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

We have had some interesting people and campers stop in this week. We seem to be getting more and more people from different places lately. The first was an older couple who gave us a Reno, NV address, nothing seemed uncommon. Just a couple out travelling. As we talked to them throughout the weekend we found out that Reno is nothing more than a post office box and their ‘home’ is wherever their camper is parked. So, for 3 nights the duck was home.  For the past 10 years they have spent few weeks in Nevada, 3 months in Southern California in the winter and the rest of the year they go wherever. They have been to 48 states and from here were heading to their last province left to visit. And you know they weren’t even staying in a fancy unit – just a regular travel trailer that didn’t even have a slide out. They were  quite happy to be travelling with no plan. They told me that if they are driving along and see a road that looks interesting they will  take it and see where it leads them. I wonder where they will be a couple weeks from now, or even next year at this time.

So, we go from the couple in the simple travel trailer to the couple in the 37′ fifth wheel with 4 slides and a baby freightliner to pull it with. It was quite the sight to see. They managed to pull her in and get it all set up for their two day stay. They had a little extra wiggling when they were backing up but that was to get the satellite on the roof lined up properly. I never did talk to them to find out their story other than that they were from Michigan. I don’t know where they came from or where they were going, but they were certainly doing it style. They pretty much had a house on wheels. They did have one problem getting the big rig out – they had to stop to move the baby duckies off the road. lol. Only at the duck!

I seem to have jumped ahead a few days now. All of a sudden it is Monday morning . This past weekend should have been called the weekend that wasn’t. There were a few disappointed people after having hot hot weather all week along comes Friday and pouring rain. We were somewhat lucky in that we only got 1.5 inches of rain and I have heard as much as 4 inches in some areas. There are always the die hards that make the best of it and enjoy the pool no matter what the weather. But, there were quite a few people that hid in their campers all day Saturday as well. Sunday started out looking nice and sunny but then the wind started up and it all changed. Oh well at least it didn’t rain anymore and the wind certainly helped to dry things up quickly. This morning had a bit of an interesting start with the power out from shortly after 7am until 9am. It made it difficult to put out the continental breakfast especially when my cinnamon buns were in the oven trying to cook.  It was basically just cereal, juice and yogurt for the first little while.

This past week we added Karoake to the schedule for DuckyFest with Matchmaker Music and Karaoke donating their time to help us out. Everyone should start practicing their idol voices to show us their stuff on the 18th.

This past weekend was pretty busy around here and we are now just finishing getting caught up on things. I had some impromptu waffle making classes as we had some first time waffle makers come out for the 2 for 1 special.  We also had lots of people come out for the ice cream social on Saturday afternoon. It  was so hot outside that it was the perfect day for a treat. We were a little worried about bingo when it was 6:25 and we only had 5 players ready to start at 6:30. Metro did a few rounds of advertising and we managed to get a good crowd out in the end though. Next up was movie night on the outdoor theater. It was finally a nice warm night which made for an enjoyable evening. It was nice to be able to watch the movie without being cold.

The highlight of my weekend was that the baby ducks were coming out to get bread. I was able to get as close as a couple feet away from them. They are so funny to watch because they are not quite steady on their feet. Sometimes they would grab a piece of bread and end up landing backwards on their tails. Now we need two more names. hmmmm Any suggestions? I have no idea if they are boys or girls yet.

New babies

Our kittens are ready to go to their new homes already. There are still 4 left if anyone is interested. They would make perfect family kittens since they have had plenty of attention and are very used to being held by kids. Once again they were a popular attraction this weekend.

This weekend coming up will be our Canada Day celebrations. We will be setting up the inflatable bouncer on Saturday afternoon and there will be free Canada birthday cake on Saturday as well. I am also running a special offer where you get one of our stainless steel water bottles when you spend over $15 from the RDR Grill. We are doing the fireworks on Canada Day itself this year. Having the holiday on the Wednesday has made for interesting planning.  I waited until I saw how people were booking before I made a final decision on when I was doing stuff. We have some that are coming in this weekend and staying until July 1 and then a lot are coming in on July 1 and staying until after the weekend. Some campers are  just coming for  few days somewhere in the middle. It is going to be a week of comings and goings and site changeovers.

It’s a baby boom around here. It is Wednesday evening as I am writing this and we have been on baby watch since yesterday afternoon when I noticed some funny things happening to the eggs. This morning we caught a glimpse of two little babies tucked safely under their mama. This afternoon she decided it was time to venture out into the big world. Apparently the pond a foot away from her nest wasn’t good enough and she had to herd them across the driveway to the other pond. The last time I saw them the mother was having some trouble getting one of the little guys moving. She was waiting for him to catch up so that they could cross the road.  It is just about time for me to go for an evening stroll and see how they are making out. With a little luck I will be back with some pictures too.

Fast forward to Thursday morning. Last night I arrived at the pond just in time to see the mother duck escorting her two little ones back to the nest.

Momma duck and 2 babies

You just never know what might go on when noone is around. This is something that you will never see happen on a weekend.

Yes that is a boat in our pond. There was a legitimate reason for needing the boat, but the fun they had was a bonus.

They were moving the diffuser for the windmill to a different area of the pond. On the way there and back they just happened to do a few laps around the island. It was a little hard to get much speed up though – they would just get going and they were at the shore already.

The boat launch could use a little work however. Notice the ducks in the background. They even had to come and see what was happening.

This day will go down in Duck history as the first official boating expedition in the pond. I am not going to say the last because I suspect they will find some other excuse to use the boat again.

Things have quietened down here as another weekend is coming to an end.  I was able to take the time and have a good look around for our other female duck. We have noticed that at times there is only the male duck around so figured she had a nest around somewhere. It was just a matter of finding it which can be like a needle in a haystack. They plan it so that their nests are hidden so it has taken a while to find her.(speak of the devil, I actually just had to take a break when she showed up quacking on the  doorstep looking for bread) She is all camoflaged in an out of the way corner of bush near the pond. If our calculations are right the first ones should be ready to hatch this weekend. I am not even sure when the second hen started sitting on her eggs, so don’t know the other due date. Somewhere in this picture is the hen and her nest.

If you have driven down highway 67 from Warren to Stonewall you may have noticed that we moved our advertising sign out there. My goal right now is to spread the word that the RDR Grill is open to the public. We had people stop in this weekend just for that reason this weekend so it is starting to work. We are still updating the menu with the addition of perogies and jalepeno poppers this past weekend. This week we will also be venturing into pizza. I will let you know when the new menu is posted to our website. So now to let people know that they can order their food on the way out and pick it up when they are registering.  If the kids are sitting down filling their faces it certainly would make for easier camper set up 🙂

There was someone riding past here on a quad today that we would love to give a big handshake to but, we have no idea who it was. They were courteous enough to slow down as they drove past so that our campers weren’t disturbed by the noise from the ATV.  We would love to be able to let them know that it was noticed and appreciated.

Apparently on last year’s Easter in July Weekend that easter bunny was pretty sneaky. As we were out for a bike ride we came across an egg that was still hidden from last year. Judging by its wounds it was sprung from its hiding place with a nasty ride through the lawnmower. Makes you wonder how many others are still lurking around. I think we hid something like 13 dozen of the eggs so there were bound to be a few that didn’t make it into the baskets. We had a good chuckle about it anyway. As H says it is a good thing it wasn’t a real egg. ewwww

This weekend is bingo time again – Saturday at 6:30pm in the rec building. If you are feeling lucky make sure you come on out. This always seems to be a popular evening and our pots are getting bigger all the time. Last Jackpot was $45.

It is not even June and I am already finding myself looking for a new staff member. Yesterday things were looking good with two returning employees and another one set to start in late June. Today I fortunately still have my two returning staff, but am looking to fill the other position. So if you know of anyone looking for a summer job feel free to send them my way. There are applications on our website that they can fill out and return.

Yesterday I sent out a special offer to our email newsletter subscribers, so if you aren’t on the list already you better sign up. 

Things are shaping up to be a good weekend weatherwise. The last two days we have actually been able to go to the bus with just sweaters on and not all bundled up in warm jackets. So, that must be a good sign. This weekend is our first ice cream social and also a movie night.I am surprised to be still getting calls from people wondering if the pool is open yet? This makes me curious about when other campgrounds are opening their pools? I had heard that one of the larger campgrounds wasn’t opening until June, but now I wonder about the rest. Obviously anything solar heated would not be very warm right now and anyone heating with propane would be paying a small fortune in this weather. We are fortunate that we heat ours with the geothermal system, but now I just have to get people to understand that it is open and warm. Ok, so I actually went and checked the temperature – it is pushing 90F. It felt so nice and warm when I stuck my hand in.

This has been a very fast week. It seems like it was over just after it started. Between the getting ready and actually painting rm 4 we managed to get rid of three days pretty quick.  It looks so much better with a fresh coat of paint that we are going to get rm 2 done next. My painting partner wasn’t too excited to hear that since I had said we were done painting after this week. oops my mistake.

We just had a couple from Colorado stop in for the night.  The drop in travellers are always a bonus addition to the reservations that I am expecting. There have been a couple families come through to tour around and check us out today. Also, have been quite a few bookings and phone inquiries. A nice warm Friday afternoon apparently gets people thinking camping.