January 18, 2012
Crazy Finds in an Old Home
Joe is in NJ forever now. He has on and off dementia and his body is just old. He is wheelchair bound and unable to dress himself. Some days he knows where he is and is depressed and other days he is waiting for someone to pick him up to bring him back down to FL.
It is sad. It makes us all sad.
His place has been sold to pay for his care. The closing is Friday and so this week his niece and her husband came down to go through his things and give things to Goodwill...
... which means... BLOG FODDER!
Hooooly cats. We didn't know what to do. My mini-van is FULL of religious stuff I'm taking to the local Catholic church that is having a HUGE rummage sale next month. Surely they can find someone to take the assortment of framed pictures of... The Last Supper, Christ, Christ as a child holding a lamb, The Blessed Mother holding Christ, Cosmas and Damian, and assorted other pictures. Mostly, Cosmas and Damian as he had a picture of the sainted twins of healing in every room.
So this is a post on strange things found and... well... in one instance kept.
What happens when a girl engineer who likes to bake finds an old mixer from the 50s or 60s? Well, she thinks to herself, "How cool is that?" and she proceeds to figure out if it still works and how it works, and then puts it back in the box.
Then said girl engineer might go to work and say to ANOTHER girl engineer, "You wouldn't believe what I frickin' found in Joe's house! I found a mixer from like... the 60s... where the base turns and not the mixer parts... with original thick ceramic bowls..." and then the other girl engineer might say something like, "*GASP!* You aren't letting Goodwill take that are you?!" and then Girl #1 engineer realizes, 'GASP! I can't let Goodwill take that!" and she rescues it where... it will go... maybe in her garage. Or not. Maybe in her kitchen.
I'm thinking a testing is in order.
Said Mixer:
Meanwhile, I'll pack this up and ship it to you if you want it, if you can tell me what it is... I call this a "WTF".
Here is the WTF next to my shoe so you can get it by size. It's not big.
Here it is without the cannister, those are paint chips or something on the bottom, it's not burned through:
This is the cannister. I've not been able to get it open yet, but I think it's jammed. I'm taking it in to work tomorrow to have my tech lead figure it out:
The cannister turns on top of that. It comes off, obviously, and it appears that coal or something goes in that bottom piece. There is a door. I'm taking the whole dang thing to work and seeing if one of the guys knows what it is. My Dad thought it might be a charcoal starter. I thought maybe the cannister was heated and then went into a bed.
I have no idea... Anyone? Anyone?
Lastly... geez o weez, folks, you cannot make this up.
So we are going through the house, old appliances from the 60's are all over, lots of things trimmed in gold as it's a home that had elderly Italians living in it, and we open the closet and find...
Latch Hook Rug Jesus. The Northern European Version, complete with blue eyes.
I'm giving it to the Church. I mean... what do you do with it?
I even texted the local priest. (Yes, I have an Italian priest on my cell phone and I text him with questions such as these... "Tell me Father, what do I do with all this religous art?" To which he txted that he was not sure, but to call St. Vincent's. What I should have said was, "Tell me Father, what do I do with a Latch Hook Rug Jesus?" but his coming right off the boat, but 5 years ago, probably has no clue what a Latch Hook Rug is... let alone one depicting Christ.)
So we'll see. I'm putting it all in a box and giving it to the ladies of that one Church. I'm hoping they don't sift through it with me there, forcing me to take some of it back.
Good Grief. I have no room for Latch Hook Rug Jesus in my home...
Posted by Boudicca at January 18, 2012 09:59 PMLOL!!! The Catholic part of me is giggling her ass off at you trying to pawn off all those religious items! Just dump the stuff and speed away. Or bring the LHRJesus to the Panhandle next time you come...they're are plenty of Protestants up here who would love it!
Posted by: Mrs. Who at January 18, 2012 11:15 PMI showed someone the picture and they said to me, "You know, that might surpass a black velvet Elvis picture..."
I may not be able to part with it. Holy cats. Maybe a wedding gift? I could regift? My niece is being Christened soon. I could give that as the gift. Fitting... Christening... LHR Jesus.
Meanwhile, Latch Hook Rug Jesus seems to rhyme with Drop Kick Me Jesus and I keep singing that song in my head.
Posted by: Bou at January 18, 2012 11:18 PMThe black thing is beyond me... My first thought was a rock tumbler or a brass cleaner, but the door on the bottom and no motor...
Ya got me.
That is a hand type crank. It spins it, but not fast. It's kinda loose. I think when I get Kevin to pry it open, or do whatever he does by turning even a simple pencil into a piece of support equipment, I'll have more of an idea as to what was in it.
He wouldn't have tumbled rocks nor would have his wife. Brass? Hmmm Maybe.
I think it looks like a mini-smoker.
Posted by: Bou at January 18, 2012 11:21 PMOh Lord! (forgive the pun!) I sooo wish I could sift through this stuff with you. I ran a second hand/antique store for half my life....and my hunter/gatherer instincts have never left. I used to sell a lot of religious stuff, but now I have an addiction for collecting it.
Not to create more work for you, but before you give the religious stuff away, I would really be interested in any old crucifixes, St. Christopher medals, rosaries,etc...maybe even some of the framed pieces (the more kitschy, the better...except for the hooked rug, LOL.)
If you could send me a quick photo or two of some of the framed stuff or any small religious trinkets...I could give you a quick offer of what I'd pay, if any of it is up my alley. And I'd pay shipping.
But I totally understand if you just want to be done with it and take it to Goodwill. I know how that is too.
Let me know what you think.
Posted by: DogsDontPurr at January 18, 2012 11:23 PMI'll take pix tomorrow. The crucifixes and medals did end up with a home. His niece took those, I think. Good grief... so many rosaries, but not the nice ones, more of the cheap ones that they just hand out all over at Church.
You can have it if you want it, just pay shipping. I'll send pix tomorrow. I think I have three large framed pictures, and some smaller stuff. I think they did end up taking a lot of the Damian and his twin pix home. It is evidently good luck to hang these in bedrooms?
Posted by: Bou at January 18, 2012 11:26 PMSeriously, I have this strong feeling that LHR Jesus may be here to stay. Hmmm... he could pop up in various places.
Posted by: Bou at January 18, 2012 11:28 PMLHR Jesus ought to travel with you at Thanksgiving or Christmas... just saying. ;-)
Posted by: vwbug at January 19, 2012 05:50 AMThe circumstances are sad, but treasure hunting is always fun!
I'll ask Arthur what he thinks the thing is when he wakes up... The shoe? I have a pair of Born just like that. ;)
You should keep LHR Jesus; nobody in the family would forget why he's with you... plus, someone put a lot of time into that piece. I did one for my Mom back in the 70s and it took a year. Never did another one.
Posted by: pam at January 19, 2012 06:12 AMI'm thinking LHR Jesus may end up in my closet. Forty years from now my kids will say, "What in the world do we do with this?"
I'm actually tasking his niece to ask him a moment of lucidity if he can remember who made it.
Posted by: Bou at January 19, 2012 06:41 AMThe WTF item is a coffee roaster.
Can I have it? :)
You could use the LHJ as inspiration to the family....you could attach one of those conversation balloon's to him and he could say things like "Jesus wants you to study for history" when one of the boys has a test or "LH Jesus wants you to clean your room" and just have him around
Posted by: Trudy at January 19, 2012 07:39 AMSo I'm reading your post, and I get to the coffee roaster pics, and I'm all, "hey, Rave posted those up on time-suck-facebook this morning asking WTF it was." Now I know where she found it!
Posted by: wRitErsbLock at January 19, 2012 09:13 AMBwaha hahahaha...WB- I cheated- I used extended knowledge....you the kind- the kind you use your 17 & 18th century re-enacting friends brains?
Hey- it worked! :)
I was close, I guessed it might be a peanut roaster. I don't drink the stuff, so I didn't even think of coffee. If you wash the canister between uses, you could use it for both!
Posted by: George P at January 19, 2012 04:28 PMI'm laughing at Trudy. That... might very well happen in this house. I'm keeping LHR Jesus. (Hat tip to Mrs. Who for the new abbreviated name...)
Now that the mystery has been solved as to what the WTF is actually... I called the family. I did some research and it's possible that the roaster is turn of the century. They needed to know, not because of value, but because it was probably in the family that long. Joe had it in his closet. His niece was stunned and said, "Do you mean... that could have been my grandmothers?" So she is keeping it.
Posted by: Bou at January 19, 2012 09:07 PMI'm pretty sure my mother still has that very mixer in her pantry at home. I will have to look next time I'm there!
The LHR Jesus.... OMG I will be giggling about that all weekend. Excellent.
Posted by: Teresa at January 20, 2012 11:14 PM