Longtime Radio Personality Marv Luten interviews guests, shares community updates, National and Local sports and more.
The Marv in the Morning Podcast is a production of O’Quinn Media. For information on being a guest or sponsor, email marvinthemorning53@gmail.com or tracy@oquinnmarketing.com.
— Automated Transcript —
Welcome to the Marv in the Morning Podcast. Now, here’s Marv. It’s another episode of the Marv in the Morning podcast on the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast site, brought to you by Sync Robert Auto Supply, Toyota, the Pallaski County Health Center, STR Glass of St. Robert, VFW Post 3168 of Lakeway, TK’s Pizza, Bell’s Construction, The Bank of Crocker, Paul’s Furniture, and Shelter Insurance Agent Dave Hollot, of Richland. President Trump keeps adding fuel to the fire for the newscasters and for us podcasters. The ongoing idea to acquire Greenland is front and center in the president’s plans. Like other things Trump says, sometimes you take that with a grain of salt because all he wants is the feedback he gets. This Greenland idea is not one of those. Denmark apparently owns or at least is a partner of Greenland and they all say it’s not for sale and they don’t want to be a part of the USA. They’re happy as they are up there in the Arctic. The US has military in Greenland. We’re all part of NATO, but Trump is bound and determined to acquire the island apparently at any cost and that has NATO, the Green Landers and the Dutch in Denmark on high alert. Congress is trying to de-escalate the situation and it’s anybody’s guess where this is going. The unrest in Minnesota is not going away either with the ICE agents and local and state police. Maybe the military involved before all this is said and done. I don’t know if Congress and the Senate can step in and if they do it all ends up in our court systems which could take forever. But President Trump and his administration has found enough loopholes in the Constitution which seems like a big block of Swiss cheese because no matter what Congress does to try to stop the Trump administration they keep marching on. I was around in the 60s when civil unrest was part of everyday life. From the race riots to anti-Vietnam war protesters, clashing with local and state police and sometimes the National Guard was a part of almost every newscast. At one time then President Lyndon Johnson called in the military to help calm the storm. One thing about the unrest in the 60s was the great music that came out of that decade. All we need is love. Come on, people, now. Smile on your brother, everybody get together and try to love one another. Everyday people. Those are just three of the many that come to mind. But there were so many more trying to get the American public to settle down. However, we’ve not seen this type of civil rest since then. We need to start singing some of those songs again. We have now passed our first holiday of the New Year, Dr. Martin Luther King Day, last Monday. And it was a cold one as many are since his birthday is January 15th and we celebrate that as close to the 15th as one can get to that Monday to take a day off work. Many in our neck of the woods probably spent the day enjoying the warm weather in their homes. This week on the podcast we go alligator hunting with a Pulaski County businessman who is calling Louisiana his second home these days, spending time in the swamps of the Bayou, of the Pelican State, one of its many nicknames, as Missouri is called the Show-Me State, Arkansas the Natural State, Illinois the Land of Lincoln, one of Louisiana’s many nicknames is named for the Brown Pelican on its flag and seal, symbolizing sacrifice and resilience. But it’s also known as the Bayou State, the Creole State, Sportsmen’s Paradise and the Boot, reflecting its unique waterways, rich culture, outdoor recreation and distinctive shape. As we find out in the interview, Sportsmen’s Paradise best reflects the opportunities out of towners and the state’s natives have when transversing the land and the waterways. Ed Wilson from Ed Wilson Autoworks in Waynesville joins us next after he became one of those swamp people we see on TV hunting alligators and he has some stories. Ed is next. Hey, let’s meet at the V! VFW Post 3168 in Lakeway. They have some big events coming up. A Valentine’s Day dinner is something you won’t want to miss. Dinner for two for just $65, which of course will include their great steaks. Get a 20 oz ribeye cooked the way you want it. And that 20 oz is plenty for two. It also includes two baked potatoes or choice of fries, two orders of Brussels sprouts, two rolls, and a choice of either red velvet cake or German chocolate cake. All for a price you’ll find hard to beat anywhere in or out of town. That’s Saturday, February 14th, Valentine’s Day. A day that special person in your life will remember. Then, February 15th, join the VFW Post for a 1:00 p.m. chili cook-off. Bring your best recipe, get in on the fun and you might take home a prize. Check their Facebook page for more info. Don’t miss a special February at VFW Post 3168, Exit 150 off I-44 on the South Outer Road, where they are smoke-free in the canteen and main dining room, but they do offer a smokers room. See you at the V. When you’ve been in business since 1939 and when you do the math, that’s 85 years, you’re doing something right. Bales Construction in Waynesville has been doing things right for a long time and that continues today. Bales Construction has rapidly grown from being Pulaski and neighboring county’s top residential builder to one of Missouri’s largest commercial general contractors. Today, they specialize in construction of educational and healthcare facilities, but their excellence in building does not stop there, completing an extensive number of projects such as banking, retail, industrial, civil, multi-family, food service, hospitality, transportation, and municipal projects. Their offices in Waynesville and Springfield, Missouri, allows Bales Construction to cover a large portion of Central and Southwest Missouri. Explore their website and see what Bales can build for you. As women, we are often the caregivers to others, but tend to neglect care for ourselves. Mark this year, your year for good health with the Show Me Healthy Women Program at the Pulaski County Health Center in Waynesville. If you are between the ages of 21 and 64 years old, have no insurance with a fixed household income, you can qualify. There’s no time like the present to take care of you. For more information or to make an appointment, call 573-774-3820 or stop by the Pulaski County Health Center at 104 Ashley May Lane in Waynesville. On the podcast today, we have a special guest. We call him Gator Wilson. Uh, he’s, he’s probably more known as Ed Wilson from Ed Wilson Autoworks in Waynesville. A long-time businessman. Ed, thanks for coming on board. Yeah, great to be here this morning, Marv. The reason I got you here is because my wife first off, loves this show called Swamp People. That’s on the tube and she watches this all the time. So every once in a while, I’ll go by the TV and I’ll sit there and I’ll watch these guys down in Louisiana and they go out and they hunt these alligators. You had the chance to do this. How did this all happen? Started out, uh, we was going on a vacation for my wife’s birthday a couple years ago, and some, uh, I mentioned to my friends, after Indianapolis, we was going to go to Florida for a week, and they said, “Man, if you ever get a chance to go by Louisiana, we have a friend that does some guided red fishing trips.” And I said, “Sounds like an extended vacation.” So, we left, uh, or did our Indianapolis race, uh, went to Florida for a week, then went over to Louisiana and met up with, uh, Paul Sarane. Our friends here in town, Kenny Morgan at The Dent Smith and Jesse Fogey, they worked out of, uh, New Orleans for quite a few years, uh, doing hail repair. They got to know the Sarane family very well, and they introduced me to Paul, and that was the beginning of many more vacations in the past couple years. Yeah, you’re almost, um, a Louisiana resident now, aren’t you? Because I, I believe we spent about 12 weeks there last year, and looking forward to our next trip already. It’s a very good time there. Oh, I’m sure of. I know the people down there are just great human beings. I, how do you understand some of these people because I’m watching this show and the accent that these guys have is like, “What did he just say?” The two gentlemen that I actually went out and set the gator lines with, my wife still cannot understand those guys. These are old, I think they call them French Canadian Cajuns. They’re in their 80s. Uh, a lot of times they don’t even speak a full word. They say they’ll, they’ll speak part of a word and make a broken sentence, and then these two understand everything, and I’m sitting here in the boat with them trying to figure out what they’re wanting to do. It’s, it’s a challenge. I’ll bet it is. Do you see any of the people that are actually on Swamp People? Did you run into any of those? No, I, I run into Willie Geist, uh, on a trip, uh, to De Allemands, to pick up crawfish for Pulaski County Shrine Club. I bought some oysters from him, but outside of that, uh, a lot of those people are pretty easy to find down there. Uh, well, some of the YouTuber, like Jared Sarane, I found him and a couple others. You go down there to go fishing because you’re a big fisherman. I know you’ve fished the Gasconade, you’ve fished the Piney, the Lake of the Ozarks. Uh, what got you down to the, to the big water? The diversity in, in, uh, what you can catch there. Uh, the day that me and Sammy or any of my friends get to Louisiana, we have multiple crab traps there. The first thing we do is go set out crab traps, just in the bayou ditches, hang ’em off of docks, different places. If we’re not going out in a fishing boat trip, all these ditches, the wildlife there is, is, it’s insane how much. It’s the most alive water I’ve ever seen in my life. Uh, in the same day you will catch a, a bull redfish, you’ll catch a black drum, a sheep’s head, a speckled trout, uh, a whiting, a largemouth bass in the same brackish water, blue catfish, channel catfish, blue crabs, uh, did I mention stingray? You never know what you’re going to catch there. It’s, it’s a ball. Every, every spot of water you find something to catch. We’ve, we’ve eaten stingray there, we’ve eaten nutria rats. It’s endless fun in Louisiana. They call it Sportsmen’s Paradise for the right reason. Now, nutria rats. Um, If you want to find out what a nutria, just Google it, because basically what it is, it’s a big rat. It’s an invasive species. It was introduced, uh, well over 100 years ago to supplement a fur trade market, and, uh, they did not handle containing them very well. Uh, now they’re, these rats are destroying the, uh, marsh. They eat away, they’re vegetarian, so we, they eat the vegetation that holds the marsh together. Uh, Louisiana will pay you, they have a bounty on them, six dollars a tail for every one you kill. But I was curious and wanted to try to eat a, eat them, and, uh, comes out they’re very tasty. Really? Yes, very tasty. I’ve, I’ve introduced to, about 12 people. Uh, all but one liked it. They said they just couldn’t get over the fact of knowing what they was eating. Uh, I did let everyone know what it was. I wouldn’t do that to them, but it’s, it’s good. It’s, just, it’s something else to do down there. Uh, they’re at night time, so you wake up at daylight down there, go fishing, come back to the camp, you fish off the dock, uh, wait till dark, go out bow fishing, uh, down there you can shoot, you archery, you can do catfish, sheep’s head, flounder, uh, redfish, uh, about anything down there. And then, uh, we carry guns with us also, so we can harvest some rats while we’re out there at night time. What amazes me is when I watch this show Swamp People, how many licenses? I mean, they must have as many gators down there in Louisiana as we have deer here in Missouri. You are, you are correct there. Uh, we, the whole time you’re driving around the bayou, if you look at the water, you see alligators. They are everywhere. Uh, I don’t know exactly how many permits, the friends that I have, they get 100 permits a year. 100 permits a year. Yes, they have no problem filling them. They save some for us. Uh, they saved us a dozen tags, uh, this past September. We took some friends down there and introduced them to the alligator hunt. They had a good harvest. So when you guys go out, how big a boat do you need? Because most of these boats I see on TV, they’re not real big. They’re not much bigger than an 11-foot alligator. No, they’re not. Uh, these, these people down there are very brave out there on the waters that they, they go in with these alligators. They’re not large boats. It’s, it doesn’t take a lot of special equipment. The gun that we use looks like it’s laid in the bottom of a boat for 50 years. Uh, you have to take a pair of pliers to load the thing. But it works on the alligators. And it’s a small caliber. You know, one would think to get through an alligator’s skin, you would need a large caliber, but you really don’t. No, it’s just a 22. It’s a small bullet. What you, what they show on the television show that small pocket there on the back of the head, that is real. Uh, you have to hit that little spot, it’s about the size of a golf ball, and, uh, it’s pretty difficult when you’ve got a 400-pound animal fighting you on the end of a cord, wanting to get away from you. Uh, they roll, you don’t get much of an opportunity to get that shot. You and I have talked about this. I thought they would probably be hooked to a cable. You put a piece of chicken on a hook? The, uh, land line is a piece of PVC pipe, and there’s not a, a specific way of doing them. Every person down there that I’ve met does something different. Uh, a lot of it is recycled materials. They’ll go to a construction site and pick up the PVC plastic scraps. They’ll take about a four-foot long PVC, put an elbow in it, and just by hand shove it down into the marsh. And, uh, then what you see on the television show where they take the cane pole, and then hang the chicken on the line from that, that was the same practice that, uh, the people we went with used. The, the height above the water kinda helps to get the larger alligators. The higher it is, the smaller ones can’t get up to the chicken that’s hanging. And we didn’t use anything nasty. I think that’s part of the TV show trying to hype things up. Uh, buy the cheapest, uh, chicken leg thigh quarters that you can get and throw them out of the, out of the camp the day before and let them thaw out and use them the next morning for bait. The height that’ll get you the bigger alligators because the little ones if it’s, it’s only a little bit off the water, the little alligators will come up and get it and then the big alliga, big alligators will get the little ones. That is correct. Uh, the bigger alligators bring the better, uh, money at the market. So, of course you, you don’t want the little alligators. And honestly, when a little four or five-footer gets on a line, he doesn’t stand a chance. The larger, like the one that I have on my desk was an 11-footer. Every small alligator we picked up on the 14 lines we set had been eaten. Skull crushed by those large alligators. Take me through the fishing trip. When you got on the boat, what happened? Just, about a normal fishing trip. Uh, these people that I’ve met down there, they don’t advertise this guide service. So, it’s kind of an invitation. I get to go as a friend of one of their friends. So, whenever I get on a boat, it’s, uh, it’s not real formal, it’s like they said, “Hey, we, your friends in Missouri already told us that you’re a fisherman and you knew how to handle a boat, so if something happens, you, you can operate the boat.” We went out fishing, and Mr. Sarane explained to me how to operate the popping cork, and once we, the target was redfish, we caught blue crab, we caught stingray, hardheads, sail cats, you, you catch so much different stuff out there. And the, the alligator trip honestly was not planned. Fishing trip was planned, and whenever we got back and cleaned our fish, the two older gentlemen, Uncle Stan and Paul was sitting on the porch swing under the camp tying these alligator lines. And I did not know that the, what they was. And, uh, I asked them, “I said, what are you guys doing?” He said, “Well, your friends in Missouri said you’d probably want to go on an alligator hunt, so we’re tying up your lines.” And I asked, “I said, can I go with?” And they said, “Well, you can go help us set the lines.” And, uh, we’re out on the boat, and they’re teaching me how to set the lines and explaining everything to me. And the two old Cajun guys that let the boat get away from the marsh. And they’re up there arguing about, you know, who’s fault it is that the boat’s drifting away and you need to get it or, no, no, Paul, you, Paul Senior, you need to get it. And, uh, they turned around and I had the boat. I was at the steering controls getting it back where they needed to be. And that was that, the night or that evening, we set the lines, and then come back the next morning and ran them. So what did you swim out to the boat? No, uh, they have a large dock there at, what they call the camp. Uh, anything, any house down there that’s on stilts, they call them a camp. And, uh, we was in a about a 17, 18-foot flat bottom Jon boat, and, uh, they use prop motors, uh, to cut through the mud down there. They don’t use jets because there’s too much stuff in there to suck up. We went and hung out at the pool hall that night and met some more friends. Uh, Brian and Jeremy and Trey, uh, some people I met down there that introduced me to some fishing spots and take me hunting. And the next morning got up. Uncle Paul and Stan had the aluminum boat that we had been out on, and then Paul Jr. had a fiberglass flat bottom boat. Looks like almost like a barge, probably 22, 24-foot long. And they brought a separate boat for my wife to ride in and take pictures and videos. It was a really nice experience. It was like being with family with those guys. So you get out in the water and what are you looking for? Uh, you look for your line to be, uh, pulled out of the clothespin and, uh, you know pretty much there’s an alligator on the end of it. It’s just a matter of the surprise whether he’s in the water or if he’s climbed up on the land and you got to go up there and drag him out. Now, that would be the scary part for me because when you see this alligator that’s climbed up on the land, that means you got to get out of the boat and go up there somehow and what are you fetching back into the water, or do you, you pop him on the land? You do what you have to do. You hope that you can pull on the line and get him to come into the water. Uh, but if you have to, you, sometimes you have to go up on the land and get behind him, and, uh, you’re, and you’re there with him. You’re right there with that alligator. Uh, where he can get you. What was your experience? Was yours in the water? Yeah, all but one. One was up on land and whenever we pulled the line, it come to you. You’ve got a very large hook in their throat, stomach, mouth, so they’re pretty easy to persuade to move. So when this thing surfaced, how big did your eyes get and how big did you pucker? The one that’s on my desk was the largest one. The, uh, first four that I harvested, uh, they was eight, nine-footers. And, um, Paul Senior had went ahead of us and, uh, my wife Sammy was riding with him, and he, he seen the alligator and and told my wife, he said, “Ed’s going to love this one.” He said, “It was a monster.” Well, when it raised up, it’s, it’s head is two and a half foot long and over a foot wide. This thing was huge. It took all four of us to get it in the boat. It was a monster. So when it came up, did you, you have to wait for it to turn a certain way so you could pop it with the 22, right? Yeah, it was, uh, the entire hunt was kind of funny. Uh, the first two alligators the minute they serviced surfaced, one shot, I got him. It was picture perfect. Couldn’t have done any better. They was talking amongst themselves saying, “Man, we need to keep this guy around. He’s a good shot.” Uh, the third or fourth one, I missed a time or two. And they reamed me pretty good about it. And I said, “Okay, all right.” On that big one come up, I was amazed when it first popped up, and I hesitated to shoot for just a second. Then they started that roll like you see on television. And, uh, Paul Jr., he’s like, he’s like, “Put a bullet in him, Ed. Put a bullet in him.” And I said, “Well, I’m waiting for a good shot.” He said, “Slow him down. Do something to, to help me out here a little bit.” It took three or four shots on that one. And then once we loaded it in the boat, it was still moving some. Uh, while, while we had been in the water and, and with it. And, uh, once it was in the boat, we had to put another bullet in it to get it to quit. Because my wife and Paul Jr. was in the boat with this live alligator. So this thing’s flopping around. It’s mouth is going. Do you try to tape them out shut or No. Once, uh, you get that little sweet spot, once you finally get a bullet there, it, they calm way down. So you got an 11-foot alligator in what, about a 16-foot boat? Yeah. That does not sound safe to me at all. Especially whenever you got two other men and you have, uh, about 2,500 pounds of alligators in that boat. So this was not the first alligator and the only alligator you had in this boat. That was the fifth one. All in one boat. Mm-hmm. That was in a little bit larger boat that my, Sammy and Paul Jr. was riding in. Just, just amazing. We’re going to take a break, and we’re going to find out where all this meat goes when we come back. Don’t go away. Step back in time and support a great cause. At the Fort Wood Community Spouses Club 2026 Roaring Hearts Speak Easy and Basket Auction. On Saturday, February 28th at 6:00 p.m., the doors swing open at the Nutterfield House on Fort Leonard Wood for a night of glamour, giving, and excitement. Enjoy live and silent auctions, thrilling games of opportunity, a wine and whiskey pool, and so much more. All wrapped in a roaring 20s Speak Easy atmosphere. Tickets are on sale now and they start at $40 or $50 at the door. And every dollar raised goes directly toward community grants and scholarships through the Fort Wood Community Spouses Club. Dress to impress, bring your friends, and be a part of an unforgettable night that gives back. Get your tickets now. Email basket auction FWCSC@gmail.com. That’s basket auction, F as in Frank, W C as in Cat, S as in Sam, C as in Cat at gmail.com. Since 1911, the Bank of Crocker has served the greater Pulaski County area. This year marks their 115th year. How do you last that long? Well, by giving their customers cutting-edge banking services with a hometown flair. You can do your banking from anywhere in the world with their convenient online banking. At the big banks you’re just another number. At the Bank of Crocker, they know your name, maybe some of your family and might even know the name of the dog sitting next to you in the drive-in facility. It’s called the personal touch, which is why they’re celebrating their 115th year as your hometown bank. And there’s four locations for your convenience in Crocker, Richland, Waynesville, and St. Robert. The Bank of Crocker. Remember, FDIC and Equal Housing Lender. We’re back with Ed Wilson, Gator Wilson for his escapades down in Louisiana doing a little gator hunting. And I mean, like I said, watching this show on TV, I’m just amazed. When you get the meat back to the dock, what happens to all this meat? Because you can eat more than just the tail of an alligator. You can. So we the hunts that we’ve done, we’ve brought back the cheeks and the jaws from the alligators. Uh, the people that took us hunting, uh, they rely on the income of selling the hides and the meat to the markets. So the bulk of the meat, uh, the last two hunts has been sold to market to help, uh, compensate the guys that took us hunting. Uh, I wanted to bring back a whole alligator this year but I wasn’t permitted for it. So 2026, I will be permitted and I’m sure you’ll be sharing some of the alligator meat. I’m going to bring several hundred pounds of it back. Well, I’m hoping to. I’ve never had alligator, but they tell me it’s good, so it is, yeah. It is. A lot of preparation depends on how it’s cooked. Gotta cut the fat out of it. Uh, we run the cheek meat through a commercial tenderizer to make it, uh, a little softer. Do a lot with it. What is the best part of the alligator? Is no doubt the tail. I, I think there’s no bad part of it. Uh, the leg meat’s really good. Uh, the tail, of course. I believe just about everybody’s had gator tail. Uh, what you’re getting at restaurants is farm-raised, though. I’ve had the farm-raised and I’ve had the wild alligator. I can’t really tell much of a difference in it. How long does it take to skin one of these suckers? I honestly don’t know that. We didn’t skin any of them. I know it takes about an hour to get a head dismantled off of one. If you want to see this alligator head, it’s on Ed Wilson’s desk down at Ed Wilson Autoworks in, uh, West Waynesville and this thing is about two and a half feet long and you, you bleached it? Yeah, I did what’s called a European mount. I boiled it in a crab boil pot with bleach and Dawn dish soap. Very nasty job. I would imagine so, but it looks good, uh, sitting on your desk. I found one of the bullets while I was cleaning it, so the, one of the bullets that was used to harvest the animal is sitting on top of it on the desk. Uh, found one of the spots where I missed. A 22 won’t even hardly take a chip out of the skull of one of those alligators. Cannot imagine how big the gators are that’s crushing the the heads of those four and five-footers. The, the jaw strength has got to be tremendous on those. How big do alligators actually get down there in Louisiana? I mean, what, do you know what the biggest one? I do not. Uh, Paul said that this year he had one that was almost 12 foot long. The biggest one that I harvested was 11 foot 3 inches. Cassie Bone, Chad Bone with Ridge Line Roofing and, uh, Chris Homberg that works with us at the body shop. I think they harvested seven alligators, and their biggest one was about 10’5″. And, uh, they each got to bring a head back to have mounted. Well, I’ll tell you what, I was on the golf course down in Mobile, Alabama with my uncle years ago, and I hooked one over by a pond. He starts laughing. And I looked at him and I said, “You never, you’ve never pulled one?” So I get out of the golf cart, I walk over there, and five feet away from my golf ball is this 11-foot alligator. Scared the hell out of me. All I did was turn around, “You can have the ball, I’ll take the shot, I’m coming back to the golf cart.” And my uncle, of course, was, he was on his knees laughing very hard. But I mean, they are an impressive animal. They are. They’re a very curious animal also. When you’re out, uh, fishing for redfish, if they see your popping cork, they’ll come to it. You have to get it away from them. They’ll, they will bite your cork on top of the water. And if you’re, uh, fishing like where we do at Reggio Bridge from the bank, an alligator will be 100 yards away and they come to you. They they don’t come right up to you, but they come to watch you, see what you’re doing. They’re coming to get some of the food that you’re, uh, probably trying to pull in on your line. I hear a lot of the people down there throw marshmallows to them to eat. I’ve never seen it but I’ve heard about it. Yeah, just a snack for them. They, the food source down there, it’s no wonder they get so big because there’s the crabbers come in from, uh, picking up their blue crabs. They’re dumping off the catfish that got in their, uh, their crab traps. They, they’re dumping the remainder of their bait, their dead crabs. They, the crabbers and shrimpers are constantly dumping excess into the water, so the food source is unreal for all the animals down there. Do you know how far north these alligators? I know there are some in Arkansas, in Southern Arkansas. I’m not very sure. Uh, where, where I go is the about as far south, uh, east that you can get in Louisiana. The, the where we go is called Delacroix. It’s in St. Bernard Parish, and, uh, there’s a, a sign at the end of the road that says, uh, “Welcome to Delacroix, end of the world.” These people down there are not well off. They’re some pretty poor people down there. And they live off the land. Yeah, they do, and, uh, they’re, they’re very resourceful. They don’t throw hardly anything away. Uh, if they think that they may be able to use it or, or, uh, a friend may need it at some time. Uh, excess metal, uh, roofing materials, uh, boat parts. There’s stuff everywhere down there. They try to use everything they can. There’s, there’s a lot of those people that literally live off of the land. Selling their crabs they catch daily, and eating the, the fish that they catch after they get done crabbing. So I take it you’re going back this year, actually. Yes, we have multiple trips planned. I’d like to squeak one in before the end of April, but, uh, towards the end of the April, we will be going for a week or two to pick up the crawfish for the Pulaski County Shrine Club’s event. Is there a season on gators or is it open all year round? No, there’s a season. I, I’m not sure when it starts, but we go there about the first two weeks of September. And, uh, our buddies are always, they get a hold of us at season, ask how many of us want to come, so they save tags for us so that they can accommodate however many people we bring. The weather’s pretty humid down there in September still, isn’t it? It can be mean. It can be brutal. And the mosquitoes, there is, uh, almost indescribable. You’ll be out one night, and you’ll get to fish till midnight. And you’ll be out again, and an hour after dark, you look down and there’s a hundred mosquitoes on your arm. It can be brutal. They will run you off. Ed, thanks so much for joining us. Marv, good to be here. You bet. Ed Wilson, from Ed Wilson Autoworks, who is headed back to the swamp to become another swamp person this coming year and hopefully we’ll have him back and we’ll talk more about gator hunting. Back in a moment. It’s good vibes and great rates at Seeger Toyota of St. Robert. You’re going to love this. 13 new Toyotas at 4.99% financing and three at 3.99%. That includes 26 Camrys with a vibe all their own. And standard with all-wheel drive and hybrid and good for 50 plus miles per gallon. Let’s get lower. Seven new Seeger Toyotas at 2.99% and here it is. Yes, four at 0% financing. Seeger Toyota of St. Robert, good vibes, great rates. Next to Walmart, and at Seeger Toyota.net. Must qualify with approved credit terms and specific models apply. Expires 2/2/26. Winter weather driving can take a toll on your vehicle and your wallet. Take the necessary steps to make it as pain-free as possible with a trip to your NAPA Auto Parts store, St. Robert Auto Supply, just off Missouri Avenue. Your NAPA Auto Parts Center has everything you’ll need from their line of NAPA Legend batteries to the best there is in windshield wipers from Bosch, Trico, and the NAPA brand of quality wipers. You’ll find about every brand of antifreeze on the market and of course, jumper cables which should be in every vehicle in the winter months. But the best thing I’ve found at St. Robert Auto Supply is the knowledge the staff at St. Robert Auto Supply has to help their customers with any problem that comes your way. Need a part they don’t have? They’ll have it the next day, making downtime minimal. That’s why I recommend St. Robert Auto Supply to anyone who asks. Besides the great NAPA brand of auto parts, it’s the customer service you get in a time when customer service is a thing of the past. Not at your NAPA Auto Parts store, St. Robert Auto Supply, just off Missouri Avenue. And you’ll get the good stuff seven days a week. Are you tired of all the games that all the furniture stores play? At Paul’s Furniture, we’ve got the biggest name brands at the guaranteed lowest prices. You come in, you’re going to see that price on it. The next time you come in, it’s going to be the exact same price because we always have the best deals, the best prices, and the biggest name brands with free delivery. We’re going to do whatever it takes to earn your business at Paul’s Furniture. That’s what’s made us the number one furniture store in Pulaski and Phelps County for the last 30 years. All right, if you’re tired of the games that others play, come see us at Paul’s Furniture. Well, the high school basketball season coming off the holiday break, we’ll be spending time in the gyms this month, many in tournament play as January is famous for that. Iberia was expected to complete their 64th annual tournament this week and many more tournaments will come this month before the schedule shifts to conference games in February as they get ready for districts at the end of next month. College has a National Football Champion. Miami and Indiana played in the National Championship game down in Southern Florida, Miami’s home turf and Miami faced an undefeated Hoosier team going for an undefeated season and they got it with a 27-21 win over the Hurricanes behind Heisman trophy winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, a sure-fire first-round pick in this year’s NFL draft. From one of the worst college football teams a couple of years ago to the best there is this past season. A National Championship game that did not involve an SEC team is something unheard of these days, but it happened in 2026. And it was another wild weekend in the NFL. Both number one seeds did move on to the AFC and NFC Championship games, but Denver after their win over Buffalo will be without their quarterback Bo Nix, who broke a bone in his ankle on the second-to-last play of the game. So he’s done. As far as Buffalo and all the sports pundits were saying, it’s Buffalo’s year because there was no Patrick Mahomes, no Joe Burrow, no Lamar Jackson, quarterbacks for Kansas City, Cincinnati, and Baltimore that kept the Bills out of the Super Bowl. After what we saw last Saturday, it had nothing to do with those three teams and everything to do with the Bills. Mistakes, the poorest defense, pass interference penalties in the fourth quarter, and turnovers killed Buffalo’s chances to make Super Bowl 60 in Frisco. Turnovers continued on Sunday for the Houston Texans. They played the New England Patriots for the right to face Denver in the AFC Championship game without their starting quarterback Bo Nix, and Houston committed four turnovers in the first half, trailed by 11 at the half, but were still in it by the end of the third quarter in snowy and rainy Boston. There were eight turnovers, five by Houston, and they were still only down by eight points. The Patriots did not capitalize on the many Texan mishaps, but in the end, New England returns to the semifinals for the first time since Tom Brady left for Tampa. The night game last Sunday saw the LA Rams at Soldier Field in Chicago when windchill indexes were in the single digits. The standing temperature at game time was about 19 or 20 degrees for a team that calls Southern California home who had not played in a game all year where temperatures were below 45 degrees. For the Rams, did it matter? Not in the least. Both teams turned it over, but it was a classic, and I do feel sorry for Bears. After the semi Hail Mary with 13 or 14 seconds left by Chicago to tie it, they go to overtime. The Bears held the Rams on their first possession, then threw an interception that the Rams turned into a game-winning field goal by a former Missouri Tiger kicker for the win and a date in the NFC Championship game. So in the semifinals on Sunday, the AFC will have Denver against New England, and all NFC West semi has the Rams visiting Seattle. We’ll be back after this. Some things never go out of style, like good pizza and a place that feels like home. For over 45 years, TK’s Pizza has been serving the Pulaski County community with fresh dough, classic recipes, and plenty of heart. From pizza and calzones to toasted subs, fresh salads, pasta, and more. It’s the flavor generations keep coming back for. Call 573-336-FAST. Order online at 336fast.com or just come see us at 743 Missouri Avenue in St. Robert. The same little spot we’ve been throwing dough for decades. TK’s Pizza. Taste the TK’s tradition. In these days of texting and emails, words, phrases and names are shortened to letters. It doesn’t change anything, it just makes things easier. That’s the case of STR Glass, a St. Robert establishment since the 60s. Still the same great service when it comes to auto glass, windows, shower doors, and anything to do with glass. And when it comes to fixing chips in your windshield to prevent cracking, there’s none better. They’re still in the same location on VFW Memorial Drive and still have the same phone number, 336-4122. They’ve just shortened their name from St. Robert Glass to STR Glass, but will never shorten their services to you, the customer. Did you get us switched over to Shelter Insurance? Actually, I found a deal online. You did? Does your deal come with award-winning customer service? Oh, I’m not sure. Does the deal include a local agent? Doesn’t actually say. Can we create a customized plan that fits our needs? Let’s just call the local shelter agent. For insurance that fits just right, find a Shelter agent near you. Or a free insurance review for auto, home, life, farm or business insurance, see me, Dave Hollot, your Shelter Insurance agent in Richland. Thanks again to my sponsors, St. Robert Auto Supply, Seeger Toyota, the Pulaski County Health Center, STR Glass of St. Robert, VFW Post 3168 of Lakeway, TK’s Pizza, Bales Construction, The Bank of Crocker, Paul’s Furniture, and Shelter Insurance Agent Dave Hollot of Richland. Thanks to my producer Tracy for putting this together, and thanks to you, my podcast listeners for letting me come into your life for this short period of time. If you’re enjoying the Marv in the Morning Podcast, we invite you to leave a review on whatever app you’re listening on. We would also love for you to share the episode with family and friends on your social media accounts. Be sure to follow our podcast on Facebook, on the Marv in the Morning Podcast page, and you’re also invited to join us on Facebook on the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast group. This podcast is a production of O’Quinn Media. That’s it for this week. We’ll see you next time when we hope to visit with the director of the Pulaski County Tourism Bureau, who’s going to tell us about a lot of things coming up in 2026, including, uh, a couple of drive-throughs on Route 66 for their 100th anniversary. Stay warm. Later.{“promptTokenCount”:72169,”candidatesTokenCount”:9683,”totalTokenCount”:81852,”cachedContentTokenCount”:71635,”promptTokensDetails”:[{“modality”:”TEXT”,”tokenCount”:21},{“modality”:”AUDIO”,”tokenCount”:72148}],”cacheTokensDetails”:[{“modality”:”TEXT”,”tokenCount”:20},{“modality”:”AUDIO”,”tokenCount”:71615}]}