Friday, Feb 1st

The day was a busy one in Carefree Manor.  It was the annual patio sale, well not really it is the day everyone in the park with stuff to sell puts it out.  There is a big raffle with more than a couple dozen prizes, a silent auction and the clubhouse was a beehive of activity with about 8 vendors, pies, coffee, sloppy joes.  The traffic in here was evidence of the response, there were people coming and going all morning.

  Marg left early to work in the kitchen with the sloppy joe group.  I stayed home to sell the rest of our junk. They had big numbers served on the sloppy joes.  Move over MacDonalds!
  Most of our stuff sold and what was left she gave to Mark, our neighbour who deals in old stuff and just recently gave her a teacup and saucer.  They are unique in that they were post-war made in occupied Japan and the cup is a small one or demi-tasse.  Anyway when I got down to a few articles, I gave it up as it was about 11 or 11:30.  I went over to see how the antique hammer worked out and surprisingly it was still there and Malcolm had marked everything down to $1.  In fairness he tried to get $15 for it, but no offers.  As a result he was taking offers to the dollar price.  I picked a caulking gun, a Craftsman socket ratchet and of course the Stanley hammer, for which I offered $5 for the lot and got them.  I would guesstimate the value around $100, so couldn't pass it up. It would seem there were not any knowledgeable tool buyers in the crowd. 
  After I closed up I went to the hall for lunch where I had a coffee, sloppy joe and piece of pecan pie that Marg had put aside for me.  It was very filling and even though they reduced the price of pie after I ate, I passed.

  They auctioned off the remaining sloppy joe mix and pie slices, then drew the lottery winners.  Marg won twice, but as she has done in previous years, she turned one prize back for another draw.  The one she kept had been donated by her buddy Lynett and had been Bud's.  It was a 1/2" socket handle, a real heavy duty one and is brand new.  Well what a great win, all the guys were envious, the women not so much.  The event was a huge success, especially financially.  After taking a few pictures, I went to play some pool  I played in a game of 2 on 1 which is usually fun and today was no different.
  Earlier in the day, Marg had said she was not cooking tonight.  I love that, I don't have a problem with that and prefer to know up front that we are eating out.  When we were sitting down for a wobbly pop, well I was, Linda and Gary stopped in to do the same, well he did.  Marg told them our plans and Gary told us about Cowboy Up, a bar & restaurant in the area, so we agreed to go together.  What was funny was we ran into another vehicle at the lights and it was 2 couples from the park.  They were going to join 2 other couples at another eatery.  We got the Cowboy Up and just got our drinks and the other 4 couples showed up for a table.  We ended up all sitting together.  The food was great, the service as well and best of all they had music and we got some complimentary beer.  Marg wasn't as tired as I thought from her long day and wanted a couple of turns around the dance floor, so with a bit of beer in my belly I was happy to join her.  A fun evening with friends.  A full day.