THE OTHER END OF THE LEASH

Work on the podcast is progressing. I’m waiting to hear the first version of the pilot that we recorded last week, and am on pins and needles about it. How will it sound? Are my answers (to some of your GREAT questions!) helpful? Interesting? How about the format? By the way, we decided to go with another voice, that of my new partner in crime, Buzz Kemper. He’s the co-owner of Audio for the Arts, and sole owner of a great voice, lots of recording and podcast experience and a terrific sense of humor. He’s not a behavior or training expert, but that’s part of why I think he’ll be a great presence on the show… keeping me honest and adding a fresh voice to the mix. (And yes, to loyal Calling All Pets listeners, I do miss Larry, and I will continue to miss him, but he’s full to the brim with Wisconsin Public Radio work and so we’ll have to be content with my occasional visits to his daily show.)

Predictably, during our first recordings, everything didn’t go smoothly. We did a great interview with Temple Grandin, but the stars were against us and it didn’t record. You can imagine how that felt–picture all of us shocked and miserable. Let me emphasize here that Buzz and Audio for the Arts are true professionals, and this just doesn’t happen to them. But then, it did, cuz that’s how life is. Sort of like getting Tony Bennett to sing for you and then not capturing it on tape. But hey, stuff happens, and we got her back and she graciously did it again for us (apologies to the audience in Guelph waiting for her to get back into the seminar!).

We’re going to finish taping the second pilot tomorrow, which includes an interview with Karen Pryor that we’ve already done (and was so interesting it ended up being 30 minutes… for the 30 minute podcast. Oh well, aren’t pilots often longer than the regular show? And hey, if it’s a podcast, can’t it be as long as we’d like? However…  I promise we won’t be quite so cavalier when we get down to business.)

Speaking of business, that’s where you might come in: Studio time costs money, and so does producing and putting out a podcast. We carefully considered your responses to our query about the form of the podcast, and decided to go with looking for a sponsor rather than having it be something that people have to pay to download. So, I’ll be spending some of my June and July looking for a sponsor. I have a few ideas (more are very welcome), but right now I have a request of you listeners who at some point were supportive of the idea of a podcast.

Official favor request (she said, feeling a bit sheepish): What if some of you wrote comments designed to help us convince a potential company or funding source to sponsor the podcast? I know next to nothing about rounding up a sponsor for a show (although I expect I’ll know a lot more soon, hopefully not “How NOT to do it”) but it does seem like hearing from potential listeners might be a good idea. Yes? If you are so inclined, write something as if you were writing directly to the potential sponsor in the comment section of this post. I’d keep it relatively short and sweet, but beyond that, your guess is as good as mine about what to say.

Meanwhile, back at the farm: The Robins are up and away, but the Chipping Sparrows are still flying into the nest with food in their mouths, so Sushi is still trapped inside and not happy about it. Last night she flew out the door when I wasn’t paying enough attention, darn. So I set out to get her back and I wish you could watch a video of the 20 minutes I spent doing so. 19 minutes and 59 seconds were spent pretending not to care where she was– otherwise I wouldn’t have had a chance. Luckily, she’s very affiliative, even more so when she’s outside, and I knew that she’d eventually come over and do a body rub if I stayed still for awhile and ignored her. So I walked AWAY from her, sat down and weeded a bit, then got up and walked parallel to her, never going toward her, never even looking at her, until she finally couldn’t resist and walked over to me. I sat on my hands until the last second and then apologized as I picked her up and carried her inside. I doubt she cared much about the apology, but some extra yummy food seemed to help.

The Lilac below (no longer blooming as of yesterday) is the bush where the Chipping Sparrows perch before flying to their nest one the side of the house. And hey, if you’d rather not write anything about the podcast, want to come help me water the grass seeding by the barn? (See how it’s all brown? It got re-graded to keep water from running into the barn when it rains.) It’s a huge area and is taking no small amount of time to keep moist. Go little grass seeds, go!