Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We have been living near Medina Lake for the last week.  We are about 40 miles west of San Antonio.  Of course with traffic and just a couple of days before Christmas, it took us over two hours travel time to drive into San Antonio.  Big mistake on our part to go on 23 December, but we did get a lot of shopping done.

From the Medina Lake campground, we can no longer see the lake.  It is so low that it just looks like a valley, but the campground is nice with tree covered sites and it is very quiet.  We are also surrounded by hungry deer looking for a handout.  Our neighbor decided to feed a couple of deer on his site.  Deer came running out of the woods from all directions. Within minutes, he had at least 20 or more  female does and fawns with one stag.  The next morning, he still had quite a collection of deer waiting for him to come out and feed them.

The deer do not like our cats.  Every time we take them outside for a walk, a doe will alert on them with stamping hooves and making their horsed bugling sound.  They sound like someone who lost their voice while trying to yell.  The cats seem to ignore the 'mad' deer and do their own thing.  If the doe gets too close, we chase them off with a shout and a wave of our arms so they do not try and kick a cat.

We visited the German settled town of  Fredericksburg last week to see their Christmas decorations and Trade Days nearby.  We did not stay late for the lights.  We stopped in a bakery for a snack and were entertained with carolers who stopped in.

Christmas Pyramid in the park.  Fredericksburg, TX

This is the Nimitz Museum with Admiral Charles Nimitz statue standing out front.

 The museum used to be a hotel with a ship's bow when you see it from across the street.

After walking up and down the main street enjoying the sights as well as the old well-maintained buildings, we drove to Trade Days a few miles away.

Decked out for the holidays!

You can find all sorts of items at the Trade Days.  Food, artwork, and lots of junk.  You can probably refurnish a whole house with all the old items for sale.  It's a good thing we are living in a motorhome with no room to spare for new items, because Sandy saw all sorts of items that she would have loved to bring home including an upcycled yard art sculpture that looked a lot like Shrek's Donkey! 

Trade Days

We know it has been a while since our last posting, so here's a quick catch up of what we have been doing since November.  Our first stop was in Oklahoma to visit with our daughter and our granddaughters.  We took the girls shopping for early Christmas gifts of clothing and shoes, and out to lunch while Misty was at work.  We had a wonderful time getting to know our granddaughters again.  As you can see, they are a close and happy family.  We are very proud of all of them considering the many hard times they have had over the years.

After our wonderful visit with the Ladies, we headed south into Texas.  

leaning tree - Bridgeport, TX

We stayed a couple of weeks in Bridgeport before we moved on down the road to Whitney.  

Site in Bridgeport, TX

Whitney is not too far from Waco and Hillsboro.  

Campground site in Whitney

We could not have asked for a better location to spend a few weeks.  Weather was great for November/December.  We celebrated a quiet Thanksgiving by ourselves this year.

Blue skies, Fall colors

The cats have been happy with all our latest locations.  Trees to climb, lots of bushes to explore, not a lot of noisy neighbors (with diesel trucks) to scare them and best of all - lots of room to wander around.  Even Max has been enjoying the outdoors and going outside more to explore with the others.

Max on the prowl

We had lunch at the Cafe Homestead located on Heritage Homestead's 510 acres near Waco for Sandy's birthday.  The cafe offers a fresh organic limited menu.  The best part was the quiet atmosphere.  No loud talking customers or music to talk over.  After lunch, we walked around the grounds visiting the different craft buildings. 

Heritage Homestead is a religious community living a simplistic lifestyle using basic hand tools to work and live off the land.  No machinery is used.  The farmland is plowed by horses.  Sheep are hand sheared.  Wool is hand carded.  Everything is handmade...metal work, woodwork......weaving, spinning, sewing, quilts, pottery, soap, and so much more. They do have electricity, phones, and computers, and some motorized vehicles.

You can see some of their fine craft products on this link.  They even have classes for anyone interested in learning the traditional ways. They also hold a fair twice a year to show visitors how they till the earth and make their crafts. 

They also save old barns by restoring them to their original beauty.  We talked to one woman about how the building we were standing in had been built in the 1800s in New Jersey and had been relocated to the Homestead by the community.  

Below is a restored barn appropriately called The Barn filled with all kinds of wonderful handmade items.  You can see some of their fine crafts here.   You can see a little bit of the inside of the barn if you go to Gift Barn and click on more photos.

That should have everyone caught up with us for now.  So, we will leave you with one more photo of Hillsboro's Courthouse.

If we don't post before the end of the year.....have a Happy New Year!

On The Road Again (Bartlesville, OK)

We left the Amazon Fulfillment Center positions on Friday night and are on the road once again.  We lasted six weeks at Amazon, and would  have finished the entire season if they had left us in our previous job stowing products on shelves.  We could also have made it if we were given the job of picking out products for orders, even though it is not unusual to walk over 10 miles a night.  Without consulting us, we were  transferred to packing orders on a moving line.  The pay was decent for this area, but the job task was not something we were willing to do through end of season. 

We found our new job to be too repetitive, extremely noisy from machinery, conveyor belts, music blaring, and feeling compelled to do repetitive time sensitive work continuously hour after hour.

 Dan made no friends with management when he asked in writing for decibel readings of the blaring music over machinery, and asked if they were exceeding OSHA standards.  The decibel reading was never provided, but the music volume was reduced to tolerable levels (no ear ringing 4 hours after leaving work).   Sandy was becoming dehydrated while Dan's previous rotator cuff  and carpal tunnel injuries were becoming more aggravated from the repetitive movements.  Sleeping during the day was difficult before the new job task, but it became almost impossible after switching to our new job.

 Our stress levels were peaking and we decided it just wasn't worth the money.  We gave our new job a chance and decided it just wasn't for us. We asked managers and HR if we could move back or to another area with no result. Well, it is time to move on.

We left Amazon on Friday night, said our good-byes to a few good friends, and moved to USACE Copan Lake Park for a few days.  

New location

 While we wait for one last mail order to arrive at our last location, we are getting back to our old schedule of sleeping nights and eating at normal times.  We will move to Tinker AFB, Oklahoma City Oklahoma  for a couple of weeks while waiting for a medical appointment for Dan In northern Oklahoma.  We will drive back north 150 miles each way in the tow car to complete the previously scheduled medical appointment, then begin moving south on 10 November.

Copan Lake

Amazon was an interesting adventure, but just not for us.  New adventures await, and we plan on Texas for the dead of winter. 

Closing Coffeyville's Fulfillment Center (Coffeyville, KS)

Coffeyville Amazon - Closing

Two weeks ago, Amazon officials told the Coffeyville employees and Camper Force seasonal temps in a meeting that they will be closing this fulfillment center in February 2015.  It was a sad night to watch the reactions of these hard working people.  Shocked silence.  Some crying while others tried to give comfort.  For us, it was a surprised shock.  Granted we are not in the main stream of rumors, but there was absolutely no hint that they were thinking of closing this center.

Some of the reasons given:  lack of manpower and low productivity.  Since Amazon started offering 2 day shipment, they want to have their centers closer to their customers.  They did this recently in Nevada.  It does make sense when they explained the time that could be saved when they are shipping items out to a small town with no city nearby with access to large distribution centers and airports.  The time spent to ship to the center for stocking, processing, then packed to be shipped right back to most cities cost valuable time when we are talking about a 2 day shipping promise.  

We can see their point, but still, we feel real bad for the employees and this small community doesn't offer many new job opportunities.  Amazon is offering different packages for leaving or re-locating with Amazon.  We have talked to a few of the employees and so far, many say they plan to stay here.  Some plan to go to college with their Amazon package while others are not sure what they will do.  Hopefully, it will work out for all of them.

For us - the Camper Force, we have our contracted jobs up  to 23 December.  Work will be normal until January when Amazon stops inbound shipments.  Of course, Amazon's motto seems to be everything is subject to change...so we shall see.

In the meantime, we are slowly getting use to our new work environment.  We go home every morning muscles aching and completely exhausted from stocking shelves, walking from one end of the warehouse to the other side (multiple times), pushing heavy carts, and climbing short step-ladders.  Then there's working the nights, sleeping days, and trying to stick to it during our days off.  Not easy for two people who are use to starting their day at 6 or 7 am to getting up at 1 pm in the afternoon.  Trying to stay up until 4 am isn't easy either on our days off.

The cats are actually adapting to our new schedule better than we are.  We think they like having the bed to themselves at night.  We manage to get them outside in the late afternoon on the warmer days, but that will soon come to an end with the cold weather moving in.  They have been asking for more attention since we started working our 10 hour shift.  Even Hitch has been begging to sit in our laps...well, for about 15 minutes before he decides he has had enough petting.

Mr. Turtle came for a visit

This guy showed up a couple of weeks ago near the back fence.  Actually, Dusty discovered him and alerted us with his quirky leaps and twitching.  We left them alone for awhile until they started having a hissing contest - the turtle won with the loudest hiss for such a small guy.

We thought it might be a good idea to move him down near the pond where the vegetation grew high and he could find plenty of food.  He was back the next day.  He probably wasn't happy about having to make that trip all the way back - up a hill and through four rv sites - yep, a long walk for him.  He was back in the same spot as before near the fence.  Dan removed a board he had used to block a hole under the fence to keep the cats on our side.  The next morning he was gone.  We thought that was the end of seeing him, but he surprised us and showed back up again a couple of days later.  So, now we are not sure if he went under the fence or simply disappeared under our rig for a couple of days.  Either way, he hasn't been back for a visit lately.  It is probably too cold for him now.  Too bad, we and the cats were starting to get used to his visits.

Dalton Defendeers Day

Once a year, Coffeyville reenacts the Dalton Gang's last bank robbery during their Dalton Defenders Day.  The Dalton Gang had been terrorizing the Oklahoma area by robbing trains for over a year and a half when they decided to try robbing two of Coffeyville's banks in broad daylight.  

 Thanks to quick thinking towns people and a brave bank clerk, the Dalton Gang's terrorizing days ended.  As some of the gang emerged from one bank, they were greeted by the town's people and a hail of bullets.

Three escaped down an alley from the second bank only to be shot down by a barber and a livery stable owner. 

All were killed except for one.  Emmett survived multiple bullet wounds and was released after 14 years in prison to become a Hollywood screen writer.

We did not make it downtown for the reenactments, but we did visit one of the two banks they tried to rob.  Quite a beauty, isn't it?  We took a quick tour of the inside.  The town has done a great job of keeping the bank's original look.

Well, that is it for us.  This first month has gone by quickly.  We have seen a few seasonal camper force  people quit already.  We hope to make it to the end by getting plenty of rest and eating healthy foods.  Basically, we are here to work and not do a lot of touring around.

Happy Trails!

Catching Up On Summer (Hot Springs, SD)

We had such a wonderful summer.  No regrets for changing jobs and locations.  Hot Springs is a very friendly town.  The locals and our co-workers were always helpful and willing to spend time out of their busy day to talk to us.  

Sandy found their architecture very interesting.  Made from sandstone, many of the buildings had a European medieval look with turrets and merlons.

There was so much detail that every time we passed through the downtown area, we saw something different.

Even the VA facilities were quite interesting.  We did not go inside this building, but it was Sandy's favorite one.

There's a great river walk that goes along one side of the main road through town with a waterfall directly across from the downtown area.

We did not spend much time touring around the Black Hills area during our stay this time.  We drove to Rapid City once a week for groceries, but for most of the time, we were happy to hangout around the campground or in Hot Springs.

We did a one time drive at the beginning to Custer State Park because we just had to see the bison with their calves.  Here are a few more photos....

And of course, we could not leave without seeing the 'Burro Gang' holding up vehicles for food.

It just isn't a Black Hills experience without seeing these guys in action!

Got something stuck in yer teeth...

What?

itchy chin

We had so much space that the cats were constantly asking to go outside...well, at least Dusty and Squirrel were asking.  Those two could spend all day outdoors if allowed.

Our duties were pretty light compared to our last job.  Dan checked the pit-houses for toilet paper and sweeping every morning and evening.  We picked up trash from the day-use areas and vacated campsites.  Checked to make sure campers were registered or answering their questions.  For the most part, if we saw a problem, we let the rangers deal with them.  That included any big major messes in the pit-houses, although, Dan did clean a couple of them when he knew it would be awhile before a ranger would be available to do the cleaning.

Cold Brook Lake in the morning

We did have one incident where the head ranger closed down the whole campground due to flash flood warnings.  The campground was full and most campers were in the middle of making their dinners.  It's a good thing Dan had warned the campers ahead of time because it took the head ranger a lot of time trying to get people to leave the day-use area.  By the time the ranger came around to the campground the intersection was already flooding.

Campsite #1 and cross roads

It felt strange to go from a full campground to completely empty.  We did not have to leave since our campsite was above the flood area.  

This is the area behind our site.  Usually, we cannot see the creek, but we could with the flood waters.  The flood turned out to be minor with no damage done to the campground or the surrounding area.

We left South Dakota on Tuesday.  We spent four days traveling to Kansas.  The weather was decent with hot sunny days and some side winds.  We took the advice of our friend a young ranger.  He suggested we should stay in some U. S. Corps of Engineers campgrounds.  They have some great sites and campgrounds.  We were a little envious of the camp hosts' sites during our travels, but at the same time, we liked our small campground in Hot Springs and the little lake.  It was a lot easier to manage a 13 site campground than a place with 100+ sites and multiple day-use/fishing areas.

Anyway, we are settled in Coffeyville, KS at Buckeye Estates and RV Park.  All the cats seem happy with our new site.  Lots of sniffing and exploring going on with all four cats!  The campground did a great job of setting up the Amazon work campers by their schedules, so our nearby neighbors will start work and be on the same schedule as us which is the night shift (5pm - 4am).  We also noticed the camp's workers try to stay as quiet as possible.  We really appreciate all of the extra effort since we will be sleeping during the day.

We start work tomorrow.  We will try to post again in another month.

Happy Trails!