Garage sale observations

Who hasn't had a garage sale.  Probably rare, but if you have not, it is a life lesson everyone should experience. 

Observations about today's sale. 

All ages attend and buy--some, by the cars they arrive in and dress, just love to go to garage sales really not needing anything.

Some like to chat, most don’t say anything.   

Kids are good shoppers. Small toys, books. 

As are men.  I am always surprised at how many men stop to look around.  They tend to be quick, probably knowing what they are looking for. 

Shoppers most fun to watch are young couples.  They are usually looking for baby things, furniture or common household items that can be a good deal at sales.  They look together and discuss.

A first for me today was a young couple who were looking mostly at dishes.  They had their IPhone and am sure checking what items might be worth online. Probably Ebayers.  I checked the coffee cups they purchased when I got home & they did get a good buy—I charged $1 for six and they are worth about $8 for a set of four on Ebay.

By far, the best shoppers are women-any age, usually with one or two children or grandchildren.  They look at each group of items carefully.  Thorough and not prone to buy impulsively, except toys for the kids. 

Because I tend to put out low value items, I am more interested in my customers finding something they need than making a lot of money.  For example, a twenty-something young lady walked up to my quarter table, grabbed the margarita glasses, and was extremely excited to have found them.  I probably would have given them to her at that point, just because she wanted and liked something I had out there.

It all starts over in the morning.  We're only staying until noon.  Enough is enough.

Moving? Nope, Garage Sale

 

It's 10:30pm and I've gathered about all I can for day one. Looks organized? Well, I still have not priced anything. Might be up for a while.

See anything you want? Want it all? I'll make you a deal. There's some really cool stuff in there too.

Landspout Tornado

A quick trip to Overbrook to pick up a few groceries ended up being a lot more exciting than milk and bananas.  About two miles north of Overbrook we spotted what appeared to be a funnel dropping down from the line of clouds.  I called 911.  They said there had been others who had called and they had contacted the weather service.  The weather service said it was not a threat.

It seemed to just hang there.  It would grow and shrink but never got much bigger than this.  We actually saw at least one other small funnel also. 

The eerie thing was the stillness.  Not a leaf turning.

By the time we got to Overbrook, many had spotted it and were out on the streets.  We no sooner got to the grocery store and the tornado sirens went off.  I guess since the weather service didn’t seem to think there was a threat, we grabbed our groceries and hit it for home bypassing the bank basement, Overbrook’s community shelter.

A bang up 4th

There are still firecrackers popping as I write this.  No complaints.  It is the sound of summer I miss when it’s over.

Doug, Drue, Trent and Carly were here from Colorado for the 4th weekend.  Of course, it is always fun when they are home.  Even little three-year-old Evan kept up.  He is the one in the pictures with the scratches on the knees.  He only needed a few seconds of recovery time from that spill before he was back on his feet chasing after the “boys.”   His girl cousin, Carly, is closest to his age.  They play together well too.

And, how about the weather?  Up until the rains, it was as if the lower humidity and temperatures hitched a ride in the back of the pickup from Colorado.  All of the “action” was at Marc, Kim, Aaron, Adam and Evan’s house.  They have the water and the water toys.   The kids enjoyed lots of outside time.

Today was hard to get a project going.  I felt sleepy all day.  One of those rainy days that retirement embraces with open arms.  With the help of sock feet boots, we picked beans and pulled up the early corn stocks late in the day. 

Heard from Doug, they made it home.  All is back to normal.  Well, at least back to routine.  I notice the first day of school is August 16th.  So far this summer is working out well.

4th of July 2010 Family Weekend