Missing Chickens, Baby Goats, A Viral Cockatiel, and Our Big Projects

Join us as we catch up in the middle of May to talk about our animals, our gardens, and what's been keeping us busy! From birthing goats to mysteriously missing hens, trying to find time to plant, take care of our families, and also stay on top of our upcoming work projects — our hands are full!

Andrea’s new book, The Quiet Resistance, is available now!

Favorites this week:

Andrea —

San Pellegrino Zero Sugar Lemonade

Diet Coke.

Ryl Iced Tea (Raspberry)

Ashley —

Wildwonder drinks

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Welcome to Garden House. Welcome, welcome. It's apparently summer.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

We have gone straight from the it was 40 degrees last week.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Well, and it it we got a frost last week, right?

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

And today it's it is it was 90 degrees uh in my car when I was driving over.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

It like we were talking before we started recording. I put shorts on this morning and I was like, oh god, no, the world's not ready.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

I'm not ready. I did the same thing and I had the same reaction, but I'm like, you know what? We gotta rebuff the band-aid at some point.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

I'll put I'll put them on tomorrow when I don't have to leave the house. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Well, I the only reason I kept them on was I was like, okay, I'm going over to Andrea's. It's like my other house. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. And I gotta like they gotta see the sun at some point. So true is that. I don't want to just bring them out in July and then blind everyone.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

My legs don't tan. Mine don't really eat. Sometimes I wonder if I should get a spray tan just for my legs. Yeah. But then I feel like what if I get there wrong? Like if it's too dark. And then I look like I'm on a popsicle stick or something.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

I don't know. I've never gotten a spray tan. You haven't? Never. You should. They're fun. It's fun. Never ever. I've done like the the lotion or whatever. I mean, but not even, not even really that.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Yeah. Yeah. I did um a spray tan for a wedding once and it was really fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

It was and it was good. It lasted, yeah. It looked great. Yeah. I just feel like I I don't know. It it wouldn't on me. Or I don't know, on my like it wouldn't work with my skin. It totally would. If it worked on my skin, it would work on your skin. I should, I should try something. I should. Yeah. I have like I was gonna say if I have an event or something, which I literally work out in the dirt all day.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

It would be worth doing though. Maybe you should do it for like I don't know, a wedding or something special. Party or something. Yeah. We should introduce ourselves. Oh yeah, we should. I'm Andrea Burke. I'm Ashley Kernan. And this is Garden House. And we're here to talk about the mess. Yes. The mess of all of it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

All of that is welcome.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

We're just two friends.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

How long have we been friends now?

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Oh sorry if you can hear my dog barking in the recording.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Just wants to wants to have some input. All the critters. Um it was 2019. Early nine 2019. So yeah. So over seven years. Oh my gosh. Right?

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Even though it feels like I mean forever. When we first hung out, Ashley delivered eggs and then like we planned to like hang out that day because someone was like, You guys would be great friends. Yeah. And so you brought eggs and we sat at this table, or the table that was here, I don't know if this was here yet, and talked for like hours.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Yeah. Callan was two, I think. Oh my gosh. He's gonna be ten. He was he was I remember he was um he had watercolors out and he was painting his, or maybe you were painting letters and he was naming them. Yeah. And you got distracted and missed a letter, and he was like, Hey, you missed W. Like, I'm like, wait, you're smart. What did he say to you then? Is that when he used to say he didn't say no, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

He would say no please.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Yes, yes. I remember I offered him juice around that age, and he was like, no, please. So cute.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

So it's 90 degrees. It's the not even June, it's mid-May. It's May 18th. 18th, yep. And we've got plenty to talk about, I'm sure. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

That we'll rattle and rattle on about. Lots and lots, yeah. Because we've been attempting to sit down for a week or two at least.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

And I've been thinking that we should start video recording our podcasts.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

But that that would uh give us some accountability to get I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

I would say get dressed. I'm dressed, but like I know, to be presentable to the outside world. Yeah, I know. That's the thing. It's like that's the thing about video podcasts, is that then you have to actually show up, show up. I know. And I don't always want to do that.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

I feel like sometimes though, when I watch podcasts, I I I understand the people a little bit better just yeah seeing their mannerisms or seeing, I don't know, or if someone I feel like is a little um, I don't want to say cold, but like a little less yeah, I don't know. And and then I see them like, oh, they're actually making facial expressions or they're or they're laughing, it just isn't picking up.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Yeah, you get to see those reactions that you can't see when you're listening only. Totally. I feel the same way. Right. I do love, I love watching, but yeah, I don't know if I want to be on the we'll see, we'll see what we can do. We'll see what we can figure out. That's also another piece of technology that I'm like, I know, how do we do that? I know. I don't even know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

I have a camera, but I haven't pulled it out in ages.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Oh geesh. Well, today you just you're stuck listening to our voices. So oh well. Too bad you can't see us right now. You're really missing out.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

My shorts and my, I don't know, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

I got up earlier this morning and worked out. I did it. I just want to say I got it done, which felt really good. But then I had a pod, I had another podcast that I I was interviewing on at like 10 or whatever. And I just was red, I was red-faced and sweaty for a long time, probably because of the heat, even like I just my body couldn't cool down. I was like, I'm going into this podcast, gross, and I have to look somewhat presentable for this really kind person. And it was on video, right? I don't think it was. I was prepared for it to be on video just in case, but I don't think it was. I guess I'll find out. Um, but um, because usually they tell you they're like, this is also a video format, yeah, so that people can be prepared. But um, even so, I was just I was feeling really gross. So then, but then when you were like, I'll come right over, I was like, I'm I can relax now, put my hair up, literally just don't care anymore. Walking out of the barn. And that's true friendship that you need to have like friends like that in your life. Yes, where you can show up in your like gross, grubbiest version of yourself and they don't even link. Yeah, that's true friendship. It truly is, and I feel like I've slowly, slowly, slowly whittled that that list down of people that you're people that I totally do the same.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

I don't know. Maybe I maybe I just don't see many people anymore anyway.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

I think it's the time of our life too. Like I think that we're we're very like, you know, in our 40s and we've got older kids and very much like life is them right now. It's really hard to have friendships outside of our kids' worlds.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Right. Our kid, I feel like a lot of a lot of the kids between their like physical activities and just emotionally all the things just takes up takes up a lot. Yeah. Which is wonderful. I just I I don't know. I guess I wasn't really um expecting that or anticipating that. I mean not that I I don't know. I know. I know maybe it's just yeah. Teenager teen teenager hood, I feel like, is bringing up a lot between like things that I I'm like remembering myself or like feeling that I just experienced all this and now suddenly I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

How are we really weird? Raising teens when I feel like I was just planning my graduation party. Exactly. How am I talking about my daughter's graduation party? That's weird. It's really weird to what do we have on the docket today?

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Well, I mean, we're I think we're just gonna update. We're gonna talk about some exciting things coming up. Yeah. Um I feel like my my brain is just swimming right now with all the things I gotta do. So hear you. Where are you at with the garden? Where garden things at right now? Still um clearing things out. Um I'm prepping like beds for like my dahlias. Yeah. I think I'm just gonna go slow, slowly and have you started planting anything? Um no, I mean I had thrown in a few like early, I got onions in and like uh like early direct seeds. Yep. Like uh what did I put in? Did I put in sweet peas? Things like that. Okay, yep. Um and I'm still yeah, I'm still working on clearing out beds. I kind of have to like there's so many weeds in some of the beds in the back that I have to kind of like almost take off the entire top layer of soil. And it kills me. But because I'm like, am I just destroying this whole but I also need to get all these roots out, and the roots are like really they're not like super I mean there's plenty of roots that are like heavy duty, but there's a lot that I just feel like is is the entire top like three inches of soil that I have to just pull the whole thing out and just start over, which kind of stinks, but I'm gonna just take it one bed at a time and get stuff in and try not to be too panicked. I have my first wedding, um, my first like wedding week is in two, it's two weeks from now. Okay. So um, and then that week I have a couple other events at the same time. So it's like all all at all at once, starting all at once. So I want to get, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

That's the weekend of Maddie's graduation, I think, right? Because I think you have a wedding. I thought you said you had a wedding on Saturday. And her party is on that Sunday. Yeah, yeah. So I'll be living for the seventh.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Just get here in one piece. Yes. Oh, yeah. Um, but yeah. I actually this past week, Ryan took off and we um just like got a whole bunch of stuff done around the house. Like not really garden stuff, but um we got a dumpster and we cleaned out the entire garage. I mean, this is the thing. I have a list of a million things that I have to do, but like Ryan just like goes and does them. He's like, okay, this week I want to do this, and then he just does it, which I don't really I don't have I don't know, my I can't I don't have the the brain capacity for that I I just want to like I want to get the stuff done, but like it's the whole if you give a mouse a cookie and I'm switching laundry and then I'm doing this and I'm and then I'm like, oh well it's three o'clock now and I haven't even attempted that one thing that I wanted to get done.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Are better at compartmentalizing. So if they have a project, that's all they're doing is the project. Right. And I just don't think women are wired the same way. So it's nice when the whole spaghetti brain totally. So when because Jed's the same way, when he has a project, it's like that's the that's the project. That's what you're doing, and he gets it done and it's done. And then I'm like, man, I wish I could have that kind of like like focus. Because I'll start and I'll be like, oh wait, but blah, blah, blah. Right again, hours go by. I'm like, oh, I guess I'm not getting any of those projects done today.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Exactly, exactly. So we got some of the things, the big things done, like the entire garage, like on Monday last week. I'm like, and then Tuesday we cleaned out um the upstairs storage area in the barn. I'm like, it it's been two days, and we've gotten two huge things done. Like just, you know, cleaning out like um like bins and you know, vacuuming out spaces that have been needing to be vacuumed out with you know, rodents in the past and just getting rid of stuff and um felt so good. So we got a whole bunch of stuff like that done. And I feel like that helps me feel like I can I can attempt the outside, but like you were saying, we were talking about our houses this morning, like that the inside of my actual house that hasn't been addressed at all.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

And you can't do both. It's the time of year where it's like you're either working outside and that outside looks good or you're focused on inside. One of the other one is gonna fall apart. And uh yeah, we just did, we just replaced all of our windows upstairs.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Oh, that's right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

And uh Jud finished up part of the outside trim this past weekend. I think there's like two windows left they have to do the outside trim on. But it's just one of those things that it's like it's gotta get done, but nothing else is gonna get done. Right. Like when for him, project-wise, like that's the only project he has time to do. And um, oh, we just gotta see if that's someone at my door. Oh, it's my daughter. Um, yeah, it's just when, but like he couldn't mow the lawn. Then like this weekend he couldn't do this, or he couldn't work on this project, or right. She's got packages. Hold on. I need to know did your coach bag come? This is really listeners. Actually, this is podcast worthy. Can I just say this quick? Maddie has had her eye on this coach bag for a year. Yeah. She's wanted it, she's wanted to save up for it. And as things go, always like you save, you can't get a save. So she started selling stuff on Depop. Yes. And she's been making money because she's selling stuff on Depop. And she found the coach bag crazy marked down on Depop because the girl was like, My ex gave it to me, and I don't want this bag in my house. And it was like the bag was originally $400 and she found it for how much?

unknown 14:06

I got it for $130.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

$130 on Depop. So we've this whole time, I'm like, is this actually gonna be like, is this a scam? Right. So she just walked in the door with the package, and I really, I really have to know if she got this coach bag. This is a big deal. If it's are you opening it right now? You gotta tell us. The listeners want to know.

unknown 14:24

Is that it?

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Is it it? Oh my gosh, it's not a scam, you guys. She actually got this crazy designer bag for a fraction of the price. We've been loving Deepop. I it's it's amazing watching how quickly she's uh turning stuff around. Right. Yeah, and it seems really user-friendly, like like it's gonna protect you from scams and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Yeah, and it's not a lot of it's not super involved. You don't need to put in your you know social security card, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:53

Like it's it looks like it's in the original coach packaging. Is that the bag?

SPEAKER_00 15:05

The people gotta know. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

It's so it's so cute. Leather.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Oh, it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

It's amazing. It's I can't believe it. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

I love it.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Congrats, Maddie.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

That is like that's like a a lifer bag. Like that'll stay in forever. Oh, absolutely.

unknown 15:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

Well done, Bertie. Well done. That's a big deal. I was telling her, I remember when I was um 18, and we had this boutique shop near where I grew up. It was run by a lady named Gudrun. And Gudrin sold high-end like designer things, but she also sold like designer sculptures and designer the jewelry. Like it was it was really unique. Her place was inside of this old barn. You would have no clue it was in there, it just looked all run down. And you'd go in and it'd be like crystal and sculptures and jewelry and all these things. So it's where most of my family went for engagement rings or special jewelry, just went to Gudrin. Right. But I remember I was 18 and I saw an Italian leather watch that I just thought was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. And I saved up for it. And I remember going in and buying this watch and feeling like, this is so special. Like, this is I've never spent money on something like this before. And it just felt really and I still have the watch. I was gonna say, do you still have it?

SPEAKER_01 16:26

I still do.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Yeah, I actually still really like it. Um I should wear it actually, but it's just stuff like that. I'm like, I remember that age and being like, I'm gonna save up for this thing, and it's really like kind of just put your eyes on it. So the fact that she found it so special.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Right, right. It's so and and especially when, yeah, it was just like, oh, I guess like my I I need to get rid of this thing that my ex it was really fortunate.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

Like, thank you, ex who dumped her, and she didn't want the bag anymore. Yeah. Um, anyways, back to the garden. The garden. I have started planting a little bit. I planted um cabbage and broccoli rob and onions and uh one other cold something else. I can't remember what, but got some of those in the ground the other day. And then some flowers that I know are hardy and ready to like the actual transplants could go in, but it's such a hard time of year because it's like it goes like like this weather, because last week it was we couldn't plant at all for sure. No planting. And this week it's 90, and I'm like, shoot, gotta get stuff in the ground.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Right. And I feel like the ground is now hard as a rock, and oh no. Yeah, I um I'll be getting I guess today they're supposed to be shipping my like the annual plugs I order. Um just like some flowers and the tomatoes are coming. But I yeah, I still need to figure out where I'm putting stuff. I feel like I I planned it out a while ago and now I need to look back and see if I actually if that's actually gonna work.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Yeah, I have no plan this year. It's literally bed to bed. I'm gonna see what I have and be like, yeah, sure, this can go in here. And I am trying to pay attention to like um rotating some things to try to take care of the soil a little bit if I can. But um, Jed built new garden beds. Did I tell you about that? I don't think so. He got some larch strip, larch strips from what is that? Larch, it's a tree. Okay. It's like I guess it's similar to cedar little blast. Yeah, he got some great deal on Facebook Marketplace for like a dollar a strip or something like that. And they're about maybe 12 to 18 inches wide, and then they were like 18 feet long. So he bought a bunch of those and built new wooden frames. So we're gonna fill them up with dirt. So we got four new bed frames that we'll fill this year, and then we have of the other old beds that are just like we'll we'll do this next year or something.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Yeah, are your beds like falling apart? Oh, yeah, rotting, rotting, totally. It is that's why he had to do this. Yeah, mine are so bad, but I'm like, it's like it's kind of late at this point. I know. I know I just need to kind of get stuff in, but I don't know, we'll see.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

I know. We're gonna that's why we're gonna get dirt, fill these beds, we'll plant in them, but the other ones I have to just work with what I have. Right, right. This is the bed this year.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

I know. I'm hoping to like put more like I have I have like beds that are crumbling, but then also like the weed paper around it is like ripping, and like if I just cover it with new weed paper, hopefully if the bed wants to just like stay right, like like in a mound, hopefully it'll stay. A little hill part.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Yeah, it's a little, I've got that like hilled the hilled soil, right? Because I've added just whatever that I can work with, and then I thought maybe I'll just put some straw over it to help build it up and then over the year and over the summer, and you know, we'll see how it turns out.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

But yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

I'll take you out there before you go so you can.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Yeah, I want to see. I need some, I need some inspo.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

I felt like I was out there working and I kept having um, you know, when you stand up and like everything gets dizzy. Do you have that? Does that happen to you? I'm feeling it right this moment. I was gonna talk to you about that.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Oh my gosh, the weird dizziness. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

I hate that. Yeah, it keeps happening in the garden, and I know there's a number of reasons that could cause it, but I kept, it kept happening the other day when I was planting. Every time I stood up, I was like, whoop, I'm gonna pass out.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

And I think my solution has to be. This is gonna sound like such an old lady. I think I have to just get everything I need for like a long time low. Stay, like stay down there for a while and only get up at the very end of that bed or something instead of like up and down, up and down, up and down.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

I want like I'll I'll sit on like a little stool out there. But have you seen the ones that have like wheels on them and stuff? Like a little seat. Maybe I need to. Can you plant?

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Okay, here's my question. Can you plant from that height when you're sitting in a stool, or do you still have to get down on your knees?

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Well, yeah, depends on what okay. I guess it depends on which bed it is and yeah, my body is feeling. It's just so weird. The past like year or two, I just feel so much more like and I'm and that's and I'm working out. I'm like trying to like, can you imagine how I would feel it? Oh, I know. I haven't, uh yeah. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Who knows what's going on? That's what was frustrating was I wasn't getting physically tired. Like physically, I was fine, but the dizziness was making me nauseous. Like I couldn't keep going. I was so disappointed over the weekend I had to stop.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Yeah. I get like that, like like a day like today, too. Yeah. So hot, and you're I don't know. Like I'm I'm just out in the barn, like giving, you know, scooping animal poop and like making sure they all have food and water. And I'm like, well, I feel like I'm done for like I need for the day. Exactly. But it's just, yeah, it yep. It gets it gets difficult very quickly.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

I feel like the beds just are gonna get taller and taller as I age until they're like five feet tall. I just have to reach across.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Um we had some exciting if we have any uh like if if if we're doing uh like farmish updates since there's not a whole lot of garden updates. Um guess some baby goats. That's very exciting. I don't think we've recorded since they were born. No, tell everything. I think today they're three weeks today. Yeah. Has it been that long since we've recorded? Yeah. They were born, let me see, they were born the 27th. Yeah, that was three weeks. One of the things. So how did that go? Three. It was great. Um pretty textbook. There was two babies, a boy and a girl. They're the cutest things. Um we went the other day and got the boy um his horns disbudded because he definitely had horns coming in, but the big little girl doesn't. And it's really cute. So like genetically, they can they some some have them, some are not, some don't. It's called being pulled if you if if they don't have um horns coming in. But if if you can feel like the nubs coming in, you have to if you're going to disbud them, you have to take care of it within like a few weeks of their birth. Usually within like a week.

SPEAKER_02 23:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Um, but the mom I was remembering though, because the mom when we got her as a baby and she was pulled. So I was like, oh yeah, I forgot those genes are in there. So so that was nice to you know, only have to do one. But then we have another mom due in like two weeks. Right for your first wedding. Yes, right, right in time. Yeah. Right in time. What the heck? What did I why do I do these things to myself? But I feel like she's gonna go either earlier on time because she's she's the one that um that lost the babies two years ago.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

But I've been so I've been feeling her a ton, and like last night they were kicking around, and so I'm like, I wonder if there's more than more than two in there. So we'll see. Oh my gosh. I don't know. I was talking to the breeder, and she had four this year, and that same goat last year had six. What? And I guess the record for Nigerian dwarf goats is seven.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

Oh my gosh. So she has you could have a few coming out.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Yeah, like she like this this goat that she has in two years had ten kids.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Ten. It's insane. Oh my gosh. Um, Maddie went over and saw the baby goats. Yeah, soon after they were born. Mom. Yeah. Mom, you don't understand. She's like, you can't tell from the pictures how small they are. Yeah. She was like, they're so tiny and cute. She was like, she couldn't believe it.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

So like now at like three weeks, they're about the size of like the cats. See, that's like doubled and tripled and thick.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

How big are they when they're born? Like if you could compare it to something.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Yeah, I don't know. Uh I mean, the boy was like uh three and a half pounds and the girl was three pounds. That's almost three pounds. It was like two fifteen. Yeah. But um when we when she weighed them the other day when they were disbudded, he was like well, he was six seven. There you go. But like the in two and a half weeks or whatever, they had he had almost doubled in size. But like, I mean, yeah, like the cats are truly like they're like the size of the cats now. So I don't know, half the size of a cat. Like a kitten? Like a kitten not that small because yeah, I mean, they have their like their their the gangly like limbs and everything.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

This next one I have to come over to see them when they're babies.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Soon, yeah, like right away. Because they they do grow fast, but I mean they're still they're still so tiny. Like you see them and it's jarring. Like the one, the girl is um it looks ex she looks exactly like the mom, except she has two different colored ears, which is really adorable. But um, so we named her Minnie because she's cute. She's Tilly's Minnie. Oh, that's really cute. And what's the other one named? His name is Bubble. Um, but we call him Bub or Bubby Bubs. Perfect. Um, it was a character from something that Evan and Brindley like. So I was like, go for it. And then so Mac asked me if the next goat has two boys, if he could name them Juan and Soto for the the pitcher on the is it the Mets? Is he the Mets pitcher? Oh my gosh, boy. I don't know. I don't follow these. He's a Mets fan. So okay, but I'm like, you go for it. Go for it, sure. I'm hoping we don't have two boys, but I mean it doesn't really matter, but it's so funny. That's so exciting though. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

They were what if you have six goats?

SPEAKER_00 26:51

Oh my god. Can you imagine? You're gonna need more names. I she said too when when they were when I think it was even just the four, she was having to go in and like one was like folded in half. Oh gosh, and this time, I mean, I didn't have any issues. She well, she was pushing for a while, and I think the boy was behind the girl. The girl came out first, and um, I think he was like putting a lot of pressure on her. She was so much smaller. Um, but but I mean it it she she could have done it without me totally. I mean, I like pull them out and like clear off their face and make sure. Yeah. But like the mom does a pretty they they they're pretty self-sufficient when it comes to that, as long as they're not stuck. So that's why I'm always like I I have to I want to be there. And it was like 11 30 at night, so it was you know, long day of laboring and all that, but yeah, it's amazing. It truly like I don't know. I the like closeness I feel to my female goat after that and stuff. It is so I don't even know. How can you not? It sounds like hokey, but like I just I it's amazing. Yeah, it's so amazing, and they're so cute. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

And how was how are your birds and everybody else?

SPEAKER_00 28:10

The birds are the the inside birds or the outside birds. All the ball birds, everyone's great. All of your winged creatures. I think I'm I'm I'm thinking about see the the peacocks are are starting to show their feathers a lot, so I'm afraid they're gonna start fighting because it means it's like breeding season, and I might have to re-home a boy. Oh, I can't have too many, you know, I get it fighting and stuff. Yeah, we've got it.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

We have to clear out some of our ducks because we have too many boys. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Yeah. Yeah. Um, when I came in though, I got to say hi to some little trickens. Little babies. I know.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

We definitely have a bantam rooster in there because he's trying to crow. And of course, he's the coolest one.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

I think he's the one that I have like in my cart that's no way. Yes. I'm pretty sure he's that.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Well, if he is, double check and you can take him whenever you are ready for it. That'd be amazing. Because we can't keep him. Yeah.

unknown 29:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

We want to keep George, the other rooster, we've decided to keep him. And I feel like since I know his temperament and I know he's already established with the flock, right? I don't want to have to reintroduce another rooster. Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

So we're gonna have to part ways with I know, and bantam roosters can be tricky because they can be a little really nasty. Any of our like well, most of our like silky roosters have been mean. Oh man. Um some of our big roosters have been mean too, so they're yeah, I guess it just depends. Yeah, it just depends. But yeah, I um I didn't tell you. I did order um like a silky, just like five. Yeah, silky assortment and two baby um peacocks too.

unknown 30:06

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

They're not coming until like July, though. Okay. I I really want to start my bantam flock. Yeah. And then I'm like, I'm bound and determined to raise a peacock from at least a chick. Yeah. I tried a few years ago and they all I had bought four of them and they all died. So I feel like I have a little bit of better handle on it. But I don't know, we haven't had chicks, we haven't had babies in a little while. So I feel like time.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Yeah, we need time. You guys haven't done that in a long time. Yeah, heck.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

We need more, but we've yeah, we've lost a few chickens here and there, and like, um, yeah, speaking of, we um we did lose Jolene. Oh, the one night um I thought she was in the coop, and Mac was up in the barn and he came in. It was like 11:30 at night, and he was like, Mom, I think Jolene just got taken. And I'm like, why? And he's he's like, there was a whole lot of noise outside the barn window. There was no feathers or anything, but I didn't see her again. So our other garage chicken, Felicia, who had has not come out of her the run or anything like that in ages. As soon as Jolene was gone, she started hopping out, and now she's come back in the garage. She just knew so weird. Is she broody or anything yet? I don't think she, she's definitely not broody yet, but she is so she's so friendly. Like, she comes up to me and like talks to me. And I'm like, I don't she was like climbing up the stairs to come into the house. And I'm like, so cute. What we have a buff warping like that. Yeah, like I don't I don't understand. And she was she was pacing around the garage yesterday trying to lay an egg, and I she wanted to jump in a box that had Dahlia tubers in it, and I wouldn't let her, and she was like mad about that. I'm like, I am having like a fight with a chicken, like and I feel like this chicken is understanding me way more than it should be, and oh my gosh, just very weird.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

So so yeah, R A P Jolene, but yeah, Alicia's we lost our silver um or our sapphire, what is it? The lavender orpington, yes, point green. Um, I think it was our lavender orpington, or it was a sapphire sapphire gem, maybe yeah. They're they look very similar, yeah. But uh yeah, that same thing, like she just was gone. Like we haven't seen her, no feathers, but just gone.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

Yeah. The foxes have been, I've seen them so much in the daylight. Yeah, they're out and they're fast quick.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

I know. I always get like I know the chickens are out right now, and I'm like, well, I mean, I can only do so much. I'm gonna let my chickens free range. I'm not gonna not let them free range. Um, just because of our tiny, tiny, tiny coop.

SPEAKER_00 33:00

They need the space, but I know I won't let mine so badly, but yeah, they'd get they'd get picked off so quickly. And I know because you're right in the middle of the woods too, like just kind of carved out. They just wait, the fox just like waits in the woods to I looked out the window, I think it was like yesterday morning, and you know, the fox is just like doo-doo doo walking around out there, and I'm like, I you're not scared, are you of anything? And oh yeah, yes, was it yesterday the day before? Uh our our black cat, he's a boy, he's he's a big boy, and he was ran around the side of the barn, and the fox was coming running right after him. Oh my gosh. I'm like, were they playing or were they fighting or were Yeah? But I'm just like, here we go again.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

Here we go. I know, I know. Thankfully, we haven't had anything get into our coops, like no weasels or anything yet, which that's what we had last year with the ducks and the massacre.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

The massacre. Yeah, yeah. We also did I tell you about the little baby mouse I found that I was trying to yes I was trying to uh nurse back to health when we were cleaning out upstairs in the garage because a few years ago we had baby squirrels upstairs in the barn, and we nursed them back to health.

SPEAKER_02 34:15

And I need you to know, I had a whole section of my book that I had to take out about you taking care of that squirrel. I was so sad when I had to remove it for word count. Like I just ran out of space and I had to start cutting stories. But that's like the kind of this is the kind of story that I wanted to include in the quiet resistance, but I wasn't able to include. So go ahead, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

This is I mean, it truly is like a because you as as you're doing it, you're like, am I insane? Like, what is yeah, exactly? But it's it's like that's the kind of life that that we are aiming for, right? Exactly. And so here I am with this little baby mouse on the kitchen counter. Ryan, you should have seen his face. He's like, are you like we're literally trying so hard to keep rodents out of our exactly? We have traps and cats, and as I'm like vacuuming all the like rat poop from all the corners of the places that you know from years past. So I don't know, I don't know where this baby mouse came from. Uh I just found it laying in the ground, so it might have been in something and it fell out. Yeah. But um I took it inside and I put it on a heating pad and everything and got out the puppy formula or whatever, and it said the girls were looking it up and it said that you should you use like a paintbrush instead of so I was like dripping formula into this mouse's, and then also they're the same as the squirrels in the sense of um they can't go to the bathroom unless it's like it's like it's supposed to like the mom is like bathing them and stuff. So like if you have to like wipe them to get them to go to the bathroom. Oh my gosh. And so here I am with a paper towel, like I'm like, oh, the mouse pooped. And this mouse, I mean, truly like the size of like, I don't know, my thumb, maybe I mean, or half my thumb. I don't even know. And then I left and I came home and it had died. So I mean, uh it just makes I we tried at least.

SPEAKER_02 36:21

I know. We at church the other day, leaving church. There was a bunch of like flurry around a tree, and we get over there and there's three little baby squirrels. And there was a dead mom right there in the road, like she had just been hit. And they are all at the bottom of the tree, like kind of looking around. And so someone, one of the dads from church was like, Oh, I have some snacks from my like it was kind of funny to watch the people that did come together. I was like, Oh, this tracks all of us who are here. Um, he brought over these little, I think he had nuts or something or some snack that he put down and they started eating them. And then they just wanted to like one of them kept trying to jump on my skirt. And like, I was like, Oh, they are trying to yeah, they they're like attaching. Yeah. And and I was like, Chad, can we please breeze? No, we are leaving.

SPEAKER_00 37:05

No, get let's go, get out of here.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

But if they were were already like running around, they probably will be just well, someone came, someone in our church who does rescue wildlife, heard about it, came, rescued all three of them, took them to his like whatever he does. And uh, because we got an update in our staff thread that was like the squirrels have been taking care of everybody. I was like, I was I have the cutest, I'll show you the cutest little pictures of them because they just yeah, they were looking at all these adults, like, please help me. And they were babies mom was brand new. I know sick. It made me think of like a movie. I just felt really bad for Bambi. Yeah, like how how awful. I know, I know. I hate like nature is so cruel, it really is. I know, I know. We have bluebird houses, and Jed Jed has found a few times bluebird eggs on the ground, or yeah, the eggs on the ground. I'm really worried that there's something coming in because I know there's some birds that come in and like kick up the eggs. Yeah, I'm really worried that's happening because I keep seeing them fly over and put more nest stuff in. Yeah, but then we'll find another egg. So it's eggs like the haven't hatched, right? Yeah, I think. Yeah, they have just broken eggs on the ground. Oh I know, so I've got to find a way to try to keep predators away from those bluebird houses.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

Yeah, I know. I know. I worry, yeah, any any attracting any birds because my cats, I'm sure. I remember seeing one of one of the cats that we don't have anymore just sitting outside of one of the like the bluebird houses, just like waiting and then like Oh, oh my gosh. It's so sad.

SPEAKER_02 38:38

So sad.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

We have a did I did I tell you this, or do you know this? That we have uh one of those bird buddies? Yes, you I want one of these. This is so cool. They're so cool. Like, literally, like I don't have enough to do, but like we all are have it have the app, so like the kids and I will send each other pictures of like during the day, like and the kids will like name the birds, so they're like, Look, whoever just showed up again, but I'm also connected to my sisters, so I'm always checking that and like comparing. She gets so many cooler, way cooler birds than I do. And then I got her the hummingbird one for her birthday. Oh my gosh. So she sent me a picture yesterday of the first, like the first hummingbird that came. Oh my god. The first bird that came to that though was an Oriole. Really? It was so funny, but then she got she got her first um hummingbird. But like, oh my god, this is what we have.

SPEAKER_02 39:35

This is this is what we've This is the life we've chosen. I know, and I'm aware of that. Like, I just I do feel that constant sense of like okay, can I talk about my book for a second? Real quick. We don't have to talk about that. No, we have to talk about it a lot. I have a whole chapter on take care of an animal because I feel like there's so much about being present in this world and like being the kind of person that is aware of those things. I'm not saying everyone needs to be like us, but to be aware of it, like it really like to be aware of critters and their needs and the like socio, what would you call it? Like the just the ecology. Yeah, the whole like how it works cycle. I mean it is and to care about it.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

We take that for granted. We really, really do.

SPEAKER_02 40:25

And like the the um chain reaction between all these animals and us and our food, and and even just like I mean, I have a few stories in the book about like last summer. I think I put that story in here about um when we were out in the garden and I heard this shrieking. Yeah, and uh I heard a shrill chirp, is what I wrote. Sounded from the forsythia bush. And there was a snake eating a frog. And the snake had stopped, and like the frog was like the its rear end was in the snake's mouth and its front was out. And I was like, okay, what do we do? Because if I walk away, I'm letting nature happen. The snake gets his meal. This is the circle of life, this is part of it. But if I rescue the frog, then I rescued a vulnerable creature for one more day. Yeah, right. I've given it just one more chance to, and it's crying out. And so we kind of got closer and were looking, and I was like, Maddie, what do I do? And she kind of was like, whatever, I don't care. Do whatever you want. And she was like, it really doesn't matter to me. And I wrote down, um, hold on, let me find this. She was like, I don't care. And she said, I literally doesn't matter to me. It's the circle of life. She was 16, you know. And um, I told her, I said it took all my internal strength to not quote the story of the starfish and say, it matters to this one. Do you know that story? I think so, yeah, yeah. Like the person rescuing the starfish and throwing them back. Like, you can, you there's no way you could rescue all of these starfish, and like it doesn't even matter. And it's like it matters to this one. Right. And that's how it felt with the frog. Like, it matters to that frog. So we got close enough, the snake released it, it hopped away, and I picked it up from the bed and put it in another bed. I was like, all right, one more day. That was that's what was decided. Yeah. But like in those moments, I feel like our kids or us, we learn about like the world around us and it slows us down and it makes us present and hopefully makes us more compassionate people, more empathetic people, and like I don't know, it's and just just more I think it's a it's important to like understand the world around you and not take it for granted and to not I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

I when I even like I'll discover like I don't know, flip a rock and discover like a beetle I've never seen before. And I'm like, this is all existing here. It's not just it's not just just me. Right. Yeah, all of these things are existing together, and I need to stop and notice that at least and know that like my comfort and my existence is not the only thing that matters here.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

I think that's it. It's like a big, a giant decentering of humans, of of like us as the main character. Like it's just like it's not all about us. And like my nephew, it works in conservation, and um for part years ago, one part of his job was he was studying freshwater jellyfish in the Great Lakes. Did you know that was a thing? I had no clue. No idea, but learning about them and studying like why do they exist and how cool, like nobody knows about this. And now he um works in like he'll stock like trout streams and ponds and stocking fish and um which again is like another thing I think people take for granted that like you can't you go fishing and you get to fish in your creeks and streams and ponds because someone is doing the work of conservation right and hatching them and making sure that we're keeping an eye on the how much we're fishing, how much we're you know, it's like are Right. Someone is thinking of this somewhere. Someone is taking care of of nature and creation in these small little ways that imp impacts our lives and what and what like our I don't know. I just think when we disconnect from that world, we miss out on like the whole what's happening around us, everywhere around us.

SPEAKER_00 44:17

Well and I truly feel like you know, no matter what you believe spiritually and how if you if you're someone that believes um you know that God created the world and there's a reason for everything being here and like how can you not care?

SPEAKER_02 44:37

How can you not care? Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 44:38

Obviously it matters, right? Obviously it it is there's a there's a point to all of it.

SPEAKER_02 44:44

Yeah, it's not random.

SPEAKER_00 44:45

Like these all of them are like they're the the way they work together, I don't know, right all of it is right or like yeah, and I don't know, to sit and like marvel at like a tiny creature that I don't know, maybe you can't figure out what the the the reason it has to exist, but like it does. It does. So I don't know. I I I feel very, very strongly about this. So I know I'm gonna hold back a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 45:16

I love that about you though, because I I think like it also it's who you are. Like you're not just like I love that about you.

SPEAKER_00 45:24

Yeah. Well, and I think too, we we were we we as a as a culture, not necessarily us, but like I feel like our generation is is a little bit more um I don't know, like we gotta figure out the things have to have a reason or a point or a like okay, we we're raising okay, why why people ask me all the time, like okay, why do you have why do you have peacocks or why do you have chickens or what and I'm like, okay, well like the goats, yes, they they do have a purpose. Yeah, like but even if they didn't, like that's right, that's okay. And like they're a lot of work, yeah. And the whole point is that exactly, exactly, I totally agree, yes. Like I because they are alive and I'm going to care for them. Yes. And yes, I don't think they matter as much as people. Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

But like but they matter, and also their productivity isn't necessarily equal to their value. Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 46:31

Yeah, because I feel like we, yeah, we we we think about that with our with humans. Oh, yeah. So, like, of course, like, well, what purpose does this animal have? It needs to have a purpose, all the work, otherwise it's not worth it. And it's like, oh, you're missing the whole point. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

I mean, don't even get me started. Like, with because with humans, I don't think people realize how much we've made productivity a value of being a human. And it's like, there are so many people who are worth love and attention and time who will never be able to give back to you or this world in the way that you think is like ideal. Right. That does not make them any less worthy of love and care and attention and work. Like, but the fact that we are so much like it, well, what can what can this produce? What can this do for me? What can this benefit society? It's like, that's the wrong question. Right. That is the wrong question, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:21

Or even it's going to, especially in the case of animals, like it's it's going to inconvenience me. Yeah. Or if it's going to, I mean, obviously you have to be smart with money. And if it's gonna make you broke, well then, you know, maybe choose something else. But like, yeah, caring for something that feels like it doesn't have value, especially like yeah, a baby mouse or yeah, and you know, to each his own.

unknown 47:48

Right.

SPEAKER_00 47:48

If they if someone doesn't want to, that that's I don't I don't judge. But like I also that's what I would choose to at least try, you know. And yeah, like I mean, I have I have a snake, I have reptiles in my house that like I buy frozen mice to feed it. Like it's it's very silly.

SPEAKER_02 48:08

Like we were talking about this the other night when you told me about the mouse. I was like, don't you have like frozen baby mice? Could you have used that for your snake? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 48:17

I mean, maybe if I froze, I mean, I I worry about like diseases and stuff like that, but like just you know, it seems kind of silly, like I know, or you know, obviously, like we eat meat or we feed our dogs dog food that like the meat might come from place whatever, you know, like there but it's just it's just being conscious of that's just it.

SPEAKER_02 48:42

Like, I even feel like the way the meat we buy, I I'm more conscious now than ever of like where it's coming from and how it's being raised, how it's being produced, and not I know I can't get the best version of everything that I want to get. Like, I know that, but I do feel like if I can do something different, if I can make a difference in even like where I'm buying our beef or where we're getting our fish, you know, like I feel like it's a small way of being like, I do know that this matters. Like, I I do feel like it matters to our bodies, to our world, to I mean, as like farmlands being bought up for AI data centers.

SPEAKER_00 49:23

It's just like so so we don't have to think anymore.

SPEAKER_02 49:26

Oh my gosh, that's like a whole other conversation. Oh, I just I yeah, I oh look at there's a jumping spider. Okay, there's another example. Jumping spider, I love jumping spiders. Yeah, I will not kill them. Same. Um, I'll move them outside if I need to. They're the friendliest little spiders. Yeah. And now listen, wolf spider, I'll kill a wolf spider in a heartbeat. They're scary. They're scary, they bite, but jumping spider, it's just stuff like that. Like, I don't know. Yeah. We could talk about this, probably this topic alone for a long time.

SPEAKER_00 49:59

Well, my kids are very into that as well. I don't know if it's a combination of my influence and like just what's in them, or you know, they have all of it. I mean, they're old enough now to come up with their own convictions and their own, you know, whatever. They're become their own people and be influenced by, you know, whatever they follow on Instagram and stuff like that. But I mean, yeah, Burnley's very into spiders and all the things. I love that about her. The the jumping spiders are doesn't she have a pet jumping spider? She had a couple. Um that had she had one that had babies. Okay, yeah. And they didn't make it, and then the one spider didn't make it, but she still has all her tarantulas, too. Okay. Um, but I will go back to like the whole the whole like raising the baby squirrels thing. Yes. And I think we talked when we talked about this, I'm sure, and because this was like three years ago, but um I can't tell you too how much that experience also bonded us together, like as a family. And as silly as it seemed, and as as like, you know, this I I could have totally I could have taken those squirrels that I found in the barn in the middle of wedding season when I'm crazy busy and just like toss them into the woods and be fine. And yeah, it'd probably be like a little meal for something and whatever. But um raising those little squirrels for two months and then releasing them like was like so uh enriching to our family and to like just even just the kids' childhood experience and like memories of like that that mattered. Yeah. And I didn't have to sit there and preach to them like things matter, right? Animals matter, and we treat all these kinds of blah blah blah. They were able to just like experience and totally, yes, and and feel for these little squirrels, and then they are so cute, release them.

SPEAKER_02 52:07

And yeah, it was it was and for a while, weren't they like visiting you in the garden?

SPEAKER_00 52:12

Yes, yes, and we put up one of those little um picnic tables, bird so cute bird feeder things still sitting there in the tree. Yeah, and then anytime we see a squirrel, because one of the squirrels was named Bob, so we're like we call them Bob's, we call them squirrels Bob's. Oh my god. And then it's and it's so sad, because then the other day I saw a crow in the yard, it was picking at something, and I went out and it was a squirrel like like sprawled, like dead and like sprawled out on its back. And I have no idea where it came from. I don't know if a cat, you know. Oh man. And I'm like, oh poor Bob. Oh Bob. But like But I also like I also know like that that happens. Like that's exactly right. It's inevitable. I but when there's a chance to care, yeah, we're gonna at least try or or at least think it's have a moment of thought and of like honoring that life. Yes, you know, absolutely, totally.

SPEAKER_02 53:13

I think yeah, it's a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 53:15

I did discover the other day that Mac lets um stink bugs outside instead of killing them. Instead of killing them. I I mean I I those suckers, I flush anytime. I like they make me so mad to see. I know there's one right there.

SPEAKER_02 53:30

Even look at the jumping spiders.

SPEAKER_00 53:35

Yeah, I love them. We've been finding babies all over. Brindly actually I left just left the house and she was sitting in the we opened the pool, yeah, sitting in the pool, collect like she's like, Oh, I have a baby jumping spider right here. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 53:50

There's so many in our greenhouse right now.

SPEAKER_00 53:52

Yeah, yeah. They're all over our greenhouse. But it's like that's something that most people, many people might not even notice. Right.

SPEAKER_02 54:00

And like I just feel like you don't have to love them, but like even just being aware, being a little educated, like knowing there's I don't know, a world out there that um speaking of animals, can we talk about my bird and his viral video? Yes, I'm sitting here watching him preen himself. I oh my gosh. He Harold so he's been so quiet today. He's been really quiet. Actually, I am surprised after Brides. Maybe because we're right in the room. Maybe. But I taught him how to whistle a tune from Lady in the Tramp, and I posted a video of it last week, like showing people what he could do. Here's what's maddening to me is I will spend so long trying to figure out because I'm trying to promote this book, the book The Quiet Resistance comes out tomorrow. That is releasing tomorrow. I'm trying to promote it, I'm trying to talk about it, I'm trying to find like the right algorithm and ways to talk about it that people like connect to. Spend so much time on reels for this stupid thing. Not the book, stupid reels. The the promotion part of it. Yeah, right. I'm just trying to do my job. Yes. I post a video about my bird whistling and it's gone viral. Like it's almost up to 75,000 views. Um hold on, I'll pull it up. Oh my gosh. Let's see. 77.5,000 views, almost 10,000 likes, almost 400 comments. It's been shared like almost 3,000 times. That's I mean, I'm so glad. I found like honestly, in a lot of ways, it's been fun to see so many like-minded people popping in and like appreciating the silliness of a bird whistling. And there's so many people who are like love, you know, love it. They love birds, they love, they love what we love. Yeah, it's like finding your people. Right. But it's just cracking me up that I'm like, I couldn't have tried done this if I tried. Who I had no idea. I was just trying to share it as something fun. It's just like Harold. Harold's the famous one.

SPEAKER_00 55:59

Yeah, and you know you've um, you know, you've gone viral too when the trolls come out and like the comments I've been getting.

SPEAKER_02 56:08

I got one comment. It made me laugh so hard. It was some random guy, and it was all capital letters, all in one word, and it just said nose ring bad. All one word, capital letters. And I'm assuming he's talking about my nose ring. And I I don't know why I it made me laugh so hard. I just randomly throughout the house, ever since then, will go nose ring bad. My family knows what I'm talking about because it's all I can hear. I was like, okay. Sorry, Doug from wherever that you don't like my nose ring. Um then there was another just kind of super weird comment. And then of course I've gotten the like, oh, you really shouldn't do this with your bird, blah, blah, blah. We're gonna start the please do your research. I'm like, okay, listen, you know, fine. You can do you do you.

SPEAKER_00 56:56

What?

SPEAKER_02 56:56

Like No, they were talking because we were something else. Something else, yes, which I don't even want to get into.

SPEAKER_00 57:01

Because they're gonna analyze your setup, your everything.

SPEAKER_02 57:06

Sure. I mean, we could all critique them, sure there's things we could be doing better. But I'm like, I just I'm not, that's not what we're doing here. Yeah. And then I got one comment that was like, Oh, this isn't creepy, but I'm glad you don't cover up your freckles. And I was like, Okay, okay. Just feel like I don't know any of these people.

SPEAKER_00 57:24

I knew like the first 15 comments were my friends, and then but then you know when it like when it starts coming in, you're like, okay, it's hit some other level in the algorithm that is attracting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:34

Every time I open up my Instagram now, it's like all these comments, like and new follows, which I'm like, oh, you guys are gonna be so disappointed. I don't post about this is not a bird page. It's not a bird page. I'm sorry. I mean, if you're into like everything that else goes on around birds, maybe you'll like it, but oh my gosh, it's been so funny. So funny. It's been really, really funny. So, but I'm surprised he's not singing at all.

SPEAKER_00 57:57

Yeah, he's kind of he's a little chilled out right now. Yeah, no, I follow so many. I love uh the the talking birds and the yeah, and I just I find the comments so funny, the unsolicited advice.

SPEAKER_02 58:10

Always with the unsolicited advice.

SPEAKER_00 58:11

Nose ring bells. That's that's see, that's what I I like. I that's yeah, it makes me want to just hide back in into a hole and yeah, I get I don't know. I don't want to know what people think about me.

SPEAKER_02 58:24

It literally didn't bother me at all. I've I don't know if it's just I for where I'm at right now. Negative these negative comments, I've had negative comments that have bothered me. But on this video, the negative comments were so stupid. Yeah, I couldn't help but just laugh.

SPEAKER_00 58:37

I was like, Because you know it's just like a it's showing up on yeah, someone's it's just trolling, it's just someone, and I'm like whatever.

SPEAKER_02 58:45

I don't care. Yeah, okay. It's so funny though. Go to someone else's page then.

SPEAKER_00 58:49

But he's so good at it. He's doing so good, he's getting better and better. Lord, I know I'm just trying to get my little budgies to step up again because they have decided that they hate me. Oh but the and like you we were talking about before, you had you had said maybe Yep, withhold food withhold food a little bit more, and they it works. And I'm like have been like feeding them out of my hand before I feed them. Yep, and so that makes them either step up or at least like eat. Yeah. But they're yeah, they they don't know any any tunes or words or they are are they the I as I can I read that they they could do the most out of any talking parrot.

SPEAKER_02 59:34

You still got time?

SPEAKER_00 59:36

I don't know. They're maybe because there's two of them, I don't know. They're they're more like bonded with each other.

SPEAKER_02 59:42

I whistle to Harold all day long. It drives my kids crazy. Yeah, but when I was first trying to teach him this song, I whistled it all day long.

SPEAKER_00 59:51

Yeah. But it's stump, I mean, something that I'm always singing or whistling or doing something anyway.

SPEAKER_02 59:58

So it's like I got one like comment on TikTok of some guy who was like, Will you video yourself whistling and send it to me?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:05

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:07

Delete, blocked, gross.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:10

You have hit the you've you've gone viral. Oh yay, yay, the internet. See, I haven't even I haven't even entered the world of TikTok to even because isn't it a little bit more? It's more.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:24

It's more, it's more. Talk about overstimulated. Yeah, TikTok feels like I I am overstimulated. Yeah, I can't I can only be on there for a few minutes, it's too much. Yeah, but there are some creators I really like that I know they post to TikTok first, and I don't want to wait another two weeks until it comes to Instagram. Right, right, right, right. So I'll be fine. And I've tried posting some some stuff on there just to try to see how it does over there. I haven't figured out how to hit the TikTok, like how to find people there. Right. And honestly, the interface is confusing and it's overstimulating and it stresses me out, and I don't want to do it. I don't care that much.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:00

Yeah, I don't care. I just don't care, and it's all so oversaturated so much, and then like I'm watching some videos where I'm like this person is famous and making money because of this.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:15

And I what I could do that. Why? Like they're posting videos from their home that like in my head, I'm like, if I'm gonna post videos from my home, my house has to be perfect and clean and da-da-da. They're like unshowered, posting these videos. And on some of it, I'm like, is it like rage bait? Like you know, people are gonna engage with it because they oh definitely, yeah. I I just am like, Andrea, just if you want to make something, just make it, just do it. You know, I'm I gotta stop trying to find the perfect way to create and just I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:46

I know, I know. I feel like I've kind of gotten to the point where if it's gonna happen, but I also I'm so overwhelmed by daily life that yeah, it's okay if it doesn't happen. Okay if it's just I'm okay in my little my little world. Yeah, seriously. But I'm not writing books. So tell us more. Okay, tell us more. The book is releasing tomorrow. Comes out tomorrow. So if you've pre-ordered it, it is coming tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:11

Either it might even come today. Yeah, like it should be here very soon. Um I should look. Yeah, it's 19 chapters: The Quiet Resistance, an invitation to slow down and find a richer life. Um and it's 19 chapters that, and I'll just read them, what the chapters are. Take care of an animal, get your head in the clouds, which is a lot about space. Um, study history, go to sleep, plant more gardens, eat real food, join your local church, spend time with real people, build a family, get around some children, listen to the music, fill your life with good stories. You are what you read, look for the light, slow down, go outside and see the world, stay home, be quiet, have faith. Now, I I know that like someone, I was talking to someone, they're like, Can I just pick up in a chapter that looks interesting to me? I was like, Yeah, totally. Like you might look at this list or these chapters and be like, uh, I don't really want know that or that one. I don't know about that, but this one I feel like I want to learn more about. So start there. You know, I've my idea isn't that this is like, hey, it's not a comprehensive, this is everything, right? Like, I'm obviously there's stuff I couldn't even talk about in this book. Right. Because you have limited words. When I I had, I think, a 55,000 word limit for this book, and my first draft was 75,000. Oh my gosh. And I wasn't even really like done fleshing stuff out. So like I had to cut a lot of words from this book. Um, but the idea is like, how can you intentionally live in a way that's like resisting the chaos of this world, the pace of this world, the like consumerism, the panic, the anxiety, the FOMO, all of it. And just live a life that you feel like is intentional and quietly resisting, like, I don't want that. I'm out on that. I don't want to do that. I don't want to live that way. And so, like, yeah, maybe people aren't rescuing spiders and squirrels, but they could cook a meal for their family, you know, or you could go for a walk. I have a section of um go out and see the world, go outside and see the world, where it's basically like go for a walk in your neighborhood, know your neighbors, like know the local mom and pop shops near you and their specials and what are they selling and what are they cooking and um or like living an unhurried life. Chapter 15. I talk about unhurried love and the value of like loving people, not in a hurry and listening to your kids' stories and actually not like waiting for them to finish, but listening to it. Or when you say goodbye to someone at an event, like saying goodbye and not just being in a hurry to go, like intentionally saying, I don't want to live in a way that I'm just rushing through all of this. This is my life, this is the world I live in. I want to be here, I want to be a part of it. So um I, you know, I talk about, I think it's in the plant gardens where I say, our garden is a quiet resistance against like the pavement of this world. It's like, and that's kind of how I view this whole book. Like, this is my quiet way of living that I'm not trying to draw attention to myself with it, but I hope that for me and my family and my people that it's a like intentional way of slowing down. Right. And I don't know. Yeah, that's kind of what the book is about. Yeah, I love it. I'm really bad at talking about what the book is about. I feel like I struggle with talking about what it's about. Isn't that weird? I wrote it.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:21

It's not because you wrote 75,000 words originally.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:26

That's true.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:27

How do you narrow that down?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:28

Every time I try to talk about it, I'm like, there's a reason. I I feel like I'm not saying exactly what I'm want to say. Right. Um, but I'm I'm happy with it. I'm happy with how it turned out. I I wish I could write a whole second book all over again about this same thing and say everything I wanted to say um and get to some of the things that I wanted to say. But um, yeah. So this comes out tomorrow, Tuesday, May 19th. You can buy it anywhere, Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Yeah, I just looked and said my um it it is from Amazon.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:00

It's they're coming tomorrow. So okay, great.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:02

Yeah, because tomorrow night is my book release party, and you see how it goes. Yeah. So writing a book is so interesting. So it feels like I just like pour my heart and stories and ideas, and and it's scary. It's like putting a little piece of my heart out there and knowing that some people are gonna be like, nah, I don't like it.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:21

Yeah, and it's it's so brave to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:23

Oh, it makes me nervous.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:24

There's I mean, to it really is because you're yeah, you're putting that out and you're saying, like, you know, I'm I'm open even if you're not rich, you're open to criticism, you're open to opinions, to the argument.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:41

And and I feel like even with this one, I can like already feel the arguments. Like no one said them yet, but I can I'm able to see where the arguments will come. Yeah. And I'm just like, okay, that's okay. That's okay. Not everyone has to agree with me, and that's okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:53

And it's just very, very, very vulnerable, especially um when it's something that you like, you'll look back in 10 years and say, like, okay, this was me at this time, and what did I, you know, do I still agree with myself for whatever, but it's probably not.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:12

There's probably things I wrote in here that in 10 years I'm gonna be like, yeah, I maybe don't agree with that anymore. What are you gonna do? Right. We all grow.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:20

Right. So I know, I know. I honestly I look back at 42 and I'm like, oh, I'm so glad I didn't write a book at 30. Or whenever. Seriously. Yeah. And I always wanted to, and at this point, I don't think I will.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:38

I I I mean, I obviously I hope that I don't I didn't say anything that I like deeply regret. Like I think I stand by everything for the most part.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:46

But there My thing is I just I worry about being wrong about something like talking, like we were talking about legless lizards, and then I looked up and I was like, there's some things that okay, I might need to correct what I said about the you know, I know things like that. Like I I I never want to be seen as like thinking I'm an expert. Yeah. But I do know what I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah. But what if I don't?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:11

I know. Well, that's just it. That there's that sense of like I have to risk being wrong if I'm gonna say stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what? I have to be humble enough to admit I was wrong when I am wrong. Yeah. And say, yeah, I was wrong.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:25

Not that I think you're gonna be wrong about anything. It might be, but like in the book.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:29

But there's that sense of like, I have to, like, humility is more important than ego when it comes to writing a book and realizing like this is not, this is not even about me. Like, I'm just adding to, I mean, there's so many people who've written about this even like over the hundreds of years of this kind of living, that in a way I just feel like I'm just adding another like drop into the bucket of this conversation. And like for me, when I am when I especially when I was researching this book, it was interesting because I was like, Oh, I want to find someone who wrote about this like 10 years ago and then 50 years ago and then a hundred years ago. And I realized, oh, you know what? I'm adding to that so that some future writer could go, oh, so and so Andrea wrote about this 50 years ago, and she was saying it then, and then someone was saying it 100 years before her. And it's like one more little mark along the timeline of saying this, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:25

Right, yes, and then and carrying on that message that matters, exactly, yeah, that and especially now since we're so distracted by all the things and have gotten to the point, like we were saying, like that we don't even care about the other living things around us or people, or people, I know, you know, or cultures or like right whole societies.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:52

Like we've right, we've become very self-centered in the way we live, right, and building our own worlds, and it's like there's actually a really beautiful world of doing this together and seeing one another that we we should do, we should live it that way.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:08

Yes, and actually slowing down and appreciating things, and yeah, like it's like you said, like I think you were kind of alluding to, like, it seems like it's something that everyone should already know, or like all like obviously that message of slowing down and caring and but obviously it's something that we need to be reminded of a lot because people don't do it, right? Or I or I don't do it, or you know, I I it it's it's something that we need to be re-reminded of over and over and over.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:47

Well, even like I I tell a story in here for go outside and see the world, I think, where um I got to know years ago a girl who was studying at a local school here, she was from Iran, and I don't remember how I even met her, but we got connected and she invited us over to her apartment one time for a tea. And that she served Madeline and I and another friend of ours, like this whole spread of Iranian foods, and it was just it was decadent. It was amazing, and then told us about her home country and how much she missed it and showed us pictures of where she grew up. And it was one of the first times, and this is gonna sound so like American idiot sort of thing, but um it was the first time I had considered Iran being a place where people love to live. Like it was beautiful, her food was amazing, her gardens, the mountains. I was like, wow, I've really just lived in my like bubble of my world's the best world and everyone else sucks. And it really was shifting for me in like a perspective. And I've traveled the world, like I've I've been all over this world, but for some reason it took someone here in the States for me to really recognize some of that. And I write about it in here that like when you open up your heart to people who are even different cultures, you get to like see a different culture. And now when I hear about Iran in the news, I honestly I think of her and I think of her family and her gardens, and like how is she doing? I was her how is her family? I hope they're okay. Like it totally alters the way you view the world, the headlines, food, people, culture. It's like so stuff like it seems obvious, but I don't think it's that obvious because look at our world.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:29

Well, yeah, and it's human nature to to center ourselves, and it kind of gives us a little nudge to de-center ourselves and realize that yeah, there's a lot there's a lot going on in the world people culture wise around us, but then also like if we look at like a micro, like yeah, oh look at my in my lawn, there's a lot of things going on out there, yeah, that doesn't care about me, right that I that isn't I'm not the center of here. Exactly. And I it's it's humbling. And yeah, we all I I think a lot of us, whether we're you know, someone like us or people in charge or you know, anyone we need that reminder. We do, yeah. So there's a little bit about the book. I'm so excited to read it.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:25

Thanks. Or listen to it because that's right. Well the audio comes out tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:31

Oh my gosh. I'm gonna go on right now and get it so I get you, you'll hear me. Yay. Um we have to wrap up soon because I have another meeting. I know I saw that. I was like, oh, there he goes.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:42

Oh, thank you. That was pretty close. I love the vibrato and he does a little he does the little flip in the middle. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:27

Over and over and over again. I think though, Johnny is just this, that this is such an example of like what what we're talking about. Yes. Yeah. Like, does this matter? Yeah, no. And have you put a lot of like mental energy into this? And but like and now he's he's looking in the mirror. Oh yeah, so handsome. But like what like what this is bringing to your life is worth tenfold of the any of the the work you've had to put into it, or the like why why I mean any uh so many pets that you have or the like why why exactly okay they sit there's not a why exactly and you have to spend money and time and right deal with their poop and their food and all the things and like and train them and raise them and teach them things. Right. Oh, it's so much work. And but like, yeah, I don't know if it's yeah, I I have to fight that mindset all the time. And it's so worth it.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:44

It is so worth it.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:45

So worth it. I can listen to him all day.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:49

I'm so proud of him.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:50

I know, and you did that too.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:52

Like you, it worked. It worked. Now I've got to pick, I think I read that cockatiels can learn like a few couples tunes. So I've got to pick out the next one. So kind of reiterate this one and then start the next one. Because I, you know, maybe teach him one more, see if he can pick up a second one.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:06

You should teach him like a Celine Dion. Like my gosh. Like the eight minute will go on. The the eight minute uh uh what is it? What is it? Um it's all coming back to the gosh, can you imagine?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:22

There were nice when you win with so that's next. I was trying to find a snack that fell back. I've got yeah, I've got to figure out something like that. Something that's just like, is he whistling, you know, whatever?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:33

Like, right? Okay. Right. That's the next one. Because this now is so clear. Like it's obvious that's what he's singing, and that's so funny. I know. Just love it. I love it too. I love it. Um do we have any do we have any favorites or anything before we wrap up that we wanted to mention?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:50

Um, a favorite. I just got my first pedicure of the season, which is like feels like marks the beginning of summer for me because now I can wear shoes without socks.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:59

That's so funny because I did the exact same thing last week. And I feel like I can actually like show my. What did you get? What color? Just pink. I got coral. Oh, oh, I love. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:10

Um, sorry, my chairs are so loud. Um, so yeah, the first pedicure, doesn't it feel so good? You're like, all right, I can take on the world.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:16

I was telling one of the girls, maybe, or Ryan. She, the the girl that was doing my nails, yeah. I was I the whole time I was like, are you mad at me? Because she was doing it very like forcefully. Oh my gosh. She got out like the like cheese grid. She did for me too. Yeah. Like, and I've never I usually I'll get the file and everything, but she got out the major big guns, and I was like, oh no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No way.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:46

You know, I'm like, yes, I'm paying for this. Please get out all the tools that you need. All the tools take as long as you need. Oh my gosh, though. It was Carve my feet out of marble.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:55

It was rough.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:59

But it feels so good when it's done. I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:01

I know. I'm like, I need to do it more often.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:04

Uh yeah, I feel like what are their favorites do you have?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:07

I don't know. That's the thing I was trying to think of it on the way. I'm like, what do I like right now? What do I like nothing?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:14

Yeah, I feel like I'm just trying to literally take it a day at a time right now. I have just every single day is some something really high demand and I need, or there's something I have to be working on. I'm pretty stressed these days. Um so things like honestly, like the pedicure, that silly nighttime routine that we talked about, gardening, trying to find ways to do the things that I love in the midst of a really crazy season. And I know it's temporary, like I know it things are gonna die down in about four weeks' time, things will quiet, and I'll be like, oh, okay, we got through. I know you're just about to start your crazy season. Yeah. But in a lot of ways, the book coming out and graduation is kind of the end of my crazy season, and then we can breathe easy. So I just one day at a time get through crazy season, we'll get to the next thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:00

So yeah, I don't have a ton of like little favorites right now, other than oh, you know what? I'm back on the Diet Coke. Oh, nice and um fridge cigarettes, as I believe some people. Yes, they do. I'm okay with that. I I'm so happy if I can open my fridge and see a cold Diet Coke. Yeah. It's like, okay, yes, let's get through this day.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:19

That's funny. I'm like that with uh it's these like kind of probiotic drinks at um they have them at Wagmans, but I get them like by the case through the website. It's called Wild Wonder. Yeah, are those the little ones? No, they're like tall, they're like skinny. Okay, yeah, yeah. I have seen those, yes. Yeah, and they have the ones I I get a subscription, and the ones that are on my subscription, there's like a cherry lime, and uh their new one is like grapefruit palm o which is also delicious, but I don't have any in the fridge right now, and it it feels like like I have nothing to live for.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:56

See, I get that because it's this Diet Coke, or I drink um have you seen the real R Y L real tea? Yes. Um, and it's like filled with anti antioxidants, no sugar. I get the raspberry real tea and I keep that stocked in my fridge too. And when I'm out of that, I'm like, Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:12

Am I supposed to drink water? That's how I feel. Like a peasant? I had I only brought one beverage along today, and I'm like, what am I doing?

SPEAKER_02 1:20:20

What do I do? I drink, oh, the other drink, Sam Pellegrino Zero Sugar Lemonadas. Ooh, that's amazing. They are amazing as well. I'm on the drink train these days. Yeah, I drink a lot of water because of my kidney disease and medication and crap like that. So no one come at me for not drinking water. I drink a ton of water, okay? But I get bored of water. Right. And so Diet Coke, liminata, the zero sugar, and the real tea. Yeah. But if I'm out of those, like I'm out of the Pellegrino, I'm so sad. I need to go get some. And Costco doesn't sell it. They sell the um Pellegrino sparkling water. But I want the zero sugar limit water. Why do they never carry this stuff?

SPEAKER_00 1:20:55

I know, I know. I need to I need to make a Costco run. I haven't been there in a while. I was there last week and it was Psycho. Psycho. I hated every minute of it. I don't want to be around people like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:06

I just and why do people like stop in the middle of an aisle and like turn sideways? And then they're I'm like, what are you doing? I know treat this like a road.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:15

Like, why yeah, why are people shopping like that? Have you seen it's a reel of these these guys doing the reel, like young guys, and it's all those kind of things. Like I am walking into the entrance of a store. I think I'm going to stop right here. What is so funny, but it's so like, how can you be so I listen?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:38

I feel like I really I like people until I go out in public. And then I'm like, what is wrong with all of you? Aren't there social rules? Why aren't we following any of them?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:47

I know, I know, I know. I feel like that's the only thing I can do is just instill in my children like, don't be this way. See that clean that guy just did. Please don't ever do that. Yes. Yeah. That's so funny because Brindley's driving instructor told her to it just assume that everyone else driving is an idiot. Yes. That's what I told Nathan. They probably are, but also like it makes you more like aware of what but like if but the fact that he like that's the lesson. It's so funny.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:18

Like it's Jed on his motorcycle. Yeah, his rule, his rule has always been it's not like assume that they don't see you. He's like, assume that they see you and that they want to hit you. Like that's what you have to assume. So we've passed that on to Maddie. Yeah. Assume that everyone can see you and that they intend to hit you. Yeah, like as awful as that sounds, that's what it feels like driving sometimes. It's like, oh no, they see you. Yeah, no, they don't care. They're coming right at you. Right. Like you've got to be smarter than the average road driver.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:44

Right. I know it's so frustrating. Speaking of motorcycles, too, it makes me so mad when people mow and leave all the grass in the please don't do that. Is that illegal? I think it is illegal. It's very dangerous for motorcycles. See, when I see when I drive, I yeah, there was this old lady and putting it right out into the road the other day. I'm I literally want to stop and be like, don't do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:07

It's not just about you. Right, exactly. It's not just about you. Those kind of decisions mat it could be someone's life.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:13

It could be and it yeah, I'm pretty sure it is the law. Like that that that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:18

I mean, how hard is it to mow the perimeter face going in and then you mow it the other way going out and you mulch it at least? Like it's not that big of a deal. Just turn your mower around. Right, right. Oh, that makes me so mad. Started at Costco. Now we're here on mowing.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:35

Oh, yeah, with no favorites, because we made everything. Everybody's going to be able to do that. Except for beverages. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:41

That's right. Except for our favorite beverages. Favorite beverages. We'll have to link to our favorite beverages. I wonder if Amazon sells my liminata. Probably. Or even just like the website. That too. I used to order Fiji water from the website. Remember? From the Fiji web water. From the Fiji website and had it delivered to my house. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:03

It's the little things. It is the little things. It really is. When I when I discovered I could order things like that, yeah. Like drinks. Yeah. To come to me and or like on subscription, like what a time to be alive. Listen. Yeah. Same. Like AI, whatever, and people being distracted by technology, whatever. Like, okay, all those things. But the fact that we live in a time that we can get our beverages delivered onto our porch. And like oh my gosh. Yeah. So good. There, there are good.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:40

There are as soon as we end this recording. I'm going to go see if I can order it online and do that right now. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:46

Well, this has been um Garden House. Garden House. And I feel like we really reflected our our uh our our I don't know our mission, our our way of life in this episode. Welcome.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:59

Welcome to the chaos.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:01

Stay while