Good News, Bad News

The good news is that my brother came through his knee surgery fine and the surgeon said he really needed it done.  He was still in recovery when his wife called, so that's all I know except that apparently the hypnotist had also given him a cue to use for anxiety and he was really relaxed beforehand.  I am really relieved everything went well.  As we've aged, he's become my protective big brother even though he's seven years younger than me.

I was going to post a photo, sans face, his daughter e-mailed me this morning of him prepped for surgery and flashing the peace sign.  I kept cropping more and more of it out and decided there was no way he wouldn't consider it an invasion of privacy so, instead, I'm posting a photo I took yesterday evening about 6 p.m. during a frantic little snow storm we had...

...there was just a bit of snow on things this morning and it's gone now and we're looking at temps in the 60s by the weekend.

The bad news, and it's only semi-bad, is that after following up with the owner of Wild West Mercantile in Rollinsville by phone and getting what I thought was an enthusiastic response to his purchasing my things outright rather than taking them on consignment, he bought two items for $10--a small rusty coiled barbed wire wreath adorned with a rusty metal cowboy boot and a wooden sign saying, "Welcome to the Cabin."  He seemed possibly amenable, with the increased traffic he expects this summer, to purchasing items by lot for a set price and would leave it up to me to establish the price.  I don't give up easily, so shall continue to pursue this as a possible outlet.  He says he has received numerous requests to rent space in his store but also is not interested in doing that.  Onward and downward.

The issue now is that after picking up the first lot of stuff I had taken down there and coming back with almost all of the other stuff I'd loaded into my car Wednesday, I hardly have room in the car for Dixie.  Definitely going to have to address storage issues.  She is such a wonderful traveler and an all-around good sport.  I took her with me to Boulder and Longmont yesterday and she is a trooper.  Nothing fazes her.

By the way, when I went back to the Longmont Goodwill yesterday to return that painting on glass and get a couple of over-charges straightened out, I asked the manager on duty how many customers they had on Saturday for their grand opening and she said more than 2,000!  No wonder it was wild, and their inventory was really depleted even though they were making attempts to restock. 

I exchanged the damaged painting on glass for these dishes that seem to be Haviland, manufactured between 1876-1889 according to the mark.  The L is for Limoges.

...two dessert plates, two soup bowls and four berry dishes for $9.99 less my everyday senior discount of 10%.  These seem very sturdy and the gold trim is wonderfully thick and in excellent condition. I am always astonished items this old have made it, not just from their last home to the thrift shop, but through all the places they must have been after leaving the factory, without a single chip or crack.

If you thrift, is this one of the reasons?  Teddee

Sugar Dust

Overnight we had just a sugar dusting of snow...

I guess this will continue until our overnight lows get out of the 20s and 30s even though our daytime highs may be in the 50s and 60s!

I'm posting early today since I'm not quite sure what my schedule will be later.  I'm going to Boulder to run some errands and then on to Longmont.  After reviewing my receipt for the items I purchased at the Goodwill last Saturday I see I was overcharged a dollar or two on a couple of items and I want to return the painting on glass.  I'm also waiting to hear back from Wild West Mercantile.  If I do, I will either be driving to Rollinsville to pick up the items I had left there for consignment or to drop off more things.  I'm going to try to convince the owner to rent me a corner for a modest monthly amount.  I am convinced my things will sell if I can do the display myself.  This was the problem when I tried to consign at a store in Nederland the first year I was here.  It was a resale clothing boutique with very little space and the owner relegated my items to a back room on a very high shelf that ran along the ceiling.  She's very tall, but the average shopper, if they ever made it to the back room, probably never even saw the items I was consigning and if they did couldn't reach them to touch and feel, an absolute necessity when shopping I think.

Yesterday morning fairly early, the son of one of the owners of the cabin that burned inside summer before last arrived to remove this strange "log teepee" seen at far right in the photo below (taken last winter) that has been kind of an eyesore in the view out my west window forever.  After the fire he lived in a tent on the property for awhile but moved into a barn down below somewhere several months ago. The family has had carpenters working on restoring the cabin for a year but still don't have the siding on.
 


















































 

I think it was an improvement but am not certain.  Mountain people...at least these mountain people...don't seem to be terribly concerned about the appearance of their lots.  At least I don't have to be self conscious about ours!

My "baby" brother is having knee surgery tomorrow morning.  Please send up prayers and other positive energy for a successful surgery and recovery.  He has undergone two sessions of hypnosis to control pain and we are all curious...and hopeful...that it works.  His hypnotist has told him there will be no pain, but both the patient and his friends and relatives are a little incredulous so I'll keep you posted.

Have you ever undergone hypnosis for pain?  Teddee

Errands and Projects

I felt so tired and achy yesterday I thought I must be getting the flu, but awoke feeling OK, so decided I would prepare some things to take to Wild West Mercantile in Rollinsville, which had been closed yesterday anyway.  Since I had never heard back from the proprietor I thought he must have decided to accept what I'd taken in for consignment a few weeks ago. 

I took photos of everything and left the tags on showing the prices the various thrift stores had put on them like so...

The owner's assistant had indicated the last time that they would appreciate guidance on how to price things and I had removed the price tags from the few things I had taken that day.  His prices are high by my standards so I told her I didn't think underpricing would be an issue and I'd leave it up to him.  I'm not out to make a killing. My retail philosophy, if I had my own shop, would be to provide a fun, inexpensive shopping experience while making just a bit of profit.  I enjoy the hunt, and since I'm consigning, I'd probably be happy just to get my purchase price plus a little to cover my mileage.  I think I'd mentioned in a previous post that when I took the first lot of items to the store, I was told the owner didn't want anything he couldn't price at at least $50.  That seems excessive to me.  I think mixing in more inexpensive items would attract more customers. 

It's not as if the store is in Boulder on the 28th Street Mall.  Here is "downtown" Rollinsville.  A view looking west. 

Wild West Mercantile is the dark brown building in the left foreground.  The Stage Stop is a restaurant and bar. 

Here's a view looking east...the Stage Stop and the requisite liquor store.  And that's pretty much it.

When I arrived today,  The Wild West's owner, once again, was not in.  His assistant said she didn't think he'd put out anything from the last lot I'd brought in and she wasn't willing to take anything else until I talked to him.  She said she'd ask him to phone me tomorrow morning, so I'm looking forward to hearing from him.  It's only about eight miles from the cabin so wasn't a big deal.

Here's one of the items I'm undecided about consigning if it ever comes to pass.  I bought this hanging candle holder (at left below) at Goodwill on a 50% off Saturday.  I'd removed the price tag and can't recall what I paid for it. 

When I selected it I thought it was orange glass, but the customer behind me in the checkout line pointed out that the paint was peeling.  I decided I liked it enough to go ahead and get it, scrub the paint out of it and try a paint technique I'd seen on line that was supposed to replicate the look of mercury glass.

Today I tried the paint technique, and although it didn't turn out to look like mercury glass, I rather like it.  You spritz the inside of any clear glass container with water then spray the inside with Krylon Looking Glass Paint. 

 
I had the same problem with the lid on this Krylon paint as I had on the last can I used...

Even when they were metal, I detested these lids that require the user to insert a screw driver into the slot to pry them off.  Now that the lids are plastic, they don't work at all.  I think I'm going to write Krylon and inquire why they continue to put this type of lid on their spray paint. 

Here is the finished product...

I am not a fearful person, but do have an almost obsessive concern about setting the cabin on fire, especially after the cabin across the way caught fire in the summer of 2010, so I'm using battery powered candles. I used several for the photo.  It might be even more dramatic with a real candle.

What projects have you worked on recently?  Teddee

Waiting with Guacamole

I feel as if I'm just waiting right now.  Waiting for the dough--the settlement check from Sears for the botched auto repairs and the reimbursement of the double-dipped payment from the IRS--waiting to determine if the few things I dropped off at The Wild West Mercantile Co today will be accepted, waiting for the weather to improve again so I can continue this painting project and get the mattress off the table and back onto the bed and get my clothing bins put back on the top bunk so I can move around in this one room.

I slept fine last night on the foam pad and two sleeping bags...

...I threw on the electric blanket and a woven throw for a little weight and didn't get cold until this morning when the electric blanket automatically went off.  It was chilly this morning.  My neighbor said she saw tiny snowflakes (she and her husband had been camping in Utah those two weeks they were gone, I found out).  According to NOAA it was supposed to get down to 33F degrees last night.  The wind came up making it too cool and windy this morning to drag things out on the deck to make enough elbow room to get the piece of plywood down off the top bunk and take it outside and paint it...
































...and I need to do that before I can paint these...

But I did get the paint for the above when I stopped at Ace today to get fire starters...

...now I'm really anxious to see what this looks like when applied.

It's supposed to be mostly sunny tomorrow with a high of 54F degrees so I should be able to use the deck as another room and move some things outside to make it easier to maneuver in here as well as get the piece of plywood outside so I can paint it.  I'll roll the same color of paint on it as I'm using on the cabin walls and ceiling and just use the bronze Glitter Blast on the springs and wires.

The owner of The Wild West Mercantile Co. was not in when I dropped off a few "test items" this afternoon.  His assistant said he didn't want anything he couldn't price for a least $50!  That seems pie-in-the-sky for Rollinsville.  I'll have to take some photos of "main street" Rollinsville the next time I'm there and post them!  The assistant did agree to keep the items and let the owner decide.

In the meantime, I'm on page 244 of Elizabeth George's Believing the Lie and I made guacamole tonight...

I make really good guac.  I sort of cook by the seat of my pants, so just take two ripe avocados, cut them in half, remove the pit, scoop out the pulp and mash it up with a fork.  I suppose you could use a food processor, but I've never owned one and I like my guac really chunky.  Slice a bunch of green onions including a little of the green top, chop up a couple of cloves of garlic and a couple of plum tomatoes--you can use more tomatoes if you're trying to stretch your avocado.  Add the onion, garlic and tomato to the mashed avocado.  Add salt, chili powder and powdered cumin to taste.  I like lots of cumin.  Serve with your favorite chips.  I've been liking Nash Brothers Yellow Corn & Flaxseed Tortilla Chips for the last several years.  They have a lot of uumph to them.

So how do you spend your time while you're waiting?  Teddee

Summertime

According to NOAA we were supposed to have a high of 58F degrees today.  It's 6 p.m. and it's still 70F degrees on the thermometer installed outside the north cabin window.  It was sunny and hot.  I've got the top panel of the door open--that pesky door that caused so much trouble all winter and on which I had taped shut the panels covering the screens--to keep the wind and snow out.

The other windows have screens that are still in storage and need to be installed, but even my neighbors who have lived here for years are skeptical this is the end of winter.  We all keep remembering it snowed regularly throughout April and May last year and we had our last significant snowfall on Memorial Day.  I downloaded the photo below on June 9 last year!

Today, I decided to start moving the woodpile.  Even though I'm the one setting the task, this always makes me feel as if I were in military boot camp and just being given make work.  Move that wood from there to here..then move it from there to here...

I didn't keep track of the number of trips I made, but the cord against the privacy fence is starting to take shape...

Dixie was certain each time I made a trip toward the woodpile that we were going to get in the car and go someplace...

...so finally I put her in the car and we went to the post office...still no check from Sears...and dropped off a couple of books I'd finished at the library.  It was such a pretty day and I knew she wasn't ready to go back to the cabin yet and neither was I, so we drove over to Rollinsville, the next mountain town south of Nederland.  There was a pull-out where I was able to park and get a pretty good shot of the Eldora Mountain Resort ski runs.  I don't know when they're scheduled to close.  Because they are in the Roosevelt National Forest they must close on a specific date even if they have ample snow.  It must have been really frustrating last year when we had wonderful snow and lots of it so late. 

I knew that a couple of years ago there had been what was really just a junk shop in Rollinsville.  I'd been there once and it was so bad I'd never been back.  It now has a new owner, Tim Underwood, who has really cleaned it up and it is now The Wild West Mercantile Co.  He takes things on consignment, thank you, thank you, and only takes 35%!  I'm heading down to my storage unit in Boulder next week and dragging some of the stuff out of there and taking it to new friend Tim.  This may be the answer to my prayers since I have been unable to open my own store.

While I was in Rollinsville, I took some photos of this wondrous pie-shaped abandoned building that I would love to have a shop in.
I wonder if its odd shape would be bad feng shui?  When I return with my consignment items I'll have to ask Tim about its history.

Train tracks go right through Rollinsville heading west toward the Moffat Tunnel.  I remember my folks taking us to the tunnel to watch the train enter the tunnel when I was a child so decided I'd drive over there.  It's about a 10-mile drive and the road eventually gets pretty rough.  This is what Wikipedia has to say about the tunnel:

The Moffat Tunnel is a railroad and water tunnel that cuts through the Continental Divide in north-central Colorado. Named after Colorado railroad pioneer David Moffat, the tunnel's first railroad traffic passed through in February 1928.

Fifty miles (80 km) west of Denver, Colorado is the East Portal in the Front Range, about 10 miles (16 km) west of the town of Rollinsville, Colorado at 39°54′08″N 105°38′46″WCoordinates: 39°54′08″N 105°38′46″W. The West Portal is near the Winter Park Resort ski area at 39°53′15″N 105°45′41″W. The railroad tunnel is 24 feet (7.3 m) high, 18 feet (5.5 m) wide, and 6.2 miles (10.0 km) long. The apex of the tunnel is at 9,239 feet (2,816 m) above sea level. The Moffat Tunnel finally provided Denver with a western link through the continental divide, as both Cheyenne, Wyoming to the north and Pueblo, Colorado to the south already enjoyed rail access to the West Coast. It follows the right-of-way laid out by Moffat in 1902 while he was seeking a better and shorter route from Denver to Salt Lake City. The water tunnel and the railroad tunnel parallel each other; the water tunnel delivers a portion of Denver's water supply.

This is what it's going under or through:

I got all the way to the tunnel, got out to take a photo and my camera battery had died!  So here's a photo off the internet:

Photo by Ian Stehbens for Google Earth on Panoramio.

I remember when I was a child we got close enough to the tunnel entrance that we could feel the wind from the train, but they have obviously improved security and this is as close as a person can get now.

Since I did this on the spur of the moment, I had no idea what the train schedule was and, in fact, did not see one....I can sometimes hear the whistle from the cabin deck on a quiet evening...so next time I'll try to time my visit with the train and be sure my camera battery is fully charged.

Did you have a traveling companion that led you to take an interesting drive today?  Teddee