For The Pipeliner's Wife

pipeliners wife said...
You know not all people are the same. But when you talk about pipeliners you talk about all. Its not easy when we have to leave are familys just so we can work like any other person out there. But what makes it harder is when you go to a park were you don't feel welcome when people like you talk about us.This is the frist time in three years i didn't feel comfortable.The only one that made us feel welcome was you husband.Well if i ever come back to missouri. your park is not on my list. Well now that we are gone you can get your sanity back.We are people to. We might have gotten a litttle noise sometimes. but when they work all week they deserve it.Its not like we fight or do stupid shit we just have a good time.So i'll keep reading your blog. to see who else you can talk about. I have better things to do besides talking about people.So keep you sanity in place you don't have to worrie about us anymore.YOUR PARK IS (KAN'T DO)and is not for pipeliners. PIPELINERS WIFE
Saturday, 26 September,


As I scrolled through previous posts reading comments left, I came across this one at the top of this post. Seems she was offended that I would talk about the behaviour of the group that she apparently associates herself with. I will take this opportunity to address her concerns.....

I agree that all people are not the same. This was made all the more apparent by the behaviour of the group that recently moved on. Yes, they were pipe liners. I still have pipe liners in my park. Lucky for them I do not prejudge their behaviour by the example of the recently departed ones. The ones that are still here have commented on the quiet evenings we all enjoy now. The noise level has gone down dramatically. The number of complaints that I am responsible for solving has also decreased...dramatically.

I am sure that leaving your families and traveling is a hardship, but one that you have chosen to do. By choosing this lifestyle you should expect to be subject to the rules of the parks that you stay in. These rules are not put in place solely to inconvenience any one group. They are pretty standard in any park I have ever stayed in. You say that I did not make you feel welcome, but that my husband did. Probably because I am in the office and he is out in the park. I am the one who answers the phone and hears the complaints, so that when you do see me it is to solve a problem. After addressing the same problem with the same party time after time I would agree that my facade would not be a welcoming one. Had any of you complained about another camper creating an atmosphere that you found to be unbearable they would have been treated the same as you were when they complained about you.

You say that because you work hard you deserve to make noise and have a good time. Do you think that the campers around you who may be tired and want to get a good night's sleep not deserve to have that. They also pay to stay here.

I am not sure what you would consider to be stupid shit. Would that be leaving a dog out to live in a cardboard box to howl and whimper all night. Maybe parking your vehicles in empty sites. Or maybe getting so drunk that you are seen laying half in-half out of your camper without a stitch of clothing on? Maybe it would be drinking out of glass containers in the pool area, or using the pool skimmers as your personal ashtray. The laundry room would be considered part of the building and would be a no smoking zone, but that didn't stop someone from emptying an entire ashtray of cigarette ashes and butts into the floor. The washers and dryers were repaired weekly due to overloading them. Maybe this is what you may be referring to.

You are absolutely right when you say that all people are not the same. Even with-in your group were some that would be welcome back at my park. I am glad that my park is not on your lists of parks should you ever find yourself back in this area.

I tend to disagree that my park is not for people working on the pipeline, I do agree that it is not the park for the group you are with and I will definitely be screening my long term renters more carefully from this point on. Sad to say that a whole group of hard working people will no doubt be judged by the behaviour of a few.

Perhaps you should consider your own behaviour and why I found it to be worthy of posting on my blog.

Can You Feel The Love?

Not too long ago I had a visit with my Mama and Daddy. It was a short visit, seems they all end too soon. I was able to take some time away from the campground and do a few things with them......... all involving food. No matter where we went we always ended up eating something......

Love of my life captured this moment as we were about to go on an adventure. He got some other shots that I found objectionable (too much of me in them....way too much). Mama and Daddy are still in the newlywed phase and seem to always be holding hands. I find that so endearing. Aren't they a cute couple?

My Aunt Hazel came along and I missed getting a shot of her. I thought I had snuck one in, but I didn't. She was the aunt who was brave enough to ride with me my first time behind the wheel of a car....... her car! She brought me a gift. Unexpected gifts are so nice. I am thinking my step-sister Glenda must have told her about my collection of elephants.

Speaking of Glenda, just look at this lovely candle she gave me. I love it. But I don't want to light it.....cause then it will melt away. But candles are made to be used and I will light this on a cold winter night and enjoy it with a cup of hot tea and think good thoughts. Glenda was camera shy..... I did get a shot of her, but had to promise not to publish it.

Right before my family came for their visit, my favorite tent camper EVER brought me this elephant. He is such a good friend to us. I tend to write about the negative side of this business, but we have made many wonderful friends in the years that we have been here and Don is one of them.

Can you feel the love?

Gourdgeous Gourds

It is almost time to harvest my gourds. This is what they looked like in August.


Here is a close-up. Pretty Impressive, don't you think?

They aren't through growing, though. Just look at this one. I finally noticed this one last week. It seemed to appear suddenly. These gourds are sneaky like that.

This last picture is a shot of the same three in the picture at the top of the page. Not only have they grown dramatically in a few short weeks......they don't even look like the same gourds.

I have tried several different methods of curing these gourds. I read a lot about them and found that some are left to dry in the fields naturally. In this method you lose some. Since I don't have a whole field of gourds...... Another method suggests that you scrape the green skin off, this will hasten the drying out. The easiest method is to put them in a cool dry place and let nature take it's course. Mold will form and eventually slough off.

You will not be using them this season with any method. They need to dry inside also and you will know when they are ready. They will sound hollow when you tap them and some of them will rattle when you shake them.

I learned the hard way.... if you decide to scrape the green skin off, don't touch your mouth! Bitter doesn't begin to describe it.... and it lingers forever. Also remember to wear a mask and eye protection if you decide to drill or cut a hole. The dust inside will escape and go everywhere. Learned that the hard way, too.

The gourds aren't through growing just yet. They won't be ready until the vine withers and turns brown. They grow a lot in the last few weeks. they seem to appear suddenly...... like a nice little surprise. I think they are gourdgeous. Don't you?

Anonymous Has Left The Park

Peace reigns here today. Anonymous and company have pulled out and all is quiet. I have my serenity and sanity back and all is well in my world! I know exactly who the author of the anonymous comments was (is?) and all her cohorts. Seems every problem I have had for the last three months stems from these folk. My last encounter with one of them was unpleasant indeed.

My Dad was here and I took some time off from the storefront to be with my family. One evening I checked in a traveler who requested a pull-thru (not an unusual request). I sent him to a site along with a map and went on with my supper preparations. He came back minutes later to tell me that a truck was parked on that site. I knew immediately who the vehicle belonged to.... they had parked there before when I tried to put someone on the site. This incident is what prompted me to put in writing a list of rules and distribute them to the occupants of the park. The site next to that site was also unoccupied (I thought, anyway), so I told the nice man to just park on that one thinking I could take care of the problem later. No such luck.....another truck was parked there.

I turned off my stove and told my folks I would be back in a few minutes and took off on foot to remedy the situation. I knocked on her door. I admit I was already annoyed, but she came out with an attitude. She told me that was her parking spot (yeah, right) and that my husband had told her not to park on the grass (no, he didn't). I told her that she had already been told NOT to park on an empty site and that she was preventing me from renting the site and that she could indeed park there if she paid to. I told her to move the truck....she said she didn't have the keys. I then asked whose truck was parked in the next site. "They ain't here, and they ain't never had a place to park. They've gone to Kansas." WHAT! I am by now not very pleasant and I repeat what I have already said about blocking the use of my empty sites. I walked over the nice people who are waiting to see if they would mind backing into a site.

She discovers that the second truck has the keys in it (I know I always go to another state and leave the keys in my vehicle). As she is moving this truck I am busy picking up broken flip-flops and beer cans and tequila bottle and all manner of garbage. I put this down and go to tell the man to pull into the site she is moving the truck out of. "Don't you put that shit in my yard!" she screams at me, "I have already cleaned my shit up and that ain't my shit!" How very classy. I had no intention of leaving it there.......and I am quite certain that the shit in question was hers. I had seen the mangled flip-flop on the foot of her child at one point during their stay.

This doesn't end here...... Love of my life was at work. I called and told him that I had had an encounter with this person. We do communicate about these things. She went to the station where he works and told on me! I can' t even express in words just how exasperated I was.



Early on in their stay here I wrote a post about the cloud of marijuana that engulfed the park one evening. I was told by several reliable sources that it emanated from the same vehicle blocking my site.

While out shopping with my Mama and Daddy I found this candy from my youth. I was enjoying it immensely and offered to share with love of my life. Holding up the bag I said "Want some Mary Jane, honey?" He looked at me strangely and then said, "Oh... candy, I wasn't sure what you were talking about." Then I pondered....... was this an inside joke, as I took it to be...... or does he need a hearing aid as much as my Dad?"

The red truck comes into the entrance drive as I watch. I am curious to see if he will stop.......at the stop sign. I even had a speed bump installed. I know this guy. His nickname is Q-Tip. He has really white blond hair. I approach the truck, "Did you see that great big red sign that said STOP?" He looks at me in amazement, " When did you get a STOP sign?" he asks. "There has always been a stop sign there, but this is a new one, it is bigger."

"Do you know why there is a STOP sign there?" I ask the young man with the moniker of Q-Tip. He looks a little blankly at me. I want to urge him to pay close attention. Instead I tell him the sign is there because I want him to STOP when he enters my park. I go on to explain that there are children and bicycles in the park and that had a child been riding by when he came in he could have hit the child. "Oh.", was his reply.

Do I need a bigger sign? Lights? A gate?

My Sweet Friend

Meet my dear friend, Nan. Her name is Betty, actually, but I have been known to rename people I am fond of and she is Nan to me. She zooms around the park on a golf cart with the moniker of Nannymobile........hence the name. Just coincidental that her grandchildren call her the same.

This past weekend she had a little get-together at her new site. I was invited.... because I am fun and she loves me! She had quite a spread of food! She came out a day early and made all the preparations for her big to-do.

She has been in the new site for only a week and look! You can't see all the detail, but she has lights strung up that say "Kan-Do"!!! She was forced to leave the little garden I had planted for her in the old site. Not to worry....... I see hostas and day lilies making their way to a new home here in the trees!

Everyone had a great time. There was lots of food and good conversation.

And Nan's granddaughter was there............ She is going to make Nan a great-grandma!!!!! Nan is giving advice and no doubt imparting some sage wisdom to the new mom-to-be.

I am used to seeing Nan at least once a weekend for her required dose of ice-cream. Not this past weekend, though! I am not worried, she will be back in her old routine and I will hear the whirring of her golf cart...... I better go check my stock of ice cream!

Happy Birthday, Daddy

My Dad is here! Suddenly I am a little girl again. My Mama and Daddy arrived yesterday along with my sister Glenda and my Aunt Hazel. I haven't seen my Aunt Hazel in almost 7 years. It is nice to be surrounded by those who love you so unconditionally.

Today is my Daddy's birthday. The steaks are thawing and I have a cake to bake. What do you give someone who is turning 79? I can think of many things I would like to give him.... a hearing aid being at the top of the list. Some times I think he kind of likes not hearing all that is going on. I watched him last night, the only man among all the women chattering away. I know he only heard parts of what we said and he even dozed off a time or two. Wonder what we all sounded like to him? A bee hive with a steady buzz? Whatever, it must have been somewhat soothing if he could doze.

Everyone still sleeps as I sit here and sip coffee. Soon I will sneak out to the apple tree, ladder in hand to get to those juicy apples beyond my reach. A fresh apple cake for the birthday boy. Steaks on the grill and twice baked potatoes. Hmmmmm..... might have to peruse Paule Deen's cookbook to round this out. I was thinking corn on the cob, but..... dentures.... My Daddy is easy to please, he will eat whatever you place on the table..... but it is his birthday, after all. I will make him waffles and sausage this morning and serve it along with my homemade apple butter. It is simply wonderful, if I do say so myself!

This was supposed to be a post about family and birthdays. How did all this food get in here? I will now have to leave this bloggy world that I have come to love and go out into the real world and begin the day ahead..........I'll be back, and maybe I will remember to have the camera in hand!!!

HD TV

Finally..... I have TV again. More important, I was able to go outside and take care of all the neglected chores. I was able to weed and pick peas and mow. The rock is still waiting to be moved.....

So, after a nice long day of accomplishing a lot, I came in and prepared dinner and then got ready for bed. Being creatures of habit, love of my life and I settled into bed after taking the four legged children out for their nightly constitutional. We watched the news and weather and then grabbed the remote to the DVR for our nightly dose of "The Young and The Restless". .............

NOOOOOOOOO! Nothing is on the DVR, because the DVR was changed out! Of course there is nothing on it, it is new. So, to add insult to injury, not only did I lose FIVE hours yesterday....... I lost five episodes of my soap that puts me to sleep. Now I will have to simply fill in the blanks left with my imagination! And it is not just me......... love of my life is totally into this soap, too. We were both all bummed out. Who knows what shenanigans we have missed. Victor Neuman no doubt missed us as an audience, too.

Love of my life is thrilled with the new picture. Me, not so much. I find that I listen more than watch because I am usually doing another task while "watching". I find it hard to "sit" and watch TV without doing something else while doing so. Life is starting to slow down a bit and soon the new season of TV will start.......... all in time for my annual hibernation.

FIVE HOURS

It is 1:30 on a beautiful day and I long to go outside and play. I have grass to cut, gardens to groom, rock to move. I becoming increasingly agitated as I sit here held prisoner through no fault of mine. Direct TV is here changing out the dish to accommodate HD on local channels. You would think it would have been a simple change over. This has been over FIVE hours now!

FIVE LONG HOURS. No shower for me this morning. No coffee in peace with my computer. FIVE hours of listening to the sports channel. Seems to be the channel of choice to hook up with. All THREE TV's are on and the dogs are pinned up in the kitchen WHINING. FIVE HOURS. He is not done yet. I am walking behind him and turning off TVs, but the dogs are going bonkers from being pinned up behind a piece of pegboard with my chair against it to prevent escape.

I have cleaned everything I can reach while he is in here. I have changed all the sheets and I have washed all the dishes. I have dusted and I have vacuumed. I am losing it as my day is slowly, ever so slowly drifting away. FIVE HOURS of my life I will NEVER get back.

Someday My Prince Will Come......

I failed to mention that I have a nasty case of poison ivy. My good buddy Betty (also known as Nan.....to me) knows I like frogs and came up to the office with this one for me this weekend.

She thought it was apropos because poison ivy is a weed, too. I just wish it would go to sleep......

She stays busy, my Nan. She made this wind sock for me. See the frog prince?

Here is a better shot of the frog. The wind was blowing and I couldn't get a shot of the other side where it says "Kan-Do". My crafty friend is so talented!! Thanks for all you do to make my day, Nan. Barb and Michael.....they are okay, too!

A Great Weekend

What a wonderful weekend! No major mishaps or complaints! I was able to close a little early on Sunday and go to Site 36 where John and Sue had a few campers over for a bite to eat. Just a few........

Looked like a small crowd to me. Love of my life had to work, so Deb and I went down to have a bite and some good fellowship. All the regulars were there along with some new faces. The weather was cooperative and the food was good and plentiful.

This was just a part of the food laid out....... see the deviled eggs? Always graceful, I dropped my sunglasses in them. After I licked most of the goody off I tossed them to my optician and she cleaned them......she just happens to be one of our seasonal campers. This is, after all, a full service campground!

We ate and got to spend a little time with all the folks gathered at site 36 before duty called. A child fell from the monkey bars and had to be taken to the hospital, so I had to leave the party. We were all thankful to hear that she was okay. She had a good sized goose egg on her head and there was blood involved. Head wounds bleed a lot and there was some excitement, but all was well in the end.

Deb and I topped off the evening with a bottle........... of sparkling grape juice. It was really good!

Clearly, the love of my life cannot handle a camera or my instructions........... He was told to make ME look good, not Deb! I told him to get MY good side and to make me look skinny. This is just not fair!

Rained All Night

It has rained all night for the past two nights. Remember that I have lots of tent campers. No complaints from these folks, though. The rain has stopped each morning in time for everyone to get up and enjoy the day. This morning the temperature rose and I noticed kids in the pool for the first time this weekend.

My gardens have been loving the nightly showers. I picked a little bouquet and made an apple cake. As I contemplated closing for the evening yesterday, this little rig came looking for a spot. I confess that I was envious and would have given anything to see the inside. I do have some self control, although I was tempted to ask.

This little charmer came into the store last night with his dad. He was enjoying an apple from my tree. What a cutie!

In spite of the overcast skies my church folks had a meeting and later played a little music, much to the delight of the whole park. So far...... so good!

The Holiday Begins

My church group began arriving early Friday. Tents began to appear everywhere.


Lots and lots of tents.

The big meeting tent was set up by the barn. This maple tree is confused about the season. It has already turned colors and is shedding foliage!

Help has arrived! Deb has come to play store keeper......

She sure brought a lot of stuff! Just how long is she staying?

So far it has been a wonderful weekend. No big problems to deal with and everyone seems happy. Especially me! Deb came bearing food for the weary. First night we had chicken pot pie along with a wonderful spinach salad with blackberry dressing (I wanted to lick the bowl). She also had an oatmeal cake that was to die for.....and don't forget that oatmeal will help lower your cholesterol! Last night we had lasagna that I had made and frozen for this weekend. Deb made bruschetta with some great fresh tomatoes out of my garden....as Rachel Ray would say "YUMMO". And , of course we needed to eat some more of that oatmeal cake for our good health. We added a scoop of vanilla ice cream, you know, for the calcium. Health nuts, that is what we are!

All is quiet as the church folks are playing a little music and everyone is over there. I should be cleaning bathrooms. Instead I am baking an apple cake for today!

Crows

Lately I have been finding apples in the oddest places. They have been scattered all over the park. In the pool area, in the sites and even right outside the bathrooms. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what was going on. It seemed like a prank someone might be playing on me. I carefully watched for signs of my prankster. I would look very early in the morning to see if anyone was up and about with apples to spread. The men in the park leave quite early and the children don't wake up til later and I see them out playing.....not with apples. When they want an apple they ask me and are always told to help themselves.

I was out pulling weeds and happened to see this trio of crows under the apple tree.

They were just hanging out and I figured they were eating the apples that had fallen to the ground.

I almost missed this shot as one of the crows pulled a limb down to grab an apple. I tried, but couldn't get a clear shot of them in the top of the tree.....grabbing apples and flying away to drop them! These are my pranksters....three crows!

Loose or Lose?

Just having my morning cup of coffee and checking my e-mail.....my usual routine, when I see an e-mail from some unknown entity that will make me financially stable with-in weeks! It was entitled "loose your job and gain a fortune". How exactly does one loose their job? Hmmmm. Do you unscrew it just a little?


I don't have much faith in these get rich quick schemes I see on the Internet anyway, but I can't take this one seriously at all, since the writer can't even spell or use words in the correct context. Makes me want to loose my mind...........