Winter Wonderland

Need I say More.........

Had a great time down in the Valley. After a big turkey dinner at Philips we went bowling. Matthew did great for a 5 year old! By the end of the round Brandon and Sam were finally getting the hang of it too.

8 More Days

I stayed busy all day today. The man from Wheeler Jewelry came and took his jewelry away. He showed up at 9AM and was gone by 1PM. While he was doing his thing I was checking all the food/candy for expiration dates. Found a lot that needed to be marked down 50% so hopefully we can get rid of them by Dec. 1. They are not expired yet but will be by May 2009 when we reopen. All that does not sell will get split up between all of us that are staying the winter :) (Gary really likes Reese's Fast Break candy bar so those got put aside just for him!)

Still no snow but it is getting colder tonight. Feels like it just might snow.

Kristal was here from Tue. night until Fri. morning. Just her-no kids or husband-it was so nice to have a conversation with no interruptions :) We took the tour of the Glen Canyon Damn and learnt a few things. Went to Walmart in Page and got more groceries. And had supper out at Cliff Dwellers Resturant.

I also got some things together from the Visitor's Center to take to Brandon's class on Wednesday. This month is Arizona history month in his class so while we're down for T'Day I'm going to speak to his class about The Grand Canyon and The Petrified Forest. I'm going to give all the kids a piece of petrified wood too. That will be so cool!!!

Can't wait to go to Philip & Louise's for Thanksgiving. When Kristal was 1 1/2 yrs. old we had Thanksgiving with them and it was a great spread! It will be great to see their kids and grandkids too. Maybe not all but some of them.

2 WEEKS LEFT

We have 2 more weeks and then I can close the gift shop for the winter. Not knowing how things will be next year-scanners?-I think the best thing to do is bag and label everything I can. And just in case I'm in the Retail Warehouse, my inventory will be that much easier. Of course it doesn't help that I have found numerous mistakes in the inventroy that was just done in Oct. while I have been restocking the gift shop. Anyway, I should have a much better idea of things after Monday when Jack comes from the Corporate office. He's bringing more chips, sodas and candy bars.

Finally got all the meat cut up, bagged and sealed for the freezers. (We had ribeyes the other night after Gary cut up that huge piece of prime rib we got from Costco. Yummy!) Now that everything is froze I think I will unload all the freezers and take an inventory so I will know just what I have and can plan better menus for the winter. Then when I repack the freezers I can stagger the different kinds of meats and things. Maybe I can make more room too for everything. Then I can also get whatever else I may need when we go to Pheonix for Thanksgiving.

Yesterday was a georgious day here. Sunny, slight breeze and WARM. But when I got home from work, the wind started blowing and cooled us down in a hurry.

WHYYYYYYYYYY

Why do I have to keep the gift shop open?



I had 30 people today and the first didn't even come until 11:30AM! And I had a record sales of -ready------$65.72. My feet were cold all day and of course it seemed like everyone was a comedian today....Oh do you want the door open? (because the door stopper keeps falling down and holding the door open every time someone comes in--Gary, can't you fix this?)



I did fix the problem about the restrooms. :) I was soooo tired of telling soooo many people where the restrooms are and that they are Porter Potties!~ So I made a sign and taped it to the window in the door of the gift shop. In big RED letters is Porter Potties so noone can mistake what I'm saying. So far in 2 days I have had to tell only 2 customers where the restrooms are, so much better than every other customer :).



Today was, is, our grandson Jason's 6th birthday. It was so nice to hear his voice and have a nice chat with him. He's so grown up! Of course this picture is from last year so I bet he looks a lot different now. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!

Jason & Emily 2007

All moved in!

Well, we finally got all moved into the 6th plex here at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. However we did not get the RV down off the Rim until today. And last night we got our first snow storm, just a dusting in most places but a lot of ice on the road too.

Our booster antenna for the internet works great over here. And the cell phones work too so now I can keep the computer and both phones on every day and keep in touch with every one.

The gift shop is still open and it's really cold in there. We have 4 little 5" heater to heat the whole shop. Our counts have dropped off alot also. Last week we were having 100+ visitors per day and this week if we reach 50 we are lucky. Most of them are hunters. The drinks and snacks (left overs from the general store) are a big hit. Once every one finds out that is all there is to eat or drink until they get back to Jacob Lake, it doesn't take long for them to start buying.

Tomorrow we go to St. George, UT for the last of our winter shopping. Costco here we come! Finding room to put it all in a 1 bedroom is not easy. But then again I didn't know just how much "stuff" I had in the RV until I started to unload it and bring it in here. Definately going through things this winter and getting rid of a lot.

Time to finish my shopping list for tomorrow so "Good Night All"

Edie & Gary

I'm so bored at work. I had 46 customers or rather people that popped in. It is COLD up here today! The key chain thermometers inside the store say it is 50-60* but I don't think so. It's only 37 outside with the wind blowing. All I have for heat is 4 little 5 in. square heaters and the one at the register keeps shutting off the power cord. I think I have solved that problem by plugging it in directly to a big outlet. Now if I can keep from tripping over it! The wind is trying hard to push the door open which does not help keep me warm.

Gary's the only maintenance guy around today. Mike went to Cedar City to get the snowmobiles. Only 4 though and there are 6 of us here to use them. We are suppose to be getting 8 so that we can have 2 in case of break downs and we are suppose to have at least one down at Jacob Lake in case we are out and it snows so much we can't get back in by truck. Brian is off for the day.

Yesterday I made up menus for the winter. I figure if I can come up with 30 different meals then I can just figure 6 times each meal to know what I need to be getting. We bought a small chest type freezer last week and 25 lbs each of bread flour, regular flour, pinto beans, rice and 20 lbs of sugar along with canned things and a bread machine. I already had $150 worth of canned veggies from the bulk sale at Honey's Jubilee in Kanab. I must have 40 cans of tuna fish too since I had a case and then about 10 in the camper and Nancy gave me 24 when she left the mountain.

OH that's better...I just took a thermal shirt of the rack and went in back and put it on under my long sleeve white shirt & winter sweater vest. Now I'm a bit warmer :D And it was a marked down shirt too so it did not cost me much.

Today I am looking online to find out how to freeze things and do more figuring for my shopping trip on Thursday. I love celery and use it alot and have been beating my brains trying to figure how to freeze it so it won't be mushy. I think I have found the site that will help me alot. Kristal told me about it. "Pickyourown.org" and it tells about freezing too.

Well it's time for me to have some lunch. I got this electric tea pot (from Nancy) that boils water in minutes and is great for here to make raman noodles and those other "just add water" soups. My day is 3/7th over and I have had 12 people pop in!

Here some of the pictures of the 6th plex.

The living room (just moving in) the pantry with our freezer

and the kitchen. I did not realize just how much stuff the RV had in it until I started bringing things over to the 6th plex.

Definately this winter I have to get rid of alot of "things". (That is James in the pictures.)

November!

Well I've moved one more time! I just got all our stuff into the 6th plex for the winter and now just need to clean the RV, then Wed., our day off, take it down to Ferdonia for winter storage. Tonight Gary is suppose to hook up the antenna so I can get internet and if he does then I will post pictures of the sixth plex. But for now I'm at work in the gift shop. Here are some comparison pictures of how the shop has changed for the winter season. (If you want to call 6 weeks a season.)

Before After

Before the candy on the table we had shirts on the table. The things we sell the most of now are snacks and beverages. This morning has been the exception with people not really interested in the snacks. It is now 1PM and 23 people have been in the see what we have. No wait, 25 people, 2 just came in! Now I have 3 more hours before I can go home for the day. BORING.

Yesterday I sat here and made up menus for the coming months so when I go to town I can stock up more on what I figure I'll need. We have been given alot of left over food from the Lodge too. I should not have to buy any butter!

Well I'm so bored I guess I'll go find something to dust!