Ep. 1 - Pete The Pool Guy

00:02
Welcome to Valley Heat. I'm Doug Dugay. This is a podcast about the neighborhood, my neighborhood, the Burbank Equestrian district. Rancho Equestrian district right here in Los Angeles, California. Brought to you by Jan Davis shirts and pants. It's not just a shirt. It's a Jan Davis shirt. Jan lives right here in Burbank. Makes all of her clothing by hand with organic cottons and other great fabrics. She's great with patterns. I've seen so much of her stuff. She does great stuff with polka dots, works with stripes, those Florida lease, New Orleans curlies. My wife has a great pair of her ladybug pants. She has a whole line of ladybug clothing. Little tiny ladybugs in them. Really, really nice stuff. You can find her online at jandavis biz. Or you can see her in person at the farmers market in North Hollywood. Studio City, not North Hollywood.

00:54
And you can see them all in Studio City. I previously said. North Hollywood. The farmers market in Studio City. Jan Robbins shirts and pants is not just a shirt. It's a Jan Robbins shirt.

01:03
It's not a shirt. It's not a shirt. It's a Jan Robinson shirt.

01:11
Sorry. Her name was Jan Robinson. I had that wrong. All right, let's start the first episode of Valley Heat.

01:20
These are the chronicles of the branch of equestrian district California. Currently insurance adjuster in the Burbank area. I also live in the Burbank area. Serious issue. Someone has parked their Jaguar outside. I just think it's an inappropriate thing to do as a neighbor doorstep.

01:48
So the first thing I wanted to talk about today is that my pool guy, Pete, is using my garbage can as a drug drop. That is, he's putting drugs in the top of a garbage can. And then someone comes by and picks him up late at night. And I know this because my neighbor across the street, who is up very early in the morning, says that a car is pulling up before the sun comes up on trash day and is just someone gets out of. The car, and they grab a package from the top of the recycle bin, and they just get back in their car and they drive away. I've gone through several scenarios. It could be some kind of stolen merchandise or equipment. I guess it could be money. But the clearest conclusion I've come to is that it's drugs.

02:31
And I'll tell you why. I've actually confirmed that it is drugs, and I know who's doing it. It's Pete. Pete has been the pool guy here since we moved in. Not that we chose Pete. He chose himself for us. And I'll tell you more about that later. First thing you need to know about Pete is Boston is his favorite band. How do I know that? Well, because he's cranking it out of his truck every time he comes over, and I'll get into that. But first, this sponsor, this segment of Valley Heat is brought to you by heavy duty trucks. There's all kinds of brands of trucks you can buy. Don't just buy a regular truck. Make it a heavy duty truck. If you're in the market for a truck right now, ask your dealer how you can make your truck a heavy duty truck.

03:14
Whether you're buying domestic or import, there's all kinds of imports. Heavy duty trucks don't go regular truck. Go heavy duty. Also brought to you by tall handlebar motorcycles. I don't know if you've ever seen those motorcycles that are driving down the road with the really tall handlebars, and the guy kind of has to drive it with his hands up in the air like he's in the middle of a stick up. Rick Merrill runs one of the greatest motorcycle shops I've ever seen. He'll make your handlebars tall. He'll also make your front wheel go out really far in front of the motorcycle. I don't know if you've ever seen that, where the steering column extends about five or 6ft in front of the motorcycle. He can do that. If you want to fascinate a kid, you drive one of these motorcycles that this guy's creating.

04:00
Don't just drive a motorcycle. Drive a tall handlebar motorcycle with a little wheel that's way in front of the motorcycle. I don't know what you call them funny bikes. There's nothing here in the copy about what he calls this model specifically, but Rick Merrill's Tall and Long Shop. Visit him on Magnolia Boulevard, or you can find all of his products and a gallery of all of the work he's done at Talandlong Biz. So back to Pete, my pool guy who is using my garbage can as a drug drop. I know he's doing this because my neighbor across the street, Mike Bianca we'll call him Mike B. He's up very early in the morning. Well, he says he's up early in the morning because he trains for a Junior league baseball team. But I actually think he's up early because he has a drinking problem.

04:46
He drinks in his car. That's Faye, by the way. That's my wife. She's the engineer on this, and she's writing the levels. I think it's okay if I just say his name.

04:56
Okay, I'm going to let you do this, okay?

04:59
Are you going to come back? Okay. So she's mad because I'm using Mike Bianca's name, but hopefully she'll come back and we can talk to her a little bit more later. Back to Mike Bianca, my neighbor with the drinking problem. He says that before the sun comes up on garbage day, a car pulls up every Thursday morning, and that someone gets out, and they grab a package out of my recycle bin very deliberately, and they just get back in their car and they drive away. So I thought about it. I figured out it's got to be a drug drop. Someone's distributing something for pickup. It's a really smart idea, actually. It's a great way to traffic something illegal is to just use someone else's recycle bin or garbage can.

05:41
But I know it's Pete, because Pete has been our pool guy for quite a while, and he's the guy who, after he cleans the pool, he takes the garbage out for us. So he's the only person with access to it other than the people that are here in the house. Me and my wife Faye and my son Phil. And knowing that, I went out last week after Pete left, and I opened the garbage that he put out on the curb, and I found what is definitely drugs. And I'll tell you more about that right after this. Sponsor. This segment of Valley Heat is sponsored by Doorstep App. Doorstep App is an app for your phone or your computer. It's like Facebook for your neighborhood.

06:17
If Facebook was also a surveillance and security system, hook up any third party camera to the Doorstep app, and you can share any footage of stuff going on outside your house with the rest of your neighborhood. Show your neighbors what's going on, and let them know if you think it's weird. And they can let you know if you think it's weird or if they think it's weird. And you can also just chat with them. It's a good way to make friends. It's like Facebook for your neighborhood and also like security system. I know I've had a few people come to my doorstep when I wasn't here, and my camera picks it up. And at night, it's hard. People just kind of look nondescript and demonic. Their eyes are sort of glowing, so it's hard to identify them.

06:58
I know the police will look at the footage, but it's hard to identify someone with that footage. But if you were able to share it with the rest of the neighborhood, maybe someone else could identify that person. And then you could also have made a friend, make a friend and catch whoever the hell's taking your Amazon packages. Oh, and the cops have all access to that footage already in the neighborhood, so you can share it with them or not, because they already have. It be a part of a police monitoring system that you didn't even have to sign up for doorstep app. So back to the Pete story.

07:28
I went out there last week after he left, and sure enough, I found a two or three pound bag of covered in brown packing tape in the shape of a square, and I can see some clear plastic underneath it. And it's clearly drugs. I mean, it's probably cocaine. Could be heroin. I would only know that from movies or, like, a couple other times. So I decided that I wanted to ask Pete about it, and I texted him, and I said, hey, did you put something in the garbage? And he said no. And I wasn't sure what to say. And so I said, hey, I left something in there. Did you find a screwdriver? I bought a really expensive screwdriver and I think I accidentally threw it in there. I don't even know why I told that story.

08:09
It was just whatever came to my head. He said, no, I didn't see a screwdriver, but I'll keep an eye out for it. And then he texted me again. He said, hey, how much did you pay for the screwdriver? I said like 2020, $9. And then he texted back, wow, that's an expensive screwdriver. Could you send me a picture of it so I know what I'm looking for? And then I texted him, what do you need a picture for? And he said, I just want to know what a $29 screwdriver looks like. So then I had to go online and I was researching expensive screwdrivers. I found this one screwdriver at Home Depot, but it was like $280 because it was a motorized those power drills. And then every other screwdriver was like just like a large screwdriver.

08:51
And I couldn't find anything over twelve or $13. So I really had to do a lot of research. And finally I found something online that was like just a hand screwdriver, but you held it like you would a normal screwdriver. But it had like a little motor in it and it was around $27. And so that was close enough. And I sent that to him and he just never texted back. So I started thinking, was he just messing with me? Does he know I'm talking about the drugs and he knows I'm making up this story? I don't know. And then I started thinking, wait, this guy's putting drugs in my garbage can. He's using our house as a drug drop. Why am I making up screwdriver stories? But I did it. Then I started thinking about my history with Pete.

09:35
And when I think about it, I realize, of course it's Pete. Because here's something that's been going on for quite a while, is Pete has been washing his truck in my driveway. I found out a couple months ago, which I really wouldn't have a problem with if you asked me. I mean, if you have to wash your car, okay. But I walked out there a couple of months ago. He's out there washing his truck in my driveway with a huge soapy bucket. He's got a giant sponge. He's got cut off jean shorts. They're so short that the pockets are coming out of the bottom of them. He's in flip flops. He's got all the doors wide open playing a Boston song. I mean, picture just a Mountain Dew ed from the 80s. See if I can find this. He's playing this top volume.

10:27
So I hear this from inside my house. I come outside, he's got his cars covered in soap. He's got a bucket and a sponge, got the doors wide open. He's playing this. He's got his wife in the car. She's smoking and nursing at the same time, which that's fine. You have to nurse, but you're smoking around a baby. And I go, hey, man, what's going on? And he goes, oh, hey, sorry we couldn't get a babysitter, and I got to wash my truck. Is it cool if I just do this real quick? And I okay? I thought, that's fine. I get it. You don't have a lot of time. You can get a babysitter. I'm okay with that. And I go, okay, that's fine. Just take your time. And finally, I walk away. But as I walk away, I hear him.

11:18
He cranks it back up. I feel like I was visiting my house. I felt like I was visiting someone else's house, but not my house. And he's got that Calvin peeing on another thing in the back of his window. And I should have known that was a sign back when I saw that. I've never been able to retain a friendship with anyone who has Calvin peeing on something stuck to the back of his car. And I've tried any of my friends from junior high that I've tried to connect with on Facebook. It just doesn't work. I mean, I like, just, do we need to see him peeing on a thing? And then there's the one where Calvin's praying to a cross or something. Did the guy who made Calvin know it was gonna be used like this?

12:03
I thought it was just a cartoon about a kid with an imaginary friend, like an imaginary tiger friend. And then truck sticker people go and write all these other chapters where he pees on stuff and becomes an evangelical Christian. Remember Calvin? Yeah. You know what he's doing now? What? He's a minister who pees on stuff. The point is, Pete shows up all the time. He's always cranking progressive rock songs. His wife gets in the pool a lot. They have a young baby, and I'm fine with all of it. Shouldn't you just know, and even not asking, I was okay with it, but it's always like, he's pushing a little bit. Every week I hear another progressive rock song, and it's hold on just a second. I just realized he's actually here cleaning the pool today. Just a second. He just knocked on the door.

12:54
Hey, Pete. What's up? Hi, man.

12:56
Hi.

12:57
You remember Candice, right? Yeah. Hi, Candace.

13:01
Hey. Sorry. Is it okay that I got in?

13:03
I told her she'd get in real quick. No, that's fine.

13:09
Baby's asleep. She's fine.

13:11
Thanks, Brad. Okay, I'm back. So he's out there right now cleaning the pool. His wife is in the pool. The baby is sleeping next to the pool. Did he just ask her to do a cannonball? Okay, they're doing cannonballs. Okay, hold on. He's knocking on the door again. Hey, did you knock on the door?

13:43
Do you have an apple I could cut up or just some applesauce?

13:49
I don't know if I have any applesauce, but I might have some apples. My wife's in here. She doesn't know anyone's in the pool, so she'll let her know. And thanks, Brad. I'll get an apple. Cut it up.

14:01
What are you doing?

14:03
Cutting up an apple.

14:08
There's a baby in the pool?

14:11
No, his wife is in the pool.

14:13
Where's the baby?

14:15
The baby's right there. She just woke up and she asked me if I could cut up an apple.

14:20
Why is his wife in the pool?

14:24
That's a good question. Let me just do this real quick.

14:31
Who's the apple?

14:33
It's for the baby. Okay, I've got some cut up apple here.

14:42
Can you grab me a towel?

14:44
A towel? Thanks, Brad. Yeah, just a second. Let me grab one. She needs a towel.

14:54
Are you serious?

14:56
So you heard everything that happened there? They just left. She took my towel, by the way. Drove away blasting that 38 Special song again. You know what? It's not a 38 Special song. It was a lover boy song. So I can find it here. So he gets in his truck with his wife, he rolls down all the windows, cranks this song. He puts on his sunglasses, lights a cigarette, practically peels out of the driveway. Baby's still crying in the back, leans out of the truck and goes, hey, dude, sorry again about all the racket. I'll see you next week. By the way, I have confirmed he did drop the drugs in the garbage can. They're in there right now. Tonight, I'm going to wait outside and see who comes by to pick that up.

15:46
And I'm going to either confront them, I'm going to follow them. That's going to happen. Episode Two sorry. I've heard more classic rock in the last three weeks with this guy cleaning the pool than I've heard since I was in junior high. Sorry. I've heard more classic rock with this guy cleaning the pool than I've heard since I was in junior high. And I don't have anything against classic rock.

16:21
Why do I keep doing that?

16:23
That 38 Special song and that Boston song and even some old Journey stuff. It reminds me when I grew up in Arizona, there were a lot of kids that would beat me up and they all had those cutoff shorts and crossbows in the trunk, throwing stars kind of guys that collect samurai swords. Those guys would beat me to a pulp every day that I would walk home from the bus and they would always be listening to something like Boston or Journey. Some lover boy song. When they pull up in a truck. This one kid, Peter Carney, would always jump out of the back of the truck and sock me right in the stomach. Then he'd jump back in the truck and they'd drive off, cranking. Something like, I don't know, what's that band with a big dragon on the COVID Asia. Yes.

17:15
Some Asia song. What's? A big Asia song. And it's nothing against these bands it's just what I associate with them, I guess. I'd say it's any band from the didn't have a picture of the band on the COVID of the album, but instead had a picture of a spaceship or a dragon. That's Journey, that's Boston, Asia, I don't know, a bunch of other stuff. Anything a group of kids in the 80s would blow dry their hair to before they headed out on Friday night. Everybody's working for the weekend or something with 55 acoustic guitars and seven guitar solos. You know those bands where everybody in the band played guitar? You know, the song at Stark? And it was like, how many guitars did it take to make this intro? Ario Speedwagon. That's another one.

18:03
Definitely had spaceships or something on the COVID Was that just a whole thing in the 80s where they just put spaceships on the COVID of the album? And even the solos? It wasn't just one guy soloing. It was like, two guys playing the same note. Let me find one of those songs. Okay, this is a perfect example. Listen to this. How many guitars is that? It's at least four guitars. And then the solos are like everyone in the band is playing the solo. Listen to this. Here comes three guitars playing the solo at the same time. You think three guitars is enough? How stone do you have to be in the studio? Am I stoned? Or do we need four more guitars? Andy, we want to go home. Yeah, well, everyone get out their guitars and you will go home.

19:06
When you all play this solo, that includes you, drummer, whatever your name is. Andy. Probably also, every progressive rock 80s band member was named Andy or Jason. I'm getting off a point. But it was always like Andy DeSantis or Jason Carulo. Sorry. These bands get me heated. They always make me think of some guy in a pair of cutoff shorts water skiing to my house to punch me in the stomach. Look, guys, we gotta decide who's gonna play third guitar. Maybe we don't need a drummer. The point is, this music makes me think of these guys that used to beat me up when I was in junior high. Boston especially. So it's a legal issue, obviously, with the drug thing that's going on out here. But it's also an emotional issue for me because this guy's really bringing some stuff up.

19:52
Going to show up to clean a pool and crank 38 Special, whatever it is, and have your wife doing Cannonballs in the pool. Do I have any apples to cut up for the baby? All right, it's time for another sponsor. Jan Robinson is a local Burbank resident who makes her own shirts and pants. It's not just a shirt or pair of pants. It's a Jan Robinson shirt or pair of pants. But Jan Robinson also makes her own hats. It's not just a hat. It's a Jan Robinson hat. Jan Robinson shirts, pants, and hats. It's not just a shirt, pair of pants, or hat, it's a Jan Robinson. Any of those three things. So the other topic I wanted to talk about today besides Pete.

20:34
Well, it's more of a question, and I'd like you to email me any thoughts you have on this at Valleyheatpodcast@hotmail.com. Is it okay to email someone's wife a mermaid emoji? Because if you look at a mermaid emoji, I think it's somewhat sexual in nature. It's naked from the waist up. And my wife's yoga instructor who does private yoga sessions here, he lately has been texting that mermaid emoji at the end of texts. And I brought up to her, she said, oh, it's just the same thing as a smiley face to tie off a text or a thumbs up, but I don't know. So here's what happened, actually. So he was doing a private session here at the house, in the living room with my wife.

21:23
And I know a lot of people listen to music when they're doing yoga, but during their cooldowns lately, he's not listening to that spa type of music. He's listening to, like, a lot of really romantic type of he's listening to this Kate Bush song while they're cooling down. Here, let me play this. So they're cooling down in the living room, and I walk in, and this is playing. There's incense and candles at least three different places in the room. And I go, oh, this is interesting music to listen to while you're doing yoga. And she just goes, which I understand you guys are trying to cool down, but listen to this song.

22:13
Please God, you can.

22:17
I mean, that's a pretty heavy song to listen to after a 90 minutes yoga session. So anyway, he leaves, and then I can see she's doing some texting, some venmo thing with him paying for the session. I see that he sends a mermaid emoji. And I said, oh, is that a mermaid emoji? She said, what are you looking at my phone? I said, I just saw a mermaid. So I guess, yeah, I am looking at your phone. And she said, it's just like when you're tying off a text with a smiley face or a thumbs up, which I mean, it's naked. It is a naked emoji. There aren't other naked emojis. I feel like the mermaid is, you know, like if someone's going to cheat on somebody, they sort of feel out these boundaries.

23:01
They sort of do something that could be ambiguous, like, hey, it's just a mermaid. Or here's this naked thing. What's it mean to you? It actually would be great if I could get her to come in here and talk about it right now, but I think I heard her car pull away. Let me just call her. Hey.

23:20
Hello.

23:21
Hi, hon. Did you leave?

23:23
I did leave. I left a note.

23:28
Why?

23:29
Because I don't feel comfortable staying in the house if you won't call the police, there's a drug drop in our garbage can, and it's become apparent that you think it's your job to handle it.

23:46
Can I just talk to him about it? Well, the thing about for me is the thing for me is, like, I don't want to call the police, and then he gets arrested, and then someone comes, and then there's some sort of, like, revenge thing.

24:00
Once you start using the word revenge, you're in a movie. That's that's, I guess, my concern. It's escalating.

24:11
Can I just wait tonight and see is Phil with you?

24:16
Yes, I said he's with where would he be?

24:18
Hi, Phil. So can I just wait outside and see if I can find the guy that's picking the package up from the garbage?

24:33
And do what?

24:35
Just follow him, see what he's doing. Tell him to stop doing it. If I were to just say, hey, can you just not use my house? It might better than if I call the police, because, I mean, what if I get Pete arrested? He's PETA bread. No, I said, what if I get Pete arrested? He has a baby.

25:00
He's got a yeah, I mean, you have a point. It's just that not a situation that I think is safe to live in. Okay, so we're not going to be there. We're going to go.

25:15
We're going to your dad's. I guess I'll do the mixing on the episode, then. You said you were going to ride the levels on this.

25:23
You are actually using this podcast to say our neighbor's name out loud and say that he has a drinking problem on the podcast.

25:32
Well, he does have a drinking problem. He's not going to listen to this. I don't think. You think he's going to listen to this.

25:38
It'd be like smack talking someone at a party, but leaving the smack talk hanging in the room after you left, maybe for them to find it.

25:49
That metaphor was really long. Can you tell me what it's one.

25:53
Thing if you are in private.

25:56
Okay, I'm not trying to smack talk. I thought it was interesting information to talk about. What? Maybe he really is playing Junior League baseball. When you put it like that, you're right. I can see what you mean.

26:12
Recipe for a neighborhood.

26:16
Can I ask you about one other thing? Do you think it's inappropriate for Donovan to send you a mermaid emoji?

26:26
You're saying this on the podcast? You're bringing this back, the mermaid?

26:31
Well, I'm also planning on talking to him about it. I'm going to call him about it on the podcast. You guys, I come in, you guys are cooling down, listening to Kate Bush. He's got a candle burning.

26:41
It's personal training with a massage.

26:44
What if I was getting, like, a piano lesson and you came in and were just laying on the floor listening to One More Night by Phil.

26:53
Collins, and I think if that were part of the lesson, then I guess I would not be jumping to conclusions.

27:02
So you walk in. I'm laying on the floor with my female piano teacher, and we're staring at the ceiling, there's a candle burning, and we're listening to this song. What do you think?

27:16
Why are you playing that song?

27:18
I'm playing it for effect so that you know what it's like to walk into a scene like this.

27:23
Can you turn the music off? Turn that music off. Can you turn that music off?

27:28
Fine, I'll turn it off. All right, fine. We'll get off the topic. I'll talk to Donovan about it.

27:37
Please stop talking to Donovan about the mermaid emoji. It has become the strangest thing I think Donovan has ever experienced. Anyone?

27:48
All right, fine. I won't talk to him about it. I won't talk to him about it.

27:51
Drop it.

27:53
Tell your dad I said hi.

27:55
Okay, love you.

27:56
Love you, too. All right, well, we'll see what happens. But I think next episode I'll have her in here talk about it, and I'm going to talk to him about it, too. This actually brings us to our final sponsor. Donovan Astor private yoga studio, located at Alameda in Burbank, just east of Denny's in the Alameda Shopping Center, is offering free first timer classes all through July. Donovan Aster studied yoga india with famed yogi Raj Vasudev and is famous for his own personally developed yoga program called Yoga Blasting. He's also available for private in home yoga sessions. You can find all of his class information@yogablaster.com. Don't just do yoga. Blast it with Donovan. And I realize it might be weird to be doing a promotion for a business I was just talking about being personally involved with earlier.

28:46
But I had mentioned to Donovan that I was doing this podcast and that I'd be casting a wide net in Burbank, and he said he wanted in. But that doesn't mean that I don't want to talk to him about what's going on. We do have an issue between us, and we're going to talk about it. And in terms of Pete, I'm going to wait outside tonight and see who picks up this package, and I'm going to follow him, and I'm going to have a talk with him. So if you want to find out what happens with the drugs that are being run through my garbage can on the curb, that's going to happen in the next episode. Going to talk about that. Anyone I follow, anyone I talk to, I'm going to record.

29:24
This podcast was brought to you by Jan Robinson shirts and pants. It's not just a shirt. It's a Jan Robinson shirt. And it's not just a pair of pants. It's a Jan Robinson pair of pants. And she makes lotions and perfumes. It's not just a lotion or perfume. It's a jan, Robinson. Those two things.

29:41
It's not a t shirt. It's not a Jan Robinson shirt.

29:50
Also brought to you by heavy duty trucks and Donovan aster yoga blaster studio. Don't just do yoga. Blast it with donovan. Thanks a lot. This has been valley heap.

30:00
See you next time. These are the chronicles of the branch of equestrian district California. My name is Doug Duke. Currently, if there's anything suspicious going on in this neighborhood, I'll get to the bottom.

30:20
I live at the corner of Magnolia and Reese. Now, I shouldn't say where live cut that out. I said I shouldn't say where I live, so cut that out. Okay.

30:35
Human zoo.