No makeup or perfume needed here!

Well two weeks now since we arrived at "camp dusty" and we are
starting to get settled ~ we did move to a larger room and this feels
much nicer ~ it is a 16 unit motel style building which does have
it's own bathroom and laundry facility (so a BIT of an upgrade to the
previous room) however we are all still waiting for the water
connection!! .....and it is rumored that this may never happen ~ but
as with everything else the "shock" is starting to wear off ~ I
will never refer to our beach house in FL again as "small"! As part
of the fun we are experiencing a bit of a heating problem,~ it never
turns off!,~ which is fine when it is cold, but just stifling the rest
of the time, so our solution is to have the window and door open for a
through draft whenever we are in the room, this works at least until
the time we go to sleep. Hopefully our heating problem will get fixed
before the mosquitoes become too prolific!

Ron is starting to get the hang of the "front desk" one of his duties
is to climb into a bear suit and greet the buses bringing in the
latest guests from the train! So, as you can imagine he was hamming it
up, dancing around hugging anyone and everyone, posing for pictures
and trying not to scare the little kids. There is only one other
"mature" co-worker on the front desk, otherwise he has to put up
working with the youngsters (cute gals) and he seems to be the
comedian in the bunch (are we surprised).

I too am starting to be more comfortable in my position as "hostess"
having now learned most of the servers names and table numbers.. it
really is quite a juggling game trying to keep it fair so that the
servers all have an equal number of tables to "wait" on~ It does make
it a bit challenging when guests insist on being seated in a different
section of the restaurant.

In my 40 years of nursing with the long 12 hour shifts I have never
had my legs/feet feel so tired .... it must be due to the fact I am
"standing" in one place for the most part....... and the hands on the
clock seem to stop at times too...... however at least I am only
working 6 hour shifts, Ron works 8 hour shifts and our managers have
coordinated our 2 days off together each week which is Mon and Tue
and is greatly appreciated. We have both worked the early shifts
starting at 04:30! but have requested NOT to work these again when the
next schedule is made.

After our first week of incredibly warm weather, the second week was
just the opposite (can't imagine what it will feel like in Sept ) ~
we know we will get to experience all four seasons in a 100 day
period. Though the locals say there only have 3 seasons~" Winter",
"Break up", and "Construction". I STILL find it very strange to have
daylight ALL the time, we need to force ourselves to go to sleep at
midnight.

On Friday 29th May we joined a group of folk from "camp dusty" and
rode a bus to the nearest town "Healy" population 400, a mere 10 miles
away. You can call it a town but they don't have a grocery store and have to
drive the 2 hours to Fairbanks like the rest of us for supplies ~ oh,
by the way, it is said that the grocery list for the average Alaskan is
Lotto, Ammo, Beer and Gas. Anyway we joined the good citizens of Healy in
their community center for a great evening of live music by a group
called " Shealaurel" they were AMAZING..... (for those who know how,
go to "Youtube" and check them out) they are all one family, mom, dad
sons 16 and 20 and daughters 17 and 19. For 90 minutes they sang,
danced and played various instruments. They have traveled all over
the USA plus China and Europe. Mom and Dad gave away (not sold) all
that they owned 8 years ago and just went on the road, and have been
making a living this way ever since, they truly have talent.

On Sat 30th we went to what is called "Cabin Night" here on the
property for our guests to experience a family-style dinner while being
entertained with song/stories/music about the settling of Alaska ~ similar in a way to "The Flying W Ranch" where Andrew worked in his youth. And, funnily enough our "Shealaurel" family were at the same table as ourselves, so we had the opportunity to get to know them a bit. The 17 year old girl who, when performing was extremely outgoing, was in fact very shy. The evening
was an audience participation event, and naturally it almost goes
without saying that Ron was chosen to play the part of a "drunken old
miner" which he played to the hilt ~ the regular entertainers were SO
impressed several congratulated him later on his GREAT performance~
however to those of us that know him......... no more need be said !
He is however going to add this to his acting portfolio!

Yesterday we were part of the lucky group who managed to be
amongst the first 30 employees to sign up for a trip to Fairbanks for
the day. Our agenda...... to see a movie, eat at a regular restaurant
and to buy a few supplies at Wal-Mart. We hooked up with 3 other folks
(one of whom is one of my managers Mike ~ I so appreciate him, a hard
worker, pleasant and easy to get along with ~ we were like a bunch of
kids on a "field trip" it was so much fun ~ I can truly attest that
this is the furthest I have ever had to go to get to a grocery store (4 hour round trip) We saw the movie "Up" it was JUST GREAT, and
recommend it to each and everyone, for sure it is a movie I know we
will see again.

Well folk I guess this about catches you up with our news, We do feel
a bit remote and out of touch ~ for the most part regarding phone calls
the best time to call would be between 8am-noon, as generally we THINK
we will be working the later shifts, but if we can't answer leave a message/try again later, thanks.