Going, going...

On Sunday, we were invited down to Frank and Vivian’s houseboat, the “Warrior Maiden”. Claudia and Vivian went kayaking and picked up a few of Vivian’s friends along the way. The final tally was seven kayaks and three dogs. I stayed with Frank and stupidvised the food preparation in the galley area. After one root beer, one corona and a glass of lemonade, the girls returned. The boat soon teemed with other friends. The Firlein’s regularly (most every Sunday) open the boat and party hearty. There were four guys and about eight gals on the boat. There was more food than could be consumed by two dozen pirates. One of the guys was a gun nut and major league hunter and the other flew radio controlled airplanes. As these activities were my #2 and #3 favorite things to do, I was in pig heaven talking with them. We finally called it a day about 4:00 and returned to our humble abode atop the hill overlooking Wahweap Marina. Gizmo greeted us lavishly, as we so rightly deserved.

Monday was an “off” day and we spent it checking emails and shopping. There is no email here at the RV park. We have to pack everything up and drive to the Human Resources building to get Internet service. It’s a PITA, but the only way. Again, I thank you all for holding off on the political stuff, jokes and all other non-essential stuff that clogs the inbox. I REALLY appreciate it. Once we get rolling with the job, access to the Internet will probably be about once a week.

After checking into the electronic airways, we returned to the rig for a romp and lunch. Next was a trip into Page for various and sundry jobs, chores, investigations and inquiries. We hit Walmart, the Page Library, Safeway, Family Dollar, Twix Market, the Trading Post and the Ace Hardware for supplies and came home with about 93% of what we set out to do. Not a bad day.

The evening started with a gizmo romp and putting supplies away. After that, we (Claudia) started dinner. I’m sure I did something important but I can’t remember what. Anyway, we soon sat down to dinner. You can’t expect too much out here in the middle of Arizona. The supplies and stores here are somewhat akin to the Isthmus at Catalina. One must do with what one has or can improvise from, so tonight we each had half a beautiful New York Angus steak, smothered in sautéed mushrooms and cooked to perfection, half a large baked potato smothered in “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” and sour cream and topped with fresh cracked pepper and a healthy serving of Claudia’s infamous cole slaw. A glass of vintage (October, 2009) box wine was the ultimate finishing touch!



I shall now retire to the sofa to watch “The Shadow Riders”, a Tom Selleck, Sam Elliott and Katherine Ross movie that we picked up from the library today. It’s a tough life we lead!

Today is Tuesday, April 20th and it’s Orientation Day. We get our pictures taken for our work badges so we had to get up a little early for showers and a little extra primping. I even put on some good-smelling foo-foo stuff! Even Gizmo is running around this morning doing “burn-outs” and “donuts”. As an aside, we scammed a weather/lake report from the dam website today and it showed the lake level at 81.21 feet from full which is 55.7% of capacity. The water level has been rising daily and they expect the lake to rise about 50’ this year. That would be about three ticks above “outstanding” if it did. Things are lookin’ good!

We are now oriented! We even have our new employee badges to prove it. Gizmo got an extra doggie treat today for not peeing in the motorhome. We left this morning at 8:45 and got back at about 4:15 and there were no accidents. Good dog! After walking Giz, we headed down to the bosses office to make arrangements for a skiff tomorrow to give Claudia some maneuvering and docking lessons. The weatherman may throw a wrench into the plans though. The forecast is for 15-20 knot winds with gusts to 35 and a 60%chance of rain. Sounds perfect…NOT! If we start early, we should be able to get in an hour or two, which should be all she needs. If it’s too nasty, we’ll wait until another day. Tonight’s movie was Gizmo’s request, “The Fighting Leathernecks” starring John Wayne. He picked it out himself. My kind of movie! My kind of dog!

Well, we got the wind, but no rain…yet! The boat rental dock shut down all rentals for today. Maybe tomorrow! I think we’ll head into town for a few items, a little more exploring and maybe an ice cream cone. My big job for today is to replace a defective cable to the VCR. Yesterday, I replaced a light bulb. We are at 4,000 feet here at Page so I must limit any strenuous activity.

We headed for town, stopping at Walmart, a computer store and a sporting goods. It started to hail and then turned to light rain but with HUGE drops. We returned home with our treasures where I repaired the VCR player and tested a small tub of Dryer’s Drumstick ice cream for freshness. It passed! It is now time for a cocktail and a movie!

Thursday broke with high clouds and no wind. Today is a “maybe this, maybe that” type of day. We might go out to the Trash Tracker and visit them out “on the job”…maybe, but we didn’t get a call so we just took one of the company boats out for Claudia to get some docking practice and driving the boat. We took the Giz along to get him acclimated to boats. He loved the docks but wasn’t too sure about the thing that vibrated, made noise and was tippy. Claudia did fine. The boat and the dock are still floating and are undamaged. That’s a good start.

Friday morning found us back in training. This time it was all about ecology and conservation, plans that Aramark, our employer, is pretty serious about. After the training, we had lunch in the employee cafeteria, picked up mail and went home to wait, and wait, and wait for a call that the Trash Tracker was inbound and ready for us to meet. We are to see the boat, meet the people who are running it now and get some ideas on what to bring on Wednesday, our first trip. The current captains, Greg & JoAnn Dramer, will be going out with us on the first trip so we can see how it’s done. We are both happy about that, even though there will be eight on the boat. It sure is better than being thrown to the lions without any idea on what to do.

On Saturday, we donned old clothes, grabbed our newly-purchased work gloves and joined a couple dozen volunteers to clean up the area around the Human Resources office, cafeteria and housing. We spent about two hours reclaiming the stuff that the uncaring, uneducated and unwashed employees throw on the ground rather than dispose of it properly. I think a few hours of MANDATORY trash pickup each month would solve the problem, but who am I?

After the trash cleanup, we headed for the dock to meet the Dramers on the Trash Tracker. They very graciously took us through the boat and showed it to us in great detail. Greg and I took the little boat over to the fuel dock and then to service for an alternator repair. Claudia and JoAnn went to the supply area and scammed some extra blankets and sheets. We will return tomorrow to take the barge out to Antelope Island for some practice landings and work. After that, we’ll fuel the barge and the TT and we’ll be ready for our first trip on Wednesday. The weather is going to be rather “iffy”, as a storm front is moving in and is expected to hit Tuesday night. We are taking four female volunteers, all friends, about 20 miles uplake to an area known as “Gunsight”, named after a rock formation that looks like the rear sight on a rifle. After tomorrow, we’ll have a better handle on everything and can start packing and getting ready for Wednesday.

Sunday…a day of rest…RIGHT! We headed down to the TT at 10:00 and met Greg and JoAnn. They wanted to give us a lesson on picking trash so we jumped into the barge and headed for Antelope Island. Two hours later, we had nine bags of trash, one tire and a mattress. Mattresses are a PITA as they are full of sand and weigh enough to overload a half-ton pickup truck…if you could lift them. I dulled my newly-sharpened knife cutting the sand-impregnated foam into 12” square chunks so we could carry them back to the barge. We were beat! This is WORK! I haven’t done this much work in years.

After our fun and games on Antelope Island, we headed for the fuel dock and fueled up the barge. We returned shortly with the TT and got it all fueled and ready to go. We are almost ready for our first trip. A few more last-minute items and we’re done. The weather is threatening. The last report has a weather front hitting us Tuesday night into Wednesday with winds to 25 knots and possible rain. What a start! And I was worried about sun! Oh well, ready or not, here we go!

Since the boat will be REALLY full this trip, we have decided not to take Gizmo with us. Greg and JoAnn have a friend here in the RV park who is going to dog-sit while we are gone. We don’t like leaving Giz for five days, but this seems like the best thing to do. We will be back on Sunday.