The ultimate Packrats??

17 years ago

They told on the radio today of a guy in Saskatchewan where they had 7 quonsets (shed of ribbed steel sheets, shaped like a large arc, sort of like a roof) of stuff, accumulated over many years.

Excellent farmers, always busy, sometimes had some crop when neighbours' fields didn't produce. They worked long days, the sister had a way with animals: pet coyotes and deer that she fed in the yard.

Once went to buy a truck, sales man was a bit snippy (they didn't look too propsperous): mamager chastised him, said they could probably have bought the dealership and paid cash. They went to another dealer, bought the truck, began counting money out of a (10 gal.?) milk can, there was a lot left over, the brother is reported to have told the sister that she must have brought the wrong milk can!

Didn't hear how much land they had, or what happened to the sister.

The old man is now over 90, has moved into a nursing home, they held a sale for 2 days, with people coming from many distant areas, many of whom knew them, and no one had a bad word to say of them. Two million proceeds of the sale. Plus how much more for the land?

When the radio lady asked him how he felt about the stuff being sold, he couldn't answer.

Likely almost all to go to charity, as no family. When she asked how come never married and no children he didn't have much of an answer - but some children would have been a help on the farm.

Interviewer said there's quite likely been a little extra juice added to quite a few of the stories - but everyone that she met had one. Told with a smile and affection.

What a story!

I'll try to find it in CBC archives of programs - maybe some of you could listen, if we can find where to look. Possibly www.cbc.ca/soundslikeCanada (a morning program weekdays): many U.S. people listen on that website - or now on sirius 137.

ole joyful

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Comments (6)

jaybird
17 years ago
Hi there Joyful...That is quite a story!!!
My first Father in law did the car dealing....
Wandered into a Cadillac showroom one time in his old faded overhauls. Told them he wanted to buy his wife a car...
They sort of huffed and fluffed. He finally persuaded them to show him a car and find out what bells and whistles she wanted....
Pulled out 100 dollar bills to pay for it!!
Said you could have knocked the salesman over with a puff of wind!
des_arc_ya_ya
17 years ago
LOL Jaybird, I would have thought that your FIL could be my uncle, but he never married. Same old overalls and same old cash! LOL
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wichitarick
17 years ago
hi
very funny ,there is a web site somewhere that tells a whole story of a family like this and what became of all there stuff
there was a thread here or on g.j ayr. or so ago that told a lot of stories of pack rats and crazy neighbors lol.
I really wanted to take a lot of photos of a sale that happened a mo. ago on my block that was a cpl. that is 85 yrs old and moved , he was an upolstry guy and her a pro seamstress she collected quilts for around 50 yrs. and he bought out the end of auctions and repaired and resold the stuff at 2 garage sales a yr. she also had a huge greenhouse patio where she grew mostly sedum type plants and cactus .
from a botanists view this was like 10,000$ dollars worht of plants amazing .
I never got to see what became of the entire quilt collection but it was a seperate sealed bid aution that was national BIG $$$.
the entire house hold including the house and 2 garages and a big barn was sold in 6 hrs at auction WOW.
it was rainy and there was low attendance some of this stuff sold for pennys.
for some folks in the country the amount the house sold for would blow your mind ,3/4 of an acre and a 5 bedroom hose with 2 garages and a barn all landscaped with a huge garden and 2 wells was 54,000$
I love those money stories , I had a grandpa that through a lot of wise investment and hard work retired with 1.1 million dollars in the bank LOL .
He never moved or bought a new car ,never paid a kid to mow his lawn watched black and white t.v into the 80,s
lived nicely and vacationed but just never changed .
he once got into a dispute with the barber in the small town of eureka ks. because he raised his price to 5.00$.
WOW gpa and a few of his cronies boycotted the place
and this redneck hippie hater grew his hair out while in his 70,s as a protest LOL LOL .my gma and a few of her friends paid the barber like a 100$ to cover the difference and he lowered the price back to $3.5o lol.
I could go on & on ,there were a lot of these types of ranchers where I grew up in colo. there ranches worth millions and them doing the once a yr. trip for clothes and "essentials" I knew there kids and they were,nt impressed.
I hope this generates some interest I love to hear the stories .
Rick
lindabelle
17 years ago
My dad was car dealer in 1950-60's. He once sold this elderly couple a pick up (the car they traded was over 10 yrs old with less than 20,000 miles- was an early post WWII coup. Nothing wrong with it but they lived in country and wanted a pick up. They paid cash in old glass fruit jars. My dad brought it home and counted out the money on the dining table - it sure had a nasty, musty smell.
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17 years ago
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I remember ironing the $100 bills so they would lay flat before we took them in.
bluedragonfly2
17 years ago
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The ultimate Packrats??

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jaybird

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