Not a Report From the OP

I’ll milk the last week for that in another post. 🙂

Instead of concerning myself with inflation and the possibility of nuclear war, I want to talk about my grandchildren and how much fun can be had buying other people’s junk.

First, the grandchildren. Both are well. The bilirubin excess from the damn pitocin is trending down. Daughter and Son-In-Law are taking them out in the sun for short bouts and that is helping a lot. In another week or so this concern will be history. Both are eating like there’s a famine coming and only they got the memo. They have offset the usual infant weight loss and are putting on weight.

Both are also unbearably cute, as are all grandchildren. I wish Daughter would allow me to post some pictures, but she doesn’t want her kids to be Internet Famous. She’s probably smarter than I am about this.

Mrs. Freeholder remains in the overall best mood I’ve seen her in in many years. I’ve had to remind her that she can wear out her welcome, though. Spending 12 hours a day at their house might be a bit excessive, even when you’re invited.

Second there was the Carolina Pickers event at the Denton (NC) Farmpark. It’s funny, but it’s also amazing how something like this can (mostly) remove all the political and geopolitical BS from your life for a while. Similar to grandkids.

I don’t view this event as something out of American Pickers. Rather, this is where the unfamous pickers without their own TV show go to sell their wares. I’m good with that. Some of these folks are from outside the local area, which means things that I normally couldn’t see without making a long trip come to me.

This isn’t the total haul, as there were a couple of things purchased for Daughter via remote control and a Christmas gift for Mountain Man, which can’t be shown for obvious reasons.

The grand total for all this was around $100, if memory serves. The pocket knives ran it up a bit, although I feel like I got decent-to-good buys on everything. I was quite happy with the small vise at $5. The two pocket knives were $15 each. The Barlow is an Uncle Henry’s, while the Old Timer is an 8OT, made in the USA. The perfect handle screwdriver in front of the radio was $3, while the radio was $5. The Wiss scissors are in like-new condition, and set me back $20. I may have overpaid for those. The stack of slide rules was $35. A couple of them are missing parts, but that’s OK. I can find or duplicate those. I was particularly happy to get the surveyor’s transit part in the last picture. At least that’s what I think it is. It’s missing the compass that should be in the middle for reading the angle. And more knives, with the smallest one is a Buck 505. I’ve never seen one of this style with nickle-silver bolsters. The middle one is a Sears Craftsman, and the big one is a Solengin. $25 for the lot.

Day 1 was fun, but Day 2 was unique. I was tired and my feet were killing me. I had borrowed a friend’s golf cart just to take a quick cruise through the vendors that I hadn’t made it to, way back in the back. That’s where the amazing part started.

Attending this sort of event is like going to a series of cool mini-yard sales. Cool in that there are no old clothes, no kitchen junk and so on. Each vendor tends to have something of a theme to their wares. Some are predominately old art prints, some are all tools, some are militaria and so on. But there are always some who have no real theme. They’re usually just starting in the business. I think they just pick up odd lots here and there and have a try at selling it for a profit, trying to learn what sells. Those are the ones I usually find the best buys, and Day 2 was no exception.

But the truly interesting thing was the process. Usually I’ll walk hit every vendor, sorting through all their stuff. This time, I was just going to drive by and stop if it looked promising. Instead, it went like this:

ME: “I don’t see anything much there.”
INNER VOICE: “You need to look closer.”

I stop and start looking.

ME: “Well look at that!”

I’ve never had this happen before. Sure, I’d find the odd and unexpected item, but never have I had this sort of whisper in my mind. I have no explanation and I don’t want one. It just is what it was and I’m good with it.

The stuff in pictures #2 and #3 is all from that last minute Day 2 trip to the back of the show. All the knives need cleaning, but most of them are already reasonably sharp. They’ll go into a display I’m building in a curio cabinet. The sliderules will be handled similarly. The tools are tools, so they’ll be cleaned and put into appropriate homes in the various toolboxes I have. I’ll have to research the radio, but if nothing else, it’s worth the price just for the collapsing antennas in it.

I hope your week was half as enjoyable as mine. Debbie Downer will return in the next post.