"Post No. 678"

"Remember, remember,

The 8th. of December..."

John Lennon

October 1st., 1940 - December 8th., 1980

"Post No. 677"

After several days at work I finally got Tuesday off, and, par usual, we had many either nice days or at least dry ones until Tuesday when it rained all day long. However, I was still determined to get several chores done around here that required being outside. One of which was breaking out the old air compressor and checking our tires, putting plastic up on the bedroom window, etc. and working on the dirt pile.

The air compressor was no problem; had that done in 20 minutes or so, but as I inspected the bedroom window frame which I was going to remove and place plastic under, then reattach, it appeared to be just much more of apain than I wanted to handle that day, and instead decided to put the plastic on the interior instead.

Not that it was any less a hassle to accomplish, but at least I was inside where it was dry and warm. The biggest problem with this is always having to get everything else out of my way, which means moving the bed, removing the curtains, etc., but eventually I was able to attach the plastic tightly, then cover the same with a blanket, then the curtains, and finally get the bed back in place. A little over an hour and a half's work, and now finished.

We (my wife and I) went to the grocery for my mom, then I came back and decided to work a bit on the dirt pile since the rain had all but stopped. It was muddy, naturally, but I used a rake with a long handle and got all of the obvious surface trash (small twigs and the like) from the top of the pile. I noticed that "someone" had come and sawed up and hauled off some of the logs and took the one pile we'd split, so that's gone now too. All that's left is a large pile of debris, a pile of logs, and a pile of treated boards. The dirt still has a few "humps" in it that I plan on breaking down, and the raking was mostly intended this time so that the rain would help me with my job by washing off the small twigs of which I wish to dispose. Not a whole lot left of this project, finally, after many months of hard work. I must say that I'd pretty proud of what I have already accomplished.

I've decided to ("Gasp!") sell about 95% of my comic book collection and have already gone through around 25 boxes full of those here in the pc room, keeping what I want in one long box, but I'd dare say there's less than a hundred I've pulled thus far, some of which I plan to use in a future sale. By the time I finish going through everything there's going to be something like 14-15 thousand regular-type comics for sell in this lot, dating from the early 1940's on up. I've decided to just grit my teeth and pull stuff. I need the room. I need the extra cash (my wife is still just working a part-time job of 20 hrs. a week.). And this will definately be the last time I ever collect comic books. I'm keeping anything friends have given me, my autographed stuff, a few special comics, any books I think may have been in my original collections in the 1960's (and that's the same comic and not another I've bought to replace it condition or nostalgia-wise), and maybe my Charlton super-hero stuff, & Beatles app.'s ("maybe" 500 comics total). Everything else from Golden Age super-hero to individual comics with a book value of over $100. goes and it will go in one big lot (no "cherry picking"). 45+ years of collecting comic books is just enuff, and I don't think I'll miss them again as I'm keeping all of my trade paperbacks (or most of them; some will go), so I'll still have plenty of reading stock if I want to relive some great old story (and I might actually buy a few things I really enjoy in other TPB collections IF I find them cheap enuff).

I figure my current collection is worth $30K+ and I'm asking one third of that. If I can't get it, they'll just stay in their boxes gathering dust; doesn't matter. Or they'll stay here until I retire (IF that day ever comes) and be sold individually/in "lots" on line. I've stopped buying comics now and haven't bought a new comic in probably a year or better. (Thus ends a great era in my personal life.)

Not sure if I mentioned that I found all of my pc drivers and, as usual, they weren't even in this room but another and in plain sight (just as I figured they'd be). Got my camera hooked back up, but wouldn't you know it? Neither the web site for UMAX, or the version of Windows (XP) I'm currently running supports the scanner, so now that's junk to me (although it'd still work on a system using Windows 98). It's about time I bought a new scanner anyway as this is one I paid $15. for about 5 years ago and I've more than gotten my money's worth from it.

The above depicted is from one of my favorite funky silver age DC Comics, Strange Adventures #79, published in the 1950's. If you'll click HERE it'll bring up a page where you can read the story behind the cover (just click onto any image and it'll bring it up larger sized).