Day 2 Update - Mission West Spring Art Festival

Vaughn McMillan

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We did the first half of another art show today. It was hot...95º high temp...started sweating during the setup at 9:00 and didn't stop all day. Most likely due to the heat, the crowd was pretty sparse.

All told, I sold one bowl (my "Mark Cothren" Walnut NE bowl), one red eucalyptus "bark-top" hollow form, and one bottle stopper. Total sales are already nicely over my $280 entry fee, so any sales for the rest of the show will be icing on the cake. (And get me closer to more new toys.)

Looks like I'll be doing most of tomorrow without the help of LOML though. We got home tonight to discover that one of our three dogs got into an itching fit and now has a 4" x 4" bleeding raw spot on his hindquarters. This is the one we literally rescued from death last summer, and he's had a lot of skin problems in the past. When he found us, he was missing more than half his hair. He's been on some powerful meds, and things were under pretty good control, but they recently reduced the dosage on one of the prescriptions. We're guessing it's time to go back to the old dose. LOML is pretty torn up about her hurt little boy, so she's going to stay home most of tomorrow, and go to the show later in the day to help me pack up and bring everything home. Our booth neighbors on both sides are nice folks, so I'll have plenty of backup for bathroom and snow cone breaks.

Based on the sunburn I got today, and the fact that tomorrow's temps are forecast to be up to 100º, I'm guessing by about Tuesday, I'll be a skin-peeling son of a gun. (I don't tan. My skin is one of three colors...white, red, or peeling.) Just perfect for doing hourly product presentations in front of an audience in Las Vegas for three days. :doh: (More on that later.)

I'll post an update tomorrow.
 
Day 2 of the show has come and gone. Here's a shot of the swarms of people who were climbing all over each other trying to get to our booth:

Mission West Spring 2008 Booth - The Crowd 800.jpg

Today was slow (another recurring theme), but I did sell one of my best - and highest priced - bowls (the fat curly maple one I posted pics of recently) to someone who absolutely loved it. It sold to my next-door neighbor, the art installer/consultant. My total take from the show was more than double the entry fee on this one...enough to cover the fee on the next one. I applied tonight for a big - and more expensive - show down on the coast in Palos Verdes Estates at the end of May.

Here's the obligatory booth shot from Sunday afternoon:

Mission West Spring 2008 Booth - 02 800.jpg

LOML and I had a good time despite the heat. There was a bit of relief from the sun due to overcast skies for parts of the day, but the overcast was from smoke. There were a couple brush/forest fires in the vicinity. I was wiping ashes off my tables and merchandise all day.
 
... How's the mutt?
Itching a lot. He'll be seeing the vet first thing Monday morning to hopefully get something to relieve the discomfort. He was in a lot worse shape when he found us. He's primarily got some odd form of canine eczema, and the vets have still not really nailed down a good fix. The Cyclosporine seems to help if the dosage is high enough, but it apparently will shorten a dog's life if they take it for too long. (We both agree we'd rather he live a year in comfort instead of two years in agony from the itching.)

On top of all the other stuff, all three dogs started showing signs of fleas a few days ago, so flea season is upon us, and all three got Frontline. They'll get regular flea treatments for the next 7 or 8 months.
 
I went to a Kansas concert like that once. There were about 100 people in the audience and almost as many running the place.
 
Vaughn, I am by no means knowledgable about dogs & disease but, I just talked to a guy who has a dog that was doing the same thing. He has been giving the mutt bacon grease and it seems to be helping a lot. I think the theory is that some dog(s) and people for that matter need a certain amount of oils in their diet to keep their skins in good health.........Nice you are doing well at the show. I plan on someday boring myself with a show........I have done a few before and though sales were good it was tough to sit all day. I was tempted to start religion or political arguments to spice things up, but it can prove a damper on sales....:D
 
Thanks, guys. :) I must admit the crowd shot was taken early in the day, right after the show opened Sunday morning. Still, there were never any real big waves of people. Despite the thin crowd, it was my second-best show so far.

Paul, my dad was a proponent of giving dogs bacon grease, and we used to use it that way when I was a kid. (He also swore by it for hand lotion.) We've got this dog on various supplements, including fish oil, which is supposed to give the same benefit. The vet cleaned things up today and gave him a bath in something to relieve the itching. We should be seeing the effects of the increased dosage on his meds kick in, too. (He's also got ear infections, so we've got cleaning solution, drops, and antibiotics for that, too.) Fortunately, he's got a "Fairy Godmother" who is covering all the vet bills. One of LOML's good friends loves animals, but is allergic to dogs and cats. When this dog found us, the friend stepped up and insisted on paying the doctor bills. It's her way of being a dog owner...vicariously through us. ;)

Glenn, I'd love to have seen Kansas with only 100 other people. I saw Santana under similar conditions at a corporate-sponsored trade show party a couple months before he won his Grammy awards for 'Supernatural'. Great show.

Wow, we've successfully jacked this thread into three separate subjects. Any nominations for a fourth? :p

How about them Lakers? :rofl:
 
Hey Vaughn, It sounds like yer givin the mutt the California version of oil treatment...fish oil! yuk!!. My wife tries to give me that stuff once in a while. I tell her that I'd just as well suck on a minnow. Heck I get tired of tasting that stuff all day long.....On the serious side of things, supplements can do wonderful things for one's health. I have a friend who was sent home with stage 4 breast/lung cancer and went to a natural health diet as a last try.........she is now cancer free. She accomplished all this through diet and prayer.The cancer tumers just broke up and disolved.??? It's hard to argue with that kind of success.....So maybe suckin on the occaisional fish has some benefit. :D
 
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