PICTURES FROM SUMMER CAMP!

Here are just a few scenes from "camp"
Our office/store, and Sheri Michael-she and her husband don are responsible for getting us into this! The outdoors checkers game with bowling pins-and "our mode of transportation here when we are not walking thru the trees-more in future blogs-and some things that cannot be recorded in photo-sometimes things that happen at camp-stay at camp! enjoy!

MORE PICTURES FROM SUMMER CAMP!

Here are some pics from summer camp! One night we had a great campfire after work-Mike and Norm and Montana Mike played guitar and we all sang-badly! Our porch is a great little gathering place, and quitting time means a beer after a long day and gathering behind the restaurant in what we call the "employee lounge"

WE ARE TIRED,SORE AND VERY HAPPY WORKAMPERS

May 21, 2009

I am sure you all must think I am slacking off 'cause there have been no new blog entries in a while-not true! we have just been really, really, busy-and really tired and sore a lot of the time-learning just what this workamping thing really entails.
Honestly, I am not whining-we are having a great time-but this is no "camp host" job!
Mike and I are learning so many new things,and feeling healthier and satisfied at the end of each day. We are working with really great people, and the park is beautiful. We are looking forward to seeing some of you this summer-you will love this place! There has not been much time to really explore the surrounding area,so many lakes-so little time! Most of the waterways are not open til the end of June and after,and we are making a list and asking everyone we come across about their favorite spots for fishing and hiking. I went to a great salon yesterday for a haircut(their will be future visits to this place after hearing about the facials they do)and learned about several local favorite fishing areas. People are so friendly here, and really proud of where they live.
The park will be very busy this weekend,being the Memorial weekend holiday. The weather is getting a bit warmer-in the pics we all are wearing several layers-when the sun comes out we all cheer. The robins are beautiful-and so fat and happy here!
We have about a five minute walking commute to work in the morning-thru the trees and the singing of the robins in those tall trees. We have not yet spotted a deer-and happily no bears-but we hear that the deer will be out soon. So, all in all-we are doing great-missing our friends and family a lot-but still feeling pretty darn lucky to be where we are and doing some good work with good people!
Tuesday night we all gathered in the restaurant-Buffalo Bobs-to learn how to make pizza and some of the other things they serve to hungry campers. We learned how not to splash hot oil from the fryers all over ourselves,how to use the big grill,and then took all of the food we made and had a great dinner! it was fun, and a nice way to learn how the restaurant operates. We will only be working in the kitchen a small part of our time here-they have actual kitchen people who really know what they are doing! One of the kids-Clayton-is going to be starting culinary school soon.
I told him all about Nolan and he is really looking forward to starting his career soon. he is cute,and a fun addition to the staff here.
We have learned where the best places to pick wild huckleberries and to find morel mushrooms are-that will be a good day trip soon! Montana is also known for its sapphires-I am doing some research on that too! So,just took a little break from writing-we went down to the wood pile at the back of the park-met Sheri and Montana Mike and finally got to shoot the gun we had bought before we left Elsinore last year. My first time shooting a pistol-I managed to do ok, hit a water bottle and a can-and no warm bodies-yippee! We can't shoot when the park is full-so it will be awhile til we can do it again. I told Mike that he takes me on some strange dates-cause he does! As they say-when in Montana,do as...you know the rest!
I will end this now-but I hope everyone is reading Dave's blog-the fighting leprechaun-he is working so very hard in training for his trip to Iraq next month. His blog is pretty interesting-and of course because it is Dave writing-he makes sure it is a fun read also! Every time I even think about whining about cleaning a potty-I think about what he is doing-and will be doing in the next year or so-He is one brave and remarkable big brother-and I am so proud of him!

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!

May 5,2009

This post will be a very short one-about the only body part I have that does not hurt are my fingers-we cleaned the rest of the kabins today-and as the day progressed-so did the aches and pains from yesterday! I am not whining-just ready for bed again! Tomorrow is another day-and we know it will be a busy day-again!
here are a couple of pics from yesterday for you to enjoy-our great neighbors Norm and Gail, and Tracy, Walt's wife. Goodnight!

OUR FIRST DAY!

may 4th,2009

The day has arrived! We are up early-and ready for whatever this day will bring.
Our neighbors,Gail and Norm,are here and we are ready to walk down the hill for our first "staff" meeting. The sun is out and we meet Walt(our new boss) on the patio outside of "Buffalo Bobs" (the restaurant and large play center). We soon find out that there are more guests invited-or not-to this meeting-it is the goats from the petting zoo! They come up on the porch,looking for a free rub around the horns-and really try to get all of the attention away from Walt and his wife Tracy, who are trying to explain stuff to us! At one point,George(the gutsy goat) leaps on top of the patio table! We are all loving this,well all of us but Walt and Tracy, that is! They are used to the goats antics and are not pleased! The rest of us think all is great and this is most definitely the most fun in a staff meeting I have had! I think if some of those large boring investment companies would just invite a few goats to their meeting-well,I don't know about production growing-but the morale would sure get a shot in the arm! After getting our information on the patio-we took a tour of all of the park facilities. There are a lot of great activities here-and this park is totally geared for families to come and have fun with their children. We will have a lot to learn over the next few weeks-we(and I speak for myself) are both excited and a little scared too! Now the meeting has ended, and we are given our first assignments. we get our time card and clock in-so now the work begins! our first jobs are to start cleaning the Kamping Kabins and Kamping Kottages. There are 10 of these-several being larger two bedrooms-the rest are one bedroom. We have to take down the curtains in each to wash,clean all of the wood-there is a lot of wood here,after all-they are kabins! We get our little buckets of cleaning supplies and start to work. Mike and I start in one, and Gail and Norm start in the next one-by the end of the day we had cleaned 10 kabins-we patted each other on the back for a job well done,and headed toward that time clock! Walt is there and has a cold beer for us-we meet a few other seasonal employees and then it was decided that we would go learn how to play disc golf. Mike and I had never hear of this-so we do not know what we are in for1 There is a course(and this one is a lot of up hill in the forest with a lot of trees) Each person has a disc-looks like a small Frisbee,but a little heavier. The object is like golf, to get your disc in the cup- but the cup here is a tall basket on a platform. There are 9 holes, and they are a distance of between two to three hundred feet apart, and your "strokes" are the number of throws or flings it takes to get the disc in the basket. Everyone but Mike and I are pretty good at this game-but they were very patient with me,even when it takes me several more trys at each "hole" to hit that basket. Anyway, it is a fun game and there are courses all over the country we learn! I talked to Dave last night and he knew all about it.
We are given several of the discs to practice with-I hope I get the hang of this game! Ginger had a great time-but had to learn that it was not ok to retrieve the discs people were throwing! the three of us finally get back to our little home-worn out,hungry, and knowing we had a good day-and will have an even better nights sleep!
Tomorrow there are two large kabins to clean-and then there are the bath houses....
the pics show the goats folllowing us on our tour of the grounds, and then having their own meeting on the patio.I think they knew we were going to clean Kabins-smart goats!

OUR LAST DAY OF UNEMPLOYED FREEDOM!

may 3, 2009

Well, we have come to our last day of unemployed freedom-actually we are employed-but do not start work til tomorrow. We have yesterday(Sat)and today trying to get everything organized,all of our shopping done-at least for the next week. We explored the little and pretty town of Whitefish-did some window shopping, and had a good lunch at the Buffalo cafe. Today we decided to rearrange the living room-yes, you know-the big room just off the kitchen and dining room! anyway-we like it better-the house feel more cozy, and will work well until we have to pull in our slides once again in Sept. We have our first "staff" meeting in the morning and hopefully we will find out all of the things we have been wondering about since December!

WE ARRIVE!! NOW WHAT!?!

may 1st,2009

Ok, you should read the next blog before this one-I was not thinking, and decided to split the day into two separate posts-hey, i have a lot of pics to put on!
So, anyway-we finally see the signs for the(our) KOA home. We are surprised, and pleased to find that the camp is in the middle of a forest, and quite a way off of the highway. it is beautiful, and rustic-and we are happy we are here! We are greeted by our new boss-and the owner of the park, Walt. He welcomes us "home" and we follow him up the hill to see our campsite. Pleased to see we are at the far end and highest point in the park, with the other workampers for the season. Our site is great,complete with a nice porch,our view out of our back window is forest-just forest! Walt tells us to get settled, and get used to the park,and we will start work on Monday. We meet two other couples that have already arrived-they are all friendly, and we have a feeling that this is going to be a great summer!
Tomorrow we will explore a bit-the town of Whitefish is close-tonight we are both worn out and looking forward to a good sleep in the woods. the pics are of our first look at camp,Mikes petting zoo buddies enjoying a bit of freedom, and our "home" in the woods.

FINALLY ON OUR WAY TO WHITEFISH!

may 1st(happy May day!)2009

Finally we are leaving Deer Lodge for our last leg of our journey-for a bit at least!
We have a sunny morning for our drive-actually is the most beautiful morning we have seen in quite some time! Mike and Ginger and I are looking forward to seeing where "home" will be for the next few months-oh, and what jobs we will be doing, and with who and all of that! Our friends and co-workers who we met in Texas have had some mechanical issues with their house, and are being delayed in New Mexico. We hope they get everything fixed, and get to camp soon!
Our drive is beautiful-and like we remember-cattle are everywhere-it is very green and the mountains are still covered with snow. We have the Mission mountain range in front of us for much of the drive-they are magnificent! Soon we see the sign for the turn off to Kalispell-yippee! we know we are almost "home". Before we know it we get our first glimpse of beautiful Flathead lake, and it is even bluer and larger than we remember from last year-we are so excited! Ginger is excited too-she has some sun on her face and body for the first time in awhile-and she is happy!!