Estate sailing

Arrrgh! I remembered the money, the water, the sun block, the cell phone, but I forgot the camera! Sooo, I'll have to use my words to paint the pictures. Starting with the YSAP session (yard Sale Advance Planning)Shall we take your car or our car? Both! Park one at one end of the sale, all ride to the other end of the sale, park the other, work our way over . . . RW suggests that we park them seperately but more centrally and spiral around in torpedo swarm logarithim . . . DH and RW are making marks on a napkin. We picked up maps and settled on the park one car here - See, lots of sales in this area. Park the other car here - lots more sales nearby. Then work our way from here to there and collapse.

It was sunny and glorious, temperatures in the upper 70s, and lots of big shady trees along all the streets. DH didn't want me to take the rolling suitcase because he figured it would get too beat up, so we took knapsacks. And the first place I stopped, I found a queen-sized pink duvet cover with matching pillowcase for $1.50. Holy crow that's a lot of fabric! I stuffed it in my knapsack and carried on. It kept getting heavier and heavier as the day went along. And it started drawing in friends. A fifty cent cotton shower curtain. A set of rose print curtains for a dollar.

Then we found the mother load. 6 yards of kelly green, 6 yards of navy blue with tiny white dots, and a plethora of one and two yard pieces for a total of $20. Swear to dog, I SCORED!! Of course, there was far too much fabric to fit in the backpack. So I unfolded the 6yd green piece, and DH swagged it under my right arm and over my left shoulder and tied it into a nifty sling into which I began to stuff the overflow. AND, he insisted at that point, on taking the backpack. Hero that he is! We drank the water, ate the banana, and carried on.

One young lad, maybe 14, set up an electric keyboard and speakers and set out a big jar with a sign, "Send this kid to College." I could almost recognize some of the things he was playing, and several of the notes were right. He would have gotten more money if the sign had read, "Give this kid music lessons." DH and RW both stuck $ in the jar.

We covered miles, wandering from this side of the street to that, this yard to that, having such a LOT of fun! Every couple of blocks, some youngster had set up a lemonade stand or a coolaid dispenser. An enterprising dad had set up a snowcone maker, and his daughter was selling popcorn. I found a couple of dear young ladies- maybe 8 or 9, being very businesslike in matching pink t-shirts and white shorts with a locking cash box and everything, selling home-made cookies for 25cents each - a great deal! So I bought four and ate two and got half sick from the sugar rush - chocolate, chocolate chip with butterscotch chips and M&Ms, and peanuts and fruit loops. I think they just threw everything in the kitchen into the cookie dough. They actually tasted kinda good, but it was five hours since breakfast and by that time, rat jerkey would have tasted good if you coated it with chocolate. I wound up giving away the remaing 2 cookies to a college aged guy. Just walked up to him and said, "Would you like a cookie little boy?" He was taller than me, looked down, laughed, said "Thank you," and ate them.

DH bought me some teacups! And everything is better with a kitty. We met many friendly kitties on our outing. Some sat comfortably holding court and accepting the strokes and admiration of their public. Some sat quietly under bushes, watching the passing scene with great interest. One hung around the hot-dog barbecue, demanding his share.I wouldn't be surprised if he was mugging toddlers for their bottles, too. He was a husky boy!

Dogs were everywhere! One lady had a white cockapoo all brushed out and fluffed up - he looked like an ankle-high sheep on a leash. A weimerauner was strolling around as suave and debonaire as Fred Astair, with his water and treats in a pack on his back. Oh, he was a handsome gentleman! His owner was just a non-descript guy in shorts and t-shirt, but the dog was high class! We saw a Great Dane with the nicest manners disdaining the insults of a rude little terrier who yapped and threatened and lunged at the end of his leash till the owner picked him up and wrapped a hand around his muzzle. The Dane continued his stroll with haughty dignity and the lady on the other end of his leash brushed back a strand of her long silver hair, then patted her big companion on the shoulder. They exchanged a look of love. GOOD dog!

One group of four adults had six wagons - you know, the red ones with the raised sides? Two women each towing a single wagon with kids onboard, two guys each towing a wagon with a second wagon tied behind. The cargo wagons were loaded with games and toys and clothes. and kid furniture stuff. The passenger wagons were also loaded - to the point that kids were nesting in the midst of piles of new-used clothing like so many mice. They had circled the wagons in a quiet, shady place and were eating sandwiches - except for the baby who was sprawled over a giant stuffed dog and sleeping soundly.

We paused at one sale and discovered,to our great delight,a rolling suitcase for two dollars. DH didn't mind beating up a $2 suitcase, so we bought it and stuffed all the swag into it and heaved great sighs of relief. And now we have a rollie bag for next year! I already know that I can stuff it too heavy to lift.

MJ and RW found a cherry chest of drawers for $25. She is going to store her fabrics in it. It was, however, 3/4 of an inch too big to fit into their Prius. So we loaded it into the Ford Explorer, and called it a day! We shared lunch as Sweet Tomatoes restaurant, carted the chest of drawers to RW amd MJ's house, helped them carry it upstairs, and left them. We had been on the go from 8 AM till 3:40 and I had had all the fun I could stand!