Sunday, I posted a letter from Red to Dr. Karen Thompson on the roughly first anniversary of his coming to me. I tried to capture the world from a dog’s point of view, not a simple thing. I also tried to capture the very remarkable nature of the story – Karen had read one of my books and she is a minister, a person of great faith, and she had this instinct that Red should be my dog. That is an amazing thing, to get a dog like Red in that way. And she was right.
I got a lot of response to the letter so I decided last night to record it as a podcast. I’m still tinkering with the podcast idea – Fromm Family Foods is interesting in sponsoring the podcast idea, figuring out the technical issues and also trying to determine what I’m comfortable doing. I’m not used to speaking without an audience, so that has been a little strange. And I’ve been wrestling with the technics of an external microphone which picks up all sorts of strange sounds.
I have to admit that the subject was also a bit emotional for me, something I realized as I was recording it.
I took my digital voice recorder and microphone and Ipad and extension cords down into the Cold Storage Room in the basement, as close to a soundproof room as I will find around here, and I think I figured it out. I hope to do weekly podcasts from Bedlam Farm, I recorded five versions of commentary on “Lulu’s Crossing” but I didn’t like any of them. I have high hopes for the podcasts (they are free), they are an exciting new way to communicate with my readers. So here it is, my reading of Red’s letter to Dr. Karen Thompson. I’m figuring it out, hope you enjoy it.