At What Cost........

I am tired. It is Spring. Spring and tired go together. I just finished raking and mowing the first 6 sites. I do this every spring. I rake up all the layers of fallen leaves and pick up all the fallen limbs and bits of debris. I stack little bundles of twigs near each fire pit for the next camper to use as kindling. Then I mow the grass, rake it, and mow it again. I only do this once a year unless we have a big storm blow through, then I will pick up debris then and stack it neatly.......... It saves the mower blade. But it is tedious and at the end of the day your very bones ache.

He who plows is busy on the tractor spreading rock and leveling the sites. We have well over 50 sites, so I am behind before I even begin. With that thought in mind I made Mower Extraordinaire take a few minutes to ride through the park with me this morning. We spend so little time together this time of year and I thought a little ride in the golf cart might be fun. We took along the dogs and I had my notepad and pen in hand. The dogs were thrilled to be going along. Oscar took his place in my lap while little Emmy sat proudly between us. Wall-E wasn't so sure he even wanted to go, but he got into the driver's lap and shook nervously as we zipped along. Family time. I was in such a happy state of mind ...... key word being 'was'.

I made a few little notes about some minor repairs that needed attention. Then we both saw it. We have frost free hydrants on some of our sites so that we can offer full hook-ups year round. These are not cheap. They are costly to repair. The parts are not easy to find. These hydrants stand near the power box and are very visible, standing at least 3-4 feet tall. So, how do you manage to hit it and break it? Perhaps you don't know how to drive? Beyond that, why would you not come and at least let me know that you hit it? You would certainly know that you did, because you hooked up to it. Not only that, I am sure that you sustained some damage to your rig. It is only a slow leak and you are gone. I wouldn't have made you pay for the damage, but it would have been nice to know so that I could order the part yesterday and get it a day earlier.

So, as I am raking and mowing, I am bothered. I once had a man come in who wanted every discount club card he had to be applied to his stay. After he laid them all out on the counter and figured them up, he told me I owed him 10% of the cost of an overnight stay. I laughed, thinking he was joking. He wasn't. He insisted that all the parks he stayed in honored his little system (scheme?) and then said to me, "Why do you care, it costs you nothing for me to park here?" I was taken totally by surprise and didn't have a ready answer. I simply asked him who he thought paid the bills that came to the park. He conceded that it probably cost a couple of dollars in electricity.

The cost is so much more than that. I am irritated beyond belief by that attitude today. I don't like the way I feel right now. I have more work to do and I like to take pride in my park. So, now that I have unloaded here, I am going back out to tackle the next set of sites that need my attention. While working on those I will turn my thoughts to more positive things. Some of my most favorite campers were out last week. They tackled the bath house and cleaned and painted it! I love Patrick and Julie!! In addition to that they got their site all spiffed up with plants and mulch. Our newest seasonal campers Marcy and Rusty have their site all spiffed up, too.

These are the folks I will think about while I toil the afternoon away. I hear a good grounds keeper gets paid about $20 an hour............