Bi-annual moving

Packing up the shop is always a challenge. After doing this at least twice a year for the past, oh, 18 years, you would think I have a system down. Not so! This is because we don't always have the same truck or trailer to work with. And this spring is challenging because I gave a lot of my tupperwares to Kevin. Larry's oldest son Kevin, came to live with us for a while after Larry had triple by-pass heart surgery on March 17, 2009, and Kevin left back in January. He packed a bunch of stuff and didn't have enough weatherproof tupperwares to put it all in, so I said "Here, use these, I'll get some more later" Did I? What do you think?

This year, as well, we are packing different things. I have decided to persue my childhood dream of drawing horses, so I am trying to pack up an artist studio as well as all the things that go with Crystal Mountain. Crystal Mountain usually just consists of lot of large jugs of oils, a box or two of punks, and 30 shoebox size plastic boxes of made incense, jewelry making stuff (small boxes), and various shipping and packing things.

This year, we have a BIG trailer to put it all in!

We also got ourselves a BIG truck to pull it with!

These are old pictures. The picture of the trailer was taken somewhere near Carls Corner in New Mexico last July on our way back to Colordo from buying it. It now has a bunch of windows and Larry has stripped out the inside and is rebuilding it. I will probably get pictures of that in the ensuing weeks. The picture of the truck is also right after we bought it, before we had the bent frame fixed. We shortened the frame and we've taken off the lettering. Eventually we will pimp it out! But we love projects. Just wish we had more energy and more hours in a day to work (without the 90+ degress thank you very much).

And that is where Erika comes in. To help with the shows and with Crystal Mountain in general, so Larry can retire and do what he wants to do, and so I can have more time to paint horses. We thought Misty would be the one to step in, but that was not ment to be. Erika has been waiting and working in the wings for 10+ years, and she is ready. But Erika has lost her internet connection this past week or so, so it looks like she will be catching up on her stories on this blog after she gets to Colorado. She is leaving in the morning for the final weekend of Tennessee, with a 40-50% chance of thunderstorms all weekend. If she can make it through this, she can make it through anything.

Best of luck, Erika.

The Mad Rush of Spring

I've been waiting for Erika to post her Tennessee adventures, but she is having problems with her internet access, so I guess it's up to me. Erika has been pretty busy at home during the week, but she says the weekends are her escapes from the responsibilites at home. I understand that. That is why renaissance festivals are so popular, even when times are tough. A chance to escape the everyday, to get away from CNN, or FOX, to forget the partisan name calling, the oil spills.

Erika hasn't had a chance to talk about her first weekend excitement. Of course the show was shut down all weekend, and she had worked her butt off getting ready for.......................................................................................nothing.

She spent the whole weekend in her motel room. Saturday evening she went to the closest Walmart for some mud boots, not knowing that the show wasn't even going to open the next day, got stuck dead in the traffic on I-24 for a while watching the water rise ever more. Sunday she said she was fine, she had her bottle of vodka and the tv and she was sittin' pretty!

She will get back online soon, and once in Colorado she will have plenty of time to talk about Tennessee as well as Colorado. Erika has never been to Colorado so Larry and I are looking forward to showing her all the high points (no pun intended). She is calling herself 'Gypsy-in-training'!

Meanwhile I have been busy trying to get everything ready to go. I've bbeen cleaning a extra set of display bottles so Larry and I can bring Crystal Mountain back to some of the little mountain shows we were attending before we got into the Colorado Renaissance Festival. But I've gone through an entire case of incense punks (10,000) in just 3 weeks - that's a lot of incense orders! And a lot of other errands, chores, distractions - you name it. So what am I doing sitting here typing a blog? So much to do, so little time....

We are looking to leave for Colorado next Tuesday, we won't know if we will be ready or not, but I guess we will load up and go in some stage of preparedness or not. Seems like ages ago since we've been there and I am SO looking forward to it! Not sure if I'll get another blog in before then, but I will get one in before the show starts.

Geez, I hope I don't forget anything.

Tennessee Renaissance Festival

The Tennessee Renaissance Festival started on May 1, 2010. Unfortuately mother nature was hitting us with a massive flood that Tennessee hasnt seen in over 100 years. The faire opened for 2 hours on Saturday, May 1 but the rains keep coming but not the customers, so the faire closed down and never reopened the first weekend. I was fortuate to have a hotel room where i spent the whole weekend high and dry til the roads opened up. After billions of dollars of damage the previous weekend, we had great weather for the second weekend a huge happy crowd gathered and there seem to be no signs that there was a massive flood the weekend before.
My first year on the road for Crystal Mountain started with alot of excitement and Im so looking forward to more adventures on the road.

A Year In A Day

May 9, 2009.  363 days ago. It has been a long and busy year.  I know you guys aren't out there reading this, but I'm writing anyway.  A lot of goals have been achieved in various forms.  Crystal Mountain is doing well at the shows and while I know the fans are out there, we only just signed up for Facebook yesterday and the fans that are 'friending' have just amazed us.  87 in 36 hours!  So that is what prompted me to write an entry.Erika, brave Erika, is heading back to Tennessee this weekend.  She will tell us all about it after she gets back.  Officially the show started last weekend, but we won't count that, with all the flooding and all.  The show was open for a whole 2 hours of what was suppose to be a 3 day weekend.  Well THAT was a bummer!  And with no disrepect for those whose have lost so much in the flooding, because to put it mildly, they had a bummer weekend too.Melissa is learning to turn our wooden aromanecklaces and she is really getting into the lathe work.  Her creations will be presented at the Colorado Renaissance Festival this summer.Misty has moved on.  She is engaged to Charlie and her heart really lies in tattoo art, which she is persueing.  Erika is making more smoking bottles and leatherwraps, Debbie is cranking out the wirewraps and stonewraps, and Larry is still building big things.  Me, I'm just working on keeping it all centered and going forward.Can't wait to hear about Erika's weekend.