Quad War 2007

So despite the start of the weekend being fraught with venting material we had a great weekend all around. Yes there was some yelling and crankiness involved but packing is one of those things that makes Hubby and I not see eye to eye. Even today when we were packing up to come home he was questioning some of my decisions which just made me angry and I said some mean things. Which in turn made him grumpy and angry. But once we got on the road he was able to calm down and we talked about the weekend. Which was really really good. And yes I did apologize for my unkind remarks.

Friday we left early. Only two hours later than our planned departure. Hubby packed the tubs and bags really well in the back of the truck and we all headed out to the site. We being Raven and family plus mine. In the three hour drive we stopped once to let the kids stretch their legs and for most of the ride Smiles was asleep. Bear nodded off too, I was the only one who was not sleeping. I have never been able to sleep in moving vehicles unless I am extremely tired.

Once at the site Raven started putting up the rest of the framing around the one last window (which just happened to be in the shop...sigh) that she had not been able to finish earlier this month. Blankshield cleaned the cabin so everything could be set up and Hubby was out back putting up the tent. Or should I say realizing he had left the tent poles behind because he left it to his old roommate to pack the tent up at the last camping trip he had. Me I was minding the children until Blankshield finished tiding up the cabin. Then he took over and I started putting up the cloaks for display. All the while Raven was finishing the framing on the window.

So what about the tent? Well luckily for us The Crazy Lady of the Woods and her husband had set up an old tent of theirs already. It was empty and they allowed us to use it for the weekend. It was an old canvas one and they keep things toasty warm. It was windy the first night out there too. So Hubby got everything set up inside and made supper for everyone. He had made a large pot of chili earlier this week and we brought a big bowl of it out with us. Saturday he cooked us steaks! Yum! The first night cloaks sales were okay, but enough money was made by both Raven and I that we had some spending money. Which means I let Hubby go buy the belt that he wanted to get last year but we couldn't afford because I bought my dress. I also let him buy a nice dagger that he wanted. Then he bought the kids some toys.

Saturday I woke up not feeling well after having to go to the bathroom about five times already that night. My digestive tract apparently was still in no shape to handle solids very well but was trying to fool me by allowing me to eat solid foods. Sigh! In other words diarrhea. After the purge I was still able to do things but mostly ended up minding the shop during the hot part of the day. Hubby was awesome and not only did his part of minding the kids (all five of the them - our two and Raven's three). He also helped with the dishes and just in general minding things. I was really proud of him and happy to have him as part of the team. He was allowed to wander and go off by himself sometimes but he was never gone very long and would come back to help out some more. Raven and I were very happy because this meant we all were able to take turns looking after the kids and yet we still had someone who was able to look after the shop at all times.

I have to laugh because I honestly think Blankshield made the most sales for us. He was able to look after the shop alot if Raven and I were doing other things (like potty breaks or naps or kid chasing C-Man was fast this year even Raven had trouble catching him some times). I think it also helped that this year our friend Fox sent some leather works with us. Belts, Frogs (sword holders for those scabbards that don't come with hooks for belts) and Bracers. Those got more gentlemen into the shop and of course once they're there they have to look at the rest of the items. Whee! It was a good weekend for sales. All in all I do not think I broke even but it was darn close and I sold almost all of one of the three categories for the cloaks. There are blanket cloaks (squares or rectangles of cloth that can be drapped or held together with a cloak pin. They have the added bonus of being blankets at night. Hence the name blanket cloaks). There are the hanging cloaks - the unlined, the lined, the wool and the fur cloaks. This was where I was left with one cloak left, YeeHaa! Gives me lots of work to do for next year. GRIN. Then there is the children's and hoods section.

Almost all of the hoods were gone and 3/4's of the hanging cloaks were gone. The children's cloaks (which we were not really expecting to sell anyways) did not do very well and only one of the blanket cloaks sold. So next year we know to make more wool cloaks, lined cloaks and full circle cloaks. Oh and bog coats. All of ours sold, even the one I made that came out a little wonky. Almost all of the hanging cloaks were gone this year and it was not that cold or wet unlike the last time all the cloaks sold.

Mind you it was pretty darn chilly Saturday night and I had to use two of the blanket cloaks on the children so they would not freeze that night. Not that it did much good for Bear who decided to keep rolling off the air mattress and sleep on the ground. Sigh that boy! I think I finally tried to just keep the blanket cloak on the ground so that the next time he rolled off he would not be directly on the ground. He did have his sleeping bag mind you so he wasn't completely in contact with the ground but still a sleeping bag does not keep cold creep from the ground out.

Anyways the weekend was a good one and the only reason why we decided to come home early was because of health issues. My digestion problems and Raven's Asthma. The lady who was using the kitchen(I use this term very loosely here) between The Crazy Lady of the Woods and Raven's cabins cooked alot of things on a BBQ. This meant a lot of smoke and Raven's lungs do not handle smoke very well. So to avoid an Asthma attack by either her or her children we left early this morning (Okay it was just after noon when we left). I am not sad. We probably lost out on some sales for this day but I would rather put our health before money. Besides we are going to need to do an awful lot of work to replenish our stock for next year. Oh and Dirt Dazzy if you read this... Your trims were wonderful and I am sure Raven and I will be ordering some more for next year's cloaks :)

On the whole Wasp Quad.. oh I forgot to mention there was lots of wasps this year and we had fun trying to keep them away from our food and kids. Bear got stung twice by a wasp and once by a horsefly. Otherwise out of all nine of us no one else got stung though there were lots of other people who did. Hubby is not sure if the mark on his hand is from a wasp or just a burn from when he was cooking so I am not counting him in. Or at least I do not remember any of Raven's family getting stung so I don't think any of them did get stung. So if I am wrong I am sure Raven will inform me. Still there were some interesting times like the hair braiding I did for a girl in the Wench War and I could probably continue but I am tired. So I think I will join Hubby soon and go to bed. G'night!