Up In The Clouds

Sometimes you just have to laugh out loud.  With a new tractor driver to train, I spent way too much time yesterday driving to get any pictures.  I feel bad about that, but I have a couple of stories that might make you laugh.

We have a kid named Jake that's been working most every day.  A very nice quiet TALL kid.  One day I said to him ... HEY ... what's your name?  You are just so TALL I'd like to know you.  With a sly smile, he handed me his business card.

It says ... Jake Guerrero

Yes I am very tall
I am 6'7"
Yes I play basketball but I don't play for any teams
The weather is the same up here as it is down there
No my family isn't tall.  I'm the only one.  Thanks for asking.

Best laugh of the day!!   To make it even better, he has picked more pumpkins out in the field than anyone else on the property.  Jake is a cool dude, probably all of 17 years old, with a great sense of humor.

My next story involved a girl that came up while I was making shaved ice.  She started to take one when I asked if she had paid for it.  No she said, they are free.  I'm sorry, but you have to pay for them.  Did your mom pay for one?  She looked at me for a second and lied.  YES!!!  I didn't believe her.

I asked the girls ... the answer was NO.  Where is your mom?  She's over there (pointing to the other side of the snack bar).  I don't think you paid for it.  Go ask your mom for $4.  She ran off to her mom standing about 50 feet away with four kids in tow.

Sneaky these kids are.  Now she's got me wondering just how many shaved ice kids picked up that they DIDN'T pay for.  Thinking back, there were three times I was short on an order and didn't know why.  I guess I figured it out!!!

Just for giggles, here's some numbers from the weekend snack bar.

720 hot dogs and of course buns to match
16 giant bags of nacho chips
9 gallons of jalapeños
28 cases of 36 bottles of water
18 large cases each of pepsi, Dr. Pepper, 7-Up and Diet Coke
24 boxes of chips, 50 per box

Total miles walked after day 17 ...  133.74

I'll be back at it in three hours with 300 kids coming in to play.

The NO'S Of Pumpkindom

We started out with basically no rules.  Then the people came.  Then we needed rules and they all involve the word NO.

NO you may not run alongside the zip line holding your child on the rope as it zips down the hill.

NO adults can not go on the zip line, you will drag your bottom all the way down the hill.

NO you may not go down the slide with your child between your legs.

NO you may not go down the slide backwards.

NO you do not get a free pumpkin with your entrance fee.

NO you do not get free food with your entrance fee.

NO you do not get a hot dog meal with your entrance fee.  See above.

NO you cannot have three cups to share between three children, the one shaved ice you purchased.

NO you cannot drive the tractor.

NO you cannot drag your baby carriage the size of your car on the hay ride with you.

NO you cannot pick a huge bouquet of flowers to take home.

NO you cannot pick the corn.  It's cattle feed, not human feed (as I throw away ten ears of corn they already picked).

NO you cannot put your child on the goat's back for a picture.

NO you cannot take your child out back for a picture sitting on a dinosaur.

NO you cannot have a free shaved ice.

NO you cannot have a free shaved ice.

NO you cannot have a free shaved ice.  I'm thinking of putting this on a T-shirt I can wear.

NO you cannot do backflips on the Barnyard Bounce.

NO you cannot do front flips on the Barnyard Bounce.  It's called BOUNCE, as in up and down.

NO you cannot have an entire cup of jalapenos to take home.

NO you cannot have two hot dogs to one bun.


On a side note, NO I do not have fingerprints any longer.  My hands are in food service gloves so long my fingers will no longer unlock my phone.  At night, I wake up and think I still have gloves on.

My feet are now two sizes bigger from walking so many miles every day.

The good news ... my black eye is gone, but I can't say as much for the bump and blackness on my forehead.  I'm thinking it's permanent!


Total miles walked after 126.38

Movie Night At The Patch

I'm a woman of few words this morning.  I'm going to try and get a few more minutes of shut-eye before heading back to the Pumpkin Patch.

It was movie night and I think we set several records, mostly due to the full moon.  Surprisingly, we were completely able to keep up with the snack line that started at 10:30 in the morning and never stopped until we turned them away at 7:30 last night.

We sold 275 hot dogs and something over 450 shaved ice.  I was making them so fast I lost count.  We used over 10 gallons of syrup and sold case after case of water and soda.  It was crazy, to say the least.

The worst part was running out of the six gallons of jalepenos and getting five more gallon CANS.  The can opener broke with the first turn of the knob.  Have you ever tried to open a gallon can without one?

Eleven hours later, I plopped on the couch and crashed with the puppies.  Oh wait ... the movie was Hotel Transylvania.  Everyone brings their chairs and watches it on the big screen.  Super fun for the kids.

This morning will be all about restocking and cleaning the hot dog machine the girls forgot to add water to.  Other than that, we had not one single incident.  It's a record.

Total miles walked to date:  120.63

I think I'm headed for a record too!!!

Grandmas ... You Gotta Love Them

I'm completely out of new pictures.  It was pretty hectic yesterday and I didn't have time for a single one.  To start the day, my snack bar girl overslept.  She's the absolute best, so I took her place until she arrived.  No biggie since I had 30 minutes before the buses began to arrive.

First up .... 182 wild eyed little cherubs (not really) ready to tear the place apart.  Every single one had a schedule to follow which included gem mining.  That takes a little time to dump your bag of pay dirt into a screen and run it through the water in the sluice box, only twelve kids at a time.  Once they had their gems, the girls had to clean the box of sand.

Later when cleaning up, the girls didn't know NOT to add more water to the box.  They used the garden hose to clean out the sand.  In no time, we had a disaster on our hands when the box overflowed the extra 20 gallons of water all over the ground.  Oops!!!!!

If I'm lucky, this next week I'll have another Grandma come to work ... an 85 year old lovely lady!  She will be my field trip third hand.  I can't wait to see her again.  

The next Grandma came in with her daughter and three kids.  The kids got wristbands to ride everything.  Grandma got a $5 food token.  Here's the thing.  If you don't have a wristband, you do NOT ride the rides with the kids or shoot the blasters.

One of the children was too small to shoot the huge cannons we have, so she wanted to do it for them.  She complained VERY loudly.  Not wanting bad publicity, I let her help.  I found out later, not only is it not allowed, but she was TOLD that when she first arrived.  Grandmas ... you gotta love them!!

In the end, she was caught doing the same thing on every ride.  Come on Grandma ... you're teaching the wrong things to those grandkids!!!

By noon we had a big party come in, Octoberfest for the Realtors.  Several problems ensued.  They nailed two big banners on the barn doors so we couldn't open them to allow access to the lights.  I used my trusty knife of 62 years to remove the signs.  I can't believe I still have that knife!! 

When the caterer arrived, she had a big Silverado with an even bigger trailer and was afraid to drive it  around the slight turn.  With our help, she got in, but couldn't get out.  Nope ... I'm NOT driving it out, even though I could have.  I'm not interested in the liability one little bit.  The owner had to drive it out for her.

It was the typical Friday night ... loads of Grandmas buying tons of pure sugar for their kids.  The most popular product we sell?  Flaming Cheetos!!  Wasn't there something about that red dye?

In no time the sun set and we closed up.  I only put in 11.5 hours.  Today will be MUCH more fun since more Grandmas are off work!!  Stay tuned ... it's getting busier by the day!!

Another Ten Miler

If you told me when I was training for those marathons that I could walk eight to ten miles every day, I would have said you're Crazy with a capital C.  It was all I could do to finish the 8 mile practice runs on Saturday.  Yet here I am walking many more miles and every day in a row.  It's totally weird that that's possible.

At any rate, it was an absolutely crazy day with 505 kids arriving almost at the same time, accompanied by maybe 30 teachers and at least 250 parents.  I'm not adding that all up because I don't want to know!!

I bagged and tagged every single parent.  Of course there was one who tried to sneak in, but my field trip girls caught him coming IN the OUT gate.

My new plan of setting up chalkboards with school names for the lunch areas, worked out perfectly.  Everyone found their space.  YAY!!!

The Time Travel Tractor Ride is of course the most popular, being it has dinosaurs and all.  With 500 kids and parents in line (I don't know why they all wanted to go on that first), I got the driver to stay on the tractor while we loaded and unloaded, asking him to drive just a tad bit faster.  We ran them all through before I headed off to the front where we gave out 505 pumpkins.  WHEW!!!

At long last, around 1:00 all the kids were gone and the place quieted down.  Weekday afternoons are a breeze.  All except for those two ladies who put their five kids in the wheelbarrow full of goat poop so they could take a picture with one lifting the handles.  

Oh ladies .... there's nothing less stable than a one wheeled wheelbarrow.  She almost dropped them all on the ground.  Now we have to hide the wheelbarrow in the cornfield.  Two more kids ran straight across the grounds into a cable that makes up the waiting area for the Zip Bee.  The owner and I tracked down some flags and attached them to the cable.  

Honestly, it's like this all day ... one thing after another.  It's why I visit the goats and admire the sailfish in the sky in the above picture.  It quiets the impulse to scream!!

We ran out of fruit snacks, potato chips and nacho chips, coffee, hot chocolate and candy bars, as well as discovered a hole in the pan that holds water for the hot dogs.  All in a hard day's work!!

At the end of the night, I closed down all the attractions, herding people to the exit gates, a job usually completed by the Mrs. of the Pumpkin Patch.  This day her son had a swimming meet.  Another day, another ten miler.

Total miles walked as of day 13?? ..... 107.10     My feet are talking to me.

Zipping Right Along .....

I must finally be getting really tired.  I slept like a log without waking up, something that hasn't happened for months on end.  I didn't even walk funny when I got up this morning.  That's a FIRST!!

Only 350 kids showed up yesterday with almost as many parents.  Adults pay $10 instead of the usual $15 and get to ride all the attractions with their kids.  I find that parents are usually WORSE than the kids when it comes to doing what we ask of them.

THIS is the latest attraction, the Zip-Bee.  It's for kids, as in anyone we think can sit on a big round disk and hang on tight when it hits the stop at the other end.  It's zip-lining for little ones.  Moms and Dads weigh too much to ride these cables, but that doesn't keep them from trying!!

The long cables are strung up a 15 foot hill.  Kids grab the string at the bottom of the disk and pull it up the ramp.  Once we load them up, they take off and ride it to the bottom.  You can see one little girl getting off.  The kids love it, as in they will go around and around through the line 25 times or more.

Parents are also too tall.  All we need is to have a broken leg, right??  I now have a lot more respect for the kid at the top who has to pull down on the rope hard enough so the kids can get on.  In two minutes, my knuckles were screaming and half the skin on my hands was gone!!  All worth it seeing the kids have SO much fun.

It was a very long day, but thankfully we had two tractor drivers so I didn't have to do that too.  I made a quick stop in the barn to rest my feet and was greeted by my kids!!  I just love these guys.  Like a puppy, they are always SO happy to see you!

Today is going to be a long one.  There are 505 kids arriving between 8:30 and 9:30 this morning.  Since I had a disaster yesterday at lunch time with the schools not going where they were supposed to for lunch (we even walked the teachers by the areas so they would know), I spent 30 minutes making up signs marking each lunch location.  I'm hoping that makes it all better today.

Let's be realistic ... many of the teachers are as bad as the kids at not listening.  They also seem to be very demanding, which I totally understand.  After all, they are working with all those kids!!! 

Total miles walked day (whatever it is, I've lost count) .... 97.02

Before Salad

Another crazy day at the Pumpkin Patch has passed.  I racked up 10.1 miles yesterday and my legs were talking to me, not to mention my feet.  In spite of the soft cushy crushed almond hulls that cover the property and my marathon tennis shoes, I can still feel every step.  It's worth it if only to see these amazing flowers.

I mean really, where in the world do you see things like this?  I think most are all variations of zinnias, but don't hold me to it.  This one happens to be an errant one growing in the corn field.

We ushered in over 300 rather good mannered little kids, along with one group of the home schooled variety.  I have to tell you, those home schooled kids are more rowdy than ever.  I just don't pay any attention, choosing to hang out with the flowers instead.

Unfortunately that means hanging out with the critters too.  I'm pretty sure this is a stink bug.  They have decided to invade our little kitchen in spite of the screened in space.  I've also encountered three huge praying mantis.  Those we catch and release.  Maybe they are there to eat these guys!

Just look at the variation in colors on this flower.  I can get easily distracted.  Anyway, I tracked down the only man on the property who knew how to fix the Billyken Blasters (huge cannon like guns you shoot tennis balls out of) so he could bring me up to date.  His day off today was going to leave us stranded.  I'm happy to say I can now repair the blasters!!  

I've been living on cookies, cheese and nuts for the last week, so I made a quick trip down to pick up some protein.  I love their new logo.  

Yup ... I got a barrel of that oh-so-delicious fattening chicken for my eating pleasure.  In spite of all the junk food, I'm now down 15 pounds.  For sure, it's all the walking!!

The days go pretty fast as the sun set and we closed up for the night.  No one got lost, but two jackets and a toy truck ended up in the lost and found, along with one cell phone.  I'm sure they are in panic mode about now.

Four hundred kids are coming in today and I will wristband around 75 teachers and chaperones.  Lucky for me both tractor drivers will be there today so I can hide out in the barn and rest my feet.

Total miles walked so far:  88.82

If I didn't have a GPS watch, I wouldn't believe it!!!

Cat Is Away ... Mice Can Play???

Another day in the life of a Pumpkin Patch.  This week's problems come from the fact the boss is gone, not one or two days, but all week.  YIKES!!!  This is NOT going to be fun.  He's the guy that makes it all work ... fixes everything ... makes all the decisions.

Now it falls to his wife and I.  Trust me, there will be no playing of the mice.  We are ordering supplies, getting teenagers to work according to the rules, and keeping the customers happy.  In other words, I'm back to herding squirrels.

Luckily we only had 60 kids yesterday to help us warm up to the problems that may occur today with 300 squirrels arriving.  My GPS watch said I walked a tad over seven miles yesterday.  Twice I had to run to catch kids heading off down the tractor roads.  The sign says ENTER HERE, but apparently they cannot read.

These are the wagons supplied for free to haul your pumpkins, meaning your kids, AND your pumpkins you want to buy around the property.  Strollers don't work so good in the crushed almond hulls.

I came upon two lost parents and one very sad lost little boy.  No problem ... we found his parents, their kids and two cell phones, not to mention three jackets, one ring and a binky.  

I worked the Barnyard Bounce, the Super Slide and drove both tractor rides while keeping the snack bar stocked.  Every night, I come home and literally fall into bed.  

Here's a not so good picture of the beautiful 100 year old barn.  It was already getting dark when I remembered to snap a couple of pics.  

So I'm off at 7:45 this morning for another day of fixing the nacho machine that ate the bag-o-cheese, pouring the hot wet stuff into the gears.  With one tractor driver off, I'll be keeping that going too.  Oh .... and we have yet another tractor.  Every single one works differently.  If you don't have all eight gizzies set up perfectly, it doesn't go.  What ever happened to just a plain clutch and brake??  OH THE FUN!!!!

This Day Was Awesome ... Or Maybe Horrible!!

It all depends on your outlook at the time.  Happily, I'm all still intact with no more black eyes, goose eggs on my forehead or cut fingers.  My feet think I sold all my furniture however.

It started off nice enough with a wonderful craft fair taking over the Pumpkin Patch.  I could smell the Sensy candles (or whatever they are called) most of the day.  I arrived early to switch out one leaky ice chest ... those huge ones that can only be filled up with 144 bottles of water.

My only goal for the day was to be sure I had enough of everything!!  That worked out well with one exception.

Once the water was ready to go, my girls began to show up.  That was a good thing, because by 10:30 we were swamped with people at the snack bar.  I know you've seen all these pictures, but there was no time yesterday for anything other than making shaved ice.

The machine is right behind those chips on the counter.  I stood there for eight hours straight, making shaved ice with absolutely no breaks other than to help another customer.  For six of those eight hours our line was about 25 yards long.  Where did all those people come from?

I had to call for help twice to keep up.  With eight girls and boys working, we still barely made a dent in the line.  We sold out of hot dogs completely around 3:00.  Those girls put together over 300 dogs and close to 500 nacho trays of that horrible cheese and chips.  Not my favorite thing to eat.  

I worked like a mad woman making over 500 shaved ice cups.  Never in the history of this place have we been so busy.  Well, maybe once.  Word is getting around I suppose.  It's the biggest, best and most kid friendly patch in the country.  They called in ten more working teenagers to keep up.  It was literally a madhouse.  Now I know what Disneyland feels like!!

Thank goodness they didn't schedule many schools for today.  We have 30 big picnic tables to return to the barn and only 50 kids and adults coming in at 10:30, meaning I get a short reprieve this morning.  I may even have time for a nap before I go in.

It should be a very slow day.  At least I can hope.  I might even have time for more pictures.

Total miles walked day nine:  70.81

That's almost THREE marathons!!  Most all of yesterday's 6.99 miles was in a 20 foot square area!!  My tennie sneaks are getting a workout!!

The Things You See At The Patch!!!

Good news!!!  My bathrooms are back in working order!!  No more running to the farthest one in the house!!  My super duper repair kits came in the mail.  I'm sure they won't last long since they are again made of plastic, but at least they work.

It took less than two minutes to install each one.  It took five minutes to figure out HOW!!!

It was complete chaos at the Pumpkin Patch yesterday.  It started out nice enough and is usually not crowded on this weekend.  Word has gotten out I guess.  We opened at 10:00 and by 11:00 the snack bar was swamped.  We had people backed up almost 50 feet waiting for goodies.  NEVER have we been this busy this early in the season.  

By noon I was frantically running back and forth for supplies.  We went through 250 hot dogs, 200 nacho plates and I made over 250 shaved ice.  Right in the middle of all that, everything came to a screeching halt as we ushered a bride and her party of 20 around the entire park for photo ops at all of our stations.

In the meantime, the University of Merced set up their barbecue out by the Time Travel Tractor, scorching just a tad bit of corn.   They took up the entire place with a party.  In no time, music was blasting and wine was flowing.  No, I didn't get any.  A last minute birthday party took up all the rest of the available picnic tables.  

It got worse.  With only four of us girls in the snack bar, I had to call for help.  That's when the nacho cheese machine bit into the bag-o-cheese and dripped into the mechanism completely unnoticed until it ran out.  What a mess THAT was!!  I left it to the boss.  

I probably should have stayed around to fix it, but honestly, I was up to my eleven hour mark and my feet were killing me in spite of my very best marathon-running tennis shoes.  I spent another 30 minutes scheduling more people for today before heading home.  Three bites of a quick salad and I was in bed.

More good news ... I've been able to see several friends that I haven't seen in almost ten years.  Not that I had time to talk, but at least we made contact.  You never know who or what you will see at the Pumpkin Patch!!  

We expect today to be even busier!!  

Total miles walked day eight:  63.82

Herding Squirrels!!!

Only 350 kids showed up yesterday, 300 of them at 9:00.  School buses never seem to be on a schedule when it comes to field trips.  Once inside, it's like herding cats!!  They only have to be on time for two things, the Ag Center Barnyard Squares and their allotted lunch time of roughly 10:30-11:00.

It's a complete madhouse when the lunches show up.  We try to corral them into the barn or the back corral, but even with big signs, they never seem to find the right spot.  Between loading the Time Travel Tractor and running all those kids through the barn, I end up a little frayed around the edges.  Luckily the teachers are wonderful ..... mostly!!

Here's another flower they grow at the Patch.  Gorgeous white blossoms wave in the breeze on very long stems.  I must say it's very calming!!!

By 11:00 I was up front at the exit tent passing out pumpkins.  Every child who enters, leaves with a pumpkin.  Try getting 350 kids to line up.  It's more like herding squirrels than cats!!  At long last all the kids were gone and we could breathe a sigh of relief.  Not really ... I had two drink containers and four jackets heading to the Lost and Found box, along with stocking the snack bar for the evening.

I fed the goaty goats ... my favorite kids of all ... and hid in the barn for a few minutes resting my feet.  Another 8.11 miles.  It's a good thing I was a runner in my prior life.  

This is one of the picture locations on the property.  That windmill is about 120 years old, saved from destruction and completely rebuilt for the farm.  As the wind blows harder, it closes up like a flower bud, fanning out when it slows down.  It's an amazing invention that is still going strong.

It should be an easier day today, even though it's Saturday.  All I have to contend with is keeping the snack bar stocked and the tractor drivers happy with a lunch break.  Easy peasy!!  I plan to stay sat on my butt as many hours as possible!!  These 11 hour days are taking their toll!!!

Total miles day seven:  52.20

The Birds And The Bees

Only 300 kids showed up yesterday.  An easy day for me.  Today's 400 should keep me hopping from 8:30 till noon.  Aren't these pumpkins gorgeous?  I just LOVE the white ones, all around 8-10 inches across.  They are called (what else) Ghost Pumpkins!!

These field trips for the kids aren't ALL fun and games.  The main reason is to teach them about farmers and how much food is grown in California.  Before entering the puppet Tic Tac Toe theatre, they learn about the parts and pieces of pumpkins.

They also get a quick lesson is bee technology, with an emphasis on how important they are in pollinating all the flora and fauna so we end up with food production.  The main line is of course "don't swat the bees".  Leave them alone and they will leave YOU alone.

Here's a little more on the life cycle of a pumpkin.  It's weird that we are in an agricultural part of the world and kids do not know that tomatoes turn into pizza sauce or that corn grown in the field is turned into their taco shells and tortilla chips.  The biggest laugh comes from cotton being grown for their underwear!!

Parked all around the property are old tractors for the perfect photo op, as well as equipment used currently in harvesting not only almonds, but most every other product grown on this land.

So there you have it.  A Field Trip in a minute.  I'm off early this morning with another 300 showing up between 8:30 and 9:00.  I'll be wearing my dark glasses all day, trying to cover up that shiner I got when one little girl didn't want to go up the big slide, even though her Mom insisted.  

If I had smaller feet, I would now have the cutest pair of black boots ever ... left on the hay ride.  

Total miles walked day six ..... 44.09