Sad, sad, sad ... (Oh, and attention Mr. Niner)

[Thumper]

I went to an estate sale this morning and when I walked in the house, I was in awe. It was a smallish, 3-br house in a very average neighborhood ... nothing at all special. When I walked in, I immediately realized whomever lived here was a hoarder. No junk mind you ... EVERYTHING was brand new and still in unopened boxes! This place looked like a warehouse ... boxes stacked from floor to ceiling throughout the whole house and very narrow walkways between the boxes to get from room to room. I started looking at labels and realized 99.9% of the stuff was either from HSN (Home Shopping Network) or QVC. Everything else was stuff you see on those 3am infomercials. To make matters worse, a high percentage of the stuff was duplicates. I think there were 3-4 of those big ol' fancy Oreck vacuum cleaners! I mean EVERYTHING you could ever imagine, from kitchen utensils, to full sets of pots & pans, sets of china, glasses ... name it, it was there ... all in unopened boxes.

There was every electrical gadget known to man ... crock pots, electric grills, meat slicers, meat grinders, electric this and thats EVERYWHERE. Steamers, dehydrators, deep fryers, ice cream makers ... crap, if it's manufactured, it was there someplace.

Any type of cleaning product from soaps, shampoos, "miracle" spot/stain removers, to steam carpet cleaners ... again, in their original boxes. Shoes? There must have been 100 pairs of shoes still in their boxes, never worn. Tons of clothes ... I assume bought on the tv.

I went into the 2-car garage and there was no room to walk. I saw 3 huge boxes that said something like "fireplace kits" or sumpin' like that. I noticed some HUGE boxes containing 2-3 different treadmills and all those goofy exercise thingies you see on those infomercials to "melt the pounds off". Now get this ... I saw a pile of huge boxes stacked together and it was a weight bench and every weight, barbell, dumbell ... whatever ... to make a complete gym. There were 2 side by side refrigerators and 2 large upright freezers .. one each being used in the kitchen, and one each brand new in their shipping crates.

I just walked around in awe as I'd never seen anything like that in my life. I asked my bud running the sale, who had lived there and was told "some little old lady in her 80's"! Obviously she was addicted to shopping via late night tv. I assume there was no family ... it was obvious nothing had been removed from the house.

It appeared her husband was a hunter/fisherman, but there was no sign of anything recently purchased along those lines and I heard he'd passed away many years ago. Guys were scarfing up the old fishing equipment as fast as they could grab it. I spotted a big trunk (like a military foot locker) and was trying to make my way over to it to take a peek inside, but some butt-head beat me to it. By time I got there, he'd opened it and it was FULL of ammo! If there's ever been a gun made, there was ammo in there to fit it! I stood there helpless as the guy started opening boxes ... after about 12-15 FULL boxes, he quit checking and closed the lid. That's when I saw the price on top of the box. It said, "whole box $50.00"!!! I asked the guy if he was going to buy it and he said, "I'd be an idiot not to!" ARRRRGGGGHHHH! He couldn't budge the box and they had to bring a hand truck in to move it! Hunting clothes, boots, rattlin' horns, calls, snake boots, decoys ... name it, it was there. I have to admit, I'm still trying to get rid of a lot of that stuff myself and wasn't very interested. To be honest, I was kind of "out of it" ... basically walking around like a zombie in some sort of trance. I was overwhelmed with all the STUFF!

Now to the gun safe. It had the combination taped on the door, so I checked it and everything worked as designed. I have no clue what happened to all the guns, but assume "someone" got those years ago. They had it priced at $400. Quite a few dudes checked it out, but I stopped back by at 2:30 and it was still there. I can be first in line tomorrow if anybody wants it ... tomorrow it'll be $200 ... if it doesn't sell early, he'll negotiate around noon. Problem is, I have no clue how I'd move it and I'd have to have it out of there by tomorrow afternoon. I forgot to get the dang model number off it, so I still don't know if it can be laid down. Bill, if ya' GOT's ta' have it, I'll find a way ... ummm, maybe ... I think. But then again, I have no clue if that's even a good price. I "think" it is. (?)

http://pictures.estatesales.net/603498/12634887/1.jpg

http://pictures.estatesales.net/603498/12634889/1.jpg

[Big Muddy]

That IS sad, Thump....and, I can really relate to that....my Mom evolved into a hoarder, too, in the later stages of her struggle with Alzheimer's.

For some odd reason she bought everything and hid everything in multiples of eight.

She was constantly loosing her car keys....after she passed away, we found all of those lost sets of car keys, where she had hid all eight sets of them, in her crockpot....taking her car away from her was one of the hardest things I ever had to do.

Tupperware was her thing to buy....and, she had eight of every type bowl and container that Tupperware ever made.

At the estate sale, it filled up nearly one entire room.

God bless her....and, I miss her everyday.

[Niner]

Man oh man....that is pretty sad Thump. If that safe was at a sale around here I'd prolly just call "2 Men & A Truck" to move it. The logistics of moving it from down thar would be CRAZY.

ONE of them ol' boys that was there today will be back with the right stuff to wheel that joker outta there tomorrow.

AND .... I'll be flying back to the promised land myownfineself!!! :thumbsup

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[Thumper]

Yep, I think it would be a PITA for sure. I could always hire Two Men and a Truck to pick it up and deliver it to my house, then have them unload it onto my trailer (it's only about 6-7 miles from me). Sooner or later, we'll be making a trip to Hotlanta ... but then you'd have to have someone get it off the trailer and into your house. By time everyone got paid to move that sucker, you prolly could'a bought a new one! Bummer. Ya' never know ... everyone else might also think it's too much trouble and it'll still be there at the end of the day tomorrow. I bought a VERY nice stainless gas grill like that at one of the sales. It was one of those monsters with side burners, etc. etc. as well as the big over-sized gas bottle (full btw) and a cover plus tools. It looked like it had been used once or twice. They wanted $300 for it Friday. It was still there Saturday for $150. Lynn and I stopped by there late Saturday (it was 2 blocks from our house) and they were just getting ready to shut the sale down. I offered $50 and the lady told me since we're such good/regular customers, she'd take it ... then told me to back in the driveway so they could load it in my truck!

Maybe if I go back late tomorrow, they'll GIVE it to me if I just promise to move it! ;)