Well the kids had a snow day today so we did what every good, old-fashioned, all American family does. We built a snowman. Triston and I built the snowman, Ginneva doesn’t like the cold, and Dennis is still in Florida. He’s in Gainesville now, his home away from home. He loves it there, but he sure is missing his family and we sure are missing him. We talk all the time but it’s not the same. Hugs and kisses are hard over the phone. But Hoggetowne Medieval Faire is one of his favorites. Linda Piper is the best. She makes sure visiting vendors have everything they need to know about the area. Go Linda! Dennis just loves seeing old friends and eating oysters at Calico Jack’s and barbecue at Sonny’s.

A big THANK YOU to the lovely Bridgette, who I met on January 22nd here in Gainesville, FL.  A fellow vendor and friend of mine, (Johnny B) who knowing of my need for some help during the Gainesville show, sent her my way as shop help!!  Bridgette fit in seamlessly and kept things rolling along quite well.  Bridgette is a business owner herself as she is artist/owner of The Scarlett Rose, and since she had some open time in between heading south to the Florida Renaissance Festival she came to work for Regal Boots and we were most pleased to have her!

I want to give a big shout out to Hoppy, from Leigh High Acres, Florida, for making us this absolutely beautiful sign. He made it so we’d always remember him even after he’s gone. As if anyone could forget someone with such a big, giving heart.

Hoppy has given his life for our country. He fought in the Vietnam War where he contracted Asian Orange. We don’t know how long he’ll be here on earth, but he will always be in our hearts.

We are so fortunate to meet wonderful people like Hoppy in our travels and to call them FRIEND!

Please take a moment of thanks for Hoppy and others like him who protect us. And may the Gods watch over and protect them.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Well Dennis is on the road again, on his way to a renaissance fair in Ft. Myers, and then the medieval faire in Hoggetowne, Florida. He got a late start. There was so much work to be done on the trailer. It took us 2 full days to clean it. Plus we weren’t expecting the trailer to be in Ohio last month so we hadn’t winterized it, so of course, the pipes froze. But Dennis being the handyman he is, fixed everything. Now it looks almost as good as he does.

Keith and Gabby, friends of ours from California, will be in the booth with Dennis (who is sporting a new look) so stop in and say “hi”. They are great people.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Wishing all of you a wonderful, healthy, and prosperous year in 2009.
Well we had an interesting end of 2008. Just to keep you all up to date, we had some people working for us but it didn’t work out so Dennis is going back out on the road till he can find replacements, so he went down to Florida (in my little car because his truck was totaled by a train – will explain later) to do the Pirates in Paradise event. We love that event. It’s small but probably the most authentic we’ve seen. It’s at Ft. Taylor in Key West Florida. Well anyway Dennis had a blast there, made new friends and won an award for being such a wonderful vendor. I’m so proud of him.
Now to explain the truck, Dennis and Triston were hunting and the truck was parked by the tracks when another hunter wanted to get by, so Dennis did the backup, go forward, backup thing to turn around and get out of his way and on one of the backups the trailer hitch got stuck on the track. They called 911 to let them know the situation and to also let them know that the truck was empty. They tried everything to get the truck off the track but according to the police it takes 2 miles to stop a train and they only had 1-1/2 miles so BAM!! Triston said it was lifted several feet in the air. I thought things like this only happened in the movies but surprisingly it happens quite often. Nobody was hurt, but the train driver was shaken up. 911 forgot to tell the train conductor that the truck was empty so the poor guy thought he killed someone. They had to take that driver off the train and put a new one on since he was so shaken.