Shaun Newman Podcast - #1098 - Big Moustache Al

Episode Date: July 23, 2026

Alan Delorme aka Big Moustache Al is the father of Canadian comedian and internet personality Quick Dick McDick . A Saskatchewan farmer and rancher, Al has become a beloved supporting character in his son's online content. Quick Dick McDick frequently features him in videos, photos, and social media posts, often highlighting their close father-son bond, everyday farm life, and Al's distinctive long, bushy white moustache that earned him the memorable moniker.Cornerstone Forum 26’https://shaunnewmanpodcast.substack.com/Silver Gold Bull Links:Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/Email: [e-mail] Grahame: [phone]Bow Valley Credit UnionBitcoin: www.bowvalleycu.com/en/personal/investing-wealth/bitcoin-gatewayEmail: [e-mail] Get your voice heard: Text Shaun 587-217-8500

This is Brett Weinstein. This is Tom Longo. This is Bruce Party. This is Alex Krenner. Hey, this is Brad Wall. This is Dr. Pierre Corey. Hi, this is Frank Paredi. This is Danielle Smith.

This is James Lindsay. This is Vance Crow and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks. Happy Thursday. How's everybody doing today? We'll get into some updates from the trip. But before we get there, how about we talk a little silver gold bowl? When it comes to buying, selling or storing precious metals, you know who I'm going to turn

that's silver gold bowl based out of Alberta, but worldwide. Anyways, I'm happy, happy Thursday. How's everybody doing today? When you're looking to all the things, precious metals, down on the show notes, text your email program for details, and I hope you're having a great Thursday as well. Somewhere I am just before or just after recording this, we're on our way back north to Manitoba, so we're in a vehicle. I'll get to that in a second.

And I'm having a little bit of fun before I'm, you know, Trapped with, you know, trapped is probably a harsh word. But regardless, stuck in a vehicle with three kids who are poking each other nonstop, and I'm sure it's going to be a fun little bit of fun, hop on silvergold bull.ca, silvergold bull.com. Anything you order there ships directly to your doorstep. Super easy. And yeah, you got questions?

Text or email, Graham. It's dialed down in the show notes. Now, Guardian plumbing and heating, they are, we've been doing blue collar solos. Today is another blue-collar solo of another man who has earned a living by using his hands. And I think Big Mustache Al is quintessential. Quintessential. I don't wear you twos. Somewhere you're making fun of me.

Regardless, the Guardian plumbing and heating blue-collar solo is another one is today. We've been working on them here as we got going on the road trip as we talked to some more blue-collar folks. and when it comes to keeping homes, farms, and businesses running smoothly, you think of Guardian plumbing and heating. Since 2010, they've been doing just that. Whether it's expert service, cutting-edge power solutions, or advice you can trust. Guardian plumbing and heating has your back.

I guess I can't spit it out today. When you're looking for them, head to Guardianplumbing.com. They can solve all your problems, or most of them, anyways. Ignite distribution is out of Wainwright, Alberta. Their high-service supply company based in Wainwright, Alberta. Specialized, I don't know why I'm all over the place today. Specializing in automotive parts and a wide range of additional products, including safety equipment, welding supplies, fasteners, and janitorial items.

They operate as a Napa Auto Parts, retailer, and of course you can get a hold of them. 780842-3433. Talk to Shane Stafford and his team. They don't come much better than Mr. Shane. And, well, look forward to rumbling through. That was the original stopping point. Wainwright, see Aunt Jeannie. And now we are, well, many, many days.

since then. Finally, we got the Caleb Taves, Renegate Acres when it comes to concrete, stamp concrete in the new studio, which at some point we'll be back in. Think of Renegate Acres. They do supremely good work when it comes to concrete, and they do the community spotlight, which brings me to where we're on the road today. So we've spent the last week at Mel's family cabin, upstate Minnesota, on a nice little lake in the middle of nowhere, in my opinion. And now we're back on the road. We're heading to Manitoba. That's right, Manitoba.

Buckle up. We're coming through. Looking forward to getting back up into Canada. And most people don't say that these days. But I am. I've been missing it. I'm looking forward to some new fresh conversations in the province of Manitoba. So be on the lookout for that.

We're going to be roaming around there, stumbling in some familiar faces, and hopefully finding a few new ones as well. So tonight we get into Manitoba. It'll be a long drive, and then we're there for roughly the next week before we push on to Ontario. So looking forward to that. And of course, when it comes to the road trip, it's powered by Zebes, the family owned and fine-tuned in Chestermere, Alberta. Zeb's performance and restorations delivers expert classic car restorations, custom exhaust,

and performance upgrades that keep your ride reliable and roaring. Visit zeebs.ca and talk to Mr. Zane Southgate himself. If you're watching or listening on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Rumble, X, Facebook, Substack, make sure to subscribe, make sure to leave a review. If you enjoy any of the shows, any of the episodes, make sure you share with a friend. And Substack, I keep saying it, free to subscribe to. Go pay attention over there. We got the week in reviews on Sundays.

Jack, St. Louis, Jack, and Tanner released their first master class this week, and it's all about the life of Paul. So there's going to be 10 episodes for paid members there. So if you want to become a paid member and support the podcast, do it there. If you just want to get the updates of when new episodes and everything else are coming out, head over to Substack. Free, you know, just get an email blast when there's new things on the podcast. All right.

Well, let's get on to that tale of the tape. Today's guests are Saskatchewan Farmer and Rancher. I'm talking about Alan DeLorm, or better known as Big Mustache Al. So buckle up. Here we go. All right, welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. I am sitting with, this is interesting because I'm sitting with Alan DeLorm, but everybody knows he has big mustache, Al, and I think we all know why that is.

Me and your son have had a friendship that kind of spurred out of just stumbling into him years ago now. It's hard to think of, actually. It's got to be six years ago, I guess. I first probably interviewed Quick Dick. but you know somewhere along the road I told I told him I said I'd really like to interview your dad like I think it'd be a ton of fun and here you are so tell us a little bit about yourself well yeah I guess in the last few years I've been become known as big mustache L I always had a big mustache I think it's genetics if you look at I got three boys they all got huge

freaking beards. Yes, they do. Yeah, and my dad had ability to grow a pretty good beard and mustache and even my mother would grow a pretty good mustache. And

rest in peace, ma' but you would laugh at that. Where are you originally from? Well, I was born at a Sinaboya hospital. I grew up around Scout Lake south of Sineboa, and then when I was 12 years old, we moved out to the extreme southwest corner of the province, Consul.

And from then on, I've been all over the province with the community pasture system. I started at Nashlin, which was close to the ranch where I grew up on at Consul, and then went to Bitter Lake pasture north of Maple Creek, and then I went back to the ranch for a few years, and then I went back to the PFRA up at Weyburn, Radville Country, Lurier Pasture.

Then I moved up here to Foam Lake in 1987, and I've been here ever since. I'm just curious. How does one get the, you know, like was it just a job posting for the community pasture, or was that something different? Because, like, certainly do I know what a community pasture is? Yes.

On the Newman side of it, I'm sure Dad will text me after I say that we've never used a community pasture because we probably have. But I just don't recollect going to the community pasture, if you would. And yet in my travels in the oil field specifically, I ran into them quite often. Did you, you know, it was just a job listing and you said, oh, I could do that. And like, when did that start? What year were we talking? Well, I started in 1974. I was still in high school.

I had my grade 11, grade 10, I guess, for sure. No, I had my grade 11. But I looked to me like I wasn't going to make grade 12, and I only needed a grade 10 education to be a pasture manager, and the local pasture manager offered me a riding job, and I said, okay, that's it. I'm overqualified for this job, and I'm going to go to work. And, yeah, lo and behold, a few years later,

I was underqualified, so I had to go to GED to get caught up. So in grade 11, you start in the community pasture? Actually, grade 12. Grade 12? Yeah. So then you didn't finish high school? You just went to work in the community pasture? I just quit in April and went to work at the community pasture.

So what is, like, operating a community pasture entail? Oh, well, a lot of people think it's a cake walk, but when you got to go pull bulls in September and they don't want to come out and it's raining and hailing and you're out checking cattle and you got to treat a 2,000 pound bull or 1,500 pound cow in the mud

and it's pretty hairy. Never a dull day. But you're always outside doing what you love. At least it was for me. Well, maybe to the, even myself, the community pastures, Could you explain the concept of community pastures? Well, the community pastures were started in the 19,

some of them were started before the Depression. Most of them came into being with the federal government relocating farmers, ranchers from the south that couldn't make a living and reclaimed the land and turned them all into community. pastures and the farmers from the south ended up you know the government would relocate them to the north where it was a little bit more easy to make a living and they just reclaimed the land and turned it all into community pastures and took what sorry did you say a year in there out what year were the farmers moving well i think as far as i can remember the community

pastures started in 1927 and then with the depression and they just kept growing and growing because they would reclaim farmland that was just turned into dust bowls. I interviewed, man, man, and 90, forgive me, folks, especially the family, 90-something-year-old from roughly Carrot River.

And in his story as a kid, they relocated from the south and went to Carrot River. There's a lot of that history. But what I didn't piece together was that they probably turned, Well, I mean, maybe they didn't, but when you add in the part of reclaiming it, because the land, there was nothing there.

And it was funny because they went to the north and then had to cut down all the trees by hand and then till the land and everything else, and that was better than the south. You kind of get a sense of what the south was like. And basically what you're saying is, is back then they took that dust bowl of the land and turned into a community pasture. Yeah, they did. The federal, there was two, actually three different levels of community pastures. There was co-op community pastures where just a group of farmers that had mixed farms

but didn't have enough grass, would lease a bunch of government lease land and use that for grazing. And they ran the pasture by themselves. Then it was the provincial pastures, which was part of the land branch. they were run by the provincial government and then there was the federal pastures which were PFRA and that'll take us back to what we talked about here just a short time ago about reclaiming the land

it was called PFRA stood for Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration that's where it all started And the PFRA community pastures was a big thing. Also building irrigation projects to run water into some of these drought-stricken places. And they had programs for dugouts and all sorts of things just to help rehabilitate some of the old farmland. So the community pasture had been around for a long time then? Yes, they have. and don't quote me 100%,

but I'm going to say 1927 again. Which makes it almost 100 years. Oh, yeah. And a few years ago, the federal government saw the need to get rid of the pasture. So now it's all still owned by the government, leased land, but each community pasture has its own set of patrons and they call the shots on their own pasture, on how they want to run it.

All they do is pay the lease each year to the government. And I think it's probably better now than it was then. Yeah, so like growing up as kids, we had Crownland that you paid the lease on. Exactly. But I never considered that community pasture because we only used it. I assume that when you say community, like you're talking, lots of farmers all using the same plot of land, correct? So those are two separate things. Because as you point out, like the federal government had come out, man, how long ago is it?

Well, you could probably tell me, is it in the last, certainly the last 10 years, is it the last five years where they started to open up? Basically, you could buy out of the leases and buy the land. That's correct. I'm not right up on that anymore. But, yeah, a lot of the lease land has come up for sale. with the current leasee or leeser getting first chance of refusal. Yeah. So then like where we sit and once again people will be,

we've been having lots of fun on this trip because I never have, you know, normally I have the same background. I'm in the studio all the time. But on this trip we're indoors, we're outdoors, we're all over the place. And so we're sitting on your farm. How long have you been? at this spot?

Well, I bought this quarter section, the home quarter, I bought in 1992. I've been adding to it since, but actually I was still working for the government then. And I had a small herd of Black Angus, purebred cattle, that kept growing also. And we actually moved here in 2000. 2001, to be precise,

is when we actually moved here. It was just getting to be too much, running a community pasture, being the district manager, trying to look after my own place, and I decided that this is where I should be. So I said goodbye to the government job, and I'm still here.

Am I right in assuming as a community pasture manager? You got to see some pretty cool land out there. You got to, because you mentioned a whole bunch of different areas, correct? Yep. It's a real hodgepodge. Most of the community pasture land, again, was back when the dust bowl took over land and it had to be reclaimed and reseeded. A lot of it is still native.

It's marginal land that you can't grow crops on because of rock or too much water or or what have you, but it's land that's basically only good for grazing. So that's why they turned them into community parks. Gotcha. What was it about this spot that caught your attention back then? Because you said in 92 you purchase, and if I'm doing my math correct for about 19 years, you're kind of checking all these community pastures, you're in and out of them, you're all over parts of Saskatchewan at least,

and then this spot catches your eye and you purchase it in 92. It takes you another nine years to finally set up shop and be in this spot. But I assume something about this spot. You went, I don't really like it here. Well, I moved out up here to run the foam lake pasture in 1987. And, you know, driving through the back road and stuff, this place always intrigued me where it sat. There's a little lake to the east of us. There's a little lake to the south of us.

There's a lot of bush. There's a lot of wildlife. It just always intrigued me. It's only three miles from the community pasture headquarters. I thought it would be a nice fit. What I really liked about it was the isolation. We don't get any traffic. We're at the end of the road.

And what a road that quick dick took us. Yeah. Right now with the weather we've been having, it's... Well, I mean, we were going to start there. How about the weather you've been having here? Oh, yeah. It's been crazy. So far this year, we've had over 16 inches of rain measured here in the yard.

It's been a struggle to try and get anything done this year. You're either looking out the window watching it rain or running to the rain gauge to empty it before it gets full again. starting to feel like your toes are starting to grow together and you maybe want to start breathing through your neck like a fish. Just too much water. But some people had it a lot worse than we do

with the flooding this year. Yeah, but it's a good country. Growing up in this extreme southwest corner of the province, up here, it's this, man, there's grass, there's feed. We've got to feed cattle a little longer up here, but there's no shortage of feed, which was a big problem back in the south. So, yeah, I don't know.

I just like the solitude and the quietness of the... When year were you born? Long time ago. 1956. Same age as my father then. Okay. Yeah, so you'd be turning or turn 70. Be 70 pretty quick here.

When you were growing up in the southeast, southwest? Southwest. Northwest. What was something that kids that don't understand these days? Well, they don't understand that exercise is not something you looked or were doing on a regular basis because you got enough of it just day to day. I remember in high school, track and field, I'd let get the bus driver to drop me off two miles from home and I'd run home. getting ready for track meet. And the first night I came in, my dad says, what the hell are you doing?

And I said, well, I'm getting ready for track and field. He said, you want some freaking exercise? He says, I'll give you some. And there was never a shortage of exercise around the ranch. Yeah, but you're training for, you're literally getting, you run the two miles home. You know, like I just think of kids these days, you're running the two miles home to train for track and field. And not to mention, I'm sure. sure all the chores and everything else.

In 56, I've got to go to technology, right? I've done a ton of archive interviews around Lloyd Minster, where I come from. And I'm curious, did you have power? Did you have color television? And if you did, what did you watch? When I was born, we lived in an old granary that was transformed into a house. No power, no running water, no toilet, everything was outside. There was an oil heater that heated the whole little shack.

I don't recall that, but that's what they tell me. Even until we moved to Consul in 1968, we never had running water. No telephone. We did have a TV. We watched Bonanza, we watched Hockey Night in Canada, and the Ed Sullivan show. Sad day when Hockey Night in Canada isn't where it used to be? That's right.

I don't watch hockey anymore. But I mean, back then, what else did you do? You drank Kool-Aid and ate popcorn and had a bath and watched Hockey Night in Canada. And then no running water, so you had an outhouse? Outhouse. We had a bucket for winter. time. But as soon as it was warm enough to sit on the cold planks, back to the outhouse. What do you mean you had a bucket? You pooped in a bucket? You betcha. You pooped in a bucket. Poopped

and peed in a bucket. And when it got about 15, 16's full. Yeah, somebody was hauling that out. Somebody had to haul it out. Whose job was that? Well, he's usually dad's job. Yeah, because dad didn't want Spilling on the floor. Yeah, but I remember my older brother and I, we, it was, dad was busy and we took it upon ourselves. And remember now, back then it wasn't plastic buckets. There was old tin buckets, like, you know, Eso oil or Texaco oil, whatever, back in the day.

And, you know, they had those little rings that held the handle in. and they would rust pretty quick when you're used them for a party. Well, we just got about halfway up the stairs and the handle let go. There was one of us on each side. My God, what a mess. My mom had to clean it up. She was crying. We were crying.

But it's just, why cry over spilled shit? It was part of growing up, and kids nowadays won't believe it. I even tell my boys, lots of times my mom would make us new gotch out of my dad's war out longdrawn. She'd find enough material in those long johns that she'd sew us up a pair of new gots. And we were proudest punch of those things, I'll tell you. Well, it's just, you know, I interviewed a farmer a couple episodes before you. And his mom left when he was four, and he was talking about being raised by his grandmother.

And how by being raised by a generation further back than his parents, he got different values because he grew up in that time. And I was like a really, it's an interesting thought, you know, because when I grew up, my grandparents were initially in the same yard as us, and then we built a house that was, you know, 400 yards from them, if you would. But roughly, we could go over there whenever we wanted to, so we were constantly around our grandparents. And you think of now as society continues to expand and get faster

and, you know, people live a long way away from their grandparents, let alone as they get older their parents. I thought that was a really interesting point that Henry told me, because I'm like, huh. And when I started the podcast, I got to do 49 of archive interviews, the archives of Lloyd hired me. So I interviewed people who were mainly 65 plus,

I would say, I got to interview people as old as 98. And they just shared their stories. And I didn't know, have it. Like, sure, I understand what no power is, but pooping in a bucket, I'm like, my brain goes to the poor ladies. I'm like, so did everybody leave the house

when your mom was having, to have to go or you just got to the point where, you know, you had a little room and you close the door and that's what it was. Everybody had, I guess they used to call them water closets. Some people just had a little closet in a room somewhere where the toilet was and there was a pipe going out for, when I say toilet, it's just a toilet seat with a bucket underneath. Yeah. And there was a pipe going out for ventilation.

So you just laugh at the world now when everybody gets... so squeamish about having to go to the bathroom or they need, I mean, like the new stuff, like the new rink built in Lloyd and this, like I've been to actually a ton of facilities now where they have a door that goes all the way to the ceiling and all, you're in like a closed room yourself because you need so much privacy. And I'm like, I just, well, whatever, it doesn't, whatever, I don't care. But when I hear that, I'm like, I can just hear the women going, oh, glad I didn't have to do that. every guy's probably like, I'd probably try it once.

You know, do I want to carry the bucket out? No, because I'm worried about what happened with the going down the stairs and then, well, now I've got to deal with that. Yeah, and you know, there's more to meet the eye to an outhouse too. It'll only hold so much. What do you mean? Like you dig a pit under that. Sure.

Okay. So every once in a while, you got to dig another pit, move the outhouse over, and use some of the dirt that you dug out to make the new hole and cover up the old one. And there's a lot of places there on this earth where there's some pretty rich soil for a few feet down, I'll tell you. And I can remember digging, because ours was kind of sitting on the hillside where there was some scrub brush. and I remember a few summers having to dig a new toilet hole and she was quite a job digging through tree roots and everything else. Dad always tells the story of Grandpa almost killing himself with a tractor digging a new one.

Okay. Right? And once again, we know where I lived in Grandma and Grandpa's old house when I first moved home. I renovated it and so you could see where the outhouse used to be in a couple of things. and you're like, you know, like you go to the lake and it's 30 above out. That's a different type of experience in an outhouse when you're sweating your butt off trying to, you know, do your thing. Yeah. And you got mosquitoes or flies in there buzzing around your head.

But everybody stares at the cold. It's just not very many people would have an outhouse anymore. No, no. Like we still use one every once in a while. I'm part of a moose hunting camp up in the percolon forest. and we're still running an outhouse up there, but to me that's pretty modern compared to the outhouses we used to have.

And you know, when you're talking about outhouses and things, we used to get Mandarin oranges. We get one box of Mandarin oranges a couple days before Christmas because they were kind of like a Christmas treat. And you used the paper. Each orange was wrapped in its own little green sheet of paper. Those green sheets of paper had good use.

You are not the first person to tell me that. I used to put them in my pocket for two or three days so they'd soften up a little bit. And then use it. Oh, yeah, that would make good ass wipe. You know what's funny? It's like that obviously, you know, the people talk. Because in Lloyd, I ran in the, and I'm like, use the orange paper? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. It's great. I'm like. But hey, man, that's life. And you know what? Our grandparents could tell told stories in our great. Like you talked earlier about living in the same yard as your grandparents and everybody was together all the time.

Where I grew up when we were in Scout Lake, my dad's parents lived two miles north and my mother's parents lived two miles southwest. And there was 11 siblings in my dad's family and eight in my mom's family. and everybody lived within 100 miles. Most lived within 20 miles. So every Saturday or every Sunday after church,

everybody got together. That does not happen anymore. Yeah, that's a real shame, isn't it? Yep. I have a cousin that lives 35 miles north of here, and I didn't know she lived there until two years ago. That's how all things are nowadays. and we make a point of seeing each other every now and then.

But as far as visiting your neighbors, we used to go play cards. He'd go visit your neighbors once a day or whatever. No, you don't do that anymore. So why don't people do that anymore? Because of what we're doing right now, Sean. Social media, people can get in touch with each other so fast. You don't have to use the old wall phone,

which is our first phone when we moved to call. console was a phone where our ring was too long and one short. And, you know, you didn't use the phone much because it was on party lines. And it was, you would drive to the neighbors if you had something big to talk about. You didn't talk about it on the phone. Now everything is bang right there. Do you want to look at something? Go look at it.

You want to talk to somebody? Send them a text, whatever. You're not worried about government surveillance because you lived on the party line. You're really like, if I don't want to, if I don't want my neighbors to know what I'm doing, I better just drive over and talk to him. Yeah, well, you know what I'm, you know, you know where I'm coming from. But it's, yeah, I mean, government surveillance. If you've got nothing to hide, what's the big deal?

I mean, there's a lot of stuff out there that we can only imagine, and it's probably happening. And the general public doesn't know about it. but going back to your uh because of what we're doing right now it's actually that this is um this is what i wanted i wanted more in person because i you know i do an event once a year and i was saying at the end of it that we've lost the ability of like getting in a just getting in a room together and talking without 15 people staring at their phones exactly and i'm like we got to get we got to get back to what's human like talking to one another and so one of the goals of this this is the most

in-person interviews, I've done in a row since I first started the podcast. When I first started the podcast, 2019, I said I would never do a virtual interview. And then COVID happened. And my hand was forced and I said, well, I could either give up the podcast or I could start doing a virtual.

Well, that's 2020. We're six years since then. And I never ever got back to doing it in person because everybody wants to do it online because it's so easy. Right. And I chuckle about that because I'm like, yeah, it's easy,

but there's something that is just way better about sitting beside someone and going back and forth. And I got to take my hat off to you for realizing that. It's very important that we get back to our roots before we're forced to. And I think that's coming. I don't know if I'll see it in my lifetime, but... What do you mean? Well, back to hauling the shit pail up the stairs or out of the closet

that they're looking after chickens and pigs and stuff to survive. Like, I don't want to be a doomsday guy, Dr. Doom, whatever you want to call them, but by golly, we're not far away from that. When all this technology lets go of us or we let go of it, we have to look after ourselves. We're still, with all the technology now, we're still trying to just look after ourselves, aren't we? But there's so much out there that is making it easy for us.

People don't know how to pluck a chicken or milk a cow or doing things that you might have to do, grow a garden. I thought I was, well, there's lots of things I don't know how to do. But I had a prepper on, and I remember asking them, you know, like, I was expecting him dig a hole and put a bunker in it. Oh, okay. and he was like, do you know how to use booster cables? And I was almost mad at him.

Like, what? Yeah, I know how to use booster cables. He's like, oh, you'd be surprised how many people don't? Exactly. Use booster cables? Like, oh. Really? Have we forgotten that?

But then I think of everything he just said, you know, like, because probably of COVID, lots of people have went back to, well, they started doing more research, I would say. say and then they realized maybe the food supply isn't exactly where I want to be and so they started raising their own chickens and planting their own gardens and I got three young kids as you saw when they came yeah uh rolling in I had an architect an architect from BC tell me once upon a time he started talking about purple carrots and I'm like purple carrots what are you talking about purple carrot he's like yeah there's purple carrots so we grew purple carrots in our backyard garden and I couldn't but you know like I was just as amazed as the kids were and

there's confidence that comes with all those little things too, right? Yes, we, you know, people have forgotten how to heck, lots of people have forgotten where meat even comes from, which is sad enough. But the people who probably listen to this show, and certainly the area I come from, we haven't forgotten that. And yet, probably most of us don't milk a cow anymore or pluck a chicken. But when you do, it's confidence building to do those skills again. realize, well, maybe I'm not completely useless. And we don't have to do that nowadays, but as a small boy in the 60s, in the early 60s,

we plucked chickens once a week. We milk the cow every day. We pull the weeds out of the garden every day. It's just something that you did to survive. And our parents and our grandparents had it a way tougher than that. And nowadays, if we grow a garden, It's kind of like a luxury. For an example, I've got a garden over there.

Oh, before we get too far into the gardening, I'll just got to tell everybody that there's one rule about gardening. A man should never make his garden any bigger than what his wife can handle by herself because there's always something else to do. If she can't handle that garden and it's too big, you've got to cut it down a bit. But anyways, we made a garden here, and the moose and the elk and a deer started devastating our plants.

So I put an eight-foot game fence around the garden. And two years later, we noticed the rabbits were coming in through that game fence. So I put four-foot-high chicken wire around there so the rabbits couldn't get in. And a couple years after that, overnight. One time, the raccoons took out all of our corn, so now I got a three-stand electric fence around the bottom of the garden, so the raccoons can't crawl over the fence.

So I told my wife, I said, that garden's just right for you to handle, but it's getting pretty expensive. Maybe we should just be shopping at Safeway or the co-op or something. But you can't beat the satisfaction and the fresh taste of, vegetables like it's totally you can't you can't beat it no you cannot when you say you shouldn't build a i thought you were going to say something different but you said you should never build a

garden that your wife can't handle if you're not around is that something that you well even if you're around you shouldn't have you did your part you made the garden don't make it too big no don't make it too big because then she'll need help what's one thing over the course of your life you know like we live in an age of i would say probably convenience right like everything has become really easy like when i when i go back through the old stories of of not only my family but the families that grew up in our area they talked about hauling ice from the river right now and like you just you think about that and you're like i just you know it's Quick Dick has so many videos on it where you just flick on and everything works, right?

Right. You're not riding five miles one way going down the steep slopes, chopping a block of ice or however many you get, throwing them back in a wagon, driving them all the way back. Oh, wait, did you dig the hole? Do you got the sawdust? You got all the things. It's like, that is a project.

No wonder they didn't need exercise back to your point right at the start. Everything was exercise. But now we live in an age of convenience where everything is fingertips and, you know, automation and different things like that. You've got to have one, though, you're like, thank goodness we did this because I hated doing that. Is it just the toilet so you don't have to carry the poop bucket up? Or was there something else along the way that you're like,

that was a great invention? Well, I think flush toilets was a great invention. I wished we'd have had some way sooner than we did. But I think the biggest thing that helped rural people, even construction industrial is hydraulics. You can do a lot of stuff now, with the push of a button or the turn of a switch, where it used to take a lot of grunt to do stuff,

and now you don't got to do that anymore. I think hydraulic stuff is probably in my mind anyway, because I remember my dad using us as hydraulic ram, sliding 24 square bales off the forks of a front-head loader onto the top of a stack. No safety ropes or nothing, just hang on and push as hard as you can. So, yeah, I'm going to say hydrolyics. Hydraulics. Well, that's not a bad pick.

I think we all, I mean, obviously, I'm younger than you, but we all have our favorite story of there was no safety equipment involved, and we got it done, and we're glad there was nobody around to take a look. But I even go to it. My first job, Dad, I think you're old enough. I don't think anybody would come to get you. We were, I would have been like 10 years old. Harley would have been 13.

That's my guess, folks, roughly. And Dad used to work in the oil field. And he used to sting tanks. And we'd go out with them, and he ran a manual stinger. And one of us would push it in, and there'd be a guy sitting there, and he'd push it out, and there'd be one back sitting there to push it back in. So it was a three men. to give dad a break and he paid us five bucks a well and he said if any white truck comes around the

corner you get in the bunk as fast as you can. No safety gear, no hard hats, as hard as you could go. And we loved it because, hey, we got to spend time with dad. But also we were making five bucks and back then that seemed like a pretty darn good job. Absolutely. You're out there doing something and you were earning some of your own money that you could do what you wanted with. That's right. I remember being 12, 13 years old in the hayfield. bailing all day or raking hay or whatever and we'd get a dollar an hour. Might get $12, $13 a day sometimes. Boy, that was big money.

You betcha. What did you do with your $12.13 in a day? Do you remember what you'd go and the thing to go do was? Absolutely. I saved money for musical instruments. And if I ever got into town, when I say town, I'm going to say Maple Creek, which was 65 miles away. Our other closest town was Havre, Montana.

We did a lot of shopping there, but my hard-earned dollar an hour money was spent buying 45 or records, 45 RPM records or albums. Because I sure liked my music. 45 RPM records. Yep. Is that different than a... Yeah, those little guys.

The little ones. Bigger than a compact disc. The music sound better back then or different back then? Oh, it was... Well, when you're a kid growing up and you got your favorite bands or your favorite artists and stuff, it's always good.

It's always good. I mean, that with, you know, digitally enhanced music nowadays, listen to some of the stuff I did back in the late 60s. It sounds better, but listening to it on the old scratchy phonograph still sounds real good. How far did you live from the U.S. border? We were 12 miles from the U.S. border, 18 miles from the Alberta border. At any point, could you just go across the U.S. border when you were a kid,

And did anybody stop you? Do you have to worry about anything? Yeah, we have to check in at the border crossing. Yeah, what was the border crossing? I'll ask it a different way. What was the border crossing like back then? Oh, pretty lax. If you were local, you went in and out like just driving by the neighbor's place.

Yeah, a quick wave. Check in, check out, that's it. Nobody checked what you had. But, you know, in that area, a lot of people, they did. Their banking, their doctors were in Haver, like it's this, they was so close. You know, Madison Hat was an hour away. If you took the back roads, two hours if you went the main road, then you had Maple Creek, which was an hour away, East End, which was 50 miles,

Shaunovan. So, yeah, a lot of shopping got done in the States back in the day, especially when our money was worth more than theirs was. Our money was worth more than theirs was? Oh yeah. I remember one time I bought a hat. We used to go to Chinook, Montana, east of Haver. For clothing, there was a good clothing store there.

You could get good jeans, Western stuff. I bought a hat there, a resistall triple X. It was $38 American paid at par. Next time I was in Medicine Hat, I checked it out there. There was $140 for this exact same hat. So, yeah, it paid to go down there. Nowadays, maybe not. But back in the day, it was...

Back in the day, it did. Yeah, for sure. Before I get to Quick Dick, he said the one question he'd ask you, What advice did you give to your sons? The best advice to my sons. I guess I always told them, do what you want to do because you like it,

not because you have to. Be honest and look after yourself. Don't expect anybody else to look after you. That's basically what I told them when they were leaving home. I've got to know your son. on, it's weird because obviously it's been through virtual. And now, I mean, I've been to Tuffinil before. That's how we first met, you know, biked here.

And then QDM has been through the studio multiple times. And when he comes through, I mean, it helped having another brother in Lloyd. And we get caught up there sometimes. He's been a part of one of my shows. And it was just a friendship, you know, kind of one of those interviews I have where I go, I think I like this guy. and you know and and I think it's reciprocal and we and so we've gone back and forth but I'm curious you know and I you sit there and uh I assume you're sitting here and he comes home one day starts up a thing

called quick dick mc dick on TikTok and now he's selling out every venue I've ever seen in is sold out and I can personally say I've seen him and I'm sure you have as well but you know I remember when I first saw him live and then I put him on stage live at one of my shows and then I saw him again and I saw him again and now he just came and did a fundraiser for my wife in Lashburn School and it was better again

and he's continually changed it but in ways that make it way better. So regardless, I guess maybe you have the inside scoop on how it was at the very beginning when he was just doing little TikTok videos Well, I'll tell you, I was on the very first step of it all. I was out in the bush.

Dixon owns that land now. I used to own it, but putting up firewood, and he had just left the oil field. He'd had enough. And he's helping me split wood. We're spending quality time together and having a blast. Just nice to be hanging out together.

and maybe drinking a couple too many wobbly pops on a hot day. And he started just doing quick little Snapchat video. I don't know if there was even Snapchat. Maybe it was Snapchat. I'm saying TikTok and it was Snapchat. Well, I don't know. No, actually, I'm quite sure it was Snapchat. Now that you say it, I think you're correct.

We were just goofing around doing this and doing that. And I remember telling him, we were playing it back watching. I said, holy man, you should put that. on YouTube. I'm not doing YouTube. I'm just doing this for my buddies and stuff and now look where he's at today. But yeah, it started out just he was so happy to be out of the oil field and back to his roots and doing what he liked doing. And it comes full circle for him and he's never looked back. Yeah, it's been good. It's been good to watch. been good to have your son back around too and my other

one of my other sons just recently moved back he only lives four miles from here now and our other sons in Calgary I doubt he'll ever come back but hey two out of three ain't bad like they say and the third one I mean nowadays going to Calgary

heck going to Maple Creek was twice a year nowadays going to Calgary it's a cakewalk used to be no i've heard of calgary but i'll never see it but uh yeah it's it's nice to have the boys back uh and see that they they've all done well and they've got good lives going it it means a lot you bet well i i mean once again you saw my kids come rolling through and uh i've been i've picked dad's brain about it and lots of different father's brains about it but i assume as a as a father

You just want your kids to be, you know, come back healthy and happy and, you know, successful. And to have your kids back around. And, I mean, I can speak for Dixon for sure, right? I don't know if I'm writing this. But I think from what I see, he's the number one comedian in Saskatchewan. If he isn't, he's in the top five. Because I don't know of many other comedians that command the ability to just walk into towns, little towns across all. of Western Canaan and just sell them out left, right and center.

Like, it's quite wild to watch. Yeah, you know, small towns, Saskatchew, and even some bigger centers. I mean, there's a thing out there. It's called common sense. You know, there's a lot of people, even in the cities, that do have common sense. But mostly that hits rural people about how you live your life. how you look after yourself, how you present yourself to other people. Nobody's looking after.

You look after yourself, you're farming, you're ranching, whatever you're doing. Even if it's a city job, you know what you've got to do. But there's too many cry babies out there nowadays. And when you get out here about the things that really matter, none of that other stuff even should show up on the radar like it's just a waste of time a waste of energy a waste of money

it's I don't know it's hard to figure out I agree how many years have been married been married oh my God oh I put them on the spot pretty quick she'll be a 51 year anniversary so you were married the same year

my parents were married as well. 50 years this year? 51. 51 this year. Coming up here in a few days. Okay. So we just celebrated my parents 50th. Okay.

Mel and I will have been married 12 years coming up. And I love hearing from different guys. Their thoughts, 50 years. What advice would you have somebody who's married on, you know, something to keep in mind or good advice for staying married for, 50 years. Well, the big thing is try and pull your weight of the load.

Treat each other with a lot of respect, as much respect as you can muster, and keep your mouth shut when it's appropriate. And just sometimes bite your tongue. Yeah, that's what I mean. Bite your tongue. Yeah, you betcha. Because in the big scope of things,

those little things that kind of piss you off shouldn't really piss you off. I mean, you're still two different people. You've been together for a long time. And from the day you got married till today, there's been a lot of changes in the world, in the way people see things, and in each other. Like a person, one person themselves will change a lot.

So you've got to be able to put up with that too, right? You can't, well, you never used to do that or you never used to do this or you used to think this was good. No, it's not. People change. Accept it. Deal with it. Don't bring each other down. What's one lesson you learned in life that was, I don't know, maybe changed the way you looked at the world or just told you it was just a tough lesson to learn and you went, okay, I'm not doing that anymore and you went a different way.

I don't know. There's probably somewhere in life where you've had one of those moments. Oh, I had a big moment like 25, 26 years ago where everything was getting me down. The cattle were sick in the pasture. My bailer was apart in pieces. The government was after me doing an audit and just all kinds of shit happening. And I kind of was a perfectionist. Everything had to be just so.

And I had a nervous breakdown. So with all the podcasts, even Dixon, Quick Dick, we'll do podcasts on mental health and stuff, I think we put too much pressure on ourselves to appease what people think of us. be yourself, do what you can. Don't try and set the world on fire. Just do what you can and live with it.

Be at peace with it. Don't over-exert yourself and expect too much from your life or from other people. Just live it the way it is and stay relaxed if you can. Mental health is, man, that's come a long ways, even in 25 years. Back then, when it happened to me, I felt like an outcast.

I felt emasculated. I felt there's something terribly wrong with me. People just won't get it. But I had so much support through those difficult times. People that I'd known for years would come visiting, even if I didn't want. visitors because I felt like I wasn't worthy of visitors. People that I'd known for a long time would come see,

you know I had the same thing happen to me. Really? Like people said to me too, like I can't believe that that happened to you. You're such a happy, go lucky guy. Yeah, that's because I was trying to appease everybody. Asked my wife and kids what I was like when nobody was around. So yeah, take life.

don't let little shit bring you down and and when I say little shit I mean stuff that you think is important really not like are you happy are you got enough to eat you got clothes on your back you're paying your bills you don't know anybody anything like just what's wrong with that I don't say anything wrong with that. Do you mind me asking when you you got, you know, you're overworked, you got cows sick,

bailers all apart, it was just too many balls to keep up at one point? You bet. You bet. I couldn't sleep. I don't know if I slept 10 hours in a month. I was up all night

worrying about when it's going to stop raining, when I'm going to get my bailer fixed. Are these guys? I was going to come out of this, just non-stop worrying. And I'll tell you what, I mentioned before about being a perfectionist. When I come out of that, that was in the fall. I had hay bales all over the country.

I used to put up my own hay and buy hay if I needed. Well, when I come out of that, one of my good friends that, that I've known for years. We rodeoed together and stuff, and him and one of Shannon's brothers and one of my neighbors had all got together with their semis, and they all hauled my bales home for me

and stacked them, and I thought to myself, hmm, other people can do this. I don't have to do it all. But you know what? I found myself out there, looking at the bales they dropped off in my yard, and the rows were not perfectly straight. So I got in my tractor and I started restacking those bales.

And about 15 minutes into it, that's when it really hit me. What is wrong with you? Why are those bales not good enough the way they're stacked? They're all going to turn into cow shit anyway. Like, what's the big deal? You know, I left the stackyard, parked my tractor, and I fed my bales the way they were stocked. And there was really no difference in the end.

So that's what I mean by the little things. Like, don't be too hard on yourself. Yeah. What, it's cool to have neighbors that would haul in and do all those things. Like, I mean, that's a crazy. Yeah, that's a great story. Oh, for sure. I mean, don't get me wrong, the whole part of them not being straight enough.

I get what you're talking about. What was the moment or, Maybe it wasn't it, maybe it was a series of moments to pull you out of, I guess I'm going to call it your depression. Is that fair enough? Yeah. Well, it was when I realized that something was terribly wrong, I woke my wife up in the middle of the night and I said, you know, I can't do this anymore. She said, what? I said, I don't want to die, but I do not want to see the sun come up again.

because I was still working at my job and every time my phone rang that related to my job it was always putting out of fire there's a situation going on here there's a situation it was never how are you doing today you know it was always

and and it just I don't know just everything just got overwhelming that reminds me in the oil field Yeah. I worked dispatch for, no, I don't mean for my brother's trucking company. And there was never,

there was very few happy calls on the old dispatch line. But even in my final years of oil field, you know, like I was a salesman. So, you know, the phone didn't ring all the time with bad news.

But 50% of the time it was. And there's a lot of, you know, in the early days of that career, there was a lot of going and putting out fires and just headaches and that, That's what it work became, was just a big headache.

Yeah, and that's what it was for me. It was 100% of the time was putting out fires. And, you know, when Dixon was still in the oil field, he'd call occasionally, you know, not occasionally, but... Yeah, from time to time. From time to time, he'd call, make sure he'd checking in. And my wife and I, many times towards the end there, we'd... after he hung up something's not right with him

and I think he was going getting close to that edge himself because he did a complete turnaround once he left there and good for him to notice that it wasn't for him anymore there's more to life than making money or pleasing someone else

amen to that you know life is pleasing yourself and being at being at peace and satisfied with what you got. No excuses. That's just the way it is. Well, in all my interviews, I plan to ask these two as I go along. One is pretty light. One is political.

We're going to start with politics because I come from Alberta, October 19th. You know, I'm curious the further I go east how the answers are going to go. But when I'm in Alberta, I talk to a lot of people in the independence movement, some on the opposing side of it. And I just explore the conversation because whether you love it or hate it, October 19th, there's a referendum coming on whether to have a referendum on leaving Canada. Just curious, do you care? Do you pay attention? Do you think they should vote yes or no?

Do you have any thoughts on it? B.M. Well, I do care. I do have thoughts. But they are so far down on my ladder of life that what happens, happens. I think all we need to do is like we're not a country. We're not a continent. We're not a community anymore.

We're a global entity nowadays. We got to get along with each other, no matter if it's municipal, provincial, federal, NATO, you name it all. Like, we got to be able to get along together, and we got to have leaders that aren't corrupt and are just trying to buy votes. And unfortunately, I don't see that going away. So to answer your question, Sean, I'm going to say I'm just in the background watching with a little bit of apprehension. I can't do anything about it myself and we've all heard it. Yeah, but one plus one makes two plus one makes three, everybody's voice will be heard. No, because we're in a different mentality.

we're in a different frame of mind in rural Saskatchewan that we are on the global scene. There's so much stuff out there that we as rural people can't even comprehend. Not just rural people. There's people on Skid Row in the big cities. There's people from different countries that don't know what rural Saskatchewan is like.

So even though we are getting to be more and more on a global scene, it's all about the same thing. Look after yourself. Don't cheat people. Don't expect more than what you deserve. I think if the government lived like that and we all live like that, this place, this world would be a lot better place. Growing up, who is the best leader?

You can recall. I want to say politics, but I might leave it open because, you know, like you're talking about, well, politicians, if they weren't corrupt and all those things, I stare at politicians. I'm not saying all politicians are corrupt. No, nor am I, nor am I. But I'm saying, you know, you could go with the best intentions.

Okay, I'm going to change this. Sure. I'm going to run for counselor of the RM, or I'm going to run for a mayor of this city. I'm going to change things. I'm going to make it right. You know what? Pretty soon you get swallowed up by everything

and you're no different than the other guy was. And that's just the way it goes. So do you recall in time when there was a leader? You were like, now that was a leader? I do not recall any thinking that in my time growing up. from the time I left home till now. In my time of watching it, so a thousand episodes plus, talking to different people and everything,

obviously people know I admire Daniel Smith, but the longer I watch, it's exactly what you said, the longer somebody is a politician, the more they become a politician. Yeah. Unless they become like, you know, Bob down the street having a coffee with you and talking about the problems.

Now they're in the middle of trying to solve said problems. And I don't think us, I just don't think I can fully understand the pressures and the polls and the lobbyists and everything else that's going on. You know, just come to my mind here that listening to the news over the years and watching what was going on in the political scene without any real dedication or conviction to any. particular person, I always voted for the party that I thought would do best for our province. Okay, sure. Now, nobody ever stood out. But when I look back now, watching the news, blah, blah, blah, like I just said, Alberta, wasn't that Ralph Klein some kind of guy?

And the guy they always say that was his right-hand man who allowed him be that guy with Steve West. There you go. He's come up in a lot of interviews and you know where Steve West's from? Right where I'm from. Yeah. And Steve West, they talk about him going in and doing all the, I don't know, probably thankless jobs and being the hammer that went around and made sure things went the way

Ralph needed him to go. Yeah. I just liked his demeanor, his rough way of putting things across. And no bullshit. shit. Like he didn't duck any punches. And he didn't throw out any cheap shots either. Well, I tell you what, let's end on a, on a, I didn't get to see Ralph Clown. I'd love to add some thoughts out on it, but I hear about them all the time.

One final one. As we go across Canada, I've been asking people what their favorite memory of whether it's camping or a road trip, either as a son or a father. if you got one that sticks out? Well, I think the, when I was a, I'm speaking as a son now, um, you know, we grew up with our nose to the grindstone. There was no camping. There was no summer holidays, no trips anywhere. It was just maybe Sunday, Sunday dinner at grandmas or either grandmas or whatever,

but I think with my own kids, I remember when we first moved here, I would park the truck camper in a little spot by Stoney Lake there, and the kids would, Friday night, weekends coming, we'd spend, maybe we'd spend a Saturday night there and then half a Sunday, and then we'd go home.

And it was only like five miles from home, but the kids always thought that was, man, we're going to Stony Lake this weekend and we'd cook steaks on an open fire and just have a gay old time just ourselves. To me, those are the kind of days that I remember as being special. So people had asked,

and I probably shared this story way too many times in the last couple weeks, but heck, one more time ain't going to hurt. People always ask for the year long because we're leaving for a year, right? We're family's going. And I always give credit to my wife. because five years ago

we had three kids under five in a RAV four so three car seats in that second roll and then the back and then in the trunk space was packed

to the right I couldn't see out my mirror and we had a topper on the top packed and the tire everything was just and we're you know buzz the line

everybody thought we were nuts I thought we were nuts and I was always I've always been if you got 12 hours to drive, let's make it in 11. And Melon was working on me. No, we're going five hours.

We're going to stop every two. We're going to let the kids play. And I'm sure I was sitting there just like, I don't want to do it. We could get there by tomorrow and then we have a full week. No, we're just going to enjoy the road. We're going to stop where we need to stop and we're going to have a little picnics and all the things. And when we were done those 11 days and we got back home for the rest of year, I thought about those 11 days. because they were just, it was just something special about being stuck in a vehicle with your family.

And yes, they're trying moments right now on the road trip. Getting here in the last, until we hit the big water on the road and everything, the kids were just at each other. I text quick, I text them. Like, I'm not waiting for you. Kids are driving me baddie. We're getting on the road. I'll meet you at the farm.

And then, of course, he caught up to us. But even though they're driving me baddie, it's still like, There's just so much joy in it, right? Like, this is so much fun. So when you talk about Stony Lake, like to me, I get that. I get the, just being, it doesn't have to be 7,000 miles away.

It could be, it could just be, it's just special because you're picking up and all going together, I think. Yeah, and I, I appreciate that being together, but being alone together. Like myself, always grew up on a remote place, a ranch.

Most community pastors were in remote areas because of the land they were on and where I live now. I can't get my head wrapped around why people would leave the city where their houses are 10 feet apart, if that, and all going to the lake and parking their campers 10 feet apart

and carrying on. Like, why? I guess it's a change of scenery. Must be. I don't know what it is. It's a change of scenery? It's a change of pace.

Change of pace. Yeah. Yeah, you get away from that day-to-day routine. Yeah, yeah. I can see that, but my golf, I would never, hmm. Yeah, pretty bad, pretty serious stuff here. I always like in it because, you know, like,

in our world, it's becoming less and less, right? And I don't know if we ever get back to more and more. I don't see why we can't. But I want, you know, one of the goals is to do everything in person and have these conversations. And I always want to end it, no matter where we go in a conversation, no matter how much I annoy people with political talk or not enough political talk,

I like ending on road trips and fond memories because it always makes a person light up because they're going back to a foundational moment in life. Even when you're talking about we didn't do it. anything. Maybe a Sunday afternoon and dinner. When I had kids, like to me, that's special stuff. That's the special

sauce. You bet, yeah. And it, we have to bring it upon ourselves like, I'm guilty of it. I want to get a hold the quick dick or the dusty wrench or my neighbor or whatever. Dick, tick text. And I'm not a tech a techie guy, but I know that's how

you got to communicate nowadays. But even on the telephone, my dad is in a nursing home. or assisted living place, he's going to be 95 here this year, I don't even phone him. I can't talk on the phone. I can go on a road trip for 10 hours and not say a word. But something like this, you get your neighbors over here,

you have a wiener roast, you sit around and you talk, the phones are put away. The phones go away. It's life as we should know it. Yeah, I agree. Well, Alan, I appreciate you doing this. And I'm sure people are like, I thought Quick Dick was going to be on the road trip. And I'm like, well, maybe he makes an appearance.

Maybe he doesn't. I want his dad. And I appreciate you doing this and humoring me in it because I'm sure at times my own father. And I'm sure you with QDM, you could sit there and go, what are these guys doing? Well, I thought long and hard before agreeing to this. Well, I'm glad you did. And I appreciate you allowing us on to your beautiful oasis. And thanks for doing this.

Well, it was a pleasure, Sean. I appreciate it.