Creston auction: day 2

Today the Creston Auction sold farm equipment, RVs, boats, and vehicles. The items were mostly old and not worth much. I'd guess the average price of the cars and pickups was $1000.

The auction today started at noon. For the items sold yesterday people had until 1 pm to take their items, then the grounds would be opened up to other people to scavenge what they wanted.

I arrived a few minutes after noon. I was running late as Jan called in the morning to see if I was ok. I hadn't been by in over a week and they called to check I hadn't fallen out of a tree.

It had rained overnight. (of course! since I have a hole in my garage roof!) Creston is closer to the Swan Mountain Range and as I drove I could see the snow line from overnight. Snow above, rain below. The mountain tops naturally were still covered with snow, but now snow had fallen halfway down the mountain, and the lower parts of the mountains above the snow line were frosted white. Pretty.

For miles and miles along the mountains the snow line was straight. Even with the curving of the mountains the line looked straight. Below the line the mountains were dark from the trees so the difference was noticeable. It looked as if the lower half of the mountains were in shadow. By the time I left the auction hours later the frosted look was gone as the new snow had melted.

Just before 1 pm I went over to the area for the stuff to be scavenged. We had to all wait at one end. Then we found that the sheriff's deputies and auction volunteers got 15 minutes to scavenge all they wanted while we had to stand and watch. One old galoot with a long grandpappy beard sure had the energy to go around and around grabbing everything he could carry, dumping them in his safe area, then circling again. What was so annoying was he took the items I had my eye on. I wanted the odds and ends of chicken wire to use a fences to keep deer from my fruit trees. I thought he missed the netting fence, but no, on a third go around he spied it and took it. Grrrr!!!

I wasn't the only person steamed at this guy. Just before the 15 minutes were up he asked a deputy standing there not taking anything to guard a gunny sack of wheat and not let anyone else take it. The Morgan Horse guy was upset about this and I supported him in complaining about this poor behavior. I hope we made the deputy feel bad about this unfair behavior.

The Morgan Horse Association guy is someone I seen earlier. First at my first auction a week or so ago. He, along with his wife of 25 years, were the couple wearing their black hats and leather dusters. Yesterday he and his wife were wearing the dusters again. Today they wore matching jackets with the Morgan Horse Association logo on them.

A short time later I looked though a pile of leather and wooden furniture and began to take a small wooden ottoman I had found when he said "Hey! hey! I'm standing here. This is mine." When I gave him a look, he said "If that deputy can do it, so can I."

I shot him a part quizzical and part disapproving look. Then he told me he was holding the furniture for an acquaintance of his and if he didn't want it, I could have it. I waited a minute for this guy to show, then moved on as time was wasting. As I left the other guy arrived and said he wanted the furniture.

A short time later as I was in a neighboring row the acquaintance apparently changed his mind when he got a better look at the furniture. Another guy was starting to pick through and putting the cushions to the furniture when I came back to get the ottoman. I found two ottomans and left with them. I noticed later this other guy left the furniture. The two ottomans were the only good pieces. Now I have something to put my feet on as I watch TV. My poor house... nothing matches but it is comfortable to me.

Early on I snagged the only two good tarps laying about and the Morgan Horse guy complimented me on getting them. He probably said that to make up for his holding the furniture. More tarps to cover my garden in the Fall.

I got two more pair of cross-country skis. One pair even had shoes attached, through the shoes are too small for me. I got odds and ends of this and that which could come in use. A couple metal pipes could be used to support a fence, etc.

I tossed the "bounty" in my tarps and drug them to my vehicle.

The auctioneers still hadn't gotten to the items I was interested in.

I met one of the men who hayed my field some years ago. He is still cutting hay, more now than before. However his religious group's main landowner is selling his property and their location is up in the air. This man has 50 head of cattle and it is hard to find property in the valley to rent for pasture. He has one of the ads in the local Trader looking for pasture. He feels he may end up relocating east of the mountains where more land is available. I also learned there is not much hay left this Spring as he sold all he had cut and so have others he knows. He doesn't know why the hay is gone as the winter here wasn't harsh.

I ran into my neighbor Wyatt again. He had his eye on a bale elevator. But like many things at this auction, the winning bid was higher than expected. Wyatt planned to go up to $150; ended up bidding $175, and lost out to a $200 bid.

I had my eye on one of two harrows. The first set sold for $175 and the second set sold for $200. I remember three years ago here a stack of old harrows sold for $25. I think the people who moved into the Valley these past years to have a few acres and horses now decided they wanted harrows to break up the horse manure and level their pastures. What else could explain the huge jump in prices of old harrows?

Some feeders caught my eye. An old banged up metal one sold for $50. Hmmmm.... maybe I should get one to upgrade from the wooden boxes I have that sit on the ground? Later they sold newer plastic feeders. One sold for $130 and the other three sold for $300. Ok... I don't need them that bad.

It cost $10 to get a bidding number. That was in place of the 10% buyers premium they had yesterday. $10?! Forget it as I had doubts I would actually get anything. In the past things sold above my price.

The last thing I was interested in were metal gates. There were 4 of them. One was nice. One is ok. One was bent. The last was a short metal banged up one.

Wyatt said I could use his bidding number. I was surprised the winning bid was $40. Not cheap, but not expensive. The lady took only the one nice one. The bidding opened again and the winning bid was $25. He took all three gates. Huh? What just happened?

I had psyched myself out expecting the gates to sell out of my price range, just as everything else had. I expected to have a chance to get the little green gate for a cheap price as it wasn't "nice" and the horse people would pass it by. Also part of my problem is the first time I bid for something at an auction is difficult for me as I hesitate. Once I buy something I find it easier to bid on other items. My one chance passed me by. *argh!*

I waited to the very end as Wyatt had an interest in a half dozen large turnbuckles. He was the only bidder for them at $10 for all, though another person had tried to bid $15 but was too late as the auctioneer had said sold. Wyatt said he had paid $25 for just one turnbuckle last summer, so he was pleased to get them all for $10.

6 pm. Another 6 hours spent at an auction.