09:08 – As expected, we sold a lot of biology kits in August, many of them with the prepared slide set option. By the end of that month, I became concerned about our inventory level of prepared slide sets, so I ordered another batch the first of September. Enough, I hoped, to last another year. The vendor informed me that the slides were back-ordered for 90 days, through the end of November. Ruh-roh. All I could do was hope that existing stock would last that long.
So, yesterday morning we got an order for a biology kit with slide set, which was the last slide set we had in stock. Then a second biology kit order came in, this one fortunately not including the slide set. Then a third order came in, and this one included a slide set, taking our inventory to -1. Then a fourth order came in, again with a slide set, taking our inventory to -2. I called the vendor to make sure I’d have more by the end of the month, and they told me the slides were to arrive next week, sooner than expected. So it looks like I’ll be able to ship back-ordered slide sets the week of the 17th, which isn’t too bad. Still, I hate having to tell people that something is back-ordered.
Barbara doesn’t bake, other than stuff like prepared brownie mix, and it’s been a long, long time since I did so much as bake a loaf of bread from scratch. Barbara’s sister, Frances, however, frequently bakes and otherwise cooks from scratch. In fact, Frances has run commercial food service operations. I told Barbara that I needed expert advice on how to turn cases and cases of #10 (institutional-size) cans of dry-packed flour, wheat, oats, beans, sugar and so on into appealing meals. Which spices and seasonings do we need, and how much of each? How much baking soda, baking powder, and yeast? How well does gelatin powder substitute for fresh eggs in baked goods? And so on. So I asked Barbara to invite Frances over for dinner one evening so that I could ask Frances all of these questions and more. I’m looking forward to this.