Bellied Up - What California Doesn’t Understand About the Midwest #214

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

We're at Black Forest Pub and Grille in Three Lakes, WI. Our first caller is Elle, an artist from California. She tells us about her art career and has questions about how the Midwest functions. Then, Gretchen chats with us. She tells us about her past career with the government and her love of camping!Hey you! Give us a call and leave a voicemail! 218-303-5095

Hey, folks, welcome back to another episode of the Bellied Up podcast. I'm here with my buddy, my pal, my companion, my compatriot, my home slice. Miles Lee, you betcha guy. How are we doing, folks? Charlie, where are we? We are at Black Forest Inn, ladies and gentlemen, three lakes, Wisconsin, sipping on a little Bairns, brown sugar old fashion specialty they got here. I want to get a taste of that.

I want to try it. Oh, gosh, that's good. Oh, that'll do you right. shout out to Sheena for making the cocktail today, our fearless bartender. And that's pretty good. Yeah. Thanks, Miles. Thanks.

It's more so the brown sugar than the brandy, but. Okay. You know what, Miles? You can, he's already joking my chain here, folks. Token my bowl. So listen, Miles, actually here, they ship great pizza here. They do. It's wonderful.

and the other day, week, month, two months ago. I got some pizza here. Yep. Okay, took it back, ate half of it because I'm only one fella, put the rest in the fridge, left for four days. Four days I left. I came back and my buddies were now at the cabin. Yep.

I pulled the pizza out of the fridge. I put it down. I said, fellas, I got some pizza for us. I expected them to say, oh my gosh. and just devour it. Yeah, but you know what they asked? How long is that been in your fridge? Who do you think you are?

Now, I think if Jared slapped that in front of me, I would go, I would devour it. I would eat it right up. You slap it in front of me, Charlie. I'm asking probably similar question. Okay, so it's a me issue. I'm sorry. And this is not even me trying to be like,

like that's they know you they're your buddies now if strangers who had never met you if you put pizza cold pizza in front of them they wouldn't ask either well i i even took the liberty after they gave it a face of going over to the microwave and heating it up and this what does that do well it kills anything that might have been on it your microwave's getting it hot enough to kill anything oh you don't know my microwave miles listen it's did bring up an argument, maybe just a debate that we had of when is pizza, when does pizza go bad? Because I'm of the belief that pizza is like water. It never goes bad. You know, it just recirculates. It's the, it's the pizza system, you know? So the question is, is how long does leftover pizza last for?

Yeah. And there's several different criterion questions. Like how. long was it out of the fridge, I guess. And I think we're assuming that you cooked it, you ate it, sat on the counter, went to almost room temperature, and then you put it in the fridge. Yeah. And it's been in the fridge ever since. Four days. Yeah. I think four days is still, you can still eat. For sure. It's still good. I'm saying now if you get to a week, I do think you start pushing it a little bit. No, no. You can go half a month at least. You go two weeks within the fridge. Well, half a month. That would be two weeks and a day. So 15 days. Sorry. Not 14 days. You think 15 days. Did I stutter, Jared? 15 and a half days on some months. I think weirdly enough, like the cheaper the pizza, the longer it will last. Because there's probably more preservatives in the cheaper pizza than like the higher quality pizza. That's true. A cheap pizza, you can eat it on the moon without even refrigerating. Like a little Caesar's pizza probably lasts longer than like. like a pizza from here, like a nice place.

Yeah, that is true. A lot of, a lot of sodium in those, uh, cheaper pizzas. Yeah, and chemicals and whatever. Chemicals.

Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Uh, a little warning to folks out there. If you think you're eating non-chemical laden pizza when you go to the Zaha, mm-mm, pizza,

uh, chemical chemical. Also, allegedly. So we don't get sued. You like what I did there, Miles? Um,

yeah, I don't know how, how, Miles, what would you say? I think if it's been in there a week, I'm probably just tossing it. All money bags over here. Okay. Fine. Fine. Fine.

Jared. With you. Standard pizza. You don't know where it came from. I'd go like five days. Five days, really? Yeah, I would go very long. Okay.

It's not worth it. Depends how hungry you are, Jared. It's just not worth it. I can find something else. Yeah, but what if you can? okay that I'll eat it okay that's the last thing in the fridge I can't go anywhere then sure

all right all right okay and I'll eat it a month later if I have to if it's that dire well I can't believe you guys are getting all all all you know all Caliwampus on me here how many of you

couldn't be more calm right now no you're a little Caliwampus you're a little like it'll only be a week it'll be five days how many of you have sat there and looked at a cheese and a cracker plate sitting out in the Midwest summer sun the entire day and you're like, I'll give that a go. I don't. I don't give it a go. Oh, really? Yeah. Really? You don't give it. Jared, do you give it a go?

If it's been in the sun all day? Yes. I don't. Yeah. What? But it's only been out one day. No. What? I mean, it's just like also, you mean, they could dive into so many things. mentally I'm not in the mood for a cheese and meat plate, you know, at 10 p.m. That's been sitting in the sun all day. I'm probably going to go for something else. I didn't say 10 p.m. I said like 5 p.m. You know, and it's a potluck.

Well, also, if it's 5 p.m. We're eating at 6. I don't want to spoil my dinner. So I definitely wouldn't go for that. But you're going to pick. You're going to want to pick it something. You're going to want to advertise. I'm maybe just not going to cheese.

I might just grab some salami or some sort. Okay. Well, salami, same, same question. you know how long can well salami honestly that might have enough salt in it that doesn't matter they they preserve salami like it's on the Oregon trail you know so anyways all right well I thought this would be a little thought provoking experiment and as it turns out it didn't provoke a whole lot of thoughts what did your buddies say they told me that they don't believe anything that comes out of my mouth for how long that pizza's been in the fridge that is true

that did pop into my head I go so you said it was four days How long was it actually? It was about a week. If I'm being honest, it was about a week. But, you know, four days is about a week. So did you eat it to spite them? I did. I ate it and I was like, see, I'm alive.

And I had a few takers. We did finish a pizza and no one died. So there we go. And this is not medical advice, by the way. So why don't you just tell us that you know for sure it can be in there for seven days and it's still good? Not seven. Half a month. No, I'm saying, but the data, the only data point we have is you left it in there for seven days and still ate it.

I have a lot of half month data too. Okay. I go out of town for a while. I come back, got some pizza there. Do you think the toppings matter? What type of pizza is this? Well, the only type of pizza I would not trust for half a month is shrimp pizza. Yeah, no, I would not.

If you're getting shrimp pizza, mm-mm, you better consume. that soon. Shellfish. I don't, I don't, I don't know about those kinds of fish. Okay. Yeah. So I'm not even, I'm not even testing it past a week. Right. It's nice to have a guy who draws a line and stand like that, Charlie. Yeah. I like that about you. You're a man of conviction. Thank you. I like, uh, I like that. You like that about me. Do you have any other rules for life? you know like you have don't eat shellfish past a week

shellfish pizza past a week what other rules do you have for life grilled peanut butter jelly if you haven't tried it every peanut butter jelly you're having it needs to be grilled on a grill or just like in a pan or like a melt no

like a melt I mean but be careful because when that jelly heats up you could burn yourself a tongue or a lower lip okay so the second rule for life is always grill a p b and j what other rules you got charlie uh other rules uh if there's a pole in sight get it in the water you know give yourself a little time last night miles and i we sat out there on the on the dock and we just fished for a number of hours maybe one and a half,

but we didn't catch anything. We got bit, bit up, but it was nice. We didn't get, stars came out. You got a bite? I didn't get a single bite, though. I'm talking about the mosquitoes. Oh, okay, got it. Yeah.

I was like, I didn't get any bites. I was going to bed, itching my neck. This is how you know, Charlie's a good fishing guide. We've gone out fishing twice and have gotten zero bites at all. The pressure change. The pressure change. I'm surprised we didn't get any last night. Although we went out after dark so you can look at your bobber.

You definitely were fishing in the wrong spot. I told you to fish the weeds. You didn't do it. But the problem was I couldn't see. It was so dark I couldn't see. I don't have a laid up bobber. We didn't go out on ideal circumstances. And also last night I was not out there to catch fish.

I was just out there to just enjoy the lake. Yeah. And hang out with my friend because Charlie, if we're not doing something, he will just wander off and we won't see him. And I was cast in. I was hunting a little musky action there, hunting a little croppy action. No action, unfortunately. Yeah, you weren't hunting at all.

You were just casting. And then, so. No, no, no, this is where the story ends, Miles. Oh, dude. So we're sitting there and Charlie's got two rods out. Both of them are tangled. Both are tangled. He takes like 20 minutes on Tangle 1 finally gets in.

He's cast it for a while. It's hard in the dark. And then on one of his cast, he catches the other rod. The other rod goes into the lake. And so like right off the end of the dock, you still, did you go get that today? No, I forgot. He still has to go dive down and get his rod that's at the bottom of the lake. Well, I'm not diving.

It's, it's, it's. Yeah, you reach down, whatever. Yeah, it's like four feet down. It will fill the waiter. Because he cast it and he got caught on a log and couldn't get it off. And so he just said, I'll go out in the kayak tomorrow. So we got zero bites. We lost basically two rods.

A rod and no, we lost one rod miles. I guess the only thing you hooked was a log last night. Not true. I also caught a clam. Did you see that? We got a little lake clams that'll just bite onto your hook, oddly. You know? Yeah, we got a bunch of them.

I'll go out there. We'll smoke them up one day. We'll put them in the side smoker. What do you call that? Offset smoker. Offset smoker. I have no idea what that is. I can't believe people are giving you so much chip for not knowing that.

Yeah. We got, Miles, we got one corner here and we can't both man spread on it. I think it's actually working very well. I haven't touched you once. All right. Well,

I'm getting a hip stretch today at the bar. So, yeah, we're kind of sizzering right now. Corner bar props. Corner bar props. So, you know,

that's what you get when you hire Barron's fishing services, fishing guide services. Miles, I've caught a musky off that dock. You get zero bite, one rod at the bottom of the lake and one hooked on a log. Miles, in order to say I'm a fishing guide, you have to follow my guidance. And then I go, how deep is it off the other dock? And he's like, ah, you know, it's, you know, that's like the answer I got from you. Miles, it's, uh, yeah, You know, I don't know. It's anywhere from three to ten feet. No, I don't know.

If you were listening, I says three to four feet depending on the water level. Now, I did put a, yeah, you know, because I was trying to think of what time a year it was and where the water level probably would be. So I think about that we get brain recently, you know, I was trying to get specific for you. But you took my, yeah, no, it says lack of knowledge. And what they were is they were sifting through the encyclopedia in my brain. You're right. It was such an advanced answer that it seems like a bad answer. Exactly.

That's your problem right there, Miles. That's your problem. My lake during the summer is not like what we would say, a primal fishing spot, which... It's good that you're a fisherman and you bought a cabin on a lake that's not a prime fishing spot. fishing. That was smart. It's not bad fishing, but it's not primo. And the summer, these days of the summer, it's not like, like you get panfish all day. I'm surprised you didn't catch one. But I also said the other dock has better fishing. Okay. But then you also told me that that dock is sketchy and you shouldn't walk out on it. So what do you want me to do? No, it's not sketchy.

It's just my dad got for free and I have to rebuild it, but this year it should be fine. Okay. All right. Did you rebuild it? No, because that's going to happen during the winter. I'm not going to waste the summer rebuilding a dock if you fall in. But at least you're by the water. Your other projects are in the garage that you've been doing during the summer. That one's like down by the lake. Yeah, but I'm going to, I'm going to, that's why I clean the garage.

So in the winter, I can bring it out and set up dock repair station. Okay. You know, because a lot of prep work. A lot of prep. It's all about the prep mile. My final question here about this is Black Forest. Okay, so it makes a lot of sense. So there's those two doors down there, which I imagine are the bathrooms?

No, not the bathrooms. No. So I initially thought that they were the bathroom doors. Yeah. I'm starting to think that they're not even doors at all, are they? Well, that one says employees only. So if it's an employees only wall. But it has a B and an F, which now I'm realizing is for Black Forest.

but for the life of me, I was like, did they do boys and females? Did they do broads and fellas? Boys and friends. Boys and fray, you know, what, what's the boys and friends? What's the thing here, B and F on each one? That's very funny. That's very funny. This is a cool, like, it's got like German beer hall vibes.

And it's real good woodwork in here, you guys. Real good woodwork. and they've got some nice games. They were kind enough to open up for us early so you don't see him hit up back here. But they got Big Buck Hunter. They got Darts. They got Cruze in the World,

which is for those of you gamers out there. That's one of the last video games I played. Cruising the World and Golden Eye. It's Cruising World, not cruising the World. It's cruising the world, isn't it? It's Cruising World. Really? Do you play it on N64 or in a bar like this?

N64. Yeah. I played it on N64. course too. You get the Lambo is the fastest car. I remember that? Yeah, I do. My buddy had the little driver attachment. Jesus, who were you hanging out with? Jay Riley. He did. He was a lawn mowing machine that kid and it showed in his ability to purchase things. You got a little egg thing, which my nephews love that deal. You can go. I had like so many eggs. The last time we came here, my little nephew, Olin, my godson.

He went and got a bunch of eggs. Some of those eggs have balloons in them. I've never seen a kid get a balloon taken away from him more often than Olin. Wow. How can you misbehave with a balloon so much? My brother put it up on the above the fireplace like three times. He was like, can I have my balloon back? I was like, sure, buddy.

It always just found its way back up there. I was like, how can you, what is he doing with that balloon? You know? I don't know. Rub it on people's head. static electricity science experiment i don't know if he knew that one i should show them that um all right so you got your you got a bunch of eggs here there's some good eggs here miles did you put them all in one basket or no uh well they are all in one machine uh but i wouldn't put

them all in one basket no and there's also a claw god bless two claws so anyways solid spot pool table gambling machines got it all here nice pictures on the wall some good fish old fish picks old bar picks it's a good spot you know it's a good spot when it's not bar and grill it's pub and grill and grill has an e at the end dude grill it's a good spot hell yeah they don't mess around food here is great i come here and i eat alone at this bar often just looking for a life partner miles be you. Do you have a girlfriend? Yeah.

I think she's going to love your say you're at the bar here without her looking for a life partner. Well, you know, a friend. A male companion, but not like, you know, exclusive. You're the one that put on the wall of the bathroom that I'm looking for a male companion show up here at 11 p.m. Yeah, just a, you know, it's a drinking buddy, but there's different names. Anyways, it's neither here nor there, Miles. Let's stop compute.

What if we had new listeners to this podcast, this episode? You know, what would they think? Well, you're kind of steering the ship, so you tell me. Well, they probably think, I got to get that guy a male companion. Oh, should we take some callers, Mouse? Let's do it. Guys, late August is when every Midwest family looks at the calendar and realizes there's exactly one summer weekend left to make memories.

All the memories. Oh, the memories. So the minivan gets packed to the ceiling. Somebody puts luggage on the roof with more confidence than engineering. Get the ratchet strap. And dad announces they are making great time. We're making good time. Well, everyone else is asking where the back's bathroom is.

The roads are busy. Construction is still constructing. Hold it. Use a Gatorade bottle. Sorry, construction is still construction ing. And one missed exit can lead to a three-lane correction that nobody needed. If somebody else turns your last summer road trip into an accident, Nicolet Law is there to help.

And folks, you got to be keeping your eyes peeled on the road. These fibs are all over the place. 1855, Nicolay. Lall. How are we doing now? You got Miles and Charlie from the Bellied Up podcast. Hey, everything's going great, guys. How are you? Doing real good. What's cooking with you, Al? Well, I'm just, so I'm a fine artist. So I have some paintings I'm trying to get ready to ship off. But I have a whole process where basically what I've been doing all morning is pacing and trying to decide how to sign my

one letter. Is it what letter? An L? Yeah. Well, so sorry. So when you have a painting, the artist typically signs the signature in the corner.

Yep. And so that's a sign that the painting's done and it's going to go off. And so that's actually the hardest part for me. Okay. Because you don't want to like

mess that up or or like you, it's so much pressure because it's like you've got to find the right spot sort of is that yes yeah so exactly so um the painting i have right now it has this like balance between like high gloss black and matte black and so i don't want to sign it with a big color because it's supposed to be black and so yeah but sign in the matte black with the glossy black

yes miles your genius that's exactly what i'm going to do okay we don't need to go that far okay No, no, I think, no, sorry, I mean all of you, you guys. Like, I feel like I love listening to you guys because it's almost like you're a therapy or something. Okay. Oh, thank you. Hey. So just to clarify, though, we're like both geniuses. Yes, absolutely.

You're like your assistant to the genius. No. Dude, she said I was genius. I think we can run the tape back and she said, Miles, you're a genius. And then you're my assistant. Let's move on, Miles. Let's move on. Let's move on.

Okay. No. Al, so you're, so you're, are you, are you, have you committed? You signed it. You're good. Oh, no. Like, I still have to like, I'm just, I have to go get the right pen now. Okay. That's a lot of what being an artist is. So I'm all, yes. Anyway, I don't know if I don't know if you don't mind me asking. I don't know if this is like, you know, the equivalent to asking a woman what her weight is. I don't know if asking an. artist, how much she's selling the paintings for, if that's an equivalent, if that's an appropriate question. But I am curious how much you're selling in these paintings for. Well, so that's the thing is my vision is. So within art, you can like, I, so before I became an artist, I spent about 20 years in advertising, marketing, digital marketing. So I definitely came

into my art career. Like, I know how to do a lot of these things like pricing and stuff. Anyway, when you look into the art market, you can either sell a bunch of little things, like a big trend is the tiny market where it's like a $250 for like, you know, a 12 by 12 or a 10 by 10. Yep. Or you can go to art fairs where, you know, you can sell paintings for anywhere from like $10,000 all the way up to $50,000. Oh. So where are you sitting currently? So I want to be in the multimillion dollar area. So that's two million and above.

So all of my paintings are like humongous. And they're all like, they take me some of them five years. And I use like all the high end stuff. But that's kind of where I've been out in my art career because I need to get a space basically. Because if you're going to sell at that level, you have to have it perfect. So and then you have to kind of like be with my art

because when you play, it moves with the light. Wow. Yeah. That's true. Yeah, it's a huge vision. I don't always share it with people because like a lot of haters will be like, you'll never do that. So thank you for receiving that.

Well, yeah. I mean, my head just goes to like you just need to find the right person to commission. You're doing it. You would do a commissioned piece for that. Exactly. You would take what they want and then paint it, right? No, no, no. They're usually, they would choose your art because it's so, yeah.

Yeah. So I want something like this other piece that you've done is what you mean? No, they would just, it's just I walk into your studio and it's like that exact piece is like everything I've ever wanted to feel inside. And it, you know, it can make. Oh, so you're just making replicas for a million dollars. No, no, these are, no, this is my custom. Like, I get a blank piece of canvas. Yeah, okay.

So I'm just trying to understand if someone's going to pay you a million dollars for it, in my head they would commission it for you and not just walk in your studio and just buy it off the wall yes they would it's a one of a kind it's a one of one mile yes yes you also be one of a kind triple triple genius for charlie miles she is the artist okay she has the vision it's like me's yes it's like me telling you what to say is funny you know if you know anything about history guys like michelangelo and da Vinci and stuff they got commissioned to do certain pieces of art and that's how they made money. Well,

also crazy for me to throw that out and wonder if that's how we're doing it. Because if I'm going to spend a million dollars in a painting, I want it to be what I wanted to be. I don't know. That seems. But it's kind of like when you met your wife probably. You saw her and she was what you wanted just as she was. That is true.

That is true. But I also think if you do, because the way you're saying is that, that's your dream. In my mind, it's a lot less of a chance that a million, well, probably a billion, damn near, very high net worth person's going to walk into your studio,

see something they love and just buy it for a million dollars. The stats are very low on that. That's how it works. Yeah, but look up Art Basel. Yeah, it's like I said, it's a once, and I'm a,

you know, a unique person who's meant to come here and show the world how it works. But yeah, art Basel. That's what they do. because you have to make those people feel something. A lot of people who are so one-sided in their mind love collecting art because they can't access that emotional part of their body. So even if they, it's like Elon Musk, it's like everything's X in about Black Square.

Dude, where's your creativity? You know, it doesn't exist. You know, do not compute. Anyway, I don't know. Hopefully this is interesting. I wasn't thinking this would be our conversation. Well, no, yeah. I just, because in my head, I'm like thinking, all right, statistically, how can I increase my ability to make a million dollars on one painting?

And that would just be like putting out. Well, I do live in the Bay Area. So I'm around a ton of billionaires. Yeah. So that's step one. For a billionaire, dropping a million bucks is like us buying a beer, Miles. I understand. Actually, if you look into the statistics around investment, art is one of the best long-term investment, especially for like generational wealth.

No, I get it. Yeah. I was thinking that you were commissioning, getting pieces commission. Yeah. And that's not totally left field. Yeah. Because there are people that do that. Like when I've done different like business accelerators or you know, I'm just, you know,

I try to like approach my business from my previous life. I used to be like a workaholic working in. I worked in tech by the end of it. But I worked in advertising, marketing, all that. But it's weird when you become an artist. It's just kind of. But anyway. So what is what is the.

highest price you've sold a painting for if you don't mind me asking. Well, I've only had one auctioned and that was auctioned for $5,000. Nice. And so you've only finished one piece or you've only sold one piece? Well, I've only sold one piece because I've only, I haven't like, I don't have a gallery. So I've had different ones in shows or fairs, but they're kind of, it's kind of a bunk system. I did a lot of like, you know, submitting things and they always want you to pay them. And then they don't do the marketing and they don't have good promotion. And, you know, when I've had,

like, when I had an auction piece, like, I was doing all the social media promotion and tagging. And so, yeah, that's one, that's what I'm working on now. So I have that. So I'm like a little nervous. I think I finally found like a consigner where I can get some of my older pieces and get my name out there. So, yeah. Yeah, a lot of... There's unfortunately a lot of lack that gets, like, projected on to artists, but that's something that's been my journey as a human just to, you know, get over. I'm just, you know, and any...

Yeah, anyway. So pause. Charlie, what's your deal? What's my deal? What do you get mad at me about for asking just questions that I'm curious about? Well, she did tell us that she had finished a bunch of stuff and she was putting her signature on it. Someone wasn't listening. You.

Thank you, Charlie. Yeah, no, it's, he's just, you're like, I feel you also, Charlie, I don't mean, I'm just guessing you're a creative type too, you know, you, it's just a, I don't know, there's something to it. We like to, right? Yeah, we're the creatives. You know, Miles over here. He's the old businessman, Dan.

And he's like, you know, but you need that too. You need it. It's the ying and the yang. Literally, oh my God. The Zing and the Zang. Without me, you're face down in a lake right now somewhere. Yeah, but I mean. But I was exploring the nether regions of water and you were like, you can't breathe down there.

You know, Charlie, without me, you're still doing the man to walk a minute and that's it. You know what? There actually might be some truth in that. But the truth of it is, Miles, is you need both of us. Yes. I know. You need a free flowing show. So you guys can talk about the art questions.

If you're labeling me as the business guy, I'm asking. asking business questions. I'm trying to understand how she makes money. I need you, Miles, as the business guy, to listen and not just to hear, but to listen. I will sit and listen, and I want you two to talk about art stuff, okay? Or wait. All right. Oh, she's got another question.

Well, let's first, I want to hear how artsy Charlie is here. Let's hear, let's hear you guys carry on an art conversation. Okay. Tell me about. Charlie. Tell me about your. favorite piece that you have completed? Well, hey, I can't have favorites.

It's just like your children. Wow, child, you didn't know that? No, I thought. You didn't know that. Every artist knows that you don't have a favorite. They're like children. Hush little miles. Don't say a word.

The artists are talking. Yes, so the one I'm looking at now, the one with the matte black with the high gloss black. And then it has a giant. figure eight in the middle, which, you know, is abundance. I don't know if you get, if you get into... Infinity. Infinity, yeah, has many symbols.

And then actually within that, it's like this gold oil crayon. And then there's copper and then there's like silver. And then there's kind of like this face that almost looks like a panther coming out of it. But it's abstract. So that is, I did that piece. It was originally white. And I did it in northern Idaho right before I moved to San Francisco. like an 18 month journey and all this stuff.

And so it represents a lot of like power. Did you go on horseback? Did I go on a horseback? Of course, I went on horseback. Absolutely. I ride horses all day. Because the 18th month journey to be.

Yeah, yeah. I'm thinking of. Like the Oregon Trail. This piece of art survived a lot miles. No, it actually quite literally is in the wagon painting and it's just like, too,

you start over all the time these are the wagon brush strokes okay I have to get away from the Harvard second like how did you know I'm a pioneer that's like my background I'm from Utah originally and Idaho but we literally like we're pioneers

like we were on wagons and stuff whoa actually whoa yeah like your ancestors or you actually were no not me I'm like I'm always like I feel like through the process of like what your cells go through you divide and then multiply and like you weed out the bad. So like I feel like my jeans weeded out all the, you know, wagony lady stuff because I'd be like,

no, I'm good. But I don't know. I'm also super strong. So maybe I was okay. So are you saying in a past life you were on the Oregon Trail, a wagon ear? No, well, no, my ancestors were. Ah. I don't think I was in a past life.

In a past life, I was definitely a cold-hearted businessman. I had horrible relationships with all my children. Wow. Wow. Okay. And that's why. Anyway. So you're using this art to heal that part of your past life's inner child.

Yeah. So sometimes I have these paintings that have faces because I was trying, like Buddha says, if you want to overcome anything, you have to face your. fear and look it in the eyes. So I started painting like aspects of myself. I don't like. So are you the panther in this painting? Yes.

Yes. Look at you. He's coming along. Yay. I feel so blessed. Charlie was never going to get to that conclusion, by the way. Well, everybody comes to their own conclusion because it's also about the grizzly bear.

Because I didn't know. So I didn't know the grizzly bear was extinct in California. and then I'm just taking my son to Lindsay Wildlife Museum and I find out that it's extinct and I was full enraged and so I took out of them and it just so that one's also for the grizzly bear if you turn it the other way well they're they're not extinct they're just not in California anymore yeah but our freaking symbols of the bear John the flag it's like it's like if Wisconsin was like

yeah we're going to be dry now and have the brewers like you're like What are you doing? You just killed a big. That's a great point. That's a great point. Thank you. Yeah. Well, you had a reason of calling.

And what was that? I was going to get your guys' thoughts on. So, okay, I have a list of things and I have the term, like, is this acceptable behavior? And just like you guys said, yelling at people in public is super not polite. But out here, it is kind of like a little bit normal. and again it's like if you're in the Sahara you have to like growl at another animal sometimes so I'm just kidding so I thought that would be funny um what do you guys think about that because I don't want to growl at another human no I'm not growling at people I'll tell you yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so the other day so the other day I'm walking and it's a very quiet safe neighborhood and it's just about it's like right about sunset but it's still bright in the sky.

This guy turned, you turns in the street, pulls up to me and starts hollering at me from his car. So what's he saying? What kind of hollering? Are we talking? Hey,

oh, like, hooting and hollering? Yeah, hooting and hollering. Sounds like a good time to me. You offer him up here? No,

I said no, and I sprinted away. What kind of car was he driving? I don't know. Some kind of like, Like, I don't know. Was it like a nice car? No, he seemed like he didn't like fit the neighborhood.

So was he like cat calling? Yeah, so he's not only cat calling, but then approaching a woman alone in the dark. Yeah, you should never pull up to a woman in the dark like that with your car. Yeah, that's weird. Like that's weird. Yeah, super weird, right? Yeah, so that one. but I feel like if you knew maybe the neighbor, but anyway, so that along the same lines,

this one gets a little bit more R-rated, so I apologize, but not in a, but not in the, anyway. We're fine. Okay, good. So I live on kind of a busy street. There's like six lanes of traffic. It's very busy. And I'm walking home from 7-Eleven. And this guy again stops in the middle of the road, starts hollering at me, and he offers me cocaine to come hang out with him.

And I was super offended because, like, I feel like I'm a single mom. I don't feel like I'm an artist. So I, you know, maybe I wear all black. Like, I don't feel like I give that vibe. And I was like, no, dude. And then the scary part was like, I felt like he thought that was such a good offer. I was like, do I need to sprint away? So do you think that that's appropriate behavior?

Well, typically the cocaine doing crowd is spending a lot of money on art. I'll say that. I don't know that this was a bad. You are maybe looking at a potential client. I didn't see. I didn't think of it that way. I was just thinking like don't get raped or killed. Yeah.

Maybe there was a possibility. That's step one, you know. But when you're in the clear of that, maybe be like, hey, you interested in art. So, hey, what do you think about this? I mean, I think that's just part of being in the Bay area. I don't know. It is. I feel like.

If that would happen in Fargo would make the news. Yeah. So I, yeah, it would. So what would be for any of my Bay Destrians that are watching this? What would be a more acceptable way? Bay Destrians? Is that what you said? Like before anyone else or Bay Area pedestrians?

Yeah, like the people of the Bay Area are Bay Destrians. Yeah, the Bay has their own. Have you ever heard of Haifi? No, what's that? it's like a music movement but it's like very bay area it's on nicotine it's like very cool it's like like people are a little i've heard of low fee which i would just call five no no this is high fee it's like a whole if you guys just look it up no high fee like actually it's also a term related to fungi and like the study of mushrooms oh so it's it's tripping music it kind of sounds

trippy yeah it's just that's the very unique like that okay and anyway but okay so if you saw let's you see an attractive woman walking or someone that you want to talk to as a male like how would you approach her in fargo well i'm married so i just keep driving well yeah yeah how about like when you guys were in or in wisconsin how would you you just what's the wisconsin pick up line You don't just pick up people in the Midwest. Well, in the bar, in the bar, I think you walk up to me and you say, hey, you like the Packers? Yeah. Can I get you in old fashion?

Oh, I can't drink brown liquor. Oh, that's fine. What do you like? I like a nice apparel sprits. Oh, you must not be from around here. Wow. That's okay. Oh, gosh.

We got an out of town or Charlie. Hey, we'll do a one apple sprits. What was it? Sprite. It was Apple Sprite. One apple sprite. Crown apple and Sprite. We want to.

Crown apple and Sprite. So, yeah. All right. That's coming. So what are you doing here? Do you have a nice, do you have a nice Pino-N-War from Sonoma? Peanots. Peanuts.

Peanuts. Pean-N-Wart. Pean-N-W-Pan-W-N-A. She wants some. Samoa, do you have Girl Scout cookies back there or peanuts? Oh, no, GSC is good, but just make sure it's on the hybrid side. A what? GSC.

No, are you talking about the outlets? Yeah. What kind of outlets do you guys have? We don't want this place to go haywire here. We got an electrician here who wants to inspect it. Okay. All right. They want you to leave the bar, unfortunately.

No, I'm just kidding. Okay. well that drinks oh what happened oh jeez she hated her bit so much it she hung up now i know how those guys feel it we're cat calling her on the side of the road she's gone no that's not okay i'll go fucking kill my son your call has been forwarded thank you for calling me back i was like damn okay no that's okay i mean i'm used to it this is what it's like working with charlie on a regular basis So, Oh, so Charlie,

Charlie, you hung up my, did your, you solar flared my phone? I didn't solar flare your phone. That's some, is there, is Mercury and Gatorade?

No, so Mercury is not on Gatorade. Okay. But there's an intense solar activity, like more, like if you go into like the science, there's like more, and each solar flare is like this huge amount of energy.

And it keeps scrambling technology literally. It's crazy. It's God saying, get off your phone, you see pricks. But anyway, so do you guys not have, like, so I was wondering if in Wisconsin, do you guys have good charcutory there because you have cheese, which is awesome. It's some meat and cheese plate here in Wisconsin. Oh, you don't do you don't add some like brainy mustard and a nut? We don't need almonds.

We don't need almonds on it. No. We don't need the fancy jams and jellies. But we do have some good mustard. We don't need the, what's it called? The pickled okra. We might have some pickled okra on there. Pickled okra, you know, we got pickled things.

Just old crap. Pickled stuff is good. Yeah. Yeah. So actually, I did live in Madison when I was little. I lived there. Yeah, I lived in Madison when I was six, seven, like first, second, third grade. Oh, that's cool.

That's where I learned how to ice skate. Hell yeah. Underwaps, yeah. Well, you dropped your call. Me and Charlie were discussing, and I had one more business-related question from you. Yes. And you said you sold one painting for $5,000. And so I was wondering how you're affording your life.

Well, so I've done digital marketing contracts. So I had a whole job before. So I did like my last contract was with a well-known. own website, but then I also get help from my dad. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, I'm like, I just, let's keep it real. That's, you know, like I said, I'm a single mom. And so actually my son started in kindergarten.

So this is, you would be in a very emotional day. So thank you guys for, I mean, I'm working through. So you can went to kindergarten today? No, he goes on Thursday. Got it. Okay. So I just have a lot of feelings about that. Well, but it also went in doubt, paint it out.

There you go, Miles. But I'm super excited because now I can focus on my business because, you know, I haven't been doing that because he's been in my world. Yeah, I get it. It's awesome. Yeah, so next time I talk to you, I'll be like, well, Miles, I just sold four paintings. We have $44 million in cash flow. What do you do next? I mean, right?

Nice. So can we get any, if you do that, can we have some money? I'll totally sponsor you guys sick and this is brought to you by L's paintings no you can

should I be the finest artist or it's just L Wheeler is my name L L L Wheeler okay that's cool the finest artist nice yeah but I don't have social media and stuff because I took it all down

because I hate AI and stuff like that's why my I do need a miles in my life because back when I started the journey as an artist, I could build my own websites. I could do everything. I kind of knew how to, and I had all these videos and this concept.

And then the artist, and he's like, I'm not posting that because I hate computers. And then I'm like, well, that's kind of unreasonable artist. But there's a middle, there's a middle ground in there somewhere.

I know. There's something to the allure for rich people that if you're an underground artist that's not on social media, that may increase the value. of your paintings. Exactly, Miles. You are. Because my whole business is

off of scarcity. There's only one of this painting. And I don't do prints. I've done prints and sold prints. But like, you know, I just, you have to, you know, kind of be dedicated to,

but yeah, like art goes up a lot year over year and stuff. And it's super cool. Like I take my son to the modern museum of art here. And he's, he like draws different now. It's so cool. That's sweet.

So take your baby to art for sure. Take your babies to art. I like that. They love the black and white cards. They love all the, you know, visual stimulation. Well, how can people kind of get a hold of you? Because I don't know if you know this, but we got a lot of. If you want a penny, you can't get it.

We got a few quarter millionaires in our audience. Well, that's what I think. I feel like you guys, like I said, I don't have any social media. So maybe just reach out to you guys. and then there's, you know, galleries charge 25 to 50%. Okay, we're going to charge 25 to 50% then for being the middleman. There you go. See?

And I'm happy to share it. That's how it should be because then everybody, because you're high vibrational people. That's why I want my art to do is when you look at it, it's kind of like when you go into nature, you like feel better. Yeah. That's and that's what my art does. I don't want to glaze over the fact that you called me and Charlie high vibrational people. What does that mean? that means like you spread so high vibrational emotions are like compassion joy laughter love you know a sense of community

authenticity is even on that so when you are have a show like you guys don't have a show dissecting gossip you know you don't have a show hating on people like you have a show that's really uplifting and positive and I feel like you guys are funny which I love laughing I love you know that always makes me feel better. So that's why I agree. And that's why I abide by the model live, laugh, love. Those are McCona of my three pillars of life. He's got a sign in his house that says that. Is it in a scripted font? Well, I also have a tramp stamp tattoo that also says live, laugh, love, and then there's a feather underneath it. Is that? Can I see that? Yeah, like, yeah, can we? Yeah. Look at it. It's pretty fresh. I think that's just your hair. I don't know if that's a feather.

Oh, geez. Yeah. It's a 3D tattoo, dude. Yeah, and that's not a feather. That's your butt crack. I wonder if anyone's ever tattooed like a cornhole situation on their back. Probably. Yeah.

I mean, it'd be like an aiming game and stuff. I don't know. Yeah, you have the board. Like on your, on your like above your butt cheek, there's like a guy throwing a cornhole bag and it looks like it's going right in your butt hole. Yeah. Oh, that would be a different person. perspective. I was thinking more of the that you were looking at it as the board. But yeah, I think you could do a lot with that.

So you can paint your butt cheeks at the big rectangle. Yeah. Yeah. And then your boathole is the hole. That's cool, dude. Miles, you should do that. You, you know what, Charlie, it's such a good idea. You should do that. No, I think it is. But like, you should do it. I think you should do it. I know matching tattoos. F matching. Got us there. Best buddy tattoos guys. That's true. and then we can like stand head to head, you know, like, or we'll both do like downward dog.

It'll be a guy throwing a cornhole and then yours will be the board. And then if we both bend over and touch butts, it'll like share it again. Okay, whoa. That's nice. We weren't talking about touching tips. We're touching butts.

Yeah, I thought that'd be cool in the Bay Area. Hey, every, there's, we, I'm, you know,

I'm not speaking for all of the Bay Area. I know that, you know, they encourage that kind of behavior. if that's what feels good. But I have a kid. He told me the other, I'd be like,

no, no, no, we don't. It's okay. If you guys, you can do with your butts, whatever you want to do. That's what I feel.

Everyone, it's your butt, your life. Yeah, just keep it your own business. That's actually one of the things I fear the most when I go out in the Bay Area

is seeing a, a D on a house person. A what? They're just, they're private part. yeah the private areas because they will flash you well not all of them no no not all and then actually the ones that are like legitimately talking to people in other dimensions i mean it sounds like a great place to live you know no it actually is that's why i don't i hate the stereotype of like california's crazy

i mean you just said that at any moment a homeless person could flash their cock at you well not we're not yeah i try to avoid those areas but yeah i could They're D. They're D. Sorry. What am I? My son, your weiner. Packer.

You're becker. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Oh, I know. I have another. So what do you guys?

I feel like Wisconsin and again, I have a love for Madison, but I feel like it's the most popular or like, you know, like everyone thinks of like the best Midwestern state or the most character comes out of Wisconsin. I mean, that depends on if you live in Wisconsin. or not. Well, and that's what I'm saying. I've never been to South Dakota or North Dakota. I've been to Illinois and I've been, that's it. But I just feel like Wisconsin has so much character. It's sort of what you think of as Midwest. Wisconsin's just the loudest of the Midwest. Okay. Is that what it is? It's like they're the loud minority of the Midwest. You know, everyone knows about Wisconsin because Wisconsin's on the rooftops yelling Wisconsin.

But does that help you as a Midwestern state, get some love? You know? Yeah. You know, Fargo is continually rated as one of the best places to live in the United States. Five people from Fargo. We're not out there screaming. We're the best. We're the best like all of Wisconsin is at times, you know?

Oh, really? But does South Dakota have like lakes? South Dakota has no laws. So that's the appeal there. You basically do whatever you want there. Deadwood's there. Deadwood's fun, man. What's Deadwood?

Deadwood's a city and South Dakota. It's like, yeah, South Dakota version of Vegas. Population 119, but always filled with like 10,000 people, yeah. Oh, okay. So it's like, okay, so it's like the Vegas of, so is it like, do you guys have any like mountains? South Dakota. We have, they're called hills. The black hills, black hills, but they look mountainy.

And in Minnesota, we go skiing at a place called Andy's Tower Hills. Okay. Yes. So you can ride down the ski hill for a total of like 25 seconds. It's quite the rush. Yeah. See, that was actually the one complaint I had about Madison when I was little was the skiing because I grew up in one of like world renowned ski resorts in Utah.

And I was like, this isn't very big dad. Wow. it is a dump that we just snowed on top of that's our show there but at least you did something with it that's what we do with our dumps yeah yeah you just make ski hills yeah and it's fun it's like watch out for the hypodermic needle you know well anyways listen it's been a real pleasure and we hope you sell a ton of things yes i will thank you and thanks to your artistry okay thank you and thanks to you guys I really appreciate your content. Like you guys are really a unique,

wonderful breath of fresh air. And then I have to say to Charlie, tell grandma CY say hi. Oh, I'll let her know. You bet. Yeah. Good luck in those slot machines. Yeah, we're going to go.

Hit a loose one. All right. We'll do that. Thank you. We need all the luck we can get. All right. God bless you guys. God bless.

We'll see you. See you. Well, Miles. I think we may buy some art. We just got to get. a million dollars. No, yeah, you can get it for five grand. I want a million dollar one. I'm going to, you guys, don't forget to support this podcast so Miles and I can get a million dollar piece of bar and we'll split it. Hello, who's this? Hi, this is Miles and Charlie from the bellied up

podcast. Is this Gretchen? Hi. Hi. Hi, Gretchen. Hi, how are you? Oh, real good. Why don't you belly on up to the bar with us and tell us what's on your mind today. Also, I like that greeting. You know, it's not very often in today's age. You just get a, who's this? My grandpa, Bob, used to do that all the time. You'd call. You go, who's this?

What a good warm, welcoming way to answer the phone. Who the hell is this? I get 789,000 freaking ass spam calls a day, which should be illegal in all 73 states and 48 countries, but I hate it. Every single time and I hate the AI stuff. This whole world's going to shit.

It's going to pot. I'll tell you that. Well, we're happy. I'm allergic to it. Oh, you are? Bummer. A rough day in the neighborhood. It is, Grat.

Are you actually allergic to pot? Yes, I'm allergic to T.HC. Okay, so like what happens when you do it? Worth day ever. Like, do you do? just like, oh, I'm, I'm talking like EpiPen style. I go out, I go balls to the walls when I go, when I do some balls to the walls, rock out with your cuckout style.

Bigger than better. For Rio. Okay, so you're just like, everything swells up and you're, yeah, my throat starts swelling. My fish looks like a puffer fish and I get, I'm like, you know, I'm like a cat with a hairball condition. So how many epipens are you going through a month? then he's got to still get your fix. I have them on a regular and I eat

Benadry like Skittles so are you actually allergic or did you just get so high you thought you looked like a pop or it's in my medical records I get sick and then I start puking it's hard to puke when you throw it's closing it's like I imagine it's like when you put your

thumb over the end of a hose and it comes out like just right because then I find other things that comes out your nose and oh my gosh yikes wow it's rocker

nothing like a good night anaphylactic yeah antiphlectic shock say no to the pot yeah it's such such a sad situation I'm sure I could go

to the walls with with some boo your sugar but I can't do pot that's reckless whoa wait so you're doing I said I'm sure I'm just

that might That's just an assumption. Oh, you're not saying you've done the book, Shug. I don't know. I can't confirm or deny that. Okay. I've got some nights in Wisconsin situations where I don't remember a lot. Oh, well, there you go.

I got a lot done. I could have re-roofed the house. So it was quite productive. Wow. Where was that? Oh, that was at my house. Okay. All right.

I've organized a toolbox 48 times. I had every normal bowl measures. She was really pretty reckless. She woke up and all her junk drawers had dividers in them. They did. Every single one had KitchenAid dividers in them, KitchenA barrels and lids. You knew just how many dead AA batteries you had.

I did. And I licked every single one on my tongue just for sure. I mean, that's a whole other type of experience, you know? you know what like I said falls to the walls that's it I don't go half ass in this life no full ass Gretchen that's what we call her what's on your mind Gretchen I don't know I actually had I thought this was going to be like a murder type situation like the worst 48 hour type season finale and then I'm like wow wait a minute these two definitely don't fit that's gulf and I had to look it out and I was like Oh, my God.

These are the awesomest guys ever. You thought we were a murder mystery podcast? No, because like, I'm going through a situation that's like, for real, it's going to be the next first 48. Oh, oh, God. The worst 48 hours are a dateline ever. So you're in a dateline situation is what you're saying. Oh, my life is a dayline situation. Okay.

All right. Well, let's write the script for him. What is what's going on? So I find me was able. Let me just give you some backdrop. I worked in the system for 21 years with high risk offenders. I was, okay,

I got ADD, by the way, so you're going to have some side tracks. You don't say, are you on speaker phone, by the way? Yeah, sitting in my son's room because my niece is in my bedroom watching TV. Oh,

that's, that's okay. I'm sorry, speaker phone is a hundred, to hear me? Just a scotch. I'm so sorry. I have to have a speakerphone because my head got punched in and I have like my hearing

is bad now. Oh, that's fine. Keep it on speakerphone then. We can hear you. We can make it out. Look, you're either going to love me or hey me, be like, we need a restraining or she's our next crew. No, we, we're all right on our wall.

Watch, Gretchen. So far. Right. Facts. The night's still early. Anyway, I'm so on the known. You said you worked in the system? I worked in the criminal justice.

I worked with high-risk sex offenders. And then, like, chapter 980, the sexually violent predators. Wow. What did you do with them? Look. That's above classified, like, well, look, it isn't because look at what's happening with the White House. So, wow, I did better things to keep shit organized.

I helped stop human sex trafficking. I did not condone the actual whatever. I don't think you did. I don't think you did at all. I think you're out there. The one that was incognito. That's why I hate casinos. I don't go to casinos, but I was the one incognito that was, like I said,

balls and walls running a dude down in high heels. Really? So you were like a, you were like a, you were like a, bounty hunter in high heels at a casino? She was... That sounds hot. That sounds like a really good porn. I got to check into that. That could be a new fetish.

I could make a lot of money to sell that script. You were going to casinos, all dialed up. Because you know that they, well, maybe you don't. That's like crime. Sixth, you have. Got it. So you I don't

I rent a room So they have the young girls Look like looks like their kids Oh let's go get a hotel They get them all dressed up And then they can walk on a casino floor Because they're already in the hotel Okay

They have they have John stationed that Look I might end up Remember this If I get murked tonight Or something happens Because I'm shedding the secrets Fuck my soul That's not good

Right So were you working for the the police or were you like this is a militia of some sort the state the state yeah the one guy that jumps out of the door when he gets the guineas to show up

at the girls' houses are you working for Chris Hanson that's my dad no I'm playing I worked for the state I worked for the government wow so you were dressing up so you're like

in this may be just incenses what you say, but you basically you were bait in this sting operation? No, I wasn't bait, but I was like getting intel. You know, who the Johns were, figuring out who the girls were, that type of stuff. Got it, God.

You were. Same thing with like porn stores until I got invited to join a man in a booth. And I'm like, yeah, that's because I had to watch to see if my offenders were participated in as well. Ah, you were doing stinks. So my guys were people I worked with, and I was on, like, all kinds of committee with police and stuff.

Yeah, I mean, you're like, you're like, you're doing recon all the time on what's going on. When, when that type of situation would come up. I mean, that wasn't my job just like a hallway and a casino. No, that absolutely was not my job every day. that was every once while that happened because I even had to deal with it period I hate you can see us I'm not even sure how we got on the subject oh I don't life was dayline episodes so oh so okay maybe this is why I worked with horrible horrible people right I dealt with horrible people and then I was did counseling I ran treatment groups I

did work at detox in Madison all kinds of stuff I was the hostess with the most this all over. So you were, how did you get into this line of work? The truth, because I'm all the truth as no back. My first year back from college, so I

had four, three possibilities singing because I would see, I did a lot singing, opera, and different things. Or Marine memo, I thought I was going to be the next gen good, all that for sure. That was on my bucket list for sure. I would go live with the monkeys in Africa or manatees in the water.

take your beard either one sound better than this alternative apparently or law okay so you could have been a opera singer opera singer you could have gone and been a manatee or you could have been a lawyer been a lawyer so which one did you choose well I was on the board border and then my first summer home from college you know freshman you got to go home two days before I went back to school because I went to Dobie Madison and I was oh I also tutors the athletes there anyways my bosses you know at the ripe age of oh because I graduated young that was 19 with anything yeah I was 19 you know

lived in a really small town of 10 we had three EMTs at our graduation because three girls were walking across the stage ready to drop their kids on the podium So anyways, drinking. Yes, absolutely. My boss has got me wrecked. And I live way on the country, and they lived on the opposite end of this 10,000 person place. And so a former classmate said, I'll take you home. Well, he decided to write me and throw me in the ditch.

And so that was like, oh, my God, I don't want anyone to ever go through this because I, like, had a crash out for a hot second. So that projected my whole thing. So it was all about Save the World, make it a better place. Wow. Sorry. That's a terrible thing that's happened to you. Thank you.

Well, thank you for acknowledging. I appreciate it. So then I ended up graduating from UW Madison. Like that put me on like balls to the walls track. So. But I do think that. For bad those degrees. I mean, I do think, you know,

trying to turn that really negative thing into a positive help of their people is a good thing too. Very good. And you got four bachelor's degrees, you said? Yep, in four and a half years. Wow, you really did go balls to the walls. So then I was like, you know what? I'm going to work for the FBI and be serial killer profile.

That's the direction. But that was a hard note. I got a little bit of a family history that is questionable, apparently, to the FBI. So they said, that's a hard note. I think. Don't let go for $200. So then what did you do? So I specialized in sex offenders.

I helped rewrite treatment programs like the juvenile sex offender treatment program for juvenile corrections for the Department of Corrections. I worked with experts in the world by Dr. Ann Insulter, who is a Chapter 980 specialist, which is Wisconsin sexually violent predator law. so wow I just go go to the dark world

yeah I mean you know you forget that that people you're like you don't like it's you you don't meet a lot of people with that job and you're like kind of grateful there's people trying to prevent that stuff out there

yeah you have a lot of people that really question your life choices so what are you you out of that now what are you doing now Now I don't work. Okay. Are you retired? You could say that.

Okay. So what are you doing in retirement? Being a mom. How many kids you got? I have two, one adult and my son who just came in his bedroom. He said, oh, look at his picture.

He's a senior and he just had his football. banner put on the side of the fence that of the stadium it's like five feet tall oh let's go so he's a football star yeah he's getting scouting that's awesome so I got I'm ended up on disability oh you're on disability you said

like injuries and possibly some mental health stuff so I'm not really quite sure but probably probably little bit too crazy sometimes I told my doctor and I actually thought this was funny because I try to be

up being of it she said how are things going and you look pretty sad I said yeah I feel like I'm a pair of assless chaps in a straight jacket away from the healthcare center and she said what

two days later I had the biggest referral packet for mental health ever I called my friend and I was like like she definitely didn't take it the right way And she was like, who even said that type of shit? Like,

you got to be crazy to even say so. Like, yeah, she'd look at you like, you're crazy. She probably put a referral in for a chapter 51 for you, too, while you're at it, which is involuntary mental health commitment. That's in case, you're on them.

One of the statutes, I can tell you the statutes. Huh. So is there anything that we can help you out with today? Yeah. Oh, like I said, I thought. that this was like my input on some murder case or something like that that I looked to you guys

of it I was like oh my god this is awesome I definitely have to get back to these guys probably not murder case more ice fishing more ice fishing tackle boxes and building a bar type stuff which I can do that too I'm handy manny nice handy Mandy I like that Gretchen what what do you do for fun when it's just you and it's time to have fun what do you like to do like to do like Camping. Oh, where do you, where's your favorite camp spot in Wisconsin? Crystal Lake.

Outside of Monaco. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice. I made biscuits and gravy and it's. Nice. That sounds good. What are your three tips for people going camping?

Be like real, real deal on an air mattress and a tent. Okay. Have a good street tent. Have a little kitchen set up in there. None of that campers shit is what you're saying. Well, I mean, it's nice. I mean, yeah.

But, yeah, that's not in my budget. So, but we had, like, a huge tent, like a three-room tent. And a big beer mattress was better than my damn bed for a long time. I swear to God. But just have fun. Like, be, like, all natural. hog and tree, walk around barefoot. And all natural, no shaving, just being completely naked out there in nature is what you're saying.

That would be terrifying if you saw a lot of people that go camping. So I highly do not recommend that. Okay. I just want to know where we drew the line on that. Definitely illegal, probably a poor regal in 73 states, but it should be terminated in 98 countries. Okay. So I don't recommend that. I mean, all about night tears and post-traumatic stress disorder if possible.

Eating Xanax, like Skittles, that could be a possibility. But no. Just like big coolers, like a Yeti cooler, so your beer stays cold for like seven days straight with a new ice. How do you feel about that, Miles? Seven days straight, no need to change out the ice. What Coleman's going to do that, Miles? I mean, they're getting pretty other coolers for half the price or even less than half the price are getting just as good as Yeti's.

Oh, I don't own a Yeti. I think it would be cool, though. Okay, got it. I just threw that out there. Maybe I get a free one. I don't know. Hey, what up? Miles, don't you have some old Yetis hanging around that you've reviewed?

I actually. Not your Yetty costume for Halloween. I'm talking like, I need some cool cool coolers. You got a cool cooler? I actually don't. I have a Bowman cooler from like 1932, so your ice lasts four and a half seconds. And your bacon is filled with water. And your lunch meat is trash.

And it's for the snapping turtles. Why don't you just build a you, Betty? So you just get some insulation foam, two inch insulation foam. And you cut it up and tape it together. And it works just as good as a Yeti. Because that's all that Yeti is is just two inch insulation foam wrapped in plastic. And duct tape. Yeah, I mean, they probably don't use duct tape.

So you got a cooler for like $1.50, cheaper than a, huh. that's something. Yeah, and then I put flex seal on the inside. I have flex seal in my drawer. That's amazing. Well, you're halfway there. Yeah. You are halfway there.

Just get a bunch of takeout and eventually you'll get two inches of it around the border. You know? Just go rip some off of some house or basement wall or something. There you go. Yeah, I worked in the system, trying to stay out of it. Smart, smart, smart. Bad advice for me. Duly noted.

Yeah, so, okay, you like camping. Huh? Let's bring this back. Let's rotate this a little bit. How did you guys meet and end up doing this? Because it's so funny. Miles slid into my DMs. No, you definitely slid into my DMs.

He's, went into the DMs. Were you on my registry? I hope not. Not that I know of. No, Charlie, definitely, you definitely slid into my DMs. I think if we go back and look, you'll see that Miles slid in. Let's not go back and look. He was all jazzed up to be like, oh, Miles, I love your content.

I'd love to be a part of it. Please let me be a part of your video. That's what's Charlie when we first met. Esperado. Why don't you run for the fences? So you guys didn't know each other until you were sliding into third base and each other's DMs. Yeah. Yeah.

I sent him a little peach emoji, you know. We've nothing like Wisconsin cheap. Yeah, that's exactly right. And yeah, we shot a video. The School of Ope was our first video. And Miles, I went in for a hug initially. he wasn't for it. He stuck me with a good old handshake.

And so I like that a little hard to get. I like a little challenge. Nice. Yeah. Challenge accepted. Yeah, but when I saw him this week, he came up, he gave me a nice big hug. Thank you, Miles.

And that is the, if that's not a Midwestern friendship. Yeah. You know, if that's not a lesson in how. long it takes men to warm up to each other. You know, we've been doing this together, what, six, seven years? And that was the first time he showed me true warmth. I just started hugging my wife, actually. That's rough.

His kid is a year and a half and he's giving him handshake. All right, son, it's time for bed. That was fun today. We'll see you tomorrow. nothing like early on set of reactive attachment this order. Wow, we'll go with that. Well, we hope you can get out camping and fishing the rest of this summer.

Gretchen, maybe take your grandkids out there to that three-room tent you got. And, yeah. Yeah, we appreciate you calling in today. My God, I have so much fun. It's one of the best days of my life. Oh, no. It's one of the best days of our life, Gretchen, okay? Oh, my gosh.

I'm so, it's so hard for me to blush. And I'm not sure if it's a menopause, premenopause hot flesh clip or if I actually am blushing, but I appreciate the effort. Yeah. It really makes me feel good. Hey, well, you've been just a pleasure to talk to. Well, I hope I run into you guys sometimes. We hope so, too.

I'll give you Miles' address. I'll have the armed guard go out there, whatever. I'm not a cool person. Super easy to get along with. You seem like it. Well, cheers to you and good luck to your son this year on the varsity. Yeah, if you guys ever in the Wausa area and come on and come to D.C.

Everett's football. We're a really good team. All right. All right. Go Evergreen. Go Evergreen. Go green. Go green.

Go green. Go green. Recycle. Absolutely. absolutely. All right. Well, have a good one, Gretchen. Thanks. Well, Chuck, what a wild ride that was. That was a ride. That was a ride. I was not prepared to take. That was a, that was the Gretchen Express right there. Grandma Gretchen Express.

And we, we took that train to the station. And actually, I don't know that we ended up at the station. I think we just had to step off. We headed to the station. And we took a few detours. Uh-huh, sure did. And we just did a tuck and roll off that one because, you know, Gretchen's one of those gals. We could have been on there for hours and would have enjoyed it. But, uh, you know. It's one of those that got to be locked in because if you, if you're not paying attention,

you're going to miss something. Something important. You know. Yeah. Gretchen's a great gal. Great gal and she's out there having some fun camping. And that's a good reminder to everyone. Get on out there and camp.

It's nice to be out with the. trees the trees uh give you a protein for the brain so i know there's a lot of what are you talking there's a lot of protein people out there trees are protein for the brain get on out there and camp and do some fishing too and if you're deer hunting make sure you got your aim down so we don't have any gretchen moments out there okay all right well should we well that's it that's it for this week's episode of the bellied up podcast it's been a pleasure listening to all you. You're like three years away from being Gretchen.

Gretchen's my soulmate. It might be her cousin. She might be her cousin. She could be my cousin. Maybe I'll see her at the Barron's Bash this weekend. You never know. Gretchen, there you are. Okay.

Gretchen. Hey, that's how it goes. All right, guys, thanks for tuning into another episode. Tip your bartender. We'll see you in the next one. Okay, hope you guys have a good one. Goodbye now. Toodoo.