Scary Day at the Store!

Haven't written in a couple days, so will probably jumble a few things here, but it's an update, nonetheless!  

Yesterday, a very sweet little old lady came into the store (she's at least 85 if she's a day!) and has been in our store a couple of times.  She's just the sweetest lady and always picks out a gift for me to ship to her son.   Well, this time, she was walking up and down the aisles searching for her gift (I was working on the computer at the checkout counter), and as she got to the front of the aisle, right in front of me, she FELL!      Scared the HELL out of me and I damn near jumped over the counter to get to her!  Fortunately, she was fine and didn't get hurt, although she could have, very easily, as she fell right next to the end cap of that row and could have easily whacked her head, which would have required stitches!  She said that her ankle gave out and it happens occasionally, but hasn't happened in quite some time.  Sure scared the daylights out of me and took a while for my heart to stop racing!  

Monday was just a CRAZY day!    We had a boatload of orders to get out that we had been working on all weekend, and had a bunch left over from Friday because the day after Thanksgiving is a UPS holiday!  Betcha didn't know that!  Certainly, we didn't!    Because of the issues I had previously with the box supplier, I had to wait until Monday to get the boxes we needed to ship all our Hot Dog Forks and Marshmallow Trees.  Once Lee (our UPS driver) came in at 10 a.m. with the boxes and our bulk crystal cones, I had a LOT of work to do!  I've learned that to make things go faster for me, I do certain things all at once (kind of like an assembly line).  That meant taping up 12 hot dog boxes so I could start to fill the orders.    Not only did I have to finish up all those orders, but I had additional orders from Monday that had to go out!  

Oh, and let's not forget the fact that I had to drive 50 miles to the Clark County Humane Society to drop Mitzi off to get fixed and I had to be there between 12:30 and 3 p.m.!   Greg had to see the chiropractor at 1:30, so had to wait for him to get back from that and then drive to Neillsville with Mitzi!  OYE!  Greg was supposed to work at 3 p.m., but he had to stay at the store until I got back from dropping Mitzi off, which was after 4 p.m.   Not much we could do about that!  

The reason we took Mitzi to the Humane Society was that they have a special program to spay and neuter pets and only charge $40!   You can't beat that price, so if you have a pet that needs to be fixed, be sure to look into your local humane society and see if they can help you!    She handled the surgery on Tuesday just fine and I was able to bring her back home today.  I made Greg go and pick her up because I just didn't have two extra hours to drive to Neillsville and back today.   She's obviously sore, but the only thing we notice is that she's walking up and down the stairs much slower than normal, but she'll be fine in a day or two!    

I always feel so sorry for our pets when they have some sort of surgery!  They're taken to a strange place, put in a cage, and then when it's time for surgery, they're handled by strangers, (I'm sure they're as kind and gentle as can be!), and put under . . . then they wake up, groggy and in pain and have no idea why!   Poor things!  We're only doing what's best for them and of course I know that, but it still must be very hard on them.  

Not much else happening here.  We're VERY busy at the store, with the holiday shopping beginning, so I've been going in at 8 a.m., instead of 9, to get a head start on things as there's a LOT to do right now.  I thought I'd have Greg to help this year during the Holiday season, but now that he's managing full-time at the grocery store, I don't have that.   What I'm probably going to end up doing is having the kids come to the store after school to help me start packing up the orders that will go out the NEXT day.  I'm sure my mom will come in and help again, too, like she did last year.  

As much work as it is, I'd NEVER complain!    I absolutely LOVE being so busy, and this is only the beginning!

Julie

Christmas Shopping has BEGUN!

WOW!  Folks have started their on-line shopping EARLY this year!   Judging from the amount of orders we have pouring in, as compared to last year, folks are really planning early when it comes to on-line shopping!     We have a HUGE pile of orders to go out already tomorrow and have a boatload more to do on Monday.  I'm still waiting for my boxes to come in for the hot dog forks and marshmallow trees, which are scheduled to come in tomorrow morning.  I'm also supposed to get my crystal sticks and cones tomorrow, so that I can get those orders out as well.  

Not only do I have a boatload of orders to get out tomorrow, and sticks and cones to bag and pack up, but I have to find time to take Mitzi to Neillsville between 12:30 and 3 p.m. tomorrow to get her fixed.    The vet wanted about $300 to do the dirty deed, so I called the Clark County Humane Society and they only want $40!  WOWWWWWWWWWWWW  Can't beat that price!  

Oh, I forgot to mention what happened the other day!   The "Alternative" High School here in Abbostford offers classes on everything from scrapbooking to picture taking.   One of the teachers at the Alternative School asked me if I'd be interested in presenting a class on Dutch Oven Cooking!    WOW!!!!!!!!!!  I was shocked and amazed and scared and thrilled all at once!  

Of course, I'm going to do it, as folks have said time and again I should do exactly that!  While I don't have any experience in teaching, I DO talk about Dutch oven cooking all the time to our customers and friends in campgrounds when we're out there.     I'm still trying to figure out what to do and how to do it, and it's going to take some time to figure it all out, but I think this is a GREAT thing to do to help promote our store and the joys of Dutch oven cooking!  

Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday weekend and didn't get stuck in any airports or bad weather!      

God Bless!

Julie

Thanksgiving Day!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  

                

Of course, our store was closed today, but that didn't mean there was no work to do!  Poor Greg had to work at County Market from 6 a.m. (open) to 2 p.m. (close) today.  He had a rough day, to be sure.   Once he closed, he drove home to watch the end of the Packer game and then drove the 40 miles to my parents house to meet up with me and the kids. 

The kids and I left around 11 a.m. to go to mom and dad's house as mom needed some help with dinner (not much!), and I had some work to do on their computer (install a new sound card and "GoToMyPC" so I can access her computer when she has problems).   We also had to go through all the ads for shopping Friday morning. 

Mom had just about everything ready for dinner, so there wasn't much to do that way and we did end up having a FABULOUS meal consisting of a beautifully cooked and browned turkey, stuffing, sweet/sour cabbage, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, gravy, 7 layer salad, dinner rolls and of course, pumpkin pie!     Mom makes everything from scratch, including the raisin stuffing, which of course, is my favorite part of the meal!  As usual, mom stole the tail and none of us got to have any!      I think that's the whole reason she won't let me have Thanksgiving -- she wants the turkey tail!   :D

Greg made it to mom's house about 3:30 and my brother and his wife, Annie, showed up about 4.  They had already eaten at Annie's family, so they just came over to visit (although Johnny did manage to choke down some of mom's food!)  :lol:   

We had a lot of fun visiting, and I must say, my kids did a great job helping to clean everything up!   We've discovered that the best thing in the world to do is to place a foil pan inside the turkey pan and there's next to no clean-up from the cooking of the big bird!    The rest cleans up rather quickly when you have a bunch of folks helping out and we were able to get everything done by 7:30.

Aaron and Abby stayed with my parents so they could go out hunting in the morning.    Greg followed me and Erica rode with me and we a nice talk talk on the 40 mile drive home.    At 13, she's at that awkward stage of not quite being a kid, and not quite being an adult, although she thinks she knows everything and should be able to do anything she wants!   

We were fortunate on the drive home that no deer jumped out in front of us!    Of course, Greg and Erica ate their pumpkin pie when they got home.  I was too tired . . . . I checked the forums and my mail and went to bed! 

Hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving and was able to spend time with the folks they want to!  If you were stuck with family/folks you don't particularly care for, well, sorry to hear that!   BUT, it's better than being all alone or relying on a soup kitchen to feed you! 

God Bless!

Julie

Supplier Frustrations!

11-21-07 seemed to be the day to be frustrated with a bunch of suppliers!  I had placed an order with one that claimed to ship within a day on 11-16-07.  I expected it to be shipped on the 19th, which would have made delivery on the 21st.  Not so.  The items weren't even shipped until the 21st, so because of the holiday, I'm not getting them until the 27th.    

Next, I had ordered some special boxes that we need t ship our Super Duty Wiener Forks and some tubes that we need to ship our Marshmallow Extension Fork on November 12.   I paid with an E-check, as they offer an extra discount for that.  By the 21st, they're STILL not received, so I make a phone call.  First person says she has to call me back after checking with the shipping department.  Six hours later, no call, so I call again, only to discover that the items on backorder.    Now, I was able to order these on-line without anything showing they were NOT immediately available.  OK, I can deal with that, BUT, they TOOK THE MONEY OUT OF MY CHECKING ACCOUNT EVEN THOUGH THEY COULDN'T SHIP THEM!       Not only that, but after TAKING my MONEY, they decided to CANCEL my order!   Now, because I paid with an e-check, they cannot just credit my account, but they have to mail me a check!    Why they can't just credit my account, I have no clue.  

What really gets to me is that they did all of this WITHOUT TELLING ME!  All of a sudden, I would have just received a check in the mail with no explanation!  Why the hell didn't they call me to tell me they didn't have my items in stock and couldn't ship them to me.   Not only that, but they TOOK MY MONEY knowing full well that they had NOTHING TO SHIP to me!  

Was I irritated -- just a tad!    

I found another supplier for our boxes, etc. that is just over the border in Minnesota.  When I've ordered from them in the past, I get everything the next day, and I was DESPERATE for these boxes as I had nothing to ship the forks in.   I ordered them on Wednesday, thinking that they'd be delivered on Friday and I can pack up orders the day after Thanksgiving and we'd be good to go.  

WRONG!    Did you know that the Friday after Thanksgiving is a UPS holiday?  No?  NEITHER DID I!         After our driver never showed up to pick up our outgoing packages, I called UPS to find out where our driver was.  Oh, gee, today is a UPS holiday and only next day air is being picked up!     You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard THAT!     All kinds of businesses and delivery services have to work the next day (including DHL, who made a delivery to us today), but NOT UPS!  

When I asked if I could pick up the SEVEN packages that are waiting to be delivered to me on Monday, I was told that Monday's deliveries are all locked up on trucks, so I can't even come and get them!  

VERY frustrating, to say the least!  

Sorry that I sort of combined Wednesday and today, but things kind of flowed together!  

Hope your days are better and you don't have the frustrations I've been encountering recently!

Julie

It's a GIRL! . . . . err, DUCK, that is!

This past weekend, my nephews, KJ and Lucas came to visit, but they had ulterior motives!   Luke bought himself a white duck in the spring and once the cold weather started rolling around, they realized they had no way to keep it over the winter!  Well, gee . . . who do you suppose would be willing to take a duck and not eat it?  You guessed it!  Aunti Julie!   

So, yes, we have a duck.  Her name is Quagmire (yes, she's a she -- as she's laying eggs almost daily right now!).

Here's a couple pics:

She's really a sweet thing, and VERY friendly!  She'll follow you around and quacks a LOT!   She seems to be getting along with the chickens just fine, and because she's not used to the area, we've been keeping her in the chicken coop for now.  She needs to learn where "home" is and the best way to do that is to keep her in the coop for a few days before letting her out. 

I've also been worried that she doesn't know her boundaries (she's never really been "free range" like our chickens) and I would certainly hate to have anything happen to her if she were to waddle over to the road! 

The kids are home for the rest of the week, so they'll have to keep an eye on her until she learns our yard.  I'm hoping that she'll just follow the chickens or geese around, but having never had a duck before, I just don't know.   I would be heartbroken, as would Luke, if anything happened to her. 

As for the store, it's obvious that the holidays are on their way!   Our orders have picked up already, so that means that next month is going to be crazy busy!    That's a GOOD thing!  I'll NEVER complain about being busy!   The kids are a big help at this time of year, even if they grumble about having to help out.   I could never do everything alone, and with Greg working full-time, he doesn't have the time or energy to help out at the store. 

We'll be closed on Thursday and spending most of the day with my parents, while Aaron, my dad and brother all go out hunting.  Greg of course, has to work, but only until 2 p.m., so he'll be able to join us for dinner. 

Friday will be spent shopping with my mom, as we've done every year (except last year) for the last 18 years.  We always look forward to shopping on Black Friday and mom is excited to be going again, after not going last year.  Unfortunately, Greg is scheduled to work 6 p.m. to midnight at County Market, so will end up working from 9 a.m. to midnight, as he has to work our store prior to working at County Market!  He's going to be exhausted on Saturday, to be sure! 

We'll be keeping our fingers crossed that Aaron gets a deer in these next couple of days!  He's just itching to get one! 

Hope everyone who is traveling stays safe and all have a FABULOUS Thanksgiving!  I know ours will be great! 

Godspeed, 

Julie

PS, Abby's head is healing just fine and there's barely a mark there now!

Opening Day ~~ Deer Season

Aaron left yesterday to spend the weekend with my parents as today is OPENING DAY of deer season!  For those that aren't from this area, deer season is practically a sacred holiday!  Kids are even excused from school if they're going hunting!  

For at least the last five years, they've gotten NOTHING!  Aaron has been rather bummed out by that, to be sure.   Well, this time, my brother, Johnny, managed to find them some private land to hunt on.   Yippee!    

At 8:30 this morning, my mom called -- THEY GOT ONE!!!!    

I talked to Aaron a little while after that.  Turns out just after walking into the woods, Johnny saw it and shot!    I'm bummed that Aaron didn't get it, but that's OK.  This was his first experience with gutting one, so he still has something to talk about!  They continued hunting for a while and may go back out this afternoon.  They have a bunch of tags to fill up and Aaron is bound and determined to shoot one himself!  

Here's a picture of the deer Aaron sent me from his phone:




I'm so glad he had his phone with him and could take pics and send them to me!   How cool is that!

Doing the Happy Dance here!  

            


Julie

OWWWWWWWWWWWEEE!

OK, this first part happened yesterday, but I didn't have a chance to write anything.  This is too funny to not post!  

Yesterday morning, before going to school, Aaron had to go feed the goats.  I was watching as he walked into the rather open area of the old barn we have here and all of a sudden, he ran back out.  Even from the distance I was at in the house, I could tell something flipped him out.   I thought it was either the skunk that got Maddie last month or maybe the fox that had been seen in the chicken coop and yard recently.  Not so!  

I hollered out to him and asked what was up.  He says something about a dead pigeon landing on him!      In my jammies and slippers, I ran outside to the barn to try to figure out what he was talking about.   Turns out when he walked into that part of the barn, he scared an OWL that had been dining on a PIGEON it had caught.  Aaron's walking into that part of the barn scared the owl to the point that it DROPPED the pigeon it was munching on and it almost landed on Aaron!!!    :lol:   We looked, and there was the dead, bloody, pigeon, laying on the ground, not far from where Aaron had walked into the barn!  What a HOOT!  (No pun intended!)    The sight of that pigeon and Aaron's story actually made it worthwhile to run to the barn in my jammies and slippers and freeze my butt off!    :lol:    I guess it just goes to show that you never know WHAT is going to happen when you live in the middle of nowhere!  

Now onto today!    

Maddie, our goofy, but much-loved German Shepherd has been drinking entirely too much water (LOTS of it), so I took her to the store today as I planned on calling the vet when I got there.  Had I NOT brought her in with me, they would have wanted to see her right away and I would have had to drive all the way home to get her and then all the way to Medford to the vet.  Seeing as I brought her with me, of course, they didn't have an opening until 4 p.m.!    While she would have been much more comfortable staying home, she did great staying at the store with me, and not bothering folks that came in.  Of course, 90% of them had to go up and pet her and she just loved the attention (of course, she gets NONE from us!  ;) )

The good news/bad news is that the vet can't find anything wrong with her.  I brought in a urine sample and they tested that.  Nothing. Then they took some blood and tested that.  Nothing.  I guess that's good and bad . . . she doesn't have a urinary infection, and her kidneys, etc., all tested fine and nothing indicated diabetes.   Now we have to figure out what the real deal is.  It's entirely possible that this is psychological -- as she's got separation anxiety already, and adding another cat to our household could be causing her to act out in weird ways, including drinking too much water, as strange as that sounds.

We now have to measure all the water we put in her bowl and see how much she drinks.   It's a bit difficult as we also have the three cats drinking out of that bowl, but the vet said he can figure that all out.  Once we figure out how much she's really drinking, then we can try to figure out what may be the cause.   So, that's a work in progress.

While I was at the store today, I received a call from Abby's school.  She had been complaining of an upset stomach, so I thought for sure I'd be leaving to pick her up from school.  NOPE!  That sure wasn't it!   The kids had been outside for lunch recess and Abby was, as usual, playing with the boys, and somehow, managed to have a boy's mouth smack her in the head!  I'm not sure who was injured more . . . Abby's head, or the poor boy who managed to CHIP his tooth on Abby's HEAD!      

The nurse was just calling to let me know what happened and it wasn't bad enough that Abby needed stitches, thank goodness!    

Now, before you think I'm a total ghoul, please know that Abby asked me to take a picture of the wound.   The reason she wanted a pic was because she couldn't see it!   The first time she saw what had actually happened was when I took the pic below.  It's not that awful, but if you're squeamish, please don't look!  



I took care to wash her hair tonight and very carefully towel dried it and then put some salve on the injury.  I'm sure she'll be fine!  

Unfortunately, we had some not so good news today, as well.  Greg's Aunt Gladys (83 years old) -- his mother's sister (she lived up the block from us when we lived in Milwaukee -- we've always been rather close to her), was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.  She had a lumpectomy not too long ago and it was thought that they got it all.   We found out today that they did NOT get it all and she is going to have a mastectomy on Friday.   Please, if you could add Aunt Gladys to your thoughts and prayers, we would sure appreciate it.  She's a wonderful lady, and was like a second mom to Greg.  We love her dearly and she's been though a lot in her 83 years.    

I hate to end things on a sad note, and I know Aunt Gladys would, too, so let's end this thinking about Aaron having a dead pigeon dropped on him!    :lol:

Happy Trails!

Julie

Mom learns a lesson! Only took 16 years!

I talked with the Clark County Sheriff the other day.  He agreed with me that what we went through was absolutely unacceptable and would be looked into so that it doesn't happen to someone else in the future.    On Friday, I spoke with a Sgt. at the Sheriff's Department who was assigned to my complaint and spent about 1/2 an hour on the phone with her.  I'm not quite sure that she understood as the kept talking about protocol and which county has to handle what.   Frankly, I don't give a rat's a$$ about that.  I want to know that if I need help from the Abbotsford Police Department after 5 p.m., that I can get in touch with them!   That's all I want.  It seemed that I was finally able to get that through to her and I'm hoping something will be done.   For us, it appears that the easiest way around all of this is to simply call from the store, which is in Abbotsford, which is served by the Clark County Sheriff's Department.   That's no comfort for the folks that live near us and have kids in school in Abbotsford.   I'll be revising my Letter to the Editor and will be sending another letter to the Clark County Sheriff's Department.

Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything from the Marathon County Sheriff's Department, which, in my opinion, is unacceptable.  They will be getting another letter from me asking why they have not bothered to address this issue.

We HAVE taken steps to ensure that we NEVER have a problem like that again and that means that both Aaron and Erica now have their own cell phones.   They were absolutely THRILLED when I gave them each their phones.    At least now, I don't have to worry about being able to contact them and find out where they are when they're not where they're supposed to be!  

Aaron is paying for his monthly bill from his job at County Market, and Erica is paying for her monthly bill by working for me at the store on weekends, withOUT complaint!  That's the biggie -- no complaining!     Today was her first day, and she did GREAT!     Doing the happy dance here!   

Aside from our dealings, or lack of them, with the Sheriff's Departments, we seem to be back to a "normal" pattern of life here, whatever that is!       The store is open on weekends again, so I don't have much time to work around the house and I must say really miss that housework!    :lol:    

For the most part, the house is in good shape, but kids being kids, will try to get away with whatever they can.   When it comes to cleaning a room, they decide who is supposed to do what, and then if that person doesn't do it, it never gets done!  I can holler all I want, and they just say "so and so was supposed to do it."  Then when I talk to "so and so" they claim it wasn't their job.  It's frustrating, to say the least.

Yesterday, I told the kids that they had to clean our office (which THEY dirtied up!), their computer room and the family room.  Those are all rooms in the lower level (we have a tri-level).   However, this time, I told them that I didn't care who did what, or who was "assigned" to do what, but that it had BETTER be done by the time I got home from the store.  If if wasn't cleaned "party ready" (a word I used to use when we'd have birthday parties for them at the house and went nuts cleaning everything!) then ALL of them would lose ALL electronics, including cell phones, TVs, video games, computers, radios, etc.    In essence, EVERYTHING they enjoy!    

Of course, there were huge outcries, but I stood firm.   I don't care how you decide who is supposed to do what.  Work TOGETHER to get the job done and all will be fine.  

At 10 a.m., I got a call from Abby that a friend wanted her to go ATVing with him!   WOW!  How cool is that!  They have two (child size)  ATV's, so she could ride one of theirs.  I told her the lower level had to be done or she couldn't go.  Oh, the outcry!    I reiterated what I said earlier about working together and just doing the work.  Believe it or not, but by noon, they had everything cleaned, put away, dusted and vacuumed!!!!!!!!!!  WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!     I damned near fell over when I saw how nice it looked!  

OK, so it only took me 16 years as a mom to figure all this out, but hey, better late than never!  



So, Abby went ATVing with her friend and is now spending the night there!  No surprise in that!  

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow will be as good a day as today!   

Happy Trails!

Julie

Loose Cow!

After thinking about what happened yesterday, I decided that a letter to the Editor was not good enough.   The crap I had to go through yesterday dealing with both Sheriff's Departments was completely unacceptable.   I ended up revising my letter to the editor and faxing it to the Marathon County and Clark County Sheriffs, with a copy to the Abby Police Chief.     I spoke with the Clark County Sheriff about an hour after sending the fax and he agrees with me that what happened was horrible.   He said that they were going to investigate the matter and get back to me.  I just found out at about 8:30, that I had a message from a Clark County investigator earlier today.  I'll have to call her back tomorrow and go from there.   I'll be sure to let ya'all know the results!  

After reading what a friend wrote on our forum, I realized that it was time for cell phones.  Aaron and Erica both now have cell phones so we'll never have to deal with something like that again.   Aaron is paying me the monthly fees for his, and Erica will work off the monthly fees by working for me at the store WITHOUT complaining!   That's the key -- NO complaining!     She readily agreed!    

If you had asked me five years ago I ever thought Greg would be chasing a cow, the answer would have been a resounding "what are you smoking?"    BUT, that's just what happened today!   :D   Greg was outside around 1 p.m., letting the chickens out and feeding them, when he turned around, and there was a cow in our back yard!   :lol:      He called to tell me he'd be late to come in and help me because he was chasing a cow!    :lol:   He went across the street and it turns out it wasn't their cow!  It was a cow that managed to cross Highway 29 (65 mph speed limit & LOTS of cars/trucks!), and meander into our yard!   By the time he called me back, it was about another 1/2 mile away!  Our neighbor was going to go chase it down with his ATV, as there was no way GREG could chase it!   :lol:  :lol:

This was not the first instance of a loose cow around here, but the first time there was one in our yard!    I wish I had been home to take pictures!  



Happy Trails!

Julie

Things Can Change in an Instant!

Things were going swimmingly today until about an hour or so after I got home!   Erica (our 13 year old) was to go from the Middle/High school to the Elementary School to help with the elementary program and then walk to our store at 5 p.m.  Unfortunately, we had a bit of a communication problem.  As I'm not in the proper frame of mind to deal with this again tonight, I'll simply post a copy of the "Letter to the Editor" that I wrote and sent to our local paper.   That should give a good idea of what we went through tonight.  

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around all of this and work through my feelings, as is Greg.     Maybe tomorrow, I'll be able to see things more clearly.

Dear Editor:

There has to be a better way.  A better way to contact the Colby/Abby Police Department "after hours," that is!  Today (November 6, 2007, at about 5:50 p.m., I was unfortunate enough to need the help of the Colby/Abby Police Department.  When I called the local number, the call was answered by Clark County Dispatch.  Not a problem, . . . or so I thought.  I advised the officer that our 13 year old daughter was supposed to have walked to our store in the mall after helping out at the "after school" program at the Abbotsford elementary school ended at 5 p.m. and was missing.  I wanted to speak to the Colby/Abby police so that we could immediately start a search for my 13 year old.  Visions of the worst and Amber Alerts were floating through my head.  

The Clark County Sheriff's Department advised that we needed to talk to Marathon County because we live in Marathon County (8 miles east of Abbotsford).  When I explained that my daughter was missing from the ABBOTSFORD Elementary School and I needed a Colby/Abby officer, he stated that he'd send an officer to our store to talk to my husband.  Ten minutes later, as I'm speeding back to town to look for my daughter and talk to the local police, I received a call on my cell phone from the Marathon County Sheriff's Department.  Again, I explained that my daughter was missing from Abbotsford and I needed to speak to the Colby/Abby Police immediately.  She put me on hold and contacted the Clark County Sheriff.  Finally I was advised that they (Marathon County) would take the "report," because I live in Marathon County.  We were frantic that something horrible had happened to our daughter and neither Sheriff's Department seemed to care as they were too busy arguing over which department should be helping me!  Not only that, but the Marathon County Sheriff's Department seemed to think that we were dealing with a runaway or that we had a fight with our daughter and she refused to come home.  It didn't register with either department that our daughter was MISSING. 

While on hold with Marathon County, my daughter called me and I advised the dispatcher that I had my daughter and everything was fine.  Due to a lack of communication in our family, we did not know that she was staying at the school until 6 p.m.   There was no one at the school to answer the phone to find out if our daughter was still there and unfortunately, calls to our daughter's "friends" at the school were unhelpful.  Certainly, we need to improve communication in our family and this was a valuable lesson to us.  Unfortunately, a BIG part of that lesson was not to count on the Clark OR Marathon County Sheriff's departments for help!  

There's absolutely no excuse for the runaround we received by the two Sheriff's Departments.  In a town as small as Abbotsford, I don't understand why Clark County did not/would not immediately dispatch an officer to our store in Abbotsford where my husband was waiting.  That's a problem.  A BIG problem.  To receive the runaround I did from not only Clark County but also Marathon County, and to not take a missing child seriously scares the hell out of me!  

The big question is this:  What difference does it make where we live?  What if we still lived in Milwaukee and were just visiting Abbotsford when my daughter disappeared?  Would I then be transferred to the City of Milwaukee Police Department?  After this, I wouldn't be surprised if that's exactly what happened!  I certainly hope anyone living outside Clark County doesn't have a problem requiring police assistance in Abbotsford after 5 p.m.!  

Julie Miklaszewicz, OwnerRVing Outpost, LLC

*This letter is NOT in any way directed at the Colby/Abby police department as they had no knowledge of this incident as it was happening.

One of the things that REALLY got to me was Abby saying "I hope she's OK.  After all, she's my big sister!"   Considering how our kids fight with each other, that just about made me collapse . . .  Even though they fight like cats and dogs, deep down, they really DO love each other!    I guess we're doing something right, after all!  

Thank you, dear Jesus, for keeping our daughter safe!  

Julie

November is here . . .

Well, I guess the holiday season is officially upon us!    November means snow is on the way, and the forecasters are using words like "wind chills" when talking about the outside temps!  

Not much has really happened in the last few weeks.   The most disturbing is that our beloved goat, Blueberry died.  



The only thing we can figure is that it was bloat.   We're still new to goats and as with most folks, figure they can eat anything.   Not true.   The greens that we were getting from the grocery store were most likely the cause.  I've beaten myself up over and over again over this and can only offer that we've learned lessons with Blueberry and the other three goats will have a happy and healthy life with us.  Blueberry will forever be in our hearts.  

Dan and Deb came to visit us for a week in October.  It was lovely to have them visit and I hope they were able to relax a bit and not worry about their motorhome.   They left with a LOT of stuff from the store!   More than I think even they anticipated!   :D    

After Dan and Deb left, we went to the annual Wisconsin Fall Rally at Indian Trails Campground in Pardeeville, WI.  Because it was homecoming weekend, and Erica's on the Flag Brigade at the high school, I left on Thursday with Aaron and Abby.  Greg and Erica drove down Friday after the halftime show at the Homecoming game.   This was the first time I actually drove the 5er without another adult present, and I was a tad nervous, but everything went just fine!    I had beautiful weather to drive in and had absolutely no problems on the road.    

Our friends were very helpful when it came time to get into our site!   They had it all laid out for me:



I had to continue my tradition of NEVER backing into a site at a Wisconsin rally, and we managed to do just that!  It was nice to be pulled into the site, because that way our awning and door were facing the large group campfire.   All our friends helped me to get into the site and get level and otherwise situated.  Aaron is a BIG help and also helped to get everything done and get me unhitched.   All in all, it was a GREAT time with GREAT friends!   It was sad that it was our last outing of the year, but the weather was beautiful, the campfire warm, and lots of liquid refreshments were flowing!   The kids had a great time too, seeing all their old friends.  It's so great that the kids all get along as well as the adults!    

Of course, I did almost all my cooking outside in the Dutch ovens!    We brought the propane burner along and I don't think I'll ever be without it!   I absolutely LOVE it for cooking outside!  



It makes everything so much easier!    I even use it to light my charcoal for the top of the Dutch oven -- a truck I learned from Cee Dub!  

That's about it for now.    

Now that November is here, we're open again on weekends.  It was nice to have the time off and get work done at home, but duty calls!  

Happy Trails!

Julie