I stayed in a bed and breakfast in Ratoeth, Ireland, and it was owned by an older lady, and for some reason she was convinced my name was Olaf.

And she was so pleasant to be around and just so nice and sweet that I didn't have the heart to correct her. So I went ahead and just answered to it. But she would ask me strange questions like, so, Olaf, what's it like to have Nordic heritage? I'd say, hey, it's just one of those things. And she'd say, I hear that you're a guitar player.

Have you thought about doing anything else with your life?

And I have to admit, the question has come up a few different times in conversations.

But I say, well, I'm actually studying to be an Icelandic botanist.

And I have no idea what an Icelandic botanist is, but she bought it.

The next morning I came downstairs and she wasn't anywhere to be found, but her husband was working behind the counter.

And he saw me and he motioned over.

He said, what?

He says, did you hear there's a guitar player from Indiana that stayed here last night?

And I said, no, I didn't know that. Yeah, he's studying to be an Icelandic botanist.

I said, you don't say. I thought about it for a while. And I've come to the conclusion that if you've lived 70 plus years in this world and you've put up with all the crap that we all put up with on a day-to-day basis, you've pretty much earned the right to call anybody any damn thing you want.

Music Oh, Oh, Oh Oh Yeah

Oh

Yeah

Oh

I Hi friends, this is Otis Gibbs, and you're listening to Thanks for Giving a Dam.

I'm sitting here in my living room in East Nashville, Tennessee on a beautiful, beautiful day,

and we had the cedar wax wings just returned to our backyard to eat the berries off the privates.

They're only here for two or three weeks out of the year and they're just beautiful.

They really put a lot of color everywhere.

But this is a personal journal. It's a bit of an experiment.

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