Grandpa had me worried...

Last weekend my parents had an auction at their original store location. They sold surplus inventory, and most of the shelving, furniture and other fixtures that were part of the building. Why? It was a business decision. Last year my father expanded his business into a second location. This location is in the town referred to as the "county seat", where all county business takes place. It is where the sheriff's office is located (one office for the entire county), the courthouse, and etc. As the year progressed, the new store was drawing customers away from the original store. In a situation like this you have look at your operating costs versus your profits and see if it is still feasible to continue business at that location. In this instance, it wasn't. So, they terminated their lease on the building, sold what they didn't need, and have transferred all business operations to the new store.

However, the auction didn't consist of ONLY my parents stuff. Other local people added items and it ended up being a very long day of auctioneering. I went down to look at some of the furniture being auctioned off and had my eye on an old library table. It would be perfect as a replacement for my computer desk, and as an antique, it would only increase in value. It needed refinishing though and I figured I could get it pretty reasonably. But, because I'm not a frequent auction-attendee, I had my grandfather bid for me. I have trouble understanding the auctioneer and figured grandpa'd manage everything nicely. I told him I could go up to $50 no problem, but more than that I'd have to think about. So we were standing there and within 15 seconds I'm hearing $85? $90? 100? and my grandfather was still raising his hand. I nudged him in the arm and yelled "NO" because I was not going to pay that much for a desk that needed refinishing. lol He stopped bidding at $100 and it sold for $110. Grandpa, Grandma and Mom were laughing at me because they said I looked panicked. Grandpa just laughed and smiled before saying "Grandpa would have paid the difference." I didn't FEEL panicked but I guess my face looked it. As I heard the numbers increasing rapidly, all I could think of was "well, at least I have credit card checks with me".

In the end I did get one item, free of charge. Someone had left an old wood storm window that stands about 5 feet tall, 2 feet wide, and has one horizontal bar to divide the upper and lower panes. I love these old windows and do even occasionally buy them at antique stores. I INTEND to paint them, but it's one project that I haven't yet planned out nor purchased the paint supplies for (stain glass painting). I'm just glad the purchaser left it behind (he had purchased a group of items and only wanted the storm door from the pile). Can't beat that, eh?

Note: Ed Abbey, you should have stuck around. That table top only went for $7.50!