Saturday 9/13/08

My yard sale barometer is the utility poles at Clifton at McLendon around the corner from my home. On a Friday evening I forecast the next day’s activity based on the amount of signs that can be found at this intersection. On Friday evening returning home from seeing a show at Horizon theatre I saw none. This morning I left expecting an ebb tide of yard sale and found my barometer to be sadly accurate.

Highland Terrace – Virginia Highlands “Yard Sale”


I stumbled upon this sale on my way to one of two sales listed in Craigslist. The sale appeared large but it was disappointing. Here books were stacked upon a rock wall surrounding the house, a number of house wares and children’s things were in the yard and more stuff was on the porch and driveway. Among the supply of reading matter I found” Wearing Dad’s Head”, “Running with Scissors”, “Faraway Places”, “Girl with Curious Hair”, “Dogs in Hats”, “How to Be Good” and about a dozen books on childbirth and parenthood. In the driveway was a large mounted photograph of Katherine Hepburn and some large plastic playthings. Around the porch was a plastic torso and the accoutrements of a wrestling costume, a handmade vase with the quote “A woman of valor more precious than rubies” and a large landscape painting sitting on the porch swing. An open door led to a living room were some clothing was for sale. The floor of the room was littered with toys I could not tell if they were for sale or if the children had just failed to pick up after themselves.
I bought nothing.

Yard sale or just kids not putting away their toys?

















Art on the porch.






























Kentucky Ave. - Virginia Highlands “Yard Sale”


This sale was a major disappointment. At the site were two adjacent sales both of which deserve little commentary. I don’t know if it was the dreary because of my expectations or simply due to of the blandness of the goods offered. On one side of the street a collection of toys, dreary house wares and boxes of popular novels were lined up in front of a stonewall. Across the street more toys, mostly Princess oriented items and more dreary house wares were crammed into the driveway. The more I looked the less I saw. Examining the books I sought anything of interest. Among the titles I perused were “The Modern Man’s Guide to Life”, “Alter Your Life”, “Walk in the Woods”, “What they Don’t teach You at Harvard Business School”, “Men Are From Mars, Women are From Venus”, “The World Is Flat”, “The Celestine Prophecy” and “Clothes and the Man”. Instead of opening a thesaurus searching for synonyms for tedium and dreadful I will just say that I spent little time here and bought nothing.

View of boring sale.

















N. Decatur Rd. Morningside ‘Yard Sale”


There was almost nothing at this sale in the Greek revival columned driveway of a single story home. A table with a necktie, a few plastic dinosaurs and an empty case for glasses, a rack of women’s clothes, a small bureau holding an empty water jug and two brass plates, this sale bordered non-existence. There should be some credit given for artistic minimalism plus they did have an Obama sign in the yard.
I bought nothing.











Reindeer Rd. –Merry Hills “Estate sale”


When I saw the add for this sale I was hoping it was a reprise of a sale I attended in this neighborhood four years ago when I first started this site. That sale was a house packed with delightful colorful color and a mysterious five-foot tall sculpture of a strange apelike creature named Kong Loo. Over the years I have continually pondered the presence of the cryptic ceramic simian in that home. But sadly the sale was not in the same house but instead in the yard of another ranch home. Here two women presided over a good collection of assembled clutter that would be the highlight of today’s yard sale adventures. Here in the yard was a gathering of some of the most appreciated (at least by my standards) yard sale artifacts – drinking games and accessories, pornography, art and law enforcement memorabilia. Among these things were the Beer Shot game whose label said it brought out the best in you. If your best is puking and farting. Other intoxication accessories included a “What the F*uck game and coasters with definitions of various stages of drunkenness on them. Near the intoxicating game was one of those metal clipboard boxes used by police officers to store and write citations upon. There was also a framed collection of old police badges from several colleges and schools. Artwork included an original Finster and R.A. Miller, a photograph of a squirrel, a sketch of Tom Selleck (or someone like him), a framed print of Dogs playing craps and a bas-relief of Starry Night. The pornography was mostly the soft-core variety consisting of Playboys and other magazines stuffed into two boxes next to a framed print of a pig.
Some other wonderful things here included a turtle shell, a small statue of a Native American holding some sort of animal skull, vials of vampire makeup, a plastic pigs nose. (At which the seller remarked” put lipstick on it and it’s a Sarah Palin costume”, several CHS tapes of ‘Just Kidding” a practical joke program, a copy of the Desperate Housewives Game, a rack of barbells, a suitcase full of house wares and a copy of “The Bobsey Twins at Home”
I bought nothing but thanked the sellers for their splendid array of materials.

Art work found in Merry Hills.




















Vampire makeup and Palin costume.

















Box of adult magazines.


















N. Parkwood Dr. Decatur – “Garage Sale”

This sale was in the rear garage of a new looking brick duplex. Here was an interesting balance of Star Wars collectibles, Halloween décor, Xmas items and religious books. The Halloween dominated the garage with a life-size grim figure of a skull headed ghoul standing next to a pair of large faux gravestones. The Star Wars stuff included a Chewbacca full head mask that was created out of cheap polyester fake fur next to it was a full size plastic C3PO mask. Other Star Wars memorabilia included Yoda, C3PO and Chewbacca ceramic objects of undetermined use. Among the reading matter were the following titles “The Jesus Dynasty”, “The Templars Secret Island”, “Bloodline of the Holy Grail”, “The Gospel Code”, “The Messianic Legacy”, “The Jesus Papers” and “Misquoting Jesus”
Other stuff in the basement included a pair of wicker pedestals, a shelf made from miniature surfboards and a large faux palm tree.
I bought nothing.


Possible Yoda toothbrush holder and C3PO ashtray.