Sanford And Son

Anybody who ever watched the old 1970s television sitcom Sanford and Son, starring comedian Redd Foxx, would have experienced a sense of déjà vu if they had been with us when our daughter Tiffany and her husband Kenny took us to visit Lamell Lewis at his place just outside of our old hometown of Show Low, Arizona.

Lamell, who says he is getting a bit long in the tooth these days, is a third-generation picker. Back when we lived in that part of the world, Miss Terry bought a lot of antiques and goodies from both him and his father. He recently put out the word that he is getting ready to retire, and pickers, antique collectors, and treasure hunters from throughout the region have been coming to his place looking for things they just can’t live without.

What a collection of junk and goodies there was to sort through! Do you need some old tractor seats to make into bar stools, or maybe some old steel wheels to mark the end of your driveway? There were plenty to choose from.

Need a windmill or windmill parts? Lamell had those, too.

Be the first kid on your block to have one of these, whatever the heck it is.

Tiffany told me he had a bunch of old road and business signs, and I’ve been wanting some to hang up in our garage.

There were plenty to choose from and I came home with several.

When son-in-law Kenny found an electric pedestrian sign, I was wondering how I was going to get it away from him because he’s a really big guy, and I’m too old to get my butt whooped by a giant. Fortunately, Kenny found two of them, so we each got one.

Terry also got two small cast iron skillets, an antique oil lamp chimney, an old Mason jar with a glass top, a box of old white buttons for a sewing project yet to be determined, an antique glass pie plate, an antique metal basket for gathering eggs for our son Travis, as well as an antique glass and metal chick feeder for his critters. There were probably some other little things I have forgotten, but the prices were so good we couldn’t resist. We could have easily filled two or three pickup trucks with bargains, but then how would we get them all the way back to Florida?

Lamell also has several small buildings filled with more antiques, all kinds of lumber reclaimed from buildings being torn down throughout the area, wood molding, mirrors, and lots of tools, everything from wrenches and sockets to chainsaws and a wood lathe. You know what they say, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. There was definitely lots of junk and lots of treasure to pick through!

Now that we’re back home, it’s time to resume our weekly Free Drawing. And to make up for the time we’ve been gone, I’m going to make it a good one. This week’s prize is both books in my Highway History and Back Road Mystery series, featuring oddball little stories we picked up in our travels across America as fulltime RVers, both books personally autographed to the winner.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

Thought For The Day – As we were breaking up, a woman once told me, “You’re never going to forget me.” I wish I could remember who that was.