Saturday October 17th 2020
Ten days to go, till the park closes for 2020.
To say it has been a tough year would be a serious understatement, and I don’t mean just at the park, no this is has been a difficult year from almost every aspect. We are right in the fall process of the park closure, Miss Laurie is putting the gardens to bed for the winter, wrapping the junipers, cutting the ornament grasses, digging new flower beds, pruning and trimming of shrubs and plants. I have the task of splitting and bagging next years firewood for winter storage in the shed, servicing equipment, along with winterizing almost 80 trailers as they are closed by the clients, there are some other improvement projects, before the park winterizing begins on the 28th of October. There will be tree trimming the first week of November, with a tree service spending a couple of days with the boom truck in the park, and removal of some more of the poplars.
Our winter is going to be different this year, with Ottawa announcing the border will stay closed until the United States gets control of the virus, and that doesn’t look promising until well into next year, when either a vaccine becomes readily available or a severe change in direction by the government, which may be happen after the election in November. But with a death count of 220,000 in the States so far and the second wave getting in full swing, I thing the best we can hope for is that by next fall to be able to get back to traveling to the sunny south. Now we are faced with some changes that will be difficult, but it is obvious that heading south with the coach is not going to be an option, so we will be winterizing our coach for the first time. And where we end up for the winter is our next decision, whether to find a place to rent here, or fly south and rent something there, these are the times that having pets can also reduce our options and guide our decision.
Most of our Canadian full-time friends are being forced to hunker down, and prepare for a winter in Canada. Not quite how any of us had planned to spend a winter, but these are different times, and if history is correct the second wave of this virus will most likely kill more people than the first wave did. One hundred years ago when the Spanish flu hit the world that was the case, and it is becoming very obvious that we haven’t learned a lot since then, oh the doctors are better equipped to handle the virus once they get a handle on it, no it’s the general population that think they know all the answers, and just don’t do what they are asked to do. No no no that might infringe on someone’s rights, I can only assume that is the right to be stupid, or possible it’s the right to hurt and possibly kill some of their family and friends. And it appears it’s a world wide problem, with people from almost every country making no effort to social distance.
Yes I think a lot of people are looking forward moving beyond this whole 2020 year, we have been very fortunate, we got to do all that we had planned over the winter and other than a few restrictions and shortages near the end of March which reduced spending some time with Ray and Karen and not being able to visit with Butch and BJ. We had a fourteen day quarantine on arriving back into Canada, but we crossed the border with for enough supplies to complete our full lock down, we had some cold days but nothing we couldn’t handle.
Work this year was a lot more demanding than last year, the stress of trying to adhere to all the public health guidelines and so many people thinking we were infringing on their rights and enjoyment, while trying to keep everyone safe and the park from being shut down because of an outbreak has been very overwhelming. Add to that the feeling of isolation, not being able to have family or friends visit, and being so careful to control our social bubble, being unable to have any social events at the park, as well as being deemed the party poopers of the park, really left us wondering whether or not to return …
Right now we are looking at options, as we need a furnished, spot for the winter, where ever we go. So we need a just a short term rental where most people are looking for a year long commitment and we are looking for just five months. If we stay in Canada and close to the coach, we can do some renovations to the coach, purge some items, and catch up with family and friends, but then there is the whole snow and winter thing and we got rid of most of our winter wardrobe. So then there is Mexico, which would give winter warmth, but with no vehicle would leave us captured in just one small area, the emersion into the culture would be life changing, but the flight there and back, especially with a pet, and not having been in that area before, could make it five months of paradise or five months of hell. The concern is we only have a few weeks to put this all together, and unlike when in our coach we cannot just pack up and move down the road.
The Buchanan's Rolling Down The Road 
Great work around the park for the winter. Look forward to seeing everything in the Spring.
It is sad that you can’t do the things you had planned for the winter, but hopefully you will find something even if it is for a few weeks in the nice hot sun in Mexico.
Stay safe and be well.
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