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.

Monday, June 15, 2015

Another weekend gone

Not a bad weekend here at the park. A little cooler than it should be...highs of only around 18C (65F), but there were still quite a few people around. A few more campers than last year, and I think we're ahead of where we were last year at this time with regards to revenue as well.

I do a tally of campsite, entrance pass, and firewood revenue twice per month and submit the receipts to our treasurer. So I get a good idea of how the park is doing. Today's the 15th, so I'll add things up this morning, but I have a feeling we're going to be higher than we were last year at this time.

The cooler weather kept the mosquitoes down though, so that's good. Things have been so dry that we figured we wouldn't have much of a problem with the little buggers this year, but they're still around.

The park used to have a mosquito fogger, but it was at least 30 years old and I tried using it once last year. I could barely keep it running, and then I found out that the entire base of it was rotten and leaked insecticide. It was done, and I tossed it.

I did some research, and a new fogger is expensive! Sure, you can buy the backyard variety for a couple of hundred bucks but that's not practical for trying to do a whole campground. The kind we need starts at $1,800 USD and you can spend up to $12,000! Now, they say that the machine should last 30 years or so, so it's only the initial outlay that sounds so expensive. Amortized over the life of the machine, it's not so bad.

The other day, I was cleaning up in the shop and I came across another old fogger. This one is a smaller hand held unit, but it still looks fairly heavy duty. Problem is, this one is at least 30 years old as well. I figured out how it works, but I think there's something wrong with it as well. First of all, it requires a 6v lantern battery in order to fire it up. But, I think that the electronic ignition module might be done. The battery that was in it was old and rusty, but it still registered 5.7 volts so I thought that might be enough to give a spark, but perhaps not. I'll buy a new battery today and try it out again. But if that doesn't do it, I'll have to see if you can still buy the ignition module. I see that the company is still in existence, so perhaps parts are still available?

Not much else going on. Enjoying having our son Alex here with us. Playing lots of cribbage and yahtzee and backgammon.

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6 comments:

  1. It stayed cooler into June this year in Phoenix too. Summer barely started...very unusual...means a late fall I guess. Enjoy your visit with son.

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    1. Glad that it has been a little cooler than normal for you, unless of course you really want that really hot weather.

      We are having a wonderful visit with Alex, he loves games and we have been playing lots of them!

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  2. I'm trying to get a better understanding of your job there. I understand you run the park for the summer season, but do you have to pay for supplies, etc., for the park? I live in the U.S. so maybe it's run differently than here, but wouldn't a provincial park be much the same as a national or state park here in the U.S.? In other words, gov run so they pay all expenses & you just care take the park? Maybe you explained this somewhere else, but I have searched and can't seem to find anything. It sounds like a fun, but busy job!

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    1. Thank you for your questions Lori, Kevin won't answer them here, instead he will do a blog post tomorrow and talk about our jobs and how it all works. Yes, it is fun most of the time but it involves lots of physical work and during July and August we are super busy but for us it is worth it for the 7 months off in the winter.

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  3. Nice that things are going good this year and your are enjoying a nice visit with Alex.
    One reason we enjoy this part of Ontario is that the mosquitoes are pretty well non- existent = bonus!

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    1. Things are going well and we keep getting a few more improvements done over last year so the campground it really start to shape up nicely. Yes, we have been enjoying our time with Alex and he has helped us out on a couple of things around the park.

      Nice that you are able to enjoy the outdoors without have the pesky mosquitoes bugging you!

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