Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Changing The Weather


For those of you who believe that you can’t change the weather, I’ve discovered a way to do it.  Here’s what happened.  Last Saturday it was in the 90s at our Roshara cabin.  High humidity.  Sticky.  Sweat a lot weather.  Son-in-law, Paul, a handyman extraordinaire, spent more than an hour stuffing our little window air conditioner into place.  Finally, when he plugged it in late morning, the temperature in the cabin was in the middle 80s.  At four in the afternoon, the temperature in the cabin was still in the middle 80s.

Sometime during the winter, when the air conditioner rested on our porch, it had died.  Quietly, without fuss it left us, in spirit if not in body for the thing still weighed nearly 50 pounds.   What to do?  The temperature outside continued in the low 90s.

My brother, Donald and I drove to Stevens Point, where I bought a replacement.  A healthy, longer life machine—I’m hoping.  This time Donald and I worked for an hour removing the dead machine and replacing the new one, following the “some assembly required” directions.  Donald is also quite a skilled “fix it” guy.  (Admission—about the only thing I can fix, is the order of words in a paragraph.)

 We turned on the machine.  It worked.  But here is where the weather changing business occurred.  It wasn’t an hour after the new air conditioner was in place that the temperature outside began dropping.  This morning it was 56 degrees.  No air conditioner needed.

How to squelch hot weather—buy a new air conditioner.  You may never need to use it, but the action was obviously necessary to convince the weather to change.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Who says you can’t change the weather?

Special Announcement:  No new blogs for the next two weeks.  On vacation.

Upcoming Events:

June 28, 11:00 a.m.  Larry Meiller Show. Wis. Public Radio.  Discussion of Roshara Journal and Telling Your Story (New Books)

June 28, 7:00 p.m. Book Discussion-with Steve Apps.  Mystery to Me Book Store, Madison.  Event at HotelRed, 1501 Monroe St., Madison, WI—parking at hotel. Roshara Journal and Telling Your Story (New Books)

July 19, 11:00 a.m., Farm Technology Days, Snudden Farms, Lake Geneva, Walworth County. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 9, 6:30 p.m. Winnebago County Historical Society.  Oshkosh Library.  History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 12 9-4, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.

August 20, 10:30-11:30 am.  Waupaca Annual Arts on the Square. 

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them): 

The library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs:
 Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)
 Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)

 The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows.)
Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
Contact the library for prices and special package deals.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835


Saturday, June 04, 2016

Telling Your Story



            Everyone has a story to tell.  And each one is different and special.  As some of my readers know, I have been teaching Creative Writing workshops on How to Tell Your Story since 1971.  We Germans are not supposed to boast, but I have had well over 1,000 students in my workshops, which I continue to teach.  Several of writing students have written books including their stories.   Many more have written their stories and shared them with family and friends.

            “When are you going to write about what you teach?” students asked me over the years.  So I finally did.  The book is titled TELLING YOUR STORY: PRESERVE YOUR HISTORY THROUGH STORYTELLING. (Fulcrum Press, 2016).

            The book is in six parts:
 I: Why it’s important to write your story
II. Memory Joggers (Remembering what you thought you forgot)
            III. Background Information (how to do research)
            IV. Creating Your Story (How to do it)
            V, When is a Story Not a Story
            VI: Telling Your Story in Person (Speaking to a live audience, doing radio and TV

            To read more about the book, and to purchase a copy go to your local bookstore,  http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781936218226 or order from Amazon .com
                       

THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  It’s never too late to write down your stories.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Writing Workshop for 2016
Telling Your Story Workshop at The Clearing in Door County.  Friday, August 12, 9-4.  Call 920-854-4088 to get your name on the list. (Still Room)

UPCOMING EVENTS.

June 7, 7:00 p.m. Cambria Library. Cambria Fire Dept. Community Center, Cambria.

June 11, 9-4 Writing Workshop, Wild Rose Library.  Telling Your Story

June 14, 9:00 a.m. Keynote speech. Country Heritage Day, St. John the Baptist Church, Montello. Barns of Wisconsin.

June 28, 11:00 a.m.  Larry Meiller Show. Wis. Public Radio.  Discussion of Roshara Journal and Telling Your Story (New Books)

June 28, Book Discussion.  Mystery to Me Book Store, Madison.  Details to follow.  Roshara Journal and Telling Your Story (New Books)

July 19, 11:00 a.m., Farm Technology Days, Snudden Farms, Lake Geneva, Walworth County. History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 9, 6:30 p.m. Winnebago County Historical Society.  Oshkosh Library.  History of Wisconsin Agriculture.

August 12 9-4, Writing Workshop, The Clearing, Door County.

August 20, 10:30-11:30 am.  Waupaca Annual Arts on the Square. 

Purchase Jerry’s DVDS and his Books from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them): 

The library now has available signed copies of Jerry’s DVDs:
 Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)
 Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)

 The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows.)
Also available are several of Jerry’s signed books including: Jerry’s newest novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. and Wisconsin Agriculture: A History.
Contact the library for prices and special package deals.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
920-622-3835