Open for Business

Friday
Opening day. Slow during the day which was expected do to "Black friday" shoppers. Picked up in the evening. We beat our projected sells.
Saturday & Sunday.
Great sales. Selling 10 ft trees - whow. Hard to sell trees in 80 degree weather. :)

We are flocking trees and doing deliveries. Using my TOMTOM gps to get directions and miles. Fun. Long days. From 9am to 9pm.

Setup on Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving. Small crew came in to help with the setup. They require a fresh cut (bottom of tree) and stands with bowls. We did about 175 trees. Opening is friday at 9am.
Tree types are Noble, Douglas fir and Grand fir trees. Ranging from 1 ft to 14 ft. Also we do have some live potted trees.
Still alot of work to be done for the opening. We stopped about 4p and went across the parking lot to Coco's Rstr for our turkey dinner --- not bad. After dinner I went out geocaching. About 12 caches in the area and all in walking distance. Found three of them.

400 trees

Wed afternoon (rain) two trucks arrived with 400 trees. A small crew unloaded and drilled each tree. Tommorrow we have to put on the stands/bowls on about 200 trees. As we were wrapping up things on the lot, someone came in and purchased a small tree. $$$$

Mon/tue-Getting ready

Mon/Tue: Just getting ready. Jay & I assemble about 250 stands with bowls. Keeping the lot wet (shaving/saw dust) and getting the area ready where the trees have to be cut (on the bottom). Monday we did rec'd 7 trees that are 14-16 ft tall. A crew will come in and set them up. We were suppose to rec'd 300 trees today,tue, but the truck got delayed. They will be here on wed. Getting down to the wire to open on friday.

Training : Meet & greet

Left: Owners Doug & Deidra Bennett

Sunday eve. Training was held at the Santa Clarita (where the fire was) location. Seven lot managers and the Bennett Christmas Best owners. Class was from 9am to 2pm.

Each manager is in charge of its own lot. Its like your business. Mony is good for the five week period. One has to get the lot ready, hire employees, and decorate the booth. When the trees come in (first load will be 300 trees) they have to be cut (1/2 " on bottom) and placed on stands that have a water bowl. Trees have to be watered at night. When U sell a tree, again the tree has to be cut called a 'fresh cut', then netted (if netting was purchased), taken to the car (and hope for a tip). Then there is flocking. It really is a little over wheming. Five sets of managers have been returning for over 4 yrs. One couple is in their 70's and have been doing this for 25 yrs. This hole setup is very interesting. Doug (the owner) has been doing this for 30 yrs. The trees come f rom OR. Small christmas tree farms. The trees are cut prior to shipping thats why the Bennett Best CO is known for its fresh trees.

I did it-LA Calif

Arrived here in LA , sat, about noon. The drive thru LA, I-10, was a little stressful but did it. Thanks to my tomtom GPS I was always in the correct lane. The challenge was going from I-5 to 101 but the gps got me thru it. Here's the location: Woodland Hills (N of Beverly Hills). Off of 101 &27 (Topanga canyon blv). The christmas tree lot, corner of Victory Blv/Owensmouth ave. Right in the middle of shopping centers.If you use Google earth and paste in the street names it will show U the area.











The Rv setup is interesting. No elec. There is a Big generator that provides elec to the lot. Have water. Sewer truck comes once a week for us and the portal units. I'm on the Owensmouth st, near a bus stop. Lots of street noise but no traffic late in the evening.

Palm Springs

11/21 fri am. Arrived thur afternoon, here in Palm springs. Stay over will be for two days then on to LA sat morning. Not looking forward to the drive with the RV. Weather is great here. Staying at Cathedral Palms RV park. Going to Wal-Mart and then doing some geocaching.

New Adventure - Christmas trees

Just noting that my next adventure will be selling christmas trees. My friends/camp host buddies, Bunny/Jay, called about a month ago to meet them in LA calif to sell christmas trees. They worked for the Bennett family (they operate 7 lots) two yrs ago. Soooooo I said yes. Time frame will be from 11/21-12/26. More on this later.

Meteor Crater Work finish

Back here in Yuma (home base). My last working day at the Crater was 11/09 (sun). What a great experience. Nice people to work for, both staff & Mgr's.
Left MC RV park tuesday am and arrived here in Yuma that afternoon. Nice to be home again.