Discoveries

It's such a thrill to discover a new idea. I say discover because that's how it seems when it happens to me. Or maybe it's that the idea discovers me. At any rate it seems to be unavoidable - it just happens. It happened this Spring when an old idea crept back and began haunting my thoughts. I had an "Uncle" Morris - at least I think he spelled it Morris. He was a kind of inventor - he had developed a foul, yellow salve that he called "Bickmore's Fly Dope". It came in an equally appalling yellow, screw-top can (like shoe polish) and smelled like nothing else I've ever come within ten feet of. I guess the black flies stayed away, too.

When I was about 8 or 9, he arrived at the house with some tube shaped things that he called "Go-Sticks". They were heavy, waxed, kraft-paper cylinders filled with a mixture of sand and road salt, meant to provide traction on an icy road or driveway. The concept was that the tube would split open when cracked against a tire, and spew its contents where needed. They worked. My Mother thought it was a genius idea and bought dozens to give to the drivers in the family for Christmas. She always admired a good idea and had many of her own.

I don't believe Uncle Morris ever did much with his ideas, beyond making a short, test run or two. But I always liked the Go Sticks idea and presented it to a manufacturer of road salts and chemicals who thought it was a great idea for his company, Bare Ground Solutions. Then the fun began. He would do all the manufacturing and marketing - the works, pay me 10% on sales and my only responsibility was to figure out how to make it work in a large production run. Cakewalk, right?

More later . . . .