This day is as good as any for a "Sound and the Fury" post.
We're working with our fabricator and our Minnesota client to get the Em4 finished and delivered, even as we plan the next one. We're on the technological edge on several fronts. Everything's working, but attending to all the details is nerve wracking.
We got 3.5 inches of rain over the weekend. Kate and I loaded the video gear and cruised around yesterday. Everything was up, but not like I expected, so no video. Many folks here spent hours in the basement Sunday night. A tornado was reported near Carbondale.
None of this was predicted, and I kept thinking of all the Memorial Day campers. It poured most of the night. I can't imagine how the farmers are doing. A lot were planting or plowing as I drove back from St. Louis with the Em4 on Friday, and some of those farms later saw six inches of rain.
Fishpot Creek in St. Louis County flooded again, its third near-bankfull in the last 90 days.
Here's a photo of the Em4 in Chester as I drove back, by the very high Mississippi River.
Kate found a little snail in our garden. The Cooper's hawk chicks near our house are tall, about 10", fat, and sitting on the edge of the nest, anxious to get out. Kate worried the hail (it wasn't much, but we got a few walnut sized stones) would hurt them, but they're fine. You wonder what it's like to be sixty feet up in a tree in storm. We had a great weekend together.
I got threatening letters from the IRS and Illinois over the weekend, their mistake. Always relaxing. Think twice before starting a business. Please.
We're officially sold out, and now have an eight week lead time for Emriver models, we plenty of the very hard to get parts, but we were swamped with orders, and between consulting and the Em4, we had priorities. Our economy is weird now, strongly coupled with the world market, especially China. A supplier of one key part told us today "there are none in the US now." I checked and he was being truthful. It's the only part we use made there, and we can't find an alternative. Our weather, economy, and politics are in turmoil.
China's disaster is heartbreaking. The landslide induced floods could be terrible.
I hardly had a chance to talk to Dayna today about anything personal, we were so busy, and that's not good. Cara's on vacation, with Devin the kids somewhere on the beaches of North Carolina, and we all hope she's having a good time.Labels: consulting, em4, Fishpot, weather
