OUT!

Turns out the probability 40+-year-old VHS player does work, and I found a store-bought tape to try. Picture quality not great, but we plunged ahead. Unfortunately, the 2nd cassette would not eject. I am pretty sure we pushed buttons faster than that analog machine could handle. After watching  many YouTubes, we figured how to take the cover off and remove the stuck cassette. Unfortunately, it meant cutting the tape, but there were more to try. Which we did without putting the cover back on so we could watch what was happening. Play, rewind, fast forward all worked, but it was obvious my treasured tapes of Stephanie as a baby, my learning to wind sail, kids’ birthday parties, etc were all too damaged to keep. 

I had hoped to play them on the big tv and take some short shots with our phones. No one wants the hours and hours we recorded when having a video camera was a novelty. Sigh, I accepted the reality. To the trash. 

Years ago, I had transferred some of the tapes to a thumb drive. I wonder where that is. 

The broken pizza oven joined the tapes in the garbage can. I kept the VHS player and will donate to my local thrift store, if they take electronics. If not, Free to Good Home. 

Before we went to Utah, I reviewed our sleeping bags and kept the 2 that zip together. Spaulding didn’t want my Big Agnes’s from my bike trip, Grant’s two-season 30°-50° one, or the vintage White Stag, so I call my Boy Scout contact who said he’d be right over. I threw in our double blowup camp mattress with a rechargeable air pump. He and his brother plan a big trip out West next year. One less expense for him; one bigger space on my shelves for me. 

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