Yard Sale Addict

Frazier Dr.- Rehobeth “Yard Sale”

Following some well placed signs I arrive at a one-story brick home in this half-century-old neighborhood. In the driveway I encounter a MARTA sized bus that appears to date from the 70’s or 80’s. A sign above its front bumper proclaims, “For sale - runs great - $3450”. I decide not to invest in my own transit system and proceed to the sale being held near the garage. The area behind the bus where the merchandise is piled in no particular manner is partitioned off from the neighbors view with sheets of draped canvas. If I were a neighbor I’d much rather look at the junk than the canvas sheeting. The disorder and the age of the materials indicate that the wide assortment of stuff here was stored haphazardly for a long time most likely in the wooden garage at the end of the driveway or possibly inside the bus then dumped out where it is today. A “watch your step” sign seems to be the most appropriate item here. Among the jumble I find a pile of small American Flags, a big Pokemon game promotional stand up display, a very dusty Garrard turntable, a Crimson Tide banner, a birdhouse and a novelty severed arm. On one table are some large half spheres that appear to be speakers next to a medium size stump; another table has a pile of wicker baskets and a turn of the century photograph of a stern looking woman. There are a number of large cardboard boxes scattered around the driveway. In one are old gift cookie tins, another has a small basketball paired with a smaller basketball the size of a baseball, another yields metal tea kettles, yet another houses homemade doll house furniture. One very large box is filled with an assortment of out dated technology. Piled inside it are slow modems, cheap PC speakers, and a flock of ac to dc adapters bound together with a serpentine web of coax, serial, and ribbon cables. In the garage itself it is difficult to tell where the sale ends and the unkempt workshop begins. There one man is pulling a Donkey Kong stand up out from behind a luan panel. The confusion is delightful.
I buy nothing.


Medlock Dr.- Medlock “Estate Sale”

In another small one story brick home located near the old Dekalb Farmers market. The Farmers market site is now a lumber yard and where food wise shoppers used to fight for a parking space is now a graveyard of tree limbs and stumps (It appears that stumps are a theme in today’s sales)
A few things are piled up in the driveway but most of the stuff is inside. Before entering in the driveway I encounter a chalkboard leaning against the front steps with the words. “Payday loans- Car title Loans- Buy sell- trade”. The AJC last week ran a major series exposing the evil usury involving the unscrupulous lenders who offer car title and other high interest loans. Perhaps capitalizing on this, are these sellers offering loans to those wanting to buy the stuff inside the house for liens on their Buicks or Mazdas? If so, I would think for such a lucrative business they could have invested in something better than a small blackboard to promote their legal loan sharking. On a positive note, perhaps the sellers had recently held a seminar on the perils of borrowing 200 and losing your late model car after you default on the payments. All I can say is that while I was there I saw no one sign over the title of their Navigator in exchange for a candle shaped like a cinnamon bun or some other artifact.
Outside near the chalkboard in question was an assortment of clutter in the driveway and the small one car garage. On a table set a vintage erector set from the golden era of space exploration. This set allowed the young engineer to construct a working lunar rover out of nuts, bolts and other metallic objects now deemed too dangerous for budding scientist. With this in mind, dare we wonder why the Chinese are making such great leaps beyond the USA in exploring the final frontier? Inside the garage among some old furniture and lamps was a manikin midsection inverted with its stumps of legs pointing to the heavens. Also in the driveway sat a massive copy stand with a heavy Iron base and six large lamps sufficient for illuminating the darkest of copy.
Inside the house most things were sorted into boxes if they could be sorted. One contained an assortment of coat hangers another contained several decor items involving stump like pieces of wood. A small sign on one stump declared “ duck when it hits the fan”. “It” was not in evidence as it may have been broken off the base of the artifact. In a small dinning room a large bookcase covers one wall. Among the titles there are William Bennett’s “Moral Compass” along with ‘The Art of Sexual Ecstasy”, and “203 ways to drive your man wild in bed” in that work method # 167 proscribes “don’t just lie there do something”. Other books include “Move your stuff change your life”, Panic Disorders”. “Unleashing the sex goddess in every woman” and “The Amplified Bible”. There were a few videotapes on the floor including “Easy rider” and the cryptically titled “Ravioli VI” both are VHS.
In the living room I find several boxes of Lps and CDs. CDs include Romantic French Classics, a selection of country artists as well as meditation and yoga recordings. The Lp box includes nearly a dozen Kingston Trio records.
In what may have been a bedroom is a collection of framed prints and other artwork leaning against the walls. One is a drawing of a spectacled gentleman grinning and wearing an Avets cap. In the same room are several 2 by 3 foot playing cards that could be used in a true Texas size game of Texas Hold ‘em. In another bedroom I root through a box of sunglasses to discover a pair of Ray Ban Wayfarers with the 1996 Olympic logo. In a back room of the home I come across an empty bottle of Gator beer and several rusty but unopened cans of Harley Davidson beer with a 1985 date on them. I do not know the quality of that particular vintage. Randomly scattered about the back rooms are two bowling pins, nearly a dozen pairs of very new looking cowboy boots, a confederate flag, a “gone shopping” sign, the empty cover of a Dorothy Lamour EP, a time clock with a sign indicating that it works (but it is not showing the correct time) a lamp constructed from a Rebel Yell bottle and a ceramic alligator with its mouth open.
I Buy the Ray Bans and a Latin Dance music CD for $1 each.


Greylock Dr.- Decatur “Estate Sale”

This sale inside another one story brick home is far more normal that the last two sales. But the framed art here is out standing. On the living room floor is a painting of a horse named Midnight from 1961 and a painting of a white poodle. The poodle’s name is not given. One the walls are large old framed photographs of distant ancestors. One is an eerie image of a toddler with outstretched arms. On a coffee table are a few videos including Pedro Aldomovar’s “ Tie Me up tie me down” on VHS along with “Modesty Blaise” on DVD. In what may have been a bedroom are boxes of books far more boring that the last sale. Most are dusty 20 plus year old college textbooks. One box contains a 1904 set of the “New Standard Encyclopedia” other titles found are ‘The Age of Reform” and “ Is there life after this life?”
In a small nook like room with a set of built in shelves are a few tiny collectors spoons still in their packaging, including ones from the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands. Near them is a pair of unopened playing cards from Santa’s World. A selection of small plaques with waif figures adorns the same shelf. On the floor sits a large box filled with old unused greeting cards.
In a bedroom I find a number of golf items, including bookends with a putter and a driver. Other golf items include a box containing a golf “caddy” it is not a little man who will carry your clubs and tell you about the wind but a container for pens and paper clips with golfing images embossed upon it. One a night table is a mahogany plaque with the quote “Laziness: a disease who’s worst feature is that it is neither curable nor fatal”.
In a small attic I find some Christmas decorations, a plush toy red nosed Rudolph, some old luggage, two putters and the popular foot bath and massager entitled The Foot Fixer.
I bought the painting of Midnight for one dollar and donated it to Clare Parker’s extensive collection of naïve pet portraits.