Work, Comedy & Making Ends Meet.

Just a quick post to let everyone know that yes, I am still alive, and haven't broken my neck by falling through some attic floor through to the next floor. Been through a few attics, basements, farm sites, etc since the last time I blogged.

 Been busy, though not picking as much as I would like.

Funny how the cash goes out twice as fast as it comes in!

Lots of flooding in this area, as well as south, west and east of here. A few rivers have been overflowing, and there also have been so much rain around that there has been lots of "overland flooding" as well. Makes picking tougher....backroads turn to mud, are washed away, sinkholes happen, and critters like moles decide that the road is the best high ground to head to and they start colonizing. 

You hit one of their hills at any speed and you have a recipe for disaster. Add to that having water right to the roadside, and filling ditches that are 10 feet (or more) deep...well, you can use your imagination.

I can still pick every day and find cool stuff, despite events like flooding, storms (rain or snow!), etc. Usually there are 2 things that can slow my picking activities a fair bit:

(1) Poor health (illness that keeps you bed bound...things like the flu, inner ear infections, or other things that make it unsafe to even walk)

(2) Lack of cash on hand.

Basically my health is ok at the moment. Cash is tight, though. Doing renovations to the house (we run a B&B also...www.buzzingbeebandb.com), plus been paying bills down, getting car repairs done (picking is tough on the vehicle!), etc.

Heck, filling up the tank with gas is a $100 touch these days!



Still managing to pick up some old stuff here and there. Even the jobs I have been doing on the side to make some extra cash can offer opportunities to get inventory.

Been cleaning up a scrap metal pile on a farmsite, for an associate of mine. He's a bit of a wheeler dealer, and he bought a package of farm properties, and he needs the scrap cleaned off the place before he resells that piece of the package he bought. Wants to have it looking clean & more appealing for potential buyers. 

I volunteered to do it, as he's related to a good friend of mine. It is more of a favour, as it is heavy work, moving literally tons of metal by hand. He might think I'm getting rich off the stuff, but that is far from the case. However, it allowed me a chance to pull out any interesting bits and pieces...many of which I see in many scrap piles that are sold at farm auctions, and the piles go for more than I want to pay for the few things in them. Having to talk to the scrap dealers who bought the piles later tends to be a pain, and sometimes impossible when you are trying to keep track of the other stuff you want to buy at the auction.  

So, from this pile I have gotten some cast iron farm implement wheels, as well as some other bits and pieces that have some resale value beyond scrap steel prices. 

Hot and heavy work, for sure.

I have been earning every cent I will gain, that is for certain...and every dime will have been hard earned at that. The blood and sweat expelled by my body has the profits wiped out already. Yes, I do REALLY mean blood!

Dangerous work, also... especially when at every square inch there are rusty & pointed harrow teeth, rusty, broken (and still sharp) swather blades , jagged old cultivator shovels that have been made razor thin and edge sharp by tilling sandy soil for eons, not to mention an intertwined conglomeration of knife edged sheets of tin, flesh scoring rusty barbed wire, rotting cans of who knows what...and to to that the fact the pile is intricately interwoven, with structures being interdependent...with no sense of structure or stability.

I climb and scour these sorts of piles when I am out picking, but usually only for easily accessible items. If I have to shift ten tons of metal in the blazing sun and risk slicing my jugular open to get at something, it better be a heck of a treasure!

I also pick up interesting bits and pieces of rusty metal for potential sculpture or other artistic/creative use...which I may use....someday.....if I ever get some spare time!

There were some cast iron water bowls for cattle:

I figured they could be used as rustic planters, bird baths, etc.

Also got some heavy chain links, which are actually from a dairy cow barn....part of the system used to mechanically clean the place. Yes, from a manure removal machine...(SHHHH, don't tell anyone!)

  They are long sterilized by mother nature, and their previous exposure to the, uh, ummm.... "elements" have given them a very cool patina:

What did the country antique dealer say to the city antique dealer?

That there ain't cow shit, that there's PATINA!

Well, with that I will leave you laughing, or groaning, whichever!



Pickers, UFOs, and the AVRO project

You may not be aware of this fact, but we pickers come across many UFOs.

UFOs are abundant in this trade, we see them all the time.

Dealing with UFO's takes much time, study, patience.

Like many things in this business, it takes research, research, and more research to figure out what we are dealing with, where the object has come from, it's history, composition, past ownership, etc.

Taking into consideration the UFOs color, what colors it has been, it's surface texture, coloration, markings, etc, you may be able to identify exactly where it is from, when it was made, how long it has traveled through time & space to get to the present day.

I also tend to have UFOs stashed away, in the barn, the basement, etc, for future study.

Hang on folks, our dog has been barking for a little bit, and I'm pretty sure I just heard a knock at the door...might be a customer, so I better go see what they want. This blog is not something that is paying the bills, so I better see if I can sell 'em some stuff....

*************

Ok, I'm back.

I gotta tell you, that was really weird.

I went downstairs, and looked out the window to the driveway, and there was a big, black van parked behind my van.

The dog was still barking away, still freaking out, so I put him behind the baby gate we have in the hallway, so he wouldn't jump on who ever was at the door.

I opened the door, and there were 2 guys standing there. I thought at first they were lost or something, then I figured maybe they were dealers. They were driving a big, black van, and you could likely haul tons of stuff in it, one of those Mercedes Sprinters; like Mike & Frank of American Pickers drive. But, this van was awfully clean, super shiny and must have been this years model, as it was pretty new. It also looked like it must have had every option on it, from black running boards, tinted windows, an extra CB antenna, a little tiny dish for satellite radio, and some other things. No company name on the vehicle, which isn't all that unusual.

They were definitely not pickers...or if they were, they were pseudo pickers. Wanna-be's with lots of money made in some other profession, or perhaps even inherited; they were born into it, or maybe even fraudulently obtained...who knows. Frankly, I don't know many true and honest pickers who have lots of money to throw around. Most pickers live hand to mouth, though sometimes they seem rich at times. It is feast or famine for many of us. It is not due to a lack of talent, experience, etc that cash is tight at times.  Sometimes we do have big bucks to throw around. It comes from flipping a few big dollar items, after turning over some merchandise at a show or flea market, after holding an auction, etc. Other times it is a bankroll we've pulled out of our overdraft, line of credit or an advance on a credit card. You need to spend money to make money, to go picking, to buy items to turn over, to make some money to pay bills. If you have some decent amounts of spare cash, sometimes you upgrade to a newer (but usually used) vehicle, or at least get the old one fixed up a bit. Other times you try to catch up a bit on bills, take the other half out for supper at some place classier than the local fast food joint, that sort of thing. A picker flipping bills off of a wad of cash is no indication of financial wealth. Same goes for a fairly new vehicle. Reliability is something a picker needs in a vehicle. Sometimes the ugliest, junkiest looking vehicle is the choice for a picker.....but, it still needs to be reliable, and that beater that just won't die (or can be fixed while on the road) is the way to go. 

So, the fancy vehicle meant little to me. However, these guys were way too slick looking. The fact they were wearing black suits and sunglasses confused me, also. I'm 100% positive there are no high end antiques show going on anywhere in the area...and if there is one, it would be somewhere that is easily at least a day's drive away, so wearing a suit for the drive there is rather, well, bizarre. I thought that maybe they were selling something, pushing some religion, etc, so I was also preparing myself to respond to those things.

Anyway, I asked what they wanted. They wanted to see in the barn, and asked what I had stashed away.

I asked what sort of thing they were looking for; what the dealt in, so I could better decide what sort of stuff I should show them, and so they would not waste my time nor me waste their's. They asked if I had seen anything unusual in the area. I said, well, yeah, I have gotten all sorts of unusual things, but I really needed something more specific than that. Then they asked if I had seen or found any saucers in the area.  Saucers? I replied that I really don't deal in much china, especially dinnerware, but if they wanted to leave some sort of "want list" I'd call them if I found anything that fit their interests.

They just turned their heads and looked at each other. The one guy with the helmet of perfectly coiffed hair seemed to raise an eyebrow, but that is about the only evidence he gave of any sort of emotion. The bald guy was still nearly robot like in his stature. The coiffed hair dude handed me a card and asked me to call them if I came across any saucers. They then both turned, ans started walking back towards their van.

They were in perfect step together, almost soldier like. They even opened the doors of the van at the same moment, stepped into the van and slid into their seats at the same time. The only time they seemed to be out of sync was when the bald dude who took the driver's seat stiffly looked into his side mirror when he was backing up to turn around to leave.

They know nothing about picking, for sure...the card has some weird logo and a phone number, and that is it. Useless...I tossed it in the trash...if you want to get calls from people again, make sure you are descriptive of what you are looking for. "I buy signs" doesn't cut it. You need a list, a page of pictures, key words, etc. Try: old signs, pre-1980, made of metal, tin, wood, etc. These guys' cards are useless. Definitely wanna-be's playing with daddy's money.

They were weird....but, I have seen much weirder things. Maybe they were a couple, who knows. But, then again, 2 people of either sex, spending lots of time on the road together tend to pick up each other's mannerisms sometimes, kind of like an old married couple. So, I can't assume they were gay or anything, either. Never want to assume such things in this business. Stereotypes are not a good thing to go by, and are rarely ever accurate, nor applicable, anyway. You can really tick people off when you use stereotypes to assess them, even get yourself in trouble. You can screw-up a deal really fast. Yeah, so the guy who owns that farm property seems really feminine, or the woman behind the counter seems pretty darn "butch." They may be the nicest folks you could meet; and the guy's wife is an absolute pin-up girl, a real bombshell, and the "butch" woman's husband is even more rugged than she is. Besides, so what if the guy has a boyfriend and the woman has a wife. Everyone is just "people."  You'll meet all sorts of people in this business, so get used to the fact that there are LOTS of differences between people in this world.

If they offend you or your beliefs, put that aside, do your deal for the cool stuff you found, and go on. Let people live their lives, if they are not physically hurting you, don't bother them.
Live and let live. People think us pickers, antiquers, junkers (etc) are bizarre, weird, strange, etc, too. They really have no reason to think that, they just do not understand our lifestyle, interests, etc. So what? That is their problem, not yours. If you have a problem with someone else's lifestyle, then perhaps you should be thinking about what people think of your lifestyle. Besides, we all live in glass houses to a point, so why bother throwing stones at all?

Ooops, got off on one of my tangents again, didn't I?

So, where were we?

AH, yes....

Unidentified Found Objects.

Ok, what is with all the ahh-ing, people? Hey, the guy in the tin foil hat just got up and left, and by that stunned look he had on his face, I don't think he is coming back....so if you happen to be standing, there is now a seat available.

Now, back to UFOs.

There can be lots of confusion with the assorted series of letters, what appear to be "words", abbreviations, logos, etc, that you see on things when you are doing research.

For example, when you see the letters "RCA", what do you think of?

I think of Nipper, radios, etc, as in the Radio Corporation of America, which many of you likely thought of, also.

BUT, I also think of the Canadian military, as in the Royal Canadian Artillery.

Did you think of anything different from those 2? Depending on your background, location of residence, knowledge, etc, you might have had another thought or 2 about what RCA means or is an abbreviation for.

So, were they any of these?

Royal College of Art
Royal Canadian Academy Of Art
Rialto Center for the Arts
Right Coronary Artery
Republique Centrafricaine
Rural Cellular Association
Radio Club Argentino
Radio Club of America
Radio Collectors of America
Radio Communications Agency
Rodeo Cowboys of America
Radiological Control Area

And of course the list goes on and on. This is a handy place for research on abbreviations and acronyms, by the way: http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/RCA

Plus, there are more that aren't on that list, some are defunct, super obscure, foreign language based, etc.

Have you heard of AVRO? The AV Roe company? AVRO Canada? The infamous ARROW project? How about the USAF sponsored flying saucer-esque aircraft dubbed the AVROCAR?

Well, I picked up a piece a few months ago, silver plated, with an AVRO logo on it. At the moment I saw it, I initially thought was an early logo for the company, or maybe from the British parent company.

Here is a close-up of the logo:

I looked it over, and found some markings on the interior edge of the handle, and when I saw the markings were not Canadian, British, nor American, I paused, and almost put it back on the shelf.

But, it was not even two bucks, and I'd kick myself if I found out it was from the AV Roe company's offices, or was some special presentation piece, etc. On the same thrift store shelf I found a couple sterling silver dishes for under $2 each, so it wasn't like I was going to loose money on the handful of items I had in my hands.

I pick up lots of silver plate that have assorted abbreviations, logos, etc stamped on them. By those logos, etc, I don't mean the maker's marks on the backs, I mean on the fronts, sides, etc. Marks that indicate they were the property of some business, like a lodge, club, hotel, railway, airline, etc, and sometimes they are family monograms, also, which are usually not a big deal, unless it was of a family that were historically important. Some such items are quite collectible...but, many are pretty much "homemade wind chime" materials.

If you know the meanings of many abbreviations, and have some knowledge of the companies, groups, fields, etc, that used them, you can get some really good deals, and profit handsomely from those purchases. There are "sleepers" sitting in the inventories of other dealers at antiques shows, flea markets, stores, etc.

Thrifting is a good way to learn, a cheap way to get an education in this business. Paying 25 cents for a silver plated piece of cutlery that has a logo on it, and finding out it is from a long gone railway is a good learning experience. Even if you only find out it is only from some little cafe in Europe, or it is just some unimportant family's monogram, and is of no real value, you have learned something that you will not forget...and it only cost you a quarter. Darn cheap education! And, once you get enough of those duds, you can make a wind chime...you might even be able to sell the wind chime for a hefty profit on your purchase prices and time! You got an education AND made money from it! You need to think way outside the box sometimes so you can make lemonade from those lemons.

So, back to AVRO. Well, I learned something. I'm now 99.9% sure it is not from AV Roe. As it turns out, AVRO is also an abbreviation for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep.

Yeah, I know, it looks like I just hit the keyboard with my fist after the letters A,V & O. It is actually Dutch for what is essentially "General Association of Radio Broadcasting" of the Netherlands.

So, considering the markings on the silver plate are of that part of the world, the odds are that it is related to that group somehow. Is it of value? Mmmm, well, maybe to someone out there. Certainly not of the kind of value of what it would have if it was a piece from the offices of the AV Roe company, or a piece presented by AV Roe to an important person. It did briefly cross my mind that it might have been made as a prop in the movie "THE ARROW" (Starring Dan Akroyd) which was filmed not far from Winnipeg (where the thrift shop was) so the props department was likely located in Winnipeg. However, due to the dark grey, almost black tarnish on the piece (that certainly was from far more than a dozen years of not being polished) and the fact that it was of Netherlands origin, and the AVRO radio group connection, odds are it was just a fluke it was sitting on that thrift store's shelf, and had nothing to do with the AV Roe company in any way.

I still had a sliver of optimism based hope, but was definitely already aware that the odds of it being from AV Roe were not in my favour. The clues that I recognized didn't really add up to "big money" for a historical piece. I took a chance and bought it anyway, mainly out of curiosity as to what else AVRO could actually stand for. I learned something, and it cost very little.

Someone else might have gotten far more excited about it. They may have even offered it for sale at an antiques show, with a big price tag, and a claim it was from that infamous firm that built the Arrow.

"I've found it in Canada, AVRO was in Canada, so what else could it be? It HAS to be from AV ROE!"  they might think.

They'd be wrong, though.  If I had seen it at an antiques show, say, priced for $100, I'd have been curious, looked it over, and have left it sitting there. I might have gotten the sellers phone number, and maybe have later gotten online, and double checked on the Net to see if AVRO Canada used that style logo somewhere along the line, or if the British parent company used that logo in the past.  I wouldn't have gotten too excited, though.
I know it is likely a candy dish from the offices of a radio broadcasting group in Denmark. Might still even have some value as a result of that connection. That will require some more research, and delving into websites, books, etc that are likely in Danish....which I neither speak nor read. I guess it will sit on my shelf for awhile longer! We do have friend who as a child came from Denmark, so I will quiz her to see if she can assist in finding out anything. Might cost me a bottle of wine or good Tequila, though!

Aside from the Danish marks on the silver plate, I also already have a bit of background and knowledge about AVRO Canada, the Arrow, the "Avro Car", etc.

That education cost me somewhat more than the AVRO dish, however. All it will cost you is some time to read about it.  But, I'll leave that story for my next blog posting!

Pickin' Story Around a Globe

Long ago, when I first started picking for a living, I was driving down a road, just off a main highway, but still a well traveled, paved road. I spotted a 1950s gas bowser (electric gas pump) in a guy's farm yard with a sign still on it. This was/is unusual for being on such a well traveled route...usually in such cases, the stuff turns out to rarely ever be for sale.


I pulled in, and the owner came out of the house right away. I leaned out the window of my truck, and asked him if he would sell the sign off the gas pump. I figured he'd probably been asked 1000 times before, but I might as well make it 1001.

 He said "I don't think so." I asked if I could just take a look at it, and I' then make him an offer, and he could say yes or no.

He agreed.

I jumped out of my truck, took a look at the pump. It had two porcelain signs on it,  both Texaco Sky Chief, as well as two "This Pump Contains Leaded Fuel" (common $8 - $15 retail at the time..and only still as much). The Sky Chiefs were selling retail for about $85 each at the time. I told him I'd give him $85 for all 4 signs (a fair offer in any picker's book). He had a surprised look on his face when I made my offer, and I got the immediate impression that people had been hassling him for years to sell them...but for next to nothing.

He said he'd go and grab me a screwdriver, and I told him it was ok, I had one in the truck. While I was taking them off, he stood there, watching me work. He seemed to have a somewhat thoughtful look on his face, and after I had two of the signs off, he said,

"You know, I think I have the glass thing for the top of that".

My thought was "Ok, cool." He might have meant he had the flat glass inserts at the top front sides (maybe $15 retail for a Sky Chief one) or if I was very lucky, he had the globe that would go on the top of the pump.(a plain Sky Chief gas globe was worth about $300 - $350 retail at the time).


 The pump did have a factory insert covering the hole on the top, but no evidence that it had ever been off and a globe mounted over it. I wasn't overly optimistic he'd drag out anything other than a flat glass plate or 2.
So, I kept working away while he sauntered back to his garage. Almost done, taking off the final 2 small signs, I looked up, and.....

he was carrying a gas globe as he was walking towards me.....

but not a Sky Chief globe! It was a North Star ENERGY Globe (North Star was a Canadian company later bought out by Shell). The ENERGY globe happens to be far scarcer than Texaco Sky Chief globes.

 

SO, at the time, I had never had one before, and had no idea what it was worth. There were no reference books on Canadian globes (still really isn't), and most collectors were always pretty tight lipped about values.

I figured it had to be worth $400, so I told him that I figured it was worth $400 retail, and I'd pay him $200, and, because I wasn't 100% sure I was accurate on my thought of value, if I ended up selling it for significantly more I'd come back with half the difference.

 He agreed, and a deal was made.

Those were the days when I was picking with my grocery money, essentially, and trying to triple it to also cover my rent. Times were tough. Picking to pay the rent and eat. Picking was my income and entertainment. Forget being able to go to the movies. It went on like that for 2 years.

I managed to eventually sell the globe for $600 to a straight up, honest collector I was dealing with at that time. But, rent, groceries and the necessities of life gobbled it all up before I knew it. Life has a way of throwing you curves, especially when cash is in short supply.

I didn't forget. As far as I was concerned, I had an outstanding debt to pay. About two years later, I had some spare cash, and went back to that farmhouse with a $100 bill, and knocked on the door.

The farmer answered, and soon he remembered me, and the transaction. I then told him I had sold the globe for $600, and thus, I owed him $100, as per the deal we had made.

He was dumbfounded. He said that he didn't think I'd ever be back.

 I told him simply that I had made a deal, and I don't back out on my deals.

He graciously took the $100.

Then he said, "I'm retiring, and in the shed there are two trailers of stuff...the auctioneer told me not to sell anything before the auction, but you go in there, and pick out what ever you'd like to buy."

I picked out some cool stuff,including a steel Exide Batteries advertising tool holder, then ended up in his house's basement, where I bought a stack of McColl Frontenac letterheads.

McColl Frontenac is also commonly known as "Red Indian" - their logo was an Indian in full headdress - They were later bought by Texaco - and as a result of the great graphic image they used, and the fact they were Texaco's start into the Canadian market, their advertising is very sought after stuff.

 The letterheads had some goop on the top, bundling them together like a note pad, which made me hedge on price. The stuff was black and nearly rock-hard...some sort of tar. I told him I knew they were good, but the goop might just make them a tough sell, but I thought I may be able to remove it. I offered him $15, and told him the same thing I'd told him on the globe....If I got significantly more than $30 or $40, I'd be back with half the difference.

He smiled and said if I did do far better on them to just keep the extra cash.

It was a pick that I came away feeling very good from. And, yes, I happened to do very well on the letterheads in the end...and didn't even have to clean the goop off.

I know, some of you will say I am nuts, but it is just the way I roll. I believe in Karma.

Trust me, following that sort of method for many things is a good policy, and always works out well in the end, I assure you.
On a picking trip, pickers do buy more than a few things at some stops. Personally, like to fill my van if there is enough decent stuff there, and really make the stop worthwhile. Due to sheer bulk, their low price quotes, high price quotes, bulk purchases (IE: Box of interesting small junk you don't have time to go through right then, but drop an offer for on spec), you do over-pay for some things and you under-pay for some things. It comes out in the wash most of the time in those cases. If the piece is darn good, don't risk screwing up the deal by low balling on the price so you are "safe."  If they quote the price, and it is a good price, don't dicker...just buy it.
If it is insanely cheap, offer them a little more. That kind of gesture will come back to help you in the end...and possibly even within a few minutes or even seconds of putting it out there.

Some people figure that regardless of the price, they need to get it for less. If it is $10 they want it for $6. If it is a buck they want it for 50 cents....if it is 25 cents they want it for 10 cents...even when  the item is easily worth $50. I sometimes see these fools operating and think that if the item was marked FREE they'd tell the seller they wanted to be paid to take it away. I just glide in to the sale, scoop up the bargains and pay for them, while that kind of fool is making faces at the seller, poo-pooing the merchandise, trying to weasel the price down another dime.

Really, why would you waste your time like that?

I figure my time is worth more than those few cents or dollars. 

Plus, you need to have some class.

 So, while they are dickering their 25 cent purchase down to 10 cents at that estate sale, just keep picking up the $100 & $200 items priced at $2 each and thank the "greed gods" that person obviously happens to worship! 
Those sorts of people waste lots of time, and manage to make more enemies in a year than you will ever make by being honest and decent. 

Plus, the time they waste can end up becoming your advantage. 

So, with that, I tip my hat in thanks to all those people who low-balled the farmer with their offers on his Sky Chief signs!

Been awhile, hasn't it?

Been awhile since I have blogged..almost 2 months, so I guess it is about time I posted something. Been a stressful number of weeks, with some family health issues, vehicle mechanical problems, and trying to sell, sell, sell on eBay and elsewhere to catch up on bills. Add to that a week of cleaning out an old building, then getting ill right after, and a variety of other garden variety stresses that life tosses into your path. Lots of stuff going on, some of which are still "in progress", so I can't really blog about those things.


The building I cleaned out was a 125 year old, 2 story, brick structure which, up until the summer of 2010, contained a printing company/newspaper publisher. The paper had been printed there for pretty much the entire 125 years. The company also published materials for a WW2 pilot training center adjacent to the community. You can imagine the things the place potentially held. Sadly, the new owners of our local paper, a large company out of Vancouver, moved the operation, with the set-up, design, etc now essentially computerized, with the actual printing outsourced. They tucked the formerly large operation in smaller, rented space, and put the old building up for sale. So, when the move of the operation was made, back in the summer, the employees hauled 18 truckloads to the landfill! Despite previously expressing interest (multiple times) in assisting and/or buying any vintage items and recycling any unwanted items, I wasn't called. A friend had also expressed this same sort of interest and offer of assistance, and he also was not called.

I shudder to think what was in those loads! You see, what should have been in the building was just no longer there when I walked through it...especially the basement, which I had been dreaming about for years.

What I did find was evidence that items of historical interest and intrinsic value had been there not so long ago. Large items had been left, with a smattering of what I call "residue"....just enough evidence of what had been there to make you grit your teeth and cringe when you imagination conjours up the images.

At least I was called to do the final clean-out. Unfortunately, the real estate transaction, only gave us a grand total of 7 days to have the entire place cleared out...including 3 printing presses, weighing a total of at least 4 tons. The deal was negotiated by the parent company, who, of course, had no consideration for the stress they would cause the manager when she was told she essentially had to clear our 125 years of accumulation in 7 days...and they wanted 3 price quotes before doing so. I suspect she politely told them the equivalent of "go to hell" as far as getting quotes went!

One of the printing press was in the basement...all 1200 lbs of it. It was an antique Chandler & Price letterpress, circa 1905. Yes, I did manage to rescue it! It is a story all on its own, and is actually still playing out at this time. I will tell you the whole story of the trials and tribulations at a later date, once the story has an "end." A 1960s era Heidelberg printing press, still functioning, though in need of some reconditioning, with a $4000 - $8000 value, did end up in the local scrap dealer's possession, however. I managed to quickly salvage some pieces from it, but the 7 day time limit was just not enough time to market the it, sell it, and give enough time for a serious buyer to come and remove it properly.

I also did get 4 oak "stacking bookcase" units, which each consisted of four, 2" high drawers. They needed some re-gluing, some refinishing, and other bits of TLC, but were a bonus, and did net $300 from a furniture dealer. A "printer's cabinet" or letterpress storage cabinet also came with the deal, though was missing 2 or 3 drawers. It was still a quick flip to a fellow picker for $200. There were some other small bonuses, but such a small smattering it all is just enough to make you wonder what stuff was destroyed only months before.

That is also a bit of a tip....this whole posting, actually, is a tip. Doing clean-outs of buildings, properties, etc, is a method you can use to get vintage items for free, or even be paid to haul them away. However, you can't be afraid of working hard, and dealing with other issues that doing a "clean-up" entails, including dealing with hazardous materials properly, protecting yourself from illness due to exposure to a host of things, from black mold to industrial chemical contamination. If you do pick or clean out a building formerly owed by an old printing company, make sure you wear a decent respirator.

Why? Well, that dust is not regular ol' basement dust...it is heavy with lead. Yep, potential for lead poisoning. If you buy old typesetter's cabinets (those cabinets with narrow drawers, that usually divided into small compartments for storing Linotype) make sure they are clean, or you handle them with rubber gloves as you are cleaning them. The dust in them is most certainly lead dust left from the Linotype, for which the cabinets were made to hold. I have bought and sold hundreds of the drawers on their own. The later ones (1950s/60s) came in steel cabinets, which tend to have little value to most buyers, though with a resurgence in interest in letterpress printing, there is a growing market for them. All of those that I have sold to the public, I cleaned prior to their sale. Took them to my favourite cleaning facility...a carwash! Cleaning them that way takes some care, by the way. The bottoms of the old ones are usually a thin plywood/veneer type board, like some 1900 - 1930's crate sides. If you focus the spray on them too long, the board becomes saturated or partially saturated with water. Then they will start to warp, bubble and the layers of veneer-thin board separate...and you end up with a drawer that is pretty much firewood. You will have some extra fun if they are the type that have a paper lining on the bottom...which is sandwiched between the plywood and the dividers. You will be picking bits of dirty, wet bits of paper out of your hair & those stuck to your vehicle for days. No one said dealing in this stuff was a clean job!


Here's a few teasers of some of the "treasures" we pulled out of the place...nothing that I thought was stupendous, but then again, I'm getting jaded in my old age!  But, I guess there was roughly another $1000 or so made on the job by selling these and other things out of the place, so it wasn't a bad deal, really. My back was not happy when we were done, however.

Hopefully this will hold ya for a day or two, so I will leave it at that. Well, considering how long it has been, I will pop on another quick posting, about one of my past picking experiences, soon after this posting.

Happy New Year!

Let's crack open that 40 year old bottle of good scotch you picked from that estate last spring!

Pour everyone a glass, and have a toast.....not too much, there are 30 followers to the blog, so ,make sure we all have a taste...and I am sure some of us are going out to see what antique shops are having new years days specials, and hitting flea markets, etc.,...plus, we need to be coherent and alert to do some internet sales work done, auctions set up, etc......Sure we all still have lots of bills to pay!

*aruumppft-umm* (Clearing throat of 2010's attic dust)

 Here is to a  year of happy, successful, fun, safe, pickin' in 2011!

C'mon, slug it down!

*haackckkfff * WHEW * Good stuff! * I hope my throat doesn't have holes burnt in it... *

Ok, now the New Year's Day formalities are over with, back to business...

Well, lets make it Pickin' School, for you...

So, being the first day of school, I am just going to let you know sort of what you are in for.
I will be doing a few "How To" videos on YouTube, as well as a few others for entertainment. I'll show you a few tips, tricks, and methods for cleaning things, searching things out, do's and don'ts, stuff you might need when picking, etc.

I have picked (and still do) a variety of places, using a variety of methods, and styles, depending on the place,time, and others present.

 I scan thrift stores/junk shops/antique shops, attend antique/farm/weekly/surplus auctions, scan classifieds in the newspaper/online, buy directly out of old stores, clean "junk" out people's garages, attend yard/garage/estate/basement/porch/patio sales, pulled stuff out of dumpsters/trash cans/middens/ditches/garbage bags/trash trailers/outhouse holes/scrap piles/scrap yards/dump pits/demolished buildings/etc, bought items from online sellers' stores/auctions/ads/etc....and the list goes on.

Over 20 years in the business, and at least 10 years prior to that, being fascinated by the world of "junk".

Lots of experience. I've barely scratched the surface in revealing to you the things I know, have learned, and am still learning.  Odds are, there are things you know that I do not. Our paths in life teach us different things.

Keep that in mind. 

Oh, I said I'd only just let you know what you are in for, didn't I? Made it sound like there was no lesson plan for today.......and here I am already instructing....AH, ok, so I guess you will have to learn a little today....

And everyday for the rest of your natural life.

No, I am not kidding. You do learn everyday. If you think you haven't learned anything new, you either have been sitting on your butt with your eyes closed & ears plugged, sleeping, or, perhaps you are dead.

And, frankly, there are no zombies allowed in this class.....nothing personal, but you guys tend to be rotting corpses, and really stink up the place...makes it hard for other students to concentrate.....not to mention all the flies you attract.

Everyone can remove your the clothes pins from your noses...the place will air out in a few minutes...And just let them keep the vintage clothing on their backs, ok? Most of the stuff is in way too rough of condition, anyway, and, you'll never get that smell out.
You DO learn everyday. You need to take notice of this, and utilize it.  If you feel you haven't learned anything in a day, then TRY to learn something. Flip open a reference book. Get online and do a random search on something or some object you saw last month in a book, at a shop, or heard about. Read some history on someone, somewhere, someplace. 

You might be surprised how that little bit of knowledge turns out to be useful someday.  Out picking the countryside, and you are in some small town? Taking a lunch break? The bright orange vinyl on the booths is worn, torn, stitched, patched, and the wood grain arborite table top is worn to a plain beige in 4 spots...just tells you where to put your plate, that's all. Apparently they serve damn good food here. Yeah, the locals are giving you the once over, just ignore 'em....you'll get used to it. Don't make a face, be polite, pleasant even, smile, nod...that is it. You may end up buying something from one of them today.

Hey, here is the bowl of stew you ordered. Smile and thank the waitress now...this isn't MacDonald's..and I believe her and her hubby own the place. Pretty sure I saw him in the kitchen. Plus, you might want to see if you can pick the basement here...the floor sounded a bit hollow when we walked in, and aside from the booths, the decor is decidedly authentic 1950s small town diner. Oh, and you can still see some of the marks on the old tile floor where the diner style counter was, and the stools were screwed down...maybe they are still in the back shed or basement.

Enjoying that home made stew? Pass it over here for a second, and meanwhile, look out the window of the cafe; at the buildings across the street. You found out that the building used to be a Masonic Hall. No, they had nothing left in it, it got hauled to the dump last year, but you have a chance to learn something that you won't get a chance to tomorrow.

 It is covered in that corrugated steel sheeting now, but examine the shape, form, some of the tell tale hints in its structure, window placement, etc, that identifies it as a former Masonic Hall.  The next one you pass in a town, that has been refaced/renovated you will suddenly see it as a Masonic Hall, and not a modern storefront, and prompt you to investigate further. But in that one, the basement and second floor are still FULL off great fraternal items...and the building owner is all too willing to sell you the stuff, and his prices are bargain basement...he's overjoyed to not have to clean the place out himself....he doesn't have to lift all that old heavy, chunky carved oak furniture. "Antiques? Pfffttt. OLD FRIGGIN' JUNK is what it is" he says (but uses a stronger F word.) He even seems to find it amusing you are paying him for it. Yeah, you could have gotten it for free, but you'd also likely have had to take out all that trash, too. We don't have that kind of time..would cost us 2 nights in a hotel, food, etc...and likely have to pay for a new change of clothes, too. I'm not keen on the overpriced polyester duds from the late 1990s the local clothing store had.

MMmm-mm...That was good stew...Here's your bowl back...you need to wipe that gravy off your chin there, by the way.  Finish up your Coke, we need to hit the road....only so much daylight to work by. You get the check, ok? Oh, and don't forget the tip...say, 20% of the total, before tax.

Ok, now, hurry up...did you use the washroom? I won't want to have to stop 15 minutes down the road to let you out....

What? You are still hungry? Well, I think I have a half bag off chips in the van from a picking trip last week.   You can munch on them on the way to our next stop; I'll  continue the lesson after we get there.

Yeah, I know you forgot to ask about picking the basement of that cafe. Don't worry, I've been there, done that...found some cool stuff. We'll chat more later...and try to keep your crunching quiet....I wanna listen to this cool tune on the radio.  LET'S GET ON THE ROAD AND DO SOME MORE PICKIN'!

The Future Holds Pickin' Fun!

Well, I promised you some more positive things in this blog, so you will get it.

Oh, and before I forget: "Smythe's Teeks" is a fictional store, and any resemblance to any person alive, nor dead in the previous posting is purely coincidental. All characters & situations were 100% fictional....blah, blah, blah.  I think I have any potential lawsuits for slander nullified with that...!

So, now you are down in the dumps about your "dreams" being shattered by being woken up.  AH, but wait! You can still TRAIN to be an antiques picker!

And how do you train  for that? By DOING!

My, you look confused! I tell you to forget your dream and now I am telling you the opposite?

Actually, not quite.

You need to learn...and you learn things best by doing them. You are far better to risk $2 on an item than $200 on an item...especially when you learn that they made repros of that thing...and they retail for $9.95 brand new...$6 wholesale, and 50 cents used....maybe even less than that brand new from a street vendor in India...

Send it back to the thrift store...you only lost $2, not $200. You did gain something else.

$2 bucks.... a darn cheap price for a lesson you will never forget. Imagine if for every $2 of the multi thousand dollar cost of that college/night-school/university/correspondence-course/training STUCK in your grey matter like that $2 education? Man, you'd be a GENIUS in your field of training!

On goes your education. Don't go insane bidding on something at an auction...especially when it is based only on a gut feeling...and one that turns out to be just a mild case of gas, caused by the burrito you ate for breakfast on the way there.

Enjoy your weekends hitting the garage sales. Keep a tally of your expenses, how much you made on items, how much you lost, etc. Get a feel for it, but enjoy the thrill of the hunt...on a shoestring budget.

In some of my future posts, I will reveal some "picking secrets" to you. There will be things I learned throughout my career, and I will just hand them to you! I will reveal some valuable tips that will likely make you some money...or in the least open your eyes a little more to possibilities.  I'll even show you ways to "pick on the cheap" and not give your self a bad reputation as just a cheap S.O.B.  Heck, I will even instruct you on how to pick antiques FOR FREE!

But, I will leave that for future postings!

A Day In the Life

As I mentioned in the last posting, I have seen more than a few articles online about how easy and profitable it is to get into antiques picking....

Ok...let's look at "Easy."

Yep, ok, admittedly it is easy to get into this business.....TOO easy.

"Profitable?"

Let's define "profitable"...

Good ol' Wikipedia's definition of "PROFITABLE"

Hmm...lots more involved in profit than you thought, eh?

Not worried?

So, ya scored something for $5 and it is a $65 item!

That equals $60 profit, right?

OH, geeze, shucks, there are those cash EXPENSES to factor in yet.

$10 in gas to get there...oh, lunch cost $7, tip is another 50 cents (ya cheap bugger!), oh, and $13.50 gas to get back due to the higher cost of gas in the area you drove to, wear and tear on the vehicle, chip in the windshield you got from the gravel truck that cut you off...well, lets just ignore those last two...hard to put a value on those...and don't want to make you too depressed...not yet.

Ok, so we have another $31 in CASH expenses...the sun shining in your eyes that is glancing off that stone chip until you get it fixed? Ya, just ignore that, 'kay?

And, you paid $5 for the item...

Ok, so we're at $36 that the item cost you...$29 profit!

Um, so, ya work for FREE, do you?

1 hour labor...$10 an hour...ok, not a bad wage...but $6 an hour less than your old job you quit to follow your dream profession

$19 potential profit....

Yeah, POTENTIAL...remember, you need to sell the item yet.  Uh-huh, at this point, you are still down $46!

So, put it in the box with your other finds. Toss it in the cab of your pick-up truck, and haul it down to your buyer of such treasures, about a 1/2 hour drive downtown.

You pull up in front of his store, park at the meter, noting it is 4:30 PM....and he closes at 5:00 PM. 

Hmm....You realize you are cutting it close, 'cause he tends to be busy, as he has a real good reputation for having great stuff, and you have to deal with him when he isn't busy with customers. Plus, Saturday afternoons he tends to be twice as busy, buying from other pickers who have finished garage sales for the day that bring their garage sales finds in this late Saturday afternoon.......and wow, it is such a beautiful day, sunny, but not too hot, not at all humid just warm enough to sun bathe and not get cold, but not sweat to death, either....remember 3 years ago when all summer you and your buddies/family went to the beach every Saturday? Wow, yeah, that was a great summer...was so relaxed when you went back to work after your 5 week vacation..nice to have seniority; got to take the prime vacation time...and you saved all those sick days for that extra week (hey, your nose is dripping from that summer cold! ...wipe it off! Yuck.)...yeah, *sniffle/snort*...ah, yeah, those bar-b-q's, the Sunday afternoon poker games with the buddies....for sure, some great times!

Oh well, beach is 2 hours drive away, gas is now getting pricey.  You only broke even playing poker, anyway...you are saving some money on beer, too. Your other half is not complaining about Fred's smoking in the gazebo...mind you, she took up smoking again...and worked her way to her old pack-a-day habit.

 Still would have been great to take the kids to the pool today....but, hey, gotta make money to pay the bills....& pay for pool admission. Remember, they weren't impressed when you took them to the paddling pool at the park last Sunday at 3:00 PM, while you were sweating like a pig, looking like a homeless guy, after attending that auction where you ended up buying a pile of what was really just hard, sweaty, dirty work that you paid someone else for the "pleasure" of doing yourself...and the finale was a trip to the landfill to get rid of 99% of it after you found it smelled of cat urine...

Oh, HEY, reality check..you just got asked a question....!

"How much do you want for the widget?"

"Just $39", you say, thinking that you do need to attempt to break somewhat even on that trip, "They're worth $65."

And, how did you come up with that?

It comes to light that you saw that the snotty dealer down the street had 2 on his shelves marked at that!

"Did you know yours was actually 10 years newer than those?"

Ahhhhh, crap....!

Ah, but this dealer/buyer is honest, and tells you that; oddly enough, it is a GOOD thing in the case of this widget!

Less were made during that period! These are quite RARE!

COOL!

SCORE!!!!! *fist pump* *woot* *woot* 

"We're in the money, We're in the money...!"

He beamingly announces to you that it is actually worth....wholly smokes....omigawd...wait for it...
.
.
.
.
.
 $100! 

Whoopee..uh,...huh, uh, oh, wait a minute....

Only $100?

But the dealer down the street has two less rare ones priced at $65 each....but this "rare" one is only worth $35 more than the common ones?

Ah, but Smythe's Teek's down the street $65 ones are priced at triple what they are actually worth....and he has had them on the shelf for 12 years....Guess you shouldn't value your stuff based on some other guy's price tags...

And he also recently refused to buy one last week from Junkster Bill...you know Bill, the guy who gets stuff from trash clean-ups......no, no, not that guy...you're thinking of Weird Will....I mean Bill, the guy who sells his stuff dirt cheap all the time to anyone who will buy it, so he can buy food for his 5 kids? Yeah, him....

Any-hoo, he was wanting $7 for it..and it was in far better shape than the ones Smythe had on his shelf.....Snotty Smythe offered poor Bill a measy $1!

Oh.

You also see that your buyer has one just like those 2 you saw on Smythe's shelves, but the one here is in much better shape...darn thing is near mint...! Makes yours look rough, even...

"Yeah, I bought it from Bill, gave him his $7. Really too much, and shouldn't have even bought it. Have 2 over there on the shelf at $20 each, and  I have 3 more in the back I bought at an antique auction a month ago, for $5 each. And, it seems like no one wants them anymore.  They used to be hot, hot, hot!  Not anymore, though, But, Bill said he's going to bring all of his stuff here first from now on...I guess we'll see if that actually happens, I'll be surprised...he always needs the cash, like, "right now", immediately, and I am not always open when he comes around....but, hey, he is a decent guy. Poor guy is just trying to make an honest living any way he can"

You are now thinking: Well, still, now I can get $50...right?

Oh, wait a sec....

As a dealer with the overhead of a store, you remember that previously he said he'd pay you 1/3rd of his retail for items worth under $100...

Initially you thought was a damn rip-off...but, when he pulled out some of his bills (how many dealers would have done that?) and popped out the calculator, and he quickly went through the numbers, adding up monthly expenses, the total of which made your eyes grow wide....and a week later you saw his business tax bill open on the counter (they charge THAT much for business tax?)....and that day the furnace in his store conked out, and you watched the counter while he had to hunt down a used part, which still cost him $300...that he had to install, because the local furnace guy wanted $400 for their labor, and would not install that used part, it had to be new or nothing....

*sigh*

Oh, yeah, remember that day you were there and that arrogant city's licensing inspector came in?
He nearly started a scene, snorting that he should issue the dealer a $1000 fine, just because he had those 5 sterling silver brooches in his showcase (yeah, the ones you sold him...the ones he paid you close to what he priced them at, just to bail you out of that bad deal you made 2 month ago) and he wasn't licenced to sell precious metals...He had to pay another $100 fee in addition to the $500 antiques dealer license..which was only $300 last year, but due to that old biddy...that pawn dealer's wife down the block, the one that complained that antiques dealers who were setting up in the area were cutting into her family;s "honorable" business (yeah, the pawn dealer couple who were convicted for selling baby food jars, with a little paint thinner in them, out the back door to those sniffers...yep, those sniffers that you seem to have to walk around sometimes when you come to sell stuff to your buyer..the same ones who smashed his window last year because he wouldn't buy the real "antiques" they brought in...the handfuls gravel they scooped up out of his parking spot.....Man, and that window cost him $600, remember? And it was a SALVAGED one, not even a new one..it was going to cost $2000! )

So, you decided that 1/3rd for an item worth under $100 was actually more than fair, really, but that was only after you spent a week complaining about it to your cronies. You had to do some damage control after that, remember? You're lucky the guy didn't just refuse to buy those brooches from you after you slagged him like that...He called you on it...and you meekly explained that you realized you had over reacted, and that you came to your senses...You almost grovelled...but managed to apologized as best you could. You're lucky he saw himself in you...he told you a few stories of his start 30 years prior....he is a real interesting guy.

You sure found out how fast the grapevine works in this business, didn't you? Plus, if he hadn't bailed you out of the brooch deal your spouse would have had your neck for gambling the mortgage money on what you initially thought was a bargain of a lifetime....

Yep, expenses of a store were WAY higher than you imagined. The guy isn't making a great living doing that.

Looking around, you can still see quite a bit of the other dreck they (his wife and him) bought from you...seems like a fair bit of it is still on the shelves...and some of it is marked down to darn near what they gave you for it. 

Heck, he has treated you damn well, really....gone beyond the call of duty.

Ok, so, I guess we're looking at about $33?

He agrees, and pulls out $35...Crud, you have no change....you spent it all at that last garage sale on the way here.

He says "No problem, we'll even it out on some other deal. I'm really sorry I can't use any of the other stuff...the store is quite jammed with that same sort of stuff right now....it not is just not moving. Tastes have really changed in the last 8 years."

Glancing around his store you think, yeah, he is getting pretty crowded in here. There is more than one shelf that is threatening to collapse under the weight of what used to be desirable inventory...that now collects dust.

He thanks you for bringing the widget to him, walks over to the front of the store, flips the chipped "open/closed" sign to "closed." He clicks out a few of the front lights. Pops the cork out of a bottle of wine he pulls from behind the counter, offers you a glass.

You decline...The label on the bottle indicates it is pretty cheap wine, and looks like it came from a discount bin, seeing as the label is pretty ratty. You are a little spoiled with the $40 a bottle stuff. Been awhile, though, since you had a glass of that.  You did have a few glasses of a bottle last month...but, admittedly you didn't buy it...it was handed to you by that buddy you used to go golfing with during those clear summer Wednesday nights, when you popped by his place after buying that cool old Hula lamp from that old lady. She happened to live near his place, so it was a convenient stop.

Your golfing buddy sure rolled his eyes when you showed him your prize; looked at you almost with pity, in a way, didn't he?  He did say he missed your company on the links, but not to worry, he had picked up a new partner.  

That weekly Wednesday evening auction was one you've decided you just can't miss....Early on you learned that....you just never know what they will pull out of those boxes. Ok, so some of it is pure junk, but you did do really well a few times....made some good money...and remember the one time you did go golfing  instead of hitting that auction? It just happened to be the very night that the rude jackass (yep, the one that seems to beat you to some of those great garage sales) scored that pair of bronze statues in the box of worn out Tupperware, for the bargain basement amount of TWO DOLLARS!? No, not the  rearing horse he sold for $500...he got that at the estate sale...the one where you only had $20 left on you, they were priced at $40, and the seller would not go down in price...but the jerk managed to smooth talk another one of the sellers into selling them for $20?  I'm thinking of the Art Deco nudes he sold for $1000 on eBay, the week after he bought them. He had bragged about how they went for "thousands"...yeah, there are all sorts of people in this business, aren't there?

Heck, from that one score you got from the auction, that the $35 box that turned out to be a $400 sale for you! You took the family out for supper 3 different nights in a single month! Was almost like you used to do  when you were working, every Tues & Thurs night. Those evenings out to the fancier Greek & Italian joints in the trendy part of town? Yeah, in the area you don't bother going to garage sales at, because they seem to have just modern stuff, and they mark their used clothing and worn designer Gucci purses at "new" prices....tough to buy your shirts & jeans for yourself at those places, too...so, basically no reason to shop those sales, really. You can buy your clothes at the thrift stores in the north part of town, at the same time you do on your rounds of them all on Thursdays....the day you are out until 7:00 PM, because there are a couple shops that don't close until 6:00 and 7:00PM.  Even tough to buy some clothes at the thrift stores in the south part of town; they price their shirts at $5, compared to $1.00 at the other places. LOL....remember when you used to pay $45 each for shirts? You have TWENTY of those same high-end shirts in your closet, and they cost you less than $30, TOTAL!

Hmm...Thursdays...Remember when you went to that cool little Irish-style pub near the office, at 3:30PM for a "business meeting" with Frank from across the hall ...drinks & that good 'n' greasy "pub food" food...little pricey, but damn good....and it was all covered by the company!

 Hey, remember there was an old beer sign hanging in there!? Maybe you could buy it and flip it over at the next flea market? YIKES,  that is next week! Got to get packed up for it! Need to cover the bill on the repair of your wife's car!  It is 2 months over-due.....When you were working that 9 to 5, Monday to Friday gig, you'd have a  a new company car every year. You did have to buy that half-ton truck, and needed it to be reliable...lots of money went into it. SO, for your spouse's car; instead of doing the leasing thing on a car that was maybe a year or two old;  you had to pick up that 15 year old Buick your neighbor's grandmother had in her garage...the one you scored at her estate sale for $500. Was little old lady driven, just like they say...too bad she never ever took it in for tune-ups...starting to cost lots in repairs...really more than it is worth now....hmmm.

The dealer notices you staring, rather blankly, but seemingly at the label, and laughs...

You "come to", snapped out of that little world in your head...

"This is NOT vinegar, my friend."

He proceeds to tell you about the Italian couple he met while on a house call at their home, where he spent some major money, presented him with a case of homemade wine. The stuff was made from grapes they had cultivated in their back yard, picked from vines growing them from clippings from some of the finest grapevines in Italy, which, apparently, the grapes only the finest winemakers in Italy use, and use only for their "masterpieces".

He also relates to you how it is best stuff he has ever had...far better than anything that he ever drank when he was wined and dined by clients in those Parisian cafes or those exclusive London night clubs.  That, of course, was when he was working at a 6 figure-a-year job, and travelling around the world. 

Looking up from his wine, he seems to sigh a little...."Almost seems like it was someone else's life I'm remembering, now."

He picks up the bottle and gestures with a pouring motion to the empty glass.

You smile...and even almost grin...this sounds like superb vino! Could be one heck of a treat! You are about to say "Sure!"..then your bubble bursts as you remember you assured your spouse that you'd be home by 6:00PM at the absolute latest tonight. She/he had to pick up part time job, so it is your turn to watch the kids tonight. Plus, you really need to clean up some of that really filthy stuff you pulled out of that basement sale 4 weeks ago...the stuff you have been putting off cleaning....Yep, the box that had that bottle with the rotting mouse corpse in the bottom. You need some fresh stuff for the flea market next week....and "eau du rotten mouse" is not going to attract any customers...

So, you shake your head, offer to him the fact you have to get home and the reasons why (death at the hands of your other half being one of them), and pick up your box of stuff that will now have to be blown out at the flea market next weekend. You say a goodbye, and wander to and out the door, directly to the passenger side of your truck...where you see a yellow slip of paper flipping in the light breeze.

A parking ticket.

You forgot to plug the meter.

It is only a mere $25, if you pay it within 2 weeks of the date on the ticket....then it jumps to $55.

Hmmm...cost on your $5 purchase, after factoring in expenses?

$61.

So, you are only $26 in the hole...

Oh, wait....

You were on the road for an half hour, and spent a half hour at the dealer's shop,...so, add your $14 an hour you figured your time was worth,  and you are $40 in the hole.

Oh, and a half an hour's drive home....tack on $7...

$47...in the hole.

Not quite like the hole-in-one you got on that one beautiful Thursday evening; when the sky was a beautiful red.  "Red at night, a sailors delight" Sailing...another hobby you thought about, but won't be taking up anytime soon...
I bet it will be a similar sunset tonight. Maybe you can wash that junk out on the picnic table in the back yard, and possibly catch a glimpse of it....

*****

HEY YOU, I'm over here!

So, did any of that sound familiar?

No?

Well, it could become familiar....and it is far more common scenario than you'd think.

Hey, SMILE people, there are happier tales and tips coming...stay tuned to this channel...all pickin', all the time!