If the Lid Fits: An Odyssey

Have you ever wondered what happened to something you donated to Goodwill?

For the past two years I've been looking for a square glass lid to fit a cast iron skillet we have at the cabin.  Every time I went to a thrift store I'd check out the pot lids.  Not only did I rarely see a square lid, when I did, they weren't the right size.

Then one day a month or so ago when I was in the Goodwill in Longmont.... (Since this is an odyssey, I've created some travel stickers.  The photo below is of Long's Peak after which Longmont is named.  I wanted to credit the photographer, but didn't make note of the name when I inserted the photo and have been unable to find it again)...
...I found a lid that appeared to be the perfect fit...but it had no price tag.  So the lid's odyssey started almost immediately, inside Goodwill!...I took it to check-out and the clerk on duty thought it probably was the top to a casserole.  She called for assistance and I stepped aside and allowed another customer or two to go through check-out while another clerk looked to see if she could find the casserole.  Soon, she returned, indicating the lid had been put out alone and she'd need to get it priced. Off she went, into the back room, finally returning with the lid priced $6.99!  


The check-out clerk commented that it was a ridiculous price and she was only going to charge me $3.99.  I said that sounded great and I'd take my senior discount as well.  So I paid $3 and happily took the lid back to Boulder.... (These are the Flatirons, below, a Boulder landmark, about which I've blogged before.  This photo is by Charles Pfiel and can be located at the Arrowphotos site)...

My sister and her husband had been vacationing at the cabin during this time and the day she came to Boulder to launder bedding before they left to return to Missouri I gave her the lid, still in its Goodwill bag, and asked her to take it back up to the cabin and see if it fit the skillet.  So the lid took its first drive up Boulder Canyon to Eldora. (This old photo of Chittenden Mountain west of Eldora, taken by Donald Campbell Kemp in approximately 1938, is part of the Photographic Collection of the Denver Public Library).

Here are Legs 1 and 2 of the pot lid's sojourn from the time I purchased it...

Several days later I got an e-mail from my sister indicating she had forgotten to take the lid out of her van and had taken it back to Missouri with her! 



Here are Legs 3, 4 and 5 of the lid's odyssey... (My sister e-mailed me that they made it to Goodland, Kansas, the evening they left)....

 ...then drove it on in to Blue Springs, Missouri, the next day....(This photo of the entrance to Burrus Old Mill Park, located where the City of Blue Springs was founded, is from the City of Blue Springs web site).

So this makes Leg 6...

I can only surmise what occurred to the skillet lid at my sister's.  I'm sure it got brought into her house when they unpacked their van...then boxed up and probably taken to the Blue Springs post office (I noted on the internet, plans were announced late last summer to close the downtown Blue Springs post office, so I don't know if it was still open) where it was probably trucked to the Kansas City Airport.  Then I'm assuming it flew to Denver....So, if the trip to the Blue Springs Post Office was Leg 7 and being trucked to the Kansas City Airport was Leg 8, this was Leg 9....

I forgot to note how much my sister paid for postage, but the lid was heavy, so I expect it was quite a bit....but not nearly as much as a coach seat for the same flight!  This lid was having quite the little adventure.  

I'm assuming it was trucked from the Denver International Airport to Boulder and from the Boulder post office to my apartment building, so let's make those Legs 10 and 11.

The last time I was at the cabin, I took the lid with me, Leg 12, and the second time the lid had been driven up Boulder Canyon to Eldora and its potential home!...

Would it fit and get to stay?...

Yes!  It fit!...

Like the original, this odyssey had a happy ending.  

I sure hope I'm not the one to break this lid!  Maybe I should just build a shrine!  Teddee

Well, That Was Neat

When Dixie and I got back from our outing today, the fox was relaxing in the front yard waiting for our return just like a domestic pet.  Of course, I was so taken aback that I forgot to take any photos.  I drove about halfway in toward the cabin and she wasn't even afraid of the car.  I kept Dixie shut in the car and fed the fox, but the dog Apollo from across the road east came over after a bit, scared her away and ate one of the chicken drumsticks I'd put out for her.  She'd eaten one and I salvaged the other before he ate it.  I'll put it out later tonight after people have taken their dogs in.

I've found that raw eggs in the shell work great because the dogs don't know what to do with them. The fox carries them off, so I guess she's breaking into them and sucking the egg out just like she would if she got into a chicken house. 

I did get some photos earlier in the day.  We had this much snow overnight and although it was over 40F degrees this morning, the wind was really blowing and it was cold...

After I'd done my stint on the computer and Dixie and I had our breakfast...

...I'm calling this photo "My Skillet!"  I let her clean the scrambled eggs out of this pan or try to.  I'd run out of Pam so they really stuck and she'd finally given up and was just enjoying the heat from the stove...we piled in the car and went to Boulder and Lafayette.

I hadn't planned to go down because I didn't think Goodwill was having a 50% off sale today--I hadn't received my usual e-mail--and I had promised myself no more thrifting this month, but I wasn't in the mood to be kept prisoner in the cabin because of the winds, so put Dixie in the car and headed down. 

Rock climbing is a big sport here and anytime the weather permits, there will be climbers all over the rocks in the canyon.  Today I pulled over and took some photos.

I couldn't see anything in my viewfinder, so was interested to see what I'd managed to capture.  I played around with the contrast and color on the computer and can't get anything better than this.  Next time I'll spend more time and make better use of my 5x magnification.

I first went to Savers in Boulder because I have another filled punch card for 30% off, but found absolutely nothing.  I didn't even stop at the Boulder Goodwill, thinking there wasn't a sale, and drove east, not really knowing what my destination was, but ended up turning south to Lafayette and the Goodwill there.  I discovered just as I was leaving, having only found one top, that everything was 50% off.  No big signs in the windows of any of their stores, just little signs on top of the racks.  I wonder what has prompted the change?  At any rate, since I'm having so much trouble finding a market for my small decor items, I'm now in the market for furniture with doors and drawers for the cabin to replace some of the things that are here now.  I can't fit anything very big in my car.  I had seen and rejected this piece because it was $30. 

After I realized things were half off, I returned to the back of the store and got it.  I haven't decided exactly where it will go--since it has a place for a rod, probably replace the shelf over the wash stand-- but wherever it ends up, those drawers will come in handy.

Now I need a really skinny chest with fairly deep drawers for sheets and towels to go between the end of the bunk and the hide-a-bed I'm keeping.

Do you have storage challenges?  Teddee

A Few of My Finds

Here are photos of a few of my finds from Saturday's marathon thrift outing.  I really liked the colors and the cut work in this tabletop folding screen.  I paid $6.50.

Here are two pieces of porcelain.  The dessert plate is Bavarian...

I got the plate for $2.50.  This little mustache cup is interesting.  It has no markings and seems very small and feminine for a mustache cup.  I paid $4.50.  I think the original price of $8.99 was quite high since it has no markings.

I'm quite sure this tea strainer is silver, but see no markings on it.  I find a Williams-Sonoma version on line, silver plate over brass, for $39.  I paid $1.50...

I love the etched metal cover and carving on this jewelry box.  I paid $3.50...



























I thought this was a painting on glass, especially because the marked price was $9.99.  I didn't mind what I thought were moisture marks, but once I got it in better light, I could see there was some sort of bubbling in some areas of the image that you can only see if you hold it a certain way.  It almost looks like sugar crystals and I think it's getting worse.  I may take this back.  Even at $5.00, I think it is overpriced...

Those are probably the most interesting items I found at the grand opening of the Goodwill in Longmont.  Did you rate some great thrift finds this past weekend?  Teddee

Mayhem and Moose

I arrived for the grand opening of the Goodwill in Longmont about 9:30 a.m.  Customers were parked and double parked everywhere, including the lot next door, and others were driving around looking for spaces.  I lucked out and got one within a few steps of the front door after making only one loop around.

Inside was controlled mayhem.  There were so many customers it was difficult to move through the throng with a cart.  It also was difficult to see the merchandise on the shelves because there was a constant, densely-packed line of customers going in each direction in all of the aisles.  Any time a customer stopped to look at an item, everyone in line had to stop as well.  When you were ready to check out, you had to get in another line.  One employee had the job of holding a sign so customers would know where the end of the regular check-out line was...

...and it reminded me of those cartoons with the man in sackcloth holding a sign announcing "The End of the World Is Near," but it got the message across and the message was that the end of the line was a long way from the front of the store and the registers.

It moved fairly quickly and I had fun talking to some of the others customers who were in line near me.  I observed that so many of the men customers looked as if they'd been dropped onto an alien planet.  Another woman said they were "out of their element" and the woman in front of me commented she wished she had one, like some women did, who were cart sitting, enabling their wives or girlfriends to "ninja shop," maneuver deftly, move swiftly, grab what they liked quickly and bring it back to the waiting cart being guarded by their man.  I thought the prices were high, perhaps intentionally since they were going to be 50% off.  I spent $44, but I'm not sure I got $88 worth of  merchandise.  I did get several items that probably qualify as antiques or at least collectibles and I plan to take them to Wild Bill's or Wild West or whatever in Rollinsville to see if they are more to his liking than were perhaps the last few things I took in.

I'll take some photos, but right now I'm tired.  I drove from Longmont back to Boulder and went to my regular Goodwill and they had absolutely nothing.  Then I drove out to Lafayette, not much there either, back to Boulder to Savers and then on to Salvation Army.  None of them had much and were pretty empty...everyone was in Longmont.  I put about 100 miles on my car.  That will have to do it for thrifting for this month!

I did want to post a photo of some moose I saw yesterday afternoon coming back from Nederland.  Trying to get photos of the moose, which are still rare here, is a local pastime.  These photos aren't great, but the first moose was very far away and the two that were closer were adept at blending in with their surroundings.

I'm determined to get a shot of a moose I can use for next year's Christmas card.  Even though I am really good about taking my camera almost every time I leave the house, they seem to know when I've forgotten and that's when they are close to the road. The day will come when I will prevail!

What are you looking forward to?  Teddee