I think I will just do some random rambling this time around, because that’s what I’m good at anyway. By the time
you are reading this, the sweet days of summer will be upon us and the Cloquet show will most likely be past. We
sure plan on being at Cloquet and seeing many familiar faces; this show is always a great time. The Nordlager
Boys roll out the red carpet and the barrels also! For anyone who has not been to Duluth and wanting to hit the
North Shore, make a weekend out of it and stop at the Northeastern for the show. You will not be disappointed.
The first weekend in May brings out the
Hutchinson city wide garage sale; I try and hit a few
in hopes of finding some gems. I also have my
“scouts” out looking for me also. So, I get a call and
my friend tells me, his neighbor has “barrels of old
beer cans” am I interested? Yup, I sure am, I will be
there shortly. So, the guy has 3 barrels and a box, I
take a quick look at the contents of the box, while
he is prying open the lidded barrels. My initial look
does not impress, seems like mostly 1980’s cans,
lots of rust and the infamous Billy cans, “sigh”. Well,
if the price is right I may take a gamble, so the
dance begins. He says, they have sentimental value
to me. I tell him I don’t buy memories, they are
yours, not mine. He says, I sound like the American
Pickers on TV.
After some banter, he says, “Will you take them
with you, go through them and pick out what you
want and tell me what they are worth”. I hesitate to do this, but as “they” say, (Whoever they are) curiosity killed
the collector. So, I agree. How can any collector worth his salt, resist seeing what is in there? I sure can’t. I got
them home and dumped out on the front lawn, which merited some odd looks from neighbors and such. In the
end, I picked out a few interesting ones and kept about