Selling a Mink in these Economic Times

Say, wish me luck in trying to sell my mink (female) full length coat at a consignment shop in Calgary, CA next week.  I'm going up for the 14th Western Canadian Scrabble Championship and to visit a friend who also will compete in the games.

Back to this non-politically correct issue of the mink coat.  Groan.  Yes, women (and a few guys) do still wear fur.  But this coat has had very little wear since its purchase 15 years ago, and it is high time for it to have a new home.  Of course, I want to make big bucks off it!

This site gave good information about trying to sell a used fur coat. It said, in short:

Still wearing big hair and eighties power suits? Well why not? They're only 15 years old! How much money do you think you could get for those suits on the resale market today? If they had major designer labels, they might be worth something. If not, by now either you've tossed them out, hidden them in the back of your closet (the shame) or altered them (somewhere I envision a secret tailor's landfill, where they've sent all those discarded shoulder pads). When you pay thousands of dollars for a fur, and want to sell it, it's not that simple. And it's really not funny.

Sigh. So that is where I am.  Like an avid ...good..over zealous ..stupid   average consumer who purchased a coat that I actually did use quite a bit in a different clime and time in my life when that coat got good use, now it is past its prime and worn maybe once a year. 

Let's say that is me in the picture below (it is not). The coat is the same, though.

With original invoice and appraisal in hand (home insurance rider policies requires that, ya know), we'll see if it sells.  I'm curious how much it will bring.  My guess is that I'll pocket maybe a hundred bucks after commission.

Colorado National Monument

Saturday was a spectacular fall day in Grand Junction and was excellent timing for a trip to the Colorado National Monument, "a unit of the national park system, is a spectacular area of twenty-thousand acres of steep-walled red rock canyons located in western Colorado, near the city of Grand Junction, on the eastern edge of the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado National Monument attracts approximately 500,000 visits per year."

One of the Western Colorado's biggest outdoor highlights  is definitely ... the Colorado National Monument.

Here sheer-walled canyons, towering red sandstone monoliths and beautiful valleys host a myriad of wild animals and adventures for everyone in the family. Spectacular plateaus and canyons fill the park, where the land has been preserved as it was for thousands of years. A visitor center four miles up from the West entrance offers camping information and more.

There are 100 National Monuments in the United States.

... canyons, monoliths, colorful formations, bighorn sheep, soaring eagles and a spectacular road reflect the environment and history of plateau-and-canyon country.

Friend Kathy and I had a fun time taking in the scenery.

Only a 20 minute drive from our house, this day trip was a definite breath of fresh air.

Fall Decorations - Quilted Centerpieces

Underneath the pumpkins and candles in the centerpiece below is a quilted fall fabric piece given to us several years ago by our Famous Family Quilter Pat McCarroll. Pat has won many awards for her quilting art at the Texas State Fair, and at local quilt guild shows in and around Dallas, Texas.

Pat has also shown one of her quilts at the annual International Quilt Festival  always held in Houston.

Thanks again for that pretty, seasonal and hand made item, Pat. And congratulations on your latest recognitions for quilting arts in Sulphur Springs, TX this month.

And another table topper:

Final cosmos showing their colors in the evening dusk: