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