New Year's Eve

With the quiet times we've had this week, I haven't taken the time to wish everybody a Happy New Year. So, Happy New Year!

We will attempt to stay up to bring in the new year but, if previous years' history holds true, we will be asleep long before midnight. Maybe we will still get up before the clock strikes 12 and celebrate anyway. I bought some champagne just in case. I can remember the days when New Year's eve was a big event for us and we would go out to dinner and dance to music from a live band until all hours of the morning. Do people still do that today?

It will be a different story - probably - when Patty and her family (those who are still near home) can join in for some family fun for New Year's. Our plan to stay near home for the foreseeable future will help in planning some fun events down the road. There may even come a time when all the Reeds can join in for some New Year's cheer.

Josie is only scheduled to work two days in January which has caused some serious concern about her future at the Sun City shop. The owner misunderstood her when Josie talked to her about our new plans. For some reason, she thought we would be gone for most of January. Oh, well - Valentine's Day is not far off so I'm sure Josie will be back to a heavy schedule in February.

Have a great night everybody and we will see you in the next decade...

Nice Quiet Christmas

We hope that everybody had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was quiet and very nice as we enjoyed relaxing by working on some of our ongoing projects - Josie with her afghan, and me with my latest cross stitch project. We enjoyed some music and even played a couple games which we haven't done in ages. Next year, if everything works out according to plan, we are hoping that we can enjoy Christmas with family.

The week before New Year's should also be a quiet one as Josie is only scheduled to work a couple days and we have no plans to go anywhere. Maybe we can catch up on some projects we have been delaying to do around the house with the extra free time. Relaxing will still be priority number one.

If we can get the storm track to take a different route this week we may even get some nice weather. The weather has been basically wet and cool this past week with the forecast showing more of the same in the next couple of days. The rain is actually welcome, but in moderation.

There will be some great college football games on TV this entire week so enjoy those. The pros will begin their playoffs soon, so get ready for those games also. I believe they will start after the first of the new year.

Stay warm and dry until next time...

Visit With Friends

The morning and early afternoon yesterday were spent getting ready for the visit with our friends Rodger and Sue who were coming in the afternoon. We wanted to prepare a nice dinner for them as they were coming off the two month duty working long hours at the JC Penney warehouse in Reno, NV.

Their arrival was later than planned as they forgot to account for the change in time zone from their stopover in CA the night before. It was around 4:30 when they finally got settled into their local RV space at the campground that is located only 10 minutes away (Paradise RV Park on Union Hills Rd) and got to our house. The visit and dinner lasted until they left at 9 PM.

It was certainly wonderful seeing them again and bringing each other up to date on happenings in our lives. They will move on to visit friends in Sierra Vista and then head to Arkansas where their son lives and where they purchased some new property for themselves. We hope to see them again in the not too distant future.

Josie works today and tomorrow AM and then we get to enjoy a couple days together over Christmas. Her schedule calls for her to work again on Friday following Christmas.

Enjoy the holiday everybody...

Active Schedule

Most of the activity over the last several days has been Josie's work schedule - very busy. Yesterday was to be a short day with the shop Christmas party including the gift exchange taking place following work. They were so busy that the only party they had was at lunch time and they then worked until after 5:30 PM. She is off today but works again tomorrow and Tuesday.

Today will be a busy day in another way. Our friends - Rodger and Sue Sandlin - are expected this afternoon at around 2-3 PM. They are passing through on their way to Ajo, AZ tomorrow and then on to the east coast where they have family. We will have (hopefully) a nice visit with dinner planned in the early evening. We still haven't decided what to have for dinner so that needs to happen very soon so that I can go to the store and buy the fix-ins. The weather is expected to hold through the day so that is good news. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 70's which is perfect.

Only three days to go before Christmas, so We hope everybody is ready, or close to it...

Explanation on Termites and More

I wanted to point out that the termites that were found in our house were only in the new addition that was completed by the previous owners. The addition represents the new family room and the expanded master bedroom. The termites were discovered where the cement joints were placed that connects the two construction phases. There are no termites that were found in the original part of the house. The termite company will provide a 5 year warranty after the work is performed on January 16, 2020 to rid the house totally of termites.

We also had our annual "wellness" exams at our doctor's office on Monday which I didn't mention. We both checked out OK and this morning we had our blood work done at the lab which will be reviewed by our doctor in another appointment scheduled for January 7. I see no major problems with any of that.

This afternoon we visited the T-Mobile office in Glendale and started the transfer from AT&T to T-Mobile. We have to wait until our refinance gets completed (funded) so that we can allow another inquiry into our credit. That will happen on Monday, so our official transfer to T-Mobile will occur on Tuesday. That move will save half of our cell phone bill each month. Why pay $260 each month for the same service that we can get for $130 each month at T-Mobile. All services and benefits are included at that new price - including phone insurance and the new hotspot. I am impressed with the growth and development of T-Mobile and expect equal - or better - service than we had with AT&T.

We have our friends - Rodger and Sue Sandlin - that we worked with at Amazon back in Kentucky years ago visiting with us this Sunday. They are stopping by to visit following their completed work schedule at a JC Penney warehouse in Reno, NV that was similar work to Amazon. We are looking forward to seeing them and spending some time reminiscing on Sunday on their way through Arizona to points east to visit family...

New Update

There have been some changes recently in the way we will move forward. Some things are not important but there are a couple that are worth mentioning.

The first is that we signed all the documents this AM for the refinance on our mortgage. We were able to get favorable terms that reduced the interest rate by 3/4%. That is actually a nice reduction in our mortgage payment that helps with our new budget and the planned lifestyle without all the traveling. We also get to skip the mortgage payment for January as a result of the new loan which sure helps with the expenses over the Christmas season.

The second item is not such good news and kind of negates some of the impact of the first item. Already, we are committed to an expense that was not planned. Based on a termite inspection this morning, we will have to have a treatment that will cost us $725 and will take place in January. As  you may recall, we returned home from our summer travels to see some "tubes" hanging from our family room ceiling. Suspecting that there were termites that produced them, we had our inspection today to confirm the news. So, we will have a treatment performed on January 16 to rid the creatures forever. We take the bad news along with the good news and move on.

We mailed our Christmas package to Naperville this AM and the Guido's will receive it on Saturday, the 21st - in time for Christmas. It's time now to really get into the Christmas spirit and we look forward to that...

Week of Activities

The last week since my last post has been busy with lots of chores and projects around the house. Josie has been off since Monday and we have done some things in the back of the house and also had our landscaper come in and do a cleanup and trim of the bushes in the front of the house. He will return in January to trim our fruit trees and the palm trees. Speaking of the fruit trees, we have an abundant supply of oranges and lemons this year. These shots are of two of our trees that are just loaded with fruit:

There is no way that we can consume all that fruit ourselves. Josie will take some into work and we will offer some to anybody else that wants some. The oranges are very sweet and the lemons are perfect.

We also picked up some "deer and rabbit fence" spray to help keep the rabbits off of our back patio. We are getting tired of getting out the blower to remove all the rabbit "poop" that we are getting. So far, it has done the job as I haven't seen any new poop since we sprayed.

It looks like we might have some termites to deal with. When we returned from our summer trip, we discovered some mysterious material hanging from small holes in our family room ceiling. We didn't think much about it until we saw some photos of the exact same material that was representative of termites. I will contact a company to come out and investigate the situation asap as we don't want to wait on that problem.

I got the oil changed in the Escape this morning so that is ready to go for the next six months.

I'll keep everybody posted on any significant happenings as they occur - especially as we get closer to Christmas...

Just an Update

We have been spending almost all of our time - free time, that is - getting a few more decorations placed around the house. Josie has been working at the shop - 4 days this week - and is looking forward to having this weekend off. I keep looking at the "challenge" that we face in the garage and keep saying to myself "nah, it's not time to tackle that yet".

I have our landscaper scheduled for Monday to come and trim a few of our bushes that have been getting out of control. We have tons of fruit on our trees and he will return in January to trim our fruit trees.

I have returned to my cross stitch piece that wasn't completed in time to take to Jackson this past summer. I will finish it now without worrying about taking it to Jackson. Our plan, as you know, is to not go this year.

Basically, we are entering a "boring" phase of our lives and plan to stick close to home for the foreseeable future. Of course, things can change....

More Tree

The photo I published of our Christmas tree yesterday was not the finished look. Josie decided to put more ornaments on yesterday and this is now the new look - side by side:

The star got a little "twisted" in the new version and we will straighten that out this morning. (click on each photo to enlarge)

We went into the garage yesterday and located more Christmas decorations in the stack of boxes. Not only did Josie add to the tree, but she has placed decorations all around the house. It really looks like Christmas now.

So, here we are in December now and there are only 23 more days until Christmas. That should be enough time to get everything done that we need to do.

Josie has today off and then it's back to work for the next 4 days....

Tree is Up

We got a start on Christmas over the weekend by putting up the tree. It is actually late this year with the shorter time frame between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is our 2019 tree:

We still have some decorating to do in the house but the main feature is ready to go. This year, we will not have as much in the way of decorations. The outside lights will be omitted except for a couple small items as we were the only folks on the block last year that had a display outside. It seems that most of the people on the block either go away for the holidays or are too old or bothered to install the Christmas decorations. I must admit, it is a hassle to get out the lights and decorations only to put them back in a month. It is the spirit that counts, not the show of decorations - right?

Josie started back at the flower shop yesterday and it was a good day for her. She was welcomed back and was given her schedule for December. She will work 4 days one week and three the next for altrernating weeks. That is just the way she wants it - not full time, but enough days to make some money and stay active in the business. It's good to see her without so much stress for a change.

There were some good football games on TV yesterday. The traditional rivalries were played out yesterday with a couple surprises, but mostly outcomes according to projections. The ASU/AZ game was a good one but ASU won as expected. The pros play today and we are getting closer to playoff time. A lot can happen in the few weeks remaining and it should be interesting to watch....

Nice Thanksgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving yesterday with family. That is, family that is local without Patty and her family who were certainly missed. We arrived at Brian's house at around 2:30 PM and the rains held off for the entire day. We had very cool weather though, and some pretty hefty wind at times. We didn't get to enjoy the usual gathering outside around the table but just found room around the inside tables and counters to enjoy the wonderful meal. These photos were the best chance to get everybody getting ready to go through the food line before settling at the table in the kitchen or outside - braving the chilly air and occasional wind:

Everything was delicious and, of course, there was too much food as always.

Maybe we will have a larger family group next year if we can get Patty and her family to finally make the move to Arizona.

Next on the agenda is to get Josie ready to begin work again at the flower shop. That occasion is on for tomorrow as she starts back at Sun City Florists for another season. I hope to have an update on that after tomorrow....

Ready for Thanksgiving

This was a shot of the sunset last night on the eve of Thanksgiving:

The AZ skies are so beautiful.

We received a nice Thanksgiving gift from Patty - a tin can of delicious home made chocolate chip cookies - that were better than any we have ever tasted before. Keep that recipe, Patty.

We will travel to Brian's house this year for Thanksgiving dinner. The plan is too arrive there at around 2 PM and have a nice afternoon with the family's, including Cot & Lois. It was suppose to rain yesterday, today and tomorrow but the forecast was revised to have rain only this afternoon, tonight and tomorrow. That's fine with us. We will get some pretty fierce winds though as part of the storm. There should also be some good football on TV this afternoon after we welcome Santa Claus into town at Macy's in New York.

Have a great day everybody and we'll catch you again down the road...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Lots and Lots of Rain

We have had enough rain over the last three days to last for six months. According to the local measurements, we had about 2.50" in our area. There was also some lightening and thunder to go along with the rain and it made for some tough sleeping the last two nights - for Josie. I can't hear all the thunder, but did see some of the lightening. I wanted to post these photos of the storms to show how it looked while all the rain was dumping:

Notice the nice crop of oranges and lemons we are getting this year. We took most of the furniture off the open patio during the storms and moved it under the covered portion. Today, we will replace all the furniture and enjoy the sunshine again....

New Blog Practices

As a result of our decision to stay close to home for a while, we will not be doing the blog every day as we have tried to do in the past. There just isn't enough "new" and exciting activity to report and I don't want it to become so boring that our readers will stop checking on updates. It may still get boring, but you won't have to read the same stuff everyday. I will try to keep it relevant to our activities that may be of interest. At any rate, you will not see entries every day as I have tried to do in the past. This is a new chapter in our lives - one that involves some new direction and a lot less travel.

We plan to try to sell the RV and the truck. I will place ads in the RV "for sale" columns (of which there are many) and hope to get an interested party that wants to start RVing but don't know what to buy to get started. Both vehicles are in good shape, although not new. A person can save thousands by purchasing the combination and this one works! Hopefully, we will find a buyer.

There are many other areas we are downsizing and will try to keep everybody posted on the significant changes.

I apologize for not committing to daily entries, but it is time to rethink our future plans. It is interesting to note that a couple that we have been following ever since we began our adventure almost 12 years ago has decided to settle down in the Villages in Florida and have stopped their full-time lifestyle after 15 years. They are Howard and Linda Payne and are the founders of RV-Dreams.com that has become a national RVing institution. Their life on the road has been an inspiration and a rewarding experience to follow during our 12 years.

We'll still be interested in RVing - always will - and will most likely obtain a smaller RV down the road to continue to enjoy some short travel during our retirement years. We don't expect anything like we have done in the past, but once you fall in love with RVing, you never get it totally out of your system....

Changes Starting

The first step that was taken in our quest to tighten the belt was a review of expenses that we can control and have not looked at in a long time. The main one is the mortgage which we committed to refinance yesterday at an interest rate 3/4% below our original rate. That saves us a couple hundred dollars each month. Further, we have made the decision to change insurance companies and get rid of Progressive. I received a nice quote from Farmers that saves us lots of money on our vehicle insurance and our homeowner insurance. It also has the advantage of being with the same company versus splitting the coverage with Progressive.

There are several other areas we have made changes to in order to reduce the monthly obligations. Another that I will take a long look at is our telephone coverage. We are spending way too much each month with AT&T and we are not all that happy with them anyway. Since we do not plan to travel as much, it will be worth looking into other providers that perhaps don't have the wide coverage that AT&T and Verizon have. One that comes to mind is T Mobile. They are a lot cheaper.

Anyway, the train is rolling along and we are making good headway into making costs more reasonable....

Starting New Direction

It looks like it is time to change direction. We are both getting weary of traveling and working and trying to make so much money that we have lost contact with reality. The reality is, we are getting older and slower and don't need to keep up this rocket-speed pace. At least for now we will tighten our belts and try to get by with as little as possible in terms of toys and money. One of the major decisions we made is to somehow get rid of the fifth wheel and the expenses associated with that. Although it has been such a big part of our lives for the last 12 years, it has outlived its usefulness and the expense can no longer be justified. It was our home for most of those 12 years, and a very good one at that. We now begin the search for an acceptable solution.

We are taking some time now to evaluate our goals and to get our lives organized for the foreseeable future. That involves some changes and some sacrifices, but we feel we need to make those tough choices now in order to have a better retirement - what is that word? It will be nice to eventually downsize our possessions - mostly in the garage - so that we can spread out a little bit and begin to know where to look for things when we need them. It will not be easy, but we are mentally ready for the task....

Amazon Gig Ends

I worked the half day of voluntary OT yesterday at Amazon. I resigned after the shift ended but left the door open a crack in case I decided to return for any reason. They allowed me to stay on as a reserve and have the opportunity to return before the end of the season. It' isn't likely that will happen.

I am in the mode now of preparing a strict budget for us to follow to get control of our expenses. I can't plan for the emergencies - like the truck repair - but can still have some kind of reserve fund for those occasions. The budget will include only employment by Josie as that is something she wants to do - part time, if possible, during holidays. I will not work unless it becomes absolutely necessary. I will provide updates as we go along.

Maybe we can finally have an opportunity to join most of our neighbors in the garage sale game. We have been ignoring the "mess" in the garage since we moved in and need to get rid of lots of old stuff. Every week there are garage sales in our neighborhood and people in this area are drawn to those sales like flies. Every garage sale creates a traffic jam on the street in front of those houses. I know that it takes a lot of preparation, but I also understand that it can be very profitable - as opposed to donating everything to charity. There are also some items in our house that need to go. We wish Patty were here to help go through those things and take what she might want. We'll see.

Today, I will watch another Penn State football game. This time, they will beat Indiana. I also plan to watch PJ Fleck and his Minnesota Gophers play Iowa this afternoon. I see no reason why they shouldn't win their 10th game this season and remain undefeated.

Enjoy your weekend everybody....

Overtime Really Kicks In

I received another email last night announcing another overtime opportunity at Amazon. Today could be overtime in addition to tomorrow which is mandatory. I signed up for a half day for today - 12:30-6 PM - so I will definitely have my fill of that place by tomorrow night. Actually, I plan to resign after tomorrow night. It isn't worth the physical stress to continue. I am not young anymore and Josie mentioned that every one of the workers we saw was in his/her 20's or 30's and very few as old as 50. There were definitely no workers in their 70's. It's almost over.

I took the truck in for the repairs yesterday AM and the expectation is that it will take 2 weeks to complete. That is OK as we have the second car and Josie will need it for her work - probably beginning sometime next week. The point is that we could not both work with just the one vehicle being available.

We have some belt tightening planned and expect to get things under control following the truck repair....

Overtime Kicks In

Amazon is known for the mandatory overtime that is required each year during Peak Season. It is incredible how that company can stock millions of products, employ thousands of workers, create all kinds of unnecessary costs and handle overhead that seems like child's play to us and still make billions of dollars in profit. That time has arrived as I was informed that I must work this Saturday - my first overtime day. Of course, all workers on overtime will receive time-and-a-half for the 10 hours. That translates into $225 for my one day effort on Saturday.

I will be looking at all options these next two days as I don't especially care for the commute or working alone without Josie. I will definitely work Saturday, but next week may or may not happen depending on what happens the next two days. Josie is waiting to talk to the flower shop owner about her schedule.

The truck goes into the collision shop this morning to get the repairs done from the tire blowout. I don't know how long it will take, but I'm hoping for a quick repair as we will have to get along with just the Escape until it's finished.

Josie went to the doctor yesterday and he said she was severely dehydrated which probably resulted in her problems. She will have some bloodwork done today and she also has to get an x-ray on her problem knee. Hopefully, we can get her back to normal soon....

First Work Day Apart

Yesterday was a tough day for me at Amazon. Josie stayed home, I drove the truck through some very bad traffic (almost 1 hour commute) and I worked the day without her to share breaks and lunch. I have one more day to work (solo) this week and then I get three days off to ponder the next step. In the meantime, Josie scheduled a doctor's appointment for today to try and get a handle on her stress and horrible feelings she has experienced recently. I worry about her, for sure.

The good news is that it seems like there are openings at her flower shop in Sun City if she can connect with the owner. With the holidays approaching, they lost some people unexpectedly. I hope that goes well.

My day today will be a long one as I am tired and anxious to get some rest. The only real task I have scheduled this week is to take the truck to the collision shop tomorrow to get the repairs done from our blowout. That appointment is at 8 AM tomorrow.

I hope the next few days will bring some good news for us....

First Casualty

It was another day of stress and uncomfortable results for Josie. She signed out about two hours early as she was feeling sick and not getting any comfortable feeling at all about her work. We stopped by the desk of the HR folks and tried to get another task assigned for her. There are no openings in any of the other departments at this time so it looks like she has to either quit or take a chance on openings occurring soon. My recommendation is that she cut her ties with Amazon and try getting back to the flower shop for the holiday season where she is much more comfortable.

I'm not sure what I'll do other than complete this week myself. That means two more days for me and then we can figure out a longer term solution. I've come to the conclusion that we are no longer "spring chickens" and need to find work that is more suitable for people our age. The last two jobs - the pumpkin patch and Amazon - are jobs for people that are closer to 35 years old rather than 80. We'll learn.

I went to bed at halftime of the Seahawks/49er's game last night and it was 10-7 in favor of the 49er's - good game. This morning I saw the final - 27-24 Seattle in OT. It turned into a great game. The chase is on for the NFL West Division crown....

Kind of Tough Day

The 10 hour days are definitely something we are not accustomed to although the pumpkin patch was far worse. The biggest difference at Amazon is that we walk the whole day except for breaks and lunch. Also, the work we do as "pickers" is not nearly as difficult as what we did at the pumpkin patch. Our legs and back are taking the brunt of our daily activity. It will be a crap-shoot to see if we can adjust and get into this flow before deciding to quit. I'm in favor of going the distance with the program. Josie would leave today if given the option. The next couple days are critical.

The big thing we have going for us is that we only work 4 days a week. I mentioned to Josie that after today, our week is half over. I think it sounds better when put that way.

I had a scare yesterday morning when I lost a screw from my glasses and one of the lenses fell out. It was a miracle that I found the tiny screw sitting on top of my computer and got it all fixed again before leaving for work.

We'll keep the faith for now....

Nice Break After Week One

We enjoyed our break after the first week - 3 days. We got some things done, had a nice rest and got our minds in the right place to prepare for the second week. The fact that we have 3 days off is a blessing. If it were only 2 days, we might have had a problem. I think as time goes on and we get closer to Christmas, the time off will be important, but not as critical as it is for the first couple weeks. What I mean is, the 40 hour week spread over 4 days is easier on us than over 5 days.

It looks like coach PJ Fleck is using his magic in Minnesota to repeat his outstanding effort at Western Michigan University with Austin's team. His Minnesota team is now 9-0 for the first time since 1904 by knocking off undefeated and 4th ranked Penn State yesterday. If PSU had to lose, I'm glad it was to Fleck. I understand the University extended his contract for 7 years at $4.5 million. He surely deserves it.

From now until Wednesday night, we will be go-go-go and not have a lot of time for much else than eating and sleeping each night. We got everything done that we needed to and I am ready to go the next 4 days without any major tasks to be done....

Truck Appointment Set

The main accomplishment yesterday was scheduling the truck repairs for next Thursday - our next day off - to take place at Caliber Collision in Surprise. They will work from the insurance company estimate and, hopefully, get it done in a short time with no problems. My main concern is that the collision shop be able to perform the work within the estimate from the insurance company. I can tell you that I can't fork over any more money if they can't.

Part of our conversation with Patty this morning was, as always, about the boys and their activities. It seems that Austin is enjoying his friendship with the NFL Pro friends he has. He always spends time with Troy from the Broncos when he can and this weekend he is in Tennessee, staying at his former roommate Corey Davis' house and going to the Titans game tomorrow. I'm happy for him to be able to do those fun things.

We have a few minor chores to do today including taking a trip to the store before starting work at Amazon for our second week tomorrow. I hope it is a better experience for Josie this week. I think it will be as she gets more familiar with the job and the building....

Welcomed Day Off

I had to start the day yesterday with my eye appointment. At 7:30 AM and coming off a strenuous week at Amazon, It was not my favorite task. I didn't even get to see the Doctor until 8:15 after several tests were run on my eyes and, basically, a complete eye exam. The Doctor said my problem eye looks good and my change in prescription for glasses would be minimal. I passed on getting a new prescription and will be set to go for another year.

Josie caught up on laundry while I was gone and we took a trip to the store after I got back from my appointment. It was, generally, a day of doing nothing but relaxing and trying to get Josie in the right frame of mind to continue at Amazon. I think we have agreed to continue - for now.

The payroll system works as we already received our pay - direct deposit - for our one day of Orientation last Saturday. The rest of our week will be paid next Friday which is always payday.

There is still the issue of the truck repairs that is outstanding. I have decided to take it to a local collision shop to get the work done. Since the insurance is so bad and is not picking up a portion of the repair, I have to make sure I get the best bang for the buck. More research will be done on that issue today. The net of that whole experience is that I will be anxious to change insurance companies - again - when all the work is done. The discussions that Josie and I are having regarding the truck and the RV have been directed toward finding a way to sell both - the truck and RV - and settle down for at least the foreseeable future....

First Week is History

It was a typical work week at Amazon - we had forgotten. I should say that we had a lot of friends around us in Campbellsville to give support to each other. It was touch and go the whole week for Josie whether she would be able to stick it out or not. She made it. Next week is up for discussion, but I think she might want to give it a shot. I hope so - if she is up to it. It is such a good situation for us to satisfy some of our short term goals. I do believe, though, that we are about as close to committing to full time retirement as we can get. We just need to take care of a few things.

I have an appointment with my eye doctor at 7:30 AM this morning (Thursday). It was the appointment to follow up on treatment of my problem eye. Originally, it was scheduled for Wednesday, but our job forced the next day take-it-or-leave-it appointment. So, we look forward to some down time and relaxation and we have a lot to talk about regarding the immediate future.

Oh, the tale of the scale this first week is 4.5 pounds lost!....

Holiday Meal on Amazon

The highlight of the day yesterday was the nice Thanksgiving meal that Amazon provided in the lunchroom for all employees. It was catered by Boston Markets and was very delicious. They even extended the lunch break by 15 minutes so that everybody had enough time to enjoy the meal.

The day was otherwise very intense, as usual, and we are both just really looking forward to getting off our feet for a few days after today. It was also the first day that all of us were on our own without coaching. Josie is still struggling - physically and mentally - and I have to say that I hope she can adjust and get into the flow soon. It is all we can do to get our ten hours in, get some sleep and do it all again. There isn't any time to do anything else on the days we have to work.

For some reason it didn't seem so tough on us before when we worked at Amazon in Campbellsville, KY. Maybe the 8 years since that experience have taken a toll on us. Like, maybe our age is finally trying to warn us to stay away from theses kinds of jobs....

Finishing Up With Training

It was a morning of more boring discussions on a lot of procedures and other mandatory items that everybody needs to know. Today starts the real deal and there will be no coaching, except for questions anybody has that can be asked during the day when you spot a supervisor. Amazon does a good job educating their employees on emergency procedures, work procedures and all information that is needed to make it a pleasant experience. The ten hour days go faster when we actually perform our assigned duties.

There are two more days before we get a break - Thursday - and we are looking forward to that. Both of us are feeling it in our legs and backs and hope that we will get into shape before it is all over. Josie is still struggling, although improving. I'm liking it and doing well from what I'm told.

The commute isn't bad and we have seen the worst of it. That is a good omen....

Long Day to Start

As usual, the first full day on the floor was spent learning about procedures and other areas that may impact our time here in the warehouse. The main thing was that we got to work at our jobs for most of the day. Picking is very different from Stowing as I indicated before and it really is a lot of fun from my standpoint. Josie has a different opinion and struggled with most of the process the entire day. She will enjoy the job a lot more as she becomes familiar with the warehouse and the job. There are still a few areas I need to learn more about, but I like the job. It is strenuous (lots of walking) , for sure, but could result in some much needed weight loss.

I got this shot of the break area/lunch room in the AM when we arrived at 7 AM (Start time was 7:30):

It looks a lot like yesterday's shot except it was taken from a different angle and shows a little more of the huge area it occupies. My camera went into the locker after this shot and did not have access to it for the rest of the day. They are very strict about what comes into the warehouse area. Essentially, you go in with the clothes you are wearing and that's it.

I am concerned about how Josie will adapt to this new environment and hope that all goes well the rest of the week. She has had problems with her knees and back in the past so we will see. No matter what, it is better than the schedule we had in the Pumpkin Patch and welcome some time off which will occur on Thursday...

Day 1 Done

We arrived at the Amazon facility early - at around 12:15 PM - and got a good seat for the orientation. It was held in a classroom that became filled to capacity at the starting time of 1PM. There must have been 75-80 people attending for their first day at Amazon.

The orientation went according to plan and, actually, ended about 45 minutes early (5:15 PM). The classroom part was long and mostly familiar to us but did contain some new procedures and information that is unique to this area. We broke early and walked to the entrance we will be using every day from here on out and reviewed check-in, security and locker information among other items. I took these shots of the area we will be using during our breaks/lunch:

and the area where the refrigerator, microwaves and other kitchen items are located:

It is a very nice, clean, large and well organized facility and should be fun to work in for the next several weeks. Our committed time frame is only to Christmas, but may be extended depending upon their needs and ours.

This post is being prepared on Saturday night for publication on Sunday AM when we have to start our "official" first day of training. That starts at 7:30 AM, so I will end this now and hope to stay current with the posts.

Here we go….

D-Day at Amazon

This is it. Our re-introduction to the Amazon "family" occurs today at 1 PM. Although it is only orientation, it promises to be a half day full of information that we will have to digest in a short time. Fortunately, we have experience with them and feel like it cannot be that different from what we did previously - except that our function is a new one. Picking is a much faster pace than stowing which is what we did in Campbellsville, KY. Also, it was 7 years ago that we had that experience so we expect to see some changes and to (probably) feel more fatigued at the end of the day. Wish us luck. The real work starts tomorrow at 7:30 AM, so this is just a warm up.

Sometime during our days off I will try to schedule a time to take the truck into a collision shop for repairs from our tire blowout. I expect to go to the shop where I already have an estimate and try to get them to work with Progressive to agree on a price. That may be as difficult as getting the Pope to convert to Judaism.

My eye appointment that was originally scheduled for Wednesday was moved to Thursday - our first day off - at 7:30 AM. Too bad that my first day off means I still have to get up early for this appointment but you take what you can get in the medical field.

I will miss watching football games on Sundays, but can copy the good ones to watch later and I can still watch college games on Saturdays except for today....

Set To Go Now

We made the decision yesterday to take the opening they had at Amazon that starts on Saturday, Nov 2. Yep, that's tomorrow. It starts with orientation at 1 PM which goes for 5-5.5 hours, and we begin our regular schedule on Sunday the 3rd and work through Wed the 6th. The schedule is for 7:30 to 6 PM, Sun - Wed each week and will be in the "Picking" department which will be new to us, although familiar. We know a lot about picking as when we were "stowing" in Campbellsville, KY years ago, we were working in the same area that the "pickers" work. We will be walking about 10-15 miles per day within the warehouse while locating items and placing them in totes to be taken to a station where they prep for shipping. I hope we can handle that. The choice was made to accept that job so that we didn't get stuck with something worse next week. Our only mistake was applying when we did (late) as most of the better jobs have already been assigned. We can always request a transfer to a different function if, for any reason, picking does not work out for us. We are happy to be working though, and Amazon is a good place to work.

I received the estimate for the truck damage/repairs from the insurance company and it is a huge joke. I took the photos and sent them in to the insurance company yesterday and their estimate came back about 40% lower than the collision shop estimate I received last week. I could go on and on about how incompetent the estimate was but let me just say that any person physically working with the estimate from the insurance company would have to be from a different planet. Some of the repairs they estimated to be 12 minutes in labor that involved removing and repairing items underneath the wheel well that would take twice that long just to remove and reinstall without repair. Anyway, I'm still fighting that battle and can't wait to switch insurance companies again. What a mistake it was to go with Progressive. They need to spend more money on customer service and less on Flo!

We hope to enjoy our final day off today in some decent weather.

Oh, and we had zero kids last night for trick-or-treat...

Back and Forth

The Amazon saga continues as far as departments available to work, days to work, and even facility to work. There are three locations where there are jobs for the season and they are all pretty much in the same general area - south of I-10 on or along the Buckeye Road area which is a few blocks south of the I-10. All are within reasonable distance of the 101 which is how we would commute. The option we have is to hold out for what we are looking for as a favorite scenario and take the chance of getting nothing versus starting now and getting some good pay even though it isn't the perfect choice for us. We will decide on that today.

In the meantime, I am nursing my eye problem and my foot sore. Both seem to showing some improvement, so I'm hopeful for those to end in a positive way.

We are enjoying the nice weather - for the most part, except for the winds yesterday - and especially like watching the birds making good use of our birdbath. We got this shot yesterday of the largest crowd we have seen in the bath at the same time:

There were 7 birds splashing around at the same time. Fun to watch.

Happy Halloween everybody....

Muddy Waters

It didn't take long. We received a phone call yesterday informing us of a change in our work schedule. A HUGE change. The new schedule that they are trying to get us to work is this: Start on Nov 2, work night shift (9PM to 7 AM), work Fri-Mon. Give us a break! We contacted our friends that know the Camperforce person at Amazon that handles the Phoenix area and we sent an email to him asking for help. Unfortunately, they are no longer taking apps for the Phoenix area for the Camperforce. So, we are between the rock and the hard place - again. We have one more conversation that we plan to have today with the Integrity Solutions people that hired us. We hope we can get some good news from that call.

I had my appointment at the eye doctor yesterday for the problem I've been having with my one eye. It appears to be some kind of infection that they prescribed medication (drops) for that should fix everything in one week.

My appointment with my regular doctor about my mysterious sore on my foot went about the same. He prescribed some cream to use that he "hoped" would clear up the problem. Without being a Dermatologist, he is shooting in the dark. If it doesn't work, we will go the route of the Dermatologist.

Does life begin to get easy anytime soon? We hope so....

Oh, and happy birthday Nan - she would be 100 today!

Close the Floodgates

(Actually, this is yesterday's post....I was called away and never posted it until this morning.)


Just when we feel like we are getting control back again over all of our expenses and emergencies, we get two more.

The first one is a nagging problem with one of my eyes where it won't open in the morning when it's time to get up. It appears to be "glued" shut with some kind of sleeping "goop" that comes out of nowhere. I have had the problem for a couple weeks and contacted my ophthalmologist last week. She recommended using the "refresh" eye drops (which I use on a daily basis anyway) and step up the use to about 8 times a day along with applying a cold compress about three times a day. I did all that for about five days and it seems to be getting worse and not better. I called them this AM and the earliest they can see me is tomorrow at 10:40 AM. Great customer service!

The second problem is a leaking toilet which was actually discovered by our neighbor during one of his walk-through's over the summer. At that time, it was only a small leak that happened only during the flushing cycle. It also has gotten worse to the point that we have a plumber here this AM to fix the problem. Sheesh! $400 to rebuild the toilet, or $800 to replace it with a new one! We opted for the rebuild with a warranty. He is now wrapping up the repair.

On top of all this, we are still dealing with the insurance claim on our tire blowout from the trip south from Jackson. The insurance company I switched to has been a total disappointment. They expect us to take photos of the damage along with a video and send them to the office so they make a settlement offer. That's crap! There is no way you can evaluate a claim from pictures.

We keep looking for our ship to come in from somewhere out in the ocean - or wherever. It will be nice, someday, to get the relief from all this so we can retire and enjoy some fun and relaxation.

Drive By

As we wanted to see where the Amazon facility was located where we will begin working on Nov 12, we drove to the address and took this shot:

It looks amazingly like the one we worked in Campbellsville, KY - I guess Amazon has a standard look. It took us about 35 minutes to drive there from home which is not too bad. We will, however, have to deal with morning and evening work traffic but we do have the advantage of being able to use the car pool lanes.

The job will be different from what we did previously and will still require the fast pace effort that Amazon is noted for. They have a great program that works for folks that want to make some good money and don't mind some hard work. We are looking forward to the experience.

In the meantime we are catching up on tasks that must be completed before we start work. Things like haircuts (got those yesterday), eye appointments, car insurance issues from our tire blowout in September and similar items that require extra time will have to be completed.

We have no idea at this point what our holiday schedules will be like. We do know that our schedule has us working Wed-Sat each week, so we are assuming that Thanksgiving, at least, is out of the question for enjoying any family time. We spoke with George about the schedule and he is trying to figure out their own schedule with Brian being distracted by the fires in CA and their planned trip to Oregon for the Christmas holidays. We all have to do what we have to do, so we just hope for the best. It would be nice if Patty and her family were here, but that day will come - soon, we hope....

New Jobs

We decided to end the game of submitting resumes, doing online applications and generally wasting time searching for a new job. We recalled having requests from Amazon to work for them again - locally, in  the Phoenix area at one of their distribution centers. Yesterday, we closed the loop by going to their hiring company - Integrity Staffing Solutions - and did all the paperwork, did all the drug tests and got our photos taken for badges, received a job offer and got our schedule. We will begin work at the location on Buckeye Rd near 68th Ave on Nov 12. Our schedule will be Wed-Sat, 7:30 AM -6 PM (four 10 hour days).  There will be some mandatory O.T. during the Christmas season which is always great extra money. We are familiar with the process and the work involved so it should not be a surprise to us.

Josie will discuss this change with the owner of the flower shop when she calls about any schedule she may have come up with for her. The cool reception at the flower shop prompted this change and Josie will try to keep the door open for holidays after the first of the year. She has talked about a change from the floral industry for some time now, so maybe this will be the first step.

So, today, we will drive to the location where we will be working to see exactly where it is located and get a feel for time involved in our commute. We work the same schedule and can commute together the same as we did in Campbellsville, KY when we last worked for Amazon.

Depending on how this goes, we will make decisions on the next move....

Job Search and Yard Work

Since Josie got such a cool reception at her flower shop - she still hasn't heard about any schedule - she decided to take another course of action. We have been submitting applications to a couple of the big stores in the area and yesterday we stopped at Home Depot and JoAnn's where she had an interest. She also wants to try Michael's which we will do today. I also have been searching online for opportunities and have a couple leads.

Most of the last two days have been spent with the ongoing task of getting settled in the house for the winter. One of the projects we have been putting off and that we completed yesterday was transplanting one of our small bushes from the pot to the ground:

That particular bush would eventually break the pot with its roots so we moved it now. The Vinca plant we have has dropped seeds all summer and has created a bed of plants that we are going to leave alone for now:

We'll take more photos as we finish up the projects.

The weather is getting really nice now and it is great to sit out and relax at night. I hope it stays this way for a long time before it gets too cold to sit out....

Car Fixed and Other Moves

We finally got a call from the Ford dealer indicating that the part was in for the A/C repair on the Escape. We drove the car there in the afternoon, left it and performed some other duties while out.

We got our 2019/2020 flu shot at Walgreens Drug in Sun City West as our normal pharmacy in Fry's was out of the vaccine. Most places are having a tough time keeping the vaccine in stock this year. Don't know what that means, but we are good to go for another year. We also stopped at Sam's Club to see about submitting applications for employment. Josie has gotten a cool reception from her flower shop as they have a full staff at the present time. Of course, they had to hire a replacement for Josie when she left for the summer. The owner is now having a hard time trying to get her back on the schedule. As a result, Josie has decided to try something else so we both are doing the "tour" of places where it might be nice to work. The goal at the present time is to try and find good jobs for both of us. We would like to work 1-2 years, clear all our debts, and retire completely once and for all. We plan to continue the search today.

The call from the dealership that our car was ready for pickup was received at 4 PM. They put in a new controller of some kind that was totally covered by the warranty. We picked it up and came home to do some on line applications for Sam's Club.

The golf course has re-opened from the over-seeding process and it looks beautiful - nice and green. It is nice to see the golfers again.

We are getting things together again and the house is beginning to look settled once again. We still have a monumental task of sorting out things in the garage and our closets in order to get to a "normal" amount of possessions....

Looking to Create Calmness

The major decision we have made based on the latest experience we had is to create some calmness in our lives. As a result, we are not planning to travel anywhere for the foreseeable future. In order to create the best situation for us, we have decided to work an additional year or two - locally - to clear out our debts and completely retire. If it seems like we are changing to a sedentary lifestyle, you are right - for now. We are just so happy to be home now and to have some options that will keep us here.

We had a nice breakfast on our patio this morning and took these shots of our "friends":

We also had some "bathers" in our birdbath but didn't get any really good shots.

Our day today is centered around the Escape repair of the A/C unit. We will drop off the car and wait for the call that it is completed. I also have a couple more stops scheduled while we are out-and-about and will review those tomorrow....

Sorting Through Options

Yesterday, we took a drive to Josie's old flower shop on 19th Ave to see if they had any openings. Her reception at the Sun City Florists was on the cold side when she paid them a visit and spoke with the owner which is what prompted the visit to her old shop. I guess her Sun City shop went and hired some people while Josie was gone which is understandable. We have to wait to see if the owner can schedule her or not. In the meantime, Josie found out that Phoenix Flower Shop closed another one of their locations over the summer. It seems that the floral business is continuing its downward trend. One option we are considering is to submit applications at other businesses such as Costco, Sam's Club, etc.

We are anxious to get the A/C fixed on the Escape and hope the part arrives today. We can always use the truck to go places but it is much easier and economical to take the Escape. There is no word yet on whether it will be today.

There is some rearranging of our outdoor plants that we hope to get completed soon. Today is the last day that has 90+ degrees (95) in the forecast, so we may wait until tomorrow on that one when it is cooler.

Along with all the other activities, we are trying to find space for everything removed from the RV. Good luck!….

Setting up Appointments

It was time to start making calls for our next steps. Josie had to call her flower shop and a few other potential employers and I called the Doctor to make an appointment for this morning. I developed a rash on my upper leg (groin area) from all the walking and hard work over the last several weeks that developed from sweat rubbing on my skin. That is where I was this morning and the reason for the late post. At any rate, I didn't learn anything I didn't know already from the doctor and he prescribed some powder that I already have.

While at Fry's trying to pick up my prescription, we were also going to get our flu shots for this year. Well, the pharmacy was out of my powder for my prescription and they were also out of flu medication for the shots. I never heard of such a thing before. A big zero for that trip.

We are waiting to hear form the Ford dealer about bringing in our Escape for the A/C fix. We hope that we get an appointment for that for tomorrow am....

Old Friends Return

The best part of yesterday was the return of our old friends - the hummingbirds and the birds in our birdbath:

At first, they were skeptical but soon started drinking from the feeder and flapping around in the water. We missed watching them.

We also did some work outside yesterday to clean the furniture, hose off the patio, trim some of the plants and rearrange the pieces:

I failed to mention that when we started up the Escape after we returned that it has a dead A/C. I took it to the dealer where it was purchased (Peoria) and they wanted $150 to run an electrical system check. No way. I decided to check other options as the car is still under warranty and shouldn't cost anything to fix. I took it to the other local Ford dealer and he mentioned nothing about any electrical System check or any money involved. The update on our dead A/C in the Escape this morning is that a part was shorted and we need to wait (until Thursday) while they get a replacement part from Detroit. Everything will be covered by the warranty. Hard to believe that there isn't one of those parts somewhere in the area. Oh, well.

We have lots of work to do to get settled in again. By completely emptying the RV, we have set up a monumental task of finding room for everything. I hope we can accomplish that mission without filling up the garage to the extent we can't park the car in there again.

Josie is trying to connect with the flower shop to find out what's going on there. I am going to evaluate our excessive possessions to see if there is anything I can get rid of or sell. We have reached the point in our home where it looks like we just moved in and that is not good. We are sooo looking forward to Patty moving here so we can offer some of the "stuff" to her before selling or giving it away....

Empty RV

The task of emptying the RV was one that was much more difficult and time consuming than we had planned. When we loaded up to go to Wyoming back in May, we thought we only loaded enough for the summer months. Wrong. There was already some stuff that we had in the RV that we forgot about. In other words, we had a full RV to unload. It took us the better part of a day and a half, but we finished up at around 2 PM yesterday, took it to the storage unit, turned off the propane, turned off the refrigerator, pulled the plug on the microwave, placed the wheel covers on the tires, disconnected the battery and locked it up. It will remain there at least through the winter. We have one shot of Josie locking the door for at least the next six or seven months:

The house is now in the same shape as the day we moved in - boxes and bags of stuff all over the place. The next big task is to get everything put away that we unloaded. Maybe, someday we will be completely settled but the excitement of the RV lifestyle continues to beckon.

The pumpkin patch experience is now totally behind us. That was certainly the "extreme" of any effort we have ever undertaken.

Along with settling the inside of the house, we have just about finished getting the outside in shape again. Here is a shot of Josie finishing up the cleaning of our outdoor furniture:

The golf course looks beautiful as they are just completing the winter over-seeding and the course has been closed while that effort continues. It's good to be home....

Slow Recovery

Yesterday was a tough day on us. We are still trying to recover physically from our experience and we had to do lots of physical work to empty the trailer. We didn't get it done, so we will finish that today. We also cleaned our outside furniture and reconnected the battery to the Escape. We don't have A/C in the car, so we went to the dealership down the road to find out what is going on. Of course, Saturday, the dealer has a skeleton crew and they couldn't do anything except recommend some actions - such as downloading some software to enter into the "Sync" system on the vehicle. It used to be easy to fix things like this, but technology has successfully complicated simple tasks.

After a good night's sleep last night, we can feel a slow recovery taking place. I wish it would hurry up.

I promised to show a couple photos that we took and couldn't download yesterday. This morning, I have them. This first one is of our rig sitting outside the pumpkin patch just before we left. Notice the huge section of fence I had to open in order to get out:

This one is of Josie hugging her Escape, showing how happy she is to be home again:

We will try to wrap up the trailer effort today and take it back to storage. We also have some items we need to get at the store, such as a 9V battery for our Genie that isn't working and some nectar for our hummingbird feeder among some other grocery items.

Hopefully, we can get back to normal - whatever that is - very soon....

Home Again

It was a smooth transition yesterday to the new managers that came in from a lot near Las Vegas. They are back up managers within the company and have been with the company for 10 years. The biggest problem we had was figuring a way to get our RV out of the complex. I took down several sections of the fence and managed to squeeze out the RV.

The drive from the fairgrounds to home commenced at 11 AM yesterday. It was a long, long drive as we both were totally exhausted, hungry and anxious to get home. I forgot to gas up the truck until we started pulling out. Finding a gas station with about 100 miles of travel to get out of LA with only 60 miles to empty in the gas tank was a challenge. We exited at one exit on the freeway where we saw a Chevron sign and when we got to it, discovered they had not enough room for me to maneuver the truck/RV. So we drove around the area looking for one that would work. The farther we got away from the freeway, the fewer the stations were that carried diesel. So, we got back on the freeway and finally got to an exit where we could gas up. By then, I was driving with the message "0 miles to empty".

We made another stop at a rest area along the long and boring stretch of I-10 from Palm Springs to Blythe. I was beginning to feel drowsy and had to take a power nap or take a chance on falling asleep and crashing. I slept for about a half hour and was good to go again.

One more stop to gas up again in Quartzite Arizona - gas is about $1,00/gal cheaper in AZ - and we didn't get home until almost 8:00 PM.

We are so happy to be home and getting some rest. Today we will empty the trailer and try to return it to storage, clean our outside furniture, get the Escape running again and just try to collect ourselves from this experience. I have a couple photos that wouldn't download for some reason, so I'll enter those tomorrow if I can....

Pulled the Plug

Yesterday was the straw the broke the camel's back. Our zone managers were her most of the day and they completely disrupted our normal routine and interfered with all of our scheduled plans for the day. They treated us like one of the lot workers while ordering us to do nonsense tasks. At about 4 PM, I told one the zone managers that we wanted to pull the plug on our efforts here. Josie and I have been getting more and more frustrated with the lack of time to do anything that a normal couple should do - like sitting down to have a complete meal, having time to do your laundry, having time to sit around, relax and have a pleasant evening. Frankly, we were beginning to see real negative effects on our health.

We had to give it a try as it is something we have never done. The money is terrific, but misleading. I calculated our hourly rate for the hours we actually worked - meaning, minus our sleep time - and it came out to $3.96/hour! AND, it was such hard, physical work that even a middle aged couple would have a hard time.

Today, we will find out what the next step is in our departure. Our RV is boxed in at the moment so there may not be a quick exit from the site. We love most members of the crew we hired to work here and will miss them but know that they will understand.

Stay tuned....

Horrible So Far

I will do my best to try to keep up with daily postings, but there is barely enough time to even take bathroom breaks. There is no time to sit and have a normal meal and we are barely getting enough sleep. With all the reporting requirements on top of everything else, it makes it really tough to get any free time at all. We get to bed at midnight each night and are up at 7AM to do it all again. Perhaps the schedule will improve as we go along - it better, or we will be leaving early.

Right now, there will be no Christmas trees on our schedule....

Open for Business

Yesterday was a monumental achievement by our workforce. We were surprised when we got up at 7 AM to see the semi outside waiting to unload his truck full of pumpkins. We were not expecting to see him so early so we had to scramble to get some of our employees in early to help unload. There were 1101 pumpkins unloaded - plus lots of small small decorative pumpkins - and 82 cornstalks. We opened for business at 3 PM and closed at 9.

These shots will show us unloading the pumpkins and the final view of how it looked when we opened for business:

We were surprised that our first afternoon of business was such a huge success. In less than half a day we did almost $2,000 in sales. The consensus is that this location will be one of - if not the best location within the company. We do it all again today as we open at 9 AM and close at 9 PM. The weekends are a drain on us and it was too bad we opened on a Saturday. Weekdays are different as the hours are 1 to 9 PM Monday through Friday.

The jury is out on whether we made a good decision to come here. Josie says she is done and will not do it again.

We'll see how it goes the rest of the way....

Closer to Opening

It was truly a marathon day yesterday. We started at 7 AM and did not quit until after 8 PM. We only grabbed a snack all day and basically worked non stop the entire day. The owner was here all day and the Zone Managers were here all day. Our employee pool is now complete. There are 40 people signed up to work for the month and preliminary schedules are done. Actually, we had three of our new employees helping us yesterday for about half the day.

There was very little time to do anything except to ready the site for our pumpkins which will now be delivered tomorrow. The delivery was suppose to occur today but the farmers bringing them to us had to reschedule - therefore, our opening is delayed for one day. Also, it appears that we will not get any delivery of wood chips which is a disappointment. As a result of the delay for opening, we get kind of a break today. None of the managers will be here, so Josie and I have to do as much as possible ourselves. Fortunately, there is not a lot of heavy work left, so it should be nice for us.

These two shots provide an update on the lot appearance. One was taken during the day:

and this one taken in the evening from a different angle:

If it looks huge - it is.

We are still waiting for the fun part of this job to kick-in....

Non Stop Setup

It was one of the longest days I can remember. WE started early by taking things over to the lot before packing up and moving the RV to the lot location. It was around 10 AM by the time we got backed into the space. The next big job was to buy long hoses - 100 ft and one 50 ft - so that we could connect to the water source. The water is terrible by the way as we had to tap into the irrigation system. It looks like we will be drinking only filtered water from bottles this month.

We had prospective employees stop by off and on all day and we ended up with about a dozen applications handed out. It is important that we get as many people hired as possible for the month. Our owner was here most of the day helping with the setup and he left at 7 PM. These shots are just a sampling of the status:

We expect to get everything wrapped up today except for the delivery of the pumpkins and a few minor items.

There is one of the employees that we hired yesterday that will come in today to help relocate some bales of hay. So far, we are not real happy with the way things are going, but will stick it out to the end - if possible. We feel that there is not enough support for us as the company races to open all the other locations. It is that understanding that keeps us here right now. There is lots to do as far as setting up the cash registers and other office details.

Keep the faith....