Saturday morning, Good Bro got up before Gawd and started carrying tables from the detached garage up to the driveway. I drug my sore body out of bed about 7, having hit the snooze button about 3 times, showered, and went out side and started puttin' stuff on the tables Bro had set up.
Oh, I forgot. Friday afternoon, Cousin Charley had gotten a dryer and two disassembled recliners out of the main garage and set them in the driveway. He used the dolly and wouldn't let me help atall. Good Bro and his Sweet Wife, Sally, also were very kind and caring about not lettin' me do any heavy lifting. I have been blessed with a GREAT fam, haven't I?
While I was showering, the bro who lives in town, let's call him TownBro, shall we? showed up. In addition to the stuff he's been storing in Mom's garage for the last 3 years, he brought a table, 4 chairs and a cedar chest his wife, who was no where to be seen, wanted to get rid of. Good Bro helped him unload and then went back to work getting' ready for the sale that was supposed to start at 9. TownBro went inside to talk to Mom.
Sally started fixin' breakfast for all of us, while Good Bro and I were tryin' to get everything set up and organized and TownBro was sittin' on his butt. As soon as breakfast is ready, TownBro grabs a plate and starts eatin'. Meanwhile the first customers arrive, so I greet them and stay out with them to answer questions. There's a slow trickle of customers, so finally, TownBro comes out to relieve me. I fix a plate, but then TownBro goes off to start edging the yard, way out away from the house, before I'm finished. Good Bro had already let it be known that he didn't want to handle money, so I grab the rest of my breakfast and go out to greet the next wave of customers while Sally is cleanin' up after breakfast.
Good Bro spends most of the day addin' to the trash pile. Sally and I trade off organizing and reorganizing the merchandise and greetin' customers. I get the City Steak started after she's through in the kitchen. When I go in to tend to it, she stays outside to greet and watch over stuff. When I'm outside she takes a break. When we're both outside we visit.
Other than to sell his wife's table, TownBro doesn't visit or help with the sale at all. He is too busy edging grass that is 1/2” - 1” too high. Do I sound bitter? GOOD! Cause I am.
Long about 3, Good Bro, Sally and I Really got to work on the trash pile. It grew and grew and grew. We just kept pitchin' stuff onto it. It was TownBro's idea, actually. He had said, back when we were first planning this sale, that anything that didn't sell, he'd pitch on his trailer and take to the dump. Well, he wasn't there, so we created a pile for him to transfer onto his trailer and take to the dump. It's prolly gonna take him 2 or 3 trips, though, as big as the pile is.
Funny thing about the Killeen dump. He complained that you have to dump it yourself. They don't do it for you. Good Bro and I didn't look at each other. I can't speak for him, but I know I was afraid of bustin' out in great big brays of laughter. My town's dump is self service, too. When Good Bro and I were talkin' about it later, and when the Dearly Beloved and I were talkin' about it when I got home, NONE of us have ever heard of a “Full Service Dump”. How 'bout y'all, ever heard of a dump that unloads your stuff for you?
Mom got a little upset when she saw the size of the trash pile. I think maybe it was the swing set, the rusty swing set that no child has used in at least 9 years. But every child of her four children had a blast on that swing set, and I guess it's hard to see it on the trash pile after all those years of faithful service. Honestly, it had become an eyesore. It was spoiling the view off the back porch. The house sits in the middle of three beautifully wooded acres. Having an old, rusty, disused, tilting swing set was just a shame. It looks so much better with it gone. And as Good Bro told her, “Mom, we got rid of what you think is $200 worth of stuff so that you can park a $10,000 car inside a $15,000 garage. Isn't that worth the piece of mind of not having to walk in the rain and cold on a slick sidewalk or an icy sidewalk, too?” Maybe she'll come around.
At least we did accomplish our mission of cleaning out both garages. You could now park a VW or a Mini Cooper in the main garage next to her minivan. And the detached garage will now hold a car, too. Good Bro also blew both garages free of leaves, cobwebs and dust. They just look phenomenally better! I wish I'd thought to take pictures.
FHB, you better have a GOOD excuse for not showin' up. There was a lot of history you would have grooved on in the detached garage. Antique tools and whatnot. And I think the gardening chemicals may still be out there.
And if anybody need Mason/Kerr jars for preserves, I've got a ton. Drop me an email, the addy is on my other blog.
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5 comments:
Sounds to me like they are GoodBro and Not-So-GoodBro. Sorry you couldn't chap his hide a little more, but you do need for him to haul things off the the self-service dump. Hasn't he ever heard of driving in reverse at about 30 mph and slamming on the brakes? That Newton's 1st Law works wonders. ;-)
NO, I've never heard of a Full Service dump. Makes me wonder about that one.
Glad you got your mission accomplished.
Isn't it nice to be back home with DB?
Um, maybe a full-service dump would be one of those fancy $20,000 Japanese toilets that gently sprays your rear with warm water and then blow-dries the area?
But full-service garbage dump? Bitch, please! It ain't no such thing.
Well, I know it was physically exhausting for you and things like that are always stressful for the homeowner, but it's definitely cathartic. She'll come to love parking in the garage, always having an ice-free car - jeez - that was worth the whole effort right there!
You didn't tell what the haul was, either did y'all make a lot of money, I hope? Good for her, and good on you and Mr. & Mrs. Goodbro for being such a help to her. Left to their own devices, an older person can tend to be swallowed up by growing seas of clutter in a misbegot attempt to hang on to memories.
La P, where do you come up with these things? I don't want to know (but still...).
You make a really good point about clutter; I have never thought of it in that way. What starts out as nostalgia becomes a memory prompter. I think of my mother, my mother in-law and my aunt-in-law practically every day. As the Mrs. says, "Geez, I miss those old broads." Mee, too, dut it doesn't mean I wouldn't like to get that dining table and chairs out of my garage! Things from my grandmother-in-law, however, will be kept forever. The pedal sewing machine, china closet and victrola will probably be with us forever.
You know, it's not a good reason, but it was compelling at the time. Sorry.
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