First busy weekend

Well it has officially begun - for me at least... Brad experienced it while I was away and now I've had the pleasure of a busy weekend.

It was a great weekend, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Friday was nuts trying to keep up with the influx, we were only expecting (reserved) 7 campsites but finished (drop ins) at around 20. Saturday everyone spend exploring the island so the campground was very quiet and Sunday they all went home.

There is a gate at the top of the driveway and we had not wanted to have to put it up BUT now it is evident that we need to. Saturday around 3am someone drove in, pitched a tent and proceeded to get drunk and ornery around the campfire. Unfortunately, no one notified us and we slept through the entire thing. An older gentleman in the site beside this intrusion told them to quieten down and was ignored... he came to us at 8am when the office opened to complain - Brad promptly went to said campsite, woke THEM up and in no uncertain terms had them pack up and get out, stopping at the office to pay the full rate for the night first!

While Brad dealt with this intruder, I refunded the couple their cost for the evening and offered them a free nights stay for the inconvenience. Unfortunately, they had plans at a different island but may return to give us another chance on their way back through. Then Brad called Howard at Buzzy's and arranged an early pickup of several slices of cheesecake which he gave to the other campers in that area to compensate for the trouble.

The gate is now locked every night 10pm - 7am until the fall.

We are expecting our relief couple to arrive at some point in the next few days, perhaps even today. It will be great to have some time off, although in fairness it really hasn't been a thing - yet. It can be inconvenient when trying to accomplish something and the phone keeps interrupting but otherwise we haven't really felt stuck or anything. Still somewhat early in the season so we were still able to go for our Sunday date night and usually one of us will run to town for whatever needs doing while the other stays here and we alternate that so we both get a chance away. Really it hasn't been a thing, but during busy season I can see how it could be.

About my hand.... so I went to the Doc again, he gave me some cream to put on my wrist - somethingsomething-itis he tells me, I demand pictures so he sends me for Xrays... I happened to be the last appt for the day and the tech allows me to see the pics, nope nothing cracked (I had suspected a crack), so its the itis thing after all. I've been using this cream faithfully, twice a day and my wrist has been very painful, yesterday I forgot to use the cream and my wrist didn't bother me all day... last night at bedtime I put the cream on and the pain kept me awake all night.... its in the garbage now -- $75 in cream. Not impressed and Mr Doc will hear about that... God help him.

22 day until Daddy...

The making of a Conservatory

Okay so the snow is almost gone... enough that we can get into what we are calling the 'Conservatory', What?! It has windows....... work with me people.... :D

I have a basic idea of what I want to do in there and as much as I'd love to insulate it and do all of that, we are just not ready to go to that length as yet. So likely a splash of paint and some sort of furnishing and while I have thought about putting in my long awaited Rocket Mass Heater for some spring/fall warmth, I'm pretty sure the owner wouldn't agree for insurance purposes so no point in even asking.

Here is what it looks like at the moment:

Entrance. Not much will change here.

This is an area for potting plants. 

I intend to keep this, though it will be edited with a floor and likely paint.

This is the main 'Conservatory' part.

We haven't measured it yet but we think that door might fit where this picture was taken from, which would help in maintaining any heat we were to create in some way. Open to suggestions on heat also.

While we do not have any specific plans as yet, the general idea will be to empty it. Removing these shelves will allow us to get a better sense of the space, likely paint it white and add some furnishings. I'm torn between just having camping chairs or building some sort of seating that I can make cushions for... 

Since I will not be putting a Rocket Mass Heater under the windows as I had originally conceptualized, the entire space opens up all the more options for other seating arrangements. I'd like to try to use the current blinds (wicker things) as an outdoor shade thing somehow once we learn the 'hot' areas of the outdoor garden space. I think white curtains, while they might suit the space better, will likely not hold up well in an outdoor environment such as this so perhaps a pop of colour or texture on the windows will be the best bet.

If anyone has any other suggestions, now would be the time to share them... I am open to anything as its all up in the air at this time... The space is approx 8'w x 10'd.

The intent here is to create a comfortable space where we can lounge of an evening and visit with family, friends or just the two of us and our loving puppy....

Speaking of the puppy... Robbie has a 3' round dog bed which I want to incorporate into the space but I'm concerned about bugs/mice, etc.... I suppose I could put the stuffing inside a large garbage bag and include some Irish Spring (possibly shaved) inside the bag as well... anyone have any better ideas. We don't know what the mice situation will be but I don't want to find out the hard way either.

PS Yes, Irish Spring works and they are cheap as borscht at the Dollar Store.... buy as many as you can reasonably afford, cut them in half and put them in every bay and around tires ( I rub the bottom of the tires with the soap first - including the back side), leaving one tucked out of site behind each tire. I also put a couple in the engine compartment.

Move to BC they said...

...they don't have winter, they said...

This morning.

The snow is over my rubber boots.

I moved the (lifted) Jeep and the engine compartment was dragging through the snow. We have a snowplow guy coming but no ETA as the roads take priority obviously.

Incredibly beautiful nevertheless

One of our campers decided to snowboard down the driveway before the plow comes.

 Snow was too deep and fluffy I guess, he just couldn't get it going, but fun to try.

Last night the snow measured 7" on top of the solar golf cart.

This morning...

22"

You may remember this picture from the Blog header in the fall.

I took this one last night at the 7" mark. Same angle, etc. So I think I'll take one for all four seasons. 

(current header picture)

No matter the weather or the season, this place is a Magical Wonderland!!

Yes, even in the rain.

Christmas in February

The edge of the Polar Vortex is upon us. It was supposed to begin snowing at noon, so Brad and I were out first thing to remove the blackberry bush clippings that were lining the edge of the entrance road. We weren't at it long when the boss man stopped by and we stopped for a coffee and a chat, then right back at it and we managed to get all the clippings that were in view of any current campers.

Still a bunch up Tenting Ring road, we can get to that once the snow melts, it was more important to clear up the unsightly stuff. It got quite cold (it's all relative, I know) so we called it a day and tucked up in the warmth of our RV for the night.

When I took Robbie out late last night, this is what I found:

A sprinkling of snow 

Then this morning....

About 2 inches of snow

I was tempted to run back and turn on the Xmas lights strung along the roofline of this outbuilding but since its daytime... tonight I will put them on though. I love this building, its so cute... its like living in a western film, the office building looks very similar too. I'm tempted to put red checkered curtains in the windows -- might just, but I'll have to change out the Xmas light bulbs as they are blue at the moment.... maybe blue checkered curtains? No, red is better me thinks.

I will put a poll up on the blog and you can tell me what colour you think is best.

Suck it up Princess

Its been a little busy around here but other than yardwork around the campground and doing our usual eating out at our usual haunts which I've talked about several times already, I just didn't know what to say. Writer's block I guess you'd call it. 

We realized that the storm had damaged a fence, so we had to take out a few posts and replace them.

I made some fairy doors which I plan to put around the grounds (in common areas) for kids to hunt for in lieu of a treat of some kind. The doors are nothing fancy but the kids won't care and the weather will destroy most anything anyway.

Susan and I went for a walk around Mouat's park, which is very close to here but I didn't realize. I had taken a different park to be Mouat's park so it was great to find another trail in another park we hadn't experienced yet. Thank you Susan.

Someone created this and set it in Mouat's park

A handful of no service campsites in this park also but apparently it is abused quite a bit.

Beautiful spot

Not sure who runs these, but I hear Banana Joe maintains them. Banana Joe is a guy I see often on FB and sometimes share his pictures.

This was taken several days ago downtown, the tulips are rising

Ganges harbour, Brad and I took a stroll along the waterfront and sat on a bench and just enjoyed the moment - for about half an hour, it was great. Look closely and you can see the ferry heading in to Long Harbour in the center

A closer pic of the ferry

Beach down Beddis road

Brad and Robbie enjoying the sunshine

This boat is a hot topic on the island at the moment.....long story.

Essentially, this boat is on pontoons, during the storm a pontoon was damaged and the boat started sinking, it was towed ashore as seen here, but some islanders don't want it on the foreshore and many people have been trying to tow it out but apparently it was brought in on a super high tide which won't be seen again until Nov we're told... after a couple of weeks of much kerfuffle, a couple of nights ago it caught fire. I don't have a pic of the burned up shell yet but suffice it to say the boat is a goner.

On my way to Pickleball the other night I had a blonde moment. Whilst plugging in my seatbelt my thumb caught on my pocket as I was bringing my hand back up to the steering wheel, hurt like hell but off I went to Pickleball anyway, not thinking much of it... yes, I played a few games through the pain - frankly, that's just the sort of crazy person I am... 

Several days later after trying to stabilize my thumb with tensor bandages, I finally gave in and went to the Dr. Yes, me, at the Dr.... he said basically the same thing I had been saying, 'suck it up Princess' (he doesn't know I'm a Queen - we just met LOL) so I went back to Pharmasave and bought a proper thumb stabilizer thingy for my hand, Dr says at least a week - maybe two. I'm having a great deal of trouble typing with it on so if this post isn't perfect - suck it up Princess! 

We've been working - when it isn't raining (this is the rainy season) on cleaning up the campground, raking the bazillion leaves, cutting back the blackberry bushes that are rampant here and pruning the trees before they wake up. Generally getting the grounds ready for the season, yes we have plenty of time yet, but there is a lot to do to get it the way we want it and if we do a little bit every possible day it won't be a mad rush at the season opening.

I have been studying up on Keyhole Gardens, as I have noticed that campgrounds (KOA is a prime example) are taking on a farm to table thing of late and I thought we could do a garden of camping vegetables like lettuce, tomatoe, potatoe, onion, etc. Salt Spring Island has been having a drought in summers apparently, so I've been trying to formulate if and how this idea could work within our little campground here. Keyholes, done correctly, do not attract vermin and do not require weeding (something to do with the height that I don't understand). Problem here -Deer, so it will need to be enclosed somehow. Anyway, all of this is still in the possibility/planning/conception stage.

Our laundry system is still working out well and I'm very pleased with it so far. It will be better when I can hang things outside of course, but the dryer gizmo does work very well, just requires smaller loads which it turns out works better for me anyway.... I've always done laundry as a once a week kind of thing but this twice a week is so much easier. Not having to go to Duncan once a week means a tank of gas last us about 3 weeks. Bonus.

I've been taking a lot of bookings for the summer months already, I mean who thinks about June/July/Aug in January - RVers, that's who! I wasn't expecting this many calls so far ahead of time but it's sure great to be busy. Salt Spring Island is so incredible in winter I guess it isn't surprising that so many people want to ensure their spot for summer. Can't wait to see how Mother Nature will improve on what we've been experiencing here so far... I do want to increase tent bookings and we plan to offer more sites next winter for snowbirds and full-timers. 

A lot of work yet to do.

A New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!

We've made it. We are the new Managers of Mowhinna Creek Campground. Didn't think we'd make it this far but here we are, finally in our new spot - The Manager's Spot.

For those just joining us, we got bored this summer whilst sitting in our tin can in the middle of Saskatchewan in +35C temperatures. We had gone to SK because that is where we are from and where our family still are. Unfortunately, the kids are all working, the grandkids are all in school or daycare and so we were left with nothing to do, so we decided to look into Workamping - the art of working to earn a free camping spot - essentially (and sometimes wages as well).

We spent a few months July - October workamping in Alberta and then applied for and were given  this position on Salt Spring Island so we headed here once we finished in Alberta. We have now become residents of British Columbia and we love it here on Salt Spring having made so many friends on this island already. Worse case scenario, if this job doesn't pan out for some reason we will just move to Vancouver Island where I have already scouted a new campground (from a time when it didn't look like we'd be staying here)... the best part of RV Life is the ability to simply move should the need/desire arise..

Here we are all tucked in.

Quite a bit of room back here.

The workshop

I'm planning to make this add on at the back of the office into an indoor seating area, plenty of work to do in there. Then we can have people over as our little rig is just too small to comfortably entertain in the rain.

Our (read my) nice clean workshop - well mostly clean anyway... Wait, whats he doing in there?! I'll be going over it again but for now everything has a bucket - screw bucket, plumbing bucket, washer bucket, bolt bucket, etc. 

P.S. any container is a bucket to me.

Inside our soon to be outdoor livingroom, the front section is for gardening but the back will be the livingroom once I take those shelves out of there... anyone need an old door? LOL

Recently I've been having a thing about Narrow boats, ie Canal boats... (longtime readers will be rolling their eyes here). I'd love to (and we're English, so we could) buy a Narrow boat and cruise the Canals in the UK... Brad won't hear of it - of course... we'll see. LOL

I've been watching video's on YouTube by CruisingTheCut, quite a funny guy (English humour) and informative. His videos are roughly 5 min long so its easy to catch one here and there without tying me up for 20 min at a time. As always, when I start following someone on YouTube I am watching from the beginning, I am currently at episode 36 but have paused to write this blog post and no doubt His Lordship will expect his dinner before I begin watching again.

YouTuber Cruising The Cut

Because of YouTube copyright yadayada, he is drawing a diagram of his anticipated route... not to scale but hilarious if your familiar with the country.

It is raining at the moment and expected to rain all day tomorrow (15-20mm, at roughly 30mm/inch you can do the math... at least that's what I do since I don't do metric but I know its roughly 3cm to an inch, and 10 mm to 1 cm, so...) about 2/3 of an inch or in layman's terms - a lot. Haha.

Hoping this year will be better than last year, although in fairness to 2018 our day to day was pretty good but the overall life stuff sucked. We just have to put it out of our minds and carry on.

When we first saw our new site, I know I wondered if we'd made a mistake selling the Ranch but once it was cleaned up, I think it looks pretty good.

Besides, friends we made at the Ranch are also mobile so they can always come to us, seems only fair since we went there so they could meet us in the first place. Right Karen?! :D

Well 2018 didn't go as planned...

This time last year we were buying a spot in a schwanky resort in California where we spent the winter, leaving April 6th to head home to Canada.

Rancho RV Resort

The plan was simple: We had rented an RV site in Alberta for the summer from readers we had met along the way. (Still feel terrible about that whole mess, we haven't heard from them since.) We would drive the (Yellow) Jeep out to Saskatoon to see family every few weeks or so before heading south again in November to the Resort.

Easy, Simple, Sorted.

NOT.

While driving to the rented resort in Alberta, the 4X in the Jeep fell out of Neutral somehow we still don't understand and we blew the engine out of her in southern Utah! Most obvious solution: my brother. So we change routes and head to Saskatoon with her in tow. After a month of repairing her every chance he got, we thought she was fixed but she had other plans....

Jeep engine rebuild

While all of this is going on my Dad AND his wife were in and out of hospital in Ontario adding to the stress level of the entire family (they are both doing relatively okay now).

Meanwhile not knowing when we would ever get to Alberta, we decided to cancel the resort we had booked. Turned out just as well because we had to buy a new Jeep (Black), Brad's Mum went away on a couple of holidays and we house sat for her for 2 months, putting the RV in storage.

Brad's Mum's garden

Our house in Hell sold and we were ecstatic to be rid of that problem... We flew out for a few days to remove our things. Unfortunately, after we returned the deal fell through because it turned out we never had clear title of it since we purchased it in 2010.... more to come on that next year, I presume.

The house we built ourselves

Once Brad's Mum returned home, sitting around in an RV in the middle of a Saskatchewan campground in 30+C (90F) temperatures for a couple of weeks while everyone we knew was working and dealing with their own stuff was incredibly boring and expensive, so we needed something to do...

Saskatchewan campground

Bing Bang Boom before you know it we were workamping in AB for a couple of months and now here we are in BC running a 50 site campground beginning January 1st. Wish us luck.

Bow Valley Campground, Alberta

Mowhinna Creek Campground, BC

Only 7 full hookup sites, so book early (after the New Year :D )

We did manage to sell our site at the Resort because I was concerned about the all the 'Canadian' Shite Trump was spewing all summer long. Made a tidy sum on it too. At least something went our way this year.

Wow what a whirlwind. This is our life. All prayers for a better year next year are welcome :D

On the up side of this year, we were able to spend time with family, old friends and new acquaintances, in no particular order...

Brent & Lisa, California

Bob & Barb, Utah

Brad's Mum

Linda & Larry, Ontario

My good son, with his wife and my 3 Grandkids

My grandkids with my other good son 

(yes, I have only 2 sons and yes they are both the good son)

Some of the Bow Valley Crew

Brenda & Phil, Alberta

Kenny and Marla, California

Tom & Bea, British Columbia

Susan & Reuben, British Columbia

Mark, British Columbia

California friends

Ray & Deb, British Columbia

Karen & Dave, California

Big thanks to you all for helping us get through this difficult year!