Day: June 7, 2019

For the last few years, I have subscribed to a bow-tie-of-the-month club. I actually subscribe to two monthly bow tie clubs, from one single company, Bow SelecTie. One of the monthly subscriptions is for a category called “Creative Bow Ties,” which sends clever bow ties like my “Skittles” and “M & M” bow ties you’ve probably seen me wear.

The other category I subscribe to is “Wood Bow Ties.” Bow SelecTie grabs a monthly payment out of my bank account, and then two tiny boxes, each containing one bow tie, get delivered to my mailbox each month. The company chooses what they send, so I am always surprised with what I get. It’s like I get Christmas presents twice per month. In all the years I’ve subscribed, I’ve never received duplicates of what they’ve already sent. Except… maybe.

The third of these three Bow Ties o’ the Day I’m wearing in my selfie showed up in my mailbox yesterday and caused me to say, HALT. I love all three, but I have enough of this breed. Technically, they are not the same bow tie. The different woods are assembled in different combinations into the same design. They all shine with bow tie-ness.

But I think the fact that these have been delivered to me three months in a row is a hint I should cancel my wood bow ties subscription. The third one showing up seemed like a sign, and you know how I like to find signs everywhere.

This really was a sign though. I know it for a fact because I contacted the company, at which time I was informed they are running out of different wood bow ties to send me. If I stay enrolled in the wood bow tie club, all Bow SelecTie will be able to send me are the same wood bow ties I already have, but with minor wood and color differences and arrangements. See, it truly was a sign for me to cancel my subscription. And so I did.

But– and for this accomplishment I believe I deserve to tote my 1980 Miss Liberty First Attendant trophy around the house again for a few days– I am the only subscriber in the history of Bow SelecTie’s wood-bow-tie-of-the-month-club who has exhausted the company’s wood bow tie styles supply. I AM THE CHAMPION! Feel free to clap now.

BTW Have no fear! I have discovered there are a couple of other companies out there in Consumerland which offer wood-bow-tie-o-the-month-club services, so I’ll survive.

I’ve been looking at the statistics from the TIE O’ THE DAY website, which I started over two years ago. I can see how many site subscribers I have, and I can see when and how many folks have visited which post. I can see comments and LIKE’s for each post. And when the posts fly over to Facebook, everybody can see those comments and LIKE’s. Anyhoo… I wanted to see which post photos caught readers’ eyes, and which were almost completely ignored.

Here is a Bow Tie o’ the Day from May 2017. It is a snapshot which was almost completely shunned by readers when I first posted it. So I’m forcing it on you again.

I understand why city folks might not get it, but I can’t believe there are “remote location” travelers who don’t understand. Unless you carry your own port-a-potty with you when you drive through the hinterlands, sometimes you gotta make a “relief” stop. Going with Dad to work bee yards, and accompanying him on hunts, taught me to never go anywhere remote without two items stocked in your vehicle: matches and toilet paper. I admonish y’all to carry the same two things.

Anyhoo… Here’s how I got the idea for this photo: In the summer of ’17, we were selling the Delta house– which we had years before named The Beach House. (If you’re going to have a second home, it should be in the mountains or at the beach.) I was making two and sometimes three trips to and from Delta almost every week, hauling our possessions to the Centerville abode.

One of the unofficial commandments I have given myself is I SHALT NOT DRIVE ON I-15! Unless I absolutely have to. People drive on I-15 as if they are ants and someone just sprayed RAID. I choose to not bring such near-death possibilities into my driving life, therefore, since 2000, I drive to/from Delta “the Tooele way.” I honestly have never paid attention to the road number I’m driving.

On the 103-mile drive between Tooele and Delta, you will find Stockton (1 toilet), Vernon (1 toilet), an open-part-of-the-year rest stop (1 pit toilet), and Lynndyl (no toilet). Somewhere along that 103-mile drive, I always have to “go”, and unfortunately, it is often not when I’m near one of the few potty rooms. You can see why a roll of toilet paper– oh, excuse me while I write in “lady-like”– “bath tissue” is a necessary supply.

Well, on one of these moving trips from Delta, Bow Tie o’ the Day sez, “I gotta pee.” To which, I said, “I told you to go before we left. Can’t you wait until we get to the rest stop?” And Bow Tie o’ the Day started to whine, “Pit toilets scare me. I can’t pee in a pit toilet. I’ll fall in! A monster will grab my butt!” I really just wanted Bow Tie to wait until I needed to pee too, so we’d only have to stop and find a bigly bush once. We ended up stopping twice for “relief” that trip. I did not take a selfie when it was my turn. You’re welcome.