On Tuesday our newest driver never showed back up to work after calling off on Friday...tried numerous times to get ahold of him via phone with no response...so for all we know he could be locked up in jail or dead...still have his final paycheck so I guess if he is still around he will be calling for it eventually...
We had our very first farm tour of the season. It was a school group of 60 kids, parents and teachers. The weather was a bit chilly for the middle of April but the group did not seem to mind. We have raised our tour pricing a bit this year so we are getting $5/person which includes the hour long tour, an ice cream cone and goodie bag. We have also expanded our tour offerings to include "add-ons" so groups can choose their experience for an extra $1 more per person they can have a hayride or make their own flavor of ice cream! We have some HUGE groups coming from Baltimore City and Montgomery County that are VERY excited about the options. Alot of groups this year are spending more time here, bringing their lunches along because they want to see the cow milking which doesn't start until 1:30.
We have had a good many inquiries into having birthday parties at the creamery, but at this point in time the only indoor space we have to set-up tables is in the Mortin building which is also our main repair shop so the guys are getting tired of having to clean-up their projects and straighten up so that we can have groups set-up, so we FINALLY broke ground on our pavillion! We will have a nice place with picnic tables, a full working kitchen area, and bathrooms. Not sure of a timeline as to when we can expect completion, but I know we have family reunion planned for the July 4th weekend and we need it by then. Tony says he wants to move the kids playset over next to the pavillion as well so that it gets more use.
Ever since going to Disney with my high school choir (1994)and seeing "Minnie Moo" at Mickey's Toontown Fair I have always been on the lookout for a cow of our very own that may contain a Mickey Mouse head that we could sell to Disney for a "pretty penny"...really thought we had a calf that just fit, until I went to actually take photos of her tonight, we decided our "Disney Dreams" were indeed not realized in this calf...what do you think?
In the not soo good news catagory is the fact that I had to fire our store clerk this week, and it did not go down well. This is the same one that I have mentioned in many other posts about not being able to get to work on time, or calling in sick or late because of some short lived illness, or trying to leave early to go to yet another doctors appointment. On Tuesday, I was called down to the store a little before 2:00 because she NEEDED to leave early AGAIN, and I confronted her about the fact that I was not informed of her needing to leave early, she informed me that she had told Tony earlier in the day (he was on a delivery truck in DC) and he told her to make sure she talked to me about it (she never did), so with that she blew-up in my face, calling me all sorts of "names" and eventually saying she wanted to fight with me (very high school mentality), I told her to get out and not to come back...it was a LONG time a coming. Things did not end there...she proceeded to call any employee she had programmed into her cell phone and tell them the whole story, trying to get everyone on "her side", some of the employees came to me about it saying they were called numerous times by her and that she was telling them that she wanted to "close us down." You hear about disgruntled employees on the news, but we had our very own version right here at home...it was really bothering me, I was afriad she really was going to try to hurt me, or do something awful to our business. My brother tried to call her and calm her down and then Tony did the same thing and I hope she has since moved on. What is really hard for me is the fact that both Gabe and Sophia thought the world of her, and I thought we were friends, obviously THAT was not the case. Thank goodness I was able to hire a new store clerk the very next day, thanks to a lead from one of our drivers and she seems to be a nice fit...now we just need to find at least one good driver...
Been spending money lately; and NOT on anything fun...had to get professionals to come and install gutters on the house and we are having the driveway and yard re-graded and decided to purchase some larger rocks for the driveway...things seem to be coming along pretty well until we realized that 2 loads of rock don't go very far...and we will probally need at least 2 more loads...ahhhh!
Gabe started back to playing soccer again at the Rec Center in Middletown...he ABSOLUTELY loves going and he is soo eager to please the coaches...I am not sure how we will manage getting him to play on a league as the games are usually played on Saturdays and all the family is busy with Farmers Markets.
