I Came Up

What starts as a light check-in—cats underfoot and a brief tease of winter sun—quickly widens into a tour of stories that feel equal parts surreal and sobering. We talk Greenland’s odd brush with U.S. history, revisit a polarizing moment from last January to explore how headlines shape our empathy, and compare two very different space sagas: a swift medical evacuation that brought a crew home and the long, weary wait of Starliner astronauts who spent 286 days in orbit after thruster problems. Then comes the moon, twice—Artemis 2 edging toward a launch window and a flashy pitch for a quarter-million-dollar “lunar hotel” that asks who exploration is really for.

We bring it back to ground with an earthquake roundup. A few magnitude 6 events make global noise, but the tremors that prick our attention are the small ones in Missouri, Illinois, and Tennessee. The New Madrid seismic zone has a history that turns minor shakes into teachable moments about readiness. Alongside that, space weather flexes with geomagnetic storms and a jittery K-index that thrill aurora chasers while frustrating ham radio operators. It’s a reminder that Earth’s magnetic mood and our daily routines are more connected than they seem.

Finally, we pivot to a crisp weather snapshot—southern Illinois warming just long enough to set up a bitter plunge into single digits and heavy snow—and share listener milestones from 59 countries and 423 cities. We close with a story-poem about mist, storm, and belonging, a simple call to stand together when the monster looms. If this blend of curiosity, caution, and care resonates, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a quick review to help more people find us.

Chapters

• 0:00 Cold Open And Show Setup
• 1:48 Episode Plan And Value For Value
• 4:33 Cats, Weather, And Winter Check-In
• 5:37 Greenland History And Odd News
• 8:10 Memory Lane: Last January’s Politics
• 13:13 Space Health Scare And Starliner Delay
• 15:48 Artemis 2 And The Moon Hotel Pitch
• 23:00 Digg Returns And Social Media AI
• 28:15 Earthquake Roundup And New Madrid Worry
• 34:27 Space Weather, Radio Conditions, And Forecast
• 36:58 Local Weather Comparisons And Big Freeze
• 39:14 Listener Thank-Yous And 2025 Stats
• 42:00 Story-Poem: I Came Up
• 49:30 Value For Value Support Options
• 51:00 Closing Thoughts And Safety Wishes

Transcript

Bruce: 0:00

Are you ready for winter again? Wait. In this January? Winter? Huh?

Capella: 0:09

Welcome to the Ugly Quacking Doug Podcast, the worst podcast in the unknown universe. Or at least that's what some people say. We prefer to think of ourselves as charmingly rough around the edges. We're passionate about podcasting and the value for value model, where creators and listeners connect directly. We believe in keeping our content free and open to everyone. Because who needs another paywall, right?

Bruce: 0:31

That's right. Welcome to the Ugly Quacking Duck Podcast. I'm Bruce. And I'm Sonny. Hello, everyone. It's good to have you aboard, everyone. We thank you for tuning in. And if you're new to the podcast, please stick around for the full episode.

Sunny: 0:55

And if you've been here before, well Yeah, well, there's something wrong with you, but hey, you fit in really well with us.

Bruce: 1:06

Oh, is that not oh that's a fact. Yep. Thank you for coming back.

Sunny: 1:11

Oh yeah. It's great to have you all back.

Bruce: 1:15

It is good, that's for sure. And this is episode 134.

Sunny: 1:22

Yay! episode 134. What's that mean, Bruce?

Bruce: 1:29

Well, it just means it's episode 134. Alright, I'll buy that. Well, there you go. He bought that, so you guys can buy that. And if you like that, I'll say you a bridge in Brooklyn. Yeah. Only for a few dollars.

Sunny: 1:44

Oh, good grief, Bruce.

Bruce: 1:48

All right, for the episode today, we're gonna have uh quite a few news stories or whatever you like to call them. I like to call them news briefs. Quick news view. That's what we'll call them. We're gonna cover, I guess what, Greenland? What happened last year on this day? Medical evacuation, stuck in space, new reservations for a unique hotel stay. Yes, that's right. We are going back to the moon. Dig is back. Earthquake report weather, and then uh last but not least, story time. Yeah, we're gonna have cover a unique story or a poem. I don't know how you want to say that, but it was written by a good friend, and I'm gonna read it. And then what happened last year on the 20th? Yeah, that uh take you back to memory lane.

Sunny: 2:48

Well, that's a list. You think we can get it all done in 45 minutes?

Bruce: 2:53

I don't know. We'll see. If we run short, we may just move them up till next week. Or we'll just go longer. There's no set time. I mean, we've got all the time we want. I usually just break it up into forty-five minute episodes because that's a good round number, if you can call it 45 round, plus it breaks it up into four segments for the full uh month, and we've talked about the month again, and the month is figured by my episode months. That's the you know, I pay for a f a month and they break it up from the 18th to the eighteenth, so that's my month.

Sunny: 3:37

Wow. That just confused everybody.

Bruce: 3:40

No, it didn't. We got smart listeners.

Sunny: 3:44

Well we do. That's true. They're not like you. I think we need to take that keyboard away from you. You're uh got too many buttons you can push. Okay?

Bruce: 4:02

No, not okay. What was that okay at the end? Was you asking my permission? You know I'm not gonna give it.

Sunny: 4:10

Oh yeah. I was definitely sliding that in. That way the listeners can see how you pick on me.

Bruce: 4:18

Um, I'm not sure how you get that, but okay. On with the show.

Sunny: 4:25

Yeah, on with the show. Let's bore 'em to death.

Bruce: 4:30

Okay, we're going to. Sonny, what have you been up to this last week and a half?

Sunny: 4:36

Running around chasing the cats, and we got four extra kittens here, and boy, they're fun to chase.

Bruce: 4:43

Now you know they grow up and they'll be chasing you.

Sunny: 4:47

No, they like playing. The kittens are really fun because they like to run and jump and hide on around corners, and when I come around, they jump out at me. Yeah, they're more fun.

Bruce: 5:02

So you've been playing with the cats. How you like it's cold?

Sunny: 5:08

Well, it's been miserable, really. But today's a lot better. It is 45 outside right now.

Bruce: 5:18

That's true. It is nicer today. But get ready. We'll talk about that in a minute.

Sunny: 5:25

Yeah, get ready. Winter's here. Not coming here.

Bruce: 5:31

Yep, you're right. We'll talk about that in just a minute. Let's first let's visit Greenland. Okay, it's in the news all the time here lately, and I'm not going to talk about what uh why, but uh anyway. Did you know Greenland, the US tried to buy Greenland twice already? Once in 1867, and this is 1440 findings, so I'm relying on their accuracy. And then once after World War II. So twice. Denmark first took possession of the large ice covered island in the northern Atlantic in the seventeen hundreds. Seventeen hundred.

Sunny: 6:22

Wow, that's been a long time ago.

Bruce: 6:25

Yeah, Denmark's been taking care of 'em all this time, and they've done a really good job, so that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Sunny: 6:34

Hey, I got to watch that movie the other day with uh Kinsey. Yeah.

Bruce: 6:42

Yeah, you did. Lily was there too.

Sunny: 6:46

Yes, she was. We had fun, and they liked that movie because they hadn't seen it before, and I really enjoyed the revisit.

Bruce: 6:57

Yeah, it's it's kind of fun. Uh it's like I told them when we started, it's got some good funny parts, and it's got some really sad parts, but it's a good movie. So we watched that, and yeah, now you know where I get that.

Sunny: 7:12

I always know where you got that. That is common.

Bruce: 7:17

Okay, yes, it is. Well, anyway, we have tried to buy that twice before, and then we've got this time. So yeah, interesting it is. All right, let's take a moment to um what? See if we can't bum people out. Fool you, that was actually just rain. Yeah, and it's not raining right now. The sun is shining.

Sunny: 7:52

Oh yeah, it's nice outside. We got sunshine. Yeah, it's great. It's preparing us for the big storm that's coming.

Bruce: 8:03

Yeah, you're right, it is. But uh yeah, what I'm really gonna do is ask you to drop down memory lane with me. Are you ready? All right, here we go. What happened last year on the 20th of January, which would be yesterday of this recording. Think about it, and no helping, Sonny. Oh, come on. Nope, you already know. You've got my paperwork in front of you.

Sunny: 8:33

Well, I can give him a hint.

Bruce: 8:35

No, most people's gonna know anyway, but if you stop and think a year ago, President Trump was sworn in. So whether you like that, whether you don't like his administration, whether you are very upset about it or happy about it, it happened. And we're kind of stuck with it, one way or the other. So that's what I meant by upsetting some people. So think back what you were doing last year during the inauguration. Yes, sir. Uh yes. Think about it. A year ago, that's when all this was happening. One of the first things he did was I know what he did.

Sunny: 9:22

He did a bunch of executive orders.

Bruce: 9:28

Yes, he did. Uh he did a bunch within uh the first few days of his office, but uh the most significant movement he did, I don't know how else to say it, was which ticked a lot of people off, made a lot of people happy. Everything he's done over the years has been um very significant. So it's so significant that it causes people to choose uh, you know, whether they really like it or really hate it. But anyway, the one thing that he did that stood out was he pardoned 1,500 of the defendants charged in the January 6, 2020 storming of the U.S. Capitol. And he commuted six defendants' sentences. So that that was a big deal back then. So I like to pull news shorts off the internet and talk about them during my episode. So don't let that bring you down. Um let it give you thought. That's the purpose of it. Um and many of them are to bring out, you know, good things, but there are some that brings out negative emotions and feelings and anger, hatred. Uh we don't want you to be sucked in by that. We're not a news media that thrives on dragging those emotions out.

Sunny: 11:13

What we do wanna do wanna do huh so I can try and do do do do do Um Not really, but okay.

Bruce: 11:24

Uh what we do wanna do is give you pause and have you think you know, our life on this world is short and we don't really think about what we're doing, how it affects the other person. We're so entrapped in society's movement, whether it's to get um hits or to get likes, or if it's you know, to make friends, go out and party, whatever it is that society gets us involved in, it takes away from our humanity and it takes away from our caring and our concern and it's short life and it's all gonna be over. What are you gonna live for and what are you gonna leave for or leave with the rest of the world when you're gone? And uh if you start getting older, you'll start thinking about that. Now when you're younger, you may not, and that's just a common humanity flaw. Uh we don't teach it, we don't think of it, but if nothing else, let these news articles give you pause to think about stuff like that.

Sunny: 12:52

All right, Bruce is on the soapbox, he's really on the roll, and I don't know any more words, but hey, it's fun.

Bruce: 13:06

Okay, that was lousy.

Sunny: 13:08

Why do you do it then?

Bruce: 13:10

No, I don't think I will. I don't I don't think I will. Did you hear about the astronaut that had a medical emergency and they had to evacuate uh the crew eleven astronauts, which uh they did. They're down to Earth safely, and uh we still don't know what the medical emergency was, but it was uh emergency enough to get them evacuated, which I find is very interesting because if you remember, uh just before this, there was a duo that was launched into space by a new Boeing Starliner capsule, which encountered problems uh with the thrusters, I do believe, and they were forced, ready for this, to remain in space for 286 days, which is about nine months. Yeah. Couldn't get them back down. That was a big deal. We heard it on the news over and over and over, and that happened last year. They got returned back to Earth eventually, safely, and uh they actually gave a news conference. If you want to go back and look it up, just look up NASA's astronauts, open up about being stuck in space for nine months. Yeah. They were stuck in nine months, couldn't get them back home, and this other group had one of them had an emergency medical problem, they got them right back home. Which is good. I mean if they had no yeah, anyway, I just thought that was interesting. It was such a diversity on getting home, and I didn't expect something like that to be happening, but there you go.

Sunny: 15:16

Well, maybe it's not who you know, it's who you don't you dare.

Bruce: 15:24

I didn't. Yeah, well, I don't know what happened on this crew um descent, I'll put it that way, but uh I guess there was some kind of emergency they had to take care of and they were able to do it. And the other crew had to stay nine months because they weren't able to do it. There you go. All right, are you ready for this next one? What is it, Bruce? We are definitely going back to the moon. Yes, you heard me right. We are going back to the moon. I had to throw that extra in there. Yeah, NASA's got a new Artie Artemises Artemis A-R-T-E-M-I-S-2 moon rocket, Artemis. Artemis, there we go. I finally got it out, sorry folks. And they've moved it to the launch pad. It's the giant new moon rocket, which they're gonna launch and gonna head it to the moon. It's gonna fly around. It's uh been almost a whole century since we've been there.

Sunny: 16:41

Supposedly.

Bruce: 16:43

Well, I wasn't gonna say that. Thank you for saying that.

Sunny: 16:46

Oh, you're welcome. That's why I'm here.

Bruce: 16:49

Yeah. Well, anyway, it's planned and they've got it up and running. I I will get a picture of it on the chapter list so you can see it if you follow me in that way. But they are planning on going to the moon again. Let me say it.

Sunny: 17:10

We are planning on going to the moon again.

Bruce: 17:15

Yeah, I think they're planning it in February, actually. Um very soon. Very, very soon. And it's a huge rocket. You know what's funny is they're saying it's gonna take this a big of a rocket to get us out in space and get us into orbit around the moon, and um it's a lot bigger than what we launched earlier in our space race. Isn't that interesting?

Sunny: 17:47

What are you trying to say, Bruce? Go ahead. What are you trying to say?

Bruce: 17:50

I said it. That's all I'm gonna say. I don't want to make any people mad. But the answer is, yes, we are going back into space, back to the moon. And what would going to space um involve if nothing else?

Sunny: 18:15

I know, I know. A trip to Mars.

Bruce: 18:20

Oh, well, yeah, that's true. That's obvious. That's not where I was gonna go. I was just thinking about the movies that we have seen over the years about our trips to space and about our um now president, how he likes to build hotels and other people does that a lot. So what is the next step to us going to space? That's right. How about a hotel stay on hotel stay on the moon? You barely got that one out, Bruce. You're right. I got tongue-tied. I was so excited. A hotel stay on the moon. Yeah, that's right. They are going to build a new hotel. Now, I don't know when that's gonna happen. We'll have to look it up, but they are setting it up now, and you can now put down a deposit to stay at a hotel on the moon.

Sunny: 19:30

Well, I know people think that we're living in a theater world, and everything that they're doing is just doing it on theater, and now you're telling me we haven't been to the moon if we have for years, and I'm talking almost a lot of century. And now we're gonna build a hotel, really?

Bruce: 19:59

Really. A hotel. Yep, it's GRU, and that's that's what it's called, is planting the first hotel on the moon's surface. A startup called Galactic Resource Utilization Space, GRU space, is now accepting 250,000 deposits, $250,000 deposits from people who want to reserve a future stay at what is called or what it calls the world's first lunar whole tail. The company's vision is a small habitat that would orbit the moon, offering guests sweeping views of Earth, gentle artificial gravity created through rotation, and a handful of careful, carefully designed suits, suites, I'm sorry. Carefully designed suites meant to feel more boutique than bunker. The stay would last just a few days. Getting there would be the real journey. Guests would launch aboard a commercial spacecraft, dock with an orbiting hotel, and spend their time floating, gazing over the oversized windows and watching our planet rise and set across the lunar horizon. No one is pretending this will be affordable anytime soon. The deposit alone costs more than most homes. You think?

Sunny: 21:38

Oh, Bruce, really? They expect people to buy this?

Bruce: 21:44

Uh I guess so. Um they've got a web page and uh it's pretty neat. They got a YouTube video you can watch. Uh I would play it, but you need to be able to see it. Uh I guess I could leave a link on my chapters for it. But yeah, there you go. It is true. It is really true. We live in a theater, and it's more more things happening now to prove it than ever before.

Sunny: 22:21

Oh, brother. Kind of reminds me of that movie where the guy uh what was that? Total recall? Was that what it was? Where he goes to Mars on vacation.

Bruce: 22:35

Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Yeah, it's it's crazy. You got to admit, uh, listening to this podcast brings back uh unique ideas. It kind of reminds me, and that's why I like doing it, uh, when I first started the factory work, I'm not gonna tell you when, but it's been a long time ago. Um on our lunch break, a lot of times we work 10-hour shifts, so I only had 30 minutes. I would run to the local grocery store every, I think it was every Monday, because the new papers come out, and they had, um you guys may not remember it if you're young, but the older people will. Um they had tabloids, what they called them, papers at the end of the registers, and you could go through the checkout line real quick and grab them. There's like three or four, four or five of them, and I can't remember all of them, but the inquire, uh, newsweek, and there was a blah blah blah, a bunch of them. And um, I'd pick those up and the rest of the week until the new batch came out. We'd uh read them on break time and talk about, you know, it was our um fuel for the week for the nights, um, because it, you know, you did the same job over and over, and your mind kind of got swept away by nonsense. So it helped to have nonsense to bring it back. And that's what we do. We find an article in there and talk about it and what we thought, and it was it was fun. And uh, if nothing else, you get some uh some of that with this uh uh podcast. And if I can find more of that nonsense type news, I would bring you some of that too. I'm gonna start looking for that, but that's what we're doing today. Oh, that's what you call it.

Sunny: 24:43

Uh-huh. Well, now I know. I thought you were getting a little crazy. Crazy crazy.

Bruce: 24:55

Oh no. Don't be singing to everybody. That is crazy. Dig is back, and most people won't have a clue what I'm talking about. Now, if you've seen the news article, then you will know, or if you're old enough to remember, you would know. But it is an older community, internet online community, and it was very, very similar to Reddit, and it was Reddit's rev rival for a long time, and then it just kind of crashed, like everything else does. And the uh previous owner has bought it, and the uh founder of Reddit went along with him together, they're going to redo it. And I'm really kind of interested in it. I may want to find out more about that, but it is starting soon. I don't know if they had an exact date when they're going to start, but they're going to use AI. Everybody's using AI.

Sunny: 26:06

AI is a new what? Uh new.

Bruce: 26:12

Yeah, hard to say, ain't it? But it's the new something. But they're going to use AI to rebuild dig, and that's what they're planning on doing. They're betting that AI can help to address some of the messiness and toxicity of today's social media landscape. At the same time, social platforms will need a new set of tools to ensure they're not taken over by AI bots posing as people. So this is going to be interesting, but uh I'm going to look it up and see if I can get a membership to it since it's starting out, and maybe it'll bring me some news that I can share with everybody. So if anybody asked, Dig is back. D-I-G-G. And I bet you thought I was talking about a hole, digging a hole, but I wasn't. It may be when they start figuring up their profits. I think that's what happened to them last time. They had a bunch of users, members at one time, and like I said, it crashed. Reddit took over, so it could happen again, or this could be Reddit's final year. We never know.

Sunny: 27:41

Oh, are you uh giving a prophecy? No. Well, okay. If he was, I was gonna mark it on the calendar and go back to it next year.

Bruce: 27:54

Not at all. I'm not. It could happen any way, and I wouldn't know any better. I'm just leaving it at that.

Sunny: 28:04

Alright, just checking with you.

Bruce: 28:07

I'm glad you did. Let's do a quick visit of the earthquake seven-day report, shall we? And uh the last time we did an episode, we did one um back on the eighth, I believe it was, or seventh, sometime there around. So we're gonna go back and look at the ninth and the sixteenth and take those um weeks totals and bring them out. So basically on the ninth there was only one six point oh and above earthquake, which gave us uh Philippines at six point four. The total earthquakes at that time was eighteen fifty-eight, the two point five and over was three twelve, and the four point five was ninety, which uh that gave us a percentage of eighteen percent of the total. 2.5 was 16.79%, and the 4.5 was 4.84%. And that gave us a total. Now wait for this of the six and over earthquakes at 7.11%, which is a high number because we didn't have hardly any six point zero earthquakes, and we did have a low total of 4.5, which still gave us a high percentage. The 16th, the total was 2083, which gave us a 20.83 percent. 2.5s were 356, which gave us a 17.9 percent, oh nine percent, and then the four point five was a hundred and twenty, which gave us a four point seven six percent. Now on the sixteenth, we go back that week and we had three six and over earthquakes. Now that's magnitude, six point oh and bigger magnitude earthquakes. One of them was in Br Bandon B-A-N, no, Bandon, Oregon, and one was in Russia on that tip again, which has always got activity, and then a six point four in Tobel, Indonesia, and I hope I pronounced that. We had 124.5, which gave us a 5.76%, which I've already stated, and the three six and over earthquakes gave us a 2.5%. Now that percentage dropped because we had more 4.5, which was 120, and um we did have more six earthquakes, but not that many more. And a little bit of curiosity note uh for the Midwest uh southern Missouri, southern Illinois people, uh they had a 1.8 earthquake on uh January the 18th in Missouri, Bertrand, Missouri, I believe that's how you pronounce that, which is not really a big significant earthquake, but it's the location is very important because that's right there. It could be very dangerous. And then one right above that, which is so happened to be um on 120, which was yesterday, it was a 3.8, and it was an Olmon, Illinois. So people in uh southern Illinois, Missouri, and around St. Louis area, around Springfield area should have been able to fill that 3.8. Now it may have snuck by you and you didn't notice it, but it was possible to fill that. So let's hope that the New Madrid uh seismic zone is not waking up. Um anytime I see small earthquakes in Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and by the way, there was one in Tennessee. Yeah, I just looked it up. There was one in Tennessee. Uh, it was Von Row, I think that's how you pronounce it, Tennessee. It was a 2.0, and it was on the 20th, 2. Also, 20, also. So we're looking right around in that area. Anytime I see those, I start worrying about the new Madrid fault getting woke up and becoming a big earthquake. And you know, that's happened once before. The Mississippi run backwards, and it was felt all the way to the East Coast, and I hope it never happens again. But the experts predict that we are in line for another big one. Now you're bringing bad news, Bruce.

Sunny: 33:31

Are you doing that on purpose?

Bruce: 33:33

No, no, I'm not hoping any of that. I just never mind.

Sunny: 33:39

You better not be doing that on purpose.

Bruce: 33:42

Well, I am talking about it on purpose, so I guess you could say I'm doing it on purpose, but I'm not doing it on purpose. If that makes sense.

Sunny: 33:56

Oh, throw a little laugh in there, that helps. Okay. There we go, Bruce. Yay.

Bruce: 34:03

Well, I've always said that this year is gonna be an interesting year because if you go back seven years and if you've not listened to any of my reports before, I won't get into that, but I really wonder if this year's not gonna be quite uh rhythmic. We'll put it that way. Well, a little bit in the quick look at the solar stuff. Um, we had a super fast CME hit Earth on January 19th, almost uh three full days of strong gem geomagnetic storms, which brought us a lot of aurora, so people was seeing aurores even into the desert, believe it or not. And uh a buddy of mine that lives north of me, he went out uh one night and looked for 'em, and he couldn't find any just a tad bit of red, I think what he said, but it wasn't nothing big deal. And of course I was in bed, I couldn't see it.

Sunny: 35:06

Yeah, you like sleeping.

Bruce: 35:09

Uh-huh. I uh have to get up in the mornings and do things, so yeah, sleep's kind of important to me.

Sunny: 35:16

Well, I can see that.

Bruce: 35:19

Well, thank you. I appreciate it. So we had that geometric storm uh hitting us, buffing buffing the Earth's magnetic field, which gave us a lot of activity, a lot of uh solar uh roars. So it's been kind of interesting. And the K index is showing a little bit of lower sets, which may mean that our if you're an amateur radio operator and you like to do DX and stuff, that the radio conditions may not be as good. I'm gonna monitor it because I'm wondering if that's when you see or I notice the um compressed signal um filling. I don't know how to describe that any more than that, um, but I'm gonna look for that to happen. Um and the magnometers uh around the area are showing uh steady, not nothing up or down very much, which is kind of odd. So I don't know what's gonna happen, but I have heard said that the radio communication is gonna be really lousy for the next few days. However, the weekend's supposed to get um some more storms and and I mean um cold storms and stuff that the uh atmosphere may be firing up again, so we'll see if that helps the radio.

Sunny: 36:54

Well, let's tell them what the weather is now, Bruce.

Bruce: 36:58

All right, Sonny, that's a good idea, and we are at 51 degrees according to my phone. Local temperature gauge shows 49. That's right. It was about 42, I think, when we started recording, and it is right now 49 at my house, the studio, which we're recording in the south southern Illinois, the Midwest. A little bit of difference in the location of the thermostat, but thermometer, I mean. That's it there. But a quick look at Spokane, Washington. It's 32 degrees right now and very cloudy. According to the Weather Channel, we are at 50 degrees and we are very sunny. And then at Phoenix, Arizona, which I like to compare, they are at 71 degrees right now, and it is sunny there too, with a lot of cloud overcast sky. So there you go. Uh uh winds are light and variable there. Yay, that's the comparison to uh southern Illinois. And guess what? At the end of this week and Saturday specifically, they've moved it. Yeah, it's still Saturday. We are supposed to have nine degrees low, fourteen a high, but we're supposed to get lots of snow. Yeah, 94% chance of snow for this area, and I guess the east coast is going to get a really a lot of snow, and then south of us is supposed to get snow and ice. Ew. Sunday we're supposed to get snow flurries, and then Friday night a low of four degrees. So right now it may be fifty. Hang on to your coat because you're gonna need it, folks.

Sunny: 39:04

And for this part of the episode, we Bruce and I would like to thank our listeners.

Bruce: 39:14

Yes, we would. Thank you, Sonny, for doing that. We um every year our hosting company, Buzz Sprout, and if you're thinking about getting into hosting or getting into not hosting, getting into podcasting, check them out. Tell them we sent you. We'll both get a break. They um send out at the end of the year, and it it came in January. Our totals give us our totals for the previous year. So for 2025, we received them, and we want to share that with our listeners because, yeah, it's important. Uh, we're giving you. The applause, hang on, we'll get them, because you are the ones that made this happen. Yeah, we put in the effort to do the podcast, to do the episodes, but you coming back, letting us know you're out there has really kept us inspired. So for that, we're thanking you for 2025. And here's the list of things that we got accomplished last year. For 2025, we created 35 new episodes, which added up to 1,746 minutes of content. And of them 100 or 1,746 minutes, 59 countries were able to hear that. That's right. You heard that right. We got into 59 countries in 2025. Yay! And of all those countries, we got into four hundred and twenty three cities. And that's a pretty good number for a little bitty old podcast like the ugly quacking duck. We are the worst podcast in the unknown universe. Yes. So with that, um, we were able to do this, and because what you did, we were able to keep doing it and stay hopeful. This applause is for our listeners. Thank you very, very much.

Sunny: 41:49

Yes, thank you very, very much.

Bruce: 41:54

Yes, yes.

Sunny: 41:59

And for the last portion of the episode, uh, this one's kind of important to us both. Uh, Bruce is gonna read a poem slash story. It's not your normal poem. I'll let him tell you.

Bruce: 42:17

All right, thank you, Sonny. Yeah, it's not your normal poem. It doesn't rhyme or anything like that, but it's written in story poems form telling a story. I think that's how I explained it right. But a friend wrote it for me and said I could read it on the podcast, so we're gonna do that. We're gonna end the podcast with this, and then we're gonna go right to Capella and her saying the value for value meaning So hang on folks, we're not done, but we're gonna be done and I'm gonna read this and I don't do very good at reading on the mic. Bear with me. The title is called I Came Up I Came Up It must have been around three AM My being can't became aware. My conscience drifted up, arising up above the bases, the meaning all that made sense was left below. I felt as a puff of smoke a cloud a mist. I was free to drift this way then that I felt as a free as mist looked. Oh what a wonderful feeling I had become. I was a fantastic specimen free and grand. Even my wimpsy wispy white color showed purity. Oh but then I looked. There were others around me like me but different. One group did not float around like me. One group did not float as freely. They hung like a fog and appeared to be sluggish. They intended to go against the other groups. I could see their intentions just by the color and thickness of their smoke. Now I notice another group. This group looked like wood smoke. They rose quickly. Then to a certain height they just hung there, like the ground was drawing them back. The color of this smoke was white at first, like me. But then it would turn dark and scary. The face of the smoke looked as though it would like would take your soul over. I looked and there were more many more all kinds of mists, more smokes, more fogs, more clouds all different colors. I was angered because my peace and revelation had been interrupted by others. I was no longer able to enjoy the moment. All I could understand was they were invading my moment. How could this be? Then something different appeared. It was a storm much like a tornado, huge, dark and scary. It didn't care what any of us thought, it didn't care how we felt. It just wanted to gobble us up. To ingest our life force, take our aurora, own everything. I noticed now. Like a migraine hitting me, I saw it. We were all alike. All these groups were just like me. We were all enjoying a morning illusion, a daydream, a fable, a hope. I was blessed to see them in this moment to be able to share with them. I knew them now as my friends, my neighbors, my brothers and sisters. The person next to me the other day at the store. That huge dark monster was about to gobble up some of them, to take them from this hope. I was angered now. I saw the true reason to be angered. Unlike before, something burned in me for my fellow folk. We may look different, but we are souls. We are the same. Hey ho you all hear me I shouted. We have found ourselves here in the same spot, in fear of our soul, afraid of the aurora, the energy of life being taken from us. The huge monster is upon us. It sows and reaps what it would on us all. It separates us all, pulls us away one by one to gain power over us all. I am not anything. I do not have anything spiritually. I am just a soul like you. I do know that in us we have the creator. His signature is in each one of us. If one of us counts, then how much more do we all count? Let us stand together for each other. We will show the monster we are not just cloud or a mist or a fog or smoke. No, we are from the Creator. Then I heard the loud cheer. It was a rumble of thunder. The ground shook. I thought I heard the angels shout with us. The moon shin brightly through the storm. The monster shrunk. It seemed small now. I saw my house. I saw my yard. My bed was there. I woke to the four hundred thirty alarm. A sense of belonging that the enemy will never crush filled me. I had hope now for the others.

Capella: 49:30

There are many ways you can show your support for the Ugly Quacking Duck Podcast. First, simply keep it in your thoughts and prayers, and maybe send good vibes too. Second, spread the word. Tell your friends about us, even the ones with questionable taste in podcasts. Third, share your talent. If you have skills in technology, art, or anything else that could help us, we'd love to hear from you. And finally, consider supporting us financially. Equipment, hosting, and website costs add up, and any contribution is greatly appreciated. We promise not to spend it all on rubber duckies, unless you want us to. Thank you for your support.

Bruce: 50:07

Alright, we've come to the end of the podcast episode, folks. We appreciate you being here. Thank you for sticking out with us, and we hope you got something out of all the stories and out of the uh poem that I read.

Sunny: 50:25

I second that motion, Bruce. I appreciate you guys being here. Until next time, I want to say be careful and may the father's love go with you.

Bruce: 50:39

Hallelujah. I agree totally with that. Cold weather's coming in again. Many of you never did get any of this warm weather, but the bad weather's right on the heels, so prepare, get ready, and uh bundle up. Yeah. We'll see you around the next time. Yes, sir. 73 guys.

Sunny: 51:05

73.

Bruce: 51:07

Bye, everybody. Bye.