I had so much fun yesterday, it was almost ridiculous! We went to Clay Center. Twice a year (I think) they have an exotics auction that goes on for 2 days. I have to work today, so Dusty and I decided to go yesterday. They have different things that they sell each day. It is so much fun! I love seeing all the rare, weird, exotic animals, and the stuff that really isn't exotic, but they sell for exotic prices. I love watching the people. I love bidding on random stuff and occasionally getting a great deal. I just love going to the auction. Any auction really. I know Jim probably cringes every time I decide to go, because he never knows what I will come home with, and although I am tight, and never spend a lot of money, it usually ends up with him having to help me build some sort of pen, or set up some sort of something. He is a good man, though. He never complains about it, he never gets mad, he just helps me, and occasionally asks me what my thought process was. (The day of the accidental purchase of 3 pot belly pigs I could tell he thought I had clearly lost my mind). Yesterday, I told him Dusty wanted to get a few baby chickens, but that I was just going to watch. He told me he knew that would never happen, but he laughed about it. I was sort of half joking about the water buffalo, but if the price had been right....
Anyway, early in the day, they auctioned off equipment. I have been looking for some more rabbit cages, and they had a few that were pretty nice. I bid on a 3 hole cage, and as I am bidding, I am extremely confident it will absolutely fit inside the Nissan, and so, when I won at $10, I was elated. And then Dusty and I carried the cage to the car. Let's just say my spatial concepts were a little bit off. We got it in the car, but had to lay down every seat except the driver's seat. We howled with laughter and Dusty said she would sit in the back seat, cross legged and it would be fine. We then went on to the animal portion, where we bid on a lot of stuff, but won nothing! I was even a "good girl" and did not bid on the extremely cute, very tiny, sweetest baby piglets I have ever seen. It was tempting however. I bid on some rabbits, but with rabbits, I have a definite price limit because buying at auction, you just don't know what you are getting. Could be old, could be sick, could be a lot of things. They have to be quarantined from your other stock, and they can have birth defects from inbreeding that you won't know about until you can put your hands on them. I am willing to take small gambles on them, particularly if they come out with a color we are looking for, but the people yesterday were insane. They went for double and triple my price limit and I saw a Flemish bring over $100! That is a rabbit folks - they are not rare, they are not hard to come by, and they certainly are not worth that price! I still say I would make the trip just to watch the insanity!
I did jokingly send this photo of a hedge hog and her babies to Quincy - and ask if I should buy her! Quincy's hedgehog was the one pet that when it passed away, we were all happy! They are the smelliest, grossest animals we have ever had, and they have to be warm all the time, so you literally are keeping a heat lamp over a smelling, gross mess and I think it makes the smell worse! It did not smell bad for lack of cleaning or care, they just stink. I swear I could smell them when I walked in yesterday!
Dusty did sit all cramped in the back of my car! We laughed and laughed about how we always manage to get ourselves into these ridiculous situations! I had a master plan however....you see Clay Center is not far from Manhattan. So I called my (much taller than me) son, and offered to buy him and Sunny dinner. They are easily lured out by the promise of food! After I had them out of their dorm rooms, I also begged a favor - tying down the cages on the luggage rack of my car! I had to buy some straps and rope, so I also threw in the promise of buying them a few groceries. College kids work cheap! :)
All joking aside, I was happy to see Preston and Sunny. We had fun visiting with them over a nice dinner, and I always love to see my kids any chance I get! I love that Preston is loving college, and enjoying living in Manhappiness. It brings back good memories, and I do love it there too!
Preston was extremely helpful (why the heck are ratchet straps so hard for me to figure out?), and he got the cage tightened down where he guaranteed it would not fly off my car onto I70. (He was correct....it did not fly off). He had to help a lot because Dusty and I are simply not tall enough to thread the antenna that is on the top of my car through the rabbit cages so we didn't smash or break it! He did a great job and I was so thankful for his help! Dusty was thankful too, because we found out he hard way we are much too old to sit cross legged, kinked over in the back seat! The only problem was that Preston ran the ropes inside of the car, and we shut the doors. This caused a terrible vibration so the car howled with horrible noise all the way home! Dusty and I howled back at it with laughter - because everything we do is a hot mess! It didn't stop us from visiting and laughing all the way home! When I got home, Jim was shocked that the only project he had to do was help me undo the ratchet straps (seriously why are they so hard to use?) and get the cage over the antenna. I think he was actually relieved, but he didn't express it! I did not mention to him that these are hanging cages and his wife is short - so there is a minor project involved for him! :) Considering that new, these cages are over $400, I figure saving him $390 he will be so happy, he will gladly help his short wife out! Plus, I brought him half of my extremely good sandwich, so he basically owes me! (only joking).
And now, I am going back through the enormous number of texts I received yesterday, because our free weekends, our free time, and our relaxed schedule are being bombarded with summer stuff. Softball practice schedules, ball uniform meetings, ball equipment upgrades needed, drown in ball season has started. Added to the end of the year school needs, field trips, graduation practices, graduation class parties, field days, end of the year celebrations, reward days, and who knows what else, one of our drivers has a health issue, so I find myself being dragged into bus driving for track meets. I am not opposed to helping out, but when I get done writing down the stuff we have going on, I find myself a little bit insane the next few weeks! When school ends, we are taking a small trip to see Cameron and Lauren graduate, and I am thinking if I survive until then, I hope I still have enough cognitive mind left to enjoy the trip! :)
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