Benefitting the zoo

Quite fitting, the location for this weekend's big yard sale to benefit the Heritage Park Zoo -- at Ruth and Whipple, right across from the Y's park. That is where the weekly swap meet was held when we first moved to the area. (Too bad that flea market went the way of many neat local customs; it was a much more neighborly affair than the formalized swap meet business that currently operates in PV.)

I arrived not only on the last day but the last hour of the sale. The volunteers were striking the set as I left. To top it off, the day was windy (below) and slightly chill.

Nonetheless, all manner of Good Stuff. Books. Blue jeans aplenty. Housewares. Some furniture left.

And, inevitably, exercise equipment that may have been used three or four times before gathering dust for a year (or decade).
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Toys, including a train-her-to-the-kitchen plastic extravaganza. Not to mention Barbie, herself. Windblown and in the buff, yet! Tsk, tsk. Whatever happened to that famous wardrobe? At least she wasn't cuddled up with Ken.

The business table...

Plenty of roon for cars. One teen girl arrived on her bicycle.

And the biker who drove up quickly equipped himself for skiing.

There must always be a truly memorable product at a big sale like this one. Here it is: a deep purple plastic hand for your seating comfort. I should have bought a chance -- but I might have won simply because I am already overwhelmed with Stuff.

What happens to the leftovers? Surely nobody wants their castoffs back in the garage, so inasmuch as this sale is for the benefit of the animals at the zoo, the unsold items will be donated to the NOAH thrift shop, which is also for the benefit of animals, just a different set. Fair enough, I'd say.

Tis the season for yard sales

Fortunately for me, when I go for walks, I usually take no money with me. Particularly fortunate when I happen across a yard or garage sale. Too much Good Stuff for me to resist!

Especially in a pleasantly shaded yard. Oh, so many good Things that I couldn't do without -- if I had the money burning a hole in my pocket.

Well, no, I didn't need fishing gear or those plaster thingies. On the other hand, I definitely could find a home to mount those brackets ... and that electric radiator at right might come in handy next winter.

No to the horse collar and the end tables. Neither needed or even wanted currently, though they looked to be in very good condition.

Ditto the leaf whacker, tho k has located what looks to be very handy electric leaf and twig chipper for making mulch.

But jumbles are what yard sales should always include...

... and kitchen gizmos and gadgets. In fact, it seems to me that these are chancy items for any smart merchant to stock. They surely are purchased only on the spur of the moment, and far too many reappear too soon in the thrift shops and at yard sales. The rational shopper is well aware of this fact. But then who's a rational shopper? Not I. My rationality extends to walking without change in my pockets.

One of the great things about yard sales is that you never know what you'll find. In this corner of the sale, a pretty candelabra, a decorative bedstead and a bird house.

Unlike many yard sales, there were also antiques. For example, I had to ask about these wooden panels. Turns out they were the real thing -- very old fashioned, possibly home made washboards. I had never seen such even in my youngest days, only the boughten kind with a corrugated metal plate. It had never occurred to me just why they were called washboards!

They were leaning against this old wooden cart. Not a plaything, either; note that the wheels are faced with iron.

Another golden oldie; asking price for the oak chair, $75.

These quilts were not from modern needles. Lovingly made long ago, they also have seen hard use...

...as this pretty pink and white coverlet shows.

The quilt collection was toppped off with a scrap that remained unfinished; consequently, it looks bright and shiny, like new.