What your 'oil money' has bought them!

Each week I will be posting pictures of Dubai, the city that we have paid for with our oil money!!

Mt. Shasta 4th of July Celebration

Sunday ended up being quite slow. Very few people showed up and vendors were sitting around with empty booths and poor sales. Don't know what you could do to bring people in. I guess everybody came around on Friday (the 4th). The main street booths were set up on Saturday morning and I imagine that people came over to see them; perhaps many returning from Friday and we did get a 'trickle' over.

Not too many tourists over the weekend and we all know why. In case you are interested, gas prices in and around town were approximately $4.67 per gallon.

Sunday seemed like a completely different show. Temperatures are beginning to warm up in the area and on Sunday, it was probably in the low-mid 90's. Expected temperatures on Tues/Wed....107 degrees- a real scorcher. Glad to be out of there that. I don't want any part of that!! Last year it got up to 110 degrees, but I guess the people in this area are used to it.

There's a lot of people who have re-located to this area and I suppose that life is a lot more pleasant, healthier, etc., than in the San Francisco Bay Area. But I just don't know about that hot weather in the summer and of course, the snow and cold in the winter. They have four seasons up here and I am sure that it is very beautiful during the winter. But it's not for me. I'll just stick it out in the Bay Area for a few more years and probably head up to Oregon, where it's not so expensive. Still looking for paradise... it's not here... be we are getting closer!!!

We've all gone to Vegas, of course and had to deal with the high temperatures there. But you are indoors most of the time but when you walk outside, a blast-furnace of hot air hits you in the face. I can not understand why somebody would move to a place like Lake Havasu and deal with those 115-120 degree temperatures. For snow-birds that would be nice for them during the winter, but summertime? You can have it.

Food Festivals in California

Ran across this website that lists a large number of food festivals in California. Whether you are a vendor or you just enjoy going to these type of festivals, then you will just love browsing through the listings.

California Food Festivals, Food Shows, Food & Wine Events, etc

Saturday in Shasta.

Today was the second day of the festival and it seemed like a completely different show. Of crowds were much less than yesterday and we had the addition of some 40 booths on the main street. Foot traffic on Castle St. was sporadic and the 'dynamics' of this event had changed. Temperatures are heading up faster than the gas prices as it was around 93 degrees today, but the cloud cover probably spared us a few degrees.

On Sunday, temps are supposed to be around 99 and we'll be heading home during the early evening. Going to be a scorcher on Tuesday and Wednesday, with expected high temps of 107. Ouch. Thank gosh we missed that by a few days.

Mt. Shasta City 4th of July Celebration

Very nice event. We arrived Thursday afternoon and set up most of our booth. The weather was great, but a little hazy from all the smoke. Temps were in the mid -80's and quite comfortable. We spent the night at a local motel and then returned to our booth around 5:30AM on Friday morning.

We were ready for everybody at 7:00, as were just about all the other vendors, expecting a large crowd from the run/walk event scheduled around 8:00. Quite a difference from last year, when temps soared to 110 degrees.

Attendence was very good today, as they started the day off with the walk/run and then had their parade. I believe that today's crowd was mostly 'locals' and there weren't too many tourists. I checked outside my motel and the parking lot outside my room is virtually empty. Maybe they have heard exagerrations of the fires up here, which are some distance away.

People...it's a beautiful weekend here in Mt Shasta City and temps are only in the mid-80's. Very nice breezed. So, come on down or up to the celebration which runs through Sunday. Many vendors over the next two days. Come on over and see us on Castle St. (D and L CREATIONS) and buy one of our popular shoulder/sling bags

Gas holding steady

Last price rise for our Chevron station came on June 11, when it rose to $4.61. So, that makes it three weeks since it budged. Calm before the storm? You guys ready for 'European style gas prices?' Price per barrel reached record highs (again) today and I guess it's just a matter of time before U-know-what happens.

Good luck people. Have a nice July 4th weekend.

How about a Betty Boop T-shirt?

We sell Betty Boop T-shirts at our events and also on our website Prices start at $12.95 for medium, $13.95 for L and $14.95 for XL. Secure on-line ordering with no hassles. Pay with credit cards, PayPal or you can mail a check.

Check out our other products on the website...custom-sized, hand-made shell and semi-precious necklaces, wrap-around skirts and more.

Mt. Shasta 4th of July Festival

COME TO MT. SHASTA CITY'S 4th of July FESTIVAL. FRI/SAT/SUN
A very nice celebration held in this scenic town. Lots to do and see!! Loads of fun. Vendors.

It's all systems go for this weekend's 4th of July Celebration in scenic Mt. Shasta City, located north of Redding. Many of the other shows in the areas west of Highway 5 have cancelled their events due to the fires, which hopefully are subsiding.

Temps are supposed to be in the mid-80's with a bit of humidity due to the smoke. Hopefully, no thunderstorms. Last year, the weather was unbearable, with temperatures soaring to 110 degrees. That was hot, my friends. Hotter than....uh uh uh.

On Friday morning, the fun-run/walk kicks off at 8:30 am, parade at noon and fireworks over over Lake Siskiyou at dusk. Booths and live music downtown on 5th and 6th and Castle Street. A big celebration for a small town! Our booth is located over there in the parking lot on Castle Street. Here's a link to the schedule of events:

http://mtshastachamber.com/chamber/4thofjuly.pdf

Chamber of commerce - other events
http://mtshastachamber.com/visitor/events.php

Another Mom and Pop bites the dust

Located in the tiny plaza at the corner of Hesperian and Middle Lane in Hayward was a store that sold mostly used clothing and other items. I visited this business a number of months ago, when we had our store to get some insight. I passed by this place many times as I left our neighborhood and seldom saw very many people in there and I really didn't think that the business was doing any good. Apparently, they emptied out the store for whatever reason and logically it looks like their lease ran out on June 30.

I feel sorry that another private entrepenour (mom & pop we could probably refer to) has gone out of business. When this property was vacant a few years ago, I gave thoughts to having our business in there, but I wasn't quite ready for it. One year ago, we did open our store, Desirable Fashions on Hesperian Blvd in Hayward (across from Kennedy Park). We spent much of July in Oregon and when we returned, preparing to move in, the McDonalds next door was demolished and their was dust, sand, rocks and ugliness all over the place. This went on for several months and they opened their new establishment just after Jan 1. By that time, we had been ruined - construction completely ruined our December sales, and we decided to close the store in late January. As time goes on, I'll go into more detail over this because there are so many things that went on over there. I'll either put bits and pieces in this blog or put the whole shabang on one of my websites.

My major problem with my store was there was no foot traffic and the other businesses were 'destinations.' Hair dresser, fish & chips, cell phones, a BAR, a BARber, etc. Biggest lesson: I needed to be next to other similar (but not the same) businesses where people good go from shop to shop.

And that was the demise of the business I began telling you about. It too needed foot traffic that plaza did not have drawing power. I've seen so many small businesses (like this one and my own) go under. The economy is very bad and with rising gas prices....it's going to get worse. Much worse? With slow sales, we had no choice but to close down. With larger businesses (Target, etc.) they merely fire the employees and move on. It's always the 'little guy' that gets hurt.

What your 'oil money' has bought them!

This is going to be a regular feature on the blog. I want you people to see for yourself what a lot of the money you are paying for gas (oil, etc.) is going toward in the country of Dubai. It has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but has to be despised by the Western World. I guess one billion dollars to them is like a million to this country? That's what it seems. They do not care about how much this stuff costs. People, this is not something out of Star Wars or come computer-generated image. This is real. This stuff is really there. Google 'Dubai' sometime. You will be amazed (and pissed). I will have more on this city as time goes along. In the meantime, to see what is on the blog, look just below and 'click' on the word 'Dubai' and you'll see all I have posted for this.

This might just be 'Paradise' but none of us can afford going there, that's for sure.

Is Scavenging a big money maker?

Or should the title of this be "How I make $50,000 a year digging through other people's trash." That is something I do not wish to try. No telling what is going to bite you!!!

I have a clean-up day coming soon whereby I set out all my 'unwanteds, furniture, toys, junk, etc.' near the curb for the local Waste Management to come by and pick up. I have been doing this for years. Many years ago, our city used to have a general clean-up day whereby EVERYBODY would participate on the very same day and there would be stuff lining curbs for miles and miles around. One evening, I was coming home from work at 12:30AM (just before the pickup) and everybody had their stuff near the street. I was two blocks from home and I could not drive down the street because there were about a dozen cars parked in the middle of the street and people were racing up and down the street looking for 'goodies'. There were cars all over the place.

I thought about putting up barricades and charging a $10.00 'rummage fee' per car to enter. Or better yet, you could put on some kind of orange jumpsuit (or bright flourescent yellow so these people can see you) stick on an official-looking patch and tell these people that they have to pay some kind of $10.00 fee for environmental something or other. With your computer, you can design and print out a legitimate-looking ID badge, run down to Office Depot and buy a good-quality (if they have good quality) ID plastic/leather ID badgeholder and attach it my shirt. And I could get away with it.

Nowadays, you schedule an appointment for your own 'personal yearly pickup,' and they come by on the designated day and haul your stuff away. Much better. They ADVISE you not to put the stuff outside until the night before or better yet, the morning of the pickup for reasons I have stated above.

On regular garbage pickup days, I see people strolling the neighborhoods rummaging through the recyclable bins and removing the things they can get quick $$$$ on and dumping them in those big black heavy-duty (re-useable) plastic bags. They usually drive older beat-up cars, so either that's a disguise or they aren't making big bucks off the stuff....just meal money so they don't have to eat Top Ramen or Cup of Noodles all the time. I suppose the 'flea market people' roll in with their pickups earlier and retrieve furniture, toys, used toilets, mirrors, etc. I live on a cul-de-sac (no exit) in a decent neighborhood and these people really scour the place. Maybe somebody wrote publications showing the best neighborhoods to do your scavenging.

Okay...now my question is... Do you think that a lot of people are making decent sums of money and do you see a lot of scavengers around? I have a lot to say about all of this, but I really do not want to take up a lot of space on this blog. Some people might not be interested in reading this. So, in a couple days, I am going to have a continuation of this topic on one of my websites: Starving Vendors and you can read to your heart's content and you can provide me with your comments on this blog for all to read.

Fil-Am Festival, Daly City

Wow. Every bit as bad as I thought it would be and worse. Got there at 6:30. They were putting up the canopies that we were being FORCED to use. Ours was still laying on the ground. No big deal, I just arrived there a little bit ahead of schedule. Set up was set to begin at 7:00. My part of the canopy was up at 7:12 and I then came on over with my van. Somewhat difficult to set up. We put up our grids, which were quite unstable, as I mentioned before and then we put up our merchandise.

Most of the crowd (crowd? What crowd?) came before noon and a large majority hung around to watch the entertainment, which was subpar until the young ladie's began performing around 1:30 and that sparked things up.

It was overcast and foggy all day long and a bit breezy at times. Common for this area... I lived in Pacifica just over the hill and in 7 months in 1981 I only saw the sun for 4 days. Not too many people arrived during the afternoon and the crowds dwindled down. Sales were poor for us and a number of the other vendors had a bad hair day also and this just not worth it. Very cheap crowd. Free admission, so would you expect? Event was held in a parking lot at Serramonte in back of Target. Kind of spread out and they could have placed booths in closer proxmity to one another.

During the latter part of the afternoon we felt the large canopy being lifted in the air and being plopped back down on the ground. Kind of like an earthquake? I thought we were goners. The wind had parachuted into the canopy and jolted it around. Canopies were not properly weighed down. My grids almost toppled over and were now leaning inward about two feet and I tried to push them back into position and wasn't able to.

A few minutes later, one of the ladie's in charge of the event just happened to be passing by and I told her what just happened with the canopies and what it did to my beautiful display. She said that she saw what happened when she was standing down on the other end. I told her that these canopies are unsafe and I was going to remove all my things tonight and not come back on Sunday. I asked for a refund for one day and replied extremely bluntly, "NO, YOU ARE NOT GETTING A REFUND.' I just shook my head. "This is not my fault, your canopies here are dangerous. They are not properly secured" She told me that the men were going to come tonight and secure the canopies better. Hell, they should have done it correctly in the first place. So, we do not return on Sunday...... that's the end of the Daly City Fil-Am Festival for us which we had been associated with for 8-9 years in the past. Salamat, arriva derchi, hasta la vista, adios, zai jian, au revoir, shalom .... GOOD BYE. And of course, did not find Paradise here either!!!