AlwaysGame4Life Podcast
A podcast to bring people together to help bring light,reality and importance of mental health awareness by sharing each others stories, having a few laughs,connecting,living positive, bettering ourselves and each other.
AlwaysGame4Life Podcast
The Wow Energy of Bird-Watching and Nature Photography
Together, let's explore the awe-inspiring world of nature photography, where a chance encounter with a Barred Owl led to an unforgettable bonding moment with my daughter. Marvel at the diversity of wildlife we stumble upon in our adventures, from diverse bird species and dragonflies to wildflowers and butterflies. To wrap up this invigorating episode, I take a moment to express my gratitude for your unwavering support, urging you to spread the love and positivity. Always be game for life!
Always game for life(original) written and performed by Jason Halderson
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"Be good to each other and love one another because life is always game for us, so let's be always game for life!"
Always game for life(original) written and performed by Jason Halderson
https://linktr.ee/AlwaysGame4Life
https://alwaysgame4lifeshop.com
Facebook: @alwaysgame4life
Instagram:alwaysgame4life
Snapchat:Alwaysgame4life
alwaysgame4lifepodcast@gmail.com
http://Toastmasters.org
bcrarebirdrecords.ca
Hey, welcome to another one on the Always Game for Life podcast, where we come together, share stories, connect and have a few laughs. We are fully with this wild energy here and I have a great episode for you. I just thought I would come on and give you some content while waiting until I get things figured out with technical difficulties. Not going to get into it with you guys, that's fine, but I will return and we will have video back as a promise. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:So, in the meantime, I love you guys, appreciate you guys, let's get on with it, let's get it on, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:It's been a wild ride and I can't get into all the details, but we will be back with picture soon, absolutely. That's a promise, but meanwhile you can enjoy our lovely voices.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, life happens, we just gotta work through it and that's our wow energy man.
Speaker 3:You know, you get bounced out, you bounce back in, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we gotta keep that, wow energy W-O-W acronym. Walk On Wave which. I like to call Walk On Wave. You know the positive energy wave. We all balance on it and try to keep balance on it. As humans, we lose balance and fall off. It's just getting back on it and still walking on it. And the reason why I say walk is because you know life is a journey. You know, let's take our time and enjoy and live life to the best and fullest that we can, to our ability. So walk on, wave man.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean you think about it. It's how you come back from something negative. That's what counts, right.
Speaker 3:So if you take something that's happened to me recently with my whole messed up life, you know, I've learned the wow and I get tested all the time and the thing is like in the past I would have been negative if something happened to me and I would have dwelled on it and it would have just eaten me up because my trauma would have made it all bad. But now, because the trauma is gone and I have the positive wow energy, it's just a matter of thinking about it and a lot of times it's your voice in my head. Come on, it's the wow in the now, wow in the now. I hear Mark, you know, and it's like okay, I'm back in and it's getting all that crud I call it of your negative part of your life history out of the way.
Speaker 3:It's not thinking about it anymore. It's not important, you know it's past. Yeah, if you can get to that mindset, then it's very easy to just not even jump, just walk back in like you say. You know it is a wave.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like I always say which I learned from you know a fellow mentor, a friend of mine. You know the three words it's feel, think, act right. So, if you feel, good, then you're going to think good, or you're going to act out positive. Yeah, so yeah, and and you know, it's about letting go because you can live now, you can make plans for the near now, living in your now, but we can't live in the future, we can't live in the past.
Speaker 3:That's right. That's right. And it's hard to get people at first to come to that realization oh, but this happened, that that's the past. Yeah, like, don't make it important anymore. I mean, yeah, obviously traumatic things have happened to you. I understand the need to want to hold on to it, but the moment you let go and realize that it's actually not important anymore, especially if it's a long time ago, let it be where it should be there.
Speaker 3:You can't change it. And if you can detach yourself emotionally from it and let it go, suddenly that positive energy that's all around us just floods in and the trauma that's associated with that negativity is gone and it doesn't come back. It's gone Literally. If you keep putting positive in, it just goes with letting go. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's really hard to explain the other way. I don't know. It happened to me and I never thought it would happen to me. I wish it could have happened sooner, but it happened now, so well, you know, I believe everything happens for a reason.
Speaker 1:Right, it'll happen once, that's right, that's the way.
Speaker 3:You know, I know what I'm being tested because, like driving, everybody listening I mean, hey, we all have those days when someone cuts us off, does something really stupid or seems to be in this part of the world. They cut you off and then they give you the finger and you haven't done anything wrong. That's something that I find a little bit interesting and, you know, even six months ago I probably would have responded to that but, I've watched your example of eh. That's their problem, not mine, and I'm getting better and better at it.
Speaker 3:And it's really been an interesting experience because I'm really working on it, because that's kind of my last big thing is driving. You know, can I make it to work without an incident where someone? Cuts me off or does something stupid. But more than that can I make it to work and not have it that happened, or if it, doesn't affect you or it just doesn't affect me and I'm getting better at it and I'm telling you this is why stuff works.
Speaker 3:It really works. You just got to find what works for you it just doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:We don't want to go to our destination, angry or upset right.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, it just puts the whole day in the wrong perspective and you know that's when bad things happen. So you know negative tracks negative, positive tracks positive. The more positive you put out, the more you get back. The problem is, as I see it and maybe you have a different take on this man but I think when you have trauma, drama, drama, you know, and you have that stuff from your past, it kind of makes like a buffer zone that has to be penetrated by the positive and you can't get the positive out or in. It has to go through it. So it's really hard. Right right.
Speaker 3:When you clear it out, it's a clear path.
Speaker 3:And it makes it super easy just to be positive, because everybody's noticed it with me. I talked to a friend I hadn't talked to in a year and you know right away he's like wow, you are. And I use the word wow again he's like wow, you're so different, my God, so positive. What have you doing that's different? I explained it to him and he was like I'm going to start trying that. I've been really negatively in the eyes. It's okay, buddy, I've been there. I can get you back. I know what to do. I got the cold cheat notes. Now I've done all the research and the reading and I've been doing the work and I know how to help people. That's what I want to do. I just want to get everybody happy. It's a better world than everyone's happy and getting along.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's a forever journey, you know, working on ourselves and bettering ourselves. I mean we're never cured. No, no, no, no.
Speaker 3:I didn't say that, I just let's say it's an ongoing work and you know it's a progressive thing that you'll never be finished with. But you can keep it in that circle of I call it my circle, the wow circle or happy circle. You know it's easy to pop out, but then, if you know how to do it, you can pop yourself back in. Right.
Speaker 3:It gets easier the more you do it. It's like any Prax make perfect. When I first started doing like how am I doing this, how am I doing this? And I'd hear your voice going no, you do like this.
Speaker 3:Come on, Think of the wow, think of the happy and I'd be oh, yeah, Okay, and as you let go of the negativity, it just. It's amazing how much easier it gets. I'm trying to educate my ex on that, because she's got lots of trauma issues and she keeps saying, oh, how do you do it? And I keep explaining and I think eventually she's starting to understand. Oh, it's different than what I thought, and I think that's a thing that a lot of people don't realize that it sounds one way but actually it's another way. It's kind of a philosophical change in your mind too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and also everybody's. You know their own individual.
Speaker 3:We're all different, yeah, so what works for me may not work exactly for you but I can sort of guide in, you know, and I think that's the way to you kind of put the guidelines out, then you make it whatever your situation is for you. But the big thing is making that past stuff. Leave it where it is. It's not relevant anymore. It doesn't matter what happened to it. Just what are you doing right now?
Speaker 3:if you're like make that relevant now, yeah, and then you'll find it's kind of like oh wow, everything's happy. I do say that word a lot. Sorry about that, I don't know why I just do, but that's kind of how we found it, I think so.
Speaker 1:No, in terms of, you know, bettering ourselves and positivity. No apologies, yeah, that's true. Yeah that's true, yeah.
Speaker 3:You know I've been educating Mark on a lot of the history stuff. It is very intense and there's a lot of negativity, but what you end up doing is you end up appreciating how you live now a lot more. It gives you that broader perspective right. Oh, I see.
Speaker 3:And I think, if you look at your own life like that, if you can sort of think back okay, this happened, this happened, this happened, Okay, but that you know, I was a young child I kind of helpless. This is in my case, you know, is it relevant to today? Not really. I'm a grown person. I don't have to let that control me. Right.
Speaker 3:And then history is kind of like that too. You sort of look at that and go, well, okay, that was then. You know, and we can change it and doesn't have to be like that anymore, and it's similar with your life. It's putting a different perspective on things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, knowing what works, what doesn't work, that's right yeah.
Speaker 3:So yeah, but yeah, we haven't been outburning for a while, guys, it's the summertime and everything's nesting and it's hot out, yeah, lots of mosquitoes. It's kind of like I've done all that when I was younger. So when we get to fall and hawk season, yeah, it's going to change.
Speaker 1:And the last one we went to. Let me tell you, ooh, that was a good test of the wow factor. Yeah, my son with me and everything. It was wonderful. I mean, we had a good time.
Speaker 3:We saw the bird, but we also saw people that are very damaged and it was like, hmm, that's unfortunate.
Speaker 1:I mean not so much of that too, but it was just rough Like I fell. I took a tumble.
Speaker 3:Oh man, yeah, yeah, I thought about, about that, the crazy part was it was right before the bird. Yeah, and you've picked up on the energy of some of the people there that I didn't really want to talk to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, fair enough, and it was kind of.
Speaker 3:It was kind of like really unfortunate. Had we been there with just the bird, it would have been a wonderful spiritual experience, because it's an indigo bunting. Look it up online. I mean, they are just spectacular. Oh, incredible. I call them indiglob. Wow, Literally Wow. So the bird wasn't the problem. Unfortunately, it was the mix of people. There were nice people there, but there was also some people there just kind of like I don't know. There's something not right about. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It kind of soured the moment, unfortunately, yeah it didn't help with me, too, that you know my anxiety. Right, there was all I mean. I didn't realize. When it comes to the chase, oh, you get lots of people.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of people right the old days. It wasn't like that. The old days would be the core of five people. Now you get 50 to 100 people, no problem.
Speaker 1:So, mixed with my anxiety, was when I fell. I mean, luckily I do have a strange tolerance to pain, so I just kind of went down up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you kind of bounced back up. By the time I turned around like, okay, I heard scream, I heard what happened. And I tore my leg my hand, my elbow pretty good.
Speaker 1:But I mean I just kept on. And my poor son.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, he's very attentive.
Speaker 1:Yes, and very caring and very on that spot. He's a nice guy, he's a good kid, amazing kid. I couldn't be happier to be on Manny's Droning.
Speaker 3:He should go on the first date or something. He's just a natural. Like the way he was looking after you, I was like, wow, he doesn't have any training, he's got it kind of right on the nuggets oh he was just right there. So yeah.
Speaker 1:But of course, again, I went down, got up faster than he can and he was just like you OK, you OK, and meanwhile I'm already walking towards where we're going.
Speaker 3:By the time I like we were going down a steep hill, ok yeah. And by the time I spun around because I was kind of, I'm usually the one who falls right so the time I turned around, mark's already walking towards me. I'm going. Oh, what just happened.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:OK, you're all right, I haven't seen blood. I'm like you, ok, like what's going on here, man, and he's like oh, I'm shaking off, it's OK. And then, whenever I said to you, I said well, ok, I guess that's your turn, because normally I'm the one who has that issue. I usually am the one who falls. I've kind of got bad ankles and I end up always tripping on anything. Oh, it's terrible.
Speaker 1:And then, unfortunately, I didn't even get the pleasure of seeing it in the bird. But it was OK. You know I'm good.
Speaker 3:You saw it in the scope.
Speaker 1:I'm absolutely glad he did, for sure, but I'm good with it. And I remember walking back up the hill and I went to go get in the car and, yeah, I just had to get back in my circle again. Right, I just went. Yeah, I'm bleeding, this happened, I'm good.
Speaker 3:You were totally back in your circle and you applied the methodology and it worked. And yeah, I mean that's a testament to how much this works because you had a fall, you had anxiety attack. Yeah. You missed the bird that we went, drove there for, and yet boom, you're right back to it. You know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just know again, but I just took that walk on my own. My son stayed with you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was nice to do that. I mean he was worried about you but I told me be okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just walked towards the car and just yep, that happens. It's a beautiful day and I'm good. I'm good. You know, my son's seen it. I'm happy for that and I just kept on going through the positive as I'm walking nights. Oh my son seen it. Oh look, I'm walking. I'm good, I'm not as hurt as I could, yeah that's right, that's right, that's right. It's a beautiful day. That's sons out.
Speaker 3:We've got some nice people. Oh, absolutely, there's just a couple of negative Nellie's there to kind of wrecked it for me, but you know it yeah, part of life, yeah unfortunately, you find those people everywhere and there's nothing you can do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for me it was just most, but I think most is that the group. Yeah, yeah, that's okay.
Speaker 3:I'm okay with it, I'm used to that. I mean, that's why I wonder I don't chase anymore. Is because I like to be one-on-one with them, the natural world, and when you go to a Chase bird like that You'll get tons of people. Yeah which is fine, but if you're not into that, that can be overwhelming.
Speaker 1:Oh, for sure. I mean, I'm trying to, you know, wrestle with that, because I'm. You know the way it works for me. On one level it's like, as I'm standing there, it's almost like I was hearing every conversation I want so like all this noise, noise. Yes and then, you know, I'm trying to focus right to find the bird at same time. So I'm it. You know, I didn't end up finding it because I just couldn't.
Speaker 3:I hear all the conversations to him, what I try to do, but I've been doing this for years. Is I just kind of Turn that off?
Speaker 3:and turn on the sound I'm listening to, like the birds, the birds, like the bird was singing. So I just kind of went oh, I hear it, okay, so I just turn the people volume off and the bird volume up. Still couldn't really find it and the problem was, you know, your son just asked for simple directions and the person that gave us directions wasn't exactly a very friendly person that turned.
Speaker 1:I wasn't aware of that, but I'm really glad you weren't. I'm glad my son would have put a bad scene.
Speaker 3:It just turned me off. It's just like holy cow, you know, like why can't you just be pleasant? Yeah, we're all enjoying the same thing. I'm glad you're here, but you get people like that. There's nothing you can do about that and that's why, if we found that on our own, it'd be so much better. And that's why, when we get to a month from now, we start hawk watching, and that's our thing and nobody. Nobody does that, it but me and the core group of our friends. Yeah, so we don't bump into anybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely sounds interesting.
Speaker 3:It'll just be our group.
Speaker 1:To go in the autumn. I mean, I never done it right. I did spring.
Speaker 3:Spring is different than fall fall is much, much more, much higher numbers, more challenging, because you got all the different plumages and you get all the other stuff flying over and it's my favorite actually I I could do it every day. I have done it every day. I usually take time off and I just go every single day and you never know what you're gonna get and when you get the timing right, when you get a big push. It is unbelievable. You cannot believe that much stuff is moving overhead on one day.
Speaker 3:Because, we take the data, we crunch it in the excel. That's where I do. I write it down, I put an excel and it's just like holy mackerel. We had 400 birds on that day. And then you think about it. Yeah, that felt like 400 birds because you couldn't keep up. Wow, you know, other days you might get 50 or 20 or 100 or whatever, but then you get these push days and it's just unbelievable.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm and and you want to be out enough to hit it, because it's never gonna happen on a saturday, when you can't get that one day off a week, right, it's gonna be on a monday or wednesday, so you have to go every single day until you're there on that day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And it is like last year it happened on a saturday, just happened to be a saturday and uh, that was unbelievable because it wasn't a great hawk migration last year. I don't know if the fires had something to do that or, uh, the weather.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, you have to have a lot of circumstances at work, like hot weather, um, here maybe a bit of cooler weather up north, that pushes them down and um, but anyway, yeah, it, it, uh, it's so much fun because you, you end up seeing all these different birds of prey and where we go, they fly overhead, we get pictures and and um, um, I'd love to put a like a hawk Monitoring station there, but it's a hard thing to do to put it part of a network in north america. You have to do it for many, many, many, many years before they'll. They'll look at you. I don't know why, but they. That's just sort of the methodology, these. But we're really, really blessed. I mean, a lot of these types of places are not 10 minutes from your house right which it is for us literally.
Speaker 3:Yeah time it out in the car. We can be at our spot 10 to 15 minutes. Most places like that. They're an hour or two drive, so it's pretty sweet, you know. Um, it's my favorite now. I've always had um With the bird thing. I've always had the interest to pick a group and get to learn it intimately, like really go into it, just learn everything about it.
Speaker 3:Yeah and raptors um, there's not a huge number of them here for species, but there's. They're really interesting in what they do and it's more about when they move, how they move. I just find them really fun and you know they float. Yeah, I can't do that, so it's like damn if I could do that, you know no doubt, no doubt um so, yeah, that's gonna be fun for you and and all those fall plumages are gonna.
Speaker 3:Gonna test your patience, because I know when I started, uh, it was like these all look the same. How, and god's name do you know? But over time you learn. Oh yeah, okay, that's the difference. That's it. There's these little subtle things. It's fun, it's a lot of fun. I love it, and a lot of it's just call notes.
Speaker 3:Oh you learn what they sound like, and then you know, right and and for those of you out there that don't know what I'm talking about, they're little chip notes, they're just like little, these kind of things. And I know what they all are Because let me do it. It's a damn luck, but it's fun, it's challenges your brain, it's it. It's kind of like having a virtual reality game. That's life. Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:So you've got all this stuff. You need to know it's all random, but you have to know it in the moment. You can't just pull out a book and go, oh what is that? You have to look at it. Sometimes you only get five seconds. You need to know it, like snap, snap, snap, to be able to focus your brain on what to look at.
Speaker 3:So, you could figure out what you're looking at, and that's the challenge and I love it. Some people don't like that. I love that. It just keeps the mind fresh or no, you know. It's an intellectual game, if anything right.
Speaker 1:Fair enough, everybody has their thing, like me I. I it's pleasure and I Enjoyed learning and going out.
Speaker 3:Uh, for me it's a spiritual pleasure thing.
Speaker 1:I love going out in nature and oh, it's so relaxing. I love the photography part. I'm really really enjoying that.
Speaker 3:Yep, that's the next thing for me. Um, toy wise, I don't really buy a lot of toys, but when I eventually do, uh, it's going to be a new camera.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:The one I'm using is near the end and, honestly, guys it it. It's at the point where it's like have fun taking the pictures. I'll just spot, because you know the camera won't focus or the battery. Oh yeah, and I get this really incredible shot lined up and something goes wrong and I'm not there to have my wow energy taken out. I'm there to have my wow energy wowed up. You know, like what do the British say take the jam or jelly out of your donut. Like that's not what this is about people.
Speaker 3:That's what it feels like when your camera doesn't work because it's malfunctioning. So you know it's so anyway, yeah for me that that's, uh, what it's about. So, yeah, it's gonna be fun. You just have to go another month, so get all your stuff done now. That's what I'm doing, because once we get to that season, it's kind of like life hold hawk, migration boom.
Speaker 3:And there's, there's people that I bump into one of the places I go and They'll see me on the first day and they'll go oh, it's hawk season, you're back. And they usually come and join me now or they find it really fun. It's right over there, I was right. So, it's kind of fun yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's why I've been trying to you know, taking the time working on this and oh yeah. I'm really Took on the time and working on my screenplay still too. Yeah, that's really cool. I love that coming along.
Speaker 3:Like I say, I'm working on the online book and when. I'm ready to launch that. We'll let everyone know and they can go learn a lot about yeah, oh, my goodness, that's a lot of information, god. You're gonna read. You're gonna read this and go. Oh my god, man, that's a lot of information and that just floats around man. You know, but you know, when you do it, as long as I have it, it's just like breathing yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh, sure it's like anything, you get into something and you know it. You know like people are into trains and they know everything about trains or cars, or you know it's, it's whatever you're into.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just uh, I just wanted to come on Give an update. You know, I'm sure the folks are wondering okay, what happened to Mark? What's?
Speaker 3:going on. It's been a long time. He's going to learn something and nothing happened, Like what's going on, mark, just more.
Speaker 1:You know life's obstacles and of course, like in this headaches yeah in this field. You know it's very touch and go and you've got to be aware and careful of who you do business with, and so on and so forth. Right. So yeah, you know, I just had a bit of a hiccup and yeah, I just wanted to come on and apologize. I know I promised that Monday 8am there would be video and everything. We're going to have that happen, absolutely.
Speaker 3:We're going to try to do this once or twice a week or whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's coming, it's coming.
Speaker 3:Certainly we'll try to do some live stuff and maybe some interactive stuff. I'd love to meet the fans. I mean, they sound like they're really nice people and they really want to talk to us.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah, that's wonderful. We'll definitely do a live and you know we can again come together and share stories, connect, say hi, just say hi. If you have any questions, you know we'll be able to answer and it'll be a pleasure.
Speaker 3:You know, I would love it if we could help someone like the live thing get the wow thing, and I'm sure they're wondering what is this? Thing, man. I mean, what are they talking? About yeah, yeah. You know, and sometimes it's better to do it in a conversation directly.
Speaker 1:Sure sure.
Speaker 3:And then you leave it with them and then they could get back to us and let us know how it's going. I'd love to know that kind of stuff, I mean because it's a progressive thing. It's always happening. Once you get on that wow thing, it's never going to stop, because if you keep it positive and you embrace it, I'm living proof. I mean, you wouldn't believe where I was last year, yeah, but now I'm like Mr Happy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, one friend is like, would you get it at the bottom?
Speaker 1:of your soul. You're so damn happy no.
Speaker 3:I just discovered this energy man. Wow, energy man. It's like the best thing. Okay. Wow, really Wow, yeah, really Wow.
Speaker 1:I mean, you're never going to get on that wave and walk and keep your balance the best you can on it right.
Speaker 3:That's right, I mean, you're never going to be on it for long. You're always going to have to pop off and pop back on. Unfortunately, it's just the nature of your life. But once you get down how to get back on, it's really easy just to continuously be on it. You know things come along and it'll pop you off.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Whereas before, if you have your depressed and you just can't figure anything out because you just can't do it, we're just trying to give people the ability to find a different path, so they can at least get back on it easier. Because I know, when I used to suffer from depression, I couldn't understand how people could be happy. I mean, I just sit around going oh my God, it's all crap. I won't want these people happy but now I get it. Yeah, that's all I just want people to know. You know, like I've been there.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I mean, I'm sure we all have in our way, you know, it's just, it's how we get back up, it's how we learn from it, grow from it and carry forward. Walk that wave balance Like again, you're always going to lose balance. There's always life obstacles, whether it's finance, whether it's family, whether it's friends whether it's your car.
Speaker 1:whatever you know, things happen and that's it's going to. But you know, as you come along and you're keeping balance on this wave and you're in this motion, you learn to control those emotions and how you react and how you get back up. So you know someone says something or gets you angry. Now you react in a proper way, where it's not like before, where you just boom, you get to fence, and you're always working on that too, right?
Speaker 3:Because there's programming as well. It's part of the trauma and I was one that was like that and it's. It's been an interesting experience trying to change that. I mean I've got ways to go, but that's okay.
Speaker 1:We're forever, forever growing.
Speaker 3:I'm better than where I was, and that's the thing You're always trying to be better than where you have been. That's the only time where maybe the past is a tiny bit relevant. You just you're always pushing yourself forward in a more positive way, and that's all I can say on that. I mean, I mean, look, Mark, you've been good through a rough time this last couple of weeks and you know hey, you're doing okay, You're doing okay, that's right.
Speaker 1:So you know we're living it just like you guys. Another thing that I mean for me I know it's a hard thing is I basically, you know, I basically looked at it as a friend, family. It doesn't matter if you're poison, I let go, I'm not going to hang out. I'm not going to put myself on that.
Speaker 3:Toxic friends.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, can really move it. It's hard.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've had to deal with that too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I just, I just finally went on, just, but a while back came to that, like you know, if you you know, treat me in such a way, or hurt me, or you know what. I like by I don't want that energy, all right, and sometimes sometimes I do that I've had it and it doesn't mean you don't love them. It doesn't mean you're, you know, see, I'll never see you again. It just means you got things to work out and I'm. I don't want that energy around me in my circle.
Speaker 3:That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've had to do that with people. I don't have any animosity or any negativity. I just hope they can, you know, move forward and get away from where they're at when I knew them, because if they're toxic it it just ends up making your ability to be positive harder. Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then you get people who are jealous or upset that you're positive and they're not, and then they want to screw with you even though they're your friends.
Speaker 3:I've had people like this in my life. They want to screw with you and make you come down to their level and it's kind of like whoa, whoa, whoa. That's not what, this is not what a friendship is, and I had to get rid of all those people. I don't know anyone like that anymore. They're all gone, unfortunately, but and maybe it is fortunate, because I've been so bloody happy. But you know, I mean new people that's the thing too.
Speaker 3:You know, you, you, you change and you attract new people. And if you're positive, you attract positive. It's so true.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, I mean when I was down, exactly negative, attractive negative. So you know I was broken, so I attracted broken.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've been there I know what you mean, and it's funny. I look back on it now and it's like, wow, I can't believe I kind of knew that person, because I must have been really messed up, because I'm not that way anymore and I don't think I would ever even have talked to that person, being the way I'm now yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:You would have associated like especially now no, yeah, so there, there's a lot of, there's a lot of these little outliers that come with the whole positive wow thing you know, you know there's that that's a big factor is toxic people. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:It's hard, especially if you don't have a lot of friends. I've certainly been in positions like that. When you're down and stuff, it's hard to meet people, so you don't have a lot of friends and so you just want to cling on to the friend you have, and whether they're negative or positive. So I'm going to talk to you. I've been in that situation and and but the problem is, because you're negative and you've attracted negative, they just end up keeping you as a negative person. It's when you finally go well, wait a minute, I got to change this somehow and you have to let them go for maybe a while or permanent, it depends. It just depends. Then you start changing, you start growing, you get more positive and then you realize, oh no, it's just how I'm perceiving things and projecting things. And then suddenly I'll meet people. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, if you're positive, I'll meet people, it's just funny how that works.
Speaker 3:You know, I, I, I don't know. You can't go jump out of your body and go oh okay, that's what's wrong. You know you have to look at it from within, looking out, you know, and so it's harder, but there are ways of figuring it out. Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:And just you know, just remember, it starts with you. That's right. And you know, I feel that you just got to keep working on it every day, and I don't mean go hard on anything, but like do something once a day that you enjoy or makes you happy, that's right, right, rather it's. You know, I think I'm going to write a poem, I'm going to record a song, I'm going to you know, like, just once a day, I'm going to work out whatever works for you.
Speaker 1:You know, but something that you enjoy and that will help you lift up.
Speaker 3:Like at work, what I do is on my breaks I go outside because I love nature, yeah, and it doesn't take more than two seconds of being outside. I might see an eagle fly over or rob and fly by it, whatever.
Speaker 1:Sure yeah.
Speaker 3:Now I can do the next two hours, and that's the little game I play. I let nature do it for me. Now, everyone has their own way, yeah, but for me I do that. I just kind of Zen out, decompress. Okay, we can do this Two hours, no problem. Then it's lunchtime. All right, two more hours. Last break, woo. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Out of here. You know and you're right. It's the little things out of a really big positive thing. Yeah, yeah, you know, I because I don't smoke or anything. I mean, years ago I did, but I don't smoke. But all the people who smoke are great. And they're like you're always outside and you don't smoke. Yeah, I don't need smoke anymore, I just enjoy nature.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't have to go outside just to smoke Right on my break. I can go outside.
Speaker 3:But where I work it's mostly people who smoke.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's funny, I was like that where I did too, yeah.
Speaker 3:It's kind of funny, you know. I guess it's a habit I got into. Maybe I was doing it subconsciously. When I used to smoke, I was outside and I was doing that, and when I quit it's like yeah, I don't need to smoke Do this. I can do this without the smoke. I could really enjoy this, huh.
Speaker 3:I don't know it's just funny. How that is? You know I don't like it's funny. I have friends at work who smoke and they're always like, oh is my smoke ball? And you're like, eh yeah, I'm not too hung up on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, no.
Speaker 3:I'm outside, I'm on my break, zen. Um, you know, the other day I was listening to some tunes and I'm just sitting in the car having my lunch and I noticed this eagle soaring kind of rising up and he starts doing this maneuvering and I realized I know I've been on it, right. But I realized, oh, he's being dive bombed by a crow and it was this amazing like aerial display going on, this dogfight going on, and it kind of went to the music and it's like okay, I'm going to be charged for the rest of the day. This is really good, like nature is just totally giving me what I need right now. Like you know, the fuel, the positive fuel is like ding, it's full and the funny thing was there's other people sitting there. Not one other person noticed that I was the only person that didn't say anything. He's like that's okay. You know, this is just my little moment of Zen.
Speaker 3:You know, mother nature is just going to say here you go, the birds are going to let you have your moment. Yeah, yeah, you know, and, like I say, it could be something else. Maybe for someone else it could be a really cool car. You know, fancy car drives by and they're days made or whatever it is you know it doesn't hey, whatever it is, For me it's similar.
Speaker 1:You know I take my not so little now 13 year old daughter and you know we go on the trail. I pack a backpack, we go on the trail and you know I take pictures of dragonflies, bumblebees, birds, if you see them, we did that, that was fun.
Speaker 3:She's keen, she's keen man. That was cool. Just take it in. Yeah, that was wonderful. She saw that barbell. Oh man, I mean that made her month and her year that was amazing man.
Speaker 3:I was doing my alcohol, which wasn't a barbell call, and he came in to check it out and it was so funny because I had a tree sort of right beside me we're, I guess, right in line with where the owl came from. So I didn't see it and I thought she said, oh, are you doing a call? Because I was whistling, you know, and it gets pretty loud and I can't really hear sometimes people talking and I didn't realize. She said oh, there's an owl. So when I stopped she goes no, no, there's an owl. And people are on the tree and went oh, wow, barbell. Oh, I wish the people here could have seen the smile. It was like OK, my year's made, I made a 13 year old girl really happy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got some beautiful shots to you that day, even with the canninger, which, if you all want to see it, I'll put it up on the Instagram. Oh, that was insane.
Speaker 3:They normally have that showy I got. I think the nest was somewhere nearby.
Speaker 1:It had to have been. I mean they were.
Speaker 3:That male bird came down and just sat and went OK, what do you want there, buddy? Like what's going on, man, and I mean the photos we got were just crazy. I showed those to some people and they're like you got that. Yeah, you know, I think that's pretty nice.
Speaker 1:You know, I enjoyed that whole pike.
Speaker 3:They're really pretty.
Speaker 1:I mean even the view alone.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, that's up on the Mickey piece, I'll post a picture on Instagram, you can look across to Mount Baker, you look down. Sumas Prairie all the way to the US. You can look out to. You see, by a little bit of Puget Sound and the straight. If you look carefully at the opposite you can see like Point Roberts, boundary Bay. You have to really look for that and then to the east you see, like Chim, and all the way up the valley, it's just a gorgeous gorgeous, gorgeous spot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I loved how Mount Baker was like directly across. We used to actually walk watch there.
Speaker 3:But the problem was it was kind of limited to just a small vantage point. I wanted a bigger vista. That's why I like going more top of the mountain where you can see the full 360. That's your limited to. Right yeah. But there's nothing wrong with it for photography.
Speaker 1:No, no, I got some amazing shots, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And in the spring you get really neat little butterflies that come out. They have orange tips on the wings and they're small and white. They're just gorgeous and there's a really neat wildflowers that grow there.
Speaker 1:Oh nice.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of really neat things on that mountain actually in that area that we were hiking around.
Speaker 1:Oh, I was really amazed by the dragonfly they scarlet, it was red.
Speaker 3:Oh, the cardinal or cardinal. Yeah, there's different types.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh my goodness, they're like they're metal.
Speaker 3:I think that's a cardinal metal. Okay, so the name is metalhawk, but I think that was a cardinal. There's like red faced and there's different types. You have to get a book.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm sure you got to get a book, but they're called metalhawks Incredible.
Speaker 3:So those dragonflies are called metalhawks.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And they're bright red. So when you see them you're thinking a dragonfly that's bright red. Oh it's incredible. What the heck is going on people, because you know, usually they're blue.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you usually see bright blue. I mean, that's the common.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I got nice shots of it too.
Speaker 3:That's one thing, that's one thing we'll have to do soon is go and check out all the different species of dragonflies. We're in that season now yeah, that's yeah. Because for me the bird thing is I just leave them be. They're breeding, They've got their babies, they're nesting. I don't really want to go and bug them at all. You know, it's kind of like let them do their thing.
Speaker 1:We'll see them in the fall. Fair enough yeah.
Speaker 3:I don't want to get eaten alive by mosquitoes. Yeah, yeah, because we went to deroch that one day. God was that like about a month ago now, probably.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Maybe it's about three or four weeks ago, anyway, and it wasn't prime mosquito season, folks, holy moly. You know like I don't use the chemicals at all, it just tears apart my skin.
Speaker 3:But, I'll tell you I could have put off on me that day at any other thing. You had Like, oh my God, man just eating me alive, just to see one little American red start, little Tithy and Warbler. And you know, after a while I was like, okay, I hear it, I'm good, let's get out of here. I'm getting eaten alive, just like that. Yeah, you know it's kind of like. Yeah, we'll see that in the fall. I've gone up north where and I've worked. I did bush work for years. So that's why I'm kind of like eh, meh, you know where the you know the deer flies. Take a chunk. You see them flying away with the blood dripping in you. You know that kind of thing. The worst was up north, fort Nelson. I've never seen anything like it, man. It had rained.
Speaker 3:It was I think it was early July Around this, well, me around this time of year, a little earlier, and we were looking for very specific boreal forest birds type of warblers at the nest there and the sky was black with mosquitoes, oh wow. And we jumped in the vehicle and they covered the window and blackened the window.
Speaker 3:Oh, it was like being in Manitoba, where I've experienced it like that after a rain. It's really bad for bugs there. And I mean, I thought to myself I wonder how much blood I'm losing here today, you know like, because your arm wasn't just one bite. It was so many. It was one humongous red welt after another. So, yeah, yeah, when I did work on the island, we I don't know you get used to it, I guess, but I used to just get eaten alive.
Speaker 1:Oh, never mind. You know that one trip we did.
Speaker 3:So I'm not into, I'm not into summers as much.
Speaker 1:All those bumblebees, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Like literally that's gross, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:There's literal, like tornadoes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've never seen something like a bee tornado, billions. I mean, you had to see that we stayed in car, mind you, leave it. You couldn't get out of the car, you'd be stung.
Speaker 1:I mean there was more swarms I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 3:They have in that spot. How many bumblebees boxes did we count? I mean there must have been a hundred or more, right?
Speaker 1:Boy. I don't remember now exactly. I think we counted over 110, like hive boxes. People had to have been at least, I mean I was probably more than that. Anyway, I'm thinking they had to be like a million bloody bees. Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Because you could see the swirls. Yeah, it was like did you get video?
Speaker 1:I got video, I got pictures.
Speaker 3:Oh, you should put that up, you should put that up and let people look at that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got pictures, some people we freaked out by it.
Speaker 3:but some people will be really in, like, just be engrossed in it, because it's like, oh my God, I can see the swirl, you know, but you don't have to worry. Yeah, the car and we didn't hurt any bees or anything. We're very careful.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 3:I drove out, I said to Al I just said really be careful driving out of here. We don't want to have any of those guys hurt. We need these guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you know, it's a beautiful thing to see.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, but that was great. I wish that that was a natural thing, but I'll take it anyway. I can get it with bees Absolutely. As you know, they're not doing well, and seeing that many was really exciting. Yeah, yeah, that was I just wonder, if you tagged them and track them, how far those bees are actually going to pollinate. Mm, hmm. Like are they traveling huge distances and coming back, or are they just local?
Speaker 1:I would love to know Interesting, yeah, yeah. I bet you that every flower within 10 miles of that place is going to pollinate it man. Oh yeah, there's just too many of them. Have fun, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was crazy. It was absolutely crazy. Yeah, you gotta put that up. That double blows the mines. I blew me away. Yeah, I do want to go back and look at at same time. Oh, so do I if I drive there, you know, am I gonna hurt any of these damn things? I don't want any of them dying in the car or like getting sucked in the engine or anything like that. You know what I mean. They do fly into your car and stuff.
Speaker 1:Sure Sure.
Speaker 3:I know it's part nature, but I just don't want to have anything to hurt the number. I love the fact there's so many there. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think we were parked at a decent distance.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, no, we were yeah no, we definitely were. Yeah, no, no and, like I said, I wasn't getting out. I'm deadly allergic now. I've had too many hornet stings over the years, so I I don't have an EpiPen, probably should. I don't have an EpiPen, probably should be good I don't have an.
Speaker 3:EpiPen probably should be good. Last time it's like there's a grapefruit on my arm. God, thank god that wasn't my neck or somewhere where my breathing would have been affected, because I mean it did really trip me out. I had to take an antihistamine or something, but, and it helped a bit, but it was bad, wow, yeah, just too many times in the bush. You know your, your bush whacking, doing your job and then suddenly bang, you hit a horn, its nest. It's like, oh great, there's a hundred stings, oh god, oh god, the pain, the pain. That's happened a few times. You lose your immunity, right. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:So mine's kind of.
Speaker 1:But that is For another time out there. Oh yeah but yeah, I just I'm just glad that we can do this and we're gonna continue to do this and I I want to say I Thank you, I love you for all the the the support and love you guys and and and also the Patience, my goodness I I apologize, but the patience man. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he had a good reason. Guys, we can, we're not gonna go into it, but he had a good reason why it kind of went a little off the rails. But we're getting it back on, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's gonna be okay, it's all good.
Speaker 3:Wait till we get the video going again. It's gonna be rock up, sock up, baby.
Speaker 1:So, uh, yes, I will continue, we will. We will have great episodes In the future. Oh, you can listen to, as always and still be on all those platforms. But for you know, for the people, you guys want to watch it and have a different experience or a different perspective. There will be and it'll be on YouTube and probably other ones too. I'll probably post on rumble and a few others to for video.
Speaker 3:But See, we're gonna try to do a live on. Yeah, and we'll definitely. Definitely come on live, yeah, hello, and I mean well, we'll do some on location, ones where we're not here at your place, but we're actually nature again, because I know people really enjoy those.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:But we'll shake it up a bit.
Speaker 1:Definitely it's coming.
Speaker 3:It's coming.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna probably have a few, you know, beyond the look out what we'll probably have a few little contests in. You know. Well, that'll be fun. Oh, I like that and yeah, I just. I thank you guys, bottom, I heard, and so it. What really really really helps is to make sure you follow, share, subscribe, rate, review the show. It just it helps the podcast grow and helps me bring more and more you know great episodes and laughs and so I appreciate it all. And yeah, as always, you know the platforms. It's on the description Check out the Instagram. I will have pictures up there. You can see what we've all talked about. You know the owl and the view and etc. Etc. And yeah, so you know the platforms. And if you're interested, if you, if you want a little Souvenir, you know, make sure you check out. Always came for like shopcom, get yourself a cool t-shirt or hoodie or Many things. I got the backpack and I love it.
Speaker 3:I use it every day at work I put all my food stuff in. It's wonderful, it's really nice.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, please do that.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, once again, I thank you, I love you, I appreciate you and, as I always say, you know, it's love one another, be good to each other, because life is always named for us. So let's be always game for life, all right till the next one. Peace out people, love and thank you oh. Wow.
