Wednesday, June 2, 2010

An Unexpected Day Off ~ Pictures and More

Rumor had it this morning that we would not be working today due to the weather but no word from those in the know came down so off to work we went. Ron drove the show van with the gamers as Eric was scheduled off today. Wendy picked me up along with the hot dog cooker. Just as we were pulling into the parking lot across from Waterfront Park, we got the call that the carnival would be closed today due to a forecast of severe wind and rain. We drove back to the bone yard. Ron took time to read and is now taking a nap. I got caught up on the many blogs I follow and uploaded the pictures that we took on Sunday and now I am updating my blog. Hope you enjoy this hodge podge of pictures, thoughts and musings.




This is a view of the Merry-Go-Round from the top of the Mardi Gras (where Ron is working)






This is Zero Gravity, we called it the Round Up when we were growing up. Ron also can see this ride from his spot on the Mardi Gras.








This is Tyler. He is one of the guys who gives Ron his 15 minute breaks and lunch breaks. He is standing where Ron usually stands when he is working on the Mardi Gras.






This is the front of the Mardi Gras. Ron's post is at the top of the slide (far left). The kids enter the Mardi Gras at the stairs just to the right of the slide. They go through a maze of mirrors and up some stairs, through another maze and then down the slide to exit the ride.




These two pictures are of the Inverter. Riders start sitting in the big car belted in with a 5 point safety harness. The car goes from side to side eventually turning to where the riders are totally upside down at the top. More people have lost cell phones than we can count even though they are told to secure everything.

This is the Burger Kitchen on Wednesday when we were setting it up. Four of us worked 5.5 hours to get the inside and outside all set up and ready to go for opening day on Friday.



This is Joel in the Burger Kitchen where I am working this spot. He is cutting up one of the many onions we go through every day.





This is the muddy swamp looking out the front window of the Burger Kitchen on Saturday morning. It is quite humorous to watch some of the gals walking in their stelletto heals try to make their way from one side of the carnival to the other. Who knows, maybe I will get a picture of that.





This is one of the workers raking the mud to try to dry it out.


This is what it looked like all raked.







This is the same guy picking up the mounds of mud that was raked up.


This is that guy dumping the mud into the back of a wagon. Reminding me of watching a parade that has horses in it and the pooper scoopers doing their job.




This is looking out our back window of the Burger Kitchen. It is a fresh lemonade stand. Jeremy runs this stand and also travels with the carnival to our different spots. He makes all flavors of lemonade: regular, strawberry, peach and blueberry. My favorite is the strawberry lemonade.





This is a picture of the rose and daisy that Shawn & Albert gave me the other day. They have adopted Ron & I as their surrogate Grandparents. We have had a few late night and early morning visits by them to just talk. I have been known to make lunch for them on occasion and they have joined us for dinner a few times too.








This is Carol of Carol K's Journey and Dave of Dave in the RV. (Click on the bold links to get to their journals). They both follow along with my blog and we follow theirs. When they realized we were in Portland and close to their home; they live in Vancouver, WA, about 25 minutes from us, they invited us over for an afternoon to do laundry and then out for dinner. Carol is a stay-at-home mom who home-schooled their two sons, Tim and Jonathon. Dave set up computer systems in colleges throughout California before moving up here to Washington. In his free time he referees high school and semi-pro football games. Carol & Dave picked us up at 2:30 p.m. yesterday and we went back to their home where we did two loads of laundry and then they took us out to dinner at the Olive Garden. We enjoyed our time getting to know them and their family and really appreciated their generosity of allowing us to do our laundry and then the treat of dinner. It was fun to be with believers and hear how the Lord has been working in their lives. We had a great time meeting them and look forward to building our new friendship. Thanks Dave & Carol for a great afternoon and evening.

Hope you have enjoyed seeing where we are working and spending our time here in Portland and meeting our new friends. We hope to get some pictures of the midway at night. Will plan on doing that this weekend when the weather is supposed to be better.

Just watched the local evening news and they showed pictures of Waterfront Park and workers spreading new sand in the muddy swampy areas that are throughout Waterfront Park (like the one pictured above out the front window of the Burger Kitchen). They reported that the decision will be made in the morning by the Rose Festival Board & The Burbacks whether or not the carnival and Waterfront Park will be open tomorrow. I am sure it will depend on the amount of rain that we get between now and the morning. It has been nice having this extra day off but we are here to work and so are hoping that tomorrow we will be open and back to work.

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into our life with the carnival.

9 comments:

  1. Hi Alice,
    I was thinking of you this rainy day and then getting to read your latest page was fun. Here we had rain too from early in the day. Justice came again to help with things but stayed for just a short time because it was raining and he was getting cold and tired. He moved yesterday so he needed time to go home and get unpacked anyway. I love the rain and since my work is in the greenhouse or under the metal roof by Kurt's shop, (we call it the "stand" because we used to set that area up for a produce stand and now it is my potting and plant area..or where I stand to do that!). So I enjoyed time being out there a lot, organizing flats of plants and making little popsicle name sticks for the herb plants. I could do that because everyone was basicly inside the house with Ethan and I knew he was being well cared for. So a rainy day gets me out and working and I feel it was productive even though we didn't get the planting of peppers done together that we wanted to, or the cucumbers and squash. I was glad that I had finished Ethan's garden area including the newspaper and straw mulching yesterday so today's rain got them well established (the tomatoes, cucumbers and eggplant). I might like to do a page also at some point and figure out how to do one. I really enjoy reading yours and seeing your photos. But then you have been doing it for awhile and so you make it seem easy, but I know for me it might be a challenge to learn something new. Thinking of you. Love, Roxine

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  2. Great pictures,Alice! Thanks!

    btw, my grandson Jamie loves the Mardis Gras, one of his favorite things. He was four last year and we lost him. Couldn't find him anywhere. Finally found him having fun in the, you guessed, Mardis Gras!

    Brenda

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  3. Alice...your photos were great. Thanks for giving us that peek into the carnival life. Carol and Dave sound just awesome. I follow their blogs too. Glad you all got a chance to meet and share a wonderful meal.

    Good luck with the weather.

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  4. Ali, I enjoy following your blog and really like the pics you added. Gives me a better idea of what you are doing. Now that you have pics, I just want to know when we will see pics of you and Ron on one of those rides?...LOL

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  5. Ali, I'm glad that you and Ron had an unexpected day off today, but I hope the weather clears up soon so that you can resume earning money.

    Thanks for writing about us on your blog! We thoroughly enjoyed meeting both of you!

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  6. Yup, once in a while it is nice to have an unexpected day off - regardless of the reason.

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  7. Blah! Just looking at those rides made me naseous!! LOL!!

    It's great to see some pictures, though!

    I am sending you an actual email today.

    love you!
    dee

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  8. Fascinating blog! So glad I found it. Please keep up your detailed reports; sounds like a really interesting adventure!

    -- Melissa in Michigan

    PS: If you like mysteries, get a copy of "Mrs Pollifax Pursued" -- takes place partially in a carnival.

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  9. What a fantastic tour of the carnival and what you guys are doing there. Your pictures are great!!
    I follow Carol and Dave's blog also..great folks and great reading.
    Stay safe and enjoy your adventures!

    Mike & Gerri (happytrails)
    http://freedom2roll.blogspot.com

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