Hero or Dick

Hero or Dick - S.3, Ep. 19 - Houses & Homes & the Rooms That Hold us Together

• Kate & KJ • Season 3 • Episode 19

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Thanks for tuning into another episode of Hero or Dick!

A house can be your safest place and still give you the creeps. We dive into the rooms that shape who we are—from bathrooms that reset a chaotic day to kitchens that magnetize every guest, even when there’s no food on the counter. Along the way, we face the stranger corners of home life: basements that flood or whisper, attics that store history and fear, and the painful legacy of “disappointment rooms” and servants’ quarters that enforced class and control. 

Which room is your hero—and which one’s the dick?

Like what you heard? Follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help others find us. 

Best, 

Kate & KJ

SPEAKER_00:

Hello?

SPEAKER_04:

Greetings.

SPEAKER_00:

Hi. Hi, listener.

SPEAKER_04:

There was no noise.

SPEAKER_00:

There was no noise until we started. Just ignore that noise.

SPEAKER_04:

It's the uh electricity of the excitement because it's it's a beautiful October day.

SPEAKER_00:

It is.

SPEAKER_04:

And um and I are sipping some what is mine called? Chumpkin.

SPEAKER_00:

Chumpkin. I think that is me. I'm a chumpkin. Boom. That's it.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm a teddy bear.

SPEAKER_00:

Is that what yours is? What does that mean?

unknown:

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

Is it often cuddly? Is it furry? Is that something gross in a coffee?

SPEAKER_04:

No, it's not furry. And you know what? I can't even tell you what's in it.

SPEAKER_00:

Is it good?

SPEAKER_04:

It's really good. Okay. From Big B.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, what else is I think from Big B, I'm guessing. Yep. Big B.

SPEAKER_04:

Big B not a sponsor of Oh, our show is called Hero or Dick.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

That's the show. Broadcasting from Horsefeather Studio. Downtown Alpina. Rock on. Things are starting to wind down in old Alpina.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's getting a little slower. Oh, ready to hibernate.

SPEAKER_04:

Are you really? What are you gonna do? Just say F everything?

SPEAKER_00:

Well whatever I can. I already dropped a meeting last night. Sorry, legal voters.

SPEAKER_03:

She's old peat. Why do you do that?

SPEAKER_00:

Because I was gone all day, and then I was like, should I go back into town? No, I should not.

SPEAKER_04:

I was pretty sure Kate was gonna shirk out on me.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I did yesterday. Yes, sorry.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, yeah, that's right. You always do. Like we schedule. Oh, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I forgot. I made a lunch date. I had a lovely lunch with my cousin Andrea. She's so cool. She's more important. Optimistic. Yeah, she is. Uh she's an optimistic realist, is what I've decided. And I like that.

SPEAKER_03:

Is that possible?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. It is. Yep.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, did you get your name on the oh shit, I can't even say it. Well, smiley, did you get your name on the petition? Which one? To get George Strait playing instead of Bad Bunny.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I freaking love Bad Bunny, so no.

SPEAKER_04:

I like George Strait too.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh I got nothing against George Strait.

SPEAKER_04:

I honestly didn't know he was alive.

SPEAKER_00:

I did not either. And he's a badass. Good for you, George Strait. And maybe he could come and play a song with Bad Bunny.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, that's my petition. I want well, I bet you they'd rock it with nobody's business.

SPEAKER_00:

I I hope they do. And I'm sick of people saying, you know, oh, he's not he's not American enough. He was born in America. What does that even mean?

SPEAKER_04:

What does that mean? Oh white and it means white.

SPEAKER_00:

He's not white.

SPEAKER_04:

Anglo-Saxon.

SPEAKER_00:

And he speaks Spanish sometimes.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So what?

SPEAKER_04:

White and straight.

SPEAKER_00:

He's adorable, I think. And I love his songs.

SPEAKER_04:

George Strait's adorable too.

SPEAKER_00:

Is he?

SPEAKER_04:

I think he's a teddy bear.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Um against George Strait. I'm just saying No, I get it. Well, I I think the the NFL, they pick people who are um relevant, and not not just relevant, but um timely. You know, Bad Bunny is very popular right now. Right. They could have had him, Sabrina Carpenter. My kids are going to see Sabrina Carpenter this weekend.

SPEAKER_04:

Is she the teenage witch?

SPEAKER_00:

She no, that's a different Sabrina, I believe.

SPEAKER_04:

I was just joking.

SPEAKER_03:

This is uh I don't know who that is.

SPEAKER_00:

She was on SNL last week as the host and the musical guest. They're going all the way to Pittsburgh to see her.

SPEAKER_03:

So two tickets to Pittsburgh? Is that what they say? Two pickets to Pittsburgh. Chevy Chase said that. Off Saturday Night Life.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, did he? I don't know. Oh Chevy Chase. So Bad Bunny, though. I'm all up. I I like him. I could care a lot. I think he's adorable. And and you know what? If you don't like what he's playing in the halftime, go get some nachos. Take a bathroom break. I don't care.

unknown:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, I didn't like I I haven't liked every um halftime show, but so what?

SPEAKER_04:

Exactly. Yeah. Sometimes it's good to watch something you don't like, too.

SPEAKER_00:

Sometimes it's good to watch something you're not waiting for. You don't know. Get out of your comfort zone, people. Listen to Bad Bunny. I think you'll find them delightful. I hate them. Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Brooke's gonna hate that. She hates when I do that voice at home. But you know what? Usually it's when we're in the living room watching TV and relaxing. It's one of my favorites. I'll spend a lot of time in the laboratory.

SPEAKER_00:

That doesn't mean it's your favorite, though. No. And I have to say, I did a uh quick, uh not a quick poll, but uh informal poll, let's say it nobody pinked the bathroom as their favorite room.

SPEAKER_04:

No, no. Well, I was glad I made it on time though, because I said I might not make it because they haven't wanted to get coffee and blah blah blah. Well, she had to let me out of the disappointment room in order to get here. So but those are just some of the things we're probably gonna cover. Our our topic is rooms, rooms and houses and houses. I know it sounds pretty lame.

SPEAKER_00:

At first I wouldn't you suggested it.

SPEAKER_04:

That's why it's lame.

SPEAKER_00:

I thought, okay, and but you know what? It's I found it to be kind of interesting because at first I think a house, well, how could that be a dick? It's a it's my house, my home. Of course, it's it's my comfort zone. And I have had this easy life where I've always had a pretty comfortable home, even when the houses weren't or apartments weren't that great. I still have power, electricity, and heat, you know. And so, and I had my kids or family, but mostly kids, with me. So it was uh it was a great home. But not everybody has that. And sometimes I forget that. And a house is definitely different from a home.

SPEAKER_04:

Is it?

SPEAKER_00:

It is. It can be both, but you can live in a house and live in a house, but it doesn't have to, it doesn't feel like a home. Right.

SPEAKER_04:

Have you ever had that?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I found when looking at real estate, you feel it, you walk in, you go, yes, or no. I think you know right away if you're gonna feel comfortable there.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. My fear is that if I look at homes, they all might feel a little like home. So I want to always upgrade. Like the two over there.

SPEAKER_00:

I love looking at real estate, and I have heard that Zillow is a woman's porn.

SPEAKER_04:

I I think it might be a dude's porn too. It could be. I'm uh hooked on Zillow and Carvana. Oh my god. I look at cars and houses.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I don't look at cars, but houses. I could look at houses all day online. Yeah, it's fun. I love it. Yeah. Look what they did here, look what they did there. And I want to say I'm uh breaking news right here. Oh my god. Jenna and Mike bought a house or a home.

SPEAKER_04:

It'll be a home.

SPEAKER_00:

It'll be a home. Congratulations, yes. So that's exciting. And that happened just in the two weeks. Well, you can't say where they live, but we live in Grand Rapids area, is where they bought it.

SPEAKER_04:

Too bad we couldn't do a remote podcast. A housewarming podcast.

SPEAKER_00:

I might be from there sometime because I'll be spending some time down there. They have four bedrooms.

SPEAKER_04:

Holy moly.

SPEAKER_00:

And I get to pick one and decorate it.

SPEAKER_04:

A podcast room.

SPEAKER_00:

It could be.

SPEAKER_04:

Just need a couple mics, some coffee, and apparently a ghost because I can hear it in the background.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah, it was hard for me to find dickish things about a house. Not me. No. Tell me.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, I can't go yet.

SPEAKER_00:

Why?

SPEAKER_04:

Wouldn't that be at the end? Oh, I can tell you something.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you can tell me some things right now. I mean, there's lots of haunted houses. Sure. Well, I mean, this is the season for it. You don't thought it was more than that because it's a woke.

SPEAKER_04:

You could look at it like even though um it provided shelter and you have different rooms for different things. Um it also segregated people and shamed people. You know, for instance, the disappointment rooms, which if you don't know are what's a disappointment room? A disappointment room is unfortunately rooms and houses typically in attic areas um with a door that was locked on one side and sometimes even had a drain in the floor where you may or may not have put um family members or relatives that were maybe handicapped, um, and you just put them away from the world, and you were disappointed. And so pretty that's that's harsh. Yeah, some of those were found um in 19th century homes in estates.

SPEAKER_00:

Probably slave era. They probably found it.

SPEAKER_04:

Um they also you think servant quarters, you know, the back staircase, which was cramped and narrow, and then oftentimes uh help, if you want to call it that, whatever, lived um in a small, cramped space.

SPEAKER_00:

Sometimes many people in one room in a cold area, sometimes not even not heated, you know, upstairs or downstairs too, in the basement. And then if you think of how Nobody said the basement was their favorite room. Although I've been in some basements that are really nice.

SPEAKER_04:

They are, and those are sometimes mancaves which perpetuate the whole stereotypes and they trap us in roles, such as kitchens, you know, the women that was their home, their role. But that was good because a lot of women identified themselves with the kitchen, but it also trapped women in roles and made it harder for people to get out of their role or their expectations.

SPEAKER_00:

So they that stereotype.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, they controlled uh behavior, um like a Victorian par parlor, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

That was like that was the courting room.

SPEAKER_04:

Yep. Um it was about supervision and comfort, you know. Um so it's it's kind of cool. They had the truth, you know, the basements hide people's nasty stuff, addicts do.

SPEAKER_00:

They're like a junk drawer of rooms.

SPEAKER_04:

Collect bad memories, things you don't want to look at ever again, or you know, stuff you're afraid of letting go of. Um, about the servant thing. Um and then some rooms, you know, they outlived their usefulness. I mean, for example, how many people actually use the dining room anymore?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, we do all the time.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, we do too. But a lot of people sit in front of the TV and it's a lot of people. It's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_00:

I I know a lot of people who don't ever sit down and eat a meal at the dining room table.

SPEAKER_04:

And then if you think of it too. Houses um can, I guess, turn against you or become hostile. I don't mean hauntings necessarily, but mold, radon, carbon monoxide. Um buildings can actually get sick from being closed all the time. Yeah, you gotta let them break. So and there's a asbestos paint. And that's not all the houses or the room's fault, right? But the people that made it, but those are some of the ways that they can be dicks.

SPEAKER_00:

This is true. Mold. Mold is awful. Yeah, did you ever read the book Mexican Gothic? It's when then I have my list of the haunted stories.

SPEAKER_04:

So yeah. What's it about?

SPEAKER_00:

Mold.

SPEAKER_04:

Get the fuck out of here.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I don't want to give it away. Okay, I don't know. It's about a house. With mold and how the house That's awesome. It it was an interesting book. It was weird. Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno Garcia.

SPEAKER_02:

Shout out to Sylvia.

SPEAKER_00:

The Dutch House is another book that I read that was about house and all the the changes that the house went through. The people changes.

SPEAKER_04:

So that's so you have a list of things that were based on houses there in house.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, these were house books. Bleak house, Withering Heights, or Wuthering, Wuthering Heights. It's about a big house, really. I mean, uh, yeah, it's about the people, but it is the character in the house in the story, yeah. Same with songs. I just have a few of them. Our house, Crosby Stills Nath, and Young, I believe, was there too. You know, our house. It's a very, very, very fine house.

SPEAKER_04:

How about my house by Florider? Flow Rider or something like that. Welcome to my house. I don't know what that was.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know that one. Um there's a how about burning down the house? That's a good one. Well, not for the house.

SPEAKER_04:

So yeah. Rooms are featured in books, movies.

SPEAKER_00:

Did you ever read the book The Room?

SPEAKER_04:

No.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, that was another, oh my gosh, like bad uh it's not a good story. This woman and kid are imprisoned in this room, is what it's about. Like a disappointment room. It was like uh he kidnapped her and she had a baby and all in this room.

SPEAKER_04:

Just kept her in there?

SPEAKER_00:

And she was kept in the room.

SPEAKER_04:

You said it's a book?

SPEAKER_00:

It's a book and a movie. Oh shit. And then it became a movie. And so the first part about it is how they're stuck in this room and what they do to occupy themselves. And then the second part is well, I want to give it away. It's not about the room.

SPEAKER_04:

So if we could probably adapt a word association game right now about rooms. If I name a room, if I kick back, Kate. Lay back on the couch there. I'm gonna name a room and you tell me the first word that comes to your mind.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my gosh. Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Ready?

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, close my eyes. Bathroom. Well, you want it the bathroom that you want it to be comfortable. And I always, whenever I move somewhere, I set up the bathroom first because man, if you're comfortable in the bathroom, you're comfortable in the world.

SPEAKER_04:

I like that. God damn it, King.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's easy to set that room up. You know what I mean? It's not like you have to put a bunch of furniture out or anything. You gotta put some toilet paper out and get your toothbrush and stuff and and towel clean towels. And if you can take a shower and be clean and you know, use the breathroom, you are feeling good.

SPEAKER_04:

Life 101 right there. Set up the John first. And if you can do that, and you comfortable follow. So the next room would be um bedroom.

SPEAKER_00:

I believe so, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

So what is it? What's the word? What's the word?

SPEAKER_00:

Um that one for me is the view.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Because I have a bedroom that looks out on the lake, and it has three wall, three of the four walls have windows, and it is it's my favorite room in the house. Oh, cool. It gets the best sunsets, it is has the less clutter in it because there's only certain things. And we have um I have all my clothes and stuff in the bathroom in a big closet. Gotcha. So I don't even have the clutter of a dresser, and nice.

SPEAKER_04:

It's it's wide open, relaxing space.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's how a bedroom should be. It should has pale, pale, pale blue walls, very comforting.

SPEAKER_03:

You have a refrigerator by the bed?

SPEAKER_00:

No. Okay. No, I have a couple books, no TV in the bedroom. No, no TV in the bedroom. My mom said, if you put a TV in the bedroom, you will never have sex. Okay, mom, we did that.

SPEAKER_04:

Huh. What if you don't have sex and then you put a TV in your bedroom?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm thinking we're at a point we could put a TV in the bedroom, but it would block our view. So I'm just gonna read a book and look at the view. Gotcha. Yep. What's the next room?

SPEAKER_04:

Um, let's go with the kitchen.

SPEAKER_00:

The kitchen gathering, because that's where everybody gathers. Whether you're wanting to or not, I don't care if your kitchen is three by three. People gather in the kitchen.

SPEAKER_04:

They really do, don't they?

SPEAKER_00:

They do. They do. It doesn't even matter if you're feeding them food or whatever, that's where people gather.

SPEAKER_04:

They like to lean against the countertop or set the table.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's what that's the gathering room.

SPEAKER_04:

I like that. Um, living room.

SPEAKER_00:

The living room should be comfort. And that's where you sit down at the end of the day and watch a movie.

SPEAKER_04:

On wine day.

SPEAKER_00:

It is a gathering room too, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

It used to be the uh dead room, actually.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because people had the formal living room, and then maybe they'd have a a den or a family room where they where they, you know, play games or watch TV or whatever.

SPEAKER_04:

But they changed it to um, you know, they used to honor the dead, like have their little family gatherings and whatever. And the it was called the something else. Oh, I don't have I'm not looking at my notes, but um and then it changed over time into the living room.

SPEAKER_00:

The living. Oh, was it called the dead room?

SPEAKER_04:

No, it was something to do with uh funerals and whatnot, though, too.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, because they lay out right there for the week.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean And then they're like, we're not dying in here. We're living in here.

SPEAKER_04:

We're living. We're celebrating life, goddamn. And watching a movie.

SPEAKER_00:

The only other one I guess would have mudrooms, maybe that's just like uh you well, we have a utility room all, and that's where all the cluttered it's not too cluttered because you kind of got to keep it neat, but um, you know, washer dryer and hot water tank and all that yes stuff that you need, but you don't want to look at.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Um, I guess that's all I had for you.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, there's a lot of other stuff we can go through, and I'm sure you have plenty of another room um that you don't see, or maybe you only see it in big houses is the panic room. Where you can go and lock yourself in and you got one of those? I I don't, but I I know of a house in Asenic that has one.

SPEAKER_04:

So when shit goes down, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

When the apocalypse comes, they're going in the panic room. I'm just gonna give myself up and die the first day of the apocalypse. I I'm too lazy.

SPEAKER_04:

Why fight it?

SPEAKER_00:

I I just it's inevitable. Yeah, I don't wanna uh forge for food? That sounds hard. I mean, I'll just hang out until I'm out of food. Yeah, so here's some informal polling of the favorite room. Um most are either living room or kitchen, um for reasons that we said living room. Um Kate, my cousin Kate said the family room where we all hang out, so it's kind of like a living room. Um uh here's some living room. Oh, Harley said the living room because of her swivel chairs. And I'm gonna tell you, I was at her house and she has these awesome chairs. They're huge. They're like a chair and a half. Are they round? They're round. And they swivel. They oh buy them, buy them all. They're great. She has two in her living room, and they are so comfy, snuggly. Oh, I just love them. And so does she. That's her listening room, is what she calls it, because that's where her stereo is. Oh, okay. Her living room.

SPEAKER_04:

I like that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. And uh, let's see, some other living rooms. Kathy and Eileen like their Lakeview living room because it's got the up north feel, comfy chairs. Comfy chairs are important.

SPEAKER_04:

They really are.

SPEAKER_00:

And books, books. Books are important too. Um, Barbara likes the living room because she likes the fireplace. Agreed. And she likes the way the furniture is arranged. Um, Beth and Faber both like the living room. Beth says, my chair, and but it's in the living room, so her chair is not a room, but it's in the living room. Um, Leanne and Suzanne both said Lakeview and uh Anywhere Family Is, is what Suzanne says too. Oh wow. She which is, I think, true. Yeah, I like that. Um she did say my my old house, she moved here from downstate, and she said my old house had a big bedroom suite, and that was really nice too. She misses that. But she traded it all for the lakeview. Uh Andrea likes her large addition uh family room, which is great when you have a party, and she always does. But she said, I actually live in the small living room, you know. That's where I really watch TV and whatever. Um Cassidy said living room, but she also said bedroom and loft. So she kind of said every room except the bathroom. Uh okay, so I think those are all the living room ones. Then um I liked Ava's answer. She said the pantry.

SPEAKER_04:

That's what I think.

SPEAKER_00:

Because it's a treasure chest filled with snacks.

SPEAKER_04:

It really is.

SPEAKER_00:

It is if you're if you're Ava, I guess. I don't know. Our pantry is not always filled with great stuff. Jennifer likes her porch. She has this little addition porch, and she said, no boys allowed, with exceptions. I gotcha. And um with the other, let's see. Um, oh, okay. So Jenna said the kitchen. Doug said the kitchen, specifically the kitchen table or dining room table, because that's where you gather for food or for stories or for games. I gotta agree with that. Very true. Not corny at all, Doug.

SPEAKER_02:

Not corny.

SPEAKER_00:

No, and um Emma, I liked what she said. She just painted her spare bedroom. So it's right now it's her favorite. It's yellow and orange. And she has a small house, so she said it brightens it up and it opens it up, and and and she loves it.

SPEAKER_04:

That would be a good room to womb. Good room to wake up in, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

A room's a womb. Um this one I think is my favorite. Let me make sure I cover. Oh, Julie. I did like what Julie said. She said the kitchen because I don't have dust in there.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, gotcha.

SPEAKER_00:

Same. Um, but my I think this is my favorite answer. Diane told me her favorite room in the house is a garage.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

And uh for these reasons, it's a great place to escape when you need to make a phone call. It and there is an extra fridge where you can usually find a beer. Uh, no one ever looks for me there, she said. And also, number four, clutter is acceptable in that room.

SPEAKER_04:

It really is.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So your dad would be proud, Diane. So there's some favorites.

SPEAKER_04:

I like it.

SPEAKER_00:

Nobody said the basement.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh why is that?

SPEAKER_00:

But I guess if you had a nice basement in Jenna's new house, they have a big basement, so that'll be nice, actually.

SPEAKER_04:

That's the hard thing, isn't a finished basement, making it nice.

SPEAKER_00:

Some of them making it non-basement.

SPEAKER_04:

You just can't, some of them.

SPEAKER_00:

Some of them you can't. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Basements come up a lot in spooky stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

That's some basements are spooky.

SPEAKER_04:

Home alone.

SPEAKER_00:

Their basement was spooky.

SPEAKER_04:

That kid was freaked out. But then he conquered it.

SPEAKER_00:

He did. He faced his fear.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. So everybody needs to walk down their basement tonight with the lights off. Well, maybe not down the stairs. And just stand down there in that basement and tell the basement that you want to do. Why is this so scary?

SPEAKER_00:

We don't have we have a crawl space. Do you ever crawl in? I'm not gonna do that. No, I hate going down there.

SPEAKER_04:

Crawl space too. It must be really tiny.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it's maybe like oh, you know, you got it bend over. It's very clean down there. I mean, it's got that visqueen or whatever on the floor, and it's well lit lit. I just don't like it. No. I can go down like right right where I can you have to take a ladder down.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

But I can't walk to the other side of the house. I tried to open the vents one time. I was like, nope, can't do it.

SPEAKER_02:

Jesus.

SPEAKER_00:

I just feel like I'm being entrapped down there.

SPEAKER_02:

What about an attic?

SPEAKER_00:

I like an attic.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think they're kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm. My grandparents had a really cool attic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

You go.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you have an attic in your old house? Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

We can actually turn it into a third level of cool. It takes some doing.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

But that's what it was, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

We lived in a house that had an attic with a pull downstairs, like uh Christmas vacation. Yep.

SPEAKER_04:

We have the thing that could fly down. No.

SPEAKER_00:

No. We but we had, and then they just had you know, like plywood over you had to be careful where you walked. Um, but yeah. It's pretty cool. That was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04:

I remember my grandparents, they had a big old house over on Long Lake Avenue. It was like a farmhouse. That was a dog.

SPEAKER_00:

You remember that? Yeah, I was there before.

SPEAKER_04:

I remember going up in there in that attic, and it had like a solid wooden floor, but I mean it was just like a magical spot. Creepy, but like, you know, all the cool old stuff in there, and you can look out the window and see across the field, you're way high up.

SPEAKER_00:

And is that house still there or did they tear it down?

SPEAKER_04:

Uh it got torn down.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

My grandma had another one, uh, not like that, but had a home built in front of it. So she still lived on the property until she passed away, but I have good memories of that place. Oh well. That's probably why I have an affinity for big old houses.

SPEAKER_00:

For big old houses, because that's where you went to your grandparents.

SPEAKER_04:

Yep. I think so. I always wanted to have I remember when I was 16 and she was talking about building a new house and getting rid of that. I'm like, uh save it for me. Wait till I'm 18. You know, like I just like what was I thinking? I was a kid, but I always have to.

SPEAKER_00:

You're gonna live behind her or were you gonna move it? You couldn't move it so it was too big.

SPEAKER_04:

I would have stayed there. But now I have my own big house.

SPEAKER_00:

You do. You have a very nice, and you know, as nice as the old houses are, yours is old, but it's all redone nice.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm not gonna lie to you. I've been eyeing up those two over here on walking across the road over.

SPEAKER_00:

You can buy both of them. I wish.

SPEAKER_04:

The one has a third level, it does. Done, finished, and the other one next to it's gorgeous. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00:

The black one or the well, the one is the same. One is painted the same color as yours.

SPEAKER_04:

And then the beige one, that one's like they're both really nice. But so is the price. They are, they're both over four hundred four fifty and four twenty-five.

SPEAKER_00:

And you the the yard is probably not that not too bad, and they have a big deck on the back of each other. Yeah, one does. Oh, both of them.

SPEAKER_04:

One has a one has a two-car garage.

unknown:

Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

Why aren't you moving?

SPEAKER_04:

Because I really like our house. Yeah. There's always something better. Or so you think, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00:

I do. Um that's why we look at it.

SPEAKER_04:

That's why we get ideas for your house, right? Well, you don't. Your house is fantastic.

SPEAKER_00:

It is. It's it's a very nice house. I like it. And uh, again, I'm yeah, I'm had an easy life and it's very comfortable. It wasn't easy to build, it was but um I like where it is.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And I like the the lakeside rooms. There's things about it that I didn't want or wanted differently.

SPEAKER_02:

But you don't know till you know, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Sometimes you don't know, you think you want something in a house and you get it and you're like, huh, why did I want this so bad? Or why didn't we whatever? You know, yeah. And you don't know till you move in.

SPEAKER_04:

Mm-hmm. I agree. Um, something uh rang a bell in my head when you were talking about folks. Somebody's favorite room was the porch.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_04:

Um porches and sun parlors were actually um they came around, you know, you hear that? Uh I hope it goes away. But oh sometimes these little things make a difference. But anyway, um they were kind of the result of or came about during tuberculosis because people bought uh believed in the fresh air cure. Uh-huh. And so people would lay in their parlor or on their porch, sleeping porches, uh, to help cure themselves.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

That was pretty cool. Yeah, because uh if you had TV, they said you just bundle up and sit outside no matter what, or you know, sit outside no matter what the season.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

But so what else do you have to add about houses?

SPEAKER_04:

Um I don't know, not a whole lot. I think we covered most of the rooms. Um laundry rooms. Did we mention that?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, utility room, laundry room. Yeah, if you're lucky enough to have a laundry room with a drying rack, man, that's like do you have a laundry room? Uh well, it's in the utility room. But I wanted to put a drying rack in there and see, I didn't get that. Oh. I could still do it.

SPEAKER_02:

You could do whatever you want.

SPEAKER_00:

I could do it. Um, I have a wall, but I think you could put it on gets there and and pop it out. So there's another whole um subcategory of houses. You have all the house shows that are on TV, you know, on well, HGTV is the whole channel for houses and redoing houses, and that never gets old. You know, the scariest houses in the in the U.S. right now.

SPEAKER_04:

You caught up on that one? I I haven't caught up on it.

SPEAKER_00:

I kind of binge it.

SPEAKER_04:

I wait until it's on the last this latest one with the Great Lakes.

SPEAKER_00:

There was a couple in Michigan.

SPEAKER_04:

I don't always agree on their meters when they're showing the meters.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I don't either.

SPEAKER_04:

They did um the they did uh the Great Lakes for the scariest two, but only one was in Michigan. It was in Lansing, and it wasn't even a house, it was an old school house. So it wasn't really a house.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, so there's another subcategory, so uh houses and homes that weren't houses. They were schoolhouses or railway stations, churches. People love to buy a church and redo that.

SPEAKER_04:

I'd like to do that again.

SPEAKER_00:

There's probably churches for sale. Yeah, you did it, didn't you?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I didn't do much.

SPEAKER_00:

But did you live in the church? Or wasn't yours a house and a church?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I lived in the house and then the church was Next door, and my dream was to make it into a writing/slash art studio, but that required funding that I didn't have. We did paint the outside and jazz it up, but oh well.

SPEAKER_00:

Does does someone live there now? In the house?

SPEAKER_04:

I sold the place and in the No, they just live in the house and the church looks a little rough. But so goes life.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So then people live in all kinds of bomb shelters and there's a whole show about that, too. You know, you live in the unique homes.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, and too, as we evolve, I guess, if you can call it that, as people different rooms come about, like a lot of houses now. Uh it wasn't like we didn't have home offices before, but now since COVID, anybody wants a home office, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

AKA a bedroom. A small bedroom.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Um then dens. People have dens.

SPEAKER_00:

People used to, I think, have well, I don't know, dens. Now they call them family rooms or just living rooms because we don't have that formal living room.

SPEAKER_04:

Um game rooms?

SPEAKER_00:

Some people have a gaming room, you know, like a gaming room where they have oh, like a theater room?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, with TV and their uh game, like you know, video games and stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

That's pretty lucky of them.

SPEAKER_04:

Um and then um mother-in-law suites.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you hear that, Jenna? I always told her buy um uh a uh area, uh buy a house big enough with a big enough lot, and then I'll just put up a little house behind yours. Yeah. And then when I'm gone, then you can, I don't know, let your teen live out there or rent it out or whatever.

SPEAKER_04:

There you go.

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm. I don't think this house is gonna work for that, but it has four bedrooms, so I'll just move into one of those, I guess.

SPEAKER_02:

Why not?

SPEAKER_00:

A mother-in-law suite, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, heck yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well, and it used to be uh people lived multi-generational. You know, you when you got married, you moved in with your parents. Yeah, maybe you had an apartment above their place, or you know, you had your own space, but you all live together.

SPEAKER_04:

I think some folks still do that.

SPEAKER_00:

I think so too.

SPEAKER_04:

It's cultural.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think so. And there's lots of pros to it, and there's some cons to it. Quite a few cons. I don't want to live with my in-laws.

SPEAKER_04:

No, I don't know, no. I need space.

SPEAKER_00:

No, and I drew, I can remember my mom saying, Don't ever let me move in with you no matter what, no matter how much. No, don't ever do it.

SPEAKER_02:

No kidding.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, just because you know, she didn't agree with that.

SPEAKER_04:

Gotcha. Yeah, I guess some people are like, oh, you know, I want to make sure I have a room for my folks when they get older, but maybe mom and dad don't want to live with you.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Maybe not, but I do see it working for a lot of people. Diana's one of them. She, you know, they built a house for uh her and her parents to live in so her parents could live in in so they wouldn't have to go to anywhere else.

SPEAKER_02:

I like that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So that's helpful. And I yeah, like I said, I can see the pros and cons to it, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. And then just I guess over time at school, you go from funeral parlors to living rooms, and then instead of uh servants' quarters, you know, you got maybe a mother-in-law suite and you servants' quarters, and then what else was there? Um the disappointment rooms.

SPEAKER_00:

You don't have those and don't the disappointment rooms. Very disappointment.

SPEAKER_04:

They weren't really common, but you know, they're popping up more and more when I watch these shows.

SPEAKER_00:

And um so like uh the history ones, or right now it's all the the my, you know, a ghost is is terrifying me, my house.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, that's a good one too. The most haunted rooms, the most haunted rooms. Probably living rooms.

SPEAKER_00:

What do you think they are? Um I'm gonna say basements.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, those are spooky. They get some stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't think a ghost I wouldn't live in the basement. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04:

There was in the kitchen. There's a few. Guy in our basement.

SPEAKER_00:

Was there a guy in your basement?

SPEAKER_04:

One arm.

SPEAKER_00:

For real?

SPEAKER_04:

Dead seriously.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah? Like this basement now or a different house?

SPEAKER_04:

No, this one.

SPEAKER_00:

Is he still there?

SPEAKER_04:

Sometimes. It's weird.

SPEAKER_00:

Probably talking about our hotel, but well, you could you can as long as you don't care. Um so do you think he lived there at one point? Yeah, if he's not right, why would he be there? Or maybe you live right across from the funeral home.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh man, we get so I bet.

SPEAKER_00:

So the people there or the spirits there, maybe they're like, it's pretty crowded. Let's go to Kim's.

SPEAKER_04:

And like I, you know, I like to think that I'm nuts and whatever, but no, my wife and daughter have experienced stuff in our house too.

SPEAKER_00:

Um I think if it's an old house, I don't think that's abnormal.

SPEAKER_04:

The the best, and maybe not the best, was um a few nights in a row for a couple weeks. Uh, my wife and I would just get into bed, uh, talking to each other, winding down, and then we'd hear a little like a girl say, Mom. And it wasn't Jovi. We'd go down and she'd be in her room or whatever, and then it happened again that I mom, like a little girl calling for her mom. It's just fucking weird.

SPEAKER_00:

And did you find out who the girl was, or did she find her mom?

SPEAKER_04:

I didn't dig into it, but I do know that uh one of the I believe that the fellow that built our house in the neighbor's house, he was a lumber baron from Alpina, and uh I believe uh he his wife l a daughter died, and then something happened too in childbirth, she lost the kids.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh man, it a hundred years ago, well, a little more than a hundred years ago, even if you were pregnant, you got a 50-50 chance of dying. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_04:

Just imagine all the stuff in all the houses, just the life and right. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_00:

So how could there not be a one-armed man?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, everybody got something.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I don't know where where we built our house is on a dune. And some people say, well, that's where the Indian the natives were.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm like, I don't know, could they be there?

SPEAKER_04:

Heck yeah, why wouldn't they? And before that, some caveman ghost walking around, you know. That's actually the the first room was a cave. The first room was a cave, yeah. Think of that. Nuts. Wow. That was their shelter, that was their kitchen, that was everything.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, no, I I in lieu of a fast five, we're gonna talk about um the the White House, which is the house of Americans. Never heard of it. It belongs to all of us. Does it though? Not anymore. So it's getting a ballroom. Like, all right, whatever. Everybody redecorates.

SPEAKER_04:

Redecorates, doesn't demolish it.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. So when I saw the wall gone, I was like, hmm. That's probably not a real redecorating thing.

SPEAKER_04:

No, they're doing that.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, and FYI, our our government shut down too, right now.

SPEAKER_04:

They can't be because they're still working on that.

SPEAKER_00:

I know. All right.

SPEAKER_04:

It's weird times, eh?

SPEAKER_00:

I think that's all I'll say about that.

SPEAKER_04:

That's all right.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Do you have uh any other fast fives you want to throw in?

SPEAKER_04:

No.

SPEAKER_00:

We already did like a you know, we did the you know, I was gonna do rooms, so you did the room, so we really in the middle. So overall, my house is a hero.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, mine too.

SPEAKER_00:

But I can see why people who aren't comfortable in their houses would feel like they're dicks. And some houses are set up weird, I guess. There can be dicks.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, yeah, and some houses are like the people we talk about. They're they're heroes, but they're kind of their rooms. Some rooms are dicks.

SPEAKER_00:

Some rooms are dicks.

SPEAKER_04:

Like what what's the biggest can we get flooding in your basement?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_04:

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but overall, I'm gonna call them uh hero. Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, we don't have anything else, do we?

SPEAKER_00:

I think we've covered houses. I appreciate that. Oh, hey.

SPEAKER_04:

You did all that research and got your people to not your people. My people. You got your folks to contribute. I love that.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, yes, and thank you to everybody for doing that too. I love it. I love to hear it, and um, I really, really appreciate it. But if somebody wanted to email us, where could they where could they do that?

SPEAKER_04:

Um hero or dick2023 at gmail.mail.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. So do that, and we will see you next time.

SPEAKER_04:

Right on. Thanks, everybody. Bye. Bye.

Contributor

Kate & KJ

Host

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