The fire is crackling and hissing at me from the open door of the wood stove. There is too much water on one of the pieces of wood in it. I say ‘on’ because the wood was very dry when I picked it up from the scraps of the sawmill, but it was snowed on before being brought in to burn. The coffee is half drunk, and cooling, but still tasty. I may go into Logan to drive today. I may not. I might find it more desirable to work in the woodshop. That is how it goes here now. Missus has new orders coming in, and with any luck they will keep picking up and I can retire. Well, maybe that is pretty wishful thinking. But as it picks up, we do hope to find it easier to pay for things and bills less of a worry. But for now, it is what it is, and we tighten the belt and prioritize. That’s that. We have a place to live that we are sure of, so everything else is just bills and food to keep up with. Oh, and that damned cat meowing at the window. Why he refuses to eat at the outside cat’s bowl is beyond me, so he is a nuisance.
Yes, if I go to town, I can fill the tank and make sure this week’s transportation is assured. I can pick up a few groceries, too. That would be quite nice. I also need to get some fuel in the cans for the tractor. The snow the other day demonstrated that in a moment we might need the thing operating. And that was relatively minor as needs go. It only takes a large animal dropping dead and it is more urgent. Other reasons pop up, too.
Okay, let’s do a bit of an assessment and breakdown of why yesterday was not nearly as profitable as the day before. First off, tips. People are not tipping very well. There are a lot of orders that come from McDonald’s or Burger King or KFC that get tips along the line of two to three dollars. On top of a $2.00 Door Dash base, that does not amount to much per hour. The day before the base pay was coming in higher. Five to nine dollars, because it was Valentine’s Day, I guess. Well, that’s the kind of money a fella can make a living on. But at the lower rate, the outcome is barely enough to cover the cost of the vehicle, and not much for the driver to live on. Far less than minimum wage. Valentine’s Day was a lot better, and I was happy with the work, and the pay, all things considering. It gave me hope. But back down to the standard, it is disheartening. I put Uber on, and got a ride down to Logan both days. The first one started in Preston, so I got a $30 bonus. The second one, yesterday, started outside of Preston, and did not qualify. It’s easy to tell someone has no ideal of the cultural landscape of the area. The ride started in Franklin, effectively just as far as Preston from Logan. So, both should earn the bonus as they are both in the same Uber desert.
I put Uber on this morning and will take up some work if someone rings me to go towards Logan. If they need somewhere else, then so be it. That’s fine. It’s a Sunday, so I doubt there will be a call. But I am open.
Missus is awake and excited as she has yet another order on her Etsy store for one of the hairpin lace looms. So now we are talking about how to expand our offerings for useful tools for weavers. Time for another coffee and to get into this. It might be time to do some more work in the shop.