Fuzzy the bear

Ron: “It’s Fuzzy the bear, and he’s out of hibernation early. Just don’t leave any food outside or where you can smell it. They’re pretty good bears they usually don’t destroy anything cuz Billy keeps a close eye on them.”

Me: “He’s probably hungry, so I’ll stash all food with a smell in the fridge. Thanks for the heads up!“

Ron: “Oh yeah they’re always hungry I know there was some paw marks on my garbage box by the road. A day or so ago that was Buddy the bear he showed up a few days ago. Of course and Billy’s got names for all of them. He knows them up close and personal. He said Fuzzy heard about the virus and now he’s hoarding food.”

Me: “Cute and interesting. How many homes have bears roaming around the property?”

Ron: “Not too many Doug, not too many!”

Snow!

It snowed last night. The elevation here is 2300 feet, in the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Further up in the Sierras they received up to 6 feet of snowfall and over 100 mph winds with this storm. However this isn’t enough. Snowpack levels have been down compared to last year. But the good news is more snow is predicted over the next 7 to 10 days. Let’s hope so!

WelcomiNg committee

I woke up this morning and went outside my travel trailer to look around. Here’s what I saw … a welcoming committee of deer! They live in the area and have been sleeping at night only 100 feet from me. But now that I’ve newly-arrived, they’re a bit uncertain about me. Maybe I should’ve made a reservation! 😉

Sheltering In place

With this Coronavirus situation going on, I’m learning how to “shelter in place”. But I’m in a great place, in the woods approximately 50 miles east of Sacramento, on the property of Ron & Linda, old friends of over 30 years. They have a beautiful home they built on the property long ago. They were just setting up at a show in Boise, ID a week ago when the show was cancelled on them due to the Coronavirus. Just like them, I was setting up at a show in Bakersfield, CA when it was also cancelled on me (actually my show was postponed until May 15-17, but I’m not real hopeful that it won’t get cancelled soon). And my following three shows in Costa Mesa, Del Mar and Portland were also cancelled or postponed. I learned that all gatherings of 250 or more people were now banned by California and Oregon, and soon most other western states where I work followed. Now the CDC is recommending that all nationwide events with 50 people or more should be cancelled or postponed for 8 weeks, or early May.

I’m with my truck & travel trailer, hooked up with water, electric, propane & sewer, with a herd of deer & turkeys nearby. I’m up against Bureau of Land Management (BLM) forest. Peaceful, quiet, perfect for getting stuff done.

I’m essentially out of work for now. So I’m hunkered down in the woods, studying online on how to build income selling products on Amazon (I just applied for and was approved by Amazon for an Amazon Seller Central account). I’m taking the best and most recommended course for that, the Amazing Selling Machine course (www.Amazing.com). I’m also fixing things with my YouTube account (“WorkSharpEasy”) so that it starts earning me money. I have over 10,000 subscribers and nearly 1.4 million views on my videos. Once I fix my channel monetization it should start bringing in income. Then I’ll shoot lots more videos, starting at one a week, and building it up from there. And I’m staying in touch with fellow salespeople who are also out of work to see what they’re doing and what’s working for them. 

Yay!!! I got my home back!

My travel trailer has been back at the factory getting repaired for many months now. I was driving north on Interstate 5 at night, when I hit a very large pothole at pretty high speed. It bent the “frame rails”, which are parts of the frame that keep the two axles aligned. It’s a very expensive repair, and at first my insurance company was balking about paying the bill. It took some time and lots of correspondence, but they finally agreed that it was damage from an impact, and not “wear & tear”. So they paid the costs and the work began. But by then I was in the middle of my annual Winter Tour of selling at the big Sportmen’s Shows. So I had to wait longer. But today I was near the factory (where the work was done) and picked it up, all repaired, polished and as good as new! I’m very, very happy to have my home on wheels back!!! 😊👍