August 1st was mother’s 84th birthday, and what’s a birthday without presents and a birthday cake? My sister-in-law Chris baked a butter-pecan cake with butter-pecan frosting, a delightfully delicious combination. As tired as she was after a very busy day, the cake and the candles brought a nice smile. She’s looking pretty good for eighty-four years old!

My sister Eileen and my favorite brother Perry along with his wife Chris joined Nina and me in singing happy birthday, ending with a wish “and forty more….” She laughed at that and said she wasn’t interested in forty more years!

It wasn’t hard blowing out the candles, though. The overhead fan quickly took care of that duty. It had been a long, hot day outside and the cool air from the swamp cooler was definitely welcome.

Why had it been a long day, you ask?

Friday was the first day of the Big Workshop Yard Sale. We’d been preparing for this sale for a couple of weeks after dad decided that his vision was becoming such that he was ready to sell his workshop full of tools. Mother ran an ad in the local newspaper that my sister-in-law Chris put together. We made up garage sale signs as well as some posters listing the major items on sale. Mother put up the signs earlier this week. On Thursday my favorite brother and his wife Chris (the newspaper ad writer) joined me in Soda Springs as we set up tables and tarps and moved everything we thought was sellable out of the shop and out into the yard to be sold.

The hardest job was actually pricing the items for sale. Fortunately, it’s easier to sell someone else’s stuff. We didn’t have nearly the emotional attachment or the vivid memories of how much was paid for these items. Finally on Friday morning about 9 a.m. the sale was ready to go.

We were immediately mobbed. By 10:30 more than a thousand dollars of tools had been sold. The two-day sale netted more than $2,200. Dad had said he was hoping for about a thousand dollars. The sale far exceeded his expectations! There are only a couple of items left of any worth that didn’t sell.

What didn’t get tossed into the trash on Saturday afternoon will be taken to Pocatello to the auction in a couple of weeks to be sold for whatever the auctioneer can get for them.

I was kind of surprised at some of the items that sold very quickly and some other items that either didn’t sell, or sold quite late. For instance, there was a brand new, still in the box drill that never sold even though it would have sold for half of the new price. On the other hand, some very old Christmas tree lights were among the early items to be sold. It’s definitely true that one man’s trash is another’s treasure.

There were a couple of fellows who came back three times, buying stuff on each visit. Another fellow came and looked over a jointer very carefully and for quite a while. He left without buying it, coming back later to find that it had been sold.

This was definitely a man’s yard sale. A couple of women came, looked quickly, and left calling their husbands on the phone to tell them to get over to the sale.

One interesting part for me was learning from some of the guys what some of the tools were and what they would be used for. It was a couple of long, hot, tiring days, but well worth the time and effort for mother and dad.

Mid-morning on Friday, my cousin Ted Larson (I knew him as Barry, his middle name, as he was growing up) and his son Robert came by. Ted and Robert live in Carlsbad, New Mexico and Ted recently retired as a school teacher. They’ve been making a circuit through Colorado, Utah, and Idaho visiting friends and relatives. The last time I saw them was when we were in Las Cruces, New Mexico for my uncle Delon’s funeral. While he was visiting, we talked about blogs and blogging and he’s ready to have a blog set up for him. So, in the next couple of days, he’ll appear on the blogging scene as well. Ted, it was fun to visit with you and Robert and I’m looking forward to reading your stuff!

So, it’s been a busy and fun week. The sale went well. Mother had a nice birthday. Dad’s shop looks woefully empty (and hopefully will stay that way!!). We’re home on a Saturday evening and both Nina and I are very tired. We’ve both got things to prepare for Church tomorrow. Danielle comes on Monday for a week. We will remain busy for the foreseeable future, it seems.