See ya later....

See you later, alligator...After while, crocodile...In an hour, sunflower...Maybe two, kangaroo...Gotta go, buffalo...Adios, hippos...Ciao Ciao, brown cow...See you soon, baboon...Adieu, cockatoo...Better swish, jellyfish..chop chop, lollipop...Gotta run, skeleton...Bye bye, butterfly...Better shake, rattlesnake!

With winter so early this year I am reading all kinds of things.  This is a doormat sold in one of the many catalogs I receive this time of year.

Bird-feeder

In winter our bird-feeder brings Chickadees - lots of Chickadees.  Two types of Nuthatches:  white-breasted and red-breasted.  Two kinds of woodpeckers:  Downy and Hairy.  On the shoulder seasons there are many more who migrate through.  A few eat the seeds from the ground under the feeder: Junco, Fox Wren and Wild Turkeys.  One morning last week we noticed these huge footprints around the feeder - turkeys.  I guess they are not too proud to eat bird seed purchased at the store. 

Lake Effect Snow

We are receiving lake effect snow.  It is the good kind.  Big flakes.  Fluffy.  So fluffy that when you brush off the car, you can do it with two passes of the brush.  And the flakes land perfectly in the trees and bushes.  It is a postcard.  The lake is Lake Superior.  We don't always get that snow - only if the wind moves in the right direction.  We are an hour's drive from Gitchee Gumee, Ojibwa name for big sea.

Christmas Catalogs

Christmas catalogs have been arriving for a while.  Talked with a friend yesterday.  We agreed that LL Bean has sent the most catalogs so far.  Recently I received a catalog that made me pause.  The overlay cover stated that I had been pre-approved for a large line of credit from them. Order whatever you want!  It was a Montgomery Wards catalog.  Didn't they go out of business? 

First Frost

The frost is on the pumpkin this morning!  Case has the woodstove burning to warm the house.  Late Fall is officially here.  Raking leaves is the main activity.  Should be done in a few days.  It is a lovely and quiet time of year.  "Leaf peepers" have left.  (People who drive around looking at leaves.)  Hunters have yet to start to "sighting in" their guns before Deer Season on Nov. 17.  (Target practice to check the accuracy of their gun sight.)  All is well with the northwoods.

Christmas Boughs - October 9

I saw my first bough hunter on October 9.  These people earn money by harvesting (cutting) 18-24 inch balsam boughs and selling them to the local wreath-making places.  There are two of these places in Hayward.  These boughs are cut in federal, state or county lands.  They need a $20 permit to do so for the season.  You can also make money by making wreaths at these two places. 

I'll do the math...the boughs cut on October 9 will be in wreaths that will be sold in chain stores until December 25 - that's 77 days.  Balsams do hold their needles, but 77 days may be on the outer limit.

Also saw big white trumpeter swans resting in a pond before continuing south. 

Toys R Us

Just heard on the radio that there are less toys available on the shelves to buy this fall until Christmas.  Why?  Toys R Us is no longer in business.  What a shame.  I have fond memories of that store.  When both children were too young to know what was going on, we could shop there for their gifts with them with us.  Both of us  had a cart and a youngster.  We were older parents and were gleeful to shop there.  At that time Toys R Us had the cheapest diapers in town.  Many trips were made for diapers.  This was PW - pre-Walmart era.  Toys R Us was the only toy game around except for a few KB Toys. 

Those fond thoughts continued for years.  When children were in second grade, I worked as a temporary before Christmas.    The store in Schaumburg on Golf Road was my store and that was where I applied.  Afternoons and Saturday nights until midnight.  What an experience!  Because I had half a brain, I was put at customer service near the front door for returns and problems.  The feather in my cap was when corporate (New York) sent a mystery shopper to evaluate our store.  I waited on the mystery shopper who was unknown to me.  Customer service received a 100%.  It was all glory - no financial compensation.  I asked at a staff meeting.   

During the year the store had 4,000 customers a day.  During Christmas it had 12,000+ a day in 1992.  This was not a sit down job.  At peak times all hands were on the registers.  I was amazed at how many $1000 customers I had.  That was a lot of money to pay for toys. I was also amazed at how many customers there were on Dec. 26.  There was no special after Christmas sale so I guess they didn't get enough toys. 

During the Christmas season two semi's of toys would be unloaded every day. Employees didn't get a discount on merchandise, but we were able to buy hard-to-get toys just off the truck.  My daughter had a "Teacher Barbie" for Christmas that year when other girls didn't. 

This was when early hours were first used on Black Friday.  That day I was at customer service at 7 am with my blue pinny on.  I liked that pinny. 

This job was the only one in which I used a time card to clock in and out.  I used my earnings to buy Christmas for our family that year and to satisfy my Toys R Us longing.  

Final memory - Toys R Us stores had an odor - not good or bad - just distinctive.  It was soothing to me.