Junkin' Central Wisconsin with My Relatives

Today my sister Barb invited me to join her and my brother-in-law Bob on a junkin' adventure in central Wisconsin.  Barb and Bob live in Crivitz, WI, and they drove south west to Berlin while I left Milwaukee and drove north west.

I got to Berlin about an hour before the Crivitz crew so...I went junkin.'   I hit a small thrift center that had nothing for me but then I went to what looked like an old grocery store.  It was a thrift center run by Lutherans, this is most certainly true.  I bought a skeleton head, a serving dish and the Avon wedding couple.  Total cha-ching: $2.00 American.

Our first group goal was Saving Grace Salvage (245 East Park Avenue, Berlin).  I mean, c'mon--look at this place.  How cool is that?

The first floor

The first floor from the balcony

The basement

Saving Grace is clean and very well organized.  It is HUGE!  It also has fair market value prices--don't expect thrift store price tags here.  That being said, I did find some things I was willing to pay for.

Here is what I got. Three shutters (a dyptich and a triptich), a sewing machine drawer, three small cigar boxes, a metal thing that looks like a helmet, a vintage can, five metal frames and three books from the turn of the 20th century.  Total cha-ching:  $78.00 American.

Next we carpooled down the road to Omro, WI.  We stopped at a farm where Barb bought a pumpkin but a bought a bundled bunch of corn stalks to make paper.

We stopped at Farm Wife's Country Store.  This is a craft and food store but outside in the elements the shopkeeper had these three items she was willing to sell:  two strawberry caddies and a sewing machine drawer.  Total cha-ching:  $10 American.

Our last stop was at William's Little Store (5778 Springbrook Road, Omro).

Bob checking out the sign.  "That could be interpreted a number of ways," he said.

Store has to be a euphemism for something like "junk outside along the highway."  To make matters worse, storms were on the horizon and William had covered most of his junk with tarps, showing an amazing amount of care considering the condition that most of the stuff was in.

Yes, this was full of junk.

Sometimes junk can be very beautiful in a weird kind of way.

However, before I got really wet, I did manage to snag three parts of a cow watering mechanism and part of a horse harness.  Total cha-ching:  $18 American.

All in all, it was a fun day and I got to see a few assemblage sources that I was not familiar with thanks to my enabling sister.  Thanks, Barb.