Year 3 Week 6

July 23 to 29, 2006

Richer to St. Malo Provincial Park to Winnipeg, Manitoba

Year 3 week 6

 

Sunday ; Today was sunny and hot !

This morning I mailed our income tax returns ( Yippee ) and our acceptance of the WorkCamper "job offer" from Guide Dogs Of The Desert. Joanne took the truck and went to Steinbach to do some grocery shopping. She found out that everything in Steinbach is closed on Sundays. She had to drive all the way to the grocery store in Lorette.

I installed the replacement cutlery drawer tracks I picked up yesterday at Transcona Trailer Sales. Another Yippee ! I worked on repairing the water heater electrical switch which burned out this morning. Gee, I just replaced it a month or so ago. I decided to eliminate the switch, and "hard wire" around it. I'll use the circuit breaker in the trailer's breaker panel as a switch when I really need to turn off the electricity to the water heater, which I only need to do when we're connected to 15 amps ( such as at the Danelak's ) instead of the usual 30 amps. I continued working on the fibreglass repair. Yesterday's application of fibreglass cloth and resin on the underside of the bottom panel turned out quite well. Today I applied fibreglass cloth and resin to the damaged areas on the top side of the bottom panel. I'm trying to hone my fibreglass repair skills on the bottom panel, which isn't visible, before I tackle the side skirt panel.

I fabricated another waste holding tank valve extension handle, as a spare. I printed and reconciled the MasterCard statements I downloaded yesterday. I reviewed a small batch of mail we picked up yesterday. Joanne vacuumed and cleaned the trailer interior to prepare for our camping trip to St. Malo with Lorri and the girls.

Whew ... productive day.

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and hot. I like the weather like this.

This morning we left Wild Oaks Campground in Richer and drove to Winnipeg where we met and picked up Lorri, Madeleine, and Amelia. Happy 42nd Birthday, Doug. We headed south on Hwy. 59 for about an hour to St. Malo Provincial Park. We got set up in our campsite, had lunch, set up the tent we borrowed from Sharon and Bud for Lorri and the girls, then headed to the campground beach for a long afternoon of playing in the water.

I coached Madeleine and Amelia in building a campfire. They did a great job. We roasted wieners over the campfire for supper. The girls did the wiener roasting. After supper, Joanne's cousins Paulette and Jacqueline came by for a surprise visit. Joanne, Paulette, and Jacquie are all about the same age, and grew up together. We sat around the campfire visiting for a couple of hours.

Late in the evening, after Madeleine and Amelia went to sleep in the tent, Joanne and Lorri sat in the trailer, chatting. I sat by myself by the campfire, smoking a Cuban Monte Cristo No. 5 cigar. Well ... not a real Monte Cristo No. 5. My dear naive sister evidently got ripped off when she went shopping for cigars for me when she was in Cuba last winter. Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth, eh ? HA HA HA ! Oh, well, even a Cuban "knockoff" Monte Cristo is a good cigar.

 

Tuesday ; This morning was cloudy, with occasional light drizzle. By afternoon it was sunny, hot and humid.

We spent the day playing with Madeleine and Amelia. We had a long play session on the beach, and in the water. We had a campfire. We prepared a roasted banana, marshmallow, and chocolate chip dessert. We couldn't find any pine trees, and obviously no pine cones, so my special project requiring pine cones had to be postponed. Just before bedtime we roasted marshmallows.

Joanne was feeling ill this evening.

 

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and hot.

Another day of the family camping experience. This afternoon my project with the girls was to make chocolate ice cream by hand. It was successful !

 

Thursday ; This morning was cloudy with light rain. The rest of the day was sunny and hot.

Another day of the family camping experience. Walking back from an afternoon at the beach we saw a couple of baby Ruffed Grouse / Prairie Chickens. The girls and I made pine cone bird feeders and hung them around the campsite. In the evening as we sat around the campfire a large woodpecker came and fed at Amelia's pine cone bird feeder. It was quite thrilling to watch. Well ... for me, anyways.

 

Friday ; Today was sunny and warm, with a brief, light rain in the evening.

I think everybody is relieved and grateful that what was a miserable experience for all concerned has finally come to an end.

We left St. Malo Provincial Park late this morning and drove back to Winnipeg. We got settled into a campsite at Traveller's RV Resort and after unhitching I discovered that the tent was missing from the back of the truck. Evidently it blew out as we were driving. Joanne and I drove all the way to St. Malo and back, looking for the tent. We didn't find it. Doug came and picked up Lorri and the girls at Traveller's RV Resort. Joanne and I went shopping for a tent.

We looked at Canadian Tire in Southdale, then at Wal-Mart in St. Vital Centre. We returned to Canadian Tire and bought a tent. We drove to the Danelak's to give them their new tent. It's a pretty lousy feeling to borrow something big from somebody, and lose it !

While I'm not entirely in agreement, the consensus seems to be that responsibility for the family camping experience being as miserable as it was rests squarely on my shoulders !

 

Saturday ; Today was sunny and warm.

We got a late start to the day, sleeping in and recuperating from the family camping experience. We restored the truck back seat to its normal collection of travel clutter. We went to Safeway in Southdale to replenish groceries. I gave Bo a bath. Joanne did laundry. We clipped Bo's and Teddy's nails, and cleaned their ears. I disinfected the trailer's fresh water holding tank. After supper I did my monthly backup of all computer files to CD.

I need to get my sense of humour back.

DSK