Tire trouble update...

so... if you read the last post... you know about the tire trouble... and the lack of spare tire and whathaveyou...

I figured the best thing to do was pull off the blown out tire, take the danged thing, with a ride from a friendly neighbor, to the used tire store, and get a replacement, then put the tire on the truck... unfortunately, what I wasn't aware of at the time, is that the last time I'd had the tires changed, the lug nuts had somehow gotten stripped.  Which means the blasted things aren't moving. 

I got the lug wrench on there... tried to turn it... and the lug wrench snapped... Now, I've heard of lug wrenches snapping before.  But I'd never actually known it to happen... but this one did... and unfortunately in the process, my hand rammed into the pavement, and I now have bleeding fingers... one of them actually took a hit right in the cuticle of my nail which is the most esquisitely painful place to get a cut... and it didn't want to stop bleeding. 

Fortunately, I grew up on an Army base, and I knew exactly what to do... which is to sit on the curb screaming every curse word you know for the next 15 minutes.  Much to the amusement of my neighbors, I assure you.  

Finally, cold, frustrated, bleeding and thoroughly pissed off... I called a tow truck and had the thing towed to a used tire place.  Fortunately the Corpus Christi job 2 weeks ago paid well and I had the money.  I would have infinitely preffered to buy something else with the money... something silly like food or maybe pay a bill or two... but there we are. 

so... a few weeks ago... maybe almost a month ago... someone stole the spare tire on my truck.  I don't know why, I'm not aware of a huge black market for spare tires, but they evidently crawled under my truck, cut the cable that holds the spare on with a pair of chain cutters or something and made off with the spare. 

I put the word out for another spare, but never heard back and then yesterday, I had a blowout in the middle of the freeway in Dallas.  And NO SPARE.  Dammit all to hell...

Ended up having to get towed home.   Which means the account for my gas is now empty, and since I had my gas money, the other account was used for bills so no help there and I'm waiting to hear from work to see when an advance on my paycheck will come through. 

I used to hope for an uneventful week... lately I've been hoping for a single uneventful day... Oh well... 

Ok folks, it's Christmas at the flea market... and here's some of the things in my stall that we have for the holiday shoppers.  I wouldn't bother y'all with this sort of thing, except some of you seem to enjoy seeing what I have... I apologize for picture quality.  I'm stuck with a mobile phone at the moment... and the red background doesn't seem to condone pics for some reason.

First... there's a set of 8 of these powder horn beer glasses that would make somebody a wonderful present.  These are TIARA glass.  Tiara / Indiana Glass closed in 2002, and many of their pieces are coming into their own as collectables now... I'm pretty sure these date to the late seventies or early eighties. 

 Next on the flea market tour is this teapot from Fitz and Floyd.  It's a nice majolica piece that is in absolutely excellent condition.  No cracks, chips or even the tiny glaze flea bites that are the bane of majolica.  It's made to look like a Christmas cottage.  More a display piece than anything else... dating to the mid-eighties. 

And heres a pair of Fitz and Floyd salt and pepper shakers... I like these because the S and P's are actually usable pieces. 

More Tiara glass... this pair of beer steins are marked on the bottom and are in Tiara's 'black onyx'.  Definitely mid seventies here...

This pair of Salt and Pepper shakers in the Fitz and Floyd 'Damask Christmas' pattern are in their origional box... which is very important to collectors.  Early eighties. 

And I actually really really like these... dating to the late seventies, the tumbling reindeer are one of the earliest Christmas sets that Fitz and Floyd put out... there's a pair of candle holders, made to be centered on the table with the five cavorting reindeer surrounding them.  I once saw them in someones house worked into a table center with holly and pine, and it was quite striking.  These are in excellent condition. 

And that's a few of the pieces that we have in the Flea Market this week. 

On Friday, I officially spent 17 hours on the road.  The highlight of my day was a 400+ mile 'emergency' run to Corpus Christi.  Actually, I would have liked to have just found a cheap hotel room and stayed the night when I got there, but a quick check on my accounts showed that I couldn't really afford the room plus the gas back, so I turned around and came home, ariving about 2 am. 

That's one of the frustrating things about this job... yeah I go places, but all I see of them is the warehouse district.  True, this warehouse district had an interesting palm tree... but that doesn't really seem worth the trip. 

I spent all day Saturday dragging and nursing my knee.  Turns out my left knee doesn't particularly appreciate being asked to work a clutch for 17 hours straight.  When I woke up, it had stiffened up and didn't particularly want to bend.  A heating pad, elastic bandage and a certain amount of cussing seem to have finally convinced it, but today, Sunday, I won't be going to church.  I'm just too old to spring back from these things the way I used to.  I will however be listing some more on Craigs list... gonna sell off some Fitz & Floyd china that I have around here, and I have no use for.  Good thing about working in a flea market... I get tired of something, I have a place to get rid of it fairly easily. 

Speaking of Flea Market... There is a new one opening next year, and I've been approached about managing it.  Definitely interested. 

I'll attach links to the CL listings, or maybe just post some pics, later today...

well, everybody out there will be glad to know that the elephants in the last post... are sold... so, here's the whole story...  I bought that pair for 10 bucks.  Because they didn't have tusks. 

Believe it or not, I just happened to have tusks at home.  Actually, I think they started out as cow horns, but they were in my bit's n pieces box... so I glued them in, and resold the elephants for 25 bucks each.  

Well, that's what I do for money.  Oh well... if you people had enough sense to save your own elephant tusks, you could have saved a few bucks, right?