Opinion – Page 3 – The Buchanan's Rolling Down The Road

This is the most edited blog that I have ever published, it has been reworked over a dozen times as I struggled with how to find a politically correct way to address a concern.

As August comes to a close we only have to lookback at the last couple of weeks to see a variety of different weather patterns that have been very unlike the normal “dog days” of August. In fact we started off with a torrential downpour, followed by blustery windy conditions, and cold enough temperature to cause this old man to find the electric space heater for some afternoon comfort in the coach as we can hear Lake Huron becoming angrier and angrier. I never made my way down to the beach today, but the word was that the waves were hitting high enough on the shore to wash some peoples items into the water, and that is why we warn everyone against leaving thing unsecured at the beach.

We have had an issue with the Clam roof collapsing when the wind blows from a particular direction, the wind seems to go over the coach and the downward force will collapse the Clam roof, so of course with necessity is the mother of invention I had to find a fix and the photo below shows my solution to the constant collapse with the wind. The collapse is not an issue unless it is raining, then the roof acts as a big bowl collecting water, this is not a good thing as it could get heavy enough to rip the roof material, so after this last big blow and rain storm the ladder with the broom seem to have resolved the issue. And as a side note my Velcro fix has held the fly in place perfectly during the wind storm, so score one for the old guy!

Saturday after the big storm and the park is almost back to normal, well as normal as it can be, with today being a very hectic day, as today is the “Amazing Race” at the park. If you don’t know what the amazing race is I don’t think I can explain it to you without getting into a very long rambling paragraph, and if you have seen the the Amazing Race on television it is just a knock off of that. Today we have thirty eight teams of two rushing around the park from location to location, performing what ever task is asked of them, most of the two person teams are in costume, and it all boils down to being able to perform the given tasks in a timely manner and then deciphering the clue they receive to know where to find the next station. Of course this is an adult version of the game so there are adult beverages involved at different stations as well. This whole event is the brainchild of Miss Shelly who works hundreds of hours putting this all together, and has done so for a number of years, congratulations on another excellent Amazing Race Miss Shelly.

It appears that I have offended someone, and I know that some of you may find that hard to believe, with me being such a soft spoken, compassionate, tolerant individual, but evidently it still happened.

So after a period of soul searching and reconsideration of my blogging technique and how I view the content of the blog regarding our life adventures I have decided that yes my humour certainly can be an acquired taste, and I can also come across a little snarky, and yes even somewhat short with people, then throw in a heavy overseeding of my sarcasm, and for that I really don’t see the need for me to change my direction. And if that is unacceptable to you as a reader, my recommendation would be to “Unsubscribe” and “Quit reading” my blog because just like with any television show that you don’t like, you should just turn it off, so please don’t hesitate to unsubscribe from my blog as I have no intention of apologizing to anyone for what actually happens in our real day to day life. The things that are written in my really sucks, and so be it, so until the purveyor’s of the abuse and aggravation in our life stop and/or apologize, I’m afraid that’s just how I’m going to tell our story – truthfully.

OK moving on to the rest of my life, we are looking forward to the start of the school year, which will reduce the weekly vehicle traffic in and out of the park as well as the noise factor in the park dramatically, in reality there is a number of people in the park looking forward to quieter days of fall that lay before us. Now as I’m going to close out this blog, I know it may have been a little light in content, but actually the end of August was a wee bit more civilized, with the introduction of video cameras, a harshly written email and now some of the problem areas seem to have been much better, oh some people still seem to be offended by having to obey the park rules but at least it seems that the verbal diarrhea has lessened toward us. So in closing we are looking forward to September as the camping season winds down and the park becomes calmer and quieter and all the parks wildlife starts to reappear.

Blog 486

Day 2158

On the morning of February 26 this was the view from the admissions booth window, and yes it was beautiful in its own way, but so very ugly in another way. Heck I couldn’t even see Picket Post mountain which was covered in fresh snow and obscured by low level clouds, and I know everyone back up there in Ontario is thinking suck it up and just quite complaining…

But we sat out and enjoyed happy hour in my shorts and shirtsleeves just the afternoon before with 70°F (21°C) temperatures, and today’s forecast high is 48°F (9°C)!

So the first hour of being open this Sunday morning netted only 3 visitors, and it was almost ten o’clock before we managed our way to double digits of visitors. But the phone calls kept me amused, in fact I think I could write a whole blog on the questions that we get on the phone on a daily basis.

One of the most popular questions I got today was (is it raining?) and of course I had to answer NO, because at the time it was snowing. And another popular one (are you open?) and of course we were, with only a half an inch of snow, there would be no reason to be closed. Or (will I be safe to drive here?) my answer was maybe, I watch the Phoenix news every morning and there are dozens of accidents on a clear dry day, so on a wet snowy day, I’m sure it would be considered high risk at least.

But the good news was that by eleven o’clock most of the snow was gone, and just a few scattered rain showers were the norm, till near one o’clock, and then in true Arizona desert fashion the clouds started to break up and Miss Laurie was able to snap some great desert sunset pictures.

Other than the weather, which has restricted most of the adventures that we would have liked to do, we have enjoyed the company of some visitors that, have stopped by. We also have met Tom and Kathleen’s daughter, her son and her significant other. Lincoln (the gardener from Boyce Thompson that we stopped to visit up in Portland way back in October) flew in from Portland, Rhonda (whom we had met at the Beaver Rally back in 2020) was down escaping the Wyoming winter, Randy & Deb (who were part of our Mexico caravan) from Vancouver Island stopped by, as well as Corrine, Kathy, & Mary from Country Maples Resort, from back in British Columbia.

Rooster Cogburn’s Farm, was our only real adventure this month, and the term adventure is kind of a stretch. But it was an entertaining morning as we drove south to near Tucson, then we were allowed to pay to feed their animals, it was was entertaining at least, and I can see it being a great day for some one with children. There were miniature donkey, deer, goats, ostriches, ducks, rabbits, tortoise, sting rays, budgies, and lorikeets. Located in Picacho Arizona, this was an ostrich farm that added a location to stop and see and feed the ostrich, now it has grown into a feeding zoo attraction, and realistically speaking the $15 charge included enough feed to enjoy all the creatures as well as feeding squid to the sting rays. the most entertaining area was the lorikeets as you would take the container with the “nectar” into the cage, hold it in your hand like an ice cream cone, the lorikeets land on your arm, take the lid off of the container then proceed to drink the nectar while on your arm.

And yes winter has hung with us throughout the rest of February, I’ve had the Clam collapsed this month more than it has been up, because of both the snow and 70 mph (120 kmph) winds. So it just seemed prudent to batten down everything that could become airborne, and even the rocks that we had on the camp rugs moved and the rugs were all folded up and jammed under the coach.

Here is where I spend most of my time, while I’m putting in my volunteer hours, there are two admissions windows, but during slower times only one is open, the second window is to try and expedite member into the arboretum, another perk of membership.

As we look ahead at the March forecast, it looks like March will be coming in like a Lion, which should mean that it will go out like a Lamb, and there appears to be lots of warm weather in our near future.