The Day I have been waiting for is a week away.  I’m excited and somewhat nervous about it.  It means that things suddenly change and I no longer have to keep track and wonder.  I’ve been wondering if the day will ever come. Every day it gets closer I see things that could stop me from reaching it.  And yet it really has never been any risk.  Just a nervousness or stress carried in my own mind.  It is funny how we are often our own worse enemy worrying about thing we really have little control over.  The Calendar, the way other people think of things, or even our own abilities to change the past, present or future. I wish I could live like Akela. His only stress is when I talk mean to him.  He always looks crushed. He droops, his ears go down, he pouts.  And it lasts for as long as I’m mad or grumpy.  But it turns off as fast as it turns on with the pick up of a ball or a stick or the mention of “Biscuit”.   I wish it was that easy for me!

But so the “Big Day” is my 5th year anniversary at my employer.  Several things happen I am happy about and have been waiting for.  First I become Fully vested in the 401K program so my retirement value jumps about $50k.  That’s a nice lump of cash.  Next I get a “Bonus” week of vacation.  So I will have 6 weeks of  Vacation after October 5th.  And to be perfectly honest, it is not easy to use much vacation in Nov., Dec., Jan because we get so many holiday days.  And of course the weather isn’t the best for my kind of vacation.   But I will be making the annual pilgrimage to Tampa, FL to see the Family.  I’ve decided to spend Thanksgiving week at the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia.  Hoping to get out and about and see some wildlife and relax.  Maybe roast some Alligator for dinner. But mostly just spend some good time in the wilds with Akela.

The big day also represents the day that every thing about my job is now up to me.  I no longer worry about staying or leaving, or calling in sick or calling in additional resources.  I don’t worry about what they think or how they think I’m doing.  My Legacy is set.  In 5yrs, I have reduced the injury rate  from 15% of the workers get injured every year, to 2.5% are still getting hurt.  We have set many programs and policies in place that the workforce has agreed too and agrees to follow.  The culture has gone from “Its a tough Job, people are going to get hurt”, to “We come to work and go home the same way, No body needs to get hurt”.  I don’t know what it cost to build a good safety program, and I can’t really quantify the savings. But I can tell you the people are happier, healthier, and producing better product than before. Though the supply change is abysmal, and getting parts is a daily head ache, people are pulling together as a team and not fighting the flow.  It’s just a nice crew to work with.

So lets look a week or two into the past.  We just came back from the Hershey RV Show in Hershey, Pennsylvania.   We stayed at the Gifford Pinchot State park and enjoyed the company of  The Mid-Atlantic Aliner rally when not at the RV Show.  My oldest son came down to share the Aliner with me, and I think we determined that was a good result.  Even Akela thought there was plenty of room for all three of us in the Aliner!   We had to travel roughly 7 hours to get to Hershey, Pa. from Home, so we broke up the trip with a stop at my favorite campground in Virginia,  The Cave Mountain Lake Forest Service Campground.  But don’t tell anyone about it, I like that it is so lightly used and is such a nice place !  We will be back there  one more time this year to do some serious hiking of the trails I hope.

So this has to be a quick one,  Akela is breathing on me and staring at me with the ball.  I have editing to do, and a kitchen to tear apart (more on that in the future). 
Thanks for stopping by!  Don’t forget to check out the  Shopping pages  or the  Manuals and Files Pages!!

Rick & Akela

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