May 10 to13 And the Beat Goes On!

WHERE ARE WE? Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba

Work continues around here and although many have commented that I am busy, I am actually not overdoing it.  I understand how much I can do and take lots of breaks, probably more than I should!! Anyway, I have cut some more of the turf for the golf course.  I have decided that I will cut all of the pieces before installing them.  Some of the holes will require some concrete repair before the turf goes down. I will keep plugging away.

I had not planned to start with "Music in the Park" this Saturday but Aaron Frost stopped by on Friday and I asked him if he wanted to entertain us Saturday.  He said sure, and that's how we had music at Cj's this Saturday.  Thanks for stopping by Aaron.

Sheri and Donovan stopped by for a nice visit this evening as well.  Always fun to have them around. Later that evening I got to witness a beautiful prairie sunset.  Who said we don't get them like Mexico.

Sunday was Mother's day and Kaitlyn, Justin and the kids joined us for the afternoon.  Cj's was quite busy but because we have awesome staff, we were able to enjoy our afternoon with them.

Monday came around and I was back to the grind.  I am sometimes the gopher around here, Go for this and go for that!!!  My job is to scoot into town to buy the necessities that we run short on between wholesale truck deliveries.  So off to the store I went.

When I went to bed tonight, this is what I saw out our back window.  We are so blessed to be able to have these awesome views.  The moon was quite eerie shining on the lake through the trees.  

Of course not all is work.  Today I had my annual appointment at the skin clinic in Brandon.  I have been seeing Dr. Sneath for about 5 years now after I was referred there because I was having some weird spots on my forehead.  They turned out to be nothing, but because I am fair skinned, Dr Sneath recommended I see him every year just in case.  I feel lucky that I will have a this kind of preventative care ongoing.  

But I not counting my chickens before their hatched and I NEVER buy green banana's.

A little stop at Canadian Tire for some stuff.  Needed a new sprayer and we need to have a couple long leads for Archie because he needs to be tied now that the park is open.  He is sort of ok with that rule.  I think we might make a fence around our yard for him which will give him a little more freedom.  He will still get his daily runs out on the back roads.

Tuesday evening we headed to Reston to take in the Drama Club's presentation. Our grandaughter Abby has the lead role in the play called "Gossip".  They did a great job of the presentation and we all enjoyed seeing how gossip can ruin friendships and make things bad for lots of people. Abby loves drama and she did a wonderful job.  Her body language and facial expressions and body language were exactly what her character demanded.  You could tell that she loved what she was doing.  Great job Abby.

Reston school

Waiting for the show to begin

the whole group were fantastic

the naughty

the nice!

We lucked out and got to see the end of Sila's ball game.  We got to see him make a great catch in center field and a nice infield fly which was caught, but still a good hit.  We hope to be able to make it to a couple more of his games this summer.

We enjoyed our evening and as we travelled home, the sun set behind us.  Wow, just wow!!  Good Nite!

    

May 4 to 9th Recap.

WHERE ARE WE? Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba

Lots of stuff going on around here and little time to report on it.  By end of day, I am usually too pooped to sit down and write on the computer.  So here is a recap of May 4 to 9th.  Every day was just more of the same every day.  It is a lot of work to get ready for the season and we open Friday afternoon.  Lots of trips to town to get stuff.  Good thing town is only a couple miles away. 

And of course, in the middle of all the preparations, I have to look after me as well.  A visit to the Dr. is always in order when we return, mainly to renew prescriptions, but also to discuss my painful knees.  He is working on it and just to make sure I was not putting undo stress on them with a weight increase, I snuck over to the scale and looky looky, 202 which is actually 3 pounds less than when I left in the fall.  Really I should shed a few pounds, but I'm not about to make life miserable over it.

See... its all balanced!!!

Then it was off to Brandon to pick up a bunch of the basics.  At the end of each season, we try to consume as much of our supplies as possible, so in the spring we have to go buy lots of stuff.  Lots of potatoes, pop, water, fills the back very quickly.  

One of the things going on at our lake is a complete retrofit on the dam and spillway.  This dam is what creates our lake behind it.  Our government is spending about 40 million on raising the dam because a few years ago we had a one in 500 year flood event and it came within about 5 feet of topping the dam.  So rather than spend 40 mill on homelessness of reducing our taxes a bit, we throw it at a problem that is not even a problem in my mind.  (rant over)  Anyway I got to have a look at the thousands of yards of rip rap and concrete.

Our daughter Nikki gave me a couple of Derek's remote control planes that he bought as a project for him.  I thought maybe I could get them to fly, but I'm not sure they are airworthy.  So I thought why not hang them at CJ's for everyone to enjoy.  This one has John Deere stickers and a green and yellow paint job.

We are beginning a retrofit on the golf course this year.  I went around and took some pictures of why we need to upgrade.  Most of the turf is timed out and has deteriorated real bad this winter.  Stay tuned for the transformation over the summer.

Today I got busy and installed the free passenger package Lectric Bikes sent me for free.  It is a $99 USD perk.  They have been really amazing to work with.  This will make it more comfortable and safer for the kids to ride on.  

nifty foot pegs

And a comfy seat

And I managed to work in enough time to go and get the Ponderosa out of storage.  We store it at a friends house just outside of town all winter.  I leave the solar panels on and the batteries all stay charged so when I go to get it, they are all full and ready to go.

I also do some work for Manitoba Housing and this was a little project that I did one morning.  Had to hang a new door and jack up a step that was sinking into the ground.  I enjoy doing some of these projects.

Had to add all the hardware before installing

Good thing the Jeep has a jack.  Worked great!

One side is level, now to jack this side up.

All installed

And it closes

Another project is to change all the turf on the golf course.  I visited a great carpet store in Brandon and the had what we needed.  Jenkins sold me a 100 foot roll of turf and loaded it in my truck and I took it home.  

I had to map out the pieces and cuts needed to maximize the roll of carpet. There will be a little waste but not much hopefully.  And I hope my measurements are accurate.

Measure twice, cut once!!

And if you remember from previous years, the task I don't appreciate. The 6:30 supply order.  I got to watch the sunrise while I waited on the deck for his arrival.

And here the truck comes.  We have quite a bit on this delivery.

This is the guy that makes it worthwhile getting up in the morning so early.  Tim has been our delivery driver for a few years, and he is an absolute amazing guy to be around.  He starts his day at about 2 am every day and is a bundle of positive thoughts and great humour. We have become quite good friends spending that half hour every Thursday in the summers.  Thanks for making my early morning bearable!!

We have waited a long time for this ice cream shipment.  Now it is my job to do quality control.

Looks like we have new quality control people.  They both approved of Bubble Gum and Birthday Party and it looks like it is cold enough to cause a Brain Freeze!!!

Things are slowly coming together at Cj's and we should be ready for Friday.

Cody blowing off the course.

Picnic tables in place

Mower deck mounted ready to go.

I always laugh at the Rivers sign.  I call it the 20 to 7 Park.  Do you see it???

Our wood shipment arrived today so we can sell firewood.  It is actually quite dry in this part of the country so we are hoping they don't put a fire ban on in the park.

After loading the truck, we made sure we tarped the pile in case it does rain.

The kids are staying over tonight.

One of the things I offer is a seasonal wood box for the seasonal campers.  I give them the patio box to use for the summer to keep their wood dry and I also keep it filled for them.  I fill them mid week when no one is around and then when they arrive on Friday they always know they will have a full box of dry firewood for the bonfire. It's a win win situation.

And we always make time to take Archie for a couple runs during the day.  He looks forward to the exercise.

See him up there?

This is soooo me.  Good Nite!!