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The Barn on White Run
Easing Back In – Polissoir Edition
After more than a month being out of commission, between family gatherings and what my dear old Dad would call “the epizootic,” as of yesterday I am back in full swing. Not quite full strength and speed, but that will come with ongoing activity.
I am now fully caught up with all my orders of polissoirs, waxes, and videos. Interestingly, for the first time in many years I got zero orders for Christmas gifts (the buyers always tell me). I’m looking forward to getting my PayPal annual statement, I am expecting that this past year I only sold half as many as the year before. Perhaps the market is saturated. Given that at this point it is just barely even a hobby I am fine with that. In looking backward, I noticed that the shipping/postage costs for my first order more than a decade ago was $2.97, padded mailer included. My latest per unit shipping cost is now approaching $8 for padded envelope and postage. Good thing it is not a growing enterprise on which I am pinning my retirement hopes!
At the moment my greatest concern is my supply. My broom maker has also been under the weather and unable to make any new inventory since the beginning of November. If this continues, I’ll soon be out of stock. Fortunately, I spoke to him this week and he is confident he can be back in his own shop in a week or so.
Wish him well. Perhaps now he will take me and his wife seriously when we implore him to train a successor.
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Easing Back In
After being out of the loop for the past three weeks I’m finally easing back into the world of donsbarn.com. My first stretch of being out of circulation was sublime as the clan gathered to celebrate the Incarnation. An extra special treat were the hours spent in my basement workshop with two of my little guys, repairing toys and explaining all the tools. That tradition will continue for the rest of my life.
The second interruption was pretty ridiculous as I’ve been fighting Fauci Flu for the past two weeks, including a bizarre visit to a clinic that refused to offer any pharmaceutical response strategy other than some piddly cough drops.
Anyway, I recently reflected on the fact that two of my most faithful blog correspondents, PM and PM, have nearly the exact same name and they are a great source of things for me to look at. This video came from that route and is immensely entertaining.
Looking forward to resuming a vigorous schedule of activities here in Shangri-la.