Tag Archives: collecting

Say hello to Otis.

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Have I ever introduced you to Otis?

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He’s a large (expensive!) metal sculpture of an osprey on a nest that my late mother bought us over 10 years ago with the understanding he would be mounted on the Barn Mahal when construction was complete.

Sadly, my mother passed away before that happened and Otis has languished on the top floor waiting for deployment ever since.

Unfortunately the nest on which he was sat was unable to be affixed to the barn roof as is … so we had to hire a welder to design a mount which we just now did.

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Said mount, nest and bird needed to go here.

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And that wasn’t an easy task.

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But on a recent overcast day a friend was called and the job started.

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With little to no enthusiasm I may add.

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Finding the right spot to bolt the mount proved tricky and I was sent upstairs to make sure the holes were in the right place.

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Upstairs…

Otherwise known as my spouse’s airplane hangar of crap.

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If there’s empty space, you know my guy is going to fill it. I rarely get up here since the overhead door is heavy and beyond my meager arm strength.

But every time I do make the climb….

I find new (old) things.

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Did we need 4 wooden sleighs?

We did not, but apparently we own them all the same.

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I also found a rubber chicken…

As one does.

🥴

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A day of antiquing… part 3.

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Our third and final antique store of the day was the one we set out for in the first place.

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Housed in an old refurbished mill in Waterville it was a wonderful place, full of charm and character.

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Check out that door!

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It was a bright and airy space with well organized dealers.

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I’ve been searching for an old wall phone exactly like this ever since we built the man cave/ Barn Mahal. This one was dirt cheap…. but the broken mouthpiece and missing crank handle were the reason why. 🥺

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My bunions hurt just looking at these shoes.

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A little bird whimsy for your viewing pleasure.

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Here’s the husband, checking out some vintage golf clubs.

And then?

I turned the corner. Which was a big mistake.

Huge.

Because it was there I found the horrors.

Brace yourself.

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Christ.

As if creepy old dolls don’t give me the heebie jeebies when they’re complete… I have to run into the eyeless, hollow headed, zombie babies from Hell.

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And if you think this one wasn’t so bad?

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The little demon child had teeth!

Ack!

😱

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Back at it.

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After an almost two week hiatus from working in the crap cave cellar… for reasons that will be discussed later….the husband was back on track.

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The far right corner was complete so the ceiling work started moving outward.

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I was called in to help numerous times because the price of plywood went up again and my spouse switched from the higher grade to the rougher stuff which was much harder to work with. Imagine if you will…. me, with my bad knee climbing on the step stool and trying to hold a sheet of wood in place over my head.

It was not a pretty sight. Nor a quiet one. I never realized there were so many colorful ways to say hurry up before I was roped in to helping.

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In between curses, I checked out his treasure. An old Bell and Howell movie projector, those horrible figural whisky bottles people used to collect in the ‘70s, a rather nice Italian pepper grinder and another rooster.

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Skeeter Skoot? I can only imagine the horrible chemicals they wanted us to spray ourselves with then back then.

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And finally… it looks like my husband will be giving classes on junk collecting. Reserve your seat now, it’s sure to be a popular seminar.

🥴

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Antiquing in the Brewer area.

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I can always tell when my husband isn’t going to like an antique store.

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You know the type…. filled with shabby chic and crafty things. He cruises through those stores quickly and rarely enjoys himself,

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Until he turned a corner in this one and saw the shredded wheat crate he’d just purchased for $25…

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(Yes, he collects wooden yard sticks. Don’t ask.) ….was selling for $125.

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Then? He was a fan.

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And chuckled at a few things.

Especially the creative way the owners of this old schoolhouse decided to deal with their roof leak.

New shingles? Not exactly.

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Indoor guttering.

Odd… but you have to admit, it is interesting.

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The search continues.

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The husband and I hit another antique store yesterday, but failed to find any appropriate vintage beer or whisky crates for my vinyl collection. (okay, I did see a Budweiser crate but even I have standards)

I’m afraid the search is proving fruitful in only one aspect.

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And that’s enlarging the number of albums I need to house in the first place. But I was happy to find 13 of the same records I lost decades ago. A few covers are in rough shape, but for $2 each I won’t complain.

And lest you think the husband came home empty handed, he found a treasure for the man cave as well.

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A wood bound mixed drink recipe book from 1941.

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It’s a hoot and has some interesting drawings.

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As with anything the husband purchases, he always tells me to look it up and see if he paid too much.

This was the first listing I saw.

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Yikes! I was impressed he only paid $15 until I saw a bunch of others ranging from $20-100.

Good luck wdan1351. If you manage to sell it for that price? Please let me know.

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In which we discover how truly anal I am.

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I have a large collection of vintage vinyl albums. It used to number close to 800, but I made the mistake of storing a large portion of them in my MIL’s attic years ago between moves and a leaky roof cut my collection in half. Today, after culling… it’s slightly over 350, and though they’ve been housed in plastic crates for the past 20 years, I recently decided they should be relocated to the man cave in vintage wooden beer or whiskey crates.

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Did I mention my albums are organized alphabetically?

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The Dewar’s scotch crate that I liberated from the husband’s stash (because if he’s not going to give it to the pub, he can give it to me) has A-B.

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When I pick up a few replacements here and there at flea markets?

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Adjustments must be made.

Pickwick Ale?

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C, D, E and F.

Those were the only two alcohol related crates my husband had in his crap treasure filled cellar, so I guess I’ll have to go antique shopping for G through Z.

😉

Be careful what you wish for.

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It’s long been a dream of mine to see … no, not Istanbul or Rome, I’m a simple girl. I only want to see the cellar floor again.

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When we moved into this house 20 years ago we had a gloriously empty 2,000 square foot basement… and I had visions of carefully organized storage shelves so our closets would never burst open again. Sadly this never came to fruition because my husband filled it to the brim with crap, clutter, things he didn’t need and will never use stuff in no time flat. And when I say filled, I mean up to the rafters with barely a path from front to rear. I haven’t seen the floor in years.

So when the husband retired a few months ago and had lots of spare time on his hands, I did what any thoughtful wife would do and subtly suggested now would be a good time to go through his mess, useless junk, rubble treasure once and for all.

But as my title says, I should have been careful what I wished for. Because as I suggested, my husband started sifting though his massive piles of detritus below ground.

The problem is…. it all began to float upstairs.

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Now? There’s a World War II poster/map on my den reading chair.

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There are railroad cars on my kitchen counter.

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There are boxes, bags and assorted dreck on my office floor.

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As well as stamps and a broken clock on my auxiliary desk. So basically, it’s everywhere… and I fear for the future of our living space.

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Because if all that makes it’s way upstairs? I may end up sleeping on that newly cleared cellar floor.

🥴

Ka-Ching!

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The husband and I were on our way home from the grocery store the other day when he spotted an antique store he’d never been in. I wondered how that was even possible, but hey… it happens.

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When we walked in, I turned right and he turned left. It wasn’t long before I heard him haggling with the owner so I hightailed it over before things got serious.

Old cash registers. Fancy ones I grant you….

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But with a price tag of $2,500? I gave the husband the evil eye.

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And with a $4,500 price tag on this one?

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I was positively pulling him out of the store.

It was fabulous. But not that fabulous.

😳

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They could be twins.

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When it comes to collecting crap stuff, my husband is the epitome of the phrase ‘the thrill is in the hunt’.

He’ll tirelessly scour flea markets and antique stores for that just right piece of crap treasure….. but once he owns it? It will languish in the closet or be left in a deserted corner to gather cobwebs.

And now?

His cat is displaying the same traits.

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Yes, that’s a half dead mouse.

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And just like his father….

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After he hunts it down, Lord Dudley Mountcatten could care less what becomes of it.

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So many glasses.

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When we travel and drink, the husband likes to get a glass from the bars and restaurants he’s enjoyed. Since we used to do this quite often… we’ve amassed a large collection of glasses. Some of them are in the house but most of them have migrated out to the barn. And though we’ve stuffed the freezer compartment of the beer fridge with frosty ready to fill receptacles….

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There was still a large portion waiting for a home.

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And a whole lotta paper destined for the fireplace.

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Sadly the husband’s aborted little two foot shelves don’t offer much useable space.

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And once the double tap kegerator is installed things will be even tighter.

Roy Scheider was right.

We should have built a bigger bar.

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