-
Guest Post from My Dad, The Glove Guy
Attention Search and Rescue Team Members! After you read my story here, please go to www.tomstruckshop.com. Click on Safety Jackets. We specialize in outfitting SAR teams with the 8 in 1 Transformer Winter Bomber Jacket. Please call Tom at (951) 216-5323 for further information.
I can’t believe it has been a year since I wrote a blog about our winter waterproof insulated gloves and Brenda posted it here. We sold more than 50 pair of gloves in the weeks before Christmas. A Big Thank You to those of you who responded!
As Winter wore off and Spring 2013 came around, we turned the focus of our glove business, Tom’s Truck Shop, in a few new directions. I acquired a new online catalog host for Tom’s Truck Shop that would allow me to market a number of products, not just the single glove we were featuring last Winter. We included a handyman’s glove, a perfect glove for the carpenter/handyman that features wonderful protection from blisters and abrasion while employing a special gripping surface that allows a person to grip a hammer or a tool with 50% less fatigue. The greatest feature of ths glove though is the tips of the thumb, index finger, and the middle finger are exposed to allow picking up a nail or a screw. Or texting on their cell phone! How many handymen have had to remove their gloves to send a text message.
Tom’s Truck Shop also expanded into the High Visibility Apparel. We are all about protecting the hands, how about protection from being hit by a vehicle? We have some wonderful Hi-Vis Bomber Jackets, Vests, Rain Gear, and some very good prices too. My supplier ordered a whole shipment of Hi-Vis apparel from his factories (of course they are in China), and while in shipment, some of the layers of fabric that were black left a shadow on the bright yellow fabric. The actual blemish is very slight, noticeable only under bright light and mostly not noticeable at all. But it forced my supplier to liquidate them at half price and they can’t be sold as 100% ANSI compliant (that is the regulatory requirement for highway workers. ANSI compliant apparel must adhere to strict standards, even different classes depending on the speed of traffic the highway worker will be exposed to. As an example, if a highway worker will be exposed to traffic traveling 50 MPH or higher, He/She must be wearing Class 3 ANSI compliant Hi-Vis apparel.)
We are currently selling these blemished bomber jackets for $35. They are only available in XL, 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X, and 6X. They are perfect for anyone needing to be visible to traffic or other moving equipment. Also these jackets are fleece-lined and are very WARM! The fleece lining can be unzipped and removed and the jacket can be worn as a light windbreaker. These jackets are 100% Waterproof. I should note we also have a complete line of ‘Perfect’ Hi-Vis ANSI Compliant Apparel. Please contact Tom’s Truck Shop for a quote. There are excellent discounts for bulk sales.
Just recently we were privileged to outfit the Placer County Sheriff’s Search & Rescue in Auburn CA (near Sacramento California) with bright orange ANSI Compliant 8 in 1 Transformer Bomber Jackets. They ordered 71 jackets from us. This beautiful jacket is a full winter waterproof Bomber jacket, yet the inside liner zipps out, the sleeves unzip and come off, and this jacket can be worn as a summer lightweight Hi-Vis vest. Altogether, there are 8 different configurations. We had the jackets lettered on the back and each Search & Rescue member has their name over the right front pocket. The last word is they are very happy with their new winter bomber jackets.
Earlier this year we outfitted the Tehama County Sheriff’s Search & Rescue with 17 of the jackets. They look pretty happy too.
Brenda found these high-visibility Knuckle-Head glove particularly interesting. She likes them because they are fashionable (!) but they are actually really practical because they have knuckle protection, back of the hand protection and palm protection as well as a terrycloth material on thumb to use as a brow wipe. We don’t have them on the site yet but I imagine motorcycle riders, BMX and extreme sports riders would find these really useful. Email if you are interested.
Speaking of Brenda, she has a wonderful friend, Anna Epp, who is also an excellent photographer. We asked her to take some pictures of her husband shoveling the walk, sweeping the snow off the car, etc. using our glove.
I have a few questions for those of you who purchased our waterproof gloves. First, were they what you thought they were going to be and how were they received by the intended recipient? Did they do the job? I would love to hear your story, good or otherwise. I would like to know if they are still holding up and can they make it through another winter?
I’m working on developing a new and improved website (not pictured here) for my online glove store and I’d like to collect some interesting reviews. If you have owned a pair of my gloves or you gave them to someone and you have some feedback, I’d love to hear your story. If I post your story on my website I will send you a free pair of gloves. I’m a very small company and I answer all of my emails personally so hit me up! Email me at tomtruckshop (at) gmail.com. I love to answer questions and talk about my gloves. In fact, my family says that’s all I talk about.
Since I live in Southern California where it never snows my hat is off to you who have real weather every day.
Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!
– Tom
-
Family and Camping and Raspberry Picking, Oh My!
Bug starts school late this year which is such a blessing in disguise. While I yearn for the long productive work hours, I’m thankful we’re getting more time to squeeze in some summer fun before the back-to-school grind starts up again. It’s been a tug-a-war on my heart trying to fit in work hours and play hours while time rushes past me. I feel like I’m going to wake up tomorrow and I’ll be eighty. Life, please slow down! I want to enjoy you!
My parents kidnapped Bug and I for a few days. My car needs some work and I’m trying not to drive it so they picked us up and we headed off to the sticks. It felt good to just let go and be a prisoner to someone else’s schedule for a change. The sticks always feels like home deep down.
We drove up to the hills (Oak Glen) to go camping in my parents’ cute little mini trailer that they recently purchased after selling my Grandpa’s house (that used to be my house). While I’m sad to say goodbye to that old mobile home in that old crazy neighborhood that I’m so fond of… the wonderful backyard and the walls that kept me safe and sound for a year, I’m glad that the money went to such a great recreational vehicle.
What’s a recreational vehicle, asks Bug? It’s a vehicle for fun, I say!
And boy was it. It’s super small and cramped but it has three beds (a bunk bed and a table that turns into a double), a kitchen and full bathroom inside. It even has a working shower! We call it glamping when we go camping in it because it is so far from roughing it.
We stayed in this old resort that reminds me of some place Baby might stay in the movie, Dirty Dancing. It had a huge clubhouse and two pools, a miniature golf area and even an old dank tavern, an old rusty statue of Yogi Bear and a grotto cave with a pool that had been filled in with cement. Everything was run down and looked like it had been ridden hard and put away wet.
We wandered around amongst the ghosts of better times, imagining all the people who used to play there. Everything was deserted because we were there before their busy tourist season and by the looks of their decor, the 80’s might have been their peak. We had the whole place to ourselves, which was awesome. Well, until I wanted a cup of coffee. Then I was kind of bummed that everything was closed. But that was okay because I had packed our French press of course!
Long live glamping! I even got some work done. Not nearly enough of course—the story of my life.
The next day we visited Riley Farms, an old favorite of ours. Bug didn’t remember the last time we’d been there. It was fresh all over again.
Bethany and her family drove up to meet us and then we went raspberry picking! We LOVE raspberries. It was the end of the season and there were so many berries. Half of them were dried up right on the branch. It almost made me wonder if they’d taste like those freeze-dried raspberries we buy from Trader Joe’s and put in our cereal. I was too afraid to try them. We just picked and picked and picked the ripe ones.
We couldn’t taste them as we picked unfortunately because they said they were sprayed with something organic, whatever that might be…
Raspberry picking is hard work when it’s a hundred degrees out. We were a sweaty bunch. But it was worth it. The skies there are always so big and blue and amazing. The day before a summer storm had blown through and it had misted all day. We sure wished we’d picked that day to pick berries on instead of this bright sunny one. It was hot, hot, HOT.
But still worth it. This farm is so beautiful. I bet it would be amazing for weddings and events.
Then we drove back down the hill and refreshed ourselves with Starbucks (of course!). There is nothing like a cold air-conditioned Starbucks and an iced latte on a hot hot day. Phew!
I feel like we got our summer’s worth out of that trip. My kid isn’t going to go back to school and write essays about how she spent her whole summer cooped up inside watching Netflix while her mom worked. So I feel good about that. Unfortunately, now I’m even more behind but them’s the breaks!
Back to the grind!
