People aside, the week alone was immensely stressful. When the pool opens for the season, the operation of the park becomes extremely labor intensive. We have a robot that crawls through the pool at night and sucks up any little particles of dirt or grass. But someone has to put it in the pool and take it out and police the area for all the trash that gets tossed to the ground. Bathrooms have to be cleaned and stocked daily. And someone has to go purchase the stuff that stocks all this, as well as the camp store. It really requires two people.
The grounds maintenance is the most time consuming part of running this campground. We kind of have a schedule going for that and we have camp workers to help. But the store hours lengthen this time of year and I have to be in the store from 11 am until 8 pm every day. That extends to 9 am until 9 am on weekends and holidays. Not busy the entire time I am in the store, I am able to throw some laundry on and cook our meals and even go to the bathroom from time to time.
I may have stayed here while HeWho tended to family matters, but I worried the entire time and spent lots of time on the phone. It was especially hard for me, since I will confess that I do like to be in charge. So, one would hope that I might catch a break after dealing with people problems ….
I woke early Thursday morning to shuffle out with the dogs to preform their morning ritual. The bird that has been greeting me every day was in his favorite position on the support holding the antennae for the wi-fi signal. I nodded in his/her direction and we acknowledged one another. The warbling and chirping began and I talked softly to him/her while the canines took care of business. It was 5 am. I felt like I had just gone to sleep, but all the mowing had been accomplished the day before and rumors of rain had been on the weather channel.
Silly me. I went back to bed for a little more snooze time. Wall-E, the curious one, jumped down out of the bed. I could hear his toenails clicking on the floor as he ventured out of the bedroom. Wall-E is a secret eater. He likes to rise early and eat all the dogfood left in the bowl from the previous day. I suppose you could say that, like me, he prefers the quiet of the morning to be all his while he wakes completely. But, he began barking.
I figured he was looking at the monitor and must have seen some activity outside, I ignored him. He barked again and I yelled at him to "shut it or I will get my flyswatter!" He persisted and I was none too happy when I crawled out of bed to march in and reprimand him.
Wall-E is a good little dog. He was alerting me to a problem. I stepped over the threshold into my little den and was in three inches of water. The dogs food and water dishes were floating around. The water main burst and the pressure was so strong, there were waves. I was still in that half sleep state when I called HeWho plumbs to ask what I should do. Normally I would have rousted him from bed and started cleaning up immediately while he dealt with turning the water off, but he was not here.
I was directed to the breaker box in the electrical/water/laundry room to turn off the pump to the well that supplies water to the entire park. I had to pass a breaker box that someone HeWho tinkers with all things electric had left the door off, exposing the electricity to the water. I was quite annoyed about this and informed him that I would never forgive him if I was killed from my efforts.
Then I called upon my new favorite camper in the world, Craig. He brought the other new favorite camper in the world, Kevin and they fixed my pipe and restored water to the park. It took awhile and I fielded complaints while they worked and I swept water out the doors. I found that method to be faster than the shop vacuum. After I swept for what seemed like an endless amount of time, I mopped. I dragged all the rugs out to dry in the sun. Wet rugs are heavy, just so you know.
Water was restored by 2 pm and swimmers arrived despite the dismal forecast. We had a mere drizzle of rain come down. When I locked up at 8 pm, I mowed the last little patch of grass on the side of the building and pulled a few weeds. As darkness fell, I realized that I had not eaten anything of substance all day. I did eat a protein bar when I swallowed my pills in the early morning hours. But, nothing sounded good, so I ate a peanut butter sandwich, showered and crawled into my bed.
Friday dawned with the promise of a sunny day. I was outside doing some chores and watering my plants when my phone rang. It was our cousin and I unlocked the door to the store to head in and have a cold drink while we talked. I opened the door to see water rushing my way. The water main again. No instructions needed, I knew what to do. I felt like crying when I called Craig again. No need to bother HeWho was dealing with other things.
I did not cry, as that would just be more water to sweep. We had water again by noon. Practice had shaved two hours off the time. I do not want to know what a third breach in the pipe would be like! I had not put the rugs and mats back down, so when I finally had dry floors again, I was able to put the store back together, the living quarters had to wait. My laundry baskets holding dirty laundry got soaked and I could not seem to get my washer going, forgetting that the GFC was in the ladies room and it had been tripped. I hung the wet stuff on the line to avoid mildew. Friday was a very long day, there were a few moments when I thought I was not going to make it, but I did and locked up by 10 pm after checking in some late arrivals.
After another night filled with intermittent dreams and insomnia, I ventured out carefully, half expecting water up to my ankles, but the day started out pretty good with a text at 9 am telling me that HeWho is my forever hero was on his way home!!
If you read the previous post, you will recall that I was on my own …… well, not really. I have some wonderful campers here. They have rescued me more than a few times while HeWho usually does my bidding is gone.
The kid in the pool creating havoc and hitting other swimmers with his beach ball, subsequently telling me to "F" off, I handled on my own. To my credit I did not grab him by the earlobe and drag him to his parent, but I wanted to. He was about 8 or 9 and unsupervised in the pool. I have plenty of signage forbidding this, but that is assuming you can read. Yeah, I know, that wasn't nice.
The man came in late Sunday night looking for a tent site. Primitive, no electricity He claimed to have his wife and 2 children with him. That's all. So, he paid cash and went off to the site I assigned him.
Monday morning was a mass exodus from the campgrounds. My favorite campers were busy cleaning up their site when I returned the dishes that delivered meals to me. They come every year and I have come to refer to the sites they inhabit by their name. I had not had much sleep the night before, but swimmers could not be disappointed and I drank too much coffee and carried on with my day. Kevin and Craig, my heroes, went around the park picking up all the trash and generally helping me maintain a sense of sanity.
At about 12:30, the primitive camping man entered the store with a toddler in a bathing suit. I gently reminded him that check-out time was noon and that swim diapers were required on toddlers. He got more money and paid for another day and assured me that his child was in a swim diaper. He wasn't, I could see his little butt cheeks clearly outlined in his thin shorts. He asked if he could fish. I said yes and reminded him that it was catch and release. At his blank look I pantomimed the action of hooking a fish, then un-hooking a fish and tossing it back into the water. He clearly understood the concept as he nodded vigorously in the affirmative.
As the day wore on, most of the weekenders left and the swimmers disappeared. I closed the store and grabbed the mower to get a head start on the grounds that would have to be dealt with. I was mowing under the apple tree that is close to the exit drive, listening to an audio book when a van entered the wrong drive and flew past. Sighing deeply, I turned off the mower and headed over to tell her about speeding and ignoring signs ……
So, there she was with the primitive tent man. I leaned into her vehicle and started talking before I realized that she could not understand a word I said. I thought that she was his wife and that they had two vehicles. He told me that she could not speak or read English …… which begs the question of why she was driving at all. He translated and I looked around to see extension cords going to sites with outlets. Deep breath. I let it go, trying to be generous and create some good karma for myself.
As I headed back to my mower, my camper who has a site overlooking the pond waved me down. Primitive tent fisherman had violated my catch and release policy. Not only that, but when another camper reminded him that he could not keep the fish, primitive tent camper fisherman DUMPED THE FISH ON THE GROUND AND LET THEM DIE. Thirty five of them, some not even big enough to clean and eat.
He was also seen tossing beer bottles in my pond. Trash was all around the site he was on, but you always assume they will pick it all up before they leave. You know that saying about assuming.
My campers that overlook the pond have taken it upon themselves to not only keep their site looking great, but they also have the shores around the pond in pristine condition. To say that they were upset is an understatement. Long story short, I told the primitive fisherman with more people than he paid for that he had to leave. It was already after 8:00 pm and I could count all the people as they left the pool and headed back to the site.
He demanded a refund! None was forthcoming, and I told him he owed me money. He asked why I cared about the fish, what difference did it make to me. My tolerance for ignorance was at an all time low and I shared many of my opinions with him as I urged to get off my property before law enforcement arrived.
Karma, where were you? There is more to tell about my week on my own. Stay tuned!
It has been an adventure, these past days. Memorial Day found no empty sites here. You can always count on at least one problem group on any given holiday. People seem to forget that they are not the only people celebrating an event. This year found me with several hot spots to deal with. Nothing too bad, mostly noise and speeding and pool issues.
The weekend began on Wednesday with the first arrivals. Other than having to assure men drivers that I knew what I was doing and "No, do not pull in backwards, your hook-ups will not be on the correct side" and reminding people that the signage and speed limit must be obeyed; my part went smoothly.
The pool filled with swimmers in that cold, cold water and I was up to my elbows in snow cones. HeWho was out and about trying to maintain stuff. He came in long enough to tell me that, although the pool was full of water, the pump motors on both pumps had died. He grabbed some money from the register and headed out for parts. He came and went all day and tinkered with whatever men tinker with when they are fixing motors.
He got one working and ordered a new pump. He tinkered and fixed all day Saturday as I shuffled late arrivals for the weekend and overnighters who were traveling without reservations. I was closing up when one of my favorite campers, a sweet girl I have watched grow into a lovely young lady came up with her hands full of food for us. Always a silver lining in a cloud, you know.
We ate and fell into bed exhausted. Sunday dawned way too early and I began the day in the bathrooms, stocking and cleaning. Pool pumps still not working properly and day swimmers coming in like ants out of a disturbed ant hill. HeWho was beyond frustration dealing with the mechanics of our life and me so busy a bathroom break was a luxury, when we had a family emergency and one of us had to go.
It is a given that HeWho does not do well behind the desk. He absolutely hates it and would rather route sewer. There are lulls when it seems there is nothing to do and then there are times when two people would be great. Then there is the phone to handle. I have the business line forwarded to my cell, which pretty much guarantees that you will hear my voice if you call …. and some days it rings non-stop. Which one of us to go would need to give our full attention to the situation and for that reason, I stayed here and he left.
He left right after he got one pump going and drove through the night. I do not drive in the dark so this was another reason he was the perfect candidate to go. When you own your own business, it is true that you are the boss. It is also true that there is no one who can jump in and take over at a moments notice. Holiday weekends are the basis of our income and can either make or break our annual profits. It was just as hard to stay here as it was to leave HeWho to handle things. Maybe harder. One of my children needed us.
I have been on my own for nearly a week now. Thank God for my campers who jumped in to save me when I needed help. Now that the week is behind me, I can calmly relay all the calamities that befell me in the absence of HeWho fixes stuff.
So, what does that have to do with the picture? For awhile now, I have been doing little acts of kindness and saying that I am creating my own karma. I know that some may take offense to the term "karma", but call it what you will; whatever you put out there will come back to you in one form or another if you live long enough. While most of the time I simply ignore what people do, like lying about how many people they have with them, or stealing all the paper supplies out of the bathrooms. They are creating their own karma, as well. Sometimes, though …….
Yesterday morning I got a call requesting a site for the night. The woman was very abrupt on the phone as she relayed questions from her husband to me. They arrived just after noon and I found them both to be unfriendly downright rude. I registered them and gave them a map to their site and went on about my day. My day started off with a major problem, the water main burst. I had water back on and had swept all the water out of the store and my living quarters, but I am sure I looked pretty bedraggled, not having had the opportunity to shower and put on clean clothes. I wanted to look down my nose at her the way she was looking at me and say, "Don't judge me, lady!"
At 6:30, they drove their camper up to the office, going the wrong way on the one-way road and the woman came barging in to inform me that she wanted a refund because our camp ground was "disgusting" and they could not stay here. Not only could she not read road signs, it seems that it took her 6 hours to become disgusted. I gave her the refund, creating my own karma. In retrospect I wish I had responded in kind and charged her for the 6 hours she spent taking a nap so that they could continue their trip. I wonder just how many campgrounds have refunded them.
