Running At The Speed Of Life

Hey Ya'll! Can't believe it's been 5 months since I wrote anything here. With the summer being so long and hot it was nearly impossible to spend any amount of time in the shop. Most days I'd go out for a little while and hammer out some copper for new jewelry. Didn't do much knife work at all. WAY TOO HOT. Now with summer behind us and a beautiful fall upon us it's time to get things going again.

Leslie and I hit the road to Grand Junction, TN on October 9th for the 13th Annual Ames Plantation Harvest Festival. It was a long 2+ hour drive to get there and it was worth it. Once we arrived we had a wonderful breakfast provided by the show coordinators. Our tent was set up all by it's lonesome along a split rail fence. It turned out to be a great spot as most people had to walk past us. This was the first time we dressed somewhat in period clothing too.

You couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. It was sunny with a high of 85. The coolest thing was a cannon going off every 30 minutes or so. You never knew when it was going to happen and BOOM! people were jumping out of their skin. Then everyone started to talk loudly.

There was a steady stream of people all day long stopping to check out my wares. Fire Stix and Chimes were the best sellers as usual. Jewelry did well and I sold 3 or 4 knives. A good time was had by all. As it turned out this may have been a better choice than the Meriwether Lewis Festival. Our friends Doug & Claudia of Sunart Studios may join us next year at the show.

I couldn't get myself motivated to restock my inventory for a handful of days. Only problem with that is the next show is less than two weeks away. So I kinda took it easy until after Leslie left for Milwaukee on Oct. 14th. She gave daughter Jessie a baby shower for our newest grandbaby. I wish I could have gone up there with her cuz I sure do miss my kids. Things went well up north, while I spent my time working on stuff for the upcoming Alabama Renaissance Faire.

In the last week I came up with new items to sell. Diamond Knife Sharpeners with antler handles, sewing seam rippers with antler and leather barrettes for the fair maidens. We'll probably come up with more ideas at the Ren Faire. Hopefully things will sell and we have a medieval time.

After the Ren Faire it is Deer Hunting time which I'm very psyched about. Muzzle Loading starts November 6th and we'll be out trying to put meat in the deep freeze. On Nov. 13th I've got a homebrew class scheduled and it looks like there'll be 6-10 guys here for that. Should be fun for everyone. It's great teaching stuff and what could be better than making beer and drinking it too. After these guys brew a batch or two I'd like to have a beer tasting/judging day with all the different homebrews. Gun Deer starts Nov. 20th. Then it's already Thanksgiving. We shall be eating one of the three turkeys we've raised here at our place. What a wonderful holiday...no material expectations. Just people enjoying mother earths bounties, and oh yeah, hunting. The Artisans of Wayne County will be having a show to hawk our wares for christmas.

Take Care