June 28, 2005

June 28, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 42 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 11

 

Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law, Lorri.

 

Today was mostly cloudy and cool. The sky cleared and it warmed up late in the afternoon.

This morning I did my regular preventive maintenance, then drove to Major's Service Centre to post some mail. From there I drove to the park gate to make some phone calls. When I returned to the trailer, I spent some time chatting with one of last night's late arrivals, a couple from England who came to Canada this spring for a year of full time RV'ing around North America. Then I spent some time chatting with Elvira, about errant employees, and stinky dogs. Her lab stinks. That's common for oily skinned dogs, who spend time in the water, during hot weather. Their skin produces more oil to protect the skin from the cold water. The heat and humidity turns the skin oils somewhat rancid. Hence, labs who go in the water will stink in hot weather. She's also experiencing problems with employees taking time off work due to "injuries" that are impossible to disprove, and the recuperation time just happens to be during the period of time that they wanted vacation time, but were denied due to operational requirements. Yes, yes, we know it well. In retail, we had a lot of "long weekend flu". I lent Elvira a bottle of Natural Chemistry Waterless Bath to try on Boomer. I realized, with dismay, that I missed a telephone meeting yesterday that I had scheduled with my investment broker in Ottawa. I phoned to apologize and reschedule. It's not like me to forget an appointment. Out here I never wear a watch, and am somewhat oblivious to what day and date it is.

We had lunch. I read. I napped. That's become my regular routine, hasn't it ? I woke up feeling shitty. I picked a fight a with Joanne. I don't know why I felt shitty. Maybe it's because I was remembering my mother. Today was her birthday. I went for a walk by myself. I sat by the lake, trying to shake off what I was feeling. I wasn't particularly successful.

I worked on the batch of incoming mail Joanne picked up while in Winnipeg last week. Lorri phoned to advise Joanne that their Uncle Luc was dying. Joanne took Bo for a training session. It was the first time she took Bo for a training session without me, and the first time his reward for correct response to a command was only lavish praise, but no dog biscuit. I do not support the idea of a biscuit for every correct response, as many trainers do, but I was so desperate back in January in Texas to get him to begin to respond appropriately, I began to use biscuits. Now he is used to getting a biscuit each and every time he responds correctly. Joanne thinks it's time to discontinue the biscuits. I agree.

We worked on waxing the trailer. We came to the conclusion that we're dissatisfied with the new wax Joanne bought in Winnipeg recently. She bought 4 bottles. We've used less than one bottle, and the product has a money back guarantee if dissatisfied. We're going to return 3 ¼ bottles for a full refund next week when we're in Winnipeg.

Tonight was the first evening the campground office was staffed. The new summer staffing schedule started today. With the office being staffed late, there's not much for us to do in the evening, as campground hosts. I went to the office and chatted with Kristin about this weekend's reservations. The campground is sold out for the upcoming long weekend. Joanne prepared my favourite spaghetti and meat sauce recipe ... again. I love it ! It's my comfort food. Thank you, my dear. We watched a TV show, then the news.

DSK