Memorial Day Weekend at the Olde Depot Junktion

I spent the Memorial Day weekend in Brainerd, Minnesota set up at the Northern Pacific Shops as part of the Olde Depot Junktion show.  (My space was rented to Hogs and Roses).  The weather was beautiful, which may have adversely impacted sales.  I stayed at my house and made the 90 mile trip each day.

I started early last week filling the trailers and truck with junk for the show.  I filled my open trailer, my enclosed trailer and the trailer that I borrowed from my neighbor.  I made two round trips on Thursday with the open trailers and decided that there was no room for the better stuff in my enclosed trailer.

The truck bed is almost loaded for the first trip north.

 My space was moved this year and was now immediately inside the entrance.

 The Nutting Truck Co. warehouse cart sold on Saturday.  The turtle shells in the buckets did not.

 The 1950's TAXI light is one of my favorite pieces.

 I had the highest space in the place with chairs in the windows.

 The cast iron book press and the cast iron meat grinder are some of my "heavies".

 I especially like the moose antlers above the bar.

 Two jack stand lamps that I put together just before the show.

 The prop on the ladder bridge above the signs was pretty special.

 Another industrial light that I assembled.

 Lions and gears and grills - oh my!

Everything was packed high and tight for the trip home

The show had three times as many dealers this year over last so the competition was stiff.  There are a lot of talented people out there.  And the weather was fabulous.  It was the first summer like weekend of the season.  I am sure that many denizens of the Brainerd area decided to take their first boat outting over going to a show inside in the city.  My sales were good on Saturday but slow on Sunday. Two of the boys that worked for the show stayed to help me load a trailer and one half's worth of stuff unto my trailer, they were greatly appreciated.  I had a good time and I will do the show again next year.

Mr. Flannery

Victory in Europe

Sixty-nine years ago today the world celebrated the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allies at Eisenhower's headquaters in France.

 Paris

 New York

RAF crew with V sign.

Mr. Flannery

Are 15 Chairs Enough to Start a Sale?

So we went picking in Northern Minnesota yesterday.  It was a tough grind.  We found some stuff but it was a lot of sorting through piles and stacks to find nothing too special.  I was dirty, dusty, bloody and sore by the time we were finished.  We got chairs and truck parts and iron things of unknown origin.  Everything is saleable but nothing was special enough for me to want to keep it for my use.

We arrived at a farm with a dozen old out buildings.  The owner was amenable and told us that just about everything was for sale.  So we started walking his farmsted.

 The buildings were full of stuff.  All the tractor tires that we could ever want.

 There were precarious attics and piles on the piles.

 A row of buildings on the left was mirrored by a row on the right.

 The buildings have been there for a while.

 The junk in the rows had been overgrown by bush and trees.  The steel rims will be sold as fire rings.

 I really liked this green wheel, but detaching it from the defunct equipment was way beyond my capacities.

We were able to load 15 chairs, the hood from an Allis Chalmers tractor and iron bed and other assorted pieces into my truck for the trip home.

I have to unload the truck today.  All the chairs etc will be assembled on the driveway and powerwashed.  They will then be ready for the trip to Brainerd for the Olde Depot Junktion show on Memorial Day weekend.  I will have a bunch of "in the rough" junk to sell.

Mr. Flannery

Leaping into May at Second Hand Rose

Its time to set up for the May 4 day market at Second Hand Rose in Buffalo, Minnesota.  As usual I was finishing my set up on Sunday night and was working at the shop all by myself.  Well I tried to step from the ladder to a table so I could adjust a spot light.  I missed the table!  I fell onto an industrial table, a chair and finally the floor.  I scared the crap out of myself.  It had happened in slow motion.  I was falling, it was going to hurt and I could not alter my downward course.  It didn't hurt too much, nothing seemed to break so I laid on the floor contemplating what to do next.  I got up, I walked around a little and then I slumped into a chair.  I am all right.  I decided that I was finished with setting up.  And I am now starting to stiffen up as I watch TV.

My sales were not very good last month.  So I blew out my space, hauled out a trailer full of stuff and decided to start over.  I think that the space looks interesting, but I have a couple of pieces of furniture to add as soon as the torrential downpours stop and I can bring the pieces in without water damage.

 My favorite piece in a long time is the canvas painting of the burning bush from about 1890.  It adds a ton of color to my space.

 I have a spotlight mounted on a wood tripod illuminating the corner in front of one of the French door that I hung about 2 feet off the floor.

 The back wall includes a great industrial table with steel Queen Anne style legs.  The chalk board is a green coated 1/2 inch thick slab of slate from the Oliver Mines on Minnesota's Iron Range.  Next to it is a 105 year old umbrella stand in Moss Aztec glaze from Peters and Reed Pottery in South Zanesville, Ohio.

 I like the juxtaposition of the formal shaped legs and the industrial materials.

 There are two expanded mesh lockers in a cool turquoise flanking a great 6 shelf rolling rack.

 Another of my lamp projects.  This is an old electric heater (nee fire starter) that I converted into a table or wall lamp.

 The copper and rusted reflector adds a neat look to the lamp.

 I have about 10 of these brackets/hangers made from old horseshoes.

 The impressionist paint has a nice ambience to it.

And I have this crown shaped topper on a stand.  It appears to be old, but no one has come up with what it was used for.

Mr. Flannery

April and It Isn't a Million Degrees Below Zero

I am set up for the April 4 day sale at Second Hand Rose in Buffalo, Minnesota.  I am also hoping that at least for a few of the sale days the temperature will breach the freezing mark.  My space looks better than the grainy photos, but all I had was my phone to take pictures when I finished on Sunday evening.

The small desk is on casters and rolls easily.  The top folds down and a drop leaf on the back raises to create a dinner room size table.  Behind it are a small pair of French doors, all sanded and ready for the buyer's paint or stain.

Atop the chair is a basket constructed from branches.

Big (and heavy) mirror sits on a Art Deco buffet priced to sell at near wholesale.

The corner has a ladder, goose decoy, butterflies and other good things.

There are colorful chickens filling the west wall.

Niloak blue, Haggar gold and a brown transferware vase sit on the glass.

This dressing screen on rollers just needs the proper fabric to meet the buyer's screening needs.

A small bear skull sits on a heavy industrial style table which is planks on top of a steel base.

We are all hoping for good weather and a good turn-out.  Look for the hogs just inside the "other room" amongst all the roses.

Mr. Flannery

Hogs at Second Hand Rose for March 2014

  There is a whole herd of hogs lose at Second Hand Rose's for the March sale.  I finished up with a little cleaning and pricing today after working after 9 PM yesterday getting everything into place.  I like a lot of the pieces that I herded into the shop for the March sale.

 The homemade antique ladder rests against
two old desks repurposed into coffee tables.

 A great church stained glass panel rests atop
a Victorian cast metal faux bamboo hall tree.

 The Twin City Seed Separator has a glass top

so it can serve as a console or hall table.

 Art Deco walnut veneer buffet with a nice
industrial stool in front.

 A small four drawer parts cubby sits on top
of a great desk.  The desk top folds out with
two pieces making a 66" top.  Big enough to serve
as a dining room table.

 One of the expanding leaves on the
desk sits as a drop leaf off the back
of the desk when not in use.

 The ornament from the center of a neat automobile grille.

Two industrial Lobay Co. lights from the
Lutheran church gymnasium and a hand
made copper and forged iron hanging light.

It is going to be a good sale this month, our first of the year with temperatures above zero, and there is a lot of good junk to pick from.

Mr. Flannery

Floating Over the Tundra

Count Ferdinand von Zepplin took his first balloon ride in Minnesota in 1863.

Amazing what you learn while looking for something else.

Mr. Flannery

Mr. Flannery Can't Cook

  I graduated from high school in 1967 (when you do the calculation please remember I am an early Duggy Houser).  The brain trust that has always run American public education excluded me from the two high school classes that would have continuing relevance in my life.  Boys did not take typing or home ec.  So here I sit punching away on the computer with 4 fingers on the keyboard eating "food" that I made for myself.

 

  I have actually developed my own recipe for a slow cooked chicken stir fry.  I adapted a chicken recipe that I found on Pinterest and am eating right now.  I am using a low mileage crock pot that I am sure was a wedding present from 39 years ago.

 

  I forgot step one and did not spray the pot with Pam before I started.  Then I put a tray of chicken tenderloins in the pot covered with Walmart Smoked Honey BBQ Sauce, added drained pineapple chunks and a couple of sloshes of soy sauce.  Cooked on high for 4 hours then added chopped fresh broccoli, snow pea pods, chopped carrots, celery bamboo shoots and water chestnuts.  Cooked for another hour and served with white rice.

 

Mr. Flannery

An Expensive Junk Auction

    Its been tough getting out of the house during this infernal swath of horrific weather.  We haven't had too much snow recently.  Most of it went south and east of us to ravage the lower Midwest and East.  It went south because it has been too damn cold to snow here.  Day after day of -20* at night and low single digits for daytime highs.  We have cancelled two picking excursions because of the cold.  I am suffering from cabin fever.  I need to get out and search for some junk.

 

    Today I went to one of the few inside auctions that occur this time of the year.  This one was different.  Instead of the usual course of household goods and sleep inducing collectibles, the items at this auction looked and smelled like they had just been pulled from the barn or shed.  There were piles of pulleys, buckets of gears, boxes of tins and other good desirable junk.  Unfortunately normal summer junk prices were left in the in the dust.  I was outbid often.  Lots of people willing to spend more money than I would.  After the guns were sold the crowd started to thin out a little.  I bought the one item, a seed separator, that I specifically targeted from the ad.  I bought some other usable stuff, like copper coated electric heaters and milk strainers.

 

    I got my junking fix.  I got a few good items.  I got out of the house.  And it is only going down to -22* on Sunday night. 

 

The cart with my purchases.

Close-up of the graphics on the seed separator.

Mr. Flannery