leaving the house

leaving the house
Brandon & Collin

Collin saw history. Brandon discovered a new metal subgenre. And we conclude ‘A Farewell to Arms.’ oh boy…

  • Collin’s haiku

    • Cold winds whisper past,

    • Frost melts into earth’s warm breath,

    • Spring stirs, waking slow.

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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE

PROVIDED

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

weather change, temperature difference, spring break, business taxes, self-employment, LLC, pass-through entity, tax filing, Big Brutus, West Mineral, electric coal shovel, railroad museum, drone metal, World War I, relationship dynamics, Hemingway, Paris wife, Farewell to Arms, childbirth, 1918, war, nihilism, emotional turmoil, baby's death, hospital, nurse, doctor, fatherhood, nihilistic view, adaptation.

SPEAKERS

Brandon, Collin

Collin  00:04

Music. Welcome to Oh brother, a podcast where we try to figure it all out with your hosts, Brandon and Collin on this week's show, leaving the house.

Brandon  00:20

Oh hi. Pretty good. How are you?

Collin  00:23

I am well, I have been loving the new weather turn that we've had, though, although I did hear what did somebody say the other day, like, hey, when's it gonna rain? This mud out here is getting a little too dry because it's so bad. Oh my you

Brandon  00:44

know, fun fact, at least here, right in the southern part of the state, here, the difference in temperature right from last week to this week, it is 80 degrees warmer. Oh,

Collin  01:02

that is horrible.

01:04

I mean, it was, we did start at negative 15, so

Collin  01:07

when you have a life points, but there

Brandon  01:11

is an 80 degree temperature difference from last week to this week.

Collin  01:19

Yeah, it's really that real. Oh my gosh,

01:28

that's wild. Is what that it

Collin  01:30

is. It is, I've all man and, like, it's, it's man. Nature is amazing. As soon as it warmed up, just a little bit like, we've got, like, just like, Oh, I saw my first fly flying around outside, because it's like, it's finally warm. I know,

01:47

gosh, it wastes

Brandon  01:49

no time, right? Pollen and the bugs immediately,

Collin  01:52

like the next day, when it was like 70 degrees, my, my, my body was already like, Ah, yes, I will soon be in full revolt against you. Looking forward to this. Thank you very much. Oh

02:07

yeah, let's go.

Collin  02:12

Oh my goodness. So yeah, it's, but it's uh, it's been good. You know, we're uh weird. We are in this weird in between this liminal space, I guess of just, everybody is gearing and kind of ready for spring break. Or, I'm sure you feel this too, like, of course, you weren't in school for like, 14 days.

02:36

Yeah, we were just had a break.

Brandon  02:37

So this one's been the opposite. It's been like, what? Oh, gosh, I just days in a row. What? Oh,

Collin  02:47

what this would be against the Geneva Convention. But we're just in this, in this mode, in this time, where it is kind of busy. I was, like, business wise, but like, we know that there's just over this little hump, and then it's just going to be insane with all the travel. And so I'm feeling kind of, like, antsy and anxious, just ready to, like, get it, because we just see it coming, like, little by little every couple of days, getting another booking. And so going, well, here we go. So I'm just it's coming, butsing around, kind of finish my taxes. I kind of get my when you're self employed. The wonderful thing is, is that the IRS so I have to find my personal taxes. So I have to tell the IRS how much money I made, but then the IRS is going to go, Wait, where did you get that number? So I as a business have to tell the government how much money I'm paying myself, so that when I record it on my own documents, they can compare it to they'll say, interesting. So on the self employment, I'd be like, enter the number from the k2 document, and I'll be like, what's okay? What? And then I'm like, Who, who gives me the k2 document?

04:05

Oh, wait, I do.

Collin  04:08

I give me the k2 document? It's, oh, mountains have to do with any of this. I don't understand what's nice. So, yeah, so I so it's like, when I find my taxes, technically, it's like, it's kind of, I have to do them twice, because I have to get, like, the business side, and then I have to tell

Brandon  04:25

the government, you have to make sure the business taxes are filed first before you can do your Yes. So this is tax because, like, there needs to be a record of your business to pay yourself. Definitely, like, so,

Collin  04:42

so I, my business taxes are due. I have to get those in by March 15. And so that's when those are due, right? March, yeah. And then. And personal taxes aren't due until April, right? Um, so I've got to get in the business first, and then that. And technically we are an LLC. Well, not technically we are an LLC,

05:14

sorry, legally, we are

Collin  05:16

so we are an LLC. And an LLC is known as what's Welcome to tax talk people. This is not tax advice. Do not listen to anything that I'm saying. Yeah, he's for the love of

Brandon  05:29

but an LLC, if he gets anything wrong, please write to us at Yeah, 123,

Collin  05:34

nation, town Street. An LLC is what's known as a pass through entity so there's no business taxes paid. All I pay are self employment taxes, so I am the one who pays those taxes. Now, sure, can the business pay? Yes, but it's because it's me, like it's us acting as the business, yeah, but it's not as though. Now, if we were an S corp, I would pay my business taxes, and then the business would actually withhold my income taxes, and I would receive a paycheck.

06:11

Oh, yeah, business,

Collin  06:14

I don't want to do that, that,

Brandon  06:17

but, but usually a lot more paperwork is what it

Collin  06:20

sounds at that point, yeah, you're, you're hired, you've, you've hired a CPA and a tax advisor, and they just handle all of that, and you just get stuff sent to you, and you Hi, and you hire a bookkeeper, and they, those outside forces are the ones that are managing that sign, and you just kind of collect and move on. So right now, we're not to that scale, and it's still, it's, I've crunched a few different numbers. It still makes the most sense for us to currently just file jointly as a pass through and file just our own personal taxes, self employment, which are 30% so if you're wondering, every dollar I make, I pay I need to set aside 30% for taxes, which is fine, and I have to pay those quarterly because the Government wants their money. So

07:15

that sounds riveting.

Collin  07:19

Absolutely How

Brandon  07:24

does it make you feel that you pay more taxes doing that than Warren Buffett has to pay at all? Well, how does that make you feel? I know. I know.

Collin  07:36

I know. And now that that's not you know that's, it's just like, that's the media tax bracket that they and that's the self employment taxes. And then then you get the hit for because that's what, like, that's what, that's what would go towards, like Social Security and all of that stuff that gets taken out of everybody else's paychecks, and then, and then I pay additional taxes above and beyond that, depending on what tax back we fall in. And however that works out, kind of fun

08:07

stuff like that. So that's um yeah, but yes, it's

Collin  08:12

fun to know that for what like, what little like, meager thing, we're kind of like scratching and clawing our way about. And it's like some people pay zero that's

Brandon  08:21

yeah, because they're more important. Because, as we know, in the United States of America, if you're rich, you're more important than everyone else. This is what I've learned, yeah, so

Collin  08:34

it makes sense, you're more of a you. You are more valuable, so you have more value.

Brandon  08:39

Yeah? Allegedly, this is allegedly the case, right? I mean,

Collin  08:43

hard, hard to argue against that. It's locked for

08:49

pretty

Collin  08:50

sound, except for,

Brandon  08:53

it's very easy to argue against that. But anyway, that's shows about, no, it's not lit sage capitalism, or is it easy to mean to production, right? It's not about any of that. Speaking of production. Oh, I hear that. Oh, I want to hear about this. Nary had the snow melted, and Collin went on an adventure. We got he got out his handkerchief, right? On an adventure.

Collin  09:21

I did. I did. I bound up my lunch and my pail and an extra shoe, and I hide it to a stick, and I hit the rails and I went off. No, we, I don't know, like we go through these phases. We were just like, we want to go somewhere. And when you're in the middle of the after not being able to go anywhere for quite a week, you know? And that's fair, and things not being very nice. And it's like, plus, again, if see if aforementioned discussion about the incoming busyness, it's like, I know we're gonna have trouble getting away on a regular, consistent basis. So. Like, let's go do something now. Here's also the problem. We couldn't leave Friday night, so we knew we had to leave first thing Saturday. So we only were going to have one night away because we had to be home. We have a radius, right? So we have a radius, so, so you're in the middle of the middle, right? The middle, true, as I like to call it, like you're not getting on a plane to go anywhere real quick, like you're not and almost like,

Brandon  10:32

Minneapolis, yeah, they go,

Collin  10:35

I'm not looking to drive. Like, plus we got, got two smaller kids, so I'm like, I don't want to be in the car for eight hours, because it gets true whenever I drive one day, I still have to have time to do something back, yeah, to come back, yeah. So then we were like, Okay, I think I just started thinking. I was like, what's like, two hours. Okay, do we want to go to the lake? Well, it wasn't supposed to be, like, super nice, and I can't open the water anyway. And so I was like, well, that's kind of pointless to go to, like, because the lake from us is only, like, an hour and a half. So it's like, well, yeah, it's great in

11:08

the summer, not not quite the right time of year for that. Not there

Collin  11:10

yet. So I started expanding, and then all of a sudden I was reminded of the coolest go to if you are near that part of the world, you should definitely go. And so I told her, I said, I know where we're going. And she was like, what I said, mineral springs, Kansas. She said, There you go. I don't know where that is, and I would that's fine. Nobody does. I do. I have a refrigerator magnet, a thing. It's West mineral. West mineral, sorry, sorry. West mineral, sorry, not mineral, space. West mineral, yes. And she was like, I don't know. Well, there's a giant. She go, why? Yeah. I said, No, I know you're just brimming over with excitement. Excitement, yeah, we're gonna go see the world's largest electric coal shovel. Yeah,

12:05

you are.

Collin  12:08

There was a long pause,

Brandon  12:10

and she went, Okay, it's like, why? Well, whatever. In

Collin  12:19

the places we had it. We had a toss up. Okay, I will be honest. We had a toss up. We could drive three hours to go see big Brutus, or we could drive five and a half hours to go out to see the swamp bottom lands out in the boot heel, which I am, the I Am, this is a place we're gonna go like it's just on our list, but it's not for a one night down and back trip.

Brandon  12:42

No, that's a much more like intensive trip. To drive out all the way out there. You at least

Collin  12:49

need to leave on a Friday to have all day Saturday and then come back Sunday. In order to do that, because there's, there's quite a bit. It's all spread out pretty you know. So I planning wise. I was like, we're gonna go far away.

Brandon  13:04

And there's no it's also in in Missouri, right? We particularly have this problem, right? I don't know about other Midwest states have this as well, right? And then when we start getting to the plain states, it's even worse. But like, like, geographically, things aren't necessarily, like, super far away, like, as the crow flies. Oh, right, yes, it's not real far. But then trying to find a road to get there is a whole other story altogether, right? Like, where sometimes you have to go on a very circuitous route to get where you're trying to go. And so that just like adds up even more, right? It conveniently places like the state capital are kind of hard to get to because there's no, like, interstate road that goes there, you have to, like, go over this way and then take this state highway and then cut back across and get there. So, like, her really did a they really did a good job with that one. MoDOT, like, what the hell?

Collin  14:17

Oh my god. Well. And then well, and then the planners kept on putting weird, random lakes in the middle of everything. And so it's like, you know, it's true. If it wasn't here, I'd there'd be a nice straight shot

Brandon  14:28

across. That doesn't help when they're like, ah, let's build a dam on this river too. Like, wait, yes, no, hold on. Oh,

Collin  14:35

no. So that's, that is where we So, yeah, it's, it takes a long time to get there. And then what was weird is we, we, we got way late Saturday morning, and I would so we didn't actually leave until nine, which was way later than we wanted to be late. No, eight was eight because we were we wanted to leave at seven. We were an hour late. We. For various reasons for driving. And I was like, Oh, I don't think there's been a place to be eat lunch near Big Brutus. We should probably eat lunch before we get there. And so I said, oh, let's just stop and Joplin, yeah. And in a way that the roads are configured that I do not understand, no, the distance from us to big Brutus was three hours. The distance from us to Joplin is three hours. The distance from Joplin to big Brutus is 50 minutes. Yeah, it's, uh,

Brandon  15:31

it's weird. Well, there's no, there's no road like again, you have to go back up and then, partly due to where West mineral is located, right? You have to, like, go, like, over, and then there's a couple different ways you can get there, but like, kind of, like, go up to web city, and then, like, almost up to Pittsburgh and like, cross, right? It's a whole thing, like, there's not a a way to get there, right? Again? Yeah, it's not geographically far away, nope, but it's not, there's not a clean route. No,

Collin  16:08

not a clean route. And this broke my brain as I was driving down the road, and Megan was like, well, it's three hours. I was like, okay, cool. She's like, Well, this was three hours. I was like, oh, so they're like, I was like, I thought they were a little bit further away. And she's like, Yeah, there's still 50 minutes. Still 50 minutes apart. Collin, oh my gosh, yeah. Well, um, so anyway, we got lunch. We went over there, and it's so, okay, this is a bit a bit flat, right, but you start seeing all of the old mine pits as you're driving along, and, yeah, and this part of the country has been so tortured with mining that the hills and stuff, while it's like, oh, there's a pretty Hill, it all feels just cast off, is what it is. It all feels a bit wrong. And it's, it's, it's a bit incongruous with what I saw a mile that way. And so I start pointing out, like, Oh, here's a lake and that it was dug by mining, yeah. And, you know, that's weird, and

Brandon  17:11

it is, even when you look on the satellite, I'm looking on the like, just satellite images right now, like, there's all these huge, like, bottom inconspicuously straight lines, right? Like the satellite map is ridiculous, because it's just like, yep, this this lake has a 90 degree angle. Like, hmm. That lake is not necessarily the right word, but it is like a big body of water.

Collin  17:40

Oh, yeah, they call them lakes, and, yeah, fine. But it's just like this field is flooded in straight lines, in straight look, there's after so cutting to this real quick. Afterwards, we went to some of these. Went to one of the wildlife areas because they were like, well, this is all just mines and mind casting. We can't do anything with this, so we're just gonna block it off for wildlife, right? This is the wildlife, yeah, there's like, several wildlife areas, like wildlife areas where, yeah, the

Brandon  18:10

strip pit State Wildlife Management Area, yes,

Collin  18:14

like, Oh, that's awesome. What a fun name that is. Wow, wow. Strip mining pit. And we stopped at one and it literally, the strips were such that it just looked like a giant hand a drug. It's all its fingers straight through mud, because it was like big trench, little tiny Ridge, big trench, little tiny ridge. And it's like you could walk from ridge to, you know, around the ridge and be like, Oh, here's a lake and here's a lake. They're not connected. And it's a straight line for, you know,

Brandon  18:51

300 yards that way. So, yeah, and then conspicuously, there's a giant electric shovel. Yeah, nearby.

19:02

I wonder what made these. I

Collin  19:03

have no idea. And then driving along too, you see along the road, you see these trenches that go back and through a hillside where smaller shovels right head dug. The whole thing just feels so weird. But yeah, we're driving along, and then you start seeing the boom sticking out over the trees. And that's whenever both Lily knows, they sat up and they were like, I'm sorry, what I was like, Yeah, I told you. I told you was fake, right? And we'd come around and, I mean, it's still cool, like I it's still so cool to see this giant orange shovel sitting out there in the middle of nowhere, giant French now lake in front of it with nice 90 degree bends. Yeah, it does

19:58

happen. Around.

Collin  20:03

And I don't know if you remember this, but I when we would go out there, I remember, you know, going out and seeing everything I'm telling Megan about this, and it's been like, Well, it's been 20 years ish, since I've been out here. And I said, Oh, well, the lady will be able to tell us what XYZ is. And Megan said, Collin, it's been over 20 years since you've been here. The lady doesn't work there anymore. Oh, I bet she does. And we walk in and she is still there. I know she is still there. It is still wonderful. I didn't say I remember you from 20 years ago, but I was just like,

20:43

but I was thinking,

Collin  20:47

and what is neat about this, and I thought about this later, actually, on the way back of this museum. And what this whole thing is is, I don't even understand how to put this, but like you go from the inside the museum, where they have little tiny scale models of this thing to like that you could hold in your hand, and then the massive things, it's just a whole like, weird play on scale and realism and how the shovel, if you look at what I also love about This is that they have that little yard with older shovels,

21:24

and how,

Collin  21:26

technically, there's nothing different from the really, really tiny ones, like structurally and like how things are positioned. Hey, Bruce is just a giant version of everything in every way. It's

21:38

like Mega scaled up. Like they

Collin  21:40

just, they just dragged out. They just clicked on the image and drug it and made it a little bit and made it way bigger. Like, over and over. That's all they did. It looks like a toy, like it's so the proportions are just giant. And, like, you know, the the, I forget what they're called, the bearings that allow it to turn and pivot. Oh yeah, they're just, they're huge. They're huge. They're like, like, inter comically large. And then you go over to one of the smaller, like, one of the much, much smaller ones, and there's these little tiny things that I'm like, it's just the same, like, it's just the same. But I know that it's a technological marvel, that this thing even exists and how it functions. And, oh yeah, by the way, it ran on three guys. That's it

Brandon  22:26

like that was just kind of crazy for the size of that thing,

Collin  22:30

yeah. And what was so funny is, first off, I'm still terrified of heights. This thing still scares me. I was clinging to the edges the entire time as I'm going up on the little wire, like lattice things. And of course, the other kids are just like, they're running out, but I'm like,

22:46

Ah.

Collin  22:49

And it didn't hit them how large this thing was until they actually came up into the main house and they realized, like, oh, the ceiling keeps going. Like, it's like this vast cavern that's echoey, and it's all around, like, all that space in there where the motors, or the Yeah, the motors used to sit, yeah. And then we go over into the captain's area, the driver's seat, and just kind of comically small compared to the rest as a comically small b, how did they draw? How did they make this thing function? There's like, seven buttons, and that's it, right? Like I we drove in a combine at harvest time last fall, and that thing was wired to within an inch of its life. There were 17 screens all around there were constant sensors and monitors and stuff. And there was a combine, and this thing is

Brandon  23:47

like, I mean, it's not like, it's gonna be speeding anywhere, right? The moves like, walking pace, like, it's not like, oh, one mile an hour, maybe, like, yeah.

24:02

Full load. It's just,

Collin  24:04

if this thing, I know modern shovels, like, there would be so many do bobs and wizards and, you know, monitoring screens and lights and, you know, sensors all over this thing. And it's like, yeah, there's just one guy working the shovel. There was the oiler, who was in charge of running around and greasing moving things. That was his only job. That's all he did all day. Was just running around. That's a lot of very important job. And then the the groundman, like the guy that was on the ground, making sure he didn't hit things. I guess it's it's just so much fun. It's just, it's, you know, in the course, the kids came around and they got to stand in the shovel, right? Everybody's favorite, of course, in this massive shovel, and then they're standing next to the treads, and they're, you know, it's so funny. Well, it's like, they have no concept for, like, what? Nor. Shovels are. And so this is the first thing we see, because also there was snow all over the place. So yeah, from place to place was a little bit difficult. So we saw big Brutus. We did all that, and then we were able to go over and kind of make a little path to see the smaller shovel. And then that's whenever they started to really, like, put two and two together with like, Oh, this is ridiculous. This is This is insane. Had a lot of fun. There great museum, lot of cool information. We didn't stay and watch the video. I was like, Well, we were gonna go hike, but then Anyway, go see a big Brutus. Wonderful people. They still have get togethers from this thing. Oh, really, yeah, the they still have the crew, some of the the original crew that were on this still get together every year for a catfish fry that they catch from the lake, from

25:54

the lake right in front. Yes, nice.

Collin  25:59

But they came together to form big Brutus Inc, so it's actually a corporation that manages it as the museum, and so they they make those decisions, and they're the oversight and upkeep and maintenance. And that's cool. Yeah, it's like all the original guys are still out there doing this, which is just neat. And then the museum being a much larger, it's not just about the Museum of big Brutus, it's about mining in Kansas in general, in general. So that's also, that was also really neat to walk back through and pay attention this time. See. Sorry. Earlier.

26:44

You know, when you're young, it's harder to do that, right? Much

Collin  26:47

harder, yeah, yeah, makes

26:51

So, yeah, that was,

Collin  26:54

I liked it. It was, it was good. So we saw big British then we were driving away. And we kept driving past those pit wildlife areas and all this stuff. And then

27:10

we missed a turn, and

Collin  27:12

on our right we saw that there was a little thing that said, train museum. And I went, I don't know anything about trade Museum.

27:23

I'm sorry. What?

Collin  27:25

Now let's go and we turned off. The roads were still, like, pretty much snowed over. And Megan's like, they're not going to be open. Collin, well, let's see. Sure enough, course they will be. It's a trade Museum. We're open. There was one guy shoveling, like, the narrowest of narrow path from the snow covered parking lot into the museum. And he kind of like stared at us for a little bit, I think, going like, are they actually going to come in? Or they just, are they lost? Yeah, I popped the door open and I said, oh boy, is this where we find trains?

28:05

He was like, Heck, yeah, it is, Brother, let's go

Collin  28:10

this. It's called the heartlands railroad museum. It's free to get in you. They'll take donations, but they it's just about rains and train yards of East Kansas. Um, they have a like an OG steam engine there that's fully renode that we got to go up and ring the bell on. And he showed us what all the things did. And he actually worked on the railroad. Now he's retired, and he helps do this. We he's, he was our docents throughout the entire museum, showing us all this stuff. When he found that Noah has in scale trains, he was showing us all the in scale trains, and they have all these memorabilia from, like, basically, you know, being just like the miners over at Big Brutus train and train conductors, and that it was a very tight knit, close knit family to make these things run. And everybody knew everybody. And so this museum is actually mostly put together through people's personal belongings and collections of their own that they come together and kind of put all together, of like, oh, this is, you know, this guy was on the rail for, you know, 40 years and and I knew him, and after he passed away, he gave this stuff to the museum and, like, it's all like personal connections kind of thing. So it's really cool to see what they have, and he's walking us through, showing us all this stuff. Apparently, before they had comms on the trains, they did a technique called pooping up an order. Have you heard of this? No, get ready. So, all right, so you are at a train depot. Okay, how do you. How do you get a message to the conductor of a train? I don't

30:05

have any idea.

Collin  30:07

You write, you write it on a piece of paper, and you tie it to a stick, and then you go out standing by the railroad and hold the stick out for the conductor to grab. Oh, and they make, and they made these into a big hoop so that the conductor, whoever just had to stick out their arm, and it would go in there, okay, and then you'd let it go. Later, they developed these to where it's a big it's a six foot pole, and then it's got a big Y at the end of v. And they would string a piece of they would tie the order to a string, and they would attach it to the both ends of that y. And so you would, instead of taking the whole hoop with you, you would just loop onto that string, and then you could order it and toss the string out. And he said, you know, this was fine when you had steam engines, early steam engines, but as they started getting, you know, faster and faster, yeah, that becomes, it gets real scary standing out there, and because, you know, because he breeded me a good point of like, what if one of the cables on the cars had come loose 10 miles out, and nobody had caught it, and it's sitting there, back there, flapping back and forth, like these guys who would out and hoop up orders, would get injured by debris that the train was dragging, things that had come uncoupled, decapitate these guys standing out there. Well, yeah, yeah, it's always insane. So I was like, Oh my gosh. So he walks us through, they've got like a dining car set up inside. And when the weather's nicer, they actually do the thing that you guys do with the that one weird thing that goes from Missouri to Arkansas? Oh yeah, they have one of those things. Oh, cool. You can actually get train rides on this. They've got it all set up there. They've got the cars and they've got things. So he's like, Well, I usually go. He goes, I sorry. He was like, apologies. I haven't shoveled out to get over there yet. I'm like, it's totally fine. Like, you guys got like, 11 inches of snow. We're fine. So we go out, we see the the cool steam engine. And then he goes, Oh, do you want to see the depot? And I was like, of course, yes. And they have the original 18 something train depot out there. And what happened was, is they had this deep the depot. It was there, then during World War One. Oh, what happened to like it? Oh, no, sorry. The original one got moved like a farm over, and then they built up another one, and then it, when they when the train depot, when they went under right before World War One, somebody bought it and moved it and moved it into, like he said. He said, If you stand on the porch of the current depot, of the depot, you can see three places on three different farms where this had been moved before we brought it back, basically, oh my gosh. Basically, it had been like a hay barn, and then it was converted into a chicken coop, and then it was converted into a storage shed. Oh my God. They managed to track it down, bring it back over to its original spot, completely, put it together. And it is the coolest and cutest little depot. And they got all the, you know, the bars are there, and they have it all put together. So it's just like it was with some of the like, they were able to figure out what original paint colors, you know, were kind of in that motif. Whoa. And they've got, like, the coolest part about this was that, you know, this was the central hub, or these things. And the guy, they have the, oh, what's it called? Ah, the where they would drop off all of the like, the mail and everything, not where the people were, but the passengers, but where all the stuff was, where they the train would stop, they would pick up the parcels and deliveries, and they put them on the train, and they get the whatever. And he before, this was 20 years ago, they talked to a guy who used to run the general store in this area that's called corona, and he remembers as a young boy picking up firecrackers from that depot that He had ordered through a mail order catalog.

34:22

Yes, yeah, yeah,

Collin  34:27

because so it's just like, it's just there, right? And so we got to talk about the history of that. And he was able to say, like, you know, if you were in charge of one of these, like, you had to, they had their own clothesline closed loop phone line. So it wasn't a public line. It was the phone line run by the rail company. And so you had to know how to operate that. And then they also use Morse code, like forever in this thing, so you had to be able to operate that. And then you had to typewriters. And was walking through like the day and the life of one of. These depot managers. No, it's crazy. And then also they had these, I forget what they're called already, but like every five, every five miles on the track, there were these little shacks right next to them, and every day, eight guys were assigned to that shack, and they would get on, and they had these little rail inspector carts that you could carry. You'd lift up, and then you'd set it on, and it was little powered by this little engine. And one, one car would all eight guys would pile on, and one, it would go five miles one way, and then the other shack, they'd go five miles the other way, and their whole job was just the repair and maintenance of the track that day. And then at night, they'd come back and they put them in the sheds, and it was every five miles. Whoa, they had this along these tracks, and that's how they were able to maintain them so well and the upkeep and maintenance. And then they had the rail inspectors, got in even smaller versions, and they were supposed to cover 10 mile territories. And so that was their job, 10 miles, one way, 10 miles the next. They would come back, they would give their orders to the groups, the repair crews, and then they would go out and they would cover their five mile territories, and this was most people's like, this was the dream job for young guys to have, because they paid well, and the rail companies would actually specifically Target farm families that had, like, lots of kids, because it was like, Oh, you've got seven sons. Would you like one of them to work on the rail? And so, like, they, they had, like, a recruiting network and all this stuff. To me, yeah, it was. And then, so he gave us that tour. We came back inside, and he that's when he showed us the the toy trains. And then we we were passing by these pictures, and we notice, I look up and I notice that there's a green box car with three gold letters on it. And I turn to Noah. I

Brandon  37:13

say, Noah, you have that.

Collin  37:17

It's the m, k, T line, the Missouri, Texas line, and this guy's head swivels around, and he was like, how do you know about the MKT Alliance?

Brandon  37:30

And I was like, oh, you know, we're not a stranger to train museums.

Collin  37:35

Actually. We're not complete noobs, as I originally led with. And so I tell about where we live. And he apparently I again before my time, when the Katie trail through Missouri, when they ripped out the tracks, this was a mecca moment for all of the rail enthusiasts and all of the old guys from the rail

Brandon  38:03

to come, and they would actually take pieces and stuff, right?

Collin  38:08

Take pieces document. They actually would follow the crews as they went to tell stories of places that of their memories on this line, right? Many of them had memories of this, or had connections to this, like their dads, this is what they did, yeah, and they and so he came up with some with, with one of those crews out to Columbia for that stretch when they were redoing, when they were taking that out, putting that in, because he wanted to, because it's, it's a big thing, because it's the only, it's the only tunnel on the whole line or whatever. It's out that way. So they want to go and document that process and things like that. And so

38:46

he was, he was like,

Speaker 2  38:48

really, like, oh, you live where? Oh, my God, oh, you're from Central Missouri. Let's go. Let's go.

Collin  38:57

So, so we had the M and the K were there and present. Technically, my kids were born in Texas, so, like it was all the trifecta. Was there perfect look at how So, yeah, so that was, in some ways, it was, it had more meaning, I'm gonna say that, than big Brutus. It's not as an impressive museum, but, you know, they're a big showpiece of the steam engine, and they have a couple different things like that out there. It's not as like, wow, that's huge, or whatever. Big. Brutus is a massive technological marvel and is a it's a testament to the just kind of can do attitude and like, we'll just do it kind of thing out there, and the big impact to many families and everything that history speaks to that. And then just right down the road you have a complete

39:57

tangential industry.

Collin  39:59

And. And their little their museum there. But getting to talk with that guy, I think I was just personally more impacted based off of like, his stories and his connection to, like, everything that was in there. And it was just a really neat whirlwind tour through a very niche part of history for a very small part of the world, but it was really neat to experience that, well, that plus you're

Brandon  40:27

already, like, you know, partly living that train life, with the model railroad and the other trains nearby, stuff like that. So, like, it's just a little bit more personal experience because, like, it's already a thing that, like you guys are, you would like, no specifically, but like other, like, all of you really are, like, yeah, like, more familiar with, right? More familiar with Not, not necessarily, strip mineral mining in eastern Kansas, right? That's not, that's a little more niche than,

41:02

like, railroad history. Yes,

Collin  41:04

that's a good point. That's a good point. So, yeah, so I recommend West mineral. And then just down the road is Corona, Kansas. And yeah, I think it was a bit more impactful for Noah too, because it is so close to his his little heart there and kind of where his interests lie. Yeah, not that he wasn't impressed by NASA steam trouble and Lillian was. I saw his face in that picture. I know, I know, you know, again, I'm being like, oh, you know it was, how did they do this? Or how did they do that? Like, well,

41:39

it was, it's good question,

41:43

sometimes very slowly, and mostly just very slowly, very slowly.

Brandon  41:49

That's a real trick. Is mostly Yeah, just very slowly. Turns out, if you go slow, like so, yeah, so, yeah,

Collin  41:58

that was our that was a trip. Then we stayed overnight in good old Joplin, and then came home, nice for our fun times. But yes, the the we had, we after we done the train museum, we still had time in our day. So we were like, oh, let's just go walk around the preserve out there. These are not hiking preserves, as we learned. These are hunting, hunting and fishing only. There are no like blazed trails at all. It's just kind of like a wilderness area. So we

42:33

were like, Oh yeah, maybe don't go

Collin  42:36

wandering around the hunting area. Maybe that's not a great plan. Yeah. Megan was like, Do you have your you have your dog walking vest? Because we have those orange vests now. And I was like, they're in our other car. And she was like,

Speaker 2  42:47

No, well, forgot the high visibility jacket. I didn't

Collin  42:52

know I'd be out in a hunting area. So we now packed it up and went home after our big, grand adventure. So the Boot Hill will wait for another day. Quite grand, though, I gotta say it was quite grand. It was quite like, boom, pretty, pretty monumental to go out there and and see that and like, Wow, a lot has not changed and but they're not going to move the steam shovel. Apparently, they had to fight pretty hard for them not to dismantle it and tear it down. Yeah, I do

Brandon  43:32

remember that, right? That was a big thing, because they just want, they like it, the cost of, like, just having it there was good, just like it existing, which was something that I always found, like, weird, because, like, there, like, there's a in that museum, there's that thing about that other shovel, right? I don't remember where it is exactly, but there is another shovel that is actually bigger than that one, uh huh, and they just, like, the cost of, like, just leaving it somewhere was going to be too much, so they just buried it, yeah, basically the thing dug a giant it literally, like, kind of sad in a toy story kind of way where, like, it, like, dug its own hole, drove down in there, and then that's where they buried it, covered back up, which is kind of weird, right, especially when you realize it's bigger than big Brutus,

Collin  44:26

right, which means it's humongous, I know.

Brandon  44:35

Yeah, so they just drove it into a hole and buried it there and left it because that was cheaper than, like, dismantling it or just leaving it somewhere which is wild, right? And also probably an environmental hazard, really, now that I'm thinking about this out loud, is awful, also a horrible idea.

44:58

Well, well. It

Collin  45:00

was electric, and like big Brut, I'm sure they removed the motors, and not because it had to drive down the hole, but then they had to take it out. And that's the

Brandon  45:10

other thing that I keep on seeing. I think that back, you know, just remember, do giant corporations do good things like on purpose all the time,

45:21

no, especially like the 70s, 70s, right? Especially the 70s, like, which is right. Remember, this is the same time period where we're a different company, not so far away in Missouri, was spreading dioxin on roads just for fun, right? So like

Collin  45:49

and other mining companies in Missouri were selling their chaff for use in asphalt, in roofs. Comes to fan out that there's a bit problem with that, yeah,

46:01

yeah. You see, not a great time for environmental protection, 1970s

Collin  46:09

Yeah, low, low, low point. But Well, the other thing too, of like, the housing was constructed, I had never really read a lot of the things when I was there, when I was 14, it's not surprising. But the other thing that I also learned was it operated 24/7,

46:27

yeah, it was time

Collin  46:29

for 11 years. Yeah, I had downtime for, you know, maintenance, like, maintenance and

Brandon  46:33

stuff. But, like, but like, I just, they just kept, they just rotate the cruise in, yeah, right. And just keep, I mean, it's not like, it's going very far, and you can't just hop on.

Collin  46:42

Well, no, that's why that elevator in the middle is so important, because that allowed them to do real time transfers of crew, yeah, where it could be moving, and they would just come walking underneath it, step onto the platform, the thing is moving, and then there's ride the elevator very fast, right? It's fine, but that's the other thing of that I still, to this day, a third of a mile an hour. Yeah. Hard time comprehending that this thing was, we skim right over it like it's an everyday thing,

Brandon  47:14

an electric shovel. Oh, yeah, it

Collin  47:18

it had a sub its own substation,

47:20

plugged

Collin  47:22

in, directly plugged in. It had 3000 feet of cable that it dragged behind it, like that

Speaker 2  47:29

cable's huge. It's so it's like six inches across.

Collin  47:35

There's so much copper in this thing, and they just, it's enormous. It

47:41

was electric.

Collin  47:43

I That's the part that, like, I continue to like, as you're standing on this thing, and you're marveling, and you're like,

Brandon  47:49

holy cow, this whole thing, what? And, and that's, yeah, and think about those, the size of those electric motors that were in that room, because there's not, there's like, multiple, I can't remember how many, like, slots there are, but there's huge slots for these giant electric motors. Like, it's insane. Yeah, yeah. I,

Collin  48:18

I just still to this day, that's what is so insane about these is that these things existed and they were they. The other thing that I still want to see as well, as far as these weird shovels, are the big bruises when it's got the tracks right, whatever I I want to see the walking ones in person, because that, oh yeah, I, I don't believe are actually real. This is

48:48

just one of those, like, steampunk things, like, it's not a real,

Collin  48:51

I think, because they have a model of one of these in the museum, because they were in the area, right? And it just what it looks like. It looks like a high center duck, like, with this little feet, like, going, like, a lot, like, because it would land on its belly so it could turn and rotate and stuff, but then this little giant paddle feet, or, like,

Brandon  49:08

why? Like, how, how did we decide that that was an effect, that is the real question. Like, who decided? Yeah, this is a good plan, right? Like, that's the part that's kind of bizarre to me. It's like, how did they a come up with that? And then, like, do it? And be like, yep, nope. That's it. That's what we're going with. Like, Wait, hold on, there's other why this weird thing? Yeah. It's still, yeah, I It's

Collin  49:48

insane, and I, and I know that you know, coal mining and stuff

49:54

is just bizarre, but

Collin  49:59

it's you. Look at what you look at the modern things that are out there. If you look at modern coal shovels, and then, like, you squint back over and you look at the

50:09

big Brutus, you're like, Okay, well,

Collin  50:13

obviously there hasn't been a whole lot, I mean, obviously a lot of lots of technological, you know, advancements and stuff like that. But like, still there. All the core elements are still there. Yeah, 70 years on from when this thing was originally designed,

50:28

so many ways to shovel, you know, I

Collin  50:29

know, well, that was the other thing. They had a picture of what big Brutus replaced. And big Brutus replaced a shovel in 1964 that had been designed. It. The previous one was the previous largest shovel, and then big Bruce replaced it. But like, it was built back in the 40s, and I'm like,

Brandon  50:53

and it looks marked, if I remember correctly, it looks markedly similar, very similar. It's like, not like, there's a few differences, I think. But like, yeah, it's pretty much the same design. It's like, the same style shovel, yes, right? It's like, oh, with the, I mean, there's, there's only a couple ways to engineer the beam, right? Yes. So, like, for this kind of thing, and so the brutish shovel has the front face open, and it like, scoops away, Yes, yep. And then the bottom, then they pivot it, and then they dump the bottom out right the bottom of the bucket disengages where it's not like a backhoe, where it scrapes towards it, sir, yeah. Dragline, pull Yeah. And so it like, just drags along. And then they pick it up, right? So that's, yeah, that's different, yeah, so that part's kind of weird. But, like, other than that, you know, there's not just too many ways to to do, you know, they just drag it and then they it just, like, breaks it up, and then that's kind of it, right? Like,

Collin  52:06

yeah, it's wild. And especially when you think of the other thing of now that you see how large this thing is, then you really get a sense for how eerie the lakes are around it, because this thing was basic was would shovel above like it could lift a high boom. Was 105 feet up, and then you look at the shovel didn't go the shovel didn't go up that far. But like you there are some pictures of this thing down in these pits where it was shoveling. Yeah, you go, oh, oh, it's real deep and creepy down there. Got it? Yeah, oh, I understand now I'm very uncomfortable.

52:55

So anyway, it's,

Collin  52:58

it's good, it's, fun. I enjoyed it, and I think it did too. So, yeah, well, I have a video I want to watch with them that kind of you can see. It's more of a historical document, like a little bit of a documentary stuff. So

Brandon  53:17

anyway, beam thing is weird. I was looking at the pictures on here, and it does that weird thing where it like, yeah, because the drag line, there's that center back piston thing, almost, and it like, pushes the shovel outward. So it's weird. It's

Brandon  53:32

a very 1000 like cables, because the the whole mast is like, the pulley pivot thing, and then the shovel is actually not attached directly to the mast. It's like, halfway

Brandon  53:46

down there's that, like, beam thing, right? And that so, like, the way that it works is just bizarre. It's very strange,

Collin  54:03

but, but yeah, there you go. CO plan, yeah, so that was fun. We had a great time. Recommend the gray and the cotton museum or

54:16

so? Yeah,

Collin  54:18

did you? Did you go see any giant electric shovels.

Brandon  54:21

I did not mostly just like surviving the back to school shenanigans, right? Or like being able to finally leave my house after snowpocalypse 2025, with many, many inches of snow that I had outside that were drifting all over the place. So, like, I didn't even decide to get it was so cold that I didn't even decide to go outside my house last week till, like, Friday. It was like, Okay, now, now I'll shovel right now. I'll go shovel this mess off the thing, because they didn't come by do our road even, like, for a couple days. So like, Well, no, even if we were going somewhere. Or this would be very difficult. So, yeah, not gonna worry about plus using the sale. So like, where are we gonna go, right? Yeah, that's the day that fun hold up here. And then finally went out and shoveled the driveway, so mostly just trying to get back to school, being like, where, what is happening? Where am I? What is going on? Like trying to get back in the swing of things, trying to figure out what's up. So that's been mostly this week. It's just sort of like trying to navigate that and figure out where we are. What were we doing when we left? I don't remember right back in school mode, right? Because when they had gone for I mean, we were out basically, like, 10 days, so, like, almost as long as we were for Christmas break. Wow. So

Collin  56:01

rough, rough, rough start to the yeah, that's, that's hard,

Brandon  56:04

yeah, rough into the third quarter there pretty much, so, like, little, like near, little behind, so it'd be alright, but it's just, it's been weird this week, right? Just like, what, very difficult. Lots of things to do, lots of things to catch up on, and so we really haven't done anything at all, really no, a lot less exciting

56:31

in our neck of The woods. So I do have your last metal album of the week, however, oh yes, in case you were curious, right this week,

Brandon  56:50

going into a slightly different metal sub genre. Oh boy, I knew you were ready for that, right today. Okay, right? I give to you our final weeks, probably, band, right? This is Black boned Angel, right? They have an album called Verdun, right? And they, this is their World War One album. They're not this is not a bad this is not like a world war one band, like some of the other ones, but they do have this album that's World War One themed, I guess. Now this band is very different. And then this is, I think, classified as, like drone metal, right? So, like, hey, of course, the archetypal drone metal band is like, sun, Oh, right. Obviously, I know you know that, right.

Collin  57:48

Clearly, I was just about to say that actually, yeah, thank you. So it's just

Brandon  57:52

like, super like, it's basically like, so drone metal is weird in that it's kind of like, it's literally the slowest music I think you could possibly listen to, right? It's basically like, like, the what, what these bands do is they get, like, the loudest amplifiers they can get, and they just turn them up all the way, and then they drop their guitar tunings really low, they add a bunch of reverb, and then they just, like hit notes, and then just, like, hold them. They like, sustain, forever.

58:30

Oh, no.

Brandon  58:33

So it's kind of like Wall of Sound music, right? So it's, it's kind of like there's not always, like a time signature thing happening, right? It's very like out of time sometimes, and then it's just, like long. So this album is just, it's, it's one song that's like, 15 minutes. Oh,

59:01

that sounds horrible,

Brandon  59:02

right? And it's but it has like, parts, right? Like, there's sections, you know, like, this is like a part and like B, and I think they're going for like different things, because there's one part in the middle that's like, upsetting to listen to, even it's just instrumental, like, the way that it's repeated, and like the tone, and like the notes they're choosing is kind of like discomforting, but that's on purpose, because it's about Verdun, obviously. But like that is the intent, I guess. But that's what I was to this week. Was Blackburn Angel. Are friends from New Zealand.

Collin  59:45

Oh, there we go,

Brandon  59:48

closing out the world war one medal album, travaganza, right, so yeah. Playlist going right,

Collin  59:57

yeah. What a what a journey that. Was

1:00:04

you go, Oh my gosh,

1:00:12

yeah, that's what I did this week. Oh, what's lovely? Oh yeah, you

Collin  1:00:26

Well, speaking of lovely things, oh yeah, well, you want to close out a book,

1:00:33

Yeah, gotta be honest. I Whoo, yeah,

Collin  1:00:40

sure our buildings is something

1:00:42

Oh, boy, yeah, is

Collin  1:00:45

yeah, what we book, book five now, and yeah, oh, this, yeah. I'll let you

Brandon  1:00:55

walk us through this fun. I, once again, did not mark the page that I need to start on, which you would think I would do this time because I didn't need to save my place for next time, no, because we finished, but I, you know, I'm an idiot sometimes, and Just do the thing that I'm supposed to be doing. Cash. Is this here? Is it all right? Okay, so yeah, the what is this? 38 right. 38 Yeah, quick calculations from Roman numeral here. Um, so we are like, well into the fall right now, and they are still, they're like, living in a chalet in the mountains like that. That's what I got, uh, because they're like, they're like, renting a room from some people. It's kind of what it feels like, Right? Kind

Collin  1:02:01

of felt like a bed and breakfast, almost, because, yeah, the guten gins, guten gins, yeah, they own this place, and they were very proud of it. They worked hard for this. And again, yeah, they're kind of renting them this room, yeah, so they're just up in the mountains, like hanging out, right? And,

Brandon  1:02:25

but, yeah, this chapter, like, again, again. This chapter follows the plan of, like, for a lot of it, like, nothing is nothing's really happening, right? They're not like, doing anything, but like, there's a lot, there's a lot being said between the lines, right? That's kind of what's happening in a lot of this book, anyway, is, like, there's a lot of stuff, but then, like, not really, right? And then, because, all of a sudden, here, he, like, goes into great detail, like, talking about, like, just a bunch of stuff, right? Um, they kind of describe them and where they are in the villages and and a little bit. But then, like, nothing really happens until kind of towards the end, when they start her and, you know, they start talking here, and, like, they start talking about this baby, right? And, like, we get that, you know, she's all into it. And he's like, he calls her, like, the loafer, right? Yeah, you know, he's like, whatever. Like, he just not really excited. And then they start talking about, you know, shouldn't we've gotten married and whatever, blah, blah, blah, like, and it's really weird that that, like all this time, their relationship really hasn't progressed at all. There's, there's right, there's nothing here, and there's still like, substance, because they keep saying, like, they just talk about, like, Oh, don't I make you a lovely wife who's like, yeah, yeah. And then they talk about, like, oh, well, we should be married and, oh, I don't want to marry yet. I'm not in like, I don't want to be married until I've been and, like, blah, blah, blah. Like, what? Hold on, what? Yeah,

Collin  1:04:39

it's like again, this, this, this vain, this vain nature, this very superficial,

1:04:47

this,

Collin  1:04:50

again, avoiding reality. I guess is another thing that's going on here, too, for both of them, is that there's just no rhyme or reason for any of this. It's just there. This feel. Of going through the motions. And I think at this point they they've also said that, like, she's, they have nothing for the baby too. Is this? Is this,

Brandon  1:05:11

yeah, or somewhere around here, they're like, oh, yeah, we don't even have, like, baby clothes, right? Like, oh, we should probably do that, right? Yeah, we get that like, they start talking about places they want to go in America, right? And this part is funny, because he's like, she's like, I want to see Niagara Falls. And he's like, Yeah, where else? She can't remember. And he just starts naming off. So he's like, the stockyards, no,

Collin  1:05:41

just random

1:05:42

place, the Woolworth Building. No,

Collin  1:05:47

the Golden Gate, right? Sam, like, Oh yeah, yeah, the Golden

Brandon  1:05:49

Gate Bridge, yeah, that's it. Like, wow. Good thing. You want to see two things that are real close together, yeah? Niagara Falls in the Golden Gate. Oh, dear,

1:06:06

yeah.

Brandon  1:06:12

Oh my gosh, yeah. This whole chapter is just so weird. Like, again we just have no like, this whole relationship is just like escapism, or, I think both of them, right? But like, it's just these are, like high school relationship conversation, right? That we're having here still the whole time. And it's really awkward to keep reading,

Collin  1:06:46

because, you know, it's like, oh, I want to ski. Well, I can do bobsled, but it won't be too rough, but I'm hungry. Oh, let's go get something to eat. Like, it's just, it's very, I will also say this, it is very in the moment. It's all, yeah. Like, that's true. If they do every now and then venture out to like, oh, there's this inevitable, big thing that's gonna happen. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, baby. But also like, now and I'm hungry now, and I'm gonna be impulsive now and react now and just be lovely now. Is, is what a lot of this is without any real eye towards future or anything like that. Yeah,

Brandon  1:07:26

the closest we get to future in some of these is she says, I think you, you should grow a beard. And he's like, What? What? Right. And again, this is the part where I, I really was comparing it to, like, high school relationships, when one person the relationship's like, oh, you should change your hair. Like, I think you with your hair would look the other person's like, what, why? And like, or this right here, she's like, You should grow a beard, or you shouldn't get your hair cut. Yet, they start talking about, like, oh, we'll wait together, and then we'll go get our we'll let our hair grow out so we'll look the same, and then we can go get it cut at the same time. Like, what are you talking about? What? What is that like? Wow.

Collin  1:08:17

It's such a weird thing to think about or talk about, right? And, also, yeah, as he's talking about the beard too, he says, I'll start now this minute, it's a good idea. It will give me something to do. Are you worried because you haven't anything to do? No, I like it. I have a fine life, don't you? I have a lovely life, but I, but I was afraid because I'm big now that you maybe I was to bore you like it's, there's, there's no real purpose or meaning to them,

Brandon  1:08:43

and just a lot of insecurity, right? Like, ton on in both parties, but a

Collin  1:08:49

lot of her, yeah, I was it this chapter or next one where we find out, basically, they're just living off his family sending him money. I think

Brandon  1:08:58

that's the next one, okay? But like, anyway, that doesn't matter. Like, yeah and they're yeah that they they've yeah because they don't like, he's not getting paid anymore because he's run away, and so is she really and so he, like, even though their family doesn't like he doesn't like them, or he doesn't talk to them, or he doesn't write them, he like, basically sent them a money request, and they, like, said, yes. So like, like, you just Western, union them, union them, like, a request for money, and they honored it or whatever. And so he's like, Yeah, we're fine. We're good to go.

Collin  1:09:32

Oh, because at this time too, again, in this whole with the beard of like, oh, I have a fine life.

1:09:39

Like, she asked him

Collin  1:09:41

to hold on. Yeah, he says, but I thought maybe you were restless. And he says, No, sometimes I wonder about the front and about people I don't know but, but I don't worry. I don't think about much, any of anything. What do you wonder about, about Rinaldi and the priest and lots of people I know. So again, he goes from saying, I don't worry about anything. Mean, there's nothing here too. Actually, lots of people I know, I'm consumed about, except

Brandon  1:10:04

for literally everyone else I know, right? Everybody he's known for five years, right? Yeah,

Collin  1:10:11

everybody who's he says, I don't think about the much. I don't think about the war. I'm through with it. What are you thinking about? Nothing. Yes, you were, tell me I was wondering about ronaldi, right? Yeah. Like, you're actually all consumed about this, yeah.

Brandon  1:10:25

And I think we get, we get more of that, just a little bit, like, on the very last, the very end of this chapter, right? Because we, we think about all the way back to Episode One. We're talking about Hemingway Iceberg Theory, right, where he just, like, kind of, he'll show you just a little bit, and he kind of wants you to fill in the rest. Oh, yeah, right, because the last, the last part thing, right? Yeah, yes. Like, all right. Then she says, All right, then let's go to sleep at exactly the same moment again. All right, middle school relationship, right? It's like, it's like, when you like kids now, or, like, even when I was in school, like, you talk on the phone to go to sleep, right? They do that like kids now, like the middle schoolers, they're like, FaceTime each other and then, like, FaceTime each other to bed, right? Yes, the person they're quote, dating, right? Like that, falsely, yeah, yeah. It's like that, right? Tail is oldest time is the thing this used to be done on the phone call, right? But says, All right, then let's go to sleep at exactly the same moment. All right. But we did not. I was awake for quite a long time, thinking about things and watching Catherine sleeping, the moonlight on her face. Then I went to sleep too. Hmm? Right? And that last sentence is even interesting, right? Like, because it's, it's written as, then I went to sleep. Comma two, right? So that's even like, you know, it's like, the way that he's drawing it out, like, then I went to sleep. Also, right? Like, just kind of this, the pausing and the waiting and the, you know, we know that he doesn't like the night time. He doesn't like going to sleep at night. You know, he doesn't like that being alone with himself like that's what we really know from all of his behavior and all his activity. Like, he does not like being alone with himself, right? This is, this is the thing. This is why he's always drinking, right? Because it's a distraction, really, right? And so this night time of always this trepidation of going to sleep, but struggling to go to sleep and being afraid to go to sleep, right? This is all that trauma manifestation, like not being able to deal with it, and then, like, trying to put on a brave face, and just like power through, you know, this is is really taking a toll on him, and it's really not, he doesn't. He's not handling anything well at all.

Collin  1:13:13

No, because, again, it is all escapism. The entire, one of the entire reasons for their relationship is escapism for both of them, as we know, right? She's escapism from the man that she was in love with and was would have married, and he's in a escapism for the fear of being alone. So both of them are finding, are finding that fear of being alone here, and this is why, you know the previous early chapters, they were alone together and perfectly fine with it, because they were there for different purposes than there for the other person. Yeah, when he said that they were they could be together and alone, and were fine with it, meaning they both knew they were using each other. They both knew that this was just because it was convenient and it made them feel good in the moment, and he's also terrified to be asleep without somebody next to him that we see that here, even now, like as we're approach, rapidly approaching this something, you know, it's just there's no, no progression,

Brandon  1:14:18

no, not at all, right? And it's really, it's really nuts, right? Like, it's really, and then, yeah, so we get that the next chapter. Basically, this is, this is chapters, like, two pages. This chapter is where they just talk about where the money comes from, right? Yeah, that's basically all that happens here. They're still, you know, oh, because they're like, nothing and wandering around to different like taverns in the cold and drinking and going back and, yeah, that's just like, Oh, he's got a beard now, right? He's got a beard now, because now it's the middle of January, so we've just fast forwarded, right? Yeah, so we like, nothing's happening. They're just waiting you. For this inevitability to happen. And like, yeah, they're just walking around. She says, Don't we have any money? He's like, Yeah, I, you know, wrote my money, wrote my family a plea for money. And they said, Yes. So like, that was he didn't, like, communicate with them or tell them anything. He just said, basically, can I have some money? And they're like, yeah. Like, that was Yeah, well,

Collin  1:15:26

and then yeah, she says, haven't you written them? No, only the site draft. Thank God I'm not your family. And I was like, Yeah, okay, yeah, that's a good point. He said, I'll send them a cable and she said, Don't you care anything about them? I did, but we quarreled so much it wore itself out. I think I'd like them. I'd like them very much. Then he said, Let's not talk about them, or I'll start to worry about

1:15:51

them and brand I guess that's great. Yeah, yeah,

Collin  1:15:58

suppressed and uncommunicated worries and concerns and anxieties. Wow, that's crazy.

1:16:03

Yeah, shocking. Who could have wait

Collin  1:16:06

more of unaddressed trauma and,

1:16:08

yeah, relationships, yeah,

Collin  1:16:18

oh my gosh, yeah. And then yeah, the compliment him on the beard. And was this, oh yeah, yeah, oh at the end, it was this, hold on. We have,

1:16:33

oh, I,

Collin  1:16:36

I this, this ends weird.

Speaker 2  1:16:37

It does end weird, right? I was just looking at I was just trying. I highlighted

Collin  1:16:42

this. I'm going to this, this. I don't understand, I don't like there's a lot of context here, and a lot of things here. They're talking about how lovely you are, how sweet you are. I love you now. And he says, What do you want to do? Ruin me? Yes, I want to ruin you. Is good. That's what I want to do, yeah. And I don't know if this was like, you know, in a, in a passionate kind of thing, or in a like, self destruct kind of thing, or like, a recognition of like, like, I don't Yeah, maybe yes and like, here's the yes and thing,

Brandon  1:17:18

yeah, it's real weird. Like, here's a good point to bring this up. Side note, Susan was also reading, I think, like the Paris wife, right? And this is about Hemingway's time with his first wife in Paris. Yes. Okay, right, yes. And she, her big takeaway from this book was like, these people are awful, yeah? And I was like, Yes, look, right. This is the, this is the woman that, like, basically, he told her that, like, cat that she like, she was the basis for this character, right? Wow. What a great thing to tell somebody. Yeah, right. This is the lady that he met and then he ran off to lived in Paris with after the war, right? And she's just like, so she was reading about, like, the real life counterpart to this. Like, if, you know, if this story didn't end the way that it does, spoilers, you know what Hemingway actually did with go off with this lady and live in Paris with all these crazy people? She said he's awful. Like, all his friends are awful. Like, all they do is drink and do rotten things, like, yeah, yeah. That's pretty much the book. That's pretty much exactly what we're getting here.

1:18:47

Wow. Well, yes, yes, here we are just this, like, weird, empty, vapid nature. I just wanted to bring up. This is like, that part is based on reality, like

Collin  1:19:06

and it comes of just tearing through in this, yeah, in this here, because, yeah, you guys just, yeah, you know what? Let's, let's just destroy like each other and what's going on and and to do it like again, knowingly, of there's just no again. I just Oh my gosh, you see this

Brandon  1:19:31

fun. It's fun. Move on to 40 something. Yeah. Anyway, oh, start off. We had a fine life. Oh yes. The way that they bring that up so frequently kind of tells you that it's like, Who are you trying to convince me? Or you you Right? Right? Yeah, right. Like, you keep telling me this, right? You keep telling me the reader this. But like, I don't think I believe you. You know? Like. As a matter of fact, I don't believe you like even a little bit, but like,

Collin  1:20:04

yeah, because then he says, he says, we had a fine life. We lived through the months of January and February, right? We Yeah, it's great. What on an exciting Wow, breathe for two months like this is,

Brandon  1:20:23

Oh, geez. I mean, you know, breathing is my favorite hobby, right? Say, but they were, but like, but they were very happy. Yes, happy, right? And then we got to, they decided they need to move into town closer to a hospital. Well, that's up in the chalet thing, right? That's because in the night it started raining. Yes, done, done, done, done, done, but yes, they decide foreshadowing. That's what

Collin  1:20:51

they decided. Yes. They need to not be up here, so with the baby coming so soon,

Brandon  1:20:55

yes, which is quite possibly the only responsible thing that they've said the whole time. But yes, I think this is the chapter where they're like, Oh, we don't have any of us. This one where they're like, oh, we should probably get some stuff for the baby, right? Like, they're kind of, like, they just kind of been ignoring it the whole time, right? Like, really, you know, like, man, but, yeah, you know, you know what I have to get, darling. She said, What, baby clothes. He's like, what, like, Yeah, well, I guess you can buy him later. Like, it's fine, like, what, yep, but I did, like I did. The humorous part about this exchange was it's like, you can buy them. I know that's what I'll do tomorrow. I'll find out what is necessary. But you want to know you were a nurse, yeah? But so, so few soldiers had babies in the hospitals.

Collin  1:21:57

And he said, he said, I did. I did. Oh, she hit me with a Hello. Okay, that's that was very that was very funny. We also have our first time stamp, I think of the book of it being 1918

Brandon  1:22:12

Yeah, March, 1918 right? So, bang. The first time a date has actually been mentioned, right? Everything else has been like, you have to figure it out, right, like, by what's going on. But this is, yeah, boom, we have a date. Ka Blam,

Collin  1:22:32

yeah, and they're unpacking in a nice hotel, drinking with whiskey and soda. Same eyes, yeah, yeah. And this again, we get some more really weird, stilted dialog between the two, yeah, of being thin again, drinking this again, the whole like, then again, I think that's just a, it could be a discussion of, obviously, this vapid and vain thoughts, of looks and whatever, but also just a, she's not saying, once I have the baby, is she? He's not saying. It's a, once I'm thin will be Yeah, like,

Brandon  1:23:18

it's not, like, she doesn't mention, once I've had the child, like, I doesn't bring that up. Like,

Collin  1:23:23

and how do you go about getting coming thin again? Like, let's talk about that middle point of of you are pregnant. Do you have baby? Then you become not right? Like, there's, there's something that's going to happen here, and it's just, it's not even it. It's so weird. Like, I was the I was struck by that with the more she kept bringing it up, of like, when I get, then again, when I get, then again, when I get there again, like I you, you're not saying after I have the baby, so again, this disconnect of what's actually taking place too,

Brandon  1:23:55

yeah, right. And that, that this whole chapter, like, is again, he does it again, right? This whole chapter is basically just like summed up with the last line, again, right? Like when you know, he says, when there was good day, we had a splendid time, and we never had a bad time. We knew the baby was close now, and it gave us both a feeling as though something were hurrying us and we could not lose any time together.

Collin  1:24:34

Yeah, oh no, and we get hurled into 41 Yeah,

Brandon  1:24:42

the longest chapter in the whole book, yep, right? Is huge. This is,

Collin  1:24:49

this was, this was a lot to go through, not just because of the length, but also to see the content that we're going to get into, like, emotionally, right? Emotionally, this. Book. I, I actually put the book down at one point during this and, like, had to, like, go one year

Brandon  1:25:06

away, yeah, yeah. I had to read it in parts, right? Like, I didn't read it the whole way through. Because, like, good, yeah? Because, yeah, she's starts having pains one morning. One morning she has, yeah, so they, they kind of, they do the thing, they get all the stuff, and they get the carriage or whatever, and they head out. But, but wait, foreshadowing

Collin  1:25:32

into how things are not going to go well, oh yeah, they have trouble getting the garage. Yeah, the elevator isn't working right. Elevator isn't working. The garage isn't working, like it's delay and getting there, like it's just this weird, like

Brandon  1:25:47

the hiccups are coming, yeah? So we get we get there, they get her in a gown, they get her in the room, right? The nurse goes in and, oh,

Collin  1:25:59

she gave her name is Catherine Henry, yes, yes,

Brandon  1:26:02

of course, obviously, he goes out in the hallway and sits away. It's why the nurse, like, checks on her and all this stuff, right? That was the other part about this whole process, too, of remembering childbirth in 1918

Collin  1:26:16

1918 What are social norms? What are expectations? That's the other part that I was trying to grapple with through this entire book, or through this entire chapter of like, okay, like, this is also weird. It's

1:26:28

gonna be weird. Yeah? It was

Collin  1:26:32

like, Where's the doctor? I asked the woman, oh, he's lying down sleeping. He'll be where here when he's needed. Like, yeah, wait a minute. It's

Brandon  1:26:39

fine, right? So basically, she's like, Oh, I'm fine. You know, the nurse is going to be here and blah, blah, you should go eat breakfast, right? I want to have this child without any foolishness, and go get some breakfast, darling, and then come back. I won't miss you. The nurse explained it

Collin  1:26:58

to me again. This isn't happening, right? She does it, yeah? Like, like, this isn't real, yeah? Like, she's still, like, No, you go away. I'll be fine. We'll get through this on the other side, and then everything will be back to normal. And what is interesting is, right before this point where she starts saying,

Brandon  1:27:19

leave. He said, just a little bit

Collin  1:27:22

before I went out of the hall. It was a bear hall with two windows and closed doors all down the corridor. It smelled of hospital. I sat on the chair, looked at the floor and prayed for Cath, and then come on in, and then we'll come here. Oh no, you leave right now. Go to these are always protracted. First labors are always protracted. Don't worry about it. Go get something to eat. And he is that, yeah, yeah, didn't come back. I won't miss you, yeah. Nurses, splendid to me. And then you have plenty of time. Goodbye, goodbye, right? And he leaves and goes to a cafe while his wife is starting at

1:27:56

labor, Yep,

Collin  1:27:59

yeah, but it's not a very good Cafe thing either. No wine in yesterday's brioche. Yeah,

Brandon  1:28:08

that's what I always wanted. Like, he probably doesn't mind that for breakfast, but I think I I'll pass that now.

Collin  1:28:16

What? What is the thing with the dog. I don't know it's weird like this. This was this. I We didn't even know other animals existed in this world, except for some horses, I think. And now, now, what do you a dog was nosing at the cans. What do you want? I asked, and looked at the can to see if there was anything I could pull out for him. There was nothing.

Brandon  1:28:43

COVID grounds, dust and some dead flowers. Yes, there isn't anything dog, I said, the dog crossed the street. I went to the stairs to the hospital, to the floor Katherine was on, and down the hall to her room. Like, what? Like? I don't know if this is like, again, this is a symbol of like, like emptiness and like not getting what you want because, like, the dog goes away unsatisfied, right? I don't know if this is an omen, right? I don't know if this is, like, the Black Dog thing, right? You know, like, meh, but like, yeah, it's very this is weird, right? Like, just is really weird. I, i

Collin  1:29:35

He doesn't speak too much in, like, in overtly heavy allegory. Usually, I'll say, Yeah, but I was trying to figure out, like, what, what is he pulling here, and why is this here? Because he writes in such an economical way that there's not usually waste for, not usually time for this kind of thing. Or. Him to now merely have a weird conversation with the dog.

Brandon  1:30:03

Yeah right. Like maybe the dog is just a distraction, yeah right. Like he wants to talk to anybody except the doctor and the nurse. Yeah right. He's

Collin  1:30:18

delaying. It could be him delaying going back to the hospital. Yeah, right, facing, facing. That could just be what

Brandon  1:30:26

it is too. Like he's just delaying going back. This is a diversion, right? Because he's eating breakfast. He's took a long time eating breakfast, and he's drank several wines and several wines now he's going back to the hospital. He doesn't want to face what's going on back there. And yeah, maybe this is just a distraction, another reason to not go back yet, right? To stop and talk to this dog. Yeah, yep.

Collin  1:30:59

Oh. And then again, he comes in. Yeah, there was no answer. I opened the door. The room was empty, except for Catherine's back on a chair and her dressing gown hanging on a hook in the wall. She's gone. She's not there when the hall found a nurse. Yeah,

Brandon  1:31:16

and now, sorry, go ahead. Oh no, that though you're good. I was just moving the mic closer. No, okay.

Collin  1:31:25

And now she's, she's in the labor room, yeah, and there's always a mask on the tube. And then, yeah, this was weird. Here, yeah, here. Bucha saying that was a big one. That was a very big one. And she starts getting fed the nitrous oxide, or whatever it is. I'm assuming

Brandon  1:31:45

that's what it is. She just has gas. But, like, I'm assuming it's, that's what it is, right? I'm pretty sure it's nitrous, yeah, yeah. I don't know what else it would be. I mean, it could be like, I mean, this is 1918 so it could just be, like, heroin, I don't know, but, like, chloroform could be chloroform, right? Who knows?

Collin  1:32:06

Well, because it does pass it does make or pass out later, right? Yeah, I think. And here, here again, here's this, oh, gosh, oh, I hate this. I hate this. So much I hate this. Here's this other imagery of the doctors, like, Hey, mind if I take a break and he lets Frederick take over the gas, yeah? And he's, oh, he's literally, like, he's, he's the one doing this to her, right? Yeah, and, and it's, it's this mutual self destruction, this mutual ruin that's taking place here. Like it's, this is bizarre, especially what this turns into later, but like, she's like, go, go eat lunch, right? I'll do you think I'll ever have this baby? Yeah? She asked, yes, of course. He will. I try as hard as I can. I push down, but it goes away. There it comes. Give

Brandon  1:32:55

it to me. And then he leaves for lunch at two. Yeah, so goes back out. It has some more. Again, this weird cafe. It's like, we don't have anything. Like, again, it's like, weird times too. I guess they're like, Oh,

1:33:15

we don't have anything. So we just eat, like, the leftover stuff the chef has. I sort of like walks around a little bit, right? He goes back blah, blah, and, yeah, it's,

1:33:35

it's weird. He

Brandon  1:33:36

goes back in there, and he just goes back right, trudges back upstairs, right? And he finds the doctor was by Catherine this time. The nurse was over in the other room, you know? And now it's, it's been going on for quite a long time, and this, this is where we start going. Oh, bad, right? This is, this is the not. This is not good, right? It's like, she's kind of freaking out now because this is taking so long, right? And she's talking about, like, oh, you know, I won't die, darling. And he's like, oh, yeah, of course not. Blah, blah, yeah, you'll be fine. So they examine her some more, and he goes out and this, like, this is the part that's, yeah, he now he's like, the reality of the situation is like, hitting him, and he is not prepared to deal with even more problems, right? Because

Collin  1:34:54

he's Yeah, yes, yeah. He's really just repetitive nature because he the. Doctor told him to go sit out and for a little bit, and that he's like, he probably wanted me away for a while. I looked at my watch. If he did not send for me in 10 minutes, I would go down anyway, or poor dear cat. And this was the price you paid, right? This was the end. This was the end of the trap. This was what people got for loving each other. Thank God for gas anyway. What must it have been like there before? An esthetic, and he's, this is a big spiral, that's what. Yeah, right. She's not, won't die. This, this, he plays back and forth where he says she, he starts like she won't die. She can't die, right? She probably, she can't. No, she can't, she can't, yeah, and that that's when he started flipping before she won't and she can't. You realize there's this.

Brandon  1:35:51

This is where that, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, this, yeah, it's, this is rough, right? It starts going real bad. He goes back to the doctor, and he's like, Alright, we gotta, we're gonna operate, right? We got two choices. We're gonna do this right, and we can do the C section, or the, what's he call it, the high forcep delivery. Sounds like, sounds real bad. That does sound awful. And he's like, What should we do? And he's like, oh yeah. He's like, Can we do that? And he was like, No, I would go the C section. He's like, what if we don't do anything? He's like, That's a bad idea. He's like, All right, go. He's like, so what do you think? He's like, I would advise the C section. If it were my wife, that's what I do. He's like, all right, boom, right. He's like, What about infection? He's like, not, not as great as the other one. He's like, okay, fair. Do it. So, you know, he makes a decision, um, he goes in the room to tell Catherine about this. And this is the Oh, other part. Now the gas isn't working.

Collin  1:37:10

Well, wait real quick before we get this in. He says, where I had left. He says, Wait a minute. Where is this? I was hungry. Cafe. Oh, sorry, no, Frank, but I had just, I just remembered that earlier part where he says he went back in to get her before all this. And he said I looked in the glass and saw myself looking like a fake doctor with a beard.

Brandon  1:37:31

Oh yeah, that's when he came back in. Yeah, sorry, sorry, I just, I just saw that. But yes, he it's not working at all now. Yeah. And then, you know, she's, you know, in a lot of pain, and he's trying to help her, and he likes

Collin  1:37:51

it up a little bit, right? I was afraid of the numbers above two, yes, but he's, but he did anyway, because she was she was telling him to Yeah, and she was in so much pain, so she came back from a long way away. Yeah, that was lovely, darling. Oh, you're so good to me. Yeah, right, you be brave, because I can't do that all the time. It might kill you. I'm not brave anymore, darling. I'm all broken. They've broken me. I know it,

Brandon  1:38:26

yeah, yep, and now they're just kind of needing to wait till the to the operation, yeah, this is the other part that's like, like it, I read it, and then I had to, like, Record scratch and read it again, because I realized what's happening is there, she's going to have her operation in an operating theater, yes. And other nurses are like, Oh, they're having a C section. Let's come watch. And they're like, run down there because they want to see it. And like, they're like, you can go in there. And he's like, no, no, I'm not watching, right? So it's like everybody is like, these other nurses are running along to go in there, and he's like, I'm gonna stay outside. I can't watch this, right? Which fair, but, like, that's a weird juxtaposition, where to him, this is like a super crazy, like, scary time. And they're like, excited about it, you know, like, Woohoo, let's go. And he's like, oh

Collin  1:39:34

yeah. And before Yeah, as they're rushing off, this is where she says, I don't want to die and leave you, but I get so tired of it and I feel I'm going to die. Nonsense. Everybody feels that. Sometimes I know I'm going to

Brandon  1:39:44

die. You won't, you can't. But what if I should? I won't let you give

Collin  1:39:50

it to me. Quick, give it to me. Now, get back to the gas, right? Yeah, I won't die. I won't. I won't let myself, of course, you won't. You'll stay with me, not to watch, right? But just to be there, sure, I'll be there all the time. Yeah,

1:40:02

and he stayed outside.

Collin  1:40:07

Yep. Wheel the stretcher walked, yeah, the other one laughed. We're just in time, aren't aren't we lucky to get this the juxtaposition of

1:40:24

the

Collin  1:40:28

same same story, right, or same event, but how differently impacted it is to those around it, right? These, these medical students are like, Oh, cool. C section, great. And yet, you we know, like, what this means for these two people? And like,

Brandon  1:40:48

what? Yeah, it's Yeah. And so the baby is out. But then, like, they kind of, you know, the doctor holds him up, and oh, then they kind of Yeah. He helps, yeah, right. And then he, like, takes him back, right? So he kind of holds him up, and he says, oh yeah. He weighs this much. And then he kind of runs off him right,

Collin  1:41:17

like, before this, he says, he said, Frederick says, I had no feeling for him. He did not seem to have anything to do with me. I felt no feeling of father. And the nurse is, like, Aren't you proud? Like, aren't you like, like, he's obviously acting weird because he's not being overjoyed over, you know, elated. And then he says, No, he nearly killed his mother,

Brandon  1:41:42

yeah, yeah. He said, Didn't you want a boy? No, no. I said, right, so she's not doing well. He goes,

1:42:00

right. He goes in there, and he's

Collin  1:42:03

watching them, them, sewing up the Yeah, the incision, right? But then

Brandon  1:42:07

he walks down and he goes, like, when they take him out, her back out, he goes to see her, right, yep. And she's like, Oh, hello, darling. And she's not looking great. And the right, this part, okay? She says, Hello, darling. She said her voice was very weak. Hello, you sweet. And her first question is, what sort of baby was it? What sort of baby was, which is a weird way to say that, right? And basically, without dragging this out just too much, he's like, Oh yeah, he's a boy. He's like, Is he all right? Yeah, he's fine. And the nurse, like, looks at it, like, yeah. She gives this weird look, and they talk a little bit, and she's like, she can't talk right now. She's got a rest. You should go get something to eat, right? So he's again, you gotta go do something to eat. And he leaves the room. And the nurse is like, Yo did they? Did nobody tell you? And he's like, What did? The baby's dead, Dad. Yeah. Like, dang. Like, right?

Collin  1:43:29

And she's like, Oh, I thought you knew. He says, like, No, I didn't. No, I didn't, yeah,

Brandon  1:43:36

yeah, that was it, right? That was why the doctor looked so tired. But why had they acted the way they did? The room with him? They supposed he was would come around and start breathing, probably like I had no religion, but I knew he ought to have been baptized. But what if he had never breathed at all? He hadn't. He had never been alive, except in Catherine. Yeah.

Collin  1:44:06

Yeah. So it, yeah, it, it was never again, where he was in, in processing this of there wasn't any baby, because there wasn't a baby for him to hold. Like it was all kind of just like, none of this was real. He was dead all along. Because I never, I never knew him. I didn't I

Brandon  1:44:26

It wasn't there. And he said I felt him kick there often enough, but I hadn't for a week. Yeah, maybe he'd been dead all along. Yeah, yep, right. And he said, then he's like, this is the game, right? That's what you do. You die, died. You did not know what it was about. You never had time to learn. They threw you in and told you the rules, and the first time they caught you off base, they killed you, right? Or they killed you gratuitously, like amo. You. Right? Or gave you a disease like Rinaldi, and so they killed you. In the end, you could count on that stay around and they would kill you. He's not doing well. And

Collin  1:45:12

again, who's like, like, this is this, is this view of what? Again, what is the world? Right? Yeah, world, yeah. He's just seen the machine of war, chewing up, spitting out if you it's not, it's a game of chance, right? The longer you play, the more likely you are just to get to die in wartime, and he's now going and in life too. The longer you're around, the more likely this stuff is going to happen. It's just, it's like, this is very, like, fatalistic viewpoint of us. And fine, yes, yes, everybody dies. Totally like, Sure, yep, we all know that. Like, it's the most deterministic thing in the world everybody. But like, here he is, like, exactly they that's what they want. And it's viewed again, this whole like, viewed as punishment and viewed as this thing, and how he brings in, like, at first, like, yeah, he's talking about life, but because he brings in Rinaldi and amo is like, Oh no, this is war. Like, this is what he's bringing in from here, in this perspective, yeah.

Brandon  1:46:19

So then he, you know, he goes in to check on Catherine, and the nurse basically shoots him back out again, uh, tells him to go get some supper, right? Which, again, is just sort of a way of telling you how long this day has been, right? Because they started, he goes in the morning, yeah, he goes back to the same dumb.

Collin  1:46:42

Oh, and here's where he starts. Well, he really starts to drink here, but, um, oh, yeah, that's right. Oh, sorry, no, before this, so I this, I did want to ask you about this too. Um, point of the ants in the fire.

Brandon  1:46:56

Oh, man, that part was weird. Yeah. So he does start talking about this, well, he's talking about like, he's struggling, again, with the concept of like, religion and God, right? Because he says he's talking about like, how, how, like, like, his conclusion is that it's not there, because, you know, otherwise, why would things like this happen? Because he even said, I, when he's talking about this, he threw a log on the fire, and the ants came out. And for a brief moment he decided, he thought, Oh, I could be the Messiah and lift the log from the fire and throw it where the ants could get to the ground and save them. But I did nothing

Collin  1:47:43

but throw a 10 cup of water on the log. Yeah? And then he said, I think the cup of water on the burning log only steamed the ants. Yeah. So saying the one, the little thing that I, I tried to do, the one thing that didn't even help in actually made it worse and worse, right? It was a more of a grueling, grueling death

Brandon  1:48:03

too. So, like, it's almost kind of also, like a nihilistic approach, of, like, what's the point of doing anything? Because doing anything, just like, it doesn't matter, right? Things are going to happen whether you do take an action or not, right? And your actions are so in the grand scheme of the universe, your actions are so insignificant that they can't change the course of anything, right? So

Collin  1:48:30

why bother? Why bother?

Brandon  1:48:32

Right? That's kind of where. That's kind of where he's ended up at this moment.

Collin  1:48:37

Yep, yep. And then this is where, with this in mind, he goes to eat dinner, they're all out of veal stew, but, of course, but it's

Brandon  1:48:47

so you can have some. Oh, this reminds me of the the, my, okay, my, my, the thing that my brain jumped to is very inappropriate for this particular time in the book. But I thought about that Monty Python skid, about, like, the spam at the diner. Oh, because they're like, you could have, uh, he's like, What can I have to eat? Uh, ham and eggs, or eggs of cheese. Yep, reminded me that Monty Python ski, which is like, what do you have? Is like, spam, spam and spam, spam, eggs and spam. What if I don't want spam? What about the eggs and spam? Oh no, that has got spam, hasn't it? Yes, that's what it reminds me. Anyway, yes, he goes back there.

1:49:40

He he just sits at this table for where it it's quite a long time, right? He's drinking a lot, and he's reading the back of the paper. That is the dude that's sitting across from the table,

1:49:55

yeah, when he

Collin  1:49:56

realized I was reading the back of his paper, he folded it up, yeah. Yeah. And I thought of asking the waiter for a paper, but I could not concentrate. It was hot in the cafe, in the

Brandon  1:50:06

air was bad, right? And there's, like, it's kind of busy, which is weird. It's so busy, even though, like, all the food is gone, like, I don't really know what's happening well,

Collin  1:50:15

like, Well, so here's no no. When they were up in the chalet, they had talked about, do we really want to go to busy towns? Do we really want to go be around a bunch of people? Oh, sure, yeah. Here's another thing. I don't think he's comfortable being in large groups of people. Yeah. And how this goes around, I think this was remote thing they talked about, oh, it won't be that busy. Or maybe we'll go to the less busy town somewhere. So he's, he's in a really busy feeling, like, surrounded, surrounded, on a cramped side. Yeah, crammed. It's hot, there's, it's been raining and it's kind of been snowing, like we're just having that now. It's hot, it's claustrophobic. Yeah, it's, it's and now there's people everywhere. He's panicking in this. This isn't, this is true like you. This is a thing where people come back for more. They have problems with crowds, yeah, being in crowded places. And now that's all he's talking about. Of this, the movement, the busyness, how things are going. And

Brandon  1:51:14

he doesn't have his one person to Yeah, be alone, yeah? So yeah. So yeah. He says, suddenly I knew I had to get back. I called the waiter, paid the reckoning, got my coat, put on my hat, and started to the door. I walked through the rain to the hospital, right? And so he meets the nurse. She says, I've been trying to call you. He's like, what? And she is hemorrhaging, right? He's bleeding. And she says it's very bad. It's very dangerous. And so now his downward spiral spirals more down,

Collin  1:51:55

and he says, so we've moved from the rain to now, he says, the nurse went into the room and shut the door. I sat outside in the hall. Everything has gone outside. It was gone inside of me. I did not think I could not I knew she was going to die, and I prayed that she would not. Don't let her die. Oh God, please don't let her die. I'll do anything

1:52:19

depleting right here.

Brandon  1:52:27

Yeah, then he goes in, and her response is, really, again, it's quite awkward. She says, I'm going to die. She said, I hate it, right? That's That was her response, that this is annoying.

Collin  1:52:46

Yep. And then she says, he says, I took her hand. Don't touch me. I like overhand. She smiled, poor darling, you touch me all you want. Yeah,

Brandon  1:52:56

yeah. She later. She says, again, she's like, I'm not afraid. I just hate it, you know? And so, yeah, that's well,

Collin  1:53:08

then he says they're saying you just stop talking. Do you talk too much? And then even now, he says, Do you want me to do anything yet I get can I get anything to you? Can This? This? If I just do one more thing, if I get Can I keep you happy? Can I do something for you? Right and, like, right now? Can I Do you need anything? Can I do? Can I help you? Can we get

1:53:31

through this? Like, yeah, no, no, yeah, yep. So it goes out for a little while

Collin  1:53:39

because the doctor's like, you must go get out, because she can't be talking, yeah, yes. And then she's, she's had one, yeah, hemorrhage after hemorrhage after hemorrhage. Yeah, time. And so she finally, she,

Brandon  1:53:53

like, falls unconscious, and then she was unconscious all the time, and it did not take her very long to die? Yeah? There we go. Right. Yep. The doctor is all, you know, apologetic, and he's really feeling bad. And he's like, can I take you back to your hotel? He's like, No, thank you. I'm gonna stay here. It's like, Are you sure? It's like, yeah. Are you sure? Yeah, I don't want to talk about

Collin  1:54:21

it, yeah, because, because the doctors is saying, well, the doc the operation, you know, probably, you know, he's trying to, he says, No, I don't, yeah,

Brandon  1:54:30

yeah. And, and then he goes back into the room, and this part was really kind of awkward, too, because, you know, he goes in and the nurse is like, you can't be here. He's like, Yes, I can't get out. Like there's no point you being here anymore, nurse, like it's over. It's done, right? But,

Collin  1:54:49

and he says, And he again. He keeps trying this next line is, once he's alone, he says, But after I got them out and shut the door and turned off the light. It wasn't any good. It was like saying goodbye to a statue.

Brandon  1:55:06

After a while, I went out, left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain. Yeah, yeah, yeah, dang

Collin  1:55:23

it wasn't any good, right? No, it wasn't any good. Nothing, nothing to be done, no way to make it better, or just there's, we ran out of things to do, and because there's Yeah, you

1:55:43

this is, you know, I don't know, like,

Collin  1:55:49

major takeaways from from this book at all, why I asked you this? Why? Why was this titled Farewell to Arms? Oh,

Brandon  1:56:02

it's from a poem. Oh, right, yeah. Got the name from a poem, like a 15th century poem too. It's very old. I read it, have you? Did you read it? Did you look at that? I did. I did. I was just curious. Like, why? Yeah. Yeah. So, so we have a, we have, like a double scenario here, right? Like, we have A Farewell to Arms in that he is leaving the war. He's trying to escape, right? He's escaping the arms of war, like munitions and things like that, in that sense, right? But in so doing, he loses the arms of his lover, right? We've lost those arms like her embrace, right? So he's lost everything, really, he's, he has nothing now. So he's, he's tried to escape from one thing and ended up losing the one thing he cares about,

1:57:17

right? So, yeah, that's what I think. I don't know if that's true or not, but

Collin  1:57:23

no, it makes it makes sense. Did we? Did we? I'll read the poem kind of in context here, and says, This was a George. Wait, was this George peel? Yeah, yeah. That was, yeah. He said, My golden locks, time half the silver turned. Oh. Time too swift or swiftness never ceasing. My youth gasped time and age hath ever spurned, but spurned in vain. Youth waneth By increasing beauty, strength. Youth are flowers, but fading scene, duty, faith, love are roots and evergreen. We see that actually in the story of the beauty, the youth, the you know, things throughout. I mean, it ends by saying, and when I saddest sits in homely cell, I'll teach my swains this Carol for a song, Blessed be the hearts that wish my sovereign well first be the souls that think her any wrong goddess. Vouchsafe this aged man his right to be your beads men. Now there was your

Brandon  1:58:21

night. Now that was your night, yes, yeah, giving it, giving it up, giving away,

Collin  1:58:29

yeah, I agree the Farewell to Arms being the farewell to literally everything in his because he had he knew, as far as we like, obviously, he was old enough to know not more, but it's oh that he had lived, but

Brandon  1:58:46

right in the last deck five years, like, that's all he had. So like, you know, wasn't like that was it. There was nothing else in his life for except for that, until her, and then he ended up losing her as well, you know. So, yeah, there you go. Like, yeah, yeah. Well,

Collin  1:59:12

look, keep looking forward to these winter reads, year after Oh yeah, you're gonna have to real Yeah. That's a real

Brandon  1:59:19

rough one, right? That was no, no,

Collin  1:59:24

yeah, yeah. It's hard to It did, yeah, yeah.

Brandon  1:59:29

So, yeah, it's a lot. So in order to parse this, I have decided I have, I have a challenge for myself for next week. You ready? Yeah, right, because we read this, because it's going to be on the or it's on the list, right with the list of my brain just went numb, but like,

Collin  1:59:54

it's it's late,

Brandon  1:59:55

it's late, people. So, yeah, it's fine. But the i. The copyright free list. Oh Yes, uh huh, right, yeah. Think fare you public domain. There we go. Words, is hard, did it is hard? Brandon into the public domain, right? So my question is, I was going to try to help answer. The question is, should somebody do something with this right? Should there be like, Should does this story deserve an adaptation of some sort, right, especially because there's already two movies, right? It was made in like, the 40s, or something, or the 50s, maybe. So my they're both free online to watch. So my homework for next week is, I'm going to attempt to watch them. It may not. We'll see. If I get it done this week, we'll see my homework is going to be I'm going to give you a review of the current farewell to harms offerings in movie, in cinema form, right, from 1932 and 1957 but yes, I understand when I say current, I mean the ones that you can find only two existing movies. Yeah, right. And does it deserve a remake? Right? Is this a story? I don't know if this is a story that needs more exposure, because it's like,

2:01:26

really, not happy, yeah, yep, but, but this is my homework, so I'm going to review these for you

Brandon  2:01:38

and our listeners. I'm going to attempt it. We'll see if we get done next week, but that's a lot of depressing movie to have to watch, but probably won't do it all in one go.

Collin  2:01:49

Yes, I look forward to hearing who Gonzo plays. That's all I need to say. Oh, my favorite. This

Brandon  2:01:54

is not just not for the Muppets, right? This is too good.

Collin  2:02:02

Well, I will, I will, I look forward to that, and whatever you make would look like and who you what your suggestions are. You do research, and I will, I will end us with a haiku.

2:02:15

All right, right now.

Collin  2:02:19

Hold winds, whisper, path. Frost melts into Earth's warm breath, spring stirs, waking, slow.

Brandon  2:02:29

Ah, that's the ending. We need a positive, uplifting ending to this, right? We need

2:02:36

good job. Thank way to bring it home. Better

Collin  2:02:38

things forward.

Speaker 2  2:02:39

Oh yeah, the spring is coming.

Collin  2:02:47

And on that and on that bombshell, oh yeah, better things. We will, we will. We will in there, and we will, as true, do this again next week. We better get

Brandon  2:02:55

one heck of a good summer book, because, oh my God, that's

Collin  2:03:00

exactly what I'm thinking as well. Need good summer book.

Brandon  2:03:06

So what you think you bids on this makes this makes ponies feelings feel just like happy, fun time, man, let me tell you, like I don't he was a well adjusted human being. Yeah, right. He really was. I'm sorry pony for anything bad I said about you. I did not compare you to spirit anyway.

Collin  2:03:25

Yes. Now we keep all right. Now we can put our eyes on our summer list and all right, we can find

2:03:30

right jovialness,

2:03:34

smiles and jokes and smiles.

Brandon  2:03:36

It's perhaps worth perhaps happy ending. Oh, baby, maybe we can hope, right. We'll see if we can track one down. All right, okay, very good.

Collin  2:03:47

Well, there we did it, we did it, we did it, great. And on that bomb show we'll end. All right, let's talk to you next

2:03:58

week. Bye. You