SPEAKER_0 [00:00:00]
Dramas, please.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:13]
Yeah.
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This is life
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with a twist of lemon.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:24]
John, it is so good to see you, especially after the week that you had. It was a crazy week.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:33]
Over a week, really. But
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but before we go into that, we we gotta do some quick follow-up from last episode. I can't say last week because we missed a week, but we'll get to that in just a second. Quick follow-up. John, tell me about Aldi.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:45]
Aldi has a really great social media manager.
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Apparently,
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they are indeed a seasonal item according to Twitter.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:54]
Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. What is a seasonal item?
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:57]
Maraschino cherries. I guess Right. Okay. Are some people who might be listening to us who didn't listen to the last episode.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:03]
I mean, who knows? We did skip a week.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:06]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:07]
last time, just to recap, Maraccino cherries were not available at the Aldi, and thus, you could not make A proper Manhattan. Yeah. Right. And so you took to the Twitters I did. And you complained about it. I did.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:19]
Did I complain?
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:20]
I don't know. There's been so much Twitter activity. Let's see if I can find their response. There it is.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:28]
Yeah. I don't know if I really
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:30]
complained. I just pointed out how stupid it was.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:34]
Which which is passive aggressively complaining
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:37]
on the Twitterverse. But that's alright. I'm I'm not judging. I'm not judging at all.
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So
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:43]
it's seasonal. I still that still doesn't make any sense to me. I can't wrap my head around it. So in my tweet, I said that we were decidedly in hot fudge sundae and milkshake season, and Manhattan season is year round. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:55]
Yeah. I the only thing I can think of is maybe the like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:59]
some of the things that Aldi gets, right, are
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:02]
more direct to the sourcing.
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They're less
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mass produced. And so the only thing can figure is that maybe,
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:09]
like, after cherry see I don't even know when cherry season is though. So I think real cherries season is like in the spring, isn't it? Like, Door County I
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:18]
don't know. I I always think of Traverse City when I think of cherries, but
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:22]
I and I think you're right. I think it's probably the spring. I guess, though, that the thing in my mind, like, they gotta can all that stuff. Right? So maybe that's the season of it. I I don't know, John. I think we're trying to just give them the benefit of the doubt. Basically,
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:37]
cherries sell better at Aldi
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:39]
around baking seasons
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:42]
than they do the rest of the year. It's all about money. It's all about the money money money, Stanley.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:47]
What what is baking season? I bake year round. No. I mean, like, holiday desserts. So, like, Thanksgiving. See, now you're qualifying it. Yeah. Basically, what you're talking about is
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:57]
what do they call it? The fruit loaf thing. Missus Lum was gonna kill me because she told me Fruit cake. What about fruit cake. Yeah. Yeah. Fruit loaf.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:04]
Fruit cake cake. That's what you need, Mary Jane. Cherries for. Apparently. But, John, I think the the moral of the story is that Aldi has a great social media presence. We appreciate the
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:14]
the Aldi Twitterverse
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:15]
for their attempt. At least I mean, were responsive. That's They responded in just over an hour,
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:21]
and they said that the Maraschino cherries will be back on 09/11/2020.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:27]
Now, if only you could get an insurance agent to respond that quickly to your concerns. Indeed. But apparently, my insurance agent was without power
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:37]
and Internet and phone service as well.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:41]
Likely story. So,
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John, why don't you recap what happened, why we didn't record last week? We we we did I mean,
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:49]
the spirit was willing. Yes. It was, but the technology was weak.
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:56]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:57]
Monday,
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I had a strong start to Monday at work. I was feeling real productive. Broke for lunch
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:03]
at noon.
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I had finished up eating leftover chicken tacos for lunch
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:08]
And 12:35
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or so central time,
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:12]
the tornado sirens go off. Now I thought we were supposed to get, like, half an inch of rain if we were lucky. So I said, okay.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:21]
Sky was getting dark.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:23]
I didn't go outside. I told missus Colmire I was gonna go outside,
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:27]
but the storm hits. Of course, she would.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:31]
Well, last time we lost power,
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:33]
due to a storm, I was sitting in the garage at the time. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:38]
so,
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yeah, storm hits.
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I watch it for a while. At some point, I send you a video out my big front window,
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and you can't really see anything because rain's coming at it so hard, and there's sticks flying around
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:52]
and stuff like that. Do
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:54]
you know what I thought of when you sent me that video?
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:57]
Twister?
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:58]
No. No. No. No. Star Trek four. Ah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:02]
Yeah. When when the San Francisco is getting hammered and the admiral's like, get him back. Get him back. Get him back.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:09]
Sure. So I did that. So I was still feeling alright at that point. At some point, these massive sticks started flying and hitting the house, and I could hear them. At that point, I thought,
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:21]
I should probably go downstairs.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:23]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:24]
I live in a split foyer home,
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:26]
so the basement is only half in the ground. Little more than half, I guess.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:32]
So there's still windows and stuff down there. So I moved to the basement, but I'm still, like, checking out the windows,
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:39]
walking around. I think I'm texting you the whole time.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:44]
And then
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:45]
I'm I'm a be honest here. In my mind, I'm thinking to myself,
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:48]
he is such a noob. I mean, homeowner here, little wind comes through, and he's sweating bullets.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:55]
No. I was I sweating bullets at that point?
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:59]
You you see I okay. Sweating bullets is not the right term. You seemed more anxious
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:05]
than usual. Now you're not no. You're not I'm not saying you're normally anxious, but, like, there was some anxiety, a very small amount, you know. John Colmott Yeah. We did have so this storm came across the state basically from Des Moines, which is the center of the state.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:21]
There were reports
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of a 110 mile per hour winds
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:25]
west of us. So I had probably
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heard that fifteen, twenty minutes before it hit us. So that's the amount of warning that Cedar Rapids had about the storm, was about twenty minutes.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:36]
Yeah. And and wind at that speed, I mean, that that's nothing to mess with. Now this storm had special name. I had never heard this name before, but apparently, it's like a whole thing. Yeah. The Derecho.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:46]
Derecho. Which is
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:48]
okay,
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:50]
John. Derecho.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:51]
What whatever. However you say it.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:54]
I'm pretty sure this pronunciation key hold on. I'm a I'm a I'm a press this button to hear what it says.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:00]
Oh, no. No. This this The US dictionary that came up derecho? Lexico.com
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:04]
says derecho. Yeah. Interesting. So or derecho.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:07]
But it's definitely a sound.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:09]
Alright. Anyhow.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:11]
So the definition is a line of intense, widespread, and fast moving windstorms.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:15]
Basically, it's a sidewind, though. It's, like, just straight on intense
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:19]
sidewind. And so you're talking a 110 miles an hour. I saw in one, AP article
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:25]
that
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your area had, like, 90 mile an hour side winds, which is still, like, absurd. I mean, that is So in Lynn County,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:34]
it peaked at one thirty at one point, and there were sustained
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winds
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:40]
for I think it was ten minutes at about one fifteen, I think I saw. That's in the county, not in Cedar Rapids.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:48]
See that that's just I I mean, you can't even wrap your head around it because it's not just like a gust. I mean, sustained winds So these are cat two hurricane speeds
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:57]
wind speeds.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:59]
In in the middle of Iowa. In the middle of Iowa with twenty minutes warning.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:03]
So Yeah. Well, and that's I think that's an important important thing. Right? Like, a hurricane, you see it coming, literally. Like, you can plan around it and all that. Now that's not to say it doesn't do bad things. People don't get caught off guard, whatever. But this this particular type of storm does not give you the advance that a hurricane does. And
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:21]
we're in the middle
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:23]
of The United States Of America. No big giant bodies of water. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:28]
Now you you are in,
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:31]
like, tornado turf. Right? Like, tornadoes are common in Iowa? Yeah. Tornadoes are common. So tornadoes
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:36]
can do damage in, like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:39]
three miles. Right? Yeah. So this covered 70, I think it was,
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:46]
of straight line winds.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:48]
All of Cedar Rapids is completely decimated.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:51]
Conservative estimates say that we lost half of the tree canopy
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:55]
in town.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:57]
That's
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:58]
just crazy. Yeah. That's absolutely crazy. Alright. So at the, at the Coalmire Abode, what happened?
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:04]
Yeah. So I was texting you at some point.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:08]
I heard a bang, and I was in the basement at the time,
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:12]
but it wasn't like a super loud bang. So I figured something fell on a neighbor's house or something like that.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:20]
I go out. I look out my window,
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:22]
and my big giant city tree,
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:25]
a
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ash tree,
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:28]
is leaning on my roof completely uprooted.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:31]
Now,
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:32]
you can't wrap your arms around this tree on a normal day. Right? Correct. I mean, it is a big tree. Like With with me and missus Kollmeyer, I don't think we could join hands around this tree. Okay. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:44]
big tree, the picture you showed me, I mean, when you say roots and all, like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:49]
the thing just popped up out of the ground. I could not believe it when you showed me the picture of it with the roots out. It was it was unreal. So this thing hits your house, though. Yep. So it hit my house.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:03]
I guess the first thing I do
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:05]
is this is when I start to freak out. So I run outside because my ladder is there, and I wanna look up into the attic.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:12]
So I go get my ladder from the garage.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:15]
But don't you have lightning and thunder at this point still? Yes. There's still lightning and thunder at this point. We're still getting rain. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:22]
lightning and thunder. And John's like, oh, let me get a metal ladder and climb up on the roof. I didn't climb up on the roof at that point. I was just going up into the attic. So I brought the ladder inside so I could get into the attic. Because I tried a kitchen chair and it didn't get me high enough. So Yeah. You need more more leverage unless you're really buff in the arms, which I'm sorry to say my friend, you are not. I am not. Although, I am decidedly more buff now after all of my hand sawing in the past week.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:52]
Yeah, that's the first thing I do. I climb up into the attic and the plywood underneath the shingle is punctured in two places that I can see. So Stan says,
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:03]
go get a bucket up under that.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:06]
So that's what I do. I try to find a bucket and got a couple buckets up there.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:11]
It was a pain to get over to that side of the house,
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:14]
because the
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:16]
what are they? They're like a frames.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:20]
Well, your your roof
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:22]
has a relatively narrow grade to it, and I I believe that your,
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:28]
your your trusses just lean against each other. So you're not you don't have them what the heck do they call them? They're not they're not all framed out Right. To support, like, and distribute the weight Yeah. Which makes I mean, that just means that there's it's not gonna be that high. Yeah. So those are, like, on the
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:44]
I don't even know what they are. The wood things that you can walk on so you don't fall through the ceiling.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:49]
The the joists? The joists. So those are on the joist. So I'm, like, reaching around
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:54]
to try to stay on the joist while I'm carrying a bucket,
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:57]
and
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:58]
I do get the bucket underneath
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:01]
the
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:02]
leak.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:03]
And we're getting two and a half inches of rain at this point.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:07]
So I get that.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:08]
And
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:11]
what do I do next, Stan? I don't know. It's all a blur. Well, you were, I mean, you were struggling to make sure you got you were catching the water, and I think you kept going back into the room to see what was So I went back to the room. At some point, I did climb up on the roof, and there might there was still lightning in the area for sure. So, like, when the rain stopped, I climbed up there,
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:32]
and I had a tarp to see if I could tarp over things,
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:36]
but that was not gonna happen. The tree was in the way. Right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:41]
I did that,
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:42]
and then I'm texting,
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:44]
powers out.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:46]
And at some point, I just hear this water
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:49]
rushing.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:53]
And
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:54]
I look around,
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:56]
and it's coming from the guest bedroom, which is where the punctures were above.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:01]
And I am missing probably
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:04]
five
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:06]
by five area of my ceiling, and water is it's a waterfall.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:11]
Insulation all over the place right onto the guest bed there.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:15]
Yeah. So at that point at at the point at which you send me the text indicating
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:19]
that you're
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:21]
ceiling and falling, and I I won't I won't share what the text message is because we wanna keep our It's clean not appropriate. Yes. Yeah. We wanna keep our clean ready.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:29]
But suffice to say, I legitimately thought you were joking. I thought you were messing with me because it's like, this couldn't possibly happen to John.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:36]
Yep. But, yeah, you're I guess so just me spitballing here.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:42]
You had a combination of the drywall getting wet and thus getting soft, and then the the insulation getting wet and getting heavy. Yep. And so And the bucket was sitting there. Through. Bucket came through. So I don't think I knew that.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:56]
Yeah, I think it it started
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:59]
now that's what happened is it started, it was coming in around the ceiling fan and where there would be a hole in the ceiling anyway.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:06]
So I got another bucket there,
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:08]
and then I think I'm running around to find more buckets or tarp or something like that. And
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:14]
at that point, I walked back in, and I just heard this rushing water.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:19]
And I walked in and yeah. I mean, I was missing the ceiling. Lost more ceiling after that.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:25]
Some because I was just trying to get the wet stuff out, others just because it just kept falling away.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:31]
Yeah. You shifted into fighting mold. Right? Like, that's at that point, you're just trying to get rid of all the debris.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:37]
So, you've got a skylight in your house now.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:40]
Yeah. Have the tree the
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:43]
tree's been removed. Yeah? The tree has been removed. So the tree got removed on Wednesday. It was a crane operation. So brought the crane in to connect to the limbs that they were cutting off, and then the guy went in with a lift
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:58]
to cut the limbs,
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:59]
and then crane lifted it off and into the street.
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:03]
So they did that. It was probably took two hours to do the whole thing. And finally, the last limb that it was resting on the roof on was cut,
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:14]
and the tree pops back up.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:16]
Right back into its spot. Yep. So I wanna come back to that, but it it's pretty impressive watching them
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:22]
hoist a tree off a roof because it's not it's not as simple as you think. Right? Like, you start cutting things and pressures relieve, things shift, and so
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:31]
it's it's a it's a pretty big deal. And I I think it's I mean, it's neat to watch. You never wanna be to be you. It did happen to me, which is what I told you. Like, this Right. This will all be fine.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:41]
Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:42]
This is what you have homeowners insurance for.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:44]
Now mine was not from
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:46]
gale force winds,
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:48]
but rather
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:49]
lightning. But nonetheless, it was a it was a tree that fell on the house.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:52]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:53]
this tree pops back into place. Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:56]
From the picture you sent,
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:58]
it looked like it never got pulled out. And I'm Yeah. So you can tell that it got pulled out on the ground. It didn't fall directly back into place.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:08]
So but, yeah, it literally just popped back up. It kinda rocked back a little, and that just it's just standing there.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:15]
So,
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:16]
I mean, is the city gonna take the rest of that out, or or what what's the plan? Because you've got it Right. You basically have a dead tree that's now been trimmed all the way down and has created a massive chasm in your front yard. Yeah. So my guess is the city takes it down. The tree itself is on city property. Of course, once it had fallen onto my roof, it was my problem.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:36]
But now it resides on city property, so I imagine they won't take that down, but I can't imagine it will be until next year.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:43]
Okay.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:44]
And I understand. I wonder if there's any liability or risk of that thing blowing again. I mean, it won't it won't hit your house at this point. Right? Right. Yeah. I don't think anything would knock it over just because
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:55]
like, it's much heavier at the bottom than it is at the top now.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:59]
So next steps, I'm assuming
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:02]
you're gonna get your roof replaced. Right? That's the goal. I gotta get an insurance adjuster out here first.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:08]
I've been talking to a couple of roofing companies. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:12]
Okay. But, yeah, roof needs to be replaced. We tarped it.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:15]
Hopefully, that holds. I haven't put it to the test yet.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:19]
But yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:21]
Now have you been able to get all the wet stuff out of the room? Yeah. So we stripped the like, I took the mattress and box spring out, and we basically threw out all of the
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:33]
sheets at some stuff like that at that point because we didn't have power for seven days to just throw them in the wash.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:39]
And
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:41]
we ripped out all the carpet
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:43]
and
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:44]
stuff like that. So now it's a big empty room. Still drywall on the walls, but it's cracking and yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:52]
Yeah. I imagine I mean, you've got moisture that's gotten back in there, so you're gonna have a bunch of repair work. Yep.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:57]
Have you called anybody about the interior work yet, or is that still on the to list? No. That's on the to do list. I mean, I really need the roof fixed before
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:07]
anybody's gonna start working on the interior. Like, not gonna drive not gonna drive all the inside.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:12]
So Yep. Well, I'm I'm sorry that's happened to you, man. I mean, that's a Yep. That's a heck of a heck of a thing. So, thankfully,
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:19]
this is just the guest room. So we literally had, like, the bed in there,
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:24]
and we don't use the room if nobody's around. So at least to hit there, not our bedroom or something like that.
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:33]
And, yeah,
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:34]
it was crazy, man.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:36]
So seven days without power. Is that is that what I heard you say? One hundred fifty one hours. So less than seven twenty four hour days, but it spanned seven days. Yeah. Hundred hundred sixty eights a week. Right? Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:48]
Yep. So,
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:50]
don't ask me why that is such quick recall. That's a whole other story.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:55]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:56]
I
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:57]
I gotta ask, like, what
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:59]
did you not have that you bought in a panic?
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:03]
And what did you not have that's now on a list of, like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:07]
preparatory equipment
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:09]
for the next time?
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:11]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:14]
I don't know that we bought that much. I bought some tarps.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:18]
I bought a saw saw. Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:20]
It's a it's a big one. Yeah. That was what? A $120 or something like that.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:26]
It was it was pretty important, wasn't it, John? Actually, it turned out to not be as helpful as it would have because it was battery powered, and I had little ways to charge the battery. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:36]
but, yes, it was helpful. Details. Details. Especially, initially, when I was trying to get to where the roof punctures were to
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:43]
cover that stuff up.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:47]
Bought some tarps, bought a crowbar.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:53]
Did I buy anything else?
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:54]
What about buckets? Did you buy any buckets? I didn't buy any buckets. We have lots of buckets. I just had to find them or empty them from empty things that were in them.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:04]
So what's what's on your is that
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:08]
what's on your long term purchase list? On my long term purchase list. Yeah. And you can tell me, and then I'm gonna add to it for you.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:16]
So chainsaw would probably be pretty high.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:21]
That's that's definitely handy. I'll tell you what though, I have a chainsaw. It's not actually at my house. I was prepared to go get it for you though, John. Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:28]
I that is one thing I am just not comfortable wielding. Yeah. No matter how many times I've tried, I just I do not care to wield the chainsaw. So our buddy, Dan Chaz, faithful listener of the show, and his camp crew came out. And once this tree was down on the ground and not on my roof, they cut it all up and cut a bunch of logs for me so that I can now split them for firewood when the burn ban is over.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:51]
There you go. There you go. Do you do you have anything to split it with though? Not yet. That is on a list. So Out right now mall? Right now, I'm looking at a mall. I'm also looking at a firewood rack
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:04]
to sort out. It's a good idea.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:08]
What else, Stanley? You want me to buy a generator? The generator noise drove me absolutely insane, and there's been so many people doing stupid things with their generator.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:17]
So people who were, like, passed out from carbon monoxide poisoning because they pointed it into their garage or something like that. People setting things on fire, so it's just not been good. And I Wait. Has that has that been happening on your block or just, like, in Cedar Rapids? Just in Cedar Rapids. Oh, okay. Alright. There were
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:36]
fire trucks down the street.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:38]
Was that this morning or yesterday? Yesterday morning, I think. So I'm not entirely sure what that was, but, they weren't there very long, so I'm hoping it was relatively minor.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:49]
So I'm I'm I'm not surprised that Sanchez can wield a,
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:54]
chainsaw
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:55]
reliably.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:56]
I think if I had a friend like Dan Chaz nearby,
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:00]
I would probably have my chainsaw closer
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:03]
so so I could get Dan Chaz the wheeler for me.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:06]
I don't have any big trees around my house. No. And now you understand why. Because
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:11]
because I did it the last house, and I went through a similar situation. How big is that little tree in the backyard supposed to get?
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:17]
You
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:18]
know what? By the time I have to worry about it, I'll be long dead,
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:23]
or or I'll be RV ing across America.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:25]
No.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:26]
So yeah. So the generator, I I would advocate you get one. I know it's frustrating.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:34]
Here so here's here's the situation that led me to get a generator. We lost power
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:39]
for a week while we were living in,
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:42]
just North Of Pittsburgh
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:44]
at the at the one Pittsburgh house you didn't come see. So,
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:48]
that
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:49]
that experience
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:52]
was such that I felt like I wanted one for the future.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:55]
I also I also
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:57]
had a setup such that I could
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:01]
start my furnace while using it Mhmm. Which was which is part of my goal, like, be able to start with heat. I
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:08]
think I could get around that today. I think I know enough to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:13]
But, like, that's still I think it's still valid, like, use I
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:17]
have enough food in my freezer and fridge that I would want to run it, you know.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:22]
Yeah. So we lost
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:24]
I mean, we ate a bunch of the stuff that was in our freezer. We lost everything in the fridge.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:30]
So assuming a tree did not fall on my house
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:33]
and
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:35]
we lost all our food. Like, at that point, my insurance deductible
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:38]
isn't worth
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:40]
it. Like, the Yeah. Lost is. So, like, that that I could see as a use case there.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:46]
I it you know,
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:48]
in your situation too, think it would have been valuable for coffee for grounding coffee since you got I got out of trouble there. I did end up so missus Kollmeyer,
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:57]
being the saint that she is, got me ground coffee on one of her grocery stores runs.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:02]
So I did have coffee from
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:05]
day two on.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:06]
But, basically, I I think I would go hand grinder before I would go
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:10]
generator.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:12]
Well, and you should have a hand grinder. I mean, I I have a hand grinder here
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:15]
as well as my electric one, which is what I told you, like, you know, you you always have the manual option for for
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:21]
events like this. But I I believe that you went with
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:25]
yeah. Or or camping. But I I couldn't believe that you went with Folgers. I, like, I I ugh. I I was not the one shopping, and it would not have been my choice. But missus Colmire lost me and wanted me to not have a caffeine
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:38]
headache.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:39]
So Well, that's what that's what was gonna ask. Desperate times, desperate measures. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:44]
So I I would still advocate for the generator. I think the other thing I would advocate for you specifically is a
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:50]
a battery that you can charge your cell phone off of. Yeah. I
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:56]
have one. I don't even know what the amperage is. It's pretty high. I can I think you can charge two iPads and a phone, like, fully or something like that? Nice. I actually we actually use it when we go camping. That's why why I have it, but,
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:09]
it's
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:10]
not used most of the time. But then You You should leave your phone at home when you go camping, Stan.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:16]
Except the weather and maps
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:19]
and, like, all those other things and music.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:21]
But I I was actually gonna say, I think, you know, the generator like, that that battery will get you, you know, through a pinch, but
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:28]
not seven days.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:30]
And I I would actually think in your situation, that might have the generator might have been nice for your phones,
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:36]
maybe
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:37]
ask some user Phones
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:40]
phones, we kept charged mostly from our cars.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:45]
So that's how we did that, which isn't ideal.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:48]
What I did find out during this whole thing is that
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:53]
my
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:54]
max battery capacity
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:56]
life thing that Apple tells you is down to 85%.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:00]
So this may make me get a new phone in the near future.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:03]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:04]
Oh oh, the the health. You're talking about the health of the Health. IPhone battery. Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:09]
So Yeah. I tell you when you know what? It's it's funny too that first 15%, it hurts. It Yeah. It gets you right where it counts.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:17]
But do you know was your Internet out? I mean, you didn't have any So I'm assuming that the Internet didn't go out,
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:26]
but, yeah, I can't tell for sure. But it was back when the power came back.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:30]
Okay. It's another reason. I mean, so Actually, that's another funny story. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:36]
the
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:37]
guest room, lots of water coming in by the ceiling fan, turned off the breaker even before you told me to, Stan. You should be proud.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:45]
I I am, John. And turns out that Anna's
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:48]
office, which is right next to it, is on the same breaker,
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:52]
and that's where the router
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:55]
and modem are plugged in.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:58]
So if I ping it on oh, no. The Internet's not back. And finally, I figured it out. Yeah. It's because there's no power to the to the modem there.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:07]
Alright. Well, so
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:09]
I you you also know I mean, I'm a little paranoid just in general. I keep my router,
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:15]
and my modem on a UPS, a dedicated UPS, so I get at least fifteen minutes of
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:21]
So seven
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:22]
days in,
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:24]
like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:25]
it's not gonna matter, Stan. Yeah. Well, but the generator the generator would help. Assuming you could find gas, but you you had had trouble finding gas. Yeah. So initially,
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:34]
really, it was only Monday
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:36]
Monday evening
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:38]
into Tuesday where the immediate
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:41]
area was out of gas.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:44]
Maybe a little on Wednesday, but ain't I found gas on Wednesday.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:48]
So people are driving. I mean, people drove to Dubuque, which is
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:52]
hour and a half at least to find generators and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:58]
But, yeah, there were people bringing in gas from 50 miles away.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:03]
So in addition to a generator, I'm I'm assuming you had flashlights. Yeah. So I had this camp lantern that I really lived by. That's how I showered. So we still had hot water and everything, which was nice running water and drinkable.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:16]
So that was good. But, yeah, the camp lantern, I used to light up whole rooms, and we have a bunch of LED flashlights.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:23]
So Okay. Good deal.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:25]
Now you you dodged a bullet with, you know, the water being fine, not getting contaminated or anything, but I do think, you know, especially where you live with flooding,
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:34]
that does become, like, a legit concern, something you should maybe think about having a few gallons of water, bottled water
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:41]
in on on, on hand. Yeah. You don't necessarily have to get a 50 gallon drum like I did,
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:46]
but I'm also not gonna tell you that that was the worst idea in the world. So Did you fill that sand? Did you figure out a way to fill You
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:53]
bet I did, man. When when everybody was like, oh, that thing over in Italy is not coming to The States. I was like, you better believe I'm getting ready.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:01]
Nice.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:02]
I think just having water handy
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:05]
in general is a good idea. Yep. The only thing I was gonna ask you is, did you have shelf stable food that you could rely on? So
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:11]
canned soup, you know. Yeah. So we had
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:15]
some canned things.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:19]
I mean, nothing,
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:20]
like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:22]
significant like you.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:24]
But assuming that
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:26]
grocery stores didn't come back
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:29]
a couple days later and things like that, we would have made it through the seven days fine. Any longer than that, I don't know.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:35]
It it can get tricky, I think, with,
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:37]
going to the grocery store for every meal. That's where, like, you know, having the shelf stable supplies can be good. The other thing is when you're in a situation like you're in, right, those shelf stable supplies, they go off the shelves fast in the grocery store.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:50]
Everybody wants them. Everybody panics. And so, you know, I I always what what I recommend
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:55]
this is just me being me.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:58]
Have a few kinds of soup and a few kinds of vegetables that you like.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:03]
And
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:04]
this always grosses people out, but having some canned meat, man,
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:07]
you know, it, it's worth it. There's so anybody can judge the canned chicken, but you take that and you mix it up with a little bit of cream cheese and some Frank's RedHot and you put it on some, you know, chips, you're good to go.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:21]
But,
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:23]
yeah, the the other thing I was curious about,
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:27]
did you find yourself,
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:29]
you bought the Sawzall.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:30]
You talked about the,
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:34]
the
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:36]
chainsaw. Did you think about any other tools that
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:39]
would come in handy? I I mean, I just like, everything we use is battery powered. Right? And so that's
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:45]
always the thing that's on my mind is if I don't have a generator, recharge those batteries.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:49]
You know. Yeah. So I've got
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:52]
as far as hand tools go, I have the sawzall and the drill.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:57]
I also have a corded drill,
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:00]
but that would also be dead in pandemic.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:06]
See, But I think you need a generator, John. I I really just keep coming back to that. So I had, like, a bow saw that got its use out. I probably should replace a blade on that thing after all of this. Yes.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:16]
Yes. You should. Because the next time a tree falls, that that's that blade's gonna really annoy me. I have the bow saw, and I have a pull saw, manual one, not a powered one.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:27]
And those I use significantly
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:30]
just
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:31]
in my with my immediate neighbors. So I got a couple retired people across the street who I helped clear stuff out.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:40]
And, actually, the neighbor right next to me
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:43]
hardly had anything. The front of their house looks like it sandblasted,
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:47]
but besides that,
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:49]
they didn't have any tree damage. Their trees are still standing.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:52]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:54]
you got a little clever with your cooking, I I saw.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:57]
Yeah. So I have the gas grill, and I had extra propane on hand too. So I had the full
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:04]
tanks in the garage,
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:07]
which I would highly recommend,
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:09]
and especially since, like, charcoal and stuff was hard to find in Cedar Rapids too.
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:13]
So.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:14]
Oh, interesting. I wonder why that is.
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:17]
I think just because everybody had to cook. I mean,
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:21]
they don't have gas appliances.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:23]
Yeah. You have one propane tank with the grill and then a spare. And the
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:28]
contrary to common belief, you don't have the spare for situations like this.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:32]
You have the spare because when you're grilling that steak and it runs out,
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:36]
you don't wanna have to run to the gas station to finish grilling your steak. Correct.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:40]
Yeah. Yeah. So,
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:42]
yeah, that I I grilled everything. So I made hot water for coffee in the morning, grilled some pizza.
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:50]
We had lots and lots of chicken in the freezer, so we tried to grill up as much as that as we could so it wasn't lost.
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:58]
Actually, I took some of that over to the neighbors too.
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:01]
And did I grill anything else interesting? I just did a bunch of different things with
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:07]
chicken.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:08]
Your your water situation cracked me up because you texted me. You're like, I need a camp stove. I was like, for what? And you're like, to make coffee. I was like, John, come on, man. You got a grill. You don't need a camp stove. Like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:20]
a girl's better than a camp stove. Yeah. So It takes forever, man.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:25]
Oh, I a camp stove's not gonna be any faster than that, buddy. I don't know what to tell you. Do do you have a do you have a sear burner on your grill? I do not.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:34]
Okay. Alright. So that's if it had been me, I probably would've used the the burner next to the sear and the sear and just, like Yeah. Turn them up, you know, full tilt. But I
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:45]
when we lost our power for that,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:48]
week, I used my grill for everything. I mean, I I even we were grilling fruit and vegetables, like, anything we had just to add, like, a little bit of flavor and just enjoy it on the on the back porch. Yeah. Yes. I did not I did not have the benefit of a
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:03]
gas powered
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:05]
hot water tank. So I applaud you for for a house with a gas,
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:10]
gas water heater. Yeah. I got that going for me.
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:14]
But,
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:15]
so we were sitting in the neighbor across the street's driveway to view the crane taking down my tree.
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:22]
And I guess Anna was
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:23]
talking with her, and she said that she had had,
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:27]
like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:28]
a couple graham crackers for dinner the night before. So, like, we have all this we have all this chicken. So we took a bunch of chicken over to there after I grilled it up. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:39]
You're a good man, John. Good man. Oh, we weren't gonna eat at all, and it was hard to keep cold just in a cooler. So Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:47]
Yeah. Well, that's the other thing too. Bet ice was hard to come by as well. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:51]
I think there was only one time we went out, and there wasn't any ice. Anna actually bought dry ice first couple of days.
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:58]
And then
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:00]
the person who owns the building
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:03]
that I work out of when we're actually working in a building also owns a wedding venue a couple blocks away from my work building. And so he had the icemaker running into wedding venue and was giving it away free for people fill coolers with. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:17]
Well, that's very nice of him. Yeah. He actually they actually got power too and I think our work is still without power. So he's opened it up to some coworkers
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:25]
to go work from there because they have power and Internet.
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:28]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:29]
Good deal, man. Well, look, I
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:33]
know this is frustrating. Hang in there. This is why you have homeowners insurance. So I really like
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:40]
the house damage sure that's frustrating
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:42]
but I feel like I survived
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:44]
the seven days of nothing
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:47]
pretty
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:48]
darn well. And I think there's a couple reasons for that, Stanley.
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:52]
Oh, boy. Here we go. Number one, I have I got my pencil. I have Stan Lummon as a friend who can answer all of my technical questions.
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:02]
Number two,
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:03]
I have a year's worth of living expenses saved up.
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:08]
So, like, somebody who doesn't have anything in savings running out to get a Sawzall
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:12]
or to go find food for every meal, like, that's gonna hurt. So, like, I was in a much better place just having that peace of mind going into this,
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:22]
than I think a lot of Cedar Rapids was. There's there's nothing affordable
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:27]
about natural disasters. Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:29]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:30]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:31]
I started at six months, then COVID hit, so I expanded it to a year. And
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:37]
so,
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:38]
like, I I highly recommend just, I mean, they call it a rainy day fund for a reason.
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:43]
So if it's raining That name that name takes a new video for you now, John. If it's raining in your guest bedroom,
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:50]
like, it's it's nice to have a little extra cushion there. So I highly recommend that even if you don't
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:55]
have a generator.
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:00]
I don't know. Maybe and I think the other thing is that we don't talk about this a lot on the podcast, but I think that our faith plays a big role in this too.
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:09]
So as I look at Twitter and other social media, like, people
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:13]
rely on the government for comfort, and the government was super slow to respond. We didn't get any
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:20]
national news for almost a week after the storm hit.
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:23]
And yeah. All of that's because you're in Iowa. But yeah. Yeah. I mean, people think that that Iowa is
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:30]
supposed to be important, and we really aren't. I mean, I'm kidding. Once every four years. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:37]
No. I I think, you're you're spot on. Right? Like, all this is stuff,
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:42]
and
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:43]
things happen to stuff, and it's not generally great.
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:46]
Yep. And, you know, I
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:49]
think to to, like, paraphrase our, our our good friend,
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:54]
I don't know if he still listens or not, pastor George Borghardt. Right? Like, to to live like a lily of the field. If, our heavenly father can take care of the lilies, then surely we'll be alright. Yep. Cause I mean that tree, like if the wall doesn't hold,
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:06]
then that tree could've landed on my head super easily. You
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:13]
survived. I survived.
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:15]
Well, it's you know, and and I think too, you you learn a lot about being a homeowner through stuff like this.
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:22]
Granted your your home insurance rates are gonna stink for the next five years. You're not gonna be able to change companies. Thankfully, they're, like, kinda low right now. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:29]
Yeah. We'll see how how big of a change it is.
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:33]
I think after our incident, when we had a relatively small claim too,
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:38]
it was, like, a 150%
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:39]
of the previous year's bill. So it was no subtle jump.
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:44]
Yeah. And, of course, I'm like, oh, we'll just go price it out, you know, elsewhere. I'm over here like, that's an act of God. They can't charge me extra for an act of God. Oh, yes. They can.
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:52]
And a lot of people can can reject,
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:55]
you coming over because of an act of God too, which it stinks, but, know, it is what it is, and that's what insurance is there for. Yep. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:03]
like I told you, you know, don't,
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:06]
you know, my my general philosophy with insurance is you set a deductible
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:12]
that you're comfortable with, and you would be fine paying in the event of something happening.
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:17]
Right? And and really, it's like, you know, that threshold
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:21]
is I don't want my my monthly rate to go up. Right. Right? Yep. And and then
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:27]
once you're willing to fork out that that threshold amount,
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:31]
you're saying, okay. This is expensive enough that the impact to the month to month payment,
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:37]
is is a better trade off. And I think you're probably at that point. Yeah. I mean, I could see so between the tree, the roof, the interior damage,
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:46]
like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:47]
we could be pushing
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:48]
$50,000
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:49]
by the time all is said and done.
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:52]
I hope it's not that much for your for your state channel. But
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:56]
Bringing a crane, an emergency tree removal, not cheap.
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:59]
Yeah. Well and and those guys aren't gonna be cutting you any Right. Any discounts.
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:03]
Yeah. I'm sure they were working I roof is what? Probably another
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:08]
$8.
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:09]
I have no idea what the bedroom's gonna cost me. But I I would just so what little I know from the pictures I've seen, I wouldn't expect your roof to be $8. I would think replacing your entire roof would be $10.
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:21]
So you're probably looking,
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:23]
I don't know, couple thousand dollars. The the thing is, like, it's cheaper to replace your whole roof than to do spot repairs Right. Because,
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:30]
you know, I mean, it's just the way the the world works. Right. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:33]
but So we'll see how it all turns out. Yeah. It's it's what your insurance is there for. Make sure you pick out a really nice color when you redrywall that room and Yeah. Get some carpet with the with the what do they call it? High loft
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:44]
that's Yeah. Comfortable on your toes. Yeah. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:48]
Alright. Then you can be the first person to stay in it, Stan. I'll get your advice on mattress too.
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:54]
Oh, dude. I mean, if if if insurance is replacing it, I would be looking at, like, Purple or Casper if it were me.
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:01]
Or or you really wanna go out, you go sleep number. Right? That's the that's the hotness. Not for the guest bed.
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:07]
Well, hey, just because you're a place doesn't mean you to stay in the guest room. That's true. But I I I've got a king in our bed and queen in the guest room. So I'm pretty sure there's a king in the guest room last time I stayed there.
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:20]
Alright.
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:21]
Well, hey, listen. I am really grateful that you, you came through alright. I hope missus Kolmeier,
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:27]
has managed to retain,
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:29]
her sanity and isn't isn't stressed out by the She was getting ready to go back to school. So she was at school and the new teacher orientation had started. So now that has been pushed back indefinitely at this point. So,
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:41]
like That's
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:43]
it means every every school students
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:46]
dream.
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:47]
Right? Like, school's been Like, some of these kids, I think, are itching to get back to school because they got cut short early last year, and now it's like, I think they're just looking for some normalcy.
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:58]
Yeah. Well,
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:00]
hopefully, they will they will get that in due course. Hopefully.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:03]
Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:05]
Alright. I know we're running along, but we got two weeks to make up for it. I I added another thing in here. I'm just curious. I know you've you've not had electricity or Internet.
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:12]
Have you have you been following this Fortnite thing with Apple? No. So I haven't seen anything about this. So Fortnite,
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:19]
I understand because all the kids are super excited about it. I tried to install it once just to check it out.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:27]
And, like, I got the app installed, but then there were all these updates that I was trying to download,
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:32]
and it just took forever. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:34]
I I've I don't think I've ever played it. It's a game. It's on a bunch of different platforms.
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:40]
You
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:41]
probably know it if you ever seen kid floss. You know, flossing is the dance? Yep. Yeah. I'm not I'm not gonna sit here and try and do it, but
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:48]
my my kids can do it. I don't even know if they've ever played Fortnite, but it it's like it's a
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:53]
strong cultural presence. And,
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:57]
there's
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:58]
just like with any game. Right? There's a bunch of stuff you buy in app, cause that's how they make their money. I'm pretty sure it's a free install, and then you they just, like, nickel and dime you throughout the game. You buy different dances, all kinds of things, like, to celebrate.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:11]
Well, as you know, Apple
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:14]
takes a cut out of pretty much everything on the
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:18]
app store ecosystem.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:20]
That includes in app purchases for a product like Fortnite. And I think I don't I don't know the specifics, but I would guess based upon
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:28]
the
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:29]
amount of time that Fortnite spent on the App Store, it's probably 15%. It's probably not the initial 30 because Apple actually lessens
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:35]
that in app purchase amount over time.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:38]
And Fortnite
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:40]
pulled the fast one,
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:42]
on
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:43]
Apple and allowed a way to buy stuff in the game that was not through Apple.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:49]
And,
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:50]
Apple then took Fortnite down from the App Store,
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:54]
which is a pretty big deal. And now, the maker of Fortnite, their accounts are beat I mean, they they just they turned around. They just said they're gonna sue Apple Yep. Which I'm sure will work out great for them. Yeah. And money before that goes anywhere.
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:08]
I mean,
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:09]
you'll wonder. Right? Meanwhile, their app is not in the App Store, so they're not making money off of Fortnite, which as far as I know has been just like printing cash over there for them. Sure. But
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:19]
now Apple is actually threatening to to actually shut down the developer account for the company, which will
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:26]
broaden
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:27]
the scope of just Fortnite.
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:30]
So I I was like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:32]
there are a lot of people, and I'm sure Dan Chess is gonna be one of them. I can I can just see him posting on Facebook
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:38]
about this?
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:41]
Basically,
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:42]
you know, this is Apple
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:43]
monopolizing
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:44]
their ecosystem,
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:46]
being
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:47]
evil, bad, and all of that. Right? Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:50]
And and I actually think they're
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:53]
a 110%
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:54]
in the right. Yeah?
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:56]
Yeah. You ready for this? I'm ready. I think I probably agree with you already. But
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:00]
So so first of all, Apple has developed a safe ecosystem.
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:04]
Like, when when you think of the costs that developers
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:10]
incur,
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:11]
it's it's yeah. It's a bit of a I don't wanna say a penalty,
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:15]
but it's a protective measure
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:17]
on that front for you and me, the consumer. Yep. Right? So all apps get reviewed. It means that you can't just put malware or spyware or whatever
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:26]
onto the app store, and then get onto your phone and ruin it. Right? You can't build an app that's gonna completely destroy the device's battery.
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:35]
Get it on the apps. Like, Apple stops that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:38]
And that ecosystem
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:40]
is not free. Right? Like, Apple's monstrosity of of revenue
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:44]
is in part because of this App Store,
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:48]
and and just, creating an ecosystem
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:50]
that's safe.
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:51]
So when it comes to in app purchases,
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:55]
I
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:56]
then start to wonder, like, well, who are those targeting?
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:59]
Fortnite's a free app,
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:01]
and those
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:02]
I mean, they're Fortnite's
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:04]
not appealing to you and me. They're appealing to my kids. They're appealing to other people's kids.
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:08]
And there is a huge risk
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:11]
in allowing any kind of payment method to be available inside of a game
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:17]
on kids' devices, whether it's iPads, iPhones, iPod touches, whatever. Like, just allowing a kid to start expensive stuff is super risky for for them
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:26]
and for their parents. Right? Like, don't want, as a parent, for them to rack up a huge bill. Right. You also, though, don't want them to be able to buy stuff that's potentially questionable. Like, there are safeguards in the platform today, you know, on on the
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:41]
Apple devices themselves, as well as on the App Store. And to me, that's what Fortnite's
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:46]
fighting against. Right? They want to be able to
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:50]
take as much of your money through your kids as they possibly can without any guardrails.
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:58]
Yep.
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:59]
Yeah. Things always get dicey when it comes to people making money,
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:04]
in however
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:06]
way they wanna make the money.
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:09]
So there there's always an argument there. I think that,
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:13]
like, Apple
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:15]
runs the ecosystem.
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:17]
And if
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:18]
like, eventually, they could just shut down the ecosystem if they wanted to.
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:22]
And I think that we're getting to the point where something
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:26]
big is going to happen
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:28]
with
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:29]
when does a company's product
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:33]
basically move out of that private ownership thing. So maybe it's Facebook. Maybe it's the App Store,
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:39]
and things like that. And I don't think we have good answers to that. I hope that there are tech people who are involved in those conversations.
SPEAKER_0 [00:47:47]
Yeah. Yeah. No. I I think I think you're spot on. These things are so big. They are so
SPEAKER_0 [00:47:52]
such a a far reaching expanse. Right? And that does raise interesting questions.
SPEAKER_0 [00:47:59]
I think and maybe I'm at a at a
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:03]
I've got got a bit of a bias. Right? Because I generally trust Apple
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:07]
to do the right thing. Right. I also remember
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:10]
how stinking expensive
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:12]
software was back in the day. If Fortnite had to box up their software and sell it in a store, they would sell a lot less of it, and they would make a lot less money per unit. Yep. Right? Because, you know, the 30% cut that everybody knocks Apple for
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:26]
Yeah. I mean, that would be a than the $50 game. Right? Exactly.
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:30]
Yeah. Well and and the, you know, the production costs of all that were, like, 85%.
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:35]
So you just you do the math, and unless
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:38]
these folks are pricing themselves out of the App Store, which maybe Fortnite was doing. I don't know. I I really don't pay that much attention. I doubt it. Yeah. But I I just
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:49]
I don't know, man.
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:51]
Apple
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:52]
has the right to make money
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:54]
to host things on their platform.
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:57]
They have the right to
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:59]
lock their device down to their platform.
SPEAKER_1 [00:49:03]
I think that they are required
SPEAKER_1 [00:49:04]
to lock their device down to their platform
SPEAKER_1 [00:49:08]
for the sake of the consumer.
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:12]
You know, in this day and age, I think I agree with you.
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:15]
We don't talk about it on the Mac side as much, but they've done they basically done the same thing. Right? There's a ton of guardrails now around applications,
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:22]
and it's I mean, this stuff is not arbitrary. Like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:25]
they're not doing this just for kicks and giggles. Like, this stuff genuinely
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:29]
is there to protect the consumer from
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:32]
malicious activity. And if you if you don't believe that's real,
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:36]
you know, just just keep an eye on the news, the Sony exploit,
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:40]
you know, hospitals getting
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:43]
hijacked in in their information systems. Like, that's that's what Apple's trying to protect us from. And
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:48]
I generally think they're they're trying to do right by the customer. And Fortnite, I'm sorry, man. Like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:49:54]
I'm Right. Yeah. I hope they lose. Right. I I kinda liken it to, like, Disney.
SPEAKER_1 [00:50:00]
So Disney is required to make sure that their rides are in good working order even if they contracted something out for an event or something like that. Ultimately, Disney is responsible
SPEAKER_1 [00:50:10]
for the safety of the guest.
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:13]
Yep. Yeah. And, you know,
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:16]
you look at the kind of mess that
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:19]
that really, it's kids. That's what that's, like, what my mind always goes to. Right? Yep. That kids could get themselves into on the Internet.
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:26]
And then you look at, I I've complained many a time about screen time and parental controls
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:32]
on iOS, but it is much better than the alternative. And you look at the kind of ways in which you can tighten a kid down
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:39]
on a device to be able to use the Internet without getting into into trouble or things that that really
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:45]
they don't need to be looking at or engaging on.
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:47]
And Fortnite's
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:49]
strategy is to circumvent those those restrictions.
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:52]
Yep. And that's just
SPEAKER_0 [00:50:54]
not good. Like, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
SPEAKER_1 [00:50:57]
Now,
SPEAKER_1 [00:50:58]
if you disagree with everything we've said,
SPEAKER_1 [00:51:01]
Apple isn't for you. There's this great operating system that also runs on mobile devices called Linux,
SPEAKER_1 [00:51:08]
and you can make that do whatever you want it to do or not do.
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:12]
Yeah. I mean, the Android ecosystem is relatively open. Right? It's Yeah. I think
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:18]
people could could do those things. I'm sure Dan Jez will tell us what he thinks.
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:23]
But, you know, he's someday, we're gonna have to figure out how to get him on the podcast, John. Oh, we can do that. I I feel like we invoke his name enough that that maybe he
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:32]
he warrants at least one one episode, which he can just tell me exactly what he thinks.
SPEAKER_1 [00:51:38]
That was my thirtieth birthday party.
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:40]
Oh, yeah. Hey. That was good clean fun.
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:44]
Alright, John. Stanley.
SPEAKER_1 [00:51:46]
We'll keep you updated on
SPEAKER_1 [00:51:48]
the insurance claim activity and repairs when they start,
SPEAKER_1 [00:51:53]
but I have no idea what the timetable on that will be.
SPEAKER_0 [00:51:56]
Good luck with your adulting.
SPEAKER_1 [00:51:58]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:51:59]
Another day,
SPEAKER_1 [00:52:01]
another thing.
SPEAKER_1 [00:52:02]
Alright,
SPEAKER_0 [00:52:04]
my friend. Until next time. This
SPEAKER_0 [00:52:06]
is Stan Lemon reminding you to help control the spread of COVID nineteen.
SPEAKER_0 [00:52:10]
Wash your hands and wear a mask.