Busy day today - another Auction

This time it was in Bellingham so I didn't have far to go. Arrowac Fisheries has felt the economic pinch as well as increased pressures from the enviros to reduce fishermen's catch size so they made the decision to close their Bellingham processing plant and concentrate on their Seattle operation. They contracted James G. Murphy to run the auction and it was another fun day. Tim Murphy (James G's son) had the audience in the palm of his hand for the big ticket items -- there were a lot of the smaller processors from Alaska that came down for this. Tim's son Connor(?) set up and assisted. Picked up a couple of commercial-size bug zappers. I know that these are very bad for the environment as they kill all the beneficials as well as the pests but we have a unique situation around here. The two big agricultural businesses here are berries and dairy. After the berry harvest, in late fall, the farmers will manure their fields. The cow manure is close by and cheap and it does an excellent job of replenishing the soil for next year and since you are looking at a good ten months between manuring and the next harvest, there are no problems with sanitation. What does happen though is we get a huge increase in the black fly population from August until the first really cold nights. They are most active at dusk and dawn so I figure I'll put one at the store and one here, run them on a timer and do my bit to cut this annoyance down to a dull roar. Other things I picked up are a lot of office equipment (three typewriters including one IBM Selectric -- a much lusted after item), a couple years worth of pens, markers, pencils, etc..., a small knife grinder, some shelving and a small desk for the DaveCave(tm). Heading in tomorrow to get the rest of it. Sitting here eating some leftover pasta (tomato sauce with sliced bratwurst) and will spend the rest of the evening working on a few projects. Got a community website I'm developing and want to throw the switch in a few days...