We have a tab bucket at the entrance to the rec building so be sure to save your tabs and drop them off. Let’s see how full we can get the bucket this summer.
Waiting for babies
If my calculations and memory are correct we might have babies within the week. This past weekend we finally found where the second nest is too but, I really have no idea when she started sitting on it. I don’t know when to expect the other babies. The new picture on the blog header is our proud papas.
All in all it turned out to be a decent weekend weatherwise. There were a few sprinkles here and there on Friday and Saturday but at least the heavy rains only came overnight. Sunday was bright and sunshiny all day and today is the same for the time being anyway. Sounds like things may change later this afternoon or this evening though.
Some of our seasonals are planning a Sunday afternoon baseball league. Yesterday was the first planning day, but what I gather is that it is open to anyone that wants to come out and play. Everyone will gather at the diamond then they will split up into teams and let the fun begin. This of course led to a few jokes about the physical condition of some of the players including having an ambulance on standby during the game. lol. In conjunction with this we are building a new ‘field of dreams’ towards the north end of the campground. They found that the existing diamond wasn’t quite big enough so a few people volunteered their time to help build a new one in what is now just cultivated land. The new diamond should be ready in a month or so. One of the jobs in preparing the new diamond was picking rocks which fit in nicely with my plan to do a rock painting craft this upcoming weekend. I have a good rock collection started and ready for washing.
We planned a last minute bingo night on Saturday and had a good turnout so we have another one planned for this Saturday. This weekend is the ball tournament in Warren which is bringing a few families out to camp overnight. Hopefully mother nature cooperates for their tournament.
It’s that time of year when if the wind is right you can hear the whistle of the Prairie Dog Central (www.pdcrailway.com). Somedays is just very faint and other days you would swear the tracks are right next door. The vintage locomotive makes Warren one of the stops on its run. You can stop by to check out the train and also grab a bit to eat and check out the Country Market. (http://www.westinterlaketradingcompany.com/?page_id=1496) While you are there you can also take a tour of our Grain Elevator and get an inside view of how it operated. There are a lot of interesting bits and pieces about the inside that you would never know from the outside. As the small town elevators become a thing of the past it is becoming a big part of the nostalgia. The WITC is working hard on fundraising to do some desparately needed repairs to keep it in good shape. I hear they had a great turnout for their time, talent and treasure auction this past Friday and hope they are able to raise that roof and get the new shingles this summer.
Enjoy the sun while we can.
What a weekend it was
I think we are all still shaking our heads in amazement that so much water could fall in so little time. We had some minor flooding issues like everyone else did, but were quite lucky overall. We had no damage and noone had their camper basements flooded. It is now Tuesday morning as I write this and things are drying up really fast around the yard. I only had one family that braved the weather to come out for weekend camping. The phone was ringing all week with cancellations. We did however have quite a few seasonals out for the weekend. On the upside of the weekend mother nature turned off the tap for a little while on Saturday morning so that we could check out the community garage sale in Warren. We did get a little bit damp, but at least we didn’t get drenched. Saturday evening we decided the only thing to do was put on a movie in the rec building.
Avatar on the big screen
I did manage to get out for walk in between showers on Sunday morning and snap some pictures. I made it about 1/2 way around the campground and then made a hasty retreat back to the house when it started pouring rain yet again. The water level has dropped drastically since these were taken and we are almost back to normal.
By this weekend things should be completely dry (as long as mother nature is done)
By this weekend things should be completely dry (as long as mother nature is done)
The ducks were lovin the weather and all the extra ponds to play in
- Pintail Lake
Where the bridge is supposed to be
- The bridge where it is not supposed to be
Not a good day for a campfire
Thankfully the weekend was not a complete writeoff and the sun came out on Sunday. The little kids and some big kids were able to get in the pool. They were quite happy to help with draining the excess water out the side of the pool. After that many inches of water the pool was full right to the very top and the funnest way to get it out was with a couple cannonballs.
There is not much point in even looking at the forecast anymore since it never seems to be right lately. Hopefully this weekend coming up will be a nice, sunny one. We are doing free kiddie train rides all weekend for anyone camping here and it is not much fun to ride in the rain.
If you listen to QX 104 this week you may hear some Rubber Ducky Ads. There are some quick blurbs like this hour or the weather brought to you by… After only one day I must say the response has been good. The visitors on our website took a jump and I got quite a few bookings yesterday and this morning. As we turn the calendar to June it is time to really start thinking summer. Only 24 more days until school is over and summer holidays begin. Let the countdown begin!
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Let the season begin
The May long weekend in Manitoba is typically seen as the ‘official’ start to camping season but this year it seems odd to think that camping season is just beginning. With the early spring and nice weather our camping season actually started over a month ago. But who am I to argue – Let the camping begin!!
It is time today to cleanup and recover from a great long weekend. With the short week it seems like next weekend will be here before we know what happened. The campground was full as per usual on the May long. It doesn’t seem to matter what the weather throws at us we are always full on the May long. You can’t keep the die hard Manitoban’s away. Luckily this year we did not really have to contend with bad weather. Saturday was a little cool, cloudy and drizzly but it didn’t really seem to affect anyone. The pool was still busy, the rec building was hopping for the ice cream social and the picnic shelter was pretty full for the outdoor movie. Everyone enjoyed the first movie night so much that we decided to put on a second movie on Sunday night. Sunday was a much better day overall with the sun shining bright and the clouds staying away. We had 60 games played in our Wii bowling tournament. There were some people that played more that one game as we had a little friendly competition happening so once one person got a higher score someone else would play again to try to beat it. We did have one problem this weekend when the fountain in the pond came falling down. With some much appreciated help from our campers it was fixed, redesigned and replaced in the pond. It almost seemed like they knew what they were doing. (just kidding). It is now free standing so we have gotten rid of the guide ropes that used to be there. Looks much better now.
Looking forward to this weekend the weather sounds like it will be a nice camping weekend again. The sites are starting to book up quite nicely. There is a happy hour/meet and greet planned for Saturday evening. It is basically just an excuse to get everyone together to mingle and enjoy some good conversation. If all goes well we will likely have a bonfire at the same time. Saturday is also the annual town wide garage sale in Warren. So if there are any bargain hunters out there make sure you do the tour around town.
It looks like we may be passing out cigars in a few weeks. We have one momma duck that we know started sitting on her nest last week. If you are here and see a duck running madly across the campground towards people quacking demandingly that is her. The translation for what she is quacking is basically “food, food give me food NOW!!” She is quite loud and demanding about it too. This weekend I noticed that we are now down to only two males and one female hanging around so I am assuming that there is another momma on a nest somewhere – I just don’t know where. They like to camoflage their nests in the bush and sometimes do a really, really good job. They usually sit on the eggs for just under a month before they hatch, so mark your calendars and cross your fingers. Hopefully by then I will have found the other nest, so I can keep track of her.
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The duck is going green
The RDR Grill is moving away from using the landfill clogging Styrofoam plates and containers. We are phasing in new biodegradable, compostable products. We have already started using plates, large takeout containers and coffee cups and in the next short while we will have the small takeout containers and cutlery in use as well. As we finish off our old supplies I am ordering in the greener version.
Yesterday was one of the busiest Sunday evenings in May that we have had in quite a few years. A couple seasonals have taken advantage of the nice weather and are still out this morning. We still have some overnight campers as well. I really hope this is a sign of the summer to come. But since this is Manitoba we better enjoy it while we got it. The long term forecast is still saying a nice long weekend too. I’m pretty sure there must be some water logged kids and sundrenched parents out there today. There were quite a few campers that took good advantage of the amazing weather and spent most of the weekend poolside. The mini golf course was busy all weekend too with lots of kids and families taking advantage of the free mini golf promo.
Things are shaping up outside the campground this week with a fresh layer of crushed rock being put down on the road today. The spots are marked and it looks like the holes may be drilled for some new signs on highways 6 and 67. I am hoping and crossing my fingers that they can be up before this weekend.
I am slowly starting to figure out the schedule for this long weekend. Usually I try to schedule some indoor activities because of the weather on May long but that certainly won’t be necessary this year. It is all bright sunshines throughout the weekend. Saturday morning will be a bake sale put on by the RDR Social Committee and Saturday afternoon will be the first ice cream social of the year. We will be doing the Wii bowling tourney one day and movie night the other day. I just don’t know yet which day will be which. The movie on schedule for this weekend is Old Dogs. Details are here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976238/. Looks like it should be a good one and it came highly recommended by someone that has already seen it. I know that given the current weather situation most campers will be spending all their time near the pool or outside their campers soaking up the sun. There shouldn’t be anyone huddled in the rec centre all bundled up from the cold.
Only at the Duck
So here I am working away in the rec building. The garage door is open to let the fresh air and sunshine in. There are no bugs yet so I haven’t bothered to put the screen up yet. Apparently I need to rethink that because I look up and here come the ducks strolling in to check out what’s going on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPNicKPGvfg As you watch the video you will notice that as soon as I start to back up after getting them outside the silly critters would come right back in. They are lonely and looking for someone to bring them treats but they are getting a little aggressive with their begging. Yesterday we even had them up on our doorstep.
Any old port in the storm
This was the kind of weekend when we are glad to have the rec building. At least when the weather is cold and rainy everyone has somewhere to gather in the evenings. We had the hockey game on the tv so that the sports buffs could keep up on the playoff action. There weren’t too many people out camping that could come to gather, but those that were here all seemed to end up in inside in the evenings. I heard a rumor that one site still managed to have a bonfire in the rain on Saturday. It is nice to see campers making the best of a rainy weekend and still having a good time.
On Sunday it was finally time for the duck roundup. We have been trying to coordinate schedules to get them back for a couple weeks and finally happened. We are glad to have them back and now it really feels like camping season.
Who let the ducks out? Quack, Quack.
They took off swimming as soon as they hit the pond.
- Ahhh home sweet home
It didn’t take them long to get back to the old routine of swimming, sleeping, and begging for food.
We have had a couple Canada Geese visiting the big pond over the last few weeks. It is really interesting if you happen to be outside at the right time as they cruise over the tree tops and glide in for a landing on the water. They usually let out a few honks first to let you know they are coming. There were even a few wild ducks out there the other day.
Our weather still has not brightened up this week but I am not going to complain because I hear Alberta is getting hit with snow once again. We did actually see a little tiny bit of sunshine today but now it is back to pouring rain. I would like to believe the forecast that says we are going to see sunshine this weekend, but am having my doubts. Despite the rainy, dreary weekend there were still people in the pool and hot tub. There were 3 little girls in the pool and 2 dads in the hottub. I didn’t hear any complaining about the cold from the girls and they had a blast enjoying the pool all to themselves.
The pool is open
Yep it is not even May yet and the pool is ready for swimming. Of course as we look outside swimming may be the last thing on your mind, but the hot tub will probably be well used this weekend. This time last week the sun was shining and it was a wonderful 20C and then wham rain and 1oC. There is some consolation in the fact that we did need rain however I would have much rather had it during the week. And so far there aren’t any 90 mile an hour winds blowing from the North.
This is normally our opening weekend for camping so we have our Welcome Back coffee break scheduled for tomorrow morning. I already have two batches of muffins finished and am about the start on the Lemon Saskatoon loaves. Luckily I also get to be in charge of quality control and the orange chocolate chip muffins are quite good if I do say so myself.
I have just finished scheduling the swimming lessons for this summer. I have two 2 week sessions lined up – one for July and one for August. There was some interest in having a one week session so that people could get the lessons done in one shot on their holidays so I scheduled that for July as well. If I have enough interest we will run another session later in August. The information is all on our website http://www.rubberduckyresort.com/Swimming-Lessons.page. I also had a search feature added to our website yesterday. Seems to be working good and hopefully it will make it easier and quicker to find information.
I am not sure what this weekend will bring but I have heard rumblings that some of our seasonals will be out. The overnight sites that I had booked cancelled earlier this week. Since I am training a new employee I am hoping there are at least a few people around so she can learn some things. On the bright side of the weather at least we are not in Calgary.
Another weekend closer to summer
Wow another fabulous, sunny weekend. Our pre opening pool inspection is scheduled for Thurs afternoon, so it looks like we will be open for this weekend. The water is sitting at a balmy 80F and ready for its first swimmers.
This past weekend was a little quieter than last, but we did still have a fair number of people around. We had a couple overnight campers and also a few seasonals. Friday evening was spent just hanging out in the rec building.
Thanks to Doug, Peter, Mickey, Collette and Wayne’s shoulder for letting me use there picture. Oh wait someone seems to be missing and there is an empty chair… Who could it be??? lol This is a bit of an inside joke carried over from last weekend that I have to share with everyone now. One of our seasonals who shall remain nameless was very very adamant that she should be in my blog. I took that as the start of a new game. hee hee. It is her goal to be in the blog and my goal to torment her and keep her out. Nothing personal just a little friendly fun and entertainment. Sometimes it really doesn’t take much to amuse me.
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Unplanned always seems to work best…
This past weekend was the official kick off to our seasonal camping season and it was a great one. I don’t even know where to begin weatherwise since it was and is just fabulous. I have my fingers crossed and double crossed that this weather will stay around all summer. Have you ever noticed that the unplanned parties when people just kind of show up usually turn out better than the ones you spend hours planning. I had planned poker night for Saturday as an excuse to get some people out to rec building and kind of like a welcome back to get all the seasonals mingling to start the season. That’s where the planning stopped and I just let things happen. Well what a party it was. The rec building was almost full at some points and everyone had a fabulous time. There was much laughter and fun had by all. I’m sure there will be many stories told throughout the season about opening weekend. There is no point in me going into much detail because it really was one of those situations where you really had to be here. If that was any indication how the season will go it should be a good one. I have nothing much planned for this weekend. I figure we will see who is around and do an impromptu decision. If anyone wants to do Bingo or movie night or ?? there are easy things to set up on the spur of the moment.
The pool is physically pretty much ready to swim in. Now we have to wait for our annual inspection to get our approval to open for the season. I checked the temperature and it was hovering just above 70F. Not great yet, but by tomorrow it should be good. Hopefully we can get the inspection process done quickly. First step is to get our water samples in tomorrow and wait for the results before we can move on to the next step.
We actually have a couple campers staying with us for a few days this week. This is a good time of year for those that enjoy the peace and quiet of the campground to themselves. There has still been lots of seasonals passing through here and there. A little different from last year when we didn’t see very many people until May Long. Everyone is definately making good use of this weather.
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Rubber Ducky Resort & Campground - A family campground located in Warren, near Winnipeg, Manitoba 