Tuesday, January 26.  Moved over to P24 this morning around 7:30 to set up.  Was able to get both canopies up and attached the grids to the canopy and put in all my merchandise and closed up around 10:30am to head over to Parker.

BLUE WATER CASINO.  It was about a 35-mile drive to Parker.  We ate lunch at the buffet for $6.95.  Good price but the food was somewhat fair.  Not too impressed with the salad bar.  I like to see some mushrooms, cheese, etc., but it was totally lacking.  There were 6-7 food items.  No carving station.  Perhaps the best item was the stuffed bell peppers.  They had ham, chicken, mashed potatoes.  Not a great selection.  This was lunch so I am not sure what the dinner menu would look like.  Not one of your better casino buffets.  I played the poker machines for awhile and walked out of there with an $80 profit.  Lucky to get a straight flush that paid out around 320 quarters.

THE WEATHER.  Rained around 11:00pm.  Heard the drops on top of my motor home which only last about 10 minutes or so but there is cause for concern.  Do not feel like going through another storm like we had last week.

HAD SOME RAIN LAST NIGHT around 11:00pm which lasted about 10 minutes.  That caught me by surprise since it was one of those 10 percent probability things.  If it last much longer than that, I would have had to go out and get things up off the ground, since I do have multiple experiences with flooding in the booth.

INTERNET CONNECT HAS BEEN ATROCIOUS.  I had bought the Verizon thing for $139 before leaving and it worked okay for the first 12-13 days.  The past 4 days I have had spotty service and have had to call in on it.  They claim that they are having problems in Arizona but I doubt it.  Today they opened a ticket on it for me and said that they would call back.  If they are having service-wide problems in Arizona, then I wonder why you are troubleshooting MY service.  Not only is there something wrong in Arizona, I believe we have something rotten in Denmark.  When I get home, one of the first things I shall do is to bee-bop on down to my Best Buy and return this piece of crap and get my money back because I am totally not satisfied with this product.

MY DIRECTV Satellite dish is finally working.  Was able to get it up and working last night.  I was able to watch TV after two weeks.  However, I can not get my local channels (2-4-5-7-11) because they have them blocked out when you go out of state.  That meant no American Idol and no Super Bowl (I hope I am heading home during it)

LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST.  Yesterday it showed quite a bit of rain next weekend starting on Thursday.  However, it was revised and it doesn't look THAT bad.  I was considering packing up on Tuesday and getting out of here.  I will be watching the forecasts closely (when my internet is working) and expect to get out of here before any huge rainfalls and the potential closure of The Grapevine heading home.

Spent the day setting up my space.  Had some sales since people were walking around the place.  Really too my time and probably emptied a bit more than one-half my things.  Pretty tired this afternoon so I closed up around 4:00pm.  It was sunny much of the day but ended up on the mostly cloudy side and just a bit breezy and cooler.  Hooked up my water connection today; had been using my water pump and it was quite noisy.

Picked up a 'nickel' bag of 'Cheese' Kettle Korn from the booth across from me (O-22).  They have the best selection of Kettle Korn I have ever seen with perhaps a dozen different 'flavors' - banana, cheese, strawberry, etc.  Excellent. 

BREAKFAST AT SWEET DARLENE'S.  Went over there for breakfast around 8:15.  About one-third full there.  I had the Mushroom and cheese omelet along with a cup of coffee.  It was okay, I guess.  Not really that great.  Tasted rather bland.  Would love to get an omelet with the works, know what I mean?  Onions, peppers, tomatoes, avacados....   mmm.  Sounds so delicious.  They don't even have anything close.  They have breakfast specials for $2.95 and $3.95 which is a combination of bacon and eggs.  Had the french toast last time and it was decent.  Actually, I'd like some potato pancakes with syrup.  Now you are talking but I don't think they have any idea what that is.

GOT BACK TO MY BOOTH around 9:10 and opened up.  Quite a bit of work to do but once again, I took my time.  I have found quite a number of damaged fannypacks, etc., from last Thursday.  Looks like a couple hundred dollars in damages from the 'tornado.'  Not too bad.  Some people lost a lot more and I consider myself very fortunate. 

THERE WERE PEOPLE WALKING AROUND and I did make some sales. Nothing great.

I MADE some meat ball sandwiches for dinner tonight.  Not bad.  That shall suffice.  I am still new to Cooking 101 and have a lot to learn.  Will try making some Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches on Saturday.  Tomorrow night we are going to run over to Texas BBQ on the other side.  I go there every year and the ribs are fine.  I love the pork ones.  However, three years ago, I had to ask "Where's the beef" (pork, actually)?

A GUY COMES OVER and grabs one of my hairy visors and puts it on.  "How much?" the guy asks.  "Eight dollars."  He cringes.  Oh no.  "How much did you think?"  He responds with "three dollars."  I look at him.  "Oh no.  What do you think this is - a flea market?  If you want stuff for three dollars you can go over there or down there" I explained as I pointed my finger in those directions.  Dam flea market mentality.

THE WEATHER WAS SUPERB TODAY.  Loads of sunshine with temps around 62 degrees.  Outlook is good for the next couple weeks as rain or showers is no longer forecast.  However, as we all know, that forecast can be taken with a grain of salt.

KETTLE KORN. Picked up some banana flavored Kettle Korn from my neighbor.  It wasn't all that great.  I guess my favorite flavors would be cheddar, cheese and caramel.  There was a guy at the Sell-a-Rama that made sample batches of garlic kettle korn and that was interesting.  With this guy, some of the flavors are just so-so.

Friday, January 29

 

Not that great of a sleep.  Woke up 4 times during the night.  I hopped out of my motor home around 9:15am and walked out front and saw only a couple booths open.  I unstrapped the bungies on my canopy and then grabbed my garbage and took it down to the dumpster before opening up.  It was a really nice day today with little wind and plenty of sunshine. (heading my way.  Zippity doo-dah, zippity aye) Temps around 65.  I opened up and then went inside and grabbed some orange juice and some Leggo Waffles and ate on the run.

 

 

SALES WERE VERY VERY SLOW TODAY.  Had junk (whoops, antiques) next door and across the aisle and that looked like the only action in this area of the show. It's Friday, Flea Market Mentality day.  One dollar this, one dollar that.  You know what I am talking about. Please see Freddie Sanford and Slick Dude down below in a related story.

 

GUY COMES over and grabs one of my wooden snakes.  "I'm looking for a blue snake.  My son wants one."  Oh gosh.  I look over at him.  "I only have green and orange," I say jokingly to him as those were the first two colors that popped into my mind.  I told him to 'paint it blue.'  Gosh, how in hell do I end up with these winners?  Another guy grabs hold of another snake.  "Those are roof snakes - put them on your roof and scare away the birds," I told him. He then says "I've got cows."  I look at him.  "Oh yes, cow snakes are $15.00."

 

 

A FEW MINUTES LATER I GRABBED TWO SNAKES and lifted them in the air and began swinging them wildly.  "Okay people," I said loudly.  "Snake fights in 15 minutes.  We have Snakebit Charlie going against Wrangler Ron.  Fifteen minutes, people.  Only five dollar's admission.  You do not want to miss it.  Still time to get a front-row seat. These guys are ferocious and will tear one another apart.  Fifteen minutes, people."

 

TEXAS BBQ.  Closed up today around 4:15 and then we drove over to Quartzsite to get something to eat there.  Ordered one/half rack of ribs with a baked potato and salad.  The ribs were good and this place probably has the best food around here.  A bit pricey though - $13.00 but you need a good meal sometimes and I savor good ribs.  As I began eating them the pork dismantled itself from the bones quite easily.  A good indication that they had been sitting there for awhile and WERE NOT freshly cooked.  Okay though.  The guy said that they were closing up on Sunday.  Had thoughts of going there on Monday, but the place would have  been boarded up.  Anyhow, the ribs (pork) were pretty decent and I only could finish half the portion I was served.  Guess what I am having for lunch tomorrow? No problem. 

 

FREDDIE SANFORD AND SLICK DUDE are selling their junk, whoops 'antiques' two spaces down from me and also in the one diagonally across.  In the latter space they have a bunch of old rusty farm parts.  He stretched his display all the way to the edge of his allocated space which would thus force people to go to the adjacent space to look.  Slick dude.  I mentioned to him earlier today about this and he said that the people could walk in between the metal things on the ground (tippy-toe?).  I looked at him.  "Yah, right."  Later on I noticed that he had made a path about 3 feet from the end.  Over the years I have seen a number of people putting their tables and displays right on the edge perimeter of their spaces and they have their customers walk along your/my space.  No class.  It's more appropriate to ask your neighbor to share a common aisle encompassing BOTH your spaces.  This guy thinks he is slick.  Earlier he backed his truck up and hit my friend's canopy and was spotted by another vendor.  No apology from Slick Dude.



WAS SITTING NEXT TO THE KETTLE KORN BOOTH and I told them that I was going to come back next year and sell 256 different flavors.  Going to set up Dave's Krazy Kettle Korn.  Get your Kettle Korn from the KKK.  All kinds of wonderful flavors.  Russian Vodka, Tennessee Whiskey, Johnny Walker Black.  Gosh, doesn't that sound great.  Actually, these people do sell some pretty good Kettle Korn and I recommend the Cheese or Cheddar style.  As for me, I am all kettle-korned out and am completely stuffed after dem' ribs.  The kettle korn vendor's are in space O-22 or thereabouts and when you go there tell them that 'Dave in P24' sent you.  You won't get a discount and I sure as hell am not getting a free mini-bag from them, but just tell 'em I told ya to stop by.  (disclaimer:  Just because I mentioned various sorts of alcohol does not necessarily mean that I indulge or partake in heavy and wild drinking activities.  Did many year's ago (30) but not anymore as I would like to live longer and remain half-sane.)



TAKES BRAINS.  AM I MISSING SOMETHING?  We sell a lot of shell necklaces on-line through our other website.  A guy had received his and was completely satisfied of course.  He emailed me and asked if it was okay to get wet.  Oh gosh.  And that's not the first time somebody asked if my SHELL NECKLACES were okay to get wet.  I responded by asking "Where do the shells come from?"

MY NEW NEIGHBOR moved in.  They came here from SOCAL in a large truck and trailer (maybe about 24 feet).  The lady sells the jewelry that she makes and just hearing that,  I tend to believe they are going to have a tough time in this show. Jewelry is not going to sell. They were supposed to have been here for the Sell-a-Rama but they didn't come because of the weather.  Smart.  However, their space would have been in row R and I am pretty certain they would have been unscathed in the typhoon/hurricane/tornado last Thursday.  Never know though.  They just purchased their trailer and are using it for the first time.  Brand new.  Nice.  Does not come with a generator and they can't live 'out in the wild' like I can with my motor home.  Do these trailers usually come without generators?  I don't know.  Be pretty tough living off the battery, ya know?  I mentioned to her to make sure that her canopy is secured (against the wind) and she asked me "How do I do that?"  Maybe they ARE LUCKY that they weren't here for the Sell-a-Rama afterall or their canopy just might have landed in Phoenix.  BTW my neighbor diagonally from me in the last show apparently never did find his canopy.  Once again, THAT IS AN AWESOME SIGHT when you see huge canopies going airborne like that.  Wow.  My two canopies just flattened like pancakes.  Not going far with 22 grids attached to them.

 

Saturday, January 30

 

Opened up around 9:00.  Not too many other booths opened until around 9:30.  There were people walking around and we had a pretty good crowd throughout the day.  Sales remained to be quite slow throughout the day.  People stopped by to look through Freddie Sanford and Slick Dude's old rusty farmstuff.  Don't know what almost all the stuff was.

FOR LUNCH, I made myself two Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches.  They were okay and filled me up.  Killed the rest of my waffles for breakfast.  Haven't seen anyplace that makes the Philly's since before I left home.  Had to satisfy my usual craving.  Will be able to make more next week sometime.  Will have the remainder of my pork ribs for dinner tonight.  Picked up some cheese kettle korn and will devour that tonight while watching the Woman's Australian Open Finals (tennis) and then watch whatever movie is on.

LOADS OF HANDS grabbing the snakes and gators.  Just a couple sales of them.

BEST WEATHER SO FAR ON THE TRIP.  I guess temps close to the 70 mark and that sun felt mighty good, especially with no wind blowing.  Amazing.  Wish it could have been like this for the past two weeks.  Weather improving each day.

VERY STRANGE.  Neighbors moved in next door to me on Friday.  Parked their trailer that day and said they were 'too tired' to set up.  Fine.  We had a large crowd of people walking around on Saturday.  The guy set up their canopy (new) and took several hours putting up the covers and arranging a bunch of tables and chairs inside.  He tried many arrangements with the tables inside and ultimately the covers.  I was amazed that they never took out their merchandise and began selling because this is the busiest day.  What are you waiting for?  They were supposed to be here for the Sell-a-Rama but decided not to come because of anticipated bad weather.  The weather right now is great.  They paid their booth fee but aren't they interested in making their space fee?  If you are going to get sales you will have the best chances on this day.  This is a story in the making and I will do updates daily on their progress.  Rookies.  Rookies.  Rookies.  You know, when all of us arrive here we are excited to get our booths up and anxious to start selling.  Know what I mean?  I don't know.  I just don't know.

Sunday, January 31

 

HAD BREAKFAST AT BAD BOYS this morning at 7:45.  Only had about 10 people in there. By the time we had eaten and were leaving the place was getting full.  I decided to have the Sweet Potato Pancakes.  I've been dying for some GOOD potato pancakes, and I am still dying for them.  Not too good.  Not like grandma used to make.  Not even close to what my wife makes.  Should have gotten French Toast.  Omelets are mostly one item and I like mine with many different things inside. 

WEATHER LOOKS GREAT TODAY and apparently it will be the same as yesterday.  Temps up around 70.  Damm, I wish we had this kind of weather.

IT WAS SOMETHING RIGHT OUT OF THE TWILIGHT ZONE when the Barker Gang rode (or drove) into town yesterday.  About a dozen people dressed in 1850's garb strolled down my aisle.  Impressive.  One lady who was dressed fantastically and wearing a rooster-like thing on her head strolled over to me and asked about my hats.  I looked at her.  "Ma'am you don't need another hat."  We both laughed.  Both her and the other lady looked great in those outfits.  The men had on the whole shabang including spurs, etc.  Don't know the occasion they were decked out in their fancy duds for.  Perhaps they did take a trip into the Twilight Zone.  Maybe that tornado picked them up and dumped them up in the mountains and they ended up with all those 1890 duds on and strolled into town.  At least they didn't land in Kansas......

     

GOING BACK IN HISTORY.  I was wondering which year's a lot of cowboy shows took place in.  Gunsmoke was based around 1870 as was Bonanza and probably most of the other cowboy shows.

AMAZING.  We watched this lady stand there for two hours waiting for her husband (or whatever) who was rummaging through the junky farm parts on the ground.  She then pulled up some sort of square container and sat there another hour knitting.  THREE HOURS, PEOPLE.

        

IT'S A DOG'S WORLD OUT HERE.  I have two dogs on the left of me and another two on the right.  Dogs have taken over this place.  Loads of visitors bringing their pets and this seems to have turned into a dog show or something.  A dog stopped in front of the Kettle Korn booth and urinated yesterday.  I haven't caught a dog doing anything in or near my booth but I am watching.  I'd love to come up with some sort of concoction to spray on the ground and keep the dogs away.

IT WAS ANOTHER SLOW DAY HERE.  The crowds were somewhat okay for a Sunday.  My sales were down about 40 percent from yesterday which weren't very high to begin with.

MY NEIGHBORS FINALLY OPENED AROUND 2:00pm and it was a race to see if they were going to open first or the lady standing across in the opposite space was going leave.  The lady left first.  The couple next to me took their time setting up their display and really aroused my curiousity.   They finally opened to a rousing ovation from me as they pulled their front cover away.  They are selling some kind of silver jewelry and are promoting something of a religious nature.

Monday, February 1

 

LOOKS LIKE ANOTHER NICE DAY.  Temp up around 70 degrees.  Contradicting weather forecasts later in the week.  We shall see.

SWEET DARLENE'S FOR BREAKFAST.  My and Tony went over to Sweet Darlene's for breakfast.  I got the Scramble for breakfast for $2.99 which included the eggs, hash browns and toast.  We also got an order of French Toast to share (2 pieces apiece).  The food was good and was perhaps the best breakfast I have had over here.  Good price.  Stayed away from the omelets.



TOOK A WALK DOWN TO VILLAGE ORIGINALS to look for some findings.  They didn't have any.  Browsed around for awhile but didn't buy anything.  Over the years we have bought a lot of jewelry, beads, minerals, etc., from them but we are a bit tight on cash.

ON THE WAY OVER TO V.O. I spotted a batch of silver shower curtain hooks a guy was selling at 10 for $1.00.  I picked up 60.  Big project.  I've been using those red S-hooks to put our jewelry on.  However, in the big storm last week, my jewelry display was knocked to the ground and became all tangled up when it was dumped into one of those 15-gallon buckets.  Going to put all of it onto the shower curtain hooks.

I DIDN'T OPEN UNTIL 11:03.  Was watching Hogan's Heroes.  Stepped out front and there were a number of booths still unopened.  Very small crowds today and I only had two sales all day.  Terrible.  The clouds have come rolling in and we are covered completely now.  A bit cooler this afternoon.  One weather prediction has rain on Tuesday night.  I have begun packing stuff and putting it inside the motor home.  Taking no chances.

MY NEIGHBORS opened up after I did.  Not sure if they had any sales.  Selling rosaries and silver jewelry.  They have these two little dogs that bark constantly.  They had them behind their booth yesterday and they kept barking all day long.  Very difficult because I occasionally had customers go to my back canopy and the dogs gave out those ear-piercing barks and my customers didn't spend very much time. Every time somebody came near them, they barked.  Today after I opened up, they were barking non-stop for about 40 minutes and I finally got tired of listening.  "Shut the dam dogs up," I yelled from a couple feet in front of my canopy.  Enough is enough.  They then took the dogs and stuck them inside their trailer.  Really bad.  I couldn't even hear my potential customers speak and the dogs were just a big pain in the ass.

FIRST TO DEPART this row were Freddie Sanford and Slick Dude.  They decided to pack up stakes and head on out of here.  They occupied two spaces with their junk and they may have had a good idea in leaving.  If the weather goes downhill and/or sales don't pick up, I'll be out of here before Sunday.  Maybe get home in time for the Super Bowl on Sunday along with the Monk Marathon.  Tony said his knee is bothering him tonight and usually that means a change in the weather.  Will begin getting rid of things in the canopy in preparation for rain and/or an early exit.

IT'S DISASTER NIGHT on TV (AMC) tonight.  Watched Dante's Peak for the 10th time and now watching Volcano.  Last night we had tornadoes and earthquakes.  I still have visions of my own personal disaster the other week with the wind blowing down my two canopies.  That's one hell of a disaster film for me.  Still can't believe that we were able refurbish both canopies.  In the minute or two following that, I pictured myself just leaving everything there but we were able to pack everything and get both canopies up a few days later.  I still think that was amazing.  I guess that I have now had canopies topple over twice before this, but nothing like what happened on January 21.

DID ANYBODY SEE WHO PLACED one of those plastic milk boxes just to the left of my motor home?  On it was a sign that said 'FREE' and by it was an old frying pan.