This week’s post definitely suffered from a bit of “wait too long to blog and forget what even happened” syndrome. I just couldn’t get it together to actually write it all up for a while. I suspect this lack of motivation started after realizing this would be our seventh time blogging the annual Phinney neighborhood sale. That means we’ve been going to this sale for way longer than that. Do the people in this neighborhood even have anything left to sell at this point? Well, yes. Though that doesn’t mean it was necessarily good …

Oh, it goes on and on. I am sort of amazed at how many pictures we took of random items that we didn’t want to purchase.

At least the price was right for these seeds!

We laughed at the “old Apple technology” section of one sale. One item was labeled “Does not turn on but is still awesome.”

And this label cracked us up. Flapdoodles!

We did find our way to this memorable garage, where there’s a small but pretty great selection of vintage items each year.

Meghan dug through the clothes and other stuff, ending up with a small pile. Karl and I fanned out to the other sales nearby. One of them was a woman who brings out the same items every year, priced way too high to actually sell. I recognized a few things from previous years. Karl got a few things at another sale, and before we knew it the trunk was looking pretty good. We had to circle back to Meghan’s to switch cars (don’t even ask) so went ahead and took a halfway-through-the-day trunk shot.

On our way to get more cash we saw some very janky-looking spraypainted signs for a sale right on the main drag. As we got closer we discovered the sale was in a “bird control” business.

The woman running the sale said they weren’t going out of business, just closing up their office and clearing stuff out.

I couldn’t believe no one had snagged this amazingly freaky stuffed bird! Not that I wanted to own it …

Heading back over to Phinney, we hit a sale outside of a wacky toy/art shop. They had a pretty amazing bobblehead selection.

They also had some panties. Just sitting there, flapping in the breeze.

Just as we were about to leave I spotted this ginormous Rat Fink.

It’s about two feet tall, and has a coin slot and removable bottom so you can use it as a piggy bank. I sent a photo of my husband to see if he wanted it … and ended up bringing it home.

At another sale I became fascinated by this vintage blowdryer (but restrained myself from purchasing it).

It was here that Meghan purchased five or six vintage Home Ec textbooks, some of which are pretty amazing. Perhaps you’ll see them in a future Book Report post.

After a few unremarkable sales we came upon this one, where they had a lovely accordion!

It was $300. While admiring it, the woman told us a joke. “What do you call a gentleman? A man who knows how to play the accordion, but doesn’t.”

She also had The Mothership, which she described as “an ashtray for your chainsmoking friends who also like Star Trek.”

And on top of all that, she had a talking Pee Wee doll! Well … more like a squeaking Pee Wee doll.

Next stop: a sale where if you were looking for decorative booze bottles, you were in luck.

Glen Campbell was looking good.

Then Meghan spotted the “adult section.” Books, bottles, nudie mags … they kind of had it all.

We were getting close to winding down when we saw this crazy baby sign. What?!

There was a whole strip of sales we hadn’t hit yet. One of them had a couple of these skulls–labeled “leather mask templates,” whatever that means.

Meghan poked around while Karl and I hung out on the corner, where our attention drifted over to this horrifying pile of free boxes.

This was someone’s accumulation of all manner of sprays, oils, and cleaning products, ranging from about the ’60s to the ’80s. We dubbed it the “Toxic Corner,” marveling that someone having the nerve to put these out on the street for free instead of taking them to the hazardous waste disposal. Eventually curiosity took over and I started to gingerly poke around in the boxes. And what did I find? Captain Cat!

Amazing … and probably deadly.

Our second trunk shot is not as bountiful as the first, but not too bad!