Sock Monkeys and Series Books

I am not currently attending very many estate sales, since I only go if I see something in the preview pictures that looks quite promising or if the sales are in my immediate area.  Three estate sales were in my immediate area today, and I knew that one of them had a sock monkey.  My mother collects sock monkeys.

I first went to the sale with the sock monkey.  I entered the house and scouted out the room with the dolls and picked up the sock monkey.  Next, I leisurely went back through all the rooms to see if I could find anything else.  Unexpectedly, the sale also had the first book in the Dale of the Mounted series.  The Dale of the Mounted book was in the living room in a small stack of books that the estate sale company considered special items.  Normally the books that they showcase like that are generic old books of little interest to me. 

The Dale of the Mounted series is obscure, and I acquired three of them around six weeks ago.  I had tried reading one, but it was a bit dry with many technical details.  Nevertheless, what I read was still interesting, but I really wanted to read the first book instead to get a better idea of the series, so I quit reading.

I was thrilled to find the first book.  I will have to read it sometime soon to find out whether it is worth pursuing the rest of the series.  Below are the three books that I purchased six weeks ago.

The four books shown in this post are the only ones published with this cover art, which I really like.  The rest of the series is published with different art that I don't like as much, so I'm less motivated to find them. 

After this first sale, I went to the two other sales in my immediate area.  At the third, I found another sock monkey.

At this point, I decided that I was having a lucky day.  Later after some errands, I was driving near the thrift store, which I seldom check due to a lack of interesting merchandise.  With the way things were going, I figured that the store probably had a sock monkey and some series books.  So I decided to go in, even though it was likely going to be a waste of time.  I went in and found a sock monkey in with the dolls.  This one is a recent mass-produced sock monkey, but it was only $0.99. 

I went to the book section to discover two bins full of books.  I don't search the bins unless I see something that looks promising.  I shifted some books and found a Happy Hollisters book.  Ah.  Now I had to search through both bins just in case.  I found some books that I didn't end up purchasing, but the next photo shows the ones that I did get.

I ended up with seven Happy Hollisters, one Nancy Drew, two Dana Girls, and one Canby Hall.  The price stickers were in the color of this week's special where items are 50% off.  Otherwise, I wouldn't have purchased the Happy Hollisters books.  Even at half off, I may not break even since Happy Hollisters books sell very low, but at least I rescued them from a possible bad end in a dumpster.

Finally, I also purchased this Hardy Boys book today.  Notice the back cover error where the white print is all missing.

Altogether, it was a good day.