After some things were tagged, I purchased them from them. They were reluctant to take my money, but I would not have felt right absconding with the 'stuff'.
I purchased a used 22 Mirro Pressure canner/cooker and some pocket knives.But I also 'made off' with their insistence a enamel waterbath canner and The Modern Dog Encyclopedia. It was in the book closet where all books were a dollar. This book jumped out at me, and upon opening it, I was greeted with the pages devoted to my beloved English Setters. I also have a book on dog breeding, not that I'll ever do that. But these were well-used books by my uncle, and though I was not close to him, I am glad to have this book. It is a second edition, and not so modern in its 1949 date! Nevertheless, it is nearly 600 pages of insightful (at the time) commentary on dog breeds, history, training, etc. I will enjoy reading this.
One of his observations had to do with the rise of the Pointers in field trial events over English Setters--a once dominant breed in those trials. I've never been to a field trial, and I will likely never go to one. Davis' verdict as to why the Setters have been eclipsed by the Pointers is not so much that the Setters had declined (due to favorable pedigree selection over performance) but that the Pointers had improved so much.
Who's to know? I think that we get attached to dog breeds due to the our experience with individual dogs. English Setters, though we are non-gaming in every sense of the word but can give needful dogs (of which we have two rescues) that experience through free roam of our land to 'hunt'. Daisy is the hunter. Ella is merely a biscuit hunting dog.
Further, the American Bulldog is near and dear to us due to our having a mix (Macy), and now a purebred, Angel Marie, and I suspect it will be a lifelong attachment to assist needful members of that breed who need to be re-homed.
We've had other dogs in other breeds, but at this stage in our lives, I think that we are committed to these two breeds.
I digress.
I believe the sale was successful. Many items were sold to buyers who received a good deal and loaded up and took away stuff that needed to go. There was one obnoxious couple who wanted to buy the 'flag pole'. Well, the flag pole was essentially a light pole with a flag convention. It was wired to a pole base and would require a crane to take it down. It took 6 men and a pulley contraption to set it. I'm unclear how these folks considered that they were equipped in any way to do so.
I met quite a few nice people, and my cousins had a chance to visit with many folks that they either knew or were related to. And the balance of the unknown faces were pleasant and respectful. What seemed, then, as an unenviable task for my cousins (and to be sure it was a task) was a chance for all of us to connect to not only each other but to the people, both known and unknown, who began their day camped 45 minutes before the event and all of those who found there way to the sale.
I suppose if one were to measure the return of money taken in to the effort involved in hosting such a sale the measure of that return would be pitiful. However, to consider the value of
- reminiscing over pieces of this and that (1),
- watching people finding needful things at good to incredible bargains (or simply engaging in a national past-time),and
- and talking with people who had a genuine interest in the life that was lived here (my uncle was a sporting dog enthusiast)
Such is the process of Transference of the Utility of Things from one person to another.
(1) My husband and I are still laughing (and will remember until I die or my memory does) at my cousin D's saying the following
I can see Daddy looking down and saying, "Did you see that! They are selling that for a dollar--a *ucking dollar!
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