Ups and Downs and All Arounds

Goodness, it's been a strange week.

Saturday we took granddaughter Haley to Charleston so she could participate in the annual Capital City Challenge, the Charleston triathlon (bike, run, kayak). It was a beautiful day for the event and this year there were twice as many entrants as last year. Haley, however, was the youngest by far--no one else in the race was under 19 years old. So she won first place in her class, of course--but better than that, she improved her time from last year by about 30 minutes. So she was very happy about that. I have to admit to getting granny jitters to think of her out on the Great Kanawha River all alone in her kayak, but she did superbly. Why do I worry?

After the race I drove to Sutton in cerntral West Virginia to attend a meeting for a new project for West Virginia Writers. I had time to kill so of course I used it wisely--browsing in junk shops :) I got lucky, too, finding a Fenton glass bear for a dollar, lovely table linens, some dishes made in Paden City, West Virginia, and many other pieces of vintage glass. Most of these items will eventually be listed on my eBay auctions.

eBay has become a good little sideline over the past two months. I'm not making a fortune, but I am meeting my goal of paying for my phone, cell and satellite internet costs with some $$ left over. I'm learning a lot too as I research various glassware, learn what sells and what won't (hobnail milk glass-no one seems to want it. Aprons? everyone wants them!). I'm also still selling books on Amazon and while not as lucrative as eBay it is a lot easier to sell books, and so much easier to pack them. It's not the income producer that eBay is, however. Still, every little trickle of money is helpful. If you want to look at what's listed right now, check my sidebar link. My inventory is down a little because I can't list items until the computer is working again (insert frustrated sigh).

Sunday morning was devoted to reviewing stories for the Mothman Festival that afternoon. I had my set list but there were two new ones I wanted to tell and I needed to be sure I had them down well enough for performance. We drove to Point Pleasant that afternoon and enjoyed the sight of people dressed as Men in Black and Mothman after the storytelling. I was in the State Theater for the performance and was very pleased with the audience. Since this gig was finalized only a week before, it had little publicity but there weer 50 attentive people there to listen.

Mothman, some of you might know, was an apparition that scared many people in the Point Pleasant area in the 1960's. Described as a large, gray creature with red eyes and large wings, the creature was said to be able to fly 60 mph. Many people credited Mothman with some of the disasters and troubles that have occurred since the sighting, like the collapse of the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River. Many theories have been advanced as to what Mothman actually was, and there is a whole museum dedicated to the story in Point Pleasant.

My computer modem quit working Sunday morning, so that's been an interesting wrinkle in my usual routime. Since I place many listings to end on the weekends, it meant I had no way to verify and ship my orders. I worked on it for a while and concluded there was no hope, so Monday I called Hughesnet and ordered a new one. The tech on the phone offered a free replacement! How cool is that! So I sprung for expedited shipping and hope the thing will arrive today or tomrrow.

Without the computer, there was only one thing to do--use my new smartphone to look up what sold, pack and weigh the items, then head to the library to print shipping and labels. That's what I did. It was cumbersome and took more time than I wanted to spend, but the packages got shipped.

On the return trip home, we stopped to talk with a neighbor who is getting ready to build a new house. Larry has some block laying in his future, I think. While we were talking he asked us if we wanted the little log building on the property. You know what my answer was! So we have another project to work on over the winter.

(The log room we are currently working on is moving slowly ahead--the footer is ready and the block for the foundation will arrive this week. We plan to get the subfloor in place and the logs stacked before winter, but the way things are going we might not get that far before the ground gets too muddy to work.)

My cell phone rang as we were discussing the log building with our neighbor--it was the delivery truck with the gas refrigerator we've been waiting for. He had it ready to deliver--on a tractor trailer! Now if you've been reading my blog for a while you know there is no way a tractor trailer can get to my house, and really should not even try to get up Joe's Run. So Larry and the neighbor went out to meet the truck and brought the fridge home at last. I am not happy at all with Lehman's Hardware about this shipping service. We paid for delivery to our house, but it turned out to be a total hassle. word to the wise if you ever buy an appliance from them--they seem to be clueless about how to arrange a suitable delivery to a place in the country.

We finally settled down to dinner and then decided to watch a movie--a rare thing for me since I am usually busy with computer work in the evenings. Just as we got settled someone knocked on the door. Visitors! We spent the evening talking with them. It was a nice way to end the day.

Sometime in the night the electricity went off. I woke to a pitch black room. Expecting it to be back on shortly, I snuggled under the quilts to sleep some more. We woke at 8 am, late for us but it was dark and gloomy outside and there was still no electricity. I got up and called the power company--the power would not be back on until 2pm. That kind of messed up our plans to put in the new fridge, so we decided to take care of some business in town, mail more eBay packages and so forth. So that's where I am now, at the library printing labels, catching up on email and writing this blog.

This is only Tuesday. I wonder what other surprises we'll have this week. 

A Refrigerated Story

Yesterday we were in Kidron, Ohio, the heart of the Ohio Amish country, to visit Lehman's Hardware and buy a natural gas refrigerator. I have never been there before and I was totally surprised by what we saw. I knew there were Amish in that area and that Lehman's started out as a supply place for non-electric items for the Amish lifestyle. What I did not know was that the Amish community in that area is thriving! There seemed to be as many buggies and horses on the road as there were cars. We saw beautiful farms, new homes that had no electricity, Amish schools, horsedrawn plowing being done, Amish women mowing grass (one was a granny on a riding mower!). We even saw a wagon stuck in a ditch--evidently their load shifted. They had unhooked the horses and one man was hoofing it up the road to get help. We saw a woman in a buggy eating take-out food (fries); we heard people talking in a language we didn't understand but which I believe is called Pennsylvania German. It was eye-opening.and ear-opening.

I'd like to go back to explore the area a little more. I had thought it was all tourist hype, but instead found a thriving culture. And all only 2 hours from home.

As for that refrigerator--Lehman's offers several different sizes by two different companies. All are expensive. I tried to figure out which one was best through their online catalog and their paper catalog but I was not sure, and it was a lot of money to spend without being sure. So I knew we needed to visit in person. We found the store with little trouble--it's big and seems geared mainly to tourists although there is still plenty there for the Amish customers. But the parking lot was filled with cars, not buggies, and the atmosphere was that "commercial country," as I call it. We walked back to the appliance area and found the fridges, but what I had hoped for was to be able to compare the 15, 17 and 19 cubic foot models to really see what space was available. I'd called earlier in the week and left a message saying what I needed. I got a call-back message (not at the time I specified when I called so I missed the call) assuring me the fridges were on display.

Well, some of them were, but not the 17 cubic foot. I found a salesman and asked him if they had one. "Oh yes--at our other store." Other store? Who knew? He gave us basic directions and we set out for the other store. I wasn't too happy about having driven 2+ hours to find out I had to drive still more to see what I needed to see. The route was through beautiful country, though, so that was consolation.

We found the second store after a few wrong turns and indeed they had the models I needed to compare. the 17 cubic foot model (at $2099!) was the one I wanted. It's about the same size as the fridge we have now, with the nice feature of being able to hold gallon-size jugs on the door. I found a salesman and told him we were ready to order.

It turns out he had never placed an order for an out-of-state customer. But he was willing to figure it out and after several calls and a consultation with another staff person, we got going. Then the snag--we wanted it delivered to our house. Now, Lowe's, Home Depot and many other places have no problem with that. I was willing to pay their advertised delivery fee of $175. The problem? They weren't sure they could deliver to my house--and weren't sure if the fee would be $175.

Hunh? That was the amount listed on both website and catalog! "Yes," said the woman clerk, "but we don't really pay attention to that?" What!? Really? I was stunned--why advertise it if that's not the cost? We could have driven our truck up, of course, but decided that delivery was a better option and the cost seemed fair. Now we were being told that it was not a relevant fee? After more phone calls and discussion, it was determined that they could indeed deliver and for the stated price. Whew. I was not feeling like a happy camper by this point, although out clerk was as friendly and helpful as he could be throughout.

So the fridge is ordered and paid for and should arrive sometime next week. Getting it into the house should be interesting.

I should say that the second Lehman's was much more what I expected--a local hardware store with just about everything you can think of, even replacement racks for water-bath canners! I bought two because mine are rusted and pretty much done for. You could also buy shower curtains, eye hooks, hinges, lamp chimneys, canning jar rings, candy, paint and just about anything else you can imagine, but without so much of the tourist atmosphere. Many Amish customers were in and out while we were there. One man was getting a piece of glass cut--it's that kind of place. The other store may well offer all of the same merchandise and services, but it's BIG! I liked the smaller store much better--felt right at home.

Although getting the fridge was more hassle than I expected, I cannot say enough about the friendly staff--they're great. As a home canner, I loved being able to order canning jar lids in bulk this year; 354 lids so I never ran out. That was absolutely awesome. If you're planning to buy some major appliance, though, maybe more advance phone calls would simplify the process. I learned that lesson but in the end I am glad we went up there, and I am excited about the new refrigerator that will help lower our electric bill significantly.