SANTA'S HELPER

Well after being out of the work force for so long and getting settled into our new home, I thought I should see if I could get a temporary job over the Christmas season. Carol and me are traveling to Hawaii and joining up with Ryan and Erinn for a ten day vacation in the middle of January, so applying for any serious job would be out of the question until we return.
So I went to my favorite job site and found that Amazon.com was hiring for the Christmas season, so I went through the screening process and got the call I was hoping for on the last week of November.
Well having never worked in a factory setting before I wasn't sure what to expect. I was told that I would work 4 - 10 hr. day's, but on my first day on the job they shifted to mandatory over time week so then I was required to work a 60 hr. week at 4- 12 hr. day's and and extra 12 hr. day through the week.
So after some quick training I was sending packages off to expecting customers,Amazon is a high rated on-line shopping site and has a very high rating for customer satisfaction, so a lot of pressure is put on it's workers to perform with no problems or mix ups.Each day our shift was expected to send out over 30,000 packages so at 2 shifts a day that is a lot of boxes.
I was put on the loading dock the first week and I loaded trailers (wow what a work out ) I lost a few lbs. , and got back into shape fast. The next week I was put on a slam line where I put boxes together and put products into them ,added packing and taped them up and slapped a shipping label on it . I didn't do it all my self , we worked as a assembly line with 4 others.
To help with the monotony of the job I would think of myself as Santa's helper with all the toys that would pass through our line, heading for the family Christmas trees.
Now that the Christmas rush is coming to a close and shipping can not be assured before Christmas day ,Amazon has been thinning out some of the workers for the work load has been reduced.So each day everyone comes to work not knowing if it will be there last . To be honest if they let me go I wont mind to much for the experience showed me that I am not factory material, for the repetitious boredom would kill me. I give much credit to the ones that do this day after day.
As I am writing this blog it is just 2 days to Christmas and Carol and me wish you all a merry Christmas and a great and blessed new year.

I have thought about trying my hand at painting for awhile now. I have watched many of the "Joy of painting" shows with Bob Ross and thought he makes it look fun.when Dale and I were in the Hobby Lobby store a few weeks back we noticed a display advertising an up coming class for a Bob Ross style painting. Dale encouraged me to sign up for it. I went to the 5 hour class and came home with a completed painting.

I enjoyed it so much that I am continuing it at home. This is what I did with the help of a DVD that came with the paint set I bought.I took pictures as I went to see the progress.

I am sure I will do more with as fun as it has been.My Mom has always encouraged me to paint, she always said I could do it. I guess she was right. Thanks Mom.

From the top of South Mountain

We decided to go for a hike but settled on a drive to South Mountain. It is a city park that is 17,000 acres in area and is located just south of central Phoenix, hence the name.Its known to be about the worlds largest city park. We drove up to the gate and found a map to see where to explore. There were many hiking trails and also places you could drive to. We drove on a 5 mile road with many switchback curves at 15mph , and the road kept going steadily upwards.

All along the way were so many wonderful vistas. we stopped at Dobbins lookout which is at 2330 feet. Avondale like Mora is about 900 feet. So we were up there aways.

We could see downtown Phoenix.Also fun was watching the air liners sailing over head and landing at Sky Harbor airport, they appeared to be cruising between the tall buildings down town.

The area has a lot of farms on the south side and cotton is king, and it was time to pick cotton.

we took these two pictures when we got down near them

As we drove up farther we came to where the city had some of there tv and radio antennas at the top. There we could look down on the other side and see the city of Ahwatukee . We also saw some hawks soaring on the warm air thermos just above us .



Back at the bottom we stopped to look at the rangers station was originally at the front gate of the park made out of rocks found in this area and another building -not sure what it was.The area has horse ranches where you can rent a horse and take trips up and around the mountain.

It was a very nice drive and if any of you come out to visit us we can take you up to see for yourselves.

Note: I believe you can double click on the pictures to see them larger

The journey to Arizona

Here are a few of the things we saw on our journey to Arizona.
We saw hundreds if not thousands of wind generators. they went
on for miles. It was in southern Minnesota just before we got to Holland.




we saw a lot of harvesting along the way. huge combines and
semi trucks to haul it away. There was huge cattle and dairy
farms, and equally large stacks of hay.







This was in Colorado Springs,Co, right next to Pikes Peak. we ended up taking
a few parking spaces to fit our long load in.


That next morning when we left the wind was crazy strong. this is pictures of the dust
that went with it. poor Dale had to fill the gas tank in that. his mouth was so full of dirt
that it took most of a bottle of water to wash it down.





We started seeing antelope in the fields. it was fun watching for them.


We saw one of the blades for those large wind generators on a semi. it gives you
a different perspective when you see it that close.



We saw many beautiful vistas along the way. it would be fun sometimes to go back
and see more of them up close when we have time.





Finally we started seeing cactus north of Phoenix.


This is a street in Phoenix

Home With A New Address

Well we have unpacked a lot of the stuff we will be needing in the new apartment, and we have set up our aquarium and the fish are very happy and doing great. Our plants are enjoying the sun shine and warm weather out on the patio.

We took a drive the other day to see what the area looks like , Phoenix has and abundance of water and you see it all over.

They have been putting up hay this week and our apartment faces the fields, so it has been fun watching the activity around us .

They grow many different crops in our area , mostly hay and cotton.

Moving Day - UFF DA !

Well that day has arrived, and after many months of planning and speculating we picked up the truck and car hauler and headed over to the storage shed that contained what's left of our earthly possessions. We were joined by Jenni, who came to help and say good bye, and so the three of us went about the task of sorting and fitting everything into each little spot in the truck.
It did not take as long as we thought and in a few hours we were heading back to Ryan and Erinn's home to find a spot for the remainder of the things. We had just a few more boxes to load and it took each of us to offer a idea as to how we can get things to fit. In time we had the door of the truck shut and we took the evening to rest our tired muscles.
The next day we spent time getting the good old camper (and our home away from home ) a well deserved cleaning and preparation for it's winter storage. We had to remove the items that we will bring to Arizona and winterize it for its last stay in a Minnesota winter, for we will be back next year to drive it to it's new home.
And so if everything goes as planned we will be heading out Monday morning.