Snow

It’s snowing. Again. Started Friday afternoon. A few scattered flakes drifting from a heavy, gray sky. Then a few more. None of those big, fluffy beautiful flakes. Just little ones. Lots of them. Six inches worth of them that needed shoveling.

People complaining. Cursing the snow. Wishing for summer. And winter hasn’t even begun yet, not until next week when it’s official. At least on the calendar official.

So an unpleasant time for those who are “stuck” with snow and winter. They complain. They must find something satisfying in complaining. Like being in the army and complaining. I was there. I remember the complaining. Remember it was the thing to do. That if you didn’t complain about army life you weren’t normal.

So is it normal to complain about snow and winter?

I must be abnormal because I rather like winter. The quiet. The beauty of a snowstorm. A time to slowdown and relax a bit. A time to celebrate Christmas and the end of an old year. All a part of winter in the North.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Complaining a little about snow and winter: quite normal. Complaining a lot about snow and winter: annoying.

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

Christmas at McFarlanes

When is a hardware store more than merely a hardware store? I think of hardware stores as places where you can buy nails and bolts, tools and wire, garden supplies and mouse traps, light bulbs and rope—all of that sort of thing. Stuff needed to keep a household or a farm running.

In Sauk City, Wisconsin, there is a hardware store, McFarlanes, that sells all of what I mentioned but, it also sells books. My books and those of several of my fellow authors in the area. It also is the site of regular, live radio programs that broadcast on 99.7 FM, (WRPQ) with studios in Baraboo.

For this season, the station is broadcasting a series of Saturday morning shows they call “A very Sauk Prairie Christmas Radio Show. December 3rd the show was about Christmas happenings in the Sauk Prairie area. Yesterday, the show was about Christmas on the Farm with yours truly spinning tales of what Christmas was like before electricity, when homes were heated with woodstoves, and all the farm kids attended country schools where the highlight of the year was the Christmas program. We mostly talked about the stories in my book, The Quiet Season.

Rauel LaBreche, does the radio show, and does it well. Great questions, great sense of humor. Knows what he’s doing. Rauel has a degree in fine arts from the UW-Madison. Oh, did I mention, he is also the marketing director for McFarlane’s.

The photo above was the set for the radio show, with Wayne Whitemarsh, Sporting Goods manager on the left, and LaBreche on the right. Whitemarsh is responsible for the book display, ordering the books, and doing what a bookseller does, besides his regular hardware store duties.

Upcoming Saturdays will feature local military veterans talking about Christmas when they were away from home for the holidays, and local pastor talking about the first Christmas. Stop by McFarlanes if want to relax for a bit on a busy Saturday morning. Watch a live radio show, and learn about more about Christmas.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Sometimes a hardware store is much more than a hardware store.


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

Roshara Journal

This year we are celebrating fifty-years at our farm that we have named, Roshara. One way I celebrated was publishing my new book, Roshara Journal: Chronicling Four Seasons, Fifty Years, and 120 Acres (Wisconsin Historical Society Press). I wrote the book with my son, Steve who is Chief Photographer for The Wisconsin State Journal. Steve provided the photographs, all taken at Roshara.

The book consists of journal entries that I have made over these fifty years. In the introduction to the book I wrote:

Perhaps the most significant happening at Roshara over these many years is not what we have contributed to the place, but what it has done for my family and me. Our three children have grown up roaming Roshara’s acres on their own, climbing trees, digging in the soil, helping plant trees, fishing in the pond, catching frogs, watching bluebirds, hiking the trails, identifying wildflowers, working in the garden, and much more.

Roshara has added to their understanding and appreciation for nature in ways that I will never know. And now our grandchildren are doing the same. Three generations at Roshara, learning the importance of nature and coming to understand how we, in our small way, can make a contribution by caring for this land that was once declared worthless by the neighbors.

To purchase the book—makes a great Christmas present—go to my website www.jerryapps.com for ordering instructions, or order from Patterson Memorial Library, a fund raiser for them. See below for instructions.


THE OLD TIMER SAYS: It’s never too late to write in a journal. A fine way to keep a record of what is important in your life.

Upcoming Events:

December 6, 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. Writers, Creativity & Aging Fitchburg Senior Center,5510 Lacy Road Fitchburg, WI 53711 I’ll be talking about Telling Your Story. Sponsored by Retiree Rebels.

December 7, 11:00 to 1:00, Headquarters Bldg. Wisconsin Historical Society, (816 State Street, Madison). Holiday book sale—book signing.

December 10, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. McFarlane’s Sauk City.

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