AND SURE ENOUGH - HERE IT IS

We even made the newspaper with our snowfall. This picture was on the front page of the Dunsmuir News on Wednesday. We woke up to snow on the ground on Monday morning and although the newspaper said .9 inches in Dunsmuir - the picture clearly shows more than that. We estimate about 3 inches in front of the store and closer to 6 inches at our home in North Dunsmuir. One of the challenges in wintertime is to get the walk-way shoveled before it gets walked on and packed down. This was a typical Dunsmuir snow - wet and heavy - and we expected it to melt and be gone by noon but it actually didn't melt until the next day. As we predicted, snowshovel and ice melter were the hot sellers for the day. Almost sold out on both but got more in on Thursday so we're ready for the next one. This snowfall seemed a little early - ten days before Thanksgiving. Our weather records show that last year's first snowfall was a week after Thanksgiving. Over the years though, we've learned to not predict weather. Every year is different and we just have to accept it and take it as it comes. There is no "normal" winter.

A CHILL IN THE AIR

There's a chill in the air and it's time to shift gears and start buying for winter. Actually it's not just a sudden change but a gradual one - easing away from warm dry weather inventory toward cold wet weather inventory. Winter wear items are now in - gloves, hats, face masks and coats. These are in addition to our blue jeans (Dickies) and overalls that we carry all the time. We've already noticed an increase in other winter item sales. Sold our first snowshovels a couple of weeks ago (even though there isn't any snow yet), ice melter is moving, and roof patch items are going out. We'll be increasing inventory on those items in the next couple of weeks. Our first winter rain was last week and we immediately sold out on tarps - all sizes from 6x8 to 15x20. They are now back in stock. The change from daylight savings time to standard time is always a signal that winter is coming but it brings other changes too. The first hour of the day is busier than usual and the last hour is slower than usual. Flashlight sales increase and so do alarm clocks. We are expecting an assortment of Yaktrax - those anti slip devices that are worn on shoes for walking on ice and snow. Have been trying to get them for two years and finally will have them. Our firewood is all in - 5 cords of lodgepole - and we've had a fire in the woodstove for over a week now. Some days we just let it burn until noon or so as the days warm up, but days like today - cool all day - we kept it going. The next big change will be the first snowfall. That will really kick off winter sales. Interesting how weather-dependent we are.