May 14 & 15, 2005

May 14 & 15, 2005

Lorette & Winnipeg, Manitoba

DAYS 331 & 332

 

Saturday ; Today was cloudy and cold.

We spent most of the day doing "big city shopping". We've been putting off making some purchases lately, waiting until we were in Winnipeg. Lorette Marketplace for groceries, Canada One RV for RV accessories, Canadian Tire for auto supplies, Princess Auto for auto accessories, Wal-Mart for a vehicle battery and household supplies, Dollar Store for household supplies, Home Depot for some maintenance supplies, and finally Shoppers Drug Mart for some toiletries and cosmetics. By the time we were finished all that running around and shopping it was time to head to the Carlson's for supper.

When we arrived at the Carlson's, I went in first to brief the nieces on what to expect when meeting Bo, while Joanne waited for a minute in the truck with Bo. We got the girls dressed to go outside ( thanks to the fact that May in Winnipeg is considerably colder than Texas in January ) then we brought Bo into their back yard to meet the girls. After an exuberant meeting, we went for a long walk. Actually, I'm the only one who walked. Madeleine, Amelia, and Bo ran ! And Nash ! Nash is Doug's sister's son who was spending the weekend at the Carlson's while his parents do some renovations to his room. Nash lives with a large dog, so Bo was neither intimidating, nor particularly interesting to Nash. Overall, Bo behaved very well all evening. He seems to enjoy being around children, and behaves quite well around them. Doug was quite generous in allowing us to have Bo in the house, considering his allergies to animal fur. His allergy symptoms increased in severity throughout the evening, until we finally put Bo in the truck a couple of hours before we left. By then it was too late, I guess, as Doug continued to suffer from itching eyes and breathing difficulty. After the lengthy ordeal of putting the three children to bed was completed, we showed our travel pictures to Lorri and Doug, until everyone was tired and falling asleep.

 

Sunday ; Today started out partially cloudy, and a bit warmer. By early afternoon, the sky cleared, and the temperature warmed up quite a bit.

This morning I visited with Bud and Sharon while I had a cup of coffee before showering. After I showered, Joanne and I accepted their invitation to join them for a Sunday brunch of our old Kirby family recipe of apple fritters. We spent the balance of the morning, and half the afternoon, sitting around, chatting. I very unwisely brought Bo into the house, without taking into consideration that Lily the cat has never been exposed to dogs. Bo ran into the family room, and a moment later Lily came screaming out of the room, with Bo in hot pursuit. Lily ran across the house, and into the master bedroom, at which point Bo lost sight of her. Bo and Teddy play chasing games, so Bo thinks if a cat runs, he should give chase. Unfortunately, Lily doesn't understand that Bo is playing, and is not a threat. Being chased by Bo quite literally scared the shit out of Lily. I'm very sorry ! Rather stupid and inconsiderate of me !

Bud and I burned a CD on their new computer. It plays fine in Dee-Dee. I had burned a couple of CD's that I wanted to share with Bud, but my laptop burns CD's in a format that won't play in the truck, only on the computer. Doug's theory is that my laptop might burn CD's in an MP3 format which the CD player in the truck doesn't recognize. Anyways, the CD that I burned on Bud's computer plays fine in the truck.

We returned to the trailer to get some chores done, and allow Bud and Sharon to get on with their day. I did yesterday's accounting, and journal. The sun finally peeked out, and started to warm up the afternoon, so I went outside to get some outdoor chores done.

I spent way too long working up on the roof of the trailer, trying to secure the waste tote to the roof rack. I guess I'm a little paranoid about this heavy 32 gallon plastic tote flying off the roof of the trailer at 100 km. per hr. / 60 MPH and hitting the windshield of the car behind me. When I finished obsessing about that, I drove into Lorette and had a propane tank refilled. We refilled the fresh water tank, and connected the trailer to the Danelak's outside water hose, now that there seems to be no more risk of freezing over night. We joined Sharon, Bud, and Andrea for a supper of pistolettes, a Cajun dish that Sharon learned from a Cajun cookbook we sent to her when we were in Louisiana. After supper, Sharon, Bud, and Joanne watched the season finale of Survivor while I worked on burning some CD's. After much frustration, and 5 ruined CD blanks, I discovered that if I burn a CD onto my CD-R/W blanks, they won't play in the truck, but if I burn them onto Bud's CD-R blanks, they play just fine in the truck. Last thing I did was drive the truck into Lorette, and leave it at Dawson Servicentre. Bud followed me, then drove me home.

When I walked Bo just before midnight, the Aurora Borealis were rolling and dancing across the northern sky. Ahhhhh ... welcome home !

DSK