At Last....

Well, I finally made the time to begin a blog. Despite the fact that I should be working, I just can't seem to motivate myself to do that. Hence, here is my first post.

Ahh....the stories of a glass fishing float enthusiast. Some of you may be interested, others may not. Either way, I plan on sharing my knowledge of these fascinating things with you! As I mentioned in my profile, this is my "thing". Some have a "thing" for shopping or unicorns (to each their own), but mine happens to be a little more unique.

My obsession with floats began about 5 years ago. I had spent several years in Anchorage seeing them around town, completely oblivious to what they were. I finally asked my boyfriend at the time where I could find them & I was informed that they could simply be found washed up on the beaches. Well, not just any beach. You had to travel hundreds of miles to just the right beach to find them. And, not only did you have to do that, you had to have another mode of transportation other than your 2 feet. Luckily for me, my boyfriend had an airplane. So we had a trip planned to a friends lodge near Nelson Lagoon, which is along the Bering Sea side of the Aleutians, & I managed to talk him into stopping & looking for floats. After flying for hours, we finally found a lake near the beach to land the floatplane. In a matter of minutes, I had found my first float. It was like an Easter egg hunt. Shortly after the first one, I found another one & it had the original net on it! I was hooked right away. In about 45 minutes, we found 20 floats. I could have kept looking for hours, maybe even days, but the weather began to get nasty & we had to continue our flight to the lodge.

After spending a couple of days stuck at the lodge due to high winds, we started our journey back to civilization. Of course, I made him stop again for floats. We were able to find a few more & I was a happy camper.

So now I had some floats & I had so many questions about them. Where did they come from? What were the marks on them? How old were they? What can I do with them? It didn't take me long to figure that all out. I began my mission for answers online & soon found myself addicted to researching them. In the process, I befriended a collector named Stu Farnsworth. He has become a mentor to me & a very good friend. I can't tell you how many questions he must have answered, but he was always willing to share his knowledge with me.

And this story will have to continue when I have more time. I really have to do some work now. Darn! :)