Fulltiming Road Runners

The other day Larry (our supervisor) gave Thom our new schedule for the month, but it only had 2 weeks on it.  We thought maybe Larry was still working on the last two weeks of the schedule.  When Larry gave Thom the schedule, Thom reminded him that we would be leaving by Sept 10th and Larry acted panicky because we’d be leaving early.  Later Thom found out the others had 4 week schedules, so today he asked Larry about ours being only two weeks.  Larry said “you’re through at the end of the 2nd week.”  That means we’re laid off as of August 21.  Our contract says the job runs approximately from May 5 - Sept. 26.  On the employment opportunities page of AL&L’s website it says approximately means it could be a FEW days before or after those days.  I personally don’t consider a whole month being a FEW days.

Thom and I have worked for AL&L for 3 years and have a great reputation for doing a tremendous job.  Three of the 4 other couples are brand new and one of them offered to Larry to leave early, yet we’re the ones Larry let go.  We’re not sure of the exact reason he’s done so, but we are sure he’s doing it out of anger over something.

Today we met with the Area Manager over something else and mentioned to him that we’ve been laid off.  He didn’t appear happy to hear that bit of news.  He said he didn’t know that he could do anything about it, but we don’t have to be in a hurry to leave here.  We can stay where we are until we’re ready to leave.  He also said that if the Forest Service needs us off their compound then we can go to Anderson Cove to stay until we’re ready to leave.  Needless to say, Thom and I are pretty upset over the whole deal.  We were pretty much counting on those last two paychecks to pay off our credit card.  I guess if you have a job like this and have a plan for the income you have to kiss your boss’s arse and not say what you think.

That’s the bad news.

This is the good news.

The reason we met with Rick was to find out if he’d brought up the electricity issue with the corporate office and if they have agreed to pay us for damages.  He did bring it up and they have agreed to pay for the A/C and bug zapper replacements.  We have a feeling they may try to prorate the cost of the A/C, but we won’t accept  the check unless they cover the cost of replacement, therefore not releasing them from responsibility for damages.  Rick asked us to have the estimate for the A/C replacement and the receipt for the zappers faxed to the office and to him and the check would be sent to us right away.

It’s going to be hard for me to be civil with Larry and Sue for the next 2 weeks, but I’ll manage.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Toodles!

There’s not much new going on.  We’re more or less settled here at the Forest Service compound.  Things at work are pretty much the same.  They did put insulation into the booth which has brought the average temp down from 98 to 88F.  It’s much more livable.  It took me telling the boss that I would NOT spend another 5 hour shift in a 98F booth to get it done.

We had a meeting with the area manager here to discuss the issue of the available electricity at the site we were at and the fact that the poor hookups caused our A/C to die and the companies responsibility towards the repairs.  Of course he said he’d do everything possible to see we were satisfied with the reparations, but we doubt he’ll do anything.

As for our relocation… we’re happier.  We have fewer interruptions  here and I’m finally seeing birds at my feeder.  They may be only house finch, but at least they are coming in to feed.  Didn’t get any at the lake.  We have a golf cart to drive to and from work.  It’s not bad.

Time to say good night.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Toodles.

We managed to get ourselves moved in just 2-1/2 days.  We are now parked in the Forest Service Compound at full hookups with reliable electricity.  We still have a lot of stuff left to move over, as well as things that will just sit at Cemetery Point until we head down the road… like our flatbed trailer and firewood.

As I said the other day, it’s not a good looking spot, but worth it if it keeps more of our equipment in the trailer from frying due to bad electrical hookups.  Here’s a shot of our site here.

The house behind us is the living quarters for their fire fighters/foresters.

These next three shots are the view we have, starting from looking left, to straight on, to right.

There is another RV site right next to us and it is often used by the USFS Engineers when they come in on a project.  We’ve been told we need to be able to move our rig to make room for them to park theirs and then we can move ours back.  What a pain!  …but, again, worth it.

For those of you who don’t live in Utah and don’t have family living in Utah, July 24th is a huge holiday here.  It’s called Pioneer Day, the day the Mormon pioneers reached the Salt Lake area here.  They celebrate the whole week.  Today is the actual 24th.  Thom and I were scheduled to have today off, but it was canceled because they needed all hands on deck so to speak.  Thom helped direct parking and I helped in the booth collecting money, writing auto and boat passes, along with handling the radio and telephone communications.  By mid morning all of the employees were ready to kill our supervisor.  He is totally inconsistent as well as a micro manager.  He insisted we let way too many people into the park to the point there were traffic jams in all 3 areas of the park… the Marina, the Beach, and the Picnic area.  Oh well, ’nuff said, tomorrow should be a little bit less busy, and I don’t have to go on duty until 5:00 p.m. when it’s slower.  I feel sorry for Thom though, he has to go down to the lower part of the park in the early morning and clean up all the mess left from today’s picnickers, I’m sure the bathrooms will be a total disaster as well as trash everywhere.

Time to think about fixing dinner.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Tah!

This morning bright and early the boss knocked on our door to tell us that he’s got permission from the Forest Service lead and our Area Manager for us to move our rig to a full hook up site at the USFS compound 0.6 miles from here.  That means we’ll have to drive up here to go to work, and I won’t have my own unit for my potty breaks, but we’ll make it work.  At least we should have constant power, but I wonder what the other 3 couples will do.  The electrical issues affect them too.  We can’t move until Friday after 10:00 a.m. because the Forest Service has to move some equipment to make it possible for us to get in.  It’s really ugly there.  It’ll be like being parked in the middle of a bone yard… stored equipment, retired equipment, sheds, rocks, no trees, etc.  I’m going to miss my water birds on the lake behind our trailer, but with luck I’ll get a few song birds at the feeders… and hummers.  We won’t even have a view of water anywhere.

After we get moved, we need to start working on figuring out how we get compensated for the loss of our A/C, and even our $50 bug zappers!

Today, they had the power company come back out and do some more extensive testing.  The guy said it’s possible the transformer has issues, and the wire from the transformer to the main box is too small.  Soooo, it appears the Power Company is partially responsible.  We’ve heard gossip that people from past years have had electrical issues here and we’re wondering why they haven’t looked into it earlier.  It took us hiring a certified electrician to get them to believe there are potentially serious problems out here.

Luckily today was a day off so I was able to work on getting paperwork put away and start getting ready to move.  It was HOT outside so Thom was only able to do some of the things out there that need doing.  Sure is a good thing we had yesterday off also, and did our shopping then.

Tomorrow I work the noon to 5 shift so should get some things done in the morning.  On Friday I work the 7 a.m. to noon, so hopefully we can move the trailer Friday afternoon.  If not then, it will have to wait until Monday.

We have a field of gorgeous sunflowers blooming behind the trailer, so I’m able to get some decent photos of the flowers with the blue lake background.  Here’s one of them.

There’s a good chance I won’t be posting again until after Monday, July 26th, which is nothing new, but at least this time I’ve warned you.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Toodles!

Guess I need to catch up.  Weekends are killer busy now, and even week days are busier than we thought they’d be.  Last Saturday I turned in $6900 for the week.  Our bosses here are still driving everyone crazy.  They have a total lack of consistency.  One day they’ll say “sure they can do down into the park and unload, then come back and park where they’re supposed to”, the next time they’ll say “absolutely not!“  One time Larry will say “put in the hours you need to do the job, and put anything over 40 on your wife’s time sheet”, the next time he’ll say “work fewer hours, leave things undone”.  This is a frustrating job.

Temps have been in the 90’s and even a couple of days over 100.  One day got up to 105.  On that day our air conditioner kept tripping the breaker and shutting down.  The temp inside the house got up to 95F.  We have a new air conditioner in the booth.  On slower days when we can keep the upper door closed, the temp in the booth will stay down in the low 80’s, but on days when we are busy and we have to have the upper door open to collect money, etc, the temp gets up to the high 80’s and low 90’s.  Yesterday I worked the noon to 5 p.m. shift and was so busy we had another gal in the booth working the other side, so both doors were open all the time.  The temp in the booth got up to 96F and stayed there from about 1:00 on.  Shirley and I were both miserable.

Ya’ll know we’ve been having issues with our electricity here at Cemetery Point.  The Company called the Power Company, they came out, took a reading (1 reading only) on the meter and said we were fine up to the point they were responsible for.  So then Rick, the Area Manager brought in a retired electrician to check the power from the Power Company box to our trailer.  He didn’t even have a meter with him.  He looked at the wires and said everything was okay.  He did say the wiring at the meter was so hot, the insulation was burning off, and one of the legs has been arcing.  He also said the wire was too small to handle the job.  I guess nobody but Thom heard what he was saying because Rick and Larry both felt things were just fine.  None of this felt right to us.  We have blown two bug zappers, and it looks like our big air conditioner has blown a condenser.  The air conditioner has always worked fine before when plugged into a 50 amp power box, now it won’t even work on our big 7000 watt generator.

Today we decided to hire a certified licensed electrician to come out and check out the system from the main box to our trailer.  He found all kinds of things wrong.  He said the breaker box, where the wires going to the trailers all come from, is a fire waiting to happen.  The voltage at both the box and our power hookup pedestal ranged from 102 - 118, changing minute to minute.  Anything under 110 will cause damage to the equipment in our RV, which is probably what happened to our A/C and bug zappers.  He said our big surge protector at the box will keep us from having a fire in the rig, but not from having damage to more electrical equipment.  It’s not only our RV that is in jeopardy, but all 4 of the RV’s up here.  The electrician (who is really really good, by the way) is going to write up a report on his letterhead so we can share it with the company we are working for.  At the least, we want them to fix the wiring for our RV’s, but will also try to get them to pay for repairs/replacement to our equipment.  When you’re on a fixed income, $45 is a bit steep when you have to spend it every month to replace the bug zappers, and the thought of the cost of repairing/replacing the 1500 A/C is frightening.

Mike, Tiff, Coen and Tiff’s family came up here yesterday to play.  I had to work until 5 p.m., but was able to join them after that.  I was so tired from being on my feet 5 hours in 96 degree temps, and bending over the top of the bottom door to grab cash and hand out parking tags and change, that I didn’t last very long down on the beach.

Thankfully, today was a fairly slow day.  I worked from 7 a.m. to noon and we are now off tomorrow and Wednesday.  We do have to do some grocery shopping and Wednesday is our day to use the washer/dryer here, but we plan on getting the heck outta Dodge (Cemetery Pt) for as long as we can.

I’m still enjoying my surroundings here, and love the canyon, critters, and flowers.  This morning down at the booth I saw a young Redtail Fox and a whitetail fawn, still in spots.  We’re afraid the fawn may have lost it’s mother.  It was quite skinny and spent a lot of time on the road just standing.  I don’t think a mother deer would let the fawn stay up there that far away from her without calling it in.  I’m sure I’ll miss the canyon a bit next summer, but am tremendously excited about having west coast flora / fauna and scenery to enjoy and photograph.  With luck, we’ll be there late enough to gather berries and bake pies…. and only 12 miles to the Tillamook cheese factory and all those yummy fresh cheese curds!

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles!

Things are going pretty much the same here.  It looks like we won’t be getting our electricity fixed because that would mean the company would have to spend a bit of money.  I guess when the temps get up into the 100’s I’ll just have to spend a lot of my time down in the lake and less time available for on call duty.

We were really busy again last weekend.  On Saturday I took in more money in a 5 hours shift than ever before.  The noon to 5 shift is a killer on weekend days.

Mike, Tiff ‘n Coen came up Sunday afternoon (bringing dinner with them).  We got a Sea Doo from Club Rec (only had to pay the cost of gas because we work here), and Mike, Tiff and Coen played on it for a while.  It was Tiff and Coen’s first time on a Sea Doo.  After they got off Mike went out and PLAYED on it.

The water in the lake is very comfortable for swimming now.  I hope to spend more time in the water now that it isn’t so cold.

We got an email from Dawn at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge… saying our references checked out and we have been offered the volunteer job at Cape Meares Lookout for the summer of 2011.  Yay Team!  I’m so excited!  Scott ‘n Mari, start planning your vacation for next summer!

We plan on leaving here sometime around September 10th for Quartzsite, to arrive there the 15th or  maybe a day or two later.  We don’t know if we’ll be working for the BLM down there or not.  The $700 stipend we get at the end of the season is nice to pay for gas to get to Oregon, but it would also be nice to not have to be anywhere or do anything at any set time.  We’ll know more after I’ve been able to talk to Bill with the BLM and can get a better feel for the situation down there.

I thought I’d share a photo of what we call Cocaine Cove.  It’s a family enjoying the water, etc.  It’s called Cocaine Cove because there have been times when people come in on boats late in the afternoon and party BIG TIME in there.  There have been times during the day when we have 4 jet skis, 2 to 4 boats and oodles and bunches of people in there.

To close for the night, I took a ride in the golf cart through the park during a slower period and found a new flower for me here in the canyon.  It’s called a Moth Mulein, supposedly because the flower reminded someone of a moth on the stem.  I really like the flower because of the purple flower centers.

‘Nuff for now.  I’m going to go to the couch and contemplate getting ready for bed.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles!

We had Sunday, the 4th of July off, so we got to watch the cars line up at the booth and feel sorry for those on duty.  We left a bit after noon to go up canyon to see Mari at Willows and on our way out traffic was backed up a mile trying to get into our park.  We knew we had to stay away for a few hours until later in the afternoon in order to get in without having to wait up to 2 hours.

Due to totally unacceptable conditions, Mari and Scott quit their jobs managing the Willows Campground.  I’m almost sorry we didn’t go back to the job of supervising the canyon campgrounds this year… the new managers are totally, unbelievably unreasonable.  We’d have killed each other and our bosses had we gone back to the job though.

On Monday, July 5th, which was a holiday due to July 4th falling on Sunday, I was scheduled to close the booth (5:00 p.m. - 10 p.m.), but during the morning shift they got backed about a mile and I was asked to come in to help get people thru the booth, so I worked 2 hours from 10 to noon.  I was down in the park taking pictures of the crowds of people down there when I got a call on the phone asking me to come back and help out, so I worked again from 1:30 to 3:30.  I managed to get a little bit of rest before I had to go on duty on my regular shift at 5 p.m.  By the time things slowed down and traffic stopped, around 8:00, I was exhausted.  I put in a 9 hour day, and all nine hours were on my feet.

Tuesday and Wednesday were normal, easy paced, days busy enough to keep me from being bored, yet easy enough to keep me from getting frazzled.

Today (Thursday) we had the day off.  We went down to Roy to pick up our mail at Mike ‘n Tiff’s, pick up our generator (needed a new pull rope), get the oil changed in the Saturn, and do a bit of grocery shopping (I GOT ICE CREAM!!).

We’re one step closer to having the volunteer job in Oregon on the coast (summer of 2011).  Our Area Manager here answered the voice mail the Volunteer coordinator for DNR left him and he says he gave a very good reference for us.  Now we just need Bill from the BLM in AZ to call her back and give us a good review.  Tomorrow is Friday, so I think I’ll call him to remind him to call Dawn back.

We are still keeping our eyes open for something else to do now that generates a bit of income.  We were counting on this position to take our credit card balance down to zero, so we don’t want to quit here and lose our pay unless we feel it’s necessary.

Am I rambling?  It feels like I am.  so I think I’ll say good night.

Before I go, here is a photo of our sunset (which are few and far between) from a couple of nights ago.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Toodles.

Usage in the park has picked up tremendously.  Temps have gone up to the mid 90’s and people are seeking water to cool them off.  We’re getting pretty good business in here.  Today (July 3rd) I opened the booth at 7 and worked until noon.  During that time I took in $2760+.  That’s at $11/vehicle.  I have to admit, my feet were sore and tired by the time I got off shift.  During my shift, when it got busy, Larry came down to fill out tickets while I took money and handed out those tickets.  After I got off shift, about 1/2 hour, I noticed Vic, my replacement had cars backed up wayyyyyyyyyy back, so I offered to go help him out.  I spent 2-1/2 hours writing tickets for him.  This is a huge weekend here and we are quite pleased with the business we got.

Things aren’t much better here as far as the way we are treated.  We live with it hoping we don’t reach the end of our rope and feel we have to leave.  In the meantime we are keeping watch on the Workamper’s News for something we’d like to move to for the rest of the summer season.  We’ve made friends here and they make it easier to stay and put up with the BS.  We also have decided there’s no reason not to speak our thoughts, so letting them know what we think, and what we’ll tolerate, also makes it easier to stick it out.

Count on our being busy for the next few days, so I think I’ll just post photos the next few day… if I post at all.  Sorry, I’ve been so off on posting.  I truly hope I’ll be inspired more when we move on this fall.

Ya’ll stay happy ‘n healthy!

Toodles.

…left of June.  Where has the time gone?

Again, I apologize for taking so long to post again.  Life here has taken on the same-o same-o profile.  We’re still not happy with the way we’re being treated by the company we’re working for, we’re still not getting the hours we were promised, and in spite of the beautiful setting here we are bored!  This week I collected over $5000 at the booth and yet they are still keeping us to minimum hours.  My $5000 is only a small part of the total take for the week (I’d guess $15,000 plus), so why can’t they afford to give us more hours?  After all, we’re only getting paid minimum wage, so it can’t be that many dollars.

The weather has turned very nice (which is why I brought in $5000 for the week).  The highs are getting into the mid 80’s.  Mid 80’s means running the air conditioner.  Unfortunately, we’ve found that, in spite of having 50 amp power here, it won’t run our big a/c.  We’ve asked to have our power supply tested (not the trailer, but the post outside) and they were supposed to be here last Mon or Tues, but no show yet.  In the meantime, the outdoor temps are climbing each day as are the indoor temps, in spite of the running of the smaller a/c in the bedroom.  It’s 9:21 p.m. and still 78F in the house — with the a/c running.  2 hours ago it was 82F.  Speaking of not getting things done… Thom’s golf cart died yesterday and he was told they won’t even be able to look at it for at least 7 days.  He needs that cart to carry his cleaning supplies, mops, brooms, scrub brushes, shovels, etc.

Last Wednesday I took the two shaped pre-cabochons I had left over from a year ago and finished forming them and polishing them. They are now ready for wire wrapping.  In the last 2 seasons in Quartzsite I’ve bought several slabs to make more cabs and I finally started on some today.  I’ve got 5 shaped and ready to “dome” and polish.  I’m really anxious to get a couple of them finished.  They promise to be really beautiful if I do it right.

In the early spring Tiff, my daughter-in-law, planted some of the salad turnip seeds I gave them.  Today is the 2nd time I’ve been able to raid their garden and get some of those turnips to enjoy.  We were down there today to pick up mail and Mike told me to get all I wanted because Tiff’s family absolutely loves them and were coming over for a pool party tonight and would take all they could.  I pulled a half dozen and left about that much for them.  My turnips in the pot aren’t doing so well here.  We had a big thunder storm the other night which included hail/big ice.  The hail wasn’t ball shaped, but very large, sharp ice crystals which sliced the leaves in the trees and my turnips.  My turnips are trying to grow new leaves to recover.

Time for me to get ready to get ready for bed.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles!

As you know, things have been slow here and our hours have been cut due to weather.  One couple decided to take a week off since their hours were cut to the point of being totally NOT worthwhile.  Of course, they take off, the weather gets beautiful and I’m now working double shifts to cover.  Our boss expects the guys to just cover the park maintenance hours without doing (read that as:  putting in for) more hours.  Last Thursday I worked the booth from 7 a.m. - noon, then 5 p.m. - 8 p.m.

We were off yesterday and ran a few errands.  I got my new Verizon phone in the mail so we picked it up at Mike ‘n Tiff’s.  I’ll be learning to use it for the next year.

Today I put in the same hours as Thursday, but we were 3 times busier.  I was on my feet for the full 5 hours collecting fees and handing out passes this morning and even did a fairly decent business tonight.  Tomorrow I only work from noon to 5 p.m., but expect to be on my feet all 5 hours and very busy!  It’s father’s day, going to be great weather, and we have people who’ll be here to party no matter what.

We still aren’t real pleased with the job or the way we are being treated, but will hang in here… unless…  I AM watching the Workamper’s job postings and if something shows up that really strikes our fancy we won’t hesitate to  put in for it.

Yesterday morning (day off), I went up to Mari’s campground, Willows, to have her trim my hair.  Split ends are all gone.  As a bonus, I got to see and shoot several of my old friends at the bird feeders.  Boy do I miss them!  I promise to try to get photos posted.

Time to catch up with email, etc.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Tah!