Didn't head out to the farm as planned. It was getting really hot outside so ran back and left the dogs in the garage. Had a bite to eat in Mt. Vernon and continued south stopping for a two pints in Conway (great bar - good people).
The auction preview was really interesting - lots of stuff there and I will be definitely bidding on a few items. I found it delightful that they were using my absolute favorite welding rod - 7018. You have to be really careful getting the surfaces prepared but it just welds like butter and very easy cleanup after.
Sad - the place had been around for a long long time (been in business since the 1900's). It had gotten a grant in 2017 for environmental cleanup and overhaul and was then purchased by Puglia Engineering which promptly had some financial woes with their Oakland, CA facilities which brought down the whole company into bankruptcy.
From The Bellingham Herald (April 02, 2019):
New owner sought to keep local shipyard open as maritime firm struggles with bankruptcy
Bankruptcy reorganization hasn’t worked out for the owner of Fairhaven Shipyard, but a trustee is working to find a new owner to keep the shipyards open.
On March 28, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brian D. Lynch signed an order to convert last year’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization filing of Puglia Engineering to a Chapter 7 filing, forcing the liquidation of the company that owns two Washington state shipyards in Fairhaven and Tacoma.
The shipyards are finishing up projects and a court-appointed trustee is negotiating a sale of the company to someone interested in keeping the shipyards open, said Neil Turney, president of Puglia, in an interview with The Bellingham Herald. In an ideal world, the sale will be completed before the shipyards are forced to close, he said.
Emphasis mine. Alas, for them, this was not an ideal world and the shipyard had to close. There were not that many people visiting the facility this afternoon - I registered around 2:00PM and was given bidder number 166. A low number for an auction. There will be a couple large machine shops that will be very very lucky. Wish I had the shop space as there are some very desirable large presses and metal working tools. There are a couple of small ones that I will be bidding on - wish me luck... Starts at 9:00AM so an early bedtime.
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