Saturday Morning

I always loved this song from The Cuckoo's Nest. Today is Saturday and I reported for work at 9am and worked in our central "fun" area. I wandered around the playground and pushed some kids on swings and the see-saws. Lots of the guests are from Canada and the kids prefer to speak French. I'll get a good chance to resurrect my French language skills.

My second task was renting the pedal carts, which are funky looky trikes. That was fun as I had a few customers and then I helped to deflate the bouncy air houses. Wow - it's time for lunch. This afternoon I had shuttle duty again and drove back and forth to Lake George Village. I actually had four teenage boys and it was good to finally have passengers.

It's almost 6:00 now and time for dinner and bed. We are off for the next few days,

Another Opn'n, Another Show

Our first day of work is today and by evening the RV's and trailers are coming in droves. So many families coming to enjoy the weekend. Jeff and I have our first shift tonight driving the shuttle that takes guests into Lake George Village. Unfortunately there are no passengers all night (until 10pm) but we certainly know the route well.

I am aghast that Jeff posted the video of my tractor driving. I actually did quite well, but backing up was a bit challenging with that long, long, wagon attached. I made a pot roast in the crock pot for our dinner, so we are eating well.

Gotta get ready for a full day tomorrow.

No, No - I meant your OTHER left!

Training can be fun! Here is Judy learning how to back up the tractor for the Wagon Trail Ride. OK, the video is a little long, but I didn't want to show only the bad parts. Feel free to skip around.

This is the hardest part of driving the lovingly-maintained 1949-vintage Ford tractor. Each night we take groups of guests on a ride around the campground. The wagon has a sound system which we are encouraged to play loudly. Usually the music is 50s/60s stuff, but we have appropriate playlists for special weekends (Halloween, Luau, etc.). Yes - the 1949 tractor has an iPod-powered sound system.

We are encourage to act silly and get the guests singing along. (Gee - I wonder why they hired US?) Tonight is our first night of guest interaction. We'll let you know how it goes.

By the way - Judy is wearing our official uniform. Bright-colored T-shirt (in a variety of colors), khaki pants, and the bucket hat.

Thanks again to Al & Eileen

for the Flip video camera we used for this video.

Rainy Day

Finally a whole day off and it's raining. I slept so late and it felt great! The temperature is mid 50's and it's grey and gloomy. Add a little wind and a perfect day to stay inside.

I spent most of the day surfing the web and watching TV. I did see a fox trot by and that is the second one I've seen here. Also saw a river otter (or beaver) in the pond across from our site and there's a great blue heron hanging around also. I can't wait to get some photos of the wildlife and also a cute little woodpecker that perches upside down in a nearby tree.

Our site is looking good and Jeff has set up four solar lights along the front walkway. I brought along some plants and our ceramic alligator to make this just like home.

We went out to dinner tonight in Warrensburg (1 mile away) and made a quick stop in the super market. More TV and we'll be off to bed.

Farmer In The Dell

Finally got our internet service today and catching up on e-mail and this blog. We spent the morning practicing driving the tractor and backing up the wagon into its parking space. I'm getting new muscles and enjoying being outside most of the day.

Our campsite is shaping up nicely and we've found a place for most things. I did a little laundry this afternoon and Jeff did some shopping at WalMart. It's now after midnight and I'm stuck watching 50 First Dates and then I'll go to bed. No work tomorrow, but we officially start on Friday.

Purple People Eaters

Tuesday and day two of training. We drive our bikes down to the activity office and then we're off to learn the route that the shuttle uses to take guests to Lake George Village as that's another part of our job. Later we learn all abut the pedal carts which are rented in the main center near the pools. We may also have duties near the swimming pools or in the Honey Bear store which has all kinds of cool things for kids to purchase. There are also crafts for the kids, but there's another group of staffers who do that work.

The campground has a nice restaurant and several laundry facilities. Employees get free laundry and discounts in the restaurant and other area attractions. We still need to learn about the tubing and boat rentals, but those water activities don't start for a few weeks. There are other things like the weekly campfires which we hope to participate in and maybe more. The campground opens this Friday and we'll get a better feel for what we do and how everything runs.

We finish up around 3:00pm and decide to go out. We drive down below Lake George and have dinner at a nice Italian place with a good salad bar. Afterwards we saw the new Star Trek movie which is great!

Hi Ho Hi Ho

Hi Ho Hi Ho It's off to work we go... It's been a while since we've had a job, but today we report to personnel at 8:00am and fill in lots of forms. The we report to our new boss Jim to start training. There are seven new employees in fun and games and we have so much to learn. The camp has lots of fun activities and we have to be able to cover all the positions and handle most situations.

Jim and his wife Jan are the fun and games managers and they are well organized and truly fun people. They have prepared a comprehensive manual and we begin to learn about different areas of the campground and activities. After a lunch break we go out to drive the tractor that pulls the nightly wagon ride. We all enjoyed driving the old tractor and backing it into the tight parking spot. Then we drove it over to the main center and attached it to the wagon. The wagon is long and can seat 40 - 50 people for each ride around the grounds. In addition to hitching everything up we get to select music to play and blast it loud during the ride. The idea is to get everyone singing and swaying. We're encouraged to stand, sing, wave and act real silly while driving safely. I enjoyed my turn and drove the tractor well.

We're really worn out and after dinner and more work on our site we're off to sleep.