Farewell Orlando

Things I Will Miss:

1. Ben's car
2. 8 hour work days
3. nights off
4. the chinese place across the street from the barn
5. not having to get horses ready for show each day
6. being able to wear what i want to work
7. suntanning at work
8. getting a day off each week

that is just off the top of my head. tomorrow is new years eve.... we head to miami the 2nd to start up shows again. oh- we have been spoiled the past 3 weeks- getting back to real work is really going to suck. i have heard wonderful things about the stay in miami- me and another guy are going to try to plan a scuba trip on one of our days off. i think my parents are going to try to make a trip down.... yay for more time off the train. well... i went to target today and bought a bunch of movies that were on sale- right now i am in the middle of the green mile- time to get back to that.

chat with ya later on the train run.... did i mention we got 2 baby elephants??? a boy and a girl :) i will post pictures later

Surprise!! I'm Home!

So as a last minute decision, on the evening of the 23rd, I maxed out my credit card and purchased a plane ticket home for Christmas. Alcohol was a major factor in making the decision- so my family has Southern Comfort Whiskey to thank for me coming home. And Casey- it was his idea. I flew out Christmas Eve night, sat on a plane for 4 hours with screaming kids around me, Greg and Stef picked me up from the airport and I about gave my mom a heart attack when I walked in the door. My puppies crawled into my lap, I got to meet the newest puppy additions to the family and I got to sleep in my wonderful bed again. Christmas morning we brought the dogs to the dog park and we spent the day in Saint Cloud. It was great to be home and with family vs. stuck on the stupid circus train. And it has even been snowing the entire time I have been here. I love it. I fly out tomorrow night- 7:20. I don't actually have the day off, so hopefully I don't get in too much trouble. I figure, if my boss doesn't even care enough to show up, I shouldn't get it too bad. If they fire me- I don't think I will really give a s**t :) So this Christmas turned out 100 times better than I could have ever imagined. I got snow afterall :)

What A BLAST!

Disney was great- we made it to animal kingdom, mgm, and magic kingdom. we rode all the famous rides- expedition everest, splash mtn, tower of terror, space mtn and a few more. i laughed and screamed too much, but i felt like a kid again. it was great to see some of my college friends- the visits are always too short. back to work today :( BOO!

Waiting on the Weather....

So today is disney day!! however, i woke up to tornado warnings and sideways falling rain so i am patiently waiting for that to pass so i can go meet mickey and minnie mouse. i had delicious french toast and juice for breakfast w. freshly picked sunflowers sitting on the table. since tornados greatly freak me out, i am just going to sit here and wait until the news says its ok to go. should be a fun day!!!

Yay! Another Weekend!

so because i suppose i am spoiled, my parents have extended my stay here at the timeshare for another week! i was getting depressed to think that i was going to have to move back to the train tomorrow and now i get another 7 days :) casey has been cooking me amazing dinners everynight. tonight is steak w/ onions, baked potatoes and salad. 3 of my thailand friends are here this weekend and sunday we are all going to disney world!!! i cant wait ;) work has been fine- lazy, lazy, lazy. it has become a daily thing that i walk champ my mini pony around the fairgrounds. there is a dogshow this weekend in the same fairgrounds we are in and i got a few odd looks today when we were enjoying our stroll. well- the aroma of food is calling me. i am going to sit out on my porch, drink a beer, a relax.

ps- i brought my wrong camera cord, so when i get back to the train i will upload all my new pics

Finally, A Real Weekend!

now that was a weekend! now that we are in winter quarters, our schedule is a lot easier. saturday we worked a 1/2 day- 9-12. after work i checked into my parents time share about 1 mile from where we are working. it is great! 2 bedroom, 3 bath, kitchen, family room, dining room and outside patio. i am staying here for a week and am enjoying it to the fullest. i have cooked for every meal- something i really miss doing. saturday night, casey and i drove to tampa to see the lost bayou ramblers (a cajun band) and the avett brothers. it was a blast. and i even got to meet some of the guys in the lost bayou ramblers- i even gave the bass player a big smooch on the lips. :) sunday was a lazy day. i didnt get back from the concert until about 3am so i slept late sunday. i spent sunday the way sundays should be spent- i took 3 bubble baths, several naps and only got out of bed to eat :) a bunch of boys came over to play cards and i made them keep all their leftover drinks and food here for me. work has been easy- everyday we let the animals run around. i have been taking the ponies for a walk around the fairgrounds. haha- it is just like walking a dog- only they have a pretty mane and tail and weigh 500 lbs. yesterday we got a new baby in our circus family- a 6 month old tiger who still gets bottlefed. he is the cutest thing ever. i will get pictures soon. well- time to go!

Day One of Winter Quarters

Today i had a normal work day. imagine that. i came to work at 9, had an hour lunch break, and got to leave at 5. i am home now at 6pm and have no idea what to do with myself. today was easy- as the rest of winter quarters will be. every 2-3 hours we rotate the horses around in the paddocks where they were able to run around and expend some energy. it was so much fun to watch them go crazy. i took over 100 pictures today just of them. we are at the orlando fairgrounds- pretty nice. a lot of room, several places to eat just down the street, and the weather is great. i found out today that my nazi boss wont let me go home for christmas. so i am not looking forward to christmas day being spent in my 3" x 7" room. its going to be hell. well- i am going to try to put up some of the videos i took today- hopefully they work

Florida, Here I Come

finally we are on our way to florida. doesnt it always seem that when you are so close to a vacation (not that i really get one in florida, but anyways...) the last day just draaaaaaaaaaags on? yesterday we had our last loadout of the season. slow. when it was time to walk the animal back to the stock cars, the sky opened up and the rain fell. and it fell hard. it was pretty much coming down sideways- leaves were smacking us in the face, a few people lost contacts, horses were going crazy, elephants were trumpeting with delight, and my clothes were 100% stuck to my body by the time we were done. my god. so now we are on the trian- headed south. we should be in orlando sometime tomorrow afternoon. the average temp these days is about 80 :) for the next 4 weeks we dont have shows :) animal crew will still work mon-sat, 8-5. we get sundays off- which seems ridiculous since doctor, dentist, bank, post office, etc are all closed. i swear this company likes to screw their employees. one of the performers that has a car flew home to his country this morning and left casey and i his car- so we will actually have a car for a month. rumor is that there is a lot to do around the trainyard. grocery, mall, lake, bars, restaurants, etc. im looking forward to a warm winter, but it sure will be different from minnesota! i am still working on trying to get time off for xmas. probably wont happen and if it doesnt i will be the drunkest i have ever been come xmas day. probably not what my parents want to read, but at least im being honest. well... water stop should come about 5am so i am going to head to bed. talk to you all in FL~

My Day Off

Today I had the day off! I slept late- just past noon :) and it was glorious. I shuffled out of my room in about 30 minutes and walked around downtown. I found a great antique shop where I got a lot of my Christmas shopping done :) Only problem is, now I have to find somewhere to keep all the stuff.... after I dropped that all off at the train I headed out again to Brueggers. I got a bakers dozen and a few tubs of my fav cream cheese and a bagel sandwich to go. I found a great park where there is a fairly big pond and 100s of ducks! I had a great time. I was followed the entire time and everytime I would try to sit on a bench and read I would look up and be swarmed by colorful ducks. What a great way to spend the afternoon. I am back at the train now- doing laundry and what not. A group of us are going to go out to eat tonight- not sure where... so far I really like Huntsville. Tomorrow is opening day- 2 shows- 10:30am and 7:30 pm. yuck.

Welcome to the South

we arrived to huntsville, al early this morning. we had the animal walk (a nice short one) at around 2pm and since the arena was so close to the train we were able to leave and walk back. the train is in a nice area- located in the middle of downtown. there are a lot of places to eat (including BRUEGGERS BAGELS!!!!!), antique shops, a mall, bookstores, about 20 churches, etc. we have tomorrow off so i think i am going to hit up some of the antique shops and try to see if i can find the mall. the weather is nice- daytime high is upper 50s and it drops to low 40s high 30s at night. 8 more shows- then we go to fl....counting down the days.....

So Long, Chicago

we are finally leaving chicago! dont get me wrong- i had a GREAT time here, but winter has moved in and i am ready to head south. thanksgiving day was wonderful. i was home for a glorious 18 hours and was in tears by the time my parents dropped us off at the airport. i left with most of the leftovers and 4 pounds of beef jerkey my brother made for me. i was so upset that i had to leave home that i got trashed at the airport bar and passed out before we even took off. :) whoops. the past few days have been incredibly long and COLD. 3 shows friday, 3 shows saturday and 2 shows today plus loadout. i had dinner last night with a friend from college- i hadnt seen her in almost 4 years so that was a lot of fun and a lot of catching up. today didnt break freezing all day. it snowed/sleeted and we had to break out the winter coats for the horses. they look so damn cute in them! i am back to the rain now, showered and ready for a movie. tonight we head to huntsville, alabama where we have out last 8 shows of the year. i am looking forward to florida. though, i think i am ready to be home..... no scratch that.... i am ready to be home....

my friend, julie, came to visit me the past few days. we had a great time and i stayed in the hotel with her which meant i got a big queen size bed! it was so great. she came to the show on sunday afternoon and met all the animals. she even got a picture with julie the tiger and asia the elephant. that night a bunch of people went to a tiki bar- we had a blast! monday i had off and we took the metra downtown and went to field museum. we saw sue the t-rex. it is one of two complete models to ever be found. it was pretty neat. the dinosaurs head weighed 600 pounds and was 5 feet long. we saw a bunch of other neat stuff- tombs, mummy's and a lot of fossils. for dinner we went to a great pizza place. everyone always talks about chicago style pizza and it sure is damn good. we had cheeze and spinach stuffed pizza. mmmmmmmmmmm. we went to the movie, fred claus, last night and made it back to the hotel by midnight. she left today :( it was great to see a friend though! tomorrow casey and i fly home!!! oh i cannot wait. i miss home, my family and of course my puppies. i wont even be home for 24 hours- i have to fly back here thursday evening. blah. on sunday we leave chicago and pack up for huntsville, alabama. we have a short schedule there then we head south for the winter. 6 weeks in florida. how nice......

I have been reading a great book, "Kicked, bitten and scratched" by amy sutherland. it is a true story of a 2 year college program where students learn to train exotic animals. in it, she talks about what it is like to work in the animal industry- ups and downs. here are a few of my favorite passages-

"what 'animal people' do everyday is controversial. though their drams of working with animals may have been born in the innocence of childhood, animal people now find themselves on the front lines of a fight they didnt pick. no matter how good their intentions, they are the declared enemy of the animal right movement"

"most children are drawn to animals, but for osme that feeling does not wane as they grow up but rather it intensifies."

"when you are working with animal poop, getting sweaty, getting huge muscles, you have to do something that is girly. this is why we strap on shimmering belts, pull on socks with pawprints, and clup on silver earrings. some of us even brush on mascara and even nail polish."

"i have always considered myself an animal persons, meaning i not only felt at easy with most things furred, feathered, scaled, even fanged, but moreover, i found them an endlessly comppelling and integral part of the world. a life without this passion has alwasy struck me as a lesser one, and i admit to being a hard judge of people who do not share my love for the animal kingdom."

A NOT So Family Friendly Circus

We had a mix of tigers here- breeds and both sexes. This past week our female cats were in heat which caused quite the rise in some of our boy kitties. During one of the shows Shear Kon (a male) mounted one of the females and wouldnt get off. Now if you have ever seen wild cats mate it is not a pretty sight- very violent and raunchy. We had our very own circus animal porn for all the families and kids to watch. Needless to say- Shear Kon was not allowed in any of the shows the rest of the week and was quite pissed about it- roaring as loud as he could the entire time the other cats were gone. If you have ever heard a cat roar it is quite chilling. Pretty cool. We are playing at the United Center the next 2 weeks- I think all cats will be a part of the show. Rehersal tomorrow- we will see if he is still "in the mood"....

Our Animals Are Spoiled

proof our animals are spoiled:

today we were stuck at the building all day- management ordered us a bunch of pizza's in return. the horse barn actually stays pretty warm since we keep the side walls drawn and run a heater through most of the day- so we chose to eat the pizza in the barn. the horse's apparently LOVE pizza.... anytime one of us would walk by a stall the horses would kick the stall door as loud as they could until they got a bite of OUR food. champ the mini pony has been eating pizza as snacks since he was born 10 years ago. he was running in circles in his stall and making so much noise i suppose as his way of saying, "what the hell do you think you are doing eating pizza in front of me!?!?" we of course shared with him too. spoiled. now the elephants- i was admiring them today as i do everyday. joe- the head trainer- brought chipolte back for lunch. it was so funny- the minute after he unwrapped his burrito 6/10 elephants turned and faced him and walked right up to the end of their enclosure. and i watched as he gave 1/2 of his burrito to each of the elephants. SPOILED! i am back at the train now. nicky- my neighbor gave me a little toasted oven the other week- tonight i tried to toast a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich in it and ended up starting a fire. whoops. looks like after 5 months of not cooking in a kitchen i have lost my touch a little bit. and YES- FIVE MONTHS! tomorrow is my 5th month of being in the circus. crazy. hey- at 6 months i get a TINY raise. woo-hoo. well- time to watch the usual suspects and go to bed. early bus again tomorrow. gotta love being animal crew.......

What a WICKED Night!

last night i got to see wicked! what a great musical. i have had the soundtrack on my ipod for over a year now and i can finally picture what it actually going on :) the theater was beautiful, i got an $8 magnet (yikes) to add to my traveling collection, and had chills throughout the entire performance. if i could afford it- i would go again. but unfortunately i make less than minimum wage so what can ya do? today we had only one show- i had practice in the morning then came back to the train and watched a movie. winter is fast approaching- it is already 10 degrees colder than it was last night. ugh. not too much else going on- i bought a new book last night- "kicked, bitten and scratched- life and lessons at the world's premier school for exotic animal trainers"- i think i will sit down, sip on some vodka and enjoy my book.

love,

me

Damn This Wind!

so far i really love chicago. i have spent entirely too much money at the target across the street from the arena- but what the heck else am i going to do when i have a 5 hour break from work and cant go back to the train? today we had a dark day. dark day = day off! woo-hoo! i actually woke up early- 9am- did laundry, had a great chocolate shake at some mexican restaurant and went to see the movie, american gangster- great movie. i was asked how i can stand to have a cold shake when it is so cold outside- i think the high today was about 40. i informed the person that 1. we arent even close to the lakes yet, so they better prepare themselves for real winter and 2. i am from minnesota. i am back at the train now- casey and i are going to catch a bus- hop on the red line and go into his old neighborhood and eat dinner at a hole in the wall italian restaurant that he fell in love with when he lived here. tomorrow i have to go into work to muck out- alex said he would let me ride asia tomorrow!!! so i am bringing my camera and this time i can get a real picture- not just one on my phone! tomorrow night we are going to WICKED!!! oh man i am so excited for it- i should get back from work around noon- i think the plan is that we will catch the train into the city and go exploring. i really want to see field museum- so hopefully we have enough time to do that. the play is at 7. cant wait. well- time to go eat dinner

xoxo

I'm Going To See WICKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love chicago!! for 2 years my mom and i have been dying to see wicked. who knew that all i had to do was join the circus to get tickets! next tuesday, casey and i have balcony seats to see this wonderful play. i have already warned him that i have had the soundtrack memorized for over a year now. his response was, "are our seats together?" oh man i can't wait!!!!

Horray! Back in the Midwest!!!!

Things I am excited to see so far in Chicago:

1. steak n shake
2. BP gas stations (yes father, i still have the CC!)
3. TARGET!!!!!!!!! and right across the street from our arena!
4. hot dog places at every corner
5. chinese buffets
6. metro link that takes me right into the city
7. 24 hour tanning salon
8. hole in the wall italian restaurants

well i am excited to be here- we had the walk early this morning- didn't get much sleep last night so i think i am going to nap for an hour or 2 then head out and start exploring. we have tomorrow off as well. might try to see if i can find my way into downtown chi-town. i have a list of things i want to do while i am here. good thing i have a month to do it!

ps- britney spears new cd came out today and it is FANTASTIC! way to go brit!

Goodbye Cleveland

so tomorrow we say goodbye to another city. last night there was a halloween party at the union bar- i put some stuff together and went as a cowboy. there were a lot of people- circus and non-circus folk. i partied way too hard and slept way too little- i think i maybe got 2.5 hours of sleep. not good considering i worked a 12 hour day today. but i am finally back at the train- ready for bed. tomorrow we have 2 shows plus loadout. then we head to chicago for one month!!! woo-hoo! cleveland has been one of my favorite cities thus far on my circus journey. can you believe that this is my 18th city? crazy. well...not much else to say. night!

Loving This Show Schedule!

this week has been incredibly easy. we havent had practice all week, and we only have 1 show all week until saturday. this means that i get to go into work, muck out, leave around 9:30 and dont have to go back to work until 5:30 :) it has been great. it dawned on me today just how gross my job really is. when i took my watch off this morning after muck out, i had a watch outline made from manure and dust, when i blew my nose it was black with god knows whatever is floating around the barn, and i had a poop stain smeared in my hair :( ew. other than that- cleveland has been great. i think i have mentioned the union bar just behind the train. i have fallen in love with the place! they have the greatest steak dinner ever. i dont know what i am going to do when we leave here! we have made friends with all the bartenders and cooks and therefore get incredibly strong drinks for a very cheap price. tomorrow night they are having a halloween party- i think i am going to be a cat! the kids are trick or treating tomorrow at the arena around the dressing rooms- should be cute. or annoying- since most of the kids are circus brats, but either way :) well- i think i am going to watch some will and grace and maybe take a nap. have to be back to work in 5 hours. blah. oh yah- my scars are healing up just fine. i have a straight scar on my forehead- about 1- 1.5 inches long and another one right next to my mouth on the right side of my face- kind of shaped like an upside down V. the doc said it will take anywhere from 6-12 months to heal. i have a special cream that i put on a few times a day for the next several months that is supposed to help reduce the scarring. well..... night!

Getting Kicked in the Face = Paid Vacation!!!!

well i have enjoyed my lazy days this week. i showed up to work on opening day on friday and they sent me home shortly after filling out the incident report of what happened. i go back to the doctor tomorrow to get my stitches taken out and i guess to see how bad the scarring is going to be. i havent woken up before noon the past few days- i think yesterday i opened my eyes around 2:30. its been great! we found this great union blub bar/restaurant behind the train. they have the most amazing $5 steak dinner with fries and garlic bread included. it is one o fthe best steaks i have had in my life! and for so cheap! yesterday i went to a mall downtown and last night a few of us went to a blues club called fat fish blue where they had a live band playing. i think tomorrow after the doctor, casey and i are going to go to the rock and roll hall of fame. dont have plans after that. so other than that- my face is healing just fine. i have actually stopped taking pain pills, which is a good thing. i think i only had about 10 of the 30 they gave me. so i will just save the rest for the next time one of my babies decides to jack me in the face :)

So A Horse Kicked Me in the Face....

yes you read right- on tuesday we had a scheduled long water stop in ames, iowa. since the run from denver to cleveland is too long for the animals to stay on the cars without exercise, we find an area where we can unload them and let them stretch for awhile. not 10 minutes into walking the arabians and fresians in a circle- shamal- the crazy arabian hind legged and kicked me in the face- knocking me out and giving me several gashes on my face. the ambulance was called and i was sent off to the ER. after 4 hours, a few x rays, ct scans, 10 shots in the face, and 8 stitches, they released me with a bottle full of vicidan pain killers. i missed the train- so brian and i (he is the production manager for the show) enjoyed a nice dinner on the company, we went to target and bought new clothes, shoes and books for me (on the company), stayed in a nice hotel and flew to cleveland the next day. dont worry- yesterday every meal was also on the company. :) i was incredibly lucky to only have been hurt as little as i was. my face is still quite ugly and will be for the next few weeks as it heals. i get my stitches taken out on saturday-and from there they will be able to tell if i need plastic surgery. i suppose you could say it was just another day in the circus!

Elephant Races and Tiger Feedings

today was had one show- i came in on the 8:30 bus and had practice w/ the horses. while i was setting up the ring- the tigers were in their cages because they had just finished practice- taba handed me a piece of raw meat and let me feed tasha the tiger! she took it right out of my hand! afterwards- there was a PR event with elephant racing. siam, banko, asia, baby and sarah raced to a finishline full of bananas and bread- of course- asia the queen won :) i am sitting in 8 wagon now, waiting for the bus to come take me to home sweet home. well- maybe not so sweet- but it is home i suppose. tomorrow we have 2 shows- 11am and 7:30 pm. we are having a big bar-b-que inbetween shows. after the last show we are having a "no talent" talent show. free food and beer! well- not much else happened today- just another regular day in the circus

Birthday's in the Circus

one of the fun things about working in the circus is when you find out it is someone's birthday. yesterday was laura's bday- she works in the horse barn with me. birthday's in the circus = pies to the face. multiple pies to the face. we only had one show yesterday morning at 11. we brought cupcakes for breakfast and gave her an asia painting. after the show as she was dumping a trash bucket me, zibi and dihn followed behind her and attacked her with 2 pies. she was covered! i will post pictures later today when i get them on the pc. so after she had gotten her birthday pies she rinsed off with the hose. just as she had gotten herself clean again we got her with a 3rd pie :) that began the water fight with the hose and leftover whipped cream. what a fun morning. so after the fights we went back to the train- i took a nap and we all went out to dinner at the cheesecake factory. i started the night with shots of vodka and long island iced teas. when we got back to the train, the band was having a good old fashion kegger. so we partied at the train until early morning (7am to be exact- which reminds me, why am i up at 11:30 updating my blog?) i did too many keg stands and got older people who had never done keg stands to do them. it was a lot of fun. today we have off. i think i am going to probably go back to bed for a little while and then walk to the denver zoo and maybe have some dinner at a local restaurant. more exciting news-- in december duriing winter quarters a group of us are going to fly to jamaica for a couple days! my friend has family down in kingston so we dont have to pay for hotel or food. yay! alright- im exhausted. time for bed :)

night!

Happy 4 Month Anniversary to Me!

Holy Crap- another month in the circus has gone by! wow.... so i am currently residing in denver- about a 30 minute walk from the heart of beautiful downtown. the weather has been incredible- warm and sunny during the day and nice and cool at night. we arrived tuesday and after the animal walk i explored downtown with laura. we ate lunch at a local brewery and enjoyed a lumpy dog beer on the house. i had wednesday off and had a wonderful time sleeping in until early afternoon. i did laundry and walked around again for most of the day with vicci. yesterday was opening day. the arena is too far to walk from the train so i was stuck there from 7am to 10pm. yikes. i brought my laptop and watched movies and downloaded music to pass the time. today was another 1 show day. we had practice in the morning and i had a nice break afterwards where i took a loooong nap. so now i am back at the train ready to take on the 6 show weekend. monday we have a morning show and off tuesday- cant wait.........

I Got to Ride Asia!!!!!

I got to ride ASIA THE ELEPHANT!!! As Alex was walking Baby and Asia down for Bellobration he called me over and had Asia lay down. Then he was like, "ok hurry up!" I had no idea what he was talking about and he was like, "hurry! get on her back!" So i scurryed my way up her gigantic legs and onto her back (bare!!!!) and he had her stand up! it was so cool! i got a picture on my phone and i made him promise i could do it again next week so i can get one on my camera :)

now i can die happy

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have SNOW

So today was one of those days where you wish you hadn't gotten out of bed. 3 show saturday and it rained and snowed the entire 12 hours i worked. yay. of course the animals are outside this week and it was also terribly cold. while the precious performers and rest of the workers were cozy and dry inside, animal crew got to stay outside in the crappy weather. the parking lot where the animal compound in is dirt- so that of course turned into mud and by the time i left work tonight my black pants were covered in mud up to my knees. since it was so cold we couldnt wash our horses this morning- i have white horses. and of course last night they rolled in their shit. gosh that was fun. after the first show i broke down and walked to dicks sporting goods and bought some long underwear. i spent way too much money but it made a huge difference. tomorrow is supposed to be nice again-then we head off to denver for 10 days. today was a long day and it is now 9:30 and i am ready for bed!

Welcome to Mormonville, USA!

So we have arrived in Salt Lake City- where 75% of the people are mormon. the arena is in a beautiful area with mountains engulfing us. seeing the pink sunset every night disappear behind the mountains is breath taking. we opened yesterday with one show. it was bellos birthday and at noon, him and the elephants paraded down the street. kids had birthday hats, bellow signs and clown noses. during my break i ate lunch at a great thai restaurant with laura. today was another one show day- after the show i headed over to temple square- a place to see in my 1000 places to see before you die book. i went to a mormon temple and watched choir practice. man can they sing! the conductor (is that what they are called) made an announcement before it all started that we should welcome a very special person. i thought he was going to intoduce kate from the circus, but instead he introduced the president from the czech republic! cool! the songs they sang were amazing. one of which was somewhere over the rainbow. i had chills the entire time. the train is parked close enough to the arena that we can walk home. so after watching the choir, some friends and i headed back to the train. 2 shows tomorrow. i think i am going to head back over to temple square. well- i think i am going to read....i will post pictures tomorrow

later

Back Already?

Home was wonderful! it went by way too fast but i left with great memories and quite the party hangover. andy and teresa's wedding was beautiful. it was great to see family and to be around familiar faces once again. i cant believe the week is already over and i am sitting back in my train car. crazy. everyone seemed shocked that i actually came back today. i went right to work after the cab dropped me off- helped to take down the tent, did preshow with poncha the fjord and assisted in the ring for the last show. oh- and that 4 mile animal walk. ugh. we are FINALLY done with california- off to salt lake city. it's been a long day- im off to bed.

Back in Sunny California

After a long summer we are back in cali for our last 2 cities until we make our way over to the east coast. washington was beautiful-i was sad to leave the state. peta was all over us as usual- this time they even called in bomb threats to the building hoping that the shows would be cancelled. we got them on video tape saying that they would rather the elephants be roaming free in asia and be killed for their ivory than to live in the circus with us. they also found our stock cars where we house the animals during train runs, and with spray paint wrote: "animal abusers" all over the cars. CRAZY PEOPLE! we had a long train run back down the coast- beautful! i took a lot of pictures yesterday- we were going in mountains and riding alongside enormous valley's. early this morning we arrived in stockton, cali. we had a nice 3 mile animal walk at 6am. what a way to start the day. lucky me, i get to walk one of the crazy arabians. after 2 days on the train, shamal was quite rowdy. he went on his hind legs several times and got me all scratched and bruised. so much for having nice skin for the wedding next weekend! and speaking of the wedding- i fly home tuesday! I CANNOT WAIT! i need a break :) tomorrow is opening day- i am back at the train now- ready to take a nap!

Labor Day in Washington

We arrived in washington early monday morning. the train came up right along side the ocean. we saw seals and otters poking their heads out of the water and fishermen trying to catch their lunch. it is so beautiful out here! the past few days have been easy. we had a short animal walk monday around 11am and had the rest of the day off. i wandered around the city of everett with my friends and ended up at a bar that served $1.50 pabst blue ribbon beer and frozen tv dinners. :) i helped the bartender and her what looked to be 80 year old friend make jello shots for the following day. what a bar! tuesday i went into work for a few hours to muck out, feed and unload 8 wagon. we ate lunch at a great thai restaurant and had enough leftovers for dinner. i was home by noon and did 5 loads of laundry and slept most of the day. yesterday i had off. i hitched a ride to the mall and saw the movie "superbad"- and let me tell you, it was super funny. great movie- i highly reccommend it. i was in bed early last night. i have been feeling a little sick the past few days. i think i am catching a cold of some sort. i was on the 7am bus this morning because the horses had practice at 8:30. i'm back at the train now for a few hours until rehersal this afternoon. we have a pretty easy schedule this week. 1 show tonight, 1 tomorrow, 3 saturday, 2 sunday. then we take the long trip back down into california to stockton. then i get to go HOME!!!!!!! can you believe summer is over?

Multnomah Falls

Today was great! We had to go into work to finish some load in junk. We were done by 10am. Dani, her husband- Matthew and I drove to Multnomah Falls and spent the entire day hiking up the mountain through breathtaking views and waterfalls. We picked the 6 mile trek and we made our way up one side of the mountain and down the other. The waterfalls were unbelievable. The scenery was straight out of a picture book. Trees were 100s of feet tall, moss was growing everywhere, ferns were climbing up tree trunks, leaves were the size of basketballs and the waterfalls took my breath away. Fun fact for the day- Multnomah Falls is the 2nd highest yearround waterfall in the country at 620 feet. What a day! In the distance we could see Mount Hood. What a beautiful place to live. I may not leave.....

Tonka's Birthday Party

Here is the link to Tonka's bday party news article. we invited the public in. had cake, party hats, food for animals and people, a giant sized birthday card and lots of fun! even tonka the 24 year old elephant had a giant birthday hat on :)

http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_6695923?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com&nclick_check=1

Train Run # 11

wow- eleven train runs already! the rest of my week in san jose was pretty much uneventful. friday was one of my friends bdays so we all went out to a local bar close to the train. the local bar always ends up becoming where all the circus hangs out after work so it kind of loses the local feel. i swear, sometimes it is just impossible to escape the people you work with! good thing i like most of the circus folk. after being on the road for almost 3 months now, i am now able to offend in 3 different languages :) something mom should be proud of. i always wanted to be bilingual. what languages, you ask? well- german, polish and bulgarian. we left san jose early this morning after a week of shows. peta was crazy in this town as well. they are really starting to get on my nerves. during the animal walk back to the train, one of the ladies was taping the elephants and she wasnt paying attention to where she was walking and she walked right smack into a huge semi! haha. then she yelled, "THEY PUSHED ME!" no lady- you are just that dumb. i was looking at one of their flyers that they hand out to people coming into the animal open house and it said that "ringling hires inexperienced people for the animal staff, sometimes directly out of homeless shelters." seriously. what is wrong with these people. i am waiting for a water stop right now. they said 30 minutes 45 minutes ago. that is how the circus works i guess. we are heading to portland- i am so exicted! i cant wait to see mountains! we just got my plane ticket this week for the wedding- i get to be home from tuesday to sunday. that is going to be just glorious. i also get to fly home for thanksgiving day :) i cant wait! well.... i will be stuck on the trian until tuesday night. i will probably spend most of my time sleeping and waiting for water stops.

Hello from San Jose!

Well another new city! Can you believe i have been with the circus for 11 cities now? how crazy is that! we had a very long load out day on sunday in... where were we.....oakland. i went overland this week so following the animal walk, i piled into a car with 5 other people and drove to san jose. thank god it was a short drive. i checked into a hotel at about 1:30 AM and got 5 hours of sleep before i had to get up again for load in. i started the day with a coffee from starbucks with 3 extra shots of "wake your ass up!" me and 3 other people put up the entire tent, 14 horse stalls, 3 pony stalls, put 7 bags of shavings in each stall, filled water buckets, unloaded hay and made everything home for the animals again. we had the animal walk around noon. because i went overland, i got to go home right after the walk. Peta has been on our butts like crazy the past few towns. in oakland we caught them throwing water bottles at the animals. they do that so they can get a reaction out of them, catch it on video and say, "hey look! their animals are crazy!" they forget to leave out the part where they are chucking crap over the fences. crazy people i tell you. i had yesterday off and spent it catching up on sleep. i slept for 15 hours straight. yikes! today was opening day. looooooooooooooooooooooong day. i was at work from 7am to 9pm. ugh. same peta people were there. today it was one of the elephants birthdays...tonka. she is 24 years old today. so we threw her a birthday party complete with birthday cake and party hats. it was so cute! how many people can say they went to an elephant's birthday party? sometimes i really do love my job. well.... early bus again tomorrow. woo hoo........ have you ever felt overworked and underpaid?

chow!

A Short Trip Into San Fran

Yesterday we had a morning practice. afterwards we had a long break so a few friends and i took the train into the heart of san fran. what a neat city! i got to ride a trolley. you should see the hills there! my god, all i could think was "wow, i would not be able to drive my 5 speed here." i dont know how people do it. we took the trolley right up to the golden gate bridge and alcatraz. we had lunch at a fantastic sea food restaurant. i had the best fish and chips i have ever had in my life. i bought a few post cards and a magnet to go along with my collection of other cities i have been to since the circus. i even passed a homeless man holding a sign that said, "why lie? i want beer" needless to say, i gave him money. it was a short trip into the city but it was well worth it. we only had one show last night. peta has been crazy in this city. last night they were throwing water bottles at the elephants trying to get a reaction out of them. they are so damn crazy it drives me nuts. today we had 3 shows. tomorrow we have 3 shows plus load out. i am also driving overland to san jose. what a week- it sure has flown by.

chow!

Best Day of My Life!!!

Yesterday was amazing. We had the day off and the animal crew was given free passes as well as private tour of the discovery kingdom animal park. wow- where do i begin. first we got to play with dolphins. they did tricks and we even got to pet them. they feel like wet hot dogs. haha. next we saw the african and asian elephants. we were up close with them, touching them, hugging them, feeling their ivory tusks. how cool. after the elephants we got to see a killer whale! i have never seen one- so i was super excited for that. we watched the vet do an xray of one of his teeth, and afterwards he did some jumps and flips with a dolphin. we got a big group picture with him too. after that we had a private show with sea otters and cali sea lions. we got to take pictures with the big sea lion. everyone barely put a hand on him- i hugged that sea lion like he was my best friend. :) next we got to feed giraffe, play with a 6 month old baby cougar, feed an anteater hunny, touch a blood python and play with a baby zebra and camel. i dont think anything will ever compare to how cool yesterday was! after i got back from the park i went to the oakland a's baseball game with some friends. we got seats in the bleachers, ate too many $1 hot dogs and drank too many $8 beers. what a blast. life is good!

Let Me Explain How A Water Stop Works.....

I wish peta would show up for a water stop so they could see how much we do for these animals. let me try to explain this so you all can understand.... during train runs, while everyone else is getting wasted, animal crew gets to be on call 24 hours a day. for instance- this morning i was woken up at 6am and told the water stop was ready to go. when we get down to the stock cars where the animals are, i see that the train has parked on a 30 foot hill- almost straight up with all rocks- not grass. great. next step- climb up into the car where the 100 pound bales of hay are housed. we throw them over the side and of course, because we are parked on a 30 foot rock hill, every single bale rolls down the hill. great. next step- drag the 100 pound bales of hay back up the hill and lift them about 9 feet in the air onto the stock cars where the animals are. now in order to fully comprehend the next step i have to explain how the horses are kept in the stock cars. for safety reasons they are in very narrow, but long stalls with doors that you lift up to get from stall to stall. when you open the door to one stall there is about 1.5-2.0 feet of clearance to crawl under to get to the next stall. we crawl in so we are just under their heads. we repeat this with all 13 horses. so back to the next step- i get to get on my hands and knees, push a 100 pound bale of hay through to the last stall. i crawl through shit, piss, bugs, dirt, not to mention the entire time my pony tail is being nibbled at because the horses are so excited that 1. they get to eat and 2. there are people there. so- after i have crawled and made it to the end stall i give each horse enough hay to last 12 hours. then i crawl back where i came from and repeat with the next line of horses- they are split into the paints and fjords on one car, fresians and arabs on another car, and ponies are housed in a different car. you should see us when we are done with the water stop. we look like we have just crawled through a sewer. i would love for peta to come on the road and join us for a week. then maybe they would have respect for how we treat our incredibly spoiled, well loved animals. well. i am going to go back to bed. trainmaster said we are about 4 hours out from oakland. hopefully they spot all the cars on time so we can do the animal walk and have tomorrow off.

chow!

Adios San Diego

sad to say, but i am leaving san diego. i had such a blast here and am really bummed to be leaving here and my family. yesterday inbetween all the shows i went to a flea market just across the street. it was a dollar to get in and they had all kinds of neat things. bouquets of flowers for 5 bucks, shoes, clothes, fruit, veges, jewelry, etc. you name it they had it. i stayed in last night since today was a load out day. the fam came and got me in the morning and we had breakfast at denny's. my mom was all excited because she had just stolen a ringling poster from a gas station with bello on it. and as she was picking me up, bello just happened to be walking outside. so she got to meet famous bello and get his autograph. when she asked if his hair was real, his response was "yea i put viagra in it". haha. we just finished loadout and i got back to the train. im finally all showered and ready for bed. i would love to eat some dinner, but all the power just went off. i guess that is just life in the circus for you. well... i cant think of anything else to say, so i am going to wait for the darn power to get back on so i can eat me some lean pockets.

Still Having Fun...

The past few days have been a blast. Yesterday during my break, my family came to pick me up and we drove to Mission Beach where we ate lunch and rode a rollarcoaster right on the beach. It was so old and rickety and so much fun! Everyone came to the show last night and fell in love with the circus. My mom even got in a fight with a PETA person! Now you know where I get it. As nervous as I was, I didn't mess up in the ring- Thank God. After the show, we went to Big Dick's restaurant so Andy and Carl could try to win a lobster dinner. They almost got the sucker a few times, I think the game is rigged though. They had him out of the water and everything before he managed to squirm away. Today we had 2 shows. My mom and Pat came and picked be up inbetween shows and took me grocery shopping. We had lunch at a mall and I got a new Razor phone for $10. I dropped my old one this morning and it broke in 2 pieces, so I figured it was time for an upgrade. Tomorrow we have 3 shows. Ugh. I really hate Saturdays. I used to live for them, now I could really just live without them. Well, time for bed~

Chow

I LOVE San Diego!

San Diego is great. we are parked right in the heart of downtown, within walking distance of great bars, restaurants and boutiques. yesterday was marilyn's last day so we walked around downtown and had drinks and lunch at big dick's restaurant. andy, teresa and my mom flew in yesterday. i gave them the grand tour of my house and where i eat. everyone had the same look of shock as i did when i first saw my room. we went to old town and had dinner and drinks. it was great to see familiar faces again. i got dropped off last night back in downtown and met up with a bunch of friends for marilyn's last night. the bar we were at had one of those machines where you use the metal claw to try to grab the objects. usually you try to get a stuffed bunny or maybe a cool hat. at this bar- you tried to catch a live lobster and if you do they cook it for you for free! haha we had a lot of fun with that last night. today was opening day. 7am bus. ugh. i got to skip practice to bring marilyn to the airport to send her off back home. we were both in tears and now my buddy is gone. boo. everyone was asking me today where my sister was. everyone there thought we were twins. apparently when people have blonde hair that means they are twins. well it has been a long day. tomorrow my family is coming to the show- YAY!

chow

Off to San Diego!

we are done in anaheim! the other night at the show- gene simmons was there! and he came backstage and i was about 10 feet from him. very neat. today i got to take pictures with asia, the elephant. i am so in love with her. not too much happened while we were here. i tried a few local restaurants and found that the service here was crap. i also came to the conclusion that people in this city are dumb. my horses are going to have an identity crisis one of these days- every single day more than one person would call our paints and champ the mini cows. and the worse part was that the parents DIDN'T correct them! and the best one i heard was a girl call gunther, my white mini pony a PIG! oh man. some people are just stupid. we worked a 13 hour day today. we get to get up at 4am to finish load out, do the animal walk and then we are off to san diego, which means mom and andy and teresa and the rest of my crazy family! i cannot wait to see familiar faces. on that note- i am going to sleep.

chow!

I Need to Vent

all i want to do is order dominos. all i want is some pizza. when i call for a delivery order they tell me they wont deliver to the train because we dont have an address. they cant seem to get it through their heads that the circus train doesnt have an address. so i give them the address to the strip club across the street and they say the wont deliver there because it isnt our house. then they tell me to just get in my car and come and pick it up. wow- wouldnt that be nice to have a car and not have to rely on a black and white school bus to take me everywhere. so if you are reading this- please appreciate the fact that you have a car and you have an address that pizza can get delivered to! UGH! you really have no idea! haha.

so it dawned on me today that even though i take care of the ponies, i pick up twice as much crap as anyone else. when one of the ponies craps- the other one will go over to it (and it doesnt matter if he has already pooped) and crap right on top of the other poop. typical boys- competing even if it is about who has the better poop. before every show, asia the elephant is given a paint brush, a white canvas and 6 buckets of paint and she paints a picture. yesterday, my friend stole me a picture and now i have an asia painting! how exciting- i am going to need to get a frame for it. today marilyn and i played dress up with steffi and silvios circus outfits. it was so fun. we have the rest of the night off and tomorrow off as well. i plan on sleeping most of the day!

so yesterday, they were taping an episode of the bachelor season 11 at the circus. they actually came into the animal compound and were filming. let me tell you- they pick some real idiot girls for the show. they are like blow up dolls. we were asked if a horse zebra mix was called a liger and if champ (my black and white mini pony) was a cow-horse. i dont really know what a cow horse is or how people get that dumb, but as one of my friends said, "they were so dumb they made my teeth hurt." today we had 2 shows- nothing very exciting happened. between shows i read at champ's stall. every 30 minutes or so i would get a nudge to the face. i think he was looking for treats. so i let him have 1/2 of my cherry pepsi. he's a cheeky boy. today when i was walking backstage, asia the elephant was back there with alex. he had me put my face up to her trunk and she blew all over me. most people would probably be really grossed out by it, but man i LOVED IT! i was all smiles. i walked back to the train again tonight- i stopped in to baskin robbins and got myself a treat for the rest of the duration. yummy- that is my kind of dinner.

i've come up with a list of things i see on a typical day that may seem out of the ordinary in a normal work place:

1. clowns and clown shoes
2. people on unicycles
3. juggling bowling pins
4. walking next to elephants
5. lots of poop
6. people walking on stilts
7. tigers
8. bello and his foot tall hair
9. the teeter-board act people standing on each other's shoulders
10. people getting pied in the face for no apparent reason
11. people napping on concrete, shavings, chairs, mats, etc

well that is just off the top of my head. time for bed.

night!

Another News Article

check it out-

if you watch the video, i'm the one holding the 2 white horses.

http://www.ocregister.com/news/one-1783624

This is My Kind of Cali....

anaheim is wonderful! i am so glad to be out of that awful city of los angeles. our train is about 1 mile from the arena. there are all kinds of shops and places to eat around here. they also have a city bus that takes you pretty much anywhere for $1.25. yesterday a group of us went to newport beach for a few hours. they had all these cute beach houses. i fell in love with one- a yellow house with windy staircases on the inside. a mere $2,200 a month for 2 bedrooms one bath. hah! i think i will stick to my $7/week rent. i have never seen so many expensive cars in all my life. please tell me why people buy hummers? especially in california. i think i saw at least 5 when we were waiting for the bus ride back. yesterday was marilyn's 21st birthday. when we got back from the beach we got dressed up and went to the nicest mexican restaurant i have ever eaten at. after dinner we went to a bar called suga's. no hard liquor and no credit card usage. today is opening day. one show later tonight. disneyland is only a few blocks away and every night they shoot off fireworks at 9:30. pretty neat. let's just say im glad we are going to be here for 2 weeks vs. la.

chow!

Mickey Mouse Territory

what a long few days! yesterday was our last day of shows in L.A. me and dani found this awesome street market where you felt like you were shopping in a different country. everything was so cheap! they had shoe stores where everything was $10 or 2 for $15 (insert mom's comment about spending habit's here). here is what my life has consisted of as of 7am yesterday morning:

1. we had 3 shows from 9-9pm
2. a load out from 9-10:30
3. a 4 mile walk back to the stocks to drop the animals off
4. a 30 minute bus ride to anaheim- eat 3 triscuits for dinner before passing out
5. sleep for 4 hours
6. wake up today at 6:30 and load in until noon.
7. shower at train
8. wait for call to go back and do animal walk in

it's days like this where i remind myself how much i love my job

tomorrow is marilyn's 21st birthday. enough said.

well- im going to lay down for 35 minutes until the bus comes to get us again

chow!

Ready to Leave This City

Things I have seen here in quantity:

1. donut shops
2. businesses that advertise "we speak english"
3. ice cream trucks
4. grafitti
5. homeless people
6. garbage everywhere
7. fast food chinese


today i got to drive a car! man, how i miss that. i drove to walmart and finally got food. i had been eating microwave hamburger helper every night for the past 2 weeks. last night, cindy crawford and tony from the sopranos were at the show and went backstage. tonight- tom cruise. tomorrow night- john travolta! how cool. well- im exhausted- time for bed!

Stupid PETA People

today was opening day. atfter mucking out stalls in the morning, a girl i work with and i went to a FABULOUS thai restaurant. i felt like i was back on the streets of bangkok. too bad this meal cost $8 vs. the 90 cents in thailand. i bathed my 2 ponies and 3 goats after lunch and got them ready for the show. the staples center is really sweet- huge arena. we had a sold out show tonight, i hear there was a lot of celebrities there. when i was walking outside the arena, an animal rights person threw a bag of trash at me and yelled "F**K YOU!". talk about crazy people. and they think we are insane! im back at the train now, super tired and ready for bed. i just have to wait for my laundry to get done.....

A Much Different Animal Walk....

today was yet another animal walk. my alarm woke me up in the uncomfortable hotel bed at 3:10 AM. half asleep i dressed myself and was out the door in about 6 minutes. marilyn and i checked out of the hotel and drove the mile to the staples center where we met all the other people who did the train run. we hopped on the bus and went to get the animals. our walk started at 4:45 AM. we walked the streets of L.A. (very gross, by the way) where we saw homeless people, too much trash thrown everywhere, smoggy skies and several peta people. they had huge banners saying "the CRUELEST show on earth- ban animal circuses". they run up and down besides us taking pictures and video taping us the entire time. i dont know what they expect to see other than us exercising our animals. at about the 2 mile marker we stopped and the fire department came to us in their big trucks and hosed down the elephants. they were all trumpeting with delight and spraying the water everywhere. now that was a sight to see. sometimes i do think i have the coolest job in the world. the walk was just under 4 miles and we completed it quarter after 6. and the ENTIRE time, i had to go to the bathroom. im back at the train now and we have the rest of the day off. i plan on sleeping for as long as i can, then who knows.

night!

Off to Los Angeles

load out is done. yay! i am currently sitting shot gun in steffi and silvios car making the 200 mile trek to los angeles. during our animal walk back to the train, PETA was following us holding signs that said we beat our animals. you would at least think they would come up with something more clever. we will get to LA late tonight and check into a hotel. we set up again tomorrow night so i think marilyn and i will hit the beach all day tomorrow. well i dont have much more to say- im tired so i think i am going to konk out for a little while.

see ya in los angeles

Last Night in Fresno

so here is the update on two teardrop tattoo man. he lives on my car- great. i now officially keep my door locked all the time. last night we were talking to him and we asked him what his tattoo was for and he said he did time in prison. he then paused and continued to explain how that wasnt what the tattoo meant, but he didnt really want to talk about that. he then asked us how serious they were about the drug tests because he had just smoked weed the other day. i couldnt help but think of what a totally idiot this guy is. he is worried about a drug test when he popped off two dudes in prison. i tell ya- some people are just not that bright. today was a 3 show day. yuck. we worked from about 830a to 830p. between the 2nd and 3rd show we got a car and went to try to find a walmart. we ended up at fiesta market. what an interesting place. i was the only white person, in their meat aisle they had fried octapus, they had a whole aisle dedicated to different assortments of beans, and dont even get me started on the beer selection. on the way back to the arena we passed not only a 99 cent store but a 79 cent store. now that is pretty darn amazing. tomorrow is load out day. i am going to drive overland to LA with marilyn. that means that after load out and the animal walk, we drive straight there- about 200 miles. we will get a hotel that night and start setting up the stalls and tents again on monday evening. fun fun. but i do get an extra $50. well- back at the train now. im going to watch some friends and hit the sack.

Same Stuff, Different Day

last night a group of us went out drinking at a local bar called, shepards inn. they had $2 beers and gave us free shots because we were with the circus. it was the first bar i have ever been to where they served pickled tounge, chicken liver and snails. UGH! the bartender explained to us how they prepare the tounge. lets just say a meat grinder and shredder are involved. gag. we only had one show today- i came home inbetween practice and the show and took a long nap. i stayed out too late last night, but had a lot of fun. the next two days we have 3 shows a piece. those are killer. they have been hiring a lot of people in this town. two of the guys today had teardrop tattoos by their eyes. for those of you who dont know what that means- it usually says that they killed people. steve says they will see what their background check is. haha. as long as they arent in the animal barn i suppose i am safe. im about ready to leave this town- LA is next- cant wait.

well, i have some cold busch beer waiting for me in my fridge.

night!

here are a few questions we have gotten from the smart people during animal open house:

1. what is that (while looking at a horse)
2. is that a cow (while looking at a horse)
3. so, can elephants see through their trunks?
4. do you dye the manes of the horses?

circus joke of the day:

what did the elephant say to the naked man?
- how the hell do you breath out of that thing?

well so far things are going fine. there is a really nice mexican restaurant across the street from the arena that i have eaten at the past two days. we have peta on our butts again- last night they found a video camera hidden in one of the trees that overlooks the animal compound.during my break tomorrow, marilyn and i are going to sneak into a hotel pool.

chow!

I've Entered Hell

so this is what hell feels like. fresno is gross. it is hot, dusty, trashy and i have added to my list of places that should be run down by a tornado, right behind eldon, missouri. the train arrived early this morning. we had the animal walk at around 1pm. while the crew was setting up the tents for the animals, one of the guys i work with, tripp got his finger caught in rope and it severed off right in the middle of his finger! so he is now on a plane to san fran, hopefully in time for them to reattach his finger. EW! there was a finger laying on the ground and he was all full of blood! hah. sick. the train is parked in a not so nice area- a lot of homeless people around. hopefullyh this week goes by fast so we can get to LA! im back at the train now- 5pm. i am going to take a nice long nap then get up and go drink with some friends.

thats all for now- not a lot happened today other than severed fingers and a lot of sweating!

Off to Fresno

Oh what a long day. 3 shows, plus load out. i just got back to the train, 14 hours after leaving this morning. there were a lot of PETA people in this town, handing out flyers and driving around in their vans. funny how they never show up when we are busting our butts setting up the tents, stalls and AC fans in the 115 degree heat. today i should celebrate my 1 month anniversary. i have officially been a carnie for 1 month- can you believe i made it? i was told by people they didnt think i would come back from the hotel with my mom. other people gave me 2 weeks. so i am glad i showed them! fresno is only about 110 miles- we are scheduled to do the animal walk tomorrow at noon- but you never know. it is always "hurry up and wait". tonight after the show, the elephants were all lined up waiting for their big trash buckets full of water. they all wait with their trunks curled up in the air, swaying back in forth in unison, squeaking with excitement. it is so darn cute. then, when all the water buckets are in place, joe says "alright" and they dive in with their trunks, spraying water in their mouths and all over their bodies. they have big ol smiles on their faces too- it is the cutest thing ever. well i think i am going to watch an episode of friends and go to bed.

see ya all in fresno.

Time to Learn New Tricks!

Well bakersfield is hot. i think i already mentioned that. it is making the horses crazy. today during practice, taba told me he wants to train me to be able to run next to a horse while it is running in the ring, jump up on top of it bare backed and stand up on it-- all while it is running. i kind of laughed, then realized he was dead serious. haha- so i will let you all know how that works! today we only had one show- so during our break, marilyn and i went to a public pool across the street and soaked up the cali sun for about 3 hours. we went to a birthday party of a girl who turned 2 back at the circus. free pizza and cake! well not much else is going on---

I'm Famous! Not Really....

Check out this link- we were on the news- I am the one walking the black and white mini pony :)

http://www.kget.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=388FBF96-6075-4B46-A2B4-87106DD7914D&gsa=true

Happy 4th of July!

there is not a whole lot to do in bakersfield! yesterday after work i took a nice long nap and then took my very first cab ride ever to the mall. i hung out with my friend eric for a few hours just to get away from the train. not that i needed it- but i found 2 tank tops for $4. how on earth could i pass them up! when we got back to the train i met some people from the animal barn at a chinese buffet. delicious! anything but pie car food can put a smile on my face. after that we walked about a mile to a bar called the martini lounge. we drank there until about midnight. it was a lot of fun and we had the whole bar intrigued by us because we all worked for the circus. apparently i have the coolest job in the world. i challenge anyone who says that to come live in a room that is smaller than a full size bed :) today has been great. i had taco bell for lunch and re-organized my room just a minute ago. i am starting to figure out how to live in here. eventually i need some shelving-that will really make my life easier. tonight at the train, the circus is having a bar-b-que with free booze and food. that is my kind of party. tomorrow is opening show. yuck!

well off to enjoy the rest of the day :)

kate

Welcome to Bakersfield

Bakersfield as far as I can tell thus far is going to be one boring town. we had the animal walk this morning- i was up at 6 and just got back to the train about 30 minutes ago. the animals are inside again- thank god since it will top 100 everyday. while we were with the animal at the arena, joe, the elephant handler, let me go into one of the pens with 4 elephants and play with them! i about died when he told me i could go in with them. i didnt have a my camera, only my camera phone. but it was pretty neat :) they are so cute! we have the rest of the day off and surprisingly they gave us tomorrow off :) how wonderful. too bad we are in such a lame town. tomorrow is the 4th- i think we are going to try to find somewhere where they will have a fireworks show. well i am going to take a nap for a few hours then get up and explore the town.

chow!

Today: Botanical Gardens

Today during my break, doug and i went to the desert botanical gardens in phoenix. the name was correct- it was too hot for us to walk around. after about 35 minutes we turned into big fat babies and walked back to the car, dripping in sweat, clothes soaked through. it was beautiful though. while we were walking we saw baby meerkat-like things. we dont really know what they were, but they we so darn cute. we saw lots of bunnies and birds too. the cacti were neat- i took a lot of pictures. tonight we are going to the greyhound dog race tracks to bet on some pooches and drink some beers. doug leaves tomorrow- i have 3 shows tomorrow, 2 on sunday. we leave late sunday night for bakersfield, cali. i hear its boring. taba let me run the ring again today- i am starting to feel more comfortable there. well- short post- pizza is here. chow!

The Show Must Go On....

Phoenix is HOT HOT HOT. all week is it supposed to be over 112. ugh. i just dont understand how people live like this. doug flew in monday night, the train arrived tuesday morning. we had a very short animal walk (thank god), and i had the rest of yesterday off. doug brought me to walmart to get food and such and then we went to the wildlife world zoo- i got to feed a GIRAFFE!!! they had the longest purple tounges ever- i loved it. doug was a little grossed out, but i was trying to stick my face as close to the giraffe's tounge as possible. we had dinner at hard rock last night, i brought home a souviner shot glass and left with great rock songs replaying in my head. today was kind of a bad day. when i got to work i heard the news that a guy a knew from the train had died in his sleep- he was only 28 years old and a real nice guy. we still dont know the cause. he was removed from the train early this morning and his body will be shipped back home. it kind of messed with me all day- put me in a state of shock. hopefully tomorrow is better- not quite so sad. as they say, the show must go on.....


kate

Train Run #3

vegas was too much fun. i partied too hard and slept way too little. saturday night, brad and i went out to a few different bars- he dropped me off close to 4am, i had to wake up for work at 8am and worked from 830am to 1130 pm. i about died that last hour. but i made it through my stay in vegas without getting sick once! i got back to the train last night around midnight- took a LONG shower and went to bed. i have been sleeping for close to 20 hours now- only getting up twice for the animal water stop and to eat a grilled cheese. we are on our way to phoenix right now- my ears keep plugging up and wont pop. i think we should be there within the next 10 hours or so. the heat is going to be worse, but this time the animals are all housed inside with AC. yay! i must say i did get nice tan though working outside in vegas. and probably lost a few pounds too since all i drank/ate was water. well- as pathetic as this is, i think i am going to go back to bed until the morning :)

kate

Hot, Hot, Hot!!!

we just finished the liberty act for the first of three shows today. i am sitting under the horse tent, sweating through my clothes. last night was fun- brad and i went to old vegas and saw some of the most white trash people to walk the planet. i got a plastic football size beer and couldnt even finish 1/2 of it. i think the rest is still in my fridge at home. during the liberty act today, taba let me be the head ring person- scary! i did fine though- too tired to get scared. yesterday maxed out at 112 degrees and right now it is 104. me and the 6 other people in the horse barn went through six 24 packs of bottled water yesterday, with occasional spray downs by the hose. the heat is unlike anything i have ever felt in my life. tonight is our last night in vegas :( so once again, i will hit the strip and see the city. we have another 3 shows tomorrow plus the load out. yikes- that will be about a 15-16 hour day. thank god we have the train run until tuesday. i average about 18 hours of sleep on those days. well, 4 hours of work have gone by, another 8 to go. time for me to go in the arena where the AC is on.

Things I Miss

1. a big bed
2. all my shoes
3. a non-community bathroom
4. having a fridge that i can open all the way
5. driving a car
6. my animals
7. seeing myself in a full length mirror (although i suppose it isnt all that bad that i cant see my booty and legs- my mirror cuts off at my belly)
8. being able to shave my legs without touching a nasty shower wall that 13 other boys shower in
9. water pressure
10. being able to get dressed without having to lay down on my bed
11. access to an atm, post office, walmart, food, etc etc 24/7
12. my friends and family!


well thats all i can think of. and brad is here to take me out again!

chow!

I Think I'm Melting...

well i just got back to my train car and the g*d d*a*n air conditioner broke. you have no idea how hot it is in here- at least 100. it hurts to touch the keyboard- buring my hands. today was a very long day. it probably didnt help that i went out drinking with my cousin, brad until 2 am. we went to a hotel called new york new york and went to the bars inside. it has a rollarcoaster that goes around the whole outside of the hotel! tomorrow i think we might try to ride it. the strip is amazing at night- so many lights! drinks are way too expensive- $8 a piece. i woke up at 630 for work and was still not sober- but i followed the first rule of the circus- just be sober enough to work. the heat was awful all day- topped 100 by 10am. the tigers had their swimming pools set out for them- they were splasing and playing for hours. it was so cute to watch. i was planning on staying in tonight, but i dont know how much longer i can sit in this sauna. tomorrow night brad and i are hitting the strip again. he said the weekends are crazy. well- i have to get out of this awful room.

chow

Day One: Sin City

we arrived in vegas early this morning- about 4am. i was up at 5am and the animal walk took place about 8am. we will be on the news once again. i shared my snack with champ- my mini pony- he ate my triscuits, drank 1/2 of my pepsi (he actually grabs the bottle and tips it up to drink), and 1/2 of my icee pop. luckily the arena was close to where the stock cars are- it is bloody hot here. people who say there is a difference between heat and "dry heat" are crazy. there is no difference- 105 degrees is as awful as it sounds. i am back in my room now- just took an ice cold shower. i have the rest of the day off- i think i am going to hit up the strip- get a real meal, shop at the outlet mall, plan my night, and maybe get a few drinks. vegas serves the name sin city well. i already overheard someone talking about his "asian special" he got last night for $69/hr- and i dont think he was talking about a food buffet. there are more strip clubs on one road than i have ever seen in my life. we passed one during our animal walk- strippers actually came out to take pictures! hah! we are having our shows at a place called "the orleans"- very nice- they have a lot of stuff inside where we can waste time inbetween shows- casino, TGI fridays, subway, bowling alley, movie theater, italian and chinese buffets, kates korner ice cream shop, and even a liqour store. well, the strip is calling my name- good thing i work so many hours this weekend, otherwise this city might get me in trouble.

k

Somewhere in Wyoming

Well, we just had animal water stop #2- we have been traveling since about 5am- Wyoming was BEAUTIFUL!! I sat out on the vestibule for awhile and saw a herd of buffalo, lots of caribou, foxes, wild horses and many many deer! so pretty! we should be in vegas in about 25 or so hours- we are going to do the animal walk as soon as we get there- even if it is 3am. the heat is going to kill me! well we are starting to move again- short post- not much happened today.

see you in sin city!

Vegas, Here I Come!!

well today was stressful. we had our last 2 shows in colorado springs. we had to completely take down the tents, muck out stalls, and load everything onto the train cars. i work with a guy who thinks he is a god. he has something else coming to him. he called me a terrible name today and i got him in trouble. he loves to yell and anyone for anything. annoying. he caused a lot of stress for everyone. the shows went well- i worked with the horses again. PETA made a visit to our show- some stupid signs about how we chain our animals- which is total crap. oh well- some people are just born crazy in the head. i am finally back on the train- showered and ready for bed at 8pm. we will leave sometime tonight and travel until tuesday evening when we will arrive in LAS VEGAS! yay, i cannot wait. we have wednesday off, so i am partying it up on tuesday night. finally, my leopard pumps can come off the shelf and go get some drinks. well, i am beat- another 12 hour day for me. at least i have the next 2 days off (except for the water stops 2x a day). see ya all in vegas!

kate

Animal Stampede

Yes, you read it right. today while we were walking the horses and zebras to practice, the zebras got spooked and took off running in all directions- towards the freeway, up the streets. three horses got freaked out as well and followed. we were able to get all the animals back safe, only one guy was kicked in the knee- it took about 45 minutes to round them all up again. check out our news story: http://www.gazette.com/articles/zebras_23658___article.html/children_girls.html

other then the eventful morning- today was great. during my break i went horseback riding in the mountains- so beautiful. we didnt have a guide- we just went up and down the mountains, through trees ( i have about a million scars), and through ponds. it was a fun time, but my behind sure did hurt after 2 hours on one of those guys! we had a 730pm show- Taba let me run the horse out of the ring again. yay! tomorrow is a 3 show day- very tiring, but we get free meals :)

well- im exhausted- i stayed up drinking last night and only had 4 hours of sleep. time for bed.

Kate

Garden of the Gods

Today we worked from 830-1130 then we had a long break. me, steffi, silvio and zibi went to garden of the gods. it was so COOL! we hiked and climbed rocks for about 1.5 hours. we probably could have hurt ourselves multiple times, but it was fun. we got a lot of great pictures. the weather was great and it was such a breathtaking place to spend my afternoon! I had KFC for lunch and relaxed at the train for about 2 hours before heading back to work. We had a 730pm show- animal open house at 6pm. today at the show, Taba let me run into the ring and grab one of the horses. Cool! tomorrow is horseback riding in the mountains and 2 shows. we leave sunday for VEGAS! yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

til tomorrow,

carnie kate

Opening Day: Colorado Springs

today was another 15 hour day. bus picked me up at 730- it rained ALL last night. that was a lovely surprise- we had to 100% muck out all the horse and goat stalls and put down new shavings and hay. i tell ya- wet shavings are heavy. i might gain some muscle in this city if the rain keeps up. i washed a few horses and i made a few runs to target today during my breaks. i also had to buy these god awful all black shoes for when i am in the arena. i feel so nasty wearing them. i took a nap on the shavings around 2- quite comfortable. today during the tiger act practice, Taba (the trainer) got a swipe in the face by one of his tigers. he got lucky and only got one claw- quite the gash though. i got to practice with Taba during the horse act. i get to hold whips and everything. did i ever mention that the horses speak german? well not speak- but they take their commands in german. the show wasnt until 730pm so we had to wait around all day for that. ugh. i had subway for lunch and an apple for dinner. the apples were actually for the horses, but i figure if i clean up their shit all day everyday, they can spare me an apple every once and a while. we are going to garden of the gods tomorrow and horseback riding on friday. after the show i hopped on the bus and rushed to be the first of 14 in the shower- i hate showering after dirty boys. i made it back around 1015pm. colorado is beautiful- i love working around all the mountains. well its about time for bed. another exciting day tomorrow.

chow

Lazy Day

Today was nice. Woke up for the animal walk. 2 miles- news crew was there and a lot of kids riding their bikes alongside us. i got back to the train at 11:30 and went back to bed until about 2. i didnt do a whole lot the rest of the day- emails, watched some episodes of friends and went for a run. we are parked right alongside a nice park and river. so i took about a 20 minute run and explored where we were. some people and i were going to try to go out to bars tonight but we couldnt find anywhere to go. oh well- tomorrow is opening day which means i will be at work from 7:30am to about 9pm. ughhhhhhhhhhh..... this time the animals are all outside in a big tent. and of course it is supposed to rain all damn week. oh well. i am going to go to target tomorrow to get some shelves for my room and hopefully make it to the PO. we are going horseback riding in the mountains on friday and to the garden of gods sometime later this week. well. tomorrow is a long day- so to bed, i said.

kate

Colorado Springs

well we made it to colorado springs early this morning. it is now 8:50am local time. we have our animal walk at 9:30 today- a 2 mile walk this time. i am in my room now and whne i look out the windows i see lots and lots and lots of mountains! i love it. yesterday was my first train run- i got a little motion sickness, but nothing too bad. i slept until 2pm (whoops) and woke up and didnt do a whole lot. i met some new people, drank on the vestibule (the thing that connects 2 car trains), and watched the countryside roll by. pretty neat. i ate at the pie car and had a delicious grilled cheese with a tomato. i am going to try to make it to the post office today. after the animal walk we are free to do whatever- i think i am going to try to make it to pikes peak :)

chow~

1st Train Run

The train has stopped due to rain and Tstorms. I think we are somewhere in Colorado- my phone moved back 1 hour. We have been traveling since about midnight last night and should continue to go until early tomorrow morning. The movement is making me a little sick. It is very hard to walk down the hallways when the train is moving. I slept 12 hours last night- I guess the 34 hours of work in 3 days caught up to me. I woke up to a delicious smell of my neighbor, Nicoli cooking a delicious meal. He is from Bulgaria, working here to give his family a better life. Apparently he cooks full blown meals everyday. On Thanksgiving and Christmas he cooks full turkeys and hams. Hah! Well, he is bringing me some food here shortly, then I think I will go hang out in the pie car.

See ya in Colorado Springs!

K

We are moving!

The train is moving! It is making me a little dizzy- good thing I brought motion sickness meds. It is a little after midnight- we will be traveling all night and all day tomorrow until we get to Colorado Springs. I hear it is just beautiful. Hopefully I can sleep tonight!

-k

I survived the weekend

sunday, june 10th

i survived my first few days in the circus. today i got to go out in the arena during the show- Taba, the tiger and horse trainer wants me to be his assistant for a little while. this means that i will get to be out during the shows, leading horses as they do all their crazy tricks. today was the last show in omaha. we had to pack everything back up onto the train- so tiring. i have never shoveled so much crap and hay in my life. my back is killing me- do they have a massage parlor on this train? the coolest thing was the "animal walk". we had to walk the elephants and horses back to their train car- 1 mile away. we had police escorts that blocked off the streets in downtown omaha. people were taking pictures and taking out their camera phones, the kids were running up and yelling. i had one of the mini ponies so everyone loved that. it was a nice workout. apparently when we go to nyc, it is a 7 mile walk- yikes. so i am on the train now, in my teeny tiny room waiting for the train to start running. we will travel all night and all day tomorrow until we get to colorado springs. yesterday at the show we had PETA and animal rights people handing out crap to the public before they would walk into our animal open house. they say it gets worse in cali- people yelling at us during the animal walks, throwing stuff at us, video cameras in our faces. some people are just crazy in the head. the past 3 days i have worked 13 hour days. i dont have time to think about how tired i am until we are done with everything- then i pretty much collapse. well- things are fine for now- hopefully i can continue to survive this.

until next time,

kate