adventures in golden

I decided to hit an estate sale in Golden this morning. Unfortunately, Jeff couldn't go because one of our employees at the dog daycare called in sick, so he had to cover there. I hate waiting in line before estate sales open - not to mention all the elbowing that goes on in the first half hour or so after it opens, so I thought I'd get there about 45 minutes after it opened in hopes that the die hards would be finished by that time.

Old town Golden has narrow streets and apparently no one bothers to plow the side streets or shovel sidewalks. There was no parking close to the house, so I ended up about 1/4 mile away before I found a space that not only was empty, but that I could plow my car into enough to get it far enough out of the lane of traffic. Then, I start walking back to the house, which is downhill and, did I mention the snow pack in the streets? Well it was iced over. So, here's me, one of the klutziest people on the planet, walking downhill on ice. Amazingly, I made it without killing myself.

I finally reached the house and got inside, only to find the pay line went from the far side of the living room, through the whole room, through the foyer, and down a long hall and into the garage. So, I figured I would just take my time shopping and that it would be shorter when I was finally ready.

I found a few pieces of pink Pyrex in the kitchen along with a cute set of salt and pepper shakers in the shape of acorns. Not much else caught my eye there or in the dining room, so I carefully made my way to the garage where I found a cool wire crate. I then found the basement and picked up a couple of things there. Then I heard some other people talking about a sub-basement, so I made my way there. Before today, I didn't even know there were such things as sub-basements in regular houses. The only thing that caught my interest there were some old crates that once held explosives. They weren't marked, so I asked the estate sale guy that was stationed there how much they were.  He told me they were sold. Hmmm...how about marking them sold then?

I finally made my way upstairs where I found a cute apron and, in a bedroom being used as an office, I spotted a cool gooseneck desk lamp. The room was crowded - the lamp was in the far corner and there was a woman standing there looking at books. I started to make my way over there when a man who was looking at other stuff a few feet away told me he was waiting to get to that spot when the woman there vacated. Ugh. So, I stood there for a minute, trying to be patient and finally I just said "I really only want to know how much that gooseneck lamp is." The woman told me and I asked both her and the man if they wanted it. Both said no, so I got it and got out of there.

Making my way back downstairs, I checked the pay line. It was still out to the garage. But by that point, I was sick of the crowd and my stress level was through the roof, so I just got in line. Crowds make me tense and I'm a bit claustrophobic, so I just wanted out of there. Well, 22 minutes later, I got out. That's how long it took me to pay for the stuff I bought.

Back outside, I carefully climbed back up the hill I had come down, this time carrying about 10 pounds of stuff with me. I finally reached my car, stowed my stuff, and drove away. I had no idea where I was, not knowing Golden at all, but fortunately it's a pretty small town, so I eventually found my way back to the highway. Not before a cop pulled up behind me lights blazing though. I was in a roundabout circle at the time, so I just tried to pull to the center, but of course there was a foot of snow there. The cop, rather than going around me, pulled right behind me and laid on his horn (as if the sirens and flashing lights weren't enough already). So, I pulled out, drove up a little ways (still in the circle), and pulled over again. That time he went around me.  WTF??

Needless to say, I've had more adventure today than I had hoped for. I wish I could say I found that one big item at the sale that made it all worth it. But, I guess you win some and you lose some. If I didn't have to watch dogs this afternoon, I'd be really tempted to crack open a beer as soon as the clock strikes noon.

Happy Friday!