There are a few things that Mr. Lemke gave me (or us) that were not anything fancy or formal. Not a Celebration of Event sort of thing, but more of a “Here, you might find this useful” sort. There is a simple wooden piece that is shaped with notches just so, meant to pull out and push in a hot oven rack. We had one from somewhere else that was nice looking because of a burl but broke because while a burl is pretty, it is also a weak point. Mr. Lemke saw it, explained it, and eventually made a few possible replacement to for us to select from. I think we tried to give him the rest back, but he refused, so there’s a bag of these pusher/puller items… somewhere. And one hanging near the stove.
Another is a shoebox of work gloves. He’d spent years as a lineman and a supervisor to linemen (“Once a lineman, always a lineman.”) and the gloves were replaced long before they wore out. Simple matter of safety, that. So he kept the older, used but still good gloves for various work. Thus he had a collection, and gave a bunch to me/us. I’ve used a pair a few times, and have plenty of spares now.
What inspired this post was a watch. Nothing fancy. It was a simple fairly standard Casio digital watch that had dual times (I had the primary time set to Central and the secondary set to Eastern as LibertyCon, BasedCon, and PenguiCon are in the Eastern Time Zone). I don’t recall what the issue was, perhaps fit or feel and rather than fiddling with a different band, he simply bought a different watch. And well, Casio is inexpensive so a return wasn’t deemed worth the hassle either. So I was asked to try it on and told to keep it if I found it tolerable. I did, and I did. I made a point of wearing it when visiting Merrill and, thus him. He eventually forgot that he’d given it to me. I know because he later asked about it, perhaps recalling he once had one like it.
Alas, I no longer have it, so it seems. Sometime at LibertyCon, before going out on one of the ACME Delivery runs, I took it off and set it “someplace safe.” You know what that means. Yep, didn’t find it upon returning from the delivery. I scoured the hotel room, even after packing to leave. I’ve since checked the suitcases, and the other containers that were involved in the trip. Not there, not there, not there… thus it must be, as McChuck once commented, elsewhere. I expect it will show up in a while as I have recently ordered a replacement that has that useful Dual Time ability. That replacement trick doesn’t always work fast, though. I had one item (not from Mr. Lemke) seeming to go missing that was replaced… and it didn’t reappear for a few years.
Mr. Lemke did not want any gifts himself, being of quite an age and already having pretty much everything he figured he needed or desired – and could simply go out and buy whatever item he didn’t already have. He got two gifts from me all the same – and appreciated both. One was the pair of humorously labeled bottles of Windsor. The other was a rechargeable battery for a string lawn trimmer he bought. I was there when he bought it, and he asked about a spare battery so he could use one and have the other charging or ready and thus not need to delay things if one ran down. Such was not immediately available. I noted the make and model, and quietly ordered the desired item and had it shipped to Merrill. He was stunned and appreciative when he got it.
The Elegant Ungulate 
