I have been doing pretty much the same thing day-in and day-out for three weeks since the General Election - I've been entering the thousands of election day voter registration and change cards into the computer system. Nothing but data entry for three weeks.
I put the last one in around 3:30 PM today.
Bob stayed home today while a home inspector and appraiser took a look at the house.
When I got home we went over to 578 Avenue D to look at that house, the house The Real Estate Connection wants us to rent when we move out of here. It is a big house - four bedrooms, but it isn't as nice as the one we are in (and that isn't saying much). If we have to move in there for six months, I guess it will be okay.
We got our first Christmas card this evening. Dad sent a card along with a surprising Christmas gift!
Temperatures were mild today with a high in the 50's. It's supposed to be nice this weekend too. I am glad because I need a good weekend to relax.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Long Weekend
Sure enough it snowed Thanksgiving morning. I got up at 1:30 AM to visit the bathroom, and I looked outside to see a white frosting on everything. The snow was very crunchy as it was heavy and mixed with rain. It crunched loudly as cars drove over it and it crunched as Buddy and I walked through it in the morning.
For Thanksgiving we had a turkey roll, candied yams, crescent rolls, stuffing, Brussel's sprouts, diced rutabaga, cranberry jelly, pumpkin pie, and a red merlot. We stayed home all day.
On Black Friday we stayed home all day. No sense going out and getting mixed up in the shopping madness. Especially when we don't have very much to spend. I went to the garage and cut up more of my aluminum scrap small enough to fit into the crucible and I packed a bunch of my tools back into boxes for our upcoming move.
Today we went to Jerri and Leonard's this morning for chicken slaughtering. Jerri and Leonard were there when we arrived, but Mike, Dom, and their two boys came over, and Jerri's daughter Jodi came with her two kids, her husband, and Jerri's mother, Mrs. Gams.
Leonard used an axe to cut the head off of the first rooster and then Jerri dunked it into boiling water until the feathers loosened up. Then it was dunked into cold water so that it would not be too hot to handle. Then Jerri took it to the burn pile where the grandchildren and her pulled the feathers off of it.
Mike dispatched the next two birds. I was asked to dunk the third bird. As I was doing it I felt the legs kicking!! The life had not completely left this bird! After the feathers were loosely coming off, I moved it to the bucket of cold water, dunked it, and then took it to the burn pile where Bob and Jodi's husband helped me pick this bird clean.
Next I carried it to the table where we had to pull the guts out of it. We laid the gizzard and heart aside and carefully removed the liver, crop, lungs, and lots of intestines. Jerri asked me to cut the gizzard open, turn it inside-out, empty it, and remove the inner lining. She intended to fry the gizzards.
Inside Jerri and Jody worked at the sink to cut the birds into sections and get them ready for the freezer. There were only three roosters today and Jerri thought that all of them were too tough for roasting.
Around 2 PM we went to the fairgrounds to see the Kappa Kraft Show. We found Teecee and Evee right inside the door. We bought a half-pound of fudge from the girls and browsed the rest of the show. We really didn't see anything there that interested us.
After a late lunch at McDonalds we came home and relaxed.
The forecast is for more snow tonight. The weather is definitely changing because Bob's legs have been stiff all day making him walk like Frankenstein. Uggh.
For Thanksgiving we had a turkey roll, candied yams, crescent rolls, stuffing, Brussel's sprouts, diced rutabaga, cranberry jelly, pumpkin pie, and a red merlot. We stayed home all day.
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| Dunking the bird. |
Today we went to Jerri and Leonard's this morning for chicken slaughtering. Jerri and Leonard were there when we arrived, but Mike, Dom, and their two boys came over, and Jerri's daughter Jodi came with her two kids, her husband, and Jerri's mother, Mrs. Gams.
Leonard used an axe to cut the head off of the first rooster and then Jerri dunked it into boiling water until the feathers loosened up. Then it was dunked into cold water so that it would not be too hot to handle. Then Jerri took it to the burn pile where the grandchildren and her pulled the feathers off of it.
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| Removing viscera from the bird. |
Next I carried it to the table where we had to pull the guts out of it. We laid the gizzard and heart aside and carefully removed the liver, crop, lungs, and lots of intestines. Jerri asked me to cut the gizzard open, turn it inside-out, empty it, and remove the inner lining. She intended to fry the gizzards.
Inside Jerri and Jody worked at the sink to cut the birds into sections and get them ready for the freezer. There were only three roosters today and Jerri thought that all of them were too tough for roasting.
Around 2 PM we went to the fairgrounds to see the Kappa Kraft Show. We found Teecee and Evee right inside the door. We bought a half-pound of fudge from the girls and browsed the rest of the show. We really didn't see anything there that interested us.
After a late lunch at McDonalds we came home and relaxed.
The forecast is for more snow tonight. The weather is definitely changing because Bob's legs have been stiff all day making him walk like Frankenstein. Uggh.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Short Week
Hooray!! The short week is over! We have four days off now.
We are planning to have a turkey roll, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, pumpkin pie, bread stuffing, and a bottle of wine tomorrow for our Thanksgiving meal. We will probably spend the afternoon and Friday packing our loose stuff up into boxes for our move.
Temperatures were in the 50's today and it was comfortable, but tomorrow is supposed to be colder with a high of 39° F and a low of 18° F. The forecast is calling for wet snow after midnight. It's a good thing we are not planning to go anywhere.
We are planning to have a turkey roll, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, pumpkin pie, bread stuffing, and a bottle of wine tomorrow for our Thanksgiving meal. We will probably spend the afternoon and Friday packing our loose stuff up into boxes for our move.
Temperatures were in the 50's today and it was comfortable, but tomorrow is supposed to be colder with a high of 39° F and a low of 18° F. The forecast is calling for wet snow after midnight. It's a good thing we are not planning to go anywhere.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Weekend
It took about 5 minutes to put the new heater fan motor into the truck. Then I pulled into the garage and did an oil change. That took about 20 minutes.
Later we went to pick up the Bountiful Basket at the American Legion.
After we took our fruit and vegetable loot home we headed up to Billings, MT. We shopped at Barnes & Noble Bookseller and Lowe's. At Lowe's I got a reciprocating saw that I intend to cut up my aluminum scrap with. We went to lunch at Salad Creations, and then we went to Sam's Club to get laundry detergent, dish detergent, a new pillow, a fatigue mat for our new kitchen, and a few other things. The sun was going down when we left Billings.
On Sunday I spent the morning sawing lawn mower deck and engines into small enough pieces to fit into my crucible. After lunch I went out and fired up my furnace. I melted 6 loads of scrap and poured 41 muffin-shaped ingots. It was during my last melt that I noticed the crucible had a big crack in it. I stopped feeding it and carefully poured the last charge. Then I closed it all up. It isn't safe to continue using that crucible and I will have to stop until I get a new one.
At work today we entered voter registrations all day long. Boring day.
We found out this evening that a young couple is buying the house we are living in and the closing date is December 28. We are going to have to move after all. There is a house over on Avenue D that the realtor wants us to move to. Moving is such a hassle.
Later we went to pick up the Bountiful Basket at the American Legion.
After we took our fruit and vegetable loot home we headed up to Billings, MT. We shopped at Barnes & Noble Bookseller and Lowe's. At Lowe's I got a reciprocating saw that I intend to cut up my aluminum scrap with. We went to lunch at Salad Creations, and then we went to Sam's Club to get laundry detergent, dish detergent, a new pillow, a fatigue mat for our new kitchen, and a few other things. The sun was going down when we left Billings.
On Sunday I spent the morning sawing lawn mower deck and engines into small enough pieces to fit into my crucible. After lunch I went out and fired up my furnace. I melted 6 loads of scrap and poured 41 muffin-shaped ingots. It was during my last melt that I noticed the crucible had a big crack in it. I stopped feeding it and carefully poured the last charge. Then I closed it all up. It isn't safe to continue using that crucible and I will have to stop until I get a new one.
At work today we entered voter registrations all day long. Boring day.
We found out this evening that a young couple is buying the house we are living in and the closing date is December 28. We are going to have to move after all. There is a house over on Avenue D that the realtor wants us to move to. Moving is such a hassle.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Happy Hour
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| Happy Hour party favors. |
We spent all day entering new voter registrations. We only get about 200 done per day. So, we will be working on these for two solid weeks.
My Maple Bacon Bourbon ice cream was a hit. Everyone loved the novelty of it and how good it was. I think we will make another quart of it and keep it in the freezer in a plastic tub.
After work we went to the Irma for Happy Hour. Jerri, Leonard, Tami, Tami's husband, Buddy; Barb, Teecee, Bob, and me. Later a lady named Kay showed up that has worked with some of these folks before and then Leonard's brother Bob and Bob's wife, Kay came in too.
We presented Jerri with a birthday card (her 58th birthday) and a gift card for $130 to spend at Linton's Big R Store.
It was almost 8 PM when we left the Irma to come back to Powell.
This was a short week and next week will be even shorter because of Thanksgiving.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Powell, WY
Life in the office is very peaceful now. Only two people came up to the counter all day, and they were only there to turn in their Candidate Receipt and Expenditure Report to us.
Teecee and I are very busy entering election day voter registrations. A new guy Jerri hired, named Duane, is filing all of the voter registration cards in the little cabinet in the vault.
My replacement heater fan left Chicago this morning. It is in St Paul, MN right now. Scheduled for delivery on Friday. I will put it in on Saturday and then change the oil in the truck too.
A small problem developed in my Arduino project today. From Cody I was attempting to turn LEDs on and off. Suddenly the controller stopped responding and the browser couldn't even load the page! I figured it out this evening - I put a micro SD card into the card reader on the Ethernet shield on Monday. The chip select pin for the SD card is Pin 4. When I turned Pin 4 high to light the LED, this activated the SD card reader and that stopped the program from running.
To fix the problem, I simply moved the pins to 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, and changed the program to operate those pins only. You have to be careful because Pin 10 is the chip select for the Ethernet shield too!
Friday is Jerri's birthday. We took up a collection to get her a Linton's Big R gift certificate. Also, I am going to make Bacon Bourbon Maple Ice Cream and bring it in. Teecee is making vanilla custard for me to turn into ice cream too. We are having a Happy Hour on Friday at The Irma, and we will give Jerri her gift certificate then.
Teecee and I are very busy entering election day voter registrations. A new guy Jerri hired, named Duane, is filing all of the voter registration cards in the little cabinet in the vault.
My replacement heater fan left Chicago this morning. It is in St Paul, MN right now. Scheduled for delivery on Friday. I will put it in on Saturday and then change the oil in the truck too.
A small problem developed in my Arduino project today. From Cody I was attempting to turn LEDs on and off. Suddenly the controller stopped responding and the browser couldn't even load the page! I figured it out this evening - I put a micro SD card into the card reader on the Ethernet shield on Monday. The chip select pin for the SD card is Pin 4. When I turned Pin 4 high to light the LED, this activated the SD card reader and that stopped the program from running.
To fix the problem, I simply moved the pins to 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, and changed the program to operate those pins only. You have to be careful because Pin 10 is the chip select for the Ethernet shield too!
Friday is Jerri's birthday. We took up a collection to get her a Linton's Big R gift certificate. Also, I am going to make Bacon Bourbon Maple Ice Cream and bring it in. Teecee is making vanilla custard for me to turn into ice cream too. We are having a Happy Hour on Friday at The Irma, and we will give Jerri her gift certificate then.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Long Weekend
This was a long and chilly weekend. I finally got some much needed rest and the pain in my neck/back has gone away. The stress from the elections has lifted!
I removed the heater blower motor from the truck on Saturday morning. It was really simple - there are just three screws to take out, and then you unplug the electric wires. As I was pulling the motor down from under the dashboard it came to life and started to spin. I flicked the control knob over to "off" to stop it.
To re-use the fan I took the motor assembly into the garage and removed it from the motor shaft. Then we brought the plastic fan inside and cleaned it in the kitchen sink. The 12-volt motor that turns the fan was surprisingly small.
A replacement motor has been ordered from Rockauto.com. We expect it to arrive on Friday or Saturday. I will take it out and immediately put it in because the windows fog up so easily without a blower to send warm air over them.
Another thing that I did to help the truck with the cold winter temperatures was buy a magnetic heater for the oil pan. I got this at Linton's Big R Store, and it cost $32. You snap the little 200-watt heater to the side or bottom of the oil pan, and you plug it in - that's it. This will keep the oil warmed up and ready to flow when I start the engine.
It was -2° F outside yesterday morning when I took Buddy for his walk. Today was a little warmer - it was 0° F.
We drove to Cody this morning to get a bag of Dog Fuel for Buddy from Cody Feed, and then we went to Wal*Mart to get our monthly supplies. When we arrived home with this stuff I backed the truck into our parking space next to the garage and began carrying bags up to the house. Bob went inside and dropped the bags just inside the door. Bob finished carrying them to the kitchen. Then I returned for another arm load. This way I did not wet the carpet with repeated trips through the snow.
This long weekend was not long enough, but I feel rested and restored. Restored enough to face a short week at work anyway.
I removed the heater blower motor from the truck on Saturday morning. It was really simple - there are just three screws to take out, and then you unplug the electric wires. As I was pulling the motor down from under the dashboard it came to life and started to spin. I flicked the control knob over to "off" to stop it.
To re-use the fan I took the motor assembly into the garage and removed it from the motor shaft. Then we brought the plastic fan inside and cleaned it in the kitchen sink. The 12-volt motor that turns the fan was surprisingly small.
A replacement motor has been ordered from Rockauto.com. We expect it to arrive on Friday or Saturday. I will take it out and immediately put it in because the windows fog up so easily without a blower to send warm air over them.
Another thing that I did to help the truck with the cold winter temperatures was buy a magnetic heater for the oil pan. I got this at Linton's Big R Store, and it cost $32. You snap the little 200-watt heater to the side or bottom of the oil pan, and you plug it in - that's it. This will keep the oil warmed up and ready to flow when I start the engine.
It was -2° F outside yesterday morning when I took Buddy for his walk. Today was a little warmer - it was 0° F.
We drove to Cody this morning to get a bag of Dog Fuel for Buddy from Cody Feed, and then we went to Wal*Mart to get our monthly supplies. When we arrived home with this stuff I backed the truck into our parking space next to the garage and began carrying bags up to the house. Bob went inside and dropped the bags just inside the door. Bob finished carrying them to the kitchen. Then I returned for another arm load. This way I did not wet the carpet with repeated trips through the snow.
This long weekend was not long enough, but I feel rested and restored. Restored enough to face a short week at work anyway.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Arduino Project
With LED's lit, the controller reads how much light is falling on a light-dependent resistor (LDR), and returns that value to the webpage. The brighter the light, the higher the value.
We were able to bring up the page yesterday afternoon at the courthouse in Cody. I turned three of the LED's on and left them on. After we drove the 25 miles through terrible weather, we found the little lamps lit up at home!
This project will be online for a few days (or until tctwest.net changes our URL). You may view the page at the following link: http://96.1.19.226:80. There you may turn the lamps on and off and see how the light value changes in our living room in Powell, Wyoming.
Friday, November 09, 2012
Canvassing
It was very cloudy when we started out for Cody this morning. As we headed down US 14A a fine mist began to fall. Then the sides of the windshield began to ice up as we approached Cody.
My heater blower motor has stopped working so my defogger is not working very well.
The 2012 General Election was canvassed today. Paul Sibley (R) and Sharon LaGrant (D) came in to go over all of the numbers. Jerri chaired the meeting and Tami took minutes. I ran the books and paperwork back and forth. The canvass took 5 hours to complete.
It snowed all afternoon. When we left at 5:00 PM the truck was iced up and covered in snow. I had to get the ice scraper out and clear off the windshield. It was hard driving as we left town because the windshield fogged up.
Just as the glass started to clear we had to come to a stop. There was a bad accident on the Corbett Bridge due to ice. We had to cross the bridge slowly amid the fire trucks, tow trucks, police cars and ambulances. It was a cold icy storm.
As we approached Powell the road conditions improved and we were gradually able to pick up our speed.
Now the election is over and we have a three-day weekend ahead of us! Time to relax.
My heater blower motor has stopped working so my defogger is not working very well.
The 2012 General Election was canvassed today. Paul Sibley (R) and Sharon LaGrant (D) came in to go over all of the numbers. Jerri chaired the meeting and Tami took minutes. I ran the books and paperwork back and forth. The canvass took 5 hours to complete.
It snowed all afternoon. When we left at 5:00 PM the truck was iced up and covered in snow. I had to get the ice scraper out and clear off the windshield. It was hard driving as we left town because the windshield fogged up.
Just as the glass started to clear we had to come to a stop. There was a bad accident on the Corbett Bridge due to ice. We had to cross the bridge slowly amid the fire trucks, tow trucks, police cars and ambulances. It was a cold icy storm.
As we approached Powell the road conditions improved and we were gradually able to pick up our speed.
Now the election is over and we have a three-day weekend ahead of us! Time to relax.
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Front Page Redux
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| Tuesday, November 6, 2012. |
Today we conducted an internal canvass of the election. Basically it was left to Teecee and me to do since Tami went to do other things. I was having a hard time getting any of my precincts to balance, but Teecee said it wasn't important and that we had all day to get it done.
Well, after she went to lunch at 2:00 PM, I went and found Jerri and told her that I was very concerned about the external canvass we would be doing tomorrow morning.
She sat down with me and started to go over the poll books, the absentee ballot report forms, and the report we got back from the computer. She could not make them balance either.
Jerri spent the entire afternoon with us working on the internal canvass. She also called Tami in to help with this as soon as she returned from a meeting about insurance. Even Tami had to admit that nobody could reconstruct what happened on Election Night with our absentee ballots. It sounded like they planned to make a lot of excuses to the canvassing board tomorrow morning.
I am sure Teecee and Tami know who brought Jerri in on this. I don't care either -- Jerri cannot afford another embarrassment right now.
It is a good thing we have a long weekend coming because I really need it!
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Exhausted
The Montana Standard quoted me yesterday at the polls in Powell.
Our day started at 5:00 AM. I took Buddy for his walk, and then got a shower and shave. I dressed in my Park County Elections red shirt, black slacks, recently shined black leather shoes, and a jacket. We got a McDonald's drive-thru breakfast and then got over to the fairgrounds for our big day.
Everything was going very smoothly as we set up and got ready to open the polls. A line of voters started outside the door before we opened. I got all eight precincts in Powell open and ready to receive voters and then I announced at 7:00 AM, "Ladies and Gentlemen, The polls are now open!"
About 10 minutes later Precinct 10-2 called me over because the ballot scanner was having a problem - it would not take ballots. Then it happened to 10-1, and then 23-1. Whatever the problem was, it affected 27 out of the 29 precincts in the county! We switched every precinct to the emergency ballot box, which would just hold the ballots until they could be scanned and counted later. This made some voters very unhappy.
Mike returned to the courthouse and began working on this problem. To save over $13,000, we decided to try to program the election ourselves instead of paying ES&S to do it for us. Well, none of us have ever programmed an election. The Powell Tribune and Cody Enterprise promptly notified the world of our problems.
Kai Schon and a representative from ES&S got on the governor's jet and flew up from Cheyenne to help us with these ballot problems. The problems were resolved and duplicate program cards were driven up to Powell from Cody. When these arrived I began restoring each precinct to normal operation one-at-a-time.
When I had all eight precincts at the fairgrounds working correctly, I had to leave and travel to Garland, Ralston, and Clark to restore their voting machines, provide them with additional blank pages to record new voters in their precincts, and answer any questions they might have had.
Turnout at the polls was heavy. Park County had 102% voter turnout. We had some lines and we ran out of some ballots, forms, and "I Voted" stickers. Bob was Head Judge for Precinct 9-1 and his precinct had the highest turnout in the county with 128% voter turnout.
I had to leave again in the afternoon and travel to Lane 16, the halfway point, where I met Leonard Torczon coming up from Cody with ballot refills for us.
We closed the polls at 7:00 PM, but it was almost 8:00 PM when I got all precincts closed up and all eight steel ballot boxes onto the bed of my truck. I dropped Bob off at the house and then turned to Cody to deliver the poll materials to the courthouse.
At the courthouse I carried the boxes inside to the Receiving Board and then runners carried the various items inside to boxes waiting for these supplies. Then I was put to work on a Resolution Board copying ballots that were damaged onto new clean ballots that could be read by the scanner.
I met Kai Schon from the Wyoming Secretary of State Office in Cheyenne.
Because there were three times as many absentee ballots as we had in the Primary Election, counting these ballots took us until after 1:00 AM (again). It was after 2:00 AM when I finally got home.
I crawled into bed and slept, but the alarm went off three hours later and I had to get back to Cody to help bring the voting equipment back to storage.
Today was a long day for us because we were so tired, but the Elections Office counter was dead quiet. The long fever finally broke and we will have this ordeal over soon!
Our day started at 5:00 AM. I took Buddy for his walk, and then got a shower and shave. I dressed in my Park County Elections red shirt, black slacks, recently shined black leather shoes, and a jacket. We got a McDonald's drive-thru breakfast and then got over to the fairgrounds for our big day.
Everything was going very smoothly as we set up and got ready to open the polls. A line of voters started outside the door before we opened. I got all eight precincts in Powell open and ready to receive voters and then I announced at 7:00 AM, "Ladies and Gentlemen, The polls are now open!"
About 10 minutes later Precinct 10-2 called me over because the ballot scanner was having a problem - it would not take ballots. Then it happened to 10-1, and then 23-1. Whatever the problem was, it affected 27 out of the 29 precincts in the county! We switched every precinct to the emergency ballot box, which would just hold the ballots until they could be scanned and counted later. This made some voters very unhappy.
Mike returned to the courthouse and began working on this problem. To save over $13,000, we decided to try to program the election ourselves instead of paying ES&S to do it for us. Well, none of us have ever programmed an election. The Powell Tribune and Cody Enterprise promptly notified the world of our problems.
Kai Schon and a representative from ES&S got on the governor's jet and flew up from Cheyenne to help us with these ballot problems. The problems were resolved and duplicate program cards were driven up to Powell from Cody. When these arrived I began restoring each precinct to normal operation one-at-a-time.
When I had all eight precincts at the fairgrounds working correctly, I had to leave and travel to Garland, Ralston, and Clark to restore their voting machines, provide them with additional blank pages to record new voters in their precincts, and answer any questions they might have had.
Turnout at the polls was heavy. Park County had 102% voter turnout. We had some lines and we ran out of some ballots, forms, and "I Voted" stickers. Bob was Head Judge for Precinct 9-1 and his precinct had the highest turnout in the county with 128% voter turnout.
I had to leave again in the afternoon and travel to Lane 16, the halfway point, where I met Leonard Torczon coming up from Cody with ballot refills for us.
We closed the polls at 7:00 PM, but it was almost 8:00 PM when I got all precincts closed up and all eight steel ballot boxes onto the bed of my truck. I dropped Bob off at the house and then turned to Cody to deliver the poll materials to the courthouse.
At the courthouse I carried the boxes inside to the Receiving Board and then runners carried the various items inside to boxes waiting for these supplies. Then I was put to work on a Resolution Board copying ballots that were damaged onto new clean ballots that could be read by the scanner.
I met Kai Schon from the Wyoming Secretary of State Office in Cheyenne.
Because there were three times as many absentee ballots as we had in the Primary Election, counting these ballots took us until after 1:00 AM (again). It was after 2:00 AM when I finally got home.
I crawled into bed and slept, but the alarm went off three hours later and I had to get back to Cody to help bring the voting equipment back to storage.
Today was a long day for us because we were so tired, but the Elections Office counter was dead quiet. The long fever finally broke and we will have this ordeal over soon!
Monday, November 05, 2012
General Election
Tomorrow is the 2012 General Election. We went to Cody early this morning, ate breakfast at Granny's, and then went to the courthouse. We began loading the trucks with voting equipment at 7:00 AM.
I went with Taylor Bednarz on the Powell Truck. We went to Garland Community Church and set up the polling place for Precinct 6-1, then we went to Powell and the Park County Fairgrounds. Here we set up the polls for Precinct 9-1, 9-2, 9-4, 9-5, 9-7, 10-1, 10-2, and 23-1. This is a large polling location. Lastly, Taylor and me set up the equipment at Mountain View Club in Ralston. This is Precinct 21-1.
It was 11:45 when we got back to the courthouse in Cody. I think we got everything set up fairly quickly.
Bob stayed at the counter all day helping Teecee and Tami process absentee requests.
After I ate the chili that we took for lunch, Jerri asked me to go out to the Southfork, Precinct 4-1, with the spare M100 Precinct Ballot Scanner and re-programmed PCMCIA cards for the voting machine. For some reason it would not read the card when Mike turned it on, so he wanted me to break the seal, put a newly programmed card in, and turn it on. It was able to read the new card, so I installed a new tamper seal on the machine, and recorded the seal number on the Ballot Report Form in the poll books.
I headed back to the courthouse and was asked to drive to Clark because the Facilities guys did not set the equipment up, they just dropped it off. So, I fueled up the truck and headed north to Clark.
At Clark I found the Pioneer Rec Center unlocked, so I went inside and set up the voting machine. put chairs out, and got the voting booth lights working.
By the time I got back to Cody I had driven over 80 miles in my truck. I am keeping track of the miles because the county will pay me back at $0.55 per mile. I am sure I will log some miles tomorrow too.
Tomorrow will be a long and exciting day. It will be good to get the election behind us. Bob is working as Head Judge in Precinct 9-1 at the Fairgrounds tomorrow. I will drop him off at the house after the polls close, but I will have to go to Cody to deliver the ballot boxes for all of the Powell precincts.
I went with Taylor Bednarz on the Powell Truck. We went to Garland Community Church and set up the polling place for Precinct 6-1, then we went to Powell and the Park County Fairgrounds. Here we set up the polls for Precinct 9-1, 9-2, 9-4, 9-5, 9-7, 10-1, 10-2, and 23-1. This is a large polling location. Lastly, Taylor and me set up the equipment at Mountain View Club in Ralston. This is Precinct 21-1.
It was 11:45 when we got back to the courthouse in Cody. I think we got everything set up fairly quickly.
Bob stayed at the counter all day helping Teecee and Tami process absentee requests.
After I ate the chili that we took for lunch, Jerri asked me to go out to the Southfork, Precinct 4-1, with the spare M100 Precinct Ballot Scanner and re-programmed PCMCIA cards for the voting machine. For some reason it would not read the card when Mike turned it on, so he wanted me to break the seal, put a newly programmed card in, and turn it on. It was able to read the new card, so I installed a new tamper seal on the machine, and recorded the seal number on the Ballot Report Form in the poll books.
I headed back to the courthouse and was asked to drive to Clark because the Facilities guys did not set the equipment up, they just dropped it off. So, I fueled up the truck and headed north to Clark.
At Clark I found the Pioneer Rec Center unlocked, so I went inside and set up the voting machine. put chairs out, and got the voting booth lights working.
By the time I got back to Cody I had driven over 80 miles in my truck. I am keeping track of the miles because the county will pay me back at $0.55 per mile. I am sure I will log some miles tomorrow too.
Tomorrow will be a long and exciting day. It will be good to get the election behind us. Bob is working as Head Judge in Precinct 9-1 at the Fairgrounds tomorrow. I will drop him off at the house after the polls close, but I will have to go to Cody to deliver the ballot boxes for all of the Powell precincts.
Friday, November 02, 2012
Crunch Time
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| Cody Enterprise 10-31-12, Page A11. |
Speaking of absentee ballots... we have now passed out over 4,200 ballots. About 25% of the county has already voted this way!
Our counter was busy today. We processed another 200 ballots today. We also got poll books and other polling materials ready today. Tomorrow we are going to stage the voting equipment for loading and delivery to the polls on Monday morning.
It will be a huge relief to have this election behind us.
Thursday, November 01, 2012
Powell, WY
We can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.
Park County Elections has sent over 4,000 absentee ballots for the General Election. This is a new record. I am betting we will see heavy turn out on Tuesday at the polls.
Yesterday was Halloween and the Clerk's Office dressed up in used orange Park County Detention Center garments. One lady was shocked - she came in from the parking lot where actual prisoners were being escorted to court for trial only to find them freely walking the halls and even behind the counter! Hahaha!
Prepared for trick-or-treaters, we had a bowl of mini Payday bars and little boxes of Milk Duds. I think we had 12 little kids show up in costumes.
Today I am programming the M100 Precinct Ballot Scanner and Tabulating Machines, putting tamper seals on the machines, recording the seal numbers, and preparing all of the equipment for roll out this weekend.
A mini-political controversy has surfaced in our office, but has not spread to the wider community yet. Terry Hinkle, the Number 2 Republican in Park County after Geri Hockhalter, the county chair, keeps phoning in and requesting various election judge assignments. As it is, we have given him a place in the courthouse counting absentee ballots on Election Day.
We wanted him in the courthouse where we could keep an eye on him. He originally insisted on being Head Judge for a precinct in Cody Auditorium.
He called in again yesterday and said that he wanted to be on the Canvassing Board. I explained to him that those persons on the board were appointed back in June and they were approved by the county commissioners on June 20. He accepted this and then volunteered his wife, Tonia Grdina, a locally-known bookkeeper, to come in and count ballots too. He said that Tonia was very experienced counting ballots "back in Ohio".
I told Jerri about this and she began ruminating on it. She said that a friend of hers, the county GOP chair in Las Vegas, Nevada, told her that Terri Hinkle used to be a Democrat working for Dennis Kucinich somewhere back east in Illinois or Ohio or somewhere. She was wondering how true this was.
Well, a few minutes of scratching and sniffing revealed this to be true. From Terry's voter registration record I could see that he was a Democrat from the time he registered in 1999 until he switched to Republican in 2002. H was born in Mogadore, OH on Oct 1, 1942. Then I began using Google.
Google turned up an article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer that was very informative. Terry and Tonia helped Dennis Kucinich on his mayoral campaign in Cleveland. When 31-year-old Kucinich won, he appointed Tonia and her sister Betty to various city positions to reward them. 21-year-old Tonia was appointed Public Safety Supervisor. She made a few enemies of the fire and police unions. One union official stomped out of failed negotiations saying, "That's the last time I take direction from a broad in a training bra!"
Tonia and Terry left Cleveland when Kucinich lost his bid for re-election in 1979.
Recently Terry made the news because the name of the road he had been living on, Road 6FU, was "vulgar" and "obscene". He was successful in having it changed to Stagecoach Trail.
I just know that Terry is a lying snake in the grass. He's all smiles, and at least with me, he schmoozes a lot, but I know his true nature. I think Jerri has the full picture too.
Park County Elections has sent over 4,000 absentee ballots for the General Election. This is a new record. I am betting we will see heavy turn out on Tuesday at the polls.
Yesterday was Halloween and the Clerk's Office dressed up in used orange Park County Detention Center garments. One lady was shocked - she came in from the parking lot where actual prisoners were being escorted to court for trial only to find them freely walking the halls and even behind the counter! Hahaha!
Prepared for trick-or-treaters, we had a bowl of mini Payday bars and little boxes of Milk Duds. I think we had 12 little kids show up in costumes.
Today I am programming the M100 Precinct Ballot Scanner and Tabulating Machines, putting tamper seals on the machines, recording the seal numbers, and preparing all of the equipment for roll out this weekend.
A mini-political controversy has surfaced in our office, but has not spread to the wider community yet. Terry Hinkle, the Number 2 Republican in Park County after Geri Hockhalter, the county chair, keeps phoning in and requesting various election judge assignments. As it is, we have given him a place in the courthouse counting absentee ballots on Election Day.
We wanted him in the courthouse where we could keep an eye on him. He originally insisted on being Head Judge for a precinct in Cody Auditorium.
He called in again yesterday and said that he wanted to be on the Canvassing Board. I explained to him that those persons on the board were appointed back in June and they were approved by the county commissioners on June 20. He accepted this and then volunteered his wife, Tonia Grdina, a locally-known bookkeeper, to come in and count ballots too. He said that Tonia was very experienced counting ballots "back in Ohio".
I told Jerri about this and she began ruminating on it. She said that a friend of hers, the county GOP chair in Las Vegas, Nevada, told her that Terri Hinkle used to be a Democrat working for Dennis Kucinich somewhere back east in Illinois or Ohio or somewhere. She was wondering how true this was.
Well, a few minutes of scratching and sniffing revealed this to be true. From Terry's voter registration record I could see that he was a Democrat from the time he registered in 1999 until he switched to Republican in 2002. H was born in Mogadore, OH on Oct 1, 1942. Then I began using Google.
Google turned up an article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer that was very informative. Terry and Tonia helped Dennis Kucinich on his mayoral campaign in Cleveland. When 31-year-old Kucinich won, he appointed Tonia and her sister Betty to various city positions to reward them. 21-year-old Tonia was appointed Public Safety Supervisor. She made a few enemies of the fire and police unions. One union official stomped out of failed negotiations saying, "That's the last time I take direction from a broad in a training bra!"
Tonia and Terry left Cleveland when Kucinich lost his bid for re-election in 1979.
Recently Terry made the news because the name of the road he had been living on, Road 6FU, was "vulgar" and "obscene". He was successful in having it changed to Stagecoach Trail.
I just know that Terry is a lying snake in the grass. He's all smiles, and at least with me, he schmoozes a lot, but I know his true nature. I think Jerri has the full picture too.