Each year, from early Spring to late Fall, Bob and Marie Paton hold a yard sale outside their home on Route 113 in Chelsea. The following is an edited interview with Marie.

I’ve heard people call it Bob’s never-ending yard sale. One guy said, "It's not a yard sale, it's a flea market!" I said, "I guess it is."

It was a small yard sale at first. But people kept bringing stuff, and wanting stuff, or sometimes we’d get a good deal on stuff and we’d buy it. What Bob does a lot of times is people move and they don’t want things left lying around and they ask him to take it. We do, usually. People seem to know we’re always looking for things. Word gets around.

I've never heard people complain that it looks junky, not to my face, but they probably do. It kind of bothers me the way things look, but you’ve got to make a little money, so what the heck. Whatever it takes to get by.

There's a little bit of everything. Each year it just keeps growing, seems like, until it starts taking over the house. We’ve got books, dishes, silverware, a bunch of barrels, about 400 ribbons for horse shows, all brand new, old shovels, some insulation, several lawn mowers but they need fixing, all kind of mirrors that you put on vehicles, an old house jack, it works, too, some custom-made brake pads, skis, barn doors, an old trampoline, what else? People are so wasteful in this country. It’s amazing what people will throw out.

We have some stuff in good condition and some stuff that other people might consider junk. But you'd be surprised what people want. We had an old camper trailer that we thought would never sell. The snow had smashed the back of the roof down some but about two or three weeks ago a lady came and wanted it for her cats. So we moved it up there and now she's got it.

One old guy came down and wanted the double baby carriage we had. I’m thinking, "Hmm, okay." Then he said, "I'm not getting it for babies, I'm getting it to haul leaves. That'll be easier than the wheel barrow." It seems people can find a use for anything. You’d be surprised.

I like helping other folks if they can find something useful. I like meeting people, sure thing. We usually have something here that people need. Everybody’s looking for something.