Home Show

Late nights.
Choose a color.
No, we're not going to do that one.
What do you mean you're not going to make a sample? We've never done this before.
No time for a sample. It won't dry in time.
Some fights.
I don't think I've got enough plaster to cover this much space.
Fans blowing.
Got to get the next layer on.
Brenda's stressing because it doesn't look "good".
Can't help it now, we're out of time.
We were supposed to be there an hour ago.
It will have to do.
Pack it into the trailer and haul it to the show.
Maybe it's time to redesign the booth. This is too much work.
Find our space. Unload. Carpet is too long. What's going on?! Our space is only 18 feet. Our walls are 19' 6" and made of wood. They won't shrink. Talk to the head honcho. Problem solved.
Set it up. Where are the bolts? The colors look different here. Where's the extension cord? Do the lights work? This piece needs a layer of wax, it looks pale. Brenda still doesn't like it. Doesn't look good enough. Well, it's the best we could do. Next year we'll do it better. Start earlier. Do something to "wow" them.


This is our typical pre-home show week. And the list above was edited to fit better on your screen. There are endless details, and we are always scrambling to get things dry in time to take to the show.
The piece Brenda thought was not good enough is the star of the show. (This is not the first time this has happened.) Several people gave us positive feedback. One lady said our walls were far superior to the other 2 faux finish displays. Today the traffic was steady but not overwhelming. After seeing and hearing how people respond when they see our booth we abandoned our thoughts of re-designing it. Every year it's a lot of work, but we'll be back, I'm sure.

Ragtime in Kansas City

I never thought that "Ragtime" and "flute" would be used in the same sentence let alone the same performance, but Jeff and Anne Barnhart make it work. Dale bought tickets to the performance at a fund-raising silent auction in Ft. Scott. The concert was sponsored by the Kansas City Ragtime Revelry. Jeff interspersed the history of some of the songs and their composers throughout the performance. Anne played the flute and acted as straightman to Jeff's humor. She performed the song "Summertime" while leaning inside the grand piano. The piano strings began to sing in sympathetic vibration to the notes of the flute. The sound was hauntingly beautiful.
Brenda & I were definitely the youngest people there. Of the 100 or so attendees I would guess the average age to be over 75.

MS 150: Winds and Bonking

Last Saturday and Sunday I rode the MS 150 in Topeka. The route on Saturday started at Heartland Park Racetrack. We began the ride with a trip down the dragstrip and then a lap around the road race course. Black marks showed where drivers going much faster than I was had lost control and spun into the grass.
I rode out to Eskridge with a nice tailwind, making great time. But the wind gives and takes away. The return trip was into the wind. I finished 85 miles by 3:30 and headed back to KC to have dinner with the group I fell in with on the BAK this summer. One of them made a DVD from the pictures we had taken. Brenda told me before I left to make sure I was in the pictures I took and not just get pictures of scenery. So most of the ones I submitted to Kyle (the guy who did the DVD) had me in them. An embarassing number of the picturs on the DVD had me in them.
Sunday I was back in Topeka for the 2nd day of riding. The sunrise pictured is from Sunday. We rode from Topeka to Clinton lake. The winds were lighter, but the hills were many and steep. Most of the riders chose the 50 mile option and were finished long before I got in. There were only a handful of riders behind me. I didn't eat enough at the rest stops and was "bonking" at about 50 miles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonk_(condition) I did make it to the next rest stop and ate enough sugar to put me in orbit on a regular day and damn the trans-fat. Eating all that sugar was like buying gas for your car in Mexico: it runs, but not very well. I made it the next 20 miles to the finish, but could tell I had low-octane fuel in my tank.

Last Supper Group

Food from the grill, good wine, fellowship: these are why we joined the Last Supper Group, one of our church's small groups. Tim and Jean Sigler have the gift of hospitality and a large grill that cooks everything from capons to pizza. Friday was our next-to-last meeting until February and fajitas were the theme of the evening.
Brenda was working west of Parkville and had to add another layer to the finish she was doing. She wanted to finish the job and did not plan for the finish to look purple after it dried. Sometimes you just can't plan for everything. She drove home to get product for the final layer to fix the finish. While at home she chopped 3 lbs. of onions and lots of peppers. She finished up the job and met me at Sigler's. I brought the peppers and onions. We always have a blast helping get the food cooked and talking with whoever shows up for the evening. We are blessed to have such an opportunity to make connections with people from the church.