My Other Blogs and Websites

Please visit my other blogs and websites. Please check them out sometime:

The Boston Sports Nut - a blog about Boston sports teams; baseball & basketball and general sports information.

Starving Vendors - a humorous look at the lives of many vendors; I tell the real stories behind a lot of events. You will find a lot of humorous (made up=Bull) material in here. Loads of information also.

DandL Creations - our main website. We shell custom-made shell necklaces at a great price and offer wrap-around skirts, shoulder-sling bags, fannypacks and a whole lot more. I have a listing of events that we do and provide reviews of our events we have participated in over the past three years. Serious reading material and funny too!!!

The Road Warrior - my blog about some of our travels. We have visited all 50 states and many provinces in Canada and I would like to share some of those experiences and give recommendations and provide info.

Our Gas up to $4.51

I knew it was going to happen yesterday. When oil futures went up ten bucks last Thursday, I figured prices to go up at least 10-15 cents. Damm. And just Sunday, I had driven by another Chevron Station here in Hayward and Regular Unleaded was going for $4.35. Ouch!!!

Explanation of our Gas Prices

Actually, there is absolutely no explanation for what is really is... price gouging. However, here are a series of charts which show 'everbody's take' on a gallon of gas. I find the chart quite interesting......especially the skyrocketing amounts the refineries are now making. This last week their profits increased from $.40 to $.76 per gallon. So, now you know exactly where that extra $.36 you are paying is going.

http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/margins/index.html

Please pay attention to the fact that it is the DEMOCRATS that are voting down every Bush plan to obtain oil from other sources. So, if you vote in Obamavondamma, you can probably expect oil prices to even skyrocket more because we will become increasingly dependent upon foreign oil (and the Alaskan slope, which will run out eventually). Got to drill, people... drill!!!

Inhaling Helium-filled balloons

While at the Hercules Cultural Festival there was a business in back of me giving away free helium-filled balloons. Child after child came over to get one and many of them would open them up and suck in the helium, enabling them to talk like 'Donald Duck'.

A while back, I read something explaining the dangers of inhaling helium (nitrous oxide). Sure, we all have done it many times and it does get kind of funny. However, I just did some research on inhaling helium (search Google yourself and see what you come up with) and found that this is indeed a dangerous practice. I have never myself seen anything happen to somebody inhaling helium and I do not want to be a party pooper, but reality is that.

Here is just one of the stories I read.

A 10-year-old in New Jersey child collapsed at a birthday party after sucking helium from a balloon. Is helium really that dangerous? It can be. Breathing in pure helium deprives the body of oxygen, as if you were holding your breath. If you couldn't breathe at all, you'd start to die in minutes—as soon as your body exhausted the supply of oxygen stored in the blood. But helium speeds up this process: When the gas fills your lungs, it creates a diffusion gradient that washes out the oxygen. In other words, each breath of helium you take sucks more oxygen out of your system. After inhaling helium, the body's oxygen level can plummet to a hazardous level in a matter of seconds.

You don't have to worry about fatal asphyxiation if you're sucking from a helium balloon at a party. At worst you'll keep going until you get lightheaded and pass out—at which point you'll stop inhaling helium and your body's oxygen levels will return to normal.

Link to dangers of inhaling helium

And another link

This blog contains a lot of information for vendors and I provide information regarding festivals, A&C Shows, etc. Basically, people who participate in or go to shows and festivals are the ones reading this. When your child runs over to get one of those helium-filled balloons, please be sure that they do not inhale the helium (or you either) and if you see a business giving away the ballons and you notice kids opening the balloons and inhaling the helium, please let them know that something bad could happen to them.

It's nice for businesses to give away the balloons to the kids...... kind of a 'pacifier' for some etc. But I think that these people that do give away the ballons have to post some kind of 'disclaimer' or a notice informing parents/kids that inhaling helium is unsafe. It is a shame though, that nothing will ever be done until there is a casualty at a festival someplace and parents lose a loved one.

Slat grids for sale

I have 8 5-foot tall slatgrids for sale. Excellent condition. $13.00 apiece. I live in the SF Bay Area (Hayward) and you have to pick them up. Going to put them up on Craig's list soon. Email me at dstefa4621@aol.com

You can use regular grid hooks, etc. and also slat hooks, etc.

Hercules Cultural Festival

Hercules Cultural Festival, Hercules, CA June 7-8

Did this event for the first time in about 10 years and hopefully will not do it next year. Mostly local vendors, but there were some 'professionals'. only 25 miles away for us and I would never ever recommend traveling for this one. Booths were in quads, which was nice and I highly recommend that all promoters consider this. However, not much room between the booths and they could have been spread out a bit more, since this was held in a park.

This is an okay community event, but not any good for vendors. No admission fees, but still crowds were down, from what people told me. On Saturday, a couple other vendors told me that they'll have much bigger crowds on Sunday. I don't know about that. Seemed like less people. People mostly just sat around and listened to the music, socializing, etc. Will need to file a 'missing persons' report on this one. There were some food booths, but I never saw much of a line at any of them.

Some vendors who have done this show previously (but not now) referred to this as being another 'flea market', but I wouldn't say it was that bad. People just weren't buying and some of them were bickering,etc. But I must say that there were a number of kids who were untamed.

Oh Lucky Me!!! High Winds at Parker Bluegrass Festival this past March

Just spoke to one of my fellow vendors who informed me that he did the Parker Bluegrass Festival back in late Feb-early March. He spoke of 70mph winds there on Saturday night. When vendors returned on Sunday moring virtually every canopy had been toppled over and merchandise was all over the place. Wow. I guess you really can't do anything when you have winds over 50 MPH. Impossible to weigh things down.We had done this show a couple 5-6 years ago and it wasn't really an income-producing event. However, it is held in a very attractive location.

During that same weekend, we were originally schedule to do another event in Parker, but fortunately, the show was cancelled due to lack of vendors. Thank gosh...ohhh lucky me!!!!

IMPORTANT, but not IMPORTANT: To my understanding, this event will no longer be held in Parker, as they have raised the promoter's fees 150 percent. I guess everybody is into price gouging nowadays. It will not take place in Lake Havasu. However, don't come looking for us there.

Caravan Canopy Replacement parts

To order replacement parts for your Caravan Canopy, you can check out the following website:

Caravan Canopies

Over the past several years I have purchased a number of replacement trusses and other smaller parts from them.

CARAVAN CANOPY INT’L 14600 Alondra Blvd.La Mirada, CA 90638toll-free: 1-877-922-6679 phone: 1-714-367-3000fax: 1-714-367-3050 Email: info@caravancanopy.com

Nevada Festivals and Events

Just came across a great website that lists quite a number of events in Nevada. Name of event, description, booth fee, #of vendors, phone numbers and websites. Looks like a really great resource. This website also shows events in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. NOTE: The version of the website shows events for 2007 and I was unable to find 2008.


Nevada Festivals

Excellent publication

The best publication that lists shows in the Western part of the US is Craftmaster News. It lists thousands of events taking place in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona and other states.

A great resource for vendors. Published bi-monthly and they have on-line listings. http://www.craftmasternews.com/ When doing events, I tell a lot of people about this wonderful guide. A bit expensive, but a good investment.

Gassed out!!! Chevron up to $4.41 in Hayward

Oh my gosh.... just drove past our Chevron station and the price of unleaded regular (or whatever you want to call it) is now at $4.41. Second big Monday increase in a row. America...we are getting screwed, tarred, feathered... the whole shabang!! Just don't know what to do.

Oregon County Fairs

There are a number of resources to find county fairs in Oregon. http://www.craftmasternews.com/ has listings. Also, the website http://www.oregonfairs.org/dates.htm lists all the County Fairs in Oregon with detailed information, size, dates, fees, etc. Excellent.