All,

like others, the local fleas are starting to pick up a little and this weekend
marked the first opportunity since last fall that I've had to get to a monthly
one held in the area.  Pickings were pretty slim but I did manage to get a few
things, nothing to gloat about though.

Given the relative disappointment of the monthly, I head to a couple of other
weekly fleas that are often more hit than miss in an attempt to scratch the
itch..  First stop was a bust for tools but found some old 70's rock and roll
records for $1 each.  The second had one vendor with a few hatchets and some
other odd things that I was interested in.  Downside was that was a guy and his
wife who I typically avoid as their prices are consistently way too high for me.
I would have walked on this time but was the only thing worth buying in the
whole place so I ask how much.  Wife comes back with about 4x what I'm willing
to pay, we go back and forth a bit, I put some stuff back and we dicker a bit
more then husband comes over.  I give him my best offer which is a little more
than I want to pay and he's no go so I thank him and walk on.  He calls me back
and says OK, OK, he'll take what I'd offered, so I pay him, take my stuff and
turn around to walk back to the car.   As I'm walking off, wife then comes up
behind me and grabs everything from my hand and shoves my money back at me!!!
While trying to keep a grip on my purchases and protesting that we had a deal I
found myself at a complete loss as to how to extricate myself from this woman's
grip without going against my upbringing.  Versus letting it turn into a
scuffle, I give in and take my money and am simply at a loss for words that
don't involve profanity or insults that wouldn't have gotten me anywhere.
Husband calls back that he'd make the deal for an extra $5.  I simply respond
that we already had a deal and we're done and walk on shaking my head in
disbelief.  Needless to say, I don't think pickings can ever be slim enough...

Take care, it's nuts out there,
Andrew