house slippers

Brandon was in school. Aaron is turning a bus. Collin is visiting Mossflower Woods.

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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE

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SUMMARY KEYWORDS

books, read, bus, series, talking, people, guess, bad, kids, haiku, school, magic, work, happening, good, stuck, aaron, big, love, road

SPEAKERS

Brandon, Aaron, Collin

Collin  00:05

Welcome to Oh, brother, podcast where we try to figure it all out. Here's your host, Brandon, Colin Baron. On this week's show, how slippers. Uh, hi. How's it going?

Brandon  00:21

Well, good question. I don't know.

00:26

Have you been in school recently?

Brandon  00:29

Today? Today only.

00:37

Oh, well how so? It has it has it? How's it felt?

Brandon  00:43

was weird, right? It's very because like we it's only partway through January. So we've only been back like a little bit and then we were out of school. For context listeners, today's Thursday. First day of school I've had this week, so welcome. back, everybody. Yeah. zany. Like last week, we were just back. Right, just from like, breaking stuff. And then we it was, you know, we were back a little bit and it was snowy. And then oh, surprised. It was snowy again. So. So yeah, it was a we only had a school a couple days last week. Let's see. We were as per last episode, we had terrible training on a Monday, and then we didn't go to school Tuesday. And then we'd had school Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And then Thursday this week. That's my

Aaron  01:41

Ah, It's wacky. Oh, Aaron. Aaron, did

01:45

you have Did you were you in school at all? Like, like,

Aaron  01:50

oh, no, no. So what's here? Hey. You still? Yeah, yes. Yes. So yesterday, I did not have school. But today, we went back. And then I was out. We're out Monday for what Luther King Day and then Tuesday. Wednesday, we're out and then went back today.

Brandon  02:14

Ah, so same as me then. Nice.

Aaron  02:18

And so, but I think the Weather's supposed to get bad again next week. But yeah, I mean, rural rural school problems, you know, the highways were fine. But all the back roads are 90% and dirt roads, so they were just trashed. And so even even our admins like ya know are the highways are fine, but every side road side street back road is not drivable. Fair enough.

02:50

For us, here, it's been the roads have been fairly okay. It's just been the wind chill, where they're like, Nope, it's too cold. Like turns out, they don't want kids waiting for a bus when it's negative 23 outside like that. Apparently, that's

Aaron  03:07

a bad thing. Why? It's fine. I'm just kidding. Yeah, it's a

Brandon  03:13

it's a weird I had this realization I this has happened before. But I've never like thought about it in these terms. Right? It I think Monday, or maybe it's Tuesday. Okay, Monday or Tuesday? It was warmer in my freezer than it was outside.

03:35

It's you said that in my look, I was like, what? I'm sorry. That's, that's I'm not okay with that. I'm really not okay with that. Like

Brandon  03:47

are Yeah, I'd never like I'd never really parsed that, like together before. It's happened before I know. But like I when I thought about it in those terms. I went oh, oh no. That's terrible. No, I

04:07

I knew it was bad when I had to do some walks with dogs and I was like, oh, man, it's freezing. That's pretty warm. I don't need to wear so many layers.

Brandon  04:19

It's actually zero degrees. I'm so hot right now. Dogs

04:22

really wise and I was like, like wait, did I just did I just say that because like Oh no. It'll be I was pretty funny. All of a sudden I was like, Oh, man it's it's really warm. It's like 32 degrees outside.

Brandon  04:36

Yeah, this is nice. Yeah, our problem I don't know about did you get a lot of like snow Aaron down there like was it was there any snow or was it just a cold temperatures that were the problem so

Aaron  04:47

we had both in a lot of the schools same thing with Colin was, you know, the windshield was just horrendous. But we got snow that Monday night or We got we got snow Sunday. Yeah night. And then Monday it hit even harder. And then the sun came out on like Tuesday afternoon rolling into Wednesday. And then Wednesday the sun was out. I mean, it's still just so cold. Especially narrow. Yeah, our our apartment has like zero insulation, because it's an older establishment and it's built like on top of like a series of stuff. And so we felt almost every slight fiber of like the zero degrees when it hit everything set up right underneath single pane windows, so that he would come right outside. Did I put blankets on all the big ones our offices, we couldn't go in. If you did, you can see your breath from them. Because they underneath them. There's a walkway. And so it's a freakin wind tunnel. And I had to put like, pretty much like blankets all over Shelby's like office so she can least just walk through. And then I'd do the same thing with with her two windows that has an air my office is right on the corner. And so I get the wind straight from one direction. And I get the wind tunnel underneath me so my office was freezing. And the little little tiny wall heater that's in there would just be like in right out the window. We we had to go buy a little tiny like hunting heater and

06:46

hunting blind. And so

Aaron  06:49

we so we have a like you remember the big fireplace thing we got for me? Yeah. So we have one of those that are our house is so old. That like you can only plug it in for like five minutes before it gets like overheated. Yeah, in the wall, plug it in. So we bought this little little tiny thing. And we we stuck it here on the corner. Because we have our couch and we have our recliner. And we just stuck it right there. And it was predominant only for like our feet to keep cool, keep warm. And then we would stick it in the bathroom and was like shut it in there. So we had to go to the bathroom or take like a shower or something we'd get out and eat. The only place that was manageable was our bedroom because we have like these insulated curtains. And I had our little tiny heater on one side and our little wall heater going on the other side. And I mean just everything was blacked out. We did I couldn't do the sun for like two days. Because our house was just blankets everywhere. And it finally caught manageable. But I mean I was wearing it got so bad. I was wearing like thermal Enders and tops, sweatpants, my hunting socks and like a hoodie. And I felt bad for Shelby because she's doing this workout thing where she has to work out for like, oh, right, 30 minutes, like outside. And so she had to go like walk. And so she would just bundle up and just Alright, so Yeah, Mike, right. That's Luke on horseback riding to Taunton away and in the snow, you just take off. And I'll tell you, you're our cat gave zero bothers. And you can tell when he's cold because he would only ever snuggle up during the day, like at the peak cold or at night. But then other times he just kind of did his own thing but it we felt like you could stick your hand on like the interior wall. Like in the living right here. And you could still feel the wall being cold. Yeah, like that's how little insulation this entire house had. Holy cow. Yeah. And so I was glad to see if it got up to like 20 today. Yeah, we had

Brandon  09:08

we had like snow, but it was like it was really like powdery snow. Right? Because the air was the air was so cold that it was wanting to smell but it was like so cold and dry. It was like nah. So we had the it was like real powdery. Right and then that I guess it snowed most mostly on Sunday. And then like Sunday night, just it just completely throws just solid. Right. This is real fine, powdery snow that packed like really good. And then it just froze. And then it didn't Unfreeze.

Aaron  09:43

I had some some rancher friends up where I work coach at and they lost some battle. Not because of like, the cold temperatures didn't help but they were so dehydrated. Yeah, because of the wind and like they didn't get do You on the grass. And so he's like, yeah, like we break the water of you. We water him. But he's like, like they tried to graze on our own. He was like I had a Mama Cass and a mama and a calf pass because they were just so dehydrated. Because they couldn't they couldn't get him to eat or drink out like, Oh my gosh. But yeah, that wasn't that bad. I was like, oh, Jeepers, that's crazy. Yeah, yeah, we

10:27

watched as the city's water mains, like burst, one at a time. We had three of them that burst across town, which is always, you know, fun.

Aaron  10:43

Yeah, yeah. Where you're like, Well,

10:44

I hope we don't, we're gonna have we're gonna have water today. And I am very thankful that we did not have any pipes freeze or anything in our house, except it because in our kitchen, like all of our pipes, we have no pipes that are on the external walls,

Brandon  11:01

except

11:06

the line that goes to our

Brandon  11:09

refrigerator.

11:13

This little thing that it is the little tiny plastic line. From our basement. It's snakes like way out to the ocean. Of course, it's the northern wall of our house, and goes up, of course, and then out to the refrigerator. And I realized that it was a working whenever I heard the ice machine, continually calling for water to fill. And I was like, Oh,

Aaron  11:40

well shut that off, though.

Brandon  11:48

Well, out of all the ones that could break that one's pretty inconsequential because it's already

11:52

happy, very happy. This isn't bad. And I was I was I was also very thankful of the people who own this house prior to us installed freezeproof water spigots on the outside, where if you actually go out and look. You go to Lowe's, you can buy these, and they sell them in different inch increments. So how much you want? frostproof? And it's basically just like how cold you expect things to get. And these people they bought like 14 inch ones out. So from the spigot, it goes through a hole in the wall. And then that that pipe is actually extra insulated. All the way down. Yes. I was like, This is good. This is good. Thank you, people. Thank you for doing this. I appreciate

Brandon  12:43

so but they're still the covers and everything the barren wasteland that is central Missouri, right. Like,

12:48

oh my gosh,

Brandon  12:49

I know. Just like

12:52

and of course, you know, Megan's folks moved up here from back here from Texas where they have enjoyed, you know, no winter, the for the past many, many years. So this has been quite a

Brandon  13:04

show. They probably really love this, right. Like, Oh, yeah. Negative 20. Windchill bullish is

13:13

like, Yeah, everybody enjoying themselves. Yes. Yes. Exactly. So that's been, that's not been fun. But yeah, it's been. It's been interesting to just see and yeah, anyway, I've been seeing all the weather around the golf. It was kind of nice to see the winter wonderland or so nice. Yeah.

Brandon  13:36

Yeah. Yeah. All right. Where we're at we're kind of in the same boat as Aaron right to is the as far as the school goes, because our like yesterday, like, all of the roads here in town, pretty fine. Right. I went out, I realized that I probably should go like, open the garage door and start the car for a little bit because we had driven anywhere for several days, and it was freezing. So just to make sure it works in all the roads are pretty good. But our

Aaron  14:03

rural bus routes are

Brandon  14:06

horrible, right? They're like, way off down in the hollers. Right? And we got like, dirt roads, like Aaron said, like, those roads don't see son on a good day.

Aaron  14:18

Days or at times, because like they're still even today. There were still roads, like some school buses, like parents would call. They're like, yeah, like, the bus could not get down our road to our kids not come to school today. And you know what? You're fine. That's fine. And I've even driven some of those bus routes. Not at this school. But my first of all back in teaching. Like the moment I got my CDL it's like, Hey, here's a bus route. I drove for like a little bit. No big deal. And then like straights now strangely destroyed ice. i Oh, gotta get the kids home somehow. And like, I will is like two weeks into driving a bus had no idea how to manage the bus on the icy roads. But yeah, you don't go down the highway and then you get that one little kid like, You got to turn right and it's just like a straight shot that you can leave the curve of the road and I was like I had to ride that line because it's not the bus to go straight to a ditch. And then I got a gun it as best I can and go up a hill because I don't and suckers going right back down. And hopefully there's no one on the other side because I can't see nor can I stop. Good luck, everybody. There was no and that that was driving a bus than some of the rural areas were no, no tires. No. No modifications just bus. The heater might work. They weren't go. And yeah, I've I I'm so glad I'm not the boss anymore. I hated it so much. I felt bad for the kids. Because the kids are on for like, an hour, two hours sometimes. Especially if you have a terrified bus driver has no idea where they're going.

16:07

You know, maybe, who knows.

Brandon  16:09

Yeah, hypothetically,

Aaron  16:10

I tried to get them as best I could. But sure. I thought that like that was those are not fun times. Especially if you have to turn around. Like hey, is there just like a driveway? Like no, you got to do a got to put the bus round on this tiny six by six foot road. Good luck.

Brandon  16:30

You You're bringing back my childhood of good old plus 15 right like this is you're describing what it was like to ride our bus. Right? I don't know if you you guys are ride the bus quite as much. I don't think no, because I tested it out. And then it was like, no bus sucks when I read this. How often did you actually ride the bus, though? So I rode the bus home a lot. Right? We didn't I didn't ride the bus. I rode the bus to school. Some right but the bus got to our house like a really weird time. Yeah, normally my dad would just drop me off at school on the way to work. And then I would ride the bus home quite frequently in my especially as a youth right so it does add a lot and all these all these instances were these happen to be right so we were our bus got stuck several times in the snow. Yeah.

Aaron  17:36

Like we got stuck

Brandon  17:37

one time, right. Here's a bus story. Where are you? We got stuck down. Like on this road. Right? We were turning around all Bill was turning the bus around and exactly what you said happened you turn around. And he like as he was backing up the bus like started sliding. And it slid off the road. Right? So it's like, you know all those roads, my dad's house, right? So it's like, one one side road. Other side ravine with histories. And that's where we sat there. Right. So we sat on the bus. Nice. Forever, right again. This is the early mid 90s. Right. So theater, man our bus was like one of the worst buses. Right? Our bus route did not get the new buses. Right? Because we had like the really rural route and we had the the rough kids on our bus, right? It's like graffiti is eating like cuts. So our bus route, did not get the new buses. Our bus route was our bus was one of the last ones to have a stick shift bus. So ours was like a stick shift. It was horrible. Anyway, we're driving this bus. We got stuck there and they had to call the maintenance guy. Right. So he comes out in the truck. Okay, maintenance guy comes out of the truck. And he hooks a big ol log chain onto the bus. And he's trying to kinda like the bus is trying to back out and he's trying to pull it to make sure it backs out onto the road and doesn't slide off into the ravine of death. Right. So he starts pulling on this bus and Bill starts rocking it back and forth, right? We pull out the bus pull in and he pulls it he pulls the pulls. And how's that chain broke? Right? This big ol large chain broke off came around, slapped right into the side of the bus was right under the windows. And we everybody screamed laying on the floor we had to like it was terrible, right? Eventually the second one worked we got out and we were able to get home but like it was terrible. There was another one where he got stuck like right like You know where we met when we were walking on last time we went there for Christmas or whatever, and we met you and shall be walking on the road. Yeah, like right where we met you guys. The bus got stuck right there back. Like he was pulling over for that stop and the bus just sort of slid. We slid to the left and got stuck there. And so I was like, Bill, I can see my house. Can I walk home? He was like, No.

Aaron  20:30

Yeah. Okay,

Brandon  20:31

let's be reasonable here. Okay, I know. He's like you. I can't let you get off the bus. I was like, listen, you're gonna let me off the bus at the top of my super long driveway. Anyway. So right here? Yeah, this is only like 100 and 100 more yards of walking. I could make it. Oh, here's the here's how we got unstuck. Are you ready for this? No. The first of all, they bill. Like, we had a hit him and the high schoolers got off the bus. And they went and they started packing snow and rocks under the back wheels. Right? As you do, as you do, and as Bill was like, bills out back in and he's again, this is a standard bus. So he starts doing the thing where you rock the bus back and forth, right on the on the gear right on the gear, rocking it back and forth to try to pop it up. The high schoolers are still outside pushing the bus.

Aaron  21:29

How would you do it? Go at it.

Brandon  21:33

Pretty sure. That's not allowed.

21:37

I'm pretty sure yeah, they would not allow the kids off the bus right, let alone touch or do anything.

Brandon  21:41

They're out there rocking the bus. Right? They're pushing. It was oh, it was ridiculous. It was the little we were in there. I was trying I was in like, fourth or fifth grade. By the time we were on the bus like you know as the bus Rockstar were like running forward and pushing. We're like shifting weight. He's like shift. So we get we finally got out of there. But it took forever. I was like my house right there. Just let me oh

22:12

yeah, I was trying. I was trying to describe to Megan a little bit about our bus out there. And she didn't quite believe me that it was exactly as I described it. I was like, no, no, really, there was interesting things going on on that bus back there. I don't really want to know, be interesting to know what's happening on it now. And I say that having no desire to actually know the answer to that

Brandon  22:37

is probably like, way less. I don't know. There's probably not people like smoking on the back. Right? There's not people teaching rubies to curse. Oh, Viva No, that wasn't we didn't have that yet. They were like doing all kinds of weird stuff back there. I don't even know. It was strange.

Aaron  22:54

I know. I know, talking to dad, I guess they have like different buses are the different schools. So like the high school go out separately, the middle school go out separately, and like the elementary girls separately by so that way, there's not like the older kids. Kids. Yeah. And so like, there's multiple ones. And like a lot of schools do that to kind of help space out, you know, a small child learning how to roll the cigarette, or, you know, interesting vocabulary. Just for sage because I think their issue is and especially with the kids like the rubber kids with the you know, non rough kids. But no, my rule schools did not care. And especially with like driving the bus route the first time. Like, Hey, do we have a map? Oh, no, I'm just asking Jeremy. He'll tell you where to go. Okay, and then you show up and the kids like, I'm not in Jeremy and I'm a fifth grader. Oh, no. Okay. Oh, dear. And it but thankfully there those are always like the ones that like, did a pretty decent job. But I drove this. I had one kiddo the last time because I fill in occasionally. And I had a map. And I guess I missed the turn or something out of one kid left on the bus. Like Hey, bud, do you know where to get off? He's like, Yes, I like that. Where we're going is like my mom's house. Like that's what's up. Where is it? Oh, we're not going to my mom's house. I did you tell me. We're going to my Daddy's house. Where's Denise asked. I don't know. So I ended up going to like five miles like north and like five miles like over and I just found the highway. And I just drove until he said that looks right. I just found it. And then thankfully his DVD or whatever was like sitting outside and he's like that sent by, like, I was on this bus for like 30 minutes longer, because this guy had no idea where he lived. That was to end to get to his house. No, no bad road conditions. But I guess I went the wrong way. But you know, like, it was like old school style of bridges that are like, their, their, their stone or brick HELOC is really archway. And it's like, you know, kind of, like one of those bridges that like you see, like a horse and carriage drive over. And it's like really like cool looking. Yeah, imagine that. But imagine that was like no sides or something, because we're

Brandon  25:41

just having two bridges across the river.

Aaron  25:43

I'm on I'm on a bus. I'm on this bus. And it's apparently the largest in the bus yard. And I have to turn Oh, so I have to make a V turn. So imagine a letter V. You I've make that turn on a bridge that has no guardrails. And the backside is just a straight ditch. And forward is a river. And so I just I crank that sucker hard. Throat nervous, just inching back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And I I almost got a tire over the edge, just trying to get the sucker around. But and he was just back there just playing on his phone, not a care in the world and I'm struggling. I am like the the maintenance guy. He's, he's on the bus route. He doesn't answer his phone. I'm like, this is cool. I'm trying on the radio. Right? It doesn't work. I'm like trying like everything. And I'm just, I probably spend 10 minutes just trying to make this turn. Finally nail it. Anthony's like, pokes his head up. He's like, where are we? Like is it your house somewhere close. He's like, maybe it just goes back to start on. Like I

Brandon  27:03

have children. They're missing human beings. But

Aaron  27:06

finally you get home kick them off. And I haven't had the best rats in goodness. Because

27:11

my complaints that people have this bus dangling precariously over the ledge.

Aaron  27:17

Yeah, am I incredibly old bus maintenance person who is wonderful. He's just sitting there with his hands on his head. He's a bus route. Hmm. Like I have no problem finding you right now. The did you make sure you take you know be straight over because there's there's a bridge there. But yeah, I found it the other way. Yeah. Oh, well, I've

Brandon  27:40

been information have before we started.

Aaron  27:46

Right now those bus routes in cold weather, especially by bus. A few schools go emergency brake, maybe you would have worked at and to stop it. You basically just had to put it in neutral. Unless it goes backwards until it hit this big old like concrete slab. And nice. That's that's how you parked it. Ah

Brandon  28:14

our bus when I go 15 I don't think there was much break on that bus. We definitely. We dealt with the big hill, my dad's house right when you're down on that road below it. It used to be it's paved. Now. It's weird. Used to be just be gravel, right? So it was real bumpy, and real washy. So you got to get a really, Bill would always get like a big run to go up that hill because it's so steep. Right. Feels like it was steeper a long time. Maybe that's just me being but

28:45

anyway, because No, it's because they they paved it. Right. And the it felt a lot steeper whenever the rocks were on there because it wasn't a smooth surface. So really, you're bouncing around? Yes, yeah. Especially when it was the washout would come in, and your back end would slide around as you're trying to chatter your way up the hill. Yeah. So

Brandon  29:05

I want you to imagine that happening in a bus. The Right. And so we're halfway up the hill. And in the back end is chattering because it's so washy, and the bus pops out of gear and dies back on the hill. So Bill just like

Aaron  29:23

he was like, well,

Brandon  29:26

we have to back down the hill. And so basically, again, putting the high schoolers to work. Their job is to be the rearview mirror. They just were looking out the back window being like, yeah,

Aaron  29:39

you're still good.

Brandon  29:42

with varying degrees of trustworthiness, right, like, oh, yeah, they're actually the car back there. Are we going to go off the road and they'd be like, No, we're still good and then crack because they did that before too. When everyone saw they'd be like, yeah, you've got room smack offense right? But I don't know why you would I mean I mean you know but we made it we had the back all the way down Start the bus and then back up a little bit more get the other run at it like read this is why you didn't have to ride the bus here just so you know. Yeah,

30:27

yeah all of these stories hit hit mom and dad tears and they wait no sorry. Thank you for thank you for your sacrifice Brandon. We can't do this

Aaron  30:39

pioneer literally. It's true.

Brandon  30:45

Yeah, it was it was rough. Yeah, there was a lot of a lot of weird shenanigans happening so hopefully buses aren't quite like that anymore because children don't need that they're outside of the snow and building area and doing like weird Bear Grylls things to stay warm well yeah

31:17

apparently been a lot going on now we we've been kind of we've been battling our our furnace has been has been not furnishing again like last year. It was fine. And this year, it's just going no, I'd really rather it's very hard work being a furnace especially when it's cold. So what if I just stop for a little bit and catch my breath? Can I do that and you're like, again, see a formation discussion of negative 23 degree weather and you're like I'd rather you kept doing your thing like that would be pleasant wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? Okay, it's fine. So yeah, it was the worst one we woke up one morning and so the upstairs furnace is the one that's kind of like I'm not okay like I'd rather not at the downstairs furnace is like whatever you throw at me. I got this you want to at I'll do at let's do this. Which which and 100 year old home is a lot of work for us to do so. That's

Brandon  32:12

true. Also don't mention that to Megan because she does want ed soon. I know like we're gonna go

32:17

bad. So bad. Oh my gosh. No. brought into larger context of of a bigger project that I have in my brain when when we haven't even haven't even finished the painting project that I started a year ago. That's beside the point. Now. Now I am on to you know what we need to do. Our our foundation is stone around the foundation. Above the above ground is All Stone basement. Still has some original like og 100 plus year old foundation walls. Those are all looking good. We had people look at that they said those are those are sweet. But what we need to do now my big project that I have on my list now when I don't have time is to go in and repoint all of the joints of all the stones in the foundation.

Brandon  33:13

What Why would you do that?

33:16

Well because because I don't know when that was done last but it is it is pointed in some locations and not most of the others that exist and when you just have two flat stones sticking together with no mortar in between them. That's where a lot of cold air comes in. And so basically my basement is just like a sieve for cold air to come in from outside. It's it's just straight outside air inside my basement.

Brandon  33:49

It's a cold well right so cold sinks Boom there it goes in the basement not coming upstairs room.

33:54

But it also makes the floors Barry cold

Brandon  33:59

it's slippers

34:02

called oh my gosh yeah I know there are times where you're like you're come downstairs upstairs is carpeted downstairs is all hardwood and I'm like

Aaron  34:11

oh jeez this is crazy.

34:15

Yes we do wear slippers that we do wear socks but I'm like this can't be good for my heating bill right the fact that my floor is this cold like this. I need to do something about this. That starts not with insulating the floor no no but Bre pointing the entire foundation

Aaron  34:32

i will say i this this whole weather ordeal has made me really appreciate how slippers because I got some insulated ones for Christmas last year. And I wore those like I'm I'm wearing right now. I wear the suckers nice all the time now because like I'd get a and I'd walk barefoot and yeah, having no insulation on the floor like this is awful and And I just put those suckers autumn like doing little shoes on for inside and my feet are warm to what is this? This is wizardry. Yeah. Which I will say speak it was it we did spend a good chunk of the time the our little break watching all the Harry Potter movies and boy howdy. It made me drastically remember watching all those movies with me? She asked so many questions and I had to do like some deep like Harry Potter Lord dive in because he asked a question. I'm like, All right. This is a good question. So I mean, I had to look up like is Hogwarts like a private school? Or is it a charter school? Is it publicly funded? What is the ministry of magics actual purpose? Like what job does this character have in the ministry? Mike? Oh, this is actually like the deep questions. I was not expecting like a whole online educational dive into Hogwarts. Like, what do we have a look at? Like, what classes can you take? If you enroll in Hogwarts? How much does the teacher pay if you if you're a teacher at Hogwarts? And this is a weird one. Yeah, but one of my head. But yeah, so house lovers. Nice. Gryffindor House slippers. Bam.

Brandon  36:21

One of my questions is always what? Do wizards get other jobs? Not with the Ministry of Magic?

Aaron  36:27

Like, what Yes,

Brandon  36:30

what other career paths are available to you? Because it seems that everybody just works for the ministry. Or they're selling or they're selling a joke on shops and candies in Diagon Alley.

Aaron  36:46

So like me, like there's like the government and then you can have like your own stuff, but I guess it's like, you only cater to like music like wizarding needs. So like, you can open up like a robe shop, like a broom shop, a wine shop and all the vendors. You get into the banking business with green guards. I was sitting there looking at it in like, the teachers for Hogwarts. And this is also like, I guess this class takes place in like the 90s. Only I came home with like, $34,000. So I'm like, oh, that's like what a teacher makes Now what the heck?

Brandon  37:23

Yeah, that's probably like 34,000 pounds. So that's like, actually a lot

Aaron  37:28

because that'd be convertible. Okay.

Brandon  37:29

Oh, maybe I could teach at Hogwarts. And I've done the calculations. Yeah,

Aaron  37:33

come on. We got invested in it there, right.

37:36

Yeah, this is this is a professional thing we got going on here. Brandon, come on, don't discount.

Aaron  37:41

Yeah, what happens here? My question is,

Brandon  37:45

right,

Aaron  37:46

here's, here's, here's a.

Brandon  37:50

Here's a thought I just had. All right. If you're magical, right. And let's say I just I didn't know why I thought of this. But like, so like, if you're taking like herbology. And like, stuff like that? Can you get a job in the muggle world? But then, like, secretly use magic to make everything better?

Aaron  38:10

Right. The I don't know. No, no recorded instances of this. And how much rolling will not message me back?

Brandon  38:17

That's true. Oh, man, you got it. Here's another one. Right. Here's the thought about the divination class. Right?

Aaron  38:24

Are those people?

Brandon  38:27

The people that are like at the fair?

38:31

Right, do they just walk around? Right? And

Brandon  38:33

are those like, are those like, the other people like setting up like fortune teller shops and like Liverpool, right? But they're actually like Hogwarts graduates with like, using their divination, class knowledge to do their stuff? Is that what's going on? Because I feel like if you really want to make money, and you really are trying to try to be in the economy, you can't serve as just the wizarding world because that's only a very small percent of the population. Right? So like, and in that you don't need to give an aid for a wizard because they can do it themselves. Let's say back bad at it because we saw it wrong. Not good. Divination, right. So that's

39:19

fine because you have to have I'm sure they're still out there trying to make a buck because if it's entertainment, as opposed to actual like, needing fortune Life and Death kind of thing. You'd still make money, right? Like it's true.

Brandon  39:32

I don't know. I'm saying like the economy of the wider wizarding world is elusive. I agree with hearing where dudes like me. What are they spending on?

Aaron  39:42

What's the point?

Brandon  39:46

Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Are

39:47

they buying life insurance? Do they have

Brandon  39:50

surely not surely there's not like wizard life insurance because that's like, I mean, you can die it all. Dragon right. Emulation right. all kinds of exciting. Yeah.

40:04

I mean, the dangers of Hogwarts alone are innumerable like there's so many.

Aaron  40:08

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I

Brandon  40:12

feel like this is what this is where like it kind of falls apart when you really start thinking about it too much. Yeah. So don't think about the wider world

Aaron  40:24

because it does at work.

Brandon  40:28

Which is weird, I guess is really weird, right? It's like a weird thing.

Aaron  40:32

Because you think like, what? Like, the again?

Brandon  40:37

What's the point of going to wizarding school? Like, you can learn to do wizardry things, but then what do you why

Aaron  40:45

do you do with it? Right, like, right?

40:48

Well, it's I mean, it's it's just a, it's just a more of a big government takeover oppressive of its citizens and more monitoring of that. So I think that's where, you know, it's just,

Brandon  41:01

I feel like it's the opposite, right? I feel like if everybody's just doing their thing, it's much more like, socialist, right? Where they're just like, okay, whatever, like, No, I don't need I don't need money because I can just like, magic stuff. Blab. Like, oh, man, I need to grow some food. Zap. Like, right, like,

41:21

do have entire swaths of people who are meant to monitor the use of magic, right? Like, like, it is pretty heavy handed. But like to try so safe, right? I know. I know. I

Brandon  41:32

think that's only so that they don't get found out. That's the only reason that those people exist, so they can remain Sneaky, huh? Right. Like, don't use your magic in the middle of Walmart. So that that old lady over there buying grapes doesn't notice you. That's like all it's for. It's like to remain hidden, like the actual interior workings of the world. Like, what?

Aaron  41:56

They don't do stuff. And

Brandon  41:59

like some of them don't even like, exist in like, other society. Right? Like they don't participate, right? Clearly. The Weasleys don't if they have so many questions about rubber ducks. And like, what's lawnmower for like, Bro? How do you? What's like

Aaron  42:18

your point? Yeah, they're

42:19

not going to the local elections are running for county council or Yeah, it's like they're not going to Lowe's and buying a hammer. There's like magic plan. Like

Brandon  42:33

what, like you? What do you need money for as a wizard? Why do we need to draw? Well,

Aaron  42:36

I guess I guess you're gonna look at that way. You might as well treat it like our modern world and the Amish. Like, kind of like true to their own kind of thing. But like, they can still like, moderately help financially or, but like they they have like their own like, ways and customs just just just to go even like homage.

Brandon  42:58

So, Aaron, are you saying that wizards are sneaky? Magic Amish people

Aaron  43:05

who think of it in that context, but that does sound enticing? Like, like

Brandon  43:11

clandestinely.

Aaron  43:15

Oh, like as like, yeah, you can talk to him differently. But like, what do you like, really know about? Yeah, what do you want to have a cover story?

Brandon  43:24

If you work at the Ministry of Magic, but you are just like at a London bus stop and someone's like, yeah, so what are you doing? What do you work at?

Aaron  43:34

Work? Like I'm just like, really traditional in my like foundations. Boom. Yeah, I mean, did you wear outdated robes?

Brandon  43:44

Right there they participate in traditions that are like, really old.

Aaron  43:48

If they drive car. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, kind of,

Brandon  43:55

I mean, okay. Weasleys car aside that most of them don't drive cars because they can just like operate or fly or flew or portkey There's a myriad of ways to travel not involving night bus apparently right. Oh, man. Decimals Oh yeah. Magic invisible and carriage pulling animals Yeah.

44:21

Oh would be terrifying on you know highway back Highway at nighttime when you could barely vape or whatever. Yeah, go into it. Gives you the buggy now with its little sign on it. So imagine no horse there. It's invisible. Like that's a terrible they may have to you have to rethink that one. But I like other than that.

Brandon  44:44

Yeah, it's just weird. I don't know. So many questions here. I mean, they. Also we watched over Christmas break. One of our friends had never seen him either. So we watched like first two movies with them, like a friend's house. We had like, we had a small marathon. We had like snacks and lunch and everything, but not to be that guy. But I was watching it again. I was watching the chamber Cedric secrets again. Pull out this sort of I love that movie. Right, then they pull out the sword of Gryffindor. And they're like Godric Gryffindor lived 1000 years ago. I'm like, Bro, that's a sword from the 1750s. What are you talking to? A small sword.

Aaron  45:33

Oh, hey. So, side side note, Brandon, you will enjoy this drill. I have a baseball drill. And I teach it to where they have to use two hands. So it's one hand at the base of the bat and one hand, a little bit choked up. Do you know what I call this drill? No, vai hander. Nice. Yes. Yeah. So I call it I call it Zai handle T drill. And what are they? They're basically on up on one knee. And they have to have the grip. So it's basically like a, like a broad stored grip. So they're talking about it. They're like, Why do you call it like, Why do you say in an accident, like you're supposed to? German for two handed sword. They're like, Oh, really? Like yeah, I just wish you guys were cool. Like, oh, it's so yes, I call one of my hitting drills is by hand.

Brandon  46:34

Like how are they learning? Like medieval German swordsmanship or baseball right? Like what

Aaron  46:44

else? What else was doing baseball?

Brandon  46:46

I don't mean That's true. I don't understand. And here's the question. Are you t which manual? Are you teaching them from his LinkedIn Hauer? Is this Mater is this Tao Hoffer? What is uh, what is your source material for this page?

Aaron  47:02

We can become more of like a high end approach. I like it. Yeah, it is. I just wanted something a little more interesting, a little more dynamic for my hitting drills. And so one problem that a lot of kids had, but that they rolled over the baseball and basically like, right in the dirt. And so what, what did they break

Brandon  47:22

too early, right? Because I was legitimately

Aaron  47:24

does is that it teaches them to keep their hands. When they're making contact one hand, the palm is down one hand, the palm is up, and you're holding a sword when it comes across with it. That's the attack you want to do. And so it helps them keep their hands like good and where it needs to be. And so it has a it actually does have a legit purpose. But they're like, What is this? What is this drill call? And I was like, why hinder?

Brandon  47:53

Yeah, you're actually going to be out next week practicing with long swords. That's what they're going to be.

48:00

Aaron It's a whole new concept. Okay, right. Like what it's all boring is laid out. But if it was just broadswords right, or claymores now now

Aaron  48:12

Yeah.

48:16

I did start reading. So we went to the library, and we're looking at books and stuff and I'm constantly trying to figure out like, books that were in my wheelhouse or maybe a tangential to that that I can search out and find that I think the kids may be interested in because the library's overwhelming even a small one like ours are way more books than you could possibly have a concept or understanding of and while it's kind of romanticized to walk up and grab a book off the shelf and dive into it, that's hard for people to do and especially little kids so I've been trying to work with Lilian and Noah to broaden out instead of going there and why am I like that they get the same books every time I'm like okay, and so I'm getting five of all of the same books that we got the same five of last time What if we get four that we know and one new one right like starting with that so I like this week we went and I was wondering and I started thinking of a series that I am dearly beloved in my heart that I can't raise enough of and I started to think of like is it is a time like is it too young like at all

Aaron  49:30

is it the red wall series?

Brandon  49:31

It is the red are trying to come up with a leading question I was like is there and Abby and

Aaron  49:37

I didn't exact I didn't mean they get it like right on the head I was wandering by give rise but I was like there's no way No Nobody is forcing

Brandon  49:48

here on the Collins love with Brian jacks right we all night. Oh

49:50

my gosh. And of course the reason this queued my brain is because I said like we were talking about swords and claymores and things like that and and who would want I see a badger wielding that or maybe a hair or mice like, anyway, I found otter one somewhere. Yes, yeah, Lillian or really whatever.

Brandon  50:12

I don't know if there's only like, 30 of these books.

50:14

You know, actually, there's, there's, there's, um, there's not as many as I thought. But there's more than I remember. That's what I'll put this up like. And the reason the reason that this series is so hard to follow is his timeline is like, yes, he just, he just, he will he'll pick stories and locations from any point in the timeline. And some of them have never referenced the abbey or any other character. That's true. You know, like, ever. It's just like, there's

Brandon  50:47

only a couple. Yes, if I remember, because I read them later. Like, in my life, I read a lot of them. Well, I read all the ones that you own. Specifically. Yes, but yeah, it is kind of like it is, is that like, this is the reason I've never read any, like Terry Pratchett, right. Because there's like 7000 books. And like, there's not really an order. And like, they're just there. Yeah, but they're all related. But like, not really, like, it's a little daunting.

Aaron  51:26

No, I, I will say when Collin first got into this book, and I wanted to do with my big brother. Colin, you did a terrible job explaining what these books were. Probably. So I had I like, not that I lost interest. But I was like, Alright, so the animals in the fight in the like, like, Yeah, but then and then you went through no pun intended, went down a rabbit hole to a what was it? Like? Seven? Six? I had no comprehension. I was like, yeah, just you know, I'll probably skip this one. But I knew they were good serious. Because I mean, you sit in the corner industry for all your hours. Like, well, he likes it. That's good enough. It's,

Brandon  52:13

it is very hard to describe. I mean, really, because it mostly it's like, it's a lot of exposition of sitting around watching woodland creature or like talking about woodland creatures, eating soups, and teas. There are a lot of those. Oh, and like feasting happening? And singing. And all of the poetry is in Random English dialects. Yeah. And it's, and the cool it's like very marked 20. Right. But like also, what are these moles even saying, Are these No, I don't know. It's a lot of turnip and Tater and beetroot pie. I remember that. Was it beyond that? That

Aaron  52:56

cartoon that where it's like the animals and they go on like, they have to go into like, the world of men to get like some sort of medicine. And it's animated. And there's like a badger. bowels.

53:12

Are you talking about? It's

Aaron  53:14

not secret to them? No. Okay.

Brandon  53:17

I'm pretty sure it's not secret since I've shared the Secret of NIMH sequel. That is also

Aaron  53:23

a mind trip. That one's worse. But it's this movie is a little gold cartoon.

Brandon  53:30

Aaron are you explaining rocket doodle again? Cuz that was happening right. Aaron? Aaron?

Aaron  53:35

Every few months. I will do that. Good kind of tan rocket. It'll report anything

53:40

about once upon a forest.

Brandon  53:44

Oh, oh, he might be talking about what's before it. I think he's talking about also Colin. Why is he? Okay? I'd say why he's looking. I did just look up the red wall. chronology here. Oh, and I didn't realize it was this wacky? Oh,

54:00

yeah. The very first if you read so this is this is a month munched derived and much discussion amongst people in the red wall thing of like, many people say, and I fall into this, like, no, just read them in the order they republished. Because really, it doesn't matter. Like it genuinely does matter. But yeah, Lord Brock tree was published in the year 2000. And that technically is the first book in product chronological order as it's talking about the salamanders drawn thing and whatever, like the foundations of that, but but it was published, what 20 some odd years after the third book in chronological order moss flower. So yeah.

Brandon  54:46

This is a trip I did. Terrible.

54:49

And so if you look at it this way, like this boils down to we were sitting there and I had all the books out on the floor, and Noah picked rackety Tayeb because a squirrel on it wielding a giant sword. And this

Brandon  55:05

is two hands no doubt with

Aaron  55:07

no doubt. So

55:10

we just, we dove right into this. And yes, so I am I'm having to if you think if you think reading the more language is hard now imagine having to speak it out loud on the fly

Brandon  55:25

with China accent Brexit.

55:29

So, man,

Aaron  55:30

this is real rough. The reason I brought up once upon a forest is like when Colin was trying to explain this to me. That's where my mind went when I was younger. Because I imagined those little critters like fighting and like murdering each other. And so that's why I was like, well, maybe, maybe this was not for me if I liked that movie. It's

55:51

also very

Brandon  55:53

Watership Down. Oh, right. Oh, yes. Right. And it's kind of got that vibe one.

Aaron  56:04

What's the one with the dog? is about like the dogs that were being tested on.

56:13

Wait, are you that's a more modern one, right?

Aaron  56:16

It's same same kind of time period.

Brandon  56:20

Really, whenever you said movie about dogs, the first movie that leapt into my brain was Balto, for some reason. I don't know why. But I was like, I was like, Aaron's definitely not talking about Balto. But

Aaron  56:33

it's so it I think it's probably the same creator that made Watership Down. But like it's, it's animated. And it's like, directed towards kids. But it definitely does not have a kid theme. Because it's like these dogs that were like being tested. And like, you know, like when Oh, like horrible stuff. And like one of the owners was like, murdered. And it's like, so to be like, happy but it's definitely not. No,

Collin Funkhouser  56:57

you're talking about so I had to look this up. And this is what I Googled, man. Google is great. I just said, movie about dogs being tested. And the first hit is called the plague dogs. Yep,

Brandon  57:08

that's it. Yeah. Wow. That's

Aaron  57:13

yeah,

57:14

this looks it's based on a novel. Hmm.

Aaron  57:17

Yeah, it's, yeah, it's bad. Okay.

57:20

I thought there was a Wasn't there a Wes Anderson movie about dogs? The island of forgotten dogs or something like that? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it

Brandon  57:29

says Wes Anderson directly. So I definitely didn't watch it because I can't even Wes Anderson. So

57:36

is that what this was? It was this. About that. Anyway,

Brandon  57:40

I don't think I've ever seen that. But I I recognize that I that premise one answer that but yeah, yeah. So

57:48

sorry. Yeah. So plague dogs is something else. Isle of Dogs is yeah, that's it. That was a okay. It's

Brandon  57:56

the Japanese dog thing, right? Yeah. It's

57:58

based on a true story.

Brandon  58:01

Watership Down, not based on Tuesday,

58:02

so she's talking about red wall. Also, not based off of true stories, or

Brandon  58:07

weird we never never know. But I

58:11

it's been a minute since I've gone through the red wall series. Still. Okay, so we are several chapters into this already. Absolutely. Still love this. Boy. Howdy. Did I forget how intense some of these things are? Oh, yeah. Well, yeah.

Brandon  58:26

Like it tends to oscillate wildly between, like, super intense and a lot of nothing happening. Totally. Right. A lot of like, being in a wood but yeah, right. Or there's like, really dangerous rats, like intense action. There's crows that are gonna pick your face out. You're rafting down a river for like nine chapters. Yeah,

58:57

there's like, eating some tiny lion root tea and sacredness in the size. And you're like, yeah, that cuts to like, the one rocky Tam. Like one of the guys was fleeing from his brother because he murdered his dad and is after the walking stone and he was in a forest and a tree fell on his back and broke it and you're like, Okay, this is

Brandon  59:21

way like,

59:22

there's a lot going on right now.

Brandon  59:24

Yeah, it's a weird vibe. It's like It's like one part Watership Down. Like a little splash of Secret of NIMH because there's some parts of your like, what in the woods like creepy there's some like Robin Hood vibes going on the animated one right but also like a little Highlander. It's weird. Like it's really

Aaron  59:46

Yeah.

59:49

But But I love again,

Brandon  59:51

just like theory and legend, stuff like,

59:53

like, but it's, it's like it kind of alludes to some. Like, it's not a magical alum either, right? It's very practical, right? There's no, there's some mystical things sometimes, but not really like, you know, stirring pauldrons and making potions and weight stuff but like, which I think is what I was really attracted to a bio of like, Man, this is a very like tangible world. And yeah, and every book kinda like, is a standalone thing. It mentions things but like, even in this one, it's just like, it just dives in. It's like, oh, yeah, Father Abbott, thank you for visiting Salem man strong, they were so happy. They were sad that your bells weren't reading the last time that you were repairing your pelvis several years ago. So they're making a giant drum and it's like, like, oh my gosh, like this is just like

Brandon  1:00:44

Martin the warrior shows up sometime when like, the ghost of Martin, the warriors speaks to you. And his sword is always hidden in a new, exciting location. They have to like how after like, they like national treasure their way through all these weird clues to like find the source to defeat the bad guy. And that's the other trope that happened. Right? Wow.

Aaron  1:01:03

Right?

1:01:04

Well, because they're like, oh, after the last time, we it caused havoc, we decided to hide it for good this time.

Brandon  1:01:12

They always like really need it. But they've always hidden it somewhere. And they can't remember where it's at hundreds

1:01:16

of years ago. Yeah.

Brandon  1:01:18

Like, oh, my god, the abbot in it in this new location where we could they would fail. It's always like, they will be able to find it in the time of need. And then everyone forgot where they put

1:01:33

conveniently, here's a riddle.

Brandon  1:01:38

It didn't want to write it down directly. Although this series of clears expertly laid out like an escape room throughout the app.

1:01:45

Well, that was the other thing. Okay, so in this one? Yeah. The guy who's running away from his brother, who's now trying to murder him and whatever. It's like, like, Oh, I hit the walking said, He'll never find it. And they're like, Well, where did you hide it? And he's like, I'm not going to tell you. But here's this. Here's this riddle.

Brandon  1:02:03

Here's a map that I found.

1:02:06

Now, it's like seven sentences of rhyme. If you're like, oh my gosh, he'd had his back broken and he's on a tree. Like, why are you giving him a riddle? And

Brandon  1:02:17

it's under the floorboards of the cabin, bro. Yeah.

1:02:20

You would think that's what he would say. But no, he's like, No, I'm not ever telling anybody. Okay, but twist my arm or my back's broken. Real boy have good.

Brandon  1:02:31

Okay. Now, the other thing. The other question for Aaron didn't read these. The other question that I always had when I read these, because I did read them later in life. So I have this question. It's never like part of the mysticism that the book contains, right? It's never really understood or stated that like, are there also people here? Is this a world only inhabited by animals? Especially in some of the early stuff, because they talk about like, the Abbey, and how it's like, enormous and giant stuff. You're like, is it like, people size? Abbey? Yeah. Or is it like a rodent size Abbey? That just, it's not like, really clear. It's like very vague.

1:03:17

So you're like all sorts of animals

Brandon  1:03:19

can fit into this, right? There's, like every well, so it can't be too small. Because there's like otters and mice, and shrimp and hedgehogs. And you're like, huh, all those animals can't fit in a building made for a mouse. So what's happening? It's like, just a bit bit. I don't know if it's like, if it's like a cathedral built on the scale of like, like, we would think about a cathedral where it's like, it's big for me, too, right? Like, I can easily walk into notre DOM and not be like, Oh, I feel so constricted here. Right? It's so small, like, you know, like, yeah, the scale is confusing. Sometimes they talk about like, they're riding on a wagon. And you're like,

Aaron  1:04:11

how big is this wagon? Yeah,

Brandon  1:04:13

but one of them. Yeah, that he sort of pulls away from it later, but like, I think it's some of the early ones. There's definitely like, a horse pulling a wagon. Like why would a rat be riding on a horse pulling a wagon if there's no people to build a wagon?

Aaron  1:04:30

Or they used are they people sized animals? Oh, no, this

Brandon  1:04:35

is just just they're just like, they're just like, animal animals. There's like rabbits and stuff.

Aaron  1:04:41

Was there nucular Fallout made them grow to me

Brandon  1:04:45

now? Here's the question like, is this like post apocalyptic time where all humans are dead and all that's left is

Aaron  1:04:53

Is this is this princess and the bride? vies where there's rats and unusual like that over Talking about here

Brandon  1:05:00

now not quite that big now just like normal rats like maybe slightly larger very angry at Clooney guys. Ah, the angry fella like Israel strange but other than that, that's the only quibble that I had once Mobley because it'd be like there's a bridge like what kind of bridge? What does he mean by that? I don't know who built this bridge if it's like otters and Badgers are using the same page. Yeah,

1:05:26

well it's a mash because like, I talked about going down rivers and I'm like, well, rivers, like that's a big term and like is this am I supposed to believe this adventure is taking this little dormouse is going on an adventure down the Mississippi River, but these are

Brandon  1:05:43

like English rivers. Very English. Streams. Yeah, he's from Liverpool. Right. The river in England. It's like,

Aaron  1:05:55

you know, six feet across. Like, that's

Brandon  1:05:58

what they're like. There's no, I think there's no like, Missouri River equivalent Mississippi River happening in England. Right. The Thames is

Aaron  1:06:11

pretty games can be pretty vague, but it's not. It's not Mississippi babbling brook? Yeah, yeah. Okay, if you were to go on, but yeah,

1:06:19

it just, it does call into canoe shrews. Right.

Brandon  1:06:22

That's the logger log guy. Yeah, it's fun.

1:06:28

So this is a this is an adventure that we have thrown ourselves

Aaron  1:06:33

into, and

1:06:35

are working are working our way through that as well. There's,

Brandon  1:06:40

there's only 22 books, I was slightly overestimating with 30. So yes, you if if they stick, you got some you got a ways to go.

1:06:50

Well, and that's the other thing of, of I, I'm trying to have just the way my brain works on a pace, I'm trying to, I'm trying to pace but also I I like getting into into series because then it's like, it's an easier for them to dip their toe into the the next one. And then the next one, the next one, they can kind of get familiar with the pattern. And it's they're not quite so daunting by again, that brand new book that slams on your table where you're like, Well, I don't know anything about this author. I don't know what to expect it I mean, that's exciting for some people. I know for me, it can be very overwhelming. So having a series with 22 books where it's like great stories I enjoy it in a way that it makes sense to me and here we go.

Aaron  1:07:36

Alright, so whenever you start no on the Warhammer series 30k at the unification of Tara Hart don't start with a great crusade. No one knew that or Horus Heresy. That's a bad idea started mean 30k and build from there. Okay, cool.

Brandon  1:07:57

Is this your audition for Henry travels web series?

Aaron  1:08:00

I just saying the second I need to finish the second season of The Witcher Boy Yeah, that is it. I started with the Horus Heresy and I regretted slash haven't regretted it since because I had to look up so much crap Alright, who is this person? Why are they talking about them? When did this happen? Is this before is this after? What what is this? So yeah, I yeah, I just your series. Do

Brandon  1:08:37

you have that drawback when you accidentally started the wrong one? Right but but when you were younger Aaron did you have any book series that you're into? Because I know Colin read like obviously Harry Potter and the 900 Redwall books did you have any that you

1:08:51

were like Oh, I like this. So

Aaron  1:08:53

I remember when we first went to go see the first Harry Potter movie. Collin made me read the first books because he didn't want to explain anything to me. Sounds like maybe so yeah, so I had I had to read and I fell in love with that series. Oh golly. Wow. I have I mean, whenever we used to go to South Dakota, Colin would read to me the nuts it was the boxcar kids um there was another series that you bring up what what was the one with the kids would not magic Treehouse but other ones like really? Like it was like three kids and they were time travel time travel time North Korea I'd got gone would read that I can't think I mean, if I go home there's back to Missouri. There's probably like some odd bookshelf, but I never ate I never gotten into like Artemis Fowl. And I remember I got a few of those books for Christmas. I never touched them. And I feel bad because I just could not get into him. Like I read the first page like yeah, I'm done. A lot of my friends got into like the I think it was the time period where like Percy Jackson was popular. I couldn't I couldn't get into that. i Oh, man. Wow, I don't think I don't think honestly, there was like, a series that I'm like, this is the one until like, I was much older. When I read like Game of Thrones magic treehouse. I guess it'd be the only one that like I read. Like, continuously that I out either read an order non order, you name it. But I think that was like really the one series that I truly read read but even then, like, I don't have I don't think I have like a book. Like theories that I was like, This is it. This isn't mine. Because I was older and it was like Game of Thrones. Yeah,

Brandon  1:10:57

I remember you reading the magic Treehouse books. A lot. Yeah. Mostly because you only ever called them the jacket, any book. And so I still call them that, right? When kids are going to school. My first thought is always like, Oh, the jacket. I think about you every time I see it.

Aaron  1:11:14

Exactly what they were cool. Yeah. When I was in, like, even like, it's not that I didn't like read, I really liked reading I love going out there in the hammock and reading. But if you have to put freaking in The Great Gatsby in my hands, we're gonna have a problem. That is the most weirdest boring book ever. By that we never had to read The Grapes of Wrath, thankfully was the other one of mice and men. That was another one. Like if you forced me to read these books were just yelled at me from across the room like because I and then don't don't put the new Great Gatsby in front of me like this means nothing. But I mean, I What other books that I have read. That means kids now when they bring books my class like what are you reading? I nerd. But me I love sit down and like, but like the killer is a fire moon. Although it's not a series. I love reading that book. I'm reading it for the third time. But the i read i bliss through Game of Thrones. I bought it through Harry Potter. I never read Lord of the Rings, weirdly. But like that, like those kinds of things, but like, yeah, just just anything like those. I guess I read some of the Star Wars books. Because you read them, Brandon. Yeah, I'm sorry. I read some Yeah. Yeah. And so I read some of them. And then I got bored because I didn't I didn't know what the expanded Star Wars universe was yet. And the interwebs wasn't fully accessible. So he couldn't Google who happened for extra. Again, but yeah, even even when I'm older, it's like me, I'll sit there and I'll read any of my Warhammer books. I started reading The Witcher, again, like starting from like book one and moving on. That's fine. Yeah. When I was a kid, I don't think I read like true series. I went to Barnes and Noble or maybe took us Barnes and Noble. I always went straight to the history section. And I read anything I could about old war to the American West. And I think like the Civil War, that was that was my clique. That was my niche that I wanted.

Brandon  1:13:52

Yeah, so you're more of a just like a individual book type of guy.

Aaron  1:13:57

I can read stuff now. But back then. I was like, I'm gonna read. Like, come back within like 30 minutes. And I'll find a civil war book. Fine. Don't worry.

1:14:19

Did I tell you the other book that I found? At a we have several free little libraries around town and I came across one as we we give out books as kids aged out of things or it's like, okay, we've we need to bring something new, the rotation will go drops them off, and we may see what's there and picks them up. Now on

Brandon  1:14:39

Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends. Oh, oh, wow. And I don't like it was like, I

1:14:49

remember that being a mom and dad's bedroom and like just like finding it every now and that

Aaron  1:14:57

and

1:14:59

I was Like, Oh, right, like, I want to have those kinds of books where like the kids just find them and like, fall in love with them. I just need, I just need these two to exist in the house. And so I got it and I put it on the shelf. And of course, we immediately Lilian was like, what's that? What's this book from was as like, I don't know, I don't know, if he's just you might read it. You might like, I don't know. Moving on.

Brandon  1:15:28

Electronic pull one over on her. That's not really gonna happen. Like she's

Aaron  1:15:37

no, no, she

1:15:38

would not want that. Anyway, so she, she found that book, and immediately fell in love with it, and was like riding for the next several days would come running and be like, Dad, Dad, listen, listen. And she, you know, she'd read one of the poems and stuff. I was like, yeah, it's in.

Brandon  1:15:59

The plan is going to get

1:16:06

so other I mean, one serious, I know, for you, you really, you know, Boxcar Children. I know, that's the one that like when I think series, I think, Boxcar Children for you. So like, what any other series that you ran through

Brandon  1:16:19

growing up? You know, I was trying to think after I mostly get that question to give me some lead time here. I know, I did read the boxcar series a lot. I remember. Very specifically, I was reading those in second grade. Right. That's just what I was reading. I don't know why exactly, I guess. Maybe it was just because there's a bunch of them. And I got one from the library. And then like, I, they were like relatively cheap. And like the Scholastic the order book fair stuff, right. They were around. So I got those. I read a lot of those. Kind of like, mystery light, you know, I liked a lot of those. And then I don't. I was thinking about, like, my later elementary school career, like, I don't really have any sort of inclination about what on earth I was reading in like, fourth and fifth grade. Other than the books that we read in school. I remember being in the library. And I remember checking out books. But I don't really think there was anything just like super. I did. Oh, wait, wait a memory, a memory. I read. I was reading a lot of like sports books. Maybe in fourth and fifth grade. Maybe that's when I was reading those. Those I saw kids on the other day. And that's what it was. Random sports books, right.

Aaron  1:17:58

I read a lot of those.

Brandon  1:18:01

Gonna do some quick googling here and see if I can find anybody but I read that stuff. And then I read kind of in the middle school is when I started reading a lot of like the Star Wars Expanded Universe stuff. And like, things like that. The Mike Lupica guy, I read just like a bunch of random those things. He writes just like a bunch of books for like, middle grade people. I read a ton of those. I think I just saw his name that looks from there. I started reading like Star Wars expand the universe. And I started reading like those dragon Lance books, right? They're kind of like set in a Dungeons and Dragons style universe, right where they're like. It's like a, it's not necessarily a series, but it's like, there's like a lot of different authors, but they're all writing books that take place in the same universe, kinda like the Star Wars Expanded Universe thing. Oh, sure. But it's like for like, high fantasy stuff. So I read a bunch of I read a lot of that stuff. Right in like middle school. That's what I was reading mostly, like, high fantasy dragon Lance, like Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, that kind of stuff. I was reading a lot of that. And there's several books that they wrote that are in a series, I read something there was all together, and then just like, piecemeal random stuff, because it's like a huge expanding universe as like, 1000s of years of history. And it's like, right, there's books set in like tons of different time periods. And they're just kind of like all around, and I would just read those. I think that's what I read a lot of, right? Yeah. That's right.

Collin Funkhouser  1:19:55

I was, again, the reason I like those kind of ideas. I like those kinds of series because, like, there's no right or wrong way to jump into it. It's not like when you sit down, you're like, you know what I really need to do today, I need to get involved with like, I don't know, like one piece, like, I need to figure out what one piece is. And it's like, well, you know, there's 1500 episodes here, and you kind of need to know the backstory and like, it's kind of all important. So just start here and work your way through. And same thing with books, too, when they do have that long, chronological order is suddenly very, very important. It's like, well, I just want to enjoy the book and enjoy the world. So it makes it makes it harder, more intimidating for me,

Brandon  1:20:35

like this Wheel of Time phenomenon, right, like 7000 books. And there's like, there's a whole lot and I don't I don't want to read all of them. Because I hear a lot of them are boring. Yeah.

1:20:49

You're like, oh, no, by the time you get to the third book, and you know, paid in chapter five, it really, really kicks up a notch. They're like

Brandon  1:21:01

nothing. Yeah. So now like I don't know if I read like a lot of series. Now I was reading obviously, Game of Thrones, and I'm working my way through everything tokens ever written. But like, there's a couple others. I'm staring at my bookshelf right now face on. And I I have the last. One of the last things that I enjoyed reading is I read a bunch of books by Katrin Engberg right. They're kind of like, mystery E. Books, right? Like, stuff like that. Those are really good, like Danish police officers. Mysterious stuff. And then our The second book is oh, there it is. I also, there was like a couple other ones where I like I've read the first couple. And I haven't like, gone back to them yet. Right? It's just because like, I go on these moods, where I like, I read a lot. I don't read a lot, then I read a lot again. And then I don't really think very moody about this could be an attention span disorder situations, but right, it's usually stuff like that, right? There's a couple ones that I've read, like, but that's the last one I read, really. And then I did I realized the other one that I need to read more of the series that is now a series. It wasn't a series when I read it. Right. So I read, I read it a long time ago, I read my blog, Ken Follett, right, the rights incredible books, but I read The Pillars of the Earth book a long time ago, like medieval England church, cathedral building craziness, right? I read that book. And then he, like he wrote that book in like the 80s or something. And then he wrote a sequel called the world without end. Well, I read that one. I was like, Oh, that's good. And then I like, kind of didn't think about it for a long time. Apparently, he's written like four more books. And so I have some catching up to know. Those books are cool, because, like, it's a book about, like, Kingsbury priory, or whatever, and the church and the Cathedral and the town. But like, the first two stories are separated by like, hundreds of years. Right. So like, the first book is like, what was going on in the town, and like, I don't even remember what year it's like, 1100, or something, like when it's being built. And then the next one is, like 300 years later. Right.

Aaron  1:23:51

So it's like, how has that

Brandon  1:23:55

changed, but like, the building and stuff is still there, right? It's like that, like, the Priory of stuff is the character sort of kind of also, like you were seeing the world changing around the stationary location with like, new characters and stuff. And like, they only vaguely referenced some of the old people in the in the second one. So there's apparently though, like, a bunch more. So I might

Aaron  1:24:17

need to do

Brandon  1:24:18

some collecting here and figure out what I've missed, because I read that book, like a long time ago, like Yeah, over 10 years ago. But apparently, he's picked up the pace and written like three or four other books, because we, we were also in the library today because Susan was writing or she had to renew her library card, right. And so we walk in there and I'm looking at the books. Like the new featured books, they put it in the front, you know, yeah, it was like Ken Follett. What? Oh, there's some nuts. Oh, dear. I'm real behind now. I so I'm gonna have to do some research today and see just how many books how many other ones there are. I need to get on the stick here because I really liked those other ones. So I may actually reread them. Thought about that. And then kind of pick up, go there and kind of see where we're at here. So I might do that, that might be a series that I kind of get back into this. Pillars of the Earth Series II thing, because I really liked that those first ones, because I really like tinfoil hats

Aaron  1:25:21

writing, it's really good. But I might need to get back into that. Because

Brandon  1:25:28

if like I said it, it's interesting. It's weird, because it wasn't a series. And now it kind of is until it like, Oh, I'm missing out.

1:25:38

Well, it's interesting when you have authors like that, who write, and then they write over such an extended period of time, you know, I was trying to think of what you were talking of going, what's been a series that I dove into, like, within the last five or so years. And one of them. One of the when I was getting my PhD, one of the other guys there. turned me on to the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Ah, and he like gave me the first book, I was like, I think you'd like this. And then I proceeded to read the other 15 in the series, it was over the span of just like a few months. And oh, wow. Yes. And he, he originally published it in 2000. And I caught up all the way through 2015. And then he liked and I was like, Oh, well, I guess that's it. And I've like, checked periodically. Well, I haven't checked the last three. Now four years, because it turns out, he's published two other books since 2015. And like, Oh, yeah. Oh, no. But you can stick? Yeah, when you have those, you know, we've had as authors that are like, again, he's publishing over the two decades worth of books there. It's like,

Brandon  1:26:50

on top of, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. But I do know that I have a lot of books on my shelf here where I've read, like, I have like one or two books that are, I guess, the series, and I just haven't, like, I know that like this book is got more. And I do the other one that I like, keep meaning to get more of there's it's like he's like a Polish guy. His name is Oliver policy, question mark and apology for pronunciation. But

Aaron  1:27:19

it's like a

Brandon  1:27:23

the first book is called the hangman's daughter.

Aaron  1:27:25

Right? So it's like,

Brandon  1:27:28

after the 30 years war, Germany, that's like, where we are kind of somewhere. And it's, it's really cool. Like, the setting is really cool. And it's kind of like dealing with like all this stuff and like, like, kind of like the balance between like modernization of Europe and like, old tradition and folk glory, things. And it's really, I've only read the first two, and there's more. And I really liked them, but I just like, it's one of those who's like, I'm want to go back to that. I just haven't yet. So that's another book. That's, that's really good. Right? I like that one. That's a series. But again, I've only read two of them. So like I'm, I'm kind of bad about keeping up with series is what it turns out has happened here. I don't

1:28:21

want just, it's so hard to have touch points. You know, that stuff. And because we're, I think out of the habit of walking into bookstores every. Every week, it's a struggle. You don't see the new book release or whatever. Yeah. So

Aaron  1:28:38

I have a couple that I need

Brandon  1:28:39

to continue. Like, I gotta do some tinfoil hat research here. And then I need to look up all of her see. Oh, yeah.

Aaron  1:28:49

That's I'm going through and so Oh, no. All right. Well, I feel like we have quite a few.

1:28:55

Any more other reading recommendations, I guess.

Brandon  1:28:57

Yeah. You're not this week. Tune in next time. Look, rambling with Oprah.

1:29:05

Rambling with your brother. I don't know.

Brandon  1:29:08

Yeah. Yeah.

1:29:12

So yeah, I don't know. Hopefully, you guys have interesting, interesting weeks up ahead or not.

Brandon  1:29:19

We'll see. See what's in store for the weather. That's really, what's the ruling, the ruling feature here in January?

Collin Funkhouser  1:29:30

Well, I, I do okay, well, before before we leave here, I do have a I do have haiku. And this one was actually actually it's one of the rare instances where a topic discussed on the podcast has a haiku already for it. So let's um, yes, so sorry. plagiarizing is no good. Okay. Oh no as in as in we are

1:29:55

discussing we discussed a topic that usually a haiku is a Don't look back to the previous week. Oh, okay. This haiku is written about a topic. I wrote haiku about that red wall series. So

Brandon  1:30:07

nice. Oh, there we go. About this very episode. Yes. Okay, you're telling me I can't write a haiku about to my boss. He was too that's ah, well,

1:30:15

no you can and we can just talk I personally think you should write or maybe Aaron should write a haiku about sneaky magic Amish.

1:30:22

Oh or not if you don't want to get it Yeah, I don't know.

Brandon  1:30:30

I mean, they're not coming here

1:30:34

to guess my Haiku about Redwall in the stars a quest through times we've heroes contest baits and dreams coalesce

Aaron  1:30:45

all very snap of fingers on that one.

Brandon  1:30:51

And you can hear that

1:30:59

man anyway, I like it. So we'll see how that works. Alrighty. Well, I hope you all can thaw out just a little bit before the next deep breeze.

1:31:13

And then to enjoy enjoy some time. Very good book. Let moral the story. Enjoy a good book. There you go. All right. Look, look at us helping people. Uh huh. Yeah. Love you guys. Love you