Hi, guys! I’m finally getting around to announcing the winners of the latest What’s That contest.

A lot of you guessed correctly on the first item, which is a vegetable dicer. That was far too easy, but don’t you worry. I’ll have much harder ones in the future, as I know how much you like to beat your heads against a wall.

Melody guessed correctly first, so she gets bragging rights and prizes.

The second object is a rack that you attach to the inside of a clothes dryer to rest items on that you don’t want tumbling around getting mangled.

For my non-U.S. readers, that baseball cap is for the Philadelphia Phillies, who are doing quite well this season. I have a co-worker whose office is filled with Phillies paraphernalia, so much that it looks like a bloody massacre from all the red. Go Phils!

Babs Beetle guessed that one correctly, although I wasn’t 100% sure she meant that it went inside the dryer. So I’m also awarding prizes to Lin too, who said it was actually for the dryer itself. I’ll pop you emails shortly.

Hope to be back to regular programming soon. Work has been challenging of late, but I just got my Boo the Round-Headed Dog book, so I’m delighted by that.

I look at it whenever I’m stressed and it makes me happy.

Wouldn’t you be, too?

And, yes, it’s a real dog.

We have a winner for the What’s That Wednesday contest. The object in question is a brake for the turntable on a 103-year-old Victrola gramophone.

After some serious consideration, I decided to award two people because they each guessed so close to perfect, just a little bit off on the function of the piece.

Mo, via Babs Beetle, nailed the gramophone part and so that gets her the win. However, she said the metal piece is “the switch that makes it spin.” Although the piece does affect spin, it’s not what makes it spin. The hand crank on the side of the unit does that.

Jen of Redhead Ranting further guessed that “it’s the speed control on a gramophone.” There is a “speed regulator” dial on the device, but the brake obviously controls speed (to stop spinning while changing records), so I’m giving second prize to Jen.

Congratulations, ladies! I’ll be in touch with you both soon.

Here are more pictures of the Victrola. It belongs to my brother-in-law’s family and it was such a treat to hear old records being played on it. We all find it incredible that it’s in such good condition for its age. You can see how well it’s been loved!

Manufacturer’s stamp (inside the lid):

Again, here is the What’s That object (the turntable brake):

Here is the arm that holds the record needle:

Receptacles for needles:

The speed regulator dial:

Here is the piece in its entirety. Records stand on edge at the left. There are angled slats inside the right half of the unit. The doors in front of them act as crude but effective volume control. The hand crank is barely visible, also on the right:

Here’s a one-minute video so you can hear it in action!

UPDATE: See additional photo below!

Like always, I hope that today’s What’s That item is hard enough to make your head hurt, but not so hard that no one gets it.

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object wins a Junk Drawer magnet and your choice of bacon bandaids, chocolate chip cookie soap or toasted Post-it notes.

Item Info:

1. This item is rather old.

2. It is not mine.

3. It’s very cool.

What’s that?

Since no one got it yet, here’s another picture. Same part of the object, different angle, more revealed.

Does this help?

In other Junk Drawer news:

In June I gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal about the loud Sun Chips bag. A marketing reporter found my blog post and video about the ear-splitting noise the 100% compostable bags make.

The article finally appeared yesterday. I’m quoted in the third to last paragraph. They also used a snippet of my bag demonstration 25 seconds into their video (click the Video tab at the top of the article).

Now go stare at the picture above for an hour and drop your guess in the drawer.

Go on! Get going!

We have a winner! Stephanie Barr guessed yesterday’s What’s That item correctly, though not by its official name. She described it thusly:

“Looks to me like the receptacle for a fastener, like a snap or a rivet, where you pound the fastener in and it’s deformed by this receptacle into the right shape.”

For the record, the object is called a dapping block.

The item belongs to a friend of mine who makes handwrought sterling silver jewelry. She says “Each side of the steel block has a different size indentation.  Metal is placed on top and another tool is hammered into it.”

Here are some pictures showing the object in its entirety, along with the other tool that is used with it.

Thanks for playing this week’s What’s That! I expect to have another one next week, so keep your eyes peeled.

Congratulations, Stephanie! I’ll contact you shortly about your prizes.

Today’s What’s That item comes with not one, but two, hints! I’m so generous.

Hint #1: It doesn’t belong to me.

Hint #2: It is always used with a second object not pictured here.

There. Wasn’t that super helpful?

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object wins a Junk Drawer magnet and your choice from a fine selection of novelty bandages. Nine out of ten clown doctors say that novelty bandages work better than regular ones.

OK, so here goes. What is this?

And now for that FYI:

I’m leaving Entrecard in a few days. If that’s how you usually visit The Junk Drawer, please consider bookmarking me or subscribing to the feed. I’d love to keep you as a regular visitor.

You can always find me over at Tribal Blogs and on Facebook, too! Stick with me, will ya?

————-

CONTEST CLOSED! We have a winner!

I’m sending out a prize package to Babs of Beetle Blog for winning the latest What’s That Wednesday contest.

She lives in the UK. I’m in the US.

My post office insists I complete a customs declaration for overseas packages, including a description of items being sent.

The clerk probably thought I wrote this just to see if anyone pays attention because, aside from the card, tell me this doesn’t sound totally made up.

Note to Babs: Be sure to take the monster out right away and feed him. He’s going to be hungry by the time he gets there. And probably angry.

I love when all of you go off the tracks making wrong guesses for What’s That? items. Lots of you guessed the neck of a stringed instrument, such as a guitar or ukulele. That’s exactly what I wanted you to think. But you were all wrong. Tee-hee!

There is a winner, though. Buried in the comments was a single word answer from a guy named Tux (comment #8). He’s our lucky winner because this is the inside of a toaster!

The picture was taken down the side of the toaster. The two metal bars are the heating elements.

Here is the view from the top, with an arrow pointing to the section photographed above.

Kudos to Tux for figuring this out. But Tux has a problem. He gave a bogus email address in his comment and he doesn’t have a blog, so I can’t contact him to send him the prizes unless he reads this and contacts me. So, Tux. This is your chance to be a proud owner of a Junk Drawer magnet and box of cupcake bandaids.

If I don’t hear from you in the next week or so, I’m going to pick a random winner and they’ll  snatch your prizes right out from under you! Please see my About page for my email address.

Thanks for playing everyone and I hope you all have a pleasant and snow-free weekend!

Good day, peeps! Do you have your thinking caps on? I’ve got a What’s That? item for you.

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object wins a Junk Drawer magnet and a box of cupcake bandaids. (In the absence of bacon bandaids, cupcakes will do just fine).

Go!

We have a winner! Surfie guessed correctly that yesterday’s What’s That object was a bunion stretcher, used to stretch points in a shoe to allow more room for bunions if you’re so afflicted.

Surfie gets a Junk Drawer magnet and a mystery prize involving eyeballs. Surfie, if the package is leaking when you get it, don’t open it. Just kidding. Maybe.

In other news….

I’ve been enjoying a leisurely vacation from work this week. Leisurely up until the point when I had to take my cat to the vet. He’s been sneezing for two days.

Ever try to load an angry cat into a carrier? Yeah. I was all prettied up and ready to leave the house when the time came to introduce Lucky to his mode of transportation.

I quickly found myself in a fit of aerobic activity over what should have been a cinch. He always went into the carrier easily before. Today he challenged me to a duel.

I tried head first, then butt first, then any way I could first.  The boy was having none of it. Ultimately, I had to unscrew eight connectors on the carrier lid, which is tedious, and place him inside that way.

I later learned it’s best to go butt first, holding the cat by the scruff of the neck with one hand, then holding said butt while securing the hind legs between the fingers of your other hand. Next, lower the cat into the carrier that’s been placed on its short end, or at least on a diagonal. Got it? Sounds so easy on paper.

My recommendation? Bundle up in your thickest clothing, cover all your skin, wear a ski mask if you must. Or pay someone else to do it. And throw in a box of Band-aids.

p.s. Lucky is fine, but I’m wondering about my vet. She suggested to me, in all seriousness, that my cat could have caught something from my husband who is sick this week. She said if he has the flu (he doesn’t) Lucky could have picked it up from him. Do I have to check my vet’s credentials or has anyone ever heard of such a thing? Daisy, you’re a cat. Can you confirm?

Today I have a weird What’s That item for you to chew on. It’s on loan from my brother-in-law. He doesn’t use it. He got it from a store that was going out of business. The proprietors had it hanging on a wall for decoration.

The object is very heavy and I almost chipped a tooth on it during Christmas dinner. I jokingly held it up to my mouth as though it were some kind of medieval dental device and whacked myself in the teeth. I dumb.

How to play:

Simple. First person to guess this object wins a Junk Drawer magnet and a mystery prize involving eyeballs.

What the heck is this? And lookie here. I’m even showing you scale.

This is the object fully opened.

Fully closed.

This is the business end up close.

No one stood a chance.

Since Wednesday’s What’s That item posed such a challenge, I decided to post another picture on Saturday that revealed more of it. Within five minutes of doing so, Grace of Hugz Before You Go entered the winning guess.

Here are the two images I posted:

Grace guessed correctly that this is a cigar cutter. Here are some alternate views:

For the record, I caught heat from my sister at the Thanksgiving table that this object wasn’t mine (it belongs to my brother-in-law). My sister thought I’d always claimed the What’s That items were items found in my house.

And then she punished me by making me prepare the mashed potatoes, corn, dinner rolls and gravy.

Tough crowd.

So, for all future items featured for What’s That?, I’ll disclose whether the object is mine or borrowed.

Congratulations, Grace! I’ll have your prizes in the mail soon!

Hey! For all my friends who aren’t busy preparing for their Thanksgiving tomorrow, here’s a What’s That? item to mull over.

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object it’s a part of wins a Junk Drawer magnet and a mystery prize.

I may not get to pop in and see your guesses much tomorrow, as I will be busy shoveling turkey, fixins and pie in my face for most of the day.

I hope everyone has a Happy Gorgefest tomorrow. Don’t forget the Tums!

What’s that?

UPDATE: OK, looks like you’ll need a little hint. No one has guessed correctly so far. Not even in the ball park.

Here’s a picture that reveals a bit more of the object:

Now do you know what it is?

Congratulations go to Kathryn of the From the Inside … Out blog for being the first to guess that Monday’s What’s That item is the part of a lawn sprinkler that controls the orientation of the water spray. You can see here that you line up the wheel with the hose connector to whatever kind of spray you want to come out.

Kathryn, your magnet is in the mail!

A special shout-out goes to Linda Kreitz who cracked me up when she suggested “Whatever it is…has to do with birds. You used the word “crumb” and referred to us as “peeps” on Facebook.”

Trust me, I’m never so creative as to think something like that up.

Thanks for all your great guesses! It’s so much fun for me to see how your brains work!

I know, I know. I usually have a What’s That item on Wednesdays, but my cold from last week is still clouding my head and I can’t think of anything else to write about.

You guys usually have to suffer for that because it makes me turn the tables on you and now you have to think.

How to play:

1. The photo shows a small portion of a larger object.

2. First person to guess the object wins a Junk Drawer magnet, a mystery prize or 500 Entrecard credits.

Go!

What’s that?

UPDATE: I’ve made this too hard. I shall now give you the slightest crumb of a hint. Here goes:

The item is used only outdoors. Also, the portion shown in the photo is not an internal part of the item. What you see here can be found in plain sight. I guess that was two crumbs. I’m such a giver.

CONTEST CLOSED: Click here to see who won!

Congratulations go to Grant, commenter #7, who was the first to guess that yesterday’s What’s That item was a Scrabble tile rack. To make things more challenging, I turned the rack on its side and shot it on the short end. Grant, you have a keen eye! Your prize is in the mail.

For those of you still in a guessing mood, head over to Bill White’s blog. Bill is a columnist for my local newspaper, The Morning Call.

He found an item in his basement that he can’t identify and wants some help from his readers. He also gave me a nice shoutout for my little What’s That contests and made it sound like I know what I’m doing. Thanks, Bill. You’re aces!