep

I’ve mentioned several times that this year’s pigs are frustratingly finicky. But we found something they gobble: acorns! I threw a shovelful in the pen and it was like someone spilled the bridge mix.

Special thanks to Calder and Julian, who delivered our first batch. And thanks to a certain bass player who supplied the wheelbarrowful you see in the photos.

What’s the Thread Count on that Tarp?

27Jun

Some time ago when metrosexuals were all the rage I did a story that never got published. The premise involved a magazine having me fly pretty much straight from 10 days of northern Wisconsin deer hunting – windburned, stubbled, and with dried deer blood under my nails – to an extremely high-tone New York City hotel, where I then spent two or three days being scrubbed, trimmed, and toned. I did it all – manicure (two, actually — the deer blood, y’know), pedicure, straight razor shave with warm shaving cream, several different facials, an $80 dollar haircut (nice enough fellow, lots of rapid snipping, but when it was over I gotta say you couldn’t tell it from the ol’ DIY electric clippers buzz cut), eyebrow “shaping” (think of being attacked in the eyebrow region by a rabid woodpecker — lots of tears, but when it was over, for the first time in my life I had two eyebrows) (lasted for about a week).

Anyways. I am off track. Point is, as part of the story the magazine had me stay at a hotel that was over the top tony. That experience was a whole ‘nother story for some other time. I bring it up for this post only to ask, do you think a place with “Frederic Fekkai signature bath amenities” and “Frette linens” and “Fully Equipped Deluxe Poggen Pohl Kitchens in every Suite“ (I got the Fekkai and the Frette, but sadly did not stay in a suite, so no Poggen Pohl) ever reckoned a sheet from one of their bedside notepads would make a trip to Farm & Fleet?

Swine A-Snoozing

21Jun

First night we had the pigs, it rained. A fairly cold rain. Since this was also the first night the pigs had ever spent outdoors, I worried they wouldn’t know to go in the hutch. So at around midnight I went out to check, and sure enough they were all stacked up against the outside of the hutch, getting soaked. One by one I carried them inside the hutch (a big plastic silo cut in half). Due to the rain, mud and pigginess of the task, when I was done I headed straight for the laundry room and then the shower. But I slept well knowing they had been tucked under a roof. And I was rewarded in the morning when I went out to check on them. First of all, I could hear the snoring (seriously) from twenty feet away. And then when I poked my head through the door, I was greeted by this sight:

Article and Photos in A Country Newspaper

18May

It was so windy outside that the poor reporter who came to write this story wound up having to interview me inside the granary. We each sat on a piece of firewood. She was not the sort of person to complain. The photographs are fun. Don’t let the smile fool ya, I don’t much care for them two roosters. Anyways, here’s the link.