Index: megatest.scm
==================================================================
--- megatest.scm
+++ megatest.scm
@@ -286,13 +286,12 @@
 ;; The watchdog is to keep an eye on things like db sync etc.
 ;;
 (define *watchdog*
   (make-thread 
    (lambda ()
+     (thread-sleep! 0.5) ;; half second delay for startup
      (let loop ()
-       (thread-sleep! 5) ;; five second resolution is only a minor burden and should be tolerable 
-
        ;; sync for filesystem local db writes
        ;;
        (let ((start-time (current-seconds)))
 	 (mutex-lock! *db-multi-sync-mutex*)
 	 (for-each 
@@ -310,11 +309,13 @@
 	 (mutex-unlock! *db-multi-sync-mutex*))
        
        ;; keep going unless time to exit
        ;;
        (if (not *time-to-exit*)
-	   (loop))))
+	   (begin
+	     (thread-sleep! 5) ;; five second resolution is only a minor burden and should be tolerable 
+	     (loop)))))
    "Watchdog thread"))
 
 (thread-start! *watchdog*)
 
 (define (std-exit-procedure)