(With proper respect and acknowledgement to Mr. Eastwood, Mr. Leone and United Artists)
So, I’ve read all the tips, hints, and tricks of blogging… how to capture followers, the types of blogs to post, relating topics to the masses, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I’ve looked at countless blog pages and seen how the best and worst manage their pages. After all that, I’ve decided I really don’t care.
I’m going to post what I want and how I want it. I’m going to make it enjoyable for me to go back and look at a journal, of sorts. If, on the way, I find a few people are interested in following along, well, that’s awesome. Thanks to those of you who do.
With a couple of extra vacation days building up, I decided to splurge, take the days off, not go to Disney World (my wife and daughters weren’t happy about that), and pursue my favorite hobby instead – Pickin’. I finished up the required honey-dos and set out last Friday and Saturday on a treasure hunt. Favoring the blog title to the rigid order of Father Time, I’ll take it out of sequence and favor Saturday morning first.
Saturday, 3/5/2011 07:00 hours
Neighborhoods
Plantation, Florida
The Good
Par for the course, I drag my daughters out to the yard, garage, and estate sales. They don’t put up too much of a fight anymore, but I’m not sure it’s the quality time with pops that they appreciate. My youngest has a fascination with Giraffes and any figurine smaller than a quarter. My oldest is constantly on the prowl for Pokémon, Manga and anything “Goth”. Believe it or not, you can find plenty enough at the yard sales to keep the girls happy. Pretty good morning overall, although I think my daughters came back empty handed and most of the stuff I found was claimed by my wife as I unpacked.
A great vintage German alarm clock, some beautiful antique costume jewelry, some elaborate Mardi Gras beads, a 70’s programmable tank called
Big Trak, and a couple of porcelain tea sets all made it into my car.
Friday, 3/4/2011 08:00 hours
Storage Warehouses
Davie and Cooper City, Florida
The Bad
Flying solo, I tried my hand at Storage Wars, as so aptly deemed by A&E’s zippy real-life show. Yes, I’ve seen the show and that was the reason I tried this. First stop: Stor-All Storage in Davie, Florida. Up for bids: 2 units. Number of people bidding: 100 (most watched and shared their “expert” opinion with me. First unit went for $425, but all I saw were used mattresses. The second unit didn’t sell. It had one old cat litter box and an empty trash can. Not to be discouraged so easily, I headed straight over to another one that was more promising. Second stop: Sunshine Storage in Cooper City, Flordia. Up for bids: 11 units. Number of people bidding: 200 (half were from the first stop and half were their friends/relatives that just woke up).
Okay, before I go too far and make you think I was miserable, let me flip on this. It was fun to watch and speculate on how much the units would go for. It was entertaining people watching. The auctioneer was good, kept it going and had some great jokes. It just wasn’t for me. Too many people, the prices were too high for what I could see in the units, and most had things I just didn’t want to touch. I think if someone is willing to abandon a storage unit rather than borrow or beg to keep the contents, they most likely didn’t leave anything that great behind. Next time, I’ll just watch it on tv at A&E.
Saturday 3/5/2011 17:00 hours
Davie, Florida
The not-so-Ugly
I’m still not sure how I got my wife to join me on this little adventure, but I’m so glad she did. Registration started at 5pm, toured the goods, bought a soda and a snack and settled into the fifth row for a good view of the excitement. I had my eye on several top picks, including a large Black Forrest Cuckoo Clock, a table top Victrola player, a New England steeple Mantle Clock, a stain-glass kaleidoscope, and a few prints. My wife spotted some vintage games, including The Fantastic Four and Happy Days (straight up 70’s gold there), along with a few collectible figurines. The bidding started fast and there wasn’t a long pause between last call and “sold”, so I was loving the format. My first win were two of the engraving prints – early 50’s, great colors. Second was a box of silverplate service pieces that I hadn’t spotted on the tour. I missed the Cuckoo Clock on a bathroom break, it went for $100 and I would have paid twice that… I did get the Mantle Clock next, so my disappointment was curbed quickly.
Skipping a few more wins and to give credit to the title, after four hours of paddle waving and head shaking, we came to the vintage games. To my surprise, they auctioned the contents of the entire table at once, so I was going to be stuck with a bunch of junk if I won. Then I remembered an ugly lamp that was in parts in a box on the table. It caught my eye on the tour in a wonder-what-it-looks-like-together sort of way.
Needless to say (as they are pictured), I won. And the ugly lamp? It turns out that it’s a Gone with the Wind style lamp from around 1880, missing only the glass chimney. I already found the part online. Not-so-ugly now…
Okay, let me set the record straight. You can still find some awesome things at thrift stores. Although I think they are getting overpriced and not what they used to be, they still let the good stuff slip through the cracks sometimes. Check out these awesome Treasure Craft pistol grip mugs I found! Hello 1958! 
Arrived right at 5pm, the auction started at 6pm, but we had time to browse after registering. She won a lot of old costume jewelry right off the bat, so she was very happy. I lost a bid on another antique mantel clock – too bad. Also lost a bid on some great 60’s folding clear plastic chairs. Won a great flower vase – a friend says it’s probably Polish. Love the colors. Also won a West German blue drip vase. 
Okay, before I go too far and make you think I was miserable, let me flip on this. It was fun to watch and speculate on how much the units would go for. It was entertaining people watching. The auctioneer was good, kept it going and had some great jokes. It just wasn’t for me. Too many people, the prices were too high for what I could see in the units, and most had things I just didn’t want to touch. I think if someone is willing to abandon a storage unit rather than borrow or beg to keep the contents, they most likely didn’t leave anything that great behind. Next time, I’ll just watch it on tv at A&E.
