Weather Watchers

We have the weather channel on our computers on "speed dial"... or favorites.

Out here in Northern California we can do shows all year long. That is, if the weather cooperates.

Our weather comes mainly from the west. We are on the edge of a funnel area that widens out from the San Francisco Bay area. Consequently, we have wonderfully cool evenings in the summer. A hot day (well over 100) can cool down in the evening to the low 60's with our "delta breeze". Sometimes we get weather from the north in the winter, a cold wind that chills things down quite a bit.

We hardly ever get snow. That being said, we have it "good" over some of my friends from the Midwest and east coast. So, we can do outside shows in most of the weather, if it doesn't rain, rain, rain.

With our large show in Alameda coming up at the first of the month, we are checking and rechecking the weather constantly. It determines what items we will take to the show. If it can "take the weather, we take it. Last year, around this time, we had several storms come raging through, and most of them were at the first of the month. What's up with that? We went down in the wee morning hours to Alameda and parked next to our space in driving rain. Not just a shower, but wind, rain and wetness. Nevertheless, we had purchased a pop-up canopy and we perched it next to our trailer so that the side door opened into the covered area.

 We were one of about 12 vendors (out of 800)  that braved the weather. Imagine 12 little islands on a very, very large abandoned aircraft runway. We did have shoppers that blew in briefly, or wanted to stay under the cover until venturing out to run to the next shelter, holding their umbrellas tightly against the wind. Now, that is dedicated shopping!

The staff came around about 9 am and said they were "calling the show" - that means that we would get a refund on our space rent and they would have to move the show to another date. They have since implemented a "roll-over rain date" that wrecks havoc with other shows throughout the month.

Now, we check ahead to see what the weather is going to do, so we take items that won't be ruined if they get a little damp. Metal is always good.

This week the computer tells us in the 10 day forecast:
1. Rain for Saturday and Sunday - 60% -- not so good
2. Rain for Sunday - 40%, dry on Saturday and Monday - maybe a shot
3. Scattered showers on Sunday - 40% - we can work with this
4. Few showers on Sunday - better

Who knows what the outcome will be. I never thought much about the weather until it affected me so much. Isn't that just like life? We don't think about the hungry until we ourselves are hungry. We don't think about unemployment until we don't have a job. We ignore the hot weather as we drive around in our air conditioned cars and sleep in our air conditioned homes until the system is down and we swelter through the days and nights. Hurricanes are unheard of here, but what about those that lose everything in earthquakes and other disasters?

Lord, help me to be aware of my brothers and sisters in all areas of their lives and pray for them.