JOB HUNT - Looking for the PERFECT JOB



Star Trek Enterprise Worm Hole w/Captain Kirk & Spock

  We took the Worm Hole escape route and immediately began our search for a new job. 

I had no problem landing a job with only one duty:  State the firm command, "Engage!"



Our next task was to find the perfect camp site for the night.  We did!... at Jetty Park for $32.  "Perfect" meant it was dry and the camper was free from flying black marsh fiends.  We slept like hibernating bears in the quiet, flood-free peace. 

Bob found the fishing more than adequate on the Jetty Pier.  He had the best time ever helping an old Korean man haul in 4-foot ribbon fish with teeth that could bite you to the bone!  I turned my attention to the cruise ships and their mobs of whooping, laughing, celebrating passengers.  They were offering $10 day cruises on the casino ships.  Should we join in?

Nah.  Being hard-core about finding a job, we went to Kennedy Space Center.  The Shuttle program has ended, so there's no jobs there....but we learned plans are still active for sending some of us on to Mars.  I signed up.



Camp Hosting on Mars....what have I gotten myself into!???

 

The newest rover.  This one has space suits attached to the back so you can slip in and out of them through a lock so you don't bring clinging space dust into your rover.  Clever.  Perhaps we should do that with our kids so their dirty clothes and muddy shoes never come inside. 

 Bob went for a more technical job...repairing the Hubble Space Telescope...yet another time...from the platform of the International Space Station.  Yes, even though the last Soyuz Rocket failed....(uh, blew up) we are still planning to send up more of our astronauts on these crowded Russian space ships.  We have too!  We have a 3-man crew stranded on the ISS and wanting to come home for Christmas... or sometime in their lives.

Well...we didn't enjoy living apart....so we agreed on a campground hosting position on the MOON.  If you've ever dealt with  Lunar Regolith  ...then you know you've got serious cleaning problems.  We already had enough cleaning problems back on earth.  Our camp site at Jetty Park (#91) had not been cleaned.  The grill was full of ashes and old charcoal and the ground was strewn with litter.  In fact, the entire park needed a lot of picking up and trimming.  I wrote to management and said we'd be happy to workamp for them and get the park in shape.     I got this reply from Ann Johnson within hours:  

Oct 28 - We did try campground hosts several years ago and it did not work out well at all. We will be doing some renovations this year and there are changes I think you will not only like but will enjoy.                                                                                                                               

Ann

WHAT??!!  We'd never heard anything negative about camp hosts before.  What happened?

We took the above litter-strewn path to the campground office.  We talked with the person who checked us into Jetty Park Campground and she knew nothing about problems with onery camp hosts, but she did say they had a job in maintenance for a free site.  Bob was not interested, as we'd heard so many bad/sad stories about "light maintenance".  It's a fact that any and everything can need fixing at any time, so the 20 hours for a site is really 24/7....you are full time.  Most camp hosts have mentally left behind full-time work and aren't suited to it anymore.  So let's keep looking for that perfect job!

List of Jobs Currently Available

Ready to go to work?  Here's a list of jobs put out by "Work for RVers and Campers".
We responded to the following ad from this list....with enthusiasm....but received no reply whatsoever.  We couldn't get even an acknowledgement that our application was received:
FL: Winter Position on Citrus Ranch Near Disney World
Work campers needed. Work on a 2500-acre ranch close to Disney World. Job runs November through April. We have a U-pick citrus grove, old time country store, eco tours, and a camp ground. Please see our website showcaseofcitrus.com for more info about us.  Call Julie at 352-267-9903, if you are interested.

I like this list because it gives a posting date...so you have an idea if the job might already be filled...or so undesirable that no one has responded and the listing is still active. 

There's a free list by Cool Works of jobs you may have never considered...but could have a riot with.

There ARE many, many camp hosting positions that are paid (in real money).  One of the must varied lists of camp host jobs is found at http://www.simplyhired.com/ .  You can get your free spot without even being in a campground.  Another surprising site is jobsonline.net  with an easy search gadget.  You could be involved with anything from camp counseling to RV sales.

Then we checked the list of jobs posted by Happy Vagabonds.  Why not?  You have nothing to lose by applying.  We sent emails and made phone calls (no answers) and we left messages (with no replies).  We'll let you know if these are valuable lists or not....shortly.   [They are...but apply early and expect quite a bit of competition for the job.]

Here's a sample of a job posting that is supposedly available right now:
Workamper Needed at Fishermans Cove Resort
Needed immediately workamper 20 hrs a week in exchange for site and utilities. Duties are cleaning/general maintenance, friendly, relaxed atmosphere, ideal for retired couple, Come and experience our little fishing / resort. Contact Brenda at (941) 729-3685.

Bob called and left messages several times, and I wrote excited emails, because we used to live close to this resort and know (and love) a lot of people in the area.  After two weeks we gave up, as there was no acknowledgment whatsoever of the communications, resume and pictures we'd sent.  The "paradise" the owner of Fisherman's Cove described went up in vapors for us.  [Note:  We did follow up personally on this job lead, and it had been filled as we had supposed.]

Emergency in the Florida Keys

 

Life is more than good at Bahia Honda..... for the mosquitoes.  We just completed our emergency evacuation.   This chair is in our "back yard" breeding ground at the Volunteers' RV parking. The camper in #20 emailed me today (Oct 28th) about their emergency evacuation, after vicious mosquito attacks. And we were informed of at least one other camper who had to get medical attention for their bites. Hurricane Rina is now a tropical storm, which chose The Keys as its dumping grounds for the moisture it's been scooping up in The Gulf. At first a lake rising around us was rather a novelty. Our neighbor, John, just got out his kayak to mock the flood. But then the police boat SANK, Buttonwood Campground vanished under water, and our RV sank ever deeper in the sodden mess.

The brown waters of the campground made islands of the restrooms.  The campers were very brave.  Here's Volunteer Andrew strolling in our front yard.  And the last pictures are of park rangers saving the police boat. 

So...what does one do?  There are better things to do with a life than offer your body as mosquito bait and live trapped in an RV to escape the bugs, mud and weather.  Let's go on an adventure!  We really are in Florida, and our youngest son and his darling family are in Orlando.  Where should we flee?    (2B continued....)

Crazy FUN in The FLORIDA KEYS...now that the storm is over!

Treasure hunting!... not exactly panning for gold.  But the sun came out!    Now it's time to clean up our beaches from all that the storm left behind.  Plastic of all sorts is the main trash item amongst the tonnage of sea grasses and coral that were uprooted by the churning waters.  But thanks to Bob's metal detector, there were coins for the collecting, too.  (You can order your own detector at good-deal prices from the Amazon.com link to the top-right!)  Beach-goers wanted to have some detector fun, too.  We offered to let them try it out, but they said they had to have their own.  Especially fascinating was how many dimes were in the sand offshore.  We're not sure why. 

      We survived the deluge and our campers are on the beach and doing what they came here to do. 

Hurray!  In the photo on the left, the birds have even joined in.          Ahhhh....the Florida Keys at their best.

Bob had been trying his best to get me to take up the fine art of snorkeling.  He'd say, "You have to see the coral beds..."  Well, sadly, today quite a bit of coral washed up from the storm and is bleaching in the sun.  I picked some pieces out of the smelly sea weed piles and made my own coral viewing area...and I didn't even have to deal with a mask filling up with water to view it.   >> sputter<<     >>sputter<<    Below are my films of an "undersea adventure" on Loggerhead Beach, Bahia Honda.

Mosquito Control? They control YOU!

I had NO idea living with mosquitoes could lead to insanity.  No idea!  We've all dealt with them...and wondered why they are part of God's creation.  We've deeted them, zapped them, slapped them, cursed them....  Once we had a world-record mosquito infestation while staying at a cabin in Yellowstone Park.   I used a steno notebook, which I'd snap shut on the swarms, and then check out the rorschach block their blood-bloated bodies would leave (for careful analysis).  The Rorschach inkblot test revealed these pests are evil.  I prefer to donate blood when a friend or next of kin is in need. 

Part of One-Night's Collection

So why did I slip into the insane mode?  Hundreds of them would attack me at night.  I'd stay up with our zapper and hear the mighty crack and witness the blazing light as they went up in smelly smoke.  After a week of sleepless nights I collected some of their bodies and put them on my work shirt for a picture because I felt no one would believe my reasons for being incapacitated and having to send Bob into work alone.   Only a new mother could relate to my complete loss of well-being. 

How were these little buggers getting into our RV?  Did one of the workers who threw our rig together have a "woops" moment and drill a hole in the wrong place?

Our Grandson, Arden, demonstrates the proper use of a Bug Zapper

So...if I did get to sleep at night, the sound of incoming (bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz) would jerk me upright.  Those invasive critters would even fly up my nose!  Turning on the light inevitably revealed rows of mosquitoes lined up on the wall next to me like B-52 bombers on a runway.  This was worse than a nightmare.  I had so many swollen bites on my face I looked like a teenager again, with cystic acne!  Yuk....I'd already done that mega-zit thing and wasn't liking revisiting that place.  I used up my tube of hydrocortisone.  I needed gallon size, as honestly bites were everywhere on my body....even places I just would not be able to show you.

I scanned the internet for any assistance, as all of my "Deep Woods" potions were ignored by these sturdy swamp flying needles.  Thousands of products swam before my blitzed eyeballs.  I knew sleep was the answer, but my tension level had made even rest impossible.  The zapper wasn't the only thing snapping!  But...wait...I found an Army Surplus ad that could be my salvation.  Oh, yeah.

Now....for $4.25, including shipping, and delivery within a few days...can you see the results?  We're talking life-changing confidence has infused my chewed up body.  We're going to sleep tonight!  (I can only hope.)  Write me, if you want to know if this worked:  camphost.white@gmail.com

Do I really sleep in my work clothes?  I'm not saying.

October 24, 2011 - It's a few days later.  And I have to admit, I've been crying.  Wimp?  Yes, I confess.  These black swamp devils (I swear) have been ANGRY with my face net.  They buzz viciously and throw their bodies with all their might against the netting.  Where my nose touches the net, they've bit me without conscious.  The rains have kept us from going anywhere, but yesterday we finally got out and bought some metal mesh to cover any and all vents.  I went to bed with fresh confidence.  I didn't even wear my head-net and (for once) went right to sleep and had a delicious dream that I had a swimming pool filled to the top with raspberry sherbet ice cream. 

Then the mosquito from hell raged at me.  How could something so tiny make such a HUGE sound of outrage??!!??  Never have I heard the sound of such rage.  I jumped out of bed so fast I got a monster leg cramp and fell into our tiny bathroom.  I grabbed our Bug Zapper in self defense.  Mr. Horror, I could see, had a whole fleet of backup pests.  No!  They were still getting in from somewhere.  No sense sleeping...so I'm here at the computer asking YOU...where do you think the entry point is?  Help!

UPDATE:  As of October 26, 2011, I'm still covered with nasty, swollen bites.  Each bite is topped off by an impressive pustule.  Itchy, ugly sores!  Bob has covered every entry point we can think of with aluminum mesh, and caulked every opening or crack.  But I still spend my mornings and evenings trapped in the RV (and even this very moment!) swatting at the black demons with our bug zapper.  This picture of my chewed-up nose was taken before the swelling and pustule formation.  [I have killed 4 mosquitoes in the time it took me to complete the previous sentence!]  And now Hurricane Rina is bringing more water for even more extended breeding grounds.  Help!  I'm sick, insane and apparently allergic to these fiends of nature.

Fabulous FHE on LDS Temples

We missed this recent FHE.  Que lastima!   Here's all 18 Grandkids at Dr. Phil's Home on Phillip's Street...ready to learn!

Here's a musical version of topics the lesson covered (for you to play).  If you're not familiar with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FHE = Family Home Evening.  It's a wonderful (and essential) opportunity to teach one another The Gospel of Jesus Christ.   And oh how the world can benefit from His teachings right now.  Our only child not at this FHE is in Afghanistan.  Pray for our military.  The difficulty of their job is beyond most of our understandings.

Anni is giving the lesson to all of our children (except one) and their spouses and the 18 grandkids.  After the lesson we sing "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree", pray, and then have TREATS. 

My darling sister, Cupcake (on the left) and my cute brother, Dewey (on the right) and gorgeous cousin Laura (in the very back) joined the lesson.

So why do we build temples?  And why do we visit so often?






Flood inThe Florida Keys! Weather Report

October 17, 2011, brings another 24 hours of rain. Our RV is sinking in the quick sand, as Bob inspects our neighbor's new half-acre lake. We've got our rocking camp chairs set up under the Gumbo Limbo Trees, but there's no using them today. We've been watching NOAA radar images for days. Bahia Honda Key has been lit up in dark orange bands... Scary enough to stay home from church and skip the 7-mile bridge ride in a cross wind! The storm is just getting some real muscle when Bob says to grab our $1,200 Sony HDR-DX550 camera and wade out to take some footage. I don't know.... It's mighty wet out there....   Handycams don't like soakings.

Our host carts leave wakes?

 

Cars aren't supposed to leave a wake!

Here's a link to the NOAA Radar for The Keys: http://radar.weather.gov/radar_lite.php?rid=byx&product=NCR&loop=yes

Equipment - Buy it B4 you reach your Host Site

We came "naked" into the Keys. We went crazy trying to find scuba gear and even simple things like a pink "noodle" so I could float about the aqua-blue tropical waters.   I really needed an HDMI cable.  We couldn't get TV reception.  Three months was too long for Bob to go with his news shows.  But if we had a cable, we could watch things off of the computer on the HD big-screen TV.  Isn't it silly sometimes what we think we must have?

But some camp hosts lack even the necessities....like the couple who landed in Southern Utah and found they were without an electric hookup.  It's tough to get comfortable when the temperatures are pushing 100 and you have no A/C.  It was also tough to locate a battery-operated fan and an outdoor extension cord and small portable refrigerator when the nearest store of any kind was over 30 miles away.  

I found the solution.  Just order what you need from amazon.com and have it delivered.  Start here:

Your only worry is getting your delivery address correct.  Have fun!

Funeral Counselor Bob's FREE Tips (from his pre-host life)

Bob in his Official Funeral Attire ($600 suit)

Tragic deaths, no funeral plans, grieving families being taken advantage of.... I've seen it all.
After years of working with people and seeing the funeral business from the inside out... I have to share tips to help family members get the best possible treatment when that time of loss comes. I want to see you being treated fairly!

Here's Bob's free Guide to Pre-planning Funeral Services: It is such an emotional time, infused with a high level of confusion, that a lot of advance thinking on the subject is needed to help make things go as well as they can at the time of need. I would like to start out with a few important points of understanding that will be of help to you while facing the responsibility of taking care of a deceased loved one. The last thing that should happen to you is to be taken by the Funeral Business.

1. Funerals are for the living, not the dead. If you are anticipating a death, take care of the details in advance with the funeral home. If you have had an unexpected death and have to deal with a funeral home, read and study the next expense tips with extra care.

2. Understand that the mark-up on caskets is between 200% and 350% in most cases, and with casket discounters the mark-up drops to around 35% to 70%. Tip........ when given the the casket price at a funeral home tell them that in order to get your business they will have to drop their prices to match the outside-of-funeral-home open market prices... If they start telling you that your loved one deserves a higher quality casket and that the higher price reflects quality and more padding and added water protection, you will need to change your selection of a business to work with. Yes, there are some differences with quality, but not to the degree that you would pay $3000 more for the same unit elsewhere. Most casket lines start at the low end at around $1000 and go into the high end at up to $10,000. The $10,000 dollar casket might only cost the firm $1650 in some cases. In almost all cases the outside appearance of cheaper discounted caskets is good looking and offers similar construction. Get a better price on the casket.

3. Do not get caught up in the vault upgrade. Vaults are mostly made of concrete and choices are advertised as "regular" and "water resistant". Some have copper linings and some have plastic. Tip...... For a long time you would hear the funeral director say something like, "This vault will keep your loved one dry and out of the water". The Federal Trade Commission has now mandated that the industry can only say, "water resistant", meaning that all vaults will eventually allow water to seep in. The wholesale cost (to the company) of the regular vault is currently around $150 to $225. The more expensive "sealed" or water resistant vaults cost the company $350 to $450. Knowing these numbers will help guide you in your purchase.

4. "Professional Services" covers embalming, cosmetics, transporting remains to a chapel for service, transporting flowers, and set up at location and transport to graveside for burial. Tip...... The big decision here is whether to have a graveside funeral or a chapel service. Both have their pluses and minuses, but the thing to remember at this point is the cost. Funeral director expenses need to be earned and paid--they have to make some money to be in business. The thing to keep in mind is that I have seen these expenses vary by 2 to 3 thousand dollars. Call around before you need to in order to select where you want to do business. Ask the question: "How much are professional services?"

5. Cemetery Costs - The main expense of the cemetery, which may be considered a separate cost from the funeral home if the cemetery does not own the funeral home, is opening and closing of the grave site. Other costs would be the vault setting fee and the marker. Tip......Markers can be purchased outside the funeral home or in the funeral home. A significant savings can be had by using an outside source. Cemeteries make a fortune on opening and closing fees...often times becoming abusive with their charges. It takes about 25 minutes for a well-trained worker to prepare a grave site. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes for two workers to cover it over and replace the grass. The cemetery is probably paying a total of $40 for wages and about $100 for rental on the back hoe, so this can be a guide for estimating the actual cost.

6. Limo upgrades, cards and programs to hand out at the funeral, and death certificates. The company makes high profit on these options. Depending on how you are handling everything, you may do the funeral service program and/or cards on your word processor and have it printed off at a fraction of what you would be charged. Death certificates are important to get, and the price is regulated by the state you live in. Usually 4-8 of these will do the job. You will need them for insurance companies and Social Security notification. They generally cost from 5 to 10 dollars a piece.

7. Obituaries have gotten out of hand as far as expense is concerned. The funeral home gets a small kick back from the newspaper when they put an obit in for you. About 20 years ago newspaper companies did this for free but have discovered a huge profit in charging. Tip....... The service a funeral home provides to handle the obituary is a good one. People want to be notified of the death and informed of any services. But the time to say all of those nice things about the deceased is before they die, so they can benefit from your kind words. Generally, the shorter the better and also the less expensive. Try not to go on and on...just so it "looks good" or the deceased seems "important". It is an emotional time, but any regrets you may have cannot be redeemed by throwing money at the funeral. The extra money you will save will provide a good family get together after the services and meaningful memories.

By looking this page over and using it as a guide you will be ready to do business and take care of matters. Please feel free to post your encounters so others can learn. I can try to answer questions if you email me at camphost.white@gmail.com . Generally the people who work in the funeral business are good people, but they are being pushed very hard to upgrade and capture the business.

Remember, if you say, "Look... if you want my business, you will have to work with me or else I will go somewhere else," you should be protected from any salesman who tries to take advantage of your emotional need to "do the best you can" for the deceased. Funerals really are not for the deceased.

Get to know Bob, retired from the funeral business, but feeling obligated to help family members get fair treatment when that time of loss comes.

WOW! Florida Keys Water Views

Bahia Honda State Park - Jeff and Stan Jump from Bridge

Required Disclaimer: Please don't repeat this stunt. Jeff says, "If it wasn't dangerous it wouldn't be cool." The key word here is DANGEROUS! A Ranger pointed out to Jeff and Stan, "Surviving this was an act of God.. .. on occasion our biggest job is simply protecting the public from themselves..."

15ft Hammerhead Shark Eats My Tarpon!

Some of the deepest channels in the Keys are near Bahia Honda, so our jumpers may have been shark bait. Personally, I'd worry more about jumping onto some rebar from Flagler's failing bridge

Bahia Honda State Park is such a wondrous place...from our "achingly beautiful" beaches to our camp sites cut out of the jungle. Come visit us and go on an iguana hunt!

Camp Hosts - Is there such a thing as a bad one?

Are you kidding? Camp Hosts are the hardest working, friendliest, most giving people we have ever worked with. And we've had a TON of jobs. (Just look at our business card collection some time.) Here at Bahia Honda they work until they are soaked in sweat or rain (or both) despite ravenous, agressive mosquitoes, plastic-eating rats, scorpions and never-ending beach garbage that washes in from ??? (We don't know where from, or we could send it back.) Above Thel is happily greeting visitors from all over the world in the Nature Center, and Theresa has just ended a tough shift of cleaning bathrooms, shower houses, emptying garbage, picking up trash, etc., and she's still here with her generous smile...ready to give you a hug, if you're needing one.

The EZ-Go electric vehicles cost thousands of dollars per year to maintain. The high UV index, coral dust and gusting salty sea winds keep the repairs coming. The keys are made of the remains of an ancient coral reef, so the tires don't have a chance running over cutting coral chunks. We know! Our first day on the job we had a huge "firecracker" thrown under our EZ-Go, and we came to a sudden halt....only to discover a front tire had blown out (with a BOOM) after its coral encounter.

So...did I answer the question? Are there bad hosts? NO, emphatically, "no"....we have never found a bad camp host...after a life time of camping. My hypothesis: They don't exist, so the question was not necessary.

Florida Keys Cuban Crisis

 go to http://youtu.be/PvNuxTM19Dk  to see the above Cuban Refugee Boat video on YouTube
(if you can't get this to play on this page....)

Every Friday the volunteers have a happy hour at John and Thel's site...I think it's at their spot because they are veteran volunteers and kindly shepherd us "new kids" when we need it.  This Friday one of the park rangers started telling the story of an unsinkable refugee ship that was paddled ashore not long ago on Bahia Honda State Park.  It was not unbelievable that they made it safely here from Cuba, as their "ship" did not even sink when it was shot through with a bullet or two.  It's "secret for success" was masses of styrofoam encased in sturdy gunny sacks, reinforced with steel reebar.    No, the amazing part of the story was that every Cuban who puts a foot on dry ground is awarded $10,000 (kids, too) and given every assistance to set up a new life in Florida.  If they didn't get all of the way up on the beach, they were taken back to Cuba, where they would be put in Cuban prisons.  But then the stories really started flowing.  There was the refugee who collected for his entire family, used $5,000 of the cash award for a down payment on a new boat, which he promptly used to haul 28 more Cuban refugees back to Florida, charging them $5,000 cash per person!  I thought if any of this could be true, I should have heard something about it before.

I checked out Catholic Charities of Central Florida to confirm the "wet foot/dry foot" stories we'd heard.  Another ranger said the Cubans were so anxious to be quickly picked up by authorities that once they came on shore at this park, they'd go right to the concession stand and wait for someone to "turn them in".  What?  Why would that be?   John, our host, told us that one night he heard a large group of refugees coming ashore right behind his trailer...cheering, because they had stepped on dry ground.  Another day John saw one in an inflatable boat, lined with spray-in foam, unable to land and he threw him a rope.  Was this refugee guaranteed a $10,000 grant and full services?  ...or were these just happy-hour-stories?

Here's what I found out:  "Once a person or family is enrolled they receive the following services:

• community orientation services
• financial assistance
• employment assistance
• referrals to local agencies for additional services

Eligibility for services is limited to those individuals with Refugee, Asylee, Cuban/Haitian entrant or Amerasian status. Program enrollment must occur within 30-days of arrival or in the case of asylees, within 30-days from the date asylum was approved."  [So that would explain why the rush to be apprhended.]  But I couldn't find specified cash award amounts.

Wouldn't it be cool 2B Cuban?  Viva los Cubanos!

In one sense it almost seems like a bribe for Cubans to risk their lives to reach our shores.  But isn't the aim to relieve suffering and oppression?  I admit I have a bias here.  My own grandparents were immigrant "refugees"... wanting religious freedom.   They certainly struggled.   I wonder how different life would have been for them if they'd received assistance.

Viva Cuba Libre!

Paradise? The majority of camp hosts say "YES"...

 There are 3 camping areas.  We've only been trained in this section so far (with the RVs in Buttonwood Campground)... as of Oct 8, 2011.   In the very center of this picture is the camper marina where Bob has been doing his fishing.  It's wildly alive with fish.  Don't try to count them.  Hundreds of hosts apply for Bahia Honda SP...and keep trying for years.  You are supposed to have a minimum of 500 volunteer hours to even apply.  We came with zero.  We just happened to submit an online application at the exact time another set of hosts had to decline their "place in the sun".  We work 3 days on and 4 days off.  We've explored the other keys this week and are well satisfied we landed in the best one!

Take your shoes off and relax a while....