High Cliff Mid Week work

The campground is pretty peaceful and quiet during the week!  Most of the sites around us are empty.

And the weather is perfect for a summer day----  Steve had a call at 7:30 a.m. to get down to the marina to let in some electricians for work... so we took a quick buzz down in the car.  I snapped an early morning pic of the quiet marina and the pretty flowers around the main building.

Since I was out and about early, I started cleaning firepits and getting a jump on the day, then I could sit back and do some quilting in the afternoon. (my free time)

I had a very good day until my Cub Cadet started bucking and choking and sputtering!   Oh NO!  I broke it!

But the good thing is having a wonderful husband at the Facilities Maintenance shop!  I gave him a quick call on the cell to be sure he was up there, and got my little ailing cart up the hill.... slowly....

He preformed a spark plug change, an oil change and cleaned the air filter and sure nuff.... I was good to go again!  It purred like a little Cubby should!

I went about my task list of sites to check on, clean the pit if needed and pick up any trash I see laying around.  Also we have some green survey cards to leave on each post for the upcoming camper to take and hopefully fill out.  It even gives one of the smart phone grids called a "QR matrix"  to lead them to the survey site.   (I hope they say we have nice clean campsites???)

After my lunch break (and watching an hour of Young & The Restless)  I was planning on going out again to catch up some of the non-electric sites in the other loop.  Little Dukie looked sad to see me leave, so I took him along!   That is one Happy Camphost Doggie, for sure!

He has ridden on our four wheeler ATV's before and I think I even had him on our snowmobiles, so this was not too scary for him.  He sat like a king and watched me go from site to site.   At #4 he had four little children all come to pet him and admire him.  He was quite proud.

When I got back to our site, the neighbors on #56 were heading back to their home near Madison.  The two little girls came over to give me a present!   They made me a bracelet from tiny rubber bands!  They said it was from a kit with a tiny loom device they bought in New Jersey.  Wow... what a wonderful gift to me.  They chose colors that matched our motorhome they said. Awwwwww.

Not too much other events for the day....  so far in cleaning sites I have found half a jug of tiki torch fuel that works great to start campfires.  Then on one site I found a nickel, and another a dime.  A rubber bouncy ball, a tiny plastic dinosaur and a frilly pom pom from a little kid's trike handle.

(do I mention the burned diapers, squished and burned beer cans 

and other assorted weird stuff in the campfire pits?)

One thing I did find that I didn't even know they MADE any more ... was some Jiffy Pop pans and handles in a campfire pit!

Remember these? 

 I think I am gonna have to look for some of these in the store, eh?

OH OH... .I just found out that I did a BOO BOO!   After supper, Steve and I went and cleaned out a few more campsites of people who vacated today at 3pm.  So he dropped me off at the top of the road while he drove my Cub Cadet to dump the ash cans.  As I came down the hill, I saw a tag on the post of site #56 where my little girls  (who gifted me with the bracelet) had been camping.  I saw their tag still on the post, so as I walked by, I grabbed it off and tossed it in the trash.  Fine.  Right?  WRONG!    Turns out it was a NEW tag put there by NEW people who had paid for the site and were coming back in with their motorhome in a bit.  OH NO... their tag was missing!  LOL   So about the same time, Ranger Linda (also the manager) was driving by and they had to plead their case as to why there wasn't a tag on their post!    Meekly.... I admitted it was little ole me.  Just cleaning up "too clean" I guess???   Next time I better read the tag before I rip it off the post.   

(I am thinking of getting new glasses some time this week.... hmmmm ya think?) 

Oh, another project that I worked on was painting rocks, yes painting rocks!   Just like Gomer Pyle in the Marines.   They had been painted before but were all faded, mossy and dull.  So Steve found a bucket of paint and a brush up in the maintenance shop and let me go hog wild!   Now we have a nice entry to our site, inviting people to come on in and see the hosts.

Well, we are sitting here this evening in our campsite as I write this.  Some enjoyable visitors stopped by from Canada and we had some good laughs.  Our site is a good gathering place for campers, so if you are in the area, stop on by!  Site 58 at High Cliff State Park!

P.S. as I was proofreading my post before I send it out. Steve heard a little noise at the picnic table right next to us, less than 6 feet away.  A RACCOON!   up on our picnic table on top sniffing around!  (no food left out but he was just making sure)   and Dukie Palooki right here between our chairs didn't even notice him!    All our patio lights on, a battery powered twirling butterfly thingie going right over the table, and both of us sitting here with our laptops on.   What a brave little turd!!!    I chased him off, and he went slowly, not seeming to be too frightened.  We put Duke inside now.  I have the camera and flashlight ready if he comes back.   But since he scoped out our table and saw nothing good to eat, he probably won't bother coming back.  

A Great Day Camp Hosting at High Cliff

Oh what a great weekend of weather we have in store for us....  mid 70's and sunny.  Who can ask for more than that?

Yesterday was a good day as our first day of 31 that we are camphosting at High Cliff State Park.   Steve was working his normal Friday 8 hour day at the maintenance shop.  I dropped him off at 8 am by the door after a grueling commute of 1.8 miles from the campground to his shop.

Then I did my morning rounds with the little Cub Cadet Cart....   cleaned out a few firepits, checked on toilet paper supplies and cleaned out a few grills.   (had to find a special tool to do that, and it worked great.... it's an angled piece of iron with a handle to get down in between the grids and base and scraped the stuff out into buckets).   I loaded the smaller filled ash buckets into a large can which Steve later dumped for me.

I did my UTV training with the main office and got my "certification number"  LOL.... I figure if I can drive minibikes, snowmobiles, boats, four wheelers, and a 38 ft diesel pusher motorhome, I can do a little Cub Cadet!    Here's a pic in case you missed it yesterday.

We have a nice big tub of supplies, which includes our vests, name badges, weather radio (we already have one)  and our official Camp Host Telephone!    If we see anything not quite right, we are to call the rangers and let them deal with all those kind of situations.

We are also supplied with a file folder box full of brochures, local information, events and survey forms.  They think of everything here!

(Just sitting here outside of our camper, and some folks came up to ask about the nearest laundromat----  it's good to be "of service"!) 

Last night after I picked up Steveio from his shop at 4pm, we tossed a couple tenderloins on the grill (imported from Wausau's little meat market-- right Paula?)   Add in a couple baked potatoes, some nice salads, a bottle of wine and we were good to go.    Eating like Kings of the Kampground?

Baked up a cinnamon coffee cake this morning, along with a pot of coffee-  so we are ready for any coffee clutchers that might want to happen by for a chat.

Duke is laying here nicely between our chairs as we sit out under our awning in the early morning quiet and peaceful woods.  He is a good campground doggie and knows how to behave. The birds are twittering and I can hear a guy a few sites down the way loading his boat up for some fishing.... yes.. he started up the truck and is heading out now.  Hope he gets some Big Ones?

This morning we might get a few more grills cleaned out down in the picnic area.  We only have to put in a few hours, but the grills could all use a good cleaning before the picnic'ers arrive later.  That is about it for any tasks today.   Monday will be the busier day to clean out the campfire pits from the Weekend Warriors.  The park is just about filled - 112 campsites, 1 handicapped cabin, 8 large groups sites (which are ALL reserved for a big big wedding there today)   plus five picnic areas and some spaces around the marina.  Here is a link to High Cliff State Park information (Hey Duke, let us know if you can stop by!~)

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/name/highcliff/

or 

High Cliff State Park

Well, coffee clutch time is over, and we are gonna head out in our little cart and do some work to earn our campsite!   See ya later!