Book Board Chat

Hey peeps. I know, I know,....it's been a long time. First off Mrs Briguy and myself are fine! I'm older, fatter, balder, and even more of a sarcastic smart ass then before! So yeah, things are going well! Not much to report in the world of stamps. Sort of on the back burner since I've adopted mental detecting. (yet kept the old AOL/EBay accounts open -- still do a little) Some things have remained the same. It used to be "Did you spend $400 on an old cover from Tennessee?....well did you??". Now its, did you spend $400 on a " non ferrous eliminating sport detecting coil"?....well, did you??...uuuuuhm.....yeah, that was me. 🙁

Don't get me wrong, she supports this! She's often said that unlike other men, I don't harbor dreams of red convertibles and blonde bimbos. My midlife issue is pestering her constantly for more batteries. Serves her right, as she has a Cost-Co card WITHOUT my name on it. I can't even go get a cheap hot dog!

BTW -- I've officially retired now. Mrs Briguy has put in her papers too....she's out in 2 more years. As of last year we paid off the house. It's utterly ours now. Shockingly, this makes me want to sell it, and drunkenly travel the country in a Winnebago. Thank God I have her to stop these urges.

She has allowed me and a guy from our church I've befriended to buy an old trailer.....in Wisconsin....next to the Fox river. Yep, we've been fishing and PLOTTING. Next up is an old 16" boat and a small outboard.....but, shhhhh....you didn't read that here. So yeah, I'm becoming like Earnest Hemingway, chasing the wild walleyes....although I still can't spell and have no grasp of syntax. WORSE YET...I puttered around the farm field across from our trailer ...and found a 1848 large cent! My friend has zero concept of me not wanting to head to the dam for the whitefish run.....because I want to go dig precise holes in the cut bean field across the street.

Each man is allowed only so much time in his life.

I hope everyone here has has a wonderful happy life themselves. I know it's been,........geeze....eight years?- since I plopped in a post. I'll try to keep it less extended next time.

Love you all -- the Briguy

I feel a bit guilty. After so many years, I pop back up and true to my old form, quickly launch a debate on the evils of covid rules, dangers of cruise ships, etc. So time for something positive. Bare with me, feel good happy stuff isn't my usual forte. Besides, you're all still locked down in isolation anyway, so at least its something to read.

....and now for something completely different.

GOOD NEWS! The tuna are back! By "tuna" I mean the 1000+ lb monster blue fins you see being caught on cable reality shows. The critters that super high quality sushi and sashimi come from. For years such treats have been essentially banned in the USA at any price, because the population crashed from over fishing (like 90% decline), leading to it being listed as an endangered/threatened species. What few were taken ended up on cargo jets exported straight to Japan.

Not any more! The NOAA and US fishery people have reported such incredible restoration success, the Atlantic Blue Fin was just delisted from the endangered species act! You can sell them in the US again, have REAL sushi again....and most importantly for average Joe recreational fishermen (AKA - me) soon LEGALLY attempt a Hemingway style old man and the sea type adventure. No more fears of ending up in Leavenworth making little rocks from big ones! (gonna need a bigger boat tho). :o)

If you've never had a bit of genuine maguro, specifically a thin slice of the belly portion on nothing more then vinegared rice, you have missed out. Yeah, yeah i know, some of you are going "Ewww, raw fish". If that's you, reconsider just this once. Lets face it, eventually all pandemics end, you'll be popping your head out of the basement to see that bright orb in the sky again, perhaps even fully venturing out to sit down and have an actual HUMAN hand you food. You still remember restaurants, don't you? Reward yourself for surviving. As a plus, a couple of small pieces of hyper expensive blue fin will still only set you back around $5-6 bucks.

If they do it right it will come out glistening, literally shimmering from its natural oils. (Yes - the good for you Omega3 stuff). It will literally, and yep I do mean literally, MELT in your mouth. A sweet ocean like completely non fishy flavor, exploding with a soft bouquet that will remind you of aromatic flowers. Hey, fifty million Japanese can't all be wrong.

So there is your happy bunny and sunshine story for the day. We very nearly ate the giant blue fin into extinction, but thankfully people also possessed the necessary restraint to bring them back. So go try some without guilt.

Betcha didn't see a fish story coming. Now if you'll excuse me, that paragraph with gourmet flavor descriptions sort of got to me. I think I still have half a bag of stale chips around here somewhere......

Well Mrs Briguy, her sister, and my brother in law all have a cough,sniffles, and headaches (somehow, I don't). Rut-roh! So they took off, sat in a queue for 2 hours at a drive through covid test site, and just got back the results. All are negative. Apparently the good 'ol traditional flu still exists too.

Then as I'm typing this, for the second time today an official goob-r-mint PSA warning has played on my computers background radio. I'm sternly warned to NOT book any tickets on a cruise ship. Defy what they advise and I'll for certain die horribly of covid along with my loved ones and my pets! Say whaaaa?!? Have these bureaucratic numb nuts ever heard of an airplane? In case they haven't, and one of them stumbles into this chat, let me enlighten you. An "airplane" is a long steel tube where passengers are jammed in closer together then sardines in a tin. For that matter, pull the wings off and add wheels underneath, and its called "Amtrak". Are they serious? I'm being advised that planes and trains are perfectly OK, but get on a cruise ship and its a dangerous X sport? Perhaps frequent poster here Jim, who likes to cruise, can detail for us what makes cruise ships so different?

My guesses?

1) Cruise ships being basically large floating 24/7 buffets, its those communal buffets that worry our overlords.

2) The cruise industry has told Fauci to go pound sand we're gonna sail anyway, and thus the PSA are a form of punishment.

3) The cruise industry has been caught contributing to Republican candidates, thus they must be smitten.

Honestly, what gives? If I owned a cruise ship...I'd be seriously cheesed off.

Mrs Briguy and myself were supposed to have a dinner date/bible reading tonight with one of our church elders. Crown roast no less (ya know, PRIME RIB). Nope. Their kid just tested covid positive this morning. Mrs Briguy put her heart and soul into cooking the best meat we've seen in a month (i've been living on questionable hot dogs). Me?...well, I shoveled the ding dang diddly darn drive for NOTHING!! Now I'm 20 minutes from doing a delivery type Uber eats thingie.....dropping some yummy crown roast off on their porch and ....running away. :o(

I'm sooo sick of this....we're both vaxxed and boosted. This ain't fair! I'm ready to join Arron Rogers an protest this stupidity. You saw my post last night.....I've spent YEARS digging in fetid ditches while detecting. I'll bet my natural resistance at this point would let me drink live Ebola and be fine. Enough is Enough!

Sigh.

I'd belt out Auld Lang Syne, but a few of you have heard me sing and that's no way to start a new year.

Yeah, its really me. Well, older, fatter, balder, and way more cynical....but me. :o)

Zillions o' things to update but I'll just hit a few of them. Mrs Briguy is still around. Soon we'll be celebrating the big 30. Sadly, most of the old stamp crowd many of you remember from the EBay days have gone to time, like poor Ebozo or Steamboat Bill from your own chat. I prefer to think of it like the way the Sioux do....if they still dance through your memories, then they aren't really gone. WOW. Just read back and its sounding depressing and dark already. Wasn't the intent! I simply found the old BB link and wistfully remembered some good old chat times and people.

My stamp collecting has definitely taken a back seat. Only added two new items this whole year. My other love (metal detecting) has instead gone full bore OCD. Last 10 years I've dredged up about 400+ old silver coins (+ 13 gold rings). Like the stamp collection I've kept them all hoarder style, instructing Mrs Briguy if anything tragic ever happens to dispose of them with me...on the burning raft....Viking style. I suppose its not all that different then the stamps, which was always my attempt to touch history (sort of like old books), I just took it from 2D to 3D ...and outdoors!. Its been great for my health too. Wandering through nature at old farm sites and forests has Arnold Schwarzenegger jealous of my calves and thighs (above the waist I still look like Mickey Rooney). So I guess you can say I've stayed happy healthy and active.

Of course its snowing heavy in Chicago right now, hence marking the end of my wandering the woods season. Now starts the shovel snow season. Oh yeah!, I forgot to mention, we bought a house! and damn it....it has a paved drive, so with that comes cruel expectations. ;o(

Well I'm off to munch leftover Christmas cookies as I read back- back- back down the BB chat.....vicariously reliving all your fun times and adventures.

I hope for each and every one of you your 2022 turns out to be filled with joy.

How to tell if you've aged enough to become eligible for the 'ol pharts curmudgeon club?

Hmmm. Here's a good one. I remember going out trick or treating....and getting candy cigarettes as the treat.

These days that is a visit by a SWAT team.

Hiya all!

I know its been awhile, but I'm happy to report all is well here with no members of the Briguy troop having/or had the big one (covid). Wheeee. :o)

I thought of the BB tonight! I was watching the local access news (college kids) report on the days events, and I couldn't help it. Tonight's "local interest" story was a 103 year old lady, currently in nearby rest home. Why is she of interest? Well it turns out she caught and survived the infamous 1918 flu....only to catch and survive covid-19 some 100+ years later. Obviously, she sailed through both those horrors easily, or we wouldn't have a story here. I was interested., seeing I gleefully wallow through fetid swamps with my metal detector, certain one more Indian head penny really does remain deep in the goop. If she's found the secret to magical immunity from Earth's biology.......I'm in!

So this teenage girl, clearly eager in her first day as a live mobile TV journalist, leaned in towards her. Softly she asked the question we all want and expect to hear . "So what is your secret to having survived both pandemics, a depression, two world wars, and 103 years?"

The old lady exploded, yelling out like a klaxon, clearly not at all hard of hearing. "You damn kids, fifteen times today you asked me that same thing.. ."Its CIGARETTES!! Ya stay active, Ya read everything you can.....aaaan ya smoke lots of cigarettes!!"

Mrs Briguy literally tumbled off the couch giggling. "Oooooh Brian, you've finally found the example you need to justify your stupidity" ( I still smoke) . I (also laughing), choked out - "that reminds me of several of the crusty book sellers from the old EBay BB chat.....heck, she might be one of them". I miss those ladies.

Which explains why I posted......

I hope each and every one of you is doing well.
Love, the Briguy.

Diane -- You're doing this wrong. Tamales?....lime juice?.....I'll loan you my solid tool steel, circa 1984, bolt the sucker to your counter, made in Poland at a Soviet tank factory -- MEAT GRINDER.

Sausages baby.

Only way to get through this. :o)

In case you're wondering, I did call a fellow church member, who has become my BFF/ worst competition at metal detecting. Told him all.about my glorious golden find. He he he. ;o) Being Christians surrounded by a pandemic.....I relented and took him to THE gold site. Son of a #@*&%, the guy pulls up a 1911 silver dime which far out dates the actual existence of the school. ARRRRRGH!! Had to have been lost by the farmer who owned the field a century+ before. It ain't right....it just ain't right. :o(

Then we exchanged batches of cookies our respective wives made (a big deal for them), wished each other well, and went back to sheltering in place (with cookies!).

We'll all get though this.
You KNOW we'll all get through this.
Your Grandma got through this in 1918. (without Netflix)
You will too.

Everyone keep your spirits up.

So....ready for this??

I DO NOT deal with "shelter in place" well. I've always been an active, albeit semi hermit sort of a guy. Don't get me wrong, I don't tend to run up to folks and cough on them. I care enough to stay apart the proper distance and then some. In fact, wandering open fields alone with my metal detector has always been a hobby of mine, long before we were instructed to never interact with any other humans in any way.

Tonight I did just that. Wandered behind the local junior high school alone, in their 50+ acre open grass field where the kids used to play soccer before the world ended. Now its just.....big...open...expansive green grass. So tonight I found seven quarters, two dimes, and too many crusty pennies to count. :o)

Now I love $2 in dirty change like anyone else would (that was the goal).....but then I got "ziiiiiip"......ziiiiip"......reading 50 on my scale.....each way...every time....."ziiiiip". Bent down, and flicked out less then 1" deep, a 2.5 gram 18K pendent of Joseph holding baby Jesus. Wheeeee!! According to the internet, that's a melt value today of $101.

If not for corona driving the kiddos away from their field,.....I'd be $100 poorer! This apocalypse thingie has its OK side effects too. :o)

Maybe I'll buy some used jigsaw puzzles off EBay for Mrs Briguy.......

dupo Sorry to hear about the cat. I had to put down my late fathers last surviving hunting dog when the poor thing became too feeble to even walk. I know it tears you up inside but try to remember it lived a happy long life with those it knew and loved. You faithfully did your part.

aaaaand now, a cute smile for the guys of the BB chat (basically Jim & me).

Did the milk & bread run yesterday and drove past the areas only "gentlemen's club". The marquee read "Due to corona -- Sorry....we're clothed". Ah ha ha ha!

Everyone here is still safe and healthy. Sanity increasingly questionable though.....have now watched the entire span of "Mr Bean" reruns from the BBC. Likely didn't help with the sanity issues......

Everyone stay safe!

Ah ha ha. "Kentucky" was supposed to be a HTML strikeout. See? Somethings do always remain the same. :o)

Also, kudos to whoever incorporated a spell checker into this chat post box. Suddenly I appear more intelligent.

-- e.e. cummings briguy

Jim LOL! Ironically, I remember it. Well, sort of.....I remember what it was (we invented our own alternate ending). Raiders of the Lost Ark. So yeah, pretty good movie . I also remember that it cost all of $1.25 to get in, and that EVERY kid 14-22 for 60 miles around was there. They had a full 50's style diner behind the concession stand and a huge video/pinball arcade behind that, plus a lit up putt-putt golf course. The place was the young people hang out for three counties. Last time i was up in central MN fishing, I drove past it. Still there! Didn't Mark Twain have a quote "Lord if I'm to die today please let me be in Kentucky no. central MN, because everything there happens twenty years late.

Considering its Easter Sunday, maybe its time to reflect on my own musings above. Sure, we went to church this morning and took communion (via chrome book), and right now Ms Briguy is jamming cloves into a small ham that will be our dinner tonight. So somethings remain the same even as the world is on fire around us. If a rural drive in with a decked out in chrome diner can still persist well into the 21st century.... there WILL someday be another BB picnic. I'll make smoked fish again, we'll toss all the unsold jigsaw puzzles into the pyre, as we toast Steamboat Bill, Ebozo, and all the other fallen we remember.

Keep positive and carry on, for he has risen indeed!

A happy Easter to all.

Ahhhh, drive in theaters!....in MN no less!!

I once spend 3 hours in handcuffs in no. central MN, after being caught at the drive in the back of a station wagon.....nakkie under a blanket. I was 19....and the girl (also nakkie) was 18. Problem was, she was also the daughter of one of the grand total of three police officers in that town. Whoops.

She left the station sulking with Dad yelling at her. I left the station (no charges -- what can you do to 18-19 yo's anyway?) also sulking with Dad yelling at me. I was further banned from using the family car the rest of the vacation, AND Mom made me vacuum/shampoo the back. Reflecting on this today....i would change nothing. :o)

Aren't ya'all glad you accepted me back to comment on current themes? ;o)

Jim -- I don't get it either. We're supposed to be sheltering our homes too. When I called a few people from our church to check up on them and say "hi", they were horrified to hear I'd spent a couple of hours out wandering completely alone in a field. I mean I get the concept, stop having close social contacts. The extent of mine yesterday was to wave to my farmer friend and exchange brief pleasantries from 50+ feet away.

Whats the alternative? Stay sedentary on the couch eating chips until I become diabetic and a ripe corona target anyway?

A week before I went to the Chicago lake front alone with my fishing pole, trying to catch a salmon (failed). Then the mayor noticed groups of dimwits were gathering in the parks to play soccer and stuff. BAM! -- close the lakefront parks. Now I can't even sit quietly alone by the lake and ruminate about the end of times, or my version of the apocalypse will include a $500 ticket!

I like what Sweden has done. Advise people on the best practices and then trust that their citizens aren't eager to kill themselves. Of course, that's Sweden, and this is the US where rank stupidity runs rampant. grrrrr.

Gail.....my wife was an EBay seller of "Dawn" dolls.....got like....$500+ once for a rare one....as a stamp collector....i was gobsmacked (and humbled)....yes, she still has a massive collection of them (and depression glass), but no longer sells.
As for my metal detecting tonight.....2 1/2 hours of wandering ....four coins....one 1969 modern dime (worth all of a dime....grrrr)...one 1935 buffalo nickel....and two modern pennies found laying on the surface.

You can't win them all or it wouldn't be fun.

At least I got out and was able to wander under the Sun in a farm field. Sitting at home under "social isolation"....eating chips and watching Gilligan Island reruns....just ain't healthy, mentally or physically.

I apologize for not keeping in touch and promise to stay connected more. Yes, I'm aware I've reared my head on April fools day (lol!)....a true Ebozo sort of move. Anyone seen /heard from him??

Again.....nice to see you all!

Uhhhhm.....hello!

Yep, I still exist. Quite the challenge trying to reset my password here, felt like I was trying to hack NORAD or something. No matter, here now!

I'll be back this evening to chat. Right now I'm going to pick up a gallon of milk, then practice "social distancing".....or as i call it....wandering alone in a forest with a metal detector hoping for goodies. Yeah, THAT is the hobby to pick up if you want to perfect a socially distant, hermit like lifestyle.....become the adult version of a skate border (hey you.....git on outta here!)

BTW -- We're fine here...and yes, Mrs Briguy and I are both doing fine and corona free. :o)

Miss you all.....chat with you soon

Someone....please shoot me.

Mrs Briguy just got back from shopping, with a big grin on her face. She produced TWO more Perdue fresh turkeys -- "I got these for 75% off.....isn't that great!?! ....75% off!!"

I nodded silently, allowing her to savor her victory, then went into the bathroom and scremed into a towel.

Whatever your personal situation is, your love/hate for left over turkey bits.......

I'm about to get it in triplicate. :o(

Clemmie -- My metal detecting to blow off steam has been very VERY good to me. I now have 125 or so silver coins, 100+ rings/jewlery bits in silver, .....and 6 items of gold. Not to mention the exercise, time in the Sun, and the mental elation. All told its true I likely spent 5K in gas and sundires to bring back 3-4K in bling, but as hobbies go,.....that's a pretty sweet rebate! :o)

For veterans day I'd like everyone to know that yesterday they held the 71st and now the final reunion of the Raiders. By Raiders I mean as in Jimmy Doolittle's boys who bombed Tokyo in 1942. They started off 80 strong, and are now sadly down to only four....three of whom could attend their final reunion.

They sat silently as 77 other names were called out without response, only three times in the roll did an aged man (average age now 95) call back -- "HERE!". Then they had one last prayer together, one last group toast to their friends of Jimmy Doolittle's personal stash of 1896 cognac....then together.....they closed the rolls.

May this country see another generation like theirs again.

May we never have to need one like theirs again.

Clemmie.....Well, no moonshine....but a couple of beers were drunk!

I ended up with three wheat pennies.
No. No shimmering silver pieces today. :o(
Thats why they call it "hunting" instead of gathering and collecting.

Oh well, as Scalett said: "Tomorrow is another day"

I figure I've got 30-40 years more (50 if I quit smoking) to find that long lost Viking silver hoard.

........or Jimmy Hoffa

S-S-S-Saturday!

Mrs Briguy has it in her head today to make homemade chicken & dumplings (mmmmm). When she gets these urges it means starting with whole chickens and raw flour. Hours and hours doing it the traditional Mennonite farm girl way. Then I scarf it all up like a hungry animal, leaving no leftovers.

I, of course, am banned from the kitchen during the whole process.

I'm cool with that. There is a old 1950's drive in movie theater nearby. Well, what remains of one. Now its a spooky overgrown tangle, complete still only with semi circular posts in concrete (where the speakers used to be). A perfect sort place to film Friday the 13th part #18. Even scarier rumors have been whispered, implying I was actually conceived at this very site long ago,... in the back seat of a 1960 Chevy. Yipes.

It's also the ideal spot to find Mercury dimes. :o) I even found a silver quarter the last trip! he he he.

What better Saturday is there? A crisp fall day of dirt fishing for gems.....then a warm meal from scratch, served by a hot wife, is waiting for me.

I'm starting to worrry I'm being "prepped" for some terrible news.........

Three. Thanks to heavy rain, a grand total of three Holloween beggers. Number of "fun" sized candy at the ready? -- 120 teeny bars. :o)

Briguy is gonna need some donated insulin soon.

..............and the BB crowd is a great place to ask.

GinnyRose -- Bingo. The first $5 stamp was part of the first ever postal commemorative series, issued in conjuction with the 1892-93 Columbian Exposition. Not only a $5 stamp...but a $4, $3, $2, and $1 stamp too! Virtually no use for such high denominations back then....other then milking collectors out of their $$. Needless to say, $5 was a HUGE amount of money back then so few sold (quite valuable today).

Large denomination stamps (especially 19th century ones) are another clue you might have one heck of an old album that came in with the boxes of RDCB books! When you flip to the page for the 1850's (standard letter cost 3c back then)....and the collector has nice examples of 30c or 90c stamps of that series......you've got a winner.

As hypothesized, most mega denomination stamps had a purpose. Like 24 cents to cover exactly the Trans-Atlantic treaty rate for letters, etc. The 90c stamp was also designed for, as guessed, boxes and crates as well as oversized registered mailings. That 90c stamp still stands alone today as the only USPS issue to be worth factors more USED, then unused. Released to the public in Dec 1860, surviving postal records indicate as few as 20,000 were ever sold (a minscule number for a stamp). That figure is the grand total for ALL post offices nationwide. Shortly after its issuance, southern states started leaving the union. In a panic, the Post Office declared all currently existing stamp issues invalid (so stocks in southern PO's couldn't be traded for things like -- guns) . Today an example of a nice unused #39 (Scott # for the 90c Washington) will go for about $1000-$1500. If you have a genuine USED one....most like $20,000+ . Still on an original envelope or box panel? -- NAME YOUR PRICE. (I read once that only ONE still intact item has survived the ages with that stamp on it) So a six figure value...perhaps soon, seven.

OK. I'm babbling now....off to sell some stuff....so i can....uhhhm.......buy more stamps.

Stamphick.....OK, you got me there.....i'd even save those used!

Dupo -- "Kiloware" ,stamps sold on torn of corners by the tonnage. They ended up in random .99c "Stamps of the world" sacks at Woolworth's, yet another place like the Zenith dumpsters i got booted out of (I was caught opening them all up and cherry picking the good ones).

My poor mother got quite a few of the "YOUR KID did this" stamp related calls when i was young........

Diane....exactly! I got luckier, living near the warranttee center for Zenith TV's. People would ship them in for repairs in CRATES.....festooned with $1, $2, & $5 stamps....blocks of them! I still have a strip of 6 used $5 Hamiltons, complete with plate # selvage....on a corrugated box address panel. Now THERE is a "modern" stamp thingie (early 1950's) worth some scratch!

I got all these by age ten. Riding my bike down to their dumpsters, and hurling myself inside to root around. Finally a manager snagged me by the ear, called my parents....and poof....there went that honey hole. :o(

Okaaaay, interesting. BB chat has sent me an email, notifying me someone here has mentioned me (finally i EXIST in social media!). I found a week old (March 3rd) email form Mercy about stamps...and today's notice I have an email...and no other emails.

Folks, I know my job here. I'm the BB's hot looking 19th century mountain man, decked out in full flannel. Here I detail how to catch and clean fish, find old coins with a detector, or decypher the value nuances of 150 year old classic postage stamps. You'd think that would be more then enough to coast through life hapilly as treasured gadfly, but no. The 21st century got in my way.

I can barely log onto computers, struggle mastering email, refuse to have a Facebook page, and yes peeps......I'm a cyber virgin, NEVER ONCE, have I ever "tweeted" (but it sounds fun). Texting? No thank you, sounds suspiciously like witchcraft to me. You're lucky I carry a cell phone......

That said, I apologize for responding to the email i did get, right here publically, a week later. LOL! (have no fear, a guy like me will win your next auction, never fails).

Mercy -- Quick Stamp Primer -- Most stamps are worthless. They provide hours of enjoyment and relaxation, and yes, even education for the kids, but most are worth mear pennies, if that.

"OLD" to a philatelist, usually means pre 1900. Rare to philatelists MEANS rare. -- as in less then 10 known, that sort of thing.

I said that because 98% of the time anything worth hooting about in an old collection will be found in the pre 1900 pages.

Mercy......why not do full scans of the first few pages of the album, let Stamphick, Bob, and I chime in on any gems we see. Lots of lurkers here too (free advertising!) Maybe.....as a couple of links....so as not to colorfully wallpaper the whole chat.

I look forward to seeing them. (please please please -- have some old Confererate stampless covers....i need the stimulation)

It's decided.....if I ever have to know, as in RIGHT NOW,... the correct amount to bribe a Mexican cop.....

........I'm calling Jim on the cell phone.

Clem.....as for Mrs Briguy she'll be back with a vengence soon, I suspect. She's got her own seller's ID now but was CHEESED off big time over EBay's policy of only 10 auctions per month for the fisrt three months. I think she did 10-10-then zero......School took over.

She says she's got 50-60 more ready to go....but only after she's off in a few more months.

Jim -- I'm located just outside of Chicago. Weatherman says not over freezing for the next week out. Oh sure, i can go out there and HEAR the things i lust for int he ground......but i'd need a pneumatic hammer to get them out.

Faced with such lemons, this displaced redneck.....opts to go ice fishing.

Ground always thaw eventually....and any 1897 quarter out there......can just wait a few more months. :o)

Dan --- Whoa.

Such is the curse of the metal detectorist 50 years later (we can suppose...but never really KNOW). I mean, you might be righ! My mind took me to a guy who wandered 500 yards from a parking lot....downed a couple of bottles of the hard stuff....then burried his now broken pledge on top of the empties in a clear act of rebellion/defiance.

You got me which. I'm still the "young whipper-snapper" here. I was born in the 1960's. The gin bottles i found both had lead seal cap rings on them....dating them to about the 1940's. I tossed the empty glass into the proper trash containers, and gave my wife the sad little sobriety token. She promised to pray over it with her prayer group, for the troubled soul who felt the need to perform such a secret burrial ceremony so long ago.

We'll never know exactly what....but someone was wrestling with some pretty scary demons under that very tree ....20 odd years before I was born. :o(

A WARNING to all you prospective metal detectorists....might not just be pop tabs and pennies you unearth....but a few deep thought prevoking insights into humanity as well........

Beth -- Interesting! Your outlook is exactly like that of Mrs Briguy. She loves the old bits of broken jewlery I find most, fawning over them, pondering what past stories they hold. Me? I get all the jollies I need from plain old Mercury dimes.

I wonder....could the way we see things be gender based?

A more sad story -- Once I got the "perfect" detector hit right next to a tree, way out there in the middle of nowhere in a forrest. Bing! Bing!....a large item likely copper/brass (people don't tend to toss away copper/brass items in a forrest -- its usually something they lost). Eight inches down I found two half pint bottles of gin (empty)...and lying burried on top of them.....a brass AA token -- "I'm three years sober!"

Not hard to unravel that scenerio, sadly.

Old secrets revealed!

Yeah, a thick coating of global warming dust (snow) and 20 degree days are keeping me from digging up more cool stuff (metal detector). However old mysteries are still being solved! Specifically the mystery of the gold locket. First off the gold locked isn't really gold, its gold plated brass, 2 1/2' long, 1" wide. All over it are hand scrolled little flowers and hummingbirds. My best guess is about 1880 for its age. It was found 6" down on the side of an old toboggan hill, and after i cleaned out my shorts (initially thinking it was about an ounce of real gold), we could hear something rattling around in it. Diamonds?....Rubies? Despite hearing it, the latch was gunked shut by more then a century underground. So we dropped it into a bottle of methanol and left it be, once again counting on time to fix things.

Well it worked!....I tried the latch today.....and *snick*.....it opens up like the day it was made. .....and inside???....a lock of hair crimped together with a bit of copper wire. Ewwwww. All that patient waiting and uncommon for me - a thoughful/careful approach (I wanted to jimmy it with a screw driver on day #1.....but Mrs Briguy said no). What's our reward?

A moldy 19th century lock of hair from some dead guy. :o(

OR..... as it'll be listed on EBay....quite POSSIBLY......Josephine's locket, ....complete with Napoleon's hair!! :o)

Clem -- Too funny about selling your Garrett. I happen to swing one of those, AND my "first steps" were just as pathetic. I remember coming home utterly despondent and covered in stickers....and dumping out my fannie pack for the amusement of Mrs Briguy.....filled with 40 rusty bottle caps. She ROARED with laughter, then later said "sorry honey, i couldn't hold that one in".

Times are different now, as i've figured out not only the likely spots to search....but more importantly, what exactly to listen for. My old silver coins recovered count for 2012 was.....42 of them. (mostly dimes)

My most bizzare find was an old wooden cigar box FILLED with hundreds of pennies I dug up. Clearly it was a kids treasure from about 1960, as that was the latest coin date. What was stunning, was there was TWO silver halfs in that box, as well as several WW2 US pins and insignia buttons. What really blew my mind was at the very bottom of that rotting away thing, was a small round pin glittering in the Sun made of pure sterling silver, and when i flipped it over.......it was an enameled Nazi swastika and sword tie tack! Yep, a real one. Probably a war souvenir the kid got from the same GI that gave him those US military buttons. I still have it....its an interesting trophy piece.

Bill -- thank you, not Randy Savage, but RIC Savage. Either way that show is dismal, completely fake, and I refuse to watch it.

Hiya StampHick, et al.

Busy, busy, busy thats the problem. Plus the new house with issues like -- no lights in the bathroom (now fixed).

As for the "Moonshiners" show -- HOW do they not get arrested?? For that matter, how do those people with the reality show about polygamy stay out of jail? I suspect its all faked.

Now a good new show is "Diggers" !! Its about guys who metal detect. Such a reality show was tried before with Randy Savage (an obnoxious large, round, ex WWF wrestler), called "American diggers" . It never failed that on EVERY episode of that show they'd find stunning things...a Brasher doubloon, ...Napoleon's cuff links.....something. All of it so utterly bogus to the point of being an insulting comedy act (which sort of sums up a pro wrestler's "career") .

Now the "diggers" show has its issues too. The stars are long time metal detector guru's, one of which at least worked for the Garrett detector company in sales/marketing (not disclosed on the show). Additionally, they get to dig with permission in the sort of historical places were I to even ponder doing so, ...I'd be sitting in the back of a squad car moments later. (so yeah, the odds they'll find stuff is high). Yet when they do locate something, they'll "dig it live"...pulling things out of the hole in dirt clods to be broken up revealing the prize. Pretty much, thats how it really is, a part science, with a large component of experience by the seeker (i.e. -what am I hearing down there?) coming into play.

One disclaimer. When these guys find something, they hoot and squeal like little girls, usually running into each others arms for effect. Twice i'v assured Mrs Briguy, that when my friends and I are out hunting the forest, and someone scores a Mercury dime....no...we do NOT immediately perform an excited giggling gay embrace. (you have to find at least a silver half dollar for that) I suspect watching other people dig tiny holes for dirty coins, was a hard sell to reality TV producers, so goofy on screen persona was required.

Digger's is on the Nat geo channel.

I'll stop by more often, and apologies to anyone's posts to me I missed

Been awhile, so HELLO ALL!

Updates here, things are going smooth at the new home. All are fine and Mrs Briguy is doing great too.

The ice fishing however -- is dismal. Last two trips have resulted in only three small fish. This can subliminally effect the ego of us displaced northern rednecks. Hits especially hard if your wife just left you a grocery ad with "lake perch on sale" circled, the message being clear.....if you can't catch 'em -- then suck it up and go buy 'em. :o(

Ooops, looks like I'm going to be cutting this short. Seems I promised (not remembering how, when or where) to install someones new multi light vanity in the bathroom today. Apparently, having to use our only working bathroom with a flashlight,....hasn't proved as fun an adventure as envisioned.

I'll leave you instead with this, today's Briguy random observation. Our bank finally installed this very weekend, a brand new drive through ATM machine. Works great, no more having to get out in the rain, or at -15 degrees to get cash.........but....WHY.....did they feel compelled to add BRAILLE onto all the instructions and the buttons?

Think about it.

.....and I deposit my money with these people?!?!

53 degrees in Chicago yesterday. Yes, in mid January! Does this bring stress or joy?....or a bit of both? My super dooper, fancy schmancy, ice fishing/drinking hostel (glorified shack), still sits on a beach near a lake teeming with fish......but no ice.

Of course, this also means planet Earth can't employ its ultimate defense to my metel detecting efforts (a frozen winter concrete like tundra -- extending 14 feet down). So i went "dirt fishing"!! Finds were.....well....meager. No shiny mercury dimes today, just a modern nickel and two 50's wheat pennies. Yet, i also found an intriguing lump of brass under on old dead pine tree. It looked to me to be something offical like a badge, like you might see on the hat of a fireman. My friend there for the hunt called me "a dreamer". Mrs Briguy told me to "give it up -- accept winter is going to happen -- AND -- its beyond my control"......grrrrrr.

Well....well...well....I cleaned up my lump of brass,...and it happens to be a 1942-1943 issue <Captain Midnight decoder badge!! A radio show running from 1938-1949, Captain Midnight was the leader of the "Secret Squadron". They fought evil denizens like "Baron von Karp"....and the sinister oriental demon "Admiral Himikoto" (does that give you an idea when this radio show ran ? -- LOL!) Like the Christmas Story movie, a coded message would be broadcast at the end of every episode, to all junior secret squadron members with decoder badges (Collect scrap metal! -or- Plant a Victory Garden!).

Messages now lost to time and meaningless to me. What i got out of the badge.....was COOKIES! Oh yes, Mrs Briguy and I had us a little bet. If the darkened lump turned out to be something cool....i get cookies. (If i lost, I was to grade elementary school papers ). Thankfully, your kids/grandkids will NOT be judged by me.

I'll be too busy nibbling warm cookies.

I chose "Snickerdoodles".

:o)

Another year come and gone soon.

This can make a man whistful, especially if he's stuck inside with a blizzard outside, and has his wife banning him from the kitchen where the sweet, sweet, sinful smells of from scratch baking float through the air.

Apparently, I pinched her butt one too many times.. :o(

So off to the forrest! Metal detector in hand, in a full body snow suit, winter boots, and big poofy GoreTex hat. I must have looked like looked like either the older more round version of Elvis (in camo), or a mobile mushroom creeping slowly across the leaf litter.

The goal of course are the coins which other men, men who were equally banished from their own homes in the last 150 years, ...have dropped in marital frustration. Oh yes, such coins exist, they just don't come easy. Mother nature likes her silver, and the inch of snow on the ground this morning being simply one more (usually quite effective) defense mechanism.

Against such uphill odds I went forth out into the tundra. Sure the ground is frozen, but only 1" down. Whack! whack! whack!....then you can dig. First 10-12 signals were mainly foil and scrap, arduously hammered from the ground (complete with uttered profanities for the litterbugs of 37 years ago). Sigh. One whole nickel. No, not a cool one with buffalos and indians on it and stuff... just a 5c nickel.....dated 1982. Grrrr.

THEN.....I notice my boot is coming apart!! Yes, the sole is detatching from the rest of it....thwack....thwack...flop, flop....every step. Oh......Why me??

Sitting on a stump with a now wet and frozen foot , I tied extra bootlaces completely around the boot, a tried and proven homeless bum method to extend the life of your footware. With that my day ended, one foot dry, one wet.....i hobbled defeated (and feeling stupid) back towards the car.

*Ping*..........huh?.....*ping*. Fifteen feet from the stump where I soddenly tied my boot back together....*Ping*.

Quickly increasing the sensitivity level to "max" (deadly on your batteries - so we rarely do it)...i swung over the spot again *PING!* *PING!* *PING!*. I looked at the display. High tone. No rotting old tin can from baked beans here, this one is real....as in serious....you know...like the DVD they sent me with the unit years ago. "Someday -- this could happen to YOU!!"

Having been born in Missouri (the you gotta show me state) I cautiously swung over the area again, in an untrustful manner....PING! PING!.......oh.....oh.....oh my.

Quickly i dropped to my knees. Squatting in the quiet snow, I looked around. Alone. Suddenly a bird chirped and I peered up, scanning for intruders. It was of course, 27 degrees on Dec 29th and snowing, and i was alone in the woods.....far from other sane people who would never find themselves in this position.

With a soft "snick" my wicked sharp digging blade cut the first frozen inch of ice/muck and flipped it back. A plug 2" thick came up and there it was suddenly visable below....a rim of a reeded coin.....shimmering in pure silver glory....sitting vertical upright in the ground. With trembling a hand i carefully pinched it between thumb and forefinger and pulled it out. A 1911 Barber dime.....perfect. Immaculate actually. Zero wear on it, exectly like the day it was lost 101 years ago, still with the mint patina and a sharp edge from its mint strike. As the coin collector freaks call them -- "uncirculated".

Whew. Three smacks to the chest got my heart going again. It doesn't take much for me! Quickly I rushed home, dropped that little coin in Alice's hand and asked......NOW can i have some of what you're cooking??....Ah hahahaha (It worked -- I got fed).

Not the greatest treasure find ever....BUT its sitting right now in my jar of trophies over the mantel. And I....well......I got all the homemade chicken and dumplings i could eat. Mmmmm.

Fiscal cliff? I suppose things like that matter to people who's lives aren't already completely.....utterly....perfect.

Poor bastids. :o)

Damn.....that's also 50% of my diet.

No more Ho-Ho's
No more Twinkies
No more Ding-Dongs
No more Wonder bread!

What happened to my America? :o(

Pfffft.!! As the hyper conservative, "hermit in the woods" wannabie, i've got better use for my time. The world is ending, remember? If its the not the magical Mayan seers who foretold the end of times 500+ years out - five weeks from now (but SOMEHOW they missed the arrival of 32 Spainards next Tuesday),...then the re-election of Obama will do it. Its over people,...OVER... abandon all hope.

or................turn on the TV and watch "Real House wives of West Point" and chuckle.., this weeks reality TV diversion.

Truthfully, I've been busy. New house is starting to feel like the old house now. Guess what happens when you move into an "estate"......you just get more acerage to tend to,...then DIE. That.....pretty much sums life up, at least the way I've been seeing it this last week. (all the leaves fell)

Oh, on the bright side, I WON my protracted battle with the tax assessors.....next year, i'll be paying $1400 less per year in taxes. I mean.....really....sometimes you WIN. :o)

That aside, those who remember us can rest well, as both Briguy/Mrs Briguy, are doing, -- GREAT! She's winning awards and accolades as a valued and recognized teacher.....and my sales business is UP......about 35% this year!

I guess, the American dream...............is still possible. :o) :o)

Well............have to go....I miss the old BB....really....i do

IS THE GLASS HALF EMPTY.........OR HALF FULL??

A valid question indeed today. I've returned home from my biz trip, (now possessing the glory of Mon-Tue off). So I hooked up with my nar-do-well friends, and we went off practicing "Amature Archeology". Basically, ...get a cooler of beer, head to the woods where the old folks once lived....and dig up their coins. :o)

Today was a winner. A foul, fetid, reeking swamp, which sucked the urge out of most all those involved. I of course, possessing the wisdom of age, and a smart azz old guy attitude of "seen this before".....showed up with my duck hunting waders. The most vile, slimey, inhospitable, and thus NEVER BEFORE SCANNED pure glorious filth......was thus mine.... mine....All mine. :o)

Final tally was 1 Indian head penny (1901) one 1902 "V" nickel, 13 wheat cents (all before WW1)....and three silver dimes. (two Mercury, one Roosevelt). He he he! Stupid kids. When metal detecting a SWAMP.....bring your waders! :o)

Flush with my finds, i decided the thing to do was drink beer, chat with the upset and lonely wives, ...as I ate their bratwursts as fast as they could grill them. It was then the kids started squealing. Using an old ancient detector, they found a old hand iron, one dated 1888. One of those thingies you heated in the fire until red, then used it on your Sunday collars! Quite a find. At that we all poured out onto the 1980's created/graded soccer field, now certain things dating BEFORE the 1980 bulldozer event (creating the graded soccer field) were still there. .....

It was me, ...who found it.

1/2 of small woman's wedding ring, hallmarked "14K"-- so yes, GOLD. But, just 1/2 the ring. The other half, was GONE, flung to the winds by a wicked powerful lawn mower some years before. WHACK!!.......for 3 hours+ 10 people scanned every square inch of that field,...in ever widening circles.....and never found missing part #2. :o(

The found half, was donated to the Methodist church's "food for the hungry" program (Don't tell my Southern Baptist relatives). My guess?.....that mauled 14K gold relic will bring about $100 at the "we buy gold" location now perched on every corner.

Psssssst............I KEPT.........all three of those silver dimes.

:o)

Hi, All! This is Briguy's wife (Alice) again. He's off trying to catch his "pet fish" in some river, which means I have a couple of hours to get all the packaging done before he gets home and tells me what I did wrong!! LOL. Seriously though, he has already kindly offered to be the one to stand in line at the post office! Well, I already had one little mix-up; I thought I already had it set up in the system to combine shipping, but one buyer bought two dolls and paid the separate PRIORITY shipping charges. I started to print the label, saw this, and went back into E-Bay to see what to do about it before I hit the "print and pay" button. Long story short, I got charged for printing the label and had to call Paypal to see how to rectify everything. Now I need to contact the buyer, tell him to ignore the tracking number generated for that item, and to look for a refund. Yikes! So Diane, looks like I already got myself into a wad over things! I would rather do that, though, than have someone pay for two small dolls at $5 apiece, you know what I mean? Also, I learned AFTER THE FACT that I will not see any of the proceeds from my sales until E-Bay is satisfied that everyone got there stuff, which could take as long as 21 days. Hmm, don't remember that part in the training video I watched! Also, I can't sell any more items until August, because there is a limit of 10 items a month for new sellers. I mean, I understand and appreciate that they are trying to protect the buyers (I'm one myself) but there were just some things like that which I didn't know about ahead of time. Nonetheless, I hope to make a go of this and sell all the lots I have put together. I will also say this: my hat goes off to all you long-time sellers! It's a lot easier to be a buyer, for sure! Here's some info that might be helpful for you, if you find some vintage dolls to sell. There were several clones made when Dawn was being produced. Dawn dolls have rooted hair and eyelashes, and some sort of combination of letters and numbers (they vary by headmold) on the back of the head, down by the neck. Also, the words "Topper Corp." and some other stuff will be printed on the buttocks. There was another doll like them made by Mattel at the time, called Rockflower dolls. They have wire throughout, so their whole bodies are bendy. Other 6" dolls were made for JC Penney, Kresge's (KMart) Montgomery Ward, and some other companies. While I still have a lot to learn myself, I would be happy to give any info I can, if any of you ever find yourselves with some dollies to sell. I will try to stop in and say hello every now and then. If for no other reason, I can check on my hubby and see what kind of stories he's been telling about me. 🙂 Thanks again, and have a great evening! Alice

Hi Everyone! This is Briguy's wife. I wanted to thank those of you who commented for me regarding my recent E-Bay selling venture! The first items go off today! I hope all the buyers are happy with their items--I never realized how nervous you might feel as a seller. However, I did my best to describe and picture things accurately, so hopefully all will go well. My dolls are only 6 1/2" tall. They were made from 1970 to 1973. They outsold Barbie at the time. Topper Corp., who made the Dawn dolls, sold other toys too, like Johnny Lightning cars, which competed with Hot Wheels and those type of cars. The company went bankrupt 🙁 and that was the end of it. Dawns were my favorite doll, and they must have been for a lot of others, too, because they now sell well on E-Bay. A kaiser stand is just a metal stand that one can use to display a doll; it is common for sellers to use them to hold up the doll for picturing. I have seen other sellers use them but mention that they were not included, so that's why I did it. Gosh, I hope that doesn't cause a problem! Thanks for the tip. Also, I want to thank the person who said it is good to end your description with a, "thanks for looking," or similar message. I will be sure to do it in the future. By the way, how do you know when a payment has cleared? If it's through Paypal, and you receive notice that the buyer paid, does that mean it has cleared? Thanks again! You're wonderful folks, and I know Brian really enjoys chatting with you. Have a great Sunday! Alice 🙂

Jim -- LOL! Too funny. Didn't Dr. No also manage to launch a satelite included in his 10 MM? No matter, equally good perspective is the list price sticker on brand new 1965 Ford Mustang was -- $2,300. Oh, for the "good old days" when your car payment was $34 month, gas was a dime, and a Hershey bar cost a nickel.

I suspect the reason people get wistful over time....is time! People tend to remember that a movie ticket cost them a quarter, but quickly deleated from their memory that also happened to be their hourly wage back then.

Thanks all for the comments for Ms Briguy. She's excited, and if the last time is any indicator (some lots went over $100), she really knows those little dolls. Nope, I'm not going to belittle it.....afterall, look at the psycho $$ I'm willing spend on little bits of paper dead people licked.

Sareader -- DEAL! I might be a Confederate collector, but I've seen (and own) lots of union stuff too. I've gotten so good at identifying the receiving backstamps of Cairo IL (back in 1862 the largest US Navy base on the planet) .....I can virtually tell you the month/year the item entered the northen mails,...without looking at the actual postmark! I'd be thrilled to decypher/detail the northern war time postal routes, traveled by any surviving pieces you have.

PS....i think every one of her auctions now has bids, some with multiple bids. Wait until she snipers arrive! -- Yeeeee-haw!

It.......has begun.

The Ms. has launched the first ten doll auctions. THOUSANDS more to go. She's launching everything around $9.99...and has several bids already! Of course she's also PIZZED.....EBay has restricted her as a new seller to only ten auctions to start. Apparently, if you prove not to be Al Qaida raising money, they set you free after 14 days or something. Perhaps others can explain (this was new to me too) why the initial restriction on per # of auctions.

Anyhoo, her Ebay ID is.... 543arev She's going to read this later for sure, especially because I told her I was mentioning her endeavors to the BB masses. Be nice, play nice, if you upset her.....she'll take it out on me. I dunno, ....its a German thing I guess. She has also asked me to solicit any comments on her listings, pics in them, terms, etc. If you see something terminal......she definitely wants to hear about it, no matter how painful. :o)

Obviously she'd a bit conflicted, as 1/2 her auctions say OK for international bids, the other half -- don't you dare. LOL!
No way I'm going to point this out, ...she's stressed enough already.

.........but you folks can! :o)

So....what big events have I missed lately??

The final line has been crossed.....I have lost.

I walked into my stamp den last night, and my uber cool mega pixel scanner/fax/copier (only a few months old)......was GONE. :o( . Only a gaping hole remains. Now its sitting in her "doll room". Soon to be imaging little doll clothes and running off (hopefully) zillions of "Thank you -- here's your invoice" documents. Worse yet, dozens of little doll outfits have already been packaged up in very familiar looking plastic sleeves. Oh yes, my custom made philatelic "cover" mounts, designed to encapsulate postal history envelopesn (and not cheap either!). Now they're little more then PACKAGING....stuffed with matching doll outfits!! Not sure what's more emasculating, this cruel & unsuspected fleecing of my philatelic supplies, or that somehow, somewhere, she manages finds people who'll pay crazy top dollar for such stuff.

The Mayan's were off a bit. Their looming apocalypse, the world having gone mad........happened last night.

Seriously, watch for her -- Ebay ID "543arev". Several hundred lots are all stacked up and ready...........

Well, can't sleep. Decided to visit the BB chat to see what up with the world's movers and shakers. Now i've got Rita Hayworth fantasies to keep me up too (Thanks Grano). Somehow, considering my age, there is something terribly wrong with that.

Ms Briguy is about to launch. Oh yes, somewhere around 200 lots ready of her long hoarded "Dawn" dolls. This time she's going it alone. Man.....i do hope she has more of those $100+ realizations. Why? Basically, I suck as a sales rep. I NEED me an EBay sugar momma! I'm not kidding either....every sink, tub, and large cooking pot around here, has little naked dolls floating around in them. She's bought boxes. She bought multi packs of tape. She's bought........a chalk board to track her sales! I know many of you went through the EBay learning process a decade or more before, but its neat to see it happen live. I think she's going to be more then OK -- earlier tonight the author of the official price guide to "dawns" called,...trying to buy some of her stuff before the unclean masses on EBay have a crack at it. A good sign!

Anyhoo, I mention this because she asked if "My BB friends" (I'm not sure she realizes the old chat is dead yet) would tolerate a question about auction insertion software. I told her give it a shot. (yeah yeah -- I'll end up cooking smoked trout for the next get togehter again)

Well, now I am actually tired. So no more rambling.....snooze time. Night all!

Okaaaaaaay! Something I can opine on. As you might have heard, i'm one those "weirdos" you see gleefully creeping around in forests, parks, and old fields. Never have detected up a meteorite, but then the goal of my metal detecting is actually to NOT find one. I spend nearly a year tweeking the "discrimination" abilities of my unit to NOT signal there is a lump of iron down there.

Think about it. My last Mercury dime was found in a Cook Co Forest preserve. Right there for 70 years only 30 feet from the parking lot,....in between 11.2 million rusting bottle caps, spent cartridge cases/bullets (welcome to Chicago), and assorted "can slaw (created when the lazy park workers, not wanting to get up, simply mow Pepsi cans into WW2 era aluminum "chaff"). Modern detectors can now target and analyze the return signals found, providing a fairly good guess at the composition of the metal involved. Suddenly fields of mind numbing metalic debris and distractions, like which I just described, are once again "sniffable".

But any as yet undiscovered iron based meterorites, out there in those endless fields of Budweiser caps......will remain masked and hidden for now. :o)

Mrs Briguy would like to know.......do you unwrap the gum? (were gonna try it)

......let you know in five years if the Bisquick is still uninfected

Whoa. You ladies are a bit too aged for the bondage/S&M thing......I'm too old for the bondage S&M thing! (at our age bones snap)

You perves

Thank all of you for the warm accolades about my reappearance. I'm not stupid. I know basically its Mrs Briguy, the sane and EBay active one you love!! And she's about to make more auction waves.

Its been two years since her little dolls scored $4,000+ (she expected $2000), and oh yes.....shes ready for EBay round #3. How ready?....this morning I went to go shave before church. Nope. Can't do it. Three 6" Dawn dolls were floating around naked, ...FACE DOWN ..., in the sink. :o( It's a rather unsettling thing to wake up to!!

This time she's making rash statements too. Apparently she now owns TWO of the most rare Dawn's ever produced. (both acquired for a song). She claims this summer....she'll soon have her first $1,000-$1500 EBay auction (for one dinky little doll!). Me?....Well,.....uhm....errr.....I sold two stamps last month for $30. That's about the sum of my collectable activity!

Although, tonight I went "dirt fishing" (metal detector). Result? -- $1.44 cents in filthy modern coins......plus one 1936 wheat penny. All in all a failure, The goal of course being to find that wheat penny's more rare sister......the 1936 Mercury dime.

i guess that's why they call it "treasure hunting"...instead of "gathering & collecting". At least I got good exercise. Enjoyed the evening....and the happy footnote? ....$1.44 in coins to chuck into the toll booth!

Well....good night all. Perhaps tomorrow i'll regale you with finding a hoard of silver ingots burried in northern IL (not likely). More likely is a future PHP!. Yeah.....i've got lots of cool thingies (including some i now own!) to display.

Nice to be "BB posting" again. :o)

-- Brian

We're off today. Mrs Briguy and I have after 20 years of marriage, decided to finally blend our lives. We both have our annual medical checkups today, so we took the same day off work. Then its together we wander the remainder of the day free, free.... FREE!!

I suggested we go to the site of an old bar nearby that burned down 30 years ago. Why?....because drunks on the patio they used to have surely lost a few silver dimes. (she responded to this with similar a level of excitment I possess for my looming prostate exam) . She suggested we drive further west and spend our time wandering antique shops and looking for.......more Dawn dolls. (Arrrrrrggggggh!....shoot me).

I suspect that in the end we'll compromise and end up having lunch at the Cracker Barrel or something (in itself a dangerous act -- as she can't make it through their overpriced hype store without spending $40).

Oh.....YES, Mrs Briguy is looking at summer break in about 3 weeks. Already boxes of little dolls from Ebay lots are appearing daily. She's also been dissappearing on the weekends coming home with more sacks of them. So where does one find SACKS of little dolls they quit making 40 years ago?? Well.....she apparently knows!! She says her intent is to start EBaying them again this summer. I can't blame her, many of you saw the STEAMING PILE of cash she raked in last time, some of those dinky little dolls going well into the three figures.

I actually feel the need to praise her. I've adopted the "absolute hoarder" method when it comes to my stamps (I have over 150 canceled CSA #11 stamps....yep...all the same issue...and still looking for more) She however, possesses the requisite detachment to actually RESELL stuff. So if she shows up again here, like she did under my s/n on the old EBay chat......be nice to her. Right now she's looking for advice on what camera and format to use for pics and stuff (Dawn dolls don't fit in the scanner like stamps do).

Hope everyone is having a good day! :o)

Well right now its lunch. Then I'm off again.

Mrs. Briguy is doing fine. She's bouyed by only a couple of more weeks left until summer break. Then she says "I've got a whole lot of stuff for you to do". Grrrrr. Oh, BTW......I've moved. We bought us a house. As in BOUGHT it! Got the physical title last week. Lots of work to do....a garden to recreate. Dead tree to remove...dense jungle to be attacked and driven back. Huge yard. Huge. I told her now we need a few goats and a flock of chickens........Soley so they get grandfathered in when the city annexes us.

No, still no cannon :o(

i'll post later -- take care all!

Well, well, well. I've finally found ya'all! Remember .....moi?

How has everyone been?? :o)