Saturday, Out with the Ladies...

No, not those ladies. CaDiva, HRH, hrh, The Mom and I went out, as we do most Saturdays.

Taken immediately before I got into a discussion with the driver of an Explorer who stopped well passed the cross-walk forcing hrh and The Mom, as well as we three, to walk out into the intersection to cross the street. His attempt at sarcasm was pitiful at best.

 I think I explained this before. HRH and I belonged to the same gym. I remarked, as we were scheduling our day, she had told me she liked working out first thing in the AM. It took a while for her to quit staring at me like I just recommended she train on more hills before Ragbrai. She finally allowed that she would accommodate my temporary insanity, but only if I fed her. Going to Arby's after the gym, led to picking up The Mom and CaDiva before getting lunch, to going to breakfast and not the gym. And finally, as it stands today, running and playing, with food somewhere in the mix. I think I still have a gym membership somewhere.

Regardless, the Hotel Fort Des Moines, has closed and been sold. It is no more. Jeff Hunter, who started working for the hotel and ended up owning it, had a wondrous collection of stuff. He decided to host a tag sale. Imagine just going through an odd aunt's attic. 

This was the second day of the sale, so we didn't see everything. Oh, the coin-operated radio-matic, stained glass windows, and pink urinal used by Elvis Presley were still there. But, I think we missed the menu signed by Lindbergh and the Tiny Tim tux.

Notice which of the three has sold already.

Some of the fun stuff included stacks and stacks of bound editions of the evening newspaper, The Tribune and morning newspaper,The Register circa 1900s to 1940s.  (For those of you who don't remember walking across the floor to change TV to one of four channels. Both newspapers and mail were delivered twice a day. Milk came only in the morning. Pizza and Chinese could only be had in a restaurant, most likely in a larger city than Des Moines).  We wound-up and played an beautiful Victrola. We explained to hrh it was an old CD player. That was before I realized the child had probably never seen a CD either. I had a little better luck explaining a check imprinter to a child who at least understood debit cards.

The Mom had no problem recognizing most of the goodies. But she showed more restraint than did CaDiva and I.

 It started with an old wardrobe (what we used before closets) that included the placard with check-out times still in side the door. Once we had that, it made perfect sense to buy the stereo cards, packaged in little boxes made to look like books, featuring Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon. After all, we had visited each of them. No, I don't have a stereoscope, but I will after this. When CaDiva wanted to buy a painting of Terrace Hill, even though she didn't recognize it as such, who could say no? It is lovely, framed and the Governors' mansion has been featured on "America's Castles."

The interesting thing came when we dropped The Mom off and left me with little hrh and a toy box filled with Cooties, baby dolls and puzzles. When CaDiva and HRH went back to pick up the wardrobe, they decided they would enjoy passing through the sale one more time with less distraction. They placated me with a additional boxed set of stereo cards of Yosemite, since we had visited there as well. HRH couldn't replicate the (shall not be named until after gift giving season) find-of-the-day, but she did pick up a closet organizer during their little extra curricular adventure to which I wasn't invited but left alone with a 4-year-old who doesn't like Kipling and cheats at Cooties.