SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome millions upon millions, perhaps billions, of faithful podcast listeners. We are your hosts, Jason Kimber and Dave Steven. We'll bring you along with us as we share life stories from our experiences living in small towns, or in Jason's case, an unincorporated community.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Along with genius suggestions for solving world problems and a whole lot of laughs. This is the Small Towns Podcast. Good evening, folks. Welcome. It's back. We're back at it, Dave. Another podcast. Here we go.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Let's do another one.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

It feels fresh, it feels new, and I'm excited to be here. Um it's funny. I think it was the very last podcast we talked about. Let's just jump in. Let's just jump on. How else are we gonna do it? Let's just go. I'm not sticking my big toe in. I'm jumping in cannonball. Here we go. Nostalgia. I'm talking about nostalgia. I think I actually think it was the very last podcast we did. We talked with Cray, if you'll remember. And with that one, we talked a lot about. Remember, I mentioned that I purchased a I went to Canvas and I purchased a tote goat.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

A tote goat from a guy named David Simmons. Yeah, right? Yeah, it's the craziest thing. And he knew Cray.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

And he knew Cray.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

I don't even. The world was just so small for that moment.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

And worlds were colliding, and it felt right, and it just all the stars aligned for me to buy this tote goat. I I do think it's probably um worthwhile. A tote goat is a motorcycle.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Now there may be something It's adorable. It's totes adorable. In totes adorable. Now we may have some of our listeners who actually have real motorcycles, and they may take umbrage with the fact that I'm putting tote goat into the same camp as a motorbike.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

And you're a big man on a little motorcycle.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Yes, thank you. And I know that we have teased this a lot, but I promise you soon we're gonna get a picture on the gram.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

We took a bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

We did a little photo shoot.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

It was just imagine in your mind's eye, Harry and Lloyd on the same type of a tote goat. It was Jason and I on a tote goat.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

And we were heading to the Rockies and it was cold. That's so funny. But I the reason I have been searching for a tote goat for a long time. Of course, when I say searching, I'd been looking on KSL classifieds. And I learned a lot about uh these toe goats from my new friend David Simmons in uh Canvas.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Is he the nicest David Simmons you've ever met?

SPEAKER_01 2:25

He was nice, but not the nicest.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Oh, okay. I mean I you know what I know I've met a nicer David Simmons. Are you are you kidding me? Yeah, great guy.

unknown 2:32

Great guy.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Best one I've ever met.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

This was a super nice David Simmons, and he knew everything there was to know about toe goats. In fact, he told me, I did not know this, Tote Goat is actually a company that they were based out of Provo, Utah.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Really?

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Yeah. And uh they only um they only manufactured toe goats from my I think like the late 60s into early 70s. So the one I got is a 71.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Was it some sort of scandal? Like the Delion situation?

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Could you imagine? Think how much different the movie Back to the Future would be if you had to travel on a tote goat.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

I don't think you're getting that thing up to 88.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

I hope you could time travel at 25, because that's that's that's the max. But my uh my dad, when I was gosh, 11, 12, maybe even 10, 11 years old, he came home from work one night and he had a tote goat on the back of his work truck. Beautiful, it was orange. It's got the fat tires. You there's a similar type of motorbike you can buy like at Cal Ranch and some of these stores. Kind of a Coleman.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Yeah, I've seen them.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

You've seen them, kind of fat tires. Not you're not gonna break any sound barrier or any speed records on these things, but they're super fun. Um, and my dad brought that home to me, and that was my very first motorbike. Um, again, max speed about 25 miles an hour, but that sucker would climb anything up in front of it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Was that the same motorbike that you accidentally flipped over in front of the bus?

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Good memory, not a chance. Okay. That this machine did not have that kind of power. That was my second motorbike, it's Suzuki 80. I dumped the clutch on that, dumped it on top, the whole bus is laughing. You guys remember that one.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Yeah, go back in the pause, you'll find that's a funny story.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

But this one, the Togo doesn't even have a clutch. It's it's got it's basically a frame with a lawnmower engine that runs it, and it's it's like a I think you call it a static transmission. Now, my mechanics are.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

I like to look at you and go, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

I don't think it's static transmission.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Is it four stroke? 30 weight ball bears, it's a gauze mat with that thing. It's a three-in-one oil. I think it's a pizza bath.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Those things that they're always getting stuck.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Don't tell me my business, boy.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

See, again, all these references, you gotta refer you gotta review the uh movie show at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

That's a fletch reference right there for all of our fletch fans.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

But I I'm gonna tell you, I love that toe coat. Um no clutch, 25 miles an hour. It kind of similar uh like a snowmobile. Again, no clutch, you just give the gas and it goes. In fact, in order to start it, it's a pull start. You gotta start it, and uh and you actually actually have to have the um back tire lifted off the ground because once it starts, that tire is just slowly kind of rolling. So it's it's a lot of fun. But but it means it got me really thinking about nostalgia. So, as you know, I brought that sucker home, drove out to campus, paid a little more for this one than I did my first one. I think my dad paid fifty dollars.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Uh, you know, this would have been in the 80s. Um I paid a little more. Oh man, I tell you, and I wish I had that original one back in Norse Action.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

That's flesh lives.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

This was an original orange and just breathtaking. Just breathtaking. So, you know, I I was thrilled. I brought that sucker home. I've I've tooled around the neighborhood on it. That sucker is louder than loud, and without fail, if you ride up for five minutes, you smell like a gas tank. Yeah, I mean, it's just got quite a stanch to it.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Old snowblower.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

But I but you know me, Dave, you know me well enough to know that I am a sucker for nostalgia.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

You are. You've been known to buy some things that you're like, what are you gonna do with that?

SPEAKER_01 6:13

I know. I have a storage unit. I feel like that's almost like one step from being a hoarder. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

But you know, you're not quite there. You're just the whore. You're not the hoarder.

unknown 6:23

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Can you say that a little bit? I don't know if you can't. I mean, just said it, and I'm not gonna edit it. But that's who I am.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

But you're not quite to a hoarder.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

I'm not a hoarder.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Yes, just happen.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

If we were those two purple monsters on Sesame Street, no. Um I don't and listen, I've got uh I I wrote a few notes here because I have got a whole slew of things that I've purchased over the years or saved over the years because I I mean I I'm not gonna apologize for it. These these things help spark memories. Now I know it's not about things, buddy. No, it's not about things. Um, but sometimes these memories kind of shoot us back to our childhood or different times of our lives. It doesn't have to be our childhood, and so there's a lot of things that can we be nostalgic.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

They bring up feelings.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

It's it's deeper than it's it's feelings. It is like when Griff asked me if I was in my feels, yeah. That's I guess another thing that the kids are saying that I he I was picking him up, I had to go get him, and I'm listening to music as I do, probably some air supply. Oh and I've been known to sing it really, really loud. Yeah, but when he got in, he looked at me and he's like, Dad, are you in your feels right now? I don't know, maybe I am.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Am I? I don't know. I like that phrase though. I mean, so uh can you translate that for maybe some of our older listeners that are our age?

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Are you like feeling all sentimental right now? Are you feeling something deep down?

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Kind of like it got you in the tenders.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Yeah, just in the right in the tenders. Are you in your feels right now?

SPEAKER_01 7:56

Well, I tell you what, there are a few things, and much to my sweet wife's chagrin, there's a lot of things that just gets me in the feels.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Are you gonna jump into one or do you want me to bring one up that I know you got into?

SPEAKER_01 8:07

Oh, please. Recently. Please.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Well, I guess within the last year. You got an old school Coke machine outside your home right now. Has that thing even working yet?

SPEAKER_01 8:17

No, not yet, but it's it's it's so close. It's so close. I can tell you what I can do. I can put a bottle of coke in there, and I can chill it for about 15 minutes, and then fuse pop. So I don't know what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Well, if anybody's listening to this pod right now knows how to fix it. What year do you figure that thing was?

SPEAKER_01 8:34

It's actually, I think it's a 1979.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

I mean, it is pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

It is, it you it's the kind you put the coins in, you open the door, once you put the coins in, you turn the knob. I gotta fix that too, because I can't get that mechanic mechanics mechanism to release, and then the remember the bottle just kind of rolls out and you just reach out and grab it.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

I'd like, not that I want to drink a tab or an RC cola, but I feel like those are the ones that should be in a 1970s coke machine.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

I think we'll have some tabs, some squirt, some squirt, maybe some orange crush. Oh yeah. Yeah, purple.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Purple stuff, purple stuff, sunny bees, maybe. Let it go, Mr. K.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Such a great commercial. Yeah, I bought that thing. Again, that was a KSL classified find. No, no, no, no, no, no. Sorry, I gotta backtrack a little bit because we were talking about it just a few moments ago with some of with my wife, my sister-in-law, and my and my niece Olivia. I bought that on an online auction out of Pocatello, Idaho.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

I remember because it was getting heated, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 9:34

It was getting heated, but I I nailed that sucker for $225. Do you feel like you got a good deal? Uh I guess keep in mind, it doesn't work. It doesn't work, and I have I have just dumped grindles of money into it since then. Since then? Still doesn't work.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Oh, poor Heather. She's shaking her head going, I sure love you.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

I love well see, uh, so it was last summer that I picked that up. And uh Jenny was here, again, my sister-in-law and uh Livia was here, and I said, Hey, let's the four of us, uh Heather and those two, let's hey take a little day trip. I gotta I bought this Coke machine, we gotta go pick it up. I got today to pick it up, that's it. Had a great, you know, we bought enough treats and snacks to last. I mean, we could have driven across country for what we bought. Um and I said, I said, plus, I'm gonna need a little help loading this thing. And they're like, okay, for sure. I'm like, it's just a coke machine. How heavy can it be? Oh wow. Oh my goodness, Dave, we got up there.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

It's like made by straight lead and steel.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Yeah, it's like 2,000 pounds. Really? Well, no, I don't think so. That's a that's a stretch, because I can wiggle it, but it's it is like it's heavy. It's heavy.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

I bet it's so could the four of you take care of it?

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Not a chance. Not a chance. But the guys up at the auction yard weren't expecting us to. They had a forklift, and it took a forklift.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

How'd you get it out of the truck?

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Well, that's where it got interesting. So I got here at the house, had some ramps out of the truck, and then I did get four of our strongest neighbors. Thanks for calling. Who helped me with that? It was it was myself, Mark. Yeah, Mark Williams, he came over. Josh, my next door neighbor, he came over. I think maybe Jeff.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Hang on. Josh is a teen, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

He's doing he's strong though. He's got a full beard. He does? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Okay. So he's super strong.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Yeah. We got a dolly and some ramps. I can't believe I didn't rip the tilt get off my truck. But we unloaded it. Uh, Livy and I, we power washed the whole thing. You might remember from one of my other uh other episodes, Medical Maladies, I had a molehole on my foot. Yeah. Did you remember that? The name molehole. It was awful. They removed a mole. I mean, I swear, like, it was scraping from the bottom and almost tickled the top of my foot for crying out loud. I'm like, geez, Doc, I think you got enough. I just had that surgery, so I was out there cleaning it. Anyways, my shoe filled full of blood. That's another story. I s I've spent, and then I hired a guy. Um, I I kept getting his name mixed up. I won't say his name because I don't want to disparage his business, but he traveled up here from the Salt Lake Valley like four times. And it was a pretty penny, and it's still the day it still doesn't work. But I've got some leads. I got some leads, so we'll be having some drink. But I do love that. I mean, it reminds me of going down to the corner store. Grass would call it the co-op.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

And there was always I remember out and at the co-op when I was really young, there was a freezer out uh in in one of the outbuildings in the co-op where do you remember where you'd actually slide the top? It was like a chest freezer, but you'd slide the glass top up. Yep. Reach down.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Take out your they would also put um ice creams and stuff in something else. So big stick. You know, stuff for a big stick, stuff you wanted to keep cold. Yeah, anything you'd like to keep cold. Yeah, anything would be fun. Yeah, but so I mean, those foods, you said the big stick, is that like a popsicle, but it was pretty tall and it had different colors in there. One of my favorites down at the ballpark. Down at the province ballpark in the summers, those burgers, oh I can smell them right now. And then the big stick, and if you caught a foul ball and you took it in and brought it back, they'd give you a piece of gum. It looked like a baseball. Really? Yeah. So kids are chasing foul balls like crazy. It's a smart idea. It's not costing them much, but they get those foul balls back. Back. Get them back in the game. And you get a free you get a free gumball.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

That's smart. This has nothing to do with it, but it just reminded me of this concept. You remember the Tootsie Pop? I mean, you still get them, the suckers, Tootsie Pop. How many lakes did you make to get to the city? Exactly. With the owl. Oh, one? Two. Oh, three. It's about best appersonation of an owl. Perfect. But now don't laugh at me if you've never heard of this, because I know some people have. You remember you would open up the Tootsie Pop and you'd fold out the paper, and if you had on that wrapper an Indian shooting and arrow, the word on the street was you'd get a free Tootsie Pop.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Well, we were always looking for them, but then once we found them, we didn't ever do anything with it. I just think like, hey, I got an Indian shooting and arrow. Take it to the cashier, you're like, hey, what have I got? So? Good for you. Do you have another 10 cents?

SPEAKER_01 13:57

I I wonder if that was actually a real thing, but I don't think it was. Somebody needs to do some research on that. For sure. Nostalgia. Um, there's a phrase, I think it's a would you call it an idiom, or would you call it like a Chinese proverb? A fool and his money are soon parted.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Oh, I like it.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Yeah, that's me.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

That's you, in a nutshell.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Exactly. I mean, yeah, it's you actually, uh, when you were calling a game the other night, you I appreciate you're not using my name, although I'll disparage myself now. You said, hey, yeah, we got a guy, we got a friend who he he manages money, and he always says, Hey, I'm not great with numbers, but can I manage your money?

SPEAKER_00 14:30

That's so funny that you say that. Because you are you're just fine with numbers. Thank you, yes, thank you. But you say, I'm not good at numbers, but can I manage money? That's that's never that's always funny.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

But when it comes to nostalgia, those get thrown right out the window because eBay is one of my best friends as well.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Really? Yeah, do you have a bit of a problem?

SPEAKER_01 14:47

I kind of. Um, I've had this, and I can only describe it as a pure treasure. But all growing up, I can still see it in my mind's eye. My granny, Granny Kimber, my dad's mom, in their kitchen windowsill sat a what would we call now a vintage, it had to be in the from the 50s, ceramic glass cow cookie jar. Okay? So it was kind of a Jersey cow, so a brown cow. Got these horns going right about top of its head, and then you would lift the lid off the top, what would be the the the cow's back, and the handle was a cat that was sitting on the back of this cow, and that was the handle, and then you'd open up and there'd be cookies in there.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

That's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

It's a lot to unpack, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 15:38

The cat on the back of the cow.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Of the cow, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

And the cat is the handle.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

The cat is the handle, so you'd actually grab the cat. I'm gonna put a I promise I'm gonna put, because I bought one, spoiler alert.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Yeah, so out in Grass Creek, are there a lot of cats on the back of cows?

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Well, listen, uh if they need to go any considerable distance, yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

I can't be bothered to walk that far. Exactly. I'm just gonna get a little messy here.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

I mean, if you look at like if you take the ratio between the length of a cat's legs and that of a cow's legs, that cow's gonna get substantial. Yeah, and they're gonna get a lot further. Yeah. Cat's probably faster though.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Well, I don't know how you the cat says, hey, I'm looking to go to the co-op. Can I hit your eye? Can I hit your eye? Hey, what a coincidence. I'm going there too. Need some milk.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

I've seen pictures in Natural Geographic where you got birds riding on top of like alligators.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

I don't know if it's alligators, but it could be uh rhinos. Those little birds that clean off the rhinos.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yeah, they're kind of eating a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Similar thing going on with the cats and the cows out grass.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Yeah, they're just a little but being on the back of that cow, they're a long ways away from the milk, if you know what I mean. So I don't know how that's working. But my granny and grandpa, they always had that on the windowsill. Spoiler alert, it wasn't full of cookies, it was always full of just change.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

So one of our cookie. But one of our favorite things to do growing up, um, we always played cards as a family. Small wages, never pennies.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

You can't.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

You put pennies on the table, we're gonna kick you out.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Okay, so you were high rollers.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

We're high rollers, nickels dime's quarters.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Okay, both the silver.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

So you'd always uh do that, but I I I wanted it. I have no idea. I I think maybe one of my cousins ended up with it, but I wanted that. So I spent a long time, I'm gonna say maybe a couple year quest of searching eBay, but what do you search for? It's like vintage ceramic glass cow top with cat on top, licking, and the cat's kind of licking like it's chops. There's a lot of details on this cat. I'm gonna I'm gonna show it in the picture. Yeah, we're gonna need to see this. Um, that I mean also, how do you search description, you know, to help satiate a young boy's nostalgic fantasy? You Google that out. You probably shouldn't. Probably should Google that, but I found one, Dave. Where'd you find that? Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Really? Yes. I think so, yeah. Jesus and cow things. Cookie jars. Cookie jars? I mean, that's like like gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Like it was like basically silver.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

And why they brought it in.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

But I found it, and I I did get into a bit of a bidding war. I don't know with who.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

But you paid too much for this?

SPEAKER_01 18:17

I well, too much is a relative term.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

It's in the eye of the beholder.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

I didn't tell my wife how much I paid for that until I had it for about a year.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

And then did she say let's take it back or sell it again?

SPEAKER_01 18:27

No, no, no, no, because she's sweet that way. But shipping alone, because I said you've got to make sure you packed it up all nice and tight because that's tender to me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

I think I probably uh you want to re reveal that right now on this pod?

SPEAKER_01 18:39

I'm just gonna say substantial. Substantial. But substantial for what it was.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Okay, but if you were to turn around and resell that thing.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Well, first of all, shut your mouth, that's never opening.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

But if you did, could you get more than what you paid, or did you pay more than you should have?

SPEAKER_01 18:55

For sure. No, I could get more than I paid. Particularly in this day and age where vintage is the latest rage.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Well, it's just the word. People love to say vintage. They do. I mean, to me, I'm now 45.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

You're vintage.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Yeah. I mean, I'm worth a lot.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

You are, you are worth a lot. You put a cat on your shoulder, that's no check.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Sell that in no time.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Um, but I did buy that, and it that cow um is sitting right now in my kitchen on my counter behind my sink on the window. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Well, I'm gonna look at it before I leave. Please, I wouldn't. We should be looking at your cow before I leave.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

And we'll take a picture and then we'll put on the gram.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

Okay, put it on the gram.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

I love that. Um, you do you I mean, I I realize in this thing, we are dear friends, but in this thing, I feel like we're distance. Like, I'm a sentimental sap. But what about like does music anything take you back? Uh food smells?

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Yeah, uh, but but not things so much. It takes me back to uh places in time, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

So when I smell when I smell peppers being like cooked on the stove or roasted, that takes me back to the cobblestone streets of Plov Bulgaria. I mean, I I can feel it, I can smell it, it's it's just right there. That's one of my favorite smells. I love that. It's a that's one of my favorite things. Um during the holidays too, the different foods and smells, they they I think I'm big on smells for the better and the worse.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

I hope you don't get COVID, buddy.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Well, I already did. Oh it was a rough run.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

But I'm back. You're back, your sniffer's good.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Your sniffer's good as anybody. Yeah. Well, I hope it's as good as it was before. But sometimes it's not, you don't want to have a good sniffer.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Yeah, oh.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

But then there's times you smell some applesauce cookies cooking. Yeah. Oh, or baking, I guess I should say.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Baby, what about like what about when our good friend, well, we had Cray on the podcast, but of course his better have Jenny. Yeah. What about like fall? Like it's coming up. It's fall right now.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Oh, when they make salsa, make salsa, sit down, the deck, and they and they have the salsa out on the deck on the outdoor cooking. Yeah. And you can smell that thing. Oh, that is.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

And you're sitting there, we got a big old bunch of chips, maybe a little bit of cheese.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Those that those are awesome. Um, but things not so much.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

See, and I this that's why you're in all the ways, you're a much better person than I am. No, I don't think about the things.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

I think it means I'm a cold-hearted snake. Just like a Paul and a dual thought. I I just those those are things I just I'll I'll throw things right away.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Um, you know, I there actually is one other thing that I I didn't have to purchase this, and I gotta give a shout-out to my sister because she well, I think it was my sister, Lisa, and then also my cousin Lacey. Um, at the time, my sister lives in Yost, Utah, and so her kids go to Raptor High School, Go Trojans, my Alamada, Malta Idaho. And at the time, my cousin Lacey was uh I think an English teacher there. And they were doing some remodeling and adding on to my whole high school, and so they were redoing the auditorium. Now, I'm gonna drop a name here that that you're not gonna know this name, but it's the Idris Sears Auditorium. She was just a phenomenal dramatic.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

First name? It's her first name. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Yeah. And I met her once. She's just a delightful woman, and so that auditorium is named in her honor. Of course, when I went to Raftor High, my my drama coach, drama teacher, she was also the English teacher, Mary Alice Telford. Okay. Just just a dear, dear lady in my dove, and she's one of my heroes. I love her dearly. Um, and I some of my you know going to a small high school, you know, I played football. P.S. That's horrible. Sorry, coach. I mean, I was not coached, but I you know, small schools get this opportunity, so I played I played football. Uh I like to say I ran track, but I didn't run anything. I threw a shot in a discus. Okay. You know what I mean? But I spent a lot of time on that stage. I mean, I loved the theater. Did you? I'm a little bit of a theatrical thespian.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Yes, you are. I've seen it live in first.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

So when they redid that, um, my sister, my cousin, they got me four auditorium seats from that auditorium. Oh, from the old auditorium. So they're down in the storage unit. Heather's like, what are you gonna do with those? I'm like, well, just you wait. I'm gonna build a frame around them, then they're gonna be nice, and we can sit in them. She's like, Where are we gonna sit? I'm like, right there in the front room. She's like, No, probably won't do that.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

And have you built that? No, but how long have you had them?

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Uh just like coming up on four or five years now.

unknown 23:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

But it's check back with you in 20. Check back with me. They'll have I help my girls, you know, when they're cleaning up my stuff, when that day comes, you know. Uh maybe they'll do something nice with them.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

You know, as you say things like this, I guess there's a few things. Like when my grandpa Stratford loosely passed, okay, um, I somehow inherited a snowblower. And it has his name on it.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Oh, that's nice.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

And he wrote it, and there was a gas can that came with it, and he wrote his name on it. That I would have a hard time getting rid of. And I haven't used that in years. That's another one of those things. If you use it, you're gonna smell like the tote goat.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Yeah. So that those are things I I'd have a really hard time getting rid of. But yeah, what what am I supposed to do with them now?

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Uh you know, I don't know, but uh you're you're preaching to the choir here because I'm gonna tell you absolutely make sure it's in a prominent spot in your garage. You know, it's not.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

It's in the shed, it's in the corner. Uh nobody would even know the difference on any of that. But yeah, that's what that's one that would be hard to give away. To all our listeners out there, maybe take a minute to think of those things in your life that what what is nostalgic to mean? Yeah. What what what would I never throw away, even though there's no reason not to, besides what you it besides what you're feeling in your feels.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

It would see in your feels like now there'd be some maybe some of you out there, my cousin Leslie, she'll be one of those. I've referenced a lot of family in this country. Well, it's nostalgia, that's what we're talking about. Absolutely. But um when my grandparents both passed on my mom's side, um, I wasn't there, so uh when uh my mom and her siblings got together and just kind of going through the the stuff in the house. And as I understand it, my cousin Leslie was there. And if I'm getting this story wrong, then most assuredly they both fact check this later. Okay. But um Leslie's mom aunt surely she's just a dove. Again, one of my favorites. She's like, well, Leslie, would you would you like any of these things, you know? And uh now Leslie did take a few things, but she is uh if I were to put if I were to paint her in a corner, she is a minimalist. So her her counter is just there's nothing on it, it's just clean, crisp, clean, and I love her for it. So it's just I feel like you would identify, you know, you just nice and tidy. There's no ceramic glass cows on her uh uh counter, nor are there on yours. Um and she's like, no, I don't want that. And uh I think Shirley kind of maybe hurt her feelings a little bit. She's like, well, you know, when I when I die, like you're gonna want any of my stuff? And she's like, No, mom, I have a huge garrot though.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

I'm with Shirley. The daughter.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

And then she says, she's like, and you know what, Mom? All those things that you've crocheted and knitted and tatted over the years, those doilies, I'm gonna have a big bowl right out front by the gate that says free, take one. I'm like, that's just brutal. Yeah, she's just being funny, but I just laugh so hard about that. But you know, I love the things, but but quite frankly, and I've been doing a lot of scanning pictures, like I'm I'm really about the reason I'm nostalgic is because the memories that are tied to it.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

But but that for me, like when I see one of those plastic bats, do you remember the big the they were fat? The fat Robert bats red, yeah, absolutely. Like wiffle ball? Yeah, but not as skinny as wiffle ball, and they were the fat ones. Yeah, I know you're gonna find it. In fact, I think uh our buddy Nick was talking about hitting apples with those.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

And drilling his brother right in the face, I think.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

He hit a rock with those things.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

I think it was the apple that's a good thing. And they were hitting rocks with metal bats, anyway.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

Anyways, um, when I see one of those bats, the grandpa strat had one of those in his shed. Really? So my cousin Kirk and I used to always we called him the big red strat. Yes. Grandpa had that bat in the shed. So whenever I see one of those, I think about playing baseball, well, like wiffle ball or whatever you want to call it in grandpa's backyard.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

See, those are.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

But I don't go out and buy one because of that.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Yes, that's the difference between you.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

Yes. You gotta have it to because you love it. I can just see it whenever, and it reminds me of it.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

And have the memory. And me, I'm all of a sudden I'm making notes where I'm like, okay, look on KSL Classifieds, look on Craigslist, look on eBay for it. Try to find whatever. A couple years ago, sorry, this would probably be our last. I mean, I'm waxing nostalgia. Nostalgic nostalgic. And this is not this isn't necessarily nostalgic because we didn't have these growing up, but I have made some significant investments the last couple of years in in some Christmas decorations. Okay, now let is it an investment? Well, it would be if I ever were to part with it. Okay. Because listen, do there's value. There is value. Um, those uh aluminum Christmas trees.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Yes, I first of all I had never even heard of such a thing until you about three years ago said, I'm gonna buy this uh aluminum Christmas tree. Yeah, like you can make that out of a bunch of tin cans. I don't I don't think you can, but after I saw yours, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

I mean it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

It's I'm gonna put up this year and I'll take a picture of it.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

Okay, but I mean it's not a Christmas tree.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

No, no, I mean I still have a real Christmas tree. Because uh what is this, the Charlie Brown special? No, I'm not. And I've got other traditions that happen with Christmas trees that we maybe could get into on another day, but uh uh we might we might want to record a Christmas podcast and drop it before right before the week.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

Right in the week of Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Oh we talk about Bethling.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

You'll get in your fields so fast.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Yeah, buddy, I'm in my fields right now.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Well, listen, let's uh I'd like to have a pod where you weep. Wouldn't that be fun? Where you're just weeping. I could weep, but you know what?

SPEAKER_01 28:52

I'm kind of surprised that Craig didn't weep at his pod. Oh, he's a weeper. He is he's the president of the weepers club in our neighborhood.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Yes, he is. There's a handful of guys that are in this really prestigious club, and I've tried very hard not to get to be a part of it. No. But you know what? The older I get, the closer to the surface they are.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Yeah, because when you're out there, I mean, I'm maybe I'll try to get you to weep right now. You're you're out there, you're seeing your boy. I'm so proud of you. You remind me of me. Stratz out there. I mean, he has had this has been this is your oldest son. Yeah. He's had some great football games this season. I mean, all of your kids are very talented, so I'm not just you know. But like, when he like I heard he had a catch at the game last Wednesday that was just phenomenal, like a 70-yard pass.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

Yeah, it was great.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Got called back.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

Yeah, then you look back and somebody holds like there's a holding call and the whole thing got pulled back.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

But when you see that, let's let's scratch the the callback. You see your son, you you the fruit of your loins. He is my fruit. But he reaches that that that bomb is just coming, 70-yard pass. He reaches up one-handed. Now I'm I don't know, I wasn't that you know, pulls it in. Like that's there's gotta be some feels there.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

It's interesting because in game, and it probably helps that I'm I got headphones on and I'm calling the game as it happens. Yeah, there have been a couple of times where it got beyond broadcaster calling uh, you know, just the game. You know, interestingly enough, one of the days where he was they they kind of switch up captains sometimes, and he was out there with three of his closest friends who have they've grown up doing this together, and they were all walking out to midfield as captains, that got me a little bit. Yeah, which was interesting. Yeah, the one of his one of his first couple touchdowns playing varsity um a couple years ago, yeah, a little bit, but now it's it's all part of the game. Yeah, and I'm sure looking back on it, and we have a lot of cool video and everything from that, there will be some of that later, but now it's the little things like the whole captain thing and senior night when they introduce him and stuff like that. That kind of stuff is probably even more for the parents than it is for than it is for the kids.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Oh, I uh for sure it is, right? Because they're like, come on, guys, we don't want to be out here. But mom and dad are just beaming with pride.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

There's a picture of me hugging him on senior night.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Love it.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

And I I looked at it and he it's more my face than his because he's facing the other way, and I'm like, oh man, don't say that your dad doesn't love you. Because look at my face right now.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

You're just like, it gets you to tender so much. I was in the in my fields. You were feeling you were in my hands.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

I was in my fields at that moment.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

I'm gonna use that phrase. Um, not right then. Dang it. But I'm it doesn't take much. I would really like it. Ah, well, I think we'll probably get that sooner than later.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

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.