Couple of things happening in Potsdam this weekend. First the students are back, unpacking and doing their level best to make sure they are here – damn, it’s always fun watching them the first few weeks. Second, as the kids and parents here, yard, garage and lawn sales are happening this weekend too. I suspect these sales are happening in other towns as well but I noticed them more in Potsdam this morning as we did our weekly dry cleaner and breakfast run!
Yard, garage or lawn sales are pretty common and let’s face it, most folks just want to get rid of stuff and sell things pretty damn cheap and like to “dicker” over prices. Now, we got some that think they can make millions and have outrageous prices on junk and nobody is buying –duh! Yes, it is true; one person’s trash is someone else’s treasure. Have you ever seen what some folks do with things you decided to get rid of because you were sick of it, it was old and useless? I mean, its amazing what some folks can do with a little paint and elbow power – almost makes you wish you had thought of this and kept the damn thing!
The sales take considerable work, getting stuff ready, marked and then, sitting around all day waiting for customers who pick, paw and suggest a price that is (in some cases) an insult to common decency. Sales are sales, we get the concept but this is not “give away free” stuff – so let’s be a little more discreet with our comments and offers. A perfectly good sofa is not going to go for $5.00 and if you think that is sick, then look in the bloody mirror.
I can handle clothes and especially blue jeans that someone else had nicely broken in and aren’t too bad – meaning, no major holes in them. You know what really has me blinking is people buying used shoes! I don’t mean boots, skates or hiking boots but regular, everyday shoes – how in the bloody hell can you wear shoes someone else broke in – don’t we all walk differently?
Now my objective in going to such sales is furniture – old wood that I can refurbish or make even worse as I learn how to work with various woodworking tools. I kind of like to take an ole chair, desk, coffee table, strip it down, and see what in hell it really looks like. It’s amazing how beautiful cherry, walnut, etc., is after all these years – once all the paint has been removed! Sometimes you asked yourself why would anyone want to cover up such beauty and then you remember, at a certain time, painting wood was the way many did things and it was considered a good thing! Leaving it natural tended to suggest you were to poor to buy paint and although poor you didn’t necessarily want to broadcast it all over town! In some cases, paint covered a multitude of messes too – chips, gouges, and by painting it matched other items in the room instead of clashing big time!
So good luck with your sales and hunting – sometimes I do stop and search for something weird, odd or some silly gadget that might cause my sister and I some laughs – especially if neither of us can figure out what in hell this gadget does! Just enjoy your weekend--- retired or not, weekends are still weekends!
Q: How can you avoid that terrible curse of the elderly wrinkles?
A: Take off your glasses.
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