A Day At The Auction

Well not a whole day. About 5 hours counting driving time. And that was plenty considering it was trying to rain at 39 degrees and that wind was so cold  that by the time I had stood around an hour my hands would have been too stiff to hold a pen to sign a cheque anyway. The raincoat and insulated coveralls helped or I would have never lasted . Slogging through the muddy quagmire that parts of the yard had become helped warm me up for a bit but eventually the cold took away my enthusiasm for what bargains might appear.
The lineup at the food trailer never seemed to get any shorter so by 1:30 I got into it for a late "lunch". Wouldn't you know that was the time the auctioneer was selling one of the few items I actually considered buying way across the muddy yard. Not wanting to give up my place in line after a long wait I could only listen with interest at the bidding. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise because moving machinery out of that yard in these conditions would have been a major undertaking at any price.
Seems old horse pulled machinery is bringing big money if you just put some green and yellow paint on it. A binder for $1200, 2 furrow plow for $900? And that old steel wheeled D tractor looked and ran well but probably sold for ten times what it brought new in 1929.
Roads were "interesting" to say the least. The place was hard to find and I had to go a long way around by the highway rather than risk dead end or impassable short cuts that would have saved a lot of miles had the conditions been dry. Interesting country in the Touchwood Hills.