May 31, 2023 • 39 mins
On Today's EpisodeWith Memorial Day weekend here, we wanted to spend a little time focusing on what the day is about, so the last half of the show is dedicated to the day and the men and women who've given their lives in the service of their country. Vinyl vs. Wood Fencing [00:00 - 07:30]If you're on the fence when it comes to fencing materials, here's some information that may help you decide which one is right for you!Hello New Products! [07:30 - 18:37]Having new products to offer is always fun. Knowing that some of these products are going to offer solutions for tough situations is even better. All Gave Some, Some Gave All [18:57 - 33:03]We sit down with U.S. Navy Chaplain, Retired, Beth Stallinga to talk about Memorial Day from the perspective of someone who's spent her career in service to her country. Don't miss this interview!The First Decoration Day [33:03 - 39:12]Usually, we equate the year 1868 with the beginnings of Memorial Day. But recent (1990's) historical evidence suggests that there was another, much earlier beginning for the heart and soul of Memorial Day....
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Well, good morning everybody. HappySaturday. You're listening to the Repical Light
home improvement show sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And because you're listening to the show,
your Memorial Day weekend is off toan absolutely brilliant start. In fact,
it's possible that this could be probablythe highlight in your life to this
point as far as Memorial Day weekendsgo, because you're starting it absolutely on
(00:25):
the right foot. So on theshow today, we've got a lot of
stuff that we're going to cover tomake sure that you're having the best Memorial
Day possible. And in fact,to do that seriously, we're going to
be taking the last half of theshow and devoting it to talking about Memorial
Day, what it stands for,what it's really all about. It's not
the unofficial kickoff to summer like wehear about all the time. Yes,
(00:45):
there's that element to it, andthat's an important element, but there's a
bigger, more important point, andwe want to talk about that and give
the day it's due. And todo that, we're going to be in
the studio. I'm very excited aboutthis. We'll be in the studio with
retired US Navy Chown Beth Stalinga talkingabout Memorial Day, what it means to
her, what it means to themen and women who she served with.
(01:06):
So that'll be great, and we'llalso be devoting some time to talking about
the historical very first Decoration Day.And there's a day that we all think,
or at least generally point to asthe first Decoration Day that occurred in
eighteen sixty eight, but some recently, you know, nineteen nineties or so
recently unearthed historical evidence suggests that therewas an earlier day that predated that eighteen
(01:30):
sixty eight day by three years.So we're gonna be talking about that story.
It's interesting and not a lot ofpeople are aware of it. You'll
have something to talk about at thepicnics today if you hang around and catch
that last segment. Right now,let's talk about fencing. I've got a
fence, or at least I usedto have a fence in the backyard,
and the kids ran into it acouple of years ago. I'm really,
honestly don't have the full story aboutwhat happened. I came home and the
(01:53):
fence was laying on the ground inthe backyard, and I heard a number
of excuses or explanations that centered aroundsomebody kicked a soccer ball into it,
maybe somebody ran into it. Itwas hard to tell. They couldn't tell
exactly what happened, and so Idon't really know. But bottom line,
the fence came down. It turnedout the posts were rotting in the ground
(02:15):
and it just snapped right off.So I've got to repair it, and
I can't repair it, so I'vegot to replace it. Now. I've
been doing some other work around thehouse in that area, and so I
haven't had to worry about that fencefor a year or two. Now it's
time to get a new fence up. And I could consider metal fencing,
but I decided that's not where Iwant to go. So now I'm weighing
(02:36):
vinyl fencing versus wood fencing. Andif you're in the similar boat, or
I'm sure you're not in the similarboat. Most people don't have kids who've
knocked their fence down. But ifyou've got a fence that you're thinking about
putting up, maybe you're debating vinylor wood. Let's talk about the pros
and cons. Now, maintenance,let's start with that as a main key
on the upside the pros for vinylfencing, there's gonna be no chipping,
(02:58):
no pealing, no fading. Now, repainting or restaining offence is absolutely not
fun. I completely get that.I sell the products that we used to
do that, but I know thatit's zero fun. There's a lot of
surface area that you've got to dealwith, and whether you're putting product on
or even just prepping the surface scrapingpaint off, it's just so many nooks
and crannies to get into. It'snot fun at all. So that's a
(03:20):
definite pro vinyl fences don't do that. They just get dirty and you can
clean them and usually it's just asoft, gentle detergent in water. If
you've got a more stubborn stain,there's products like Joemax or Challenger or Spray
nine. We carry all of thoseand that would work for those things.
So really that's a pretty big upside. On the downside, I'm really not
sure there is one here. Whenit comes to maintenance, I've read and
(03:44):
I've heard a few people talk abouthow vinyl fences tend to accumulate mold,
LG and mildew faster than other materials, especially around sprinklers, and so they'll
need more washing than other surfaces.But I really can't imagine that around a
sprinkler it's going to have more moldor mildew or algae than a wood fence
would, and I certainly think it'sgoing to wash up better. So right
there, we've got a big,big win for vinyl durability. Let's talk
(04:09):
about that. On the upside,vinyl fencing, it's not going to crack,
it's not going to splinter like wood. It's a high quality material that
can last twenty to thirty years dependingon what you buy. It's resistant to
water damage because it's vinyl, it'sresistant to fire, and termites don't care
about it. So all of that'sreally good. On the downside, vinyl
can struggle with weather fluctuations. Youknow, it expands, it contracts with
(04:31):
temperature and humidity changes, and thatcan lead to the material becoming somewhat brittle,
which could lead to breaks and cracksfrom impact, maybe a soccer ball
or something like that. But Ithink a lot of things are going to
have to align for that to becomea real issue. So in my scoring,
I've got sprinklers, right near thisfence, and the fact that vinyl
(04:51):
is water resistant, I really thinkvinyl is going to get the ding the
point on this one. So it'svinyl two would nothing, all right,
let's talk about caught. Now.Money comes to play here, and I'm
cheap. On the plus side,vinyl fences are going to last way longer
with less work, which means lesspaint, less stained, less repairs,
things like that, So I thinkwe can make the argument that the value
(05:14):
makes them worth that initial expense.But on the downside, that initial extra
expense can be pretty significant depending onthe style and so on. The price
can really outdistance wood or other materials. And also this is important, it's
not as easy to repair vinyl fencing. If damage should occur in a wood
you can just replace a plank ortwo. With vinyl, you might have
(05:35):
to actually replace full sections. Sothat one's a pretty big downside. And
I think in my scoring, asI'm weighing these two choices, wood or
vinyl, wood's going to get thepoint when it comes to costs. So
now we're at two to one.Let's talk about design. On the upside,
Vinyl fencing has a lot of stylesand a wide variety of colors available,
(05:56):
some that even look like painted wood. However, once it's installed,
the color is what it is.There's no changing it. So that kind
of leads us to the downside.Even with all of those options, when
you're talking about vinyl fencing, you'restill limited compared to wood. With wood,
you can do pretty much anything youwant, and you can stain or
paint it in any color, andyou can change that color whenever you want
(06:16):
to. So Wood's going to getthe point on that one. So we're
at two to two. How aboutenvironmental impact, Well, on the upside,
vinyl lasts for years and years.On the downside, and I got
to kind of go fast here.On the downside, it doesn't easily degrade
even when it's past its life cycle, so it is what it is.
It's going to stay. It canbe recycled though, and most recycling centers
(06:36):
will accept it. So for me, that's kind of a toss up.
I'm not sure who gets the pointon that one. Talking about DIY installation,
both types offenses would or vinyl couldbe installed by a DIY or you
just got to make sure you askyour questions, do your research, get
the right tools, and all ofthat stuff. So bottom line, final
thoughts, if you're staying on yourproperty for a long time, and if
(06:57):
you've got the budget and you canlive with the base color options that are
given, vinyl fencing is a longterm solution that's really low maintenance. I
really like that. If you're moving, if you're on a budget, if
you want to change colors often,then wood fencing might be a way to
go. Anyway, there's a quicklook at fencing vinyl versus wood gives you
some information to work on. Allright, we're going to take a quick
break and when we're back, we'llbe in the studio with a representative from
(07:20):
all Pro to talk about some newproducts that you're going to be seeing on
the shelves at Rep Collite. That'sall just ahead, stay tuned, and
we're Vaculus listening to the Repcollite HomeImprovement Show sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And
right now we're in the studio withMike Rash, business development manager from all
(07:40):
Pro. Mike, thanks for beinghere, Thank you All Pro. Let's
just jump right into it. Whatin the world is that you know,
We've got our contractors out there listening, and I'm sure a number of them
are familiar with the brand. Maybesome d I wires are familiar with the
brand, but a lot of usprobably aren't. So why don't we start
with a little bit about all Proand then we'll just kind of transition into
(08:03):
why we're even talking about it.Great. Great, that's an easy one
for me. All Pro is abuying group for the independent paint channel.
There's lumber companies involved in many hardwarestores, so they belong to the group,
which allows them to get better deals, better pricing on their products,
to compete against those big box storesout there that they all try to compete
against. Okay, so a buyinggroup, bottom line the most important part,
(08:26):
better pricing, all of that.What products are we talking about here?
Gosh, you're talking about so manyfrom from drop clause, the paintbrushes,
the rollers, there's it goes onand on. Anything that a painting
contractor or a consumer needs, it'sprobably under an all Pro label. Now,
Repcalite Dan, we have not beenan all Pro correct member, right,
(08:48):
this is just brand new. Yeah, yeah, it's exciting. The
stores on the east side of thestate have been and that's what introduced us
to all Pro. It has alot of benefits to it. There's been
other retailers in the area that havecarried it in the past and continue to
It's not available in big box stores, as Mike alluded to, It's only
(09:09):
available at independent paint store. Soit's basically I'm trying to wrap my brain
around it all entirely. It's privatelabeled stuff. I mean, it's your
label, it's the All Pro label, and we're talking roller covers, brushes,
all of those things are going tobe available on our shelves correct as
we make this transition. It's notgoing to be instant for the West Side
(09:31):
stores. It's going to take alittle bit of time to transition. But
I guess the cool thing for contractorswho have previously used it or are familiar
with those that brand, it's goingto be something that we've got available coming
up soon. But for the regularpeople, why why does this even matter?
(09:52):
Well, I guess you could sayit's if you're supporting the independent channel,
the All Pro labels a way ofdoing this. The dealer, specifically
a Repcaliteum will have it on theirshelves and you're supporting them and they are
selling a high end, high quality, approved product by the contractor, so
therefore it's also good for the consumer. Okay, so approved by the contractors.
(10:15):
What are you saying exactly? Imean, we talked about this before
we went on air, and Ithink it's a really interesting point. You're
talking about how if a contractor willlike this product and use this product,
that means it's good for everybody becausethey're they're making their living on this and
and they really don't have a lotof patients, right Dan, They're very
discerning, right, They don't bea negative way to say it. Yeah,
(10:37):
yeah, picky, And I thinkthey don't have a lot of patients
when it comes to things that aren'tworking the way that they want them.
And who would have patients for that? When your your job is on the
line, And that's what you're saying. These products are put together for that
crowd, right right. And itwas interesting those those customers that were pretty
loyal to that so called brand namethat might be out there during the pandemic
(10:58):
which was in it. But whathappened is that the contractors that were loyal
to those brands couldn't get them allof a sudden. They had to by
default try the all Pro brand andnow they are a loyal user of the
product because they found it is thesame product, it's equal or better in
some cases. Yeah, very highquality items. This isn't about selling something
(11:18):
cheap. This is about value.So you mentioned it's the same item,
and we know that's not completely allthe way across the board the case,
but in a lot of instances,the products that we've carried because you're they're
manufactured by companies like Wooster and allof these other companies that were familiar with
when Zora stoleum. You know,the high branded products that are out there.
(11:41):
Some companies that are doing the privatelabel you may not have never even
heard of before, such as likeTower Towers are high end clocline that people
have that it's available and doing allPro label, and once they try that
product, they become very loyal toit because they find it's a value,
it's consists, and it's an easyproduct to use and to get from their
(12:03):
dealer. So Dan Tower Sealants,that's what we're talking about the cock yes,
right now we carry that as TowerSealants. Right, so when we
pick up and move that through thatpotentially could transition to an all Pro label.
But the product itself would stay thesame, right, correct, what's
inside the cock tube would be nearlyidentical, if not identical, to what
(12:24):
would be what we'd had previously inthe Tower brand. All right, So
if you start to see some ofthose products shifting on the shelves, you
know, before you freak out,ask some questions, because there's a very
good chance that what you're getting iscertainly not going to be lesser in value,
lesser in quality and all of that, but it might even be exactly
(12:46):
the same thing correct, saving ata price saving. So that's what's really
exciting. That's one of the excitingthings is the ability to potentially bring some
prices down and yet still provide thesame quality correct to everybody out there.
So as we head into an economythat you know, I guess you never
know exactly what you're going to get, but all signs seem to point to
know on this one, right,the magic eight ball kind of a thing.
(13:11):
All signs point to know, thiseconomy seems a little tight tightening.
It's always good to find ways tosave money and still get something really good
and quality that you can work with. Because we talk about it all the
time, specifically when we're talking aboutapplicators, which are some of the things
we've covered in this conversation, brushes, rollers and things like that. We've
talked about it on the show hereplenty of times everywhere I go, when
(13:33):
I talk to homeowners and di wires, I want to make the case that
you can buy the best paint inthe world, but if you're buying an
inexpensive, really cheap, poor quality, low quality applicator to save a few
bucks here and there, that thatapplicator is what controls really largely how that
finish looks on the walls, andthat can you that it goes beyond just
(13:54):
the applicator, you know, preparationtool, same thing, sandpaper tape.
So wanting to save money is goodending up with something that's about the same
value, the same quality, andall of that and still saving the money.
Now, that's where we want tobe and that's what we're excited about
with all Pro. Now, oneof the other things that we're really excited
(14:15):
about is the fact that the offeringsare so expansive, Like what do you
got? I mean, you can'tgo through a list of what you got,
but I mean, so there's fideranging stuff there's forty manufacturers that do
a private label for us. Sowhen you boil that down, it could
be solvents, it could be asDan said, tape applicators, of course,
are the biggest part of any contractorand homeowner's use. All of those
(14:39):
are available under a private label andmade by the top quality type companies that
are out there. Paint sprayers evenYeah, Greatco makes our paint sprayers.
So we're excited to see just thecatalog. I think I can imagine flipping
through the catalog and getting excited aboutnew offerings, things that we can potentially
bring in, just having the rangea little more range, and that's really
(15:01):
fun. Anything else that you thinkappeals should appeal to the contractor or the
consumer, because pretty much anybody.We're talking to everybody, all right.
So for the contractors going to oneof the stores and check out the new
pantline that we have pants and shorts. They're they're made in London. That's
funny style that we're not used toseeing here in the US. Buttons all
the way up to your neck right, not so much, but there are
(15:24):
close to twenty pockets in these pairof pants. Uh places for knee pads,
and there's the fabrics completely different,laces for knee pads, places for
knee pads. What do you meanon the knees, there's a spot,
there's like a pocket that you wouldliterally put a foam cushion in there so
when you bend down on your kneesyou have a softer touch to the knees
to the ground. All right,we don't have shirts though, like I'm
(15:48):
thinking like with like some sort oftwelf like foam inserts for musk muscles and
make myself look really toned, right, nothing like that, but I could,
I could? You can? Ireally must do your knees. That's
what He's little and he looks outof shape at his knees. Man,
I bet he could crush tin canswith those. I don't even know where
(16:11):
I'm going. So the pants,though you're saying, those are completely unique.
They're unique to the U. Inthe US, we're not used to
seeing them. But the All Promembers and Dannon and Recogalize a member of
our group. They're available through thegroup and we have an exclusive from in
the United States. Now you mentionedcontractors, but they're not they're not exclusive.
We're not going to card. Youdo you have a contractor card?
(16:33):
Otherwise you can't buy your pier pants, right, Yeah, they're in shorts.
How many how many pockets do youget in the shorts? A few
less than the pants with certain shorts. Yeah, all just white though white
and all they're white and gray.They have a two te kind of a
patche look like all right. It'sa kind of it's a very European look.
All right. It's interesting and they'revery functional, all right. So
(16:53):
our contractors will start to see those. We've got those in some of our
West Side stores. They're available fororder, okay, so anything two days,
get whatever size you need, allright. So how about for the
di wires? Is there anything specificthat might really peak their interest? Sure?
So we have a new masonry waterproofum. It's a waterborne type product.
(17:17):
It's good for the interior, anextra waterpoofing of the of your home.
If you're looking for a smooth finishfor your concrete walls in the basement,
not for floors, not for thefloors, not for floors. And
I believe if it's like a lotof these other products, it's got to
go on an uncoded, unpainted wall, right, like, yes, unfinished,
unfinished. Yeah, so okay,it's got to be I guess you
would say virgin type concrete. Yeah, so there's another product to you.
(17:41):
It's it's a it's a heavy dutypaper and concrete sealer. So that's a
clear finish. That's an acrylic andit's good for driveways and around the pool
and things like that. All right, and all waterborne, all water born.
And to me, that gives alittle example of what all pro is
about. It's not just brushes androllers and painters pants, it's codings,
it's pretty much everything. If youare listening and you're thinking, okay that
(18:04):
that does intrigue me a little bit, or I wonder about you know,
this kind of coding or that kindof coding or this kind of tool.
Just stop out at any rep CoalLight store and start the conversation and yeah,
we'll get you some info. Mike, we're going to release you to
the wild and let you do whatyou've got to do for the rest of
the day. But thanks so muchfor stopping here and hanging out with us.
I appreciate the time, Thanks forthe opportunity. Thanks Mike. All
(18:26):
Right, we're gonna take a quickbreak east Side listeners, you're going to
get a rep Coal Light rewind WestMichigan listeners, You're going to get news
and weather at the bottom of thehour, and then when we all get
back together, we'll be in thestudio with retired US Navy chaplain Beth Stalinga
talking about Memorial Day, what itmeans to her, what it means to
the men and women she served with. You're not gonna want to miss it.
(18:47):
Stick around and we're Bacculates sting tothe reppal Lighte home improvement show.
I'm Dan Hansen and I'm in thestudio with Dan Altina and Beth Stallinga,
chaplain US Navy retiger. Beth,thanks for being here, Thank you for
(19:10):
having me. Now, I thinkthis is kind of fun. We're gonna
jump into something completely different than whatwe want to talk about in the end
of this segment. We're gonna we'regonna get to good stuff, but we're
gonna start with Dan. This isyour friend, Beth that you talked about
last week on the show with thehose. All right, you have a
garden hose that Dan really really wantsI do. Yeah, yeah, I
was very jealous when I saw yourgarden hose. Yeah, and I'm jealous
(19:33):
of your garden hose really because hehad his garden hose. Anyway, we
did a whole segment last week andDan talked about how you've got this new
hose, this polymer hybrid YEA andyeah, flexible and yeah. So Dan
loves it. He's gonna buy whenhe's going to report back to us,
all right, how much he likesit. But you you didn't like yours
as much? No, I dolike it. But Dan, being who
(19:56):
he is, he the way hehas their system set up at home.
Everything is very efficient and the watersources are where you need them. And
oh, so you're jealous of hissystem. Yeah, he's jealous of the
host itself. Anyway, I thoughtthat was kind of funny that two weeks
in a row we're talking about Bathand you have not listened to the show.
(20:17):
You mentioned that right at the beginning, so you'll have to tune in
now that you've actually you've been mentioned. Yeah, alright, we've covered you
already, right, so let's talkabout you now. And what we want
to get to is is Memorial Dayand talking about that from the perspective of
somebody who's been in the military andserved. And first off, your title,
you're a chaplain, correct, buta captain And I wasn't supposed to
(20:41):
mention the captain part. I'm confusedbecause you've mentioned how does how does that
work if you get called captain byyour CEO? Right? So the joke
is typically that when you're commanding officersays captain or lieutenant or commander, come
here. It's usually like when yourmom uses your fall full name, right,
(21:03):
Daniel Jean Anson? Yes, whathave you done? Right? So?
I think chaplain is a term ofendearment. Typically, chaps is what
they usually say in the Navy.I think the army says chappie. So
you hope that you're called chaplain viceyour rank? Gotcha? So that's what
I went with. Yes, Sothat yeah. So let's talk about your
(21:25):
experience. How long were you inthe military, Where did you go,
what did you all do? Ijust retired on October first of last year,
and I was in for about twentytwo years. I think the most
interesting thing is the fact that Iwent through what's referred to as officer candidate
(21:47):
school or office their development. Thesummer of two thousand and one. So
I joined in the summer of twothousand or correct, having no idea what
I had just signed up for.And I actually reported to my first duty
station on September eleven, two.Oh my goodness, wow, So what
was going through your head? Isall of that was unfolding. So I
(22:08):
got up that morning and I wasstaying in a motel because I still hadn't
checked into the command and I wentto the lobby to get a cup of
coffee and the TV was on,and that was my first exposure to what
had just happened. And it wasin California. So my first duty station
(22:29):
was with the Marines in twenty ninePalms, California, and I reported to
duty that I actually called and saidshould I still come in? And they
did have me come in, andalmost immediately after that, because of the
time leg, they did close thebase down so nobody could get in or
off. And then it's interesting thatmy orders are actually stamped on September twelfth,
(22:56):
because because everything you know, sortof went by the wayside as folks
eyes were glued to the day aday that was trying to figure out what
we're going on. So and thenI say and it never slowed down,
so it was sort of a justa speed race from then until basically the
(23:18):
day I retired. So have youbeen all over the place? Where have
you gone to serve? So?First duty station was twenty nine Palms,
but I was part of the HeadquartersBattalion, which was a non deployable unit.
But seventh Marines are stationed there attwenty nine Palms, so knew a
(23:38):
lot of folks who were deploying whenthings started ramping up for Iraq and Afghanistan.
I myself deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and then aboard a ship to
the Persian Gulf. But I've beenstationed all over the world, so Italy,
(23:59):
DC, California, South Carolina,most recently Great Lakes Naval Station.
Lakes Naval Station, the Navy's onlyboot camp. But then my last assignment
was the US third Fleet, so, which is headquartered in California but is
responsible for all of the ships onthe West coast to Hawaii. All right,
(24:22):
so what do you do as achaplain? You know, what kind
of things cover? You know,do you have to cover? We were
talking a little bit previously about youknow, people would ask me what a
typical day as a chaplain looks likein there is really no such thing as
a typical day because so much ofit, in some respects can be reacting
(24:45):
to the most immediate crisis. Sure, but typically the idea is that constitutionally,
service members have the same rights andresponsibilities as regards religion. So the
constitution and guarantees the free exercise.Well, that can be very difficult to
do in a deployment or expeditionary setting. So how our service members supposed to
(25:11):
be able to practice their religion whileon active duty, and it's by having
chaplains who go with them wherever theygo. So on a Sunday you might
find me in the chapel on aship doing a service, out in the
field with the Marines doing a service. But that ironically is probably was probably
(25:34):
the smallest part of what I did, while not the least important, certainly
didn't take up the most time becausethe other core capabilities are provide and that
means, you know, I'm anordained minister in a Protestant denomination, but
the vast majority of Marines and sailorsaren't going to be from my particular background,
(25:56):
so then I need to be ableto find a lergy person who can
meet their religious requirements. So thatmight mean, say, when I was
stationed aboard the USS New Orleans,if there was a Catholic priest or a
Greek Orthodox priest in the strike group, arranging for what we would call a
(26:17):
holy halo to bring them aboard theship, preferably on a Sunday, but
sometimes anytime there with another ship closeenough to have somebody be haloed over and
they'd come over and do divine servicesfor their personnel. So all kinds of
kinds of things. Yeah, we'retalking with Beth Staling, a chaplain US
(26:40):
Navy retired, and we're talking aboutwell, right now, so far you
know where you've come from, Beth, and a lot of the things you've
seen. I'm sure we're just barelyeven scratching the surface. What we wanted
to get into was a little bitabout Memorial Day. You know, we're
heading into that big weekend. Everybody'sexcited to be out grilling and stuff like
that, and there's so much moreto the day. I mean, obviously,
(27:00):
so much more, and we wantedto hit some of that here on
the show. So from your perspectivein the military, How do you approach
what do you think of when itcomes to Memorial Day. So I think
for active duty and even a lotof veterans, Memorial Day is not something
that registers as having anything to dowith us. And I think when we
(27:22):
were talking previously, I talked aboutthe fact that I'll have a lot of
friends who will post on their Facebookwall the distinction between Memorial Day and Veterans
Day, and Memorial Day is verymuch, you know, and only for
those who died well on active dutywell, whereas Veterans Day obviously is for
anybody who served. And so Ithink there can sort of be a sense
(27:47):
of for some folks, certainly forthose who've lost friends in service, there's
a portion of some guilt right thatyou survived and did not and just trying
to redirect people's attention back to thereal reason for the day, which is
(28:08):
again those who died while serving theircountry as opposed to those who simply served.
Well. I think that's great informationbecause a lot of us, you
know, I'm included in that,you feel very torn. I'm not sure
what to do, you know,whether it's social media or whatever. I'm
going to throw something out there Idon't want to neglect veterans, if you
know, because I appreciate the service. I mean, without the service of
(28:32):
all these people, we don't havewhat we have, and so you don't
want to neglect them. But yetyou want to do the right thing.
And what you're saying is from amilitary point of view, career military person,
Let's let Memorial Day be for thosewho fell during active service, as
you've often seen, those who gavethe ultimate sacrifice, Others sacrificed, some
(28:56):
they sacrificed all. Now that completelysums it all methods there anything else you'd
like to add before we wrap itall up. When I think about Memorial
Day, and you know, alot of this is from personal experience,
what I think can get lost isthe sort of intergenerational nature of Memorial Day.
Like we think specifically of the servicemember who died, that may have
(29:19):
been in combat, that may havebeen in a training exercise. And I
think a lot of your listeners wouldbe surprised just how dangerous training is.
Right. So, as a chaplain, I responded as many times in my
career to death and injury in atraining exercise in terms of family notification,
(29:41):
as I did in combat situations.Yeah, you'll see occasionally, you know,
a helicopter will go down in NorthCarolina, that type of thing.
So, you know, just preparingto be ready requires a tremendous amount of
danger. And I think the civilianperspective is danger is really in the combat
(30:03):
zone. And while that's completely true, just getting ready is inherently risky.
So all of which to say,getting back to my original thought about the
intergenerationality of Memorial Day, we thinkof the service member who died, but
that service member is connected to mothersand fathers and sons and daughters and spouses
(30:30):
and perhaps most importantly children. Andso you know, the friends of mine
who died while on active duty,their children are eight or seventeen or twenty
two. And those are folks thatI think maybe Memorial Day is a very
quiet day for them, and Ithink they maybe get lost in the commemoration.
(30:56):
None of them would ask for yourpity, but I would ask for
you or empathy when you think aboutyou know, we get a little bit
excited about appliance and car sales andthe big paint sale at the big paint
sale, and brats on the grilland all of those things are you know,
in the largest picture, things weget to enjoy because of our freedoms.
(31:22):
But in the in the smallest picture, there are children and spouses and
moms and dads for whom that servicemember who died is. This is a
tender day for them, all right, anything practical in the last little bit
that we've got for those of ussitting here wondering what we can do.
So there are organizations throughout the countrycalled it's gold Star Families. So gold
(31:49):
Star families are anybody who lost afamily member on active duty. And you
could probably google in your community whetherthey are any gold Star families. Again,
most people are very private with theirgrief and their mourning, but you
know, just an awareness and asensitivity to that. I think that,
(32:10):
yeah, that doesn't hurt us atall, even if that's all we do
is just realize, oh, thosepeople, these people gave up so much,
and just being aware and like yousaid, some empathy, some prayers,
some thoughts. Absolutely, oh that'sgreat. Yeah, in the midst
of all our celebrating, just youknow, maybe a moment to consider that
there are folks who are still grieving. That is such a good reminder for
(32:32):
all of us to keep in thefront of our minds as we're out doing
all the things that we're doing thisholiday weekend. Beth, we're going to
let you go and do what you'regoing to do for the rest of the
day. We thank you for yourservice and everything you've given for the country
so we can have the freedoms thatwe have. Thank you, my pleasure
and my honor. Thank you.All Right, we're gonna take a quick
(32:52):
break and when we come back,we'll be talking about the very first Decoration
Day and it's probably not the onethat you're thinking of. That's all just
ahead, stick around and we're back. You're listening to the Recall Light Home
Improvement show sponsored by Benjamin Moore andDan We have monumental work to do right
now. We have to get theentire history of the very first Decoration Day
(33:16):
crammed into about six minutes. Okay, so yeah, it's what everybody wants
on a Saturday morning. It's metalking fast speed lesson yeah, and well
I don't have any other way todo it. This is what you're going
to get because it's such a greatstory. Now here's the deal first Decoration
Day. We think we know whenDecoration Day or Memorial Day kind of those
(33:38):
are the same things. We think, we know where they when they started.
Traditionally we think it was eighteen sixtyeight, but there's evidence that it
predates that by about three years.And this is recent evidence from the nineties
that we found. So the CivilWar begins April twelve, eighteen sixty one,
when Fort Sumter is attacked in Charleston, South Carolina. Now, the
(33:58):
Civil War was massive amounts of Americanlives lost. Six and twenty thousand Americans
lost their lives in the Civil Waralone, and for perspective, six hundred
and six thousand lives American lives werelost in all other wars combined through Korea.
Basically everybody in the country was impactedin one way or another. Everybody
(34:19):
somebody, everybody knew somebody, alot of loss, a lot of stuff
to work through. Yeah, allof that started, like we said,
in Charleston, South Carolina. Now, traditionally, Decoration Day thought to start
May thirty, eighteen sixty eight,at the suggestion of a General John Logan,
who called for a nationwide day ofremembrance. And the reason for that
(34:39):
is, you know, not justit's a nice thing to think of all
these lost lives and all the soldierswho lost their lives. It was critical
for the country to start to healitself, right, was to address this,
this massive loss, and to tryto work their way through that.
So this nationwide day is thought upand called for. However, while researching
(35:00):
a book on the Civil War,author David Blight is given a couple of
boxes. I forget which school hewas at, one of the major colleges
that we would know the name.I should have looked it up, but
forgot. But he was given theopportunity to look through a couple of crates
of information that had never been sortedthrough from Union soldiers and stuff like that.
So he's writing this book and he'ssuper excited to go through this box.
(35:22):
And as he's digging, he findsthis little folder and he pulls it
out, and handwritten across the littletab is the first Decoration Day. So
he's all excited. He opens itup and he finds inside a handwritten narrative
from a Union veteran that describes thecountry's first Decoration Day, and it says
that it happened in the spring ofeighteen sixty five, which pre dates three
years. Yeah, yeah, threeyears the day that we traditionally think of.
(35:45):
And interestingly enough, it takes placeabout six miles away from Fort Sumter
at the Washington Racecourse in what isnow Hampton Park in Charleston, South Carolina.
So he starts digging into it alittle more and there's not a lot
of historical support. He's got acouple of eyewitness reports and he's got some
newspaper articles that reference it. Soit happened, but there's just not a
(36:07):
lot of existing info about it.But here's what he found. The Washington
Racecourse and Jockey Club in South Carolina, that's where it was all started.
That was a super fancy race course, right, so everybody who was anybody
in South Carolina, Charleston area,they'd come there for the horse racing,
social seas, super cool, amazing, everybody's there. Well, during the
(36:29):
Civil War they shut that down andturn it into a prison camp to house
captured Union soldiers, and the conditionsthere were absolutely horrific, and over time,
two hundred and fifty seven Union soldiersdied there of exposure, disease,
things like that, and they werejust buried around the race course in unmarked
mass graves, so that happens duringthe war. The war unfolds, and
(36:52):
then February eighteen, eighteen sixty five, just shy of the end of the
Civil War, right near the end, the Union soldier finally march into and
take Charleston once again. After along siege, they take it over,
and effectively the war, you know, soon after that comes to a close.
Basically, the war wraps up onApril nine of eighteen sixty five,
(37:14):
and about a week after that,many former slaves, so freed slaves,
choose to spend a couple of weeksin South Carolina. The people in South
Carolina all gather. They are inCharleston. They spend a couple of weeks
carefully exhuming the bodies of the Uniontroops from the mass grave at that race
course, and then they give eachsoldier a proper burial. They construct a
(37:34):
fence around the cemetery that they created, and they've got a little archway that
reads the martyrs of the race course. So they go and put all of
that together. And then about twoweeks later, on May one of that
same year, this is what theauthor found. A David Blight found in
this folder describing this event. Mayone of that same year, about ten
thousand people, many of whom werefreed slaves, came and held a parade
(37:59):
on the slave holders race course,marching around carrying flowers, singing songs.
There was children's choirs that were singing, We'll rally around the flag. They
were singing the Star Spangled banner,spirituals, the Bible was read. Basically,
people marched to the little cemetery thatthey created, decorated all the graves
with flowers and wreaths and things likethat, and then spent the whole day
(38:22):
having picnics, listening to speeches,and basically experiencing their newly one freedom.
So really, when we look atit, it's the heart and core of
what Memorial Day is. And ithappened about three years earlier than when we
think it did. And this ismostly lost to history, basically lost to
history. So now you know,and you can take that information to the
(38:45):
people at the picnics or wherever yougo right today, share it with your
friends this weekend. All right,that's all the time we've got. We're
gonna have to wrap it up.If you want to catch this one again,
you can find it online at repcolldot com. One quick note,
all of our stores are going tobe closed on Monday, May twenty nine
in honor of Memorial Day, butwe'll be back at it on Tuesday morning.
Have a great weekend, everybody.I'm Dan Hansen and I'm Dan Altina.
(39:07):
Thanks for listening.
Well, good morning everybody. HappySaturday. You're listening to the Repical Light
home improvement show sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And because you're listening to the show,
your Memorial Day weekend is off toan absolutely brilliant start. In fact,
it's possible that this could be probablythe highlight in your life to this
point as far as Memorial Day weekendsgo, because you're starting it absolutely on
(00:25):
the right foot. So on theshow today, we've got a lot of
stuff that we're going to cover tomake sure that you're having the best Memorial
Day possible. And in fact,to do that seriously, we're going to
be taking the last half of theshow and devoting it to talking about Memorial
Day, what it stands for,what it's really all about. It's not
the unofficial kickoff to summer like wehear about all the time. Yes,
(00:45):
there's that element to it, andthat's an important element, but there's a
bigger, more important point, andwe want to talk about that and give
the day it's due. And todo that, we're going to be in
the studio. I'm very excited aboutthis. We'll be in the studio with
retired US Navy Chown Beth Stalinga talkingabout Memorial Day, what it means to
her, what it means to themen and women who she served with.
(01:06):
So that'll be great, and we'llalso be devoting some time to talking about
the historical very first Decoration Day.And there's a day that we all think,
or at least generally point to asthe first Decoration Day that occurred in
eighteen sixty eight, but some recently, you know, nineteen nineties or so
recently unearthed historical evidence suggests that therewas an earlier day that predated that eighteen
(01:30):
sixty eight day by three years.So we're gonna be talking about that story.
It's interesting and not a lot ofpeople are aware of it. You'll
have something to talk about at thepicnics today if you hang around and catch
that last segment. Right now,let's talk about fencing. I've got a
fence, or at least I usedto have a fence in the backyard,
and the kids ran into it acouple of years ago. I'm really,
honestly don't have the full story aboutwhat happened. I came home and the
(01:53):
fence was laying on the ground inthe backyard, and I heard a number
of excuses or explanations that centered aroundsomebody kicked a soccer ball into it,
maybe somebody ran into it. Itwas hard to tell. They couldn't tell
exactly what happened, and so Idon't really know. But bottom line,
the fence came down. It turnedout the posts were rotting in the ground
(02:15):
and it just snapped right off.So I've got to repair it, and
I can't repair it, so I'vegot to replace it. Now. I've
been doing some other work around thehouse in that area, and so I
haven't had to worry about that fencefor a year or two. Now it's
time to get a new fence up. And I could consider metal fencing,
but I decided that's not where Iwant to go. So now I'm weighing
(02:36):
vinyl fencing versus wood fencing. Andif you're in the similar boat, or
I'm sure you're not in the similarboat. Most people don't have kids who've
knocked their fence down. But ifyou've got a fence that you're thinking about
putting up, maybe you're debating vinylor wood. Let's talk about the pros
and cons. Now, maintenance,let's start with that as a main key
on the upside the pros for vinylfencing, there's gonna be no chipping,
(02:58):
no pealing, no fading. Now, repainting or restaining offence is absolutely not
fun. I completely get that.I sell the products that we used to
do that, but I know thatit's zero fun. There's a lot of
surface area that you've got to dealwith, and whether you're putting product on
or even just prepping the surface scrapingpaint off, it's just so many nooks
and crannies to get into. It'snot fun at all. So that's a
(03:20):
definite pro vinyl fences don't do that. They just get dirty and you can
clean them and usually it's just asoft, gentle detergent in water. If
you've got a more stubborn stain,there's products like Joemax or Challenger or Spray
nine. We carry all of thoseand that would work for those things.
So really that's a pretty big upside. On the downside, I'm really not
sure there is one here. Whenit comes to maintenance, I've read and
(03:44):
I've heard a few people talk abouthow vinyl fences tend to accumulate mold,
LG and mildew faster than other materials, especially around sprinklers, and so they'll
need more washing than other surfaces.But I really can't imagine that around a
sprinkler it's going to have more moldor mildew or algae than a wood fence
would, and I certainly think it'sgoing to wash up better. So right
there, we've got a big,big win for vinyl durability. Let's talk
(04:09):
about that. On the upside,vinyl fencing, it's not going to crack,
it's not going to splinter like wood. It's a high quality material that
can last twenty to thirty years dependingon what you buy. It's resistant to
water damage because it's vinyl, it'sresistant to fire, and termites don't care
about it. So all of that'sreally good. On the downside, vinyl
can struggle with weather fluctuations. Youknow, it expands, it contracts with
(04:31):
temperature and humidity changes, and thatcan lead to the material becoming somewhat brittle,
which could lead to breaks and cracksfrom impact, maybe a soccer ball
or something like that. But Ithink a lot of things are going to
have to align for that to becomea real issue. So in my scoring,
I've got sprinklers, right near thisfence, and the fact that vinyl
(04:51):
is water resistant, I really thinkvinyl is going to get the ding the
point on this one. So it'svinyl two would nothing, all right,
let's talk about caught. Now.Money comes to play here, and I'm
cheap. On the plus side,vinyl fences are going to last way longer
with less work, which means lesspaint, less stained, less repairs,
things like that, So I thinkwe can make the argument that the value
(05:14):
makes them worth that initial expense.But on the downside, that initial extra
expense can be pretty significant depending onthe style and so on. The price
can really outdistance wood or other materials. And also this is important, it's
not as easy to repair vinyl fencing. If damage should occur in a wood
you can just replace a plank ortwo. With vinyl, you might have
(05:35):
to actually replace full sections. Sothat one's a pretty big downside. And
I think in my scoring, asI'm weighing these two choices, wood or
vinyl, wood's going to get thepoint when it comes to costs. So
now we're at two to one.Let's talk about design. On the upside,
Vinyl fencing has a lot of stylesand a wide variety of colors available,
(05:56):
some that even look like painted wood. However, once it's installed,
the color is what it is.There's no changing it. So that kind
of leads us to the downside.Even with all of those options, when
you're talking about vinyl fencing, you'restill limited compared to wood. With wood,
you can do pretty much anything youwant, and you can stain or
paint it in any color, andyou can change that color whenever you want
(06:16):
to. So Wood's going to getthe point on that one. So we're
at two to two. How aboutenvironmental impact, Well, on the upside,
vinyl lasts for years and years.On the downside, and I got
to kind of go fast here.On the downside, it doesn't easily degrade
even when it's past its life cycle, so it is what it is.
It's going to stay. It canbe recycled though, and most recycling centers
(06:36):
will accept it. So for me, that's kind of a toss up.
I'm not sure who gets the pointon that one. Talking about DIY installation,
both types offenses would or vinyl couldbe installed by a DIY or you
just got to make sure you askyour questions, do your research, get
the right tools, and all ofthat stuff. So bottom line, final
thoughts, if you're staying on yourproperty for a long time, and if
(06:57):
you've got the budget and you canlive with the base color options that are
given, vinyl fencing is a longterm solution that's really low maintenance. I
really like that. If you're moving, if you're on a budget, if
you want to change colors often,then wood fencing might be a way to
go. Anyway, there's a quicklook at fencing vinyl versus wood gives you
some information to work on. Allright, we're going to take a quick
break and when we're back, we'llbe in the studio with a representative from
(07:20):
all Pro to talk about some newproducts that you're going to be seeing on
the shelves at Rep Collite. That'sall just ahead, stay tuned, and
we're Vaculus listening to the Repcollite HomeImprovement Show sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And
right now we're in the studio withMike Rash, business development manager from all
(07:40):
Pro. Mike, thanks for beinghere, Thank you All Pro. Let's
just jump right into it. Whatin the world is that you know,
We've got our contractors out there listening, and I'm sure a number of them
are familiar with the brand. Maybesome d I wires are familiar with the
brand, but a lot of usprobably aren't. So why don't we start
with a little bit about all Proand then we'll just kind of transition into
(08:03):
why we're even talking about it.Great. Great, that's an easy one
for me. All Pro is abuying group for the independent paint channel.
There's lumber companies involved in many hardwarestores, so they belong to the group,
which allows them to get better deals, better pricing on their products,
to compete against those big box storesout there that they all try to compete
against. Okay, so a buyinggroup, bottom line the most important part,
(08:26):
better pricing, all of that.What products are we talking about here?
Gosh, you're talking about so manyfrom from drop clause, the paintbrushes,
the rollers, there's it goes onand on. Anything that a painting
contractor or a consumer needs, it'sprobably under an all Pro label. Now,
Repcalite Dan, we have not beenan all Pro correct member, right,
(08:48):
this is just brand new. Yeah, yeah, it's exciting. The
stores on the east side of thestate have been and that's what introduced us
to all Pro. It has alot of benefits to it. There's been
other retailers in the area that havecarried it in the past and continue to
It's not available in big box stores, as Mike alluded to, It's only
(09:09):
available at independent paint store. Soit's basically I'm trying to wrap my brain
around it all entirely. It's privatelabeled stuff. I mean, it's your
label, it's the All Pro label, and we're talking roller covers, brushes,
all of those things are going tobe available on our shelves correct as
we make this transition. It's notgoing to be instant for the West Side
(09:31):
stores. It's going to take alittle bit of time to transition. But
I guess the cool thing for contractorswho have previously used it or are familiar
with those that brand, it's goingto be something that we've got available coming
up soon. But for the regularpeople, why why does this even matter?
(09:52):
Well, I guess you could sayit's if you're supporting the independent channel,
the All Pro labels a way ofdoing this. The dealer, specifically
a Repcaliteum will have it on theirshelves and you're supporting them and they are
selling a high end, high quality, approved product by the contractor, so
therefore it's also good for the consumer. Okay, so approved by the contractors.
(10:15):
What are you saying exactly? Imean, we talked about this before
we went on air, and Ithink it's a really interesting point. You're
talking about how if a contractor willlike this product and use this product,
that means it's good for everybody becausethey're they're making their living on this and
and they really don't have a lotof patients, right Dan, They're very
discerning, right, They don't bea negative way to say it. Yeah,
(10:37):
yeah, picky, And I thinkthey don't have a lot of patients
when it comes to things that aren'tworking the way that they want them.
And who would have patients for that? When your your job is on the
line, And that's what you're saying. These products are put together for that
crowd, right right. And itwas interesting those those customers that were pretty
loyal to that so called brand namethat might be out there during the pandemic
(10:58):
which was in it. But whathappened is that the contractors that were loyal
to those brands couldn't get them allof a sudden. They had to by
default try the all Pro brand andnow they are a loyal user of the
product because they found it is thesame product, it's equal or better in
some cases. Yeah, very highquality items. This isn't about selling something
(11:18):
cheap. This is about value.So you mentioned it's the same item,
and we know that's not completely allthe way across the board the case,
but in a lot of instances,the products that we've carried because you're they're
manufactured by companies like Wooster and allof these other companies that were familiar with
when Zora stoleum. You know,the high branded products that are out there.
(11:41):
Some companies that are doing the privatelabel you may not have never even
heard of before, such as likeTower Towers are high end clocline that people
have that it's available and doing allPro label, and once they try that
product, they become very loyal toit because they find it's a value,
it's consists, and it's an easyproduct to use and to get from their
(12:03):
dealer. So Dan Tower Sealants,that's what we're talking about the cock yes,
right now we carry that as TowerSealants. Right, so when we
pick up and move that through thatpotentially could transition to an all Pro label.
But the product itself would stay thesame, right, correct, what's
inside the cock tube would be nearlyidentical, if not identical, to what
(12:24):
would be what we'd had previously inthe Tower brand. All right, So
if you start to see some ofthose products shifting on the shelves, you
know, before you freak out,ask some questions, because there's a very
good chance that what you're getting iscertainly not going to be lesser in value,
lesser in quality and all of that, but it might even be exactly
(12:46):
the same thing correct, saving ata price saving. So that's what's really
exciting. That's one of the excitingthings is the ability to potentially bring some
prices down and yet still provide thesame quality correct to everybody out there.
So as we head into an economythat you know, I guess you never
know exactly what you're going to get, but all signs seem to point to
know on this one, right,the magic eight ball kind of a thing.
(13:11):
All signs point to know, thiseconomy seems a little tight tightening.
It's always good to find ways tosave money and still get something really good
and quality that you can work with. Because we talk about it all the
time, specifically when we're talking aboutapplicators, which are some of the things
we've covered in this conversation, brushes, rollers and things like that. We've
talked about it on the show hereplenty of times everywhere I go, when
(13:33):
I talk to homeowners and di wires, I want to make the case that
you can buy the best paint inthe world, but if you're buying an
inexpensive, really cheap, poor quality, low quality applicator to save a few
bucks here and there, that thatapplicator is what controls really largely how that
finish looks on the walls, andthat can you that it goes beyond just
(13:54):
the applicator, you know, preparationtool, same thing, sandpaper tape.
So wanting to save money is goodending up with something that's about the same
value, the same quality, andall of that and still saving the money.
Now, that's where we want tobe and that's what we're excited about
with all Pro. Now, oneof the other things that we're really excited
(14:15):
about is the fact that the offeringsare so expansive, Like what do you
got? I mean, you can'tgo through a list of what you got,
but I mean, so there's fideranging stuff there's forty manufacturers that do
a private label for us. Sowhen you boil that down, it could
be solvents, it could be asDan said, tape applicators, of course,
are the biggest part of any contractorand homeowner's use. All of those
(14:39):
are available under a private label andmade by the top quality type companies that
are out there. Paint sprayers evenYeah, Greatco makes our paint sprayers.
So we're excited to see just thecatalog. I think I can imagine flipping
through the catalog and getting excited aboutnew offerings, things that we can potentially
bring in, just having the rangea little more range, and that's really
(15:01):
fun. Anything else that you thinkappeals should appeal to the contractor or the
consumer, because pretty much anybody.We're talking to everybody, all right.
So for the contractors going to oneof the stores and check out the new
pantline that we have pants and shorts. They're they're made in London. That's
funny style that we're not used toseeing here in the US. Buttons all
the way up to your neck right, not so much, but there are
(15:24):
close to twenty pockets in these pairof pants. Uh places for knee pads,
and there's the fabrics completely different,laces for knee pads, places for
knee pads. What do you meanon the knees, there's a spot,
there's like a pocket that you wouldliterally put a foam cushion in there so
when you bend down on your kneesyou have a softer touch to the knees
to the ground. All right,we don't have shirts though, like I'm
(15:48):
thinking like with like some sort oftwelf like foam inserts for musk muscles and
make myself look really toned, right, nothing like that, but I could,
I could? You can? Ireally must do your knees. That's
what He's little and he looks outof shape at his knees. Man,
I bet he could crush tin canswith those. I don't even know where
(16:11):
I'm going. So the pants,though you're saying, those are completely unique.
They're unique to the U. Inthe US, we're not used to
seeing them. But the All Promembers and Dannon and Recogalize a member of
our group. They're available through thegroup and we have an exclusive from in
the United States. Now you mentionedcontractors, but they're not they're not exclusive.
We're not going to card. Youdo you have a contractor card?
(16:33):
Otherwise you can't buy your pier pants, right, Yeah, they're in shorts.
How many how many pockets do youget in the shorts? A few
less than the pants with certain shorts. Yeah, all just white though white
and all they're white and gray.They have a two te kind of a
patche look like all right. It'sa kind of it's a very European look.
All right. It's interesting and they'revery functional, all right. So
(16:53):
our contractors will start to see those. We've got those in some of our
West Side stores. They're available fororder, okay, so anything two days,
get whatever size you need, allright. So how about for the
di wires? Is there anything specificthat might really peak their interest? Sure?
So we have a new masonry waterproofum. It's a waterborne type product.
(17:17):
It's good for the interior, anextra waterpoofing of the of your home.
If you're looking for a smooth finishfor your concrete walls in the basement,
not for floors, not for thefloors, not for floors. And
I believe if it's like a lotof these other products, it's got to
go on an uncoded, unpainted wall, right, like, yes, unfinished,
unfinished. Yeah, so okay,it's got to be I guess you
would say virgin type concrete. Yeah, so there's another product to you.
(17:41):
It's it's a it's a heavy dutypaper and concrete sealer. So that's a
clear finish. That's an acrylic andit's good for driveways and around the pool
and things like that. All right, and all waterborne, all water born.
And to me, that gives alittle example of what all pro is
about. It's not just brushes androllers and painters pants, it's codings,
it's pretty much everything. If youare listening and you're thinking, okay that
(18:04):
that does intrigue me a little bit, or I wonder about you know,
this kind of coding or that kindof coding or this kind of tool.
Just stop out at any rep CoalLight store and start the conversation and yeah,
we'll get you some info. Mike, we're going to release you to
the wild and let you do whatyou've got to do for the rest of
the day. But thanks so muchfor stopping here and hanging out with us.
I appreciate the time, Thanks forthe opportunity. Thanks Mike. All
(18:26):
Right, we're gonna take a quickbreak east Side listeners, you're going to
get a rep Coal Light rewind WestMichigan listeners, You're going to get news
and weather at the bottom of thehour, and then when we all get
back together, we'll be in thestudio with retired US Navy chaplain Beth Stalinga
talking about Memorial Day, what itmeans to her, what it means to
the men and women she served with. You're not gonna want to miss it.
(18:47):
Stick around and we're Bacculates sting tothe reppal Lighte home improvement show.
I'm Dan Hansen and I'm in thestudio with Dan Altina and Beth Stallinga,
chaplain US Navy retiger. Beth,thanks for being here, Thank you for
(19:10):
having me. Now, I thinkthis is kind of fun. We're gonna
jump into something completely different than whatwe want to talk about in the end
of this segment. We're gonna we'regonna get to good stuff, but we're
gonna start with Dan. This isyour friend, Beth that you talked about
last week on the show with thehose. All right, you have a
garden hose that Dan really really wantsI do. Yeah, yeah, I
was very jealous when I saw yourgarden hose. Yeah, and I'm jealous
(19:33):
of your garden hose really because hehad his garden hose. Anyway, we
did a whole segment last week andDan talked about how you've got this new
hose, this polymer hybrid YEA andyeah, flexible and yeah. So Dan
loves it. He's gonna buy whenhe's going to report back to us,
all right, how much he likesit. But you you didn't like yours
as much? No, I dolike it. But Dan, being who
(19:56):
he is, he the way hehas their system set up at home.
Everything is very efficient and the watersources are where you need them. And
oh, so you're jealous of hissystem. Yeah, he's jealous of the
host itself. Anyway, I thoughtthat was kind of funny that two weeks
in a row we're talking about Bathand you have not listened to the show.
(20:17):
You mentioned that right at the beginning, so you'll have to tune in
now that you've actually you've been mentioned. Yeah, alright, we've covered you
already, right, so let's talkabout you now. And what we want
to get to is is Memorial Dayand talking about that from the perspective of
somebody who's been in the military andserved. And first off, your title,
you're a chaplain, correct, buta captain And I wasn't supposed to
(20:41):
mention the captain part. I'm confusedbecause you've mentioned how does how does that
work if you get called captain byyour CEO? Right? So the joke
is typically that when you're commanding officersays captain or lieutenant or commander, come
here. It's usually like when yourmom uses your fall full name, right,
(21:03):
Daniel Jean Anson? Yes, whathave you done? Right? So?
I think chaplain is a term ofendearment. Typically, chaps is what
they usually say in the Navy.I think the army says chappie. So
you hope that you're called chaplain viceyour rank? Gotcha? So that's what
I went with. Yes, Sothat yeah. So let's talk about your
(21:25):
experience. How long were you inthe military, Where did you go,
what did you all do? Ijust retired on October first of last year,
and I was in for about twentytwo years. I think the most
interesting thing is the fact that Iwent through what's referred to as officer candidate
(21:47):
school or office their development. Thesummer of two thousand and one. So
I joined in the summer of twothousand or correct, having no idea what
I had just signed up for.And I actually reported to my first duty
station on September eleven, two.Oh my goodness, wow, So what
was going through your head? Isall of that was unfolding. So I
(22:08):
got up that morning and I wasstaying in a motel because I still hadn't
checked into the command and I wentto the lobby to get a cup of
coffee and the TV was on,and that was my first exposure to what
had just happened. And it wasin California. So my first duty station
(22:29):
was with the Marines in twenty ninePalms, California, and I reported to
duty that I actually called and saidshould I still come in? And they
did have me come in, andalmost immediately after that, because of the
time leg, they did close thebase down so nobody could get in or
off. And then it's interesting thatmy orders are actually stamped on September twelfth,
(22:56):
because because everything you know, sortof went by the wayside as folks
eyes were glued to the day aday that was trying to figure out what
we're going on. So and thenI say and it never slowed down,
so it was sort of a justa speed race from then until basically the
(23:18):
day I retired. So have youbeen all over the place? Where have
you gone to serve? So?First duty station was twenty nine Palms,
but I was part of the HeadquartersBattalion, which was a non deployable unit.
But seventh Marines are stationed there attwenty nine Palms, so knew a
(23:38):
lot of folks who were deploying whenthings started ramping up for Iraq and Afghanistan.
I myself deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and then aboard a ship to
the Persian Gulf. But I've beenstationed all over the world, so Italy,
(23:59):
DC, California, South Carolina,most recently Great Lakes Naval Station.
Lakes Naval Station, the Navy's onlyboot camp. But then my last assignment
was the US third Fleet, so, which is headquartered in California but is
responsible for all of the ships onthe West coast to Hawaii. All right,
(24:22):
so what do you do as achaplain? You know, what kind
of things cover? You know,do you have to cover? We were
talking a little bit previously about youknow, people would ask me what a
typical day as a chaplain looks likein there is really no such thing as
a typical day because so much ofit, in some respects can be reacting
(24:45):
to the most immediate crisis. Sure, but typically the idea is that constitutionally,
service members have the same rights andresponsibilities as regards religion. So the
constitution and guarantees the free exercise.Well, that can be very difficult to
do in a deployment or expeditionary setting. So how our service members supposed to
(25:11):
be able to practice their religion whileon active duty, and it's by having
chaplains who go with them wherever theygo. So on a Sunday you might
find me in the chapel on aship doing a service, out in the
field with the Marines doing a service. But that ironically is probably was probably
(25:34):
the smallest part of what I did, while not the least important, certainly
didn't take up the most time becausethe other core capabilities are provide and that
means, you know, I'm anordained minister in a Protestant denomination, but
the vast majority of Marines and sailorsaren't going to be from my particular background,
(25:56):
so then I need to be ableto find a lergy person who can
meet their religious requirements. So thatmight mean, say, when I was
stationed aboard the USS New Orleans,if there was a Catholic priest or a
Greek Orthodox priest in the strike group, arranging for what we would call a
(26:17):
holy halo to bring them aboard theship, preferably on a Sunday, but
sometimes anytime there with another ship closeenough to have somebody be haloed over and
they'd come over and do divine servicesfor their personnel. So all kinds of
kinds of things. Yeah, we'retalking with Beth Staling, a chaplain US
(26:40):
Navy retired, and we're talking aboutwell, right now, so far you
know where you've come from, Beth, and a lot of the things you've
seen. I'm sure we're just barelyeven scratching the surface. What we wanted
to get into was a little bitabout Memorial Day. You know, we're
heading into that big weekend. Everybody'sexcited to be out grilling and stuff like
that, and there's so much moreto the day. I mean, obviously,
(27:00):
so much more, and we wantedto hit some of that here on
the show. So from your perspectivein the military, How do you approach
what do you think of when itcomes to Memorial Day. So I think
for active duty and even a lotof veterans, Memorial Day is not something
that registers as having anything to dowith us. And I think when we
(27:22):
were talking previously, I talked aboutthe fact that I'll have a lot of
friends who will post on their Facebookwall the distinction between Memorial Day and Veterans
Day, and Memorial Day is verymuch, you know, and only for
those who died well on active dutywell, whereas Veterans Day obviously is for
anybody who served. And so Ithink there can sort of be a sense
(27:47):
of for some folks, certainly forthose who've lost friends in service, there's
a portion of some guilt right thatyou survived and did not and just trying
to redirect people's attention back to thereal reason for the day, which is
(28:08):
again those who died while serving theircountry as opposed to those who simply served.
Well. I think that's great informationbecause a lot of us, you
know, I'm included in that,you feel very torn. I'm not sure
what to do, you know,whether it's social media or whatever. I'm
going to throw something out there Idon't want to neglect veterans, if you
know, because I appreciate the service. I mean, without the service of
(28:32):
all these people, we don't havewhat we have, and so you don't
want to neglect them. But yetyou want to do the right thing.
And what you're saying is from amilitary point of view, career military person,
Let's let Memorial Day be for thosewho fell during active service, as
you've often seen, those who gavethe ultimate sacrifice, Others sacrificed, some
(28:56):
they sacrificed all. Now that completelysums it all methods there anything else you'd
like to add before we wrap itall up. When I think about Memorial
Day, and you know, alot of this is from personal experience,
what I think can get lost isthe sort of intergenerational nature of Memorial Day.
Like we think specifically of the servicemember who died, that may have
(29:19):
been in combat, that may havebeen in a training exercise. And I
think a lot of your listeners wouldbe surprised just how dangerous training is.
Right. So, as a chaplain, I responded as many times in my
career to death and injury in atraining exercise in terms of family notification,
(29:41):
as I did in combat situations.Yeah, you'll see occasionally, you know,
a helicopter will go down in NorthCarolina, that type of thing.
So, you know, just preparingto be ready requires a tremendous amount of
danger. And I think the civilianperspective is danger is really in the combat
(30:03):
zone. And while that's completely true, just getting ready is inherently risky.
So all of which to say,getting back to my original thought about the
intergenerationality of Memorial Day, we thinkof the service member who died, but
that service member is connected to mothersand fathers and sons and daughters and spouses
(30:30):
and perhaps most importantly children. Andso you know, the friends of mine
who died while on active duty,their children are eight or seventeen or twenty
two. And those are folks thatI think maybe Memorial Day is a very
quiet day for them, and Ithink they maybe get lost in the commemoration.
(30:56):
None of them would ask for yourpity, but I would ask for
you or empathy when you think aboutyou know, we get a little bit
excited about appliance and car sales andthe big paint sale at the big paint
sale, and brats on the grilland all of those things are you know,
in the largest picture, things weget to enjoy because of our freedoms.
(31:22):
But in the in the smallest picture, there are children and spouses and
moms and dads for whom that servicemember who died is. This is a
tender day for them, all right, anything practical in the last little bit
that we've got for those of ussitting here wondering what we can do.
So there are organizations throughout the countrycalled it's gold Star Families. So gold
(31:49):
Star families are anybody who lost afamily member on active duty. And you
could probably google in your community whetherthey are any gold Star families. Again,
most people are very private with theirgrief and their mourning, but you
know, just an awareness and asensitivity to that. I think that,
(32:10):
yeah, that doesn't hurt us atall, even if that's all we do
is just realize, oh, thosepeople, these people gave up so much,
and just being aware and like yousaid, some empathy, some prayers,
some thoughts. Absolutely, oh that'sgreat. Yeah, in the midst
of all our celebrating, just youknow, maybe a moment to consider that
there are folks who are still grieving. That is such a good reminder for
(32:32):
all of us to keep in thefront of our minds as we're out doing
all the things that we're doing thisholiday weekend. Beth, we're going to
let you go and do what you'regoing to do for the rest of the
day. We thank you for yourservice and everything you've given for the country
so we can have the freedoms thatwe have. Thank you, my pleasure
and my honor. Thank you.All Right, we're gonna take a quick
(32:52):
break and when we come back,we'll be talking about the very first Decoration
Day and it's probably not the onethat you're thinking of. That's all just
ahead, stick around and we're back. You're listening to the Recall Light Home
Improvement show sponsored by Benjamin Moore andDan We have monumental work to do right
now. We have to get theentire history of the very first Decoration Day
(33:16):
crammed into about six minutes. Okay, so yeah, it's what everybody wants
on a Saturday morning. It's metalking fast speed lesson yeah, and well
I don't have any other way todo it. This is what you're going
to get because it's such a greatstory. Now here's the deal first Decoration
Day. We think we know whenDecoration Day or Memorial Day kind of those
(33:38):
are the same things. We think, we know where they when they started.
Traditionally we think it was eighteen sixtyeight, but there's evidence that it
predates that by about three years.And this is recent evidence from the nineties
that we found. So the CivilWar begins April twelve, eighteen sixty one,
when Fort Sumter is attacked in Charleston, South Carolina. Now, the
(33:58):
Civil War was massive amounts of Americanlives lost. Six and twenty thousand Americans
lost their lives in the Civil Waralone, and for perspective, six hundred
and six thousand lives American lives werelost in all other wars combined through Korea.
Basically everybody in the country was impactedin one way or another. Everybody
(34:19):
somebody, everybody knew somebody, alot of loss, a lot of stuff
to work through. Yeah, allof that started, like we said,
in Charleston, South Carolina. Now, traditionally, Decoration Day thought to start
May thirty, eighteen sixty eight,at the suggestion of a General John Logan,
who called for a nationwide day ofremembrance. And the reason for that
(34:39):
is, you know, not justit's a nice thing to think of all
these lost lives and all the soldierswho lost their lives. It was critical
for the country to start to healitself, right, was to address this,
this massive loss, and to tryto work their way through that.
So this nationwide day is thought upand called for. However, while researching
(35:00):
a book on the Civil War,author David Blight is given a couple of
boxes. I forget which school hewas at, one of the major colleges
that we would know the name.I should have looked it up, but
forgot. But he was given theopportunity to look through a couple of crates
of information that had never been sortedthrough from Union soldiers and stuff like that.
So he's writing this book and he'ssuper excited to go through this box.
(35:22):
And as he's digging, he findsthis little folder and he pulls it
out, and handwritten across the littletab is the first Decoration Day. So
he's all excited. He opens itup and he finds inside a handwritten narrative
from a Union veteran that describes thecountry's first Decoration Day, and it says
that it happened in the spring ofeighteen sixty five, which pre dates three
years. Yeah, yeah, threeyears the day that we traditionally think of.
(35:45):
And interestingly enough, it takes placeabout six miles away from Fort Sumter
at the Washington Racecourse in what isnow Hampton Park in Charleston, South Carolina.
So he starts digging into it alittle more and there's not a lot
of historical support. He's got acouple of eyewitness reports and he's got some
newspaper articles that reference it. Soit happened, but there's just not a
(36:07):
lot of existing info about it.But here's what he found. The Washington
Racecourse and Jockey Club in South Carolina, that's where it was all started.
That was a super fancy race course, right, so everybody who was anybody
in South Carolina, Charleston area,they'd come there for the horse racing,
social seas, super cool, amazing, everybody's there. Well, during the
(36:29):
Civil War they shut that down andturn it into a prison camp to house
captured Union soldiers, and the conditionsthere were absolutely horrific, and over time,
two hundred and fifty seven Union soldiersdied there of exposure, disease,
things like that, and they werejust buried around the race course in unmarked
mass graves, so that happens duringthe war. The war unfolds, and
(36:52):
then February eighteen, eighteen sixty five, just shy of the end of the
Civil War, right near the end, the Union soldier finally march into and
take Charleston once again. After along siege, they take it over,
and effectively the war, you know, soon after that comes to a close.
Basically, the war wraps up onApril nine of eighteen sixty five,
(37:14):
and about a week after that,many former slaves, so freed slaves,
choose to spend a couple of weeksin South Carolina. The people in South
Carolina all gather. They are inCharleston. They spend a couple of weeks
carefully exhuming the bodies of the Uniontroops from the mass grave at that race
course, and then they give eachsoldier a proper burial. They construct a
(37:34):
fence around the cemetery that they created, and they've got a little archway that
reads the martyrs of the race course. So they go and put all of
that together. And then about twoweeks later, on May one of that
same year, this is what theauthor found. A David Blight found in
this folder describing this event. Mayone of that same year, about ten
thousand people, many of whom werefreed slaves, came and held a parade
(37:59):
on the slave holders race course,marching around carrying flowers, singing songs.
There was children's choirs that were singing, We'll rally around the flag. They
were singing the Star Spangled banner,spirituals, the Bible was read. Basically,
people marched to the little cemetery thatthey created, decorated all the graves
with flowers and wreaths and things likethat, and then spent the whole day
(38:22):
having picnics, listening to speeches,and basically experiencing their newly one freedom.
So really, when we look atit, it's the heart and core of
what Memorial Day is. And ithappened about three years earlier than when we
think it did. And this ismostly lost to history, basically lost to
history. So now you know,and you can take that information to the
(38:45):
people at the picnics or wherever yougo right today, share it with your
friends this weekend. All right,that's all the time we've got. We're
gonna have to wrap it up.If you want to catch this one again,
you can find it online at repcolldot com. One quick note,
all of our stores are going tobe closed on Monday, May twenty nine
in honor of Memorial Day, butwe'll be back at it on Tuesday morning.
Have a great weekend, everybody.I'm Dan Hansen and I'm Dan Altina.
(39:07):
Thanks for listening.
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