The COVID-19 pandemic has been a trying time for all of us here in 2020.
But…
I do think one + offshoot of the forced time at home has been and will continue to be…a sort of collective and also individual reassessment. Of the way we’ve been living. So on the go. Always. 24/7. Always plugged in. Bit of time and space to stop and think a bit, reflect.
What really are the most important things in our lives?
Very important for us to do this work of continually reassessing I think because, fact is, life whistles by at warp speed doesn’t it? Yep, blink and there goes another 2, 3, 5 or 10 years.
10 years ago today, June 12, 2010, I was in Winnebago, Neb. covering the Louis and Tony Pycha farm retirement auction. The 2 brothers, then age 81 and 91 had quite the very nice line of slightly older farm equipment that drew me to drive out from my home in Rochester, MN to cover the sale.
Now remember, this was 10 years ago, I was less than one full year into doing our Machinery Pete Youtube videos. Our 2 daughters were grown, one off to college the younger about to follow. I was 20 years into building our Machinery Pete biz and when the advent of social media (Facebook, Twitter) and Youtube came along, I jumped in with both feet. Jumped hard. And had a blast these past 10 years posting daily content across platforms. Our Machinery Pete Youtube channel (www.youtube.com/machinerypete) we’re up over 1600 videos now.
But 10 years ago today…I was still pretty new to it, feeling my way forward.
I remember June 12, 2010 like it was yesterday. Sale prices were very strong. A then record high auction sale price on the Westendorf WL-42 loader at $6,300 and a still today record price on the CaseIH 2594 2WD tractor with only 833 hours at $33,000 (next highest auction price $26,000).
But more than the strong sale prices and shiny older equipment, what I remember most about this farm auction 10 years ago today…is the people. These days of COVID-19 forced farm machinery auctions to go online only, and sales have continued on very strongly, not missing a beat, in fact good condition used farm equipment actually ticked UP a bit in value from March - May '20. Been amazing to watch.
But I miss going to on site auctions…and talking to people…listening to people. God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth. SO much to learn from talking with folks. Happy to see us now finally beginning to get back to on site live farm machinery auctions, albeit socially distanced and limited in the No. of folks who can attend. We’re getting there. Hopefully soon back to no restrictions.
Until then…I like to stop and remember days like this, June 12, 2010, and dream about sales to come. Here are some images I captured on that day 10 years ago today in Winnebago, Neb.
Brothers Tony and Louis Pycha of Winnebago, Neb. Tony passed away 12/30/16 at the age of 88. Louis passed away 11/12/12 at the age of 93. Louis was a WW II vet who was part of the D Day Invasion on June 6, 1944…76 years ago this month…that was the start of saving the world from the tyranny of Nazi Germany.
Pete
Machinery Pete
www.MachineryPete.com