Friday July 17th 2020

There has been more discussion about toilet paper in the last four months than ever before, first the shortage, then the hoarding, then the fights over it, I mean like seriously. Now at the park it’s about the excessive use of it by so many people. A few months ago it was about using what ever you could find on a shelf, and if you are on city sewers it really doesn’t mater. But on septic system it does make a difference, the paper has to easily break down. Some packages will say septic safe or there is the expense RV toilet paper brands, but here is a test you can do to see how quickly your paper breaks down.

Take an empty glass jar about one litre (quart) in size, fill it half full of water and add your normal usage of toilet paper, then with the lid on shake it, and observe the results. Two or three shakes should see the paper shredded completely.

The paper should be totally shredded by the water action, if it’s a wet lump you are either using too much or it’s time to change brands!

To get an idea of how paper varies try a face tissue, that will take for ever to shred if it ever does, but you will find a huge difference in paper brands, single, two, three ply all have different results.

Or if you have a favourite but it does not break down well than place it in the waste after use, use a doggy bag or what ever because it just takes too long to break down for a septic system, and causes havoc in RV systems, level indicators included.

NOTE: Do not flush anything in the system that doesn’t pass the bottle shred test … there is no such thing as a flushable wipe!

There are a number of YouTube videos on the topic, we have done this ourselves and the results can be entertaining around the campfire, so please give it a try, and give your septic system a break.

Now on a lighter note, it seems that there are a number of areas here in Ontario the new shortage is graham crackers, and in some areas marshmallows, I guess a sign of the times s’mores seem to be making a strong appearance in our lives, maybe part of the new normal … just saying.

July 16th 2020

So we are back at LHR, after a few days off, a special thank you to Bonnie and Rich for seeing that we needed a break. It has been a busy season with many changes as people buy and sell, the turn over seems to have been fast and furious as so many people are changing their lifestyle to the new normal, so while some are taking advantage of the higher RV prices, most are being pickup up quickly as people are not traveling as before.

As we look ahead the next months will be busy as everyone is trying to escape the heat and humidity of the larger urban areas. Here the breeze off of the cool Lake Huron provides the needed relief in July and August, until September finds the change of the season.

So we spent some time in the Niagara region, and the most obvious thing that we seen was the lack of people, having lived in the area for almost two decades a trip to the Falls area would not even be a thought during tourist season, but now the town is empty. The area has just moved to phase II about two weeks ago, but patios were not busy, traffic was light, and it became obvious that the pain is not over by any means. The wearing of masks were required in most of the Niagara Falls area a stark change from what we found in the Stoney Creek area, where very few seemed to be wearing protection.

So Miss Laurie finally got to see family, the first time since October last year, most certainly very difficult times. Keeping in touch has only been done electronically for months now, and while great is still not the same. We were able to touch base with some of our RV family on Sunday via a Zoom meeting, like seriously six months ago we had never heard of Zoom, so does this make us Zoomers …. lol. It’s good to see friends even electronically, although we got cut off early by the app as the free version has a 40 minute limit … may be time for an upgrade.

And this Tuesday we actually got the kayaks into the water of Lake Huron for the first time, it was nice to get a look at the shore from the water but not the kind of kayaking that we usually do, we are more into rivers and streams where the wildlife is more abundant, the lake with the boats and jet skis is not our thing. But Miss Laurie got some beach time as the sun was warm and the water refreshing.

I find it somewhat disappointing how many people just defiantly break the park rules, having guests onto their sites, without registering or paying for them, I guess that must be because they don’t think they are worth acknowledging and not worth the five dollar charge, lots of people abide by the rules, it’s always the same few that try and cheat continually, and then act all offended, and play the we didn’t know card, that probably explains why they always seem to do all this after the office closes … or try to hide the second vehicle … thinking we are the stupid ones … guess what, we see most and add notes to the files.

Sorry I cannot end without commenting on the disaster to our south, like seriously, it’s obvious that no one is in charge, or if some one is it may be time for a change! And there are some state leaders that could be due early retirement, like Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Georgia jump to mind, just look at the death toll alone. To all our American family our thoughts and prayers are with you, please be safe and well.