Ebay Selling Plymouth Rock

Down Sizing using ebay. This is an adventure with people who have rocks in their brain.

I'm selling stuff on ebay coordinating with clean sweeping my house (selling the big house
where I raised my children all by myself).

Ebay is a microcosm of the real world. Commerce, work, and some nuts lurk there. It's not easy. The process of photographing, uploading, packing, shipping and answering questions takes time.
There was a time when I was rich.Twice a year I would donate ten bags and ten boxes of stuff to the Salvation Army and be rid of clutter. I no longer need a write off. I want to earn a little dough for son's college extra account.
 Here's why it's hard:
 1.  Hat pins that were from turn of the century. Some were in need of a good silver polish and some needed a couple jewelry welds. I took ten photos of them and sold as one lot. There were actually twenty seven in the photograph. A woman bought them. She complained that I didn't ship them fast enough ( I shipped according to the ebay estimate for United States Postal service. Ebay Always underestimates the cost of shipping by fifty percent. I lose there.) I had not said I would overnight them. I sent out the same day I got paid in pay pal. But the pickle is buyers send their money by credit card and there is a lag day or two for me to see the money. She also complained that some were not as pretty as in the pictures, and that some were missing. I come to find out this woman has a store and she re-sells what she buys on ebay... whatever ...
2. Listed an iphone 5. I took pictures of the cracked corners of the glass and mentioned in detail that they buyer would have to go get a new glass put on. The cost to "reglaze" or whatever the correct term is ... is about $125. I discounted the price of the phone by $130 from other models listed. The guy who bought it sent me two nasty messages before he recieved the phone. The day he opened it he started emailing me his demands to give him my apple ID and password. Next he wanted my ATT user and password. I told him "no". Then he sent messages with curse words. I don't offer returns but told him to carefully pack, insure and ship the phone back for a full refund. He complained to ebay that the phone is - what did he call it? "jail breaked." I looked up the term. No idea how or why someone jail breaks a phone. This was a lie to be able to keep the phone AND get a refund from me. 3. Oh and the crook who bought the Matisse poster...

I have a piece of rock. Years ago when my grandparents were alive my Grandfather chiseled a piece of stone off Plymouth Rock. Today the rock is down deep in this encased showcase so that people no longer take a little bit home. If I list the rock on ebay will my deceased Grandpa be in trouble with park rangers? Will some nut out there send me personal swear messages about the pebble? My stuff is just stuff. I think I am going to put that on my ebay home page. No guarantees.

Magic rock for sale. Once touched by Pilgrims near Massachusetts Bay. Was also washed by the same Atlantic Ocean where the Kardashians once swam... Touched by a poet who needs to get rid of stuff
Thanks for reading
C G

Sustainable Gardening ~ Cherry Tomatoes

      My Gardening Theories

        
     Grow Valuable Fruits and Vegetables—choose your favorites that are expensive. Don't pay high prices for food you can bring in to the dinner table right from the garden

 Heirloom varieties can be traded for free that aren’t available at    garden stores. 
     There are many sites here are a few I use
      http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/the-seed-exchange
      http://www.davesgarden.com/community/ 
      https://www.facebook.com/groups/gassp/ 
      http://www.plantswap.net/
        
Local gardening societies are a great place to start. Allow a percentage of your heirlooms to go to seed and trade dried seeds at online seed banks for free. 

 Sustainable gardening is about the big picture without buying lots of equipment. Year over year my garden production varies. One season a glut of zucchini pops up. Then you bake zucchini bread and share, find new recipes for the bundle crop, give them away, add to spaghetti sauce and save the seeds that are desirable to someone else.

 Create a long growing season. Build recycled cold frames. 
     Be creative with plastic liter bottles in a sunny window to start your seeds while it is still cold outside. 
     Build tunnels, cloches and other devices to stretch the season and grow food. That goalie net the team is throwing away plus some plastic make a free plant shelter. With a little recycled materials get a head start on spring salads by at least two months.  Note: be careful using wood that is treated or painted prior to 1978 which may have lead or chemicals that will leach into the soil.
     Extend your fall crops by using row covers to protect them from frost and deer. Old windows tossed by a contractor are useful lean-to shelters.
     Grow crops in the temperature and season they prefer. 
     Cold-tolerant greens and root crops for food production can start indoors in late winter and Fall.
     Find some early-bearing fruit and berries—Grow June-bearing strawberries and early raspberries. 
     Don’t be stuck planting only one type or breed. Ask other gardeners in your area questions about the varieties that are successful. Ask for cuttings.
     There is nothing sweeter than fresh berries picked, rinsed and eaten right away. 
     Berries are God's antioxidant. My family eats them so fast I never have any left to freeze or make jam. 
     Freeze in simple ice cube trays to add to drinks or tea. 
     In the fall, there are late-ripening raspberries that fruit.  
     I’m fond of trading or gifting fresh fruits and vegetables. 
     Once you begin, friends and family reciprocate with things that surprise you.
         
     Grow natives and foods suitable to your climate zone. 
     Some crops will be easy to grow in your area while others can be a challenge. 
     Soil type also determines what will grow where you live. I have two compost piles. They are upright wire cages that I dump all garden waste that doesn't have disease, and any plant material that is not oily or meat kitchen waste. 
     After two years of adding compost I changed my soil to rich earth that doesn't need to be watered as often. 
     I don't add fertilizers. This saves money. My local coffee shop saves grounds to amend my soil.
     Acidic coffee grounds transforms my soil that tends to be alkaline and clay. 
     After two years of digging in compost and rotating, my soil sustains a huge variety of fruits and vegetables with no fertilizer and no chemicals.
         
     Grow beverages—Mints, sage, raspberry leaf and nettles make delicious and healthy teas.  
     Mint is hardy in my climate I have to be careful not to let it take over. Keep mint in pots.
     In Southern California it is easy to have fresh lemons – I have Meyer, Lisbon, Ferminello St Teresa 
     St. Teresa is my favorite for the smell of the fruit and flowers. 
     Picking a lemon off one of my trees and squeezing into salad dressing, a sauce or drink gives me joy. 
     The fruit is never touched by pesticides. Yes sometimes they get bugs but I wash them off with water or squish. Lemons stay fresh on the tree longer than in the refrigerator.
        
     I wish I could grow apples and cherries. I planted them at two different homes with meager success. 
     We just don’t get enough cold. Right now I’m experimenting with avocados because we enjoy them so much. 
     Unfortunately it will take my seedlings seven or eight years to bear fruit. Patience is part of the fun.
        
     Perennials such as asparagus, rhubarb, and bunching onions are easy. These keep paying you back every year.
     Cherry tomatoes in yellow, lemon and red are the easiest fruit producing plants. 
     The seeds of fallen fruit and that which birds nabbed will spread. Cherry tomatoes could save us in a disaster. 
        
     Culinary herbs maybe started from cuttings or gather seeds from friends. Cut off the bottom leaves and put in
     a mild window (not full sun) in sand and cover with a used plastic milk bottle inverted. Keep moist and in weeks you will have new plants. Transplant gently and don't shock the life out of them - move to a bit more sun.
     Thyme (my favorite) dill, basil, rosemary, sage, parsley and mint grow in most any summer garden.
     I cultivate a couple types of thyme and sage. Bees love them. 
     When brushing past herbs in my garden the perfume is heavenly.
     In the summer months I grow enough for my family to have fresh vegetables daily. 
     My kids try anything. They grew up pulling weeds and napping under peach trees. 
    They have the love of gardening. 
    One of life's special things is the taste of a tomato warmed by the sun, rinsed off in the yard and popped into your mouth.

I wish you every happiness. Eat healthy, enjoy fresh.

 Concord and Albarosso grapes above
below some photographs of my children

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