Week in Olympia, jump to Portland and plans for this week.

Hi Everybody! Sure hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather wherever you are ~ we have had beautiful weather since we arrived in Kent and we haven't looked back. Sure hope that summer is here for good now.

Another question: why do we hire so many people? Depending on the location and what the fair or festival is and the amount of rides and games we have at each spot is how we decide how many people we hire. For example at Ft. Lewis we did not hire any spot or green help. At Kent we hired only 6 people. Like I posted last time we hired over 60 people for Lakefair in Olympia. Will find out on Thursday how many we hire for this spot.

Thanks for questions, keep them coming ~ I love to hear from you all.

Our time in Olympia ~ went well though we did not get the hours that we have been getting. We were straight ticket sellers last week though Ron did help with set up and tear down. Tracy cut us loose one evening at 8:30 p.m., another evening at 6:00 p.m. and on Saturday we did not start till 5:00 p.m. Sunday, as usual, was our longest day. We did take advantage of having most of a day off by going to the fair and carnival to play. We asked Rob on Wednesday evening when we found out that we had off Saturday during the day if we could go on the rides. We are not allowed to go on the rides or play games on days we work. When Ron explained Tracy was giving us the day off he said no problem and to come see him on Saturday for some ride passes. So that is what we did. Saturday we got to the park about 10:20 and walked up the hill for the kids doing their go cart races. We watched quite a few of them. Some looked pretty cool whereas some of them were very plain. We then walked over to another park where they were setting up for a Kid's Day with lots of free activities. We then made our way back to the carnival and vendor areas. Rob was standing at the foot of the customer service trailer and told us to hang loose for a little while. We did and about 15 minutes later he brought us each out a ride pass for 10 rides. At $4.50 per ride for the big kids ride that was a special treat for us. We spent our time walking around and checking out the different vendors and food booths. All the food booths that were not Funtastic booths were non-profit organizations. Throughout the day we had roast beef sandwiches and curly fries. A special treat since we try hard not to eat the food at the carnival. There were about 30 vendors for the fair. We picked up a few freebies for the grands. I try to send a package every two or three weeks for them. Hope to get one ready this week to put in the mail on Friday.

We went on a few rides. Our first ride was the Scrambler. I like that ride but Ron felt a little queasy at the end. We then went through the Haunted Mansion, not scary at all just very dark. Next up was the Grand Wheel (96 ft high ferris wheel). We actually went on the ride twice, first facing one direction towards the Capital and Kiddy Land and then the other direction facing the big kid rides and the water. We also went on the Simbad twice. The first time I kept my eyes closed I was so scared and held onto Ron's hand for dear life. That ride goes 60 ft up in the air. The second time I kept my eyes open and what a view you have of the area. Our last ride was the Starship 2000 which actually did Ron in. It is kinda like the Roundup though totally enclosed. As soon as we got off the ride Ron walked over to the fence behind the ride and leaned over. He says he actually never got sick but I don't know. I do know he was done with the rides from that point on. We still have 7 ride passes left. I hope to use them when we are in Eugene, OR. We also spent an hour or so listening to a country-western band. All in all we had a terrific Saturday and I even got a slight sun burn. It wasn't too bad as it is turning into a tan.

Sunday was the looonnnnng day for Ron. We started at 11:40 a.m. and finished selling tickets at 11:15 p.m. Ron then switched into his tear down clothes and walked me to Albert's car. He let me use it to go home since the bone yard was in Lacey and the fair was in Olympia ~ about a 15 minute drive. Ron's first job for tear down is to put all the computer monitors back into the show office. After that he worked on the Tornado with Albert, then Sinbad with Ruben and Kollin and then helped Rudy finish up the Lolli Swings. The guys got back to the bone yard about 6:30 a.m. After taking a shower, Ron crawled into bed and slept till 11:00 a.m. I had gotten up at 9:00 a.m. and went and did laundry and made a stop at Cash & Carry to pick up some groceries. After I got back to the bone yard, people were starting to stir and starting to tear down the bone yard for the next jump. On a negative note, we had a Blue Unit ride jock quit at the end of his shift Sunday night. Not sure what or why he left but many of the guys were upset that he didn't even stick around to help with tear down. Even though we hired spot help, having regulars to coordinate the tear down is a big plus and does help to make things go smoother. Don't know if they are going to try to find someone else to travel with us for that position.

The Red Unit is going to Enumclaw this week and the White and Blue (our unit) headed to Portland. Just as Ron and I were getting ready to pull out of the bone yard Kenny came up to me and said I needed to drive a show van to Portland. We had two vans to move and only one driver. Ron was not too happy about that as we had planned to stop at Costco and Winco to get groceries. I had only one passenger in the van. Rudy, a ride jock, who runs the Lolli Swings was my passenger. I asked him if he minded if we stopped at Winco on our way to the Portland shop ~ he said no, he would pick up some groceries while there too. Ron led the way in the motor home and I followed him. We stopped at the rest area just outside of Vancouver, WA to dump our tanks. What we found was a motor home being hooked up to a big tow truck in the dump station line. There was also a small tow truck to tow the boat that the motor home had been towing. Fortunately they were at the first dump station so Ron pulled in front of them and backed into the dump site. I just pulled the van in front of Ron. While Ron was dumping the tanks I got on Maggie (our Magellan GPS) to get directions to Winco. Once done at the rest area we got back on the road and went to Winco before heading to the Portland Shop. We arrived at about 6:15 p.m.

We saw one bad accident while on the road. A large motor home pulling a Volkswagon Bug had rolled over into the side ditch along the freeway. They had already pulled the VW out of the ditch and the big tow truck was checking things out to see how to get the motor home out of the ditch. It appeared there was a lot of damage to both vehicles. We did not see any aid cars or police there so just hoped that the people inside the motor home were not hurt. Definitely not a good thing to see on the road.

We got ourselves settled and hooked up to power in the bone yard and then visited with a few people before calling it a night. Ron talked to Kenny and was told there was a 7:00 a.m. call this morning. All the ride guys were on garbage clean up. Behind the Portland Shop the Burbacks own some acreage that had been taken over by a large group of homeless people and it was filled with lots of garbage. The police came around last week and again yesterday and today to tell them they had to leave the property this morning. There were a couple of stragglers that wanted to hassle the guys but the police got them to finally leave. The guys worked till 3:45 this afternoon with an hour off for lunch and will go back tomorrow morning and continue to do clean up in the area. Guess the Burback's and the owners of Curtis RV (the other owners of the area behind the shop) are trying to figure out how to block the area to keep the homeless from camping out there again. The guys found lots of nasty things including needles filled with drugs, bags of white powder, knives, hammers and other things. The drugs/bags of powder were turned over to the local police department. The guys are not looking forward to going back to do more clean up tomorrow but they are all glad for the hours this week.

We are doing a two day Hispanic Festival at the Portland Waterfront on Saturday and Sunday. We set up Thursday and Friday. Not sure how many games/rides will be put up. All I know is that I work Thursday, Saturday and Sunday & Ron works every day this week. Once again we will tear down on Sunday night and jump on Monday. We go to Hillsboro, OR for the Washington County Fair. The fair runs Friday to Sunday. Not sure if they will set up on Tuesday/Wednesday or Wednesday/Thursday next week.

Next Tuesday Ron turns 55 and we are having a birthday party for him in the bone yard. I plan on stopping at Costco on Monday on our way to Hillsboro to pick up a birthday cake.

Praise & Prayer Requests ~~~~

Thanksgiving that we had a good week in Olympia. We did have two ride guys get hurt, one broke his hand and another tore the muscle in his shoulder. Glad that the injuries were not more serious and both should heal completely.

Celebrating that Theresa and Rick were able to join us for a few hours each day in Olympia. Theresa's next step is to begin chemo but the doctors are having her wait a couple of weeks to build up her strength. Please continue to keep them in your prayers as they travel this uncertain journey.

Thankful we had another jump without motor home problems.

Enjoyed conversations with Jamie, Brandon and Danalyn. Also heard from Opal and Christopher over the phone - they both told me "I love you Grammy"....sweet music to this Grammy's ears. Max was in the shower so didn't have a chance to talk with him. Hopefully next time.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers for safety for us as we work especially on Sunday/Monday when we can work 20+ hours straight.

Thanks for your prayers, phone calls, emails and blog comments. We always like to hear how things are going at home and with all our friends and family.

Well that's all I know for now. I hope to get pictures downloaded to the computer tomorrow. If I do I will post some on the blog.

Hope you enjoyed reading this update on our time working, traveling and living with the carnival.

Alice

Answers, updates and goings on!

Hello Everyone

What a week we had in Kent and the beginning of our time in Olympia.

But first to answer a question:

Does that end the carnival season for the winter, and are you guys planning on doing it again next year? Yes, the carnival season ends for us after the Puyallup Fair. September 26th is the last day of the fair and then there will be one to two weeks of tear down and then we are off to Lewiston, Idaho.

Thanks for your comments to last weeks post. Sorry it took so long for me to get the comments posted...time on the computer was definitely at a minimum.

Kent ~~~ was HOT! and then VERY HOT! for the first two days of the carnival. Saturday and Sunday was a lot better weather and attendance wise. We are definitely into the carnival/fair season which means hot weather and long days. Thursday and Friday we did not start till 1:30 but Saturday and Sunday work began at 10:30 a.m. and did not end before midnight on Saturday and 3:00 a.m. Monday morning. We are holding up well and are thankful for that.

Jump to Olympia actually Lacey for the bone yard and Olympia for Lakefair. The bone yard is at South Sound Mall in Lacey. We are parked right where we did the carnival the end of March. Our day was long with little sleep. We finished up and got back to the bone yard in Kent at 3:30 a.m. Fell asleep about 4:00 a.m. The alarm went off at 7:00 and Ron did all the stuff to prepare for the move outside (we had done the inside stuff when we got home at 3:30 a.m.). Ron told me to go back to bed knowing I had to be at work at 11:00 a.m. The next thing I knew we were driving down the road and I jumped out of bed and asked "did you close the windows?" No, he forgot. So as Ron drove down the road I closed all the side windows. If they are open while we drive it causes havoc on the road. I laid back down on the bed till we got to Cabela's in Lacey. Didn't sleep but did rest. After stopping to dump the tanks at Cabela's we made our way to South Sound Mall and the bone yard. We had been told to be there early as the private rigs are along the fence line and the condo's are in front of us and then we are surrounded by chain link fence with brightly colored plastic covers over the fence. I will try to get some pictures if we can get the camera to work. I think we have to buy a new one as we can't keep the batteries charged to keep the camera working long enough to get more than four or five pictures before needing new batteries. Will be talking to Ron as soon as he gets home from work today...to see if we are taking a trip to the store this evening.

Back to Monday...we got set up by 9:00 a.m. and then waited for Albert & Shawn to arrive so I could get to work. They arrived at 9:45 unhooked their trailer (thanks James for moving the trailer into place) and we hopped on the freeway for Olympia. Arrived at 11:05. Late by five minutes and then had to wait till 12:45 for the trailer to be spotted on the lot and readied for us to use. I could have slept!!! But that is life. While I was waiting with Debbie and Kristy (Theresa's daughter), my personal driver (Ron) went for a walk, found a sandwich place and a cool place in the shade for a nap.

We readied ourselves to begin the hiring. People had been lining up for most of the morning at one trailer (around the corner from where we were at in our show office trailer). Kevin, the white unit show manager, walked over to where they were waiting. Ron was talking to Kevin by then and Kevin asked Ron if he wanted to see something interesting. Ron said sure. So together they walked over to the steps of the trailer where all the people were standing. Kevin said the hiring would be around the corner at the yellow trailer in front of the Burger Kitchen. Kevin and Ron just stood there as a hoard of people turned and ran to our show trailer. Ron described it as watching a herd of cattle on the run. We (Debbie, Kristy & I) knew they were coming as we heard them running and the trailer started to shake. We waited till they all arrived and then Debbie demanded quiet and gave our hiring speel: we hand out the applications and then choose who we want to hire. We do not necessarily hire the first person in line, we hire the people we need to do the jobs that we have available. She told them they had to have two pieces of ID (preferable Drivers License & SS Card) and the requirements for working: clean shaven men, no facial piercings, no long hair on guys and clothing requirements for working: dark blue or black slacks, no jeans, white t-shirt, no writing on the shirts. And then our work began, handing out applications (lost all 10 of our bic pens that we handed out) and then processing them. We hired approximately 80 people for this spot. It took us from 1:00 p.m to 7:00 p.m. to hire and process all the new hires. The three of us got a little goofy at times due to our lack of sleep but we made it through the day. Ron worked set up from 1:00 to 5:00 and then hung out under the shade tree waiting for me till about 5:45. At that time I sent him back to the bone yard to get the motor home set up as we just dropped it off and got it level before heading to Olympia. Debbie said she would give me a ride back to the bone yard.

Back at the bone yard Ron got power and water to the motor home as well as set up the satellite dish for the TV. I think luck was on his side as he set the satellite from the top of the motor home without any help. Hmmm....maybe I won't have to help with that job any more :).

I arrived at the bone yard about 8:15 p.m. I was starving and so we walked over to Applebees and had a delightful dinner and just relaxed. It was $5 burger night so I had a Philly Steak burger with a house salad and Ron had the Cowboy burger with seasoned fries. After a nice dinner we walked back to the motor home and settled into bed. It was 10:30 p.m.

Ron was up at 6:00 this morning as the show van was leaving at 7:00 a.m. to go back to the lot to finish setting up the rides. I did not have to work today as there are only two computers set up so Debbie and Kristy made plans to be at work this morning at 6:00 a.m. so they could be out of there by noon and have some time off this afternoon before the rush starts again tomorrow.

I knew I was tired but did not realize how tired I was. I slept till 10:00 this morning and then got up and made a trip to Albertsons. I told the guys I would make a good dinner for them for tonight. I picked up stuff to make potato & macaroni salad, a watermelon, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and a ham to put in the crock pot. I turned right out of the parking lot when I should have turned left so had to drive about a mile out of the way to find a place to turn around. Made my way back towards the bone yard stopping at Target to pick up some socks and t-shirts for Ron. Also found a couple of white tank tops for me. Then back to the bone yard to put the ham in the crock pot. Finished that and crawled back into bed about 11:45 a.m. and went back to sleep. Woke up about 3:00 p.m. when the power went off. I jumped out of bed and wondered what was going on. About 5 minutes later the power came back on ~ yeah my dinner was saved. I felt so much better and ready to start my day.

Right now our jobs this week will be as ticket sellers. We are flexible though and will do whatever jobs we get assigned to.

I finally got back on line ~ the first time since Saturday morning. I have posted a couple of posts on Facebook via my phone just to let people know what we were doing. If you want to be my friend on Facebook under Alice Nelson Workentin. Send me a friend request for another way to connect with us.

I read all 75 messages waiting for me in my email account and then decided to catch you all up with a new blog post.

We will be in Lacey/Olmpia till next Monday morning. The carnival hours are long here: we open at 11:00 a.m. each day and go till sometime between 10 & midnight each day so don't know if I will be able to post a blog or not. I will update as soon as I can.

Better close for now and put the final touches on dinner. Expect to hear from Ron soon that they are on their way back to the bone yard. I am sure they will be hungry after working all day.

Praise & Prayer Requests ~~~

Praise that the weather cooled down on Saturday & Sunday and that we had a couple of good days with the carnival.

Praise that there were no injuries in Kent. Always a concern after working all day and then having to tear down all night.

Praise that the report about Theresa was good this week. Last week her and Rick went to the ocean for a few days before she started her chemo. She had her first chemo treatment yesterday. Her and Rick are hoping to be able to bring the trailer up for the weekend but that will depend on how Theresa is doing. Thank you all for your continued prayers for them. It was good to catch up with Kristy yesterday. She said there have definitely been some rough days but also some good days and for that they are thankful.

Please lift our friend, Deb Cummins, up in prayer. She is battling a rare cancer and has recently been told that there is nothing else the doctors can do for her. Please pray for strength for her to deal with things as they come and to continue to put her hope and trust in the Lord. She is in great spirits most of the time and we are thankful for that. Deb is a friend of ours through the Blaine School District.

Continue to lift Theresa and Rick up as Theresa begins her chemo treatment. Many of us try to send her uplifting and funny cards and words of encouragement.

Thanks for your continued prayers for Ron and I as we continue on this journey of working/living/traveling with the carnival. Specifically pray for our stamina. That we will have the energy to do what we need to do and to do it with a joyful and pleasant heart.

Thanks for visiting with us again. Hope all is well with each of you. Looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you down the road.

Alice

Our Itinerary for the Rest of the Season

Hello on this beautiful sunny day! Three days in a row ~ maybe summer is finally here. I sure hope so.

Thank you all for your comments. Sorry about the size problem last time. I didn't realize I had changed the size. Regarding the color - I will use only dark colors from now on. As always I enjoy hearing from you.

I finally got our itinerary for the rest of the carnival season. We are definitely going to be busy...

Monday, July 12 we jump (move) to Olympia for Lakefair. The fair runs from July 14 to 18. Wednesday the special at the carnival is 7 rides or games, in any combination, for $15. This works out to be about half price for each ride. Thursday is wrist band day, you can ride as many rides as you want for as many times as you want for $25. Lakefair is right on the capital grounds on a grassy knoll by the lake.

Monday, July 19 we jump to Portland, OR. The bone yard will be at the Funtastic Shows Portland office on SE 108th Avenue. We have heard we are doing a two day show somewhere in Portland but we do not have the details yet.

Monday, July 26 we jump to Hillsboro, OR for the Washington County Fair. The fair runs from July 29 to Aug. 1.

Monday, August 2 we head back to Washington. We will be in Longview for the Cowlitz County Fair. It runs from August 5 to 8.

Monday, August 9 we jump to Graham, WA for the Pierce County Fair. It runs from August 12 to 15.

Monday, August 16 we jump to Eugene, OR for the Lane County Fair. The fair starts on Wednesday, August 18 and goes through August 22. This will be the hardest jump for us. They call it a circus jump as we work on Sunday, the 15th, tear down the night of the 15th/morning of the 16th and then have to get right on the road to drive the 7 hours to Eugene, OR. Set up will begin Monday evening and then start up again early on Tuesday morning the 17th. All this so we can be ready to open on Wednesday, August 18. We would really appreciate your prayers for those few days.

Monday, August 23 we jump to Salem, OR for the Oregon State Fair. The fair runs from August 27th through Labor Day Monday, September 6th.

Tuesday, September 7 we make the jump back to Washington and head for Puyallup for the Western WA State Fair. It runs from September 10 to 26.

We have been told that tear down from the Puyallup begins on Monday, September 27 and takes about a week or so. Our plan after we are done at Puyallup is to get on the road once more and head to Lewiston, ID. We plan on taking two days to get there and spend a couple of weeks with Brandon, Danalyn, Max & Christopher. After our time in Lewiston we will be returning to Blaine, WA.

Right now we don't know what our winter plans will be. Ron is wondering if we can get a job selling Christmas trees. We really don't know what we will be doing.

Answers to questions & comments ~~ Thank you for your comments and suggestions. No, I am not offended by them and I am happy to make changes when I can.

Thank you all for your continued prayers for us as well as Rick & Theresa. We found out yesterday that Rick took Theresa to the Oregon Coast for a few days rest and relaxation before she begins her chemo treatment next week. The doctor decided she needed one more week of recovery before starting the next phase of her treatment. As I get word I will continue to update you all.

We continue to thank the Lord for his provisions as we travel on this new journey of carnival life.

As always thanks for reading and sharing in our lives.

Sunshine, beautiful sunshine!

What a beautiful day we are having here in Kent, WA. Woke to beautiful sunshine and it is supposed to be like this all week.

A few things ~~

Welcome to all my followers! I so like to have people stop by and read my ramblings. And I really like comments. I enjoy reading lots of different blogs and try to leave comments when I have the time so feel free to leave me comments too.

I have been asked recently "what is the bone yard?" In a nutshell it is the carnival lingo for where the trailers (condo's for employees), travel trailers and motor homes are parked for a carnival site. You can read more about it and see some pictures from the Lacey boneyard in archives of my blog (not sure if late March or early April). I will try to get some pictures of the bone yard while here in Kent. We are on a grassy spit that runs along Willis Road right off of Highway 167. The carnival (lot) is 7 blocks from here.

Kent Cornucopia Days ~

The carnival opens on Thursday at 3:00 p.m., Friday at 2:00 p.m., Saturday at 11:00 a.m. and Sunday at noon.

4th of July at Ft. Lewis ~~

What a long and busy day we had. We left for Ft. Lewis at 8:45 Sunday morning. We arrived at the base at 9:20 a.m. I started work right away. First thing on the agenda was to get payday out of the way. About half of us have automatic deposit, which is really the way to go as we get paid on Friday's, and the rest get checks that we pay on Sunday's. After getting that out of the way we got on to the business of the day...making a fun 4th of July celebration for everyone. We opened the carnival at 11:00 a.m. with overcast skies but no rain in sight. We had heard rumors that it was supposed to get to the 70's...don't know how hot it actually got as the sun came and went throughout the day. But no rain fell ~ something we were all thankful for. My day consisted of working in the office, selling tickets, giving breaks to Ron & Tressa (the other ticket seller), and Debbie in the office. We were steady ALL day long. It was definitely a good day for the carnival. During my lunch break (30 minutes) I walked around to some of the other vendors that were there. It was fun to see what people were selling. I didn't buy anything but it was still fun to look.

I am happy to say that Wendy came back on Saturday. Everyone was so relieved to see her. Wendy & Kollin made lots and lots of cotton candy. In the Burger Kitchen was Wendy, Joel, Kollin, Sophie & Nicole. I was prepared to work in there if needed but the five of them handled the crowd really well. The kitchen was busy from the time we opened till we closed at 11:30 p.m. A couple of times I saw Wendy & Kollin making more cotton candy. No telling how many bags they sold but sold them they did. Debbie & I asked Wendy to bring us something to eat at the end of the day if there were any leftovers ~ I am happy to say there were none ~ that makes for a good day in the Burger Kitchen.

The best part of 4th of July for me was watching the fire works that were displayed. Debbie & I stepped out of the office and watched the spectacular show. Ron heard them but could not see them from the ticket box. I wished he had been able to stand with me and watch but it was not to be. I think this was the first year since 4th of July 1996 that we did not watch the fireworks together. Maybe next year.

Once the carnival closed at 11:30 p.m. Debbie and I counted money, made deposits, did the books and finished payroll. It takes just as much work to put on a one day show as it does a 3 or 4 day show as far as paperwork goes. At 4:10 a.m. we were ready to send payroll and the books via email to the corporate office when we lost power! Not a good thing. Debbie called Kenny on the radio, yelled we needed power. Kenny then yelled at Tom, get that generator back on, payroll needs to be transmitted! We never saw anyone move so fast as Tom did at that moment. Later we found out he thought we were done in the office and people were standing around so he gave them something to do. Believe me, he will never cut power to the show office again without double checking with us. We can laugh about it now but we were not laughing at 4:15 in the morning. Once we had power back on we redid the email and sent it on its way, closing the door to the office at 4:40 a.m. Debbie was on her way to her friends and I headed to the show van to wait for the guys. About 5 minutes later Ron asked me if I had the keys to the show van....NO, they were locked in the office. I quickly called Kenny and then called Debbie to come back. She was almost out the front gate of the base when we called. She quickly turned around and came back so we could unlock the office and get the keys to the show van. Believe me, I won't forget those keys again. At 5:00 a.m. we headout the gate of the base back to the boneyard. Another successful show and some very tired workers. We had been up for 22 hours by the time we crawled into our nice comfortable bed.

Monday and our move to Kent ~~

Ron and I slept till 10:00 a.m. when we got up to hearing Kenny say "I need to talk to Alice about driving the show van to Kent." Ron and I just looked at each other and up to start our day. Four hours of sleep brought some relief but we were still a little tired. I went and talked to Kenny. I had heard him right...Shawn had his own truck and so I was needed to drive the show van to Kent. No problem I thought. Ron & I readied the motor home for the move to Kent. He headed out of the bone yard making a stop to dump our tanks. I headed to the post office to drop off a box to Verizon (our wireless card was not working correctly so Verizon sent me a new one and I had to return the old one ~ thank goodness for prepaid mailers). Rudy was my only passenger. He has worked for the carnival since 1990. He runs the Lolli Swings and he and Ron are the primary ones to set up and tear down the Lolli's at each site. After a couple of missed turns I found my way to Highway 167 and headed to Kent. What was supposed to be a 20 minute drive took me 30 minutes. I drove right to the bone yard and was surprised that Ron was not here yet. I quickly made a phone call, thinking what happened now. Well, Ron saw Safeway and decided he needed some of their cookies (his favorite) so he stopped. He was a nice guy though and bought me a bag of cherries. Only $1.99 a lb with your club card, $5.99 a lb without it. Ron arrived about 10 minutes later. Ron backed the motor home into the spot Terry had assigned us but we were on such a tilt that he moved us to another spot. We are on a lovely flat spot with a tree right outside our door. If it wasn't for the noise of the traffic on Willis Road I would think we were parked in a nice grassy campground. I am very aware of the noise on the road during the day but it sure didn't bother me in the night.

This morning we woke to beautiful sunshine...can I say that enough...I just love the sunshine! And hope it stays for a long, long time. Heard rumors that it is supposed to get into the 80's this week. I sure hope so. We slept in this morning and then had a lazy morning of reading in the sun. After a lunch of tuna sandwiches Ron headed off to work - set up time for the carnival. I decided to balance my checkbook and pay some bills. I am so thankful we are back on track with our bills. Thank you Lord for providing us work.

Tonight I am making bbq'd chicken with a pasta salad and green beans on the side. Tomorrow we will both be working finishing up set up for a Thursday start. I am definitely enjoying my day off.

Praise Report & Prayer Requests ~~

1. For safety at the 4th of July carnival for all the workers and attendees.

2. For coninued good health for Ron & I. We both weighed in today and we have both lost 20 lbs since 3/21 when we left Blaine. It feels good to get in our walks and to see the numbers on the scale going down.

3. For the many opportunities the Lord is giving to us to share about Him. Debbie gave each of us a lanyard that says "I love Jesus." Ron's is blue and mine is pink. We wear them while we are working as it holds our scan card (employee card for Funtastic Shows) along with our daily time sheet. While working the ticket booth on Sunday I received a few comments from people saying they liked my lanyard. Just another way to spread the news of Jesus Christ.

4. For the wonderful break we had at home last week. It was so good to see family & friends, get lots of hugs from Miss Opal and have a few days of relaxation.

1. For continued safety for all of us as we set up, work and tear down another carnival. This week the Red Unit is joining us to give us an extra hand so we are about 40 people.

2. For Theresa as she begins her chemo treatments this week. She had a good week last week and even worked a few hours on Saturday and Sunday in Salem, OR. And for Rick as he stands by her side during this journey they are facing.

3. For more opportunities to share God's love with fellow co-workers. Yesterday, one of the ride jocks gave me a big hug and told me I reminded him of his Momma, a Jesus loving woman. Made me feel good that His love shines through me.

Where we go from here ~~

Next Monday, July 12th, we go to Olympia for Lakefair. The fair is at the Capital on the lawn by the lake. Sorry I can't be more specific but I can't find the address.

The schedule for the week is a busy one. We will set up Monday afternoon and Tuesday. The carnival is open Wednesday thru Sunday.
Wednesday is 7 rides or games for $15.00
Thursday is unlimited rides for $25.00 - will definitely be a busy day for us.
Friday thru Sunday regular cost $0.75 a ticket. Best to come Wednesday or Thursday for the best prices.

After Lakefair we go to Portland for one week. All we know at this time is that we will be back at the Portland Shop. Not sure what venue we will be working. As soon as I know I will post it.

Guess that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by and visiting for awhile. Feel free to ask questions or leave a comment. Remember due to past spam messages I now moderate my comments. I post them as quick as I can.

Take care and God Bless. Alice

Saturday in Puyallup - Catch Up Time!

Boy have we had a busy week. Our time at home was filled with lots of visiting and great food.

We arrived home on Monday afternoon and got set up at NACO. We then made one of two trips to the storage unit. Ron was so excited to get the satellite dish up and on. Monday evening we had an enjoyable evening with Judy & Kathy and sharing a meal at Bob's Burger & Brew. It was good to get caught up with them. After dinner we went to Jim & Mei's for dessert and more visiting. We laughed a lot and watched a beautiful sunset on the bay.

Tuesday found us up early doing laundry and then off to lunch at Big Al's with Jamie, Suzanne, Oliver (Suzanne's nephew) & Opal. The food was good and it was fun to get caught up with them. Tuesday evening we went to dinner at Gerald & Sandra's. They are such great cooks. Dinner was bbq'd pork chops, squashed squash, mashed potatoes and sliced tomatoes w/onions in a balsamic dressing. Pastor Charles joined us for dinner. It was so good to get caught up on what's happening in their lives and to tell stories of our time with the carnival.

Wednesday started off early as Ron went to the Men's Bible study at Blackberry House. He said it was a good time reconnecting with some of the men from church. Being involved in the Bible study is something Ron dearly misses. While Ron was at Bible study I went to Wood's for coffee and more visiting with Dee. It was fun to catch up with her and get lots of hugs. We then went over to Jamie's. He wanted to show us the 31' travel trailer they had just bought. So much more room then the 22' Class C they had been living in. After being at their place for an hour or so they came back to the motor home to pick up something for their trailer and of course, more visiting. Ron made a trip to Pacific Builders to get our screen door and living room window rescreened. While he was doing that I had a visit with Stacey. After that I was able to sneak in a nap in the afternoon. All that visiting was tiring me out. In the evening we went to The C Shop for dinner and more visiting. It was so good to see John (Ron's brother), Kristen & Coral (Jade was at camp), Gerald & Sandra, Patrick & Patricia, Jim & Mary, Sarah along with Kiera & Ryder, Glenn & Marla along with Odie, Lucy & Milo, and Keith & Beth. Also got a chance to say hi to Keith & Saara. We had lots of pizza and even more visiting. Ron and I appreciated the opportunity to share about our time with the carnival: our jobs, people we are becoming friends with, an update on Theresa (please keep her in your prayers as he has started her chemo) and most of all just being together with friends for an enjoyable evening.

Thursday we readied the motor home for our return trip to Puyallup along with one more visit with Jamie, Suzanne & Opal (I promise pictures to follow soon). We visited till about 10:30 and then it was time for them to head out and us to get on the road. Our first stop was dropping off the suburban at Marquez & Nicole's and then off to Bellingham to lunch with Jerry & Lynda. It was fun to catch up with them and hear about their trip to Columbia. After a couple of hours of visiting Ron said we had to get on the road. We left Bellingham and headed for Puyallup. We arrived about 7:00 p.m. and got all settled into our spot at the bone yard. It felt good to be back "home" with our fellow travelers and workers.

Friday dawned early as the show van (with Ron driving) headed to Ft. Lewis at 7:00 a.m. I stayed snuggled in bed till almost 8:00 a.m. I did a little around the motor home till Debbie picked me up at 9:45. Ron worked on setting up the ticket box, Sinbad, Zero Gravity, the show office and the Lolli Swings. I started out with Debbie in the office and then Rob told me Wendy had quit so I needed to go help Joel in the Burger Kitchen. After I got the inside set up I went back into the office to finish getting things ready for Sunday as well as doing the time sheets from tear down the past Monday. Once we were finished with that Debbie and I cleaned the ticket box. It looked like a hurricane and flown through it. Once done with that I went and joined Sophie in doing a thorough cleaning of the Burger Kitchen. I must say we did a great job and it is sparkling now. Rob informed me that Ron & I would be taking the health class/food handler's permit class on Saturday evening at 6:00 along with Sophie, Kollin & Nicole. A lot is up in the air about what I will be doing on Sunday. I will start out in the office handing out paychecks and readying the ticket sellers. I will be available to work in the office, sell tickets and help in the Burger Kitchen ending with finishing up in the office doing the time sheets and books for Ft. Lewis. As I told Rob yesterday I am flexible and will do what needs to be done. I think he was glad to hear that and see that I have a positive attitude about working.

After finishing up at Ft. Lewis we arrived back at the bone yard to find out Richard had made a full dinner for us. He bbq'd pork chops, brats, had baked potatoes, watermelon and grilled vegi's along with homemade beans that Tammy provided. It was such a nice treat to not have to cook after working all day. We visited for awhile in the evening. After retiring to the motor home it started to rain and rain some more. It was a very heavy rainstorm even knocking out the satellite (bummer for Ron as he was getting ready to watch a movie) so we called it an early night and headed to bed about 9:30.

We slept in this morning and then had a nice breakfast of bacon & eggs, a treat I don't make very often. Today is mostly a day of rest, though we do plan on going into town to pick up some more of the Chocovine - as I have told people it is like drinking chocolate milk with a kick. This evening we have the class at Ft. Lewis and then tomorrow we have our long day starting at 9:00 with the carnival opening at 11:00 and going till 11:00 p.m. It is a lot of work to set up the carnival whether it is for a one day show or a 5 day run. We have 8 games and 6 rides: Sinbad, Zero Gravity, Torpedo, Bear Affair, Lolli Swing and Dragon Wagon as well at the Burger Kitchen. And then comes tear down and our next jump to Kent for the Kent Cornucopia Days.

That's all for now. Sure hope you have enjoyed catching up with us. I will be back soon.

Love and miss you all! But relishing in the memories of our recent visit home and seeing friends & family.

Whew! What a weekend and now we are home.

What an exhausting weekend we had. The hours of the Taste of Tacoma were 11:00 to 9:00 every day with a closing of 8:00 on Sunday. I usually started an hour to an hour and a half before the carnival opened and then had to work about an hour later than everyone else. Sunday was another story. The carnival closed at 8:00 p.m. but Debbie and I did not get everything done in the office till 1:30 Monday morning. Then because one of the ride gals got hauled off to jail on Saturday, Kenny did not have anyone to pay his spot help and do stuff in his office so I worked for him from 1:45 a.m. to 2:15 a.m. I then had to wait till Ron and the rest of the crew were done with tear down and so we did not get home till 5:15 this morning!

Our initial plan was to leave right away and drive to Smokey Point so that we could miss all the Tacoma/Seattle traffic and then sleep for a couple of hours and then drive the rest of the way to Blaine early afternoon. Well we decided that we were so tired we would just sleep for a couple of hours and then hit the road. What actually happened was that we were asleep before our heads hit the pillow and slept till 10:40 a.m. We could not believe we had slept five hours. We quickly got the motor home ready to go and were on the road at 11:25 a.m. We had a very uneventful trip back to Blaine and we are now safely parked at NACO/TT on Harborview Road. The first thing we said after we parked was "listen, it is so quiet." Don't get me wrong, we enjoy the people we work with but after a couple of incidents this past week it is nice to be in a quiet relaxing place.

So what happened...Friday night, actually 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning a few people came back to the bone yard extremely drunk and overly boisterous. There was lots of shouting, banging, swearing and unnecessary noise. It took almost an hour for me to get back to sleep. Saturday I mentioned to Rob that I hoped we did not have a repeat of Friday night. He asked me what happened, I told him and he said that would not happen again. I said that is what we have heard before but nothing happens. He said if he had been in the bone yard and that happened they would have been fired on the spot. While we are at the bone yard at the Puyallup Fair Grounds he is camped at the campground across the street (where we were fortunate to stay during Spring Fair). I did hear a supervisor being told that it (the drunken & disorderly) will stop now and there is no more slack. I sure hope that is true.

Saturday afternoon, one of the ride gals was running a ride when a bounty hunter showed up at the carnival office, asked for this person, was told where she was and he promptly went over and arrested her. All we know is that she was picked up on a felony warrant. I am sure she will not be back with us for awhile. A sad thing as she was a good worker and we were becoming friends. I do hope to be able to communicate with her soon.

Sunday was just a long day....I don't know how Ron or the others can do a 20+ hour day. I rested in the van from 2:30 a.m. till 4:45 a.m. when we headed back to the bone yard. Sleep never felt so good.

Now on to the fun part...we are home for a few days. We have lots packed in but hope that we are able to see many of you while we are here.

We began our afternoon here in Blaine by picking up the suburban and seeing Marquez & Nicole's newborn son, Emelio. He is so cute and his big brother, Julian, just loves him and is trying to be such a big helper to his mommy & daddy, then to NACO/TT to set up the motor home and then made our necessary trip to the storage unit. Ron picked up a few tools and we got the satellite dish and box. Once we got back I called and had the satellite service turned on. Ron will hook it up once we return from dinner. He is so looking forward to having TV again. we are having dinner with Ron's sisters, Judy & Kathy at Bob's Burger & Brew. We then plan on having a quiet and early to bed night. Need to catch up on some of that missed sleep.

Tuesday our agenda includes:
1. Up around 8:00 to do the never ending job of laundry. At least it will go quickly as we can do three loads at once and we know it won't cost us a fortune. Public laundromats are not cheap.
2. Lunch with Jamie, Suzanne & Opal. Can't wait to see them. Wendy, from the Burger Kitchen sent along a big bag of cotton candy for Opal. I hope she is allowed to at least taste it. I need to remember to put batteries in the camera and take lots of pictures.
3. Dinner with Gerald & Sandra in the evening. I am looking forward to sharing with them the new chocolate wine we bought in Puyallup. I wasn't sure if I would like it but it tastes so yummy.

Wednesday our agenda includes:
1. Ron is going to the Men's Bible study at Blackberry House. That begins at 7:00 a.m. I am then off to have coffee at Woods with Dee. We need to finalize the time but my phone is in the bedroom on the charger and I am being too lazy to go get it right now. I will firm up the time with her later this evening.
2. Dinner, dessert & visiting at 6:00 p.m. at The C Shop. Sure hope that many of you will be able to stop by and spend some time with us. We plan on staying as long as people are hanging out or until we are kicked out.

Thursday we are:
1. Sleeping in unless someone wants to get together for an early breakfast. If you do, give us a shout.
2. Taking the suburban back to Marquez & Nicole's. Then meeting Jerry & Lynda for lunch in Bellingham at the Mexican restaurant on Bakerview.
3. After lunch we will be heading back to Puyallup and the bone yard. Plan to arrive back around 6:00 p.m. because of course we have to stop at Winco and Costco.

Again, if you are in our home area of Blaine and want to get together, give us a shout and let's make it happen.

That's all for now. I will be writing again soon.

Thanks for following along and remember to drop me a note when you can. We love to hear from you all.

Coming Home!

Updated 6/24 at 9?34 p.m.

Now that I got your attention ~ we are coming home after the Taste of Tacoma for 3 nights. We have a four day break before we play Ft. Lewis for the 4th of July and as Rob stated this is the calm before the storm. Once the 4th of July starts we are busy through the end of September with maybe one day off each week which will probably be a travel day as we jump from one site to the next.

Our plans so far ~

Monday, 6/28 ~ we will leave as soon as Ron is done with tear down. He will drive us through Seattle to Smoke Point Rest Area and then I will drive the rest of the way to Blaine. Thank goodness I now know I can drive the rig and feel okay doing it.

First stop is at Marquez & Nicole's to get the suburban and see their new little one Emilio, born on June 4th. Then off to NACO/TT to set up the motor home.

Tuesday, 6/29 ~ meet Jamie, Suzanne & Opal at Big Al's for lunch at 11:30. Can't wait to get our hands on that beautiful little granddaughter of ours and get hugs from Jamie & Suzanne. Looking forward to visiting with them. Dinner with Gerald & Sandra.

Wednesday, 6/30 ~ dinner, dessert and lots of visiting at The C Shop at 6:00 p.m. Please come and see us if you are in the area.

Thursday, 7/1 ~ drop the suburban back at Marquez & Nicole's and then head for Puyallup, planning on leaving about 10:00 a.m. We want to get back to the bone yard at a decent time so that we are not rushed and exhausted when we start work on Friday morning at 8:00 a.m.

Things we want/need to do while home ~

~ go to the storage unit and pick up the satelite dish ~ Ron is having TV withdrawls and has decided that we need TV while on the road. We have been without TV since 3/20.

~ do the never ending job of laundry. Will probably do that Tuesday morning before lunch with Jamie and family.

~ get together at The C Shop with friends. Waiting to hear from Patricia what night they will be there to set our plans. Set for Wednesday evening at 6:00 p.m.

~ have another get together with friends either at Paso or down at the State Park depending on weather.

We want to be able to see as many of our friends and family as we can while we are home. We have missed everyone so much and it would be great to get lots of hugs from as many as we can to take us through the next three months.

As soon as we know the rest of our plans I will post an update. Let me know if you want to get together.

Love and missing you all!

Alice

Resting and Relaxing

Our time in Marysville was short, sweet and ended in rain! We thought we were going to make it through the spot without any liquid sunshine but alas it started about 10:30 Saturday night and continued through Sunday evening. We were only open 1 hour on Sunday ~ bummer on one hand but meant we were done with everything by 11:30 p.m. We had anticipated working till about 3:00 a.m.

Our time in Marysville was filled with surprises and seeing good friends. Saturday morning we were reading and checking out a few things on the computer when the phone rang and heard a familiar voice. Marla and Glenn Tuski were in the bone yard to see us! They were on their way to Oregon for a vacation and stopped to visit. We were able to spend about 45 minutes together. What a pleasant way to start our day! I took pictures but will have to post them on Thursday once my phone is charged and I can send them to my email account. Later in the afternoon Kristy, Mychal and Kodie stopped by the carnival on their way to Woodland Park Zoo for a Camp Fire Overnighter. It was fun to see them all and get lots of hugs. It was so cute to see Kodie talking to Ron through the little ticket window of the ticket box. Again, pictures will be posted on Thursday.

I had a great week in the office. Learned many new things but payroll is payroll just doing it on a different computer system. Accuracy is the key. Sunday evening when we were trying to track down the last of the time sheets for the day I mentioned to Richard, one of the ride jocks, that everyone knows me as Alice the Grandma, the ticket seller, the nice lady but now they were going to meet Alice the Payroll Queen. Richard just laughed but later when I told Ron he said they better watch out. Being responsible for someone's money is a lot of responsibility and I take it very serious.

We made the jump on Monday from Marysville to the bone yard in Puyallup. We left the bone yard about 10:45 and then went to do laundry, stopped at a truck canopy shop to pick up a key for a friend, drove back past the laundromat to the Post Office. We were just two buildings down from the Post Office while we were doing laundry but drove six miles from the laundromat to the Post Office ~ for sure next time we will check Maggie (our trusted GPS) before we start driving all over town. After picking up boxes to mail packages to the grands we drove north to Costco, spent way too much money and then went to Walmart for the things that Cosco does not carry like a half gallon of milk, small family size packs of meat instead of huge packages for which we have no freezer space and to return Ron's tennis shoes that we bought in April in Wenatchee. While in Portland the stitching had come out of one of the shoes. We paid $28 for them and thought they should last more than two months. We returned them without any problems.

We then made our way to Puyallup, stopping at the Post Office to drop off the packages that I filled while Ron was driving down the road. Got there at 4:55 p.m. ~ they close at 5:00 p.m. but we made it and the packages should be arriving later in the week. We then headed over to the bone yard. We are parked on a flat cement driveway for a change. It was nice to get leveled and hooked up and settled in. We had roasted chicken, fresh strawberries and lots of asparagus. We have decided that we won't be buying asparagus from Costco anymore ~ too much for one meal.

Today is one of our two days off this week. We slept in :) and then had biscuits and gravy for breakfast. A special treat for Ron as I only make that about two or three times a year. After breakfast I cleaned up the kitchen and Ron did a small plumbing repair on one of the condo's bathrooms. Sure wish he got paid his plumbing rates for those types of jobs :)

Early afternoon we decided to walk into downtown Puyallup. We walked past a few businesses and found a second hand clothing store. I went inside while Ron sat on a flower bench ~ something about him not liking shopping. I scored on a pair of black slacks for work. They were marked $16 but when I went to pay for them they were 50% off! Now I have all the work clothes I need for the rest of the season ~ two pairs of black slacks, two pairs of black capris and two pair of work shorts (company approved). In the office I don't have to wear the uniform shirt but a nice blouse so I am set. We walked some more through town and then crossed the street to head back to the bone yard. We stopped and got an Italian soda (the one's from The C Shop are so much better) and a lemonade. We found a little wine shop and went in to browse. We found a new wine that is like Bailey's. It is wine and chocolate and is best if served over ice. Of course, we had to get some. Two more stops at Ace's Hardware and Safeway and we made our way back to the motor home. We then spent time reading and on the computer.

For dinner tonight we had roast beef, potatoes, broiled onions and sauteed mushrooms with fresh tomatoes. We will have fresh strawberries later this evening for dessert. I had cooked the roast, potatoes and onions in the crock pot. It was a delicious dinner. And we have roast beef for sandwiches for the rest of the week.

This week our schedule includes working tomorrow. I will be working with Debbie again this week. We were both relieved when Rob found out on Sunday that we have her for one more week. I told Rob I am quick learner but not that quick. I am hoping that she can go with us to Ft. Lewis before they let me do the office on my own. I do plan on taking copious notes this week while we are working together. I took lots last week in Marysville but want to take even more this week. Tomorrow Debbie and I will set up the office for the week, get the money ready for the ticket sellers and finish up the books from last week. She has to show me how to get them ready to be sent to Portland. Ron will be doing set up of the rides tomorrow. They have eight rides to set up. We start at 8:00 tomorrow morning and should be done by 5:00 p.m. Ron for sure has Thursday off. I find out tomorrow if Rob has things that Debbie and I have to do on Thursday. At this point he does not think I will be working Thursday either ~ that would be so nice to have two days off this week.

The hours of the Taste of Tacoma, being held at Pt. Defiance Park, are 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and from 11:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Sunday. We will definitely be working till the wee hours of the morning on Monday as the guys do tear down and Debbie and I do payroll and finalize the books.

Praising the Lord for a good week of work and being able to learn and absorb new things quickly.

Had word that Theresa continues to recuperate from her surgery. They have had her up and walking and doing a little each day. She is still in quite a bit of pain so would appreciate continued prayers for her and Rick as they continue down this journey.

Thanking the Lord for a good jump with no problems with the motor home. Always a good way to end a jump.

If you are in the area, feel free to stop by and say hello. We loved our visitors last weekend and would love to see more of you while we are on the road.

Thanks for all the comments to my blog. It is always good to hear from others. Will write more later.

Love and miss you all.

A Few Things

Just thought I would update a few things ~

Theresa & Rick ~ Theresa came through surgery and is awaiting results of the tests performed. She is home and recuperating. Thank you for your prayers for them both.

New job ~ started my new job on Wednesday. It is going well and I like being back in the office setting. Lots of new things to learn but am catching on quickly. Have had a couple of good talks with Rob and think working with him will be great. My first big task was learning how to input the time into the computer. The job itself is fairly easy just have to be really careful not to mess up as it has to do with people's pay.

Ron ~ is also learning a couple of new things. One of them being how to set up, troubleshoot and close out the ATM every day. This is something Rick was going to teach him and now Rob is doing that.

Our schedule ~ is somewhat back to our regular hours. We opened at 3:00 yesterday and open today at 4:00 so we didn't have to report till 1:30 on Thursday and 2:30 today. It has been nice to sleep in till 10:30 the last two days.

Special thanks to Kristy and Norm for picking up my prescriptions and bringing them to us here in Marysville on Saturday. It will be good to see them and they saved us from trying to figure out how to get my medications refilled. We so appreciate you both.

Also want to send out BIG thanks to Dee for being such a great mail lady for us during this season of travel and work. It is such a relief to not have to worry about the mail piling up and getting those wonderful packages. Thanks for the great job you are doing.

We received a special blessing the other day when a friend of ours gave us a 150' power cord. It has eliminated the problems of blowing the breakers every so often.

Today Ron is taking the time to clean our our large storage compartment to make room for the new power cord. It calls for moving the bathroom storage tote to under our table and reorganizing a few other things. Ron had initially thought he would put the new cord in the carrier on top of the motor home but after a lengthy discussion it was decided it was too heavy to be lifting that up and down at each stop so is necessitating the cleaning out of the large storage compartment. I just opened the bathroom tote and found 3 bottles of wine. Wondered where they had disappeared to. One is now nestled in the fridge chilling to be ready for tonight after work :)

The weather here in Marysville is beautiful! Woke up to sunny skies! It seems like it has been so long since we have seen that yellow round thing in the sky. It is so nice to be out of the mud and muck of the Rose Festival. Hope that means the nasty weather is behind us now for the rest of the season. One can hope can't they?

Would appreciate your continued prayers for Rick & Theresa as well as our whole unit with the change in supervisors and expectations. As typical in a place where lots of people work the rumor mill is flowing well. Ron and I have learned to remember the source and to check out things that just don't sound right.

One thing Ron and I do each time we do a jump (move from one location to another) is to ask ourselves if we had to make the decision to do this job (travel and work with the carnival) for a second season would we. The answer has always been a resounding yes! We are so enjoying our time here, the people we meet, the jobs we do and the areas we have seen. Now relax, this does not mean that we ARE going to do this again next year. It does mean that we like what we are doing right now ~ all aspects of it.

Well I just noticed the time and I need to get to making our lunch and ready ourselves for another day of work. Know that we think of each of you often and we love to hear from you all. Enjoy the day the Lord has made and rejoice in it.

The Long Overdue Post - Major Catch Up Time

First I want to say thank you for the emails and phone calls wondering how we were doing since it had been awhile since I had posted a blog update. We are doing fine but lots has been happening, so let me try to catch you up on all the happenings, news, move and where we are now.

We spent the last three weeks in Portland at the Funtastic Shows Corporate Office and Shop just off of Powell Blvd. All three units (we are in the blue unit) were all together for this festival. The first two days in Portland was set up days. Ron worked both days and I worked on Wednesday. Ron set up his normal Lolli's (swings) and then other rides as needed. I helped with set up for the burger kitchen. I hope I don't ever have to do that again. We had to pull the lines for clean water, dirty water and power. The power lines are heavy. We had to string the three lines through a bridge. The bridge is a U-shaped metal contraption that the lines go up one side across the top and back down the other side. I believe the bridge is 12 feet high at its highest point. It is held in place by 2'x4' metal plates/feet. Believe me it was a lot of work especially for someone not used to doing physical labor (me). For this festival Ron worked in the rides department. He was on the Mardi Gras. It is a house of mirrors two stories tall. He enjoyed it and especially liked being upstairs as he could see down the midway in both directions. And like usual he loved seeing the excitement on the little ones faces as they went through the maze. I worked in the Burger Kitchen with Wendy & Joel. I did the cash register, fixed hot dogs, served corn dogs, pop corn, cotton candy and soda pop. I even made one cheese burger! It was a fun job for three weeks but it is definitely something I do not want to do all the time.

We worked long hours. Leaving the bone yard between 9:30 and 9:45 every morning and returning home after 10:30 p.m. each night with a few nights not getting home till almost midnight. The first day of work we rode the show van to the Rose Festival. After that Ron was asked to drive Joel & Wendy's car as the traffic, one way streets, and blocked streets made Joel nervous. Ron did have to drive the show van one Wednesday both ways and one Friday morning as Eric, a gamer was off and there was no one else authorized to drive a show van. All but three days it rained. It made for lots of mud, dirty socks and shoes and cold feet. Getting home at night and taking off the shoes and socks was a wonderful feeling. And sleep was wonderful. 7:30 a.m. came awful early.

We did have a medical scare with Shawn, one of the ride jocks, who was taken to the hospital with extremely high blood pressure. He was hospitalized for two days and then went home for three days. He is doing much better and has rejoined the unit here in Marysville. As well, Nicole, one of the ride gals, who was 9 weeks pregnant miscarried while we were in Portland. She is feeling much better after being off work for a few days. Please keep these two friends of ours in your prayers.

Bad things do happen ~ James from games was fired for getting into an altercation with another employee. Niki, a gamer, and Daniel, a ride jock, quit for personal reasons.

Last week Wendy was sick and missed Wednesday and Thursday. She ended up going to the ER and being diagnosed with bronchitis. Thursday night when I went to bed I was not feeling too well. Feeling like a cold was coming on. Friday morning I woke up at the regular time, texted Wendy and told her coffee was ready and I felt terrible: bad headache, sore throat and achy body. By the time she came for her morning coffee I was back asleep. She asked Ron how I was doing and he told her I had fallen back asleep. She told him to tell me to keep my behind in bed and that is what I did. I woke about 2:00 in the afternoon and promptly fell back asleep till 6:00 p.m. I got up and made myself something to eat. Stayed up till about 9:30 and went back to bed. Woke up at 7:30 Saturday morning feeling so much better. Went to work and did okay ~ moved a little slower as the day wore on but made it through the day. Sunday I was feeling a lot better.

Sunday was a very long day as we only got 6.5 hours of sleep Saturday night due to not getting home till after 12:30 a.m. and up at getting ready to go again at 7:30 a.m. The carnival closed about 8:30 p.m. and then the fun began. It was tear down time. It took Joel, Wendy, David (a spot helper) and myself from 8:45 to 11:15 p.m. to tear down the kitchen and ready it for travel. I helped a little outside but mostly did the inside stuff: had to take everything off the counters and put it on the floor after all the dishes & utensils had been washed and put away. The final job of the evening was hooking up the refer truck to the kitchen to be moved up to Marysville. I got home about 11:50 p.m. I called Ron who was doing tear down of the Lolli's and other rides and told him I was home. I told him to be safe and I would see him sometime Monday. The guys worked all night finishing up about 9:30 a.m. Ron had worked 22 hours straight with two one-half hour breaks and two fifteen minute breaks. Needless to say he was exhausted when he got home. He crawled into bed after grabbing a quick shower about 11:30 a.m. I woke him up at 6:45 p.m. I wanted to make sure he could sleep Monday night. After he was up for about an half hour we borrowed a friends truck and went to Winco to get groceries. After we got home we reading the inside of the motor home for the jump on Tuesday morning. We crawled into bed about midnight Monday night. During the day I spent time reading and chatting with others in the bone yard. We had been having with the power throwing a breaker off and on while in the bone yard and Monday happened to be one of the days that we had no power till evening. (That is why there have been no new blog posts this past week).

I was told on Sunday morning that I would be needed to drive the show van from Portland to Marysville on Tuesday morning for the jump (move). The plan was to be on the road by 7:00 a.m. So we were up at 6:00 this morning to do the final pulling of power lines, take the windshield cover off, pick up the rug to be ready to be on the road by 7:00. Well I went around to see who was riding in the show van ~ 2 people and myself, and waited for Kenny to get back from getting gas in the show van and his truck. When he pulled into the bone yard he told me I might not have to drive the show van. It seemed there were two drivers for the red unit and they only needed one. So after discussions between Kenny, Pat and Mic it was decided that Pablo would drive our show van, Daniel would drive red units show van and I could ride with Ron. Yippee!!! The extra hours would have been nice but riding with Ron is so much more preferable. We finally left the bone yard at 8:00 a.m. We stopped in Chehalis at the Nike Outlet store and bought ourselves each two pairs of good tennis shoes. If you remember we stopped at Walmart in Wenatchee and bought new shoes for each of us. Well both our pairs of tennis shoes had problems. Ron blew out a seam in the top of one of his shoes and I ended up with a hole in the bottom of one shoe thus necessitating new shoes for each of us. We plan on taking the shoes we bought in Wenatchee back to Walmart for a refund ~ they should have lasted more than 6 weeks.

We arrived here in Marysville about 1:30 this afternoon. Another successful jump without any motor home problems! Ron got us backed into our site and leveled and then headed off to work. They started set up at 1:45 p.m. Because the power was not set up I turned the generator on so I could take the fridge off of propane. About 3:30 the power tower was up so I pulled wire from our motor home behind four rigs and over to the tower. Rob Rhew asked me if I needed help and I said no, I could handle it. Boy am I learning how to do things with the motor home (smile).

We were blessed by a friend yesterday with a 150' power cord so once Ron was finished with set up today, he and Albert went to Home Depot to get the necessary parts to put two plug ins on the power cord. So now we don't have to use two extension cords to get power. This should eliminate the problem of throwing the breaker at the tower. While Ron was fixing that, Albert hooked up our water. We are T-d off of his line so we don't have to go so far to get water. We are now totally set up in the motor home with the windshield cover being the final thing to be done. I made dinner of roast beef with mac&cheese and now we are settling in for the night.

Changes that are happening with our unit and my job~~~
When we arrived in Portland Theresa went to the doctor with a health concern. It was discovered that she has advanced cancer and will be having surgery tomorrow (6/16) morning. She will then have to go through chemo and radiation treatments. With this new health concern, Rick & Theresa will not be traveling with the blue unit. They are hoping to join us again in August in Salem, OR. Rob Rhew, the man who interviewed & hired us is now our acting show manager and I will be taking over the responsibilities in the office that Theresa had. This week, Debbie, from the white unit, is also here in Marysville to finish training me on how to do payroll, manage the money boxes for the ticket sellers and the two food booths, and other things that Theresa did. I will be working closely with Rob. Ron will continue to sell tickets, do set up & tear down and run rides as needed. Ron had a conversation with Rob. It went sorta like this:

Ron: Theresa & Rick was our bosses and Theresa told Ron what to do. Now who will be his boss since we know that Rob will be my boss.

Rob: I am your boss.

Ron: But you can't be telling me what to do all the time with all that Rob has to do. So is Alice going to be the one telling me what to do?

Rob: Guess it looks like that. That's probably not much different than normal any way.

When Ron told me about his conversation with Rob I just started laughing as we have this joke between us. Ron can tell anyone that he is the boss because I say so. Guess I just get to boss him around a little more now and get paid doing it.

So tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. I start my new job. I am excited and a little nervous. I know I will do fine.

Our itinerary for the next few weeks ~

6/15 ~ Marysville for the Strawberry Festival (6/17-20). We are at Marysville Middle School. The carnival opens Thursday at 3:00, Friday at 3:00, Saturday at noon and Sunday at 1:00.

6/21 ~ We jump to the Puyallup Fair Grounds where the bone yard will be for the next two weeks.
~ Taste of Tacoma (6/25-27). The carnival will be at Point Defiance Park.
~ 4th of July (7/4). The carnival will be at Ft. Lewis for a one day show.

NOTE: as of right now we have been told that we will have 2 or 3 days off between the Taste of Tacoma and the 4th of July. If it stays that way we are planning on going to Blaine. We would like to get a few things from our storage unit and see Jamie, Suzanne & Opal along with a few friends. I say this tentatively due to my recent job change we do not know if I am going to have to work the last 3 days of June and July 1st. As soon as we know the plan I will update you all.

7/5 ~ We jump to Kent for the Kent Cornucopia Days (7/8-11).

7/12 ~ We jump to Olympia for Capital Lakefair (7/14-18).

Praises & Prayer Requests ~~

1. Praise that we made it safely through the Rose Festival with no major injuries and those that got sick are feeling much better.

2. Praise for friends who are making a special trip down to Marysville bringing my next three months of prescriptions.

3. Praise for the hours we are getting to work which means we are meeting our financial obligations. And we paid off a major bill this month.

4. Prayer for Rick & Theresa as they face this major health concern. Theresa is scheduled for surgery tomorrow (6/16). Please pray for guidance and wisdom for the surgeons, for peace of mind for Rick as he waits during the surgery and for complete healing for Theresa.

5. Prayer that Ron & I can continue to be a witness to Rick & Theresa even though we will not be seeing them on a regular basis. Praise that God gave both Ron & I opportunities to to encourage and let them kno we are praying for them during this time and it was well received.

6. Prayer that I can catch on quickly to the new details and responsibilities of my new job. That God's love will shine through me as I work with Rob.

7. Prayer for continued safety for Ron as he works the rides, set up and tear down.

I know this was a very long post and I hope you made it all the way through. Hopefully I will not be working the 12+ hour days and will have time to write more often. I enjoy writing my blog and keeping everyone up to date with what we are doing and where we are hanging out.

Till next time ~ Alice & Ron

An Unexpected Day Off ~ Pictures and More

Rumor had it this morning that we would not be working today due to the weather but no word from those in the know came down so off to work we went. Ron drove the show van with the gamers as Eric was scheduled off today. Wendy picked me up along with the hot dog cooker. Just as we were pulling into the parking lot across from Waterfront Park, we got the call that the carnival would be closed today due to a forecast of severe wind and rain. We drove back to the bone yard. Ron took time to read and is now taking a nap. I got caught up on the many blogs I follow and uploaded the pictures that we took on Sunday and now I am updating my blog. Hope you enjoy this hodge podge of pictures, thoughts and musings.




This is a view of the Merry-Go-Round from the top of the Mardi Gras (where Ron is working)






This is Zero Gravity, we called it the Round Up when we were growing up. Ron also can see this ride from his spot on the Mardi Gras.








This is Tyler. He is one of the guys who gives Ron his 15 minute breaks and lunch breaks. He is standing where Ron usually stands when he is working on the Mardi Gras.






This is the front of the Mardi Gras. Ron's post is at the top of the slide (far left). The kids enter the Mardi Gras at the stairs just to the right of the slide. They go through a maze of mirrors and up some stairs, through another maze and then down the slide to exit the ride.




These two pictures are of the Inverter. Riders start sitting in the big car belted in with a 5 point safety harness. The car goes from side to side eventually turning to where the riders are totally upside down at the top. More people have lost cell phones than we can count even though they are told to secure everything.

This is the Burger Kitchen on Wednesday when we were setting it up. Four of us worked 5.5 hours to get the inside and outside all set up and ready to go for opening day on Friday.



This is Joel in the Burger Kitchen where I am working this spot. He is cutting up one of the many onions we go through every day.





This is the muddy swamp looking out the front window of the Burger Kitchen on Saturday morning. It is quite humorous to watch some of the gals walking in their stelletto heals try to make their way from one side of the carnival to the other. Who knows, maybe I will get a picture of that.





This is one of the workers raking the mud to try to dry it out.


This is what it looked like all raked.







This is the same guy picking up the mounds of mud that was raked up.


This is that guy dumping the mud into the back of a wagon. Reminding me of watching a parade that has horses in it and the pooper scoopers doing their job.




This is looking out our back window of the Burger Kitchen. It is a fresh lemonade stand. Jeremy runs this stand and also travels with the carnival to our different spots. He makes all flavors of lemonade: regular, strawberry, peach and blueberry. My favorite is the strawberry lemonade.





This is a picture of the rose and daisy that Shawn & Albert gave me the other day. They have adopted Ron & I as their surrogate Grandparents. We have had a few late night and early morning visits by them to just talk. I have been known to make lunch for them on occasion and they have joined us for dinner a few times too.








This is Carol of Carol K's Journey and Dave of Dave in the RV. (Click on the bold links to get to their journals). They both follow along with my blog and we follow theirs. When they realized we were in Portland and close to their home; they live in Vancouver, WA, about 25 minutes from us, they invited us over for an afternoon to do laundry and then out for dinner. Carol is a stay-at-home mom who home-schooled their two sons, Tim and Jonathon. Dave set up computer systems in colleges throughout California before moving up here to Washington. In his free time he referees high school and semi-pro football games. Carol & Dave picked us up at 2:30 p.m. yesterday and we went back to their home where we did two loads of laundry and then they took us out to dinner at the Olive Garden. We enjoyed our time getting to know them and their family and really appreciated their generosity of allowing us to do our laundry and then the treat of dinner. It was fun to be with believers and hear how the Lord has been working in their lives. We had a great time meeting them and look forward to building our new friendship. Thanks Dave & Carol for a great afternoon and evening.

Hope you have enjoyed seeing where we are working and spending our time here in Portland and meeting our new friends. We hope to get some pictures of the midway at night. Will plan on doing that this weekend when the weather is supposed to be better.

Just watched the local evening news and they showed pictures of Waterfront Park and workers spreading new sand in the muddy swampy areas that are throughout Waterfront Park (like the one pictured above out the front window of the Burger Kitchen). They reported that the decision will be made in the morning by the Rose Festival Board & The Burbacks whether or not the carnival and Waterfront Park will be open tomorrow. I am sure it will depend on the amount of rain that we get between now and the morning. It has been nice having this extra day off but we are here to work and so are hoping that tomorrow we will be open and back to work.

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into our life with the carnival.