One Little Corner Of The World

As we compile our list of potential sales, one of the biggest struggles we have is where to start. Sometimes, the best looking sales are more than an hour apart from each other and that sometimes makes them mutually exclusive (unless those are the only sales out there). We have to consider location and also the start and end times for the sales, all in an effort to maximize our time. This past Saturday, our task was made much easier. The three best looking sales were all in the same corner of the map and they all started at different times. Our first three stops fell into place easily. We would figure out the rest later on. So...off we went!

 Our first stop was a sale that began at 8 am. Although it was 40 minutes from the house, we arrived not too long after its start. Note: we almost never arrive ahead of time for these sales. We just don't like waiting on line. 

The house was old and charming and had a cool, basement floor. There were lots of items to consider. As it turned out, we found our best find of the day here...a 1950's men's smoking jacket style bathrobe that fit Rob perfectly...and it was in great condition! Along with the robe, we picked up some records, some books and a pair of nice picture frames at a total cost of $10. The bathrobe was worth that price alone!

Stop#2 was less than ten minutes away and was another old house. The sale was run by a Tag Sale Company that we have run across before. Like the first sale, there was a lot to consider and we came away with a lot of great stuff for a grand total of $5. Two good stops to start the day! The next stop was not too far away but it started at 10 am and we decided to stop for our traditional Saturday morning breakfast first. We were pretty hungry! 

The ride was beautiful and the trees were starting to reflect all of the beauty that is autumn.

We arrived at stop #3 only to encounter the dreaded line. This particular Tag Sale Company always seems to have lines throughout the morning simply because they only like to let wander about the house at a time. I guess that cuts down on their cost of hiring additional employees to protect themselves against the unruly and unscrupulous thieves and, yes, there are thieves out there. At this sale, we witnessed someone being thrown out for putting something in his pocket and sternly advised "never to attend another of our sales again". It's a shame that people are like this. To make matters worse, the two brothers who run this Tag Sale Company get stressed pretty easily and are not even the slightest bit tolerant of rude people. We, on the other hand, are greeted very warmly and they make small talk with us simply because we are always nice to them.

It was a great old house and, as all proper old houses should, had a mounted pencil sharpener. We prefer to see these in the basement but an old  mounted pencil sharpener is good wherever it may be! The house was a digger and we spent a good amount of time here and left with some records, books and other assorted goodies!

The itinerary for the remainder of the day would be based solely on how many additional stops we could make. There were no clear cut favorites left. Our fourth stop (above) was a clinker and we left with one record. The fifth stop yielded the same result...not much of interest and one record.

  Our sixth and final stop was in our town and that is specifically why we chose it. We were pleasantly surprised to find that it was run by a Tag Sale Company we know. Their sales ALWAYS sneak up on us because they do not have a website and they never seem to advertise the name of their company. We found plenty to buy including the ladder in the picture. We are constantly borrowing Monica's sister and brother in law's ladder. Now we have our own.

We found another mounted pencil sharpener. That is always a good sign!

We both found lots of rooms to search. Looks like Monica has the records scoped out!

Based on the brown corduroy jacket with elbow patches that we found in the closet, we assume that Martin Mull once lived there! It was a good stop and we came away with some vintage shot glasses, another old men's bathrobe (probably the early 1960's for this one) and some other great stuff! 

Here are some of our finds for the week:

Some record albums

Some 7-inch records

Some 10-inch records

Some Peanuts paperback books from the 1960's

Some cookbooks and decorating books

More books and a sheet of decals

Some miscellaneous items including a box of Wizzers, some bar items and a Christmas decoration

A Television antenna and some old picture frames

More miscellaneous items including a Keds frisbee, some Christmas sputnik ornaments, some Fuller Brush giveaways and some decks of cards

A pair of vintage bathrobes

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful October day. With some leftover bread saved for just such an occasion, we decided to visit the ducks. 

Monica was ready with the bread

The ducks were patient...

...but not for long

Duck frenzy!!!

This white duck was the only one willing to be fed by hand

As it turned out, it was a little colder along the lake than we expected and our visit was not too long but the ducks were happy to see us. The trees were beautiful and so is life...together amongst the ducks.