EVY LOU AND MILDREDS ADVENTURE!!!

As most everyone who reads this blog knows I am a Purveyor of Junque. I auction quite regularly . Believe it or not I really dont have much in the way of possessions. Seeing what people leave behind and what it is ultimately worth has cured me of the Possession Mania.I will admit I have a deep appreciation of the smashed penny and old letters. Both are not very space consuming and not really important to the general public. They are mystery's to me. Relics that give great insight to those who possessed them.

People fascinate me. Not your ordinary run of the mill people but people who are somehow outside of the box. I have always been slightly outside of the box. I don't think I really appreciated the outside of the box until my 30th birthday.

History was never my strength in school. I never appreciated it. I love what I do because I am learning History through these possessions . Through the letters.

Recently I opened an Etsy store. 9 sales so far WOOHOO!!! I decided that i would look through my paper stash for items to sell to scrapbookers/ crafters. I found a prized possession I acquired in a box of goo some years ago. It is a letter I found in a box that contained an empty vodka bottle. This isn't any letter though. It is a letter written by a young girl to her Mother in 1928. It chronicles her trek through St George Utah in 1928. Remember cars were different then so were young ladies or were they?


Dear Mother,

July 17,1928
We are leaving St. George this morning at 6:30. We have stopped just out of St George to get the radiator cap repaired so water wont squirt in our face every time it takes a notion to. After we get to our destination I will write you a big long letter going more into detail but it seems as if I cant do very much writing going along the road.

July 18, 1928
We have had a couple of punctures , one right after we left Daggett and another one yesterday just around the corner from Scipios ( pronounce it if you can). Mildred and I are getting to be experts at changing tires and finding our way around.
We wore our knickers + jackets yesterday and both of us got sunburned from head to heels. by the way neither one of us had any waist or anything to wear under our jackets. Mildred wore her pajama jacket under hers and I pinned a handkerchief (one of those that Edith Carley gave me) under the front of mine with a couple of hair pins I found in the middle of our cabin floor in St George. How in the world those hairpins got there i don't know. We swept the floor twice that night and the next morning those two hairpins were laying side by side right in the middle of the floor.
After we fled from that flea-infested room at Salt lake City We came on into Ogden. Look on a map and see how far it is from St George to Ogden we made it in one day and stopped at an all night service station and slept the rest of the night sitting up in the car. Sure slept good too. We woke up at 4:30 and are now sitting in front of the Ogden PO office writing letters. After we finish these letters we are writing in our diaries.
When we got into St George we were a little bit tired and a man and woman staying in the cabin next to ours offered us a stimulant Whiskey!!! Said they had a pint and that they would be glad to let us have some if we wanted it. Later that evening we were talking to them and the man was about "half shot" then.
I wish you could have been with us when we came thru Arizona. We saw the most beautiful mountains and clefts. Most of them were straight up and down and a bright red color. They looked just like pictures you see of cliff dwellings . We came over one Mountain range that struck me right between the eyes and has stayed there ever since. The mountain was black and had gigantic rocks as black as coal on it. and the mountain was black too. The next thing we knew we dropped onto another mountain that was as red as blood with giant rocks of the same color.
At the gas station where we stayed last night there were two boys in a car talking to the one in the gas station when we went to get a drink. They asked us if we wanted something to wake us up. We said we were already awake enough. They were about half-drunk . A little later they showed us some whiskey and asked if we wanted a drink. We politely informed them that we did not care for any and that we did not drink. then turned on our heels walked over to the car and drove off.

Mildred is jumping around scratching her bites while she is trying to write some letters. People here in Utah are certainly shocked at us in our knicker suits and bare legs. Its to d.... hot to wear much of anything here. It is nice and cool in the morning and nice and cool in the evening but pretty HOT in the daytime.
Well I'm going to mail this and get some news to you. And also I gotta have some breakfast
Love
Evy Lou

AN ALL AMERICAN 4TH OF JULY!!!!!

Finally getting around to my 4Th of July post. As my husband works for Frito Lay he never gets to do the 4Th. This holiday happens to be the equivalent to Christmas in the chip business. I don't mind really he gets a double check sometimes triple. Money is good. Well as fate would have it the 4Th fell on his Sunday off.
He decided it was time. Time to finally go to a Baseball game. What could be more American than baseball on the 4Th of July ? With promises of Beer and all the carbohydrate ridden food I could eat. I readily accepted. We went on the website called stubhub.com and bought $60 tickets for the low low price of $20.Who would of figured my beer would have cost more than admission?

Growing up 5 minutes away from the Angel Stadium I never once went there for fireworks. I have watched the fireworks from there and Disneyland countless times on my parents roof. I will admit I was kind of excited at 50 years old to finally witness it in person. I do remember going to games there when I was a kid. Back in the day the California Angels stunk. There would be about 400 people watching the game. Seating was a free for all. Now its amazing. Their fan base is extremely strong.
They were playing Kansas City. Quite interesting as it is my Moms team .We beat them. Slayed them actually. Sorry Gloria Dee and all my other Kansas cousins. Of course as I am not a killer fan of Baseball, I did my fair share of people watching.It was fascinating actually.

These kids were about 13 to 15 years old.They were right in front of me. The boy was giving her hangdog looks and kept kissing on her. She seemed very indifferent. She did light up however when his brother on his other side talked to her. I wanted to slap them all for various reasons. This includes his mother who let this all happen without blinking an eye. Jerry Springer here we come!!!

I guess this is the Green Guy? He was beyond an attention whore. Whenever they would scan the crowds he would jump up and dance like a fool. Interesting at first but it did become annoying.

After the game I spied this fan. I have many things to say about this shirt but in the end my question is, Who wears a shirt like this? Creepy creepy old man.



No firework pictures. We decided to just sit back and enjoy them. All in all it was a great adventure .

DAGELAND CURIOS ..OUT OF THE CLOSET!!!

YES ITS TRUE!!! After 10 years of secretly selling items on Ebay I have officially come out of the closet. Well actually the garage. In all actuality I'm staying here in my "Woman Cave",my "Queendom", my sanctuary. I have decided to let people know who I am. When I first started Ebay the company wanted me to share myself with the customers. At that time I was not comfortable doing so. It worked too. I sold so many different items to so many different people I could be whoever they wanted me to be. It helped .I could be a fellow collector of gas paper or someone selling Grandmas fortunes. I will be totally honest in that I never actually "lied" to people. "They" made me who "they " wanted me to be. Who knows maybe I will retreat into my "secret" identity someday but for now I'm going to try and be "Me".

With the economy being slow last year I retreated into the world of Costume Jewelry. Keeping prices low I have done quite well and enjoy being around "My Jewels" . I feel more of a connection with those who buy from me. I'm not so sure we are "alike" as we have a deep appreciation for jewelry , buttons and Kitsch. I'm also fascinated with the powerful force of the Internet. I love "Guerrilla marketing". I always have. The advent of Face book , Twitter and of course blogging bring a whole new face to marketing. It is an exciting new frontier. I want to adopt the new frontier. Of curse I have no "HUGE" expectations of this. I'm sure my face book will grow very slowly and I will probably have no new blog followers but I'm not really one of those people who do things halfway.
No I'm not going to do a biography here. I have had this blog since January 1st. If you want to know more read them. Its not hard to get a glimpse of who I am and getting to know someone over a period of time with small bits of interaction is much more interesting. So here I am out of the closet. Like my husband said I'm reinventing "Dageland Curios" ,reinventing myself. I have also started an Etsy store. We shall see what happens. Hopefully I can link all the parts together. Etsy, Ebay, face book , blogging and well....me.

My first Etsy sale. It is so exciting. Unfortunately it was one of my favorite buttons. I hope she enjoys it as much as I have!!!




MY EMPIRE LINKS

Ebay Dageland_curios


Etsy DagelandCurios


Facebook Dageland Curios


Ebay Rock_o_bilia

OUR YEARLY GARAGE SALE

We finally had our yearly yard sale!!! Quite the haul too. 956.27 to be exact. Where the 2 cents came from I don't know. I basically had "Dollar Days" and sold most everything for a dollar. Quite fun to watch peoples eyes when you say everything is a dollar. A true study in human behaviour . I had items out there that are commonly in antique stores for much , much more. Yes that is Newt Gingrich up there. I put him on the road to draw people in. Interesting that this year almost nobody acknowledged his presence. I guess he has not been in the news lately.


This is Derry a neighborhood kid. It was nice to reconnect with the kids. Now that Erin is at college I don't see them at all. I have 14 new baby chicks. The kids chased chickens for hours. Finally they caught a baby. Trust me baby chickens are like rats. I have to give Erin credit for this picture. Shes getting very good.



A great woman who enjoys life to its full extent. Quite the character . She truly entertained us. She was on her way to the casino with $17 and a 100 dollar free play coupon to make her fortune. She spent $5 on various kitschy items even though her family has banned her from yard sales. Maybe we shall see her on a Hoarders episode. I gave her one of my smashed pennies for good luck. Yes I did. She got the one with the Lords Prayer as she seemed mildly religious. It felt good to share my hobby with her. I'm not sure why but I knew she would appreciate the penny.


More neighborhood kids. They bought Erins Beanie Baby collection 50 cents at a time all weekend long . Every 20 minutes. A neighborhood boy told me they were building a "Special Force" of Beanie Babies. Oh to be a kid again.








Yes John and Hillary stopped by to help us sell records. They are a "Rocking duo" don't you know.







We "really" cleaned out closets this time. While cleaning up Erin spotted this skirt and stated "I don't know why but I'm drawn to this skirt" Quite a creepy moment as that was part of my "Ms Bohack" maternity clothing I wore to work. And I wore this one alot as it had plenty of belly room. Why I kept a 20 year old skirt who knows. She wore it to the movies on Fathers Day. Looked good on her too. Still kind of freaky though.

I'm proud of her. Lately I have been lazy after my yard sales and throw things away. The complacency of aging I guess. She made me pack up the clothes and records to donate to Salvation Army. I guess that expensive education is paying off. The first year of college is a great one. Shes really beginning to view the world as a whole. Forming her own opinions regardless of others. Yes I'm sure she will change them many times over the years but she is learning to think critically. Kudos to her!!!!

OOPS HE DID IT AGAIN!!!!!!!!

For years , 10 to be exact, I have purchased items at auction to sell on Ebay. It has been an interesting and educating experience. Along the way we have acquired many items for the house. Not too many though as my house is a grand total of 1200 square foot. Being the woman of the house I have always been the purchaser. Yes I call myself a liberated woman but come on some things will always be in a woman's realm. Yes you can call me a hypocrite. I can take it.

Approximately 2 weeks ago my husband accompanied me to the Redland Auction house. This is the place where I acquired the "Tiara". My jewelry connection. I have auctioned with owner of this establishment for years. Both as a customer of his establishment and a competitor at other auctions. The auction process is similar to a game of poker. Knowing your competitor and or customer is tantamount to your success. Ron the auctioneer is among the best in the business and knows both of us like the back of his hand. That saying when my husband raised his hand to bid on "the couch" it threw him. He had the most incredulous look on his face ever! I have never seen this man thrown.

MY HUSBAND BOUGHT A VICTORIAN COUCH.

I WILL STATE THAT AGAIN... MY HUSBAND BOUGHT A VICTORIAN COUCH.


Trust me I was also shocked. As was my auction friend who always has the seat to my left. It is a beautiful couch , from the 1900s to be exact, and purchased for only $150 but ...MY HUSBAND BOUGHT A COUCH!!! His explanation was that he found it beautiful. How can you fight that. I find it beautiful too. Albeit a bit uncomfortable but the stray cay Kitty Kitty aka "Christine" loves her new cat bed. Were such suckers. New Years Eve I caught her digging through my trash. Now she has taken over my home and has a Victorian cat bed.

My story doesn't stop here. No it doesn't.Last weekend my husband again accompanied me to the Los Angeles Public Guardian auction. We are in the market for a truck and there was one to be had. No truck but once again he did the unthinkable. HE BOUGHT ART!!!! YES ART FOR THE WALL!!!!. Not just any art , he bought a Renoir. Yes a huge ass cigarette stained 10 dollar Renoir. Once again he found it beautiful . Needless to say I will now gladly go to auction alone.....

AN IMPROMPTU TRIP!!

Back from our escapade to Oklahoma. We went to Erik's Grandmother and his cousin Kristy"s funeral. It was wonderful to see everyone but sad at the same time. Erik's Aunt Janet did a wonderful job on arranging the service. Burying a loved one is very difficult and it always seems the one most emotionally involved is responsible for the service. Kudos to you Aunt Janet .

We decided to drive there as flying to Oklahoma is very expensive. Why i don't know . I guess it costs more to go to places where people don't want to be. Took the 40 allllll the way there. Surprisingly the drive was very enjoyable. We have taken the 10 to New Mexico and Texas many many times. Loooooong drive with nothing. Actually near the Arizona border is a dead Indian mummy but that's it. Oh and the Ostrich farm. I do recommend that as a stop. The 40 however is filled with Route 66 Kitsch. Sure there is lots of nothing between the towns but at each small burgh there are original Route 66 Main drags. We did not see all of them as we were on a deadline but there definitely plans to redo the 40. If there's anything us Dages love its our 50's Kitsch.

A great odometer moment!!!! Caught at 60,000. We bought her at 40,0000 about 4 years ago so as Erik says we are getting use out of her.

Eriks Bunny Buddy he read about in the travel book. I tried to get him up there but he said it was too fragile. He was very happy !!!!

This is for Erin. She loves taking pictures of water towers. This one is special!!!

More smashed pennies. There was a woman behind me who decided she too wanted to collect smashed pennies. Maybe i will start a penny cult. One convert at a time.................

The Big Texan in Texas. Eat a 72 oz steak with all the fixins and its free!!! ( 50 dollars if you throw it up!!!)

That's me!!!! No I had the brisket. Great brisket is only found in Texas and Oklahoma. I guess the rest of the world does not have 10 hours to cook meat.

Believe it or not I have never seen a bull head. Only in Texas.

Erik with the big Steer.

Cadillac Ranch.

More Indian souvenir shacks than you can shake a stick at. They sell china made turquoise, armadillo statues, knives and even roadkill clothing. We did not stop at that one but plan to in the future.

An abandoned restaurant . Tons of these types of buildings.

There are dinosaur wars in Arizona along the freeway. This was the best.

Erik being an Indian figure. Yes I married this man......

Teepees galore!!!!!! Arizona loves their souvenirs, dinosaurs and teepees.

THE 'BATES' MOTOR HOME PARK

Haven't blogged much. Have alot to say but the timing of inspiration and time to blog has not gelled well. Lots of traveling lately. We went on a Mexico cruise last week and Erik's Grandmother died at the age of 95 so we are now taking the journey to Kingfisher Oklahoma in the RV. Were driving down highway 40 in New Mexico as I speak, or write as the case may be. Trying out the Verizon Internet that is slaved through my blackberry into my laptop. Not necessarily cheap but we didn't have to close down the stores. We can work and travel at the same time . Very cool. We hope to go on record buying jaunts when Erik retires.

I'm going to blog out of sequence but last nights experience deserves a stand alone blog. We left Albuquerque at sunset prepared to stop in the town of Santa Rosa. As my husband drove ,full of cheap Mexican food eaten at Anita's Restaurant in Albuquerque, don't eat there by the way, he realized 2 more hours of driving was just not there. ( That run-on sentence was for my daughter Erin, queen of the run-on sentences) . No one lives on the East side of Albuquerque. Very dark and desolate. I jumped on the crackberry and looked up rv parks in the only little town close by and found one in Edgmont, 9 miles away. It was this or drive another 2 hours to Santa Rosa.

I should of realized when the Garmin Nuvie Gps we so aptly call Gertie could not find the location there was an issue. She does however have her own set of issues as I did get the cheap model. Gerty regularly has fits of panic where she will say turn right, turn left, turn right , turn left in quick succession. She also likes to take us down non existent or dirt roads. I called the proprietor's and they gave me the following directions. Get off the Highway at 157 we are on old route 66. Simple enough.

We got off the freeway in pitch dark. Found old 66 and turned into more pitch darkness. By now Eriks panicking. We literally can see nothing. I catch the entrance as we drive by it. No lights out front. Actually almost nothing out front. We turn around and find the driveway. As we drive in the first thing we see is a sign that says "wrong way" along with a sign that says "Office" pointed down the "wrong way". We decided not to go the "wrong way" and continued down the next road. We see the office and as I drive up I see a figure scuttle, yes I said scuttle , across the road. A woman around 40 but looking 60 meets me at the door. Her thinning dandruff laden hair is in a 2 week old ponytail and she is wearing an old pilled purple cable knit sweater. There is a distant somewhat vacant look in her eye.

I follow her into the cluttered dusty office, more like a garage. On one side is an aged pinball machine. I'm guessing this is the recreation center. She proceeds to tell me the rate is $20 . Her voice and mannerisms are just like Norman Bates , creepy as hell. She then tells me there are no bathrooms and showers and there is water but it might freeze overnight. At this point I don't care. I just want some electricity to plug into. She offers the reduced rate of 15 dollars because I think shes afraid I'm going to leave. Next comes the decision of where to put me. Trust me this park is beyond empty. She roots around and finally finds the park map. I don't think they have used one in many moons.

As we follow the map I notice we are still in pitch dark. We pass a few RVs but this park is empty. creeped out but too tired to care we plug in . Doesn't work of course. We steal the next spots plug. Thank god that worked . I didn't think we could take much more. We huddled in our locked RV hoping for some good sleep. We awoke alive although I had a bad dream in the middle of the night that some guy stuck his head through the front drivers side window. I guess I woke Erik u with my whimpering and proceeded to freak him out too. We eventually fell back asleep .In the morning I finally got a peak of where we were. It was probably a good thing there were no lights last night!!!






This was our spot.


Erik had a Sasquatch sighting!!!! While using the open air facilities.

On the other hand I think it was a yeti...maybe a Chupacabra?

The luxurious pool area!

It did have a laundry room

Nope I guess not!!!

A fellow inhabitant.

The office/ rec room / garage.

Our other neighbor.

The Diner!!!!! Out to Lunch permanently.


Erik noticed the for sale sign...his new retirement dream..............