Monthly Archives: June 2016

I Like It Here!

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Hello Everyone!  I’m back, your favorite blog posting full-time dog!

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Keeping my peeps informed!

I am really enjoying my time here in Moran, WY just outside Grand Teton National Park.  My parents have found a dog friendly work camping job.  I am not allowed to go in or near the rental cabins, so I can’t go to work with them (I would be good at licking up all the crumbs on the kitchen floors in the cabins!), but having 100 acres to roam around, is doggie paradise! (even if there are 6 other big dogs on the property)

Before I talk about my current activities here, I will get you caught up on what I have been up to the last few months.  After leaving Florida, we went back to my favorite “campground”, Camp Meyer.  (Dan’s sister and brother in laws house).  I have the full reign of the facilities, and they have several acres to roam around on.  I was able to visit with my great nieces.  They gave me lot’s of attention and snacks!

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Teaching Ellie about treats!

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Raya and Leia playing with me

I briefly visited with my doggie cousins Rudy and Reagan, who, after sniffing my butt, pretty much ignore me now.  My kitty cousins were not happy I was eating their food, and Bandit hissed and pawed at me quite a bit.  Callie was much nicer to me this time and Jonell’s sister Margie and her husband Greg always treat me well!

Veterinarian Visit

As many of you may recall, last year my doctor was concerned about my weight, and said I needed to lose 1/2 pound.  This year I weighed in 3 ounces MORE than last year!  But, the doctor noticed I was much leaner and more muscular, and had a low heart rate, so he was very happy with my appearance this year.  I am a lean, mean, football playing machine!!

My parents were concerned about my scratching and licking my butt for the past couple of months.  They thought it was fleas and fire ant bites from Florida.  Turns out, my anal glands were full (sorry if this is grossing you out, but this can be an issue with us dogs!).  In 9 years of living, I have never had that problem. The doctor was able to “express” them, and boy did that make me feel better!

The doctor recommended that I have some canned organic pumpkin to eat (a teaspoon or so with my food).  I guess that helps keep things from clogging up!

After my doctors visit, I joined my mom for her annual patio beers with her friend Amy, and I made a new friend, Taco.  Taco and I really got along, once he stopped poking around my rear end!

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did you get your anal glands expressed?

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My buddy Taco and I

And now back at the ranch…

There are miles of walking trails all over the property here.  Just look at this view I have every day. You can see my path just goes on and on.   It truly is doggie heaven!

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A dog’s dream field

I have been marking my spots all over the field, as there are all kinds of wildlife that come through this field.

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The owners have about 11 horses on the property.  I was pretty scared of them at first, and when we went walking with my parents friends and co-workers Karen and Al, I stood behind Al while he pet the horses.  But then I warmed up to them, and realized they had no interest in sniffing my but, despite their large noses.  They are obviously civilized animals!

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Al is protecting me!

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you have a big nose Mr. Horse

There were cows on the property for a few weeks, but they have been moved to higher elevations for the summer.  I was reprimanded for going under the fence to get a better view of them!

 

My parents have started allowing me to go off-leash on the property for part of our walks.  But, after a few drop and rolls in some big horse poop, I have been warned I may lose my off leash privileges.

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I have to stay out of the piles to keep my freedom!

I’m glad that I took agility class, because I have to be careful crossing over the cattle guards when I am carrying my football out to the playing field.

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walking a straight line

Unfortunately, my mom broke a bone in her foot last week.  She was carrying their laundry basket down the steps inside the 5th wheel, and didn’t see her shoes at the bottom of the steps, stepped on them and fell.  So she is in a walking boot for the next 6 weeks, which means we won’t be doing this for a while.

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Mom and I. Cabins in the background.

But my dad is still taking me out to play, and hopefully he will take me out for some long walks.  I miss those.  It’s such a pretty area for us dogs and being off leash to bound around the ranch is awesome!

Take care everyone, and thanks for following along with me!

Quote for the day:  “I have a simple philosophy.  Fill what’s empty.  Empty what’s full.  Scratch where it itches.”  – Alice Roosevelt Longworth

 

Work Camping at Luton’s Cabins

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Two weeks of work have flown by, which is always a good thing!  I must admit, it is nice to be back to work, and our bank account and my Fitbit are happy as well.  For the next four months, we will be working at Luton’s Teton Cabins, located just east of Grand Teton National Park.  This is the view we see every day from work!

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Grand Teton Range

Our job for the summer is cleaning and  maintaining the 14 cabins on the property. There are 3 other couples, and one single that we are working with.  We have a nice group of work campers for the summer.  Now cleaning cabins may not sound like the most glamorous job, but these cabins are so well maintained, that cleaning them is a breeze.  Brad and JoAnn Luton, the owners, have done an excellent job of maintaining these cabins over the years.  They actually built each cabin back in the early 1990’s, and have a tried and true method of keeping them looking brand new.  It’s easy to clean something that is already clean.

With our job, we work as a 4-5 person crew in cleaning each cabin.  There are three levels of service that we do:  Makeup, sheet change and check out.  Everyone rotates through the various jobs on each cabin:  bathroom, vanity, supplies, makeup beds or sheet changes, dusting/oiling, windows, vacuum, floor and final check.  The first two weeks, we have not been at 100% occupancy, which has helped as everyone is still learning the jobs, and what is expected.  By this weekend, we should be full (schools are letting out!), and we will get into a good routine.

We start work at 9:00am, so we need to leave our RV by 8:59am, as we have a 1 minute walk to the time clock!  Although it’s been in the 30’s in the morning, most guests have left for the day, so we can get started on the cabins right away.  Because we have not been at full capacity, we have only been working 4-6 hours each day.  Since this is a very physical job, we are happy to have the shorter days to start with.  But that will change by this weekend!

Here are a few photos of the cabins.

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PERKS

In addition to getting paid for all hours worked (and Wyoming has no state income tax), we have a 50 amp  full hook-up site for free.  There are five sites behind the cabins, strictly for the work campers.  This is our site.

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And the view out the back of the site is very nice as well.  It is a very peaceful, serene place (and it’s all free!)

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view behind our site

Other perks include free use of the on-site laundry room, including the use of the industrial washer/dryer, which is great for super large loads and comforters.  We generally average about $30/month on laundry, so this is a nice little savings.

Since the closest major city with a grocery store, Jackson, is 30 miles away, the Luton’s have also provided a freezer and an extra refrigerator for use by the work campers to store extra food. There are a couple of convenience stores that are within a few miles, but they only carry a limited supply of groceries.

All of the cabins have full kitchens, and many guest will leave food behind when they leave (since many people fly to this area).  All that food gets put into another refrigerator, and we all take turns picking over the leftover items.  So far there has been bacon, ice cream, pizza, butter, cheese, yogurt, bread and more to pick from.  And, some of our guests have left tips as well.  The money goes into a tip jar to be evenly split up among the nine of us throughout the summer.

We were also told we would have free, fast Wi-Fi this summer as well.  We were very surprised at just how fast it has been.  This was a speed test that Dan did the other day.  It was the fastest we have ever registered.

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There are several walking trails on the 100 acre property (Makena will have more to say about them in a future blog).  We have also been into the park a few times, and plan to spend a lot more time exploring the park this summer.  The Tetons, unlike Yellowstone, is a bicycle friendly park, so we plan on exploring by foot and bicycle this summer.

Quote for the day:  “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.” – Ann Landers