Published: July 02, 2008 02:45 pm            

Yard sale provides clues about human nature

The community event of the year (from my biased viewpoint), the benefit sale for Sara Dixon, is over, but memories linger on. For example, is anyone missing a key? It looks like a house key or possibly a key to a church. It’s on a key ring that contains a wooden fish with the name ‘Jesus’ inscribed. It was left in a nice black multi-compartmented purse that was in the sale. To claim it, call 436-1426 and ask for Mary. It was nice of Mary to call, and I hope the owner sees this note and claims her key.

Despite having a benefit sale at my house last year, I found there were still many surprises. For example, I didn’t remember that a yard sale requires many weeks of preparation The benefit sale for Sara Dixon that was held at my house last weekend actually had been in the works for months. Dave and Jodi Jackson are real talent scouts at finding people who want to get rid of stuff . Who would have thought my puny little barn could store a washer, a refrigerator, seven storage cabinets, 2 couches, a gun cabinet, desk, two tons of clothes and several hundred pairs of shoes?

When I came back from Israel, I found that high winds and old age had broken my garage door. It’s an odd size (naturally) so had to be specially ordered. I’m hoping it arrives and is installed soon, but meanwhile, my garage was left open to the elements and to people who had items to contribute to the yard sale. Soon my garage went from being a two-car garage to being a no-car garage---it became a repository for more furniture and appliances, another ton of clothes, all sizes, several dozen additional pairs of shoes, numerous boxes of books either bodice-ripper romances, graphic tales of homicide, or scholarly hard bound books instructing on ways to improve one’s mind or body—mostly through positive thinking or application of herbs.

So, recognizing that all the sale stuff needed to be hung, folded and displayed, Jodi Jackson and Bill Painter started on Tuesday to put the production into starting gear. I hadn’t realized they were starting so soon, and I went on about my usual Tuesday activities, TOPS and swimming. When I returned at l p.m., they had put up two giant clothes racks (left from last year’s sale) plus three more Bill and Jodi had brought, and they were both frazzled. The next day we began in earnest, and I stayed home to join them along with several helpers from the church and the community. The men brought up all the old tables from the church, and we got them loaded with sale items, but we had touched only the tip of the iceberg. We hadn’t gone near the barn.

On Thursday, beginning about 6 a.m., we really got into high gear. We brought up the rest of the tables from the church, and we had at least a couple of acres of Milligan field turned into a gigantic flea market. Though it was officially a preparation day, lots of people came to look and to buy. By that time, we were saying, “If people want to buy, sell it! We can’t possibly get rid of all this stuff if we don’t start early.”

The Ken Lance estate gave us a trailer load of Ken’s clothes and boots, and I was amazed at how many jeans, jackets, shirts and belts he owned and at how many people were interested. Many came who had known and loved the former rodeo star and owner of the Ken Lance arena. The boots sold—33 pairs—by early Friday. We finished unloading the trailer that morning and people began buying his shirts, jeans and jackets. His boots varied from a 7 1⁄2 to a 9; his jeans were a 38-32, but size didn’t seem to have much to do with who bought them. Many admitted, “I can’t wear these, but I want them to remember Ken by; I liked him so much.”

Friday and Saturday were easier. We had a steady flow of buyers and we had plenty of workers to help. It was fun to see old friends and neighbors that I hadn’t seen for months. It was good to see Audie and Denise Eidson. She has been ill for months from injuries incurred in an auto accident, and she is still in a wheel chair, but she said it was great to be able to get outside and mingle. Bertie Balthrop was limping and told me she had been in a wheel chair for weeks. While attending another garage sale, she had been injured when a heavy mirror fell on her leg. She is diabetic and is more susceptible than most folks to hurts and bruises.

Some of our workers were our best customers. Tom Alexander loves antiques, and when he ran across an antique couch he liked recently, he gave us the one he had bought only a few years ago. It sold early on. He helped us wait on customers and he kept eyeing some of our stock. He couldn’t resist the corner storage cabinets from Ann Klepper and the antique pump organ Sterling Henley had donated. Freda Flatt bought Joe Dixon’s old-time Hi-Fi in its lovely period cabinet, and she found clothing for everybody she knew. She oughta be a personal shopper. We made lots of mistakes—mostly in selling things too cheap. We had some TV’s and when I was asked the price of one, I said, “$10.”

All of us give thanks to everyone who had a part in our community event. Rain fell in Ada, Francis, and at Konawa but skipped us on two different occasions, and we give thanks for that blessing as well. Thanks to all of you who were our customers. You helped us earn $3,014 to help with Sara’s medical bills.

        

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