Paper Reduction

One of the objectives we've had for quite some time is to clear out as much of our files as we could. We have several boxes of files that we have been carrying around that include all our receipts, medical records, tax records for the last 4 years and even a box of articles I have been collecting that describe places to go and things to do within each state in the country. This is a box, now weighing close to 30 pounds, that is organized by state, and Canadian Province. These articles have been clipped from our monthly magazines on RV'ing - Trailer Life, Trail Blazer (Thousand Trails), RV View and articles from other publications. I have done lots of research on portable scanners to see if that might be a viable solution to the problem, and I settled on a Brother DSMobile  600 scanner that was very highly rated and affordable - $129. With our Amazon.com employee discount, it was a real good bargain for us. I can now get rid of our very heavy HP all-in-one printer, copier, fax and scanner. The scanner on that device is top loaded, slow and inconvenient, and has poor software for organizing files on disk. There are many, inexpensive printers that can replace that heavy device. Anyway, I began scanning all the travel articles into the computer, and placing them onto a small USB Flash Disk (16 GB) for easy access anywhere, on any computer. The software that is supplied with the scanner makes it simple to organize the files on any disk. I was sailing along until I ran into a problem with the device. Evidently, it had a defect that I couldn't get around so I contacted Amazon.com and they are shipping a replacement to me, at no charge, on a 2 day delivery. Now that's good service. It will arrive Thursday and I can continue the task of eliminating most of the files we have. This will be a good step in reducing the total weight of our rig while traveling.

Josie went to the hairdresser in the afternoon and we, basically, just enjoyed the day relaxing. It has been 10 days now since our last measurable rainfall and the temperatures are in the pleasant range. Best of all, the humidity hasn't been unbearable.

There were a few more new rigs arriving in the campground, so it is slowly filling up for the peak season. We see the new "classes" of workampers during the week in the warehouse and remember the process from last year. They are in for a huge shock when they begin work. Some of them will undoubtedly leave after they discover how physical the work can be. Most of them are used to sedentary work at campgrounds and will quickly discover that they need to work in a different mode. We're still adjusting.

My lounge chair is beckoning, so have a great day...

Another Week Down

We finished our 8th week of work at Amazon.com yesterday. There are only 16 weeks to go. UGH! It sounds better to say we are 1/3 of the way there. I worked in 3 different areas yesterday, and Josie worked in 2 different locations. We ended up working together again in the Prep area which was a good finish to the week. They asked us if we wanted to work an OT day today and we graciously rejected that idea, saying that this week we wanted the extra day to rest. This ranked right up there with one of the most physical weeks we have spent working there.

It's a good thing we are working the day shift now. They are rushing to get everything ready for the onslaught of workampers coming in to the campground over the several weeks and there is noise just outside our rig where they are putting up a fence. The noise started at 7 AM which would be right in the middle of our deep sleep if we still worked the night shift. The other thing is, it's nice to get up at a normal hour on our days off. There are advantages and disadvantages to the days, but overall, the hours are closer to normal which is the overriding factor.

I didn't get another update from Grey's Point last night, so I'm assuming either they are too overwhelmed with assessing the damage or don't have power. It may be both. We keep hearing about all the flooding and damage to homes in the areas from NJ north, but we have not seen many reports of damage in NC or VA, where the storm hit with its maximum force. With the network stations coming from New York, I guess we can understand. Stay tuned for the next report from Bruce at Grey's Point when he gets the opportunity.

There is definitely an improvement in the weather - temperature and humidity - over the last 2 weeks. A real sign is that we aren't dripping wet from sweat when we leave work. Oh, we are still hot and a little damp, but nothing compared to the first several weeks. We'll try to enjoy the better weather while we are off the next 3 days but resting up is the priority...

More Reports From Grey's Point

We received another email from Bruce at Grey's Point with a further update on the damage at the campground:

"Finally got thru to Mary's cell & it was a very rough night, but those that stayed behind are safe. Mary did admit that things got quite hectic after midnight.  Last count is about 8 to 10 seasonal trailers crushed by falling trees plus many trees just down.  The marina is basically destroyed - the big fish cleaning station next to the little store is gone and most of the docks are seriously damaged or gone. There is lots of additional minor damage and it's going to take a major clean up.  That's the good news - - now for the bad - - power is out and it may be one week to 10 days to get it restored.  Don't know what Melinda and Jamie are going to do, but Larry, T, and I are heading back in the morning and hoping for the best.  We can get water anyhow, so that's good, but I'm dreading trying to sleep without A C.  Our coming back and working under those conditions, you'd think Hurly would rent a couple generators for us so we could at least cool our rigs down before going to bed, BUT I'm not holdng my breath on that happening.  I'll E you some pics of the damage when I can.  Take care, Bruce "

We thought that the marina would sustain significant damage, but are somewhat surprised at the number of park models destroyed. The storm was still near its peak power when it hit the Chesapeake Bay area, so it must have been a very scary situation for those that stayed behind. The mention of "Hurly" in Bruce's email is the owner of the campground. He is known for having tight purse strings. We will post the pictures when we receive them.

Today is our final regular day of the work week and we have decided to forego the OT this week and use the extra full day to rest. We did some work in a new area yesterday and it was tough on our bodies as the entire day was spent handling heavy totes with lots of items in each in a very tight area of the warehouse. It was nice to arrive home yesterday afternoon and take our showers. We found out that the company picnic will be held on September 24th this year at a local park in Campbellsville. Of course, it is a Saturday and we will be working so our plans are already made for that day. That's OK. Lots of others will also be working and they really cannot accommodate every employee. So, we'll put in our final day today and look forward to time off until Friday...

Storm Update

We received an email from our friend Bruce who was one of the folks that traveled to Charlottesville, VA, for the weekend to escape the wrath of the hurricane. I placed the text of his email below so you could see the early reports of the damage at Grey's Point Campground:

"Hi kids,  Larry & T, Melinda & Jamie, & I had a good trip over to Charlottesville yesterday.  I talked with Mary late this afternoon and the worst of the hurricane is still several hours away from Grey's, but already trees have fallen on and crushed 4 of the seasonal park models, the entire transient area is underwater, and the docks at the marina are under water, with a good number of boards loose and floating around.  We're 130 miles away and it has rained here all day and right now the wind is blowing about 20 to 25 mph.  Grey's still has power, but it will probably be out by morning - Beth Page lost power early this afternoon. This is the first Saturday I've had off since March 1st & it's been nice to just hang out and relax!   We're heading back Monday.  Take care - sorry you're missing out on all this fun!  Bruce"

Mary is the campground Manager and it appears that she stayed behind with her husband, Russ, in their motorhome. That was a very risky thing to do- if it is true - as their space is under several trees. Bruce was also my supervisor while I was there and is in charge of all the hosting functions at the park. The transient area that he referred to is the overnight campground portion of the park, as opposed to the full time, permanent site locations where the park models are located. All of our (workamper) sites were in the transient area. Of course, Chesapeake Bay, on which the campground lies, took a direct hit from the storm. Thank you, Lord, for guiding us away from that area. We will keep everybody posted as we get firsthand reports.

Today is day 3 of our work week and already we are looking forward to Tuesday afternoon. We aren't sure yet about working a half day of OT on Tuesday morning, but we will probably end up working. It is so easy to do just a half day after working 10 hour days, and the money is good. Later...

Huge Hurricane Bearing Down

Our friends that have evacuated to Charlottesville, VA yesterday will be out of the way of the worst part of Hurricane Irene today, but will still feel some of the effects of the storm. The storm is so huge that most of Virginia will feel some of the winds and get heavy rain. We feel sorry for the people that have properties in Grey's Point and Bethpage, as most of those will certainly have some damage by the time it's all done on Monday. The forecast is for about 10" of rain for them from the storm, plus relentless wind for about 20 hours. It amazes us that the technology today is able to predict the path of these storms with such accuracy. They said about a week ago that Chesapeake Bay would be in the direct path, and it seems they were right. It will totally miss us and we again are thankful that we are where we are.  We pray that everybody is safe through it all.

Our water line problem with the refrigerator appears to be fixed. The Tech came by yesterday while we were working and put yet another (the third) fitting on the line, and it appears to be OK - so far. It wasn't his fault that the fittings have failed but it makes you wonder where the quality has gone. He purchased the bad fittings from Lowe's in town and finally went to another hardware provider (?) to purchase the third one. There are a couple minor fixes that remain to be done on the refrigerator - the inside drain needs a part and the outside drain hose needs an extension. Both of those parts are ordered and will arrive within the next week. The bill for the Tech services came to $122, which was a pleasant surprise considering the way that most mobile services gouge the public. There will be a small additional charge to install the ordered parts, but that will be a very small amount. We're just happy that the water problem appears to be fixed.

It seems like we just get to bed at night and it is time to get up again. We both feel tired this morning and will probably have to go to bed earlier at night in order to get our full, required rest. Evidently, 7 hours isn't enough. Overtime for this week is still up in the air, so we have to decide on that in the next day or so. The half day we worked last week was easy, but we are both very tired right now, so we'll have to evaluate that situation. Have a great day...

Hurricane Irene Approaching

We heard from the folks at Grey's Point, VA., last night and they are all evacuating today to avoid Hurricane Irene due to hit the area on Saturday. They spent the whole day yesterday making preparations, as best they could, by removing flags, banners and tying down everything they could before preparing to leave. They will stay at the Charlottesville (VA) KOA campground until Monday. That is located northwest of Richmond and will hopefully keep them a safe distance from the shores of Chesapeake Bay which is expected to take a direct hit. We are so grateful that we left there when we did. The folks at Grey's Point are hoping that the Labor Day weekend is not impacted too much as they are totally booked for that weekend. We would expect that there will be serious damage to the park - and also Bethpage, the sister park - as there are many park models and manufactured homes that are permanently located there and always affected by these storms. We will get a report from them on Monday, the planned return to the park.

The refrigerator leak is still a stubborn problem. The Mobile Tech put in a new line yesterday AM and we all thought it was fixed. After he left, I went to replace the outside cover on the refrigerator compartment and discovered that there was still water leaking from the fitting where the new line was attached. I called the Tech back and he came to replace the fitting with another one. Once again, we thought it was fixed. Josie went to do laundry and I did some work on the computer and then took a little nap for about 45 minutes. When I awoke, there was a flood in the kitchen. I turned off the water and ran outside to discover that the new line, a plastic tube that is 1/4" in diameter, separated from the fitting and water was running into the rig from the rear underside of the refrigerator. I once again phoned the Tech and he was unable to return yesterday to fix the problem. He will return this AM, while we are at work, so we need to leave the rig unlocked and trust him to fix the problem and close everything up again before leaving.

It promises to be an interesting 4 days this weekend while we are working, so hang on...

Leak Almost Fixed

The mobile Tech arrived a few minutes before noon yesterday and got to work on trying to locate the source of our refrigerator leak. I had already taken the back panels off the refrigerator outside and I got the ladder ready so he could inspect as much of the back of the unit as possible. There has been a slow leak for some time in a splice of the tubing that is part of the ice maker system that I was aware of, and that is seen from the outside back panel. The water leaking into the kitchen was coming from a different location (it seemed) and I assumed that it was a different source. That leak outside was so small that I was going to try to repair that one myself. The Tech inspected the whole line and any other location that he could see and concluded that the tubing was the culprit. Either the splice was leaking for so long that the water accumulated somewhere under the refrigerator and is spilling into the kitchen, or there is another, hidden leak in the line that cannot be seen. Anyway, I shut down the water source to the refrigerator which is a valve under our kitchen sink and the leak stopped. If I had any sense at all, I would have cut off the water supply a week ago and done without the ice maker and drinking water dispenser. It just never occurred to me to do that. Of course, if I had done that, there wouldn't have been any dripping and the Tech would not have been able to discover the source of the leak.

After working for about an hour and a half on the problem he decided to replace the entire line of tubing. That will be a task that he is returning today to complete, since he didn't have any of that tubing in his truck. Also, there is a problem with the drain inside the refrigerator - missing a part - and there is another problem with the fans - not working - that are located in the back of the refrigerator to recirculate air around the coils. He needs to order those parts and return a third time to install those. The estimate for all the work is around $150, plus parts, so it doesn't seem too bad. We'll see how close he comes to his estimate.

This activity with the refrigerator problem has pretty much dictated the schedule for our off days. Josie will do some laundry this morning while I entertain the Tech once again. It warmed up into the 90's again yesterday and the humidity returned. Maybe it will be a short term thing. We are watching the path of the hurricane (Irene) on the news and it doesn't look good for the North Carolina coast.  We will probably get some rain from this hurricane. New York newscasters are all commenting on how the city over reacted to the earthquake and how the westerners are poking fun at the city. The storm may, unfortunately, give them something to really talk about as Long Island is in the path of the storm, so we hope the storm doesn't result in any major damage.

We may be getting some rain even before the hurricane effect hits us as it is very cloudy and appears ready to dump some rain at any time. I hope we get the refrigerator work gets done before the rain arrives...

What Earthquake?

Our work day was short and sweet yesterday. We once again worked together in the Prep department and this time we processed cases of dog t-shirts, if you can believe that. We only worked from 6 AM to 11, and there was an all hands meeting at 9:15 that lasted for over a half hour, so the day went very fast. It is a very different and kind of nice break from our strenuous stowing jobs. We told the management that we would enjoy doing the prep work anytime they needed help, and they indicated that we would be called in whenever they needed extra help. Josie would like to transfer there and work in that department permanently. There is no pressure to perform against numbers there and the work is much less strenuous, even though we are still on our feet the whole day. We'll see what happens with that.

There was an earthquake in Mineral, VA, near Richmond, yesterday that was felt along the coast in many cities. It was a 5.8 quake that was felt in NYC where the estimated force was about equivalent to a 2.0 earthquake. When we turned on the news you would think it was a 9.0 Japan-all-over-again earthquake. They interrupted all scheduled programming to talk about this earthquake - for 1 1/2 hours - that resulted in businesses being evacuated in NYC, bridges and tunnels that were inspected, and all kinds of interviews with people describing the "shaking" from this earthquake. Get a life folks. We understand that it is a rare occurrence in NY, but it's not significant enough to take over the programming for 1 1/2 hours during prime time. We had 2.0 earthquakes about once a month when we lived in the Bay Area, and it was worthy of one sentence on the news. The other thing that bothered us was that they never mentioned what time it hit until a person being interviewed mentioned that he just returned from lunch "about 1:45" when it happened. Neither Josie nor I felt anything at all. She was at the hairdresser, and I was home working on the computer. Also, they never broke away to reporters or reports from Mineral, VA where the epicenter was located. OK. So now NYC is bracing for 1.0 aftershocks.

I sent an email to one of our friends at Grey's Point Camp to find out if they felt the quake, and of course, being only about 100 miles from the epicenter, major shaking was felt. He indicated that people knew immediately that it was an earthquake. They all were surprised of course, but the damage was relatively minor.

Today will be the day - hopefully - that our mysterious leak in the refrigerator goes away. The Tech is scheduled here about noon, so that will be the main activity for the day. We have been placing towels on the floor at the corner of the frig to catch the water and we have gone through probably 6 bath towels since we discovered the leak, so it is not a minor one. Of course, all of the warranties are expired on our rig, so whatever needs to be fixed is on our watch. We have owned the rig for 3 1/2 years and of course, the warranties expire at the end of 3 years. Just like auto warranties - they expire just before you have a major problem.

It is a nice day - so far - so maybe we can enjoy some outside time during the day. Later...

Another Prep Day

It was another day where we were assigned to the Prep area at Amazon for the day. Both of us - along with about 4-5 other people - worked all day to eliminate the approximately 12 pallets of boxes that contained the same toy - Fisher Price's Soothe & Glow Seahorse. We had to open each box, separate the blue toys (2) from the pink toys (2), individually "bag" each toy, and re-box them (blues together, pink together) for labeling. I worked on the blue toys from each box and Josie worked the pink toys - sounds logical, right? We estimate that just between Josie and I, we processed around 4 pallets of this toy. There were approximately 80 boxes on a pallet. The managers were so impressed with our speed they indicated that we will be performing the same duty today on our 5 hour OT stint. Wonderful. There are only about 2 pallets left so we should be able to finish those in our 5 hour shift - working alone. The work wasn't difficult, but we were standing all day which always tires us. Actually, it was a nice change from our normal stowing duties.

We are looking forward to coming home at 11 AM and having some time off. Aside from our scheduled tech visit tomorrow to check out our refrigerator, there is nothing planned. We have some work to be done around the rig though so it's not like we will be bored.

It appears that the hurricane season is well underway now with the first one that may hit the mainland on its way - Irene. It isn't suppose to get too close to us, but it will almost certainly result in some rain for us. Right now it is looking like it will hit land in eastern Florida somewhere. We hope Josie's sister doesn't get battered in Edgewater, near Daytona. Comes with the territory, I guess. It has been generally very nice here the last week with temps cooling down and the humidity not too bad. Yesterday it was 85 for the high with a low of 68. We actually sat outside again when we came home from work. Maybe the worse part of summer is over - we hope so...

Different Assignments for the Afternoon

It was another day where management offered to allow workers to leave early if they chose to do so. This time, it was at 1:30 instead of 2 PM as was the case on Saturday. Let me tell you, the place seemed to have emptied out as many workers chose to end the day early. We weren't about to give up a half day. Josie and I both were assigned to work in the receiving "prep" area for the afternoon to help prepare items for stowing and eventual sale. Josie packaged blank CD cases with bubble wrap and I worked in an area where we emptied boxes of infant toys and re-packaged them for distribution. It was not quite as physical as our normal assignments, but we still had to stand all afternoon to perform the tasks. We both agreed that it's nice to do something different occasionally to break up the normal routine.

Our final, full day for the work week is today. We still will work a half day OT tomorrow, but that's a piece of cake compared to a full day. So far, we like the new schedule except we have to get up very early - for us - to get to work on time. The nice part is having our evenings to enjoy and going to bed at a near normal time. Also, our off days are on the normal schedule. It appears that one of the advantages to our weekend schedule is that we miss the madness of the weekdays that have so many more people working. Today is one of those days, so it will be especially nice to see 4:30 roll around. There's nothing else to report, so we'll close for now...

Mobile Tech Scheduled for Refrigerator

One of the first things we did following work yesterday was to contact the mobile tech to schedule a time for him to come out and fix our refrigerator leak. We have been placing a towel on the floor in the area where the water is coming in and it's totally wet after about 12 hours. Whatever the problem is, it isn't an obvious one to us. When I remove the back panel outside from the refrigerator, there is no apparent source for the leak. The tech will be here on Wednesday at noon since that is the first day we know for sure we won't be working. Which brings me to the other piece of business we've been trying to take of - getting the truck serviced for the Customer Satisfaction Program. I still have not heard back from that dealer about the appointment I tried to schedule for Wednesday, so I assume they don't want to be bothered for this "free" work. We'll just try to get it done at another dealer that is not quite as close as this dealer. The notice I received from Ford indicated that I had until March of next year to get it done, so there is no rush for that.

The weekends are very different at work as far as the number of people working. Yesterday seemed like a holiday as there were probably half the number of workers as there were on Friday. I'm sure that the regular workers try to have off on the weekends. That's fine with us, as the work goes smoother without the crowd. Not only that, but they announced that anybody that wanted to leave early yesterday - at 2 PM - could do so without any "points" being charged for early departure. Amazon uses a point system for employees that violate rules or policies and if one accumulates 5 points in a 30 day period, they are terminated. Early (unexcused) departure from scheduled work time usually results in a point being charged against the employee. All of the incoming trucks (merchandise deliveries) had been processed so there wasn't enough work to keep everybody busy. That was a first for us. Of course, we opted to stay.

Day 3 of our work week begins an hour from now. We signed up for a half day of OT for Tuesday which means we will go in at the regular time (6 AM) and leave at 11 AM. That works fine for us, and will probably become a regular occurrence. It is much easier working a half day extra each week than a full day as that 5th day is always a long one. That still leaves 2 1/2 days to enjoy free time. Until tomorrow...

Lots of Extra People

It became very obvious yesterday that many workampers have arrived and are working different jobs. We always start the day in the break room before leaving to go to the short meeting in our work areas prior to beginning work and the break area was nearly full with all the new people. It really became obvious when the short meeting started and lots more people were standing around in the meeting than we've seen since we arrived. This is only the beginning of the workamper influx at Amazon. Work became more difficult as a result since there were more people stowing than before and that means more people trying to locate empty merchandise bins and filling them faster. The workforce numbers will only increase from this point until about October when everybody is here that will work the busy season. Of course, some of these people will disappear as they discover how tough the work is and how physically demanding it is to work the 10 hours each day. I'm sure that Amazon has worked a certain amount of attrition into the numbers.

There is a leak somewhere in our refrigerator that is causing water to come out on the floor of our kitchen. We've had this situation occur before, but since we moved to this new site, it has become more noticeable. Maybe because we are totally level now whereas before we were slightly off so that the water probably leaked into another location. I haven't been able to locate where the problem is, so that means that we will have to call out an expensive mobile tech to locate and fix the problem. It needs to be done soon to prevent any permanent water damage to the sub floor in our rig. It's always something. We have been pretty fortunate with not having many major problems with the rig in more than 3 years so we are probably due. I just hope that we can find a good local tech. The office here at the campground has given us a card for one that was used frequently by the people that stayed here last year, so we'll give him a try.

It's time to get ready for day 2 of our work week, so I'll close for now...

Resting Up

There wasn't a whole lot that we could do yesterday except rest. The thunderstorms started early in the AM and were off and on all day long. There was a stretch of about 3 hours that was sunny and nice and we took advantage of the break to sit outside and enjoy it for a brief time. Other than that and a short trip to get groceries, the day was uneventful.

This begins our first full week on the day shift today. We expect to see more workamper faces as the program kicked off early and the people are starting to fill the area campgrounds. Most of the people we worked with last year are passing on this year for many different reasons. Most are too far away to justify the fuel costs to return. Some are just working closer to their families, and others just couldn't take the physical demands of the work. For whatever reasons, there will be more, and different, people working this year. There is one couple already here that we know from last year and they are expecting friends and relatives to come join them in September. Those are people that are younger and have set out to full-time before retirement age. We have seen quite a few like that. In fact, one of our "coaches" from last year was full-timing with his family, which included 2 pre-teen children. The last we heard of him, he was managing a campground in Wisconsin, and, of course, home schooling his children. It will be interesting and fun to meet the new crew coming in.

So far, the only planned activity for our next 3 days off is to schedule the truck service - or at least attempt to schedule the service. This time, I'm giving them one week notice so they shouldn't have any problem putting us on the schedule. We'll see...

Weather Almost Perfect

The last 2 days that we've had off have been near perfect, weather wise. We've had highs in the upper 80's and very little humidity. We even spent a lot of time sitting out for a change. The plan was to get the truck serviced yesterday but we never got an email confirmation on the appointment, and when I called, they said they couldn't fit us in the schedule. I'm sure that if it wasn't a "free" fix for us and we had to pay, they could have squeezed us in. Oh, well. We'll play their game and schedule it for next week when we have more lead time.

Josie did the small amount of laundry that we had left over from our short work week this week and we pretty much just lounged around the rest of the day enjoying the weather. We talked about doing the walking tour at Elizabethtown today, but we had a few thunderstorms go through early this morning and it still looks threatening outside this morning. We'll probably not do that trip today. The good weather seems to have disappeared for now. The weather should be getting better though as we approach September. We recall how terrific it was when we arrived in mid October last year, so it probably occurs slowly over the next couple months.

So far, we are happy with the changeover to days. We have 3 days off in the middle of the week which is obviously better for scheduling appointments. The night shift schedule had us off on Thursday through Saturday, but adjusting for different sleep times on those days was a real problem. At least we are close to the regular times with this new schedule. We've noticed that most of the new arrivals will be working the night shift which is consistent with last year. There aren't many workampers working the day shift yet, at least in the stowing area where we work. Perhaps it will change as we get closer to the "very" busy time.

We'll enjoy our final day off this week and be ready to go again tomorrow at 6 AM...

All Moved and Settled

The main goal yesterday was to relocate to our new space in the campground. There wasn't a whole lot of preparation required except to clear any items from the counter tops so they wouldn't fall while moving. As you recall, we did not have enough room on the site itself to park both of our vehicles with the fifth wheel. Below is a shot of the old space with the 2 vehicles parked on the adjacent site:

It was a very good location since there was nothing behind us. We could have stayed there longer but we probably would have lost our new space to another incoming workamper if we didn't move when we did. The new space is on the end of a row, and also has nothing behind us. It only took us just over an hour to get things together, move and get set up at the new spot:

Both vehicles fit nicely on the spot with the truck parked on the opposite side of the rig. We should be set now for the duration of our stay here.

We are still receiving offers from other campgrounds - especially in Arizona. We have received several from Mesa and one from Benson, but they are all for jobs that either pay a very small amount, or offer work for site only. Either of those situations will be nice when we are able to just work a few hours a week for the site only, which we hope to be able to do in a short time. One option we thought about looking into was to take one of those opportunities, have me work the hours for the site, and have Josie see if she could get work at either Cactus Flower or Phoenix Flower Shops for the winter season. It still is an option, but we know that the economy has hit the flower business very hard, and it may be tough to even get part time work there. It still might be worth a call or an email to the contacts Josie has there. There are other options we are looking at that would take us to new and different areas which is the preferable way to go. Right now, we need to concentrate on the work at Amazon.

Today will be the 2nd day off for us this week and the weather is perfect. I received a notice from Ford that I needed to get some work done on a Customer Satisfaction Program that is not a recall, but could cause damage to the power-train on the truck if not performed. I'm trying to schedule an appointment at the nearest Ford dealer in Columbia, KY, about 12 miles south of here but haven't heard back from them yet. For that reason, we will stay close to home and probably wash the rig today. We'll have to see how the day goes...

Meet and Greet

Our second day on the day shift yesterday was much like the first. It's still a little difficult getting up at 4 AM in order to get everything done and be at work by 6 AM, but it sure beats working through the night. And, we are up early on our fist day off this morning which puts us back on a fairly normal schedule. This week we will take the full 3 days off and return to work on Friday AM.

We didn't arrive at the Meet and Greet meeting for the first wave of incoming workampers yesterday until after we left work at 4:30. By then, they were more than half way through the meeting and we didn't stay very long. Actually, we stayed long enough to eat some of the cake they had for the welcome and to pick up our bag of goodies that contained all the local information and coupons. It was pretty much the same as last year and we took advantage of one of the coupons last night by going to a buffet dinner at Gattis Pizza Restaurant where we had salad, pasta and pizza - all you can eat - for $5.49 each (seniors). It was terrific. We have eaten there before and enjoy their pizza more than any of the major pizza chains.

It may be that the worse part of summer is over. Yesterday we reached a high of only 79 and it went down to 63 last night. That was without any rain. We even sat outside for awhile when we returned home from dinner - until the mosquitoes drove us inside - another problem here. It actually gave our air conditioners a break for once.

It's moving day today. We aren't going that far so preparations will be minimal. I'll include shots of the old vs the new space tomorrow. Once we get into the new location we can prepare everything for the duration of our stay here. We are hoping that it will be for the next 4 months, but we'll see how our bodies hold up to the rigorous schedule. The rest of our time off this week hasn't been scheduled yet, but we will probably take at least one trip to someplace new. That's about it for today...

New Faces

Of course, the biggest change at work yesterday was the new faces. We have a new manager and the people, with just a few exceptions, were people we haven't seen before. If the first day is any indication, we both thought that there was a better attitude among the daytime people than the night shift folks. We can't place our finger on it, but an example was the courteous manner of the "pickers". Every one of them was more pleasant than the gruff, get-out-of-my-way attitude of the night shift pickers. Remember, they are the folks that go around taking merchandise out of the bins that we stow to fill orders. The meetings that are held before work and right after dinner break were much more relaxed. We just hope it is not just Sunday that explains these changes, but will be an ongoing improvement.

It was a little tough getting up at 4 AM in order to get things done and be at work by 6 AM. The flip side of that was that it was nice leaving work when all the familiar faces were just coming on duty at 4:30 PM. Our eating schedule is now different as a result of getting home around dinner time. We are going to try to keep the snacking down since we now have the normal, evening TV time, instead of going to bed immediately after coming home from work. Our dinner break now becomes a real lunch break.

The meet-and-greet meeting for the workamper program kickoff is today at 3:30 PM. We will arrive late after we leave work at 4:30, even though we have approval to leave work  early to attend. We can't see any reason to give up the extra hour plus of paid work for the meeting. As long as we are there for the second half, it should be fine. That's when all of the goodies are handed out and you get to meet the new people coming in for this early start to the peak season. It appears that these people coming in will miss the hot and humid part of the summer - lucky them. It was only in the low 80's yesterday for the high and much less humid. Everything is "go" so far, so we'll see what a Monday has in store for us "new" daytime workers...

New Hours and New Space

We could probably call this the beginning of phase 2 of our workamping experience here this year. Our new hours begin today at 6 AM and we will work till 4:30 PM. Also, we have resolved the parking problem by walking around the campground yesterday and locating a larger space. It is probably the largest space in the campground. The space is an end space along the third row of spaces and because it is on the end, has extra room on the opposite side of the space for parking another vehicle. This space was originally reserved by a returning workamper, but was freed when they decided to move to another location to be near returning friends when they all come back next month. It was a stroke of luck. We will relocate to that new space on our next day off which will be Tuesday. One of the reasons we chose the space we have is because there is nothing behind us except a field and the main road, off in the distance. This new location will also have nothing behind us as a result of being located on the turn in the campground at the end of the property. It always makes us feel more private when we are not surrounded by other rigs, and there aren't many locations here that offer that advantage.

A new routine will be established to accommodate the new schedule. That means that we will get up and go, almost immediately, to work. There will be no sitting around waiting for the 4:30 PM start. It also means that we will get home at a normal time for dinner, watch some TV and go to bed at a normal hour. It is a relief. The real advantage is that now our days off will be smooth as we won't have to adjust sleeping hours to take maximum advantage of the daytime.

There was a big storm that came through early last night and dumped .4" of rain. It was once again in the 90's yesterday, but the storm cooled things down a little. It is only 67 this morning as we prepare to go to work. We are getting closer to the cooler part of the season, and just hope we don't go directly from summer to winter. It can't be as cold as it was last year, can it? Once we know for certain that we are in our permanent spot here, we will make some minor preparation to the rig for possible cold weather down the road - like cover the sewer line with our 4" PVC pipe that we use occasionally. Other than that, we'll take it one step at a time as the weather changes. It's off to work for our first full day on the new shift...

Looking at Parking Options

When we arrived in late June and up until now, we have had the use of the space next to us to park the truck and the Jeep. Now, with the campground beginning to fill up, we may be forced to either make room on our existing site for both vehicles, or locate a suitable site that can accommodate both vehicles on the single site. The other option is to park the truck just behind our current space in the field that is part of the property owned by the campground. The problem with that is that the field is about 15 feet lower elevation than the campground, it is full of high weeds, and is not a secured area. I don't think I want to chance having our truck in that environment. The plan for this morning is to walk the campground and see if there might be a larger site we can use.

We decided to postpone the trip to the horse parks for now until we can learn more about what they each have to offer. Also, the fact that we only have 2 days off before starting our day shift tomorrow AM, we thought it would better to stay close to home and rest some more. We will most likely schedule a trip during our days off next week when we have 3 days to work with. If it is like last year, we will get some valuable information in the welcome bag of goodies that will be handed out at the "meet and greet" meeting on Monday. It's hard to believe we are entering our 6th week of work here. There are only 18 more weeks to go before our target date to leave. Sheesh! I hope we can make it.

The real fun part will be planning where to go from here, assuming we can hang in here until Christmas. There is a real incentive to stay as there is a significant bonus given to those that work the full amount of time. The only reason for not staying would be physical or health reasons. As you know, this is a physically punishing  assignment for anybody. It's great for our weight though as I have lost about 15 pounds so far and Josie has lost about 8. We may leave here looking like our "normal" selves again. It's been years since we looked that way...

Final Day on Night Shift

It's over for the night shift. Last night was our final scheduled day on the night shift and it was a half shift of overtime. Both of us felt like we could have gone the whole 10 hours as we were not exhausted or dripping wet from sweat when we left work at 10 PM. The cooler days are having an affect inside the warehouse and it seems to be easier to work with the lower temps. Our manager was sorry to see us leave his shift but happy we weren't leaving the company. Our next scheduled work day will be Sunday at 6 AM, so that gives us only today and tomorrow to relax. The good news is that we get Tuesday through Thursday off during the week before starting the full day shift schedule next Friday.

Our view of the Amazon building is not yet blocked, but there were many new rigs that arrived over the last couple days. It seems that folks that were here last year have arrived together and are lined up near the entrance. There are 8 or 9 rigs together in adjacent spaces, so I guess the party is about to begin. They are near a huge meeting room that was built since last year and is a great place to have the welcome social and will most likely be used to have potlucks and other gatherings during the peak season. It also contains new showers and a new laundry room, so it will be the center of activity all season long. We're kind of glad that we are away from that area in the campground as it is sure to be noisy. There will be people arriving on a regular basis from now until probably late October as Amazon will be having new workamper "classes" almost weekly until then. It promises to be an interesting ride from here on out.

We don't have any definite plans yet for the 2 days we are off from work. The Horse Park will probably be the goal for tomorrow, but we're not quite sure yet. We will enjoy the cooler weather somehow, that's for sure...

New Schedule

Our schedule has been received for the changeover to the day shift. We were given the days that we requested - Fri-Mon - and we will begin the day shift on this Sunday morning at 6 AM. That means that we will work Sunday and Monday, have off from Tuesday to Thursday and begin again on Friday. It will be nice to have the 3 days off next week in the middle of the week. We are hoping that it is the right decision. Our sleeping schedule will go back to normal which is the main reason for the change. The reason for working the weekend days is again, we will receive the shift differential pay for working weekends, and that is the same as we are getting now.

We also received an invitation to attend the Welcome Social on Monday, being held here at our campground, for all the returning workampers that are arriving for the kickoff of the peak season camper program. It is being held from 3:30 to 5:30 on Monday, so we will attend following our regular work day which ends at 4:30. They indicated that if we are scheduled to work that day, our managers will release us from work at 3:15, if we wish. The problem is that we don't get paid for the missed time, so we will just work our full day and arrive late to the social. That is an important gathering for us to attend from the standpoint that we receive a bagful of goodies that includes discount coupons for many businesses and attractions in the area. It was a very useful benefit for us last year.

The campground is beginning to fill up as you can imagine. RV's are arriving at a regular rate and, right now, they arrive while we are sleeping. That's another reason to work days and have normal sleeping hours. We remember last year that all the noisy deliveries and activities occurred during the day to wake us up. No more of that!

The weather is even cooperating a little bit. We have now had 2 consecutive days where the high temperature was in the high 80's, instead of mid 90's. It doesn't seem as humid either. It will be perfect when - or if - we can get caught up on rest so we don't feel tired all the time. No more aches and pains, but just tired. It is a tough schedule for people our age, but we knew that coming in. It will be nice now that the workampers are returning. It's a half day of OT today (tonight), our last stint on the night shift, and we will be home at 10 PM. Welcome normal hours...

Still Deciding on Weekend Plans

When I began the process for purchasing tickets for the Thoroughbred Heritage Tour near Lexington for this weekend, I began to question the decision. It seems that the tour is conducted in 2 mini-vans - 8 passengers each - and the vans only pick up passengers (customers) at one of the selected, nearby hotels. There is no meeting place on the grounds of any facility. The reviews were very good, but it makes us a little nervous to commit to something that sounds more like a Hollywood actors tour on a bus, which we prefer to avoid. We may change our minds at some point, but for now we decided to pass on that. That leaves the other place we considered - the Kentucky Horse Park - and that doesn't sound like a thoroughbred horse farm, but more like a huge park, and more like a tourist attraction. We'll probably go to the Horse Park, but we don't need reservations for that, since they charge an admission fee. They do offer Horse Farm Tours, but we need to get more info on those.

One more full day of work to go this week and then the half day of overtime. We are very tired while we are working during our scheduled weekdays and don't feel much like doing anything in the little bit of spare time we have during the week. It's hard to imagine that people have been doing this everyday for years at Amazon. They are almost all younger than us, so that is one reason they can keep up this schedule. We still haven't heard from HR on when our first day on the day shift will be, or what days we will be working. We would like to work the weekend days (Fri-Mon) so that our pay would be the same as working nights. They give a weekend differential just like they do for night work, so our pay wouldn't change. We are definitely looking forward to getting back on normal sleep schedules.

There was a rumor at work that the temperatures were going to drop into the 80's this weekend and stay there awhile. It can't happen soon enough for us. It is a shame that we can't even sit outside with this stifling heat and humidity we have been having. While looking back at the weather statistics since we have arrived in late June, there have only been a handful of days where the high temperature didn't reach into the 90's. One of those was yesterday when the high was 88. Where is Shangri-La???

Changing Over to Day Shift

We heard back from the HR people last night and we are being changed over to the day shift the week of August 15. The actual day hasn't been determined yet, so we still need to wait on that. The other good news is that we don't have to go through the orientation and training sessions that the other incoming workampers have to attend. The welcome "meet and greet" meeting is an option for us if we would like to attend, which we probably will do. That meeting will give us a chance to meet the incoming workers - it should be scheduled for Monday the 15th. It will be interesting to hear our start day for the day shift since the 15th is on Monday, and that is our second day of work for the night shift that we currently work. We are anxious for the day shift so that our sleeping time can be regulated to coincide with our days off and we won't have to adjust each week. The only negatives for day shift are that any people returning that we worked with last year will still be on nights, and we are told that the day shift people have to work under the microscope of the "real" management that work days. It's good to make new friends, and the management shouldn't make any difference for us since we aren't looking for careers and we'll just continue to work as we do now.

I received another certificate and 2 coins for work performance over 100% last week. The percentage was 140% which topped the previous week's total of 138%. I feel bad that Josie hasn't gotten one yet as she works so hard every day. She's still very close, so it will come.

We're thinking that we will do the Thoroughbred Heritage Horse Farm Tour this Saturday and will purchase our tickets today for the 1 PM tour which lasts 3 hours. That will give us plenty of time to drive to Lexington and walk around a little before the tour starts. It should be an exciting day and something different for us.

Until tomorrow...

Waiting on Schedule

Sunday night is the least active work day we have all week. It seems that all the odds and ends from the weekend are placed on the carts for stowing by the time we arrive at 5 PM. What that means is that most of the "single" items are placed on the carts instead of groups of items that have just arrived in receiving when we are likely to get whole carts of just one or two different items. It goes a lot faster when we have multiple items the same. It is also the most frustrating day for us since there are not as many empty bins in which to place items since the weekend is not worked as much by the "Pickers" - those who take items out of the bins to fill orders. We managed to get through it though, and tonight should be a different story with all the regular workers back for the normal work week.

We are waiting on word about our changeover to the day shift. The email we received on Friday announcing the new start date for the workamper "peak" season was delivered late, and the HR people went home for the weekend before we could get a response to our question of when we would start on the day shift. We hope it comes today so that we can plan a little better for our days off.

One of the targeted attractions for us in this area has been to visit a horse farm, where we can see close-up how the thoroughbred horse operations produce racing champions. There are 2 options, each of which gives us a different look at major horse activities in the state. The first one, Thoroughbred Heritage Tours, is a 3 hour guided tour of one of the prime breeding areas in Kentucky for thoroughbreds, and includes a drive through one of the most scenic thoroughbred farms in Kentucky that includes sites where the motion pictures Seabiscuit and Dreamer were filmed. The other is called Kentucky Horse Park and is a bit different in that it is a location for all kinds of activities for horses, including world class competitions for equestrian events. They both sound good, so we will choose which one to see this weekend. They both are located in the Lexington area which isn't that far away. We'll decide pretty soon since tickets for the Heritage Tour are available online and may sell out for the weekend if we wait too long to decide. Other than that, there's nothing much else to report for now...

Weather Disrupts Schedule

We had it all planned out to do a Self Guided Walking Tour of downtown Elizabethtown before going on to the Sam's Club there. The closer we got to town, the darker the skies became, until finally they opened up and dumped rain so hard we could hardly see to drive. So much for the walking tour. Maybe we will still do that at some point down the road. Anyway, we did our shopping at Sam's Club and got everything we needed - and more, as usual - and we are set for awhile now. The weather kind of dictated our day's activities.

Before leaving for Elizabethtown, I wanted to show just how close we are to work. Below is a shot of the view from the table where I work on the computer:

 and an even closer look where you can see the Amazon.com logo on the white building:

It is literally across the street from our campground, and we could walk to and from work if we wanted. Some people do walk, but the two reasons we don't are that we are so tired and sweaty after work, and the weather is unpredictable and don't want to take a chance on walking home in the rain. In addition to that, we already walk several miles while working and have had enough walking for one day. You can also see that the campground is empty - at least in this view. There are only about 8 rigs total so far in the whole campground. Obviously, when the peak season hits full throttle, all of these spaces will be filled and we will lose the view of the building. I will include a shot of the new view when that occurs.

It's back to work today at 5 PM. We still aren't quite sure yet about overtime this week as far as working a split shift or a whole shift. We will evaluate the situation by about Wednesday and decide at that point. The extra money is too good to ignore, so we will take advantage of that while we can. We are also waiting to hear when we will be moved to the day shift, so we are anxious for that to happen. See 'ya tomorrow...

Spending a Quiet Day at Home

It was just a nice, quiet day at home yesterday. We had some rain in the afternoon and the only thing we went outside for was to go to the store to get a few groceries. We spent the day (afternoon) catching up on our favorite shows that were taped while we were working - So You Think You Can Dance, America's Got Talent, Hell's Kitchen and a few shows on Animal Planet and National Geographic Channel that we like. It's much easier and more fun to watch these shows without the ads, which we can fast-forward through with the remote. A one hour show can be seen in less than 45 minutes with the ads eliminated, and a half hour show can be seen in about 20 minutes.

We received an email from Amazon HR yesterday announcing that the peak season is now scheduled to begin on August 15. Originally, it was scheduled for September 11, so they will implement the workamper policies, including free site rental, on the new date. That's like getting a raise. We have been responsible for our own site rental during this summer pilot program - $350 per month - so it was welcomed news. We are also waiting to hear if our changeover to days will also occur at that time. We hope so. Gosh, that's just over 1 week away.

Today we plan to drive to Elizabethtown and go to Sam's Club. We still haven't identified another place to visit while out today, but we still have some time to do more research on that area before we leave. The weather looks gloomy so far today, so maybe it will be a shorter trip than we think. It is only about 40 miles, so it shouldn't take more than 45 minutes to get there. So much for now...

An Option for Overtime Work

We managed to get through the extra, overtime day, with little or no after affects. The biggest problem with the extra day is that it really only gives us one full day off - Saturday. So, we discovered another option that would give us the same pay over two weeks that we are getting now with the overtime day every other week. The option is to work every Thursday from 5 PM to 10 PM, which is a half shift. That way, we can work the extra half shift every week, get to bed by 10:30 or so that night - a regular scheduled sleep time - and have full days off Friday, Saturday and Sunday up to 5 PM again. That way, our paychecks every 2 weeks will still reflect the full extra day of overtime, but allow more time off to do things. We got approval to do it that way, so we'll give that a try next week.

It's nice to reach the weekend again. We are constantly reminding ourselves that the reason we are here is for the money. There is not another place that we can find that offers the financial package that Amazon does. It's just hard to stay focused on that goal when there is such a negative atmosphere at work - and extreme heat that nobody in his right mind could stand on a permanent basis. We keep getting offers from other locations, some pretty good, but none that can match the setup we have here for the next several months. We keep telling each other that as soon as a really good offer comes in, we're out of here - if it is in a place we would like to spend some time. We have started looking at serious options for the winter, beginning in January, and are still up-in-the-air about where to spend the early part of next year. Our goal is to work our way back west, so we'll hope for some good options that help us achieve that goal.

Today is a relaxation day. There are no plans to do anything except wind down from the work week. We are still on for Elizabethtown tomorrow, so we'll just sit back and enjoy today while we catch up on some TV shows that we taped during the week...

Looking at the End of This Week

Now that we are facing our overtime day, we are questioning the decision to work the extra day this week. We are not that sore, but very tired from the extreme heat that we always have inside the warehouse. It sure is nice to come home and shower after work each day. We never wake up at all during the "night" and it always seems like we just went to bed when it's time to get up.

There was finally a glimmer of some positive feedback at work. I received a letter and 2 gold coins to use in the company vending machines for completing last week at 138 % performance. Wow. At least they are still providing some small incentive. Supposedly, everybody that finishes a week over 100% gets this token of appreciation. Josie is very close, and will probably get one in the coming weeks. It is still very different from peak season where there are daily rewards and gift cards handed out for good performance.

Our plans for the time off this weekend are taking shape. Nothing spectacular, but we will go to Elizabethtown on Saturday and go to the Sams Club there to get a few items and also take in an attraction or two while there. That is where the Lincoln connection to Kentucky is located - we have already seen those - and used to be the home of the largest Coca-Cola Museum in the country. They have closed the museum and are selling all of the contents - approximately 80,000 items valued at $10 million over the next couple years. We don't think that will be on the agenda. We'll see what else we can do that would be interesting. In the meantime, the countdown begins for the final day of work this week...

They Struck Again

Just when we think there isn't anything else that management could dream up to cast more dark shadows, they find one. Yesterday was the day that they enforced the break times. We get a mid morning break - 15 minutes - and an afternoon break - also 15 minutes - with a half-hour dinner break in the middle. It seems that people have been abusing the break schedules by taking a few minutes extra. Not really. Management is saying that you need to be at your station right at the start of the break, and also at the very end of the break. That's OK except that some folks - like us for example - are so far away from the break area that we wouldn't have any break at all if we didn't start walking to the break area a few minutes before the start. We feel that we all should be given the full break amount, regardless of where you are in the building when break time arrives. The same is true for the dinner break. We get 1/2 hour dinner break, but the break area is on the other side of the warehouse, plus, we have to be at a short meeting right at the end of the dinner break each day which, effectively, gives us all about 20 minutes for dinner. When it is 110 degrees on the warehouse floor, why are they making such a huge issue out of a couple minutes. Management sits at desks all day, either in air conditioning or under fans, and don't break into a sweat all day long. The employees have every reason to be disgruntled. Again, there is no positive action to offset all this negativism. It's a shame.

Today is day 4 of our week and would be the last day except for our voluntary overtime day tomorrow. We are tired, but can handle the schedule. The weather continues to be predictable - hot, humid and hazy - and it looks like we may get more rain today.

I have an appointment with an Audiologist today to have one of my hearing aids checked that seems to have a blockage somewhere. Maybe all the sweating at work is taking a toll on the hearing aids. I wouldn't be surprised. It is impossible to keep them dry. That's about it for now...

Management Styles

Last night - actually, this morning - we had another example of the negative style of management during the non-peak season at Amazon. We have occasionally been informed about minor mistakes we've made while stowing - i.e.: not ending a bin properly after stowing items, or miscounting items that are placed in the bins to name two. That's OK, as long as they tell you your doing a fine job and are performing better than most full time employees who are stowing product - which we are. Last night, I was told that I had miscounted an item that I had placed in one of the bins. I scanned 12 items, but only placed 10 in the bin. I must have stowed about 3,000 items in probably 300 bins for the night, and they feel like they have to remind me that one bin was miscounted? They never mentioned, or thanked me, for performing at 130% of plan last night. Now, I spent many years as a successful manager during my "real" working days and I have to say that I was very successful as a manager, so I know a little bit about it. People used to enjoy working for me because I created a "positive" environment that made people want to come to work and they felt good about their contributions. That is missing right now at Amazon. It has created an attitude in us that we don't care whether we produce or not, but are just working for the money. Most workers there feel that way. That is not a healthy attitude for any business. The style totally changes during the peak season when there is an emphasis on reward-for-performance and an emphasis on teamwork which is sadly missing right now. There is also a camaraderie - a natural result of feeling good - that makes it fun to go to work. We don't have that feeling.

I'm glad I got that off my chest. We're 2 days into the week, with 3 to go counting our OT day on Thursday. There is nothing planned for our free time right now, but that will probably change. There won't be a lot of time to go places since we only have the 2 days off this week, and with the sleeping schedule we have, it makes the planning more difficult. We'll see...

Into the Routine Again

It is a difficult adjustment for us to get back to work after having 3 days off. The reason is that the sleep schedule has to change each week. We have to sleep regular hours on our days off or we otherwise wouldn't be able to go places and do normal things during regular business hours. Sunday night is the toughest because we have been up all day long and have to go to work for 10 hours beginning at 5 PM. Last night was no exception. Even though we had about 7 hours sleep this morning, we are both still feeling like we didn't get much sleep. We are especially tired after the Sunday night shift and find it hard to believe that the week has just started. The day shift won't come too soon for us.

The whole atmosphere at work during this summer program is very different from the peak season.There aren't many workampers here and we are treated just like the regular employees. It will be a welcome change when the peak season starts as there is very little positive reinforcement for hard work right now. We are used to getting prizes - like gift cards and coins to use in the vending machines - for a job well done each day. There has been none of that this summer and it has been business as usual. Our performance is still at or above 100% of assigned goals, but without the rewards we were used to getting last year - so far. Bring on the other workampers!

It's heating up again - 91 so far at 1 PM - and humid as usual. How do people manage without air conditioning?

Day number 2 this week starts in a few hours, so we will try to get some relaxation before we have to once again leave for the sweatshop. Until tomorrow...