In which we call upon story-lovers worldwide to help us, please!

I've mentioned before that Jim and I and our friend Mary share hosting duties for a storytelling radio show on our local community radio station. We tell stories on the air, and play recordings of storytellers from all over the world. It's a fun way to spend Sunday mornings.

What I haven't mentioned much before is (violin music here)

Pledge Week.

For a lot of years, we've had fun during pledge week. We get all three radio hosts in the studio together, taking turns on the mike and answering phones. It's really fun to talk to our listeners, especially the folks who don't normally call the station during our show.

And then (violin music increases volume, increases pathos)

there was the last pledge drive. In October 2009, at the very deepest pit of the economic recession here in the Swamplands, our membership drive was beyond miserable.

Usually our 2-hour program brings in $500 to $1000 in phone pledges.

But this time, we got one call.

For $10.

From Mary's mom.

I left the station in tears. In ten years of radio work, I've never experienced such a dismal pledge drive.

Determined to avoid such a horrible experience again, I started making phone calls and issuing invitations.

Tomorrow's show won't just feature me and Jim and Mary. Instead, we've got the best of the Seattle Storyteller's Guild coming to join us on the air! We're gonna have a party!

We're having a potluck breakfast in the studio, we're gonna tell all kinds of stories on the radio, and it's gonna be a blast!

So...maybe y'all wanna listen?

And...maybe y'all will call the station to say hello? And maybe pledge a little bit to keep our show (and our radio station) on the air?

We'll be broadcasting from 9 to 11am on Sunday, March 14th. It surely would be great to hear from you.

Click here to pledge online. Or better yet, call the station and say hello! (425) 303-9070

Let's see how much fun we can have on a Sunday morning!

In which we celebrate Saturday Stories : a "perfection" story

Librarians are often considered nit-picky perfectionists. I'm not saying that I'm not that way. But perhaps it's time to appreciate imperfections and "good enoughs" and just go riding instead. Right? --A

The Cracked Pot

Once, in a village far from here, there was a water-carrier.

Every day, the water-carrier would put a yoke across his shoulders, and hang a water pot on each end of the yoke.

Every day, the water carrier filled both pots of water at the river, and then carried them carefully, carefully, up the long path to the house.

Every day, one of the pots was full when it arrived at the house. But the other pot had a small crack in it, and so it leaked half of the water out before it arrived at the house.

After years of arriving half-empty every day, the cracked pot apologized to the water-carrier.

But the water-carrier was confused. “Why do you apologize?”

“Because,” explained the cracked pot, “every day you walk down to the river and fill up two pots of water. But because of the crack in my side, I only deliver half of the water.”

The water-carrier smiled. “Tomorrow, when we come up the hill, look at the path below you. Look at the flowers that grow on your side of the path. The flowers there grow because of the water you leak.

There are no flowers on the perfect pot’s side.”

In which we have a new idea for entertainment at parties

Jim found this on YouTube.

We immediately thought of our own beloved Tootles!

Happily, she is back up and running again(thanks to some online traktormech who suggested installing the alternator upside down, which solved the problem that has been sidelining her all winter).

Whaddya think?

You folks wanna come over for a night of musical jamming with our tractor?

In which we go for a ride and celebrate an anniversary

You know you're really a horse person when...
...you look at the pretty picture of the daffodil and notice that there's a horse trailer in the background with the back door open and ready to load!

But first...

...gotta get the horses cleaned up. Which means taking about half a ton of loose hair off the horse and spreading it all over the backyard instead.

We took a trail that one of the local land managers had asked a bunch of us to "fix" a few weeks ago. The trouble is that a trail through a swamp is still a swamp. What a mess. This trail is NOT endorsed by your local TrailMasters. Bah.

Lunch break. Obviously, Hana was working a lot harder than Fiddle on the trail today--mostly looking for something "scary" to spook at, mostly unsuccessfully. But not for lack of trying, silly mare!

Now, you wanna see something scary? Take a look, silly mare. See that yellow thing lurking in the bushes there?

Hana wanted nothing to do with it. Fee wasn't scared.

"Take our picture, Jim!" Hana couldn't believe that Fiddle was crazy enough to get right underneath that scary thing.

Former trees, future lumber.

Hana finally regained her brain, and led us calmly through the trees and back to the trailer.

And look! The huckleberry bushes are starting to bloom!

Back at home, we celebrate the anniversary of getting a boy and moving to the farm by having cookies and milk for dinner, with pasta, fresh vegetables and pesto for dessert

--and (not very) cut-throat Scrabble too.

Life is good!