Great Day with an Old Friend

Another chilly start to our day today. I had opened up the curtain around the front window and we were sitting around having breakfast. Boomer starts barking and is looking out the front window. Here stands this little black goat, looking at the rig, and around his neck, he’s got a red collar with a big cowbell on it. He stands there and looks at Boomer while he’s barking at him…Then he trots up the road. There’s hardly anyone here in the campground so I’m not sure where he came from or who he belongs to. Guess he was just out for his morning stroll. How cute…
I got the flat tire plugged and filled with air, ready to go back on the car. Got cleaned up as we needed to go to Winston Salem. We had made a date with our friend, Ted to have lunch with him. Ted is a resident at the retirement community we managed and Linda would make his day when she’d give him a hug AFTER he’d say, at breakfast: “It’s a wonderful day at the old folks home.” We’ve been chatting with him, each month, since we left there and he’s so dear to us. Ted retired from the Air Force, after having spent 20+ years in Colorado. He loved hearing about all the areas we’d visit while we were out there in his home state. He came back to Winston because his daughter lives here. We’re going to get together again with him before we leave at the end of the month.
After lunch with Ted, we decided that we’d better get new tires on the car since I’ve plugged them at least three times now. They are pretty worn out ( my car has 214,000 miles on it), although not all of these miles on this set of tires. Ended up getting them at Discount Tire, after missing out on a set at Sam’s Club. I ran into Sam’s right before we needed to meet Ted for lunch and they only had four tires in stock to fit our car. By the time we left the restaurant and got back there, they had sold two of the four tires. So we went down the street to Discount Tire….only cost us $12 more than it would have at Sam’s but man, talk about a quick way to blow $500. They replaced our spare tire (the one that had never been used), with the best tire of the ones that came off the car since the spare was starting to show dry rot. Discount Tire is in quite a few of the states that we work around the country so we can get free tire rotations at any of their locations.
Bought a few of the “helper” shelves to help finish up our organization project in our cupboards. Everything is laid out nicely now…easy to get to and broken up into “food areas” and “work supplies”. Tomorrow I need to tidy up the garage a little bit. Things are getting a little out of hand there. Here’s some of the pictures I promised.

Special Visit

Linda had a surprise visit this weekend from her daughter, Stephanie and her partner, Jessica. I was on the third floor giving a tour when I heard her shriek from the first floor...guessing that Steph and Jess had arrived. We've had a good time hanging out and seeing some of Winston Salem. Yesterday we went to Mt. Airy; checked on the rig, went to the thrift store and bought some blouses, got our favorite milk shake, checked out the downtown stores and old jail and ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Temps have been in the 50's this weekend so has made it really enjoyable to be out and about.

Today we went to the museum downtown to see some artists work that they were featuring. This is an Encaustic painting. The artist uses beeswax and powdered pigment, which is then applied to wood (most times although other surfaces can be used). A heat gun is used to smooth and keep the beeswax fluid enough to work with while the artist uses tools to make the desired shapes and designs. The paintings were all so gorgeous...I just fell in love with this style of painting. The surface is really smooth so it must take a lot of work to get the wax the way the artist wants it. It was a day for artsy things as the next place we went to was the Tattoo Archive.
Open since 1980, the front part of the store is a museum of sorts that covers the last 100 years of tattoo. It was very interesting to see and read about the older artists and see the images that many of the them created throughout their careers. There was also some of the old style equipment that has been used over the years. It doesn't appear that it has changed all that much.
This picture caught my eye as the tattoo work is amazing ! There were circus posters that depicted the fascination of the tattooed people as sideshow attractions and a special exhibit on the scarring traditions in other countries where something like a flint is used to make a cut and then its left open for several months to make a raised welt. All of the welts on the body are arranged in a specific design, which by looking at a young girl, you could tell many things about her. A cultural tradition that I'm glad I'm not a part of. It looked pretty painful to endure years of cutting to make the intricate patterns. I thought that it was pretty amazing that the owner of this Tattoo establishment thinks enough of the art form to dedicate a whole museum to archiving the history of tattoo. 

Boomer also got to take a field trip today...he went to the dog park before we came back home. I've never seen so many dogs as there was today. He ran and ran with the other pooches there. There was everything from puppies to Great Danes today. He had a good time and now as I write this post, everyone but Jessica and I are sacked out on the floor.....snoozing. Zzzzzzzzz....

Here's hoping that all of you have a restful and fun filled weekend !

Back In Winston-Salem.....

We finished up our training, on Thursday in Chesapeake with a bang...There were servers/housekeepers out so we were helping to cover for these folks. On our last day we were supposed to socialize with folks but ending up serving during lunch. Right after lunch we got the car packed and headed out about 2:30. Had a nice drive back to Winston-Salem....arrived here around 7:00. We were exhausted so didn't stay up very long before hittin' the hay.

Got up Friday morning and started work. Rick and Susan, the managers, worked till early afternoon and then took the rest of the day off. They normally have Fridays and Saturdays off and we'll have Sunday and Mondays off. We had a server not show up Saturday night so Linda served. We've settled into our apartment...got caught up on laundry today.

Tomorrow is the annual pig roast here that they have each Memorial Day. "Wilbur" is ready to hit the grill early tomorrow morning...complete with an apple in his mouth. We have about 50 extra guests coming to join in the festivities. Although it's our day off, we're going to help with it for a while so we can see how they pull the whole thing together. I'll try and get some pictures to post here tomorrow after we "pig out".

The great kitchen staff at Lighthouse Pointe...

Rudy and Helen - Co-managers/Rosemary and Paul - Managers

Our buddy Jane...nicknamed "Trouble"

Look at all those smiling faces....such sweet ladies !

Change of Plans...

The day started out sunny but then the thunderstorms moved in and it's been raining ever since. Linda's daughter and her family arrived to have breakfast with us...Teagan and Ila were a big hit with the residents. Stephanie and Jessie also joined us. We had tropical french toast for breakfast (pineapple in the french toast batter) and it was really yummy. As soon as everyone left, we were told that we needed to call our regional boss. Did so and found out that we need to return to our facility in Winston-Salem, right after lunch on Thursday. We'll finish our training there. Our managers have been without co-managers since last November and they are pretty frazzled. There are floating managers that come in to give them some days off but do not do any of the operational things that need to get done. After a short while I can see where the work would pile up and it would get to be pretty overwhelming. We are still off today but will now go in tomorrow to start cramming in some of the info we haven't gone over yet. We'll probably work open to close Tuesday and Wednesday and then we'll leave after lunch Thursday for the 5.5 hour drive back to North Carolina. I'm looking forward to getting back there....starting to learn about our property and residents and get settled into a sense of normalcy. It will be hard to say goodbye to the people here. All of the residents are really great.

Today is my son, Jay's birthday....my "baby" turned 23 today. We talked for quite a while on the phone this morning. Is always nice to chat with both of my kids....am truly blessed.

Pictures

 On our way south to our new home in North Carolina, we stopped at Cracker Barrel, near Winchester,VA to have coffee with Linda's best friend Susie (also her sister-in-law).

Linda's sister Carol and her boyfriend Barry. We visited with them during our overnight stay in Greencastle, PA.



Packed and ready to go to Virginia for our training...

The Winston-Salem Visitors Bureau....It's an old cotton mill.

The inside of the visitors bureau....gorgeous old building.

Out back of the bureau...

We Arrived....

On Saturday I had dumped and flushed all the tanks, emptied the hot water heater and got more stuff packed up. The weather prediction was for a lot of rain from Saturday night on so I really wanted to get all the outside stuff done. Saturday, after work, we went out to Omega Diner with Linda's brother and his wife for a great meal. It was a great way to spend our last night in Jersey....food was great and the company superb !

As I predicted, Sunday was a whirlwind kind of day. It started out slow in the office but there were plenty of last minute things for us to do with the rig. We stripped the bed and washed up all the sheets and the last of our laundry. It had started raining Saturday evening, as expected, so I was so thankful that all the outside stuff was done. Tried to get to the point where we could get hooked on and pull the rig out of its spot, around the corner to the back of the property so we could get turned around for a straight shot out the gate. That didn't happen....The new roving managers arrived to take over for us and there was all the transitioning of money and information that took place from 1:30 to 3, when we closed. We finished explaining everything to them about 2:45 and then started to get off the site. By the time we got the GPS fired up and got the rig turned around, it was 3:30 when we left the property. I followed Linda in the car and off we went...headed to Greencastle, PA for our first stop. Arrived at the truck stop in Greencastle around 8 p.m. and locked the rig up. We jumped in the car and went to spend the night at Linda's sister's house. Got to see her sisters Kay and Carol and their family....had a good time since it had been a while since we last saw them.

Left Greencastle, PA at 8:30 this morning...bound for North Carolina. Stopped in Virginia, at a Cracker Barrel so we could visit with Linda's sister-in-law who is also her best friend since high school. Had a great time catching up with her, while nibbling on some blueberry pancakes. Yum !! Got back on the road and made it here to our new home about 5:30 p.m. I had driven ahead to check out the entrance to the property and how best for Linda to get in here with the rig. I was worried when I saw the area where we were supposed to park the rig. It looked like we'd have to back the whole length of the parking lot, around one bend and then another sharper bend to get to the desired spot. Eeekk !! I made Linda stop at the entrance and we walked back to assess the situation. She said, "Oh, I'm just gonna drive back here and pull in there...straighten it up and back in there." Wow...and she did just that ! It was awesome !! She is turning into a super duper backer upper !!What a woman !!

So we have unloaded some of our stuff..Have to get the frig unloaded and more things in here but we are tuckered out. Rick and Susan are the couple we'll be working with and he asked what we're doing until we leave for training on Friday. Asked him why and he said that our boss figured we'd start work here tomorrow and learn about this property. Holy smokes...the engine isn't even cold yet in either vehicle and they want us to start work. Not seeing that happen tomorrow....lots to do yet with the rig to get it ready to store..so to speak...then we can start work. Maybe Wednesday....

Tomorrow I'll post pictures of our apartment. We have a wonderful patio in the back with a peaceful and beautiful view of the lush grass and landscaping. See ya tomorrow....