Last weekend, the sun was shining and the chickens had an idea.

“Mom, we’re going to set up a shop in the yard to sell your books!”

“Great,” I said. An activity and potential moneymaker all at once, perfect.

“How much do they cost?” asked Noodle.

“Well, if you buy them at the store they’re like $15.”

“We can’t sell them for that much!” she said incredulously. “Let’s sell them for like $2.”

“Sure,” I agreed. Given that we live on a dead end street, I didn’t expect much traffic. And two bucks is two bucks, man. Halfway to a pint of beer.

They set up a lovely display of Chance of Sun, Day Trips from Portland, and a few copies of Central Oregon Magazine. 15 minutes later, they’d encountered no buyers.

“Mom, we think we’re going to sell them for a dollar instead.”

I laughed. “Sure, whatever.” Depreciation happens.

After a good long while, two customers approached (our neighbors).

“Books for sale, books for sale, one dollar!” the chickens chanted.

“What is this book about, why should I buy it?” said one careful shopper.

“I don’t know,” Noodle shrugged.

“Well, you’re selling it, you should know what it’s about,” said my neighbor, grinning.

Noodle picked up a copy and read from the back.

“Fresh, alive, exciting and bold writing. A compelling piece of writing, heartbreaking and redemptive.”

My neighbor smiled. “We’ll buy that book for a dollar. How much are the magazines?”

“They’re $5.” This mysterious pricing difference was lost on me, but I was going with my original commitment to laissez-faire parenting.

“We won’t pay $5, but we’ll give you a dollar.”

“Okay.”

After they left, Noodle exclaimed, “I can’t believe we got two whole dollars from one person!”

Join the club, baby.

To my surprise, by the end of the morning, they’d sold six books. I rewarded them with a few cookies and covertly pocketed the bills. After all, the chickens can’t drink beer.

Central Oregon Writers Guild’s Thursday, April 25 meeting takes place at COCC Redmond Campus, 2030 SE College Loop, Building 3 Room 309, 6:30 – 9 p.m. The meeting is free and everyone is welcome to attend. Refreshments will be served.

Here’s what they say:

Bend Author Kim Cooper Findling is the featured speaker at Central Oregon Writers Guild’s Thursday April 25 meeting. Kim is the editor of Central Oregon Magazine and writes and edits for many magazines and a wide range of professional organizations. Kim was born in Seattle and grew up on the Oregon Coast. She has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Oregon and a M.S. in Natural Resource Education from Oregon State. Prior to embarking upon her career as a writer, Kim worked as an educator at The High Desert Museum. Her work has appeared in magazines and literary journals, and she wrote chapters for the books Best Places to Kiss in the Northwest, Day in the Life: Central Oregon, Back from War, and the anthology You’re Invited. She is an AskOregon Ambassador for Travel Oregon and a member of the board of BendFilm. She teaches writing workshops to children and adults, and coaches writers one-on-one. One of her most recent adventures was as writer-in-residence at Cascades Academy in Bend, which she says was a blast! Kim lives in Bend with her husband and two daughters. Her website is www.kimcooperfindling.com.

Hope to see you there!

The spring issue of Central Oregon Magazine is out and about! Read up on top recreation picks, the dish from local wedding planners, the controversy on Mirror Pond, and much more.

I finally got smart enough to add audio segments to my website so I can share with you the radio show I do on KLRR 101.7 fm in Bend.

I realize this is garden variety tech savvy, but hey, I’m proud anyway – and all before noon on a Tuesday! I think I’ll take the rest of the week off.

The show is about traveling Oregon and is called “Are We There Yet?”. I’d categorize it as goofy (or maybe that’s just me), fun and hopefully the bearer of at least one useful factoid about Oregon each episode.

I love hanging out with MJ and Sam in the studio! So far they let me keep coming back, though they’ve never let me wear those cool gigantic headphones or touch the control panel with all those important looking switchy things.

Take a listen here, if you are so inclined, and weekly on KLRR.

Don’t bother to tell me that the sound of my radio voice makes it clear that my dreams of being a professional karaoke star are in ruins. I already figured that out.

The current issue of Portrait of Portland Magazine includes a travel story I wrote titled “Seeking the Light,” which features the gorgeous work of Bend photographer Mike Putnam, and details some wheres and hows to take hikes in Central Oregon to capture similar shots (whether on the camera or just the mind’s eye.) Hooray for hiking season!

My story “Wine-Paired Picnics” is in the April issue of Alaska Air Magazine, Horizon Edition. It was rough duty sampling fine Oregon wines and eating delicious complimentary foods in a gorgeous outdoor setting, but somebody had to do it.

It’s full of all kinds of useful information, from “Even dishwashing needn’t be dull!” to “Kitchen Economics” to “Wine is Fun!” (I already noticed that).

My favorite page so far:

What kind of a husband have YOU?

Read his character here

Is he eager to get ahead?   Y  N

Does he think faster than others?  Y  N

Does he find it hard to get the day’s problems out of his mind at night?   Y  N

Is he continually dissatisfied with himself?   Y  N

Is he a light sleeper?   Y  N

Does he like to be on the go?   Y  N

If the answers to most of these questions are “no” you are married to a calm, reserved rather phlegmatic person. If most of your answers are “yes” your husband is the energetic, “race-horse” type. Like the race-horse he is quick, high-strung, eager to win. Like the race-horse he is excitable, nervous, sensitive. One thing may stand in the way of his success–his nerves.

Hmm. Identifying my own husband’s character was easy. Had there been a “hell yes” answer category, Captain Daddy would’ve aced it.

Incidentally, the book doesn’t say, after you’ve been enlightened about the man you married, what exactly you are supposed to do with this information.

Perhaps I should send my little racehorse off to the races, where he can win us some big bucks with his quick, high-strung nature and eagerness to win.

I’d miss him, though, and his energetic fast thinking and sleepless nights.

Ladies? Advice?

She’s writing her own songs now, which are delivered at full volume in the living room, often with the advantage of the karaoke machine microphone.

Here’s the latest installment in her Broadway-ready repertoire.

It’s titled “I Don’t Know” (“by You Know Who,” she wrote).

You’ll have to just imagine the tune: dramatic, full of tension and emotion.  

I don’t know whether the ocean is flowing right or left

I don’t know where the birds are chirping now,

Maybe in the treetops, high above the ground

I don’t know where the fire chief is turning red, as red as a red thing

A very, very red thing!

I don’t know why you really care about what you care about

I don’t know why you really care about what you care about

Before!

And before!

For some reason, I feel as if these lyrics were inspired by conversations between Captain Daddy and me. But that might be paranoid.

This is not Noodle’s first foray into song writing, incidentally. See Number Two for a hilarious lyrical romp of three years ago.

Every time I add up my annual mileage for tax purposes, I think: “Darn, lady. You’re on the road a lot.”

My 2012 included approximately 8500 road miles, the vast majority of which were within the state of Oregon.

Last September I noted that I’d hit 23 of Oregon’s 36 counties during the summer alone. If you count my whole book tour: 30/36. Between September and December, I added two more counties to the list.

There’s a reason I don’t really notice the heft of the miles as I’m racking them up.

I LOVE EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT!

This state rocks and I love exploring it for any reason I can come up with.

Book touring “Day Trips From Portland” and “Chance of Sun” have been excellent reasons, as is my gig as an ambassador for Ask Oregon.

I also suddenly understand why I’ve been feeling so restless. Just positively jumping out of my skin, in fact. I haven’t been out of town since the beginning of 2013. Unless you count Prineville.

Road trip, anyone?