Episode #194: Brain Freeze

Blast from the past. Wrote this article in 1998. Went up to the Clam Lake Narrows in Siren, Wisconsin, to report on the Water Skipping World Championships.

Howdy folks:

Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 194. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.

I recorded today’s episode after running the snow plow and just before stoking the wood stove in anticipation of the first good long run of subzero temperatures, which reminded me of a piece I wrote about the subtle ways deep winters push us over the edge and into behaviors warm-weather outsiders might view as odd, but we view as just gettin’ through it all. So I pulled on my stocking cap and told that story into the microphone.

Hoarfrost outside our granary. Had this image in mind while writing certain passages of Forty Acres Deep.

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Today’s essay is from the book Roughneck Grace, available in print and ebook form here, along with all of Mike’s other books, music, shirts, koozies, and stickers at the Sneezing Cow store.

Also, because the last batch sold out, we just printed up a fresh batch of the “Summer Here” poster featuring the opening lines of Population 485 and a beautiful collage by the artist Lori Chilefone, who lives just down the road.

Here’s a new interview published just this week (“It’s Not Just A Farmer Thing”) Mike did about the unexpected reach of—and reactions to—his latest book, Forty Acres Deep.

Today’s marginalia is from Poor Charlie’s Almanack, available on Amazon or support an indie by getting it through BookShop.

For subscription options to this Voice Mail, click on the button below (it says “Subscribe Now” but you won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm):

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Warm chickens in there.

Wrote about some of these folks in Coop.

Family afoot after we got stuck on our hill and thinking fondly of the highway commissioner, as described in Visiting Tom.

Neighbor kinda plowed for me. That’s the house I lived in while I wrote Population 485, and the truck from Truck: A Love Story.

I wrote big chunks of the book Truck: A Love Story on Washington Island, Wisconsin, during January and February. This is my elder daughter riding the icebreaker ferry. These days she has a job and her own health insurance.

THIS EPISODE’S MARGINALIA:

As reported in last week’s episode, I’m still reading Poor Charlie’s Almanack:

Thank you for listening and looking, folks. It’s nice to stay in touch.

Forward,
Mike

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