Another Good Reason!

This is Tucker.

He's new in our house.

He's also the reason there's no Monday Rambles today.  He's at the Humane Society getting his little boy parts snipped having some body work done.  We're frantically running around kitten-proofing the house.  He's only six months old, and six month old kittens can get into everything.

I'll be staying home for a few days to oversee the socialization.

Some of us are not so sure about this.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Or the blog.

Or whatever.

So I've been a little off-schedule of late.  Maybe you didn't really notice.  Who am I kidding?  Of course, you noticed.  Still, it wasn't as bad as this time last year.  I've just gotten beat out of sorts by life, the booth, and the big picture.  Especially the big picture.

I was really intending to get back on track this week, with an on time Monday Rambles post and everything.  I thought it was all going to work out.  And then insomnia struck.

It happens to me from time to time.  Sometimes, I just can't sleep.  Just. Can't. Sleep.  Usually, I wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep, so I end up messing around on the computer for a couple of hours (if I'm lucky) or the rest of the night.  The general rule for me is that if it hits between midnight and two, I still have a shot of getting a couple hour's worth of sleep.  If it's after three, I'm probably up for good.

Sunday night, I never got to sleep at all.  I was up all night long.

I answered math problems on the computer.  I took a Spanish grammar test online.  I wrote emails.  I took a quiz and learned that, if I were a cupcake, I'd be strawberry with buttercream icing and rainbow sprinkles.  Then I took another quiz and learned that in a past life I was Eleanor of Aquitaine.  (Which really explains a lot, now that I think about it.)  I did some genealogy work, filling in some gaps on my father's side of the family.

In fact, I did everything but actually work on a blog post, for reasons that I certainly don't understand and cannot articulate.(I think it might have something to do with not wanting to mess up my sprinkles. Or maybe it was the regal sounding voice in my head that kept saying, "Eleanor of Aquitaine does not type.  She dictates.")

Anyway, my plan for Monday was to get out early, go to the booth, work for a few hours, head back to Louisville, and then meet Keith at an immigration rally.  However, at the time that I really should have been hopping in the shower, it finally hits me---I'm now tired.  Really tired.  And sleepy.

I probably should have powered on through it, but I'm not as young as I used to be and I haven't pulled an all-nighter in decades.  I was afraid of falling asleep on the bus and waking up in a corn field in Southern Indiana. Eleanor told me that simply would not do.

So I calculated out how long I could lay down and still catch a late morning bus and get a little work in before having to head back. And then I set an alarm and laid down, with Chiquito, and the cupcake and Eleanor.

Being a middle-aged man with a middle-aged man bladder, I had to get up and pee well before the alarm went off.  As I walked through the kitchen to the bathroom, I heard this really faint, really quick beeping sound.

beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep

It's the alarm panel from our old house alarm.  We had to give up the alarm service when we gave up the landline phone a few years ago. The pad is still there, but the battery is supposed to be dead and it's inactive.

For the past few weeks, though, it's been doing this beep thing at odd times.  There have been at least three such incidents.  We have no idea what's causing them, but if someone punches the "off" button, it stops.

I don't have my glasses on, so I lean in really close and punch what I think is the "off" button.

And all HELL breaks loose.

The actual alarm--the house alarm which has been inactive for a long time--goes off.  The house alarm.  The one that's loud enough for the neighborhood to hear.

WHOOP!WHOOP!WHOOP!WHOOP!WHOOP!WHOOP!WHOOP!WHOOP!WHOOP!

It was like that only way, way louder than you could ever imagine it.

Chiquito starts freaking out.  Sprinkles start flying off the cupcake.  Eleanor becomes immediately as nonplussed as only a medieval English queen with a scheming husband and brood of vipers for children can.  And I still have to pee.

And now it gets interesting.

The alarm itself--the part that's making this ungodly racket---is in the corner of the junk room.  The far corner.  And the junk room is, as junk rooms, are prone to be, full of junk.  Literally full.  It's where the booth stuff that isn't in the shed or in storage ends up.

I have been working diligently in recent days at cleaning and clearing it out.  I take a bunch of stuff over to the booth several times a week.  I have thrown a few bags of trash out and gotten some of the rest organized, but it is by no means done.  The infernal, blaring thing is by not the least bit accessible without spending a half day that I obviously don't have moving shit around.

So I, still with no glasses, try punching the old codes into the keypad.  The main code won't work.  The back-up code we gave my mother doesn't work.  The code for the old cat-sitter doesn't work.  Punching it doesn't work.  Trying to pull it off the wall doesn't work.  It won't budge.

I cannot see well enough to find a hammer.

Now, I'm starting to get worried that the neighbors are calling the police.  Who will come to the house.  And see my junk room.  And me.  With no glasses.  In my undies.

Eleanor tells me that it is beneath her royal personage to cooperate with the local constabulary.  Chiquito is nowhere to be found.  The cupcake is curled up in the corner crying and getting those damn sprinkles everywhere.

I have no choice.  I have to brave the junk room.

I decide that maybe I can climb over all the boxes and tubs and get to the screaming thing from hell.  bear in mind that I still don't have my glasses on.  I'm in my underwear.  And I still have to pee.

I set foot on the bottom box of a small stack, thinking that if I can get on top of the stack, I can just kind of roll along the tops of the boxes.  Or something.  Eleanor starts laughing uncontrollably at the thought, but she's being no help, so I ignore her.

As I pull my self up, the bottom box collapses, making the two on top of it fall all around me, scattering stuff everywhere, basically undoing a lot of the cleaning I have done in there.  I manage to keep my balance, but it's becoming pretty clear that I am going to have to pee in the next couple of seconds or my innards are going to pop open.

At my wit's end, I look towards the corner of the junk room and scream as loud as I can:

"WILL YOU FUCKING STOP????"

Believe it or not, that works.  The noise stops.  I go pee.

When I come back Eleanor tells me that a simple "Desist!" would have sufficed.  I tell her to shut her worthless royal ass up, and she huffs out of the room muttering something about having the cupcake for tea.  I haven't seen either of them since.

Then I get to really worrying about the cops.  What if they come bursting in and shoot me thinking I'm some sort of underwear bandit?  Maybe I shouldn't have pissed Eleanor off quite so soon.

So I sit down on the bed, get my phone and start to call Keith.  And the alarm I set to wake me up goes off.  And now I'm just about on the verge of tears.  I call Keith and tell him the whole story.  He assures me the cops won't be coming and tells me to forget the booth and get some sleep.

Which I do.

And the cops never come, which now makes me worry that I have the most indifferent neighbors who would ignore my screams of terror when the serial killer gets me.

And I have been playing catch up ever since.

Now you know why there haven't been any blogs this week.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Eddie-tor's Note:  We contacted Eleanor of Aquitaine to verify her involvement in the incident, but she denied any knowledge of it.  "Do I look like the sort of medieval English queen who would be the past life of a foul-mouthed peasant who runs around in his undergarments?" she said, as she brushed a few rainbow sprinkles off her gown.  The cupcake was unavailable for comment.  Calls to Chiquito went unreturned.  The neighbors wouldn't answer their doors. It is highly possible that these might be the ravings of a madman.

Monday Rambles (Back Home Edition)

ALL HEED THE WISDOM!

That's the nicest thing a fortune cookie has ever said to me!

Well, it worked for Trump......

True that!


HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN

We got back at about 11:30-ish Thursday evening and were very happy to be off the road.  We made excellent time coming back too.  The trip is about a 13 hour drive, give or take.  We made it in 11.  We were worn out, but it was worth it to be back home.

FAMILIAR FACE

We were greeting enthusiastically and vociferously by this little guy.

Okay, so he's not quite so enthusiastic here, but trust me, he was.

He even slept in between our pillows that night, something he never ever does.  He was super, super clingy for a few days after.  He definitely doesn't like it when we go away.

We've finally figured out that he's not a very social kitty.  Kind of like his people, he's just not that into interacting with most people.  We're all just anti-socialites here.  We told our cat-checker to just make sure that he was okay when she stopped in, but not to try and pet him or play with him.  Even at that, he still growled at her every time she came over.  He's a two-man cat, our boy.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Since we still had our rental car for an extra day, we decided to make this year's long overdue cemetery trip.  Mazda just ain't up to long interstate journeys any more, so we rent a car to go to Arkansas.  Things have been too crazy of late to head to the country, so snubbing Black Friday seemed like a good idea.

My mother now has her new winter hat.

I also averted a crisis at my grandparents' grave.

I'm pretty sure Grammie wasn't happy about this.

All better!  I picked up the stray flowers after I took this pic.

THE VISITATION

We had a real good visit in Arkansas.  Even with the extra time we had, it still seemed way too rushed and way too short.  I guess it will always be that way.  Still, we did cover a lot of ground and had wonderful times with as much of his family as we could.  One of his aunts had been going through her mother's papers and pictures and gave him an envelope filled with his old school pics, family pics, and lots of pictures of his father as a boy.  It was great!

HOLIDAY SHOPPING

I did manage to get some junking in during the trip.  More on that tomorrow.  I found a Salvation Army that I had never seen before and revisited a cute little vendor mall that I was last at a couple of years ago.  I also stopped at a couple of flea markets during the cemetery trip as well.  I didn't find a lot, but there were some cool things.

REARRANGING THE DECK CHAIRS

Booth sales are still down in the dumps.  I had a little bounce in November, but not enough of one.  I'm still due for a really low check.  It seems that consumer confidence didn't rise with the election results. 

I've got Mazda loaded down with holiday stuff to put out this week.  We'll see if that helps at all.  I desperately need a really good end to this year.

MUSIC FOR MONDAY (HOLIDAY EDITION)

I guess I'll wrap it up with this and see you all later.

Monday Rambles

FALL IS COMING!

Yesterday the high here was 80.  Yes. 80!  I did some alley exploring for junk for the first time in ages.  So nice.  Temps this week are not supposed to get above 90 here.  I believe Fall may be on the way.  Woo hoo!

To celebrate, I put up a fall wreath in my booth.  It's my only fall decor item right now, but I'm rooting around looking for the hay bales and gourds.

The wreath itself was a freebie find from in the neighborhood.  I had a little trouble getting it off the front door it was nailed to,  but a good determined yank finally brought it right off.

Okay, I'm kidding with that little bit.  It actually came out of a renovation dumpster a couple doors down.  I saw workers filling up a new one last week, when I was on the way to the bus stop, but I was running late.  I checked it later that evening, and the wreath was all I could get out because they had piled a mound of icky old mattresses on top of everything else.  The wreath came out in great shape, though.  Sometimes, you gotta take what you can get and be happy.

The guy who took down our water heater closet told me that all the reno in the area is due to one guy, who is buying up all the old shotguns, gutting them, rehabbing them, and flipping them.  If that's the case, there will be dumpsters for a while yet.  There are a lot of shotguns in this neighborhood.

SPEAKING OF THE BOOTH

I didn't get sales emails for the first three days last week, so I was freaking out.  No gravy!  No potatoes!  No plate!  ACK!

Turned out to be a glitch in the system.  Last week was a pretty strong one, all week long.  Still not all the way where I want it, but the gravy ladle is coming out more and more.  The weekend was especially good. Best one in a while in fact.  I was afraid the nice weather might pull people away, but I did pretty good both days.  It was the first weekend of the state fair to boot!

I'm planning a complete booth overhaul and massive restock that will probably take me two weeks or so to complete.  I'm ready for a new look and I want to connect most of my spaces into one long continuous booth.  I'm still working on the ideas, but I intend to start next week.  I have treatment tomorrow, so this is my rest week.

CHIQUITO TO THE RESCUE

I had a really bad case of the "I don't give a's" last week.  It got progressively worse too.  I started out not giving a shit, and then went downhill from there.  I didn't leave the house.  I didn't blog.  I didn't do nothing.

Then the cat started bringing me mice.  The first two were still alive.  The third one was dead.  At that point, I decided that I'd rather face the world than the building carnage at home.

My sweet little boy is a killer.  (I think he was getting tired of me hanging out at home and bitching.)

RECORD BUYS

Like I said yesterday, there was a music sale at the comic shop yesterday.  Everything was a quarter.  I went looking for oddball and fun and I found it.  More on that tomorrow.  But, for today, a little preview.

I give you Cesar Romero. In all his glory.  Complete with the mustache he refused to shave off to play the Joker on Batman. In TRUE HIGH FIDELITY!

I picked up several albums, but only one CD, which was actually for me.

This is the only Anonymous 4 CD I didn't have. (Except for the newest one.) Well, I used to have it, but it was tossed when our much missed and beloved Himalayan Brianna peed on it.  She expressed her displeasure with the management that way.  This particular bout of ire aimed at me cost me the CD and three comics, one of which I still have to replace.  Believe it or not, she was a total sweetheart, except for this one issue.

SPEAKING OF THE JOKER

Since the topic of Batman just came up, I have to share the most wonderful news!  There's going to be an animated feature based on the show, with Adam West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar reprising their roles.  Do I even have to tell you that I am pumped for this?

Here's the trailer:



Adam West sounds a little rough, but I don't care.  It's still gotta be him.

DOUBLE FEATURE FINALE

It's a special day here at the Ramble.  I'm combining the regular music for Monday with the DVD of the Week. 

I spent some time Saturday night watching several Atomic Betty DVD's I picked up at the Peddlers Mall.  From time to time I like to try and make up for my misspent adulthood of employment and responsibilities by catching up on more recent cartoons that I had to miss the first time around, like Betty.

Quite frankly, it was a lot of fun.  Pop culture always seems to be lacking in heroes for younger girls, and Atomic Betty fits the bill nicely.  The first few episodes are a little rushed and don't quite work, but it evens out over time.  Betty is an every day school girl, who is secretly a Galactic Guardian, protecting the universe from all kind of menaces.  Quite enjoyable.  And kick-ass.  Very kick-ass.

Here's the long version of the theme.  Try getting this out of your head today.



Even better, try this mash-up with Betty and Sailor Moon.  Fun!

Monday Rambles

RUNNING LATE

It may be Tuesday when you read this, but come Hell or high water, it's going up tonight.  I was kind of tuckered out from the jaunt yesterday, so I stayed in and rested.  I've been writing a little bit at a time through the day.  I spilled coffee on my keyboard and mouse, which killed the mouse and sent me scrambling around the house to find another one, further delaying me. 

MY WHAT A CLEAN EDDIE!

I guess I'll crawl out of the shower and do this week's ramble. I've been in there ever since Friday when we finally got the new hot water heater and turned the agua back on.  I've never been more grateful for a material item in my life.  I finally feel really, truly clean again.

Also this:

The kitty's happy.  We're happy.  Everyone's happy.  And all is right with the world.

CAN YOU HANDLE IT???

Cuteness overload alert!  Pink Hello Kitty cowgirl boots!

Seen in a friend's booth at the Peddlers Mall

Also, Hello Kitty does sushi.

A VIRGIN NO MORE!

Like I said in yesterday's post, I finally made it over to part of the 127 sale. (What exactly did you think this section would be about???)  I still have to take pics of everything, so I'm holding off on the full details for another couple of days.  I will say this:  MANOMAN WAS IT HOT! 

Otherwise, I am back on my shopping moratorium, until the Labor Day Big Flea.

TREASURES

Speaking of moratoriums and such, how about a couple of things I haven't shown you?

I found this late 50's edition of a Masonic encyclopedia in a trash pile during set out.  The cover is kind of scuffed, because someone tossed it on the pavement in the alley where I found it. Interestingly, a couple of years ago, I found a late 50's edition of Morals and Dogma not too far from the spot when this one was found. 

I looked for an entry on the Illuminati, but there wasn't one, probably because this was the second of two volumes and started with the M's.

I've come to the realization that I could very easily be collecting flower frogs, if I'm not careful.  I'm kind of fascinated with them, especially the unique ones like these.

I found this wooden hashtag at a church sale.  The seller said that I had just missed the @ sign, which someone had just bought.  I'm debating tracking down some wooden letters and making a big sign that says:

#getyourbuttinthisboothandbuyallofmycrap

AGAINST ALL ODDS

Last Tuesday was treatment day, and it was full of snags, which is highly unusual.  Typically, we are in at 8 and out by 12:30, with the longest part being the wait for the lab results and the wait for the pharmacy to send the drug over.  We were kind of on a tight schedule, because we were under the (mistaken) impression that we would be getting the water heater that afternoon.

So of course, my port was clogged.  No labs out of that puppy!  They tried everything to get it to work, with no luck.  So they sent for the drug that unblocks ports, which added an extra pharmacy wait.  To keep on schedule, we all decided to try one of my raggedy-ass veins for the blood draw for the labs.  Two sticks.  No blood.  Not my day.

They injected my port with the declogger, and sent me down to the clinic to wait.  It takes 45 minutes for that stuff to work, on top of the wait I was going to have for the labs (once they got them drawn) and the drug.  By that point, we were making back up plans for Keith to leave me at the clinic and go home to meet the plumber.  We figured it was probably inevitable.

Except that it wasn't.  My labs came back so fast that I couldn't believe it, and the wait for the drug only took about half as long as normal.  We were actually walking out the door at 12:30, just like always.

Of course, we didn't get the water heater that day, but I'll still take a small victory. 

SAD NEWS

The Go-Gos are on their farewell tour.  My favorite band of all time is calling it quits.  I guess seeing them live is one item that won't get crossed off my bucket list.  I'm kinda bummed.

Admittedly, it hasn't been the same in recent years, since Kathy Valentine got let go, but I was still holding out hope for one more album.  Hopefully, they'll all come back together again, when/if the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame finally pulls its head out of its ass and admits them.  Hello, people!  We're only talking the first all female band who wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the charts.

HAPPY NEWS

On the other hand, there's an awesome set coming out next month with alternate takes, remasters, out-takes, and just general treasures from the classic Trio albums recorded by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and my supremely beloved Emmylou Harris.

They can't perform together any more, since Ronstadt's Parkinson's prevents her from singing, so it's wonderful to have this tribute to the beautiful harmonies the three of them made for decades.

IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Mural on the wall of a bar down the street from the house.  The place is called Kaiju, which is the Japanese word for those big-ass classic monsters, like Godzilla.  The side panel used to say "The end is near, so have a beer."  I don't know why they took that off.

AND FINALLY

How about some music for Monday (night)?

Monday Rambles

This little fellow is a bit nonplussed right now.

Please ignore the mess.  We're in the junk room.  It's junky.

We're in the middle of our annual house invasion by the ants, but we finally seem to be winning the battle, thanks to generous applications of what I call "Demetrious Earth."  However, before the tide turned, they made it into the bin where we keep the cat food for the first time ever.

Thankfully, it was almost empty, so we didn't have to toss much.  The problem is that we haven't had time to replenish the regular cat food.  I grabbed a bag of another kind at the grocery so we could make it through the weekend.  He's eating it, but is also taking great pains to tell me that it's not his "real" food.  Poor guy.

It doesn't help that I've been keeping it in the fridge, just to make sure that any surviving ants don't get into it.  We don't have any air tight containers large enough for all of it.  He's definitely nonplussed by it all.

(If you're nonplussed at times, does that mean that you can be plussed at other times?  Wouldn't being nonplussed mean that you were being subtracted?  But from what?  Oh, the quandaries!)

We'll pick up some more of the regular food when Keith gets me at the mall tonight.

I saw these lovely flowers when I was on a walk last week.

The fortune cookie recently gave me some sage advice.

I never got to talk about Derby week sales, thanks to our internet outage.  I ran a 20% off sale at the booths, which kept my sales totals up to regular levels, and even surpassed that on a coupe of days, but killed me to do so.  I can handle doing a one day sale, but a week or more is just too much for me.  I hate to see that much money not being made.  Things have been dismally slow ever since.  We're in the doldrums here and will be until people decide that it's too hot to be doing things outside and that the flea market is a much better deal. It helps that they have finally got all the air units in the building working.

The internet outage led to an impromptu oddball film festival for several days, as I was desperate for something to watch.  Since it was also during my treatment time, I had some rest and down time with not a lot going on.  I got so deep into my stash of strange DVD's that I had to hit a couple of dealers in the mall looking for some more.  The secondhand store down the street helped too.

Remember back when DVD's were just getting widespread exposure and all kinds of stuff would show up in bins for a dollar or two at stores like Target and Walgreens?  This was one of those DVD's.  Because they were so cheap and plentiful, they can still be found at yard sales and thrifts all over the place.  If the topic interests me (and the price is right), I'll usually pick them up.  Often, they're quite good.

This is one of the good ones.  Produced in Australia in the 80's, the character designs have a retro Hanna-Barbera vibe to them that hearkens back to their early 60's heyday.  The animation is far better than HB ever was, making for an enjoyable watching experience.

The company that distributed this one also released a ton of others.  I've seen a couple.  The Odyssey was quite good.  Hercules, not so much.  While I was searching for the cover image to use, I discovered that this exists.  I must find it!

Bob and Penny Lord were EWTN mainstays for years and years.  They produced 30 minute videos about various saints, miracles, and Catholic shrines.  I've seen many of their productions and love them to pieces.  From time to time, I can find one of their DVD's at a thrift and I always snatch it up.

Their productions have a lack of polish that is endearing.  They're not totally amateurish, but it's pretty obvious they're not a professional production crew by any means.  It's also pretty obvious that Penny loves to be in front of the camera, perhaps a bit too much.  During some of their films, they'll be interviewing a priest or a nun, and Penny will do all the talking to the point where the interviewee never gets to say anything!  It's kind of a hoot to watch.

Still, you can tell that this is a couple that sincerely believes everything that they cover.  They genuinely love their faith and want to share it.  In the end, whether or not you share their belief, you cannot help but love their shows a little bit, just because of who they are.  Sadly, they have both passed on, but the media ministry they started continues.

I also read a few more graphic novels than usual.  This one was the best of the lot.

Set in the early days of the Batman/Robin partnership, this collection shows how that partnership impacted each of the heroes and how a shocking incident of violence changes it forever, planting the seeds that will eventually lead to its demise.  The art is sharp and stylish.  The writing is insightful and clever--playful at times, disturbing at others.  It's an engaging read that manages to remember for a far too brief moment that Batman comics used to be fun.  Even though that more light-hearted atmosphere is totally destroyed by the end of the story, the way everything unfolds left me feeling both nostalgic and a little disturbed.  Unfortunately, it seems that Batman must always be marred by violence these days.

All product images were taken from Amazon and are copyright by their respective holders.

Today will be my only booth day this week.  I have a lot to do around the house to get ready for this weekend's junk set out in our area.  (I know you all are sick of hearing about this, but it's a big deal for me.)  By Wednesday, there should already be a dozen or so good stashes of stuff popping up on the curbs.  I've already discovered that the folks that have alleys behind their houses have begun building their piles.  I got me some hunting to do!

Not to mention some crap to haul out here.  My aim is to get a good clean out at the house in prep for my yard sale in early June and as part of the work on razing Sorrow Mountain.  To get that stuff done, I'm going to have to put the booth on autopilot for a little while.  (Unless, of course everything sells in one day.  I'll come in and restock then.  That would also take care of a big hunk of my backlog.)

I'll check back in this week with pics of recent finds.  In the meantime, here's some Music for Monday.



If that doesn't put you in a mood to have a good week, I don't know what will.

LO! THERE SHALL BE A RAMBLE! BUT IT SHALL BE ON TUESDAY! SOMETIMES THAT HAPPENS!

Buckle your seat belts, friends.  This is going to be a long and bumpy ride.  Remember to keep your hands inside the vehicle and stay seated at all times.  Proceed with caution.  There's rambling ahead!

The silly season is definitely not over.  Look for it to return sporadically throughout the weeks to come.  For some reason, I'm running into a lot of stuff that's just tickling my fancy of late and begging to be turned into weird little posts.  Of course, I am more than happy to oblige.  It's what I do.

I'm still working on the booth this week. (More on that later.)  I took a ton of pics of the spaces I finished last week, and only the one I shared on Friday was usable.  I'll try again this week.  That damned florescent lighting bouncing off the white tile floor washes everything out so much that it's really hard to get a good shot.

We had a new local commenter join the fun last week.  Welcome Alisa!   I love to hear from local folks.  I tried to send her a message, but she's a "no reply" person, so I thought I would answer her question here, since there may be others who want to know.

My booths are in the Clarksville Peddlers Mall, which is located in Clarksville, Indiana.  It's just off I-65, right by Greentree Mall.  All the details, including a Google map, are at this link.   Just ask at the front where my booths are and they can tell you.

If you should happen to show up, there are two things you have to promise.  1.  You will never tell anyone how messy my spaces really are.  2.  If I am there, you can never tell anyone how much I actually curse in real life, especially when I think no one is listening.  Deal?

So, I rode the bus with a celebrity the other day.

COUSIN ITT!

Either that or I watched an alien devour some poor woman's head and didn't realize it.

I've mentioned that I'm finding a lot of stuff in the contractor's dumpsters in the neighborhood right now.  The other day, I drug something home that convinced Keith that I had finally lost my mind.

It's an old, rusty heating duct.  I liked the way it looks and the lines on it.  I can see it filled with dirt and some kind of flowering, trailing vine.  However, for the first time, Keith's skepticism about something is making me second guess myself.  Is this one just a bit too far out or not?  What would Donna do?

On the other hand, I have not a single doubt about the old boiler tank from the same house.  It's just plain cool.

I also got a couple of rusty heating vents.  They remind me of the big floor vent in my grandmother's house.  It was between the living room and the kitchen, and we all used to stand on it to warm up in the winter.

Everything has decades of dust bunnies and pet hair in and on it, so it's all the yard, getting a good rinse from today's downpour.

One of the dumpsters across the street got replaced by one that is way too tall to look into, much less reach stuff.  For the past couple of days, there's been this lacy thing barely visible over the edge.  For a while, I thought it was either a wedding dress or some sort of curtain.  Somehow it got shifted yesterday, and I was able to see legs.

And a tuft of blonde hair.

It's a big, freaking, scary-ass doll!  RUN AWAY!

Speaking of those dumpsters, they've been the scene of a tagging war recently.  Our neighborhood has been besieged by "2Buck" graffiti like this.

Turns out that 2Buck recently died, and his friends are paying tribute.  Well, a "2Buck" tag popped up on one of the dumpsters, and someone took issue.

Someone else tried to eradicate it, but I think you can read the "2 Buck is my Bitch." line.  Cracked me up.  The funniest part is that this particular dumpster moved on from the neighborhood, because it was replaced by the larger one mentioned earlier.  A couple of days later, it popped back up in front of another house--right across the street from where it was before!

Keith sent me this article about "toxic" things you shouldn't buy at yard sales.  His comment was "You'd buy some of that."  Damn straight!  I dare anyone to walk up to a vintage Fiestaware collector and tell them it's not worth it!

A much better bit of reading is this nice piece from Adirondack Girl @ Heart about spatterware.  She frequently posts informative articles like this one.  Since I don't know a lot about ceramics and dishes, I appreciate them.

Speaking of yard sale finds, here are some of the things from yesterday's Mazda shot. We hit a major book sale (more on that tomorrow), a church sale, an estate sale, and two small sales.

I always pick up lids when they're cheap.  It's easier to find the pots and pans than the lids, so having a few for sale can help a customer complete a set.

Horse head mugs for Derby!  Also, small wicker hamper as the photo stage.

A pair of cups from a small box of Homer Loughlin dishes I bought.  There were only six or seven pieces left from the set, but I loved the sweet flower pattern.  Every piece has the chips and nicks of a lifetime of daily use.  In other words, character.

This hamster cage is not old, but I loved the color.

Bright yellow vintage water cooler jug. 

Assorted finds from an estate sale.

Vintage TV trays with rolling caddy.  The third of my four gold standard church sales was Saturday.  They always get praise from me for the large variety of stuff, their organization (they use several large rooms to display and organize their items), and wonderful prices.  This TV tray set was a dollar!

There is seriously stuff everywhere at this sale.  It starts outside the church on the patio, spreads across the yard, and over (and into) a small farmhouse that sits on their property.  On the inside, there's a large room of clothes, a special antique section, another large room of housewares and knick knacks and the like, and a hallway of books.  You'd be surprised what a difference it makes to have the clothes in a separate section  away from everything else.

One of the small sales we went to was a continuation of the sale I went to during the last Big Flea.  They remembered me, but did not have anything new.  The other sale advertised that the husband was "reluctantly" selling his graphic novels.  That kind of phrasing tells me that the prices won't be anything I can work with for resale, but there might be something I might like for me.

I was really surprised at how close this guy's tastes were to mine.  His selection was fabulous and hos prices, while not practical for resale, were really good.  I ended up only getting the Basil Wolverton book above.  It was too early for me to spend all my money on me!

I adore Wolverton's work, which is classic, bizarre, and totally wonderful.  I am looking forward to spending an afternoon with this baby.  Now, I just need to find a reasonably priced copy of the collection of illustrations he did for the Bible.  I've been wanting that one for a while now.  Unfortunately, it's out of print and very pricey.

We also stopped at a new Goodwill by the church sale.  This big duck followed me home.

I also picked up a nice copy of the Quran.  I have to admit that, given the climate these days, I am a little nervous about selling it.  I'm actually afraid that someone will try to vandalize the book.

 

It's another busy week here.  I still have a massive ton of work to do on one of the booths, which is going to take a while.  Saturday is the first sidewalk sale of the year at the Peddlers Mall, so I also have to get ready for that.  I'm planning a HUGE blow out to clear off lots of booth shelves and make way for the run of stuff to some from Mt Sorrow.  Stop by for a visit or a bargain or two!

Everything that doesn't sell at the sidewalk sale is coming home for my yard sale, which is tentatively planned for the Saturday after Derby.  I'm planning on a having a huge sale to clean out the shed.

March ended as my very best month ever!  My highest sales total ever!  So far, April is continuing the trend.  Spring Break week didn't phase my sales, so we'll see what happens once Derby madness gets started.  We've just recently gained the ability to have percent off sales in our booths, so I am planning on doing that during Derby Week, just to boost things a bit.

I pulled the last two boxes of unpriced comics I have off the Mountain the other day.  I immediately had a volunteer to help me bag and price them.  

  

Ignore the stack of canned goods.  One of our pantry cabinets collapsed and we haven't replaced it yet.  Of course, the comic boxes are sitting in the kitchen.  Don't you have boxes of comics in your kitchen?

Well, that's enough rambling for one post.  Have some music for a Tuesday.  Stay well, and I'll see you later!  Tomorrow we'll look at some of the book finds.

PS If part of this post is showing up as blue, I have fixed that three times now and it won't take.  I've got no clue what's up, but I blame Blogger.

What's in Mazda?

Happy Easter, Everyone!

I  hope the Bunny left you some nice surprises.  He doesn't spend a lot of time at our house. I think Chiquito intimidates him a little, but I don't mind that so much right now.

That's because I got a good Mazda shot yesterday.  Take a look.  Every sale was right in our neighborhood, too.

 Any grocery bags you see peeking about in there don't count.  They just have groceries in them.  How boring is that?

Aside from that, what do you see in Mazda?

The Rest of the Bounty!

I think I said all 1,000 words for these pictures in my intro to the first post, so let's dive right in!

Yes, I found a vending machine.  Awesome, isn't it?  At least I thought so.  Since I don't have keys for it, I can't charge as much for it as I might want, but it's the kind of thing that attracts people into the booth to check it out, which is never a bad thing.  That alone made it worth picking up.

I was kind of surprised it was still there, since it was one of the things I had to come back for later.  As I was leaving that street, I saw a scrapper driving through, so I was prepared for it not to be there.  I was coming back for some other stuff anyway, so it was super to find it still there.

This was one of those finds that I really wasn't sure how Keith would react.  I've talked before about the eyerolls I get some times.  I figured a vending machine would earn me another one, but when we pulled up he said:  "A candy machine!  You have to get that!"  It's nice to know after all these years that I can still be surprised.

This window is missing one pane, but it's still cool.  It came from behind a vintage store where I used to have a booth.  That's another spot that's always worth checking out.  Last set out I got a little miffed, because it seemed like they had smashed everything big up before they put it out.  Not so this time, so maybe it was wandering hooligans last time.  Some people just don't appreciate good junk.

I like to go for windows that have something unique about them, like the three panes on this one.  Lots of booths in our mall have windows now, and I try to look for ones that will stand out from the crowd, because of their size or hardware or glass or something.

These orange Plexiglas panels are unique enough to catch my eye.  I ended up knocking the corners off the one when I tried to pull it out of the pile.  I decided to keep it anyway.

Mini-shutters are always a go.  These need much deep cleaning, but they were still worth getting.  They are stashed in the shed, along with a handful of other items, waiting for a nice, warm backyard day when I can tackle them.

Wood chair.  Wood crate.  Wood file cabinet.  Wood stool with ugly-ass paint job.  Seriously, that's like the worst version of those 80's country apples that I've ever seen.  Whoever did it didn't seal the paint job very well either, because it ran all over the place.  It'll be a nice re-do job for someone else.  Both the drawers were off the runners, but they slid right back on.  I actually did that before I put it in Mazda, just in case they wouldn't work right.

I think Chiquito had as much fun this time around as I did.  He really got into giving everything a good once over sniffing when I got it in the house.  I don't recall him ever getting that into the stuff I drag in before.

Maybe next time, I'll take him out with me.  He's a bit put out with me, since I haven't been home much during this set out.  I'll have to make it up to him.

Back to cleaning and pricing!

PS  I would be a little remiss if I didn't mention one more oddball find.  Since this is a PG-13/R-rated blog, there's no pic, but I have to share anyway.  Think of a part of the male anatomy that rhymes with "Venus."  Now picture little plastic molds in that shape of said body part.  A half dozen of them.  I have no idea what they're for, but I did find them in a box in one junk pile.  You just never know what will turn up.  Yes, I took them.  No, I have no idea what to do with them.

Maybe I'll start an "adult novelties" section in my booth.

Actually, I'm leaning more towards putting colored lights in them and using them for Christmas tree decorations. (There's a really bad pun I could make here, but I'll refrain.)  I think it would work.  They already look kind of like little, obscene ice sculptures.

And if you got to this blog because you just googled "little obscene ice sculptures," welcome, I think.  Also, you are a weirdo.