The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 296: Coffee with Mom—It's Hatchet Throwing Season!!!

Episode Date: January 27, 2023

Time for a cup of coffee with mom!  Peggy Rowe, a.k.a. America's Grandmother, drops by to discuss an upcoming family wedding, the joys of ninety-year-olds with power tools, and her escapades with chair volleyball and competitive ax throwing. 

Do do do do do do do. Dumb. Well, people are still raving, raving, I tell you, about my mother's performance in the latest Pure Talk commercial. And if you haven't seen it, I encourage you to give it a look on my Facebook page and read the comments. They're hysterical. In this commercial, you'll not only see Peggy Rowe gently criticizing her oldest son for his longstanding and well-established commitment issues. You'll learn about the latest offer from Pure Talk, which includes unlimited talk. unlimited talk, text, and data for just $34.99 a month with no contracts and no commitments of any kind.

You can see why I love these guys. If, on the other hand, you have better things to do with your time, then watch my mom and me be impossibly charming together, then allow me to remind you, here, without all the cleverness and charm, that unlimited talk, text, and data on a blazing fast network for just $3499 a month really is an unmitigated bargain from an American. American Wireless Company that keeps all their customer service in this country, supports our veterans in a meaningful way, as well as the MicroWorks Foundation, and allows me to exploit my own mother in a national advertising campaign. Do what my mom did. Get yourself unlimited high-speed data for just 3499 a month at puretalk.com slash row. You can switch in as little as 10 minutes at puretalk.com slash row. Your top

A cup of coffee with my mom Hello, mother. Hey Mike, oh, I love that tag. Did you do that by yourself? Yes, I sat here with my little piano and plunked out. A cup of coffee with my mom and some other parts, just for you. What do you think? Now she's frozen up.

This is disappointing. Hey, Mom, you frozen. up. What the hell? Well, I am on two blocks of ice. I don't know what happened. Well, things are looking up. Your computer must have finally cooled down. Yeah, must have. All right. Let's go. So if your fan is off, I suppose we can begin, Chuck. What do you think? I think we can. Yeah. I mean, I think we already did, but... How old is your computer, Mom, at this point? Oh, who knows? I can go into it and find. out it's maybe three years, four years old.

Let's not go into the computer right now to find out how old it is. No, that's not do that because I'm not sure I can get back to where I am now. You know, I'm not great with technology. If you read my current post, you know that. Well, who can read your current post? Who can keep up with your posts? They're coming so fast and furious now, you know? Well, I only do a couple of weeks, a couple of hundred words, two times a week or so.

Man, they really do stack up. I start to feel like dad does, you know, when I hear the newspaper land outside the door, it's like, oh, crap, you know, got to read that. I'm not comparing your writing to the newspaper, of course, but you're so prolific now. It's very difficult to stay up to speed with your musings. You're so flattering. Speaking of flattering, would you think of my custom-made jingle just for you?

I really liked it. I love it. And we have barbers here. and they always comment when you do a barbershop kind of jingle. What are the odds that the people over there will break into song one day and start singing the little jingles we have on the podcast? That would be fun. That would be fun.

We do have a chorus. What are they called? The Oak Crest Chorus. Any good? Well, there are no additions, no auditions. Anybody who loves. to sing can join. And, you know, we are all older people, so I don't think we'll be making any records anytime soon. However, they sing with joy, enthusiasm, and they do a good job. And they have a super

leader and a companyist. So is that, what's his name, Keith? Keith Derrickson and Louise Carlson are accompanists. No, I met Louise. She's like 140 or something? She's the one who's 100. Oh, no, she's only 93. We had dinner with her the other day. And she's delightful.

She is so enthusiastic and positive. She smiles all the time. And at 93, that's saying something. She's such good company. Speaking of 90, where's dad today? He was just here before you got here. He had to go down and play some pool with the guys. Had to.

He's had a busy day. He had a podiatry appointment, a hearing aid appointment. He got his hair cut. And now he's gone down to shoot some pool with the guys. So he's got an ear guy, a toe guy, and a hair guy or girl? Who's who? Well, actually, his hearing person and he, his hair person are female, but his podiatrist is a male.

But the hearing person and the hair person are not the same person, right? No, no, they're not. Although he does have hair growing in his ears. He says he has hair growing out of his ears. Well, this is true. Well, it's in his ears and coming out. Do you have hair in your ears, Chuck? Are your ears still growing as far as you can tell?

Yeah, I do have hair in my ears, and I try to pull it out all the time. I don't know if you're supposed to do that, but whenever I feel it, I just yank it out. What about the nose? If I can grab it. Is it the same thing? Because I, you know. Yeah. It's like the Ardennes forest in my nose, for sure, except without the snow.

Those little hairs in your nose perform a function, you know, they're very necessary. They are necessary. I have heard that, but I do like to clip them a little bit. I got to just keep them so that they're not sticking out, you know. Once they come to the outside. it's not very attractive. Right. As a rule, when you're braiding your nose hair,

you've probably waited too long to take steps. It's gone too far, yes. So, Mom, a big week is coming up for you. I know I'm going to see you in a couple days, if all goes as planned. Are you packed? Are you ready? Are you excited?

We are partially packed. We are kind of excited. I'll be glad when we get there. The getting there is, we're not looking forward to the getting there part. But being there, oh, yeah, it would be great to see family. So my niece, Jessica, is getting married down in Florida. My mom and dad are hopping on a Southwest flight. Is that right?

Yep, Southwest. Oh, my God. And you've got arrangements set up? You're getting picked up. You're being taken to the airport. We are. Yes, we have a driver taking us to the airport. and he's very reliable.

He'll be here in time. And don't have to worry about, you know, not being able to find somebody at the last minute. Do you have your assigned ticket for Southwest? Do you know how that queue up works there now? You know, this morning, they sent me a little notice. They really are on top of things. And they told me it was time to get my boarding pass.

So at the exact moment, I got my boarding pass. I went on, went on to their website. and got it. We're all ready to go. And we're going to check two bags. At first, I thought we just put them overhead, but, you know, they're kind of heavy. And so I think we'll check them so we don't have to. Yeah, why not? Impose. That's a much smarter idea. Yeah. So we're going to check two bags, and then we'll have a little carry-on with essentials. But I want to make sure you understand Southwest does it differently when they board. You don't have a seat assignment, but you have a boarding group number on your ticket, right?

We have a letter. What's the letter? A. Okay, so you're an A group, and then do you have a number after that? We do. What's the number? You know, it's funny. I got on right at the moment the clock said it was time, and we're 55 and 56.

How's that happened? Wow. Yeah. Does that mean 56 people were faster than I've? That's exactly what that means. So this can go two different ways. You can get there and watch Dad as he tries to figure out who 54 and 55 are and then 58 and 59 to make sure you're right in the middle. Or you can just go up, I think, and pre-board. I don't think you need to even get in the line now. Dad's 90 for God's sakes. Yeah. Okay. Well, we'll figure it out. Don't worry about

us, hey look, some viewer sent me a cup. And I'm not asking people to send me things because our apartment is only so big. But they sent me a cup that says, please do not annoy the writer. She may put you in a book and kill you. So I drink my coffee from it. Well, I'm drinking my coffee from my fancy heated mug so I can sit down here for hours. And hours. Really?

Yeah. We can drink slowly. Yeah, I'd mention their name, but it's not like we have an endorsement deal yet, so heck with that. It's around the corner. I hope so. I love that mug. I'm drinking water. Brought to you by God. Oh. You didn't get it out of the street, did you? I hear your streets are pretty flooded these days.

There was quite a bit of water in the streets. Yeah, I actually got out and played a little disc golf right after the flood, and a couple of the holes. So they had to move the pins because, you know, there were water traps and stuff, almost lost a couple discs. Do you know what he's talking about, Mom? No. No? No.

But I try to look like I do. She thinks you're talking about vertebrae in your back. Yes. No, I think you're talking about the little discs that you throw and you're supposed to hit a target with them. Is that correct? You nailed it. You used to be called Frisbee. golf, but now Frisbee is not the main company that makes the discs anymore. So they call it

disc golf. And you got to put the disc in a basket. And I'm hooked. They do that right here at the home where we live. You have disc golf at Oak Crest. They do, Mike. You name it. We have axe throwing, honey. Oh, that's what could possibly go wrong? Let's give the 90-year-old a hatchet. And this is shuffleboard season. The league started last Monday. I was not aware of that there was a season. There's a season for shuffleboard? Sure, there is.

You play shuffleboard when it's either too hot or too cold outside to play botchy ball. All right. So when you have to come inside, it's shuffleboard season. Well, when is hatchet throwing season? You know, I think that was, I can't remember. But Mike, I had trepidation because dad said he wanted to do it. So I went down to the fitness center and I talked with Andrew, our fitness guru.

And he said, let me show you the axes. They're not right. The axe throwing your hatchet throw. Anyway, it's like Velcro. They stick on to this target. And so I felt much better. Oh, God. I feel better, too, because I'll tell you, I was down, you know, Matt, who runs the story behind the story, your favorite show on TV now on TVN, Saturdays and Wednesdays.

Yeah, it really is. I mean, I'm sorry, dirty jobs. I still like dirty jobs, but I really do enjoy the story behind the story. Yeah, me too. He's like a child in a way. And this barn where we record these episodes in. last season he brought in a piece of wood from a tree that had to be like 20 feet in diameter. I mean, it was taller than I could reach, right?

It's about eight and a half feet circular. And he wheels this thing in on this giant contraption, and we throw hatchets at it for about a half hour until I actually got okay at it. But it's not like darts. I mean, they're heavy, and they, like, real sharp hatches, dozens of them were just throwing them at this thing in the middle of his barn while 30 people stand around waiting to film a TV show. So tell Dad, if you ever really wants to throw a real hatchet, I know a place in Colorado where he'd be welcome. No, I'll let you tell him that. He has enough activities here, quite enough activities to keep him busy. I love stories like this.

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Get good ranchers now. E-haul! And is the disc golf thing? Are those real discs, or is that also Velcro? You know, they're plastic. Yeah. And the target is a pole. And it seems to have.

chains all around it so that when you hit it, it stays in, within the basket. There's a basket underneath the chains. Oh, okay. So it hits, it's supposed to hit the chains and then fall into the basket. And it's only, it only counts if it lands in the basket. Sometimes you go right through the chains. Sometimes you glaze off the chains. Some people really like to do it.

I support your father and what he does and I go to see his games and they're enjoyable. but, you know, I'm so busy with writing, oh, God, with my blog and I'm doing another book, and I do appearances, and I really stay busy, so I don't participate in. We play pool in the evening after dinner. Every time I've called you in the last three weeks, you've had to say, hello, it's a bad time. We're in the middle of a game of eight ball. The stakes are pretty high. And then Chuck, what they do is they start handing the phone back and force.

to each other while the other one's shooting, then they get distracted by their calls, so nobody sinks a ball. It's impossible to get an entire exchange out. You ask mom a question and then dad comes on and you have to repeat the question and then mom comes back on. That's what happens when you call during a pool game over there. It's true. I love the fact that you're so busy there that you can't even sit down and have a conversation with your son because you're doing fun things. Well, sometimes I just set the phone on the edge of the table and just keep playing. And he hears this click, click, click. That's a real treat because the sound of balls smashing into each other is like at a 10.

And the sound of them talking is like at a 2. So it just sounds like you wandered into the end of a 4th of July ceremony. But the disc thing, Mom, just so you know, Chuck is, he's not really obsessive, compulsive, but he gets hooked on a thing and they don't go real hard into it. And so he started playing this disc golf again. And so now it's at least, it's every Saturday morning, sometimes twice a day. Now it's on Sundays as well. That's what he's doing right there.

So if he ever gets back to Baltimore, we'll definitely swing by the joint and throw a few. 100%. I'm playing in my first tournament on Saturday, actually. A novice tournament. Are you pretty good? No, not at all. This benefits veterans. And one of the guys I play with is a Marine.

And so, you know, we're doing the thing. on Saturday down in La Marada. So it's going to be really fun. Yeah. Oh, nice. It's nice to stay busy, Chuck. Agreed. Chuck, are you busy enough?

Well, you know what? Just barely. Just barely busy enough. I mean, the reason we're limiting this call to a half hour mom is because, honestly, we just don't have time to talk to you for an hour. There is so much stuff going on right now. I have to pack as well because I'm leaving super, super early tomorrow morning and I guess I'll see you tomorrow night. Are you packed yet? Because I know this is a thing for

you too. Well, two suitcases are full. I haven't done the toiletries, the medications, and the all the wires and chargers and all that stuff, the electronic stuff. Those three things I saved till the last. Because we have to leave them plugged in until the last minute, right? Yeah, I guess. But let me tell you, it's so convenient living where we do and traveling. Why? Well, because you just lock your door and go. If there's any problem at all, somebody comes in and security's wonderful. If there's a leak or anything, which hasn't happened to us in two years, I can't believe it would happen.

But believe me, they are right on it. if there's any issue at all, we just fill out a little form at the desk, telling them that we're away for so many days. And I got a leak. I got a leak in all this rain up in the bedroom. It's an absolute nightmare. Oh, no. It's an absolute. I got a door that swings in.

And for whatever reason, you know, we've tried everything. And it just, when it blows sideways and real hard like it has been out here, just a little puddle starts to form and it seeps in. and you've got to put down the towels, and you've got to keep putting down the towels. And if you don't, it's just a nightmare. And in fact, I'm really worried. I'm going to be gone for four or five days. And if the rains come back, you know, what can you do?

Complain to your mother. Maybe put some sandbags out on the balcony before you go? That's what we do. We put rocks and garbage bags and stretch them around and hope it works. Oh, see, we don't have to do any of that. If you moved into oak crest, you wouldn't have to worry about. I'm not moving into oak crust, mom. I'm not moving.

You're old enough. Really, you qualify. What's the age requirement? 60. 60. I'm getting there. We have quite a few people here in their 60s and early 70s. And it's wonderful because we also have quite a few people in their 90s. And we have a whole group of centenarians. I mean, these people are amazing.

It's nice to have the mix because I've used this expression before, but have you ever had an elderly dog who has really lost the will and has no energy or enthusiasm? And you bring a puppy in and all of a sudden that older dog acts like he's young. It happened at home with Shim and Ginger. Sure. Well, that's how it is here. The older people benefit from the presence of these younger people because they start clubs.

One of the younger couples started shuffleboard bowling every Monday. They started cornhole. Oh, they started water volleyball and chair volleyball. And it all benefits the older

people. So it's really nice. It's a symbiotic kind of thing, I think. Chair volleyball? Like, they use a chair instead of a ball? Uh-huh. No. We use a big, brief ball, and it's very light. The games are over very quickly, Chuck.

A folding chair comes flying over the net. Dentures go skittering across the floor. WWE. There's a net across the middle, chairs on either side, maybe eight or so. Yeah. And elderly people sit in them, and some of these people are not capable of being able to walk. they use a scooter or wheelchair or roll later. I mean, the object is simple.

It's just to keep that beach ball in the air. Well, one night I went, there was a woman on the front row who was, I don't know, she might have been up in upper 90s, and she wasn't really aware of what was going on, but she was so sweet. And every once in a while, the ball would hit her in the forehead. Well, it's light as a feather. And it would go back across the net.

And everybody would say, oh, nice going, Jeanette. That was really good. And literally once in a while, somebody from in back of her would hit the ball. Now, remember, it's as light as a feather. So don't feel like this is abuse. And they would hit her in the back of the head. And it would come back to them. And then they would hit it over the net.

And people invariably call, oh, nice assist, Jeanette. Great going, Jeanette. And she would smile this big smile. It's really fun. And really, who doesn't have fun doing stuff like that? But for the younger ones, there is water volleyball. And those people are a little more energetic and competitive. Hard to imagine anyone more energetic than Jeanette.

I changed your names. Good. Yeah, I mean, why stop by simply comparing them to old dogs? Why not use their real names as they sit motionless in a game of chair volleyball waiting for the sphere to ricochet off of their heads and over the net? Listen, nobody had a better time than Jeanette. And she looks forward to those games. So don't knock it.

Hey, you try. Let me tell you, it's a challenge. It is so tempting. It's a challenge to hit Jeanette, right? Let's just change the whole rules and make the only points that count ones that ricochet off Jeanette's head. Listen, it's challenging not to stand up and go get that ball when it's coming near you. It's so tempting. It's challenging not to run over and give Jeanette's CPR, but no, no, no, get the ball.

Get the ball. She has a ball, seriously. Literally on her head. Oh my God. You turned volleyball into Greek Dodge with the stationary target. But the point is that it's a very light ball.

No, no. At least you're not playing with the hatchets. So wait a minute. Just a second ago, you said you're very tempted to stand up and go after the ball. So if you do that, that's against the rules. Oh, yeah, that's against, yeah, you can't do that.

You got to stay seated in your chair. And it's not competitive in that we don't keep score. We simply count the number of times we hit it into the air. So sometimes you might have 30, you know, 30 hits to keep it. And so that's, it's fun. What's the net for then? Well, why not just have everybody together? In case they need a stretcher at the last minute.

Well, because sometimes people hit the net. They hit the ball into the net, and then that doesn't count because it hits the floor. Not Jeanette. Not Jeanette. When Jeanette hits it, it flies back like a missile, bounces off her forehead, high in the air it goes, into the blades of a turning fan, which knocks it back twice the speed. Wow, what an imagination, Mike. You should be a writer. God, don't even joke about it.

I owe those guys another book and they are so far up my butt now. I mean, there's no time. Unfortunate images. Yes, isn't that the truth? So, I wanted to show you something. All right. Can I do a little show and tell? Yeah.

Is Jeanette there? So, Dad made me a napkin holder that's a little too big for napkins. That's a lot of napkins. NAPKIN. Yeah, you take that to a Denny's. Yeah, but let me show you what it does hold. Oh, books. Oh, copies of your best-selling books.

Look at that. It holds three bestsellers, and they just look so nice. They look so nice on the coffee table. I'll bet they do. That's awesome. So he made me a smaller one for napkins. And let me show you what else he did. Look at this.

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Soon may the noble men come to bring a bottle for everyone. One day when the waitin is done, we'll take a drink and go. Isn't this different? That's nice. It's beautiful. It's nice. He's getting bad. You haven't found it yet.

But it really is. A ol, a chalice, or what is it? It's an urn. Almost an urn. Almost an urn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, jeez. Okay.

Not that kind of urn, though. This is really nice. I'm going to get to that. But this is really a nice bowl, isn't it? That's beautiful, yeah. This turned out it's perfect. But before he got pretty good, he wasn't. And sometimes they don't turn out.

So this one is what you call crookin. That's an urn with a little rest for your spoon. But I still like it. It was made with love. And, oh, but you can make boxes for ashes. Oh, God. I don't mean the kind you get out of your fireplace. I mean the kind that, you know, from cremation.

And so Dad was thinking about making a couple of boxes for our ashes someday. Is that too dark? Just a tad. Well, I mean, where do you go after knocking poor Jeanette's dentures out with a backhand, the head? That did not happen now. No more talk about sweet Jeanette. I don't know how. That's one of their top players, Mike. Come on. She gets the ball over the net.

I don't know how I feel. I mean, I love the fact that Dad's in Woodshop. He sent me some Christmas presents, some bowls and like a tree ornament. Yeah. A little vase. And I shared those on Facebook. and people just went crazy for them. I know he's like kind of shy about this sort of thing, but tell him, I mean, if he wants to, if he wants to make a custom one-of-a-kind bowl, we can auction that off for Microworks,

and I guarantee you it'll. This is one of a kind. I don't know. I don't know about that one. That's a great idea. We never be called something other than a bowl. After that post went up, didn't somebody see? send you a great piece of wood in the mail?

Oh, yes, a big block of wood, a heavy block of wood. I'm trying to think of the kind of wood it was called. I had never heard of it before, but it was beautiful, had a really nice grain. Well, Dad went down to the wood shop yesterday, and he said he's making three vases from that block of wood. So that'll be nice. have a suggestion. I think this would be a big-time seller at auction to benefit microworks, which would be one of those giant napkin holders and all three of your books autographs.

That's good, too. Right? Yeah. Wow. That would fetch a pretty penny. You know what? See if he's into it. The thing is, Chuck, my dad, he doesn't, he's not comfortable with credit or any kind of accolade or praise. Like my mother. Don't let him know. Just tell him you need another one of those. giant napkin holders and, you know, because he keeps making him and you're going to run out of room. No, but you don't understand. I go online.

I auction off a one-of-a-kind napkin holder made by my dad, full of my mother's books, and they are going to get mobbed over at the residence there, right? Because everybody follows it. So he's going to be, people will be like commissioning bowls and vases from him, and he'll be very, he'll be embarrassed by it. Or he'll act embarrassed. Maybe he'll be actually flattered, Mom. It's hard to tell anymore with him.

You know, he's embarrassed because he doesn't think he deserves the credit because he has, I call Ron a mentor. His name is Ron. And he is a master Turner. And he has taught Dad how to do it. But it's still a work in progress. You don't learn in just a couple of months. It takes a long time to do it really well. the ones that have turned out perfectly, well, he had some help with those. He had some

direction from Ron. Well, look, when in doubt, tell the truth. The most obvious thing to do is to get a photo of Ron and Dad and talk about the apprenticeship master relationship. That's what MicroWorks is. That's what Dirty Jobs is. So, you know, the fact that Dad is 90 years old and learning how to operate a lathe and making these cool wooden objects that people love, I think that's, I just think it's great. And the fact that it's being made possible by a guy like Ron, I mean, Ron reminds me of your dad. Pop could have done this stuff. He could have figured out anything, but to have a teacher, to have somebody who can engage with you at this point in your life, I think that's been awesome. Somebody who's willing to give their time and their talent,

to benefit somebody else. That's kind of cool. And, you know, this place is filled with people like that. People who give their time to others. They teach courses. They do all kinds of volunteer work. Well, cool. Hey, it's already been a half hour.

My coffee's getting low. We should probably wrap this up. But what about Rummy Cube? Are you bringing yours or do I have to bring mine? Oh, I don't know that I. I have room, Mike, in my suitcase. If you have room, bring yours. Although mine is for six.

I have one set for six and one set for four, two or four. And you can use that set that's for six. You can use it for fewer people. Have you played this thing, Chuck? Nope. No idea what it is. Oh, it's big here. It's Rummy Cube season at the home.

It's really fun because it's challenging mentally. It gives you a chance to use your brain, and I think it's probably good, it's good for your brain to use it. It's a number game. It's like Rummy meets Domino's, so you play with tiles, like with a little mahjong thrown in, and you have to get rid of your tiles and you can make sets or you can make runs, but all the numbers are different colors, and they're all kind of. kinds of rules that pertain to the colors and you can, you know, play on other people's melds and stuff. So it's, it's kind of slow in the beginning, but then it gets, like, the possibilities are

just, they kind of blow your mind a little bit. And then they introduce a timer because you can take 20 minutes and still agonize over your turn, but a little egg timer only gives you a minute, which just ratchets up the stakes and, you know, makes my dad flip the table over and say bad words and stomp off and go make bowls, you know, hit you totally enjoy it. And the nice thing is you can be 105 and enjoy this game. Children enjoy it. I'll bring it. I'll bring it. I got my version of it. Although my friends from Australia came by the other day and told me that it's pronounced rummy cub. And we had this whole argument about it because like, no, it's Rummy Cube. Everybody he calls it Rummy Cube and he said well I do you spell it might and I said well I got the box down

and looked at it and there's no E at the end of it it looks like Rummy Cub we call it Rummy Cube but you know phonetically it would be Rummy Cub but then again you're in Baltimore so you know it could be anything really exactly anything goes this is true it is a fun game if you're looking for a fun game people who are listening to this podcast Rummy Cube might be the the way to go. There's no one listening to this podcast, ma. We expect a full report. But let me add this, Mike.

Yeah. An egg timer isn't as good as this. You set your timer for a minute. The timer on your phone, you mean. Yes. And some people only take 10 seconds and they know they don't have a move. You don't have to wait for the egg timer to go through or turn it over. There's no wasted time or motion with your phone as a time.

Timer. Good tip. All right. So to review, the next time I see you will be either tomorrow night or Friday down in Florida. I know you've got your outfits all picked out. I have not packed anything yet, but I'm going to do that right now. And I'll bring the rummy cube. Well, let me tell you how I got my outfit. Do we have enough time? Sure, Mom. Whatever you need. You know, I'm not a shopper. I'm not a great shopper. I know. And so in my, I do write and post two articles a week. And I mentioned how difficult it is shopping and how frustrating, and I can't find what I'm looking for, blah, blah, blah. A group of us got together on New Year's Eve. Well, the women brought tops, lovely tops that they've had,

haven't worn in ages for me to try on, and one of them just fit perfectly. And so I've borrowed a top to wear. That's how I got my top. Who's top? Are we okay with names? Jeanette. Jeanette?

Oh, geez. Oh, geez. No, her name is Mary Margaret, and she's lending me her top, and it's beautiful. Yeah. And dad is wearing a suit that he's had for 35 or 40 years. But he's, I mean...

It still fits. It's still, well, you know, there's been some shrinkage, and so we had to have the legs taken up an inch and the arms taken up. otherwise it fits yeah nothing else has shrunk um i don't think so

good not that i've noticed but so we are ready we are ready for the trip and i can't wait to see you mike all right good mom it'll be great to see you in person thanks for making time for this say hey to dad and i'm serious about that bowl and that napkin thing we're going to start our uh i'll tell dad we're going to start the scholarship program again probably in February, which means I'll start looking for new and clever ways to raise money.

And by probably February, he means probably March. Yeah. Is it March, Chuck? Do we know? Could be. I don't think it's set. Yeah, could be. All right. All right, Mom.

Anything else before I let you go? I don't think so. I think we've covered everything. But if we do this again, I'll have other topics that will be pertinent. A cup of coffee with my mom. Love you. Love you too. This was fun.

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