Garrison Keillor is comin' to town!

I hardly know where to begin the story of my relationship with Garrison Keillor.


Perhaps my first introduction was a quirky composition instructor in college. He had a tape and played several of the Lake Woebegone stories for us.

It was during my college years that I started listening to NPR. I was in a photojournalism class, and the instructor would give us weekly news quizzes. Since I was (admittedly) too lazy to read the paper (terrible for a journalism major, I know!), I listened to NPR to get the general feel of what was happening on the national and international level. I must have eventually run into the show. And loved it. :)

This is a great little story. Erik and I were going to KC. I was going to meet his parents for the first time. BIG deal! Right? It was. Of course, after we'd made our plans and all, I found out Garrison Keillor was doing a show. That night. IN KC. I made the BIGGEST case to Erik about why I should go. He must have thought I was trying to make excuses about not meeting his parents. It honestly wasn't that. I was excited to meet them. But couldn't I meet them AFTER the show? No such luck.

I pouted a little, but we had a lovely dinner and I liked them enough to marry their son.

Maybe it was last year and we were talking about that weekend. Erik said to me 'I didn't realize how much you liked him then; if I did, I would have realized what a big sacrifice it was for you to not go to see him.'

Last night Erik came home from work with a paper in hand. This is a bit unusual, so I knew something good must be in it. AND THERE WAS. Garrison Keillor is coming to town on April 24 (info HERE). :) I'm so excited! It won't be a live show/taped for a show, but I could listen to that man read the phone book.

I'm going to add seeing him in his home theater in Minnesota to my bucket list, but for the time being, I'll settle for him coming to OUR Home Town. :)

A fly ...

Ahem.

Today's blog post is going to be a crowd pleaser. I know because I previewed the topic with Erik and Coop ... and they both laughed really hard about today's topic: A fly in the urinal. Yes, I said URINAL on our blog. ;)


And now I've posted a photo.

Yesterday morning, I was listening to NPR as I was working on photos and our new Heartland Web site ... and heard a story on NPR about how urinals with flies (or other "targets" in them) had less spillage than those without. Really. The story is HERE. Um .... I spent most of the time laughing, but I guess I can see how this might apply in life ... I have plenty of friends, many of whom have little boys. The story said males like to have something to aim at.


So, mommies, feel free to get your sharpies out and draw something in your toilet bowl!

A nutty mess.....

On NPR the other evening, I was listening to this story about how squirrels might be in trouble b/c there is a shortage of acorns. It certainly seems silly. Ok, I totally laughed out loud when I heard it. But .... if you need a good laugh, CLICK HERE


Our family has a silly obsession with squirrels, so the photo below absolutely cracked me up.

NPR break!

Soooooo, I was on the road earlier this week and have to say I got the BIGGEST laugh out of this story about the guys who did voice overs for the political ads. I'm not interested in discussing politics on the blog here .... just suiffice to say I'll be glad when this election is OVER. From the national to the local, races are just down and dirty. I'm ready for all the mud-slinging to be DONE.

As I was prowling through NPR's Web site, I had a flashback to an earlier blog post about the Little House on the Prairie lawsuit. Yeah, it made it to NPR!!!!!!!! Seriously, un-friendly Family Productions ... it's outrageous. Click HERE to check it out.

Story Corps

Every Friday morning, NPR airs interviews from "Story Corps."

The premise is a similar to the old reporting motto: Everyone has a story. Story Corp's motto is: "Listening is an act of Love." Nice, isn't it?


Story corps was in Kansas about two years ago. Robin, lovely Kristine and I headed down. Well, I sorta had to drag Robin because she was not familiar with it, but I think she liked it in the end. On a cool note, they DID use our story on HPPR, our local NPR station. You can hear it HERE.

I was also interviewed by lovely Kristine. :-)


I'm JAZZED to learn Story Corps will be in Denver from July 17 to Aug. 5 (call in advance for a reservation), and in Tulsa from Oct. 23 to Nov. 22. Seriously, if you can go, GO! Get a reservation, make a day of it and go! It's super fun, and they give you a recording of your interview, as well as place a copy in the Folk Life Center in the Library of Congress.

To subscribe to the NPR Story Corps podcast, CLICK HERE.