Another Job for Me

WHERE ARE WE? Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba

Another of our side ventures involves a property maintenance and management contract with Manitoba Housing.  We provide caretaker services mainly but also do contract work for them.  Our daughter Sheri actually does the contract and I do the work. lol  She has to look after things in the winter while we are gone south.  One of the contract things is mowing grass at government owned low rental houses that are vacant.  Right now there are 2 in town so I do the grass at them as well as doing the grass at a 12 suite apartment.  I love doing grass early in the year, but as the summer wears on, it becomes a chore.  Anyhow, here is what I did for a few hours this afternoon.

This is an empty lot with lots of rocks and gravel 

I took a back trail into town.  It's about a 2 mile drive

Lets back up a bit.  Before I could go cut grass I had to get the mower deck mounted on the tractor.  It is easy and fast except I always forget the process and it takes me a long time hooking and unhooking and redoing belt to get it on.  I should write it down someplace or do a You Tube of it.

When I got home I noticed that one of our paddle boats had come home from storage.  A friend of ours had delivered it today because he needed to move it in the storage shed to get at some of his stuff.  Thanks Kevin!!  I will go get the rest of them tomorrow I guess.

After my wood run tonight I had to cover the wood in the back of the truck because we have a bit of an unsettled forecast.  The temps are great, just the rain might put a damper on our weekend.

Another of my jobs is to do the cash out at the end of the night.  It reminds me of my friend Patsy and her puzzles because there is always some little piece of my puzzle missing.  Someone always forgets that they messed with the cash and didn't write it down.  Its a good thing most of it is debit so it works itself out!!!  Oh well I rather enjoy it.  

Something I am enjoying that I can't find in Mexico is Golden Brown Sugar on my cereal.  I had a bowl for a snack tonight.  Brown sugar in a bowl with just a sprinkling of Corn Flakes!!!  LOL  Sue gives me heck for the amount of sugar I use.  She's the diabetic and my sugars are perfect so the Dr. tells me.

Archie always gets the zoomies just about bed time.  He likes to help fluff the bed up before we retire. Tonight was no different.  Good Nite!!

A Bear and a Blower

WHERE ARE WE? Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba

Just another day in the Park.  During the week we don't open the shack until 4 so Sue and I went to Brandon for stuff.  I picked up some repairs and bought a brand new blower for the golf course.  My old one is getting repaired and when it comes back, I will sell it.  It is still a good one, but I wanted more ooooooouuuffff!  This one has it!!!

Our local ball team, the Rivers Comets are playing the home opener tonight.  Of course the temperature dropped and the wind started howling before game time.  I went to the game and sat in the stands for the first inning.  After 1 inning the score was 9 to 2 for us and I was freezing.

So I got in the Jeep and went to the back field to watch with the heater on.  Its not as good watching from there, but it was warm.

About the 4th inning the score was now 15 to 2 so I decided to head home.  I had bought a 50/50 ticket and they drew that in the 5th so I decided to stay for the draw.  I never win!!  Well guess what??  I won.  Of course it was on the night where there were no spectators to speak of so the pot was low, but none the less, I WON!!

When I got home from the game one of the campers came around saying he had just scared a bear away from his site.  I went for a little drive and low and behold he was checking out the garbage dumpster.  He was a good size one, probably a male and he wasn't aggressive at all.  He was just wandering through.  He headed by Percy the motorhome and on west.  This is the first bear I have seen in the park, although there certainly have been some. 

At one point he stood outside the door of the motorhome which got Archie all riled up.  He was on guard for the rest of the night!!!  I wasn't!  I snored the night away!! Good Nite!

A Relaxing Day with a Busy End

WHERE ARE WE? Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba

Last day of the long weekend and its been a good one.  Mid 20's C and sunshine.  Everything that is good for camping.  I did a few little projects today like hang a paper towel holder in the shed and work on getting the mower ready to put on the tractor.  

The shack was busy with cleanup and prep for the next week.  We have hamburgers to make, fries to cut and blanch, gravy to make, and most importantly, dishes to do.  

Something we have set up to try to increase our efficiencies and make it easy for our customers to order ahead of time is our online ordering system.  You can now go to our facebook or website and order what you want for whatever time you wish to pick it up.  It is great for our takeout customers.  We will see if it catches on.

I was proud of Sheri the other day because she didn't panic much when her gas light came on in Hamiota after all the gas stations had closed and she still needed to drive home the 30 minutes.  By the time she got home it was flashing and she was sure she would run out.

Sheri's car

It told her not to panic because I am an expert and running low on gas.  I went out and checked my gauge just so I could send her a picture and let her know thats what I do all the time.  LOL

My Jeep

Dani had to go do some testing in Portage this week in preparation for a nose surgery coming up.  She got the allergy test and she is allergy free from what she tells me.  Now to get on the surgery schedule.

Now to get on the surgery schedule.  She will have to sit and wait.  

I set up all the chairs around the fire pit in anticipation of maybe some visiting later.   Sue was in Winnipeg today to do some shopping.  It is basically a 3 hour drive each way with a 10 hour shop in the middle, so it makes for a long day.

Its move out day for all the campers and we don't expect much extra business today, except we forgot that most of the restaurants in town are closed on Monday's.  Well here they come for supper and we had to work our tails off.  I even had to work the grill for a while which means we were desperate. lol  It was fun but by the time quitting time came, everyone was ready for home time.  Good Nite!!

A Potato Run

WHERE ARE WE? Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba

We had a bit of a problem with our slushy machine.  We just got it a few days ago and today it started chugging away.  When I looked at the back, the seal had leaked and cappuccino ran into the workings.  I will have to call Ryan to come have a look at it.

Our friends Dick and Jean stopped by for a visit. They are some of our summer friends and they sometimes camp here but mostly they just drop by for a chat.  It was good to see them again.  

We are seeing some of the effects of all of the fires out in Alberta and the smoke is certainly noticeable.  People with respiratory problems, (which I don't have...remember?) are having some problems.  It makes the sun look all red too.

Sheri and and I had to make a quick run into Superstore to get some supplies for both our restaurants.  We use a lot of potatoes so this is the store that gives us the best deal.  Cj's Snack Shack goes through about 3 to 400 pounds of potatoes a week and Cj's on the Links is about 150 to 200 pounds a week.  Tonight we picked up 400 pounds which will keep us going for a few days.  

We even get a little "prize" if we spend over 300 bucks there and today was Ice Cream treats.  Great prize for an Ice Cream shop!!! lol.  It fit nicely on top of the potatoes in the cart.

Sheri had to make a quick stop at Walmart which closes at 10 pm.  I dropped her off at the door at 9:57.  The greeter told her she had 3 minutes and as she raced down the isles to get her one thing, the loudspeaker was counting down the minutes.  She was a little over but she said there were a few old people who were not hurrying and apparently the tills automatically shut down shortly after 10.  Won't they be mad if they have to leave their stuff there for the night.

That was how another day went for us.  We are always busy it seems but that is what keeps us young I think.  We did manage to snag a Timmies on the way home. Good Nite!!

Music in the Park

WHERE ARE WE? Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba

Every good day begins with coffee in my world.  Such was my day today.  The weather has been cool and this morning was no exception, however the bulk of the day was quite enjoyable.

Every day involves loading some wood and selling it.  Sometimes I grab a couple of the girls from the shack to help loading but this time it was just me.  I only filled it half full because when I sell this, the girls will be here to help.  I sell about a truck load a day on the weekends.  In total I sell about 30 cords of wood a season.

Today is our first "Music in the Park" for this season.  Music in the Park came from the covid summer when there was nothing to do because of all the restrictions.  We decided to kind of bypass them a wee bit and it seemed that people were more relaxed to interact in a park setting.  So I invited a couple musicians to come play on a Saturday night and the people came running to take it in.  They just brought lawn chairs and social distanced or not.  Live music was not available anywhere else really so our crowds grew.  We have only had to cancel 1 performance because of rain in the 3 seasons this has been going.  

We don't have high expectations for the first night of the season but there were still about 40 people came to enjoy the tunes.  

Dave Oakey (who plays a circuit in Mazatlán Mexico all winter) is the host and piano man, and he brought an old friend of ours Terry Mayer to pick the strings.  Terry has not played publicly in a long time but he caught on real quick.  Murray Kernahan joined us as well with his new Taylor guitar.  We had a great couple hours listening to jazzy blues, classic rock and some nice ballads.  As the summer goes on, more musician will join us I'm sure.

Such was our Saturday at Cj's.  It is always interesting seeing all the old friends that we see each summer.  We do have a few missing but I'm sure they are tapping their toes up there.  Good Nite!!