Three Speckled Hens

Paso Robles or Bust!  We had a great weekend at Three Speckled Hens!  What a wonderful "antique and old stuff' show with a "Down Home" atmosphere...just the way we like it!!!

Our weekend did not exactly start off perfectly. Don, Tess, and I left our house around 7 a.m.,  thinking we would be in Paso Robles by noon! That would be plenty of time to set up the space.  We pulled off the freeway in Valencia, went around a corner and then it happened....something happened!  Not sure what, but all the gages stopped working, and the engine was running, but you could press the pedal to the metal, and nothing!!!  NOTHING!!!! Just sitting in the middle of the road, blocking the entire street with about 30 feet in length!!! Ok...Don't panic.  The worst that would happen was we would ditch our truck, get a U-Haul and be on the road again!

My poor, sad truck on the tow truck! 

So, we unhitch the trailer and get it towed to a spot at a local gas station, get the truck towed to the nearest Ford Mechanic, and wait...and wait...and wait!!!!! Finally, a mere 4 hours later, we're on the road again.  We pull in to the show grounds at 5 p.m.  and we have until 8 p.m.  to get our space together...ok, we have 3 hours... no worries!!!!  I prayed a lot!  And we did it!  Thanks to my team, Tess and Don!!

The "Hens" as the show promoters are affectionately called, put on a wonderful show! The show is at the Paso Robles Fairgrounds and the venue is just charming with old buildings and trees!  Of course, it's in wine country, so next time y'all should make a weekend of it and enjoy the show, the beautiful scenery and the wineries!  On our building, a quote by W.C. Fields was painted.  It said, "I'm reminded of a safari to Africa where someone forgot a corkscrew and we were forced to live for several days on only food and water."  I love wine, so it's my kinda place!!!

We really enjoyed getting to know a few of the other vendors.  The Hens put on a great vendor dinner with Mexican food and margaritas on Saturday night - so fun and generous!  Thank you Carrie, Kathy, and Suzie!

The Hens serving Mimosas on Sunday Morning!!!!

We also enjoyed our customers.  It was great getting to chat with them and tell them about our store and our wares!  The people all seemed to be having a wonderful time, most of them with family or on a girls day out!  We were very happy with our sales and when looking around the venue, I think most dealers were probably happy with their sales too!  In fact, the Hens reported that we had record numbers over the weekend!

 

We hope some of our show customers will stop in Orange to see us next time they're in Southern California!  Without car trouble, it's only about 4 hours away!!!!

A Beautiful Shade of Rust

I adore metal!   I especially love old animal feeders and hand made galvanized boxes.  I adore metal top tables too!  I started thinking about when the galvanization process was invented and how it was accomplished.  I found out that galvanization is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, in order to prevent rusting.  The term "galvanization" was derived in the 19th century from the name of the Italian scientist, Luigi Galvani.  However, the earliest example of galvanizing of iron was found on a piece of Indian armor in the Royal Armories Museum that dates from the 17th century!

The zinc coating prevents corrosion of the protected metal by forming a physical barrier.  Although galvanizing will inhibit attack of the underlying steel, rusting will be inevitable, especially if exposed to the natural acidity of rain.  So, thank goodness, galvanization is not 100% fool proof, or we would not be able to have that "perfect shade of rust!!!"  Honestly, I have trouble saying "no" to any piece of metal that has been rusted!

The definition of the word, "rust" as quoted from dictionary.com is as follows:

rust (ruhst)
(noun) Also called iron rust, the red or orange coating that forms on the surface of iron when exposed to air and moisture, consisting chiefly of ferric hydroxide and ferric oxide formed by oxidation.

And...my definition of rust:
The beautiful color of old metal when the environment finally breaks down the outside coating to form a beautiful, warm patina.

And here are some beautiful galvanized pieces we have in the store with varying shades of rust!

 1905 galvanized metal washing machine.

 Galvanized metal egg shelf with pull-out trays.

 Metal  stools.

 VERY rusty No Trespassing sign.

Metal bait buckets.

Metal animal feeders!

Rusty scoops!

Galvanized metal chicken house.

You may like a lot of rust or a little rust, but whatever shade of rust you love, we'll have it at Down Home!

xo, Peggy

Round Top, Texas!!!

Round Top is always a good time!  We had so much fun shopping the fields of Texas and finding some really cool pieces to bring back to Down Home!  Part of the fun of Texas is driving around the small towns  ~ I love all the scenery, especially the old buildings - so charming!

 And of course, I love the long horn steer!!! 

And, the Blue Bonnets are amazing!!!  So pretty this time of year!!!

But, let's get to the most exciting part - the shopping!!! After all, that is what we go to Texas to do!!!  Besides getting some amazing finds, I also love all the dealers who bring fabulous pieces and create inspiring displays!  Many have become friends of ours and we enjoy the social aspects of Round Top as well - catching up with people we haven't seen for a few months!  But, again back to the shopping...I found a couple of great harvest tables, as well as several smaller farmhouse tables.   And, of course, a great selection of cupboards!  And a couple of early pieces that I can't wait to get into my "Little House on The Prairie"  room at Down Home!  We found all sorts of interesting smalls; some hooked rugs; salt glaze pottery; great wire totes and carriers and baskets; stools and benches; several signs, lots of fun galvanized metal pieces, some great industrial pieces, folk art, and so much more!

 In Warrenton!

At Marburger!

 After days and days of shopping, the container was filled and ready to head to California!  

We're back in California and the container came yesterday! It's unloaded, but we have some work to do!  Can't wait to get these treasures into Down Home!!!

 Follow us on Facebook, and we'll let you know when a load is coming in!

See y'all soon!