Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Vole Patrol

Panga deposited another vole on the front steps.

She's all charged up again. Usually we can barely get her out of the house, usually just long enough to poop, and then she's back on the couch. (She takes one end of the couch and I take the other -- as long as I don't move my feet around too much, she won't attack them...)

But every time she has one of these hunter's moments, she'll stay outside for hours. Linda calls it "Vole Patrol."

I've taken to calling her -- the Vole-ciraptor.

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Linda and I went to see Red, since it's based on a graphic novel.

Every time John Malkovich was on the screen I was laughing -- kind of embarrassing to be belly laughing when no one else in the theater is, but I couldn't help it. Just his double takes had me rolling in the aisle. Part of me was thinking, 'This really isn't that funny..." and part of me was laughing because I thought it was...

"He's CRAZY!"

"They secretly dosed him with LSD every day for 11 years...."

"Oh......well, he's doing pretty good, then."

Sometime they ought to make a movie with Malkovich, Gary Oldman and Christopher Walken (anyone else)? I'd pay to see that.

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After the movie, we went for a drive and ended up outside Terrebonne at a place called Borden Beck Wildlife Refuge.

I'm not sure I knew this place was there. We were just driving down country roads, marveling at some of the mansions on the hills, and the shacks on the flats.

It seems to me-- vague memory-- that there was an old, historic house on that stretch of the river at one time. But maybe I'm thinking of another place.

We followed the trail along the river to the end. A couple of grassy banks, and beautiful rock outcroppings, and lots of critters -- gorgeous day and a soft dry place to lay on the river bank and listen to the burbling and the crickets and the birds.

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Been having vivid dreams. Lately of big houses or buildings with lots of secret rooms and corridors....

Linda says it's because I'm opening up to new parts of my consciousness.

Either that or I'm just Being John Malkovich....

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"Mental Health Facility Set to Open...."

From reading about all the crazy stuff going on around here, I think we need it....

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I enjoy watching Antiques Roadshow, but I also think it's a whole lot of hoooey. A bunch of nonsense.

I'll refrain from calling it a fraudulent enterprise, but in those areas that I have some expertise -- comics and cards -- I think they're Wildly Overpriced.

I wish they'd be put to the test.

"Babe Ruth signed baseball is worth $8,000.00? Great! Prove it by buying it from me for $4,000.00, right now. Hey....what are you hemming and hawing about? Wait....where are you going? Come back here!"

7 comments:

Leitmotiv said...

Isn't that old historic house by the river (probably one of many) in Crooked River Ranch?

RDC said...

Actually there was a bit of a scandle a couple of years back because people assocaited with it were buying things and their offers ended up being low compared to market value.

shopping monkey said...

May we rent Panga for a day or two? We have some good pickins' at Pomegranate.

I would add Tim Roth to your movie cast.

Roadshow: it's why you see people listing exhorbitant prices for "antiques" through craigslist. I love the show, but wish they would preface every valuation with "this is what this would go for at RETAIL, under very good circumstances, in Manhattan, when all the stars are aligned..."

Duncan McGeary said...

***"Actually there was a bit of a scandle a couple of years back because people assocaited with it were buying things and their offers ended up being low compared to market value."***

Truly, RDC, that's hard to believe. I suspect the people making the accusations don't know what they're talking about....

People talk about 'fair market' value, but it's the price they both want to SELL for and BUY for, and you can't have it both ways.

Duncan McGeary said...

"this is what this would go for at RETAIL, under very good circumstances, in Manhattan, when all the stars are aligned..."

I would add that you have to have that one person who both wants it and has the money to buy it -- at full retail. Rare breed.

While it MIGHT be worth a certain amount, it certainly isn't liquid and the more expensive it is, the less liquid it is.

People want to buy at the same price as me -- even though I work 40 hours a week and keep up a shop.

RDC said...

'Antiques Roadshow' appraiser pleads guilty
Saturday, December 22, 2001

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHILADELPHIA -- An antiques dealer pleaded guilty yesterday to staging phony appraisals of Civil War-era artifacts on the PBS program "Antiques Roadshow."

Russell Pritchard III, 38, of Bryn Mawr, also pleaded guilty to stealing a uniform from a Civil War museum in Harrisburg, Pa., where he worked, and defrauding Civil War collectors by giving them low appraisals on artifacts, then reselling them at much higher prices.

In one case, Pritchard and his business partner, George Juno, bought military antiques from the family of Confederate Gen. George Pickett for $87,000, then sold them to the Harrisburg museum for $870,000, prosecutors said.

"Antiques Roadshow," produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, has people bring in their old or unusual items and get on-the-spot appraisals. Often, people are surprised to learn their item is extremely valuable.

In a segment shown in 1997, Pritchard and Juno staged an appraisal in which a man who claimed to have found a Civil War sword in his attic was told the weapon was worth $35,000. WGBH said Pritchard and Juno knew the man beforehand and had arranged for him to bring the sword onto the show.

Prosecutors said Pritchard and Juno staged the appraisal to get publicity and attract customers.

Juno pleaded guilty to similar charges in May. Pritchard is to be sentenced in April.

He has agreed to cooperate in a related case against his father, Russell Pritchard Jr., 61, the former director of the Civil War Library and Museum in Philadelphia. That trial is scheduled for Jan. 14. The elder Pritchard, is charged with theft from a museum and being an accessory after the fact.

Duncan McGeary said...

Yeah, I knew about that one. I didn't know under-appraising was part of his fraud.

Ten years ago. And I think it's still true that for the majority of appraisers -- especially the ones on T.V.-- their inclination is to go overboard to create the excitement.

Which is good for business.

All I know is that in the world I'm aware of, I think their pricing is not only overpriced, but ridiculously overpriced.