We have had a delightfully busy week last week. Our granddaughter Danielle came on Monday to spend the week with us. Monday evening we went letterboxing (pictures in the Picture Album). Tuesday evening after I finished with Rotary we left for Yellowstone National Park (pictures in the Picture Album) where we spent Wednesday and a bit of Thursday morning sightseeing before returning to Pocatello.

Thursday evening while Nina was at the Women’s Prison, Danielle and I went to see Swing Vote at the movie theater. We devoured a lot of popcorn and had a good time. The movie was just “OK”.

Friday was a stay pretty much home day and catch up on things needing to get done. A blog post was on my list, but time ran out before that could occur. The Beijing Olympics stunning opening ceremony blew everything else out of the way and consumed our attention. I love the Olympics and have really enjoyed the events we’ve been able to watch.

Saturday was the biannual Gillette Family get together. On odd-numbered years there’s a full-fledged reunion held in Hanna, Utah. On even-numbered years, there’s a get together for a potluck lunch and catch up conversation at a local park. This year we met in Bountiful and about twenty folks were in attendance. I picked up mother and dad at 9 a.m. We left Bountiful about 3:30 p.m. to come back home.

A week ago we had a Big Yard Sale to sell off dad’s tools. After we left Bountiful he insisted that we stop at Harbor Freight in Ogden because “he needed to replace some of the tools that had been sold.” He bought a new pressure washer and some 18v batteries for hand tools. Since then he and mother have had some “discussion” about the tools and I expect the purchases will be returned tomorrow when they come to Pocatello for dad’s eye appointment and shot in the right eye.

Then yesterday I had mistakenly thought I was scheduled to speak in the Arbon Branch. So while Nina went up to the prison, Danielle and I drove out to Arbon for their Sacrament Meeting. Turns out I’m scheduled to speak there next week, so I’ll make the trip then as well. Nina had next week written on her calendar. My Google Calendar had next week on it. But, my ancient Treo (which is now retired) had the 10th scheduled. Good thing it wasn’t the other way around and I showed up next week when I was scheduled for this week!

After I got home from Arbon and we had lunch, I spent a couple of hours getting all the calendars consolidated into one calendar and sync’d with my iPhone. Now I’ll have to find some other way to mess up my schedule!

This morning Nina is going through some of our “treasures” downstairs. I’ve been putting up pictures in the picture album and writing this blog post. There’s a trip up town to get gas so I can mow the lawn on the plan. Who knows what else will come up! This will be a “whatever gets done is done” day for me.

August 1st was mother’s 84th birthday, and what’s a birthday without presents and a birthday cake? My sister-in-law Chris baked a butter-pecan cake with butter-pecan frosting, a delightfully delicious combination. As tired as she was after a very busy day, the cake and the candles brought a nice smile. She’s looking pretty good for eighty-four years old!

My sister Eileen and my favorite brother Perry along with his wife Chris joined Nina and me in singing happy birthday, ending with a wish “and forty more….” She laughed at that and said she wasn’t interested in forty more years!

It wasn’t hard blowing out the candles, though. The overhead fan quickly took care of that duty. It had been a long, hot day outside and the cool air from the swamp cooler was definitely welcome.

Why had it been a long day, you ask?

Friday was the first day of the Big Workshop Yard Sale. We’d been preparing for this sale for a couple of weeks after dad decided that his vision was becoming such that he was ready to sell his workshop full of tools. Mother ran an ad in the local newspaper that my sister-in-law Chris put together. We made up garage sale signs as well as some posters listing the major items on sale. Mother put up the signs earlier this week. On Thursday my favorite brother and his wife Chris (the newspaper ad writer) joined me in Soda Springs as we set up tables and tarps and moved everything we thought was sellable out of the shop and out into the yard to be sold.

The hardest job was actually pricing the items for sale. Fortunately, it’s easier to sell someone else’s stuff. We didn’t have nearly the emotional attachment or the vivid memories of how much was paid for these items. Finally on Friday morning about 9 a.m. the sale was ready to go.

We were immediately mobbed. By 10:30 more than a thousand dollars of tools had been sold. The two-day sale netted more than $2,200. Dad had said he was hoping for about a thousand dollars. The sale far exceeded his expectations! There are only a couple of items left of any worth that didn’t sell.

What didn’t get tossed into the trash on Saturday afternoon will be taken to Pocatello to the auction in a couple of weeks to be sold for whatever the auctioneer can get for them.

I was kind of surprised at some of the items that sold very quickly and some other items that either didn’t sell, or sold quite late. For instance, there was a brand new, still in the box drill that never sold even though it would have sold for half of the new price. On the other hand, some very old Christmas tree lights were among the early items to be sold. It’s definitely true that one man’s trash is another’s treasure.

There were a couple of fellows who came back three times, buying stuff on each visit. Another fellow came and looked over a jointer very carefully and for quite a while. He left without buying it, coming back later to find that it had been sold.

This was definitely a man’s yard sale. A couple of women came, looked quickly, and left calling their husbands on the phone to tell them to get over to the sale.

One interesting part for me was learning from some of the guys what some of the tools were and what they would be used for. It was a couple of long, hot, tiring days, but well worth the time and effort for mother and dad.

Mid-morning on Friday, my cousin Ted Larson (I knew him as Barry, his middle name, as he was growing up) and his son Robert came by. Ted and Robert live in Carlsbad, New Mexico and Ted recently retired as a school teacher. They’ve been making a circuit through Colorado, Utah, and Idaho visiting friends and relatives. The last time I saw them was when we were in Las Cruces, New Mexico for my uncle Delon’s funeral. While he was visiting, we talked about blogs and blogging and he’s ready to have a blog set up for him. So, in the next couple of days, he’ll appear on the blogging scene as well. Ted, it was fun to visit with you and Robert and I’m looking forward to reading your stuff!

So, it’s been a busy and fun week. The sale went well. Mother had a nice birthday. Dad’s shop looks woefully empty (and hopefully will stay that way!!). We’re home on a Saturday evening and both Nina and I are very tired. We’ve both got things to prepare for Church tomorrow. Danielle comes on Monday for a week. We will remain busy for the foreseeable future, it seems.