Send Me Some Lemons

This will be another one of those brief reports as I’m at the farm for less than 24 hours again.

Tank and I worked the auction at Richmond from Big Red for the first time.  All went well and of course, all of the regulars had to come look at Big Red and make their comments.

I left Tank to work Amelia with Jean and headed for Harrisonburg.  I got to JMU Friday evening in time to set up Big Red and then crashed at Peggy’s.

Saturday was the JMU-U Mass game.  Both top ten teams.  A really close game was expected so I assumed that our sales might be down a bit like it was last year for the Richmond game when the game was so close that everyone stayed in the stands and didn’t visit vendor row.  I told Leigh, our cashier/Aramark girl (a JMU student from Lynchburg) not to count on a whole lot.

WRONG!

Would you believe we went thru 148 lemons and 25 lbs of sugar.  That was before halftime!  I’ve never done more than that at any of the football games I’ve done.

Thankfully, Janet and Brian, our two main Aramark contacts pulled some strings and did me a huge favor.  By early in the second half, they had another case of lemons and 100 lbs of sugar delivered to Big Red so we could get back in the lemonade business.  Because of the heat, our funnel cake sales and corndogs were down, but only slightly.  In the end, we set a new record for JMU games and came close to our old record at Liberty.

Peggy did very little other than squeezing lemons.  By the end of the night, she looked like a lemon. But it was a great game.

Sunday, Monday and today, I worked at Dayton Walmart.  Our Walmart sales are way down this fall.  Probably due to the economy and the price of gasoline.  They were decent days, but nothing great.

Tomorrow, I move all of our equipment to Amelia in preperation for the VDKA Race on Saturday.  Then back to the farm to pick up Big Red and move it to Richmond for the auction on Friday.  Tank will be there.

Friday night we’re opening at Amelia for a big practice session.  Then Saturday, I’ll start breckfast at 4:00am and open by 6:00.  Petey and the boys will get there by 9:00 am or so, and Jean about 11:00.  As soon as I can, Big Red and I will head for Harrisonburg for another JMU game Saturday night.

Needless to say, this should be a really big week and I’ll be ready for a couple of days off.  I’ve been on the road something like 20 out of the last 23 days.

NOTE:  There are a couple of pictures.  Just click on the Flickr thingy to see them.  I’ve forgotten how to download the stupid things in the blog and get the copy to wrap around.  Guess I’ll have to confer with Jason—-AGAIN.