Toastmaster Archives ⋆ John Harrer

A Tale of Two Mockingbirds Orville and Wilbur

February 12, 2018 by jjharrer Leave a Comment

A Tale of Two Mockingbirds

Editor’s Note on “A Tale of Two Mockingbirds Orville and Wilbur”: This was my third speech for Toastmasters. In it, I was working on some of the suggestions I had received from my second speech. Getting comfortable in front of an audience and keeping their attention were the main suggestions were the focus.

It was a fun story that actually happened to us. The challenge was cutting the story down to no more than 7 minutes. There was a lot that was left out because of the time constraints.

Mr. Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters, and welcomed guests. Today I have for you a story of survival, perseverance and the love of a good woman.

It was June 4th, 2003. My wife, Ranae, and I had just sat down for dinner when the phone rang. Our neighbor was frantic. A baby mockingbird had fallen from its nest and our neighbor was sure it would be eaten by one of the rogue cats in our neighborhood.

Now, it should be noted I was our block’s veterinarian. If you had a problem with your car you talked to James across the street. If your lawnmower wouldn’t start, that was Charlie at the end of the block. A legal problem, that would be Cesar who worked at the Sheriff’s Dept. Me, I was animals.

I had worked as a vet tech in my youth. Bird-saving wasn’t my forte. As a matter-of-fact, though I had tried many times, I had never been successful. However, to calm my neighbor, I carried the tiny thing home. Then, once my wife, saw it, she fell in love. Now, I needed a miracle.

Of course, I didn’t reach for the “miracle” thing right away. Changing expectations would be the much easier course of action. “You know, honey,” I said, “I don’t think there is much we can do for this little fellow. He likely won’t make it 48 hours, but we’ll give it our best try.”

She looked at me with those loving eyes and said, “We’ve gotta save him.”

Looking for a Miracle

We didn’t know anything about mockingbirds. But, the one thing I had now that we never had before, turned out to be the miracle I needed – the internet. “What does Google say about how to feed mockingbirds, Babe?” Mealworms. Okay, mealworms. Where do we get those? A bait store. Huh. There’s one less than a mile away. “What do we do, chop them up?” Feed them whole? Really? Okay, I’m in.

I made the worm run and got back with a buck and a half worth of mealworms. We held one in front of the fledgling. Nothing. Could they even see? Smell? Maybe I should cut it in half. It looks so awfully big compared to such a small bird.

It took us awhile, but we finally learned if we bumped the box, the baby would think mom had landed on the edge of the nest with food. Jostling the box trigger the baby bird to open its mouth. We put one end of the worm in, the baby did the rest.

Two days later, our neighbor called to say another baby mockingbird was found. Now, we had two beaks to feed until they learned to fly. We named them Orville and Wilbur.

Worse Than Taking Care of a Baby

For the next four weeks, it was feeding a worm every two hours during the day. The boys grew slowly. We just weren’t as good as Mom and Mother Nature. To hasten the process, I developed a “training system”. I bought a small bell and rang it before feeding a worm. In no time at all, they associated the ring of the bell with meal time.

Ranae and I worked together. One of us would hold Orville and the other the bell and the worm. We stood a few feet away and rang the bell. Orville flew! Landing clumsily into my hand, he gobbled the worm. Wilbur had a little more grace and finesse and soon we were standing ten feet apart as the birds flew to the sound of the dinner bell.

A few weeks later we moved the exercise outdoors. The boys – we had no idea of their actual sex – the boys were flying well when a light gust of wind caught Orville’s wing and bent it backward. The poor guy was grounded.

Wilbur is Good-To-Go

As the days went by, Wilbur kept flying and getting stronger. The extra time in the nest had helped him advance more quickly. A friend stopped by on a beautiful, warm July Saturday afternoon and we brought Wilbur out for a training run. He was feeling good and we probably overdid it. Once he had his fill of mealworms, he took off for the tallest tree in the neighborhood. He spent his first night outside. The next morning I rang the bell. Wilbur came flying in, but wouldn’t land on my hand. I placed a worm on the sidewalk for him. He thanked me for the meal and headed north. We were now batting .500 in the saving-mockingbirds department.

After a few weeks of R & R, Orville got his wings back and we continued training. Late in August, after a particularly large feast of mealworms, Orville headed for the top of our mulberry tree.

Orville Continues to Visit

The next morning at sun up, I rang the bell with a meal worm in the palm of my hand. I wasn’t sure which direction he came from, but I could hear him crash into the Mulberry tree above me. I held still. He squeaked. I rang the bell. Whoosh! Orville landed on my fingertips, snagged his favorite treat, tossed me a wink and a nod, then flew off.

For the next month, I would sit in my lawn chair at sunrise and sunset, worm in one hand, a bell in the other. (The sunset session also often included a cocktail.) Almost without fail Orville would land and snack. We had imaginary conversations of his adventures – he was getting along fine. He said he ran into Wilbur once in awhile, but that Ole Wil was too proud to take handouts. Orville claimed we had the best worms east of Union Ave.

The Final Visit

As time went on, the days got shorter. Our cats discovered I was chumming a feathery meal for them twice a day and surely wanted to take advantage. Orville noticed the cats, too.

It was early October and the weather was turning cool. I hadn’t seen Orville in a few days. It was taking him longer and longer to fly in. Did mockingbirds fly south for the winter, I wondered? The light was failing, the sun was setting. I continued to ring my bell and I had plenty of worms left. As I gathered my worms and bell to head inside, I thought I heard a familiar rustle in the tree above me. One quick ring. One last visit. Orville said he’d found a girl and needed to settle down. I told him I understood. He grabbed a worm one last time, took an extra lap over our house, and headed for the tallest tree. Both Orville and Wilbur had learned to fly!

My 3 Tips to a Healthy Life

February 5, 2018 by jjharrer Leave a Comment

My 3 Tips to a Healthy Life

Editor’s Note on a “Healthy Life”:

This is my first speech after the Icebreaker Speech. I chose to talk about “Tips for a Healthy Life” based on my experience of owning a health food store for 30 years. The purpose of this speech is to receive an evaluation (that would probably be more critical than the Icebreaker), take the comments and suggestions from the evaluation and incorporate them into the next speech. This speech was limited to 5-7 minutes.

Madam Toastmaster, my fellow Toastmasters, welcomed guests,

There’s nothing in conversation today that brings a greater diversity of opinions than politics, religion, and health. The first two topics I would not touch with a ten-foot pole, but I had the privilege of standing behind the counter of our downtown health food store for 30 years and I would like to share with you my 3 tips to a long, healthy life.

Now, I’m not going to bore you with statistics of double-blind, randomized, meta-studies, or the latest research demonstrating coffee is good for you, no wait, it’s bad for you, hold on….what month is it? Yeah, I think it’s good for you now. As a proprietor, I learned about my customers’ families, work, and lifestyle. I saw many grow up, some grow old, and sadly, a few pass away. Customers became friends. I want to share their secrets of success.

It was our first month owning the store. The previous owner, Bill, was working with us to learn the daily operations and introduce us to our clientele. We were near the front counter where we could see cars pull up to the curb when this cruise ship sized Buick comes rolling up. Bill looked at me and said, “This is Mr. Keister. He gets a case of Black Cherry Juice for his gout every month.” A big man, Mr. Keister, with an equally big smile, cast a shadow as he came through the door. “How’s everybody doing?” he bellowed. I would later learn Mr. Keister was 80 years old. He shopped at our store for 15 years and at 95, his eyesight was failing, but his smile and good cheer never wavered.

Tip #1

Determine to be happy. Smile. Life will throw you curves for sure, but you don’t have to swing at them. And, if you need help, I think it was Mark Twain who said, “The best way to cheer yourself, is to cheer someone else up.”

It must’ve been around the third or fourth Christmas when one of my favorite customers, Libby, came in holding a large platter filled with all sorts of holiday treats. Libby was an excellent cook. At the time, I didn’t cook much. Many of the ingredients she used were purchased from our store. I asked Libby if she was worried about the sugar, fat, and calories in her treats.

“John,” she said, ” I know every ingredient in the recipe and every single one is wholesome. Why shouldn’t they be wholesome when mixed together?”

This made sense. She told me she never bought frozen or prepared food. Everything she made herself. Libby encouraged me to learn to cook. “And, when you do, John, make sure you share!”

Tip #2

Eat wholesomely. It doesn’t have to be labeled organic. If it has a label, read the ingredients. If you can’t pronounce them, or if any have more than 10 letters, move along. Oh, and it’s “OK” to occasionally splurge.

One of the oddities of observing from my vantage point was the people who came in knowing they had vices – sugar, smoking, drinking, even drugs. These folks were looking for ways to counteract the negative effects of their lifestyle. A man named Joe announced to me one day that the doctors told him he had emphysema from smoking. Then, he asked, “What herb can I smoke to help my lungs?”

“Are you going to continue to smoke?” I said.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Well, I’m not sure I’ve got anything to help.”

“Oh, sure you have. We just haven’t found it yet.”

Joe kept looking but he never found his answer in time.

Tip #3

I believe we inherently know what’s good and bad for us. Be honest with yourself. Avoid those things that hamper your health and performance. Stay away from the dangers you know.

People make health more complicated than it needs to be and you only have to look at the diet section of any bookstore to know that is true. Fit for Life Diet, The Hollywood Diet, The Adkins Diet, The Paleo Diet are guides that lead you away from, not to a healthier life. If I put a glass of water next to a diet coke, you know which one is better for you. If I put an apple next to chocolate cheesecake, you know which one is better for you. Am I saying NEVER have a diet coke? Never have cheesecake? Absolutely not! Those successful in maintaining health keep a mental ledger of good things and not-so-good things dealing with their body. The easiest plans are the simplest. Keep your health plan simple. Do the good things, avoid the bad and you’ll live a long healthy life.

Who Let the Dogs Out – Pet Overpopulation

January 25, 2018 by jjharrer Leave a Comment

Toastmaster Speech

Editor’s Note:

My last speech at the Pathways Level I module is about dogs. The goal was to prepare and deliver a well-researched speech, quoting sources and including statistics. This speech was delivered 1/24/2018 at Toastmasters Downtown Bakersfield.

Who Let the Dogs Out – Pet Overpopulation

Americans love their dogs! From Lassie to Rin Tin Tin to Spuds McKenzie, the dog is man’s best friend. There are an estimated 78 million dogs owned in the US according to the American Pet Products Assn. Nearly 48% of all US households own a dog. But, let me ask you this, are we their best friend?

One of my goals in retirement is donating time to worthy causes. When, in late 2015, I heard Nick Cullen, the Director Kern County of Animal Services, declare he believed the County Shelters could reach No-Kill status by 2020, I decided to pitch in. Kern County Animal Shelter has an active roster of 40-50 volunteers who typically donate 10-30 hours a month performing basic animal care, helping with clinics, providing creature comforts, and assisting in grooming and socialization. As a volunteer, one generally starts at the bottom. With nearly 300 animals being housed at the Fruitvale Shelter, the bottom was washing dishes.

Making a Change

After a couple of months of dishpan hands, I moved to socialization. One afternoon the Volunteer Coordinator asked me to meet the Director.

“Return to Owner”, or RTO is the measure for how many dogs picked up as strays, were returned to their rightful owner. The County wanted to increase their dismal RTO and had learned of my experience working in social media. Nick Cullen challenged me to establish a program.

In March 2016, my team of three volunteers launched the Kern Pet Detective. Our goal was to post to our Pet Detective Facebook Page, high-quality photos of the dogs that were classified as strays and brought to our shelter. We felt with the proper use of social media, we could get word of lost dogs out to the public reaching as many as 20,000 people in the Kern County Area. Anyone looking for their dog on social media could do a quick scan of our page and see if their dog was at the Fruitvale Shelter.

The Latest Research

In researching this project I learned some very sobering facts. While no national organization is responsible for tabulating statistics, the American Pet Products Assn. estimates that 3.3 million dogs enter animal shelters every year. About 1.6 million are adopted by new owners. Nearly 670,000 dogs, or 20%, are euthanized. Nationally, only 620,000 are returned to their owners. Think about that for a moment. Of the total number of dogs brought into shelters, more are euthanized than returned to their owners.

Now, it can be said that some people will just dump unwanted dogs and others through carelessness will let them run away. Some may no longer be able to afford them and simply turn them loose. But any way you look at it, far too many dogs have owners who aren’t looking to get them back.

Making a Difference

In our first year, the Pet Detective Program did make a difference. According to the Annual Report from Kern County Animal services the RTO in 2015 – the year before Pet Detective was established – was 6.9%. In 2016, after only 9 months in operation, the RTO increased to 8.6%.

More importantly, there was a side effect no one had anticipated. The Pet Detective Page had grown to 2,500 “likes” and had a weekly reach of 20,000 page views -substantial numbers for a grassroots, community-oriented, volunteer-created social media page. Members of the community were exposed to photos of dogs they would not normally see. They were telling their friends, neighbors, and relatives about them. The adoption rate for the County Shelter increased from 26% in 2015 to over 36% in 2016. Not all of the increase can be attributed to the Pet Detectives, but we did do our part.

Once a dog is brought into the Kern County Shelter as a stray, the County is obligated to hold it for 5 days. After that, it is moved to the adoption wing in the hopes a member of the public will adopt.

Adoption Is a Bargain

Adoption is a good deal for the public. Three years ago I purchased a dog from a breeder for $200. Three visits to the veterinarian for shots, worming and a microchip set me back $150. Then, to have him neutered cost another $150. To top it off, I bought his county license for $60. Add that all up and it equals $560.

When a member of the public adopts a County Shelter dog, they are neutered, have been chipped, vaccinated and licensed. The cost? Usually less than $50. Last week, our family adopted a year-old Queensland mix at a cost of $40.

Libraries and animal services are the forgotten orphans of municipal governments. They are the first to suffer budget cuts when times get tough. When libraries get cut, we get fewer books. When animal services get cut, there are more animals on the streets. I was surprised how much County Animal Services relies on the community of volunteers, rescue groups, and foster families to reach their goal.

Our local animal welfare groups are doing a good job. There’s still a lot more to do. Education about spay and neuter and the responsibility of pet ownership will continue to be the biggest challenges. With the help of a lot of dedicated people, who knows, maybe we can convince a nation of dogs that we deserve to be their best friend.

Jokemaster at Our Toastmaster

January 17, 2018 by jjharrer Leave a Comment

Jokemaster at Our Toastmaster

Editors Note:

Our Toastmaster chapter sometimes includes a “Jokemaster” at our meetings. I haven’t been a member very long. The few Jokemasters I’ve experienced stood up told a few jokes, and the meeting rolled on. I wanted to at least put a “teaching moment” in my presentation. Here’s what I came up with:

When I learned I was assigned Jokemaster duties for today’s meeting, I winced. Comedians tell jokes. Telling jokes is difficult. The audience braces when they know a joke is coming. They’re thinking the same thing the joke-teller is thinking, “Will this be funny enough to laugh at, or am I going to have to fake it?”

In his book, The Light Touch, Humor for Business, Malcom Kushner says in speech don’t try to be funny. Instead, you want to convey you have a sense of humor.

There’s a big difference between being funny and using your sense of humor. Nobody expects us to be funny, but when we use our sense of humor with increase our likeability with the audience. And, after all, isn’t that one of the goals of public speaking? To get the audience on our side.

In comedy, if you try to be funny and fail, they call it “bombing”. But in speech, trying to demonstrate your sense of humor and failing, gets passed on almost unnoticed. People don’t expect us to be funny.

It was like the other day, I was at Poppy’s Restaurant, a local hangout for ranchers. I was sitting in a booth next to two ranchers; one I recognized as a local, the other I would learn was from Texas. The Texas Rancher said, “I can get in my truck in the morning and set out drivin’ and by sunset, I still ain’t reached the end of my property.”

The California rancher paused for a moment, shook his head, then said, “Yep, I had a truck like that once.”

In your speeches strive to convey your sense of humor and leave the jokes to the comedians.

Toastmasters and Public Speaking

January 6, 2018 by jjharrer Leave a Comment

Editor’s Note:
In September of 2017, I joined the public speaking group, Toastmasters. As part of their program, I’m encouraged to stand up and speak in front of our group. The topics and types of speeches vary. This was my first Toastmasters speech and is called the “Icebreaker”.

The Icebreaker Speech

Madam Toastmaster, fellow members, and guests….

I’d like to tell you a little about me, the events in my life, and how a term from Improvisation called, “yes, and…” has impacted my journey.

First, by the numbers, I’ve been married for 36 years. We have no children but have 3 horses, two dogs, and 5 cats. Animals are a big part of our life.

The Importance of “Yes, and…”

Life is something of an Improvisation and ‘yes, and…’ is a key component, even if things don’t always work out. I returned to Bakersfield in 1977 after making a mess of my post-high school years. I got a steady job and said ‘yes’ to my best girl, Ranae, and we were married. Side note: Guys, if you make this decision correctly, all the others come very easily.

My Dad owned an oilfield machine shop downtown. When oil hit a record high $30 a barrel in 1982, he invited me to buy into the company. It was just the two of us. I didn’t know anything about machine work, but he promised to train me and I said ‘yes’. Three months later oil plummeted to $7 a barrel.

As luck would have it, there was a health food store across from our shop and I was a regular customer. One day I asked the owner how to go about opening a store of my own, which I hoped to do after Dad retired. The shopkeeper said he turned 65 in 3 months and was looking to sell and retire. I said ‘yes’ and we were in the retail business.

I worked mornings and evenings at the store and daytimes at the machine shop. Ranae was the face of the health food business and, though we struggled for a number of years, things got easier. Dad retired and we sold the machine shop in 1995.

With increasing health insurance costs for the self-employed, Ranae took a job with the County Tax Collector’s office in 2006, to ensure we had medical coverage. I continued to operate the store.

A New Type of Adventure

In 2005, through a series of events that make a great story – unfortunately too long to tell here – I said ‘yes’ to buying my first horse. To make a long story a tad bit shorter, I immediately figured out I needed to learn much more about horsemanship if I were to survive the experience.

I studied a DVD program developed by Clinton Anderson and Downunder Horsemanship. We visited trainers and participated in clinics and rode our horses a lot. Although we had owned Ranae’s horse our entire married life, we both knew little about horsemanship. To develop our skills, we sat in our garden after every ride, sipped an adult beverage, and rehashed not only our horses’ behavior but our riding skills as well.

We thought these were valuable conversations that could help any new horse owner and, when podcasting was in its infancy, I began recording and posting our conversations on iTunes. The Whoa Podcast about Horses and Horsemanship was born.

A Change of Careers

The writing was on the wall for brick and mortar retail stores. I knew I would soon have to say ‘yes’ to closing the store we had owned for 30 years. But I wanted there to be an ‘AND’. I took several photography classes including a photojournalism class at Bakersfield College. I had also produced several horsemanship videos on our YouTube Channel.

When a friend told me that a uniquely Australian horse-sport, called Campdrafting, was coming to the US, I pitched several Australian equestrian magazines to cover the event. One said yes. The wheels were in motion to close the store and I sped up the process in order to travel to Colorado to begin my new career as an equestrian journalist. I went on to have two articles, along with photos, published in the Australian Stock Horse Journal. Later, I would find it more difficult to enter the American equestrian magazine market.

One Thing Leads to Another

I focused on the podcast and, after covering a mustang training event, I was invited to participate as a trainer the following year. Of course, I said yes. On June 14, 2015, a horse, born and raised wild for 10 years, was loaded onto my horse trailer to test my correspondence-school-horsemanship skills. I named the horse ‘Scratch’ partly because of the several scars he had earned living in the wild and because that’s where we were both starting from…Scratch.

Four months later we competed against 7 other trainers, six who made their daily wages training horses, and we placed 4th. While it didn’t all go smoothly, I demonstrated the bond we built by riding Scratch bridle-less in front of a packed arena while I was blindfolded.

None of this would have been possible without saying ‘yes’. And, the ‘yes-es’ not only came from me, they came from everyone who helped me along the way. So often in this world, we don’t have time or energy to take on another project or learn another skill and our default answer shifts from ‘yes’ to ‘no’. Fight the urge to decline, embrace the new endeavor and say YES, AND see where it takes you. My most recent Yes brought me to Toastmasters.