Happy Thanksgiving !

It's Thanksgiving day and we just finished having some lunch and will now get ready for work. We signed up to work tonight and last I counted, on the sign-up sheet, there had only been 13 names for tonight's shift. Last night they said that only folks with a 75% or better "percent to goal" will be allowed to work since the quantity of work has been down lately. Our percentage is above this so it means we get to work. That is great since we get time and a half plus holiday pay for working. Last night, at first break, they asked if anyone wanted "VTO" (voluntary time off). Alot of people took advantage of this, even though it was only 7:45 p.m. and we'd only worked for a little more than 2 hours. We stayed but then got sent home at 11:00 because there wasn't enough work. Wednesday is the overlap night for the two shifts (Wed - Sat and Sun. - Wed)so it made for 71 pickers there last night. I'd never seen so many pickers before....wow ! We had made short order of what little business there was last night so that is why we got sent home. Hopefully tonight there will be enough work for the few of us there to take us all night. Tomorrow we start our 11 hour shifts.
Weather is great today...for end of November. Temps in the 50's, sunny and nice. We haven't had any rain in a while so the new area, where we are, is dry now and hard. No rain means the grass seed hasn't sprouted that has been put between the new sites. We like that there isn't any mud and we can get into the rig without sinking in up to our ankles.
Our time here is winding down....just a couple weeks to go. Hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving !!

Window Lickers

There are more new faces at work as they steadily ramp up their workforce for "the rush". Most of these employees seem really young....perhaps college kids picking up some work. We had heard that they go out to the local community college and recruit at holiday time. So far the orders are still down so with more people around, we are literally running into each other in the rows as we try and navigate around each other.Not fun...
When you go into the break room most times there is a distinct separation between the regular employees and the workampers. Each sits in their own little group, chatting amongst themselves. We have made friends with several of the "locals". We have also gotten to know a couple of the folks who are here from Puerto Rico to work. The one guy is always picking on us because we can't quite get the pronunciation of his name down. It doesn't roll off our tongues as well as it does his. Since we don't arrive, on a bus, to work each day I guess we are no longer known as the "window lickers". Haven't heard if there is some new name for us but each day rolling into work, by the busload, did give me the feeling of being a migrant worker coming to town to reap the local harvest. For a short time I've come to feel what that may be like for true migrant workers. Needed by the company but not always wanted by the locals....there was some animosity to our arrival when they needed to cut hours back. The regular employees asked why they just didn't get rid of us so they could have their full schedules but management knows the time will come when the extra hands are needed. Not really sure why the nickname "window lickers" unless it was because the bus windows always looked like there were smudges, etc all over them from the countless athletic teams that ride the buses. It certainly wasn't due to us licking the windows...bleck !!
We will work Thanksgiving day...probably all day which is OK by us as we will get overtime pay plus perhaps a pumpkin pie. Who doesn't like to work for food ? Then the following day we will begin 11 hour shifts...5 p.m. till 4:30 a.m...Our goal for the next few weeks will be to keep our bodies rested and prepared for the onslaught ahead. I think a new pair of insoles are in order...I can already see where the arch has lost some of its' height from when new, just 5 weeks ago. I think there must only be a 500 mile lifespan on them...LOL...and Lord knows we've gone past that.

Day of Rest

Boy are we exhausted ! Worked 50 hours this week and Linda and I figured that each of us walked at least 50 miles. Last night was really bad. I would start on row 77 and the next pick would be in row 120 something...then back to the 70's. That 40-50 row see-sawing kept up for a while until my scanner told me to go down a level to pick coats.Whew !! Two days off now then back to work for overtime Tuesday night.
Weather was great today...had the windows and door open. No wind either. We treated ourselves to a paraffin dip for our hands and feet. My hands are so sore...cracked and tender from the book jackets slicing into my finger tips and plus lifting some of these huge books is really hard on your arm and hand muscles.
It is amazing to see the impact of media and marketing on the books we see going out the door. Obama books are big now....if we see someone on Ellen or Oprah, we know we'll be picking that book over the next couple of days. "Extreme Measures" is a heavy hitter and the Jeff Dunham comedy DVD (the ventriloquist guy) is huge. I've seen the guy on TV and don't really see the appeal but someone is spending money on it....I picked 40 at a clip the other night of his Christmas DVD. There are a lot of neat items out right now for Christmas. "The Family Guy" - total world domination pack is a whole bunch of DVD's inside this giant plastic head of one of the characters. Cute if you like that show. There are complete sets that have come out for a lot of the old TV shows. Hawaii 5-O...Wild, Wild West...I Spy...Mission Impossible TV series....Mod Squad...Adam 12....CHIPS....These are just a few of the ones I've pulled lately. Brings back memories....There is one area that has all of these types of items and that is my favorite area to work. Never know what new items will have come in. Will be interesting to see if the Christmas business is down due to the economy. Can't see how it couldn't impact on things. Good thing is that the price of fuel has drastically dropped. Last we were out and about, gas was $1.87 and diesel was $2.69. That was two weeks ago so it may have dropped more since then.
Just five more weeks to go here in Kansas !

Overtime Begins...

Usually Tuesday is one of our days off but there is overtime available, in the stowing dept., so we'll work it. Stowing is putting the items in the bins and then tomorrow we'll be back to picking....pulling the items out of the bins. There is supposed to be a big ramp up going on with incoming orders, hence the need for overtime. Not knowing what the Christmas season will bring, we thought we might as well take it while it's available since we don't know how much there will be. There are supposed to be 800 more workers starting at the end of the month so there might not be any need for overtime once they start.
No sightseeing the last two days off...we've been pretty exhausted this week so we just did grocery shopping yesterday, laundry on Sunday and relaxing in between. It rained yesterday so we are surrounded by mud again. It sticks to our shoes and gets tracked into the house, along with the gritty stones from the gravel outside. It's a constant task to keep things vacuumed and stones off the floor so it doesn't damage the laminate flooring. This week we are the drivers for the carpool so I cleaned out the truck and got that ready for the six of us to ride in.
Temp is 54 here today....dreary and overcast. Sun is supposed to reappear tomorrow and temps in the upper 50's. Still not bad for mid-November.Overnight temps have been above freezing so we haven't had to fuss with the water lines just yet. That is good news...just need it to hold out like this for another 5 weeks till we leave. There are only six of us in the new park. We see folks drive through and check things out but no one else has moved over. When the new crew comes at the end of the month, I'm sure we'll have some new neighbors then. Not many other places for them to go since all the other areas are pretty full.
Sunday night a bunch of the workampers went to the local Mexican restaurant for dinner. We were in the banquet room in the back. Had a good time meeting some folks we hadn't met before. Two folks from Amazon came and had dinner with us which was nice.

How Many Items Can An Amazon Picker Pick ?

The October totals went up the other night for "Top Picker" and look who got it. Linda's first full month on the job and she knocks the stats out of the park. In looking at the stats for the other shifts, she had more total picks than anyone else. What a woman !! And this even when she missed some picking time running to the med office to get her bee stings tended to....can't wait to see what her November numbers are.
Don't get in her way....she's on a roll and not letting any grass grow under her feet.

New Location

We have moved into the new park that the city set up next to where we had been. We were told last week to be ready first thing Monday morning to move. Construction of the new park was still going on so the Monday turned into Tuesday and then into Wednesday. Not surprising since the park was supposed to have been completed September 1 so what's a few more days.

It wouldn't have been so bad except we had to go back to work on Wednesday, after having our days off Sunday - Tuesday. By the time they finally got everything ready it was about 2:45 when we could move over. We were coming over just as the roller and grader was finishing the road in the new area. Keep in mind this is all happening while we are watching and hearing of a severe storm moving into the area. The rain drops start and the wind is just howling....blowing 20+ m.p.h. We move over to a site we had picked out.....great views of neighboring fields and situated so we'll get the sun in on the couch side of the rig all day long. Nice !!

We get set up, get our showers, get lunch and pack our lunch for work and leave for work at 4:30. There is talk of a tornado warning being posted for the Coffeyville area and while working I can hear wicked thunder outside....even over the noise of the conveyors and fans blowing. We go on supper break at 10:00 p.m. and about 10:15 the power goes out and stays out till 11:30. We go back to work but not for long...one part of the plant is down and we end up getting sent home at 1:30.

We come home to a mud pit...the rig is surrounded by mud.Once the sun came up we could see that the neighboring fields now looked like a lake. The lady next to us, in a small class C had sunk in up to her step. I went out to do some work around the rig and couldn't even get to the truck it was surrounded by mud. I climbed in through the passenger side and went to back it out to drier ground and it was mired in. Later on I saw the city manager driving through the campground and told him that he had his first tow job with pulling our truck out.

It's four days later....the wind has been blowing (it never seems to stop here) and the mud is dried up. We had the option to move back but it is so pretty here that we're going to stay. Linda feels like a kitty cat when she sits on the couch, in the sun's rays, and curls up for a nap. So quiet....so pretty. Just hoping that when it rains we don't have more problems. We will know soon enough. They are calling for rain tomorrow.

Today we went to Tulsa to see the sites. First we went to the Blue Bell ice cream facility in Broken Arrow, OK. This is one of 3 production facilities in the country for Blue Bell. The others are in Texas and Alabama. It was a nice tour...we were working on several different flavors when we were there. At this facility they produce 68,000 quarts and 112,000 pints daily so it is a busy place. When we finished the tour, we were taken to the ice cream parlor and gift shop area we got to sample some ice cream. I tried the Snickerdoodle flavor and Linda White Chocolate Almond. Both were excellent !! If you find yourself in Broken Arrow, take the tour...well worth the $2 p.p. it cost.

Next we went to the Tulsa Air and Space museum and planetarium. They had some interesting displays of actual cockpits that you could climb into and check out. Here astronaut Linda dons her space suit and gets into the space shuttle to try her hand at docking the space shuttle to the space station.




There were some neat displays for hands on activities for kids to learn about different elements of flying and air flow. I could see where this would be popular with school groups. Tulsa has been very important to aviation over the years. They were given the task of building certain components for the space shuttle and was also the site where bombers were assembled during WWII. Women, as depicted by Rosie the riveter, were instrumental in helping to assemble the planes when there was a lack of manpower. It was a fun day....again the weather was great (77 degrees)and it was fun to see another area of Oklahoma.
Tomorrow we are supposed to move our rig over to the new park that they have been working on. We want to get that done in the morning and get set up as we go into work tomorrow night and there is rain scheduled to come into the area by tomorrow afternoon. I'll post some new pictures once we get moved to the new area.

Weather is perfect here again today...in the high 70's.We have the door and windows open...nice breeze outside. Supposed to stay like this for the next couple days and then possibly drop into the 60's. We could take this weather all winter...
Work is progressing on the new camping area although they are not working today (Sunday). We had been told to move tomorrow but that won't be happening. It looks like there are several more days of work that need to be done.
Linda got stung again at work by a red wasp. Last Wednesday she got stung by one and by Friday it had turned into cellulitis and had affected an area the size of her hand on her forearm. She went to medical office at work and they lanced it; found the stinger was still in it and removed it. That took place at 5:00 p.m.....by our next break at 10:00, it had spread even more. Red, puffy and warm to the touch. Taking the stinger out helped it though. By the next day it was starting to improve. Now, a week later it was starting to get back to normal and then last night another red wasp stung her when she pulled a book out of a bin. Same spot on her arm..went to medical office again but no nurse in (happened at 2:00 a.m.)Manager who was there got her some Bendryl and alcohol to swab it with. Is red today but luckily the stinger did not go in her arm this time. Seems to be a lot of these red wasps at work and they sure like Linda.....
Since we are PA natives, we were cheering for the Phillies during the World Series. We were working the night of final game...found out who won when we had our supper break. Since both of my kids are living in Philly, they told me how crazy the city got after Philly won....absolute pandemonium broke out. We found out last night that one of the guys there is originally from Binghamton so we were chatting with him about that.Small world....
Well, sun is setting over Coffeyville. Linda is back from doing laundry and the race only has about 50 laps to go. Time for supper and relaxing.

Buzz from Coffeyville

Hi All,
We are busting at the seams here in the park. There are more rigs than there are sites to hold them all and with the new park not yet completed (was supposed to have been done Oct. 1),folks are getting antsy. The honey wagon guys are busy making their rounds every Mon/Wed/Fri..trying to keep up with so many rigs. They have been getting to our side of the park about 1:00 or so.

Here is the area where we are...


On the far side of this area is where the new park is taking shape. It will be nice when it's done so we aren't awakened every morning to the sound of back-up beepers and slamming doors on the dump trucks as they drop off a load of fill or gravel. We were told yesterday that this coming Monday we need to move our rig to the new area. It is supposed to be done by then (the crews are supposedly working all weekend on it). That will allow them to install the sewer lines down the left side of this area. The opposite side of the lot was completed within the last week. They did not have to move their rigs because they ran the line about 40 feet behind the rigs (look out Wal-Mart as you'll have a bunch of people coming to buy extra lengths of sewer hose to reach). On our side the city doesn't own the land that far behind us so they will run the lines ahead of the electrical boxes.
Only the 8 rigs on our side of the park will be allowed to move on Monday. When we first were told about the Monday move, I envisioned the great land rush in Oklahoma where everyone runs to stake their claim to a site but that won't be the case. Once they finish running the lines, we can choose to stay in the new part or return to our current site.

Here are the people currently in an "overflow area" that need a site...


We called the city this morning to ask if they have WiFi in the new area, as we paid the $50 for a months worth of service. The woman on the phone said someone would get back to us. The WiFi service is very erratic here....get bumped off alot. One of the guys said that they don't have enough bandwidth for everyone on it...whatever that means. I just know that it is a pretty common occurrence for RV parks and it gets old after awhile. We are getting closer to the day when we get Verizon's air card so we don't have to deal with this anymore.
We are concerned about the softness of the new park. A lot of new fill over there. First good rain and a bunch of us might be stuck. We will see how it goes. The guy, two rigs down from us, has a refurbished Greyhound bus and he says that he weighs 40-50,000# and no way is he going over there. He will boondock in the parking lot if need be and then move back when they are done.

We love our "picking" jobs at Amazon but don't know that we'd come back again. They move people around too much and you never know what area you will be in. They take people over to receiving, stowing, crisp plant, etc. Linda and I have been lucky to stay in picking although I got moved one night to receiving. I think that is one reason that Linda and I try to stay in the top 3 for fastest pickers so that we will stay in picking....The other thing that has been a problem here is getting the automatic deposit to go through on our paychecks. Mine finally went through last paycheck and Linda is still waiting. We did paperwork on same day (in Sept.)...same account...and her paperwork got lost or something so they had to resend it to the corporate office. She was told that it should go through on Nov. 9. We'll see...

Here is a picture of the main area of the campground.


There is another campground just down the road about a tenth of a mile called Heritage campground. There are at least 30 rigs in that park too. Then there are folks in the Elk City park and also at Altamont. These people have quite a drive to get here since there it no shuttle anymore to take us to and from work.

Our site has 30 amp electric (the end sites across from us each have 50 amp but the others have 30 amp like ours), and water hook-up. We've been told to fill our fresh water tanks when it gets to freezing temps and unhook from city connection as we will be responsible for any damages caused by busted pipes. They do not have frost proof(insulated) connections like some parks have. No cable....can pick up a few stations. Reception is better in evening and when wind isn't blowing (which is a rare occurrence). There is a bathhouse over near the other park for folks in rigs without showers. Pretty much a cinder block building with stalls with curtains. Nothing fancy...and I wonder how operable they will be if cold temps come. Speaking of weather...the weather here is perfect ! Today..for last day in October I am in t-shirt and shorts. Is in the 70's and a breeze (always seems to be a breeze here). Biggest plus of being here has been the weather. Except for very little rain, it has been gorgeous. We had two nights in the 30's but usually it has been in the 50's and 60's overnight. Amazing !! Makes us cringe to think of going back to PA to the cold where they are scraping their windshields and getting that dreaded "S" word. Yuck !! Until then we'll soak up as much of the the Kansas sun as we can.....

Sightseeing in Oklahoma

Monday and Tuesday was spent exploring the towns and countryside of nearby Oklahoma. I think I mentioned before that the Oklahoma border is just 3 miles outside of Coffeyville so we decided to check out the tourist attractions in this nearby state. On Monday we took a loop down to Pawnee, Ok and came back through Hominy and Barnsdall. The trading post we were looking for in Pawnee is no longer in operation but we had a great meal at Kacie's Diner while we were there. In Hominy a local artisan has created 18-20' sculptures, visible on a ridge just outside of town but too far away to get any pictures of. Our last stop, as nightfall set in, was to the town of Barnsdall...home of Anita Bryant and Clark Gable and the Worlds only main street oil well. It sits right in the middle of the street but appears to not be operational anymore.

On Tuesday we went to Bartlesville, OK. Our first stop was to Yocham's leather shop. What a neat place it was. Lots of cowboy memorabilia, custom saddles and furniture. In the rear of the retail area there is an area where three guys work on making the saddles and other custom items. They explained what they were doing and showed us some of the pieces they've made, that were in the back store room.


It was very interesting talking to them and learning about their craft. From there we went to the Tom Mix museum where I was surprised to see so much memorabilia. All of the items were purchased from the heir to the estate and the collection is extensive. We watched a movie in the little theater set up in the back and the saddle he used in the movie is shown here from one of the displays.

Tom's third wife was from Dewey (the town just outside of Bartlesville where the museum is) and he was also the town marshal for a short time in 1909. While in Dewey he worked on a local cattle ranch. His skill with horses is what got him a part in a movie that was being filmed near Dewey. That was the beginning of his movie career. The horse shown in this picture is in the likeness of Tony, the wonder horse that Tom rode. He was one of four horses that Tom owned throughout his career. Tom paid $600 for Tony when he was a young, undernourished colt. Tom Mix fattened Tony on oats soaked in milk. Together they made $7,500,000.
Next we went to the Price Tower, which is a Frank Lloyd Wright design. We took a tour of the building, which allowed us to see some of the private areas of the building, where the executive offices were and we also got to see one of the apartments, which has been left in its' original condition with period furnishings from the 50's. The building's uses a cantilevered design to suspend areas of the building. It was interesting to see the different Wright components and to also see the current exhibit that was in the museum. It featured artists who recycled common items into new art objects (items such as newspaper, milk cartons, plastic bottles and cassette tapes). It was fascinating to see the beautiful objects that had been created from "garbage".
Our last stop was to the Phillips petroleum museum. A lot of wonderful artifacts from the company's history in oil exploration. What I found interesting were all the items that Phillips has developed (resins, different types of plastics, etc.) that has led to them amassing over 15,000 patents and the development of many of the products we now enjoy.
We had two great days of sightseeing to see many of the interesting things that Oklahoma has to offer. Back to work tomorrow.....we have other trips planned for our upcoming days off.