Better than nothing! by Linda Brendle

Published in the Rains County Leader on October 20, 2022:

Last week I went into Subway to pick up lunch for myself and the young lady I visit at the school each week. The only person I saw was the woman at the counter, and I asked if she was working alone.

“Yes,” she replied. “We’ve had a bit of a turnover issue recently.”

“Everybody seems to be having that problem.”

“I know,” she continued. “No one wants to take a job, and if they do, they don’t want to do anything when they get here.”

The same story is heard from many employers that are short-handed. Another story that I’ve often heard among those who are looking for work is I’m not working for $7 an hour. That wouldn’t pay half my car insurance. Both stories were enough to send me on a trip down memory lane.

I received a small allowance when I was a child – I think it was around a dollar a week. That amount wasn’t contingent on any specific jobs, but I was expected to help with general household chores. When I grew tall enough to reach the ironing board, Mom taught me to iron and I earned ten cents per piece for that chore.

What your pastor gives up | by Linda Brendle

Published in the Rains County Leader on November 19, 2019:

Pastor Appreciation Day was last month, and I pretty much let it slide by. I told myself that I let Pastor Jason know on a regular basis how much I appreciate him, but something happened on Sunday that I couldn’t let pass without notice.

Last weekend, Pastor Jason and his wife Stacy took some much deserved personal time. Believers’ Baptist is blessed with people who can step in to fill the pulpit and play the keyboard when the Rolens are gone, but it’s always nice to have the family back together. Sunday was extra special because we were celebrating the Lord’s Supper after the worship service.

After Stacy finished the prelude, Pastor Jason went through the announcements, read a passage of Scripture as a call to worship, and lead us in the opening prayer. Before he began, he mentioned how much he and Stacy had enjoyed their weekend, especially Sunday morning. The church they visited was celebrating the Lord’s Supper, and for the first time in their 20+ years of marriage, they were able to sit in the pew together and take Communion as a couple. That’s just one of many things they give up to minister to their church family.

Keith Wills – Treasure Hunter | by Linda Brendle

Published in the Rains County Leader on February 5, 2019

Last week I mentioned David’s rekindled interest in treasure hunting and our encounter with treasure hunter Keith Wills in Gilmer. I contacted Keith, and he was excited about my sharing some of his stories – and he has lots of stories to share.

Keith has been a treasure hunter for over fifty years. His interest in the hobby that has become a way of life for him began when he was a Boy Scout of thirteen. He was interested in earning an extra merit badge, and he had always wanted a coin collection. When he found a badge that required three collections of some sort, he saw a way to kill two birds with one stone. He already had a collection of business cards and another of matchbooks, but when he approached his parents about buying a coin collection for him, they had other ideas. As parents often do, they thought he would appreciate the collection more if he earned the money to buy it.

For the next three weeks, Keith mowed lawns for the neighbors, and when he had earned what he thought would be enough, he went to the coin shop. He soon realized that $25 wouldn’t buy much of a collection, and he went home discouraged. His dad was apparently a man who thought outside the box though. One day on the way home from work he stopped at a garage sale and used Keith’s earnings to buy an old metal detector. Keith was less than enthusiastic when his dad handed him what looked like part of an old vacuum cleaner. But when he was told he could use it to find coins, he got busy. He soon learned how the detector worked, collected coins and that merit badge, and set a course that would carry him through the rest of his life.

During the next fifty-plus years Keith has searched for treasure not only in the United States but also in Canada and Mexico. He has hunted in historical sites for relics and on the beach for lost jewelry, for gold and silver in the mountains, and for treasures on shipwrecks off the Florida coast. In 1982, treasure hunting became a vocation as well as an avocation, and Keith opened East Texas Metal Detectors and Repair in Gilmer, Texas.

When asked about the most interesting treasure he has found, he tells about the nine-pound meteorite he found outside Azle when he was eighteen. He sent it to various institutions for analysis, but when he sent it to the Smithsonian, he had to fight to get it back. He found out that it contains two as yet unclassified elements, and it is considered to be one of the twenty rarest privately owned meteorites ever found.

He has found many class rings and has returned around forty of them. He has three favorite ring stories that he has named The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. They are very entertaining, but I won’t try to relate them, because I couldn’t tell them nearly as well as he does.

 

An article in the Jacksonville Progress published on October 5, 2006 quoted Keith as saying he has “done just what I started out to do as a young Scout, I now have a very large collection, but not just of coins, also lost jewelry, relics, gold nuggets and more.” When David and I walked into East Texas Metal Detectors, we saw an amazing array of a very small percentage of his collection – countless rings and other jewelry, coins, nuggets of various ores, tools, and two bugles to name a few. We thoroughly enjoyed looking through the displays and also getting to know the man who was recognized by Life Magazine as one of the nation’s top treasure hunters in March, 2006.

In addition to Keith’s discoveries, East Texas Metal Detectors offers a small selection of metal detectors and accessories as well as equipment for gold panning and other types of treasure hunting. The shop is located in a small building behind the Wills’ home at 1495 FM 49 in Gilmer. The phone number is 903-734-7773.

To see even more treasures and meet the hunters who found them, visit The Texas Treasure Show (sponsored by the Texas Association of Metal Detecting Clubs) in Carthage, Texas on April 26-28. It will be at the Carthage Civic Center at 1702 S. Abrams Street and is open to the public.

Blessings,

Linda

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First week of retirement | by Linda Brendle

Published in the Rains County Leader on January 29, 2019:

This past week was pretty busy for a retired lady. The one thing I did notice is that the days more or less ran together. Several people had told me to expect that phenomenon, but I didn’t expect it so soon. If it hadn’t been for several appointments and a couple of regular events, I might have lost track of time altogether.

Monday was a holiday, so the Senior Center wasn’t open. David and I spent the day in house pants and sweat shirts and watched a lot of TV. I did clean out one kitchen cabinet where an avalanche of koozies and “go” cups threatened to fall on my head every time I opened the door. I filled a box with the extras and took them to the Good Samaritan Thrift Store later in the week, and we still have plenty to choose from. In the process, I found several measuring cups and a funnel that I didn’t know I had. Later in the week I cleaned out my side of the closet. I’ll spare you the details, but I can now stand in the closet without kicking empty hangers out of the way, and I have to make another trip to the Thrift Store.

Retired! | by Linda Brendle

Published in the Rains County Leader on January 21, 2019:

Thursday was my last day of work at Believers’ Baptist. Actually I hadn’t been doing much work since the week before when I began training my replacement Lissa Grady. On her first day it was obvious that she was highly qualified, and all I had to do was point her in the right direction and get out of the way. By last week, I was going into the office for only an hour or two each day to answer questions. After spending about thirty minutes with her on Thursday, I knew she didn’t need me anymore.

“My work here is done,” I announced dramatically. “I’ve taught you everything I know.”

What will 2019 bring? | by Linda Brendle

Published in the Rains County Leader on January 1, 2019:

I spend too much time on Facebook. I don’t stay up until the wee hours looking at cute kittens or comparing what actors looked like then and now, but I do lose writing time, cleaning time, and other productive moments while keeping up with the current activities of my family and friends. Still, I do occasionally find little bits of inspiration like the one I saw on Sunday.

One of my friends posted a cartoon in which two mouse-like creatures were perched on the three-dimensional numerals “2019.” The first mouse was standing with his arms crossed, worry lines around his eyes, and drops of sweat popping off his forehead. The second was on his knees with an eager look on his face as he dug into the surface of the big zero. Their conversation went like this:

Why I’m Not a Millionaire | by David Brendle

I have a guest blogger today. On the way to lunch, my husband David shared with me that he was writing a piece on his favorite subject, money. When he admitted that he didn’t have any real plans for it once he was finished, I offered him a guest spot here. So here are some of his (and Garfield’s) thoughts on finances.