Graduation Tassels

These are my tassels from my graduation caps. The green and white one is from Pembroke High school.

The black one is from Genesee Community College.

1978 was a long time ago. Relic indeed.

NRA Pin

My newest addition to the Relic collection is my NRA Life Member lapel pin.

I attended to 2014 NRA Annual Meeting this year and while there I signed up as a Life Member.

This pin came in the mail with the rest of my packet!

There is a long story behind this pin. The Short version is that the church I have attended for over 20 years failed me and let politics become more important than people. This intentionally offsets some of those politics.

--Besides, suddenly I have thousands in extra cash!

The Brass Lamp

This Relic is a beautiful brass floor lamp that was in my kids Grandparents house for decades.

It had several adventures in storage including being thought to have been stolen!

During Grandpa Burts last move it was found in an apartment storage unit.

Becky's sister was going to take it but the damn thing is six feet tall, made of brass, weighs a ton, while at the same time being fragile. Crating it and shipping was cost prohibitive.

We rewired it and replaced the fringe. Sometime in the next ten years we will get it to Ruth because when we retire, it all has to go!

--Works great in my den for now.

The Mirror

This Relic was a wall mirror that was originally my great grand mothers.

Then my grand mothers.

Then my fathers.

And now mine...

This mirror first came to my attention when I was about 9 years old. My brother Eric and I made a secret fort in the attic of one of our barns. There was a ton of things stored there from my fathers parents place. We ran an extension cord up there and had a nice craftsman style lamp, radio, oriental rugs and pillows.

In one of the trunks there was this mirror.

--The frame is made of plaster and has taken a beating over the years. But I still love it.

The Drilling Casing

My friend Newbius died this February 2012.

I went shooting with him on multiple occasions. 

He had a Drilling from Deutschland, pre-WWII.  It was beautiful. This gun is a triple barrel. It has two 16 gauge and a single 9.3x74mmR, with exposed hammers. 


--It was a piece of Art. As was Newbius...

The PEZ Gun

This Relic was obtained last fall when I went to a PEZ convention with my wife Brenda.

Back in the 1960s they thought it was a good idea to make a toy gun, specifically designed, so kids could pretend to commit suicide by shooting themselves in the mouth it a PEZ.

I paid $30 for this classic example of a Four Rules violation!

It even has a removable magazine where you load the PEZ! I wanted the one that was Black and Brown and looked real but they were selling for like $300!

--Put your hands up and open your mouth!!

The Cyborg

I have had this Relic, a small 2 inch toy, since about 1976. That summer Star Wars was all the rage and action figures were beginning to ramp up.

I got this for Christmas one year in my stocking. No explanation or packaging.

I always loved SciFi.

--Santa knew me well...

The Chop Sticks

This Relic is a very plain, simple, pair of chop sticks.

My mom gave these to me in the late 70s and they were given to her in the early 70s.

They came from China.

Why would chop sticks, made in China, get to be worthy enough to be in the Relic collection?

These are made of ivory.

--They feel amazing.

The Sleepy One

This Relic is another sculpture I made.

One day I hope to try it again. I never seem to have the time now. I'd love to take a class and spend more that one class hour making something.

This piece was made of a quick dry clay that didn't even require firing in a kiln. But it can only be worked for a short time.

I made this in 1982.

She's just turned 30 ears old.

--She's still sleepy...

The Ruler

This Relic has been with me for over 40 years.

It is a simple Wilsey Nursery give away ruler.We gave these away by the hundreds. Bright Yellow and made of simple wood.

I used it in school. It lived in several of my tool boxes over the decades. Now it has earned a place of reverence in my Relics collection.

I tried calling the phone number and it is no longer functional. Odd thing is, when I was a kid, all you had to dial to get us was 9111. Four digit dialing.

It makes me think of the sales counter at the Nursery now.

--1633 Indian Falls Road...

The Musical Bird

This Relic belonged to my Mom.

It is on a musical base that rotates when it plays.

My Grandma Colburn had this with her in the nursing home for many years and that is why my mom always kept it.

It is kind of incongruous sitting in my little museum.

--I still do not know what the tune it is that it plays...

Update: the tune is Oh What a Beautiful Morning. Thanks, BR!

The Celtic Dagger

This Relic is the very first dagger I purchased at my very first Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) Event.

It was a small event but a very large knife.

The event was held in a small fire hall in Woodbridge VA is 1992. I went with my friend Joe and we have both collected knives, swords and other pointy, stabby things since then.

--If I ever need to stab someone while they wear chainmail I am good to go...

The Mitt

This Relic is the very baseball mitt I got for Christmas one year when I was about 9 years old.

I used this mitt for many summers worth of pickup games and little leagues.

It was tossed into the air hundreds of times to celebrate victory and spikes into the dirt as many times to curse our luck.

It's a Regent High Flex with the advanced Double V pocket design. It needs a little oil but is still usable for hardball!

--Those summers lasted for ever...

The Pinewood Derby Trophy

This Relic is the remains of my 1972 Western NY Regional Pinewood Derby Champion trophy.

I won the derby finals by a nose.

I carved that car out with my very own pocket knife.

My secret to the win was that I polished the nails that held on the wheels and later lubricated them with powdered graphite. I also added molten lead to a hole I had drilled until I was withing .1 grams of the maximum weight.

The aerodynamic design and cool ass paint job locked in the win.

--Cub Scouts were cool in those days.

The Worry Wood

This Relic is known as my Worry Wood.

I have had it for almost 30 years.

There is an old story about a man that was trying to find inner peace at an ancient monastery.

It wasn't going well.

Meditation would leave his mind to think about how much he missed his beautiful wife who had died years before. He would worry about his sons gone off to war. he would worry about the weather and what people thought of him and his failure to even understand the concept of enlightenment.

One morning he was late to his morning meditations. He was worried about the bowl he had broken while cleaning up the dishes from breakfast. He robes were wet and he looked a mess. And worse of all when he got to his favorite meditation spot, by the fountain in the garden, someone was there already, and he preferred to try to meditate alone, worried he would disturb his brothers.

This was a stranger named Buddha.

Buddha smiled, welcomed him, and thanked him for sharing this beautiful place.

The man knew of Buddha. He was mortified at his appearance and mental state. He begged Buddha to forgive him and not eject him from the monastery.

Buddha smiled wider at the man, and even chuckled saying, "I have come to share a secret." he looked about in all directions conspiratorially. He reached into his robe and brought out a small piece of wood. It was worn smooth as if sanded but in it's own shape.

"This is my Worry Wood." Buddha whispered. "When I hold it I can pour my worries into it. As I work it smoother and smoother with my touch it soaks up my worries and I am free."

After a pause, "...and now I give it to you."

It worked just as Buddha had instructed. When plagued by worries he would hold the piece of wood and smooth it with his fingers. Focusing on the magic piece of wood his worries evaporated.

Years later he met Buddha once again showing him the well worn worry wood. "For the past 20 years I have poured all my worries into this wood until my mind is at peace."

Buddha tossed it casually into the fire.

The man was enlightened,

The Aviators

When I was 18 I took flying lessons.

My parents were very supportive in every way they could be. It turned out I was color blind and any thought of a career as a pilot was a non-starter. My parents even got me color blindness corrective contact lenses. One was red. It gave me a look that was un-nerving to some.

After I solo'd for the first time I came home very proud of myself and immediately told my folks.

Later that night my Father gave me his Aviator Sun glasses that he had during WWII.

I wore these glasses many times as I flew over our fields wagging my wings at my Pa out on the tractor.

--I will fly again some day soon...

The Dentists Bear

Brenda scored this Relic and it came with a good story. We have it in out library over the Grandfather clock (another Relic).

The story begins with a dentist that did some pro bono work for a patient in need. This patient felt guilty about not being able to pay. In stead of cash the patient gave the kind dentist this bears head trophy.

The wife of the dentist didn't want it in their house but the child of the dentist thought it was awesome.

This child took it to his elementary school and donated it to his teachers classroom.

The teacher quietly got the willies from the bear. As soon as that specific child was gone for the summer the teacher sought a new home for the bear.

--In Swoops Brenda...

The Resin Radio

This small art deco radio is a Relic I bought at an auction in 1981.

I was with Wife 1.0 at the time. The radio never worked but it had a good speaker. I re-wired it so I could use it as a computer speaker on my desk.

--I have plans to convert it as an iPod dock radio.

The Deer Heads

We have a lot of taxidermy in the house. Even though I am a hunter, none of the many trophy's we have in the house were shot by me.

We currently have eight deer heads in the house.

The one in this picture we got for free. Two heads were beautifully mounted and put on a big crate. The folks I got it from had packed it and moved it from Washington State. Never un-crating it was moved another five times. They were about to move again and the wife said it was the landfill for them because they were not going to take up any more garage space.

The two I received that day are in the foyer.

--I really need a moose. A huge moose...

The Pipes

These were some of my Fathers pipes.

He had many others but I remember him smoking only the bottom two. I am sure we have photos of him smoking these!

I need to figure out how to clean these properly. I want to actually try the corn cob pipe!


I always thought it was so cool that he actually smoked a real corn cob pipe!


--Especially when you are a farmer!