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.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
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
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
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
A Few Things
Good morning on this wet and dreary Saturday from Portland.
I just wanted to share some little housekeeping things that I have done with my blog and let you know how the first day of the Rose Festival went.
Housekeeping ~
1. You no longer need to do word verification on my blog when posting comments. I have heard from a couple of you that sometimes this is a hassle so I have taken that off.
2. I am now moderating my comments. Why you ask? The answer is simple ~ I have had a couple of not very nice comments left on my blog by an anonymous visitor and I have no way to follow up with them. Very frustrating not to be able to communicate with them and respond to their comments.
How are week as gone so far ~
1. Ron worked set up on Tuesday and Wednesday in the rides department.
2. Alice worked on Wednesday helping to set up the burger booth with Wendy and Joel. Spent a lot of time washing windows ~ not a favorite thing to do but it needed to be done and it is a job.
3. Thursday we had off except for an 8:00 a.m. meeting. The meeting was a huge waste of time. They didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. You know the standard rules ~ no fighting ~ it's a firing offense, whre the laundry area is ~ show shirts always have priority, no driving private vehicles in the bone yard ~ not a problem for us as our only vehicle is the motor home and it is parked in the bone yard. The one thing they didn't mention that has been mentioned at every other meeting is no drinking ~ guess they thing we know that rule. After the meeting Ron and I came back to the motor home and visited a little while with friends. I then took a nap and Ron spent time on the computer. While I was napping Ron also walked over to the RV place that is right next door. He bought a new end for our plug and then replaced it. After I woke up, I walked down to the laundry area to see if the washer/dryer was being used. It was not, so I quickly did one load of laundry. I also made a nice dinner of ham with pineapple, brown sugar and mustard glaze, broccoli and scalloped potatoes. Pretty much we had a relaxing day.
First day of the Portland Rose Festival ~
1. It rained and rained some more.
2. It was muddy and muddy. When walking from one place to the next it was like walking through a muddy slip-n-slide. One little girl slipped in the mud and her Grandma came and got some paper towels to clean her up a little bit. The little girl was quite upset because her new skirt got all muddy and even with the reassuring comments from her Grandma that it could be washed she still shed quite a few tears. Another young woman with stelleto shoes on took a step and her shoe stayed in the mud ~ that was quite funny to see.
3. Business was slow and I mean slow. Wendy said that she has never seen it that slow on the first night of the Rose Festival even with all the rain. It made for the night to take a long time to pass. Hopefully today will be better. Weather wise it is supposed to rain off/on this morning with clearing this afternoon and evening. I sure hope that holds true.
4. I enjoyed working for Wendy and Joel. It is definitely different then selling tickets. Wendy made lots of cotton candy (pink & blue). I had one little bite, the first since we have been with the carnival. I love the taste but know that it would not be a good thing to eat one of those bags so I keep telling myself it is expensive and I don't really need it. Only four more months of telling myself that. But I do plan on buying some for the grands the last day of the season in Puyallup. Won't their parents just love me???:) I learned how to run the cash register and yes, I did make a couple of mistakes ~ hopefully that will get better today.
5. Ron worked the Mardi Gras. It is a mirrored fun house for the little kids and even some big kids go through it. He is not sure if he will be working in the same place today or not.
I think that's about it. Hope you are not too bored reading about our life here with the carnival. Well it's time for me to get ready for work so I will close for now. Wishing you each a grand day. Talk to you again soon.
I just wanted to share some little housekeeping things that I have done with my blog and let you know how the first day of the Rose Festival went.
Housekeeping ~
1. You no longer need to do word verification on my blog when posting comments. I have heard from a couple of you that sometimes this is a hassle so I have taken that off.
2. I am now moderating my comments. Why you ask? The answer is simple ~ I have had a couple of not very nice comments left on my blog by an anonymous visitor and I have no way to follow up with them. Very frustrating not to be able to communicate with them and respond to their comments.
How are week as gone so far ~
1. Ron worked set up on Tuesday and Wednesday in the rides department.
2. Alice worked on Wednesday helping to set up the burger booth with Wendy and Joel. Spent a lot of time washing windows ~ not a favorite thing to do but it needed to be done and it is a job.
3. Thursday we had off except for an 8:00 a.m. meeting. The meeting was a huge waste of time. They didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. You know the standard rules ~ no fighting ~ it's a firing offense, whre the laundry area is ~ show shirts always have priority, no driving private vehicles in the bone yard ~ not a problem for us as our only vehicle is the motor home and it is parked in the bone yard. The one thing they didn't mention that has been mentioned at every other meeting is no drinking ~ guess they thing we know that rule. After the meeting Ron and I came back to the motor home and visited a little while with friends. I then took a nap and Ron spent time on the computer. While I was napping Ron also walked over to the RV place that is right next door. He bought a new end for our plug and then replaced it. After I woke up, I walked down to the laundry area to see if the washer/dryer was being used. It was not, so I quickly did one load of laundry. I also made a nice dinner of ham with pineapple, brown sugar and mustard glaze, broccoli and scalloped potatoes. Pretty much we had a relaxing day.
First day of the Portland Rose Festival ~
1. It rained and rained some more.
2. It was muddy and muddy. When walking from one place to the next it was like walking through a muddy slip-n-slide. One little girl slipped in the mud and her Grandma came and got some paper towels to clean her up a little bit. The little girl was quite upset because her new skirt got all muddy and even with the reassuring comments from her Grandma that it could be washed she still shed quite a few tears. Another young woman with stelleto shoes on took a step and her shoe stayed in the mud ~ that was quite funny to see.
3. Business was slow and I mean slow. Wendy said that she has never seen it that slow on the first night of the Rose Festival even with all the rain. It made for the night to take a long time to pass. Hopefully today will be better. Weather wise it is supposed to rain off/on this morning with clearing this afternoon and evening. I sure hope that holds true.
4. I enjoyed working for Wendy and Joel. It is definitely different then selling tickets. Wendy made lots of cotton candy (pink & blue). I had one little bite, the first since we have been with the carnival. I love the taste but know that it would not be a good thing to eat one of those bags so I keep telling myself it is expensive and I don't really need it. Only four more months of telling myself that. But I do plan on buying some for the grands the last day of the season in Puyallup. Won't their parents just love me???:) I learned how to run the cash register and yes, I did make a couple of mistakes ~ hopefully that will get better today.
5. Ron worked the Mardi Gras. It is a mirrored fun house for the little kids and even some big kids go through it. He is not sure if he will be working in the same place today or not.
I think that's about it. Hope you are not too bored reading about our life here with the carnival. Well it's time for me to get ready for work so I will close for now. Wishing you each a grand day. Talk to you again soon.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Moving Day ~ from Ft. Lewis to Portland
Praise the Lord! We drove from Ft. Lewis to Funtastic Shows in Portland without any problems. We pray before we leave to travel any where and we know that the Lord is keeping us and our motor home safe. We did have one scare after we left Costco on our way to Winco. A man walked across the street right in front of the motor home. Ron slammed on the brakes and we came to a stop without hitting the man.
Thought I would share some pictures I took today as we leave Ft. Lewis and move to Portland for the next three weeks. Hope you enjoy them. Comments are by each picture.
This is the view out of our front door at the bone yard at Ft. Lewis. Kollin is in red, Ruben in light colored sweatshirt and Tom in the dark.
Another picture of Kollin in front of her condo on the right behind her.
My first attempt at taking a picture from a moving vehicle. I was trying to get the statues that are on I5 down by Chehalis on the East side of the freeway.
This is going over the bridge from Washington to Oregon looking west as we are headed south.
Another view of the river, still heading south looking west.
Hope you can read this. It says "Her & Ron" and marks the spot where we par
k the motor home at the bone yard.
This is Marva in front of her condo door. She works both rides and games.
This is what happens when Ron is driving the motor home and slams on his brakes because some person decided to walk across the road right in front of us. He missed the guy, thank goodness. This is a tote that is usually full of books and cards that sits on my nightstand. Beside the bed.
This is the corner where the bed ends, more stuff from the tote.
This is the rest of the stuff that was tossed out of the tote when Ron slammed on the brakes of the motor home.
This is a peek into one of the showers that is in a semi truck trailer (in the shop building) where we will be showering for the next three weeks. We can only go about 10 days without dumping our holding tanks and we will be here till the 14th of June. So that means we will be using these showers. Each shower room has a shower, small dressing area and a sink.
This is a side view of the showers. I was so glad to see the stair rail by the stairs as the steps are pretty steep. This is Albert showing us around.
This is in the bone yard. The donakers (porta potties) are at the end of the row of condos and rigs. The yellow trailer is a set of condos. Don't know what unit these belong to.
This is the view of the bone yard looking north from the drive way into the shop parking lot. We are parked two trailers over from the yellow trucks on the right hand side. You cannot see our rig from this photo.
This is what you see when you first enter the bone yard. The yellow Funtastic Show semis and the white & gray show vans. I don't know if Ron will be driving one of those or not while we are here. I am not even volunteering for that job. The thought of driving around Portland with all the one way streets does not thrill me.
This is another view of the semis when you first come into the bone yard.
And this is what the corner in my bedroom is supposed to look like. Ron helped me pick everything up off the floor and then I reorganized all my cards and books.
This is the cleaned up floor at the foot of our bed. Looks so much better doesn't it?
And these are the flowers that Ron bought for me when we were at Costco. I don't usually have fresh flowers in the motor home because of all the traveling we do. They look pretty and smell wonderful sitting on my kitchen table.
After we got the motor home all set up and the mess in the back cleaned up I made dinner. We had roasted chicken with red beans & rice. It was pretty tasty. Tomorrow I am going to use the left over chicken and make a chipolte ranch pasta salad. If it turns out maybe I will take a picture of it. That is if anyone is interested in seeing some of the dishes I have been making for us. I am planning on making a ham with mustard and brown sugar glaze with scalloped potatoes for Wednesday night. May try to make some homemade biscuits to go with the ham.
I heard comments from some of you that you want more pictures of where we are and what we are doing. I don't know what our work schedule will be like while we are here but I do plan on taking my camera to work with me and will try to send it with Ron so he can get some pictures of what he is doing as well.
Well I need to go track down Wendy to find out when I start work this week. Ron found out that he has to be ready to leave for work at 7:00 tomorrow morning. He will be gone all day. If I am not working tomorrow I plan on catching up with some emails that I need to respond to and do a little cleaning of the motor home.
Hope you have enjoyed this peek into our day today. Looking forward to talking with you all again soon.
**Note: one piece of business. If you post a comment on my blog, please sign your name so I know who is visiting here. If you do not identify yourself I will delete the message. Thanks.**
Alice
Thought I would share some pictures I took today as we leave Ft. Lewis and move to Portland for the next three weeks. Hope you enjoy them. Comments are by each picture.
This is the view out of our front door at the bone yard at Ft. Lewis. Kollin is in red, Ruben in light colored sweatshirt and Tom in the dark.
Another picture of Kollin in front of her condo on the right behind her.
My first attempt at taking a picture from a moving vehicle. I was trying to get the statues that are on I5 down by Chehalis on the East side of the freeway.
This is going over the bridge from Washington to Oregon looking west as we are headed south.
Another view of the river, still heading south looking west.Hope you can read this. It says "Her & Ron" and marks the spot where we par
k the motor home at the bone yard.
This is Marva in front of her condo door. She works both rides and games.
This is what happens when Ron is driving the motor home and slams on his brakes because some person decided to walk across the road right in front of us. He missed the guy, thank goodness. This is a tote that is usually full of books and cards that sits on my nightstand. Beside the bed.
This is the corner where the bed ends, more stuff from the tote.
This is the rest of the stuff that was tossed out of the tote when Ron slammed on the brakes of the motor home.
This is a peek into one of the showers that is in a semi truck trailer (in the shop building) where we will be showering for the next three weeks. We can only go about 10 days without dumping our holding tanks and we will be here till the 14th of June. So that means we will be using these showers. Each shower room has a shower, small dressing area and a sink.
This is a side view of the showers. I was so glad to see the stair rail by the stairs as the steps are pretty steep. This is Albert showing us around.
This is in the bone yard. The donakers (porta potties) are at the end of the row of condos and rigs. The yellow trailer is a set of condos. Don't know what unit these belong to.
This is the view of the bone yard looking north from the drive way into the shop parking lot. We are parked two trailers over from the yellow trucks on the right hand side. You cannot see our rig from this photo.
This is what you see when you first enter the bone yard. The yellow Funtastic Show semis and the white & gray show vans. I don't know if Ron will be driving one of those or not while we are here. I am not even volunteering for that job. The thought of driving around Portland with all the one way streets does not thrill me.
This is another view of the semis when you first come into the bone yard.
And this is what the corner in my bedroom is supposed to look like. Ron helped me pick everything up off the floor and then I reorganized all my cards and books.
This is the cleaned up floor at the foot of our bed. Looks so much better doesn't it?
And these are the flowers that Ron bought for me when we were at Costco. I don't usually have fresh flowers in the motor home because of all the traveling we do. They look pretty and smell wonderful sitting on my kitchen table.After we got the motor home all set up and the mess in the back cleaned up I made dinner. We had roasted chicken with red beans & rice. It was pretty tasty. Tomorrow I am going to use the left over chicken and make a chipolte ranch pasta salad. If it turns out maybe I will take a picture of it. That is if anyone is interested in seeing some of the dishes I have been making for us. I am planning on making a ham with mustard and brown sugar glaze with scalloped potatoes for Wednesday night. May try to make some homemade biscuits to go with the ham.
I heard comments from some of you that you want more pictures of where we are and what we are doing. I don't know what our work schedule will be like while we are here but I do plan on taking my camera to work with me and will try to send it with Ron so he can get some pictures of what he is doing as well.
Well I need to go track down Wendy to find out when I start work this week. Ron found out that he has to be ready to leave for work at 7:00 tomorrow morning. He will be gone all day. If I am not working tomorrow I plan on catching up with some emails that I need to respond to and do a little cleaning of the motor home.
Hope you have enjoyed this peek into our day today. Looking forward to talking with you all again soon.
**Note: one piece of business. If you post a comment on my blog, please sign your name so I know who is visiting here. If you do not identify yourself I will delete the message. Thanks.**
Alice
Trying Something in My Blog...
As I mentioned in my previous blog "Sunday Night at Ft. Lewis" about Carol K and her hubby Dave and hat they each write a blog but I didn't know how to link to it. I sent an email to a couple of people who I have seen do links in their blogs. I heard back from one on how to do it so I am going to try it here. If it works, you should be able to click on Carol K's Journey and go right to her blog. Make sure to put your mouse on Carol 's Journey and then right click to choose to open the link in a new window or tab, whichever you prefer. If you are so inclined to try this for me and let me know if it works it would be so appreciated. So here goes...
...Carol's blog is called Carol K's Journey. Carol and her husband, Dave, have just returned from a trip to Utah and other surrounding states.
...Carol's blog is called Carol K's Journey. Carol and her husband, Dave, have just returned from a trip to Utah and other surrounding states.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Sunday Night at Fort Lewis
Hello on this cool evening from Ft. Lewis.
It has been a very long week here though we got very little hours. Ron worked set up on Tuesday and Wednesday, finishing up on Thursday morning. I set up the ticket box on Wednesday ~ it took me about an hour to get it ready for Thursday.
Tuesday night Kollin and Ruben joined us for dinner. I made BBQ pork sandwiches on onion bagels, peach jello w/fruit cocktail and red beans & rice. It was a nice evening. Ron and I are trying to have different people over at each location to get to know them a little better. I am thinking that while we are in Portland I am going to make a ham w/pineapple slices and glaze of brown sugar & mustard with scalloped potatoes. I will have to wait and see what looks good at the grocery store on our way to Portland.
Wednesday morning I was rudely awakened by one of the guys swearing and yelling. After I got up and moving I opened the door and the guy was standing right there across from our door. His room in the condo is parked right across from us here at Ft. Lewis. Right after I opened my door someone else was swearing quite loudly and I stepped out and said I did not want to hear that kind of language and I especially did not appreciate being woke up hearing that kind of talk. It immediately got quiet in our area. I am happy to say for the most part the yelling has stopped.
Thursday both Ron and I worked at the carnival selling tickets. It was "wrist band day" translation ~ you can ride all the rides all day long for $20 rain or shine. And boy did it rain. We had numerous down pours but people still came. A couple of the rides, Dragon Wagon ~ a small roller coaster that looks like a dragon and the Convoy Racers ~ a variety of vehicles going around a race track and up a small incline, do not do well in the rain so some little ones were disappointed at times. We were open from 3:00 to 9:15. It was so cold when we got back to the motor home I had Ron get the hot chocolate out of the storage compartment. Let me just say, I don't think I have enjoyed a cup of hot cocoa as much as I did that night.
Friday Ron had the day off though he went over to the lot for the safety meeting. The meeting lasts about 15 to 20 minutes and covers a variety of topics. I usually take the minutes for the safety meetings. The main topic of discussion was about our upcoming time in Portland for the Rose Festival. First off the bone yard is actually at the Funtastic Shows shop. It is the same place we went to in February for our interview. Topics that were covered were security, laundry, acceptable behavior ~ which may be hard for some of the people as there is absolutely no drinking allowed there, rules about parking personal vehicles ~ not allowed on the shop property, people must park on the street and carry their groceries from the street to their condos or rigs as well as haul their laundry from their condos or rigs to their cars on the street. It was explained that there are security cameras every where. Rick reminded everyone to "mind their P's & Q's" while there. He does not want anyone from our unit, the blue unit, to get fired while we are there. He said that last year one person was fired at 2:00 a.m. and told to leave the property right then and that one person working in Portland this week had already been fired. I think he said the word "fired" at least 20 times in 20 minutes. Rick could not say it enough ~ be mindful of your behavior both at the Rose Festival and in the bone yard. People are watching (along with numerous video cameras at the shop) so nothing goes unnoticed. After the meeting Ron & I said we are so glad we have our sweet little home to go home to each night.
I worked Friday from 2:45 to 8:30 p.m. It was a pretty slow day and once the rains hit in the evening we had absolutely no one at the carnival. Ron watched movies and read during his time off. Friday night we borrowed a couple of movies from Albert & Shawn. Ron watched S.W.A.T. and we both watched Rumor Has It.
Saturday morning we got up and walked over to the laundromat. It is about a half mile walk. Laundry here was really cheap compared to the last couple of places we have been. $1.25 to wash and a $1 to dry. While waiting for the laundry to get done we walked around the little mall that was next door. They had a furniture store, a game store, the Class 6 store - otherwise known as the liquor store, the clothing store and a delightful little candy shop. Of course we had to go into the candy shop. They had 14 different kinds of licorice, some old time favorites like Big Hunk and of course the gummy type candies ~ one of which was a gecko. They also had some different kinds of chocolates including truffles. I had a dark chocolate raspberry truffle and Ron had an amaretto truffle.
Ron had to be at work at 11:45. I had the day off. I did some much needed cleaning here in the motor home. Things had kinda not been done while we were in Sequim and Port Townsend as we spent our time off there walking around and enjoying the area. I then spent time reading blogs that I follow, writing a few emails and reading a book. Ron said they stayed pretty steady at the carnival throughout most of the day. He got home about 9:30 p.m.
Today has been a pretty good day too. I went to work at 12:45 and worked till a little after six. We had pretty good weather, the first day without rain since we have been here. We never did have a big rush but just stayed pretty steady. The carnival was open from 1:00 to 6:00. It took me all of about 10 minutes to clean things up inside the ticket box and get it ready for travel tomorrow to Portland. Ron had the afternoon off. He was kept busy with getting the motor home ready for our trip tomorrow. He took the window cover off the front window, put away the area rug that we call our patio, put the lawn chairs up on top of the motor home in the carrier, put the bikes up on the back of the rig, hooked the TV up to its holder for traveling and even did the dishes. He is such a sweet hubby! Ron started work at 6:00 doing tear down. The guys are hoping that it will be done by midnight as we have an early morning tomorrow. We are all hoping to be up and on our way to Portland by 8:30 a.m. The drivers are supposed to be here at 8:00 in the morning to move the condos.
We plan on making a couple of stops on our way to Portland: Costco and Winco to get groceries. Because we will be in Portland for three weeks we want to stock up as much as we can since we don't know our full schedule and whether or not we will be working the same shifts. We don't know about grocery runs or what is even within walking distance.
One of the things we are looking forward to during our time in Portland is meeting Dave & Carol K., fellow RV'rs who live in Vancouver, WA. I have gotten to know them through their blogs. I don't know how to insert their links here or else I would do that. They are pretty interesting to read and both show great pictures of the trips they have taken. Carol and Dave have invited us out for dinner as well as a place to do laundry...yippee...new friends and I don't have to go to the laundromat! They have even offered to pick us up at the bone yard! It couldn't get any better. We will be spending time with them on one of our days off. Thanks Carol and Dave for the invites and we look forward to meeting you in person.
I have been asking Theresa all week for the schedule for the rest of the season. Today she told me that there are still some possible changes in the schedule so she just told me where we are going the next few stops.
Monday, May 24 ~ drive to Portland for Rose Festival. The festival runs from 5/28 to 6/13. Closed on June 1, 7 & 8. The carnival will be set up at the Waterfront Park. Ron will be working rides and I will be working with Wendy in the Hamburger Palace.
Monday, June 14 ~ drive to Marysville for the Strawberry Festival. The carnival is open 6/17 to 6/20 and is being held at the Marysville Middle School.
Monday, June 21 ~ drive to Puyallup for the Taste of Tacoma. We will be parked at the Puyallup Fair Grounds for this event. The Taste of Tacoma is from 6/25 to 6/27 and is being held at Point Defiance Park.
***Note: we have been told we have a few days off between the Taste of Tacoma and the 4th of July. If we do we will be off from 6/28 to 7/1. IFFFF....we have off those days we plan on going up to Blaine to see our kids, granddaughter and friends. I will keep you updated about this. As soon as we have more info I will post it.***
Thursday, July 1 ~ drive to Puyallup Fair Grounds where we will be parked for the 4th of July which the carnival will be at Ft. Lewis for a one day show.
Monday, July 5 ~ drive to Kent, WA for the Kent Cornucopia Days which is being held July 8th to 11th.
that is the schedule so far. I will give updates on where we are parked at each location as I get it. The typical work week is Monday is a travel day, Tuesday and Wednesday is set up days. The guys usually work 8 to 5 on Tuesday, maybe a little later on Wednesday. I usually do the set up for the ticket box on Wednesday afternoons. Sometimes Ron has to work Thursday mornings if there is last minute stuff to be finished up for set up. Thursday the carnival usually opens at 3:00 p.m. Friday's hours vary depending on the location. Saturday we usually open at noon and 1:00 p.m. on Sundays.
Praises and Prayer Requests ~~
~ praise that Jamie and Suzanne bought themselves a 31' travel trailer and will no longer be living in a 22' Class C motor home.
~ praise that we have had a good week here at Ft. Lewis even though the work hours were few.
~ prayer for safety for the guys as they do the tear down tonight. They are hoping to be done in six hours.
~ prayer for safety for us and no problems with the motor home as we travel to Portland tomorrow.
~ prayer that we will settle into our new jobs and catch on real quick to our new duties.
~ continued prayer for Danalyn and Brandon and that Danalyn will be able to return to work soon.
Sorry this post has been so long but I seemed to have lots to write about. Hope it didn't bore you too much. I enjoy writing about what we are doing and where we are. I just hope you enjoy reading it as much as I like writing it.
Wishing each of you a good week this coming week. If you stop by and read our updates drop me a note to say hello. I love to read and receive comments from those who visit Ali's Page.
It has been a very long week here though we got very little hours. Ron worked set up on Tuesday and Wednesday, finishing up on Thursday morning. I set up the ticket box on Wednesday ~ it took me about an hour to get it ready for Thursday.
Tuesday night Kollin and Ruben joined us for dinner. I made BBQ pork sandwiches on onion bagels, peach jello w/fruit cocktail and red beans & rice. It was a nice evening. Ron and I are trying to have different people over at each location to get to know them a little better. I am thinking that while we are in Portland I am going to make a ham w/pineapple slices and glaze of brown sugar & mustard with scalloped potatoes. I will have to wait and see what looks good at the grocery store on our way to Portland.
Wednesday morning I was rudely awakened by one of the guys swearing and yelling. After I got up and moving I opened the door and the guy was standing right there across from our door. His room in the condo is parked right across from us here at Ft. Lewis. Right after I opened my door someone else was swearing quite loudly and I stepped out and said I did not want to hear that kind of language and I especially did not appreciate being woke up hearing that kind of talk. It immediately got quiet in our area. I am happy to say for the most part the yelling has stopped.
Thursday both Ron and I worked at the carnival selling tickets. It was "wrist band day" translation ~ you can ride all the rides all day long for $20 rain or shine. And boy did it rain. We had numerous down pours but people still came. A couple of the rides, Dragon Wagon ~ a small roller coaster that looks like a dragon and the Convoy Racers ~ a variety of vehicles going around a race track and up a small incline, do not do well in the rain so some little ones were disappointed at times. We were open from 3:00 to 9:15. It was so cold when we got back to the motor home I had Ron get the hot chocolate out of the storage compartment. Let me just say, I don't think I have enjoyed a cup of hot cocoa as much as I did that night.
Friday Ron had the day off though he went over to the lot for the safety meeting. The meeting lasts about 15 to 20 minutes and covers a variety of topics. I usually take the minutes for the safety meetings. The main topic of discussion was about our upcoming time in Portland for the Rose Festival. First off the bone yard is actually at the Funtastic Shows shop. It is the same place we went to in February for our interview. Topics that were covered were security, laundry, acceptable behavior ~ which may be hard for some of the people as there is absolutely no drinking allowed there, rules about parking personal vehicles ~ not allowed on the shop property, people must park on the street and carry their groceries from the street to their condos or rigs as well as haul their laundry from their condos or rigs to their cars on the street. It was explained that there are security cameras every where. Rick reminded everyone to "mind their P's & Q's" while there. He does not want anyone from our unit, the blue unit, to get fired while we are there. He said that last year one person was fired at 2:00 a.m. and told to leave the property right then and that one person working in Portland this week had already been fired. I think he said the word "fired" at least 20 times in 20 minutes. Rick could not say it enough ~ be mindful of your behavior both at the Rose Festival and in the bone yard. People are watching (along with numerous video cameras at the shop) so nothing goes unnoticed. After the meeting Ron & I said we are so glad we have our sweet little home to go home to each night.
I worked Friday from 2:45 to 8:30 p.m. It was a pretty slow day and once the rains hit in the evening we had absolutely no one at the carnival. Ron watched movies and read during his time off. Friday night we borrowed a couple of movies from Albert & Shawn. Ron watched S.W.A.T. and we both watched Rumor Has It.
Saturday morning we got up and walked over to the laundromat. It is about a half mile walk. Laundry here was really cheap compared to the last couple of places we have been. $1.25 to wash and a $1 to dry. While waiting for the laundry to get done we walked around the little mall that was next door. They had a furniture store, a game store, the Class 6 store - otherwise known as the liquor store, the clothing store and a delightful little candy shop. Of course we had to go into the candy shop. They had 14 different kinds of licorice, some old time favorites like Big Hunk and of course the gummy type candies ~ one of which was a gecko. They also had some different kinds of chocolates including truffles. I had a dark chocolate raspberry truffle and Ron had an amaretto truffle.
Ron had to be at work at 11:45. I had the day off. I did some much needed cleaning here in the motor home. Things had kinda not been done while we were in Sequim and Port Townsend as we spent our time off there walking around and enjoying the area. I then spent time reading blogs that I follow, writing a few emails and reading a book. Ron said they stayed pretty steady at the carnival throughout most of the day. He got home about 9:30 p.m.
Today has been a pretty good day too. I went to work at 12:45 and worked till a little after six. We had pretty good weather, the first day without rain since we have been here. We never did have a big rush but just stayed pretty steady. The carnival was open from 1:00 to 6:00. It took me all of about 10 minutes to clean things up inside the ticket box and get it ready for travel tomorrow to Portland. Ron had the afternoon off. He was kept busy with getting the motor home ready for our trip tomorrow. He took the window cover off the front window, put away the area rug that we call our patio, put the lawn chairs up on top of the motor home in the carrier, put the bikes up on the back of the rig, hooked the TV up to its holder for traveling and even did the dishes. He is such a sweet hubby! Ron started work at 6:00 doing tear down. The guys are hoping that it will be done by midnight as we have an early morning tomorrow. We are all hoping to be up and on our way to Portland by 8:30 a.m. The drivers are supposed to be here at 8:00 in the morning to move the condos.
We plan on making a couple of stops on our way to Portland: Costco and Winco to get groceries. Because we will be in Portland for three weeks we want to stock up as much as we can since we don't know our full schedule and whether or not we will be working the same shifts. We don't know about grocery runs or what is even within walking distance.
One of the things we are looking forward to during our time in Portland is meeting Dave & Carol K., fellow RV'rs who live in Vancouver, WA. I have gotten to know them through their blogs. I don't know how to insert their links here or else I would do that. They are pretty interesting to read and both show great pictures of the trips they have taken. Carol and Dave have invited us out for dinner as well as a place to do laundry...yippee...new friends and I don't have to go to the laundromat! They have even offered to pick us up at the bone yard! It couldn't get any better. We will be spending time with them on one of our days off. Thanks Carol and Dave for the invites and we look forward to meeting you in person.
I have been asking Theresa all week for the schedule for the rest of the season. Today she told me that there are still some possible changes in the schedule so she just told me where we are going the next few stops.
Monday, May 24 ~ drive to Portland for Rose Festival. The festival runs from 5/28 to 6/13. Closed on June 1, 7 & 8. The carnival will be set up at the Waterfront Park. Ron will be working rides and I will be working with Wendy in the Hamburger Palace.
Monday, June 14 ~ drive to Marysville for the Strawberry Festival. The carnival is open 6/17 to 6/20 and is being held at the Marysville Middle School.
Monday, June 21 ~ drive to Puyallup for the Taste of Tacoma. We will be parked at the Puyallup Fair Grounds for this event. The Taste of Tacoma is from 6/25 to 6/27 and is being held at Point Defiance Park.
***Note: we have been told we have a few days off between the Taste of Tacoma and the 4th of July. If we do we will be off from 6/28 to 7/1. IFFFF....we have off those days we plan on going up to Blaine to see our kids, granddaughter and friends. I will keep you updated about this. As soon as we have more info I will post it.***
Thursday, July 1 ~ drive to Puyallup Fair Grounds where we will be parked for the 4th of July which the carnival will be at Ft. Lewis for a one day show.
Monday, July 5 ~ drive to Kent, WA for the Kent Cornucopia Days which is being held July 8th to 11th.
that is the schedule so far. I will give updates on where we are parked at each location as I get it. The typical work week is Monday is a travel day, Tuesday and Wednesday is set up days. The guys usually work 8 to 5 on Tuesday, maybe a little later on Wednesday. I usually do the set up for the ticket box on Wednesday afternoons. Sometimes Ron has to work Thursday mornings if there is last minute stuff to be finished up for set up. Thursday the carnival usually opens at 3:00 p.m. Friday's hours vary depending on the location. Saturday we usually open at noon and 1:00 p.m. on Sundays.
Praises and Prayer Requests ~~
~ praise that Jamie and Suzanne bought themselves a 31' travel trailer and will no longer be living in a 22' Class C motor home.
~ praise that we have had a good week here at Ft. Lewis even though the work hours were few.
~ prayer for safety for the guys as they do the tear down tonight. They are hoping to be done in six hours.
~ prayer for safety for us and no problems with the motor home as we travel to Portland tomorrow.
~ prayer that we will settle into our new jobs and catch on real quick to our new duties.
~ continued prayer for Danalyn and Brandon and that Danalyn will be able to return to work soon.
Sorry this post has been so long but I seemed to have lots to write about. Hope it didn't bore you too much. I enjoy writing about what we are doing and where we are. I just hope you enjoy reading it as much as I like writing it.
Wishing each of you a good week this coming week. If you stop by and read our updates drop me a note to say hello. I love to read and receive comments from those who visit Ali's Page.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Random Pictures - What do we have here?
Here are some pictures...sure hope you enjoy them. Comments are under each picture.
This is Ron in the yellow sub (ticket box) in Lacey. The swings in the background are called the Lolli's. Ron sets up and tears down the Lolli's at each location.
This is Alice driving the motor home from Port Townsend along Highway 20. This was taken shortly before Ron yelled at me to move over. Seems I was too close to the right side for his comfort. Something about a deep ditch nearby.
This is Alice in the yellow sub in Lacey. Behind her is the scrambler. New rules out now that there are no single riders and you must wear the provided seatbelt for safety. There was an accident last year on the East Coast where I child stood up in a scrambler bucket and was tossed out and was killed (SAD). Funtastic Shows theme song is Safety, Safety, and Safety for customers and employees alike.
This is a buffalo for a carousel that was hand made by a fifth generation carver. It is in the local ice cream & candy shop in Port Townsend.
This is the bottom of the hill that we had to climb to get to the post office. There is a beautiful view from the top of the hill overlooking the water.
This is the post office, built in 1893. It is at the top of the hill. This picture was taken from down below in the town square in Port Townsend.
This is the front of the post office. The front stairs to the far left are blocked off. You have to enter from the side of the building. It is three stories tall.
In the left corner is the side of the post office. The big house on the right is James House Inn. It was built in 1896. It appears a young family is running the inn now as there is all sorts of playschool play yard equipment in the side yard. We counted 4 fireplaces in the place.
That's all the pictures for now. I will try to take some of the carnival set up here in Ft. Lewis this weekend. It will depend on the weather. Today has been rainy, then sunny, then rainy, then sunny...I think you get the picture.
Hope everyone is having a great day.
This is Ron in the yellow sub (ticket box) in Lacey. The swings in the background are called the Lolli's. Ron sets up and tears down the Lolli's at each location.
This is Alice driving the motor home from Port Townsend along Highway 20. This was taken shortly before Ron yelled at me to move over. Seems I was too close to the right side for his comfort. Something about a deep ditch nearby.
This is Alice in the yellow sub in Lacey. Behind her is the scrambler. New rules out now that there are no single riders and you must wear the provided seatbelt for safety. There was an accident last year on the East Coast where I child stood up in a scrambler bucket and was tossed out and was killed (SAD). Funtastic Shows theme song is Safety, Safety, and Safety for customers and employees alike.
This is a buffalo for a carousel that was hand made by a fifth generation carver. It is in the local ice cream & candy shop in Port Townsend.
This is the bottom of the hill that we had to climb to get to the post office. There is a beautiful view from the top of the hill overlooking the water.
This is the post office, built in 1893. It is at the top of the hill. This picture was taken from down below in the town square in Port Townsend.
This is the front of the post office. The front stairs to the far left are blocked off. You have to enter from the side of the building. It is three stories tall.
In the left corner is the side of the post office. The big house on the right is James House Inn. It was built in 1896. It appears a young family is running the inn now as there is all sorts of playschool play yard equipment in the side yard. We counted 4 fireplaces in the place.
That's all the pictures for now. I will try to take some of the carnival set up here in Ft. Lewis this weekend. It will depend on the weather. Today has been rainy, then sunny, then rainy, then sunny...I think you get the picture.
Hope everyone is having a great day.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Port Townsend to Ft. Lewis
Greetings from Ft. Lewis...a beautiful day for sure.
Our time in Port Townsend went super fast. The carnival was only open for three days. Thursday was very busy, Friday was very slow and quiet. Saturday was much better. Ron worked in the ticket box by the office by himself. He said at one point Friday he found himself falling asleep! Glad nobody caught him. On Saturday from his ticket box he could see the parade coming down the hill. The parade went for over two hours. I was in the yellow sub ticket box. They call it the yellow sub because it is big and yellow. I will try to get some pictures of it this week.
Our time in Port Townsend was nice. We had beautiful sunny weather every day. We could step out of the motor home and watch the ships out in the Sound. We did a lot of walking. One day we walked up the hill to the Post Office and then back into town. One day we walked into town and went through many of the shops. Port Townsend is such a sweet little town. One morning Ron and I went on a part's run to the other side of Port Townsend. It was nice to just be the two of us driving around.
Ron worked tear down on Saturday night to Sunday morning. He got off at 6:00 a.m. Sunday morning and then slept till noon. Once he got up we went and did laundry. Only cost $7.00 this week for laundry. A whole lot better than $12.25 from the week before. After finishing up the laundry we sat outside enjoying the view and visiting with our co-workers. It was an enjoyable afternoon.
We woke up early this morning and was on the road by 8:30 a.m. Ron drove from Port Townsend to Ft. Lewis. Our only obstacle was that we could not get the GPS to locate Ft. Lewis. Good thing we knew where we were going. We got to the base. We had heard stories of how the guards search through every nook and cranny when you come onto the base. That was not our experience. Ron pulled up to the gate and handed the guard our ID cards, the insurance document and our pass to get on base. She walked to the back of the rig and then came back and handed us our documentation, told us how to get to the PX (where we were to meet everyone) and told us to have a good day. We found out later that Rick & Theresa, Albert and Terry each had their rigs gone through. Yeah for us!!
We then drove to the PX and no one was there. All the rides were there but none of the condo's or private rigs. We called Albert to find out where everyone was. Found out we had to go to behind the stadium and the gym. We got parked and settled in. The back of the motor home faces a playground with base housing on the other side of it. It was a joy to hear the little kids playing outside today.
After getting all settled and the electrical and water lines run, Ron went for a bike ride. This evening we went for a walk over to the PX, past Weller Hall, through a field and then back to the bone yard. Now we are going to settle in for the night and watch Marley & Me.
Praises ~
~ for a safe trip to Ft. Lewis from Port Townsend
~ for continued good health for both of us
~ for getting paid from our last customer in Blaine
Prayer requests ~
~ for safety as the guys set up on Tuesday and Wednesday
~ for us to continue to enjoy our jobs and to be a light for the Lord
That's all for now. Wishing everyone a good week. I will make another post tomorrow of pictures.
Our time in Port Townsend went super fast. The carnival was only open for three days. Thursday was very busy, Friday was very slow and quiet. Saturday was much better. Ron worked in the ticket box by the office by himself. He said at one point Friday he found himself falling asleep! Glad nobody caught him. On Saturday from his ticket box he could see the parade coming down the hill. The parade went for over two hours. I was in the yellow sub ticket box. They call it the yellow sub because it is big and yellow. I will try to get some pictures of it this week.
Our time in Port Townsend was nice. We had beautiful sunny weather every day. We could step out of the motor home and watch the ships out in the Sound. We did a lot of walking. One day we walked up the hill to the Post Office and then back into town. One day we walked into town and went through many of the shops. Port Townsend is such a sweet little town. One morning Ron and I went on a part's run to the other side of Port Townsend. It was nice to just be the two of us driving around.
Ron worked tear down on Saturday night to Sunday morning. He got off at 6:00 a.m. Sunday morning and then slept till noon. Once he got up we went and did laundry. Only cost $7.00 this week for laundry. A whole lot better than $12.25 from the week before. After finishing up the laundry we sat outside enjoying the view and visiting with our co-workers. It was an enjoyable afternoon.
We woke up early this morning and was on the road by 8:30 a.m. Ron drove from Port Townsend to Ft. Lewis. Our only obstacle was that we could not get the GPS to locate Ft. Lewis. Good thing we knew where we were going. We got to the base. We had heard stories of how the guards search through every nook and cranny when you come onto the base. That was not our experience. Ron pulled up to the gate and handed the guard our ID cards, the insurance document and our pass to get on base. She walked to the back of the rig and then came back and handed us our documentation, told us how to get to the PX (where we were to meet everyone) and told us to have a good day. We found out later that Rick & Theresa, Albert and Terry each had their rigs gone through. Yeah for us!!
We then drove to the PX and no one was there. All the rides were there but none of the condo's or private rigs. We called Albert to find out where everyone was. Found out we had to go to behind the stadium and the gym. We got parked and settled in. The back of the motor home faces a playground with base housing on the other side of it. It was a joy to hear the little kids playing outside today.
After getting all settled and the electrical and water lines run, Ron went for a bike ride. This evening we went for a walk over to the PX, past Weller Hall, through a field and then back to the bone yard. Now we are going to settle in for the night and watch Marley & Me.
Praises ~
~ for a safe trip to Ft. Lewis from Port Townsend
~ for continued good health for both of us
~ for getting paid from our last customer in Blaine
Prayer requests ~
~ for safety as the guys set up on Tuesday and Wednesday
~ for us to continue to enjoy our jobs and to be a light for the Lord
That's all for now. Wishing everyone a good week. I will make another post tomorrow of pictures.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Random Thoughts ~~
Random Thoughts ~~
My mind has been wandering all day. So thought I would just write whatever comes to mind. Maybe after writing my mind will settle down a little bit.
Scripture and devotion from this morning ~ Acts 6:1-7 A reminder to work as a team. As I was working this afternoon setting up the three ticket boxes someone made the comment "Alice, I didn't know you worked." I was so surprised by that comment and hurt as I work hard and give more than 100% when I am working. I thought about the scripture I had read this morning and working as a team. That guy is definitely not a team player who likes to ridicule those he is around. I knew that of the guy and so I moved on to what I needed to do next and kept my mouth closed. I then thought about the conversation Rick, Ron and I were having after lunch today. Rick said to Ron "you are a team player and it shows." I was thankful that Rick sees that in us. It helped to have heard that before the smart alec comment from the ride guy.
Ron came home from work this afternoon with a set of keys to the show van. Rick gave them to Ron for the rest of the season. He can take people to do grocery shopping or to do laundry and doesn't need to call Rick to ask for permission. Another sign of trust that Rick & Theresa have of us. Sure makes us feel good.
Today would have been my sister, Kathy, birthday today. She would have been 56. It is hard to believe she has been gone for a year and a half already. I sent a note to my niece to let her know I was thinking about her and her dad today. I know Christi struggled with Mother's Day and knew today would be hard for her. I miss my sister yet I am sure my loss is nothing compared to Christi's ~ that of losing her mom at a young age.
I also thought about my sister, Joanie, today. I miss having a relationship with her. I don't know what the issues are that has caused this major rift in our lives. I wish I could do something about the situation. Yet I know I have done everything I can. I pray for her and hope that she is having a good life. I miss her too.
Have thought a lot about Brandon and Danalyn today. Danalyn had surgery today at noon. The doctor told Brandon the surgery went well. Now we pray for a speedy recovery physically and for God's love, comfort and peace to surround that little family as they deal with the loss of a precious little one. I will be calling them this evening to see how they are doing.
Talked with Jamie briefly yesterday. I am sure the last couple of days have been hard on him and Suzanne as well as it brings up memories of their loss of Emerald. I pray for them to feel God's love in these times too.
I looked through the memory book that I got for Christmas two years ago from the kids. I am missing Opal, Christopher and Max. I know being gone from them for six months is not all that long to us but to them it is like a lifetime of days. Ron said the other day, he knows that Max will not forget him but what about the little ones. I said that they will know us, that is why it's important for us to send them cards and phone calls often while we are traveling.
I am enjoying our time here in Port Townsend. The weather has been beautiful and the scenery is awesome. This morning I looked out at the ocean and a big Navy ship was going by. A few minutes later the ferry came in. We are planning on going for a walk along the water this evening. It is so amazing to see God's handiwork. I need to remember to take my camera so I can get some pictures. I will post some next week once we are at Ft. Lewis and have a better internet connection. I need to remember to ask Theresa for the rest of our itinerary. I know we go to Ft. Lewis on Monday, May 17th and then onto Portland on May 24th. We will be there for three weeks. We go to Marysville on June 14th. After that I am just not sure. I will try to remember to ask Theresa tomorrow for the schedule and then I will do another blog post with the rest of the itinerary.
I thought about things I am thankful for today. I am blessed in so many ways. I have a wonderful husband and we have a great marriage. We have had our troubles, who hasn't, but we are stronger and more in love than ever. I thank the Lord for holding us together during the difficult times and rejoice that we have great times together. I am thankful that my children are happy and blessed even during days of trials. They both know the Lord and for that I am thankful. I am thankful for the two women they have chosen to be their spouses and the mother of their children. Danalyn and Suzanne are very special to us and are two of the best mommies I know. They each love their children and show it in so many ways. I love my three grandchildren. They are each special individuals who brings us much delight. I look forward to spending time with them again in the Fall. I just wish their parents would send us some updated pictures, hint, hint!
I am thankful for the work Ron and I have and the relationships we are building during this season of carnival work. I pray that we will continue to be a witness to them of the Lord's love and how he is working in our lives. We both enjoy our work and at the same time enjoy our time off. We are enjoying this season we are in. When I think about the carnival I never imagined the amount of work it takes to get a carnival ready for the customers to enjoy or the amount of work to get it set up or tore down. Working for the carnival is definitely not an easy job. But it does have its benefits ~ it is so fun to watch the little children as they arrive with anticipation and the fun and excitement as they climb on board a ride or get ready to play a game. It is so fun to watch the kids win prizes at the ducky derby. Even the littlest of little ones can play that game.
I am thankful for friends and family. We are so richly blessed and are shown in many different ways that we are loved and cared for. It is very comforting to know that we can share our prayer requests and praises and know that we are lifted up in prayer when needed and that we can celebrate the good things together.
We have faced many trials in our lives and yet we can truthfully say that through it all the Lord has been right there beside us. That is what I am most thankful for - that I am a child of the King! and with Him nothing is impossible. He has steadfastly been by my side during the darkest of the dark and the brightest of the bright moments.
Guess that's all for now. It has been a good time of reflection for me. I hope you have enjoyed reading about the things that have been on my mind.
Wishing each of you a great rest of the week. Talk to you all again soon. Alice
My mind has been wandering all day. So thought I would just write whatever comes to mind. Maybe after writing my mind will settle down a little bit.
Scripture and devotion from this morning ~ Acts 6:1-7 A reminder to work as a team. As I was working this afternoon setting up the three ticket boxes someone made the comment "Alice, I didn't know you worked." I was so surprised by that comment and hurt as I work hard and give more than 100% when I am working. I thought about the scripture I had read this morning and working as a team. That guy is definitely not a team player who likes to ridicule those he is around. I knew that of the guy and so I moved on to what I needed to do next and kept my mouth closed. I then thought about the conversation Rick, Ron and I were having after lunch today. Rick said to Ron "you are a team player and it shows." I was thankful that Rick sees that in us. It helped to have heard that before the smart alec comment from the ride guy.
Ron came home from work this afternoon with a set of keys to the show van. Rick gave them to Ron for the rest of the season. He can take people to do grocery shopping or to do laundry and doesn't need to call Rick to ask for permission. Another sign of trust that Rick & Theresa have of us. Sure makes us feel good.
Today would have been my sister, Kathy, birthday today. She would have been 56. It is hard to believe she has been gone for a year and a half already. I sent a note to my niece to let her know I was thinking about her and her dad today. I know Christi struggled with Mother's Day and knew today would be hard for her. I miss my sister yet I am sure my loss is nothing compared to Christi's ~ that of losing her mom at a young age.
I also thought about my sister, Joanie, today. I miss having a relationship with her. I don't know what the issues are that has caused this major rift in our lives. I wish I could do something about the situation. Yet I know I have done everything I can. I pray for her and hope that she is having a good life. I miss her too.
Have thought a lot about Brandon and Danalyn today. Danalyn had surgery today at noon. The doctor told Brandon the surgery went well. Now we pray for a speedy recovery physically and for God's love, comfort and peace to surround that little family as they deal with the loss of a precious little one. I will be calling them this evening to see how they are doing.
Talked with Jamie briefly yesterday. I am sure the last couple of days have been hard on him and Suzanne as well as it brings up memories of their loss of Emerald. I pray for them to feel God's love in these times too.
I looked through the memory book that I got for Christmas two years ago from the kids. I am missing Opal, Christopher and Max. I know being gone from them for six months is not all that long to us but to them it is like a lifetime of days. Ron said the other day, he knows that Max will not forget him but what about the little ones. I said that they will know us, that is why it's important for us to send them cards and phone calls often while we are traveling.
I am enjoying our time here in Port Townsend. The weather has been beautiful and the scenery is awesome. This morning I looked out at the ocean and a big Navy ship was going by. A few minutes later the ferry came in. We are planning on going for a walk along the water this evening. It is so amazing to see God's handiwork. I need to remember to take my camera so I can get some pictures. I will post some next week once we are at Ft. Lewis and have a better internet connection. I need to remember to ask Theresa for the rest of our itinerary. I know we go to Ft. Lewis on Monday, May 17th and then onto Portland on May 24th. We will be there for three weeks. We go to Marysville on June 14th. After that I am just not sure. I will try to remember to ask Theresa tomorrow for the schedule and then I will do another blog post with the rest of the itinerary.
I thought about things I am thankful for today. I am blessed in so many ways. I have a wonderful husband and we have a great marriage. We have had our troubles, who hasn't, but we are stronger and more in love than ever. I thank the Lord for holding us together during the difficult times and rejoice that we have great times together. I am thankful that my children are happy and blessed even during days of trials. They both know the Lord and for that I am thankful. I am thankful for the two women they have chosen to be their spouses and the mother of their children. Danalyn and Suzanne are very special to us and are two of the best mommies I know. They each love their children and show it in so many ways. I love my three grandchildren. They are each special individuals who brings us much delight. I look forward to spending time with them again in the Fall. I just wish their parents would send us some updated pictures, hint, hint!
I am thankful for the work Ron and I have and the relationships we are building during this season of carnival work. I pray that we will continue to be a witness to them of the Lord's love and how he is working in our lives. We both enjoy our work and at the same time enjoy our time off. We are enjoying this season we are in. When I think about the carnival I never imagined the amount of work it takes to get a carnival ready for the customers to enjoy or the amount of work to get it set up or tore down. Working for the carnival is definitely not an easy job. But it does have its benefits ~ it is so fun to watch the little children as they arrive with anticipation and the fun and excitement as they climb on board a ride or get ready to play a game. It is so fun to watch the kids win prizes at the ducky derby. Even the littlest of little ones can play that game.
I am thankful for friends and family. We are so richly blessed and are shown in many different ways that we are loved and cared for. It is very comforting to know that we can share our prayer requests and praises and know that we are lifted up in prayer when needed and that we can celebrate the good things together.
We have faced many trials in our lives and yet we can truthfully say that through it all the Lord has been right there beside us. That is what I am most thankful for - that I am a child of the King! and with Him nothing is impossible. He has steadfastly been by my side during the darkest of the dark and the brightest of the bright moments.
Guess that's all for now. It has been a good time of reflection for me. I hope you have enjoyed reading about the things that have been on my mind.
Wishing each of you a great rest of the week. Talk to you all again soon. Alice
Monday, May 10, 2010
Sad News to share
It is with a heavy heart I write today...we just got a call from Brandon. Danalyn lost the baby she was carrying. We would so appreciate your prayers for Brandon and Danalyn as they deal with this hard loss.
We wish we could be with them but alas we can't so we are thankful that we serve a Savior who stands by them and brings them comfort at this time.
Alice & Ron
We wish we could be with them but alas we can't so we are thankful that we serve a Savior who stands by them and brings them comfort at this time.
Alice & Ron
Sunday, May 09, 2010
I Did It! and so much more...
Well I DID IT! I drove the motor home from Sequim to Port Townsend. I did really well except for the two times that Ron yelled at me...both times when I got too close to the right side of the road. The second time scared me! I told him not to yell any more. He said he was sorry but that I scared him...there was a big ditch on the side of the road and he thought I got too close. I was a little nervous starting out but felt okay behind the wheel. I did take the curvy windy roads on Highway 20 at about 35 miles per hour but I made it and that is good. I even drove through Port Townsend and they have very narrow roads. I know now that I can drive the motor home and that is a good feeling.
Pictures ~ I have some pictures from today and our time with the carnival but have a very slow connection here in Port Townsend so I will add the pictures when we are in Fort Lewis next week.
Carnival life is a lot like Peyton Place especially this week...
~ two people have been fired; one for breaking some company rules (don't know what they were but must have been bad) and one for assaulting some one in the bone yard.
~ one got arrested and is spending the night in the local jail, supposedly he should be released tomorrow
~ couples together and then not
Ron and I try to stay out of those issues. It is just much better that way.
Sequim was nice once we got there. We had to walk about a half mile from the bone yard to get to the carnival lot. It felt almost like camping since we were parked in a grassy lot behind the Boys & Girls Club. I only got 25 hours this week but Ron worked 50 hours. This week will probably be much of the same since it is another three day carnival.
Here in Port Townsend we are parked really close to the water. After we arrived here we found out we could not go into our spot yet as there were a couple of cars parked in the bone yard in our assigned spots. So we went for a walk, had lunch at T's Restaurant. Ron had salmon eggs benedict and I had fish and chips. It was a delightful lunch though pricey. After our walk I took a nap and Ron went down to the beach. After napping, we went and did laundry. Cost $7 for two loads of laundry. About 5:30 we were able to get into our spot in the bone yard. This week we are parked between Diane in Games and Richard in Rides. We don't have much of a view...just some houses and boats in dry dock.
Tomorrow is our day off and we don't have to drive any where. We are planning to walk into town. I am hoping we can find a mail box as I have some stuff for the grandkids. Ron has to start work at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday and will be doing set up then and Wednesday. I have to report to work on Wednesday after lunch to set up the ticket boxes. The carnival opens Thursday late afternoon.
Speaking of grandchildren we found out today we are going to be grandparents again! Danalyn and Brandon are due to have a new addition to their family on December 12th! What a nice thing to find out about on Mother's Day. It has been a nice day for me. I feel good about knowing I can drive the motor home, got phone calls from both Jamie and Brandon, taken out for a nice lunch by Ron and received two messages from friends wishing me a Happy Mother's Day.
That's about all from here. I will write more later.
Pictures ~ I have some pictures from today and our time with the carnival but have a very slow connection here in Port Townsend so I will add the pictures when we are in Fort Lewis next week.
Carnival life is a lot like Peyton Place especially this week...
~ two people have been fired; one for breaking some company rules (don't know what they were but must have been bad) and one for assaulting some one in the bone yard.
~ one got arrested and is spending the night in the local jail, supposedly he should be released tomorrow
~ couples together and then not
Ron and I try to stay out of those issues. It is just much better that way.
Sequim was nice once we got there. We had to walk about a half mile from the bone yard to get to the carnival lot. It felt almost like camping since we were parked in a grassy lot behind the Boys & Girls Club. I only got 25 hours this week but Ron worked 50 hours. This week will probably be much of the same since it is another three day carnival.
Here in Port Townsend we are parked really close to the water. After we arrived here we found out we could not go into our spot yet as there were a couple of cars parked in the bone yard in our assigned spots. So we went for a walk, had lunch at T's Restaurant. Ron had salmon eggs benedict and I had fish and chips. It was a delightful lunch though pricey. After our walk I took a nap and Ron went down to the beach. After napping, we went and did laundry. Cost $7 for two loads of laundry. About 5:30 we were able to get into our spot in the bone yard. This week we are parked between Diane in Games and Richard in Rides. We don't have much of a view...just some houses and boats in dry dock.
Tomorrow is our day off and we don't have to drive any where. We are planning to walk into town. I am hoping we can find a mail box as I have some stuff for the grandkids. Ron has to start work at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday and will be doing set up then and Wednesday. I have to report to work on Wednesday after lunch to set up the ticket boxes. The carnival opens Thursday late afternoon.
Speaking of grandchildren we found out today we are going to be grandparents again! Danalyn and Brandon are due to have a new addition to their family on December 12th! What a nice thing to find out about on Mother's Day. It has been a nice day for me. I feel good about knowing I can drive the motor home, got phone calls from both Jamie and Brandon, taken out for a nice lunch by Ron and received two messages from friends wishing me a Happy Mother's Day.
That's about all from here. I will write more later.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Wednesday Night and We are in Sequim!
Tis good to be in the bone yard once again.
It has been a long day for Ron. He was up at 6:00 this morning and on the road at 6:30. I got up with him when his alarm went off to make sure he had everything he needed for the day. I packed him a lunch with a couple of extra snacks and 3 bottles of water. He gathered his hard hat, heavy jacket and work gloves and headed out the door for the 51 mile drive to Sequim. He wanted to make sure he had plenty of time to get there.
After Ron left I crawled back into our warm bed, it was chilly in the motor home so I went where it was warm. We don't run the furnace at night when we are sleeping. I read for about an half hour before falling back asleep. I woke up at 10:00 from a dream where I was scrambling to get to the ticket box to sell tickets. Guess my mind was thinking about work.
The mechanic worked on/off on the motor home for most of the day. He finally finished up about 3:00. The owner had the mechanic drive the motor home out of the repair shop lot and around the block and parked us in his driveway facing the street. Since we didn't know what time Ron would be back to pick me and the motor home up he wanted us to be where we could get out as they lock the repair shop lot each night (though the last two nights they just closed the gate and hung the lock so we could get out if necessary). I went and paid the bill ~ it was $642. I then called Ron and told him how much it was so he could call the credit union and move some money around to cover the check. That bill has wiped us out. We are praying that there are no more repairs needed for a long time.
I went back to the motor home and readied it for the trip to Sequim. And then I waited. And waited some more. While waiting I thought this is ridiculous ~ IF I knew how to drive the motor home I could just drive to Sequim saving Ron a return trip to Suquamish and then another trip back to Sequim. I sat and thought for awhile and came to a decision ~ I AM GOING TO LEARN HOW TO DRIVE THIS DARN MOTOR HOME AND DRIVE IT WITH CONFIDENCE! I shared this decision with Ron when he arrived at the motor home. The plan is for me to drive the motor home from Sequim to Port Townsend on Sunday. If you think about us on Sunday afternoon, pray that I will not be nervous about driving and will tackle this challenge with courage and confidence.
Ron called at 5:15 and said he was on his way. He arrived at the motor home at 6:40 and we were on the road in about 10 minutes. One minor glitch, when the mechanic parked the motor home he did not turn the key all the way off and so we had a dead battery. Ron quickly jumped the motor home off the house batteries and we were on our way. Once we got into Sequim I went to the gas station to fill Albert's car and pick up some Sprite for Shawn. He had called Ron and asked him if he could pick him up a 2 ltr bottle. Since I was stopping for gas I got the Sprite. Ron went on ahead to the bone yard. By the time I arrived at 8:30 Ron had the electricity hooked up, the motor home leveled and was ready to go back to work. I don't know how late the guys will be working or what time they start again in the morning.
I then called Theresa and told her the wayward ticket sellers were back. She was glad to know that the motor home was fixed and we made it without any more problems. We talked about work for tomorrow. I am going to meet her at 10:00 to set up the ticket booths. It should take about two hours and then I will have a break before we start again at 3:30 in the afternoon. The carnival is supposed to be open from 4:00 p.m. till 10:00 p.m. tomorrow. I don't know the start times for Friday or Saturday. Tear down will be Saturday night.
One thing we are looking forward to is Sunday. Since we only have to move from Sequim to Port Townsend, about 25 miles, we are going to find a church to attend here in Sequim. It will be so nice to fellowship with like believers and hear a sermon. If you know of a good church in Sequim drop us a note before Saturday night so we can check when services are.
Well it is almost 9:45 so I should get off the computer and go to bed so I am well rested for tomorrow and the rest of the weekend.
Please join us as we give thanks to the Lord that the motor home was repaired, Ron was able to put in a full day's work today and that Albert graciously loaned us his car for 2 full days. We ask for continued prayer as we work for the next three days here in Sequim and that we don't have any more problems with the motor home. Also, don't forget me on Sunday when I drive to Port Townsend. I know I can do it with the help of the Lord.
Thanks for reading my blog and all the notes that you have sent our way the last few days. They are all truly appreciated.
It has been a long day for Ron. He was up at 6:00 this morning and on the road at 6:30. I got up with him when his alarm went off to make sure he had everything he needed for the day. I packed him a lunch with a couple of extra snacks and 3 bottles of water. He gathered his hard hat, heavy jacket and work gloves and headed out the door for the 51 mile drive to Sequim. He wanted to make sure he had plenty of time to get there.
After Ron left I crawled back into our warm bed, it was chilly in the motor home so I went where it was warm. We don't run the furnace at night when we are sleeping. I read for about an half hour before falling back asleep. I woke up at 10:00 from a dream where I was scrambling to get to the ticket box to sell tickets. Guess my mind was thinking about work.
The mechanic worked on/off on the motor home for most of the day. He finally finished up about 3:00. The owner had the mechanic drive the motor home out of the repair shop lot and around the block and parked us in his driveway facing the street. Since we didn't know what time Ron would be back to pick me and the motor home up he wanted us to be where we could get out as they lock the repair shop lot each night (though the last two nights they just closed the gate and hung the lock so we could get out if necessary). I went and paid the bill ~ it was $642. I then called Ron and told him how much it was so he could call the credit union and move some money around to cover the check. That bill has wiped us out. We are praying that there are no more repairs needed for a long time.
I went back to the motor home and readied it for the trip to Sequim. And then I waited. And waited some more. While waiting I thought this is ridiculous ~ IF I knew how to drive the motor home I could just drive to Sequim saving Ron a return trip to Suquamish and then another trip back to Sequim. I sat and thought for awhile and came to a decision ~ I AM GOING TO LEARN HOW TO DRIVE THIS DARN MOTOR HOME AND DRIVE IT WITH CONFIDENCE! I shared this decision with Ron when he arrived at the motor home. The plan is for me to drive the motor home from Sequim to Port Townsend on Sunday. If you think about us on Sunday afternoon, pray that I will not be nervous about driving and will tackle this challenge with courage and confidence.
Ron called at 5:15 and said he was on his way. He arrived at the motor home at 6:40 and we were on the road in about 10 minutes. One minor glitch, when the mechanic parked the motor home he did not turn the key all the way off and so we had a dead battery. Ron quickly jumped the motor home off the house batteries and we were on our way. Once we got into Sequim I went to the gas station to fill Albert's car and pick up some Sprite for Shawn. He had called Ron and asked him if he could pick him up a 2 ltr bottle. Since I was stopping for gas I got the Sprite. Ron went on ahead to the bone yard. By the time I arrived at 8:30 Ron had the electricity hooked up, the motor home leveled and was ready to go back to work. I don't know how late the guys will be working or what time they start again in the morning.
I then called Theresa and told her the wayward ticket sellers were back. She was glad to know that the motor home was fixed and we made it without any more problems. We talked about work for tomorrow. I am going to meet her at 10:00 to set up the ticket booths. It should take about two hours and then I will have a break before we start again at 3:30 in the afternoon. The carnival is supposed to be open from 4:00 p.m. till 10:00 p.m. tomorrow. I don't know the start times for Friday or Saturday. Tear down will be Saturday night.
One thing we are looking forward to is Sunday. Since we only have to move from Sequim to Port Townsend, about 25 miles, we are going to find a church to attend here in Sequim. It will be so nice to fellowship with like believers and hear a sermon. If you know of a good church in Sequim drop us a note before Saturday night so we can check when services are.
Well it is almost 9:45 so I should get off the computer and go to bed so I am well rested for tomorrow and the rest of the weekend.
Please join us as we give thanks to the Lord that the motor home was repaired, Ron was able to put in a full day's work today and that Albert graciously loaned us his car for 2 full days. We ask for continued prayer as we work for the next three days here in Sequim and that we don't have any more problems with the motor home. Also, don't forget me on Sunday when I drive to Port Townsend. I know I can do it with the help of the Lord.
Thanks for reading my blog and all the notes that you have sent our way the last few days. They are all truly appreciated.
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