Do I hear $250?!?!?

A while back, I worked at the Air Force Research Lab with a guy named Paul who came to be a good friend of mine.  He had a strong background in what I will call "farm stuff," as I forget exactly if his background is agronomy, agriculture, animal husbandry, or whatever.  Anyway, during one of our lunch conversations, he mentioned that if I were to ever get a farm, that I should try to find auctions.  He described instances where he was able to purchase farm equipment or just plane, old everyday stuff for pennies on the dollar.  It was fun to talk about, but I never really could see myself going to an auction.  I'm too much of a tightwad to put up enough money to win anything and I don't buy things just to have things.  I have to see either value or utility before I'll make a purchase.  However, with the possibility of having to either buy or build the many critter houses I will need in the coming months/years (vermicompost bin, bee hives, chicken coop, and some sort of shelter for goats), those conversations have been resonating through my mind this past week.  So, I did what any smart-thinking yuppie would do when he finds himself with more determination than resources...I googled it.  I simply typed in "auctions Evansville."  I found two auction houses at first glance in Evansville.  I have not tried anything in IL or KY, which are the nearest neighboring states to Evansville.  I was absolutely amazed.  There is all kinds of stuff up for auction.  Houses, farm equipment, antiques, estates, guns, etc.  There's one auction that is going on here in the next few weeks featuring the sale of around 250 guns.  I also saw an auction where toilet paper was included in the given lot.  Really?  Anyway, I told my wife that I could see this getting out of hand real quick - like a gambling addict with a credit card at the casino.  I could see us quickly amassing mounds and mounds of stuff that we "could use," but don't really need.  We could end up owing a Sanford and Sons franchise, as my wife put it.  Or, maybe we could end up on Hoarders.  HAHA!!  Bottom line is that auctions seem to be a fairly good way of getting things you "need" without spending a bunch of money.  Like anything though, we will have to approach it safely.  We'll take only cash with us - the amount we are willing to spend - and set limits on things in which we are interested.  If we say we'll pay $20 for something and the bid goes to $21, then we'll just have to agree to be out.

I originally looked at auctions as a way to maybe get cheap building materials, which is I why I prefaced my last paragraph with the imminent reality of having to build critter houses.  For now, there didn't seem to be much of that stuff available at auctions.  So, on a whim, I decided to see if Craigslist had anything to offer.  A few years back I used Craigslist to identify a company that was giving away skids that I used to build a compost bin.  So, I thought I would do the same to get building materials.  There seems to be a number of people for looking for others to come by and pick up their scrap materials, but they aren't that prevalent.  I imagine there is some tough competition out there also.  There was a post put up at 5:00 pm today stating a number of items that was behind a garage.  The possibility of getting a new porcelain sink drew my attention.  Although I found the ad at around 10 pm, I thought I would still give it a try since it was only a few blocks from my house.  As suspected, it was picked over pretty good.  I did happen to get a garden hose, although I'm not exactly sure as to its condition.  I'll look at it later.  It was dark, and in a questionable neighborhood.

That's it for today.  I need to do some more actual work.  The semester's creeping up on me.