Summer Vacation
2014

6 August 2014




This is the time of year when my Planet Whizbang business starts to overwhelm me. I'm putting in 14 hour days and it's all I can do to keep orders shipped promptly. I don't just package and mail the things I sell. There is fabrication and preparation that has to happen before the goods are ready to ship. 

Marlene says to me, "Your livin' the dream, Herrick," and she's right. As I've mentioned here before, I've wanted a home-based, mail-order business since I was 16 years old. 

The fact is, I love what I'm doing, but a sustained high volume of orders, like I typically get in the summer months, eventually wears me down. 

So today I took a break. 

Marlene, me, and Futureman (our grandson) headed out to the 54th annual Pageant of Steam in Canandaigua, New York. 

The show is pretty much the same from year to year. I've blogged about it in the past (with pictures) Here, and Hereand Here.

The part of the pageant I like best is the big flea market. I'm always on the lookout for old agrarian artifacts.

Today I bought the sickle pictured at the top of the page. I got it for three dollars. What a beautiful tool. They don't make sickles like that any more. If I can get it sharpened in time I'll use it to harvest my little patch of wheat.

So that's what I did today. It was something different. It was a change of scenery. It was good to get away for a few hours. 




1 comment:

Sunnybrook Farm said...

That is what I have been using on my wheat, not swinging the thing as you would imagine but pulling a group of heads together with the curve and then holding with my left hand while shearing them off with the sickle. Of course it does have to be sharp to do that but you don't lose a lot of grain. I just want the heads to throw into the chicken pen as they thrash it out themselves. Do you have an invention in mind to thrash and clean the seeds?