My grandma (aka Betty L. Smokov) became a published author this summer about a month after she turned 75. It’s a pretty cool book called “Bikes, Trikes, Toads, and Roads: A Lifetime of Stories.” To read one of the stories, go to their website www.smokovranch.com. Then you can buy your copy of the book. It has a ton of short stories about everything from way back when her ancestors came to America in 1883 to sad stories about how my mom and her three sisters almost froze to death in the car during a snow storm when they were young. Then there are more recent stories like the one about how Grandpa (aka Paul Smokov) became pretty famous by forecasting the weather reading pig spleens.
Pig spleens you ask? Well, it’s an organ inside the pig just like people have a spleen.
Needless to say, neither Jay nor Letterman called back. As they say, opportunity only knocks once, especially when it comes to TV shows.
But back to Grandma. She’s been having a lot of fun doing book signings around North Dakota and also giving presentations at schools. Since 4th graders study about their state, lots of them like reading the stories too because she talks about things that aren’t in regular history or science books like what caused red snow one winter and how it’s possible to rain frogs and toads. Really! My mom has even seen that happen for real when she was a kid.
I guess I’m lucky because I come from a pretty amazing family with lots of different talents. Probably where I get my entrepreneurial spirit.
