At last week's Norsk Høstfest, the annual Scandinavian festival in Minot, North Dakota, Prairie Public program manager Erik Deatherage was set out to "finally, finally try the often-dreaded traditional Norwegian fish dish, lutefisk."

No doubt many North Dakotans hear a loud, gurgling call emanating from overhead during spring or fall, and look skyward in search of the source. After a bit of searching, you finally identify the source as a flock of large birds, way up there! If the flock is lower, long legs might be visible sticking out behind them. Ahh, the call of sandhill cranes!

Sometime soon I will come to Prairie Public studios and record Plains Folk radio feature no. 1000. I am not winding down, but ramping up toward that recording, wherein I will, of course, offer some wise and witty remarks about life on the Great Plains of North America and the enterprise of telling their stories.