Monday August 17th 2020

As I mentioned recently we have just passed the three month mark from our opening date, which means there are only two months and a few days left of the camping season. Which bring on a whole bag of mixed emotions for us, on one hand in less than three months we are on vacation till next spring, while on the other hand there is the sadness of saying goodbye to so many of our seasonal friends. And with the future holding so many unknowns it has been impossible to plan our winter season at all yet, we are still just kicking ideas around. The only thing we are sure of is that we will winter some where warm … just saying.

As usual by this point into the season because we are asked to enforce the park policies, it’s most likely we have annoyed a few people, who of course have send an emails to Rich and Bonnie to express their displeasure with how we handled some situation. And we get labeled with some interesting terms, and of course this year is no different, so far this year here are a few that have been thrown our way. One of the seasonal campers, told me my self life was about up, I have to assume that he means that my expiry date is close at hand, I hope he was just talking about my career life … not my actual life (as I would hate to thing I had wasted some of it on him). And then some unnamed person giving a review called me a grumpy, dangerous, old man, because they were too cowardly to use their real name we don’t know who, but because of the comments, it’s obvious someone who had to be told to be quiet at some point and took offence to being asked to abide by the park rules. Again obviously someone from the timeout generation as opposed to the ass whoopen generation … just saying.

The irony is not lost on us that it’s always someone who is breaking the rules always thinks that we are picking on them, well yes we are if you call trying to enforce the rules that they agreed to in your contract as picking on them. And of course then they don’t like our attitude, well guess what we don’t like your attitude either, what would make you think that we want to be verbally abused by some rule breaker that has to lash out when brought to task. Like seriously we would like people just to be respectful, not try to sneak guests onto their site to save a couple dollars, like if your friends aren’t worth five dollars you need a better class of friend … just saying.

So you might ask why we do what we do, why would we put up with the verbal diarrhea that is sometimes spewed our way … well there is a simple reason … it’s the other 95% of the park that appreciate what we do to keep everyone safe and comfortable. It’s all the good people that bring so much joy and satisfaction to our job and our lives, that make up for a few with bad attitudes. It just takes a smile, a thank you, any sign of appreciation, that keeps us coming back for more, Laurie and I both have worked in the service industry for years because we like to help people, the note below is an example of why we do what we do, not the long hours or the complainers.

There are a far more great guests here at LHR, than bad ones, the problem is that the bad ones are very time consuming and needy, asking the same question, multiple ways looking for the answer they want to hear. They are people that bad mouth everything and everyone, you know the ones that don’t appreciate, what they have, and as I have said before that’s why there are wheels under your unit, just step up, drag it out of here, and try it somewhere else, see if they put up with your old baggage and BS. But they don’t go because they are the ones that are taking advantage of the park every chance they get, and the ones that let their children run around like hodlums, and expect us to keep them safe from speeders and the like. They are the ones that steal the bag of wood late at night after the office is closed, the funny thing is they don’t think we see or know who is trying to cheat the system by having guests come in after the office closes. No actually we see most that goes on, and know where to look for most problems, as they occur in the same areas every time.

So for better or worse The Buchanan’s have committed to another year at LHR, some will be glad while some others will be sad, but either way I guess my “shelf life” has been extended for at least one more year.

Sunday August 16th 2020

Before I step onto a small rant, today marks the three month mark from opening day at the park May 16th. We have been here for over four months and Miss Laurie and I both are showing a few signs of fatigue, we work hard at trying to make everyone’s experience at the park, the best it can be. But you start to feel a little frustrated by some of the comments and actions of a few individuals, that seem to go out of their way just to cause conflict.

We sat around a campfire the other night and heard that people felt the emails sent out by the office with regards to park policy were unnecessary and were somewhat offended by them. And I can understand their thoughts, but it’s back to the same reason the warnings are posted on everything we see to day. Like why McDonald coffee cups have “Caution contents may be hot” as if I wouldn’t know that, but the warning is there because some brain surgeon, didn’t know coffee would be hot! Reminds me of Jeff Foxworth’s … “Here is your sign” if you have ever enjoyed Jeff’s “You could be a Redneck” you will know that Jeff felt all stupid people should have a sign saying so as a warning to the unsuspecting to stay clear … just saying

So the most recent email from the park covered the park “dog policy” and it touched a number of dog ownership points, like clean up after your dog … pretty much a no brainer, but every day we find a mound of dog shit left for someone’s children to play in, or my favourite, let’s pick it up in a bag than hide it somewhere, like throw it in a shrub, or tuck it behind a rock, or let’s hide it under a pylon. There is not a day goes by that we don’t deal with someone else’s dog shit!

Now we have people putting their dog shit in the garbage in the pool area or the laundry room, ain’t that going to be nice to walk into when doing laundry or going to the pool … but it happens.

Then there are the people that can’t or just don’t control their dogs, if you can not control your dog just maybe you are the problem. Every year there are the complaints about dog attacks, and dogs off leash, if your dog does not do well in social situations, than keep it at your site, or don’t bring it to the park. With every one being captured at home this year because of Covid, there are a lot of new puppies, and puppies are cute and all but they need to be trained. I see larger puppies dragging owners around the park, it is sad to watch because that will never change as the dog matures, and Miss Laurie will tell you there are no bad dogs, just a lot of bad dog owners!

And you know it’s right, I haven’t seen a dog bag up it’s own shit and hid it yet! No that’s a “bad dog owner” and I haven’t seen a dog open the laundry room to put shit in the garbage no again it’s a “bad dog owner” at the root of the problem, in fact there are a lot of people that should not have a dog of any size sort or description.

Here are a few things to keep in mind before bringing your dog camping:

• How does your pet fit into your visit (beach, walks, social gatherings)?
• If you leave your dog at your site how will it react (bark steadily, damage your trailer, tear up your site) remember there are many new sounds and movements that may bother your pet.
• Bad weather, big dogs … small trailers, is a recipe for trouble.
• How are you going to dispose of your dog shit, (throwing into shrubs or the farmers field are not options)?
• Remember not everyone is going to be happy to see or hear your precious little rover.
• Your dog, your responsibility, most people don’t want your dog marking every plant on their site, or pissing on their grass.
• Muzzle your pet if that is what it takes to control it, remember brining your pet to the park is a privilege not a right!