Episode 38: The Upside of The North Side of Down!

Cousin Nancy does it again, but this time with the help of her friend Eileen Gotke, Between the two of them they did a fun and fascinating interview with Nancy J. Bailey, one of their favorite authors, animal trainers and artist.

In this upbeat podcast between the laughter and the jokes you will discover what an amazing woman Nancy Bailey truly is. She has a heart of gold so full of love it shows in everything that she does. 

Please remember that you can go to Cousin Nancy's website: www.cousinnancy.com and follow the link to her blog to check out pictures and more information on Nancy J. Bailey.

And please go Nancy Bailey's podcast to sign up to listen to Nancy read the entire book  The Up Side of Down!

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Howdy, folks. This is Cousin Nancy. Welcome to the Cousin Nancy Show. And today I am excited about this podcast. You're not going to believe this. First off, I'm doing a three-way. And then what it is, is Eileen has volunteered to help me do this podcast because she's a good friend of our guest, who is Nancy J. Bailey. And Eileen, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you. And Nancy, you there? Nancy. I'm just kidding. I thought it would be funny if I didn't say

SPEAKER_03 0:39

anything.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Uh-oh, we're going to be in trouble. I know. She's going to keep us on our toes. I was

SPEAKER_03 0:44

looking your ear off before this happened. Now it's like nothing.

SPEAKER_04 0:48

Nancy, thank you so much for agreeing to do this show. I'm really excited. Folks, Nancy J. Bailey is one of my most favorite authors next to me. I said next to me, okay? And anyway, Nancy has had one extraordinary adventure. I mean, her life is just filled with stuff. I mean, I'm like, I look at her and I think, God, what have I

SPEAKER_01 1:20

accomplished? We're drags.

SPEAKER_04 1:23

Anyway, okay, I'm going to just do a little bit of reading to introduce Nancy to this, and then we're going to start talking and telling jokes. Okay. Nancy is a Michigan native wildlife artist and author. And Eileen is an unprofessional. Sorry. Sorry about that. Okay. Okay, Eileen, once that happens again, you're fired.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Okay. You remember, I'm a volunteer. That's

SPEAKER_04 1:54

true. Okay, Nancy is a Michigan native wildlife artist, and her work is self-effacing humor. A list of some of her things are she's written books about Clifford of Drummond Island, Return to Manitou, or Manitou, do y'all say Manitou or Manitou?

SPEAKER_03 2:15

It depends on whether you like two or two more, and this is a three-way, so I guess we're going to go with Manitou.

SPEAKER_04 2:24

Okay, so Return to Manitou and Clifford's Bay, a trilogy featuring true horse stories. One thing right off the bat, Nancy has had horses. Eileen, what did you say about Clifford?

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Well, Clifford, I followed Clifford. Nancy on Facebook for years. You stalked her. I wouldn't say that.

SPEAKER_03 2:48

You are not alone.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

However, let's get back to Clifford. Okay. Clifford, I said, is the horse that's smarter than Mr. Ed.

SPEAKER_04 3:00

He's got to be.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

And for those that are... Born after 61. That was a sitcom that was the favorite of all of us kids.

SPEAKER_04 3:11

I know. I wanted Mr. Ed. I mean, I was in love with him. In fact, Palominos, period, because of Roy Rogers.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

Yes. Okay. So now, okay. So now, anyway, Nancy, okay. Nancy is a professional dog trainer, cat trainer, horse trainer.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Bird trainer.

SPEAKER_04 3:32

Bird trainer. And... She does the clicker method, and we're going to talk about that in just a little bit. One of the reasons how I met Nancy or found out about her was Eileen here gave me a book 10 years ago called The North Side of Down, which is a true story of two sisters, and they co-authored the book. And it is an amazing, amazing book. And didn't it win an award?

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Yes, the winner of the 2015 Honorary Medallion from the BRAG, or better known as Book Readers Appreciation Group. And that book is only one out of 2,000 they've ever given.

SPEAKER_04 4:13

That is amazing. Now I'm jealous. Okay. Nancy has written a nonfiction story with American Eagle Foundation's Right? Okay, I'm not getting that correct. Okay, other books by Nancy include My Best Cat, A Murder Mystery, Holding the Ladder, which is a novel, The Sleeping Lion, which is another novel, The Cure for Shyness, A Love Story, and she's an avid, like I said, avid animal trailer. She's put out four instructional books. One is 25 Ways to Raise a Great Puppy, 15 rules for clicker training your horse. 15 rules for clicker training your cat. 15 rules for clicker training your dog. I've got to get those because even though I love animals, I kind of let them walk all over me. You know what I mean? Okay, Nancy. Oh, and then one of Nancy's stories about her sister Amanda. And hey, I want to just shout out to Amanda. Hi, Amanda. And I'd love to meet you. And anyway, this appeared in the chicken soup of the sister's soul part two nancy is a community works with a theater she's a community theater buff and she has written directed and produced and acted in several of her own plays including on lining up a comedy which earned a ctam award what is a ctam

SPEAKER_03 5:49

award Community Theater Association of the Midwest.

SPEAKER_04 5:55

Okay. All right. Okay. And Nancy. Oh, Nancy is an incredible artist. She gifted me a beautiful watercolor of me. Riding a Palomino into the Woods. And it is in my writing studio. I love that. Thank you again for that so much. Let's see. You specialize in painting horses. Okay, you do watercolor, acrylics, oils, pencil, pen, and ink. Wow. And capturing the spirit of the individual animal in each. And you work on slate. Wow. Okay. Okay, what does it say here? It says, unfortunately, most of her portraits are post-mortem, and she describes herself as the angel of death. That could be the title of this episode. It could be. Okay. Eileen, why don't you ask her something?

SPEAKER_01 6:58

Sure. Nancy... How about telling us about your sister, Amanda, who co-wrote the book with you, North Side of Down. And I just finished rereading it, and it's just as great as it was the first time. I totally agree. Yeah. And talk about maybe the award that you got and how she got involved with you. Oh, well. I know that's a lot, but you'll have to break it down.

UNKNOWN 7:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:29

Well, first of all, what an introduction.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

I'm like, who is this person? I feel like I spend most of my days just laying around yelling at dogs. I don't think so. I don't think so. Is the show over now?

SPEAKER_01 7:48

No.

SPEAKER_03 7:50

It took a long time.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

You are. Can you talk to us about the book and Amanda or anything you want to about Amanda?

SPEAKER_03 7:59

Because it takes, you know, so many years to get all that done.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 8:05

The book, The North Side of Down. Thank you for bringing that up because my sister who co-wrote it is Amanda. Amanda Bailey. She was born in 1970. Amanda has Down syndrome. And I am eight years older than she is. And when I was young, I used to like to write horse stories. I would go sit in my room upstairs and write pages and pages of stories about horses that I just made up. And I didn't have a horse then, but it was my dream. And Amanda was very bonded to me. She would climb up the stairs from a very young age and just sit with me while I wrote page after page and illustrated them. So I grew up because I'm still doing the same thing. But Amanda learned to read when she was about– she was still in school, so she was– She stayed in school, I think, until she was 26. I might be wrong about this, but I think that was the year she graduated, and she was illiterate until she was about the ending of her teens, and then I got her that program, Hooked on Phonics. And that made a difference. It helped her. She took it to her school. She was in a special ed school. And all the kids in her class used it. The teachers put them to work and they learned to read. And I first heard Amanda reading out loud. She was reading Green Eggs and Ham.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Oh, my

SPEAKER_03 9:47

goodness. And it was just a complete change in her life because her bedroom exploded with pages and pages of writing on spiral bound notes. paper exactly as I used to do. And all those hours she spent sitting with me, watching me do that. And she started writing her own stories and writing her thoughts and journaling. And she was just very prolific. She would sit and write for hours. And that was her goal. And in fact, she still does that.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

But I

SPEAKER_03 10:25

asked her, how would you like to be an author? How would you like to Help me write a book. And she thought that was great. She got so excited about it. And so she wrote her own segments and she writes the introduction to each chapter in our story. And the story is about what it was like growing up for her and me growing up with Down syndrome in a small community in this little tip of the Crooked Peninsula in the upper upper part of Michigan

SPEAKER_02 11:01

so

SPEAKER_03 11:01

it's a pretty remote location and then what happened with Amanda when our aging parents fell ill one after another and then they both died and the battle that happened for possession of Amanda's soul following the death of our parents because my dad had documented what he wanted to happen to her but he trusted people And he wrote things down that were never followed through. And so one sister swooped in and wanted Amanda, wanted that guardianship for herself. And then the older brother came in and they had a war right after the death of our father in court. And Amanda had to go tell the judge what she wanted. And she stayed with me through the whole thing. And we just kept writing.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

So when did you

SPEAKER_03 11:54

journal the whole thing?

SPEAKER_01 11:55

That's what I was. Yeah. And so after that happened, that's when you wrote the book with her. Is that right?

SPEAKER_03 12:01

It was during.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

During. Oh, okay. While it was happening. I see.

SPEAKER_04 12:04

Okay, but don't. We were working on it steadily the whole time. Don't give away the ending. We don't want to give away. Oh, yeah, the ending. Don't tell all of us. We don't want to give away all of it. No spoilers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:13

That's what it's about.

SPEAKER_04 12:15

Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what. Some of the funniest pages in y'all's book is Amanda. I mean. You're right. I love her humor. She is fabulous.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Exactly. I got goosebumps. To the part that is my favorite, which is when she's on the ride at the circus.

UNKNOWN 12:39

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

And I just can't stop laughing at that description. Of course, that was your description, but she was the star that night, right?

SPEAKER_03 12:54

Oh, yeah. Yeah. She's a wicked riot, that's for sure, especially when you get to know her one-liners. They'll just knock you down. You don't see them coming.

SPEAKER_04 13:04

Well, I literally burst out laughing. I forget what happened, but y'all were talking about what do you want to do when you die? What's going to happen? And Amanda, I can't say exactly because I'm not looking at the book, but Amanda said something like, just prop me up. the jukebox

SPEAKER_03 13:23

yes prop me up beside the jukebox yeah i love it and when she said that i didn't realize it was a country song because my mother was saying well i want to be buried next to dad with a hole in the casket and our hands sticking out so we can hold hands throughout eternity and you know each one was taking turns of what they want to have happen when they die and Amanda goes, you can just prop me up the side that you

SPEAKER_01 13:52

brought. Well, it sounds like she inherited some of your mom's humor,

SPEAKER_03 13:58

too. Yeah. My parents were both uproarious. We had big laughs in that house. Amanda, she has a real good comic timing and a really good sense of what is funny. And she'll set her sights on you. If she decides she wants to crack you up, she'll figure out a way to do it. She's really good at it, way better than me. The funny thing is the surprise attack, because you don't expect it from her.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

She's

SPEAKER_03 14:34

barely five feet tall, and she's just this little thing, and she has this obvious disability. But man, that makes her the perfect ambush.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Oh, absolutely,

SPEAKER_03 14:46

yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

She's got some zingers in that book, too. That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 14:55

She is a beautiful writer.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

She is, absolutely. Both of you, exactly. I hope that you both can do another book sometimes together. I

SPEAKER_03 15:04

know she would like that, and I would, too. She's great fun to work with.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Well, I bet.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

Yes. So right now, I'm in the middle of a legal action with her guardian. Amanda lives in Arizona and I live in Michigan and I have to file for visitation because I have to, we want to go to the movies. It's been 10 years since we've been to the movies and the guardian won't let us go. And when somebody's in a guardianship, they basically have all their civil rights taken away.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

They

SPEAKER_03 15:36

don't get to make any choices. So I've had to file a petition just to take my sister for a girl's day out. Well,

SPEAKER_04 15:45

y'all loved those. In your book, you kept talking about how y'all would always go to the movies and then eat pizza. Eat pizza and go to the movies.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Girls' Night Out. That's been a

SPEAKER_03 15:57

tradition for a long time. Many, many years. We've seen many movies together, and it ended about 10 years ago when The Guardian decided that wasn't going to happen anymore.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Well, Nancy, I know that you've been... I'm sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

it's okay i i was going to say i've been trying to you know i tried mediation um several times trying to try and make a peaceful um resolution with him and you know now it's just me versus a bunch of siblings and they're all against us getting together i think because they don't like what we wrote

SPEAKER_01 16:37

We

SPEAKER_03 16:38

wrote the truth, and they're trying to get our book banned, and they're trying to put a gag order

SPEAKER_01 16:44

on us. Oh, goodness. Well, you know, really, you're doing... Unfortunately, you've got this going on, but I think the bigger picture is that at some point, both of you will end up helping in guardianship regulations and rules and all that... especially after seeing even some celebrities that have had guardianship that ended up in public eye. But I think that both of you, I hope that it works out great for both of you, and maybe it will help others in the long run.

SPEAKER_03 17:20

Yeah, that would be that's my dearest wish.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

And I'm sure I'm sure change gets

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to

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be changed. Right. And I'm sure Amanda would want that, too, for sure. OK,

SPEAKER_04 17:32

y'all, it's time for me to tell a joke. OK. OK. Whoops. OK, there we go. There we go. OK. Let's see. Okay. Yeah, okay. I have a cousin, Boomer, and the strangest things happen to him, and they're true. Anyway, I'm going to tell you a true story about cousin Boomer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Okay. Boomer was feeling very lonely, so he decided he wanted to get a pet to keep him company. So he put on his coat and his blue mask, and he went down the street to the pet store. After the owner of the pet store had shown Boomer turtles guinea pigs fish some bunnies uh boomer decided he'd rather have a bird so they went over to this huge bird cage and that was in the corner of the store and there were about 40 green parakeets and they uh they were guaranteed to sing and they had little 15 dollar price tags attached to their legs the birds all looked just alike except one bird had a$122 price tag on his leg. Boomer asked the owner why that one particular parakeet was so much more expensive than the others. And the owner told him, he said, not only does that bird sing, he talks too. So Boomer purchased the expensive singing, talking parakeet. The next morning, Boomer went back to the pet store and he told the owner, my bird did not sing and he did not talk. The owner asked him, did he peck on his little bell? No, he doesn't have a little bell. Well, birds love bells. So Boomer asked him, how much is it? He said, ten bucks. So Boomer bought a little bell and he went back home. The next morning, Boomer went back to the pet store and told the owner, my bird did not sing and he did not talk, but he did peck on his little bell. The store owner smiled and he said, did he climb up and down his little ladder? And Boomer told him, he says, he doesn't have a ladder. And he said, how much is a ladder? And the owner said, 15 bucks. So Boomer purchased the little ladder and he went back home. I'm getting close to the end here. Anyway, he went back home, and the next morning, Boomer went back to the store, and he told the owner, my bird did not sing, and he did not talk. But he did peck on his little bell, and he did climb up and down the

SPEAKER_00 20:07

little ladder.

SPEAKER_04 20:08

The pet store owner smiled, and he said, well, did he look in his little mirror? And Boomer says, he doesn't have a mirror. How much is a little mirror? And he said,$20 soap. Boomer pulled out a 20 and laid it on the counter. The next morning, Boomer went back to the pet store and he told the owner, my bird did not sing and he did not talk. But he did peck on his little bell, climb up and down his ladder, and he did look in his little mirror. The store owner smiled again. Did he swing on his little swing? Boomer, he says, he doesn't have a little swing. How much is a little swing? That's only 15 bucks. So Boomer purchased the little swing. The next morning, Boomer went back to the pet store and he told the owner, my bird is dead. The owner was shocked and he asked, what happened? Boomer said, this morning after I removed the bird cage cover, My little bird pecked on his little bell, climbed halfway up his little ladder, and then he stopped and looked at me. And I could swear that little bird smiled at me. Then he looked at his little mirror, and then he got on his little swing. He swung a few times. And then, right before he rolled his eyes and died and fell off his little swing, the bird said, Don't they sell... Birdseed?

UNKNOWN 21:33

Oh, God.

SPEAKER_04 21:33

That's bad.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Oh, my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 21:38

I've got to tell you, I'm a boomer, okay? And I resemble that.

SPEAKER_04 21:47

Tell us, now, you used to take your horse, Clifford, your famous horse, Clifford, to libraries and to schools, right?

UNKNOWN 21:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 21:56

yeah and uh that was to promote reading okay what is the deal about you took clifford into the capitol building in michigan

SPEAKER_03 22:07

yeah yeah um we visited not in the capitol building but we went into the the governor's office building with a crowd of protesters who were it was during the rain of i'm going to call it the rain what do you call that um When a governor is in office, what's that word? It was during his time in office.

SPEAKER_04 22:32

Service. During his service or no? I don't

SPEAKER_03 22:36

know. Yeah, whatever. You know what I mean.

SPEAKER_04 22:38

I'm

SPEAKER_03 22:38

supposed

SPEAKER_01 22:38

to

SPEAKER_03 22:38

be the writer and I have no vote.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Well, those are legal words.

SPEAKER_03 22:45

A group of us were protesting... line five which is a an oil pipeline that's owned by a canadian company and it runs under the straits of mackinac which is um the the top of the lower peninsula and the straits of mackinac connects lake huron

SPEAKER_00 23:03

to

SPEAKER_03 23:04

lake michigan to lake which you know goes up into lake superior so there are three great lakes um that kind of depend on on the straights and therefore having an oil tunnel underneath this

SPEAKER_04 23:20

doesn't make sense

SPEAKER_03 23:23

right yeah can you imagine and the thing is over six it's older than i am i'm not going to say how old that is but i didn't say i'm a boomer so you that'll give you some idea it's over half a century old and it's had anchor strikes and dents and you know it's just a a great hazard to our water system

SPEAKER_04 23:43

yeah yeah

SPEAKER_03 23:45

so um but it's it's owned by um enbridge a canadian company that's already had a bad spill in the kalamazoo river so we were out there trying to get this we want to get this pipeline shut off and they were walking with a um they made a billboard for him out of poster board and he was like a walking A walking billboard. The

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Houston is a sandwich

SPEAKER_03 24:14

board. He had a little blank, his little blankie on. And we went, one of the sayings on him was, say nay to oil. Well, I bet. We marched with the group and we walked right into his office building. And there was a whole bunch of people there in the lobby. It was crowded, and they were yelling, you know, no oil, no oil, save our water. And he's just standing there. I mean, he's not doing anything. He's just standing there with me, and we got kicked out. The cops

SPEAKER_04 24:47

came.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

The cops came. Uh-oh. The

SPEAKER_04 24:50

cops

SPEAKER_03 24:50

showed up. Well,

SPEAKER_04 24:51

the

SPEAKER_03 24:51

good

SPEAKER_04 24:51

thing is you didn't get arrested.

SPEAKER_03 24:54

No. You know it's a party when the cops show up. So he made me remove them. I had some pictures, though, and did some interviews with them. with some local radio, and it was great because we got the word out there, and he brought so much attention because it was such a weird thing to do. And after we walked back outside, the police officer wanted to feed him a peppermint.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

He was just doing his job inside, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:27

I've never done that before.

SPEAKER_04 25:28

Nancy, you're on Facebook. Now, can people go there and see pictures of Clifford and your animal? and stuff like that?

SPEAKER_03 25:39

Just a few.

SPEAKER_04 25:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

You have to really look for them.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

I don't think. I think she's kidding. Right. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You got to pick through all those pictures to find those animals. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:55

I've got Clifford's understudy, Cliffy Jr., and he's related to both Clifford and my mare, Trudy, And so he's picking up the torch. He's doing stuff. He goes to the libraries. And he's been to the hospital, Sparrow Hospital. Wow. The oncology kids there in Lansing. And he's doing a really good job. He's a real good egg. So we're still out there. We're still out there pushing the equine love. Oh,

SPEAKER_04 26:26

yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Nancy, tell us how your trick for keeping the Clifford Jr., From using the potty inside.

UNKNOWN 26:37

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

That's what everybody asks, right?

SPEAKER_03 26:43

That's the question.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:48

Are we allowed to say poop on this? Yes.

SPEAKER_04 26:51

Yes. Just don't say crap. So go ahead. Let's, let's find

SPEAKER_03 27:02

out. You don't want to have a crappy podcast,

SPEAKER_01 27:06

but a poopy one would be fine.

SPEAKER_03 27:09

So corny. She's such a great, she loves it. Everything. This is so good. I can say anything and she laughs. Nancy laughs.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

That's right. Eileen laughs too. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 27:23

I knew she was going to be a good one because of the name.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Right. In fact, I am literally sandwiched between two Nancys. Right?

SPEAKER_04 27:35

Let's take a picture. Okay. Nancy, I've never... That's an awful lot of baloney. Yeah, exactly. Well, I got to tell you, I've never done a call-in podcast because you're up in Michigan, northern Michigan, right? Yes. Well, anyway, right now in, quote, the Bigfoot studio, recording studio... Eileen are actually in our little kitchen with the island where the computer and all this is recording it. Anyway, because the only way I could figure out how to do this with you, for us to do this with you, is I had my iPhone sitting on top of my favorite box of red wine. And so anyway, my iPhone is almost directly into the microphone. Anyway, it looks pretty weird right now if you were to

SPEAKER_01 28:29

see this. We'll send you a picture of

SPEAKER_04 28:31

it.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

I wish I realized this was a drinking show.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Well, pour your glass. So tell us about how you teach them not to poop inside.

SPEAKER_04 28:46

Yes, back to the serious stuff. Oh, well, poop is very serious.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Yeah. And they do it a lot.

UNKNOWN 28:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:55

I do warn everybody anytime we go anywhere. I always tell him, you know, he knows what he's supposed to do, but there's no guarantees because he's only human.

SPEAKER_04 29:07

That's right. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 29:11

Everybody knows. There's a process. I'm actually working on a book about it, so I can't talk about it. And I already told you we could talk about anything, and I lied. because this is the one thing that I can't give my training secrets.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Oh, okay. Oh, right. Okay. Well, that's okay. But

SPEAKER_03 29:31

this is a real publisher. It won't be me doing

SPEAKER_01 29:33

it. Oh, wonderful. Well, you can't say anything more about it, right?

SPEAKER_03 29:39

Well, not too much.

SPEAKER_04 29:40

Yeah. Okay, but if people want to find you and follow you, they can go to Amazon, right, the books, and follow you, and they can also follow you on Facebook,

SPEAKER_03 29:52

right? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:55

Okay, speaking, by the way, of poop, before we change the subject, I have a little joke for you, not as long as the other one, but what did the judge say when the skunk walked in the courtroom? Odor in the court.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

Okay. Okay, all right. Nancy, do you? He's already dressed for prison. He's in the black and white stripes. There may be a bias in that story.

SPEAKER_04 30:29

Did you take art lessons? How did you learn to do your beautiful art?

SPEAKER_03 30:36

I did. I took a couple years in college. It was my major. I majored in creative writing

SPEAKER_00 30:45

in the beginning.

SPEAKER_03 30:47

And then I transferred to Central Michigan. I started out at Lake Superior State University. And then I, back when it was still Lake Superior State College. And then I transferred to Central Michigan University where I studied fine and applied arts. Wow. I was supposed to attend the Interlochen University. arts academy when i was in high school

SPEAKER_04 31:10

wow

SPEAKER_03 31:11

they wanted me because i wrote this story that one was a finalist one of ten finalists in a six thousand um entry competition writing competition that was sponsored by interlock and

SPEAKER_02 31:26

but

SPEAKER_03 31:27

um my parents didn't have the funds to send me there they were all poor folk so we didn't so i didn't go But it would have been a great opportunity. But it was nice to be acknowledged.

SPEAKER_04 31:39

Well, the thing is, I mean, you are so good. You didn't miss anything because, I mean, your art, really, you are so incredible. I love the horses that you've done and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

What is your favorite subject? to paint or draw. Oh, I really

SPEAKER_03 31:58

appreciate that. Thank you. Oh, definitely horses. I mean, there's no question. They were probably the first thing I ever started drawing. That was a long time ago. I won't say how long, but I am a boomer. But it's very tail end to the baby boom. I almost didn't even get in under the wire, so not that old.

SPEAKER_04 32:19

When the show ends, I'm going to go and type in what was the ages of the boomers. I'll figure this out.

SPEAKER_03 32:28

Then I'll find out I didn't actually make it.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

Well, you'd like that, wouldn't you? I

SPEAKER_03 32:37

think

SPEAKER_01 32:41

it is, but nobody likes the boomers.

SPEAKER_03 32:43

The

SPEAKER_01 32:46

boomers. Oh,

SPEAKER_03 32:48

you're right.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

I guess we're old fogies.

SPEAKER_03 32:53

Yeah, we are now.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:55

Isn't it strange being this

SPEAKER_01 32:57

age? Yeah, well, they weren't in the 70s, so they missed out.

SPEAKER_04 33:02

Nancy, not to scare you, but wait until you get my age. I'm 73, and it's like I look in the mirror, and I look like I'm 83. She

SPEAKER_01 33:13

does not.

SPEAKER_04 33:13

Okay, but how old do you feel? How old do you think you are? I would say about 65. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01 33:21

see?

SPEAKER_03 33:22

That's it. That's how that works. I think I'm in my 40s.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Well, I think I'm 34. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:31

Y'all, I just decided what I'm going to title this podcast. So, Nancy, just so you can tell your friends, it's going to be called, okay, now, the book that you and Amanda wrote that everyone is so popular is The Ups of Seaweed, The North Side of the Downside.

SPEAKER_01 33:50

No. Of down.

SPEAKER_04 33:51

The north side of down. The north side of down. Well, the podcast title is going to be The Upside of the North Side of

SPEAKER_02 34:00

the Down. I love

SPEAKER_04 34:02

that.

SPEAKER_03 34:02

What a great idea.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

Okay. Well, you got anything else you'd like to talk to us about? Maybe...

SPEAKER_03 34:14

Can you

SPEAKER_01 34:14

read us a passage? Yeah, that would be great.

SPEAKER_03 34:18

Well... How much time do you have? Because I can start at chapter one.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Well, pick out one of the funny, the thing, maybe something funny that Amanda has done or said. Well,

SPEAKER_04 34:33

that circus deal. That was

SPEAKER_01 34:34

hilarious. Yeah, that one I

SPEAKER_04 34:36

love.

SPEAKER_03 34:39

The roller coaster? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

Is that okay?

SPEAKER_03 34:45

Yeah, it is. I should have marked it ahead of time. ahead of time. I have to find it now. You guys talk amongst yourselves. Okay. Don't say anything boring because they will hang up

SPEAKER_01 34:57

and not hear it. Oh, we don't want that now. Hey, how about if I tell my poop joke?

SPEAKER_04 35:02

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 35:04

Back to poop.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

Poop. Okay, warning. Frequency of human bear encounters. This has been found on trails. Hikers, please take extra precautions and and wear little noisy bells on clothing to give advanced warning and avoid surprising the animals. We also suggest carrying pepper spray in case of an encounter with a bear. Be vigilant for fresh bear activity and distinguish between black bear and grizzly bear feces or poop. Black bear feces are smaller and contain lots of berries and squirrel fur. Grizzly bear poop has bells in it and smells like pepper. Happy hiking.

SPEAKER_04 35:59

Oh, my God. Okay, here's a horse joke. What did the horse say when it fell? Help, I've fallen and I can't giddy up.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

Oh, my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

Did you find it?

SPEAKER_03 36:14

I didn't find it, but I found a couple little stories of Amanda.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Okay, go right ahead.

SPEAKER_03 36:23

Here's one. This is a conversation between her and me. Me. Amanda, your eye is red. Does it hurt? Amanda. No. Me. Look that way. Look this way. Look up. Amanda. It's okay. Me. How many fingers am I holding up? Amanda. Two. Making the shape of an L on her forehead. How many fingers am I holding up?

SPEAKER_01 36:50

She's good.

SPEAKER_03 36:51

That is

SPEAKER_01 36:54

great. I

SPEAKER_03 36:57

got a second one. Amanda and I are driving. My dog, Till, scoots up from the backseat, putting his head on her shoulder. She scratches him. Hi, Till. You take after your mother. Hey! Well, she says, would it be better if I said, you got your mother's good looks?

SPEAKER_04 37:23

Okay, Nancy, tell me this. How many animals do you have currently?

SPEAKER_03 37:30

Oh, does that count mosquitoes?

SPEAKER_01 37:38

Well, you're feeding birds outside, right?

SPEAKER_03 37:43

Yeah, I have... I do have a bunch of wild birds and some chickadees that come right to me. Did you know you can tell chickadees apart?

SPEAKER_01 37:52

No.

SPEAKER_03 37:53

That is the craziest thing. I never expected it to happen, but you can learn them. Their markings are a little bit different, but what you can really tell is by their behaviors. They come when I call them. They come for peanuts, and they land in my hand and take the peanuts. And right now, we're in migration, so I'm getting all kinds of cool... birds. I got a red-winged blackbird who has only one foot. He's a red-winged blackbird. I named him after the Detroit Red Wings, so I named him Puck.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

Oh, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_03 38:31

And so him, you can always tell it's him because he's missing that one foot and he kind of stumps around like a pirate. And there's a lot of others that are showing up now beautiful a lot of beautiful bright yellow gold finches and many many more birds

SPEAKER_01 38:51

well you know what

SPEAKER_03 38:53

i have i have currently i have three dogs two of them are senior uh chihuahuas and i have a german shepherd named gusto oh and i have three cats and um not the cat my oldest cat is now 10 years old which is so hard for me to wrap my brain around. We hired him to be in a movie. I used to be with my girlfriend down in Ann Arbor. We ran Ann Arbor Animal Actors, an animal talent agency, and we needed a cat for a movie, and so we hired him. And he was a 10-month-old kitten. And he had to do all these behaviors for this movie. He had to come when I called him. They put him out in an alley, and he had to run to me and You know, and just up and down stairs and jump in and out of boxes. And he's kind of a big part in the story. And then you get attached. I mean, what am I going to do? The rescue we borrowed him from, he was already kind of big. He's a black and white cat. And they didn't, nobody wanted him. People wanted the little kittens. And I said, well, they can say he's a movie star. For sure he'll get a home. But he didn't, and so, you know, after that, he's still here 10 years later, waiting for a home.

SPEAKER_01 40:16

He's got one, I think. How about that beautiful movie star cat you've got? Oh, you mean Notch? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 40:28

Notch is a flame point, fluffy Siamese type with blue eyes and... I found him in the woods screaming his head off when he was only three weeks old. So I had to bottle feed him and I named him Notch because for short for not your cat, not your cat.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

That didn't work either.

SPEAKER_03 40:54

Not my cat. I'm still, that was during COVID. So he's five years old now and still, still looking for that name. Permanent home.

SPEAKER_01 41:05

And he kind of took over, I think, didn't he? He

SPEAKER_03 41:09

what?

SPEAKER_01 41:10

He sort of took over your house, didn't he?

SPEAKER_03 41:12

Oh, my gosh. Oh, yeah. He's something else.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

He's gorgeous, and so he's so lucky. He

SPEAKER_03 41:20

knows he's gorgeous, too.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

But he doesn't know he's so lucky, does he?

SPEAKER_03 41:25

He goes in and rips up the toilet paper and he tepees the bathroom. And then if he knows I'm watching birds, I can't say anything because if I say it out loud like this, oh, there he is. You know, there's a bird I'm waiting for because I like taking pictures of him. And if I say something like, oh, even if I do a little gasp, he'll come running out from a dead sleep out of the bedroom and go body slam himself against the window.

UNKNOWN 41:52

He's awful.

SPEAKER_04 41:54

Okay, I've got to question for you. In the past month, a raven... now actually a pair of ravens have come to our little place here in medina and it's if i go outside when i go outside to feed two of our cats he will he will call at me or you know that noise they make how oh man you're so lucky i listen i love ravens i really connect to them but how what can i do to really get a real relationship going i mean he tries to eat the corn every once in a while that I put out for the deer. But do you have any suggestions on how I can get that raven to really be my buddy?

SPEAKER_03 42:38

Well, you can do it. They like bright, shiny trinkets and baubles. And if you start leaving little things out for him, he might start bringing things back. But you have to be very, very careful because if you do that, people will start saying you're a raven lunatic.

SPEAKER_01 42:58

Good one.

SPEAKER_04 43:00

That was really a

SPEAKER_01 43:03

good one. That's a zinger. I think it runs in the family. I

SPEAKER_04 43:07

think it does, too. I'm going to do it, but when you say put things out, Should I like put them out in the yard or like at a certain place, the same place all the time?

SPEAKER_03 43:18

I have no idea. That was all just about the punchline.

SPEAKER_01 43:22

But you're right. That's right. They bring gifts. They bring gifts to you. Oh, I'm going to

SPEAKER_03 43:28

walk away from that.

SPEAKER_04 43:31

Yeah. Well, we have a cat that decided it was a feral cat. Anyway, she's now living in the house and has taken over. But she constantly is trying to bring in an almost dead lizard or a bird. And it just breaks my heart. I mean, I'm like, okay, you're grounded. You're not going outside for two days. And, of course, that doesn't happen. But anyway.

SPEAKER_03 43:58

She's in the parasitic era.

SPEAKER_01 44:02

She's a huntress. I don't think you can take it out of those cats.

SPEAKER_04 44:08

Okay, speaking of cats, okay, what animal has more lives than a cat?

SPEAKER_01 44:14

What?

SPEAKER_04 44:14

Frogs. They croak every night.

SPEAKER_01 44:17

Oh,

SPEAKER_03 44:18

gosh. Oh, I love that. That's a good one. I've got to remember that

SPEAKER_04 44:24

one. Well, you still have a memory. You're young. No, you are compared to us. Eileen's younger than I am.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

Not by much. But she doesn't look

SPEAKER_04 44:35

like

SPEAKER_01 44:35

it. Hey, I just want to ask you one thing. Because this was so neat when I saw it on your Facebook. Amanda likes Friends, the TV show. Friends. She adores that show. Right.

SPEAKER_03 44:53

Jennifer Aniston is her favorite. She loves that show.

SPEAKER_01 44:58

I had a really bad job once. And so I would come home from it, and that night, Wednesday or whatever night they were on, that's the way I settled down and got my head out of that stuff and watched Friends. Well, you drew a picture for Amanda, right? Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_03 45:21

Her bucket list.

SPEAKER_01 45:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 45:24

Amanda had a bucket list and one thing on her list was meeting the cast of Friends. Wow. She said I would like to have lunch with them. She thinks they're all vegetarian except Courtney Cox. She probably eats meat.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

Tell her. Did she say what?

SPEAKER_03 45:41

I don't know why. What the distinction is about Courtney Cox that made her think she was the only carnivore in the group. But I drew a picture of her sitting with them all having lunch and she's cracking them up as she would. They're all laughing and they all have a bowl of salad except Courtney Cox is sitting there with her fork and a knife and each hand and the steak in front of her.

SPEAKER_01 46:08

What's Amanda having? Salad too?

SPEAKER_03 46:11

Oh, Amanda gets pizza.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

Oh, pizza. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 46:14

And in the picture, she's wrapping her hand around the pizza, sliding it away from Jennifer Aniston.

SPEAKER_01 46:23

Can you send, I mean, would it be okay if you sent Nancy that?

SPEAKER_03 46:26

Oh, yeah. We've talked about

SPEAKER_01 46:28

it. Yeah, you can put it

SPEAKER_03 46:30

up there. Oh,

SPEAKER_04 46:32

great. And folks, I just want to tell everybody that when we do this podcast, when I launch it, what happens is I also put it on my blog, the Cousin Nancy blog, and anyway, you can find it, and this is where you're going to find the pictures that Nancy has sent me, and this picture of Amanda eating lunch with a friend's cast. That is so, yeah, please do send that to me, and I will definitely get that. But anyone who wants to tell We'll see you next time. Of course, if they're listening to this, they probably have already figured it out.

SPEAKER_03 47:38

Well, it's good. It's like doing a commercial break for yourself.

SPEAKER_04 47:42

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Well, listen, we're getting close to almost an hour here. Nancy, why don't you tell us whatever you want to tell us right now.

SPEAKER_03 47:56

Oh, tell us whatever you want to tell us. Well, I want to say thank you for this opportunity to get on here and hang out with you guys. It's been great fun and a nice respite for me.

SPEAKER_04 48:07

We need to do this again, seriously. And if people go to Facebook, they can find or follow you about what's going on with your trying to get visitation rights, right?

UNKNOWN 48:20

Right.

SPEAKER_04 48:20

Yes. Okay, great. That will be on my blog where you can go there and look. And I guess it's just Nancy J. Bailey on Facebook,

SPEAKER_03 48:33

correct? I think it's Cliffy's Mom.

SPEAKER_04 48:37

Oh, Cliffy's Mom,

SPEAKER_03 48:38

okay. I'm pretty sure. But I sent you a link. Yeah, I will put

SPEAKER_04 48:44

that on the blog so they can follow that, yes. Yeah. Okay. Let's see.

SPEAKER_01 48:53

Do I need to tell another joke? Well, did you want to add anything, Nancy?

SPEAKER_03 49:01

Well, math isn't my thing, so I...

SPEAKER_01 49:10

We get it. You're starting to scare me now. Hey, well, yeah, I was going to ask you about any books in the works, but now I know you and I can't talk.

SPEAKER_03 49:20

I do have a book in the works. It's about my horse training book that's going to be hopefully released next year. I have a I have a in twenty six. We'll see how that goes. I've had a little bit of delay with my production. The publisher has recently changed hands, but it's not their fault. It's more my fault because I have to take instructional pictures and winter came.

SPEAKER_02 49:47

They

SPEAKER_03 49:48

didn't want them in the winter because they don't want fuzzy horses.

SPEAKER_01 49:52

They want gorgeous horses. They have to

SPEAKER_03 49:55

be clean, which is going to be a challenge in itself.

SPEAKER_04 50:00

Nancy, I'm curious. It's 101 degrees here right now in Texas. Yeah, what's the temperature there?

SPEAKER_03 50:06

Today,

SPEAKER_04 50:08

I think it's about 50. Oh, that's not bad. No. It's very nice. What about, do you freeze every night?

SPEAKER_03 50:17

Right now, I think we're kind of done with that. We're down like in the 40s at night. Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_01 50:23

Oh, I'm jealous. But I think

SPEAKER_03 50:24

almost Canada. We've had a very cold spring, though, this year. It's taken a while to get spring. It's not always this late in the season.

SPEAKER_04 50:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:35

But it's beautiful. We got fields of trillium in the woods popping out, the white flowers with three petals. And the ground is just white with those right now. Oh,

SPEAKER_04 50:44

how beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 50:45

Nancy, are you getting any of the monarchs yet?

SPEAKER_03 50:50

Not yet. They're migrating up this way, but they won't be here for a while. They have to show up when the milkweed is ready.

SPEAKER_01 50:59

Well, you know, what's so odd here, we are a migration pathway. That's right. I think I

SPEAKER_03 51:06

remember you telling me that. Have you seen honey?

UNKNOWN 51:09

No.

SPEAKER_01 51:09

Well, no, not this year. We have in the past, but sometimes I don't even see any. Do you, Nancy?

SPEAKER_04 51:19

Well, I need to get my glasses.

SPEAKER_01 51:24

But, you know, what we have is antelope. What is it called? Antelope horn, which is the milkweed, our milkweed. And that doesn't... Actually, blooms and that happens after they've come through here.

UNKNOWN 51:43

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 51:44

I guess what they do is they will put the eggs underneath the leaves. Oh, okay. And then leave, you know, and then eventually those will hatch and move on. But I just wonder because she actually has brought them inside and hatched them.

SPEAKER_03 52:06

I don't want to say hatch. What is it? The last couple of years, I have been bringing them in and hatching them. It's an amazing transformation to watch.

SPEAKER_02 52:17

It's

SPEAKER_03 52:18

so hard to wrap your brain around that. Something that starts out as a little striped grub.

SPEAKER_01 52:24

Exactly. It just

SPEAKER_03 52:25

makes its own turn, sheds its skin and hangs itself up and turns green and then out comes a Winged fairy.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 52:37

Orange

SPEAKER_01 52:37

butterfly. Exactly. And just to look at that little tiny pinhead dot of an ant. They look like

SPEAKER_03 52:48

a grain of salt. You don't really look for them.

SPEAKER_01 52:53

I know. It's hard to see. It is. I thought I saw two. So they're on their

SPEAKER_03 53:10

way back.

SPEAKER_01 53:11

Do you think they can get through? What? I don't know. They have a wall out there now. I don't know. I have not.

SPEAKER_03 53:31

They come all the way back here. They come from you to me.

SPEAKER_01 53:34

Yes. And those are the ones in Mexico that make that long, long, how many miles is that? 5,000 miles? 4,000 miles? Yeah, all the way up there.

SPEAKER_04 53:46

That is so

SPEAKER_01 53:47

cool.

SPEAKER_04 53:48

Okay, I've got one more. What do you call a sleeping bull? Ready?

SPEAKER_01 53:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:55

A bulldozer. A

SPEAKER_01 53:57

bulldozer. Okay. Can I

SPEAKER_03 54:00

just jump your punchline? I'm sorry. It just flew out of my mouth.

SPEAKER_01 54:07

You're quick.

SPEAKER_04 54:10

Well, I tell you what, is there anything you want to tell your listeners and followers?

SPEAKER_03 54:16

Oh, I just want to say thank you so much for listening. This is great. So much fun. I'm totally new. This is my first ever podcast as a guest talking to other people.

SPEAKER_01 54:28

Well, then

SPEAKER_04 54:29

we broke you in. Yeah, but are you sure we're not robots? Yeah. Oh, good point.

SPEAKER_01 54:41

Well, hopefully your next podcast will go well.

SPEAKER_04 54:46

You need to stay in touch because this really has been fun and I'd love to do another podcast at some point. Oh, me too. It would be a blast. Okay, it'll only be$45. No, I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_01 55:02

She's already broken into this chillable.

SPEAKER_03 55:06

She gets you sucked in. The first podcast is free. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 55:13

You know, it's just like all those streaming TV shows. Of

SPEAKER_04 55:17

course, now Eileen's going to ask me, well, how much are you going to pay me? Well, yeah. Well, y'all listen, I really want to thank you, Nancy, so much for spending an hour, almost an hour with us. And I wish you all the best and you and Amanda and Eileen thank you very much and I'm going to leave everybody with my most favorite quote life is short and so am I adios adios

SPEAKER_01 55:52

bye