Summer Pickin'

No kayaking today as Bill left at some ungodly hour to go fishing with a friend. So.....a good time to update my blog. Today's subject is antiquing and I have many years of experience under my belt.

This summer I found quite a few treasures. It's a little harder to limit myself now that I am looking for Julie and Jeremy, Megan and Dave ( and baby ), and myself.

I was on the hunt for turquoise accents for my kitchen but they were not to be found. So, I bought some MS ( Martha Stewart ) green painted canisters and found this color worked well with the burnt orange walls. Next I spotted a green kitchen scale with fabulous art deco numbers in the new antique store downtown. Of course it wasn't priced. I asked the creepy shop owner what he wanted for it, and he leaned back, rubbed his fat belly and looked me up and down and said with a toothpick sticking out of his mouth "Well now, I usually ask around 10-15 bucks for these scales, but this here scale is real purty with the green color and all." Now I'll take may chances and guess he's not into shabby chic, so I replied "Ohhhhh.....I didn't notice the rust."( like that's a bad thing ). In the end he offered it to me for the top price I had in my head so I bought it. I did get a deal since he didn't charge me any tax on it, just pocketed the money. He must have a special variance.  :@

I also found the cute green bowl I have on top of my kitchen scale and a really cool ice cream maker-get it - cool.

I haven't found a place yet for the MS green wall sconce, but I will.

In a shop in Buffalo ( Buffalo Nickel - great old barn shop!) I found the paint brush display sign. Being that I am a painter of sorts , I bought it for the basement.

For baby, I found the children's book with classic illustrations dated 1935 and the Scottie Dog linen. Cuuute!

Some shaving brushes for Julie's collection.

A set of weathered boat oars for outdoor display. $10 for the pair !

A homemade sink and stove to refurbish for grandkids to come.

Old metal movie marquee letter "V". Come on, it had my name on it!

I also purchased two old pieces for the Baby Zothman nursery, but I'll do a reveal on the before and after when they are in baby's room. Now............how to get the big piece transported. Butchie ( my new pet name for the Matrix ) to the rescue. Picture the Beverly Hillbillies.

Now Dennis thinks Bill and I should hit the open road and become the Range Pickers, but I really don't see that happening. Although I'm not ruling out a future ETSY shop on my blog!

The Big Muddy

Willow River Campsite

We got up at the buttcrack of dawn to do our last kayak trip of this vacation. We did a 12.2 mile trip on the Mississippi from Palisade to Waldeck and it took us a mere 4 hours ( with a 1/2 hour lunch break at the Willow River Campsite). Mind you, there is a river race in July that starts at Palisade, but continues another 19 miles that paddlers finish in 4 hours. Maybe they have a little trolling motor attached, yeah that's the secret .

I was a little leery of this trip 'cause our handy guidebook told us to watch for "deadheads" ( mostly submerged logs from the logging days) that easily tip your boat. I don't know about you, but a swim in the brown Big Muddy did not look refreshing to me. Also, I am a big fan of Monsters Inside Us, so I could almost SEE the parasites swimming in the water.



All in all it was a lot like Apple River, an easy paddle downstream. Bill got a leeetle bit wet getting out at the slimy Waldeck landing, so we'll see if he develops any unusual parasitic symptoms.