A visit from my son

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Jim Melvin

My son stops in for a couple of days…

My son Curt is traveling from California to Texas and stopped in to see me for a couple of days. We went out to dinner at Gordon Biersch Brewery in downtown Tempe. It is a great restaurant overlooking Mill Street.

We also walked around the Mill Street?University Drive area. It was a great place and lots of people out.

Off to see the MIM again…

He hadn’t seen The MIM (Musical Instrument Museum) so I suggested we go there on Tuesday. We spent most of the day walking around this fabulous museum. They have an “Experience Gallery” where you can experience playing the many instruments they have on display. Or should I say trying to play them. HA!! It was a lot of fun. Here are several pics from the Experience Gallery.

While there I found several things that I had not noticed in my prior visit.The first was instruments made out of cans.

Bamboo

and even a brake cylinder. It is amazing the different instruments that people use to make music.

I can’t imagine paying $27.45 for this organ, but back in 1902 that was probably a fortune.

Gourmet meals in the MIM cafeteria…

After touring the museum we were hungry so stopped in their cafeteria for lunch. What a pleasant surprise. The lunch was all gourmet meals. I couldn’t believe it. Someone had commented on my previous post about the delicious meals so I just had to see for myself. What a pleasant surprise. Of course I had to have a Monkey Shine ale to wash it down!

Here is a pic taken in the courtyard of The MIM. This statue moved ever so slightly that you could not even tell if you were looking at it.

Chica pic

Curt also had a good time with Chica and she enjoyed his company.

Rangers game and then off to Texas

Curt is a Texas Ranger fan and went to the game on Wednesday. Then it was off to Texas. It was fun getting together and I really enjoyed seeing him.

Workamping at Spring Training

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Jim Melvin

What a gang!

I have been working at the LAA Angels home Spring Training games at the Tempe Diablo Stadium since 2/23. I was assigned to work with Phil who I met while workamping at Amazon last winter. Here is a pic of our group lined up in front of our booth the Triple Play Grill.

We are located on the third base side of the field and every now and then a foul ball happens to come our way.

Watching batting practice…

We come in 2 1/2 hours prior to each game and get the stand ready for all the food and drink sales. Sometimes when we are all set up we can watch batting practice. Today I got to see the Angels hitting.

I was really lucky to get this shot of Albert Pujols at bat. How great is that!

Busy, busy, busy…

But once the game starts it is very busy. The orders are flying left and right and sometimes it is hard to keep up, but we all have a very good system of staying on top of the orders and getting the food and drink to the fans as quickly as possible so they can enjoy the game.

Her are a few pics of our group in action and our work area.

We have a great group and everyone gets along really well. We are always laughing and everyone enjoys each others antics at times when there is a lull in customers. We are all kept very busy but still have a good time together.

Last game coming up…

Our last game will be on 3/27 against the Angels arch rival, Texas. It should be an exciting game. Then the Angels are off to Anaheim and we workampers are off to points unknown. It has been a great experience working with this group and we sure have had a lot of laughs.

A great day in Apache Junction

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Jim Melvin

Meeting up with Shannon and Sheba

On Saturday I drove out to Apache Junction to go hiking with Shannon and her dog Sheba. I had originally planned this for last Thursday but had to cancel in order to get my car checked out and serviced.

Shannon is camped at the base of the Superstitious Mountains with many hiking trails nearby. Here are a couple of pics taken just a few feet from her campsite.

A few miles up the road we stopped at a lookout. Great desert views.

Further up the road was Canyon Lake. It is a huge lake with a nice beach and marina. It looks like a great place to kayak.

Then it was on to Tortilla Flats where we enjoyed a couple of cool beers and listened to a great country western band.

We walked around the campground at Tortilla Flats, but it was already closed for the season.

Fantastic view from Fish Creek Overlook

Driving further you run out of paved road. We drove on a washboard road for a few miles until we got to the Fish Creek Overlook. What magnificent views and colors.

This is a pic of Shannon and Sheba looking over the canyon.

More pics of Fish Creek.

I also liked the many plant and cactus varieties.

Then we headed back to Shannon’s campsite where she made us a snack before heading out and a late afternoon hike at the base of the Superstitious Mountains. I managed to get a couple of pics of the sunrise and the beautiful colors of the mountain.

We just managed to get back as it was getting dark.

Pizza and another country western band…

We then drove a few miles down the road and stopped at the Hitchin Post pizza joint. Shannon insisted on buying me dinner and we had a great pizza and beer. They also had a great country western band that played some fantastic music. It was really a fun day.

Only 5 games left in Spring Training

There are only 5 games left and I am planning on leaving Mesa on the 28th. I have the itch and want to get out of the city atmosphere I am presently in. After seeing Apache Junction I would like to return there and stay a few days. Then it is off to New Mexico.

From cold to hot…

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Jim Melvin

Cold and raining

The weather last week was very strange for this area. It got very cold and the the torrential rains and hail began. I was working at the ballpark when it started. The rain started on and off and it delayed the start of the game. Then a torrential rain started with very high winds and even hail. The stands emptied in a hurry. This is a pic taken from inside my work tent looking out to the field. The fans had scurried off to a protected area to get out of the rain. This was the only guy left. The stands were full about 5 minutes prior to this.

The umpires called the game and everyone went home. All the street lights were knocked out on my way home and it took quite a while to get through the traffic.

Met fellow bloggers and other friends

I drove home and changed into some dry clothes and then headed over to Cracker Barrel where I met some friends for dinner. It was a great time. I met Jim and Sandie from Where are the Dixons, Ray and Cindy from Ray and Cindy’s RV Travels. I also saw Kyra and Key who I had met the night before at Casino Arizona.

Key writes the The Ramblin Rivercat blog. Then there was Jan, Dianna and Bobbie. I copied this photo from Jim and Sandie’s blog.

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Everyone had a great time and lots of conversation about places we had been and where we were headed.

Caught up with a lot of good friends yesterday.

Yesterday morning I got a call from Shannon who was my neighbor at Amazon last winter. She was also the friend I drove with to and from Amazon. It seems as though she just landed in Apache Junction last week and was headed my way to pick up some items at Camping World and Trader Joe’s. We got together at Cracker Barrel for lunch and rehashed old times and made some plans to do some hiking around Apache Junction. I am really looking forward to it. Didn’t get any pics but will be taking my camera with me when we go hiking.

Get together at Phil and Sindy’s

In the late afternoon I was invited to Phil and Sindy’s rig, which is only a couple of spaces from mine, for hamburgers and hot dogs. Our mutual friends, Steve and Marti and grandson Ryan, where coming by to see them from California. It was really fun getting together with everyone. Steve, Marti and Ryan will be going to a couple of Spring Training games while in town.

Chica update

Chica is doing quite well adjusting to her new home. She is now almost housebroken and I have here on some new dog food that the vet recommended. That pipsqueak is so lovable. She has to get on Daddy’s lap every night. She doesn’t like when I leave her alone, but that will end shortly and she won’t have to worry about that any more for a while.

I took her to a park and went for a long walk. Her whole 3.5 pounds was actually pulling me. I have included a few pics of her doing her thing. The first is with her ducky which she loves so much. She also has a zombie and a chew bone, which I will show later.

It has been a really fun week. I mentioned the weather was very cold and rainy. Well that is changing big time. The past couple of days it has been in the 80’s and the next couple of days it will reach 90. What a change. Almost time for the A/C.

Finally meet my soul mate!!!

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Jim Melvin

Working the Angels Spring Training Games

I am still working the Angels Spring Training games in Tempe. It has been fun and I am meeting a lot of fun people. I usually work 3-4 games per week. I am not making a lot of money, but it pays the expenses.

Weather has been beautiful…

You really can’t beat the beautiful Arizona weather. The days have been in the high 70’s with a slight breeze at times. However it will be changing shortly as they expect the temps to dip into the low 60’s tomorrow with a possibility of rain. There is a game scheduled and hope we don’t get rained out. After a couple days in the 60’s it is predicted to go back into the 70’s with more great weather.

Found my soul mate!

After many years of searching I finally found my soul mate. I wasn’t even looking for her. She just happened to run into me. I was talking to my sister on the phone and just happened to look out and see her. I went outside to meet her and we both knew we were made for each other. Here is a neat pic of her.

She was very hungry and had crusty eyes. She came into my rig and made herself at home. I have been looking for anyone that may have lost here, but without any success. I checked with the office and they did not know who her owner was. However she did say that there have been many little Chihuahuas running wild in the area.

I checked Craig’s List and the SPCA here in Mesa without any luck. I have had her over 2 weeks so decided if nobody claimed her that she and I would make a nice pair. HA!!

Potty training

Although I don’t think she is a puppy I have still had to housebreak her. It was not very easy at first and there were a lot of accidents. It was probably mostly my fault as I didn’t let her out often enough.

We have finally gotten into the swing of things as far as potty breaks go and she is much improved. She still doesn’t bark to let me know when to take her out or even go to the door. But when I see her sniffing around I know it is time.

Vet day…

Since I haven’t heard from anyone who may have been her owner, I decided to take her to the vet and have her scanned to see if she had a microchip implanted that would tell me who owned her. They scanned her and came up with nothing. I decided at this time that she and I would be soul mates for life so I had her checked out by the vet who gave her two shots (which she did not like at all). They also implanted a microchip and trimmed her nails (which she also hated). A couple of her nails where almost ingrown and it looked like they hadn’t been trimmed in a long time. Here is a pic of her at the vet.

I have named her Chica (which means little girl). It was a great name that my sister suggested. We are both happy with each other and she hates when I leave to go to the ball park for the games. She is very excited when I get home. She is really a lot of fun and a very happy girl!

Take me out to the ball game….

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Jim Melvin

Spring Training has started

Well after all the training and orientation the games have finally started. Saturday was my first day on the other side of a cash register at a baseball game. I was willing to do anything they wanted of me and was made a cashier.

HELP!!!!

I thought that being a cashier would be somewhat easy. NOT!!!! For one thing there is no register to add up or even keep track of all the customers purchases. You had to write everything down in order to remember what they ordered. Also there were so many different prices that it was impossible for this fool to remember without checking on my price sheet.

Next, if the customer bought beer you had to remember to check their ID, not sell more then 40 oz. per sale and open the can and bottled beer before you gave it to the customer. Too much for this old brain to remember, especially when customers are ten deep waiting to get there food and drinks.

Plus this was only my first game. The crowds buying food and drink slowed down after the seventh inning so they cut me lose for the day. I punched out and then I was able to see the remainder of the game. Cubs 11 – Angels 2. Angels lost big time! Bummer! They also lost a split roster game. Giants 4 – Angels 1. Angels won 0 lost 2.

This is a pic I took with my IPhone at the game.

Sunday was my second day at the ball park…

I was going to go into the park and talk to my lead person Sindy that I would prefer another position if at all possible. She had already made plans with her husband Phil, who worked a booth next to hers, that I would do food preparation instead. That sounded great to me!

So now I am building cheeseburgers, Brats, Portabella mushroom burgers and hot dogs. During the beginning of the game it gets really busy with everyone trying to get their food and drinks from the concession stands. The cheeseburgers are flying out of there. Two of us work together to fill all of the orders for two cashiers. There is not a whole lot of thought process required, which is fine with me.

Still very cold

Yesterday it was 50 degrees with the wind blowing like crazy. We had to keep weight on everything to prevent it from blowing away. It was a real challenge working today. I didn’t bring another tee shirt so there were times when it got fairly chilly. At least we had the steam ovens for a little warmth.

They asked for volunteers to leave, during the third inning, as the weather was very cold and the crowd was rather small. My helper who was very experienced as he had been doing this for the past 3 years volunteered, so I was by myself to handle the orders of two cashiers. It gets busy in streaks and there were times I was really hopping, but I was able to keep up with the flow. As it turned out the game lasted 4 hours (compared to 2 1/2 hours for a normal game).

I didn’t get a chance to see the game. I cannot see the field where I am working, but I can see the scoreboard. By the time we finished cleaning up, the game had already ended. A’s 7 – Angels 5. Angels won 0 lost 3. Go Angels!!!

Day off

Today is a day off for me. The next game is Tuesday when the Angels play the Arizona Diamondbacks. Hopefully they will start winning a few of these games.

Back from a California visit

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Jim Melvin

To California and Back

It has been a while since I last posted and I apologize for that. I spent the last 11 days visiting family in Southern California. I hadn’t even planned on driving there but I had to sign in at the Elks Lodge in Oceanside where I transfered my membership. The Elks that I originally joined was in Benson, AZ but they were closing that lodge due to lack of new members.

I was also able to visit my mom several times and went out to lunch with my sisters on Valentines Day. I even got in a round of golf on the last day I was there. It will probably be a while before I get back there again so it was really a great visit.

By the way I drove my new (to me) Sammy (Suzuki Samurai) over there and back. It was almost 400 miles one way. Although I don’t intend to drive it that far again it handled beautiful.

Dish Network up and running

Yesterday my friend Phil came over to see where I had been. Hopefully I will be working for either he or Sindy at the ballpark when the Spring Training games start on Saturday. He helped me lift my Satellite dish on the roof where I was able to attach it to the bracket. I tried doing this myself, but it was just too awkward.

I hooked everything up and it found the satellite very quickly and I had TV.

Employee Orientation and then first ballgame

I have an employee orientation tomorrow where I find out all the details about my job such as where I will be working and what I will be doing. Then the first game is Saturday with the Angels playing the Cubs. I am really looking forward to it.

Dropped by the stadium where I will be working

I decided after lunch to drop by the Tempe Diablo Stadium and see if I could get some pics. I was hoping they would be practicing at the stadium but the players had closed practices in the other fields in the area of the stadium. I managed to get a few pics of the stadium as well as a couple players.

There were a lot of photographers taking many pics of Mike Trout.

While CJ Wilson was busy signing autographs.

This was a banner on the road to the stadium.

I was hoping to see some batting practice but will have to wait until a later time.

But I only had 2 beers! Hic!

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Jim Melvin

Started Training…

I started the training for the Spring Training job Monday evening. During the day I thought it would be a good idea to try to find out where the park is located so I wouldn’t be frantically driving around in rush our traffic to get there. Using my Garmin I found it without any problem. When I got home they called and wanted me to come in an hour earlier (5:00pm) to complete some initial paperwork.

On my return trip I thought since I had gone there once I wouldn’t need the Garmin so just drove there following the directions I had previously gotten. BIG MISTAKE!!! The next thing I knew I was in the middle of the airport and a lot of busy traffic. DUH, Jim isn’t that why you have a Garmin in the first place? I was able to get my Garmin out of the glove box and quickly input the address of the ballpark. I even got there a bit early and was able to talk with some others who are also working there including my next door neighbors John and Jane.

How drunk is drunk?

The training tonight was all about alcohol. Since many of us will be serving alcohol to the fans, we have to be able to detect when a person should not be allowed any more. I was really impressed by the content of the class. We also got our employee manuals and filled out endless reams of paperwork. By the way, the training was held in the press box of the stadium. What a view these guys have during a game. I am sure the training sessions will be the only time I will be able to sit there.

The stadium in Tempe is about 9 miles from where I am staying in Mesa. I am sure there is a better way to go then jumping on the freeway, but I haven’t found it yet. I guess looking at a map would really help and not just relying on the Garmin.

Day off on Tuesday

Tuesday was a day off so I took that opportunity to do my “Honey Do’s”. Picked up a few things at Walmart, bought gas and did a bunch of laundry left over from Quartzsite. I did three loads and still have one load to go. YUK!

I was able to purchase a couple more milk cartons from Walmart so will do some more organizing today. I hope to get everything squared away before I go to another training class tonight, including that last load of laundry.

Way too many people and way too much traffic…..

I sure am not used to this many people and the traffic here is crazy. Prior to this the most traffic I have been in was in Fernley while working for Amazon. They had a whooping two traffic lights and when Amazon let out it was rush hour for sure. But nothing like the Phoenix area. Someone told me that it was the nation’s seventh most populated city and I sure believe that. I will probably go CRAZY after two months of working here.

Also I am in the flight path to the Sky Harbor airport. I was BBQing last night and sat outside with my glass of wine and every minute or so I could spot an airliner on it’s approach to the airport. LOTS OF PEOPLE AND LOTS OF NOISE.

Don’t forget your camera FOOL!!!

I completely forgot to take my camera with me the last couple of days. I will try to be more diligent so that you can see what I am doing and where I am going rather then me just telling you. I will follow up with some pics later.

My first day of towing

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Jim Melvin

Leaving Quartzsite

Sunday I left Quartzsite to travel to Mesa, AZ where I will be staying for 2 months while working the LAA Angels spring training games. John and I hooked up the rig before they left to show me the ins and outs. It is not too complicated as I have a ball hitch and their is no brake buddy. I had packed away most of the stuff on Saturday and there were only a few things I had to take attend to on Sunday.

There were 5 rigs left after I left. Everyone is going in different directions, but we hope to all hook up together again either at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in the fall or at Quartzsite next winter.

Who is that guy tailgating me?

I pulled out and headed on down the road. I could see this guy that kept tailgating me in my rear camera. It went on for miles. Just kidding! it was my new to me Suzuki. I can not see it in either rear view mirror, but I was watching it closely all the way to Phoenix in my rear camera. I bought the rear camera on Ebay for about $150, but it cost me over $600 to have it installed. I have not had a need for it until now but I knew when I bought it I would appreciate it once I got a toad.

Got gas in Vicksburg, AZ

I pulled into a gas station in Vicksburg to fill up with gas. Since it was my first time towing a vehicle I wanted to make sure I had plenty of space. NO PROBLEM!

Drove through Phoenix

I am glad I chose to travel on Sunday. I did not want to hassle any rush hour traffic on Monday. I think everyone was getting ready to watch the Super Bowl as the traffic was busy but not too busy. My trusty Garmin led me right to the park and was I ever glad to get there. I felt pretty proud of myself on my first towing experience. It went without a hitch … or should I say it went with a hitch. HA!

No electric!!

I unhooked and moved into my spot and started getting set up. It has been a while since I stayed in an electric site and I should have plugged in first, but I didn’t. Needless to say once I got everything in place, I plugged in and realized I didn’t have any electricity. BUMMER! I called the manager and she sent over the maintenance guy, who confirmed I had no electricity. She offered to let me move, but it was late and I still had plenty of power with my solar panels. If I have to move in the morning, so be it, but I wasn’t going anywhere tonight.

I then hopped in my trusty Suzuki and found a Walmart less then a mile away where I bought a few groceries. It sure is nice having a toad.

Tomorrow evening I have my first training session and another session on Wednesday evening. Then I don’t have another training session until the 20th.

Below is a Quartzsite sunset. I am not sure when I will see another sunset for a while since I am in a very populated area.

From 2 channels to 200

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Jim Melvin

Cool weather! Brrrr!

The temps have been rather cool here in the desert at Quartzsite. It has gotten into the low 20’s at night and only up into the 40’s during the day. On a few days it has even been windy making it seem even colder. But fear not, it is slowly getting warmer and should be in the mid 50’s tomorrow and 69 by the time the RV show starts on the 19th.

Going from air to satellite TV…

I took the big plunge and entered the world of satellite TV. Previously I only had a batwing TV antenna and relied on those channels I could get through the air. But when I could only get 2 channels I decided to check out the cost of adding satellite. Then Jim came over and told me about a setup that a local satellite dealer was offering using the Dish Network. He drove me back there and I wound up buying it.

Now for the fun part. Installing all the equipment and hooking up to the appropriate satellites. The installation was fairly easy. The dish would sit on the top of my ladder still giving me access to the roof when I needed it.

Now for the fun part. Getting it to acquire the satellite signals. I called Dish and set up my account with them, then after making several calls and speaking with their tech support I still could not pick up one of the satellites which I needed. They put me through to Tailgater tech support (who makes the dish) since they could not find anything wrong with my setup. Tailgater said their dish was working properly as it had completed all the tests successfully.

Now it is back to the dealer with the receiver to see if it was faulty. He put it on his bench and found that one of the settings was incorrect and once he corrected it I got a picture. Now it was back to the rig and now the system is working properly. I set it up to see the Los Angeles stations as I am more familiar with them.

I got lots of help during this whole process from all my friends who would come over. This is Cookie, John, and Linda. THANKS EVERYONE for all the help and support throughout this entire process.

Going to be working at the Angels Spring Training

I got word that my background check passed and I will be working for Aramark for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Spring Training games. I am really excited. I made reservations with a campground only 6 miles from the stadium in Mesa to stay there for 2 months. I am not sure what I will be doing but my friends Phil and Sindy will also be working there as well. I worked with them at Amazon and they told me about this job. The job only entails working for 5-6 hours during the 18 games that are played in Mesa. I will not make a lot of money but just the experience of working around and seeing the Angels is a great opportunity for me as I have been a fan of them way back when they moved to Anaheim.

Gathering around the fire….

Everyday we gather around the fire and chat about our day while enjoying appetizers and beverage. It is a great time that we all enjoy. It also gives us an opportunity to meet the new people that come in during the day.

Sunset alert…

I received a “Sunset Alert” from Roger on my cell phone. I was inside my rig with the shades down so didn’t even notice. I grabbed my camera and took this beautiful shot of the sunset.

What a great finish to a wonderful day!