Thursday, July 7, 2005

Bit of an update from the ranch

Hello everyone!

Well, I’m finally getting a chance to write a bit here. I ended up having to come back early from lunch because my boss had to make a run into town; so, I decided that I would use some time now to send a note to you guys!

Anyway, it’s hard to concentrate in this office at the moment because the other girl who works here is a chatter-brained twit. She is barely over 21 and she yaks on constantly about which guy likes her now and which ex-boyfriend she wants to get back with. Plus, she’s got a fouler mouth than I do, and that’s really saying something. It actually bothers me sometimes, but at least she’s able to rein herself in in front of the guests. *sigh*

Anyway, she just stepped out for a minute, so now’s my chance to actually get some typing done! Where to start….

Well, first of all, this place is GORGEOUS. Hard as hell to get to, but still beautiful. I could look at the scenery here forever. Sitting out on the back deck of the stone longhouse I live in, I have a view of the horse corral in the distance, with mountains surrounding it and a lake in the distance. I can’t get over the beauty of the mountains…they are amazing. It has an almost dream-like feeling to it. It’s like that movie “The Village”, where they’re surrounded by forest on all sides….that’s kind of what it’s like living in this clearing in the middle of pine-covered mountains.

As far as the people go, well most of them are exceedingly nice. I live in Pioneer, which is the all-female lodge. The other women who live there are very friendly. There is one woman, nick-named Corky, who is the head of housekeeping. She is probably close to 60. She was in the Army (says she was in Vietnam) and is a very grizzly sort of woman….ridden hard and hung up wet, as they say. She’s pretty gruff, but mostly very friendly. And, because she’s the head of housekeeping, it is VERY important to be on her good side. So far, she has helped put my room together and gotten me some stuff that I need, so I think I’m on her good side for the time being. She got me some slats for my bed (I’m the only one in my house that has a real bed frame—everyone else has bunkbeds) by taking off 3 shelves from her bookshelf. That was very kind of her, except that they are too long to fit correctly in the frame, so they poke up on the side, leaving my bed lying at a slant. Oh well… J And she nailed my curtain up over my window, in lieu of using a curtain rod, but she assures me that she will “appropriate” a rod from someone else’s window soon.

At least I have my own room. That is a BIG deal. It means I get to decorate a little (with stuff left over from my cubicle at the Press Citizen which was still hanging out in the trunk of my car), which makes my room a little homier. Homely, but homey---that’s my room. Plus, I’m right across from the bathroom, which is a huge bonus. The house is long, with a narrow hallway down the center and rooms off of that. At the end of the hallway there is a large lounge with a huge fireplace, couches, refrigerator, and a satellite-enabled TV. The ladies gather there at the end of the night to bitch about guests, watch crappy TV, drink, and smoke. A huge portion of the people here smoke, which is repulsive, and I’m sure that I will return home with all of my clothes reeking of it. Ugh.

But, having the fireplace is really nice. Corky loves it, so she makes a point of having a fire in it every night. Last night my boss, Deb (who lives there with us), made some S’Mores for everyone as we were sitting around chatting. It was so cozy! Right up until the point when Deb and I tried to watch “The Daily Show” or “Sabrina” (the original movie), and Corky said that she was going to punch a hole in the TV if she had to watch either one. I truly believe she was not joking. So, we ended up watching everyone’s favorite, “The Golden Girls”. It wasn’t too bad, but sort of a waste of satellite TV, in my opinion.

As far as my job goes, it seems to be progressing well. Today I actually was allowed to answer phones and try to talk to customers about booking rooms and such. There are so so so many details to remember that I can’t believe I will ever learn them by the end of the summer. This is the annoying girl’s second summer here, so she knows all the stuff and likes to boss me around. Thanks to her I was treated to my first experience of being told by someone younger than myself to fetch her things from around the office, so naturally I am inclined to want to break her neck.

Aside from having to listen to constant Cali-speak (the annoying girl is from San Diego), my office experience here is thus far very good. The boss is highly reminiscent of Henry Phillips of Press Citizen fame, so that will probably end up being a challenge to my patience. His name is Dick, so that just figures.

Anyway, I think my free time is up, so I need to let you go and get back to the grind. I hope that everyone is doing well and I’ll write again soon!

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