Hale Family Reunion
A few days ago I was down on our pier with the intent of removing an old, rusty, flower pot hanger from one of the pilings. Now, this thing sticks out over the water and as I approached the pier with my trusty tool box in hand, I knew that when I left there I would be minus some tools. Sure enough, 10 minutes into the task and I hear a “plunk!†Goodbye screwdriver and several bits. Ok, no big deal, these were not part of my Craftsman tools. About 7-8 minutes later, another “plunk!†Goodbye, electric screwdriver bit (my best one). Ok, the tide is going out, maybe if I come back, I will be able to fish them out of the mud, which is about 15-20 inches deep. Two days later I’m still trying to find these tools. Finally, I give up, determined to be more careful the next time, or figure out a better way to do it. One of the few times my premonition was right.
In the past, I usually pull the cover off the boat in the spring and commence to hand scrub the mildew off everything with a bucket of soapy water and a brush. Normally this takes all day. This spring I tried something new. I went to Lowes and purchased a gallon of “Outside Bleach†($10-biodegradeable). I mixed it in the hand sprayer (2 parts water, 1 part bleach) and sprayed the inside of the boat, letting it do its thing for about 30 minutes. Then, I hooked up my power washer and started to work rinsing off all the bleach. I was amazed at how clean everything became. In two hours I was finished and ready to move on to other things. I wish all my problems could be solved that easily.
On June 16th Jerilyn and I will be attending the Hale Family Reunion (held every 2 years). This is always so much fun for me. I get to visit with relatives that I rarely ever see and it just feels really good to be related to everybody in the room. A couple of years ago, we had a relative visit from Australia. I doubt he will make it back this time though. A lot of my relatives I do not know. I left home 48 years ago and a lot has changed since then, but it is always a pleasure to meet everyone and set down to a meal with good conversation. As I look out over the room and see so many faces from the past, a lot of good memories come flooding back. Two years is about right for family reunions. Every year reunions take away some of the pleasure.
Recently, I  became interested in using a pedometer to measure my daily steps. I am told, by my research online, that I need to take 5000 steps a day to maintain my weight and 10,000 a day to lose weight. I bought one at the Dollar Tree about two months ago to see if I would wear it daily and pay attention to it.  Well, let me tell you, I take very few steps without that thing on. The three days that I run 5 miles, I easily exceed the 10,000 steps (normally around 15,000). On the days I don’t run, I make an effort to find ways to take extra steps. The problems with the $1 pedometer is that (1) it is not very accurate, (2) the reset button is not protected and (3) the belt clip is quite flimsy (It broke within a few days and I had to devise my own).
- Well, I decided that I needed to get a good pedometer (New Lifestyles NL-2000 – $65). Being the thrifty person I am (I don’t like the word cheapskate), I went to eBay to see if there was one being auctioned. Yep! Sure was. The bad thing about eBay is that people will wait until the very last second and submit a bid so you will not have a chance to rebid. There were 7 people bidding on this pedometer, so I knew what to expect. The big difference this time was that I rolled out my big guns. I recently purchased this software called “Auction Sentry†($15) that allows me to snipe their bids at the last second. So, with 10 seconds left, and the price of the pedometer setting at $35.75, my software submits a bid of $36.75 (my max bid was set at $37.50). I was notified immediately by Auction Sentry that I had won the auction. You woulda  thought that I was the low bidder on a 2007 Corvette. Surprising how little it takes to make me happy!
Tomorrow, I go to the urologist at 1:30 pm to have a biopsy done on my prostrate. I should have the results within a couple of days and will let you know what I find out in the next WOW. I try not to worry about it. I read recently that 1/3 of all Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. That is a huge number.  Until then, thanks for reading. If you would like to be removed from my distribution list, just reply to this email with “Remove†inserted in the subject line.
Tommy
“Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.”
Publius Syrus
