The Mick & Pat Show - New Boots and Holiday Cheer

0:03 Well, well, well, pat, oh, damn what. My caribou. He's whipped out a caribou on the table. Dude, I love this knife so much I actually, if you pull it right out of your pocket, it's just open it auto-ejects. Yep, I have that problem myself. Auto-eject I don't think you do. I think you have three kids, hey. It happens. Anyways, I've been having dreams since I got my dog. Almost every night I dream that I have to kill another dog. Like I'm having the dream I'm walking my dog, uh-huh, and some dog comes at us out of the darkness and latches onto my dog and I just immediately go for this and I'm just stabbing that dog and I don't know like.

0:57 What's that say about? Like, when something comes into your life and all of a sudden you just love it a lot and it totally changes your whole psychology and how you view like and like what you're worried about. Because, like my other, before I got this dog dude, my stress dreams were teeth falling out. That was my stress dream. And that one that happens a lot of people, that one that happens a lot of people. I think that, uh, when you I'm sure that someone educated has something to say about this, but what I'm gonna say about it is that you know just what you're thinking about. The things that are on your mind is what comes up in your dreams, and the end, like because you you're also you're putting in a lot of time and effort on this, but you know, in on this blending of the family, on this bringing in a ruffian off the street that needs a little extra love, yeah, she's a good girl, though, for sure, for sure.

1:56 She just is a big wussy when it comes to the stairs, mm-hmm. And before we get too far going, I guess we should just welcome our listeners to season three of the mickey pat show officially. Yeah, this, this is officially episode one of season three. Guess how many episodes we have out right now? You should, probably. You should know this. How many episodes are in our playlist without looking it up? I mean, I don't 150 no, is that over that's? Over. That's more. Yeah, but we're like because sometimes we're for a while back back that we were running two a week. We did a little bit, we did some two a week for a while, you know. So have we had our hundredth yet?

2:38 Oh yeah, all right. So so we're in between one, so 125, we want 125. Then I'm splitting the difference. I think we're at 113 after, after two years, which is you know more than two, that's more than one episode a week. Yeah, so technically we come out ahead, we come out staying on on track with our, our schedule. That's weird, man. It's crazy to think. For like the last two years we've pretty much had four episodes a month of us just talking to each other, blast it out into the internet. It's a lot just for, like the world to like listen to. We've done quite a few of these. It's been a lot of time doing, you know, some talking.

3:23 For sure it's been a. I think what we're shorting some of our people, though, is certainly uh, and to no fault of your own, but maybe me would be brews and reviews content. Brews and reviews content. People out there don't know what movies to watch, what tv shows are worth their lost, they're lost they're just. They're just drinking Coors Banquet because they're afraid to buy a bad beer. Yep and the like I will say we are failing people because there's just so much out there and it's all crap. There's so much bad stuff out there I gotta get to work on, you know, like bad movies, just stuff that's not worth your time.

4:07 You know, oh yeah, and so the I don't know. I guess that's part of it. It's hard to. I don't know Like everybody I talk to will be like this new show, but they're all saying like different shows, there's a lot of stuff out there. Do you see that episode of seinfeld last week? I was like, oh yeah, of course you know. Did you watch seinfeld serioli? Like not, as it came out, because I was. I was gonna say you were young, but I do know, like like my dad and his friends they were primate because, like it was just, that was free tv. That was like what you got the only thing was on right and you didn't need cable for sure but just the sheer amount of stuff that's just pumping out.

4:51 Yeah, I'm just like I have trouble keeping up with it all um well, I just want to say, man, I've enjoyed doing it with you. Me too. And I enjoy now that we are in the final stretch in home runs, because we joked in season one early on that we would get our wives to become best friends and hang out and just do stuff. And now every time we do the podcast, our wives are hanging out at your place doing stuff like a craft night tonight that's true, and we've even at times changed the schedule of the show to accommodate to our wife's friendship yeah so there you go, it's, pretty crazy.

5:35 It's pretty crazy. So what's what's the next uh thing? we need to uh, you know, speak into the future uh, I think the next thing that we need is here's my next goal now for the podcast it's a big one. Alright, that we get invited to like a panel thing. Okay, like someone has us come to a beer con or something, we sit in like panel Panel judge or whatever. And I hope it's something that for some reason goes wildly viral that we don't know anything about, but it just gets out of control. Like you know, we're just it. Just I just said something.

6:16 It got a little crazy. People heard it and now we're now we found ourselves, like you know, doing something like they you know, it sounds like you know. Like you know, it sounds like you know. Like we get. We get invited to review. Like to like a Singapore beer Kong. Exactly, exactly, and we're like, like you mispronounce the way you say, like hello, and like what is Singapore's language? Is it Thai? I don't know. You should look it up. It's like it's a it's an iteration of like Vietnamese. It's an iteration of Vietnamese which is an iteration of Chinese, I'm pretty sure. You might have just made a lot of people. I know this, I know that. Vietnamese uses the same characters as the Chinese alphabet.

7:00 Malay, malaysia, singapore, malay. Thai. Okay, come on, guys, there we go. You pronounced the wrong thing wrong. You pretty much just tell them all to go bend over. That's why it's or like they all think, that you are Like the Beer man, the pinnacle expert of it, and you're standing there. And you get up for the speech and you're just like Tastes, like pine, cum write it down hey, I think a lot of people have found themselves in that situation where, like not, and maybe not that drastically the expert, exactly, yeah, we're 100, just faking it till they make it.

7:42 You know how they end up here. They don't know. But bro, dude. I had just finished my data science program and I was just, I just knew how LinkedIn worked. I was just like, even today, right now, like I got, I'm a special LinkedIn account. Like you don't get to request me to be a connection, you get to follow me. Oh, wow, like, so, like I, I monetized the linkedin like networking because I was like I need a job and this is a great way to do it. Um and uh, I was getting invitations to speak at like online press things in like 2021 at like because of covid and all that.

8:23 Oh wow like talk to our, like our students talk to our, like you know, computer science, data science students, and I was like all right, nice, and like I was sick I meant to. I was on a program where people were like mentor, like give your time, and mentor like, uh, like people of color who want to get into data science. I was like sweet. So I was like mentoring some people in Africa for a while. I love it. Yeah, it was cool, I like it. It'd be kind of like I was totally like I mean, I knew what I was talking about but I had no like history or credentials to support it. It's like the movie Big it was Tom Hanks.

9:08 He's just like yeah, but now he's like finds himself in the c-suite. Yeah, he's in the c-suite, like presenting and like, dude, that's a great. And then the rubber beats the road and it's like you're standing there like what a great movie that would never be made today. Yeah, like because she totally has sex with him and then she finds out later he was just a kid in a man's body. Yep, and like that was that one never will go the other direction. To never be made today three you know, relevantly wise as an adult, looking at it with, like my eyes now, yeah, it's weird I will say weird thing back in the day. It did go the other way too, though, with the movie 13 going on 30. Oh it did, didn't it? Yeah, I don't know if it went quite all the way as that scene did, though we're like I'll say this I saw the movie big at a relatively young age.

9:54 I saw it at like five yeah, and it's like this he's. I do have a memory of tom hanks grabbing a. He opens her shirt and he's grabbing the bra boob. Yeah, it's a covered boob, but the bra he's not sure how to grab it. It's kind of now I'd watch it and be like this is funny, watching like a like a kid try to figure out what to do. But as a child I was like what the fuck are they doing? And I was old enough. I was like, like I said, I was six years old, like I remember, like it had the vhs. I was like go back to dancing on piano keys, go back rewind. Yeah, why are they doing this? I? was at that age where it was in the middle. Like this isn't good mom?

10:35 why is he joking? Why are they fighting? oh my god and so, anyways, all right. In a couple of years we'll find ourselves there. We'll be on a panel. We'll be on a panel. Anyways, we're talking about stuff, doggy I got a doggy now, yep, and the dog is awesome. Anatolian Shepherd. She's 11 months, 80 pounds, a big, big doggy. I didn't realize she was supposed to kind of such a puppy. She is 11 months, they say. They're like.

11:15 They say they don't start coming out of the puppy brain until like 18 months, like it's full grown, but still. Well. They say more or, but still more or less. They say you can't run with them. Actually the shepherd dogs like that. You can't run until their past 18 months because their bone plates, like for their joints, haven't finished growing all the way. And if you run with them while they're too young they just get premature arthritis. I could say it's especially like when I'm on pavement and I'm running major on. They're made to run in the, in the dirt, in the grassy hills yeah, well, I mean to put it in perspective. If you people you know at home, if our, if our kin are listening, look up a great pyrenees or um anatolian shepherd versus coyotes.

12:02 There was Shepard vs Coyotes. There was this video, bro. It went viral a while ago Some farmer here in the US he went outside and his great Pyrenees, that he had just bought two days before, stood by him to confront these 13 coyotes and killed eight of them in the span of under two minutes and then ran off after the rest of them. He's span of like under two minutes and then like, ran off after the rest of them. He's like that dog's dead, damn, and he was sad. Two days later comes back just covered in blood. I love it, just matted and um, those animals like, yeah, like they're, like, they are true livestock guardian dogs, but mine is not. Mine is not.

12:42 She's a big sweet girl who loves pets. She's way more pets motivated than food motivated which is a good thing I like a big dog, that doesn't. That's not like a fat big dog, you know what I mean. Like she, she is happy to get her treats and meal time, but like she would, she will jump through hoops just to have you rub her belly, and a dog that's not controlled by its stomach is good. Oh yeah, like, because like very not reactive, yeah because you can use treats to train any dog, but then especially like, yeah, a dog who's like you know they're not going to be snapping at a kid when it comes by the bowl, and stuff like that yeah, dude, those big dogs, those shepherd dogs, um, my dad had a friend who's a family ranch.

13:22 They would send out, um, a whole pack of great pyrenees really just to defend the herd out on this huge ranch and they would just send them out for days at a time and, yeah, they would run down coyotes, the pack together where they'd run down a coyote full speed, grab it by the back of the neck, flip it over. The pack would jump on it and just kill it and just keep rolling and they would just protect all the livestock. And they'd come back in after being out. Like you said, they're just covered and a great parent is just like a pure white dog. They'd come in just covered in blood. They'd just hose them down outside, let them rest for a few days with the family. Chill, a chill relaxed dog.

14:02 We'll never bite your kid Hanging out. Yeah, few days with the family chill, the chill, relaxed dog will never bite your kid hanging out yeah, wonderful dog. And then, when it's time to go to work again, they just sick them out there how do they? I've? I was looking, I was seeing how the someone was showing like how the great, how the anatolians play and like they play practice the neck break, bite right. But I don't know you're saying they flip. You've seen the Like the Great Pyrenees Flip them over and what? Well, that's what I mean. Like they run them down, get they reach over, grab them on the back of the neck, flip them so it is a neck breaking bite, and then they make sure it's dead, oh yeah. Dude. The farmer was like he killed. He killed the first three coyotes in 30 seconds, just breakneck, breakneck, breakneck.

14:46 And I was like holy shit. And then it shows a picture of the dog right, it's got like one white eye and it's just like one ear, is like no fur on it anymore and I'm like that's a freaking monster dude, that thing is a machine dude, uh. But anyways, I love her. She's terrified of the stairs, though man Straight up like whines, whimpers, shakes, refuses, will like freeze, tense up, spring around to try to get away from the stairs, you know what I mean. And so I carried her up on them and stuff and tried to get her to come down and she just panicked, slid down, ran down them, kind of. She just panicked, slid down, ran down him, kind of. And it just sucks because you don't want her to think poorly of you or start to mistrust you, because one, they are insanely smart dogs.

15:36 They are very emotional dogs, which is weird. I've never had a dog pout like that. You know what I mean. I've just seen dogs demonstrate like affection, confusion, uh, fear, and like desire. You know what I mean. Like those are the things, like those are the four things you usually see almost all dogs do. Like this dog will straight up like pout and and I think she can be spiteful and I think, like it's one of those. It's really weird Like she has like a full attitude. And so, all that said, I did a little bit of shopping around today. Man Called up some dog trainers, got their quotes on what it would be to come to my house and help me teach my dog how to go up the stairs, what it would be to come to my house and help me teach my dog how to go up the stairs and like, not do, like you know, harm to her or anything and not hurt our, her, trust in me or respect for me as the pack leader.

16:32 Right dude. First quote, take a guess. First quote for coming to my home dog, dog behavior therapist one appointment or like for, like a whole package. Well, it's kind of yeah, I guess that's a little misleading right. The whole thing is like they. It's a one-time upfront cost for the lifetime of the dog and they'll just come to your house and do training. Oh, if it's lifetime for the dog but it's like one of those things like how often are you gonna call them when your dog's five or older. that'd be like 1500 bucks. Yeah, 16, it was like 1690, yeah1,500. So okay, yeah, but which is also like a lot of money. That's a shitload of money up front, especially for like learning to go up the stairs.

17:12 Well, and the thing is, my dog is doing great with sit. She's doing great with, you know, house trained, oh yeah. So like, yeah, she knows when to go potty and she's not had any mistakes. She doesn't chew on slippers, she's not trying to dart off the leash when we're outside, so it's like all the other stuff she's got. I just want her to use the damn stairs so that way, like I know in a fire, I can get her out or something. You know what I mean. Yeah, cause it's like it's debilitating for her, it's like, and I, I was gonna bring her here tonight, but she can't go up the damn stairs. It's hard for you, it's hard for her.

17:52 And so it's like, definitely, and yeah, I wondered like, uh, from a business owner perspective, that's kind of why I threw that number out there, because it'd be like, you know, especially lifetime of a dog, because, man, you're gonna have a lot of clients you go to four times, or let's say, you have a lot of clients you go to 10 times, so it's like 125 a session, but then you're gonna have that lady that just I would never offer a lifetime of the dog thing because I'd be every single week having some strict nine least treats. You know what I mean. Like yeah, like on that 118th visit that year, like what have I done to myself? But at the same time, the like yes, that's why I threw that number out there from a business perspective, but then from a consumer, pet owner perspective, it's pretty brutal, you know.

18:36 It's like that's a chunk of change, you know. Well, here's the thing though it's a corporation they're licensed in, like the whole US internationalS international. Oh, I see, and they just happen to have two of their trainers that they partner with in Colorado. That trainer's not making that money. Nope, the trainer's not making that money. The trainer's getting paid a salary that you know the rest of the money and stuff being paid across the world going into this organization. So, anyways, I was like, all right, let me look up some people who have like these credentials and can you know, back them up with like the training. So I found a doctor, a doctor, doggy, behavioral psychiatrist and she's like here's how you know she's good at it, she's older, she's like past the age of retirement, okay, and she's been doing it for 40 years.

19:31 That and the reviews. How many years is that in dog years? Oh shit. Generations of dogs know about her. She's been passed down, named, no. Here's the big thing about it, too is that. This is why I really got excited about it. She's a trainer. She's got all this like pedigree stuff regarding, like you know, organizations she's worked for and all that, but she consistently trains award-winning dogs, okay, and she's local. And so I was like, damn, that's actually way more of like a pedigree, you know thing than like Joe Schmoe, who's like I have my class at the park and like I'll drive to your house and teach her.

20:16 So, anyways, I called her up, this frigging fountain of wisdom, doggy knowledge lady, and I say, hey, doc, here's the situation with my dog. She's a sweet girl, no reactive bad behavior, uh. But she's just terrified of these stairs and I don't want to hurt her, I don't want to scare her or damage her trust. I just need to know if I'm doing the right thing and you can tell me. But I think you gotta come to my house to do it. She's like 200 bucks December 3rd I'll be there and I was like, oh, fucking deal bro Are you kidding me? 200 bucks versus 16? Oh yeah, 17, basically. And because in one session they'll teach you all you need to know three to five techniques.

21:00 You will learn that in that session and then you just work on it. Yeah exactly techniques. Yeah, you will learn that in that session and then you just work on it. Yeah, exactly so. Um, anyways, I just know we were talking about scouting around for a deal cutting out middleman and I was like I'm not paying some interstate international corpo when I could just go direct to an expert and, just you know, schedule time with them. So call around folks, do your research, cut out the middleman, save yourself a dime. Um, but with that Pat, something I really enjoyed seeing that last night you had the pleasure of setting up Christmas lights with your boys. This is true, and I would love to hear what that's like, because I set up christmas lights a couple strings of them with my wife, yep and uh, it was great, I gave.

21:52 I looked her dead in the eyes while she was holding the lights and making sure the ladder didn't tip over. Actually, let me say this this is a brief, short, funny story, you'll appreciate it. Her and my mother, so her mother-in-law, go to the store to buy our first ladder as a married couple, let's go. That's a step. That's a step up, several steps up, wow, nice. And I say, hey, you should probably get this one Now, and this is not me being right or anything, I'm just like you should probably get this one, because I I think the other one is going to be a little too short. She's like, well, I don't think we can fit it in my car. I was like, well, you got a rack and it makes sense, why not buy some roof ties? and ratchet clips.

22:32 Yeah, because like we need it, we need those too, right yeah and so lo and behold, though, what do they come home with? Not the eight foot ladder, but the six foot ladder that fits in the car. That is not tall enough. And then, as soon as it got folded out, they knew it was not tall enough, and it was a bummer thing of oh it's not tall enough, we're not going to get Christmas lights up tonight and I was like you and me will go back with the four runner, we'll return this and get the one that's big enough and we'll get ratchet clamps if we need to. Then we if we need to, and we went and it was not like a I was right, you were wrong thing, I was like I. It was genuinely like a light-hearted thing. I was like how often do you think they see a wife come in, buy something after thinking it through, go home?

23:14 one hour later she's back with her husband with the bigger car returning to getting the bigger one, like I was like how do you think you know it was, it was not a. She didn't feel like it was me making fun of her in front of her right. You know, it was not a. She didn't feel like it was me making fun of her Right, and it was just kind of funny. And then while we were carrying the ladder out, I was like I can't remember how to freaking get ratchet clamps started, right, and I was looking at a video. I was like these are not the same ratchet clamps I got, like mine are a different design. How do I get these things going? And while I'm fiddling around with him, trying to get him started so I could ratchet, put it on my roof, dude Farmer Bob rolls up. His name was Greg and he's like you guys just buy a ladder. I was like, yep, and he's an old guy. He's got a Pepsi can in the bed of his truck.

23:56 That's older than me. He's not really that old. I shouldn't say that, especially in case he's listening. He's a really nice guy To a different generation yeah, yeah, and I was like, yeah, just trying to figure out how to get these straps going, but we got to get this ladder back so we could put up christmas lights. He's like all right and then he kind of moseys away and then he comes back. He's like where you live. I was like over here on right next to the high school. He's like, oh, I'm just down the corner from there with the red silo. I'm like, oh well, he's like, throw it in the truck, I'll drive it out over, I'll pull you out. I was like, all right, sick. We were rolling over there. I offered him a beer and a pepsi and he was like, nah, I'm good. And I was like, all right, man, well, you know where I live, come on over for pie or beer, whatever you want. And he was like, all right, it was.

24:37 It was just good small town moment. You know what I mean? That's great. And then, uh, we got the ladder out, had the christmas lights, we started going. I was like, all right, I don't want to go too far, because I need her to take a look at them, because I don't want to undo them after I've done everything and like, risk my life hanging these on the shingles and because you've got a tall, like if you were going full bore, it's like yeah, you need. You need it 30 feet up, right so you're yeah, but yeah. So if it, and because you want them to look right, you got to get them to well, I don't care if they look right, I just want them to look right to her this is wisdom and so, um, she was looking and I was like, all right, come back, what are we doing with these ones?

25:22 like she's like well, I just, I don't know, like what do you think? And I just like had that moment with the wife. You know where was. There was no animosity, no frustration, but it was just like we speak through the the the fog of female to male and it was just like that eye contact me on the ladder and her like holding the lights. I was like all that matters is that it is what you want. What do you want? it like you know she's like, and she's looking at me, she's like I want them this way and I was like that is the way they will be it like it was great because there was no arguing or anything like that and like as soon as she said that, I just knew exactly what it was. We did that, cranked it up.

26:04 They look beautiful, but it was one string and I can imagine If she was Five or four. What's your youngest Little pet, or not your youngest, your oldest Middle? Oldest is. Four and a half, four and a half. Yeah, okay, middle's two and a half. I can imagine if she was four, I'd like One, I'd be dead because no one's holding the ladder. And two, you know, I can imagine like pulling my brains out because I look down and she's like wrapped in the lights, exactly so. So now I want to know what your experience is like yes, for sure. So for I'll back up to when I was a kid my dad would, my dad wouldn wouldn't go full family vacation with the lights, yeah, but he would like Not rock show, but he'd get out there and like we would do them, we'd do them up, oh yeah, and we'd do up the lights and stuff.

26:54 And so then, like you know, when I get married, it's like all right, you know, we should get some Christmas lights. So, similarly, like my first year out, I did two strings you know, just I, just only because I had a little more roof line. Yeah, it's, but it's just like that's not a lot, you know, like a string of two, one, two strings lights, whatever. So you know, we've passed a couple years on and off. Sometimes I put them out, sometimes I don't, depending on what's going on. You know, maybe we'll put them out, maybe we don't, but then once you're having kids, it's like like all right, let's make sure we're doing decorations and things. And it is one of those things where I like the idea of them. I don't like setting them up, hell no.

27:34 And I hate taking them down. I hate taking them down. Yeah, bro, oh my gosh, like my wife knows, like for Christmas trees I do not take down anything. You don't take down the Christmas tree. What do you mean? You just leave it up. Let it die. Yeah, it's like. My job is to get the tree in the house, set it up, put the lights on it and then help decorate it. But, like, when it comes to like, taking it out, my only job is to, once it's ready, get it out the door. So, like and like, just I it's. I can't do it. I can't take the stuff down.

28:16 And it's not like. I'm not like Buddy the Elf and I'm just like oh, it's over, I'm so sad. I'm just like it's like January 5th and I'm like I am not doing this, I'm not motivated anymore. Before you're kind of excited, it's Christmas is coming Right and so you get it all set up but anyway. So then with Christmas lights, you know, now it's like now I've got kids who are old enough to have memories with lights, so I'm like I gotta gotta start, I gotta keep up in my game. And so now this year I've decided, every year for the next handful of years I will up the game as we go and I'll kind of do age appropriate amounts of setup so they can be a part of it as we go.

28:58 And so this year there's actually I went so simple but tasteful though, but very, but there's actually I went so simple, tasteful though, but there's a lot of stuff going on, and so I used to think these were tacky, but I've caved to it, and one of the tacky things would be the projector screen on the house. Oh yeah, I will say that variety. There was no effort. You just stick that thing in the yard and it's on the side of the house and it's awesome. So this year what I did and I still don't have the projector screen, but what I did this year was I just got two um, I have three things, three decorations this year and my little guy set it up with me but it's a.

29:38 It's these little stakes you stick in the ground you can put a light bulb in. But my light bulbs for whatever, my ten dollar light bulb is like a. It's like a disco ball, but of christmas colors and it just shines it on the house. So we just have like two christmas. You know, we got red and green christmas disco on the house. And then another thing I've always thought was super tacky is inflatables. I bought one. I bought an inflatableatable Santa Claus and that's my third item. So I got two disco balls on the house and I got an inflatable Santa in the middle of the yard. Yeah, and they're all connected to this little power strip in the yard. That connects to. It's a dirty little secret of mine for our we do a lot of like 2A talk.

30:26 Oh, yeah, and we do a lot and that leads into also kind of like I'm not a fan of you know, I am a fan of my privacy, yeah, but I have an Alexa and it's just in there, you fucker, it's listening to everything I do. Yeah, of course. But my Christmas lights are hooked up to my alexa and when it's time for the lights to come on, my kid can say, alexa, turn the christmas lights on, and they plink on and the santa blows up and it's great and the kid loves that and the kids love it. And then another a fun feature I wasn't planning on doing was, uh, last night we for duck hunting. We have two types of decoys Usually use like floater decoys out in the water, but I also have these like standing decoys that just stand if you're on like dry ground.

31:13 The kids went and stuck them all in the yard. That's cute. And I'm going to leave them until I clean up, because I think it looks awesome. So we've got duck decoys and Santa Claus in the yard. I will say this I would never steal someone's Christmas lights or inflatable, but I might steal someone's duck decoy just out there in the yard. Well, I will say these are not the price you want. Okay, all right, cool, because these are the cardboard cutout. Well, like plastic cutouts, not so bad. It's funny, duck decoys get expensive fast. So expensive. Especially for the standing your standards and stuff, but anyway, yeah. So this year they went out with me and we, we did a simple setup and I think that each year I'm just going to kind of like acquire and build up, and but this year I truly went for simplicity.

31:57 I was like let's just get something that, something that looks okay. I don't even have to get on the roof this year, we'll get on the roof in two years. Don't you have some shrubbery, like bushes, for decoration or for like, don't you just have? a bush, or a couple bushes, in your yard. Yep, I do, dude, I'm a big fan of the spider web lights. Oh yep, I remember the first time I saw those his, his dad was like here's the secret. He just pulled him out like what is this? Where does it go? He's like you just like lasso, toss it on the bushes and it doesn't matter how it lands, it's just great. Every year I'm like what are you talking about? and he showed me and we just put he had like I don't know something insane like a dozen bushes and and he's like these ones go here and they alternate and yada, yada, and he's like then you just you know pretty much toss this one up in the tree and then, after it goes in the tree, you just kind of wind it around and you're good to go.

32:57 I was like, all right, man, let me see. And it was like it was like the easiest setup I've ever done in all my. Christmas years that guy had it down to science and that's one of the things who were like I would classify. The net lights, inflatables and projectors are all in my classification of like Work smarter, not harder. Well, previously are in my classification of you're lazy and those are tacky. Now I'm in the camp of those are great, just use them. Yeah, but here's the question like what did your children do? Did your children do anything? Were they an added element of chaos to trying to get the lights and set up. They were especially because they're out there in their underwear, oh hell yeah, because it's like 24.

33:41 Yeah, we, definitely we run a lot of what was it? 21, 19 degrees uh, yeah, it was cold and uh, they will not, they will refuse to wear, but then they won't walk in the dead grass Because it's quote unquote pokey. Yeah, it's pokey, exactly, and that's where everything was getting set up, and so they would kind of help. And then I did let my little one plug plug the lights together to start, but his fingers are so tiny If you let them plug an extension cord together, his fingers, if you plug an extension cord together as it's going in, there's room for his fingers to go in there and for the cord to contact.

34:23 Yeah, it was like, as we're doing, he's like pinching the metal. Yeah, trying to get his fingers clear, trying to not zap him, like I can handle that, but he might not be able to, anyways, get him plugged in. And then we, you know, and they turn on. And what is fun is like the look on his face when they turned on. Just eyes wide and mouth just also. Oh, aghast, yeah, as they, as it turns that's awesome, dude. That's like I mean, there's just nothing like that childlike innocence to recognize, just like the specialness of the holidays. You know what I mean like, because I I mean you've done it. What? 32 times now, exactly and it's just like for them.

35:05 It's that first real memory of like they might not remember. I, you know, learned how to turn on lights for christmas with my dad at three or four, right when I put the plug and socket together. But it is there and that's like forming those foundational brain pathways definitely in their psyche, and that's the cool thing about having kids in general is like as an adult, as things become more and more mundane, more and more routine, less interesting. Having kids is awesome because everything is new. And you get to bring them through a new thing, and so, whether it's looking at a roly-poly, setting up some Christmas lights, or getting to swing a baseball bat, whatever, just play catch, it's like it's all, like it's all brand new and super exciting and fun, and that's that's the cool thing about kids.

35:59 I want to say too. Man Billie Jean showed me Mace Windu's photo of thankful turkey feathers. Oh, yeah, and I was like major brownie points to pat for for, uh, some of those, because I think you put on there. You're thankful for your, your company and your co-workers. Then you had another one that was just my wife. Yeah, I was like good brownies good brownies I did also love. Uh, gosh, did it? Did one of your kids put food or like that? Didn't one of them put? Like my sister eats? Like that was one of them. Yeah, for sure. I'm thankful that my sister eats Exactly. So what is it?

36:40 We have this like you basically have a turkey without a tail. And like all November, like at night when you sit down for family dinner, we get out like a little feather. It's a, a you know whatever paper feather and you can write what you're thankful for. And by the end of like Thanksgiving comes, this turkey has a full, full tail and yeah, and honestly I hate that crap because I can't come up with stuff to say but, exactly I take the cop outs money. Yep, yeah, no. So the. What I do love is that my wife takes the time Exactly, I take the cop outs Kid money. Yeah, what I do love is that my wife Takes the time to like, do that my kids would have nothing or do nothing. They'd never see a Doctor, they'd never play with a friend.

37:20 If it was just you, if it was just me, there would be nothing in their life. Kids would be feral beasts, exactly, and so I'm so Thankful for my wife and the way that she does these fun little interactive things and also intentional things like talking about what you're thankful for. It's good and it's fun. It's funny what they'll say. I'm thankful for those little things. I think mine on the turkey right now. Are my wife thankful for my employees because they're crushing it, and thankful for the duck I got yesterday? Oh, you got a duck yesterday we did, we did. So I got to take, uh, I took little pat out with my buddy and his 10 year old kid and, uh, his 10 year old kid has been like really want to go duck hunting for a long time.

38:07 Last year he even had a birthday cake that was a duck because he wanted to go duck hunting. So bad your kid or his kid, his kid and so it was super fun to take him out. We went out there and we set up the decoys, we painted our faces and did all the stuff and, honestly, it was a horrible day to go duck hunting. It really is kind of only like it's a horrible day to go duck hunting. It really is a kind of a only like it's a crappy public land spot to hunt. But I just had to take them out and I was just praying to God. I was like Lord, just give us one duck please, oh my gosh. And we sat there for about an hour and a half with nothing. The sun's going down and it's getting to the end of it and, um, as this, we're at the last five minutes of sunlight to be able to take this duck or take anything, and, uh, one comes, but I don't see it.

38:55 Um, my buddy's kid sees it coming in duck gives his life yep, he come doing it for this kid? Yeah, I honestly did. He came into the blind, landed in the water and we had just been talking about like there's an ethical thing around like shooting ducks, like especially old school stuff is like you never shoot a sitting duck, you let them be flying yeah um, but um, and then also my buddy was talking like how, like, do you shoot a duck and shoot again to finish it? or like I'm like, well, typically you shoot it and then you got there and get it. Even if it's not dead, you grab it and ring its neck so you're not ruining any of the meat. So your buddy was new too. He was new too. This was his first time duck hunting. That's crazy, man. What do I have to do to go duck hunting with you? Do I need to have a kid?

39:35 What's going on, bro? Actually, I thought about you. I, we're going to go out, we're going to do it before the end of the season, we're going to get it done. So the single duck came in and I had just got done telling him how one, if we can. We don't want to shoot them on the water, but it's not illegal. It's sportsmanship, though Sportsmanship, but I will say this big game, it's very specific. You want your deer or elk to be standing broadside, but still broadside.

40:16 You need to very specifically identify the sex of the animal, the species of the animal. Make sure it's a clean shot. Make sure it's a clean shot. Take your time, calm down, take aim and execute a kill shot on that animal. That gets it in one little and they're dead. That's the perfect shot. So that's big game. But then what's funny is the quote unquote. Ethical thing for waterfowl hunting is to, while it's flying in the air at potentially up to 40 miles an hour, shoot at it, isn't? that the opposite. Well, no, here's my argument.

40:56 All right, no, go ahead. Go ahead because and this is not me just being scientific right point dexter, right, right, the ethical shot for big game is almost always to provide as clean of a kill as possible and I, truly, I do think that a clean kill on waterfowl is likely the one that gives you the best odds of killing it quickly and it being done. And I do think a lot of people, if the norm was to shoot at the ducks or, you know, waterfowl in water, I think a lot of people would start getting uh skipping and lose a lot of energy because they, because people, don't know how to.

41:45 I think one a lot of people don't know how to shoot with uh. One a lot of people don't know how to shoot with shotguns over range and a lot of people just don't grasp and understand that, like if you're aiming at a duck that is, you know, just level with you, 30 yards out, and it's in the water, it's in the water, yep, odds are 90 of your shots going in the water or skipping across it and probably not going to kill that duck but probably just going to hurt it. And I would, I would really, and it was also going to limit your chance limit, like your odds of a clean kill, versus if it's flying in air and your shotgun has a good choke on it and you know you can put as much, uh, as much pellet on that duck as possible, right without you know obscurance, and so I don't know I I see that here for one, because it's like you could argue like well, the equivalent of that for big game would be like I can only shoot this bear after it charges at me or while it's running at full speed across the hill, right.

42:48 So yeah, so yeah, and there's definitely like I think that like it's super sporting and awesome to shoot ducks out of the air and that's the goal. Yeah, for sure, but it's funny because, like there's some people who are like 100, like you never shoot a duck, while sitting in the water yeah and so, but it is legal. But it's funny that one animal you want to be in the air at full speed while another one you want to be like dead, silent and dead still. And so the anyways, this duck came in. We've been waiting an hour and a half. The single duck comes in, he lands, the new kid, spots it and I'm like it's down there and I'm like, all right, like get up, like shoot that duck. And so my buddy takes the shot and right after he shot it, I shot it again too, because there was no way in hell I was letting this duck get away.

43:33 You know, like we were taking a duck home that night, so it was awesome. Did you eviscerate it Like, did it explode into pieces? Well, we lost a little bit of meat because of my second shot, yeah, but I will say like there was just, there was no chance that I was letting that duck get away. For these two kids and like one of them, their first duck hunt experience. For my son, his third duck hunt this was the first one that came in on it and I was like, and it was like it was funny too, cause like usually when a duck comes in and you kill it, you get back down and you wait for more to come. But this duck came in and we killed it and I just stood up. I was like let's pack it up, you know.

44:15 So we like got our one duck and went home and it was awesome, super fun experience to get those uh, get those kids out there, have them just be in the be out there hunting, and both, uh, my son and his kid, they're like kind of add super hyper, but when they're hunting they're locked in, which is super awesome because we we've focused that that crazy energy to where they're like they're just trying to spot ducks and going wild. So it was a super fun time and a super, uh, um, enjoyable thing as a dad and as someone who loves waterfowl to take someone out and have a good experience for them on their first time out. So that's my duck story, um, but, like, moving on from that, we've been doing something for the last few weeks and that's been we have a box of beer on the table. Oh, okay, I was waiting. And Mick has grabbed the box, which means he needs another beer, and there is his least one, maybe like top two least favorite beers in the world.

45:03 Number one, number one least favorite beer in the world is in the box, and so he's grab bagging. It's a mixed pack, so we'll see what he gets. Here we go. I was just thinking in my brain, right, I was like, okay, did you ever do the math behind the door? Like there's a prize behind three doors and like, statistically, your odds of getting the prize are better if you pick one and then switch. Oh really, oh, yeah, yeah, pick one and then switch. Oh really, oh yeah. Yeah, mathematically, your odds are higher if you pick one door and then someone says we'll give you this chance now to switch. Technically, your, your chances of getting the prize door are higher. Okay, and I was just about to switch because I grabbed the beer and I was like, oh, but I'll switch, but wait, then I paralyzed because there's only one bad beer here, because at the point we've gotten to the point where that's just the opposite.

45:54 Yeah it's not one prize it's inverse, and there's three beers left in the box, there's one bad beer left and I'll say there's two name it the holiday ale from new belgium, and something we all know is you never get involved in a land war in Asia. What the fuck where's that from? And you never gamble with a Sicilian when death is on the line. Oh, he escaped, he took it out. There's two beers I'm going in, dude, I've got a 50-50. I've got a coin toss chance.

46:34 Bro, okay, all right For you. I definitely think you should flip. I think you should grab one. Think about it. Switch. Oh, I just switched, but here's. Is it guaranteed, though, that, if I pull clean, you got to have the next one. Yeah, all right, here we go. Are you going to switch back? Are you going to switch back? He's pulling this Princess Bride crap on me like I just did. Are you going? to switch back up? Yes, but like the D pirate Roberts, I uh, I drew the holiday ale. Yeah, the poison.

47:15 I drew the poison, but I've been conditioning myself Every day, a little at a time. No, you haven't. You wouldn't do that to yourself. No one does that. Oh, come on, I was dragging the bit out. What's funny is that. Tastes like Christmas D&D. This last Friday, new guy New guy from your work Asked me to run a one shot. It was a really fun one shot, but he wanted it as like an introductory Game for his girlfriend. To try D&D. She had a blast Nice. But my buddy Mick 2, he's also a Mick like me.

47:59 Oh yeah. He comes down the stairs running a little late and holds up this box of beer he brought it was just holiday ale. It was, it was just a holiday ale 12 pack did and I was like. I immediately like knee-jerk. Response was like oh, really funny, really fucking funny, mick and he's I could see it in his eyes he like died. He was like what? I was like you bring that fucking shit in my house, you know, I like lost my mind. I wasn't actually angry, right. Because I thought he legitimately brought it because I know he's Listened to the podcast a couple times.

48:39 I was like I thought he grabbed it just to spite me, and then it's Doubtfully painful because you're like obviously you haven't been listening that intently. I was like okay, clearly you haven't been listening that intently. Yeah, that's what I was like, okay, clearly you haven't listened to the last few episodes, but it was funny because I was like that is the worst beer I've ever had. And then him and another guy that were hanging out tried it and they're like, yeah, this beer sucks, but it's not the worst beer I've ever had. I'm like, okay, my palate is a little bit more refined than you primitive Neanderthals. My palate is a little bit more refined than you primitive Neanderthals who just love beer. That's just store-bought, mass-produced. It tastes like dog food beer. You know what I? mean, but no, I was just giving them a little bit of a ribbon.

49:22 I did tell them. I was like hey, man, in D&D, inspiration lets you re-roll your dice if you get a better result. You only can do it once, once per game. I was like it's the thought that counts. Happy holidays you get inspiration for bringing beer um. But I did think it was really funny. I thought it was super ironic oh yeah, it's the marketing bro. He sucks the people in dude, uh, pat. Before we get on to the next thing that I was thinking about, I need your opinion. I bought my first pair of western wear boots. Wow, because a lot of people were telling me. You know, a lot of people say hey, mick, nice cowboy hat, I like the cowboy hat, that's a nice cowboy, I refuse.

50:05 I refuse. I've never bought Crocs. I refuse to buy that shit. Don't do it, because then you'll be like only wearing them. I hate Crocs dude, I know you hate them. But it's one of those things where it's like, once you wear them, it's just like yeah, I get it. Now I get it. Here's my thing. I still believe they're somehow going to result in foot cancer Somehow. The material is gonna be radioactive. Um no, but uh, everyone always said nice cowboy hat. I always correct people. I'm like oh, it's not really a cowboy hat, it's a stetson. But it's like a businessman stetson. You know, it's like a. It doesn't look like a cowboy hat, like out on the range, it's like it's a full brim dress. It's a full brim dress, hat and, uh, I wear, you know, when I'm going out and just looking more put together and I don't want to wear just a baseball cap.

50:53 And uh, I had just gotten enough comments that I was like, bro, you need some square toes, you need some square toes. You need some square toes because I already have essentially like round, rounded toe uh boots, but they're not like real cowboy boots, western boots. Um. So I was like, all right, fine, I'll get some square to square toes for everyday use. So I went out and I bought are you familiar with western wear boots? You strike me as a man who's got a pair of airy hats. I got one or two. Uh, well, I bought, I did my research and I used a discount from a buddy of mine At a Jack's. He gave me the friends family discount.

51:34 So last night, at like five minutes till they closed, I grabbed these boots, I bought them and I need you to tell me if they're gay. Alright, these are the double H. They're the double h's. Uh, mickeys is what they're called. I didn't even know they were called mickeys when I got them but they're like uh work wear boots with like a nice anti-slip sole and they got a comfort cushiony pad in them. Uh, but they got some orange thread on them, bro, and I was like I don't know man, but they were the only pair of boots that were wide enough for my feet.

52:14 So I don't know. Tell me, pat, are these gay? Are these cowboy boots? Lady boots? All right, let's give the. Well, I got to see yeah, so here's the deal. I'll to see yeah, so here's the deal. I'll tell you. Oh God, he's going to say I think that they are great boots. Oh thanks, double H boots, double H the ones I'm wearing the specific ones you're wearing. Here's why Because you own a pair I don't own a pair. Okay, all right. But the there's. You know you have your like traditional, like pretty pointed, like riding boots. What's the soles on those? Let me see them real quick again. They're the ICE, i-c-e soles.

52:57 Oh, yep, yep, okay, perfect, yeah. So here's the deal. If you were wearing those to ride a horse, I would tell you you've made a grave mistake. Well, I don't got no horse. You've made a grave mistake. Well, I don't got no horses. And here's why, on the soles of a true cowboy boot, you want a leather, you know solid leather bottom sole of your boot. Why is that? Because you don't want these grippy rubber, vibram, you know deep tread soles on there. Because when you're riding your horse, well, I'll tell you something. Have you ever heard the phrase about riding a horse, like, like if? I was saying like, what's the if, if? If any dad ever told his kid, uh, like some, fuck a little, no, here you'll get it.

53:39 So here's the deal. I didn't have a dad, no, here we go. Yeah, right, so you're riding your bike or you got fired from your job and someone's going to use a horse metaphor for you what are they going to say? it's all right, you fell off your bike oh, you gotta get back up on that horse. There you go if you get bucked off. You got to get back up again. Well, there's a reason that phrase is around nothing like nothing. To get big sweaty then asking, like your dad said this a lot when you were a kid growing up what was it? oh my god oh, my god, and so, uh, anyways, if you're Riding horses, you're gonna fall off.

54:30 That's the first part. You're gonna fall off a horse, so you gotta get back up again when you fall off a horse. While riding, your boot Is designed a riding boots designed For your foot to come out, slip out so you don't get dragged. That big heel is designed to keep you in. While you're going forward, while you're going backwards, your foot comes out, because if your foot doesn't come out, you not only will get dragged, you get. You're breaking legs, you're you're twisting femurs spiral fractures. It's, it's a, it's a it's a magnificent, um you know, sight to see someone getting jacked up by a horse right, uh, and we all have youtube and, uh, you know, or like live leaks what was it like?

55:12 I swear I read something that, like uh, most deaths at uh rodeos are from horses and not bull riding horses are. I swear I that's a real thing that I read once I don't know if that's true or not, but I would say I wouldn't be surprised. And so, anyways, you need to have a smooth leather sole to get your foot the heck out of there. That being said, for doing anything else in life besides dancing if you're dancing on a dance floor, you want some kind of I don't swing dance, yeah. But if you want some smooth sole I don't swing dance, yeah. But but if you want some smooth, sliding boots, make great, you know dancing boots. Yeah, but For walking around you hit some a little bit of water on some you know some tile floor slipping.

56:00 You're gonna be a little embarrassed. Well, it's gonna hurt your cowboy pride. Yeah, you know you're going down. So the soles on those are awesome. But I but also they're tasteful like boots have swung back and forth on. They have, like you know, these huge giant like I don't know if you've seen too like it's like pretty gaudy giant fat treads on them there was a, yeah, there's a couple I saw that were like and I was like dude, I am not an ice road trucker right, yeah I don't need that yeah, and so, like you don't want that, you still want like a tasteful dress boot, but you don't want to slip around. There's also one that, straight up, was just like the what's the part on the western style boots that is goes up to your shin but is not part of the actual shoe form, like you know, like this part where the stitching's at Like Right this here the part that goes up.

56:52 Anyways that I saw a couple that had like Skulls on them. I ain't fucking buying that. This is part of my evaluation of the cowboy. I'm starting at the sole and I'm working my way up. So, anyways, you want those. You want some tasteful rubber soles, unless you're riding get the smooth ones, and then we're going to go into the pointed verse. Square toe. Um, there is. You know, we've moved to the square toe generally in style, but the square toe got way too square. It was like, dude, it can be. It was big, very square, and I was like that's not, that's not good looking you know, is this too wide? nope, those are on the box. It said wide square. Those are, those are sitting in the middle okay, I'd say it's at the.

57:35 It on the parabola. It's on the. Can I wear these to church? Oh, you can wear them to church, just don't talk to the. Well, just just be. If you talk to the farrier who goes to church, yeah, um I think I know who that is yeah, but just like, is that? the dude who always has his shirt tucked in um, he's the one who really looks like a cowboy, and if he shakes your hand, he'll break it he's young, though he's got. Oh, it's not the, it's not to do with the mullet nope, nope, all right, no, but it's just like we have. We've got some real cowboys and we got some, you know, we do some in some dressed up cowboys. Yeah, I fall into the dressed up cowboy category and I'll just say that that's okay. But so, anyways, sure, it's like it's the um, uh, super squared, big square toes. I don't like those. I like somewhere in the middle because the.

58:17 Then you have the pointy toe where you're verging on, like the, the mexican, the caballero, like bandolero, tall, pointy boot. You know you got to find a good middle ground in there and so you're pushing too square, but you're not, you're not too square. Should I sand it down to a point? No. No, I think that's great dude, I think you're right in there and then working our way up. Now that we've gotten above the ankle, this is all this is. The next most important thing is picking something that fits your personality because, like you said, I've seen, you know, there's all sorts of things.

59:00 You got snake skin, ostrich, alligator up there. You got, um, you know. You've got lime, green skulls, american flags, confederate flags. You've got everything under the sun above your ankle, and the beautiful thing about this is your pants cover it, yeah, and so this is kind of like your personal. This is like your, your own personal ass tat. So this is where, like this is just between you, your lady and god on what's up there. Unless you're a top tucker, which I'm going to get into top tuckers in a second you got to earn the right to top tuck. Anyways, interesting. So you know, I think the American flag one is great. I think that the colorful ones are great.

59:41 You got orange, you got camouflage. I'll say this there's everything out there. The American flag ones are a little weird for me, just in concept. I saw a bunch of them like I'm not doing that like that to me reads I served okay, and I think that's the image it would portray to too many people, because all the flags are backwards on them, that I saw that were being sold. I'm like I'm not wearing that, bro, that's. I think that's a good point. Here's a little side combo, though, which would be technically against flag code. Rip it off. I mean no flag Like flag code is like. You're not supposed to have Like paraphernalia Clothes with flags. Now, another thing would be I've seen a lot of souls.

1:00:23 There's the American flag on the sole of your boot. That's so weird, which I would say jihadists think that's dope, because in other countries it's highly offensive to point your feet at somebody, to step on somebody, and when you stomp or walk on something you offend it. So if you have an American flag, on the sole of your boot you're just making the enemy happy, so you know you might want to reconsider. Anyways, maybe not culturally for us, but hey, something to think about. They are called shit kickers. That's what you're supposed to be walking on when you're wearing these and you're treading the old glory in the doo-doo.

1:01:04 So figure that out. I'm not necessarily anti uh, american flag above the ankle, but um, there's all sorts of things out there depending on your personality. Pick what you want, but personally I prefer just a good old brown or black, just some classic stuff. There was nothing there, though I went through like five pairs of boots that had nothing playing Right. Well, here's the deal. What I like about yours is the only orange on yours is the finger holes to pull them on. It's just a little. As you move up the ankles it's a little gay. No, these are zero percent gay. Can they be five?

1:01:45 You want to be five percent gay? Just five. Give me five. A little Metro cowboy, no. But as you move up the ankle, you're allowed to express yourself more. And so a little bit of flair, a little bit of pizzazz. You know that orange on there also one of my favorite colors is that old bright orange, and so I like that orange in the eye holes, and so you just got a brown boot orange, and so I like that orange in the in the eye holes, and so you just got a brown boot. You got a light brown boot with a dark brown um, you know, uh, top to it with, uh, not an overly dramatic stippling in the leather. It's clean, it looks good. What I love about this is I love versatile boots. You could wear this out, honestly. You could go anywhere. You could go to a wedding, you could go to a work site and you'd be accepted.

1:02:28 It's fine. It's a good boot. It protects your feet. It gets you where you want to go. It's not overdone, and I think that this is a great boot, and maybe my next pair might even have to be the double H Makies. Dude, I'll say this I was trying on. I had two rules for buying boots when I was trying to get when I was getting my first pair of Western Right One. I know my work activity will all be done outside of my actual job, like if I want to wear these Like you're laboring, yeah, work activity yeah. Like if I'm wearing them to the range, if I'm wearing them, you know, hauling stuff, setting stuff up, building things, taking things down down, whatever that's all going to be done extracurricular.

1:03:16 So I don't need boots that are going to be every day going through the shit and like got to be in the ringer, um. So I wanted to kind of look good dress wise, but I also didn't want to, so that was that was the first one. It was like they don't need to be the darndest, toughest work boots right because the amount of time they're going to spend working is a lot less than other people. They don't need steel toes, that's just cold. They don't need steel toes, right. And so the other thing was they need to be made in America. Because, everything I read online doing my research was that the boots that fall apart in, like you know, three months, six, six months, nine months, are the ones that you wear every day and put your weight through them, and they're made in china, they're made in mexico, and double h has it very clearly labeled on their boxes which ones are made in america and which ones aren't.

1:04:01 And so everyone said look if you're good. Well, ariettes, they said. A lot of them were made in china but that's what I'm saying. But you said double. The double H's are American made. Well, they have it on the label. It says either made in Mexico or made in the USA, with global parts. Right. But everyone said if you're going to drop $200 to $300 on a pair of boots, the double H like American made ones ones are going to be tough as nails. They're going to last you a long time, especially if you rotate them out with other shoes. And, um, their ice sole is excellent for anything, whether it's like wet mud, ice, snow, yep, rain on rain on concrete, whatever.

1:04:45 And I was like, okay, cool, sounds good. So I I tried on four pairs. I realized one boots run crazy tight. I wasn't even wearing my woolies when I was trying them on and it turned like I was like I cannot fit in my standard 11 fives and there's a break-in period too, like like uh for sure, but dude, I was like I kind of wear these with wool socks. They were so tight, so these were the only ones that really fit that well. The other two that fit were, like I said, one had skulls on them and another one was too light. It was lighter than your standard Carhartt brown Right and I was like these look like Uggs.

1:05:28 Yeah, exactly they kind of look like straw and I was like I just don't want straw-colored boots. Yeah, for sure. I think you made a good choice. Thank you, man, thank you, and the last piece of my boot evaluation would be this, which is, if you're a top tucker, yeah, how do you earn? that. How do you earn it? I don't want it, yeah, cause it looks goofy. But how do you earn top tucker? You gotta be a man who works in the dirt and the mud, because the point of top tucking in is to keep that mud off your. You know like, if you're like, you gotta be shoveling. If you're shin deep, you tuck them in Right.

1:06:09 And so, anyways, when you're at the seven 11 or you know wherever you're at the get the, you know Philip 66 out there and some guy walks in early in the morning, it's 6am and he's buying a hot dog. That's because it's lunchtime for him, yeah, and his pants are tucked into his boots and he's probably muddy. That's when you're allowed to be a top tucker, you know who I've seen be a top tucker, every time without fail. It's the guy who just got done laying concrete from 10 pm to 4 am. He's coming in to get his lunch and his boots are cold, wet concrete bricks. And he, he's like.

1:06:49 I just don't want to deal with another pair of jeans being ruined from concrete. You know what I? mean exactly, and that's that's when I think the top tucking is acceptable. Unless you are seven years old and dressing like a cowboy that day, sure, you are then allowed to top tuck as well. That's my, that's my kind of soul. To top cowboy boot evaluation and, uh, like my boots, yeah, I always like to go pretty plain, maybe a little bit of something in there that just is fits me best. And uh, yeah, the uh, you know they last a long time. You can wear them out. Um, they protect your feet, and what I love about them too is like dress shoes suck and at least in our part of the world, cowboy boot is a dress is acceptable.

1:07:34 Oh yeah, I don't know what they're doing on the east coast, but I know here, if you're walking into something a little more serious and you're writing even wedding funeral interview. Boots are fine, yep, you know. And so as long as I mean, you can't be walking with cow shit on maybe not depends on the interview, sure, or the funeral. Yeah, that's true um, well, and and I I really just wanted another. I loved my slip-on boots that were like. I've had. I've had two pairs of slip-on boots, one that was a you know, slide your foot in them and zip it up on the inside of the sole, because the laces were always laced and they were great like kind of uh traversing.

1:08:16 They were called a bulldog shoot boots and they don't sell them in the us much anymore. They're mainly only in england. Um, and then the next ones I had were a pull on boot, pointed toe. That were really great. I just waxed them and polished them up and they're really good. But the soles on them, from all the times I've worn them out, hiking and camping, the soles on them have worn flat and melted flat and they actually now have the pattern of gravel because of how many times I put them up near the campfire on a cold night and then I started walking and they have a gravel pattern in them which just makes them like uncomfortable as hell and worn down, like it's such a flat sole like there's no grip on them, right, but they are the best boot I have right now for escaping and evading, because the tracks on them I've won.

1:09:13 I've like looked at the tracks. The tracks just look like dirt because like it's just a gravel pattern moccasin yeah, it's awesome. Um, so I am excited, though. I have a pair of half waxes coming, and the waxy was the Rhodesian South African combat boot and it was really famous for being an excellent warm weather leather boot. And so I have a half waxy coming, which is pretty sick because you just lace it up and then you use the buckle to be your tighten and release, and so I those on the way and, uh, those are going to be my summer boots, I think.

1:09:53 But these I really wanted a boot that I could fit, with wool socks on, slip on, doesn't need to be tied, uh, is clean and can be like a dress boot, but also can is not going to fall apart in the weather, like all my other boots have. Like, most of my boots fall apart within a year just because they're not designed to be worn every day of the year in the four seasons we get in colorado, right. So I'm really excited about these. I appreciate that you think they're cool. I also thought it was kind of. You know, when I looked it up and found out what they were, I was like, oh, that's a little Fitting. Yeah, you know, they're called the Mickey Bless me. Anyways, all that said.

1:10:36 Last thing I want to go to I think, since we're recording this now, week of Thanksgiving, of thanksgiving, next time we record should be uh, or could be gift exchange christmas gifts. Okay, how do you feel about that? We can delay it. I think. I think potentially okay, maybe one extra, but potentially because I got yours. They showed up. I went through them. They're sick as fuck. All right, okay, I was like I look, I went through them and I actually had a moment. I was like here's the thing pat won't know what isn't his and he won't know if I take from his gifts and just keep them for myself and he has no idea.

1:11:24 You're like an eight-year-old now, bro, it was like because, well like, I bought a little bit for me in the same shipment. Okay. And when it got here, I was like that's sick, that's sick, that's sick. Maybe he doesn't need that, maybe he don't need that. And I was like nah man, nah, this is my homie, this is his I bought this for. But what I didn't know until recently was that Billie Jean bought something for us. I don't know what it is, oh my gosh. But it's something for the podcast, oh my gosh yeah, so it's just kind of excited. It's two pink microphones. They could be here every night. It's funny, it's just like a giant, I'm right censor myself.

1:12:06 I know it's just like. It's like we bought two pink microphones so we could join you yeah we just figured we'd make it like a couple's evening. It was like but this was boy time um no, I bet it's awesome I said if I'm gonna put my money out, I'm gonna put my money on it being some kind of sign. All All right, I think it's some kind of sign that lights up. That's what I put my money on. I don't know. I have nothing to base that off of. Do you want me to leave this in the podcast, or is this going to like? No, yeah, leave it. Is she the type of person who's like that was so awesome that you guessed that? Or is she the type, the person who's like that really took the wind out of my sails On my gift Cause?

1:12:48 If I get a gift for somebody and they guess, but like I'm just like, well, why did I even get it for you? You could have got that yourself. Is that how you felt last year when you bought me this diorama gun? No, Because I mean, like you maybe could have. Wasn't it ironic that we both got it? I thought, it was great. I thought it was awesome. It. I thought it was awesome, it was super fun. We got the same gifts. Anyways. So you let me know, but they're here and they're ready All right, and I'm really excited for you opening them. I think there's some baller gifts. He's speaking in plural, or wokeness. Don't worry, don't worry, I'm not getting you like a gun. Oh right, don't worry. Don't worry, I'm not getting you like a gun. Oh right, I don't want to like, I don't want to overhype it that much, it's all right, I think.

1:13:30 But it is like I would say, like it is like a step up, like it's like it's, it's, it's uh, it's not just something cool, that's an accessory for, like, our studio here. It's things that, like I think, you take and you'll go home and you'll be like I'm stoked to apply this shuriken. Yeah, fuck, damn it now I gotta return those and get something else oh, I know I like it. Oh, that's funny. Oh, man, no, I think I think. All right, game on next time. It's good if I have a date, I'm ready yeah, and well, we got to do it before the holidays, because then shipping locks down and we're both so out of town, but oh for sure how excellent is it you know as we sign off and as we wind down how excellent is it that Paul is just such a freaking saint and just continues to send us updates of what he's hunting?

1:14:32 Yeah, dude, Pictures of him and his dog. Paul's out there getting it done. Paul does more than you and I If you think you're too old you're not no excuse dude. No excuse. He's been out there crushing the ducks with his new dog, Teal. Yeah, that's such a good photo too. I was like shocked by that picture. It was impressive for sure. I was like okay. I was like oh, he's taking good photos. How does he hold a gun and a camera to take up this kind of high resolution picture? it looked better than a phone picture. It's one of those things, too, where you could tell like he's taking real photos, not phone pictures, which in some ways we've been.

1:15:13 Phones have come a long, long, long way. They really have To take photos, yeah, but at the same time we've been conditioned to think that they're acceptable as masterpieces, or photos in general have been cheapened because we consume thousands and thousands, and thousands a day just as we go about our life and so. but then every once in a while, you see a photo and you're like okay, this was taken with a real camera, that's a moment in time, frozen and it's awesome so yeah super cool picture of his dog retrieving a duck, and I think, yeah, uh, definitely in a little while here, because he, he said so, I think you know, and we said so when we were wrapping up, like at some point there's gotta be more, more, mr paul, more paul, dude telling us about uh with his uh, you know, I've had what I haven't.

1:16:03 I've heard people you know talk about they're like they're in. That story was awesome. They've also said, like you know, they're like that guy's voice I love listening to paul, so you know if you don't like listening to us, that's fine. Every once in a while we're gonna get paul back on here to come tell you about his hunting exploits, what he's working on, what's happening out there you can listen to him, you know yeah, well, hey, with that, ken, thanks for joining us. Uh, it's awesome to be starting out the road. On year three uh, this is the year pat, I'm christening it now. This is the year where we aren't in the red. This is the year where we make more money creating content. All right, then we spend.

1:16:45 Wow, I like this feels scary saying it, but I'm saying it, dog. Um, those of you have been with us. Thank you so much. We appreciate you. Uh, hey, I do want to shout out uh, someone I think you saw this right, pat, but like someone left a review for us. I haven't seen this. Tell me about it, okay, all right, let me. Let me pull up our web page. This is the signing off thing that I just think is cool. Um, someone that I cannot pin down in any way, shape or form of having a relation to us and like I'm probably saying this, and then you're like, oh, I know who that is, but, um, it was really sick, cause I feel like most of the feedback we get is is 100% people that we know or socialize with or have somewhat of an overlap with, and outside of that, we don't really get like much like you know, like people just are listening on YouTube and then they like like everyone.

1:17:41 It's like no one comments when you're listening to a podcast, like no one leaves a comment. But this person left a review and it was a very specific review. Um, it was about I personally, my favorite thing that we talked about so far. Um, it went over the whole. Uh, excuse me, um, east of eden series, really, yeah, and it was a woman, which is crazy. Ayo, because I don't think we have that many women listeners, let alone women listeners who would leave a review. But AuraBund Don't know who that is.

1:18:21 Aurabund one word Left us a review saying great insights. I just finished reading East of Eden for my book club and was absolutely amazed, traumatized, blown away by Steinbeck's deep dive into humanity. I love your conversations and it's helping me think more deeply about all the themes and characters in this story. I agree that it is a very masculine story but as a woman, there are many struggles with sin, choices, consequences that span all of humanity. I'm so glad I read this book. I think it will haunt me for a long time. And that consequences that span all of humanity. I'm so glad I read this book. I think it will haunt me for a long time. And that was left on itunes. Hey, who knew? That's awesome. What an excellent like feedback we got on our series from someone who's a total stranger. I like it. She's kin or a bun.

1:19:02 You're out there. You can thank you, sister for sure. Anyways, all that said, we love you, we appreciate you. Thanks for going on this journey with us. We're happy to just provide you, even if it's just a means of staying awake on a long drive. That's all we do. We're happy to do it. If we provide you some sick gear recommendations, some great stories to laugh at, smile at, stories to tell, that's even better, uh. But yeah, pat, anything for uh, for our kin out there until next time.