Auction on Three Mile

No tree stump burning today. Instead I attended two auctions. It is either feast or famine with auctions. After no nearby auctions in recent weeks two good auctions close by today.

The first one was NE of where I live. I rode my bicycle over to check it out. This auctioneer is trying to start up an annual consignment auction and flea market. Less than a half dozen sellers at the flea market. The auction appeared to be mainly old stuff people brought from their back pasture. Old, old tractors and other farm equipment. Nothing of interest to me. The odds-and-ends stuff from the flatbed trailer they were auctioning didn't interest me either. The only thing of interest were a few large chain link fence gates. They were in another row and some time away so I rode home then drove to the second auction. This second auction was being conducted by Bobby Roshon who I like as an auctioneer.

The second auction was on Three Mile Drive west of town. The few acres of the old ranch was almost surrounded by new housing developments. Across the road were earth moving equipment parked on this Saturday. When the wind gusted from that direction the dust blew in the air. I hadn't been in this part of the valley for some time now and was surprised by all the new houses.

Near the end of the auction I spoke with the owner, who looked to be in his late 40s. He was selling out because of all the new subdivisions and all the traffic that drives on the narrow two-lane Three Mile Drive by his house. He, one of the auctioneer's helpers, and I all wondered who are all these new people and what jobs are they doing that they can afford to buy all these new houses. The auctioneer's helper works as an insulation installer and said because of the fast building the quality of the houses often isn't good, and he has worked on fixing mistakes and mold in houses only a few years old.

Both auctions had a lower than average turnout. Both crowds would have made an ok crowd for one auction. I don't know why more people weren't at the auctions.

Although I arrived an hour and a half after the auction started they were still selling stuff out of a building/workshop. There were some items I was interested in so I stayed. When the sun was out I was fine but when a large cloud blocked the sun and the wind blew I wish I had brought my light coat.

As the owner was selling his place they also auctioned off all the buildings except the house. The buildings had to be removed by July. Lots of old small in-need-of-paint buildings. The auction ad indicated the buildings were from the 1920s. They even auctioned off an outhouse. I didn't pay too much attention to what the buildings sold for but it wasn't much. At most around $100 or so.

The exception was the old rough lumber barn with hand hewn logs. It looked old. When I asked the owner later how old the farm was he didn't know. He said he was the third owner. The barn was 25' by 46' with a hay loft and side wings, so it wasn't a large barn. It sold for $1850. Old barn lumber is in demand around here. Still it will be quite a job to take that barn apart.

Lots of rooster items were auctioned off: rooster cookie jars, clocks, figurines, signs, plaques, etc. A former girlfriend collects roosters. If she was here I could have bought her lots of nice rooster items cheap.

The owner must have trapped animals as many different kinds of traps were auctioned off.

I seen an old metal device that one puts around a calf's neck so it won't crawl through a barb wire fence. If the calf tries, the metal device will bend at a hinge putting pressure on the calf's neck discouraging the calf from trying any further. It only went for a few dollars but I didn't bid on it.

There was a partial roll of a new woven wire fence but I didn't bid as two bidders bid it higher than I was willing to pay. I dropped out of bidding on a barrel of handles. I seen a good ax handle in the barrel that I wanted but wasn't willing to pay $6 for the barrel. $6 was probably a good deal if I wanted more than the one handle, but the other guy seem to definitely want the barrel of handles. I also didn't get a pail, nor a box, of long nails as other bidders wanted them and I was so-so in my desire as I didn't have an immediate need for the nails. 15 or more old steel fence posts sold for $17, more than I was willing to pay.

I out bid another guy for two partial rolls of field fence. I out bid a lady on 24 new and treated 6'6" wooden fence posts. As the auctioneer started the bidding the lady commented only one post was sharpened on the end so she wasn't willing to pay much. I got the posts for $6. That was a great deal. Sharpened ends or not they were good posts. I'll just dig the hole a little deeper when setting the posts instead of digging a partial hole then driving the posts in the rest of the way.

I also got a lot of odds and ends including rolls of chicken wire and a bottle capper. I think I can use this to seal any more bottles of wine that I make. It is not as nice as Rod's bottle capper, but looks like it will work.

All total I spent $10 for my loot. A pretty good deal. I noticed they had wood corral/fence panels by the barn. When I asked the owner at the end if the auctioneer sold them he said yes. Still, I didn't think I missed their selling. After loading my fence posts and wire I told the owner if there was a mistake and the wood panels weren't sold, to contact me. He told me he spoke with the auctioneer after I first asked him about them and the auctioneer forgot to sell them. I didn't know what to offer for them and when the owner asked $20 for them all I accepted.

Now at the auction, if no one else wanted them I could have gotten the panels for less. If someone else bid near the $20 I would have dropped out as I didn't really need the wood corral/fence. But I thought I could use some of them as pasture gates. I had been thinking of building wooden gates to replace some of the barb wire gates.

Getting them all home took some effort as they are heavy and it took several trips. The 12 or so panels are 5' by 8'. I also got four 3' by 8' panels and a pile of miscellaneous poles and lumber with the deal.

After getting the stuff home I am back-and-forth as to whether I should have bought the wood panels. They are great for a corral but I am mainly done with my corral, and what I haven't rebuilt, I have plans for a chain link fence. The panels are made of thick boards and in additional to being a barrier to the animals, they are a barrier to see through. I notice that my cattle like to take their siestas in the corral area near the chain link fence so they can see the view.

If I use the panels as gates in my barb wire pasture fences they certainly will stand out. I'll sleep on it and maybe feel better about buying them in the morning and think of a good use for them. Part of my regret came when I had to find a place to store them for now. Sometimes I seem to accumulate stuff faster than I can use it, or store it in an organized manner.