1
00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,359
Speaker 1: Hey, when it comes to podcasts listening, are you like me?

2
00:00:02,799 --> 00:00:05,559
I mean, it's like television surfing. You're like all over

3
00:00:05,559 --> 00:00:07,440
the place looking for that one thing that you can

4
00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:10,439
add to your moment of now. Be it forest stories,

5
00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:13,560
be it rockstar stories, talking with a chef, whatever you're

6
00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:16,879
looking for. That's what ero dot net is all about.

7
00:00:17,199 --> 00:00:20,879
Arrooe dot net. The searching is over. It's all in

8
00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:25,359
one place. Enjoy the exploration. Hey, thanks for being a

9
00:00:25,359 --> 00:00:28,879
part of the conversation. Welcome to Forest Stories, a series

10
00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:32,079
of short winded adventures within a collection of skyscraping trees,

11
00:00:32,119 --> 00:00:34,719
stuck feet first and Georgia Clay right here in Carolina.

12
00:00:35,439 --> 00:00:37,320
It's been a huge part of my daily journey for

13
00:00:37,359 --> 00:00:40,240
over thirty three years. I Am the Poet in the Forest,

14
00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:43,600
a children's series written and recorded in the nineteen nineties.

15
00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:47,399
It's grown into multiple podcasts that now reach around the world,

16
00:00:47,719 --> 00:00:49,840
and none of it would be possible without this forest

17
00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,799
right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina, at the base

18
00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:56,920
of Heartbreak Hills. It's a sign that reads Rainbow Forest. Well,

19
00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:59,759
it's time you get to meet what's inspired several generations

20
00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:03,880
long before the paved paths decorated with colorful homes colonized

21
00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:07,359
around this beautiful lake, slow moving stream, flatland, swamps, and

22
00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:10,840
array of natural animals. There were families and business owners

23
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,040
who are said to have raced into this area for

24
00:01:13,079 --> 00:01:16,560
the beauty of the land, wild roses, migratory birds, and

25
00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:20,400
wild grapevines. Those before me either forgot to write about

26
00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:24,560
it or it's buried somewhere inside their family tree. Hey,

27
00:01:24,599 --> 00:01:26,519
thanks for being a part of the conversation.

28
00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:31,959
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the forest. The dead possum right here

29
00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:34,719
in the center of the forest. I'm not shocked the

30
00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,079
temperatures the way that they are. I'm not shocked by

31
00:01:38,159 --> 00:01:40,920
the way that people act and react to the presence

32
00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,079
of anything that is in the shape of another animal

33
00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:47,959
besides human form. I can't even take an educated or

34
00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:50,680
uneducated guess as to what has happened to this possum.

35
00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:55,840
I just know that something very dramatic has happened to

36
00:01:55,920 --> 00:02:00,079
a skull, and the blood is still pretty fresh. I

37
00:02:00,079 --> 00:02:02,239
don't know if it was a coyote. I don't know

38
00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,480
if it was a hawk or even an owl. I

39
00:02:05,599 --> 00:02:07,879
just know that in the center of this force that

40
00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:11,080
we walk every day, there is a dead possum, and

41
00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:13,719
you know, so many people would go, oh my god,

42
00:02:14,039 --> 00:02:17,080
it's just a dead, ugly animal. Yeah, that's not me,

43
00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:19,560
that's not me at all. I'll go home and do

44
00:02:19,599 --> 00:02:22,599
the research on this and find out, you know, the

45
00:02:22,599 --> 00:02:25,560
importance of the possum in your animal kingdom and your

46
00:02:25,599 --> 00:02:29,280
animal life. Ted Andrews is such a brilliant speaker when

47
00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:32,439
it comes to animals speak and what the presence of

48
00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,439
these animals moving through your life actually mean and how

49
00:02:35,439 --> 00:02:37,719
you can enhance your life. It was a game changer

50
00:02:37,719 --> 00:02:40,639
for me back in the nineteen nineties because going into

51
00:02:40,879 --> 00:02:44,479
the studies of tote of animals and the power of

52
00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:49,199
animals in your life is such a positive reflection of

53
00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,960
learning how to love all living things. That includes spiders

54
00:02:53,039 --> 00:02:56,120
as well, and mosquitos and pesty flies, those things that

55
00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:59,159
drive us all insane. And yet here I am at

56
00:02:59,159 --> 00:03:02,960
the sport today. It's barely forty degrees the low to

57
00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,280
night fifteen degrees, and of course I'm sitting here looking

58
00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,199
for every single animal in the sky as well as

59
00:03:09,199 --> 00:03:11,159
the trees, trying to figure out what they're doing to

60
00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:13,759
embrace what it's going to be a severely cold night

61
00:03:14,439 --> 00:03:17,840
only only for a split second to look down at

62
00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:21,039
my feet and there's a dead possum. Did I see

63
00:03:21,039 --> 00:03:22,439
it twenty five or thirty feet away?

64
00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:22,599
Speaker 3: No?

65
00:03:22,719 --> 00:03:25,520
Speaker 2: I didn't, No, not until I got on the scene.

66
00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,159
And then Jazzy, who takes this transition, walk with me

67
00:03:28,199 --> 00:03:30,759
each and every time she looks at me, looks at

68
00:03:30,759 --> 00:03:34,520
the possum and says, Dad, this is a true crime.

69
00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:37,719
I want to find out who murdered this possum. I'm

70
00:03:37,719 --> 00:03:39,919
with you, Jazzy. I want to find out who murdered

71
00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:43,039
this possum. That is not normal blood, That is not

72
00:03:43,159 --> 00:03:45,599
something that the possum fell out of the tree. You know,

73
00:03:45,639 --> 00:03:48,120
I've never seen a possum in a tree. I've always

74
00:03:48,159 --> 00:03:51,000
seen the possum run around, scamper around on the ground

75
00:03:51,439 --> 00:03:54,759
and run between trees, but not to jump from trees

76
00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:57,199
and or to hang out. But you know, history books

77
00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,479
will tell you that that's exactly what possums do, and

78
00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:02,240
that's what they do with they're young, as well as

79
00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,840
they cling to them. So Jazzy is on a true

80
00:04:05,919 --> 00:04:10,319
crime scene right now, trying to figure out what happened

81
00:04:10,879 --> 00:04:14,439
to this possum. What were the moments before this possum

82
00:04:14,639 --> 00:04:17,399
took such a blunt hit to the top of the head.

83
00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:21,319
Where did the blood flow in which direction did the

84
00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,240
blow come from? We need to get our computer rise

85
00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:28,879
little digital devices out here and try to piece together like.

86
00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:31,920
Speaker 3: They do on CSI and to be able to figure

87
00:04:31,959 --> 00:04:36,759
out what is going on inside that forest. We've got

88
00:04:37,399 --> 00:04:41,639
a murder on our hands, a possum murder.

89
00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:44,959
Speaker 2: I'm back home in the studio and the reason why

90
00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:49,319
I've decided to extend this was because I mentioned the research.

91
00:04:49,439 --> 00:04:51,959
When it comes to animals, speak from Ted Andrews and

92
00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,240
other people who believe in the power of the animals

93
00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:56,480
that are around us and how they're in control. And

94
00:04:56,519 --> 00:04:59,000
we're truly not all we are. We are part of

95
00:04:59,079 --> 00:05:02,519
the journey of all living things. But the possum. And

96
00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:04,560
by the way, a possum does not start with a P,

97
00:05:05,079 --> 00:05:07,480
it's an O. And why we don't say a possum

98
00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:10,199
opossum here in the States, I have no idea, but

99
00:05:10,319 --> 00:05:14,800
it's true animal kingdom message for the human which has

100
00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:18,079
no O in front of it, like the opossum. In

101
00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:20,959
order to accomplish whatever you've been striving to achieve, it

102
00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:23,800
will be necessary to stretch yourself a bit further than

103
00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,319
what you think you can. The situation you find yourself

104
00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:30,920
in will require that. It'll take a great actor in

105
00:05:30,959 --> 00:05:34,399
that you'll have to exhibit behavior that's the opposite of

106
00:05:34,439 --> 00:05:38,959
what you're actually feeling and thinking. Holy crap, how many

107
00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:41,680
times have we been in a situation like this where

108
00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:43,600
you have to sit there and fake your way, or

109
00:05:43,639 --> 00:05:46,360
as I call it, the candy coated plastic bathroom mere smile.

110
00:05:46,759 --> 00:05:48,439
Here's what they say, though, and this is the message

111
00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,879
from the apossum, and that is do some planning and

112
00:05:51,959 --> 00:05:55,040
develop an effective strategy for the object of your concern,

113
00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,920
with backup plants in place just in case this doesn't

114
00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,279
work out. So you see how that is a walk

115
00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:04,360
through a forest on a very cold day with the

116
00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:07,720
tempierastures dropping down to fifteen degrees above zero. Tonight we

117
00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,160
happen to come across the murder victim.

118
00:06:11,639 --> 00:06:13,439
Speaker 3: Done Done, Done, Dune.

119
00:06:14,959 --> 00:06:18,000
Speaker 2: And in doing this true crime story, the goal is

120
00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:21,120
to find out what is the spiritual message.

121
00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:22,279
Speaker 3: Of the possum.

122
00:06:22,639 --> 00:06:25,560
Speaker 2: I know it's O possum, and someone's gonna say that

123
00:06:25,759 --> 00:06:28,680
I'm saying it wrong because the O is silent. Then

124
00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:30,959
why waste all that ink to put it on there?

125
00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:31,199
Speaker 3: Right?

126
00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:35,079
Speaker 2: What kind of ink Are we wasting on the font anyway?

127
00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:36,839
It's just something to think about that when you come

128
00:06:36,879 --> 00:06:40,519
across these living things around you, no matter where you walk,

129
00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:43,160
at your own forest, learn from it all.

130
00:06:43,639 --> 00:06:45,079
Speaker 3: And that's what this is about.

131
00:06:45,319 --> 00:06:48,040
Speaker 2: Be a better actor, because the things that are changing

132
00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:51,279
around you, they don't need how serious you are in

133
00:06:51,319 --> 00:06:53,879
the heart. Sometimes you just got to be the actor.

134
00:06:54,319 --> 00:06:56,079
Thanks for being a part of the conversation.