Can you believe it...we only have seven weeks to go + one or two weeks of tear down and the carnival season will be done for this year. It seems like it was just a few weeks ago we made our way to Kelso and our first carnival. We have met so many people, learned some new language (bone yard, lot, show van to name a few) and have seen the Lord's hand in our lives.
Before I begin my ramblings about this past week I need to wish a Happy 33rd Birthday to Jamie. This morning as I sat reflecting over the past 33 years I kept picturing that tiny little guy. He weighed in at only 3 lbs 12 oz and was 18" long. Being eight weeks early things were touch and go for a while. You sure can't tell that now as he is a strapping 5' 10" guy with a sweetie (Suzanne) of his own and a delightful daughter (Opal). We have been so blessed having him in our family. Thanks for being you Jamie. We love and miss you tons!!!
It is now Sunday night and the guys are busy doing tear down. We had lots more changes this past week. First off, we are celebrating the return of Rick & Theresa. As I posted earlier, Theresa does NOT need chemo or radiation and for that we are giving Praise to the Lord! She does need one more surgery which is yet to be scheduled. She goes back to the doctor in Portland tomorrow morning. Thank you so much for all your prayers for Theresa's health and for the blue unit as we dealt with changes, new bosses and routines. All have been appreciated. Because Theresa & Rick are back, Debbie has gone back to the white unit. After working all night Sunday night/Monday morning she had to drive to Roseburg, OR.
This week began like any other. We made a successful jump from Hillsboro, OR to Longview, WA. We decided to leave Hillsboro on Monday morning. I am so glad we did. We arrived in Longview to peace and quiet in the bone yard. We slept from 2:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and then got up, ate dinner and watched a little TV. We headed back to bed about 9:30 p.m. and slept till 9:00 Tuesday morning. People started arriving from Hillsboro about 10:00 a.m. and along with them came noise, lots of noise. I talked with Marva when she arrived and she said she was woke up 4x Monday night. I was so glad we were not in Hillsboro and just had a quiet day & night to ourselves. After all the condo's, personal trailers and the blue unit crew arrived the guys started set up. They worked till about 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday I worked for a couple of hours with Kristy (Rick & Theresa's daughter). We cleaned the show office and hired about 30 people. Ron continued to help with set up.
Wednesday I made a trip to the laundromat and Safeway. I was so glad I had our GPS (thanks Jamie & Suzanne) as I had been told the laundry was only two blocks away but the one I found was 3 1/2 miles from the fairgrounds. Once I finished up there I put in Safeway and promptly made a wrong turn. I turned right instead of left. After Maggie (our trustful GPS) recalculated the route and I got turned around. I made my way to Safeway and then back to the fair grounds. Theresa called me at 5:30 to let me know the ticket boxes were finally spotted in the right place on the lot and I could do the cleaning, organizing and readying for opening day on Thursday. It took me just over an hour to get them set up. We had two ottobockers and the yellow sub. We would be four ticket sellers this week. Ron & I, Cheryl and Barb.
Thursday and Friday were the crazy days of the carnival as they were both wrist band days. You pay $25 for a wrist band and you can ride all day long as many rides as you can. You can ride from noon to 10 p.m. but we quit selling them at 8:30 p.m. Ron and I are so amazed at how rude people can be. One instance was a lady came Friday night about 8:45 p.m. She got all bent out of shape, yelled at me that the website said the wrist bands were good till 10 p.m. I tried to explain to her that they are good till 10 you just had to purchase them by 8:30. She wanted to know what time they would be on sale on Saturday and I explained that we were not selling wrist bands Saturday or Sunday. She yelled at me that was ridiculous. I calmly told her she could take it up with Customer Service. I watched her walk to the show office and go up the stairs. I don't know how long she talked with Theresa or Kristy but when she came back to the yellow sub, she stood off to the side and had her daughter buy their tickets. Later Theresa said the lady was quite rude to her too. Some people just don't get it.
Saturday we answered many questions about why we didn't have wrist bands. One person even asked what was wrong with us...don't we know people have to work during the week and need the discounts on the weekends.
One neat thing that happened on Saturday was that Ron kept saying he wanted to go to the Rodeo and we all kept telling him no. He whined to everyone who would listen. Late in the afternoon, Theresa told me that after my break she would send Ron to the Rodeo at least for a little while but it would be a surprise for him. So at 6:45 Cheryl came to the yellow sub and gave me a break. I took a very quick one to the bathroom. When I came back Theresa had me tell Ron to take his cash box to the office as there was a major problem with the ATM and he needed to fix it. He looked so puzzled when he walked across the lot. Cheryl and I were just laughing. When Ron got up to the office window Theresa took his cash box and then asked him for his scan card. He looked at her in puzzlement. She told him to get outa there and go to the Rodeo. He could only go for about 45 minutes but that was enough for him. As he walked back past the yellow sub he waved at us and had the biggest grin on his face. I was so glad that Theresa made it work out for him to have an extended break and see some of the Rodeo. I think we all enjoyed bringing some joy to Ron.
Today was not a good day as a ticket seller. People were grumpy, angry we didn't have wrist bands or a special deal for them. Ron even thought of asking one person what she did for her job and did they have half price day or specials every day of the week. He refrained but really wanted to ask someone that. The carnival closed a little after 7:00 tonight. Since Theresa is back and Kristy is here I was not needed in the office. Believe me, I am not complaining. I did fine last week working 72 hours but am much more comfortable with a 49 1/4 hour work week. So tonight I ate a nice dinner of a cobb salad and then balanced my checkbook so now I can pay bills tomorrow. I must say, it does feel good to have the money to pay our bills. Just one more reason we are thankful for our work with the carnival right now.
The guys are busy with tear down right now. The word is that they should be done between 3 & 4 in the morning. We plan to get on the road between 9 & 10 tomorrow morning to go to Graham for the Pierce County Fair. Set up will begin Tuesday morning. The plan right now is that I will help in the office on Tuesday as Kristy has to go to Canby, OR to do the hiring for the fair there next week. Because of Theresa's surgery I will do the cleaning of the office and help to get the ticket cash boxes ready, also help with getting all the paperwork ready for the week: we have inspection sheets for each ride, a weekly summary report and a few other things. I enjoy working in the ticket box as well as in the office.
I found out that I will be doing Customer Service in Eugene and working in the Ride Time office in Salem and Puyallup. Ron will be working rides in Eugene, Salem and Puyallup. The reason for the changes is that in Eugene we have two units (the blue ~ us and the white unit together) and in Salem and Puyallup all three units will be together.
Here is the schedule for the rest of this carnival season ~~~ if you are in any of these places we would love to connect with you.
Monday, August 9 ~ we go to Graham, WA for the Pierce County Fair. The fair runs from the 12th to the 15th. Thursday is special day in the carnival where you get 7 rides or games (in any combination) for $15.00. This works out to be about half price for the rides.
Early in the morning on Monday, August 16th we drive to Eugene, OR for the Lane County Fair. The fair runs from the 18th to the 22nd. Wednesday is $1.50 per ride or game day. What a bargain as the rides are normally $3.75 or $4.50 per ride. Friday is ride bracelet day and is good from 11:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. The bracelet costs $25 per person.
Monday, August 23rd we jump to Salem for the Oregon State Fair. The fair runs from August 27 to September 6.
Tuesday, September 7 we will be up early and on our way to Puyallup, WA for the Western WA State Fair. The fair runs from Friday, September 10 through Sunday, September 26. On Monday, September 27 the final tear down of the season begins. We have been told it can take a week to a week and a half. After that we will make our way to Lewiston, ID to see Max, Christopher, Danalyn and Brandon. We are planning on being there for two weeks before heading back to Blaine, WA.
** Note ~ for more information on any of the fairs where we will be just click on the highlighted name and it will take you to the correct fair page.** (At least that is how it is supposed to work.)
Before closing I would like to share a prayer request with you. We would appreciate prayer regarding our work plans for the winter months and also next year. As I have said in earlier posts, each week we ask ourselves when we make our weekly jump if Rob asked us right now would we do it again next year and so far the answer has been a resounding yes. Working for the carnival has been good for us in so many ways and we are truly thankful for how the Lord opened doors for us. Now we are contemplating what to do next. Selling Christmas trees has been one thing we have been thinking about. What we would like prayer for is winter work for us. If you have a lead on a job, please don't hesitate to send it our way. We know and believe the Lord is in control and knows the plans He has for us...we just need to know where He is leading us. We trust that He will open doors for us ~ we just have to have our eyes open and willing hearts to go wherever that is. Thanks for lifting us up in prayer.
Thanks for reading my blog and as always, comments are appreciated and welcome. Take care everyone and I hope to talk to you later in the middle of the week once we are in Graham.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Terrifically Quiet Tuesday!
So enjoying the QUIET of the bone yard this beautiful Tuesday morning. Maybe you are wondering how it can be quiet...because we left the bone yard in Hillsboro yesterday about noon and drove to Longview for our next carnival stop. The only ones here are Rob, Terry and us. We set up our motor home and crawled into bed after working 25+ hours straight...but I am jumping ahead of myself so let me back track.
Our week in Hillsboro was a very busy one. The weather was gorgeous all week. Never too hot but sunny and delightful every day. Monday morning I got up early and did laundry before we left Portland and headed to Hillsboro. You can read about our little adventure from Portland to Hillsboro two posts back. Monday afternoon Ron worked set up. I cleaned and organized the motor home for another week of work. Tuesday morning started by my giving Ron Happy Birthday wishes! He is now officially double nickels - 55! Tuesday morning I got up early to put pork ribs in the crock pot for dinner. I started work at 7:30 a.m. We started hiring people at 8:00 a.m. I think we hired about 50 people. Ron worked set up all day. We both finished about 5:30 p.m. After a delightful dinner of wild rice, bbq'd pork ribs, corn and green salad we celebrated Ron's birthday with our co-workers. They gathered at one condo and walked through the bone yard singing Happy Birthday to Ron until they reached our motor home. We all then had birthday cake and visited for a while. It was definitely a great day.
Wednesday was another day of set up for Ron and I worked in the office getting everything ready for Thursday. It was a busy yet not overwhelming day. In the evening we walked around the fair grounds checking out the different vendors and looking at the animals. It was kinda fun to walk around in the cool quiet of the evening watching everyone busy getting ready for opening day. We found a vendor that makes wood signs. We are thinking of getting a sign that says "The Wandering Workentins."
Thursday morning Ron and I discussed the sign for our names. He will order it today. We opened the carnival at noon on Thursday. It was wrist band day - a very busy day. We have eight ticket sellers here in Hillsboro and all were kept busy. We had two sessions of the wrist band. The first one ran from Noon to 5:00 p.m. and the second one went from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. The carnival stayed home till 11:00 p.m. Ron sold tickets in Kiddyland. The busiest ticket box. I worked in the office and sold tickets, giving breaks to all the other ticket sellers. It was definitely one of the busiest days we have had.
Friday and Saturday were busy days for the carnival. I had been told that Friday would be a pretty slow day but in the office that was definitely not true. Friday the carnival closed at 11:30 p.m but Debbie and I were in the office till 12:30 a.m. Saturday was another busy day. Busy days are good as it makes the days go by quicker. Saturday night the carnival closed around 11:45 p.m. Debbie and I finished in the office about 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning.
Sunday morning I started work at 9:30 a.m. We still had money to count, reports to be completed from Saturday. It was definitely going to be a busy day. Ron started his day about 11:30 a.m. He has to get the ATM filled and in operation before the carnival opens. On Saturday he had to add money to it twice during the day. Sunday was definitely a long day. The carnival closed at 11:30 p.m. Tear down starts right away. Ron first has to close down each of the ticket boxes. Here at Hillsboro we had five ticket boxes. The yellow ticket box, we call the "yellow sub." We had it set up for four ticket sellers. Then we had three white ticket boxes we call the "ottobockers" or as I called it early on the "ottoboxers." Two were set up for one seller and one was set up for two sellers. Ron has to pull all the monitors from each ticket box, close out the ATM and ready the ticket boxes for travel. This includes laying down all the chairs, closing the voice boxes and securing all the printers and scan guns. When we first started with the carnival it would take about 30 minutes just to close down the yellow sub. Now Ron can close down all the ticket boxes in about 45 minutes.
After doing the ticket boxes Ron went and changed his clothes, grabbed a sandwich and headed for tear down of the rides. He worked all night till 10:00 Monday morning. I worked with Debbie all night in the office. We had to count money, make deposits, do all the books for the show for the week and then do payroll. After all the money stuff and books were done we started payroll at 6:00 a.m. I stopped long enough to go with Rob to the bank at 5:00 a.m. Because we had such a large deposit to make we had to have two people go to the bank. Back at the office we started payroll. We finished transmitting about 8:45 a.m. and then did the quickest tear down of the inside of the office we have ever done. We were done in 15 minutes!
I had worked 24 hours straight! It is funny how tired I wasn't. I was amazed though at how giddy we both were by the time we were done. Debbie and I walked back to the motor home and Debbie got ready to head to her friends place where she had been staying. Debbie still had a long day ahead of her. She had to do laundry and then drive to Roseburg, OR about 5 1/2 hours south of us. She then hoped to sleep for a couple of hours as she had to then enter all the people that Althea and Jamie had hired and be ready for opening at 8:00 Tuesday morning. Kristy (Rick & Theresa's daughter) and I will be doing the office this week here in Longview.
After Debbie left I got the inside of the motor home ready for travel. Ron got off at 10:00 a.m. After talking he readied the motor home on the outside. We decided that we would drive to Longview then instead of staying in Hillsboro for the night. It was a good decision. We arrived here in Longview about 1:15 p.m. Talked to Rob and got our motor home parked and level. We then crawled into bed about 2:00 p.m. and slept till 7:30 p.m. We both felt much better once we woke up. We then set up the satellite dish, ate dinner and then I went back to bed around 9:30 p.m. Ron spent some time on the computer before he went to bed.
I woke up at 8:45 this morning feeling so refreshed and ready to start the day.
Today we start hiring at 1:00 p.m. Right now, the carnival lot is empty. I can look out the motor home window where the carnival is supposed to be set up and there is nothing but field. It is now 10:10 a.m. and people are starting to pull into the bone yard. Just spoke to Marva. So glad we left Hillsboro yesterday. She said she got woke up 4 times in the night due to people yelling for some reason or another. Guess I had better get off the computer and eat some breakfast before the work begins again.
I want to close with some good news. Heard from Theresa & Rick yesterday. She does NOT need chemo or radiation! Join us in giving thanks to the Lord for healing in her life. They hope to join us next week in Graham for the Pierce County Fair.
Bye for now. Hope to catch up with you again soon.
Alice
Our week in Hillsboro was a very busy one. The weather was gorgeous all week. Never too hot but sunny and delightful every day. Monday morning I got up early and did laundry before we left Portland and headed to Hillsboro. You can read about our little adventure from Portland to Hillsboro two posts back. Monday afternoon Ron worked set up. I cleaned and organized the motor home for another week of work. Tuesday morning started by my giving Ron Happy Birthday wishes! He is now officially double nickels - 55! Tuesday morning I got up early to put pork ribs in the crock pot for dinner. I started work at 7:30 a.m. We started hiring people at 8:00 a.m. I think we hired about 50 people. Ron worked set up all day. We both finished about 5:30 p.m. After a delightful dinner of wild rice, bbq'd pork ribs, corn and green salad we celebrated Ron's birthday with our co-workers. They gathered at one condo and walked through the bone yard singing Happy Birthday to Ron until they reached our motor home. We all then had birthday cake and visited for a while. It was definitely a great day.
Wednesday was another day of set up for Ron and I worked in the office getting everything ready for Thursday. It was a busy yet not overwhelming day. In the evening we walked around the fair grounds checking out the different vendors and looking at the animals. It was kinda fun to walk around in the cool quiet of the evening watching everyone busy getting ready for opening day. We found a vendor that makes wood signs. We are thinking of getting a sign that says "The Wandering Workentins."
Thursday morning Ron and I discussed the sign for our names. He will order it today. We opened the carnival at noon on Thursday. It was wrist band day - a very busy day. We have eight ticket sellers here in Hillsboro and all were kept busy. We had two sessions of the wrist band. The first one ran from Noon to 5:00 p.m. and the second one went from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. The carnival stayed home till 11:00 p.m. Ron sold tickets in Kiddyland. The busiest ticket box. I worked in the office and sold tickets, giving breaks to all the other ticket sellers. It was definitely one of the busiest days we have had.
Friday and Saturday were busy days for the carnival. I had been told that Friday would be a pretty slow day but in the office that was definitely not true. Friday the carnival closed at 11:30 p.m but Debbie and I were in the office till 12:30 a.m. Saturday was another busy day. Busy days are good as it makes the days go by quicker. Saturday night the carnival closed around 11:45 p.m. Debbie and I finished in the office about 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning.
Sunday morning I started work at 9:30 a.m. We still had money to count, reports to be completed from Saturday. It was definitely going to be a busy day. Ron started his day about 11:30 a.m. He has to get the ATM filled and in operation before the carnival opens. On Saturday he had to add money to it twice during the day. Sunday was definitely a long day. The carnival closed at 11:30 p.m. Tear down starts right away. Ron first has to close down each of the ticket boxes. Here at Hillsboro we had five ticket boxes. The yellow ticket box, we call the "yellow sub." We had it set up for four ticket sellers. Then we had three white ticket boxes we call the "ottobockers" or as I called it early on the "ottoboxers." Two were set up for one seller and one was set up for two sellers. Ron has to pull all the monitors from each ticket box, close out the ATM and ready the ticket boxes for travel. This includes laying down all the chairs, closing the voice boxes and securing all the printers and scan guns. When we first started with the carnival it would take about 30 minutes just to close down the yellow sub. Now Ron can close down all the ticket boxes in about 45 minutes.
After doing the ticket boxes Ron went and changed his clothes, grabbed a sandwich and headed for tear down of the rides. He worked all night till 10:00 Monday morning. I worked with Debbie all night in the office. We had to count money, make deposits, do all the books for the show for the week and then do payroll. After all the money stuff and books were done we started payroll at 6:00 a.m. I stopped long enough to go with Rob to the bank at 5:00 a.m. Because we had such a large deposit to make we had to have two people go to the bank. Back at the office we started payroll. We finished transmitting about 8:45 a.m. and then did the quickest tear down of the inside of the office we have ever done. We were done in 15 minutes!
I had worked 24 hours straight! It is funny how tired I wasn't. I was amazed though at how giddy we both were by the time we were done. Debbie and I walked back to the motor home and Debbie got ready to head to her friends place where she had been staying. Debbie still had a long day ahead of her. She had to do laundry and then drive to Roseburg, OR about 5 1/2 hours south of us. She then hoped to sleep for a couple of hours as she had to then enter all the people that Althea and Jamie had hired and be ready for opening at 8:00 Tuesday morning. Kristy (Rick & Theresa's daughter) and I will be doing the office this week here in Longview.
After Debbie left I got the inside of the motor home ready for travel. Ron got off at 10:00 a.m. After talking he readied the motor home on the outside. We decided that we would drive to Longview then instead of staying in Hillsboro for the night. It was a good decision. We arrived here in Longview about 1:15 p.m. Talked to Rob and got our motor home parked and level. We then crawled into bed about 2:00 p.m. and slept till 7:30 p.m. We both felt much better once we woke up. We then set up the satellite dish, ate dinner and then I went back to bed around 9:30 p.m. Ron spent some time on the computer before he went to bed.
I woke up at 8:45 this morning feeling so refreshed and ready to start the day.
Today we start hiring at 1:00 p.m. Right now, the carnival lot is empty. I can look out the motor home window where the carnival is supposed to be set up and there is nothing but field. It is now 10:10 a.m. and people are starting to pull into the bone yard. Just spoke to Marva. So glad we left Hillsboro yesterday. She said she got woke up 4 times in the night due to people yelling for some reason or another. Guess I had better get off the computer and eat some breakfast before the work begins again.
I want to close with some good news. Heard from Theresa & Rick yesterday. She does NOT need chemo or radiation! Join us in giving thanks to the Lord for healing in her life. They hope to join us next week in Graham for the Pierce County Fair.
Bye for now. Hope to catch up with you again soon.
Alice
Friday, July 30, 2010
Answered Prayer
Yeah for answered prayer.
We got word yesterday that after a two week waiting period Theresa does NOT need chemo but will just go through radiation! Thank you to everyone for your faithful prayers for Theresa. God is good.
Alice
We got word yesterday that after a two week waiting period Theresa does NOT need chemo but will just go through radiation! Thank you to everyone for your faithful prayers for Theresa. God is good.
Alice
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Portland to Hillsboro
Hello on this beautiful Thursday morning. The sun is shining and the air is cool. It is supposed to be in the high 80's today.
Our time in Portland was a different kind of week for us. I ended up being off Monday thru Friday. I spent my time reading, relaxing, reading blogs, cooking nice dinners, doing a little shopping and one afternoon we went for a ride and found a covered bridge in a suburb of Portland. It was a good week.
Ron on the other hand worked Tuesday & Wednesday helping to clean up the hill behind the shop. It had been taken over by a fairly large group of homeless people. The Burback's had the police remove the group of people and for two days a large group of the ride guys cleaned up lots of garbage. The comments heard from the guys were that it was a pretty disgusting area and looked a thousand times better when they were done. After they finished on Wednesday afternoon, Ronnie Burback took all the guys to Izzy's for lunch. It was a pleasant surprise and enjoyed by the guys.
Thursday the guys worked around the shop in the morning and then had off Thursday afternoon. That is when Ron and I found the covered bridge.
Friday was set up day for the carnival. We were at an Hispanic Festival in downtown Portland under the Morrison Street Bridge. The festival ran Saturday and Sunday. It was a very slow carnival. We kept being told by those in charge of the festival that Sunday would be a very busy day as they were having some well known Mexican bands and singers but that never happened. It was very slow and super hot. It made for two very long days.
Tear down Sunday night went very fast. Debbie and I finished the office and was out of there by 12:45 a.m. Monday morning. The guys were done with tear down by 2:30 a.m. and home by 3:15 a.m. It was about a 30 minute drive from the carnival to the shop but they had to stop at 7-11 as many people were hungry.
Monday morning I woke about 8:15 and took advantage of the very quiet bone yard. I gathered up our laundry and put in two loads of clothes. I then went back to the motor home and cleaned up things and readied the inside for our move to Hillsboro. Ron woke up about 9:00 so I stripped the bed and did a third load of laundry. By doing it at the bone yard/shop I saved about $12.
We left Portland about 12:15 p.m. and headed to Hillsboro. I asked Ron before we left did we need to stop and get gas. "No, we are fine" was his reply. About 4 miles from the fairgrounds in Hillsboro the motor home started acting like it was not getting gas. The conversation that followed did not include the words "I told you so" but could have. Ron crossed three lanes of traffic pulled into a shopping center parking lot, dropped me off at Safeway and went to the gas station. After $145 and change the gas tank was full. We had NO problems the rest of the way to the fair grounds.
We are camped at the campground right at the fairgrounds. It is so nice to only have to walk about 75 ft to the show office. After getting the motor home set up it was time for the guys to go to work. They worked 4 hours on Monday afternoon.
Tuesday morning I was up early as I had to be at the show office at 7:30 a.m. ready to hire people at 8:00 a.m. We hired close to 50 people for this spot. Set up continued on Tuesday and Wednesday for the rides. I also worked Wednesday getting everything ready for opening day - Thursday.
Wednesday evening after the guys got off and Ron had showered. Ron, Albert and I walked around the fair grounds. Independent vendors and the barns were still hopping ~ all getting ready for opening day. The fair opens at 10:00 a.m. each morning. The carnival opens at Noon each day. On our walk, Ron got excited to see a booth that sells bloomin' onions. He has been looking for one of those since we have been on the road. I know where he will be at least once this week.
The schedule for the carnival ~
Thursday - is wrist band day with two sessions. The first session is from noon to 5:00 p.m. and the second session is 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. This means double work for us. We have two different colored wrist bands and two different colored stamps. The wrist band is $26 per session.
Friday thru Sunday is regular priced tickets.
The weather for the carnival is supposed to be in the low 80's each day after today. Should be nice. We are definitely enjoying the sunshine and think the rain is behind us.
Tuesday we celebrated Ron's 55th birthday. Jamie & Brandon both called Ron to wish him a great day. He also received birthday greetings via email and Facebook. Tuesday evening about 7:30 p.m. a group of our co-workers gathered at one of the condos and then walked through the bone yard/campground singing Happy Birthday and finished when they reached us at the motor home. I had picked up a chocolate cake with chocolate filling and frosting to have a little celebration for Ron. As we were getting ready for bed he said he had had a good day and it made him feel good to have a group join us for the evening. We definitely know we are liked and cared for by those we work with here at Funtastic.
Sorry it has been so long since I have written. Once last weekend hit we have been busy. I hope to be back again on Monday after our jump to Longview.
Next week we will be in Longview, WA for the Cowlitz County Fair. After that we go to Graham, WA for the Pierce County Fair. The onto Eugene, Salem and then Puyallup. We only have 8 weeks after we are done here in Hillsboro. Hard to believe that the season is on the downswing and that we have worked for four months with the carnival already.
One more thing...yesterday Rob came into the show office and asked me if I remembered him asking us why the carnival? And I said yes. We wanted to travel, we thought working with the carnival would be fun, and Ron's plumbing business was almost non-existent. He said he was so glad we were older, responsible, pleasant to work with but surprised that a church secretary would want to work for a carnival but he was thankful that we did. He enjoys working with us and knows that when he asks us to do something we do it and that we are not afraid to work. Our working here has helped to alleviate some of his stress about the running of the office. I made the comment that we just followed where the Lord opened the door. He didn't say anything to that and just went back outside to check on something. When we have been asked about how we got here we always say, we just followed the Lords leading and are where He wants us at least for right now.
We give thanks to the Lord for putting us in the blue unit. The red and white units have some major issues (more than us) in the bone yard and with some of the workers. We know we are where we are supposed to be.
That's about it for now from us. We hope everyone is having a great summer. As always, we enjoy hearing from you and love to answer your questions.
Take care and God Bless.
Alice
Our time in Portland was a different kind of week for us. I ended up being off Monday thru Friday. I spent my time reading, relaxing, reading blogs, cooking nice dinners, doing a little shopping and one afternoon we went for a ride and found a covered bridge in a suburb of Portland. It was a good week.
Ron on the other hand worked Tuesday & Wednesday helping to clean up the hill behind the shop. It had been taken over by a fairly large group of homeless people. The Burback's had the police remove the group of people and for two days a large group of the ride guys cleaned up lots of garbage. The comments heard from the guys were that it was a pretty disgusting area and looked a thousand times better when they were done. After they finished on Wednesday afternoon, Ronnie Burback took all the guys to Izzy's for lunch. It was a pleasant surprise and enjoyed by the guys.
Thursday the guys worked around the shop in the morning and then had off Thursday afternoon. That is when Ron and I found the covered bridge.
Friday was set up day for the carnival. We were at an Hispanic Festival in downtown Portland under the Morrison Street Bridge. The festival ran Saturday and Sunday. It was a very slow carnival. We kept being told by those in charge of the festival that Sunday would be a very busy day as they were having some well known Mexican bands and singers but that never happened. It was very slow and super hot. It made for two very long days.
Tear down Sunday night went very fast. Debbie and I finished the office and was out of there by 12:45 a.m. Monday morning. The guys were done with tear down by 2:30 a.m. and home by 3:15 a.m. It was about a 30 minute drive from the carnival to the shop but they had to stop at 7-11 as many people were hungry.
Monday morning I woke about 8:15 and took advantage of the very quiet bone yard. I gathered up our laundry and put in two loads of clothes. I then went back to the motor home and cleaned up things and readied the inside for our move to Hillsboro. Ron woke up about 9:00 so I stripped the bed and did a third load of laundry. By doing it at the bone yard/shop I saved about $12.
We left Portland about 12:15 p.m. and headed to Hillsboro. I asked Ron before we left did we need to stop and get gas. "No, we are fine" was his reply. About 4 miles from the fairgrounds in Hillsboro the motor home started acting like it was not getting gas. The conversation that followed did not include the words "I told you so" but could have. Ron crossed three lanes of traffic pulled into a shopping center parking lot, dropped me off at Safeway and went to the gas station. After $145 and change the gas tank was full. We had NO problems the rest of the way to the fair grounds.
We are camped at the campground right at the fairgrounds. It is so nice to only have to walk about 75 ft to the show office. After getting the motor home set up it was time for the guys to go to work. They worked 4 hours on Monday afternoon.
Tuesday morning I was up early as I had to be at the show office at 7:30 a.m. ready to hire people at 8:00 a.m. We hired close to 50 people for this spot. Set up continued on Tuesday and Wednesday for the rides. I also worked Wednesday getting everything ready for opening day - Thursday.
Wednesday evening after the guys got off and Ron had showered. Ron, Albert and I walked around the fair grounds. Independent vendors and the barns were still hopping ~ all getting ready for opening day. The fair opens at 10:00 a.m. each morning. The carnival opens at Noon each day. On our walk, Ron got excited to see a booth that sells bloomin' onions. He has been looking for one of those since we have been on the road. I know where he will be at least once this week.
The schedule for the carnival ~
Thursday - is wrist band day with two sessions. The first session is from noon to 5:00 p.m. and the second session is 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. This means double work for us. We have two different colored wrist bands and two different colored stamps. The wrist band is $26 per session.
Friday thru Sunday is regular priced tickets.
The weather for the carnival is supposed to be in the low 80's each day after today. Should be nice. We are definitely enjoying the sunshine and think the rain is behind us.
Tuesday we celebrated Ron's 55th birthday. Jamie & Brandon both called Ron to wish him a great day. He also received birthday greetings via email and Facebook. Tuesday evening about 7:30 p.m. a group of our co-workers gathered at one of the condos and then walked through the bone yard/campground singing Happy Birthday and finished when they reached us at the motor home. I had picked up a chocolate cake with chocolate filling and frosting to have a little celebration for Ron. As we were getting ready for bed he said he had had a good day and it made him feel good to have a group join us for the evening. We definitely know we are liked and cared for by those we work with here at Funtastic.
Sorry it has been so long since I have written. Once last weekend hit we have been busy. I hope to be back again on Monday after our jump to Longview.
Next week we will be in Longview, WA for the Cowlitz County Fair. After that we go to Graham, WA for the Pierce County Fair. The onto Eugene, Salem and then Puyallup. We only have 8 weeks after we are done here in Hillsboro. Hard to believe that the season is on the downswing and that we have worked for four months with the carnival already.
One more thing...yesterday Rob came into the show office and asked me if I remembered him asking us why the carnival? And I said yes. We wanted to travel, we thought working with the carnival would be fun, and Ron's plumbing business was almost non-existent. He said he was so glad we were older, responsible, pleasant to work with but surprised that a church secretary would want to work for a carnival but he was thankful that we did. He enjoys working with us and knows that when he asks us to do something we do it and that we are not afraid to work. Our working here has helped to alleviate some of his stress about the running of the office. I made the comment that we just followed where the Lord opened the door. He didn't say anything to that and just went back outside to check on something. When we have been asked about how we got here we always say, we just followed the Lords leading and are where He wants us at least for right now.
We give thanks to the Lord for putting us in the blue unit. The red and white units have some major issues (more than us) in the bone yard and with some of the workers. We know we are where we are supposed to be.
That's about it for now from us. We hope everyone is having a great summer. As always, we enjoy hearing from you and love to answer your questions.
Take care and God Bless.
Alice
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Week in Olympia, jump to Portland and plans for this week.
Hi Everybody! Sure hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather wherever you are ~ we have had beautiful weather since we arrived in Kent and we haven't looked back. Sure hope that summer is here for good now.
Another question: why do we hire so many people? Depending on the location and what the fair or festival is and the amount of rides and games we have at each spot is how we decide how many people we hire. For example at Ft. Lewis we did not hire any spot or green help. At Kent we hired only 6 people. Like I posted last time we hired over 60 people for Lakefair in Olympia. Will find out on Thursday how many we hire for this spot.
Thanks for questions, keep them coming ~ I love to hear from you all.
Our time in Olympia ~ went well though we did not get the hours that we have been getting. We were straight ticket sellers last week though Ron did help with set up and tear down. Tracy cut us loose one evening at 8:30 p.m., another evening at 6:00 p.m. and on Saturday we did not start till 5:00 p.m. Sunday, as usual, was our longest day. We did take advantage of having most of a day off by going to the fair and carnival to play. We asked Rob on Wednesday evening when we found out that we had off Saturday during the day if we could go on the rides. We are not allowed to go on the rides or play games on days we work. When Ron explained Tracy was giving us the day off he said no problem and to come see him on Saturday for some ride passes. So that is what we did. Saturday we got to the park about 10:20 and walked up the hill for the kids doing their go cart races. We watched quite a few of them. Some looked pretty cool whereas some of them were very plain. We then walked over to another park where they were setting up for a Kid's Day with lots of free activities. We then made our way back to the carnival and vendor areas. Rob was standing at the foot of the customer service trailer and told us to hang loose for a little while. We did and about 15 minutes later he brought us each out a ride pass for 10 rides. At $4.50 per ride for the big kids ride that was a special treat for us. We spent our time walking around and checking out the different vendors and food booths. All the food booths that were not Funtastic booths were non-profit organizations. Throughout the day we had roast beef sandwiches and curly fries. A special treat since we try hard not to eat the food at the carnival. There were about 30 vendors for the fair. We picked up a few freebies for the grands. I try to send a package every two or three weeks for them. Hope to get one ready this week to put in the mail on Friday.
We went on a few rides. Our first ride was the Scrambler. I like that ride but Ron felt a little queasy at the end. We then went through the Haunted Mansion, not scary at all just very dark. Next up was the Grand Wheel (96 ft high ferris wheel). We actually went on the ride twice, first facing one direction towards the Capital and Kiddy Land and then the other direction facing the big kid rides and the water. We also went on the Simbad twice. The first time I kept my eyes closed I was so scared and held onto Ron's hand for dear life. That ride goes 60 ft up in the air. The second time I kept my eyes open and what a view you have of the area. Our last ride was the Starship 2000 which actually did Ron in. It is kinda like the Roundup though totally enclosed. As soon as we got off the ride Ron walked over to the fence behind the ride and leaned over. He says he actually never got sick but I don't know. I do know he was done with the rides from that point on. We still have 7 ride passes left. I hope to use them when we are in Eugene, OR. We also spent an hour or so listening to a country-western band. All in all we had a terrific Saturday and I even got a slight sun burn. It wasn't too bad as it is turning into a tan.
Sunday was the looonnnnng day for Ron. We started at 11:40 a.m. and finished selling tickets at 11:15 p.m. Ron then switched into his tear down clothes and walked me to Albert's car. He let me use it to go home since the bone yard was in Lacey and the fair was in Olympia ~ about a 15 minute drive. Ron's first job for tear down is to put all the computer monitors back into the show office. After that he worked on the Tornado with Albert, then Sinbad with Ruben and Kollin and then helped Rudy finish up the Lolli Swings. The guys got back to the bone yard about 6:30 a.m. After taking a shower, Ron crawled into bed and slept till 11:00 a.m. I had gotten up at 9:00 a.m. and went and did laundry and made a stop at Cash & Carry to pick up some groceries. After I got back to the bone yard, people were starting to stir and starting to tear down the bone yard for the next jump. On a negative note, we had a Blue Unit ride jock quit at the end of his shift Sunday night. Not sure what or why he left but many of the guys were upset that he didn't even stick around to help with tear down. Even though we hired spot help, having regulars to coordinate the tear down is a big plus and does help to make things go smoother. Don't know if they are going to try to find someone else to travel with us for that position.
The Red Unit is going to Enumclaw this week and the White and Blue (our unit) headed to Portland. Just as Ron and I were getting ready to pull out of the bone yard Kenny came up to me and said I needed to drive a show van to Portland. We had two vans to move and only one driver. Ron was not too happy about that as we had planned to stop at Costco and Winco to get groceries. I had only one passenger in the van. Rudy, a ride jock, who runs the Lolli Swings was my passenger. I asked him if he minded if we stopped at Winco on our way to the Portland shop ~ he said no, he would pick up some groceries while there too. Ron led the way in the motor home and I followed him. We stopped at the rest area just outside of Vancouver, WA to dump our tanks. What we found was a motor home being hooked up to a big tow truck in the dump station line. There was also a small tow truck to tow the boat that the motor home had been towing. Fortunately they were at the first dump station so Ron pulled in front of them and backed into the dump site. I just pulled the van in front of Ron. While Ron was dumping the tanks I got on Maggie (our Magellan GPS) to get directions to Winco. Once done at the rest area we got back on the road and went to Winco before heading to the Portland Shop. We arrived at about 6:15 p.m.
We saw one bad accident while on the road. A large motor home pulling a Volkswagon Bug had rolled over into the side ditch along the freeway. They had already pulled the VW out of the ditch and the big tow truck was checking things out to see how to get the motor home out of the ditch. It appeared there was a lot of damage to both vehicles. We did not see any aid cars or police there so just hoped that the people inside the motor home were not hurt. Definitely not a good thing to see on the road.
We got ourselves settled and hooked up to power in the bone yard and then visited with a few people before calling it a night. Ron talked to Kenny and was told there was a 7:00 a.m. call this morning. All the ride guys were on garbage clean up. Behind the Portland Shop the Burbacks own some acreage that had been taken over by a large group of homeless people and it was filled with lots of garbage. The police came around last week and again yesterday and today to tell them they had to leave the property this morning. There were a couple of stragglers that wanted to hassle the guys but the police got them to finally leave. The guys worked till 3:45 this afternoon with an hour off for lunch and will go back tomorrow morning and continue to do clean up in the area. Guess the Burback's and the owners of Curtis RV (the other owners of the area behind the shop) are trying to figure out how to block the area to keep the homeless from camping out there again. The guys found lots of nasty things including needles filled with drugs, bags of white powder, knives, hammers and other things. The drugs/bags of powder were turned over to the local police department. The guys are not looking forward to going back to do more clean up tomorrow but they are all glad for the hours this week.
We are doing a two day Hispanic Festival at the Portland Waterfront on Saturday and Sunday. We set up Thursday and Friday. Not sure how many games/rides will be put up. All I know is that I work Thursday, Saturday and Sunday & Ron works every day this week. Once again we will tear down on Sunday night and jump on Monday. We go to Hillsboro, OR for the Washington County Fair. The fair runs Friday to Sunday. Not sure if they will set up on Tuesday/Wednesday or Wednesday/Thursday next week.
Next Tuesday Ron turns 55 and we are having a birthday party for him in the bone yard. I plan on stopping at Costco on Monday on our way to Hillsboro to pick up a birthday cake.
Praise & Prayer Requests ~~~~
Thanksgiving that we had a good week in Olympia. We did have two ride guys get hurt, one broke his hand and another tore the muscle in his shoulder. Glad that the injuries were not more serious and both should heal completely.
Celebrating that Theresa and Rick were able to join us for a few hours each day in Olympia. Theresa's next step is to begin chemo but the doctors are having her wait a couple of weeks to build up her strength. Please continue to keep them in your prayers as they travel this uncertain journey.
Thankful we had another jump without motor home problems.
Enjoyed conversations with Jamie, Brandon and Danalyn. Also heard from Opal and Christopher over the phone - they both told me "I love you Grammy"....sweet music to this Grammy's ears. Max was in the shower so didn't have a chance to talk with him. Hopefully next time.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers for safety for us as we work especially on Sunday/Monday when we can work 20+ hours straight.
Thanks for your prayers, phone calls, emails and blog comments. We always like to hear how things are going at home and with all our friends and family.
Well that's all I know for now. I hope to get pictures downloaded to the computer tomorrow. If I do I will post some on the blog.
Hope you enjoyed reading this update on our time working, traveling and living with the carnival.
Alice
Another question: why do we hire so many people? Depending on the location and what the fair or festival is and the amount of rides and games we have at each spot is how we decide how many people we hire. For example at Ft. Lewis we did not hire any spot or green help. At Kent we hired only 6 people. Like I posted last time we hired over 60 people for Lakefair in Olympia. Will find out on Thursday how many we hire for this spot.
Thanks for questions, keep them coming ~ I love to hear from you all.
Our time in Olympia ~ went well though we did not get the hours that we have been getting. We were straight ticket sellers last week though Ron did help with set up and tear down. Tracy cut us loose one evening at 8:30 p.m., another evening at 6:00 p.m. and on Saturday we did not start till 5:00 p.m. Sunday, as usual, was our longest day. We did take advantage of having most of a day off by going to the fair and carnival to play. We asked Rob on Wednesday evening when we found out that we had off Saturday during the day if we could go on the rides. We are not allowed to go on the rides or play games on days we work. When Ron explained Tracy was giving us the day off he said no problem and to come see him on Saturday for some ride passes. So that is what we did. Saturday we got to the park about 10:20 and walked up the hill for the kids doing their go cart races. We watched quite a few of them. Some looked pretty cool whereas some of them were very plain. We then walked over to another park where they were setting up for a Kid's Day with lots of free activities. We then made our way back to the carnival and vendor areas. Rob was standing at the foot of the customer service trailer and told us to hang loose for a little while. We did and about 15 minutes later he brought us each out a ride pass for 10 rides. At $4.50 per ride for the big kids ride that was a special treat for us. We spent our time walking around and checking out the different vendors and food booths. All the food booths that were not Funtastic booths were non-profit organizations. Throughout the day we had roast beef sandwiches and curly fries. A special treat since we try hard not to eat the food at the carnival. There were about 30 vendors for the fair. We picked up a few freebies for the grands. I try to send a package every two or three weeks for them. Hope to get one ready this week to put in the mail on Friday.
We went on a few rides. Our first ride was the Scrambler. I like that ride but Ron felt a little queasy at the end. We then went through the Haunted Mansion, not scary at all just very dark. Next up was the Grand Wheel (96 ft high ferris wheel). We actually went on the ride twice, first facing one direction towards the Capital and Kiddy Land and then the other direction facing the big kid rides and the water. We also went on the Simbad twice. The first time I kept my eyes closed I was so scared and held onto Ron's hand for dear life. That ride goes 60 ft up in the air. The second time I kept my eyes open and what a view you have of the area. Our last ride was the Starship 2000 which actually did Ron in. It is kinda like the Roundup though totally enclosed. As soon as we got off the ride Ron walked over to the fence behind the ride and leaned over. He says he actually never got sick but I don't know. I do know he was done with the rides from that point on. We still have 7 ride passes left. I hope to use them when we are in Eugene, OR. We also spent an hour or so listening to a country-western band. All in all we had a terrific Saturday and I even got a slight sun burn. It wasn't too bad as it is turning into a tan.
Sunday was the looonnnnng day for Ron. We started at 11:40 a.m. and finished selling tickets at 11:15 p.m. Ron then switched into his tear down clothes and walked me to Albert's car. He let me use it to go home since the bone yard was in Lacey and the fair was in Olympia ~ about a 15 minute drive. Ron's first job for tear down is to put all the computer monitors back into the show office. After that he worked on the Tornado with Albert, then Sinbad with Ruben and Kollin and then helped Rudy finish up the Lolli Swings. The guys got back to the bone yard about 6:30 a.m. After taking a shower, Ron crawled into bed and slept till 11:00 a.m. I had gotten up at 9:00 a.m. and went and did laundry and made a stop at Cash & Carry to pick up some groceries. After I got back to the bone yard, people were starting to stir and starting to tear down the bone yard for the next jump. On a negative note, we had a Blue Unit ride jock quit at the end of his shift Sunday night. Not sure what or why he left but many of the guys were upset that he didn't even stick around to help with tear down. Even though we hired spot help, having regulars to coordinate the tear down is a big plus and does help to make things go smoother. Don't know if they are going to try to find someone else to travel with us for that position.
The Red Unit is going to Enumclaw this week and the White and Blue (our unit) headed to Portland. Just as Ron and I were getting ready to pull out of the bone yard Kenny came up to me and said I needed to drive a show van to Portland. We had two vans to move and only one driver. Ron was not too happy about that as we had planned to stop at Costco and Winco to get groceries. I had only one passenger in the van. Rudy, a ride jock, who runs the Lolli Swings was my passenger. I asked him if he minded if we stopped at Winco on our way to the Portland shop ~ he said no, he would pick up some groceries while there too. Ron led the way in the motor home and I followed him. We stopped at the rest area just outside of Vancouver, WA to dump our tanks. What we found was a motor home being hooked up to a big tow truck in the dump station line. There was also a small tow truck to tow the boat that the motor home had been towing. Fortunately they were at the first dump station so Ron pulled in front of them and backed into the dump site. I just pulled the van in front of Ron. While Ron was dumping the tanks I got on Maggie (our Magellan GPS) to get directions to Winco. Once done at the rest area we got back on the road and went to Winco before heading to the Portland Shop. We arrived at about 6:15 p.m.
We saw one bad accident while on the road. A large motor home pulling a Volkswagon Bug had rolled over into the side ditch along the freeway. They had already pulled the VW out of the ditch and the big tow truck was checking things out to see how to get the motor home out of the ditch. It appeared there was a lot of damage to both vehicles. We did not see any aid cars or police there so just hoped that the people inside the motor home were not hurt. Definitely not a good thing to see on the road.
We got ourselves settled and hooked up to power in the bone yard and then visited with a few people before calling it a night. Ron talked to Kenny and was told there was a 7:00 a.m. call this morning. All the ride guys were on garbage clean up. Behind the Portland Shop the Burbacks own some acreage that had been taken over by a large group of homeless people and it was filled with lots of garbage. The police came around last week and again yesterday and today to tell them they had to leave the property this morning. There were a couple of stragglers that wanted to hassle the guys but the police got them to finally leave. The guys worked till 3:45 this afternoon with an hour off for lunch and will go back tomorrow morning and continue to do clean up in the area. Guess the Burback's and the owners of Curtis RV (the other owners of the area behind the shop) are trying to figure out how to block the area to keep the homeless from camping out there again. The guys found lots of nasty things including needles filled with drugs, bags of white powder, knives, hammers and other things. The drugs/bags of powder were turned over to the local police department. The guys are not looking forward to going back to do more clean up tomorrow but they are all glad for the hours this week.
We are doing a two day Hispanic Festival at the Portland Waterfront on Saturday and Sunday. We set up Thursday and Friday. Not sure how many games/rides will be put up. All I know is that I work Thursday, Saturday and Sunday & Ron works every day this week. Once again we will tear down on Sunday night and jump on Monday. We go to Hillsboro, OR for the Washington County Fair. The fair runs Friday to Sunday. Not sure if they will set up on Tuesday/Wednesday or Wednesday/Thursday next week.
Next Tuesday Ron turns 55 and we are having a birthday party for him in the bone yard. I plan on stopping at Costco on Monday on our way to Hillsboro to pick up a birthday cake.
Praise & Prayer Requests ~~~~
Thanksgiving that we had a good week in Olympia. We did have two ride guys get hurt, one broke his hand and another tore the muscle in his shoulder. Glad that the injuries were not more serious and both should heal completely.
Celebrating that Theresa and Rick were able to join us for a few hours each day in Olympia. Theresa's next step is to begin chemo but the doctors are having her wait a couple of weeks to build up her strength. Please continue to keep them in your prayers as they travel this uncertain journey.
Thankful we had another jump without motor home problems.
Enjoyed conversations with Jamie, Brandon and Danalyn. Also heard from Opal and Christopher over the phone - they both told me "I love you Grammy"....sweet music to this Grammy's ears. Max was in the shower so didn't have a chance to talk with him. Hopefully next time.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers for safety for us as we work especially on Sunday/Monday when we can work 20+ hours straight.
Thanks for your prayers, phone calls, emails and blog comments. We always like to hear how things are going at home and with all our friends and family.
Well that's all I know for now. I hope to get pictures downloaded to the computer tomorrow. If I do I will post some on the blog.
Hope you enjoyed reading this update on our time working, traveling and living with the carnival.
Alice
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