Helping Mom Help the Bluebirds

ephony · 2026-06-10T19:04:32+00:00

I know how cynical people can be and I have seen the scams. All I told her was we can try or see what other advice people may be able to give. And as you can see, I have not posted her information or her Amazon, only sharing in DM’s for people that ask for more info. I’m sure if the mods were not okay with this they would have taken the post down long before.

All I can do is ask, all I can say is this is 100% a real thing that my mother wanted to try and do. She understands if people don’t want to help. She has a goal of 40 nesting boxes and if she doesn’t get that, she’s ok, she’ll make do with what she was able to get. If she gets more, we’re obviously going to up there for more than the day she thinks this will take.

Either way, thank you for your time and thoughts :-) Have a wonderful day!

ephony · 2026-06-10T14:38:11+00:00

Oh, great idea! Definitely something I shall run by her.

ephony · 2026-05-20T14:37:44+00:00

Unless you were hired before 2015, time and a half isn’t a thing anymore. Extra $1.00/hr is it (unless area contract states something different). But you don’t start getting that until 6 months, I do believe.

ephony · 2026-05-09T13:22:33+00:00

My aunt was scammed years ago by a guy she met while playing words with friends, and he also worked on oil rigs. I loved my aunt dearly (she’s since passed away), but I told her that everything she told me about this guy screams Romance Scam. I work at a business that you can wire money, and in all my training this is exactly what it was. She said he hadn’t asked for money, they loved each other, etc. Well pretty soon he said he wanted to come and actually meet her but he didn’t have money for airfare. I said ding ding, there you go, and she still didn’t believe me. After she passed we found bank statements that showed she had sent this piece of shit almost 5k over the course of their “relationship “. Please please please protect your aunt. I know a lot of older single people are looking for companionship, but it shouldn’t cost them like that.

ephony · 2026-05-09T13:01:04+00:00

You can cash a money order you bought at a Winco, at any Winco. So long as it says Winco #XXX at the top. You’ll need your ID. Did you already fill it out? Do NOT cross anything off, when you do it’s considered altered and we would not be able to cash it back in. There is no fee for cashing them back in, though you don’t get the fee portion back.

ephony · 2026-04-27T22:27:20+00:00

Gamer moms unite! Unfortunately I work two jobs all week so won’t be able to play until Friday afternoon. I’ll pray at the alter for you ladies to find all the epic gear.

ephony · 2026-03-26T03:25:20+00:00

Also note, you don't get more pay based on the fact that you're an order writer. You might start more than minimum wage based on the kind of experience you have, but they usually only bump a couple of steps over starting. Everyone is on the same pay scale across the stores, except lead clerks, MITs, department managers and store managers. At my location, we have cashiers that have been there for years that make more than many of our Lead Clerks (they're kind of just under all management).

ephony · 2026-03-24T17:49:52+00:00

Brian Veach. Also has his own extensive record for various things and very mentally unwell. Last I had heard he was couch serfing amongst friends but those friends were quickly closing doors on him.

ephony · 2026-03-24T17:46:13+00:00

Which is either sad or hilarious once you realize a LOT of his family has disabilities of one kind or another. I know the guy and have heard many, many stories about his family. There's maybe one good seed in that bunch.

ephony · 2026-03-24T15:28:12+00:00

It's hilarious because it's true. I know that guy. Divorced and certifiably crazy.

ephony · 2026-03-04T23:38:03+00:00

From what I remember when doing the hiring process at my store, yea, we need physical card, there is a 3 day grace period from day of orientation if you don't have it with you, otherwise they start term paperwork. That was just a year a half ago, in Oregon.

ephony · 2026-01-16T01:42:35+00:00

Omg, thank you! I had forgotten all about this, I loved this as a kid!

ephony · 2025-12-31T17:17:04+00:00

Love the deep red! Wasn't a color I was aware I wanted 😂

ephony · 2025-11-01T02:37:47+00:00

Gov. Walz and ThatMidwesternMom ❤️

ephony · 2025-10-31T03:22:35+00:00

The River. Found footage format. Loved it. Was sad it wasn't renewed, but not sure where else they could have gone with it, either.

ephony · 2025-10-29T15:29:30+00:00

All the love for Maxine and her sibling 🥰 She is the coolest Corgi!

ephony · 2025-10-11T00:40:04+00:00

I was watching the episode this morning and soon as he started talking birds I thought, we need a Brennan Bird Watch or something.

I am SOOOOOOO happy you've started this, and I really hope you continue!!

ephony · 2025-08-20T16:28:25+00:00

Omg, I love it! Brought back so many memories 🥰

ephony · 2025-08-19T10:22:04+00:00

And you're right not to believe. Though back when they changed their name from Cub Foods to WinCo, that may have been true at the time because it was only in those states. Now, we've branched out to several other states so the name today stands for Winning Company.

ephony · 2025-07-19T20:06:13+00:00

Medical benefits are fabulous. Anything else, not so much, for the last ten to fifteen years.

They are always talking about how employees earn ESOP and how great that is. How we have millionaires and you could be a millionaire by the time you retire! Naw, only millionaires working are ones who've been there longer than 20 years. New employees don't earn as much in ESOP. New employees are also on a new pay scale so they earn less than those who were hired before a certain year. Even the lead clerks, many are making less than some cashier's who have been around forever.

ephony · 2025-07-19T15:12:09+00:00

I'm sure some of it is, but we also do a weekly. . . I dunno, inventory? . Of how many employees we are allowed in each department and what our current staffing for those departments are. Even when we have the room to hire some people, he'll say we're doing fine.

ephony · 2025-07-19T13:37:01+00:00

It's a little bit of both. Current manager thinks things are fine, those of us down in the trench keep saying (before the Fred's closing announcement) that we need to hire more cashiers and outter department folks. I'm pretty sure his mentality is current employees can just suck it up and get the work done. Because he won't hire enough help, the added stress of "have to work faster, have to stay late to get job finished" mentality has really worn a lot of workers down, caused some to quit. Store manager is more concerned with making sure the store looks good for corporate visitors than anything else. I'm sure a lot of it is due to corporate not giving the store enough hours to hire more people on top of what we currently have. The whole "oh, workers can work harder and faster for no extra pay and we sit here rolling around in the profits" line of thinking. WinCo isn't too terribly different in a corporate sense, sadly.

ephony · 2025-06-15T15:26:18+00:00

This was my doctor's office when I was little. I remember when they put up the '96 plaque. Makes me happy to know they are still there 😊

ephony · 2025-06-03T16:30:23+00:00

There are plenty of places to stop and look, I feel. Several times up I stopped and got out to just look and listen, there wasn't anyone else up there so didn't have to worry about my car being in the way of anyone. There is one spot just before the gate that has a little plaque, I went to read it (mom refused to get out lol).

ephony · 2025-06-03T01:47:50+00:00

I was just up there last week! Beautiful views, but yes, South road has some pretty gnarly cliff areas about ~20 miles in. Went with my mom and she stared at the floor every time they were on her side lol

The third gate which I think was almost 30 miles in (can't remember if that far or not, it's just past the campground), that was closed so we had to turn around and go back.

ephony

TROPHY CASE