July 14, 2025 • 49 mins
What if the most powerful childhood lessons don’t come from screens, sports, or summer camps—but from the quiet stillness of a barnyard at night?
On this episode of Ever Onward, award-winning author and fifth-generation Idahoan Carla Osborne takes us back to her upbringing on a farm near Burley, where hard work, quiet reflection, and connection to the land shaped her deepest values. Now the author of a growing series of beautifully illustrated children’s books, Carla is on a mission to preserve a way of life that’s fast disappearing—and to inspire parents and kids to reconnect with the simple, powerful moments that form character.
Tommy sits down with Carla to talk about her writing process, her passion for authenticity (even when publishers wanted her to water things down), and the real-life stories behind her books—from bottle-feeding lambs in the dark to honoring her family’s military service in Home Again. Her work speaks to anyone who values faith, family, and tradition—core themes we revisit often on Ever Onward.
As Carla shares, “The barnyard light in the darkness—that wasn’t scary. That was safety. That was home.”
This conversation is a heartfelt reminder that wisdom, resilience, and gratitude are often found in the humblest of places. Whether you’re raising kids or building your legacy, you’ll leave this episode inspired to slow down, be present, and pass on what matters most.
Learn more here: https://www.gonasreadingranch.com
Buy Carla Osborne's books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Books-Carla-Osborne/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ACarla%2BOsborne
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today on the Ever Onward podcast, we have Carla
Osborne, who is a children'sbook author from here in the
Treasure Valley.
She has written several booksthat tie back to her childhood
and the heritage of Idaho andreally connects with a lot of
the values that we hold near anddear to us through children's
books.
Really excited to share thispodcast with everyone today.
(00:23):
Carla Osborne Carla, thanks forbeing here today.
This will be fun.
We've had you down on theschedule for a while, so it'll
be fun to hear all about thisand it's nice to have someone
(00:47):
that's doing what you're doingoh, thank you so Carla, award
winning children's book author,and I, when you, when we got you
booked, you were able to dropoff a few books for me to look
at, and they're already with mygrandkids, oh good.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
So thank you very much for coming on able to drop
off a few books for me to lookat, and they're already with my
grandkids.
Oh good they're loving that.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
So thank you very much for coming on and talking
about what you do and yourpassions.
Tell us a little bit about you,to get started.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I am an Idaho native.
My children are fifthgeneration, or well, my
grandchildren are fifthgeneration Idahoans.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Where did you grow up ?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
In Burley it was.
You know, when you say Burleyit's like Treasure Valley.
So I was outside of Burley,close to the mountains in
Pomerale.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Pomerale, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah, on a farm out there.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
There's a ton of great people from the valley
that are from that area.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
There must have been something in the water there.
I mean just like, I think, likeso many people.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I spent a lot of time in Oakley and because we were
closer actually to Oakley thanto Burley really and we went to,
you know, down that way a lot,it's got some great stories too.
Yes, that whole area yes.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
So you grew up on a farm.
I grew up on a farm.
What kind of farming.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
We grew wheat and sugar beets and alfalfa and corn
and that's what we grew up.
And then we had cattle as welland then my father had horses.
He had quarter horses.
He had love for quarter horsesand so he would show quarter
horses and that's where my lovecame to was for horses and
animals and anything like that,and just really down into the.
You know, where my love came towas for horses and animals and
anything like that and justreally down into the.
You know, when you're growingup on a farm, you really gain an
(02:33):
appreciation for soil and forwork and for seeing things grow
and how they progress.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
You know, it's one of the things about our heritage
that I think gets a littleoverlooked just because we are
about work, but our farmers andour ranchers are our
environmentalists.
They are Like no one cares moreabout water, clean water, how
the water is used and maximized,how the soil is taken care of
(03:06):
and treated, and then ourfarmers and ranchers.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
You're right.
I mean because that's theirlivelihood.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
So it really kind of frustrates me sometimes when you
hear the other side of thingssaying well, somehow blaming
farming and ranching and ourheritage for something I'm like.
Are you kidding me?
Those are the folks that takethe best care of our resources
than anyone.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I agree totally.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
That's great, great.
So you grew up there, Wonderfullife.
Tell me about horse.
Did you get into horses?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
I did because like my dad and my brothers they all
showed you know they were intohorses and we had quarter horses
, beautiful quarter horses, andmy dad actually um would chariot
race.
He was in the posse.
So up in Albion, you know theywere in the posse.
We have pictures of him on hishorses up there.
And then he would um go to therodeos and they were, do you
(03:59):
know, the posse would ride information and then yeah.
Yeah, and so then I grew upriding horses in parades and
then also being in 4-H andshowing horses, and so I got to
be Grand Champion, reserve,grand Champion of the fair one
year and that was just like, oh,I like this, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Awesome.
Horses are wonderful.
They're such powerful animalsand fun to be around and bond
and personalities.
There's a reason why they'reused in therapy and everything
else because they're sowonderful.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And they can sense people.
So if you're afraid, they sensethat immediately and they can
sense trust and so they can pickup on what we're feeling.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Oh, yeah, it only takes them a second.
I just my.
I've got a big, big quarterhorse.
That's my horse, chet, bigChet's his name and he's always
trailered perfectly.
And then I took him up toMcCall last weekend and getting
him there and getting him backhe would not get in the trailer
and he is not someone to messwith and I don't know what's
going on with him.
So anyway, I got, I got someonecoming out to help me with him.
(05:07):
But there, that's what a shadowmy wife she's like.
They're just massive when theydon't want to do something.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yeah, they're not going to do it.
There's no getting them to doit.
There's no getting them to doit.
How many hands?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
He's 16 and a half.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Oh, that's big for a quarter horse.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Yeah, he's big.
Yeah, he's a lot bigger thanour other two and I like him.
He's a big sturdy guy for meand has been a wonderful,
wonderful horse.
It's hard to find a good horsein today's world.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
There's not as many people that are raising and
training, and it's just harderto find a good horse.
So, yeah, well, that's great.
So so you grew up in, uh, in,did you know the crannies?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
oh, yeah, I know the crannies.
Yeah, the crannies were closerto oakley yeah, oh yeah yeah,
yeah, I know them real well toddis a dear dear friend oh,
that's so amazing.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
and then you know, bill his, his dad, bill's Hill,
but I think someone in hisfamily was very into horses.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
And.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
I can't remember all the stories.
You get Todd, you don't getanyone from that area either
Scott Bedke or the Crannies orCritchfields and you get them
all going on stories and theynever stop.
They never stop and they allblend together.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
For me, that's right, we had my family.
They ran sheep up in thosehills.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So we have lots of stories about that.
You know, up in Oakley andrunning sheep and all of those
things up in those foothills upthere.
So, yeah, the Oakley Basin, Imean you can't beat the Oakley
Basin yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And then they had the year that they had to put the
canal in the story.
Oh my uncle, it's an incrediblebook.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, my uncle was the one that had to organize all
of that and work with thepolitics, with people and the
church.
Tell the story.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
We've never told the story on this podcast.
So you had a year.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
A year.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, give us the background.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Well, the spring runoff was really.
You know, there was a lot ofwater coming into the reservoir
and that is a man-made dirt damthat is up above Oakley.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
So man-made dirt dam huge snowmageddon-ish kind of
year.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Dam's going to break unless they relieve the pressure
.
Yes, and they literally, as acommunity, organize everyone
together and say we're not goingto let this happen, right, and
they basically put in a canalover a period of time of like
it's been like five years sinceI read the book.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, Well, and they had to run it all the way from
Oakley to the Snake River inBurley, and so they had to cut
through farmer's fields.
And so farmers just had to giveup for the good of the community
, they had to let them comethrough.
And then what we would do myhusband, they would patrol every
night to watch when theyreleased that water so it didn't
break the canal, that they wenton.
(08:00):
So they would all havedifferent shifts and they would
go out at night and during theday and I know that he went out
at nighttime and they would walkalong that canal, all along
those many miles, cause you knowit was a fascinating story.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Look up that name of that book, cause look up, like
the Oakley mirror, it's like thesomething miracle, or just for
our listeners it's worth.
It's worth a read and becausewhat it tells a story of is how
a community can come togetherwith unsurmountable odds, like
there's no way that this isn'tgoing to, and if the dam would
have burst it would have beenthis huge thing.
And they do it.
I don't know if we can find it.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Rex Jarrett was the one that was helping coordinate
it.
Yeah, Oakley, Idaho.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Oakley, Idaho, Miracle Canal or something like
that.
Anyway, it's a great book.
You'll find it.
When you find it, let us know.
Maddie, oh, A Flood CannotHappen here.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Oh yeah, there's the canal right there.
There's the book.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Yes, what's the name of the book?
Maddie?
Is that the name of the book?
Anyway, it's a wonderful,wonderful book about community
and coming together, and thestory is they put this thing in
and hurt disaster.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
And they avoid disaster.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
So Great Heritage.
We started there.
And then tell us how you becamean author and so passionate
about what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Well, I loved writing .
I've always loved writing mywhole life and I love stories
and I was raised reading booksand I was raised my parents
reading to me and then alsoencouraged to write, and I loved
my childhood.
I loved, loved, loved mychildhood, I loved, loved, loved
my childhood.
And the older I get, the more Irealize what a unique
(09:52):
opportunity I had and that thereare so many people that will
never be able to experience whatI experienced Now, because
family farms are going away andit was a community effort as far
as our family, but everywherearound us I was surrounded by
people that knew me and tookcare of me and we could ride our
(10:15):
bikes or our horses five milesaround and people would say, hey
, you know they'd watch out foryou.
You know, they knew that wasCal and Rayla's girl, so you
better watch out.
So you had that sense of reallypeople who loved you and looked
after you.
And my last boy left and Ithought I'm going to sit down
(10:37):
and I'm going to start all thesethings that I've written.
I'm going to start putting them, putting them to use.
So the first book I wrote wasUnder the Barnyard Light.
I just wrote it in probablyabout maybe two hours, because
(10:59):
it just came, it was there.
It was there.
It just came and it was like arhythm.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
And the intended audience was.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
The intended audience was anyone that felt that light
in their life, because thebarnyard light represented my
family.
It represented the security,because when we were growing up,
can we?
Speaker 1 (11:22):
talk about this for a minute.
Yes, you sure can.
I'm going to interrupt you afew times Sure, I love that.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Because under the barnyard light right, so just
think of darkness.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yes, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
So last weekend we had a church camp up at our
ranch and it ended up beingrainy and kind of cold actually,
but pitch dark and part of thepower of getting these kids.
So what happens is they go tocamp, they take their cell
phones and put them in a Ziplocbag and they put them away and
then they experience Idaho Imean Idaho mountains, in the
(12:04):
dark.
I'm a big proponent of the factthat our kids and I don't want
to sound like the old guy likethe Gran Torino, get off my lawn
guy.
But I think our kids don'texperience darkness.
How do you understand thegrandeur of God if you don't
ever look up and say, oh wow,there's stars in the Milky Way
(12:26):
and I'm small and you smell itand feel it and it's just part
of you and so, under thebarnyard light, think of the
context of that.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Back when, you were growing up, there was only one
light.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
It was dark in that light.
So then there's the metaphor ofthe light, which is that's home
, that's my beacon, that's whereI can always go.
Think of the beauty of thatsimple metaphor.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, and that's exactly what I was writing,
because that light meanteverything it meant everything,
because there was no lightpollution.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
But how do you know the light if you don't know the
darkness?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Right, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
And do you think our kids know the darkness in
today's world?
I don't know the darkness.
Right, that's exactly right.
And do you think our kids knowthe?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
darkness in today's world.
I don't know, I don't know.
I think that there's so muchdarkness in the world they're
surrounded by it all the timeDifferent kind of darkness.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
That's right.
Yeah, it meant everything to me.
And the stars at night?
Yeah, you know, I write aboutthe stars in a couple of my
books, about how they justreflect.
You know I might not be hereright now with you, but if you
look in the sky, we can both seethe same stars.
You know the North Star is upthere and we can always look up
(13:34):
there and see it.
And that's about my brotherwhen he leaves.
And you know I could get aletter in three months maybe, or
four months, but I had no ideaat 10 years old that he was in
Germany.
I didn't know where Germany was.
I was in my little world righthere.
And so that's how he would tellme.
He said just look up there andI'll be home again.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
And I just got chills when you said that, because
when my son went on to Finlandon his mission I don't think
I've ever told this story toanyone before, I don't think I
ever have but I missed him likecrazy, like I just missed him a
lot.
He was my oldest and my bestfriend and I was just really
(14:19):
close to him.
So I was happy that he wasthere.
I liked what he was doing, butI just missed him tremendously.
And I would have this spiritualmoment on Sunday nights.
It was like my best moment ofthe week and it was taking out
my garbage because I would rollit out to the thing and it's
often late and pitch dark and Iremember just looking up at the
(14:41):
stars and thinking to myself man, that's the same sky he's under
.
I felt some connection to himthrough those stars and thinking
, hey, it gave me comfort thatlike hey, he's seeing a similar
thing to what I'm seeing.
Exactly Not the same sky, butsimilar in a different
perspective.
But it connected me to him andI remember getting so much
(15:03):
comfort from that in some weirdway and I just would most of the
time I'm a big baby I'd tear upand I'd think, oh, this is
really comforting to me thathe's okay.
And God's looking after Him andwe're connected, and even
though he's far away, it's onlya time that's going to go by
Just a short time.
Anyway, yeah, I don't think I'veever said that, but I think
(15:27):
about that often because it'sthose things that give us
comfort during some times wherewe need them.
But this idea of light and thebarnyard, I love that.
So I'm sorry we stopped, no.
We got like book one and we'relike we're stuck on dark and
light.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
No, and we're like we're stuck on dark and light.
No, because that's what kind ofstarted everything.
Then it opened up the light inmy life to be able to create
more.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Did you know you loved it after the first book?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Oh yeah, oh yes, yes, I did a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
We're going to go through, so your books are all
available.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yes on.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Amazon, amazon.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
It's under Gona's Reading Ranch, okay.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Gona's Reading Ranch.
Okay, yeah, and do you want tohear the story about Gona,
because that's such a silly name?
Speaker 1 (16:05):
So Gona's Reading Ranch.
So there it is.
So you just go to Amazon underthe barnyard light Right and
that's actually my real horse.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Everything in our books are based on the farm I
grew up in, so anybody that'sever been on my farm not my farm
, but the farm I grew up in willlook and say oh yeah, I
remember exactly that sign?
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Oh, that's cool.
I remember that truck.
Who do you have illustrate foryou?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
This is Brandon Dorman.
He is a now and he's written,he's illustrated a lot of books,
like for Ghostbumps, fablehaven, you know he's well, well known
and you had to have that lightilluminating.
And so I contacted him and hewas so sweet and he said, well,
(17:06):
contact Peter Elliott in NewYork.
And so I did.
And he said, well, he's reallybusy, but if you can wait about
a year, I said, wait about ayear.
I said, oh, I'll wait, I'llwait.
And so I had Michael Crane, whois my nephew.
(17:32):
We spent a year sketching outevery part of the farm, every
detail is exact, and then wewould send those sketches to
Brandon.
And then I said, okay, brandon,you can put your mark on this,
but this has to represent mychildhood.
And so Michael did a fabulousjob with me of sketching
everything in here.
And then we let Brandon go backin and he put the color, the
light, he worked with the sky,he softened me and everything.
(17:55):
And if you notice I don't everhave my picture.
Really you can't see my face inthat a lot.
It's because I want to focus onmy dad and the light and the
animals and the characters andthe different characters in the
book.
We take those through each book.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
This is awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
How many grandkids do ?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
you have.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I have six and we're so proud we have six.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Six grandkids, can you imagine?
I mean, most of us just get totell boring stories to our
grandkids and you get to likehere look.
Look, this was my horse.
What was your horse's name?
Dandy Dandy the horse.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Dandy Hawkwicks, and he's who I won reserve grand
Champion with.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Oh, this is cool.
You're setting the bar prettyhigh for grandparents here.
Carla, hey, you were going totell me the story behind the
name and then I interrupted you,oh, that's right, no, no.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So I grew up with seven cousins and they were all
boys and I was a tomboy and Iloved playing with all the boys
and we were always workingtogether on the farm and they
couldn't say Carla, for somereason, and so they came up with
Gona, which is harder to saythan Carla.
So my whole life I've beencalled Gona.
My husband still calls me Gona,my siblings call me Gona,
(19:13):
everybody calls me Gona.
So of course you know I put inthere because it's about Gona,
gona growing up.
Yeah, she's the character in thebooks, and so that's why it's
Gona.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
That's cool.
That's why I was noticing inthe front of the first book you
wrote the Dedication, which hasgot to be fun too right.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Oh, the Dedications are so fun for me.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Pay some tribute to the past, to my mother and
father, calvin, and.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Rayola.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Rayola Crane, who helped create a magical and
lasting childhood.
That's cool.
So how many books have you done?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Well, I've done seven .
I'm on my.
I have three more that I'vewritten, but it takes about a
year to get them out there.
So the last one we're workingon is a surprise for my
grandchildren.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
But well, it's about their little dog that passed
away.
So I'm writing a book aboutthat and it's almost done.
I'm excited to get that outthere.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
So from start to finish, you write it, talk
through the process.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Talk through the process.
Well, I have a funny process,so I am usually up late and I
sometimes wake up with an idea,and so I have pads everywhere
around my house and when I getan idea I just start writing and
then I'll write those thingsdown, I'll put them away and
then maybe that will trigger astory somewhere else, but that's
(20:39):
usually how it starts and thenI go from there.
But, like with Georgia, the dogthat I just wrote, it's called
Georgia O'Keeffe, the knownnonsense dog, and it just came
and I like to write in rhythmand in rhyme, and lots of times
they'll say to me my editors,who correct it.
They come in and they saythings you need to not write
(21:02):
rhyme this time, but it's hardfor me.
So barnyard is all in rhyme andthe other books will be in
rhyme, but most of them aren'tand and then, and then the
illustration is, so the writingis a big part of it.
And then you, and then you go towork on the illustration and
I'm in every detail of everybook, because they don't know
about my farm and I know exactlywhat I want.
(21:24):
So if I was just to send it offto a publisher, they could do
whatever they wanted with mytext.
But I won't allow that, and soI am over everything.
That's great and I just havereally, really good people that
work with me and they put upwith me and they're there to
support me.
(21:44):
But Brandon's amazing andMichael Crane was amazing and
all the people who helped me dothis and put it together.
Aloha Publishing when I took mylittle text to Aloha Publishing
years ago, I was so scared.
I was so scared and they wereso kind to me and they were so
good and they said, no, this isa good story.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Had you known anyone that had done this?
No, so you're clipping along.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
I'm just clipping along, and you love writing, yes
.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
And you've got these ideas Right.
But I think it's alwaysfascinating to hear from people
that do stuff like this.
So you're like I'm going to dothis.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, it's like this need inside of you Like.
I've got to get this out,because if I don't get it out,
it's just going to burn me up,yeah, and so it took a lot for
me to go in there and presentmyself Like here.
Look at me.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
That took a lot and they blessed their hearts.
They looked at the script andthey said this is actually
really good.
I was like really this isactually really good.
This is great, you know,because I think it is, but you
know I don't count, yeah, yeah.
So yeah, but Aloha Publishinghas been so sweet to me the
whole way they are.
They've got my back and they'lltell me.
Well, and then I have Megan,who is my.
(23:08):
She comes in and she correctsmy spelling and things like that
.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
We've now are almost the same.
We're like partners and she'samazing, that's great Talk
through part of your books.
And again, thank you for thecopies I've had.
I think there's a little bit ofa I don't know what to call it
I think we've had technology now.
I mean, I don't know, has itbeen 14 or 15, 16 years since
the iPhone first came out?
I waited in line, I sleptovernight down at the.
You know when it first came out.
(23:47):
It was, I can't remember it wasAT&T had the first iPhone.
So it was down on Milwaukee.
I waited in this big long line.
I got my first iPhone.
And you think of what's happenedsince then.
You know there was always theconcerns of, hey, everyone was
used to having a personalcomputer and laptops were a
(24:07):
thing, but the idea that now youwould carry around a device
that was as powerful as they arenow and really become, I mean,
listen, we're all, in fact, if Isat down and looked up my hours
because we're on them, we're onthem nonstop, right?
So technology has had certainlywonderful ways of efficiencies
(24:31):
in life.
I mean, yesterday I got upearly and went to Reno and back
and did you know you're justdoing all this stuff and the
whole time you're connected toeveryone and you're and you're
FaceTiming, you're getting onTeams calls, you're doing emails
, you're texting, you'refollowing the wars around the
world.
You're doing all this stuffsimultaneously.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
We're so connected.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
We're connected in a weird way, but I think people
are a little worried about AIand technology.
Worried about AI and technology, and I think there's going to
be a.
I think there's going to be a,not a resistance.
I don't know what.
I don't know how to explainthis.
I think books like librarieslike something tangible, like
(25:13):
instead of like doing.
I know my grandson just had histonsils out and so we went over
Sunday night and he got.
He got this little, what's itcalled?
Matthew the Yogo.
It's this cool little device.
It's awesome.
A Goyo, it's a Goyo.
Have you ever heard of this?
No, so it's really educationaland it's interactive with kids.
(25:34):
It's called a Goyo Goyo player.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
I had never seen one until Shannon gave me one Sunday
night.
But the technology behind thisthing is ridiculous.
There's a daily activity,there's cards.
It's unbelievably cool.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Oh, yes, no, I have seen those.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
It's unbelievably cool and I just sat there and he
was telling me all about it.
He's only five and he's tellingme all about it and walking me
through it.
I watched him set it up throughan app and he did it himself.
I watched the whole thinghappen.
I watched him connect it to hiswi-fi.
He's five and he gets thisthing set up.
But my point of doing this is,as cool as that is, it's not the
(26:12):
same as me putting him in myarms.
Yes, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I do.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
And just sitting there with him and saying, hey,
let's read a book.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Right, I think there's going to be.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Because you know what .
He has your full attention.
Not only you have his, but hehas yours, and you're connected
and you're both holdingsomething that's tangible.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
And we're turning pages and we're looking at
pictures and we're, we're, uh,it just feels different.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
It is, and then two um, you can just put your finger
under and say, okay, this isyour word Every time we come to
this word, you have to say this,and so it's basic learning.
I mean, it's just going back tothe basic learning of saying
okay, this is that.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
That's your word.
There's going to be somerebellion that we hold on to
some of this stuff at some point, Like we're not, we're going to
say no enough.
We are going to read books, toour kids.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Whether you like it or not, we are going to take our
phones and put them down andread books to our kids.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
I think there is.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, yeah.
No, I think it's wonderful.
We have a maypole, we havehopscotch, we have everything
that parents and children dotogether, and there's not
(27:32):
technology, it's just gettingout in nature and trying to
reconnect.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Where are you on the spectrum?
I've listened to a bunch ofpodcasts and read some stuff.
Are people out there that, like, have studied what's happening
to young people's developmentand minds in the era of phones
and technology and the idea ofplay?
yes, no, I don't think there'senough play there's like there's
(28:00):
a couple of really passionateguys that are really famous and
have been, they've done a lot ofwork and research where they'll
say we're messing up our kidsin ways because their brains are
forming and the way the humanbrain forms, and that you know,
I think for a male it's not tillyou're 24 and a female it's
like 21.
And you've got these reallyimpressionable times where we're
(28:22):
developing dopamine receptorsand all of the receptors are
maturing in our brains and it'swhen we learn conflict and
conflict resolution and we learnhow to control parasympathetic
and sympathetic responses in ourbodies and brains.
And all these things, naturally,have happened for thousands of
years where people just here'show we grow and do things and
(28:45):
our DNA is built that way.
And now comes along technologywhere?
And just modern society, wherewhere you look at, play like
think about, think about your.
You said you were a tomboy andyou had your cousins.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I mean, it was just like get outside, go create, go
do something else, go figure itout yourself.
You know, just go play, gofigure it out yourself, and the
conflict resolution happenednaturally.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
It happened naturally , because how many times did you
get in scuffles or whatever youwant to call?
Them and you just figured itout, right, Right.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
And that's kind of what the books are about.
It's like okay, she's alwaysmischievous, she's not a bad
girl, but she's just sointerested in everything you
know, get out there and dig anddo what you know, go find.
But there's going to beproblems along the way and
you've got to figure it out.
There's not going to be anadult there to figure it out for
you.
You can't go to your phone andsay, hey, you know how do I
(29:41):
figure this out?
And no, I think it's soimportant, I think play is so
important just to be able to gooutside.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
And a lot of children don't have that opportunity, so
that makes me feel bad.
You know people that are inapartments and the county and
you know City of Meridian, theircommitments to parks even, and
having like for all kids,because everyone grows up
differently, yes, and you havethis really ideologic farm life
(30:22):
which listen like you pick aplace to plop yourself down and
grow up and the experiences youhad.
I don't know that there'sanything better than growing up
on a small family farm.
I mean the things you learn, theinteraction, the animals, the
darkness, the sky, theconnection with all things that
are not you right, right, you'reforced to learn to work.
You're forced to learn toappreciate nature.
(30:44):
You're forced to.
You know, it's just, it has.
Like.
My dad always says something.
He's like lead.
Always use words when necessary, like when you grow up on a
farm.
you don't need to say a wholelot because you experience this
thing right.
Well, there's a lot of kidsthat will never know a farm,
they'll never know darkness,they'll never know.
So what are the ways we createthat?
(31:05):
I'm really glad that we're socommitted to parks.
I'm also really glad we're socommitted to libraries.
Libraries as well, I mean Ilook at my grandkids right now
and my daughter takes them tothe library a couple times a
week.
I think it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Yeah, that was the first thing I did when I wrote
Under the Barnyard Light.
I went back to the library thatmy mom used to take me to oh,
that's cool the library that mymom used to take me to.
I said this is the first thing Iwant to do and I got to read to
the children in the library andI told them how important the
library was to me and how thatit just created this magical
world, Because I always wantedto know where the planes that
(31:39):
are flying overhead up in thesky, where are they going?
What?
are those people doing and allof those things?
Where is Germany?
Where are all these places?
Because it's not like it wastoday and the library opened up
all of that for me and I wentback and I love to donate all my
books to libraries and to goread to the schools and to talk
(32:02):
to them in the schools and giveback and donate.
But that was one of the firstthings I did go back to the
Burley Public Library.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
So you went to the Burley Public Library yes,
that's awesome, yeah and had areading.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
This is my book and one day.
Who would have?
Speaker 1 (32:16):
thought this is my farm, down the road.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yes, if you just go down this road, you'll see it.
And the little kids were likereally Really, yeah, really.
And that's why we try toencourage you can do what you
want to do.
Just be brave.
Be brave and do it.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
That's awesome.
What year was that?
What was your first book?
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Oh gosh, I don't know , I'm so old, I think it was
2019.
Yeah, I started writing beforethat.
But you know there was such along process of trying to get it
out, the very first book.
Yeah, it took probably sixyears because I did all of this
(33:01):
and it was worth it, but nowyou've got the process down.
I have the process down.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
So what's the series here?
How many are in it?
Bonus?
Speaker 2 (33:12):
series.
There are one, two, three, fourfive.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
No, but like in your head.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Oh in my head.
Oh, there's many in my head.
There's so many in my head andI can't get them all down, but
I've got four more in my headthat I've got to get down.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Is that how it works?
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Yes, yeah, and I'm anxious to get it done and they
always say okay, you can eitherhave perfection or patience, or
you can get it done.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
And I don't have any patience.
Where are you on that spectrumthen?
Where do you like on the right,rewrite get a perfect thing
versus oh yeah, I'm really badthat way.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
I'm really bad that way, I'm really bad at that.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
So you're impatient and you're a perfectionist.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Yes, yes, and so that's what they said.
You can either have a book oryou can have perfection, so give
it up.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Where do you stand?
What do you tell parents?
And you're probably around alot of people, because you're an
author of children's books andyou have this interest in trying
to preserve heritage, preservethe legacy of reading and
connection and all that.
What's your advice you givepeople on technology?
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Ooh, that's tough Is that a loaded question.
That is a loaded question.
Technology I just think thatit's wonderful.
I think that you need to use itcorrectly, but I think you need
to break away from it with yourchildren as often as possible.
It was like we were talkingabout earlier.
You need to gather up yourchildren and you need to read to
them, you need to look at themone-on-one, you need to get down
(34:40):
on their level and you need tojust talk and be with them.
It's easier, not to do thatthough it's so easy not to do
that.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
My daughter drives me nuts sometimes.
Yeah, because I just like, oh,put on a show, take a nap.
But she doesn't let him shedoesn't let him.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Yeah, that's good.
Yeah, Because it is a loteasier just to throw something
at them and you know they reallyneed us.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
They really need that connection and I've seen kids
that'll be tugging on theirparents because they're on their
phone and they're like you know, talk to me and they'll be on
their phone, but the kids wantthem to talk.
So as a grandma, it's easy tosay because I don't have
children- all the time, don'tyou worry about?
That I do.
I worry about it all the time.
(35:28):
I worry about my grandchildren,I worry about other people's
children.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
You know what I'm guilty of it Everyone's guilty
of it.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Oh, I know, I know Because we all get frustrated
and we all get tired.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Well, and what happens is, you know, work never
stops now.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
No, no, it never stops.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
You're always doing something, it never stops and it
takes a tremendous amount ofdiscipline for everybody,
whether you're the grandpa orthe dad or the mom or whatever
to say okay, I'm going to try tobe present and the first step
of me being present isuntethering me from this thing
(36:05):
that is going to constantly buzzor vibrate.
Know, vibrate or ding or youknow, what was that?
Or I'm waiting for something.
It has to be very intentional.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
You know I'm really bad about having my phone and I
know that a lot of people getupset at me because they'll say
I tried to get a hold of you, Icouldn't get a hold of you and
I'm just like.
You know, I don't take my phoneeverywhere and I don't have my
phone with me all the time andusually I respond to people at
12 o'clock at night because Igot to get things done.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
So you truly just, you just try to keep it.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
I try to keep it away and I know that bothers a lot
of people and a lot of timesthat you know it is necessary to
have it close by, but Iintentionally try not to do that
.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Well, there's two things In today's world.
There's an expectation ofimmediate response.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Yeah, you should be responding to me right now, well
, I can't right now.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
The second part of it is if you don't, you get buried
.
Carla, this is not a therapysession.
I'm not trying to make myselffeel better about myself, no, I
get it.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
I get it, but I mean that's like part of it.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Right it is.
If I don't like get on mylaptop every night it's a
horrible habit I have.
I sit down with Shannon, I geton and for the next two or three
hours that's when I get caught.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
That's where I read my emails, you get caught up.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Caught up for the day , but man, I'm not present.
I'm not present.
Right, we're watching some showand I don't even know half of
what's going on.
That's why I don't remember thenext day.
But I don't know if I didn't dothat, but it's part of it's the
pace of our world, don't?
Speaker 2 (37:36):
you think, yeah, it's just different.
Just hit the balance.
Like with everything else, yougot to have a balance, and a
balance is very, very difficult.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
What are some of the important lessons you've taught
with GONA?
Let's go through some of them,because then I'll have more
things to react to and we'll getoff the negative of my internet
habits.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Okay, well, what we do is I try to encourage work,
which is interesting because Iwould say words in my books and
the editor would said, oh, youcan't say that in this world
today.
Like I put down chores Okay,you got to get your chores done
they said no, no, no, that'snegative.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
You can't put chores.
Do you just tell them BS and doit anyway?
No, you don't.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
I wasn't that strong at first.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
But now I'm just like Carla, just tell them BS, call
them chores.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
That's what they were .
Speaker 1 (38:23):
That's what they are.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Why is chores a bad word?
Speaker 2 (38:28):
I don't know, because I guess we're putting
expectation on our children.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
But that was the whole point.
You need to not use thesepeople in New York to be your
people.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Well, it's funny because in New York, when they
said that, he would text backand says I have no idea what a
corral is, explain to me what acorral is.
And so I had to explain to himand you know he goes oh, I get
it, colin.
Yeah, I get it.
Yeah, okay, you put the horsesin there.
All right, I got it and so.
(39:01):
So I love working with thesepeople, but they, you know, they
, don't have a clue.
And then the other thing was inAlex the lamb, the wonder lamb,
we used to raise lambs andmother lambs sometimes reject
their babies or the mother diesand they're called bum lambs.
And we would take the bum lambsand we would raise them.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
They're the ones you get closest to, because you have
to bottle feed them right.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Yeah, you have to bottle feed them.
So my responsibility was I hadto get up every night in the
middle of the night and feedthese babies out of an old glass
Pepsi bottle With a littlenipple on it.
right With a nipple on it yeah,and I loved that, and so that's
a lot about you.
Know, I was responsible foranother life.
I had to take care of that lifeand then I had to watch the
(39:44):
other babies that grew up goaway, and then this little lamb
was crippled and he couldn'twalk, and so it shows the
progress of how we worked withhim and and this is alex.
Yeah, this is alex, so foreveryone listening or watching,
so it's alex the wonderland thewonderland because, um, through
this whole process of us takingcare of him me basically being
(40:07):
his mother he learned to walk,and it talks about the
separation and about how he'sgoing to be destroyed because
he's a bum lamb and he can'twalk.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
So he's useless.
Do you still call him a bumlamb in here?
I do.
What did they call him?
Speaker 2 (40:24):
What did they call him?
Did they make you change thename?
They were trying.
Yeah, they were.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
And you resisted, I resisted.
I love that I did.
I love the fact that youresisted.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah, because they didn't like that.
And I did go to one school andI was reading the book and we
got a lot of bad emails backabout how dare you call the lamb
crippled, how dare you call ita bum lamb?
And I was like, well, that'swhat it was.
You know, it was a crippled bumlamb, but he can walk now.
The good thing is he can walk.
And in the other ones it'sbasically about learning to get
(40:55):
along with my brother andworking through problems because
he doesn't want to play with me.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
You know he's like five years older than me.
Why would he want to play withme?
And so we have that process andhe works with me.
The other one is about mybrother who goes into the army,
like I said, into Germany, and Ihave no idea where Germany is
at eight years old, and then hetalks to me about the stars, he
comes home and teaches us thosethings and then he leaves again.
(41:22):
And that book is really tenderto me because my father served
and my brother served and thenmy boy was a captain in the army
in Korea.
So the last page mimics what mybrother Dennis did before he
left to get back on the bus togo to Germany, he put his hat on
me.
And then my boy, when he wasgoing back to Korea, put his hat
(41:44):
on my grandson.
He doesn't have any sons, buthe was very, very close to this
boy.
Wow, so it ties it all back in,so that's home again.
That's home again.
Yeah, and that's really.
And if you open that book up orthe page up you can see my dad
and my brother and my son.
It should be right in theresomewhere Somewhere close.
(42:09):
So that is very tender to me.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
To my dad, my brother Dennis and my son Taylor, and
to all the veterans, thoseserving in the military and the
families who courageouslysupport them.
And there's a picture ofCorporal Calvin Cottrell Crane
Cottrell Crane Cottrell Crane,sergeant Dennis Drake Crane and
First Crane Cottrell Crane,sergeant Dennis Drake Crane and
First Lieutenant Taylor SheaOsborne.
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
Yeah, he was my boy.
Yeah, that's cool, yeah, and sowhen I see veterans, I give
this book to them.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
This is awesome.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Because you know I'm very patriotic and it almost
moves me to tears because youknow people do a lot for this
country and they never getrecognized, and the families who
support them that let you know,because I experienced a little
teeny bit of that when mybrother left.
Yeah, just yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
I didn't serve.
Do you think that people thatdon't serve can fully ever
appreciate?
Speaker 2 (43:09):
no, um I, I can't appreciate that.
Yeah, I can't appreciate goingand even though I have this
heritage, I can't appreciatewhat it takes to give up and
then to go and then to come backand then just be forgotten you
know, they're not alwaysforgotten but to be able to
serve and to work like that andto lots of times dangerous.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
I had a good friend on here, dan nelson, who told
his story, which is he's a, he'sa, he's a dang hero, he's just
a war hero.
Um, and I asked him.
I said when people say thankyou for your service, it's like
does that, does that meananything?
What does that mean to you?
And he said I don't.
(43:55):
He said what they could doinstead of the thing of using
words, live a life worth dyingfor, because that's what I was
out there doing right, exactly,and I thought what a powerful
way to look at it.
But that's, you know, and Ithink, fortunately and
unfortunately I think, withworld tensions the way they are
now, it does heighten ourawareness of putting more
families and individuals inharm's way and I don't know, a
(44:17):
deep appreciation, patriotismfor where we live.
We have family members thatserved and they just were always
.
My hero, my Uncle Daryl, waslike the guy.
He was a pilot that flew inmultiple missions and wars and
he would tell the stories.
And I look at that guy, he waslike Superman to all of us, of
course.
He was the guy, and so I'm gladwe live in a state that honors
(44:42):
that.
Though we had Ked Wills on, whowas the former colonel for the
Idaho State Police, and it's thesame with whether it's law
enforcement, military, firstresponders, people that choose
to serve their lives for others.
For others they don't even know, they don't even know, and the
idea of when danger happens, Irun towards it, I don't run away
(45:03):
from it, and we all kind oftake it for granted.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
We take it for granted.
There's somebody that's got ourback.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Yeah, away from it.
And we all kind of take it forgranted.
We take it for granted, there'ssomebody that's got our back.
Yeah, I think why we take itfor granted is it's just so free
in our society.
It's just there.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
It's there, it's always been there, yeah, and we
just assume that it always willbe there.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
Yeah, a really bad assumption.
Yes, that there will always bepeople that will just put their
lives on the line for us andserve.
And yeah, well, carl, this hasbeen awesome.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Well, thank you.
Thank you so much for lettingme come.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
I want to make sure, so we've got the Go.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
It's Go, go, go, go, that's the series Go Go, go Go.
That's the series Go Go Goseries, and it's at Gona's
Reading Ranch.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
And Gona's Reading Ranch, and you can be found on
Amazon anywhere you search forCarla Osborne books.
And then you have a website too, right?
Speaker 2 (46:01):
Yes, we have a website too, and we have events
at my house and my barn and,like I said, we just do things.
And the next one is the 23rd.
Speaker 1 (46:11):
Hey, I would you know , listen, we have lots of people
on here.
I would tell every one of ourlisteners that has a grandkid,
yes, go look these up, hold themin your arms, smell them, hug
them, kiss them and read them abook.
That's right, right that.
Smell him, hug him, kiss himand read him a book.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
That's right, right, that's right.
Go outside even better.
Sit underneath the tree andread to him and smell the air.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
I'll get emotional now, but my grandpa was my hero.
That guy was like he was andalways will be the guy for
anyone that knew him.
But anyone that knew him he satunder a willow tree, is in his
yard in an old lawn chair.
I can see it today old, yeah,yes, piece of crap lawn chair
that was falling apart and hehad an old hat and he would sit
(46:59):
there reading a louis lamorebook yes and and you would sit
down by that guy and man justfeel secure right well the
strength I always say he uh,people talk to you and when he
talked you felt that you didn'thear it and he was present, but
it was.
It was just so.
It was so connecting and soimpactful.
(47:22):
I sometimes wonder in our worldtoday if we're as impactful
because we're so hurried.
Do I have a willow tree to situnder?
Do I sit on an old lawn chair?
Do I take the time to listen oram I rushed?
Speaker 2 (47:35):
Am I rushed?
Do I think we're all rushed I?
Speaker 1 (47:37):
think we're rushed.
Speaker 2 (47:37):
But it's always good to think, okay, I've got to slow
down, I've got to slow down andI think this might sound I
don't know.
Speaker 1 (47:45):
I think we need to manufacture those times in our
lives or they pass.
Oh, definitely, because it'snot like.
I think for him.
I really do think for him.
I don't think he manufacturedthose experiences.
They were natural, theyhappened.
They happened almost every dayfor me.
They just happened normally,like that normal interaction
(48:05):
with him was meaningful andintentional and it just happened
.
And in today's world,everything's so busy.
I think that we have to likesay okay, where am I going to
create those connections and beintentional about it.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
And you know, can I just say a lot of people think
we need to create those memoriesby going on big, huge vacations
.
No, no, usually the ones theyremember the most children are
when we were there at that exacttime, like you said, under the
willow tree, just sitting withthem sitting in the grass.
We don't need to travel greatdistances to create memories.
Just do it in your home, do itin your backyard, Go out and dig
(48:40):
in the dirt with your child.
I mean a couple few weeks.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
It's been a few months ago now and I walked in I
couldn't find my wife and Iwalked in the garage and she's
there and she had her littlechicks and her brooder and I
said, hey, how are you, how wasyour day?
And she starts bawling.
I'm like what's going on?
And she's like I'm just sohappy.
And and she said we just got toplay with chicks and hang out
(49:12):
and talk and and she's like itwas so awesome and she was just
so emotional about it.
I'm like that's right, it's the, it's those things.
It's digging in the dirt, it'ssitting under a willow tree.
It's reading a book aboutreally important stuff idaho
heritage, idaho valuesism, theLights in the Barn, great themes
Carla, you're awesome.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
Oh, thank you so much .
I've loved this, carla Crane.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
Osborne Go look them up and read a book.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
Thanks everybody.
Today on the Ever Onward podcast, we have Carla
Osborne, who is a children'sbook author from here in the
Treasure Valley.
She has written several booksthat tie back to her childhood
and the heritage of Idaho andreally connects with a lot of
the values that we hold near anddear to us through children's
books.
Really excited to share thispodcast with everyone today.
(00:23):
Carla Osborne Carla, thanks forbeing here today.
This will be fun.
We've had you down on theschedule for a while, so it'll
be fun to hear all about thisand it's nice to have someone
(00:47):
that's doing what you're doingoh, thank you so Carla, award
winning children's book author,and I, when you, when we got you
booked, you were able to dropoff a few books for me to look
at, and they're already with mygrandkids, oh good.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
So thank you very much for coming on able to drop
off a few books for me to lookat, and they're already with my
grandkids.
Oh good they're loving that.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
So thank you very much for coming on and talking
about what you do and yourpassions.
Tell us a little bit about you,to get started.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I am an Idaho native.
My children are fifthgeneration, or well, my
grandchildren are fifthgeneration Idahoans.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Where did you grow up ?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
In Burley it was.
You know, when you say Burleyit's like Treasure Valley.
So I was outside of Burley,close to the mountains in
Pomerale.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Pomerale, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah, on a farm out there.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
There's a ton of great people from the valley
that are from that area.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
There must have been something in the water there.
I mean just like, I think, likeso many people.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I spent a lot of time in Oakley and because we were
closer actually to Oakley thanto Burley really and we went to,
you know, down that way a lot,it's got some great stories too.
Yes, that whole area yes.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
So you grew up on a farm.
I grew up on a farm.
What kind of farming.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
We grew wheat and sugar beets and alfalfa and corn
and that's what we grew up.
And then we had cattle as welland then my father had horses.
He had quarter horses.
He had love for quarter horsesand so he would show quarter
horses and that's where my lovecame to was for horses and
animals and anything like that,and just really down into the.
You know, where my love came towas for horses and animals and
anything like that and justreally down into the.
You know, when you're growingup on a farm, you really gain an
(02:33):
appreciation for soil and forwork and for seeing things grow
and how they progress.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
You know, it's one of the things about our heritage
that I think gets a littleoverlooked just because we are
about work, but our farmers andour ranchers are our
environmentalists.
They are Like no one cares moreabout water, clean water, how
the water is used and maximized,how the soil is taken care of
(03:06):
and treated, and then ourfarmers and ranchers.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
You're right.
I mean because that's theirlivelihood.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
So it really kind of frustrates me sometimes when you
hear the other side of thingssaying well, somehow blaming
farming and ranching and ourheritage for something I'm like.
Are you kidding me?
Those are the folks that takethe best care of our resources
than anyone.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I agree totally.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
That's great, great.
So you grew up there, Wonderfullife.
Tell me about horse.
Did you get into horses?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
I did because like my dad and my brothers they all
showed you know they were intohorses and we had quarter horses
, beautiful quarter horses, andmy dad actually um would chariot
race.
He was in the posse.
So up in Albion, you know theywere in the posse.
We have pictures of him on hishorses up there.
And then he would um go to therodeos and they were, do you
(03:59):
know, the posse would ride information and then yeah.
Yeah, and so then I grew upriding horses in parades and
then also being in 4-H andshowing horses, and so I got to
be Grand Champion, reserve,grand Champion of the fair one
year and that was just like, oh,I like this, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Awesome.
Horses are wonderful.
They're such powerful animalsand fun to be around and bond
and personalities.
There's a reason why they'reused in therapy and everything
else because they're sowonderful.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And they can sense people.
So if you're afraid, they sensethat immediately and they can
sense trust and so they can pickup on what we're feeling.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Oh, yeah, it only takes them a second.
I just my.
I've got a big, big quarterhorse.
That's my horse, chet, bigChet's his name and he's always
trailered perfectly.
And then I took him up toMcCall last weekend and getting
him there and getting him backhe would not get in the trailer
and he is not someone to messwith and I don't know what's
going on with him.
So anyway, I got, I got someonecoming out to help me with him.
(05:07):
But there, that's what a shadowmy wife she's like.
They're just massive when theydon't want to do something.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yeah, they're not going to do it.
There's no getting them to doit.
There's no getting them to doit.
How many hands?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
He's 16 and a half.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Oh, that's big for a quarter horse.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Yeah, he's big.
Yeah, he's a lot bigger thanour other two and I like him.
He's a big sturdy guy for meand has been a wonderful,
wonderful horse.
It's hard to find a good horsein today's world.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
There's not as many people that are raising and
training, and it's just harderto find a good horse.
So, yeah, well, that's great.
So so you grew up in, uh, in,did you know the crannies?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
oh, yeah, I know the crannies.
Yeah, the crannies were closerto oakley yeah, oh yeah yeah,
yeah, I know them real well toddis a dear dear friend oh,
that's so amazing.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
and then you know, bill his, his dad, bill's Hill,
but I think someone in hisfamily was very into horses.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
And.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
I can't remember all the stories.
You get Todd, you don't getanyone from that area either
Scott Bedke or the Crannies orCritchfields and you get them
all going on stories and theynever stop.
They never stop and they allblend together.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
For me, that's right, we had my family.
They ran sheep up in thosehills.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So we have lots of stories about that.
You know, up in Oakley andrunning sheep and all of those
things up in those foothills upthere.
So, yeah, the Oakley Basin, Imean you can't beat the Oakley
Basin yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And then they had the year that they had to put the
canal in the story.
Oh my uncle, it's an incrediblebook.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, my uncle was the one that had to organize all
of that and work with thepolitics, with people and the
church.
Tell the story.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
We've never told the story on this podcast.
So you had a year.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
A year.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, give us the background.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Well, the spring runoff was really.
You know, there was a lot ofwater coming into the reservoir
and that is a man-made dirt damthat is up above Oakley.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
So man-made dirt dam huge snowmageddon-ish kind of
year.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Dam's going to break unless they relieve the pressure
.
Yes, and they literally, as acommunity, organize everyone
together and say we're not goingto let this happen, right, and
they basically put in a canalover a period of time of like
it's been like five years sinceI read the book.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, Well, and they had to run it all the way from
Oakley to the Snake River inBurley, and so they had to cut
through farmer's fields.
And so farmers just had to giveup for the good of the community
, they had to let them comethrough.
And then what we would do myhusband, they would patrol every
night to watch when theyreleased that water so it didn't
break the canal, that they wenton.
(08:00):
So they would all havedifferent shifts and they would
go out at night and during theday and I know that he went out
at nighttime and they would walkalong that canal, all along
those many miles, cause you knowit was a fascinating story.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Look up that name of that book, cause look up, like
the Oakley mirror, it's like thesomething miracle, or just for
our listeners it's worth.
It's worth a read and becausewhat it tells a story of is how
a community can come togetherwith unsurmountable odds, like
there's no way that this isn'tgoing to, and if the dam would
have burst it would have beenthis huge thing.
And they do it.
I don't know if we can find it.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Rex Jarrett was the one that was helping coordinate
it.
Yeah, Oakley, Idaho.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Oakley, Idaho, Miracle Canal or something like
that.
Anyway, it's a great book.
You'll find it.
When you find it, let us know.
Maddie, oh, A Flood CannotHappen here.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Oh yeah, there's the canal right there.
There's the book.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Yes, what's the name of the book?
Maddie?
Is that the name of the book?
Anyway, it's a wonderful,wonderful book about community
and coming together, and thestory is they put this thing in
and hurt disaster.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
And they avoid disaster.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
So Great Heritage.
We started there.
And then tell us how you becamean author and so passionate
about what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Well, I loved writing .
I've always loved writing mywhole life and I love stories
and I was raised reading booksand I was raised my parents
reading to me and then alsoencouraged to write, and I loved
my childhood.
I loved, loved, loved mychildhood, I loved, loved, loved
my childhood.
And the older I get, the more Irealize what a unique
(09:52):
opportunity I had and that thereare so many people that will
never be able to experience whatI experienced Now, because
family farms are going away andit was a community effort as far
as our family, but everywherearound us I was surrounded by
people that knew me and tookcare of me and we could ride our
(10:15):
bikes or our horses five milesaround and people would say, hey
, you know they'd watch out foryou.
You know, they knew that wasCal and Rayla's girl, so you
better watch out.
So you had that sense of reallypeople who loved you and looked
after you.
And my last boy left and Ithought I'm going to sit down
(10:37):
and I'm going to start all thesethings that I've written.
I'm going to start putting them, putting them to use.
So the first book I wrote wasUnder the Barnyard Light.
I just wrote it in probablyabout maybe two hours, because
(10:59):
it just came, it was there.
It was there.
It just came and it was like arhythm.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
And the intended audience was.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
The intended audience was anyone that felt that light
in their life, because thebarnyard light represented my
family.
It represented the security,because when we were growing up,
can we?
Speaker 1 (11:22):
talk about this for a minute.
Yes, you sure can.
I'm going to interrupt you afew times Sure, I love that.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Because under the barnyard light right, so just
think of darkness.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yes, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
So last weekend we had a church camp up at our
ranch and it ended up beingrainy and kind of cold actually,
but pitch dark and part of thepower of getting these kids.
So what happens is they go tocamp, they take their cell
phones and put them in a Ziplocbag and they put them away and
then they experience Idaho Imean Idaho mountains, in the
(12:04):
dark.
I'm a big proponent of the factthat our kids and I don't want
to sound like the old guy likethe Gran Torino, get off my lawn
guy.
But I think our kids don'texperience darkness.
How do you understand thegrandeur of God if you don't
ever look up and say, oh wow,there's stars in the Milky Way
(12:26):
and I'm small and you smell itand feel it and it's just part
of you and so, under thebarnyard light, think of the
context of that.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Back when, you were growing up, there was only one
light.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
It was dark in that light.
So then there's the metaphor ofthe light, which is that's home
, that's my beacon, that's whereI can always go.
Think of the beauty of thatsimple metaphor.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, and that's exactly what I was writing,
because that light meanteverything it meant everything,
because there was no lightpollution.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
But how do you know the light if you don't know the
darkness?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Right, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
And do you think our kids know the darkness in
today's world?
I don't know the darkness.
Right, that's exactly right.
And do you think our kids knowthe?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
darkness in today's world.
I don't know, I don't know.
I think that there's so muchdarkness in the world they're
surrounded by it all the timeDifferent kind of darkness.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
That's right.
Yeah, it meant everything to me.
And the stars at night?
Yeah, you know, I write aboutthe stars in a couple of my
books, about how they justreflect.
You know I might not be hereright now with you, but if you
look in the sky, we can both seethe same stars.
You know the North Star is upthere and we can always look up
(13:34):
there and see it.
And that's about my brotherwhen he leaves.
And you know I could get aletter in three months maybe, or
four months, but I had no ideaat 10 years old that he was in
Germany.
I didn't know where Germany was.
I was in my little world righthere.
And so that's how he would tellme.
He said just look up there andI'll be home again.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
And I just got chills when you said that, because
when my son went on to Finlandon his mission I don't think
I've ever told this story toanyone before, I don't think I
ever have but I missed him likecrazy, like I just missed him a
lot.
He was my oldest and my bestfriend and I was just really
(14:19):
close to him.
So I was happy that he wasthere.
I liked what he was doing, butI just missed him tremendously.
And I would have this spiritualmoment on Sunday nights.
It was like my best moment ofthe week and it was taking out
my garbage because I would rollit out to the thing and it's
often late and pitch dark and Iremember just looking up at the
(14:41):
stars and thinking to myself man, that's the same sky he's under
.
I felt some connection to himthrough those stars and thinking
, hey, it gave me comfort thatlike hey, he's seeing a similar
thing to what I'm seeing.
Exactly Not the same sky, butsimilar in a different
perspective.
But it connected me to him andI remember getting so much
(15:03):
comfort from that in some weirdway and I just would most of the
time I'm a big baby I'd tear upand I'd think, oh, this is
really comforting to me thathe's okay.
And God's looking after Him andwe're connected, and even
though he's far away, it's onlya time that's going to go by
Just a short time.
Anyway, yeah, I don't think I'veever said that, but I think
(15:27):
about that often because it'sthose things that give us
comfort during some times wherewe need them.
But this idea of light and thebarnyard, I love that.
So I'm sorry we stopped, no.
We got like book one and we'relike we're stuck on dark and
light.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
No, and we're like we're stuck on dark and light.
No, because that's what kind ofstarted everything.
Then it opened up the light inmy life to be able to create
more.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Did you know you loved it after the first book?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Oh yeah, oh yes, yes, I did a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
We're going to go through, so your books are all
available.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yes on.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Amazon, amazon.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
It's under Gona's Reading Ranch, okay.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Gona's Reading Ranch.
Okay, yeah, and do you want tohear the story about Gona,
because that's such a silly name?
Speaker 1 (16:05):
So Gona's Reading Ranch.
So there it is.
So you just go to Amazon underthe barnyard light Right and
that's actually my real horse.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Everything in our books are based on the farm I
grew up in, so anybody that'sever been on my farm not my farm
, but the farm I grew up in willlook and say oh yeah, I
remember exactly that sign?
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Oh, that's cool.
I remember that truck.
Who do you have illustrate foryou?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
This is Brandon Dorman.
He is a now and he's written,he's illustrated a lot of books,
like for Ghostbumps, fablehaven, you know he's well, well known
and you had to have that lightilluminating.
And so I contacted him and hewas so sweet and he said, well,
(17:06):
contact Peter Elliott in NewYork.
And so I did.
And he said, well, he's reallybusy, but if you can wait about
a year, I said, wait about ayear.
I said, oh, I'll wait, I'llwait.
And so I had Michael Crane, whois my nephew.
(17:32):
We spent a year sketching outevery part of the farm, every
detail is exact, and then wewould send those sketches to
Brandon.
And then I said, okay, brandon,you can put your mark on this,
but this has to represent mychildhood.
And so Michael did a fabulousjob with me of sketching
everything in here.
And then we let Brandon go backin and he put the color, the
light, he worked with the sky,he softened me and everything.
(17:55):
And if you notice I don't everhave my picture.
Really you can't see my face inthat a lot.
It's because I want to focus onmy dad and the light and the
animals and the characters andthe different characters in the
book.
We take those through each book.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
This is awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
How many grandkids do ?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
you have.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I have six and we're so proud we have six.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Six grandkids, can you imagine?
I mean, most of us just get totell boring stories to our
grandkids and you get to likehere look.
Look, this was my horse.
What was your horse's name?
Dandy Dandy the horse.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Dandy Hawkwicks, and he's who I won reserve grand
Champion with.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Oh, this is cool.
You're setting the bar prettyhigh for grandparents here.
Carla, hey, you were going totell me the story behind the
name and then I interrupted you,oh, that's right, no, no.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So I grew up with seven cousins and they were all
boys and I was a tomboy and Iloved playing with all the boys
and we were always workingtogether on the farm and they
couldn't say Carla, for somereason, and so they came up with
Gona, which is harder to saythan Carla.
So my whole life I've beencalled Gona.
My husband still calls me Gona,my siblings call me Gona,
(19:13):
everybody calls me Gona.
So of course you know I put inthere because it's about Gona,
gona growing up.
Yeah, she's the character in thebooks, and so that's why it's
Gona.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
That's cool.
That's why I was noticing inthe front of the first book you
wrote the Dedication, which hasgot to be fun too right.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Oh, the Dedications are so fun for me.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Pay some tribute to the past, to my mother and
father, calvin, and.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Rayola.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Rayola Crane, who helped create a magical and
lasting childhood.
That's cool.
So how many books have you done?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Well, I've done seven .
I'm on my.
I have three more that I'vewritten, but it takes about a
year to get them out there.
So the last one we're workingon is a surprise for my
grandchildren.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
But well, it's about their little dog that passed
away.
So I'm writing a book aboutthat and it's almost done.
I'm excited to get that outthere.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
So from start to finish, you write it, talk
through the process.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Talk through the process.
Well, I have a funny process,so I am usually up late and I
sometimes wake up with an idea,and so I have pads everywhere
around my house and when I getan idea I just start writing and
then I'll write those thingsdown, I'll put them away and
then maybe that will trigger astory somewhere else, but that's
(20:39):
usually how it starts and thenI go from there.
But, like with Georgia, the dogthat I just wrote, it's called
Georgia O'Keeffe, the knownnonsense dog, and it just came
and I like to write in rhythmand in rhyme, and lots of times
they'll say to me my editors,who correct it.
They come in and they saythings you need to not write
(21:02):
rhyme this time, but it's hardfor me.
So barnyard is all in rhyme andthe other books will be in
rhyme, but most of them aren'tand and then, and then the
illustration is, so the writingis a big part of it.
And then you, and then you go towork on the illustration and
I'm in every detail of everybook, because they don't know
about my farm and I know exactlywhat I want.
(21:24):
So if I was just to send it offto a publisher, they could do
whatever they wanted with mytext.
But I won't allow that, and soI am over everything.
That's great and I just havereally, really good people that
work with me and they put upwith me and they're there to
support me.
(21:44):
But Brandon's amazing andMichael Crane was amazing and
all the people who helped me dothis and put it together.
Aloha Publishing when I took mylittle text to Aloha Publishing
years ago, I was so scared.
I was so scared and they wereso kind to me and they were so
good and they said, no, this isa good story.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Had you known anyone that had done this?
No, so you're clipping along.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
I'm just clipping along, and you love writing, yes
.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
And you've got these ideas Right.
But I think it's alwaysfascinating to hear from people
that do stuff like this.
So you're like I'm going to dothis.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, it's like this need inside of you Like.
I've got to get this out,because if I don't get it out,
it's just going to burn me up,yeah, and so it took a lot for
me to go in there and presentmyself Like here.
Look at me.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
That took a lot and they blessed their hearts.
They looked at the script andthey said this is actually
really good.
I was like really this isactually really good.
This is great, you know,because I think it is, but you
know I don't count, yeah, yeah.
So yeah, but Aloha Publishinghas been so sweet to me the
whole way they are.
They've got my back and they'lltell me.
Well, and then I have Megan,who is my.
(23:08):
She comes in and she correctsmy spelling and things like that
.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
We've now are almost the same.
We're like partners and she'samazing, that's great Talk
through part of your books.
And again, thank you for thecopies I've had.
I think there's a little bit ofa I don't know what to call it
I think we've had technology now.
I mean, I don't know, has itbeen 14 or 15, 16 years since
the iPhone first came out?
I waited in line, I sleptovernight down at the.
You know when it first came out.
(23:47):
It was, I can't remember it wasAT&T had the first iPhone.
So it was down on Milwaukee.
I waited in this big long line.
I got my first iPhone.
And you think of what's happenedsince then.
You know there was always theconcerns of, hey, everyone was
used to having a personalcomputer and laptops were a
(24:07):
thing, but the idea that now youwould carry around a device
that was as powerful as they arenow and really become, I mean,
listen, we're all, in fact, if Isat down and looked up my hours
because we're on them, we're onthem nonstop, right?
So technology has had certainlywonderful ways of efficiencies
(24:31):
in life.
I mean, yesterday I got upearly and went to Reno and back
and did you know you're justdoing all this stuff and the
whole time you're connected toeveryone and you're and you're
FaceTiming, you're getting onTeams calls, you're doing emails
, you're texting, you'refollowing the wars around the
world.
You're doing all this stuffsimultaneously.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
We're so connected.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
We're connected in a weird way, but I think people
are a little worried about AIand technology.
Worried about AI and technology, and I think there's going to
be a.
I think there's going to be a,not a resistance.
I don't know what.
I don't know how to explainthis.
I think books like librarieslike something tangible, like
(25:13):
instead of like doing.
I know my grandson just had histonsils out and so we went over
Sunday night and he got.
He got this little, what's itcalled?
Matthew the Yogo.
It's this cool little device.
It's awesome.
A Goyo, it's a Goyo.
Have you ever heard of this?
No, so it's really educationaland it's interactive with kids.
(25:34):
It's called a Goyo Goyo player.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
I had never seen one until Shannon gave me one Sunday
night.
But the technology behind thisthing is ridiculous.
There's a daily activity,there's cards.
It's unbelievably cool.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Oh, yes, no, I have seen those.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
It's unbelievably cool and I just sat there and he
was telling me all about it.
He's only five and he's tellingme all about it and walking me
through it.
I watched him set it up throughan app and he did it himself.
I watched the whole thinghappen.
I watched him connect it to hiswi-fi.
He's five and he gets thisthing set up.
But my point of doing this is,as cool as that is, it's not the
(26:12):
same as me putting him in myarms.
Yes, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I do.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
And just sitting there with him and saying, hey,
let's read a book.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Right, I think there's going to be.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Because you know what .
He has your full attention.
Not only you have his, but hehas yours, and you're connected
and you're both holdingsomething that's tangible.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
And we're turning pages and we're looking at
pictures and we're, we're, uh,it just feels different.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
It is, and then two um, you can just put your finger
under and say, okay, this isyour word Every time we come to
this word, you have to say this,and so it's basic learning.
I mean, it's just going back tothe basic learning of saying
okay, this is that.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
That's your word.
There's going to be somerebellion that we hold on to
some of this stuff at some point, Like we're not, we're going to
say no enough.
We are going to read books, toour kids.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Whether you like it or not, we are going to take our
phones and put them down andread books to our kids.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
I think there is.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, yeah.
No, I think it's wonderful.
We have a maypole, we havehopscotch, we have everything
that parents and children dotogether, and there's not
(27:32):
technology, it's just gettingout in nature and trying to
reconnect.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Where are you on the spectrum?
I've listened to a bunch ofpodcasts and read some stuff.
Are people out there that, like, have studied what's happening
to young people's developmentand minds in the era of phones
and technology and the idea ofplay?
yes, no, I don't think there'senough play there's like there's
(28:00):
a couple of really passionateguys that are really famous and
have been, they've done a lot ofwork and research where they'll
say we're messing up our kidsin ways because their brains are
forming and the way the humanbrain forms, and that you know,
I think for a male it's not tillyou're 24 and a female it's
like 21.
And you've got these reallyimpressionable times where we're
(28:22):
developing dopamine receptorsand all of the receptors are
maturing in our brains and it'swhen we learn conflict and
conflict resolution and we learnhow to control parasympathetic
and sympathetic responses in ourbodies and brains.
And all these things, naturally,have happened for thousands of
years where people just here'show we grow and do things and
(28:45):
our DNA is built that way.
And now comes along technologywhere?
And just modern society, wherewhere you look at, play like
think about, think about your.
You said you were a tomboy andyou had your cousins.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I mean, it was just like get outside, go create, go
do something else, go figure itout yourself.
You know, just go play, gofigure it out yourself, and the
conflict resolution happenednaturally.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
It happened naturally , because how many times did you
get in scuffles or whatever youwant to call?
Them and you just figured itout, right, Right.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
And that's kind of what the books are about.
It's like okay, she's alwaysmischievous, she's not a bad
girl, but she's just sointerested in everything you
know, get out there and dig anddo what you know, go find.
But there's going to beproblems along the way and
you've got to figure it out.
There's not going to be anadult there to figure it out for
you.
You can't go to your phone andsay, hey, you know how do I
(29:41):
figure this out?
And no, I think it's soimportant, I think play is so
important just to be able to gooutside.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
And a lot of children don't have that opportunity, so
that makes me feel bad.
You know people that are inapartments and the county and
you know City of Meridian, theircommitments to parks even, and
having like for all kids,because everyone grows up
differently, yes, and you havethis really ideologic farm life
(30:22):
which listen like you pick aplace to plop yourself down and
grow up and the experiences youhad.
I don't know that there'sanything better than growing up
on a small family farm.
I mean the things you learn, theinteraction, the animals, the
darkness, the sky, theconnection with all things that
are not you right, right, you'reforced to learn to work.
You're forced to learn toappreciate nature.
(30:44):
You're forced to.
You know, it's just, it has.
Like.
My dad always says something.
He's like lead.
Always use words when necessary, like when you grow up on a
farm.
you don't need to say a wholelot because you experience this
thing right.
Well, there's a lot of kidsthat will never know a farm,
they'll never know darkness,they'll never know.
So what are the ways we createthat?
(31:05):
I'm really glad that we're socommitted to parks.
I'm also really glad we're socommitted to libraries.
Libraries as well, I mean Ilook at my grandkids right now
and my daughter takes them tothe library a couple times a
week.
I think it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Yeah, that was the first thing I did when I wrote
Under the Barnyard Light.
I went back to the library thatmy mom used to take me to oh,
that's cool the library that mymom used to take me to.
I said this is the first thing Iwant to do and I got to read to
the children in the library andI told them how important the
library was to me and how thatit just created this magical
world, Because I always wantedto know where the planes that
(31:39):
are flying overhead up in thesky, where are they going?
What?
are those people doing and allof those things?
Where is Germany?
Where are all these places?
Because it's not like it wastoday and the library opened up
all of that for me and I wentback and I love to donate all my
books to libraries and to goread to the schools and to talk
(32:02):
to them in the schools and giveback and donate.
But that was one of the firstthings I did go back to the
Burley Public Library.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
So you went to the Burley Public Library yes,
that's awesome, yeah and had areading.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
This is my book and one day.
Who would have?
Speaker 1 (32:16):
thought this is my farm, down the road.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yes, if you just go down this road, you'll see it.
And the little kids were likereally Really, yeah, really.
And that's why we try toencourage you can do what you
want to do.
Just be brave.
Be brave and do it.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
That's awesome.
What year was that?
What was your first book?
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Oh gosh, I don't know , I'm so old, I think it was
2019.
Yeah, I started writing beforethat.
But you know there was such along process of trying to get it
out, the very first book.
Yeah, it took probably sixyears because I did all of this
(33:01):
and it was worth it, but nowyou've got the process down.
I have the process down.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
So what's the series here?
How many are in it?
Bonus?
Speaker 2 (33:12):
series.
There are one, two, three, fourfive.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
No, but like in your head.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Oh in my head.
Oh, there's many in my head.
There's so many in my head andI can't get them all down, but
I've got four more in my headthat I've got to get down.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Is that how it works?
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Yes, yeah, and I'm anxious to get it done and they
always say okay, you can eitherhave perfection or patience, or
you can get it done.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
And I don't have any patience.
Where are you on that spectrumthen?
Where do you like on the right,rewrite get a perfect thing
versus oh yeah, I'm really badthat way.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
I'm really bad that way, I'm really bad at that.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
So you're impatient and you're a perfectionist.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Yes, yes, and so that's what they said.
You can either have a book oryou can have perfection, so give
it up.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Where do you stand?
What do you tell parents?
And you're probably around alot of people, because you're an
author of children's books andyou have this interest in trying
to preserve heritage, preservethe legacy of reading and
connection and all that.
What's your advice you givepeople on technology?
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Ooh, that's tough Is that a loaded question.
That is a loaded question.
Technology I just think thatit's wonderful.
I think that you need to use itcorrectly, but I think you need
to break away from it with yourchildren as often as possible.
It was like we were talkingabout earlier.
You need to gather up yourchildren and you need to read to
them, you need to look at themone-on-one, you need to get down
(34:40):
on their level and you need tojust talk and be with them.
It's easier, not to do thatthough it's so easy not to do
that.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
My daughter drives me nuts sometimes.
Yeah, because I just like, oh,put on a show, take a nap.
But she doesn't let him shedoesn't let him.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Yeah, that's good.
Yeah, Because it is a loteasier just to throw something
at them and you know they reallyneed us.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
They really need that connection and I've seen kids
that'll be tugging on theirparents because they're on their
phone and they're like you know, talk to me and they'll be on
their phone, but the kids wantthem to talk.
So as a grandma, it's easy tosay because I don't have
children- all the time, don'tyou worry about?
That I do.
I worry about it all the time.
(35:28):
I worry about my grandchildren,I worry about other people's
children.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
You know what I'm guilty of it Everyone's guilty
of it.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Oh, I know, I know Because we all get frustrated
and we all get tired.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Well, and what happens is, you know, work never
stops now.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
No, no, it never stops.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
You're always doing something, it never stops and it
takes a tremendous amount ofdiscipline for everybody,
whether you're the grandpa orthe dad or the mom or whatever
to say okay, I'm going to try tobe present and the first step
of me being present isuntethering me from this thing
(36:05):
that is going to constantly buzzor vibrate.
Know, vibrate or ding or youknow, what was that?
Or I'm waiting for something.
It has to be very intentional.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
You know I'm really bad about having my phone and I
know that a lot of people getupset at me because they'll say
I tried to get a hold of you, Icouldn't get a hold of you and
I'm just like.
You know, I don't take my phoneeverywhere and I don't have my
phone with me all the time andusually I respond to people at
12 o'clock at night because Igot to get things done.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
So you truly just, you just try to keep it.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
I try to keep it away and I know that bothers a lot
of people and a lot of timesthat you know it is necessary to
have it close by, but Iintentionally try not to do that
.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Well, there's two things In today's world.
There's an expectation ofimmediate response.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Yeah, you should be responding to me right now, well
, I can't right now.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
The second part of it is if you don't, you get buried
.
Carla, this is not a therapysession.
I'm not trying to make myselffeel better about myself, no, I
get it.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
I get it, but I mean that's like part of it.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Right it is.
If I don't like get on mylaptop every night it's a
horrible habit I have.
I sit down with Shannon, I geton and for the next two or three
hours that's when I get caught.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
That's where I read my emails, you get caught up.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Caught up for the day , but man, I'm not present.
I'm not present.
Right, we're watching some showand I don't even know half of
what's going on.
That's why I don't remember thenext day.
But I don't know if I didn't dothat, but it's part of it's the
pace of our world, don't?
Speaker 2 (37:36):
you think, yeah, it's just different.
Just hit the balance.
Like with everything else, yougot to have a balance, and a
balance is very, very difficult.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
What are some of the important lessons you've taught
with GONA?
Let's go through some of them,because then I'll have more
things to react to and we'll getoff the negative of my internet
habits.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Okay, well, what we do is I try to encourage work,
which is interesting because Iwould say words in my books and
the editor would said, oh, youcan't say that in this world
today.
Like I put down chores Okay,you got to get your chores done
they said no, no, no, that'snegative.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
You can't put chores.
Do you just tell them BS and doit anyway?
No, you don't.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
I wasn't that strong at first.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
But now I'm just like Carla, just tell them BS, call
them chores.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
That's what they were .
Speaker 1 (38:23):
That's what they are.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Why is chores a bad word?
Speaker 2 (38:28):
I don't know, because I guess we're putting
expectation on our children.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
But that was the whole point.
You need to not use thesepeople in New York to be your
people.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Well, it's funny because in New York, when they
said that, he would text backand says I have no idea what a
corral is, explain to me what acorral is.
And so I had to explain to himand you know he goes oh, I get
it, colin.
Yeah, I get it.
Yeah, okay, you put the horsesin there.
All right, I got it and so.
(39:01):
So I love working with thesepeople, but they, you know, they
, don't have a clue.
And then the other thing was inAlex the lamb, the wonder lamb,
we used to raise lambs andmother lambs sometimes reject
their babies or the mother diesand they're called bum lambs.
And we would take the bum lambsand we would raise them.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
They're the ones you get closest to, because you have
to bottle feed them right.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Yeah, you have to bottle feed them.
So my responsibility was I hadto get up every night in the
middle of the night and feedthese babies out of an old glass
Pepsi bottle With a littlenipple on it.
right With a nipple on it yeah,and I loved that, and so that's
a lot about you.
Know, I was responsible foranother life.
I had to take care of that lifeand then I had to watch the
(39:44):
other babies that grew up goaway, and then this little lamb
was crippled and he couldn'twalk, and so it shows the
progress of how we worked withhim and and this is alex.
Yeah, this is alex, so foreveryone listening or watching,
so it's alex the wonderland thewonderland because, um, through
this whole process of us takingcare of him me basically being
(40:07):
his mother he learned to walk,and it talks about the
separation and about how he'sgoing to be destroyed because
he's a bum lamb and he can'twalk.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
So he's useless.
Do you still call him a bumlamb in here?
I do.
What did they call him?
Speaker 2 (40:24):
What did they call him?
Did they make you change thename?
They were trying.
Yeah, they were.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
And you resisted, I resisted.
I love that I did.
I love the fact that youresisted.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah, because they didn't like that.
And I did go to one school andI was reading the book and we
got a lot of bad emails backabout how dare you call the lamb
crippled, how dare you call ita bum lamb?
And I was like, well, that'swhat it was.
You know, it was a crippled bumlamb, but he can walk now.
The good thing is he can walk.
And in the other ones it'sbasically about learning to get
(40:55):
along with my brother andworking through problems because
he doesn't want to play with me.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
You know he's like five years older than me.
Why would he want to play withme?
And so we have that process andhe works with me.
The other one is about mybrother who goes into the army,
like I said, into Germany, and Ihave no idea where Germany is
at eight years old, and then hetalks to me about the stars, he
comes home and teaches us thosethings and then he leaves again.
(41:22):
And that book is really tenderto me because my father served
and my brother served and thenmy boy was a captain in the army
in Korea.
So the last page mimics what mybrother Dennis did before he
left to get back on the bus togo to Germany, he put his hat on
me.
And then my boy, when he wasgoing back to Korea, put his hat
(41:44):
on my grandson.
He doesn't have any sons, buthe was very, very close to this
boy.
Wow, so it ties it all back in,so that's home again.
That's home again.
Yeah, and that's really.
And if you open that book up orthe page up you can see my dad
and my brother and my son.
It should be right in theresomewhere Somewhere close.
(42:09):
So that is very tender to me.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
To my dad, my brother Dennis and my son Taylor, and
to all the veterans, thoseserving in the military and the
families who courageouslysupport them.
And there's a picture ofCorporal Calvin Cottrell Crane
Cottrell Crane Cottrell Crane,sergeant Dennis Drake Crane and
First Crane Cottrell Crane,sergeant Dennis Drake Crane and
First Lieutenant Taylor SheaOsborne.
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
Yeah, he was my boy.
Yeah, that's cool, yeah, and sowhen I see veterans, I give
this book to them.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
This is awesome.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Because you know I'm very patriotic and it almost
moves me to tears because youknow people do a lot for this
country and they never getrecognized, and the families who
support them that let you know,because I experienced a little
teeny bit of that when mybrother left.
Yeah, just yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
I didn't serve.
Do you think that people thatdon't serve can fully ever
appreciate?
Speaker 2 (43:09):
no, um I, I can't appreciate that.
Yeah, I can't appreciate goingand even though I have this
heritage, I can't appreciatewhat it takes to give up and
then to go and then to come backand then just be forgotten you
know, they're not alwaysforgotten but to be able to
serve and to work like that andto lots of times dangerous.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
I had a good friend on here, dan nelson, who told
his story, which is he's a, he'sa, he's a dang hero, he's just
a war hero.
Um, and I asked him.
I said when people say thankyou for your service, it's like
does that, does that meananything?
What does that mean to you?
And he said I don't.
(43:55):
He said what they could doinstead of the thing of using
words, live a life worth dyingfor, because that's what I was
out there doing right, exactly,and I thought what a powerful
way to look at it.
But that's, you know, and Ithink, fortunately and
unfortunately I think, withworld tensions the way they are
now, it does heighten ourawareness of putting more
families and individuals inharm's way and I don't know, a
(44:17):
deep appreciation, patriotismfor where we live.
We have family members thatserved and they just were always
.
My hero, my Uncle Daryl, waslike the guy.
He was a pilot that flew inmultiple missions and wars and
he would tell the stories.
And I look at that guy, he waslike Superman to all of us, of
course.
He was the guy, and so I'm gladwe live in a state that honors
(44:42):
that.
Though we had Ked Wills on, whowas the former colonel for the
Idaho State Police, and it's thesame with whether it's law
enforcement, military, firstresponders, people that choose
to serve their lives for others.
For others they don't even know, they don't even know, and the
idea of when danger happens, Irun towards it, I don't run away
(45:03):
from it, and we all kind oftake it for granted.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
We take it for granted.
There's somebody that's got ourback.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Yeah, away from it.
And we all kind of take it forgranted.
We take it for granted, there'ssomebody that's got our back.
Yeah, I think why we take itfor granted is it's just so free
in our society.
It's just there.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
It's there, it's always been there, yeah, and we
just assume that it always willbe there.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
Yeah, a really bad assumption.
Yes, that there will always bepeople that will just put their
lives on the line for us andserve.
And yeah, well, carl, this hasbeen awesome.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Well, thank you.
Thank you so much for lettingme come.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
I want to make sure, so we've got the Go.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
It's Go, go, go, go, that's the series Go Go, go Go.
That's the series Go Go Goseries, and it's at Gona's
Reading Ranch.
Speaker 1 (45:49):
And Gona's Reading Ranch, and you can be found on
Amazon anywhere you search forCarla Osborne books.
And then you have a website too, right?
Speaker 2 (46:01):
Yes, we have a website too, and we have events
at my house and my barn and,like I said, we just do things.
And the next one is the 23rd.
Speaker 1 (46:11):
Hey, I would you know , listen, we have lots of people
on here.
I would tell every one of ourlisteners that has a grandkid,
yes, go look these up, hold themin your arms, smell them, hug
them, kiss them and read them abook.
That's right, right that.
Smell him, hug him, kiss himand read him a book.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
That's right, right, that's right.
Go outside even better.
Sit underneath the tree andread to him and smell the air.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
I'll get emotional now, but my grandpa was my hero.
That guy was like he was andalways will be the guy for
anyone that knew him.
But anyone that knew him he satunder a willow tree, is in his
yard in an old lawn chair.
I can see it today old, yeah,yes, piece of crap lawn chair
that was falling apart and hehad an old hat and he would sit
(46:59):
there reading a louis lamorebook yes and and you would sit
down by that guy and man justfeel secure right well the
strength I always say he uh,people talk to you and when he
talked you felt that you didn'thear it and he was present, but
it was.
It was just so.
It was so connecting and soimpactful.
(47:22):
I sometimes wonder in our worldtoday if we're as impactful
because we're so hurried.
Do I have a willow tree to situnder?
Do I sit on an old lawn chair?
Do I take the time to listen oram I rushed?
Speaker 2 (47:35):
Am I rushed?
Do I think we're all rushed I?
Speaker 1 (47:37):
think we're rushed.
Speaker 2 (47:37):
But it's always good to think, okay, I've got to slow
down, I've got to slow down andI think this might sound I
don't know.
Speaker 1 (47:45):
I think we need to manufacture those times in our
lives or they pass.
Oh, definitely, because it'snot like.
I think for him.
I really do think for him.
I don't think he manufacturedthose experiences.
They were natural, theyhappened.
They happened almost every dayfor me.
They just happened normally,like that normal interaction
(48:05):
with him was meaningful andintentional and it just happened
.
And in today's world,everything's so busy.
I think that we have to likesay okay, where am I going to
create those connections and beintentional about it.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
And you know, can I just say a lot of people think
we need to create those memoriesby going on big, huge vacations
.
No, no, usually the ones theyremember the most children are
when we were there at that exacttime, like you said, under the
willow tree, just sitting withthem sitting in the grass.
We don't need to travel greatdistances to create memories.
Just do it in your home, do itin your backyard, Go out and dig
(48:40):
in the dirt with your child.
I mean a couple few weeks.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
It's been a few months ago now and I walked in I
couldn't find my wife and Iwalked in the garage and she's
there and she had her littlechicks and her brooder and I
said, hey, how are you, how wasyour day?
And she starts bawling.
I'm like what's going on?
And she's like I'm just sohappy.
And and she said we just got toplay with chicks and hang out
(49:12):
and talk and and she's like itwas so awesome and she was just
so emotional about it.
I'm like that's right, it's the, it's those things.
It's digging in the dirt, it'ssitting under a willow tree.
It's reading a book aboutreally important stuff idaho
heritage, idaho valuesism, theLights in the Barn, great themes
Carla, you're awesome.
Speaker 2 (49:31):
Oh, thank you so much .
I've loved this, carla Crane.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
Osborne Go look them up and read a book.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
Thanks everybody.
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