A Little Florida . . .

We're being bombed with snow here in the Midwest, which is lovely. The timing has been perfect--I was in Florida on assignment last week and came back just in time for one big snowstorm last week with another coming this week.

Thought I'd post a few photos of Florida. The trip included an interesting visit with Terry Thompson, the president of the Ocala National Forest Assocation. He is spearheading the assembly of a group of volunteeer trail rangers who will patrol the trail system in the forest. What Terry's doing is necessary for ORV enthusiasts across the country as new USFS policies are enacted which require national forests to restrict ORV use to "established trails."

Interesting to have found a story with a bit more depth than I expected, and great to see people going out there and doing what it takes to keep the sport alive.

I also spent a day pursuing my "gator quest." I stopped at Lake Apopka, a lake in which a researcher from the University of Florida discovered that the alligators had smaller penises than those who lived in another nearby lake. I stopped at the lake and spoke to a bishop who was there fishing. He said he had seen plenty of gators swimming past while he fished, some as "big as my truck" (tho he didn't comment on their penis size). The whole Lake Apopka alligator issue captured my interest--were these gators seeking help with commerical drugs or therapy?--and I spent the day searching for gators.

I found a gator hotel which had a 60-foot fiberglass gator eating a car out front. I photographed gators. I gathered gator stories, including the tale of a nine-footer battering his head against the door of a woman's house until animal control showed up. That's one knock on the door that would be a shock to answer, eh? I didn't make my final destination--Alligator Point up near Tallahassee--and I didn't get to meet Alligator Bob, so the completion of the gator quest will have to wait for another trip.

Besides good stories and foolish quests for lizards, it was good for this lily white midwesterner to see a little sun. That 80-degree reprieve is hard to imagine today, as a snowstorm has turned the view out of my office window into near white-out conditions. This is the way winter's meant to be!

Farmall Calendar 2008 Update

Here's the cover for the Farmall Calendar 2008. It should be available for pre-orders on Amazon in the next month or two.

Thanks to all the owners for their time (and the cookies and food!), and to editors Amy Glaser and Leah Noel at MBI Publishing for putting it all together.

The list of tractors that made the calendar are listed below, along with the owners:

Farmall Calendar 2008
Final Selects and Owners

Cover
1953 Model H
Albin Sterry
Scrum, Wisconsin

January
1964 International 2806
Sylvester Hohlfield
Chaseburg, Wisconsin

February
2007 Case IH (Steiger) STX 380
Bahl’s Motor & Implement
Hastings, Minnesota

March
1969 International 1256
Sylvester Hohlfield

April
1933 F-12
Jack Bailey
Surrey, British Columbia

May
1972 International 1468
Kevin “Swede” Hanvold
Osseo, Wisconsin

June
1953 Farmall H
Albin Sterry
Scrum, Wisconsin

July
1928 McCormick-Deering 10-20
Scott Anderson
Cadott, Wisconsin

August
1964 International Cub
Bob Bennett

September
1961 International 340 Diesel
Bob Bennett
Poulsbo, Washington

October
1948 Farmall M
Bob Bennett

November (sunrise photo)
1953 Farmall H

December
1960 International 560 Diesel
Richard Kadelbach
Hutchinson, Minnesota

The Waiting Game

Part of this gig that will probably always drive me crazy is waiting. I'm not an inherently patient man. In fact, I'm not patient at all.

So I have several great projects out as proposals for magazine and book projects, and I'm waiting on all of them. If a couple of them come through, well, I can settle a bit and know what I'm doing for the year, but I'm kind of hanging until then. Sri Lanka or Texas . . . who knows? I think they will go through---all are viable projects that should make good reads. Still, I'd like answers shortly. Sigh--that's not how this business works. I've been on the other side of the desk long enough now to be aware of that!

The other part that is odd about my new gig is editing. Odd in the sense that it sort of takes some wind out of my sails--I'm suposed to be doing this new thing, but I still need to do some editing to pay the bills. It's not that I don't enjoy the projects, I'm just excited to tackle new magazine markets and see how far I can take this thing.

That aside, it is good to be able to focus exclusively on the projects on my desk. Both of the projects I worked on were terrific books. One is The 200-mph Billboard by Mark Yost. Mark is a WSJ contributor and former Speed Sport News writer who has carved out a niche for himself as a sports business writer. He's a good reporter, and a good writer, and the book is engaging, informative, and welll-constructed--a real pleasure to work with. One of the best parts is Mark is a neighbor and a friend, and being able to talk through things over a meal is a big help to the process. Plus Mark is an interesting guy, so it's all good. I can see the advantages of working in New York or even L.A.--it's rare that I get to work with authors who live in my neck of the woods.

The other is Top Dead Center, a compilation of articles from one of my favorite writers, Kevin Cameron. He's been writing for Cycle (and later Cycle Word) magazine since 1973, and was a well-respected privateer tuner before becoming a writer. I like his stuff, but had honestly forgotten how good he is. His profiles of racers and builders are insightful and a joy to read. He understands the racing mind in a way very few do, and is a great observer of people. The hardest part of the task has been trying to select 30-40 pieces out of the hundreds of great things he's written.

The week wasn't all editing, of course. I found some time to book my next ATV club ride down in Ocala, Florida. I discovered a group that volunteers to patrol the national forest, and the same crew is working hard to create an entirely new system as well as doing state-wide training. I think that will be a worthwhile story, and am also looking forward to taking photographs without freezing my fingers!

I have a bit more editing this week, but the big crush is past and I'll have time to focus on putting together queries and doing some background for a couple of story ideas.

So if I do my job, those queries will go out to magazine editors, and I can wait some more. I guess that's just part of this game, huh? ;-)