they thought they were helping

Brandon has power again! Collin stood a lot. We talk about trees, baby!!

• Power is back baby!!

• Sadness and woe

• Fridge sacrifices

• The wind covers a large area

• They thought they were helping…

• Worlds jankiest speaker

• Collin stood at all of the events…

• Not very many pup cups

• Frost wedging

• Top 5 Missouri trees?? Arbor day!!

• Trees of Missouri - https://amzn.to/3RIBjsg 

• Collin

• 5- American elm

• 4- Shagbark hickory

• 3- Flowering Dogwood…SO pretty and state tree

• 2- American Sycamore - float trips people…float trips. And GIANT

• 1- Eastern Redbud - most underrated pretty tree. Needs more attention

• Runner ups:

• Black Cherry tree - also from dad’s back yard…love the leaves

• Sassafras

• Persimmon - sweet fruit. Persimmon jam is tasty. 

• Brandon

• 5- Silver Maple

• 4- Black Walnut

• 3- Red Cedar

• 2- Flowering Dogwood

• 1- White Oak

• Runner ups:

• Sassafras

• Short leaf pine

• Persimmon

• Susan List:

• 5- Red maple

• 4- Flowering dogwood

• 3- Sassafras

• 2- American sycamore

• 1- Black walnut

• Brandon Haiku:

• Braced against the gale

• As neighbors splinter and fall

• Standing defiant

Check out our other episodes: ohbrotherpodcast.com

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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE

PROVIDED BY OTTER.AI

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

power outage, straight line winds, FEMA building, emergency preparedness, tree damage, school dismissal, community response, Missouri weather, tree identification, flowering dogwood, red cedar, American elm, black walnut, silver maple, shagbark hickory, Sycamore, white oak, eastern red bud, flowering dogwood, black walnut, sassafras, persimmon, Missouri trees, forest ecosystem, tree identification, nostalgia, tree bark, tree height, tree memories, tree haiku

SPEAKERS

Brandon, Collin

Collin  00:05

Music. Welcome to Oh brother, a podcast where we try to figure it all out with your hosts, Brandon and Collin. On this week's show, they thought they were helping

Brandon  00:17

ahoy ahoy. How is the 21st century? Oh, it's great. Candles have been extinguished, right? We didn't have to, yeah, it's okay. It's great, right? It's back. The power is back, baby. Let's go. Oh no, I'd like to thank representatives of my local power company for working so diligently through the rain and the horrendous weather for the past two days to bring me my light. They go. So they go back back, unfortunately, because the power was off for in a very long amount of time there, there has been many sacrifices had to be made in the refrigerator. Oh, very much, sadness and woe. But because the power was off for over 12 hours, just about some of the stuff in the fridge has not made it. Freezer is good, good. But there are some casualties, of things that ought not be.

01:25

Oh no, exposed to vacillating

Brandon  01:26

temperatures, thusly. So unfortunately, this is a problem.

Collin  01:30

Oh man, yeah, there's always going to be a casualty, at least, I believe. But don't

Brandon  01:38

worry, the ice cream was safe, so we

Collin  01:42

were, you forced to ate any of

Brandon  01:44

it early? No, because we were not. We did not open the freezer at all. Nice, right? You keep that sucker closed for as long as possible, because the second you open the door, cold air just falls, yeah, it's odd. It's all gone, yeah, all gone disappeared, right? So we did not do that. We did not open them. So yes, that was, that was a Yeah, it was an adventure and a half, right? Man,

Collin  02:21

yeah. Well, I mean, I that this was a very weird, like, I experienced this, like, really remotely, obviously, we were three hours north where you guys live, and two hours north of where it also hit in Springfield. So it was like, catching up on the news. And then, at first, people were like, Oh man, it's kind of, kind of get an iffy out. And of course, you know, all of the storm people say that where they're like, it's gonna be terrible, right? And you're like, Oh, okay. Like, how, right? And then it's like, oh no, no. This is really bad. Oh no. Well,

Brandon  02:55

ours were all straight line wind, right? Yeah, still, like, I know, but like, it was not, was not what this time of year in Missouri, you're probably thinking, listeners, oh, another tornado. Oh, wow. No, no. Straight line wins, which actually are worse than tornadic events, because tornadoes happen in a very isolated area right now, they do cause, like, more damage, right? Because they're they're stronger and whatever, but like, the wind covers a much larger area. So when you have a huge area getting hit with like 70 mile an hour straight line winds, yeah, right. The thing said like 60 plus. But some reports I heard were much, much higher. So yeah, there we go, like things just gone right, bang right. So we'll back up. We'll go through the course of events here, right? Recount this feat. Okay, so there I was in the middle of science class, right? Yeah. So we're like, if somewhere around, see my kids go to special class, like nine o'clock, right? 905. So it was probably like, 845, 850, right. Storminess happens, right? Okay, storminess, this is not good. You can see, like, we've been talking about it, like, yeah, there's gonna be some storms. We realize looking at the radar a little bit, and it's like, yeah, that's a bow echo. Well, not great, but, you know, whatever. So we're sitting there, and all of a sudden, like, we kind of peeked out the window a little bit to like sheets of rain and just like devastatingly windy outside, right? And I guess the two trees on the playground, one of them is not there anymore, right? It fell over and another one. The one of the limbs broke off right? And it like the per the fifth grade teacher at the end of the hallway. It's basically right outside her window. And so this, this limb shears off and crashes down through the chain link fence underneath it, right? And so they're like freaking out a little bit, you know, fair, fair. That's if that's what you saw just happened out your window, that's fair. You're allowed to freak out a little bit. That's okay. So they actually, like, kind of left the room and got away from the windows, you know, again, fair, right? That's good, right? And so we're sitting there and blah, blah, blah, the lights were, like, flickering a little bit. And then, like, just before nine o'clock, bang, nothing gone right. Everything gone dead. And so we're like, Hmm, okay, cool. Like, well, but we'll just back up. We'll stay away from windows here. You know, my windows face south, and the wind was coming, like, very strongly from the, like, directly west. So, like, I wasn't really worried about anything flying into the window, right? But still, you know, is back up. We'll just hang out whatever. They kind of freaked out for like, five seconds, and then it's like, all right, they kind of chilled out, yeah. And then we just sort of this thing was over, like, pretty quick, you know, gone past whatever. And then we just sort of were like, Hmm, what do we do now? So we're just kind of sitting around, right? So we didn't know anything, so we probably sat in the room for almost an hour. So we like, we're playing games and we're they're doing stuff and they're just kind of hanging out. We were good. We were good. My class was doing fine. And then they superintendent and one of the office ladies came around were like, Hey, have the kids get all the stuff and we're gonna go over to the FEMA building. Oh, okay, right. This is to start dismissal process because they had come they had gotten some reports that power was not coming back for a very long time. So we start getting kids home because, like, you can, you know, kids hang around at school for a couple hours, but then, like, there is a time limit. Most schools have a time limit where it's like, we need to go, like, we can't be in school because we have no power. We can't do things, right, you know? So, so we're like, Okay, fine. Our FEMA building does have like, backup generating stuff, so there's like, airflow and lights. So we're like, Okay, well, that's good. Let's go. So we go over there. Some people were very mad that we weren't over there already. And I was like, All right, look, there was zero, like, tornado threat action in where we were. No, yeah, not even a watch, okay? Like it was a severe thunderstorm. The FEMA building doesn't open for severe thunderstorms, right? Even though this one is very severe, like it, it would not be a good idea to go and do that at that time, right? Plus the timing of events and how things are going like, there was no possible way to do that, right? So I am firmly on the side of like we should have definitely just stayed in the building. I heard a few people rumbling, and I was like, No, you're just wrong. You're objectively wrong about this. I'm sorry, but, like, we can't do that. Oh, no, great. Anyway, so we got over there, we sat all the entire school, got into the building, and we all sat like I sat everybody in classes, and I did tell them, I was like, All right, look, this isn't this is going to be very important, or this is a time where it is extremely important for you to listen and follow direction, right? So before we went over there, I was like, Look, guys, this is about to be wacky, wacky and crazy and wild, right? But I need you to listen, right? We gotta do this. And to their credit, my group the sixth grade, we're incredible, right? Way better than literally everyone else in the whole room, right? We're the best, obviously. Boom, there we go. Nailed it. So we sat over there for a little while, and they started like the plan was, basically they were going to start calling parents, right? And the kids could call parents or whatever, and then we just had an access door. And when parents came, there were people outside who are getting the names of who was here. They were running those inside, and we were calling for the people to go down and leave, yeah, so it was, and eventually they got to a point where they're like, Okay. Also, they started with other they started like, calling blah, blah. And then they were like, okay, high schoolers that drove, plus siblings, right? If. If you can, like, get in touch with the parent, and then, like, basically call the parent, give the phone to one of the admins, uh, say, yes, my child, blah blah, can leave with my other child, blah blah. They're like, okay, fine, good, boom, they go. And then they could, they took my other they can go home, right? It was like, after. It was like, probably 45 minutes after the storm was passed. So it was like, clear. They kind of had to, they waited for a while to see, like, check on roads and stuff, right? They were getting road reports before they started releasing people, just out and about, you know, which is good. And then they just called people forever to the parents showed up, and then eventually all of the remaining children, they put on busses and got them somewhere. Wow. So yeah, yeah. The problem is, there was about six people trying to be in charge of calling names. Oh, that never worked, no. And I was getting so mad, right? The volleyball coach brought out his little like karaoke machine thing, right? And he's trying to call names. But I, I don't know what sort of like temu discount he got this thing on, but he was trying to call names. He'd be like, what? Right. And then, and then, at our school has like 60% Hispanic population, he'd be like, Jose, oh, bro.

Collin  11:37

No, no, what are you doing?

Brandon  11:42

Like, what, what are you? My guy read the room. It's not helpful, right? I don't, I don't think this guy's really, like, all with it all the time. But, like, my kitchen, so, like, it was a little confusing, because, like, there's people at the door, and then before he could say the things, like, other people were saying a name, and sometimes they were saying it before he said it, it was just like, and then sometimes they were saying different names at the same time, like, what? Stop it. Stop it. Other than that, I might have got a little bit snippy when one of my kids was in the bathroom and his parents showed up. And then somebody like they asked for him. I signaled to them, and they said, He's in the bathroom. He'll be right back. And then three other people started yelling at me about where my kid was, and I was like, Look what, stop it. I may have told him to calm down like that might have happened on accident. It's fine, but I

12:53

mean, this is gonna be

Brandon  12:56

because I was like, You're not helping. You're not helping. This is not good. I know you think you're helping, you're not helping, right? You're not

Collin  13:04

this is a great example of people who are versus people who are not ready for an emergency. And a lot of people, yeah, they're panicking, right? Like, Yeah, you like, I, yeah, when that panic sets in for people, yeah, like, and it's natural, it's normal, but it's like, also I need you then to like, I think what is frustrating is that people don't recognize the panic in themselves, or they think that like, they're panicking, so everybody else is panicking. Like, that also doesn't help. Like, yeah,

Brandon  13:38

like, it was just too much. And they were again, they thought they were helping. Yeah, right. They think they thought that they were being helpful, but they were not being helpful situation, because you can't have that many people trying to be in charge and doing the same task even, like, there's no need for that many people to do the same task. Like this, not necessary. Like four people don't need to do the same job. Like, I understand, there's no precedence for this. There's no like manual, okay, but this is one of those, adapt, overcome situations where you've got to figure out a plan, then go for it, right? Was I enthused that volleyball guy had the world's jankiest speaker? No, that was not helpful at all. Right? Did? Was it great, but no, but I sat there and just took charge of my children. That was it. That's all I could do. That was the best thing for me to do this situation. That's what I did,

Collin  14:33

right? Boom, yeah. And it's like, yeah, you have to find that one of like, but if the core, what am I responsible for at this moment, and yeah, it's protect my kids and make sure that they're safe. They're

Brandon  14:46

not disparaging, but they were like, they were not by doing this other job. They were not with their class. So when their class was being like, rowdy and loud, then they would just like, shout across the room at their kids to be quiet like that. It's very helpful. Yeah, to be quiet makes things quiet. Wow,

Collin  15:04

yeah. What if we raise my voice right now? Like,

Brandon  15:07

it was different when, like, the principal did it to, like, get everyone's attention. That's sure that was like, I listen up. Boom. That's different than like, Oh, yeah. But, you know, that's

Speaker 2  15:17

the principle. That's kind of the principal's job is to raise their voice and yell,

Brandon  15:24

like, okay, and they were all, they were all outside, like, directing traffic and doing all that stuff. So, you know, whatever, whatever, it's fine, whatever, it probably could have been held differently. It's over. Now I don't really care, but that was the sort of fiasco that happened, right? So then, anyway that we live, we got all the kids out, I mean, except for, like, kids whose parents work there, but that I was like, All right, you're on your own, right? Your mom's right. Go, go over there. Okay, see you. All right, other than those kids that I had, right, we got we left, probably 1130, 1145, ish, wow. So we left.

Collin  16:18

Maybe all told how long I mean, that process

Brandon  16:20

didn't end up taking super long, no, just probably, I mean, because we got over there a little bit before 10, yeah. I mean, we had basically everybody gone,

Collin  16:38

yeah. And to be quick, to go from, and especially for like, a weather event, and like, yeah, people and like, Well, I mean, because

Brandon  16:45

that, like, because literally, everyone is out of power now, yeah, now parents, they're, like, already keyed into, oh, okay, there we're gonna, we may have to do stuff, right? Yeah, a lot of, a lot of parents, right? They were at work, but their work also lost power, so they're like, go home, you know? So, like a lot of the parents, a lot of the kids, who maybe wouldn't have normally been able to get picked up in the middle of the day because their parents are now also off work, because this is such a widespread event, their parents were able to just come and get them, yeah, right, because they're not working either. You know, a lot of them, a lot of them, like, great, your job is not, not all of them. We had some parents. They work in other towns and stuff. But, like, there's some that live there, nearby. But again, it's so widespread that like, yeah, oh my gosh. Well, my mom can come get me, because she's her work is close too. So, yep, here we go, Yeah, somewhere around there, we came back, but then this is where we saw the extreme, widespread dev station of what's going on, because, like, there was still, like the highway was blocked off because there was, like, a couple trees down over the highway. Oh, my God. And I think I don't really know, because I we went by there three times the same place on our little journey. And the first time we went by, it was blocked off. When we were going back by, it it was fine again. And then we came back home, it was blocked off again. So I don't know, in this, like, in the same place, like in the same place, this is over a course of several hours apart, so I don't know if, like, they were, like, working on stuff, different things. I don't know what was happening. But, like, we came home, we had to go the back way around. So we drove by the park. The park is like, devastated. There are so many trees just like exploded. They're just like twisted and shriveled and just like

Collin  18:54

that was when I was surveying, like, looking at photos and seeing everything. It wasn't there were some structural damages across, like, the whole thing, it was all trees. It was trees,

Speaker 3  19:03

all trees ripped to shreds, and, like, just like, ripped out of the ground,

Brandon  19:10

yeah, just out of the ground, yeah. Like, you're right, well, it looks like they, some of them look like they blew apart, like they're literally, like, ripped in half. Oh my gosh, that's how strong his wind was, right? So we drove through the park. We're like, oh, sadness, no. And then when on the slightly other detour route we had take home, we drove across the railroad tracks, 50 bazillion trees down, across the rail line.

19:38

That's great. Yeah, and then, uh, then there's also all the telephone poles. There's telephone poles that I saw just

Brandon  19:51

about halfway up, broken in half right the top is just sheared off. You. Completely so there's a pole, and then, like, the wiry bit with the teas are, like, over there somewhere, right? So it's like, like, if there's some poles that are doing the leaning thing, right, sure there's, but there's several that halfway up, or some of them were, like, two thirds to three quarters of the way up, sheared off. Just bang, just broke the top off. So there's lines like dangling, you know, and stuff which are putting the more tension on everything else and yanking everything over. So, but yeah, it was, it was crazy. Like, oh my gosh. It was like, Yeah, way up on these poles, they're just sheared, just a big flat it's just boom, looks like you cut it with a saw. Just snap right off. That is not splintered, not nothing, just boom, right off. It was crazy. That's

Collin  20:58

terrifying, is what that yeah, my

Brandon  21:01

gosh, yes, it was wow, like, oh no. We came home, opened some windows, uh, kind of just hung around for a while, read some books, took a little naporino, right? Like, that's kind of all we could do. Really, ate our lunch, because they still had it in their lunchbox. So, like, couldn't heat it up, but it was like a sandwich. So I was like, Well, I can eat this cold. It'll be fine. And then after a while, we're like, what do we do now? Because we don't have any other food, we have, like, random food in the kitchen, so, like, we could have probably done something. I don't know if I have a camp stove around here somewhere. I don't know if it still works, right? So we were trying to figure that out. So we decided we should probably just get the in laws over here and drive to drive south is that they have power south of where we are. So we drove down there and at that Chinese place that we went to when you were down here, that one time. Oh yeah, there. It's good. Saw them, they are moving locations. Boom, they're moving locations. Side note, the China Express is moving locations after 20 years. Oh, because of landlord problems. Oh, so Oh, they're opening a new recipe, the daughter, right? Not the one that you met, but the other one. She was like, she was like, asking my parents, why do you really want to do this? They're both like, 70, and they're like, Yeah, we need to. We're gonna open the restaurant again. And she's like, guys, you know, we don't have to do this. It's okay. They're like, No, we want to. She's like, No, but you don't. But why? Like, you don't need to, but come on, yeah, um,

Collin  23:11

what if we just, secretly, just, this is,

Brandon  23:13

yeah, you know, what if, like, but what if, but, you know, they're all for it. So dad is, like, all about it. So they just wanted the building. The landlord is, like, being awful to them and has not been fixing things, and the building's like, basically falling apart, and she won't do anything to it. So they're like, well, we kind of have to move, because it's just not gonna it's gonna start impacting, like, their food inspection and stuff. Like, if the building's like, leaking and like, Oh, gee, a person won't fix it, then they're gonna get in trouble

Collin  23:45

for them. They won't be able to maintain standard and Exactly, exactly. So they're

Brandon  23:49

like, Wait, Nope, we're out. Like, I hate that. Me too, but we went down there and ate probably around we started grounding up the the in laws, my in laws over here had about six or so you went down there. But magic upon our return, like when we were sitting at the restaurants, there was an update that some of the like a business owner that we know at monad, they were like, our power is back. And we were like, Hey, that's not very far away from our house. That's not very far away from from here, right? So maybe, maybe I started getting excited, because about halfway home we could see like that, sky is looking pretty bright over there for almost nine o'clock at night. Maybe I. Look at that. Dang so we had power back at about nine o'clock, which was way faster than I thought, because our every, every report I saw said, like the next day, I was like, Ah, dang it. Ah, but we had it back. So, good job. Power people. Way to

25:20

go. Nice. They're probably

Brandon  25:22

gonna raise my rates for that. But, you know, whatever, yeah, but we didn't have school today because where I work is they were still out of power until, I think around five or so this evening. That's crazy, yeah, I mean, it's just how wise which was for this place. There were so many poles down. Yeah, there's so many Poles, just like blown apart, right? Or trees that fell on them, you know? So, yeah, that was the saga from yesterday. Holy cow. It was nuts. This is by far, I think, by far, Susan, I were talking by far the longest that we have not had power since we lived here. We lived here for, like, forever. So,

Collin  26:15

like, really, yeah, this

Brandon  26:17

was over, uh, you know, this was the longest amount of time, even in, like, the winter, like, if our power goes out, it's like, two hours it's on, right? But this event was so big that, like, this, like, 12 hour period that we didn't have electricity was probably, or close to, there was, like, That's by far, the longest time since we lived in this place, right? So the only other time was that 2007 like ice storm wind, had power for ever, but I lived in somewhere else. I did not but like, I'm not trying. I didn't live in this apartment. So, like, wow.

Collin  27:03

Yeah. I was speaking with somebody the other day who still brought up the 2007 ice storm, and was still basically like, oh, they had moved here from Louisiana. They'd only lived for one year, and then Oh yeah. And I was like, Well, that was fun, wasn't it? And they're like, No, I was so scared I didn't know what to do. I was I Yeah, yeah. It's like, yeah. Welcome to Missouri. I

Brandon  27:30

mean, yeah, it's very nice to, I mean, it was, it was nice to be out of power and it not be like, negative 20. That was good.

Collin  27:38

See, that is a bonus. Um, yeah, we we've never lost power during a ice storm, but we have lost power in like, the heat of summer when the our, our little town, the grid goes I'm tired, I need to take a little nap, and it shuts down. We've had that happen before that that was great, and so that that was, it was like 85 degrees upstairs. Yeah, no, sweltering. We

Brandon  28:09

haven't had that one happen yet. I think we have so much manufacturing. It's kind of built in that it's like, okay, we need, like, we already have some places in the area that have, like, very large power draws. So, like, they kind of know that we are

Collin  28:24

our manufacturing is on the other side of the city.

Brandon  28:27

Ours, like, right in the middle. Like, so, yeah, can't skip over, yeah, it's right there.

28:33

So it's not super far from us. So, like, I mean, our town's not that big, so nothing is really super

Collin  28:40

far from us, let's be fair. But like, like, it's fine, it's

Brandon  28:47

still can't walk there because sidewalks don't exist. But, oh, my God, you know that's other than that. It was Star to me. I know it would be so handy, but you know whatever, I know, just sidewalks. Are they too much to ask for? I know

Collin  29:03

I'm glad you survived and it wasn't worse or longer. So yeah, but I know that that's still really scary for everybody, but I'm glad that's turned out turned out well for for everybody,

Brandon  29:23

yes. So School is on for tomorrow, because I think the power is back, so nice. We'll see how that goes. I figure out what to do now. So, yes, a day randomly, like, I had a very tight schedule anyway, and I've lost a day it's like, Hmm, how do you pick up from that, right? I feel like, I feel like, well, we were prepping for that big social studies thing, right? Yeah, oh, I feel like that was supposed to happen today or tomorrow, right? We were supposed to be prepping for it, Tuesday and today. I. And we're supposed to start tomorrow. So I feel like what we may have to do is just skew science class altogether and just do, like, social study stuff in the morning to get ready for the afternoon. I think we may have to do that because so we can stay on track, because my science schedule is pretty much whatever. I don't really care. But like, that stuff I need, I kind of need to get that done, because we're almost out of time before we have to turn in stuff. So, like, our need done. So we may have to do that tomorrow. Tomorrow. We have to be like, Listen, no science, oh no, only social studies, all the time. We have to see I have to brainstorm about that, because that's what we might have to do. So it'll be interesting. But, oh well, yeah. Well, I didn't

Collin  30:54

have nearly of uh,

Brandon  30:56

you've been less exciting. Yeah, yeah.

Collin  31:00

My, my, I don't even know what's up. Oh, I mean, pretty much. Noah sold dog treats. I think, did we do we talk about that last time who was preparing for it? Yes,

Brandon  31:18

he was preparing for round two of dog retailing, yeah,

Collin  31:22

and yeah, and he, he did. He sold out. So that was, that was very fun. He was, it was very exciting.

31:32

And I don't he,

Collin  31:34

he was. It was less enthralling this time, I think because it was the second time, it was the second time, right? So it was little like, oh boy. Basically, I'm like, wow, you've already become like an embittered shopkeeper of, basically, like, are you going to buy something? Move on, right? Like, but you kind of, you know, but he did well with change. And he had the, he had it set up where the they were individually bagged. And he so, like, they're in these little, like, like, well, like, like, a little in little, tiny, clear, see through bag. And then he had the idea of, well, if they bought more than one, they may want to put them in a bag together. So he took some Walmart. Susan's

32:18

mother would approve of this strategy

32:22

for your things? Yes.

Collin  32:25

So I told him. I said, if they buy two, you must ask them if they want a bag for that. And he was very diligent. A lot a lot of people said, Yes. I was I was actually shocked, because these things aren't that big.

Brandon  32:39

They look they're just, like, little dog treats, like a bag for that, people would say, oh, plastic pollution is a problem, right? We can't carry stuff. Like,

Collin  32:49

yeah. So he did. He did that while, like, some performances and stuff were going on the stage, and millions sang in the little choir that they had and, oh, loved it. She had been practicing the song, yeah, yeah. So it was a it was a good day as we wrapped up for that. And then I did not recommending this to anybody, literally ever that Friday, last Friday, I went to a grand opening of an event of a store, new pet store here in the area, and it was open. The great opening event was from 10 to five, and they wanted me to be there the whole time, the whole time.

Brandon  33:34

Oh, oh no, giving giving away pop cups. No, that's too much. That's That's awful.

Collin  33:42

And so obviously I said yes, and I did not say yes before

Brandon  33:48

you knew the time. Well, by any chance, yeah, okay, either,

Collin  33:53

yeah. They had said. They had said, Hey, we're doing a great opening. Would you be there? And I said, Absolutely, because we do know these people. They're a client of ours. And I was like, anything to support you. And then they rolled out the like, announcement of, like, the time frame.

34:04

And I was like, holy what? When I said anything, what I actually meant was,

Collin  34:09

why is this seven hours? And of course, I've got to set up. It doesn't take me that long. But, like,

34:17

I mean, still, you know, it'll set

Collin  34:19

up. You know, 915 is when I got there and kind of set up. And so, like,

34:25

I'm going to be there for eight because then

Collin  34:27

I still have to tear down. So this is an eight hour day of me standing and, oh my gosh, it was fun. It was too much. It was too much to be there. And so the next day we had so that was in one service area, the in the other service area, a shop, it is an independent bookstore. Asked us. They said, Hey, we are going to be celebrating independent bookstore day, and we'd love to have you guys there, because we love pets and. And you and sometimes our clients are people, bring in dogs so you can give away pop cups at independent

35:05

bookstore. Day was it bookmarks?

Collin  35:08

No, it wasn't. No, it was in my town.

Brandon  35:12

Oh, okay, oh, wow, okay, yes, I had these two days backwards. Oh, yes.

Speaker 3  35:20

So I said, of course, that'd be great. I would love that. That sounds so cool. Then I get

Collin  35:29

their announcement sheet of paper, and this is teaching Collin a lesson. Never agree to anything until you get there, until you know that. Here I am. I'm trying to be all like nice guy, supportive community, because I have talked to the owner of this bookstore a lot about, like, how can we work together and all this stuff. And she, you know, she called in the favor that I would, you know, a year ago. I was like, anytime, yeah,

Brandon  35:51

what I meant by anytime was not right now, and not for 16 hours, like it

Collin  35:58

was, it was 10am to 6pm Oh, no. Why? It was even longer than the previous day. Oh, and I'm also thinking of like, okay, the previous day I was there for seven hours, and it was really slow because was in the middle of the day on Friday, which nobody's out shopping at, yeah? Now this is on a Saturday, but it's also for a bookstore, yeah,

Brandon  36:28

oh, kind of how many people should we be expecting here? Yeah, no,

Collin  36:37

we showed up at nine, right? And we got set up, and we were all outside. It was, this wasn't an outside event, because we were on their little walkway, and the local authors show up and set up their booths. And it was fine. And we had a smattering, a very polite no smattering of people

36:58

all day, all day.

Collin  37:03

But it was fine, as we were there to support and talk. And that was like, I get it like the other the people on Friday did this too, where they'd come through and they'd apologize for how slow it is, and then they'd come back and they'd say, Have you been talking to a lot of people about your business? And I'm like, I am here for you to support you. I am here to make your event better and more inclusive and have something interesting for people to do. I That's why I'm here, right? If people ask me, most people don't even ask, what we do, and that's totally fine. Like, I'm just here to give away pop cops, and that's fine. Like, I just want to be here. So, you know, I'm here to support you. So, like, the constant, like, are you guys getting talking to a lot of people? Oh, you get away a lot of business cards. Like, this is your grand opening? Like, stuff, yeah,

37:46

how are you

37:49

doing back like,

Collin  37:50

what? Or, like, you know, the independent bookstore? It's like, Are you selling books? Because, like, that's what today's about. It's not about me giving away business cards. It's I'm giving away pop cups to highlight this event, to attract more people so you can get more attention. You

Brandon  38:07

can sell books. You can sell box store like the thing that you want to do, right with the thing and the stuff.

Collin  38:16

And the reason I'm here is because I'm all about independent bookstores. I'm all about shopping local. I'm all about this, and you're a really nice person, so I'm helping, like, anyway, whatever. It was fine. And this one, of course, like the kids came out and they were with us, and they went home, like, for lunch, and then they came back and they wanted to be there, and so trying to every dog that came by. And we did have, we had several of our clients come by, you know, stop by and bring their dogs because they knew we were there and like, because we went live on Facebook and we went live on Instagram, and we were posting throughout, yeah, all this doing the thing and doing the thing, you know, it's just like, so, it was, it was fine. It was, it was good. And then, you know, about four o'clock, I start looking, and I see that the the authors are kind of starting to rock back and forth a little bit, you know, they're getting they're getting antsy, and by 430 they they're all, they're all packing up and leaving and and then I'm like, because, because we have to win, right? We were the first one to set up. Me, of course, have to be the last one, of course, to show, to show my dedication and how much better I am, right? Which is because what this is, it's competition. So

39:45

as soon,

Collin  39:49

as soon as the last author put her books in her car, at 435 I was like, we're gone. Pull the cord. Let.

39:59

Let's go

40:03

and exactly

Collin  40:04

like and great day. Thank you for letting us come here. It's been fantastic. We need to leave, you know,

40:12

running out

Collin  40:15

and of course, then Sunday girls around in my back is like, you have been standing for 15 hours over, yeah, why? Why did you do that to yourself? You are now in pain. And I was like, Yeah, that was dumb. That's really dumb, but I'm all better

40:37

now. Okay, good. This is great news. All

Collin  40:40

on the mend, but yes, that was my strenuous activity of standing for an obscene amount of time, the course strenuous, yes, but yep. And now, now this week, we are posed to I have lots of standing. No standing. I'm doing lots of sitting went the other way. Good, yes, yep, it's, it's a full it's a busy week. I we're doing an ALP. We've got Al pellet dissections this week we're doing that. Okay, did I tell you? Did I tell you about this? Yes, okay,

Brandon  41:14

you have one. You mentioned that last time. You now own a year's goal random

Collin  41:19

school. So this week we're doing doing al pellet dissections on on Friday, I've got a deer skull anatomy lesson put together. We're going to be learning about that. We're all, we're ready to go over here and, oh my goodness, yeah.

41:38

So it's going to be, it's

Collin  41:40

going to be a week so far it's gonna be, I don't know, I don't know, but I had something else just, just swap through my brain that I want to talk about. But maybe, maybe I don't know, we'll see what happens from that. Oh, like, right now, or Yeah, I was like, Oh, I'm gonna talk about the owl pellets, and I'm gonna go into this next thing. But then I looked at the sheet and I realized there's a misspelling on the and then I was like, wait, what? I'm back. Okay, all right, present, okay, maybe

Speaker 3  42:12

trouble. Grumble, grumble, uh yes, so it'll be the busy. It's a good week, but, um Yeah, I feel like

Collin  42:21

we went on a hike or something. I don't know. Anyway, it'll come to me. But okay, all right. Well,

Brandon  42:26

I want to ask why you're while you're thinking, oh, I need to, we need to know. Do we have any grandstand updates? Oh, you

Collin  42:36

know what? This is a good. That's a good. We'll do a I have to type in Missouri State, yeah, grandstand to see five

Brandon  42:45

sort of who have filled it chosen instead of our brilliant acts, right? Who did they get instead? You

Collin  42:54

know what? They still August 11 and August 16 are still TBD,

Brandon  42:58

so tantalizing. By TBA, yeah, that's right, hopefully,

Collin  43:05

hopefully they have people by now. This is amazing. They might

43:08

not. That's what they're maybe

Collin  43:11

we should just go ahead and I do know the person who runs the finance department for this big parasitism. Oh,

Brandon  43:17

maybe like, hey, it looks like some ideas, some slots. Here's some here's some thoughts on who you could get. Just no particular order, but here's a 10 different people you could plug in there. You know, if you wanted to,

Collin  43:41

maybe you should just, I don't know. I'm not saying to do it or not do it, but I am saying, Come on look. It's just here. The work has been done. Yeah? Basically, yeah. And the other thing I like to do when I'm on this page is, I like to see

43:56

who's the

Collin  43:57

top bill, like, who's the most expensive yeah thing. So

44:02

I'm just gonna just flow rider, right? Okay, so,

Collin  44:05

um, and this is, it's a little tricky, because they have, like, the base ticket price, and then they say the ticket including fees,

Brandon  44:12

um, yes, because, okay, no. Can Be Easy. That's no,

Collin  44:16

no. I'm going to just, I'm not going to include the the sprint cars or that? Yeah, yeah. NSF, shoot out not doing that one. But what would you say so I don't know. There's Winona, Judd, blues,

Brandon  44:30

travelers, Oliver, Anthony, John Anderson, Josiah, queen, Hudson

Collin  44:37

Westbrook, great guys and Flo Rida. Who do you think is bringing in the most money?

44:43

I'm gonna say it's either it's gotta be Wynonna or a flow. Rider,

Collin  44:51

yeah, interestingly, um, those two are the same price, but they are not top billing. Do. Blues Traveler, with James blossoms is the most expensive ticket at $70 Blues

Brandon  45:06

Traveler, what are you doing? Your hippie fans don't have $70 in 25 nobody has $70

Collin  45:17

we do it. No, yep. Wynonna and Flo Rida are 60 bucks for their most expensive ticket. They have two tiers. They have a four, yeah, they have a 50 and a $60 ticket. Blues Traveler is sitting at 60 and 70. Um. John Anderson is, uh, $45 um, that feels right. That feels that's a

Brandon  45:41

good anyway. I mean, it's a good for the fair. I mean, I can't these are all these prices, all these ticket prices are too high, obviously, but obviously it's not. Interestingly, ticket prices for banjo should be like, no more than $20 this is the extreme side of my brain coming out and be like, bro, what are you doing? No, yes, this is not yes. I used to see bands all the time regularly for 12 bucks, like, out, like, go away. I think I got Warped Tour tickets one time for like, $40 so, like, that's like a billion tour granted. Okay, so get out of here. John Anderson, again,

Collin  46:29

uh, yes. Now interestingly, and I don't know what this says, but down at the bottom of the most state fair.com/location/state,

46:38

fair, dash, grandstand.

Collin  46:40

There are. You can look at a grandstand venue map with two price levels or a grandstand venue map with three price levels. So basically, I guess what that's saying is you can divide the grandstands into either including three ticket levels or two ticket levels. The only person who is doing price gathering three ticket levels

Brandon  47:00

is Oliver Anthony. You can come in to see him. He he's the one with the cheapest starting price of $30 he better be, because his The only song he sings about is, like, how rich people are destroying the world, right? That's why he got all famous on like, Joe Rogan, all that stuff. They're like, Oh, you're so great, blah, blah, like, with his like, bad puns and like, you're almost there, but that's rhetoric, and that ooh, that's Oh no. That's Oh no. So like, like, you're you, he better not be, yes, selling things for $50 I would be mad on principle.

Collin  47:40

Okay, so, so the base one is 30, then we go to 45 and then we go to 60. So he is charging the same price as the flow writer and Winona Judd, okay, or his, all right, but no, but lower starting price, lower. No,

Brandon  47:58

no, that's not he is nowhere near Winona level. There why you should not even be in the same room as Winona ticket prices. I know, okay. Plus, like, I'm not, I don't listen to Oliver Anthony. Obviously, I don't know about this. I like, know who he is, kind of because I saw some stuff on the internet about him, like, I've never listened to any of his songs on purpose, but like, his big, famous song is like him playing guitar, yes. So like he doesn't even like a band, like, I'm imagining that the reason that Blues Traveler is like so much because there's like 12 people, oh,

Collin  48:38

minimum, because they're also with the spin doctors, right? So, yeah, it's like, it's like, on

48:45

the poster, there's, yeah,

Speaker 2  48:50

14 faces on, yeah, there

Brandon  48:53

you go. Like, okay, maybe there's, there are a little bit more, because there's so many of them, right? And like, Winona probably has a band. Loretta has like stuff, because the rap the concerts are strange, because there's not like a band there. Sometimes there's like dje people. Sometimes they have bands. Like, I don't know, some of them do play with live music, but I'm not sure. I don't know what flow Reddit does. But like, I don't know, but if you're a dude, like, singer songwriter, oh man. Like, what you can't What are you doing? Yeah,

Collin  49:33

yeah. I will also say that these prices quoted are, those are the width fees. Additionally, it's very important to know that these ticket prices do not include fair

Brandon  49:47

admission. Oh, yeah, yeah, you have to get in the fair. And then, yes, that's always dumb,

Collin  49:53

yes. So, so you do have to pay $15 to get into the fair. Um, that's a single. Day adult, right? Okay, very prices vary by age and days, but then that's on top of the ticket price. So for if you've seen Wynonna and you are a same day ticket purchasing adult, that is a $75 to go see Wynonna. That's a little bit nuts, or 85

Brandon  50:20

I feel like travelers. I feel like, I feel like the grandstand, like, sometimes it's not even, like, I don't know how the laid out is laid out there, but like, it's not even necessarily, like, attached directly to the fairgrounds. So I feel like there should be an entrance for, like, the grandstand only, like, in and out this way. Like, you don't have to get into the fair to go to the gray stand, that just kind of seems like a rip off, right? I mean, I know that they're assuming that you're coming for more than that, but what if you're no no? Because the only time I ever went again this I listen before I say this, I'm aware that this is just anecdotal evidence, and I am not representative of the majority of fair goers. I know this, right? I just want to say, I yell about this kind of thing all the time. So I just wanted to know I'm aware of what I would say. Okay, self awareness on the internet. Look at that. But you didn't see that one coming. But the only time I ever went to the fair to see a musical act. I did not go to the rest of the fair. We just went to see Charlie Daniels. And then, yeah, like, Charlie Dales, man, boom, gone. Like, I don't care about fair rides and carnival games are going to rip me off. What do I don't care about that. I want to do this. And then I want to see Charlie Daniels, and then I want to go eat at Mecca villa. That's what I want to do. Yes, what I did. So then

Collin  51:47

absolutely what you need to be doing. Obviously, that's what everybody does want

Brandon  51:54

to go see Charlie Daniels and then go eat a burrito, enchilada style. Clearly, this is what people want to do, you know, like,

Collin  52:07

of course, that's what everybody wants to do, yes.

52:13

So there you go.

Collin  52:16

Oh, my goodness, what

Brandon  52:18

will be anxiously awaiting this updated, like, keeping us in suspense. I'm like, the problem is now my expectations are very high because our lists are genius. And then we're gonna, like, it's then they're just waiting, right? And then I'm just gonna be, like, a massively disappointed because they're gonna be like, Oh, it's some band I've never heard of. Like, oh yeah, cool.

Collin  52:43

I see what you did do there. Yeah? Like, neat, yeah, cool, cool. Well, anyway, there's always next year, bro. Oh, and I'm trying to remember I this is, this is going to this is my, my, my slow, my brain consuming is also there we go. Okay, I was trying to figure out what band I have seen at the fairgrounds, because I went to the fair exactly one time, and it was to see a band, and then we left immediately I saw, I saw the red dirt band, cross Canadian ragweed. Oh, in performance.

Brandon  53:20

There we go. Yes, that is, that's pretty strong fare energy. That's, oh, that sounds accurate. Huge, good, fair band, right? Absolutely

Collin  53:30

yes, yes. That was bunch of Yeah. It was extremely rowdy, yes.

53:36

So yeah, anyway, but cross

Collin  53:39

Canadian ragweed is interesting because it's a kind of a Canadian band in some, some resemblance. Anyway, no, the guy's last name is Canada. But, yeah, some guy crossing something Canada. I don't, yeah, I didn't know that. I literally

Brandon  53:58

only know the name. I can't name you one cross game,

Collin  54:03

yeah, it was made up of, was it not Dane? I forget the formed in Oklahoma. 1984 bands were Grady cross, and then Cody Canada, and then Randy Ragsdale and Matt weederman, so cross, wow. Canadian rag for Randy and weed for weedman. It's literally, it's just

54:28

literally the names, all of their names. There you go.

Collin  54:35

Yeah, but no, it's farm Oklahoma. But just they have the

Brandon  54:37

Canadian thing there. Well, they have it. The Canadian rivers in Oklahoma. Yes, see,

Collin  54:42

there you go. That's, that's

Brandon  54:43

awesome. I like doing that. When we talk about the rivers, like, because we're like, Ah, here's the Missouri River in Missouri. And, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, like, oh, this big river that runs through Ohio. It's the Ohio River. And, yes, the kids are like, guessing the name. And I'm like, in this river that we're. So Oklahoma, and they're like, Oklahoma river is like, Canadian River, obviously, yes, why? Yeah. I was like, I don't know. It doesn't even go Canada, right? Like, usually, the the river in question runs, at least in part, through the state in which, yes, right now, it doesn't necessarily begin there. It's like, where they start usually, like the Missouri River. They found it and then, I mean, they like European explorers obviously discover quote, air quotes, discovered it and then followed it to, like Montana or whatever. But yeah, well, that's kind of

Collin  55:36

like the Colorado River in Texas. No, not that Colorado River, yeah, the Texas, Colorado Texas, Colorado River, which just, like, slices the state in half. And it's, it's like, what is it? It's 900 miles, and it's all within Texas. It doesn't leave the state.

Brandon  55:57

Yeah, they're fainting right now. Like, what do you know when I would give presentations and talk about that river, people have no idea what to do with that particular bit of information. I know travels for 900 miles, and it's still in Texas. Yes, I don't think whales cannot compute like was going

Collin  56:15

and it travels through a skinny part of Texas too. It's not even the long ways through. But anyway, the shortest distance, it's the shortest distance. It's anyway, speaking of names of things, we had a challenge set before ourselves. We did to give our the sorry, I was gonna say our list. I'm gonna just say it's the definitive list of the top five Missouri trees in celebration of Arbor Day that happened last week. But we're still doing it in the month of April, so I think this

Brandon  56:59

still counts. Yeah, yeah. And, well, our Earth Day and Arbor Day were both last week. So it's fine, right?

Collin  57:06

It's, it's Earth Day and Arbor Day in our hearts all year round, yeah, saying. So this is, this isn't tied to any one particular thing. It's, you know, here it is. So, yes, this was harder than I thought. It

Brandon  57:20

was difficult. I got to thinking about it, and I ended up with my short list was like, 10, and I was like, Oh, wait, hold on, that's not gonna work out. Yeah. And I tried to be like,

Collin  57:35

I guess I went through lists, or I looked at tree identification guides,

Brandon  57:40

which is basically what I did. I have used trees of Missouri, descriptions, detailed illustrations and uses in landscaping by Don KERS, the Definitive Guide for trees of nice see. This is Don KERS, Paul Nelson, giant book here. I'm holding it in my hand right now, yeah, complete with post it, note, Mark pages

Collin  58:07

and everything. This book is excellent, by the way. I love, I love the the description for this book, if you look this book, No, it says, it says, At long last, Missourians have a tree book to call their very own. Yes, that

Brandon  58:25

tracks at last. Get out of here. Listeners, just in case you were curious about if you're not familiar with Missouri enough for listening to this podcast and getting just little hints of the Midwest. Oh, this is a 400 page book

Collin  58:46

with what I think I just, I just add to Google. It's over 200 species of trees.

Brandon  58:51

It's huge. This is right demarcated by region. Every page has a little map in the corner that has dots in the counties in which you can find this tree, commonly, uh, habitat range, just like when they say detailed, they're not lying, right, yeah, extremely detailed descriptions of the tree, plus drawings of leaves, shows like, branches, stem, nuts, fruits, flowers, if applicable, right? It's excellent. So, yeah, yeah. Plus, you know some other stuff here. Uh, side note, there are potential spoilers for later. I don't know, but there are so many oak trees in Missouri, but there is a whole oak tree section with leaf groups of the white oak and red oak species and acorns, they have their own page. I love it, the visage of white oak. Group and red oak group egg horns. This is perfect with all of the laid out. Yep, right. This is great page number to be found out later. So if you're just walking through the woods carrying a 400 page tree identification book, and you happen to find an egg horn, and you would like to know which species of oak it belongs to you could just whip this page out, yes, and you have dozens of acorns, literally, to check them against, right? Yep, the oak reproductive cycle. Here's the oak statement page, right? Here it is. Collin. This is for you.

Collin  1:00:43

Yes, the infernal things. Did I tell you I have a special? Did I tell you about my way I unclog my gutters? I told you about this, right? I have special, get rid of statements. And I had doing it the other day too, because I was just standing on my I'm sure my name, my part, neighbors, I'm out there, like, fully clothed, obviously, because, but like, during getting soaked as I'm get my arm anyway, it's, this is an amazing book. I it's this kind of, it's that kind of stuff that there's just, there's literally not enough of, like, that kind of thing. Is, I love it. It's just it scratches. It's everything that's wonderful about a deep dive and learning, like, it's

1:01:29

like the cinema cats.com of books is really it

1:01:33

is good time. I worked at it in a long time.

Brandon  1:01:35

Yeah, Linda, what's up? Yeah, I still love your work, by the way, just so, you know, so

Collin  1:01:42

much fun. I still peruse that site every now and then, like this kind of and it's foundational knowledge of like you don't, this isn't this book is filled with stuff that you just can't. It's just not readily available. And it takes to that 30 over 30 years was, you know, isn't of information, of knowledge, of of research, to put something like this together, and it's, it's really invaluable. And I just, I love whenever these things, and it's always so weird because it's like, you're right, like the hyper specific information is, is we need more of that, and not like I anyway, and not anyway I was, I was gonna say something about, like, you know, people who go do deep dives on, like, I don't know, like characters in a movie, like I look, that's fine, but like this, like Natural World, like real things like that, you

Brandon  1:02:42

have, like, medicinal uses, like native uses, yeah? Like Native Americans would use them for things like, when it's applicable, right? Yeah, medicinal wildlife uses, right? Remarks everywhere. Boom, there you go. So I, I

Collin  1:03:00

compiled my list, and I do have some runners up here, but, but mostly I based mine off of just my personal experience, vibes and vibes. But there are some trees, obviously, that I'm like, that's a really cool tree, but I've never, like, seen it grow in a wood? Or, yeah, no, yeah. And so that was harder for me to put on my list. So every tree that is here, even in my runners up, are things I have put my hands to and that I enjoy or have memories around, yeah. And so anyway, that's yeah,

Brandon  1:03:39

that's Oh, that's kind of what I was thinking too. It's very, again, this is a very heavily biased list towards species that occur in southwest Missouri. Oh, sure, right, because this is the most time I've spent in the wood in this area, you know. So like that is kind of biasing my opinion, I guess, because these are trees that you encounter a lot of and, like, so that that does, but, yeah, these are, like, when you go walking in the woods, you're like, oh, it's that, right? That's kind of what I put on my list, yes, kind of a similar idea, right? Like, no

Collin  1:04:16

northern Missouri, and the Boot Hill can come after us. It's fine. I mean,

Brandon  1:04:21

there are some cool trees in the boot heel. I don't know if there's any trees in northern Missouri. I think it's just corn, but like,

Collin  1:04:28

and very importantly, not a tree, not

Brandon  1:04:32

a tree the grass, I think typically, but it's fine. We'll talk about

Collin  1:04:38

that later. So yeah, so we will start with our number five.

Brandon  1:04:42

Yeah, this is kind of okay. This order is somewhat arbitrary. This is not, I'm gonna say this is not my definitive order for the list, because I think this is one of those, like, depending on the day I could they could slide around a little bit. Sure that's how difficult this list. Was, I don't know, I don't know. Yeah,

Collin  1:05:03

no, that's fine. That's fine.

1:05:06

So, yeah, I'll, I'll kick this off. Or

Collin  1:05:09

do you want to? You want to get oh,

Brandon  1:05:10

I don't care. I'll go. I just wanted to. I was like, before I started saying, I'm not. This is not, like, a hard and fast. This is the number five. Okay,

Collin  1:05:18

okay, right? These are just, these are five. We will just say these are five. Yes, generally generalists here. Yeah,

Brandon  1:05:24

pretty good, right? So number five, I needed a maple tree. I like maple trees, yeah, right. They're very pretty. They're very lovely in the fall. Plus, right? I'm thinking too about like maple wood Once the tree is cut and milled and used maple wood quite gorgeous, right? I like maple wood. I do like a maple tree. I think they're very lovely, right? I like them. So I picked the Silver Maple point number five, right? Because they're, like, huge, right? Yes, right. They're really big. Yes, right. Does make them slightly susceptible to giant windstorms, which is problematic, but Right? I just like, I like the Silver Maple, right? Big, giant maple tree, little whirly gig seed pods flipping around everywhere, all the place, right? Yeah, yeah. And then in the fall, maple tree, you know, that's you got to have some nice color variation. So I think I put silver maple as my number five. I was really, I've, I knew I needed a maple tree. So I had to think really hard about which one I wanted, right, but I was trying to go between a few, right? But I did settle on the Silver Maple, right?

Collin  1:06:56

That's a good one, and I always enjoy there's a few places that we like to go hiking just to see the maples in the area. So that's a really good one. I really do. I'm kicking mine off with one that you actually don't see a lot of, very many large adults, very big ones anymore, because I really like ELMS. And because they do get big, I love the shape of the leaves. And I picked the American Elm because it's one that I it's all it's they are a delight to see. The large ones. Again, they're very rare because of the Dutch elm disease. Came right? And bore, you know, it kills off the larger ones, but the smaller ones are hardy. So every time you see a large one, it's just like, Oh, wow. Like, I don't know, I was surprised. Every time I see one and a really huge They're huge. Yeah, they do. They go really, really, they can get really big. So I like, I like American ELMS. I'm gonna throw that out there. It's a little bit of a weird one, I think, right? But I just, I always, I always, they're always so

Brandon  1:08:12

nice. That's perfectly fine. That's okay. I like an elm number four, right? Number four, also quite a large tree, right? But I think this is another one where I too, I was like, Oh, the but the wood of this tree is really pretty, and it this grows very heavily in this part of the state, and I think maybe that's why I lean towards a little bit by going black walnut right? Okay, black walnut tree. Yes, we also have a ton of these in the park here, right? Walnut trees everywhere, and they're just huge, and you gotta watch out when they start dropping those things, because you're like, running on the little running trail, and, like,

1:09:02

walnuts, right? Yeah, squirrels dashing and grabbing them and run them up the jail.

Brandon  1:09:12

Kind of hilarious. So, like, that's why I put that. But yeah, I hope the black ball plus walnut wood also very beautiful, right? Smells a bit weird when you cut it right. It's got a very distinct smell while it's very purpley, kind of when it's like, raw, right, when you mill it, it's like a very dark purpley color, almost, right? It's very cool. So, yeah, I should mention one of my early jobs my life was working in a sawmill. So I do

1:09:41

you have a weird, so much

Brandon  1:09:46

bit of a weird, like, yeah, strange, like, some extra experience with some of these trees, because I've seen them all cut and stacked up, right? I've carried a lot of walnut Walter and I. I tell you,

Collin  1:10:04

yeah, you, you're really bringing in the topic expert here. And expert, I don't know an expert, but I don't know. Yeah,

Brandon  1:10:15

that's my as, my as, my four black walnut, yes, yes.

Collin  1:10:21

This is you mentioned about the abundance of oaks. Missouri forests are described as oak hickory forest, yes, because we have like, 9 million species of hickories alone in the in the Ozarks, I chose a hickory that I that I love, because it immediately stands out. And when you see it, it's just like, boom, that's it, it, I just gonna sound really weird. It's, it's, it adds texture to the forest I'm and it's a wonderful habitat for bats. I'm talking about the shag bark hickory. This is, if you've never seen one of these, the really big ones, they just, they start sloughing off their bark naturally, like it's not a dying tree, right? And the bats will forest dwelling. Bats will live in underneath these, the pieces of bark that are sloughing off. And so provides great habitat. And again, they're just really unique to see. When you're out walking in the woods, it's like, it's, it's the first, it's actually one of the first trees I taught the kids to to identify. So now I'm like, and that is, right? And they're like, boom, Shagbark, yes, well,

Brandon  1:11:33

it's very distinctive net as well, right? You can very clearly identify, oh, that's hickory net. Yes, yes. There it is. Also page 88 of the trees in Missouri. Okay, you curious, Collin,

Collin  1:11:46

I, I do not have, I did not, I can't put my hand to this book right now, but is there my house as well? So, yes, yeah, I Yeah, hickories, yeah, they're good. I love them,

Brandon  1:12:01

so that's a good one. I didn't find room on on my list for hickory, but they are, I do like a nice hickory, nice hard wood, right? Grain structure on there. Uh huh, yes. Uh number three. Okay, this one. I struggled with this one a lot. I had two trees that I was oscillating back and forth between, yeah, right, and it was either on the list or honorable mention, right? That's, that's where we were. I have a whole list set up, and I made my list, and the other my automobile. This one wasn't on the list, right? I've made the list, and boom. And then I was nagging at me, and I was like, I have to put this on the list. I have to, I have to kick the other one off. This is iconic tree for me, for Ozark forests, right? Glades everywhere. This is the red cedar. Oh yes, needed a conifer. Yeah, right. Needed a conifer for those high, you know, Ozark Mountain tops, right? We do have, like, bajillions of red cedar everywhere. So I just needed to have it right. I needed to have it right. Nothing like some cedar wood right on the fire. When you get camping, right? It's all over the place, right? And it's just, like, very distinctive for me personally, with, like, my time spent in Missouri woods, like, it's just like, yeah, like the red cedar is just like it right? Like, it's like, jumps out, because there's not just tons of conifers in Missouri, right? But this one is, like, very common and all over the place. So I put, I put red cedar on my number three. Okay, yeah, I like that. I was wrong. I was tough, tough choice, but I went with it. I stuck with my heart and went with Red Sea.

Collin  1:13:57

No, that's a good one. I do like, I feel like a red cedar. They're very conic, lots of camping and stuff smells. My number three, this is probably going to be too on the nose for the list, because it's probably what most people are thinking. But this is such a stinking pretty tree in the springtime, which is probably why this is on my mind right now. And I am always reminded of just the suite of beautiful trees that we have that flower and that are native. And this one is always great. And I will say that if you are looking to plant a pear tree for the flowers don't right, go to the Department of Conservation and go and to their sales. You can also get these for free, but get a flowering dogwood instead. Absolutely. These trees are so stinking beautiful in the springtime, their flowers are amazing. Right? They don't smell like dead and running fish, and they don't fall over in wind storms, not withstanding, Hardy or straight winds, right? Very hardy, super tall, which helps. Well, pear trees are like, what if I just go straight up and have no support? What if I just did? Dogwoods are actually trees. They know how to be a tree and resist. And again, I love when you're walking through the woods in the springtime and it's like, boom, like, it's just, it's like beacons shining out through the forests, the little whites that are coming up. And then they're just, they're very low canopy, very great trees. So flowering dogwood, yes, it is the state tree. I understand that, but I didn't pick it because of that. It just happens to be so it's a good treat.

Brandon  1:15:43

I mean, it's such a good tree that it's my number two, hey, basically, for all the reasons you said, right, it's very like in the so, like, yeah, when we go to the park in the springtime, right? You just walk. We got lots of trees around here, and blah, blah, blah, and then, but like, the dogwood is so distinctive. And we have, they, they did. They have them planted in there, right? And you, like, it's, you just, like, totally see it. Just, yeah, it stands out so much. Like, it really is pretty. Like, the flowers are great, right? Bonus, fun fact, did you know that Native Americans use the dried bark of the root to treat malaria. I did not know that in the early European settlers fought chills and fevers with it. At one time, it was also used as a quinine substitute. Well, thank you. Thank you. Don Kurtz, page 122, of truth, Missouri. There you go. But that's okay.

Collin  1:16:40

Did not know that's just a just a pretty tree, but

1:16:45

you need to book. People

Collin  1:16:48

gotta, gotta read. Oh, that's good. Yeah, no. Well, my, my number two is, I think one of the largest species of trees here in Missouri, also grows really fast, found along wet areas, and so this one, when I think of trees, I think of again, this really gets to my experience with them. This is one of the trees that you will always see on float trips and along river banks, and always just never fails to impress. I currently live next to one of these trees, and it's a pain in the butt to live next to, because it's just it's never not dropping things, oh no, okay. It's never not falling apart, and never not dropping things upon you and cleaning them out. But it's so beautiful, and I just always so impressive. I love, I love Sycamores. It's an American Yeah, gotta have this on here because you just, you're like, oh, look, a tree, and then you'll see a sycamore, and it's like, the size of a school bus in dynamics. What? So I like that. That's my number two. My number

Brandon  1:17:57

two. Nice. Yeah, that's a good one. I really like, does didn't make my list

1:18:03

either, though, okay, oh yeah. They are really, they are really pretty. And they

Brandon  1:18:08

are, they're like, when they The bark is still like, white, right? Sometimes, and it's just like, you're just like, walking around blue, and then all of a sudden there's, like, this monster, like, boom, yes. Like, really stand out tree. They're really pretty right? Yep, my number we're number one now, right?

1:18:25

Number one already? Yes, number one already. That's

Brandon  1:18:27

how good this list is. Just flies by, right? I was a little worried you're gonna steal mine. Number one, oh, because this is my number one. Is also it's definitely up there. It's about the same height as a sycamore, right? These trees also get enormous, right, and quintessential Missouri tree, right? Had to pick one right. As you said, Missouri are oak hickory forests, so I had to go oak tree. Oak tree, right? Yeah, had to go oak tree. Gotta difficult to decide what oak tree, okay, but I picked the iconic towering monster that is the white oak right. Number one, right. Nice. Also for nostalgia vibes, for the restaurant, but,

Collin  1:19:25

and, and isn't that that isn't that the tree in dad's backyard too? Isn't that

Brandon  1:19:31

monster white tree? Yes, right? Yes, they're just so, like, I do, like, under canopy trees, okay, you know, I mean, like, they're really pretty. I like a nice you know, you need trees of all different heights, right? This is what makes a healthy forest ecosystem, right? You need lots of different heights and trees, but there's something about just a massive tree that's just spectacular, right? It's just incredible. Feel like this tree is so old, it's so huge, right? So just you, I am slightly drawn to giant trees as a man. I'm sure lots of people are right, but the white oak is just, I think there's pretty, right? I think there's gorgeous, majestic things, yeah. So that's really cool. I think that really cool. And did you know that their bark can be used as an astringent? There you go.

Collin  1:20:31

Oh man, it's turning into one of those podcasts. Steer away. Steer away.

Brandon  1:20:37

No worries. I'm not gonna go with Patro on you. I'm not gonna like my medicin medicine cabinet with oak bark or anything. But

Collin  1:20:44

I mean, cabinet check, so you went, you went giant. Can you went giant? For your number one, I went, I went small. I went small. I'm going to say, I don't know this for for a fact, but I wanted to go ahead and say, I think this is one of the most underrated trees, because it again this, I'm probably biased here, because the springtime this is just on my mind. I think it's one of the most underrated trees. It needs more attention. I'm always delighted when I see one of these. You don't see them as often as flowering dogwoods. Another under canopy tree. I'm talking about the eastern red bud.

1:21:22

Oh, a good one. A

Collin  1:21:26

absolutely knock down, gorgeous tree. When it's in bloom, it's very subtle. They're not as boom, bang, pop as the white of a dogwood or whatever. But man, in the springtime, you see these, and if you're looking for a decorative tree, another great thing to plant, and they've got gorgeous their leaves are an awesome shape too. And again, they don't grow huge. They don't grow very big, but a nice little shade tree, even for your little yard. But in the forest, these are also just a delight to see. So I always true. I always enjoy finding a redbud. That's good one. That's really good one. Oh man. How many are on your runners up list? I have

Brandon  1:22:08

a lot. I also have a bonus list because I'm also married to an arboreal enthusiast, so I have a bonus Susan list for you. Susan list, if you're interested. I love Yeah, have a bonus Susan list. I'll go through this I'll go through this a little bit quickly, and then we'll find the runner up here, because maybe some Do you have any runners up? They might I have, I have three. Okay, so we've got this Susan list. Five, red maple, Okay, number four, flowering dogwood. It's just, you know, it's a state tree for a reason, right? Everybody loves a flowering dogwood. Number three, Susan went off the cuff sassafras with the Sassafras tree. Number two, American Sycamore, okay? And number one, the black walnut, right? Her reasoning for the black walnut, by the way, is that she has, she spent a lot of her childhood with her father picking up walnuts, yes, to take to the walnut shelling stations, to sell them, and she used to get the money right. She would use them to buy Christmas ornaments, right? Obviously, this is obviously, because there's, there's only one thing to to spend money on. Yes, it's especially when you, when you're Susan, obviously, this is what you do, right? So this was, she has, like a very, very strong nostalgia related to Black Wall trees. So this is, like her favorite tree of

Collin  1:23:29

all time, rightfully so, yeah, good one. Yes, it's a good tree. Good tree. Okay, so, yeah, so you had Silver Maple, black walnut, red cedar, flowering dogwood and white oak. I had American Elm, shagbark hickory, flowering dogwood, American Sycamore, eastern red bud. Time for runner ups. What we got? Do

1:23:52

you wanna go first?

1:23:58

Oh, did this crash. It's a forestry in Missouri. It's actually in our park.

Brandon  1:24:09

There's a sign in everything. So I that's, you know, that's on the list for, that's on the runner list for vibe, um, the other one on my runner up list was the short leaf pine tree. Oh, because this is the only native pine tree,

Collin  1:24:27

yeah,

Brandon  1:24:27

Missouri, okay. But, you know, I just, that's the one that got kicked off for the red cedar. Because I was like, I need a conifer to represent it. I just love, you know, nice. Okay, and the other the important one on this, I was trying to decide if this should make the list or not. Okay, this is another one I really thought hard about. This is the actual runner up, right? Oh, okay, the persimmon tree, right? Yeah, right, yes. Mostly, mostly because I. Ever get tired of hearing people talk about reading the persimmon seeds? Yeah, no predictions in the winter

Collin  1:25:08

time, spoon or fork or knife,

Brandon  1:25:11

yeah, depending on the allegedly, allegedly people say the farmer's almond access shirt? Yeah? The seed like, if you cut the seed in half, right, the inner pith, or whatever, will look like a kitchen utensil. And depending on which kitchen utensil it looks like, is a predictor for how severe the winter is going to be. It's amazing. This is the Missouri folk forecasting methodology of trying to figure out how much snow there's going to be. Spoon, is it? Remember, spoon means lots of snow, right? I think shovel, that's what I think. Yes, that's the only one I remember, off the cuff what it actually means, because that's the one people talk about the most, right? They always ask, what were the persimmon trees, seeds, spoons this year? Yep, like, that's what they want. So that that is on the runner up list. I couldn't really justify putting it on the main list for that reason, because I don't really believe in persimmon seed meteorology, but it's such an important part of the cultural aspect of where I live, yes, then it has to be,

Collin  1:26:31

I fully agree that mandatory on Both yes, no does No. Interestingly, my my runner ups, my the first one I put on there was the black cherry tree. Another, there's a dark horse. Another thing about that, the only time see my first exposure, this is also, it will also in dad's backyard. He had a it was one of the trees. It was next to the tree that was holding up the No, this was the one that was pointed out by growing up by the propane tank. That's a black cherry little. It had a bird house in it for a while. Oh, yeah, I love their bark. Their bark is so pretty, yeah, and the way, the way it is. I also, I also my runner up was also Sassafras. So because not it's so nondescript that identifying it in a wood is almost impossible. But the smell when you break off of the Oh yeah, limbs, like just really hits you. So I've got lots of memories of

Brandon  1:27:46

that. That's one of the first leaves I learned to identify, because they do have a pretty distinctive leaf, though, yeah? So, like, I seem to remember that I could that was one of the first trees I learned to identify by leaf with the cess. For us, they're good, yeah.

Collin  1:27:59

And my other my final runner up here also persimmon,

1:28:08

because I

Collin  1:28:11

persimmon jam is also very tasty. That is true. And yes, it is just one of those things, undoubtedly, somebody at some point will say, what? What's the what do the seeds say, right? What is it going to be? And it's, it's always wonderful. So, yeah, it happens all the time. I hear it all the time, yes, yeah. But it was good. So no, this was fun. It was very hard, because I just wanted to keep adding trees to the list. And so I had to my again, my selective criteria was my, my level of interaction with them and my, basically, can I pull nice memories that involve this tree? If yes, it goes on the list. If no, I can't, I can't put it on there. So anyway,

Brandon  1:28:55

yeah, that's what knocked a short leaf trying off my list. Because I was like, I just don't have a lot of visors like you. How many cedar trees I've camped under or near Right? Like, a billion. Yeah, you get the most natural canopy. Where you get the is already the grounds already kind of soft out of there. Yes, you get natural weather protection. They're not too big, right? Seek it. So like yo. I mean, come on,

Collin  1:29:19

yeah. So when we go hiking and we find a nice grove of cedars, my kids will undoubtedly turn to me and go, we could camp under there. Now I'll be like, yes, yes, you can get

Brandon  1:29:30

in there. Done that. So, oh, this was, this was good. I really enjoyed putting this together. It's a good one good thing. We totally didn't forget about this list. No, definitely remembered the whole time everything is fine.

Collin  1:29:45

And pulled that off because, like wizards, we did it exactly when we mean to

Brandon  1:29:49

Exactly. Oh, my goodness. Well, to close us out, I do have a bit of an on the note. Was haiku for you. Oh,

1:30:01

do you now? Yeah,

Brandon  1:30:03

this really just combines the two topics of this show together nicely in one haiku on accident. Uh, here we go. Okay, braced against the GAO as neighbors splinter and fall, standing defiant.

Speaker 2  1:30:25

Nice, nice, nice. What, you know, what? I love it because we started with the storm. We did our trees. We end

Brandon  1:30:33

with this boom. They got this is fantastic. I knew I want, I wanted to write a Haku about trees, obviously, because of the show topic. But like, over the as the week progressed, the subject matter changed slightly. It was going to be a lot more like chill and like majestic key. But like, after the whole events of the last couple days, uh, kind of changed the RE had some rewrites were in order. I had to change the tone here. Yeah,

1:31:02

yeah, that's totally

1:31:07

behind the curtain there about what's going on, yeah,

Collin  1:31:10

but that's what they're for. Capture those moments. That's true. Captioning

Brandon  1:31:15

the moment done. It is funny, because when I go back and read them like I can remember what the show is about. Sometimes I'm like, what, what was I talking about? I mean, this sounds like, oh yeah, got it.

Collin  1:31:39

Love it. Very good, great, great topic. We'll see what we can come up for next week. All right, we'll see, and hopefully, the wind stays down. I

Brandon  1:31:49

know we were under another WIND WARNING for wall today. It was like, no, not again. Saw

Collin  1:31:53

that like

Brandon  1:31:54

but it was actually, I don't know why it was us, because it was much more further south was the nasty part of the storm. So you know,

1:32:03

just stay Yes, yes, just in case, please stop.

Collin  1:32:07

Okay. Well, stay safe, and we will do this again. Love you. Let

1:32:13

me too. Bye. Bye. I