Unbelievable Steal of a Deal - or was it?

I ended up on a road I had never been on before and found out that there is a little second hand store in the senior activity center that I'd never heard of and since I had time to kill between appointments I decided to stop. There was lots of old stuff. I browsed around and found a cool denim jacket for Christina for $3 and I was headed towards the cash when....

An older couple walked in carrying a few items to donate to the store....

The gentleman was carrying a Presto Pressure Canner box which caught my eye immediately. I've been in need of a good pressure canner for a couple of years. My old ones need new seals and such but they are so old I can't find the right parts anywhere.

The man put the box on the counter and I moved in real close, put my arm over the box and looked at the store operator and said,"Soon as you put a price on this, it's sold."

Everyone looked startled.

You should have seen the envious looks I garnered. Whew!

One lady approached me and asked, "Are you really going to buy that?"

I sure AM. 

"Oh, well, I sure I hope I am standing by the door when the next one arrives".
(She was way too old to have kids to feed, or I might have felt sorry and let her have it.)

I made off with my prize after they had ascertained that to buy the thing new would have cost me $120 dollars. I think they didn't give me as good a deal as they should have, because I was obviously very eager to have it, but I still saved a pile of money, but you want to know the sad part of the story?

They original owner pointed to the box and asked, "So, you are going to buy that thing?"

Yes sir. I have 5 kids who are eating me out of house and home. I need to do more canning this coming summer than I did last summer.

"Oh, he said, man, if you would have been on the other side of the door when I first got here I would have given it to you! "


Bummer. He should have NEVER told me that.

That took a little of the sweet out of my deal! 

Here's to a happy canning season!