Auction fun...
'twas a very busy day today, starting around 5:45am. I got up, showered, and a little before 7am I plodded into the kitchen where I spent the next hour and some preparing the meatloaf dish that my family seems to enjoy so much. Plopped it into the slow-cooker around 8am, and went out to take care of the horses. Horses fed and watered, I headed off to the auction at 8:36am. The auction started promptly at 10am, and it was already underway when I arrived at 10:15am. Fortunately, it had just started, so I didn't really miss out on anything. Indeed, the items I was actually after wouldn't be auction off for a few hours yet.
What I was after was a large mower that gets pulled behind the tractor. These are not small mowers, or even comparable to a riding-mower. Even the smallest of these machines (which is what I was after) cuts a 5' wide swath, and is driven by the PTO coming out of the back of the tractor. The other item I was after was a Massey-Ferguson 124 bay-baler (and stooker.) I wasn't really sure what the heck a Stooker was, but I had it explained to me by the owner's son at the auction. Apparently, a Stooker is a device that automatically piles the small-square bales into small pyramids; Three on the bottom, two in the middle, and one on top. It places them on edge as well, so the bottom row is actually laying on its corner edges, rather than flat. A special attachment for a tractor's Front-End-Loader (FEL) can then be used to pick up the piles all at once, and move them wherever you need them.
Anyway, as I said, that stuff would be sold later. They started off with a bunch of small toolks and knick-knacks, most of which were of no interest to me. What did catch my interest was a bucket full of welding rods. These were Lincoln Electric rods, 6011 and 6013 in a variety of thicknesses (1/8" and 13/32" comes to mind.) With the kidling in a welding course through 4H (and doing very well at it!) and due to a recent posting about welding by ponyguy , I thought it would be worth investing in these rods. $26 bought about $50 worth of rods, at least according to the tags on bottoms of the boxes, so I thought it was a good deal.
A pile of other items including tail-pipe extensions, 3 bags of cement, and a small wheeled table was purchased for $2. This was followed by an antique brazing torch, a naptha table lamp, and numerous other smallish items. A friend of mine has one of these naptha lamps, though his is completely restored and beautiful. I got a second lamp and a bag full of spare parts and the silks for a couple of dollars a little later. All in all, I spent less than $20 on the knick-knack stuff. I'm hoping to get the lamps cleaned up, even if they never actually get used again, as I've always loved oil/gas lamps and candles. Trixstir does too, so that works well for me.
Several other items that I was somewhat interested in quickly went past what I could justify paying, so I let them go. One item I did get was an older arc-welder to go with those rods. I don't know for sure (yet) but I suspect it's an AC machine, rather than the preferable AC/DC type, but I'll confirm that later when I have a closer look at its insides. For the small sum I paid, I'm not really too worried if it's AC only. From there, the auctioneers moved to more of the house-hold items, where a great many antique items were snapped up by eager bargain hunters. There was a lot of neat stuff there, and much of it reminded me of the things I had seen in my Grandmother's house. I almost picked up an old Westinghouse Wringer-Washer (I wanted it for horse-laundry) but this Little Old Lady was also bidding on it. The machine was in excellent condition, but I let her have it once it went over $30. A propane-fired stove (full sized kitchen stove, and oven) went for a mere $5!! I wasn't paying attention at the time, or I would have bid on it. I had looked at it earlier, but assumed it was a Natural Gas stove so I didn't bother with it after that. I want a natural gas stove, but I want a modern one, not an old one (even though it was in great condition, manuals and everything!) A propane fired stove though, could have had many uses. Ah well...
Two items I was very interested in, but which I couldn't justify buying, was a complete two-cow automatic milking system, and an automatic chicken-plucker (or Plicken Chucker as the auctioneer called it!) Both of these items wound up selling for over $100, and I just couldn't justify the expense at the time. If we actually had milk cows, and a sufficient number of chickens to justify a plucking machine, I would have been willing to bid higher, but...
Eventually, the auction moved to the items I was interested in. Along the way, I picked up a slip-tank (those large red fuel-tanks you see in the backs of pick-up trucks) for a whopping $2! I hemmed and hawed about the baler, and almost let it go a couple of times, but in the end I did wind up getting it. Two items I did let go (and later regeretted) were a John-Deere sickle mower, and the accompanying rake. I talked with the fellow who bought them, and we might be able to arrange something later. I picked up a large dual-tank fuel tank and stand, which will make it a lot easier to refuel the tractor and other machinery around here. It also lets me buy fuel in bulk, and at lower prices now rather than having to buy it in the summer when it will be absurdly expensive again. The tank looks like a single drum, but actually has two separate tanks inside. One will be for regular unleaded fuel, and the other for "leaded" fuel for the old machines (ie: fuel with a lead substitute added.) The only diesel-powered thing on the farm at the moment in the truck, so I don't really have need for a diesel tank at this time.
The big mower was the next item on my list, and I was successful in my bidding on that as well! In all, I was able to purchase all of this stuff (including fees and taxes) for less than what the mower alone would have cost had I bought it new! The baler is probably going to need some tweaking and adjusting, but the farmer was the orignal owner, and he still had all the manuals for it! That makes life a lot easier, as without them I'd be at a loss as to how to actually work the thing. Now my biggest concern is how to get it all home. Most of the items can be strapped down to the flat-deck trailer, or put in the back of the truck, but the baler is too big for either of those options. Apparently, the most common way to move a baler is to hitch it to your truck and drive slow.
If all goes well, my truck should be back on the road by Monday afternoon, so I'll probably pick up my new toys on Tuesday. It will likely take at least two trips; One for the baler, and one for everything else. Now I just need to find someone strong enough to help load that stuff onto the truck and trailer! :)
Got home again just after 7pm. Fed the horses, unloaded the smaller items from the Explorer, and finished making supper. It was late by the time Trixstir and the kidling got home, so everyone just had a small nibble of the meatloaf and called it a night. I stayed up to clean up the kitchen a bit, and update the journal.