Tag Archives: Wendy Welch

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…..

Tails of Many Cats

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Jack makes it in time again – –

This isn’t a story of our cats although they will feature at times and there are certainly many stories about them!

This is the story of our neighborhood cats. We live on the edge of a cat colony, and they use our yard as a highway. They live in an abandoned apartment complex about a block away. Some are solitary and some hang around together but they all know where they can find breakfast, lunch and dinner!

We know that a few of them visit neighbors who also put out food for them and offer porches where they can either sunbathe or find a place to sleep.

There’s a local cat rescue group who regularly trap any newbies and get them spayed and released so things are reasonably under control.

Our frequent visitors are named by us for their colors and obvious personal attributes. We have Orangey, Sherbert, Blacky, Big Blacky, Tippy, Tux, Silver Tux, and Bernard.

Tippy!

Our two cats are fairly understanding about them all except for Tippy, who has been a daily frequent visitor since we moved here five years ago. Our neighbors had already named her because she is all over dark brown except for the tip of her tail which is white. She is extremely friendly and doesn’t just come for food, but likes a head rub and back scratch as well. We think she aspires to be an indoor cat and has occasionally come into the house or the porch. Once she chased young Dammit right through the cat flap into our living room before she realized she was in the house, and sat back with an appraising look. We think she didn’t like the coordination of our rug and curtains…

If our two, Molly and Dammit, are on our enclosed porch (the catio) and Tippy shows up they scream at her and she screams back. Since I don’t speak their language I can’t translate but I have a pretty good idea what they’re saying all the same. So I doubt if they will all three be sharing indoor space anytime soon.

Of the many others who show up regularly, Orangey and Blackie aren’t nearly as friendly as Tippy but are willing to tolerate us as long as we put out the food they prefer – –

The marmalade cat we call, well, Marmalade, likes to sunbathe on the chicken coop roof. The chickens like having her there; we think she may keep the hawks away. Orangey prefers the side yard, and Tux and Silver Tux never stay long, just passing through….

If it came to it, we could house another cat (besides Tippy) but they all seem well content to ease on down the road after a snack at our diner. We think there’s a “friendly people here” sign scratched into a tree someplace. Well, it’s not doing any harm and we buy cat food in bulk. Slink on by, feline friends, and just know if we catch you, we’re going to have you neutered. No harm, no foul, no offspring.