Around the area this weekend

Posted on August 20, 2008 by rubberduckyblog

This will be a busy weekend around the Arena in Warren as their first summer bonspiel starts. Check out their website for full info on all activities going on. http://www.warrencurlingclub.ca/index.htm There are even a few pictures of the ice on the site already. I was having a look at the draws on the site and did recognize one name as being on my reservation list for this weekend.

The South Interlake ATV Club will be having a club event this Saturday. It will take place in the afternoon at the Pioneer Cabin site just north of here. Full details are at http://www.freewebs.com/southinterlakeatvclub/eventsactivities.htm

Here at the duck will be Movie Night (Superhero movie) Sat evening and craft time in the morning.

Just heard the weather and it is supposed to be hot and windy 40k gusting to 60 and tomorrow is going to be even windier. I little breeze makes the heat a little more bearable, but that is a little much. Oh well at least it is warm.

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Unwelcome visitors

Posted on August 18, 2008 by rubberduckyblog

We had a few uninvited ‘guests’ here early Sunday morning. The majority of the campground was woken up at approx 4am by a couple quads tearing around the campground. A couple of our campers were out and chased them away the first time. Then, they decided to come back again. Dennis was out in our vehicle and drove around and into town where he found the muddy tire tracks leading right to a house on the edge of town by the high school. It was quite obvious which house these kids/young adults had come from. The RCMP were called when they first were seen in the campground. We now called them back and let them know that Dennis was there and had found them. Two more calls later to the RCMP, they showed up and basically said there was nothing they could do because they did not see them on the quads. Not only had these ‘kids’ (we believe they are actually in their 20’s) tore around the campground they headed back to town through two farmer’s crops, another house and the putting green at the Golf Course.  So, these people did all this damage and caused this havoc and are getting off with no consequences. Needless to say there were a lot of frustrated people around here yesterday. The kind of ironic thing is that Dennis is the chairperson of the South Interlake ATV Club and we are trying to promote responsible quadding. It is a long, uphill battle when we have to deal with stuff like this. It will definately be a topic at the quad meeting tomorrow. I don’t want to publish on here who the persons responsible were, but if you ask us or some of our campers we will gladly tell you in private.

On a much better note our ice cream social turned out amazing on Sat afternoon. I didn’t get an actual count but we went through over two gallons of ice cream and the rec building was full. I was a little nervous about the turnout, since there was no one around just before. Everyone was apparently hiding in the shade and air conditioning until it was time for ice cream. It is nice to see that summer weather is finally here. The 30 degree temps are supposed to continue all week.

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Posted on August 15, 2008 by rubberduckyblog

After a bad start the weather has decided to cooperate for this session of swimming lessons. It is trying to cloud over right now, but at least it is warm out. This rain can stop anytime however. We got another dump last night that probably put us over the 2″ mark. Things are starting to get a little soggy around here.

This is a busy weekend around the area with the Wish Ride at Woodlands and Quarry Days in Stonewall. I know we have a few baseball players staying here and playing in Stonewall. Around here we have our regular monthly ice cream social on Saturday afternoon. We went to Stonewall this morning and they are getting the Midway all set up and ready for the weekend.

I am down to only two electrical and water sites open for this weekend. We have another family reunion this weekend. Some of the group has already arrived with the rest coming tomorrow. There is yet another storm rumbling in the sky again as I sit her. It is mighty, mighty black out there.

Well it is now Friday morning. The storm I mentioned was a doozy. We got hammered with rain and wind. There was an inch and 2/10 yesterday and overnight Wed. Earlier in the week we had gotten 4/10 and 1 6/10. Needless to say we are a little soggy around here now. Things have definately dried considerably since yesterday evening, but there are still some bad spots. My last two sites are no longer available as they are a little too wet to put someone in.  I don’t know how the tenters are holding out. This has got to have been a frustrating week. They would just get things dried out and then we get dumped on again. On the upside it is going to be sunny and hot for the next few days. Finally summer.

I just got finished updating some new fall specials for this year. We still have the pay as you go camping and I added an extended monthly rate where basically you get one bonus week free.  Also put on a free pay per view movie for the rooms in Nov and Dec. I already have a couple families taking advantage of the pay as you go camping this fall.

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Halloween in August Pictures

Posted on August 13, 2008 by rubberduckyblog

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Halloween In August

Posted on August 11, 2008 by rubberduckyblog

was a ghoulish success. From all reports everyone had a blast. I hear that some people had 70 trick or treaters at their campers. We only had 50 or so here at the office, so a bunch of kids skipped us out. What’s up with that? I had swimming room only for the bobbing for apples. I went through over 15 pounds of apples. Once everyone else had a chance I opened it up to second chances and some kids were going 3 times. Of course then I had to scoop the apples chunks out of the pool and pick up the ones left on the side, but it was worth it to see the kids having so much fun. I wasn’t able to get any pictures myself as I was too busy throwing the apples, but one of our other campers is gonig to be sending me some that she took. I will post all the pictures once I get them uploaded.

The mummy wrap and finding eyeballs in brains games didn’t have as many kids participate, but there was still an OK turnout. The ones that came had fun. We had one little one that was chosen to be the ‘mummy’ who wasn’t quite sure what she had gotten herself into. The look on her face was priceless. Kids and mess go together pretty good, so the eyeballs (grapes) in brains (oatmeal) game was a hit. And as with all my games everyone gets at least some kind of prize. Because we had a smaller number of kids do these games they actually got more prizes than I had orginally planned. Of course everyone loved the trick or treating. The girlies and I went around with our Rubber Duck Mascot. The duck got some special treats from his ‘Bud’s’. They must have figured that he would be a little dehydrated being in the costume on such a hot day.

The kiddie train was going crazy this weekend. I even ran out of yellow wristbands for the kids and I had over 20 at the start of the weekend. The kids would swarm anytime someone went to start the train. It was kind of unbelievable.

If you are a regular reader you will remember that we have a bingo machine and were just looking for the bingo balls. Well if all goes well they should be here this weekend. We may do a test bingo this weekend, then start possibly the next weekend (depending on the weather). But for sure on the Sunday of the long weekend. Now I need to work out the details – how much to charge, how much for the prize, what games to play. I don’t know much about this bingo thing, but I guess I will learn. I searched online and saw that some campgrounds do a candy bar bingo. Everyone brings one candy bar for each card that they play and they all go into a bucket. When someone wins a game they get to choose a candy bar from the basket. I think we will have to give that a try some time too. Once the pool is closed we will make Sat afternoon bingo a regular event if we have enough interest.

This rain today is great for the grass. It was starting to look a little sad and brown. However it is not so good for tenters. They are all hiding out in the rec building. We postponed swimming lessons for this morning because of the weather. We will start fresh tomorrow and hopefully the sun will shine and the rain will stop.

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Halloween

Posted on August 7, 2008 by rubberduckyblog

As you may remember this weekend coming up is Halloween. We are starting to gear up for it. I got the duck costume all fixed up – some kids decided to yank on his tail and step on his foot last time it was out. The girls have decided what their costumes are going to be  now I just have to get them ready. I had been asked to figure out how many kids to expect because apparently “I don’t have a clue” wasn’t a good enough answer?! lol. By my best guesstamation I would say somewhere between 60-80, but keep in mind that is just my uneducated opinion. I also guess on the high side because we don’t want to run out of candy. As of right now the campground is full except for a couple EW sites and some tenting sites.

Speaking of full campground we actually have quite a few sites full right now. The talk of the campground last night was that we have a horse for a guest. There are a couple sisters, one from Florida and on from Ontario that have stopped here to visit their sister from Stonewall. And one of them was travelling with a horse. I have already warned her that I will be over to take a picture of it because it is the first time we have had a horse as a camper. There have been horses around the campground before as our neighbors come over for a ride and visit sometimes, but this is the first sleepover.

Tonight is the meal for the family reunion that is here now. We are catering the roast beef dinner for 65ish adults and 24ish kids. That will occupy a good portion of my afternoon as I have to make dessert for this one too.

We got a new cue ball for the pool table last night. I hope that whoever took the other one has a guilty conscience that haunts them forever.

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New Pictures

Posted on August 5, 2008 by rubberduckyblog

One of our campers sent me some great pictures of the sunset and the lightning show last week. Thought I would share.

Summertime Sunset

Summertime Sunset

 

Lightning Show

Lightning Show

Lightning Show

Lightning Show

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Aug long Sunday night

Posted on August 4, 2008 by rubberduckyblog

It is 8:00pm as I sit here and write this. The band (Fire and Ice) has just finished their first set. They are getting a good response from everyone who has passed by me. We even have some dancers. Metro is just passing by with the train. He has started a new thing this weekend with getting the kids to do the ‘wave’. It looks so funny when they get it going, and even if they don’t quite get it going it still looks comical. The sunshine hasn’t wanted to show it’s face much during the day, but the evenings have been nice and sunny.

We have had quite a few people drop by to have a look around and book sites for during the next few weeks. There has been a steady stream of people coming in all day.

The mini golf tourney was postponed from Sat to Sun in hopes of sunny weather. The sun didn’t shine but at least it wasn’t raining. We had just over 15 people come out to play. Down in numbers from last year, but at least it was still doable. The kiddie train was hugely popular this weekend. We even had a backup driver come in to give Metro a break.

Fast forward to Monday morning. It is now 7:30 am and all is quiet. There have been a few people pass by for a bathroom break, but not too many people are stirring yet. The sun seems to be trying to peak out, but I don’t know if it will make it or not.

Our ‘Iowa’ boys are back for another year. They are a group of college kids that have come to stay with us for the past two years. At first glance they tend to look a little rough around the edges and we wondered what we were in for. But, then we got to know them and and they are the best group of guys that you could meet. They have even made friends with and keep in touch with some of the guys from around here.

Overall it has been a fairly quiet weekend. Saturday night we did have an incident with one camper who was extremely mouthy and ignorant. He was asked to leave and the whole group decided to pack up and go in the morning. We also have a small thief in our midst. We have been told that when we are not looking someone is taking suckers and little chocolates off the counter. I have suspicion who it is, but have not caught him yet. Some one else also took off with the cue ball from the pool table. Not quite sure if this was just for fun or what the reason behind taking it is, but it is certainly frustrating.

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Aug long coming up

Posted on August 1, 2008 by rubberduckyblog

This has been an interesting couple days with regards to site bookings. I had a group of 8 sites that had booked last year and when I phoned to confirm they informed me that they had cancelled the reservation. Unfortunately they forgot to inform me of that fact. So, Wed afternoon I had 8 sites open for the weekend and of course I was away from the office and didn’t have any phone numbers or contacts for those that had been looking for a site. Once I got home I spent half an hour or so making calls to people that had been looking for a  site before. Luckily the phone was still ringing to book more sites and within a couple hours I was back to full capacity. Until yesterday when someone else phoned to cancel their site. So as of this morning I have one site left.  I don’t imagine that it will last very long today. With a nice sunny day there should be at least one more person looking for a site.

We are having some difficulty getting Rock Band set up. We bought the Rock Band new and have tried it in 3 different systems and it still will not play. We are not quite sure what to do now. It seems to be a problem with the Rock band itself, but we don’t know if we will be able to get into Winnipeg to get a new one. If nothing else we will have Karaoke on Sat anyway.

I must vent on one thing this morning. I came out to the pool area and found a dirty diaper lying on the ground. Now all I have to say is WHY???? There is a garbage can just over there and it is really not necessary.

This is going to my busy busy day today. With all the campers coming in, one room changing over and being a little shorter staffed than I would like I won’t have much time to breath today.  Tomorrow will be a little slower paced.

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Posted on July 30, 2008 by rubberduckyblog

We have made a small schedule change for the August long weekend. We are changing the Karaoke to Rock Band. We figured that would be a little more popular than Karaoke. More people would be willing to get up and play the guitar than do the singing. I think this afternoon we will set it up and try it out for ourselves.

We have confirmed a second set of swimming lessons in August. They will be starting on Aug 11 for two weeks with some in the morning and some in the evening.  I already have some confirmed kids who couldn’t make this session and also some that are doing both sessions.

Our ducks have really started to wander around and check things out. They make the trip from the pond and along to the side of the pool fence. They won’t take the bread out of our hands yet and keep their distance but we are working on them.

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