Zounds! It’s so hot that even the trees seem to want shade, and it’s so humid that you can swim from Partition to Main. Saturday, July 23rd proved to be one of hottest, most unbearable Saturdays in a very long time – and a big chunk of the town spent it outside, during the Great Saugerties Town-Wide Yard sale of 2011.

On a side street, I meet John. He’s selling the less valuable parts of his sports memorabilia collection. The spread is impressive, and at least a little bit entertaining. A foot-long Mike Piazza bobblehead, from his Mets days. More Gary Carter action figures than I knew existed. A pre-cracked out Ricky Williams bobblehead. John’s table is set up in a place with no shade, splayed on the unforgiving, rebounding heat of an asphalt drive way. I feel like the soles of my shoes could melt. He grabs a trinket, a miniature faux-copper plaque with Andy Pettitte’s face, and cradles it in his hand with a piece of cloth. “A guy who came earlier picked this up and burned himself on it.”