by James Glaser
August 19, 2005

Actually the auction starts Saturday morning at 10, but until that time I will be working on getting everything set up. Today I got the three big trailers set where they will be easiest to load. Not that long ago, auctioneers used hay wagons to set everything on. Today they use very long snowmobile trailers. They make sense, because they are lower to the ground and it is easier for the people to see everything.

I'll have the three trailers filled, plus furniture and art work on the ground, and some big tools will be on my workshop deck. Friday morning I will have 10 neighbors helping me. I have just about everything sorted and in boxes. Now we have to take everything out of my boxes and put everything in "flats." Flats are short cardboard boxes that cases of canned pop or beer come in. This way, things don't get buried in the box, and people can see everything that is up for bid. Usually you don't bid on the whole box, as the auctioneer's helper holds up one or a few items at a time, so people can bid. If there is a box filled with lets say fruit jars, then you might bid on it all.

The way we are setting this up, is that everything that relates, will be together. All the glass ware and dishes will be on one part of the trailer and all the tools in another. That way if you are there to bid on one type of thing, you don't have to wait as each object is piece mealed out.

I do worry about rain, but it is supposed to be nice on Saturday. It might rain tomorrow and we will have to have tarps ready to cover things. We will be taking the art work, coins, jewelry, and guns out the morning of the auction, but everything else will get covered.

Right now my house is a mess, with boxes all over the place and furniture piled in the living room. By tomorrow night it will look sparse and I am hoping I like that look.

When I lived up in Littlefork, we had a Mennonite family that lived down the road. In their house, they had nothing on any cabinet or counter. They had one family portrait photo on one wall, and that was it. The place always looked so clean and spacious. I know I will never get to that point, but I hope to have that sort of feel to the house.

I know this auction is going to do wonders for my workshop. There actually will be room to move around and I think production will go up, heck it can't really go any farther down. The little building across the road will be totally empty, as everything in there will be sold. It is going to be interesting, quite a change.

If I don't like the house looking empty, I can always buy more stuff, but I am going to give it awhile. I'm not selling everything and there will still be artwork on the walls, just not every square inch. Maybe it will look, "tasteful".... Maybe.