July 27, 2005

July 27, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 71 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 40

 

Today was cloudy and cool.

I felt ill for most of the day. I'm getting tired of feeling ill ! I spent most of today reading and napping. I finished the last story of the last book that I have to read. Over the course of the winter, I acquired 5 Reader's Digest Condensed Books, each containing 4 novels, from various Escapee RV park book exchanges. I thought they would last me the summer. Now I have nothing more to read. Joanne suggests we hitch up and head out to an Escapee park to get more books to read. HA HA HA ! She's teasing me about the Reader's Digest Condensed Books. Half the stories in them are what she calls "chick lit". True, but the other half are murder mysteries and action adventure stories. I fixed the broken clasp on her backpack purse. We drained the kitchen grey water tank. We took Bo for an obedience walk, once again turning the "come" command into a game of "hide and seek".

I went to the office to see what sites were available for tonight's late arrivals, but by the time I got to the office, it was closed. All week the office has been opening and closing at irregular times because of staff shortages, and long weekend staff scheduling. Of course, the campground Queen Bee doesn't feel it necessary to keep us informed. We had to drive around the entire campground, recording the numbers of available sites. By supper time, the campground only had 2 extremely small, tent suitable "walk up" sites available for the upcoming long weekend. People are driving out from Winnipeg and setting up their gear on sites today, then driving back to Winnipeg, to ensure that they have a site for the long weekend. All the reservation sites are booked for the long weekend.

The doe with 2 fawns made her first appearance since the July long weekend. My goodness, the fawns have grown quickly. I barbecued steak for me, and pork chops for Joanne, then built a camp fire. I split some of the wood cut from the trees in our site when we arrived. I'll probably end up leaving much of it here when we leave, because it's large, long sections of tree limbs that will require a splitter. An axe just won't cut it, so to speak.

DSK

July 26, 2005

July 26, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 70 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 39

 

Today was sunny and cool.

This morning after doing regular preventive maintenance we headed to Kenora for a day of shopping. Joanne drove. Shortly after leaving West Hawk, a female mallard and her brood came waddling across the highway as we approached. Joanne managed to avoid hitting any of them, but the car behind us didn't see them in time. As we dodged the ducks, and I looked over my shoulder, I saw the car behind us hit the line of them crossing the highway. AWWWW ... poor little ducks ! All the way to Kenora we were passing bicyclists on a cross Canada bicycle caravan. We figured that out by seeing a few of their support vehicles. Our first stop in Kenora was at the Bank Of Montreal, where we had some banking to do. We used the BMO Instant Banking function for the first time. All went well. From the bank it was over to Tim Horton's for lunch. Many of the cross Canada cyclists, and their support people, were there having lunch. One of the cyclists was wearing an Athens 2004 Olympics team jersey. I wonder if he was a member of Canada's Olympic cycling team ? After lunch we drove over to Wal-Mart, where we bought a fairly large amount of groceries and supplies. Finally, over to Safeway for some groceries and fresh produce that's not available at Wal-Mart. We noticed that the waterfront laundromat across the street from Safeway is now sold. On the way back to West Hawk, we discussed the pros and cons of buying the laundromat at Clear Lake in Riding Mountain National Park. Our business research ( and travel experience ) is leading us to conclude that laundromats are very viable businesses, especially in tourist areas. However, we both agree that we're really not all that eager to go "back to work".

Back at West Hawk, we unloaded our purchases, and while Joanne put things away, I walked the dog. Then I went for a long afternoon nap. I'm still feeling tired and weak. I guess that's just a symptom of a colitis flare up that has persisted for a few weeks now. When I got up, we took Bo for a long obedience training session. He did extremely well. We've discovered a training trick that really inspired him to perform well. The command we really, really want him to respond well to is "come". The command that can save his life, amongst other things, if and when he "escapes" near traffic. He finds it to be great fun if, while oneof us "sits and stays" him, the other one hides before commanding "come". The command becomes a game of "hide and seek", and he loves it. Once again, the office was opened late, and closed early today, so just before it closed we went down to the office to record what electrical sites were still available, for this evening's late arrivals.

While Joanne worked on supper preparations, I did today's accounting and began working on today's journal entry. One of the things we have been doing recently has been to review, on a daily basis, my journal entries from the same date a year ago. It's an interesting look back. As a result of reading last year's entries, Joanne has suggested that my current entries are getting too long, and might benefit from being more concise. I agree, but obviously am failing at my attempts to write less ! I guess part of it is this campground host gig. I’ve got lots of time to sit around being verbose ! I'll work harder on it ... starting tomorrow. HA HA HA !

We were kept very busy tonight with late arrivals, and questions and problems from campers. Where's the dump station ? May I borrow a drill ? What's the cloud of purple, pungent smoke coming from section C, wafting over the campground ? I never was able to ascertain the answer to that one, but it sure left a stinky cloud over the campground.

DSK

July 25, 2005

July 25, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 69 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 38

 

Today was sunny, but cool.

This morning I gave Teddy his pill, fed the animals, went to the bathroom, walked Bo, went to shower, returned to the trailer, and began playing with Bo on the bed, until I fell asleep again. Gee ... I slept almost until noon. The rest of the day I felt lethargic and weak, so I guess something's not quite right with my health today. We had lunch, I did regular preventive maintenance and inspections, then walked down to the campground office to replenish our supply of campground maps, and commiserate with Reid about last night's angry lady. Reid said she was in the campground office about a half a dozen times yesterday, agitated and angry about one thing or another all day. That makes me feel better. It upset and bothered me all last night that she called me disrespectful and unprofessional. I thought I was anything but ! I'll just write her off as another malcontent lunatic. Lord knows I had a few of those as customers over the years.

I paid my MasterCard bills by phone. It's the first time I've used the Bank Of Montreal Direct Banking system to pay my MasterCard bills directly from my bank accounts. It went okay. When I'm in Winnipeg later this week, I'll go online and set up the ability to do the same thing on the computer. That way I'll be able to pay the MasterCard bills either by phone or online. That will make travelling life easier.

I worked on the incoming mail Sharon brought out yesterday, then read a magazine while Joanne went to Falcon Lake for some groceries. When she returned, she went to pick wild raspberries behind section H. I took Bo for a walk, then did an obedience session with him. After picking raspberries, Joanne went to do some laundry. I continued lying on the couch, reading, being unproductive, feeling mildly ill.

Joanne took longer than expected with the laundry, so I prepared supper. We had the perogies purchased at the road side stand in Richer last week when we driving back from Steinbach / Lorette. Very good. Larger than the ones from the Falcon Lake grocery. One of the good things about being back in this area, is the Ukrainian ethnic influence. I only had one late arriving camper to attend to tonight. We watched the news. Joanne is washing dishes while I'm working now on today's accounting and journal entry before we each have a bowl of fresh pickedwild raspberries as our bed time snack.

Bo was very restless and clingy today. I wonder if he's getting hitch itch ? HA HA HA !

DSK

July 24, 2005

July 24, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 68 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 37

 

Happy Birthday to Joanne's brother-in-law, Doug.

Today was sunny and warm, and windy.

Sharon and Bud came out to visit for the day. They showed up just before lunch time. We had a nice barbecued chicken lunch, finished off with a lovely blueberry cheesecake Joanne made. Bud and I went for a hike on the campground scenic hike up and over the bluff. Not surprisingly, I picked up about a half a dozen beer cans and bottles on the short hike. Today being Sunday, and many people leaving the campground, it looks a bit like a pig sty with all the litter. Very unfortunately, that's pretty typical for Sunday afternoons. We spent the afternoon just sitting around our campsite in lawn chairs, visiting. They left before supper.

We took Bo for a short obedience training session. Due to a temporary staff shortage problem, the campground office opened late, and closed early today. The same thing will happen again tomorrow. As I was walking back from the bathroom about 8:00 P.M. a red van stopped beside me. The lady inside was enraged about everything. There really was no hope of satisfying her. She was upset about having to change campsites today, and anything and everything else. I listened to her rant and rave, then offered the only help I could thing of that might satisfy her. She was moved to a site with 30 amp power, and had no way to connect her regular 15 amp extension cord to the 30 amp power outlet. I offered to lend her a 30 amp to 15 amp adaptor, then commented that it was my personal property and I wanted to be certain that it was returned to me. That set her off. She decided I was disrespectful. She ranted and ranted and ranted, quite abusively, actually. I kept my mouth shut, and waited for it to end. I decided the less said, the better. I have enough experience dealing with people in a retail context to know that once some people are cranked up, there's some times no real hope of calming them down and attempting to satisfy them. When she was finally finished, she drove off in a huff, vowing to drive all the way to Kenora to buy an adaptor. Good luck, lady. It's 8:15 P.M. on a Sunday evening, and you're about 35 minutes from Kenora.

We had a few late arrivals come in tonight that we assisted in finding and getting into suitable sites. We experimented with barbecuing meat loaf for supper. It turned out good.

DSK

July 23, 2005

July 23, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 67 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 36

 

Today was sunny and very warm.

I slept very late this morning. By the time I finished showering, and morning routines, it was time for lunch. I had difficulty falling asleep last night. The bar was extremely noisy. It's becoming tiresome.

After lunch, I did preventive maintenance and inspections, then we went blueberry picking. We wanted to pick some blueberries to give to Sharon and Bud when they come to visit us tomorrow, as a sort of thank you gift for the sofa table Bud made us. I can't do wood working, but I can pick blueberries with the best of them. Maybe I can sort of trade off Bud's wood working skills for a big batch of blueberries. On the way back to West Hawk we stopped in Falcon Lake for a newspaper and soft drinks. Back at West Hawk I remembered that I was low on beer, so I went over to the beer vendor at the bar to buy a six pack. I witnessed the worst customer service I have ever seen. The customer in front of me was an elderly, indecisive woman. The sales clerk was a mid thirties biker type, typical employee in beer vendor operations here in Manitoba, I've noticed. As the old woman dithered over whether the beer she selected was the correct one, he used the most profane language possible to exhibit her contempt for her, and at her. I was stunned, and indecisive myself, whether to leave in protest, and take my business elsewhere, or make a comment to him about how appalling I considered his behaviour, or comment to the woman in supportive fashion. I rejected the first option because there is nowhere else around here to buy beer. I rejected the second option to avoid incurring his considerable wrath myself. I patted the old woman on the shoulder, and told her what I thought of his behaviour, and lack of etiquette and customer service skills. His profane comments to her were really distasteful.

I read the newspaper for the rest of the afternoon, until I fell asleep for awhile. I took Bo for a long walk. I was going to do an obedience training session, but I decided we were both too hot. I did first aid on a scrape on my knee that has become infected. Over the last few years, I seem to be susceptible to infection on minor wounds on my legs, from the knees down. I wonder if it has something to do with poor circulation in my lower legs ?

I worked on reconciling the MasterCard statements while I manned the barbecue. I spent the evening reading today's newspaper, while Joanne did some baking. It was another night of noisy drunks, staggering through the campground late in the evening on the way to the noisy bar, despite the best "zero tolerance" efforts of both the Parkies and the RCMP.

DSK

July 22, 2005

July 22, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 66 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 35

 

Today was sunny and very warm.

This morning after walking Bo and showering, I had a leisurely cup of coffee, and a play session with Bo, waiting for Joanne to get up. She sleeps a couple of hours longer than me every morning. I did regular preventive maintenance, then drove over to the Border Information Centre to retrieve e-mail, update my blog, retrieve my MasterCard statements, and update my anti-virus software. This is the first time I accessed my new U.S. $ MasterCard account statement online. It's different than retrieving my Canadian $ MasterCard account statement. I recently used our new U.S. $ MasterCard to pay a bill in U.S. dollars. No glitches so far. When I returned to the trailer, I updated my investment and banking files with some recent trade data I received by e-mail from Rhonda in my investment broker's office. I finished the morning by applying the first coat of varnish to the top side of the sofa table.

I read, we had lunch, I read some more, then I napped while Joanne went to Falcon Lake for groceries and diesel. We drained all the holding tanks. We took Bo for an obedience training session. He started poorly, then slowly improved as we walked, and worked. Not one of his better days. I downloaded and processed yesterday's photos from the Petroforms. Joanne applied a second coat of varnish to the sofa table top. We sure seem to keep ourselves busy for unemployed people with nowhere to go !

By 6:30 P.M. ( as I'm working on this ) the campground was almost full. I guess that will be typical for weekends in July and August. We liked this place a lot more in May and June, when there was hardly anyone here much of the time.

While I manned the barbecue, I worked on reviewing the batch of incoming mail we picked up at Sharon's on Tuesday. We had shish kabobs, and an experimental barbecued rice medley for supper. We've been experimenting with preparing rice on the barbecue. It's a little tricky, but I think we've got the hang of it now. After supper, we did our regular Friday night tour of the campground, promoting tonight's Amphitheatre program. Tonight was a presentation on insects. Five Park Interpreters in insect costumes, doing a skit parody of "the mating game", followed by an episode of Dr. David Suzuki's "The Nature Of Things" on insects. Tonight was one of their better efforts. A few minutes before the end of the show, I had to rush off to deal with a group of 5 drunk young men walking through the campground, heading for the bar, making a lot of noise, whooping and hollering. I can be quite intimidating when I need to be ... especially in the dark. Those goofs will be afraid to speak in anything above a whisper for the rest of the weekend. HA HA HA HA HA ! Good work, Dan !

MMMMM ! ! ! My bed time snack was a huge bowl full of sweet, wild blueberries.

DSK

July 21, 2005

July 21, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 65 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 34

 

Today was sunny and very warm.

This morning after doing my regular preventive maintenance and inspections, I worked on varnishing the sofa table. A light sanding, followed by the second coat of varnish on the under side. Tomorrow I can work on the first coat of varnish on the top. Then I fabricated a long ground wire leash, for testing and troubleshooting. It was an idea I picked up at a seminar on trailer 12 volt electrical systems trouble shooting at the Spring Escapade in El Centro, California in March. I bought the supplies I needed in Steinbach on Tuesday.

We had an early lunch, then left for Brereton Lake to visit the Johnson family. Darcy, Shirley, and Erik are spending a week at the Inverness Falls Resort at Brereton. We drove west on Hwy. 44, then north on Hwy. 307 to Brereton. We visited for awhile at their rental cottage, then loaded into our vehicles to drive to the Whiteshell Petroforms. We followed Hwy. 307 from Brereton, past Jessica Lake, White Lake, and Betula Lake to a place called Bannock Point. There we parked, and hiked in to the Petroforms. These are prehistoric rock "alignments" done by Natives, probably around 1500 years ago. They are features formed by the placement of stones, to create the outlines of figures or shapes. They are in an area of mostly large, flat rock outcrops. They are in the shapes of snakes, turtles, humans, etc. The most prominent turtle shaped Petroform is now the logo of Whiteshell Provincial Park. The area is remote, and we were surprised, and pleased, to see that these Native pictographs, or rock art, are unguarded, and undisturbed. This area is still sacred to Native peoples, and sacred ceremonies still take place here. It was quite fascinating. We wandered all around this fairly large area, for quite awhile, reverently observing. Occasionally, we took short breaks to pick blueberries.

We drove back to the Johnson's cottage at Brereton for more visiting, and supper. As we were leaving, we exited the cottage out the back, where the deck leads down towards the Rennie River. The front of their cottage faces Brereton Lake, which empties over Inverness Falls, right beside their cottage, to the Rennie River behind the cottage. There was a beaver building a dam or lodge in the Rennie River, at the base of Inverness Falls. He was too concerned with dragging a tree through the water to pay much attention to us as we walked by. As we were driving back to West Hawk Lake late in the evening, we saw a deer ( not unusual ) and 3 fox kits. The little foxes were in the road, and as we came around a curve, two ran off the road to the left, and one to the right. WOW ... two were black, and one was typical red coloured. I had never seen black foxes before. We stopped on the side of the road and watched. The black one that went right was obviously the boldest of the three, and it quickly came back out of the right ditch to check us out, and attempt to rejoin its siblings. The red one was a little more shy, and it slowly, and cautiously came out of the left ditch, and hurried over to join its black, bolder sibling. The other black one was the most shy, and was afraid to come out of the ditch on the left. Just a little black head kept popping up to see if we were still there, then it would disappear back into the tall grass in the ditch. The red one sat on the side of the road for awhile, watching us as we watched it. It was so young, we could see that its fur was still downy soft, like a puppy. I could see, in my rear view mirror, as we drove off that the shy black one finally came out of the left ditch to rejoin the other two as soon as we drove off. I felt privileged to have been able to experience the Petroforms, and the fox kits, today.

DSK

July 20, 2005

July 20, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 64 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 33

 

Today started out sunny and very warm, but the evening got cool.

We spent the morning picking blueberries. We drove to the spot just past Falcon Lake, and spent about an hour and a half or so picking. We got hot and tired. We drove back towards West Hawk, stopping twice at spots that looked likely to have blueberries. The first spot didn't. The second spot did. We spent another short period of time picking there, but it wasn't as good a spot as the first. When we got back to the trailer, Joanne cleaned and washed our harvest. It filled 2 large margarine containers. Joanne thinks maybe she'll make a blueberry cheesecake.

We had lunch, I read a magazine on the Lake Cowichan area, then napped. Beaver Lake, adjacent to Lake Cowichan, on Vancouver Island, is where one of the RV parks we're interested in is located. While Joanne went to do laundry, I spent the rest of the afternoon working on the stereo project. First I finished rewiring the speakers. Next I reinstalled, and braced, the speaker selector switch in the wall. Then I reinstalled the stereo unit into the wall. As I was lying in bed last night, I realized that not only can I install wiring that will allow me to play CD's on the Walkman through the stereo unit, I can do the same with playing CD's in the computer through the stereo. That will work out great because the computer is sitting on its desk most of the time, in front of the entertainment wall unit.

From the time the office closed at 4:30 we were kept busy with incoming campers, and selling the rest of our firewood. We barbecued supper. I got a return phone call from the owner of the business that is for sale, at Clear Lake, in Riding Mountain National Park, that we are somewhat interested in. He answered some of my questions, and I told him we would probably come up to see the business a week after Labour Day. I jumped out of the trailer when Jonathon, one of the Parkies, drove by, to tell him about a loud stereo problem in section D. Bo escaped out the door, and went dashing out onto the road, dodging traffic driving by. BAD, BAD DOG ! ! ! Then, when he realized he was "free", and Jonathon was calling him over just to catch him, he refused to come to either Jonathon or me. He usually loves to visit any of the Parkies. He ran around and around us, refusing to get close enough to be caught. I swear he gets a smirk on his face when he behaves badly like that. Finally Jonathon grabbed a handful of fur as Bo charged by him. I spent the rest of the evening scowling at Bo, refusing to talk to him or give him any positive attention, until he finally looked very sorrowful. He's such a ... a ... terrier ! ! ! So sweet, but so unruly !

DSK

July 19, 2005

July 19, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 63 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 32

 

Today was sunny and very warm.

First thing this morning we headed off for Steinbach. We decided today would be a day of taking the "scenic route" back roads. We drove west on TCH 1 to Richer, then south on Hwy. 302 to La Broquerie, then west on Hwy. 52 to Steinbach. First stop was an electronics repair shop on Main Street. I left the trailer stereo for a diagnosis of why the CD player wasn't working. They said they'd have an answer within a couple of hours, so I could make a decision to have it repaired, or pick it up, before we left town. Next stop was the South East Vet Clinic, where Teddy had blood drawn for a follow up lab test, to assess how the hyperthyroid medication is working. He has gained a pound in the last month, so that’s a good indication. We stopped at a Dollar Store for Joanne to buy a few things she needed, then we went to MJ's Café, a Mennonite restaurant, for lunch. We had a very pleasant lunch, first sharing a bowl of cabbage borscht, then sharing plates of kielke, a German noodle dish, and vereniki, the Polish version of perogies. After lunch we returned to the electronics shop. They had diagnosed the problem with the CD player, and it wasn't worth repairing. The old German man who owned the shop gave me a recommendation and instructions for how to wire my Walkman portable CD player into the stereo, and play CD's through the trailer stereo system that way. Great idea ! Next we headed over to Clearspring Mall on the edge of town. I shopped at Radio Shack for some wiring and connectors I need, except that it's no longer Radio Shack, now it's Circuit City. They didn't have what I needed. From there it was across the highway, over to Canadian Tire for the same stuff. They had what I needed. We headed out of town, north on Hwy. 12 to Blumenort, then west on Hwy. 311, and north on Hwy. 206 to Landmark.

As we passed through Landmark, I noticed a GM truck dealership advertising a service special on radiator flush and fill service. That's one of the two remaining items on my truck maintenance to do list. I stopped in, and discussed what I need done, negotiating a change from their advertised special, to incorporate both of the service items I need done. The advertised special was a free oil change worth $32 with the coolant flush and fill. I negotiated a front brake inspection, cleaning, and adjustment worth$60 in lieu of the oil change that I don't need at this time. We struck a deal, and I made an appointment for next week. Nothing rusty about my negotiating skills. I still got it ! Thanks, mom !

We continued north on Hwy. 206, then west on Hwy. 207 through Lorette to the Danelak's to pick up our mail. We visited for awhile. Bud had just finished building us a sofa table that I had asked him to make for the trailer. A sofa table of this design was a raffle prize at an RV rally we attended in Arizona in March. We obviously didn't win that one, but I took digital photos of it, and send it to Bud by e-mail asking him to make one for us. He did a superb job, as he does of all wood work projects he undertakes. All he had left to do to finish it was varnish it. We can do that, so we took it with us today. Thank you very much, Bud. It's beautiful, and a great complement to the computer desk he built and installed in the trailer for us last year.

We left the Danelak's heading east on Hwy. 207 back through Lorette. We usually head west on Hwy. 207 back to TCH 1 at Deacon's Corner, but today we went the other way. We stayed on Hwy. 207 until it met TCH 1 at Dufresne. We got back onto TCH 1 heading east, until Richer. At Richer we stopped at a couple of roadside stands to shop for fresh produce. We didn't buy any produce, but we did buy some home made perogies and cabbage rolls. We continued east on TCH 1. A couple of miles before Falcon Lake, just where the highway changes from 4 lanes to 2, we stopped to check for blueberries. This morning on the way in, we saw a car stopped on the side of the road, and some people up on a granite rock outcrop picking something. WOW ! WOO-HOO ! Blueberry bonanza ! ! ! We didn't have anything to collect them in, so we will return tomorrow to pick some. We picked a few just to pop in our mouths. I'm salivating as I type this, remembering the sweetness of them. Ain't nothing like wild blueberries !

We continued on past Falcon Lake, and just before the turn off to West Hawk, I saw something in the ditch. I stopped on the shoulder, and backed up. Yup ... I did see it correctly. A young bear lying in the ditch. I got out and carefully went over to ensure it was dead. I certainly don't want to leave an injured animal suffering on the side of the road. It was indeed dead, although there were no visible injuries. I guess it got hit by a car, and was able to crawl off the road a short way before it died. We returned to West Hawk, and I reported it to Robbi, one of the Natural Resource Officers. She was visiting with the staff at the campground office as we got back to the campground. She was going to take care of it right away. The campground office staff were very concerned for Robbi's safety, in case the bear was injured but still alive. HEY ... I have enough animal skills to know a live bear from a dead one ! Please !

We barbecued a late supper, then I worked on this journal entry before tackling today's accounting, which is always quite a chore after a day of shopping and errands, paying with cash, credit card, and debit card. We sold 3 of our last 6 bundles of firewood. I guess tomorrow will probably be the end of our career as firewood sellers.

DSK

July 18, 2005

July 18, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 62 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 31

 

Today was cloudy, drizzling, and downright cold. Much colder than the middle of July should be. What ? Manitoba's summer is over ? ? ?

Last night, after I had gone to bed, there was a knock on the door around midnight. It was an unhappy camper, complaining that there was raw sewage flowing down the road in section G. I told him I would have it taken care of. As I got dressed to go outside and check, I was thinking. HUH ? Raw sewage flowing down the road through the campground ? ? ? I walked down to section G to discover ... yes, raw sewage flowing down the road. The septic system that serves the whole town site of West Hawk Lake is in that area of the campground. I couldn't see exactly what was the source of the problem, but there certainly was a problem. I returned to the trailer, and checked our phone list. I didn't seem to have a phone number that was appropriate for this particular problem. I walked down to the pay phone near the registration office. Out of order ! Story of my life ! I walked over to the pay phone in front of the tennis courts. I phoned the Falcon / West Hawk Ambulance / Emergency number, hoping they would have a better list of phone numbers than I was provided with. Sure enough, they had a home phone number for a maintenance foreman.

This morning the maintenance foreman came over to fill me in on what had transpired. He got the call from the ambulance dispatcher and drove over to the campground to assess the problem. He found the problem in the handicapped camping site. It's the only site in the campground with a sewer connection. The sewage was coming up out of there. He spent 2 hours, in the dark, with a plumbing auger / snake, and cleared the jam in the line. The septic system will need more work today, but at least he got the problem temporarily fixed last night. This campground is about 50 years old, and the infrastructure is crumbling. The section we're in, section B, used to have a sewer connection at each site, but 10 or 12 years ago they removed the sewage services due to deterioration.

We drove to the Manitoba Border Information Centre. While I went inside to retrieve e-mail and update my blog, Joanne stayed in the truck with Bo, and made phone calls about businesses and cottages for sale. There is an interesting business for sale at Clear Lake, in Riding Mountain National Park. We'll have to discuss whether to go see it, perhaps right after Labour Day.

We had lunch, I read, then napped. Actually, I slept for the entire afternoon. I was feeling ill today. When I woke, I did a small amount of work outside. Joanne went off to section H to pick wild raspberries. She was able to pick enough that we each had a bowl full for dessert after supper. I took Bo for an obedience training walk. He did great today. Ann came by for her daily firewood selling tour. I settled accounts with her. She generously did not charge me for the 2 bundles that were stolen. As we were eating supper, our "supervisor" Courtney came by to tell me to "cease and desist" selling firewood. Somebody ... she didn't say who ... feels it's a conflict of interest for "volunteer" campground hosts to be engaged in "commercial" activity. Reading between the lines, I surmise that Tina, the petty pissant campground attendant supervisor, complained to Courtney's boss. It's really rather astounding, because it's a win / win all around, especially for the campers who find it very convenient to be able to get firewood from us at any time. As I'm typing this, Joanne is musing out loud about how "customer satisfaction" is not something given consideration by bureaucrats.

The sky cleared and it turned out to be a nice evening. After supper I took Bo outside for a play session with a tennis ball while Joanne went to shower.

DSK

July 17, 2005

July 17, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 61 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 30

 

Today was cloudy, warm, and very humid.

This morning I discovered another bundle of our firewood had been stolen over night ! ! ! This is really pissing me off ! ! !

I was awakened at 4:15 A.M. by a loud group of drunks walking back into the campground from who knows where. Probably partying at a cottage. I fed Teddy and Bo, then had some difficulty falling asleep again. Consequently when I woke up later this morning I felt tired, like I hadn't had enough sleep. When I came out of the trailer at 8:20 A.M. there was already a large crowd under the tent by the registration office. This morning was the Meteor Fest flea market. After walking Bo, showering, and having a cup of coffee, I wandered down there to check it out. Not much worthwhile. I'm not much of a flea market kind of guy. I walked over to the campground registration office, because I saw Reed's van parked there. I wanted to check with him on how Scamper the orphan squirrel is doing. Reed has passed responsibility for Scamper over to the Parkies. Scamper now lives in the Parkie dormitory, and is apparently doing quite well. I'll talk to the next pair of Parkies I see on patrol, and get more details. We were expecting Shirley and Darcy Johnson to come by for a visit this morning about 9:30 A.M. or so, after they drove their daughter Sheryl back to the Caddy Lake Girl Guide Camp where she is working for the summer. About 11:00 A.M Shirley phoned to say their plans had changed, and they would be coming out for a visit later in the afternoon. I worked for awhile to build a spreadsheet to account for our firewood sales ; how much bought, how much sold, how much stolen, cost, revenue, profit, etc..

We had lunch, I read, then napped. I started reading the last of my Reader's Digest books of 4 condensed novels each. I picked up a half dozen of them this last winter at various Escapee RV Park book exchanges. I thought they would last me the whole summer. I guess not. Shirley, Darcy, and their son Erik came by and visited for awhile. They were on their way to Brereton Lake where they have rented a cottage for a week of vacation. We will go to Brereton on Thursday and visit them. After they left, I walked down to Crescent Beach to see the results of this afternoon's Meteor Fest sand castle competition. Most of them were the sort of routine sand castles done by 4 and 6 year olds, but there were 3 or 4 that were very creative. I couldn't help but notice as I walked the length of Crescent Beach that there were 6 pairs of children's shoes left behind on the beach. As I walked back to the trailer, it began to rain lightly again. It had rained lightly a couple of other times this afternoon. Joanne was falling asleep on the couch while doing crosswords. I lay down on the bed and read for a couple of hours.

By supper time, the rain was over, the sky had cleared, and the weekly infestation of SJL's ( slack jawed losers ) had mostly left the campground. Ahhhhh ... the high point of our week ! We had perogies for supper, then watched a movie on TV.

DSK

July 16, 2005

July 16, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 60 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 29

 

Another sunny, very warm day.

This morning I walked Bo, showered, and did my regular preventive maintenance and inspections. I did some small chores, like taking my container of leeches ( used for fishing ) down to the lake to change the water. They need fresh water in their container occasionally. I would hate for them to die in the fridge. My wife objects to dead blood suckers in her fridge. Well, actually, she objects to live blood suckers in her fridge, as well.

I spent most of the morning working on the speaker wiring problem. I managed to figure out how to remove the speaker selector switch faceplate, which then enabled me to remove the speaker selector switch from the wall. That allowed me to avoid having to remove the toilet, then the laundry hamper in the cupboard, to get at the wiring behind the speaker selector switch. I was able to pull the speaker selector switch, and all the wiring, out through the wall. I wasn't very pleased with what I found. Firstly, the speaker selector switch was installed into the wall panel with 4 screws. Two were screwed into the wood wall panel. Two were screwed into nothing. The hole in the wall panel had been cut crooked, and too large. Sloppy, careless workmanship. Secondly, the wiring for both the front speakers was connected to the left front connection on the selector switch. The lead wires for the right front connection on the switch were just hanging. Looks like somebody at the Forest River factory had 10 minutes of wiring work left, 5 minutes before their shift ended, so it was expedient to connect right and left speaker wiring to just one side of the selector switch. I guess they figured there was a 99.99 % chance it would never be discovered, and that the lack of stereo separation on the front speakers would likewise be unnoticed. When I discover that kind of shoddiness, it makes me think the worst of people. It makes me cynical, critical, and judgemental. Those are character traits of mine that hardly need fuelling.

I rewired the speakers, although my work is temporary, because I need to buy some small wiring connectors to do the job properly. Then I found some small pieces of wood to use as back bracing behind the switch. I measured, cut, and drilled them. When I am completely finished the speaker rewiring, I will install them behind the selector switch, and wall panel, as back bracing for the two screws currently screwed into thin air < sigh >.

While I was working on that job, Joanne went to Falcon Lake to buy some groceries. When she returned, and I was finished, we had lunch. Joanne had bought today‘s newspaper, so I read the newspaper for awhile, then napped. When I woke, Bo and I left to go see what was happening with Meteor Fest over at Crescent Beach, while Joanne did some baking. There were lots of people on the beach, music playing, wakeboarding demonstrations, lots of boats and personal watercrafts ( I think that's what those little Sea Doo type thingys are called )... and lots of litter. It will be quite a clean up job after the weekend. Bo splashed around in the lake, visiting people. We walked over to the tennis courts, where a "street hockey" tournament had been earlier in the day. < sigh > I cleaned up a lot of litter from around the spectator benches outside the tennis courts. I'm beginning to agree with Joanne that the most desirable lifestyle might be to be hermit survivalists living in isolation up in the remote Ozark Mountains. She’s made a decision that she definitely does not want us to return here next year as campground hosts, largely because of the noise from the bar on Thursday nights. Friday nights and Saturday nights aren’t much better, but those Thursday “wing nights” on the bar patio are outrageous !

I spent the evening reading the newspaper outside, barbecuing a nice steak for supper, and selling firewood. It was a beautiful, warm evening, with no flies or mosquitoes. We've had a bit of a fly problem on sunny, hot days, and a bit of a mosquito problem most nights at dusk, but neither was a problem today.

DSK

July 15, 2005

July 15, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 59 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 28

 

Today was sunny and very warm.

This morning I phoned my investment broker in Ottawa to get some money. We're almost out of money again. I left my trade instructions, and had a nice, long chat with my investment broker's assistant, Rhonda Lepine. I didn't really need to leave instructions. She knows exactly what to do each time I phone and say "Hi, Rhonda ... Kirby's broke". I did regular preventive maintenance and inspections. Then we drained all the holding tanks. We wanted to get the tanks drained before the weekend, when the campground gets full, and busy. And I want to get back onto a schedule of draining all three tanks every time the kitchen grey water holding tank is full.

We had lunch, I read, then napped. I spent the afternoon working on removal of the trailer's stereo system. For quite some time now the CD player has not worked. I had to remove the TV from its spot in the wall to get at the mounting brackets that hold the stereo in place in the wall. Trailers' entertainment centres / walls are literally built around the TV and stereo components that the trailer manufacturer buys for that given model year. I got the stereo removed, and discovered that the speaker wiring is incorrect. That really, really frosts me. Right from the factory, the speaker wiring was done incorrectly. There are 2 speakers in the front of the trailer, in the living area entertainment centre, and 2 more in the bedroom ceiling. They are wired into a speaker selector switch ; living room speakers, bedroom speakers, or both. The bedroom speakers are wired correctly, for stereo separation and balance. The living room speakers are wired incorrectly. Only one side of the stereo output is wired to both speakers, so the living area speakers are not stereo, not separated and balanced. Rewiring them shouldn't be too difficult, however, I need to get at all the wiring buried inside the wall behind the entertainment centre / wall. To do that, I need to remove the laundry hamper out of the bathroom cupboards. To do that, I need to remove the toilet. So ... tomorrow I will work on removing the toilet, so that I can remove the laundry hamper, so that I can rewire the speakers. Make sense ? Removing the toilet to fix the speakers !

I suppose when we take Teddy to the vet in Steinbach on Tuesday, we'll take the stereo in for repair. But I wonder if it's worth it ? A seven year old stereo component is pretty much disposable. The only value in it is that the wall opening is exactly the size of this stereo. I don't know if we can buy a new one, with the same dimensions, to fit the wall opening. Maybe we'll take the old one in for repair, and shop for a new one at the same time.

We took Bo for an obedience training walk, ending at Miller Beach, where we rewarded his good work with a dip in the lake. We returned to the trailer, and noticed a huge tent being erected beside the campground office. Tonight is the start of Meteor Fest weekend, an annual celebration at West Hawk Lake. Tonight's opening festivities are a beach barbecue, followed by a live band on the beach. I expect the band on the beach noise will conflict with the Park Naturalists' regular Friday night Amphitheatre program. I guess we'll see. I'm typing this in late afternoon.

At 6:00 P.M. I received a phone call from Shop N' Chek in Toronto. Shop N' Chek is a mystery shopping company. We have been mystery shoppers for them. They were phoning to ask if we were interested in an assignment to do mystery shopping next Tuesday at the Canadian Tire in Steinbach. How fortuitous ! We're taking Teddy to the vet in Steinbach next Tuesday. The caller explained the terms and conditions of the assignment. One of the conditions was that the mystery shopping report needed to be filled out, and returned, online, on that same day, Tuesday. I was explaining how that might be a problem, because of our lack of modem access. At the same time, I was trying to think of how I could comply with that requirement. I never got the chance. When I told the impatient little snot in Toronto that I might have difficulty with the same day report requirement, he ended the call.

Around 7:00 P.M. I wandered down to Crescent Beach to see how Meteor Fest was shaping up. A charity barbecue was underway at the gazebo. The band Big Crush was setting up on a stage set up on the beach. A crowd was staking out prime spots on the sand for the evening’s festivities. I wandered back to the campground office to see if they needed any help with the rush of incoming campers. They didn't, yet, but asked me to go assist a couple of large fifth wheelers that the reservation system had assigned to section C, an area rather unsuitable for large trailers. I walked over to section C. Everything was okay. A little skill in backing up large trailers goes a long way in overcomingthe shortcomings of an inept reservation system. The Minister of Conservation of the Province Of Manitoba announced, the day after his visit here to West Hawk Lake earlier this week, that the Province Of Manitoba would not be renewing their contract with the U.S. based campground reservation system for next year.

From 8:30 until 9:30 we walked around the campground promoting tonight's Amphitheatre program. At 9:30 we went to the Amphitheatre. Right on cue, a doe showed up behind the Amphitheatre and grazed while the audience was gathering. Joanne noticed somebody at our campsite wanting to buy firewood, so she rushed back to our site. When she returned to the Amphitheatre, I decided I wasn't all that interested in watching tonight's "rocks concert" Amphitheatre program, so I returned to our site. Too late. Some of our firewood had been stolen. Scumbags ! ! ! After 13½ years as a retailer, I'm still not very accepting of theft ! ! ! I guess we can't leave our site unattended on busy Friday and Saturday nights now that we have an inventory of firewood for sale. I sat around our site, selling firewood, listening to the classic rock band playing on Crescent Beach. When Joanne and Bo returned from the Amphitheatre, I walked down to Crescent Beach just in time to see and hear the band play the last song of the evening.

DSK

July 14, 2005

July 14, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 58 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 27

 

Another sunny, hot day. A couple of thunderstorms in the late afternoon cooled things off.

This morning we discussed what to do about getting a thyroid function blood test done for Teddy, since I've decided not to deal with the Kenora Vet any more. After much discussion, and arguing, I drove to the park gate and phoned a vet in Steinbach. I made an appointment for next Tuesday. I did some work repairing both Joanne's and my sandals. On mine, the soles were peeling off, so I had to decide whether to glue them back on, or just peel them off completely. I peeled off the soles. Joanne had a pair of sandals that were too long, so I cut them shorter. Dan the soleless shoe repair man. HA HA HA !

We had lunch, I read, then napped. Joanne went to do some laundry. We took Bo for an obedience training session, then rewarded him with a dip in the lake. Most days we walk him down to Miller Beach, and allow him to go splashing around in the lake. He loves it, and it really cools him down on these hot days. The only downside is that when we walk back across the beach, he picks up a lot of sand which sticks to him until he completely dries off. In the meantime he tracks a lot of sand into the trailer, most of it seeming to end up on the bed. Back at the trailer, I had a snack while Joanne went off to Falcon Lake to buy some groceries. I was feeling weak. I've had a mild colitis flare up that has lasted a few weeks now. I've been trying to ignore it as much as possible, but it's leaving me feeling dehydrated and weak. I guess it's gotten to a point where I need to start taking my Pentasa medication again.

During the second thunderstorm Ann the firewood lady came into the campground for her nightly tour around the campground selling firewood. When the rain stopped, I went out to settle up with her for the first week's worth of firewood we got from her and sold. We chatted for awhile, about her plans for the future, and ours. She's in a lot better mood now that she has sold her farm.

We had barbecued shish kabobs for supper, with a spinach salad. Joanne and I are a good team when it comes to using the barbecue to make dinner, which we do on most nights when the weather permits. I taught Bo how to eat watermelon tonight. A worthy skill for any dog. HA HA HA !

DSK

July 13, 2005

July 13, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 57 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 26

 

Today was sunny and hot.

This morning we headed off to Kenora. In addition to shopping chores, and Joanne's ongoing cancer screening tests at Kenora Hospital, we were planning to return Teddy to Kenora Vet to have a blood sample drawn. Their previous instruction to us was to return with Teddy after he had been on the new hyperthyroid medication for a couple of weeks, so that they could draw blood and send it to a lab for analysis to assess whether the medication dosage was correct or needed to be adjusted. They said to just phone an hour before we brought Teddy in, there was no need for an appointment just to draw blood. As soon as we had passed the park gate, and had a good cellular signal, Joanne phoned Kenora Vet to tell them we were on our way. They refused to accept Teddy today and required us to make an appointment. Joanne was unable to convince them otherwise. I pulled off the road, into the Manitoba Border Information Centre, and I phoned them back. I forced the issue more strongly than Joanne did. After a lengthy period on hold, the receptionist had the vet come to the phone. She spent a lot more time arguing with me, refusing to accept Teddy today, and demanding that we make an appointment, and demanding that Teddy undergo another billable examination, than it would have taken her to draw blood from Teddy once we had arrived there. I advised her that we would be taking Teddy elsewhere for veterinary services. We had a lot of professional experience with veterinarians when we owned our stores. We found that, unfortunately, as in all providers of goods or services, I guess, some vet practices are interested only in how much money can they wrangle out of a client's pocket. Since Kenora Vet is the only veterinary practice in Kenora, I think they believe they can get away with such behaviour because they have a monopoly on the provision of vet services locally. We turned around and returned to West Hawk Lake to return Teddy to the trailer, then we continued on our way to Kenora.

Once we got to Kenora, I dropped Joanne off at the hospital for her final series of cancer screening tests. I went to the Post Office to mail our malfunctioned mattress warming pad to Mississippi for repair or replacement. Then I went to Mark's Work Warehouse to pick up a couple of pairs of jeans I had ordered a few weeks ago, and to buy new swim trunks. From there it was back to the hospital to pick up Joanne. We went downtown, and had lunch at Quizno's. After lunch, we went to Wal-Mart. From Wal-Mart, I took Joanne to Safeway for groceries. I dropped her off at Safeway, then went to fill Dee-Dee with diesel, then back to Safeway to pick up Joanne. Then we headed back to West Hawk Lake.

Back at the trailer, we unloaded our purchases from the truck, and while Joanne put everything away, I drove back to the Border Information Centre to get online, send and retrieve e-mail, update my blog, renew our Camping World membership, and retrieve updated investment data. As I was leaving the Border Information Centre, I overheard a conversation between one of the staff, and a couple of tourists with thick German accents, who were having trouble conversing in English. The staff lady was trying to give them understandable directions to West Hawk Lake Campground. I intervened, introduced myself, and offered to escort them back here to West Hawk. We chatted as we walked across the parking lot to our vehicles. They had recently flown into Chicago from Germany, rented a car, and driven here for a 3 week vacation in Canada. They followed me here back to West Hawk, and I left them with Kristin in the campground office.

We decided to take Bo for a walk to Miller Beach, and let him cool off in the lake. As we walked to Miller Beach, we checked with the German couple who were just setting up in their site, to ensure everything was satisfactory. They seemed amazed at my / our friendliness and helpfulness. Yeah ... I can understand that ... I've been to Germany ! Bo splashed around in the lake. He loves cooling off that way. We walked slowly around the campground, noting what sites were available for late arrivals tonight. Wednesdays are now the only evenings that the campground office is not open, and we look after late arrivals.

Ann came by when she came into the campground for her nightly tour around to sell firewood, to tell us that she had just sold her farm, to a neighbour. She was so very pleased. We know how exciting it is to get over a hurdle, on one's way to a "new life".

I had a very busy evening, dealing with late arriving campers, and a pair of young drunks drinking beer and breaking beer bottles in the picnic shelter behind our campsite. While I was walking Bo I saw a couple of young, drunk men wander into the campground with beer bottles in their hands. I thought they were campers returning to their campsite. Then I saw them drinking their beers in the picnic shelter. Okay ! Then ... I heard glass break. WHOA ! Not in my picnic shelter. I stomped over there, chewed them out, then made them clean up the broken glass by providing them with a broom and dust pan. I was going to escort them back to their campsite, so I asked what site they were in. They weren't even camping here. Well ... boys ... THEN YOU'RE OUTTA HERE ! ! ! I escorted them to the road, and sent them off staggering down the road. My last late arrival of the evening was a bicycle camper from Australia who was bicycling from Australia to Britain via Canada. Okaaaaayyyyy ! He had cycled here today from Winnipeg, a distance of about 150 km. / 90 miles. That’s a pretty long, tough day on a bicycle !

DSK

July 11, 2005

July 11, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 55 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 24

 

Today was cloudy, humid, and hot.

This morning there was a knock on the door at 8:30 A.M. just as I was about to leave the trailer to go shower. Another camper with a tripped breaker. I'm embarrassed that all I'm able to do is "pass the buck", and send him to the office when it opens, and have them deal with the problem, because I don't have a key to the breaker panel padlocks. By the time I walked the dog, then headed to the shower building, the Dickinson's car was gone from their campsite. They were going to Winnipeg today for a day trip. I had picked up a Winnipeg tourist guide for them at the Border Information Centre the other day. They were eager to see Bears On Broadway, one of this summer's tourist highlights. Bears On Broadway is a cancer fund raising project. Over 50 large, concrete bears painted / decorated by local artists, sponsored by local businesses, spread out along Broadway starting at the Manitoba Legislature Building.

As I sit at my desk typing this, the CBC Radio news has just reported that Hurricane Dennis has hit Pensacola, Florida and Gulf Shores, Alabama. The two areas are within 50 miles of one another on the Gulf Of Mexico northern coast. They were hit last year by Hurricane Ivan, and now again by Hurricane Dennis. Gulf Shores, Alabama is where we picked up Bo. Hey, Bo ... aren't you glad you're not living there any more ?

We waited as long as seemed reasonable for the Carlson's to show up for lunch, then we had our lunch. As we were finishing lunch, the Carlson's finally showed up, so we served them a late lunch. The Minister Of Conservation of the Province Of Manitoba was being toured around the West Hawk Lake Campground as we were heading over to Star Lake for an afternoon of playing in the water and on the beach. There was a bit of concern about the swimmer's itch advisory that was posted at Star Lake Beach. When we returned from Star Lake, the Carlson's went to their motel room at Keystone Cabins, and we returned to the campground, and everybody had a shower, as the swimmer's itch advisory poster recommended. When the Carlson's came over to the trailer, we headed out on the West Hawk Lake Campground scenic hiking trail up, around, and back down the granite bluff. It's a difficult, but short, very scenic hike. We found, picked, and ate wild blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries on the hiking trail. The trail ends at the back end of the campground. While Joanne, Lorri, and Bo walked through the campground, back to the trailer, Doug, the girls, and I went to the old playground between sections D and G of the campground. We played on the swings, slides, and merry-go-round for awhile, then returned to the trailer to begin to prepare supper. Madeleine and I took a side trip over to the campground office, where Madeleine visited, and danced, with Samson the bear. Elvira pointed out a secret to us. Samson the bear is mounted on a wheeled platform, and very special guests ( like Madeleine ) are occasionally allowed, by special invitation ( by Elvira ) to dance with Samson.

I barbecued chicken, potatoes, and vegetables for supper. With misunderstanding and misguided good intentions, Bo attacked Doug when he tried to wipe Amelia's runny nose with a paper towel, and she was resisting. I guess all Bo saw was an adult man clamping a paper towel over the face of a squirming, whining child. I lit a campfire about the same time Erbon and Lorraine returned from their day trip to Winnipeg. They joined us around the campfire. Amelia and Madeleine faded quickly, so the Carlson's left to return to their motel room and put the girls to bed. As they were leaving, Madeleine's kindergarten teacher, who is camped beside us, pointed out to them that a doe was grazing behind the picnic shelter. Joanne and I sat around the campfire for awhile longer with Erbon and Lorraine. As I walked to the bathroom around midnight, I looked up and noticed the Aurora Borealis were on display tonight.

DSK

July 12, 2005

July 12, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 56 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 25

 

Today was sunny and very warm.

This morning I did regular preventive maintenance and inspections, then drove out to the park gate to make a phone call, to pay the phone bill. When I returned to the trailer, Joanne advised me that it was time to drain the kitchen holding tank. As I was working on that, the Carlson's arrived, having checked out of their motel. We prepared them a late breakfast / brunch / early lunch. I'm not quite sure what meal of the day it was. The Carlson's definition of a meal is different than mine. Most, if not all, of the Carlson clan were cranky, and eager to return to the city, and the comforts of home. Most, if not all, had reached their capacity for the wilderness experience in less than 22 hours out here. By 1:00 P.M. they were on their way back to Winnipeg.

Once they left, Joanne headed off to Falcon Lake to buy some groceries. I walked down to the Dickinson's campsite and chatted with Erbon for awhile, until he had to leave to pick up Lorraine at the Crescent Beach Laundromat.

We had a late lunch, then I read, and napped. We spent the rest of the afternoon down at Miller Beach with Erbon and Lorraine, splashing around in the lake for awhile, then sitting on the beach chatting. It was a very pleasant afternoon. Nice weather, good company. We appreciate that Erbon and Lorraine stopped here at West Hawk Lake and visited with us. Around 6:00 P.M. we wandered through the campground circuitously back to our campsites. Erbon and Lorraine accepted our invitation to join us for a barbecued burger supper.

We had a simple, but very good supper of burgers, baked beans, and fresh vegetables. And some fine wine, of course, generously provided by Erbon. I built a campfire, and we sat around it chatting with the Dickinson's until late in the evening. The air was warm, the sky was clear, the stars were bright, the loons were calling on the lake ... life is good.

DSK

July 10, 2005

July 10, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 54 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 23

 

Today was sunny and very hot. I like it, actually. There are lots of complaints about the heat. Hey ... what's there to complain about ? You're out at the lake, not stuck in an office, or digging ditches.

Today started very early. At 6:15 A.M. the H1 evictees decided to get up and prepare to leave, and ... make their displeasure widely known. For 20 minutes they were banging and clanging and screaming and slamming car doors and honking horns. I got out of bed, and went to sit at our picnic table and observe them, hoping for nothing more out of them than a bit of noise. Finally, they left, leaving a horrible mess behind in their site. I went to shower, thinking I would clean up the mess later. As I walked back to the trailer after showering, I encountered a vehicle speeding through the campground at a high rate of speed. I attempted to stop it, and ask the driver to slow down, but the jerk wanted no part of being stopped, and was obviously not interested in anything I had to say. Okay ... have it your way. If you don't want to be stopped and asked to slow down by the campground host, maybe a visit from the Park Patrol would be more to your liking. I walked through the campground to see what site the speeder was in, to report it later to Park Patrol. Surprise, surprise ... it was the guy who was an asshole when we woke him up to bear proof his campsite the other night when we had a bear in the campground. I spoke to the Park Patrol later in the morning, and they paid the speeder a visit in site H13. Since then, I have seen the vehicle drive in or out of the campground twice, at walking speed both times. Score one for the campground host ! I cleaned up the mess in H1. It filled 2 large garbage bags.

Reed came by with Scamper the orphan squirrel to update me, and get more advice. Scamper is doing fine, for now, on water and scrambled egg. I spent the morning reading. Joanne went to Falcon Lake to buy some groceries. I alternated between reading indoors, and reading outdoors. Being indoors was pleasant because I had turned on the air conditioning in the trailer. Outdoors, the deer flies and horse flies were biting. I wasn't coming into the trailer so much to escape the heat, which I quite like, as to escape the biting flies. I napped for awhile before lunch. I had been up late last night, and up early this morning. We had lunch. I read. We took Bo down to Miller Beach for a dip in the lake. He charged right into the water when we got to the lake. I helped a 35 foot Class A motorhome, with a towed, select a site. I stopped him as he was coming down the road into section G. The new campground host, Jill, has absolutely no idea where in the campground it is suitable to put such a large rig. I had them unhook the towed, turn around, and follow me into section B, where I easily got him situated in site B2.

We spent the afternoon and evening visiting with Erbon and Lorraine. We had a "shared responsibility" dinner with them. Joanne made potato salad and garden salad. Erbon barbecued a variety of meats from a specialty meat shop, using my barbecue. We ate inside the trailer, where it was cool, and there were no flies. While Joanne and Lorraine washed dishes, Erbon and I took Bo for a walk. Everybody was eager to have an early bedtime, because we all had not enough sleep last night.

DSK

July 9, 2005

July 9, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 53 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 22

 

Today was sunny and hot. Our firewood sales are going well. The first day we sold 6 bundles. The second day we sold 7 bundles. Today, the third day we are selling firewood, we sold our remaining inventory of 10 bundles. I guess we'll have to keep a larger inventory. We started with 10 bundles, and replenished each day what we sold the previous day. Tomorrow when Ann comes around, I guess I'll stock up with 20 bundles instead of only 10.

This morning I did regular preventive maintenance and inspections. While Joanne went to Falcon Lake to buy some groceries, I read. When she returned I drove to the park gate to make a phone call. As we were having lunch, our friends from Ottawa, Erbon and Lorraine Dickinson arrived. When we finished having lunch, we went down to their campsite to visit a bit. We left them to finish setting up their tent and gear, and I went to buy a newspaper and beer. We read the newspaper for awhile, until Erbon and Lorraine came over to our site to visit. We sat around for the afternoon chatting. As I had promised, I prepared a pickerel dinner, served with barbecued potatoes and cole slaw. Oh ... and wine, of course. A bottle of red for Erbon and Lorraine, and a bottle of white for Joanne and me. Supper was a huge success. We sat around the picnic table visiting and sipping wine ( and selling firewood ) for the entire evening.

Just before the campground office closed for the night, I walked down there to get an update on what sites were available, and what reservations had still not shown up, etc.. Reed, the new campground office attendant, was the proud new foster father of a baby squirrel. I advised him on how to care for the little beast, then brought it back to our trailer to give it some water and a meal of scrambled egg. After watering and feeding the little cutey, I took it back to Reed, and showed him how to feed it scrambled egg using a cotton swab. Good luck. It's difficult, but possible, to raise an orphaned baby squirrel to independence. As a result of our ownership of pet supply businesses, we have experienced "fostering" of just about everything imaginable.

I did today’s accounting, then today’s journal. It’s 11:00 P.M. and the drunk campers are just now noisily heading through the campground on their way out to the bar beside the campground. The “Parkies” ( what we call the Park Patrol staff ) are likely going to be quite busy at 2:00 A.M. as the drunks roll back into the campground.

About 11:05 the camper in B12 came by to tell me that they blew the circuit breaker for their campsite. I sat outside waiting for the Park Patrol to come by. They have keys to the breaker panel padlocks. I don't ! The campground "authorities" refuse to allow the campground host to have keys to the breaker panel padlocks. Don't you just love the mentality of bureaucrats ? ! The Parkies opened the breaker panel. I reset the breaker. While I went to B12 to verify that their power was okay, the Parkies headed to H1 to do an eviction. By the time I had walked to B12 they blew the breaker again. Doofus ! They were using a borrowed trailer, and didn't really know what they were doing. By the time I walked over to H1 where the Parkies were doing an eviction, they were so embroiled in this ugly eviction process that they said I had to wait for them to finish before they could return to open the breaker panel again for me. I waited an hour and a half ! By then the B12 campers had come stomping over to my trailer to not only complain that they were still without power but now they were upset by all the noise coming from the bar patio. Finally, I got the Parkies to open the breaker panel again, and I reset the breaker a second time. The eviction had to be delayed until the morning. None of the campers in the evicted group managed to blow a safe reading on the Parkies' breathalyser, so the Parkies couldn't send them out without a sober driver. The Parkies opened all the remaining beer in H1, and dumped them out. Talk about unhappy campers ! When I finally came inside shortly after 1:00 A.M. there were still 6 Parkies dealing with the H1 situation. And the bar was still going to be open for another hour ! Once the bar closed they were going to have a whole new set of problems to deal with.

DSK

July 8, 2005

July 8, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 52 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 21

 

Today was sunny and hot.

This morning I drove out to the park gate, and returned some phone calls we had missed. I spoke to one of the RV Parks on Vancouver Island. Their sites are quite expensive. Recreational property on Vancouver Island is expensive. I spoke to my investment broker, and got details of an investment trade I made. I returned a call to Lorri. She told me that the Carlson's are coming out to West Hawk next Monday and staying over night at Keystone Cabins. WOO-HOO ! I get to dream up new ways for her little girls to get hurt. HA HA HA ! Hey, girls, want to climb on that beaver dam over by Star Lake ? ? ? HA HA HA HA HA ! ! ! I returned to the trailer, picked up the laptop, and drove to the Border Information Centre to plug into their phone line to retrieve e-mail and update my blog. We got an e-mail from our friend Jim Shelton. Jim is a full time RV'er, and a paraplegic. He has returned to his family home in Michigan for part of the summer. He took his 93 year old mother on a camping trip. The only door on his specially modified trailer is a wheelchair lift. The wheelchair lift on his trailer malfunctioned, while he was outside the trailer, and his mother was inside. He couldn't get in, and she couldn't get out. What a predicament ! Makes my routine maintenance problems pale by comparison.

Back at the campground, I did my daily regular preventive maintenance / inspections. We drained the holding tanks. I refused to listen to Joanne's advice, and attempted to empty both the black water tank, and the bathroom grey water tank, together into the waste tote. It exceeded the tote's capacity, and overflowed onto the ground right beside the neighbour's trailer. YIKES ! Sorry about the sewage spillage right beside your trailer, folks. We had lunch, I read, then napped. While Joanne went to shower, I went over to the campground office to chat with Kristin. While we were chatting, a little girl about 7 years old came rushing down the road on her bicycle, and wiped out. She slid on her knees on the gravel road. What a mess ! I picked her up, calmed her down, then brought her and the bent bicycle back to her trailer. "Hello, Ma'am, I'm the Campground Host, here's your bloody kneed little girl. Have a nice day !" I guess that's the nature of camping with children.

We took Bo for an obedience walk. He performed pathetically. Unfocused and too hot ! What ? He can only be obedient on cool days ? We packaged our malfunctioned mattress warming pad / bed heater for shipment to Mississippi, for repair or replacement. I hope it's back before we leave Manitoba in September.

After supper we walked around the campground promoting tonight's special Amphitheatre program on Birds Of Prey, with special guest Mocha the Red Tailed Hawk. It was a great presentation by a falconer, with Mocha, and a slide show. As the Amphitheatre program ended, I had to rush off to put a stop to the group that was lighting fireworks in the picnic shelter. Talk about shit for brains !

DSK

July 7, 2005

July 7, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 51 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 20

 

Today was sunny and very warm.

After walking Bo, and going for a shower, I made myself a cup of coffee and worked on reviewing the batch of incoming mail we picked up at Sharon's on Tuesday. Then I went outside and did some maintenance work on Dee-Dee. We chatted with Elvira for awhile. I was about to drive out to the park gate to make some phone calls when Joanne came out of the trailer and said she was going to Falcon Lake for some groceries, so we went together to Falcon Lake. While Joanne did some grocery shopping, I sat at a shaded picnic table in the shopping mall courtyard and made phone calls. I phoned a bunch of RV Co-ops and RV Parks in British Columbia to request information.

Once back at West Hawk, we had lunch, I read, then napped ( of course ). We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting outside reading today's newspaper. We took Bo for an obedience walk, but he was unfocused and did poorly. It was hot, and he was more interested in splashing around in the lake than "working". While sitting outside reading the newspaper, Joanne thought she heard the phone ringing. I rushed inside the trailer, but there was no phone ringing. Later, I realized we had left the phone in the truck when we came back from Falcon Lake. Gee whiz ... 6 missed calls !

While Joanne made potato salad I barbecued a simple supper. After supper I went to Star Lake for an hour and a half of fishing. Not a single bite ! I guess the water has warmed up, and the good fishing is over for the summer, at least in the shallow area near the dock where I fish. Some cottager on the other side of the lake was sitting on his dock, playing his bagpipes. Pleasant, but kind of odd for the setting. Sunset on a glass smooth lake in the Canadian wilderness, bagpipes in the distance playing Amazing Grace and Scottish jigs.

I came home to watch the news, and learned of today's tragic subway and bus bombings in London, England.

DSK

July 5 & 6, 2005

July 5 & 6, 2005

West Hawk Lake days 49 & 50 of 113

YEAR 2 DAYS 18 & 19

 

Tuesday ; Today started out cloudy and cool, with light drizzle. The sky cleared, and it warmed up in the afternoon. Turned out to be quite a pleasant day.

We headed for Winnipeg first thing this morning. We stopped in Lorette to pay our Autopac truck and trailer insurance premiums, and pick up a Sears catalogue order. We went to Sharon's for lunch. As soon as we drove into the Danelak's yard, Bo saw a rabbit, and as soon as we got out of the truck, he picked up the scents of rabbits and mice and whatever else runs around the Danelak's yard, and he turned unruly. It angers and embarrasses me. He seems to be so enamoured of their place, that he felt it necessary to claim it for his own by peeing in Sharon's hallway as soon as he was in the house. BAD DOG !

We had lunch, and visited with Sharon, then continued into Winnipeg. I dropped Joanne off at Wal-Mart to return the vehicle wax we don't like, and replenish supplies, and I went off to Canadian Tire to resolve the invoice error from a couple of weeks ago, and buy some dielectric compound / battery grease. I went to Petland nearby to see if they had some Natural Chemistry Waterless Bath. Elvira asked us to buy her some, for Boomer. Petland doesn't carry the Natural Chemistry line. I went to the PET VALU store in the area. It wasn't there any more ! I drove back to Wal-Mart to pick up Joanne. She was just going through the checkout when I got there. Good timing. We drove to GNR Camping World to make an appointment for service right after the Labour Day long weekend, and talk to them about flooring replacement in the trailer. We were not very impressed that, once again, these RV places act like it's an imposition on their time to have a job that will take 20 to 25 hours at $100 an hour ! Screw 'em ! I'm likely to take Harvey to the RV flooring specialty shop in Los Angeles next winter. On the way to the Carlson's we stopped at PET VALU in Southdale to buy the Waterless Bath. They were out of stock, until next week < sigh >.

We went to the Carlson's to visit and have supper. I went online to retrieve e-mail, update my blog, retrieve bank statements, retrieve investment data, and do a bit of research on RV co-op parks in B.C.. I manned the barbecue, while Doug nursed his sore back. Doug had spent the day removing a set of patio doors from the living room to the porch, and replacing it with a wall and windows. We had supper, then I went with the nieces for a walk with Bo. Just before we left, Madeleine and Amelia were playing in the back yard with Bo and some beach balls. It was really amusing. Bo obviously can't catch and pick up a large beach ball, so he ran wildly around the back yard bumping and pushing a beach ball with his snout, trying to catch it and "kill" it. It was amusing until he finally trapped the beach ball in a corner of the fence, jumped on top of it, and bit it heartily, sending it to beach ball heaven. Unfortunately, once he learned that technique, it only took him another few seconds to "kill" the next beach ball. He sure can learn quickly, when he chooses to do so. I don't think Madeleine and Amelia were too happy about losing their two beach balls to Bo's killer terrier instincts. The last remaining beach ball was Madeleine's favourite Barbie beach ball, so it was rushed to safety before Bo could get it.

We left the Carlson's, and stopped at Zeller's in Southdale, to buy one last item Joanne wanted. On the drive from Winnipeg back to West Hawk Lake, from 8:30 to 10:00 P.M., we saw 11 deer. It's somewhat perilous to be driving on the highway at that time of the evening because of all the deer. We were stunned at how wet the fields are, and how swollen the rivers and creeks are. It's going to be a pretty dismal year for Manitoba's farmers.

At 11:00 P.M. there was a knock on the trailer door. A somewhat shaken camper had just had a face to face encounter with a bear as he came out of the bathroom building. I notified the Park Patrol about a bear in the campground, then Joanne and I set off to visit every camper in the campground, to ask them to "bear proof" their campsites. We were surprised at how many camp sites were "bear bait". Dirty supper dishes left on picnic tables, toiletries left on picnic tables, glasses with beverages left on picnic tables, many barbecues and camp stoves left outside, one site with a full bag of marshmallows thrown into the fire pit, etc.. Many campers were not in bed yet, but some were, so we had to disturb them, wake them up, and ask them to come out and clean up their sites. We only had one hostile response, and not surprisingly, it was from one of the worst offenders in terms of having a bear proof campsite. Have a nice night, asshole !

 

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and warm. WOO-HOO !

This morning I showered, then walked Bo. I couldn't help but notice that the two young, blond women in H4 were sitting on their picnic table looking very tired. They were really spooked last night when we came by to tell them about the bear in the campground, and I think they may have spent a sleepless night. When I returned later in the morning to bring them a bear brochure, they were asleep in their tent, so I'm pretty sure they didn't get much sleep during the night. I told them I was glad they had survived the night, because I hated having to clean up little blond bits in the morning after a bear attack. HA HA HA HA HA ! ! ! Poor girls will probably never set foot outside the city again.

I got a phone call this morning from Erbon Dickinson, our former PET VALU colleague and friend from Ottawa. He and his wife Lorraine are at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, just east of Thunder Bay. They will be here to visit us by the weekend. It'll be great to see them again. They sold their store, and retired, shortly before we did.

Beth the Park Interpreter brought her new summer staff for us to meet, and to tell us about this Friday's Amphitheatre program. It's about birds of prey, and will feature a visit by a special guest, a hawk belonging to one of Beth's former teachers. I guess we'll leave Bo home on Friday night. The new staff introduced themselves. "Hi, I'm Samantha." "Hi, I'm Erin." I looked at them and thought ... well, of course, you are ! I guess nobody names their children Daniel and Joanne nowadays.

We had a very busy late afternoon and evening assisting late arriving campers. Wednesdays are now the only evenings that the campground office is not open late. A very long Class A motorhome managed to sneak by us before we could jump out of the trailer and stop him, and he got himself tangled up in section C of the campground. It was a very long, very new, motorhome driven by an inexperienced owner. A "type A" kind of guy, in a big rush. To make a long story short, he managed to back the rig over a campsite marker post, a metal tube imbedded in concrete. He ripped the back bumper off the motorhome, and tore the lower fibreglass skirting of the rig, from the rear bumper all the way to the rear tire. At least a couple of thousand dollars worth of damage on his new motorhome. By the time I chased him down, and caught up with him in Section C, the damage was done. We are usually fast enough to get out of our rig and stoplarge rigs from driving past our site, and getting themselves in where they shouldn't be. I guided them into a suitable site in section A, and tried to console him as best as I could. I know how painful it is to cause damage due to one's own impatience, seasoned with a touch of arrogance. A few hours later, after the stinging of the wound had subsided just a teensy bit for him, I offered some full time RV'er advice. Hey ... now I'm the "old pro" giving advice to the rookies who are screwing up.

Ann the firewood lady came by, and Joanne told her that we weren't interested in purchasing her farm, or business. She expected that. She proposed that we sell firewood for her, from our site. We buy it "wholesale", and sell it "retail", a concept we understand very well. We struck a deal. As of tonight, we are selling firewood out of our campground host site. Ann thought we should seek and obtain the approval of the park bureaucrats. I think, when dealing with bureaucrats, it's easier to obtain forgiveness than permission. We'll just do it, until some bureaucrat actually decides that he/she has the authority to order us to stop.

I ended my day by updating our investment files in the computer. We're down a few thousand from a couple of weeks ago. C'est la vie !

DSK

July 4, 2005

July 4, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 48 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 17

 

Today was cloudy and cool.

This morning we went to a pancake breakfast at the West Hawk United Church. It was sponsored by the Winfal Seniors group. I think Winfal is an amalgam of West Hawk, Ingolf, and Falcon. Breakfast was in the basement of the church, on long tables covered in drawings done by children. The drawings were of local scenes like fishing in a boat on a lake surrounded by trees. Cute drawings. Nice sense of community spirit amongst the people attending. When we came out of the church, and walked back to the truck parked on the highway beside the park gate, we met Jill, the new park gate and office attendant.

We went back to the trailer, picked up Bo, and headed out to visit Ann Andress, the firewood lady who is selling her house, farm, and firewood concession business, in East Braintree. That's about 25 km. west of here, back towards Winnipeg on Hwy.1, and a bit south on Hwy. 308. When we arrived, Ann walked us around her farm yard, showing us the outbuildings, then she took us out back to where she cuts and bundles the firewood. Then we went to see the inside of the house, and review the firewood concession business financial statements for the last couple of years. By the time we had driven back to West Hawk, Joanne and I had decided that we're not interested in her house and farm, or her business. The business is much harder work than we want to do any more. The house, outbuildings, and especially the farm yard, are way, way too cluttered with junk. Old cars and old farm equipment strewn all over the place. I estimate that it would take 2 summers just to clean up the yard and outbuildings.

I spent the afternoon in bed. I was feeling ill for much of today. It might be a stomach flu type of illness. I think it's more likely food poisoning. Last night we had sausages for supper. The first one I ate tasted much different than the second and third. It wasn't until I began to eat the second sausage that I realized the first one tasted "funny", as in rancid. It's too bad I didn't eat a good one first. The bad one would have been noticeable at first bite. Anyways, I read and slept, then got up to try to eat a light, late lunch. We drained the kitchen holding tank, which was full, and I was ready to return to bed. I read, and napped, well into the evening. I got up to eat a light supper, and watch a movieon TV, then the news, featuring the interview with that scumbag Karla Homolka upon her release from prison today.

DSK

July 3, 2005

July 3, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 47 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 16

 

Today was sunny, warm, and humid. During the night there was a heavy thunderstorm. It knocked the power out for a couple of hours. Bo snuggled between our pillows, and seemed secure, but Teddy was freaked out. Poor Teddy. Just now ( 5:30 P.M. ) another thunderstorm began. The first minute or so was large hail. Ouch ! I hope the trailer roof and truck aren't damaged.

This morning I walked Bo, then went to shower. When I returned, Joanne and Bo were still in bed, so I crawled back into bed with them, and spent the morning lying around, dreaming and planning. The campground began to empty out by noon. Just before lunch I went to help a camper whose truck wouldn't start. It was an old, large, dump truck. I didn't ask why he uses an old dump truck to go camping. The starter was dead. I used Dee-Dee to tow him out of his campsite, then up to the top of the hill on the road in the campground, right behind our trailer. We are in the highest campsite in the campground. The dump truck had a standard transmission, so he was able to get it started by rolling it down the hill, and popping the clutch. Dee-Dee to the rescue once again. She's a powerful truck.

We had lunch, I read, then napped. So what else is new ? I did regular daily preventive maintenance, then we headed to Falcon Lake for groceries, fuel, and phone calls. The 11 km. from West Hawk to Falcon, on TCH 1, was pretty heavy traffic, heading home from cottage country to Winnipeg. There was a car rolled into the ditch near Falcon Lake. I reported it to Falcon's Park Patrol when we got there, but they were already aware of it. I dropped Joanne off at the grocery store, then went to fill up with diesel. There were line ups at all the fuel pumps. When I finally got filled up, I headed back to the grocery store, and made some phone calls to our sisters while waiting for Joanne to finish grocery shopping. When she returned, we drove into the Falcon Lake Campground to visit the campground hosts there. We had not met them yet. We stopped and visited with the Falcon Lake campground hosts briefly. Falcon's campground is larger, with roads nicely laid out in a grid pattern. There were a lot more big rigs at Falcon. It's definitely more big rig friendly than West Hawk, although the campground hosts, Sharon and Terry said a large fifth wheel making a u-turn in the campground yesterday hit the back window of its truck, and smashed out the window. That sounds like a truck with the fifth wheel hitch incorrectly located, or a short bed truck, which shouldn't be used to tow a fifth wheel anyways.

The thunderstorm has just ended, after 20 minutes. The air has cooled, and the humidity has diminished. The sun is trying to peek out.

We took Bo for a long obedience training walk. After 6 months of training, we've concluded that he understands our expectations as much as he ever is going to. Now we're trying to get him to respond appropriately without a biscuit reward, and without wearing a choker. After walking Bo, we cleaned up all the litter in sections H and B of the campground. Litter clean up is not part of our campground host responsibilities. I just can't tolerate a litter strewn campground. Once again, I'm appalled. I remember vividly my childhood lessons in cubs, scouts, and from my parents, that the only thing you leave behind in a campground are your footprints ! ! ! And I really would like to grab some people by the throat and explain to them the difference between a fire pit and a garbage can ! ! ! ! ! I barbecued supper, then sat down to watch a movie on TV. About 15 minutes before the movie was to end, there was a knock on the door. A late arriving camper ( from Ottawa ) wanted assistance finding a suitable campsite. I thought that was odd, since it was 9:45 P.M. and the campground office was supposed to be open until 10:15. I went outside and helped find them a suitable campsite. I couldn't help but notice that the campground attendant who was supposed to have the office open until 10:15 was sitting on her ass outside the campground office at 9:45 waiting for her ride home. I guess it's hard to find good help wherever you go ! ! !

DSK

July 2, 2005

July 2, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 46 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 15

 

Today was sunny and warm. The morning was a bit windy.

I spent the morning lazing around, listening to CBC Radio shows. We can only get CBC TV and CBC Radio. After awhile, CBC Radio begins to grow on you. The same can not be said for CBC TV, however.

I found a wood tick imbedded in Bo's head. I would have thought that the wood tick season would be over by now. Joanne found that Teddy will eat his pill if it's hidden in a piece of a cheese slice. Beats ramming it down his throat ! He's been on this hyperthyroidism medication only a few days, but he seems to be less hungry, and his eyes seem clearer and brighter.

We had lunch, I read, then napped. I should just cut and paste that sentence instead of retyping it every day. HA HA HA ! We spent the afternoon sitting outside reading the Saturday newspaper. We took Bo on a long training walk around the campground. I barbecued supper. I went fishing to Star Lake for an hour and a half. No fish tonight. The water is getting warmer. I guess the fish are going deeper and getting inactive. Plus there was a lot of boat traffic and swimmers. All that activity probably scares the fish away from the dock area where I was fishing.

DSK

July 1, 2005

July 1, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 45 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 14

 

Happy Canada Day

 

Today was mostly sunny, and warm, with a bit of wind during the earlier part of the day.

I started the morning slowly, showering, playing with the dog, reading a book, drinking coffee. I did some work on routine maintenance chores, then continued work on the truck battery connection modifications. We had lunch, I read, and napped. I walked around, chatting with the Park Patrol staff, and the campground office staff. We took Bo for an obedience training walk, to work him while he was faced with the distractions of a sold out, full campground. The park staff are thrilled that the campground is full for the long weekend. It seems to be a matter of pride for them to be able to hang out the "campground full" sign. Of course, that results in complaints to us. People who have decided at the last minute to go camping for the long weekend drive out from Winnipeg, only to discover that the campground is full. They spend the day here, picnicking, hiking, bicycling, etc. to make the most of their day before they head back to the city. When they see campground hosts, it's an opportunity for them to gripe. Like I can somehow solve their problem, which is a result of their lack of foresight and planning. Happy Canada Day, folks !

We barbecued corn on the cob, and chicken for supper, served along with Joanne’s home made potato salad. What a great meal. While I was barbecuing, Beth and Ashley, the Park Naturalists came by with brochures about tonight’s Amphitheatre Program for us to distribute. As soon as we were finished supper, we began walking around the entire campground, doing our regular Friday night Amphitheatre Program promoting. The campground has many children tonight, so I hope the Amphitheatre Program is better attended than usual. Although we think the Naturalists have missed the boat somewhat by not having a special Canada Day Program. You know ... Rah Rah Canada ... a bit of fireworks, that sort of thing. Tonight’s program is going to be Outdoor Survival. I’m typing this just before we go to the program.

Five of the Park Patrol staff just stopped by to visit with us in our campsite. They’re out in full force tonight. Bo is in doggy heaven, having five of his "friends" come by for a visit. He sure does love visiting people, especially his Park Patrol "hero", Joe Pope. Since the very first time he met Joe, Bo thinks he's wonderful.

We've just returned from the Outdoor Survival presentation at the Amphitheatre. Gee ... those Naturalist / Interpreter programs are sure terrible ! Although it's certainly not for lack of effort. As the audience was gathering and settling, our resident buck decided to come charging out of the forest up on the granite bluff. He ran around the Amphitheatre, and the gathering crowd, then charged back up the bluff and into the forest. WOW ... thanks ! Nice opening act, Mr. Buck. Beth, the Head Naturalist announced that there would be about a 15 minute delay due to a missing cable that was required to link their laptop to their projector. Dana was gone to get it. Beth was worried about losing her audience. I offered to do a short magic show to keep the audience in place until Dana returned with the missing computer cable. I ran back to our trailer, grabbed my shoe box full of magic "props", and returned to perform a short, impromptu magic show. I did three "tricks" / illusions, then turned the stage over to the Naturalists as soon as Dana was back with the missing cable. Gaylene, the Park Ranger from Falcon Lake was there, so I hope my contribution scored some political points.

DSK

June 30, 2005

June 30, 2005

West Hawk Lake day 44 of 113

YEAR 2 DAY 13

 

Today was a cloudy, cool, windy, rainy day.

We left this morning for a day in Kenora. On the way to Kenora we stopped to look at Pye's Landing, a trailer park at Clearwater Bay on Lake Of The Woods. It's for sale. The fellow who is spearheading a Lake Of The Woods trailer park co-op suggested I take a look at Pye's Landing, and two other trailer parks, as "models" of the kind of concept he's talking about. Pye's Landing is a dump ! Our first stop in Kenora was a meeting at the Bank Of Montreal, to pick up our new cheques, get some forms filled out, and get some service charge errors corrected. We met with the branch manager, and discovered she is a 4 year survivor of ovarian cancer, about the same amount of time as Joanne. Next stop was Canadian Tire where I bought some trailer and truck maintenance supplies. Then Wal-Mart for some groceries and supplies, and to fill a prescription for Teddy's hyperthyroidism medication. We went to Kenora Shopper's Mall to have lunch at Chicken Chef, and buy a couple of items at Extra Foods. From there it was back across town to Kenora Hospital. I dropped Joanne off at the hospital where she had some more cancer screening tests scheduled. I went to the GM dealer to buy a replacement alternator cable. They didn't have what I needed. I went to a nearby park, and did some maintenance work on the truck while I waited for Joanne to be finished at the hospital. One of the things I wanted to do was replace a battery side terminal bolt. I had bought a replacement at Canadian Tire. While changing the battery side terminal bolt, the nut insert inside the battery stripped, and pulled right out of the battery. I solved the problem by installing a top terminal adaptor, also purchased today at Canadian Tire, but not to solve this problem. It's a functional, although inelegant solution. I'm uncertain whether I'll just live with this inelegant solution, or attempt to obtain a replacement battery under the terms of the battery guarantee. I purchased this battery last November in Potosi, Missouri. It's a U.S. Wal-Mart brand not available in Canada, so I would have to wait until we're back in the United States next fall. I picked Joanne up at the hospital. We drove to Safeway, and Joanne completed our grocery shopping, while I continued working on the battery problem. I've done a "parking lot repair". I'll tidy it up, and finish it up tomorrow or Saturday. We drove slowly through Kenora, heading out of town to the west. Who would have thought that Kenora would have a traffic jam problem, on the Thursday afternoon of a long weekend ? On the way back to West Hawk, we stopped at the second of the three trailer parks we wanted to take a look at. Royal Lake Resort is also for sale. Another dump ! If Pye's Landing and Royal Lake Resort are the "models" for the kind of development that fellow is thinking about, count me out ! Our last stop for the day was at the Manitoba Border Information Centre, to retrieve e-mail and update my blog.

Back at West Hawk we unloaded today's purchases, walked Bo, fed Teddy and Bo, and gave Teddy his first pill. We just dropped it into his food dish, hoping he would eat it with his kibble, without noticing the pill. No such luck. He ate the kibble, and left the pill. I covered the pill with peanut butter and tried to get him to eat it that way. Nope ! I had to force feed it to him. I dislike having to administer pills that way, but often that's the only way to give pills to cats. Maybe we'll think of some better way, since he needs 2 pills a day, forever.

I did today's accounting, then I went to talk to Ann, the firewood lady. She and her husband are selling both their firewood concession business and their house and farm. We chatted briefly, and made tentative arrangements for Joanne and me to go out to their farm on Monday to see the house, farm, and firewood business. I guess it never hurts to take a look, and see if opportunity is knocking.

Our friend Darcy Johnson dropped by for a late, quick dinner, after driving his daughter Sheryl out from Winnipeg to Caddy Lake Girl Guide Camp. Sheryl has just graduated from high school, and has won numerous prestigious scholarships, and will be attending university in Toronto. Congratulations, Sheryl. She has followed in her mother's footsteps of scholastic achievements.

After Darcy left, we went for a walk around the campground to see how things were shaping up on our sold out long weekend. After walking around most of the campground, we realized there was a traffic jam at the entrance gate, and a backlog in the registration office. Joanne went into the office to see if there was anything she could do to help Kristin who was working alone. While Kristin filled out registration forms, Joanne handed out campground maps, gave directions to camp sites, and answered questions. Her help really speeded things up in the office. I stayed outside, trying to sort out the traffic jam, and keep the traffic flowing in an orderly fashion. I make a very good parking Nazi. I've had experience at the Breast Cancer Action Walkathons.

DSK