Welcome to our Adventure!

Al and I are thrilled that you have found your way to our blog. We hope you enjoy reading our journal and viewing our photographs of the natural wonder of our United States of America. Let's hit the road together!
Homer, Alaska

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Odds and Ends

Between working and not-so-nice weather, there hasn't been much to write about, but I managed to find a few things :-).

I took some pictures of the inside of my park store. First up will be the ice cream, as I had a few questions about some flavors. First, the pics:
Starting top left is Roadrunner Raspberry, Birthday Cake and Superman. From bottom left is (barely seen) Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Butter Pecan and MooseTracks.

This picture is a a better view of the Roadrunner Raspberry and Cookie Dough, with the obligatory Vanilla and Chocolate on the left hand side. My case is 2 rows of 4 canisters, and I can store 4 more canisters underneath. I have a storage freezer in my little kitchen as well for extra.

So, what is Superman? Here's the "scoop" on it straight from the Hershey website:
Superman is Strawberry Banana and Blue Moon swirled together...sorry, no little stars! MooseTracks is vanilla ice cream with MooseTracks fudge and peanut butter cups swirled in. If you click on the links it will take you to a description along with the nutritional information AND the caloric count, if you really need to know :-)!

The entrance to my store, the door is open to allow the breeze to come in. The ice cooler is outside to the right, and we keep a rolling cart with the firewood bundles on it outside the frontdoor as well. There's 2 big picnic tables on the porch as well. I put some camping supplies at the left end of the shelves, and alot of the candy on the right end.

These blue shelves line the other side of the entryway. There's some logo merchandise here, coffee cups, sweatshirts, key chains. I also put all the insect fighting items here, the flip flops, a display of s'mores items, and on the pegboard at the end is a variety of fishing items, and some hanging camping items.
The pre-packaged ice cream freezer, with a display of toys and swimming items hanging over it, with the soda (pop) cooler and chip displays. I have to get used to people asking me for "pop"; because to me, "Pop" is in Florida!! :-).

The grocery and hygiene items, with cases of extra soda below.

This is the food end of my counter. The pizza/pretzel warmer, the nacho machine and hot dogs. I like the decorative chalk board with the ice cream prices on it. There's a glare coming through the window, but you can see the lake from here.
The cash register, with the slush-puppy machine behind it ( man, that stuff is SWEET!), and some candy and toys on the shelves below. You can see the small kitchen I can use, and behind the counter is the entrance to the internet cafe. They have free wifi here, with a few tables set up, a bookshelf for a book exchange, and a bar area for people to sit and eat their junk food ;-).

There's a water/coffee station set up as well, for members to help themselves while enjoying the wifi. The whole store/cafe area is decorated with a summer, beachy feel that's really quite cute. I've started meeting a few of the members who come to the campground quite often, and have also gotten to know most of the staff that works in the sales office next door. The family activities center and the fitness center is in the building and they are planning a summer full of fun for everyone. Peter is the activities director, and we were chatting with him yesterday as he was working on building a cardboard boat for the regatta next month. I'm looking forward to seeing that, and hopefully taking some pictures as well!
So, that's the store I'm working in this summer. I'll be filling in a bit more stock, as people have been asking me for different items. But so far, the most popular items by far are ice cream cones and slush puppies!

I have a pair of robins busily building a nest in the pine tree next to the Cougar. here's the proud papa:

At least, I think he's the papa; the other one is busy building the nest, and this one is keeping guard, and chasing away anyone else who gets near. He seemed particularly angry at the cowbirds, which puzzled me, until I remembered reading that the cowbirds like to take over the nests of other birds, either killing the babies that are in it, or even raising them along with their own progeny. I haven't seen the cowbirds all day now, so I guess maybe they went elsewhere.

I was also thinking about getting a goldfinch feeder and some nyger seed, since there are so many finches around. But then I saw these guys:

They are having a heck of a good time eating the seeds out of these Gerber daisys I have hanging by the hummingbird feeder. So I figure, why spend money on the seed when they can keep my daisy plant picked clean? Right?

Lastly, remember I told you how the ground squirrels were driving Casey crazy? Well, there's a burrow within tether range at our campsite, and now his favorite past-time is keeping watch over it, and burying his nose right down in it. I keep telling him, one day that squirrel is going to latch onto his nose, and watch out then!



Today was suppose to have been not so nice, but the storms last night had stayed south of us, and the morning was stunningly beautiful. Bright sunshine, an azure blue sky, cool and no wind. Since I was off all day, and Al didn't go in until 6PM, we decided to pack a lunch, go up to Seven Lakes S.P., and take the SeaEagle out for a ride. It was a beautiful morning, but unfortunately I had forgotten to bring my camera, or binoculars for bird-viewing. We saw and heard many birds, the fish were jumping (yes, we will be going back with fishing rods!) the lake was beautiful, and it felt SO GOOD to be out in the sun. This is what I love about this lifestyle so far...the ability to spontaneously enjoy such a beautiful day! I surely hope we have many more to come :-).

Rain is on the agenda again tomorrow. I have some shopping to do for stock in the store, and I have to refill the ice cream cooler after having defrosted it Sunday night. Weather permitting, we are having a workamper "snack and chat" tomorrow afternoon, to meet and mingle with some of the other workampers. I believe there are 13 couple and one single workamping this year here.  Thursday I start in on a (hopefully) busy holiday weekend, scooping that ice cream. I hope wherever you are, you have a sunny warm holiday. TTFN!

12 comments:

  1. Love that picture of Casey! It is hard to tell if she is losing it or having a great time :)

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  2. what a great store 'setup'!!..enjoy scooping!!

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  3. man, now I want some ice cream. to bad we don't have any moose tracks.

    A Arizona Holiday

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  4. Thanks for the ice cream info. Just seeing the colors of Superman Ice Cream is enough to know how it got that name!!

    Great picture of Casey!

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  5. What a cute little store..you are really enjoying this line of work!

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  6. Cute store! If you enjoy this line of work, you might want to check out working for Delaware North, who runs the Yellowstone General Stores. They sell scooped ice cream too!

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  7. I'll bet the kids love the Superman ice cream. It's a little bold for me :)
    Great photo of Casey!

    Thanks for your comments on Lancaster County and Nancy & Neil. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there. I'd go back in a minute. We are currently outside Binghamton and just so you don't feel lonesome, it's rained here everyday for 6 weeks! Everything is mud. What a spring! I'm much happier being wet than what some have had to deal with though.
    Hope your weekend is sunny and the store busy :)

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  8. LOVE that pic of Casey at the end! So cute!
    Nina

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  9. That looks like a very inviting store. I would shop there. Stay safe and have a great holiday weekend.

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  10. Thanks for the tour of the store. Now I can picture you working in it. Great shot of Casey looks like infinite patience is required for her job. Probably for yours too.

    Sherry
    www.directionofourdreams.blogspot.com

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  11. Thanks for the tour. It looks like it would be great fun doing your job. Wishing you and Al a wonderful Memorial Weekend. Here's hoping you have great weather.

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  12. LOVE that last shot of Casey! So cute! Polly is a total squirrel-nut so we know exactly what that means :)
    Nina

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