Looking for Barns

On Saturday morning, Steve and I spoke to a group of folks who do regular tours around Wisconsin in convertibles—they assured me they would have the tops up when they toured around southern Wisconsin this weekend.

Directed by Gary & Mae Knowles of Madison, and Mike and Donna Perontka of Green Bay, the group, some one hundred of them, learned a bit about Wisconsin Barns and how to photograph them.

Photographing barns is not only a summer activity, but a red barn in winter makes for a beautiful iconic photo of Wisconsin’s agriculture. I introduced the group to my book, BARNS OF WISCONSIN. Steve did the photos, I wrote the words.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Wisconsin is noted for its beautiful old barns.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Monday, January 30, Channel 3, Madison. Live at Four program. Discussion of NEVER CURSE THE RAIN.

Saturday, February 4, 10:00 a.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Book talk and signing. NEVER CURSE THE RAIN.

Saturday, February 11, 2:15. Garden Expo, Alliant Center, Madison. Roshara Journal

Sunday, February 12, 1:00 p.m. Garden Expo, Alliant Center, Madison. TV documentary “Never Curse the Rain” book signing and discussion.

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.

Jerry’s newest books: Never Curse the Rain, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.

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

Winter's Challenging Moments

My hometown weekly newspaper, the Waushara Argus, said it all in a headline that read, “Ice storm shuts down Waushara County schools and businesses: Sheriff reports 22 slide-offs and crashes over two days.”

All of southern and central Wisconsin and much of the Midwest saw people sliding, slipping and falling this past week. Driving off the road or into each other. Late for work or not getting to work at all. Salting and sanding. Chipping and pounding. Fighting the dreaded ice that coated everything and refused to budge.

The road past my farm was so icy that the sand truck had to back down the road to get some traction from its own sand. No danger of backing into another car. There were no other cars.

The irony of it all. My new book, NEVER CURSE THE RAIN, came out last week. And I heard from a friend, “What about freezing rain? What’s your take on freezing rain? Okay to curse freezing rain?”

“Sure,” I said go right ahead. But keep straight the difference between “freezing rain” and “rain.” I said.

“Huh,” my friend answered.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Winter has its challenging moments.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Sunday, January 29, 2:00 p.m. Midvale Lutheran Church, 4329 Tokay Blvd. (corner of Midvale and Tokay), Fellowship Hall. Launch of new book, NEVER CURSE THE RAIN. Books available on site for sale and signing from Mystery to Me bookstore. All are welcome. Enter the church from the parking lot. Enter north door where an elevator is available to lower level Fellowship Hall.

Monday, January 30, Channel 3, Madison. Live at Four program. Discussion of NEVER CURSE THE RAIN.

Saturday, February 4, 10:00 a.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Book talk and signing. NEVER CURSE THE RAIN.
Saturday, February 11, 2:15. Garden Expo, Alliant Center, Madison. Roshara Journal

Sunday, February 12, 1:00 p.m. Garden Expo, Alliant Center, Madison. TV documentary “Never Curse the Rain” book signing and discussion.

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.

Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.

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

January Thaw

Once again it arrived. In mid-January. After days of bitter cold, and deep and drifted snow. It often arrived overnight, while my brothers and I slept in the cold upstairs bedroom in our drafty farm house. A room that was supposed to be warmed by the stove pipe that made its way from wood burning stove in the dining room through our room and then into the chimney.

We knew the winter thaw had arrived when the eaves on the house were dripping, which I noticed when I hurried to the barn for the early morning milking. By mid-morning it began to rain. A slow, steady, snow-melting rain. And as it rained, my brothers and I kept watch of the big hollow in front of the house as the snow turned from white to gray and then to melt water as the hollow became a pond.

With the pond becoming slowly larger, we began looking for our ice skates, the clamp-on-your-shoes type that you fastened with a little key that you carried in your pocket. We had hung the skates in the woodshed last spring, forgotten about, until the thaw arrived.

The thaw disappeared quicker than you could say, “Isn’t that a north wind blowing this evening?” Freezing weather returned, but the pond remained. A beautiful, flat slippery surface just made for three boys and their clamp-on skates. The ones we bought at Hotz’s Hardware in Wild Rose for fifty cents a pair.

Ice skating remained perfect, sometimes for several weeks. Another gift of winter, for boys who’d tired from shoveling snow, carrying wood, and doing all the other winter-required jobs.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: It’s important to remember the good things about winter.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Saturday, January 21 Noon. Heidel House, Green Lake, WI. Pheasants Forever. Noon talk. Whispers and Shadows. Book signing.

Sunday, January 29, 2:00 p.m. Midvale Lutheran Church, 4329 Tokay Blvd. (corner of Midvale and Tokay), Fellowship Hall. Launch of new book, NEVER CURSE THE RAIN. Books available on site for sale and signing from Mystery to Me bookstore. All are welcome. Enter the church from the parking lot. Enter north door where an elevator is available to lower level Fellowship Hall.

Saturday, February 4, 10:00 a.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Book talk and signing. Never Curse the Rain.

Saturday, February 11, 2:15. Garden Expo, Alliant Center, Madison. Roshara Journal

Sunday, February 12, 1:00 p.m. Garden Expo, Alliant Center, Madison. TV documentary “Never Curse the Rain” book signing and discussion.

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.
Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.

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

Appreciating the Cold

I wrote this three years ago, but I’m repeating it today because last week was just like this.

It was five above zero when I put on my down jacket, pulled the earflaps down on my cap, grabbed my walking stick and set out from the cabin for my morning walk. The sun, struggling to climb above the pine woods to the east provided a bit of light for what had been a very dark night, but offered little warmth as I headed down the trail.

How soon one forgets how quiet a chilly winter morning can be. I heard not a sound, no crow call, no rustling of dead oak leaves, no creaking of bare tree limbs. Nothing, save for the crunch, crunch of the cold snow under my boots as I trudged along, often stopping to listen and hearing nothing. Hearing silence.

As the landscape grew lighter with the rising sun, the frost covered branches of the trees along the trail sparkled and glittered and reminded me how beautiful can be the most simple of things—morning frost in first light.

Upon returning to the cabin, I pushed another stick of oak wood in the wood stove, sat in my rocking chair with a cup of coffee and reminded myself that life couldn't get much better than this.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Take time to appreciate the simple things.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Wednesday, January 11. 6:30 p.m. Midvale Lutheran Church, 4329 Tokay Blvd. (corner of Midvale and Tokay), Fellowship Hall. Launch of new book, NEVER CURSE THE RAIN. Books available on site for sale and signing from Mystery to Me bookstore. All are welcome. Enter the church from the parking lot. Enter north door where an elevator is available to lower level Fellowship Hall.

Saturday, January 14. 9:00 -12:00 a.m. Sequoia Library, Madison. Writing Workshop.”Writing From Your Life” Limited enrollment. Contact Sequoia Library: 608-266-6385.

Saturday, January 21 Noon. Heidel House, Green Lake, WI. Pheasants Forever. Noon talk. Whispers and Shadows. Book signing.

Saturday, February 11, 2:15. Garden Expo, Alliant Center, Madison. Roshara Journal

Sunday, February 12, 1:00 p.m. Garden Expo, Alliant Center, Madison. TV documentary “Never Curse the Rain” book signing and discussion.

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.
Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.

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

A New Year

I’m sitting at the kitchen table at my farm, looking out the window where snowflakes are gently falling. My wood-burning cook stove is keeping me warm and cozy.

On these last days of 2016, I’m thinking about the highs and lows of the year just past. It’s fairly easy to think about the negatives of the year, the shouting and finger pointing, the sadness experienced with the passing of a close friend or relative. The anger and unhappiness experienced by many. There were high points, too. The joy of weddings, anniversaries, and new babies born. For me, the opportunity for our family, all the kids and grand kids, and now two great grand kids gathering together for a week at a cabin on a lake last summer.

For many people 2016 was a difficult year. Other years have been difficult as well. I think back to when I was a kid, during the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930s, when many people were without work and had no place to live and nothing to eat. We were farm people. We had food; we had a roof over our heads, but not much else. I remember my folks took in relatives who did not have food and shelter. Relatives who lived with us until things got better in the country.

And then World War II came along, a devastating time, when everyone worked hard and hoped for a victory. But we made do as the war effort consumed the country’s resources at an ever increasing rate.

Through all of this and much more, my dad and mother had hope. They never lost it. My dad’s words, I’ve never forgotten them, “Remember, Jerry, next year will be better.”

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Next year will be better.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Wednesday, January 11. 6:30 p.m. Midvale Lutheran Church, 4329 Tokay Blvd. (corner of Midvale and Tokay), Fellowship Hall. Launch of new book, NEVER CURSE THE RAIN. Books signing and talk. All are welcome.

Saturday, January 14. 9:00 -12:00 a.m. Sequoia Library, Madison. Writing Workshop.”Writing From Your Life” Limited enrollment. Contact Sequoia Library: 608-266-6385.

Saturday, January 21 Noon. Heidel House, Green Lake, WI. Pheasants Forever. Noon talk. Whispers and Shadows. Book signing.

Saturday, February 11, 2:15. Garden Expo, Alliant Center, Madison. Roshara Journal
Sunday, February 12, 1:00 p.m. Garden Expo, Alliant Center, Madison. TV documentary “Never Curse the Rain” book signing and discussion.
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.
Jerry’s newest books, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guide book for those who want to write their stories—are also available.
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