Quiet Day...

We worked yesterday and today. Sunday's are nice because we close at 3 so it feels like you have half of the day off. Saturday was busy and some people were crabby about having the shovel the snow from in front of their units. We set out three shovels for the tenants to use but about six people came in and demanded that we shovel the snow from in front of their door. All were women...they probably were worried they'd break a fingernail. I shoveled out several but the snow keeps sliding off the metal roof and it doesn't even look like you shoveled. One woman who wanted hers shoveled came in and said we hadn't done it but I had. Linda told her about the continuous push of snow coming off the roof but she insisted we hadn't done it. Trust me...from the way Linda's and my neck and shoulder felt last night.....we did them ! After lathering up with Tiger Balm last night, before bed, I felt pretty good this morning. That was until I got hit with an avalanche of snow from the roof while getting into one of the company units today. It was like a karate chop to the back of my neck.

We have off the next two days although we need to hang around here on Tuesday because the President of the company is coming for a site visit. We're hoping he comes here early so we don't have to wait around all day. We have a few errands to do in the area.

It has warmed up a little bit the last two days so it's helping the snow to melt. I'd love to see it keep on climbing and melt it ALL away......

Look What We Found When We Woke Up....

Oh My....what a mess we woke up to this morning. We are sure glad we got in Wednesday and got set up cause there is no way we could have done it today with all of the snow that was on-site. We figure we got around 24"...the winds were horrible blowing the snow into drifts around our rig and the storage buildings. The snowplow guy arrived around 6 a.m. and worked all day, with a little break, finally finishing up at 4:30 p.m. He was exhausted when he got done. Running out of places to put the snow as the snowbanks are so high that the plow can't push it any higher. We are hoping that this is the last snowfall of the winter !

We went out to dinner with friends tonight to Arthur's....a local restaurant. Linda had Coconut Shrimp and I had the Seafood Platter.On the way out I saw this cake in the dessert cooler. I asked the hostess about it and she said it's their Black and White Cake....it was huge !! Our friends said that it gets served on a big platter.....$15 a slice. That's some dessert !! We had a great time....a pleasant end to a day with cold, wind and just plain miserable weather.

In Ahead of The Storm

Wednesday morning we started discussing the news that the Northeast had a storm coming in at the end of the week and decided to pack up and head for New Jersey. Our site was a giant mud hole (worse than it was when we got there). Backing out was the easiest way to get off the site since there was very little space at the end of the site to make a turn (I think the guy with the van next door would have noticed if the rear half of his van was missing).

We hit a little rain but had an
uneventful trip north, which is a wonderful thing. We stopped at Linda's brother's house to pick up our car. They were kind enough to watch it for us while we were down south. Kathie had a wonderful dinner waiting for us when we arrived. After eating, I headed out for our work site to check things out...making sure we could get in and get our rig in where it needed to go. Some of the Mini U sites are very tight and impossible to navigate with our rig.. This one had ample room to make it around the end of the buildings but the space where we needed to park was really tight to get in to. Linda and the current manager tried their best to get it in as tight to the building as they could but being pinned in between buildings on three sides made it impossible to get as close as they wanted. It will work for the time we are here but when we went to hook up to the power, found that even with 60' of cord, we didn't reach. Ughhhhh!!!!! No way to get closer either. Problem is that the usual RV parking spot is where the snowplow has to push the snow off the site. Dang snow and winter anyway. Soooo....we plugged a 110 v. cord into a nearby receptacle and fed the end into our bedroom window so we could plug the heated mattress pad in on our bed and stay warm. With the severe cold and winds, there is no way the batteries would have held with the on/off of the furnace all night. We ran the furnace till the inside temp was 70, then shut the furnace off till morning and climbed into our toasty bed. When we got up at 7:00 it was 49 in the rig..Brrrrrr.... Grabbed the computer...located the closest Camping World and off we went to get another 50 amp extension cord. The roads were slippery....snowy slush on them. Took us 1.5 hours to get there (usually a 57 min trip according to GPS). Got back and plugged in....Ahhhhh....heat, lights, all the comforts of home. Just in time for the huge storm coming our way. Possibly 14" of snow and 20-40 m.p.h. winds. Yuck !! Apparently my order for springtime temps and no snow fell on deaf ears with the goddess upstairs.....

We went into work and worked a few hours today. First official day is Saturday.

Ila Grace

Yesterday we spent the day at Linda's daughter's house with the new grand baby. She is so precious ! We got to hold her, feed her and watch all of her cute expressions while she slept. Also got to see Teagan once he came home from daycare and spend time with him. Linda's youngest daughter and her partner came over after work too. We'll have a few more days here to see them before we head north to work.

Was rainy overnight so our site turned into a giant mudpit. Didn't know we had a waterfront site. Cloudy today so water is receding.....maybe I can put my boots away by the end of the day. Linda is off to a doctor's appointment while Boomer and I hold down the fort. We'll see what mischief we can get into.

It's A New Day...

Yesterday we left Walterboro, SC about 8:30 and headed out for Virginia Beach. Our GPS was telling us that we'd arrive there around 4:30. It was a gorgeous day...blue skies and light traffic. It was a pretty uneventful trip until we pulled off at the Virginia border...at the Welcome Center. I took Boomer for a walk when Linda yelled, "Come here right now". I came around the rig and she said, "All of the tread is gone off of the tire". Sure enough....it had and I never felt a thing in the handling of the rig while I was driving it. With this being a passenger side tire, no one would have seen anything going on with it either. Based on the light damage to the fender, around the tire, it appears that the tread probably came off like ribbon candy and slapped against the fiberglass.

Our first call was to the company that sold us the tire hazard policy but being a Saturday they weren't open. Linda then called the guy that sold us the policy and he was very nice and said he'd e-mail us the form to complete for reimbursement of the cost of a new tire. We've printed that form and we'll call tomorrow and put in a claim and see how that whole thing pans out.

Next we called our Good Sam Emergency roadside service folks. Derrick took all of our info and said he'd dispatch someone. Within 45 minutes Chris showed up, from nearby Rocky Mount and in 15 minute he was all done. I had gotten the spare down out of the holder in the rear of the RV, checked the tire pressure so it would be ready for the repair person. We were back on the road in exactly an hour from when we placed the call. Good Sam came through again for us ! They have been terrific to deal with anytime we've had to call them. We are SO LUCKY that we didn't have a blow-out with that tire. I think it was hanging on by a steel belt. Who knows how many more miles we could have gone on it before it would have blown out and probably taken the wheel wheel and surrounding area with it. We breathed a big sigh of relief !

Got back on the road and made it to the campground 10 minutes before they closed. The young lady, in the office, rang us up and then proceeded to draw on the campground map where our site would be. Wow, talk about over the hill and through the woods ! I asked if there was anyone who could escort us to the site since it seemed  a ways to get to it and not sure what the lighting would be like, if we could see all of the turns. The "security guard" (I use that term loosely) was sitting at a table nearby and got up and came over but didn't offer to take us to the site. So off we went....OK, we always like to get to a campground while it's still light so we can see what things look like. In this instance we would have made it if not for the tire mishap. Some warning signs to keep in mind that might make you decide to choose a different campground. If you see a large sign in the office that says: "No beer or pot parties allowed in the campground" you might want to reconsider. If there's a sign that says: "No refunds on camping fees" you might want to reconsider. If you have to drive THROUGH the RV storage lot to get to your campsite, you might want to reconsider. If you need to leave a trail of bread crumbs to find your way out, you might want to reconsider. Not that any of these are bad things...Just sayin'

The site they sent us to was in an area with no lighting and the light from the bonfire where all the people were gathered around (probably one of those beer or pot parties we were warned about) didn't throw a whole lot of light on the subject. I walked the site and blacktop approach. Now maybe it was just us, but we didn't have a good result in swinging out and hitting that landing strip. The rear tires of the truck were hanging off the blacktop and the ass end of the rig was in the mud.  Rather than risk it settling over night and not being able to reposition it in the morning I told Linda to pull out and we'd wait for daylight to try it again. We went to the parking lot, up by the office, and parked there for the night (thank god for glow in the dark bread crumbs). It got mighty cold overnight here....it was 43 in the rig when we woke up. We didn't want to run the furnace so it wouldn't pull down the batteries and then we wouldn't be able to get the dining room slide in. Linda's nephew and brother-in-law do cold weather camping....my hats are off to them. No way !

This morning we talked to the office people and since there are no refunds, they told us to go to the 50 amp area and we should have better luck with a site there. It was much better....probably will be pulling out through mud to get out (as the prior person did) but we'll get out of here. At least we will be warm...

Our Verizon air card reset last night at midnight so we can get on-line again. Linda called yesterday while we were driving and the over usage of time wasn't due to any downloads, etc. ...just time being logged on. Guess that it what happens when we're unemployed for 7 weeks....haha....time to get back to work and off the computer. We'll need to work to pay for the extra time we racked up for this next bill. Ouch !

Linda's a new grammie. Ila Grace was born around 9:30 p.m. on Friday. She is adorable and mom and baby should come home from the hospital today. We'll post some pictures soon.

It's a new day....sun is shining. We're alive and well and hope you all are doing the same. We'll be here for five more nights before we leave next Friday for work in New Jersey.

On The Move....

Yesterday we spent the day with our friend Jan. She had a doctor's appointment in the morning that we took her to and then we met up with our friend Carolyn for lunch, at Cinnamon Sticks. After lunch we went to Rutabagas, a health food store in Inverness. They had great prices on Mangosteen juice (saved $24) so we bought several bottles. After that, off to Wal-Mart to get a few things and fill up with diesel fuel.

Wednesday night we discovered that we had exceeded our monthly allowance for internet usage with our Verizon USB card so we started a "cease and desist" of all internet usage until it resets on Sunday. This post is coming to you courtesy of wireless here at the campground. Oh, that brings me to the next point. While we were at Jan's, we thought we'd check our e-mails since we can't use our computer. Lo and behold there was an e-mail from our corporate office that we need to report to work on the 27th in New Jersey. Thus creating a drastic change of plans for us. I'm writing this post from Waltersboro, SC....Green Acres RV park. Today is the day that Linda's oldest daughter was to have her baby. Our appointment, to get our RV worked on, was to have been the 24th. Our original plan was to get the rig worked on....drive up to Virginia Beach to see the new baby and hang out till we got called to our next assignment. The part about "reporting to our next assignment" got fast forwarded so we had to change our plans. We've canceled our appointment at Tri-Am and we're headed to Virginia Beach so Linda can see the her new grand-daughter Ila Grace and her kids before we need to be at work next Saturday. So, we're on the road...bound for Virgina. Should be there tomorrow evening.

Yesterday we had to take Boomer back to a vet as he is not himself at all and his face is very swollen. The vet feels that he probably has an abscessed rear tooth. He said that particular tooth has very long roots...they extend clear up to the eye. This can cause watering of the eye, which is what we saw a little of Monday evening. The vet gave us enough pain killers and antibiotics to give him some relief but we'll need to find a vet when we get to NJ so he can get the tooth x-rayed and most likely pulled. Tonight he's had his 3rd dose of the antibiotic and 2nd dose of pain meds so hopefully he's getting a little relief. He's still laying around a lot but seems a little perkier at times. We feel so sorry for the poor guy.

We're waiting for Ila Grace to come into the world. As of this writing, her mom is still in labor and I think Ila is protesting leaving her warm, cozy surroundings to come out and join us. Everyone is anxious to meet her....hope to see her soon !

Memories...

Today Linda and I watched a really interesting show on the PBS channel. It was about animals and the way they help humans. One segment of the show was how dolphins are used for training with physically and mentally impaired children. Dolphins have an inherent sense of how to interact with children, depending on the severity of their disability. They know when to be gentle, as in the case of a little boy who had some severe physical disabilities. One family, who had a little boy with a rare neurological disorder, lives in England but they make the trip to the Florida Keys every year for two weeks of dolphin therapy for their son. The father tapes the sessions so that his son can watch the tapes when they return home. The boy is mesmerized by the dolphins and has a unique connection with them that has brought him out of his world of silence and he has learned to speak. It was pretty amazing.

Another segment of the show talked about chimpanzees who live at Lion Safari in Florida. These chimpanzees were instrumental in research projects in the 60's that led to vaccinations for hepatitis and polio. Many chimps were used early on in the space program, before it was deemed safe for men to travel into space. They were shot into space and then studied once they returned to earth to learn the physiological affects on a body so similar to that of humans. A woman who was one of the researchers, and worked with these chimps, went to Lion Safari to see her old buddies. She had not seen them in 18 years. Once the research had been completed on these particular chimps, they had been moved to this facility in Florida to live out the rest of their lives. It was very touching to see how all of these chimps remembered her and greeted her return with big smiles and hugs. It was very apparent, that even after such a long time, they still remembered her. One of the oldest chimps that she visited was in the hospital when she visited. She said that he had been very instrumental in the research on hepatitis and humanity owed a lot of thanks to him for giving his life for medical science. He died two days after she visited with him.

This woman's dream was to create a place for the hundreds of other research chimps that are throughout the country and have no place to go....now that they are no longer used in the labs. She has been given 200 hundred acres in Shreveport, Louisiana to create an environment where these chimpanzees can live out the rest of their lives in their normal habitat instead of in a cage. What a wonderful thing that will be for these chimps that have given so much to mankind. Seems like the least we can do for them, don't you think ?

Boomer's Trip to Vet

Yesterday we took Boomer to the vet to get the shots he needed. The place we went to is part of a national chain. Despite having a coupon to get the exam for free, it still cost us a little over $100 for two shots and the parasite test. Linda has all of our receipts from our past visits to our vet up home and this place was considerably more expensive than our old vet. They even charge a "hazardous waste disposal fee" to discard your dog's poop that you take in to them for the parasite test. Oh brother !

As I mentioned last time, Boomer's eye was swollen and partially closed. It looked much better yesterday when he went to the vet but I had the vet look at it anyway. She said his eye was fine but perhaps it had something to do with a tooth or his jaw and to keep an eye on it. If he continued to have swelling, it would require an x-ray to see what the problem was. The woman vet was nice but I wasn't real crazy about the technicians. They needed to take Boomer's temperature before giving him a vaccination and I told them that he'd never had his temp taken ever but they insisted it had to be done. He had the same reaction to them trying to insert that thermometer as he does to getting his nails trimmed....pandemonium ! Finally I told them to "skip it" as someone was gonna get hurt. The tech got kind of snippy and said she couldn't "skip it" as he can't have a vaccination if he has a fever. By the time the woman vet came in, he was all out of sorts and didn't want any one near him...no way..no how. She was able to get his temp, after much coaxing and soothing and bribing him with treats. She was worried he would be prancing around too much to inject him with the vaccinations so she called a woman in to help her. Luckily it was a different one than the one I dealt with earlier. For some reason they felt it necessary to give him the shots in his butt after all the hoopla of JUST chasing him around with a thermometer for that same part of his anatomy. Our other vet always would grab the loose skin on the top of his neck and inject him here without any problems from Boomer. Poor Boomer felt like he was being assaulted from all ends yesterday and he didn't like any of it. His annual check-ups have always been hassle free but these people don't seem to "have the canine touch". They certainly know how to jack up someone's bill for their visit though. When I first got in the room with him they asked if I wanted him to have a heartworm test. I asked her how much it was. "I'll have them work that up for you". In she came with a whole litany of possible tests that he could/should have and the associated charge. All said and done, if I'd had all of those tests done, it would have come to $380 !! Yep, they are real big on up selling....and to think it only cost us $102 (and the exam was free). Don't think we'll be going back to that place.

Boomer still has swelling today. Seems a bit lethargic but I imagine his butt might be sore and maybe he has some discomfort under his eye. He doesn't seem to have any pain when I press on it and we've looked at his teeth and gums and they are fine. Not sure what it could be but we'll keep an eye on him.

Trip To The Dog Park

While we were at the clubhouse Sunday, watching the NASCAR race, a lady came up and asked if I was "one of the Linda's". I said "Yes, I am". Apparently Linda had told someone that we were looking for a dog park and this woman wanted to give us info on a dog park she had found. The weather report said it was going to be a nice day today so Linda and I wanted to take Boomer to the dog park so he could run and get some exercise.

As we learned from one of the guys at the park, this park is pretty new. It was located near Spring Hill, in a suburban section of town. The rotary club had built it and there are several different sections, based on the size of the dogs. Boomer's weight categorizes him as a large dog but compared to the dogs in that area today, he was small. It must have been Great Dane Day at the park as there were four or five Great Danes there and Boomer was very small in comparison to them. He found one or two dogs to run with but the Danes stayed together in their own little group (thank goodness). As we were walking back through the park to a picnic table a boxer approached a man that was sitting there and jumped up on him. When we got closer to this gentleman, we saw that this dog had cut his forearm with his toe nails. It left a pretty long gash so Linda went to the truck and got our first aid kit and bandaged his arm up. It was a good thing we had some gauze and disinfectant wipes with us as this guys arm was bleeding and needed protection from germs and dirt in the area. He was thankful for her help.

When Boomer started hiding under the table from some of the dogs, we could tell he had enough and wanted to go home. It wasn't until we got home that we noticed his one eye seems swollen and isn't open as far as the other one. I've wiped it several times with a wet, warm washcloth but we'll see how it looks in the morning. We can't see any scratches or any problem with it but perhaps one of the dogs scratched him when they were roughhousing at the park. When we first arrived down here we had researched vets in the area as Boomer missed getting two of his shots, which we typically get done in Williamsport over the Christmas holiday. Since we didn't make it home for the holidays he didn't get to go to his regular vet for his annual checkup so we called this afternoon and made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon for him. That way he can get his shots and if his eye is still bothering him, we can get that looked at. We're hoping it's nothing serious....he's such a sweet guy. He doesn't act like he's in any discomfort but something isn't "right" with him....he's a little clingy and wants a lot of lap time. Tomorrow we'll get him fixed up and if he's OK we'll go back to the park after our appointment and let him run some more. Maybe this time we'll sneak him into the little dog side and let him run with the zippy Jack Russell's and the other ones that aren't as aggressive.

Undercover Boss

There is a new show on CBS called Undercover Boss. CEO's from top companies go undercover within their organizations to see how their companies are being run and to see if there are improvements that can be made to make them better. Tonight's segment was on Hooters, a worldwide restaurant chain. It was interesting to watch this episode, having spent thirty plus years in the food industry. I've never stepped foot in a Hooters restaurant because I think it is degrading to women and based on the lawsuits over the years, they have discriminatory hiring practices.

The CEO, Coby Brooks went undercover at several of their restaurants in Texas. Mr. Brooks stepped into the role of CEO when his father appointed him to the position (having not discussed it with him prior to the announcement). The assignments that he took on, over the one week that he was undercover, was that of assistant manager, entry level kitchen worker, worker in the processing plant and marketing team member. As part of the marketing team, he went out on the street with the marketing team to find out what people thought of Hooters. Two women told him that they felt the restaurant was degrading to women and they'd never bring their daughters into a place like that. Ya think ? And he seemed very surprised by those revelations. When the "Hooter girls" are given t-shirts as their uniform, they are available in sizes from extra small to small. Hmmmm.... The manager at one of the stores was trying to decide what waitresses to send home, due to business slowing down on their shift. The manager held "reindeer games", which involved a contest to determine which one of the waitresses could eat a plate of baked beans the fastest with their hands behind their backs. How degrading ! The CEO, Mr. Brooks was really upset by this manager's action and at the end of the show admonished the manager and told him that he needed to publicly apologize to his staff for his actions. What do you think the patrons of that restaurant thought as the contest took place in that restaurant ? Probably the same as I feel about this restaurant chain. Nothing I saw tonight changed my mind.

The last place the CEO visited was to the processing plant where the sauces and dressings are made for the chain. He had worked there as a young man but had not visited there much since his father's death. His father's office was at the processing facility and his father was often seen walking throughout the plant, talking to the employees about their families and their jobs. This CEO, heavily disguised with a beard cover, safety glasses and a hat over his hair, worked with a young man who was filling buckets with wing sauce. While chatting with the employee, he discovered that morale had declined in the plant due to the boss's lack of interaction with the employees. The employees didn't feel that he cared about them and it had affected morale. I found out, firsthand as a supervisor, how important morale and keeping a connection with all of your employees is to having a cohesive, productive work environment. When I first started as a food service director, and had only one unit to oversee, I made it a point to walk through the facility every morning and talk to the workers. As our operations grew and more and more units were added to our department, I did not always have the time to walk around to talk to everyone in the units on a daily basis. This bothered the workers to the point that they called Human Resources and told them about it. Back then I found it frustrating that I had to discuss this with HR but in looking back on it, I realize that my discussions with my employees made a real connection with them and that they missed that interaction and direct contact with me. It truly makes a difference in your staff and I once again made it a point to get out to all the units, at least weekly, to talk to the people who were "the face of our business".  I think that Mr. Brooks learned how important that interaction is when he visited the processing plant and hopefully he'll try to visit there more often.

While he's at it, with positive changes and all...he might want to have a sanitation course for his employees. I found it really disgusting that the kitchen workers, who were prepping chicken wings one minute, took out the garbage the next minute and never removed their aprons as they slung the yucky bags of garbage into the compactor. Ewwwww....And if you could have seen how gross those kitchen floors were after a busy spell....Oh My... I think a little more emphasis should be placed on clean, sanitary facilities than on making sure the "Hooter Girls" have their make-up on, hair styled, nice tight shirt in place, etc. And as far as helping your sagging sales in a slow economy....sadly I'm sure there will always be a steady stream of testosterone driven young (and old) men at their door to buy wings and beer. Such was a week at Hooter's....next week it's 7-Eleven. Wonder what wonderful things we'll learn about Slurpies....