Memories and busy Sundays

I have been emailing with a couple of guys who are putting together a reunion of sorts for my old school at Gilchrist. Anytime you communicate with old acquaintances like that, it always brings back memories and one came flying through my head tonight of a time when I worked for one of their dad's for a summer.

He had a sort of second hand/hardware type of store and at 16, I was hired to dust shelves, sweep floors, and handle customers while he was out. I enjoyed the job and also got a kick out of just looking at some of the 'stuff' that he had up for sale.

One day, a fellow from the mill came in and was looking for a lunch pail. "The hinge on mine broke and I threw it out.", he said, "I am getting tired of packing my lunch in a sack and am looking for another pail and thought you might have a used one.".

"You are in luck", I said, "I spied a pretty nice one with a good price on it just this morning.". I retrieved it for him and he looked it over with a smile. "Wow, this is perfect.", he said, "It looks just like my old one except it's hinges work and it has a fresh paint job........" He hesitated, flipped it over and broke out in a grin. "Hey, it is my old one! There are my initials on the bottom.".

Evidently, the owner had spied it when he was throwing out his trash, fixed the hinge, painted it, and put it out for sale. Laughing, the mill worker handed me the money. "Tell him he did a great job and it is well worth the money". Putting it under his arm, he walked out with a smile and his new old prized possession.


I have been quite busy lately with lots of things going on both in business and on the home front. Yesterday brought us a fairly brisk day all things considered and the new cook seemed to fit in well.

We had quite a diverse crowd in the diner. In the front room, we had seniors from the Baptist, Methodist, and Catholic churches. In the back we had a group of bikers. I noticed on the back of a couple of their bikes some blow up dolls all dressed up like biker mamas (although one was male). I saw the guys sitting around my big table joking and I walked up to make sure their stay was well. They all loved their food so I asked, "Hey, who has the dolls on the back of their bikes.". A couple of them raised their hands while others snickered. "So, what is up with them. What are they for.". This comment brought the house down. And one of them commented, "You don't know what they are for?". I realized my huge stupid comment and just said, "Holy Cow, talk about putting my foot in my mouth......Hey guys, thanks for coming in and have a great day." As they all killed themselves laughing, one of them said, "Thanks, you just made ours." With that, I smiled and retreated out of the room.