Blogaversary

Today is the 2nd anniversary of this blog. I wrote my first post on September 6, 2007. Can't believe I'm still doing it. Maybe, after having been kept quiet all those years, I have a lot to say...and you can't stop me! ☺

I have two others you know☺. Is it the Gemini in me? ☺☺☺

Attic Is Clean

Photos: The top two were shot from the hatchway toward the west end of the house. The bottom two show the east end. I should have taken "before" photos. You would not believe the crap Andy took out of there!

Last Saturday Andy came over to vacuum the attic. He took one look at the crap up there and insisted on taking everything out.

When I looked at this house before buying I saw the debris that was up in the attic, but thought the homeowner would remove all of it before the house was sold. Well, he didn’t. We took 3 paper grocery bags of small junk out of there. Then there was the empty box that a treadmill came in (sans treadmill), a broken toboggan, two half tables, a child’s pool table, top half of table umbrella, and on and on.

All the big stuff is piled on the toboggan in the garage to be pulled out to curbside for bulk pick up. It is too heavy for me to move so I will hook it up to my Honda and tow it out to the curb. I have the hitch, might as well use it! ☺

Packing Away The Stuffed Animals

Photo: The box filled with my stuffed animals. They originally had been on top of and on shelves of my bookcases. I put them into the dryer on Air Fluff with a damp towel to get the dust off of them. It worked pretty well. Then it was time to pack them into the box. Well! You never heard such goings on.

The bear bank was on top of the situation directing the entire operation. Mel Moose kept complaining about someone was on his back. My Chalupa dogs didn’t like being crowded on Blue Bear’s lap. Blue Bear was on Plain Brown Wrapper Bear. Hedwig was shmushed up against the back of the box and became her own Howler…my goodness does she have pipes! Paddington Bear wanted nothing to do with sitting on Hedwig’s lap and by now must be deaf. There are a couple of cats in that box, one wearing a hat, but none in a hat. There are bears and dogs, too. You may be able to see that in this box the Pug rules...he's all over Paddington Bear's hat!

You should have been here when I started to close the box. You never in all your life have heard such a cacophony of chaotic caterwauling. I ultimately agreed to leave the box open until the moving truck gets here…which, hopefully, will not be too long from now.

Silence is a wonderful thing...as is compromise…which usually brings silence! ☺☺☺

Seasons

Who knows what season we are in. Is it the end of summer? Is it late fall? Did we have summer? Will we even get to have a fall this year.

Usually, by this time of year, the foliage in the woods surrounding my house has started to shrink. No so this year.

Robins usually start heading south around the middle of August. In the last few years there have been flocks of robins hanging around all winter. I must confess I haven’t seen any robins lately.

So we have two weather indicators contradicting each other.

Raccoon

Nope! 'Twarn't him.

My clothesline pulley was twisted again last night. So, I guess the dead raccoon wasn't the one.

Maybe we have two more out there? Assuming a family is mom, dad and two kids...so far two have bit the dust, or hit the hubcap.

Why haven't they gone into the corn fields. Lots more food there. They don't even eat the bird seed, so why are they bothering?

I really don't want to see two more dead raccoons. I just want them to leave my bird feeder alone.

I’m Getting There!

Pack ’em up! Move ’em out!
Almost all the tag sale stuff is gone. Tomorrow I expected Big Brothers, Big Sisters to stop by and pick up the last remnants. However, it's going to rain so we have put it off until second week in Sept. I might even be able to put my garage back in order. I really should consider packing up a few things while I’m at it.

Saturday (tomorrow) should find Andy here to vacuum the attic and push the insulation back under the A/C that’s sticking out of the living room wall. Then on Sunday, Kathy and Andy will be over to move two pieces of furniture from the master bedroom to Kathy’s house…two bureaus and two mirrors. Other than tidying things up, that’s the end of what I need to do before the For Sale sign goes up.

I have packed all my books (the ones I’m keeping) into 16 boxes (that reams of paper come in). I have four more boxes sitting in my car ready to be delivered (donated) to a local book store. Then I have a small box, about half that size, filled with VHS tapes. I know…this is old technology, but it’s what I have. Next I have to pack all my stuffed animals, do-dads and gee-gaws that are so precious to me. Why do I need so much stuff?

Carpets are clean
Stanley Steemer came yesterday afternoon. And another crew came back today to do one small area the first crew overlooked. Not really their fault. I had no experience with SS before and did not realize they do not move beds. I had a twin bed that should have been moved but wasn’t. Mis-communication. Good job. I would recommend them.

Raccoon
A couple weeks ago there was a dead raccoon at the side of the road about half a mile from my house. I thought it might be the one that was always after my bird feeder. Not. The raids continued. This morning there was another dead raccoon at the side of the road not very far from my house. Maybe it’s the one. I’ll know soon. If my clothesline is not twisted in the next couple days…well, that would be the one. It’s a little sad. It became a game to see if I could catch it in the act. One night I did. It ran, of course.

Tag Sale—Never Again!

Photos:
Top left: lots of glassware and electronics/electric table in background.
Top right: clothes, curtains, table cloths and bags of all kinds and sizes.
Mid left: can you believe no one wanted this Cricket rocker? I decided to keep it.
Mid right: same glassware with table of books in background and FREE table out front.
Bottom left: My Honda Fit loaded on the passenger side.
Bottom right: My Fit's open maw. Man do I have cargo space and there was room for more!

It’s all over! What an exhausting weekend. HOT. HUMID. And waiting around.
Saturday morning traffic was brisk. People started coming at 7:30 when I opened the garage doors just to get some air (like there was any worth breathing!). A tag sale savvy elderly lady drove in and asked if she was my first customer. I told her she certainly was. She asked if she had to wait until 8 o’clock before she could look. I told her the sale was advertised to start at 10 o’clock, but she was welcome to browse to her heart’s content. Smart old lady! And it never stopped until shortly before noon.

Kathy was with me through the morning and that was a big help. She became my chief negotiator. She’s much better at that than I am, and got me some good deals. Of course my customers got some good deals, too. I priced everything to SELL.

Saturday afternoon was slow as was Sunday morning. By noon Sunday I’d had it and decided to pack up (literally) and shut down. First I made a list of everything that was left (for donation purposes) then started packing into boxes. Of course, the mid afternoon crowd started to arrive. They were just as happy to poke through the packed boxes and I actually had to cross stuff off the donation list as things went out the door with happy customers.

Andy and Lori came over and help me shut down. All the No Parking signs were pulled up and all the boxes were loaded into my car. My little Honda Fit has a lot of cargo space! Folding tables borrowed from Lori’s parents were loaded into Andy’s truck and the day was done.

I was exhausted, but there was still a lot of put-away to do before I could head for a nice cool shower.

What sold and what didn’t
Every one told me the old National Geographic magazines would not sell. They were from 1969 up to 1980. Most were complete years. One customer took two years and a second customer took all the rest. Not bad for something that wouldn’t sell.

I was assured the electronic/electrical stuff would fly off the table. Flatbed scanner, slide scanner, wireless phone, universal remote, tel/fax machine, elect. typewriter, timer (to turn lights on and off), toaster, vaporizer, lamps (there probably was other stuff I’ve forgotten) did not sell. Not one thing. Too late. Don’t bother getting in touch with me to scoff up any of these (except the scanners, the remote and telephone). They are already into electronic recycling or at Good Will. If you didn’t get it here you can get it at Good Will. A few more pieces (42” round table, a “quilted” 5 drawer chest, two twin/full bed frames) will go to Big Brothers Big Sisters on Saturday, August 29th. There’s still time to take those off my hands.

Was it worth the $106 I made on the sale? Yes and no. YES because of the people I met and NO because of all the work it took to do it…it’s not worth it to me. Speaking of people, I want to especially thank those who took stuff from the FREE table and didn’t bother to buy anything. ☺ ☺


Big, big thanks go to my kids, Anne, Paul, Kathy, and Andy. Without Paul and Andy I never could have taken the heavy stuff down into the garage. Without Kathy I wouldn’t have had an able negotiator and sign maker, to say nothing of box bringer. Even though Anne lives far away she gave me invaluable advice about pricing. I really could not have done it without them.