483: Peggy Rowe—Mother's Day with Mom… LIVE!

In this special LIVE edition of Coffee with Mome, Mike heads home for Mother's Day and sits down with the woman who taught him everything worth knowing — his mom, Peggy Rowe. Recorded in front of a live audience at the place Peggy refers to as The Home, this episode is filled with the warmth, wit, and wonderfully sharp observations fans have come to expect from America's Grandmother. From family stories and hard-earned wisdom to laughter that only comes from decades of shared history, Mike and Peggy talk about motherhood, growing older disgracefully, and the strange adventure of becoming a beloved public figure later in life. It's funny, heartfelt, occasionally mischievous, and exactly the kind of conversation you'd hope to overhear around the kitchen table on Mother's Day.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:03Mike Rowe?

  Hello friends, it's me Mike Rowe. And what we have here is a very special episode of The Way I Heard It, a bonus episode, just in time for Mother's Day. Starring, of course, my mother. Chuck is not with us for this particular conversation because it took place back in Baltimore a couple of weeks ago. I was back there on business, and if you follow me on Facebook, you know my mom has been dealing with some health issues here in the beginning of the year. She's through it all now, thank God, and was just starting to feel like her normal self again, when this guy, Tom, who runs marketing over at Erickson Senior Living, invited her to speak at their annual event, which they were having in Baltimore.

• 0:44Mike Rowe?

  You know, administrators come from all over, from these different facilities. And he invited my mom to speak to the group. And then he heard I was in town, and he said, "Hey, you know, if you want to join your mom, that'd be fun." And I said, "Well, if you record it, so I can use it on my podcast, that'd be great." And he said, "Sure." Now, truth is, I'd have done it anyway, but they had cameras, so they set them up, and they recorded the whole thing, and I'm so glad they did, because this is a very funny conversation. I'm gonna post the whole thing on YouTube as well. But we also have the podcast for you today, because Mother's Day is right around the corner, and because my mom, my mom's a delight. You know, this is one of the best crowds I've been in front of in years, and for a while

• 1:26Mike Rowe?

  there, I, you know, I just kind of thought it was me, because I'm, you know, sort of famous and whatnot, but it's, it's not. It's my mother. They love my mother. She's become a legend of sorts, not just at Oak Crest, but throughout Erickson, and I think in senior living communities all over the place. Her book, Oh No, Not The Home, is popping up all over the place in these communities, which I just, which I love to see. Anyway, I thought it would be a fun Mother's Day event of sorts, because it felt like an event I've been wanting to do, a live podcast, since the first episode. How appropriate that I finally got a shot to do it, with me, mother.

• 2:06Mike Rowe?

  She is her normal delightful self, and I will prove that to you on this, our bonus Mother's Day episode, starring the one and only Peggy Rowe, right after this.

• 2:23Mike 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

• 3:06Mike Rowe?

  half now, and it's focused on 300,000 or 400,000 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 shipbuilders, 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. BuildFreedom donated $10 million to MicroWorks. The money's available right now for you, if you want to pursue a skill that's in demand

• 3:50Mike Rowe?

  and work in the defense industrial base. I think it's an opportunity of a lifetime. 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.

• 4:17Mike Rowe?

  Thank you, everybody, for inviting us here. Thank you, Mom, for agreeing to see me. It's not exactly a secret anymore, but the only time I get to catch up with my mom these days is if I book her for an event

• 4:37Mike Rowe?

  or interview her for a podcast or something. This morning, you drove down, you met me. We sat in the studio. She was interviewed for a national program. Took two hours. Put her in a black car, whisked her back down here. Then we came over here for this, which is delightful. So, how's it going? What's it like being Peggy Roth?

• 5:02Speaker 01

  It's very tiring, thank you. You people are so lucky. I hope you realize how lucky you are. You get to work with the elderly every day. You get to listen to whining and complaining.

• 5:20Speaker 01

  But then you look forward to this event every year. Is it yearly? Every other year. Every other year.

• 5:28Mike Rowe?

  It's called building anticipation.

• 5:30Speaker 01

  But it's something to look forward to. And then you look up at the podium and you see an old lady. I'm sorry if you're disappointed.

• 5:42Mike Rowe?

  I was just saying to Tom backstage, you know, there are not a ton of silver linings in the whole COVID debacle, but early on, suddenly, you know, my mom and dad were at Oak Crest and I couldn't come see them. And I missed them, and of course, I was worried. And then there was this new thing called Zoom that I didn't quite understand, but felt like a lifeline. And I sent you a link. And we had a cup of coffee, my mom and I. We had a catch-up. And 45 minutes in, I was laughing so hard, I had tears coming down my face. I don't know if you enjoyed it or not, but you stayed on the call the whole time, which I took as...

• 6:25Speaker 01

  And I filed my nails.

• 6:28Mike Rowe?

  Piling her nails. Unbelievable. Anyway, I hit the record button on that call and I posted our conversation on my Facebook page, which for reasons I still don't understand, has like nine million people following it. And they fell in love with you. And that conversation, I think, reminded a lot of people, you know, of their sons and their moms, or daughters and dads, and this hunger to connect, you know. And it was such a simple thing to do, but the minute the feedback came in from that, I knew I'd find a way to exploit you for the rest of your life.

• 7:07Speaker 01

  Listen, the exploitation is mutual, I assure you.

• 7:13Speaker 01

  And also, besides being lucky, all of you, I have to tell you that the event organizers, I guess that would be Tom mostly, are really gutsy, because old people can be a crap shoot.

• 7:28Speaker 01

  As you well know.

• 7:31Speaker 01

  We're forgetful, we could have brain fog, I could be incontinent.

• 7:40Mike Rowe?

  Honestly?

• 7:41Speaker 01

  I'm prepared.

• 7:45Mike Rowe?

  In the first season of Dirty Jobs. Any of you guys see Dirty Jobs, just out of curiosity?

• 7:53Mike Rowe?

  Not looking for cheap applause, it's just nice. Who hasn't seen Dirty Jobs? I'm just curious, just to get a sense, not you. Everybody in this room has seen it? Who's this? What's his name?

• 8:08Mike Rowe?

  Who? Homset. Homset? Get out.

• 8:14Mike Rowe?

  Never seen Dirty Jobs, Homset? Kidding me? Quick sidebar.

• 8:19Mike Rowe?

  Dirty Jobs was a tribute to her dad. Her dad was named Carl Noble, and he was my grandfather, he lived next door. The idea with Dirty Jobs, Homset, was that...

• 8:34Mike Rowe?

  I would assume the identity of an apprentice and I would work in a completely unscripted way with regular men and women who did the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us. My mom's dad didn't even make it out of the 7th grade.

• 8:53Speaker 01

  He went 100 days into the 7th grade. That was the law back then. You couldn't quit until you'd been 100 days in the 7th grade.

• 9:03Mike Rowe?

  And then he was out and he started working.

• 9:06Speaker 01

  Oh yeah. Well, he'd been working part-time.

• 9:09Mike Rowe?

  Well, the thing was, by the time he was, I don't know, 30, 35, he was he was an electrical contractor. How to describe Pop? He could build, or fix, or fabricate anything. He could take your watch apart, Tom, put it back together blindfolded. Or a combustion engine, or whatever it was, right? And so the idea for the show was to just shine a light on people who had this this skill, this chip, you know? And so that's really how all this happened. I was trying to pay an honest tribute to her dad. And things got, you know, delightfully out of out of control.

• 9:53Speaker 01

  Tell me about it.

• 9:54Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 9:54Speaker 01

  For the last 25, 30 years, I've been known as the dirty mother.

• 10:03Speaker 01

  That's quite a distinction.

• 10:07Speaker 01

  I had the privilege, my husband and I had the privilege of turning our television on and seeing our oldest son crawling through sewers

• 10:18Speaker 01

  with roaches and rats the size of Yorkshire terriers scampering over his body. I kid you not. If you've seen the show, then you know I'm not kidding. I have seen him on national television with his arm up the rear end of a cow.

• 10:35Mike Rowe?

  That cow still calls me, by the way.

• 10:40Speaker 01

  A horse, a wall.

• 10:42Mike Rowe?

  Oh, yeah.

• 10:44Speaker 01

  What else?

• 10:44Mike Rowe?

  We violated every barnyard animal known to man, Holmes, huh? Because artificial insemination, right? The other AI raided through the roof. And people just couldn't get enough of it. It was crazy. But getting back to your incontinence for just a moment. In the first season of that show, I wound up on the cover of TV Guide magazine. And the caption was, "Discovery's Mike Rowe Brings You Feces From Every Species."

• 11:21Mike Rowe?

  And my mom is like, "We are so very proud of you."

• 11:27Speaker 01

  Blessed, even. And my mother, my mother, who was a prim and proper person, she had expectations of her grandchildren.

• 11:39Speaker 01

  She would call me during the first commercial of those shows. And she would say, "Peggy, does Michael realize that the president could be watching?

• 11:51Speaker 01

  The queen could be watching? He should really think ahead of time about the image he wants to portray on national television."

• 12:01Mike Rowe?

  Well, I did. I've given it a lot of thought. And we did 350 of those shows. Look, I don't want the credit or the blame for any of this. But Dirty Jobs, Holmes, if you're keeping track,

• 12:15Mike Rowe?

  led to 39 other shows. I mean, from Deadliest Catch to Swamp People to, I mean, Big Shrimp and every work-related thing. It completely opened up a world that the country just didn't think about. And TV had certainly never, never thought about. The idea of becoming a guest instead of a host, which is what I tried to do on that show, and make people like your dad, whoever it was we were profiling, even a turkey. inseminator, it didn't matter. They were the heroes of, of the show. And that, that, that just struck a chord.

• 12:58Mike Rowe?

  And I knew it, Tom, I was, we were talking earlier, I was like, look, I, early on in those days, I wasn't hearing from people who said, oh, Mike, you're, you're charming and funny, or that show was interesting and smart. The feedback from the beginning, and to your mother's horror, was always, you think that's dirty? Wait till you see what my brother does. My cousin, my uncle, my mom, my sister. And, you know, we stumbled, we, we literally Forrest Gumped our way into a, a new kind of TV and a new way to pay an honest tribute to regular working people.

• 13:37Speaker 01

  And Michael, it gave us...

• 13:39Mike Rowe?

  Don't ever interrupt me, by the way, when I'm like, I'm this close to landing the plane.

• 13:48Speaker 01

  It gave the public an appreciation for those people who got up every morning and did those jobs.

• 13:55Mike Rowe?

  Sure.

• 13:56Speaker 01

  Really, you've shown us a spotlight on those people. I can remember, we lived in the condominium at that time, and we faced the front, which gave us a wonderful view of the trash corral and the men who came and collected our trash two or three times a week. And after watching your show, I did, even I, began really appreciating the people who did those jobs. They got up every morning, they made my life easier. I remember one day, Dad and I were taking a walk around the condo complex. There was a tape around a sewer, a sewer cover. It was off of the sewer, and it was open, and we looked inside.

• 14:41Speaker 01

  And there were men in there, you know, doing a job that we sure wouldn't have wanted to do.

• 14:48Mike Rowe?

  Sure.

• 14:48Speaker 01

  I went over and looked at them, and Dad went to the edge, and he said, hi. And he thanked them for what they were doing. They looked at us like we were crazy, and I said...

• 14:58Mike Rowe?

  Two things can be true at the same time.

• 15:02Mike Rowe?

  And my dad, it should be noted, is one of, I think, one of the great conversationalists of the modern age. And he's also one of the curious, most curious people you'd ever care to know. He, he, he'll talk to people in, in manholes. He'll talk to people in elevators. He'll wait till the door shuts, and then he'll turn his back to the door, and he'll have questions for you. And you will be in the elevator with my dad, and there will be nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide, and my mom will likely be there as well, doing something kind of extraordinary, which is chronicling the whole, the whole thing. What my dad does is whatever he feels like doing.

• 15:46Mike Rowe?

  What my dad does is create whatever conversation he can, whether he's at Oak Crest or all his life. And what my mom does is write about it. She writes every day. Do you mind if I talk about you for a moment, like you're not here?

• 16:01Speaker 01

  Let me think about it, okay?

• 16:03Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, so, my mother wrote every day for sixty years. Sixty years. Her early, my earliest memories are of her with a yellow legal pad, just writing about the world around her. She specialized in unauthorized biographies. Cop on a horseback? Peggy Ro walks over? What's your name? What's your horse's name? She's a very horsey person, right? And she writes it all down, and she'll get a story, and then she would, you know, literally type the thing up, as if a publisher had, had paid her to interview this cop that she'll never see again. And she'd put the story on the refrigerator with a magnet, and my old man would take

• 16:48Mike Rowe?

  the story down the next day, and he'd read it to me and my brothers. He'd take it to church, and he'd read it to those poor people trapped in the sanctuary. And then, you know, if you're trapped in an elevator, it's, "Have you heard the latest from Peggy Ro?"

• 17:03Mike Rowe?

  Could be a limerick, could be a haiku, could be an unauthorized biography. I still remember at the Bob's Big Boy after church up on Bel Air Road, just him just sitting next to total strangers in a booth, you know? Want to hear something really funny? It's something my mom had written. So this is, this is what I remember. You, I never thought of you as a writer, even though that's the only thing I ever saw you do. And then I do this show, inspired and dedicated to her dad. And then years later, I become marginally famous. And my mom is still writing every day, but she'd given up on her dream of becoming a bestselling author.

• 17:46Mike Rowe?

  But she never gave up on the work. She never stopped writing, this woman. And then because I had a toe in the door, I was able, well, you want to tell them about the big blue purse, or should I?

• 18:03Mike Rowe?

  If you work in boots all day long and your feet sweat, I feel your pain. And I'd recommend trying the socks that I wear every day from Camel City Mill. These guys sent me a box as a gift long before they sponsored this podcast. And I started wearing them and eventually I reached out to them because I love the product and I wanted more sponsors on the podcast who make things in America. And now here they are again sponsoring another episode. Camel City Mill makes their socks in North Carolina with American wool in an American factory. Their merino wool blends help wick sweat away from your skin and their no sweat vent lets heat and moisture escape. That helps keep your feet dry and comfortable when you're spending long days in work boots.

• 18:47Mike Rowe?

  They also reinforce the heel and the toe with double plated nylon to stand up to the wear those boots put on your socks. Remember, it's not the feet that wear out your socks, it's your boots. And they back their socks with a 10-year durability guarantee. If you get a hole or a tear in the first decade, they'll replace them for free. If you're a hardworking guy dealing with sweaty, uncomfortable feet, I'm telling you, these are worth trying. I wear mine every day and I'm glad to have the company on the podcast. CamelCityMill.com. Use code ROW, get 10% off my favorite work socks. CamelCityMill.com, code ROW.

• 19:26Speaker 01

  Well, I'll start.

• 19:27Mike Rowe?

  Okay, you start.

• 19:28Speaker 01

  You'll interrupt me.

• 19:31Mike Rowe?

  Carry on.

• 19:32Speaker 01

  I went shopping at Walmart one day. Well, this was about ten years ago. And something horrible happened. I got in the car. I put my groceries in the car, got in the car, went home, felt on the seat beside me for my purse, and it wasn't there. I had left my blue purse hanging on the cart in the Walmart parking lot. I had pushed the cart into the corral and gone home. I was sick. And I went inside, told my husband, and he said... He began cancelling credit cards right away. We called Walmart, and they said, "No, they didn't have my purse."

• 20:15Speaker 01

  And my husband said, "Oh, we're going back there right away. Maybe somebody just took your wallet and put your purse in a trash can. We're gonna go back and look for your purse." So we did. I went into the store to see if maybe Lost and Found had gotten my purse. In the meantime, Dad was going from trash can to trash can, dialing my number in hopes that my cellphone was in there.

• 20:43Mike Rowe?

  My dad's half-deaf. He can't hear anything. Including the ringing of a phone. So the whole thing is just a Greek tragedy. Please continue.

• 20:53Speaker 01

  Go ahead. You can go on.

• 20:55Mike Rowe?

  This story goes on and on and on. And it gets weirder and funnier. And then ultimately, it concludes...

• 21:04Speaker 01

  I got home. I'm going to skip a lot, because he'll pick it up. And I called the children. Because what mother doesn't like to hear her children sympathize with her that she's lost her purse? So I called son number three and son number two. I call him number one, because he's the eldest. I called him, and he said, "I don't want to hear it. Don't tell me. Sit down and write it and send it to me." I did that. I wrote it. It was what, maybe a couple thousand words, you think?

• 21:36Mike Rowe?

  Not even. Twelve hundred, maybe. And by the way, there's kind of a happy ending. They find the purse. A woman... Who... What was her name?

• 21:46Speaker 01

  Beverly.

• 21:46Mike Rowe?

  Beverly finds the purse. Dad chats her up, obviously. My dad and Beverly now are spending a lot of time together.

• 21:56Speaker 01

  I hope not. She passed away three years ago.

• 21:59Mike Rowe?

  Oh, is she dead? That's too bad.

• 22:03Mike Rowe?

  Like I said, my dad will talk to anybody.

• 22:08Speaker 01

  The thing is, she saw my purse hanging on a shopping cart. And she looked around, and there was nobody around, so she picked it up. Well, I got to know her later. And she described her emotions to me. She said, "Oh, I was so afraid somebody was gonna think I was stealing that purse." She said, "So I picked up your purse, I carried it like this into Walmart, and I went to the lost and found, and I told them I'd found their purse." So when I went in to look at lost and found, they said, "Well, our manager is in the back of the store. We don't have a purse, but you can go and check with our manager." And when I got back there, Dad, your father was still...

• 22:51Mike Rowe?

  I know who he is.

• 22:54Speaker 01

  You think you know him.

• 23:05Speaker 01

  So John was still going from trash can to trash can, dialing my number and plunging his head into the trash can to listen for my ringtone. And sure enough, I heard my ringtone. It was coming from where the manager was. There was a shelf next to him. And there was my purse, looking out from that shelf, like E.T. looking out from the closet. And I took my phone out, and it was Dad. And he said, "Come out to the parking lot. There's a woman here who would like to meet you, and I know you wanna thank her for turning in your purse."

• 23:43Mike Rowe?

  Beverly.

• 23:44Speaker 01

  But that's the blue purse story. Why did we get started on this?

• 23:46Mike Rowe?

  I'll tell you why. Because number one said, "Write it down." And she did.

• 23:53Speaker 01

  Oh, I did.

• 23:54Mike Rowe?

  And she sent me this email, right? And it's the story you've heard, except it's written. And it's told, like Irma Bombeck meets Betty White.

• 24:06Mike Rowe?

  Hold. In a, in a personal letter to me. And I'm halfway through this thing and I am laughing, man. It's just so funny and it's relatable and whether, guys, you've lost your wallet, or ladies, you've lost your purse, we've all been there and it just was this roller coaster of relatable humanity, but it was funny. And when I finished reading it, I took this phone and I set it up and I read it again at my kitchen table. And then I was off to film something and I posted it on my Facebook page. I was gone for three days. When I came home, forty-nine million people had watched this video. Forty-nine million people.

• 24:50Mike Rowe?

  And at this point, you're maybe, forgive me, seventy-eight years old, I would guess.

• 24:56Speaker 01

  Well, ten years ago.

• 24:57Mike Rowe?

  I can do the math, yeah. So, she's still writing every day, she's still telling her stories every day, but now she actually shared one that I could read aloud. Among the forty-nine million people who read it in those first three days, you guys should Google it later, it's funny, Peggy Row, big blue person, I think it's up to eighty million.

• 25:16Speaker 01

  Old Blue.

• 25:17Mike Rowe?

  Old Blue, it's called, yeah. Because it matters.

• 25:24Mike Rowe?

  But, one of the people who called, which the publishers started calling. Publishers. Remember her dream? Best-selling author, that's not gonna happen, but the writing is still happening and the publishers are like, hey, that's a funny story. Can she write, you know, a couple dozen more like that? I'm like, yeah, probably so. And one of them said, look, if you can make Mike, put him in your stories, because we need a hook, we're publishers, right? We need an angle. So, if your marginally famous son is in these stories, then we'll publish a book of short stories about this kind of thing. And I, and I, and I lay this all out in front of my mother. And she goes, oh, that's fantastic.

• 26:08Mike Rowe?

  And you, you have to be in all of the stories?

• 26:13Mike Rowe?

  It's an angle, Mom. It's just an angle. Just give them what they want. She goes, "Oh, okay, okay." You know, I have two other sons. Yeah, yeah, number two and number three. Okay, are they famous? Right? Just play ball for crying out loud. My mother goes away for a couple of months and starts writing stories. She comes back with about twenty, twenty-two, twenty-four of them. I'm not in any of them. Maybe a mention in one or two. She writes two dozen short stories about the most remarkable woman in her life, which happens to be my grandmother, the aforementioned Thelma Noble. Nobody asked her to do this. This is just what she felt like doing.

• 26:56Mike Rowe?

  So she sits down and she writes what's in her heart. She writes a love letter, a tribute to her mom. And I send it to the publishers and they're like, "Who the hell's Thelma Noble?"

• 27:09Mike Rowe?

  We don't, there's nothing we can do with this. It's like my partner and I, Mary, we were like, you know what? That's, actually it was Mary's idea. She said, "Let's just print 10,000 copies and see what happens. We'll sell them ourselves." And we did. And they sold out in three days. Publisher called back and said, "You didn't tell us she could write."

• 27:30Mike Rowe?

  That book, called About My Mother, went to, what? Number six?

• 27:38Speaker 01

  It did very well.

• 27:39Mike Rowe?

  Yeah. Went to number six on the New York Times list of bestseller.

• 27:53Speaker 01

  Well, thanks to Mike.

• 27:55Mike Rowe?

  Oh, please, I didn't write the damn thing.

• 27:57Speaker 01

  But you have a wide reach. You know, the sad thing about publishing...

• 28:03Mike Rowe?

  Way to bring them down, Mom.

• 28:06Speaker 01

  Do we have any would-be writers here or any active writers? I see one hand, two.

• 28:14Speaker 01

  I bet there are a lot of closeted writers here. You will understand that getting published is very difficult. If you don't know somebody, it's virtually impossible. For years, I wrote. I used a typewriter, and I used white paper and black print, double-spaced, wide margins, just the way publishers. I did everything I was supposed to do. I followed all the rules. Sent my manuscript off through the mail, because this was years ago. Day after day, I waited. I walked down to the mailbox, which is like way far down the road, with hope in my heart,

• 28:55Speaker 01

  expectations, dreams of maybe a publisher reading my work. And I would come back home again in tears. Nothing, nothing. And then finally, I would get the rejection notice. And then I realized, years later, I realized they weren't even reading my work. If you don't know somebody in the publishing world, these are called unsolicited manuscripts, and you may as well just put it in the trash. Oh, I hope I'm not stepping on your dreams.

• 29:28Mike Rowe?

  Peggy Rowe, Queen of Optimism.

• 29:32Mike Rowe?

  Here to smash your hopes into the ground.

• 29:34Speaker 01

  I'm sorry. I don't mean to do that. You have options nowadays that I didn't have. The self-publishing world is quite popular, and a lot of good writing happens, you know, that is self-published. But back then, I didn't have that option.

• 29:52Mike Rowe?

  Two years later, she writes a book called About Your Father and Other Celebrities I Have Known, a collection of letters she had written to me over the years. That goes to number four. Two times bestseller. Now she's 82.

• 30:12Mike Rowe?

  Dale clapped for anything.

• 30:16Speaker 01

  Well, the good news is you didn't help me with this one, did you?

• 30:24Mike Rowe?

  You know what I did do, though?

• 30:25Speaker 01

  What did you do?

• 30:25Mike Rowe?

  I wrote that damn foreword again. Two forewords now. I wrote the foreword. I wrote two forewords for the first book, because it was a big story. Wrote the foreword for the second book. This thing goes way up the charts, and now the publisher's slobbering all over me. Does she have a third one in her? A third one? Could she do that? Get three? Three books? Two years later,

• 30:48Mike Rowe?

  she writes, "Vacuuming in the Nude and Other Ways to Get Attention."

• 30:59Mike Rowe?

  Goes to number one now.

• 31:10Mike Rowe?

  I tell you all this because today, my mom is older than she's ever been.

• 31:17Mike Rowe?

  A year and a half ago, she wrote her fourth book about life at Oakcrest.

• 31:28Mike Rowe?

  And to my mind, it's her best work. It certainly has the best foreword.

• 31:37Mike Rowe?

  It's proof of something that I've always known about her, and something she's always kind of said quietly, and apologies if you don't want me to say it out loud, but...

• 31:45Speaker 01

  Go ahead.

• 31:45Mike Rowe?

  All right. You know, she says, "The world is full of people. They're everywhere. But my mom, she loves people, but she doesn't really see people. She sees material.

• 31:59Mike Rowe?

  Everywhere. Whether it's that cop on a horseback, or my own dad, or her neighbor across the hall at Oakcrest." This book, it's literally called... You've got a copy out here. I think you were... You sprung for 500 books, Tom? I can't believe it.

• 32:17Mike Rowe?

  This...

• 32:20Mike Rowe?

  This thing is a love letter. I'm not gonna sell it, because you already have one, but it's a...

• 32:25Mike Rowe?

  It's a love letter to the neighbors you find yourself surrounded by. And it's a... It's an homage, I think, to the fragility and the vulnerability and the humor and the honesty that comes with this much experience in life. And, more than anything, for me, it's a... It's a love letter to persistence. Today, I run a foundation. It's called MicroWorks. Huma, or whatever your name is, you would never have heard of it, I'm sure of it.

• 33:05Mike Rowe?

  I'd like to talk about initiative, if I could, for just a moment. Here at MicroWorks, we value it a great deal. In fact, it's the most important quality we look for in our work ethic scholarship applicants. But everybody wants it. I'm talking about the, uh... The quality in a lift driver that inspires him or her to carry your bags to the door without even asking. Or the grocery clerk who shows you where an item is on the shelves. Or a doctor who personally calls you to explain your test results. If you're hiring, you want to encourage initiative, because it's invaluable. And ZipRecruiter has a way to allow a candidate to tell you, in their own words, why they're interested in your job. Not just why they're qualified, but why they're interested.

• 33:50Mike Rowe?

  This is a way that allows the best candidates to distinguish themselves from the competition. And a great way for you to separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were. Right now, you can try it for free at ziprecruiter.com/row. ZipRecruiter is the number-one hiring site, in large part because of this new initiative that shows you the most interested, qualified candidates first. So you meet the right people faster. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within one day. Try it for free. ZipRecruiter.com/row. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter.

• 34:35Mike Rowe?

  Try it free.

• 34:39Mike Rowe?

  But it evolved out of Dirty Jobs, organically. And today, we award work ethic scholarships to men and women who want to pursue a career in the skilled trades, right? We've done 3,700 of these things and awarded close to $20 million in these scholarships. Don't clap for that, I'm just saying.

• 35:05Mike Rowe?

  I'm the luckiest guy in the room. To have a mom like this and to have the ability to have had a hit show and see it morph into something that feels useful to me and personal and important. And in the course of promoting my scholarship fund and my foundation, I tell stories of the men who I've met, mostly men, that we featured on Dirty Jobs who did all this work. And I talk about my granddad all the time. And I talk about my dad all the time, who really worked as your father's apprentice growing up. I mean, those two together, I can't tell you the times. They'd wake up clean, and they'd go out into the world, and they'd come home dirty.

• 35:49Mike Rowe?

  And somehow, something got fixed along the way. I was so enamored of it. And so I tell these stories everywhere, all across the country, every week. And right in front of me the whole time, regarding work ethic, is the actual epitome of it. A woman who wrote every day for 60 years, gave up on the dream but never gave up on the work. And when I read through this book, and when I think about your life at the home and the grace with which you and dad have both navigated, The Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Aging, which is not a bad title, welcome to it. It's wonderful.

• 36:34Mike Rowe?

  And I think really the stars of this book are the people... I've said this out loud before, but you write about the people you meet at Oak Crest the way I tried to work with the people on Dirty Jobs, with humor and respect and honesty. I'm so damn proud of you, mom, I can barely stand.

• 36:58Speaker 01

  Thanks, hon.

• 37:02Speaker 01

  You know, Mike, moving into Oak Crest was such a boom to my career. I can't tell you what it's like.

• 37:13Speaker 01

  Material falls from the sky into my lap.

• 37:20Speaker 01

  I'm surrounded, I'm surrounded by 2,000 people, 2,000 stories. They stopped me in the hall to tell me their stories. Couple of weeks ago, I met a guy in his 60s. He was old enough to live at Oak Crest, but he was there visiting his father. I'd seen him in the restaurants before. And I thought he looked like such an interesting character. And maybe you will get the picture. He had 26 rings around his ears. He had a turban on his head, um, not a turban, but a bandana.

• 37:52Mike Rowe?

  There is a difference.

• 37:54Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 37:56Speaker 01

  He had a bandana wrapped around his head. He had a groundy goatee and a long sideburns, which he kept flicking out like this. And I thought, there's a story.

• 38:12Speaker 01

  So one day I saw him walking toward me in the hallway. And I said, hi, you don't know me, but I'm Peggy Rowe. And I'm a writer. And I think you look like a person with a story. Well, he seemed kind of flattered and kind of shy. And I said, I see you here visiting. Is that your dad? He said, oh, yeah, I visit my, I visit my father quite a lot because he has a lot of health issues. And he said, but really, I'm a rattlesnake hunter. This man who visits Oak Crest regularly is a rattlesnake hunter. I kid you not.

• 38:53Speaker 01

  He travels the world looking for rattlesnakes. He has seen tens of thousands of rattlesnakes. He writes about his experiences. He takes pictures. He takes notes. He sells his information to journals. He has a college degree. He's done master's work. He, he's out there. But to look at him, you think his motorcycle's probably parked on the loop.

• 39:22Speaker 01

  And he looks like such a character. I met, he met with me and talked with me a couple of times. Wonderful son, really interesting character. Michael, I can't tell you the best stories. They just, they just come to me. All you have to do is be open to humor. It is everywhere. Couple of weeks ago, we had dinner. My usual Friday night group, and there are six or seven of us. And somebody couldn't come, so somebody said, "Oh, I have a friend who'll come." Sweet little white-haired lady.

• 39:58Mike Rowe?

  Quick sidebar. It's very difficult, if you're me even, to keep track. It doesn't matter when I call my mom. I live in Northern California. Anytime between 8:00 in the morning and 8:00 at night, she's in a restaurant. Right? Doesn't matter when, she's in there. And she's with six to eight unnamed people.

• 40:22Mike Rowe?

  Most of them have white hair.

• 40:25Mike Rowe?

  Which restaurant? I don't know. Could be the Acorn, could be the Oak Room, could be McHenry's. Maybe it's that other cafeteria-type joint.

• 40:32Speaker 01

  Lakeside.

• 40:33Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, it could be Lakeside. Who knows? Just saying. If you find yourself struggling to visualize or keep track, you're not alone.

• 40:42Speaker 01

  So this sweet little lady with the white hair has a bit of a hearing issue, which I live with 24/7. My husband has an 85% to 90% hearing deficit. But we manage. When she speaks, she projects.

• 41:01Speaker 01

  So I said, "Well, how are you finding life at Oak Crest? Are you finding things to do?" And she said, "Well, I like to play games." I said, "Oh, have you played any games since you've been here?" She said, "Well, I played Scrabble once. Just once. Those bitches whipped my ass."

• 41:33Speaker 01

  It's the truth. I could tell you her name, but I won't because...

• 41:37Mike Rowe?

  Are you frickin' kidding me?

• 41:40Speaker 01

  Listen...

• 41:40Mike Rowe?

  They're like, Tom had two rules, right? Don't disparage anybody and try not to use bad language.

• 41:46Speaker 01

  I didn't, I didn't say her name.

• 41:51Speaker 01

  Yet. But the people at the nearby tables, I mean, their heads were like swiveling off, turning around to look. Did she really say that?

• 42:04Speaker 01

  I loved it because

• 42:07Speaker 01

  it's out of the ordinary, you know, most little...

• 42:09Mike Rowe?

  Material, chapter five.

• 42:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:13Mike Rowe?

  Bitches kick my ass.

• 42:17Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah. It's the truth, and all those other people at the table will, uh, will agree.

• 42:27Speaker 01

  And then, just night before last, I was walking through the lobby, and Dad was playing shuffleboard. And there was a game going on, and the ladies called me over and they said, "We want to learn vertical rummy cube, and I know you play it. Will you teach us vertical rummy cube?" And I said, "Okay." So, I sat down, proceeded to teach them vertical rummy cube, and one of the little old ladies said, "Oh, God, I can't stand this. My bra is so uncomfortable." And darn if she didn't just open up everything, take off her bra, pull down the sleeve,

• 43:07Speaker 01

  and she shoved it in her tote bag.

• 43:11Speaker 01

  And the other ladies...

• 43:16Speaker 01

  The other ladies didn't pay any attention to her.

• 43:22Speaker 01

  But I did.

• 43:24Mike Rowe?

  I'll spill you the books back if you want, Tommy.

• 43:28Speaker 01

  I'm not sure of her name. I don't usually play games with her. But you just never know what's gonna happen at Oakcrest. Oh, my gosh. And the day down at the pharmacy was so funny. I went with your dad.

• 43:48Mike Rowe?

  I know him.

• 43:49Speaker 01

  We were just looking around. I saw something and I said, "Oh, John, you know..." I put my hand on his shoulder. And then I looked and I realized it wasn't Dad. It was another... It was another man. And I said, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I was about to rub your arm." And he said, "Well, honey, you can rub anything you want."

• 44:17Speaker 01

  This was CVS.

• 44:20Mike Rowe?

  This is a CVS, right?

• 44:21Speaker 01

  CVS Pharmacy.

• 44:22Mike Rowe?

  Good, good.

• 44:23Speaker 01

  And then the man put his hands on my shoulder. "Is it time to stop talking?"

• 44:31Mike Rowe?

  Tom's like...

• 44:34Speaker 01

  Is that what that means?

• 44:38Speaker 01

  He said, "Keep going."

• 44:39Mike Rowe?

  Keep going.

• 44:40Speaker 01

  So the man put one hand on each of my shoulders. And he turned me around. He said, "You know, CVS is a notorious pickup spot."

• 44:52Speaker 01

  Turned me toward a line in front of a sign that said, "Pick up."

• 45:05Speaker 01

  It really... It really did happen.

• 45:11Mike Rowe?

  Everything in the book really did happen. That's the thing about my mom. She just... I mean, she has a wonderful imagination and she's a terrific writer, but she just refuses to make stuff up. She is... I mean, I remember the first time you and I talked, Tom, it was years ago. And I was thinking, you know, "Hey, I got this podcast, these advertisers. Oak Crest would be an amazing sponsor, you know?" And we started to talk about, think about how that might work. And I don't know if this occurred to you or not. It certainly occurred to me. But it's like, you know, my mom can write about anything she wants. She's like an embedded reporter behind the walls of Oak Crest.

• 45:53Mike Rowe?

  And if you're an executive of a retirement home... And you suddenly realize, oh, you got this woman living here. And she's got a million fans. And she writes bestselling books. And, man, I hope she, I hope she liked dinner, you know.

• 46:09Mike Rowe?

  I hope she's happy with everything. Honestly, I, I know we gotta land the plane. You have some questions you wanna share. But I, I just wanna, you know, say that I, if you like my mom, I, I, I think the reason is, is because while she is sunshine and roses and fundamentally optimistic, she will tell you the truth of a thing, always.

• 46:37Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, I told him about the mouse.

• 46:39Mike Rowe?

  Okay.

• 46:41Speaker 01

  I told him about the mouse. And my husband's always telling them about the deep sink in the kitchen. Gives him a backache and a neckache.

• 46:49Mike Rowe?

  Sorry, you got a deep sink problem, Tom.

• 46:51Speaker 01

  Sorry.

• 46:52Mike Rowe?

  You got deep, deep sink.

• 46:53Speaker 01

  You're gonna have to work on that.

• 46:56Mike Rowe?

  But in the scheme of things, you know, what, what makes people credible? What, what makes them believable? What makes them an honest witness to the, you know, to the human condition? And it's...

• 47:09Speaker 01

  Can I tell one more story?

• 47:10Mike Rowe?

  God, I, I was hoping you would. Go ahead.

• 47:13Speaker 01

  One day I was down in the locker room. I had done my morning swim. And I was sitting there drying off. And the woman walked from the, they have three private showers. And she came out of the shower and walked past me. And she had a towel covering her front. And she walked over to the locker. And when she faced her locker, I could see her, her back part.

• 47:40Speaker 01

  And she had a tattoo on her bottom. Well, I mean, we old people were famous for moles and veins and, um, age spots, but not tattoos. And so, of course, the writer in me was curious. And I said to her, "Tell me about your tattoo."

• 48:03Speaker 01

  She looked at me and she said, "What tattoo?" I said, "On your rear end there, you have a tattoo." And she walked over to the sinks, which have big mirrors behind them, and she turned around and she laughed. So I got up and I walked over and I looked in the mirror and she said, "Well, I spread a grocery bag on the seat in the shower."

• 48:44Speaker 01

  And I sat down. Sat down and dried my legs and my feet. And the ink must have come off on my bottom.

• 48:57Speaker 01

  And sure enough, in the mirror, it said, "Weiss Markets."

• 49:07Speaker 01

  And on the other side of the great divide, it said,

• 49:14Speaker 01

  "Gas Rewards."

• 49:19Speaker 01

  Well, the truth is, I couldn't really read Gas Rewards, but I've seen enough Weiss grocery bags to know that it said Gas. It was just, it was all red, white, and blue, and really, I wondered if maybe I should salute when she walked.

• 49:38Speaker 01

  So, you know, funny thing, I've never seen that woman since, unless I just don't recognize her face.

• 49:47Mike Rowe?

  She's a checker over at Weiss Markets now, I'm pretty sure. Oh my God, Tom, you better save us from this, because I don't know where we're going. I mean, you've got 10 minutes for questions, good. Hey, that's my mom, everybody, Peggy Roche.

• 50:08Speaker 02

  You have proven to me, ever since I got to know you, that humor is the best way to do life. And you do it beautifully, beautifully, every single day.

• 50:19Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 50:26Mike Rowe?

  Where's the wisdom come in?

• 50:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, the wisdom is, we're still waiting on that. But, no, it's wonderful. But your books, the titles, "Vacuuming in the Nude" and "Oh No, Not the Home." I gotta ask you, what's the inspiration for your books? Go ahead and tell them. "Vacuuming in the Nude," let's start with that one, because that's pretty provocative.

• 50:48Speaker 01

  You know, "Vacuuming in the Nude" is really my writing history. My whole writing story, from the first thing I wrote to the most recent. Writers do a lot to get attention. You have to, to get published. You have to do a lot for attention. Well, I tell a story, further on in the book, about a friend who was late to lunch one day. And she shared with us that she had been vacuuming, and time got away from her. She said, "Oh, I looked up at the clock, and I realized I hadn't even showered yet." So she said, "I just jumped in the shower. Fortunately, I vacuum in the nude," she said.

• 51:31Speaker 01

  And I said, "Really?"

• 51:35Speaker 01

  And I said, "But you were home alone." She said, "No, no, Jack was right on the sofa there. Actually, he joined me in the shower afterwards." Now, this was maybe 10 years ago, before my books came out. I doubt if they still do that. Well, he passed away, so...

• 51:54Speaker 02

  But didn't Mike tell you to name the book?

• 51:58Speaker 01

  So, I'm trying to think of the name, of a good name for this book. An attention-getter, but something that's honest, that's part of the book. And so, Mike was reading that story, and he said, "Oh, well, here you go. There you are. That's it. That's your title. 'Vacuuming in the Nude.'"

• 52:18Mike Rowe?

  It was either that or "Gas and Rewards."

• 52:23Speaker 02

  I'm not sure which one I'm picking there. But then, you know, when you and I first started talking in her book, Oh No, Not The Home, you know, being a sales and marketing guy, I was like, gosh, I don't feel great about calling it "The Home." You know what I'm saying? And I was like, and you latched right onto it. So in the foreword to the book, you might mention "The Home" 400 times. Just to dig at me.

• 52:46Speaker 01

  You know, listen, "The Home" had such a terrible connotation for so many years, and it was rightly deserved in most respects. I wanted to change that. It is "A Home," "Our Home," "The Home." Did you know I'm writing another book?

• 53:02Speaker 02

  I do know that. I do know that. That's the shameless plug you were telling me about, right? It's called "Home, Home, Home Again." Home.

• 53:15Speaker 01

  And early on in the book, I tell about a man, we were walking down the hall one day, John and I, and a man came running out from the acorn. He'd been eating lunch. He said, "Are you Peggy Rowe?" And I said, "Yes, I am, Gus." And I looked at his name tag. He said, "We just moved in a few days ago." He said, "My wife said..." I think that's Mrs. Rowe walking down. He said, "We're here because of your book." I said, "Oh, wow, that's nice to hear." And so I walked in and I met his wife. And I said, "I hope you'll be as happy here as we are." And she said, "Well, if I ever recover from the move, I hope we'll be happy. It's only been three days.

• 53:59Speaker 01

  I'm too tired to stand up and greet you." And then she said, "Tell me something. My husband thinks you work for Ericsson, do you?" Well, it's not the first time I've heard that. But I assured her that I'd get my monthly bill.

• 54:20Mike Rowe?

  She's great. She's so good.

• 54:24Speaker 01

  Which increases year after year.

• 54:29Speaker 01

  So she was convinced. But you know, it made me think. So in this next book, I have a whole chapter of, I'm searching for the downside. I'm searching for bad things. I'm listening for complaints. I'm doing a whole chapter of, let's be honest, nothing is perfect. Oak Crest can't be perfect. And so I'm trying to gather things that are less than perfect about our facility. And I have to tell you, it's pretty difficult. There are things there that could improve, of course.

• 55:10Mike Rowe?

  This whole sink situation.

• 55:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, I know.

• 55:12Mike Rowe?

  It's very deep.

• 55:13Speaker 01

  And the occasional mouse.

• 55:15Speaker 02

  The back issue, come on.

• 55:17Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 55:17Speaker 02

  So this will be book number five for you.

• 55:20Speaker 01

  It will be. It doesn't have a title yet, but it will be out in 2026. I lost a couple of months recently. I had some illness.

• 55:29Speaker 02

  Right.

• 55:30Speaker 01

  Which I was unused to and which has given me such empathy for the people around me, people who are struggling with health issues. I've always been a compassionate person. But you know, when you're walking in their shoes, and I was quite ill, it really has given me a new perspective and I feel fortunate for having been there.

• 55:54Speaker 02

  But I was with you when you were going through that. Even then, your humor was part of the whole process. Do you remember telling the story about how they somehow fixed your eyes through your groin and you had to tell that story? I was like, really? We're going to talk about this now?

• 56:11Mike Rowe?

  Just by way of preamble, because I know you're going to go there. I know I can't stop you. But she was off the podcast. I mean, she, my podcast gets a few million people listening to it every week and she comes back every month. She's the most popular recurring guest. Well, she wasn't on for nearly four months and people were freaked out. And then when she finally came on, I think the first words out of your mouth were, I need to tell you about my groin.

• 56:41Mike Rowe?

  And I checked to make sure we were rolling, and we were. And then she proceeded to share this little gem.

• 56:48Speaker 01

  I had something in my brain called a fistula, which is when your arteries and your veins clump together and prevent the blood from going up into the capillaries at the top of your head. In order to get there, they have to go in through your groin. And it's, I said, it's the scenic route. They go all the way up in front of your ear, in back of your eye. And it's really very scary when you think about it. Teams of doctors came in around the clock to check on my progress. And they were very concerned about my groin, of course, because I had a bleed. And so they had to go from one leg to the other leg the next day. So they came in to check my groin.

• 57:33Speaker 01

  I mean, around the clock, day after day. So finally, on day four or day five, a group of doctors came in. And I knew the drill, so I pushed off the blanket and pulled up my gown. And the doctor said, "Hi, Mrs. Rowe. We're the Eye Team. We're here to check your eyes."

• 58:00Speaker 01

  So I covered up everything, and we had a...

• 58:04Mike Rowe?

  Not that eye.

• 58:07Speaker 01

  And we had a laugh. But, you know, if you can force...

• 58:12Mike Rowe?

  Guests and rewards.

• 58:15Speaker 01

  If you can allow yourself to find the humor, even when it seems unattainable, life is so much more rewarding. And you can take almost anything. And it's not always easy to find the humor, but it's there. Just, it's just, I know it's not easy. But if you can try, it does help. It helped me. And the last day, a doctor came in and said to me, "Well, let me tell you, first of all, how terrible I looked. I was there for a week." Oh, I looked awful. I didn't even look like myself. I had a patch over my eye. My hair was all over the place. Mike took my picture. That's what sons are for.

• 58:58Mike Rowe?

  That's right. That's number one, son, right?

• 59:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was a selfie and we were holding hands and he took our picture. Sent it to his brothers and they said, "Who is that?

• 59:11Speaker 01

  Who's that? Mike's holding somebody's hand." So this doctor came in the last day and he said, "I guess you know why I'm here." And I said, "Well, I hope you're here to do something about my hair because it looks terrible." And he left. You know, if you can make other people smile too.

• 59:31Mike Rowe?

  Here's the thing that I didn't tell you. Everybody in the room knows this, I'm sure. When your parents are 88 and 93 and you're 3,000 miles away, you know, there's guilt, there's worry, there's just all this stuff, you know? And to know that they're in a place where there is community and material and humor, that's priceless. To take it to the next level, you know, I came to town to see her. She's at Hopkins. I had meetings in DC. I came up, I sat with her a couple of nights. And yeah, it was a heck of a week. And when I left, I could barely get to the elevator

• 1:00:13Mike Rowe?

  because nurses and assistants and doctors, like everybody on the floor was like, "Hey, your mom, she's something else. Have you seen her groin?"

• 1:00:28Mike Rowe?

  Not that, but I mean, like you, you being there with your unwashed hair and your attitude and your fear, but your accessibility. It's a gift. It's a gift, not just to your family or to your neighbors. But I mean, in a place like Hopkins, in the ICU, you know, when the doctors and nurses pull you aside to tell you about your mom, it's good that you're on the case and it's great that you're willing to be so...

• 1:01:04Mike Rowe?

  Transparent about about all of it. That's why some people are truly credible. That's why they're truly believable because they'll, you know, they'll always tell you the way it is. We just learned this morning during that earlier interview I mentioned, she was alluding to a similar story and she said first they went into my left groin and then they had to go into my right groin, which created a lot of confusion for everybody else in the room who was under the impression we only had the one groin, right?

• 1:01:35Mike Rowe?

  Like mom's got two groins, you know, it's just amazing.

• 1:01:39Speaker 02

  You can be sure that your humor will be carrying on here through through your number one son. I haven't met your other two boys, but boy, he's a funny one here.

• 1:01:47Speaker 01

  Oh, they're funny too.

• 1:01:48Speaker 02

  Oh, are they? I can only imagine.

• 1:01:50Speaker 01

  They're a barrel of laughs. And I thank you people for accepting me the way I am. You know, when your career takes off after 80, you have you have some limitations. I don't wear stiletto heels anymore. I wear Brooks tennis shoes. I wear black slacks and a presentable top. Nothing plunging. I don't have I don't accentuate my waistline. I don't have shapely calves.

• 1:02:19Mike Rowe?

  Hey, show them your tattoo.

• 1:02:20Speaker 02

  I know, I'm waiting. It's coming.

• 1:02:25Speaker 01

  I don't have a tattoo. Later in life, there's some things you can't do. My memory isn't great. I'm not incontinent, just for the record. But I am prepared.

• 1:02:38Speaker 02

  To both of you, thank you. You've enriched our day more than we can tell you. We appreciate it.

• 1:02:45Speaker 03

  This episode is over now. I hope it was worthwhile. Sorry it went on so long. But if it made you smile, then share your satisfaction in the way that people do. Take some time to go online and leave us a review.

• 1:03:22Speaker 03

  I hate to ask, I hate to beg, I hate to be a nudge. But in this world, the advertisers really like to judge. You don't need to write a bunch, just a line or two. All you've got to do is leave a quick five-star review. Not four. All you've got to do is leave a quick five-star review. And not three. All you've got to do is leave a quick five-star review. Definitely not two. All you've got to do is leave a quick five-star review. We need five. All you've got to do is leave a quick... Even if you hate it. Five... Especially if you hate it. ...review. Thank you.

• 1:03:55Speaker 04

  Looking for a new way to take control of your health? If diet, exercise, and willpower alone haven't gotten you where you want to be, visit OrderlyMeds.com to learn about GLP-1 treatment options. With a convenient virtual process, you can connect with licensed medical providers from home and see if treatment may be appropriate for you. Visit OrderlyMeds.com today. That's OrderlyMeds.com. Compounded medications are not FDA-approved. Eligibility determined by a licensed provider. Individual results may vary. See website for details.

• 1:04:27Speaker 05

  What's that?

• 1:04:28Speaker 06

  My fresh detector.

• 1:04:29Speaker 05

  Uh, your what?

• 1:04:30Speaker 06

  There it is.

• 1:04:31Speaker 05

  What is it detecting?

• 1:04:33Speaker 06

  Fresh produce. Fresh meat.

• 1:04:35Speaker 05

  Okay, what happens if it detects something really fresh?

• 1:04:41Speaker 06

  Apparently, we celebrate.

• 1:04:43Speaker 05

  At Food Lion, you can count on fresh food at fresher prices. When your fresh detector is going off, head to your local Food Lion or shop at FoodLion.com.