Paddy O'Paws Auction: How To Run a Yard Sale

I once sold an electric keyboard at a yard sale for sixty dollars. It's street value was four hundred. I needed the money. I may have sold my blood the next day. It's all a blur.

If I'd put the same keyboard up for bid at the Paddy O'Paws Auction, it would have sold for a thousand. It was that kind of auction. Largess flowed like good coffee, perking the crowd into a jovial frenzy.

The auction raised $46,000.

If you look up antithesis in a well-illustrated dictionary, you'll see a sad gray image of my yard sale, alongside this photo:

You might recognize Angus in the photo from an earlier post:

where I wrote this:

Angus was left for dead in the cold. Despite being wrapped between two heating pads, he didn't register a temperature for over an hour. When his jaws were carefully pried open, we found a chunk of frozen steak, thus inspiring his name. He's skin and bones with matted fur. But he purrs like mad when we treat him, and he clearly has the spirit of his namesake.

He's clearly rallied, and then some. The woman in the picture is CAHS Executive Director Virginia Moore, looking delightfully erudite in her glasses, telling Angus' story. I'm guessing my yard sale would have fared better if she'd put it together.

One of the highlights was the sort of thing you like to see in movies, or very special episodes of TV shows. From the press release:

"During the live auction, the Jackson resident [Lyman Pope, Jr.] stunned the crowd by pledging $5,000 to the shelter and received a standing ovation from the crowd. Executive Director Virginia Moore notes that “this incredibly generous pledge, in turn, encouraged the crowd to pledge support for our Dozer/Dancer Fund, created to assist pets with special medical needs. We were completely blown away by the support and generosity of the entire audience.”

On second thought, I'd like to have Virginia and Mr. Pope run my yard sales.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who spread the word, and turned word to deed.