9 am start time. Also unusual as the start times tend to be 10 am or 11 am. But a 9 am time is good so that the auction doesn't drag on till 5 pm or later. Now as all of you know I am not a morning person, but I still believe 9 am is a good start time. Not that I arrived there at 9 am...
It was after 11 am when I arrived. Usually I am not interested in the odds & ends they sell at an auction's start. Too much of a temptation to buy junk I don't need. As you know I am looking for fencing, gates, posts: stuff they sell in the second half of an auction.
The auction's address was on Columbia Falls Stage Road. I like roads with the name "stage road" in them. It provides a link with the past and reminds people of how people traveled prior to cars and highways. This road apparently was the route between Kalispell and Columbia Falls in the old days.
The auction was conducted by Bobby Roshon, who is one of my favorite auctioneers. Today he had a backup to give him an occasional break. Gideon, an Amish fellow complete with straw hat, Abe Lincoln beard, plain clothes (light green) and pants with suspenders and no belt. Gideon was a good auctioneer also.
Not a whole lot of people where there, which makes sense as - have I mentioned - this was Friday. Out of all the attendees less than 10 were women. I guess this was a male affair. Car parking was in a field cut by a swather - and the cut grass was not baled.
They were still selling stuff in front of the large metal building. After checking out the machinery and large items rows, and got my bidding number, I settled in watch the stuff being sold. Several large trees provided shade and I sat on the ground under a tree where they had cut the grass. It was a sunny and warm (81 F) day.
A number of old tools and such were being sold so this was somewhat of an educational experience for me. They sold two cattle dehorners, which I had never seen before. Before I could get my mind around them they were sold for $10.
The guy sitting near me bid unsuccessfully on a number of traps being sold. After a bit I asked him if he could tell me which trap would be good to catch prairie dog gophers. He didn't know as he trapped beaver and mink. But he knew someone who knew the answer and would introduce me later.
The unsuccessful bidder's name was Mark and he lived a little south of Somers off the highway. He has the look of a Montana cowboy, lean, ruggedly handsome, eyes squint from being out in the sun too much, bushy mustache, cowboy hat and boots. Sorry ladies, he's married as he mentioned his wife would have like to have attended this auction but had to work. Originally Mark came from east of the mountains but from a large family and his brother got the 10,000 acre ranch. Mark ended up here. Not a bad situation.
In addition to traps Mark was interested in a few of the old 1940s vehicles. He was unsuccessful with these items also. As he told me, "A guy can spend over a hundred dollars drinking, or on some other useless thing, but why not pay an extra $10 and buy the old pickup body for $135?" Did I tell you he invited me to stop by his place when I was next in Somers? "The road to my place is just past where the string of old cars are along the highway." Hmmm... a cowboy who likes old cars.
Mark and I had an interesting time chatting away. His neighbor - from California - seemed crazy at the time paying almost $100,000 for the land. The Californian split the land selling part to his sister. Then partially built a large log house. Then recently sold the land for about a million dollars. Crazy! But apparently not the Californian.
Later Mark introduced me to Lynn and we discussed ways to kill gophers. While both Mark and Lynn recommended a .22 gun I wanted other methods. We discussed poisons, smoke bombs, car exhaust, propane, and then Lynn showed me some unsold traps on the trailer. (The auction took a break from the trailer items and now had moved down the rows of machinery and large items).
Lynn showed me a trap that is perfect for gophers. I forgot the trap's name, and the internet is no help as gopher traps listed seem to be for pocket gophers and moles. A prairie dog trap search only turns up leg hold traps, which this is not one of them. This trap a square object that one spreads and sets with a catch.
Two thin metal tines (think of bobbie pins) are in the center of the trap. One lays this over the hole and the metal tines aren't that noticeable and when brushed against triggers the trap instantly killing the prairie dog/gopher.
I can't wait till tomorrow when I can try it. Naturally I will have to use it in a pasture without cattle as they could trigger the trap. I think the trap is too small to hurt their feet but it potentially could snap their nose.
Lynn and Mark did say that if I do use propane and then light it, let them know as they would like to watch.
When the auctioneer returned to the trailer to sell, it was later and over half the people had left. Still I had a competitor bidder against me on the traps. I was able to buy a group of 4 traps for $7.50. I got two of these square traps and two half circle leg traps.
This was another one of those auctions where the items I waited for sold to someone else and I ended up buying stuff I hadn't seen earlier or planned to buy. I was interested in a roll of tall chicken wire but dropped out of the bidding. Four rolls of half height fencing sold for $55 - far more than I was willing to pay. Three metal gates (one round pipe, one flat metal, and one half length flat metal) sold for $55 when I wouldn't bid $60. One can buy a new round pipe gate for $70. The two flat metal gates at this auction looked beat up, and my competitor seemed to really want the gates as he had no hesitation when bidding. Finally the old spike-tooth pasture harrow sold for $85, more than I was willing to bid. I didn't even get in a bid as two other bidders went at it.
I also was slow on cans of nails and a box of old candles. But then my heart wasn't really into buying these items. These items went for $1 each so they were a buy, and I should have bought them, but it was at the very end of the auction and buyer's fatigue had set in. The same was with the scavenge piles around the buildings. A few piles had an item or two I was interested in, but buying the whole pile was intimidating, even if the winning bid was only $5 in most cases.
The old buildings sold anywhere from $5 to $25 (when I paid attention). The large metal building sold for $800 - a bargain even if one had to dismantle the building within the month. A few of the old $5 buildings looked to be ready to topple over. They sold the contents (supposedly lots of tools) of the granary sight unseen for $25 as the auctioneer said the granary was "alive" with mice and he wouldn't open the door to the building preferring to sell the items sight unseen.
In amongst the buildings falling down was a house. It was so obscured by trees that I only knew it was a two story house after I entered it. Inside it felt noticeably cooler. All the furniture had been removed to sell at the auction (and didn't sell for much). I thought it was an old abandoned building the parents may have originally owned. To my shock the property's neighbor said the family lived in this house prior to the sale.
The first floor's ceiling was caving in and plywood sheets were nailed (and were bowed) to hold the ceiling up. I never went upstairs in fear of falling through the floor/ceiling. Plaster was off the wall in large areas. Nothing had been painted in decades. A hole was in a bedroom window. The owner merely put rags in the hole to plug it instead of replacing the window. A chest freezer was in the very small master bedroom. The bathroom... ugh! Even as a guy I thought it was disgusting.
Apparently the family raised 8 kids in this house. Amazing, utterly amazing. The house was so filthy only homeless hobos would consider living in it. It was the most disgusting house I have ever been in.
While waiting to pay I saw the guy who bought the group of boxes of books and the one box of candles. I asked if he wanted the box of candles as they were out of place with the books. He said he would have to check. I saw he spoke with the Amish guy then came back to tell me he would keep them. "Okay. I thought I'd ask seeing as how you were a guy and candles are a girl thing."
"I am recently single so I may give the candles to some girl I meet to impress her."
Umm... good luck buddy. Those candles were simple, white/translucent, were old, and had no smell. None of which women care for in their candles.
Oh yeah, I did buy a few more items earlier at the auction. In addition to the traps I bought a wooden long handled apple picker (a simple item as I once seen an apple picker with a sliding handle that squeezed shut the basket that picked the apple). An old guy was interested and got the auctioneer's helper to put it up for auction earlier than later. The auctioneer tossed in a long pole and a long tree trimming pole. I was also interested in the apple picker for my apple trees (one day I will fall out of my trees picking my apples!) The old guy bid $2. I bid $3. The old guy wouldn't bid more and I bought it.
I also got some shovels, crowbars, pitchforks, hoes, and a water cooler jug which I can use as a carboy to make wine. They sold the stuff in groups and I paid a dollar or two per group.
The hoes remind me: when the group of hoes and pitchforks were put out the Amish auctioneer said "And we got a nice selection of ho's for you." He had no idea what and how he said it. The guy next to me and I snickered as our minds were briefly in the gutter.
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