Tuesday, April 2, 2013

A new project


Today marked Day Two of a new gig. I got hired at a local printin' company to function as a printin' press rat, for the time bein' anyway. This is a big place with lots of different positions, shifts and people involved... lots of different cookie jars to get my hands in. The jury's still out, but it seems like it's gonna be a pretty good fit. Hopefully I can stay with this place for a good long while. Regardless, I'm certain that it can't be any worse than my last full-timer.

* * *

I unexpectedly acquired a couple new turkey calls last week.

The first was a custom call that I won online. The beautiful butternut and birch box was hand-crafted by Al and Josh Shoemaker from Lancaster, PA. Josh was kind enough to help me out a few years ago when I began buildin' my own calls, so I'm happy to have a piece of his work. It looks good, and it's all turkey... I'm not much of a box call user, but I'm lookin' forward to givin' this one a spin in the spring woods.


One of my last measures as a free man unemployed bum was to go to one of my favorite places last Friday mornin'. Norm's Auction Service is right up the road from my house, and their Tuesday and Friday mornin' auctions are pretty much populated by antique dealers, serious collectors and little old men with nothin' better to do (which is somethin' I strive to be one day). Not much competition for the cool little knick-knacks that I'm fond of, which is why I like it so much.

As luck would have it, I spotted an old Lynch World Champion Box Caller on their website the night before. When I got there Friday mornin', I lit a shuck to the display box and was damn near giddy to see it was an ol' Birmingham, Alabama call. Opinions vary, but for the most part, these ol' boxes are worth well over $100, even in somewhat iffy condition. They've been the go-to turkey killer for generations of hunters, and the older ones that were manufactured in Birmingham are hard to find intact. I paid a pretty penny for the one already ridin' in my call box.

Long story short, I was ready to bid on that thing into the triple digits, regardless that I didn't have two pennies to rub together that day. I damn near died on the spot when the other bidder ducked out at a $28. Better still, it's in a helluva lot better condition than my other one. No carryin' that one into the woods on shitty days.

Damn, now I got two of 'em. Reckon I oughta think about sellin' one.



1 comment: