I first realized I wanted to become a writer when in the sixth grade my teacher Mrs. Sager posted my bird report on the bulletin board as one of the finest in the class.

On top of that endorphin producer one of the girls in my class said to me as we read the posted reports, “Mike, you are a good writer.” That resulted in another shot of endorphins released only, seconds later!

That experience was recorded and saved somewhere in my brain cells never to be forgotten.

Twenty-four years later after my teaching job was cut to an eight-tenths position my brain reminded me of my desire to become a writer.

We were now a family of five living in a new house in the country and faced financial struggles.

What if my teaching position was further downsized?

Twenty-four years had passed and my dreams of becoming a writer had not become a reality yet.

So, I was determined to do something about it. I decided to dedicate my summer breaks to begin a writing career.

How to start?

We had been receiving a farm newspaper in the mail for the past few months. It was titled, The Sodbuster and was distributed to all rural residents in western Minnesota, eastern South Dakota and eastern North Dakota.

A new newspaper perhaps had a need for a nature column.

So, I contacted the editor and suggested I would gladly produce a monthly nature column titled, “Through Nature’s Window”.

I was pleasantly surprised when the editor accepted my nature column idea. Not too happy, however, when he told me he would be paying $7 per column.

So, for four glorious months I was a writer! 🙂

September, October, November and December I faithfully produced a column discussing the happenings of nature during those months.

But the fifth month I was introduced to the writer’s worst enemy. All writers face it sometime in their careers and it is called rejection.

I stayed up until 2 am finishing that column as it was due the next morning and it failed to be printed in the January edition.

Panicking as any rookie writer would do, I contacted the editor to see what the problem had been, and the editor said my column did not fit the newspaper’s standards.

I was unaware of what those standards might have been.

So, I did what any overworked teacher would do in such a circumstance, I fired myself! 🙁

But I was not discouraged for long. I grumbled for a couple of weeks and before long I was planning what I would be writing in the upcoming summer break.

I’ve always liked the title of my first successful writing column, Through Nature’s Window. (If you consider four months qualification as a successful column?)

Our house was built in 1980 just after the gas shortages and energy concerns in the 70’s. So, I designed our house to face south and the south wall had seven six- foot windows. The windows allowed passive solar energy to help heat the house during the winter months.

I’m smiling now because that reminds me of the first fall living in the house. I came home from school to have my wife, Kathie, meet me at the door sweating and wearing a two- piece swimming suit.

The passive solar energy was a little too successful. 🙂

Over the forty-three years living in our country home, I have come to realize our house is like the title of my first writing success, Through Nature’s Window.

Was it a premonition those many years ago that I would be spending forty-three years living in a house facing south and having seven narrow windows to view nature through?

Wild turkeys attacking their reflection in the window glass. Squirrels frolicking under the birdfeeder competing for spilled sunflower seeds.

White-tailed deer standing on our patio so close had it not been for the window glass we could reach out and touch them.

Cottontail rabbits nibbling on dandelion leaves and lawn grass.

I was given a hummingbird feeder several years ago, so I prepared the sugar water and hung the feeder next to the birdfeeder. Since I had never had a hummingbird feeder before, I assumed it would take a couple days for the hummingbirds to discover it.

To my utter disbelief the first hummingbird arrived in minutes after hanging up the feeder!

What a joy it is to watch their acrobatics in flight. Wings beating so rapidly my iPad had no ability capturing their image unless a blur qualifies as an image. 🙂

Blue jays greedily gobbling up the sunflower seeds as other smaller birds flee in fright.

The shy chickadee flies to the feeder grabs one sunflower seed and quickly flies off to enjoy the morsal in the protection of evergreen needles.

The upside- down bird or nuthatch clings to the sunflower feeder as it feeds on the sunflower seeds. Upside-down or right-side up it manages to get its fill.

Dazzling, yellow goldfinches add beauty to the bird feeders as they forage for seeds.

Honeybees compete for the hummingbird’s sugar water also. That ended quickly when I discovered I needed to buy the feeders with covers preventing bees from getting to the sugar water.

Yes, my seven “through nature’s windows” have provided our family hours and hours of enjoyment.

The four columns that resulted from “Through Nature’s Window” in the Sodbuster Newspaper was exciting for a guy who wanted to be a writer, but I wouldn’t trade it for all the years of entertainment that my seven windows have provided our family. 🙂

Until next time.