Am I still here???

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.

Pay 2 Play

The company is on Life-Support. I'm afraid it's time to pull the plug. I have not been paid since October.
The last time I went, I made 30cents and hour.
This is NOT China! And I am not indentured.

Pay 2 Play.

I told her that I would work if she starts the pay-as-y0u-go plan; meaning, I expect a check for each day's work when I get there. AND I offered to be patient as she makes "good faith" effort to catch up on her arrears.

She agreed.

She asked me to go last Tuesday.

On Monday night I went to the office to check the manifest.

No check!

No Check!

I called the agent on "night phone":

"I'm not going to Grand Canyon tomorrow morning. I don't know what you'll do. "

"I'll call D--- and call you back".

"Fine. But explain plainly that I'm not going"

Ring. Ring. Ring.

"hello, this is Paul".

"D --- promises there will be a check in the bag when you get there in the morning".

Magically, there was a check in the trip bag when I got there, so I went to Grand Canyon. ...

.....

.....

So I went.

Shawn, a bartender from Long Island, with his girlfriend, Elise.

Nan, a "teacher's mentor" in Chicago. She was very nice to visit with during the day. She "came up" through the ranks in her district and is now on "full release" - meaning she has no classroom commitment - except to new teachers. She suggested I look for "Mentor Teacher" programs. We'll see.

A retired Russian couple from Toronto.

Five members of a Philipino family from LA.

Today's group was not "memorable", but they were no trouble and they paid me a total of $95. And the indians gave me $50 commissions. .... and, the heli was cancelled by snow, but I would have made $30. Plus Donnita didn't call my bluff and left me a check for $170.

RES Horses ==

Let it Snow. Let it Snow. Let it Snow!

This hasn't been a bad gig, but I guess all good things must end . If this isn't the end, we're pretty clost to it. -- in this case, "not with a bang but a whimper".

30 CENTS

An unemployed computer programmer from Vancouver with his retired Dad from Quebec, who breeds exotic birds - and doesn't speak English.


St. Michael the Archangel slays his enemies in Sedona!

MATHER POINT LOOKOUT

There are people in this picture. Just left and above center.

Looking back from the abyss.

At the end of the day, ONE of these six gave me a five dollar bill. The rest, ZERO.

Did I really work for 30 cents an hour today? Really?

On a different and perhaps happier note: more pictures from Florida. Terry and I stumbled on to the ruins of a sugar plantation and mill that had been destroyed by Seminole Indians in the 1830's. The "stones" were quarried from a layer of "rock" that actually the shells and skeletons of sea creatures.

A walk in the Jungle:

Sky Juice!

At the airport in Phoenix, so far this year, we have seen almost 3 inches of rain. THREE INCHES. Everyone has seen the blue skies in my blog photos.



Today we got almost .25" in Central Phoenix. It's a big deal. I know you can't see it in this video, but there really really is "stuff" falling from the sky into the swimming pool

In the high country, it's a wash out. I was scheduled for Grand Canyon tomorrow, but it ain't going to happen.

Back From Vacation!

Terry and I had a great trip to Florida to see Lara. Here are a few pics.....

Lara - after a few cocktails - telling stories on her mom.

At a Twin Piano Bar

Roommates:

MY DAY WAS SAVED

BY AN EIGHTH GRADER!

Cindy is a HR Director in her county in Pennsylvania. She had to lay off another 22 people this week. When she got the chance to attend a conference in Phoenix, she signed Kevin out of school and jumped on it!

Kids just want to know the adults enjoy their company. We have stacks of research that says they just want to be "with" their parents. Kevin hugged on his mother and loved her all day. They were refreshing.

They got the "special visit" to the airport overlook in Sedona, one of the spiritual "vortexes".





Kevin thinks he took the right picture of his mother, but I really took the one that shows how they enjoy each other. See me in the picture?

At Indian Garden, I ordered their lunch and tried to talk Kevin into a "scorpion lollipop", but he wasn't ready for that adventure.

By the time we got to the volcanoes in northern AZ, Kevin explained that he learned in his earth science class that volcanoes with more silica in them produce bigger explosions...... . Whatever - the point is he was conversing with adults who enjoyed having him. She sat next to me and he was behind me.

We stopped and collected lava rocks for his science class.

On the Navajo Res., I gave them an extra stop at the overlook of the Little Colorado River, an 800 foot gorge:

I found him a fossil imprint of a frog.

Here Cindy thought she was getting the real picture, but it was I who got the real picture!

A single mom and a teenage boy who love one another. There's hope.

They ended the day with a helicopter ride over Grand Canyon. She said she's terrified of heights, but had to overcome herself for Kevin. He sat in the front seat.

You're doing good, Cindy, you go girl! Goodbye , Kevin, my young friend. Come back to Grand Canyon someday with children you love - and remember me.