I'm
taking a mini-
vacation from doing a complete
fresh newsletter buy recycling
information from the last
newsletter. (JUST THE FIRST PART
IS RECYCLED)
The fall seeded hunt will be here before you know it! The hunt will be on Sunday, September 21st and there will be camping on Friday, September 19th and Saturday, September 20th for all those interested in camping. The fee for the fall hunt is $35.00 and, as usual, it is a members-only hunt. There will be a $5.00 late fee. So it is a good idea to get your place reserved at this month's meeting. . . then you won't need to worry about any late fees!
Also, if you wish to hunt in only one hunt, that fee will be $20.00. That will get you into the second hunt.
SPECIAL RAFFLE
We are going to hold a special raffle where you could win big! The prize is a free one year membership to our club plus a one year membership to the Fly Wheelers Club, and free seeded hunt pass, good for one of the 2009 seeded hunts. There will be three winners and all prizes are for the 2009 season. All of the proceeds will be donated to the Fly Wheeler's Club for their new campground bathroom project.
The hunt-planning team is interested in having a kid's hunt again. However, they really need to know how many kids to plan for. Do you plan on entering any kids or grand- kids? We would like to know how many at this month's meeting!
Hunt Master, John Dudley and his prize coordinators, Greg Stonerock and Mike Walker, are ready to accept any hunt prize donations at this month's meeting! Donating something for a prize is not, nor has it ever been, mandatory in order to hunt. But keep in mind that more prizes means more prize tokens, and this all adds up to mean more fun!
Donated items do not have to be costly. They can be something that you made yourself or something that you bought. Items can be new, or in some cases, used.
Maybe when you see those special clearance tables with inexpensive tools, you could find something for two or three bucks. Another idea would be to check out the one of the dollar stores -- there are lots of inexpensive possibilities.
Your club board has some great plans for our 2008 Fall Hunt! There are many special events planned! Be sure to be at this next club meeting for all the details.
Again this year, the club's fall hunt will held at the beautiful Fly Wheeler's Show Grounds located east of historic South Haven. The price for camping has been lowered all the way down to nothing--- that is, unless you use electric, then it is only $10.00!
The Sunday morning activities will start at 8:30 and all members are invited. First, there will be a club breakfast on the grounds (8:30). It sounds like this will be a continental breakfast with coffee, juice and donuts--- maybe more.
At 9:00, we will have a short Sunday nondenominational church service with an ever-so-slight Baptist leaning. Your Bible teacher will be the not-so-reverend Al Holden! Hey, that's me!
I have been a regular speaker at the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission for several years. Also, I have been a substitute Sunday School teacher for both adult and children's classes, so I can promise this message will be safe for all ages!
Remember, everyone is welcome to attend the camping, the worship service, the breakfast, and the pot luck-- even if you don't plan to hunt!
Our famous pot luck dinner will be held at 12:00 sharp! The kid's hunt starts at 11:00 am. Just before lunch. It is for those who are 12 years old and younger. The first main hunt starts at 1:30 pm and the second big hunt will start at 3:00.
This is really great fun so I hope you won't miss it!
Our three deaf friends went on their second charter fishing trip with Captain Gary Nichols. This awesome trip has been our spring hunt grand prize for several years. This year it was won by John Wise and he was allowed to invite three friends to go with him.
The last time one of our three deaf friends won the trip they took Mike Walker with them so they had one person who could hear. This year they took another deaf friend which made the job for Gary a little more challenging.
Gary was steering the boat from up on the fly-bridge and he looked over his shoulder to see the fish poles. Two of the guys were on the deck, but were under the fly bridge, out of Gary's view. The other two were seated on each side of Gary up on the fly-bridge and they were all talking up a storm with their hand signs.
Suddenly Gary saw one of the poles strain and he hollered, "Fish on, fish on!" but he got no reaction from the crew. They just continued to chat with each other. Finally Gary had to lock the wheel and climb down to grab the pole but, by that time, it was too late. I guess that happened more than once, but finally they all got together and came up with a system that worked. The day started out nice but Gary told me that by the end of the day, the water became what Gary calls "a little bumpy."
All in
all, they all had a
very good time, caught several
nice fish and I have a picture that
proves it. I'll post that picture in
the on-line version of the news
letter. Also, a few days earlier,
Gary was out with a different
charter and he saw two water
spouts! He caught one of the giant
twisters on film! It is a great
photo! I'll also post that in the on-line newsletter.
The cost of fuel has made this a very valuable prize! Gary told me that Miss Vicki with her twin V8 engines gets .6 miles per gallon. That is not six miles per gallon, it is 'point six,' or just over ½ mile per gallon.
You can see now why I say this is a very valuable donation to the club. How can we ever thank Gary and Vicki Nichols enough? If you have plans to do some salmon fishing on beautiful Lake Michigan, be sure to pick the best captain and the best boat! Gary has been a good friend to my wife and me for many years and it is a friendship I treasure!
Gary taught me something that I did not know. After you finish a charter, it is customary to tip the First Mate. On the free club trips, tipping is not accepted. Our deaf friends offered a tip, but it was turned down. Gary has a nephew who lives in Colorado and during his summer vacation he spends a week living on board Miss Vicki, working as Gary's First Mate. Now how cool is that? Thanks so much, Gary and Vicki!
I was trying to plan ahead for our vacation in July. I like to sell used metal detectors on eBay and I planned on having my auctions all ended at least two weeks before I left. This was so I could have everything shipped out to the auction winners before I left for our ten day vacation.
One of the detectors was not paid for and I had heard nothing from the winning bidder. Finally, at the last minute, I e-mailed the auction winner and asked if she had changed her mind. I told her about my vacation and that if I didn't receive payment soon she would have to wait until I returned. She e-mailed me back and said that she wanted the detector and assured me that she mailed a $470.00 money order. Trusting that she did, I shipped out the detector on the day we left for the north country.
Before we left I went to the U.S.P.S. web site and had them hold my mail until I returned. You guessed it-- upon returning, when I went through my mail, there was no check! I e-mailed and also phoned the lady with no response. Finally, it sunk in . . . I had been burned. I have heard several horror stories about e-Bay, but after hundreds of transactions I never had a problem, until now.
I told myself that this was the cost of doing business and I would have to forget it and move on. However, it still burned at me and I couldn't imagine how someone would set out to steal something in this way.
Finally, I contacted e-Bay and filed an unpaid complaint and asked for their advice. They told me to report the incident to my local police and contact the police in the area where the item was shipped. I called the Calumet, Michigan, police and told them my story. Then, when I gave them the address they told me that this location was out of their jurisdiction and they gave me the phone number for the local Michigan State Police Post.
Once again I told my story to a police trooper and, this time when I gave the address, things took a turn in the right direction.
The trooper told me, "I had to serve some papers to someone at that address, and the child who was at home told me that my person wasn't home, but out metal detecting!"
My wife who was raised near this area assured me that these police have plenty of work to do, but I swear he sounded excited about getting a case to work on! I e-mailed the trooper all the correspondences and a link to the auction page so he would have a complete list and pictures of everything.
He went to the home and made the case to the lady. Of course she told him that she had mailed a postal money order. Then he asked her to show him the receipt, which she could not find. He took the detector and gave her one week to find the receipt.
In the meantime,
he checked
with the local postmaster and
found that they had not sold a
money order for that amount
during that time frame. I
purchased a postal label for the
amount needed for return shipping
but, as of this writing, I still don't
have the detector back. However, I
remain hopeful. I told the trooper
that I didn't want to press charges.
I just wanted my stuff returned. Update! I have the detector and all
accessories back! Thanks to the good work of the Michigan State Police
Calumet Post and my hero, Trooper Jason Rota! Thanks again Trooper
Rota! Next summer when we head up to visit the inlaws in Amasa I hope
to thank you face to face.
I take Wednesdays off and my shop is closed. On these Wednesdays, I often work much harder around the house than I do at the shop. We remodeled a bedroom for our granddaughters this summer and I have also been building a large deck. But on this Wednesday, I decided to take it easy and sleep in and find some time to enjoy the deck myself.
Well, sleeping in was not to be in the plan after all. I heard the phone ring and I would have bet it was the Republican National Committee looking for money. If you give a donation to any group like that, they will not leave you alone. Sadly, they are not affected by the national do-not-call list.
When it is someone like the R.N.C., they never leave a message on our answering machine . . this caller left a long message! I couldn't make out the message from the bedroom and I rolled over and went back to sleep. In less then 30 minutes, the phone rang again and, once again, another long message.
I wandered out to the living room and asked my wife what the messages were. It turned out to be our former pastor and he claimed to have an emergency. I called him and he told me his story. His brother's wife was swimming in Lake Michigan and she lost her wedding ring. She was out about 30 yards from shore in water about four feet deep.
Not knowing any better, they did almost everything wrong! She was aware of the ring coming off her finger, and her doctor husband waded out and marked the location with his G.P.S., which was not a bad idea. The first mistake was they all went out stomping around trying to find it. They even got a dive mask or two and stirred the sand up even more.
My pastor was telling me all this hoping that either I would come out with a detector, or loan him one. Frankly, I had no desire to drive to Holland to search for this needle in a haystack. I honestly didn't even want to drive the 40 mile round trip to my store.
I said, "Pastor, I cannot look for the ring today, but I will meet you at my store at 2:00 and let you use an underwater detector."
When I got to the shop, he was anxiously waiting for me. I leveled with him, pulling no punches. I told him that often the hardest thing to find with a metal detector is something that you are looking for. I have actually rented detectors to people to look for their lost ring and, when they returned the detector, I asked them if they found it. A few times they have said no, but then added that they found a better ring than the one they lost!
My pastor and his brother purchased a used underwater Detector Pro Head Hunter Wader metal detector and three or four sand scoops and they were off to search for the missing ring.
The next day, at work, the phone rang and the caller ID showed that it was the pastor's doctor brother. He told me that they didn't find the ring but they did find a dime. I thought to myself, "If you would have been looking for the dime, you would have found your ring."
He went on to say that they had run the batteries down so he put in new batteries, but the detector would not come on. I told him to bring it in and I would see what was wrong. I opened the ear cup where the batteries go and everything looked fine. I opened the ear cup where the circuit board is and out drained a half cup of water! I chemically dried the board, then blasted it well with compressed air. I was also able to find where the water was coming in and I sealed it up. The detector fired right up and worked fine. I told him to keep the housing open until he got back to Holland so the sealant would cure.
Now the second thing he did wrong was to put up posters with giant pictures of the ring, his phone number and G.P.S. details! Doing this would very likely get the ring found, but would not mean it would be returned! The next day when I got to work there was a message on my answering machine. I hit the play button and the caller calmly introduced himself. It was the doctor and my first thought was, "Now what."
He went on to say that the detector was working great and then, with a measure of excitement, he said that they found the ring! He continued praising me and thanking me, which I didn't really deserve. Frankly, the man has no idea how extremely fortunate he was. Our shifting sands of Lake Michigan can swallow a big gold ring beyond detecting range in one hour!
I have never seen a bigger single diamond in a ring ever! It made a one-karat diamond look like a diamond chip! He told me that he was glad that he bought the detector because his children are having fun with it. After finding that ring, my first thought was "I think they shoud look for more"-- perhaps they will.