We finished our training at the home office and are now traveling throughout the northern part of Texas, called Region 2, and working on the Texas Camping Guide. We arrived at Mill Creek Ranch Resort on Friday. This RV park is gorgeous....wide sites with lots of green grass. Last night bad storms went through the area and we got over an inch of rain. We'll be staying here, in Canton, Texas, till March 22 and then we'll move to the Tyler area. We work in Region 2 until around May 10 and then we'll be heading to Breckenridge, CO to work an RV resort there that we've done for several years. Our summer schedule changes drastically after Colorado. The team that was going to do parks across Alaska this summer left the company for another opportunity so we are going to take their schedule. Wahoo! We're excited to be going to Alaska for three months. I was there in 1995 but have wanted to take Linda there to see the magnificent scenery so now we get to do that and work while we're there.We'll get back home to the east coast to see our families around mid-Sept. We also got great news from my son recently. He and his
girlfriend are expecting my first grandchild. There's gonna be another place setting at the Thanksgiving table this year. LOL...Kelly's due date is October 29, which is the day after my birthday and two days before my grandmother's. Woohoo ! Exciting times ahead in our work and in our family.
There was a performance tonight, here in the park, by the Alaskan String Band, from Juneau, Alaska.
What a talented family ! Here is a video of them from four years ago. The youngest, Abigail is now 14. They travel and tour, in the warmer areas of the country, during the winter months. The women were dress in traditional KUSPUK attire, that had been hand-made by the mother and daughters. Learning how to make these traditional dresses is something that’s passed down from mother to daughter, over the generations. They were beautiful with beads and rickrack stitched on for decoration. Each of them played so many instrument. I saw mandolins, banjo, violin, guitar, bass and snare drum being played at one point or another. They played bluegrass, gospel, swing and some things that were a combination of styles. They all sang too. If you recall me mentioning, in a previous post, the mother (Melissa) and one of the daughters (Laura) were in the hot tub last week when Linda and I went over. We got to spend a little bit of time talking to them. They recognized us tonight, when we sat down, and waved to us. The young man, who played bass, had a whole basket full of hats and he put on a different one for each song. It was really cute ! He’s quite the showman too and a real charmer with the young ladies, I’m sure.Such a fun night….so glad we went over to listen to them ! If you ever hear of them coming to a place near you, be sure to go see them. They’re great !
Our computer is once again acting up so consequently I haven't posted recently. Right at this moment it is behaving so I figured I'd get a quick post on here.
Weather is great this week. In the high 70's to low 80's. Linda's work seems to be thinning out a little. The one place she had been working at quite a bit has now hired more nurses so she has had two cancellations of shifts this week. Today was one of those days so we ran out to Lowes and at 1:30 her agency called and needed her at a new location so we hurried back as it will take her 45 min. to get there. She is still waiting to here on the job in Virginia that she applied for. It's a govt. job and they hope to submit her paperwork, along with two others by Friday and then it will take about another week to hear anything back on it. So that one is still on hold....She got a call from her other agency, wanting her to go to Alaska for a travel nursing assignment. While this might sound ideal, this town has no roads in or out so would have to fly in...work for 13 weeks...go to work by taxi and there's still snow on the ground there. Is in the town of Bethel...which is near Bering Strait....the summer high would probably be around 60. Everything you need to buy (groceries included) would need to be ordered in and are very expensive. So after working the numbers, she decided to pass on that job. Although I could go I would probably not be able to find work there due to small size and the cost would outweigh the benefits and then we'd have to figure out something with the rig and dogs. While we would like to go to Alaska at some point (perhaps to work) this isn't the time or place to do that.
In other news we did get to try crawfish....everyone has been telling us to make sure we try it before we leave LA. Bought a package of it that was already cooked, deveined, etc. and made stuffed portabella mushroom caps out of it. Was amazing !! Diced some onion, mushroom stem, fresh garlic and sauteed...added some wine and then the crawfish to warm through. Few breadcrumbs to absorb the liquid and put on top of the caps which I had cooked slightly in a pan....Packed the mushrooms with the filling and topped with parmesan cheese. It was yummy !! The crawfish remind me of langostinos...would probably have been a little sweeter if they had been fresh but we figured it was a safe way to try them to see if we liked them. Not sure I'd have the patience to pluck and dig that little bit of meat out of them but we can say we've had them.
On the FEMA/disaster side of things....PB is on stand-by (although I haven't had a call) for four states now. Florida, Georgia,Indiana and Alabama are the states for stand-by. FEMA has required even more "stuff" for inspectors....extensive background check,etc. Not sure if that will slow down getting people ready to deploy (like me)or not. We'll see what happens.
Guess that is the latest scoop....computer starting to get jittery..more later..
