Pod Insights The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe 445: Coffee with Mom—They Had Their Way with My Right Hip About this episode America's Grandmother stops by to discuss the haunting melody of Adagio for Strings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRL447oDId4, dropping one's phone in the toilet, and Peggy's handsy masseuse.
Transcript 10,996 words · 6 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 A cup of coffee with my mom.
0:06 Speaker 01 Ahahaha.
0:11 Speaker 02 It's like you've never done this before, right?
0:14 Speaker 01 That was a maniacal laugh.
0:15 Speaker 02 I thought so.
0:16 Mike Rowe? Is there any other kind, really?
0:19 Speaker 01 Yeah, I think there are a lot of different kinds.
0:22 Mike Rowe? If you were an alien here on the planet trying to make sense of the species and you heard a laugh, any laugh, any kind of laugh from any person in any circumstance, you would conclude they were having some kind of failure, right?
0:37 Speaker 01 I mean, you don't think aliens have a sense of humor? You don't think they have that same sort of thing?
0:43 Mike Rowe? Legal ones, sure.
0:45 Speaker 02 Okay, you can't leave that.
0:48 Speaker 01 You've just got an eye roll.
0:49 Speaker 02 You cannot leave that.
0:55 Mike Rowe? I'm sure illegal aliens have a sense of humor as well. I've just never seen them laughing at anything, and I'm surrounded by them.
1:03 Speaker 02 Well, I guess they don't have much to laugh at these days.
1:06 Mike Rowe? I think it depends on the state. Out here in California, you know, I don't like the way this is starting at all.
1:14 Speaker 02 So here we all are, ready to start the podcast.
1:22 Mike Rowe? So as some of you may have heard, I went to Congress 16 years ago to testify before a House Subcommittee, and then again a year later to testify before a Senate Subcommittee about the need to reinvigorate the skilled trades with some kind of national effort that would make a more persuasive case for a lot of good jobs out there that didn't require a four-year degree. Well, 15 years later, I finally heard back from the government, and I am delighted to tell you about a program called BuildFreedom.us. This is the national PR campaign that MicroWorks has been talking about for a decade and a
2:05 Mike Rowe? half now, and it's focused on 300,000 or 400,000
2:10 Mike Rowe? Excellent jobs in the defense industrial base. These are the electricians and the plumbers and the steam finners and the pipe fitters and the CNC operators and the ship builders and so forth. But in this case, all of those trades are focused on building out our national infrastructure through the defense industrial base. So people who are building our autonomous weapons, our planes, our ships, it's only a matter of national security and it's a very big deal. And on a personal level, it's really been very gratifying. Build Freedom donated $10 million to MicroWorks. The money's available right now for you if you want to pursue a skill that's in demand and work in the defense industrial base. I think it's an opportunity of a lifetime.
2:54 Mike Rowe? Go to buildfreedom.us, see what's available and then apply for a scholarship from MicroWorks. The money's there, burning a hole in my pocket. Go get some. BuildFreedom.us. Hi, Mom.
3:07 Speaker 02 Hi, Mike. How you doing, hon?
3:09 Mike Rowe? Yeah, I'm fine. You look lovely today.
3:11 Speaker 02 I put my little necklace on and...
3:14 Mike Rowe? It's nice. Chuck, I see you went with a sort of a luau kind of thing?
3:19 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, ma'am. I'm just, I'm getting ready for, you know, my pseudo-vacation in a few days.
3:24 Mike Rowe? Oh, you're going back east, right? You're doing the thing we first discussed? The news we initially broke on this podcast regarding your ass and pellets?
3:34 Speaker 01 Yes, thanks for bringing it up. Yeah, there'll be, there'll be more of that. The lady who puts me in, the lady who puts them in me will be there as well, yes. And then I'm gonna spend my vacation at the beach with a sore butt.
3:49 Mike Rowe? Just so people understand, maybe there's some new listeners and they've got an image in their mind and it's not really accurate. So just very briefly, just explain to people what the pellets, your ass, and this trip all signify.
4:07 Speaker 01 Well, I am taking testosterone therapy, a hormone therapy, which is basically just they, they, they jam testosterone pellets under my skin in my buttocks and, and they slowly dissolve and provide me with the tea that I need to lift heavy objects and curse at people while I drive here in LA.
4:31 Mike Rowe? And remain vigorous and engaged and vital and all things.
4:34 Speaker 01 Yes. Yeah, I think we've said enough.
4:36 Mike Rowe? Good. I think so too. The sound in the background, it's my mother's computer, which obviously is on its last legs. We're minutes away from an explosion, Mom. I wish you well in the aftermath.
4:48 Speaker 02 Do you want me to get some more ice? I have ice pads under it so that it's not hot. Doesn't feel hot.
4:56 Speaker 01 If those aren't working, that's, I don't think more is gonna make it out. Well, it sounds like it's...
5:03 Mike Rowe? I think she's backing away from it.
5:04 Speaker 02 Well, you said it might explode.
5:07 Mike Rowe? Oh, that's not bad. Yeah, keep going, Mom. Get me on the room. How old is that thing?
5:11 Speaker 02 You know what? It's because it's backing away from the microphone.
5:15 Mike Rowe? Yeah.
5:16 Speaker 02 Yeah.
5:17 Mike Rowe? Yeah.
5:18 Speaker 02 Oh, you already knew that.
5:19 Speaker 01 That actually helps.
5:20 Mike Rowe? Yeah, that's, that's much better.
5:21 Speaker 02 There you go.
5:22 Mike Rowe? How old is your computer?
5:23 Speaker 02 It's about five years old, maybe. Maybe four.
5:28 Speaker 01 So that means seven. Usually people misjudge by two years.
5:31 Speaker 02 Oh, really?
5:32 Speaker 01 It's a well-known fact.
5:34 Speaker 02 I really am attached to my computer. I would hate to see it go.
5:39 Mike Rowe? Well, I mean, people, it happens all the time, you know?
5:42 Speaker 02 Well, I know, but, you know, there is a bit of a learning curve for a new computer. And some of your apps don't work right away. Something has to be done to them.
5:54 Speaker 01 Well, you don't have to get rid of this computer just because you get a new one. You could use the new computer strictly for coffees with Mom.
6:05 Speaker 02 Wow.
6:06 Speaker 01 But I'll bet you're gonna wanna use it all the time, cuz it'll be better.
6:09 Mike Rowe? Yeah, please, if you're gonna sell that to my dad, please have some sort of recording device going, so we can get his reaction to the notion of a dedicated computer that's used once a month. I just wanna see his head slowly, you know, explode like the very computer we're talking about.
6:30 Speaker 02 I would love to replace his computer. It is a dinosaur. He's had it for years. I won't say the brand because they might be your sponsor.
6:39 Mike Rowe? Why? No, we don't have any computer sponsors.
6:42 Speaker 02 Oh, it's called an Acer, and I'm sure it was very nice when it was new, but it's kind of old. And Dad really doesn't know his way around it, and I can't help him because I don't understand it either.
6:55 Mike Rowe? An Acer? What the... What is an Acer? Have you even heard of that, Chuck?
6:59 Speaker 01 Well, yeah, it's one higher than a kinger and two higher than a queener, at least at my poker game.
7:05 Speaker 02 Yeah, A-C-E-R. Oh, and it's a big one.
7:10 Mike Rowe? I'm sure, I'm sure. I mean, you're on a Mac, I'm on a Mac. Chuck, are you on a Mac?
7:16 Speaker 01 Yes, sir.
7:16 Speaker 02 I know, and I tell him he should be on a Mac. And when I got this new computer, I wanted to give him my old Mac, because, you know, they can talk to each other, and it talks to my phone, and... But, you know, when you're 92, it's hard to learn something old. I mean, something new.
7:38 Speaker 01 You know, it's probably hard to learn either.
7:42 Speaker 02 Well, I said 92 and really, and just went to old, but really, it's difficult to learn something new. It means reading pamphlets and stuff.
7:53 Mike Rowe? It's the worst. It's the absolute worst.
7:57 Speaker 02 It really is. Oh, before I forget, the other day I went on your website, and I heard you sing the National Anthem, and it was really so nice. You know, that's one of my pet peeves, hearing people stylize the National Anthem, and you hardly recognize it. It seems like almost a sacrilege.
8:20 Mike Rowe? You know, I wasn't looking for like easy likes or, you know, cheap praise, but wow, the response to that, so many people are so similarly annoyed with the way the Star Spangled Banner has become just totally performative. When I, you know, once upon a time, I remember going to baseball games with Nana and you, and I mean, everybody around us was singing it. It used to be participatory. Yep. And somehow or another, it's become totally performative to the point where even if you wanted to sing along, I mean, it's, it's challenging enough.
9:02 Mike Rowe? The song is rangy as hell and it's hard for people, especially when nobody around you is singing, to be the only one standing there singing. But the performers don't encourage participation at all. It just struck me as a shame. So yeah, thank you, Mom.
9:19 Speaker 02 Yeah. And the reason I went on to see it, I had forgot, I had been really busy and we were having dinner with friends and both of them, and they both happened to be former barbershop participants. They had seen me and one of them said, oh, I was so happy to hear Mike say that. People need to know how to sing the National Anthem and how not to sing it.
9:45 Mike Rowe? Did you tell me that somebody was in Denver at like the International Barbershop Event?
9:52 Speaker 02 Oh, yeah.
9:53 Mike Rowe? And they played it?
9:54 Speaker 02 Yes, Kepi, she loves barbershop. I mean, she's been a sweet Adelina her whole adult life. She has traveled to all of the performances. She's gone to Hawaii, she's gone, oh, she's traveled internationally. She just loves it. She said that... So what she does is she subscribes to something so that she's able to stream all of the competitions.
10:24 Speaker 01 Oh, right, yeah.
10:25 Speaker 02 And she went to one virtually out in Denver and she said, oh, and they they played Mike and she loved it because she.
10:35 Mike Rowe? They played me singing the National Anthem from the lake house where I just was.
10:42 Speaker 02 Well, I didn't see it, but she just said singing the National Anthems. Is that where you filmed it, at the lake house?
10:49 Mike Rowe? Yeah.
10:50 Speaker 02 Oh.
10:50 Mike Rowe? Yeah.
10:52 Speaker 02 When and you did that on the Fourth of July?
10:55 Mike Rowe? I did, yeah, yeah. Actually, I think I did it the day before. I was up there around Tahoe. Fallen Leaf Lake is the place where we go. Yeah, I wanted to post something and I just thought, well, why not, you know? I wonder if I can do it in under a minute. And as it turns out, yeah.
11:13 Speaker 02 You could. And it didn't seem rushed. Didn't feel rushed. I remember years ago, Rosie O'Donnell came. Oh, Lord, where was she? Was she in Baltimore? She was at a ball game and she did the National Anthem. And at the end of it, remember what she did?
11:30 Mike Rowe? She like gave it the finger, like flipped off the crowd?
11:33 Speaker 02 Oh, she grabbed her crotch.
11:35 Mike Rowe? Oh, that's right, yeah.
11:36 Speaker 01 I think you're conflating Rosie O'Donnell with Roseanne Barr. Roseanne Barr is the one who did that. She spit and she grabbed her crotch. She thought she was just pretending to be a baseball player because they do that a lot.
11:50 Speaker 02 Who's Rosie O'Donnell?
11:52 Speaker 01 Rosie O'Donnell used to be on The View and now she lives in Ireland because Trump is president, but she still weighs in on everything Trump does from Ireland, so it's not helping her.
12:02 Mike Rowe? And she's a well-known crotch grabber as well.
12:04 Speaker 02 And I'm sorry about that, Rosie O'Donnell. I hope you're not listening to this. It was Roseanne.
12:08 Mike Rowe? Oh, I'm sure she is. I'm sure Rosie O'Donnell hangs on every word the way I heard it.
12:13 Speaker 02 She might. You'd be surprised who listens.
12:15 Mike Rowe? When she's not spitting and grabbing herself, she's hanging on to.
12:19 Speaker 01 No, you're again, you're conflating Rosie O'Donnell with Roseanne Barr.
12:23 Mike Rowe? I don't think I am.
12:26 Mike Rowe? I think it's I I I'm living in a world where more than one Roseanne has the ability to grab their crotch and spit, um, you know. I wonder if Rosie's name is Roseanne. What do you think?
12:42 Mike Rowe? I don't know, but I know at O'Donnell, it does make sense. She would go back to Ireland. Anybody who's that disaffected, you know, would go back, I would think to their homeland. Where would you go, Mom? I'm pretty sure she was born in America. I I guess she was too, but O'Donnell is pretty Irish. You have to admit. Sounds it, yeah.
12:58 Speaker 02 I think so. And I wanted to thank you for sending me that, um, link just before we went on. I had time to listen to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings.
13:12 Mike Rowe? Oh, the link. Oh, man.
13:14 Speaker 02 But it wasn't, it was a choral group, strictly vocal. There was no accompaniment.
13:21 Mike Rowe? It was so beautiful. I stopped my ruck. I was out for a walk this morning, Chuck, and, uh, you know, just doom scrolling as you do. And I came across a recording, a recent recording of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings or Agnes, uh, Agnes Day, I think it was originally.
13:42 Speaker 02 Agnes Day, uh, Day.
13:44 Mike Rowe? Can you hum a few bars so we could recognize it?
13:48 Speaker 02 Oh, it's so slow and so.
13:55 Mike Rowe? Remember the end of Platoon when? Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. He's got his arms in the air. Yeah. Right. That's Barber. So the first time I heard Adagio for Strings, I was in the opera. So it would have been like 1984 and I went over to somebody's brownstone not far from the Lyric and four members of the orchestra were there, which is a little party, but they came armed, you know, two violins, cello, the, it was a classic string quartet and they played that in this brownstone and it was so simple and beautiful and it made me weep. I wasn't sad at all.
14:39 Speaker 02 Exactly, it will bring tears.
14:42 Mike Rowe? It's so amazing when music does that. I mean, some songs you cry because they make you so sad, you just can't believe it. But this doesn't make you sad. It just somehow coaxes the moisture out of your eyeballs.
14:56 Speaker 02 It transports you to every horrible scene you see on the news. You see children dying in Ukraine. I mean, it does. It takes you to those sad, dark places. It does me, maybe not you.
15:18 Mike Rowe? Well, not entirely. It is part of it. Obviously, it's evocative of calamity, but it's also just so beautiful. It's just so beautiful. And years later, I heard it live in DC. The National Orchestra played it. I just thought, gosh, it just can't get any better than that. And then I went down a rabbit hole years ago on Spotify, just listening to different versions of it. But this morning, I stumbled across a young choral group who did this in a cathedral somewhere. And you know what? We'll put the link in the notes, just so people can listen to this. It's that good. And it just made me, two things. It
16:01 Mike Rowe? made me sit on the curb and listen and cry a little. And then I sent you a link. And then I totally forgot about it. Isn't this a crazy world? You can be just absolutely thunderstruck when you're out for a ruck. You send your dear old mother a link and then you just, it was an hour ago, and I've already forgotten about it.
16:20 Speaker 02 It's because you're so busy, Mike.
16:22 Mike Rowe? Yeah, that's true.
16:24 Speaker 02 You're always multitasking. Which is a good thing.
16:32 Mike Rowe? What if, say, five years ago, some big oil company offered a promotion that gave you a chance to lock in the price of gasoline at $2.50 a gallon for the rest of your life? Would you have taken that deal? Or what if a nationwide grocery store had given you an opportunity to lock in the price of ground beef at, say, $2 a pound for as long as you live? Would you have taken that deal? Yeah, me too. Unfortunately, those deals were never on the table, but this one is. Today, as in right now, for a very, very limited time, Pure Talk is offering every American the opportunity to purchase unlimited talk, text, and data, along with a 30 gig hotspot,
17:16 Mike Rowe? for just $29.95 a month for life. Not your phone's life, your life. No contracts, no commitments, just a very rare opportunity to lock into a ridiculously low rate for unlimited talk, text, and data for the rest of your life. It's the Unlimited Data Plan from Pure Talk, and it will not be around for long. $29.95 a month for as long as you live. Taxes and fees not included. Some restrictions do apply. See puretalk.com for details. Offer ends 11/15/26. So chop, chop.
18:00 Mike Rowe? You know what I just did? I just wrote a commercial for Pure Talk, and the title's called "Multitasking." And it starts... These guys are basically letting me do virtually anything I want. It's the greatest commercial relationship. And I told the story the time I dropped my phone in the toilet at the airport.
18:25 Mike Rowe? And picked it up and wiped it off and just kinda went up, got on my flight and what else can you do? And um, so they've got this new phone that they're introducing, whatever, and, and I just thought, oh yeah, that's a good reminder that maybe it's time for people to upgrade their phone because I Googled number of people who drop their phone in toilet every year. And the estimates are between nineteen and twenty-five percent of all Americans do this every year. Millions and millions of people are in the can, not focused on the job at hand and the phone gets away from them. It totally happens. Sometimes it falls out of their pocket, you know, uh, when they're, you know, arranging things.
19:09 Speaker 02 Their back pocket, yeah. I can see how that would happen. I mean, I don't think that would ever happen to me, but I might lose my AirPods in the toilet. Yeah.
19:19 Speaker 01 Have they ever fallen out of your ears?
19:22 Speaker 02 Yes, they do from time to time. And so I try not to walk around with them in. I mean, I'll, I'll sit while I'm exercising and, and use it, or seated or in bed and do it, but I don't walk around normally.
19:37 Speaker 01 You may not have the correct little rubber parts.
19:40 Mike Rowe? Yeah, they come in different sizes.
19:42 Speaker 01 You could maybe get a bigger one that would fit.
19:45 Speaker 02 I don't have any rubber parts.
19:47 Mike Rowe? Oh, yeah.
19:48 Speaker 01 Oh, you got the old school one. Are those acers? Do you have the acer? Those look like beasers. Those are beasers.
19:55 Speaker 02 Oh, I feel like we should be playing adagio for strings while we do this.
19:59 Mike Rowe? It's so bad.
20:00 Speaker 02 Cause they're dying. My computer's dying.
20:03 Mike Rowe? You know what I saw yesterday? I was on, on my walk yesterday and a woman was walking toward me and she was on the phone and uh, she had a dog with her and her air bud fell out and she went to grab it and sorta caught it, but it bounced in her hand. And then she reached with her other hand and then basically she starts juggling this thing and she's running toward it and every time she goes to grab it, she just knocks it up in the air. And this goes on for like five steps and then she eventually just trips and falls on her face in the air.
20:37 Speaker 02 Oh, no.
20:39 Mike Rowe? I mean, I know, it's not, talk about adagio for strings. That should have been the soundtrack for it. It all happened very quick, but I'm sure for her, it was in slow motion.
20:47 Speaker 01 I would've gone with the Benny Hill theme, yeah.
20:50 Mike Rowe? Too on the nose. That's called Yakity Sax.
21:01 Speaker 01 Yes, that's right.
21:02 Speaker 02 Oh, Yakity Yak Yakity. Well, your father's not here at home right now because there is a new club formed and it's the Veterans Club. They've never really had such a thing before, a Veterans Club. So this is their first meeting at two o'clock today.
21:19 Mike Rowe? Um, they're everywhere. They're called the VFW and they've been around for many years.
21:24 Speaker 02 This is right here at the home for some people, maybe who can't go out. And I hope he can hear some of what's said. Maybe he'll sit in a place where, you know, he's close enough that he can hear it. But I'm, I'm going to tell you something you won't believe. We have a fairly new resident here. He's been here three months. He is 105. He moved into this facility at the age of 105.
21:56 Mike Rowe? Wow.
21:57 Speaker 02 And let me tell you, he's a veteran. He was on Omaha Beach at D-Day.
22:03 Speaker 01 No way.
22:05 Speaker 02 Yeah. Really amazing. And when I heard about it, I was down in physical therapy. And there's no gossiping there, but this was such an interesting story that a young man told me that he was taking care of somebody who was 105.
22:26 Mike Rowe? What kind of therapy were you in the midst of when this is happening?
22:29 Speaker 02 Oh, I'm having a problem with a little bit of bursitis in my right hip and a little bit of lower right back pain. I may be in the sacrum. But anyway, so they're going to fix me up. They're really good. I had bursitis when we first moved here and after about 10 or 12 treatments, it went away. I don't know, it might've gone away anyway, but.
22:57 Mike Rowe? So you're getting a massage, basically, while you're gossiping about this?
23:01 Speaker 02 Oh, my.
23:02 Mike Rowe? This old man?
23:04 Speaker 02 Oh Mike, it's more than a massage. I mean, it's a really good massage.
23:10 Mike Rowe? It's still a family show, Mom, so I don't want to hear any happy endings at the beginning here. Oh dear.
23:17 Speaker 02 I mean, they have to do it right on the skin. And so I have to lie on my side and reposition my clothes and um and then they do it on the skin and they massage and it really feels good and they use a they use warm, it's not oil, but it's a kind of a thin cream and it their hands just glide over it. It's really, I look forward to it. The first part of the treatment, it's an hour, the first part of the treatment is work. And I have to do all these exercises, leg raises and bridges and there are names for everything, I can't remember what they are. And then after that's all over, and then I get up and get on the new step and I, you know,
24:02 Speaker 02 I'll use the bands and a ball, all those uh PT toys. And then comes the good part.
24:11 Speaker 02 I get to lie down and they have their way with my right hip. And it feels pretty good. So after that, listen to this, what kind, is this TMI?
24:22 Mike Rowe? I'm hanging on every word, believe me. The audience, those remaining are riveted.
24:27 Speaker 02 Mean to create a visual for you, don't do that. Don't go there. All right, and then?
24:35 Mike Rowe? You're face down and your pants left side?
24:38 Speaker 02 I'm on my left side, yes, and my my pants are lowered. But there's a towel there in case, and there's a curtain that goes around so nobody else can see me. Because there are other, you know, people walking around.
24:52 Speaker 02 So, this is the really interesting.
24:54 Mike Rowe? And who is this therapist?
24:55 Speaker 02 I won't tell you his name, but he's.
24:58 Mike Rowe? Dirk Diggler.
24:59 Speaker 02 Actually, three of.
25:02 Mike Rowe? Dirk Diggler.
25:05 Speaker 02 Three of them have done this for me. One, two, three, four, actually, counting yesterday. But I've had maybe 10. Yesterday was my 10th treatment. But anyway, okay, and then comes this part. They are, have you ever had an EKG where they stick those leads on you? Probably not.
25:25 Speaker 01 Yeah, I've had it.
25:26 Mike Rowe? No, not yet. Chuck has one every morning.
25:28 Speaker 01 Every morning.
25:28 Speaker 02 That's a good thing.
25:29 Speaker 01 Rain or shine.
25:30 Speaker 02 Well, anyway, they stick these big round. Oh, there's a good name for them, but I don't know it. Leads. Anyway, they're connected to electrical wires.
25:39 Speaker 01 Yeah.
25:40 Speaker 02 Electrical wire. And so I've got three of them all around my hip and they're all stuck there. And then they put cold pack over that. Okay, so I'm sitting up at this point.
25:55 Speaker 01 Uh huh.
25:57 Speaker 02 And then they turn on the machine and it tingles. It's like, vzzzz, in a good way. Well, I do that for like 15 minutes. That timer always goes off too soon. It is so nice. And they hand me my phone so that I can listen to Adagio for strings.
26:19 Speaker 01 We're dropping the.
26:20 Speaker 02 Or something more provocative.
26:23 Speaker 01 I've experienced that before, Peg. I had a cyst in my wrist years ago and someone suggested acupuncture. And I didn't have a lot of money at that time. And so I went to a school, an acupuncture school, to let the students work on me. And of course, they have a teacher who's there the whole time. And they stuck all these needles around in my wrist, my arm, and then in my thigh and my calf, down my leg. And they had it dialed and they said, they turned the dial and said, you know, can you feel that? And I said, no, no, I don't feel that. Can you feel that? No, no, no. And they were like, you know, and they're all looking around. Can you feel that? Can you feel that? You know, it just kept going. I'm like, no, no. And then all of a sudden.
27:09 Speaker 01 All like, all of a sudden, it just went boom and both my arm and my leg went up in the air, up and down involuntarily, and I couldn't stop it. And they freaked out. The students were kind of going like, what, you know, what, what's going on? And they would start talking. There was a guy who was standing next to me and these two guys are fighting. Everybody's Asian but me. And they're speaking in a foreign language. And I go, I go to the guy next to me, I go, what are they saying? And he goes, I don't know, I don't speak Korean.
27:41 Speaker 01 And then anyway.
27:42 Speaker 02 So what happened?
27:43 Speaker 01 The instructor came back in and, you know, and they just pulled the cord. And then it just, you know, and then I was like, uh, what's his name in, uh, Skin Deep?
27:53 Mike Rowe? Oh.
27:55 Speaker 01 Ritter, John Ritter. In that scene and, you know, where he's got the electrolysis and he's shaking.
28:01 Mike Rowe? That was funny. That was a Blake Edwards movie.
28:03 Speaker 01 Oh, good one. Skin Deep.
28:05 Mike Rowe? Skin tight, something like that?
28:07 Speaker 01 I think it was Skin Deep, yeah. Very funny, great performance.
28:10 Speaker 02 It sounds like you were electrocuted, sort of, just to the point of almost.
28:15 Speaker 01 I couldn't feel it. They kept turning it up and up and up. And, and I don't know, I don't think it was working until it got to 11. And then.
28:24 Mike Rowe? Well, this might be a stretch, but it, it reminds me of the first time I saw the, the AccuJack being used. It's a, a mechanism in artificial insemination at this place called the Circle X Ranch.
28:40 Speaker 01 I was hoping that's not what it was about.
28:42 Mike Rowe? No.
28:44 Speaker 02 Oh.
28:44 Speaker 01 The AccuJack?
28:46 Speaker 02 I remember you talking.
28:46 Mike Rowe? I swear, it's, I tell the story sometimes, you know, when people hire me to go give speeches and stuff, you gotta loosen them up with a story. And I don't know if I've told you this, mom, I'm sure you've heard it, the one with, uh.
29:00 Speaker 02 Uh, I've, I remember the show.
29:04 Mike Rowe? Unsucker Command.
29:05 Speaker 02 There was one where I.
29:06 Mike Rowe? Yeah, it was a giant Brahman bull and they run that probe into his butt. It's like a foot and a half long. It looks like a deck of cards about the size. It's basically a battery that's attached to the back of this probe and the leads come out of that and they go into a device in this thing I call the tackle box from Amsterdam because it's full of lube and all kinds of other suspicious devices. Anyway, this cowboy, you get situated underneath the bull with a styrofoam cup and he turns that first knob and a little bit of electricity goes through that Accu-Jack and stimulates the prostate.
29:48 Mike Rowe? And that bull presents himself and it's stunning. And then the second knob, of course, increases the jolt and that's when, yeah, you know, if you're me, you're just down there with that styrofoam cup getting yelled at by a cowboy. Don't spill it, Mike. That's white gold, boy.
30:08 Speaker 02 I'm sure PETA loved that episode. I bet you got a lot of complaints.
30:12 Mike Rowe? Oh, my God. That file never left my boss's desk. We called it the triple A. It was the army of angry acronyms and PETA was near the top. PETA, HSUS, OSHA, the EPA. Even got a letter from the FBI once. Every acronym was offended by dirty jobs at some point in time. Anyway, I'm sorry, Mom. You were half naked, lying down in a, or in a sitting position and some guy with very smooth slick hands is rubbing your hip and your buttocks.
30:44 Speaker 02 Right. Well, no, we've gotten past that. Oh, I was wiped off. That was the third 15 minutes of my hour.
30:52 Mike Rowe? Wiped off?
30:54 Speaker 02 And then the last 15 minutes, well, you know, there's that creamy, oily stuff that they use and they wipe it off with a towel so that the leads will stick.
31:03 Mike Rowe? Yeah.
31:04 Speaker 02 The electrode things. And so I felt it sooner than you did so that I could say, oh, I feel that. You can turn it.
31:15 Speaker 02 But the thing is, if you stop too soon, you don't feel anything. It tapers off. So that you have to have a little bit of, you have to notice a little bit. Otherwise, it doesn't.
31:28 Mike Rowe? Premature voltage, I believe they call that.
31:31 Speaker 01 I don't believe they do. I don't believe that for a minute.
31:33 Speaker 02 I don't know.
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33:03 Speaker 02 But anyway, I was talking about that old 105-year-old.
33:09 Mike Rowe? Yes, you're gossiping with your gigolo down there in PT.
33:16 Speaker 02 Well, he mentioned him, but he didn't. He said, I can't give you any names, but.
33:21 Speaker 01 But he's 105. So that kind of rounded it down to maybe two people at most.
33:27 Speaker 02 I ask a lot of questions. He was telling me what he loves about his job. First of all, he loves the fact that he never has to take anything home with him, like patients, or whatever. And it has never affected his family life. And the second thing he loves about it is talking with the patients, the clients, the residents. He said, "They are so interesting and they have so many good stories." And that's when he told me about this elderly man. Well, of course, I mean, my curiosity was piqued. So I found out what the man's name was.
34:08 Speaker 02 And I called him because I'm doing another book. There's so many stories here, good stories. So I'm doing another book and I thought, "Wouldn't this be a nice story? You know, this 105-year-old veteran who was shot in the neck and still has shrapnel. It's a good story." So I called him up and I was really nice. And, you know, I told him that I was a neighbor and I said that, "I've written some books and it strikes me that you have a wonderful story. And I think it would be a story that people here would love, you know, would love for me to tell if you would share it with me."
34:53 Speaker 02 I said, "How would you feel about that?" And he said, "No." Unequivocally, "No." He said, "I've done this so many times. I've had television interviews, you know, all kinds of people have been curious about my experiences. I've been back to Normandy nine times," he said. "I've been on all kinds of shows." And he said, "I'm just tired of talking about it, to tell you the truth." And I said, "Well, I could come to your apartment and, or we could meet in the cafe and talk over a cup of coffee and it would be easy." He said, "No, no, I've just gotten too old for this now.
35:37 Speaker 02 You know, it's too much, it's too hard." So I thanked him for talking with me and I said, I am your neighbor. I hope to meet you when we're out and about sometime. So, next time I went down to P T.
35:55 Speaker 02 There's this elderly man sitting and talking with one of the therapists. His back is to me and she's asking him about, I don't know if it was his previous, his first visit or not, but you know, they like to get your background physically, what you've been through and so forth. And I heard him say, well, I was shot through the neck and I have some shrapnel. And I knew right away who he was because he, you know, he looked old from behind. So then they came out to get me. So then I walked in and I stopped walking because I could still hear him talking.
36:35 Speaker 02 So what he had said to me was, anything you want to know about me, you can find on the internet. All of those interviews that I've done were televised and they're all out there. So sure, I can get that part, but I would love to sit down with him and get his personal story, you know.
36:59 Mike Rowe? Did you go online though?
37:01 Speaker 02 I did, I went online and I read everything there was to read about him, but there's not a lot of personal stuff. And I would like to know why he's here and what his family thought about what he did. And did he share all of the horrors of that day, you know, with his family previously?
37:22 Speaker 02 Because the other story I did about Chick in my other book was so well received. People loved it. And the fact that when I interviewed him and he shared everything with me, his wife was sitting feet away in another room, but I could see her. She was drinking coffee and listening. And when I left that day, she said, Peggy. And Chick was in his nineties. She said, all these years, he has never, ever told me those stories that he just shared with you.
37:58 Speaker 02 And she hugged me and she said, "Thank you. I'm glad to know that." I thought, "Isn't that amazing? All the years they'd lived together and he had sons and a daughter, never shared those stories with his children or his wife." I'm just wondering if this fellow is similarly, you know, disposed that he's...
38:24 Speaker 02 But now, of course, he has shared it.
38:27 Mike Rowe? That's the thing that, I mean, that's why I'm chuckling. It's so odd. Like, I'm doing this thing with, uh... My friend Angela Roberts runs US Money Reserve, and she's very, very interested in veterans. In fact, they did this whole... This, uh, series of coins commemorating famous World War II battles. And, separate and apart from our relationship, she asked me last year if I would present a set of these coins to a guy named, uh, Charles Byrd, who she had read about. He was about to turn a hundred years old. And he was one of the guys who went to fight in the Second World War
39:11 Mike Rowe? and left high school to do it. They were that young. And so, he went and he fought and did his time and came home and went to work in the coal mines and did that for forty or fifty years. Never finished high school. And so, he winds up going back to get his diploma and he graduates with his great-granddaughter or his granddaughter, I don't remember which.
39:38 Speaker 02 Oh, what a nice story.
39:40 Mike Rowe? So my friend Angela sees this and says, "We should just go give him these coins that we make and sell, just, you know, just to say thanks. We don't need to make a big deal of it." And I was like, "Well, actually, I think we do need to make a deal of it. I think we should bring cameras and I think we should get to know him and I think I should present him with these coins, you know, and thank him on your behalf." And, and so we did that. And we shared the video and everybody loved it. I did it with another guy. What was his name, Chuck? Saros, George Saros.
40:15 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah, right.
40:16 Mike Rowe? Yeah. And he was at Normandy. And he's a hundred and one now. And so... You know, hearing this story about a reluctant hundred and five year old. It's just so like, I never think about it. I think about it in both ways. On the one hand, these men spend their lives with all of this bottled up inside and they never talk about it. And on the other hand, once they start talking about it, we're so desperate to tell their stories and we assume that they're just standing by eager to have their stories told. Maybe they're not, you know, I mean, who, who's to really say? And so you've got a guy who's a hundred and five, living there. He's your neighbor.
41:00 Mike Rowe? He was at Omaha Beach. That's the first wave. That was.
41:06 Speaker 02 He was in the second wave.
41:08 Mike Rowe? Okay, so.
41:10 Speaker 02 In one of these interviews, I heard him say that five thousand, seven hundred and some people were killed. It's just hard to imagine. I would like to know how that experience has impacted the rest of his life. I mean, I know that's a very broad question and there are so many different aspects, so many different ways to go with it. But I wonder if he's had any PTSD.
41:37 Mike Rowe? I'm sure.
41:38 Speaker 02 It probably wasn't a.
41:39 Mike Rowe? I wonder if he's outlived his family.
41:41 Speaker 02 Exactly, because if he's a hundred and five, his children could be eighty five.
41:46 Mike Rowe? You just never think about that.
41:48 Speaker 02 I could be his daughter.
41:50 Mike Rowe? You probably are.
41:51 Speaker 02 Oh, here's a nice angle. Here's an angle.
41:57 Mike Rowe? So what's the plan? You've already embarked on what sounds like an eavesdropping campaign. Do you think it'll progress to full on stalker as you, as you attempt to bag this big hit for your next big book?
42:12 Speaker 02 He was gracious enough to take my name and my phone number, or he said he was taking it. Maybe he didn't really write it down. If I had it to do over again, I would use another approach. I would just be neighborly, you know? And I would just be his neighbor here, a friend.
42:31 Mike Rowe? Did it occur to you to say, so, uh, so you're familiar with Dirty Jobs? You watch a lot of TV there?
42:37 Speaker 02 Oh, you know what? And I thought, I'm not above using Mike. So I said to him, um, have you watched much TV?
42:46 Mike Rowe? Good start.
42:49 Speaker 02 And he said, "No, I like sports. If I watch anything, it's sports." So much for Dirty Jobs. You didn't do many sporty things on there.
43:01 Mike Rowe? No. I did sing the National Anthem at a minor league ballgame.
43:06 Speaker 02 You did?
43:08 Mike Rowe? Took batting practice, yeah, with those guys.
43:11 Speaker 02 You did it well. Yeah, and you slid headfirst into base.
43:15 Mike Rowe? Into second base, I did, and that hurts. Boy, they don't really, you know, you just see, you grow up watching grown men slide in baseball. You think, "Oh, yeah, look at that." Yeah, I mean, there's a point where you get where you just shouldn't be throwing yourself headfirst into the dirt. It's very violent.
43:30 Speaker 02 Exactly, and we were out there that night. We are worried about you. I also worried about you singing the National Anthem a cappella, but you did well.
43:42 Mike Rowe? Thanks.
43:43 Speaker 02 Yeah.
43:44 Mike Rowe? I appreciate it.
43:45 Speaker 01 What is that noise?
43:46 Mike Rowe? That's the computer going into its final death rattle.
43:49 Speaker 01 It sounds, what's happening?
43:51 Speaker 02 No, there's a machine outside.
43:55 Mike Rowe? Just a noise machine?
43:56 Speaker 02 Oh, no, they're probably sweeping up the grass or sucking up leaves. My windows are all closed.
44:06 Mike Rowe? Okay, just curious.
44:08 Speaker 02 Oh, I guess they just stopped. Sorry.
44:12 Mike Rowe? Chuck hears everything.
44:13 Speaker 02 I don't know about that, but there are a lot of, a lot of old people here. I have a friend who's 101. I'm sorry about that.
44:24 Mike Rowe? Why? She's 101. She'd be proud of that.
44:26 Speaker 02 She's 101, and her name is Madeline, and she is the cutest thing you ever saw. Sharp, I mean, mentally, she is 20. She is just so sharp. Well, I met her the other day. She was out for her daily walk, which, and it's very ambitious. She goes through all the neighborhoods. 101. In fact, I did a post about her. I happened to be sitting across from an elevator, talking with another friend when she came by, and we always, always talk when I see her.
45:05 Speaker 02 After a minute or two, she said, "Oh, well, I have to go because she has a significant other," she said, "and he worries about me when I'm out by myself. He's worried I'm gonna get picked up."
45:21 Speaker 02 And I said, "And rightly so." And then she said, "He's only ninety-six. I'm a cougar."
45:32 Speaker 02 I said, "Madeline, are you living in sin?" And she said, "Oh, Peggy, I don't think I would remember how."
45:41 Mike Rowe? You should find, there's an old song. Gosh, I wonder when it was written. It was probably written a hundred years ago called "Paddlein' Madeline Home."
45:51 Speaker 02 Oh, yeah, I know that. Oh, she likes that song. She said that's her claim to fame.
45:55 Mike Rowe? Yeah. Yeah. "First I drift with the tide, then pull for the shore. I hug her and kiss her and paddle some more. Then I keep paddlin' madeline home until I find a spot where we're alone. Oh, she never says no, so I kiss her and go. Paddlein' madeline, sweet, sweet madeline. Paddlein' madeline home."
46:18 Mike Rowe? And it's so sing-songy, but when you really think about it, this is just a metaphor for a slut, really, going out and getting her ashes hauled. I mean, really, that, so many of those nice old songs.
46:34 Speaker 02 Oh, she did say, "I never say no," so that's what makes you think that.
46:38 Mike Rowe? "She never says no, so I kiss her and go. Paddlein' madeline," like, what does paddlin' madeline mean? Like, I mean, literally, like, I guess you're in a canoe and you're just paddling her home. But it doesn't take a filthy mind to just take it one click further and realize you're just, it's just the oldest story in the world.
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48:44 Speaker 02 Well, you want to hear, going right to the naughty place, Dad and I were finishing brunch on Sunday morning.
48:52 Speaker 02 And this elderly man walks past our table and stops at the table in front of us, where there are three women sitting.
49:04 Speaker 02 And he said, "How would you ladies like to see my walking step?"
49:10 Speaker 02 Well, I couldn't see him at the minute, at the moment. And I thought, oh my God, that has to be the most clever pickup line ever. How would you like to see? Well, apparently they said yes, and he did have one.
49:26 Mike Rowe? I'm sure he did.
49:26 Speaker 02 So he's... He had one, he had carved it himself. He makes walking sticks and sells them at the bazaar, at the Christmas bazaar.
49:38 Mike Rowe? Nothing says Christmas like a hand carved walking stick.
49:45 Speaker 02 And it was all, um, what do you call that? Like twirled?
49:50 Mike Rowe? Twirled and knotted, corkschewed?
49:52 Speaker 02 Yes. And it was very attractive. But you hear a lot of stuff here.
50:00 Mike Rowe? I'm just thinking that panel, I can't get over that. I'm just thinking, since you invoke keppy and barbershop and the old songs. It's amazing, Chuck, the stuff we used to sing. Oh, yeah. That would have gotten us immediately canceled today.
50:18 Speaker 02 Hey, guess what? Course of the Chesapeake was here two weeks ago.
50:22 Speaker 01 No way.
50:24 Speaker 02 Sang on a Sunday afternoon. Kevin King.
50:28 Mike Rowe? Oh, yeah.
50:29 Speaker 02 Directed. And remember back in the day when there were like a hundred of you?
50:35 Mike Rowe? Yeah.
50:35 Speaker 02 There were nineteen.
50:37 Mike Rowe? Oh, wow.
50:38 Speaker 02 Just nineteen. And there were a couple who looked like maybe they were in their sixties. And everybody else looked like everybody else here at home.
50:49 Mike Rowe? Wow.
50:50 Speaker 02 They were all elderly. But you know what? They sounded okay. There were a couple of places where, and I'm no expert, I could hear wasn't quite right. But for the most part, they sounded pretty good. Kevin worked so hard to get the best out of those guys. And really, they sang with feeling. Um, it's a good thing. And the audience loved them.
51:14 Speaker 01 Well, Kevin had the best teacher.
51:16 Mike Rowe? Yeah, he did.
51:17 Speaker 02 Yes, I know he did.
51:18 Speaker 01 We sang with that chorus back in the seventies and eighties, I guess, or?
51:23 Mike Rowe? We went there, seventy-nine, seventy-eight, seventy-nine, eighty.
51:27 Speaker 01 Yeah.
51:29 Mike Rowe? Longer than that, actually.
51:31 Speaker 02 That's where Mike learned to drink beer afterwards. They all went out to a bar somewhere and.
51:36 Speaker 01 Yeah. Johnny. That's where I learned to drink coffee. Gave this. That was the only thing they had to drink at the rehearsals. Was, you know, a big pot of coffee, like no water, nothing. Yeah.
51:47 Speaker 02 Keep every.
51:47 Speaker 01 Yeah.
51:48 Speaker 02 Keep you awake.
51:49 Mike Rowe? Yeah, I think there are probably still some younger men in there. I just think they can't come out for sing outs like that. You know, it was always, like the chorus would do those events year round and very few. I I didn't participate in most of them because I either had a job or was busy or or whatever, but. It's an important thing there. I know this is an obvious thing to say, but when a chorus comes in, when a magic act comes in, a piano player comes in, even dancers come in. I mean, that's a big deal, I would think, for the residents.
52:23 Speaker 02 It is. It's the Sunday entertainment. Um, we have concerts on Sundays. They're screened. They don't allow just anybody to come just because they think they can, you know. Old people are easy. Old people are not easy. They've been around. They've seen a lot. And as desperate that as some of them are to be entertained, they are discriminating. We've had some excellent entertainment. Actually. A lot of people would like to come here who are not worthy.
52:59 Mike Rowe? You mean in terms of their talent?
53:03 Speaker 02 Of of performance. Yeah.
53:04 Mike Rowe? I'll tell you, man, I Chuck, I don't know if this is on your mind at the moment, but just to bring all of these elements together. One of the very first times we ever sang in public in a barber shop quartet. Back when we called ourselves the Clipper Four.
53:21 Speaker 01 Yeah.
53:22 Mike Rowe? Was in a nursing home. Do you remember where it was?
53:26 Speaker 01 No, I don't. I don't remember where it was.
53:29 Speaker 02 Wait a minute, who were you, the four of you?
53:32 Mike Rowe? It was me, Chuck, Mike and Bobby.
53:34 Speaker 02 You and Chuck?
53:35 Speaker 01 Mike Price, Bob Coffin.
53:38 Speaker 02 Oh, before you, before you changed your name?
53:41 Mike Rowe? Yeah, we were called the Clipper Four. I think it might have been like Stella Maris or Stella Maris.
53:47 Speaker 02 I forgot that. I don't even remember that. The Clipper Four.
53:51 Speaker 01 We picked the Clipper Four. You know, we started singing and then all the older barber shoppers were like, you know, there was a Clipper Four back in, you know, ought seven or whatever. So we changed our name. Yeah, we had no idea.
54:04 Mike Rowe? It's a semi-formal, F O U R M A L, because we were terribly clever.
54:09 Speaker 02 Yes.
54:10 Mike Rowe? I know, it's a rough picture. It's a bad picture.
54:12 Speaker 02 I have your picture.
54:13 Mike Rowe? Yeah, you put in one of your books too. I'm wearing a powder blue tuxedo like.
54:18 Speaker 01 I bought those secondhand online. Or actually not online, out of a catalog for.
54:24 Speaker 02 And tennis shoes makes you wonder who wore them.
54:29 Mike Rowe? We just thought anybody, anywhere would be delighted to hear us under any circumstances because we were young and just full of confidence and we wore red v-neck sweaters and black trousers. And we got a gig in a nursing home for like $20. And we were standing there singing everything we knew. Does your mother know you're out, Cecilia? Does she know that I'm about to steal you? I don't even, we might have sung Madeline, Madeline at home.
55:01 Speaker 02 Oh my God, I thought you were gonna say feel ya.
55:08 Speaker 02 So, tell me this, were you any good?
55:11 Mike Rowe? In hindsight, no, I doubt it. We thought we sounded pretty great and.
55:17 Speaker 01 We, we did come in fifth in the first competition we were in. We won novice quartet.
55:22 Mike Rowe? Oh yeah, we, yeah, we did.
55:23 Speaker 01 Yeah, so.
55:25 Speaker 02 So you were better than you remember.
55:27 Mike Rowe? Well, but we, yes. No, actually, I remember us being tremendous and I know we weren't. We were not that. We were not. But we were just too young to understand that we were being given a lot of grace by people because we were young. Had we been all grown up, just bursting out in a song in a restaurant, we probably would have been beaten to death and deservedly so. Uh, but we were young, so it was like, oh. You're like, oh, we hear somebody, uh, is having an anniversary. So of course we would just walk over and say, perhaps you would like to hear us sing when your old wedding ring was new. And so we would. And they would clap, but I think mostly because they were,
56:11 Mike Rowe? you know, awkward and it was weird and maybe some people found it delightful. I don't know. All I know is we sang everything we knew at this nursing. All the time. And in the front row, they had wheeled a guy in early on and he was just as old as a person could be. And he was sleeping. It was difficult to know. He wasn't moving as eyes were closed. There were machines next to him and there were tubes coming out of the machines and vanishing under his gown. Right? So he's connected to things and uh, fluids are draining and so forth. And I mean, he's just in a heck of a state and he's about, he's probably four feet in front of us.
56:56 Mike Rowe? And we're on a little stage and we're singing to this room full of old people. And we sang everything we knew. And so for an encore, we sang the song that the course of the Chesapeake closed every meeting with, which was nearer my God to thee. And it didn't occur to us until we got about.
57:18 Speaker 02 Oh, God.
57:19 Mike Rowe? A bit on the nose, you might say. We're in Evan's waiting room, singing "Near My God To Thee" and looking out at these faces and they're looking up at us and it was so clear in my mind that we, um, yeah, I mean, we just never should have begun that song. But it got so unbelievably tragic. I think in the second verse, it's a solo and Chuck is singing, right? That was you. Though like a wanderer, the sun gone down. And the three of us are behind him, just oohing our different parts.
58:01 Mike Rowe? And I swear to God, Mom, right in the middle of a, right at the end of a phrase. During, during a breath, it was, I think it was. Oh, my God, nearer my God to Thee. Right. And then we would put our hands on each other's shoulders and then sing. And then come in. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, really sweet. In that pause. Yeah. The old man with the tubes that had been wheeled in, in front of us, exploded. And there was really no other, I mean, technically it was a sneeze. It was something like this. He was like this and he just went.
58:46 Mike Rowe? Ah, yeah. Yeah. And. You tell the rest. His ass came out of the chair. I mean, it was a violent, violent sneeze. And at that point, we had thought, he may have been dead the whole time. We didn't know. It was a Weekend at Bernie's moment. But the old man erupts and out of his, I don't know if it was out of his mouth or out of his nose. Oh, no, it had to be his mouth. It was, it was big. Yeah, it was something about the size of an oyster. Like with its own circulatory system. Hmm. Came flying out of that old man and smacked right into the ground, right at Chuck's feet. And rolled a little bit before it stopped.
59:29 Mike Rowe? And I got my hand on Mike's shoulder.
59:34 Mike Rowe? We look at this thing, it looked like, like this thing, an alien that popped out of the guy's belly and then just took off running. It just defied imagination. Everything about it was so stunning to hear him explode and then to see this, this thing that looked like an organ to fly out of his mouth. And then, of course, he immediately goes right back into whatever. To comatose. Right. He's out, you know. And so now we have about six bars left to sing very quietly. And when you're trying to go, ooh, ooh, ooh, and all, all, all you're doing is smiling, you can't even really make it a human sound. It was more like.
1:00:22 Mike Rowe? So for Chuck, so we're like in a semicircle behind him and Chuck is just out there like doing this solo in front of all these people with something that could be an organ lying at his feet with his three best buddies behind him, laughing as they're trying to sing. And we finally get to amen and it's just, ah, then we just wave and ran off the stage. I don't know if we got our 20 bucks, but my God.
1:01:00 Speaker 02 Well, it sounds like you were worth every dollar. You know what? You have to remember that when you say nursing home, there are different divisions, different levels. Independent living is where we live and they are people who are up and about and help, pretty healthy.
1:01:24 Mike Rowe? This guy was not independent for sure. He wasn't.
1:01:27 Speaker 02 And then there's assisted living and then there's the care center where they do everything for you. And then there's memory care. So you were probably good enough for.
1:01:40 Mike Rowe? Somewhere between memory care. Assisted living. And assisted living. Yeah. And comatose. We were not quite. I don't think that was the independent crowd.
1:01:51 Speaker 02 No, no, I don't think so. Because there are expectations from the independent crowd. Oh my, that was a funny story. I'm sorry it wasn't recorded. I would like to have seen that.
1:02:08 Mike Rowe? What I wouldn't pay.
1:02:09 Speaker 01 Not quite the same thing.
1:02:11 Speaker 02 Oh yes, well, it's not quite the same.
1:02:12 Mike Rowe? That really is something.
1:02:13 Speaker 02 No, I would like to.
1:02:14 Mike Rowe? Man, maybe the AI will have a way to figure out how to take your memory and turn it into a, you know.
1:02:21 Speaker 02 Oh, that's scary. I don't know if I want to do that.
1:02:24 Speaker 01 I would like to see that, and I would like to see when we performed at the, um, at the Lyric Theater in Baltimore. To see if we were any good at all.
1:02:36 Speaker 02 I was there.
1:02:37 Speaker 01 Oh, good.
1:02:38 Speaker 02 You were. Well, of course, I was a little bit.
1:02:41 Speaker 01 Right.
1:02:41 Speaker 02 I can't be objective. A little bit biased.
1:02:44 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:02:45 Speaker 02 But I thought you guys really did a nice job, and the audience loved you. Of course, they were probably all family members of the chorus in the audience. Well, listen, do you remember when your grandfather retired from the county? Now, for years, he was an electrical contractor in business for himself, and then after he retired, Baltimore County hired him to be an inspector, an electrical inspector. So I don't know how many years, maybe 10 years, he worked for them.
1:03:18 Speaker 02 People loved him, and when he retired, this big group got together and had a dinner and party over at, I think it was Papa's restaurant.
1:03:29 Mike Rowe? Quick sidebar, Mom, just so people understand why everybody loved Pop so much. I mean, there were a lot of reasons. He couldn't have had an enemy. Everybody loved him, but during that 10-year period, Chuck, he inspected all of the rides on the Midway. For any carnival in Maryland, including the state fair.
1:03:51 Speaker 01 Right, I remember you telling me this, yeah.
1:03:53 Mike Rowe? You know, there, he was uncorruptible, un-bribable, but it didn't stop the carnies from giving him large stacks of tickets, free tickets to maybe, for the rides, yeah. And so, we had free tickets.
1:04:09 Speaker 02 For the rides.
1:04:10 Mike Rowe? For any ride on any carnival midway, and that was like in the early days of like, what's a perk? That's a perk. If you're that guy's grandson, that's a perk.
1:04:23 Speaker 02 And isn't it a shame that all of our children were afraid to go on rides?
1:04:28 Mike Rowe? Bumper cars were great.
1:04:29 Speaker 02 The only ride, the only thing you took advantage of was bumper cars. They loved the bumper cars.
1:04:35 Mike Rowe? Oh, yeah. The, it was called Deglars.
1:04:38 Speaker 02 They wanted you to just stay on. I don't think they had a roller coaster at the fair. Did they?
1:04:45 Mike Rowe? No, yeah, they totally had a roller coaster.
1:04:46 Speaker 02 That was the name of the, the business that provided the rides was Deglars.
1:04:51 Speaker 01 Peggy, you were telling a story about your dad's retirement, right?
1:04:56 Speaker 02 Yes, and so, it was at Papa's. And he didn't know it, but I had arranged ahead of time for you guys to come over after dinner and entertain, and you sang.
1:05:09 Mike Rowe? I do remember that.
1:05:10 Speaker 02 Some really nice music, and he really did enjoy it.
1:05:13 Mike Rowe? There's a picture floating around the internet somewhere of that.
1:05:16 Speaker 02 Really?
1:05:18 Mike Rowe? Well, it's somebody, it's in one of your books.
1:05:20 Speaker 01 Is it?
1:05:21 Mike Rowe? And somebody, uh.
1:05:22 Speaker 02 Oh, yeah. Oh, I probably have it.
1:05:26 Mike Rowe? I guess just scanned it and put it on the internet, but yeah, you can find that out there.
1:05:31 Speaker 02 Yeah. You weren't dressed up. I mean, you had your street clothes on, as I recall. And, uh, but they loved you. Yeah, you were breath of fresh air.
1:05:42 Mike Rowe? And nobody exploded in front of us, so it was a big night for us. Got out with no casualties.
1:05:48 Speaker 02 I think dad gave you ten dollars when you.
1:05:54 Speaker 02 We were not extravagant people.
1:05:58 Speaker 02 And you looked at it and you said, that's all right, Dad. We're okay.
1:06:03 Speaker 01 This one's on the house.
1:06:05 Mike Rowe? Two fifty apiece, two dollars and fifty cents apiece.
1:06:08 Speaker 02 Yeah, this is on the head.
1:06:10 Speaker 01 You could have, in those days, yeah, you could have gotten a hamburger.
1:06:13 Speaker 02 You could have gotten a hamburger.
1:06:16 Speaker 02 Or a milkshake.
1:06:17 Mike Rowe? Well, you know.
1:06:18 Speaker 02 And you turned it down.
1:06:19 Mike Rowe? It couldn't be bought.
1:06:20 Speaker 02 No, you couldn't be bought. I can't believe, look, it's, we've been on here over an hour.
1:06:27 Mike Rowe? Yeah, yeah, we should probably let you go. I know you got, you know, you're impossible to get a hold of anymore.
1:06:33 Speaker 02 I know, I'm always at a meal or getting ready for the meal or on my way to the meal.
1:06:38 Mike Rowe? I can't believe you guys don't weigh four hundred pounds. All you do is eat over there. It's just a, a movable feast.
1:06:46 Speaker 02 Well, we go to dinner. At four o'clock, we eat at four o'clock, and I'll tell you why. We sleep later than we used to, so we eat brunch and then we eat dinner. We only eat two meals a day. That's why we don't weigh four hundred pounds.
1:07:02 Mike Rowe? But they're three hours apiece.
1:07:07 Speaker 02 I know. Because evenings are busy. There are a lot of activities going on in the evenings. There are games, you know. Shuffleboard and pool and all kinds of card games and table games. That's the main event.
1:07:27 Mike Rowe? I just, I mean, it's just, I'm just saying in passing, from my perspective, it's very strange to be at this point in life. And getting grief from you my whole life for never calling or not calling enough. Cause you, you always used to, I'd call you at home and you were always there. And now I call you and you can never, you just never pick up. You're, you're just always, always in the middle of stuff.
1:07:49 Speaker 02 Because I turn my phone off when I go into the dining room. And you know, if you're playing cards or another game, Rummy Cube or Pinocchio or whatever. It's rude to have a conversation. I could say, hi, Mike, I'll call you back later. That's why texting is good to set up a call time.
1:08:07 Mike Rowe? Good tip.
1:08:07 Speaker 02 I'm going to call you at three thirty, Mom.
1:08:10 Mike Rowe? Chuck, jot that down. Text in advance if you want to talk to my mother.
1:08:16 Speaker 02 But listen who's talking, the times I've called you.
1:08:20 Mike Rowe? Or drop my data note on his Acer. Right on.
1:08:25 Speaker 02 He's not faithful about opening it. I think he probably would be a little more responsive on another computer.
1:08:35 Mike Rowe? All right, well, good luck with your next masseuse, massage, whatever's going to be happening and all the electronic being running near you.
1:08:45 Speaker 02 Okay, yeah, that's tomorrow.
1:08:48 Mike Rowe? Chuck, wake up, buddy.
1:08:50 Speaker 01 I'm awake, man. I'm just waiting for you to say goodbye. That's all.
1:08:53 Mike Rowe? All right, goodbye.
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