An Old Country Estate Find

Yesterday while I was on a mission to buy Kiln Dried Pine Shavings for my hens' cozy little house, I came across an Estate Sale - almost hidden because of road closures way out in the middle of nowhere!  (Imagine that - they were working on a road that didn't really appear to need anything done to it.  Must be our tax dollars at work.  Hmmmm.  I could think of roads that OBVIOUSLY NEED repair, but - we won't go there just now.)  The sale was up a long dusty lane, far back off the road...a very old farm house with attached garage...a series of tables set out in front of it, an older couple sitting behind one table with cash box at the ready!

Old Cookie Recipe from Vintage Cook Book

There were old books to thumb through, the top portion of a wringer washer, old tubs and buckets, rusty trusty hames with horse sweat dried on them long ago...and OOODLES of BASKETS!  Goodness me - I could not believe the number of baskets on display out there on the grass!

Handle of an Antique Chicken Snatcher!

I spied something and grabbed onto it as I looked at some Ole ChRiStmAs OrNieS on another table, then asked the sellers if they'd keep a watch on my "prize" as I went inside of the house to see what else might be of interest to me.  The man exclaimed, "YOU know what this IS, don't you!!!"  "I shore DO!", I replied.  It was a handle attached to a 4 ft. long wire pole with a hook at the end - a vintage Chicken Snatcher!  A person hooks the chicken by the leg, to be able to quickly catch and treat it or remove it from the rest of the flock....VERY handy indeed!

Dykstra Poultry Suppliers

He had just found it this morning and brought it from the shed out back to put in the sale - I figure it must have my name on it!  But, I checked, and it had Dykstra Poultry Supplies stamped into the handle, with a phone number that was ancient to most folk - not enough digits for our phones today.  Prolly what was once known as a "party line".  Anyone know what those were??? (Hint: it has nothing to do with Line Dancing....)

5 digit phone number

I made a mental note to "Google" the address, to see what might be in that building today.  Stuff like that always interests me, especially seeing as I grew up in the Grand Rapids area.  I knew the business would no longer be there - surely it was either bought up by a new owner, or was standing empty like so many old buildings of that era. 

When I got up this morning, I fixed me a cuppa joe and proceeded to Google Maps - and after typing in the address on the snatcher handle, the location popped up.  It said "approximate" for the location...because....when the street view came onto my screen, I could recognize the buildings in the area, but running my cursor over the photo, the address showed a paved parking lot.  BOO.

Let that be a lesson to you.  Don't stand still . . . Try to keep up with the changing times.  If you stand idle for too long, they'll pave right over top of ye!