WEEKEND: NOT AS PLANNED

On Friday and Saturday Jazz and I were finally going to have the big yard sale we have tentatively planned since April. For a variety of reasons we kept postponing it until summer was here, and it was just way too hot. 100+ degree days just don't lend themselves to that much work AND trying to be pleasant to potential shoppers. On Thursday morning it began to rain, and the weather forecast at noon predicted the same through Sunday. So after a hurried consultation early that afternoon we decided not to place an ad in the newspaper and start setting up that evening. As luck would have it not a drop fell after 7:00 p.m. on Thurs., but what the hey, we were now free to cruise the estate sales the next day.

Background for next part: For over seven years now I have been unable to play these.



Can you tell that these are phonograph records from the past? They have had a long and hard life, and I have refused to put them in any other yard sales because I was convinced that I would one day listen to them again. [Side Note: When Dagromm, (remember him?) was away at his liberal arts college he signed up for a course called American Culture. That surprised me since he was an American, and I thought he'd be well versed in that. When I asked him about it he replied, "In that class we watch all those videos you MADE us watch and listen to all those records you were always playing." I never asked if he regretted enrolling in that class.] Alas every time I found a suitable working phonograph it was a vintage console that was way too big to fit into my house. But . . . my luck changed when I went to the first estate sale I would have missed if we'd followed our original plan. Here's my great find.



O.K. I still haven't found just the right spot for it, but it won't have to be such a big spot. The wooden part I'm currently using to hold the phonograph is my old cassette tape holder. Right! I haven't let go of those either, and the only place I've had to play those was in my car---usually on long trips, and there haven't been many of those lately. But this wonderful little Magnavox has a working record player (33 & 45 rpm.), working radio (AM & FM), and working dual cassette player which can be used for high speed dubbing. This wonderful little treasure was only $28.00. My next goal is to find additional needles for the phono; the current one is o.k., but you never know . . . .

Friday night I was zipping through various tasks while singing along with The Kingston Trio, and Peter, Paul and Mary. Imagine me grinning like Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou when he said, "It was fine, just fine." Tonight it may be Ella Fitzgerald.

At the second estate sale I found one of those Little Playmate by igloo, a small cold storage carrier just right for a lunch or two or three cold sodas, which I thought was $1.00. When I got it into a better light it turned out to be $4.00, and my Scot's blood came to the fore, and I left it there. However, as I pulled into my driveway I noted a neon green poster on the power pole at the end of the block. Couldn't read it from that distance, but there was no need. Sure enough a garage sale on the next street. I feel I must support my neighbors so I drove on around the corner. Look what I found.




Price: 50 cents Can you believe that?

Since Jazz and I hadn't had our own sale I wasn't exhausted on Sunday as anticipated so I treated myself to a movie which I loved, and it was a great bargain too. If you haven't seen it yet, do go.