Flower Fugitives Found

UPDATE June 2011: Floral Fugitives Found!
As many may know, Greg Rheaume of Sandusky Antiques, is well known in the pansy posse as a prince of petunias. His spat with the Garden club has since stemmed some time ago, releasing him to continue cultivating his clusters of scent-imental symphonies.

Imagine his horror when he recently showed up at his shop and found absent the annuals and also the urns! The petunias had been poached! Gone were the unctuous urns so unblenchingly earned, purloined were the plantings so painstakingly proffered. Hastily he hailed the heat, but they, having an overabundance of criminality in the community of 3000, hesitated to heed his hail. As his prized pooch Millie pranced in preparation for her hourly pee, Greg grabbed her leash and they set off for the pastures.
Around the corner, Greg was upbeat to discover an unearthed urn halfway down the sidewalk. Another 20 feet lay the second urn, the would-be witless wrongdoers having underestimated the weight of the unwieldy pots. The third pot, further finishing the triumvirate, sat another half block down the road. Sniffing and snooping, Greg with his cunning canine companion Millie, tailed the trail of dirt.

“HHHhhhum” Greg huffed, then set off following fragments of the fiasco to a flat located across the street from….guess……guess…..the county jail. There on the porch sat several scofflaws’ chain smoking in front of his stolen shrubbery!

Greg announced audaciously that said annuals were the ones absent from his urns in front of his antique shop and would be accordingly applying a citizen’s arrest! Receiving various nonsensical excuses, Greg phoned the police who previously had shunned his story, and found himself on the phone with the chief himself, who reiterated that Greg was precluded from preventing the plunderers escape.

The cops finally showed up, being located across the avenue from the alleged accomplishes, took statements, and hauled the hijacked hibiscus back to their home, planting them on top of the trunk, so as not to soil the seats of their sedans, speeding the shanghaied spikes back to Sandusky Antiques. Greg happened upon his hand cart & hauled the heavy urns back to their rightful positions in front of his shop and called the Garden Club members to convey the day’s happenings, and to assure the Sow and Hoes that the pots were replanted.

The local newspaper editor interviewed him, watch for the vignette on the front page of the Sandusky Tribune this Wednesday!

October

October is a busy month for shows, I will be in Springfield Ohio at the Clarke Co. Fairgrounds this weekend Oct. 16-17; Next weekend is the Ann Arbor MI. Fiber Expo on Oct 23-24; Southfield MI. Pavillion Expo is Fri-Sun. OCt. 29-31 2010.

The Leaves are gorgeous this week, here in Michigan. I love the crunch when they lay on the ground, the smell when they are burning, the colors make my heart skip a beat.
On the antique front, I am always buying! I have lots ofvintage Halloween decorations (so hard to find!), I will be bringing to Springfield OH. & Southfield MI shows, plus loads of buttons, jewelry, postcards & really interesting photos, Christmas decorations, et cet.
If you have never been to a Fiber Expo but you love knitting, wool felting or spinning, come out to the Saline Co. Fairgrounds Oct 23-24 and visit the Fiber Expo. This is going to be the biggest show ever, with over 80 vendors. Its a fun event with classes and demonstrations plus gorgeous buttons and wool from all over the world! Its a great way to spend an afternoon this fall. See you there!
Please visit my website for links & more info www.thegirlnextdoorshop.com

This week on Craig’s List

This week on Craig’s List:

the perennially hopeful…..“antique stapler with original box of staples - $25 (lexington)
antique stapler with box of original staples in original box 25.00, works, I have seen people decorate workshops with these old tools “…...I have never seen anyone decorate with a stapler, well except me, but I was using the stapler to s t a p l e t h i n g s...

the nondescript:
“wind direction for barn - 500.00 im in bay city “ …ahhh…which way is the wind blowing there?

The excessively verbose…
“China Plate/Yuan Wood & Sons - $25 (Port Huron) The rare beauty of this ancient print will make anyone smile with the peacock looking over his right shoulder. The Blue and White has pleased me for years.(dont even get me started on this) But with all; it should be with family.(….do you mean a peacock family??) Mfg. England, Product of Yuan Wood & Sons #RN65636 the plate is in good condition, minor back scaring but in good condition on the face side, no chips and as we know rare to find this piece. Please phone” I still dont know whose family it should be with....

The insane:
“1940's Dining Room Table, 4 chairs and buffet - $1500 (Yale, Michigan)
DREXEL Duncan Phyfe Travis Court Harp Lyre Base Table, 4 chairs and Bachelor's chest
Excellent condition. Table when folded down measures 32 inches by 42 inches. With drop leafs opened, table measures 62 inches by 42 inches. Table extends to 98 inches
Includes pads for table top.
chest measures 36 inches wide by 17.5 inches deep by 32 inches high.
Call Barb for more info or to see them” really my friend Carol has one of these except she has 8 chairs and 3 leaves, for sale at $400.00 and the buffet does not add $1000.00 to the price!

And the inexplicable“Sye (sic) - $35 (lexington)” wtf?

The misinformed: Silver Tea Set (Algonac)
Antique Silver Tea Set, 5 pieces, Good condition, a little tarnished, nothing a little tarnex won't fix, make an offer, call Mike, leave a message. “ …tarnex is the worst thing to use on silver, it eats the plating, don’t use it!!

The spell check challenged and the jaded:
Primative (sic)fruit/wine/cider press Handy brand - $80 (Port Huron Township)
“Handy” fruit press This is really old. My husband says it looked like this when his parents purchased the farm in the early 1950's. any other misc. non-information you want to add?
The screw turns freely. It's about 24 inches wide at the base and about 36 inches to the top of the frame. Port Huron Township pick-up only, no delivery or shipping, no checks.” but you trust us to come to your house?

Antique Mirrow - $60 (Port Huron)
Antique mirrow with candle holders. Good condition. Call Jerry “ he spelled it Mirrow twice, so he had to mean it…

ebay, ding dongs & Bipolar French Canadians

Recently I sold an item on ebay, mostly it is a positive experience, (you never know what items will sell for) and sometimes you are pleasantly surprised.

And sometimes not.

After waiting several days for payment on some vintage GI Joe toys, I got this email from the whining (oops) winning bidder.

From the buyer: i am the winner of this ebay auction from you, really sorry for the delay, i was away. something came up and i will need a couple more days before i can send the money but don't worry, it will be sent. can you send me your address again, (why does he need my address? the payment is completed online...hmmm ) just to check if i have the right one, thanks and sorry again for the delay before getting back to you!

ME: How are you sending the money? I accept Paypal only. thanks Mariann

Buyer:"i really didn't see that your auction was paypal only, (all auctions are paypal only, but you can choose to take a money order if the buyers ASKS for it) i was to send a money order made in us funds, i always paid with those and never had any problems, if you don't mind, i would like to send a money order to finish this transaction and i am absolutely sorry for the inconvenients (sic) i am causing you right now, really sorry! (anytime they say they're really sorry twice, they don't mean it either time)

ME: No I cannot accept international money orders, Paypal only. Payment is due within 3 days, Mariann

Buyer: "may i ask why you can't accept a money order? it would really help me if you would. besides, it is not an international one, it is a Canadian one but made in U.S. funds "(since when is Canada part of the United states? oh yes, as Homer Simpson explains it Canada is "America Jr." lol)
" that you can cash at any bank." (really... well try to cash it at my credit union!)
"if you really, absolutely can't accept a money order, i will have to ask for more time. i do have a paypal account but there is no money in it" (now how was he going to pay for the money order if he had no money?)
"and i don't have a credit card, i will have to find out how to transfer it "(go to the bank and put the money in the account...bingo!)
"or i will have to wait for my brother (or his mothers neighbors hairdressers cats vet) to come back and i will ask him to pay for it with his credit card and he will be back approximately in a week. (yesterday it was a few days, today it is a week)

Me: My terms are clearly spelled out, Paypal only. I hope you can resolve this in a timely manner. Mariann

2 more emails from him, (which I deleted at the time), complaining how I didn't make it clear that I accepted paypal only, even though no other payment method is shown. Due to ebays rules only the paypal method is allowed to be shown. I waited a couple more days then opened a non-paying bidder case:

This case has been opened by the seller with the following reason: The buyer wants a payment method that I don't accept.
This was his reply:
"as i told you, i am taking care of it. at the moment, i am waiting for my brother to come back, like i told you, he will be back later this week. even waiting for him is faster than the money transfer to my paypal account" (how long does it take to put money in your account at a bank? 30 minutes or a week?). "i will keep you inform."
I then chose to close the case as I felt this would be nothing but trouble, not that it hadn't ALREADY been nothing but trouble...(ut oh there's that double negative, sorry!..wait is it a triple negative? that would mean 2 of them cancel each other out...hmmmm)

Then the buyer left me negative feedback!!
" NOT A REASONABLE PERSON AT ALL!!! DO NOT EVEN TRY TO DO BUSINESS WITH!!!WARNING!"

in response I left the following positive feedback for him-(Ebays new policy is that sellers can ONLY leave positive feedback even when the buyer does not pay for the item!!)
"He didn't pay for item! but the good news is it sold for even more the 2nd time".
Buyer then sent me this: : "if you were not happy with the selling price, you only had to tell me!!!! (was he peeved at the loss of some great items that sold for far less than what they would sell for individually?) it is not at all because i didn't want to pay the problem is much more from you (yes I want to get paid this decade, shame on me)!!!! you would have got your money for sure, i told you what was my problem (why has this become MY problem?..my new mantra.. NMP..not my problem). you are so unsure of yourself that you can't trust others (LOL) or the only thing you love in your life is the money (yes I love to pay my bills and have enough money to buy an occasional ding dong, .... do they make ding dongs anymore?....besides the human kind...) , be happy my friend!!!! (now we are friends??)

I didn't reply and of course he sent more emails.....

BUYER: by the way, i have never met any one as insulting as you (if I had a dime for every time someone has said that to me...) even in our first emails exchange the tone of your emails were insulting, (uh....when was i insulting? did I miss something? ut oh, can he read my mind??), what is it, you think you are better than every one, (well this may be true...oh no he CAN read my mind! ) every body else is wrong but you (ok this IS true...red face), you might want to try turning this around, give people a break!!! (this almost tops the letter I received in a Christmas card with payment from a buyer many years ago, which included a business card from his wife-a metaphysical psycho-therapist, who indicated she could "help me" channel my anger in 10 easy payments of 49.99, oops i mean cross country sessions... that was a real dozy! I still have that card if anyone needs it...)

Today I received the following:
"after a night of sleep my angryness(i don't know how to say i was was mad about the strike, without warning) passed. if you still agree, my brother is going to be back tomorrow, thursday" (a week has miraculously turned into tomorrow). "i could be making payment there. i would ask you to remove the strike ( he received an unpaid item strike from ebay) and i will remove the negative.(I am not sure he can remove it as ebays policiy is that once feedback is left it cannot be removed) i will need an answer in order to do this, please accept my apologies. i may be a lot of things but i am honest and this was an honest mistake and i am also asking for a credit card this week. a credit card will also be way cheaper than sending money orders all the time, so this is not a bad thing. sending money orders si $5.00 every time, multiply that $5.00 by my feedback(392)considerable savings here! please reply, thanks!"
(so I convinced him to get a credit card to pay for his auctions, he is feeling better, I am 131.00 short for this week & have a big fat negative (all in caps) a headache, and a bunch of G. I. Joe toys for sale..ok... so I didn't sell them for more money....yet....)
LOL.....I haven't responded, which given my fiery Aries nature was a sterling example of my patience with this buyer....i was tempted to exchange venom with him, however I decided to keep it as professional as possible. I mean if he thinks I am better than every one else, who am I to argue?

Update: New Plot Unfolds in Flower Fight

After perennial furrowed feuding with the Sandusky Garden club Sow & Hoe's and an uncooperative coiffeuse, Greg has decided that he will not attempt to out bloom the Flower Club this year. Outside Greg's antique shop, a former oasis of olfactory ornament, now sit urns that are unadulteratedly uninspired. The Novices of Nightshade have planted this years crop and the buds will hopefully mature into Blossoms of Beauty without his special mixture of love and C3 H8 NO5 et all .
"It's all about Love" states a withering Greg.
In a surprise move an online group hereto for referred to as the "Flower Kings Under Cover" has has flourished in defense of the Connoisseur of Compost, the Master of Mulch, the Virtuoso of Violets! However, sighs of sadness and rallying cries of "Greg for Prez" have, so far, failed to take root and spring Greg back into action. Hopefully Greg, with his mastery of mulching, will bring cultivation back to Sandusky! More to come....

New Plot in Flower Fight

After furrowed fighting with the garden club

Blogenstein

ok i think I have created my own monster...5th blog today.....step away from the blog....