The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

The news is out!

In full support of our right to bare arms, we were working in short sleeved shirts yesterday! Yes, it was a beautiful afternoon with a nice springtime high of 18C (65F). Ruth says she loves having her office outdoors!

I wish we could show you photos.

As I figured, our replacement camera didn't arrive yesterday. The online shipment tracking says it left New York on Thursday, arrived in Toronto and has left Toronto. Will it get here Monday? I hope so!

A little more detail about our park. I won't tell you everything until we can show you pics at the same time. But part of yesterday's work activity involved doing garbage pickup at the eighty cabins. Yes, eighty.

These "cabins" are owned, but they are located on park property and the owners pay an annual lease fee to the park itself. Some of them really are weekend cabins, but some are full size homes that people live in year round. I've looked up a few that have been for sale. They can range from $75,000 to $400,000!

Some of the "cabins" here at the park.

Our responsibilities here at the campground really don't have very much to do with the cabins or cabin owners. However we are responsible for trash pickup from those cabins, every Friday and every Monday. Of course there isn't very much trash at this time of year, in fact what was in the bins was mostly leftovers from last year. We were done in less than an hour, but I'm sure it will take quite a bit longer (and a lot stinkier!) on a Monday after a hot summer weekend. So the job is not all peaches and cream!

Ruth did quite a bit more raking yesterday, and cleaned up the covered picnic area. She also went through at least 30 cans of old paint that had been stored underneath our cabin. As expected, about half of it was bad. I hate clutter like that...if something is garbage, throw it away!

Meanwhile, I was busy getting equipment ready for use this summer. Last year they bought a brand new riding mower and a brand new heavy duty push mower. I found a stack of user manuals and sorted through them to see what maintenance was required. And not only for these two new mowers, but for all the other gas powered equipment as well. There was still dirty oil in the ride on mower, so obviously nothing had been done.

Changed the oil in the air compressor as well. It also looked like it had never been done.

There are two other ride on mowers. Not sure why they need three ride on mowers, but we'll figure it out as time goes on.

Tried out our new BBQ yesterday evening and it cooked up some delicious sirloin strip steaks. They were on sale the other day for $3.99 a pound!

Blue sky and sunshine again today. Great to be able to work outside. We'll enjoy it while we can because I bet we won't be saying that when it rains!


21 comments:

  1. I'll bet there won't be trash in the 80 cabins' cans at the end of this season! Good work you guys. I have sore back and shoulders, empathetically, for Ruth's raking job!
    Do you have a freezer? I think I'd stock up on that sirloin at $3.99 a pound!

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    1. Surprisingly enough I am not as sore as I thought I might be, especially considering all the raking that I am doing. Guess we are in better shape than we thought.

      We do have a freezer over top the refrigerator but the sale on the steak is over now. We didn't buy more at the time because we weren't sure how good it would be.

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  2. I sure hope the park realizes what great workers they got when you two signed on.

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    1. If they don't realize it now they will know so enough. Thank you Jim and Sandie.

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  3. It does make a difference when someone cares about their job like you guys do.
    Nice to bare arms again and work in the fresh air.

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    1. It sure is! As Kevin said, we may not think the same thing when we have to go outside to work on a really rainy day.

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  4. They sure are getting their "money's worth" out of you two. Are you the only work campers? Sounds like you are doing an amazing amount to get this place back in ship shape. I think your high temperatures are about the same as ours here in Florida - mid 60's. I don't think that's the way it's supposed to be.

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    1. Technically, we're not workcampers. This is a full time job for which we are paid a full time salary. And we're not camping, we're living in a cabin that happens to be situated at the campground. There are other people working here though. I'll tell you all more about that in another post.

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  5. I can relate to the collection of the garbage from the houses. Used to do that with my Dad, who was a Caretaker on an estate just outside King City (north of Toronto).
    However, there were only nine houses on the estate, although I do seem to think we picked up the garbage several times a week. That was a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far far...
    Oh wait. Never mind.

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  6. It is about time you got some good outdoor weather. The 17th is getting closer every day. Enjoy the quiet while you can.

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    1. We have lost too do before the 17th so it may be quiet but it will be busy days for us until after the long weekend.

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  7. Old cans of paint...yuck. I bet you had more trash to pick up than anyone!

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    1. More than half were garbage but we have to take those into town and drop off at a special place as they can't go into the regular garbage.

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  8. You sure are and are going to be busy. You have a lot of skills and sound like the right people for the job. It's great that you have a fully paid salary...you are certainly going to earn it!

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    1. Trust me we will be using all our skills plus learning some new ones over the summer. Yes, we will certainly be earning our keep!

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  9. Cool. Sounds like this will be an interesting summer. Wish I were eating steak, I can taste it.

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    1. I thought you weren't eating beef anymore, Chris?

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  10. I admire your work ethic and how you approach your responsibilities. Great examples of how to do it!

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  11. It's so interesting to read what all you've been doing getting ready. You have inspired me to go above and beyond of what usually gets done on our ten acre "camp" here!
    Connie in PA

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    Replies
    1. Glad we have inspired you Connie and Barry. Just don't work quite as hard as us, your aren't getting paid to do your own work. :)

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