Nebraska Junk Jaunt

It's hard to post blog entries from my cell phone while standing on a hill near our cabin in Nebraska; hence the long lapse.  I'm using the wonderful little library in St. Paul and want to share pictures of my third annual Junk Jaunt experience.  Last year my sister, Marcelle, enjoyed the Jaunt and this year my other sister, Nancy, came to enjoy 300 miles of garage sales.
I love rusty things and this was certainly the most amusing. I didn't buy one of these but I was tempted.  Just think of the possibilities!

Part of the Junk Jaunt experience is sampling the local cuisine.  In Dannebrog, the Danish capitol of Nebraska, Rollie ordered a pulled pork sandwich from the booth outside while Nancy and I ventured into the deli where we saw this sign above the the deli.  I would like to meet Helen.

Marilyn!  You'll know why I took this picture.  These are painted, recycled boots from Wolbach, which by the way, is the very same place we bought our $30 washer and dryer for the cabin.  We're hoping to get it installed before we leave. 

This from Loup City, the Polish capitol of Nebraska.   I didn't stop here as it wasn't an official stop.

Nancy and Rollie with his real John Deere tractor seat (1847?). Nancy bought a WWII Army Air Corps uniform and a WWII Red Cross uniform, complete with cap and belt (wouldn't fit around any waist in this family!)

I had to buy these rusty drill bits from the St. Paul Historical Society.  Everything, including the wooden drawers and bins was $5.00.  A bargain.  These might be great for a wall collage.

Every quilter needs one of these.  No steam and very heavy.  This is Nancy's, I bought one last year.  That's Betty Crocker!

I love old keys and like to use them in jewelry and my books.  I actually bought the old clothespins thinking we could put up a clothesline.  However, my neighbor told me that it isn't easy to dry laundry outside in Nebraska because bugs can get into the sheets and clothes and raise hell (like Helen above) with your skin.  So, maybe I'll put these in a wall display with the rusty drill bits.

This fan "almost" works.  The blades are brass and I think that with a little cleaning inside, this will just whir away.  I could put it outside by the clothesline to keep bugs away?

My brother-in-law, Steve, collects matchbook covers and I bought a whole bag for him.  I bet he doesn't have any of these.  Click on the image to see a larger image.

For $30 and a "bit" of plumbing (oh yeah, we have to have an electrician install 220V), we may have ourselves a washing center.  At the moment, we save up our laundry for the Palmer Duds and Suds (combined car wash and laundromat and I'll let you think about this) and do 5 loads of laundry (wash and dry) in 2 hours.  This new machine may not be an improvement.

Raccoon track taken during a walk with Nancy, Rollie, and Cache.  We've seen raccoons, deer, owls, hawks, turkeys, and squirrels.  Cows and horses don't count.  We've heard coyotes (Cache doesn't get to go outside by herself at night) and seen the new beaver dams.

Unfortunately, we've seen lots of flies.  They just love our cabin for some reason.  When it's warm they are all over the place.  We were greeted with a load of them when we got back from the second day of the Junk Jaunt.  Fly strips are a new thing for me.  They aren't as appealing as they look and flies tend to fall off and stick to the floor below.

My sister was a real trooper and made good use of the shop vacuum Rollie bought.  The extra long hose made it possible to get the flies off of the ceiling.  A neighbor was visiting and mentioned that she hadn't seen any Japanese beetles this year.  I cringed because they look like lady bugs but BITE.  Well, they showed up today and they don't respond as well to the vacuum suction.

I fixed this German apple pancake for breakfast before Nancy left.  Do you see our little friend there on the stove?  Nancy got a real taste of what Nebraska was like and took her Junk Jaunt buys home in a suitcase that was big enough to carry me.  She said she will never look at flies in quite the same way.