To Market or Not to Market

That is truly the question, and the answer is, NOT! We really wavered back and forth on this one, for a number of reasons. First, we don't want to miss a market because we prepare all week for it, and missing it means a week without the income, which in turn goes to support our fabulous opulent lifestyles. On the other hand, missing the market means one extra day of our lives given back to us, and that's "not nothing."

This time around, we had valid reasons for concern, and we informed the manager accordingly and she understood. As usual, all week long the weather was beautiful and then the forecast went south on market day, calling for thunderstorms all day. The question was, would they be right? In weeks past the forecast was wrong and sometimes it worked out for us, and other times we got slammed. This time around the weather was pretty definitive, but what does that really mean? The reality is, they just can't be 100% correct when it comes to the weather, but they can get reasonably close.

We gave the manager a head's up that we might not make it, and then sat and waited. The evening before market it was beautiful, but the forecast still said thunderstorms. By the morning, it was still beautiful, but the chances of rain had gone up to 80%, so we bailed out. The weather was stable until about an hour into the market, and then it started raining in buckets. It rained a lot, but the worst part was, it rained for at least half the market, and we were glad we weren't out there, especially with all that hot oil. I felt bad for the guys who did show up, but on days like that, I think they should cancel the market. It's not that fair to the vendors, who put in all that time and effort for nothing.

Oh well, we knew the deal when we signed on. I was looking at the long range forecast and it's calling for beautiful weather until, you guessed it, market day. Let's hope things change in the coming days.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Anne Lise Heinrichs for the pic.