Friday May 1st 2020

Opening day at Lake Huron Resort!

Well it was supposed to be opening day, and what a great day it could have been. But it is not to be, because of the COVID-19 pandemic that is ravaging the world as we know it. Oh I know there are a whole group of wack jobs that would like you to believe it is just a big conspiracy, oh wouldn’t that be nice, but fake news or not there have been a lot of lives lost by this virus, and even more turned upside down. So here in Canada where we do believe it is a pandemic, and in Ontario we are still on a stay at home order, is it helping? All indications are that it is, would we like it to be over, hell yes, but it’s not. So only essential services are allowed to be open at this time, and there is all kinds of debate as to what and who are essential services, and whether we are in agreement or not unless you can plead your case to the people in charge you just need to abide by the rules.

Campgrounds at this time are classified as non-essential, and even now the Ontario Campground Owners association is trying to plead their case to open the gates of Ontario’s campgrounds. The problem as I see it, even if they allow the parks to open, it’s not going to be what we have been accustomed to, as everyone will need to “social distance” which means no playgrounds for the kids, no public washrooms or showers, no pool, no beach, and no sitting around the campfire with friends. So you can come and enjoy your site and trailer, all common areas would be off limits to start at least, the bands and dances won’t happen, hell even walking your dog would likely be infringing on the rules, the camp store will be online with a pickup window, the gates will be closed to everyone other than people listed on the contract if they all reside at the same address, in simple terms no guests, no children or grandchildren, I mean it’s going to be really different.

We will even have to have a gate that we close every night at a given hour, and will have to be manned to control entrance, a huge change form the normal, I guess it will just become part of the new normal. As park staff we will need to wear masks, gloves will become common place, we just ordered four litre jugs of hand sanitizer, and spray bottles of disinfectant. On the lighter side it will give a whole new meaning to tan lines … just saying.

Our scheduled opening has been pushed back two weeks, and at that time we hope to see some relaxing of the stay at home guidelines, but it will be driven by the results of the social contact spreading of the virus, if we have it more under control then the more likelihood of a reduction on restrictions. It even appears that seasonal parks such as ours will be more likely to be allowed to open that transient (short term) parks, as the interaction is much greater as people have more registrations and such. At the present time only people with no permanent home are being accommodated in any seasonal parks (full timers such as us), the thing that everyone has to remember is we don’t set the rules, we are given the guidelines and then we must follow them, Ontario just hired seventy (70) enforcement officers, to help businesses understand and implement the rules and then of course fine those that don’t adhere to them, all part of “the new normal” that will now become our way of life.

We were so very much looking forward to greeting everyone and welcoming them back to the park, now that is still a couple of weeks away, and will be done from behind a mask and 2 metres (6 feet) away. Hand shakes could now be a thing of the past, and hugging may be gone forever (much to BJ’s delight). No the world has changed, we have seen and still are seeing some of the worst in some people, and then on the other hand we are seeing some of the best in others as well, I have always appreciated the front line workers and do even more now, I think the people that still have not got the recognition that they deserve are the minimum wage workers that have keep us going by stocking shelves and cashing us out, preparing our takeaway food, it hasn’t been the high priced help and the CEO’s that has done anything and don’t get me started on why the politicians here in Canada took a raise in the middle of this mess, they were overpaid for the little that they contributed before and now they have just taken a step even further down, but they are just normal politicians, pretty much useless. No the hero’s of this pandemic are all the essential service people.

My heart goes out to all the small business people that will loose everything they have worked so hard to create, their businesses, their livelihoods, their clients and staff, the true level of devastation is yet to be seen. I hope that everyone takes a look at who was there for you in the middle of this mess, and we need to support our local businesses now more than ever, remember China, looking after themselves, by gobbling up needed supplies in January while down playing the true devastation of this virus they failed to contain. And remember our American neighbours denying our first line workers their PPE when we needed it the most. No if there was ever a time to buy Canadian it’s now more than ever, as we need to start producing products for Canadians, not buying from China just because of price, we will need the employment here now more than ever. And it’s time to start following the money, when you buy anything, where is the money going? If it’s a beer, is it a local brewery, or a multinational conglomerates from someplace off shore, if it’s a coffee is it a local mom and pop or a company owed offshore with the profits going to Brazil, is it a Walmart or a Canadian owned Home Hardware? It’s time to support Canadian by knowing what your buying, where it was made, and where the money is going … at least that’s the way I see it.

Please stay safe and well!

Thursday April 23rd 2020 01:00

So yesterday was our first day of work at LHR (Lake Huron Resort), we were original scheduled to start on the 20th but with our mandatory self isolation period, after spending the winter in Arizona, we are a couple of days late. With what is going on around us the scheduled opening has been pushed back a couple of weeks so there is lots of time to prepare.

So with social distancing in effect, we are getting our instructions through email and texts. There is a long list of items that need to be completed before the park opens, many are cosmetic, but a number of important items as well. April in Ontario has been exceptional cold so while yesterday was to be the first day of getting the water turned on we have had to postpone it for a few days. So I spent the majority of the day splitting and bagging fire wood, really not a tough job, but those who have known me for a while may remember that I have a crickety old back and working in certain positions bring on excruciating pain, doesn’t happen a lot any more, but when it does it can be a bit of a bitch.

Now I have medication that takes care of the pain, in fact I’m felling pretty dam good right about now, no pain at all, the problem is insomnia. I take these pills and the pain subsides, I don’t feel high, I just have no pain, but I also only can sleep for a couple of hours, so here I am writing a blog in the middle of the night … what can I say. I will be able to get to sleep in a few hours, so I would normally just read for a while until I start to feel tired, but this morning I decided I’d just bring you up to date with what is happening.

Like everyone else we are being controlled by the guidelines from the Ontario government, and as campgrounds are deemed as an non-essential service the opening has been pushed back two weeks, at which time it will be reassessed. The grounds at LHR are in great shape, the whole property seems quite dry, as I walked the whole park yesterday, certainly not at all like last spring when I had to rush out and buy a pair of rubber boots. Now I know everyone is hoping that we can get open, but I think even if we can there will still be social distancing guidelines in effect, which means most of the common areas will have to remain closed. So we are still preparing to have everything open but will follow whatever guidelines we are given. I will do my best to try to keep everyone up to speed as information becomes available, because we are looking forward to seeing everyone again.

As our mandatory isolation is up we ventured into Goderich for some supplies, we only made one stop, and were able to pick up a number of item, we even scored some “butt floss”, first time we have seen toilet paper since Las Vegas. I just can’t tell you in words what a great job Miss Laurie has done at stocking us up for the trip back from Arizona, as well as having meals for the fourteen days of isolation, and we laughed today although we were running low there was a few days more available if we had needed. Thanks again sweetie we have eaten three meals a day for twenty some days, hell if I want to prepare one meal, it involves a trip to at least one grocery store if not a couple, again hats off … you are the best!

Yesterday we had a cold wind off the lake, and with the high temperature just over the freezing point we were also treated to snow flurries as we worked, today is to be 8 degrees Celsius or 46 degrees Fahrenheit, so while better, no where close to balmy. So with no rain forecast until next week and the temperatures creeping up, I’m hoping we can get the water turned on to the park. We have been more that 14 days with only electric so we will have to empty holding tanks and need to refill fresh water before the weekend, and then we will be fine until sometime in May, by then all the utilities will be up and running.

As we have been watching the news broadcasts from Toronto ON as well as Detroit MI, and it is times like this that I can say with a lot of pride, a favourite line and also great line that an old and very dear friend used to say “It’s a great day to be Canadian”, and truer words have never been spoken, especially right now in these times, thank you again “Gunner”, and you still very much missed, but still in our hearts.

As Always: Stay Healthy, and Stay Safe!