Bargin Hunting

A few weeks ago, Theo was looking for a desk and took us to a used office furniture outlet he had found. The store was located in an old warehouse district and used to be some kind of a factory. The building had four floors each filled with buyouts obviously from offices that had closed. There were desks, chairs, file cabinets, and every other thing that could have been in an office. Interestingly enough, it was also an art gallery. Around the high ceilings, sagging steps, and brick walls were hanging paintings from local artists for sale.

The store had one employee who greeted us when we came in and said that we could explore on our own. I don't know if that was because we looked trustworthy or that she didn't want to leave her space heater because the building had no heat. We began our way up the stairs and discovered that each floor was dark until we turned on the lights. We spent our time winding among the mazes of stuff, calling out when we found something interesting. Some of it was interesting because it was really old or seemed out of place like the panty hose we found, and sometimes it was interesting because it might be a potential item for purchase.
  

Theo eventually did find a desk to fit his needs and Ward and I found two office chairs we wanted. Now how to get them to the car from the fourth floor? After we found the store employee, she got the building's old freight elevator working for us. When we got them to the first floor, the desk and chairs were awkwardly loaded from the old loading dock to our car.

It turned out to be a fun and interesting couple of hours. We were happy that we shopped there because we felt we got a better bargain than we would have at most other places. Later I wondered if that was because we had to work for our purchase in a place that appeared to have a very low overhead. Of course, a smart shopper knows their prices no matter where they are shopping, but I wonder if sometimes we can get caught in the idea of a good deal in a place where we think we should be getting one?

Are you ever influenced by the place you are shopping whether it is really fancy or just bare bones?

This sign assured me that we were getting good prices. :)

A Second Look--December 4, 2013 and I Was Wondering

Believe it or not, I have been doing a Second Look very consistently for 2 1/2 years. I say believe it or not because actually, I'm the one who's having a hard time believing it. Every week, I have been exploring my yard and reporting about it here on Wednesdays. I have watched the flowers bloom, the seasons change, and the critters fly and scurry about. However, on these cold dark days, I feel like I'm ready for a change. So while I will continue to do my Second Looks, they may not happen every week. Some weeks I will do a "I Was Wondering Post" instead. This week, I am going to do both.

I Was Wondering

What's the difference between Meteorological Winter and Astronomical Winter?

These icy trees didn't wait for astronomical winter.

Winter has been very much on my mind recently as the temperatures continue to drop and snow has made an appearance. Every day the weather people talk about freezing, snowing, and occasionally sunshine. And they have talked about Meteorological Winter and Astronomical Winter. Some how I made it to the ripe old age of Getting Old without even realizing that there was a difference. So, what is the difference between the two?

After a little reading, I figured out that it's easy to explain meteorological winter. It's the coldest three months of the year--December, January, and February. However, astronomical winter is a little more complicated. The beginning of astronomical winter has to do with the with the tilt of the earth's axis and the earth's orbit around the sun. It is best explained by pictures or a simple video that you can see here, but basically it is when sun strikes the earth at a minimum angle. This is also known as Winter Solstice and this year will be on December 21. Astronomical winter continues until the Spring Equinox which will be March 20, 2014.
So now I know.

(Obviously, this discussion is for the Northern Hemisphere. I'm a little jealous of those of you who are starting summer right now Down Under.)

A Second Look

Here are some things I saw this week during a Second Look.

Even though we have had plenty of days in the 20's, we have a few pansies still blooming.

However, many of the pansies look like this. Something has made a snack out of them.

Maybe it was these deer that enjoyed the pansies.

I think the groundhogs have begun their winter hibernation because I haven't seen any activity around this hole recently.

The leaves are all gone from the trees which makes it easier to see the birds in them. See the cardinal?

Arthurdale

or A Bit of History and a Trip Down Memory Lane

If you know much about US history, you probably remember hearing about the Great Depression of the 1930's, and President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal trying to help the people affected by it. One of the many programs he instituted during this time were planned communities where the poor were brought together for farming, community jobs, and nearby factory work. These were meant to give the poorest of the poor a chance to get back on their feet in what some called a utopian society of cooperation.

The idea was based on programs already being done by the Quakers and was championed by Eleanor Roosevelt, the president's wife. In fact, they became her passion with her favorite being the first New Deal community of Arthurdale. This community, in rural West Virginia, was started in 1934 and was eventually turned over to private ownership in 1941. When completed, Arthurdale consisted of 165 homes on 1200 rural acres. In addition, there were schools, several community buildings and a dairy farm. Each home had 4-5 acres associated with it for personal farming as well as cash crops. Several factories were brought to the area to provide additional work although none of them stayed for long. The first members of the community were mostly out-of-work coal miners, saw mill hands, and farmers who were chosen by a reviewed application process. As with most things, the reality was not as perfect as the plan, but it was still an interesting experiment that helped some people.

Recently, I got a chance to visit Arthurdale again. I had visited it a few times as a young child when I went to visit my great uncle and aunt, Fritz and Zelma, who lived there. Fritz and Zelma were special people to my mother in that they they took her and her mother in when they literally had no other place to go. I think that is why we made the long trip to visit them more than once.

Aunt Zelma and Uncle Fritz

Today, much of the town looks as it did almost 80 years ago when it was begun except there is not much evidence of personal farming. The local historical society has turned a few of the community buildings into museums that were unfortunately closed during our visit. However, we did do a driving tour.

I was excited that the first house on the tour was one just like I remembered visiting. That house had a second story overhang in the back that covered a porch adjacent to a very flat backyard. And that's what I remember most--playing in that flat backyard. (If you have ever visited West Virginia, you know that a large flat space is very unusual.) However, I don't remember much about the inside of the house, but my sister, Mary Ellen does.  She remembers that she thought it was very strange that the kitchen was upstairs and the living room was downstairs. My sister, Martha, remembers that there was a mink farm in the area. It is interesting how each one of us remembers a different thing about our visits. However, we all remember that Uncle Fritz was a small, stooped man with black hair while my Aunt Zelma was a very tall women who towered over him.

This is like the house that my aunt and uncle lived in. It may be the actual house.

Fritz and Zelma had been encouraged by my Great Uncle Doy and Great Aunt Blanche, who lived in the adjacent town of Reedsville, to come to Arthurdale with the promise of good work in the coal mines.  So, they moved to the area in the early 1940's, and as promised, the work in the mines allowed my uncle to provide a good life for his family. However, the job took it's toll. The first problem was a odd one. After working in the mines for a while, he developed an allergy to all vegetables grown underground. That was a blow to someone living in a culture where potatoes were present at almost every meal.  The next problem was a much more serious one. He developed black lung disease which he eventually died from. But work was work and he was happy to have it.
  
My afternoon tour of Arthurdale had my thoughts in a jumble. I thought about the history which I was not aware of as a child. I thought about the difficult times people, including my family, had during the depression, and how well off most of us are today compared to them even though problems still exist. I thought about the hard work people were willing to do to be able to eat (and it doesn't get any harder than coal mining), and I thought about the generations of the past and how time keeps moving on. The visit to Arthurdale was a spontaneous one, but one I'm happy I made. Sometimes it's important to remember the past both in a global and personal way, and that's what I did on this recent afternoon.

Thankful Sunday--December 1, 2013

I am thankful I got to spend a few days with my mother.

We had fun watching my sister give my mother a manicure.

It often seems that visits with my mother are filled with challenging issues that come with aging parents. However, this week I got to spend a few days with her playing games, eating good food, and talking. For that I am thankful.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions. (Thanks to Jo from Simply Being Mum for sponsoring FWF this week.)

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions

This week has been more unusual than normal since we started the work on our kitchen. That is because Thanksgiving has been a two day event with a lot of eating with extended family. The good news is that the work in the kitchen is done and we've started to move things back in. The bad news is that the outlet we plugged the refrigerator into wasn't working and the fridge wasn't running for 12 hours until we realized it. I don't think there were any immediate casualties, but I won't be surprised if some things in there don't last very long.  Tune in next week to see what happens.

Thanksgiving has been a two part event with both Ward's and my families. There was a lot of complicated scheduling, but let's just say I think the carnivores were happy to have two chances for turkey, as well as a turducken. 

I'm not sure what next week holds because we have more moving of furniture to get one more floor refinished. But we do have working appliances in the kitchen. And for that I am most thankful.

Until next time...