Category Archives: humor

The Shows go on – and on – –

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Jack gets over the line again – –

A very odd coincidence happened on Monday evening.

I’ve been producing and presenting a weekly Celtic music show on the NPR station in Johnson City Tennessee for nearly twenty years now (WETS.fm). It’s called ‘Celtic Clanjamphry’ and initially airs on their main FM and HD1 channel on Sunday evenings and then repeats on their HD2 channel on Mondays and Saturdays. It then goes out on WEHC.fm here in Virginia on the following Sunday. Because I record them ahead of time with the enormous help of my engineer Dirk, I’m never quite sure which episode is airing any particular week. I got a message on Monday morning from a listener and so I checked the Monday evening repeat to check which one was going out.

Wendy interviewing a turtle

But – –

A few months ago Wendy started working part-time for West Virginia Public Radio as a producer and presenter for their show called ‘Inside Appalachia’ which goes out there on Sunday mornings and is then re-broadcast on a whole host of other NPR stations from Ohio to Georgia, and Kentucky to North Carolina. One of the stations that takes it is – yes – WETS.fm in Johnson City!

Last week her first program came 2nd in Best Feature at the AP Virginias Broadcasting awards, out of more than 400 entries from all over Virginia and West Virginia which was very exciting! Her latest story is all about a 10 year search for the maker of hand thrown clay mugs. It’s quite a moving story!

On Monday past, at 8pm I went to the WETS website to check which of my programs was being broadcast on HD2. Lo and behold, to my surprise they were airing ‘Inside Appalachia’ on their fm/HD1 channel at exactly the same time, and it was Wendy’s mug story! So we were both on the same station at the same time!

So I went to Wendy and told her this and with a big grin on her face she said, “Hmm, which one shall we listen to?”

I’m a smart husband…..

AND OTHER DUTIES AS ASSIGNED

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Hey ho, just another day in a non-profit director’s life. Follow, please:

The “free library if you pick it up” consisted of 15 boxes, books a friend had decided she wouldn’t need now she was getting out of the massage business. I was heading to Wise County in a couple of weeks to run a monthly session of our Community Nourishment Project, aka the CNP. I knew a friend who would LOVE to have those books. Since she’d had a hard year, what the heck, haul them over to her next time I was going.

CNP is a pathways activity from pre-med through residency interacting with people who live in rent-controlled housing, so everyone understands each other when they meet in an examination or emergency room.

I was looking forward to the CNP this month; in July we hold our annual school supplies picnic. Well, what fool would buy the supplies in Wytheville and haul them to Wise County, right? Just buy them online and have them delivered!

Except, the delivery times for school supplies a month out from school opening are pretty scattered and we had to have them for the picnic this Saturday. And Friday I had appointments all day, so no shopping there. The only day I could go was Monday, plus my car was half-full of books. Well, how big can those supply lists be and it’s only 30 kids, right? My friend Nora volunteered to help me shop.

Four fully loaded shopping carts later, I left two very happy check-out ladies who had opened a private lane for us guarding the stuff with my friend Nora, and went to pick up our pick-up truck. The supplies completely filled the bed.

The truck bed full of kid stuff, my car stuffed with the giveaway library, my phone rang. Did my community nourishment project want 12 dozen ears of free corn from the gleaning society?

I booked a rental SUV and rejoiced in all the good fortune coming our way for the community nourishment project.

Enterprise car rentals has let me down before, but the one that happened the morning I planned to load all the good fortune was particularly spectacular; Enterprise employees aren’t normally rude while being inept, but that guy was. So I left without the SUV they didn’t have, sporting 750 cubic feet of haulage space, to figure out how to fit school supplies for 30 kids, donations from the local food bank, drink donations from the local women’s club, an entire Reiki and Reflexology library, and five dozen ears of corn in my Prius.

Have you ever seen a Prius stuffed with 1527 bits of school supplies, 96 ears of corn (they gave us eight dozen) and four coolers? I can’t roll down the windows. When I open the back door, lunchboxes will fall out.  But I’m really proud of that little tunnel between the notebook paper and the binders, allowing me a six inch square to see out the back.

Another day, another problem solved. Non-profit directors get stuff done.

Would anyone like some corn?