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Sometimes things happen that make my job of running a prison store fun and rewarding. Lately, along with a few of the other kind, I’ve had a few of those nice kind of days. Now, the facility where I work is a minimum security men’s prison, or “Honor Camp”, as it is often referred to in the community. Most of the inmates do labor in the surrounding areas most of the year, and many of these are “fire trained”; that is, they go out on fire crews and help ‘civilian’ firefighters battle the blazes in peak fire season; that is: Now. This year, there are a lot of blazes to battle, and many of them rather near by. When they are working a fire, the inmates get a little bit of time off their sentence, and also made a little bit of money. So, when guys have been out fighting fires in hot, dirty and exhausting situations and also have a little money on their books, the camp store is pretty important to them. I was NOT winning a popularity contest when I told them the store computer was down and would be so for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, I opted to go into work on Monday rather than use up my vacation. There is always cleaning, restocking and ordering that can be done after all.
I arrived at work at my usual time and repeated “No Store” a dozen times before reaching the Canteen. Calling Jackson, I finally got an answer as to when my computer might again be operational: “A week from Wednesday, someone will be out to install a new computer. You will have online access and email. Store is closed til then.” A week from Wednesday….........that would make it almost 2 weeks since some of those guys had been able to buy tobacco, coffee, soda pop, deodorant or razors. Not good. Suddenly I had a brilliant idea. Windy Camp, about 80 miles away had a store. Jackie was the storekeeper there, and she and I talked every so often. If she was willing, I could drive to Windy and use her computer to “run my tickets.” She was very willing, and Jackson gave grudging approval. “I don’t know if I can reimburse you for your travel or not,” he cautioned me. “Well, try. If you can’t I’m willing to go anyway,” I declared.
I packed up invoices to input, inmate order forms or “tickets”, and every other shred of information I thought I might need and I hit the road. By 4:15 P.M. I was traversing the windy, barren road leading up to Windy Honor Camp. It was much the same as Calvin where I work, but the grounds seemed greener and the store a bit roomier. They also had a great storeroom right across the hall. Jackie let me get right to work. After I signed on, it was just like working on my own computer…..........well not JUST like it. This was more like Wonderland. Jackie had a PC instead of just a dumb terminal. Also, it worked, and responded quickly to my keystrokes. I ran over 100 tickets and sold over $3500 in store merchandise. Jackie’s store clerks were very nice and helpful, and they went through and numbered my printouts, highlighting items of special interest. But the best part about going to Windy was getting to see Carlos.
Those of you who have been following this prison series from its inception will remember Carlos as one of my first store clerks. He and Joe were terrific and made my job very easy. One day Carlos was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got blamed for something he had no part in. Pending an investigation, he was “rolled up” and sent to “the hole” in Cedar Medium Security Prison. Several months later, he was exhonerated and sent to another camp, Windy, to finish out his sentence. He is doing very well now, working in the culinary and will be out on parole the end of December. We were able to have a very good visit before I pakced up my tickets and printouts and headed back home.
The next day, Tuesday, I arrived to a much happier inmate population. Many of them smiled at me and expressed their gratitude to me for “going out of my way” for them. Several of them even made me a card, which made my day! Inside it reads “Hail the Store Lady”, and is signed by about 5 of them. On the back, the logo reads “Commisary Perceptions, and under that “Calvin Convicts”.
Front of Card
My clerks, Ricky and Travis helped me hand out bunches of soaps, snuff, nacho chips and ice cream. A majority of the inmates, however, were not in camp that day. Several more large fires had broken out, and they were out on fire crews. When this happens, we just have to bag up the orders and my clerks, with an officer’s approval, hand out the orders when the crews get back in camp. I came back in yesterday to do some ordering, choosing to believe that someday I will have a computer that actually works and that I may, once again, be able to sell things from my store. Even though I had posted signs all over camp informing that “The store will be closed until Wed, Aug 30.”, I had many inquiries along the nature of “Is there going to be store today?” Til then, I’m going to take a few days off. I’m going to go back to Idaho, and make vast progress in cleaning out my house there and getting it ready to sell.
I sincerely hope that the technology people show up next Wednesday as planned, but just in case they don’t, anyone out there want to buy 120 Monster Honey Buns?
UltraMom
I can hardly believe that at one time, in the not-too-distant past, I was a busy mom of four, settling never-ending squabbles, chauffering to practices and events, cooking large family dinners, helping with homework, and worrying when someone was late getting home. I still think about my kids a lot, and pray for them everyday, but the everyday stuff is gone, and I really try not to worry about them. It isn’t all that hard, because usually I don’t know enough about what they are doing TO worry. As far as I know they are all doing fine. Bob, recently married (I’m still trying to wrap my mind around THAT one) and in a new house seems to be crazily busy with projects. Heather, in a nice new appartment, still appears to be in stable relationships with Heath and three cats. Jim, having completed his summer job at the INL and living in our Howe house, is getting ready to had back up to Northern Idaho for his final year of a Wildlife Biology degree. Now we get to Johnny. Ah, Johnny, what can I say? I am full of wonder and admiration at his planning, hard work and accomplishments.
After a brief stint in Japan, Johnny secured a job with a law firm assisting paralegals, and set about applying to law schools. He had his sights set on a top one, and was accepted into several. Vanderbilt U, in Nashville, TN helped their case by awarding him a large scholarship. And so, Johnny has just finished driving clear across the country in his new-used Ford Taurus, hauling his motorcycle in a U-Haul Trailor. He is settling into an appartment, and by this time has completed his orientation week. He called me yesterday with news:”There is another first year law student here from Boise State University! I could hardly believe it.” What are the odds? Johnny got a very nice letter and Starbucks coupons from his Aunt Jane in Calif. She is, it would appear, more thoughtful than his mother…......
I am really hoping Johnny may be persuaded to write some brief, guest-post vinguettes on his Law School/Nashville experiences. His writing is always vastly entertaining.
Right now, I am stressed out about the Idaho house. I HAVE to get back there, take a little time, and get it cleaned out so we can sell it. Right now, I don’t think I want anything that is there, but when I get back and look at stuff I always change my mind. I have a piano that belonged to my mother, but no place in this house where it would fit.
On a more cheerful note, we are continuing to make improvements to the house we are currently living in. UltraDad replaced a very-poorly fitting window in the dining room, but he replaced it with one a bit larger than the old one, which entailed some modifying. It looks fantastic now, with a new widowsill and a window that fits snugly and actually can be opened and closed.
We began painting one of the back bedrooms that UltraDad has taken over as his own. Formerly a little girl’s room there was a wide border of picknicking teddy bears around the wall. One day last week, I visited UDad in his lair, and he informed me that this was a Guys-Only room; no girls allowed. I told him I could see that. It looked very masculine, what with the pinkish-colored walls and the teddy bears and all. After much travail, the border has been removed, and two of the walls have been primed. The walls will be repainted with a lightish blue color called “Gray Fog”. Hopefully this will help.
We sort of have a new cat. He just showed up about a week ago, and is ignoring broad hints that he should either go back where he came from or find a new home elsewhere. He is a solid gray, green-eyed, short-haired young male. At first I thought he had been declawed because he used his soft paws so much, but this proved not to be the case. He is totally unafraid of barking Murphy, and in fact will chase him around the yard, much to Murphy’s delight. Udad finally gave me permission to leave cat food for him outside in the dog run.
My garden is producing well, and is a source of great pleasure to both of us. Cherry and grape tomatoes abound, as well as some cucumbers, pumpkins, green beans and sugar snap peas. My flowers seem to be in their blooming prime, but we can already feel a chill in the air in the evenings. I am not looking forward to winter and having all my plants die.
Okay, I think you are up to speed. Keep those cards and comments coming.
UltraMom
Thanks for the words, and I agree, I AM the best of your kids (you may not have said so in so many words, but I think it was implied). Keep up the wildly entertaining posts, and try and stay on top of things. I mean, you were trying to operate on CAT5 wire? Were you even thinking!?
Wow! 2 great posts in one day. Somebody was rocking the keyboard! Loved ‘em, keep it up. (More explicit declarations that I am your favorite son encouraged, some people seem to be getting the wrong idea)
Johnny, I am very proud of you also. Your mail is on its way thanks to your Aunt Jane who sent me a page of labels. Bob a louie, Look forward to a huge post wedding bash at some point.
Its been awhile since I’ve done a prison post, but that’s not for lack of material. There are things going on all the time out there, and I’m sure I only hear about the tip of the iceberg.
Today was actually one of acute frustration for me. I have been having computer problems all week, and today was the worst of all. As I have said before, I have a dumb terminal, and for some reason, lately I have been disconnected from the main frame more often than I have been up and running. All the Computer Help Desk people recognize my voice; they are nice enough, but sometimes not all that much help. The guru of the bunch seems to be Ernie. Suse, whom I talk to at the main Help Desk sometimes once told me that next to each computer tech’s name on the list is a description of his/her duties and areas of expertise. Next to Ernie’s name it says “Everything.”
Here is my usual fun routine of late. I turn my computer on. After 5-7 min it boots up and gives me a log-on screen. I work a little while, averaging 1-2 minutes response time per keystroke. Suddenly in the corner of the screen red numbers flash in an otherwise black screen. I am, once again, booted off the system. I call Ernie, Matt, and the Help Desk and leave messages. I call my boss Jackson, for good measure, and leave another. Sometimes I even get a call back. Ernie seems to be able to work some kind of voodoo magic and get me back up and running, at least for a few minutes when the whole thing starts over again. But Ernie leaves at 4:00 P.M. I work til 6, so if I crash after the 4 o’clock witching hour, I am dead in the water. Suse helpfully informed me the other day that someone at the main Help Desk is usually there until 5:30. That is lovely and all, but the Help Desk can’t help me.
Jackson had an idea: “Why don’t you come in earlier til this is resolved? Then you can get help if you need it.” Smashing idea; I decide to give it a try.
Today I was at my desk at 11:00 A.m., 2 hours before my normal start time. But today was different. Today I was only conncected three times for about 3 seconds per time. And Ernie seemed to have lost his magic reconnecting touch. “There is interference in your lines there somewhere,” he informed me. Start unpluggin things, like the AC, one at a time and see if it makes a difference. Also, have you cleaned back of your computer? Made any changes to the lines?” No, I hadn’t cleaned back of the computer. I’d been afraid to touch that jumble of wires and cords; afraid to upset the tenuous thread that made my ancient computer work, sometimes. But I remembered that Zeek, an electrical wizard of an inmate had run some lines in for me one day. As I understood it, it was a dedicated line for my computer so if a power outage occurred I would stay running. Zeek came in and looked things over. “You aren’t using my line yet,” he informed me, “but what is all of this blue wire? It is Cat5! You can’t use Cat5 unless you run it through a conduit! Any bend (demonstrating) or break will disrupt you. I’ll get the officer to get some regular phone line, and we’ll run that in directly from the phone wire room.” Zeek leaves to talk to the officer.
“Oswald knows a lot about computers, Miss Kathy,” my clerk informed me. “Want me to get him?” Why not.
Oswald looked around. “This Cat5 wire is not even being used. You are running on an old beehive system. This is so old; I’ve never actually seem anything like this before.” Four bare wires sticking out of color-coded coating are attached to little screw-looking things in an open white box. A jumble of other wires of various hues is wrapped around the bundle. As Oswald examines this set-up, one of the brittle wires breaks off in his hand. Now we have no choice. Wire cutters and strippers are brought in and he proceeds the process of cutting, stripping and reconnecting. But it seems that the wires must be reconnected in some definite order, mainly the way they were before. Oswald does not know how that was.
Another call to Ernie. “Look in the phone line closet. Look for BRG99843SW box. That is the other end of your terminal. Your wires should connect the same way.” My wires are something like blue, orange, white-blue and white-orange. The ones in the closet are red, green black and yellow. Someone remembers they are spliced somewhere underneath the building.
Enter Rampole, a scrappy 23-yr old who has spent most of his latter teens-early 20s in prison, and who is a self-proclaimed computer expert. Rampole is the one who ran in the blue Cat5 line with an ethernet connector on the end, but my computer can’t use it. Word has it that Rampole has been telling other inmates I don’t know how to do my job because the computer is down all the time. (Also, there was a little incident where we made an ordering error, and brought in fat-free refried beans instead of the full-fat, jalapeno flavored ones we usually carry. For some reason, inmates were complaining when we made them take the fat-free ones. Go figure.) Rampole takes over the reattaching wire job, and is able to elicit probable reconnecting schemes from Oswald. Zeek is also back in to troubleshoot, and my clerks and I stand by for moral support and to keep an eye on the contents of the store. Rampole is successful, meaning we are once again in tenuous contact with the mainframe, but my computer will still not come back on. Whenever I leave the store, inmates look daggers at me when I shake my head no, no store today. They have been told, and maybe even believe, it is not my fault, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are unable to buy soap, toothpaste, sodas, ice cream and Monster Honey Buns. At least many of the crews are out on fires, so I only half the camp is mad at me for now.
Ernie says he will call the local phone company and have them come out and check lines. But he never calls me back to tell me when they might be coming. Travis, my new Native Amercian clerk has a raging toothache; probably an infection in his sinus cavity, or so his swollen face seems to indicate. I tell him to go lay down. Ricky and I, choosing to optomistically believe that we may, some day, be able to sell our merchandise again, place some vendor-orders. Then I go home, having worked an hour of overtime, with no work to show for it.
Someday, all of the camps will run off the new satellite system, and we will be in the land of dreams and rainbows (to borrow one of Johnny’s favorite expressions). Someday I won’t have to call the Help Desk and be so chummy with Ernie six or more times a day. Someday. But for now, I”ll keep slogging along in beehive land.
UltraMom
We just finished a whirlwind weekend of very-welcome guests and a wedding to boot. In fact, the wedding was the reason for the guests. My husband and I have 4 siblings each, so there are a lot of nieces and nephews about, and they are getting to the age where, occasionally, one of them gets married. Saturday, Bill Lear, son of John’s sister Kathy tied the knot with Cortney Kiehn in a picturesque outdoor setting by Moran Cabin in Lamoille, NV. A nearby stream provided soothing gurgling sounds and was a great attraction to the under-12 yr olds, and it looked to me like many of them would be in need of clothes-changing, or at least wringing-out before they would be allowed in their parent’s cars for the ride home. Country music was played and a delicious barbecue provided and a good time was had by all, or so it seemed. Interestingly enough, my LIFE”S LITTLE INSTRUCTIONS calendar had the following entry for that day: “Remember that a successful marriage depends on two things. 1) Finding the right person, 2) Being the right person.” I included the quote in their wedding card!
I had taken Friday off work so I could get the house in a bit of order and make a taco salad, one of Jim’s favorites. About 3 pm the guests arrived. Chuck and Joy, Bill and Patty, Jim and an extra surprise! Bill’s daughter Sara was in the group. It had been a long time since I had seen Sara, and she and I have a special bond, so I was very glad to see her, and very happy to have her stay at my house. She is also a lot of fun. Jim, of course, stayed at my house. He had no choice. But the others had secured motel accomodations nearby.Sis-in-law Pat came over with puppies and we spent the evening talking, eating and watching the hunting video, as Sara hadn’t yet had the privelege of experiencing it.
Saturday was taken up with the wedding. Three different carloads of people started towards Lamoille, making some stops in Elko for various shopping needs. When our car arrived in Lamoille quite a bit early for the wedding, we found the rest of our group dining at a nearby bar/cafe, so we joined them and placed our order. Chuck and Joy finished their meal, just as the food arrived for Pat, Sara, Bill and Patty. Everyone finished and they left as the wedding time was drawing closer. We waited, and waited and waited some more. Finally our food arrived. It was probably one of the worst meals we have had dining out. John said his hamburger was charred, and Jim’s chicken strips were bone-dry. But we ate what we could and actually still got to the wedding with plenty of time to spare.
In fact, we arrived before the parents of the groom. They were running a little late, as Kay (Kathy’s husband) had to check on some crops before they left. They arrived with one of Kathy’s minpins in tow. Little “Patty” had escaped and they didn’t have time to take her back. I know. There are a lot of Pat/Patty’s in the family; also lots of Marys, Billys and a couple of Kathys. What can I say?
Kathy was wearing some large, stylish sunglasses to protect her sensitive eye, as she had undergone cataract surgery just 2 days earlier.
The wedding seemed to go without a hitch, and the young couple are obviously much in love.
I had been dying to play Bocce Ball ever since the guests had arrived, and Saturday night I finally got my wish. The first game, Sara and Patty beat me and Bill by just a few points. But the second game, Jim and Sara pretty much wiped up the floor with me and John. Whew. Never again will those two be allowed on the same team!
Everyone left fairly early this morning. Its always a little sad to see family leave, especially Jim who will be heading back up to northern Idaho for his final year of college in a week or so. I think Murphy is a little sad also. Bill and Patty brought their poodle, Gus, and he was Murphy’s houseguest. It always makes Murphy happy to have someone he can wrestle around with, and it makes his rawhide chew bones taste much better if he thinks someone else wants them. Pat’s puppies were around a lot too, and Oliver, the largest of the apricot poodle pups went back to Howe with Bill and Patty. He is getting a terrific new home with the Baileys. Debbie Bailey is one of my best friends, and her kids had been wanting a dog for forever. I think it will be a match made in heaven.
Okay, I’ve been on the computer ever since I got home from church uploading photos, and burning wedding picture disks. UltraDad has been napping. I think maybe he has the right idea. Yawn.
UltraMom
The McDonald and Lear Families
Bill and Cortney Lear
So, in that top picture was Ultra Uncle Bill flipping the bird on purpose?!?
I bet that was a really fun weekend. I wonder if ultranephew will stop by to see his favorite Aunt Debi on his way back to college…
Is Zushi going all out marketing itself or is Zorro in town. (this was much better when my camera was still resting snugly at the bottom of my bag)
Anybody out there fantastic in photoshop, how would I bring the brightness in the blue up to how I remember it being without totally blowing out the cloud details?
Try the Levels adjustments (not AutoLevel). Adjusting the middle slider towards the white end will deepening the darker colors, including the blue, without tampering with the whites.
Neat Z.
Lets start by quickly finishing up my Go To Howe Saga, then we’ll get to some current stuff. I think that’s part of my sporadic posting syndrome; I get weary writing about a large event, so I write it in sections…......to be continued…..............then other stuff happens, but I feel like I’ve got to finish up the …........to be continued….......before posting new stuff, and I don’t want to do it, so I just don’t post at all!
I promised you that I would actually get to work cleaning up that house in Howe, and on Tuesday of our Idaho week, that is exactly what we did. UltraDad and I were as busy as beavers, and hauled an entire pickup load of stuff to the dump, as well as sorting some more boxes of stuff we wanted to bring back to Nevada with us. The disheartening thing is that it barely made a dent. But we were slated to leave the next day. I had to work on Thursday, and UDad wanted a day or two to rest up.
That evening I noticed something not good. Water was seeping out from under the hot water heater cupboard. As the evening progressed, the seep turned into a small stream, which had to be sopped up with old towels, many of which I had fortunately left. The course of events was plain. We would be staying an extra day and replacing the hot water heater.
Those type of projects are never easy and straightforward, and this one was no exception. The first step was to get the old, rusty HWH out of there. UDad decided to attach a hose to it to drain out the water that had stubbornly resisted streaming out on its own. He couldn’t get it connected, and scoffed at me when I offered to try. “If I can’t do it, you certainly can’t. It’s a matter of strength,” he informed me. He set off to look for a smaller, more flexible hose, and I had a go at it. Turns out it wasn’t a matter of strength after all, just maneuverability.
I just want to know what is going on in your life now.
Unfortunately I order my monster honey buns in packets of no fewer than 140… Way to be a hero!
80 miles for the customers - that’s going out of your way! Store Lady++