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HAPPY NEW YEAR FRIENDS!
"Happy
New Year
you
wonderful old
Building and Loan!"
That line is from the 1946 movie "It's A Wonderful
Life." Actually, George Bailey
said, "Merry Christmas!"
This is the first time in
a long, long time that I didn't
watch that movie over the
holidays. What an amazing
concept that movie was! The
line which best summed it up
was spoken by Clarence, the
angel working on getting his
wings: "Strange, isn't
it? Each
man's life touches so many
other lives. When he isn't
around he leaves an awful
hole, doesn't he?
Or here
is another
classic: "You've been
given a
great gift, George Bailey; A
chance to see what the world
would be like without you.
You see George, you've really
had a wonderful life. Don't
you see what a mistake it
would be to just throw it
away?"
I'm sorry for being so
distracted. On the first day of
2013 my father's eldest sister,
my Aunt Beverly Watson,
passed away. It is hard for me
on many levels. My father's
original family is now down to
only two people, as you read
this, the clock ticks on.
My Aunt Beverly and
her husband, the late Amos
Watson were two of the best
people God has allowed me to
share my time with in this life.
There has been a few moments
in my life, where God has
clearly spoken to me through
the love of others. Here is one
time that really had an impact.
My father had been
working three jobs, (1.) as a
route salesman for my
grandfather at the Michigan
Cottage Cheese Company, (2.) selling Real Estate for the Don
McLeod Agency and (3.)
renting small utility trailers.
The trailer aspect seemed to
grow and grow into a successful
business, but that growth
required a change of address for
our family, from the Plainwell
school district to Otsego.
Changing school was
not easy for me. We had gone
to church in Otsego, so I knew
some of the kids, but even so,
as a new kid in school I was
picked on by several people,
even some I thought were my
friends. After I had been
bloodied on the playground a
few times, I seemed to fit in
better. I had gone through a few
serious health issues which left
me with very little physical
strength, so I was very easy to
push around, starting on the
very first day.
My main health issue
was serious allergy problems.
There were very few items that
I could safely eat. However at
my age, I just didn't fully grasp
the severity of the problems.
For example, if I ate a banana
or a tomato, it would land me in
serious trouble. Frankly, I knew
what I should steer clear of, but
it seemed like I would find
more stuff each day.
At the new school I was
waiting in the hot lunch line
when one of the kids behind me
decided to see if he could kick
me off the ground. From behind
he kicked me between the legs
as hard as he could and he did
indeed raise me off the floor. I
remember trying so hard not to
cry as I lay on my side on the
cold granite floor. I was trying
to vomit and nothing would
come up and the pain was
incredible.
One of the teachers
helped me up and led me into
the cafeteria to sit at a table,
when another lady rushed over
to check on me. Right when I
needed to have someone on my
side, there was that warm and
familiar face of my Aunt
Beverly. I didn't know, up to
that point, that she even worked
at the school! And to my
surprise, that was when I
learned that I didn't have to
stand in the hot lunch line
again! This was because she
was going to prepare me a
special food tray each day made
up of items that I could safely
eat.
It just seems to me that
this old world cannot afford to
lose any more good people.
Honestly, it seems to me they
aren't making enough of them
anymore.
My aunt was raised
during the Great Depression
and as terrible as that was, it
seemed to be the time to raise
some great people, people who
learned the hard way about loving God and country.
You see, I believe
people like Aunt Beverly are
the one natural resource that we
as a nation cannot survive
without. Looking around at
America today, this is indeed a
cause for great concern. I
sincerely believe that the
difference in the lives of these
rare and beautiful people was
the reflection of God in their
lives. God, please give us more
who will follow you, America
is in need!
LAST MONTH
We had a wonderful
time again at our meeting. The
members I saw were as follows:
Chuck
Parker, Mary
Hamilton, Tim Hayes,
Melinda Hayes, Scott
Hendrichsen, Dee Cole, Ethan
May, Robert May, Kevin
Seigfried, Ed Nickerson and
Allan Holden.
Even though the
meeting was to be our Club's
Christmas Party, held at our
favorite hang-out, Bimbo's
Pizza, we did see some
awesome bottles at the Library
during the first half of the
meeting.
Young Ethan May is
still adding some great bottles
to his collection! Ethan came to
the meeting with his father
Robert instead of Grandpa
Kelly Bobbitt. We missed you,
Kelly!
 One
bottle that I really
liked was an old pyro-glazed, "HANSON'S GOAT DAIRY"
from Muskegon, Michigan. It is
a one-quart dairy bottle with the
slogan "The Surest Way To
Health!"
Also, Ethan had a nice
half-quart "HARTFORD
DAIRY" bottle that begged, "Visit Our Modern Dairy
Bar."
Ethan also had found a
beautiful little gem of a bottle,
one that I feel is a pleasant
bottle to own, to hold, and look
upon, but sadly of little
collectable value. (Doesn't that
sound a whole bunch like our
wives except for the 'little
collectable value' that is?) My
advice Ethan, "Keep looking
for beauty in old bottles, not
young women!" That little gem
of a bottle is a purse-sized 8-
sided  cobalt-blue
Noxzema
Cold Cream bottle. Great stuff
there, Ethan!
 Kevin
or Ed had a
treasure in an amber
Kalamazoo Beer bottle. As I
recall, a small number of these
were dug at a construction site
about a year ago. I was given
one by an old friend, who I
think was in on the discovery. It
is "BERLINER & WEISS
BEER" which made the claim "PURE AND WITHOUT
DRUGS OR POISON!"
If you cannot trust the
local brewery who can you
trust?
As always, we look
forward to is seeing what Scott
and Chuck have dug lately.
With Connie under the weather,
Scott has been digging with Bill
Riley and they have been
finding some neat bottles. Scott
displayed a bottle that I have
always wanted to see in person.
It is the rare Warner's Safe
Cure
 bottle
. . .the "Warner's
Diabetes Cure" from Rochester, New York. I
could
use some of that! The antique
"Cure" bottles are just amazing,
are they not? I have to wonder
if any of the drug manufacturers
believed they were selling a
cure for anything? I guess they
brought relief for anyone
suffering from a fat wallet.
One of the other bottles
on display by Scott was a "JAY
BULLOCK" druggist bottle "The South Side Drug Store,
Three Rivers, Mich."
Another of the many
bottles was a "MAGEE'S
EMULSION."
Another one was,
"ANCHOR PICKLE AND
VINEGAR WORKS."
 There
was a very nice
pontiled "HOWE &
STEVEN'S FAMILY DIE
COLORS."
And a Grand Rapid's
beer bottle "GEORGE C.
BRATT, Grand Rapids, MI."
And another interesting
item, actually two, were some
spring steel straps with Bakelite
pads that remind me of door
knobs. Tim Hayes identified
them as early medical hardware
used to apply pressure to a
hernia. I can see where that may
have provided some relief.
Back to Ethan's Goat
Dairy bottle, I looked in the
Dairy Department at our local
grocer and sure enough you can
buy Goat's Milk in the one pint
cartons. In a way, I would like
to taste some but, then again
after my fight with cancer, I
would love to taste anything
again. I am getting good at
associating the texture of
certain foods with my memory
of how they tasted. Also I can
tell if something is salty.
This fall I had a man
come into my shop to rent a
metal detector. I try to rent
people the best detector for
their application. Sometimes
people will try to use a detector
without a good working
knowledge of the detector. This
results in complete failure.
A good example is the
timber buyer or sawmill. A
large number of the hobby
detectors will have
discrimination capabilities,
which means they will ignore
certain types of unwanted trash.
In many cases this trash
elimination is controlled by a
knob that can be turned up or
down. With the knob set at the
lowest setting, supposedly any
type of metal will be detected.
Not always! Some detectors
have a certain amount of
discrimination built in and they
are of very little use when
trying to detect linear-shaped,
iron-like nails and fence wire.
 The
fellow wanted to
find rusted fence wire so I knew
he needed a detector with a true
all-metal mode. I learned that
he raises goats and he just
moved to a larger farm. Sadly,
he learned the hard way there
was rusted fence wire in his
pasture. One of his goats ate
some while grazing, and had to
be put down.
In my business, we use
magnets in our sand scoops to
help trap nails, hair pins and
bits of iron wire which would
normally fall through the
scoop's holes unnoticed. Many
of the treasure hunters will use
what we call a "Calf Magnet."
These capsule-shaped magnets
are very powerful! The farmer
will force one of these magnets
down the throat of a young calf
when she is born. If she picks
up some wire while grazing it
will be trapped in its first
stomach long enough for the
strong stomach acids to disolve
the iron items.
So, he came back a
happy renter! They were able to
trace the old fence and remove
all the dangerous old wire! I
asked him if he ever makes any
goat cheese, and he replied,
"Yes, and when the wife makes
a batch, I will bring you some!"
That is what I got from
my wife for Christmas! No, not
goat cheese, everything I need
to make cheese! She went
shopping for all the stainless
steel tools required for home
cheese making! Now I just need
the most important ingredient,
TIME!
After seeing all of the
treasures at the meeting, we
headed over to Bimbo's Pizza
where we did what we do best
as a club, eat pizza! We had 11
people to eat 5 of the large
Bimbo's pizzas! We even had
some fragments left over that I
gathered up to take home for
the wife.
I was driving home after
that wonderful time with a big
smile on my face, when it hit
me like a brick wall! I took my
camera to the pizza party and
forgot to take any pictures!
Well, as long as we keep Chuck
on this side of the grass, there
will be another pizza night!
Then again, the pizza he orders
is called the Heart Stopper!
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