The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Twenty One!

That's how many large bags of leaves Ruth raked up yesterday! We brought a whole pickup truck load of them up to the dump on the other side of the main road. She says her hands are a bit sore, but that's about it. She uses this new high tech looking ergonomically correct rake. What did we do in the old days?!

While Ruth was raking, I did a variety of things. I installed all the signs that had been taken down last fall. I guess they remove them for the winter to prevent vandalism or graffiti, or maybe even theft.

They had numbered the back of the signs, and numbered the corresponding signposts around the campground. You know, things like "Handicapped parking" and "No Dogs Allowed On Beach". There were maybe a dozen signs in total. I had three leftovers that I couldn't find the signposts to! Two of them had to do with the docks, so maybe I'll figure them out once we get the docks into the water.

A couple of the board members came down to try and get the water running. They had to redirect the water from one well, and the hose that goes to the shower building was clear so they fill up a huge holding tank (I think it's 1,200 gallons) that then supplies a steady source of water to the campground. The lines to the campground are still frozen, but the line to our cabin was open! So we now have water to the cabin. We ran a garden hose to the restaurant and store from the house, so they now have some running water too! Another week and the water to the campground itself should be good to go.

The campsites are pretty basic...they are 30A electric only. No water, and no sewer. But there are three or four water outlets around the campground, so apparently people just run a garden hose to the nearest outlet when they need to fill their water tanks, and the campers who have seasonal sites use "blue boy" style tanks to haul their sewage to the dump station when necessary.

I spent some time with one fellow who explained the operation of the water system. It's a fairly complicated array of pipes, valves, and filters that has been changed and added to many times over the last fifty years. It could be much simpler if they tore it all out and started from scratch, but it works the way it is, so it's best left well enough alone!

After lunch, Ruth and I did a walk around with four of the board members just to get a better idea of what needs to be repaired, and to discuss some of the bigger projects that they want to get accomplished this year.

I did some more equipment maintenance. And now that we have water, I rolled up the fire hoses that we had  strung down to the lake to pump water up to the cabin.

Before we knew it, it was 5:00pm and getting on time to call it quits! We're fairly far north, so it stays light here until about 9:00pm. Still lots of time left to relax and enjoy the day, although when things get busy there will be evening duties as well.

Watched a great movie last night. "Life of Pi" was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and won 4. We've learned before that just because a movie is critically acclaimed, it doesn't mean it's worth watching, but we have to recommend this movie. Really enjoyed it, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole movie. And the computer work and filming is really good. For those of you who have seen it, did you know that the main actor was never in a boat at the same time as the tiger during filming. How do they do that stuff, when a huge part of the movie relates to Pi being in the boat with the tiger?? Amazing. I guess that's why they make the big bucks.

Today's header picture. Sherman, free camping at Steel Creek Park near Kopperl, Texas.


21 comments:

  1. We are in Texas and looking or places to boondock on the way north. Whitney Lake looks like a good place, but we can't find Koppel, Texas. Can you tell us where to look closer?

    Bonnie and Bill

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    1. Ah, typo on my part. I have corrected it to read Kopperl, Texas. It's actually called Steel Creek Park.

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  2. Well, looks like you're working hard and keeping busy. Starting to get an idea of what you will be doing and what your duties are.

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    1. There's a lot of work to be done between now and the May long weekend to get the campground looking good. Once the May long weekend is over we may have an afternoon or two off and then we can go and explore the area, before the busy summer camping starts.

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  3. I think water systems in older parks are always a maze of pipes and confusion. It is that way here at our park but we did rip our our yard irrigation and started from scratch to prevent future problems.

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    1. Maybe one day they will do that here but for now as Kevin said, if it ain't broke don't mess with it!

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  4. Did you know that the main character never really met the tiger till the film was completed? It's all computer wizardry. I saw an interview with "Pi" where he said it was all green screen and no tiger, the tiger was thrown in later. Great acting for sure!

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    1. It is totally amazing want the film makers can do! They did an excellent job on this movie.

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  5. Looks like things are coming together for you guys, soon the rush will be on.

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  6. Hi Kevin and Ruth,
    Guess who I talked to on the phone today? She phoned me up!

    We enjoyed a very nice conversation. We talked and talked for well over an hour!

    Pretty neat, huh?

    Tu amigo,
    Jorge

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  7. I heard that the tiger in Life of Pi was almost entirely computer animated. All they needed was to put a few sensors on a real tiger for a few hours, just to make the cat's motions more realistic.

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    1. We are not surprised at all by this, look at what they do with the animated movies now, even they seem to look so real.

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  8. And on the Kopperl, TX, there is also a Coppell, TX in the suburbs of Dallas. More confusion?

    Enjoying your blog. Now to get Life of Pi for our next trip!

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    1. Thank you Becky! Hope you enjoy the movie too.

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  9. 12 bags of leaves, Ruth that is an entire day's work in itself. Whew!

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    1. Well it seems I have a typing problem.........who knew!
      12 would be a day's work for me but 21 TWENTY ONE....now that's amazing!

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    2. And there is still more to come!

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  10. Ya' I had a good time conversing today on the phone with Tioga George too. Hey, Ruth, you rule! 21 bags of leaves! That's one for the Guinness Book of World Records for sure. And that's probably 21 bags of old leaves - from Fall - meaning it'd be 31 bags of fresh leaves!!!!

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    1. I think my arms will fall off before I am through with all the leaves here!

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