Sunday, January 29, 2017

Be Careful What You're Not Even Wishing For

I made the mistake of showing an interest in Hick's hoard. Not so much showing an actual interest, as asking for details about the random picture he sent me from the BARn when he first used The Pony's Christmas present to put together his shelves.

This little faux pas was akin to asking an old person, "How are you?" Now I have more information than I wanted. Today, Hick sent me FOUR pictures. He's proud of his BARn collections. Yeah. I told him the other day he was a hoarder, and he said haughtily, "Val. I'm a COLLECTOR!" Which is just another name for a hoarder, if I remember correctly.

Anyhoo...now I must share my good fortune with you, and show you more BARn shots. Ironically, you would probably be unable to have a shot at the bar in Hick's BARn now, because all the space is taken up with his...collections.


This one is my favorite of the four new photos. Those boards at the top? That was Hick's Friday night project. He took them to work so he could use a machine there (a mill, he says, to which I said, "What?" and he said a milling machine) to cut the notches for hanging his goblets. Or schooners. Or whatever those beer glasses are called. The bucket collection started with a couple he found in my stuff right after we got married. Or probably before. Hick is a well-known snoop. Anyhoo, I had attended a couple of St. Louis Strassenfests during my checkered-past college years, and everybody knows that you have to drink your beer out of a bucket there. So sad it's no longer a thing. The Strassenfest. Not beer drinking. I like Hick's collection of trays, culled from assorted flea markets and Goodwills and received as an occasional Christmas give from Val herself. Hick's pretty easy to buy for. Because he collects a little bit of everything.


This looks like a hodgepodge area, though I guess he will eventually refine it with a more specific theme. Those giant bottles are BEER! I'd never heard of such a thing. I asked if it was champagne. Nope. Beer. He said they were made by Anheuser Busch, and were sold in a kit. Of course I questioned him on that, because to me, a kit is something you make for yourself out of parts. But he described more of a gift set, like the bottle with four glasses. Yes. They still have the beer in them. They are for collection purposes only in Hick's BARn.


Don't try to drink one of Hick's Cokes, either!


This collection here is a bit contentious. It's Hick's Rams Table. Hick says he can't find as many Rams collectibles now that they are gone, baby, gone from St. Louis. He can, though find jerseys at Goodwill, but he doesn't collect them. I say EFF THE RAMS! I was a loyal fan of the football Cardinals until Arizona stole them. And I was a loyal fan of the Rams, even back in the Rich Brooks days. And especially during the Cryin' Dick Vermeil era. I gave Mike Martz a year, but his vision was not mine. Still. I was fairly neutral on the subject. But now? NOW? EFF THE RAMS!

Sorry. I forgot my purpose for a moment.

Yes. Hick has a lot of junk. But it's HIS junk, and he's quite proud of it. I try to be tolerant. By his own account, Hick had NOTHING growing up. Not even an indoor toilet to pee in. So if he wants to have stuff now, who am I to deny him? He's worked hard all his life. He can afford it. I am not going to destroy his dream of owning one of every single item in the universe.

He's off to a good start.

14 comments:

  1. Val--If you take enough pictures like this, I won't have to pay the astronomical price I know you're going to tack onto the tour tickets.

    I can just visit and revisit and revisit each of the shacks, while I sit here in my jammies at home.

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    1. A virtual tour is not the same. You miss the ambience of basking in the glow of Hick. You may wear your jammies on the tour for regular price, though. We don't have a dress code.

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  2. The collecting is organized hoarding, you can find stuff, you can walk among stuff and it doesn't stink.

    Hick's collections are probably worth a bit, especially coke and beer stuff...not for me, but lots of collectors out there.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. According to Hick, if he got a dollar for each item, he would have $10,000. I think that's an estimate.

      Sadly, we figure that once we kick the bucket, Genius and The Pony will just dump it all at the back door of Goodwill. On days they accept donations, of course! Not as in illegal dumping.

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  3. Can you imagine how many shacks Hick would need if he could actually collect one of every single item in the universe?

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    1. No. That puts my brain on overload. But he's off to a pretty good start on the shed-building.

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  4. Oh wow Val, I'm very envious of Hicks coca cola stand - how great would that look in my bathroom? So much to say but I think I'd better go away and write it in a post of my own!

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    1. It WOULD look great in your bathroom! But you'd have to keep your bathers from enjoying a refreshing sip of The Real Thing. The sodas are from various years, special edition cartons of bottles with dated Christmases, Super Bowls, or other special occasions.

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  5. Love that coke display. A fellow near us has a huge Coke clock that glows at night. It looks really old.

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    1. Hick got his Coke display at an antique shop near his work. He paid $45 for it, which is more than he usually spends on his trinkets.

      I mentioned the Coke clock, and he was intrigued. "Does somebody want to sell it?" Then I felt like an enabler.

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  6. I have a item here in the bowels of RV wonderland that I bet he does NOT have and I would be more than willing to gift it to him! Am Emu egg. It was given to HeWho at a craft show where he was selling his stained glass and I was selling something I had sewn. A woman was selling all things Emu. She lived on an Emu farm and was very interesting. She traded the egg for some stained glass. The eggs are huge and she described how she would crack them with a hammer and then cook with them. Our egg is intact. But, it will have no place in our rolling home.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Hick (unsurprisingly) said he would love to have your Emu egg, whenever you are ready to get rid of it. Please believe me when I say there IS NO RUSH!

      I can always tell him you are not ready to part with that treasure until you hit the road in your RV.

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  7. I do believe there's a couple guys on an early morning show that drive around the country seeking oddities. They bring their cameras and televise. You think we should tell Hick?

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    1. NO! Hick would go buy some red carpet at Goodwill so he could roll it out for them.

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