If acquiring one antique console radio is good, getting two of them must be better, right? At least, that’s how I planned to explain it to Miss Terry.
As I wrote in a recent blog post titled Radios And More Radios!, I have been looking for a nice old console radio to put in my office for quite some time now, and the other day I found one on Craigslist at a town about 75 miles south of us. We went down to check it out and came home with this great old 1940 Westinghouse. Or maybe it’s a 1939, according to a couple of references I have seen.
At any rate, as I said in the blog, the person selling it has an amazing collection of antique radios and TVs and such, and he was kind enough to let us see some of them. While we were there I also spotted a 1939 Zenith Stars & Stripes model console radio and my heart skipped a beat.
When I was a kid, my Aunt Trudy had one and I used to love to sit on the floor and listen to it. Uncle Andy had rigged some kind of antenna on the roof of their farmhouse and the old Zenith could pick up stations all around the world. I remember listening to things like Radio Free Europe on it, and stations with people speaking foreign languages. I have wanted a radio just like that for as long as I can remember.
I told the collector that if he ever wanted to part with that Zenith, I was very interested. He said he would think it over, and maybe check it out and see if it needed anything. Then on Saturday he called me and said if I wanted the radio, it was mine. So yesterday we drove back to his place a second time and now the Zenith sits in my office, and every time I look up at it I get a smile on my face.
Oh, and I didn’t have to “explain” it to Terry at all. She gets it. Yes, I know. I’m a very lucky man.
As for the first radio I bought from him, the Westinghouse, we moved it into our guest bedroom. We may need to build an addition onto the house!
In a Facebook post yesterday, my friend Coleen Sykora from Workers on Wheels asked if anybody had pulled any April Fool’s pranks. I replied that I did. When Miss Terry woke up yesterday morning, I was still here. It’s the same prank I’ve pulled on her every morning for over 20 years. The stunned deer in the headlights look on her face never gets old.
Several people have written about the problem with our pontoon boat that I wrote about in yesterday’s blog, offering suggestions or just commiserating. I appreciate everybody’s concern, and have a couple of ideas about how to remedy matters. I’ll be talking to the guys at the marina today to get their input and see what they suggest. I will let you know what we come up with.
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Congratulations Norm Stoysich, winner of our drawing for an audiobook of Big Lake Burning, the sixth book in my Big Lake mystery series. We had 71 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon.
Thought For The Day – Every twenty minute job is only one broken bolt away from becoming a three day ordeal.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Congratulations on getting the radio of your dreams. As we grow older achtheieving something like that is really special. So happy for you.
Bobbie
Of course Miss Terry understands! We’ve seen pic of her weaving room! LOL
It’s wonderful that you both understand each others demons, er hobbies!
Karen
Some jokes are good ones, Nick, and we never get tired of them. Guess Miss Terry considers you in that category…. (Insert sarcastic chuckle here.)
Neat radios. I also noticed the old phone on the wall. Will be fun to see how your antique communications collection continues to grow. I’m imagining some old printing presses finding their way into your office.