We had a safe trip home to South Dakota. Details to follow, a little distracted right now with two little boys.
Hope to see everyone this Christmas week.
Merry Christmas to you and your families!
Blessings,
Deb & Gary
Monday, December 23, 2013
Amazon - Four Final Days
Wed. - up at 4:30 again and ready for work. It is much warmer outside than a week ago and we know the end is near. All the Camperforce people were smiling this morning, everyone is counting down. Depending on the shift, some of them will be done Friday, some Saturday and those on 1st shift have to stay and work through Monday. But not us - hooray!
The full-time Amazon employees on our 3rd shift have mandatory 50 hours this week, so they were in on Tuesday for work. At morning standup, they announced that 20+ of our inbound people would be going to help in outbound, doing picking, packing or gift wrapping. Of course the whole focus at Amazon now is filling the customers' orders in time for Christmas. In my job, we do Putback Carts, which means restowing products that were picked incorrectly, order cancellations, etc - but by getting them back in the bins as quickly as possible, the product is then again available to be purchased by someone else. They assigned Gary to stowing, he has not been moved to any of the outbound projects. After work, we talked to the RV park owner to make our arrangements for leaving the motorhome here while we are gone and hooking up again the one night when we return. We told him we will plan to stay here next year if we return.
The last month or so, they have been handing out TUL Treasure cards for good work and good attendance. These are scratch off tickets that have 1, 2, 5 or more points that count for the equivalent dollar amount in the "Amazon Store" for t-shirts, hats, etc. with the Amazon logo that we can purchase with our dollars. Gary and I went in last week because we had points accumulated and picked up a couple shirts and things. This week they were more liberal in handing out cards and I happened to get one where I won a gift card. With the additional points we earned this week, we picked up a couple shirts again.
Thursday - work went well, Gary stowed all day and I did my Cubiscan job on a pallet full of clothes and did half a dozen Putback Carts. We are also handing out our business cards to our Camperforce friends and getting their contact information so we can contact them in the future. Pretty steady work today, but a lot of our group were working outbound again. Today, Amazon gave everyone cookies and fruit at afternoon break and we picked up our 2013 Amazon Peak t-shirts after work. Home again, we did more packing and preparing for our departure on Sunday. It is getting cooler outside, supposed to have rain and possibly ice on Saturday.
Friday - up and ready for work. Gary disconnected the cable TV equipment, we will take that back to the cable company tonight after work. Our group of Camperforce workers have our exit interview this morning before lunch. At work right away in the morning, they are letting people sign up for VTO, voluntary time off. Some of our camper friends signed up, they want to get their campers ready for leaving before the rain starts. A lot of workers to outbound again, but Gary is sent to stowing and I am on my regular job. At break, they told some of the campers they could leave for the day, but they really couldn't because of the exit interview meeting at 10:30.
At the meeting, they had us fill out a form detailing the jobs we did and asking for any comments and suggestions. Then Michael Cross, our HR rep, handed out gifts, an Amazon BBQ apron, a CamperForce window cling and a little notepad/pen set. He shared with us some of the season's numbers, this Coffeyville Amazon Fulfillment Center did the largest volume of product ever this season and we were a large part of getting that done. He told us there were 234 Camperforce workers there this season, 90% stayed the whole time. He then answered questions from the group about Amazon, about the Big Chief RV park problems and then the center manager came in and thanked us for working there this year.
After dismissing the outbound workers and any others from other shifts, Michael told us that because the work volume was down, we were free to leave our Amazon employment early - today, effective immediately instead of working through Saturday! Yeehaw! Everyone said yes! So we went and collected our things, our lunches, coats, etc, and left Amazon for the last time this season. The only downside about it, was that we did not get a chance to say goodbye to some of the fulltime workers we had become friends with. But they have seen it happen before and understand us leaving. About 40 Camperforce workers are going to stay on and work until the end of January.
The full-time Amazon employees on our 3rd shift have mandatory 50 hours this week, so they were in on Tuesday for work. At morning standup, they announced that 20+ of our inbound people would be going to help in outbound, doing picking, packing or gift wrapping. Of course the whole focus at Amazon now is filling the customers' orders in time for Christmas. In my job, we do Putback Carts, which means restowing products that were picked incorrectly, order cancellations, etc - but by getting them back in the bins as quickly as possible, the product is then again available to be purchased by someone else. They assigned Gary to stowing, he has not been moved to any of the outbound projects. After work, we talked to the RV park owner to make our arrangements for leaving the motorhome here while we are gone and hooking up again the one night when we return. We told him we will plan to stay here next year if we return.
The last month or so, they have been handing out TUL Treasure cards for good work and good attendance. These are scratch off tickets that have 1, 2, 5 or more points that count for the equivalent dollar amount in the "Amazon Store" for t-shirts, hats, etc. with the Amazon logo that we can purchase with our dollars. Gary and I went in last week because we had points accumulated and picked up a couple shirts and things. This week they were more liberal in handing out cards and I happened to get one where I won a gift card. With the additional points we earned this week, we picked up a couple shirts again.
Thursday - work went well, Gary stowed all day and I did my Cubiscan job on a pallet full of clothes and did half a dozen Putback Carts. We are also handing out our business cards to our Camperforce friends and getting their contact information so we can contact them in the future. Pretty steady work today, but a lot of our group were working outbound again. Today, Amazon gave everyone cookies and fruit at afternoon break and we picked up our 2013 Amazon Peak t-shirts after work. Home again, we did more packing and preparing for our departure on Sunday. It is getting cooler outside, supposed to have rain and possibly ice on Saturday.
Friday - up and ready for work. Gary disconnected the cable TV equipment, we will take that back to the cable company tonight after work. Our group of Camperforce workers have our exit interview this morning before lunch. At work right away in the morning, they are letting people sign up for VTO, voluntary time off. Some of our camper friends signed up, they want to get their campers ready for leaving before the rain starts. A lot of workers to outbound again, but Gary is sent to stowing and I am on my regular job. At break, they told some of the campers they could leave for the day, but they really couldn't because of the exit interview meeting at 10:30.
At the meeting, they had us fill out a form detailing the jobs we did and asking for any comments and suggestions. Then Michael Cross, our HR rep, handed out gifts, an Amazon BBQ apron, a CamperForce window cling and a little notepad/pen set. He shared with us some of the season's numbers, this Coffeyville Amazon Fulfillment Center did the largest volume of product ever this season and we were a large part of getting that done. He told us there were 234 Camperforce workers there this season, 90% stayed the whole time. He then answered questions from the group about Amazon, about the Big Chief RV park problems and then the center manager came in and thanked us for working there this year.
After dismissing the outbound workers and any others from other shifts, Michael told us that because the work volume was down, we were free to leave our Amazon employment early - today, effective immediately instead of working through Saturday! Yeehaw! Everyone said yes! So we went and collected our things, our lunches, coats, etc, and left Amazon for the last time this season. The only downside about it, was that we did not get a chance to say goodbye to some of the fulltime workers we had become friends with. But they have seen it happen before and understand us leaving. About 40 Camperforce workers are going to stay on and work until the end of January.
Mid-December - Almost Done at Amazon
Tuesday night - We went to do the Candlelight Tour of the Brown Mansion here in Coffeyville. www.brownmansion.com The Browns moved to Coffeyville in 1890, and turned an old carpenter shop into a lumber company. Several years later, Brown smelled natural gas outside his company’s building and, six months later, he discovered one of the largest natural gas wells in the country. You drive by the large stately looking house when you enter Coffeyville from the south.
The Candlelight Tour is a fund raiser for the preservation of the home and property. Local businesses and groups decorate all the rooms for Christmas, it really was pretty with the decorations and lights on. The third floor of the home is a ballroom, with two fainting rooms for the women, two smoking porches for the men and a cable pull elevator to get up there. There is also a stairway we used, they have not used the elevator for years. He owned the lumber yard, so the woodwork was beautiful. It was nice to see a home with Christmas decor and we enjoyed seeing the lights on the homes when we headed home. We stopped and had supper at Cielito Lindo, one of the Mexican restaurants in town. A family owned place, we had a good meal and brought some home.
Wednesday - back to work. Everyone is counting the days now, most are really excited to leave soon for warmer weather. Amazon has offered an extension to the Camperforce workers, they want to keep anyone that wants to keep working here through the month of January. Amazon will continue to pay the RV site fees, the same wages and the same bonus for hours completed and give a week off for the Christmas holiday. There are a few that are going to stay on. Not us.
Thursday morning, we woke up to hear it raining. It rained throughout the day and by the time we were off work, it had stopped and the snow was all gone! Hooray!
Friday morning I woke up and felt like I had a cold coming on. Sneezing and blowing my nose. I grabbed a allergy pill to take along to work and extra tissue. Good thing I did, by first break time my nose was running constantly and I was about out of tissue. I took my allergy pill, which helped for the four plus hours it is supposed to, but not long enough to last the work day. There were others sniffling too, one of our workers from Texas told us we had "Cedar Fever". She said the pollinating cedar trees causes it. I read about it and they say it is one of the most allergenic pollens.
I believe it now, I am suffering. Usually my allergy pills take care of my congestion, but I am fighting this time with the pain and pressure in my sinuses too. We stopped after work at Walmart and the pharmacist suggested Zyrtec. I took that and it slowed down the running, but not the congestion and pressure. Did not sleep very good that night.
Saturday AM was a little better. Made sure I had meds and tissue for work. As soon as we got to work they told people that they could take the day off if they wanted, said to not even check in, but go home. They call it VTO, voluntary time off. That left us with a small crew and they let a few more go during the morning. Just before lunch, they told us they were calling the shift. Everyone was to go home - there just was not enough work to do for the day. That was great. We stopped at Walmart again and I got maximum strength allergy sinus pressure pills. They have always worked best for me and hopefully now for the pressure too. Then at home, hot packs and a nap.
We decided to drive to Independence, KS for supper, just 12 miles away. Went to Uncle Jack's, had good prime rib for supper. A nice place, the owner/chef greeted us at the door, checked on us several times during the evening, great customer service. We drove around to see Christmas lights there before heading home. Cold again tonight, but is supposed to start warming up.
Sunday - Mass at 10:00 and then home. Gary worked on getting our income tax information ready to take home to our accountant and I did some mending on jeans and household things. I was still fighting a headache and pain in my sinuses, but it did get better through the day. I did go out to Walmart to get some groceries for the week. The Kansas City Chiefs game at 3:00 was not broadcast here, so I watched the Green Bay/Dallas game on TV and listened to the KC game on the radio. Of course in Kansas, they have the Chiefs network and the announcer is very animated in commenting during the game, so it was fun to listen to him. For supper, we had the rest of the salmon from our freezer - we are trying to use up all our perishable food supply before we leave next week. We will be winterizing the motorhome, which means turning off all the appliances and pulling antifreeze through all the water lines, to keep everything safe while we are gone for Christmas. Sunday night we watched "White Christmas" - we stayed up later since we were not working overtime on Monday.
Monday - slept in. I woke up feeling much better - hooray! Gary worked on financials and I got the laundry done. By noon it was much warmer and sunny, we were in and out, trying to enjoy the nice weather outside. Ran some errands and organized things to take home for the holidays. By the time we sat down to watch a movie, we were both tired and went to bed early.
Tuesday - packing day! Gary got the suitcases out of the underneath storage and we packed for our Christmas trip to cold weather. It was fun to see our summer/warm weather clothes again that we stored in the suitcases, hopefully we will be wearing some of the in less than a month when we get to Arizona. Then we buttoned up everything one more time to go and get the propane filled up in the motorhome - we want to leave here on New Years Day and nothing will be open then. So bring the slides in, secure everything for travel and off to the propane dealer. Then home again and bring everything out again for living for another week. Then we will do it again. We found out from the RV park that we can leave our home on our current site, that is good because then we don't have to put every single thing away so we can use things when we come back on New Year's Eve. It was another sunny, warm day - what a blessing when we had to unhook and hook up again.
We went to Pizza Hut for supper, all sales this night benefited the Catholic School here, so a treat for us and help for them. And we had leftovers for Wednesday night supper!
M
The Candlelight Tour is a fund raiser for the preservation of the home and property. Local businesses and groups decorate all the rooms for Christmas, it really was pretty with the decorations and lights on. The third floor of the home is a ballroom, with two fainting rooms for the women, two smoking porches for the men and a cable pull elevator to get up there. There is also a stairway we used, they have not used the elevator for years. He owned the lumber yard, so the woodwork was beautiful. It was nice to see a home with Christmas decor and we enjoyed seeing the lights on the homes when we headed home. We stopped and had supper at Cielito Lindo, one of the Mexican restaurants in town. A family owned place, we had a good meal and brought some home.
Wednesday - back to work. Everyone is counting the days now, most are really excited to leave soon for warmer weather. Amazon has offered an extension to the Camperforce workers, they want to keep anyone that wants to keep working here through the month of January. Amazon will continue to pay the RV site fees, the same wages and the same bonus for hours completed and give a week off for the Christmas holiday. There are a few that are going to stay on. Not us.
Thursday morning, we woke up to hear it raining. It rained throughout the day and by the time we were off work, it had stopped and the snow was all gone! Hooray!
Friday morning I woke up and felt like I had a cold coming on. Sneezing and blowing my nose. I grabbed a allergy pill to take along to work and extra tissue. Good thing I did, by first break time my nose was running constantly and I was about out of tissue. I took my allergy pill, which helped for the four plus hours it is supposed to, but not long enough to last the work day. There were others sniffling too, one of our workers from Texas told us we had "Cedar Fever". She said the pollinating cedar trees causes it. I read about it and they say it is one of the most allergenic pollens.
I believe it now, I am suffering. Usually my allergy pills take care of my congestion, but I am fighting this time with the pain and pressure in my sinuses too. We stopped after work at Walmart and the pharmacist suggested Zyrtec. I took that and it slowed down the running, but not the congestion and pressure. Did not sleep very good that night.
Saturday AM was a little better. Made sure I had meds and tissue for work. As soon as we got to work they told people that they could take the day off if they wanted, said to not even check in, but go home. They call it VTO, voluntary time off. That left us with a small crew and they let a few more go during the morning. Just before lunch, they told us they were calling the shift. Everyone was to go home - there just was not enough work to do for the day. That was great. We stopped at Walmart again and I got maximum strength allergy sinus pressure pills. They have always worked best for me and hopefully now for the pressure too. Then at home, hot packs and a nap.
We decided to drive to Independence, KS for supper, just 12 miles away. Went to Uncle Jack's, had good prime rib for supper. A nice place, the owner/chef greeted us at the door, checked on us several times during the evening, great customer service. We drove around to see Christmas lights there before heading home. Cold again tonight, but is supposed to start warming up.
Sunday - Mass at 10:00 and then home. Gary worked on getting our income tax information ready to take home to our accountant and I did some mending on jeans and household things. I was still fighting a headache and pain in my sinuses, but it did get better through the day. I did go out to Walmart to get some groceries for the week. The Kansas City Chiefs game at 3:00 was not broadcast here, so I watched the Green Bay/Dallas game on TV and listened to the KC game on the radio. Of course in Kansas, they have the Chiefs network and the announcer is very animated in commenting during the game, so it was fun to listen to him. For supper, we had the rest of the salmon from our freezer - we are trying to use up all our perishable food supply before we leave next week. We will be winterizing the motorhome, which means turning off all the appliances and pulling antifreeze through all the water lines, to keep everything safe while we are gone for Christmas. Sunday night we watched "White Christmas" - we stayed up later since we were not working overtime on Monday.
Monday - slept in. I woke up feeling much better - hooray! Gary worked on financials and I got the laundry done. By noon it was much warmer and sunny, we were in and out, trying to enjoy the nice weather outside. Ran some errands and organized things to take home for the holidays. By the time we sat down to watch a movie, we were both tired and went to bed early.
Tuesday - packing day! Gary got the suitcases out of the underneath storage and we packed for our Christmas trip to cold weather. It was fun to see our summer/warm weather clothes again that we stored in the suitcases, hopefully we will be wearing some of the in less than a month when we get to Arizona. Then we buttoned up everything one more time to go and get the propane filled up in the motorhome - we want to leave here on New Years Day and nothing will be open then. So bring the slides in, secure everything for travel and off to the propane dealer. Then home again and bring everything out again for living for another week. Then we will do it again. We found out from the RV park that we can leave our home on our current site, that is good because then we don't have to put every single thing away so we can use things when we come back on New Year's Eve. It was another sunny, warm day - what a blessing when we had to unhook and hook up again.
We went to Pizza Hut for supper, all sales this night benefited the Catholic School here, so a treat for us and help for them. And we had leftovers for Wednesday night supper!
M
Saturday, December 14, 2013
December - 2nd Week
Sunday - we slept in! It was cold outside, easy to stay in our warm bed. 10:00 mass and then our stop at the grocery store for replenishing the pantry. Once home, I pulled out the supplies to make my own pumpkin pie, I need to get the frozen pie shells out of the freezer before we empty it to head home in 2 weeks. Now I discover I did not bring the pumpkin pie spice I need! Darn, another trip to the store. The snowy Kansas City Chiefs game had started, so I had to hurry.
Back home, I watched the game and mixed up the pumpkin pie. My convection oven seems to be working well, the pie turned out not quite as firm as usual, but otherwise good. The second crust I made into scrap pie, a little butter and cinnamon/sugar on it. And Kansas City won big! And the Dolphins won too! And some of the other teams played in snow furrows, like the Detroit Lions, yuck. Then in the evening we watched some of our Chrismas movies, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "White Christmas"
Monday, we were signed up for our last overtime day. This week all employees, full time or Camperforce, had the option to sign up for overtime, it was not mandatory. After the last week of mandatory overtime for full time employees, there were some that did not sign up. As a result there was a smaller workforce this morning. We were both assigned to stowing and to our delight, the bins were open (a lot more room in them) after all the picking activity. Lunchtime, there was a hot Christmas lunch again, we had our dinner on Saturday for 3rd shift, so we did not participate. We sat by another workkamper couple at lunch, they told us about another workkamping opportunity they have been doing. Many ideas out there - it is good to have a network to learn from. We found out at after lunch stand up gathering, that the trucks had not been able to get to Amazon because of the icy, snowy weather south and north of us so they were letting people sign up to go home early. We were there on an overtime day, so we signed up. Gary was picked in the 10 people to go home, I was # 11. I could not go, so Gary stayed and we let #12 go home. Then about an hour later, 12:40, they told us we could leave. I'm guessing they let others go because they were running out of work for everyone to do.
We left work and decided to drive up to Independence to find a propane tank gauge Gary wanted. We did not find one but we stopped at a couple stores and a stop at Walgreens for me. Once again we tried to find a beverage place, but they don't open in Independence until 4:00. Driving home, the snow started and blowing snow across the road. In the evening, the water faucets started running slower, so we turned faucets on to keep a steady stream flowing. About 10:00 we noticed the water bay heater temperature had dropped. Gary went out and found the heater had stopped working, so he made a trip out to Walmart to get a new one. It kept snowing through the evening and we ended up with about 3 inches overnight. ( And 6 degree temps!! Why are we living in a motorhome in this kind of weather!!??)
Tuesday - up and glad to know everything had kept working overnight. We were thinking we would need to go get propane in the motorhome, but with the three inches of snow, that would be a real challenge to unhook the cold hoses and button up everything to go. And driving the motorhome in the snow and reparking, yuck! So I called the office and the Buckeye staff picked up the tank and got it refilled in about an hour - thank goodness! In the meantime, Gary went out and up on the roof to brush off all the snow from the slide awnings and roof. The sun is out and melting will happen today! Gary swept off the patio mat, the picnic table and made sure the hoses were cleaned off.
I, in the meantime, got to update my checkbook on the computer for the year - time to get ready for the IRS. Easily done and I listened to Christmas music - what a treat! Talked to Benjamin on the phone this afternoon and got the laundry done. We are really watching the weather forecast now, it will only be cold here for a few more nights. And, we can almost see the ten day forecast for our drive home on the 22nd! We are in total preparation mode for going home in 12 days! Can't wait to see family and friends!
Announcement - we have a summer job for 2014 lined up! We have accepted a position to host at a Bureau of Land Management park in Oregon for the months of May, June & July. Wildwood Recreation Area - near Welches, OR. We will be hosting with other couples in a day use area northeast of Portland, OR. A beautiful area in the forest, not far from Mt. Hood where we honeymooned. There will be tons of things for us to do there and Gary's sister and families live in Salem, about an hour away. Also, wineries in abundance in that part of Oregon! Attention: A great place/opportunity for all of you to vacation to this summer if you have not seen the Northwest!
Back home, I watched the game and mixed up the pumpkin pie. My convection oven seems to be working well, the pie turned out not quite as firm as usual, but otherwise good. The second crust I made into scrap pie, a little butter and cinnamon/sugar on it. And Kansas City won big! And the Dolphins won too! And some of the other teams played in snow furrows, like the Detroit Lions, yuck. Then in the evening we watched some of our Chrismas movies, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "White Christmas"
Monday, we were signed up for our last overtime day. This week all employees, full time or Camperforce, had the option to sign up for overtime, it was not mandatory. After the last week of mandatory overtime for full time employees, there were some that did not sign up. As a result there was a smaller workforce this morning. We were both assigned to stowing and to our delight, the bins were open (a lot more room in them) after all the picking activity. Lunchtime, there was a hot Christmas lunch again, we had our dinner on Saturday for 3rd shift, so we did not participate. We sat by another workkamper couple at lunch, they told us about another workkamping opportunity they have been doing. Many ideas out there - it is good to have a network to learn from. We found out at after lunch stand up gathering, that the trucks had not been able to get to Amazon because of the icy, snowy weather south and north of us so they were letting people sign up to go home early. We were there on an overtime day, so we signed up. Gary was picked in the 10 people to go home, I was # 11. I could not go, so Gary stayed and we let #12 go home. Then about an hour later, 12:40, they told us we could leave. I'm guessing they let others go because they were running out of work for everyone to do.
We left work and decided to drive up to Independence to find a propane tank gauge Gary wanted. We did not find one but we stopped at a couple stores and a stop at Walgreens for me. Once again we tried to find a beverage place, but they don't open in Independence until 4:00. Driving home, the snow started and blowing snow across the road. In the evening, the water faucets started running slower, so we turned faucets on to keep a steady stream flowing. About 10:00 we noticed the water bay heater temperature had dropped. Gary went out and found the heater had stopped working, so he made a trip out to Walmart to get a new one. It kept snowing through the evening and we ended up with about 3 inches overnight. ( And 6 degree temps!! Why are we living in a motorhome in this kind of weather!!??)
Tuesday - up and glad to know everything had kept working overnight. We were thinking we would need to go get propane in the motorhome, but with the three inches of snow, that would be a real challenge to unhook the cold hoses and button up everything to go. And driving the motorhome in the snow and reparking, yuck! So I called the office and the Buckeye staff picked up the tank and got it refilled in about an hour - thank goodness! In the meantime, Gary went out and up on the roof to brush off all the snow from the slide awnings and roof. The sun is out and melting will happen today! Gary swept off the patio mat, the picnic table and made sure the hoses were cleaned off.
I, in the meantime, got to update my checkbook on the computer for the year - time to get ready for the IRS. Easily done and I listened to Christmas music - what a treat! Talked to Benjamin on the phone this afternoon and got the laundry done. We are really watching the weather forecast now, it will only be cold here for a few more nights. And, we can almost see the ten day forecast for our drive home on the 22nd! We are in total preparation mode for going home in 12 days! Can't wait to see family and friends!
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| RV Park snow - 3 inches Monday night |
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| Snow in Kansas |
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| You can see the inches on the picnic table - Luckily the sun is shining! |
Announcement - we have a summer job for 2014 lined up! We have accepted a position to host at a Bureau of Land Management park in Oregon for the months of May, June & July. Wildwood Recreation Area - near Welches, OR. We will be hosting with other couples in a day use area northeast of Portland, OR. A beautiful area in the forest, not far from Mt. Hood where we honeymooned. There will be tons of things for us to do there and Gary's sister and families live in Salem, about an hour away. Also, wineries in abundance in that part of Oregon! Attention: A great place/opportunity for all of you to vacation to this summer if you have not seen the Northwest!
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
December Begins
Sunday, first Sunday of Advent. We woke up at work time, so we went to 8:00 mass. Windy and chilly, we went home for breakfast and relaxed. I pulled out the sewing machine and mended Gary's jeans. He had worn out the knees on several pairs and needed them patched. We are always kneeling on the concrete floor when we are stowing in the lower bins. He did book work and updated the computer. We got our Christmas tub out from underneath storage, I put up lights, our Nativity set and a few other things. We are not using the Advent wreath this year, we don't like to burn candles in the motorhome very often. I need to look for battery Advent candles for next year. And we watched the Kansas City Chiefs/Broncos game. The Chiefs did not win again, very disappointing. They should have played better.
After the game, I went to Walmart for groceries and ?? (shh, Christmas things) At Walmart I found greenery roping, I had an idea to use it to make a tree for the motorhome. In our Christmas tub, I found the ornaments that we had brought along, but no where to hang them. So, once home I crafted a tree from the roping that could hang from the front curtain rail. The captain was amazed and loves the result. I hung our special ornaments on it and lights, then crafted a trunk from a paper towel roll covered in foil, which also covers up the light cords. When it was all done, we remembered that we always have champagne when decorating our tree - no way to get some then, so we had a Tuaca cordial to celebrate. We had turkey drumsticks, potatoes, corn and pumpkin pie for supper. Our own Thanksgiving dinner.
Monday, we did not work overtime. We knew we needed an extra day to rest and Gary had some repair work he wanted to do. It was a nice sunny day, he was thankful for that when he had to be outside. We had planned to go get propane again, but the RV park procured more big tanks and we were able to get one. I cleaned the house, vacuuming and dusting - it is so nice that it does not take very long. That night Gary did go and get champagne, we put a star on the Christmas tree and had our annual champagne, 29 years of tree decorating together.
Tuesday, overcast and cool again. We are getting ready for cold again, it is supposed to get down in the single digits at night this week. Gary went and got his hair cut and in the afternoon I ran errands. Went over the border to get gas in the car again and a car wash. Then to Walmart for supplies and to Dollar General to find a bow for the motorhome. It was dark by the time I headed home, so I got to see the Christmas lights lit around town. (Not too many of them are on at 5:30 AM when we go to work in the mornings)
Wednesday - Saturday - work continues. This is our shift, so I am back on Cubiscan duty and running to put things in high value. Wow, that area really was depleted from the holiday weekend shopping. Gary was put on water spidering again, he just does too good of a job there. They gave him a good helper this time, but they were both running all day to keep up.
Thursday it snowed a little and more on Friday. Wednesday night we pulled the bed slide in, that helped keep it warmer in the bedroom. Friday morning we pulled the living room slide in, hoping to avoid snow on that slide awning. We put it back out on Saturday night. Friday night was the cold night, 6 degrees, everyone was wary of hoses freezing. We have our heated water hose and a heater plugged in the water bay. Gary also put pipe insulation around the heated hose since it lays in the snow.
Saturday at work, we got our Christmas dinner from Amazon, basically our Thanksgiving menu again, but very good. Then after lunch, they announced that we would probably be sent home early, the work would be caught up in an hour or two. But I and another gal were going to have to stay for a big Cubiscan project. They told Gary and her husband they could go, but the boys said no since we each come to work together. So Gary and Ed stowed some more, while we did Cubiscan. About 30 minutes later they came again and said we could go home. So we checked out about 1:45 and headed home. We were going to stop for a beverage, but could not find a single bar open in town - they don't open until 5:00 - on a football Saturday!! Not like the northern Midwest, that's for sure.
So home again to watch football and relax. Nice to be off in more daylight hours. Still very cold here, but everything is working.
After the game, I went to Walmart for groceries and ?? (shh, Christmas things) At Walmart I found greenery roping, I had an idea to use it to make a tree for the motorhome. In our Christmas tub, I found the ornaments that we had brought along, but no where to hang them. So, once home I crafted a tree from the roping that could hang from the front curtain rail. The captain was amazed and loves the result. I hung our special ornaments on it and lights, then crafted a trunk from a paper towel roll covered in foil, which also covers up the light cords. When it was all done, we remembered that we always have champagne when decorating our tree - no way to get some then, so we had a Tuaca cordial to celebrate. We had turkey drumsticks, potatoes, corn and pumpkin pie for supper. Our own Thanksgiving dinner.
Monday, we did not work overtime. We knew we needed an extra day to rest and Gary had some repair work he wanted to do. It was a nice sunny day, he was thankful for that when he had to be outside. We had planned to go get propane again, but the RV park procured more big tanks and we were able to get one. I cleaned the house, vacuuming and dusting - it is so nice that it does not take very long. That night Gary did go and get champagne, we put a star on the Christmas tree and had our annual champagne, 29 years of tree decorating together.
Tuesday, overcast and cool again. We are getting ready for cold again, it is supposed to get down in the single digits at night this week. Gary went and got his hair cut and in the afternoon I ran errands. Went over the border to get gas in the car again and a car wash. Then to Walmart for supplies and to Dollar General to find a bow for the motorhome. It was dark by the time I headed home, so I got to see the Christmas lights lit around town. (Not too many of them are on at 5:30 AM when we go to work in the mornings)
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| Our 28" hanging Christmas tree |
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| Our "Presto" TV roaring fire & decorations It even crackles! |
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| Our Kansas December home |
Thursday it snowed a little and more on Friday. Wednesday night we pulled the bed slide in, that helped keep it warmer in the bedroom. Friday morning we pulled the living room slide in, hoping to avoid snow on that slide awning. We put it back out on Saturday night. Friday night was the cold night, 6 degrees, everyone was wary of hoses freezing. We have our heated water hose and a heater plugged in the water bay. Gary also put pipe insulation around the heated hose since it lays in the snow.
Saturday at work, we got our Christmas dinner from Amazon, basically our Thanksgiving menu again, but very good. Then after lunch, they announced that we would probably be sent home early, the work would be caught up in an hour or two. But I and another gal were going to have to stay for a big Cubiscan project. They told Gary and her husband they could go, but the boys said no since we each come to work together. So Gary and Ed stowed some more, while we did Cubiscan. About 30 minutes later they came again and said we could go home. So we checked out about 1:45 and headed home. We were going to stop for a beverage, but could not find a single bar open in town - they don't open until 5:00 - on a football Saturday!! Not like the northern Midwest, that's for sure.
So home again to watch football and relax. Nice to be off in more daylight hours. Still very cold here, but everything is working.
Thanksgiving Week - end of November- Amazon Palooza
Sunday - Mass at 10:00. A visiting priest was here, Fr. Ben was in Wichita for a Vietnamese celebration for the weekend. Very chilly this morning and windy. The guitarist cantor was there, but at Communion a Hispanic family sang. Unfortunately the guitarist had not tuned his guitar.
We drove down to the Oklahoma border, 5 miles away, again for gas for the car. It is 20 cents cheaper over the border. Back in Coffeyville, we stopped for groceries and cinnamon rolls at the store, then home for brunch and getting ready for the game. Watched the Kansas City game - bummer, they lost! We pretty much relaxed today, keeping warm on this chilly, windy day!
Monday - a day of overtime we signed up for. The overtime days on Mondays are run by 1st shift management, so we are always put on stowing. The day went quickly, a lot of product to stow before the holiday weekend. This week Amazon is giving its workers a Thanksgiving turkey lunch. We got to participate today since we were working, the dinner day for our shift will be Saturday. Sliced turkey or ham, potatoes and gravy, dressing, corn, dinner roll and choice of dessert pie (mostly pumpkin or apple). Because of the rush of everyone breaking for lunch at the same time, they were out of the whipped cream and cookies they also were serving earlier and later. A good hot meal for lunch, we were thankful.
Tuesday - another day of rest for us. I made sure we got the laundry done for the busy days ahead. Ran some errands and had my dentist appointment to pick up my permanent mouthpiece to help my TMJ and clenching. I bought the fixings to make pumpkin pie for us, not sure which day we will make it.
Wednesday work as usual. Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we are ready to work 6:00 - 2:00, a shorter day. Gary was put on water spider duty, moving the carts of received product to the buffer zone for the transporters to take. They had him running- they were pushing the product out like crazy!!! I was running back and forth stowing product in the high value area, all those IPads, IPhones, tablets and more. After lunch at 11:00 they told us they were going to focus everyone on stowing, so the product was available for the Black Friday shopping, and then they would let us go for the day. At 12:30 they told us all to go. Great!! And they sent everyone home with a pumpkin pie.
We went home and cleaned up and then went out for our meal. By then we weren't really hungry for turkey dinner, so we ended up at Hog Heaven and had a delicious BBQ brisket sandwich. Then home for pie and a nap. Later, we met some of the workkampers at Jack's Pub for visiting and beverages. We had told quite a few of the campers that we were going to meet, guess who joined us? The three couples that are all older than us, the one gentleman is 78, but delightful to visit with. They are our heroes, we admire the shape they are in and they do the same work we do. We can hardly keep up with them.
Friday was busy, busy and the pickers came out of the woodwork, they were everywhere, picking the orders being made on Amazon. And they have been there in droves ever since. Friday and Saturday they pulled some of the workkampers over to pick, some of them have picked before and they trained others. Saturday we received another Thanksgiving dinner at work. Yum. We were pretty worn out after this work week. Came home and watched college football until we could not stay awake any longer.
We drove down to the Oklahoma border, 5 miles away, again for gas for the car. It is 20 cents cheaper over the border. Back in Coffeyville, we stopped for groceries and cinnamon rolls at the store, then home for brunch and getting ready for the game. Watched the Kansas City game - bummer, they lost! We pretty much relaxed today, keeping warm on this chilly, windy day!
Monday - a day of overtime we signed up for. The overtime days on Mondays are run by 1st shift management, so we are always put on stowing. The day went quickly, a lot of product to stow before the holiday weekend. This week Amazon is giving its workers a Thanksgiving turkey lunch. We got to participate today since we were working, the dinner day for our shift will be Saturday. Sliced turkey or ham, potatoes and gravy, dressing, corn, dinner roll and choice of dessert pie (mostly pumpkin or apple). Because of the rush of everyone breaking for lunch at the same time, they were out of the whipped cream and cookies they also were serving earlier and later. A good hot meal for lunch, we were thankful.
Tuesday - another day of rest for us. I made sure we got the laundry done for the busy days ahead. Ran some errands and had my dentist appointment to pick up my permanent mouthpiece to help my TMJ and clenching. I bought the fixings to make pumpkin pie for us, not sure which day we will make it.
Wednesday work as usual. Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we are ready to work 6:00 - 2:00, a shorter day. Gary was put on water spider duty, moving the carts of received product to the buffer zone for the transporters to take. They had him running- they were pushing the product out like crazy!!! I was running back and forth stowing product in the high value area, all those IPads, IPhones, tablets and more. After lunch at 11:00 they told us they were going to focus everyone on stowing, so the product was available for the Black Friday shopping, and then they would let us go for the day. At 12:30 they told us all to go. Great!! And they sent everyone home with a pumpkin pie.
We went home and cleaned up and then went out for our meal. By then we weren't really hungry for turkey dinner, so we ended up at Hog Heaven and had a delicious BBQ brisket sandwich. Then home for pie and a nap. Later, we met some of the workkampers at Jack's Pub for visiting and beverages. We had told quite a few of the campers that we were going to meet, guess who joined us? The three couples that are all older than us, the one gentleman is 78, but delightful to visit with. They are our heroes, we admire the shape they are in and they do the same work we do. We can hardly keep up with them.
Friday was busy, busy and the pickers came out of the woodwork, they were everywhere, picking the orders being made on Amazon. And they have been there in droves ever since. Friday and Saturday they pulled some of the workkampers over to pick, some of them have picked before and they trained others. Saturday we received another Thanksgiving dinner at work. Yum. We were pretty worn out after this work week. Came home and watched college football until we could not stay awake any longer.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Nov. 18 - Woolaroc - Bartlesville, OK
Sunday - 8:00 mass, then home for breakfast. It was a nice warm day so we headed to Bartlesville to tour the Woolaroc Ranch, Museum & Wildlife Preserve. www.woolaroc.org
This was Frank Phillips (Phillips 66) ranch home. It now is a place to visit, seeing numerous varieties of wildlife he collected, a museum of art and a Colt gun collection display and touring part of the ranch house they lived in and entertained at. Somewhat like the LBJ ranch, the Phillips hosted and entertained celebreties and employees at their ranch home through the years. As we drove on the grounds we saw Wapiti, llamas, water buffalo, ostrich, a dark zebra, emus, buffalo and Fallow deer, including an albino. The museum housed southwest art, history of the Indian tribes of the area and the development of Oklahoma with the cowboys and oil industry. The ranch house was full of historical artifacts and plenty of room to entertain. The views from the porch were beautiful, a great place to relax and enjoy nature.
After touring, we went in to Bartlesville and did our shopping. Kmart is our place for multivitamins and Gary needed new slippers. Then a special stop again for good pizza at Mazzios. Back home in time to watch the Kansas City Chiefs game. Unfortunately they lost to the Broncos.
Monday - we did not work overtime today. It was time to go get propane again. So we packed everything up again for movement. It was a nice dry day, no mud puddles at the propane place and no soft ground when we backed in to park again. A chance to dry out the patio mat and rugs and get set up and leveled up again. I went out and vacuumed out the car, it was a nice day to be outside, 55 and sunny.
Tuesday - was supposed to be a nice day again, but overcast and cool. We worked inside on projects, laundry and cleaned. I ran errands in the afternoon. There is a little thrift shop here, Garage Sale Goddess. I have bought a shirt, purse and pair of jeans there, each for $1.00. A few groceries and checking out the Dollar General and Family Dollar stores. It never hurts to look.
Wednesday - Saturday. Work again. Gary was put on the dock one morning, loading boxes of product coming in to the big cage carts that take the product over to the receiving area. Heavy carts, using a lot of upper body muscles. He was beat that day. The next two days he was on Water Spider duty, moving empty carts to the receiving area and the full carts of received product to the buffer zone to be hauled to the stowing areas. The carts aren't as heavy here, but constant movement and hustling, I think he lost 5 pounds this week and was asleep before 8:00 every night! Friday and Saturday were a little easier, back to stowing product. This is getting tougher, the bins are full because of all a the product coming in to the warehouse to be bought.
A rough week for us, but the end is in sight and we know we are both in better physical shape than we have been in a long time.
This was Frank Phillips (Phillips 66) ranch home. It now is a place to visit, seeing numerous varieties of wildlife he collected, a museum of art and a Colt gun collection display and touring part of the ranch house they lived in and entertained at. Somewhat like the LBJ ranch, the Phillips hosted and entertained celebreties and employees at their ranch home through the years. As we drove on the grounds we saw Wapiti, llamas, water buffalo, ostrich, a dark zebra, emus, buffalo and Fallow deer, including an albino. The museum housed southwest art, history of the Indian tribes of the area and the development of Oklahoma with the cowboys and oil industry. The ranch house was full of historical artifacts and plenty of room to entertain. The views from the porch were beautiful, a great place to relax and enjoy nature.
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| Wapiti deer and buffalo roaming on the ranch land. |
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| Fall colors |
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| Fallow deer - European deer |
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| Woolaroc, the aircraft that won the Dole Air Race in 1927 |
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| Woolaroc plane, Frank Phillips provided newly developed 66 aircraft fuel for this race. |
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| View from the lodge front porch |
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| The Woolaroc museum |
After touring, we went in to Bartlesville and did our shopping. Kmart is our place for multivitamins and Gary needed new slippers. Then a special stop again for good pizza at Mazzios. Back home in time to watch the Kansas City Chiefs game. Unfortunately they lost to the Broncos.
Monday - we did not work overtime today. It was time to go get propane again. So we packed everything up again for movement. It was a nice dry day, no mud puddles at the propane place and no soft ground when we backed in to park again. A chance to dry out the patio mat and rugs and get set up and leveled up again. I went out and vacuumed out the car, it was a nice day to be outside, 55 and sunny.
Tuesday - was supposed to be a nice day again, but overcast and cool. We worked inside on projects, laundry and cleaned. I ran errands in the afternoon. There is a little thrift shop here, Garage Sale Goddess. I have bought a shirt, purse and pair of jeans there, each for $1.00. A few groceries and checking out the Dollar General and Family Dollar stores. It never hurts to look.
Wednesday - Saturday. Work again. Gary was put on the dock one morning, loading boxes of product coming in to the big cage carts that take the product over to the receiving area. Heavy carts, using a lot of upper body muscles. He was beat that day. The next two days he was on Water Spider duty, moving empty carts to the receiving area and the full carts of received product to the buffer zone to be hauled to the stowing areas. The carts aren't as heavy here, but constant movement and hustling, I think he lost 5 pounds this week and was asleep before 8:00 every night! Friday and Saturday were a little easier, back to stowing product. This is getting tougher, the bins are full because of all a the product coming in to the warehouse to be bought.
A rough week for us, but the end is in sight and we know we are both in better physical shape than we have been in a long time.
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