A Boomer and GenXer Walk into a Bar
Wit and wisdom, some smart assery, and a Mother and Daughter questioning “Are we even related?”
A Boomer and GenXer Walk into a Bar
Why Picking Your Survival Partner Is No Laughing Matter (But We'll Make It Fun) S1:E12
Why would anyone choose you as their survival partner in a disaster? Bobbi Joy and Jane, invite you to a lively discussion where humor meets hard-hitting truths about survival skills and disaster preparedness. Jane reveals how her childhood—spent far away from modern comforts—instilled in her essential skills like gardening and food preservation.
And just for fun, we take a nostalgic trip back to the era of party lines so, grab your metaphorical survival kit, and prepare for an episode that's both informative and entertaining!
email: boomerandgenxer@gmail.com
welcome everyone to today's show. A boomer and a gen xer walk into a bar, coming to you from the rabbit hole studio, where you, as a listener, will experience some wit and wisdom, some smart assery and a mother and daughter questioning. Are we even related? My is Bobbi Joy, my co-host is my mother, jane, and for the next few minutes 20, 25 minutes we're here to entertain you.
Speaker 2:I'm here to entertain you. Oh wait, there's a song like that. How's it go? I don't know. That wasn't it, hey Bobbi? What's our topic today?
Speaker 1:oh, so we're gonna kind of piggyback off of our last episode, uh, where we talked about we kind of hit on what do you bring to the table in a relationship?
Speaker 2:what you know yeah, what are you?
Speaker 1:bringing into it. Why would I want you as my partner type of thing, okay, and I think today that we should piggyback off of that and go. Why would I want you as my survival partner?
Speaker 2:survival. What kind of survival you mean? Like if we're on a deserted island or something?
Speaker 1:well, more like you know if you look at some things that have happened recently, more like you know, if there's a a natural disaster, we're cut off from you. The rest of the civilized world, or apocalyptic, you know let's even go into that.
Speaker 2:Okay, power grids are down, there's no water coming out of your faucets, which is a very good chance that that could happen. So let's not act like that's a joke.
Speaker 1:So tell me what. Why would I want you as my survival partner? Why would I want you as my neighbor, my friend, the person that I'm going to use the last of my gas in my pickup truck to come get what?
Speaker 2:Well, because I'm funny, I'm hilarious, and that goes a long way Just being hilarious. I like walks on the beach, sunsets. I like long walks off of short piers I, I like to play with puppies, and why would you want me as your partner? Uh, here's why. Uh, because I was brought up poor and I will tell you, we had to be very, very intuitive and we had to engineer our own stuff. Let's just say it that way. Okay, back in my day we didn't have microwaves.
Speaker 1:You know I'm the boomer right, so what were dinosaurs like?
Speaker 2:Well, they moved very slowly. You little ass, did you come over on the wagon train? No, I did not. I did not. Back in my day, we did not have microwaves. We did not have. I was trying to think of some other things. We didn't have air conditioning, I think some houses did you know the rich folk Right, but it wasn't us houses did you know the rich folk, right, but it wasn't us. And so we had to learn how to cook and grow our own food. My mom had a very, very large garden. We were dirt poor I mean, we were right and she had a large garden and we lived off of that garden all year long, and then we had chickens that we had to, um, not only use their eggs, but we had to kill those chickens to eat. And so I think that you know just some of the things that I learned back then.
Speaker 2:Now, let's face it, I don't have any of those skills today well but, you know, with the garden thing, you know how I do still garden and jar food, I still, can you know, I still, I still pickle things, I still can stuff um, I do still have a garden and so I do grow that stuff um. But what do I bring in the event of an emergency?
Speaker 1:I will say like let's say like let's say, let's go different levels. Like let's say, let's go different levels. Like let's say first of all, natural disaster, where you know it could be from days to weeks before people are able to get in or power is able to get on. So let's start with that one. So natural disaster type. You know, like over in North Carolina and things, you're my neighbor, we're cut off from people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because they had hurricanes here recently on the coast and down in Florida right, and we have tornadoes in the Midwest. Oh yeah, we have a lot of tornadoes that come through the Midwest.
Speaker 1:And derechoes and derechoes.
Speaker 2:yeah, and they hit 160-mile-an-hour winds, and so they can rip through the state pretty easily. What's interesting is a lot of people, uh, depend on the government. When's the fema truck coming?
Speaker 1:and we learned that back in the floods of 93 and so we do not rely on the government.
Speaker 2:And uh again, you guys know I have a bad taste in my mouth for our government. Love our country, do not like our government, and so the FEMA truck is not coming for us.
Speaker 2:So even in a tornado, let's say neighbors go out and start helping neighbors, right, yep. And so we start cleanup immediately, whoever has equipment most of us out in the country we have tractors, we have heavy equipment, we have pickup trucks. Our pickup trucks are not grocery getters, our pickup trucks are work dogs and so we work those pickup trucks. And so we go and we start helping our neighbors clean up and they start helping us to clean up If we do not not have electricity. We again start looking at our neighbors and, uh, I was without power because I'm out in the country and you were without power. You're in a small town, yep, in iowa. Uh, you were without power and I was without power for a little over two and a half weeks when the derecho came through.
Speaker 2:Yep, and I did not have a generator at the time. I was getting ready to put a whole house generator in and I did not have one, and I did not. I just lost everything in the refrigerator. Now afterwards, my neighbor said, hey, I wish you'd have said something. I had a generator, yeah, and so I could have asked my neighbors for it. I didn't, but I was okay. I was okay. It wasn't like I was starving to death and you go to your bare bones.
Speaker 2:Food in your cupboards, right, yep, and you I've always stable things like that yeah I've always said that I eat better when I have no money and and I can't buy you luxury foods because you start living off of the stuff that's in your pantry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's. I mean, that's a short term thing. Ok, so you know, natural disaster thing go out, because eventually, let's say, the power doesn't come back on for two weeks. You're out of gas, you can't run your generator, you're out of propane, they can't get the gas trucks in, right, you know, everything starts to run out at that point. No fresh water, no sanitation.
Speaker 2:A lot of us in the country we rely on well water. Yes, so you know there's, I don't, I have both, but yeah, a lot of people rely on well water. But even nowadays the well water pumps run off electricity.
Speaker 1:Well, these well water pumps run off electricity. Well, they all do. And you know it's like a lot of them don't have solar panels to run those Right, right. So you know you're looking at, you know, after a few weeks, some pretty big desperation at that point.
Speaker 2:I don't think a solar panel will run a well pump. Will it there? Dr Domain.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it will. If you have a large enough battery bank, it'll run it Really.
Speaker 2:Oh, I guess I never thought about that because we need to talk about that on the property.
Speaker 1:Okay, so short term. So let's talk about long-term survival. Let's talk about something happens. You know, government collapses to a point. Electricity goes off, the pipes are shut down for natural gas, for, you know, oil, things like that, fresh water shut off. What do you got? What do you got after that? That? I would look at you and say, get in the truck, I'll make room for you type of thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, uh, because I mean, obviously age is I know, because I know you're gonna go. Well, okay, let's don't even make eye contact with her, she's old, we're gonna leave her there, let's pick up the young folks. Um, you know, if you think about heinrich's pyramid for psychology, the very most fundamental basic enterprise is safety your safety, and so I would be looking at the fact that you know I have a home right now.
Speaker 2:I don't know, in a disaster, what would happen. I do know how to forage for myself. I'm not worried about whether my nails are done. Um, I do know how to shoot a gun pretty well and I am for my age, I'm pretty in pretty good shape. I'm very athletic.
Speaker 1:You're in good shape for people 20 years younger than you and so you know, I, I think I can work hard.
Speaker 2:I know that I can work hard, um I can lift um, I I have sustainability because of the fact that I have endurance and I know how to cook, I know how to preserve food as long as you're not driving a tractor near a pond. Okay.
Speaker 3:I think it would be.
Speaker 1:For some backstory. My mom has an issue with. There's this big magnet in her pond apparently that attracts the tractor every time she goes.
Speaker 2:That's not every time. But see, you don't give away those secrets, bobby. You don't tell them about your downfalls.
Speaker 1:You don't tell them about your downfalls.
Speaker 2:You don't tell them about my downfalls. So yes, I have put the tractor in the pond three times you just wanted to go fishing.
Speaker 1:Right, and it is. And I'm looking on Life 360 and I'm texting my mom. Mom, are you in the pond again?
Speaker 2:Because it looks like your phone is in the middle of the pond. What's going on? So I have put the the tractor in the pond three times and I have put a zero turn radius mower. We won't talk about our downfalls.
Speaker 2:So now with that said, wait just a minute. I'm relatively mechanically inclined, so a lot of those times, you know, I'm pulling myself out with my pickup truck because it's a work dog and I'm taking things apart to dry it out and to see what's going on with my tractor. Now I mean I'm I'll be honest with you, I am not a mechanic, I am not a man who's very because men are stronger than me and I am not doing the heavy lifting work but I can figure it out. I mean, my dad was a mechanic. We talked about this before you. Kids are mechanically inclined. I'm pretty mechanically inclined.
Speaker 2:I worked in the energy business. I ran a big plant and we had a lot of equipment, and so I think I bring all of that to the table. The other thing that I think is really important is I am a strategic planner, and I think strategic planning when it comes to recovery and disaster recovery. I think I write right up there, because we in the energy business worked with Homeland Security. We worked with some very high level security companies and agencies, and there were a lot of things that we had to do that had to do with strategic planning, and I think I bring that to the table, bobby.
Speaker 1:So pick me up, pick me up, please. What do you bring?
Speaker 2:What is it that you bring exactly? What do I bring? Because it that you?
Speaker 1:bring. What do I bring? Because I've seen you cook, so we know I told you you're gonna try to call me out on that.
Speaker 2:So don't, there's no microwave.
Speaker 1:I mean, hey look anybody can throw a can of spaghettios in a fire and cook it okay how are you gonna open those spaghettios? You don't have a can opener on your keychain. It blew away in the storm well, that on your keychain. Yeah, hey look, I'm a little bit of a fat girl, so when they're, if I got to get to food, I'm gonna find a way to open that damn can.
Speaker 1:Okay, this could be your diet plan right here but no, um, you know, like you said, yeah, I, I've been mechanically inclined for a long time, so you know that that works in the beginning, when we still have fuel and things like that. I, I shoot guns. I've been a marksman. I've been an expert marksman since I was in high school, you know, won awards and things like that for that. I also know how to shoot a bow and arrow, for when the ammo, you know the ammunition, oh, bobby shooting a bow and arrow.
Speaker 2:That requires muscles to pull that thing back come on.
Speaker 1:No, I do. I I've I've used compound bows and things like that before. I know how to set up snare. You know snares and and traps and things like that, and I know how to field dress what I catch and I know how to cook it. I know how over a campfire.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying I'm great in a stove, but over a campfire yeah, I mean the whole thing is is, if I'm in your pickup with you and you pick me up as being one of your survivor uh, skilled people, you know.
Speaker 1:Um, if you got it, I can, I can go ahead and cook it, so right, right and you know I've got basic first aid knowledge I need to you know things that I had to learn um throughout my life and I I'm not saying that I would your sister fighting hey, we're gonna have to teach you cpr and some first cpr. You gotta learn how to stitch yourselves up.
Speaker 2:That's right, because we can't afford this anymore.
Speaker 1:They're gonna think I'm beating you kids and I'm not but yeah, I mean, I I do have kind of a wide range of things. I know how to build a lot of things, thanks to you know, my dad, he he woodworks a lot, things like that yeah your dad does really well and he's taught me a lot and I know how to run a chainsaw, I know how to run you know a Kubota. I know how to run a Bobcat, I know things like that, right.
Speaker 2:And I think one of the biggest part of it, part of this whole thing is, you know, not to have the fear. We don't want to go into something very haphazardly because we there is a lot of planning involved, but when you're not afraid of getting on a piece of equipment you're not I mean, I drove semis on the on the farm, right right when you're not afraid of that heavy equipment and you say, hey, listen, I, I'm pretty sure I can do this. Um, just teach me, show me how to do it, right, and I'll do it. And you're not afraid to do it.
Speaker 1:Uh, I think that's half the battle and sometimes, if you're just not afraid to wing it, I mean be like, hey, I've never driven one of these, but get in work. All right, let's go.
Speaker 2:Basic knowledge of it, I'll figure it out right, because I I don't think there's a leader out there that ever, you know, made progress by procrastination. You have to make a decision. Sometimes it's right now. It might not be the right decision, but at least you're making a decision and you're hoping to move forward. Yep, all right. Well, so I think.
Speaker 1:I might bring more to the table.
Speaker 2:You might pick me up, might pick you up so we're going to move over to Dr Domain, because he's in the studio, of course, every day with us and we want to know, dr Domain, what do you bring to the table that would make us pick you up and put you in our pickup truck and say, yeah, he's part of our team. I'm younger, younger than who Younger?
Speaker 3:than who See the shock on my face.
Speaker 2:You're not younger than Bobby. What?
Speaker 3:else you got, I was a Boy Scout. Does that count? It does count.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you are not just a boy scout you're a boy scout leader, right so you will train people yeah, um, what other skills do you?
Speaker 3:have yeah, I mean a lot of the trains around.
Speaker 2:You know getting the essentials and I carry them every day, you do let's talk about that for a minute, because this was interesting when I first met you. You have a package in your vehicle and what do you refer to it as?
Speaker 3:10 essentials. 10 essentials, it's more than 10 and if you know, you got a source of fire, you got a source of hydration, which is your water, source of shelter, which is a little half shelter, uh, and various other things that you've got in it and you carry that in a backpack, and you also carry a water bladder in your backpack yeah, that's my hydration, yeah, yeah and so those are things that you carry with you all the time.
Speaker 3:Okay, yep and my boys carry that as well okay they're trained to carry a lot, and so you have some other skills too.
Speaker 2:Uh, you were in the military, you're in the military. Thank you for your service, sir, you're welcome. Um, also, you are a pilot and you were an instructor. Yeah, and so you have some skills there. Um, technical skills that would probably come in handy because we need to hijack a plane.
Speaker 3:I'm the man.
Speaker 1:Hey, I can get it off the runway and up in the air thanks to the Civil Air Patrol, but we did not make it to the landing part on my training. That's the tricky part, am.
Speaker 2:I out of the truck now and he's in Because I need to know, because what's really going to happen is it's going to be my pickup truck that you're picking people up in and you're going to drop me off and put him back in the truck. I mean, you know, we have three seats, yeah, yeah, so what other things do you think you bring to the table, dr Domain?
Speaker 3:Well, common sense, I think, is a big thing. You just got to understand.
Speaker 1:Well, that's getting rarer and rarer.
Speaker 3:now, you know, for people to have common sense, there's an aspect of being fearless where you don't feel like oh, I can't do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or you don't have that panic where it overtakes your common sense, I do have panic about certain things.
Speaker 2:That's not it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's not it. What would your?
Speaker 2:panic be I don't like heights but yet here you are a pilot. How does that work?
Speaker 3:that's really different because I feel like I have control of the situation I can control the altitude and everything like that are you sure it's not?
Speaker 1:because if you fall off a 20-foot roof you'll probably survive, but if you fall out of an airplane you're not surviving.
Speaker 3:Yeah, maybe that's it, I just know that it's over and it'll be a quick death well falling off of like an rv or something like that, the roof of an rv.
Speaker 2:We aren't even going to talk about that right now. But, um, when you talked about the common sense, you know, one of the things that plays out and this is in strategic planning too, which I know you learned in the military is, um, you know, if, if we have this one action, does that, what action does that lead to? Right, so, if I do this, what happens here? Or if this happens, what happens next? And so you kind of have to go through a process. Uh, in everything and I think that's in life, you know, if I make this decision to, to take this action, well, what's going to be the result?
Speaker 1:or the consequence. And that's why they always said and they drilled it into our heads prior proper planning prevents piss-poor performance.
Speaker 2:Ah, mini-peas.
Speaker 1:Mini-peas.
Speaker 2:Mini-peas. Did you learn that, Dr Domain?
Speaker 3:No, but there is a skill where you've got to filter your own urine to make it drinkable water.
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, yes, Stop talking about pee, that's an important skill put me on the truck for that one put you on the truck for that one we're drinking piss tonight sad memories right there yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:I don't think that I could ever do that. Um. So, you know, is that enough? Is that enough, Bobby? I mean, you know, maybe some of the, maybe some people are are listening and they're thinking about. You know, what do I really bring to the table? And you know, really am I of value to society if there's a disaster.
Speaker 1:And you know, my friend and I talk about this a lot and one of the things I tell him is how about, instead of, instead of spending $20,000 on like gold or silver, how about you invest that in a fricking hobby? Learn to grow something, learn to build something. So you know, that's a good you have something stockpiled that they can't take away, it's not going to lose value, right, and there's going to be a reason for me to pick you up on the way, we might just pick you to be on our team.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, um, I think that's probably all that we have for today, and I hope that a lot of our listeners are kind of sitting back going do I need to learn a skill? Do I need to, you know, think about what I can hone into? To, you know, really focus on. If we did have a disaster, what would I do, and and, so that I'm not just helpless and waiting on other people. But again, that's all we have for today. We really appreciate you joining us here at the rabbit hole studio. Be sure to follow us. We look forward to spending time with you each week. Please, like us, and if you have some positive feedback, like us. And if you have some positive feedback.
Speaker 2:Oh, wait, a minute before we go out, I just have to say this um, bobby, somebody called us out on our website about the um, the uh, party line you were telling me about that before we recorded we had mentioned in one of our previous uh sessions, one of our previous podcasts, yeah, uh, about how our communication, we were talking about networking and kids and you had mentioned a party line and somebody said, hey, how old is your daughter? And I said she's 43.
Speaker 1:And they said about to be 44.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they said you know party lines were kind of gone by the 1980s in the state of Iowa.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, the state of Iowa is about six years behind everybody else, let's just put that out there. But I do. I specifically remember party lines because my older sister, who's four and a half years older than me, so and I remember you know, you and my dad were still married, so I was young, I mean I was really young, but man, I remember her being on that line with all her friends and and meeting people and stuff. And I remember a couple of her friends, but one in particular got the absolute crap whooped out of her because of the phone bill from the charges for the party line and it was one of my sister's friends and I'm just and it was like 25 dollars.
Speaker 2:25 dollars was a lot of money back then for a phone early 80s yeah that was a lot of money.
Speaker 2:Well, anyway, I just wanted to bring that up and clear that up, because somebody did ask about it and I just wanted to call you out on it, bobby, and see what you had to say I remember it, I remember it be sure to like us, give us some positive feedback, and if there's a topic that you want us to talk about, feel free to make sure that you drop us a line at boomerandjenexer at gmailcom.
Speaker 2:We do have a Facebook page. It is Boomer and Jen Exer Walk into a bar, and so if you want to look that up, that would be great. If you have hate mail, we're not interested. We like to have fun and we are not any experts by any stretch of the imagination. We just like to talk about different topics. So I'm Jane Burt and I'm Bobby.
Speaker 1:Joy and you're stuck with us. Peace out Later.