I don’t know yet if there’s a certain season that’s busier than others for custom hat makers, but it seems like summer’s a pretty busy one. I haven’t been selling custom hats for long yet, and I haven’t really been advertising much. So I’m not sure if the uptick in hat orders is a summer thing, or if it’s just that my name’s getting out there more.
I’m kind of hoping it’s a summer thing. For the first time in 52 years, I finally have air conditioning in my house, so I really don’t mind being inside, working on hats, when the thermometer is pegged out on triple digits. It might be 100 outside, but it’s a very comfortable 68 degrees in my hat shop.
But when the leaves start to change and the elk start bugling, I’m hoping there’s a little bit of a lull in the orders. Hopefully most of my hat customers are hunters themselves, and they’re too busy chasing critters around the hills in the fall to be ordering hats during hunting season. Granted, it wouldn’t be bad to have a few orders through the fall to keep me stocked in ammo, arrows, and gas money to get back and forth from camp. I can still squeeze in a hunt now and then while I’m waiting for the felt to dry after blocking a few hats.
But a few weeks ago, I accidentally acquired a new horse. He’s exactly what I’ve been looking for, and I’ve been looking for several years. He’s a big, stout quarter horse, and he’s quiet and gentle, but he’ll still go if I need him to kick it up to a trot or a lope. Or even a full run. But like me, he’s not too interested in sprinting across the prairies, so his default gait is a comfortable walk. Just right.
I’m not complaining about the hat orders, because they’re what allowed me to buy him in the first place, and they keep him in hay. I just have to squeeze in some riding time here and there between hat building steps.
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