From funeral home thoughts to this province’s wild and woolly weather, Grandpa Pike shares all in this delightful follow up to his first book, Grandpa Pike’s Outhouse
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Well, once you start talking “Number Two” with Grandpa Pike anything can, and will, come up. He laughs. “Well, Number Two. Nice, right? Some people won’t even think about other meaning, they just will say, well, that’s his second book. And that’s fine too. It’s just less funny though, isn’t it?” he begins.
Three’s a charm!
Grandpa, otherwise known as Laurie Blackwood Pike, reflects on this, his third book that follows Grandpa Pike’s Outhouse Reader and A Man of my Word, a biography on former premier Beaton Tulk. “This one is a little more personal, and it’s not just funny things, but some darker things you might say. But they are all short reads, a few pages each, like the first book.”
Tales like the touching one called “For Christ’s Sake” or the humourous “Dandelion’s Duck” are all told from Grandpa’s unique perspective. “I like sharing funny stories and then sharing something that might be more inspirational or thought provoking,” he shares.
Obviously his readers enjoy it as well.
“Number one (Outhouse Reader) did really well and is still doing really well. We are in the third printing and I’d say close to the fourth printing.”
With the popularity of his books in mind, Grandpa lets slip that he has his next book ready to go, however; “While I have that book written (Flanker Press, his publisher) has sworn me to secrecy on the title.” 
Pike laughs when asked what he spends his time doing these days. “This is what I’m doing; writing. And shoveling snow and fixing fences and kicking the dog. Well, I don’t kick the dog. That would be wrong,” he laughs.
Thinking on the book he wrote with former premier Beaton Tulk he says, while that was a challenge, it was also an honour. “It’s not just Beaton’s story, it’s a story of politics during that whole period that he was in there. The different leaders on both sides of The House.”
Fun & personal
He says he doesn’t plan on taking on a project like that again anytime soon. “I’ll stick to doing more of these short story books, it’s fun and personal and you should write what you know.”
How does he remember these encounters he shares in his books? He smiles. “I just have a good memory and a half decent eye for detail. I remember things.”
Has anyone come up to him after recognizing themselves in one of his stories? He winks. “I’m too smart for that. I change names and places and the dates sometimes to protect the guilty – or innocent – whatever the case may be.”
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