The Mullet Migration

This past weekend, the Tiki Gal and Carol had their semi-annual garage sale. I have a split personality when it comes to garage sales. I like having garage sales because people will pay to take away all the junk that I would have thrown away otherwise. I hate going to garage sales, however, for the same reason. The majority of the stuff for sale is garbage and, as a general rule, I like to avoid paying for garbage. Just like having to pay for air, dirt, and rocks, it is wrong on many levels.

There is another perk that comes with having a garage sale and that is you get to do some serious people watching - and we had a fine crop of folks to watch. The first day of the garage sale was Friday and the ad Carol placed in the local newspaper said we would open at eight. I think only the mentally deranged would shop for junk at that time of day but to each his own. Anyway, I went out for a run at 7 and when I returned at 7:30, there were cars parked in front of my house. Apparently these folks were so eager to haul away our junk, they showed up early. Chuckling, I went inside to let the Tiki Gal know she had customers waiting. I had barely made it inside when the doorbell rang. One of the waiting ladies was concerned that those "auction guys" would show up and buy all the good stuff if we didn't open soon. Since there was quite a crowd waiting, we decided to open the garage doors and get started. We had a bed and a table and some other stuff in the garage that we had planned to drag out on the driveway but the masses of early bird shoppers poured into the garage while the door was still going up and we couldn't drag anything out without knocking them over. Before I had stopped sweating from my run, we had already sold the bed and an old computer.

Since I had to work on Friday, I missed the people watching after that initial rush. I made up for it on Saturday, however, and Dale was able to join us. Of course, my talent for attracting interesting people was in full effect as well. First, a lady told us that her daughters paid for all of her family's food. I'm not sure why she thought we needed to know this but she volunteered it out of the blue. Next, another lady said she was sure that all the good stuff was gone since she was just getting started at around 11. The Tiki Gal told her sleep was more important than garage sales anyway. The lady then said "Especially when you have to take Tylenol PM to get any." I am a fairly quiet guy and this is why. If you feel the need to talk a lot, at some point you will have to start saying things that should be left unsaid just because you've already talked about everything else.

We also saw a male and female version of the famed mullet haircut. I usually have to travel to either my hometown or the Tiki Gal's to see a mullet. I guess they are migrating north for the summer. Another interesting sight was a man wearing overalls and a bluetooth headset. Alone, neither of these items would be remarkable but the combination was slightly frightening. (Note: I like to call people who wear the bluetooth headset even when they are not currently using it "The Borg" from Star Trek fame. The Tiki Gal pretends she thinks this is funny almost every time. She's a pretty good sport.)

Saturday evening, Dale and Carol came over to the Tiki Hut for drinks. We decided to skip the cards and instead sat on the patio and chatted. Carol and the Tiki Gal started with a Tiki Gal's Tropical Punch and then had Squeezy Squeezys. Dale and I tried some of the beers purchased on the beer run of the previous weekend.

Sapporo Reserve

Color: Golden

Skunkiness: 0 skunks. Carol said it smelled like feet.

Taste: Hoppy and a little bitter. The Tiki Gal said it tasted like Budweiser. I will disclose that she hasn't had Budweiser in at least twenty years, however, so this comparison may not be accurate.

Comments: Sapporo Reserve was unremarkable. Dale thinks that regular Sapporo may be better. We'll have to try it to find out.

Carol Rating: Carol wouldn't try this beer due to the previously mentioned smell of feet.

Rating: 3.25 pints out of 5.

Kostritzer Schwarzbier (Black Beer) Black Lager

Color: Black

Skunkiness: 0 skunks. Smelled like coffee.

Taste: A little hoppy at first. More malt and yeast flavors were prevalent as it warmed.

Comments: Wikipedia says that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe sustained himself on black beer from Kostritzer during a period of illness. I think I'll try this the next time I get sick.

Carol Rating: 5 on a scale of 1 or 5. The Tiki Gal also liked this beer. So much, in fact, that I was afraid I wasn't going to get any of it.

Rating: 4 pints.

Dale and I also had an old favorite.

Paulaner Salvator

Comments: Salvator is perfect for a calm, early summer night under the stars. It is also perfect for a frigid, deep winter night under a bridge but that is beside the point.