Mid-August Review 2023

August the first, eviction day! Yes today I’m evicting the mud wasps that have built a large mud habitat in the squirrel cage fan of our front air conditioner, I know they are there because it causes a horrific vibration when I turn the fan on. So bad in fact that we couldn’t use the front air conditioner during the humidity a week or so ago. We usually run the rear air conditioner during the daytime hours and into the evening while we are watching television, then when we head to bed we switch to the front unit. And we do that for two reasons, first it is quieter for us sleeping the second reason is that the rear thermostat is right above our heads and just our body heat is enough to play havoc with the thermostat, triggering the air conditioner on and off when we first go to bed.

After climbing up on to the roof, I remove the air conditioner cover allowing access to the fan and there it is, a big old wad of mud, the size of a child’s fist. There is always a little hesitation before preparing to knocking a nest off, not knowing just how many bees could be living there, but I ran the fan for a few moments before going up to the roof so I’m hoping it will be empty. And after knocking it loose luckley no one came out of the nest. I then had Miss Laurie turn the fan on, for two reasons first to confirm the vibration was gone and also as a deterrent for anyone that might want to revisit the old nest. So with the fan spinning I reinstalled the cover and we will just operate the fan for a while … eviction complete!

Well we had a couple of days off again, it always amazes me how fast those days off slip by, I may have finally sorted out the miss-fire on the toad, another bad ignition coil I think although I replaced a spark plug as well on the suspected cylinder, I also seem to have resolved the turn signal issue as well. Because we tow the toad behind the coach it has some extra unusual wiring installed, like a set of diodes that allow the tail & brake lamps to be powered from either the toads lighting system or by the coach’s lighting system when we are towing. It seems now that this was a bad area to try to save a couple of dollar as the diodes I purchased only work intermittently at best, so I guess I will have to spend the big bucks and purchase some expensive ones from Roadmaster the company that makes our towbar and braking system.

And we are back to Thursday, and I have a busy day on my agenda, with Mark being off today, it leaves us with the task of cutting the lawns today, as well as taking care of all the regular items. There are also some items that we are working on for a certain upcoming wedding that is about a month away, like an arbor, or easels, or just working on new items being added almost daily. This coming weekend is a long weekend so we expect to have lots of guests here along with visitors, as there is music on Saturday night, a chocolate bar bingo on Sunday and of course the scheduled food truck cancelled again this weekend, it seems that they commit to coming here until they get a better offer, then they bail on us.

Well as an added bonus, Richard has done the evening security both Friday and Saturday night this weekend, but I have managed to annoy a few people just the same, with a parking permit blitz, always fun on a long weekend. But as Saturday comes to an end Miss Laurie and I headed over to hear the band, we actually we could hear the band just fine from our coach, but to be social we took our chairs to the playground and got up close to the band. The parks makeshift stage was used, the canapé and thank you to Lloyd & Joann for supplying the last minute lighting that we hung around the stage during the bands first intermission.

Sunday morning and another pool opening, and before noon I had the stage disassembled and the playground cleaned up, this was a task I could have left for Mark on Monday but with rain in this afternoon’s forecast, it just seemed like the best time to get it done. The balance of the day was spent setting up the hall for the bingo later and just keeping out of the rain.

So it is Monday of the long weekend, and there is not too much happening in the park today, Mark was pleased that I had disassembled the stage so he just has to put it away this morning. Marks next project will be putting the tables away from the chocolate bar bingo last night, and I’m going with Richard to the parks next door neighbour, he has a family reunion planned for next weekend and we are going to help by installing some electrical and water outlets for that family members can hook up their RVs. We are running a water line as well as four thirty amp outlets approximately two hundred feet into his yard, running from the panel in the basement then passing through a two car garage, sometimes I wonder why I volunteer for these jobs. But it was a change in pace from our regular day to day tasks, and I got to work on tracing an electrical problem with one of the household circuits and I always like a good electrical challenge.

Mike & Donna own the piece of property that is located just to the south of the park, and I’m thinking the size of their property is as big or maybe even bigger than the whole park area. They have a four season home with a marvelous view of the lake, and they have a number of mowed areas amongst a large wooded lot, the spot that we set up for the RVs to connect has the same view that our park guests pay over seven thousand a year to enjoy. Mike is also looking for someone to do some maintenance around his property, so I told him that I was available if he was serious, just to cut some grass when he couldn’t get to it.

Tuesday which is our Saturday, Miss Laurie is off to get this weeks supplies, we have been invited to Dean & Trudy’s new cottage at Point Clark. Point Clark is about twenty kilometers north of the park on Highway 21, a quiet summer vacation spot, Dean & Trudy’s cottage is set up as a four season unit, set well back of the road and about a ten minute walk to the beach. The cottage has been renovated and is laid out nicely, and should be nice for their family and will certainly stretch their season out considerably. Dean had prepared a prime rib roast in the green egg smoker for dinner and we had a very enjoyable evening as we sat around the fire with a nice glass of wine.

I’m taking attempt number two at fixing the fly cover on the Clam, the new roll of Velcro got here yesterday, so I’m making this my priority project this morning. I’m feeling good about this new design and I feel that I will get a much better result than my first attempt, that is one thing in life sometimes the first attempt just shows us how it needs to be done, and there are lots of redos even in real life. So while Miss Laurie is off to Goderich for this week’s groceries, I’m busy sowing on new Velcro strips to secure the fly to the Clam.

Wednesday and today I’m walking over to Mike & Donna’s to cut their lawns, I will be using his equipment so I’m only supplying the labour, with his family reunion this weekend he doesn’t feel that he will have time to complete the task. it will give me a chance to see what is involved and how long it will take to complete the task.

Thursday morning and Rich & Bonnie left early this morning, off to their other park, this is our Monday morning and Mark has lots of projects already on his agenda, I have a few maintenance items on my list then I will just see what stands out as the correct task for today, after a trip around the park, it is looking like the potholes need to be addressed, all this rain we have had lately has caused havoc with both the entrance lane as well as some of the roads in the park. After dinner we had a text telling us that it looked like a good sunset night, so off we trundled to snap some shots.

Well it is Friday and we are all preparing for the weekenders, most of the heavy lifting took place yesterday when I spent a couple of hours shovelling gravel into the pot holes around the park, I actually used close to 3 yards of gravel to complete the task. Today I got to help with the pump outs, ah yes just like old times, the smell of sewage in the morning, but in keeping with my sadistic sense of humour we are definitely well into sweet corn season, just for all of you that were wondering. Again we are on our own until sometime Monday, even Laurie’s helper in the store is on holidays, who knew that part time student summer help got to take holidays, we obviously need to readdress our contractual agreement!

Next years park contracts are now available, so the timing on being short handed in the store is not the best. On the other hand at least if Miss Laurie is accepting payments and contracts, you can be reassured that all the tees will be crossed and the contracts will be properly signed and complete.

I had a utility post to replace today, it was a task I had been putting off for a while, because it is an easier job when the ground has some moisture and we have had enough rain to make today a good day to replace the post. The evening was mainly uneventful other than the usual children on the playground after dark, on the adult side everything seemed quiet enough when I did my walkabouts between eleven and midnight.

Saturday morning and I’m off to open the pool, again these late nights and the early mornings are starting to take their toll on this old body. The pool opening is not hard work, pull the blanket off, but when people leave things in the pool it just takes longer, because I have to scoop out the items before I vacuum the sand up, then the initial water test of the day, reinstall the safety rope, adjust the chlorine pump, turn on the heater and crack the water valve to slowly add water over the day. This morning we had a ball from the snap court in the pool enclosure, the children are still throwing balls at the video camera cameras that are perched on the stack on top of the laundry room. Back to the coach by nine for some breakfast then wait to see what today brings my way, and that doesn’t take long, an early email has me removing a sewer blockage in a fifth wheel trailer to clear the toilet, my day has to get better doesn’t it?

Lollies Cart was in the park again this morning, we didn’t need a lot but they had some good looking radishes and there is nothing better than a radish sandwich, yummm. A little butter, some mayo, salt pepper and a couple of radishes sliced paper thin. It is a must when radishes are in season as that is when they are the mildest. But before lunch I had to remove a battery from a smoke detector that was going off in a trailer that had no one here, but the noise was annoying their neighbours.

After lunch the obvious annoying act today was to keep standing or sitting on the pool rope until it pulls apart, then I have to go over kick everyone out of the pool and repair it again. The issue is that according to the local health board because the pool is older and the slope is too steep to meet todays code, so we need to have the rope in place to warn about the slope, without it I’m supposed to close the pool, as it is I just ask everyone to get out of the pool while I reattached the hook. It should all be on video as I have had to repair it twice today between three and four this afternoon, again my question is who is being the guardian of these children?

Miss Laurie is captured in the store to seven o’clock today so that’s nine hours without someone to cover for her lunch, and after her shift she has a couple of trailers to show. So we are having leftovers, because it’s quick and it is also late, there have been lots of leftovers this week, prime rib & smoked turnip (thank you Dean & Trudy) a small seafood buffet (thank you Rich & Bonnie) pizza and wings (thank you Mike & Donna) and a bowlful of tuna pasta (thank you Tim) not to mention a couple of cream filled cur-muffins (thank you Julie & Mary), wow there were a lot this week, I’m not sure why there are so many this week, but most of these items are as good or nay be even better the second time through.

Now you may or may not have heard about the meteor shower that was to be visible for the next few evenings, it is supposed to be the best chance to see the meteors this year. In order to see them you need to eliminate as much light pollution as possible then stare at the sky until you eyes adjust to the darkness, and because Mary & Julie were interested in seeing the meteor shower as well we decided to meet on their deck at 10 pm. So after I closed the pool and Miss Laurie cleaned the bathrooms we headed back to the coach to wait, where I prepared us a couple of root beer floats (now that we can keep ice cream) to wait till ten o’clock.

So at ten we hoped on a golf cart and went to Mary & Julie’s deck where we rearranged all their furniture and shut off most of the outdoor lights and stared at the sky, it wasn’t long until we noticed the first couple of streaks, we also got to see a group of Starlink satellites stream by. So there we sat in the dark for around an hour staring at the sky, the meteors where sparse but amazing at the same time when they flashed by, none of them lasted long enough for a photo, because if you were looking in the wrong direction you missed it totally, we watched till a quarter after eleven when I had to go do a security round, adult night care is almost as involved as adult day care. We made it to bed by midnight.

Sunday morning, have I mentioned how much I like Sundays?

I was a little slow getting out of bed this morning, it was close to eight o’clock before I got up, just in time to get dressed and headout to open the pool and washrooms and then try to get back to the coach in time for Miss Laurie to make some breakfast for us before she had to open the store by nine o’clock for her seven hour shift today. After a quick breakfast my day is going to be reasonably simple, no pressing issues today, so I will put in some more time on the electrical grid project, as people leave for home. I can trace breakers without upsetting as many people. I did assist Miss Laurie in setting up the recreation hall for the jewelry making event that was scheduled for this afternoon.

As Sunday afternoon rolls by, I’m watching a little golf on the outdoor television, and working on the electrical guide, watching the weekenders head back to the cities. The park starts to quiet down and yes there goes a bunny across the yard beside me, I wonder where they spend the weekends, to steer clear of the little people and I’m also wondering if they have a spot big enough for me. Shortly after four o’clock Miss Laurie finished her shift in the store then she headed off to show trailers, then we will hook up for some dinner before I close the pool and Laurie cleans the washrooms.

We really are curious if these people leave the washroom in their homes in the same condition as that they leave it here at the park, or whether they have someone to flush the toilet for they at home. And why slop water everywhere, like seriously what is the reason for that foolishness, and why not close the door, or do they just like the bugs everywhere.

I’m sorry but just a little common sense or maybe just a little common courtesy would go a long way, and for heaven sakes don’t do it for us, no just think of your fellow campers and what they must think of your habits, flush the damn toilet for heaven sakes, it is the little lever on the back of the toilet!

We got back to the coach just after dark and Laurie had to go back out to tell children to get off of the snap court and playground, because our day has not been long enough yet. Then of course there is the never ending verbal diarrhea from the children, again where are their parents?

Monday morning and I have to get up early to repair the rope for the pool (again), and prepare for our Monday pump outs on the south half of the park, with all the help gone I guess I’m officially back to doing pumpouts, but as I told Richard at least with pumpouts we are equipped to handle the sh!t, when doing security it is always a surprize where the sh!t is going to come from.

Tuesday Morning and we are back to our Saturday, we are heading to Don & Emily’s site this afternoon for snacks and a beverage or two, the weather is crap, and there is a bit of drizzle but we tuck in under their awning and Laurie and I are caught up in the stories of their lives. Don played music with Smokey Robinson and the Miracles along with others that were part of Motown, so stories of the bands and the people are amazing then their working lives Don worked twenty years at a GM plant before retiring. And then the stories of camping all around the country, we talked about how places had changed, and about this park and how it had changed over the twenty plus years that they had been camping here. We talked and laughed the afternoon away, it is people like this that keep us coming back.

Wednesday which is our Sunday, the weather is much better today, still not to warm but the rain has departed and there is some sunshine, I decided to snap a few photos from the drone, it’s been like months since I had it in the air, the summer has been quite cool and windy compared to normal, we will get a humid day now and then, that needs air conditioning then the next day it is cool and fresh, but here are a few photos.

We are headed to Lorna & Errol’s for lunch today, they used to have a trailer here at the park but have since purchased a home just south of Goderich, they sold their home in Cambridge and now have moved to Goderich, so not much need for a trailer. Their home is a 5000 square foot home on an acre of land on a quiet cul de sac, pretty much a perfect location for them a ten minute walk to the beach, a pool, a great back yard, a drive big enough for a 40′ long visitor. We enjoyed a lunch of quiche, and caught up on our travels as well as their adventures with moving into a much bigger home. We made it back to the coach in time to have snacks with Mary and Julie before calling it a night and again our days off are gone.

The dog days of August seem to be avoiding us!

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