I have some early photographs taken of dead people. Not as unusual as having an actual piece of a dead person.

I know the person is dead, so s/he likely doesn't know and none of his or her relatives know, or may even be alive themselves, but there is something really bothersome to me about having part of another person's body in my possession - or even on display (like when you see a human skeleton in a thrift or curiosity shop). If it were my child's or grandma's body part, I wouldn't want it in someone's drawer as a curiosity/odd object. I would find someplace nice to bury it (hoping no one sees you and calls the cops and they try to make you cough up the rest of the body, lol).

@rob333 (zone 7b) "I still wonder what they did between the time it was built, and when the stove was installed? How did they heat the house?" Perhaps they had a very basic, rustic coal burning stove that they used until they were able to get the nicer one that you have?

" Question: Does anyone remember the old ”usenet” ? Use it? "

Yes indeed. Back at the dawn of the time, one of my tech clients used MCI mail internally for email in his company and he insisted that I get an account and check it a few times a day, so that he could reach me. It had proprietary dial-up numbers. That was mid-80s. Internet access came just a few years later - I used Netcom for an ISP. All character-based (incl Usenet), it looked like DOS. Of course it was like DOS for me, that was the PC operating system at the time.

I remember how excited I was when I could upgrade to a 28K modem for a reasonable cost. Data really flew at that speed !

We bought at a junk store and have moved from house to house with a little box that would be placed in the servants' area with tiny arrows pointing to a labeled list of rooms library, dining room, parlor. The arrows would move if a servant was being buzzed. (Kinda like in Downton Abby when you'd see the bells ring downstairs.)

No matter where we live, everyone thinks it is original to the home. Even in our Manhattan studio apartment. People think it was a maid's quarters and the buzzers went to rooms in our other apartment down the hall.

I have not thoght about that piece of shoulder bone or the drawe co tents in ages. It is not on display. Thirty years ago, I had this naive thought that I might be able to find out from where it came, but around that time I was badly i jured and left with a lot of pain and the ensuing chaos (HMO that tried to kill me, a couple of medical issues that added to the accident injury to make my life hell.

Now that there have been advances in DNA related fields, maybe I can find the owner and what to do with that piece of bone. I am curious — from where did it come? How old is it? Lost person, victim, war casualty, disinterred from a burial site?

If I had been the person who found it, I would have tried to look around for other pieces of bone. I suspect she knew it was a human bone. If that note referred to the bone, I wish she’d given more information about the location in which she found it.

The little table likely came from an estate cleanout and by the time I bought it the table owner was probably infirm if not deceased. I suspect a woman found the bone and wrote the note. I doubt a man would be apt to bother or own the little silver knife or keept the German money order info.

rob, I did not see your first post. Are pieces or posts or posts going missing?

Interesting, Kendrah.

Thanks, Lulu 🩷

I giggled at it. and rooled my eyeses.

We have a coprolite DH got before we met. It's not very big, about the size of an olive.

My neighbor (a strange one!) was digging out his basement and gave me his dirtloads. I did want it. There were low places in the yard. I found a bone in it. I called the police. They looked at it and immediately said, it wasn't human. I was lettin leaning towards not human, so it was good to know.

Wonder if you could do the same, telling them, exactly what you said to us. It is strange to have, but finding it a better home might be good?

I couldn't really think of anything, but just remembered that years ago when craigslist was all the rage, I loved looking at the listings. I bought a few things over the years.

There was one listing that was this ridiculously large framed (no glass, just stretched I think) picture that looks like it had hung in a soda fountain at some point, or like a Dairy Queen. I don't recall exactly, but I think there were ice cream cones and a banana split and an ice cream soda pictured. No words. It was for sale for a couple of years; I couldn't imagine anyone ever buying it unless they were opening an ice cream shop, so of course no one ever did. My son and I were discussing things for sale on CL (he used to buy and sell a lot) and I jokingly mentioned that I'd thought of buying that picture just to get it off the site so we didn't all have to look at it every time we opened CL.

Well, of course, that pic was my birthday or Christmas present that year, which he thought was hilarious. It was pretty funny, but it is so huge I couldn't even take it somewhere to donate it (if anyone would have taken it) because it was too large to fit into my car. I do have a small pick-up, but I couldn't figure out how to secure it to transport it. It must be 6'x6'. I have it hidden behind a large bank of free standing wood closets/cabinet, so the joke's on him. When I die and he clears out my house, it's going to be HIS!

rob333,

It is definitely a human shoulder bone. I may try to dig into the box of items from that little table drawer. There may be some way I can figure out where it came from.

If I recall, it is pretty much what is encircled in red.

Oly, funny story. I use craigslist. I hope people still view it, I have some things (tons of stuff) I have to rehome.

@petalique maybe someone had shoulder replacement surgery and they asked if they wanted to keep it, like they sometimes do with gall stones, lol.

That would be funny!

A friend had a part removed at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). They asked the surgeon what they did with it, could they see it (or have it).

The doctor said, too late — we tossed it into the Charles River.

Somewhere in this rambling 1840 house is a box of relics that were dug up when we were building the carriage house back in the 80s. In the early days, there were no garbage collectors, so anything that was trash was thrown down the outhouse hole. The corner of our carriage house is where the outhouse was, and as our contractor was awaiting the dynamite people who had to blast the limestone layer, he was digging around and came upon a ton of old medicine bottles. All were unbroken, and some had liquid in them. Also, some old redware crocks and two perfect porcelain eggs, which I read they used in hen houses to make the hens lay. I was featured in our newspaper with a long article and a big picture of me and my treasures.

maybe someone had shoulder replacement surgery and they asked if they wanted to keep it, like they sometimes do with gall stones, lol.

when i had my first hip replaced 26 years ago, i asked to keep the old bone. i was told that it would be disposed of as "medical waste" and the best they could do was take a polaroid picture for me to have.

Nothing! but looking around, I think I have too much stuff. Cutie stuff, time to declutter.

I don’t know if it would be considered ’odd’ but I have a small piece of the space shuttle Challenger that blew up shortly after launch. It’s in a small wood and glass display box with an engraved bronze plaque. It was given to us during a visit from a friend I had met when working. She worked as a professional photographer and took beautiful photos of (mostly government) missile launches. She also worked on the commercial, private side and until retirement was very active on that side as well. Because of NASA having a large presence here, and it was my first summer job workplace as an intern a bazillion years ago, it was a thoughtful gift.

Olychick, great Craigslist story. Lynn i always love uour areowhead story. I’ve found 2 on our property also but arrowheads are very common (or were) in this area so I’ve never had these evaluated. Probably random hunting arrows left behind.

My husband.

Petalique, your sivler knife is probably a fruit knife. People at one time carried their own. And as for the fire places Robb, have you considered coal grates? I have two from my Victorian house that burned. They are removable cast iron baskets-narrow and relatively long with wheels no less to make it easier the clean. The fireplace opening was shallow and narrow. Considering where you live coal would not be unusual.

Oh, I once owned a chunk of petrified dinosaur poop, ground sloth if I am remembering correctly. I bought it in Arizona as a gift for my then husband because I thought it was funny but he was not amused. I gave it to a neighbors child when I moved. He was mad for dinosaurs. When I gave it to him he dropped it on the ground and I thought he was going to cry. Turns out he thought it was some sort of cruel joke and I would want it back.

patriciae

Unconnected to this thread: You know how weird it seems when you have two 'sightings' of something that isn't a normal part of your day? I've just read Olychick's mention of the Challenger disaster. An hour ago I saw another mention of it in Michael Connelly's mystery about the exploitation of AI, "The Proving Ground". IDK when I last thought about the Challenger; now it's in front of me twice in an hour.

patricia,

My fireplace is a closed up as I could get it. It has the chimney cap on it, and at the bottom, it's got a piece of 3 inch thick foam shoved up to seal it somewhat. I was covering holes to keep the house warm. You can't shut a chimney fully for some reason? Don't remember why. Condensation, or some such. So it's not caulked or anything stuffed enough to cover the holes completely.

I had to read back because I had no memory of mentioning the Challenger, as per Chisue and was glad to see it was Outside and not me! In reading along I was reminded that I have a vial if Mt St Helen’s ash gathered after the eruption. but probably every household in the PNW has some.

I thought I'd kept fragments of kidney stone that passed after a lithotripsy (was told to strain for them) but apparently not as I don't find anything where they reasonably would be stashed. I have photos of them. I have the ureteral strent that I pulled out.

Yikes, dadoes! I had to look up ”urethral stent.”

Didn’t that hurt a tad to yank it out? I’ll pass. But renal stones are painful things. Glad you’re better.

Ureteral stent (ureter, from kidney to bladder), not urethral stent (urethra, from bladder to the outside world) ... although it did of course pass through the urethra upon removal. Only a string evidenced from the urethra before that moment.

It wasn't painful either for the week while in place or at removal. There was an odd internal tugging sensation during removal. I had a choice of going to the urologist's office (2hr round trip) or DIY. I called there to ask how much discomfort/pain can be expected. They couldn't quantify it, only said don't stop pulling until it's out ...... yeah, ok, thanks for the advisory!

olychick...funny you should mention that, I too have a vial of the Mt. St. Helen's ashes that I was going to say was the oddest thing in my house. I remember sending away for it for my daughter while we were in SW Florida.

We have an old Mac Tangerine. I think that's pretty odd. The only other thing I can think of is some polished stones that were supposed to bring us good luck and good fortune. They did neither...LOL!

Both my DD’s baby teeth. Also one from my Golden Retriever.

Ah, Dadoes and Eld, you reminded me that I have the gallstones they removed from me years ago when thy took my gall bladder out, and DD's hair plait that was cut off when she wanted her first hair cut. It seemed so long when she was tiny, but it's only about 6"-7"long.

Thought I’d post a photo of the shuttle piece. It is lying sideways within but still quite small. The box is 4.5” x 4.5” plus about a half inch base.

Chisue, I know what you mean about thinking of something and then ’it’ (or for me it’s usually a person) will show up in your life again.

Until last week, I had four Amex traveller's checks from who knows when. Last week, I took them to the bank and had them added to my account. None of the 20-something-aged employees (and probably some of the older ones) had a clue what they were. It was great fun. Too bad they weren't interest-bearing.

Fun2bhere, that's a great story. I am pretty old, so I do remember them....but I bet it has been 35 years since I saw one in person. 😄

That's interesting. Do you have any idea just how old they may have been, like within a range. More than 10 years back, or 20, or ? I thought travelers' checks might have had an expiration date.

Back in the days before credit cards and ATMs became ubiquitous and accepted everywhere abroad, this was the only way to travel. I'd always get more than I expected to need just to have a buffer, because you can always bring unused ones back home, but you're stuck if you run out of money.

I have fond memories of many sessions at banks buying them, often with stupid questions like "Do you really need so many thousands of dollars worth of these?". And then signing and signing and signing.

Sorry about the mis-atribution about Challenger.

Re: Travellers Checks: I found two twenty pound checks from 40 years ago. We probably spent five hours total trying to find out how to cash them, but they were definitely still good. We couldn't find a bank to exchange them for US dollars and were finally told to endorse them and mail them to an address in SLC. (Oh, right, *that* will work!) But it did. Months later we got a check for the going rate in dollars and deposited it. I wonder how many people had to sign off on issuing that payment.

Traveller’s checks! I had a $50 one I always kept folded & tucked in a pocket of my leather checkbook cover (another almost-relic). I did the same as Elmer and used them for travel before the ATM & CC days. knew it was there but kept forgetting about it when I would actually go to the bank, and then usually didn’t have my checkbook. It was probably at least 20 years old, maybe 25 or more. I finally did take it in one day and the young man knew what it was and we joked about it, he gave me the money and that was that.

@Elmer J Fudd...the checks were probably from the late 1990's, so not vintage, just old.

I have a framed Honorable Discharge certificate from the Civil War. I have no idea whose it was or why it's in our family. I've had it since before the internet (or the usenet, was that when you heard it powering up?). Maybe I'll search the name and see what I find...forgot all about until this thread.

Interesting, fun. I would have thought checks of such an age would have expired. But as I think about it, I don't believe travelers checks were actually checks in a banking law sense. I think they were/are bank drafts, a slightly different animal. Meaning, they represent a claim on your money (that you allowed the bank to hold when issuing them, until they're presented for payment). Not the bank's money, a subtle difference but that may be why. The bank can't do business allowing outstanding checks, claims on its money, to hang around forever. A draft is a claim on your money.

I could very well be wrong. No matter, you got the cash.

When the shop I worked in closed, most everything was sold. Somehow, there were no takers for the antique farm tools that were used for decor LOL. I am in the possession of a long handled pitch fork, a scythe 🙄, a big, weird pipe holder, a two-man saw and an ice-block “lifter“.

We live in NYC. The scythe and saw are stored in the basement space we have.

Pitchfork photo a bit distorted. We use it to hold up the heavy curtain to darken our office/bedroom. We have a wall bed there.

Weird….. maybe not human bone weird but pretty weird.

I have my ration card from WWII. I was born in February of 1945, so only needed it for a few months.

Interesting.

lacyevail 6A, I have my mother's WWII ration book in the "I'll have to deal with this someday when I have time" box. Also the deed for the sale of my grandparents' farm circa 1928. What am I doing with this stuff?!

I have a small draw string bag half filled with thin, dime like coins that came from Turkey with Mom's family in early 1900's. She said people would swirl it above the head of a sick person to bring relief. Others would borrow it and it usually came back just a little lighter. ;=)

I'm going to see if Mr Google can give me any info on the coins.

I live in an apartment building. We still have a milk door from the hall into our apartment. It is welded shut on the hall side. I can open it from inside and store my potting soil in it. Extra NYC square footage!

Some people in the building still have it operable from both sides. I have known a few tiny older women who have shimmied through it when they have locked themselves out.

^^^ So those with an unlocked milk door might come home some day to a new cat, dog, miniature horse?

Oooh! I can only hope so. Speaking of miniature horses, who was it on here that used to randomly paste pictures of horses into renderings? It was so lovely and I haven't seen them or their horses in quite sometime.

A piece of a mast from Sir Thomas Lipton's ship.