friday surprises!!!

Heading into the snow at the Johnson County line

Boy, did I dip my foot in some fun yesterday! Wednesday night, my girlfriend , Gin, called me and told me there were some  buyers in Sheridan that were at the Holiday Inn looking to purchase old jewelry, coins, silver, gold, whatever.  She thought we should dig through our jewelry boxes and take some stuff over there.  Well, I’ve never done that before but I was game, especially on the gold jewelry end of it because I don’t like gold anyway.  I’m a serious silver girl, always have been.  Gold makes my neck and fingers turn green.  Doesn’t matter if it’s 24 carat gold, on me it looks like cheap brass.  Some kind of weird chemical reaction, I’ve been told.   All of the stuff I wear is silver or white gold or stainless steel. 

So, I dutifully dug through the ole jewelry box and came up with an assortment of old silver dollars, a few broken silver watches, a lot of broken gold chains, some old wedding bands and such and off we trotted yesterday to see the buyers.  The girl and guy who were there are by no means professionals.  You could tell they had certain things they were looking for but not a lot of knowledge.  Mostly, they were just going by weight on the gold and silver.  Anyway, after looking at everything and sorting it into piles and testing with little chemicals, they brought out their calculators and scribbled a bunch of stuff down.  After they entered it all in the computer, they printed out a sheet for me and handed it to me.  I tried not to flinch, I swear I did!  But this big wide ole grin just started seeping across my face, I couldn’t help myself.  I’ll never be a good poker player, I swear!

They offered me $388.00!  Holy guacamole! You have to understand, this was crap stuff to me! Things I have no use for at all, broken stuff.  It was just laying in my jewelry box gathering dust for years! Heck yes, I’ll take it, I told them and they promptly cut me a check.  Gin did pretty well, too.

We left there feeling like two pretty lucky ladies and nodded to the people out in the lobby who we’d talked to before going in that they were indeed, in for a good time! 

Our next stop was a new little doggie boutique that’s sprung up in Sheridan.  They have great stuff for dogs, apparel for people and one of those doggie washes.  I got a zip up hoodie that has a really cool saying on it about dog codependence.  I’ll put the words at the bottom here.  They also have this great dog treat that is liquid, comes in a bottle.  It’s almost like one of those roll on deodorant bottles, the dog can lick the surface and it rolls to give them more liver flavor.  I use one to train Thistle. You can carry it in your pocket, the dog can’t smell it until you remove the lid and each lick is only 5 calories for the dog. Brilliant! I could go crazy in this store, but despite having that big check in my purse, I didn’t.  Was quite proud of myself, actually!

Gin and I always have so much fun when we’re together!  We are about as opposite as they come, sorta like me and Rob, actually.  I keep teasing her that if we were ever on a deserted island together, we’d have no problem with the food because she doesn’t like anything I like. We’re kinda like yin and yang. Sometimes I wonder why we do so well together because we are so different.  She challenges me, though, that’s one of the reasons I like her.  She’s from Minnesota and is very straightforward, honest and well, blunt.  I like people who are brutally honest, you always know where you stand with them.

Anyway, after the boutique, we had to stop at Walmart for a few things. I wasn’t going to go in because it’s a big store and I’m on crutches but Gin convinced me to go in and get one of those geezer motor carts to ride in.  Boy, am I glad she did!  I had a blast running around scaring half of Sheridan with that thing! Good thing those little carts have a governor on the speed or there might be some Walmartians with tire marks up their backs this morning.  Do people check their brains at the door at Walmart? I think so.  Why is it when you see someone you know there, you both have to blockade an aisle so no one else can get through?  Having a motorized cart, I was being a little aggressive yesterday, tee hee.  Felt good to give a little back to some of those little ole biddies.

So, that was our adventure in the big metropolis of Sheridan yesterday.  We had the good fortune on the return drive of only hitting a small amount of snow on the way back.  There’s a curtain almost at the county line between Johnson and Sheridan County.  As soon as we got into our own Johnson County, there was the snow again. It was bone dry on the Sheridan side.

Last night we had another big crowd at our happy hour table at the Moose Lodge.  Our little Moose is growing quickly all of a sudden and that’s so great!  We recruited 5 new members last week.  All the money that the Moose makes goes to fund things for the kids of Buffalo after they pay for the day to day operations of the Lodge.  Makes me feel like my getting tipsy on Fridays is a noble thing!  But really, our Moose is great and I’m so glad to see it growing.

Today, Rob and I are going to take a morning drive down the old highway to Kaycee and see what sorta wildlife and scenery we can capture on our cameras.  Our prize in Kaycee is an Invasion burger at the Invasion Bar downtown.  They have the best burgers in WY, in our opinion.  They still do handmade ones and their French fries are handcut and the fryer is the perfect temperature.  I’m a medical vegetarian but I throw that out the window when we go to Kaycee and get myself a big ole jalepeno and swiss burger! I highly recommend it if you are ever passing through on I-25.  Don’t blink or you’ll miss Kaycee, it’s only 200 and some people. But they are awesome people, salt of the earth ranchers.  Downtown is only one block long and ends at the big memorial park for Chris LeDoux, who used to live here.

A few years back, Kaycee almost got wiped off the map by a big flood.  It took out most of the town when the Powder River unleashed its 100 year flood.  The folks of Kaycee took it all in stride and even had a “FloodFest”, complete with hilarious t-shirts.  Everyone from all of Johnson County pitched in and rebuilt,  no one grumbled that FEMA wasn’t there, we just did it ourselves. When they rebuilt, they really did a nice job.  It’s like stepping back into the 1890’s when you walk down the street.

Well, time to find that adventure today.  I wish for you that you see your life as an adventure as well.  Just pretend you’re a kid again, remember how everything was such a wonder?  You can still find that wonder, you just have to put a stillness in that adult mind of yours and turn off the worries and find the joys of discovery instead.

My new jacket says: on the front

Where I go…dog follows

Where I stop…dog settles

When I am lost…dog finds me

When I am joyful…dog joins me

Who I am…dog knows

What I need…dog becomes

On the back it says:  Dog. Codependent

the object of my codependence, Thistle