July 22, 2004

Dog Days

Its the Dog Days of summer. In the natural world, this moniker for the hottest part of the summer was coined because this is the time that the star, Sirius, is most visible. Known as the Dog Star, it can be clearly seen near the constellation Orion in the Northern Sky. It is one of the Hoku  or stars in Hawaiian, that were mentioned in their mythology, These Hokulea or Stars of Gladness fortold of events that would have significance to the people, or were for navigation...

In the jewelry biz, the Dog Days of summer have a whole different meaning. Your Dogs are all the pieces of jewelry that you ordered for last holiday that didn’t sell. You can hear them barking at you as they sit in the case, unlonged for and unloved. I am fortunate that I don’t have a lot of these sitting around. I have moved a lot of my inventory and many of the older pieces are classics that will sell in time. The last thing that I want to do is to have a big blow out sale and get rid of a lot of stock at a foolishly low price, but on the other hand the stuff just sitting here is doing me no good and its best to find the puppies a good home so to speak.

Its so dreadfully slow that you can hear the electric meter whirring up and no sales to cover the bill. The other merchants on the street feel the same way, Please, God send some customers to relieve the awful boredom!

Woody has been having trouble at his job. The lady that does the scheduling is a incompetent and a ninny on top of it. She has been known to call for Woody here at the store and she has to know that he is on his post on the other side of the island. She called Woody at home on 7-19, wanting to know where he was? He was home. Hed just pulled down four days and was to be off. Turned out that he was booked to work 9 days straight and wasn’t told. For some reason she cant comprehend that Woody working over there requires a bit of effort. Like money for food, a hotel room and the money to pay for it. She doent get it. She thinks he should just come over and if he cant eat or has to sleep in his car, tough.  You have to be flexible, is the word. I think hes just about had it with this whole thing and who can blame him? I understand that I wish I cauld do something about this but its not possible and I have to sit and wait this season out and it hurts.

I cashed out my 401k today. Yes, I know about the penalties and all but this is the last little bit of money I have…and it’s the only way I can get the equipment in to start learning the repair stuff. Woody is sad about it too, but this is all I can do.

I feel a despair that threatens to overwhelm me. I am clinging to God, and praying for an end to the financial drought here.