WEBVTT - Thom is joined by Gary Sullivan 11/20/2025

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<v Speaker 1>Already eight ten on your Thursday morning, getting closer and

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<v Speaker 1>closer to the weekend where you can listen to our

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<v Speaker 1>good friend Gary Sullivan on our sister station, fifty five

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<v Speaker 1>KRC nine to noon Saturdays and Sundays, and he syndicated

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<v Speaker 1>across nearly three hundred radio stations across America.

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<v Speaker 2>You're a big league operator, Gary, Oh I try.

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<v Speaker 3>I try so well.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, you are.

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<v Speaker 1>A big league operator, big time man, you know, Gary.

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<v Speaker 1>I gotta tell you, there are very few things in

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<v Speaker 1>life that I can say I just despise. Okay, very few,

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<v Speaker 1>And I bet I'm gonna talk about it. You're going

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<v Speaker 1>to talk about what I'm today. Because when my bride

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<v Speaker 1>Polly says to me, Hey, you know what, let's take

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<v Speaker 1>Saturday and put up Christmas.

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<v Speaker 2>Lights, mean, oh my god, I lose my mind.

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<v Speaker 3>You can't go hide.

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<v Speaker 2>I can't go hide. You can run, but you.

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<v Speaker 3>Put your little elf suit on.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh my god.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, but a lot of people love doing it,

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<v Speaker 1>and I'm gonna ultimately go do it. But look, there

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<v Speaker 1>is some safety to consider and newmero. You know, whether

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<v Speaker 1>it's Christmas lights, whether it's changing a white bulb, something

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<v Speaker 1>maybe in the ceiling.

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<v Speaker 2>Getting on a ladder.

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<v Speaker 1>Man, you have I know a fellow who died from

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<v Speaker 1>a fall I do out in Arizona, and you know

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<v Speaker 1>his wife told him he was a little bit older guy.

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<v Speaker 1>But it can happen to a young person too, right, sure.

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<v Speaker 3>Well it kind of really starts with the type of ladder.

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<v Speaker 3>And I'm you know, like if you're hanging X to

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<v Speaker 3>your lights, every ladder has a weight limit on it,

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<v Speaker 3>and everybody buys the cheapest ladder, right, I mean I'll

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<v Speaker 3>buy the type on it's got a two hundred pounds

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<v Speaker 3>weight limit. You take a walk around, there's a lot

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<v Speaker 3>of people over two hundred pounds. Seriously, be careful. Second

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<v Speaker 3>thing is an extension ladder. If you're hanging lights on

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<v Speaker 3>a gutter not having a professionally decorated in there, there's

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<v Speaker 3>an idea for you. Tom a lot of that going

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<v Speaker 3>on now, don't give me any ideas. Don't get a

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<v Speaker 3>lot going on.

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<v Speaker 2>I just stop it. I mean, I like you.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't want to go south on you, all right,

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<v Speaker 1>but some professional really does and don'ts about putting up

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<v Speaker 1>lights outside?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah yeah, So make sure you use the ladder, make

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<v Speaker 3>sure it's steady, make sure it's got a good footing,

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<v Speaker 3>make sure somebody's there with you. Make sure it extends

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<v Speaker 3>three feet above where you're going to hang the lights,

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<v Speaker 3>like extends above the gutter. Just make sure it's solid,

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<v Speaker 3>make sure somebody's with you. And when you do the

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<v Speaker 3>you should always have three points of contact. You know,

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<v Speaker 3>you got two rails on the side for your hands,

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<v Speaker 3>you got your feet, that's four. Don't put one foot

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<v Speaker 3>down and you know, do a two point contact. That's unsafe.

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<v Speaker 3>So that's probably number one. Number two is where have

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<v Speaker 3>you stored your lights? A lot of people storm in

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<v Speaker 3>the attic, and that's the worse place in the world.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean that attic in the summertime can be one

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<v Speaker 3>hundred and forty hundred and fifty degrees. Those light cords

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<v Speaker 3>are very thin, they get very brittle. They're soy oil

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<v Speaker 3>and they get very brittle. They crack, and then if

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<v Speaker 3>you start putting the wrong bushes outside with rain and stuff,

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<v Speaker 3>that's certainly a big issue. I mean, that's a big issue.

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<v Speaker 3>So another thing you don't want to do. This is interesting,

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<v Speaker 3>and this happened to me when you're about ten years ago,

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<v Speaker 3>is letting light cords or extension cords sit on the ground.

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<v Speaker 2>Really.

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<v Speaker 3>I went out one morning and my lights weren't on,

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<v Speaker 3>and I looked around the bush and I find this

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<v Speaker 3>extension cord and it looked like somebody with the diagonal

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<v Speaker 3>players cut the cord. And I'm like, who in the

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<v Speaker 3>world would come up through the through the driveway, through

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<v Speaker 3>the yard and cut my my Christmas lights? I mean,

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<v Speaker 3>what the heck?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah?

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<v Speaker 3>And I got on the radio and I was just

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<v Speaker 3>kind of moaning that fact, and somebody called in and said,

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<v Speaker 3>what was that extension cord on the ground. Yeah, and

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<v Speaker 3>he goes, there's a rabbit.

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<v Speaker 2>No kidding, I said.

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<v Speaker 3>A rabbit And he goes, yeah. And he told me

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<v Speaker 3>the reason. He said, there's soy oil in those cords,

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<v Speaker 3>and rabbits and squirrels will cut them and it'll look

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<v Speaker 3>like an absolute perfect cut.

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<v Speaker 2>And it did.

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<v Speaker 3>I would have bet my life that a diagonal plier

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<v Speaker 3>cut that thing. Extension cords and like cords, get those

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<v Speaker 3>off the ground.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, But Gary, I mean, you and I both know, okay,

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<v Speaker 1>And you and I both know. When you're going out

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<v Speaker 1>there and let's say you've got a row of bushes

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<v Speaker 1>and you're hanging some lights off of them, right, and

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<v Speaker 1>you plug it into an extension cord. How in the

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<v Speaker 1>world are you supposed to keep that thing off the

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<v Speaker 1>ground from where you're plugging it in, perhaps in an

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<v Speaker 1>outlet that sits outdoors.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, well you can get little steaks, okay, an inn

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<v Speaker 3>slaved staple. Put it right at the top where the

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<v Speaker 3>quard or extension cord is going to the next set

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<v Speaker 3>of bushes. Keep it off the ground. Okay, all right,

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<v Speaker 3>So that's how you do it. And the biggest protection

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<v Speaker 3>of all the lights, and I know you got a

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<v Speaker 3>big interview, so I want to run through this real quick.

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<v Speaker 3>The biggest protection and safety device is having them plugged

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<v Speaker 3>into a ground fault circuit interrupter. If there's a short,

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<v Speaker 3>if there's moisture in the connections, that will automatically just

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<v Speaker 3>shut the entire display down. And it's funny, it's a

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<v Speaker 3>protection device, but everybody always thinks when it shuts it down,

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<v Speaker 3>it's the protection device's fault.

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<v Speaker 2>It's right, It's not that I have a moisture.

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<v Speaker 3>Problem or short. It's that device's fault. Of course it

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<v Speaker 3>could be, but rarely is. And what you want to do,

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<v Speaker 3>and a ground fault circuit interrupter is the one where

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<v Speaker 3>it's got the little red button and a little black

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<v Speaker 3>button in the middle of the outlet. Yeah, you can

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<v Speaker 3>reset it. Many of us have reset them many times

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<v Speaker 3>and they reset, right. I mean, you plug it in

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<v Speaker 3>and it resets. But if it doesn't reset, what's going on. Well,

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<v Speaker 3>maybe it is the ground fall circuit interrupter there, or

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<v Speaker 3>maybe there's water getting down behind the outlet itself. But

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<v Speaker 3>do check that. If it goes off once and it resets,

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<v Speaker 3>that's fine. There was a moisture issue. It worked, everybody's good.

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<v Speaker 3>If it doesn't reset, you may have to replace that,

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<v Speaker 3>or you may have to investigate what's going on and

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<v Speaker 3>it's probably Again gets back to the electrical connections time

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<v Speaker 3>where the plugs, you know, plugging into the outlet and

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<v Speaker 3>don't wrap them with tape. Sometimes moisture gets trapped in

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<v Speaker 3>there and can't dry. Just a good tight saran wrap

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<v Speaker 3>around there is nice. And make sure the cords. The

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<v Speaker 3>outdoor lights are obviously outdoor lights, but the extension cords.

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<v Speaker 3>I've seen people use lamp extension cords. No, no, no, no,

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<v Speaker 3>it's got to be an outdoor of course to figure

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<v Speaker 3>that out. Yeah, but people still do it. You know

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<v Speaker 3>you want to get that job done because you love

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<v Speaker 3>to do that.

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<v Speaker 2>Love it. Now.

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<v Speaker 1>One thing I want to circle back to before I

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<v Speaker 1>let you go, And we do have Zach Taylor coming

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<v Speaker 1>up here in about the seven minutes. I don't know,

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<v Speaker 1>we're about to find out. We're about to find out,

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<v Speaker 1>and we're gonna ask him. I can promise you that

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<v Speaker 1>we might ask him three or four or five or

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<v Speaker 1>seven times.

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<v Speaker 2>That's good for you. Okay, let me.

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<v Speaker 1>Ask you this show real quick, as I want to

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<v Speaker 1>circle back. You were talking about the ladder, okay. A

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<v Speaker 1>lot of times Gary, when you're hanging up stuff outside,

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<v Speaker 1>you're having to put that ladder on the ground right right, Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>So I mean ill, that's where I.

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<v Speaker 2>Always get a little scared and concern for sure.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, especially if it's on a slope. You've got to

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<v Speaker 3>make sure that it has very very good footing. And

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<v Speaker 3>you don't want that letter to be going straight up either.

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<v Speaker 3>You want that kicked out. There is a formula which

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<v Speaker 3>is not into my head right now, but on how

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<v Speaker 3>far out from from the wall it should be. But

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<v Speaker 3>it should be a nice not straight up and down.

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<v Speaker 3>It should be a nice gradual maybe like a forty

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<v Speaker 3>five degrees sixty degree slope. But you know, it's amazing.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm sorry to hear about your friend that that you know,

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<v Speaker 3>fell from a ladder, but it happens all the time.

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<v Speaker 3>It's like the number one emergency. Nobody thinks to have

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<v Speaker 3>somebody out there with them, not that they're going to

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<v Speaker 3>catch them. But I don't know about your spouse, but

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<v Speaker 3>mine would quickly tell me that ladder doesn't look solid.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well mine, I don't know. Maybe she wants that

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<v Speaker 1>thing going. Well, you never know, you never know. You

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<v Speaker 1>very long enough, you never know.

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<v Speaker 3>You never know.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, my friend, Thanks for your time is always giving,

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<v Speaker 1>Happy Thanksgiving.

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<v Speaker 3>Happy Thanksgiving. You and your family appreciate it.

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<v Speaker 2>Thank you, buddy,