DuckyFest 2012

It’s that time of year to start planning ahead for our annual Duckyfest fundraiser. We have decided to make a significant change to the event this year. In the past we have raised funds for the Children’s Wish Foundation; while we still feel this is an extremely worthwhile cause we are changing our charity. In the past year or so some of our Rubber Ducky campers have had their families affected by Cancer. So at this time we feel it is important to do what we can to support CancerCare Manitoba and the families affected.

We are still in the process of finalizing the events and activities for this year’s Fundraiser.  We are planning bring back the dunk tank, wet n wacky train rides, silent auction, kids games, and Circuit Breaker in 2012.  I am always looking for new ideas for activities so if anyone has some suggestions please let me know.  Last year’s schedule is on our website and we are planning on running a similar event this year. I will be updating the DuckyFest page as we get closer to July so be sure to check back often.

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A Record Breaker

Today we are breaking a Rubber Ducky Record – SMASHING it in fact.  It is March 29 and  we are starting Operation Pool.  Our tentative pool opening date has been set as Friday April 20.  And yes I know what some are you are thinking… it was snowing yesterday and here we are working on the swimming pool. We are only slightly crazy. And we also know how short our summers can be so we put pool opening high on our priority list. More swimming days equals more happy campers. The forecast has taken a turn for the better and it is looking to be a fairly sunny, nice weekend. The sun shines and double digits will continue throughout the week. I am cautiously optimistic that they are right.

This is the last weekend for our $10 camping special.  We are offering our 30 amp electrical campsites for only $10/night. (Seasonal campers is $5 per night for early power)

Most of our facilities are now open:

  •  Rec Building is open 24 hours as always. This area includes air hockey, foosball, pinball machines, open seating area, satellite tv, wifi. Washrooms, free showers and laundry facilities are also open
  • Mini golf, playground, sand volleyball, horseshoes are open
  • RDR Grill and Concession is operating on off season hours

Don’t forget Scrapyard Paintball opens for the season on Saturday. Give Blair a call at 461-0749. If you are looking for a great price on some paintballing this summer check out the deal at dealfind.com. But be quick, you only have 21 hours to take advantage of the special offer.

Happy Friday. Have a great weekend.

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Yep it’s a dreary day this morning. Lots of clouds and a little rain when most of us were hoping for a sunny start to spring break. It is human nature to quickly forget just how bad it could really be at this time of year, and how lucky we actually are. So, I will make it my job to remind you what the weather could be like at this time of year. I distinctly remembered a few years ago on this weekend we had a huge storm that seemingly went on forever and dumped a pile of snow on us. You may not know this but Environment Canada keeps a listing of the historical weather data on their website. You can pick a date and find out just exactly what the conditions were like. Click here. Once you are there you can scroll through day by day. As you will notice it started snowing on Mar 24, 2009 and stopped on the evening of Mar 26. Now look outside. It doesn’t seem so bad does it? Now change the years on the stats page. Nope 2010 wasn’t so great either, still minus double digits. And yep 2011 more double digits.  2010 did make a quick turnaround though. If you scroll through to Mar 29 we took a sudden jump to plus 17. I do remember this as another early spring when we were camping April 1 and swimming April 22.  2009 definitely did not turn around so quickly. It was still snowing on April 1 so there was no camping, but we were still swimming by early May. Last year spring break camping involved shoveling snow, this year it involves holding an umbrella.  That’s not really so bad.

Speaking of swimming…. in case you were wondering the pool is almost completely free of ice. Operation pool will be starting soon! Obviously very much ahead of schedule. I don’t have an exact first swim date, but you will be the first to know.

 

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Another Polar Bear Swim

It was a Polar Bear Swim of the traditional kind yesterday and it brought a smile to the faces of a lot of local school kids.

Let me start at the beginning with a little background. Each February our local Elementary school participates in I love to read month. They are encouraged to spend some time each day reading. To help provide some incentive the Principal sets a goal of how many books they should read during the month. If the school is able to reach the target then he will do something fun and crazy. In the past that has included letting the kids throw pies at him and sleeping on the rooftop of the school.  This year it was suggested that he should do a Polar Bear Swim and he chose Rubber Ducky Resort as the location 🙂 It sounded like such a fun idea that I didn’t hesitate in saying yes. When we chose Mar 22 as the date however we never expected it to be 20C and have no ice on the pond. I did check the water temperature though and it was still a chilly 4C at the time of the dip. Yesterday afternoon the kids arrived here by school bus ready to heckle and laugh at their principal. They certainly were not disappointed as he put on a good show for them. Not only did he go in the water but he swam across the pond. Then proceeded to go back for a second round with huge cheers from the crowd.  Of course if you know anything about our ducks, you will not be surprised to know that they were not far away from the action. I got a chuckle of my own when they all crowded together after the first lap and nattered away at each other. I can just imagine the translation might go something like “Did you see that crazy human, Can you believe he did that, He must be crazy, What? does he think he is a duck?”

I have to give a big shout out to Mr Blahut from Warren Elementary for braving the chilly water. Thanks for letting us share in the fun yesterday and for being such a great principal to our kids.

 

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The Polar Duck Swim

Today was a happy day if you were a duck. After a long winter of hiding from the cold and snow the ducks were sent back to their pond. They have spent the afternoon happily splashing and having a long awaited bath.

Rubber Duckies

It has also been a happy past few days for us humans as we watch the snow quickly melting and the water disappearing.  It won’t be long now before we are ready to start camping. My fingers are crossed that Mother Nature stays in a bright, sunny mood for a long time to come.

Be sure to watch our website for an updated opening date for camping.

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Is spring springing?

It’s that time of year to start dreaming of camping days to come.  This weekend is when we ‘spring ahead’, the first day of spring is only a couple weeks away and the RV show is on at the convention centre. The RV Show is always a  great place to check out what’s new  in the camping world. Even if you are not planning on buying a new RV it is always fun to walk through the campers and window shop.  If you are at the show on Sunday stop by to say ‘hi’. You will find us splitting our time between the Manitoba Association of Campgrounds and Parks display and the Interlake Tourism Association booth.

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A Traveller’s Friend

If you are planning a road trip you may want to take a few moments to check out this website – Gas Buddy. You can find out the current gas prices in Canada and the US. Map your route, check your prices, hopefully save a little money. There is nothing worse than filling up your tank then finding a cheaper price 10 miles down the road.  Even if you are not travelling this website will help you find the cheapest fuel in your own city. Gas Buddy might be your new best friend.

Good news today for anyone that is a member of Red River Co-op – the cheques are in the mail and are better than ever.  Members are getting back an average of 12 cents per litre! Perfect timing to cash the cheque and take you sweetie out for Valentine’s Day  🙂

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Glad to be wrong

Back in October I went out on a limb and made my predictions for winter. Boy was I ever wrong. I said that we would get our first snowfall just before Christmas and that it would be a cold, cold January.  I heard today that this has been the 3rd warmest January since they started keeping records in 1873. At least I wasn’t the only one that was wrong with my winter predictions. The Farmer’s Almanac and Accuweather were also calling for a cold, snowy winter. This was one time that it was good to be wrong. The Farmer’s Almanac is still saying that February will be a couple degrees colder than normal and we will have below average precipitation. Not sure if anyone wants to listen to them, but thought I would pass it on anyway. I am not going to make anymore predictions though. We will wait and see what Mr Groundhog has to say next week. With February just around the corner and only 52 days until spring even if we did get a cold snap we still can’t complain. Unless, of course you are a snowmobiler, skier or anyone that operates a business related to snow. On a serious note I know that this has been a tough winter for you guys.

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More ducks

It is amazing just how much Duck stuff and information is actually out there. Most people probably don’t notice. But, not surprisingly I am always on the look out for anything Ducky. This time they have named a search engine after us. DuckDuckGo. Okay, so maybe it has nothing to do with us but I can pretend.

Gotta give credit to Tod Maffin and his Facebook post for letting me know about DuckDuckGo. If you click on his name you will link to his post about why he has switched to this new search engine.

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I’ll be honest. If you are looking for any type of interesting reading you can stop now because it ain’t here. As I have said before there is really not much going on this time of year so my blogs posts are few and far between. But, I have one seasonal who likes to harass me about not posting enough, so this post is simply to make him happy. lol.

So, let’s start with the sure fire topic for when you have nothing else to say – the weather .. yep it’s winter. I hate it, some people love it. Although we have been spoiled up until now, it looks like things may be changing.  I am glad that I don’t live in Alaska though. Photo Gallery.  As you may have heard some places had 18 ft of snow.  As I say some people and animals like the snow. Check out this dude.

Anyone in the market for a good, used car?  The Barrett Jackson auction is set to start in the next couple days. There is even a 1969 Camaro that is painted  Rubber Ducky Yellow. (Friday picture 19). If anyone was wondering what to get me for my birthday …….

Another great no-topic topic is stupid facts and I found a few good ones

Alfred Hitchcock didn’t have a bellybutton.

When you sneeze, all bodily functions stop even your heart!

The first Harley Davidson motorcycle built in 1903 used a tomato can for a carburetor.

Elephants are the only animals that can’t jump.

It is physically impossible for a pig to look up into the sky.

23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their butts.

No piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times.

The king of hearts is the only king without a mustache

You are more likely to get attacked by a cow than a shark.

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

A duck’s quack doesn’t echo, and no one knows why.

Someone on Earth reports seeing a UFO every three minutes. In the U.S., reported sightings are most likely to occur in July, at 9 p.m. or 3 a.m.

Since the Lego Group began manufacturing blocks in 1949, more than 189 billion pieces in 2000 different shapes have been produced. This is enough for about 30 Lego pieces for every living person on Earth.

In the USA – more toilets flush at the half time of the Super Bowl than at any other time of the year

I read it on the internet so it must be true.  Now admit it, how many of you reached for a piece of paper and started folding? And if you are having a bad day at work and feel like beating your head against the wall, you can now call it exercising.

Well that is the best I can bore you with today.  Bundle up cause it sounds like old man winter is returning.

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