Busy Making Some Extra Dollars

Man time flies when you are busy.  Anybody that knows Mark and I knows that we are hustlers, if an opportunity presents it self to make an extra dollar we are on it.  About 2 weeks after we got here I received a call from a Merchandising company that I did work for in the past.  They needed somebody to go to 14 Target stores and put coupons on 7 grocery items within the next 3 weeks, sign me up!  Our workamper days were Tuesday and Wednesday so I did the stores on my off days.  I completed the job in 2 1/2 weeks working 6 days a week, it was easy work but I like being retired better.  During my travels I have passed through two wind farms which I find awesome.  But I have also noted that if you are around wind farms the wind must blow often as it does on the Delta, I am told we will wish the wind was blowing come this summer.

 In the mean time we made friends with a long term resident here in the campground that is a cabinet maker and a hustler himself.  He said he could use a hand once in awhile and Mark told him he would be happy to help.  So on mothers day weekend he helped with a moving job.  Next we were asked by the management if we would be willing to work an extra day for pay as one of the workamper couples had to leave for 2 weeks.  Sign us up!  After the job I did with Target it was nice just to walk over to the office and start work as opposed to driving to work.  So last week we worked our regular Tuesday/Wednesday, had Thursday off and worked Friday/Saturday.  This week we will work Thursday-Saturday, not sure if this will be our permanent schedule as all things are subject to change.  It's a transition going from several sources of income down to 1 pay check a month and since the house didn't apprise for what it was under contract for we were left with a payment on Marks truck and we want to get it paid off. 

Even with all this work we have still had a good time attending happy hours, meeting new people, enjoying the restaurant that open 2 weeks ago and life in general.  It is important to enjoy your days to the fullest as you never know what can happen.

 Last week around 1am Mark heard someone outside crying for help, he was out of the bed and out the door in a flash.  A woman across from us told him that her husband had fallen and was bleeding.  He went inside their motor home to find the gentleman on the floor in the bathroom, with Mark's experience as a fireman for 30 years he knew the man had suffered from a stroke or aneurysm.  Mark did what he could for the man as I called 911 but by the time they had arrived he was gone.  Mark was by his side and observed his last breath.  Now came the job of dealing with the wife.  The couple was camping for the weekend with their club and reported that he had enjoyed a good day.  He had a history of a heart attack and strokes, he was 83.  May God be with him and his family.  It was a long night trying to help this woman through a terrible time.  I am just thankful that Mark heard her cries.

Mark has been doing some maintenance cores.  The electric hot water heater went out, the problem part was located, ordered and installed.  With Mark doing the work he probably saved us a good $175.  I am sorry to report that the golf cart is out of commission, we apparently have a bad bearing.  Mark and Larry took it apart yesterday, trouble is we can't get the old bearing out yet.  We sure do miss the cart and it is now on the top of the list.

On Friday the park owner unloaded several flats of flowers to be planted by Mark and Bruce.  Well  Mark doesn't have a clue when it comes to planting flowers.  I have to admit I was laughing inside when I seen him driving around in his cart with the flowers.  To be sure he will kill them and the beds needed to be weeded and turned over.  He was kept busy all day with no time to do planting so I surveyed the situation on Friday night. 

Note the glass of wine on the right, it was Mark's job to make sure it was full at all times.

To be honest I was dying to get my hands in the dirt and create something, which deep down he knew this too.  So he did some of the general weeding of the beds, got me what ever I needed and by Sunday afternoon I was done. 

The butterflies were happy with the new flowers.

The park is full this weekend for Memorial Day and there will be a band at the restaurant/bar.  I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

I will leave you with this.

                                                    Live each day like it was your last...

Cable cars, motorcycles and boats.

Life has been busy since we landed in Bethel Island.  All the workampers are great folks, we get together often, actually the past 2 Sundays we have had wonderful cookouts and it promises to be a great summer. 

Through Facebook I found out that a friend of ours from back home was in San Francisco so we made plans to meet her and her friend and do some sight seeing.  First stop was Alcatraz.

From San Francisco it looks so small but it is bigger than you think, 12 acres.  Today it is a National Park but first served as an Army fortress then as the famous maxium-security federal penitentiary.  The last inmates left the island on March 21, 1963, it was closed due to deteriorating buildings and high operating costs.  I think we will have to watch the movie "Escape from Alcatraz" again now that we have been there.

                                                   Nikki Anderson and me on the Rock.

A typical cell.

Who is this criminal?

This is the cell of the famous breakout in 1962.

Looking at San Francisco from the rock.

                                                                 
Time to get off the Rock and head into the city.  We wandered through Fisherman's Wharf at Pier 39 checking out the sights.

These sea lions were the coolest thing.

San Francisco is known for it's sour dough bread at Boudins.  They can do some awesome things with bread such as this gator.  We bought some bread and it was wonderful.  Nikki tell Brad the garlic volcano was fabulous.

OK lets see, Alcatraz check, Pier 39 check, sea lions check, Boudins check now onto the street and cable cars.

This is where they turn the cable cars around.  It was such a hoot to ride them and I want to go back!

We jumped off the cable car, said good bye to Nikki and Brad, jumped on a street car headed back to the pier to get the truck and go home..

Street and cable cars check!

  Thanks Nikki and Brad for a great day.

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The couple that lives behinds us are Sally and Dave.  They invited us to go on a motorcycle ride with them and of course we said yes.  Our destination was Sonora in the Sierra Nevada Foothills in the heart of gold county.  There was 7 bikes altogether after we made a few stops picking up people.  The country side was lush and green as we passed by orchards, vineyards and farms.

We stopped in one small town call Angels Camp to have a cold one.  Walking to the local watering hole I noticed these plaques in the sidewalk.

In 1865, Samuel l. Clemens (Mark Twain) penned The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, a tall tale of the life and happenings of the gold rush town, Angels Camp. The narrator details a story he heard in a tavern. It is about a frog, Danl Webster, who could out jump any other frog, and a man, Jim Smiley, who was the curiousest man about always betting on anything.  The story was published and delighted audiences worldwide but didn't appear to have much impact on Calaveras County until much later.  Today at the Calaveras County Fair there will be 10,000 frogs entried.  Mark Twain lived outside of town on Jackass Hill in a cabin, today you can still see remains of it.

It was a great day for a ride and we enjoyed making new friends.  On the way home we crossed over the bridge I spoke about in my last post, remember the narrow one with semi trucks, well here it is.

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Friday evening Larry & Barbara invited us next door for dinner (they are workampers and our neighbors)  and to meet their friends Bill & Patty.  We had a very tasty dinner and then made plans for Saturday to go boating on the Delta in Bill & Patti's boat.  It was a perfect day to be on the water.  But I have to say it was kind of strange to be in a slough riding along and next to you on the levee cars are passing by.

Our ride for the day.

                                                                        Barbara & Larry

A captain needs to pay attention to the nautical charts when on the water or this could happen.

The captain smashed his face into the dash board once he hit hard water, a call was made to the Coast Guard and he was rescued, then brought to Sugar Barge where an ambulance was waiting.  Once he was checked out it was determined that he was drunk he had a ride in a cop car instead of a ambulance.  Not a good day on the water for this guy!

I want to thank Bill & Patty for a great day on the water.

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Oh and lets see I also planted my garden in the past two weeks.

Tomatoes and peppers.

So as you can see life has been busy.

I will leave you with this and thanks for following.