It’s Friday.

Good morning one and all! Okay, it’s not really morning. But I like morning. Best time of day. So I always say ‘good morning,’ no matter what time of day it is. After all, it is morning somewhere in the world. So I am right when I say ‘good morning’. No matter what time of day it is. Sigh. It’s one of those days. It’s cold. And it appears that is the outlook for the next several months. Sigh.

Finally had to give in and turn the heat on this earlier this month. That’s the way it will be until next spring. That’s a long time. Sigh. I am not a cold weather person. This winter I just might try hibernating. Okay, can’t quite do that. But perhaps the way the chipmunks do it. Sleep, eat, sleep some more, eat some more, and so on. Never go outside until the weather warms up in the spring. Doesn’t sound so bad. Really. Sigh.

Early fall.

Speaking of garage sales. Or yard sales. Or whatever you call them where you live. I have had over 140 garage/yard sales over the years. I used to enjoy them. Not anymore. Was planning to have one more this year. Didn’t work out. Probably just as well. They are not fun anymore. People have gotten very picky. Fussy. Hard to deal with. Always complaining. For example; a lady comes to me with a 10 cent item, “Will you take 5 cents?” she asks. “It’s only 10 cents,” I said. “I don’t want to pay that much,” she said. “Then don’t buy it,” I said. “But I want it,” she said, sighing. I did too. Sighed, that is. I took the 5 cents. I just couldn’t handle arguing over 5 cents.

I had a dozen canning jars for sale for $2. A man looked at them. “That’s too much, besides, I only want 4 of them,” he said. So I said, “50 cents each.” “That’s a good deal,” he said, and happily took four of them. Total, $2. Amazing really. A lady came by and wanted to buy 2 of the jars. “50 cents each,” I said. “That’s cheap,” she said. And bought 2 of them. Sold 8 jars that way, then sold the remaining jars for my original $2. Amazing really.

Had a nice antique cream and sugar set for $10. A lady came and offered me 50 cents because the sugar bowl had a chip. “It did? I had checked it earlier and didn’t see any chip,” I said She showed me the chip, and let me use her magnifying glass so I could see it. No joke. Even with the magnifying glass it was hard to see that tiny chip. But since she found the chip I said she could have the set half price. She was shocked and said she would never buy something that was broken. Then why did she offer me 50 cents?

Had a nice antique platter. Priced it at $20. A lady said she would give me $5 and said it wasn’t worth $20 because it wasn’t old. “How do you know?” I asked her. “My son told me,” she said. “Where is your son?” I asked politely. “He lives in Calgary,” she replied. That’s several hundred miles west of here, for those of you who don’t know. “He told me on the phone,” she continued.

“Do you have your phone with you?” I asked her. “Of course not, it’s at home!” she said, obviously a bit annoyed. She wasn’t the only one. Sigh. I later sold the platter to a nice, polite, young woman and got my price for it. She actually told me my price was too low for that platter. She had seen an identical one in an antique shop for $50.

She was actually willing to give me and extra $10 for it, which would still be a bargain for her. However, I refused her kind offer. I knew what it was worth before I put that price on it, but it was one of those items I really didn’t want to keep. So I figured if I can get my price for it, I would be happy. There are some very nice people that go to garage sales/yard sales, or whatever you want to call them.

I could go on and on. I don’t like garage sales anymore. I’m not having any more garage sales. It’s enough to make a person jump up and down, pull their hair, bang their head against the wall, and, and…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s okay. I’m calm. I’m fine. It’s Friday. It’s cold. Summer’s over. Sigh. Enjoy your weekend and God bless!

Steve. ©2026 Steve McLeod