Monthly Archives: August 2023

The Reunion, and our new home

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We ended up having to make 2 trips up to Camp Morton, as we had too much stuff to take to the reunion.  First drive up, we arrived at 11:00, which was the check in time for the rec hall, but it was locked, so we drove over to what was suppose to be our cabin, and found it to be empty and the door was unlocked. 

We filled up the fridge and freezer and dumped off our golf clubs and the other stuff that was in the trunk. We then went in search of Park staff to let them know what we had done, and then headed back to Winnipeg, to pack up for trip number two.  We arrived the second time around 3:15 and took our stuff to our cabin, which had been cleaned since our first visit.  This time I sat on the bed, and found out that it wasn’t much softer than sleeping on the floor, had I known this I could have brought a mattress topper.  We then went to the Rec hall, and unpacked food items.  Everyone was assembling there, and we were given our assignments for the week. Jack arrived around supper time,  he will be staying with us for the reunion and sleeping on the futon in our cabin. My crew, was responsible for cleanup after dinner, which was Chili and buns.   Our first dilemma was that the rec hall did not have a sink or running water.  We were able to heat water in a huge pot over the propane burner, to use for washing dishes. 

Each person was responsible for bringing their own dinnerware and cutlery, so we only had to clean up the electric roasters and utensils used for cooking the chilli.  Somehow, I managed to get red stains all over the white shirt I was wearing—I had brought my McMorland apron, but had failed to bring it to the rec hall.  Lots of visiting happened during the evening.  We left by about 10, and went to our cabin.  Around 3:30 a.m., most everyone was woken up by the passing thunderstorm, and a very large bang, that almost sounded like a gun shot, but was one of the transformers at the park struck by lightening.  This was followed by a second bang and a second transformer being blown.  The result of the storm, left us without power or water—so our flush toilets were inoperable.  In the morning once it was light, Andy tried to call Manitoba Hydro to report the outage—this was a feat in itself, as the cell coverage at Camp Morton was very weak and spotty. When Andy finally got in touch with someone, they asked what the meter number or account number was—we didn’t have a clue and didn’t know where to find it.  Shortly after 8:00, our power was restored to the cabins, however it would be another couple hours before the water was restored.  Thankfully there were some outhouses at the park.  For breakfast, the menu was pancakes and sausages, and these were cooked on the outdoor grill. During the morning, a crib tournament was held for those that were interested.  Andy participated and made it to the quarter-finals, Wenda was crowned the winner.

  After supper, there was the fun facts competition.  Each person at the reunion had submitted a fun fact about themselves that wasn’t to be shared.  Everyone was placed on a team,  given the list of facts and were given 17 minutes, to try and figure out which fun fact belonged to which person. You had approach people  and confirm a fun fact by asking and they had to be truthful.    Our team was not the winners here.  On Wednesday morning at 11:30, the golf tournament was being held at Marvellous meadows in Arnes, which was only about a 10 minute drive from Camp Morton. Andy was looking after this event- there were 24 participants, assigned to 5 teams. I was on a team with Doreen, my sister-in-law, Caitlin, my niece, and Jack , my 14 year old grandson.  Jack  drove our shared golf cart.  Didn’t know the golf cart could go that fast, and stop on a dime. We played best ball, so the game went fairly quick.  On several holes, there was rain drops, and on the 6th hole, we had a short shower. 

It was a fun round, followed by lunch at the restaurant.  Once again, we were not the winning team, in fact I think we were the worst at 7 over.  My group was in charge of  making supper this evening, which consisted of burgers, hot dogs and macaroni salad—so very easy.

When the  golf prizes were handed out that evening—Jack won a prize for being the most honest as he thought he had the shortest drive on the first hole, when in fact it had gone out of bounds, under a tree. The trophies, were some of Andy’s which we re-purposed, with labels, as well as the addition of Manitoba tartan kilts on each of the golfers. 

A bon-fire  outside  the rec-hall  brought an end to the evening.

Highlights from Thursday, were the reunion picture, taken mid-morning, as some people had to leave to start driving home. 

The McKendry clan:

In the afternoon, there was the hockey game, with new rules, Matt had put down strips of duct tape on the grass, and players had to stay with both feet planted on the tape. Both young and old participated in the game. 

Dinner that night was lake Winnipeg caught Pickerel, which was  very tasty.

The highlight of the night was the family auction,  funds raised from the auction, go towards defraying the cost of the reunion.

Following the auction, some people said their goodbyes that evening, as they had plans to leave in the early morning.  Jack left with Erin after the auction. Friday morning, we packed up most of the stuff in the cabin, and then went to the rec hall, for coffee, and to help with the cleanup.  We were done by 10:00, and headed back to Winnipeg.  Maureen was staying with us for one more night, as she didn’t fly out until Saturday afternoon.  We took the rest of Saturday and Sunday off, but got into packing up the house on Monday morning. This continued for most of the week.  On Wednesday, we got the keys to the apartment, and went to check it out.

On Thursday, Jack came back to help take loads of stuff to the apartment by car, as well he helped Andy to disassemble our bedroom suite. Jason stopped by on Friday, and took a few things that would otherwise have gone to the garbage.  On Saturday afternoon, Erin came to get Jack, in total I think he helped take 7 carloads of stuff to the apartment.  Sunday night, we gave a truckful of stuff to Ukrainian refugees, including a Queen sized bed with mattress, and box spring. We continued packing on Monday.  Tuesday was moving day, the movers were to arrive at noon, they called at 12:05 and said they were running late at their morning move, and would be another hour or more before arriving at our place.  When they hadn’t arrived by 1:30, I called the apartment building, as our booking for the elevator was between 2 and 5.  The building manager, Linda, told me not to worry if we were late, as we were the only scheduled move in the afternoon.  The moving team of 5, arrived around 2:30, and had everything wrapped and moved into the truck by 3:45. 

Then we were off to the apartment, and they started moving in the stuff.  One of the guys helped Andy to re-assemble the bedroom suite.  The movers left shortly after 5:30 they really knew what they were doing and were very efficient. But we had boxes and stuff everywhere in the apartment to find a place for. We ordered take-out for supper, as we tried to relax amongst the boxes.

On Wednesday we went back to the house, to clean it, as well we had a dumpster delivered in order to throw out stuff that we weren’t taking and was junk.  Dave our neighbor took out the shelfing that was in our garage to re-purpose it.  My friend Joan and her daughter Becky stopped by for a visit and took a few items that needed a new home. On Thursday, we went back and I finished cleaning up the main floor and basement, and said goodbye to Sterling- where I had lived for 23 years.

  By 2:00, I was on my bike and pedaled the 2 Km to our apartment.  On Friday,  our internet and TV was installed in the morning.  In the afternoon, Erin dropped Jack off, to help with the final adjustments on our bedroom suite, as well as adjust the air vents in the ceiling, that only someone over 6 feet tall could do. He became our first overnight guest, and slept on one of the loveseats. On Saturday morning around 8:30, both our internet and TV stopped working.  After numerous call, to Bell MTS, we finally got a person who could fix it, saying that the installer had missed a critical step the previous day.  Our next issue was having our email addresses transferred to the new account, this needed escalation to a case manager and programmer in  order for this to be done, and took most of the day.  For a communications company- Bell MTS is not very efficient. Saturday afternoon, we went to our old neighborhood and dropped off some empty packing boxes for our neighbor, while I was visiting with another neighbor, Andy  took our old MTS equipment to Canada Post to be returned. On Sunday and Monday, the unpacking continued, we both went to the gym located on our floor for a short workout, and went down and met the property manager. It is now Tuesday, and we have been here for a full week, most of our things have found a home, or are living in the 2nd bedroom.

We are both liking the apartment, I especially like the island in the kitchen.  One downfall is the small parking spot, and adjacent pillar, however it is very near to the elevator- I’ve not tried parking yet, I’m thankful that are car is older and white—if I hit the pillar, it may not show up! Although we are fairly close to Bishop Grandin boulevard, we don’t get much traffic noise.

Andy’s brother Duncan and sister-in-law are coming through Winnipeg, the first week of September and we have booked the guest suite for them to try out, at $75/night, it is much cheaper than a hotel. It is also located on the 3rd floor, so just down the hall from our apartment. Likely my last blog for the year, unless something exciting happens to the apartment dwellers in Winnipeg.

The Return trip

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We left Campbellford just before 9:00 and locked on the second lockup, this lock is a Port tie, not our preferred side.  We then went through Crowes’s Bay and then on to Healey #15, another Port tie when locking up. 

Once we were through, we tied up on the wall,  about an hour later there was a huge rain storm.  We were joined on the wall by Virginia II, which we had seen several times over the past week.

  On Monday morning, we went through the Healey flight locks, 16 and 17, and once again did a cross over, when both boats were at the same level.  We then continued on to Hastings and were through the lock and tied up on the wall by noon.  Three locks and 13.5 miles.  We were joined on the wall  by many other loopers as well as Virginia II. 

On Tuesday we left Hastings around 7:30, as we had 38 miles to the next lock, as well as the crossing of Rice Lake.  We were through Scott Mills by noon, Ashburnham by 12:50, Peterborough Lift lock at 1:50, followed by Nassau Mills at 2:50, Otonobee at 3:20, we moved on to the bottom of Duoro, Lock 24 and tied up at 3:30

Long day 8 hours, 5 locks and 42.7 miles. We visited with Roger and Sue, which we had met the night before in Hastings, and had travelled through the locks with.

The flower garden’s here at Duoro, are the nicest I’ve seen, lots of Asiatic lilies in bloom.

   On Wednesday morning we locked through, Duoro at 9:35, followed by  Sawer Creek  at 10:15 and Lakefield at 10:45 and tied up at  11:00.  A short day, 3 locks and 2.3 miles.  We wanted to plug in to power for the day, as our batteries were in the low 20’s, and it was going to be a hot day, so fans would be required.  We walked into town, for some other essentials—beer  for Andy and coconut ice cream for me. Around 3:30, Virginia II  (Doug & Liz& Cassie) arrived and tied up—I’m absolutely sure that they are following us. We later had a visit with them at the picnic table,  Also Stuart and Rod from Sea Turtle joined us, and Andy gave them the Cole’s notes version of where to go in Georgian Bay and the North Channel. We also met Vicki and Aaron on the boat No Fixed Address—they are full-time live-a-boards, as well we met  people on a boat called Prairie Girl,  from Saskatchewan.

  I will be leaving my tomatoes plants here at Lakefield Lock 26, I can’t take them home in the car, as they are much bigger than when I brought them here in June.  Becka and the lock staff will take good care of them and share the tomatoes with other boaters passing through this lock. I had thought that I had brought a prairie pride and a brown cherry onto the boat, but the second tomato doesn’t look like a brown cherry , so it may be a rio grande—got my labelling wrong.

We woke to rain on Thursday, so I spent some time purging and packing on the boat.  Once it cleared before noon, it became very hot outside, getting up to the mid 30’s.  So we fired up the air conditioning to cool off the boat.  We spent some time at the picnic table, in the shade.  I pulled out the hose and washed the bow of the boat,  I would still like to give it a coat of wax in the next day or two.  Lots of boats came through the locks today, and the wall here is full.

Liz had gone into town in the afternoon,  when she returned she brought over a gift for us, as a thank you for helping them tie up on numerous occasions.

On Friday morning, we left around 10:00 and headed for Young’s point, we were followed by Virginia II.  Once through the lock we tied up on the right and Virginia II tied up on the left. 

We continued packing up stuff, in the afternoon we went to Lock side trading for ice cream.  Around 4:00 we were invited to the picnic table near Virginia II for Caesars and snacks.  Liz had made mini pizza’s using naan bread, they had peppers, onions , cheese and smoked meat on them- very tasty.  For the sauce she had used BBQ sauce with a couple teaspoons of Dijon mustard. Can’t wait to try this at home.  We had a lovely visit with them, I can’t call them stalkers anymore, as they are now friends, and we hope to meet up with them next summer on Georgian Bay.

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In the evening Andy did a little fishing beside the boat, and caught several fish.

On Saturday we had planned to leave to go to Burleigh or Lovesick but a combination of rain and wind  kept us at Young’s point for one more day, which was fine as there was more cleaning and packing to do. We left on Sunday morning and headed for Buckhorn, passing through the locks at Burleigh, Lovesick and Buckhorn.  There was no room at the Buckhorn lock so we continued on to BYH, pumped out and then tied up near the gas dock.

Andy brought the car around and we started packing up the trunk.  Later that evening we were entertained by the Fuderer family, as they all came down to the gas dock for high level cage diving, I asked Peter about it and he said it’s a tradition in their family.

On Monday morning, we were up early and went to Lakefield for the 6:00 opening of the laundromat.  I didn’t want to be bringing clothes and bedding home, that could just stay on the boat. Once we were back on the boat, we continued packing up the car and I defrosted the freezer. We learned that our alternator had not arrived- as it was shipped to Ivy Lea and not Buckhorn, so it will likely not be installed until spring.  We left and went to Bobcaygeon, for my last coconut ice cream from Kawartha.  We then drove up to Bancroft, as we were going to stay a night with Brian Hayton, before heading west.  We spent the afternoon visiting, and I did a little bit of weeding in his flower beds.  Brian and Helen Vermeersch joined us for supper—Brian fried up some fresh pickerel that he had recently caught along with fries, coleslaw and fresh beans from the garden.  Helen had brought berries and Kawartha ice cream for dessert—so I got to have ice cream twice in the same day.  After they left Brian and Andy played cross-crib, but I was tired, so I went to bed. In the morning, after coffee and a bagel, we headed off, stopping in Parry Sound for gas, and arriving at our hotel in Sault Ste Marie around 4:00.  We met the Gillespies for drinks and snacks at the Water tower hotel around 7:00.  Had a great visit and caught up on what they’ve been up to. On Wednesday we left the hotel around 7:30,  it was very foggy out, Andy could only see a few meters ahead of the car.  We gassed up, as we left the Sault, the fog started lifting. There wasn’t a lot of traffic in the morning, but it increased as the day progressed.  We stopped at the A&W in Marathon for lunch, and then stopped again in Nipigon for gas. Lots of road construction in this area, it looks like they are twinning the highway all the way from Nipigon to TBay. We stayed at  Super 8 motel in Thunder Bay, as my friend Teresa’s partner Maureen, had come down with Covid.  So we didn’t want to risk visiting them. On Thursday we left the hotel around 8:00, and started the last leg of our trip home.  Stopping in Dryden to top up the gas, and then several stops because of road construction between Dryden and the MB border. Doug Ford is spending lots of money in northwestern Ontario!

We arrived home around 3:30, unpacked the essentials from the car and turned on the AC in the house, as it was very hot out.  We ordered take-out for dinner.  On Friday, I pulled some weeds in the garden, we went to the lawyer’s office to sign house sale papers and then drove to Morris to sign the forms for our new tenant’s policy at the apartment and Andy renewed his driver’s license. We also changed the address on both of our licenses.  On our return to the city, we drove by the apartment, and saw patio furniture on some of the balconies, so we know that some people have already moved in. In the afternoon,  I spent a lot of time on hold on the phone as I tried to inform our utilities of our upcoming move.  After dinner, we visited on Dave and April’s deck catching up on what been happening on the street as well as our boat adventures.  On Saturday, I spent a couple more hours out in the garden pulling weeds, it was definitely easier than previous years, as Dave had sprayed roundup on them. The lawn is full of weeds as well, I pulled a few, but may have to spray them as there are hundreds! In the evening, Andy went to the airport to pick up his cousin Maureen, who had flown in from Victoria for the upcoming family reunion at Camp Morton. On Sunday we did some shopping, and I spent another hour pulling weeds from the lawn. I also baked a sour cream rhubarb pie for dinner, using rhubarb from my garden. While pulling the rhubarb, I noticed a couple of shoots of asparagus, which I thought was quite weird, as I’ve only ever seen asparagus in May.

The plan for tomorrow is to see if everything that we need to take to the reunion will fit in the car-it’s going to be a challenge as there is 60 lbs of fish, sausages, baking, other food and beverages, as well as bedding, cooking supplies, 2 sets of golf clubs, prizes and clothes for the two of us. If we can’t fit Maureen and her stuff, one of the other cousins will take her to Camp Morton.