sissydear

The visitation was Wednesday at our church. The funeral was Thursday and we buried Weldon today at his family's cemetery outside of Kerens. Over half of the people buried there are kin. His mom and dad, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins are buried there. I felt I was taking him home. He loved that town. His family, his childhood friends, some of his college friends, and some marble collector friends came for the burial. More were at the funeral yesterday and some of them even came for the burial. It is time now to say thank you to our many friends and it will take a while to acknowledge everyone. Every day I am receiving cards and notes and yes, marbles in the mail. I will personally be thanking each one. Weldon taught me a lot and I am finding he was a teacher and an inspriration for so many people. My heart is broken, but I know Weldon is free of braces and crutches and pain and for that I am grateful. He never complained, always compensated, always spread joy to people around him. I will share some thoughts and some moments as I feel I can and I am grateful and thankful for the kindness of everyone who has expressed their feelings for Weldon. Please be patient with me as I answer each person. Edna

I missed it too. Hope it was a great one. Weldon and I loved you. I still do and I'm sure Weldon is looking down and wishing you many more birthdays. Love you, my friend. Edna

David, I rather enjoyed sharing opinions with you. You and I have different opinions and we're both stubborn enough to stick to our own. We both have that right. I said something twice to be certain you understood what I was saying. You did. I accept that we disagree and I'm OK with that. We know where we stand and I won't say it again and I'll move forward. It's over! I won't argue with you or anybody else about it. where would that take us? I've already stated my opinion and you, yours. On the other hand, if someone else brings it up and I feel attacked or feel that you are attacked, I got your back. I hope you've got mine. It is my belief that the two of us are sane enough to move on. We won't agree on this, but we won't make it a life's mission to convince each other or everybody else that our view is correct and anything else is absolutely wrong. Are you OK with that? Edna

Why are personal attacks allowed here? Just asking. This is what kills a board. I know a lot of folks who have left because this is allowed.

I agree with Steve that JABO has no responsibility for the quality control like cold rolls, out of round. Those marbles go straight from the cooling bins to the boxes of the owners of the marbles. JABO's responsibility is for the content of those marbles - like someone tried to suggest lead two years back. David is very conscious of that type of issue. He has the glass checked, the grounds checked, but somebody said the aventurine or lutz might be contaminated. David had that checked. No problem. the cold rolls, annealing fractures, out of rounds - that's the owners job. Find somebody selling them that doesn't jerk you around. If I bought defective marbles I'd hold the seller responsible. As I said before, I'd demand my money back and I would never buy from that person again and I'd probably sully their name. That means I'd let it be known they were interested in selling bad marbles for good ones. We all know that. How many people are on the bad sellers list? I've got some and I remember those folks and they don't get a second chance at my money. Get real! This is becoming another bash JABO thread. I'd be interested in ideas about David's questions that involve the persons responsible and it's notl JABO.

Top right could be Jody Fine. He doesn't sign the little things. then or now. Most signed even in the time period yoi speak of. I looked to see if they were Sonny Miller or Fred Wilganoski. They don't sign. I don't recognize them. Edna

David M sent me some and at our What a Tribute run they were available from Walt McKee. I didn't buy any at our run. the marbles are pretty, but sort of muted in color. I want them as a sample of the experimental runs. I think they are distinctive enough that I could pick them out of a mix of other runs. Now I don't mean this in a negative way. In 2008-2009 I could pretty well identify each run's marbles. I have samples of all of them. By samples I mean at least 30 to 40 marbles of each and as many as 200 or more of most of them. Now I have a problem with the 2010 marbles. I have many from this year - Frankies, mamies, celebrations, etc and if mixed together I can't separate them. They are all pretty marbles, but I can't tell them apart. In years to come maybe they will be like West Virginia swirls. Some of us can ID them now with great accuracy. Maybe I haven't studied the 2010 enough yet. At any rate they have all begun to look alike to me. The latest run Tributes are totally different. The pattern is not the same though the rods of glass used are. We used batch glass, not cullet to make them and we had some problems. Didn't mean to hijack your thread telling about others marbles, but it seemed to me to fit in here. The base glass from Kokomo is different from all the others, the colored rods used seem to be the same to me. The base glass seems to have dulled the colors. Edna

They are both parrots.

I've heard a lot too. Some of it pretty bad, but don't think posting it here would serve any good purpose, mine or theirs. Some groups have thrown members of their group out. The group i've been part of threw out a new member before the run ever started and I never knew that person. Other than that, our group has been cohesive, we all like each other, hang out together, communicate with each other, etc. It's really been fun. We've learned a lot.

Just speaking for me now, LOL! If'n I bot ment marbles and they was arrivin' cold rolled and egg shaped I'd have a mind to ax for my muny back and I wouln't bi from that sellor no mo. I mite even tell everbody who that sellor was. David, do you realize how difficult it was for me to write like that. How do you do it so quickly? You have talent!

I'd like to address cull. I am speaking only for myself. I don't keep any of my share that are not mint. At first i was trash canning the really bad ones and putting some cold rolls and out of rounds in my cullet garden. Then Andy Davis phoned me and asked if I would send him my cullet. He said he would make tops and keep some and give me some. The first Tribute run cull went in the trash. I wouldn't give anybody a marble I wouldn't keep. The second and third Tribute runs - the cull went to Andy and I have really nice tops made from it. I have enough tops now so the 4th Tribute run cull is still sitting in a plastic baggy at my house. I have a lot of marbles I wouldn't buy from runs 2, 3, and 4. I have some in my cullet garden. I put others under the marble tree for the kids. The kids think thay are pretty. Maybe I would too, if I didn't have better ones. I can't keep it all. This last run - the new one had problems. i haven't looked at mine yet - I'm rolling down the highway and won't be home until late tomorrow. I heard from the others who have sorted already that they have about 40% cull. I imagine mine will be no different. i won't sell out of round or cold roll marks. The new run has shattered marbles and cold rolls. What do you do with them if not make them into tops or trash them? If I don't want it, why would I think anybody else would? That's my take on cull. About value? I haven't a clue. I haven't sold any of the lutz marbles. I have sold others for $3 and $4 A few that are really rare (very few in numbers) (and extra special pretty) I've gotten $10. I can't even speculate on value. I haven't sold enough to do that. I have given a lot away. A few people in the Tribute runs have gotten their investment back. However, when you add in a week at a motel while running, food away from home, gas for the car or truck, I wonder if anybody other than the West Virginia participants have recouped their investment. Please don't start the argument about being in it for the money. That won't wash with me. Weldon and I haven't done it for the money. In fact, this last run I did for "sweat equity". We've done it 4 times and now we're moving on to spending our money on other things. Spending money on JABO special runs did not keep us from buying vintage and hand made contemps. We are still collecting - actually more contemps than vintage. We've reached the point that it's hard to find vintage we don't already have. How many of a marble do I need? My answer is 5 alike most of the time, sometimes 10, sometimes 25. When I have enough I don't buy more. I'm really not into selling so I don't need more of the same. David, I know I'm weird, but hope this helps your questions. Edna

I wasn't given any of yesterday's run to do pics. Will post some later today when I have "my" marbles. We're starting home tomorrow.

Beri Fox is coming to the run today. Looking forward to visiting with her again.

We divide and pack the yellow base ones today. I may not have time to do pics of the making of the blue based ones. Hope they turn out even prettier than yesterdays. The colors are really nice. We've used blue, black, and green aventurine and lutz in the marbles.

Today's marbles all have a buttery yellow base glass. Tomorrow's marbles will be powder blue base. No one has their marbles yet. They are still cooling. David McCullough gave me these to bring to the hotel, take pics and post here.

Galen, I really want to save you being embarassed, but you constantly are attacking my friends, or bullying, or using innuendo and then weaseling out when caught. Here is the exact thing David said. Steve and I have questioned David Mc about this face to face. It never happened., David did say that Beri called him while Galen was in his office and they talked about an order Beri needed his help on. She couldn't provide the product for a very large order that was pending and she was asking David to provide product. It didn't work out as the order did not materialize. Galen could hear David, but could not hear Beri's end of the conversation. Galen is bending the facts and distorting as always. I know who the liar is and I know who is trying to change the direction of the conversation away from himself. Edna

Galen, I think you left out the word "NOT". When you say Edna, I could actually care less what you believe you are really saying that you care a lot. Today, Steve and I stood face to face with David McCullough in his office and questioned him about your story. David said again, there was never a conversation with Beri Fox making an offer to buy JABO. End of tale, period.

Hi mibs, the one inch run starts in the morning so no mibs yet. We are gathering in Ohio - some of us are on our second day, some our first, but most will arrive tonight. I'm sure someone will post mibs for you, but nobody will have them in hand until our run is finished. The marbles get divided Wednesday.

Is this another of your tales? David McCullough does not own the controlling interest in JABO, Inc. He cannot accept or reject offers from anyone to buy JABO. I checked this story out and it never happened. To see what good friends Beri and David are, you should have been at the Texas Marble Show. They are competitors, but they are also very supportive of each other.

Looks like what I call a pastel or Easter egg. However, I suppose it could be a patch parrot. The one I have has the same colors as the swirly one I posted. If I had not heard that Blaine Lemon said they made patch parrots I wouldn't have given it a thought. Mine looks like the wonderful tiger eyes that have different colored eyes at each end and multicolored ribbons in the middle. Each side has ribbons of a different color. I have it with my tigereyes that are pastels. (Easter eggs) How many colors does yours have Pen?

No time now to do a pic. I have two that have an eye and a lot of ribbons that have the same colors as the swirl I posted. it's with my pastels, but I suppose it could be a parakeet patch. I'm going away for over a week, the camera is packed, etc. Glad I could help. Edna