Our Adventures Amongst The Ducks: Saling, Uncle Bobby and Marissa

We are still a few weeks behind on our blog but we are catching up and will be up to date soon!

The fourth weekend in June was another real busy one. We only had two days this weekend and we filled it to the brim. We planned another trip out to Monica's late Uncle Bobby's house as we continue the daunting task of cleaning the houses. An October estate sale is planned which we, along from help from other relatives, will run ourselves sometime in October. There is lots of work to do before then and that not only includes separating the junk, the sellable items, the mementos (to take home) and the personal items (letters and pictures which will divided amongst several relatives. It will take several more trips (and by trips, we mean the drive of an hour each way) but we will get it done by October. Our first order of business this weekend would be to go to a couple of estate sales before heading out east. We had seven potential sales but we knew we wouldn't make most of them. In the end, we made two of them and that is where our tale begins.

Sale #1 was in the next town and was a perfect first choice. It was described as "lifetime contents since the 1950's" and the title was enough of a draw for us. Add the fact that it was close and began early (8am) and there was no doubt that this was our first destination.

There was a main floor, a basement and this very colorful room which became their indoor patio.

The sale was run by the family of the deceased and there were many interesting things inside this house. This light was definitely a consideration but, in the end, it did not come home with us. What did come home with us was a Christmas mica house and a cookbook. It was a pretty slow start but we enjoyed the house and that means a lot. The next stop would be breakfast before moving on to what would turn out to be our final sale of the weekend.

Our second sale was run by one of our favorite tag sale companies and was a "lifelong house of a single woman". The house was going to be demolished. This is the back of the house, our first view of it since we had to park down the block.

A view of the front of the house and this tag sale company's familiar sign

This cabinet, in the kitchen, would have been ideal for us

Even more ideal since it had this great boomerang countertop! Alas, we have no room for it.

This cool bar, on the main floor, had...

you guessed it...a boomerang countertop!

The wooden cabinets in the kitchen were really cool and just required a little refinishing. What is that above the sink?

It was a very unique three section refrigerator!

There was also an old stove built into the wall.

There was a basement that we still had to see but our host, Ron, asked Rob for some help in the garage

No, it was not to test drive this old Chevy Nova which was modified for racing

It was to help him get the boxes down from the rafters. Rob, gladly, obliged by climbing up a ladder and handing everyone down to Rob. Unfortunately, there were no finds up there

We eventually made it to the basement which was a dusty, dirty mess

The bathroom floor was once cool. Now, it is falling apart

This was one of the home's bathrooms and, clearly, original to the house.

This very cool light fixture was in that bathroom. Starburst!

Here's another view of that bathroom. A great sink and a great countertop.

The second bathroom was mostly original and, aside from that floor was great. To the left of the vanity on the right is a recessed toothbrush holder and soap dish. It spins to hide them when not in use. It took only a flathead screwdriver and the removal of two screws and it was removed from the wall...and came home with us along with so many other things!

The saling portion of our weekend was over early but not without bringing home a few "necessary items". Here is what we found:

Some records

Books and a roadmap

Three vintage Florida handkerchiefs

A 1960's bathing suit that our mannequin, Sharon, will soon wear.

This is the label inside the bathing suit

A Holiday Inn fly swatter, two vintage boxes of sparklers, a deck of Pan Am playing cards, a Trader Vic cocktail pick, some vintage coasters, a few old matchbooks, some vintage plastic birds and some old souvenir picture viewers

A crocheted pink poodle (to cover nail polish) and a pair of owl salt and pepper shakers (marked Japan)

A Ralph Malph glass. These were promotional items from Pizza Hut in the 1970's

Ayyyyy...we will have to collect them all.

Some Christmas things. The rubber Santa was made in Hong Kong. The elf and the mica house are marked Japan

The vintage recessed toothbrush holder and soap dish

When not in use, it can close to hide the toothbrushes and soap

We went home, took quick showers (it was hot) and made the drive out east to Uncle Bobby;s house where it was just as hot, especially in the attic which is where we did most of our work this day. We didn't let it get to us. That's Uncle Bobby's best friend, Janet, and Monica's sister posing in the attic.

Monica making her way up the stairs and into the attic. We spent hours there but had to take breaks to cool off!

As the day turned into evening, the deer came around to graze

They were not alarmed by us. They knew we meant them no harm

So, we found lots of things in the attic and brought almost everything down. This 1940's Marx tin train was up there and so were five other train cars from this set (as well as the box that they came in). The suggested selling price is $10 per car (more for the locomotive which was one of the cars) and we will bring these out for the estate sale in October along with several other things. We also found some things for us to bring home. Here they are:

Nature books

Cookbooks and "Eastern Shame Girl"

An old railroad souvenir postcard, an old roadmap, a vintage greeting card and a postcard book from the 1939 New York World's Fair

A Christmas decoration

A vintage elephant glass

An old Piels ice bucket (from 1959) and a Bohack beer can. Monica loves Bohack! It was the supermarket her family went to when she was a kid

A vintage Howard Miller clock that is intact but needs some surface work which we will provide.

A vintage plastic "Pastries" cake dish

When we made it home Saturday night, it was pretty late and there wasn't too much left of our Saturday but we still had Sunday. We needed to be in a highly productive state as Sunday began to get all of our chores and errands done early because it was our Marissa's (our niece) birthday. We were up to the task and all ready when the festivities began.