Small Towns Podcast
Small Towns Podcast
E36: Olympics – both Winter and School Yard?
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Welcome millions upon millions, perhaps billions, of faithful podcast listeners. We are your hosts, Jason Kimber and Dave Simmons. We'll bring you along with us as we share live stories from our experiences living in small towns, or in Jason's case, an unincorporated community. That's true. Along with genius suggestions for solving world problems and a whole lot less. This is the Small Towns Podcast. Good evening, uh folks. Jason Kimber here uh with, of course, always uh Dave Simmons. Enjoy being here. Thank you. Thank you. Like we would we say that it almost feels like I mean, like we're not guests of each other.
SPEAKER_00We should maybe do a pod where I'm your guest. And you can interview me. Yes, I could ask you anything. Anything. Nothing's off.
SPEAKER_02Well, there's some things off the table. Small towns podcast, buddy. Nothing's off the table.
SPEAKER_00I think some things should be off the table.
SPEAKER_02It's probably our audience would probably say, yeah, keep that off the table.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we don't care about that.
SPEAKER_02Um we're coming up on we I we don't really timestamp these too much, but but because of COVID, remember Summer Olympics was the 2020 Olympics actually just happened in the summer of 2021, right? Right. And so because of that, it feels very and we did a uh pod on that.
SPEAKER_00We talked about the Olympics, you bet. But we talked more about Summer Olympics, didn't we? We did, yeah, and and obviously coming right up. Right, like I think it is the opening ceremonies is like right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, I thought it was today.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, it's China, so it means it might be tomorrow. I don't even know. I think it was actually there today, there yesterday. I can't figure it out.
SPEAKER_02Sometimes I say today, or he says to me how more uh uh he says to me, I taught him this Mandarin. He'll say to me, Nihao Xiaopong, which means hi little fats.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it is. Well, I use it as a term of endearment. Nihao Xiaopong.
SPEAKER_02Our last one, not I don't know if it was our last one, but on in a recent podcast, or maybe it's one that's coming up, I have a hard time keeping these tracked, but I think you might have like outed my weight right on the pod.
SPEAKER_00I've done it a few times. Um listen, I'm not nobody carries 265 better than you.
SPEAKER_01It was 260 last time, that's 265.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_01Well, you've been here for a few minutes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I've just I've stopped uh I'm I'm really trying to cut back the sauce, meaning I'm not doing fully leaded coke anymore. Well, your life can't be as good. It's not. I saw this funny little bit. I'd rather be heavy than drink than drink diet. Because they say, Did you know if you replace one can of Coca-Cola every morning with a beautiful herbal tea, you will destroy every last bit of happiness that you had left in your life.
SPEAKER_00I agree. Because when you started that, did you see how far my eyes rolled through the back of my head? I I look, I don't drink a ton of soda pop anymore.
SPEAKER_02You don't. It's uh rough on your guts.
SPEAKER_00I'm soft.
SPEAKER_02There's no getting it. Delicate constitutional.
SPEAKER_00I'm soft. Nah. But I do enjoy it. We've talked about that a little bit, and I would rather be a little bit heavy. There was a time I went completely off it for probably six months to a year. Yeah, I did too. You didn't drop a pound. You didn't? No.
SPEAKER_02I dropped ten pounds. That tells me, you know what, do what you want to do. Well, I I actually switched to uh well, switch is a strong word because I still love my Coke, but um I tried an actual Pepsi Zero sugar the other day, which is none of that Pepsi. It wasn't too bad. I feel bad saying that. I feel like all of a sudden Coke and McDonald's is gonna like strip me of my um man card or something. Exactly. Or like I I'm not like their official spokesperson, but I feel like I could be.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you you're one of them. I could be. You know, at least for the Logan South McDonald's.
SPEAKER_02Were we talking about the Olympics? Winter Olympics. Yeah, let's go back to the Olympics.
SPEAKER_00Yes, let's go. Do you prefer winter or summer Olympics?
SPEAKER_02That is a hard question because I I love both of them. I love to watch, I love to watch Sean White like do snowboarding. I love watching downhill skiing. Um But if I have to pick, I'm probably gonna choose summer because I like more of the uh the sports, you know, more of the events.
SPEAKER_00I'm with you. I think I prefer summer. It feels to me like winter has more sports that I I shouldn't say they don't require a lot of skill.
SPEAKER_02But they seem a they seem a little weird. You mean like the one where you like like you're on cross-country skis and then here's a gun now, yeah, here's a gun something.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, yeah, okay, I know you're super tired right now. I want you to try to shoot this gun. You're gonna try to hit those targets and then go ski some more. It that it doesn't feel like why why are we bringing those two things together?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, how does that equate to like that's not a sport that you're gonna play like in real life?
SPEAKER_00No, I I'm sure there's a story back in the day in the Nordic countries, and we had to go out and shoot our reindeers to get the food, but we had to go out on skis, and somehow, let's make it a sport. Don't shoot the reindeers, that seems very caribou?
SPEAKER_02Maybe, maybe I I I don't know which one's more delicious. But we I when you were saying that, I had this vision in my head, like, and we had to get like Jason Lowe involved with this. Because like he's a hunter, like Barfus as well. Yeah, like Monson, all those guys. What if instead of like you've always been saying, like, if you're gonna go hunting and you're gonna harvest an animal, like you really need to like earn it, earn it, maybe like wrestle it to the ground. Yeah. What if we made them? I mean, we're not the boss of them, so we can't do this, but wouldn't it be cool if they did their hunting, at least the wintertime hunting, all on skis? Cross-country skis. That's it. Cross-country skis and and like uh like a rifle. Or a dagger.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you gotta chase it down.
SPEAKER_02And maybe in the summer, I mean, uh, it's probably not super realistic, but uh, I don't know, rollerblades?
SPEAKER_00I'm thinking if you're gonna be on skis and you gotta chase this thing down, it's probably gonna be easiest for you to get the high ground and then really start going down that hill as fast as you can.
SPEAKER_02Which let's just hone in though on Winter Olympics. Which event do you think you would like to participate in, and which event do you think you would crush? Maybe they're one and the same. Well, wouldn't anyone crush the skeleton or the louge? Well just throw the guy on there. And being the 260 that I'm at, you're gonna fly on that hill. But it would probably be best to tie me to the sled.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you're gonna go off. Yeah, I think there's gotta be, there's gotta be some skill to it. There's gotta be some leaning. I'm sure there is, but I don't know, but that seems and the skeleton where you're face forward.
SPEAKER_02But we're like, and you're like, your lip, your teeth are like a millimeter away from the ground.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I hope your teeth aren't sensitive to cold. Because you're gonna get some breeze in there. Yeah. You keep your I would I'd close my eyes. I'd probably close my eyes and my mouth. Yeah, well, you don't want to I'd wear a mouthpiece. I would too. You don't know when there's shards of ice. Ugh. Now listen, I go ahead. Sorry. Yeah, luge and skeleton, I think anyone can compete. You just gotta be crazy. Think about it. I think there's more sports in winter where you just gotta be flat out nuts. Well, fair enough. Like just strap me to this toboggan. Yeah. We're gonna get going as fast as we possibly can.
SPEAKER_02And lean into the corners because we may just dope everybody out. Or we're gonna launch off of this thing. And and you're going like 60 miles an hour? I think even faster than that. Probably. I had a very similar experience though. I mean, uh, let's call it similar to the bobsled. Now, you're not gonna believe this because how could this be similar to the bobsled? Because I was at uh Seven Peaks Water Resort down in Utah County in high school.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02In high school, Dave, I was not as big as I am now.
SPEAKER_00You look great.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. I felt great.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you look good.
SPEAKER_02I was weighing in at about 180, 190 senior year. Okay. That's strapping at 6'5. Thank you. I mean, 6'4. I don't you keep growing, growing. I was gonna say you keep growing me, but I don't really think that's like you. Yeah, well, you're you're bigger than 6'4, right? We're gonna stand up against the wall. I'm 6'4, you know, like uh didn't we say like I could poop in the back of a dub truck without sitting down. Um, so senior year, we had some sort of school function. I can't remember what it was. It might have been a seminary trip, I'm not sure. But yeah, it was because it was myself at 180, my good friend Tyler, who was about the same weight as me. And I actually was a sophomore. I'm sorry, I was a sophomore, he was a senior, and then we had our teacher, first name Norm.
SPEAKER_00Norm, the teacher.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and we were at uh Seven Peaks Water Resort down there in Utah County, and uh I think there was like a uh it was an all-enclosed water slide that was dark. I think it was called like laser's edge or something like that. And we got on a tube that could sit three people.
SPEAKER_00That seems like trouble.
SPEAKER_02So let's just and and Norm had Norm was probably about my size now, but let's just say 250. Okay. So let's just round up. We got 200 for me, 200 for Tyler, and 250 for Norm. Two, four, six. We're talking about six fifty. Six fifty, six bills, six and a half bills. I I think there's probably regulations and rules against that. And because I was the smallest and the youngest, they put me in the front. Okay. So we go down this tube, and everybody's like, just lean back, lean back. Well, we get first tiny little turn, and I'm like, oh, this isn't gonna end well because we're going so fast. Yeah. I mean, just sheer mass and weight going down this water slide that's completely enclosed, so thank goodness you couldn't be launched off the side. We get down to the second turn and we're going too fast, and sure enough, we went all the way up over, dumped us all out. So we are out of this of the of the tube. We're off of the tube. Okay. And the tube is somewhere, I'm assuming, behind us. I don't know. But I'm in front. Tyler's right behind me, Norm, caboose. Yeah. Now I know what's happening. I mean, we're gonna get out of this water slide at some point. And I got two grizzly bears behind me. So I'm like, I'm trying to even push forward because they're like, get out of the way! When you get to the water, get out of the way. Because I know what's happening. Yeah, it's coming. And so I hit the water and I'm just I'm just struggling. You know, you they spit you out of those tubes. Yeah, you lose your your bearing and whatnot. And sure enough, bam, back in my head, there's Tyler. You know, knocks me down. You're concussing. I try to get out of the way, bam, there's Norm. I didn't call him Norm, but I don't know him well enough to use his last name on the pod. Yeah. I'm sure he's, I mean, super nice guy, seminar teacher. Yeah. Um, and I just it kind of just kind of rings my bell a little bit. I still stumble around the live guard, she comes right. You okay? I'm like, yeah, I'm fine. But that's what I picture like the bobsled would be.
SPEAKER_00I can't get past the fact that you were there with your seminary class.
SPEAKER_02I think it was like uh seminary council, yeah, it was seminary council.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. My seminary never did anything like that.
SPEAKER_02No. Go raft every night, go Trojans.
SPEAKER_00They were just trying to get us to go to seminary, let alone to go extracurricular cemetery stuff.
SPEAKER_02Seminary stuff. I thought I was headed to the cemetery after I got hit in the back of the head by those two and two better guys you won't find. So I probably could do well in the bobsled.
SPEAKER_00They should do like a water slide in the Olympics.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. But first that'd be summer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, let's we could probably petition for something like that.
SPEAKER_02It would be the equivalent to the bobsled. But bobsledding.
SPEAKER_00But you're doing it on a water slide. And you grease up and you just down that thing.
SPEAKER_02Being from Utah, and obviously being only north of Salt Lake, about 50 miles, you're of course 2002. And there's hope that they're gonna host another Olympics. And I'd be a big fan of that. But have you ever went down to like uh Olympic Park in Park City and participated in anything?
SPEAKER_00No, I haven't I've just seen the venues and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but I haven't either. But I think you can even go, I think you can maybe even try Bob's lot. I don't I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I can't, yeah, you probably could, but I can't. I'm I bet they have like brakes on them or something. Yeah, I'm sure it's very different than somebody's guys basically holding your hand through it. I want to just go. No, I don't really want it. Like if I was 20, maybe. But right now, I I'd you break a hip at this age, you're done.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you break a hip at this age, it we might be like a horse. They might just put us in the back.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they probably and they probably should. But as far as the other sports in the winter Olympics, uh obviously ice skating is look, I can't even skate backwards. Those guys are doing the triple Uts and the triple sal cow and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that I couldn't really skate forward all that well. I mean I can, but not that well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, I'm you know I'll catch that toe pick and I'll launch. Toe pick. Uh yeah. That's from a movie, right? It is. It was called The Cutting Edge. Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Was it kind of a girly show?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't know. I don't remember it. I loved it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that I those guys are unbelievable. Now, curling. I pick they actually started it last night. That's basically cornhole, right, on the ice.
SPEAKER_02Kind of, but I think they've got these huge weights that they it's almost like shuffleboard on ice. Okay. Because they're pushing these weights, right? Yeah. And they're I to be honest with you, I don't even know the rules of it, but I know that there's the whole team, and it's kind of when there's it's kind of fun to watch because there's one guy, and they get so intense. So one guy's pushing it, and then he releases it, and then you get these other guys that got little brooms or something that are cleaning the ice.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I don't know what it's called. I don't know if it's scrubbers, scrubbers. Scrubbers, broomers, sweepers, sweepers. I bet it's sweepers. Sweepers seems right. Sounds good. Yeah. Do they act do they do more than two people on a team? I saw a call uh man and a woman last night.
SPEAKER_02Well, it feels like a is there like a we'll call them pusher. The launcher.
SPEAKER_00I love that we're making up the names of whatever these things are. If we've got curlers out there, please, and they're not in somebody's hair, they're actually more talking about like the sport. If we got curlers out there, we're gonna need you to chime in for us because we're gonna make up the names of so you got the pusher. We got the pusher slash launcher with the two sweepers up ahead. Yeah, you got scrubber sweepers up top, yeah, and they yell at each other. There's a lot of there's a lot of intensity in this. And they're I think they're yelling like scrub, don't scrub. Scrub ain't a guy who but what's that song? I don't want no scrub. I don't know. I don't want no scrub, scrub is a guy. Anyways, yeah, I'm talking about there's a song. Look it up. I'll look it up on your own time. Um yeah, so they yell at each other like scrub, scrub, scrub, don't scrub. Exactly. Scrub scrub scrub scrub scrub, don't scrub.
SPEAKER_02I don't know. I feel that's a mouthful. Yeah, well, they might have code words. They code words, yeah. Um but I love winter sports, and maybe that's what because I'd love to go skiing. So the downhill. Yes. That's you gotta have a little crazy in you, right? For sure you do, because these guys, I think, I mean, aren't they getting to 60, 70 miles an hour? We gotta look that up too.
SPEAKER_00But that for flying, they're flying, and then like when they just go over a minor little, like a little hill, they launch and it just keeps Well, that brings up the whole long jump thing, too. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02How would you land that?
SPEAKER_00You don't? Because you're No, I wouldn't. You don't.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no way. You're like, you're like uh my I'm sure my measurements are way up, but you're like 20 feet in the air. Maybe higher? Which one? Well, the downhill.
SPEAKER_00The downhill when they just are flying down through those gates. Yeah, I think that's another launching. Yeah, I think gates. But when they come around some corners and then there's a drop in elevation, yeah, they're launching. I don't know if they're up there 20 feet or not.
SPEAKER_02No, but I guess the hot doggers, though, that's a different type of you know, yeah, that's the long jump.
SPEAKER_00That is your helmet is wearing you at that point.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00I mean, that is you are up there.
SPEAKER_02Well, I uh agree.
SPEAKER_00Well, how about the guys doing the flips on the high jumps? Well, you mean like when they launch off the thing and they do a couple back flips, back scratches, or whatever they do? Yeah, well, so you got the bull, they've got the one where they lean forward over the tips of their skis. Ooh, I think that got pretty loud. Yeah. First of all, I can't lean like that.
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_00I mean, you gotta stretch. Yeah, because all of a sudden, like the skis are here and they're like parallel. Yeah, their nose is on the tip of the skis.
SPEAKER_02No, I don't want to get the channel.
SPEAKER_00I chip my tooth on that for sure. So, so you got those guys, and then you got the ones that are doing the backflip, just spinny spins, twisty twists. Yeah. And they land those things. And they land it. How do they land without snapping every leg and every bone on their legs? Well, I think they're doing calisthenics. Probably a lot of calisthenics. Because I I I would I would be i in a crippled in a wheelchair. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I as a kid I remember going tubing, you know, just going downhill. Um it was me, Curtis, Quentin. So it was me and my older brother Wade, and then Curtis and his little brother Quentin. We're tubing, and uh Yeah, I mean, we uh the snow was kind of crusty that day. Uh Curtis and I being the younger brothers, we came back. I mean, we had cuts and bruises, we were bleeding. It was intense. It was the most intense tubing activity I've ever been. I I can't imagine. I mean, that's my extent of you know Olympic activity.
SPEAKER_00Have you ever been ice blocking?
SPEAKER_02I never have, which is crazy because that's a thing at Utah States.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we did we did it as just high schoolers.
SPEAKER_02Walk us through because you manage it.
SPEAKER_00You go you go to a gas station or service station, you buy a block of ice. Yeah. So you know you can buy bags of ice where they're crushed and there's pieces, but you can also buy blocks of ice. And you take it and you do it in the summertime. Yeah. And you take it up on the on a hill and you sit on that block of ice. My question is this like, how am I gonna sit on one block of ice? Well, you it's you you get more than one, I guess. Okay. One for each cheek. And well, then you have a train of people. Now that's trouble too. That is trouble because you you you're not steering at all. No, it's an injury ready to happen. Because you fall off of those. Sometimes you start going down and then you slide off of them and you keep going down the hill just a little bit, but now those blocks of ice are behind you and coming at you. You got a 20-pound block of ice coming at your face. Just coming right at your face. It's dangerous. Yeah. I I would like to issue a warning to all those kids out there. Maybe don't go ice blocking. Be careful if you do, or maybe wear a helmet.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00We have turns soft face mask. We have turns soft. Wear a mouthpiece.
SPEAKER_02I remember growing up, uh, there is a sleigh riding hill in uh Grouse Creek, and it's right on the main road. It's actually called Poison Creek.
SPEAKER_00Doesn't sound like a safe place.
SPEAKER_02It doesn't sound safe. But it's awesome. So, uh, and the road would get you know packed with snow. Um, so it was perfect for those old-fashioned runner sleds, you know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, which don't get your finger caught under those. Well, you lose them. You lose you lose them. You're gonna cut those right off. You look like our friend Cray. Sorry, Cray. Sorry, Cray. Um, his middle finger is as short as everything else.
SPEAKER_02I think I was, yeah, which I wonder if that's how we lost it. We'll have to ask you. I don't know. I remember when I was probably 22 years old. Uh we had a fun tradition where after Christmas, typically right around it might have even been a lot of times on New Year's Day out there, we'd take all of our Christmas trees. We're real Christmas tree kind of people, have a big bonfire, roast a hot dog, have some hot chocolate and whatnot, and we'd go sleigh riding. And we'd this was my favorite place to go. If there was enough snow, we'd go there. Because you could you'd you'd of course hop up in the truck, drive to the top of the mountain, they'd kick you out, and then you could probably sleigh ride. Well, one time I made it around the bend, I went at least a mile. At least a mile. No way. Yeah, you were on a sled for a mile. Yes, without which was a little bit unusual because there's one big bend that I made, and then I had to really just kind of just really I mean I was like so aerodynamic, you know what I mean, to make it around the next bend, then I got another hill. I mean, so I mean I just went forever. My dad can't pick me up in the truck, it was awesome. That seems like the greatest way to sled. Yeah, it was, and it's uh that's rare. Usually you just go down the bottom, and you know, it's obviously not nowhere near the room. You set a record, didn't you? Yes, it's pretty much it's a long hill. Well, one time I thought it was a great idea. My cousin Cody, at the time. Cody's a grown man now, right? Yeah. But at the time, I want to say he was probably like 10.
SPEAKER_03Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he's yeah, he's 10 years younger than I am. So I was 22, and he's probably 9, 10, 11, 12, somewhere in there. And uh obviously the more weight you get on that sled, the quicker you're gonna go. I mean, I'm no I'm no scientist, I'm no physicist or whatever, but I I think that's just basic, right? I think so. I don't know. I don't know either. I don't know. But I said, Cody, let's do this. Let's go down double. Let's go down double. So I'm laying on this runner sled. Go and Dutch, double. Go double dutch. And um, Cody just lays right down on top of my my back, and we're just going. And we start going, and Dave, we start sailing fast. We start sailing fast. And Cody just kept whispering, he's like, We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die. And he wasn't wrong. We very well could have, because even our our center of gravity was a little higher because there was two of us on there, so we started fishtailing a little bit, and you can't pull out of that. No, you can't pull out of that, and I'm here to tell you we got maybe three-quarters down, and this is a hard, this is not fluffy powder snow on a tubing hill. This is hard, packed down road ice, yeah. And he gets thrown, I'm thrown, we're rolling down. I mean, it was if that happened to me today, I don't I don't think I'd walk away from it. Just leave me here. But that I should have like got a gold medal for that because it was impressive, and we made it halfway down.
SPEAKER_00When when Maya was a baby, so our first child, and uh when I say baby, she was probably two. Okay, um, we decided we were gonna go sleigh riding. And we took the thunder tube. Do you remember those thunder tubes? Yes, that wasn't not the so not a black old school tube, it was a yellow one. Yeah, it had handles on it. And um, so we just went up here behind by by the church. You were talking, just yeah, it's a good sized hill for all of our listeners who don't know what it is. And I she's I'm gonna have her sit on my lap.
SPEAKER_01Perfect.
SPEAKER_00What could go wrong? I know, but I I went too high. I mean, I should have gone maybe halfway up the hill, and I'm like, no, we'll be fine. I I well I actually thought I could put my Feet down and kind of control us and slow us down if I did. I needed to. No, I couldn't. We were flying down this hill. And I'm trying to act all brave and like I thought I got a two, three-year-old on my lap, and I'm like, yeah, this is so fun. And in my head, I'm like, oh, we are gonna die. And I see Susie, who's halfway down the hill, realize she must have seen the whites in my eyes. Yeah, and you're like, you're out of it. It's a tube, you can't you can't steer this. No. So we are flying down this hill, and I see Susie halfway down the hill, like start running out like she's gonna stop us. Oh no, no, no, no, no. Yeah. And I'm like, you're you're coming. If we hit you, you're going out. You'll you'll just be, well. Well, we made it. We made it down the hill, but I was in my head, I feel like we took Susie out. But maybe it's because I thought she's gonna get taken out. I have to ask her if we actually took out her book. Let's say we took her out. Took her legs right out from under her. We got all the way down to the hill, and I just like, yay, wasn't that fun? And I'm like, we are not doing that.
SPEAKER_02And I bet Maya was probably like, I'll just all smiles, like, yay, daddy, great, great dad. I I remember growing up, uh, that was one of my favorite things to do as a kid was to go slate riding, and we had a hill right behind our house. Not a big hill, but just a small one, and my dad had actually cleared the brush with his D4 cat, so it made a nice little slate ride hill. And um I don't remember if it was maybe I was I had grown out of my snowsuit, I don't know, but I went out with just my coat, my gloves, and my Levi's, my jeans. Okay. And so I remember we went out there, we were just all day long, all day long. I remember walking into our back door, and right through a back door we had a wood burning stove, and it was so warm, and then all of a sudden my fingers started to tingle because they were so freezing, they're so cold, and you know, my mom's like, okay, just take all your wet clothes off, you know, let them hang them up by the stove. But I couldn't, I couldn't even do my my zipper, my pants, or something. I was like, mom, mom, I was just crying. But that you that's that's when you know, like, that's something magic about childhood that like you like now. I'm so soft, like I'd be one of them, okay, I'm dumb cold, let's go in.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was actually just going into basketball practice and I had coached a little sixth grade team, and one of our kids was coming in with his t-shirt and shorts, and it's cold right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it is like it's well, now it's 14 degrees and it's up from what it was earlier.
SPEAKER_00I am bundled as best I can be. But I do remember as a kid being the same way. I'm like, well, it's cold. But I would wear shorts to school in the middle of the winter.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't get that. No, but we weren't as smart. No, we weren't, and it's a battle that we fight with our kids. Um Olympics, I I'm all over the board, but um I wanted to ask you one more question about the Olympics. I feel like it's kind of left me.
SPEAKER_00But will you watch it?
SPEAKER_02I mean, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I I anytime you're competing countries against countries, I'll watch that. The Olympics, the World Cup, any of that stuff, I think it's a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_02And when you see, I I mentioned him earlier, but like Sean White is so awesome. Like snowboarding, I believe, is relatively new to the Olympics.
SPEAKER_00I feel like he's been doing it for a long time.
SPEAKER_02I mean, when you say relatively 20 years, 20 years, yeah. Yeah, I think it's probably around there. Um, but I see him go down that half pipe, and and I've never even seen a half pipe in person that's as big as those, but like it's like straight up, and then they just they just fly. They just fly, and somehow they land right exactly where they need to. I I don't even know how that happens. I mean, I remember my second time skiing, and I love to ski. The girls and I, and Heather occasionally all goes, Well, we love to ski. Um I think it was my second time skiing. I was trying to get on a lift, and uh, maybe I've told the story before, but it was me and my cousin Lindsay, and she was quite a bit like I was in high school and she's quite a bit younger than me. I just tripped, slipped up, knocked her down right before the lift came to pick us up.
SPEAKER_00I mean, so you were getting on, not getting on.
SPEAKER_02I mean, there was hordes of people, and nothing but my pride was so embarrassing. So embarrassing. Whoops a daisy. Whoops a daisy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I I I enjoy skiing. We I we skied all growing up too. When you live where we live, it you got to do it. That's what you do. Now I don't go nearly as much, mostly because on our Saturdays they're consumed with basketball and stuff like that. But I don't know, I'm getting softer too. It just it's such a production. I mean, you try to get up there at a time where you're getting the most bang for your buck because it's not cheap. No, you gotta get your you gotta get your skis, get all that stuff, and it's cold and it's cold, and it is an ordeal. I don't ever remember my f ever feeling like my feet are warm in when I skied. Like my feet were always just little icebergs, which means I probably didn't have very good boots.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I was gonna say I had I always felt that way until recently. I I purchased a new pair of boots, maybe two, three years ago now. But because of that, I thought I'm gonna just see if I just buy a good quality pair, and I don't have that problem because because you're right, nothing is more miserable than if you're freezing cold up there, but um I do love to ski.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it you gotta have the right gear, and it's plenty of time in the lodge with some nachos. Hey, I know it's not uh Tom speaking about um ice skating Olympic event, nacho eating in the lodge. Yeah, I can I'll I'll participate. Have you ever roller skated?
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, I love growing up. I oh my god. Where would you roller skate out in Grouse Creek? Oh, you don't even have paved roads. Two places, brother. Two places. One, because my mom was an angel sent from above. We lived, obviously double white trailer, galley style kitchen, linolean floors. She would let us go. You'd skate the trailer. We'd skate the trailer. We'd start right in the dining room area, which is the north end of the trailer, all the way down through the kitchen, and then of course, in the hallway you'd hit the shag carpet, which slow you right down. Oh yeah. But you don't I remember turning down, like I talked about the wood-burning stove there and the and the washer and dryer right there. I mean, and and picture this in your mind's eye. I've got blue roller skates with the yellow stripes. I got some shorty shorts. Knee high socks. Knee-high socks. Yes, thank you, with the kind of match the uh the stripes on the on the uh the skate. Uh those cool looking uh 1980s. Yeah, the tube socks and the well yeah, and then the shorts that go with them, and then just a t-shirt, and then if I was really too I'd probably have a headband on it or something, you know, makes up sweating. So you're just sweating to the oldies. Sweating the old, but then we'd also skate up at the school, up on the gym. It wasn't a wood floor, it was just like a cement floor, it was like a concrete concrete type thing. And then, but in the basement of the old church was wood, and we'd we'd skate in there. So I grew up roller skating.
SPEAKER_03You I grew up roller skating. That's true.
SPEAKER_00First time I've ever grew up roller skating. I basically grew up on skate. I was bored with the skate on my foot. Did you ever have the ones that like latch to your regular shoes?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like at the church, they had a whole box of them. It was like a huge old wooden crate. I mean, I imagine if I were to see a pair of those today, which I'd love to see. I mean, I don't even know how the wheels would turn.
SPEAKER_00No, I mean you gotta lube those things. Yeah. WD40. But yeah, you can see one of your shoes. I could see you skate in the trailer. Oh, yeah. And then there's a girl's choice. Mom, you gonna pick me? Do you remember girls' choice?
SPEAKER_02Well, you've never so you've never been to a roller rink. No, I've also, I mean, in town, like Burnley Adaho had a roller rink, and I remember going to the roller rink here in Logan.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I all of our Logan listeners, they definitely remember the Logan. Not my kids' generation. No. In fact, I think I'm probably the last we're la would be the last generation because it closed right around. I did it, was it even open when we were teenagers?
SPEAKER_02No, it was open when we were in college. I remember going. Oh, was it? Yeah. But but just but briefly, like it wasn't a long time, but I remember having a few college events.
SPEAKER_00I had a birthday party there. Oh, you did? Yeah, it was cool. Until David Webb stole my thunder and broke his arm. Oh, he broke his arm blood on the roller rink. Comprom like it's a big thing. I remember blood. I remember Dave. And he's off. Web, shame on you. And I'm like, hey, it's my party. Don't cry if I want to. Yeah, we I I I in my head I remember the ambulance coming. Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_02You're just like, well, I hope that they did because you're like, great, can you just take Dave and did you clean that up?
SPEAKER_00I got the duck to shoot on this thing, and we got another girl's choice coming up. You've got the duck to shoot. It's easier to shoot the duck on a roller skate than it is on an ice skate.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, for sure. I don't think I could. I mean, I don't know. I told you that's how I got the merit badge. I know, and you uh this is we're going to do that. We're gonna have to go back and review all of our pods because you did this with us one.
SPEAKER_00I think it was a skill award. Well, I don't even know if it was a merit badge.
SPEAKER_02But we're gonna, when we start filming this, I want a uh shot of you shooting a duck.
SPEAKER_00I can't get down there, I have to sit up against a wall then.
SPEAKER_02No, that's fine, that's all we need to do. We you know, when you when you reach a certain age, and I obviously need to get to the gym more than I am now. And how often is that? Uh right now not so often because the gym shut down, dang it. Oh, really? Yeah, super fun. That's a shame. I'm hoping maybe I'll start something back out. But I you heard this, you hear the phrase all the time. Oh, it's okay if you need to modify. If you need to modify. Meaning, you can't do that workout. Yeah. So for instance, I'll like pull-up.
SPEAKER_01I can't I can't do that.
SPEAKER_02Could you do one pull-up? No, I don't think I could. In fact, I know I can't, because then they modify it with those big rubber bands, put my knee in it. Could you do a pull-up? I think I could do a pull-up.
SPEAKER_00Not a lot of them. I can maybe I can maybe do one. I'm just being real, real honest. Have you ever I'll tell you what I couldn't do right now, monkey bars. You know, oh yeah. At the at the playgrounds when you would go and we would swing from one to like the third one, and then to the other one. Yes. My my shoulder, my arm would come right out of the socket. Yeah, for sure it would. Right now. And then if you were to slip and fall, then you're for sure breaking a hip. Yeah. Now I I can't imagine my shoulder being okay with monkey bars.
SPEAKER_02As we as we speak, it's so funny you should say monkey bars because I was going through some old pictures. We've tried to put more things on the gram, and we're going to.
SPEAKER_00You're doing good with that. I have yet to help you.
SPEAKER_02Well, we're gonna get some more pictures up there, and I actually am uh gonna populate our Facebook page too, because I think a lot of our listeners may be uh on Facebook as well. But I was going through some old pictures, and there's a there was a huge now when you say monkey bars, I know what you're talking about, but there was also we had this at the school. Uh it was actually at the Park Valley School, like a yeah. A jungle gym. A jungle gym, yeah, and it looked, but it was square.
unknownOh.
SPEAKER_02And it was like it was it looked it was like wide at the bottom, and then went in and then up, kind of like a like a pyramid up, but square. I'll the picture will be perfect. I think I am like maybe four years old, and I'm just at the top of it. My brother's over there, Lisa's over there, just hanging off it. My mom must be taking a picture, but I'm like, that's why as a parent I'm for sure soft. Because I think if my kids were that little, I'd be oh get down, you're gonna get hurt.
SPEAKER_00Well, we used to do things on the on the swings at elementary school. You'd get cooking. I mean, we're going high. Yes, and then you'd launch, you would you would put your hands the other way so you could go through and you would jump off it. Yeah, because it's a novice mistake to get caught up in the rope and chain with your arm. Well, I think you you build up to that. And another at the Providence Elementary, there used to be, and they closed it off, which was a good move on their part, but you go up the slide, the stairs on the slide, and then at the top you could go down the slide, or on the back side of it was a fireman's pole.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yes.
SPEAKER_00And you could just slide right down that thing. Well, the pole obviously has to be hooked onto something, and so it goes up kind of to a T and then comes down and attaches. I remember girls would latch their legs up there and then hang upside down. So they would be, I mean, if they if they dropped, but it's snapping their neck. You know what else? Playgrounds are a dangerous place.
SPEAKER_02You know what else on the when's the last time you've been on a merry-go-round? Well, uh, a long time because I don't, I mean, I think they're they've been abolished from every as they should have been. Well, I should they Well, first of all, that's a lot of puke. That you know that was happening. But until you crack your head a time or two on those bars as you're going around, the centrifugal force is.
SPEAKER_00So what I'm telling you, we used to get that thing cooking, man. Oh, yeah. So you'd get a kid with a knee on the end or on in it, and then the other leg off, and he's pushing, he's kicking. Yeah. And then you have a kid holding on to the bar, and literally, is it centrifugal force? I think so, yeah. Your legs would fly out. I mean, you're holding on, and you're literally all your worst. Yes, and your legs are like Superman out because of the centrifugal force. You let you lose your handle on that, you launch.
SPEAKER_02You launch. I I realize, and and this is where um I talk a big game. We should have those today. Our kids would be stronger and better for it. Would they be cast? Perhaps.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Well, we've all lost some brain cells over the years. I mean, we didn't wear helmets or ride bikes. No, no, no. Even skiing, never once wore it wore it. No, probably should have.
SPEAKER_02Of course we should have, and I do now. But you do? I don't know. Because my girls do, I feel like you're you should. I should, I should.
SPEAKER_00You should. And I do. Because I told you, I think even on the pod a while back, last time I went skiing, I was I got cocky. I mean, I felt good about myself. Yeah. And it had been a long time. I caught an edge and I launched and I got upside down. Yes, I hit yard sale. The kids happened to be above me in the chair lift. But I I remember thinking as I was upside down, well, you're not wearing a helmet, and you're an idiot.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this I wish I would have thought this through a little better.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and that so that kind of cut my day short. I'm like, yeah, I'm good. I got mouths to feed, and I can't be dying, first of all. And secondly, being in a wheelchair. And third, even having a blown knee. I can't. It's not gonna work.
SPEAKER_02It's not gonna work, it's not worth it to me. No. And so we're just a little bit more cautious, but um as I sit here thinking, some of these activities they they should make an Olympics of old-time playground equipment.
SPEAKER_00The merry-go-round. Who can get this thing going as fast as you can in a certain amount of time, and you have to hold your puke. Yeah. And you gotta you gotta wait for say five minutes. If you puke, you automatically deq. Yeah. And you have to eat school lunch first. If you can eat the UFO, which is a piece of bologna with the the little mashed potato thing on top of it, and then do it. Then do the barrow go round. Because we all did. Oh yeah. School lunch. Your mom was a lunch teacher. Yeah, she was a lunch lady, the only thing.
SPEAKER_02Did she take pride in what she fed you? And she actually she'll be the first to tell you that uh, at least in the first part of her career there, she she had to meet nutritional guidelines, but she could really make whatever she wanted. Uh that may be a stretch, but it was all homemade and it was delicious. So it's not like school lunch today. It's really unfortunate because, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I don't know. I I shouldn't say I don't know really what's going on at school lunch now because I'm not in there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Actually, I've gone a couple of times because you have those like parents go to time or two. I'll hit McDonald's afterwards.
SPEAKER_02I I yeah, me too.
SPEAKER_00There's some I mean, I'm not seeing what I want there. I'm not getting to order what I want. No, school lunch was great growing up. I was Providence Elementary had the best rolls. I they I think they put a little pad of butter in there before, and they were warm. And then when we'd pick them up, they were so good. My mom would make rolls from scratch, you know. Well, yeah, you guys were living.
SPEAKER_02So good.
SPEAKER_00You were living. We had some but we had some some interesting things though, too. That that moon that I they called them UFOs. It was a piece of baloney. Oh, really? With it was a piece of baloney with a little glop of mashed potatoes so it looked like a little UFO. See, we didn't have stuff like that. We just had like good things.
SPEAKER_02We had good things. I remember like I remember talking about chicken fat steak, which was delicious.
SPEAKER_00I remember Chili Day because you'd get a little cinnamon or a cinnamon twist with it. That was good stuff. Once in a while they'd do breakfast. Yeah, a little breakfast for lunch, which I'm a big fan of. I would love to chat with some of my old Providence Elementary schoolmates, because we also had to certain classes had to be in charge of serving the food.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah. That was actually a odd, like it would just be one kid, but you'd get to go and have a.
SPEAKER_00You didn't have to have a food handler's permit.
SPEAKER_02I'm sorry, I've I've I've got my permit here, right here.
SPEAKER_00And then the worst job, but yet some kids always wanted to do it was they called it scraping.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00Which they would hand you the the tray and you had to scrape the whatever they didn't eat into the garbage can. Oh, we scraped our own. Oh, we we had a scrapers. Oh, really? There were two people in the window and you handed them your tray and they scraped. Oh, no, see, that's horrible. Yeah, especially when you're dealing with chili or the applesauce, which I know you love your applesauce because you're 100 years old back. Yeah. With no teeth. No, I yeah, that was nobody wanted to scrape, but then some people like would volunteer to scrape and I realize that uh this is completely off topic, but but the scraping was a nice segue.
SPEAKER_02Like, we had just a like a big bowl on the counter at school, and you just scrape into the bowl, right? Oh sick. So you see it. Yeah, but like it was yeah, for sure. I mean, obviously, lunch was served and done, and then when you're done with your plate, you scrape whatever you want, and then put your tray in the sink. Um, but my mom being the cook, she would take the scraps home and give them to my dog.
SPEAKER_00That is so funny you say that. Yeah. Because when Susie and I first well, when we were dating, we dated all through high school, and I remember going over to her house and they had what I called the famous dog dish, which I thought was so gross. They would get done with dinner, and everybody, instead of scraping their plate, they would scrape it into the dog dish and feed it to the dog.
SPEAKER_02I don't ever remember buying a bag of dog food when I was young. Ever. Cinders just ate what what we ate, which apparently is frowned upon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, she was fine. Well, she lived outside and vomited all day. I guarantee that dog was puking. No. My dog eats only dog food right now, and he still pukes. I think he's got a little bit of my constitution.
SPEAKER_02Well delicate.
SPEAKER_00Maybe I should slip him a probiotic once in a while.
SPEAKER_02Max, our dog's on a probiotic right now. I was worried sick about it in the first part of the week. Those exist? They do. They do. I thought I was being funny. No, that's a real thing. No, listen. And my mom and dad, oh, they're probably rolling over right now that I like, yeah, I have a probiotic for my dog. And I also have to wrap him up a little pill uh night and morning for the next seven days to help, you know, kind of grease the shoot, kind of get that out. He was miserable.
SPEAKER_01Did you nurse enough you too?
SPEAKER_02Just a kiddies.
SPEAKER_00That's funny. Well, I don't know how to end this part. I don't either, but watch the Olympic. Let's watch the Olympics, though. Thanks again, folks, for listening to another episode of the Small Towns Podcast. We're pretty sure we've changed your life for the better. If not, well, we'll try again next time.