County surplus auction

Saturday morning the county held a surplus auction. Unclaimed bicycles, etc. The auction started at 10 am and for once I was on time. Imagine that! The auctioneer was in the middle of his "this is how the auction works" spiel when I arrived.

There weren't too large of a number of bidders. Most were middle aged men. The bidders were 90% male, a few women, and some kids for people interested in bicycles.

There was nothing in the way of bicycles that I wanted. The half dozen 10-speed road bicycles were old heavy steel framed cheap models or junk. Most bicycles were mountain bicycles with those mainly being small frames or kids bicycles. Some of those bicycles were in very nice condition, but nothing I could use or want.

While there was no reserve or minimum bid, and on some of the other items bidding started at $2.50, the auctioneer would not lower the starting bid below $5 for bicycles. If he didn't get at least a $5 bid, he wouldn't sell the bicycle. He commented the bicycles then would either go to Goodwill or the dump.

I was half interested in wooden handled hammers but the bid was higher than what I wanted to pay.

The only other item I was interested were some of the rolls of chain link fence. There weren't too many items to be sold before the fence so I waited.

The county also auctioned a dozen rifles and handguns. Half the buyers were women. Not sure why.

The auction was held in a large building on the county fairgrounds. It was not heated. As I stood around my feet got cold even though I was wearing boots. I had to move around to stay warm. It didn't help that the large doors on each end were opened half way through the auction. I suppose someone was worried about carbon monoxide. The county was auctioning a half dozen old police cars and a few other county pickups and trucks. A few people would occasionally start a vehicle for a brief time.

The fencing was more than a dozen rolls of chain link fence rolled up. The rolls were various sizes. The winning bid was $50 and he took three rolls. The next go-round one guy bid $10 and then I started. I dropped out and would not bid $37.50. He took the other three large rolls. Instead of choicing more rolls, the auctioneer sold all the rest at one price. I didn't bid. I think they rolls went for $50. A good deal even if the fencing did not include any pipe for support.

I had thought of buying some of the chain link fence to wrap my planned rebuilt corral. The fence would eliminate any holes in the corral. Not neccessary - just an idea. That was why I wasn't gung-ho in buying the fencing. I have enough fencing material now to keep me busy through next year so multiple rolls of chain link fence would just more stuff sitting around until I get to it.

Once the fencing was sold I left and didn't not stay for the vehicle auction. Two hours spent and I didn't get anything.