Being in Blaine for a Couple of Days

Hi Everybody! I have decided to do blog posts every couple of days of where we are and what we are doing along with adding in blogs of our life, thoughts, pictures from our time with the carnival along with a blog with Ron. Thanks everyone for the questions...will be getting to that one in a couple of days once we are settled in at Lewiston, ID.

Tuesday Gerald & Sandra drove to Puyallup to pick me up. They arrived just as lunch was winding down for the tear down crew so they were able to see Ron for a few minutes. And then we were off for Blaine. As we got close to Bellingham, Charles called Sandra. She mentioned they were on their way home from Puyallup and that I was in the car. Charles asked her if I had to be taken by handcuffs ~ I think he thought I was being held by captives. First stop in Blaine was at Nichole & Marquez' to pick up the Suburban. As I was pulling out of the driveway, 3 yr old Julian started crying "No, don't let it go! No, you can't take it!" It was sad to watch him cry. I am sure he thought the Suburban was theirs as they had used it for the seven months we were with the carnival. Sure hope he didn't cry too long.

I went spent 2 1/2 days in Blaine at Gerald & Sandra's. Enjoyed their hospitality which included delicious dinners, lots of laughter and great talks...what was missing was Ron. The three of us promised Ron that we would include him next time.

Here is Sandra & Gerald putting the final touches on dinner. We had grilled/roasted chicken with a seasoned rub along with baked potatoes and salad. It was delicious.Sandra putting the final touches on our salad.

A picture of the chicken fresh off the grill. The chicken cooker (for lack of a better name) is a pottery dish kinda shaped like an angel food cake pan but the center is not hollow. Gerald put seasonings and lemon juice in the center for cooking on the grill. Sorry for cutting Gerald off in the picture.

Here is a closer picture of the chicken. Makes me drool just thinking about how tasty it was.

Another view of the chicken.

And this is what is left...maybe a good thing Ron wasn't there :)

Wednesday I had lunch with my friend Dee (forgot the camera on my jaunts on Wednesday) at Bob's Burgers and then we walked over to Wood's Coffee to continue our visiting. Late in the afternoon I met Kristen, Jade & Coral at Peace Arch Park. In the evening I joined Gerald & Sandra over at Bud & Kay Dee's for another delicious dinner and great conversation. It was a fun day to be visiting with friends and seeing familiar faces.

I could not wait for Thursday morning. Getting to spend time with Opal, Jamie & Suzanne. We met at Big Al's for breakfast. Well I had breakfast and they had lunch. Here is Opal taking a nap on the bench. She actually only stayed down for about 30 seconds. I was so amazed at how tall she has gotten. Was told when she was measured at age 2 they said she should be 5'9" or so. Jamie thinks she got some of Brandon's tall genes.

Another cute picture of Opal.

Jamie & Opal inside Big Al's.
Here is Grammy, Opal and Jamie. Can you see how much Opal looks like her daddy.

Here we are again. Can you believe the sunshine in October? So thankful for whom ever ordered up the beautiful weather.

And here she is checking out Grammy's little pink pig.

After a delightful time it was time for Jamie to head to school and Suzanne & Opal had an appointment in Bellingham. Too short a visit but glad I was able to spend that time with them. I think Ron was a little jealous ~ he will see Opal the end of October once we are back in Blaine.

I then went and spent a couple of hours sharing with Charles about our time with the carnival. Of course, his question was when are we coming home? I told him we will be back in Blaine between the 25th & 31st of October. We will be looking for work and praying for God's leading. Ron would like to travel somewhere, I am ready to settle in one place. We need to figure out what we are going to do in the future ~ are we going back to the carnival next year? Will Ron reopen Alion Plumbing & Home Repair. I am looking forward to being back at the church doing my secretary thing. Feel free to pray for us in the coming days/weeks as we reflect on the past seven months and contemplate our future. Then it was off to see Marla and then back to G & S's for a little down time. As we were getting ready for dinner Ron called to say they were done with tear down. Everyone was surprised that it was Thursday and they were done. Fini! Usually they don't finish up till late Friday evening or Saturday morning. Ron sounded tired, so I was glad to hear he could rest on Friday. In the evening we all went to Bible study. Watched a movie on the Book of Ruth. It was so good to share in corporate prayer with other believers.

Friday morning found me sharing a great breakfast of poached eggs & toast with Gerald & Sandra before heading to Bellingham and then Puyallup to rejoin up with Ron. First stop was an appointment with Dr. Moore. He needed to see me before he would renew my prescriptions. Funny how doctor's can be about those things. I was eager to get on the scale. I thought I had lost about 15 lbs since joining the carnival. I was pleasantly surprised to find out I had lost 22 lbs! Dr. Moore was also pleased to hear that Ron had lost over 30 lbs in 7 months. Now to keep up the walking and adding in some Wii bowling & tennis to keep up the losing. Then off to Puyallup. By the time I arrived Ron had moved the motor home over to the fair campground. It was definitely time to dump the tanks! We had gone 24 days without dumping!

We just relaxed Friday evening and called it an early night. It was good to be together again and think about our next adventure.

Before, During & After

Greetings Everyone

Just a quick note to share some pictures of us before, during and after our time with the carnival. Hope you enjoy this pictorial look of us.

This is us Spring 2010 just days before we headed off to join the carnival.



Alice selling tickets in Lacey, WA



And Ron in the comfort of his seat in the ticket box in Lacey,WA

Us in Portland, OR for the two day Hispanic Festival

Us after a long weekend in Graham, WA for the Pierce County Fair. Click on the picture to see the sign we had made declaring us the "Wandering Workentins." We are finally beginning to look like true carnies!


Ron sporting his "do rag" - all the guys wear them for tear down. Notice any thing new?

Here's a better picture of his new tatoo (and his first and last one too!).


I wanted one to, all the gals have them. I got mine where it only shows when I want it to. Would love to have gotten purple ones but pink will do.

And here we are the first night of tear down. We, along with Dani, Tom, Danelle and Kerry shared a delightful dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate we finished the season with a bang. Dani, Danelle and I were the Customer Service workers for the Big Puyallup Fair. Was told we did a fantastic job!

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse of us during the past six months. I will be posting more in the next few days - pictures, thoughts, and happenings of our time with the carnival in 2010.

The Carnival is Done!

The carnival is done for the season! I have one day of tear down and Ron has a week or so. Was told tonight by Ron B. and Rob R. that this was the smoothest Puyallup Fair in Customer Service they have ever seen. Usually the Customer Service people quit on them. Best compliment I could have been given.

I have lots of blog posts that I want to do about the carnival along with some pictures. It may take me a couple of weeks to get them all done ~ hope you can be patient with me. My schedule for the week is:

Monday ~ tear down & clean the blue unit and white unit show offices, catalog all the scan guns. In the evening, Ron & I, Danell & Tom along with Dani & Kerry are going to Olive Garden for an end of season dinner. Danell, Dani and I were the Customer Service workers for the Puyallup. Danell did a great job giving breaks and allowing us to get off early a few times. Though the 17 days went fine, yesterday all three of us were ready to walk ~ I think the tiredness settled in, we were missing our families and tired of hearing complaints BUT we stuck with it and made it to the end!

Tuesday ~ Sandra and Gerald are making the drive from Blaine to Puyallup to pick me up for a few days in Blaine. While in Blaine I will pick up our Suburban, get a few things from the storage unit, see Jamie, Suzanne and OPAL!, hopefully sleep in one morning, have coffee with Dee and just plain relax, ending with a doctor's appointment on Friday and then returning to Puyallup.

Ron will be doing tear down each day. Have been told it should take about a week to get everything down. Over 70 rides need to be taken down.

Ron has agreed to be interviewed (by me) for a future blog. What I need from you are questions ~ what do you want to know from Ron about our season with the carnival? Post a comment, send me an email or post on my wall on Facebook. I hope you have lots of questions for him. I think it will be interesting to hear his take on things.

I know this has been short but it is time to go to bed. 7:30 will be here before I know it.

Talk to you all again soon.

Love, Alice

Sunday Morning Thoughts

Good morning on our next to last Sunday at the carnival.

We have had a long and busy week ~ Ron had Wednesday off but spent two and half hours at the laundromat doing 4 loads of laundry. Now we each have enough white t-shirts to make it through the 26th. After that I don't think either of us will be wearing a white shirt for quite a while :)

What we are doing? Ron is one of the circle supervisors in Sillyville (Kiddie Land). He gets to wear a radio! He has to make sure each of his rides has enough operators, that operators get their breaks and lunches, troubleshoots problems before they become big problems and walk around a lot! Pat, the head guy over Sillyville said he was going to knock another 20 lbs off Ron by the end of the Puyallup. You go Pat! Dr. Moore will be so happy. Ron has to be there at 8:30 on the weekends and 9:30 Monday thru Friday. He gets off each night somewhere around 11:00/11:30.

I am at the Customer Service window in the Majors. I am right across from the Matterhorn (with lots of blue lights, ride operators asking the customers if they want to go faster ~ which they in turn yell YES!) next door to the Jumping (these big circles with seats in them that go up and out, has loud music and many multi flashing colored lights) and across from Sinbad (my favorite ride! Hope I get the chance to go on it again before the Puyallup is over. It is a giant magic carpet that goes sideways and then up in the air in huge circles). I will try to get pictures of them at night one night this next week. I have had a couple of afternoons where I got off at 5:00 or 6:00 and one day I didn't have to go in till 4:00. That was when we had 4 customer service workers. Jaylene had to go off to school so now we are three: Dani 1 and Dani 2, they both work in Sillyville and me. Dani 1 is the breaker. So for the next week I will be opening every day which really isn't that bad. Monday thru Friday we don't open till noon so I don't have to be there till 11:30. Every third night I will get off early (between 7:30 & 9:00).

Work is busy and tiring but never dull and we only have 7 days to go after today. Plus of course tear down for Ron. The week Ron is doing tear down I am going to sneak home for a few days to pick up the Suburban, grab a few things from the storage unit, SEE OPAL, Jamie & Suzanne, hopefully sleep in ~ well as late as I can at Gerald & Sandra's, have a cup of java with my mail lady and hopefully see a few friends and then heading to the doctor's (nothings wrong - just need to check in so I can get my prescriptions refilled) before heading back to Puyallup to meet back up with Ron. I will let you know where and when I will be at in Blaine.

Have had a few characters at the Customer Service window: "my bracelet fell off. Well where is your receipt? Ummm I didn't get one....Ummm that doesn't work for me ~ no receipt, no new bracelet." That is one trick they like to pull so they can get a bracelet for free.

One lost little boy ~ AJ. What a cutie. He is 3. We reunited him with his momma and papa and cute baby sister after only about 10 minutes. Found out the parents were a bit frantic as he had been gone for over 30 minutes. Walked from Sillyville down to the Sinbad by himself before a kind citizen found him sobbing and brought him to me. Made me think of Christopher and what would he have done if he gotten separated from Brandon or Danalyn. A good reminder to parents ~ teach your children as soon as they can talk your name, your full name. And next time you are in a big crowd put your name and cell number on a sticker in the center of the little one's back so you can be found quickly.

We have had many cell phones, wallets, credit cards and even a few drivers licenses turned into the lost and found. Most have not been reunited with their owners ~ secure your belongings before going on bouncy, flying rides!

I have found a good place to get a taco salad here at the fair. Pancho's under the grandstand. $6.28 for a great chicken taco salad, the ground beef one not so good. I will be splurging next weekend and getting an elephant ear, some corn on the cob, and of course a fair burger! I am hoping Ron and I can have some time off together - I think that will happen Wednesday - he has off all day and I get off early in the evening ~ so that we can share an Earthquake burger. I have heard they are scrumptious.

One issue we have developed is a leak in the window of our bedroom on MY side of the bed. It has rained hard here for a few nights...and the rain water just flows in through the top of the window, down the window and onto the floor. We have bath towels drying in the bathroom, over the passenger chair and of course one on the floor on my side of the bed. Of course I never know how wet it will be in the morning - it's a surprise every day! Hopefully it will not be raining on Wednesday and Ron can reseal it.

Prayer Request ~

Rob has asked us to return next year. We have not given him our decision as we would like to sit down with him for a few minutes to discuss a few things ~ like what will we be doing? who will we be working for? compensation? We are asking for prayer that God will give us clear direction and a peace in our hearts as we plan for next year.

Also, we are still looking for work for this winter. I will be back at Northwood as secretary sometime in October. But that is not enough for us to live on. Work for this winter is also dependent on our decision for next year. I think you get the picture.

Well I hate to cut this off but the timer just went off and I need to finish getting ready for work and walk over to the fairgrounds. I will catch up with more news soon.

Love and miss you all! Alice

Thanks to Kimberly I now know how to import my pictures with a watermark on them.


This is Debbie in our Blue Unit Show office. We were the team while Theresa was away getting treatment and surgery.


This is Eric at the Derby game. He and Diane hate to get their pictures taken. We took his and her pictures from the hole in the ticket box while we were at the Hispanic Festival in Portland.


And this is Diane in front of the Pop 1 game. We were pretty sneaky weren't we.

This is Tommy making a face. He left us after we finished in Hillsboro, OR. He is now going to school in Tacoma. We will him lots of luck.


And this is Michail. He is quite a character and also works with Diane and Eric.

This is Mike Presler relaxing outside of our motor home while we were in Portland. The bone yard was at the Funtastic Shows lot in Portland.




This is the covered bridge in Portland. Ron and I found it via Maggie, our GPS system.








This is Ron holding a sign about men and BBQ's. I think if you click on it, it will get bigger but I am not sure. This was taken Saturday at Lakefaire in Olympia when we didn't have to go to work till 5:00 that day.








That's all for now. I was just so excited that I figured out how to do a watermark that I had to do it with some more pictures.

Alice

Some Much Awaited Pictures

Here are a few random photos. I am trying to figure out how to put a watermark on my pictures. But so far no luck in figuring it out.


This is Kollin waving to us as she was heading out to go to the store. Kollin and her sweetie, Ruben, are one of the couples we have had share a meal with us. They both work in the Ride Department.









This picture of us was taken towards the end of July when we were in Portland for the Hispanic Festival. We were goofing off with our camera.








This is us in front of our Yellow Sub (also known as the ticket box). Isn't Ron looking good after losing 30 lbs?







This is a picture of my hair after Kollin fixed it. She does a great job doing French braids. She asked me if I wanted it tight. I said sure and the next thing I knew my eyebrows were almost above my forehead :)







This is a sign we had made while in Graham for the Pierce Co. Fair. We think this is a good statement of our new motto.









Here is a picture of the Super Loops at night. No way will you find me on this one.





And introducing the newest member of our family: CB Jr. Isn't he the cutest little thing. He never gets out of his bed, doesn't bark at strangers, doesn't cry or even make messes in our motor home and doesn't ask to be let out in the middle of the night.





He likes his bed right where Charlie Brown liked to sleep when we were watching TV.




Guess that's all from here. I still can't figure out how to get to Picassa to upload pictures to my blog so can't figure out how to get a watermark on them.

Talk to you all soon.

Alice

Almost Done in Salem

Whew! What a week it has been here in Salem. I am done here in Salem but Ron is busy working tear down as I write. His first job of the night was to tear down the ticket boxes. There were 7 in total. That means 18 monitors, printers, scanners need to be put away. Some go to the White Unit, some to the Blue Unit and the rest to the Red Unit. They will be tucked away till next season as we don't use these while in Puyallup. They have their own monitors, printers and scanners. I am sure he will also be doing garbage detail in those ticket boxes because the sellers just don't seem to know they can empty the garbage. After Ron is done with all the ticket boxes he will see where Brian or Kenny want him next. Ron is kinda hoping they say they don't need him for any other tear down so he can come back to the motor home and get a few hours sleep before we head to Puyallup.

I guess I should reflect on how the past 10 days have been here in Salem for the Oregon State Fair.

One change this spot was that Rob was gone to New York for a week and then Puyallup to get things ready for our arrival on Tuesday and opening day on Friday, September 10th. My boss this spot has really been 4 ~ Kevin, Rick, Ron Jr, and Mr. B. Each told me at different times that I did a good job. I was told by Rob on the phone on Saturday that our time in Eugene was the best Customer Service they have had their in a long time. Only had two nasty customers ~ I blogged about them under "Musings from the Customer Service Window."

In speaking with Rob he had had no complaints about my work here in Salem. Made me feel good as I had a few rough days. Once being accused of doing something that I had not done and the person would not listen to my side of the story and twice when an employee said something about me that was not true. Those three incidents made me ready to leave after this spot. After a lengthy discussion with Ron, many prayers sent up on my behalf, an email to Rob followed by a phone call with Rob things began to look up. Since Saturday, when things kinda came to a head, things have gone much better. I also believe it will help to be back working directly with Rob as my supervisor. I was encouraged by my conversation with Rob. One of the things Rob said on the phone was that we do a good job, we work well with the bosses and fellow employees and he did not want us to leave as he needed us in Puyallup. Just the things I needed to hear after dealing with the person causing problems.

Customer service interactions went fairly well. We did have one lady who got slightly injured who came up to the CS window. Both Ron Jr and I dealt with the situation and we thought she left with good feelings. Later we found comments from her on Facebook/Oregon State Fair page that said she was treated rudely by the person in Customer Service. I was thankful that Ron Jr was at the window when I interacted with her. He had me document what had happened and how I handled the situation just in case something further comes up with her. I had a few lost children. One little girl, about 6, made it from the Dinosaur exhibit all the way to the midway (quite the distance) and we had to call the Oregon State Police to come take her and reunite her with her parents. We also had a 9 yr old girl come from the Les Schwab area where the magic show was held make it to the midway where a customer found her crying alligator tears saying she could not find her mom & dad. After calling her parents (she knew their cell phone number) they were also happily reunited. Our last lost children were two little ones 7 & 5 who got separated from their dad. They started out in Kiddie Land and ended up at the CS window. They were happily reunited with him after about 20 minutes. For awhile there I thought maybe I was going to get me a few more grandchildren. Am very thankful that with the help of the Oregon State Police all of them were reunited back to their families.

Had a few scams tried to be pulled on me. One was someone selling used tickets as new ones ~ we are able to pull up every transaction for each ticket card sold. Found out who the person was selling the cards and they were dealt with by the supervisor. Also had a little boy, about 11 years old, who tried to tell me his wristband would not work. Funny thing, I scanned the wristband and found out it had been sold for the Tuesday night special and we were having the Wednesday night special at the time. I said to him, "I think you tried to scam me for a new ride bracelet when actually the one you have on is from last night. I think you were lying to me. Now what would your mom say if I called her on the phone and told her what you were doing?" His reply, "I don't think she would like it." At that he stepped down from the CS window and went on his merry way. We alerted the ride supervisors to make sure the ride operators were scanning the bracelets because people were trying to use the ones from last night. Also reminded them that the color of the stamp was different for Wednesday night from Tuesday nights special.

All in all, customer service went fine this week.

Ron and I did get to have an afternoon and evening off together. We walked around the fair, borrowed Wendy's car so we could go do laundry and then we went to Applebee's for dinner. It was nice to get away from the crowds of the carnival for an evening. While looking around the fair we bought a couple of Christmas presents. I told Kevin the next day, that we spent too much money and maybe it is not a good thing for us to have time off together.

Our time off was on Thursday. On Friday morning Claudia called me and asked if I wanted her to do my laundry ~ told her thanks but it was done. Maybe while we are in Puyallup she can do it for us. She only works part-time for Kevin & Johnny and since we only get one or maybe two days off in Puyallup (we have a 16 day run there) and so she said she would be happy to do our laundry when she goes to do hers, her daughter's and her boyfriends. I am so blessed by some of the friends we have made here.

One issue we had here in Salem was that we decided to upgrade our Verizon wireless card to a MiFi card. What a hassle that was for us. Bought it Thursday, tried to hook it up Thursday night. Could not get it to connect. Spent 2 hours on the phone Friday morning with Tech Support. They could not figure out what was going on. Spent another hour on the phone with them Saturday morning. Still no connection. Finally Ron got on the phone with them, spoke firmly and finally got connected to a supervisor AFTER the person speaking to him on the phone hung up on him. The supervisor told us to take the MiFi card back to the Verizon kiosk where we bought it and get another one. So on Saturday night I spent another 48 minutes on the phone with John and we were successfully able to get the wireless connected. I was never so happy as there were a few things I needed to do on the computer and needed the internet to do it.

I paid a couple of bills that needed to be paid and then I sent off our resumes (that I did up on Friday night after working 11 1/2 hours) and a letter for a position selling Christmas trees in the San Francisco Bay Area. That position would start on 11/27 and go to 12/24. We are hoping to hear from Kevin tomorrow or Wednesday. Would appreciate prayers as we search for and apply for winter work. I am also working on applications for next years holiday season with Dollywood in Tennessee. We are trusting the Lord and know he knows what we need to be doing and where we should land next. We just want to open and willing to go where He wants us to go.

All in all our time here in Salem has gone well. What would life be without a few bumps in the road. Well I just realized it is now officially Tuesday morning so I had better close this post for now. Need to ready the inside of the motor home and get a few hours of sleep so I am ready to drive to Puyallup tomorrow.

The plan for Tuesday is that we will go to Costco for gas and groceries and then head North on I5. We will be stopping in the Portland area to see Melissa, Kyle and Kambree (Brandon's friends from college days) and have lunch together. Then I will be taking the wheel and driving us to Puyallup. Ron plans on sleeping while I drive. We will then get settled into the bone yard at the fair grounds and then get ready for work on Wednesday morning. Not sure what time I have to report, will find that out tomorrow evening when I connect with Rob once we are in Puyallup.

Set up in Puyallup will be Wednesday and Thursday with opening day on Friday, September 10th.

Guess that's all for now...thanks for stopping by and reading about us. Don't forget to leave a note. We love to hear who is reading about our travels/work/life with the carnival. Will have another blog post for you in the next couple of days.

Prayer Requests ~
1. For safety on the road as we drive to Puyallup tomorrow (really today).
2. For set up in Puyallup to go well.
3. For the issues that I had last week truly to be in the past and that my attitude will continue to be one of graciousness flavored with lots of positive thoughts.

Take care.

Alice & Ron

PS...Almost forgot to mention the newest member of our family. CB Jr, joined us last Saturday. As many of you know, we had to get rid of Charlie Brown to come work for the carnival. Well, last Saturday while walking through the fairgrounds with Claudia I found the cutest little puppy just looking for a home. He looks very similar to CB (that's how come he is known as CB Jr.) I paid $10 for him. He is the cutest little thing. If you watch him long enough you can even see him breathe. CB Jr was waiting for Ron to come home from work. He slept in his little bed right on the printer near where Charlie Brown liked to perch. Ron did not notice him till Sunday morning after we played the hot/cold game. I will get a picture of him in the next couple of days and post them for you. Right now he is snuggled in his little bed on the chair behind the passenger seat. He is such a good little puppy. He never cries, whines or jump on people.

PSS ~ can you figure out what kind of puppy he is?

Am hoping to be able to post pictures Wednesday or Thursday once we are done with set up in Puyallup.

Love you all!

What are we doing?

Good morning!

Whew! I think I can finally take a breath. Let's see last time I checked in we were still in Eugene. What a week we have had.

Jump from Eugene to Salem. The guys worked from Sunday morning at 9:00 till Monday morning at 11:00. As soon as the guys were done on Monday Ron and I got the motor home ready to head out to Salem. We left Eugene about 12:30 p.m. Ron drove to Salem 65 miles away. Our first stop was Winco. I was in there for an hour ~ Ron slept while I picked up groceries. Next stop was Costco. Never one to miss free samples Ron joined me on that errand. Then off to the laundromat ~ what an experience. Ron slept while I was doing the work ~ a much needed nap for him. First the washer didn't work. Then the second washer didn't start. Finally got the clothes clean but then the first dryer didn't start. After 1 hour and 45 minutes later and three trips to find the gal working at the laundromat I got that necessary job done. Woke Ron up so we could head to the bone yard. Found the State Fair grounds, found the bone yard and learned that we could take this big ole beast 4~wheeling. We are camped in a grove of big oak trees and the ground is bumpy to say the least.

We got parked and set up and then I remembered we did not stop and get propane! So we undid everything and went in search of a gas station. Found two right across the street from each other. One was $2.99 per gallon for propane and the other was $2.85 per gallon. Of course the one with the cheaper propane was not the one we were at so we had to drive around the block and then pull in. Got the propane and headed back to the bone yard. We had not gotten propane since the middle of May when we pulled into Portland for the Rose Festival ~ we were surprised we had been able to go that long between fill ups. Got back in the bone yard and set everything up again. Time for our usual jump day dinner: Costco rotisseri chicken, garlic bread and salad. Had a great dinner and then went to bed about 8:45 ~ it had been a long day.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Ron did set up of the rides. He worked 8 hours a day and so we had some time to relax in the evening. One evening we spent talking with Eric & Diane until the mosquitoes arrived for their dinner. We didn't feel like serving them dinner so we retired to our motor home and headed off to bed. Tuesday I worked 5 hours and then just a couple of hours on Wednesday and Thursday.

The fair opened at 11:00 Friday morning. We had a pretty uneventful day as far as the carnival went. I did have one problem. I got reamed out by someone for something I did not do. She yelled at me for a good ten minutes. I held the phone away from my ear. Later I talked with Ron about the situation. We decided we are going to talk to Rob next week when he gets back from New York. We have decided if it happens again we will be quitting. I will not work in a place where I am treated like a little child and basically called a liar. On Saturday I was told by Mr. B that I would have off most of the day. I was pleasantly surprised and looked forward to having some time off to enjoy the fair.

Later I found out why I got the day off. Someone told Mrs. B that I was way into overtime so they pulled Debbie off of her job and made her cover customer service for the day. This was another lie as up to Saturday I had only worked 23 hours. Ron and I talked about what happened and decided we will be bringing this up with Rob also. On a positive note I did enjoy my time off. Another gal, Claudia, from the White Unit also had off so we spent the afternoon walking around checking out the exhibits. I bought a cool ice cube tray from the Tupperware lady ~ it has a flat top with an opening to fill it with water. Once the ice is frozen I can pull off the top and voila I have ice cubes ~ great for us for when we travel we don't have water spilling all over.

I also bought Ron a surprise. As many of you know we had to get rid of our dog, Charlie Brown, to come work for the carnival. I had seen these little dogs that sit in their own bed and run off a battery. When they are lying there it looks like they are breathing. Most places have been selling them for $20 - too much for me. But this one lady had about 20 of them left and is retiring after this fair season so she had lowered them to $10. I decided to buy one and put him on the top of the printer where Charlie Brown used to sleep. I told Ron I bought him a surprise but did not tell him what it was. He didn't find it Saturday night and was getting frustrated on Sunday when he couldn't figure it out. So I played the hot/cold game with him. He finally found it and just laughed. So now CB JR has a home on the front dash watching over our rig. It was a great way to spend $10 and get a big laugh from Ron.

Sunday was a much better day for the both of us. Ron is getting more responsibility now. He now breaks five guys on their rides, does maintenance each morning on two rides and checks the scan guns in/out each morning. Customer service is going well. On Sunday afternoon I got a great compliment from Mr. B ~ he said he heard that our time in Eugene was pretty uneventful and that there were no major problems at Customer Service. He thanked me for doing a great job.

Yesterday was our first special at the carnival. The tickets were $0.35 each instead of $0.75. We had a steady crowd all day till it completely died around 10:00 p.m. We close at 11:00 p.m. I did have to be rescued from a customer by Rick once and by Ronnie B once. It was after the special went off ~ the discount tickets were stopped at 5:00 p.m. The first time one lady came up very angry. While she was buying her tickets the sale went off, she was only able to buy 3 cards at the sale price. It was not fair. I tried to explain to her that the sale ended at 5:00 p.m. sharp and the computer is programmed to stop selling at that time and there was nothing I could do. She got real beligerant with me and finally after about 10 minutes Rick came up to the window restated what I had been saying and said there was nothing we could do. She just looked at Rick dumbfounded and stomped down the stairs.

About 6:30 the second incident happened. These two ladies came up to the window. One whipped out a wad of bills, a ticket card and two receipts out of her bra. She said they had a problem. She went on to explain that she bought two cards but the cashier only gave her one card and two receipts. I put the number of the card (got it off the receipt) that she said she did not get into the computer system so I could cancel the card. But wouldn't you know it. She bought the card at 4:16 and it was used at 4:24 by three people going on rides. Ronnie asked her how many kids were in her party. She said 3 and quickly said, no we have five people in our party. I showed her on the computer how the card had been used at multiple rides for three persons each. I explained there was nothing I could do. It had been over two hours since she supposedly was not given the card. Her story just did not make sense. She had three kids, each ride was done by 3 people and it had taken over an hour to do those rides. She got quite angry at me. Wanted to speak to the owner. Ronnie said he was the owner. She wanted his name. He told her Ron. She started yelling. She was going to the fair board, we had ripped her off of $42. She was calling her congressman, the newspaper and the TV news to tell them Funtastic ripped her off of $42. Now her kids would not be able to enjoy the fair. And then they both stomped off the deck of Customer Service.

Other than those two incidents Customer Service went well. Now to start another day at the fair.

Some of you have asked about Ron writing a blog post so you can get a taste of the fair from his perspective. I will try to get him to do a blog post sometime in the middle of next week while doing set up at the Puyallup Fair when we work just eight hour days.

Well, it's time for me to head out the door for work so I will close for now. Thanks for reading about our adventure.

Prayer Requests ~

1. We have a dear friend who's son was involved in a very bad motorcycle accident early last week. Colby was on the motorcycle when he was hit broad side by a van. He is now at Harborview with many broken and fractured bones. He is on a ventilator and a morphine drip for pain. Please keep him and his family in your prayers as he struggles to get well and the family surrounds him 24 hours a day. The Moulaison's are a strong God loving family and are trusting the Lord for healing for Colby. Please also pray for strength for Kris, Eddie and the rest of the family as they are there with Colby.

2. Continued prayer for us as we finish up here in Salem and make the jump to Puyallup on Tuesday, 9/7. We open in Puyallup on Friday, 9/10. It is a 16 day fair. Pray for strength and safety for us as we work long hours and 16 days straight.

Thanks for all your support and love during our adventure of working with the carnival. I will do another update either Monday night or Tuesday once we are in Puyallup.

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to leave a note and let me know you were here.

Alice

Musings ~ Customer Service at Lane County Fair, Eugene, OR

Thoughts while working the Customer Service Window at Lane County Fair, Eugene, OR

~ seeing the rainbow, not in the sky but someone's hair color; nicely layered in rainbow colors
~ teal blue hair
~ bright purple hair
~ a couple of near altercations, one was quite loud the other one was two groups of teenage boys
~ one super angry customer who through his military ID at me, asked me if I was going to apologize. Told him I had said nothing that I needed to apologize for. He then asked one of the managers if he was going to apologize. Nothing was said from either of us. Was told by same man, he served his country in Iraq and he should be treated better by me. His issue, supposedly told by someone that the ride bracelets were good till 11:00 pm when the signs at all the ticket boxes clearly state that the ride bracelets ended at 5:00 p.m.
~two gals who kept praising me for a good job. I told them to tell that to the guys in the white shirts and ties. Didn't realize they were standing behind me (on my left side). The gals started saying in loud voices "Alice is the best! She knows how to do her job! Alice really helped me!" and then as they walked down the stairs they turned around and came back up and said "Alice is the best customer service person we have met." Made my day, especially when the guys told Mr. B about the ladies.
~ watching a little girl, about 9 years old, win at the Ring Toss game right across from the Customer Service window. She won a bike. I don't know who was more excited the little girl who won or the game operator.
~ a little boy, about 7 years old, lost his card. Stopped the card from being able to be used, gave him back his money to go buy a new card. He told me thank you and had a huge smile on his face. His parents also thanked me. Felt good to help someone who appreciated it. And make a little boys day have a good ending.
~ being yelled at because the bracelet special ended at 5:00 p.m. and that it should not end till the carnival closed. Thought about Ron's statement "does your business have discount specials every day?"
~ seeing so many happy little children enjoying themselves and seeing the parents enjoying the happiness of their children.
~ watching twelve or so clowns running through the midway laughing and joking with passerbys
~ listening to the show managers joking around
~ being fortunate to get a break the same time as Ron; enjoying our time together working and wandering around the fair

Hope you enjoyed some of the thoughts and observations made from the Customer Service window.

Alice

Our Week in Graham

Good morning on this beautiful sunny morning.

First off, thanks for all your prayers for us this past week and your words of encouragement and comments. All were so appreciated.

Got woke up to a text message at 5:23 this morning. Don't know what's with my cell phone service. Kollin sent the message at 10:30 p.m. last night. Couldn't go back to sleep so finally got out of bed at 6:30. Watched the news and got caught up on emails and Facebook. Thought I would let you know how our week went in Graham.

The weather was nice though it got quite hot a couple of days especially in the ticket box. The fair ran Thursday to Sunday. The carnival didn't open till noon each day so we were able to walk around each morning and check out the fair as the fair itself opened at 10:00 a.m. each day.

Found some cute things for the grands and also a new slim purse for me and a wallet for Ron. They are both leather. The gal who owns that booth is retiring this year so she had lowered her prices which was nice.

Wednesday we talked to Jamie and Brandon as well as Max. It was great to connect with them. Max was excited because they were flying home on Thursday from Hell, Michigan, where they had been for two weeks, and then Friday morning his PawPaw was picking him up in Lewiston and taking him to Boise for two weeks. Dan & Lynda (Danalyn's folks) have a pool and Max loves to swim. Plus he will be able to see his cousins during his stay. Brandon starts work today at his new school in Orofino. He will be teaching English this year as well as Head Coach for the Boys Basketball team. I think he is more excited about the basketball then the new teaching position :) Jamie says all is well on the home front with him, Suzanne and Opal. They are hoping to get her enrolled in a Special Needs pre-school in Bellingham. They should hear soon if she gets to attend there this year.

Saturday was not a pleasant day at work. I had computer problems from the get go. It would not connect to the server and once it did it would kick me off at random times. At one point Ron said I could not go on another break as every time I tried to log on after my breaks the computer would not work. At one point, I called Theresa and told her I quit and was crying...my computer did not like me. The funny thing is that on Sunday I had absolutely no problems. Who knows what was going on on Saturday.

Sunday & Monday was a better day than what we had anticipated. Work went well, tear down was done at 2:45 a.m. and we were on the road by 3:30 a.m. Ron drove to Tenino and then I drove to Vancouver where Ron took back over. He drove through Portland and boy was I glad...at 6:30 in the morning traffic was already a little crazy. I took over just south of Portland and drove the rest of the way to Eugene. I even exited off the freeway, drove to KMart in Salem and then got back on the freeway and continued on to Eugene. I had one small mishap. I had put the wrong address in Maggie (our GPS) and ended up on the wrong side of the fairgrounds. Plus I had one small bump in the road ~ I knocked over a garbage can. After I turned the corner and came upon a small round-a-bout Ron said he would drive the rest of the way to the fairgrounds. Geez...one little booboo and he takes over.

We got settled in Eugene. In the early evening, Albert needed to go to the store so we bummed along and they dropped me off at the laundromat to do the weekly laundry. Only took an hour to do two loads. Back to the bone yard and a raucous evening ~ and at our place no less. We had the awning out and people just gathered in the shade. At one point we were twelve people. We shared stories and heard stories about times past here in Eugene. The one downside to Monday was that Kenny did not get here till after 10:30 p.m. and so we had to use our generator to run the fridge and even the AC has it got to almost 95' in the motor home. We are now on city power and all is well in the rig.

Well I just noticed the time and I need to be at work at 9:00 so had better get off here and get ready. Sure hope everyone is having a great day. Talk to you all again soon.

Alice

Answered Prayer - Safely Arrived in Eugene, OR

Another quick post before I go crawl into bed for a much needed nap.

THANK YOU for your prayers. God is faithful and that makes us thankful.

I slept for about 4 hours though I was interrupted twice ~ the first time Eric was yelling at Diane he could not see her. He was backing their truck up to their fifth wheel so they could be ready to leave at 5:00 this morning. I was woke up with a start and jumped up off the couch and yelled out my door "Quiet out there. Some of us are trying to sleep!" It took me about 30 minutes to fall back asleep. About 12:30 a.m. I was woke up by Albert's car alarm that was honking with lights blinking. Rumor has it a raccoon tripped the alarm. I am not sure ~ all I know is that the alarm went on on on for over six minutes. It not only woke me up but also woke up Rick and he was six rigs down from the car. I was right next door. It took me another 45 minutes or so to fall back asleep. Ron finished tear down about 2:45 a.m. He took a quick shower, went and got Marva and we were on the road by 3;15 a.m. Ron drove from Graham to Tenino and then I drove to Vancouver. Ron then drove through Portland when I took over the driving. I drove to Eugene with a stop at KMart so Marva could pick up a ratchet for Terry. I picked up a couple of sun shades for the driver and passenger windows. I then drove to the street by the fairgrounds with only one mishap ~ I knocked over a trash can in the road. I will try to post that picture in my next post. Ron took over driving into the actual fairgrounds. We found the bone yard and where we were to park. Ron backed us right into our spot.

We then got the motor home level, the awning out, the rug in place, two lawn chairs out. I then went to McDonalds with Scott & Marva. While I was gone Ron got the TV set up and the satellite up and ready to hook up. We finished setting up the satellite after we ate lunch.

Ron is now napping, Marva and Scott are off to set up the games and I am getting ready for a much needed nap. I think I already said that. I just wanted to let everyone know that we made it safely. I drove the major part of the trip and Ron was able to sleep for about 3 1/2 hours of the trip. He must be getting comfortable with how I handle the motor home.

I will update again either tonight or tomorrow when I want to add some much over due pictures.

Alice

A quick post and prayer request

Good morning Everyone!

Just a quick note to ask for prayer as we finish up here in Graham with the Pierce Co. Fair. We work the carnival till 6 or 7 p.m. and then Ron has tear down all night. Once he is done there we will be getting right on the road to go to Eugene, OR for the Lane County Fair that opens on Wednesday.

I will be driving the first three or four hours so Ron can get some shut eye. Please pray for safety on the road for us.

Love to you all.

Alice

7 Weeks to Go

Can you believe it...we only have seven weeks to go + one or two weeks of tear down and the carnival season will be done for this year. It seems like it was just a few weeks ago we made our way to Kelso and our first carnival. We have met so many people, learned some new language (bone yard, lot, show van to name a few) and have seen the Lord's hand in our lives.

Before I begin my ramblings about this past week I need to wish a Happy 33rd Birthday to Jamie. This morning as I sat reflecting over the past 33 years I kept picturing that tiny little guy. He weighed in at only 3 lbs 12 oz and was 18" long. Being eight weeks early things were touch and go for a while. You sure can't tell that now as he is a strapping 5' 10" guy with a sweetie (Suzanne) of his own and a delightful daughter (Opal). We have been so blessed having him in our family. Thanks for being you Jamie. We love and miss you tons!!!

It is now Sunday night and the guys are busy doing tear down. We had lots more changes this past week. First off, we are celebrating the return of Rick & Theresa. As I posted earlier, Theresa does NOT need chemo or radiation and for that we are giving Praise to the Lord! She does need one more surgery which is yet to be scheduled. She goes back to the doctor in Portland tomorrow morning. Thank you so much for all your prayers for Theresa's health and for the blue unit as we dealt with changes, new bosses and routines. All have been appreciated. Because Theresa & Rick are back, Debbie has gone back to the white unit. After working all night Sunday night/Monday morning she had to drive to Roseburg, OR.

This week began like any other. We made a successful jump from Hillsboro, OR to Longview, WA. We decided to leave Hillsboro on Monday morning. I am so glad we did. We arrived in Longview to peace and quiet in the bone yard. We slept from 2:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and then got up, ate dinner and watched a little TV. We headed back to bed about 9:30 p.m. and slept till 9:00 Tuesday morning. People started arriving from Hillsboro about 10:00 a.m. and along with them came noise, lots of noise. I talked with Marva when she arrived and she said she was woke up 4x Monday night. I was so glad we were not in Hillsboro and just had a quiet day & night to ourselves. After all the condo's, personal trailers and the blue unit crew arrived the guys started set up. They worked till about 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday I worked for a couple of hours with Kristy (Rick & Theresa's daughter). We cleaned the show office and hired about 30 people. Ron continued to help with set up.

Wednesday I made a trip to the laundromat and Safeway. I was so glad I had our GPS (thanks Jamie & Suzanne) as I had been told the laundry was only two blocks away but the one I found was 3 1/2 miles from the fairgrounds. Once I finished up there I put in Safeway and promptly made a wrong turn. I turned right instead of left. After Maggie (our trustful GPS) recalculated the route and I got turned around. I made my way to Safeway and then back to the fair grounds. Theresa called me at 5:30 to let me know the ticket boxes were finally spotted in the right place on the lot and I could do the cleaning, organizing and readying for opening day on Thursday. It took me just over an hour to get them set up. We had two ottobockers and the yellow sub. We would be four ticket sellers this week. Ron & I, Cheryl and Barb.

Thursday and Friday were the crazy days of the carnival as they were both wrist band days. You pay $25 for a wrist band and you can ride all day long as many rides as you can. You can ride from noon to 10 p.m. but we quit selling them at 8:30 p.m. Ron and I are so amazed at how rude people can be. One instance was a lady came Friday night about 8:45 p.m. She got all bent out of shape, yelled at me that the website said the wrist bands were good till 10 p.m. I tried to explain to her that they are good till 10 you just had to purchase them by 8:30. She wanted to know what time they would be on sale on Saturday and I explained that we were not selling wrist bands Saturday or Sunday. She yelled at me that was ridiculous. I calmly told her she could take it up with Customer Service. I watched her walk to the show office and go up the stairs. I don't know how long she talked with Theresa or Kristy but when she came back to the yellow sub, she stood off to the side and had her daughter buy their tickets. Later Theresa said the lady was quite rude to her too. Some people just don't get it.

Saturday we answered many questions about why we didn't have wrist bands. One person even asked what was wrong with us...don't we know people have to work during the week and need the discounts on the weekends.

One neat thing that happened on Saturday was that Ron kept saying he wanted to go to the Rodeo and we all kept telling him no. He whined to everyone who would listen. Late in the afternoon, Theresa told me that after my break she would send Ron to the Rodeo at least for a little while but it would be a surprise for him. So at 6:45 Cheryl came to the yellow sub and gave me a break. I took a very quick one to the bathroom. When I came back Theresa had me tell Ron to take his cash box to the office as there was a major problem with the ATM and he needed to fix it. He looked so puzzled when he walked across the lot. Cheryl and I were just laughing. When Ron got up to the office window Theresa took his cash box and then asked him for his scan card. He looked at her in puzzlement. She told him to get outa there and go to the Rodeo. He could only go for about 45 minutes but that was enough for him. As he walked back past the yellow sub he waved at us and had the biggest grin on his face. I was so glad that Theresa made it work out for him to have an extended break and see some of the Rodeo. I think we all enjoyed bringing some joy to Ron.

Today was not a good day as a ticket seller. People were grumpy, angry we didn't have wrist bands or a special deal for them. Ron even thought of asking one person what she did for her job and did they have half price day or specials every day of the week. He refrained but really wanted to ask someone that. The carnival closed a little after 7:00 tonight. Since Theresa is back and Kristy is here I was not needed in the office. Believe me, I am not complaining. I did fine last week working 72 hours but am much more comfortable with a 49 1/4 hour work week. So tonight I ate a nice dinner of a cobb salad and then balanced my checkbook so now I can pay bills tomorrow. I must say, it does feel good to have the money to pay our bills. Just one more reason we are thankful for our work with the carnival right now.

The guys are busy with tear down right now. The word is that they should be done between 3 & 4 in the morning. We plan to get on the road between 9 & 10 tomorrow morning to go to Graham for the Pierce County Fair. Set up will begin Tuesday morning. The plan right now is that I will help in the office on Tuesday as Kristy has to go to Canby, OR to do the hiring for the fair there next week. Because of Theresa's surgery I will do the cleaning of the office and help to get the ticket cash boxes ready, also help with getting all the paperwork ready for the week: we have inspection sheets for each ride, a weekly summary report and a few other things. I enjoy working in the ticket box as well as in the office.

I found out that I will be doing Customer Service in Eugene and working in the Ride Time office in Salem and Puyallup. Ron will be working rides in Eugene, Salem and Puyallup. The reason for the changes is that in Eugene we have two units (the blue ~ us and the white unit together) and in Salem and Puyallup all three units will be together.

Here is the schedule for the rest of this carnival season ~~~ if you are in any of these places we would love to connect with you.

Monday, August 9 ~ we go to Graham, WA for the Pierce County Fair. The fair runs from the 12th to the 15th. Thursday is special day in the carnival where you get 7 rides or games (in any combination) for $15.00. This works out to be about half price for the rides.

Early in the morning on Monday, August 16th we drive to Eugene, OR for the Lane County Fair. The fair runs from the 18th to the 22nd. Wednesday is $1.50 per ride or game day. What a bargain as the rides are normally $3.75 or $4.50 per ride. Friday is ride bracelet day and is good from 11:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. The bracelet costs $25 per person.

Monday, August 23rd we jump to Salem for the Oregon State Fair. The fair runs from August 27 to September 6.

Tuesday, September 7 we will be up early and on our way to Puyallup, WA for the Western WA State Fair. The fair runs from Friday, September 10 through Sunday, September 26. On Monday, September 27 the final tear down of the season begins. We have been told it can take a week to a week and a half. After that we will make our way to Lewiston, ID to see Max, Christopher, Danalyn and Brandon. We are planning on being there for two weeks before heading back to Blaine, WA.

** Note ~ for more information on any of the fairs where we will be just click on the highlighted name and it will take you to the correct fair page.** (At least that is how it is supposed to work.)

Before closing I would like to share a prayer request with you. We would appreciate prayer regarding our work plans for the winter months and also next year. As I have said in earlier posts, each week we ask ourselves when we make our weekly jump if Rob asked us right now would we do it again next year and so far the answer has been a resounding yes. Working for the carnival has been good for us in so many ways and we are truly thankful for how the Lord opened doors for us. Now we are contemplating what to do next. Selling Christmas trees has been one thing we have been thinking about. What we would like prayer for is winter work for us. If you have a lead on a job, please don't hesitate to send it our way. We know and believe the Lord is in control and knows the plans He has for us...we just need to know where He is leading us. We trust that He will open doors for us ~ we just have to have our eyes open and willing hearts to go wherever that is. Thanks for lifting us up in prayer.

Thanks for reading my blog and as always, comments are appreciated and welcome. Take care everyone and I hope to talk to you later in the middle of the week once we are in Graham.

Terrifically Quiet Tuesday!

So enjoying the QUIET of the bone yard this beautiful Tuesday morning. Maybe you are wondering how it can be quiet...because we left the bone yard in Hillsboro yesterday about noon and drove to Longview for our next carnival stop. The only ones here are Rob, Terry and us. We set up our motor home and crawled into bed after working 25+ hours straight...but I am jumping ahead of myself so let me back track.

Our week in Hillsboro was a very busy one. The weather was gorgeous all week. Never too hot but sunny and delightful every day. Monday morning I got up early and did laundry before we left Portland and headed to Hillsboro. You can read about our little adventure from Portland to Hillsboro two posts back. Monday afternoon Ron worked set up. I cleaned and organized the motor home for another week of work. Tuesday morning started by my giving Ron Happy Birthday wishes! He is now officially double nickels - 55! Tuesday morning I got up early to put pork ribs in the crock pot for dinner. I started work at 7:30 a.m. We started hiring people at 8:00 a.m. I think we hired about 50 people. Ron worked set up all day. We both finished about 5:30 p.m. After a delightful dinner of wild rice, bbq'd pork ribs, corn and green salad we celebrated Ron's birthday with our co-workers. They gathered at one condo and walked through the bone yard singing Happy Birthday to Ron until they reached our motor home. We all then had birthday cake and visited for a while. It was definitely a great day.

Wednesday was another day of set up for Ron and I worked in the office getting everything ready for Thursday. It was a busy yet not overwhelming day. In the evening we walked around the fair grounds checking out the different vendors and looking at the animals. It was kinda fun to walk around in the cool quiet of the evening watching everyone busy getting ready for opening day. We found a vendor that makes wood signs. We are thinking of getting a sign that says "The Wandering Workentins."

Thursday morning Ron and I discussed the sign for our names. He will order it today. We opened the carnival at noon on Thursday. It was wrist band day - a very busy day. We have eight ticket sellers here in Hillsboro and all were kept busy. We had two sessions of the wrist band. The first one ran from Noon to 5:00 p.m. and the second one went from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. The carnival stayed home till 11:00 p.m. Ron sold tickets in Kiddyland. The busiest ticket box. I worked in the office and sold tickets, giving breaks to all the other ticket sellers. It was definitely one of the busiest days we have had.

Friday and Saturday were busy days for the carnival. I had been told that Friday would be a pretty slow day but in the office that was definitely not true. Friday the carnival closed at 11:30 p.m but Debbie and I were in the office till 12:30 a.m. Saturday was another busy day. Busy days are good as it makes the days go by quicker. Saturday night the carnival closed around 11:45 p.m. Debbie and I finished in the office about 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning.

Sunday morning I started work at 9:30 a.m. We still had money to count, reports to be completed from Saturday. It was definitely going to be a busy day. Ron started his day about 11:30 a.m. He has to get the ATM filled and in operation before the carnival opens. On Saturday he had to add money to it twice during the day. Sunday was definitely a long day. The carnival closed at 11:30 p.m. Tear down starts right away. Ron first has to close down each of the ticket boxes. Here at Hillsboro we had five ticket boxes. The yellow ticket box, we call the "yellow sub." We had it set up for four ticket sellers. Then we had three white ticket boxes we call the "ottobockers" or as I called it early on the "ottoboxers." Two were set up for one seller and one was set up for two sellers. Ron has to pull all the monitors from each ticket box, close out the ATM and ready the ticket boxes for travel. This includes laying down all the chairs, closing the voice boxes and securing all the printers and scan guns. When we first started with the carnival it would take about 30 minutes just to close down the yellow sub. Now Ron can close down all the ticket boxes in about 45 minutes.

After doing the ticket boxes Ron went and changed his clothes, grabbed a sandwich and headed for tear down of the rides. He worked all night till 10:00 Monday morning. I worked with Debbie all night in the office. We had to count money, make deposits, do all the books for the show for the week and then do payroll. After all the money stuff and books were done we started payroll at 6:00 a.m. I stopped long enough to go with Rob to the bank at 5:00 a.m. Because we had such a large deposit to make we had to have two people go to the bank. Back at the office we started payroll. We finished transmitting about 8:45 a.m. and then did the quickest tear down of the inside of the office we have ever done. We were done in 15 minutes!

I had worked 24 hours straight! It is funny how tired I wasn't. I was amazed though at how giddy we both were by the time we were done. Debbie and I walked back to the motor home and Debbie got ready to head to her friends place where she had been staying. Debbie still had a long day ahead of her. She had to do laundry and then drive to Roseburg, OR about 5 1/2 hours south of us. She then hoped to sleep for a couple of hours as she had to then enter all the people that Althea and Jamie had hired and be ready for opening at 8:00 Tuesday morning. Kristy (Rick & Theresa's daughter) and I will be doing the office this week here in Longview.

After Debbie left I got the inside of the motor home ready for travel. Ron got off at 10:00 a.m. After talking he readied the motor home on the outside. We decided that we would drive to Longview then instead of staying in Hillsboro for the night. It was a good decision. We arrived here in Longview about 1:15 p.m. Talked to Rob and got our motor home parked and level. We then crawled into bed about 2:00 p.m. and slept till 7:30 p.m. We both felt much better once we woke up. We then set up the satellite dish, ate dinner and then I went back to bed around 9:30 p.m. Ron spent some time on the computer before he went to bed.

I woke up at 8:45 this morning feeling so refreshed and ready to start the day.

Today we start hiring at 1:00 p.m. Right now, the carnival lot is empty. I can look out the motor home window where the carnival is supposed to be set up and there is nothing but field. It is now 10:10 a.m. and people are starting to pull into the bone yard. Just spoke to Marva. So glad we left Hillsboro yesterday. She said she got woke up 4 times in the night due to people yelling for some reason or another. Guess I had better get off the computer and eat some breakfast before the work begins again.

I want to close with some good news. Heard from Theresa & Rick yesterday. She does NOT need chemo or radiation! Join us in giving thanks to the Lord for healing in her life. They hope to join us next week in Graham for the Pierce County Fair.

Bye for now. Hope to catch up with you again soon.

Alice

Answered Prayer

Yeah for answered prayer.

We got word yesterday that after a two week waiting period Theresa does NOT need chemo but will just go through radiation! Thank you to everyone for your faithful prayers for Theresa. God is good.

Alice

Portland to Hillsboro

Hello on this beautiful Thursday morning. The sun is shining and the air is cool. It is supposed to be in the high 80's today.

Our time in Portland was a different kind of week for us. I ended up being off Monday thru Friday. I spent my time reading, relaxing, reading blogs, cooking nice dinners, doing a little shopping and one afternoon we went for a ride and found a covered bridge in a suburb of Portland. It was a good week.

Ron on the other hand worked Tuesday & Wednesday helping to clean up the hill behind the shop. It had been taken over by a fairly large group of homeless people. The Burback's had the police remove the group of people and for two days a large group of the ride guys cleaned up lots of garbage. The comments heard from the guys were that it was a pretty disgusting area and looked a thousand times better when they were done. After they finished on Wednesday afternoon, Ronnie Burback took all the guys to Izzy's for lunch. It was a pleasant surprise and enjoyed by the guys.

Thursday the guys worked around the shop in the morning and then had off Thursday afternoon. That is when Ron and I found the covered bridge.

Friday was set up day for the carnival. We were at an Hispanic Festival in downtown Portland under the Morrison Street Bridge. The festival ran Saturday and Sunday. It was a very slow carnival. We kept being told by those in charge of the festival that Sunday would be a very busy day as they were having some well known Mexican bands and singers but that never happened. It was very slow and super hot. It made for two very long days.

Tear down Sunday night went very fast. Debbie and I finished the office and was out of there by 12:45 a.m. Monday morning. The guys were done with tear down by 2:30 a.m. and home by 3:15 a.m. It was about a 30 minute drive from the carnival to the shop but they had to stop at 7-11 as many people were hungry.

Monday morning I woke about 8:15 and took advantage of the very quiet bone yard. I gathered up our laundry and put in two loads of clothes. I then went back to the motor home and cleaned up things and readied the inside for our move to Hillsboro. Ron woke up about 9:00 so I stripped the bed and did a third load of laundry. By doing it at the bone yard/shop I saved about $12.

We left Portland about 12:15 p.m. and headed to Hillsboro. I asked Ron before we left did we need to stop and get gas. "No, we are fine" was his reply. About 4 miles from the fairgrounds in Hillsboro the motor home started acting like it was not getting gas. The conversation that followed did not include the words "I told you so" but could have. Ron crossed three lanes of traffic pulled into a shopping center parking lot, dropped me off at Safeway and went to the gas station. After $145 and change the gas tank was full. We had NO problems the rest of the way to the fair grounds.

We are camped at the campground right at the fairgrounds. It is so nice to only have to walk about 75 ft to the show office. After getting the motor home set up it was time for the guys to go to work. They worked 4 hours on Monday afternoon.

Tuesday morning I was up early as I had to be at the show office at 7:30 a.m. ready to hire people at 8:00 a.m. We hired close to 50 people for this spot. Set up continued on Tuesday and Wednesday for the rides. I also worked Wednesday getting everything ready for opening day - Thursday.

Wednesday evening after the guys got off and Ron had showered. Ron, Albert and I walked around the fair grounds. Independent vendors and the barns were still hopping ~ all getting ready for opening day. The fair opens at 10:00 a.m. each morning. The carnival opens at Noon each day. On our walk, Ron got excited to see a booth that sells bloomin' onions. He has been looking for one of those since we have been on the road. I know where he will be at least once this week.

The schedule for the carnival ~

Thursday - is wrist band day with two sessions. The first session is from noon to 5:00 p.m. and the second session is 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. This means double work for us. We have two different colored wrist bands and two different colored stamps. The wrist band is $26 per session.

Friday thru Sunday is regular priced tickets.

The weather for the carnival is supposed to be in the low 80's each day after today. Should be nice. We are definitely enjoying the sunshine and think the rain is behind us.

Tuesday we celebrated Ron's 55th birthday. Jamie & Brandon both called Ron to wish him a great day. He also received birthday greetings via email and Facebook. Tuesday evening about 7:30 p.m. a group of our co-workers gathered at one of the condos and then walked through the bone yard/campground singing Happy Birthday and finished when they reached us at the motor home. I had picked up a chocolate cake with chocolate filling and frosting to have a little celebration for Ron. As we were getting ready for bed he said he had had a good day and it made him feel good to have a group join us for the evening. We definitely know we are liked and cared for by those we work with here at Funtastic.

Sorry it has been so long since I have written. Once last weekend hit we have been busy. I hope to be back again on Monday after our jump to Longview.

Next week we will be in Longview, WA for the Cowlitz County Fair. After that we go to Graham, WA for the Pierce County Fair. The onto Eugene, Salem and then Puyallup. We only have 8 weeks after we are done here in Hillsboro. Hard to believe that the season is on the downswing and that we have worked for four months with the carnival already.

One more thing...yesterday Rob came into the show office and asked me if I remembered him asking us why the carnival? And I said yes. We wanted to travel, we thought working with the carnival would be fun, and Ron's plumbing business was almost non-existent. He said he was so glad we were older, responsible, pleasant to work with but surprised that a church secretary would want to work for a carnival but he was thankful that we did. He enjoys working with us and knows that when he asks us to do something we do it and that we are not afraid to work. Our working here has helped to alleviate some of his stress about the running of the office. I made the comment that we just followed where the Lord opened the door. He didn't say anything to that and just went back outside to check on something. When we have been asked about how we got here we always say, we just followed the Lords leading and are where He wants us at least for right now.

We give thanks to the Lord for putting us in the blue unit. The red and white units have some major issues (more than us) in the bone yard and with some of the workers. We know we are where we are supposed to be.

That's about it for now from us. We hope everyone is having a great summer. As always, we enjoy hearing from you and love to answer your questions.

Take care and God Bless.

Alice