Where do you turn?

There are some things you just can't buy at a retail store anymore, and thank God there are people like you and me who never throw anything out.

Let's say you are decorating the new cottage at the lake. One of those big ol' stuffed fish would look really great over the mantle. Problem is, you're not much of a fisherman and any time you catch anything over three inches long, your wife just wants to throw it out, or worse - cook it. Plus, the mantle is four feet wide, and let’s face it, nothing that big is coming out of that lake without search and rescue.

Well you won't find a Stuffed-Fish-R-Us store, but somewhere there is a woman staring at just what you need. And she is thinking, 'If that thing doesn’t go, the wedding is off!' or ‘I wonder if I set it on fire, would he believe it was an act of God?’

Half the time I buy things I can't even identify. If it looks interesting, I buy it. For instance, I just happen to have a Weston Model 703 Foot-Candle Meter. I have no idea what it is for, but it is old and came in a cool leather case. Don’t laugh, you never know, I might need that someday. (It could happen! Shut up!)

I took The Boy to the flea market once, as we were browsing I stopped to look at a record player. I actually needed one, I had been thinking of dragging my record collection out of mothballs.

As we are discussing the sale my son walks up and lifts the dome. "Where do the CD's go?"

The woman and I have one of those 'you know you are old when' moments and she gives me a pleading look, "Make it go away." I send The Boy on a mission to find hubcaps.

But I ask you, where are you going to purchase a record player or a foot-candle meter, for that matter, if not from someone else who has one? Flea markets are great in the summer, but this is Canada. What do we do during the 10 months of winter? When we absolutely gotta have it?

• A stove to match that avocado green fridge, or a purple toilet to match the tub
• A floor model version of Cat Com Bowling Arcade machine
• 20-30 year old telephone poles (They are great for clothes line's)
• A Copy of “Descriptive Atlas of Western Canada” dated 1899 (I bet ya they don't have that one at Coles.)
• A 1946 Hudson Commodore (Way cool!)
• A Cute & cuddly Bishonfrise (Okay, I have no idea what that is, but if I wanted it I could get it right here.)

Where else are you gonna find a horse drawn cultivator, or walking plow? Canadian Tire? I don't think so.

If you need it, someone out there has it. All you gotta do is let your fingers do the walking.

Thankfully they don’t have a twelve step program for pack rats.