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"We're leavin' together, But still it's farewell, And maybe we'll come back...It's the final countdown..." by Europe

I know I’ve gone radio silent since May.  As was the case last year, this job at DigiKey is a doozy.  We just don’t have a lot of time for “extras.”  The only excitement we have had is going to see the new Top Gun movie, playing putt-putt golf, and the occasional trip to Grand Forks to eat at Pizza Ranch!  We did go to the fair when it was in town.  We were shocked to find they didn’t have FOOT LONG corn dogs.  Is that a Texas thing?  We had to get normal sized ones.  (Sigh) They had 2 barns filled with animals which were fun to see.  It was like a huge petting zoo.  You don’t see that at fairs much nowadays. They also put on a nice fireworks show the first night of the fair, so that made up for the lack of fireworks on the 4th of July. 

We only have 6 days of work left for a total of 44 hours.  Not like I’m counting or anything.  Ha!  In general, it has gone better than last year.  For one thing, we aren’t newbies and the job has been more manageable due to that previous experience.  The other thing is we haven’t moved from bay to bay like last year…or maybe I should say, I haven’t moved.  Steve didn’t move quite as much as I did last summer.  Steve and I have both stayed at our bays the whole time.  We have even gotten to know several employees pretty well and I think people see us as hard workers and an asset to the area we work in.  I even went a whole month without a single repick (when you messed up an order by either an overage or shortage or poor packing) which is hard to do.  I have gone downhill since then… Steve’s bay mate started out a bit hostile, but he won her over with his work ethic.  My bay mate, as I mentioned in my last blog, is definitely cray-cray.  I have only put up with her shenanigans because I knew my job was short lived.  I could NOT work with her for long term.  She thinks I don’t know what she does, but I do.  She watches the pick labels and knows when a bad one is coming up and she either intentionally slows down so I get stuck with it or she conveniently has to go to the bathroom.  It is amazing.  She talks non-stop even when it’s obvious I’m trying to count or concentrate on a pick and she doesn’t even stop if I walk away.  There’s more but I don’t have the time to mention it all.  Today Steve and worked some overtime (on our day off) and her not being there was a blessing.  It was so quiet and peaceful.  I also got a lot done!  I hate to be unkind, but she needs God about as much as anyone I know.  I tried to be a “light” to her and Steve says that she sees that I’m “different.”  I hope so, because it has taken every bit of patience that I gained as a teacher to “turn the other cheek” when I really wanted to get her back by playing her same games.  I can’t say I have been a saint but she actually thinks we are friends, so I guess I did something right. 

DigiKey had a safety day and gave us an extra 15-minute break so we could attend. The police had 2 simulators in the parking lot.  I “made” Steve try out both of them.  One (in the photo above) replicated what it would feel like to roll your vehicle with a seatbelt on. The other had your hitting a wall going 15 miles per hour with a seatbelt.  Both were designed to show the value of wearing a seatbelt.  Glad we always buckle up! Steve also won a gift card to a local restaurant.  Score!

We took our RV into Fargo in June and, thankfully, they fixed the leaking bedroom slide.

We have had soooo much rain while we’ve been here, we really didn’t need a leak.  It didn’t even cost us all that much and they got it done that day.  We have enjoyed some beautiful days where I wanted to skip work and just sit outside all day, but as I mentioned, we have had a ton of rain. I have been hearing about the heat wave a lot of the country has been having, but we have escaped that and have only had a few really hot days.  It is a different summer than when we were here last year.  We have had more humidity and more clouds.  I’m not really sure which summer is more normal for this area.  We were so worried that the rain would bring out the huge mosquitos we have heard about but they must spray well here.  I hate to jinx it, but I have not seen a single mosquito the whole 3 months we’ve been here.  They may find us in Michigan or in the Smokies but maybe we’ll get lucky again!

We leave next Saturday for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  This type of traveling is new to us so I’m not really sure how we’ll do with our budget.  I know we have to watch our dining out but it’s hard when you are on the road.

We have another trip planned, for 2023.  We put down a deposit on a Hawaiian cruise leaving out of California for 15 days.  We had planned on booking a cruise but the places most cruises (that depart from California) stopped at didn’t excite me.  We have never been to Hawaii so we decided we would pay a bit more and be gone a bit longer in order to check out Hawaii via cruise ship.  That, I can get excited about.  We plan to finish working mid-April, leave our rig at the resort in Arizona while we take the cruise, and then go back to Arizona, pack up and head out for wherever our next summer leads us.  We saw a job in Colorado that piqued our interest, but otherwise we have no idea what we want to do.  They did say they will most likely be looking for help again at DigiKey next summer, but I think we are ready for something new. 

We are finally in Minnesota.  Not sure how happy we are about it since apparently it’s still winter here.  They had a big snow about 2 weeks before we arrived and then they have had flooding issues since then.  It has been cold and rainy with the exception of the day we got here.  

We spent almost 3 weeks in Amarillo.  We apologize that we didn’t reach out to anyone while there or make it to church but it was not a “fun” trip.  Steve found out he had a rather large kidney stone last October.  It was one that wasn’t causing any problems and so they told us he could most likely wait until we came back through Amarillo in April.  We decided to do that since we needed to get to Arizona.  SO…in April, we drove to Amarillo and started the surgery process.  A few days later, they took him in hoping to blast the kidney stone, but unfortunately weren’t able to reach it with the scope.  Steve got to have a stent left in for a week to help make it easier for them to reach the stone on the 2nd go around.  He was miserable (and of course, so was I).  A week later they went in and successfully blew up the kidney stone, put another stent in and told him to wait a week and they’d remove the stent.  He wasn’t much happier with the 2nd stent but did seem to bounce back a little better this round.  They removed the stent on a Friday, we ran to Lubbock to visit family on Saturday and left for Minnesota on Sunday.  Hopefully when we come back through in October, we can visit with people and go to church one Sunday.  I prefer those kind of trips to Amarillo over this last one!

Our first stop was to check out our land in Colorado.  It had been a year since we planted all of the seedlings and we were anxious to see how they looked.  They were expecting cold temperatures and snow so we dropped the RV and went straight to our land.  We were a bit disappointed.  We had lost around 30 trees, and the ones that were still green, hadn’t grown much.  We had hoped for more growth but maybe what we saw was normal.  I know losing a certain amount is to be expected, but I guess we were hoping we weren’t “normal.”  We also had a lot of trees broken off.  It appeared they’d had some high winds recently.  It may actually help when it comes time to build, but after having trees masticated post fire, it was hard to see the new mess of downed trees.  We also chose to bury Aspen’s ashes on our land.  He loved Colorado.  He loved the outdoors.  So, it was only logical to let him rest there.  We know he’ll be very happy there.  It’s still rough at times not having him travel with us.  We had so many routines built into our lives that revolved around him and there are times we forget he’s not here with us.  How much I miss him hits me at random times.  Guess it will for a long while.

After getting up the next morning and cleaning the snow off the RV so we could put the slides in, we headed out.  3 days later, we arrived in Thief River Falls.  When we got here they parked us in a site out in the back parking lot.  I wasn’t surprised they put us there since Express Pro is footing the bill but I was disappointed that we couldn’t pick up the WiFi signal there and nor a single TV channel.  We asked the owners if we could move to a better site even if we had to pay the difference.  They said that we could, but they weren’t sure when. Due to the weather they’d been having in April, we couldn’t hook up to water (it was frozen) nor sewer (frozen too).  We were told that Express Pro has someone who will come by once a week to fill our tank with water and dump our tanks…until winter is over.  We are hoping winter is over! They called us 2 days later and told us we could move to another site and we might not even have to pay the difference which isn’t really that big of a deal. Express Pro needs more sites and the back lot is almost full so they will have to pay a bit more for the premium sites.  If they agree to it, then we shouldn’t have to pay anything for being in a premium site.  We can pick up the WiFi signal although it isn’t the best signal strength.  We also have cable hook ups so we have TV now, including HGTV!!We are happier here…the site has more gravel on it so it’s less muddy and we even have a small paver patio with a fire pit. Once we are allowed to hook up to water and sewer, we’ll be set.

We went in Friday and did the final paperwork for Express Pro.  They told us we would get a short refresher and then jump right back into the job.  I think we are ready to get back to work especially with this yucky weather.  We are starting back on 2nd shift (1:30pm-10pm) but know that they could take that away at any time and put us on 3rd shift.  We thought DigiKey would be moved into their new building by now, but they haven’t even started migration. It will be interesting to see how our 3 months here will play out.

I can not say it enough…this season has FLOWN by. We are down to the last few weeks now. They have signed the lease for our site for next year, so it looks like we are “in.” The last month has been filled with softball games and activities. Our friends, that we made in Durango, spent a month here in the Phoenix area and we hiked with them (Photo 2), ate Whataburger with them twice and played pickleball. It was so nice having them here. We got free tickets to see to the Barleen’s show. For those of you familiar with Branson, Barleen’s is similar to a Branson show. We went to their variety show and it was so well done. There was some serious talent on the stage. They also serve a full meal for their guests. We lucked into some complimentary tickets and saved ourselves $84. Then we got free tickets to an Alabama tribute show at another area park. It was really well done. We have also been to John Denver and Journey tribute shows (worked those show for free attendance.). We weren’t super impressed with the quality of the shows we worked, but at least we didn’t pay money for them. This week we have a Volunteer Appreciation Party and a Bingo event to help with. After that, things will be fairly slow around here.

My niece has a good team this season but they don’t seem to be improving much. We had high hopes for them after the first game or two, but they have lost several games they should have won. Our belief is it’s the coaches. But we have had so much fun going to their games and haven’t missed any that were drivable. We only have 2 more days of games left before we leave. Hate to miss so many games, but they do have a way to listen to the games that we will have to take advantage of.

Aspen officially turned 17 the other day. We have had days when we thought it was time and then he bounces back, and we know it's not time yet. It’s really hard being in this situation. One day at a time, I guess.

It appears the RV leg that was replaced is still slipping slightly. Steve is now wondering if it’s the other leg (somehow they are connected) causing the problem. We aren’t too worried about this since it’s such a slow slippage, but I sure hope the slide issue is fixed. I’m not feeling super confident right now.

Sunset at Roadhaven

Our work schedule has changed more times in the last 2 weeks than I've changed socks. (Not really!) But it has been a work in progress. We think we may have the final winner as of yesterday and it will take effect on Monday. We will no longer be working in Hospitality. I'm not sure they ever really wanted us there. The lady in charge always felt like since we weren't residents, then we couldn't make the impact with prospective owners that people who live here could. In ways, she is right. She has also had several people volunteer that she didn't have spots for because of our need for hours so our leaving Hospitality will help. So...what will we be doing? We are back to what we know the most: Office and Maintenance. We will work Monday-Friday from 8:30-1:30. I will be in the activities office helping the activity director since she doesn't have an assistant this year. She is the main reason for the schedule change. She was really needing more help and they said they had plenty to keep Steve busy in maintenance, so there you have it! I liked having a weekday off but getting off at 1:30 will help if we need to schedule an appointment or something.

They finally widened the driveway of our site. It’s still tight but I can now park the truck by myself.

We have already talked to the general manager about returning next winter. He is good with it. We know it's early and we may change our minds but as I've mentioned before, deals like we have here are few and far between. I still want to try and find a way to winter in Mexico but for now, this will work!

It's hard to believe next week is Thanksgiving. Nice weather, like we've been having here, makes it difficult to remember what season we are in. We plan to spend Thanksgiving at my brother's house in Surprise.

We haven't gotten really into any activity or club here. Every time we run into someone who is a big club supporter, they want to recruit us. What they don't seem to grasp is that we are not like everyone else here whose main job every day is to get out of bed. I am not bashing retirees; if anything, I am jealous. But I don't want to pay $25-40 and not be able to enjoy the club benefits due to our work schedule. We did play a little pickleball on our day off. There are open court times for members and non-members. Two guys were playing on the court next to us and asked if we wanted to play so we played a couple of games against them (and won!)

2 weeks later-

I started a blog and then never got it together to send out, so I guess I’ll just add to it now. We are now fully into our newest schedule. It is working out well. Steve has kept busy outside painting, shoveling rocks and trimming greenery. I am enjoying working in the activity office. Some of the “rules” are different but it is much like the job I had last winter at Mesa Regal, so it’s not hard. I just have to learn how the director wants things done. Most of the time, the day flies by. I usually don’t get off at 1:30 because she wants me to close out the register and make the bank deposit and I usually can’t start that until close to 1:30, but it’s just more money in our bank account!

We had a great Thanksgiving at Brian’s. It was a small affair but the food and company were good. We played some cornhole after lunch and watched a lot of football. We will spend Christmas with them as well! We put up our tree and lights so we are ready!

Steve is still trying to get some help with the RV costs. It has been stressful for him trying to deal with Keystone and Lippert (the hydraulics manufacturer). No one wants to help...either it's been too long or we are the 2nd owner. We got a little help from Lippert but most of the cost will come from our pockets. We just hope that it fixes the problem. And then now, we have a truck leak that appears to be the radiator. So it's going to the shop Thursday to have that problem diagnosed. Not sure what is up, but we have had more car/RV troubles in the last 3 years than we ever had in a 3 year stretch back in Amarillo. Just trying to remember that God has got this!

Things have gone backwards here. We are back to wearing masks at work. The General Manager got Covid and then the communications manager did along with her husband who works in maintenance. Then another office worker got it…and so Monday, they shut down the front office completely so everyone could quarantine for a week and hopefully stop the spread. There are some residents who have it as well but I’m not sure how many. Thankfully, we have been spared in the activity office so we are still working and hopefully we will stay that way (no work=no pay). Sometimes I think the activity director would like things to close down so it would be easier on her, but I keep telling her to bite her tongue. So far, they haven’t cancelled anything (except the Christmas staff party) and they are only suggesting that the residents wear masks in buildings. We have to wear ours when at work around residents. I’m hoping we’ll get a hold on this thing and get back to where we were last week. I was enjoying feeling “normal.”