Dog days of winter...

Yeah, I know that it should read: Dog days of summer. But I think someone a long time ago missed the boat with this one. I say that because even with the heat, in the summer you can find so many things to occupy your time. While I find that these months of November and December are dog days. Not only is the weather crazy but you kinda start feeling the blues cause another year is almost over. And in my case, my birthday is in December, so I also become one year older.

I know that for many it is a hectic time with all the gift buying and celebrations so at least for them they have little to no time left for boredom.

I occupy my time on the internet, but lately it has gotten a little expensive, you see I have been buying old hats on Ebay. I made up my mind to stop! i am just looking for one greay one as my last purchase for a while. I hope I find it soon since it is driving me nuts. The good thing is that I had the money to spend so I have not run into trouble. I could though, so that is why I am going to stop.

I must get into the habit of walking again. I spend way too much time indoors. I just have to muster-up enough courage to do so. No, I am not afraid of people, I worry about not finding my way back home. But, the more I think of it, I know I can do it. I have many other times. And even when I have gotten lost, it always turns out ok.

Talking about the dog days, my little dog Summer, has started to dig her way out of the yard. I worry cause I don't want her to get lost or hit by a car. I need to find a way to block her from doing this. I really don't want to give her up, but I would much rather do that than have her get injured.

Well, the dog days go on and so will I....

Dependent?...

I think I have become very dependant on the internet to provide me news, email and shopping. I realized how much i nneeded access to the internet earlier this week when my ccomputer fried. Yeah, my refurbished PC died. Oh well, we live and learn. So, anyway I got myself a brand neew Compaq/Hp. I bought this one Brand New! It is actually the very first out of the box unit I have purchase. I don't mean I bought an open box item, what I mean that this one was factory fresh in the box.

When my pc died, I had to go back to the old fashioned way of shopping for something since I could not go online. I used my scellphone and made a few calls. It actually worked out pretty good. The young lady who helped me was an employee of Best Buy. I told her what I was looking for and she immediately suggested the right one. I went later during the day to pick it up and I am very pleased with it.

Now I am back to all my old tricks on the pc. I had to learn a few new things but, I did. Hopefully this unit will last me a few years. I can't see any reason why it would not. I will keep you up to date.

Once upon a time...

When I was about 5 or 6 I remember watching my grampa, my Dad's father, decorate the house for the Christmas Season. He would string these cords of light bulbs in all different colors along the top of the fence and along the banister. Then he would come inside and place more cords whith bulbs in the inside frame of the frontroom windows. After he made sure all the bulbs worked, which was a job in itself, since you had to go one by one til you found which was blown, it was time to assemble the tree. Yes, assemble. He had a beautiful white Christmas tree. This tree had 3 sections which fit into each other. Once the tree was up he would then place this circular dish which had plastic lenses in greeen, yellow, red, green and I think blue. This dish had a light bulb on the inside so when he plugged it in, it would start turning and as it did it would light up the tree in all the different colors. It was a sight-to-see! Now he was done. He would go outside and admire his work. I would go with him and I remember how beautiful I thought it all looked. I remember later in life when I would go to peoples homes and notice that they had natural, or live, Christmas trees in their homes, and I would think how none of these could compare with the one my grampa put up...

Things I always wanted to ask...

My mom and I would always talk about her childhood so I felt pretty good about knowing her past, but as for my dad, that is another story. I don't know why but he and i never spoke to much about his childhood. Sure I knew some stuff about him but I was feeling the need to knoe more. I did not know how to approach him on this subject, so I started by asking him to describe his home. He started by telling me that before he was born when his mom, my grandma, was expecting a child my grampa had left and had not returned for months. He was found by his father in a nearby town with nothing but the clothes on his back. He had gambled and drank everything he had to his name. My grandma was holding down the fort. She had managed to buy a little wooden shack where she lived. My grampa was brought home by his father and then my aunt Isabel was born. Apparently my grampa would go on these crazy episodes of drinking and gambling. My grandma would do whatever she could for her and her little girl.

Apparently my grandfather would come around and stay long enough for my grandma to get pregnant since now she was expecting my father. He goes on to tell me how they lived in that little hut till he was about 7 years old. After that they moved into a slightly larger wooden hut. These huts were made of wood and they had shutters for windows and a tin roof. My dad, when he was old enough to do so he would go to a bakery and buy loaves of bread which he then sold or traded for eggs or anything else he could get for the family.

My grandfather then was working the sugar cane. My dad would help by milking the cow, delivering the milk, selling his bread and going to school. Aside from that he had to take his father lunch and coffee wherever he was working. Not much of a childhood when compared to todays standards.

After a few years they were able to get a home through a government project. This was an adobe home. It still had a tin roof, but it was a far cry from the first home he had.

Life was not easy and as he told me he and his sister always had to be on the watch for when their dad came home drunk. They would hide under the kitchen table or wherever they could. As my father puts it, my grampa would go crazy whenever he got drunk and he would pick a fight with anyone. And as my dad pointed out, my grampa had his machete very well sharpened at all times. Not someone you would want to cross paths with.

I can clearly see that my dad has always been a very hard worker. He may not know how to do many things but what he does he does with all his heart. I admire who he was and who he is....

Finding a sale...

Boy oh Boy! Don't we feel good when something we wanted to buy finally goes on sale. I don't know about you, but I don't like to pay full price for anything. I always feel as I have been cheated when I do pay full price. And when you go back and see something on sale and think of how much you paid, then you feel robbed. So, anyway yesterday i bought a pea coat for myself, one I have been wanting for a while now. it was marked down to half price. I love that. It is really well made for the price I paid, actually it is made well enough that paying full price is not bad either. In some rare cases an item is actually worth what it is being sold for.

The point I wanted to make though is that I almost fell into the trap of thinking that maybe at that price I should buy two of them. For someone who goes out on a daily basis maybe that would not be a bad idea. But I don't go out that much and I have two other very nice coats I can also wear. The point is that if i bought two of these coats, what amount of money would I have saved? Really none. Yes, I would have two for the price of one, but the idea is to save something. So, by just purchasing one I saved half. Makes sense to me. And if you think of it, if something were to happen to this coat in the near future, which I don't think it will, I am sure the stor will have a similar sale soon. So, enjoy your sales but buy wisely. You will feel better about yourself and I believe you will appreciate the item a little more.

my Fedora story...

This is my story of the fedora. I recall seeing both of my grampas wearing a fedora. I can't remember if they wore one on a daily basis, but i do think for one, my Dad's father did. I know there is a picture somewhere where my Mom's dad is sitting on a sofa with his leg crossed and he has a fedora on.

I always liked hats. I wore pilots style hats when I was a kid, then I started wearing newsboy caps. I also wore a newsboy style where the brim was sewn closed. I don't know the proper name, I think they are a flat newsboy. These were my favorite at the time. I had a black felt one which quickly became my favorite. I stopped wearing it when a gangbanger came and knocked it off my head and wanted to know what gang I belonged to. Well, I just decided to stop wearing it after that. I don't know wat happened to it, I strongly believe my mother threw it away. Maybe that was a good thing. Even though I was smart enough not to wear something which labeled me as a gangbanger.

As I got older I started wearing hats again. Mainly scull caps, baseball style caps and newsboy caps when dressed up.

Now I am in the phase of vintage fedoras. I really like the old style felt ones. I have found a few really nice ones on Ebay. I went a little crazy but what the hell, I think I deserve to treat myself every now and then. I researched them and their sellers the best I could and found that they all came from estate sales or second-hand stores. The folks who buy these are looking for specific things in a fedora to indicate they are vintage. You could go to a department store and buy a brand new hat which is styled after the original fedora, however, the materials and workmanship are no where near the quality of the vintage ones. One of the main things buyers in the know look for is the brand. Brands such as Stetson, Dobbs and Champ are just three of the good ones. Actually good is an understatement, these are great fedoras. I have been able to purchase mine in great condition. Only one of my fedoras which is a stingy brim trilby, shows the most wear in the inside headband. I conditioned it and it is better now. I did considered replacing it but it is fine the way it is. After all, it is vintage. The outside of this particular hat is in excellent condition. I am not sure but I think it is a beaver felt. It has a unique band on the outside which is made of braided feathers. The guy I bought it from said he has never seen a band as beautiful as this one. He told me he wanted to keep it for his own collection but his head size is much bigger than mine. I wear a 7 which is considered average.

I just bought black ones when I started to buy these. Don't know why. Then I branched out and got a couple of grey ones and a couple of brown ones. My brown Champ is like brand new. It has the original pin, feathers and wind trolley. The wind trolley is a cord sewn to the bow and then placed around the crown of the hat with a button attached. The button looks as if it is part of the bow. Once you bring the cord and button away from the hat by lifting it up from the right side of the hat, you can then place the button in your coat lapel. This was to prevent your fedora from getting lost if blown off by the wind. Pretty cool, don't you think. Only three of my fedoras have this wind trolley. It was an accessory which cost extra. I have read up on ways to install these to all my fedoras. Maybe I will. I thought of changing the outside band on a couple of my hats, then I decided against it. They are all in perfect condition and they are all original. This after all is what makes these hats vintage.

One of my brown hats, a Stetson Royal Deluxe, smells like pipe tobacco. I actually think this is really cool. I always liked the smell of pipe tobacco and I can picture a cool gent wearing this hat while smoking a pipe. You can't get any more vintage then that. At first I wasn't sure if I liked this hat because it has a grosgrain ribbon around the edge of the brim. But as I researched this I found that this hat actually dates back to the 1940's. Awesome! The lady I bought it from just knew it was old. She did not know much else of the value, lucky for me since this model of hat is selling for as much as $175. I got it for $25. A real steal.

Well, after all my shopping I have a total of 12 hats. Four of these are not great hats since they are not stamped with the name of quality brands. well, I take that back, one of them is, my white straw fedora, which is a safari panama hat from ecuador. The brand is Ultrafino. This hat is really cool. It was handmade. It is a summer weight hat. Now for my other hats:

Black Champ with wind trolley
Black stingy brim Champ
Black short brim champ
Black Royal Stetson
Grey Stetson with leather braided band
Grey champ with wind trolley pin
Brown Champ with pin and wind trolley
Brown Royal Stetson Deluxe with pin


Now for the others:
Lite grey, almost taupe felt suede with wide brim
White wool/felt with black band and wide brim, zoot style
Black wool/felt with white band and wide brim, zoot style

Some came with their original feathers but I purchased more feathers in different colors to adorn my hats.

I really feel great when I wear my hats, so I am going to continue to wear them and I will continue to look for those unique vintage buys. Can you just imagine the stories these hats could tell if they could talk. They are as old as I am or probably in the case of a couple of them, even older than I am.

Karma...

You can call it whatever you like, I choose to call it karma. The good things I do for people will one day come back to me. You noticed I did not say the bad things I do to people, since I strive very hard not to bring intentional harm to anyone.

So, good karma is what I hope I will recieve. I have recieved good karma on several occasions. I will mention the most recent.

I purchased something on Ebay, as I often do, but this time was a little different. The item was up for auction and I wanted to purchase it with Buy It Now so I could get it sooner. So I made the person an offer and they placed the item for Buy It Now at $5 less than I had offered to pay. I recieved my item and I was very pleased with the whole transaction that I sent the seller the additional $5. I let that go at that. I was happy with my purchase and I felt the seller had gone out of their way to please me, so this was the least I could do.

A week later I made another purchase from another seller on Ebay. I paid the asking price and to my surprise, (karma), the seller refunded me some of the purchase price because the cost of shipping the item was less than she anticipated. Now you tell me, did she have to do that? Would I have ever known that the shipping was less? You see she could have easily viewed that as a plus for her and pocketed the money. There would have been nothing wrong with that, I am sure it happens everyday, but my good karma came back to me...