So there is no partition and one is higher than the other. I have no idea what this is all about. It is one of the women's rooms at the Vagabond. Notice the ashtray...they like to multitask here. I just thought the whole thing seemed weird.
And then...there is a poker playing, bird feeding, crazy lady in the corner.

Meet Dan-o. Our grizzly chauffeur. Molly with her Bud Lite. And me in my 'don't talk to me while i'm drinking chic.'

Look at Dan-o grinning. That's Jackie peeking over Molly in the back.

Meredith 1, Kool Aid man 0. Courtesy of Terry Schuler :) - Chris' mom. Isn't it perfect? Die Kool Aid Man, Die!

here is the video i didn't know i was making.

2:11pm Kenai, AK
Last night i fell asleep with the light on and then was woken up by loud people by my wall a few hours later. I got up at 12:41am to turn off my light and have a pee. When my alarm went off at 5:20am i was not excited. I reluctantly rose and got ready to go take a shower. When i walked out my door there was a huge rainbow over the mountains in the distance framed by the two buildings outside of my door. When i came back from my shower it was gone. It was like it was there just for me to see. It was so beautiful. And somehow it made me not so sleepy.

8:31am Kenai, AK
Guess who got to sleep in this morning? I slept in til 5:50am and lounged in bed til 6:07am! Usually I'm at work by 6...it was awesome. We are a 24hr plant so people are always working. Everyone who needs a coffee pot for their night shift has one so i figured 'why not' I'm gonna sleep in. I've had 14hr days for the past 2 days. The first day i didn't take a lunch...yesterday i had to...so that i wouldn't punch anyone in the throat. After i clocked out yesterday and subsequently had to clock back in because the beach pad was hopping with fish, I had to check myself because when i have greatly reduced my student loans all of the extra time will be worth it.
They started processing at 6pm yesterday. They only had a few totes of fish to process but more were on the way. Fisherman kept pulling up with totes in their trucks. The dock crew would sort 'em, put them on fresh ice and drive them around with the fork lift to the growing stack of totes in processing. From there a different fork lift driver takes the totes, dumps them in the hopper, which then sends them down the conveyor belts so that they can get slit open, the guts pulled out, scrapped free of any residual guts or blood (i had the pleasure of seeing this step yesterday when i went to find out when they were going on break so that i could be ready) and then rinsed, weighed, sorted further and put on more ice. We go through a lot of ice. I actually got to go up and see the ice room. I am going to try and get a picture...it's awesome. It is a large metal room filled with ice chips. The ice gets made and sent through a fan of sorts which chips it and rains it down into the ice room. After processing, roe gets their hands on the fish and they take the eggs out. (random fact: not sure if i told you the other day...apparently halibut cheeks are quite a delicacy. who knew? they are about the size of a scallop but super tasty...if you like that sort of thing...and super expensive. if we happen to get in any halibut we make sure to take out the cheeks before the unwanted parts go in the grinder for the seagulls.) Once roe does their voodoo the fish get refrigerated for a while then glazed and cased up.
I may have explained some of this before but i keep learning and seeing more and want to make sure that i am giving you all of the information that i have because it is so interesting.
All right. I have a date with 30 fitted sheets. It's at that point where i have things i want to get done and it takes me a few days sometimes to get to them because so many other things keep coming up.

6:14pm Friday June 27, Kenai, AK

My grandmother would have been proud. I just went to Fred Meyers and bought: 10 pillows, 30 fitted sheets, 1 coffee pot, 5 packs of pillow cases, 5 mattress protectors, 12 packages of chow mein, 1 rotisserie chicken, 1 gallon of milk, 1 loaf of bred, a bunch of bananas, 4 granny smith apples, some honey, and a box of cereal and I fit it all in one shopping cart. :) It's those Zimmerman packing genes. I had to go leave my cart with customer service while i filled a second cart with 3 soccer balls, 1 football, a 4 pack of ping pong paddles, 8 packages of ping pong balls, and 1 broom dust pan combination. It was an exciting day at Fred Meyers.

On an up note: Project literacy is alive and well in Alaska...not. When i asked the manager to hold my first cart for me she said she would put a sign on it so that people wouldn't touch it. I didn't believe that people would leave my cart alone...on the east coast people would be curious why a cart full of items was abandoned by the customer service desk and start picking through it thinking the items were on sale. She came over with a hand written note that said 'No tochie,' "See it says 'No touchy.'" I wanted to say 'according to who?' but it's not my job to teach her the fundamentals of the english language. And i know you are probably thinking...she just forgot a letter...but i don't think that is the case here.

A few weeks ago i looked up how to fold a fitted sheet on the internet. My mom can fold them so effortlessly and so quickly and for the longest time i couldn't figure it out. I knew that one side tucked into the other and then more folding and tucking but i never understood how to make all of the corners square. But now i have the hang of it and after washing and folding 30 of them i am going to be the queen.

7:16am Kenai, AK
I was having problems with adding text near the pictures and i thought i mentioned the ashtray in the bathroom...but i realize i didn't. Michelle: Please don't be fooled...we do not have pretty tile bathrooms (but a girls gotta dream.) That was a bathroom at a bar. Our bathrooms are made with plywood and are painted ridiculously bright colors in food grade paint...interesting fact: food grade paint is damn near toxic if not totally so until it is dry and then it protects the food from toxicity...isn't that interesting. Fascinating stuff - working with food. So yeah...this ain't your momma's fish plant.
Shout out #2: So i get this email from my dad this morning. 'Book Title.' If you have never met my dad he is full of puns and wit in general. "Meredith: If you ever get the urge to turn the summer experience into a book I thought of a title: NH Yankee in King Salmon's Court. Have a good day, Dad" And there you have it. That is my dad. And i miss it. I actually think it is a great title. Ernest said that King Salmon is an actual place - not too far up the road.

Okay. If you have never doubted my intelligence as a result of this blog...stop reading right now and go do something else.





Mmm hmm. That's what i thought. So two nights ago it had just been one of those days...the kind where you just want to go to the bar with the girls and relax. I was in the laundry room and the girls (Kathy, Michelle and Jackie - Molly was still working) came by and asked when i was clocking out. They were going to the Landing so they told me to meet them there when i was done "and bring Molly too." I finished up my laundry, found Molly, sat and chatted for a bit and then told her to get ready. We decided to take the shortcut across the marshy field. Cool. Not a big deal.
So we start walking. I go first. The rule of thumb is to stay on the grass and you should be okay. Everything is going fine and then Molly starts feeling moisture in her baby blue Crocs. I, in my Merrells, don't feel this. She says, "my feet are getting wet." So me being the camper since my youth and stubborn person that i am, i tell her to stop..."i'll figure this out." I keep going. It had been raining for a few days but naturally i wasn't thinking about this as i walked further away from the "dry" ground. Pretty soon my feet are going lower and lower so of course i decide to try and run. If you go fast enough your feet won't sink. Right... And then...i lost my shoe. My pretty, new-ish shoe. So there i am standing like a crane, one foot on the ground the other bent to avoid the crap i was just sinking into, laughing and screaming. Molly of course is like, "why did you keep going? you told me to stop." I lean down and pull my shoe out of the mud with a slurping sound that makes me want to cry...the La Brea Tar Pits are on my shoe. At this point both of my shoes, (one on and one in my hand) my one sock, and the bottoms of my freshly laundered jeans are covered in some of the funkiest black mud Alaska has to offer. Awesome. Well now who really cares where i walk, it's not like i can get more muddy. So i walk back up the small hill to the gravel. Molly goes around to avoid my fate. "Do we have a pressure washer?" I ask. "Of course. Over by the dock office." I go to my room and get some other shoes and a change of pants. Then we walk over to the dock office, me, shoe-less McGee and Molly - all smiles at my one shoe on, one shoe off walk. We are laughing the whole way. We find the pressure washer in fisherman's storage. (I wanted to make sure that i got all of the mud off my shoes before i put them in the washing machine.) We wheel it out and Molly hooks it up. We are quite the pair: Molly - purse in one hand pressure washer parts in the other and me all sad and down one shoe. I pick up the handle and pull the trigger. Nothing. "Wait, it's not on." I have never used a pressure washer...i am oblivious to all of it's wile ways. She puts her purse down and tries to pull start it. Apparently it's finicky. I give it a go. Nothing. She goes and gets her welding gloves. I put one on. Still holding my muddy shoe, I start yanking on this thing willing it to start. Success. I put my shoe down on the pavement and stand a few feet away. I pull the trigger to test it. It's powerful. I take aim and squeeze the trigger. Molly and I watch as my shoe skips across the pavement. 'come back,' i am thinking. I take aim, squeeze the trigger, and watch as my shoe skips farther away. We are both hysterical at the sight. I am now chasing my shoe with the pressure washer. After we have a good laugh i decide to give up on that shoe and do the other one. This will be easier because it is still on my foot and won't skip away. I proceed to pressure wash my shoe. Man the mud is just flying off! Naturally...because the water is so powerful. I aim the nozzle at my pants leg, I might as well hit those while i am down there. 'Oh look, my other naked foot has mud on it...let me pressure wash that too.' Have you ever pressure washed naked flesh? No? All the kids are doing it. I knew it wasn't smart but part of me just wanted to clean off the mud and be done with it. I got the mud off...but MAN did it sting. Molly has not stopped laughing at this point. She says incredulous, "Meredith! We take rust and paint off buildings with that thing!" "I know. I just wanted to clean off the dirt." She takes pity on me. She goes and gets my wandering shoe and brings it back. She positions it so that it is up against a tire on one of the fork lifts. "There. Now try." So much easier. 'Try and get away now, shoe!' I take off the soaking wet shoe that i am still wearing and put it against the tire to finish the job. That really was a good idea...that whole up against the tire thing.
After we finish up and put away the pressure washer, i throw on my sandals and go put my dripping shoes in the washing machine. I feel like a mother leaving her child for the first time. 'I hope they will be okay in there.'
We roll up our pants Tom Sawyer style and decide to tackle the marsh a second time - realizing that this may be dumb but we're willing to take that chance. Success. We make it across alive and no dirtier than when we entered. Trying to preserve her dignity, Molly unrolls her pants. I left mine in the mud so I leave mine rolled. We walk into the bar glad to see that the girls are still there so we sit down and regale them with our evenings tale. After a few beers they leave and so do we not too long after. Everyone makes it back home safe and clean...well...almost everyone, and goes to bed.
When i go to check on my shoes in the morning...they look like new! Hooray...it really will be okay. And that is the story of how i learned what not to do.
So what have we learned:
Don't go hiking across muddy fields after the rain. Weather matters.
If the mud is black - go back.
Power washers are not for bathing...and certainly not at close range.
And Merrells clean up real good. They take a licking and keep on ticking.
*Funny fact. Chapin bought the same shoes as me and the day after he bought them he too got them covered in mud doing the same thing i did. Coincidence? Next time, I'm going to wear my xtratuffs because then it doesn't matter how deep the mud is.

2:47pm Kenai, AK
I went out to the water shed to get some...well...water and i saw hundreds of seagulls circling our dock. The parts of the fish that we don't use or want get ground up in the processing room and wash out to the river through a chute under the plant. Thus drawing all of the seagulls to come and make a big ruckus.
We just had a plant wide meeting with Vince, the owner, about what's going on with the fish. The King Salmon are running slow from the Yukon. They are expecting 30 million fish from the Yukon and just over 1% have run so far. It was a rough winter and a cold spring and all of the fish are waiting for the water to warm up. I don't blame them...i never liked a cold pool. But we usually don't have a lot of fish from the Yukon now anyway. We are waiting on the set netters. (until i saw this in print i was so confused. they do what their name says. they go to the beach and set their nets in the water and wait. There are also drifters. They drop their nets of their boats and drift with the current and get fish that way.) The set netters are our beach fisherman and they are the ones that are going to keep us busy until the Yukon produces for us. And then we will be really busy because we will have fish from the Yukon, fish from the Kenai River, fish from Cook Inlet and who knows where else.
I just feel so bad for all of the people that aren't getting any hours. Yesterday we had fish and they processed for less than 1hr. I would be so upset if i came all the way here and didn't have work for so long. It makes the toilets look pretty good.

i love this sign.
Where else is this normal? "I like to keep baskets full of knives in my sink while i bake my peanut butter cookies for the neighborhood children..."
And this is how you work out fish gear.
There has been this weird overcasting lately. Some of the foreign kids had never seen fog and they wondered if it was okay if they went outside. "What is this outside? This ::blowing and hand motions back and forth::"

Molly picking the moose's nose.

Where I sit in my snack shack and write to you.
My desk. Molly made it :)

This is the end of the room. Freezer, fridge, water heater, sink...the usual.

This is the other end of the room and my stronghold of condiments.

These are the shelves i added. What can i say i know how to market.

There is an ashtray in the toilet. You know what...why not? i find mountain dew cans and food wrappers in the stall trash cans. why not make the bathroom stall a functional place for everyday activities?

7:43am Kenai, AK
We haven't had fish for 5days which means that a lot of people here haven't worked for 5days. The fish are running slow because the water has been so cold. The fish story says that they will be processing today but the volume is TBD. At first everyone was making me crazy because when they don't work my job gets harder...they come and sit in the break room drinking lots of coffee and hot chocolate and making a mess. Then Saturday night a bunch of them went to the beach and got good and liquored up so most of them stayed in their rooms for a good portion of the next day hungover...out of my hair :) One of the dock guys came to me the next morning looking for solice in the form of a BBQ rib sandwich and said that he had drank his weight in Jagermeister. It was pretty rough.
I went out with the girls Saturday night. I was pretty tired but i was informed that i really didn't have much of a choice in the matter. We got a cab and went to this sports bar in Kenai called The Backdoor. (It's at the back of a motel) It was a pretty cool bar - good atmosphere. We (Molly, Jackie and I) had a grand 'ol time. We were sitting at the bar laughing and carrying on when this younger toothless man (not totally toothless just a few crucial ones in the front) came up and said that he and his friends wanted to talk to us. They worked at a nearby processing plant. So we talked to them for a bit and then Molly got a free drink from some guy across the room. We later found out that the drink buyers were from Canada and that they worked on the slope - that means that they work in oil. We talked with them for a bit, had some nachos, and then decided to call the cab to go home. On the way home we stopped at the Vagabond - the girls wanted to pick something up for later. We pulled into the driveway and there was a moose eating in the trees right by the entrance. So i get out of the cab and walk over to it. It was dusk so i was having a hard time getting a good picture...i left my tripod in my other purse. The girls come over because want to see and they fear for my life. I was so close...probably within 10' - i could see the bristles in its coat. It was just so beautiful. Eventually it went further into the woods and i decided to go back to the building where Jackie and Molly were making friends (they could only take so much moose watching.) They bought their booze and then Molly decided that she didn't want to walk back - she wanted to call a cab. But Jackie had another plan. She met this guy Dan-o in the bar, apparently he works over at the Kasilof plant and has a quad. Jackie asks Dan-o, who she just met, if he can take us back to the plant on his quad. We walk out back where his quad is parked. Now for those of you who don't know, they are called quads because they have 4 wheels...not because they have 4 seats. This is clear to me. I stand there with the THREE other people and look at this thing with its ONE seat. Okay. Now what? "Meredith, you can sit on the front and Molly and I will sit on the back." Oh goody...like a mermaid on a ship. Not really. Dan-o is not a small man...actually none of us are small...we are all life sized adults. This reeks of bad idea so naturally i figure 'Why the hell not?' So Dan-o clears off my "seat" and i sit down and hold on. Jesus take my wheel. I doubt that many of you have ridden on the front of a quad, it being such a good idea and all, but i was having visions of slipping and getting run over. Logical solution: ride the entire way (it actually wasn't that far) back to camp with my feet straight out in front of me. Come on abs of steel. "Dan-o you better drive slow or i-mo cry." Dan-o of course is tickled pink. There are three women to his one man...life is good. So he's laughing and joking around and the three of us are yelling and laughing at the situation we are in. We got onto the trail and he took it slow...it actually wasn't that bad. At one point i took out my camera and was taking pictures...like i do. I couldn't not capture my mermaid moment. As we get closer to camp we tell him to slow down even more and drop us at the gate. It's midnight and we don't want to disrupt Dale and Bobbie or bring him onto camp property. We pull up to the gate and out walks Dale. He looks tired but not angry. He says hi to Dan-o who then says goodbye and turns around and leaves. Apparently while we were out all of the J-1s who were at the beach stumbled home...Dale was having a bit of a night. He just wanted to make sure that it wasn't more trouble getting ready to ride into camp. We offer to help him any way we can but the situation is under control. "Too bad we don't have lots of fish tomorrow," he says, "that would teach 'em." We bid him good night and then go find out what happened. Aside from people dying or being blown up...Inlet Fish is the Melrose Place of Alaska. It was a very long night for us. But for the most part we had fun.

Why I love my Whee.

11:48am Kenai, AK

My sister can make me laugh harder than almost anyone. So many times in life she has made me almost pee myself (I actually did once when we were younger living in North Carolina...it was pretty intense.) So we have this building that is half male, half female (separate entrances) but of course they want to chill in eachothers rooms and what not. They say that they like to eat together but here we eat at a table...not in bed. I volunteered to make signs for the doors - with graphics of course. I wanted something funny, as usual, but also something that would get the point across. Don't you just know...it is not that easy to find a simple 'no boys (or girls) allowed' graphic. When i first searched Google images for 'no girls allowed' i found porn. Right... I finally found the standard man behind red crossbar (funny wasn't even an option...so i went for obvious) But no matter how much i searched i could not find a "no girls allowed" graphic. So my sister sent me this. She says it is from a Croatian airport...apparantly this is a problem there. Sadly though, as much as i wanted to, I couldn't bring myself to putting this on my sign. But it gave the office women a good hoot. She then sent me the standard woman behind red crossbar...she made it herself. I just thought you all would enjoy it. I can't imagine why they wouldn't want paranoid women walking around in high heels, underwear, and handcuffs...come on Croatia get on board.

12:23pm Kenai, AK
Today is the summer solstice. This is the first time since 1896 that it has been on June 20. At least that is what the Processing room door told me and i thought it was interesting. (i just had a typo that lead me to think about typing a whole entry in broken english...hmmm...maybe you think it is funny) Annnyway I also thought you might want to know that it finally stinks like fish. I think it will get worse which is fine because i can ease myself into it...but it's funky. And the Japanese trailer is finally done and Hiro is here walking around making sure everything is up to snuff. I am going to town later - snack shack stock up and chemical purchasing. I'm getting a new mop bucket too :) Things are going much better now that i am fully dressed.

11:18am Kenai, AK
Laura ~ you and Michelle will have to support eachother through this time. I did not mean to lessen your pain. there is going to be sadness...for how does one replace a Pij or a MattCam? You cannot. I'm sure 2D or 2dizzle, as she prefers to be called on the streets, will have a blast. should she bring anything?

Look Ma, no pants!

6:59am Kenai, AK
It's been an exciting morning here at Inlet Fish. I woke up at 5:20am, like i do, reluctantly got out of bed, threw on my robe, grabbed my two towels (today was a hair washing day - it's bad to wash your hair everyday) and my shower stuff and headed on down to the bathroom. Five steps later, "shit." I had just locked myself out of my room - but thankfully i had on my new robe xs/s as it may be. Well Michelle wasn't going to be awake with her keys for a little bit so i figured "hell, i might as well shower so if i have to go find someone at least i will be clean." And that is how that went, a relatively carefree shower, with intermittent thoughts of "gee i hope i can get in my room...i need my keys so that i can make coffee." So i finish my shower, super thankful that i have a robe, brush my teeth and keep an eye out for Michelle (she wakes up early to use a different shower across camp and i see her while i am running around in the morning. she has office keys...where they keep the room keys.) No Michelle. I leave my shower stuff in the bathroom because at this point i really don't need accessories to make the outfit - it stands alone - and i start walking across camp clad in terry cloth. I see Chapin go into the processing house so i go there. No Chapin. Maybe he's in the bathroom. I'll wait. No Chapin. I start to walk towards refrigeration to see if Ernest is around. I see wet footprints on the ground so i follow them...they lead me to a puddle of water not a person so i head back to the door. As I'm walking i think to myself that this is probably not very sanitary and i am glad there are no fish. Then i heard a horn squeak (like a bicycle honker horn) and i figure "awesome someone is here, my search is over." I follow the noise, "Hello? Hello?" and who comes around the corner but Chapin. "What is wrong with you?" he says with mild disgust. "I locked myself out of my room." i happen to sniff so of course he asks, "Are you crying?" "No, I just feel stupid." "Well, you look stupid." Now that we had gotten all of our usual bickering out of the way he told me that he would meet me over there he just had to get some tools. "you're never going to hear the end of this." He gets out his camera phone to take a picture and then reconsiders. "I'm not going to be mean to you." Oh good, because i am well aware that i am never going to hear the end of this the last thing i need is pictures to make the story better. So we get to my room and he starts poking the knob with his knife. I tell him he's got to try and coax the "latch" out by sliding the knife from behind. No use. He says in all seriousness in a very Chapin way, "Well we could just break the door really quick." umm...no. Then he looks at the pin hinges and goes for more tools. He gives me his room key so that i can go sit in there if i want to or get some clothes. But of course i am stubborn so i stand there in my robe and try to open the door. I am actually making headway with the file and his keys - getting part of the latch to slide..."just a little bit more...ugh come on." I keep at this until someone walks by. Trying to be all tough he busts out is laminated food card and tries to break in. Hi - i was just using a file...off of a metal multi-tool...that flimsy two pieces of paper sandwiched between plastic isn't going to do the trick. But he thinks he is cool so i let him try. He bends his card. I of course am shocked...as i'm sure you can tell. "Thank you for trying," i say and keep going at it with my file. Chapin comes back looking all proud of himself with a hammer and mini pry bar. This reeks of bad idea to me. It's not even 6am. He gives it a few whacks. Not even a budge. "Chapin, it's probably rusted in there." A few more whacks. "Hey it's cool. We should stop." Cue Michelle - she has that it's not even 6am what are you doing with a hammer outside of my room look on her face. Chapin is smiling. "I got locked out. Do you have your key?" She disappears. She comes back out with her keys. "We're sorry we woke you." "Oh, you didn't wake me." d'oh! "Oh. Okay. Is Kathy mad?" "She doesn't have the right to be she keeps up half the camp at night with her snoring." She makes a mean point. "Hang on, I'll come with you." She grabs her shower stuff and comes back out. I tell her the story of how Chapin rounded the corner and found me and she laughs. We go to the office and get my key - i am overjoyed at the aspect of pants. I am walking back to my room and here comes Serigy, this little fashion plate Ukrainian boy with one of those European accents that makes him sound like he is always hitting on people. He gives me a nod like, "Hey, how you do? Nice." (only with an accent.) Great. So i put on clothes...finally and head off to work.
I walk into the breakroom and there are Chapin and Ernest talking about cutting things. There is a brief pause to talk about my little saga this morning and then they continue on. I start making my coffee. Chapin is saying something about his jigsaw being messed up and I ask what's up. He needs to make a cut on a material and for the life of them they can't remember the order of the letters "you know that thick plastic that they make cutting boards out of?" "Yeah. UMDH." (wait that doesn't sound right.) "UMHD" (still not right.) "What's it stand for?" He was checking my credibility. 'i know this. Nelson told me what it stands for.' But what i knew wasn't matching what i thought the letters were. "Ultra High Density...I don't know." "Well i need to make a precision cut and i don't know what tool to use." "Oh. Hang on. I can call someone." "Really?" "Yeah. hang on." "How do you know this stuff?" "We used it on a show last year. Hang on." Heck yeah. See i'm not as dumb as you think. I bust out my phone and dial my "phone a friend" - Steve Howe. I also get into my facebook to see if Nelson is online...a treasure trove of resources all within reach. Thank you McCarter. Steve answers his phone all excited. (d'oh. I feel as though i have let him down slightly because i am calling to pick his brain - of course while i had him on the line i wanted to know how everything was going but i felt bad that i wasn't calling just to chat) "UMDH," I say. (it still doesn't sound right) "UHMW?" "Yes! I knew it didn't sound right" My brief moment of intelligence from moments before...ppft...extinguished. I guess i was thinking University of Medicine and Dentistry...who knows. Ultra High Molecular Weight...it's all coming back now. So he drops his knowledge on proper cutting methods and which saws work best...it was just nice to know that i could call him. (And I'm not just saying this because i know he is an avid reader. Steve I am always glad that you are on my team. You are one of the main reasons i drive the 50miles to work that i do.) Then he tells me that Pij is leaving McC too! Oh Michelle...I'm so sad for you. But Congratulations Jeff...you'll be awesome. And that is when we hung up and i started to write this all down for you. My circus of a morning. But alas i should go...work and all.

11:52am Kenai, AK
I have dueling coffee pots! I have been hearing about this rush that will all of the sudden just happen and i have been preparing for it. I have a stronghold of mustard, mayo, sugar, creamer and more grandma's cookies than you can shake a stick at...not to mention my large arsenal of chemicals and paper products. So yesterday i cleaned out another coffee urn...it's time to pull out the big guns. I have one coffee pot that doesn't percolate so that one i use for hot water (tea and hot chocolate...you know how it is) and today i had the extra pot i prepared...just waiting for its moment to shine. Well when we were nearing break and there wasn't enough coffee i just started brewing a second pot. genius, i know. I got all of the extra sugar and creamer out and i opened a hot chocolate to keep in the hole for when they finished the first one. When break hit i was all ready - 2 coffee pots, water, lots of cups, hot chocolate and tea and lots of happy workers. It was awesome and i was super proud of myself. My party is the best party in town :)

9:38am Kenai, AK
Well the east coast is coming out to-day! It is season opener and there is so much going on. People are talking too slow and not saying much of anything when they finally spit it out. And roe and processing started at 8am so all of the gear had to be ready and the bathrooms had to be done. i would have cleaned them yesterday morning but i spent the hour that i would have spent on the bathrooms cleaning up the remains of dinner from the night before. Why the cook chooses to make the crustiest bread she can is beyond me and why twenty somethings can't get most of the food into their mouths is also beyond me. If you are walking along and you spill your soup...clean it up...don't just leave it there for people to slip on or be grossed out by it.
So I woke up made the vat of coffee ran to the bathrooms cleaned them came back had to get stuff ready for Jennifer (my helper) then open the snack shack so that people could start talking slow to me. And Hiro - the roe man - got in last night and he already went over to the trailer which is not fully cleaned to look it over. He didn't say it exactly but what he basically said was "Girl you must be outside your mind if you think i am going to put people in there. Figure it out and get on it." Well hello - we aren't done...go away while we work our magic. alright. im going to go run around somemore. maybe if i don't slow down they'll have to talk quicker...

2:03pm Kenai, AK

The only thing more finicky than the internet here is the fisherman.

Well guess who was in bed by 9pm last night? Me - that's who! I even made myself a nice dinner and cleaned my room. Then i put in my earplugs and slept like a champ...it was awesome.

We are processing fish everyday now. Today i was in the gear room and i looked out the window and there were little fish organs all over the floor...little hearts and livers - which according to some taste good and are quite nutritious (i'll stick with my centrum thanks.) It doesn't smell...yet...but every now and then a bloody glove liner comes into the laundry room and it's just nasty - if you let them sit too long that is when the funk comes. It must be tough being on "the slime line" (that's where they process the fish - charming don't you think) because they only get hours when there are fish. Sometimes they only get 5-7hrs/day. That will increase when there are more fish but it is so unpredictable.
So we got our first fish the other day. They were from the beach - they are fish and game fish. People with licenses can go out and fish and bring them to us - the numbers are much lower on those fish - because the boats are smaller for one. It was this woman and her little boy dropping off the fish. They have a hopper that dumps the contents of the fish tote down a chute which puts in on a conveyor belt and then gets sorted and weighed. Well there is a different conveyor for the beach fish because it doesn't start on the dock like the fish that come off the boats - people bring the totes in their trucks to us. So there is this little boy, he couldn't have been more than 5yrs old, he had on his mini xtratuff boots (which are really they only boots to wear as an alaskan fisherman - they are pretty awesome...even i have a pair) and he is helping pick up the fish that fall on the ground. The proper way to pick up a fish is through the gill and out the mouth with your finger. Well not so much for shortie over there. He kept trying to wrap his hands around the fish, pick it up and put it back on the belt but since he was so short he had to climb up a step first. Fish slime is slippery enough, forget trying to hold onto the fish for prolonged amounts of time. but he was persistent. He would get up on the step and just as he was about to throw it over it would slip and fall back to the ground. Mom finally helped him but it was really cute to watch him keep trying.
Everyday Dale posts what he calls 'the fish story' on the door to the processing room. That tells them when to check in or when they are going to be called to work. For the past few days we have also had Roe and case up working. I was told the first day we got fish that the real reason that we do any of this is for the roe (fish eggs.) They are worth so much. The rest of the salmon is a byproduct. Now i am sure that this is not entirely true but it does have some merit. And case up is where they glaze the fish in a brine solution and package them to be shipped out.
okay have to go do stuff now.

6:18am Kenai, AK
Okay kids - start pooling your lunch money, cause momma might be going to jail.

I guess some of the new people misread their plane ticket - this isn't Pennsylvania Dutch country and there is no need to be raising a barn...at 1am. I tried to go to bed at a normal hour last night - i really did - but it doesn't matter when the walls are so thin. There were drunk people talking all loud at 1am and then there were the new kids next to my wall with what sounded like timber and hammers...i'm going to hurt someone. There is a door nearby that doesn't latch right so logically the new owner should just keep slamming it until it doesn't close. Brilliant. Maybe i should start saving all of my egg cartons and making my own insulation. I'll tell you what though...these people are going to learn to be quiet. I think next time i go to the store i am going to get one of those green face masks, some curlers and a baseball bat. I can leave my room with that "i'm crazed - but still trying to minimize my pores and get my hair did" look - think Andy Capp's Mom.
Other than that it is really nice to see camp filling out. We got 16 new people last night - one of whom was my night shift gear person. Hooray. she seems awesome. alright i'm out. have a good day.

6:18am Kenai, AK
Well that is just such a great captured image. "Now i'll never be a teen model." Anyway today is going to be super busy. We got our first fish yesterday - hooray! I'll have to tell you more about it later...that seems to be the new trend. I just finished making coffee now i have to go clean the bathrooms, then get a cleaning bucket ready for Jennifer, then wash all of the gear they used last night, make up new gear for them to use today, and all of my regular duties too. I took a long lunch yesterday and went to the dot and one of the items i purchased was a pedometer. I walked just under 5mi between roughly 3pm and 8pm...and i never left the plant. Okay i have to go now. I'm still trying to get that nap in...i guess i'll have to get to that later too.

G~ I made you something!!

Happy Fathers Day. Enjoy!

3:20pm Kenai, AK
yea...sorry about that. i was trying some new things and then we lost the internet for a few days so i couldn't see the crazy picture and how odd it looked. i have things to put on but i am super busy right now. i saw the internet was working so i figured i would say hey really quick. anywho i'll be back in a bit. i have a draft in the works and i think that they add them to the blog for the day you started the draft so i am going to put up something i typed today but keep your eyes peeled for entries that may come "after" what i am posting now.

7:07am Sunday June 15, 2008 Kenai, AK
Every day I get into a fight with the Kool Aid man…and every day I lose…and I’m starting to get mad. Michelle gave me one of her tips for keeping employees happy – freeze the juice from the day before and put it in the juice the next day so that it stays cold all day. Great idea, wouldn’t you say? Brilliant – who doesn’t love cold juice? Well it is becoming a thorn in my side. We have a 10 gallon Coleman cooler with a spout and I bought a gallon pitcher to freeze the juice in. So when I come in, in the morning, I run the warm water on the pitcher to loosen it up…preparing for battle. Then I try to gingerly tip the pitcher and slowly let my juice cube slide into the freshly made juice below. I have even tried to use a spoon to lower it down because I’m not quite certain I should use my hands. Well this is when all hell breaks loose. The cube just races to freedom not taking the time to enjoy the ride and then SPLASH! – juice everywhere. And it keeps getting worse. The other day it splashed up under one of my shelves, today it got all over the freezer, floor and who knows where else. I keep finding juice droplets that I didn’t know were there and I hate to say it but part of me is impressed with the distance I get. But I always get juice all over me – it’s not so bad with the two lemonades but Kool Aid stains! (not just clothes…flesh too!) Up until now this has been a private battle but I have decided that I can no longer walk this road alone…I am being consumed by my hatred for the Kool Aid man. Help.
I almost don’t want to tell you about my first juice freezing experience but I know you will all get a kick out of it. So I’m one or two days into my juice making journey and people are coming up to me and saying ‘Michelle used to make the juice cold somehow.’ Basically – your warm juice isn’t cutting it…figure it out. And that is when Michelle told me the secret of the frozen juice. Later that night I am in my snack shack with my 10 gallon Coleman juice cooler…just looking at it. I open up the freezer (it opens from the top, it’s a floor freezer) and there are all of these dividers inside. There is one long one running down the middle and two short ones – making six compartments total. So I’m sizing up the dividers and I try to put the cooler in one of the compartments. Well wouldn’t you know it was too big. So I start taking out the short dividers but the long divider is still in the way. ‘How did she do this?’ I’m thinking to myself. ‘She must have done it somehow – she had cold juice.’ That is when I decided to lay the cooler on its back – ‘maybe that’s how it fit.’ Well then the juice just started coming out the top – and when you spill juice in the freezer…it freezes. ‘Great.’ I’m trying to quickly mop up my juice before it freezes and figure out how in the hell she got the juice to freeze. I don’t know when it happened exactly but at some point I had the realization ‘Meredith, this is a cooler not an ice cube tray – you can’t try to use it as such’ and that the likelihood of my juice freezing inside the cooler was significantly less than likely, hell, the likelihood of it even effecting the temperature existing in the cooler was less than likely. So I figured, ‘Screw it! They can have warm juice another day until I can talk to Michelle.’ And that is when I learned the second secret of the frozen juice – put it in a separate non-cooler container and freeze it – that way it will fit in the freezer and actually freeze. Doh!
3:25pm
While I was on lunch I looked down and there are Kool Aid stains on my arms. I look like a damn fool. Oh how I hate you Mr. Kool Aid man.

Nice tattoo...can i buy you a drink?

4:44pm Kenai, AK

My buddy Ernest started working the night shift last night and since there will probably be no other time for us to hang out we decided to go to the bar Wednesday night (Molly came too.) Ernest is a local and he has a car and a license...and you'd think that would be a given but...it's not. I wish i could tell you how many people have lost their licenses or have been in jail or have no front teeth...that last one was just because i am not used to so many toothless people! anyway we wanted to go someplace with food so Ernest said we should go to 'The Dot' (that's Soldotna a nearby town in case i haven't said that...i will be referring to it as such from now on.) So we drove to the Dot and pulled into Hooligans which is a bar/lodge or motel for you 'southerners.' I will have to go back so that i can take some pictures - the bar has lots of wood rafters and they have really neat beer taps too :) oh and the bathrooms are pretty sweet as well. The men's room is diamond plate steel and the women's room is pink princess theme complete with big 'ol gold leaf mirrors and cushioned dividers with crushed velvet curtains...intense.
Anyway its been so long since i was going to put this in that the details aren't as vibrant or important. Readers digest: Some guy at the bar bought me a beer, I made friends with three local/regulars, one of whom was a roller derby queen named Patty Roe who challenged me to lift one end of a pool table (to see if i was worthy/bad ass) - and i did so i was cool in her book and she bought me a shot. Then i bought some shots for a birthday girl, enjoyed some cake and went home. It was a good night. Im sad that Ernest works nights now.

1:26pm Kenai, AK
I feel like someone peed in my Kool Aid. The washing machine stopped working again...after 2 loads! Bobbie said they were going to look for a used one because it will probably do this all season now.
But i guess it's just been one of those days. I wound up working 15hrs yesterday (the extra 3hrs were helping the new foreign kids fill out their paperwork and find their rooms) I took lunch at 6pm. Then today at 6:30am i learned that some people don't know when a toilet is broken...if you know what i mean, at 7am i got fruit punch all over the place, at 7:30am i called my mom...cause sometimes you just need your mom...and i spilled my cheerios all over the floor. I want a nap and a cookie.
I feel like Jessie from Saved by the Bell "No time. There's never any time!...i'm so excited, i'm so excited...i'm so...scared."
But i really shouldn't complain because people are jealous of the amount of hours i get. In reality they want the hours but not the work. And i have so much i want to tell you. i still haven't told you about my trip to michigan or the other night at the bar. ...i'll get to it at some point.

(*happy birthday liz and bill! I am in love with 2D...i'm so glad she gets to go to all of the cool parties. thank you all for keeping me close. )

Victory

5:59pm Kenai, AK
The washer is fixed. The guy said that it was hard to find but an easy fix. Some wire was touching the start button that shouldn't have been and something else. So tomorrow I will start washing gear and getting the fish smell out. I also found the tag attached to the mystery bag so that is out of my hair too. Tomorrow we are getting 8 new people into camp. Until now they have been trickling in but in this next week we will probably double in size. Everything is really coming together. They are washing all of the equipment and assembling it in processing and maintenance is sorting out all of the problems around the plant and making sure that everything works for when we get fish. The dock crew is keeping busy as well (today they had to go jack up and get a building ready to come over here...more dorms i guess - it's crazy to think that they can just move buildings here or there. apparently they were pumping the jack for 2hrs.) and the welders have thier hands full making miracles out of all of the metal sitting around. It's pretty neat to see it all get done...finally. well i am going to head to the bar...because i am done at a normal hour :) too bad they don't have happy hour in Alaska...

Woo Hoo!

11:52am Kenai, AK
Well Amen! The washer man is coming later today. At least that is the word on the streets. He went to our other plant in Kasilof and i guess they didn't seem confused as to why he was there so he figured that was it. We aren't out of the woods yet though so keep doing what you're doing. (Lindsay this means you.)
On a completely different note since it's raining out a bunch of people are in their rain gear and i am SO jealous. But John said that I can borrow his whenever i want to...i may go in there at night and just wear it around.

7:33am Kenai, AK
Good Morning! It's raining here in Alaska but I am determined to have a good day. I've decided that it is time to start clocking in at 6am - i need to be up then anyway to make the coffee i might as well clean the busiest toilets in the plant while everyone is sleeping. (i made the mistake one day of making a bigger pot of coffee and not allowing much extra time for it to percolate...that is a mistake you only make once.) But don't you know i was cleaning a toilet and someone came in...and then he had the nerve to look at me like I shouldn't have been there. So i finished up the men's room, quickly did the women's room and came back here to open up the snack shack and enjoy my bowl of cheerios, banana and OJ. (Someone tell Grandma that i am taking my vitamins too) I figure I am a morning person anyway i might as well get a jump start on my day and then I can end earlier and have more time to relax and make dinner before having to get right into bed for the next day.
There is a mystery trash bag of laundry in the laundry room - which is not where people are supposed to drop off their dirty laundry. They are supposed to put it in the supplied bag with the large safety pin on it identifying the owner in the appropriate bin. So now i get to play Nancy Drew and figure it out OR hold it hostage and wait for the poor fool to run out of the rest of their clothes and come find me...I think i choose option B.
Alright off to play in the rain. Oh and the Japanese Techs oversee the roe room. They know the proper ways to handle it apparently there are lots of regulations when it comes to roe...so now you know. (mom - i think the added pressure of the roe room might in fact warrant a rubber duckie shower curtain to make you feel better about life)

4:44pm Kenai, AK
Calling all Voodoo priestesses...I need an intervention. A few days after i arrived the commercial washer that we (meaning me) use to wash all of our fish gear and mopheads etc. mysteriously stopped working. Michelle (the woman who did my job last year) came down and was able to make it work once but that was it. Now it has been a few weeks. Apparently they call every day sometimes twice a day but they are not getting any answers. They say that is how it works up here especially when there is only one person who can fix the darn thing and he doesn't feel like picking up the phone - he has that luxury. He is out of Anchorage and when his services are needed he hops in his RV and hot foots it on out to wherever and if need be he stays over. He was supposed to come out one weekend but then that fell through and we haven't heard from him since. Well times are getting desperate - the fish are coming - and it just won't do to not have a commercial washer to handle all of the gear. Dale even tried calling a number he saw on the side of a truck while he was driving around but they don't do commercial washers. So short of finding a Shaman or Dion Warwick to come and shake a stick over the thing i don't know what to do.
John just came in and i told him my plight and he said that i should have Terry, one of the natives, take a look at. He makes harpoons in his bedroom. "If he can't fix it at least he could turn it into a seal killing machine or something." I just know that time is ticking and we need a solution. So drop some holy water in the mail or do a dance in your living rooms because i need a solution.

10:06am Kenai, AK
So it's back to toilets for me. I lost my help to the Roe room...that's where they work with the fish eggs...spew. But it's okay because now instead of running around making sure they have everything they need and that they are doing their job i can just do it myself. It is also making the time move quicker. Later today i am hopefully going to start cleaning out the Japanese Tech Trailer - they have their own private trailer. Apparently they are quite skilled at whatever it is they do so we like to keep them happy. And they have a rubber duckie shower curtain. okay. back to work.

Picture time!

Part of the boat yard.

Three ladies all in a row.

A barge loaded up and ready to go out.

The wall of fish totes. And there's even more.

More boat yard...

Tee hee...it's called the shady lady

Three eagles are sitting on a log...i feel there's a joke there

One heard me coming.

They kept moving because my efforts to be sneaky failed.

Aaand it finally decided to leave. (don't worry that wasn't the joke)

The boat lift...empty and sad

Carefree Aviator Snoopy in Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport

Anchorage airport. Before getting ready to catch the plane back to Kenai.

On the tarmac getting ready to board my teeny plane.

The Sea Venture - It's boat dropping day!

Getting the straps connected under the boat.

Lifting the boat to pull the blocks. Those are Molly and Charlie's butts crouched under the front of the boat.

It doesn't quite corner well.

Walking the boat to the dock

The dock pre Sea Venture. It was a beautiful morning.

The Sea Venture on its way to the end of the dock about to go in...right before my camera died.

8:20am Kenai, AK
I can only imagine the treasure trove of presents i am going to find later when i make my rounds. As i was putting up my signs i saw someone going into one of the bathrooms and i told him not to flush. He looked at me pleading and nervous doing a variation on the 'pee-pee dance' so i said, "you can use the toilet just don't flush it." Then he ran into the bathroom.
Aaaaanyway...so I thanked the Ukrainians for the meal and went back to my room to change. Molly and Charlie were already on their way so i threw on some clothes that didn't smell like cleaning products and walked over to 'the landing.' (the truck is here! Hooray!) We were sitting at the bar enjoying some Kodiak Brown when Bobbie called Charlie. She wanted him to casually leave the bar, bringing Molly and me with him and get into her car which would be waiting outside. Apparently you have to be very sneaky otherwise people think Dale and Bobbie are playing favorites (even though Charlie is their nephew.) So we each paid our tabs and left. I was the last one to pile into the car but as soon as I was in we were off. The sunroof was open and the music was up - we were just 5 people looking for some fun on a Saturday night. We went up the road a spell to this other bar called the Albatross. It's a real old smokey bar, very classic looking. They have pool tables and outside they have a grill and some horseshoe pits. Just a cool place to be. Molly and I had the Moosehead lager while the other three went for something a little stronger. A round of drinks for 5 cost $20. You can't beat that with a stick. So there we are just sitting around telling stories and laughing taking turns buying our cheap rounds.
One of the other choice amenities at the Albatross is the used DVDs for sale. Now i don't usually buy used DVDs but i do have a movie buying problem and i needed a fix. (Chris said this is the perfect bar for me - beer and movies for sale. What's not to love?) So i did it - 3 for $20 - August Rush, No Reservations and Nancy Drew...make fun of me all you want because i know you are - i don't care. My night just kept getting better and better.
After 4 or so rounds we decided to leave. We were on our way home when Dale took us on a scenic detour. He wanted to show us the road to the beach. It really isn't far from the plant and people can go there and make fires. It was beautiful - very peaceful at dusk. There was a group already there with a fire going, all bundled up in their blankets - not a bad idea. We hopped back in the car and decided to go cruising for moose. So we got back on the road, drove passed the Albatross and kept going with our eyes peeled. Molly saw one but we were already gone before we could stop. After a while with no moose Bobbie thought we should take the next right we found so that we could sit and look out over the bay. We came to this opening that looked like a good spot - so we parked the car and got out. There was a guy sitting there having a beer next to his fire so we went over and started talking to him. He worked at a cannery up the road and was doing some off-site drinking. The fire was nice and warm and smelled so good. We stood around it for a bit chatting and then the beer kicked in. Molly and I tried to discretely walk towards the tree line but everyone knew. "Watch out for bear." yea...right...I was more worried about crouching over poison ivy. Molly is more of a city girl so everyone was laughing at her trying to pee in the woods. She had to find some thick trees to hide behind for privacy while me, I just found a nice tree to lean on. At some point they must have looked over because we heard them laughing - Molly in her bright white ski coat and me with my bright white butt - we must have been quite a sight...like beacons in the night. We got back over to the fire and before too long Dale had to go too. He was gone for a while and had disappeared from sight. I was trying to keep an eye on him because they had warned us about the ground giving way and dropping us down to the beach below if we got too close to the edge. A few minutes later here comes Dale with his arms full of brush. This is when i learned that when you go pee it is customary to bring back wood for the fire especially when you are crashing someones fire like we were. Good to know. We hung out for a little bit longer and then said our goodbyes. It's pretty cool that you can just walk up to a stranger and share his fire and neither party be worried.
As we were driving home we saw a moose! They like to forage at night. It was close to the road so we slowed down and watched him eat. It never gets old. I love them so much. He was just eating some leaves enjoying his dinner - it's neat to watch them chew. I think he started to feel awkward because after all, it is rude to watch someone eat, so he turned and walked away. It was 1am or a little later at this point so we decided to go home too. It was just a good night. Nothing too crazy but fun all the same. I can't wait until the moose start getting their antlers.

7:29am Kenai, AK
I am the sole worker at the plant today. And that is fine by me because that might equal quiet time for me.
As i was walking to the snack shack - "my office" - this morning i looked up and saw it...the green light flashing. That means the shit is going down...or rather it's not and that's the problem. The light is the indicator that we need to get the men to come and give us a pump. Dale usually likes to pump the tank before it's full but they couldn't come the other day. I am having a personal dilemma...wake Dale and Bobbie or not wake Dale and Bobbie. I know for a fact they were out drinking last night and were up late.
I finished work at 7:15pm last night. Molly and Charlie were planning on going to Kenai Landing - the closer bar that we walk to. So i figured i would meet them after work. I stopped by Dale and Bobbie's trailer to pick up the asparagus that Bobbie left for me and then walked it over to the outside fridge...because i'm guessing that's what you do with asparagus. When i got there the Ukrainian kids were in the outside kitchen enjoying the borscht they had just made, with Dale and Bobbie. They invited me to sit and have some. Not wanting to be rude and having never tried borscht i had a seat. Apparently it is usually served with sour cream or mayonnaise neither of which i am too fond of or can knowingly add to my food so i went it alone. They even had Ukrainian bread that they brought with them - it's pretty dense. note to self - if in Ukraine avoid food fights where flying bread is involved. Anyway, it wasn't bad, a little too peppery for me and i came at the tail end of the feast so most of the potatoes and meat were gone but it was still nice to be part of the experience and to get to try borscht made by people who know borscht.
I gotta go. Michelle saw the light too. She woke up Dale and Bobbie and now i have to run around a put signs on all of the toilets and sinks. The pump truck can and does come on sunday's and it is a wake up-able problem. Answer found.

6:59pm Kenai, AK
I forgot to tell you...last night i partook of an Inlet fish tradition. The girls and I went to the bar last night and we were laughing and having a good 'ol time when Justin, our bartender of choice, brought over a round of Duck Farts. Its a shot. Bailey's, Kahlua, Crown Royal. Its supposed to be layered. So next time you go to the bar ask for a Duck fart and see what they say.

7:36am Kenai, AK
I just got to watch my first boat go in the water! It's a very exciting morning here at Inlet Salmon (or if you're illiterate and from Michigan - Slamon.) They drove the boat lift over to the boat, got the straps up on underneath it, lifted the boat, pulled the wood blocks it was resting on, lifted it some more, drove the pretty lady on over to the water, and then when it got to the end of the dock they gently lowered it in. I was there dutifully taking pictures - it being my first time watching a real boat go in the water. I was all excited. I was standing there poised and ready for the boat to hit the water...when my camera died! Ain't that just the way it goes. I guess now I know how guys feel...
okay time to make the donuts. pictures later...after i charge my battery

11:58am Kenai, AK
So I'm up to 3 helpers today which is great because even more people are here as of last night. Simultaneous cleaning is going on all over camp! Now my time is spent running around making sure they know what to do and how to do it. They aren't quite eager enough to come and find me after they complete each task so i also spend a lot of time running around trying to find where they are hiding and smoking and...eating the pringles they keep in their purse...
Jane Fonda has nothing on me. Well except those crazy spandex outfits and that ain't gonna happen. Alright it's the lunch rush. I have less time to write now that i am busy all of the time. Hopefully i'll be back later.
Holy crap...the new girl i aquired just came by to say she had finished cleaning all of the rooms i had her working on...all before lunch! she is amazing. okay now im really going.

I'm back

7:24am Kenai, AK
It's really beautiful here this morning. The sun is shining on the mountains differently. They are so bright you can really see the colors and there isn't a lot of fog around them, they really pop today. I was thinking that it's probably my grandparents happy to be together again - so why not go to a place they love. Lucky me I just so happen to be here to see it.
Just like Bobbie said, I hit the ground running. I landed just before 5pm, was picked up brought back to the plant, dropped my stuff off, checked in at the office and clocked in at 5:25pm. There was lots of laundry to do and i had to survey the damage. Not too bad. The silty water really starts to stain the toilets if they don't get scrubbed every few days. But luckily help arrived last night. Two girls they weren't expecting - the company they (and 23 of their friends) were supposed to work for just didn't show up. I think they went under or just couldn't give them all work. So we took 3 of them in. I'm going to put them to work cleaning the rooms for the rest of the crew who will be showing up soon. Lots to do today...lots to keep my mind busy. I started writing on the plane because i hadn't written in a few days...i amassed 3pgs. I'm going to try and scale it down a bit but you'll have something to read later - and by later i mean you will probably get it tomorrow.
More people are showing up so it's going to be a busy day. But i figured i would say good morning while i had some time.