Dairylandia

Steve Hannah is a former managing editor of the Milwaukee Journal and was a longtime CEO of The Onion.

Foreword by Michael Perry xi Preface xiii Introduction: From the Garden State to the Garden of Eden 3 Part 1: The Accidental Agriculturalist 16 Of Poetry and Planting: Farmers in Springtime 19 The Farm That Love Built: Helen and Paul Lute 23 I'd Know That Face Anywhere: Cliff and Shelly Keepers 29 I've Always Been Lucky: The Ballad of Herman Tronrud 35 My Apologies, Mr. President: Wherein Our Hero Fails to Outsmart Jerry Ford 41 The World by the Tail with a Downhill Pull: Katie and Erhardt Schultz 47 Part 2: Ageless 62 Try Not to Be Boring: Emma Washa 65 Love Is Still Love, Even When It's Frozen: Edna Koenig 73 Beautiful Ballerinas, Heavenly Holsteins: The Life and Loves of Schomer Lichtner 79 Larger Than Life, Suddenly Small: Eric Lloyd Wright 85 Part 3: The Dark Side of Paradise 92 Tragedy without Reason: The Eerie Calm of John Norton 97 The Pain of Never Knowing: Mary Wegner 105 Living with the "Enemy": Bill Fero 113 The Truth Will Out: The Short, Unhappy Life of Emmanuel Dannan 118 The Banality of Evil: Jerry Boyle and the Defense of Jeffrey Dahmer 124 Part 4: Not Quite Plumb 136 "I'm So Happy It's Just Terrible!": Woodrow Wilson Roberts 139 The Frogman Cometh: Art Gering and the Astounding Amphibian Invasion 145 Big Brats, Tiny Trophies: Dennis Leffin and the Wondrous White Sausage 150 Dignity in Motion: Jim Herther and the World's Greatest Car Wash 155 Nearly Naked, Seeking Snow: In Wisconsin, That's Amore 160 Farewell, My Doboy: Kissing Alex P. Dobish Good-Bye 164 Part 5: Animals? Yes!! People? Not So Much. 172 The Elephant in the Room 175 Bo Knows 180 Oh, Deer: The Anna Mae Bauer Story 183 Part 6: Your Lucky Day 190 Poems from the Edge: Ellen Kort 193 Short in Stature, Long on Courage: Joe Bee Xiong 199 Making Beautiful Music: Steve O'Donnell 205 A Naturalist's Journey: Ken Lange 210 Running for Help: Sue Birschbach and Barb Klinner 216 You Can' t Tattoo a Soap Bubble: Evelyn Ann Fefer 223 The Road to Redemption: Ed Thompson 229 A Million Miles to Go: Don and Cathryn Tredinnick 235 Postscript 243 Acknowledgments 245

"A marvelous book by a longtime Wisconsin journalist who writes with insight, humor, and compassion about the state and its residents."--Doug Moe "Hannah has woven together an honest and humorous self-portrait and a fascinating collection of stories about an array of Wisconsinites. It's clear that a deep love for Wisconsin's people and its landscapes runs through these stories."--Lynne Diebel, author of Crossing the Driftless "While his four decades of residence [in the Midwest] are manifested in his writing through veracity of voice, tone, and fact, it is [Steve Hannah's] status as perpetual 'newcomer' . . . that infuses these tales with a palpable sense of discovery, marvel, and wonder."--from the foreword by Michael Perry, author of Population 485