My mother had a saying that went like this - "the faster I go, the behinder I get"! That seems to be my life these days. There is always something to do but it is not always that interesting nor does it seem to gain me any ground. Monday, Canada Day, was one of those days. Our community does not have a whole lot going on Canada day, because we have all our events scheduled for the weekend after Canada Day. So that is why I have nothing to report other than I finished my day watching a few more episodes of Survivor 13.
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| Remember Yul!! Yup he won 13 |
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| How about Jonathan? |
Anyway, just to help me get farther behind, we were informed on Friday that we were the successful bidder for the caretaking contract for Manitoba Housing in Strathclair at their 12 suite seniors complex there. So Tuesday morning Sue and I set off to Strath to check things out. The cleaning part is fairly straight forward, however the 2 hour round trip drive is a bit of a logistical nightmare. We are going to find someone to cover for us so we don't have to go so often.
When I got back to Cj's, one of the young guys we have was here to help me straighten out the wood yard. We will be getting a truck load of wood soon and its nice to have it trimmed and stacked for that to happen.
When I got back from my trip to Strathclair this morning, the load of wood I was needing had arrived. 8 cords in that pile.
Then I spent a little time with Sue and the grandkids and Jim and Marilyn on the beach. It was a hot day!! Maybe summer is here!
Today is order day and when I looked in the ice cream freezer I was glad we would get more tomorrow. 20 some pails this week!!!
I took Archie for a run and because it was hot, he decided a mud puddle would be the best place to cool off. Little piggy!!
THURSDAY!!!! My favourite day. Shipment day. Up at 6:15 to unload boxes and boxes of stuff. Oh how I hate getting up in the morning. After I get going, I'm ok but its the start that gets me.
We are always working on our new POS system trying to get it to do what we want it to. We have online ordering and lots of menu items to manage. Plus there are always quirks to a new system that we don't fully understand. We have found that the best way is to let some of our young employees figure it out. They dance around on the screen, and poof... its fixed!!!
On my trip to Strath this morning, we found a bear on the highway. He stood there until I tried to take a picture, then he started running up the road. He was a good sized one.
Winston and I had a bunch more trees to cut in town again today. The hedge has been overgrown badly in the last few years when we were not the caretakers. So we spent about 3 hours there today.
As you can see there are lots of dumpsters (12) for the residents and they are only ever filled half full. So I am going to screw the lids shut on 6 of them and hide them behind the building. At least the garbage truck will only have to start and stop half as many times.
Friday was the day for getting ready for our "Hootenany" tomorrow. We bring in a bunch of picnic tables and get them all set up. We hope it will be a busy day.
Dave Falkevitch went and got the beef for tomorrows beef on a bun, and when he got back, I insisted that we try it to make sure it was ok. Oak River Quick Freeze had cooked and sliced the meat for us and we gave it a big thumbs up.
Samantha and Sue were having no part of our tailgate sampling. Dave and I are farm boys so we don't mind a little dust in our roast beef. I think we are ready so bring on the Hootenanny!!
This Friday Saturday and Sunday are busy days in our community. Lots of different things going on. Saturday is Hootenany day for us. Its always busy setting up and making sure everything is in place. Posters have gone out and Grace likes to help by designing her own poster!
We took a little time out of our day to take the kids into town for some horse rides.
It was a nice touch and we thank Lucky Break Ranch for donating their time. The kids sure enjoyed it.
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| Grace |
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| Emma |
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| Max |
The supper started at 4:30. It was beef on a bun, potato salad, baked beans, and a drink for $25. The proceeds go to Friends of Rivers Lake and it looks like we made about $2000 this year.
There was a pretty good crowd for the event. I think we served about 85 suppers.
We had a some very good talent on stage today as well. Julianna joined us and was a pleasant surprise. I generally try to stay away from singers with recorded music because I always liken it to Karaoke. Well Julianna was not Karaoke!! Then Jeff and Martin took the stage to finish things off. Jeff is a local boy and has played for years on the local circuit. We are tickled pink anytime he joins us on the stage.
Everything wound up about 9 pm and we retired for the evening. Sunday morning we spent a little time on the deck with our friends Gary and Jean. They are avid travelers. We first met them in Florida about 5 years ago but have not seen them since, so we were thrilled when they stopped for a couple days to visit us on their way back from Alaska.
There was an antique tractor parade scheduled for 10:30 in the park this morning. It was great that they came all the way down here to show us their tractors. There were probably 25 tractors in total. All of the campers came to check it out. Here are some that had meaning to me.
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| Local farmer Harry Airey |
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| I spent many hours on a W4 and its big brother WD9 |
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| Local farmer Lawrence on his Farmall H |
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| Mark Gill |
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| Abe Krahn showing off |
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| An old AR John Deere. I used to pull harrows with one. |
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| An R John Deere. Dad had a 60 John Deere which was a newer version |
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| A U model Minneapolis. My Uncle did all his farming with one of these. |
Gary and Jean had to head out this morning so we said bye to them about later in the morning after the parade. Safe travels guys.
Next on the schedule was the Friends of Rivers Lake Paddle Derby this afternoon. We had a good turnout of people in Kayaks to complete the 5 km course. Winner took home $125 with various other prizes. We just got done when it poured. Nobody got caught in the storm from what I heard. We will have another one in September.
While the paddle derby was going on, some kids were busy catching fish off the dock. Its fun to watch them fight with the feisty jacks.
That was about it for our week. Next week should be more normal stuff I think. Good Nite!!!
Wow! What an undertaking! Do you have to clean the Suites or just hallways and such? It would be the drive that got me. You'd need someone for the winter too. How often do you have to go? Good luck! 😊 I'm not trying to be discouraging, just, wow!
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