Reverse Searing Steak / Back to School Backpacks / Plumbing in Honduras

This is episode number 204 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We're so glad you could join us for another live episode of The Homeowner Show here in the studio. How you doing, Kev?

Man, I'm good. I'm good. I don't have any, like, words of wisdom today, so—

Nothing life-changing to share with the peoples?

No, I'm— I mean, life is about to get back to normal because the school's starting.

Ooh.

Yep, happening this week. Well, not for me. Well, not— well, you aren't in school.

Well, and my kids don't go back for another 2 weeks.

2 weeks. Yeah. Jeez. Okay, well, mine go back on Thursday.

You excited?

I'm excited. Yeah, mainly because I'm just ready to get kind of a— Tired of your kids? No, I love my kids. I'm trying to— I'm ready for— Maybe just one of them. Depends on the day. Uh, dude, I'm ready for a sense of normalcy to where it's just like routine. They— I— they just— they need some routine, you know what I mean? Like, they just doing different things. They get it from you every day. No, no, they're not. I do not live a life of routine most of the time in the summer. Um, that is not the case. Um, but yeah, I mean, I'm just ready for things to just kind of go to a— I think everybody, whether you want to

admit it or not, you like routine. Routine is what people need. And the people that say, oh, I just like the spontaneous life, they're liars. Liars. They don't. You think so? Yes, they don't like it.

I like it.

They— no, you don't. Like, because here's the thing, you—

I think you don't get to tell me what I like.

Oh, I do. I— and I will. Uh, because here's the thing, I think we like to kind of have an idea of what's coming. We don't like things to hit us and just be like, I have no idea what's happening tomorrow. Eventually you get to a point where I'm— where you're like, no, I just need— I need things to be normal, consistent. Like, even if you have it planned out, that's—

Those are 2 different things. The normal and consistent are 2 different things.

I disagree.

Well, then you're wrong.

Okay, I'm fine with being wrong. No, it's good because you live most of your life that way. I was— I was wrong. Well, look, I thought I was wrong once. But I was wrong.

And the tour continues.

Exactly.

How are you, man? I'm doing alright.

Just alright? Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. No, we— so, before we get in the meat of it, I mean, just 2 things. One, we got to help get a lot of backpacks out this last week to kids in foster care.

Nice.

Which was great. Um, people in our network contributed, people from our church contributed. Um, I think we ended up handing out like well over 100 and some odd backpacks.

Geez. So are they, do they have like just school supplies in them or?

Yeah, they're like full of school supplies.

Food and clothing or anything?

I don't think there's any food. Well, you can't really do food and clothing cuz you don't really know like sizes and all that. So you try and get the stuff that they need for school that—

Well, let me tell you, man, it's absolutely ridiculous how much it costs. to go to school, like just to show up. Public school, free, right? It's not— we all know it's not free, right? Uh, we're paying for it, but like, it doesn't, it doesn't feel like I'm dishing out money to go to public school except for the fact that I gotta buy $200 worth of school supplies for each student.

Right, right.

You know, it's a lot for sure.

Yeah, it is a lot. And like, the backpacks themselves have gotten ridiculous.

They are.

Um, well, you know, I don't know that they've gotten ridiculous. They've probably been ridiculous for a long time.

But here's what I tell you about them though. Those backpacks. Yeah, I don't care what you get. Like, you know those canvas JanSports, dude, with the leather on the bottom?

Yep, I have one still.

That's what I was about to say. They still exist.

From, from high school.

I have one. Oh, I know they still exist because they were made to last. Yeah, these like now It's like day 2, that thing opens without the zipper. The zipper's closed, it opens anyway.

Like, you say that, we, we had one that we handed a little girl, and like, as soon as we handed it to her, it ripped.

Oh, I don't doubt it.

And she— I mean, like, so we had to get her another one.

Yeah, because her heart was also ripped. Yes, right there.

Right there.

That's the way it goes. Yep.

And there's no way we were sending her with a ripped backpack.

No. Absolutely not.

Yeah, that was ridiculous.

Inconceivable.

Inconceivable. So dude, the other thing is I did my first reverse sear last night.

Ooh, really?

Yeah.

Look, you as a cook, uh-huh, did your first reverse sear?

Yep.

That surprises me on a lot of levels.

Yeah, I honestly, I like, I'd heard a couple people tell me that they were doing it. I honestly didn't even know what it was till yesterday.

What?

Yeah.

Okay. Okay. Well, I gotta know how, how'd it go and what'd you think?

It was good. It was— I did it with ribeyes.

Okay.

And they were like about an inch and a half.

Okay.

So, I mean, like it— well, and I did it in our, um, air fryer.

Oh, so you cooked them in the air fryer or you seared them in the air fryer?

I did the reverse. So like I did the, like the roasting part of it in the air fryer.

Which is— you can't really like sear in an air fryer, can you?

Well, you can. Yeah.

Like it's a broiler, I guess. Yeah, you could do the broiler if you really wanted to.

I didn't do that.

Okay.

But yeah, I had— I liked the metal mesh tray that we have in the air fryer. And it's a convection oven.

Sure.

So yeah, I just, I did it in there. And it was, it's honestly a lot quicker because it comes to temp a lot faster.

Yeah, it's just such a smaller space for it.

Yeah.

Everything just, it cooks. That's the beauty of the air fryer.

Yeah.

It's an oven.

It is.

It really, I mean, People are like, oh, look at my air fryer. I'm like, I got a broiler. It's the same thing. But yours is smaller. Yeah. And I love them.

Yeah, no, they're cool.

They're—

well, all the different— you, you have a lot more options with an air fryer than you do with a regular oven.

Absolutely.

I mean, like, you can dehydrate in that thing.

Yeah.

So I mean, like, it— you can do some cool stuff in there. But anyway, so it was my first reverse sear. It was a ribeye. It was pretty simple. Um, but what just like took it over the, the edge, uh, over the top as far as like being like a good steak because I made a, uh, a gorgonzola thyme butter.

I knew there was going to be butter involved. Oh yeah.

So, and like, I didn't, I didn't like just get butter and like mix it with those things.

Okay.

I made the butter.

Oh, you churned it?

Yeah.

Nice.

Like, and I churned it with those ingredients.

Ooh.

Yeah, that—

I'll tell you, I've never churned butter. How long does that take?

If you have a food processor, next to nothing.

I do have a food processor.

Yeah, so like, I love my food processor. Food processor is a giant fast churn.

Okay, that's interesting. My wife is all like, why do we have this appliance? I'm like, because it's amazing. Yeah, you can do a lot of things.

You can, you can make some of the best pie dough you've ever made in your life using a food processor. Really?

Yeah. I'm gonna go ahead and need that, uh, recipe there, Craig.

I can tell you it right now.

Okay, tell me.

It is a block of cream cheese, a stick of butter, and a cup of flour, and an egg.

That's it?

That's it. Best pie dough ever.

Okay, we'll find out, because that's easy. And I have a food processor that my wife thinks we don't use enough, so pie, pie.

But you— I mean, you could— but like that, I mean, you probably want to put a little salt in there unless you're using salted butter. But there's quite a bit of salt in cream cheese, so it really kind of depends on your, your flavor.

Your taste.

Yeah, if you like things extra salty. But you don't just have to use it for like sweet pies. I used to use it to make like chicken pot pies.

Really?

All the time. Yeah, and then it makes really good chicken pot pie dough.

Well, I'll tell you, like, I, I never liked chicken pot pie because I had like the Marie Callender's or whatever. Those things suck. But, uh, I don't— it was whenever we were, uh, we just had our first child. Uh-huh. And, you know, people bring you food, right? Well, someone brought us a chicken pot pie, and I was like, son of a gun, this is gonna be terrible. Like, because you never know. It's like some people are like, here's Texas Roadhouse, right? And then other people are like, chicken pot pie. And I'm like, this is gonna suck. Um, it would have beat Texas Roadhouse. Yeah, it was that good.

A good chicken pot pie will.

It was that good. And I, I was like, this— I don't know what she did to this, but I got a recipe, and, and I think the dough makes—

The dough makes a big difference.

All the difference in the world.

Now, have you ever had shepherd's pie?

Yes, I have.

That's actually— I prefer that over—

Well, I think, I think I do too, but, um, I think I do too, but I, I don't know that I've had the best shepherd's pie. Mhm. Um, what I've been told is where I need to get shepherd's pie is at the Goose's Anchor.

It's okay.

Okay, well, that's just what I'm just telling you, what I've heard. Sure.

I mean, it's not, it's not bad. Yeah, but I mean, like, sorry, I'm not a, I'm not a huge Goose's Acre fan. Yeah, it's, it's a great location.

Yeah, like, I mean, the venue is nice. The venue is nice.

Yeah, but that's, that's, yeah, that's about where my love affair ends with them.

Interestingly enough, like, I got the, uh, chicken fried steak when I was there. Loved it.

Really?

Yes. I did. And I've had Frank's chicken fried steak, which is the superior chicken fried steak that I've ever had.

Yeah. So anyway, dude, did I, did I tell you about the one I had over here at Kitchen Tales?

Yeah, that's the—

you said it was good, but it's not, it's not chicken fried steak.

Yeah, yeah, I don't remember. Tell me about it again.

Well, it's— I mean, they, they, they market it as a schnitzel. Yeah, man, I forget.

But it's like a chicken fried steak. Yeah.

Well, schnitzel is like a chicken fried steak.

Sure. But I wouldn't— I wouldn't— I've never seen it marketed as a schnitzel. My problem with most chicken fried steak that you get at restaurants is it's steak with batter that they just kind of throw around it.

Right.

And then you have to cut your steak. and like grab the batter as you eat the steak because it all falls off. Like you did not know how to make this thing stick.

Right.

So I don't like those.

Yeah, no, that's no good. And this one was different because it was wild game. And I can't remember, it's not, it's, I mean, it's a kind of deer, but it's not deer.

Oh, is it the, is it the black, it's a big gray, African. Oh, zebra?

No.

Hippopotamus?

It's in the horse family.

Rhinoceros.

I'm gonna pull up their menu here.

Elephant. I'm naming gray elephants, rhinoceros. These are all gray animals.

Hang on, I'm almost there.

Are you? So I, I want— my favorite, uh, chicken fried steak is definitely venison.

Oh.

That's what my— that's what my mom made all the time. Yeah, growing up. No, I don't—

I love backstrap.

Oh yeah, that's what we used. I mean, and they're, they're like little cutlets.

Okay, so, okay, so this is, this is how it is on the menu. It's a venison, venison schnitzel.

Oh.

But it's nilgai.

Oh.

Yeah, so I mean, like, it technically is venison, right? But it's from a nilgai.

Okay.

Which you can hunt here in Texas. Oh. Interesting.

So I would eat that, and I would probably enjoy it.

It's super good.

Yeah. And it has like a beer gravy, which is interesting because like I've never been to Kitchen Tales. So it's actually—it's really good. I've heard that, but I've—it's weird because I don't know. It's like it's not a place that I think oh that's where I want to go eat dinner. Mm-hmm. But I've heard it's really good. It's close.

It's—it's been—it's been good for us because it's—it's. We can take our kids there and they have a pretty accessible kids menu. Really? They got burgers and stuff on the menu, but wine, beer, cocktails. I mean, full service. Interesting. It's been good. I mean, even when we've gone, I've taken a few clients there for lunch and it's been good. Interesting. So anyway, interesting. But enough with our first world problems, dude.

Let me tell you, there is nothing like making you feel that you are way too hoity-toity and like you got issues that are not issues than going to a third world country and spending a week there, which is what I did about 2 weeks ago.

Uh-huh.

And It's not my first time. It's my third time to be in Honduras. I've been to Nicaragua twice. Okay. And so those are, those are my main experiences with third world countries. And I don't know, have you ever been to a third world country?

I guess it depends on— so, like, I've been to the Ukraine twice. I don't know that they're considered a third world country. I don't think so. There are parts of it that you go through, though. Oh, I mean, it is the same here, like, Southeast Arkansas.

It's like they, they got one pair of underwear. Yeah. And they're not even wearing it.

I mean, like, the, the parts of the Ukraine that I, I remember vividly is people still having, like, thatch roofs. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Like that. And it wasn't like, oh, that's weird. That's rare. Right. It was like, no, we just— that's like the 10th house now in a row that's like, got a thatch roof. Right. Like, and that's— and they were farmers. Yeah. And just living out in the middle of nowhere.

What were their houses made out of? Do you remember?

You know, it was different stuff. I mean, some of them had, like, rocks. Some of them had, like, pieces of wood. I mean, some of them had windows. I mean, it was built out of, like, lumber. Yeah. Okay. But they still had a thatch roof. Interesting. So that— and then I've been in southern Mexico, which, again, like, Mexico is not a third world country, but there are areas.

Areas. Yep.

Where I, where I was at, it's— I mean, like, if you're familiar with Mexico, is San Luis Potosí and Xalitla. Uh, it's up in the mountains. And so most of the people that we were engaged with did not speak Spanish. Sure. They spoke some, you know, native dialect. Right. So interesting. So we had to have translators for our translators.

Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's getting, that's getting out there. Well, so we, uh, where we were working, it was down—

But like all, all of Honduras is considered like— It is. Third world.

Oh yeah. Okay. And, and everywhere you go, you know why? I mean, like, even, even so now they've, they've just built a new airport. Okay. In, uh, in Comayagua is the name of the place. But it used to be Tegucigalpa is where, where you would fly into, but that airport has basically shut down to American flights. And is it because it's not safe? Yeah, I mean, I mean, I say that, I— there's, there's probably more reasons. Sure. But it's, it's just, I don't know, they've, they've built this new, uh, they got a new airport.

Yeah.

That's where you fly in and out of. Uh, from there, it's a about a 4-hour, 3.5 to 4-hour drive to where we go south.

Okay.

And, um, we're, we're almost on the Nicaraguan border. Um, in fact, where, where we're at, you can see Nicaragua. Um, it's up in the mountains. It's gorgeous. If you've never been to, like, some of these Central American, uh, areas, they're gorgeous. Um, in fact, there's some really nice touristy areas in Honduras, like Roatán, right? Is a super touristy area.

I know a lot of people go there for a vacation.

Absolutely. I mean, it's beautiful, and just the people are amazing. They're just so happy you're there, and they're kind and great and all that. And, like, the, the American dollar has been devalued quite a bit recently, but it's still 24 to 1 for For the Honduran money and limps, limpira is the okay. They call it limps.

I mean, did it did it seem like the like your American dollar still went as far as you would expect it to go there, or is it like way further? Or is it that their value, their money is so devalued?

You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, the thing is, like the amount of the amount of money that we would spend on something to them is insurmountable. I mean, I mean, it's just, it's crazy, right? So, um, so let's get into this for a minute. So we, uh, our whole mission while we were down there was to build 10 latrines.

Okay.

And we're calling them latrines because that's, that's what they are, but, but it's basically like a glorified porta-potty.

Mhmm.

But it's not portable. We're, we're building it into, into their land, basically. So, so the way it works is we, we partner with a local mission there called Mission Lazarus, and they do all kinds of stuff. In fact, they just built a million-dollar facility for education.

Okay. And it's Absolutely amazing.

I need to show you some pictures because I don't know how I would— I would be a horrible student because you're literally in, in a glass building overlooking the mountains.

Oh, wow.

I would never pay attention.

But, um, they see it every day.

Yeah. Exactly. But it's, it's like the, the number 1 school in all of that area because it's just really good, really well run, and They also have a great medical facility. Uh, they own a coffee plantation. And so they employ like, I think they have like 70 women that they employ, um, and pay them a man's wage.

Okay.

Which down there is a big, big difference. I mean, it's less than half what a woman would get versus a man, which I know here, maybe not necessarily all that different, but, um, but very, very repressed, women are. And so they pay them men's wage, and they employ a lot of women. They, they pick the coffee cherries. They, they pick them by hand.

Right.

Like, basically. And they— there's, there's more efficient ways to do it, but there's not more— there's not better ways to give people jobs.

Sure. Sure.

And do it more economically as far as that goes. But they do a— they have that. It's amazing. Um, they have an orphanage, um, and so they, they run an orphanage there as well. Um, there's, there's all kinds of stuff. We could get into all of it, but it doesn't really matter, uh, based on what we did. But what they do is they, they teach, uh, people how to build and how to do things. Like, they've got a whole, uh, they've got a leather working shop. They build leather goods. They ship them to the US and other countries and and sell them. They also have woodworking shops teaching, um, boys and girls how to do woodworking.

Yeah.

And all these are trades that they can make good money at, you know. Uh, they've got a sewing school, all kinds of stuff. But so they prefabricate these, these latrines.

Mhm.

But one of the things they do is they pour these slabs, um, and they're 42 inches by 42 inches, and they put, um, put rebar in it and everything. They're about 3 inches thick, and then they put angle iron on the, on the corners, um, and then they put basically a hole in the middle and a, and a hole on the side for a vent, um. And so then they build, uh, a house around it, a metal siding, you know, 3 sides and a, and a door.

Uh-huh.

And that fits down into the angle iron basically, and then the roof. And so they, they prefabricate all of these and then they take 'em apart.

Mm-hmm.

Much like you would do, a lot of metal buildings are built this way where they fabricate 'em in a massive, you know, 10-acre warehouse and then they deconstruct 'em, move 'em on site and rebuild 'em.

Right.

That's basically what we did. it's all done by hand. So I mean, that's just the way it is.

I mean, so, uh, you mean the metal buildings are all put together by hand?

Yes. Okay. And the, the cement and making concrete, you're mixing cement and sand and water, uh, doing it like a wheelbarrow?

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. Uh, well, a lot of times you do it on the ground. Oh, you just dump it in there and mix it around? Dump it on the ground. And that's, that's actually an art. Uh, it's something we have to learn while we're down there, an art. You put all that on the ground, you make like a basically a volcano, pour the water in it, and then you slowly just mix it all in so that none of the water runs out. And then you just start churning that thing, um, with 2 shovels basically.

Yeah.

Um, and so, but the slab is already built, uh, and then you, we take it in these little, uh, Toyota Hilux, uh, trucks. Uh, they're awesome. Awesome. They're like a— they're just like a quarter, quarter-ton truck.

Okay.

Um, but they don't pass emissions here in the States, so they can't get them here.

Yeah.

Um, but anyway, we, we have to have a 4-wheel drive vehicle where we go most of the places because it's in the mountains. And, uh, the best way to describe where we went was a mountainous dry riverbed.

Okay.

So imagine driving through the mountains in a dry riverbed. That's where we went. And I mean, it— I don't know how far we went. We, we might have gone 8 miles and it took us an hour just because it's extremely treacherous roads. Um, and nobody goes down there. I mean, the people that go down there are politicians to get their vote and religious people to try to change their minds. That's it. Um, and honestly, they don't want any of them there. They— I mean, if you were to come in and, and, you know, treat them like people, yeah, they would— what they, they do, they welcome you all day long.

Yeah.

Um, but if you're just coming down there to, to use them, it's like anybody, who wants that?

Yeah.

Right? But a lot of, a lot of politicians come in with, like, empty promises. Like, for example, I think you told me, like, they were trying—

like, there was, like, empty electric lines or something like that.

Yeah. Like, we were, we were driving down the road and I was like, hey, I see electrical poles here. And they're like, yeah, of course, because a politician told them that they were gonna bring electricity to them, even installed the poles.

Yeah. Went so far.

It's been like, it's been like 7 or 8 years. There's nothing on them, you know, just that kind of junk, you know, which, you know, I— look, I get politicians do what politicians do, but it's crummy, you know.

Yeah.

I mean, these people are forgotten and they're— they don't— nobody cares about them. Um, and so we have to load all this stuff up, take it all down there, and then like these slabs, they weigh like 400 pounds. Mhm. And so you get like minimum 4 guys on these things, but like one of these things we had to carry up probably a quarter mile up a mountain. Mhm. It took a while because it's not like, like open road.

You're having to carry it by hand.

Yeah.

Why?

Because there's no way to get it there.

Like you can't put it in the back of a truck?

Nope.

Why?

There's no road.

Okay.

I mean, we're— I, I'm gonna have to show you some video of this too. Like, where we went, we went to the place where there was no more road, and at that point it's just a trail to get to these people's house.

I need like a pair of donkeys.

Well, some people have horses, um, but even then, we're not— you're not putting a 400-pound slab on a horse.

Put it on maybe like a cart behind it or something.

Maybe. But I mean, I'm telling you, dude, like, there's just—

it was very difficult because like, I mean, I've done some mountain construction before and so like, I get it. I mean, like sometimes you just got to get stuff to there and the only way to do it is, is move it your back. That's right.

Yeah. And, uh, I mean, so we, we had 6 people on this thing until like there was no more— it was too narrow. And so people would have to peel off because you were gonna get like hit by a tree or something. Um, and so people would peel off and like it was like this big rotation. And every once in a while we'd just have to put it down and rest for a little while because I mean, it was, it was tough. Um, one— I'll show you one place we had to get to. There was no way to get it down except to literally put it like lift it up on its end.

Mm-hmm.

and very slowly roll it down the mountain.

Ooh, that sounds like a way to squash somebody.

It was, it was, it was very challenging. And so you get there and these people have dug a 9-foot hole in the ground that's basically 3 foot around. And most of them are perfect. I mean, like, it looks like someone just could slide a tube down there. They're just unbelievably perfect. Um, and so you get there and you have to, uh, you have to start mixing concrete together. And, uh, we literally concrete the, uh, the slab in. And then you build over to the side, you're building up the house, you know, putting it together with bolts and nuts and screws.

Yeah.

everything. And then, um, once we get the slab on there, then we put a toilet on there. And the toilet, literally, it's just a— it's just a toilet. I mean, there's, there's no lid because they don't have— like, the, the lids that they got down there are just like these plastic pieces of junk, right? Like thin, thin plastic. And they would just— they wouldn't be worth putting on there because they would just break in the weather. So, um, but we concrete that in, even like literally concrete it into the, you know, set it on the hole, concrete all around it, mound it up, put the house on, put the roof on. And for many people, it's the first time they've ever had any

type of, of toilet ever.

Mm-hmm.

So we talked to this one guy He was 76 years old. And, of course, we, we have to have translators. We— I don't know how to speak Spanish. I, I know, like, a few things, but I grew up in West Texas. Most of the Spanish that I know is gonna get me in trouble. Okay? Like, not the good kind of Spanish, if you know what I mean. But, like, this guy's 76 years old, and he's just like, thank you, thank you, thank you. You know, it's unbelievable blessing, all these kind of things, right? He said, this is— this— he said, when this cures, basically is what he said, and I can use it, it'll be the first time I've ever sat on a toilet.

That's crazy.

76 years old. And like, you hear those kind of stories, but the— but here's the problem, man. Like, sanitation is a problem down there. I mean, because know where they go to the bathroom? In the woods. There and there and there and there and there. And it's just like, I mean, it's, it's in everything that they do.

Yeah.

You know? Um, and it's, it's a, it's a huge issue. Sanitation is. And so this gives it— I mean, I'm sitting here going, okay, not only did we give this man a toilet, we gave him some dignity to sit on a toilet. To poop in the rain. Yeah. I mean, and some of them have had like holes in the ground before, but that's all they are. Just a hole in the ground, you know. They don't actually have— I mean, you know, they're not flushable, but they got water in a bucket and, and pour it down.

Did I tell you about my conversation with Adrian about that? Yeah, a couple weeks ago.

I listened, I listened. And, and you're not wrong. I mean, it is possible to just go poop in the yard, but I mean, I'm not saying I want to. Yeah, I mean, because at the end of the day, like, when the rain comes I mean, fertilizer, it's just washing it wherever it washes it. And the same thing with pee on the ground, whatever. It's gross.

So to take it a different direction, did I tell you I test drove the Fabuloso experiment?

Oh, no.

Yeah.

Really?

I tried it.

Okay.

It works.

Really?

It really works.

Okay.

Like, legit works.

Interesting.

Like, my kids—

Expound.

Well, so if you haven't seen it, there was like a— I think it was like something on a TikTok or a reel or something. I don't know. Right. But what you do is you take a bottle of Fabuloso and you stick it in your toilet's tank and see where the water line comes up to. And then you puncture the bottle there and then just leave the bottle in your toilet. And so every time you flush the toilet, it will bring the water back up to that level, send some water in, will it pull some Fabuloso out? And so your bathroom like almost never stinks. Um, now, you know, eventually you got to replace the bottle because it sure is it up, but like it's, it's going to take it a while. Yeah. Uh, it's,

it's not using it fast.

That's interesting.

Um, and I was, I was worried it was like cleaning it too, bounce around. Yeah. And like get hung up in there with all the different cords.

Right. And it doesn't?

Doesn't.

Really?

Yeah.

That's interesting.

And I was like, this is— I like— whoever thought of this is just a genius.

Genius.

Yeah.

So the things you can do with Fabuloso.

I know. And I'm sorry, you're just like— if you tell me you don't like the smell of Fabuloso, you're wrong. You're just lying, right? You're just lying because you want to use, I don't know, some Lysol. No, you want Pine-Sol. You want to use— what's the one that like everyone is like, I'm such a conscientious person because I don't use that other—

Oh, like the, like, like the natural stuff?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. I don't know the names. I don't know. Obviously I use them. Yeah.

Um, I don't know. We use, we use like, I mean, a lot of times we're using like the Lysol brand or the, you know, the toilet bowl cleaner stuff. I don't know what it is.

Yeah. But there's, there's those brands that are like The children of hippies.

The children of hippies. That should be a brand. Yeah, that actually should be a brand.

All right, so I looked this up while you were talking about it because I was curious. Okay. Because, I mean, like, it's an impoverished nation, and I was like, okay, so what does this country actually do? Do you know? Could you— do you think you could name the top 3 exports of Honduras since you've been there?

I bet I could come close. I bet number 1 is shrimp.

Okay.

I bet number 2 is coffee.

Okay.

And I bet number 3— oh geez, what would number 3 be? It's probably not— it's probably not food. I'm guessing I'm guessing some sort of clothing item.

Okay.

Those are my— those are my—

If you had to guess?

That's what I had to guess.

Okay. You, you actually weren't that far off.

Okay.

You, you got them out of order.

Okay.

And you were wrong on the third one.

Okay.

So coffee's number 1.

Okay.

At 47%.

Yeah. And, dude, let me tell you, dude, the coffee that comes from there, the climate matters, the soil matters, the way they do it matters.

Mhmm.

It's so good. Like, I don't even— you know me, do I drink coffee?

Never.

No, I drink it every day in Honduras. Every day, multiple times. In fact, that's one of the things that's one—

are you drinking it black?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so good, man.

Yeah, well, like, when you make— when you make coffee right, like, I don't think it necessarily needs like sugar or milk or anything like that. Um, most people just don't make it right, right? And I'm too lazy to do it every day. Yeah. Um, But anyway, so coffee at 47%. Yep.

Shrimp at 21%.

Okay. And then bananas.

Bananas at 11%. Like, the only other thing I would have said other that was food, I might have said corn. But I don't know that they're shipping a lot of— I think they eat a lot of their corn.

And so, like, the other 3 agricultural exports that they have that were surprising to me Uh, this one's not so much— melons. Um, lobsters.

Oh yeah, interesting.

Um, and then pineapples.

Pineapples?

Yeah.

I— okay, I know it's only— I don't think I've ever eaten—

3% of their exports, but pineapples.

I, I've never even had a pineapple there. And bananas I've had, and they're freaking delicious. In fact, I've had these little— I don't know what they're called, but they're, they're small bananas.

They're like, like a plantain almost.

Yeah, but they're thicker and they're shorter than a regular banana. They're very good. And honestly, I don't love plantain.

Oh, really?

It's fine, but I don't love it. So I've had it in one way that I do like. It is in a taco with beans and it in there. Beans. And what about like plantain chips? Yeah, I mean, they're fine. Yeah, but I don't love them. So I don't know. I don't know what it is.

I mean, I, I've enjoyed them. There's a, there's a South American preparation for them where they like almost like kind of like roast them and then pan fry them with sour cream.

Oh, I've not had it that way.

Um, that, and that one I've, I've enjoyed. Um, And then I think like plantain chips, um, have you ever had them with chimichurri?

No.

That was a big game changer for me is when I eat them with, with chimichurri.

I could like that. So I could see that. It's just a different— yeah, yeah. In fact, so most of the, most of the shrimp that we eat comes from Honduras.

Oh, here in the States?

In the US, most of it.

Oh, wow. Yeah.

And they have huge shrimp packing plants. Yeah. Um, and, uh, and coffee, I just knew that that was huge.

Um, I've actually been, been tickling my aquaponics itch. Oh, really? And shrimp and crawfish are 2 of the ones that they're like, you can actually do really good, really, with shrimp and crayfish in your, in your aquaponics system. Okay. Um, I don't know that I have time to itch that scratch.

Yeah.

But I've, you know, I was looking back through some of my research materials and some books that I'd read and I was like, oh yeah, I really wanted to.

That would be fun. Yeah. I, I, you know, it's the land, living with the land, living with the land, the aquaponics. That's right. I know, man. Like everybody wants to do it. It's just doing it.

It's, man, it's, it to do it the way that you want to do it though is so expensive.

Yeah. So we, we saw the, the aquaponics deal at the Texas AgLife Extension Center. AgriLife. Is that what it is?

Yeah, AgriLife.

That was a pretty cool setup that they have over there. I don't know. It's cool. Yeah. But yeah, so speaking of water, so that's the other thing is like a lot of these people, they don't have running water. They got to carry their water from one place to the other. And The thing is, like, in those mountains that we're at, there's tons of springs.

Mm-hmm.

But they gotta go to the spring and get it. Honestly, it would not be all that crazy to build a pipeline.

Right.

Uh, to individual homes. Uh, the reason I asked what, what their homes are made of is, like, there's a lot of thatch, uh, roofs there, um, there as well. A lot of people, if they have any resources at all, which most of them don't, a lot of them barter. They, they just barter for a lot of stuff. Um, and I think it's almost like they have a co-op with some other people. Like, they'll trade corn for this or beans for that, whatever. Um, but they, they may have the Mexican tiles and they'll, they'll use those for roofs. But like—

Are you talking about like those curved—

Uh-huh. Yeah. Uh-huh. Like the clay tiles. But what a lot of people do Mm-hmm. Is they just use whatever they can find. They'll use trash bags. Okay. They'll use tiles, they'll use thatch. Like, literally, we've found homes that have all of that on one roof. Yeah. You know, and it's, uh, it's crazy. Um, but then a lot of the homes, they build 'em outta mud. Okay. Like, yeah. And they're, they're strong.

Oh yeah, man. Mud. I mean, like a mud house is like mud and straw. They're easy to keep cool.

They are.

I mean, yep, they'll protect you from the, you know, the rain.

Yep. And, and every once in a while you might find someone that has a solar panel just to run a light at night. Um, but they— dude, I gotta show you a picture of an oven that, uh, we found there. It's the largest oven I've ever seen, ever. Like, they— the lady that was baking for us, because we had just built them a latrine, and so she— they They fed us like crazy, man.

Sure.

Um, she was baking some, some bread and she had 6 11 by 13 pans in that oven.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah, it was huge.

What was it? Was it like electrical? Was it—

No, it's just a clay—

Oh, it's clay oven.

It's a clay oven. Uh, it's a dome and it's fired by wood.

Oh, that's so—

oh, it's amazing, dude. And then the— they're, they're, uh, like the way they're, they're cooking pots and pans and stuff is very similar. They've got, they've got like this clay thing with, with 2 holes in it, and they put the fire in there and they just set a pot on, on these little— on these holes. And the holes are slightly smaller than the pan or the pot. That's how they do that. That they, they boil water for coffee.

Yeah.

They do all that kind of stuff.

So, man, I've always— I mean, like, I, I, I, I've known for a long time that people cook. I mean, like, and, and, you know, people around us use like earthware or whatever, and it's like all— it's clay pots.

Sure.

But like, I've always wondered, like, once you've cured those, uh-huh, like, how does your food not taste like dirt when you cook in it?

Yeah.

You know, I mean, like, how does, how does that even work? It doesn't— it just doesn't make sense to me. I, I mean, I trust it. Like, I've eaten plenty of things out of clay pots. Um, but like, it, it should taste— oh, that thing's awesome. Yeah, y'all can't see, but Kevin's showing me it.

Yeah, I— there's no way you can see that, but like, there— here, here it is from the side. Look how big— I mean, that thing's huge.

It's massive.

And, uh, but see, that makes sense to me.

That, that makes sense to me. Like, because you're not— like, the food's not touching the clay.

No, no, it's not, you know.

But like a clay pot, like, why does the stew not taste like red dirt? I don't know. Or maybe it does and we just like it.

Maybe. I don't know. Yeah.

So, I mean, I imagine there's like some sort of like—

This is the road we drove on.

Kind of looks like my driveway.

It's true, but it gets worse. Like, the further in we go, like, it gets to the point where There is, um, not much of a road left.

Yeah.

And this ends and then it's just a trail.

I see one of the, uh, electrical poles.

Yeah, nothing on it.

Yeah, just, just a pole.

Yep. It's crazy.

You can climb it up if a cougar gets after you.

Yeah, yeah. So there's, there's literally the end of the road right there and it's done. Nowhere else to go. So yeah, um, here's the thing. One of those latrines costs $500.

Oh my God.

That's— that is— there's not that much material there.

Is that the material cost?

There's material cost, that's the labor to get them prefabricated, because they do pay the people that build them, right? And, you know, gas. the trucks, um, the whole thing. They're roughly about, like, to, to do everything you have to do. I mean, there's concrete, um, we gotta, you know, we got bags of cement, all that kind of stuff. It's, uh, and the toilet. I mean, all of it, it's about $500 to give someone probably anywhere from 5 to 7 years of—

Okay.

A place to go to the bathroom. Um, and, uh, the more of them they have in the village, the longer they last, you know. So I— it's one of those things where, like, if, if you were to tell— the reason they don't have it, have one, is because they don't have $500.

Yeah.

There's no way they can ever afford $500.

Yeah.

I mean, if you got to choose— It's a luxury that's out of reach. Right. If you've got to choose between eating and, or even like working, right, and doing something for your family, or having a toilet, you're— that's like a last resort for them. We, we see people that have, um, phones. Um, how are they getting phones? Well, believe it or not, I, I had Decent signal in a lot of those areas.

Yeah. Well, what I mean though is you're telling me like they can't spend $500 on a toilet.

Like, how are they getting a phone? They're— I don't know, man.

I mean, it's the same question I have for people here. I mean, like, you tell me you can't pay your rent, you can't buy groceries, but like you have a $2,000 phone.

I see it right there.

And you got all the accessories for it. Like, Makes no sense. Yeah, I don't— that doesn't— I don't understand.

Most of these are not nice phones.

Sure.

I mean, they're cheap flip phones, that stuff, but it's a phone. And but, but it helps, like, but they're on it for like no time, and they, they're not using it to check anything, you know.

They're not like updating their, their Twitter page.

No, they're absolutely not. Yeah. Um, but you know, for them to— I mean, it's like 30,000 limps for them to, to buy something like that. Well, there's no way that they have the money for that. But for us to go over there, we built 10 of them, so it's $5,000, right? I mean, honestly, I like— I think about that and I go, man, $500 doesn't go that far here.

Right.

It just doesn't. Um, it's a lot of money, don't get me wrong. It's a lot of money.

I'm— I'll put it out there, like, you couldn't get a toilet installed in your house for $500 right now.

No, you absolutely couldn't.

I mean, like, maybe you could, but you wouldn't like it.

No, I mean, the toilet itself is gonna cost a couple hundred of that, right? And then, you know, by the time you get a plumber out there, you do all the extra parts.

Yeah, like, it's It's more than $500, right?

Absolutely. And I don't know, it's, it's crazy because like even in the places where they do have running water and stuff, um, I mean, they don't have good water pressure. And so you're like having to hold the, the handle down until it goes all the way down. You get back to the States, you press that lever, water goes down. Yeah, it's amazing, right? And like stuff like that, you get back and you go, man, this is, it's crazy. The things that we complain about, like the issues that we wind up having. Um, I mean, I, I was talking to a guy the other day and he was like, yeah, man, my— this is happening a lot right now. Um, my contractor just left.

He was building an outdoor kitchen.

Mm-hmm.

My contractor just left. I needed— he said the granite work needs to be done. The masonry needs to be finished. And, uh, I think like the, the appliances need to be installed. That's it. The rest of it's done, but the contractor ghosted them. Can't figure out how to get ahold of them.

Geez.

And this is happening, like, I'm, I'm finding that this is happening regularly.

Right.

And I'm sitting here going, yeah, can't get your outdoor kitchen finished, huh? That sucks.

Yeah.

You know? And, and, and I, I just, I don't know. It, it, it makes you think about the things that are important.

For sure. Um, I, I think I think that's one of the most valuable parts about an experience like that is to, to be able to go over and see not just how other people live, but how— in, in, in many situations like this, it's not to minimize their experience, but how much happier they are than most of the people that you encounter on a daily basis who have way more to be grateful for.

Right.

And when they have less, that their mental health is better. In many cases, like, their diet is better, and they're just generally happier.

Yeah. It's— I'm not saying it really is amazing.

I'm not saying they're better off.

No, they're not.

I'm not saying they're happier.

Sure. There's a difference. No, no, you're, you're exactly right. I mean, you know what, we saw tons of kids, right? You know what they were playing with?

Like a stick.

Yeah. and rocks. Like, like one kid was like, basically said, I bet you I can hit that tree limb. But that's how he was playing. I mean, and he did, by the way, quite a bit. Quite often he was hitting the tree limb. Uh, but, but the thing is, like, the kids are playing and the adults are working.

Yeah.

That's, that's what it is. They're dirty. I mean, you know, they don't, they don't have a good place to, to wash and those sorts of things. But I'll tell you a quick story. This happened on a trip coming back from Nicaragua. One of the workers was driving me to the airport, and we were just talking, and he said— I asked him, I said, is this your truck or is this the mission's truck? And he said, no, it's not mine, but I'm saving to try to get one, but they're, you know, they're expensive.

Yeah.

And he said, do you have a truck? I said, yeah, I do. He said, what is it? And I said, uh, it's, it's an '04 GMC Sierra. This is my last vehicle I had. And he goes, he goes, oh, the 5.3-liter? And I was like, yeah, yes, it is the 5.3-liter. How do you know that? And he's like, I, I just enjoy that kind of stuff.

Yeah.

I was like, okay, cool. And he goes, is that the only vehicle you have? I was like, no, no, no, we have a We have a minivan too. He was like, oh really, what is it? I was like, well, it's a 2014 Honda Odyssey. He was like, oh, those are great, those are great. He was like, do you have a house? I said, yeah, yeah, I do. He said, he said, how big is it? I'm like, stop asking questions, man. Like, you're asking too many questions. And I was like, uh, you know, it's, uh, and, and it like 1,900 square feet. Mhm. It's got 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. And he was like, really? And I said, yeah. And he goes, you have kids? I was like, yeah, I

got 2 kids. He was like, are you rich? That was— that's how that happened. Yeah. Are you rich? And I looked at him, I said, yeah, I am. Mhm. And I'm not rich.

Yeah.

I mean, by, by any standard that you and I— where I live.

Yeah.

a 1,900-square-foot house in the neighborhood it was in.

Yeah.

Uh, I mean, I'm driving an '04 truck, you know, like there's nothing about this that screams luxury. There's nothing about this that makes you go, that guy, he's living the lap of luxury over here.

Right. Yeah.

You know, but like there's no other way I could answer him other than to say yes. I'm absolutely rich. And I think that's the thing that I, that I get. And, and, and, you know, we, we could talk about a lot of stuff on here, but, uh, sometimes just putting some stuff into perspective and go, you know what, be, be thankful for that, you know, 2-bathroom house that you've got.

Right.

That the toilet flushes every time you, you push the lever.

Yep.

Right? Be happy whenever you, you pull the knob on the shower that the water comes on and you can shower after a long, hot day, you know? Mm-hmm.

Um, that it's hot water.

It's hot water. Absolutely. Um, and you know, we were complaining last week about a $300 surcharge on, on a water bill, and what'd you, what'd you do? Just paid it. Oh, it was electric.

It was electrical bill.

You paid it.

Yeah.

Right. And, and like that kind of stuff, I mean, I'm, I just, anyway, we're blessed people and, um, you know, we're doing the best we can.

Yeah. But It also makes you more irritated at those that whine about not having more.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, that's where— I mean, I get that. I think the better perspective would be to just walk away and be grateful, but it just really grates on me that when I hear people like, well, I don't make enough, and it's not a living wage, and I'm like, you don't know what a living wage is.

Right. Well, and that's the thing. A living wage is what you what you live on, right? Like, you're— I, I think that that's something to put into perspective too, is like so many people live way past their means where we are.

Yeah.

You know, their credit cards are maxed out, they've got loans out for, you know, 3— 2, 3 vehicles and a massive mortgage on a home. And like, if they lost their job today, like, screwed. they're screwed, right? And so they wind up doing what they have to to live the way that they want to.

Yep.

Rather than living the way they want to so they can do whatever they want to.

Yeah.

Right? And, uh, I don't know, there, there's a lot to be learned, and I don't have all the answers. All I know is that I think that, uh, that whenever, whenever we're sitting here talking about home renovations, when we're talking about, you know, hiring contractors and Um, you know, owning your home better and all the things that go into that. Um, you know, I guess just, just remember that, you know, there, there are places where if you've got an extra $500, like, let me know. Send, send me an email at info@homeownersshow.com. If you got an extra $500, you want to help build a latrine down in Honduras for someone who some politician's gonna promise them a toilet and they're never

gonna get one.

Yeah.

I can put that money to good use.

And, uh, I mean, rather than it going to like a, a faceless nonprofit, like, you, you know the people who have boots on the ground that are actually going to get some stuff done.

That's exactly right.

So yeah, so yeah, and I do have some answers for those whiners.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I, I think I do too.

School will be in session. It won't be long. It won't be long.

So anyway, I don't have anything else, man. I feel like it's a little bit of a somber ending here to this. It's kind of a somber episode in a lot of ways.

In a lot of ways. No, I think, I think, I mean, you know, if you have a house, you are a blessed person.

Oh, absolutely.

I mean, blessed, blessed beyond what most people in this world live and experience every single day. So don't take it for granted. Enjoy it. Enjoy it for what it is. And, and, you know, So many of us waste our time looking at our home not as our home, but in comparison to what somebody else has.

Yes, that's true.

That's better, um, or what we perceive as better. Um, and, you know, like, part of, part of being a good homeowner is enjoying the home that you have.

Yeah. And taking care of it.

Yeah. You know, like, like, look, I, I, I love where we live now. And I hated the last house.

Right.

That we were in. I'm also super grateful for that house. I mean, like, we became—

It afforded you the opportunity to live here, didn't it?

Absolutely. It did. You know, and we became a family in that house.

Sure.

It was, I mean, like, you know, like, even though I didn't like the neighborhood, I didn't necessarily— the house wasn't my favorite. It wasn't built like I like, but all those things. But, like, it was good for me. It was good to me.

timing was perfect for it.

Yeah. So, you know, anyway, if, if you haven't yet, please subscribe to the show.

Yeah. And specifically, we're trying to bump some YouTube numbers right now.

You don't even have to watch us on YouTube. Just go over there and hit the subscribe button. That's really all we're asking.

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Give a, give a click. Give a click.

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You're just in a, yeah. You're having an ambitious evening. That's right.

Yeah, I mean, why not? Why not? I mean, help us out.

Yeah, so join a carpool. That way you don't have to drive and you can be on your phone.

That's true.

Giving us all the love.

And you're gonna have to do that, uh, this weekend because I-45 South is gonna be closed for 3 days. Completely closed.

Glad I don't live down there.

Don't— do not try to go I-45 South Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. You're gonna be disappointed.

What are they doing there?

So the San Jacinto Bridge is, like, broken. Oh, really? So, yeah. I mean, you've driven across it, and, like, there's a big plate across the bridge with, like, big bolts through it, and it's like, whenever you drive over it.

Oh, so they're fixing it.

It's because the bridge has literally started separating at this point.

And Houston has decided it would be bad if people died on a bridge.

Well, here's the thing. The, the big joke was Conroe's trying to separate from The Woodlands. That was the whole big— the whole big, like, seceding from The Woodlands, uh, unsuccessfully. Did you say that back in the day?

Um, this was like in the, in the late '90s. Uh, there was no bridge between Spring and The Woodlands.

Oh, really?

Over that, uh, what is that? Yeah, I don't know where the creek is right there. Yeah, but like, you know, Gosling, like you could like literally stand at the end of Gosling and look across the creek and see The Woodlands.

Oh, that's weird.

And it was, it was a massive fight for a long time as to who was going to pay for the bridge. To connect those 2. Wow. Yeah.

If it, if it were me and I had the money, I would pay for it to get people over to my side.

Well, you know, if you're an individual, it's like, yeah, I'll build it and I'll put a toll.

Exactly.

Right there. And you can all pay me a nickel every time you go across.

Yep.

Because can you imagine not having that now?

Oh geez. I mean, that I'm over there regularly and I don't live anywhere near that area. Yeah. But there's good places to eat.

There are good places to eat. Going over there on Friday, matter of fact.

Yeah, where are you gonna eat?

Uh, The Refuge. Oh yeah, but that's over on Crookinole.

Either way, it's good stuff.

Oh heck yeah.

So we're not going to the Rangers game? Astros-Rangers game?

No, Friday night my mom— my mom bailed on my dad for their anniversary. Oh geez. I'm taking him out to dinner.

Good for him.

So she's, she's down in Florida.

Get him an old-fashioned and a glass of wine.

Yes.

That's what he wants.

We're gonna have a humdinger of an evening. That's right, man.

Well, cool. Well, uh, listen, thank you for, uh, for subscribing, because we know you're going to. Thank you for subscribing. Thank you for, uh, listening to today's episode and, uh, for listening to us on all the social media platforms— Facebook, YouTube, all those things. And, um, we're glad you're with us. And don't forget, if you have any questions, you want to contact us, info@homeownersshow.com is the way to do that. But thanks for being here.

We're here each and every Tuesday.

Until next time, we'll see you later.

See ya.