I had to be up at 4:15am for a market I was doing so I woke up cheerful and took the boys outside for a good 15 minutes. It seemed like my day was going to be ok.
I get to work and I like to go to the Hess station across the street to get some fluids and a couple munchies for the day and 2 glazed doughnuts. Normally they have to get them from the back for me but today they were all in the correct place so I took my 2 doughnuts and got in the truck to head to the market.
I was starving since I was too lazy to walk across the yard to the kitchen last night to get me something to eat before bed so I take a bite of this supposedly wonderful doughnut and it was sticky and stale. I took it in strides and just put it back in the bag and ate the snickers I bought for my afternoon snack.
I kept telling myself today was going to be a good day. I had a nice conversation with the lady who rides with me and I drop off at her market on the way to my market. All seemed to go well. I get to her market and unload and head on my way. I was actually a little early so I thought all was right with the world.
I get to my market and I had to wait a couple minutes while another truck unloaded and moved... when they moved I saw this vehicle parked in my spot. I thought it was one of the other vendors but it was there from the night before and the other vendors called the police a few times before I got there for it to be towed... that is really the market managers job but he is another story all together.
So the vendor across from me told me to unload all of my stuff and park my truck and when they tow the car I can set up. So I did... but while unpacking I found out 1 of the 2 tables they gave me was broken. I should really have 3 tables but I use a piece of wood they pack as the third table... which doesn't work so well when you only have 1 working table.
all my stuff next to the bad car
Almost an hour went by before the tow truck man came and got it towed away. I again thought all is right with the world just a bit of a bump.
bye bye car
I go to set up my tent and something just didn't seem right... all of a sudden I hear the click of metal hitting pavement... yep, the tent was broken. Luckily another vendor taped it up so I could use it. By this time I thought today is just an off day but it will get better.
So I had to figure out a way to use 1 table, a broken tent and the trays the food was on to set up my market. Well, to say the least it was less than desirable. I could of found a way to use the 2nd table but it was in the truck parked a few blocks away... by this time I was just using what I had.
the odd looking setup of my market
then it started to rain and rain and rain
this was a brief break in the rain
I can deal with the rain... no problem. I have ridden Blue through some scary storms and heavy rains... but when the tornado watch came about I wasn't too sure I wanted to be at a market with 16 tents and mine was the only one weighted down. I have seen those tents fly across a huge parking lot... 3+ at a time. Being right in the middle of the market it seemed like it was not the best place. Then the tornado watch turned into a warning. I don't know what is up with people in the east... guess they don't understand the difference between a watch and a warning. The air was still and I knew this could be trouble... especially for someone like me who is having such an off day. Everyone else thought the weather was all good and a tornado warning was nothing at all.
On a side note... when I went to school at Belmont University in Nashville, TN for a semester we were in a tornado warning one day... the house mother came to my dorm room and said "we are in a tornado warning... stay put and I will let you know if we need to do anything"... no joke... as I lived on the third floor and being from Nebraska and knowing better I wandered into the bathroom where the dorm mother found me again. She asked what I was doing and I told her "in Nebraska we learn that in a tornado warning you take cover... since you don't think it is necessary I am going to stay in here and wait til I hear the toilets suck so I know when the tornado is going to hit"... that got her attention and within minutes we were in the basement. That day a huge tornado went thru downtown Nashville... not all that far from where I was in the dorms.
I also had a tornado go right by the place I was living in West Park, NY. Luckily it was a small one and the guy that lived in the area said they get them every once in a while. It took out our electricity and a HUGE tree... my boys were home alone at the time. I came home and couldn't drive up to the house.
I had to walk thru the woods to get around this tree to get to my house.
Back to my current day... I still don't understand why people don't take tornado warning seriously... do they not know the difference between a watch and a warning?? Do they think there is going to be something after the warning before the tornado??
So for those of you who do not know the difference between a watch and warning... let me give you some life saving knowledge from Wikipedia.
Tornado Watch: is issued when conditions are right for a tornado to form. (in my opinion still ok for a farmers market but be ready to pack up or seek shelter)
Tornado Warning: is an alert issued by weather services to warn that severe thunderstorms with tornadoes may be imminent. It can be issued after a tornado or funnel cloud has been spotted by eye, or more commonly if there are radar indications of tornado formation. When this happens, the tornado sirens may sound in that area, letting people know that a tornado was seen or is forming nearby. Issuance of a tornado warning indicates that residents should take immediate safety precautions. (in my opinion not exactly the time to be in the middle of a farmers market with tents and other projectiles all around)
On a side note... there is also a Tornado Emergency which is usually with the severe weather statement: generally means that significant, widespread damage is expected to continue and a high likelihood of numerous fatalities is expected with a large, strong to violent tornado. (definitely not the time to be in the middle of the farmers market)
On with my story... so to say the least as I am not insured by the company and not paid well enough to be in the middle of the farmers market during a tornado I decided I was done for the day and packed up and headed to pick up the other lady. All the other vendors said they would just go in the door way if the tornado should come... again... obviously these are people who know nothing about tornados.
I get to the other market to help the other lady finish and pack up. I told her of my off day and I was going to go across the street quick to use the restroom... I didn't get 10ft away and my bad luck struck her as her tent fell over from the wind and then it started to rain with all the products in the open to get rained on. So we quickly packed and headed back.
Somehow thus far I was still smiling... even one of the other vendors at my market said she was impressed I was still smiling. I just kept thinking this has got to be over soon.
We had over an hour drive back to where we drop off the truck... we get to the Kingston exit and I look down at the fuel gage and we were on empty... when normally we are half full. Who knows how long we were on empty but thankfully we made it back to the Hess station across the street from the bakery.
I dropped off the truck turned in my market bag and I thought for sure this no good, very bad day was going to be over.
I walk over to Blue who is parked in the parking lot at the next house over. I take off her cover and go to put it in the saddle bag... when I open the saddle bag the handle fell off.
A picture of the broken handle to my saddle bag... which has been leaking for over a year and have taken to multiple Harley and motorcycle shops to get fixed... they obviously did not fix the issue or even checked to see if the handle was on correctly... there were 5 places for screws with only 2 screws being used. Talk about my screws being loose. I really thought I was going to loose it. Luckily my boss drove up and he told me how I could fix it quickly and gave me the tools to do so. Very thankful for him!
I got her fixed and headed home... I decided since I was having such a no good, very bad day I would treat myself to a beer and burger at the Red Brick Tavern in Rosendale...one of my new favorite places to go for a cold beer and burger. It is also where my traveler friend works... but he didn't come in til later that evening... but there was another great bartender there who took great care of me. She was having what she called a stupid day. She kept forgetting everything so we both knew what we were going thru.
Cold Stella
My beer and burger were great and so I thought things were looking up.
Rain had started a bit when I was eating but when I opened the door to leave it seemed to be a light rain until I stepped out from under the canopy where the clouds opened up and dumped loads of water on me. Well, by this point in time I just started laughing... and I laughed the short ride home on Blue... and I laughed thru the rain to my little shack to drop off my stuff. Then I thought it would be good to cover up Blue for the night with extra precaution since I didn't want my no good, very bad day to harm Blue. So I went out with a blanket and put that under her cover... while I was out there I see this bright light out of the corner of my eye and the loudest crack of thunder... I literally jumped... quickly finished covering up Blue and ran to my little shack where I stayed until the rain pretty much passed. I surely didn't want to be struck by lightning.
Now that I look back on the day I just laugh out loud because it doesn't happen all that often but sometimes you need a no good, very bad day to keep you on your toes.
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