This Video Game Called "Life!"

Recently,  I have realized that we are all in a video game.   Forget the "Matrix"!  We are actually in a game called the "Sims". And as Cheryl has noticed,  the person playing OUR lives has the difficulty set to "Hard".   Not impossible, mind you.... Just slightly more difficult than "Normal".  And definitely NOT on easy/beginner mode. 

Hard difficulty

So the mod we are currently playing  in our life is called "Farmer's Market".   We will take two college educated people and throw them into the middle of a remote area of Rural Iowa and ask them to make a living selling some product (Probably something that everyone already has... Like Soap!) where there are few to no people.  The conditions will be HOT to VERY HOT, with a constant threat of tornadoes, rain and hail.   They have a 2 hour window  to sell as many bars of soap that they can. Both of them have NO prior experience in either soap making OR BUSINESS!  GO!

IMPOSSIBLE difficulty!

Well, I'm sure I would be pulling my hair out if I were to be playing that game.   I would most likely abandon it and start playing XCOM where I save the earth from an alien invasion. ( Something I am apparently good at doing!)  But not MY player!  My player ( who ever he is...) seems to LOVE playing the Sims and loves the challenge of seeing how much misery the characters Ethan and Cheryl will endure.

To be honest, when I was in grade school, there was a game called "lemonade Stand, which sounds remarkably like the game above.   The only thing was... In THAT game... I made enough money to send myself to college.. ( In the game... not "real" life!  In THIS game, I had to work at McDonalds and Holiday Inn to pay for college.)   

So yes, the lines between video games and reality are becoming more and more blurred.  Even that last paragraph has me shaking my head trying to follow it.  But let's get back to Reality. ( Or at least, this simulation of reality.)Today's Farmer's Market!

Jame's the "Honey Guy" (with dog.)

I would put this in the "successful" category, as Cheryl and I sold nearly $200.00 of soap.  We missed setting a record by only one bar. ( Last week's farmer's market was our Best week overall.... so far) Even though it seemed like it was slow this morning... And it was VERY hot and humid,   a few people bought LOTS of soap.   Meaning:   Fewer customers... Greater sales!  We had several people buy $40 worth of soap in one transaction!  YEAH! 

This is why it is easier to sell soap to soap users than trying to convert non-soap users to our brand. ( Dial, Zest and Coast are not soap.... Just to clarity.) 

We also managed to sell Cheryl's Felt Pouches at the Washington market on Thursday.  The rain held off so we did not get wet, and people must have been in a "back to School" buying mood.  It worked out. 

In other news:   Cheryl has been antsy for bike riding in the evening.  Usually when the heat is at it's worst!   We hit the Kewash trail yesterday and discovered that the Hops are in full bloom!  We could harvest them now, if I did not already have an entire drawer already full from last year's harvest.   It was also a great year of Plums!  Wild plums could be found in areas where we have not seen them before.  And the neighbor, who has a couple plum trees, said they were nearly falling over with the amount of fruit this year. He is selling his house and moving, so I wonder what will happen to the plums then. 

A Small bird was found on the trail.  I could not see any above nest that he would belong to, but it is possible he might be one of the many ground birds.   It is tough to tell when he still looks like a cotton ball.  It is also possible that he was a Cuckoo that got blown out of the nest.  Whatever the species, he seemed to be able to run pretty well, and was nearly at the flight stage.  I let him go off the path near where we found him.  NO reason to let him be easy pickings for a fox or coon. 

My Chalk drawing in Washington.

Thursday's Farmer's Market.

Too hot to chalk today.  Cheryl wants to run Long tomorrow, and the heat is said to continue.  we shall see if the conditions change when they happen.   In the mean time, Stay cool!   Have fun!  And hopefully, you Sims Player will not get bored and play "Call of Duty" or "Mass Effect" instead.  Thanks for stopping in.