12 out of 12 tomato plants have germinated. My zucchini and cucumbers too. I'm still waiting on 8 pepper plants. That little bit of spring never fails to make me glad.
We were going to go to an auction today. Here's a link for people who like to look through. The fellow was quite a hunter and there were a lot of mounts. That mystifies me. Why on earth would someone want to hang a trophy that didn't belong to them? But Tim said that one guy snapped up like 75 of them for $100 a pop. There was a lot of art, something that would have appealed greatly to Northsider Dave. We were looking forward to going. We are still getting the feel for this stuff.
Last night about bedtime, I ended up with quite a gastro issue that kept me up a large portion of the night. I was not feeling terrific this morning either, and felt it was prudent to keep close to the conveniences of home, so off Tim went by himself.
It was packed and he said that there were no bargains to be had. Furniture selling for thousands. Still, he went and watched and bought a toolbox. (Why am I not surprised?) He brought it home and began to sort through it to see what sort of goodies he had. One of the things was a packet of pamphlets and papers. Turned out it was for a John Deere riding lawnmower. It even had (I'm guessing) a spare key taped to the inside of the owner's manual.
Tim said, "Huh. A lady bought a John Deere rider there." (He was dumbfounded that she had paid over $4000 for it, which is about the price of a new one.) I said, "Boy, she'd probably like to have that stuff." When Tim mentioned that she seemed to be a friend of the auctioneer, we got the idea to call and leave our contact information at the auction house. We can drop the paperwork off the next time we go through. They keep records of bidder information, and can contact the woman who bought the tractor.
Another thing that was in this packet was warranty information that provided a name and address for the first owner. Because I am a curious soul who is glad that she was not born a cat, I looked up the name. I quickly discovered that he had passed away back in 2022. It provided his wife's name, so I looked that up and discovered that she had passed last fall.
Little coincidences. They lived about an hour from here, but they had both worked at a factory that Tim's mother had worked at years back. It was interesting to think that they might have known of each other. Tim's cousin is the minister of a Methodist church in that small city. This couple was Methodist. Another link.
We nosied through the details and coincidences of their lives. It was a second marriage for both of them. She had been widowed in November of 1972, and she had re-married in September of 1976. But that poor woman! Her son died in December of 1977 at the age of 23. Two years after that, her daughter died at age 21.
Within 6 years, she'd been widowed, remarried, and then lost both of her children. How does a person get past something like that?
I had to look at the auction site. There's a whole houseful of stuff there!
ReplyDeleteI would have followed up the warranty information, too. There are so many coincidences in life. Fascinating!
Hope you're feeling better now.
Estate sales are just that. The family takes the things that they are interested in keeping, and an auction house sells everything else, lock, stock and barrel. I'm always looking for the rest of the story.
DeleteSuch interesting detail Debby of the auction and what you found in the tool box. Each thing had a 'presence', a past history to be remembered.
ReplyDeleteTim loves old tools. He has his grandfather's handtools, and he makes a point of using those tools when he is building something. Not for the whole project, of course. There are other modern tools that are much more efficient. But he likes them to have a role.
DeleteThat is why I am doing genealogy Debby - so (theoretically) the focus of my research into such "How does a person get past something like that?" has a predetermined outcome.
ReplyDeleteYes. It was a silly question, because I saw her joyful face. It is interesting. Your antecedents obviously got past it, whatever it was because there you are...
DeleteI've lost both of my sons, too. One was only an infant, but the other was a grown man in his forties. People would ask me how I got through it, but you just go one day at a time. It's been long enough ago that I can think of them both without too much pain. It's still there, though.
ReplyDeleteOh, DJan. I can imagine that it is! I cannot imagine a greater loss than that. I imagine that people looked at this woman and said, "You are so brave." I imagine you've had the same thing too. But...when you have no choice but to deal with it, well...you deal with it. Because you must. Condolences to you.
DeleteA lot of questions came out of one toolbox. And a few answers, too. I hope your stomach is better.
ReplyDeleteIt got a little stirred up after supper, but settled down again save for the odd, random rumblings that raise the specter of things that blessedly have stopped coming to pass.
DeleteYou truly are a sleuth to have looked up all that info about the original owners of the tractor! It's interesting indeed! Sometimes I go down a similar rabbit hole in ancestry...the children of aunts and uncles way back when, and where they scattered to. Glad you're feeling better.
ReplyDeleteUgh! Dratted PLAGUE!!!! Much better today, which is darned lucky because I have to help my husband get his danged tractor unstuck. EVERY. STINKING. YEAR!!!!!
DeleteWith no family, it sounds like no one went through to remove personal items. My husband's brother in law got out of farming he had an auction of his farm equipment and some household since they were downsizing. The farm equipment went for more than new. It was crazy. No understanding people.
ReplyDeleteThe husband had been married before as well. His two daughters died around the same time that he did. He has one son remaining who lives in our town actually, not far from here.
DeleteI would have liked those metal signs and some of the paintings. We went to a carboot sale today and it was a poor turn out and we didn't buy anything. We stopped at a garden centre and I bought myself a rhubarb plant. It will soon be rhubarb plants when I divide it. Thanks for the auction pics and mentioning me Debby.
ReplyDeleteOooh. You remind me. I've got rhubarb I need to get in the ground!
DeleteLike you, I don't see why anyone unrelated would want someone else's hunting trophies*. Maybe the person who bought them has some sort of hunting lodge or facility that they want decked out to look outdoorsy.
ReplyDelete*wait a minute.... you have Bob the buffalo, right? 😉
We do have Bob the buffalo. He however, is not a trophy, Kelly. He is a piece of Americana. He also stands as a clear reminder of the year that I finally surprised my husband on his birthday.
DeleteBuying a lot of trophies sounds like he is going to use them as decorations in a bar.
ReplyDeleteYou have to remember the whole saying..."Curiosity killed the cat...Satisfaction brought it back"!!
Ah...that makes things a bit more optimistic, doesn't it? Well. Until the 9th life is spent, anyways.
DeleteWow, it was fun to look through all of the stuff from the auction. I have some of that furniture, I think. They kept a lovely home and had many pretty things to sell. I wonder how much they made on that auction!?!
ReplyDeleteThings were going high. There was bidding on a taxidermy work (aka 'mount'). The winning bid was $100. They asked him how many he wanted. He took them all, at $100 each. Tim said there had to be 75, minimum. The leather couch went for over $2000. The riding lawnmower for $4000. A rocking chair for $250. When you look at all the things from that sale, I would consider it an serious understatement to say $30,000.
Delete@Miss Merry - I don’t know if this applies to your case, but I just read that farm communities support each other by paying above market value when buying each other’s equipment, for example to give a bereaved and struggling family a boost when the primary farmer dies and the family doesn’t have anyone who can take over running the operation. (Heartland by Sarah Smarsh)
ReplyDeleteIn other cases, maybe the quality of older equipment is better than the quality of newer?
It is nice that people do that! Gives you hope in the human race. Thank you for that story, Sarah!
DeleteI dropped in on a cattle auction once but couldn't understand a blessed thing they were saying. It was different than the one normal auction that I have been, which was so long ago that it's just about a faint blur in my memory. I had a rough night too, so I commiserate with you.
ReplyDeleteThis auctioneer is not that kind of auctioneer. But
Deletemy biggest fear was that he would be.
Good title for this post. We don't know how some people suffer and like you wonder how they cope.
ReplyDeleteSo many suffering right now in this world with no choice but to cope.
DeleteSounds like a new giant Bass Pro shop type of store bought all of the mounts. Keep your tummy bug away! Linda in Kansas
ReplyDelete...or someone who supplies to stores like that. Gz's point about the bars is a good one too.
DeleteI hate it when I have tummy problems. I hope you're feeling much, much better. As for that poor woman... I can't imagine it. That is so so sad.
ReplyDeleteNot a fan of them either! At least it went away quickly.
DeleteI have pretty much stopped going to auctions because it seems like the pricing is out of control. I feel as it many don't research what something is worth before bidding and it is often more than the new price. About the only thing I can count on getting cheap anymore are books. Nobody reads analog reading devices anymore it seems.
ReplyDeleteWe are kind of discovering that the auctions that attract a great deal of attention (and people) are where the prices go nuts. Tim told about a rocking chair that went for $250. (I bought a rocking chair at an auction for five bucks. That was a poorly attended auction). Tim said that some indulgent grandparents had given their grandaughter free rein to bidding. He couldn't believe they just sat there smiling while she just kept bidding higher and higher.
DeleteIt's the smaller auctions that I like, and you can get some nice deals there.
Tim's cousin may well remember them, given that family history. Those poor people! Good for Tim for trying to pass along the tractor key.
ReplyDeleteWe usually see them at the family reunion. It will be a topic brought up.
Delete