Nothing much

...is new at the ranch. Spent last Saturday with an old- and new -co-worker at a local flea market, pawning our wares. Lots of leftover and extra goods I've had cluttering up the place for too long. It was an interesting early start- 4 AM -despite having stayed up too late the night before- 12 AM -gathering the goods and deciding what to keep and what to part with from those extraneous stores still stashed in the dining room, right inside the front door. Managed to pare the pile down by half and probably sold off three/fourths of that, lots of early birds, other wheeler-dealers, grabbing up the goods I had on the cheap for their own profit- more power to 'em! -and still lots of real customers throughout the rest of the day went home happified with some artifact or comic book or doll to call their own. I made enought to spring for a 1/18th scale Monkeemobile from the indoor die-cast dealer that I otherwise might not have splurged on- Hey, that's what 'found money' is for, right? -a modern vintage Magnus, Robot Fighter comic for 50 cents that I soon discovered was the first of two parts so now I'm looking for 'Part Two', enough to fill the gas tank- no mean feat these days! -,take us out to dinner Sunday afternoon and still have a little left over for the week. Not bad.

And it was fun too. Watching the people browsing(I always say if I could find a way to make a dollar watching people I'd be a millionaire! Okay, I just made that up...),making the rounds myself(I know two serious antique and collectible dealers- one is another former co-worker who caught me up on the rash of dead former co-workers from that place of employment; the other a fellow Bat-geek of longstanding acquaintance, the generally acknowledged 'King of Toy Scouts', York PA chapter. -who hold court in the permanent antique venue indoors.), checking out the fruits and vegetables and dusty doodads from vendors from all corners of the map. Got to talk at length to a mature gentleman who might have simply passed by but for another patron browsing my wares who asked, 'How much for the Cisco Kid cards?' The fellow stopped at the mention of his old nickname, turns out his family name is Rinaldo, somewhat akin to Cisco's Duncan Renaldo, hence the moniker given by his Army pals at the time the show was new. We talked about his stations in the Pacific during his time in the service, why he didn't fly to Hawaii with his brother-in-law several years ago- too long to sit, fear of forming blood clots -and his recent enjoyment of some old Flash Gordon serials on DVD which, naturally, led to talk, full circle, of my own recent fascination with Cisco and Pancho. I took his address and promised to send some Cisco episodes for his perusal, which I did this past week along with a downsized photo print of a flyer advertising Duncan Renaldo's availability for county fairs and rodeos from a 1957 Fairs trade publication. Feels good to share the joy, I hope he gets a real kick out of them and I think he will.

Otherwise it's business as usual. Work- I use the term verrry loosely -at the toy store this week was interesting, little experience on the customer service end of things, spaghetti dinner courtesy of a fellow worker(hope we're scheduled together again soon!)and carpooling to and fro with my flea market cohort so we had plenty to yap about in addition to the usual toys and comics banter.

Hey, I've got a box on the way for the last of my little vintage Bonanza dolls who came without, the nefarious Outlaw. Exciting stuff! He's hard to come by in his own right but with his box to call home? Forget about it! So I'm looking forward to that arriving in the mail sometime this week. Not to mention swell homespun boxes for my own homemade Cartwrights nearing completion! My sewing lady will be so happy! She's saving a set for her heirs- "Look what your Grandma made once upon a time, kids." -so it'll make a nice presentation package for them.

And so it goes. Got my bike tightened up so that's back in action, yay! Grill has been getting a workout, who wants to heat up the house with the oven in the summertime anyway?!? Cat is being catlike, has started chewing in frustration on the mini-blinds at the living room windows when she can't get a look out at the wild things she can't get to and wouldn't know what to do with if she did. Hoo boy, the joy of living with domesticated creatures... Gimme a goldfish any day...! Or a nice friendly dog who's smart enough to listen but too stupid to make like he rules the roost...!