For those of my dear readers who from my absence thought I went away and hid under a rock--WRONGO! I'm back! Actually, I've been gone almost non-stop since Christmas Eve. There's alot to tell. We celebrated Christmas at the farm on the 24th followed by a lonely drive to Peggy's. Lonely because I was the only fool on the road at midnight on Christmas Eve. I spent Christmas day in Harrisonburg and drove to Fredericksburg the next day for the auction. It stunk. Less than one loin for the day. Next was Winterfest at Liberty on the 30th, 31st and New Years Day. Tank came back from Illinois, Peggy came down from Harrisonburg and Fredericksburg Laura and her boyfriend, Anthony, drove down from their home. Winterfest was good, but off about $300 from last year. This was caused probably by attendance dropping about 1,000 kids. But it was still good. My major disappointment was from hot dog sales, something I thought the kids would buy heavily. But I was wrong. We did sell a ton of funnel cakes, drinks and lemonade however so it was still a good three day event.

After a day of cleaning e

quipment and restocking, I was off again to Fredericksburg for another loser auction. One loin again. As much as I want to blame it totally on the "forced" new location, in all honestly, I can't. It was only 16 degress while I was setting up and got to a high on 28 by the time I shut down. Not the best weather for standing around chowing down on ribeye sandwiches.

I stayed an extra night in Fredericksburg and then on Friday, drove down to Richmond for another Total Cage Combat Event. The set up was different this time. Noah had me outside cooking and had us set up for serving on the show floor. Right in action. Laura and Anthony came in and Peggy drove over. The four of us stayed pretty busy all night. Oddly, I didn't sell funnel cakes like I'd thought, but had a great night with steaks, hot dogs, corn dogs and lemonade. There was one problem. There are all of these biker chicks strutting around dressed in next to nothing, literally all over the place. I saw more skin last night than I did at the clothing optional pool last year in Cancun. I kept asking them to come outside and help me cook funnel cakes but they kept saying something about it being too cold. Peggy constantly handed me napkins claiming something about drool on my chin. I didn't understand that at all. I tried to get Peggy to dress like that back at the motel but she claimed those bikini like things would only cover her little finger and she thought that highly inappropriate. Somewhat disappointed, I obviously didn't get lucky at the motel and that lack of luck carried on thru Sunday. On my drive back to the farm, my truck died; AAA now refuses to tow "commercial" vehicles; and it cost me $200 to get the truck to a garage. God only knows what that will cost me tomorrow.

On the flip side of my unluckiness, I did get the first picture of my grandaughter, Katie. If you look close, she's sucking her thumb. Supposed to make her grand entrance in May.

This week, it is back to Fredericksburg. Maybe we can come to an agreement that will keep everyone happy. Last night at Richmond, we did a good job of keeping the quality of the steaks at a high level even though I cooked outside, had a runner take them inside, and had to wait for a customer to buy them. I'd like to try cooking in the boondocks at the auction to keep the auctioneers happy, and serve in our old spot in the middle of the action. With our newly discovered way of keeping them hot without drying out, my sales might get back to where they were without sacrificing quality. Might be worth a try.

Right now, I have nothing booked for next weekend but with an unexpected truck repair bill tomorrow, I'd better find something fast. I'll let you know.