Where my Pickin' Story Began

 

Right here....yes, in the dump.  That is my grandpa Kincaid.  I'm thinking this is the Crandon or could be Rhinelander dump too.  However, I remember Rhinelander's dump had more pine trees. Either way, this type of pickin' was fun.  I would guess this photo was taken in 1970's.  I see a couple of things in this picture I'd pick for sure.  When we would go up to visit my grandparents, it was the BEST when Grandpa would say, "want to take a ride to the dump."  Not everyone was excited as I was.  In fact, I remember it only being my grandpa, my mom and I a few times.  He would always fill a bread bag with old pieces of bread or marshmallows to feed the bears.  Yes, on occasion, a bear or 2 would be rooting around in the garbage for something to eat.  Just look at this picture, behind my grandpa, looks to be a pile of potatoes.  "My" people, on my mom's side, did this, for necessity and extra cash.  Oh, it was fun to see if I could find a treasure; old toy, small piece of furniture to load up in the car and take home.  Mostly, at this age in his life, that is what he was doing too.  Fixing (repurposing) old things to sell. 

I also remember the three of us, going in abandoned cabins, old farm houses and sheds to dig for things.  So much fun!  He, cut pulp or "worked in the woods" his whole life.  He knew the woods like the back of his hand.  He would come across all kinds of rock piles with old stuff and empty old shacks to dig in.   

We lived in Schofield near Wausau, which is a "big" city in comparison to Crandon.  So, we had more opportunity to "pick."  Rummage, estate sales, thrift shops, junk yard, wholesale barns these places were as much a part of my growing up as - church.  My mom would find a dresser for cheap, we would take it up north for grandpa to "fix" and he would sell it.  It gave him something to do and extra cash income too.  He was retired pretty much by the time I came along.  

One sale I particularly remember, was over by the papermill in Rothschild.  It was an estate sale, I was like 8 or 9.  We were in the process of remodeling our house and I was going to get my own bedroom.  I saw this chair in the driveway, cute floral upholstery.  I ran up to it and it said 35.  I quickly sat down on it and asked my mom if we could buy it.  She said "no, that's too much."  So, I yelled out to the person in charge, "is this 35 dollars or 35 cents?"  I have no idea what everyone was thinking, I did hear a few of the regulars laugh at me.  However, I got my answer, "for you, 35 cents."  I can tell you, several people, including my sister Lori, tried to get me to jump off that chair.  I didn't move until it was time to pay and I gave her my 35 cents.  My mom reupholstered it in a crushed, blue velvet and I still have it.  Been in all of my bedrooms for 50 years.  

My grandpa's people were from Scotland.  He said we were Scotch/Irish.  I've seen enough shows about Irish "travelers" to know, we probably were cut from that cloth.  They immigrated to Kentucky and I guess were "hillbillies" from Hazard, KY.  My grandpa's family went where there was work and that was UP of MI and WI lumberjacks.  They traveled with the loggers all over up here living in logging camps.  

So, some of this "picking" is genetic and some learned.  I am a 3rd (probably longer) generation picker.  One time when I was in grade school, after returning from summer break, the teacher asked each student to stand and tell what they did over the summer.  Oh, I was so excited to tell it.  I remember hearing, "we went to Disney" "we went to badlands" "we went camping" all the things "normal" families do.  When it was my turn, I stood up, oh I was so proud..."we went picking in the dump and I feed some bears and I found an old ....." and then I heard the laughing...yes, gasps, ewww and laughing.  I quickly sat down.  Little did I know then, it wasn't cool to pick in the garbage.  Now...now everyone is doing it, making YouTube videos about it....wish little Dicky Bird could have known then how ahead of the times and cool she actually was.

Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.