Day in the Life--Tuesday

We talk a lot around here about all the different crazy things we do in the course of a day, and what the list would look like if we wrote down everything we did, etc, etc. Today I decided to take some photos of what I do, and it occurred to me tonight to do a week of Day in the Lifes. If I'd thought of it earlier, I would have taken more photos today--pancakes lined up on the griddle would have spoken nicely--but we'll see how this goes. I may need a little license later in the week when I finally get some days off, but we'll start with good intentions.

Tuesday (not that it matters) at Deer Hill:
6:20: alarm goes off I'm totally out. Put my sweatshirt on to walk to the Homestead because it's much colder now than it will be in an hour. The Homestead is hopping--unusual at this hour--because 2 of us are on breakfast and 2 more have to sit at the end of the driveway waiting for the Sysco truck that was due yesterday.

7:00: report for breakfast Mrs. Owner is in Durango today, so D. & I are on our own. Most of the stuff she told us to serve is expected in the still-tardy Sysco order, so we improvise a lot. I make 50 or so pancakes--only 1 group in basecamp this morning, and a handful of staff.

8:00: kids come in So does Sysco. Just at the point I would have sat down to eat pancakes, I help put food away instead. I've been eating the broken ones anyway. Since this is an in-house group, they do the dishes, while I help wipe surfaces, sweep, put leftovers away.

9:00: Daily basecamp meeting. Seth goes over what needs to be done today and assigns specific people to be responsible. 3 folks will be doing shuttles to Utah, 3 of us will have to handle everything else around here.

9:30: Set off to check "ZOR"s--Zones of Responsibility. Mine are the house, the Backcountry Pantry, the River Room, and the Sweat Lodge. House--take out bathroom trash, wipe sink/counter, sweep. BCP--floor is a mess...sweep. River Room--always a mess. Try to fix sleeping bag kid turned in yesterday...discover it's fine. Scoff at tag on one tent claiming broken poles...it's just missing the convenience cord that holds the segments together, but is perfectly functional. Sweep River Room.

10:15: Start my project for today...making "cases" for satellite phones out of an old sleeping pad. I was reluctant to volunteer for this, but find I quite enjoy it. I get to slice up the pad and duct tape it into a phone cozy. I go crazy with this and make insulaters for my Nalgene bottles, too. Some of this happens in the afternoon, though, because...

10:45: Store hit. Kids back from mountains and going home tomorrow want merchandise; I sell a lot of t-shirts and hats. I'm supposed to have help, but G. just comes in and fools around while I deal with kids. I like jobs like this, where I get to work directly with the participants. When everyone's gotten all the Clif Bars they need, I clean up and sweep (I do a lot of sweeping). The floor looks like everyone's shaken out their incoming gear.

11:30: Getting out of the store, I'm late for lunch prep, but the kids are doing a sweat lodge this afternoon, so they're only having salad, rolls, and fruit anyway. Diane, the cook, has made peanut butter bars for the staff, which we eat ridiculous amounts of while tearing lettuce. Staff gets to eat a real lunch at 12:30. It's just leftovers, but it's a helluva spread. Way too much, in fact. We joke around, then clean it all up. I have time to finish my phone cozies.

2:00: One of the duckies has a hole in it. Seth shows me how to mix the glue, apply 2 coats, then heat it and patch it. I leave it under a rock to dry and will have to check on it tomorrow. I get a few moments' peace in the carport while waiting for the glue to dry.

3:00: RMA is back! A group of middle schoolers, they're done with service and doing a layover at basecamp before going to the mountains. They've got a ton of gear to deissue. Service means tools, and, since the reservations are so hot, usually all the food is spoiled. I help empty the coolers and put salvageable food away. The girl I'm working with is eager to push the wheelbarrow. We have to make a couple trips to the kitchen to return the unused canned goods and condiments, and put the ice jugs back in the freezer.

4:00: I leave RMA to finish up while I make a P&D run for Diane. They take it on faith when I say to put in on the Deer Hill account, but who else would buy 6 cartons of eggs, 5 packages of French bread rolls, 4 bags of pepperoni, and 2 watermelons? It's such a small store and we need such huge quantities, we frequently clean them out of odd items. I load it all in the "Blue Whale", our '91 Suburban, and bring it back to the kitchen.

5:00: Dinner prep. Complicated tonight because AP is having their bye-bye barbecue, but RMA isn't. One dinner outside, one in the house. The kitchen is a zoo. I chop tomatoes, array cheese, put out picnic tablecloths, and gather items to carry down to the picnic area. This all takes forever.

6:15: Dinner is finally served. One of the program leaders is apoplectic because the food varies a bit from the "traditional" Deer Hill barbecue. This happens a lot. She placates herself by finding some tortilla chips to add to the spread. The kids crowd around these instead of helping to bring food down.

6:30: Staff are just digging in. One of the office staff has brought her kids to join us, and we're having a great time. Unfortunately, the AP kids are just about done eating, so we need to trek back up to the house and bring out the ice cream. Mr. Owner has come out by this time to watch us carefully and point out every mistake or oversight. Program Leader is beside herself because, even though the kids have ice cream and chocolate cake, there's no chocolate syrup or almonds. Must go to the house and locate these items. Nobody eats the almonds.

7:15: Clean-up time. The 3 of us who are here today are responsible for everything, but we get a lot of help from all (or most) present. TONS of food to put away, and everything needs to be spic-and-span to start over tomorrow. A few kids have decided to have a cake fight, so there's whipped cream all over the floor. I get outside for a while, cleaning and folding picnic tablecloths. D. mops, which means I don't have to. This hasn't happened to me on night crew in a long time. I stick around and find stuff to do until he's done because I hate being the last person working.

8:05: Dodging sprinklers and portable horse corral, I take the garbage to the dumpster. Done! Now do I relax or get out of here.

8:30: Cutting it close, but I head to Mesa Verde to catch the Tuesday program. This guy's actually got pictures to go with his talk. The topic is what the Ancestral Puebloans ate. Lots of corn. And eggs from their turkeys. I think this talk was the most interesting so far. I sit in the parking lot for a bit afterwards to plan my upcoming backpacking weekend in peace.

10:30: Back at Deer Hill. I should go to bed, but I want to blog first. Have to upload some photos.

11:36: Finishing blog post. Need to get ready for bed and walk up to my tent. Hoping to get a bit of Bryson read tonight. Tomorrow looms.