SPEAKER_02 0:04

Waterloo lemon lime. Can you hear that, Fizz? Take it away, see, baby.

SPEAKER_09 0:11

I don't even know what to say to that, honestly.

SPEAKER_05 0:15

They hate us because they ain't us, girl. Alright, I gotta make my little snack here, so lead lead the way.

SPEAKER_09 0:23

Alright, well, uh, today's gonna be kind of a random episode. We're gonna do a little bit of story time. Just we have a bunch of like random topics that we wanna talk about. So you can call this episode story time with the stripe parents.

SPEAKER_04 0:43

Started off by stripe mommy.

SPEAKER_09 0:46

Yes. Um I was thinking about which what name I wanted to use for my um uh Instagram account that's gonna be tied to my TikTok. And Jake goes, why don't you do the stripe mother? Or the lawn mom, the lawnmother.

SPEAKER_05 1:06

Well, the ones that you've been trying didn't work, and then you're like, no. It's like okay, sorry.

SPEAKER_06 1:12

Like she's like, well, I don't want to be tied too much to just that. And I was like, okay, like that's cool. Like don't hate the player, hate the game. Like, just trying to help you here.

SPEAKER_09 1:22

Okay. So anyway, guys, we have quite a bit of little quite a bit of um stories that we've got from just today, believe it or not. Um, babe, do you want to go first or do you want me to go first?

SPEAKER_05 1:39

I am currently making a tomato and feta salad, so you can go right ahead.

SPEAKER_09 1:44

Okay. Um, just make sure you have enough avocado oil for that, babe.

SPEAKER_06 1:49

Um do we still have that dressing that I like? Yes. Okay, I'm doing the vinaigrette. Yes, it's I'm doing I'm doing the vanet.

SPEAKER_09 1:58

Isn't it nice to just not know what we have in the house, but to know I keep it well stocked? Must be nice.

SPEAKER_06 2:04

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_09 2:06

Um so guys, a story that we had um today was this one's kind of funny, so let me pull it up with a conversation with this guy.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Keep talking.

SPEAKER_09 2:24

Okay. Okay, so first, Jake.

SPEAKER_05 2:28

Just FYI, that dead airspace. We we can't have that for these people. That was a good six to seven seconds of silence. They might think that they're getting a phone call because of that silence.

SPEAKER_06 2:39

You you gotta be better than that. Okay.

SPEAKER_09 2:42

Why don't you make your tomato and feta salad then before we start?

SPEAKER_06 2:45

I'm doing it as quickly as I can. Raw, baby, unfiltered. Go right ahead.

SPEAKER_09 2:51

So Jake sends me a lawn care quote today to handle. Um, so I reach out to the person they wanted a texted proposal.

unknown 3:01

Excuse me.

SPEAKER_09 3:03

So I reach out to them. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but lately I've been doing like a summarized version of our quotes in the beginning because at this time of the year, people are just either in a bind, they want a one-time cut, that, but they don't want to pay for like the rush fee or to get on the schedule. Or like at this point, if it's so far out from the summer, your lawn's probably overgrown, you're not gonna want to pay the fee to get it down to like regular season growth, etc. etc. etc. So I feel like these are the people that are very unprepared, or either they have equipment break or whatever. So I reach out and I say, you know, here's your quote. This is what you'd be looking at per week. If this sounds good to you, I will send you next steps to get you added to our schedule. I would like to have a done bi-weekly. I think they meant it done bi-weekly. And bi-weekly is spelled bi weekly, not BY. So we'll give this person the benefit of the doubt that it might be uh autocorrect. Yep. It is green bubbles, though, so they definitely don't have an idea.

SPEAKER_06 4:16

That's already sus.

SPEAKER_09 4:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 4:19

I'm texting you at green bubs. Sus.

SPEAKER_09 4:22

Yeah. So um I said, okay, let me update.

SPEAKER_06 4:26

The only exception to green bubbles is Connor Loykes, who is the sauna dad. Follow him on Instagram. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_09 4:32

Um oh, and then I said I said, okay, let me update the quote for bi-weekly service. He'd be looking at blah, blah, blah, every maintenance call. Okay, do you accept cash? We do a card on file system. After each maintenance call, we charge the card on file. I will send you the link for that if you are interested in proceeding at that price for the bi-weekly schedule. And they say, okay. Not like yes or no, not like okay, yeah, go ahead and send it. Just okay. So at this point, I'm confused because I'm like, wait, okay, as in okay to what I said, or like okay, let's rock and roll.

SPEAKER_06 5:10

Or like, okay, let's okay, I'm gonna digest this.

SPEAKER_09 5:13

Yeah. So I said, you're going to proceed with us, question mark. And then they responded and said, I'm going to pass it this time, but I'll keep you in mind. And I said, No problem. Thank you for thinking of us.

SPEAKER_06 5:27

Please hold, guys. Feta tomato salad with a little bit of French vinaigrette, but the secret sauce, listen to this. Little black pepper.

SPEAKER_03 5:39

All right, proceed, baby.

SPEAKER_09 5:40

People have heard of a pepper grinder, babe.

SPEAKER_03 5:42

Yeah, but like, honey, podcasts, it's all about audio.

SPEAKER_09 5:47

Babe, relax. You got that grinder from Home Goods, okay?

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Well, I'm not I'm not saying it's the best grinder.

SPEAKER_09 5:52

It's not like a fancy grinder.

SPEAKER_06 5:53

I'm I'm just I'm just adding context, okay?

SPEAKER_09 5:57

Okay, babe. So anyway.

SPEAKER_06 6:01

Follow me blindly.

SPEAKER_09 6:02

Why do people why are people like this? Like you reach out for service urgently, and then you, you know, we quote you, and then you're you don't even say anything after we quote give you a quote. Like to me, that's so disrespectful because like I'm taking time out of my day to give you a quote. Granted, like, that's my job, and that's a part of you know our job, but at the same time, the least you can say is like no thank you or whatever. So that was problem number one. Problem number two.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

I took my second bite of this thing, it is fantastic. Oh my god, you guys. Wow, I've outdone myself.

SPEAKER_09 6:51

Are you done?

SPEAKER_04 6:53

Part two.

SPEAKER_09 6:54

Okay. Second person. Jake sends me another quilt. This person is just interested in a one-time cut because they're gonna be out of town. We already serviced a person in this neighborhood. So just across the street, basically. Okay, speak into your microphone and stop eating your salad.

SPEAKER_07 7:10

I'm just letting you know, across the street.

SPEAKER_09 7:12

Okay. Across the street in the same neighborhood, like I said. So Jake sends me his information. We tell him that we're gonna match the price of the neighbor that we handle. So I reach out to him and I said, you know, Jake mentioned that he's matching your neighbor's price. We do a card on file system, which I can send you a link for. Otherwise, you can also give a check to the crew when they come if that works for you. And I said, You're looking for service for the week of August 3rd only, correct? Uh yes, prefer the sixth. Awfully specific.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

So we're in that subdivision on Tuesdays.

SPEAKER_09 7:53

Which will be the fourth.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

The fourth. Which I think you prefaced that it would be on Tuesday weather. No, I didn't.

SPEAKER_09 8:00

Not in the text. You may have when you talked to him on the phone, but I did not.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

And then he goes, Yeah, I'd prefer the sixth. Oh, I bet you would, Panama Rad.

SPEAKER_09 8:11

Yeah. So he says, Yes, prefer the sixth. Won't be home to pay the crew. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

I'm glad you're telling us what day you want it cut when you're not even gonna be home.

SPEAKER_09 8:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

Got it.

SPEAKER_09 8:24

Great. I'll let them know. I just sent you the link. I just sent the link to your email to input the card on file that we'll be charged following your scheduled service visit. And then he just says, okay. And then you said, I'll sign up. And I said, I saw that. Thank you. Blah, blah, blah. So again, you want to dictate to me what day you want service when we're doing you a favor and fitting you in on our schedule that has been booked for weeks.

SPEAKER_07 8:55

You spoke to someone on the phone immediately.

SPEAKER_09 8:58

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_07 8:59

You were then put in touch with the person who handles pricing and scheduling. Within what? 15, 20 minutes? You were heading out the door.

SPEAKER_09 9:09

No, I did it when I got to the hair appointment. So maybe like 45 minutes.

SPEAKER_07 9:14

And then you have the audacity to say what day you want the lawn car?

SPEAKER_09 9:23

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_07 9:24

What are you doing?

SPEAKER_09 9:29

So, and then we had another guy today who reached out to Jake to get a lawn uh landscaping quote. And he's going to be listing this property for sale. And so he wants to kind of just like spruce it up for the minimal amount possible to make the listing photos look really nice.

SPEAKER_07 9:50

Did he say the minimum amount? Okay, he said that in that.

SPEAKER_09 9:54

No, in the screenshot that he sent to you, or in the submission form, he says, you know, as low maintenance as possible for kind of just like the bare minimum, I think is what he said.

SPEAKER_05 10:06

Yeah, but he's not saying to me, he's not saying the lowest cost.

SPEAKER_09 10:10

He's just saying No, he's not saying the lowest cost, but he's saying he doesn't want to quite a lot of money make it look pretty, but you know, we don't need to go crazy here. Right.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

I think it's it's the second most beautiful house on the lake that we take care of.

SPEAKER_09 10:22

It's very beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Beautiful number one is agreed. Already under our umbrella.

SPEAKER_09 10:27

Yeah, very beautiful house. Um and of course, like we love, yeah, any other low-cost improvements that can enhance properties presentation. That's what he said. So I reach out to this guy, I tell him, um, you know, we can Jake can Jake's available tomorrow. He's got a quote at 8 a.m. in the area. He can be there by about 8 45 to walk the property if that works for him. I'm not just gonna send Jake there to walk a property if I don't tell this guy that that's happening. So I also said, Can you tell me when you're looking to list so we can make sure we can work within that time frame? And then he goes, Does he need me to be home to walk the property? Nope. It's an outside job, so we don't need you to be home.

SPEAKER_07 11:20

But I appreciate and you did preface too, Jake is more than happy to meet you. This is his soonest availability.

SPEAKER_09 11:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

But if you would like him to look at it as soon as possible, right? He's available on the city.

SPEAKER_09 11:34

Your urgency is we recognize that you need urgency. Here's when we can fit you in. What works for the schedule. It just so happened to that you were going to be in the same area tomorrow. Um, we have professional photos for the listing scheduled for August 14th. So working for the work to be completed before then, if possible. Which today is the 28th. So it doesn't exactly give us a big time frame to work with. Um, we typically are booking at least like three to four weeks out right now. So uh just a little bit under the gun to kind of go between it's not like it's a project we've already quoted, and he's like, go ahead, let's proceed. Like it's probably gonna be a day and a half of Jake preparing a quote, you know, getting it sent to him, the guy looking at it, deciding if he wants to do it because he's probably getting a few quotes, not just us. Um, and then deciding whether he wants to proceed. So, all in all, we could be looking at Friday when we finally get the go-ahead to complete this project. And then we've literally got two weeks to get it done, which means we probably have to shift a couple of other projects around to be able to get this in. So I tell him, I said, okay, perfect. No need to be home. He is in the area for another quote at eight. So I'll let him know to spring by afterwards and take a look. We can certainly move some things around to fit you in before 8:14. Jake or I will be in touch tomorrow once he has walked the property with a quote. And he said, sounds great, thank you. So I totally understand a typical person would think that this is an adequate amount of time to give somebody for doing a project like this. But in all reality, like any lawn care and landscaping company, like you're in the middle of the season. You're probably booking like four to five weeks out. Am I right in saying that?

SPEAKER_05 13:33

Yeah, yes and no. I mean, as you know, and you and I have talked about, um, June and July can be slower months for some landscaping companies. Um, we're blessed where it's not for us.

SPEAKER_07 13:47

But um, and this is you know, this is kind of expected within the realm of real estate. What what?

SPEAKER_09 13:55

We bring me some goldfish.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Goldfish?

SPEAKER_05 13:58

Some of Stinky's goldfish? Yeah, no problem. Um, so that you know, that urgency is pretty important within real estate deals. Um obviously you just you charge accordingly for that. Obviously, I'm not gonna be screwing someone else over that's either put a deposit down, right, or um, you know, we're not gonna just necessarily stop a project, but this is gonna be become one where it's like, hey, we've got three hours today, let's capitalize on the three hours.

SPEAKER_06 14:28

Yeah, let's get this done. Okay, and then we're gonna wrap up such and such. We got two hours the next day, we're gonna do two hours.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Yeah. And then hey, I think if we push ahead, we can get this job done in half a day. The other half of the day is dedicated to the site. I want to be off this site.

SPEAKER_06 14:44

Yeah, that's the expectation, guys. Got it? Cool.

SPEAKER_09 14:47

It just, you know, it in some respect, I I do understand that part of it, but also like if you were, you know, obviously, if you've already got listing photos scheduled, you've are you've been talking to an agent about getting this on the books.

SPEAKER_05 15:04

It's probably you probably should have contacted us about two weeks ago.

SPEAKER_09 15:07

Yeah, maybe exactly, yeah, because you there's typically like a gap period between like photos and when you sign your listing agreement, which is all good and fine, but at the same time, like maybe just give people a little bit more of notice before you say But you know what?

SPEAKER_05 15:25

And and devil's advocate, maybe this guy had a rapid career change or whatever, and he's just gotta like they said, hey, we need you out of state in a month.

SPEAKER_06 15:37

Potentially, so there could be that too.

SPEAKER_09 15:39

Potentially.

SPEAKER_06 15:48

Beautiful. What flavor are you rocking there? Traditional the standard traditional Chad. Yeah, we love a traditional Chad.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

So what's next?

SPEAKER_09 16:06

Well, those are really all the ones that I got as far as um All right, we're 16 minutes in, so I think we wrap it up here.

SPEAKER_07 16:13

I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_09 16:14

As far as um stories from the week so far, I just feel like we also like have had some like personal stories right. Like, I think I've shared just briefly that I've been dealing with some like health stuff from postpartum that I am trying to Oh, you're gonna get me fired up.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

Yeah, you're gonna get me fired up, maybe figure out.

SPEAKER_09 16:38

And our healthcare system is total shit. They're you're no, you're you're told to go to the doctor when you aren't feeling well, right? But when you go to the doctor, they're just treating us the symptom, they're not treating you in particular and trying to figure out the root cause of what these symptoms are coming from. They're literally just treating a symptom. And you know, in the past, I've had to advocate for myself why a full blood panel is not required postpartum is absolutely mind-boggling because you'd think that'd be the first thing you want to do is check somebody's levels.

SPEAKER_07 17:15

Let's check all the major levels metabolically that's going on inside your body to see if there's anything we need to adjust dietary-wise. Potentially um Go ahead.

SPEAKER_09 17:31

No, I was just gonna say it's just crazy that like when you are pregnant, every time you go to the doctor every six weeks or four weeks or whatever, they take your blood every single time. Once the baby arrives, you just are like good fucking luck.

SPEAKER_04 17:44

SOL. Good luck. Best of luck, mommy.

SPEAKER_09 17:48

And you know, uh throughout this postpartum experience, Jake and I have really had a lot of um, we've really seen a lot of just shit that goes on in the healthcare system. So and it's very frustrating.

SPEAKER_05 18:03

So you know, Catherine goes in, she's you got some questions about what she's dealing with, and uh the the response is just yeah, well, that's just that's kind of normal.

SPEAKER_07 18:18

Really? This symptom that I'm experiencing is normal.

SPEAKER_09 18:22

That I've never experienced before.

SPEAKER_04 18:24

That I've never experienced before in my life, and I'm not seeing much online, I'm not seeing anything in research studies. Help me understand this.

SPEAKER_07 18:35

And you asked, hey, could this be a side effect of such and such? Hmm. As she's opening Google and Chat GPT, yep. A fucking doctor.

SPEAKER_09 18:49

Yep. At a Henry Ford, so not just some rinky ink clinic I'm going to.

SPEAKER_05 18:54

I'm not the brightest guy. I've got my bachelor's of science from the Grand Valley State University.

SPEAKER_09 19:03

Oh, trust me, we're aware of your exercise science degree.

SPEAKER_05 19:06

So, you know, you were discussing with me a couple days prior what you're going through and everything. And I'm thinking, well, it could be this and it could be this. There is a potential that it might be this. And I'm going off of eight years from when I graduated college. Very outdated information.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:28

The information you learn in school is outdated within a month and a half. So, but yay, you know, I got a foundation. Let me try and just let's have a conversation about it.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:40

And I'm saying, you know, more than likely, I bet you the doctor's gonna say this, this, or this. She said basically all three. I could be a fucking doctor at this point. Because if this is all it takes, is not one having an answer, and you just go, anyone can go online and look up these questions. So then it becomes, so Catherine learned this great line. Go ahead and tell them what you've learned on social media.

SPEAKER_09 20:08

Oh, yeah. So I obviously being postpartum, I have found I follow a lot of people who are either postpartum mothers or they're just kind of like dealing with health issues from that experience or whatever the case. Just to, and this is not me beating a dead horse. This is just me as an outlet to try to feel normal, is that I follow all these people to know that like what I'm feeling is Do I have some common ground with other moms? Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 20:39

Or am I just insane?

SPEAKER_09 20:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:41

No, I I this is actually pretty normal what I'm experiencing. Here's how they handle it.

SPEAKER_09 20:48

This is what it is for me.

SPEAKER_04 20:50

So this is why people are listening to this podcast.

SPEAKER_09 20:52

Yep. So I um I followed this girl, and she owns a um like a women's health supplement company, so to speak. And she was just saying she had a very traumatic labor and delivery. She afterwards, when she was six weeks postpartum, she didn't stop bleeding, and she ended up having retained placenta that was inside of her, and she had to have emergency surgery to get that out because that's very deadly for a woman. Um, so, anyways, she's talking about how she has these regular visits with her doctor now because of these symptoms that she's experienced. And she said that what she has found and what people have been telling her, just doctors across the board, because she's very much into, I would say, more wellness than going to like traditional doctors, because at this point, you know, with our healthcare system, you're you're all on your own. You advocate for yourself, or else you don't get treated for your problem. And she was saying that when you go to the doctor, if you're telling them symptoms that you're having and they're either brushing it off, saying that it's normal or that this isn't common, blah, blah, blah, whatever type of stuff that's probably on some script that they have to read so the insurance companies, you know, don't have to pay for anything. Um she said that you say, um, can you write in my chart that you are declining to look into this further?

SPEAKER_03 22:34

And she said dun, dun, done.

SPEAKER_09 22:36

99% of the time, that will completely change their tune because what doctor's office is going to want something in writing on your chart that they refuse to look into something. And then if you know something persists and ends up into a greater issue, there is record that you told them this was happening and they didn't do anything to try to figure out what's going on. And so I ended up doing this for myself because I'm not getting anywhere with the doctor. You know, they're running all of these sorts of tests, and I'm just like, you know, everything's coming back normal, but like I know my body, I know that there's something wrong. I've never experienced anything like this in my life. And so I say that to her via this email exchange that we're having after my appointment. And she goes, Well, here's what I can do after I said this, which of course we knew was gonna happen because she doesn't want it documented that she's not willing to do this. So she says, I'm gonna put you on this just for, you know, just to see if this helps your symptoms. If it doesn't, I'm gonna recommend you to a specialist. So, okay, now we're getting somewhere. Why did it take for me to say that and advocate for myself for you to actually do something? Your guess is as good as mine. But um just as a tip, if you are, you know, experiencing these types of things where the doctor's kind of just shrugging you off, that would be my advice to anybody, which would be why are you smiling?

SPEAKER_05 24:14

Keep going with your thought and then I'll r circle back.

SPEAKER_09 24:16

Oh. Um, that would be my advice to you, would be to say, please document this for my chart that you're not willing to look into this so that you know you can get them to actually do something for you, which I mean it's unfortunate it even has to get to that point. But like I said, I feel like we're in this day and age where you advocate for yourself. That was such a huge thing during COVID, is people were trying to find alternative options to fix their problems versus you know, just the standard, oh, just get the vaccine and it will help you. Um, so, anyways, go ahead with your thought.

SPEAKER_05 24:51

Um, so I was just looking. Well, first off, I mean, before I get into this and my squirrel brain, I just can't believe that this is the state we're in with you're going to a doctor already knowing that one, they're either going to disappoint you or this is a waste of time. That's what just blows my mind. And most people that study medicine, they want to help people.

SPEAKER_08 25:27

Of course, that's why they do it.

SPEAKER_05 25:28

They want to advance the healthcare industry. They might, and there's some, well, my dad was a doctor, so I'm just gonna be a doctor. There's nothing wrong with that either. But like, I'm just seeing so much laziness across the board. Like, okay, you made it, you're a family practitioner, or whatever. And now this is when you give the half-ass, like, oh, this is normal. What your experience says normal, or you don't even have the freaking answer, and instead you're googling right in front of my wife. How about just saying, you know what? I don't know that information off the top of my head, or have come across this. Let me look into this.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:16

I would have so much more respect for you as a medical professional than just opening up Chat GPT or Google and doing it right in front of my face.

SPEAKER_09 26:31

And for that visit, they'll probably bill my insurance at least $350 for basically doing that.

SPEAKER_05 26:38

Yeah, no, absolutely. Everyone's got to get paid. Yeah, absolutely. Um, so while you were kind of chit-chatting and debriefing, I'm listening, but I've heard the story, so I just wanted you to have some time to explain it to the listeners. So I was just going over some of the stats of the podcast and uh just some really cool numbers. Like right now, of all time, we're in 19 countries, which I think is really cool. So, of the total, obviously the US is gonna be the most downloads. And I was just looking at the uh the cities. Guess where we have five downloads in Michigan, sweetheart?

SPEAKER_07 27:22

Where I think you might find this one interesting. Garden City. Oh intriguing.

SPEAKER_04 27:32

Intriguing, intriguing, intriguing, intriguing. Um, babe, there's five in Knoxville, Tennessee. You think that's all star power, or you think we got a fellow brother or sister?

SPEAKER_09 27:43

Oh yeah, stars listening to it five.

SPEAKER_05 27:45

You think it's okay, so she's listening to five. Um Pennsylvania, I think I know who's listening in PA. Um quite a few in Detroit. 73. It's our highest download spot.

SPEAKER_09 28:03

That's cool.

SPEAKER_05 28:04

So I'm very curious who's listening in Detroit.

SPEAKER_09 28:06

Well, a lot of people's phones probably ping, maybe if they're working in that area.

SPEAKER_05 28:11

Yeah, but like I would love to know who's listening in Detroit. So if you happen to be listening to this, shoot me a DM or something. I would love to know who's listening. Um, we got Philly. Philadelphia's got 27 downloads.

SPEAKER_08 28:24

The heck is listening to us, yep.

SPEAKER_05 28:27

What?

SPEAKER_08 28:27

I said, who the heck is listening to us?

SPEAKER_05 28:29

Yeah, yeah. And then lots in Royal Oak, Utica, and Waterford. Um, but I mean that that is just so cool, guys, to see all of these cities, both in Michigan, but now across the Midwest, for the most part, it's looking like we got some in Texas, um, some in Washington. I mean, that's just so freaking cool. And then to scroll down, sorry to cut you off, honey. Um, and if I'm looking at um stats, location countries, click that. And if I do all, I mean Canada, multiple in Canada, multiple in Japan, multiple in Bermuda, quite a few in Australia. Check out this three in Brazil, nice, Costa Rica, England, Turkey, Lithuania, and I could keep going. That is just so cool. And more than likely, it's probably just a a butt tap for the ones and like you know, two in Lithuania, but who knows? Maybe I got a brother or sister in Lithuania interested.

SPEAKER_04 29:41

That's just so cool to me.

SPEAKER_05 29:44

Very, very I think what would be really cool, babe, is when we get the final spot of where we want to like officially podcast in video. I think it would be so cool to get a map, a global map, and then we put pins where the podcast is touched. You're not even remotely interested in that.

SPEAKER_08 30:08

It's a cool idea.

SPEAKER_05 30:09

Why are you shitting on that?

SPEAKER_09 30:11

I'm not. I just said it's a cool idea.

SPEAKER_05 30:13

Babe, you have some really, really out there ideas, and I am nothing but a beacon of positivity in life.

SPEAKER_04 30:22

And yet here's you.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:25

What did you say? Cool? Or what did you say? That's an idea. What did you just say?

SPEAKER_09 30:28

Yeah, I said that's an interesting idea, I think.

SPEAKER_05 30:31

That's an interesting idea. If that doesn't tell you that your wife is not at all in favor of that, I don't know what could be more clear.

SPEAKER_09 30:41

So on that note, um, we've gotten some feedback regarding our last episode about mental health and just kind of like letting you know that like, you know, any feelings that you have are valid and that we're here for you and all that. And so I just want to say thank you for the feedback, and that, you know, if that episode helped anybody, like that's the whole reason why we did it, and why I felt like God was putting it on my heart to talk about that kind of stuff. So I appreciate you know, you letting Jake know, or whatever that you know, that had an influence on you, or you liked that episode because it's not really something that's uh a topic that people particularly like to talk about, but I always feel like once you hear the validity in somebody else saying that they may feel the way that you do, um, that really helps. So I appreciate the feedback that um we've been getting on that episode. Um babe, do you have any other stories from the week? I've got kind of a funny story from earlier today.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Do it, hit it up.

SPEAKER_09 31:57

So um, we do not uh I don't breastfeed Ezekiel anymore. I stopped when he was about eight weeks old. And so we feed him formula, and we Jake and I have a running joke in this house. It's whoever opens the last can of formula has to let the other person know.

SPEAKER_05 32:19

You gotta notify the other parent.

SPEAKER_09 32:21

Hey, we're on last can so that one of us can go online and order him some more.

SPEAKER_05 32:25

So I was accosted the first time this happened because verbally accosted, yes. Like you didn't let me know you're opening the last can. Uh I'm sorry, what?

SPEAKER_09 32:36

There is no more.

SPEAKER_05 32:38

What do you what do you mean yeah you gotta let me know when you open the last can. Okay, well, it's got three scoops missing out of it, so this is the last can, just so you're aware. Do you think when the striped mommy opens the last can that striped daddy gets notified? Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_09 33:00

To be fair, I know I knew that it was the last can that we had, and we were about halfway through it, so I went ahead and ordered more cans from Target, and I did it for shipping because they were out of stock at the store of his specific one. And Target typically is like next day shipping. You know, I didn't realize that our son was gonna be a complete tank and eat an entire half can of formula by the next morning. I thought that was.

SPEAKER_05 33:31

So he was just famished and he just kept going. Yeah, yeah, he's going through a gross spurt right now. It's just nuts.

SPEAKER_09 33:37

So anyway, I had ordered three cans for him to come in today.

SPEAKER_05 33:41

And these are like the biggest can of the formula that we can get is we don't play this baby game of you know, get the cute little ones. Nah, give me the biggest and baddest can you got.

SPEAKER_09 33:53

I only let you buy three at a time, so you're not like hoarding or buying for your own store or whatever. So you literally can only buy three at a time. So I order it, and I'm looking at Jake last night, and I'm like, I I I don't know when it's gonna arrive, and I don't think we have enough to last until tomorrow.

SPEAKER_05 34:12

So then I was like, you want me to just run and get a little can?

SPEAKER_09 34:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:15

And you're like, nah, like it we should be Gucci.

SPEAKER_09 34:17

Like, well, I told him I said, you can just go in the morning when you go to the gym. You know, Meyer is literally a half mile down the road. But we have obviously we've talked about this before. We have a sick dog. Um, Jake heard her crying last night and was so sweet and came down and slept on the couch right next to her so that she didn't because I didn't want to lift her because like her tummy's bothering her and her back is been yelping.

SPEAKER_05 34:45

So I didn't want to pick her up and bring her upstairs because like she doesn't yelp much, and like when you touch her right now, she just she yelps. So then I let her out, she went potty, and then I I she kept going to the stairs, like, I'm ready to go up. And it's like she can't even physically get up the stairs right now, let alone, like I said, I'm not gonna pick her up. So I'm like, Doodle, come here, like doodle, come here, doodle, come here, and finally I got her to lay on Mozzie's place next to me on the couch, and she just laid right down. I just like petted her, and then I was like, Well, I'm probably I should probably just stay down here the rest of the night. Yeah, and so of course my phone's upstairs. So I'm thinking so when I came down, it was about 1 30, and I'm like, I should my body's pretty good at waking up naturally, but I was like, I should probably go grab my phone, but like I don't want her to get anxious. Try to come up the stairs, yeah, yeah, and so I was like, let's just see how it goes.

SPEAKER_08 35:40

That was the right call.

SPEAKER_05 35:42

And so I roll over and I look at the oven when I finally wake up again, and it was like 6 15. And I was like, Oh, I slept good, and then I'm thinking, oh, that alarm going off has to be driving Catherine.

SPEAKER_09 35:55

Oh my god, it was it, and uh And it was so far away from me that I had to literally get up every time it would go off because I assumed that you were just like in the bathroom.

SPEAKER_05 36:05

Oh, so you didn't even know that I left all night.

SPEAKER_09 36:07

No, I remember you going down to like let her outside because you heard her crying, but I didn't know that you came down here to sleep, so it kept going.

SPEAKER_05 36:16

Oh, yeah, duh, because when I woke you up and gave you a kiss, I was like, hey, I'm gonna jump in the shower or whatever I was doing. And I was like, Man, poor doodle, and you're like, what? And I was like, Yeah, I just I felt bad for her, and like, I'm sorry I had to sleep on the couch. And you're like, You slept on the couch?

SPEAKER_09 36:34

Yeah, I was like, that was so cute.

SPEAKER_05 36:35

You're like, that's so sweet. And I was like, You didn't even know I was missing, and you're like, Nope.

SPEAKER_09 36:41

No, I literally kept hearing the alarm and I kept turning it off, and I'm like, where did he go? So I just assumed that you were either letting her outside or you were on the toilet, like you on multiple nine-minute snoozes.

SPEAKER_05 36:52

That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_09 36:54

So it got to a point to where, like, I think after like the third one, I just turned what was so funny, babe.

SPEAKER_05 36:59

No, no, no. I came up at like 6 37 or something, so that alarm has been going off since 4 a.m.

SPEAKER_09 37:06

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 37:07

So roughly what is that? Nine times five is 45. So nine times six, sixty-three. So roughly five and a half times it went off twice. So you're at 10 plus then half. So you had snoozed that so many times. And what was so funny when I go to grab my phone that was in the middle of the bed, I noticed that I could see the countdown, it was gonna go off again in two minutes. So I'm like, oh my god, she didn't even turn this off. She's just been snoozing, snoozing, snooze.

SPEAKER_09 37:38

No, I did because I hit the bottom button instead of the top one, but apparently that didn't work and I missed the buttons, but I thought for sure I had turned it off. Um so, anyways, Jake obviously woke up uh late because he didn't have his phone, so he didn't get a chance to go get the formula this morning. So I'm making his bottle for the first time before putting him down for his nap, and I'm like, oh shoot, like I think we've only got enough for like one more bottle. And I'm like, Well, I'm just putting him down for a nap. I can't leave. So I'm like, I'll just order something on, or I'll order him some from Target.

SPEAKER_05 38:19

And Striped Daddy's rushing around because he's gotta be home by 2 45 for this hair appointment tonight.

SPEAKER_09 38:23

Yeah. So I'm like, I'll just order it from Target's app because we've spent so much money on formula, we got a free year of the Target Circle 360. That's like the free delivery. So I put in an order and it said a delivery between 9 and 10 a.m. I said, perfect. It'll come while he's napping, whatever. You get a notification at like 9 a.m. that they can't deliver it between until between 10 and 11 a.m.

SPEAKER_05 38:48

All right, so not the end of the world. I'll give him a pouch.

SPEAKER_09 38:51

Not the end of the world, yep. But then I said then it becomes 10 a.m. and it hasn't even been shopped yet. So I'm like, yeah, there ain't no way that's happening. So I canceled the order and I'm like, I'll just do it on Instacart. So order it from uh Meyer on Instacart, pay for the like priority delivery fee, which is like $7.99. And it says it's supposed to come within one hour. I'm like, okay. So within an hour, again, nobody had been assigned to like shop the order. And I'm like, what the hell is my luck today with these orders?

SPEAKER_05 39:26

So now are you just considering packing him up, putting him in the Jeep, and going to get up?

SPEAKER_09 39:30

No, because he wasn't awake yet.

SPEAKER_05 39:32

I'm saying, like, when he wakes up.

SPEAKER_09 39:34

I was thinking about it, but then I was like, you know, doodle sick. I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna be able to manage it. Plus, like work was kind of a little crazy at the time. So I was like, okay, I'm gonna try DoorDash, and this is gonna be my last resort. If this doesn't work, like I'm done.

SPEAKER_05 39:52

So did you cancel the Instacart?

SPEAKER_09 39:53

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 39:53

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_09 39:54

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 39:55

You're just a canceling machine.

SPEAKER_09 39:57

My my bank account was probably like, what the hell is she doing? Like placing these orders and then like getting refunded for them. So I order it from DoorDash, and for some reason, the DoorDasher is coming all the way from freaking walled lake. Like the most normal thing would be that they come from Bloomfield and go to the Target in Bloomfield.

SPEAKER_05 40:17

What time was this? Uh when you get to your third option.

SPEAKER_09 40:21

Oh, like 11:30, maybe.

SPEAKER_05 40:23

Oh, so you're looking at like almost peak lunchtime, too.

SPEAKER_09 40:27

And he's about to go down for a second nap, so I'm already on a time crunch because I'm like, this needs to come before his nap. I literally have none. And like the sheer terror in my face when I was like, oh shoot, like this is it.

SPEAKER_05 40:39

Um was any part of you think about texting Callie or Gramps or anything? Like, these people want to help you. To like go get formula, or just hey, can you come to the house real fast? I gotta go get some stuff for Zeke.

SPEAKER_09 40:54

No, no, not with all the delivery services we have in the area. Like, I would never bother somebody for that. Um so order it through DoorDash. It comes just in the nick of time. It literally comes 10 minutes before I'm supposed to put Tiny down for his name. So it all worked out, but like what the hell is the luck of that? That both orders that I had placed canceled because they just didn't do what they were supposed to do.

SPEAKER_06 41:23

You canceled them.

SPEAKER_09 41:24

No, I know, but like I paid for priority and it wasn't priority, and like I'm I didn't have time to like wait around.

SPEAKER_05 41:29

So what uh but like how blessed are we that we have that modern day convenience? Oh yeah, you know what I mean? Like we truly do have everything at our fingertips to succeed, and sure, yeah, you you get behind with life, you got work, you got a family, like it's sometimes it's very easy to overlook that last can of formula or whatever. Um, I think what we should now he's almost done with formula, yeah, he'll be done in two months. But like I feel like we should have like I think what I'm gonna do is one day I'm just gonna go buy another can of formula and hide it so you don't even know. Oh, so we have like an emergency can you have emergency can. Yeah, this is for emergency don't open this one because we're low on, you know, we should have already planned as parents that we're low, and you know, blah blah. So it's like you run in this situation, hey Catherine, I'll tell you where the emergency kid is. Yeah, I think we definitely should.

SPEAKER_09 42:29

Yeah, that's not a bad idea, actually. Um, but I just like found it so hilarious that like between yesterday and my whole situation at the doctor's office and then today with that, I'm like, really, like, what the hell is going on with me lately?

SPEAKER_01 42:43

You know, where like I just something they're just got a lot on your mind, honey.

SPEAKER_09 42:49

Not liking me for the past couple weeks.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

You just got a lot on your mind, you're busy.

SPEAKER_05 42:53

And uh I'm just shocked that the brand we we do Bobby formula, um and I don't know what is it, organic something that we get 'em. I'm just shocked that that one's not on the Amazon.

SPEAKER_00 43:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 43:11

They got the other ones by Bobby, but they don't have this one. It just it blows my mind.

SPEAKER_09 43:16

Yeah, it's very odd because like it's literally available everywhere.

SPEAKER_05 43:20

You know, I can get carfuses here in four hours from Amazon, but that that one style can of Bobby formula ain't gonna happen, big dog. Now, you would know this better than I would. From a formula standpoint, are there tons of options on Amazon or not really?

SPEAKER_09 43:39

A pretty decent amount, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 43:42

Huh.

SPEAKER_09 43:43

So, you guys, a funny story about formula. Um, when we first had Zeke and we decided to start giving him formula because like I wasn't producing enough milk, Go figure that the toughest decision that we We had to make was giving him formula, but like the kid needed to eat, and like I wasn't producing enough. So we do all the research on which one we want to go with and which one had like the best reviews, was easy on the stomach, which is what you want because obviously their digestive system is still developing. So we do all of the research. He's using it for what about like two weeks. This was at the time.

SPEAKER_05 44:25

Yeah, I want to say it was almost nearing a month. I think we're right around three weeks. Yeah, and we're about to enter into a month.

SPEAKER_09 44:34

So we're he's on this formula. We get a notification from the manufacturer of this formula that there is a recall on this.

SPEAKER_05 44:46

Huge, nationwide recall on all of their products. Was it botulism read?

SPEAKER_09 44:53

Which, if you don't know what that is, it's basically like a contaminant that can get into the formula that can come from like you working outside. It typically comes from like dirt or bacteria from that, can get into the formula and it's like deadly if it's if it um and we feel terrible that there were families experiencing this.

SPEAKER_05 45:14

It was a very low number.

SPEAKER_09 45:17

39, I think, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:18

Across the whole country. But again, that's 39 families impacted, and we felt terrible.

SPEAKER_09 45:24

Had hospitalized kids, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:26

But now it's like, oh. So you're already feeling, you know, Catherine's feeling some type of way at this current state about having to give formula, crying every night. Then you're having the stress of making sure you're giving your baby the best option for them based on who they are, how they're showing developmentally. Oh like you're taking so many different accounts.

SPEAKER_09 45:53

Even though the last overhaul of the infant formula by the FDA has hasn't been done since the 90s, and we're in 2025 at the time, which is crazy.

SPEAKER_05 46:03

And then you're like, Wow, guess I picked the wrong brand. What do we do now? Because then, as you guys, uh some of the parents out there know this, when you switch formula rapidly, there can be pretty rough side effects for the baby. Who would want to give their baby any type of side effect? So, like if you're considering changing formula for whatever reason, and you do what's best for you and your family, but like you don't just go from finishing a can and then starting the next can, like you do the ration, where you're doing 75% of the formula he or she is used to, 25% of the new, and then you're you're not even getting to 50 for several feedings, then you gotta have a couple days go by, and then you're going 60-40, and you guys know, so on and so forth until you're but you're also as a parent, you're concerned because you're hearing all this stuff, and you're like, Should I stop this immediately? Is this something like I need to address immediately, even though we didn't have any of the So then you're looking at the cans, you're going, well, it doesn't affect us, but then in the back of your head, you're going, Well, who fucking knows?

SPEAKER_09 47:19

Yeah, you don't want to risk too much that could be expanded. And so we ended up uh messaging our doctor through like our app that we have at his office, and he was like, um, he said in the beginning, like it's still safe to give it to him.

SPEAKER_05 47:34

By the way, we have absolutely no problems with the medical system when it comes to our son. They've been phenomenal. Phenomenal. And our phys is it a physician? Is that what we call him?

SPEAKER_09 47:43

Yeah, his uh oh no, his pediatrician.

SPEAKER_05 47:46

Pediatrician, excuse me.

unknown 47:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:48

What a what a one a wonderful man this guy. Nicest guy ever, just slightly a few years older than us. And you can just smell the passion off this guy. Dad of two, I think, and just he wants to give the best medical care to your child, and it's like, what a blessing.

SPEAKER_09 48:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 48:11

So, anyways, just want to give that little caveat.

SPEAKER_09 48:13

Yeah, so we messaged the doctor, and he's like, it's okay to give it to him right now, but you might want to look into switching, but you want to make sure he's like happy and he doesn't have any side effects.

SPEAKER_05 48:23

So and here's what you can look out for, and just gives us a list of things to look out for as well.

SPEAKER_09 48:32

So, anyways, that happens, but it's like it's also one of those things where life just kind of happens to you and you kind of just have to pivot. Like we weren't expecting we had plans our entire pregnancy of me breastfeeding him for as long as I possibly could. And then you know, eight weeks in, I'm like, okay, well, I can't, like, my body's just not doing it. And then to be told that it was like because I got breast implants or whatever, you know, crazy looku thing that they want to come up with as to why I can't do it. Um, we ended up switching him and you know, he was fine, but and he's the happiest freaking baby. He's the happiest kid in the world on it, and like that's that was the win is looking at him and being like, he is the happiest baby.

SPEAKER_05 49:23

And it worked out because he's so obsessed with you. If you were still breastfeeding him, he wouldn't even know I'm his father. He is so into you and so into the quality time, your person he's addicted to you. And if you were to add breastfeeding to that, I the kid wouldn't even look at me. He would not remotely be interested. So this was God's hand.

SPEAKER_09 49:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 49:50

So thanks for drying up, babe. Yeah, thanks for the supply drying up. I I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_09 49:57

Yeah, I mean, it yeah, that was just a wild time, but anyways, it's just hilarious that like all of this kind of stuff just like happens at the beginning of the week, and you're like, well, I guess like what else is this week gonna bring? Because like, who the heck knows at this point?

SPEAKER_00 50:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 50:14

Um, you know, we've got obviously got Doodle who has is crazy right now. She's got an injury, and we don't really know what's wrong with her.

SPEAKER_05 50:23

Jiddle about a week and a half, two weeks ago, got some teeth extracted, plus a full dental cleaning. Yeah, and now Doodle needs the same, which is and then just so you know, then the first week of August, Mozzie's getting his balls chopped off, plus the is it stomach tapping? Taping? Tacking. Tacking. I always forget that. And he's getting his stomach tacked, so that way um, you know, one, he's gonna already be under for the surgery for the balls, um, but this way it will help greatly reduce the risk of bloat, which is very common in large breed dogs, just if the stomach gets too full with food or water. Obviously, a big dog shouldn't be exercising, anyways. But like if they just took a big sip of water, I mean, even that, and then they run around to have fun with their dog siblings or the baby, like his stomach could twist on itself and it can be extremely fatal.

SPEAKER_09 51:15

We um we follow a Great Dane breed, well, I at least follow Great Dane Breeder that we were originally gonna potentially get a Great Dane from, um, Ohana, Great Dane's in Clarkston, and she was you know, writing this story on Facebook about how her dog first experienced bloat, and this was fairly recent. This was the first time it's ever happened. Um, she had a mama who had just had a couple puppies, and she was just out in the yard and she noticed she's just started like puking up like green froth, and she knew she's like, Oh my god, like this is bloat, like it's happening. And so she immediately rushed her to the vet. Luckily, they were able to like you know, bring her back, and her stomach ended up flipping back on its own.

SPEAKER_05 52:03

But obviously, emergency. Oh, it flipped back on its own?

SPEAKER_09 52:05

Yeah, but obviously she still needed to get the stack the tacking surgery after the how does it get rever how does it go back on its own? Sometimes it'll flip back on its own. Yeah, how? I don't know. I think it's just like the natural way that like it kind of once it flips, it's kind of like when you've got something that does do that, like you know, like imagine a bag, and it kind of just goes back, but then obviously But sometimes it doesn't, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 52:31

And then okay, great. You know, the dog it flipped back on its own, but like now it's even more susceptible to bloat again.

SPEAKER_09 52:37

Yep. And so now she retired that dog from breeding because you know, the reason why she didn't do the tacking surgery is because she wanted to breed the dog, but now you know, yeah, she obviously is retired from breeding after having that surgery.

SPEAKER_05 52:52

Oh, they can't you can't breed after getting the surgery.

SPEAKER_09 52:54

I don't believe so.

SPEAKER_05 52:56

Interesting for a female dog, I don't believe so. I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_09 53:00

Yeah. So, anyways, um yeah, bloat is like a common problem for um Great Danes. I mean, it's you know, you saw it in Marley and me, we're like, that's what happened to that dog in the show, but um it's very common.

SPEAKER_05 53:15

And I thought the dog was just old, it got bloat. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_09 53:18

That was the first problem that it had, because remember, he the dog was like laying outside and he couldn't get it to come in, so he took it to the doctor, and they're like, Yeah, the stomach flipped, but and it can happen again, so like you're gonna need to watch out for these symptoms.

SPEAKER_05 53:34

I've only watched that movie like twice in my life. That's very sad. After the first one, it took me like a decade to watch it a second time. So won't be watching it for a third time in quite a while.

SPEAKER_09 53:47

That's yeah, Mazzy's going in for that surgery.

SPEAKER_05 53:50

Um and boy, his testosterone is through the roof. Oh my gosh, he's so territorial around Zeke. Like, apparently, Zeke is his baby, and like around the Beagles, he's getting way too aggressive, and he's just being he's being a dickhead at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_00 54:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 54:07

And like I have just considered taking him out to the shed and castrating him myself. Honestly.

SPEAKER_09 54:28

Oh, we were originally had him scheduled for the first week of September, I believe. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 54:33

And like we had to move it up because like it's just at this point, like I don't want him to get caught in the crossfire between him and Doodle or Jittle having an episode with Zeke.

SPEAKER_09 54:44

Or also like he has growled at Zeke one time. It's only been one time, and luckily, like it was because it, in my opinion, it was his car. It was, yeah. It not running into him.

SPEAKER_05 54:54

He was kind of eating.

SPEAKER_09 54:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 54:56

And like it probably scared Mozzie, if anything else.

SPEAKER_09 54:59

Probably, but at the same time, still, you don't even want to let that continue and you know, potentially be a bigger issue. So, yeah, we made the decision after that that we needed to move.

SPEAKER_05 55:09

And like, you know, we've had this surgery. Was it was this Thursday last week this incident happened, or was it Friday? I think it was Thursday.

SPEAKER_09 55:21

Yeah, I think it was Thursday.

SPEAKER_05 55:22

And, you know, like I'm taking a video of Zeke just having so much fun laughing at Mozzie walking around. And this is Zeke in his playpen at this time? So Zeke's in his playpen. Mozzie's walking by him, Doodle's kind of like in the corner watching. And I put always looking for food she's. I put my phone off a video, put it in my pocket, and Doodle walks by the playpen doing absolutely nothing wrong. And Mozzie does his little growl thing. But it was so fast, he growls, and then he lunges at Doodle. She kind of like lunged back, but she was like, get the fuck out of my face, bro. And so then, you know, you're when you're when you've had dogs fight before, like you can kind of see it coming on, but like this one, I was just like, Oh, this will be a quick little snap. So I go, oi, Mozzie. And he doesn't stop.

SPEAKER_00 56:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 56:26

And he's like going back for seconds trying to show Doodle that he's the boss. And I'm going, Mozzie? And I go over there while these two are just scrapping it out. It happens so fast, and I don't like disciplining dogs physically. I sometimes you have to do it. Hate me if I, you know, for doing it. Don't hate. I I don't care. I had to do what I had to do in that situation. So I'm pretty sure I hit him in the kidney first to get his attention to like stop. That didn't happen. So then I grab, I think I then hit him again in the rib, and as I'm doing that, I'm yanking his scruff. I mean, a 140-pound dog against a 40-pound dog. Like, come on, bro. Yeah, I grab him by his scruff so hard, and I basically throw him to the other side of the living room. Now, at this point, he has settled down because he knows, uh-oh.

SPEAKER_09 57:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 57:32

Big dogs after me.

SPEAKER_09 57:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 57:36

And I, in all of that commotion, had hit him a couple times, and I get right in his face, and at this point, he's like, Oh, I fucked up.

SPEAKER_00 57:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 57:48

And I look at him and I just smack him again across the face. I'm just I'm just appalled at his behavior.

SPEAKER_00 57:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 57:56

Now, as you guys know, anytime you have a situation like this, or just a weird freak situation, you get adrenaline rushing through your body.

SPEAKER_09 58:05

Oh my God. So wait, tell them how I described it because I feel like I described it perfectly. It was, it's like when you narrowly avoid a car accident, that rush of adrenaline that comes through you, and you just feel your body immediately tense up. That's exactly what it feels like.

SPEAKER_05 58:23

So, meanwhile, while this had happened, because of the angle and everything, I do have I've had a couple back injuries in the past. And if you move too quick or whatever, you know, I have to be cognizant with my moves because also I've got the the bad knee that I've had two surgeries on. So there it's just like my back and my knee is a it's just a stack of cards. And with the twisting, that's the problem with especially the back. If you're twisting and pushing a load, you're kind of fucked. And so after that commotion had stopped and my adrenaline came down, I went, oh my god, I definitely threw my back out doing this.

SPEAKER_09 59:03

It was to mention, you probably have a headache from screaming.

SPEAKER_05 59:06

Yeah. So then it was I I realized that my back is thrown out, and I go, I just look at my own, I go, crate. And he runs from the living room through the kitchen, goes right in his crate. And then of course, I'm just on a adrenaline high, and I'm like, you don't do that, you know, and like it wasn't really loud, it was more like volume. I I I'm trying to describe how I was yelling at him.

SPEAKER_09 59:36

Well, that room echoes too.

SPEAKER_05 59:37

And it echoes, but like I guys, it was just in my throat that just the pissed offness. And so then my throat hurts from yelling at him. He's in his crate, and now I'm I got a headache from the commotion. I've got my back that is thrown out, just a shit way to start the day.

SPEAKER_09 59:56

Not to mention you're trying to make sure that Doodle's okay and she doesn't have any torn ears.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:00

Zeke's a little bit scared, but he didn't really. But like that was the root of my frustration. Like, what if my son was in the middle of that while you're being a fucking idiot? Yep. I would murder you, I would literally take you out in the back and shoot you if you hurt my son. So I just have all of this emotion all at once, and I swear to God, I blew a blood vessel in my head because I had had a headache from 7 a.m. to 8 45. And I'm texting you going, I don't know what, like, I can't get rid of this headache.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:36

And you're like, babe, it's just it's the near, the near death accident you escaped.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:40

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:41

Today, you're you'll it will eventually go away. But I mean, 13, 14 hours of a headache. What just a horrible day.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:49

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:50

You know, I'm trying to be positive and do this and that and find the good. And it's like, Mazzy, you've pissed me off to my last nerve.

SPEAKER_09 1:00:59

Well, speaking of, you know, dog incidents, this is a crazy story that we can end the episode on, which is just absolutely nuts. Um, typically when we're walking our when we're walking Zeke in our neighborhood for his evening walk before his bath and his bedtime, we see one of our neighbors, and his name's Robert. He has a um, I think it's like a a shih tzu kakaboo kind of mixed dog.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:27

He's really cute.

SPEAKER_09 1:01:28

He's really cute. He or maybe he's a like white-haired terrier. He's something like that.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:32

Yeah, he's adorable. Toby.

SPEAKER_09 1:01:33

Yeah, very cute dog. An older dog. I think he's like nine or ten or something. And um, he's always very like yappy whenever another dog comes by. And you know, dot little dogs like that are just traditionally yappy dogs, but we were down the same street and we just happened to be talking, and he's like, Oh yeah, like he got attacked four months ago. And we're like, What? Like, how did we not see this? Because he said the police came and all that stuff. And um he goes, Yeah, he almost died. We are kind of off of a main like boating street that goes into a um a state recreational park.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:22

So then we have lakes, one lake that surrounds like three quarters of our neighborhood. So then I don't even know where I was going with this.

SPEAKER_09 1:02:32

So on this one long strip to get to the entrance in our subdivision, there's houses on each side. And it's a r rather busy street because you have people that are bringing their boats to go into this recreational park, and then you have people going into our neighborhood, and then the corresponding you know, side streets along the way. So um he was saying that four months ago, he was in his backyard with his dog, his front yard, aren't he? Oh, his front yard. And his uh brother, I think, was over, or his cousin, whatever.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:05

Yeah, family member and his wife were just hanging out.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:08

They were just like having a traditional visit, and this random dog runs up to Nikita. Yep, and Akita runs up to his dog, just latches on to his head.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:20

And he's holding Toby already to begin.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:23

He's holding this dog. So this dog jumps up to get his dog, and he's like, What the heck is going on? So immediately, like, he starts hitting the dog.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:32

He's grabbing whatever he his brother-in-law gets the idea to grab it by the tail and start pulling it from the ass end.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:39

I think he's also hitting the dog, too. And then Robert's hitting it from the front. Yep.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:44

And so he ends up letting go for just one second, and then he goes right back in to try to get the dog. So immediately there's there's already all of this chaos going on. And he showed us the video. Like this was all in a matter of like a minute that this all transpired. And so he's, you know, show showing us the video, telling us the story. And um, he's like, Yeah, I had to take my dog to the um emergency vet, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:12

We both looked at him. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_09 1:04:14

Yeah. Because we had to take Doodle when Mozzie attacked her and she had an ear injury, and we took her to the emergency vet and got quoted like $1,500. So I can't imagine for an actual like face laceration injury. I think she also had like a broken rib or something that like his bill was pricey, and it was, it was like $11,000 that he had to pay.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:35

Poor dog was in like intensive care for like seven days.

SPEAKER_09 1:04:40

So um, then he finds out that this is the fourth dog that this dog has gotten, that this dog has attacked. And these people do not have a fenced yard, which is fine. There are a lot of people that don't have fenced yards, but secure your animal.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:56

He thought it was fenced, but the dog is able to get out. It was not fenced. No fence at all.

SPEAKER_09 1:05:02

He said that they have like stuff in the back of the yard to kind of like be a fence, but it doesn't actually have a fenced yard.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:10

I'm just baffled.

SPEAKER_09 1:05:12

Yeah. So this dog has gotten out multiple times and a beautiful dog. I mean, the video, the dog was gorgeous. I mean, akitas are traditionally very good.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:22

I mean, the dog that was attacking the dog, gorgeous. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_09 1:05:25

Akitas are beautiful dogs, but they're very um defensive, very territorial, and you know, are kind of prone to like sometimes behavioral problems. And so he finds out that this is like the third or fourth dog that has been attacked by this dog. And so he goes to the Oakland County prosecutor. Or no, he has a friend who works at the Waterford Township Police Department. They take the case to the prosecutor. The prosecutor, you know, take goes to court, and these people are ordered to pay the damages for his dog.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:57

Who has eleven grand just laying around?

SPEAKER_09 1:05:59

Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:00

Or their dog surgery that wasn't even related to the dog's fault or his fault.

SPEAKER_09 1:06:05

So typical government, it's like, yeah, you're awarded the money, but like it's on you to try to collect it. So like you know you're not getting the money. I mean, by the looks of these people's house, like, you ain't getting your money. So um his wife, he didn't tell us how she found out, but she ends up finding out who these people have their home insurance through. And she ends up calling the adjuster and says, like, what happened and that they have homeowners insurance.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:33

And all right, send me the proof of your send me the pictures of what happened. Send me the bill, send me pictures, and I'll see what I can do.

SPEAKER_09 1:06:42

Yep. So they end up four days later getting a check in the mail for that full hospital.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:48

Because the wife of the husband or boyfriend, whatever, said, Oh, yeah, like I'll get in touch with you, like completely under in this is after the court order. Like, yep, touch base. Yeah, old court. Never did anything. Yep, never did shit.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:04

So um he finds out, they find out all that information, they get the check in the mail, and in in between all that, they got an order from the court to put the dog down. But immediately after this incident, I think this woman knew because this was like the fourth time that this happened, that like this dog was gonna be put down. And I don't think she wanted them to take it. She just went ahead and took the dog to animal control and like put the dog down. Who knows if it was like to you know not have evidence of what happened or whatever, but but again, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:41

Feel terrible that she or he had to be in that position.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:44

Yeah, you failed that you failed that dog, you failed the dog because it's not a behavioral problem with the dog, it's the owner. If you knew that that dog had done that, you should do everything that you can to secure. And we were telling our neighbor, we're like, we didn't want to pay $15,000 for a privacy fence for our house, but we had a chain-link fence, and our previous great Dane had kept jumping the fence. He was never aggressive, but you just never know what could potentially spook a dog, and we don't want him to get lost and end up in a shelter or whatever.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:13

Blue could jump that thing like in a little bit.

SPEAKER_09 1:08:16

Oh my god, with a running start. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:19

He was just like, Is this are you gonna make this any higher? Or like that this is child's play from.

SPEAKER_09 1:08:25

Yeah, yep. So, I mean, just hearing those stories, like, you know, you you always like hear about stuff like that, and you never think that it could happen to you. You always think that this is like some freak accident, but knowing that this happened like a street over from us, and that like we could have been out with Mozzie and like this could have happened, like what a scary thing to think about.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:49

I feel terrible for that Akita if it came after him. Mozzie would wreck that Akita, yeah. Just based on how I've seen him mess with his sister that he lives with.

SPEAKER_09 1:09:01

Not even that, I mean the guy who approached him today, the runner.

unknown 1:09:06

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_09 1:09:08

Tell that story, babe.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:09

Just this guy we've met twice in the neighborhood. And like, you know, if anyone owns a dog, you know. Yeah, you sure you want to pet a dog, but you're not gonna be a big thing.

SPEAKER_09 1:09:19

Let alone a dog of Mozzie's size.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:21

You want to pet a dog, right? But you look at the owner, do you mind if I pet? Is the dog friendly? Because I don't want to spook your dog and ruin his night or yours. And this guy, the first time he sees Mazzie, just beelines for Mozzie. He wants to pet him and all. And I'm going, like, I was so shocked. I literally was like, I looked at him, I'm like, the fuck is going on here?

SPEAKER_09 1:09:47

Yeah. And after he had walked away, we looked at each other and we're like, who just runs up to a dog like that?

SPEAKER_05 1:09:53

You know, I I I know we're used to his size and stuff, but like, who just assumes that a big dog or any dog just wants you to come at them? And then he bold move, Cotton.

SPEAKER_09 1:10:06

And then he's like, oh no, jumping, and I'm like, you came at him? What did you expect to be?

SPEAKER_05 1:10:11

So then tonight we're walking. Um, this is Zeke's second walk, Mozzie's first, and we're at the kind of midway point of the walk, so Mozzie's got most of his sniffs in, he's got most of his marking done, so he's chilling now.

SPEAKER_09 1:10:25

Yeah, he's on autopilot.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:26

He's on autopilot. And this clown is jogging, and he just starts beelining for Mozzie.

SPEAKER_09 1:10:35

It's right for Mozzie, doesn't even say hi to us.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:38

He goes, Hi, big boy, and he's like coming in for a pet. And at this point, Mozzie's like, who the fuck does this guy think he is?

SPEAKER_09 1:10:45

Mozzie's like, wait, do I need to protect my family? Like he's having to immediately think about what he needs.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:50

So Mozzie, in a kind of playful but aggressive way, like jumps at him, like, the fuck you doing?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:56

And the guy's like, Oh, I want to and he continues with his jog.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:02

What the hell?

SPEAKER_09 1:11:04

Yeah. And then we saw him a second time when we were looping back around.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:10

Oh, so then Mozzie's like, oh, here's this dumb fuck.

SPEAKER_09 1:11:12

So Mozzie's like kind of getting like, he's like putting his chest out. Like, did you see when he did that?

SPEAKER_06 1:11:17

No.

SPEAKER_09 1:11:18

He was like putting his chest out. Like, I don't know if this guy's gonna try to come at me again as soon as he saw him. And then you were like, oh, hi again, or something, just trying to be nice. And Mozzie was like kind of puffing up, like, do I need to try to protect my family again? Like, what kind of a person does that to a dog?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:36

I don't know.

SPEAKER_09 1:11:36

Especially because, like, we've explained to him the first time we met him that like Mozzie is still a puppy, he's a year and a half old, which is still technically considered puppy. We could be working on his training, and you're just gonna beeline for our dog and potentially ruin weeks of training that we've been working on.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:54

Little Penny that we love, not little, she's a big dog too. I swear she's in Akita mix.

SPEAKER_09 1:11:59

She, I think she is too. But like with her face, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:02

She has come leaps and bounds. Her owners have rescued her. Yeah, they are working so hard on the two years old. And like, dude, we love Penny, Mozzie loves Penny, but like they're doing their own thing on the training side. And sometimes when we're on walks without Moz, we might say, Oh, there's Penny, there's Penny. And she can see us and she might wave to us, and then maybe she walks towards us. And it's always, can we give Penny a pat or are we are we in the zone?

SPEAKER_09 1:12:30

It's always her owner, like kind of letting us know. Like, you know, sometimes she'll be on the phone or she'll have headphones in and she'll kind of just wave and keep walking, and you know, like, okay, they're working on training, like, we're not gonna bother her. But then sometimes she'll be like, she'll kind of come along.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:46

She'll let that leash go a little looser.

SPEAKER_09 1:12:49

And I think she gets nervous just because we're always with Zeke and she doesn't want Penny to like jump on Zeke, which I mean, thank God that somebody thinks about that, you know. Um, but anyway, like sometimes she'll let us, you know, pet her, and she's such a sweet girl.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:03

I don't think she's the cutest little girl.

SPEAKER_09 1:13:05

I don't think she'd ever um do anything, but at the same time, she is a fellow good dog owner and wants to be prepared in any type of situation. Like, she's probably what, an 85-pound dog.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:19

Yeah, I mean, maybe she's pushing a hundred.

SPEAKER_09 1:13:21

She's kind of stocky, and so like this woman that's walking her, like if she goes haywire, she may lose that dog. So she's really been like working on her training, trying to get her like up to speed. And for us to just like walk up to her and immediately start patting her.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:37

I'm just gonna run at Penny. Yeah. And hope for the best. Exactly. I'm just gonna hope you know what? She'll know I'm a dog.

SPEAKER_09 1:13:43

It's not like we're running up to Daisy, who's like doodle size, and like she's just a little doodle, and she's just gonna flop over and just let you pet her belly. Like, it's a totally different situation.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:55

I don't think he's ever owned a dog in his life.

SPEAKER_09 1:13:58

Probably not.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:59

I don't think he has. I could see him as a cat guy.

SPEAKER_09 1:14:02

Probably.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:03

He's got doors or cats.

SPEAKER_09 1:14:05

We have.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:06

No, we're ending this. No, we're no I'm not getting into this.

SPEAKER_09 1:14:09

An abundance of cats. I'm not getting into this.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:11

No, we got it's this neighborhood has an a cat orgy problem. It is, and they just leave their garage doors cracked. Bro, I don't know what's going on if there's a black market in this neighborhood. There are cats and kittens everywhere.

SPEAKER_09 1:14:26

On any given day, you can drive down our neighborhood and you will see at least five to six cats, either full-size cats or kittens in our neighborhood. It is a I don't get it. It is a breeding room.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:39

Do you think it's because of the lake and people are like, I want a cat for varmint control?

SPEAKER_09 1:14:45

No, I legitimately think it's because people just don't care.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:51

Like, I have never experienced This is like a nice neighborhood.

SPEAKER_09 1:14:54

I've never experienced it like this before. Like, obviously, you know, our old house on Goldener, that was like only a mile and a half down the down the way. So, like, we weren't far. I never ever saw a stray cat ever. And now all of a sudden, like, we live here and we're seeing like all of these cats like reproducing. And it's not the same cats that you're seeing at specific houses. It's like I can see this cat at this house and this house, so it's like they literally are like having an orgy and they're all getting impregnated. I have half a this poor bride to like call animal control and be like we've got a cat problem here, yeah, because they're everywhere, and I don't even say that lightly because I'm not the type of person to call animal control, but it is becoming a problem.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:43

It's funny, but like you're always like, Oh, I'm gonna get a kid.

SPEAKER_09 1:15:48

But at the same time, like, oh what? So those kittens are gonna grow up into full-size cats, and then they're gonna breed with other cats, and then we're gonna have an even bigger problem. Like that one house that's right at the bend, there's five or six kittens out every time I've taken Stinky for a walk.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:04

I just don't get it.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:05

And the mother is like sitting there sunbathing on the front porch.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:08

Really?

SPEAKER_09 1:16:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:11

This is the brown house?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:16

So there's all these cats and kittens running around. And this broad's just tanning?

SPEAKER_09 1:16:21

No, the mother cat is just sunbathing on the porch.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:25

You meant the homeowner.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:26

No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:27

Oh my god, that's so.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:28

No, but everybody leaves. Remember, I thought.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:30

Well, yeah, she's probably beat to shit after getting raped multiple times and then also experiencing all these pregnancies.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:35

I legitimately thought that people's garage stores were like broken because they were always cracked at the bottom, and I'm like, why is that? That is so weird. And now I know it's because all these cats go frickin' in and out of each other's houses.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:50

They're swingers.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:51

I've never you guys we got swingers in our neighborhood. Have you ever experienced anything like this?

SPEAKER_05 1:16:55

No.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:56

It's insane.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:58

It's the strangest thing ever.

SPEAKER_09 1:17:02

Like I yeah, it just baffles my mind because I literally like I go to the gym at like nine o'clock typically, and I'm home by almost ten, and every single time I drive home, there's just cats. Like you'd think that they're like ghosts at how fast they like go across the street. It's literally crazy. But anyway, guys, we'll end the episode here. I just it's it's literally insane.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:29

I don't even know what we're gonna title this podcast.

SPEAKER_09 1:17:32

Storytime.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:35

Alright, gang. We appreciate you listening. Hopefully, you're having a great start to the week. Tomorrow is hump day for us. Yep. But uh I'm I'm just telling you right now, it's a bad day to be a lawn or a landscape tomorrow.

SPEAKER_09 1:17:50

Oh shoot.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:51

It's just a bad day for it.

SPEAKER_09 1:17:53

Do you feel like the lawns have gotten better?

SPEAKER_05 1:17:56

Little bit. Since we need some rain, babe.

SPEAKER_09 1:17:58

Yeah, we do need rain. Bad.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:00

We need rain. Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey, and whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky. So all right, y'all. See you on the next one.