Auction bound

Where to begin, kinda hard when I don't even know where I left off last. Things are usually busy around here but it seems the past 4 weeks have been exponentially busy!

I'll work backwards. Yesterday we loaded up and went to an auction outside of town. I don't even recall the reason Jeremiah wanted to go, the auction bill always holds something that catches our eye. The weather was getting a little hot there for a while, well over 90's but we got some rain this week and it has cooled down to the 70's and 80's. Yesterday was a nice day to be outside. It never fails that we come home from auctions with things we need, things we don't need and things we never new we needed and sometimes you don't think you want or need something until the price is too good to pass up =)!

Anyone who knows us knows we LOVE auctions. Not only do we make money selling the stuff we buy, it gets us away from work for a day, its a good family day. The kids hate them but we try to bring stuff along to keep them occupied and we always meet great folks at these things and it becomes a gathering place of sorts for "regulars". 

Yesterday's booty consisted of a brand new breaker box and all new breakers, something Jeremiah paid $90 for but saved us $100 and we need one for both the shop and new milk barn and would have spent well over $200 buying it from Lowes.Then some heavy duty ratchet straps which we can never have too many of. We can always use good sturdy plastic tubs with lids around here for storage and it so happened a $4 box came filled with fabric. Who could pass up that deal? Another tub had a new Kitchaide hand-mixer and there is nothing wrong with mine, I've been using it since Jeremiah and I got married but for $2 you may as well upgrade and it came with a programmable new in the package thermostat, something we've been needing.

I bought an old desk, solid oak, for $10. It needs a little cleaning up but will make a really nice telephone stand and kid work area for the kitchen. They had a lot of nice pieces there, some went for well over $600.

Then came the implements. The owners had over 28 farm gates. Where on earth a person puts so many gates is beyond me or why they didn't go with the property but whatever, those things are pricey at the store and besides being a little faded, they were all in good condition and a lot heavier weight than what we can currently buy at the farm store. We walked away with 4 for $100, $25 a pieces which saved us $100 or more.

The owners also used high tensile wire for their fencing. In fact, early in the day I was talking to the owner asking when they put theirs in and how they liked it and they've been using it 20 years, it all still looks brand new and they LOVE it. Naturally, I had to ask as we put the same thing in 3 springs ago and we LOVE ours so I am glad to hear of someone else who loves theirs just as much. It just so happens that just like us, that had a few extra rolls that they stored in the barn they never used and the rolls that generally cost $100 a piece, we got for $6 (where we'll use it I don't know because each roll is 4,000 feet and we have 4 rolls left from out project as we plan/planned to do a little cross fencing but for $6, you just can't turn that down. Which brings me to my next point. We always try to buy something that we get at a good price and re-sell to pay for all or much of what we buy at these auctions. Cattle panel and hog panels, wood lathes, vehicles, garden tools, etc. We spend the day buying what we need, a few hours selling what we don't and slow but sure we build this place for free, basically.

We often wonder why people have estate and property auctions as sometime the things just go for so cheaply it hardly seems like the owners make anything. But sometimes it's just easier to have it all go at one time, they don't have to worry about it and everything is cleared off their farm in one day, literally! Sometime there have been deaths and the family members need to make it easy.

I will admit, yesterday was an expensive day, but money well spent on things we need/may need and it still saves us in the long run. We had just got to the auction when I noticed from afar a woodstove on the porch that had been pulled out of the house. Looking closer I nearly couldn't contain myself. It was a soapstone stove, something I had wanted from the beginning as they are #1, gorgeous, but #2 exponentially better at holding their heat and getting up at 4 in the morning to reload a stove that Jeremiah only loaded 6 hours prior gets old by the end of winter. This was was in beautiful shape. I never did think I'd walk out of that auction with it. You never can tell what kind of people are there and what they'll be bidding on. I always sort of hate to see a couple of familiar ladies there as they always drive the price of furniture and collectibles up because they have a consignment shop and will pay far more than I am willing to spend on any # of things but such is life.

We ended up getting the stove $350 for it but I knew it was worth well over $2,000. Turns out, the model sells new for $3500 and getting what I've wanted all along for a fraction was well worth the cost. Not to mention we'll sell "Old Thomas" for that and basically just swap out Thomas for what I've wanted, but could ill afford, all along. We paid a little more for Thomas 3 years ago but he's saved us far more than that in heating bills and we always try to pass the savings we get at auctions on to others.

Out with the machinery and farm stuff they had an upright air compressor. Jeremiah ended up buying that and then the chipper shredder. One of those things where it would be nice to have since we have all this crappy brush but not something we intended to go buy! But much like that rototiller we bought in El Paso -the one we ended up buying because it was cheaper than renting, used it, proceeded to rent it out to a few friends and then sold for more than we paid!- it was far too good a deal to pass up! It's got an electric start and gasoline motor and I don't know why a chipper shredder would have an on board air compressor but there it is. We spent $250 on a dumpster this past spring to clear out our front woods - of which we barely made a dent in- wishing all along we had a chipper shredder and here we are, 6 months later, $175 poorer but the owners of one that will save us thousands to keep the woods cleared. Can you guess what we'll be doing today? Playing with our new toy! To say that I am excited really is true! Whether we sell it or hold on to it is anyone's guess, trees will always break and there will always be brush around here. It's resale value is about $600-700.





So that was about the end of our auction buying. We generally don't bring a trailer with us as parking is usually at a premium and we don't go too far from home for thee things (within a 15 mile radius). We drove back home and picked up a few strong helping hands to help with the wood stove and the trailer yesterday afternoon. We had been at the auction about an hour when I got a call from our neighbor saying that their horse had died the night before and wanted to know if we knew anyone who had an excavator. As it turns out, a gal down the road who we know rented one for the weekend to dig some new water lines and wanted to know if we wanted to share the rental. We had planned to bring it here on Sunday to dig out a few stumps but it appeared that we may be digging a grave instead. As it turns out, we were able to get it all dug and the horse buried with the tractor. Never thought I'd be spending the evening burying a horse, but then, I don't imagine most do! With all of that yesterday though, I think we'll just play around with the chipper shredder today and call it a an early weekend!

So ends our auction escapade. Auctions are always the place we go to finds the things we need, the things we don't and the thing we didn't know we needed =). Happy Sunday.

Complaining...about the fair.

I take the kids every year, usually alone in some respect. I put on a happy face and try not to let my disdain for it rub on the kids but I seriously HATE it. It's so hot and zaps all my energy. I took the kids out of school a little early, generally we go in the morning and are home by 2 or so and next year we're going back to that way. I feel visiting the fair is an educational experience and therefore taking them out of school is just as educational as school would be. That aside however, for as much as we did yesterday, 99% of it we do at home every single day. There was a sow in the birthing barn who had just given birth to about 9 piglets. This is thrilling for me because baby pigs are incredibly cute but what's not thrilling is that the kids don't find it thrilling...at all! Why? Because we just watched our sow give birth to 7 baby piglets 3 weeks ago and after about the 4th one was born, legos beckoned. Oh sure, they like to go out and watch them run and jump around and try to pick them up of which their high pitched sequels have the kids nearly throwing them back onto the ground before mama sow gets irritated and wants to know why we are "hurting" her brood.We just picked up new baby chicks and the ones in the incubator are about fully "cooked" and will be hatching soon and aside from the new baby bulls, which we see nearly every day we drive to town, the quilts and crafts, it's just not very exciting for them. Rachel did get a kick out of looking for the types of chickens she will be raising in the poultry barn. She wanted some more barred rocks and buff orpingtons and was quite taken aback at how big they get.

The rides are, of course, the highlights for the kids. By the time we got to the rides it had cooled down a bit at 6 PM but the people, the mass exodus INTO the fair by that time was hell on earth. The loud music and the commotion, it was just too much! I grit my teeth and bared it though but swore never again at that late an hour would I go. I told Jeremiah the next time it would be like "old times" where we are at the fair by 9 AM, go through all the exhibits and see the animals, get on the rides when they open at 11 AM and be out of there by 11:04, ha! Either that or he can take them and I will stay home because I am the "no fun" Mom anyway who puts her foot down and does not allow them to ride certain rides anyway.

We were trying to make the demolition derby at 7:30 but Jeremiah had to work late and we didn't end up meeting and I decided for my sanity, I needed to call it quits and we went home. I don't understand how people in this town can go (and WANT to go) to the fair every.single.day for the 9-10 days it goes on. Now, if I could sit and watch demonstrations like sheep sheering or one of the small concert venues, fine. Especially if it's in the air conditioned buildings but to walk around being asked over and over if I am interested in wood stoves, combines (pshttt yeah, do I look like I need a $100K combine? NO!), any of the # of farming implements, wooden signs or anything else they are trying to sell.

It felt like a week long trip in an afternoon and I am happy to be back to doing chores this morning of which laundry and canning some tomato sauce, green chile sauce & grape jelly will be the highlight...oh, and feeding baby piggies grapes!