Arizona, 2016

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Vacation is sadly over, and we have arrived at our first Renaissance Faire of the season, in Gold Canyon, AZ.  We are in our camp spot and all hooked up...and its going to be a Jack In The Box taco night!

Let the new chapter begin!  LOTS of work to do before opening day...which is the weekend after next.

Kev

[HandyDan]

Glad to see you made it successfully.  Tell us what it feels like to have warm weather and blue skies.  Hope you have great sales season at the Faire.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Thanks Dan!  Clear skies and while cold at night, it is already around 50 degrees with no humidity.  Gotta love Arizona in the winter!

Kev

[Rickf1985]

I will gladly trade you some of my two feet of humidity! Supposed to be warm enough to start melting during the day but low teens at night which means ice which stays longer than snow. Well, as I said in closing on your vacation thread, hopefully you have a drier and more profitable year this year and I hope to be able to meet you once you hit the East coast.

Rick

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

Oh wow, Jack-In-The-Box tacos.  Man that has been like forever!  I can even remember what they taste like.

[legomybago]

Yeah, they are delicious, but full of mystery meat.. W%

Dump a bunch of there taco sauce on them....yum

[kenwautoone]

Yeah just wait 15 minutes........

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Thanks Rick!  Looking forward to meeting you as well.  And the tacos were delicious!

Today is going to be a whole lot of setup.  Workshop and fencing in the porch for the pups.  Which will take most of the day, if not into tomorrow.

But first...coffee!!!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

It took all day, about 250.00, and over 250 zip ties...but our porch is now enclosed by a 6 foot tall 10x20 chainlink fence with a gate.  Happy pups!!!

Yesterday I set up the workshop carport and set up the workshop and ordered materials for catapult production.

And tomorrow we set up our Underhill Pavilion sales tent and get it all prettified...and the next day, we go right into full production for opening weekend, which is the weekend after next.

Busy busy!!!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

The booth tent is completely set up, as are the tables.  We are ready to open except for building more stock...which starts tomorrow!

Kev

[Rickf1985]

Movin' right along, the vacation must have been quite rejuvenating.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Workshop is fully wired in, and all materials inventoried...and all materials bought today.  Hobby Lobby, Lowes, and Home Depot.  Tomorrow, the catapult production begins in full swing!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

HUGE wind and rain storm in Arizona last night.  Winds were up to 70 mph, and the rain came down in buckets!  We made it through the storm just fine, as did our workshop carport and our Underhill Pavilion that we use for sales.  A lot of other folks weren't nearly as lucky with their tents.  It was a wild ride!  The only bad thing that happened was that our satellite TV went out half way through The Avengers:Age of Ultron, just when the movie was getting really good...lol!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Long long day in the workshop again...and huge piles of saw dust were made...lol!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

And more piles of sawdust were created today, while Patti finished building over 80 mousetrap catapults.  First day with my 2 new workshop employees, boyfriend and girlfriend, and I am quite happy with their performance.  A LOT got done today, and they picked it up quickly.  Good kids!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

We finished up the whole run around 5pm this evening, having filled up the rather large stain rack three whole times.  We are FULLY stocked, and ready for opening day tomorrow morning!  Massive piles of sawdust were created this week.



I'll have to get up early though.  I have to bring the plethora of marshmallows to the booth, as well as the catapults that are now on the stain rack, and set up the tables for opening day.  Then I have to groom the beard and shave the dome and shower...and find our costumes and whatnot.

Perfect weather for this opening weekend in Arizona!!!  We are pretty excited, and ready to go! 

Kev

[Rickf1985]

Shave the dome? All the pics I have seen of you you had longish hair. I can't picture a shaved head fitting in with the Renaissance theme.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

LOL Rick!  I've been shaving my dome clean for about a year now.  I was getting too thin on top and decided shaving it was a better alternative than looking like Gallager, or doing the Trump comb-over...lol!

Opening day at the Arizona Renaissance Festival was a lot of fun, although it was the slowest opening day we've ever had at this show.  Good times were had by all though!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Overall, this was the slowest and least profitable opening weekend we've ever had at the Arizona Renfaire, even though the weather was perfect.  Ah well.  It gets a lot better from here, and we still had a lot of fun!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Not much to report, other than that its been unusually warm here in Arizona for this early in the season.  Mid 80s, and is supposed to stay that way for at least a week.  I have my workers doing prep work in the shop on small parts, since we don't have to assemble anything this week...although I'll probably knock out a ballista or two tomorrow.

Kev

[Elandan2]

Doooon't complain!!  We're looking at the coldest temps of the winter up here.  Trade ya!

[DRMousseau]

I do read these,.... and with MUCH interest too!

And while my garage/workshop is limited to one bunk "in the basement",... projects are rather limited (next one, will be assembling a custom electric beach bike, in a couple weeks).

But on occasion, the galley table becomes a hobby/craft center!!!! And thought this may be of interest, as I jus completed my latest table-top model last week,.... ready to lay siege to any "Lego Castles" in range!!! Superballs can be devastating!!!

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Nice little floating arm trebuchet there, amigo!  I've been thinking of scaling down my larger ones to a small and more affordable size for my collectors.

Three day weekend coming right up!  Although President's Day is typically a VERY slow day.

Kev

[DRMousseau]

Designed it on Sketchup first, a mini-punkin' chunker! Jus right for those candy-corn punkin's ya see during Halloween, and threw away at Christmas.

I was actually thinkin' of scalin' this one up later this summer, for outdoor use when I return to MI. Somethin' that'll handle snowballs, water balloons, tomatoes and apples,... grandkids and I gotta stay outa trouble someway!

Built a two-seat stockade as a fund raiser a few years back. Seat a select celebrity, and lock their ankles in the blocks so they don't move much,... 3 shaving-cream Pies for $5!!! Good clean summer-time fun!!! ok,... so sometimes a jello-pie got sneaked in!

[ClydesdaleKevin]

The three day weekend was great overall...which is a comfort, since opening weekend was so bad.  Onward we go!

Kev