And so, my dad bought 19 little feeder pigs, and, uh -- but before we got them, we had to dig a trench all around the area they were going to be kept in, and you have to bury the bottom of the woven wire fence like a foot down, because pigs dig. And you can't keep a pig in if you just have a fence that's, uh, touching the ground or a little bit above the ground, like you can a cow. And so we had the laborious task of burying all this fence and stringing fence and putting fence posts, and just the whole deal. And so then we got these 19 little feeder pigs. And my dad had built a shelter for 'em out of pl- plywood. And so, I remember one day in particular, that the neighbor had come over to see the pigs, because that's what farmers do is they go and look at other peo- -- each other's stock. And this neighbor had come over to look at the pigs, and the pigs were all sleeping in this shelter. And somebody barked. You know, pigs will do a bark that is a warning bark. And that shed exploded. Little pigs went every direction, and they blew off the sides and the roof, and everything, and we're all just standing there. It was me and my dad and our neighbor, we're all just standing there looking at this, not saying anything, and it's like, "Holy smokes!" They just exploded that building for no reason in particular, they all ran around and then just went about their business, it was nothing to be scared of. So anyway, we had these pigs, and we fed these pigs, and we -- I remember my sister was home from nurse's training and she had mono and she was sleeping a lot. And one day, everybody was gone except her and me. She was sleeping in the house and I went out, and darn it if those little pigs hadn't figured out how to get out. There was three of them. They were like escape artists, and they -- these pigs had gotten out and they were making furrows in the yard. I don't know if you know anything about pigs, but they look for grubs and stuff by digging with their snouts, and their snouts are like a plow…

A time someone went way over the top... I had a friend who was gonna go hike the Appalachian Trail, and he wanted to do this as cheaply as possible. So one of his deals was, um, getting really cheap food where he was living, and getting it in boxes, and having those boxes sent along the trail for him to eat so he didn't have to buy the expensive trail town food and things and could just like, you know, wait for deals and stuff and whatever. Um, and one of his hacks was to get a lot of his calories from olive oil, 'cause you know, there's like 200 calories in an ounce of oil. Like, you know, it's, it's absurd. So, he was just gonna put oil, like, in all his food. Like, not cook with it. Like, just put it in the food to get his calories. But he didn't wanna carry like the giant container of oil. So for some reason, he latched onto the idea that he should put the oil in those little squeeze applesauce containers, like, the little green ones you unscrew the top and then you can, like, slurp them like a sippy cup, kind of, those kind of applesauce containers. But, um, you know, this person is not the most prepared for their hike. So they came to my house a week before the hike and said, "Please help me eat 100 apple sauces so I can fill them with oil." And then we had a whole party and we ate 100 apple sauces. But it did work, so I guess, you know, maybe it wasn't over the top.

Have you ever talked to anyone younger than you and felt like things in your life were ancient to them? Uh, Blink-182 is unknown to my students. My students were not alive when 9/11 happened. I am now -- I went to college 18 years ago. So when I stand in front of parents at orientation today, they were having babies the same year I graduated high school. Some of them could have graduated high school when I graduated high school, I could be their children's parent.  And so, a lot of the things that I listen to, my students have never heard, because they are babies. But I remember when I was going to the Blink-182 concert, I took the day off, I was so geeked. And when I came back, my student, who ironically just hugged me goodbye today 'cause she's graduating next weekend, she was like -- she was the one student that's like, "I've never heard of them," and I was like "All the Small Things? What's My Age Again? Like, what? Adam's Song?" She'd heard none of it. Um, and I had to play it for her and she was like, "Oh, it kinda sounds familiar," and I just remember being absolutely horrified.  Um, and while they know what 9/11 is, none of them lived through that day. They don't remember where they were. They don't remember the days after. They don't remember the flags everywhere, the patriotism, they don't remember us going to war in April. Like, those things are ingrained in my brain. My brother and his buddies were graduating high school that year, and many of them -- my brother's the only one of his friend group who didn't enlist, and that is just wild. So yeah, a lot of the things in my life, they're like "What? Huh?" and make me feel hella, hella old.