It's funny (or tries to be).
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Holiday weekend Haul
Holiday weekends are not the most popular for garage sale-ing. A lot of people are on the move and around here that means a ride to Ocean City MD. Fortunately for me, I had this past Saturday off so I had time to root out the few sales that were out there.
I was out from 8 til almost noon and put a few miles on my car hitting maybe 2 dozen sales. Because I love my wife and want to remain married to her, I made my purchases carefully. For the most part I struck out but there were one or two places I scored some treasure. At the best stop of the day I picked up 2 Guinness pint glasses, yet another copy of Dark Side of The Moon, a book, (The Phish Companion) and a Duff Beer wall clock, all for under $10. The only other purchase I made was at a yard sale in our neighborhood where I picked up 4 CDs for 50 cents apiece.
The biggest temptation of the day was at my next door neighbors house. The son who is now back living at home with mom and dad was selling HUGE set of Cerwin Vega speakers. The two problems were that they were too big to escape Kathy's notice and he wanted a lot more money for them than I was prepared to give, although they would have been a value at twice the price.
Maybe it's because I'm getting old, but I don't feel the need to, or have the opportunity to stick mammoth speakers in the windows and crank up the tunes anymore. I'm happy just to listen to my music at reasonable levels as to not offend the neighbors or my wife. In fact my life is at it's best when I have the living room DVD player playing something loud enough to hear in the kitchen and have a different disk playing downstairs in the family room as well as out on the patio. If I'm home alone I may even go as far as turning on third CD player in my studio (re: laundry room) that I can also pipe the music into our bedroom. This way when I'm doing stuff around the house I can envelope myself in as much musical variety as possible. Guilty pleasures.
I was out from 8 til almost noon and put a few miles on my car hitting maybe 2 dozen sales. Because I love my wife and want to remain married to her, I made my purchases carefully. For the most part I struck out but there were one or two places I scored some treasure. At the best stop of the day I picked up 2 Guinness pint glasses, yet another copy of Dark Side of The Moon, a book, (The Phish Companion) and a Duff Beer wall clock, all for under $10. The only other purchase I made was at a yard sale in our neighborhood where I picked up 4 CDs for 50 cents apiece.
The biggest temptation of the day was at my next door neighbors house. The son who is now back living at home with mom and dad was selling HUGE set of Cerwin Vega speakers. The two problems were that they were too big to escape Kathy's notice and he wanted a lot more money for them than I was prepared to give, although they would have been a value at twice the price.
Maybe it's because I'm getting old, but I don't feel the need to, or have the opportunity to stick mammoth speakers in the windows and crank up the tunes anymore. I'm happy just to listen to my music at reasonable levels as to not offend the neighbors or my wife. In fact my life is at it's best when I have the living room DVD player playing something loud enough to hear in the kitchen and have a different disk playing downstairs in the family room as well as out on the patio. If I'm home alone I may even go as far as turning on third CD player in my studio (re: laundry room) that I can also pipe the music into our bedroom. This way when I'm doing stuff around the house I can envelope myself in as much musical variety as possible. Guilty pleasures.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
In Dog years, I'm really late.
Things have settled in now, more that a week after bringing Santana home. I can't stop thinking what must be going through the minds of the mutts.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Bicycle Built For Who?
Saturday is garage sale day. I got up early so I could visit as many of the community sales in my neighborhood as possible before going to work. Since finding the elusive kayak tie down kit last week I didn't have any particular goals, but I wanted to see as much junk as I could, and maybe buy some of it. My friend Chris told me to keep an eye out for a stereo receiver for him to use outside around his mud oven. The one he's using now has funky connections that make it hard to attach and detach the speakers.
After striking out at a half dozen sales (no books or cds) I came upon a sale that had just what we were looking for. An old Onkyo receiver with real imitation wood grain metal side panels and a price of $10. I asked if it worked and was assured that it did so I picked it up (heavy MFer) and loaded it into Stubby. I was contemplating calling Chris and telling him of the good fortune when my phone rang. It was Chris. He wanted to know what I was doing because there was a tandem bike for sale on craigslist for $150 to the first person to get there with the money. He's been looking for a tandem bike for a while and since it was in Annapolis I told him I'd love to go pay for it to seal the deal but there was no way I was going to get a tandem bike in or on Stubby. He said that would be fine so I took a drive to Annapolis and made the buy, skipping countless garage and yard sales on the way. Even with this detour I was only about 2 minutes late for work.
On the way back from the great bike pickup, Sue and Chris stopped by to see me at work so he could pay me off for the various purchases I'd made for them. He said the bike may be a little small for him but it would be fine for Sue and maybe Kathy if I can ever get her to go biking with us. She has a fear of riding on the roads around here and it's with good reason. There are parts of our area that are very friendly like the Baltimore/Annapolis trail that goes along the old trolley bed from Annapolis to around BWI airport, but there are other areas where even the shoulder on the road is non-existent.
Speaking of Bike rides, Sunday we did another 38 mile ride, including parts of the previously mentioned B&A trail as well as lots of dangerous road riding. It was a course I helped map out. Basically I picked a half dozen bars I wanted to visit and Chris mapped it out. My nephew Jeremy came with us this time and the ease of which he road the same trail as I did a lot to make me feel even more old and out of shape. The original plan contained more bars than we actually stopped at but three of the four places we did go were firsts for me. It turns out that Anne Arundel County is up and coming as some what of a craft beer haven. Most of the places we stopped had more that a dozen beers on tap as well as a nice selection of bottled beer.
I won't give a play by play of this ride. It was a good one and we saw some new places and tried some new beers. We did make an unscheduled stop at a cigar store. We picked up a couple smokes to enjoy at the scenic war memorial that looks out over the Severn River and the Naval Academy. This was at the top of the last big hill we had to do for the day so it was safe to pollute our lungs a bit before the the final leg of the ride. Jeremy doesn't smoke (or drink for that matter, What's wrong with this kid and why does he want to ride with us?) so after riding in circles for a while he said he'd ride the rest of the way home alone so we could take our time. Of course with him gone we had an excuse for one last beer stop less that 2 miles from home. We had some wings (half price!) and a couple pints of #9 and then called it a day.
This puts my miles total for this year to over 70 which I think is more than I did all last year. It's only May so I'm pretty confident I can get up to over 100 miles before summer ends, especially since there are so many beers out there that I still want to try.
After striking out at a half dozen sales (no books or cds) I came upon a sale that had just what we were looking for. An old Onkyo receiver with real imitation wood grain metal side panels and a price of $10. I asked if it worked and was assured that it did so I picked it up (heavy MFer) and loaded it into Stubby. I was contemplating calling Chris and telling him of the good fortune when my phone rang. It was Chris. He wanted to know what I was doing because there was a tandem bike for sale on craigslist for $150 to the first person to get there with the money. He's been looking for a tandem bike for a while and since it was in Annapolis I told him I'd love to go pay for it to seal the deal but there was no way I was going to get a tandem bike in or on Stubby. He said that would be fine so I took a drive to Annapolis and made the buy, skipping countless garage and yard sales on the way. Even with this detour I was only about 2 minutes late for work.
On the way back from the great bike pickup, Sue and Chris stopped by to see me at work so he could pay me off for the various purchases I'd made for them. He said the bike may be a little small for him but it would be fine for Sue and maybe Kathy if I can ever get her to go biking with us. She has a fear of riding on the roads around here and it's with good reason. There are parts of our area that are very friendly like the Baltimore/Annapolis trail that goes along the old trolley bed from Annapolis to around BWI airport, but there are other areas where even the shoulder on the road is non-existent.
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| Chris cooling his heels |
Speaking of Bike rides, Sunday we did another 38 mile ride, including parts of the previously mentioned B&A trail as well as lots of dangerous road riding. It was a course I helped map out. Basically I picked a half dozen bars I wanted to visit and Chris mapped it out. My nephew Jeremy came with us this time and the ease of which he road the same trail as I did a lot to make me feel even more old and out of shape. The original plan contained more bars than we actually stopped at but three of the four places we did go were firsts for me. It turns out that Anne Arundel County is up and coming as some what of a craft beer haven. Most of the places we stopped had more that a dozen beers on tap as well as a nice selection of bottled beer.
I won't give a play by play of this ride. It was a good one and we saw some new places and tried some new beers. We did make an unscheduled stop at a cigar store. We picked up a couple smokes to enjoy at the scenic war memorial that looks out over the Severn River and the Naval Academy. This was at the top of the last big hill we had to do for the day so it was safe to pollute our lungs a bit before the the final leg of the ride. Jeremy doesn't smoke (or drink for that matter, What's wrong with this kid and why does he want to ride with us?) so after riding in circles for a while he said he'd ride the rest of the way home alone so we could take our time. Of course with him gone we had an excuse for one last beer stop less that 2 miles from home. We had some wings (half price!) and a couple pints of #9 and then called it a day.This puts my miles total for this year to over 70 which I think is more than I did all last year. It's only May so I'm pretty confident I can get up to over 100 miles before summer ends, especially since there are so many beers out there that I still want to try.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Ladies and gentelmen, Santana
Against my better judgment and almost all my friends advice we now are up to three dogs. My mother's reaction was something like "are you nuts?". It seems like the answer is yes but so far it's working out. Willow can be a mean bitch but her personal attacks on Santana are becoming less frequent and less violent. She's been an ear biter in the past and as you can tell, Sandy's got a lot she could get a hold of but so far, so good.
Another plus I found out for sure this afternoon. I knew with Santana's hound background he could be a singer, and when I pulled out my harmonica and started to play all three dogs were in fine voice. Now I just need to learn Oye Como Va on harmonica and I could have a viral youtube video.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Less talk, more toon
Seems like I've just been yammering on this month with very little artwork (if you can call it that). This should catch me up for my once a week pledge. There should be more coming soon. I had one cartoon published in the school paper just before it broke for the summer. Just my luck. On the plus side I should have a shit load of new stuff by the time the presses start rolling again in the fall.
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I don't think Chris would mind
A couple of weeks ago it was take your daughter to work day. Since I don't have a daughter (or a son that I know of) I have to live vicariously through Chris. He took his 12 year old daughter Kit to work at NASA and wouldn't you know, it was a day when he had to go to a hearing for the Space Committee on Aeronautics. She captured here time with her dad beautifully with a simple drawing.
Her dad was so proud. The drawing has made the rounds of his work and has even been shown to at least one Senator. This powerful piece of art has made the saying "Womp womp womp" a new idiom, meaning "man, am I bored. Why don't they just shut up already?". Please feel free to start using it in your normal, everyday work conversations.
Happy Mothers Day!
We celebrated mothers day early with the Flahertys last night with another mud oven feast. As usual, the food was as good as it was plentiful. I didn't get there until 7:00 pm, just in time for the first course of bruchette on home made bread baked with sun dried tomatoes. Next was the pasta course and the mud oven pizza course. Chris tried something new by roasting corn on the cob in the mud oven which took about 3 minutes at 800 degrees. Don't try this at home unless you have a mud oven of your own. We all ate our fill but saved room for the home made strawberry/mango pie.
A new twist was added to the entertainment last night when we hooked up young Sarah's digital projector to the laptop and played a movie under the stars, the way God intended it. Since it was Mother's Day, or nearly so, Sue got to pick the movie. Her inspired choice was the original Psycho from 1960 because "a boys best friend is his mother". It was the perfect finish to another fine dinner at Casa de Flaherty.
A new twist was added to the entertainment last night when we hooked up young Sarah's digital projector to the laptop and played a movie under the stars, the way God intended it. Since it was Mother's Day, or nearly so, Sue got to pick the movie. Her inspired choice was the original Psycho from 1960 because "a boys best friend is his mother". It was the perfect finish to another fine dinner at Casa de Flaherty.
Hope floats
And now it can be safely tied to the roof of my car. Hope is of course the name of my kayak (as in I hope I don't sink, I hope I don't put the kayak through the windshield again, etc). Yesterday, after searching for as long as I've had the kayak, I found a tie down kit for my car at a garage sale for $10. This isn't the only reason my kayak hasn't seen a lot of use the past couple years. I'm also very busy and incredibly out of shape, but I think now that I can tote my boat I'll be able to get it in the water more and maybe even work on the out of shape thing. As it is with all my life experiences, it may become cartoon fodder.
The tie down kit was not my only find yesterday when I was out sale-ing. I picked up a mess of tapered candles for the Flahertys', to light up our mud oven feasts. I also got 4 miss matched screwdrivers for a buck because there never seems to be one around when I need one.
The biggest score was at one of the last sales stopped at. When I told the home owner I was looking for mostly books and music, he asked if I had the ability to play cassette tapes. I told him I did and he showed me a stack of about 200 tapes that he said he's take $10 for. Looking at the titles I saw a lot of jazz stuff so I was tempted, but I knew Kathy would kill me if I brought home more outdated media and I told him as much. There was a small shopping bag with a few cassettes and CD that went with the cassette stack and I asked him how much for just that bag. Even though he wanted to move the whole she-bang, he sold me the bag for $5. I didn't really scope out what was in the bag until after I left, but I know I got a good deal. The bag of disk held:
2- Glen Miller greatest hits
2-Benny Goodman-greatest hits
1-Jack Teagarden broadcast recording of the Whiz radio programs
1- Miles Davis-from the Ken Burns jazz series
1-Dave Brubeck-from the same series
1 Two disk set of Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall
1-Cincinnati Pops play the music of Nelson Riddle
and 2 homemade cds that I haven't yet had a chance to listen to yet.
Not a bad hall for 5 bucks. The Miles and Brubeck disks had never even been opened. I was tempted to blast the Judy Garland disk on the way to work because she's got quite a set of pipes, but I thought that might seem a bit too gay, even for me.
The tie down kit was not my only find yesterday when I was out sale-ing. I picked up a mess of tapered candles for the Flahertys', to light up our mud oven feasts. I also got 4 miss matched screwdrivers for a buck because there never seems to be one around when I need one.
The biggest score was at one of the last sales stopped at. When I told the home owner I was looking for mostly books and music, he asked if I had the ability to play cassette tapes. I told him I did and he showed me a stack of about 200 tapes that he said he's take $10 for. Looking at the titles I saw a lot of jazz stuff so I was tempted, but I knew Kathy would kill me if I brought home more outdated media and I told him as much. There was a small shopping bag with a few cassettes and CD that went with the cassette stack and I asked him how much for just that bag. Even though he wanted to move the whole she-bang, he sold me the bag for $5. I didn't really scope out what was in the bag until after I left, but I know I got a good deal. The bag of disk held:
2- Glen Miller greatest hits
2-Benny Goodman-greatest hits
1-Jack Teagarden broadcast recording of the Whiz radio programs
1- Miles Davis-from the Ken Burns jazz series
1-Dave Brubeck-from the same series
1 Two disk set of Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall
1-Cincinnati Pops play the music of Nelson Riddle
and 2 homemade cds that I haven't yet had a chance to listen to yet.
Not a bad hall for 5 bucks. The Miles and Brubeck disks had never even been opened. I was tempted to blast the Judy Garland disk on the way to work because she's got quite a set of pipes, but I thought that might seem a bit too gay, even for me.
Monday, May 7, 2012
36 of May
I got a call from Chris Flaherty tonight. He wanted to know how I was feeling. This is more than just the normal well wishing. He orchestrated a bike ride for us to do Sunday, and since he was feeling a little stiff Monday morning, he thought I might be just shy of dead.
Originally I had sent him a list of bars around my house which I thought might make a pleasant ride, but when he mapped it out it turned out to be over 40 miles and he didn't think he would be up for that much, let alone me. Instead he planned out a tentative route that would take us south from his house to Washington D.C. I was game because he named a few watering holes that he had visited in the past which I wanted to check out for myself.
We started around 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning and before 11:30 we'd stopped for our first beer at Chicken Wings and Beer, not far from his home. This has been a familiar stop for us so it was one beer, in and out. Our next stop would be close to 10 miles away in Silver Spring at the Firestation Pub and Brewery. They don't brew on site at this location but they do brew nearby. We had lunch and there and I had a sample paddle (4-5 oz servings of all four of their beers) while Chris had a pint of their stout. It was all very good, even their wheat beer which is a style I'm usually not fond of. After that, we walk around downtown Silver Spring for a little while, visiting a cool record store (remember those) and trying chicken on a stick at an Asian restaurant.
Although the weather looked overcast, we proceeded on to out next stop about another 10 miles south. It was the very nice and seemingly old Colonel Brooks Tavern. We each quaffed a pint there along with some much needed water. Chris left it up to me whether we should continue on to DC, turn back for home or call for a pick up. Maybe it was the beer talking, but I felt pretty good and though that since DC was less than 5 miles out we should soldier on. It wasn't long before I was caught off guard by seeing the Capitol dome rising above the tree lines.
A lot of the trip from Colonel Brooks to our last rest stop, RFD (regional Food and Drink) was on a nice new bike path along the commuter train tracks, but once your are in DC proper there is a lot of street riding to be done. Most main thoroughfares have a dedicated bike lane but you never know if all the cars behind you know that it's there. Once we got to RFD, Chris told me that one of the sections we rode was where he'd once gotten as close as he ever had to getting creamed by a car. Comforting.
By the time we left RFD it was after 5:00 and since there was a bus stop right across the street, we opp-ted to catch the next bus out of town, back to Silver Spring. Fortunately for us the bus came equipped with a rack on front to accommodate our bikes. The bus ride took almost as long as the bike ride had taken and I was being myself, talking endlessly and asking stupid questions of Chris, who ever so patiently answered them. At one point the young guy sitting ahead of us turned around and told us that we should have a talk show on NPR. He also compared us flatteringly to MST3K. I wasn't too sure what he was talking about because it was Chris and I being us, but he did tell me where I might find a bathroom once we got off the bus so as far as I'm concerned, we're friends for life.
Again, once we were in Silver Spring, Chris gave me the choice of riding or taking another bus home. Once my bladder was empty, I was ready for another ride. A lot of this ride was on bike paths and side streets, but all those hills I'd enjoyed so much coming down, were a bitch to ride back up. There was yet another offer to call home for a road side pick up, but, I don't know why, I said no, we'd ride it out. By the time we got back to Chris's driveway we'd clocked just over 36 miles on just over a half gallon of beer. Thankfully, I had more beer waiting for us so we celebrated by splitting a Sierra Nevada 16 oz Torpedo.
I must say that I surprised myself as well as Chris that I had made that many miles. Even more surprisingly, I wasn't nearly as sore as I thought I might be. Far from being prone in bed all day, I got up early, walked the dogs, mowed the lawn, did 3 loads of laundry and made dinner. Maybe there is something to this exercise thing. Now it looks like my planned 40 mile ride is not so far out of reach.
Originally I had sent him a list of bars around my house which I thought might make a pleasant ride, but when he mapped it out it turned out to be over 40 miles and he didn't think he would be up for that much, let alone me. Instead he planned out a tentative route that would take us south from his house to Washington D.C. I was game because he named a few watering holes that he had visited in the past which I wanted to check out for myself.
We started around 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning and before 11:30 we'd stopped for our first beer at Chicken Wings and Beer, not far from his home. This has been a familiar stop for us so it was one beer, in and out. Our next stop would be close to 10 miles away in Silver Spring at the Firestation Pub and Brewery. They don't brew on site at this location but they do brew nearby. We had lunch and there and I had a sample paddle (4-5 oz servings of all four of their beers) while Chris had a pint of their stout. It was all very good, even their wheat beer which is a style I'm usually not fond of. After that, we walk around downtown Silver Spring for a little while, visiting a cool record store (remember those) and trying chicken on a stick at an Asian restaurant.
Although the weather looked overcast, we proceeded on to out next stop about another 10 miles south. It was the very nice and seemingly old Colonel Brooks Tavern. We each quaffed a pint there along with some much needed water. Chris left it up to me whether we should continue on to DC, turn back for home or call for a pick up. Maybe it was the beer talking, but I felt pretty good and though that since DC was less than 5 miles out we should soldier on. It wasn't long before I was caught off guard by seeing the Capitol dome rising above the tree lines.
A lot of the trip from Colonel Brooks to our last rest stop, RFD (regional Food and Drink) was on a nice new bike path along the commuter train tracks, but once your are in DC proper there is a lot of street riding to be done. Most main thoroughfares have a dedicated bike lane but you never know if all the cars behind you know that it's there. Once we got to RFD, Chris told me that one of the sections we rode was where he'd once gotten as close as he ever had to getting creamed by a car. Comforting.
By the time we left RFD it was after 5:00 and since there was a bus stop right across the street, we opp-ted to catch the next bus out of town, back to Silver Spring. Fortunately for us the bus came equipped with a rack on front to accommodate our bikes. The bus ride took almost as long as the bike ride had taken and I was being myself, talking endlessly and asking stupid questions of Chris, who ever so patiently answered them. At one point the young guy sitting ahead of us turned around and told us that we should have a talk show on NPR. He also compared us flatteringly to MST3K. I wasn't too sure what he was talking about because it was Chris and I being us, but he did tell me where I might find a bathroom once we got off the bus so as far as I'm concerned, we're friends for life.
Again, once we were in Silver Spring, Chris gave me the choice of riding or taking another bus home. Once my bladder was empty, I was ready for another ride. A lot of this ride was on bike paths and side streets, but all those hills I'd enjoyed so much coming down, were a bitch to ride back up. There was yet another offer to call home for a road side pick up, but, I don't know why, I said no, we'd ride it out. By the time we got back to Chris's driveway we'd clocked just over 36 miles on just over a half gallon of beer. Thankfully, I had more beer waiting for us so we celebrated by splitting a Sierra Nevada 16 oz Torpedo.
I must say that I surprised myself as well as Chris that I had made that many miles. Even more surprisingly, I wasn't nearly as sore as I thought I might be. Far from being prone in bed all day, I got up early, walked the dogs, mowed the lawn, did 3 loads of laundry and made dinner. Maybe there is something to this exercise thing. Now it looks like my planned 40 mile ride is not so far out of reach.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Sad but true.
I'm not completely sure it's all true but it's true enough to scribble about. I could never take anti-depressants because it would counter the effect of my favorite depressant. If it wasn't for beer and vitamin P I'd be medicated like everyone else.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Grandmotherly
Last night MJ and I saw The Grandmothers at the RamsHead Onstage. Most people know that I'm a little nuts about Frank Zappa so when the chance to see 3 former Zappa alum at he same time I was so there. MJ is not wholly familiar with Frank but I had dragged him to a couple Project/Object shows so he was game for the Grandmothers show as well.The featured players last night were Don Preston on keyboards, Tom Fowler on bass and Napoleon Murphy Brock on Sax, Flute and lead vocals. The combo was filled out by a very talented Drummer, Christopher Garcia(drums and vocals) and Guitarist, Robbie "Seahag" Mangano.
Maybe I'm jaded after having seen The Ed Palermo Big Band play Franks music, but I was a little underwhelmed last night. Don't get me wrong, the show was okay. They played a lot of tunes from Frank's Roxy and Elsewhere disk which originally featured Tom and Napoleon, and that is one of my favorite versions of The Mothers, but I guess maybe it was Don Preston's performance that was less than stellar. To give the man his due, he is now in his mid 70s and was once on the cutting edge of keyboard technology, but that was 40 years ago. I appreciate the effort and his attempt to keep the music of Frank Zappa alive, but if Frank heard him play last night he would have been out of the band.The rest of the band carried their own weight but there were times that it seemed they were playing avant guard for it's own sake. Frank was no stranger to weirdness. His motto was "anything, any time, for no reason at all" served him well over the years, but he ultimately had control over the chaos which somehow made it more palatable.
Another problem was the limited use of the fine guitarist that they had on hand. I've seen Seahag preform before with Project/Object and he was a great choice for the Grandmothers, but they didn't feature his playing as much as they could have. I understand that maybe they didn't want him to steal any thunder from the senior members of the band, but if you have someone with as much talent and style as Mr. Mangano, you should take full advantage. Fortunately, my little Casio camera was able to capture a few nice solos.
Looking back through the video clips I took, I can see that maybe the show was better than I remembered. The band was tight and they seemed to be having a good time up there playing which always leaves a good impression. They played an hour and a half including encores so the show was kind of brief, but Napoleon said they'd be doing a meet and greet at the merch table after the show. We didn't stay for that, but of course I did pick up a Live Cd from Napoleon, which is supposed to be the show where Frank first saw him. The recording, from the early 1970s, is pretty primitive but it certainly is apparent what impressed Frank. I just wish last night's show was as impressive.
Like Going to Garage Sales in Springfield
This past Saturday's excursion to yard sales was much better than last week. It's the time of year when whole neighborhoods put on community yard sales and I didn't have to go too far from home to find one. Once again my time was limited by my work schedule but that may have worked in my favor. Forcing me to get up and out early before all the good stuff was gone.
The first couple stops I made didn't produce any treasure. It's almost always a dud when you can see a lot of Little Tykes stuff from the road. My perseverance paid off though on my third stop. Some poor bastard was getting rid of a lot of Simpson's memorabilia. When the woman running the sale saw me pawing through all the good stuff, she told me that all prices were negotiable. I said that from the look of it, someone in the household was a fan. She told me her husband was but he was growing out of it. Since he wasn't there to confirm that, I assumed that there was some sort of ultimatum, "Either the Simpson's go, or I do".
His loss was my gain. I picked up a beer tray, 6 shot glasses and a hat all for $10. There was a lot more stuff I could have bought if I wasn't concerned with with the possibility of my own ultimatum. The next stop I scored 3 CDs for $5. Two were U2, which I got for Kathy because to my surprise, she's a fan. I'm sure she's quite happy with the Greatest Hits I got her last year, but I'm always trying to expand her musical horizons with the deep cuts. The last purchase I made was a sealed copy of Don Mclean's first album (LP) for a buck. My sister Carol had it when we were kids and I remember liking it a lot.
Not a bad haul for under $20 but I've yet to find the elusive car top carrier that I need for toting the kayaks. Who knows, maybe next week will be my lucky one.
The first couple stops I made didn't produce any treasure. It's almost always a dud when you can see a lot of Little Tykes stuff from the road. My perseverance paid off though on my third stop. Some poor bastard was getting rid of a lot of Simpson's memorabilia. When the woman running the sale saw me pawing through all the good stuff, she told me that all prices were negotiable. I said that from the look of it, someone in the household was a fan. She told me her husband was but he was growing out of it. Since he wasn't there to confirm that, I assumed that there was some sort of ultimatum, "Either the Simpson's go, or I do".
His loss was my gain. I picked up a beer tray, 6 shot glasses and a hat all for $10. There was a lot more stuff I could have bought if I wasn't concerned with with the possibility of my own ultimatum. The next stop I scored 3 CDs for $5. Two were U2, which I got for Kathy because to my surprise, she's a fan. I'm sure she's quite happy with the Greatest Hits I got her last year, but I'm always trying to expand her musical horizons with the deep cuts. The last purchase I made was a sealed copy of Don Mclean's first album (LP) for a buck. My sister Carol had it when we were kids and I remember liking it a lot.Not a bad haul for under $20 but I've yet to find the elusive car top carrier that I need for toting the kayaks. Who knows, maybe next week will be my lucky one.
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