I think we have an addiction.
We just cleaned out our shed and garage in preparation for a decluttering yard sale next weekend. I could not believe the collection of raw and finished walking sticks we own. These are the ones that were inside the garage and do not include the ones already in the house or in my studio. Mahogany, juniper, pine, fir, yew. We either have an addiction or the very fine starts of an at-home business making walking sticks. We just need to market them.
But not in the yard sale. These aren’t going into the yard sale.
The idea was to clear out the garage so we could park the VW Van inside of it.
Uh – not much room to spare.
Backed in, at least one could open the doors. But even cleaned out, the garage is too small for the van *and* the rest of the stuff we still have to put back in to it.
I did find this. I have been searching for this for 12 years. My friend, Mike, gave it to me when we moved away from Baker City in 1980. It’s one half of a pair of old intercoms from a local (defunct) business in Baker City. When we moved into this house, a lot of things got stored in the garage and there they have stayed, hidden. I have actively searched for this item several times over the years, but the garage clutter kept it hidden from me!
It is in the house now. I can keep in touch with Mike & Janie once again. 🙂
When did we accumulate all of this stuff? Float tube, swimming pool, a 1980’s Mother Earth Magazine food dehydrater, the solid oak high chair that we thought our kids would want as an heirloom… Extra studded tires that don’t fit any vehicle we own.
The white cabinet has been hauled around since we lived on Birch Street in Baker City – 35 years! We have three sets of tire chains that don’t fit any vehicle we currently own. Extra canning supplies, some bike parts, fishing gear, lots of old camp gear…
A temporary dog kennel (still in the box), router and table (router not pictured), garden junk…
A big dog kennel that is still in the box (we got panels for the same size kennel for free after we purchased this).
A hydraulic paper cutter that Don “just had to have” at some school clearance sale.
The cooler is full of rocks. I won’t tell you how many buckets and bags and boxes of rocks we found. The chair is one of a pair we purchased at an auction in Haines, Oregon, shortly after we were married. We had no other furniture.
The second chair we bought, a smoker, the parakeet cage. Outdoor toys for grandchildren who moved away and got big.
Pails of paint left by the person who sold the house to us in 2002. Really? We need these *why*? Four were dried up inside, these five are still liquid.
Cushions to lawn chairs that broke and have been replaced.
A box of toys I bought at yard sales for my grandkids before they moved away. Tickle Me Elmoâ„¢ is in there somewhere, too. We won’t part with the Legosâ„¢, but Elmo is finally going away…
Toddle chairs and eating trays. The kids will be grown tall and lanky before we see them again and we have no need for these items! They were all second-hand, anyway.
I’ll sell some of my overstock in the china department, too. 
I started collecting this when I was 21, but I never collected an entire set and I inherited a nice set, plus my husband bought me a nice set – so it goes.
So much stuff and it won’t seem like we de-cluttered at all!
We’re pricing everything by what *we* would pay at a yard sale and posting a sign that will read: “Don’t like our price? Make us an offer we can’t refuse!”
Everything must go. We won’t do this again for another ten years.
By then, these should all be carved, oiled, and ready to market.
Jaci Dawn 