Bar J Night

Following our final work day of the week yesterday at 4:15 PM, Josie and I drove to the Bar J Chuckwagon site near Jackson. This is a favorite evening of fun for us which began in our first year here in 2012. Normally, arriving at or near 5 PM places you near the front of the line for seat assignments for the show, as the doors open at 5:30 PM. We were surprised that, arriving at 4:50 PM, we had approximately 50 people ahead of us in line. It really didn't matter though, as our seat assignments were excellent. The dinner before the show was "OK", as we both had the barbecue ribs. The show was the usual fun filled evening of great music and laughter. Below are some shots taken during the night:

Starting with a shot of the cook grilling the steaks for the folks who ordered those for dinner:

While I was standing there watching him, he asked if I would like a taste of one of the steaks. Of course. He took a steak off the grill and cut it into sample pieces for about 5 of us standing around watching him. Umm, good!

The show is always a little different each time we come. This year, they kept all of the super songs and fun from before, and threw in some new songs and performances that made it a terrific show once again. Here are a couple shots taken during their performance:

The place was sold out, as usual. They indicated before the show that they entertain between 75,000 - 85,000 folks each summer, from Memorial Day weekend through the end of September, 7 nights a week. We figured that the revenue for that period is in the $2.0 - $2.5 million. Not too bad.

Our first day off today is now planned for a trip to Idaho Falls. We neglected to get some things at Sam's Club and both of us need haircuts, so that is the priority.

It's nice to have the next two days off...

Time is Flying Again

It is almost hard to believe hat we are 25% through the season. It has been a tough road so far with one of the most physical jobs we have worked. Today wraps up our work schedule in June. With only three months to go, we believe we can probably tough it out until the end of September. I'm not ready to say it is a guarantee, but the later it gets in the season, the tougher it is to find alternatives. You never know, though.

It is especially nice to know that when our day at work ends today, our weekend begins with a return visit to the Bar J Chuckwagon. It will most likely be our final visit there as it is rumored that the group is planning to retire after this year. It is one of the best values in entertainment in the Jackson Hole area.

Afternoon thunderstorms are in the forecast for the next several days, so we hope our weekend doesn't get impacted by any rain. There are no special plans for our weekend, but we are getting anxious to take a good hike somewhere we haven't been yet, so hang on...

New Practices

Aside form the usual day at work, we are involved in still figuring out our new phones. More strides were made yesterday as we figured out that the performance of our other computer equipment is terrific with the phones off. I guess there are still some settings in the phone that we haven't yet discovered that will alleviate the drain on our computer performance. Someone suggested having our phones on Airplane Mode, but that isn't much better than having them completely turned off as you cannot receive calls, make calls or send messages.

With two days to go before our weekend, we are taking it a day at a time and beginning to get settled for the long term this season. It may yet turn out to be a pleasant and fun experience if we can stay the course...

Business as Usual

It was another "normal" day at the office. Normal is a hectic, super busy day with a couple 15 minute breaks and a half hour lunch thrown in. When we start late as we did yesterday - 10:45 AM - the day is too long. We get out at 7:15 PM and last night we had to go into town to Smith's to pick up some items we needed, so we didn't get home until after 8:30 PM. By then, it's too late to eat dinner before going to bed so that we can get up early to begin this day at 8:45 AM. As mentioned before, the schedule stinks, but then everybody else has a similar schedule.

Today is our Wednesday, so we are midway through another week. We are looking forward to going to the Bar-J on the real Wednesday night after work to kick off our next weekend...

Email Discovery

After trying several different options, including adding another email account, I made a discovery. If we power off our new phones, the emails come through - fast - and the performance of our hotspot improves many times over. Evidently, the cycles taken up by our new phones are too much for the hotspot, even though it can supposedly handle up to 15 devices without a problem. I have to do further investigation, but I'm on to the problem and feel a lot better about the fixes. With our two computers, two phones and our printer, the hotspot cannot keep up with the data traffic - at least in this area.

We made reservations at the Bar J Chuckwagon - a favorite night out in this area - for next Wednesday night. We enjoy that night of dinner and good entertainment fun every time we come to Jackson. We still had a couple of complementary tickets left over from the Virginian Lodge that we needed to use before the end of June, so we just made it with our reservation for the 29th.

Other than that, it is the same grind at work and we do it again today, starting at 10:45 AM. We don't like these late starts, but we only have two of them each week...

Computer and Phone Conflicts

I discovered a new problem with my computer that I can't determine is a result of the new phone settings or not. I am suddenly not able to receive new emails on the computer, but all new messages are going to the phone. Sheesh. I spent a couple hours last night trying to figure out the problem, and another 3 hours this morning. I guess I need to go through the phone manual to see if I find conflicting settings. This situation is causing even more concerns about upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Maybe that will fix the problem - or it may make it worse. I guess I'll just use the phone for my emails until I can get some professional help on my next day off - if I can't fix the problem during the limited free time I have during work days.

The days off just go too fast. We drove to Driggs, ID yesterday to see if there were any changes there since our last visit a couple years ago. It is on the backside of the Tetons in Idaho, and has much cheaper land deals with some nice views of the mountains. Of course, it isn't Jackson, and it involves a drove over the Teton Pass each time you want to visit. It's just another option for down the road.

Another week begins today and we are closing in on July. With one full month down, the time seems to be going faster now. We hope it continues, as, so far, it has been a bit of a struggle getting used to our schedule...

Learning Curve

My conversion from Windows 7 to Windows 10 is on temporary hold for now. We are both struggling a little bit with our new phones while learning about new features and trying to learn about ways to do things we took for granted with the old phones. The main one being a new method for transferring photos from one phone to the other. It's a new procedure that I haven't yet mastered, but will be easy (I hope) by the end of the day today. I am still scared to make the Windows change, but I still have a little bit of time.

We went into town yesterday to buy some ink for my printer and I spoke with the 'techie' there who indicated that they - Staples - would perform my conversion to Windows 10 for free. He said they get reimbursed by Microsoft. I may have them do the upgrade, but I'm not sure yet. I don't know if I want all of my data in there hands for a day or two while they do the upgrade.

While in town, we stopped at the Silver Dollar Grill in the Wort Hotel to have lunch. We sat outside and enjoyed their lunch special - soup and sandwich for $8 per person - a very good value. Following lunch, we walked a little bit around town and took a few pictures. Starting with this one of one of the police officers in town:

and this one of the famous antler arches in the town square:

and finally, a shot of Josie being threatened by one of the 'beasts' in this fine western store in town:

After having some ice cream, we headed home to get more work done on our home projects - Josie doing laundry, me doing reading about the phones and a little more about Windows 10. UGH!...