Episode #250: Best In Show

Tigger, one of our many farm dogs. My brother taught her how to climb the haymow ladder.

Howdy, folks:

Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 250. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click the player above to listen.

In today’s episode I go from talking about snow to talking about a first responder call I just made to talking about the mockumentary “Best in Show,” then share an essay about dog shows, as if I know anything about that. And tell a funny story about me and my merchandise manager Tony.

Lots of dogs in this episode, so I went with some dog photos.

Also, this is Tony.

And here’s more info on the Zoom event. We’d love it if you joined in. I’ll be broadcasting live from the little room above the garage.

Thank you for listening,
Mike

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My brother Jed with Foxy, one of our earliest farm dogs. She was a stray and the day she ran up to us we thought she was a fox so we called her Foxy. We put a lot of thought into these things. That basement window was where we threw all the firewood down.

Alfie in the back of dad’s farm truck with wood shavings. I did a lot of dating in that truck and wrote about it in Truck.

Nowadays they’d call Alfie a “rescue.” His left ear had been injured and always flopped around.

I have no idea, but knowing my brother John I am not surprised.

Alfie undercover.

Alfie being chauffeured around.

I once drove a team of sled dogs through the wilds of Northern Minnesota.

Abner, the leader of my team. He knew more about it than I did.

Running a frozen river. I wrote about the experience in “Mushing,” a story included in the book Danger, Man Working.

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MARGINALIA

(Annotations from books Mike is reading, or annotations related to the episode)

The clocks behind the hotel registration desk in a scene from “Best In Show.”

Current view out the window of my little room above the garage.

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Signed books, recordings, T-shirts, and more at The Sneezing Cow store.

The mushing story is in this book.

The Zoom event info is here.

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