It rained again

Yes, another Salmon Days, another storm. All day Saturday it rained and the wind gusted and blew and tossed our little tents around. Rained sideways on and off, hard and then light misty rain. Everyone was wet. Umbrellas unloaded on the display of soap bars. Labels got soggy.

And it was chilly too. A storm front moved through all day, and by the late afternoon, when the tail end was blowing over, it got super windy. Banners blew off. Signs kept blowing over. Everyone was hanging onto their tents. Mine was a corner and the wind swept across the parking lot behind me and kept traveling the far corner out a foot or so with each gust. I thought the frame was going to end up all bent out of shape. It was anchored down well, but not enough on that one outside corner. And the velcro tabs on the back panel were too flimsy to hold either when the gusts came from straight behind. I spent half my time re-attaching the tent panels and straightening up the poles. It started to get super annoying. Just a couple of tiny leaks. And then some kind of stick which looked like a spear was impaled through the tent top in another gust. I just left it there. Patching will have to happen later. Next year. Unless I decide that I can afford a new tent. This one should probably not have to go another season, but probably will. Who can afford anything new now?

So the damp was miserable. The crowds were still impressive. And I had a pretty good day in sales, considering the state of the weather. In fact, it was better than a lot of shows this year, and under the worst conditions yet. Bad weather and crumbling economy. I still sold soap. Yeee haaah!

Sunday was much better weather. Still chilly and grey, but no wind, no rain. And sales were record-breaking for me. I sold out of probably 10 or more scents by the afternoon. More bars than ever. I'm not sure what it means, if anything. A sign of things to come? An anomaly? It's too hard to predict. And I guess it doesn't really matter. Except that I need to keep cranking out the batches of soap for holiday shows and sales.

Today was the big unpacking and clean up. I'm feeling a little slow and tired - all that weather takes a toll on a body, standing out in the elements for hours on end. I'm so grateful to have a bit of money to pay bills with. But worried about how much more I need to spend in supply orders this month to get me through the huge show season of November and December.