Updates

1. I've updated the "In Stock" list on my website four times this week. Orders keep coming in; three to ship, three more picked up here at home. Looking forward to the last day of Holiday Market, Saturday, so I can get some rest.

2. In the meantime, I'm working on a new teddy bear, for a new grand-niece. Found a swath of dark brown fur in the closet that had never been cut, so I'm pretty sure her bear is a different color than her big sister's. Photos to follow.

3. Just crossed my 100th post on Instagram, currently 180 followers. I know to some folks, this is small potatoes, but I'm feeling pretty chuffed.

Drowned

I was bopping back and forth to the computer all day yesterday, checking my email. I'd gotten two inquiries about purchases, but was still waiting on final decisions so I could pick out and pack the pots. In particular, a customer from Portland wanted two soup bowls, patterns chosen, but hadn't made a decision on which Christmas ornament to come with. (I no longer make them, but still have some stock in the shed. Was waiting to learn which dog ornament he wanted.) 

Finally heard from him by phone, around 4:30 pm. Told him I had to pack and weigh it to determine postage, would call back in an hour for payment.

I had the perfect size box, got the whole order bubble-wrapped and boxed and shipping label bought in half an hour. Quick check online showed the local UPS store open 'til six, so I had an hour to get it there.

Now, it had been raining all day yesterday. And the day before. I bundled up, grabbed the box, and went out the door, headed for the car... when I noticed the rain had stopped. So I made the first of several bad choices.

I ducked back inside, grabbed my helmet, and unlocked the trike.

My Schwinn Meridian has a big wire cargo basket in back. Oregon being Oregon, I've slipped a 12x18" flip top plastic tub inside to protect cargo from rain and road splatter. The box fit nicely inside, with the lid just about closed. I took off the bike chain and slid it into the basket, but outside the tub, and pedaled off, lights and flashers going.

Of course, it started to rain again, spatters at first, but by the time I'd gone six blocks, it was a steady shower. Somewhere along halfway there I heard a weird, metallic schwinnggg noise and coasted for a bit, afraid I'd lost the chain (this used to happen regularly before I fixed a sprocket attachment). But we kept moving when I resumed pedaling, so I concluded I'd just caught a branch in the wheel spokes, and kept going.

Got to the UPS store and discovered my bike chain was missing. That noise? The sound of a reinforced cable lock sliding through the holes in a wire-frame basket. Feeling worried, I left my trike unsecured at the bike stand and took my package inside.

There was a line, of course. I stood fidgeting, glancing back over my shoulder to see if trike was still there. Finally got to the counter, gave them the box--Drop off, already paid, don't need a receipt, thanks!--and dashed back outside.

At this point, it's pouring. Pissing down in buckets. I'm wearing wool sox in Birkies, jeans, denim jacket and wool hat. No part of me is not sodden, and I can't just bike home, I have to go home, turn around, and go back, looking for my lock. Between the rain and fogged lenses, I can barely see, and my bike headlight is at the wrong angle to actually illuminate the pavement in front of me. Streetlights aren't a lot of help; as I pass beneath one, it flickers and goes out, like something in a horror novel.

I do find the chain, eventually, about a block north of Walgreens, in the dark zone of the dead streetlight but backlit by oncoming headlights. I throw it in the tub, turn around and ride home on the sidewalk, traffic rules be damned. Squelch into the house and call the customer to get his payment.