I was pretty surprised Saturday morning when I looked out the window at 7:05 and saw rain puddles in my driveway! All week the forecast had called for rainy-stormy-cloudy-cool weather until about midnight Friday when the entire system was supposed to blow east into Kansas City and Iowa, leaving us with sunshine and warm temperatures on Saturday.

It didn’t happen though, did it?

I think just about every other citywide garage sale we’ve hosted has been on a collision course with a storm front. Never mind what the weatherman has forecast, a blustery front with rain, wind, and cold temperatures seems to derail the good weather every time.

So here is a topic for Peabody Gazette-Bulletin readers. Everyone can have some input here. Let me know what you think about this suggestion.

A garage sale participant suggested to me that we host the event in conjunction with the fall cleanup rather than the spring cleanup. Her reasoning was two-fold. First, she thought so many communities hold that event in the spring that there is little chance of finding a weekend without competition from dozens of other towns. Since Peabody hosts both a spring and fall cleanup week, a citywide garage sale could precede either.

She also thought that weekend events in the fall stand a better chance of having good weather than events during the spring months.

Hmmm…that is not a bad idea.

I have no idea if other communities host a fall citywide garage sale or not. Do you have an opinion about that? Hoch Publishing sponsors the citywide sale the weekend before cleanup week giving people a chance to make a few bucks on their used merchandise, before hauling it to the curb for cleanup week. It stands to reason that having the sale before the spring or fall cleanup week would make little difference.

My personal opinion is that fall weather is generally cooperative until about the third weekend in October when really crummy weather can move in with a vengeance.

We would probably not switch until the fall of 2014, since there is little likelihood of residents wanting to hold another citywide garage sale this coming fall.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone who participated! Just think of the amount of stuff you kept out of the landfill. I bought some great paperback books by several of my favorite authors, some wonderful stocking stuffers for The Daughters (shhh…don’t tell them), some holiday containers in case I ever decide to bake again, and a wonderful handmade wooden tray made by a Peabody craftsman I remember fondly.

I had a great time except for the drizzle and chilly temperatures. However, with reader input maybe we can eliminate that problem for the next citywide garage sale.

— SUSAN MARSHALL