Found this particular book on the clearance shelf at a local bookstore. Used to listen to Bodett's adventures (they were very different from what he penned in this collection) during dinner back when I was finishing up with my teaching credential classes (this was 1989-90, post-publish date of this book). What I heard on the radio was more like Garrison Keillor's townspeople vignettes/fables with morals. When the station approved by my then-husband stopped broadcasting them, I knew it was useless to search other stations for my nightly fix. These essays are both more personal and more general in terms of Bodett's wisdom.

Description from back cover:
"Tom Bodett is a building contractor in Homer, Alaska. He's also the fellow with the dry, deadpan delivery whose humorous comments are a regular feature of National Public Radio's 'All Things Considered.' His interests range widely, from soap operas to salmon fishing, from Hollywood to Halloween; but what fascinates him most is how incredibly complicated he (and we) can make the simplest tasks, like growing a beard or choosing paint for the baby's bedroom. Bodett is never upset by complications--not when his socks disappear in the drier, not even when his gourmet cooking comes out tasting like a wino's overcoat--but instead is amused, sometimes awed. Here's life viewed with great warmth by a one-of-a-kind Everyman in the far northwest corner of America."

Bodett's web presence and other interesting links:

http://www.bodett.com
http://www.looseleaf.org/tom.html
http://www.johnnyjet.com/folder/reporters/TombodettQA.html
http://www.booksense.com/people/archive/bodett.jsp

My Favorite Stories:

Out of Sight, Out of Season
Thirty Candles [sending this to my little sister, who turned 30 last month]
Baby Names
Birth Rites
Elections
Dress For Success

Quotes from other selections:

"People wouldn't dare reach into her coat and touch her front under normal circumstances, but the fact that she's pregnant makes her into a sort of human Blarney Stone."

"If you were to give me an extra 25 pounds to pack around all crammed against my more delicate seams and organs, stirred my hormones around for some effect, and then walked up and started in on some smug speech about how bad it was going to get later on, I think I'd break your nose for you."

"...the sadness we all carry with us every day, and take to bed with us at night. The small pains and disappointments that keep us off our mark a little."

Promised to SeeWest, hopefully mailing on Monday 3/1/04

Released on Monday, March 01, 2004 at Release by post in kansas city, Missouri Controlled Releases.

Heading east to SeeWest.

This is a trade from Marinaw that I'm going to start soon.