09:01 – Winston-Salem suffered no effects from Sandy other than cool temperatures, a stiff breeze, and a few drops of rain. Today we’re expected to get some rain and wind. For the next few days, our highs are supposed to be in the mid-50’s (~ 12C) and our lows a degree or two above freezing. It is difficult walking Colin on breezy days. Like all young Border Collies we’ve had, he wants to herd the blowing leaves. Having a 70+ pound dog on leash that can accelerate from 0 to 60 in about 2.3 steps is no joke.
When I talked to Barbara yesterday she said that unless something changes her dad is to be released from the hospital this morning and they’ll be coming home today. She said that one good thing about all this is that her dad has apparently finally realized that at age 90 he can no longer do things that he could do as a younger man. So perhaps in the future he’ll listen to what Barbara and her sister say. I’m hoping that will include him agreeing to give up driving. The simple truth is that any 90-year-old man, on his best day, is more impaired than a young man with two or three times the legal blood-alcohol limit. We all cringe every time we read one of those news stories about an elderly driver running into a fuel pump at a gas station or plowing into a crowd of people in a theater line or at a bus stop.
I’m feeling a lot more comfortable about our science kit inventory. Everything is still in stock, albeit some just barely, we have another batch of 30 biology kits near completion, and another batch of 30 chemistry kits in progress. Sales are slow this time of year. Some days, we ship two or three kits. Other days, we ship none or one. Overall, we’re probably averaging about 1.5 to 2 kits/day, so the current batches should last us into December. Of course, we’ll have new batches in progress before then.
15:25 – I just called Barbara to see if she’d left yet. They got on the road around 13:30 and are currently on the far side of Raleigh. She’s taking it slowly with frequent stops to make it as easy as possible on her parents. Depending on traffic, she said they’d probably get to her parents’ place around 17:30 or 18:00, so it may be 19:00 or later before she gets home.