Treasure Hunting with Walker

To continue the tale of Walker’s Nebraska shed spelunking, you need to know a little history.  Walker was the 6th generation to grow up on the family farm, which has three houses, several sheds, a grain bin, and many (perhaps 200?) acres of corn and soybeans. Over the years family, friends, farmhands, and neighbors have lived, worked, and grown up on the property.  As I told you last week, Walker did some treasure hunting while he was in Nebraska and was able to find some awesome old-school NE license plates in his grandfather’s shed.  One of the other structures on the property is called Mrs. Ross’ shed, named after the schoolteacher who lived in there (which would have fit a small bed and desk at most).  Mrs. Ross taught K-12 at a local one-room schoolhouse that may have included Walker’s grandfather! After Mrs. Ross left, the shed was used for stroage for 40 years until Walker’s parents planned its restoration this year. There was a small pile of rubble still inside the shed so Walker did some digging only to find two of the coolest items in our house!

The first thing was a blue-green-grey elephant statue that is so great (and Walker’s favorite animal!).  The elephants are hanging out on our coffee table but will hopefully make it up onto a display shelf one of these days.  He also stumbled upon a ceramic green owl (one of my favorite animals!).  I hope to have him on display more in the future also but right now he is in the bedroom functioning as a temporary bookend. For those who are wondering, his name is Doctor Husker, PhD.  We have Mrs. Ross to thank for a few amazing antiques we intend to show off proudly!

Another New Toy!

Ok, so my “stuff we brought back from our holiday visits” themed week has kind of gone to the birds, huh? I blame the record player and the new early birthday present I bought for myself today…

WOOO!!!!  I guess we can call this new toy week and continue the other theme next week.  I have wanted a DSLR forever so I finally went for it since I have been so budget-conscious lately. I figured it was time for an overdue self-splurge. After a lot of research (thus no post yesterday… I was obsessed) I got a Canon EOS Rebel T3 with an EF-S 18-55 IS II lens. I wanted to spend under $500 on an entry-level DSLR but also get something that was worth a continued investment (i.e. lenses, flash, etc.).  I read a ton of reviews and decided to go with a Canon. So I began trying to decide between the Rebel XS, Rebel XSi, Rebel T3, or spending a little more dough (on a T1i, T2i, or T3i). I read mixed reviews about the XSi so I scratched it off the list.  I then realized that the XS is a 3-4 year old model at this point and all of the tech specs were inferior to the much newer T3 (for a very similar cost).  So the T3 became my top choice.  I did a bit more research to see if I could rationalize spending more money on the higher-end models (a coworker brought his T3i into work for me to play with and it was gorgeous) but I came to the conclusion that the T3 would be perfect for my needs.  I got it on sale for $434.99 (plus warranty and tax for $503 and change) and was able to pick it up locally today!  INSTANT GRATIFICATION.  I could have saved $40 on tax if I got it off of Amazon for the same price but it was worth the extra few buck to get to play with it sooner!

So I got the camera home all excited to play with it until I realized I still had to charge the battery (duh.). Now I am patiently waiting for the little orange light to turn green and wearing the camera around my apartment with a big smile on my face (sort of a little creepy now that I mention it…).  Actually the light just turned green!!  It’s go time!  MANY pics to come!

The Beef State

Before the record player so RUDELY interrupted my blog schedule (JK! YAY YAY YAY!), I had big plans of having a themed week: stuff we brought back from our holiday visits to our respective hometowns.  To kick things off, I would like to honor Walker’s birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) with a post about his spectacular finds from Nebraska. Although his parents live elsewhere now, the farm he grew up on is still in the family. So Walker went on a hunt though his grandfather’s shed to look for treasures. Total success!
He found some vintage Nebraska license plates from the 50’s that were in amazing shape. With a little elbow grease they look almost new. I love the one that says the old state motto: “The Beef State.” Now living over the opening between the living room and kitchen, these bad boys bring a little old school Nebraska to our home!