Rubber Ducky Resort & Campground – A family campground located in Warren, near Winnipeg, Manitoba

The call of the Ducky Express was heard all down the parade route on Friday night. For those of you that don’t know Metro quite often will get the kids going with a round of ‘Who’s number one?’ getting the kids to shout as loud as they can ‘Rubber Ducky’.  It turns out that we really were number once as we won first place in the commercial float category. The evening was quite enjoyable with a balmy -12 or so for a temperature and no North wind howling down Main Street. We were even able to light our tiki torches. I took some pictures and  you can kind of see what it was like, but you really had to be there in person.

The ducky express

This is where Ron, Marilyn and Geri warmed their toes by the bonfire.

Sunday was a pretty busy day around here. We started building our Santa parade float in the early afternoon and then carried on into the Grey Cup in the evening. After the game was done we even had an impromptu poker night happen. We had a just about perfect turn out for the Grey Cup with all of our tables  full. Our seating area was somewhat limited with having the screen on the wall, but it worked out anyway. Everyone had a great view and a great time. It was hard to get a good picture but this will give you an idea as to how big our big screen was

Our float construction went very very well and we ended up with an amazing float. We had somewhat of a game plan when we started and just kept adding and tweaking. It is now sitting under the picnic shelter waiting for Friday night. I am not sure if I will be able to get picture of the final outcome with it under there but I will try later tonight when it is dark. If not I will post pictures this weekend after the actual parade. A huge thanks to our float elves Darryl, Geri, Ron and Marilyn whose help was much appreciated. This is by far the best float we have ever had. This is a pic from fairly early in the construction process.

BTW that is not a kiddie pool it is a fish pond. Well it will be Friday night after I put the cardboard fish in it. We even made ‘fishing rods’ so that we can catch the fish. It is sooooo nice that it looks like it will be warm enough for us to ride on the float this year. On the other end of the trailer we have a campfire set up. There is one finishing touch that makes this float kind of unique to Rubber Ducky . Yup we are even bringing the Ducky Express with us. Remember if you are at the parade and you here the almost infamous ‘Who’s number one?’. Yell as loud as you can…..’ Rubber Ducky’.

A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon. As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird’s chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head sadly and said, “I’m sorry, your duck, Cuddles, has passed away.” The distressed woman wailed, “Are you sure?” “Yes, I am sure. The duck is dead,” replied the vet. “How can you be so sure?” she protested. “I mean you haven’t done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something.” The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room. He returned a few minutes later with a black Labrador Retriever. As the duck’s owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head. The vet patted the dog on the head and took it out of the room. A few minutes later he returned with a cat. The cat jumped on the table and also delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot. The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room. The vet looked at the woman and said, “I’m sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck.” The vet turned to his computer, hit a few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the woman. The duck’s owner, still in shock, took the bill. 250 dollars? she cried, $250 dollars just to tell me my duck is dead?” The vet shrugged, “I’m terribly sorry. If you had just taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20, but unfortunately that’s the price with the Lab Report and the Cat scan.”

Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn’t much, but the reception was excellent.

A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, “I’ll serve you, but don’t start anything.”

This past Saturday was our second Poker Night and it too was a success. We had close to 15 people show up at various times – some regulars and some new faces as well. Always encouraging to get some new faces out. There was some wing  craving going on that night as well. We cooked almost 100 chicken wings in less than an hour. It didn’t seem like much as they were ordering it, but then you start doing the math and it added up to a lot of wings. Mark your calendars for our next poker night on December 5.  We seem to average about 3 games per evening with some people playing all the games while others might only play 1 or 2.

I am having some creativity problems this week and can’t really come up with much to write about so let’s talk about the weather. Wow. Ok next topic. Just kidding, but I think wow really does sum it all up. It better camping weather now than it was in October. Here’s a little weather almanac trivia – Normal high -1, normal low -9; Last year high .2 low -8.6; record high 14.8 in 1987; record low -26.3 in 1986. Looking at the records you can really say ‘What a difference a year makes’. I can’t even imagine -26 right now. brrrrr. I am really torn at this time of year because on a personal level I don’t want to see snow until Christmas and then it can go away after Christmas. But, on a business level once the snow comes the snowmobilers come and our RDR Grill business will increase.

Since it is the Winnipeg Santa parade on Saturday I figured it was time for a Christmas poem.

‘Twas the night before Christmas and Santa’s a wreck…

    How to live in a world that’s politically correct?

    His workers no longer would answer to “Elves”.

    “Vertically Challenged” they were calling themselves.

    And labor conditions at the North Pole

    Were alleged by the union to stifle the soul.

    Four reindeer had vanished, without much propriety,

    Released to the wilds by the Humane Society.

    And equal employment had made it quite clear

    That Santa had better not use just reindeer.

    So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid,

    Were replaced with 4 pigs, and you know that looked stupid!

    The runners had been removed from his sleigh;

    The ruts were termed dangerous by the E.P.A.

    And people had started to call for the cops

    When they heard sled noises on their roof-tops.

    Second-hand smoke from his pipe had his workers quite frightened.

    His fur trimmed red suit was called “Unenlightened.”

    And to show you the strangeness of life’s ebbs and flows,

    Rudolf was suing over unauthorized use of his nose

    And had gone on Oprah, in front of the nation,

    Demanding millions in over-due compensation.

    So, half of the reindeer were gone; and his wife,

    Who suddenly said she’d enough of this life,

    Joined a self-help group, packed, and left in a whiz,

    Demanding from now on her title was Ms.

    And as for the gifts, why, he’d ne’er had a notion

    That making a choice could cause so much commotion.

    Nothing of leather, nothing of fur,

    Which meant nothing for him. And nothing for her.

    Nothing that might be construed to pollute.

    Nothing to aim. Nothing to shoot.

    Nothing that clamored or made lots of noise.

    Nothing for just girls. Or just for the boys.

    Nothing that claimed to be gender specific.

    Nothing that’s warlike or non-pacific.

    No candy or sweets…they were bad for the tooth.

    Nothing that seemed to embellish a truth.

    And fairy tales, while not yet forbidden,

    Were like Ken and Barbie, better off hidden.

    For they raised the hackles of those psychological

    Who claimed the only good gift was one ecological.

    No baseball, no football…someone could get hurt;

    Besides, playing sports exposed kids to dirt.

    Dolls were said to be sexist, and should be passe;

    And Nintendo would rot your entire brain away.

    So Santa just stood there, disheveled, perplexed;

    He just could not figure out what to do next.

    He tried to be merry, tried to be gay,

    But you’ve got to be careful with that word today.

    His sack was quite empty, limp to the ground;

    Nothing fully acceptable was to be found.

    Something special was needed, a gift that he might

    Give to all without angering the left or the right.

    A gift that would satisfy, with no indecision,

    Each group of people, every religion;

    Every ethnicity, every hue,

    Everyone, everywhere…even you.

    So here is that gift, it’s price beyond worth…

“May you and your loved ones enjoy peace on Earth.”

After a few years of a pretty bland atmosphere in the rec building it was time for a change. I had been looking at the walls all summer long and wondering what to do and where to start. It was time to just do it and see what happened. In the end step 1 of the makeover turned out pretty good….

Before

After

After - the other view

Another Before

Another After

It is a bit of a change now when you walk in the door.  I am still planning to paint around the pool table and both bathrooms within the next few weeks so watch for more updates. As with most things around here there is a little bit of a story that goes along with the color selection. I didn’t have the luxury of walking into the paint store and saying I want this. We have probably 20-30 gallons of paint that we have stockpiled knowing that someday, somewhere we would use it. There are various colors and some full gallons some part, basically just bits and pieces that were leftover from other painting projects. I started searching through to see what I had to work with and came across some burgundy, a slightly different shade of burgundy, some grey, some real nice hot pink, lots of white and then I found a full pail of the top color (I don’t even know what shade to call it) and a full gallon of the brown. So, now the questions – which walls do I do? how many walls can I get out of the gallon? what do I do? where do I start? I finally settled on the idea of the chair rail. I suspected that I had to plan for 3 coats and once I got started painting I could see that I was right. I had the plan to for sure do the East wall with the windows and the wall along the concession stopping at the gumball machine. My hope was to have enough to do the entrance too. After I got done the 3rd coat of the top color I stared into my paint pail and decided it was time to make the decision about the entrance. What do I do if I start painting and run out of paint? I can’t just run back to the store and get more. In the end I did take the chance and had about 1″ of paint left in my can when I was done. Phew.

Entrance sort of after

I haven’t got the ‘stuff’ put back yet since I need an extra set of hands moving the display case and reorganizing the bulletin board and brochure stands. (Yes I am also going to paint the ugly orange on the display case). I also need to find some type of bookshelf for this are to put our magazines, book and puzzles. We have gotten quite a collection donated over the summer.

 

 

If you want to see the changes in person be sure to come out to Texas Hold Em Saturday night (insert shameless plug here lol)

 

I have been running contests on our website since the winter time and have just wrapped up another one. The winner of our winter getaway package was Tricia G. She won a night in one of our motel rooms this winter. Our new contest is now under way and you have the chance to win a $20 gift certificate for the RDR Grill. The draw will be made New Year’s Day. Just go to our website www.rubberduckyresort.com and click the link on the left to contest and enter your name. You may be the next lucky winner.

when they actually cooperate. One of my goals for this past summer was to get some video of the campground to put on the website and of course youtube. Well I managed to get the video but no way could I upload it. I tried and tried and kept getting an error message so I gave up for a while. This week I decided it was time to try it again and it finally cooperated. I now have a you tube channel www.youtube.com/rubberduckyresort You can go and check them out maybe leave a comment or give me a rating. Just keep in mind that videography is not my profession and no I won’t give up my day job. Some of the videos could probably be a little steadier, but I will do better next time I promise.

This week my job is a painter and I still won’t  be giving up my day job. I am starting to paint the rec building this week. Tonight we have a Northern Lites Snowmobile Club meeting so I will just be doing the taping and getting ready to get down to painting tomorrow.  My plan is to do everything except the concession/RDR Grill area and including the bathrooms before New Year’s. I will of course keep you updated to see if I reach my goal. This week I am concentrating on the main area around the tables. Of course if anyone is in the area and looking for something to do I can always find an extra paintbrush…. Funny how noone ever seems to take me up on the volunteer painting which makes me wonder if there is anyone that actually enjoys painting. I am certainly not one of them. I like the finished product, but hate the getting there.

Are you looking for a Halloween party to take the family to this weekend? There will be a Halloween Howl at the Warren Hall this Friday night. It is a great deal with the admission only $2 per person or $10 per family. The party is put on by the West Interlake Trading Company and you can find out more information on their new website at www.westinterlaketradingcompany.com As it says they will also be handing out treats at the elevator on Saturday night.

Another popular attraction in the area is Murray’s Maze http://www.boonstrafarms.com/maze.asp There are still a few days to check it out and get lost in the Corn Maze and terrified in the tower of terror.

We had a visitor drop by last week that has been getting quite a bit of attention.

Even the big kids had some fun with Puff…

 At the moment he is sitting right in front of the rec building where you can’t miss seeing him when you drive in.

I was kind of wasting time today strolling through some forums and came across a thread of different modifications that people have made to their campers. Thought I would share it in case anyone finds some interesting ideas here http://forums.woodalls.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/19777656.cfm

Also came across this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnEU-wfvV0E. Maybe we should issue a challenge to see if anyone can build one for driving around the Duck.