#4579 A Chameleon’s Wedding Day

Summary

TBTL Episode #4579: “A Chameleon’s Wedding Day”

Date: October 20, 2025
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

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Episode Overview

In this Monday edition of Too Beautiful To Live, Luke and Andrew open with their classic blend of humor and vulnerable storytelling, wrestling with the emotional rollercoaster of the Mariners in the ALCS, autumnal vistas, and a fraught adventure in dog-sitting. The show weaves together tales of sports fandom, neighborhood etiquette, and finding surprising solace in everyday moments—like the poetic phrase “a chameleon’s wedding day.” The episode crescendos with an in-depth, honest, and sometimes raw recounting of Andrew’s dog-sitting saga gone awry, culminating in a discussion about boundaries, neighborly responsibilities, and the lasting effects of being “hollered at.”

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Key Discussion Points & Segments

[00:00–03:16] Cold Open: Mascot Antics and Banter

• Luke opens with a self-effacing, obviously fabricated anecdote as “Minnie the Moose,” poking fun at his own career and introducing the show.
• Andrew riffs on not being a habitual podcast listener, leading into TBTL’s uniquely winding conversational format.

[03:16–12:42] The Comfort of “A Chameleon’s Wedding Day”

• Andrew shares a poetic Lebanese phrase he learned—“It’s a chameleon’s wedding day”—meaning when it’s raining while the sun is shining.

• The hosts riff on the Red Hot Chili Peppers (“Under the Bridge”) and Becca’s musical tastes, playfully poking at each other’s memories and significant others.

  “This woman said, ‘It’s a chameleon’s wedding day… when the sun is shining and it’s raining at the same time.’ I think it’s a Lebanese expression.”
  —Andrew Walsh [08:01]

  • Both Luke and Andrew express how the phrase unexpectedly soothes their anxieties, particularly as baseball fans on the edge of heartbreak.

[12:42–14:39] Mariners Melancholy and Perspective

• Both hosts process the Mariners’ loss in Game 6, seeing hope in the simple fact there is—against all odds—one more game.

• Discussion of sports disappointment as a kind of “chameleon’s wedding,” mixing pain with possibility.

  “That was the sunshine. That was this chameleon’s wedding day that I was attending, that I was officiating Andrew,and didn’t even realize it.”
  —Luke Burbank [12:33]

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[14:39–26:42] Rituals, Jinxes, and Sports Superstitions

• Andrew describes his complex relationship with streaming game broadcasts, the belief in jinxes (FuboTV woes), and aligning TV and radio audio for a “good luck” experience.
• Luke shares his evolving Mariners shrine, adding “magical” objects (including a DangerRuss pin for Russell Wilson and a North Central Little League pin) as wins mount.
• The hosts compare coping mechanisms during pressure-cooker sports moments: muting the TV, playing Bon Iver, or rearranging mariner-themed memorabilia.

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[26:42–38:12] Donor Thanks and TBTL “Greatest Hits” Vinyl Update

• Donor segment, mixing gratitude, details about the long-awaited TBTL vinyl, and playful banter about city slogans and Andrew’s preference for cleanliness (even while reading donor locations).

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[38:12–109:44] FEATURE: Andrew's Dog-Sitting Crisis

Setting the Scene:

• Andrew walks listeners through the timeline and emotional build-up of dog-sitting for his neighbors—what starts as a favor for one dog turns into the unanticipated responsibility of two young, high-energy pups.
• The arrangement: minimal instructions, loose boundaries, an expectation to treat dogs like cats rather than energetic, social creatures.

The Routine and Growing Anxiety:

• Andrew details his methods—multiple daily check-ins, buying toys for the dogs, cleaning up after them, and even laundering their blankets out of both genuine affection and an anxious desire to “do things right.”
• Underlying all: deep-seated anxiety over responsibility, being a guest in someone else's space, and not wanting to inadvertently overstep.

The Conflict: The Ring Cam Incident

• While hosting his friend Paulie for a brief, beer-accompanied visit with Genevieve to the neighbor's house, Andrew receives a WhatsApp message:

  “The cameras show that you brought a stranger into our house. We are not comfortable with you bringing strangers into our house.”
  —Andrew quoting the neighbor [70:04]

• Andrew is instantly embarrassed, defensive, and troubled—their dog-sitting is a favor, not a paid transaction, and he took pains to respect the space.

• Discovery of surveillance cameras (location unclear) adds a layer of intrusion and unease, specifically as they were never informed about being monitored.

Processing the Aftermath

• The sense of being “hollered at” triggers deep-seated discomfort for Andrew, who is prone to obsessive, anxious rumination after perceived reprimands.
• Despite efforts to smooth things over, the hosts’ vibe with the neighbors is irrevocably altered; now, they solely continue the bare-minimum dog care to avoid further emotional risk (and for the dogs’ well-being).

“My brain is spinning with adrenaline and anger and, and really hurt. Like, I don’t want to get choked up, but I think part of this is how much I fucking love those dogs.” —Andrew Walsh [82:44]

The Coda: Dogs Escape

• The next morning, neighbors notify the block that two loose dogs are found—Maggie and Goose have escaped. Andrew and Genevieve scramble, only to find them safely retrieved, but with further fence damage and more communication with absent owners required.

Reflections, Boundaries, and Neighborhood Politics

• Andrew and Luke dissect what “counts” as a reasonable expectation for house-sitting, how to respond to perceived distrust, and how these neighborly misunderstandings can cast long emotional shadows.
• Both weigh the merits of direct, vulnerable conversation versus passive resolution, acknowledging that Andrew’s hurt may linger even as time passes.

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[109:44–136:00] Winding Down: Baseball Predictions, Empathy, and Media Therapy

• The show’s endurance test continues as Luke and Andrew pivot to Mariners predictions—balancing hope and realism, with references to cursed franchises, October luck, and mystical sports “energy shifts.”

• A brief tangent on Tim Robinson’s “The Chair Company” and how its comedy resonates differently for those who live with simmering anxiety or self-critique, drawing surprising personal parallels.

  “Watching that Tim Robinson character… makes me want to be a better person. It’s like a cautionary tale for me.”
  —Andrew Walsh [115:48]

• They close by tying the episode’s themes together:

  • The pain and hope of sports fandom.
  • The struggle (and sometimes comfort) of being lost in overthinking.
  • The possibility that even hard neighborly moments can eventually resolve—perhaps, on some future “chameleon’s wedding day.”

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “It’s a chameleon’s wedding day.” —Andrew Walsh [08:01]
• “That was the sunshine. That was this chameleon’s wedding day that I was attending, that I was officiating, Andrew, and didn’t even realize it.” —Luke Burbank [12:33]
• “My brain is spinning with adrenaline and anger and, and really hurt. Like, I don’t want to get choked up, but I think part of this is how much I fucking love those dogs.” —Andrew Walsh [82:44]
• “You should have hired somebody to do this. …How much would this have cost for the amount of care? A lot—in the thousand dollar range for seven full days.” —Andrew Walsh & Luke Burbank [100:54]
• “I love those two dogs over there and I know that I have the ability to care for dogs and love them… but I will never, like, on a fringe case like this again.” —Andrew Walsh [102:02]
• “I'm just ready for this Chameleonaire’s Wedding now, that’s the question: Is it a chameleon’s wedding day or Chameleonaire’s wedding day? One is funnier, one is more… I'll let you choose, it was your story.” —Luke Burbank [135:17]

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Timestamps for Notable Segments

• 08:01 — The phrase “a chameleon’s wedding day” is introduced
• 12:33 — Applying the metaphor to dealing with sports heartbreak
• 38:12 — Andrew's dog-sitting ordeal begins
• 70:04 — Neighbor’s “camera” message arrives; confrontation begins
• 82:44 — Andrew expresses emotional fallout of the reprimand
• 94:18 — Dogs escape; frantic search and resolution
• 109:44 — Can the neighborly relationship be salvaged?
• 115:48 — The Tim Robinson “Chair Company” segment
• 128:21 — Mariners Game 7 preview

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Tone & Takeaways

The tone is classic TBTL: tender, neurotic, self-aware, and alternately hilarious or therapeutic. The episode delivers for listeners who crave both the cathartic venting and the goofy distractions that only this show can provide. Andrew’s vulnerability about anxiety and feeling wronged, paired with Luke’s empathy and humor, lets even those who’ve never watched a moment of Mariners baseball or dog-sat for a neighbor experience what it means to have a “chameleon’s wedding day”—that strange, sunlit comfort when life is both a mess and, briefly, beautiful.

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Next Episode: Tune in tomorrow for either euphoric Mariners celebration or another round of TBTL therapy. And as always, “No mountain too tall, and good luck to all.”

Transcript

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think it's overstating anything to say that I was the first female to bring notoriety to our field as Minnie the Moose, the Vernon Community College baseball team's mascot. I once held the splits for the entire length of an extra inning baseball game in spite of excruciating pain and a severe severing of my adductor longus muscle that eventually required four hours of surgery and added two and a half inches to my left leg, forcing me to retire. I wrote a tale documenting that journey. A Moosing Grace, A Mascot's Journey to God and Success in Real Estate.

[Andrew Walsh]

TBTL in the next hour, we will.

[Luke Burbank]

Present information that's both shocking and enlightening.

[Andrew Walsh]

This need you have to be the.

[Luke Burbank]

Smartest guy in the room is off putting.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, I understand how people can love podcasts.

[Luke Burbank]

I just never.

[Andrew Walsh]

They never fit into my. Into my day. I just have never gotten into the habit. It isn't so much about what it is altogether. It's more about the modulation and what it is once it starts. It's a little bit of a groove. Can you say a apple? Apple. Can you say banana? Okay, T bone, time for some serious crunching.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, all right. Hello, good morning and welcome, everyone, to a Monday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to.

[Andrew Walsh]

Live, intoxicating to some, an acquired taste to others.

[Luke Burbank]

My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. You're still doing a podcard coming to you today from the beautiful Willamette Valley of Oregon.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, Ma Pa.

[Luke Burbank]

It's just beautiful. Where the rolling hills are still green and the trees are changing color, there is some fog that's been moving in and out intermittently.

[Andrew Walsh]

We've got the fog.

[Luke Burbank]

This is such a beautiful part of the world that even when you're fogged in, it's. It's still unbelievable. And just the exact right place and time for us to be bringing you episode 4579 in a collector series.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let the fun begin.

[Luke Burbank]

Tonight, the Seattle Mariners will once again be far behind enemy lines in Toronto, Canada, trying to win the biggest baseball game in the history of the team and the history of my life.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, if the hockey moms can't handle me yelling and heckling at the rinks, I think they should stick to crosswords and knitting.

[Luke Burbank]

And I will tell you, I, for one, I am not nervous even a little bit. When was the last time you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Your pants.

[Luke Burbank]

Been a while. So of course we will talk about that. Also, we'll say hi to this guy Longest running cobra of the show. Maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. He's also feeling extremely calm and zen about the Seattle Mariners tonight playing in game seven of the league championship series. I'm not handling this well. I don't feel competent.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm depressed, I'm slouching.

[Luke Burbank]

He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning, Luke. Can I start off the show today by telling you something that somebody told me this weekend? A phrase that I learned for the first time that I find so incredibly beautiful and calming for some reason that I don't even fully understand. And it may have to do with my high levels of stress and anxiety these days, which is personal issue I'm dealing with on this end. And this saying has nothing to do with stress or anxiety. It was just such a poetic thing that somebody said to me in the middle of the day yesterday when I was outside at my volunteer gig. And we set up our tables under a bridge, a big highway bridge, so that if the rain comes, we're protected and the food is protected.

[Luke Burbank]

We call that pulling of chili peppers.

[Andrew Walsh]

We call that pulling of chili peppers.

[Luke Burbank]

Under the bridge.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, under the bridge. Thank you. Just waiting for the context that I could understand that a little bit better. That is not the same.

[Luke Burbank]

I can't believe you didn't have Anthony Kiedis at the very front of your mind on this Monday morning. Shame on you.

[Andrew Walsh]

So we were under the bridge. I'm trying to think of the lyrics. I don't even wanna go. That's not the lyrics. What are the lyrics of?

[Luke Burbank]

It's close.

[Andrew Walsh]

What is it?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't ever wanna feel like I did that day. Take me to the place I love. Take me all the way. You know who could help us with this is Becca, who's somewhere in this home right now, maybe even overhearing this big Chili Peppers fan, I think to the degree that it almost scuttled our relationship in the earliest of days, because I thought I was asking a question that was like, what is your favorite band of all time? Or something? And I think she heard it as, what's a band that you've listened to a lot or maybe seen in concert or a band that you know that you like. And I think she said, red Hot Chili Peppers. And I thought, again, peace and love to our pepper heads out there. But I was like, I don't. I don't know if I see myself with someone who. That is their. Like, if that's the band that Changed their life. And then it took a few months and then we. The conversation came up again and she was like, that was absolutely not the question I was trying to answer with Red Hot Chili Peppers. That being said. And you said, the lady knows the lyrics to under the Bridge.

[Andrew Walsh]

And you said, well, then I feel embarrassed standing here naked with just a athletic sock over my private area.

[Luke Burbank]

Size small. Do you have anything in the juniors department in terms of athletic socks? Anyway, so you're under the bridge setting things up.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was shocked. I didn't remember the lyrics of that, though, because that song, I really disliked that song. I really was not a Pepperhead myself. But there was a period for people who are younger than us that you don't understand. There's a period of time where you could not live in America and not hear that song playing somewhere at any given moment. Like a car driving by the street. Your favorite radio station, your least favorite radio station, radio stations that are sort of in between, everybody was playing that song on repeat. Your MTVs, your VHS umber. I can't tell if that is playing through the window or if you're doing that. But anyway, so I'll go back to this.

[Luke Burbank]

No, that was not a recording. That was my voice reproducing the music of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

[Andrew Walsh]

So in typical Andrew fashion, I've built this up way too much. It was just a nice little saying. We're underneath the bridge. Chili Peppers reference insert here. It's a beautiful day. And it's that it's a very, you know, it's getting to be very late fall. I know you don't like to hear that, but it means the city.

[Luke Burbank]

It's okay. I'm good. This year I have a whole new system. I got a new mindset, and I'm locked in.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it's a beautiful time of year right now. Don't worry about the future yet. Like, it's just so beautiful. And the sun, though, you really start to notice, hangs in the sky in different ways. So you get some pretty spectacular looking. I don't know, just sort of like vistas and perspectives on scenes that you see every day or what have you. And yesterday the sun was really low. It's about, you know, 3:30 in the afternoon. It's been a sunny day, but the sun is low. And then suddenly it starts raining. But I'm out there with like a bunch of volunteers. There's a really big crew and a bunch, several of whom I'd never met before. And it's just, we're all having a really good time, chatting and getting to know each other. And we look in one direction and the sun is still out. But it started raining. And like kind of steadily, like a big steady rain had suddenly started. And we didn't notice at first because it's not hitting us, but the way the rain is hitting the sunlight, it looked absolutely magical. Some people were like, is that snow? Because, like, you could just see almost every droplet of light. But then if you turned your on that scene and look the other way, like literally the opposite direction, you couldn't see any rain coming down at all. And it seemed like it wasn't raining there. It was just this weird sort of perspective thing. But we were all turning and we're looking at this rain coming down through the sun, the sun hitting every single drop. And this woman said, it's a chameleon's wedding day. What? And we all just turned and stared at her, waiting for the explanation. And we're just like, okay. And she said, it's a chameleon's wedding day. We're like, what? She's like, when the sun is shining and it's raining at the same time, she says, I think it's a Lebanese expression. It's a chameleon's wedding day.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, my God, I love it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you not love that?

[Luke Burbank]

I love that so much. And yeah. Why is that somehow steadying me on this Monday as I think about the most important game in the history of the. In the existence of the Seattle Mariners? Why is chameleon's wedding day providing me comfort? I don't know, but it is.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Well, can I tell you? So I texted that to a friend yesterday. A friend was texting me about baseball. And then I just inserted this in the middle of our conversation. And then I said, by the way, that has nothing to do with baseball. That's just something nice I wanted to share with you because I was thinking about it all night. And again, for some reason, that expression is somewhat calming to me. But then I started thinking, could this be Luke? Could this be an analogy for baseball? Like, think about where we were last night as the Mariners were playing some really, really bad baseball. And it hurt. It hurt to see our team blow an amazing historic opportunity. For those who don't know, if the Mariners had beat the Blue Jays yesterday, we would officially be in the World Series. We'd be playing the World Series. But we lost. And we lost in a very kind of, I would say, embarrassing way because there were a lot of errors and things you Just don't see all that often, at least, hopefully. And so I started thinking about it. I'm like, well, it's raining right now because the team is playing the way they're playing. And we were hoping that this was going to be a celebratory game. But you know what else?

[Luke Burbank]

Team is hitting into double plays to end three innings in a row, which I'm not convinced is not a record in postseason baseball. I bet you. I bet you that's never happened, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I think I. Maybe I heard somebody say that.

[Luke Burbank]

Anyway, my gut says that has to be a record.

[Andrew Walsh]

Anyway, yes, it was real rainy, so it's rainy there. But you know what else? It's game six of the alcs, and my team is playing in it, and they've never been as close to the World Series. And so I thought, you know what? It's kind of raining and sunny at the same time. It's a chameleon's wedding day. What do you think? Is. Am I. Am I jamming it in there too much, or can I do that, my friend?

[Luke Burbank]

I think that fits so neatly into our experience right now. I don't think that you're forcing that even slightly, and I totally feel the same way. Like, I was, you know, pretty disappointed last night, although my viewing experience was kind of a unique one for me so far in this series because I was here in the sort of greater Salem, Oregon, area in the Willamette Valley, and Becca and her family were having this big four fall party that they have every year, and, like, tons of people come over, and there's apple cider pressing, and just. It's a wonderful afternoon. And, yeah, the. The weather cooperated. And then I've got the Mariners going on this laptop, and I don't have the sound on, but I'm just kind of watching it. And then throughout the kind of, you know, evening, different folks are coming in and kind of going, how are they doing? Or like, is this still the playoffs? Or whatever. And I'm kind of narrating and translating what's going on, you know, in the game. And it was. It was. Part of me was sort of like, oh, I'm not getting the full obsessive experience of watching this that I would normally at my house and on big TV and the stereo's blasting the game everywhere. But it was ultimately, for me, very. It was a good thing that I wasn't allowed to fully engage with the game because it was so frustrating, and there was so much rain that was coming down, as, you know, as it pertains to a bunch of specifics about Gino Suarez and other people etc that I won't get into here. But yes, I, I hear what you're saying. I also had in the back of my mind, yeah, and we get to play tomorrow night. And that's the game, I guess, because I kept explaining it to folks because, you know, there wasn't anybody else here who was as interested in the game as I was. Maybe, maybe Darcy, my quasi sister in law who has become a Mariners fan in the last week. Because I was on the phone with her, I was texting with her and I said, well, something about the Mariners. And she goes, I don't really. Oh no, you know what? I was talking to her in person and she said, you know, I'm not really, I don't really get crazy about the baseball. I said, well, the Mariners are the only team that hasn't been to the World Series. And that for some reason was the, that was the spark that she needed. I very relatable care about them.

[Andrew Walsh]

Very relatable to me as a, as a fan of underdogs. You tell me, you tell me a stat like that. I suddenly care about sports I don't care about.

[Luke Burbank]

And it absolutely worked. And so last night, other than Darcy, I was, most of the folks coming in, I was explaining, well, I would like them to win this game because then they go to the World Series. But if they don't win this game, they play tomorrow night and if they win that game, they go to the World Series. And that was the sunshine. That was this chameleon's wedding day that I was attending, that I was officiating Andrew, and didn't even realize it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, you were the officiation.

[Luke Burbank]

I was recently certified by the Chameleon Church of Universal Life. I'm allowed to perform chameleon wedding days now. And yeah, the fact that we get to play tonight is a, that's a bit of sunshine. And even if we don't win, the fact that we took the American League Championship Series to seven games against another very good team and we got to have all of this fun. If we can decide that it's mostly been fun, I think in retrospect, I will consider it to be fun. You know what I mean?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, I agree. And it's been, it's. I, I told you, like I sort of, who knows how Game 7 will go. But I was really worried about something that felt cursed in the series, like, ah, the same old Mariners. But like, listen, you can't make it this far and feel that way. If anything, it's got kind of like a, to borrow a Browns expression from the the early 80s, it's got kind of a cardiac kids feel to it, like, well, of course the Mariners aren't going to make this easy. Of course we're going to go to a Game 7. But that doesn't hurt. That feels like a team personality to me, you know.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, we didn't get swept and we didn't, you know, manage to lose to Detroit and we didn't, by the way, manage to not win all those games at the end of the season to even actually get into a position to go to the, you know, postseason. Like, we, we exceeded a lot of my expectation. If you talk about my expectations from three months ago, what I thought was going to happen as of three months ago versus you and I sitting here on this Monday talking about Game seven of the ALCS for all the marbles, it's already wildly exceeded my expectations. And so that's the sunshine that I need to keep thinking about. What is your plan tonight for how you are thinking you'll be viewing the game?

[Andrew Walsh]

I will tell you in one moment. But there's one other sort of interesting thing I want to tell you about this chameleon wedding day thing, and maybe I can say this as a warning to listeners.

[Luke Burbank]

If you've just got your DJ set up, you're trying to DJ more chameleon weddings, we could be a package deal. I'll officiate them, you DJ them.

[Andrew Walsh]

If you're wondering whether or not I need fact checking. And so you're going to your Internet right now and you're typing in Chameleon wedding day. You will get the date June 7, 2008, because of course that was the date that Jose Chameleon, the Ugandan Afrobeat artist and musician, was wed. So just know that it does have two dates. I've got a Google alert. It does have two.

[Luke Burbank]

Anytime he gets wed, that's the first thing that comes up for me.

[Andrew Walsh]

I Googled it while you were introducing me. I'm like, wait, I do have this, right? Right? And so I typed in Chameleon wedding day and I just see June 7, 2008. I'm like, what am I looking up? Oh, well, of course it's Jose Chameleon's wedding day. Well, one piece of advice I'd like to give you.

[Luke Burbank]

What about the rapper Chameleon Air? Has he ever been married?

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I thought it was.

[Luke Burbank]

Was that a Chameleon's Chameleonaire. Chameleonaire. Wedding day.

[Andrew Walsh]

Chameleonaire's wedding day. I. Well, one thing I want to tell you about the viewing experience, which is something that it sounds like you did at some point during one of these playoff games in the past week or two. I have done for the last two games and has been a huge help. Is muting the national broadcast, especially on the days that your team is really struggling. I'm not even jumping on. And I'm not saying I'm right or wrong. I'm just saying I'm not reacting to necessarily that phenomenon where it seems like, and maybe actually is true that the national announcers are always rooting for the team you're not rooting for. I've been seeing a lot of people complaining about buy supposed or apparent bias in the coverage. I'm not saying that's not true. I'm saying I'm not sure. I do know that when certain narratives happen, like Vladdy Jr. Just being a slugger, of course the narrative is gonna focus on him because of what an amazing post season he is having. And unfortunately, a big chunk of that is happening at the hands of our beloved Mariners. I don't consider that to be in a game that we're losing by his hand. I don't feel like that is bias under his eye, under his watchful eye.

[Luke Burbank]

Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I'm not even saying that, but it's a real bummer. And also, I just haven't found it to be that great of an experience. And so it's a little bit. It does get a little bit tricky because I'm still watching. I refuse to watch these games on my buddy's free FUBO that he sent me the login for.

[Luke Burbank]

What about my Fubo, which I could.

[Andrew Walsh]

Share with you, which is maybe send that to me after the game. I gotta be very careful with Game seven. I gotta be very careful with Game seven. So for most of this, I've been watching these games via streaming services that let's. We like to call extralegal. Right. Little corners of the Internet that will stream the games. And that's. You know, I'm not saying they've won every game that I've watched that way, but they've definitely gotten into trouble. Both times I tried Fubo, that huge, humiliating loss last Wednesday. I wasn't watching the Fubo because I know it's jinxed, but Genevieve was watching it on the Fubo that whole time. And I did tell her, by the way, the reason she was watching on Fubo, was because it's too complicated to try to explain to her how to use one of the bootleg streams, but I was not going to be at home watching. And I don't think she realized that until she. She. She knew it, but she didn't quite realize it.

[Luke Burbank]

So if anybody at your address. And by the way, just to update people who might be listening for the first time, which would be many people who were at yesterday's fall party who were like, what do you do for a job? And I was like, well, I do this podcast.

[Andrew Walsh]

Really?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. I'll be doing it from the house tomorrow. What do you talk about? Probably this party. So, to the new listeners, Andrew, over the last week, a couple of times tried to watch these baseball games on this service called Fubo that he was sort of borrowing from a friend, and the games weren't going well. And so you decided that that was probably why the games weren't going well, because you were jinxing it by using Fubo. But it also appears that even if you're not home, if anyone under. If anyone on the property, within the property lines of your home is using Fubo, the jinx is activated, apparently, because.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'd only tried it once, and it was literally the inning where I think it was in game three where the Mariners were winning, but my feed was going down. I'm like, okay, I'll try my buddy's Fubo that he had given me, but I was trying not to use because I didn't want to be a mooch. And then I logged in, and the Mariners immediately gave up. Immediately gave up three runs and went on to lose that game in pretty embarrassing fashion. And so I was like, well, I'm never. I turned it off. And I said, I'm never using that. That service again for the Mariners games. I will definitely want you to watch Silk Stockings as soon as the series is over. I assume Diaries and usa. Up. Up all night.

[Luke Burbank]

All night.

[Andrew Walsh]

But the other day, so I had not been using it, but I was going to be with some friends watching it, and Genevieve's like, oh, could you set up the TV so I can watch the game when I get home? But the game wasn't starting for, like, two hours, and you can' these bootleg streams that early. And I said, well, and I did say in a text message, I said, I will set it up on our buddies Fubo for you, but I want it for the record. Oh, no, you know what? I said, this is a little bit. This is a little bit bitchy. If I can Be honest with you. I said, well, I could set it up, but the only way to do that would be through fubo. And I know you're staunchly against that because.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, yeah. Because also, new listeners, the reason that this family doesn't just have a FUBO subscription is because Genevieve was not a fan of the $100 a month price tag on that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

And so. Or even going in the irony of watching the Fubo when she was sort of anti paying for the fubo.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. And also I had sort of said, well, we could also split the cost with our friend who signed up, and we could each pay, you know, half of that. And she was still like, I don't know. She's like, you make your own decision. But that's not something I'm necessarily on board with. So, anyway, so I did tease her a little bit about that, but then what I did was I did use the FUBO login, and I left it on the tv, and I left that because have to. I'm not loading it on my tv. I'm just playing it through a computer. Just for simplicity reasons. I don't want to. I don't know if my friend has a certain number of, like, devices it can be on or something. So I'm just trying to be.

[Luke Burbank]

Not that I've noticed, for the record.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that's good to know, because I have it going.

[Luke Burbank]

I have had a time where I've got my tv, my laptop, and my phone all doing Fubo and on different sporting events, which I think speaks to a life that is really marked by the right priorities.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, exactly. Well, anyway, I've just been, as you might expect. And maybe this will come up in another story I want to tell you later in the show. I just want to leave a very light footprint. I don't want to be that person who's kind of like, as I used the analogy the other day, oh, I don't drive. But then I just rely on everybody else to drive me places. You know what I mean? I don't want to do that with other people's fubo. So the other day, though, I'm like, okay, I will turn on the Fubo. And it was Wednesday's game. I turned on the Fubo, left the house. Genevieve watched, like, the first half of the game at home, and then I think, left it on, and the game was just a disaster. And so I'm like, okay, nobody's using this Fubo except for my buddy who paid for it. Like, in this house, nobody's using this Fubboo.

[Luke Burbank]

And maybe not even.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think I did tell him. I think I texted him. I'm like, buddy, you're not alert me. You know what? I think that was Genevieve's joke. She's like, tell him he's not allowed to watch it anymore. Like, I'm done and done. I like the idea of you, like.

[Luke Burbank]

Black hat hacking into Fubo HQ and just taking the whole thing down just out of an overabundance of caution.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. But so this. I'm sorry, sorry, I'm way off track again. But I was just gonna. You asked me about my watching experience. I've really, really enjoyed turning on the bootleg stream and then turning on. Not like a transistor radio or a regular over the air radio, but the radio broadcast on my phone, which you can actually pause. I can't like, have pause or rewind the video broadcast I'm watching, but luckily it's always significantly behind. It's like a couple of pitches behind the radio broadcast, even on the somewhat delayed radio broadcast that comes through the apps. Right. But you can pause the app so you can get the video rol and open up the audio app on your phone, which I have connected to this nice Bluetooth speaker I got recently, and then just sort of pause it. Pause the audio for intent for 10 seconds, then unpause it, and you can really sync it up. And boy, during wins and losses, having my friends, the Seattle Mariners broadcast crew in my ears, as opposed to these to me, I still can't get the personalities down of whoever this. This national broadcast crew is. I don't even. I don't even get enough personality from them to be mad at them or to name their name, like Ari Joe.

[Luke Burbank]

Davis and John Schmoltz.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's right. We talked about them the other day because they were carving that turkey. I guess that's a little bit. But, like, I don't know, during the games, they just, like, they. I don't like the mix with the crowd anyway. I've really enjoyed that. So I would recommend maybe doing that again to help some.

[Luke Burbank]

Or people could do what I did on for sections of Friday night, which was listen to Bon Iver on the studio.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, while the game.

[Luke Burbank]

While watching the game muted.

[Andrew Walsh]

Because that's interesting.

[Luke Burbank]

I was not in any way in a crazed headspace on Friday night when we were playing and winning, mercifully. But, like, what had happened is I was making. I decided to make like a kind of a sort of a impromptu Thanksgiving dinner.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, nice.

[Luke Burbank]

On Friday, I didn't go. I didn't go anywhere to watch the game. I watched the game at home and I. And I had one of my. One of my, like, tofu kind of fake turkey thingies, and I realized I had some potatoes and I had pretty much all the fixins minus the Hawaiian rolls to make like, a cozy kind of like Thanksgiving meal for one. And so I was doing that all day, and I was listening to Bon Iver while I was doing that cooking. And then I had the game on, like, the pregame show muted. And then there were points in the game where I got so nervous that I just muted the announcers and just started playing Bonaver again. That kind of seemed to jumpstart the Mariners or get them out of some pickles when I needed to them to get out of those pickles. And so anyway, I'm just saying that's another way that people can experience the game is with the soulful sounds of Justin Vernon.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm pretty unfamiliar with Bonaver, by the way. I remember. And I don't know if he actually has a beard or not, but I sort of consider that kind of that beardcore era of.

[Luke Burbank]

He is one of the few people. He actually has an interior beard, too. That's how bearded he is. He has one on the outside of his face and one covering all of his internal organs.

[Andrew Walsh]

Wow, that sounds uncomfortable.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, and medically dangerous.

[Andrew Walsh]

And medically dangerous. But also it makes me appreciate that he's doing all right. But, yeah, I remember seeing him perform at, like, an outdoor festival. I think it was the Pitchfork Music Festival. Let's just say 2005. Because I'm making this story up anyway. Who cares? But I just remember being like, this doesn't. Because he was on a relatively big stage, I was like, this doesn't translate to this atmosphere right now. Like, you could just not really hear it very well over the top.

[Luke Burbank]

It's very sparing, at least the early. That, like, For Emma, which was this album that he put out. I think that's the name of the album for Emma, comma, something, something. It was very spare, very kind of quiet, haunting music, which was really growing in popularity, but also maybe didn't translate as well into the, like, let's say Pitchfork or Lollapalooza.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Kind of a scene.

[Andrew Walsh]

And that's not a statement on the music. I'll bet you I might even go through my phase at some point. I just haven't had.

[Luke Burbank]

I would start with that record and I would make it for some. It's. It's. You know, it's very moody, and so I don't know why. For me, it's. It's always been a cooking album for me. Like, I like to listen to it when I'm cooking.

[Andrew Walsh]

For some reason, I like that. I like.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't exactly know why, but anyway, it seemed to work on Friday night. Who knows? I may break it out tonight. We'll see. Because what I'm going to do is I feel like for this game tonight, I need to return to my home environment. I need to have my shrine, which, by the way, has been growing. I mean, that's the other thing. If we want to just get into the wild world of silly jinxes. Every. Is it every game that we've won? I think it might be at least the important games that we have won. I have been at my house with my shrine when it's happened. And like, last night, I wasn't at my house with my shrine, you know, and that could have also been something that messed it up for them. And I also added to the shrine on Friday night, I added a North Central Little League pin that someone mailed me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Junior Sluggers. Someone who.

[Luke Burbank]

This was the, you know, the Little League that I played.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, North Seattle. I'm sorry. Yes. I'm sorry. Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

And somebody who heard me talking about it, like, found a North Central. I might have said the wrong name, too, by the way, North Central Little League pin, and mailed it to me years ago. And then so I taped that up next to the picture of my niece Gemma wearing a Mariner's jersey. And near the, a photo of my brother Sam and Dave bedecked in Mariner stuff. And then, for reasons that I don't even understand, Andrew. Well, it's because they were. These two pins were pinned on the apron that I was wearing to make faux Thanksgiving dinner for one. So one of them was my North Seattle, a North Central Little League pin. And then the other was a pin that I got when I went to that Russell Wilson event for Alaska Airlines. It just says Dangerous. And they were both pinned on my apron. And I was like, for some reason, it seemed funny to me. And also, I don't know, whatever may be effective, to tape those both up onto the shrine. So there is now a North North Central Little League and a dangerous pin that are both maybe because Russell Wilson has been part of some very good sports moments in my life. You know, some of my very favorite football moments involved Mr. Dangerous Wilson himself. So that is. That's what's going on there. And I need to get back to the shrine so that I can do all of my weird machinations and mojo building tonight to try to send them all of the vibes that I can.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's really interesting. I'll be honest with you. When you first. I think before the show, you mentioned really briefly that you had brought a Danger Russ pin into the shrine. And I was like, that's not good. But it sounds like just like I just don't feel. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. I'm now realizing, because I was like, the mojo on that is rough right now. But you said you did that on Friday, which Friday was maybe one will go down in history as one of the most memorable Mariners wins of time. So I guess I can't poo poo that. If it works.

[Luke Burbank]

By the way, if we. If things start off poorly for the Mariners, I'll throw that Jonah right off the boat. I'll take that dangerous out of the shrine. I will chuck it all the way to the Columbia river if I need to. Happily.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you. Do you mess.

[Luke Burbank]

I've got everything on a short leash tonight, Andrew. That's insane. I'm not giving any of these magical items. None of them are getting more than an inning. And if they get into a tiny bit of trouble, I'm bringing in the next magical item.

[Andrew Walsh]

You have a Keep on Trucking pin that will replace that. That dangerous pin in a. In a second. The moment. The moment a runner reaches base. Exactly. Yeah. So, anyway, that's my plan. I do plan on watching from here, and. And I think. I mean, I think that's the right move for me. I want to kind of. I'm trying to kind of keep things low key. I sort of feel like on a Monday night, if I go to a bar and things get kind of wild, it might set my. My week off wrong. I. I hope I'm not making the wrong choice. I am here in a city like. Like almost every game. I'm getting a text message from a buddy of mine, Nick, who recently. I think listeners know Nick Jahren, who's been on the show quite a bit, and he's recently moved back to Seattle, and it's been wonderful to see him, but he's much more of a. I don't even know if he would describe himself as an extrovert. He's just a normal guy, but he likes to go out, and he's really been looking for the kind of fan experience here in Seattle. He's a baseball fan, but mostly a basketball fan and has really enjoyed his time. And in Dallas, where people were watching basketball games, you know, you go out and everybody is, like, kind of rooting for the same team. And he's looking for that energy. In Seattle, I think he's struggled to maybe find that same sort of kind of community. And he's been like. Like, after the win on Friday, he was like, where are you celebrating? And I was like, oh, I'm dog sitting. And so I was just kind of like, I feel like I've been letting him down in the Energy Department sort of. But I do sort of feel like. I don't know, man. It's a Monday night and I could go out. I'll let you know. Obviously, tomorrow that changes, but right now, my plan is to, I think, stay put and watch here and again, listen to the local broadcast.

[Luke Burbank]

You could also. I mean, the thing is, if they. Even though it's a Monday night, if the Mariners manage to win, I have a feeling that all of Seattle will turn into a rolling. Which is. Doesn't necessarily maybe strike me as your exact scene, unless you'd already been a part of it. Like, if you're at a bar and then there's a big celebration, but, like. Like, you could be out walking the streets of Seattle not long after the game, probably enjoying a lot of impromptu excitement from fans and. Yeah, you know, just all of that energy, like, I mean, it will be pretty crazy if they. If they somehow pull this off. And I would say the odds are sort of long just because you're at a slight structural disadvantage when you're the visiting team. Literally, the fact that the other team gets to hit last, there's a kind of an energetic thing. So. But. But if they do pull this off and they win, and the headline in the Seattle Times tomorrow is, you know, Mariners going to the World Series, like, I think I'll cry, actually, like, if I'm being totally honest, which is not. I don't know if I've. I didn't. I don't think I cried when the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. Maybe I did. I don't know. I mean, I was very excited, obviously. I think this one. To. To. To see that in print. I don't know why it needs to be in print. And. And to go back to this reference again, it needs to be held up by Harry Truman. For some reason, in my version of this story, to see that in print somewhere permanent and no one can take it away that the Seattle Mariners are going to the World Series, I think that will be. I think it Will actually be emotional for me if it happens and if it doesn't happen again. It's a classic. Chamillionaire's Wedding. That's right where it was some sunshine for me that they played this well and got this far and made these memories for me. So, you know, pure hearts, clear eyes, can't lose. That's what I'm saying about tonight, Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

Absolutely. And I also, and I was referencing this to you before the show a little bit. I have just a pit in my stomach these days anyway. I'm just kind of really filled with anxiety that is like I'm managing in a way that is well, Maybe I'm mismanaging it, but it's sort of seeping into this experience for me in a way that sort of bums me out. I'm very distracted. But looking at the clock here, it's like 30 minutes into the show. Should we thank donors and then I can. Sure should come back and tell you about the, I don't know, mid year crisis I'm having.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, absolutely. Let's do that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thank you, baby.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, let's thank those donors right here, right now. These are the people making TBTL possible. This is 100% listener supported. As I tried to explain TBTL yesterday to people here at that fall party, people were polite. It was a very polite group. Nobody asked, yeah, but you make any money on this thing. And I would have said to them a little, a few small monies. And it's because we have these donors who voluntarily donate their own money to the show. And that's how we get to do this for our job. Five days a week, folks like Rose Zitnik in Phoenix, Arizona.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nice. Thank you, Rose. Actually, can I say something to donors here, Luke, directly. And you can listen in if you want to, but this is me speaking directly to donors. Those donors who donated at a level that means they will be receiving the TBTL Greatest hits vinyl record. Want you to know that I got a very encouraging email today from the people who are. Who press the vinyl. I, I guess I don't have to go into too much detail here, but they recommend a certain length of record. They're very concerned about sound quality and I guess there's some flexibility in sound quality depending on how long you want each side of your record to be. So the shorter amount of time, the more fidelity or whatever. Like if we were recording a. Some sort of a, you know, like a very stereo centric, trippy, trying. I wanted to drop that band. What's that one, one word band that you love, that I know less about. But everything I hear I love by them with like, it's kind of bass driven and there's some vocals, but it's like real jammy. You have no idea what I'm talking about. Krongbin is exactly what I'm talking about. Thank you, my dude.

[Luke Burbank]

Ah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like if you're producing Cronbin, you want to keep those, those sides pretty tight, right?

[Luke Burbank]

You want like a three minute song that takes up the whole one side of the record so you can have as much fidelity as possible.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. And so I knew that I was outside the bounds of what their time recommendation was, but I also knew that we were doing spoken word here. And so I sent an email last week via John Sklaroff who's our intermediary and just said, hey, listen, I know what the recommendation, what the recommended time is, but I'm coming in at this time. But it's only spoken word. Some of this is like, you know, MP3 is captured off the radio from back in the radio days. Like, do we really have to worry about that? They're like, no. I just got this email this morning, Luke. They're like, you're golden files. So we are getting very, very, very close on all of these things and I can't give you a specific time, but I do worry. And by the way, I just want to make it very, very clear. This is 100% on me. This was my project and for various reasons I dragged my feet on this and I just, I apologize the listeners, but I want them to know that this hasn't slid off the front burner. This is like something that is actively being worked on. And hopefully soon, I mean soon, not hopefully soon, you will be holding the.

[Luke Burbank]

Vinyl in your hands and it's going to be really something. Like you were sending me some of the sort of. Oh, okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

Lowered expectations, low.

[Luke Burbank]

Darren Book night is Darren Booknight in Casey, South Carolina. He's taping that, right? He's TiVoing that. He does. We can't spoil this for Darren.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I just don't want you to raise expectations. Don't say that. It's gonna be a super wonderful, wonderful record because then what do we have? You know, I have to live up to that.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I'll say that. What I've seen of the artwork, I was pretty impressed. I was pretty happy with this whole thing as I think will be Jane and Ross Johnson in Everett, Washington.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, thank you, Everett. Just a pleasure. Appreciate you.

[Luke Burbank]

Jane and Ross. How about Jeff Stewart out there on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Beautiful Bainbridge island, indeed. Thank you, Jeff. Thanks to Steve Pruitt, who's in Ferndale, Michigan. Now. My time up in Whatcom county, when I lived in Bellingham, the Bay City, there was a Ferndale that's near Bellingham. And so I, you know, when I saw Ferndale on this list, I thought, well, we're talking. We got to be talking. Ferndale, Washington, home of Doug Peterson, one time Philadelphia Eagles coach, the one that took them to the super bowl and called, famously called that play at the end of the first half the Philly Special. But no, this is a totally different. This is the Ferndale that's in Michigan.

[Andrew Walsh]

And also not a dazzling donor. Doug Peterson, I believe, or daily.

[Luke Burbank]

Not after I criticized some of his coaching decisions later on at Philadelphia. Thank you, Steve. Thanks to Denise Tipton, who's in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[Andrew Walsh]

Ooh. We may be darkening the door at some point, me and V. I know.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm excited for. I'm excited for you to make that trip. I think you'll. It's funny because there's a lot about Las Vegas that doesn't strike me as. As like sort of Andrew style. But then actually there's just so much going on there that there's also a lot of it that does strike me as Andrew style.

[Andrew Walsh]

Las Vegas. Something for everyone.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. That's. They need to get a tagline. They need to figure out how to get a tagline for the city that people repeat constantly and to each other in varieties of situations.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Because it slips under the radar. You know, people are like, it does. Is that in Nevada? Is that where that is last night? Yeah. Like that rings a faint bell.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you to our donors for making TBTL possible. We really could not be doing this without you. So thank you so much.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hello and welcome to Top Story.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, Andrew, Top Story. How is dog sitting going? Because you've been. You guys have been responsible for a couple of dogs the last week, and we've been getting updates. What's the latest?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, well, I mentioned before the break that I. Which isn't actually even a break anymore, but we call them breaks.

[Luke Burbank]

It could be someday.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. Yes. No, hopefully not. Not thanks to our donors, but I'm in a really high anxiety mode right now, which I think I have been for a while now, which is something that I should probably get examined and not just talk about on a podcast. As the, as the now cliche saying goes, men will rather start a. Men would rather start a podcast than go to therapy. But yeah, something happened this weekend that like, I'm having like a much, I'm assuming, much bigger emotional reaction to then is probably called for. And this is one of those stories that I'm going to tell you. I'll try to be as. Try to be as, I guess, brief as possible, but I don't know how brief this is going to be. And I'm a little bit worried, to be honest with you, that I maybe once I tell this story, I'm not going to get the sympathy of the listeners or maybe even you. But that's fine. I will just tell you my emotional journey with this whole dog sitting thing and why I'm a little bit. Why this weekend was really actually kind of rough for me, to be honest with you. And. Well, that's all right. And again, this is probably on me and maybe external factors or other things that maybe were worth examining. But if you don't mind, I'm just going to like, very briefly and economically rewind to how we got here. How did we get here? We're on the second to last day of Andrew and Genevieve dog sitting the neighbors. Dogz was a plural dogs, which was about, I don't know, a couple of months ago, Genevieve was coming home late one night, happened to run into our neighbor next door. By the way, we love our neighbors next door. People who are probably maybe in their, I'm going to say maybe early 30s at their earliest, I'm guessing, but, you know, kind of younger than us musicians, very nice when they have parties, they invite us over, we invite them over to our parties. When Genevieve is having some shindig or whatever. We don't hang out all that much, but definitely like very good vibes. And I really, I really like these people. Their. Their lifestyle different than ours, you know, a little bit more of a rock and roll lifestyle, I would probably say.

[Luke Burbank]

But really more rock and roll than your lifestyle.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can you believe it? Can you believe. Do you want to take a moment to examine that? Like, how could that possibly be? Yet here we are. I have several Sonic Youth records. I would just like, no, but anyway, so I just wanted to set that up as context. So when Genevieve came home one night and pretty late and admittedly like kind of made this decision on the fly and without checking with me, kind of said, hey, I ran into the neighbor and I volunteered to watch their dog. At this point it was just one dog, Maggie, when they're out of town for about a week in October. And I said, oh, okay. I'm like, that's Pretty good. You know, we're down to one cat now, and we're very dog curious as a family, as a couple. Instead of maybe getting another cat down the line, we've been thinking seriously about getting another dog. And I was, I was in agreement with Genevieve that this could be a good experience for us. We know the neighbor's dog. I say hello to her over the fence. Her name is Maggie a lot. She seems absolutely lovely. And I do know that she's a very high energy dog, which was something that I was sort of telling you, you know, before this even started, before this dog sitting started. I was like, I'm a little bit nervous about that. But I think the original idea was that Maggie would be spending more time over here with us. Maybe we would try to introduce her slowly to Bingo a little bit. They already know each other because Genevieve takes Bingo and walks around the yard on a leash, around our yard. But Bingo and Maggie are sort of friends through the fence. The irony is like, Maggie's like kind of a mid sized dog that is like a pit mix or something. And so like, you know, kind of a very sturdy dog, but just so, so lovely, but also a little bit like just high energy, but also maybe a little bit nervous because she's, she's like kind of scared of Bingo a little bit. While Bingo is just like kind of chewing grass and wanting to touch noses with her through the fence. It's not like Bingo, the small cat, is the one who's scared. But anyway, we thought it would be fun to maybe have this week. We could find opportunities to bring Maggie over here and, and you know, just dog sit. And then I told you a couple of weeks ago that we hadn't really heard any more information about even when this starts. All I knew was sometime in October. Didn't really know the length of it. Didn't know much. And then I coincidentally ran into my neighbor, one of my neighbors, at like a grocery store thing, at this US Chef store that I go to, and sort of was having an awkward neighborly conversation across kind of the checkout area. I was at one checkout station, he was another. And we're sort of like kind of chatting briefly. Everybody can hear us. And then as he's leaving the grocery store, I sort of yell, hey, are we watching your dog? And he's like, yeah, well, my girlfriend brought home another dog, a puppy now. So now there's two, so we should talk. And then he leaves. And I was just like, well, that's kind of a huge. That's Kind of a huge change in plans. Like, that's not like a. And also just to like kind of throw it out there. As in, like, so now you're watching two dogs, like without saying, hey, is this okay?

[Luke Burbank]

Or bringing us in Spider man meme. Now there are two of them, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And I just kind of like, okay. So I had, I had. I remember calling Genevieve and just being like, well, I had. We had an interesting conversation with the neighbor at the store. We should probably lock in, like, what's going on here? And so I had expressed my concerns about a second dog. And she said, well, I'm supposed to go over there to meet the new dog anyway. Let me just sort of, you know, sniff out the situation, as it were. And then. And no, but she knew that I had some kind of concerns about the two dog situation because that just changes a lot, especially a puppy. And then what we learn is this puppy is a very. This puppy is bigger than, than probably a lot of people's dogs who are listening here. I'm going to put the puppy at 35 to 40 pounds right now. I know this because I know Maggie, the three year old dog who I knew, whom I knew was, was exactly 49 pounds. I remember they had just gotten her weight or something like right before we took over. So I know she's 49. And Goose, the younger dog, is not that much smaller than her yet. He's still a puppy. He's going to be so huge. He's got Luke. He's like a biggish puppy right now, but he's got these paws that are so huge, I can't even imagine what he's gonna grow up to be. I mean, hopefully I'll see as he grows up next door to us. But anyway, so Genevieve kind of comes back and says, well, I did agree that we can watch both dogs. It'll. It'll be different but like, we can handle it. And, but the, one of the complications is this new dog, this puppy does not have its shots yet. They're planning on getting it, getting him fixed and getting his like vaccination and everything once they get back from their vacation overseas. And I guess the idea there, which makes sense, when I eventually met them the day they left, they said, well, we didn't want him like recovering from like a surgery or something while we were away. I'm like, okay, well, that makes sense. But again, having two and this dog is kind of crate trained or being crate trained. And so he's got a crate that is not super big. It's about the size that he can fit into and he seems fine with it. But like, it seems like I, you know, it doesn't seem like the best way for me. But again, I don't have dogs. I'm not trying to judge other people's ways. I know that crate training is a real thing and there's a way to do it. And he seems generally okay with it. But basically the responsibility that the neighbors are saying is like, we have a fenced in yard. You can just like go over there, let the dogs out during the day and you know, feed them twice a day. I mean, basically the instructions that they gave us were essentially cat sitting instructions. Like, you know, which is something I'm much more familiar with. Like I watch our friends cats and you get into a routine with that. But I really was like, dogs are different than cats. Like when I go over there to see these two dogs and they're both, again, I want you to know I'm not using high energy as like a euphemism for being misbehaved. They're not, they're not misbehaved dogs. They are so sweet and they're so sweet with each other. And yes, they're like young dogs. So they kind of like wrestle, play sometimes, but in a way that even that I'm kind of impressed by. You got to keep in mind, this is coming from me, guy who was really, as a kid, I was so afraid of dogs. Luke. I didn't understand the difference between playing and barking and just aggression like did. I'm sure at some point on the show, and I would assume you wouldn't remember this, I probably told you about the first and only time a dog sat before this. And it was when I was in college and I hadn't really in college, I hadn't been around many dogs. And so I think I still basically had my somewhat fear of dogs carried into young adulthood there. And one time a co worker, somebody older than me, an actual adult at the radio station I worked at, said, hey, could you house sit for me when we're gone for a week? And I had, I said yes. And I forgot that she had a dog. I thought they just wanted somebody in her house just to have somebody living there. And then when I went over to learn the house, I learned that they had a dog which was again, a medium sized to big dog. And I had never, I still hadn't had good experiences with dogs at this point. I'm like, oh, okay. And then as my very, very first night Going over there. When they were gone, the dog was like putting his paws on the ground and bark, bark, bark, bark, barking at me and everything.

[Luke Burbank]

And oh, wow.

[Andrew Walsh]

But he was just playing and. But I, But I didn't know dogs at all. And I was just scared of a dog barking at me. I had to call this woman's father. He was my emergency contact. A man probably, you know, I'm in, I'm in college. I'm in, you know, late teens, early 20s. I had to call this, I don't know, 60, 65 year old old man to come rescue me from this dog that had me like trapped in a bathroom or something. He came over, he's like, he's, he's. He tried the. The man was trying to be nice to me. Nancy's dad was trying to be nice to me, the retiree. But he's like, the dog is playing with you. Like, this is.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, this is.

[Andrew Walsh]

I can't remember the dog's name. But anyway, that's my only experience dog.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, in fairness to you, that's a scary name.

[Andrew Walsh]

It wasn't Cujo Luke. It was Razor teeth.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, oh, sorry.

[Andrew Walsh]

Anyway, so, so sorry. I told you. I tried to make this economical, but that's my experience with dog sitting now in the intervening years, I have a lot more experience with dog. Not, not like I have a lot of experience, but I have, like, no longer do I have negative experience with dogs. You know, I've met some good dogs. And so I gotta be honest with you, I'm almost like sort of proud. Or proud is not the right word. Less shame. I don't know, maybe somewhat delighted by the fact that as these two dogs who were both like, kind of have these, you know, they're both like muscly kind of dogs, lovely dogs, but as they're sort of like wrestling for a toy, like literally on top of me or whatever, like, I'm not worried at all. Like, there's never a moment of me being like scared of these dogs. They are, they're high energy dogs, but they're two of the.

[Luke Burbank]

Just the most.

[Andrew Walsh]

I just, I've really fallen in love with these dogs. And I think that's part of this narrative too, of why I'm feeling kind of upset today and why I kind of had a bad weekend. Because here's, here's how it was going all last week. I tried to tell you about this a little bit, kind of omitting some details, but Genevieve was kind of doing the main feeding in the, in the morning and Afternoons. But I was really concerned about them being alone in the house and everything. And when they're in the house, the puppy, the big puppy is supposed to be in the cage at all times. And here's the deal. So I was like kind of going over there, spend time with them, like in the yard. Like, ideally you can just leave them in the yard and I could come back here and they could spend hours in the yard. But, like, I'm just so anxious about leaving them. I'm like, there's just like one little gate, you know, it's like a chain link little classic gate from the 60s or something that separates them from the wide world, you know? So I can't tell you how paranoid I am. Like, I. I was saying the other day that I worry about my anxiety as a potential future dog owner, like, seeping into the. The Persona of the dog, which I do think that animals can sort of vibe off of your energy a little bit. And so I always worry about having some nervous wreck of a dog, because I'm a nervous wreck. I don't know if there's validity to that or not, but when I'm dog sitting, I think there's a level of anxiety that is ratcheted up a lot more. And it's because I'm responsible for now two lives that are not my responsibility. Usually it is so important to me that the people who are coming back.

[Luke Burbank]

If something happened to your dog, it would be between you and the dog and your God.

[Andrew Walsh]

And. And when you say your God, you mean Genevieve, right? Yes, yes, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Whereas this is like all of the stuff you're nervous about and then it's someone else's dogs where if something were to happen, you would then have to also explain to them what had happened. So it's just extra stress.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. And so this anxiety that I have around this is probably not the healthiest thing. And I appreciate people who are way more chill. And again, given the instructions that we were given by these folks, which were very minimal, they're very chill. So I just tried to remember, like, they're chill people. I'm just going to keep these dogs alive and keep them happy and also love on them and play with them. And so I even. I went to the store, I bought them a couple of toys because I noticed that they were sort of. I thought they were sort of fighting over one bone that they had like some, like a fake bone. So I went and I bought another, like, scented bone or something. Not. I guess I didn't realize that those plastic Nylon bones that last forever also have, like, flavors on them or whatever. I thought, oh, if I bring this, then they can, like, kind of each have a bone. But it turns out that's not how it works. Maggie is the older sister, so she.

[Luke Burbank]

She just now Maggie ownership of it.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then she took that, and I almost. And I started worrying because now, like, she loved this thing so much that she was just, like, digging up all these holes in the yard to bury it. She just buried it inside. She kept finding places to bury it under Blake. And she just, like, only game with this toy was not to chew on it, but just to bury it. Then unbury it, bury it and unbury it was weird to see this instinct kick in. And then I'm like, maybe I shouldn't have gotten that bone. They're digging up the yard now, but I also got them this ball that they play with now. During all of this time, I'm trying to spend as much time over there as possible. As I mentioned, I've also had big work projects I was working on last week with this vinyl record or whatever, and it was not the best timing for me, to be honest with you. And again, I kept thinking they just said, leave the dogs in the yard and they'll be fine. But I. I'm like, I can't just do that. Like, as I. I think I described maybe to you or Genevieve earlier today before we were recording. It's like my personality is I'm down here in my studio working, and if I hear the dogs next door start barking in the yard, I'm like, oh, no, what's wrong? And so I go out and I see what's going on. But then if I'm working in my studio for another five minutes and there's no barking, I'm like, oh, no, it's too quiet. And so I go over, and by the way, they don't bark a lot. It's only when, like, another dog walks by. And I guess that's just, like, kind of a normal dog behavior. But then I. I was, like, apologizing to neighbors. I'm like, I'm sorry. I' dog sitting. I hope I didn't scare you. They're like, no dogs are allowed to bark at other dogs. Like, it's part of the code. Like, okay, fine, but that's just to give you my sense of both anxiety about this, but also, I mean, I hope I'm coming off not totally as a crazy person, but as a responsible person. As a person, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

You're taking it very Seriously trying to do right by these dogs and by extension by these dogs owners.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. But I also want you to know that when I am going over there, I'm also really enjoying my time with these dogs and really falling for them, like, honestly, and having some good times. And so. And then Genevieve and I got in the habit of. Because again, we. If Goose is supposed to be in his cage when we're not there and he has to be inside, well, then we want to be there as much as possible. So for several nights last week, Vivs and I would go over there with a couple of Coors lights and a pack of cards, a deck of cards, and we would watch Columbo episodes and we would snuggle with the dogs and play cards for like an hour, hour, a half and. And a half or something like that. And as I mentioned to you, I don't know if I said this on the air or not, but on the very first day that I went over there, Genevieve was at work. She had fed them in the morning and then put them in the house. I went over there and it was an absolute disaster scene. They had destroyed one of the neighbors shoes, which are all just kind of in this pile by the. By the door and just absolutely destroyed. Like just. It was a leather. It was a Doc Martin or possibly a fake Doc Martin. All that was left was the rubber sole, not the Beatles record. And just like pieces of leather all over the place or pleasant or whatever it was. And also destroyed one of their beds just like foam all over the place.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, dog bed.

[Andrew Walsh]

Not human bed. Yeah, dog bed. Yeah. Whatever bedrooms they have or all the other doors in this place are closed. So we just have a kind of access to the living area and then the kitchen. And I will mention to you, and again, I don't want to sound judgmental about this or even classist about it, but like, this is not a living space that I am particularly comfortable in. You know, it's very dog centric, it's very messy, and I'll just say unkempt. And again, people can live their life however they want. I really don't want to sound like a snob about it, but you also know that I am a. And again, this might be. This might be something that I should work on, but I'm just like a very neat and clean person and being in spaces that all that seem very sticky and dog drooly and just whatever is not a comfort zone for me. That's not where I want to be on my Monday and Tuesday nights. Right. But, yeah. So the. The day that they had destroy that thing, I picked up as much of the mess as possible. The next day, I found my old vacuum, and I went over there because it seemed like kind of a big mess. I went over there and just sort of cleaned up all the threads and all the leftover everything. I vacuumed their rug for them. And one of the dogs, Maggie, is what they call a happy peer, which, again, she's not misbehaved. I would say that that's maybe her one flaw is that, like, when you see her, she cannot help herself. She piddles, as you said. And so when you get over there, you just try to get her outside as fast as possible to give her love, because she's just gonna jump all over you and want love, which I. I love. Like, I understand the joy of having a dog. Like, the.

[Luke Burbank]

The joy of how you are when we do the soundcheck in the morning.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

I have to get you outside immediately.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. And I'm trying.

[Luke Burbank]

That's how excited you are to do the show.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm trying to lick you. It's one of the reasons we don't do the show in person anymore. But it is. I mean, boy, talk about a rush. When you go over to someplace and these two creatures that you love are looking at you and jumping all over you like, you are the only thing that matters. I get it. I mean, dude, I get it. But the one day I wasn't quite sure if maybe she peed on the floor a little bit. I mean, the one day, she definitely did, and I wiped it up. But also I thought it might have gotten on one of these blankets that they have thrown kind of haphazardly on the couch area. So I was like, well, that's not good. Why don't I just take this blanket home and wash it anyway? So I actually took a couple of blankets on different days home and washed them just to one of them kind of had a bunch of drool all over it when Maggie was chewing on one of her bones. And I was like, well, that'd just be nice. It'd be nicer for me if I'm coming over here to spend time with them, to have these cleaned. But also just. I. Luke, I'm so paranoid. And this is a big part of this, too. I told you my history and anxiety maybe around other people's dogs, but also I have a lot of anxiety being in other people's spaces when they're not there. Like, I just want to be so respectful. Like, I was doing things that I considered to be nice, which was like taking blankets home and washing them and bringing them back. But I was also thinking, would this be intrusive if they found out I did this? Would they think, boy, this is kind of pushing the limits of neighborliness. Like, is this too much? I literally had a little bit of a. Like, what if one of them is allergic to. To scent my detergent? You know, like, these are the thoughts I'm having. Like, I'm not doing any of this carelessly, and I'm trying not to be a Budinski. Or, like, I'm not trying to, like, have them come home. And I've, like, organized. I've alphabetized all of their belongings and I've made it. You know what I mean?

[Luke Burbank]

You kind of turn this into one of those home makeover shows where.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

I removed a wall deserving family that's got some kids with some stuff going on, but now the community has come together. Or how about like, the symbiote Simpsons when they rebuild the Flanders house, The house that love made. We made this house with love. And some concrete, I believe is. What a process. And then they go into the. One of the rooms that Bart worked on. There's a poster, and Rod and Todd, I think there's something wrong with the poster. It's inappropriate or something. And they move it. And he goes, I wouldn't. That's a load bearing.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's a load bearing poster. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

No, you weren't trying to create, like, a reveal when these people came home. Home and was like, you've cleaned their house and fixed their life because their life sucked and you fixed.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I am not doing that. In fact, I'm, like, sheepish about it. I'm even kind of like, boy, I hope, you know, like, if they. If they were to see me carrying this vacuum, could I look like a pushy neighbor or something? But I hoped it wasn't it.

[Luke Burbank]

And I.

[Andrew Walsh]

Again, I just want to remind everybody, it was like, I took it over there. Not because I don't. Because I didn't want to just clean up. I wasn't cleaning up after them. I was cleaning up after an issue with the dogs destroying a bunch of stuff in their living room room. Right. And so I thought that that was fine. And I, again, on the blanket thing, I was like, I can probably do this without, like, seeming intrusive, but I realize maybe it is. And those are just things that are going on in my mind to sort of give you my mindset. Those. Those two Things do not come back, at least as of yet, into this story. But that's. I've just been very anxious about keeping the dogs happy, keeping the dogs alive and in their yard and also being in somebody else's space, generally speaking. No, the space is if it's a super fancy space or a space that is not super fancy. I just feel a great responsibility being alone in other people's spaces when they're not there. And so all of this is sort of, I realize kind of in hindsight now how much this has gotten my kind of anxiety motor running the past week and it hasn't been fully examined because I'm mostly having a good time with these dogs. And there were a couple of times I was like, boy, it'd be kind of nice to be home just throwing darts. Now I haven't thrown darts in three days because we've been watching these dogs, but that's okay. And there's a little part of me, I will say that if there's any judginess, it's a little bit like, wow, these folks just really threw this at us, gave us very little instructions and again, sort of treated this like it was a cat sitting situation as far as what they expected the interaction to be. But we're going above and beyond that, especially with trying to spend real quality time with these dogs and keep keeping one out of a small crate for extended periods of time. Right?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

And so that's all what's going on. And then on Friday. So this is Friday of the big Mariners game, the game that starts off not so great and it looks like it could be, it could be a pretty disappointing loss for the Mariners. Veeves and I start that at 5pm here at home. We're watching, listening to the local broadcast, as I recommend. But I was telling. Oh, that's right. Did that game. No, no. Did Friday's game start at 3? Luke? I think that makes more sense. It did. Okay. This makes a lot more sense. So the game starts at 3 in the afternoon. Sorry there was no newsletter on Friday, everybody. So this makes more sense. And then as it's getting closer, I'm just, I can't not think about those dogs being alone over there. And at this point I think they're in the house. And so around, we feed them around 5 and so around 4:45, I say, you know, I'm going to go over there, I'm going to feed the dogs and then spend some time with them and I'm going to listen to the rest of this game, or at least for a while, I'll just listen to the baseball game in my, you know, on my phone, in my, in my headphones. And I don't even really mind that that much, like the game isn't going well. Mixing up the mojo isn't such a bad thing. And so I go over there, by the way, I've already spent. This is Now Friday around 5 o' clock midday on Friday. I was over there. They had, like. Maggie had dug this big hole in a part of the yard where I've seen them kind of yelling at her for digging a hole before. And she kind of dug up some wires, like cables or something along the side of the house.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm like, oh, this is call before you dig Maggie.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I actually, like, took their rake and kind of was raking the dirt back in. That's a good joke. I know that you get mad when I don't acknowledge them.

[Luke Burbank]

And then, and then, listen, don't add that to your list of anxiety.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then I, like, I even swept their sidewalk. And then I realized, like, and I am. This is maybe kind of important context for later too, but, like, this whole time I am. I'm making some travel plans that I have coming up to go back to Cleveland, take care of some stuff, kind of some serious stuff. And I'm on the phone with my dad in my headphones for a. For a bunch of. This time in the afternoon before the game had started. And I'm in their yard and I'm kind of sweeping the sidewalk a little bit just because I'm a putter and I'm. I'm talking on the phone to various people making kind of various plans. And I cleaned up one thing, and then I just started kind of sweeping up their, their sidewalk and everything. Not even for whatever it's worth, not even really. Not even really realizing I'm doing it in the moment. That's just like when the puttering takes over. But like, also their. Their deal with poop is they let the dogs poop in the yard and then you go and you clean it up and they have kind of a big version of one of those things that you would put down on the ground and then sweep into it. Like if you were sweeping up a movie theater or something like that, only it's a little bit bigger than that, like a dustpan kind of thing with, you know, big pull. But then they have a little rake. And so I've spent the week going around like, just putting them. And they left it, like, mostly full of Shit for us. Like, it was not empty when I got there. It was like maybe half full. And so as I'm like scooping up and they go to the bathroom a lot and they're big. They're like human size. And so I'm going around with this little shit rake in this shit bucket like several times a day and scooping this up.

[Luke Burbank]

That's the stuff of nightmares for me.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's really, really gross. And on Friday, and I was kind of thinking, like, this thing is not going to be useful to me as we continue to fill it up. And so early on, I'm like, at some point I'm gonna have to empty this thing. They haven't told me where the garbage is. They haven't mentioned anything. They've. So I. On Friday, when I'm kind of again, like, kind of like puttering over there and just trying to be there with the dogs as much as possible during the afternoon, I go home, I grab a big black garbage bag. I put the whole. I put the whole poop bucket thing in there and kind of turn it over. And it wasn't as bad as I thought. I had gloves on. It actually wasn't. It luckily emptied pretty easily.

[Luke Burbank]

I would have been dressed.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bag.

[Luke Burbank]

Dustin Hoffman. An outbreak.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was so. It was. I had to really get out of my head for it because if I thought about it for a second, I would have wretched. I have a pretty bad gag reflex. But I bag that up, I take it. I take it. I find their garbage in the way, way back, and I take it away. I take it to shoreline. I put on a Baltimore Orioles cap. You know, it's funny, in going over the Greatest Hits tape, I think now, if ever this story were to be on another Greatest hits tape, all of the little references like that I have to take out. Like, the Baltimore Orioles hat will mean nothing to future generations of TBTL listeners because that. That bit will have been long forgotten. But anyway, I. I just feel like. And again, I'm not looking for a parade with this shit. Like, I don't even really want them to notice any of this, truly. Like, I don. But it was just like, for my own.

[Luke Burbank]

You're doing this for your own level of comfort.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. And so. But I mean, honestly, leaving us this shit bucket was just like, so gross. And I clean it up or whatever. I even look to hose it down, because then you have this thing and it's still just like. It just looks like it's something that had been digging in the mud, only it's not my friend.

[Luke Burbank]

You're talking to America's number one bidet evangelist.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

You were talking to the right person about the need for water being applied to that situation.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, and by the way, just one other thing about this is, like, so they have. There are two different sort of sections of this house next door, and we're looking after the dogs who live in sort of the upstairs. And then our other neighbor is their cousin, and she's the one who was living here when we first moved in. These folks have been living here for maybe two years now. She's been living here. She's been a constant. And there is some relation. I believe they're cousins. She might be his sister. I'm not exactly sure. But I had even texted her before I emptied out this poop bucket. Just said, hey, Kelly, just so you know, I assume you know this, and I think that you're out of town as well, because that's why I think she wasn't watching the dogs. I said, I think you're out of town as well, but just in case, I want you to let you know that Veeves and I are watching the dogs upstairs, and I'm gonna have to walk across your yard to empty this. This poop bucket thing. And I don't think I put that in the text, but I just don't want to scare you in case you're home and you see me in your yard. You know, again, just to, like, say, like, I'm really self conscious about being in other people's spaces and not ever wanting to seem like sort of, like, kind of creepy. Creepy or something. And so all of this is Friday afternoon. And then I told you we're watching the game Friday night. I go over there, feed them. I'm watching them. I'm listening to the game on my headphones, just sitting on the porch. Goose is walking all over me. Goose thinks he's 10 pounds, and he's walking all over me with his muddy paws. And I don't even care. I absolutely love it. He's one of those dogs who wants to love on you so much. He's just kind of like, can I be inside your skin? So you know what I mean? Like, is there some way we could meld as a unit? That's how Lovey Goose is. And so I'm petting them and kind of just sitting. And then. And then the. Then Gino hits the grand slam, and I'm hearing people in the neighborhood celebrate, and I'm like, oh, another. Another huge moment for the Mariners. And I'm not watching it on tv, but that's okay, you know, like, I'm over here, I'm just very, very happy. And I get a text message around this time or a little bit earlier from my buddy Paulie. You know Paul, he's my best friend from. Since high school, like a brother. And he's like, hey, I'm in your area for some reason and just thought maybe I could swing by. I hadn't seen him in a while. I'm like, okay, yeah. He's like, I'll pick up some beers. I'm like, okay, I'm dog sitting. Why don't you, like, go next door? Tell me when you get here. Veeves will let you in to our place. She's in the basement watching. Watching the game. And then I'll meet you over there. So anyway, I kind of wrap up with the dogs. Let's say it's about, I don't know, whenever that game kind of wrapped up and I put them back inside and I go over and I'm hanging out with Genevieve and Paulie after the game is over. And we're not really doing much. They're just sort of hanging out, being very, very chill for a couple of hours. Hours. And then around 8 o', clock, I want to say at night, I say, well, listen, I need to go check in on the dogs one more time. Like, I feel like, do you guys want to just like go over there and spend some quality time with them? Because that's what Viv and I were doing. We're spending quality time with the dogs for about an hour before putting them to bed for the night and putting Goose in his cage. So I'm like, you just want to come over there and meet the dogs? He's like, oh, yeah, of course. And so the three of us go over there and. And I'm doing the thing that I've been doing, which is when we're over there, I've been trying to send them a wrap up of photos from the day of their dogs. Because when people cat sit for our cats, that is what I really love. Like, I love it when they're like, here's some photos of your cats enjoying what they do. And it de. Stresses me when I'm on vacation, so I'm trying to replicate that. And I've been doing that for several days. And they even noticed the new toy. One of the new toys I got. The dogs are like, thanks for the new toy. And I was like, you're sure? No problem. I never get to buy dog toys or something. And in the back of my head I'm a little bit like, hope they didn't see that as like overstepping. Like I, I'm thinking of myself maybe as like the, the stereotype of the, the nosy mother in law from like a 1950s sitcom or something like that, you know, Dream of Genie. And I'm hoping I'm not overstepping by getting the dogs toys they didn't have. I just really wanted them to be happy while their folks are away, you know. So anyway, we go over there around 8 o' clock at night and we just go into their house. We, we get Maggie outside, we let them run around a little bit because Maggie's going to do her happy peeing or whatever. And we go inside and Genevieve just sits down and Goose immediately gets on her lap. So I'm taking a photo of Genevieve and Goose together so I can send it to him. And I take a photo of Maggie chewing on her new toy on the couch. And I am now scrolling I'm looking for another photo from the daytime from them playing in the yard that I can add. And I find it. And so then I Open up my WhatsApp app, which is how we're communicating with the neighbors because they're overseas, right? And where they are there's a huge time difference. 8 o' clock at night for us, about the time we're over there is like kind of mid morning for them. It's about 10 o' clock or something in the morning. And so that's when we're doing most of our communicating. So I open up the app to send them these photos of where what we're doing right now in their house. And I see that I had just missed a message from them like literally less than a minute earlier that basically said the cameras show that you brought a stranger into our house. We are not comfortable with you bringing strangers into our house.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh my God.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sounds like you're.

[Luke Burbank]

Look at that text.

[Andrew Walsh]

So it sounds like me Again, this is from. I've given you like a half hour of context. From my perspective on this, theirs might be very different. Theirs might just be like, hey, we don't like strangers in our house. And I think there are people because Genevieve was telling a friend this. She's like, well that's reasonable. Like don't bring strangers into people's houses when they're not there. I think there is a narrative you could where that makes reasonable sense.

[Luke Burbank]

I can tell you that narrative right now in 30 seconds. The narrative is someone has an immaculate home that is full of valuables and they are paying you to watch their dogs. And you, you bring somebody into the house when you're there as a paid person to watch their dogs and you didn't clear it with them. That is the time when someone gets to send that message. Nothing about this, this setup, this, this lead up in any way justifies them suddenly having thoughts about you, a responsible, wonderful adult, bringing a different responsible, wonderful adult, your friend Paulie, into the situation.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I want to be clear, like, in their original text, it was definitely finger waggy. It was definitely like, you could tell that they were upset with what they just saw in the cameras. There was some language in there. Like, I'm sure they're lovely pe. Oh, by the way, they didn't say someone, this is actually key. I'm kind of mad I messed that up. They said, we see that you're bringing people into our house. We're not comfortable with strangers being in our house.

[Luke Burbank]

And they said, what are the strangers going to do? Wash the dishes?

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. Now, here's where I. Okay, I want to be careful about a couple of things here. First of all, I don't want to be classist about it. Like, I've really been examining that as if to say. Well, I'm just saying that. Well, I'm just saying, here's what I. Here's. You can say what you want. I just want to be very clear about something. I want to say, like you had mentioned, like, if it was a really nice house. I don't want to say that somebody who is more wealthy has more of a deserving right to have that attitude than somebody. It's their space. And people can feel about their space however they feel it, and it's a lovely space to them, and that's fine. I don't want to be too judgy about what their space is. I kind of set it up before to let everybody know that this isn't like, this isn't like, oh, this is so great, we're dog singing. So we get to go take advantage of those amenities, which is sometimes part of dog walking, watching. Right.

[Luke Burbank]

And I guess that was just, just, just to be clear, I think that was more kind of what I was. Well, first of all, for me, the critical thing is if you're getting paid or not.

[Andrew Walsh]

But also, yes, I want to. Totally. I've been thinking about that a lot, but go ahead. Yes. The paid thing is huge.

[Luke Burbank]

The thing I was saying about the beautiful house, it's full of valuable things. I think really what was behind that was most of us had an experience. Maybe when you were a kid and you're either watching a pet or you're babysitting or you're something, and you get to go to this house that's actually way nicer than your house.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's like, like you said, that's kind of the benefit. It's like, hey, have anything you want out of the fridge. And they have, like, snacks in their fridge that you don't have at your house. And it's just like it all feels like kind of a, you know, part of the. Part of the payment is that you get to have this fun experience in somebody else's home or whatever. And that just. But again, I hear what you're saying, and I certainly don't mean to. To say that, you know, someone's economic situation defines whether or not they're allowed to have feelings about their. Who comes into their home. But certainly, like, everything you've told me about this doesn't sound like. It just sounds to me like the favor has been so firmly being done from you and Genevieve towards these neighbors. And anyway, so keep going.

[Andrew Walsh]

So, anyway. Yeah. No, and that clarification, though, Luke, was not me trying to correct you. But I just don't want. Because, you know, who knows who will hear this? I do not want anybody to think that that's like. That.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

That. That is how I feel about it. Like, if somebody has. If somebody feels very protective of their space and they have that rule, that's fine. People's space is their space. This is a situation where, number one, if that was. So let me go through the issues with this. If that was a huge concern, that is definitely something you need to tell us up front. But again, I don't think that they considered this whole situation at all. I don't think they consider this that big of a favor. I think that they just are, again, treating this like cat sitting or something. I think that if I were hired, you know, through a service to do this and I were a stranger, that is absolutely the rule. You don't. It is absolutely the rule. You wouldn't bring your friends over there. And again, how they live is up to them. And I don't want to be judgy about it, but I want to make it very clear this isn't some space that I'm going to. Because, oh, guess what? They have a foosball table. And we love playing the foosball table. I don't even like foosball to be honest with you, it's just too difficult.

[Luke Burbank]

I'll take Air Spinners never win, Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

And so I just wanted. My point of all of this was this wasn't some place that I was excited to go over to because I was like, hey, cool, we can go party at the neighbors now. I'll be honest with you. We took a couple of beers over there with Paulie. So maybe they did see on the cameras, three people are coming in and they have, like a six pack in a hand. And it wasn't even a six pack, by the way. It's like four beers in a box. Few small beers. It's a few small beers. And by the way. And again, not that this should even have to be said, but, like, I wasn't even drinking up until this point. Like, I want to make it just. I don't think I have to say that, but this just wasn't a. We were super partying, and now we're, like, going to go over there. Like, I was just, like, listening and watching the game. Like, none of this was going on. I had just taken a shower as you. You know, I don't know what that has to do with anything, but I'm just saying that we were in a very domestic, like, kind of mindset, and we're just like, well, we were having a time with our friend Paulie over here, but now we need to interrupt that to go take care of our responsibility. Do you want to go meet the dogs? And that was it. And so there's that aspect of it. I'm not going over there because it's, like, fun times. I'm going over there because it's the responsibility that I feel.

[Luke Burbank]

And you would so much rather be in your own very comfortable, very clean, lovely home where you have the stuff that you like, including your record player and your dartboard and your everything. And the idea that, like, how much you were going over there only because you care about these dogs, not because it was an upgrade in your evening experience. Not lost on me.

[Andrew Walsh]

We were listening to records, Luke. We were literally listening to the Silver Jews record that has that song that they put on there only to make people mad that you don't like. We're literally listening.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, maybe, honestly, maybe these dogs are doing me a favor forcing you to leave that record behind.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't say that to goose you, as it were. I say that because it's. It's a fact of what I came on. I was like. Because I almost skipped it because we were hanging out And I was like, oh, Luke wouldn't like this.

[Luke Burbank]

You're like, luke and I got in an argument in Australia.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, but anyway. But it's just like, it's not like we're going over there for any reason other than to care for the dogs. Not because we. There's some advantage to us going over there. And so we get this text message and again, it does say something like, I'm sure, but here. So the thing is accusing us of taking people over there, but also the cameras show us that you're bringing people into our home. This is the first I've heard about cameras.

[Luke Burbank]

That's a buzz point.

[Andrew Walsh]

Cameras, are they indoor? Are they outdoor? Now, if there's only a camera on the outdoor, like, that's fine. But also, I learned this, and this is maybe just because of my naivete regarding, like, security cameras, because we just don't have one. I remember being at my parents house one time and my dad was like, look, you got home late last night, like nothing was wrong. I was hanging out with my sister and I got back really late years and years ago when I was visiting my folks in Ohio. And he showed me his ring cam of me getting home. And what I didn't realize you could hear me because it was kind of raining, but I had walked the last mile and you could sort of hear me huffing and puffing. I'm like, you can hear my breath on that thing. And so now I'm like, well, what are the cameras? And were they. Were they picking up things we were saying? Because sometimes the door has to stay open for the dogs to go in and out. And now I'm like, I have no idea. No idea. Over the course of several days, almost a week, what they have seen and what they have heard. Now I want to be very clear. There is nothing that I did in their house that I would be embarrassed about other than. Than going a little bit more, maybe.

[Luke Burbank]

Commenting to Genevieve about certain states of things.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. As far as talking about things, I remember Genevieve saying, I could see this not being your ideal situation. I remember her at one point saying, like, even for me, this is a little bit much. And so I understand why you being a real neatnik or whatever, not the most comfortable space, but you just don't. Personal conversations between me and Veeves, which I don't think we had, but you just don't know. And again, this might be generational and some people might be thinking like, yeah, in what house in 2025 wouldn't at least have an outdoor camera? And it's true that Veeves and I are probably in the minority in America on that. So maybe there's just an expectation of that now. But it just hadn't really occurred to me that I was on camera either. Indoor, but possibly indoor and outdoor. I'm sorry. Definitely outdoor. But potentially indoor and outdoor at the same time. I don't know. And all I know is, is I'm getting ready to send them a joyous text message of their dogs being loved upon and having a great day. And I'm sending that to them because it's morning where they are, and I want them to know that everything is good and safe. And I go to open this and they had literally just texted me because we had literally just gotten there. We're there maybe three minutes at this point. I just had.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Also, it's like, it's like, how's your vacation going that you're litter? I mean, I'm sure that what they.

[Andrew Walsh]

Have is probably an alert. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

A bush notification. But even so.

[Andrew Walsh]

But like to be talked to. And again, there was some language. Language. And they're like. I'm sure they're lovely. But we're. But like. But it was definitely like a we. Not only are you doing something wrong and we are without a doubt reprimanding you for that. I'm being reprimanded for sure. It is. We caught you doing something. This feeling of we're being caught doing something.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. When the only reason this is hollering circa 2020.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right, exactly. Which is a real triggering thing for me. And that's sort of why I kind of set this up to say that, like, there's probably another narrative from their perspective where maybe this all makes more sense and I'm a basket case. And other people watch. Dogs don't have all of this anxiety and hang ups going into it. But I am who I am. So I just wanted to tell you the version.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Of why this set me off for the rest of the weekend. So I respond immediately. Like, looking back, I just wish I had sort of. I didn't say anything awful. I just said it was just stupid. I was so flummoxed. I was so flummox. I just said, this is my best friend from high school. He's like a brother to me. I'll ask him to leave. But I am reading this. This is the truth. I say to Genevieve, like, Genevieve and Paulie are kind of talking and Genevieve's petting the dog. And again, we just got there. And I say, genevieve, no, no, no, we just got a note from the neighbors. They don't want a stranger in their house. They're asking us to leave. Genevieve laughed out loud. She thought I was pulling one of my stupid ass Andrew jokes where I just say a lie. It was so absurd to her that she said, how? And I was like, Genevieve, no, we gotta leave now. We gotta put goose away and we gotta get out of here. And we left. And then so I responded to him like, that's my best friend and I'll ask him to leave or something. And then we all just left. And then I got this response back from them that again was something like, I'm sure he's fine. It's just we don't want people in our space. This is our space. Please ask in advance next time.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh my God. When you're doing us this incredible, like life changing life taking up favor that's going on for over a week, would you please ask next time?

[Andrew Walsh]

Asking us as if it was kind of like, hey guys, we're thinking about having a party at your house. Like, I'm still concerned, like, what is. I don't know what they think the threat is now. If it was actually more than one person, maybe if it looked like we showed up, like, certainly if there's me and Veeves and three other people, I could definitely see that being one weird. But like, we show up at 8:00 clock to like pet the dogs and just look after him for a little bit and put them down for the night and like put them to sleep for the night. I should watch my language when talking about dogs versus babies to send them.

[Luke Burbank]

Over the rainbow bridge for the night.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was, you know, I don't like to be reprimanded anyway. I didn't know I was on camera. Like, I am having an onrush of emotions. And also this is where I realized when it becomes like an hour later and Veeves and I are back home and Paul, he has left and I am. We're watching now. We're watching a Columbo at home. Luke. I don't know one thing about the Columbo. Genevieve keeps responding to things on the T. We're playing cards on our couch now. And Genevieve keeps on responding to things that are happening on the tv. And I have no idea what she's talking about. I. My brain is spinning with adrenaline and anger and, and really hurt. Like, I don't even want to get choked up, but I'm. I'm like, I think part of this is how much I fucking love Those dolls. Right.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's the thing that I keep thinking of in all this, is that if I were in your shoes and I got that message, I would just want to be like, well, please go. I'm going to use a bad word here. Please go fuck yourself into infinity. Find someone else to watch your dogs for free in your gross ass house. This is just me triggered saying this. And then I would storm back to my house. And then the problem is, you know, who loses in that? Maggie and Goose.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

And so now you're in this impossible position where it's like this. What they have done is so wildly inappropriate to me. But of course you love these dogs. And so you, you can't just. You can't just tell them where to stuff it. That is the owners. Because that just hurts the dogs.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right, Exactly. So after the, like, please ask us next time or something, I think I responded. And again, like, in the. None of this really made a lot. I don't think I was being super articulate. I think I wrote, we have been spending much, much, much. I remember writing much. Three times. I said, we have been spending much, much, much time over there to make sure that the dogs aren't lonely. To take care of the dogs. We stopped over briefly. We will change up the routine. I said, we will change up the routine. And then the guy wrote back, we're all good. We're fine. Like, we. Oh, we trust your. We trust your decision making or something like that. We trust your judgment. He said, no, no, we're all good. We're all good. We trust your judgment. I'm like, don't tell me you trust my judgment when you just said you caught me on tape doing something that you think is viol Case. If that was a. Again, I've said it now. I don't want to spend the rest of this like me spinning and repeating the same things. But you can imagine that I went to bed that night still really upset and woke. Had dreams about it and woke up like, Saturday, Luke. And this is where this is probably my own emotional weaknesses or whatever. Like, I just was. I was just like coming down from something almost like, almost chemical. I think in my mind I was still so hurt and mad about. I was very, very angry. I was very hurt. I do think there. I think you're actually right about maybe that idea of. We've talked about it so much on the show, me being hollered at as being something very triggering for me, especially when I think I'm doing the right thing. But you Know, Veeves, I'm kind of happy to say Veevs is very much, like, in lockstep with me. She's more emotionally balanced, but she's just as insulted and basically, like, well, we will, you know, finish out this tour of duty and. But then that's it. You know, these folks said, when we get back, like, oh, we couldn't appreciate this more. We're going to make you dinner when we get back. I remember the night they said that I came back, I'm like, so I'm going to be punished for doing this thing. Like. Like, I don't want to go over there for dinner. And that would be for anybody. But, like, I don't like. You know what I mean? I don't like going over to people's houses for dinner and saying, well, I don't eat this, I don't eat that. No, it doesn't make sense. Like, I just. That's not my thing. And. And then, you know, sort of seeing their kitchen and a refrigerator that I think should have Hazmat warning on, you're.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, okay, we will accept you making us dinner as long as we can make the dinner and it's at our house and you don't come and it's just us.

[Andrew Walsh]

So unfortunately, like, I. I'm not so. Well, whatever. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but there is a. There's kind of a co. So that. That's just me being really, really upset. And then on. On Saturday, Veeves is still. You know, we're both still. I think I'm spinning a little bit more than her, but she's still very upset. And it just keeps on saying how disappointed she is. She's like. Like, this was such a good experience. Experience. These. We've been taking care of these dogs. We love these dogs. And she's just, like, really, really disappointed in the whole thing. And she also. And again, maybe some people listening could say, well, why would you not expect to be on a ring cam or something? Which is, I think, kind of reasonable.

[Luke Burbank]

I wouldn't have expected it, although I might have maybe looked for it, like, noted it. Because if I do want to, you know, rob that place, stupid to know if I'm on camera. But I don't. As a person who has. I have, like, Google Nest cameras at my house, I do not think of it as. I do not think of it as something that anyone should ever assume. And if there was ever anybody, like, staying at my house or whatever, I would definitely say, hey, just so you know, like, there are ring cameras. They're, by the way, not inside the house. That would. That also strikes me as very odd.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I don't know. By the way. I don't. All I know is they said cameras. You know what I mean, that you say cameras. Funny. Sorry. But, you know, that's camera. You know what I mean? They didn't say, hey, we saw in our ring cam. Like, all we know is now there are cameras involved. And, like, so that's another part of this, too, which maybe might sound like me overblowing this, but I'm just being honest about, like, my. My weird stew of emotion that is now feels like almost like certain chemicals are being released in my brain. Like, I felt really kind of violated, which is maybe a word I don't want to use because it's such a strong word. But I will tell you that the next Saturday, when I'm still feeling really weird about things, Genevieve left to go to the shoreline. No, King's March. And I was home alone. I can't remember what it was, but there was a mom. I was doing something in my own house, and I had this weird, nagging feeling of being watched. And I was like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. Like, that's in again. I'm not trying to make it sound like I'm a victim of something, but it immediately made me think of, like, oh, when you hear stories about people who've truly been violated in some way like that, some sort of. I don't even know, they call them Peeping Tom. I don't even like that term.

[Luke Burbank]

A hidden camera, maybe in somewhere or somebody looking in their window. Avoid your.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. The fact that, honestly, like, now I don't even like to use the word Peeping Tom because it's such a cutesy name for something that I understand could just be that must. I could understand how that could, like, ruin. Ruin your life or chunks of your life or take a long time to get over as far as just trust or being alone and having your own privacy. And so there was just, like, a whole bunch of stuff swimming through. Through my head. So after he had responded, like, just ask us next time, I never responded again. And basically. And Genevieve has been very cool about this. I don't think she's super a fan of me not going over there today, but I just said, veevs, I'm not going over there anymore. I didn't really want to do this. I had concern when they just suddenly made it two dogs. And I didn't really sign off on this, and I'm not comfortable over there. I mean, obviously, I'm just really, really mad and I don't know what it's gonna be like when they get back. Oh, wait, hold on. The coda on the story is, so Genevieve basically has the same attitude of kind of like, well, we still love those dogs. I'm still going to take care of them, obviously, but we need to dial it back a little bit. And so she's like, I'll just go, this is Saturday morning. She gets up maybe around, I don't know, 8 o' clock or something and lets the dogs into their yard and just comes back and just kind of comes back and we can kind of hear if the dogs are barking every now and then. We can kind of hear it. If a dog, if another dog is walking down the street and they bark, we can hear it. But I'm also. I still have this nonstop little anxiety motor going because I'm just still responsible for these two dogs in some way and just leaving them in the yard. It's just like they can get up to things and I'm just still kind of like, what's going on? Are they there? Are they not? I can tell you it was almost exactly 9:40 in the morning. And now at this point, I have not slept that well the night, you know, the night before. And I'm still sort of laying in bed, but like, still like sort of like very much shadow boxing them in my head and going over this over and over again. Sleeping, sleeping very fitfully, which if I'm using that correctly, means just in fits and starts and just feeling like kind of not well rested and shitty and trying to kind of sneak in some extra sleep. Late in the morning, reading my book and Genevieve's like, okay, I'm gonna go. I let them out at about 8:00'. Clock. They've been in the yard now for about an hour and 45 minutes. And like, I'll just go let them back inside. And usually I would have been out there kind of poking my head over the fence every now and then, making sure they're still in there, that they haven't found a way to escape. Escape or something. Genevieve puts on her. It's like flip flops. She's wearing her pajama pants. She goes over next door. As soon as the door closes of our house, I hear Genevieve leave. I pick up my phone and I see that there is an email on the neighborhood text chain that says lost Dogs. And I open up the email and it's from a neighbor down the street that says, has anybody lost two medium sized dogs, a black one and a brindle? We have them here. And I am like, this is the only way this gets worse. Actually, she didn't say, we have them here. She just said, did anybody lose two dogs, a black one and a brindle, question mark? And I'm like, omg, worst nightmare achieved.

[Luke Burbank]

We need to reorder the TBTL greatest hits album. Something just entered the. Forget shitting your pants in the kingdom. Something just entered the discourse, and it is two missing dogs.

[Andrew Walsh]

Never used.

[Luke Burbank]

The world's shortest, most upsetting story.

[Andrew Walsh]

When I go on these stemwinders, I'm never even sure. I get very insecure. So I appreciate you saying that.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, my God, dude, I am. My mind has been blown multiple times throughout this conversation.

[Andrew Walsh]

I see that the email had just come in, or I don't even know the time of the email. I just get up because at some point in the past hour and a half, as I've been trying desperately to fall back asleep by doing my game, where I try to think of actors who have names that begin with the first same letter and go through the entire Alphabet, starting with Alan Alda and.

[Luke Burbank]

Then Bob Balaband and then Charlie Chapman, Adam Arkin.

[Andrew Walsh]

But okay, dude, I swapped those two innocent.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, nice.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. By the way, I'm very proud of my K, which is Keira Knightley. That was a very difficult one.

[Luke Burbank]

You would think of it because for some reason, it doesn't come to mind immediately. That's very good.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I skip I because I don't think there is an I. Anyway, Genevieve has just left the house. And as Genevieve leaves the house, I grab my phone just to see if anything's up. I see an email that says, two lost dogs, question mark. With this information, I run to my side door, which kind of opens up to the door neighbor's side of the house. And I yell, genevieve. Genevieve. She's like, yes. And I can hear that she's got now fear in her, in her voice. She doesn't have her phone. She's left her phone behind, which is very classic. Genevieve. I look, because I'm like, oh. Genevieve's phone is on her end table. She's not even, like, looking at this. I yell, are they there? She's like, no. Where are they? And I'm like, we just got an email from a neighbor that says, anybody lost these two dogs? And she's like, oh, no. So I am now, like, rushing to put on pants and some shoes. Genevieve I'm assuming is just going out to the neighborhood to start canvassing basically, or to start like looking for the. Not canvassing would imply that we had posters made up already for this instance. But like to start like looking around the neighborhood and I'm just going to get out there as quickly as possible. But I'm also responding. Then I go back to the email and I'm like, when was this sent? It was sent at 9:44. As I'm responding, it's 9:45. So one thing is really good, which is this email didn't come in an hour earlier and neither one of us were looking at our phone. But also keep in mind, the phone number on the tags of these dogs are not our phone number. Right. They're the neighbor's phone number. And their phones aren't working because they're in a different part of the world completely. And so I respond to the thing. I'm like, we're dog sitting for the neighbors. Do you have them? Here's our phone number. We don't get. I don't get a response right away because this is all just happening.

[Luke Burbank]

Can I ask a question, please?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Are the neighbors on the email chain?

[Andrew Walsh]

I have no idea, but I would doubt it. I would highly doubt it.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, this is very good.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, the thing. Well, they're going to know though, because. So here's what happens. Luckily this part of the story, Luke, is not super long and drawn out. That's why I said this is more of a coda. What happened was by the time I'm responding, Genevieve is already down the street and sees that a neighbor, I'm guessing the husband maybe or partner of the woman who sent out the email already has the two dogs and they're on a leash. Like a two dog leash that he must have had. They must be dog owners. And thank goodness, again, they're just leash enthusiasts. Who knows what they get up to. I'll let you know if they ever let me house sit. I'll have all the dirt on them.

[Luke Burbank]

Because you know how you do that.

[Andrew Walsh]

And so luckily what I don't know while I'm kind of getting dressed as hurriedly as possible is Genevieve's already sort of met this fellow. She said that the, the fella wouldn't kind of didn't give her his name. But it seems like he wasn't maybe trying to be. Be rude. He was just like really discombobulated. He's like, we've been trying to call. We've been trying to call and Genevieve's like, well, that's not our number on the tags, you know, like, so point about. Our neighbors definitely know that they're going to come home to a whole bunch of voicemails about like, we have your dogs. And also we wouldn't keep that from them anyway. But we don't know how the dogs got out. So Genevieve, you know, has the neighbor.

[Luke Burbank]

Go to the cameras.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, exactly. Well, exactly, exactly. So Genevieve has the neighbor walk with her, bring the dogs inside, puts them inside and sort of like figures out what happened. Well, their yard is all fenced in. And in part of their yard, they have the same huge hedge we have. And our hedge has a chain link fence that goes all the way through it. And I don't know if they're. If this part of their fence doesn't go all the way through the hedge or if maybe there's just like a weakness in it or something. But what they've done or somebody has done is put up like some green gardening fence. You know, the stuff that's maybe about two and a half, three feet high and very.

[Luke Burbank]

It's like plastic.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, this is metal. This is wire.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, it's metal.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is wire. But it's, it's not like, it's not tight knit, like chain link fence. It's like almost things would kind of grow up it or something. It's like the weakest thing you could possibly imagine. It seemed like it was just sort of set up there. Well, that one of the dogs, I'm assuming Maggie, who's just been digging like crazy, he just kind of knocked the whole thing over, just pulled it down. Because these dogs are high energy anyway. And we all know that pets really miss their owners and stuff, you know, and now. And I've been spending so much time over there that I've been.

[Luke Burbank]

Is it possible they missed Paulie?

[Andrew Walsh]

They missed. They missed Paul, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

But, you know, they made a really strong connection in those 45 seconds you were all inside the house.

[Andrew Walsh]

So luckily the missing dog drama ends pretty quickly because the neighbor brings him back, back. Thank goodness those neighbors got the dogs and that they had a leash and were able to handle it because I don't know what I would do if I would see two pit bulls walking, you know, pit mixes walking down the street. I don't know what have happened. If they had gotten as far as the cemetery. I don't know what have happened. If we didn't realize for an hour that these dogs were roaming around the neighborhood. They were still together, which I loved, but. Oh, and by the way, one of the reasons, too, that, like, the whole thing about, like, the original plan was we were going to watch one dog and bring her over here more was now that there were two dogs, we couldn't bring them back both over. There were definitely concerns about Goose even leaving the house because he's not fixed and doesn't have his shots. And also, I didn't want to separate the two dogs because if they don't have their owners, at least they have each other, and they clearly have a bond. And so now we never separated them at all. So now Genevieve bring the dogs back over to their house, and the fence is compromised. The whole green gardening fence thing is just sort of pulled down, down. And so she puts him back inside and has to put Goose in the middle of the day in his crate because he's supposed to be in his crate at all times. When he's in the house alone, she uses the WhatsApp thing to text the actual neighbors and let them know. But it was, like, middle of the night to their time. Hours later, they get back with us. They're like, oh, sorry about all the drama. We'll be home soon. And now for the past couple of days. So that was all on Saturday. That was Saturday morning that the dogs went out. It's Monday now. So for the past two days, essentially, Genevieve has been on dog duty trying to spend some time with them. And she did say she spent a little snuggle time with them yesterday. She wanted me very much to, like, kind of go over there at least once today. And I just said, genevieve, I really. I'm just not comfortable doing this anymore. And this was something that you signed up for. Like, can you just kind of figure out a way to take care of this? And she was very, very cool about it. I don't know. I don't know if that hurt her feelings or whatever. I think she understands I want to be a good partner, but I was also kind of like, this just isn't my thing. And I'm just dealing with a lot of upset emotions right now, and I do not want to go over there. I just don't want to go over there. And again, I feel very much like I'm overreacting to this whole thing in some ways. I just think that there's another narrative that doesn't go on for an hour and that doesn't involve a lifetime of anxiety and not liking to be hollered at and emotional weakness or whatever. But that's where I am right now on this Monday and they're supposed to come back tomorrow at some point. And I don't know exactly when, but I have not. We haven't been. Other than Genevieve texting them and letting them know that the dogs got out. Like, there's no way that they haven't noticed a vibe shift. First of all, if they have their cameras, they know that I haven't been back over there when I was spending copious amounts of time in their yard cleaning up, looking for things, cleaning up poop, doing all this stuff. They know that I'm not there. I. They sent. They haven't heard from us for a couple of days. They texted us this morning and said, hope all is well. We're, you know, we're now in like Hong Kong and you know, on a layover and headed home or something. And I just didn't respond. And so there's no way that they don't know that. There's been a huge vibe shift since they basically dressed me down and, and that's it. And so Genevieve worked from home for partially today and is looking after the dogs and supposedly they'll be home tomorrow at some point. And I don't know if they want to raise this. I'm happy just not talking about it and just being like, I don't want to, I don't want to have a war with all of my neighbors. You know, that neighbor across street who's a total a hole and like, and tore up.

[Luke Burbank]

You've got to figure out a way to pit them against the neighbor who likes to tear up signs.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I don't want to hate, you know, I don't want to hate these folks. They're different than us. They have maybe different expectations or whatever. But like, I can't help but feel that like if you don't trust us enough to do this and you don't trust who we would bring over for a small moment, then you should have hired somebody to do this. And I keep on thinking about, like, how much, much would this have cost for the amount of care? A lot. Like a lot of money in, in this.

[Luke Burbank]

Thousand, like in a thousand dollar range. For seven full days.

[Andrew Walsh]

For seven full days. And, and, and, or.

[Luke Burbank]

Because the alternative is if you really, if you really had the expectation. Well, I'll let you finish and then can I give you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah. And I'm, I'm basically done. But that's something I'm sort of thinking about too, is just like, if they, I'm just in this mode now of like, if they want to address this Again, I'm trying to figure out if I just let them say what they want to say and just say, okay, won't be a problem in the future and just like leave it at that. Or if I want to kind of explain like that if you trusted enough to do us to do this, but you didn't have the trust in our judgment to like be in your space and the decisions that we made going into this, then you should have hired somebody. And you know, I don't know. I kind of don't. I just don't want to have the conversation. I just want to be. I want to coolly let this drop and just, and obviously never, never engage with this again. And as I told Veeves, now, I've had two dog sitting experiences in my life and two of them have both been just pretty rough for very, very different reasons. At various stages of my life, I'm like, I will not be dog sitting anymore. It has not turned me off of getting a dog. By the way, I. Right. More than ever. Like, I love those two dogs over there and I know that I have the ability to care for dogs and love them and so these. And I will continue that conversation, but I will never cat sitting. You know, like my buddies who I cat sit for, I love them. They're very, very close friends. We know the routine. Routine, that's fine. But I will never, like, on a fringe case like this again. And especially with dogs, I just think dogs are a bit much.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I think your feelings are so valid on this. And I had the exact same. When you were just sort of reading the first message that came in about the cameras show. I mean, when I tell you that my blood started boiling like JP Crawford hitting into a double play. I think your feelings on it are totally valid. And another thing I would say though, I think is, and I'm not in any way trying to let these folks off, it is pretty obvious to me that they did not. The way that that email came off, which was ridiculous and just so tone deaf and also just like rude. They certainly. That was not. They did not think that's how that was going to be interpreted. Like that was not the message they were trying to send. I don't know why their tone was so weird.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, can I just say again, there were. I'm, I'm paraphrasing and telling you how it hit me. I mean, there were things, there was language in there that they were trying to soften it. They were just kind of like, I'm sure that they're Fine people, but we're just not comfortable with people in our space. Like, they didn't say anything unreasonable and it wasn't like an all caps thing. I think that they were trying to be very reasonable. Reasonable. But there's also no doubt, like, and I'm sorry to cut you off in your response to this, Luke, but I don't want to misrepresent their thing. But it was very clear that they weren't backing down from this idea that we had done something wrong, if that makes sense. There were some niceties in there, but it wasn't like, oh, okay, we understand. And it wasn't how I would have done it, which would have been like, hey, guys, not to be super weird, weird, but we, you know, on our ring cam, we noticed that somebody's over. Is everything okay? Okay. And then maybe that would be a way to put that. Yeah. And like, just maybe. But it was like, definitely, like, it had niceties in there.

[Luke Burbank]

But it was.

[Andrew Walsh]

But it was definitely like it was taught you. And then when I responded, they said, please let us know in the future and please ask advance or something. And. And that's when I was kind of like, really? You're not backing off of this? Like, you're still treating me like, like a child who's going into your house so I can, like, what, play in your indoor swimming pool or something? Because, like, your house is the party house. Like, what do you have a ball? What do you think we were doing? Like, what is you. Like, literally, what is your concern? Quite literally, what is your concern? That we brought somebody over there to go through your stuff, to steal your stuff, to start a meth operation? Like, what actually is it? Sorry, go ahead.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, so. So I guess here's the thing. If before all of this, if you had a really pleasant relationship with them as neighbors and you guys all liked each other, which it's sounds like you did, and there was this really tone deaf email from them where they for some reason picked the weirdest hill to want to die on when you were doing them this massive favor. Like, it feels to me like it might be uncomfortable, but I think it would be good if it comes up when they. When they get home so that you can go back to being friendly neighbors where you could just say to them, hey, that message really offended me because of the immense amount of time that we were putting in trying to take care of these dogs that we now really love. And to feel like you were suspicious of us grown adults in, you know, approaching the midpoint of a century on this planet that we would in any way be bringing somebody into your home that would, you know, be a risk. It just was so offensive on the heels of a lot of stuff that felt to me, like, honestly a little disrespectful, like leaving us with a ton of undealt with dog poop and. And treating this whole thing like it was kind of a cat sitting situation where we'll pop in for a couple minutes, put some food out, and then let the dogs in the yard and then leave, basically. I feel like if you were to explain to them how you really felt, I'm guessing that they would obviously, I'm guessing that they would be very apologetic. And also I would say the small good news of this is that you guys do not ever, ever have to dog it for them again. For instance, if this hadn't happened, like, if they hadn't sent you that weird message and everything keeps going, and then the next time they go out of town, it's like you guys become the dog sitters. Like, this has officially ended any risk of that happening, which is kind of a positive. Like you never have to do it again because you could just tell them. That was a really bad experience for me because we put in a lot of time and we felt really insulted by you sending that message.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Well, it's funny because I think even before that message, I think that I was in the mindset that we're not doing this again. Like, it's just too much work and they're not. They don't understand. Or again, they're their dogs and the dogs are really good dogs. So I don't want to sound like I'm criticizing the way that they're raising their dogs. Like, you know, like, maybe the dogs seem happy, you know, like they love people, so I don't want to do that. But, like, I do think that they don't understand the. Or maybe their approach to dog sitting would be different than ours and maybe everything would work out in the end. And again, I just want to acknowledge that I bring a lot of anxiety into situations like this that is on me and probably outside the norm of most human beings, but it's just not a good match. And I don't think that they set us up for success here. Let me put it that way.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, exactly. The problem is, and this feels to me like if the only way for this to be lower impact on your and Genevieve's lives would be to do the bare minimum, and then the bare minimum is a real bummer for Those dogs.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

And like the idea that the owners would leave the country and their expectation would be we're going to set this up so that our neighbors can do the bare minimum and therefore our dogs are going to have a really shitty week and a half of being mostly crated and mostly inside or outside a little bit. But like, that to me is like, that just bums me out for those dogs because I feel like there was only. There's one or two ways this could go. Either you guys, either you did this in the. In the least impactful way on your life, which again, sucks for the dogs, or you did what you did, which is you took it really seriously. You totally changed your whole life around for this period of time to make sure these dogs had a good time and then got hollered at, over. Over wanting to continue talking to your friend Paul, as you were again, being nice to go over and hang out with these dogs. Like, again, it just feels to me a little bit like not very well thought through by the dog owners to set up a system where the only way that it's not a hassle for you and Genevieve is for the dogs to have a pretty bad experience.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, that's. That's definitely what it feels like. And especially because keep in mind, we can't leave them in the yard alone anymore, Luke.

[Luke Burbank]

Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Because the fence is broken, so they're spending more and more time inside. And so anyway, you capable, are you.

[Luke Burbank]

Let me ask you this. Let's say this is never brought up again. Let's say. Here's what I think. I mean, a thing that seems possible, they'll get home, they'll be very effusive, they'll have bought you some bullshit thing in Vietnam that you don't want that they will present to you in lieu of $1,000, which is what they would have paid to have somebody come over and actually take care of their dog to. For a week plus. And then you just. It never comes up, it's never revisited. You never dogs it for them again. But would you feel like you could. You could personally like, let life kind of go back to normal with these folks where you could talk across the fence and be friends and if you were having a barbecue, invite them over, or do you feel like you'll never really be able to have that kind of relationship with them again?

[Andrew Walsh]

That's a really good question. Because you know this, Luke. When you get into something that feels like a confrontation, whether it's is or not, but something that feels like a confrontation you know, that feeling that you have afterwards. Right. Which is very kind of adrenaline based and very self righteous and all of the things that go along with it. And this was such a severe one. And this is where again, the reason I'm going into so much detail about all of my various emotions is because I've had like 36 hours to sort of process this thing that really hit hard. And again, I think it hit hard because of all of the stew of emotions kind of going into it and the release of the anxiety that had been building up that I kind of hadn't fully acknowledged that at one point was an okay anxiety to have. And so Saturday night, as I'm trying to sleep and I'm still to the point where almost any time my brain relaxes, I catch myself shadowboxing with them, even having a conversation. And it's been a while now, and that's what I'm not comfortable with in my own brain. My inability to just sort of compartmentalize this in some way. Like Saturday was really bad. Saturday all day, like until like the evening, I think I finally started to calm down a little bit. But maybe because it is so close to home, like literally our home, and you know what I mean, Kind of a shared space situation. Love thy neighbor, but build a fence, as my dad's mug famously said. I don't build it out of whatever.

[Luke Burbank]

That stuff was that the dogs tipped over.

[Andrew Walsh]

Fair enough. So the thing is, the question that you ask is a really good one. I don't have an answer to it, but it's the question I'm asking myself right now because there was certainly the moment when it was hotter, when all my brain was doing was like trying to figure out. And I know that you understand this better than anyone, that you and I are very similar in this way. You're just thinking of like the coldest, most brutal thing that you can and, you know, efficient thing that you can say that just lets them know how you feel.

[Luke Burbank]

Haiku of devastation. That's a B side of wave of mutilation.

[Andrew Walsh]

Of devastation is maybe better than a Chameleon's wedding day. But I want to keep the show title Happy Today. So I think I might stick with that.

[Luke Burbank]

I like Chameleon's wedding day. It feels like a lifetime ago, but that was a big part of the early phases of today's episode.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I don't have an answer to your question, Luke. I want to. I want. I'm hoping that by the time they're here, I can like kind of be an adult. I kind of like everything, everything you said is very reasonable about, like if we had a conversation about this. But I kind of. This is where I. This is where. This is a real failing on my part. Something I don't like about me is like, I don't want to have that conversation because I don't trust myself in those conversations. I'm never as articulate as I want to be. I'm never able to truly leave those conversations feeling like I have on me. I have not said or articulated well enough what I want to leave them with. Even if it's like above board and friendly. I don't want to talk about it. But I also want to just put space between us. Like, I don't want to have conversations with them. I don't want to pretend like everything is okay, but I also don't want to have a cold war with them. You know what I mean? I don't want to be in a war with them. And. Okay, here, let me just say one last thing about this, that I was thinking about you last night because I was going, you know, all of this has. It just. Just exhausted me. Like Saturday, I was just like spinning on this stuff for so long, so hot. And again, that's on me. But by last night, by Sunday night, I watched the Mariners game with Genevieve and after it was over, I was just feeling really tired. And I've been reading this book, I'm trying to finish this book. And I just said, you know what? It's nine o'. Clock. I'm just gonna go to bed. I'm sure that this is gonna. Going to bed this early. Like I usually go to bed one o' clock in the morning. So I sometimes two. Like going to bed at nine is going to wreck me because if I fall asleep, I'll fall asleep for an hour, wake up at 10, and then be an insomniac the rest of the night. But I went to bed early and instead of reading, I decided, and this was a stupid mistake. This was like the wrong time to test this show. But I was like, maybe I'll just lay in bed and check out the chair company. But there's something kind of serious about this. And you mentioned this is the new Timber Robinson show. That is like, it's not a sketch show. The way I think you should leave is. But it is a, you know, more of a sitcom format, a sitcom drama y format. But it doesn't have the tension release of a sketch ending after six minutes or something. And it's very much I feel like the movie Friendship in the way that Tim Robinson plays one character that is sort of. That is only relatable in his worst faults, but not really likable or rootable, at least I only watch the first 20 minutes of it. But him, just like, he's a man who is just always mad at everybody. He's mad at the old lady at work who walks too slowly through the. Through the hallways. He's just like so in his head and angry. And that anger comes from places of lack of self esteem and all these things. And I think maybe partially one of the reasons why that kind of Tim Robinson esque humor in long form, whether it's this show or the movie Friendship, is I see an exaggerated version of a lot of the petty stuff that I hold on to. That I think is the worst part of my personality. And I'm watching that last night and when you're feeling like a petty jerk and then you're watching this like truly exaggerated petty jerk live his life and then have these terrible moments where he has to cross crawl under his desk to scream because he's so mad at the world and embarrassed about something that happened to him that wasn't his fault, but still feels like he's in the right. That kind of ugliness like speaks to me in a way that I'm just kind of wrong thing to watch when I was trying to fall asleep early on a Sunday night, clearly. And I'm not saying it's a bad show, but I think it's a reason why that kind of entertainment and humor from him hits me in a kind of a tough way. You know what I mean?

[Luke Burbank]

Because you can relate to it.

[Andrew Walsh]

It makes me relate to it. But I will say this is true of both friendship and watching 20 minutes of the Chair Company. It's called the Chair Company. Right as I'm saying it out loud, watching that Tim Robinson character, which is kind of very similar character, it makes me want to be a better person. It makes me want to say Genevieve, which I didn't do, but I will be better at helping you with the dogs these next two days. Even though it's difficult for me or whatever, it makes me say, don't be Tim Robinson. It's like a cautionary tale for me a little bit. I don't know. I kind of. I kind of kept you on a short leash when you were talking about the show the other day because I hadn't seen it yet and I didn't want to know what to expect. But does that sort of Ring True. Do you have any of that when you watch it?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't see the thing for me. And maybe this is why that movie Friendship and this Chair Company thing, for whatever it is, the way that my wiring is. That thing of something embarrassing happens to him and he's under his own desk just with this level of rage and embarrassment that he just doesn't know how to process. Process. And he's. That's not how my. My. My wiring works as much. And so I think that's not. When I see him doing that stuff, it just seems funny and offbeat to me because there's not a part of me that goes, oh, I know what that feels like. That ex. You know, I obviously deal with my own. A ton of my own stuff, and I deal with it in my own weird ways, but it's not that way. So that I. I actually absolutely hear what you're saying, though, and I. I totally. You talk about the relief of the sketch being over, because the thing also is, I know that you really love I Think youk Should Leave. And so. And you know, and Detroiters, which has like a little bit of that. Not as much, but still a little bit of that in his character. But there is that sense of like, well, the sketch is over or the episode is over. And there's a kind of like, usually there's a. At least on the Detroiters side, there's a semi happy ending. There's something that kind of cuts that tension. And the stuff like the movie Friendship or the Chair Company show, that tension doesn't get released. And so therefore it probably is not very relaxing to observe if that's a feeling you've ever had in your own life.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that sort of like real impotent frustration. But also like, there is this. There's this again, like the ugliness of that character that he kind of plays and sort of returns to. Of also feeling like he's better than everybody else in this. In this weird way. And not being. And again, to talk about it, like, not being able to articulate in the moment when somebody challenges him. Him on something. I think of the opening scene, well, this is a mall. You're in a mall right now, sir. This is a restaurant. It's a kind of mall.

[Luke Burbank]

And he's like the waitress.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then he says to his wife later, he says, well, what was I going to say? As if his outburst was at all a reasonable thing. And it's like, how many times have I tried to be articulate in a moment of absolute Frustration and then just say something so inarticulate and then like, well, what else?

[Luke Burbank]

Let me just, let, let me just say. I think if you have this conversation with your neighbors, I don't think it's going to be adversarial. I think they've already got their tails pretty far between their legs. I think they know the vibe is shifted. I think that they're, that's why our messages are all like, thank you, we can't thank you enough. We're coming up. Like they sense that that was, that that message really did not come off the way that they probably intended it to or that that that was a reaction action by them. And if, to me it's like, if you are, if you do have a conversation with them, the good news, I think for you is that it doesn't have to be a debate where you're trying to like co host a talk radio show with somebody who doesn't believe in gun control and you're just like, I gotta make sure. I'm saying I'm putting an airtight argument up.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, somebody who thinks Dan Wilson is the best manager ever.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. Well, I mean, that guy was right, whoever that was. And I'm not sure it's John who you're talking about.

[Andrew Walsh]

Uncurly.

[Luke Burbank]

But, but I guess what I was, what I would say is a thing about this conversation that I think would really insulate you from a lot of the stuff that it makes you nervous about or makes you not look forward to these kind of conversations, want to avoid them, is like, I think you could just be so honest and not in a, like, I have to have my argument so dialed in that there's no way they can refute it. But just say like, hey, you know what? It just really bummed me out to get that email because it's felt like you, you didn't trust us. And also this was on the heels of us doing a lot of stuff that felt kind of above and beyond, like dealing with a lot of dog poop that was undealt with when we got. The thing about this is, by the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Way, we've stopped dealing with the dog poop. They will deal with the dog poop when they get home and they will have an empty container to put it in. So good for them.

[Luke Burbank]

But, but just kind of like you just not even saying, well, here's why that, Here, here's, here's the, here's the argument, here's the forensic argument and as to why that was not okay for you to send that Email because of this, that and the other. It's just more like that really bummed me out. That really went from this thing where we were having a good time getting to know these dogs to feeling really underappreciated and kind of judged. And I really wish that wouldn't have happened, you know, and it's like balls in their court at that point. And I have a feeling they will be super duper apologetic. And I guess the thing also about having the conversation, if it comes up, is that I do think that it would make it. And you know this because you're smart, but I think it will make your life a lot easier for the rest of being neighbors with these people. Because I bet you if they apologize to you, like, if they really realize how wrong that was, what they did and how they came off, it would be such a relief for you too, don't you think? Because, like, all of these feelings that you're still having, there is at least an opening for them. There's at least somebody has possibly pricked the balloon of all of those feelings, and now some of that can go out. It has some somewhere to go. Because when people apologize from the heart, when they've done something wrong to you, it does give you an opportunity to let those feelings go. And that might be actually really kind of helpful, maybe.

[Andrew Walsh]

I doubt that they will. I actually really doubt I would get an apology because that's really.

[Luke Burbank]

Again, that's a whole different animal. So I don't have a good theory. On.

[Andrew Walsh]

On Saturday night, I got three text messages. The first one that was basically like, we just caught you doing something we're not comfortable with. Me kind of trying to explain it, then saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, understood. Like, I'm sure everything is fine, but we just do not want people in our space. And you should ask us next time. It was still like. It was. It was not like, oh, okay, sorry. We didn't see it from that perspective. It was just still. And then the third one was still kind of like, I'm sure everything's fine, but it was still like them. They clearly felt violated. They clearly felt violated now. So did I. That's right. I even said in a text, I'm like, I'm sorry if you felt violated, but we have been spending much, much time with the dogs and trying to give them the best experience possible or something like that. But though I don't think that they feel. Now, maybe if they're feeling coldness from us, which they probably are, I bet you that they still think that they're still in the right. Because, like I said, I think. And again, this is the part of the story where a lot of people might be listening right now. And again, I've had my chance to really lay on my side of the story, but I think in a much more abbreviated version of this story, there might be a lot of people who are like, oof, I wouldn't want the dog sitters bringing a stranger into my space. People's spaces are very private and you should get permission first, which in some contexts I think is a reasonable way to feel. And I don't think if the house.

[Luke Burbank]

Is fancy, if they're rich, if they.

[Andrew Walsh]

Have a swimming pool filled with doubloons. No. And so I don't think that they. I still think that they think that they're being pretty chill and forgiving about this, to be honest with you, but.

[Luke Burbank]

I also think they haven't considered your experience properly.

[Andrew Walsh]

If.

[Luke Burbank]

If their thing is, if they're still holding on to the sense that, like, they were in the right. I have to imagine, unless they're just truly bad people, which I don't think they are, that is because they have not actually considered how it felt to you based on all the stuff that had led up to it. And that's where I wonder if you just lay it out for them. Like, hey, you know, like, this felt really shitty to us because we had put in so much time with these animals that we really, really like. And then to have it feel like you were saying that we had somehow violated your space or done something inappropriate when all we're doing is a fear favor here to try to be nice neighbors, that. That just really left us feeling really bummed out. And, you know, we're definitely gonna not be signing up for any more dog sitting or something. I wonder. Again, I want this to go, however, is the least painful for you because you've already been through a lot with it. So if that's just never talking about it again, then that's what I'm wishing for you. But I also think I just have been in enough stuff like this in my life with different people and things. And usually, like, usually a conversation where it gets aired out a little bit leaves me feeling ultimately a lot less torqued up about it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, we've been going on for a long time here. I have one last question.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know how you're going to cut this down for the Greatest Hits album. This is. This one's lengthy.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's going to. It's going to Press. Luke, we're not. We're not changing anything around now, but volume two. Volume two. I do have one last question for you, which is, who's going to win the base of.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, what do I always say, Andrew? Here's what I think.

[Andrew Walsh]

Tried to take over the world.

[Luke Burbank]

It's such a. The game is so streaky and it is so when. When your team is doing poorly like we did last night, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Is like, hitting on all cylinders on every phase of the game, weirdly, like. And then they're just triumphantly showing him and the crowd's going crazy. It feels like. Like the Mariners will never win another baseball game for the rest of their existence as a team. And yet that's how it felt after Gino hit that grand slam on Friday night. And so I feel like, here's the thing, this is what I keep going back to over and over and over and over again. I think there is a reason statistically that teams that win the first two games on the road typically end up winning the series. Because I think that the ball tends to bounce the way it bounces. I think it tends to eventually regress to a mean. Which is about an equ. Amount of ball bounces in either team's favor. We had some really unlucky bounces last night. I mean, that might have been one of the more unlucky games in terms of just barely missing home runs and barely hitting into double plays and barely dropping balls. If you're Gino and whatever. All that is to say, I think that they used up. They used up all their lucky bounces last night. And I think that the lucky bounces are going to go back the Mariners way tonight and we're going to win. I just feel very. I feel. I feel pretty. I feel pretty at peace about the whole thing. And then in my back pocket is the fact that if. If we don't win, it will sting, certainly. But we played a really good season and we took this series to the absolute max. And like, the. The New York Yankees are not playing right now. The Boston Red Sox are not playing. The New York Mets are not playing. You know, so we outlasted a lot of other teams that spent a lot more money than us and maybe had higher. I mean, like, imagine being a Brewers fan. I know, like, you had that season and then you just ran into the buzz saw of the Dodgers in, like, fully reared up mode all of a sudden. And Ohtani is hitting. Did he hit three home runs in the same game that he pitched? 10 strikeouts is that true?

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't.

[Luke Burbank]

I saw everybody just video game number.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know. I saw people going crazy over him and I knew he had a great day on the mound. I didn't realize that combined with three.

[Luke Burbank]

Home runs through three strikeouts and hit three home runs, Andrew, in that game and just so to be the brewers fans and watching that on TV and in Los Angeles, like, you know, and when, you know. By the way, do you know that Los Angeles is now seen as being in the market for Tarek Skubal?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I heard somebody joking about that. I heard somebody joking about that on national radio. But were they. Is that an actual thing that's happening or that. I mean, I think what it is is it's.

[Luke Burbank]

I think it's a. The. I think that the theory behind it is. The theory behind it is that he wants more money than Detroit can or will pay him and that there's only one other team that has the resources to pay him the amount of money he wants and that it turned that turns out to be the Los Angeles Dodgers. So, like, all this is to say I think that we're going to win tonight. I just do. I think we had a really lousy game last night and I think that we're going to bounce back and have a really good game tonight. And what I would say is I could see it, as so often does, coming from where we least expect it. I guess to me, the thing I would be surprised by tonight, although I would take it would just be Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez just go absolutely nuts and are just hitting home runs and all this stuff. I mean, again, no complaints from me, but I feel like in this kind of a game with this amount of pressure and like they're swapping pitchers out maybe every inning, I mean, tonight's going to be insane. Like you might see I was texting with my brother David about this this morning. You might see a different picture every single inning.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that would be very. I was thinking that'd be very interesting if every inning they just brought out a another starter.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, you know, just throw one good inning. That's all we need from you is one good inning. And so it's going to be a weird game, I think, in a pressure packed game. And I wouldn't be shocked to see the Mariners win because of something extraordinary from like, you know, somebody that we're not. A Mitch Garver hero game, a Garv Sauce hero game could very much happen. But again, I'm also, I'm also trying to, you know, hedge My bet by also reminding myself that it's been a pretty fun, cool ride this year. And I think we're going to be pretty good for a while now. And so I think if we don't make it to the World Series this time around, I don't think that. That that door is being slammed shut on us. So that's what I'm feeling. Cautiously optimistic. Go Mariners.

[Andrew Walsh]

Back to the LA thing, which is a terrible place to take it because it's just enmity from my perspective. But, like, they're just leaning into the evil Empire thing now, which is like. They're like, hey, Yankees, hold my beer. Like, did you see that? The manager. Because at first I had to double check this, Luke, because I was scroll. Somebody sent me a ticky Talkie link. And you know how that goes. You click on one and then you can't get out of the app, so you start seeing a bunch of other stuff. And I saw the fake AI tiki talky of the Detroit manager, J.J. oh, yeah, hints. No, I'm blinking on his name.

[Luke Burbank]

J.J. hints.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hints it is. Hints. Hinch. Hinch. There he is, you know, berating his players on the team, which is totally fake. AI right.

[Luke Burbank]

With. On the plane. Right. The team plane were yelling at him.

[Andrew Walsh]

I saw that, too. And so I had to double check to make sure that this was true. That the manager of the. Of the Dodgers said, let's go win four more games and ruin baseball. Like, did you know that? Because everybody's saying that the Dodgers are ruining base.

[Luke Burbank]

Dave Roberts said that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. So everybody's saying that the Dodgers are ruining baseball by doing all this shit with. By just like, you know, stacking up these players and playing financial games to be able to do that. And now it's like a rallying cry. And I'm just like, could you lean into it anymore? Have fun at your second trip to the White House. Like, I'm so.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, that's real MAGA energy. It's so gross, this idea that where it's like the, you know, the cruelty is the point, as Adam S. Once wrote. You know, it's like, come on, guys. Like, at least, yeah, somebody handed you, you know, the absolute best set of tools ever. And then we had a whittling contest. No wonder you're winning. You got all the woodworking tools, and now you're just like. You're, like, joking about that. You're making that, like, now your brand, that you just spend more money than anyone. That's very, very unsatisfying. I mean, There is also a world. Andrew. I know this just seems absolutely. It seems so far. In the words of Dire Straits. It seems so far away right now. So far I just can't see. But there is a universe in which the Mariners win tonight, and then just for some reason, despite what you might think, just actually give the Dodgers a tough series and somehow win the World Series. The Mariners are not statistically eliminated from winning the World Series as of. As of recording time. I know that sounds absolutely delulu, but I mean, that is a universe that we could be actually existing in in a couple of weeks, which would be. Which would really be something. But, you know, it's fun that we get to play in the seventh game of the alcs. I'm looking for. Forward to it tonight. That doesn't mean. When I say looking forward to it, I mean pacing around my house, screaming at my shrine, scaring my neighbors who.

[Andrew Walsh]

Are a half acre away, like, I like to. I'm looking forward to tonight's game, I gotta be honest with you. And I struggle with making it sound like I've already given up hope, because that's a sad thing to say. And I promise you, it's not that I'm not trying to be like, game over.

[Luke Burbank]

Not hoping is a very dangerous thing, as I think someone famously said.

[Andrew Walsh]

Not hoping is not. Not a very dangerous thing, as I think that one. But I am at this point here on Monday morning before game seven, I'm actually really embracing the idea of, man, we have a game seven in the alcs, like I kind of said at the beginning of the show. And that's really where I am. And I'm almost freed of the expectation of winning. And I'm not trying to be like loser talk, but I'm freed of the expectation of it. And honestly, even though the fans drive me bananas and there would be so many, so much, so much joy in actually winning in their house, the way they take over our house. And that's my, My issue with them. That would bring me so much schadenfreude joy. I don't. There. I don't hate losing to the Jays. If that were to be the thing, you know, like, of all of the teams out there, like, I don't. It's not.

[Luke Burbank]

The Yankees would hurt a lot more. The Red Sox would hurt a lot more.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. And, and again, like, my, My, my, my past beef with probably the Astros.

[Luke Burbank]

Would hurt a lot more.

[Andrew Walsh]

A million times more. Yeah. And the Blue Jays. It's really hard for me to get to this kind of stuff because I just, like, I'm such just a homer usually and like I don't enjoy the miracle of Ohtani because he's not on our team. Like a real baseball person might just be able to enjoy it somewhat objectively. I'm not that guy. I'm like a child when it comes to this stuff. But at the end the of of the day, like I, you know, there, there's stuff to root for, you know, on that team. And it's not a mystery to me. You know what I mean? It's not some huge big bucks team. I hope that, I hope that no matter what happens tonight, that we have a fun rivalry and maintain this sort of like these are two teams that are really well matched in different ways, but that it can be kind of a fun, non unhate filled rivalry for two teams that were born in the same year. You know, our brothers.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. You know, and just remember we, we ended, we knocked them out of the playoffs a few years ago. Crazy game. Like a game that for them is probably like circled on the calendar as a day that will live in infamy.

[Andrew Walsh]

That helps.

[Luke Burbank]

And I actually kind of like that because it tells, it makes me think that like in the way that if we were host, if this, if, if, if this was, could we even play the ALCS against Houston? Could that, that could happen. Right. Theoretically.

[Andrew Walsh]

For a wild card situation, I think, I don't, I don't know, but I think so.

[Luke Burbank]

It'd be like if we were hosting Houston and it was the seventh game of the ALCS and I don't think we could. And Altuve came up, I would be like, these guys own us. Or they, or Alvarez came up. It'd be like, these guys own us. And I would start to get a really bad feeling because. Feels like they've got our number. And I like the fact that they're. If the, if Toronto fans are smart, they'll also have that fear. They'll also be like, these guys got us last time we had a. Last time we, you know, we played in the playoffs against these guys. They eliminated us at home on an insane comeback game that should have never happened. And so I like the idea that maybe we live in their nightmares a little bit as their, as their bugaboo team, you know, that's fun. We don't get to be that team very often. And so, I don't know. Again, cautiously optimistic. I'm just, you know what, I'm, I'm just ready for this. Chameleonaire's Wedding now, that's the question.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is it a chameleon's wedding day or chameleonaire's wedding day? One is funnier, one is more.

[Luke Burbank]

I'll let you choose. It was your story. I mean, by the way, that's usually.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was a big. It was a big business.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm always like, I'm always looking around for some little shiny aphorism that can help quiet my mind down, and I'm always presenting it on the show. So I like that you. I like that you pulled a real Burbank with that. And I actually do also. I like that thought. A chameleon's wedding. So that's what we're all going to be thinking about tonight. And we'll say thank you for listening, folks. That's going to bring us to the end of today's show. But of course, we will be back here tomorrow with much to discuss on a Tuesday edition of tbtl. In the meantime, have a great Monday. Take care of yourselves. Stay safe. Go, Mariners. And please remember, no mountain too tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And good luck to all. I told you I could tell it in 20 minutes. Power out.