Tis the season......really.....what season?

Tis the season of yard sales in Tennessee! Two incidents during the past week have brought me around to writing about this topic.

The first incident happened last Friday. It was a beautiful day. As I prepared to leave home for work, I decided to leave a early. Maybe I could manage to get to campus a little early and take a walk before my scheduled 9:00 meeting. Three purposes served - I would return books to the library, get some fresh air, and I would get a little bit of exercise.

Back to the yard sale story - It usually takes me about one hour and 15 minutes to drive to work..on this particular Friday it took much longer. There were Yard Sales all along my route. Here is where my frustration began. First of all, it was a pretty day and I would have liked to stop at a few of those yard sales, but knew I couldn't. Then I started to notice the folks that were stopping and came to the decision that there are four kinds of yard sale shoppers.

The first - I fall into this category. - The shopper does not really plan to go yard sale shopping, but notices that there are lots of yard sales going on. The shopper goes the speed limit, sees a yard sale sign and if there is time to slow down and turn into the yard sale, does so. Now, if I cannot safely turn in, I will go to the next available turn around spot and go back to the yard sale or I will make the decision to just pass it up.

The second - My grandmother falls into this category. - Buys a newspaper on Wednesday, looks for all of the YARD SALE listings and circles the ones she wants to go to, then, starts down the list going only to the advertised sales that were marked. The kicker is, you have to start real early, I mean real early. Also, there is no planning on what order you will visit the sales. So one hopes that the newspaper has consulted a county map and put them in order for you.....haha!

The third - This is where my frustration began on Friday - Drives down the road, maybe somewhere to go, maybe not, but driving 55 or 60 or the posted speed limit, sees a yard sale, slams on the brakes and tries to quickly turn in to the drive of the yard sale. Now, this was frustrating to me because I do not want to hit other cars in the rear end NOR do I want other cars to hit me in the rear end when I slam on my brakes to avoid hitting another car. A little frustrating.

The fourth - This really was the topping on the frustration Friday - After the speeding drivers had made their landing to the preferred yard sales, the traffic got real, real slow. Now I was on a road (from this side of Centertown to Woodbury) where there is no good place to pass. If you get behind slow traffic, often you are just stuck there until you get to the other side of Woodbury. Traffic was slow, then I realized what was happening - yard sale shopping from the road. These folks drive about 15 miles below the speed limit, then when they see a yard sale sign, they start to slow down - not to turn in, but to look from the road. Like they are "window shopping" only they are probably checking out the yard sale to see what the seller has. I can hear the conversation now.

"Hmmm...see anything good?"
"I don't know, slow down, slow down, you are going to have to slow down a little more so I can see what they got."
"OK, tell me, I need to turn in soon if they do."
"Well...maybe, there's a bird cage, some furniture - it don't look too good though - and a bunch of clothes. No, no, don't stop. Let's go on. Maybe the next one will be better."
"Alright, keep your eyes open. Oh, I see one right up here, it's on my side. Can you see?"


One would think this would be a perfect opportunity to pass, but there was never an opportunity to do so. By the time we get through Woodbury, there is a pretty big line of cars behind the shopping from the road folks. I did NOT get to campus early, did NOT return my books that day, did NOT take a walk. Not only did I NOT get to do all of those things, I was late for my meeting! You know what they say about the best laid plans....sometimes yard sales get in the way or something like that.

The second incident has to do with Grandma who is coming up on 90 years of age. She has always loved yard sales - both going to them and having them herself. Since she has moved into apartments, she does not get the opportunity to have yard sales. But last week, the "office" where she lives decided that the tenants could have a yard sale this weekend. My mom - lives in Houston - was worried that Grandma would overdo, try to move her stuff out to the grounds to set up and would endanger her health. That is a possibility. The place where the tenants are to set up is a pretty good hike from the apartment building. So my mom calls me, tells me her concerns. I make arrangements to go in to work later this Friday so I can help Grandma set up her stuff. After I do that, I call her to let her know that, "hey, I can help you move your stuff out Friday and set up if you want." Thought I was being pretty smart, having my plans arranged and all and it would be a relief to her that someone could help her. Well was I wrong! Here is what she said. "Oh, well, I have already made arrangements with somebody that lives upstairs. I have already paid him to help me move my stuff out there on Friday. But, I would like for you to come by if you get a chance on up in the morning. I might need to take a bathroom break."

Well, there you go.