Yard sale weekend

Our next door neighbours were having a pre-moving yard sale this weekend that we decided to join in.

They left us a note a few days ago telling us about it, but I’d forgotten about it until I looked out the window this morning. At 8AM there were already lots of people gathered around checking out stuff while the neighbours were scrambling to set things out. I guess they weren’t expecting garage salers to be out quite so early. All the traffic explained why the dogs were unusually bark-y this morning.

Got dressed and started going through some of our crap to see what was suitable to set out. Ended up with about 3 card tables full of stuff, mostly books, knick knacks, a few sports things and some of the dog stuff that the dogs had outgrown.

I was quite surprised at just how much stuff we ended up selling. By the end of the yard sale, I think about half the books were sold and most of everything else had been bought. I think we ended up selling about half to two thirds of the stuff we set out in the morning. Everything was priced to move, so we didn’t make a great deal of money and probably not as much as we could have, but did manage to get rid of a lot of stuff we didn’t need (isn’t that the point of a yard sale after all?) Made a bunch of free space on the bookshelves (for more books naturally) and managed to empty out a couple of the boxes of stuff we still hadn’t unpacked from when we moved in to the house.

Day two of the yard sale is tomorrow morning. I don’t think we have too much more stuff we want to get rid of, but I managed to collect a few more items to set out for tomorrow. We’ll see if I can make a few more bucks to help fund some of my house projects.

Zooming house prices

Two years ago the houses on in my area were being sold in the low-mid $200s. Now there are two houses on the market listed for a hair under $300k, and one that just went on the market for a a little over $300k.

Zowie. I never would have thought it would take less than two years for houses around here to break the $300 mark.

Guess it’s time to start thinking about getting some of those upgrades done that we couldn’t afford to do when we bought this place. One of my goals this summer is to finish the hardwood flooring project and fence in the yard. The dogs will like being able to run around in the yard without having to be staked out.

ME LaZerte ’87 reunion news

In the unlikely event that any of my old high school classmates happen to stumble upon this, a date has been set for the 20 year reunion!

We have set a date for our 20 year reunion! Mark your calendars for Saturday, September 22, 2007. Please spread the word. Full details will follow. We would like to collect as many names and contact numbers of our (grad) classmates as possible to streamline our communication with everyone over the next few months.

MEL ’87 reunion site at Classmates.com

Happy Birthday Simba!

Today is Simba‘s 1st birthday!
Simba at 7 weeks
Simba at 10 months
Simba at 1 year
Simba was whelped by Castlewood’s Kiss and Tell and sired by Valleywood Blackthorn Brier. He’s certainly grown up a lot since the tiny little puppy we brought home with us 10 months ago. It still amazes me how different his personality is from Nala’s. Simba’s all goofy happiness and all he wants to know is where his next treat is and when you’re going to throw or kick the ball for him. If you have a treat or a ball, you’ve got his undivided attention, unless he happens to see someone else that he thinks might throw a ball before you do.

Is it time to give her back yet?

Dog park today with one neurotic ball obsessed beagle, one intact male lab (for now) who’s decided he wants to be the boss dog, and one only slightly less ball obsessed girl lab was enough frazzle even my nerves today. It’s usually not too much of a problem for me to keep an eye on Nala and Simba, but dividing my attention three ways today to make sure nobody wasn’t getting into trouble was a little tougher. There was Sam howling at me to throw the ball and howling at everyone else to stay away from her ball and Simba trying to mix it up with the other dogs. Poor little Nala ended up getting neglected and didn’t get the ball thrown like she normally does.
Sam goes back to her owner in two weeks, and Simba goes in to get fixed on the 1st. It’s going to be a very long two weeks…