I know you all are probably expecting this one today, but, since I like to avoid the obvious choices, I give you this instead:
Happy Halloween Everyone! May all your ghouls and goblins be friendly ones!
Alice Cooper and the Muppets? Who'da thunk?
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Let's Go Curb-Diving!
Junk set out time is like Christmas for junkers, especially if you cast a wide net for merchandise. When stuff is free, I will take things that I would not normally pay for. Free is free.
I started wandering the neighborhood last Wednesday, looking for the early bird piles. I was not disappointed. In fact, from Wednesday through Saturday, I did not get any further than two streets away. There was a new pile or two every day, and people were still adding to the existing piles.
The fall set out is different from the one in the spring. In the spring, people are doing spring-cleaning and down-sizing. There's a lot more smalls and furniture that isn't broken and less remodeling debris. In the fall, that reverses, because people are trying to finish up their projects before it gets cold. To be really general about it, spring is more about stuff people don't want any more than fall is.
However, there's still plenty around. Let's take a look.
This coffee table was right down the street from me. It's heavy, solid and has been painted brown. (Why?) I figure someone will see it as a project/makeover kind of thing. Right now , it's in the shed waiting to get cleaned and taken over.
One of the oddest things I found was this homemade weight bench. You can kind of see the notches at the top to rest the weight in. It's smaller than a standard weight bench, so I think it was made for a child. It's one of those unusual items that I cannot resist when I find them. Eddie stuff, in other words. It was down the hill from us, in front of a house that always yields good finds. They start early and keep piling things on, so I keep coming back.
This is one of those storage boxes for the back of a pick up truck. I found it at the same spot as the weigh bench. I got this for Keith, who likes to store his camping gear in them.
Speaking of Keith, this picket fence section earned me one of his infamous eyerolls. It's certainly unlike anything I've ever picked up before. I think it would make a nice porch decoration this winter, with some snowmen and a Santa. Two of the slats are loose, so they need to be screwed down before I take it in.
I got a little lazy and didn't set the slide up. The colors seem to be washed out in the pics. They're really vibrant and not sun-faded in the least. They need a good cleaning, but that's no problem. They're old school Little Tikes from the days when they were made in the USA. I think the quality in the older toys is much better than the more recent ones. They're much sturdier, for one thing. They won't last long in the booth.
I found about eight of these milk crates at the same spot. They're so useful for storage, transport, display, plus I sell a lot of them. Please don't tell the Dairy Police on me. I need to clean them up a bit. That's always a recurring theme during junk set out. Also, a really big basket.
White drawer organizer, gold plastic frame, empty silverware box, box of records and a small computer desk. The organizers sell like crazy at the Peddlers Mall. The last one I took in sold the day I dropped it off.
At the spot where I got the frame, there was also a mirror that I was about to take, but another guy there asked if he could have it. I let him take it, because I don't need to get all of the junk. He then shows me two issues of the National Enquirer that he found there and talking about how "old" they are. I hated to do it, but I had to point out that they were dated 2015 on the covers. I was afraid he was building up to try and sell them for ten bucks each. He said: "For real?" Then he took a closer look. "Oh man!" He tossed them down and took his mirror and left.
Close up of the box of records, which I found behind the secondhand store down the street. There were a ton of records there, but I only took this box and one other. I simply don't have the space to be able to handle them all. Since this is not my forte, and they've already been through a dealer (who surely researched them), I'm going to sell them as a lot.
That's all I have photographed for now. I've been trying to pull some Xmas to take over to the booth, so I haven't gotten to the rest yet. Give me a couple of days. There's some good stuff to come.
Finally, I saw this while I was out hunting.
I was so very tempted to nab it. So very tempted. It was at the curb, after all.
Linking up with Thriftasaurus, because I'm so glad he's back!
I started wandering the neighborhood last Wednesday, looking for the early bird piles. I was not disappointed. In fact, from Wednesday through Saturday, I did not get any further than two streets away. There was a new pile or two every day, and people were still adding to the existing piles.
The fall set out is different from the one in the spring. In the spring, people are doing spring-cleaning and down-sizing. There's a lot more smalls and furniture that isn't broken and less remodeling debris. In the fall, that reverses, because people are trying to finish up their projects before it gets cold. To be really general about it, spring is more about stuff people don't want any more than fall is.
However, there's still plenty around. Let's take a look.
This coffee table was right down the street from me. It's heavy, solid and has been painted brown. (Why?) I figure someone will see it as a project/makeover kind of thing. Right now , it's in the shed waiting to get cleaned and taken over.
One of the oddest things I found was this homemade weight bench. You can kind of see the notches at the top to rest the weight in. It's smaller than a standard weight bench, so I think it was made for a child. It's one of those unusual items that I cannot resist when I find them. Eddie stuff, in other words. It was down the hill from us, in front of a house that always yields good finds. They start early and keep piling things on, so I keep coming back.
This is one of those storage boxes for the back of a pick up truck. I found it at the same spot as the weigh bench. I got this for Keith, who likes to store his camping gear in them.
Speaking of Keith, this picket fence section earned me one of his infamous eyerolls. It's certainly unlike anything I've ever picked up before. I think it would make a nice porch decoration this winter, with some snowmen and a Santa. Two of the slats are loose, so they need to be screwed down before I take it in.
I got a little lazy and didn't set the slide up. The colors seem to be washed out in the pics. They're really vibrant and not sun-faded in the least. They need a good cleaning, but that's no problem. They're old school Little Tikes from the days when they were made in the USA. I think the quality in the older toys is much better than the more recent ones. They're much sturdier, for one thing. They won't last long in the booth.
I found about eight of these milk crates at the same spot. They're so useful for storage, transport, display, plus I sell a lot of them. Please don't tell the Dairy Police on me. I need to clean them up a bit. That's always a recurring theme during junk set out. Also, a really big basket.
White drawer organizer, gold plastic frame, empty silverware box, box of records and a small computer desk. The organizers sell like crazy at the Peddlers Mall. The last one I took in sold the day I dropped it off.
At the spot where I got the frame, there was also a mirror that I was about to take, but another guy there asked if he could have it. I let him take it, because I don't need to get all of the junk. He then shows me two issues of the National Enquirer that he found there and talking about how "old" they are. I hated to do it, but I had to point out that they were dated 2015 on the covers. I was afraid he was building up to try and sell them for ten bucks each. He said: "For real?" Then he took a closer look. "Oh man!" He tossed them down and took his mirror and left.
Close up of the box of records, which I found behind the secondhand store down the street. There were a ton of records there, but I only took this box and one other. I simply don't have the space to be able to handle them all. Since this is not my forte, and they've already been through a dealer (who surely researched them), I'm going to sell them as a lot.
That's all I have photographed for now. I've been trying to pull some Xmas to take over to the booth, so I haven't gotten to the rest yet. Give me a couple of days. There's some good stuff to come.
Finally, I saw this while I was out hunting.
I was so very tempted to nab it. So very tempted. It was at the curb, after all.
Linking up with Thriftasaurus, because I'm so glad he's back!
Monday, October 26, 2015
Monday Rambles
I guess now that everyone has forgotten about me, I should start blogging again. This is how you have a blog for over a decade, yet only have a little over 1500 posts. I told you: I'm not very good at this. Never have been. Probably never will be. But, still, I keep doing it. Most of the time.
You can kind of look at the index of my postings and see the gaps in my history. While I do think some of them were understandable, a lot of them were caused by my seeming inability to get back on the horse after getting away from it for a bit. Once I get out of the habit of doing something, it gets harder and harder for me to get back into it, even if it was something I really loved doing.
In the old days, it was usually just Roger who would check on me and urge me back into the fray. These days, there are several of you peering under rocks and wondering where I've gone. It's kind of a nice feeling to know that there are people who miss you, even if your primary contact with them is through a silly little blog.
Truth is, I was having a particularly bad couple of weeks and I just didn't want to set Debbie Downer and Bitchy Betty loose on the blog. I hate to whine here, even though I do it so freaking much. Compound that with the downside of having fantastic sales (which I just discovered): You have to work your space all the time to keep up. All. The. Time.
I ended up not having enough time to process everything else going on, and I didn't want the blog to suffer for it. I started a "Monday Rambles" post two weeks ago, but trashed it when I saw just how negative it was. I can write about the bad things, but I don't want to wallow in them. At least not here.
Everything is better now. At least a little. One of the situations I was dealing with is going to take a little more time to resolve, but it is manageable at this point.
The lowest point came when another vendor actually accused me of stealing from her. That was resolved pretty quickly, but I just wasn't in the mood that day to be called a thief over something I bought and paid for.
Health-wise, I seem to be doing okay. The steroid is messing with my blood sugar, which is not good. This resulted in a very bad conversation with a nurse at the cancer center who basically told me I was stubborn and uncooperative, but in nicer terms. She was acting like I was rejecting her advice over the situation, when she really wasn't giving any. I still have no clue what it was she thought I should be doing. I told her I was going to talk to my PCP about it and left. I was upset about the whole situation for days.
My own sales have kind of crapped out over the past couple of weeks. I've still had some really, really good days, just not one right after the other like I was having. I was having sales, but they were way lower than they'd been running and way below my daily goal. Thankfully, I was far enough ahead that I had a big cushion in my daily average, which softened the blow, but even that was starting to get worn down.
I was seriously worried that I might have some of my best days ever and still end up with the same old check at the end. This business drives me nuts sometimes. Needless to say, none of this really helped with my mood. I seem to be recovering, I think. It looks like, barring a string so low/no sales days that I'll come out well for the month and will even set a record. We'll see, I guess.
It's junk set out time in our neighborhood! The neighborhood next to ours had its set out last week, so I prowled it a little, but basically came up empty-handed. My own neck of the woods is full of early-birds and head-starters, so stuff showed up all week, even though you're not supposed to set anything out until Friday of your week.
I've gotten several great things all through the week, and I've never gotten more than two streets away. Today will be a big sweep, as I try to dodge the scrappers and other pickers. Competition is somewhat fierce this year. It's supposed to storm tomorrow and Wednesday, which will kill everything off. I'll have pics later this week, but here's a teaser.
The Official Sign that Junk Set Out Has Begun:
You can kind of look at the index of my postings and see the gaps in my history. While I do think some of them were understandable, a lot of them were caused by my seeming inability to get back on the horse after getting away from it for a bit. Once I get out of the habit of doing something, it gets harder and harder for me to get back into it, even if it was something I really loved doing.
In the old days, it was usually just Roger who would check on me and urge me back into the fray. These days, there are several of you peering under rocks and wondering where I've gone. It's kind of a nice feeling to know that there are people who miss you, even if your primary contact with them is through a silly little blog.
Truth is, I was having a particularly bad couple of weeks and I just didn't want to set Debbie Downer and Bitchy Betty loose on the blog. I hate to whine here, even though I do it so freaking much. Compound that with the downside of having fantastic sales (which I just discovered): You have to work your space all the time to keep up. All. The. Time.
I ended up not having enough time to process everything else going on, and I didn't want the blog to suffer for it. I started a "Monday Rambles" post two weeks ago, but trashed it when I saw just how negative it was. I can write about the bad things, but I don't want to wallow in them. At least not here.
Everything is better now. At least a little. One of the situations I was dealing with is going to take a little more time to resolve, but it is manageable at this point.
The lowest point came when another vendor actually accused me of stealing from her. That was resolved pretty quickly, but I just wasn't in the mood that day to be called a thief over something I bought and paid for.
Health-wise, I seem to be doing okay. The steroid is messing with my blood sugar, which is not good. This resulted in a very bad conversation with a nurse at the cancer center who basically told me I was stubborn and uncooperative, but in nicer terms. She was acting like I was rejecting her advice over the situation, when she really wasn't giving any. I still have no clue what it was she thought I should be doing. I told her I was going to talk to my PCP about it and left. I was upset about the whole situation for days.
My own sales have kind of crapped out over the past couple of weeks. I've still had some really, really good days, just not one right after the other like I was having. I was having sales, but they were way lower than they'd been running and way below my daily goal. Thankfully, I was far enough ahead that I had a big cushion in my daily average, which softened the blow, but even that was starting to get worn down.
I was seriously worried that I might have some of my best days ever and still end up with the same old check at the end. This business drives me nuts sometimes. Needless to say, none of this really helped with my mood. I seem to be recovering, I think. It looks like, barring a string so low/no sales days that I'll come out well for the month and will even set a record. We'll see, I guess.
It's junk set out time in our neighborhood! The neighborhood next to ours had its set out last week, so I prowled it a little, but basically came up empty-handed. My own neck of the woods is full of early-birds and head-starters, so stuff showed up all week, even though you're not supposed to set anything out until Friday of your week.
I've gotten several great things all through the week, and I've never gotten more than two streets away. Today will be a big sweep, as I try to dodge the scrappers and other pickers. Competition is somewhat fierce this year. It's supposed to storm tomorrow and Wednesday, which will kill everything off. I'll have pics later this week, but here's a teaser.
The Official Sign that Junk Set Out Has Begun:
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
AAAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
Things are kind of ganging up on me right now, and I am not able to get to the blog as needed at the moment.
Sorry.
Be back soon!
Here's a nice song to enjoy until then.
Sorry.
Be back soon!
Here's a nice song to enjoy until then.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Retro Y'all!
I kind of went back and forth on this one, since I wasn't totally sure if it was old enough to be considered "retro" or not. Then I realized that this is my blog and I make the rules, so it fits.
I first heard the Indigo Girls in my seminary days. I was in a friend's room and she was playing their cassette. (I guess maybe this is retro. Or else I'm old.) She kept talking and talking about how their music had "so many spiritual messages" in it.
Then she stopped, leaned forward, and half-whispered:
"And I think they're lesbians."
At that point in my life, lesbian folk-singers was subversive enough for me to be interested. I became a huge fan. Keith and I saw them on one of their first tours through Louisville and every time they came back to town for years and years. I found the old ticket stubs in a box in the shed the other day.
For a long time, I used to make mixes on tape and CD of songs with different personal themes for me. I always had at least one called "Power" that I would play when life felt particularly out of control or I was feeling helpless and small.
A good 75% of that mix was Indigo Girls songs.
I first heard the Indigo Girls in my seminary days. I was in a friend's room and she was playing their cassette. (I guess maybe this is retro. Or else I'm old.) She kept talking and talking about how their music had "so many spiritual messages" in it.
Then she stopped, leaned forward, and half-whispered:
"And I think they're lesbians."
At that point in my life, lesbian folk-singers was subversive enough for me to be interested. I became a huge fan. Keith and I saw them on one of their first tours through Louisville and every time they came back to town for years and years. I found the old ticket stubs in a box in the shed the other day.
For a long time, I used to make mixes on tape and CD of songs with different personal themes for me. I always had at least one called "Power" that I would play when life felt particularly out of control or I was feeling helpless and small.
A good 75% of that mix was Indigo Girls songs.
Monday, October 05, 2015
Monday Rambles
Wow! What a week! Sometimes you just have to say it.
Before we get started, please wish blog friend Roger a speedy recovery from his surgery last week. Roger is my oldest blog pal, and one of the things I really want to do one day is meet him face to face. Get better soon, buddy.
I'm kind of trapped in the middle of the never-ending booth project from hell right now. I intended to spend two days working on it last week and be done. I ended up spending four--and still not finishing. Every so often, my spaces take on a mind of their own, and I have to muster all my forces of awesomeness and bring them to heel. We're in the middle of one such pitched battle right now. I spent the weekend learning new attack phrases and acquiring new battle points and powering up, so I don't think the rebellious booths will know what hit them.
I'll need everything I can muster, because I had the most awesome sales weekend ever. Saturday set a new record for me, much higher than I ever thought I would do on one day. Almost three hundred dollars!! I nearly passed out when I got the email. Before I would believe it at all, I re-added the total myself. I was sure it had to be a mistake or maybe the monthly total got printed in the wrong slot or something. I never have days like that!
The wildest thing? There's no furniture at all in that total. The most expensive individual item that sold was $12.99. I sold a ton of stuff. Happily, it all seems to be coming pretty evenly from all three of my areas, which is what I really like to see. It also seems to be coming from pretty evenly from various sections in those booths. As much as I like to see a god run on, say, comic books, evenly spread sales mean sustainability.
I hope you all don't think I'm bragging or anything. I'm just really excited and had to share. One weekend into the month, I have rent made. Seriously, this never happens to me. I have to keep reminding myself to stay cautiously optimistic and not get carried away. This is an unpredictable business. I could not sell another thing all week, which would completely deflate all the momentum from the weekend. I don't think it will happen, but I have to keep that thought in the back of my mind.
We had a cold rainy Saturday on Highway 60, but I still found some great stuff. The quantity was down., but the quality wasn't. I'm going to tease out the finds bit by bit this week, then finish it off at the end with a big flourish. I am very behind on sharing my finds here, so I'm designating this as "Eddie-torial Comments Fun Finds Catch Up Week." I'll share some recent finds and stories through out the week, with a little Highway 60 tease, then wrap it up with the rest of the 60 stuff. Deal?
I will say this, I went out with a small list of specific things to find:
Comics
Vintage wooden ironing board
Blow molds
Vintage Christmas
Any Christmas at all
Long sleeved shirts for me
Most of my long sleeved shirts are shot, so it's time to revive the wardrobe. Of course, I'm not going to go buy new! The shirts turned out to be the only thing on the list that I found. I am so low on Christmas, especially vintage stuff, that the fast on-rushing holiday season scares me. I've already put out a dab of stuff, which I plan to add to bit by bit until it's all out. I just hope that the "out" point doesn't come in the middle of October.
Here's a bit of what did come back with me.
I need more shelves and chairs like I need more holes in my head. But that shelf was so sturdy and cute that it had to come back with me. As it turns out, I sold a shelf last night, so this one will slide right in the empty space. I also could not resist the wrought iron lattice work back on that folding chair. (See next pic.) I had to ask my uncle what the thing with the handle was. The prices were definitely right. Everything in this pic cost less than ten bucks!
My uncle had a yard sale over the weekend, and I always buy his leftovers the Sunday after. The cute little plant stand on the end of the cart in this next pic was part of what I got from him.
I'm starting a silly little project for the month of October. It seems like every time I go out for a walk here recently I come home with some kind of find. Junk, it seems, is where you find it. I am challenging myself to find some free, sellable junk every day in October.
The rules are simple:
1. I have to look for something every day that I leave the house.
2. Legitimate finds only! No stealing out of someone's front yard or porch.
3. Stuff in the house also counts, as long as it wasn't something originally purchased to be resold.
I am hoping that last rule will encourage me to keep up with the downsizing that I've been doing.
Calvin and Hobbes were right, you know.
Before we get started, please wish blog friend Roger a speedy recovery from his surgery last week. Roger is my oldest blog pal, and one of the things I really want to do one day is meet him face to face. Get better soon, buddy.
I'm kind of trapped in the middle of the never-ending booth project from hell right now. I intended to spend two days working on it last week and be done. I ended up spending four--and still not finishing. Every so often, my spaces take on a mind of their own, and I have to muster all my forces of awesomeness and bring them to heel. We're in the middle of one such pitched battle right now. I spent the weekend learning new attack phrases and acquiring new battle points and powering up, so I don't think the rebellious booths will know what hit them.
BOOTH ARRANGE SPARKLE CLEAN UP!
I'll need everything I can muster, because I had the most awesome sales weekend ever. Saturday set a new record for me, much higher than I ever thought I would do on one day. Almost three hundred dollars!! I nearly passed out when I got the email. Before I would believe it at all, I re-added the total myself. I was sure it had to be a mistake or maybe the monthly total got printed in the wrong slot or something. I never have days like that!
The wildest thing? There's no furniture at all in that total. The most expensive individual item that sold was $12.99. I sold a ton of stuff. Happily, it all seems to be coming pretty evenly from all three of my areas, which is what I really like to see. It also seems to be coming from pretty evenly from various sections in those booths. As much as I like to see a god run on, say, comic books, evenly spread sales mean sustainability.
I hope you all don't think I'm bragging or anything. I'm just really excited and had to share. One weekend into the month, I have rent made. Seriously, this never happens to me. I have to keep reminding myself to stay cautiously optimistic and not get carried away. This is an unpredictable business. I could not sell another thing all week, which would completely deflate all the momentum from the weekend. I don't think it will happen, but I have to keep that thought in the back of my mind.
We had a cold rainy Saturday on Highway 60, but I still found some great stuff. The quantity was down., but the quality wasn't. I'm going to tease out the finds bit by bit this week, then finish it off at the end with a big flourish. I am very behind on sharing my finds here, so I'm designating this as "Eddie-torial Comments Fun Finds Catch Up Week." I'll share some recent finds and stories through out the week, with a little Highway 60 tease, then wrap it up with the rest of the 60 stuff. Deal?
I will say this, I went out with a small list of specific things to find:
Comics
Vintage wooden ironing board
Blow molds
Vintage Christmas
Any Christmas at all
Long sleeved shirts for me
Most of my long sleeved shirts are shot, so it's time to revive the wardrobe. Of course, I'm not going to go buy new! The shirts turned out to be the only thing on the list that I found. I am so low on Christmas, especially vintage stuff, that the fast on-rushing holiday season scares me. I've already put out a dab of stuff, which I plan to add to bit by bit until it's all out. I just hope that the "out" point doesn't come in the middle of October.
Here's a bit of what did come back with me.
I need more shelves and chairs like I need more holes in my head. But that shelf was so sturdy and cute that it had to come back with me. As it turns out, I sold a shelf last night, so this one will slide right in the empty space. I also could not resist the wrought iron lattice work back on that folding chair. (See next pic.) I had to ask my uncle what the thing with the handle was. The prices were definitely right. Everything in this pic cost less than ten bucks!
My uncle had a yard sale over the weekend, and I always buy his leftovers the Sunday after. The cute little plant stand on the end of the cart in this next pic was part of what I got from him.
I'm starting a silly little project for the month of October. It seems like every time I go out for a walk here recently I come home with some kind of find. Junk, it seems, is where you find it. I am challenging myself to find some free, sellable junk every day in October.
The rules are simple:
1. I have to look for something every day that I leave the house.
2. Legitimate finds only! No stealing out of someone's front yard or porch.
3. Stuff in the house also counts, as long as it wasn't something originally purchased to be resold.
I am hoping that last rule will encourage me to keep up with the downsizing that I've been doing.
Calvin and Hobbes were right, you know.
 |
| My life motto |
I'll do a wrap up post with a list of finds at the end of the month.
Sunday, October 04, 2015
What's in Mazda?
Kind of a late Sunday post here. Been that kind of a day. I think most posts this week will be late evening, so please bear with me.
We had a lot of fun on Highway 60 Saturday, despite the really crappy weather. It was cold, windy, and off and on rainy. As a result, there were fewer sellers out. I cannot blame them at all for that. After all, common sense dictates that on cold rainy days you sit inside and watch old movies with the kitty on your lap while a crock pot of chili slow cooks in the kitchen.
Of course, there were still a good number of folks who recognized a simple fact: There are insane shoppers who will come out in weather like this looking for bargains! And they determined to be out there with bargains to be had.
The weather also made for an unspoken bargaining chip in our favor, as I am sure I got some deals simply because some folks were a little tired of the weather. I also found something I've never seen on Highway 60 before--free boxes. Some folks had just given up and left their stuff out for whoever wanted it.
I'll have more stories later in the week, along with the finds reveal. In the meantime, here's the Mazda shot.
What do you see?
We had a lot of fun on Highway 60 Saturday, despite the really crappy weather. It was cold, windy, and off and on rainy. As a result, there were fewer sellers out. I cannot blame them at all for that. After all, common sense dictates that on cold rainy days you sit inside and watch old movies with the kitty on your lap while a crock pot of chili slow cooks in the kitchen.
Of course, there were still a good number of folks who recognized a simple fact: There are insane shoppers who will come out in weather like this looking for bargains! And they determined to be out there with bargains to be had.
The weather also made for an unspoken bargaining chip in our favor, as I am sure I got some deals simply because some folks were a little tired of the weather. I also found something I've never seen on Highway 60 before--free boxes. Some folks had just given up and left their stuff out for whoever wanted it.
I'll have more stories later in the week, along with the finds reveal. In the meantime, here's the Mazda shot.
What do you see?
Saturday, October 03, 2015
Thursday, October 01, 2015
Your Chiquito of the Month for October
Sorry for the lack of posts this week. The booth has been kicking my ass. Will get back in the groove next week.
In the meantime, here' is your October Chiquito of the Month.
He's in one of his favorite spots, the back of the toilet. If he even thinks you're heading to the bathroom, he runs in there and gets on the back of the toilet. He's not a cat that allows you much personal space.
In fact, Tuesday night when I was getting into bed, I found that he had left me a present on my side of the bed--a dead mouse. (I'll spare you the pictures. You're welcome.) I told Keith that must mean that he loves me more.
Actually, I think he was trying to make up for the one that he had SET LOOSE in the bedroom the week before. He came running in with something n his mouth, and I thought "Oh no!" While I was looking for something to catch it in, he dropped it and it scurried off before he could grab it.
Poor guy. He's only a so-so mouser. But don't tell him I told you so.
The usual routine around here when a cat has a mouse is to get the mouse away as quickly as possible and then toss it over the back fence. It worked with every cat we had until Chiquito, who can't seem to hold on to them for very long.
My rationale is that the other mice are sitting around outside waiting for Ferdinand to come back from his scouting expedition with reports of bounty. If I toss him way out, he won't make it back to the hordes, so they'll assume the worst and move on to some other house.
If Ferdinand should happen to make it back to his tribe, he'll have such a wild tale of frightful happenings that the group will vote to move onto the neighbor's.
It's more humane than traps and definitely cleaner than getting mouse guts everywhere.
If you're eating breakfast, I apologize for the mouse guts. Unless you like that sort of thing. If you do like that sort of thing, please don't tell me.
In the meantime, here' is your October Chiquito of the Month.
He's in one of his favorite spots, the back of the toilet. If he even thinks you're heading to the bathroom, he runs in there and gets on the back of the toilet. He's not a cat that allows you much personal space.
In fact, Tuesday night when I was getting into bed, I found that he had left me a present on my side of the bed--a dead mouse. (I'll spare you the pictures. You're welcome.) I told Keith that must mean that he loves me more.
Actually, I think he was trying to make up for the one that he had SET LOOSE in the bedroom the week before. He came running in with something n his mouth, and I thought "Oh no!" While I was looking for something to catch it in, he dropped it and it scurried off before he could grab it.
Poor guy. He's only a so-so mouser. But don't tell him I told you so.
The usual routine around here when a cat has a mouse is to get the mouse away as quickly as possible and then toss it over the back fence. It worked with every cat we had until Chiquito, who can't seem to hold on to them for very long.
My rationale is that the other mice are sitting around outside waiting for Ferdinand to come back from his scouting expedition with reports of bounty. If I toss him way out, he won't make it back to the hordes, so they'll assume the worst and move on to some other house.
If Ferdinand should happen to make it back to his tribe, he'll have such a wild tale of frightful happenings that the group will vote to move onto the neighbor's.
It's more humane than traps and definitely cleaner than getting mouse guts everywhere.
If you're eating breakfast, I apologize for the mouse guts. Unless you like that sort of thing. If you do like that sort of thing, please don't tell me.
Monday, September 28, 2015
Monday Rambles
A funny thing happened over the weekend.
I finally hit and then passed my monthly sales goal for the booth. In fact, even if I don't sell anything else this month, I'll now have set a sales record for this store. If I keep selling at the rate I have been (and who can predict such things), I'll have my second or third best month overall anywhere.
Suddenly, a wave of entrepreneurial energy has flooded over me!
Look out wanna-be presidential candidates!
Fun fact: The Edward has better (and more natural hair) than the Donald, even if he does still need a damn haircut.
Don't worry. I am not going to start referring to myself in the third person all of the time now. Just some of the time. When I'm feelingcocky flushed with victory.
Strong sales this time of year are not unusual. Fall is a good time for the vendor malls around here. What's weird is that this sales-run is entirely smalls driven. I've sold two pieces of furniture this month. Two. I've only sold a couple of larger-priced items besides that. Everything else has been small stuff that's ten bucks or less, with much of that being in the one-three buck range.
My biggest sellers have been Halloween and comic books. I'm going to have to reshuffle the Halloween again to try and fill in some major holes. I think I'm going to sneak the fall stuff in amongst the Halloween to see if some of it might sell by mistake.
I'm down to my last batch of already priced comics. I priced up everything I got last weekend, but I'm going to have to do some bagging and pricing this week. I'll also need to haul in a box of books.
Once I get the restocking done, I need to spend some time working on the Endcap Booth. It's become a little more disorganized than I like, so I'm going to try creating some sections and "zones." I'm also going to move pull all the furniture out and put it in new spots to try and jump start those sales.
In other good news, my scan was good. Really good, in fact. The docs are happy. I'm happy. Things are definitely moving in the right direction. The treatment will be continuing for some time now, but it's doing what it's supposed to be doing.
The whole visit went really smoothly last week, except that the lab got backed up, which delayed my treatment for a little while. I was out about 30 minutes later than normal, so it wasn't too bad. The Bingo volunteers were there this time. I didn't play, because I was really engrossed in my puzzle book, but there was a woman in my section who was intense about it. Made me realize that Bingo Halls are not places I want to be hanging out. People get cut-throat over their Bingo. Even though I didn't play, they let me pick a prize out of the prize basket at the end.
Still waiting for the arts and crafts lady with the macaroni art.
This weekend is the big Highway 60 sale, and I am psyched to go! We'll only go about an hour or two down the road, then turn around and come back. That's usually enough for a full van load. I'd love to make a killer vintage Christmas score. My Christmas stash feels so light this year that it worries me.
It's just going to be a short trip, but it's going to be fun and different and I think I would like that right about now.
I finally hit and then passed my monthly sales goal for the booth. In fact, even if I don't sell anything else this month, I'll now have set a sales record for this store. If I keep selling at the rate I have been (and who can predict such things), I'll have my second or third best month overall anywhere.
Suddenly, a wave of entrepreneurial energy has flooded over me!
Look out wanna-be presidential candidates!
The Donald is over!
It is now the era of The Edward!
Fun fact: The Edward has better (and more natural hair) than the Donald, even if he does still need a damn haircut.
Don't worry. I am not going to start referring to myself in the third person all of the time now. Just some of the time. When I'm feeling
Strong sales this time of year are not unusual. Fall is a good time for the vendor malls around here. What's weird is that this sales-run is entirely smalls driven. I've sold two pieces of furniture this month. Two. I've only sold a couple of larger-priced items besides that. Everything else has been small stuff that's ten bucks or less, with much of that being in the one-three buck range.
My biggest sellers have been Halloween and comic books. I'm going to have to reshuffle the Halloween again to try and fill in some major holes. I think I'm going to sneak the fall stuff in amongst the Halloween to see if some of it might sell by mistake.
I'm down to my last batch of already priced comics. I priced up everything I got last weekend, but I'm going to have to do some bagging and pricing this week. I'll also need to haul in a box of books.
Once I get the restocking done, I need to spend some time working on the Endcap Booth. It's become a little more disorganized than I like, so I'm going to try creating some sections and "zones." I'm also going to move pull all the furniture out and put it in new spots to try and jump start those sales.
In other good news, my scan was good. Really good, in fact. The docs are happy. I'm happy. Things are definitely moving in the right direction. The treatment will be continuing for some time now, but it's doing what it's supposed to be doing.
The whole visit went really smoothly last week, except that the lab got backed up, which delayed my treatment for a little while. I was out about 30 minutes later than normal, so it wasn't too bad. The Bingo volunteers were there this time. I didn't play, because I was really engrossed in my puzzle book, but there was a woman in my section who was intense about it. Made me realize that Bingo Halls are not places I want to be hanging out. People get cut-throat over their Bingo. Even though I didn't play, they let me pick a prize out of the prize basket at the end.
Still waiting for the arts and crafts lady with the macaroni art.
 |
| Celebratory Good News Mexican Food Lunch! |
This weekend is the big Highway 60 sale, and I am psyched to go! We'll only go about an hour or two down the road, then turn around and come back. That's usually enough for a full van load. I'd love to make a killer vintage Christmas score. My Christmas stash feels so light this year that it worries me.
It's just going to be a short trip, but it's going to be fun and different and I think I would like that right about now.
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Wonderful Worlds of Weirdness!
So there was a sale at the comic shop yesterday. Last sidewalk sale of the year. The crowd seemed to be down, which I didn't mind, since that meant I was able to get through all the comics for once. Usually, I skip a box or two, because it's not worth the hassle to wait for them and then have to rush because someone else is waiting. Nerd herds can get on my nerves a bit.
The comic selection wasn't as good as it usually can be. There were whole boxes of 90's crap that no one is interested in, especially not me. There are always a couple of these hanging around, but it seemed like this time there were more than usual.
Still, I found some things. It was a pretty good day to be hunting for myself. I took these pics late last night and the light was really bad. In other words, bad blogger.
I picked up some strange movies for me. I'm planning a veg-out weird video fest in a few weeks when I do some house sitting.
And some strange comics. I fed my educational comics love with a book about dinosaurs traveling the country. It's the cool way to learn US geography! Yes it is!
This one, alas, doesn't have the record with it, but I do get the comic book. In the 70's they printed a couple dozen book and record sets in comic form. The topics were usually Star Trek, GI Joe, and a few super-heroes, but there were also a few adaptations of classic novels. I've only got a couple of the books and would love to get some more, with or without the records.
I haven't found one of these Amar Chitra Katha books in ages. I love these things, which retell Hindu myths in meandering comics. They all have lovely painted covers and much less ,ovely art work inside. I love these things! I only have a handful of them, so finding a new one is a fun moment for me.
Typical comic collectors are always on the look out for that one issue that they need to complete a series. I've gotten past that stage for the most part, because I'm hunting for types of comics, rather than titles. In terms of series I've been collecting, there aren't really that many issues I need any more to finish a run. Every now and then, however, I find one. Like this one. Happy Eddie.
In the 70's and 80's, Radio Shack did a series of giveaway comics about electronics and the nascent PC movement. Many issues featured Superman working with a couple of kids who helped him by using their TRS-80 personal computers. Some of them had a more general theme. I think I maight already have this one, but for 50 cents I can take the chance.
Giveaway and promo comics are another kind of comic that I'm interested. I found a Buster Brown giveaway comic from the 50's yesterday, but the first few pages were missing a huge hunk which had been torn out, so I left it. Sadly. I don't mind getting something in lesser condition, but I still want it to be complete and readable. Picky, picky.
This looked interesting. Too Much Coffee Man is one of the few comics that I ever got Keith interested in.
This one has an owie on the cover, but it's still a cool cover. Seriously. The kid is riding a demon cat-lizard thing. A red cat-lizard thing. That's awesome. I think you can now add 60's/70's DC horror comics to the kinds of books I'm looking for. It was inevitable.
I need to do a post about the kinds of comics I hunt for personal purposes. Also for booth purposes.
Speaking of the booth, I did get a small batch of stuff to sell. I just wanted to focus on the stuff for me this time around. One of the things I did get for the booth were several discount packs of manga comics.
There was a time when manga stories were imported from Japan and published here in single issue comics, after the fashion of the American comic industry. Later on, the book collection of those issues would be published. Eventually, this single issues were discontinued in favor of going right to the collected editions. This is what helped fuel the manga boom in the late 90's early 2000's. I sell tons of those manga books. Tons.
I sell a lot of the individual issues too, especially when I can find a run of sequential issues and sell them as a set. To do that involves time in bagging the books together and labeling and pricing. Finding a bunch of sets already made up means that all I have to do is re-price them.
Of course, I went to more than just a comic store sale, but that's a post for another day.
The comic selection wasn't as good as it usually can be. There were whole boxes of 90's crap that no one is interested in, especially not me. There are always a couple of these hanging around, but it seemed like this time there were more than usual.
Still, I found some things. It was a pretty good day to be hunting for myself. I took these pics late last night and the light was really bad. In other words, bad blogger.
I picked up some strange movies for me. I'm planning a veg-out weird video fest in a few weeks when I do some house sitting.
 |
| Dig that guy hovering in the back |
And some strange comics. I fed my educational comics love with a book about dinosaurs traveling the country. It's the cool way to learn US geography! Yes it is!
This one, alas, doesn't have the record with it, but I do get the comic book. In the 70's they printed a couple dozen book and record sets in comic form. The topics were usually Star Trek, GI Joe, and a few super-heroes, but there were also a few adaptations of classic novels. I've only got a couple of the books and would love to get some more, with or without the records.
I haven't found one of these Amar Chitra Katha books in ages. I love these things, which retell Hindu myths in meandering comics. They all have lovely painted covers and much less ,ovely art work inside. I love these things! I only have a handful of them, so finding a new one is a fun moment for me.
Typical comic collectors are always on the look out for that one issue that they need to complete a series. I've gotten past that stage for the most part, because I'm hunting for types of comics, rather than titles. In terms of series I've been collecting, there aren't really that many issues I need any more to finish a run. Every now and then, however, I find one. Like this one. Happy Eddie.
In the 70's and 80's, Radio Shack did a series of giveaway comics about electronics and the nascent PC movement. Many issues featured Superman working with a couple of kids who helped him by using their TRS-80 personal computers. Some of them had a more general theme. I think I maight already have this one, but for 50 cents I can take the chance.
Giveaway and promo comics are another kind of comic that I'm interested. I found a Buster Brown giveaway comic from the 50's yesterday, but the first few pages were missing a huge hunk which had been torn out, so I left it. Sadly. I don't mind getting something in lesser condition, but I still want it to be complete and readable. Picky, picky.
This looked interesting. Too Much Coffee Man is one of the few comics that I ever got Keith interested in.
This one has an owie on the cover, but it's still a cool cover. Seriously. The kid is riding a demon cat-lizard thing. A red cat-lizard thing. That's awesome. I think you can now add 60's/70's DC horror comics to the kinds of books I'm looking for. It was inevitable.
I need to do a post about the kinds of comics I hunt for personal purposes. Also for booth purposes.
Speaking of the booth, I did get a small batch of stuff to sell. I just wanted to focus on the stuff for me this time around. One of the things I did get for the booth were several discount packs of manga comics.
There was a time when manga stories were imported from Japan and published here in single issue comics, after the fashion of the American comic industry. Later on, the book collection of those issues would be published. Eventually, this single issues were discontinued in favor of going right to the collected editions. This is what helped fuel the manga boom in the late 90's early 2000's. I sell tons of those manga books. Tons.
I sell a lot of the individual issues too, especially when I can find a run of sequential issues and sell them as a set. To do that involves time in bagging the books together and labeling and pricing. Finding a bunch of sets already made up means that all I have to do is re-price them.
Of course, I went to more than just a comic store sale, but that's a post for another day.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Now for something completely different!
I know it's supposed to be "Retro Y'all" day, and this is a kind of "Retro Y'all" post, but this isn't any ordinary Saturday. No Siree! It's.......
For real. I wouldn't make that up.
So there's only one video that will work today.
You all should have known that was coming. (I had such a crush on Burt Ward when I was a kid.)
There's a Batman Day giveaway with all kinds of Bat-swag, if you want to enter. (And you know that my birthday is coming up....)
Here's a nice rundown of different approaches to the character that gets what I consider to be the heart of the whole idea of The Batman. It's not darkness or vengeance or crime or violence or even justice. It's weirdness, plain and simple. Everything about Batman is at the very least a little strange, if not outright silly. The best incarnations take that inherent oddity and run with it, without caring what the fan-boys think.
So how am I celebrating this auspicious occasion? Well, the only Batman attire I have is a pair of boxers, so I'm going to be wearing them today. (I will wear other clothing in addition to said Bat-boxers. It's Batman Day, not Fat, Middle- Aged Nerds in their Undies Day. That takes place every Sunday in my living room. TMI?)
Actually, I do have a Batman T-shirt, but I have no idea where it is. I think it might be hiding out with the missing socks from the dryer. I probably need to get on the Bat-phone and get some assistance in cracking that case. I'm sure the Bat-Computer could find it with no problem.
There's probably no better way to celebrate such a day than with a trip to the comic shop, so I guess I'll be heading over there. Especially since it's alsonerd herd sidewalk sale day! Last one of the year, in fact. Been selling comics like crazy lately, so I need to lay in a stash for the winter. I've got a small one, but I think I need some more.
I'll close out with a really good article about the problems of trying to evolve and develop the Batman mythos in a corporate culture that has come to view him as a cash cow to sell movie tickets and video games, rather than a vehicle for lasting stories. The idea these days seems to be that they'll just throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks as far as the comics go, and when the crap stops sticking, then they'll just "reboot" with a new first issue. As long as the box office is big, who cares?
That whole line of thinking is (yet) another reason why I have no stomach for modern super-hero comics any more. If you're keeping track, that's like the third or fourth one I've shared. Maybe I should make a check list. How can you collect the set if you don't have a check list?
Of course, the truly wonderful thing about fictional characters is that you can pick and choose which version(s) you like and ignore the rest. This Batman Day, I'm celebrating:
Someone else can celebrate the other versions.
By the way, I found out about this too late to do a post about it, but yesterday was National Comic Book Day. (Not sure who decides these things.) I read some comics to celebrate. Now, will someone please tell me when Wonder Woman Day is? Also National Spring Roll Day. I really need to celebrate that one. A lot.
BATMAN DAY!
For real. I wouldn't make that up.
So there's only one video that will work today.
You all should have known that was coming. (I had such a crush on Burt Ward when I was a kid.)
There's a Batman Day giveaway with all kinds of Bat-swag, if you want to enter. (And you know that my birthday is coming up....)
Here's a nice rundown of different approaches to the character that gets what I consider to be the heart of the whole idea of The Batman. It's not darkness or vengeance or crime or violence or even justice. It's weirdness, plain and simple. Everything about Batman is at the very least a little strange, if not outright silly. The best incarnations take that inherent oddity and run with it, without caring what the fan-boys think.
So how am I celebrating this auspicious occasion? Well, the only Batman attire I have is a pair of boxers, so I'm going to be wearing them today. (I will wear other clothing in addition to said Bat-boxers. It's Batman Day, not Fat, Middle- Aged Nerds in their Undies Day. That takes place every Sunday in my living room. TMI?)
Actually, I do have a Batman T-shirt, but I have no idea where it is. I think it might be hiding out with the missing socks from the dryer. I probably need to get on the Bat-phone and get some assistance in cracking that case. I'm sure the Bat-Computer could find it with no problem.
There's probably no better way to celebrate such a day than with a trip to the comic shop, so I guess I'll be heading over there. Especially since it's also
I'll close out with a really good article about the problems of trying to evolve and develop the Batman mythos in a corporate culture that has come to view him as a cash cow to sell movie tickets and video games, rather than a vehicle for lasting stories. The idea these days seems to be that they'll just throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks as far as the comics go, and when the crap stops sticking, then they'll just "reboot" with a new first issue. As long as the box office is big, who cares?
That whole line of thinking is (yet) another reason why I have no stomach for modern super-hero comics any more. If you're keeping track, that's like the third or fourth one I've shared. Maybe I should make a check list. How can you collect the set if you don't have a check list?
Of course, the truly wonderful thing about fictional characters is that you can pick and choose which version(s) you like and ignore the rest. This Batman Day, I'm celebrating:
- The Adam West TV Show Batman
- Any animated version of Batman
- Manga Batman
- Batman in the 70's and 80's comics I bought as a kid
- Batman from the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's stories that I read in reprints as a kid
- George Clooney Batman (I pride myself on being pretty much the only person in the known universe who loved that movie.)
Someone else can celebrate the other versions.
By the way, I found out about this too late to do a post about it, but yesterday was National Comic Book Day. (Not sure who decides these things.) I read some comics to celebrate. Now, will someone please tell me when Wonder Woman Day is? Also National Spring Roll Day. I really need to celebrate that one. A lot.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Ask Eddie Anything: The Accent Thing
Tammy said: "It seems like once we hit the Ohio/Kentucky border, y'all have a
southern accent. I can just hear a southern drawl coming out of that cute
face!!!!"
Well, first off, you just seriously made me blush! Thanks!
And secondly, most of what comes out of this face are belches and burps.
There's a couple of interesting thoughts buried in that statement, which lead to several trains of thought in my head, which in turn lead to some stories and such. In other words, I'm gonna ramble. And it's not even Monday.
I have always considered myself to be a Southerner. To me, Kentucky is the South, but there are a lot of folks, particularly from deeper South, that would disagree. I'm not sure what the criteria is that one uses to make such decisions, or even if there is an official designation or determination anywhere. It just seems to be one of those things that folks have different opinions on.
I also consider myself to be a country boy at heart. I was raised in a small town in a rural county. When I was a kid, you could still shop on the town square in family-owned stores that had been there for generations. We lived in town, but lots of my family members had farms and raised horses, grew tobacco and corn, etc. Those are my roots and part of who I am.
It seems to me that Kentucky accents are a good deal more diverse than people realize. This is probably true for most states/regions. In the eastern part of the state, where all the mountains and coal mines are, the accent is more (for lack of a better term) "hillbilly." The twang is a little different there, even though a lot of the linguistic usage is the same as the rest of the state.
I should probably note here that I am not any kind of a linguist or accentologist or anything like that. There are no academic or scholarly credentials that back any of what I am saying up. I'm just a guy who thinks too much about things, loves to watch the world as it passes by and has a blog full of his rambles about stuff.
Speaking of academics, I went to college in the foothills of the Appalachians, so I spent five years listening to those wonderful accents.
When you move towards the south-central part of the state, where I am from, the accent gets more "country" or "hick." It's hard to explain in writing, but the sound is slightly different. Some words become a little more extended, but not quite like a Southern drawl.
The further west you go, the sound gets more what people think of when they think "Southern accent." It's a little more genteel, a little more drawn out, a definite drawl. I went to high school in this part of the state for a year, after my parents divorced.
Of course, none of this is hard and fast. The distinctions can be very slight and you can find people in all areas that speak with all kinds of accents. I'm laying this out as a kind of general guide.
In Louisville, there's a great mixture of speech mannerisms and accents. People move here from all over the state and all over the world. The biggest linguistic indicator of someone's origins is the way they pronounce the city's name. If you have lived here any length of time, you pronounce it almost like it's a one syllable word: "Luavull", sliding over that "ua" dipthong as smoothly and quickly as you can. If you say "Lewis-ville" or "Louie-ville" then we all know you ain't from around these parts.
As for the non-belch sounds that come out of my mouth, well, I'm a country boy. It's not really that thick or heavy, but there's a hick twang that sneaks out around the edges when I talk. When I go back home or spend time with my family, it comes out a lot more.
It wasn't always that way. We moved to Germany when I was in second grade and stayed there until I was in fourth grade. Then we moved to El Paso and stayed until I was in sixth grade. When we moved back to Kentucky, I didn't sound like anyone else. At all. It was so distinct that other kids would try to get me volunteer to read out loud in class, so they could listen to me talk. Not in a "make fun of it" kind of way, but in a "this is kind of interesting" kind of way. I was a little embarrassed nonetheless. My mother used to say that she couldn't wait for me to get home, so she could hear me again, instead of all the little kids in the neighborhood. Funny thing, I do not recall anyone making a big deal out of the way my brother sounded.
Gradually, of course, I lost that "different" sound and blended in a little more, but I never fully adapted the local sound. It's always been a little bit lighter with me, a little more subtle. It's enough that, when I'm in other parts of the country, people notice it, but not enough to "mark" me in anyway. At least, I don't think so. Sometimes, if I push this point too much, Keith will tell me to give it up and say that I sound like some hick kid from the sticks. The moral of that story is "don't get above your raising."
Not all of the sounds that come out of my mouth are in English by the way. My degree is in Spanish. I'm really shy about speaking it, because I've lost so much of my vocabulary and grammar to disuse. I really have to think hard about what I'm saying, which can make it hard to carry on a conversation. Sadly, I used to be damn near bilingual at one time. I get so frustrated with myself that I feel like if I can't say it perfectly, then I won't say it at all. Which really doesn't help me, I know. One thing I have not lost is my accent. On those rare occasions when I do speak in Spanish, people inevitably tell me that I sound authentic. It's something. I guess.
Anyway, if you want to hear a brief snippet of me talking and judge for yourself:
The full story behind that whole video is here. Behind the scenes pics are here.
That's a much younger, much less shaggy me, pre-cancer me. In fact, that mole that you see on my neck is the one that started all the trouble.
I can't believe it's been nine years since that happened. A whole lifetime ago.
Well, first off, you just seriously made me blush! Thanks!
And secondly, most of what comes out of this face are belches and burps.
There's a couple of interesting thoughts buried in that statement, which lead to several trains of thought in my head, which in turn lead to some stories and such. In other words, I'm gonna ramble. And it's not even Monday.
I have always considered myself to be a Southerner. To me, Kentucky is the South, but there are a lot of folks, particularly from deeper South, that would disagree. I'm not sure what the criteria is that one uses to make such decisions, or even if there is an official designation or determination anywhere. It just seems to be one of those things that folks have different opinions on.
I also consider myself to be a country boy at heart. I was raised in a small town in a rural county. When I was a kid, you could still shop on the town square in family-owned stores that had been there for generations. We lived in town, but lots of my family members had farms and raised horses, grew tobacco and corn, etc. Those are my roots and part of who I am.
It seems to me that Kentucky accents are a good deal more diverse than people realize. This is probably true for most states/regions. In the eastern part of the state, where all the mountains and coal mines are, the accent is more (for lack of a better term) "hillbilly." The twang is a little different there, even though a lot of the linguistic usage is the same as the rest of the state.
I should probably note here that I am not any kind of a linguist or accentologist or anything like that. There are no academic or scholarly credentials that back any of what I am saying up. I'm just a guy who thinks too much about things, loves to watch the world as it passes by and has a blog full of his rambles about stuff.
Speaking of academics, I went to college in the foothills of the Appalachians, so I spent five years listening to those wonderful accents.
When you move towards the south-central part of the state, where I am from, the accent gets more "country" or "hick." It's hard to explain in writing, but the sound is slightly different. Some words become a little more extended, but not quite like a Southern drawl.
The further west you go, the sound gets more what people think of when they think "Southern accent." It's a little more genteel, a little more drawn out, a definite drawl. I went to high school in this part of the state for a year, after my parents divorced.
Of course, none of this is hard and fast. The distinctions can be very slight and you can find people in all areas that speak with all kinds of accents. I'm laying this out as a kind of general guide.
In Louisville, there's a great mixture of speech mannerisms and accents. People move here from all over the state and all over the world. The biggest linguistic indicator of someone's origins is the way they pronounce the city's name. If you have lived here any length of time, you pronounce it almost like it's a one syllable word: "Luavull", sliding over that "ua" dipthong as smoothly and quickly as you can. If you say "Lewis-ville" or "Louie-ville" then we all know you ain't from around these parts.
As for the non-belch sounds that come out of my mouth, well, I'm a country boy. It's not really that thick or heavy, but there's a hick twang that sneaks out around the edges when I talk. When I go back home or spend time with my family, it comes out a lot more.
It wasn't always that way. We moved to Germany when I was in second grade and stayed there until I was in fourth grade. Then we moved to El Paso and stayed until I was in sixth grade. When we moved back to Kentucky, I didn't sound like anyone else. At all. It was so distinct that other kids would try to get me volunteer to read out loud in class, so they could listen to me talk. Not in a "make fun of it" kind of way, but in a "this is kind of interesting" kind of way. I was a little embarrassed nonetheless. My mother used to say that she couldn't wait for me to get home, so she could hear me again, instead of all the little kids in the neighborhood. Funny thing, I do not recall anyone making a big deal out of the way my brother sounded.
Gradually, of course, I lost that "different" sound and blended in a little more, but I never fully adapted the local sound. It's always been a little bit lighter with me, a little more subtle. It's enough that, when I'm in other parts of the country, people notice it, but not enough to "mark" me in anyway. At least, I don't think so. Sometimes, if I push this point too much, Keith will tell me to give it up and say that I sound like some hick kid from the sticks. The moral of that story is "don't get above your raising."
Not all of the sounds that come out of my mouth are in English by the way. My degree is in Spanish. I'm really shy about speaking it, because I've lost so much of my vocabulary and grammar to disuse. I really have to think hard about what I'm saying, which can make it hard to carry on a conversation. Sadly, I used to be damn near bilingual at one time. I get so frustrated with myself that I feel like if I can't say it perfectly, then I won't say it at all. Which really doesn't help me, I know. One thing I have not lost is my accent. On those rare occasions when I do speak in Spanish, people inevitably tell me that I sound authentic. It's something. I guess.
Anyway, if you want to hear a brief snippet of me talking and judge for yourself:
The full story behind that whole video is here. Behind the scenes pics are here.
That's a much younger, much less shaggy me, pre-cancer me. In fact, that mole that you see on my neck is the one that started all the trouble.
I can't believe it's been nine years since that happened. A whole lifetime ago.
Monday, September 21, 2015
Monday Rambles
I'm having a problem of skeleton indecency at my booth.
Anyone know what I can do about it? I guess this is to be expected when you're working with folks who walk around with everything hanging out like they do. Or at least it would be hanging out if it were still there. Or something.
Also, there may be a headless goose wandering around this Halloween.
I guess it's about time for the Country Crafts Zombie Apocalypse to happen. FLEE!
Walnuts are falling in our back yard, so I guess that means it's fall. Thing is, we've been in this house for 15 years now, and I never noticed that we had a walnut tree before. In fact, I would almost swear that we never, ever had walnuts before! Is this normal?
Another thing I love about this time of year is going through the stores and looking at all the seasonal merchandise--Halloween right now and the bits of Christmas that are trickling in. Seeing all this fills me with happy thoughts about scooping some of that crap up when it's 75% off for the booth next year. Yes, I stalk the holiday merchandise! Essentially, I case the joint, shamelessly.
So, I had a yard sale on Saturday. I brought some stuff home from the booth (mainly that damn glass), grabbed my tables off Sorrow Mountain, and four boxes of books off the Hillock, then set to work in the shed--aka Sorrow Mountain, the Backyard Edition.
Except for those banana boxes and a couple of large items, this is all household stuff that we don't use/need/want. I dug through about a third of it and ended up with enough for a yard sale. Along the way I found the last of my mother's stuff. (I have said this about four times now.) It was all her kitchen/household/tools and such that we don't need because we have all of them already. It went into the sale, and all of it sold!
Speaking of the banana boxes, when we loaded them in after Dixie closed, there were 50 of them. Last week, it was down to 24. I'm planning on taking 10 of them next week, which will have me down to 14. I think by the end of the year, all those babies will be gone! Woo hoo!
I also found about six boxes of old papers that need to be sorted and probably recycled. That's this week's project. Since I have treatment tomorrow, I want something I can work on while I sit down, and this will fit the bill nicely.
I also ended up making a couple of boxes of booth bound stuff from the shed, so pricing that is on this week's agenda as well.
Keith came up with the bright idea of setting up a tent in the back yard, so I could just put stuff in it when I got it ready for the sale. That way I didn't have to re-clutter the shed and I could set up on Saturday without even having to open the shed. It worked wonderfully.
Come Saturday, way too early in the morning, I threw it all on the sidewalk in back of the house, people came and bought it, they gave me money, and I got rid of it. The end.
I was in serious "Get this shit out of here mode" so stuff was way cheap. And it sold. And it sold. And it sold. And it sold.
In the end, almost everything sold, except for the books, which were hardly touched. They are probably off to Half Price Book this week. I pulled a small stack for the booth, but I already have a bunch waiting to go in the booth, so I don't want to keep too many. I have a couple of vintage leather jackets that didn't sell, so they're going to the second hand place down the street this week. Purge, baby, purge!
The damn glass that was left went to the curb with a "Free" sign after the sale. It was gone by Sunday morning. That was my offering to the junk gods for success at next month's junk set out. Ritual is important, you know. All in all, I was a happy, if tired, camper Saturday evening. I think I ran that steroid completely out!
As always, the fun part is the people. There was the book scanner who showed up over an hour before opening time. I ran him off, politely of course. I didn't even have the books out and I was not about to let him dig through the boxes. Scanners around here are pretty notorious for bad behavior and leaving messes. I have no patience for that. It occurs to me that I may have jinxed my book sales somehow by doing that, but I would do it again regardless. Scanners never buy more than two or three books anyway.
Then there was the scrapper who pulled up in a truck full of junk--bed frames and the lot--and said: "You selling that stuff or giving it away?" I'm not kidding! I said: "It's a yard sale." He grunted (really!) at me and drove off. I didn't even have any scrappable stuff. Why me? Sometimes, I feel like I must not be living right.
A younger, hippie type dude came up late in the afternoon and asked: "Do you have any books on, like, shamanism and stuff?" I was kind of tickled to tell him that I did! And he bought them! Pays to be a weirdo I guess.
After he paid, he saw the tent in the yard and got all excited. "Dude! I feel you! I camp out in my back yard all the time. I got my tent fixed up all cool inside." I didn't have the heart to tell him that it was only up to hold yard sale stuff.
Then there was the construction worker who bought the daintiest glass stuff I had. "I just love knick knacks." And the mother/daughter duo who bought a ton of stuff. made everybody smile because they were so nice, gave me more money than I was asking for because they thought everything was too cheap, and rearranged my tables as they went to make things prettier so I would sell more. I tried to get them to stay.
Overall, it was a lot of fun. It sent much better than it had a right to, considering I half-assed the entire thing. I had decided I wanted to do a sale, then kept losing enthusiasm bit by bit as it got closer. You can see in the pics that I didn't even sweep the damn sidewalk. Half-assed, I tell you! Hell, I didn't even put the Craigslist ad up until the morning of the sale.
Look what I found:
It's old, heavy as hell, and it needs a decent top and a new back panel, but I think some project minded person is going to love it. It's the epitome of something with "great bones." All the file drawer hardware is still inside. I saw it on the curb from the bus on Tuesday, but obviously couldn't get to it then. It was still there on Wednesday, when we were headed to my scan. Incredibly, it was still there Wednesday evening, so I nabbed it.
I get my scan results on Tuesday, so I'll let you know. I'm going to tell the docs I'm tired of getting scanned and ask to be faxed next time. Just to mix things up a bit. Keith has to go out of town for a family thing that just came up, so me and Chiquito are solo for a few days. I can't go because of my treatment.
Booth sales were crazy wild over the weekend! I did super well selling nothing but smalls. That makes for a long-ass email report, let me tell you! In fact, I haven't moved a stick of furniture in a couple of weeks. This is such a crazy business. Earlier in the week, I had spent three days working the booth, so, of course, for those three days my sales were off quite bit. That always seems to happen, for some reason. My daily average was starting to lag a bit much for my taste, so the weekend upswing was welcome news. I'll probably have a lot to tidy up today.
The Halloween stuff is really on fire now. A lot has sold, but there's still plenty left to sell. I'm going to have to remember to get it out earlier in the future. The fall stuff seems to have stalled and it just sitting there. I'm going to try to spruce it up today.
Speaking of today, I'd better get moving.
 |
| Really? |
Also, there may be a headless goose wandering around this Halloween.
 |
| Beware! |
Walnuts are falling in our back yard, so I guess that means it's fall. Thing is, we've been in this house for 15 years now, and I never noticed that we had a walnut tree before. In fact, I would almost swear that we never, ever had walnuts before! Is this normal?
Another thing I love about this time of year is going through the stores and looking at all the seasonal merchandise--Halloween right now and the bits of Christmas that are trickling in. Seeing all this fills me with happy thoughts about scooping some of that crap up when it's 75% off for the booth next year. Yes, I stalk the holiday merchandise! Essentially, I case the joint, shamelessly.
So, I had a yard sale on Saturday. I brought some stuff home from the booth (mainly that damn glass), grabbed my tables off Sorrow Mountain, and four boxes of books off the Hillock, then set to work in the shed--aka Sorrow Mountain, the Backyard Edition.
Except for those banana boxes and a couple of large items, this is all household stuff that we don't use/need/want. I dug through about a third of it and ended up with enough for a yard sale. Along the way I found the last of my mother's stuff. (I have said this about four times now.) It was all her kitchen/household/tools and such that we don't need because we have all of them already. It went into the sale, and all of it sold!
Speaking of the banana boxes, when we loaded them in after Dixie closed, there were 50 of them. Last week, it was down to 24. I'm planning on taking 10 of them next week, which will have me down to 14. I think by the end of the year, all those babies will be gone! Woo hoo!
I also found about six boxes of old papers that need to be sorted and probably recycled. That's this week's project. Since I have treatment tomorrow, I want something I can work on while I sit down, and this will fit the bill nicely.
I also ended up making a couple of boxes of booth bound stuff from the shed, so pricing that is on this week's agenda as well.
Keith came up with the bright idea of setting up a tent in the back yard, so I could just put stuff in it when I got it ready for the sale. That way I didn't have to re-clutter the shed and I could set up on Saturday without even having to open the shed. It worked wonderfully.
 |
| Peeking in through the opening |
 |
| Crappy cell phone pic alert! |
I was in serious "Get this shit out of here mode" so stuff was way cheap. And it sold. And it sold. And it sold. And it sold.
In the end, almost everything sold, except for the books, which were hardly touched. They are probably off to Half Price Book this week. I pulled a small stack for the booth, but I already have a bunch waiting to go in the booth, so I don't want to keep too many. I have a couple of vintage leather jackets that didn't sell, so they're going to the second hand place down the street this week. Purge, baby, purge!
The damn glass that was left went to the curb with a "Free" sign after the sale. It was gone by Sunday morning. That was my offering to the junk gods for success at next month's junk set out. Ritual is important, you know. All in all, I was a happy, if tired, camper Saturday evening. I think I ran that steroid completely out!
As always, the fun part is the people. There was the book scanner who showed up over an hour before opening time. I ran him off, politely of course. I didn't even have the books out and I was not about to let him dig through the boxes. Scanners around here are pretty notorious for bad behavior and leaving messes. I have no patience for that. It occurs to me that I may have jinxed my book sales somehow by doing that, but I would do it again regardless. Scanners never buy more than two or three books anyway.
Then there was the scrapper who pulled up in a truck full of junk--bed frames and the lot--and said: "You selling that stuff or giving it away?" I'm not kidding! I said: "It's a yard sale." He grunted (really!) at me and drove off. I didn't even have any scrappable stuff. Why me? Sometimes, I feel like I must not be living right.
A younger, hippie type dude came up late in the afternoon and asked: "Do you have any books on, like, shamanism and stuff?" I was kind of tickled to tell him that I did! And he bought them! Pays to be a weirdo I guess.
After he paid, he saw the tent in the yard and got all excited. "Dude! I feel you! I camp out in my back yard all the time. I got my tent fixed up all cool inside." I didn't have the heart to tell him that it was only up to hold yard sale stuff.
Then there was the construction worker who bought the daintiest glass stuff I had. "I just love knick knacks." And the mother/daughter duo who bought a ton of stuff. made everybody smile because they were so nice, gave me more money than I was asking for because they thought everything was too cheap, and rearranged my tables as they went to make things prettier so I would sell more. I tried to get them to stay.
Overall, it was a lot of fun. It sent much better than it had a right to, considering I half-assed the entire thing. I had decided I wanted to do a sale, then kept losing enthusiasm bit by bit as it got closer. You can see in the pics that I didn't even sweep the damn sidewalk. Half-assed, I tell you! Hell, I didn't even put the Craigslist ad up until the morning of the sale.
Look what I found:
It's old, heavy as hell, and it needs a decent top and a new back panel, but I think some project minded person is going to love it. It's the epitome of something with "great bones." All the file drawer hardware is still inside. I saw it on the curb from the bus on Tuesday, but obviously couldn't get to it then. It was still there on Wednesday, when we were headed to my scan. Incredibly, it was still there Wednesday evening, so I nabbed it.
I get my scan results on Tuesday, so I'll let you know. I'm going to tell the docs I'm tired of getting scanned and ask to be faxed next time. Just to mix things up a bit. Keith has to go out of town for a family thing that just came up, so me and Chiquito are solo for a few days. I can't go because of my treatment.
Booth sales were crazy wild over the weekend! I did super well selling nothing but smalls. That makes for a long-ass email report, let me tell you! In fact, I haven't moved a stick of furniture in a couple of weeks. This is such a crazy business. Earlier in the week, I had spent three days working the booth, so, of course, for those three days my sales were off quite bit. That always seems to happen, for some reason. My daily average was starting to lag a bit much for my taste, so the weekend upswing was welcome news. I'll probably have a lot to tidy up today.
The Halloween stuff is really on fire now. A lot has sold, but there's still plenty left to sell. I'm going to have to remember to get it out earlier in the future. The fall stuff seems to have stalled and it just sitting there. I'm going to try to spruce it up today.
Speaking of today, I'd better get moving.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Let's get SPOOKY!
I usually don't get my Halloween stuff out until September 15 or so, but this year I did it at the beginning of the month. It sat there for a couple of days, then started selling really nicely--several pieces a day in fact.
On Monday, I had to completely redo the area to fill in the holes and gaps. I used all my reserve stuff in the process, so everything is out now. I also managed to remember to get pics.
I'm no great display talent, but I'm happy with it. I kind of went overboard hanging things on the sides of the shelves and did not place and space my hooks in anything resembling a reasonable fashion. Still, I like it.
There are a few things tucked into shelves (like three Halloween wreaths) that need to be more fully on display, but that problem should work itself out when a few more things sell. I usually have a 75-85% sell through on my Halloween each year. I'm hoping with my earlier start, I may go higher than that.
Since we're looking at pics, this is my fall display. It's small because I never do get much fall stuff. Historically, it doesn't sell that great for me. It's on a little bit of a roll this year, though. We'll see.
Hope that you didn't find my little spooky tour to be too hair-raising!
On Monday, I had to completely redo the area to fill in the holes and gaps. I used all my reserve stuff in the process, so everything is out now. I also managed to remember to get pics.
 |
| This is my favorite shelf. So many happy skulls and pumpkins! |
I'm no great display talent, but I'm happy with it. I kind of went overboard hanging things on the sides of the shelves and did not place and space my hooks in anything resembling a reasonable fashion. Still, I like it.
There are a few things tucked into shelves (like three Halloween wreaths) that need to be more fully on display, but that problem should work itself out when a few more things sell. I usually have a 75-85% sell through on my Halloween each year. I'm hoping with my earlier start, I may go higher than that.
Since we're looking at pics, this is my fall display. It's small because I never do get much fall stuff. Historically, it doesn't sell that great for me. It's on a little bit of a roll this year, though. We'll see.
Hope that you didn't find my little spooky tour to be too hair-raising!
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Happiness is.....
...Vintage Blow Molds!
Monday on the way to the booth, there was a traffic kerfuffle that resulted in my missing my connecting bus. Since I had about an hour wait until the next one, decided to take a three block stroll down the street to my favorite thrift, which I had not visited in a while.
These beauties were waiting for me when I walked in.
Empire, circa 1969. I never, ever find vintage Halloween stuff, so I strolled back to my bus stop as one very happy camper!
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
That box of graphic novels
I mentioned this buy yesterday, but here are some details. Keith told me I needed to check out this table at the community sale because it was "right up my alley." I had bypassed this table originally, because there was a crowd there going through the boxes of records they had for sale.
At first I was just going to buy a couple of the books, because the prices were more in line with buying things to keep rather than sell. Besides, I already have or have read many of them.
Out of the blue, however, I decided to go for it and try to snag the whole lot. I counted them up, totaled the prices, and then decided on my number. I asked the sellers what they would do for all of them, which really surprised them. They thought a while, looked it all over, then quoted my exact number! I love it when that happens.
Some highlights from the box. This is less than half of what was in there, which also included several loose comics books. Think of this as a little crib notes section for comics--what makes some things special and/or worth picking up, at least in my opinion.
Those blue tape bits are the original price tags from the sellers, which I forgot to remove before I took the picture. Those numbers don't count, as the price I paid worked out to less than half of what they were asking for most books (and sometimes even more off, as in the big book above.)
Did you know that both those movies were based on comics? Well for Watchmen it was probably a little more obvious. Both of these are perennial sellers and the kind of thing I like having in the booth, when I can get them. It's kind of hard to go into a bookstore with a graphic novel section and not find these titles.
These two are more my speed for personal reading--quirky, oddball tales with black and white artwork. I've read the one on the left, so it goes right to the booth. The other one will go once I have a chance to read it, which I am looking forward to doing. The creator and I probably disagree on every major issue out there, but I do enjoy his work. If anyone remembers the classic 90's cartoon Earthworm Jim, he is the one who created it.
My comic reading habits roughly break down into three categories these days: original work like this by creators with who make interesting stories, older comics and nostalgia (more on that in a minute), and comics with an educational or religious purpose. My buying habits consist of what I can get at store sales or second hand. New comics are too damned expensive. Even electronic versions of monthly titles are two bucks a throw. That's too much for a download that I'm only going to look at one or two times.
Reading these stories as a teen blew me away and really opened up my perceptions of what a comic could be. I don't think they've aged particularly well though. Part of that is the way Miller has evolved as a talent, which is simply not to my taste or liking at all these days. This is the kind of book someone will pick up because it's easier and cheaper than tracking down the individual issues reprinted inside.
Did you know the show is based on a comic? The crossover appeal for this one should make these an easy sell. I've never read the comics or seen the show. I think the idea of zombies is pretty cool, but I just don't watch much TV.
More Frank Miller on the right. That book is now up to it's 25th anniversary edition. You can never go wrong with Batman. Ever. No matter what version. Everyone loves Batman. Everyone wants to buy Batman crap. Always pick up Batman stuff. That is a rule. At least for me.
The Long Halloween is a book that has gotten a lot of acclaim since it was first published in the late 90's. I'm holding onto it long enough to read, as I have never done so before. It's pretty thick, so I might not read the whole thing. It depends on the story and the art. Right around the time this came out, the artwork in super-hero comics was entering a downward spiral from which, I think, it hasn't yet fully recovered. For the most part, the art in super-hero comics is atrocious these days--a factor that has played a huge part in my disinterest in the genre.
I love that red dinosaur! This is the nostalgia vibe I was talking about earlier--classic tales from the fifties and sixties. These books remind me of the thick giant comics that you could buy when I was a kid in the 70's. There would be one new story and then a whole bunch of older stuff reprinted. I loved those things. (I have a longer post planned on these.) I'm about a fifth of the way into the Justice League book. It's my current bedside reading. I read a story or two each night, and it's awesome! Fun stories with solid classic art. That's really all I need. (And cheaper than trying to find the original issues.)
Tomorrow, stories from Saturday and the smalls.
At first I was just going to buy a couple of the books, because the prices were more in line with buying things to keep rather than sell. Besides, I already have or have read many of them.
Out of the blue, however, I decided to go for it and try to snag the whole lot. I counted them up, totaled the prices, and then decided on my number. I asked the sellers what they would do for all of them, which really surprised them. They thought a while, looked it all over, then quoted my exact number! I love it when that happens.
Some highlights from the box. This is less than half of what was in there, which also included several loose comics books. Think of this as a little crib notes section for comics--what makes some things special and/or worth picking up, at least in my opinion.
 |
| A very nice, very pricey coffee table book with slip cover |
 |
| Modern classics |
Did you know that both those movies were based on comics? Well for Watchmen it was probably a little more obvious. Both of these are perennial sellers and the kind of thing I like having in the booth, when I can get them. It's kind of hard to go into a bookstore with a graphic novel section and not find these titles.
 |
| Quirky fun |
My comic reading habits roughly break down into three categories these days: original work like this by creators with who make interesting stories, older comics and nostalgia (more on that in a minute), and comics with an educational or religious purpose. My buying habits consist of what I can get at store sales or second hand. New comics are too damned expensive. Even electronic versions of monthly titles are two bucks a throw. That's too much for a download that I'm only going to look at one or two times.
 |
| Another modern classic |
 |
| Contemporary fan favorite |
 |
| Bat-books! |
The Long Halloween is a book that has gotten a lot of acclaim since it was first published in the late 90's. I'm holding onto it long enough to read, as I have never done so before. It's pretty thick, so I might not read the whole thing. It depends on the story and the art. Right around the time this came out, the artwork in super-hero comics was entering a downward spiral from which, I think, it hasn't yet fully recovered. For the most part, the art in super-hero comics is atrocious these days--a factor that has played a huge part in my disinterest in the genre.
 |
| KEEPERS! |
Tomorrow, stories from Saturday and the smalls.
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