Half way through!

It occurred to me yesterday that we are now past the half way point of our time here at the park this season. Actually we're quite a few days past the half way point, because we hope to get out of here a little earlier this year.

As much as this is a nice place to spend the summer, we'd rather be traveling. And we have a lot to look forward to when September rolls around because we've got a full plate of exploring to do for you all over the following seven months!

Boondocking in Nova Scotia

I'm writing this post because of a forum discussion I saw where there was a lot of misinformation being given out.

You see, back around 2007 there was a move by the Nova Scotia Campground Owners Association to force an old law to ban RV parking at Walmarts. The campground owners mistakenly figured they were losing money. The Nova Scotia government stood behind the campground owners association.

We're a little behind the times!

Game of Thrones and Pokemon Go.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Well that's exactly what I was thinking as I randomly came across several references over the past week or so with regards to the phrase Pokemon Go.

Ever since we changed our lifestyle back in October of 2007, it seems we have a bit of a hard time keeping up with pop culture. It started of course with no longer owning a television.

Pics from the last few days

It drizzled on and off until about noon yesterday. So we didn't get much more than the three inches of rain that I had reported. But, it was sure a lot of water and it did some damage to our roads in the park.

Yesterday morning, Ruth and I went for a walk in rain.

Three inches of rain!

It's still raining.

I woke up a couple of times during the night and could hear the rain coming down. The rain gauge out on the porch says we've now had 3" of rain since yesterday morning. That's a lot of water. The park is pretty waterlogged!

With that much rain, the road in and out of the park is pretty much accessable by 4 wheel drive only. I'm supposed to go to a meeting tonight, but I doubt that the little blue car would make it up the hill!

Coho's first mousing experience!

For the past week, they've been forecasting rain for today. Of course at first, you don't believe them because the 7 day forecast means nothing. But as today got closer, they didn't waiver. It's going to rain, they say. The only question has been "how much rain?", as their estimates have changed daily from a half an inch to two full inches.

And sure enough, we got up this morning, and an hour later it started to rain.

Postcards from Sherman

Busy weekend here at the park, so I've been doing my middle of the night walks to make sure that nobody is out being stupid. That means I usually don't sleep well, and when we finally got up at 7:30am yesterday morning we were till pretty tired.

But I had to get up because at 8:00am, I had a job to do!

The little blue car has a boo-boo

Ruth went into Swift Current on Wednesday to do groceries and a bunch of running around for the park. We always pack the little blue car full of recycling and returnable bottles and cans to collect the deposits back for the park. This generates revenue for the park to the tune of over $2,000 per season!

Anyhow, when she came back, the first thing she said was "the little blue car has a boo-boo", and of course I instantly thought uh, oh...there's a scratch or dent somewhere...

Should you buy a new...or used RV?

With the recent RV news headlines stating that sales of new RVs are hitting record highs around North America, it's hard to figure out why.

All of my research and figures say that it simply doesn't make good financial sense to buy a brand new RV. But, maybe it's because a lot of people simply don't have good financial sense! It's possible they just don't know any better. Or, maybe they've got too much money in the first place and they simply don't care.

What does it cost to buy an older RV?

Ruth was having a discussion on a facebook forum the other day, and someone was arguing with her about what it costs to buy and maintain an older RV. This guy pretty much called Ruth a liar when she told him that we've never had anything major go wrong with Sherman in the nearly ten years that we've owned him.

He also said that in those ten years we probably could have bought a new motorhome with the amount we've spent on repairs and maintenance. Which obviously is ridiculous.

A bit of a sad day here at the park...

One of the things we've enjoyed at the park is watching the great horned owls every spring. When we arrive in May, one of the first things we do is walk over to the nest to see how many babies there are.

The first year there was only one. But both last year and this year we've been able to watch two babies grow up and leave the nest.

We found out yesterday that one of them didn't survive.

Happy Independence Day to our American readers!

We've spent a fair bit of time exploring the United States of America, and today we're going to help our American friends and readers celebrate their national holiday by showing you a variety of pics we've taken over the years that symbolize the patriotism that most Americans share.

Happy Birthday America!

June Expenses

The summer months are supposed to be when we don't spend much money. But so far, it's not really working out that way! I swear, we spend less money when we're out touring in the motorhome than we do when we're sitting still.

But, it was a good month. We had fun with Lindsey and the grandkids at the beginning of the month, and we also did some shopping and paid out some expenses towards our motorhome exchange in Spain next January and February. Total was $1,428!

(Figures are all in Canadian dollars...for U.S. dollar equivalent you can subtract about 25%).

Fundraising here at the park

There is a big volunteer contingent here at the park, and some of the biggest are the people who sit on the board of directors. Many of them make a two or three (or more) year commitment to sit in on meetings, come up with ideas, voice their opinion, and have a turn at running the park along with six or eight other people.

As park managers, we are in the special position of being able to see most of what goes on behind the scenes, and these people who sit on the board don't get enough recognition for the hard work they do in benefit of the park.

Happy Canada Day!

July 1st is Canada's birthday, and this year the country celebrates 149 years as a nation.

On this day, there is no better place to be in Canada than the capital city of Ottawa. If you've never been to Ottawa, it's a beautiful city. Ruth and I both grew up in Ottawa, so we know the city well and we have spent many Canada Days downtown enjoying the festivities.