Auction frustration

It rained overnight Sunday/Monday putting a halt to my work on the tool shed roof.  I was able to cover the roof with tarps to keep the roof dry. 

Sunday I attempted to lay felt on the rest of the north side and over the peak of the roof.  I had to remove three rows of shingles on the south side to make room for the felt. 

While the north side had no felt or another layer of roofing under the layer I removed, I discovered the south side has what appears to be rolls of green asphalt roofing under the three tab shingles.  That may be why, as bad as the three tab shingles are, water never leaked through the roof.  The green roofing looks to be decent so I plan to leave it on the roof and lay the new three tab shingles over it.



Between the approaching darkness, and the roof line which is not level (it peaks at the point between the two parts of the building), the felt was not laying flat.  I covered everything with a tarp and will wait for better weather and light to make the felt lay smooth. Always something with this project... why can't something go easy?


The rain had quit mid Monday morning so I was able to move the irrigation pipes.  I have finished watering the hayfield and the middle and north pastures.  While I have other work to do before Winter I came up with an idea on how to irrigate the NE pasture.  This pasture really needs water as it is the driest part of the ranch.

The way to the NE pasture from my pump is not easy but I found a 90 degree elbow among dad's parts.   I have my large hay bales in the NE pasture so I had to be careful in laying the pipes. I was able to thread one line from the north pasture into the NE pasture and on near the road.  I had to cover some of the hay bales with tarps as I had one sprinkler head I could not keep far enough away.  The tarp appears to be protecting the bales from the sprinkler water.

As dry as the NE pasture is I may have to water it for two days instead of one day.  Then I came up with one other way to reach the rest of the NE pasture.  It involves re-doing the main line, and while a bunch of work, would be the right thing to do.  Then I'll be done irrigating for the year. Finally.


Now on to the reason for the post's title.  I saw that the weekly auction - where I had bought my current bicycle - had a nice looking road bicycle listed.    I finished moving the irrigation pipes at 1:30 pm.  The auction started at 2 pm.  First I had to eat breakfast as I was starving.  The auction starts with the outside and back room and bicycles are usually outside.  I hoped they wouldn't have sold the bicycle by the time I got there.  The auction is well south of Kalispell.  I got there after 2:30 pm.

I discovered the bicycle - along with an old fashioned tandem bicycle and two decent mountain bicycles - were in the main room.  Apparently the auction realized the bicycle I was interested in was a good and expensive bicycle.

The main room auction didn't start until 5 pm.   Argh.  I had errands to run and groceries to get.  By the time I got home it was time to leave to return to the auction.  I got back to the auction right at 5 pm.  I was on time to an auction for once.  And I didn't have to be.

The auction now has live internet bidding during the auction.  So they had a 'catalog' and everything was numbered and sold in order.  Of 271 lots, the bicycle was lot number 254.  *sigh*  Driving time back home was 25 minutes one way.  I decided to stick around and see how fast they sold stuff.  And they had a few items I was interested in what they sold for even if I had no intention of buying them.

Staying was a mistake.  They never got to the bicycle until 8:40 pm.   By now most people had left, including the guy who really looked over the bicycle.  Things are looking good.

The bicycle was a Ridley bicycle.  NewRidley bicycles run from a little under a thousand dollars to over five thousand.  This bicycle appeared to be a racing bicycle.  The frame was very light.  The components looked good and the bicycle was clean.  It had toe clips, heavy tires and a few other items that made it appear the owner was a general rider and not a hard core racer.  It also appears to have sat unused for a while.  The average person probably wouldn't think much of it.

Even though I had a good bicycle, and don't really need a second bicycle, maybe I can get this one at a deal.  The downside was the frame was a size too small.  But it appeared I could adjust the seat height and other stuff to make it work for me. I would have preferred to have test rode the bicycle to make sure it felt right for me.  But if I got a good deal I could take a chance the bicycle would be right for me.

Because the bicycle looked so good I was willing to pay a much as $200, or bid $180 as the auction had a 10% buyers fee added to the bid price.  The bicycle was worth more, but was it right for me?

The later the auction went the more likely the winning bidder for items was an internet buyer.  I was getting worried. While I was annoyed at spending so much time at the auction, I had counted on the few remaining buyers at not being interested in the bicycle.

An internet bidder opened at $140.   Then two other bidders went at it in $10 increments.  One bidder dropped out when the next bid was $210.  Darn.  Over my limit.  I briefly considered bidding $210 but the winning bidder never hesitated with his bids.  It would take more than $210 to win the bidding.

And the winning bidder didn't even look like a serious bicyclist.  Pudgy and middle aged.  Somebody with more money than ability.

So... in all total I spent around 5 1/2 hours for nothing.  While I couldn't have worked on the tool shed roof, I have many other things I could have done that need to get done before Winter arrives.

Bah.