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....

Moving Day Today

We made very good progress yesterday. The "blow-ups" were installed and we moved some hay bails around to be in place for the next steps. We still have a long way to go, but at least you can see a little bit better how it is shaping up:

We have to move our RV over to the lot today as the petting zoo tent needs to be installed today and that will block the access to the RV location if we don't get it moved.

There are still some issues that need to be resolved. First, and most important to us, is running a water line to our RV. The power is already there and with the water connected we would be ready to go. There are some construction issues that Rob (our owner) is trying to resolve with the Fairgrounds staff. The main one is how to attach our poles and other equipment to the asphalt without creating holes in the surface. It is virtually impossible to do it any other way, so he has some convincing to do.

We also found out yesterday that every carload of visitors needs to be charged $9 for parking at our site. That is not good. I don't believe that charging for customers is going to help our sales. Oh well, this is the first year for this location and we are learning a lot about how and what to negotiate for future years.

I mounted the help wanted signs on the fence yesterday and,  so far, have had no calls. I hope that situation changes today with our RV on site....

On Track

We finally completed the first step in the creation of the pumpkin patch. The fence was installed yesterday and I met the truck this morning to get the hay unloaded and ready to place around the space. The space is absolutely huge and is one of the largest - if not the largest - of all the pumpkin patches.

Here is a shot of Rob (the owner) and Josie as the fence gets placed:

These shots were taken this morning as I met the truck (at 6 AM) to guide him to the space to drop the hay:

We will see tremendous progress today as Rob is already there with a crew of about 10 workers. They will install the poles for the tents, connect the utilities and get the rides ready for installation.

I will place the banner on the fence advertising for help. We hope to get some quick applications to start that process.

The plan is to move our RV tomorrow into the space at the lot. It is getting exciting now....