Friday, 13 July 2007
Day Eleven at Bristol
Today was a multi-faceted day of odd jobs and many accomplishments. I went to sleep early enough last night that I awoke before my alarm. Breakfast, a quick visit to the glass studio to see how yesterday’s work turned out, and a walk to the parking lot to get my truck all happened pretty early. I spent quite a while finally unpacking the last of what was living in my truck, re-arranging the stuff that will be living in the trailer while I’m here, and just generally finishing my moving in process. Then there was a brief visit with our craft coordinator about some improvements I need to have done to the booth, and while I was there I got to meet PeaPod and her eleven (!) five-day-old puppies! Afternoon saw some work in the workshop, and some general booth work—a couple of new fixtures, receiving and unpacking our new product made this week in California, and a little bit of computer time where I learned that my gmail account includes an instant messenging feature! Tuna and cheese and crackers for lunch. Later in the afternoon I did some outdoor booth work, Kat and Sean brought my finished laundry back to me, and then I rushed to get to the hardware store where Kelly had taken our fire extinguishers for their annual inspection tags before closing time. And I got to chat with my mama on the way there.
On the way home, I was treated to another spectacular sunset, and this time I decided I wanted to photograph it over Lake Andrea—a little lake in a recreational park and complex in very nearby Pleasant Prairie. I pulled into the park, drove to the parking lot, parked, walked across the street, set up my pretty shot, and . . . then realized I’d left the memory card for my camera in the laptop—back at the booth.
So, hopefully there will be another pretty sunset while I’m driving home past the lake. But, tonight, instead we get a fire safety lesson! We are required to have a fully inspected, working fire extinquisher on every floor of our building. Since I live above my booth, I have two. One of mine, was manufactured in 2001—it was too old to be inspected simply, and would have cost as much to bring up to code as it cost to purchase a new one. So, a new one is what I have! My photo is of Kelly’s, and all three of mine—the two I’ll place carefully where the fire marshall wants them, and the older one that I’ll probably put in the trailer to take home. I’m told that for residential use there is no inspection required, and the old one will be just fine there. But, in a business setting, there are all sorts of hoops to jump through to make the bureaucrats happy. Incidentally, our fire marshall taught me years ago, that the best place for your fire extinguisher is as close to the door as possible, so you can grab it on the way out!
Fire is a much-dreaded f-word in any setting, but at a Renaissance Festival it’s a fear we take very seriously. We might try to avoid playing by some societal rules now and then, but fire safety is practically a religion!
~MB
