And We're Off To The Races

Every day the Pumpkin Patch is open, there are hours of setup work.  We usually have 400-600 school kids each day which I welcome, tag with bracelets and let them loose.  This year since schools are not in session so there are no buses to bring them out.  That's probably a good thing.

There are however, many home school, preschool and special ed groups that ARE coming out.  I corralled 120 kids and 50 adults yesterday, trying to keep them separate from the pumpkin buyers.  What a task THAT was!  Sometimes I wonder why we even have ears to hear, because no one listens.  I'll be honest, home school kids are the most unruly on the planet.

This is our little snack bar with a side of hot dogs, nachos and snow cones.

 I began the day at 8:00, cleaning and stocking, pulling out slivers I got under my fingernail (ouch) and finding bandaids for those falls from running when told not to run!  Throw in a drive or two on the tractor just for good measure.  

It's funny how hard it is to get people to leave at their appointed time.  We close for one hour to restock and set up for the Friday night crowd.  Parents just didn't want to leave.  I can't say as I blame them, it's a beautiful place, outdoors with fresh air ... who would want to go?

At 2:00 I pushed the pumpkin buyers out so we could set up for movie night.  No cutting and hacking here, they are all Disney Halloween movies, family friendly. Everyone brings in their chairs at 6:00 and sets up in front of the big white screen.  It's like a drive-in without the cars.

 That means the snack bar was slammed.  Even with five girls and myself working, we could barely keep up.  I steamed my hand nicely, along with 200 hotdogs and almost 200 servings of nachos.  I won't say they are giving the food away, but it is VERY cheap.  This family refuses to overcharge. 

 By 4:00 my feet were talking to me using very bad language. We finally got the place cleaned up and were out by 8:00.  Yup ... I'm dying on the vine.  

I'll be back at it today at 8:30, setting up for the next big crowd.  My plan is to spend a lot of time sitting while I give directions.

Mileage to date:  70.47  Yesterday it was a solid 8 miles.  Feet don't fail me now!!

Short and Sweet

I'm late .... I'm late.  Due to a supply shortage, which I enumerated several times, I was at the Patch by noon, trying to smooth over ruffled feathers.  At least I finally got SOMETHING done.  I picked up some of those last-forever light bulbs for the outside garage lights.  It's pretty dark back in this corner, the perfect setting for skunks and burglars.

And spiders.  Why in the world they like these lights, I've no idea, but they were full of spider webs.  Once cleaned out and bulbs plugged in, they all came on to shine brightly after dark.   That makes me feel better at night when things go boom and I'm wandering around ready to shoot someone.  Of course, that's exactly what happened.

 After a hard day of tractor driving and snow cone training ... they can now all make beautiful cones with minimal drippage ... I hit the hay as soon as I got home.  Suddenly I was awake.  I SWEAR someone tapped on my window.  I heard it clear as day.  Even the puppies barked and growled.

There's no sound in the world that will wake me up faster, and there's no "thing" in the world that taps on your glass except a human.  There have been reports of a guy with a backpack wandering around, even went in some gal's back yard.  

I jumped up as quietly as a mouse and snuck around the entire house peeking out the window cracks.  Nothing.  Boy I hate that, because then it takes two hours to get back to sleep.  

Just for fun, and speaking of train rides, this is a rare picture of the train going to Silverton from Durango.  The train today follows the same path, so if you are ever in the area, definitely check out this one.  It's sweet!!  Look at the telegraph poles!

So .... lucky me ..... we have a huge group of kids coming in this morning at 9:00.  It should be interesting trying to keep them separated from the pumpkin-buying people who are not allowed to ride the attractions, get the kids OUT at noon, pumpkin buyers out at 2:00 and open for the public at 3:00.  

Add to all that it's movie night and I'm pretty sure our newly ordered supplies won't be coming in until tomorrow.  OH THE FUN!! 

 

 

 

Beads and Bugs

I made one last stop in Alamosa Colorado.  This very nondescript building is actually a museum.  I have to say however, that I've become quite the couch potato over the last few months with nothing being open and no place to go.  I probably would have never gone were it not for the Painters who drug me from my lair.

The outside of the building has representations of the entire town and it's history.  Most of these images are hand painted.  You can sure see where they've been at a glance.

 This of course was my favorite .... the green American alligator.  All of these pictures are so life-like.

 Inside is a curator with a passion.  Since this is one of the stops on their school system, they try to have a variety of items, many of which are not of this part of the country.  This amazing bead work headpiece was worn by their horses.  The moccasins of course, by the Indians themselves.  I've tried to do this bead work and I'm here to tell you this is some of the most fabulous I've seen.

These guys are part of the variety.  Oh man ... I never want to run into one of these babies.  That left one is about 15 inches long.  They are HUGE!!!
 

 More fabulous bead work.  Walking around this tiny museum, you can just feel the history.

 This is an original schoolhouse, completely rebuilt inside the museum. 

 They even have a mannequin made of porcelain.  That's a rarity for sure because she's only 4'6" tall.  I almost had a picture of her when I spotted THIS!  A sidesaddle in the best repair I've ever seen.  Notice the buffalo hair decoration on the left side.  If you are wondering, yes they are comfortable to ride but you had better be a GOOD rider.

 There was so much more, but I don't want to show everything.  If you are ever in the area, it is definitely worth the investigation, not to mention the Aspen trees!!

After two exquisite days off (which I really needed, since my couch potato self is not in shape AT ALL) I was back at work yesterday.  For four solid hours I made and hand poured 250 snow cones.  That's more than one per minute.  The hot weather has people coming out in droves and every one wants something icy cold.

I crashed last night the second I hit the couch.  Luckily today I'm scheduled on the tractor.  They have had to hire two more girls to take my place, mostly because they are all too young to know the words "think ahead" and "refill stock".   Since I don't go in until 1:30, my plan is to sneak in another nap before I go.

Total Mileage:   57.65

The Cumbres Toltec ... Part Two

 As the train curved around like a snake through the foothills, we had no idea THIS was coming up.  It's a climb the entire way while we tried to figure out just how in the world they could make this route with no GPS or altitude/elevation instruments to help them.

It is interesting to note that the train tracks were entirely built on the "lee" side of the mountains.  That is the side that got the least amount of sun making for less trees and such to get in their way.  Down in the very bottom was this beautiful tiny valley with a huge house.

There was no road in sight, so I've no idea just how they get there.  I rather imagine in the winter it's a "bear"!!  Yes, we really are hanging off a cliff here.  On one occasion there was a huge landslide which happened at the exact right time to push a train off the mountain.  We held our breath as we went by that spot.

Believe it or not, the train goes along that cliff over there.  It's an exciting ride, to say the least.

This was one of the slower sections to keep the vibrations from dislodging the cliff on our heads.

 

 

 Lucky for us, the Colorado aspens were just beginning to change to gorgeous yellow.  I've never been around for the color change, although I lived in Denver for a couple of years.  It was magnificent, to say the least.

The higher up we got, the more color there was.  At this point it began to rain pretty hard and everyone disappeared.  Nope ... not me.  I'm not missing a single second.  I'm stuffed up underneath the roof of the car behind me.

I may have to have this one framed.  We are coming to the top of the mountain pass and the scenery was worth every nervous second of driving it took me to get to Colorado. 

 

 

We stopped for lunch and our turnaround just a little bit further on.  That's when the rain turned into hail and snow.  After a huge lunch, we headed back to the train.  Our car was the farthest from the overhang.  I played it safe ... I jumped on the very first car I came to in spite of it being a "special folks only" car.  I then walked through all eight passenger and two open cars to get to the front of the train.  I was dry as a bone!

 

 

On the way back, I snapped a few more pictures just because I couldn't believe how bright the yellow was.

 

 

I think I oohed and aahhhed the entire way.

 

 

I have to admit by now I was getting pretty tired.  Our trip had turned into an 8 hour train ride, not counting the extra 30 minutes to get to and from.

 

 

Here's one last look at that spectacular valley with those storm clouds depositing snow on the pass.  It's just so hard to imagine building a railroad up here with no equipment other than picks and shovels.

The rest of our group packed up and headed to Chama where they rode the other side of the mountain pass while I headed back to California.  

It's been a wonderful two days while I lounged on the couch healing up from a long hard weekend working the patch.  I've decided to hijack one or two kids and make them do ALL the work from now on.  I'm in SUPERVISOR mode.

We Interrupt The Patch To Ride A Steam Train

I admit, I was tired yesterday.  I spent almost the entire day on the couch, except for that part where I tried to vacuum a little because there were puffs of dirt coming up from whence I walked.  To make matters worse, my ankle decided to protest in spades.  It's much better today thank goodness.

So for a little break in the action, here is one of three main reasons I drove all the way to Colorado and back.  This is the Cumbres & Toltec steam train out of Antonito Colorado.

 I arrived early for some pictures and caught them loading up coal for the trip.

 Isn't she a beauty?  This 484 engine was originally built for this specific railroad and has been running it's rails for I think he said 96 years.  They sure knew how to build them in the old days!!

 On this train you had to wear a mask from your car to the train station where they actually took everyone's temperature.  Once INSIDE the train, you took your mask off.  If you went OUTSIDE to the open air car, you again had to wear your mask.  Somehow I think they got that backwards.  Anyway, we were OFF!!

 One last picture of the station .....

 Here's our motley crew.  Two seconds after the picture, all those masks disappeared.

 As we headed out and around the bend, it didn't look like this was going to be so interesting.  It's mostly flat with lots of scrub brush.

 We were in the very first car, so it was a walk to the outside open car.  There's only so many pictures you can take of the desert surround, so I tried one of my photo class assignments ... the blurry ground.

 After an hour or so, we started up some sloping hills and gullies.

 Entering New Mexico ... which we did about eight times.  As the train wound around the hills finding the 2% slope , we crossed from Colorado to New Mexico and back MANY times ... and each time there was a sign.

 Our trusty speeder followed us the entire way watching for fires.  This track winds around about 39 miles to go something like 26 miles to our stopping point.

It was a gorgeous day as we climbed higher and higher.  

 Several sections of rail required very slow going until we finally stopped for water.  I ran all the way up to the front of our car to get pictures.  All original equipment, there is a huge underground tank that draws water from a spring up the hill.  I think we took on something like 1,500 gallons.

From here on, we finally began the winding path through the mountains to the top of the pass.  There was some spectacular scenery and pictures don't do it justice.  The aspen trees were just changing colors, making for magnificent scenery.

When we arrived at the top, there was a huge building full of food to feed us.  They usually have a buffet, but now everything is completely covered in plastic.  Reach underneath and you are offered a gigantic turkey dinner, complete with mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, roll and of course turkey.  That could be followed up with soup, salad and dessert, ALL of which I didn't photograph because we were starving.

Even more excitement ensued when we went back outside to rain, hail and snow.  OH BOY!!  It was a long wet walk back to our car!

In case you were wondering, they have broken this ride up into two sections.  At the top, we turned around and headed back down the hill.  I'll post those pictures tomorrow.

If you are in Colorado (or anywhere nearby) this is a MUST ride, but I warn you, it took us over seven hours before we returned to the station.  

Although I do have to take the rig over to the Elks Park and dump the tanks, today will be another do-nothing and recoup day.  I must be getting old-er.

 

Aren't Computers Wonderful??

 I'm being sarcastic!  Actually they ARE wonderful ... it's just the NET part of internet doesn't seem to keep up with the times.  You know how when you send one picture and it doesn't go through so you send twenty more?  Then the next day they ALL show up?  Apparently it's hotmail that had the problem.

So here we are back at the Pumpkin Patch.  All these beautiful flowers sold yesterday.  We were so swamped Saturday and Sunday that I'm very grateful I actually have a day off today.  Woohoo!!

 Both days started out at 8:30 when I arrived to clean, clean and clean again.  This is a working almond ranch as well as a patch, so dirt and dust is guaranteed.  It takes over an hour to get set up ready to sell.

 It a good thing all the girls that have been hired this year are go-getters!   You don't often find young people who are not only fast workers, but actually LOOK for something to do.  It's been lovely!!! 

This is the hot dog and nacho tent.  They don't skimp here ... those are Costco hot dogs and buns ... delicious!!  Yesterday alone we sold 250.  $5.00 gets you a drink, chips and the dog.  Everything went according to plan until I discovered (oh how lucky I was) that the girl didn't quite get the cheese nozzle on right and it was spilling down into the gears.  Oh the fun!!

 Water and soda is sold from two huge ice chests, which of course have to be kept full of ice.  That is an every-fifteen-minute task.  We went through 18 cases of water ... those huge HEAVY Costco cases.  Unload, dump in ice chest and make sure they are covered with ice to get cold.  

 I run around like a crazy woman keeping everything in stock.  The bad news is the heat almost got me.  It ran almost 100 degrees ... 125 while standing in front of the ice machine where all the heat blows directly on you while you scoop.  I've never sweated so much in my life!!!

 Occasional I get a break ... not a sit down and rest break ... but a tractor break.  Around the back of the corn maze stand about ten scarecrow.  I tell the kids to wave and count them.  Two are hiding, so they always want to ride again to find them.  Lots of the harvesting equipment is parked around for the public to see also.  Occasionally we even run head on into someone working the almond orchards.

I have two stories today ... first up a lady dressed way too nice for a day at the farm (with matching mask), came up and asked if she REALLY needed to wear her mask.  Well ... that's up to you.  The GOVERNOR says you have to wear it, not us.  The word RINGER immediately rang a bell in my head.  But do I really have to keep it on?  I can't FORCE you to wear a mask.  They say if you are outside and six feet apart (which we were), then it's your choice.  If you are standing in line around here, you should probably wear your mask.  Again, I can't FORCE you.

She walked away with two also-too-nicely-dressed women.  Yup ... she was either from the Health Department or from the State.  Lucky I'm suspicious because I almost told her to take the darn thing off. 
 

 The second one ... two adults ... wanted to know where we grow the pumpkins.  Oh ... they are out in a field.  But where??  Most have been harvested already.  But can we SEE them?  Ding ding ding ... that means they want to come back at night and STEAL a bunch.  Yes, it has happened many times.  

Finally, totally and completely exhausted ... again thank you for the recommendation to drink gatorade because I don't think I would have lasted the day without it ... I got home in time to collapse on the couch at 8:00.  My feet were killing me, in spite of wearing my best cushy running shoes. 

I'm feeling rather old today but I've got a full 24 hours to recoup!!

Mileage total:  52.15  which is scary!!

 

 

 

This Is A Shortie

 Well this will be a quick one.  I send all my pictures to my computer for posting and for some weird reason, I'm not receiving ANY mail on my computer.  What's up with that??

Yesterday was a very long day having put 8.2 miles on my feet.  The good news is the crowd is so happy to be out and about playing with their kids.  I'm exhausted, as are my six girls who did amazing work selling over 18 cases of water (the Costco huge cases) along with over 300 hot dogs and 500 snow cones.  

I'll be back at it today!!

 

Not Quite As Planned

Up early again yesterday, I didn't smell any skunks.  I finally walked the fence line and surprisingly only found one big hole, which I promptly covered with steel fencing.  Here's one for your early morning breakfast routine ..... that skunk has been dumping his load (if you know what I mean) in the exact same spot in the corral.  

I kid you not, there a HUGE pile of you know what.  Marking his territory I suspect.  I going to grab a shovel and toss it over the fence ... maybe he will be confused enough to stay away.  Now that you probably don't even WANT any breakfast, I'll take you back to the Patch.

Nothing went as planned.  Not unusual in my world.  I began to set everything up when the boss arrived with supplies.  That was a good thing, as we were almost out of everything.  I cleaned all the counters and tables, then set about stocking up.  Ummm where might the cups be?

No cups for snowies (our version of snow cones in a cup).  I went about setting up the hotdogs and nachos while discussions ensued.  When the teenage girls showed up to work, they got my "quick training guide" which went in one ear and out the other.  I think I probably did the same at that age.  Still no cups.

The above is a good picture of the tractor I drive during the week.  This year there are half the number of hay bales to sit on and we have to constantly spray down the stair rails with sanitizer. 

 Aren't these sunflowers gorgeous?  Sadly, there is another fire up in Napa, which funnels all the smoke down to us.  We had a great couple of days, but are now enveloped in what looks like brown fog.  

Back to the snack bar, although I'm not officially in charge, but I seem to get credit for everything we do NOT have.  The spoon straws that go with the snowies are in short supply and no one ordered anything in advance (not my job).  At long last they found a box of 14 ounce cups.  Today people will get their money's worth until smaller cups can be located.

The "dude" of the day was a customer who tried to crowd the line by going to the side of the snack bar.  When told the line went that-a-way, he got in the real line, then complained that we served everyone else first.  Said he was going to file a complaint with management.  Be my guest ... I was so hot and tired, I didn't care if I got fired!  LOL

In the end, we weren't all that busy, which required I hawk hot dogs at the end of the night in a huge two for one sale.  People came like bees on honey and fed their families dinner.  It's a win-win!!

In all, things didn't go quite as planned.  I'm hoping it shapes up better today and tomorrow.  Lastly, my advice for the day.  If you work here at night, it's not a good idea to bring all your friends out to play.  Friends like to post things on Facebook and Instagram ... like pictures of them going down the slide.  Obviously, that's a no-no and now you have no-no job.

Mileage walked to date:  37.45

Tractor Driving 101

 If it weren't for troubles, I don't know what I would do.  Probably have a lovely carefree life!  Ha!!!  So yesterday, my computer would not connect to the internet.  No matter what I did, nothing worked.  I wouldn't care except that property tax bill was due ... yesterday.  I think I'm in trouble.

I drove around the neighborhood looking for a signal, thinking (for the tenth time) that it was my internet.  Nope ... works fine just down the road.  Then I accidentally erased my browser.  Good grief Charlie Brown!!  

I took off for work, hoping it would work itself out.  One of the girls said the internet in our entire county has been out for three days.  Yikes!!  How will we ever communicate?  I've become too attached to those wires in the sky.

I set up the snack bar for the new girl since the last girl completely went awol on her closing job.  Absolutely nothing was done.  That put another 5.7 miles on my legs.  Woohoo!  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?  Thank you Liz for the Gatorade reminder.  I think it helped since it was 100 degrees most of the day.

 Tractor driving .... clutch in, turn key to start, check gear, flip up "GO" switch, let off emergency brake and brake-brake and drive off into the sunset, trying not to run over kids running across my path to the corn maze.  The first corner is a rough one.  The Hay Ride trailer is an old cotton trailer, not made for turns.  You almost cannot go wide enough to make the corners. 

The best part is driving by the gorgeous array of chrysanthemums in various stages of growth.  These beauties will all be moved to the front for sale as they bloom.

They sure make for some beautiful fall colors at the patch.  At $12 each, they are cheaper than Lowes or Home Depot.

From there on, it's a driver's nightmare as I try to keep the almond tree branches out of everyone's hair.  I swear, there was one big branch that got lower and lower until it caught in a once beautiful beehive "do".  She will be brushing those leaves out for days!!

The next time I had to alter the route because I almost whacked a guy in the head with another branch on the opposite side.  I tried to get pictures, but it's not good for the customers to see me with my phone out, nor does it instill confidence in them about my driving skills when I'm obviously taking pictures.  This was a sneaky one.

I get so involved with setting up the three food tents, that I forget pictures.  Today I'm going in a little early just for photos.  Then, since it's Friday, we sell hotdogs and nachos, so set-up will be extensive.  Yes, I have three more inexperienced teenagers to train.  The farm only hires high school kids who get work credit for being here, not to mention probably their first paycheck.  Won't that be fun!!  I'm just hoping someone goes for supplies.  It's hard to make snow cones with no cups.

 

Pumpkins ... Pumpkins Everywhere!

Although the Pumpkin Patch has gotten off to a slow start, last night made up for it.  In the past all the attractions have been open from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, every single day in October.  This year they included five days in September just for good measure.  With everyone pretty much staying home, they decided to shorten the hours.  

Pumpkin sales go from 10:00 to 2:00, attractions from 3:00 to 7:00.  Everyone has been pretty depressed since not many pumpkins have been sold.  That means we have been working overtime trying to keep busy.  One of the ideas is to set up displays all over the property and price them as seen.  You can get a good idea of how many different varieties they grow right here at the patch.

In front of the over 100 year old milking barn sits two wagons full to the brim with pumpkins.  I would say there are maybe 100 acres of fields growing all these pumpkins, along with corn for the corn maze, all supplied with drip irrigation.  It's a major operation and they are extremely good at it.

Here's a look at my walking mileage so far.  Sunday 7.5, Monday 7.3, Tuesday 5.2 and yesterday 6.  So I've walked a marathon (26 miles) in four days.  The interesting part is I spent most of yesterday on the tractor and STILL walked six miles!!  I actually do a little bit of everything, but tractor driving is my favorite!

I'm sure I could get a job driving for the local Mennonite farms.  Every time I take them around on the hay ride, the men always come tell me what a good driver I am.  I love it of course.  I think I missed my calling.  I should have been driving tractor instead of all that expensive college education stuff!!  It is also interesting to note they do not wear masks.  I like their independence!

The above picture is of what we call sugar pumpkins.  These make the best pumpkin pies ever, much better than the canned stuff.  You know most of the canned pumpkin is really squash, right?  Yes, canned is the only kind I use because of convenience, but if you want a tasty pie, cook up one of these babies and use IT for your pies.

And so, after driving for four hours straight round and round the corn maze and behind the barn where the baby goats live (I would love to have one for a pet at home), I drove off into the sunset, put the tractor to bed and headed home.

Sadly, this morning I was graced with the presence of skunks ... AGAIN!  I just don't know what to do about them other than pour expensive concrete around the entire exterior.  As it is, I have to leash up the dogs every morning just to let them outside.  I would get a trap, but THEN what would I do if I caught one?