Going to sales on Labor Day weekend — is it ever great? Judging from the last three years I would have to say no. But going to yard sales is like playing slots: you never know when your very next try is gonna get you that big win. So off we went … with skies looking suspiciously greyer every minute.

We made a few stops close to home, then decided to check out an estate sale that had possibilities. We got there about 9:10 and there were about ten people waiting outside. I thought there must’ve been a bunch of people waiting earlier if they couldn’t let everyone in at once, but then it turned out that they weren’t opening up until 10! With so many other sales nearby I failed to see the logic of waiting that long in the cold for this one (which sounded okay, but not amazing) so we went to an estate sale nearby which was already up and running. I was a little baffled by the way they chose to hang their sign.

At least it was a bright color, but it didn’t look any better from the front …

Another interesting set-up choice: placing (or leaving?) this one item outside with a “for sale” sign (but no price).

This sale was pretty much a dud, so we headed off to get coffee, but found a surprise estate sale along the way. It was the kind of sale that was wacky enough that you kept thinking there had to be SOMETHING great there. I mean, with a toilet paper cozy like this, they had to be insane, right?

They had also managed to hold on to this box of Calgon for oh … seventy years or so.

Meghan found a few patterns and someone mentioned there had been tons of old patterns back at the estate sale with the line … so we put off coffee that much longer and headed back up there. It was only about 10:15 so we figured we might as well check it out. The patterns turned out to be a bust (boring and not that old) but they did have some fascinating items here and there.

I left empty-handed and perused the junk in the garage while waiting for Karl and Meghan to come out.

Soon enough, Meghan emerged. She’d picked up a couple things, including this mindblowing 1972 “Hang In There, Baby” poster.

Karl was fascinated by this “Gypsy Music” LP he’d dug out of a pile … mainly based on the song titles.

By this time it was fully raining, and after finally getting coffee we forged on ahead. Our next stop was listed as “vintage yard sale” which is always enticing, even though you know it probably also means “overpriced.” With this one I didn’t ever find out if it was overpriced or not, because everything was just sitting out getting wet. Who is going to want to buy 8-track tapes that have been soaking in the rain?

I couldn’t understand why they weren’t making an effort to keep things dry. They did have a couple of covered areas and it seemed like they would have moved things under them … especially books and things that really shouldn’t get wet. Although with some items, wet or dry wouldn’t really impact their desirability.

Next, we tried to hit a yard sale whose address was at a taco truck (!), but when we drove by there was no sale in sight. (Perhaps they came to their senses and waited for a drier day.) At that point we came to our senses and decided to just give up and get breakfast instead. So the haul was small … but at least there were a few nice (or at least strange) finds.