Mostly our life is pretty dull here in West Des Moines: no climbing mountains, no hiking through the desert, very few musuems but there have been several high points or, in some cases, low points.
COLONOSCOPIES
Yep, that plural in the word above is no mistake. There are two colonoscopies coming.
I decided, with the help of my doctor, that I needed a colonoscopy - last year. But, by the time the office called too late in the summer and we had already left for Arizona. Ah, now it is July and I’ve got an appointment on the 17th at 7:30 am. I’ve spoken with my Sister-in-law, Cathy, who has gone through this recently and can fill me in on the details. I’ve already picked up my gallon container with the ‘flushing’ ingredients in the bottom. I’ve got 4 choices of ‘flavor’ to put in to the gallon container to make it taste palatable: cherry, lemon-lime, orange and pineapple. Cherry is one of my favorite flavors so I decided to pick cherry. Big mistake since I’ll probably never look at cherry again.
Best of all, I re-read Dave Barry’s piece in the Miami Herald about his colonoscopy. Absolutely hilarious and I’ve laughed so hard every time I’ve read it that tears come to my eyes. Suffice it to say that, now that I have gone through a colonoscopy, I think it is even better than when I only imagined it. Here is the link to it.
But, and here I hit the epitome of sisterly love: I got an appointment for my brother to get a colonoscopy in Fort Dodge, where he lives. Now, he actually asked for one several years ago when an old high school friend of his told him to get one. However, we put it off but, with the new Affordable Health Care Act classifying a colonoscopy as preventative, we decided to get him one too. So he has a colonoscopy scheduled for next week. What a good, loving sister. I’m thinkin’ - any day that you can schedule your brother for a colonoscopy is a good day.
TOBY JUGS
As I have mentioned before, my parents had a large collection of Toby Jugs, more than 300 to be exact (if saying ‘more than’ is ‘exact’ enough for you). My father had always told me that I’d probably have to sell them to a dealer when I decided to get rid of them since there were so many. But, then he lived in the 20th Century and these days we have may other ways to sell things. Several years ago, Gary put them all out on Yahoo to try to sell them that way and actually sold about 19 that way. However, that dried up and we still had about 300.
It seems that the previous generation was more interested in collections than our generation. Spoons, dolls, stamps, coins, pipes, Precious Moments, beanie babies (although that is more our generation), etc. I’ve always heard that when you begin a collection, you’d better enjoy it since it probably will not be a good investment. Most collections are not investments and, as the fad fades, the value of the collection also fades. My parents definitely enjoyed their collection and Gary and I have also. Over the years, we’ve gotten more than their worth in enjoyment.
However, as the previous generation fades, so does the desire to collect. There are far fewer collectiors these days that there were years ago. And, thus, it is more difficult to dispose of a collection.
Gary finally was able to sell about 230 to a dealer who lived in North Carolina and was traveling back to NC from California where he had been giving a show. He stopped by our home here in Des Moines and Gary helped him pack up all the Toby Jugs in his van. That left us with 71 which we have enjoyed. Now, however, it is time to sell them off and hope they go to someone else who enjoys them as much as we all have.
Several days ago I verified the list that we had, looked up dealers on Google and began to e-mail them with the list and asking them for a price. In the end, two responded, one sending me their list with prices and the other telling me that she wanted 25 and gave me her price. I studied both, compiled my lists and compared prices. I realized that we could get the most money by selling the 25 to the one dealer and then selling about 36 to the second dealer at the prices they would pay.
And, I began the packing process. I checked with PostNet near our home and learned that it would cost $8.00 per jug to pack and $18 per jug to send. Hmmm. More than most are worth. And, on the way home, I stopped in at the local wine shoppe and found just the perfect boxes. In the storage room in the lower level of our home I found a treasure trove of wrapping paper, packing peanuts and bubble wrap. Of course, newspapers would fill out what we still needed after I had used what we had.
13 boxes later, I had 61 Tobies packed, labeled and ready for shipment. Meanwhile Gary, Cathy and I decided to drive to Rockford, Illinois for a memorial service for Danny, one of their uncles.
MEMORIAL SERVICE
We decided to make the trip over two days, Friday to drive the 6 hours to Rockford and Saturday to attend the Memorial service and the family gathering at his home and then drive back. A long but pleasant trip and we three all shared in the driving which made it much easier. I had done my Priceline thing and gotten 2 rooms in a local hotel. I had originally bid on the 6th but, since it was a week away, they did not accept my bid. I then waited until 2 days before the actual day we needed the rooms and bid again. I figured that, by this time, they might be accepting lower bids and, sure enough, they did. I got the rooms for my original bid and we were off.
Beautiful old hotel overlooking the river and the park on the other side. The original owner had bought quite a few antiques in Europe to put in his hotel: fountains, paintings, candelabras, etc., in one case, even buying a whole room with walnut wainscotting, chandeliers, a huge wooden buffet and other pieces to use as a small banquet room. There were several large banquet rooms and, judging by the set ups, were both scheduled for large weddings this weekend.
The Memorial Service was quite remarkable. Danny had belonged to the VFW and the Eagles and both of these groups gave their own memorial along with the regular memorial A great send off for a great guy.
After the Memorial Service we all trooped over to the VFW where a nice lunch was served and then to Danny and Leila’s home where the family was gathering. Gary and Cathy knew many of them but I knew hardly any. Danny and Leila had moved to Illinois many years ago and had raised their family there away from the Vincent, Iowa base of the rest of the clan. But, I enjoyed meeting and talking with them. We left about 3:30 and headed back to Iowa.
I think the drive back to Des Moines was longer than the drive to Rockford, but isn’t that the way it usually is. We drove to Cathy’s, picked up our car and got in about 10:30.
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