Our work schedule has changed more times in the last 2 weeks than I've changed socks. (Not really!) But it has been a work in progress. We think we may have the final winner as of yesterday and it will take effect on Monday. We will no longer be working in Hospitality. I'm not sure they ever really wanted us there. The lady in charge always felt like since we weren't residents, then we couldn't make the impact with prospective owners that people who live here could. In ways, she is right. She has also had several people volunteer that she didn't have spots for because of our need for hours so our leaving Hospitality will help. So...what will we be doing? We are back to what we know the most: Office and Maintenance. We will work Monday-Friday from 8:30-1:30. I will be in the activities office helping the activity director since she doesn't have an assistant this year. She is the main reason for the schedule change. She was really needing more help and they said they had plenty to keep Steve busy in maintenance, so there you have it! I liked having a weekday off but getting off at 1:30 will help if we need to schedule an appointment or something.
They finally widened the driveway of our site. Itâs still tight but I can now park the truck by myself.
We have already talked to the general manager about returning next winter. He is good with it. We know it's early and we may change our minds but as I've mentioned before, deals like we have here are few and far between. I still want to try and find a way to winter in Mexico but for now, this will work!
It's hard to believe next week is Thanksgiving. Nice weather, like we've been having here, makes it difficult to remember what season we are in. We plan to spend Thanksgiving at my brother's house in Surprise.
We haven't gotten really into any activity or club here. Every time we run into someone who is a big club supporter, they want to recruit us. What they don't seem to grasp is that we are not like everyone else here whose main job every day is to get out of bed. I am not bashing retirees; if anything, I am jealous. But I don't want to pay $25-40 and not be able to enjoy the club benefits due to our work schedule. We did play a little pickleball on our day off. There are open court times for members and non-members. Two guys were playing on the court next to us and asked if we wanted to play so we played a couple of games against them (and won!)
I started a blog and then never got it together to send out, so I guess Iâll just add to it now. We are now fully into our newest schedule. It is working out well. Steve has kept busy outside painting, shoveling rocks and trimming greenery. I am enjoying working in the activity office. Some of the ârulesâ are different but it is much like the job I had last winter at Mesa Regal, so itâs not hard. I just have to learn how the director wants things done. Most of the time, the day flies by. I usually donât get off at 1:30 because she wants me to close out the register and make the bank deposit and I usually canât start that until close to 1:30, but itâs just more money in our bank account!
We had a great Thanksgiving at Brianâs. It was a small affair but the food and company were good. We played some cornhole after lunch and watched a lot of football. We will spend Christmas with them as well! We put up our tree and lights so we are ready!
Steve is still trying to get some help with the RV costs. It has been stressful for him trying to deal with Keystone and Lippert (the hydraulics manufacturer). No one wants to help...either it's been too long or we are the 2nd owner. We got a little help from Lippert but most of the cost will come from our pockets. We just hope that it fixes the problem. And then now, we have a truck leak that appears to be the radiator. So it's going to the shop Thursday to have that problem diagnosed. Not sure what is up, but we have had more car/RV troubles in the last 3 years than we ever had in a 3 year stretch back in Amarillo. Just trying to remember that God has got this!
Things have gone backwards here. We are back to wearing masks at work. The General Manager got Covid and then the communications manager did along with her husband who works in maintenance. Then another office worker got itâŠand so Monday, they shut down the front office completely so everyone could quarantine for a week and hopefully stop the spread. There are some residents who have it as well but Iâm not sure how many. Thankfully, we have been spared in the activity office so we are still working and hopefully we will stay that way (no work=no pay). Sometimes I think the activity director would like things to close down so it would be easier on her, but I keep telling her to bite her tongue. So far, they havenât cancelled anything (except the Christmas staff party) and they are only suggesting that the residents wear masks in buildings. We have to wear ours when at work around residents. Iâm hoping weâll get a hold on this thing and get back to where we were last week. I was enjoying feeling ânormal.â
Iâll end with a âGet Realâ story: Every Tuesday, the office ladies take pictures of residents who need new badges. (The old ones donât have their pictures on it.) Well, today they had to cancel that since the front office ladies are at home. A guy came in and wanted to know how he could get his picture taken and I explained that it would have to be when the office was reopened. He heatedly explained that heâd take the day off from his regularly scheduled golf game to get his picture taken and said it would now have to wait until next year because he wasnât going to do it again. Tracy, the activity director, gave her a piece of her mind and I also got in my two cents saying this wasnât planned and no one wanted to have to close the office, but he would still need to come in and get his picture taken when they returned. I told him that he could either miss a golf game or could play another day. He said he wasnât going to do it. I mean, seriously?!? Heâs retiredâŠhow big of a deal would it be to take 30 minutes out of a single Tuesday to get his picture taken? Some people!
