Well another summer has come and gone and life at the RV Camp is winding down. Some years you get a cold snap then an Indian summer and it is kind of nice but not this year. Its been cool and damp and cloudy all fall, well weekends anyway. The summer weekends were great but its been a dreary fall. Only one more week of that to go though. We are closing up the trailer next week. Then I am sure things will turn around.
I am having a deck built. for two reasons. First I have built decks before and they are not all that exciting and B I just can't do it for the price I am being quoted. The contractor is a fellow camper who has a contracting company in town here. He is getting on (ain't we all) and is winding down his company here. But he wants to keep his hand in so he will do small projects up at the park. And the difference between what he can do it for and what it would cost me is not significant enough for me to give up a couple of months of weekends. He will have it done in two days this week if the weather holds. He has already had the materials delivered. And good stuff it is too. As a contractor he can get better stuff for less than I can. So he is building my deck.
I won't be putting the roof on it until next year when I have a few bucks put away but we could use the deck. We can't put up fences according to the by laws so if we have a deck with a rail we will be able to let the girls out loose on the deck. They will probably like that more than being on the leash all the time. A deck will be nicer than the temporary stairs we have now too.
At any rate that will be going in this week. I have applied for the permits so the park is letting the construction go ahead It will likely be the last one this year or if it rains the first one next year. We are going to close it down next weekend so we may or may not have a deck. But we will see. I hope it is done this year as it would be nice to be able to use it first time out next year.
There have sure been a lot of changes up there starting with the skirting on the old trailer then the new one, then skirting that and finally the deck (maybe). But they're all changes for the better. I think they were all good decisions investment wise. The site is worth much more than we paid including the cost of the new trailer. If we had to sell we could easily recoup our investment plus. In the mean time we have a very nice unit to use.
And where, you may ask are the pictures? Well I did take my camera this weekend and the yard did not look like a scene from Twister. But it was dull and dreary and there are stacks of lumber every where and i still had not cleaned the bugs off the top of the trailer. (It came from somewhere near TO and there were bugs stuck to the top which had not been covered in transit so it got covered with bugs in transit. Not very attractive. I cleaned it up in the rain yesterday so they wont be hanging on it when I get out there next year. And Maybe I'll get pictures with the new deck next week. That is if I can remember the camera and if we have the time and If the weather cooperates and ...and... and...
Sitting here waiting for Indian Summer...
Randy
Monday, September 24, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
65" Short
Well the skirt on the new trailer is done. As far as I could go, at any rate. I ran out of the vinyl sheeting 65 inches short of being done. Two more panels and I would have been done. It reminded me of the scene in "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" when Don Nott's character is running a sting of extension cords to a computer that was buried in a grave yard (a long story that I can't remember) and he came up short. Don said "You work and you slave and life up an kicks you in the teeth and you are five feet short of your goal!"
Oh well, Scott who sold me the package, is dropping off a couple of extra panels today. I will be able to finish up in about an hour or so next weekend.
And tomorrow I go to Didsbury to apply for a deck permit. Hopefully that will go smooth and we can have a deck in before the snow flies. I am getting it built. It is not that building a deck is so difficult it is just that with the price of materials what I can get it built for versus what I would pay is a difference of about $500. It is worth it to me to have someone build it for $500.
If I had the time and a helper I would do it myself. But my last helper, Ted, moved to Winnipeg. (And yes Ellen could help but it is not a good idea to work some projects with your wife especially if things go off the rails a bit. I could wind up in the dog house and even the Belle and Dixie would not join me out there.) Besides Ellen is quality control, on the skirting project she was the one who would remember how long each panel had to be because I would be thinking about other things by the time I go back to where I wanted to make the cut. She also was the one who kept track of when and where we needed to put in a "holey one" (vented panel). She also was the keeper of the tools, when I would wander off without the tape measure or pencil or tin snips she would bring them along because she knew I would need them. So you see she is a very good helper who's talents would be wasted schlepping 2X10's around.
So the deck will be contracted out. What will take them 2 days will save me about a month's worth of weekends next summer. Weekends that are better spent sitting on, barbecuing on and snoozing on a deck rather than working on one.
Why from our new deck we will be able to see Dixie run away in style. Yeah the little beggar took off an went for a tour of the woods. At 7:00 at night just as it is getting dark. We went out looking for her but we didn't see hide nor hair. Apparently there was loots to smell but nothing to track as that we would have heard. I though she was a goner. But at 9:00 she came back calm as you please, standing looking in the sliding door with a look that said "I'm back! Isn't it cookie time?" The clip on her leash had come undone on the harness. I don't know how or what she did to accomplish it but let me tell you I will be watching. So she was in my bad books Saturday night and Sunday. Belle was good and we should have listened to here when Dix took off, she set up a racket because she could not go too. I would have had her track Dixie but that would have had the three of us, Dix, Belle and me, all roaming round the woods without a clue. Bell is not a tracker, she is just a sniffer who goes where her nose leads. If it is after something she is supposed to find that is pure luck.
Home again 65 inches short of done...
Randy
Oh well, Scott who sold me the package, is dropping off a couple of extra panels today. I will be able to finish up in about an hour or so next weekend.
And tomorrow I go to Didsbury to apply for a deck permit. Hopefully that will go smooth and we can have a deck in before the snow flies. I am getting it built. It is not that building a deck is so difficult it is just that with the price of materials what I can get it built for versus what I would pay is a difference of about $500. It is worth it to me to have someone build it for $500.
If I had the time and a helper I would do it myself. But my last helper, Ted, moved to Winnipeg. (And yes Ellen could help but it is not a good idea to work some projects with your wife especially if things go off the rails a bit. I could wind up in the dog house and even the Belle and Dixie would not join me out there.) Besides Ellen is quality control, on the skirting project she was the one who would remember how long each panel had to be because I would be thinking about other things by the time I go back to where I wanted to make the cut. She also was the one who kept track of when and where we needed to put in a "holey one" (vented panel). She also was the keeper of the tools, when I would wander off without the tape measure or pencil or tin snips she would bring them along because she knew I would need them. So you see she is a very good helper who's talents would be wasted schlepping 2X10's around.
So the deck will be contracted out. What will take them 2 days will save me about a month's worth of weekends next summer. Weekends that are better spent sitting on, barbecuing on and snoozing on a deck rather than working on one.
Why from our new deck we will be able to see Dixie run away in style. Yeah the little beggar took off an went for a tour of the woods. At 7:00 at night just as it is getting dark. We went out looking for her but we didn't see hide nor hair. Apparently there was loots to smell but nothing to track as that we would have heard. I though she was a goner. But at 9:00 she came back calm as you please, standing looking in the sliding door with a look that said "I'm back! Isn't it cookie time?" The clip on her leash had come undone on the harness. I don't know how or what she did to accomplish it but let me tell you I will be watching. So she was in my bad books Saturday night and Sunday. Belle was good and we should have listened to here when Dix took off, she set up a racket because she could not go too. I would have had her track Dixie but that would have had the three of us, Dix, Belle and me, all roaming round the woods without a clue. Bell is not a tracker, she is just a sniffer who goes where her nose leads. If it is after something she is supposed to find that is pure luck.
Home again 65 inches short of done...
Randy
Monday, September 3, 2007
Another Leisurely Weekend
Well it was another great weekend at the leisure park. It must have been, I ache all over from installing nailers, building stairs and leveling the site. When I felt this sore the morning after(in the old days back at the U of R) I knew I had had a great night before. So I must have had a great weekend right? I have to go back to work to get a rest.
But we have pictures. Of the interior only I will explain why later.
This is the view from the kitchen looking back,
Looking toward the kitchen 
The entertainment unit and china cabinet The glass cabinets are about 14 or 16 inches deep so they have lots of space. Its too bad we have nothing to display in them. We have old camping dishes and a camp kitchen kit. The fancy china is Corelle. Maybe we can make it look like a museum exhibit of old junk.
A close up of the cabinet. The wood is oak. But the grain is not as rough as you usually see. This is smoother more like cherry. All we have in the cabinet is the lantern that we use when we take the dogs for their morning constitutional. Its sort of a "flush light".
The bedroom. It looks a little crowded in this shot but it isn't really. You can walk around the bed and you can stand up. Not an option in the fifth wheel. Lots of light too from windows in either side. Flow-thru ventilation for those nights after the campfire bean and beer dinners.
But we have pictures. Of the interior only I will explain why later.
This is the view from the kitchen looking back,Looking toward the kitchen The entertainment unit and china cabinet The glass cabinets are about 14 or 16 inches deep so they have lots of space. Its too bad we have nothing to display in them. We have old camping dishes and a camp kitchen kit. The fancy china is Corelle. Maybe we can make it look like a museum exhibit of old junk.A close up of the cabinet. The wood is oak. But the grain is not as rough as you usually see. This is smoother more like cherry. All we have in the cabinet is the lantern that we use when we take the dogs for their morning constitutional. Its sort of a "flush light".The bedroom. It looks a little crowded in this shot but it isn't really. You can walk around the bed and you can stand up. Not an option in the fifth wheel. Lots of light too from windows in either side. Flow-thru ventilation for those nights after the campfire bean and beer dinners.Nope didn't get one of the bathroom but it has all the trappings.
We grabbed these shots on the way out so maybe they don't do it justice it was the end of a long weekend of working and we were both kind of tired. But I hope you get the idea.
A little skirting and clean up in the yard and I will show you the outside. Right now it looks like, well a trailer park just after the twister. The skirting material is lying around and the extra siding I had from the earlier project and lots of sawdust and wood and ... well you get the picture.
So the skirting this year, a deck next year and a roof on the deck the year after or that's the plan. But you know what Robbie Burns said about the best laid plans. The skirting project this spring was part of a plan too.
Sitting here aching from my leisurely weekend...
Randy
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
The New Trailer
Well its here, its been here over a week now. The new trailer and what a difference a couple of pop outs and 8 more feet make. It is a beautiful piece of workmanship my compliments to General Coach.
And I don't have pictures yet. Last Tuesday when it came in I was going to take pictures while it was being set up and I wound up doing things and helping and didn't get around to it. This weekend I was going to take pictures but I got busy building steps and stowing stuff away and reorganizing and...and...and. And I did not get any pictures then either.
This weekend no promises.
My task for the weekend is to finish the second set of steps. They were built once but because it was raining and there are too many roots in my lot they have not been installed. I have to cut them down by one step because I can't dig them down. So for the time being we have just one set of steps coming into the sliding glass door.
So let me tell you about this trailer. It was bought basically sight unseen based on the floor plan. We looked at trailers like it but not this model. We knew this one had an entertainment center and some sort of storage at the end of the living room. Some sort indeed! It has 2 china cabinets with glass doors and deep shelves. They are mounted over more cabinets with solid doors all made of oak, really nice oak. The fit and finish are first rate. even better (according to one gentleman who is looking at park models too) than the top of the line units from this same company. In my opinion they are as good as the Citation line which is the next line up from this company and as good or better than the Breckenridge which is the top line from a competitor.
We were able to stow away everything that we had in the old trailer and still have storage space to spare. There are closets everywhere and that is a little problem that I will get too. But everything that filled the old trailer just melted away into the new one. It was magic.
The new bedroom is kind of plain so we will be able to hang some pictures in there. But the bed is comfortable (or maybe we were extra tired). The dogs each had a kennel in the front room and we weren't even tripping over them. We were able to fold out the hide-a-bed with out moving the kennels and still get by it.
The fridge is as big as ours at home and just as good a quality. The stove is a small gas stove like the old trailer but it is all that we should need. It has the same oven as the old trailer which should bake as well.
The bathroom has a regular city toilet and twice as much space as the old unit. That is a real treat.
I like it, the wife likes it, the dogs like it but they don't like that they can't sit on the new couch (sorry doggies), so I think we'll keep it. The salesman who sold it to us was equally impressed and want to get one like ours to keep on his lot as a show model. He also wants to come back and take pictures of ours to put on his web site. I think he liked it too.
It does fill the lot. We could have put a 38 foot unit on the lot but we decided to only go 33 ft. and it is a good thing we did. we would have had to take down a bunch of trees to get something bigger in. This is tight as it is. We could not have got this floor plan in a 38 either and the front kitchen I think, really makes the difference. I am glad we stayed with this size.
There is nothing that we don't like about it. Oh the problem with having many closets? Well it is out of sight out of mind. We forgot a couple of things because they were put away in the closets. In the old trailer it was not a problem everything was left out because there was no place to put it. So it was there staring at you when you went to load the car. With the stuff in the closet we only missed it when we got home. It's a problem but I think we can learn to live with it.
Can't wait to get back up there...
Randy
And I don't have pictures yet. Last Tuesday when it came in I was going to take pictures while it was being set up and I wound up doing things and helping and didn't get around to it. This weekend I was going to take pictures but I got busy building steps and stowing stuff away and reorganizing and...and...and. And I did not get any pictures then either.
This weekend no promises.
My task for the weekend is to finish the second set of steps. They were built once but because it was raining and there are too many roots in my lot they have not been installed. I have to cut them down by one step because I can't dig them down. So for the time being we have just one set of steps coming into the sliding glass door.
So let me tell you about this trailer. It was bought basically sight unseen based on the floor plan. We looked at trailers like it but not this model. We knew this one had an entertainment center and some sort of storage at the end of the living room. Some sort indeed! It has 2 china cabinets with glass doors and deep shelves. They are mounted over more cabinets with solid doors all made of oak, really nice oak. The fit and finish are first rate. even better (according to one gentleman who is looking at park models too) than the top of the line units from this same company. In my opinion they are as good as the Citation line which is the next line up from this company and as good or better than the Breckenridge which is the top line from a competitor.
We were able to stow away everything that we had in the old trailer and still have storage space to spare. There are closets everywhere and that is a little problem that I will get too. But everything that filled the old trailer just melted away into the new one. It was magic.
The new bedroom is kind of plain so we will be able to hang some pictures in there. But the bed is comfortable (or maybe we were extra tired). The dogs each had a kennel in the front room and we weren't even tripping over them. We were able to fold out the hide-a-bed with out moving the kennels and still get by it.
The fridge is as big as ours at home and just as good a quality. The stove is a small gas stove like the old trailer but it is all that we should need. It has the same oven as the old trailer which should bake as well.
The bathroom has a regular city toilet and twice as much space as the old unit. That is a real treat.
I like it, the wife likes it, the dogs like it but they don't like that they can't sit on the new couch (sorry doggies), so I think we'll keep it. The salesman who sold it to us was equally impressed and want to get one like ours to keep on his lot as a show model. He also wants to come back and take pictures of ours to put on his web site. I think he liked it too.
It does fill the lot. We could have put a 38 foot unit on the lot but we decided to only go 33 ft. and it is a good thing we did. we would have had to take down a bunch of trees to get something bigger in. This is tight as it is. We could not have got this floor plan in a 38 either and the front kitchen I think, really makes the difference. I am glad we stayed with this size.
There is nothing that we don't like about it. Oh the problem with having many closets? Well it is out of sight out of mind. We forgot a couple of things because they were put away in the closets. In the old trailer it was not a problem everything was left out because there was no place to put it. So it was there staring at you when you went to load the car. With the stuff in the closet we only missed it when we got home. It's a problem but I think we can learn to live with it.
Can't wait to get back up there...
Randy
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Back From Vacation
And feeling like I was never gone. Why is it that the vacation relaxation spill over is only about a day or two. It seems like all the benefit of a vacation is gone within a day or two of getting back to work. All that relaxation you felt gone. All the stress relief gone. Maybe its the 400 plus emails that were here to greet you. Or maybe its the people who were here who have been working on problems and issues who just want to off load them on the first happy face they see. What a downer.
Maybe the problem is that the vacation was too good. I know mine was. Some of the best fishing in years. No it was not having the boat back up an running after two years without it. It was good fishing. I know a bad day's fishing beats a good day's work any time but when you can reel in your limit in an hour, when they are lining up to get on the hook, well that is just a good day's fishing. When you get a hit on the first cast of the year that is good fishing. When you cast once an get a fish release it and get another on your second cast that is good fishing. And that is how good the fishing was. We even got a couple of Pickerel (Walleye).
The family reunion was a success too. I met cousin's of the wife's that I had not met before. She had not seen them since she was 11 or 12 well before my time. The weather was HOT and the beer cold. The food was fantastic and yes we ate too much. We visited lots and got caught up with people we had not seen since the last reunion 12 years ago. Everyone got along. The only disappointment I saw was the young boy (wife's cousin's daughter's boy) who wanted to get a picture of the hummingbird. He waited a couple of hours to get it and the bird just did not show up that night. Well maybe I can make it up to him. I got some really nice shots a few days later that I can e-mail out. (No they won't be posted for a while as I am still rebuilding my primary system since my hard drive crashed.)
I got acquainted with my niece. She is 6 and a going concern. She was my buddy because we had the dogs. You see she can't have a real dog because her brother is asthmatic. So when she got the chance to walk, feed and play with real dogs she did not let it go to waste. The girls were not lonely while she was around. And they got their vegetables every day. The green Milk bone treats are vegetable flavored and she dug through the bin each day to make sure each dog got at least one vegetable flavored one. She sure hated to leave the dogs when she had to go they got hugged and kissed and "good-bye'd" twice. I think the girls missed her
All in all it was one of the better vacations I have ever had. There were snafu's too. Like falling in the mud at La Colle falls, and having to get the vent fan replaced in the van. There were too many "wake weenies" on the lake so you were taking your life in your hand in the canoe on weekends. But on the plus side the new canoe rack worked great and the girls turned out to be good sailors in the canoe. They did not like sailing in the pontoon boat.
What's that? What's a "wake weenie"? Power boat operators who don't know or care to learn the rules of the road for boating. Their IQ is inversely proportional to the boat engine horse power. They roar around all day creating large wake waves. The one benefit of the preponderance of wake weenies is that very few fishermen use the lake any more and as a result the fishing is really good.
So why does it feel like I was never away?
Getting stressed again as usual....
Randy
Maybe the problem is that the vacation was too good. I know mine was. Some of the best fishing in years. No it was not having the boat back up an running after two years without it. It was good fishing. I know a bad day's fishing beats a good day's work any time but when you can reel in your limit in an hour, when they are lining up to get on the hook, well that is just a good day's fishing. When you get a hit on the first cast of the year that is good fishing. When you cast once an get a fish release it and get another on your second cast that is good fishing. And that is how good the fishing was. We even got a couple of Pickerel (Walleye).
The family reunion was a success too. I met cousin's of the wife's that I had not met before. She had not seen them since she was 11 or 12 well before my time. The weather was HOT and the beer cold. The food was fantastic and yes we ate too much. We visited lots and got caught up with people we had not seen since the last reunion 12 years ago. Everyone got along. The only disappointment I saw was the young boy (wife's cousin's daughter's boy) who wanted to get a picture of the hummingbird. He waited a couple of hours to get it and the bird just did not show up that night. Well maybe I can make it up to him. I got some really nice shots a few days later that I can e-mail out. (No they won't be posted for a while as I am still rebuilding my primary system since my hard drive crashed.)
I got acquainted with my niece. She is 6 and a going concern. She was my buddy because we had the dogs. You see she can't have a real dog because her brother is asthmatic. So when she got the chance to walk, feed and play with real dogs she did not let it go to waste. The girls were not lonely while she was around. And they got their vegetables every day. The green Milk bone treats are vegetable flavored and she dug through the bin each day to make sure each dog got at least one vegetable flavored one. She sure hated to leave the dogs when she had to go they got hugged and kissed and "good-bye'd" twice. I think the girls missed her
All in all it was one of the better vacations I have ever had. There were snafu's too. Like falling in the mud at La Colle falls, and having to get the vent fan replaced in the van. There were too many "wake weenies" on the lake so you were taking your life in your hand in the canoe on weekends. But on the plus side the new canoe rack worked great and the girls turned out to be good sailors in the canoe. They did not like sailing in the pontoon boat.
What's that? What's a "wake weenie"? Power boat operators who don't know or care to learn the rules of the road for boating. Their IQ is inversely proportional to the boat engine horse power. They roar around all day creating large wake waves. The one benefit of the preponderance of wake weenies is that very few fishermen use the lake any more and as a result the fishing is really good.
So why does it feel like I was never away?
Getting stressed again as usual....
Randy
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